Though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no Evill for thou art with me thy r … thy Staff they comfort me Psa 23 O Death where is thy sting Thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory c. 〈◊〉 Cor 15. Divine Consolations Against the FEAR OF DEATH In a DIALOGUE between a Minister and a Tempted Christian Writen by John Gerhard the Author of the Meditations To which is added The Christians Triumph over Death with Divine Contemplations Ejaculations and Poems thereupon London Printed for Nath. Crouch at the George over against the Stock 's Market at the Lower end of Cornhill 1680. The Authors Epistle Dedicatory to his brethren in the Ministry IF any my honoured friends and reverend brethren in Christ will accommodate Plato's definition of Philosophy That it is the meditation of death unto the true divine doctrine of Christianity in so doing I think he will not go against truth seeing in a manner the All of it consists in a meditation of death But by Death I understand as well Christ's death as our own The death of Christ and his suffering is the summ of Christianity 1 Cor. 2.2 thence the Apostle judged that among his Corinthians he would know nothing save Christ crucified and dead By Christ's death is made an expiation of our sins a destruction of Satan's power a confirmation of the new covenant and a lessening of those terrours that are wont to accompany our death The meditation of the death of Christ therefore ought never to depart out of our memory But neither in any time of our life let us forget our own death As death awaits us every day so let us on the other hand expect it every day Hieron Epist ad Paulin. He that every day remembers he shall dye easily slighteth all worldly things prepares himself for a happy death by a true and serious conversion labours after sincere godliness patiently endures adversity and heartily burns with an ardent desire of eternal life Teach us O Lord Psal 90.12 to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom was Moses his prayer a great part therefore of Christian wisdom consists in a constant meditation of death We must long learn that which that it be once done well concerns our eternal salvation It is appointed for all men to dye but to dye godly to dye in Christ to dye happily is not every ones lot therefore the mind is be prepared to that blessed immortality and to be guarded with the shield of the word and prayer For if at any time surely in that last time of our life doth our treacherous and subtile enemy lay wait for our salvation and with all his might endeavou◠to deprive us of the possession of it wherefore some of the ancients say that the infernal serpent is said especially to bite the heel for he knows very well that all is sure on our part if he be overcome by us in that last conflict but on the contrary that it will be to our everlasting disgrace and damage if all the other parts of our life as of a Comedy having been well acted we behave our selves uncomely and cowardly in this last Catastrophe Hence are those various temptations wherewith as with battering Rams he assaults our heart in sickness and in the agony of death hence those fiery darts which he casts at us with all his strength hence that horrour and anxiety which we feel when we approch the gates of death Blessed is he that overcometh here blessed is he that is faithful unto death Rev. 2.3 he shall he partaker of all those good things which are promised in the Revelations to the stout Souldiers of Christ What is this life 't is death death life doth end Our life and death do both the same way tend But Christ of life's the Captain and the door Our death doth conquer'd lye by his deaths power On him alone His hope ought to relie That would not of eternal deaths wound dye But this our hope most bitter storms do drive When in the confines of death we arrive This is the toil these storms to overcome Lest that instead of life death be our doom Wherefore seeing some while ago I have endeavoured by an explication of the History of the passion and death of Christ to instill into the minds of the Godly the meditation of Christ's death I thought it would be worth the while if to such persons I should also propound the meditation of our death for which end I writ these divine consolations to be opposed to the terrors of death and to temptations in the agony of death for my own private use only for I carry about a sickly body a brittle vessel and besides death not long ago made a lamentable destruction in my own house and there are many reasons for which I fear my own life will not be long therefore I would betimes prepare and fence my mind for this last agony and being incompassed with so many domestick evils I bestow'd some days on the pious meditation of this little book which meditations of mine seeing perhaps they may be useful to others also I was not unwilling to publish them But this I would advise in the beginning of this Treatise that I writ not for secure impenitent and hard hearts but for contrite broken and bleeding consciences Exhortations to true godliness belong to another place this discourse is wholly spent in consolations to be opposed to death and temptations in death Whosoever therefore desires to receive this oil of consolation let him bring the vessel of a contrite heart for what doth comfort belong to him that is not yet contrite and made sad And I have dedicated this Manual unto you most dear friends and reverend brethren in Christ to give a publick testimony of that near friendship and brotherhood we are linked together in And you your selves also carry about you a body subject to diseases and there cannot but daily arise in your minds the remembrance of death I do not at all therefore doubt although your faith needeth not these props which for my own and others use I have collected in this little book but that notwithstanding the reading of it will not be unpleasant to you epecially seeing it comes from a friendly and candid mind I pray our Lord Jesus will every where bless us and the labours of our ministry by his grace and spirit John Gerhard An Index of the Temptations THE forerunners of death pag. 1 Deaths Trident. pag. 3 The anguish of sin pag. 5 The remembrance of actual sins pag. 8 A doubt concerning the application of the benefits of Christ pag. 12 The false persuasion of faith pag. 16 An insufficient sorrow pag. 19 The weight of sorrow pag. 22 Despair pag. 26 Blasphemy pag. 29 The particularness of the promises pag. 31 The absolute decree of reprobation pag. 34 The application of the merit of Christ pag. 40 The
insubsistence of words pag. 43 Falling from the covenant of Baptism pag. 48 The uncertain reception into the covenant of Baptism pag. 52 The unworthy receiving of the Lords Supper pag. 57 Weakness of faith pag. 59 The not perceiving of faith pag. 62 An inability to believe pag. 65 The small number of good works pag. 67 Want of merits pag. 70 The accusation of the Law pag. 73 The accusing of conscience pag. 76 Late repentance pag. 78 Doubting of the grace of God pag. 81 Want of due preparation pag. 86 Doubting of the indwelling of the Spirit pag. 89 Doubting of perseverance pag. 94 Satans wiles and strength pag. 98 The falling away of many pag. 101 Doubting of being written in the book of life pag. 104 The fear of death pag. 107 The sting of death pag. 111 The pains of death pag. 117 Untimely death pag. 119 Services farther owing to the Church pag. 122 Short life brought upon ones self pag. 124 The love of this life pag. 127 Separation from wife children kindred pag. 131 Stopping of the ears in death pag. 134 The seeming unprofitableness of Redemption pag. 137 The horrour of dust pag. 139 The incredibility of the resurrection pag. 147 The flames of Purgatory pag. 153 The rigour of the last judgement pag. 156 A prayer in sickness pag. 164 To these are added The Christians Triumph over Death pag. 169 Divine Contemplations and Soliloquies upon Death and Eternity pag. 198 Divine Poems upon death pag. 217 Divine CONSOLATIONS Against the FEAR OF DEATH And the TEMPTATIONS befalling them that draw near thereto The forerunners of Death The Tempted I Am opprest with sickness 2 Cor. 1.9 the forerunner of Death and have received the sentence of death in my self I see I must leave this life than which nothing is more pleasant this world than which nothing is more adorned the house of this body than which nothing is more dear The Comforter Thou wast not created for this miserable and momentany but for a blessed and eternal life Wisd 2.23 for God made our first Parent without corruption to immortality Nor wast thou redeemed by Christ for this fading and toilsom but for that everlasting and most happy life in the heavens for it is a certain and undoubted saying That Jesus Christ came into the world 1 Tim. 1.15 to save sinners Neither wast thou called of the holy Spirit by the word to the kingdom of Christ that thou mightst live here a little while but that thou mightst pass from the kingdom of grace to the kingdom of glory from the Church Militant to that Triumphant from a valley of tears into a field of joy for if in this life only we believed in Christ and had hope 1 Cor. 15.19 we were of all men most miserable Wherefore seeing thou must be brought through the gate of death to that life for which thou wert created of the Father redeemed of the Son and for which thou hast been sanctified by the Spirit reject not I pray thee Luk. 7.30 the gracious counsel of God against thy self but readily obey God that calls upon thee Deaths Trident. Tempted The thoughts of Death affright me the dreadful shape of that enemy disturbs my mind it shows me its sting 1 Cor. 15.55 which is death it threatens me with its cruel three-pointed weapon while it presents to my eyes and heart the Anger of God the accusation of the Law and the cruelty of my sins Rom. 6.23 in that death is the wages of sin and by sin death hath invaded me Rom. 5.18 as it has done all the world Comforter But I advise thee that being seriously and heartily sorry for the sins thou hast committed thou look to him that died for thee on the altar of the Cross that thou mightest not be liable to eternal death Turn thine eyes from the outward shew of death and turn them to Christ who by his death hath destroyed him that had the power of death Heb. 2.14 that is v. 15. the Devil And hath delivered us who through fear of death were all our life-time subject to bondage He is death unto our death Hos 13.14 he is a sting unto the hell we had deserved Joh. 11.25 He is the resurrection and the life he that believeth in him though he were dead v. 26. yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall never die 1. Cor. 15.22 So that as in Adam that is because of sin derived from Adam upon us and of actual sins added thereto we are all liable to death and at length must die even so in Christ the captain of life and conqueror of death through faith are we all made alive Which that our Captain of life confirms with a solemn and serious oath Verily verily I say unto you Joh. 5.24 He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life And again Joh. 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you If a man keep my saying he shall never see death Therefore believe Christ who is the truth Joh. 14.6 believe him promising believe him swearing Luk. 21.33 Heaven and earth shall pass away but the words of Christ shall not pass away The anguish of sin Tempted I begin to remember my sins Psal 51.7 for I was not only begot conceived and born in sin but I have increased this sum of original and hereditary debt with manifold and most grievous actual sins all my life long how therefore can I hope God will be merciful to me whom I have so oft offended how shall I conceive any comfort in death seeing death is the due reward to my sins and a beginning of a second and eternal death to them that are not reconciled to God Comforter Look unto Christ hanging on the altar of the Cross and pouring out the price of thy redemption even his precious blood for thy sins 1 Joh. 1.8 The blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth thee from all sin He is the propitiation for thy sins 1 Joh. 2.2 and for the sins of the whole world For he came not into the world to be ministred unto Mat. 20.28 but to minister and to give his life a ransom and price for the sins of many And that thou mightst not at all doubt of this matter therefore from heaven which is the throne of truth by an Angel which is the spirit of truth was brought that most sweet and comfortable name of Jesus and given to this our Mediator before he was conceived for what is Jesus but a Saviour Luk. 1.31 Mat. 1.21 Joh. 1.29 For therefore was this name given to Christ because he saves his people from their sins This is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world 1 Tim. 1.15 This is that Jesus Christ that came into
death by the help of thine heavenly Father thou maist raise upthy self so as to say with Job Job 13.15 Although the Lord kill me yet will I trust in him Ps 91.15 16. I am with him in trouble saith the Lord I will deliver him and honour him With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation Rom. 3.39 Neither life nor death nor any creature can separate or pull us from this love of God seeing it is in Christ Jesus who is our eternal King and Saviour for ever The accusation of the Law the deformity of sin and the temptation of eternal casting off maketh the shew of death terrible seeing the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law 1 Cor. 15.55 but call to mind the consolation that was before opposed to these monsters and that outward shew of death that is terrible to look upon will vanish and will be changed into a most pleasant sleep The sting of death Tempted By sin death entred into the world and is the due wages of sin how then should I not dread death Comforter Truly in and of it self death is the wages of sin and the revenging scourge of an angry God but to those that believe in Christ it is changed into a most sweet sleep For although those that are born again and believe in Christ as yet carry about remainders of sin in their flesh Rom. 8.10 whence also their body is dead that is obnoxious to death because of sin dwelling therein yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness that is because by true faith in Christ they are justified from sins and by the Spirit resist the lusts of the flesh therefore that sin as yet remaining in the flesh is not imputed to them but is covered with the shield of divine grace Greg. Nyss in orat de morte Therefore by death the true and spiritual life of the soul doth not end in them but rather begins whereto death is made to be as it were the midwife Thence flow those sweet appellations whereby the holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth doth describe the death of the godly For those who in the eyes of fools seem and are said by them to dye those the holy Spirit says are gathered or congregated unto their people Gen. 25.8.35.29.49.33 that is into the company of the blessed and triumphant Church in heaven where they come to those that died before or rather went before That which we call death is a travelling Tertul. lib. de patient p. 12. Cypr. de mortal p. 214. Chrysost hom 45. in Gen. col 375. Hilar. in Psal 140. it is not an exit but a transit not so much an emigration as a transmigration from worse to better an ablation of the soul and a certain most happy translocation not an abolition for the soul is requir'd again and translated into a place of rest not killed It is a transcension and ascension to true life Ambr. de bon mort c. 10. 2 Pet. 1.15 Joh. 5.24 It is an Exodus because by it the godly pass from the bondage of sin to true liberty even as the Israelites heretofore out of Egyptian bondage into the land of promise The godly are said by death to enter into peace Isai 57.2 and to rest in their beds namely because they come from that daily warfare upon earth to a place of peace from the troublous sea of this life unto the haven from the toilsom prison of this world to a place of rest They are said to be dissolved and to come to Christ Phil. 1.23 because they are brought out of the Inn as it were of this present life to an heavenly country and from a crew of wicked men to the blessed company of Christ in heaven by death they are loosed from their bodily bands for as oxen having laboured all the day are let out of their yoaks at length towards evening and as prisoners are loosed from their chains so the godly are by death freed of the sad yoke of the labours and pains of this life and from the dark dungeon of sin and by a sweet change are translated to a better life They are said to pass out of the land of their pilgâ—image by the dissolution of their earthly tabernacle Heb. 11.5 2 Cor. 5.8 and to be present with the Lord namely because they come from the ruinous cottage of the world to an heavenly palace from an house of clay to a city not made with hands eternal in the heavens from the tabernacle of an earthly body to the heavenly Jerusalem and the blessed company of Christ inhabiting it Cypr. serm de mortal pag. 208. It is his part to fear death that is unwilling to go to Christ It is his part to be unwilling to go to Christ that believes not to begin to reign with Christ They are said to rest from their labours Rev. 14. Ambr. de Bono mortis c. 2. for not the godly man but his misery dieth If this life be full of burden surely its end is ease now ease is good and death is the end therefore death is good 1 Cor. 15.38 They are said to be sown in the ground or the field of the Lord by death and buryal in that the bodies of the godly like precious granes of wheat shall spring up hereafter again to life That crop which from deceased Stigelius bodies springs Immortal glory to the body brings As under clods the wither'd granes do lie Which you would think were clearly cast away Yet in a while sprung up you may espy And unperceiv'd grow taller every day Even so our bodies that entombed were First raised then in glory shall excell What death had swallow'd up shall trophees bear And in eternal light with God shall dwell The bones of the godly shall flourish and wax green Isai 66.14 2 Sam. 7.12 Isai 26.20 Dan. 12.2 Mat. 9.24 when the spring of everlasting life shall come Lastly they are said to fall asleep For as in sleep we rest from our labour regain our wasted strength our soul in the mean time performing her operations so by death being brought from all the labours and dolours of this life to rest we gather new strength of mind and body the more readily and perfectly to perform those works for which we were created in the beginning and redeemed by Christ the soul in the mean while living and rejoicing in heaven As in our sleep we mind not what is done about us nor are troubled with the crowds of humane businesses so those that die in the Lord rest without all care and anxiety and are no longer subject to the evils of this life As again we are awaked out of sleep so death will not be a perpetual sleep but the time will come in which we shall hear the voice of Christ calling us out of the grave we shall again go forth
unto life None so easily raiseth one lying in bed Aug. serm 44. de verb. dom as Christ the dead out of the grave From all which things it plainly appears how truly the blessed Apostle called the death of the godly gain Phil. 1.21 for 't is gain to have escaped the increase of sin 't is gain to have passed from worse and to have arrived at better Psal 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and it is good to them because of rest better because of security best because of blessedness Pains of Death Tempted I fear not death but its pains for I have often seen the eyes of dying persons growing dim their ears waxing deaf their tongue faultering I have seen the sweat and anguish the horrour and nakedness of dying persons I have often heard the groans and complaints of the soul compell'd to go out of the tabernacle of the body Comforter Those that believe in Christ are preserved from those pains of death or at least their pains are mitigated Christ hath taken upon him what was most bitter in death namely the sense of God's wrath Ex. 15.25 Let us cast the tree of the cross into our death on which Christ died for us and it shall become a pleasant sleep Verily Joh. 5.51 verily I say unto you saith Christ if any man keep my saying he shall never see death that is he shall not only not see everlasting death but neither that ghastly and horrible shape of temporal death And if a very little taste of bitterness be in the cup of death we are to drink yet what and how little is it in respect of that brook whereof Christ drank in the way of this life for us Psal 110.7 how little is that little draught to be esteem'd in comparison of that cup which our heavenly Father gave him to drink off in our stead Matt. 26.42 Asaying of Methodius Our death is like a medicinal purge of our soul and body and seeing by it the poison of sin is as it were purged out of our flesh what wonder if some Aloes be mixt in this purge Our death is the midwife to life eternal what wonder if the same happen to us as to an infant born into the world out of the narrowness of its mothers womb by whom the pains of the birth are in part endured There is no birth without all pain That Fit will last but a moment and lo the day of our death will be the birth-day of eternal life Strait is that gate that leadeth us unto life what wonder if we feel something of straitness in its passage Christ is our Captain and breaker up Mic. 2.13 he opens the way before us we must cleave to him with a true faith that we may pass with him through the gate of death and may come to the path of eternal life that is known to him Psal 16.11 Sin yet dwelleth in our flesh what wonder if through the remainders of sin it be made to feel some straits of death Rom. 5.1 In the mean time our conscience hath peace in Christ who is our true peace Eph. 2.14 who rising from the dead brought the gift of peace to us Death hath nosting left whereby it can wound our soul it fasteneth its teeth in our heel but its poison is taken from it by Christ that it cannot infuse it into us when it fastens its teeth Untimely death Tempted I seem to be called out of this life too soon God snatcheth me away in the midst of my days Psal 55.23 therefore I fear lest this be a sign of God's anger seeing it is written Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Comforter There is nothing untimely which God hath timed Long life indeed is God's gift but yet short life is not always a sign of God's anger seeing sometimes God commands even the godly and those that are beloved by him to pass betimes out of the habitation of this world that being freed from the dangers of sinning they may be translated into a security of not sinning and may not be made to undergo publick calamities that are often more sad than death it self God's people go and enter into their chambers Isai 26.20 and shall shut the doors upon them they shall hide themselves as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast Isai 57.1 The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart the merciful men are taken away and none considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come He shall enter into peace he shall rest in his bed walking in his uprighteness Wisd 4.7 Though the righteous be prevented with death yet shall he be in rest For the honourable age is not that which is of long time 〈◊〉 neither that which is measured by the number of years But wisdom is the gray hair 〈◊〉 and an undefiled life is the old age He pleased God and was beloved of him 10 so that whereas he lived among sinners he translated him 11 He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding or deceit beguile his mind 12 For wickedness by bewitching obscureth the things that are good and the unstedfastness of concupiscence perverteth the simple mind Though he was soon dead 13 yet fulfilled he much time 14. For his soul pleased God therefore hasted he to take him away from wickedness Though we cut down those trees that do not bring forth and let those stand that do yet God does otherwise The godly dies most happily whether he die in a good old age Sph. Philos c. 36. p. 411. or in the very flower of his youth Quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliud nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is What is life but violence what is the body but a grave what but a chain what our birth but a passing to the grave Wilt thou take it ill to be freed betimes from these evils and chains The earlier the heavenly Emperour recalleth thee from the station of this life the sooner he putteth thee in a place of rest peace and victory The services further owing to the Church Tempted I might in my place hereafter further profit the Church of God by my labour in some kind to this end therefore I could wish a space of longer life were granted to me Comforter All this is to be committed to God's disposal namely how long God will have thee to live for the service of his Church Therefore say with that ancient Doctor of the Church and most deserving Bishop Ambroses dying words recorded by Posidon in the life of Augusti◠c. 27. I have not so
the Cup of Salvation Salvation is in the cup death is now no more since the Lord of life destroyed death his death hath quickened our life and hath sweetned and taken away the sting of death from us Our Apostle does not ask Oh death what is thy sting though the words which follow seem to be an answer to such a question the sting of death is sin it seems then that death is not the sting of sin but sin is the sting of death for says Anselm we do indeed dye for sinning but we do not sin for dying And as those words following answer to a Question which they ask not so the former words ask a question to which those following answer not Oh death where is thy sting Now not to tell you where it is is as much as to say it is no where death hath now no sting let us all rejoyce and be glad this serpent may hiss at us this wasp may buz about us but it can now neither bite not sting us the sting of death is gone and nothing remains but the name nay the name too is gone to them that are in Christ Jesus the death of the godly man is not to be called a death but a sleep a resting from their labours a delivery out of prison a laying down their burden a flying to their desired home death now hath lost her sting it is not now a punishment but a happy passage not so much an end of this life as an entrance into a better not a destruction but a dissolution only a separation of the soul and body for a short time that so they might be joyned together to enjoy heaven and happiness with Christ our Lord and life to all eternity Thus have we asked this one question of death Oh death where is thy sting now let us ask another of our selves why are we so desperately and despairingly afraid of death since we have heard and do certainly know that death hath lost her sting Oh faithless and faint-hearted man why dost thou tremble O Christian to encounter with thy last enemy since its weapon is now taken from it why dost thou shrink at the coldness of the serpent when thou knowest her poyson and sting are quite taken away Oh faithless and faint-hearted soul to be so afraid of a shadow Alas why do we so dreadfully fear death since our souls are not lost but sent before it is for those only to tremble at death that pass from one death to another from the death of the body on earth to the death of the body and soul in hell for ever it is for those only to fear a temporal death so terribly who are either ignorant or do despair of eternal life who go from their Prison in this world to the place of their execution world without end But as for those that are in Christ Jesus they pass from a prison to a Palace from a dungeon to a Throne from a crazy and miserable Tabernacle here to an eternal habitation in the heavens It is for them says Cyprian to fear to be dissolved who have no hope to be with Christ A despairing fear of death is but a despair of eternal life after death Men naturally chuse rather to suffer a great deal of pain and live than to endure a small pain in dying which demonstrates that it is something after death and not death it self which we so much dread Let those only desire to linger in the miseries of this present life who hope thereby to delay a while the torments and miseries of the life to come But as for us Christians we that are in Christ Jesus why are we afraid to arrive at our haven of rest after so many dangers storms and shipwracks which we have suffered in this world having fought a good fight and finished our course why do we doubt or delay to go and receive our Crown of glory having run our race why seem we so unwilling to receive the prize let us not fear the threats of a Temporal death but rather let us rejoyce in the promises of eternal life For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord therefore whether we live or dye we are the Lords Let not our lives be so wicked and prophane as that we should be therefore ashamed to live neither let us be so negligent and ignorant of death as to be therefore afraid to dye But at the instant of our departure let us every one say as that dying Saint did which Hierom mentions go forth my soul go forth what dost thou fear Let every soul of us learn to say sincerely and chearfully at his last passage from his earthly Pilgrimage What though I dye I know that my Redeemer liveth though my body be dissolved yet shall my Spirit be conjoyned with Christ my Saviour Lye down then O my body and return unto thy dust mount aloft O my soul and meet thy Saviour in the Air my body shall be earth and worms meat for a short time but my soul I am assured shall be a companion with Saints and Angels for ever and ever Amen Divine Contemplations and Soliloquies upon Death and Eternity I. AS all the creatures O God were made by thy wisdom so they may be useful for our instruction to teach us to dye my garments that wax old may put me in mind that I my self shall wax old like a Garment and that as a Vesture I shall be changed Let me not therefore love the shadow and leave the substance let me not change heaven for earth things temporal for things eternal and since my life is but as a day let me so live by thy Divine assistance this day as if I were certain to dye to morrow and since my life is but as a watch in the night my soul shall wait for thee O Lord before the morning watch I will wait for thee in zealous Affections in unwearied patience in undoubted confidence and expectation of the joy that will come in the morning wherein thou wilt appear for my deliverance out of this transitory life and with my lamp prepared I will be in readiness to meet my Bridegroom at his coming II. Whilest I behold the heavens the works of thy hands O Lord and the Sun and Moon which thou hast ordained which shall all pass away as a tempest I will look for a new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness the heaven of heavens the City of the ever-living God the celestial Jerusalem the place where thy honour dwells therefore while I am on earth let me consider that I am but earth let me always remember that I am but dust an house of clay a body of corruption let me not be earthly-minded like those whose God is their belly whose glory is their shame and whose end is destruction who mind earthly things While I look upon the water-flouds let me say this is mine
in a boasting manner will make ostentation of his righteousnesses to God any more than a woman of a menstruous cloth to a man Neither our works nor our sufferings are worthy of the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 We cannot by our obedience merit a crumb of bread to feed upon but we are glad to beg it of God by daily prayers how incomparably less can we obtain the wages of eternal life by our merits Aug. in Psal 31. Therefore if thou wilt fall from grace boast of thy merits Idem de verb. Apost serm 15. God giveth altogether freely he saveth freely because he finds nothing for which he should save but much for which he should damn Fulgent 1. ad Monim p. 21. From grace is given not only a good life to the justified but also an eternal life to the glorified therefore death is called wages but eternal life is called grace because that is paid but this is bestowed Bern. serm in nat Mar. col 213. Let whoso will therefore seek after merit do thou study to find grace let thy merit be the mercy of God thou art not altogether without merit as long as he wants not compassion Serm. 61. in Cant. Serm. 67. in Cant. There is no room for grace where merit hath already taken place grace wanteth so much as thou ascribest to merit Serm. 68. in Cant. It sufficeth to merit to know that merit sufficeth not Place all thy trust in God only embrace his mercy 〈◊〉 the wounds of Christ seek thy merits and thou shalt not be unwâ—â—thy of merits The accusation of the Law Tempted I confess our works are not meritorious nor appease God but we must please him by faith But how can they chuse but displease him when they are not perfectly conformable to his Law The Law is an eternal and immoveable rule of righteousness condemning all that is not conformable to it self Therefore it brandisheth at me and my works the weapon of damnation unless you show me what shield I may defend my self withall Comforter Christ hath redeemed thee from the curse of the Law being made a curse for thee because it is written Gal. 3.13 Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree When the fulness of time was come Chap. 4.4 God sent his son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the law vers 5. that we might receive the adoption of sons Rom. 16. Christ is he end and fulfilling of the Law for righteousness to every one that belie … There is therefore no condemnion to be feared from the law 〈◊〉 thee and all such as are Christs Chap. 8.1 by faith and walk not after the flesh vers 2. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made thee free from the law of sin and of death vers 3. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God hath done sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin hath condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us vers 4. that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Wherefore if by true faith thou appliest the benefits of Christ to thy self thou needest not fear the curse of the law 1 Cor. 15.55 56. The sting of death is sin the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ He hath overcome our death by his death he hath satisfied for our sins by his sufferings and hath most perfectly fulfilled the law for us by his most holy obedience And yet there is no abolishing of the law but only a transferring Nor do the Law and Gospel destroy one another Gal. 3.21 seeing the Law is not against the promises of the Gospel Rom. 3.31 but is established by faith For what the law requires of us that the Gospel declares to be performed by Christ in our stead What the Law commandeth that Christ obtaineth The Law condemns sin and us for sin Christ yieldeth satisfaction for sin and bestows his righteousness on us The Law therefore is satisfied by Christ's obedience because it is perfect on the other hand the fulfilling of the Law performed by Christ redounds to us Chytr lib. 1. de vita morte p. 43. because not due Therefore as thou oughtest not to behold sin in thy body but in Christ raised again the conquerour of death and the giver of life and eternal salvation sin not in thy conscience but in Christ the lamb of God that beareth and taketh away thy sins and the sins of all the world as thou oughtest to behold hell and temptations of eternal rejection not in thy self and the innumerable multitude of the damned but in Christ bearing on the cross and overcoming for us the temptation of casting off so thou oughtest to behold the Law not as it is writ in thy heart but as it was fulfilled by Christ and fastned to the cross with him The accusing of Conscience Tempted My conscience beareth witness to the accusation of the Law it as an uncorrupted judge riseth against me and while none accuseth me or bringeth ought against me is my accuser Chrys hom 64. in Gen. Nazianz. orat 26. I cannot shun that home tribunal in this great volume I see and am agast at all my sins writ with the pen of truth Bern. de convers ad Cler. c. 3. col 414. Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this court of judgment wherein the criminal the accuser witness judge racker whip and executioner are the same Comforter If thy heart condemneth thee Joh. 3.20 yet God is greater than thy heart If the remembrance of thy by-past sins accuse and torment thee yet Christ the Redeemer who hath satisfied for sins is more powerful he acquitteth freeth and saveth thee Col. 2.14 For he hath blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us he hath taken it out of the way fastning it to his cross That accusing hand-writing of thy conscience is fastn'd also therewith by the nails of Christ crucified so that it is void and of no force before God Rom. 5.1 For being justified by faith thou hast peace with God peace of conscience quiet of heart and that blessed tranquillity of soul which Christ the conquerour of death sin and Satan brought with him from the grave Bern. de conv c. 6. col 415. and bestowed on his disciples Wherefore if thou feel the worm of conscience in this present life thou oughtest presently to stifle it not to nourish it to immortality for conscience putrified breeds never dying worms Stifle therefore the worm of conscience by unfeigned repentance beg of God quiet of heart and pardon of sin and take heed of wounding thy
he fall for therefore those that will not persevere are mixed with those that shall by the wise will of God that we may learn not to soar too high but to joyn with the lowly and work out our salvation with fear and trembling Therefore with one eye of the heart behold the mercy of God but with the other the justice of God from a faithful view of God's mercy let there arise in thy heart a trust of perseverance from the fear of God's justice let there arise in it a shunning of carnal security Let divine love penetrate thy flesh lest the love of sinful flesh deceive thee Psa 147.11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him and hope in his mercy Let our inner man hope and trust the outward fear and tremble Doubting of being written in the book of life Tempted Those only persevere and receive the crown of perseverance that are writ in the book of life But how can I know that I am writ in the book of life Comforter That book of life is Christ whence 't is called the book of life of the Lamb. Rev. 13.8.21.27 The writing into this book of life is nothing else than the election of believers in Christ to life eternal For as the faithful are said to be chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world Eph. 1.5 Rev. 17.8 so their names are said to be writ in the book of life from the foundation of the world Therefore we must pass judgment as of election so also of writing into the book of life not à priori but à posteriori Bern. serm 1. Septuag There are clear signs and tokens of salvation given that it may not be questioned but that he is of the number of the elect in whom those signs remain For they that from eternity were elected unto life those in time hear the word of salvation believe in Christ put forth the fruits of the Spirit and persevere in faith 1 Joh. 5.10 He therefore that believeth on the son hath the witness of God in himself Rom. 8.16 for the holy Spirit in the heart of believers beareth witness that they are the children of God and writ in the book of life Those whom God hath predestinated from eternity and whose names he hath written in heaven Luk. 10.20 Rom. 8.30 he calls in time by his word and justifies by true faith in Christ That faith shows it self by hearty calling upon God by patience under the cross by endeavour after holiness Therefore let the holy and wholsome thought of election and the book of life begin at the wounds of Christ hanging on the cross He that believes in him Rom. 10.9 and perseveres in faith is justified and writ in the book of the living Wast thou not received into the covenant of grace by Baptism washt from thy sins in the blood of Christ regenerated and renewed by the holy Ghost this is an evident sign that thou art writ in the book of life Gal. 3.26 27. For we are all the children of God by faith seeing as many as have been baptized into Christ Savanar in Psal 31. have put on Christ Wherefore falling into sin through the infirmity of the flesh after Baptism art thou not contrite who put his hand under thee who received thee into favour again who but the Lord This is a great sign of thine election An elect person when he falleth shall not be broken God did not write the Tables of the Destinies or the Decrees of Rhadamanthus but the book of life when he elected us in Christ before the foundation of the world In Christ therefore by faith seek thy election to life and thy writing into the book of life walk by faith that thou maist arrive at predestination Ex Aug ust Lomb. 1. sent dist 41. D. They that rashly and without the bounds of the word search the depths of God they are at length swallowed in the deep The fear of Deatd Tempted It is good for me to cleave to Christ I will notlet him go out of my heart until he bless me I have resolved to persevere in a true faith in Christ that I may come to reign with him Yet I confess still I am not yet free from all fear of death nor do I feel that strength and assistance of the Spirit as with the Apostle earnestly to desire to be dissolved Comforter Such is the infirmity of our flesh and disposition of corrupt Nature as that we are more desirous of this flitting life than of that to come which is permanent hence is that fear and terror of death which that thou maist overcome by vertue of the Spirit and maist grow in the strength of the inner man consider those things which I shall propound to thee out of the store-house of heavenly truth First it is certain that even the hairs of our head are all numbred by God Mat. 10.30 Job 14.5 Psal 139. the number of our months is appointed by him he hath set us bounds which we cannot pass All our dayes were written in his book before there was one of them Therefore good reason thou shouldst acquiesce in this fatherly will of God he gave thee life of his grace he wonderfully brought thee forth of the recesses of thy mothers womb how long hath he continued thy life he hath preserved thee from a thousand dangers that soul which he once gave he now asks again he takes not away what is thine but requires back what is his And what Action can lye against him that calls for his loan Moreover the soul that he requires of thee he translates into the joyes of an heavenly paradise and hereafter he will restore it adorned with greater glory and nobler endowments to the body again That body which is lodged in the grave shall hereafter be a more glorious worthy precious mansion for thy soul It is sown in corruption 1 Cor. 15.42 it is raised in incorruption It is sown in dishonour it shall arise in glory 43 It is sown in weakness it shall be raised in power It is sown a natural body 44. it shall arise a spiritual body Thy soul therefore created of God delivered by the son inhabited by the holy Spirit do thou humbly and readily commend as a pledge into the faithful hands of God saying with David and Stephen Psal 31.6 Acts 7.59 Luk. 23.46 yea with Christ thy head Into thy hands I commend my spirit thou hast redeemed me O God of truth Nay canst thou not in the very agony of death most certainly promise thy self the presence and help of God For seeing thou embracest Christ the Mediator by a true faith being certainly perswaded that by his death he hath overcome thine and by his resurrection hath restored righteousness and immortal life unto thee therefore being justified by this faith thou hast peace with God Rom. 5.1 and in the midst of
of our death and the day of our death but the end of our birth-day our birth-day precedes the day of our death but the day of our death is preferr'd before that of our birth by the wise Solomon Eccl. 7.3 The day of death is better than the day one is born And did we rightly consider this our birthday is indeed a purishment and the day of our death in comparison thereof a reward for death only is the remedy against the miseries of life and to dye is but to rest from those labours and to be free from those sorrows whereunto we are born What a plague and punishment were the day of our birth into a sinful miserable world did not the day of our death give an end to all such evils both of sin sorrows and pains Now since as I have said our birth-day is but the beginning of our death and the day of our death but the end of our birth-day we seem to speak improperly to call the day of our departure only the day of our death On our last day indeed we cease to live but from our first day we begin to dye our last day is not the cause of our death but the consummation of it it doth rather finish than begin our death it is not the last and utmost minute of our life which brings death upon us it doth rather manifest and declare that death was always with us As the Prophet speaking of persecution says we are killed all the day long Psal 44.22 and the Apostle St. Paul concerning his own sufferings I dye daily 1 Cor. 15.31 So that though no violence or injury were offered to us yet even through natures frailty we dye daily and by fatal Mortality are killed all the day long we dye daily from the time we first begin to live the first day of our life is our longest day and every day afterward takes away one day from our lives and the longer we have lived the less time we have to live Quotidie morimur c. sayes Seneca we dye daily and every day takes away part of our life and while we are yet growing up our life decreases the very day that we now live we do divide it with death As by the time we spend in eating sleeping working and playing so by the moments which pass away in reading speaking writing our lives are shortened We dye daily our times dye daily our actions dye daily our Persons dye daily our times dye daily the time past is dead to the time present the time present is dying to the time to come yester-day is dead to this day and this day is dying to the morrow our actions dye daily what is done and past is dead to what we are now doing and what we now do is dying to what we shall do hereafter we hardly remember what we have nor conceive what we have done nor delight in what we have done so do our actions dye daily to our memories our understanding our Affections Our persons dye daily our infancy dies to our childhood our childhood to our youth our youth to our manhood our manhood to our old Age and our old Age dies into our death A man is in a continual Consumption of himself his days waste him as well as he spends his days one part or other of him languisheth perisheth or corrupts every day we dye by piece-meal not all at once saith Seneca There is not one day but wherein our spirits do in some measure waste our blood cools our moisture dries our stomach fails our liver corrupts our Lungs consume our bowels yearn our hearts faint or our head akes Every day either some vein stops some sinew shrinks some bone breaks some skin is withered some flesh bruised or at least some parts or member decayed The eyes grow dimmer of sight the ears more dull of hearing or the palate more unsavory of tasting every day than other Thus the several parts dye by little and little and thus at last the whole becomes dead As the Candle consumes from the time it first begins to burn so doth the Oyl and marrow of mans life waste from the very time he begins to live Man is like a candle that either consumes himself in the Candlestick of this world or else he is smothered under the Bushel of his mothers Womb. An hour-glass runs constantly from the very time it is turned up man is like this hour glass he is but running sand or moving dust and as the sand in the hour-glass falls by degrees one sand after another till the whole be run out so a man drops away by little and little till the whole is extinguished A traveller goes forward many days towards his journeys end man is a Traveller his life is the way he goes and death is the end of his journey and is it then a strange thing for us to dye when our whole life is but the way and path that leads to death Do we think we shall never arrive to that which we are continually going toward sayes Seneca There is no way on earth to which there is not an end the most intricate Labyrinth hath a way out of it at last We are continually walking towards death how can we then chuse but meet with it at last we dye daily how can it then be avoided but at last we must come to be dead Wretched man then that thou art why dost thou not daily dispose and prepare thy self for death since thou diest daily sayes St. Bernard Imagine thy self to be dead since thou must of necessity dye Wo unto us wretched creatures that all of us are so near death and yet most of us put this day so far from us Death is ready to take us by the hand in the natural execution of its office before we are willing to take it to heart by our Christian Meditation We go toward the grave with our faces turned backward so that our feet are just ready to fall into the pit before our eyes do once look upon it There are many who feel death before they know what it is and do wofully hazard and experience it before they could be perswaded either wisely to consider or conceive thereof for though we daily see death seizing upon others yet we can hardly be perswaded to believe our selves concerned as a learned Author says men behold nothing more familiarly than death and yet they forget and neglect nothing more Death then is a mighty King the great Conquerour of mankind to whom all the Glorys of this world must submit and yet our blessed Apostle exultingly cryes out Oh death where is thy sting Let us then consider St. Pauls Appellation or his summons to death Oh death what art thou a Chimera a fable a bugbear a dream a shadow a nothing Oh death thou art none of Gods creature the Wise man saith God made not death neither hath he pleasure in destruction Wisd 1.13 God is the God of
death we who look for an house not made with hands are notwithstanding unwilling to leave this house of clay we who have the promise of a kingdom are yet unwilling to forsake our prison we are afraid to be dissolved though we desire to be with Christ we dread the passage though we rejoyce to approach to our home and habitation in the Heavens Notwithstanding what hath been said yet let us encourage our selves against the fear of death and by the example and in the words of St. Paul let us ask Oh Death where is thy sting For death truly considered is but a shadow a meer bugbear which children only ought to fear death is nothing and we are afraid of we know not what death only separates between soul and body why do we fear that it should thus dissolve us and not rather rejoyce that it cannot destroy us Let us not fear what may separate us from our selves but let us rather imbrace what will convey us to our Christ and our God Death is appointed for us all why then are we afraid of what we cannot possibly avoid Our willingness to dye is the only means to take away the terribleness thereof Let us therefore offer our lives to God freely which he will otherwise require from us as a due debt says Chrysostom The coming of death is uncertain and shall any thing that is uncertain cause in us a certain fear But rather since it is uncertain at what time or in what place death will overtake us let us therefore at all times and in all places expect and look for it says Seneca Besides death deals equally and impartially to all and this also should make us less afraid of it Who can reasonably complain says Seneca that he is in the same condition wherein all men else are Who can expect that death should spare any since it is indispensible to all when there is a general ruin threatened to the whole world who can think himself alone should escape The equality of death is some comfort against the cruelty thereof there are several ways of dying and why should that make us afraid of death 't is no great matter which way we dye since we can be but dead at last since we must dye let us not much regard by what means but let us take care whither we must go after death says St. Austin To conclude death is a thing that is indeed fearful to flesh and blood and yet all this should not make us afraid of death for it is not death it self but the fear of it that is so terrible and this also proceeds more from our ignorance than from the thing it self did we but know death we would not so much fear it says St. Chrysostome The fear of death is the punishment of our ignorance and negligence which makes us apprehend things to be new and strange which really are not so The only way therefore to free us from the fear of death is by daily meditation thereof to make it familiar to us to acquaint our selves with it before it comes that we may the less dread its appearance Thus shall we find that by learning not to fear death we shall at last come like our blessed Apostle to triumph over it and to say O death where is thy sting Death is not yet destroyed for St. Paul says the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death 1 Cor. 15.26 But yet it is disarmed already Oh death where is thy sting This seems to be an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Captains song of victory and the Souldiers song of deliverance they look like the words of a mighty conqueror bravely triumphing over a base and wretched enemy and who is this conqueror but Christ Jesus the Lord of Life it was he who spoke the words in the Prophet Hosea 13.14 O death I will be thy death And it is in the power of Christ that the Apostle speaks thus O death where is thy sting Jesus Christ did once subdue death for us and said O death I will be thy death and we may now triumph over death in the strength of Christ and say with our Apostle O death where is thy sting Jesus Christ overcame death by dying nay more by death he destroyed not death only but him also who had power over death the Devil Heb. 7.14 Our captain hath conquered our enemy at his own weapon he hath caught this Mighty Hunter in his own snare he yielded only to death to take advantage against death yea therefore laid he down his life that death might no longer live therefore says St. Chrysostom we do not believe that Christ is dead in death but we believe that death is dead in Christ Death that greedy whale durst venture to devour Christ Jesus our Jonas who was cast into the sea of the world that the storms and Tempests of the Devil and sin might cease but yet he was preserved alive in the fishes belly in the belly of Hell in the jaws of death that he might preach repentance to the Ninive of the Church This great whale Death swallowed the bait of Christs humanity but the hook of his Divinity intangled her and made her vomit up her bowels bait and all Death designed to have swallowed Christ and left him in darkness and obscurity but death it self was swallowed up in victory The serpent death was bold to sting our Saviour but he made him lose his sting for his labour so that in his name we may now chearfully ask Oh Death where is thy sting The sting of death is sin 1 Cor. 15.56 Christ the Lamb of God hath taken away the sins of the world John 1.29 In Christ Jesus therefore we may joyfully say Oh death where is thy sting Job asketh this question concerning man Man dieth and where is he Job 14.10 but we may ask the same question of Death man dieth and where is death yea we ask the same of the worst part of death which is its sting Oh death where is thy sting Jacob bewailed the death of Joseph saying Joseph is dead Joseph is not Gen. 42. and Rachel wept for her children and would not be comforted because they were not Mat. 2. because death had seized upon them they thought their children to be quite gone But to speak properly death does only convey us where we ought to be but death it self is indeed no where O death where is thy sting Death is utterly destroyed by the Cross of Christ When death first entered into the world it was like the waters of Marah exceeding bitter Exo. 15. but since the Tree of the Cross of Christ it is now made sweet and pleasant to us we might once have cryed out with the children of the Prophets Death is in the pot death is in the pot 2 Kings 4. but since our blessed Saviour hath declared This Cup is the new Testament of my blood we may now say with the blessed Saints of God This is