A SOVERAIGN ANTIDOTE AGAINST THE FEAR of DEATH OR A CORDIAL FOR A DYING CHRISTIAN BEING Ten Select MEDITATIONS wherein a Christians Objections are Answered and his Doubts and Fears Removed and many convincing Motives and Arguments are laid down to perswade him to a willing Submission to Gods Will whether he be sent for by a Natural or a Violent Death By EDWARD BVRY formerly Minister of Great Bolas in Shropshire For me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Phil. 1.21 I am willing not only to be bound but to dye for Christ Act. 21.13 For I am in a strait between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is better c. Phil. 1.23 London Printed by J. A. for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1681. To the Worshipful PHILIP FOLEY of Prestwood Esquire One of the Members of the present PARLIAMENT AND TO THE Vertuous and truely Religious The Lady PENELOPE Daughter to the Right Honourable the Lord Paget his pious Consort E. B. wisheth increase of Grace here and Glory hereafter Worshipful and Right Honourable I Have made bold here to present you with a Discourse of Death or rather with a Discourse with my self concerning Death I am not ignorant that 't is an unpleasing Theam to declaim upon before many of the great ones of the times who fear Death more than Hell it self as believing it to be a Reality when God and Devil Heaven and Hell they would believe are Fictions The apprehension of Death puts them into a cold sweat it makes them tremble not much unlike to Belshazzars hand-writing upon the wall Dan. 5.5 6. Mat. 8.29 and whosoever minds them of it doth but torment them before the time but such as wink and then conceit Death doth not see them will ere long find their mistake But had I imagined you had been of this Gang I should not have prefixt your Name to these Papers They are intended for a Cordial against the fear of Death but such as those should be perswaded to fear it more But the Image of God and those divine qualifications which accompany salvation appearing in you I thought these Meditations nay nor Death it self would not startle you For let me tell you without flattery that there are some qualifications in you that draw the eyes of the world after you yea draw out their affections to you such as Justice Temperance Prudence Charity c. These as they are rare in our times in persons of your rank so they are lovely but there are other qualifications such as Piety and Holiness the Image of God and the Graces of his Spirit that make you lovely both to God and good men these the World take no notice of at least love not in you for they â—â—eem Grace and Holiness no better than â—â—renzie or Madness But the time is coming â—e greatest Gallants would be glad to be â—und in this Garb which now is grown so â—uch out of fashion they are now like Daâ—ocles sporting themselves amidst their â—inties and priding themselves in their â—incely Attendants but forget the Sword â—â—at hangs over their heads ready every moâ—â—nt to end their dayes together with their â—â—ner But though God hath given you â—â—ndance of these outward things beyond â—ny others yet you take them not as they â—e for your portion but say of them as â—ther of the Cardinals Hat when offered the Pope God shall not put me off with â—h poor triffes or as Galeacius that â—lian Marquess when offered great riches forsake his Religion Let their Money â—ish with them that hold all the Wealth â—he world worth one dayes communion â—h Christ You seek after better Riches 〈◊〉 as Solomon found out by Experience Eccles 1.14 at all was Vanity and Vexation of spiâ—â—â— so you can write a Probatum est upon 〈◊〉 I know you lye under great Temptatiâ—â— but I hope Gods grace to you as it was the Apostle will be sufficient 2 Cor. 12.9 and 't is small measure of Grace will make you digest Prosperity without a surfeit I speaâ— not these things to lay a stumbling-block oâ— pride before you I stand in my own apprehensions too near the brink of Eternity to bâ— guilty of this folly and can say 't is your Humility that makes you lovely in my eyes 〈◊〉 know the way to throw you down is to lifâ— you up and whosoever brings fuel to thâ— fire is your Enemy and not your Friendâ— but seeing your works praise you in thâ— gates Pro. 31.31 as Solomon saith of the good Houâ—â— wife why should not I and others praise yoâ— for them as he doth her that God may 〈◊〉 glorified your hands strengthened and otheâ— encouraged by your Example to do the likâ— hoping you will shine more and more unto tâ—â— perfect day Pro. 4.18 untill you come to shine as tâ—â— Sun in the Kingdom of your Father Mat. 13.4 Now there are two or three things whiâ—â— you may desire to be satisfied in in order 〈◊〉 this Dedication As first Why I write upâ—â— this Subject And to this I answer That Discourse of this nature can never be out season for as soon as we are born we aâ—â— subject to die And as 't is suitable for 〈◊〉 Times so also for all Persons none 〈◊〉 exempted and we have no greater work doe than to prepare for Death 'T is gâ— therefore for us 1 Cor. 15.31 with the Apostle to dâ— daily that is every day be expecting Deaâ—â— and preparing for it But more particularly God was pleased to exercise me for a long â—ime together with various distempers insomuch that I despaired of life and received in my self the sentence of death and was disabled for other concerns and although my distempers were not so violent as to â—hreaten a sudden dissolution yet being so complicated and continuing so long without check notwithstanding all the means that were used and I felt Nature so fast decay that I thought God had spoken by this Providence to me as sometime to Hezekiah 2 King 20.1 Put thy house in order for thou shalt die and not live And it being my Clymasterical year I thought it would prove fatal to me as it had done to many old persons and these apprehensions were much heightned by the continued rumors we then had and still have of Popish Plots and â—ur intended Massacre and a little fastened also by Melancholy Conceits so that between the one and the other I raised this Conclusion My dayes were cut off and my life drew near to a period but whether a natural disease or a violent hand would do my work I was at a loss Sometimes I concluded for the one and sometime for the other according as my disease or our weekly News prevailed However this put me on to have more serious thoughts of Death and Judgment than I usually have had and I thought it my
yet you may find Under that sordid Vest a gallant Mind Though these are scorned by our Gallants gay Yet these do act their parts as well as they Some act Religious parts but most prophane The Hypocrite he is for either Game For he hath Vizards if he please enow To make him seem prophane and holy too For he can one way look and row another In a disguise he 'l cozen his own Brother Where Interest or the Devil drives he 'l goe And shifts his Sails still as the wind doth blow He 'l act you any part Noble or Base With his Apparel he can change his Face Each day like to the Moon his Face is new With the Chameleon he can change his hue Ape-like he 'l imitate whate're he see Proteus never had more shapes than he Like Mercury with Good he 'l seem the best If found with Bad he will exceed the rest Religion is his stalking-horse and he Doth only use it for to take his prey So long as he can get by 't he will use it But if he lose by 't he will soon refuse it Him of his borrowed Robes Death will divest He 'l dye in Earnest though he liv'd in Jest Some more ingeniously shew what they are Rotten they are at heart and so appear Taverns they haunt their Names not States to raise And those in Hell do go for roaring Boyes In Venus Courts some live but most of these Come lamely off or die of her disease Some few stay Natures time most run before Bacchus or Venus opens them the door Some cheat some steal some lye some swear and curse And most though bad enough grow worse and worse But when their part is acted Death will come And clear the Stage and then the Play is done Most are hiss'd off the Stage few get applause For few of acting well observe the Laws Some few to Wisdoms Rules their hearts apply And these know how to live and how to dye Some mind their business most time idly spend Some love their way but few their Journeys end For Riches Honours Pleasures most men strive But to get wisdom is the way to thrive Some court fair Ladies whose bewitching Spells Ruines the State and sinks the Souls to Hell Some few improve their time while God doth lend it When others study vainly how to spend it How for to live most men their thoughts apply But wise is he that studies how to dye The heav'nly Loadstone Grace having toucht the Soul Makes her unsettled till she finds the Pole This World will not suffice for her abode She 's restless here her Polar Starre is God This Heaven-born Eagle mounts and soars too high To feed on Carrion that in Ditches lye This World she hath conquer'd and with Philips Son She 'd weep if there were not more worlds than one This Pilgrim cares not where she lays her head She sleeps securely if God make her bed In a cold Prison she can lye and ease her With Jacobs Visions Jacobs Stone will please her Most men 't is true complain of grief and trouble But few of sin which makes their sorrows double Troubles arise from sin the World and Devil God makes our dayes so few we make them evil The world much like an Inne serves for a day Some only break their fast and so away Some dine some sup and some are richly treated But those that eat most Meals are most indebted If any suffer hardship 't is the best The worse the man the better is the Guest Some feast some drink some game some drab and whore But when they come to pay their reck'ning's more The World 's to bad men as the Earth to weeds She 'l cherish those but choak the better seeds And Stepdame-like she will Gods children serve She 'l feed her own but suffer them to sterve For entertainment she 's much like to Jael She offers Milk when she intends the Nail Who trusteth to her smiles doth quite mistake her The wisest men they be that quite forsake her Well though the way be rough let 's mend our pace Our Journey 's short and then we shall have ease Life 's but a shadow which is alwayes flying For from the Cradle we are alwayes dying 'T is but an Hour-glass and the sands are sins Brimm'd up by Nature turn'd when Life begins Which still is running as each day doth come And when the last fins dropt our life is done Our labour 's near an end our death is hasting And good or bad rewards are everlasting We reach not Nestors dayes with our short span Nor number years with old Methusalem Men lived then five hundred years or more Not one of twenty now can reach Threescore No no our Measure 's cut it well appears Our Fathers Months were longer than our Years The Hart the Stagg the Raven the Eagle free May boast they are long-liv'd so cannot we The withering Grass a Shadow Emblems be That fitly sets forth our Mortalitie A Rose a Blossom or a Flower in May Or Jonah's Gourd that lasted but a day A Dream a Shadow if you will a Span Is long enough to mete the Life of Man For like a Pear or Plumb when ripe we fall Into our Mothers lap for so do all Mans Life is of a thought much like the Dream A Weavers Shuttle or the gliding Stream Or like a hasty Post that swiftly flies For man that 's born to day to morrow dies Life's like a Bubble that 's soon prickt by Death For Man is but a Bladder fill'd with Breath Life hasteth like a Ship that 's under Sails Death cometh like the Tide that never fails Our Time like Lightning full quick doth goe Death hastneth like an Arrow from a Bowe Such is the Life of Man for in a day Man springs and withers like a Flower in May The Sun ne're runs his race in this our age But sees ten thousand marching off the Stage The Life we live is but an inch of time Last day my Fathers was and this day mine The next belongs to the succeeding age Thus one doth thrust another off the Stage My Predecessors they are dead and rotten And I in little time shall be forgotten Great Caesar's Bones Death did to Ashes turn And Alexander's bounded in his Urn. The fair the foul the Holy the Prophane The Rich the Poor are worsted at Death's Game To Mighty Sampson Death did give a Fall Wise Solomon did dye and so must all Though in thy hand all Peru's Gold thou have Death will thee make a Tenant to the Grave Death makes no difference between Poor and Rich The Worm feeds sweetly on no matter which The Fairest Lady and the foulest Slave Death can both wed and bed in the same Grave To God a thousand years is but a day Our life 's then but an Hour that fleets away And of this Hour so many sharers be O Lord how small a part belongs to thee Though life seems long because 't is
that cannot be redeemed with the whole World 4 Direction The next thing I would advise you to which indeed is the chief of all is to get an Interest in Christ that so you may have a title to Glory for till this be had you cannot dye safely and till it be cleared up you cannot dye comfortably for who would leave a present Possession that hath no assurance of a future and when this is done Death will not be terrible But what can bear up the Soul against the pangs of Death if this be wanting Now the way to get an Interest in Christ is to espouse the Soul to him now there is nothing but Ignorance can stave off our affections from him ignotus nulla cupido The blind World can see no Excellency in him no need of him nor any use of him and therefore they have no love nor desire for him but all that know him will love him who prizeth a Physician that is not convinc'd of his skill and finds he hath a real need of him for who will take Physick before he be sick or minds a Plaister before he have a Sore But when the poor soul is convinced of her undone condition by Nature and that there is nothing in her or that can be done by her will serve turn for Salvation yea that help is not to be had in any Creature no not in the Angels themselves could she be Espoused to them for they cannot pay her debts nor secure the Soul in this desparing condition no wonder the Soul dreads death but when it knows withall that though there be an Emptiness in the Creature there is a Fulness in Christ and that he is fully able to make her eternally happy and that Christ doth make love to her and sends many Suitors in his behalf to woe for her affection and that he is the only suitable object in the world for her Affections and that he can make her happy when all the rest would leave her miserable I say under these convictions she begins to hearken to Christs proposals when she sees he is more useful than any other and will stand her in more stead both in Prosperity and Adversity in Health Sickness in Life and at Death when all other helps fail her While the world is lookt upon to be the best match Christ will not be valued till the cheat be found out for who will forsake the better to choose the worse but when they see Christ really better than the world they will then part with the world for him for who will stick at such a bargain when a man considers that the world can do him no good at Death or Judgment But Godliness hath the promise of this life 1 Tim. 4.8 and that to come and that it is profitable to all things Rom. 8.32 and that having Christ all shall be ours for if he spared not his own Son but freely delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things When the match is made up between Christ and the Soul all her Debts are made over to her Husband and he is touched also with the feeling of her Infirmities bears the heavier end of the Cross and in all her afflictions he is afflicted Isa 63.9 and he makes over all his riches to her his Merits his Righteousness his Spirit his Graces and his Glory Plal. 34.10 he hath promised she shall want nothing that is good and that he will never leave her nor forsake her Rom. 8.28 and that all things shall work together for her good Now whatever he hath promised he can make it good for he is both Omnipotent and Omniscient and he will make it good for he is Faithfull and the Experience of five thousand years prove it in all which time no man could stand forth and say This Promise God hath failed in the world yields us some little comfort if God give it a Commission but Christ is all and in all all the excellency that is in the Creature is but as a Vein to lead us to this Mine as a drop of this Ocean and as a ray of this Sun whatever our condition be he can help us if the Soul be sick he is her Physician and all others are Physicians of no value if wounded he hath a Plaister of his own Blood to cure her if she hunger here is food the Bread of life and the Water of life his flesh is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed If she be Poor and Blind and Miserable and Naked he can make supplies here is a Treasure to enrich her a Pearl of great price and spiritual Eye-salve to make her see if she have Enemies he is her Champion that can overcome the Devil and all his Instruments and none can hurt her but through his sides In a word she can want nothing when her Lord and Husband possesses all things the Cattle of a thousand hills are his yea all the beasts of the Forrest with his own Robes he arrayes her and with the Jewels of his Grace he adorns her with his Spirit he directs her and if heavy laden bears her burden if she be weary he is her resting place and hath promised never to leave her nor forsake her Heb. 13.5 and then no matter what others do These promises the Soul may press home by Prayer as Jacob did in a great danger Gen. 32.9 Lord thou saidst thou wouldst do me good and this was as good as present pay for God loves to be bound by his word and to be sued upon his own bond Prayer is a putting the Promises in Suit God can no more deny such Prayers than he can deny himself what need the Soul to fear when Gods Word is out upon it That all things shall work together for her good and if all things then Afflictions nay Sin it self Seneca Venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit saith a Heathen 'T is said that to drink of the Wine wherein a Viper hath been drowned cureth the Leprosie and the Scorpion healeth his own wound the flesh of the Viper cureth the biting of the Viper and so God sometimes cureth us by the wound Sin gives us we usually say The act increaseth the habit but 't is not so here for the believer is like a Sheep that by his fall into the mire is warned to take better heed Now look over all the World and see if you can find such a match for the Soul whether any Creature in Heaven or Earth hath deserved thy Affections better than he or hath done more or will do more than Jesus Christ that is a greater Benefactor than he and hath bestowed better Gifts whether any other can pay thy Debts or make preparation for the Eternal well-being of the Soul and if he prove the fittest Match stand not upon Terms with him think not to alter his Conditions or make him abate of his Price he expects
to other mens happiness will set an end to his misery those only that live a holy life can rationally expect a happy death 6 Direct If you would dye willingly and happily learn with the Apostle to dye daily have death alwayes in your eye the strangeness of death makes it so terrible The Fox in the Fable that had never before seen a Lion trembles at the first sight but after grew more bold those that go first to Sea are usually more timerous in storms and tempests than the Ancient Mariners sudden danger more surprizeth when expected trouble is better born Death is stealing upon us whether we mind it or no and nothing more discovers our folly and madness than to neglect our watch when we are besieged by our Enemy and know he intends to surprize us to put far off the evil day when we know not but it is ready to dawn 'T is a folly for a Tenant to forget his Rent day and then think his Landlord hath forgotten it also or for a Malefactor to forget the day appointed for his Execution 't is a folly for a needy man to forget the Market or Fair where he should have supplyed his wants Death is no Jesting matter but a real thing and will make a real change both to good and bad as to the Body for haply both may say the next day to corruption Thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister then must they leave behind all their earthly Glory and worldly Pomp their friends and Relations their pleasant Houses yea Crowns and Kingdoms if they do enjoy them and all their earthly comforts they enjoyed and must march down to the Chambers of Death and make their graves in the dust but with the Soul is a greater change either they must go to everlasting Torments or endless Joyes and should not such a change be minded did the greatest Prince upon earth or our time-wasting Gallants consider it would spoil their sport did a Malefactor know that in a few dayes he should be dragg'd to Execution would he take no notice of it but spend his time as idly as before and shall we only be unconcerned they know in a few dayes and they know not in how few Eternity will shut her mouth upon them and then their souls will be in a stated case never to be changed Oh what a prodigious Creature is a hard hearted Sinner and how senceless is many a profane wretch that know not but the night following their souls may be required of them and yet regard it not that feel this house of clay mouldering about their ears and provide for no other Habitation that sensibly feel Deaths approaches by the many darts he throwes at them and yet need to be minded that they must dye the wisest Virgins had something to do against the Bridegroom came though they had Oyl in their Vessels yet their Lamps must be trimmed but the Foollish wanted Oyl to trimme them and yet slept the best of Saints should have their Loins girded and be in a Centinel posture against the coming of their Lord and Master and set themselves in order for so great a change were a mean woman to be married to some mighty Prince she would make some preparation against the Wedding-day but 't is the worst of sinners that least think of death though they have most need all the spectacles of mortality without nor Monitors of mortality within cannot make them mind their latter end Those should be like to Jonathans Arrows to David warn them of approaching danger our Children that rise up in our stead and tread out our foot-steps tell us that we are marching off the Stage and they are coming in our room to act their parts The Sun never sets but it may mind us of our latter end and that now one day more is past of our determined number of dayes that we had to live 't is good therefore to consider whether we are a days Journey nearer Heaven than we were in the morning or what work we have done in reference to Eternity every Bell that tolls may mind us of our Passing-bell every time the Clock strikes or the Glass is run out may mind us how our time hasts away and our death approaches every breath we fetch or every time our Pulse beats may mind us of death for the number of them is determined as well as the number of our months Job 14.5 Did men certainly know they should dye within a month what a change would there be in the world who then would mind earthly greatness or indulge his lust which yet those that are not sure of a day do eagerly pursue If you would dye happily think on death to prepare for it if comfortably think on it to be acquainted with it 7 Direction It is not enough meerly to think of death but you must also prepare for it for the former is necessary in order to the latter this preparation is your great Concern the very business of your lives God did not send you into the world as Leviathan into the Seas to play therein neither meerly to cark and care to moil and toil and drudge for the world you were made for an higher end and sent into the world upon another Errant to make provision for your immortal souls some may think this work is difficult and so it is to flesh and blood and cross to our carnal interest but 't is necessary and the neglect dangerous were but your houses on fire we need not use many words to perswade you to quench them though there were difficulty and danger in the enterprize or were your lives in danger you would endure hardship to save them were you in danger of drowning you would lay hold upon every twig and take any offered advantage to escape were your Estates in danger you would spare no pains nor cost to clear it up were but one of your beasts though but a Sheep or Swine in danger you would seek for help and is the immortal Soul only to be neglected There are none but those that deny there is a God a Devil a Heaven or a Hell or that think the Soul is mortal and shall dye with the body and that the Scriptures are not Gods Word but must needs confess there is great danger in dying unprepared or in an unregenerate condition and yet few live accordingly but whatever men think Hell will prove a real misery and Heaven a real Happiness and our Atheist will ere long be convinc'd of it to purpose Luk. 16. God will be true though every man be a lyar The rich Glutton found to his full conviction that Hell was no scare-crow nor Gods Threats no Bugbear but real things and we have many in our Age far worse then he is there described that yet have blind hopes it shall be well with them and if these things be real should not we be serious about them is not
Heaven worth having and Hell worth the avoiding and the soul worth saving we are serious about the things of the world and much more should we be to save our lives and are Salvation and Damnation trifles not fit to be regarded one year or month may make a great alteration in our Families or Neighbourhood and many now living may then be dead and landed in Eternity that thought they might have lived longer sometimes death strikes the Child in the womb when he spares him that stoopeth through Age and this may be your case for ought you know This was Jerusalems fault and ruine She remembred not her latter end Lam. 1.9 therefore she came down wonderfully and many I fear dye of her disease Now though our life is short and time uncertain yet our work is great and of great Concernment and requires time to do it in and those that consider it well know we have no time to spare all is little enough for our work and those that have been Prodigals of their time have found their mistake when it hath been too late We are in a race and run for our lives and shall we not set out with the first and hold on to the last and use our utmost diligence in the way if we turn aside or turn back or slack our pace or sit down we are never like to win the prize we stake our Souls to Heaven and therefore 't is for no small wager if we run well heaven is ours if not the Soul our chiefest Jewel is lost we have a great deal of work to do and Night draws on and the shadows of the Evening are stretched out and when night comes no man can work and is it not time to be up and doing most men are bewildred in the dark and lose themselves with their reward and miss their way or fall short of their desired Journeys end and this will be our case if we prevent it not for the way is difficult and delayes as well as mistakes are dangerous Many that have wit enough to get an Estate yea to deceive and to circumvent their Brethren have yet been deceived themselves in this their great concern yea many that have made a great profession of Religion and have directed others and have been their guides for want of a guide have miscarried themselves and lost their way those that have lived under the powerful means of Grace and performed many duties and preacht and prayed and thought themselves wiser than others and cast their ground and thought to go a nearer way to Heaven than others yet have been lost and never came to the place they aimed at Those that have exhorted others to take heed have lost themselves for want of heed and though they have been confident in the way have yet miss'd of the way and is it time for us that never arriv'd to that heighth to sit still and venture there is but a little between us and death and if death cut the thred of our lives before our peace be made with God we are past remedy for if once we fall into that gulph of Eternity there is no getting out we shall never find bank nor bottom As the tree falls so it lyes all the world cannot turn it and if the Soul miscarry our case will be worse than the beast that perisheth for as now men are never weary of sinning then God will be never weary of punishing and all the racks tortures and torments in the world will not equalize the torments of a miscarrying Soul but if we are prepared for death have made our peace with God and evened our Accounts with him have espoused the Soul to Christ and cleared up our Evidences for Heaven 't is not the Devil nor his Instruments 't is not death nor him that hath the power of death nay 't is not Hell it self that can hinder a Believers happiness for Assurance of Gods love will bear up the heart above water and keep it from desponding or sinking even under the pangs of death 2 Tim. 1.12 I know saith Paul whom I have Believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day And again Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 8 Direct For Preparation 't is necessary to put your Hearts as well as your Houses in order nay 't is much more necessary if you would reform begin at the right end if you reform the heart the rest will follow but all other reformation signifies little without it the way to kill a Tree is not to lop off here a Bough and there a Branch but to stub it up by the root and to destroy the tree of Sin is not to be lopping off here one and there another but root up the whole which will be done if the heart be reformed 't is not the Stream but the Fountain we must cleanse if we will have clean water the other will prove but labour in vain Prov. 4.23 Keep the heart with all deligence saith Solomon for out of it are the issues of life Quod sanitas in corpore id sanctitas in corde if a Disease strike to the heart 't is dangerous but if the heart be sound there is hopes if the Spring be clear the water will purge it self Job 31.1 if that be infected or polluted 't is in vain to purge the Stream Eccles 5.1 't is true the Eye the Foot the Hand must be heeded but if the heart be not first Regulated these will not be kept in order the Eye will be full of Adultery and the Hand swift to shed blood for out of the heart proceed murders Mat. 18.8 adulterycs c. Look to the heart and the heart will look to the rest The heart of man is of so great a Concern that it hath many Suitors the world yields many of them Riches Honour Pleasure woe for the Affection and seldom but one of these prevail Pro. 23.26 and spiritual Powers make suit also God saith My Son give me thy heart and happy are we if we give our consent as the heart is defiled he will have none of it and till it be renewed he will own nothing that man doth nor any Sacrifice he Offereth God sends many a Messenger to wo for it and many a time he striveth by his own Spirit to win it and many a Love Token he sends to oblige it and many a promise he makes to win upon it The Devil also contends more for it than about the Body of Moses for that is imagined to be but in reference to it he owns it as his by nature and would fain keep the possession for while he keeps
undauntedly this grace will assure a man that life and death will prove advantagious to him and that God and his departing soul are at peace and that the Covenant remains firm even in the Grave it self this makes a man look even beyond death it self and see the Crown of glory the recompence of reward before him and assures him death will do him more good than hurt that it will set an end to his misery and beginning to his happiness and that when death hath struck the stroak the Angels will carry the Soul into Abrahams bosom yea lodge it in the Arms of their dear Redeemer These apprehensions made Paul to desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and the Martyrs to be so willing to dye and so chearfully to go to the stake Love to God also is another grace which much sweetens the very thoughts of death indeed this sweetens the sharpest passage of Providence when we think this is my Fathers will whom I love and who loves me and knows best what is for my good yea death it self shall be welcome when 't is a Messenger from him I love to fetch me home to his bosom what will not a loving Wife suffer to enjoy her beloved Husband love desires the strictest union and most intimate communion with the party beloved but this the Soul cannot obtain but by Death O saith the Soul now I lye under the hatches troubled with a thousand infirmities I can seldom have a glimpse of Christ here well the time is at hand that I shall see him face to face and enjoy him in glory where I shall serve him without distraction and never be troubled more with vain thoughts or roving imaginations or any of Satans temptations Oh when will this time be The other graces of the Spirit are also necessary to this end to sweeten death such as Knowledge Repentance Obedience Humility Self-denial Patience Hope c. of which I shall not speak particularly Now the Promises are made to these graces not only of this life but of that to come among the rest of the good things promised is Heaven and Happiness but what is a carnal man the better for these promises that is not qualified for them but when by Faith we can see this Crown of glory and see our Names written upon it and get a Pisgah-sight of this heavenly Canaan we shall willingly venture over this Jordan and encounter all the Sons of Anak we meet in our way and not fear what Man what Devils what Death can do unto us get these Graces in exercise and you need not fear Fire and Faggot 10 Direction That you may thus empty the heart of sin and wickedness and replenish it with Grace and godliness that so you may be fit to live and fit to dye and fit to live with Christ-for ever 't is fit and necessary you take Gods way for it cannot be done by your own strength Improve therefore all the means which God hath afforded you for this end for those that refuse the means seldom attain the end Improve his Word and Ordinances these are the appointed means however some scorn at them and some think they are above them but those that go not this way seldom come to Heaven In the Word are given Rules how to live and how to dye and how to behave ourselves in all Conditions here is Oyl to be had and those that neglect will be to seek when the Bridegroom comes Those that now neglect the Wedding-garment will want it when they have occasion to use it and so be thrust out of the Bride-chamber This Word of God should be our daily study for here are directions both for life and death and none but those that are bad Husbands for the soul will neglect it here are the precious Promises which are our Fathers Legacy out of which the Soul by Faith sucks sweetness which are special Cordials against fainting fits which bear up the head above water and the heart in all storms and tempests here is direction in Heavens way yea way-marks set up that we should not erre nor wander here you may find what qualifications God requires in his servants and what Evidences for Heaven are good and authentick and what God will own another day and if by the help of the Spirit you can read them in your own hearts as in a counter pane there is no better Evidence for Heaven no greater Cordial in the world to bear up the heart here you may find comforts and consolatious in all your conditions and if you walk in this road you will meet with much help and assistance yea many companions in your Journey here you have the Spirit of God both to direct and comfort you and who can erre that hath such a guide or droop that hath such a comforter here you shall hear a voice behind you saying this is the way walk in it turn not to the right hand or to the left here you have the assistance of Gods Ministers to direct you but take heed of quenching the motions of his Spirit or abusing his Messengers lest his Spirit leave striving with you and God take away his Messengers in his anger here you may find many that have walked the same way met with the same troubles suffered the same afflictions temptations crosses and losses as you do and yet have born it with patience and overcome it with constancy and comfort here you may know the worst that death can do to you is for your advantage if you love God for such death cannot hurt kill you it may hurt you it cannot the worst it can do is but to send you to your Fathers house the sooner Meditate therefore upon this Word of God and also upon the Attributes of God and this must needs support you under sufferings Meditate also upon mans Mortality to quicken you in your pace of the Worlds vanity and emptiness to make you slight it and the fulness of Christ to make you to desire him The Meditation of death will not make you dye sooner but safer and the Promises will yield sweetness even in the pangs of death for death is to the godly but as a Pursivant to fetch them to Heaven and his wisdom power holiness justice goodness and truth are Cordials also and will help to keep the heart from fainting and desponding and will shield the Spirits against all crosses and afflictions they shall meet with and by Meditation in the Word you may learn the happiness of the godly and the miseries of the wicked and what will be the end of both yea you may find there what are the pains of Hell and the Joyes of Heaven and these may be used as motives to a holy life Prayer also is an excellent duty to prepare for death by this God is engaged to help at a time of need Christian Conference also is another help wherein one fire-stick helps to inkindle another till all come into a
him that is able to receive meat Oh Death how acceptable is thy Judgment to the needy and to him whose strength faileth him c. The best and holiest men have dyed for Innocency it self is no Target against it otherwise Christ had not dyed in whose mouth was found no guile The stoutest and strongest cannot resist death Sampson himself must yield him the victory The wisest cannot preserve himself alive Solomon himself that had studied the nature of all Vegetables 1 King 4.33 from the Cedar in Lebanon to the Hyssop that grows upon the wall yet found out none that could cure the dint of Death contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis The worst of men also are subjected to his power those that would sell their Souls to save their lives cannot do it there is no power can resist it at one time it prevail'd against almost all the world as in the Flood against populous Cities as Sodom and Gomorrah c. against Potent Princes and great Armies as over Pharaoh and his Host Senacherib's Army where an hundred fourscore and. five thousand were slain in one Night thus good and bad pass through the same Gate but then their way soon turns the Godly to the right and the Wicked to the left hand the one to Heaven and the other to Hell for as death is an outlet to let us out of the World so 't is an inlet to let us in to Eternity to the Godly an inlet to Eternal Bliss and to the wicked into Eternal misery Then will a difference be made between the Good and the Bad as wide as between Heaven and Hell Death is a debt we owe to nature and pay it we must and t is not much matter whether it be sooner or later or whether we dye a natural or violent Death they both signifie the same thing should'st thou turn every stone and use all means direct or indirect thou canst not long preserve thy life possibly if thou deny payment of this debt when God requires it thou maist preserve it a little longer and but a little for God will ere long distrain for the Debt and then cast thee into an Eternal Prison Gods determinate counsel is upon thee and he knows eventually when thy death shall be he hath determined thy bounds that thou canst not pass God commanded Abraham to Sacrifice his Son and it was his Duty so to do and his sin if he refused though God determined eventually it should not be done yet if he had refused it he had miss'd of the Blessing Thy appointed time is with God but unknown to thee 't is his revealed will that is thy duty thou must look after not eventually what shall come to pass secret things belong to God Deu. 29.29 but things revealed unto us if God and his truth his Gospel and his cause call thee to lay down thy life and seal thy doctrine with thy blood thou must carry thy life in thy hand and lay it down at his feet If God command thee to lose thy life 't is thy duty to dye and if by denying Christ life be prolonged 't is a hard bargain and 't is no less thy sin though God eventually determined thy life to be prolonged There are many that hasten their death by their intemperance and sacrifice their lives to Bacchus and Venus to drunkenness and lust and so become a Victim to the Devil himself yet are not Gods decrees altered for though many hasten their death or use unlawful means to preserve their lives and so both the one and the other become Guilty yet Gods decrees are not altered If thou devote thy life to God and fully resolvest to lose it for his sake if he require it though he never call thee forth to suffer thou wilt not lose thy reward and if thou resolvest thou wilt part with Christ and kick up thy profession rather than suffer for him if he never put thee upon the trial God will take the will for the deed whether thou wilt or no dye thou must for death will not be bribed Crowns and Kingdoms will not prolong their owners lives thou maist say of death as Paul of preaching A necessity is laid upon me will I nill I dye I must if willing I have a reward if against my will I cannot help it death will not be corrupted with bribes won with promises nor terrified with threats When the time will be 't is not so much thy concern to know as thy duty to prepare for it thou maist lose thy self but canst not preserve thy life one day beyond the appointed time if thou deny God a temporal life he will deny thee eternal life I have read of one in persecuting times being called to suffer for the truth he had professed cryes out The fire is hot I cannot burn but within a short space he was burnt in his own house and we have cause to fear he finds the fire of Hell incomparably hotter than the flames he was burnt in which yet he could not evade Death triumphs over all ranks and Estates of men from the King upon his Throne to his meanest Subject Mors pauperum tabernas regumque turres aequo pulsat pede Death makes no difference ere long the grizly hand of Death will with a winding sheet cover those naked Breasts and spotted Faces which have been the Looking-glasses of lust And worms will ere long make their nest between those Breasts which are now exposed to sight and sale and eat out those wanton windows of love and messengers of lust death will then cool the courage of the stoutest hot-spur Crowns and Scepters are the spoils taken by this Conqueror as trophies of his victories Job 14.7 man that is born of a woman is of short life and full of trouble Inward corruption disposeth us to Death as well as open violence thy body is an earthen pitcher ready to break at every knock this earthly tabernacle must be repaired with food or Physick or both daily or it will soon fall about thy ears many are the harbingers of death many are the sensible decayes in nature which tell thee thy end is approaching the weakness of thy sight the dulness of thy hearing the rottenness of thy â—eeth the wrinkles in thy face and thy gray hairs mind thee that this crazy Pitcher will not long come home from the water unbroken The contrary Elements whereof thy body is compounded the disagreeing qualities within thee of cold and heat drought and moisture will at length quarrel for the upper hand and work the destruction of the compositum were there no external cause of thy dissolution these will effect what thy greatest enemy can but do though haply not so soon The fruit when 't is once ripe will fall if it be not gathered the Rose will wither if not pluckt the sturdiest Oak or Elm or Cedar will at length yield to time Methusalems glass will run out and these
The Lord saith he hath bid him curse David God can yea he will if it be good for thee preserve thee from a violent death and he will preserve thee till the appointed time come they cannot antedate his Decree thou shalt not be cut down sooner neither canst thou stay longer than he hath appointed and dost call God thy God and thy Father and yet resist his will dost pray Thy will be done and yet when he makes known his will dost thou oppose it but haply thou maist say How shall I know it is his will that I shall lay down my life why when thou canst not save it without denying Christ or his Truth or committing sin for he that commiteth sin is of the Devil and in such a case think not to wrestle out of the hands of God sin will find thee out and never any man set himself against God and prospered There is no resisting of God when thou canst not breathe without him all diseases are his Executioners and wicked men can do no more to the one or the other of them thou must submit and not much matter to which to neither of them thou should submit willingly but to God in both thou shouldst seek all lawful means against the one and the other but nothing but what is lawful when God denies help go not to the Devil for a medicine to submit to death when thou canst not help it is no praise-worthy thing when thou canst save thy life by unlawful means and wilt not this shall not be unrewarded a Crown of glory will be given thee He deserves death that in time of danger deserteth his Captain and falls off to the enemy Keep thy life thou canst not without his leave and if thou lay it down for his sake 't is not the way to lose it but to save it to hide it with God in Christ and doth not Reason tell thee he is fittest to dispose of thy life that gave it he is too righteous to do thee wrong and too gracious to do thee hurt never was indulgent Father or tender-hearted Mother more carefull of their only Child than God will be of thee thou shalt not lye longer in the furnace than need is he afflicts not willingly nor grieves the children of men thou art but like a sleepy child that wrests and wrings and cries and will not be undrest and thy Father must carry thee to bed against thy will and what harm hath he done then when thou awakest thou wilt thank him for it When Corn is ripe it should be cut and who is fitter to know when 't is ripe than the great Husbandman when thy work is done thou maist go to thy rest and who better knows than the Lord of the Vineyard if that he take thee off in the midst of thy day and give thee the wages for the whole day what cause is there of complaint Nay should he give thee the whole wages for one hours work if God call thee off 't is not to stop thy wages or to blame thee for working no longer Thou must submit to the stroak of death and do it willingly whether it be natural or violent for consider God hath most right to thy life and is the fittest person to determine of the Manner of thy death He gives men Laws to live by and yet many will take their own wills and waies to their own destruction he gives men Laws to dye by look that thou follow not thy own will to perdition thou art but a Tenant at will if thou resign not at thy Landlords will it will be the worse for thee he will never provide a better house but a Prison for thee he is the fittest to determine when to pull down these houses of clay and who shall do it and if thou willingly submit he will raise thee up a Spiritual building an house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens Is it not unreasonble for thee to think to keep the keyes of life and death at thy girdle why shouldst thou think to dispose of thy death any more than of thy birth or of thy latter end more than thou didst of thy beginning it was through him that thou wast born and at his dispose shall be thy death if thou wouldst wring this key out of Gods hand into whose hands wouldst thou commit it is any in the world fitter for it than he is nay can any other in the world preserve thy life thou art the clay and he is the Potter and whose is the Pot but the pot-makers and who may better dash it with his foot than he may he not dispose of his own as he pleaseth he is best able to maintain life and best able to take it away for if he tread upon thee he leaves thee dead behind him if he with-hold thy breath thou returnest to thy dust and all thy thoughts perish Doth not he rule in Heaven and in the Earth doth not he direct the Sun the Moon and the Stars in their courses doth not he cause Summer and Winter Cold and Heat Seed-time and Harvest Day and Night and thou letst him alone with these and why because thou canst not take this work out of his hand he makes the Grass to grow for the Cattel and Corn for the service of Man he waters the earth with his Clouds and causeth the Springs to run among the Hills why dost not take these out of his hand or must he rule all the rest and only thee must be excepted hath he more wisdom than thou hast in all other things only in the disposing of thy life thou outwittest him why art thou not his creature as well as others and how cam'st thou from under his dominion doth it beseem a rational man much less a gracious man to argue at this rate and except himself from Gods dispose and argue himself from under his tuition and think himself to be an independent creature fit to stand upon his own legs Doth not he know best when his work is done and when his Roses are ripe and when his Children are fit for glory or is any other fitter to determine these controversies or wouldst thou dispose of thy own life if so wouldst have all men have the same priviledge then Heaven especially Hell would be long empty for what wicked man would leave the Earth to go thither and God must be beholding to his people to come to him how should Judgment and Justice then be executed the sword of Justice would rust in the Scabbard for what offender would lay down his head upon the block willingly How would the Earth then be filled with violence and all flagitious crimes if thou wouldst not have others have the like priviledge then thou art partial if thou wouldst thou art foolish but if it were at thy own dispose how couldst maintain it Thou couldst neither provide thy self food neither could thy life be preserved by food without Gods blessing neither
everlasting why haltest thou between two opinions 1 King 18.21 if the Lord be God follow him and if Baal be God follow him If God be better than the world follow him fully and if the world be best then pursue it with all thy might but consider well what thou dost for this will be bitterness in the latter end Hast thou so long laboured and prayed and ran and wrestled for a prize that now seems not worth having dost thou now come within sight of Heaven and doth thy heart fail thee Hast thou put thy hand to the plow and now lookest back didst thou begin in the Spirit and wilt now end in the flesh wilt thou be like wicked men and Seducers that grow worse and worse Hath the world bribed thee or the Devil stopt thy mouth Take heed thou make not Judas's purchase or Demas's choice If thou change thy master consider what is his wages as well as what is his work and if this please thee go on Dost thou want nothing here to make thee happy that thou art so loth to away well let me tell thee if thou miss of Christ thou wilt want nothing to make thee everlastingly miserable if the world be all thou expectest then 't is no wonder thou art so loth to leave it for who can willingly part with his only Happiness and be stript of all his desired enjoyments and not only so but enter into everlasting misery for so they will do that have their portion in this life and those that make the world their God or love any thing though it be life it self above Christ 'T is no wonder that these fear the Pursevant that fetches them to execution and drags them to Hell He that hath the world for his All will be loth to lose all at one cast these may look upon death as one that comes to torment them before the time death to those is like as Belshazzars hand-writing was to him a terror and amazment and there is nothing that is in the world can speak peace to such a soul if his conscience be awake 'T is not Lucretius his Epicurean Rules nor Anacreons wanton Odes can then lull it asleep or cease the barking of it or shift off the terror of death A wounded Spirit who can bear but one that believeth that death is but a gathering to his Fathers a sweet sleep a going to Christ and being with him and that the body though laid in the grave shall not be lost but raised up again at the last day and made like unto the glorified body of Christ How unsuitable is it for such to be terrifyed with the apprehensions of it but the thoughts of the Immortality and the Incorruptibility and the Spirituality and Glory of the body at the Resurrection should drown the noise silence the doubts and fears of the danger that lies in the way and the pains and pangs of death it self The pains of death to these are worse than being dead and this is but a flea-biting to the joy that follows but to the wicked the pain of dying is nothing in comparison of the consequences of death and the tormenting pains of the second death for were Hell no worse than the pangs which dying men suffer it were not so formidable Rev. â— 6 6.16 In misery men shall seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to dye and death shall flee from them then will they say to the rocks and mountains fall on us and cover us c. 'T is wonder how wicked men can eat and drink and sleep and all this while know they are in debt and danger yea that there is a Sergeant ready to arrest them whensoever the Creditor will and to cast them into prison out of which they are never like to get sure some judiciary hardness is falne upon them that they are sleeping thus on the top of the Mast and playing securely before the mouth of the Lyon or before the Cannons mouth and are more insensible than brute Beasts of their danger approaching yea they hasten their death and misery by the intemperance of their lives and sacrifice not only their health but life also to Lust and Drunkenness to luxury and excess and will not suffer Nature to spin out the thred of their lives to the utmost extent but put a period to it themselves and cut off the thred of their lives with their own hands these men run headlong to Hell and wilfully upon death which they had cause most of all to fear and avoid The apprehension of approaching death is not the same to those men and to others that believe that death will end all their miseries and land them into everlasting happiness the same Judge absolveth the innocent and condemns the guilty and those men have not the same apprehensions of him the one longs for his coming the other fears it 'T is rather a wonder that the Saints that have assurance of their future glory do not long for the time of their dissolution and seek to hasten it by some illegal way than use any indirect means to live when they are called to dye I know the former is unlawful for we must keep our station while God appoints us and so is the latter for we must come off the Centinel when he calls us but it is more natural to desire happiness than misery and to use indirect means to procure the former than the latter We read in the primitive times when many Christians were to suffer of a Woman and her children that were hasting to the place and being met by one of the persecutors who demanded whither she went and why she made so much haste she answered She was a Christian and hearing many Christians were that day to suffer she hasted with her children to suffer with them and feared lest she should come too late Ignatius was afraid lest the Prayers of the Church should prevent him of suffering for Christ and of his Crown of Martyrdome These had not such fearful apprehensions of death as thou seemest to have Sure those that look for perfection by death should not be afraid of it and if these tabernacles of our bodies must down what matter is it whether they are taken down or burnt down seeing the materials both waies will be preserved the one turns them to dust the other to ashes and in a little time they will moulder of themselves into dust Death to the godly is but a parting of two intimate friends the Soul and the Body for a time and both the one and the other will be gainers by the separation the Soul goes immediately to Heaven and the Body lies in the grave for a season and shall thence be raised in unspeakable glory and God will build it up again an habitation for the soul at his own proper cost and charges Death to them is but a Gaol-delivery where the soul that hath been long a prisoner shall be set
true it wounds thy body but thy Soul is safe but it destroyes them both in body and soul and it brings more profit to the soul than dammage to the body 't is but as the prick of a pin to a dangerous Ulcer which were it not prickt would prove mortal it will put an end to thy pains and a beginning to thy Joyes for when thy life expires sin also dyes and sin and sorrow are breathed out with thy life and from this day thy Lease in Heaven bears date which shall never expire Rouse up thy self O my Soul be not dejected God minds thee no hurt Death will not cannot hurt thee Kill me they may saith the Martyr hurt me they cannot the worst they can do is but to send me to my Fathers house the sooner Many a warning thou hast had many a Corps thou hast interred many a Funeral Sermon thou hast Preached for shame say not thou hadst not sufficient warning wast thou so mad as to think of going to Heaven another way or that thou wast immortal when thou sawest so many about thee dye daily or that thou shouldst live to old age when thou sawest so many dye young and felt so many sensible Symptoms of thy approaching death thou hast as thou didst suppose some grounded hopes that thou hadst a part in the first Resurrection and that therefore the second death on thee had no power and why then is death so terrible Many have more distempers in their Souls than in their Bodies 't is true this is thy case yet thou hast hoped thine are not mortal the malignity of the disease is over when many others have Plague-Sores running upon them these may expect death and have cause to fear it it will but heal thy distempers but inrage theirs thou hast had many meditations of death and many discourses with death and you did seem pretty well agreed thou hast looked death in the face and is he now become more terrible or art thou more timerous that when he comes to thy Bed-side draws thy Curtains and shakes thee by the hand thou tremblest hath Christ done thee no good by his passion by subduing Death disarming him pulling out the sting and trampling him under foot yea laying him prostrate at thy feet hath all the pains thou hast taken in heavens way workt no more upon thee set thee up no higher where now is thy promised obedience and thy prayers Thy will be done when thou art ready to resist Gods Will when 't is manifested and preferrest thine own before it why dost call thy Father the only wise God when thou thinkest thy own wit best and that thou knowest best when 't is best for thee to dye and wilt not submit to his will and that if thou wouldst speak out thy mind is to indent with Christ this thou wilt do or Suffer but not that this sin thou wilt leave but that thou wilt not thou wouldst pick and choose thy duties and take the easiest part of it and leave the difficult dangerous and costly part undone and wilt not have heaven at so dear a rate Thou pretendest a desire to be happy and who doth not Balaam desires the death of the righteous and that his end may be like his but they will not live the righteous mans life and thou art not willing to dye his death for he is conformable to the will of God both in life and death which is that thou dost dislike O my Soul some great thing is amiss with thee thy corruptions are as strong fetters to hold thee in the Devils Slavery thy grace is weak and cannot procure thy freedom the Devil is too cunning for thee the world subtil and thy own heart deceitful to betray thee into Satans hands Oh my God this is my condition this is the estate of my Soul here lyes my distemper the world lyes too close to my heart and Christ lyes at too great a distance my corrupt deceitful heart is ever and anon puting me on to choose this for my happiness a little Grace I see will not carry me through the temptations that lye before me but Lord speak the word and grace will flourish and corruption will dye thou hast said and I believe it that thou wilt not break the bruised reed Mat. 12.20 nor quench the smoaking flax till thou bring forth Judgment unto victory Lord I believe help my unbelief and let not my little grace be lost in the great heap of the rubbish of my corruptions Lord if thou open mine eyes to see the emptiness of the creature and the fulness of Christ then shall I love the one and despise the other Psal 119.32 and shall run the ways of thy Commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart I see no reason why I should be exempted from obeying thy Will even to the laying down of my life and though flesh and blood will not yield willing obedience to it yet 't is my resolution thus to do Lord strengthen my resolution I know my fears are the result of my Infidelity Lord strengthen my faith that I may overcome them for by thy strength I shall stand and without thy assisting grace I shall Apostatize and fall back Leave me not to my self for then I shall undo my self dishonour my God scandalize Religion bring a reproach upon the Gospel wound my Conscience break my Peace with my God and undo my Soul Luk. 9.62 Let me not O Lord now I have put my hand to the Plow look back again Nor when I have begun in the Spirit Gal. 3.3 end in the flesh Rev. 2.10 Lord make me faithful to the death and then give me a Crown of Life MEDITAT V. The World is not desirable to a Christian OH my Soul why art thou desirous to stay in the World and why so unwilling to go to thy Father The time was when thou wast otherwise minded thou lookedst upon it as Bochim a place of tears a Golgotha an unlovely habitation thou wast not willing to dwell in Meseck and in the tents of Kedar thy affections did like fire mount upward and what Load-stone hast now to draw thee back thou wast at a point with all things under the Sun and didst wear the World about thee as a loose garment ready to cast off upon all occasions and dost now spit upon thy hands and take better hold dost now set up thy Staff and with Peter say 't is good being here Art now beginning to build Tabernacles here and slight that house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens thou didst conclude with Solomon Eccles 1.14 All is Vanity and vexation of spirit and now at last hast found some solidity 2 Pet. 2.22 art thou now returnining with the dog to his Vomit and the washed Sow to her wallowing in the Mire are the Scales of ignorance now fallen from thine eyes and dost thou see some excellency in the worlds enjoyments that before
Moses shall come and bring it into the Heavenly Canaan and though Death in it self be a Punishment yea a curse threatned upon the fall and remains so still to wicked men to whom it is an inlet into eternal misery yet to the godly the curse is taken away by the death of Christ who for us was made a Curse and dyed that cursed death upon the Cross to take away the Malignity of it who by his death disarmed Death and took away his weapons wherein he trusted yea took away his sting that now thou maist put the Serpent into thy bosom and now Death is so far from putting an end to Believers happiness that it puts an end to their sorrows and is the very Gate to eternal Life and at the very stroak of Death in that moment of time their Joyes commence and their sorrows end death to the Wicked is a Pursivant sent from Hell to fetch them thither to the Godly a Messenger sent from their Father to bring them home 't is to the body but a quiet sleep free from hurtful dreams or fearful Visions The Grave is but a Bed of Roses perfumed by the Body of Christ a resting Chamber a Repository where God lays up his Jewels wherein thy dust will be kept as in a Cabinet and not one grain of it shall be lost Rev. 20.13 but the Earth the Sea the Grave and Hell shall then give up their dead and then both Body and Soul shall be received into the City of Pearl where no dirty Dog shall trample upon the Pavement when that Death hath done his Office the Angels shall do theirs and carry the Soul into Abrahams bosom and lodge it for ever in the arms of Christ and at the Resurrection when the Soul and Body shall be reunited they shall both be glorified for ever and freed from all mutation and change and all things else that may be called Evil when Death hath broken the Cage the Bird will be at liberty and sing sweetly when the prison Walls are pull'd down the prisoner will be free and is this that which thou fearest how many thousand deaths would a miscarrying Soul endure for Heaven at last yea if Eternity were spent in the continual feeling the very pangs of Death it would be much easier for a damned Soul if it felt no more than now it is and art thou so nice that thou canst not endure it for one Hour for one moment upon the promise of Eternal life Death brings in the Harvest of thy hopes the fruit of thy Prayers the reward of thy pains and of all the losses and sufferings thou hast had for Christ God is now sending for thee to make thee a King and wilt thou now withdraw thy self like Saul and hide thy self as he did when they sought him to make him King here lyes the perfection and end of thy Faith and of thy Hope the Salvation of thy Soul for these Graces as well as others are imperfect here here is the only place where happiness is to be had the only soil where hearts-ease grows and yet must God needs whip thee home or thou wilt not matter it well if now thou refuse to come at his call when thou call'st he may give thee no answer and when thou knockest he may not open but sure some root of bitterness lyes at the bottom either thou dost not believe there is such a happiness or that it is not thine or hast placed thine affections elsewhere and canst not remove them and made some other choice which thou wilt not leave Didst thou stedfastly believe that there was a reward for the Righteous and that thou art one of those that shall receive it how can this be reconciled with thy fears would any wise man take a great deal of pains for an Inheritance and then lose it all for want of taking possession thou hast in thy life-time 't is very like suffered a hundred times as much pain as thou art like to do at thy death and shall this dismay thee more than all the rest the day of Death is not so gloomy as 't is thought to be Solomon when he was upon his Throne in the midst of his Jollity commends his Cosfin Better saith he is the day of Death than the day wherein a man is born Eccles 7.1 Many of the wiser Heathens were of the same mind they wept and mourned at the birth of their Children to consider the troubles they were like to meet with in this troublesome World when they feasted and rejoyced at the death of their friends because their troubles were over and their rest was come and surely Believers have better ground of rejoycing than they had a more sure foundation for Faith and Hope to build upon Oh Death how pleasant is thy face to those acquainted with thee thou art black but comely to those that know thee thou art indeed attended with a little pain but with endless bliss the one makes makes thee feared the other beloved Oh my Soul let us draw a little nearer and take a more exact view of Death and see what is the worst hurt he can do us the best good he will bring us and compare the one with the other and compute the odds and see whether we can make a savers bargain of it and if so how little cause of fear we have It may be thou thinkest thou must part with all thy carnal Joys and worldly delights thy sensual pleasures thy merry Company and bid farewell to all thy merry meetings and pleasant Jokes with all thy Recreations Pastimes and pleasant Sports and be Buried in silence and laid in the dust and must bid thy pleasures adieu and poor Soul is this thy trouble and the cause of thy fear hast thou not better in exchange for them are there not more and more lasting Joyes in the presence of God Psal 16.11 Rivers of pleasures without bank or bottom at the right hand of God for evermore unknown Pleasures unseen Delights which no eye hath seen nor ear hath heard of neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive of such as no stranger shall ever meddle with Pro. 5.14 and will not those make thee amends Let the Epicures of the Age that choose pleasures for their portion plead this argument let the Drunkard howl when the new Wine faileth Joel 1.5 or when the Cup is snatched from his mouth Alas thou hast met with little Joyes and those mixed and the greatest part Wormwood and Gall a litttle Honey and many Stings a little bitter-sweet pleasure that ends in pain yea short and transitory in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is Heaviness but what are those to the Joyes unspeakable and full of Glory that is in Heaven 'T is true there are some that are the Sons and Daughters of pleasure Psal 73.5 That are not in trouble as other men neither are
the Sea and Hell must give up their dead and though worms may feed upon thy body yet thou shalt neither feel nor fear them Psal 22.6 and why shouldst thou disdain thy fellow-creatures seeing man in Scripture account is but a Worm Job 25.6 those cannot devour the body so as to hide it from God neither can they make it loathsom to God When a house is pull'd down it seems a ruinous heap but many times 't is in order to rebuilding and then 't is more glorious But if it be the pain of dying that doth affright thee and I know not what else it can be consider there is very little cause for it for we may daily see that many die and depart the world without any shew of sensible pain and depart in peace nay as in a sleep sometimes in a swoun without motion or appearance of pain and art afraid of that which even sucking Children undergoe and which all the world have or must endure and were it painfull wouldst thou grutch to bear an hours pain for Eternal Glory who usually sufferest as much pain for a meaner reward If thy dinner be sharp thy Supper will be sweet Thou wilt take pains for profit and suffer much for ease Oh my God did my dear Redeemer suffer such a shameful death for me to make me happy and shall I lose this happiness rather than go to enjoy it God forbid Lord give me in requisite qualifications and then call for me when and how thou pleasest yet Lord let me not dye unprepared and lose both my Life and Soul together MEDITAT VII Martyrdom not hurtful to a Christian OH my Soul what is it that thou dost boggle at Death thou hearest can do thee no hurt why then dost thou fear it O! but 't is a violent death thou fearest were it but a natural death thou couldst submit to it but to fall into the hands of the uncircumcised into the hand of bloody and deceitful men whose loving kindness is cruelty this thou canst not willingly bear all Death offers violence to nature and to be willing to dye by thy Enemies hand thou art not prest to use all unlawful means to escape but no means but what is lawful thou must be willing to submit to God and when he manifests this to be his will thou must chearfully suffer it but I fear this is but a Fig-leaf to cover a little Faith well let us argue the case To dye thou seemest willing but thou must choose thy death and God must have no hand in the business thou wouldst go to him but he must not send for thee especially by such a messenger thou likest not of This is Childrens play they would do any thing but what they are bid do go any whither but to School learn in any Book but their own But dost really think that thou art fitter to determine the circumstances of thy Death than God the time when the place where and the manner how or will God accept of thee for a Councellor in this case and what difference is there between the one and the other one stops thy breath and so will the other one sets an end to thy temporal being and so doth the other the consequences are the same and the pains of the natural death may be as great or greater than the other wouldst thou choose some violent distemper some raging disease some violent pain to end thy life Nay this thou likest not neither hadst thou the Stone the Strangury the Collick the Gout c. this might make thee live a dying life and make thee weary of thy life and with Job choose strangling rather than life and hadst rather endure this than a few minutes pain from the hands of man I fear this excuse is but to prolong thy time but buy not time at so dear a rate thou seemest careful not to come to Heaven too soon nor honour God too much by thy Death but take heed of wringing thy life out of his hands dye thou wilt thou sayest but it must be when thou caust live no longer and then no thanks to thee patience perforce is a Medicine for a mad Dog doth not Death whether by a Disease by the Sword or at the Stake signifie much the same thing as to the consequents of Death only the latter if it be in the cause of Christ speaks thee more a Christian and entitles thee to a Crown of Martyrdom and will encrease thy happiness Death at which door soever it comes in separates between the Body and the Soul but happily thou maist live a little longer by refusing to dye for Christ but will not a years enjoyment of God in Glory be as delightful to thee as a year longer spent upon the Earth and perhaps if the one be sooner than the other it may be with as little pain But suppose God should give thee thy choice either to dye a natural Death the next year or to dye by an enemies hand seven year after which wouldst thou choose I suppose thou wouldst seal to the longer Lease If so 't is not a violent death thou fearest so much as a short life but if this be thy fear to dye too soon God may send thee a languishing life and make thee long for death Job 3.21 22. and dig for it as for Silver and rejoyce exceedingly when thou canst find the grave But then 't is no thanks to thee to dye when thou canst live no longer or only desire death to be rid of thy pain and sometimes God punisheth an immoderate desire of life by imbittering their life to them and so makes them say as Job Troublesome nights are appointed to me If thou wilt willingly resign thy Life to God and leave it to his dispose thou wilt not make a losers bargain haply he may rescue it out of the Enemies hand however he will not be long in thy debt but for a temporal Life will give thee that which is Eternal which will be a thousand fold better Ignatius knew it when he said Burning hanging tearing my flesh in pieces with wild horses tantummodo ut Jesum nanciscar only let me enjoy Christ and was afraid left his friends should prevent his Martyrdom by their Prayers Seeing thy body must be reduced to dust 't is no matter whether it rot above ground or in it no matter whether thou be burnt to ashes or moulder to dust God will not lose one grain of thy dust Kill me they may saith the Martyr hurt me they cannot the worst they can do is but to send me to my Fathers house the sooner The love of Christ in the Martyrs was hotter than the Flames they burnt in and much allayed the heat of the Fire that some of them felt little or no pain O ye Papists saith one ye look for a miracle behold a miracle for in this fire I feel no pain it is to me as a bed of Roses They went as readily to
dye as to dine and accounted the day of their Death their Wedding day Paul was ready not only to be bound but to dye for Christ Many were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection they had Trial of cruel mocking scourging yea bonds and imprisonments they were stoned sawn asunder tempted slain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins Heb. 11.36 c. being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the World was not worthy they wandred in deserts and in mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth c. The more thou sufferest for Christ the more weighty will thy Crown of Glory be those that loved not their lives to the death but were killed for the Testimony of Jesus are placed under the Altar nay follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes and are cloathed with long white Robes and have Palms in their hands But if thou deny thy life to Christ he will deny thee entrance into this Heavenly Canaan and thou shalt not only lose thy reward but thy Soul also and expose thy self to Death Eternall If thou suffer with him thou shalt reign with him and if thou art ashamed of him he will also be ashamed of thee Those that honour him he will honour and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed If thou come to suffer for him as many eyes will be upon thee so many Prayers will be put up for thee and doubtless much comfort will be dropt into thy Soul by the Spirit of God who is the Comforter sent by God upon this business and God will stand by thee in suffering times and give in Cordials to refresh thy heart I have read of a Christian that under his Rack and Tortures as he after told his friends apprehended a young man with a handkerchief wiping the sweat off his face and comforting him The holy Angels will stand by thee and God will not be at a distance from his suffering Saints and who then need fear to dye that hath learnt to live if thou be prepared thou needst not fear what Messenger God sends for thee nor at what hour of the night thy master comes for Death cannot be sudden to the prepared Soul that is alwaies upon his watch and thou needst not fear what thy sufferings be if thou canst but say Propter te propter te Domine 'T is for thee and for thy sake we are killed all the day long and accounted as Sheep for the slaughter The more thou sufferest then the more deeply thou engagest God to thee and he will pay thee an hundred fold this is the best usury and the best way thou canst dispose of thy life for every year on Earth that thou hast lost thou shalt receive a thousand in Heaven and for one friend thou forsakest here thou shalt receive a thousand there and for every thing thou losest for his sake thou shalt be recompensed a thousand fold and as thou shalt have no loss so thy Enemies shall be no gainers by thy death they heap up coals of fire upon their own heads and without repentance prevent it augment their own damnation for Christ will take it as done to himself and their torments are like to be as durable as thy Joyes which will be for ever and ever Consider not so much what thou sufferest as for what and for whom if it be for the Truth it will prevail and if it be for Christ thou shalt not lose by it Truth is more precious than life it self and fit to be sealed with thy blood thou must deny thy self rather than deny thy God for he that gave thee thy life is fittest to dispose of it and whosoever parts with his life upon this account makes a good bargain he cannot buy this Gold too dear Many are the encouragements given in Scripture to persecuted Saints Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you And as great will be thy reward so great also are the company of thy fellow-sufferers even from righteous Abel to this day Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers Persecuted Yea Christ and his Apostles followed after for almost all of them dyed a violent death and greater than the Master is the Servant cannot be the world that hated Christ will hate his Servants also and persecute all that bear his Image If they hated him for righteousness sake they will hate all that are righteous Christ suffered for thee the wrath of God and wilt not thou suffer for him the wrath of man he was stung by Death and dost think it much to be strucken by it now the sting is out he suffered for thee the pains of Hell and think'st it too much to suffer the pangs of death for him when many times it is not so much as some have endured from an aking tooth and what is this to the recompense of reward he gave thee thy life and can take it if he please and yet desires thy consent and if thou refuse he will distrain of thee for this debt The worst of Enemies can but stop thy breath and the least of Creatures can do as much if animated by God The least Fly or Hair or Crumb of Bread will choak thee if God give it a commission and well maist thou fear it if thou hast denyed God to lay down thy life for his sake sickness or age will as surely end thy life as thy Enemies can though haply not so suddenly thou hast no assurance of it a day to an end neither canst thou have only put it into his hand and he will dispose of it for thy good how can the seed spring up if it be not sown or how can the body rise if not fallen if God suffer any to take away thy life 't is not out of any love to them or hatred to thee he loves his Child better than his Rod though sometimes the rod may be set on high when the Child is turned out of door yet when the child is reformed the rod shall be burnt they cannot preserve their own lives nor take away thine 't is God doth both and ere long they must tread the same steps and down to the same pit and travail the same road and enter Deaths dark Vault as well as others only here is the difference death which will bring thee as Joseph out of Prison will bring them in and as it knocks off the bolts from thy heels he will fasten shackles and chains upon theirs and shall bring them like Haman from his glory to his execution that death which will set an end to thy misery will terminate their felicity it will
rate The misery of a miscarrying soul is such that the consideration of it may send thee trembling to thy grave Here thou trucklest under a little pain and groanest out thy complaints Oh my Head Oh my Heart Oh my Bones Oh my Bowels But all this while thou hast some part free no distemper seizeth universally upon all parts at once or if it did it reaches only to the body the soul which is the noblest part is free this is not toucht Those that kill the body can do no more they cannot reach the soul but only as it sympathizes with the body but in hell there is no part free either of Soul or Body but all under hellish torments Here if thy back ake thy head may be well or if thy bones ake the heart may not be toucht but in hell all parts are affected not a finger free the rich Glutton had not his tongue excepted Luk. 16.25 neither could he get one drop of water to cool it but he was wholly tormented in this flame And not the body only but the soul also must suffer torments and that in every part power and faculty of it no part of the soul or body free and these hellish pains are not only universal but intolerable also and yet must be endured for the mighty God will preserve the soul and body in being inable them to live under these hellish sufferings Here the poor creature falls under the infinite wrath of the Great God which like a river of brimstone kindles this flame which shall never go out Isa 30.25 which while God is God shall never cease and this hellish fire seiseth upon the soul and body as the fire doth upon the lump of pitch or brimstone which being once kindled never shall expire Now though some few sparks of this wrath have faln upon the world yet the whole torrent of it is reserved for hell but we may judge of the Lion by his paw one drop of this Ocean drowned the whole world except eight persons and another drowned Pharaoh and his army in the red Sea one spark of it burnt up Sodom and Gomorrah Admah and Zeboim a little of it swallowed up Corah and his complices into the earth slew twenty four thousand Israelites at one time and one hundred fourscore and five thousand of Senacheribs Army in one night and many times ruines Kingdoms depopulates Countries and layes a fruitful land waste for the wickedness of the inhabitants Hundreds of examples may be given of this nature but all this is but a flea-biting to Hell torments which damned souls must undergo all this reaches but the body yet sometimes some flashes light upon the soul as fire into the the conscience as upon Cain Judas Spira Satomias a Louvain Divine which have made them weary of their lives yea to chuse strangling rather than life a wounded Spirit who can bear But all this is short of the torments of Hell which make up a compleat misery but what they are we are at a loss to know and because we cannot reach them let us yet reach a little towards them Thou hast heard of and in some measure felt tormenting diseases such as the Stone the Gout the Strangury the raging pain of aking teeth c. these make mens lives uneasy yea sometimes death desirable those thus tormented deserve pity yea and are pitied by those that see them but alas this doth but darkly shaddow out these torments but we have read of some that have suffered greater than those inflicted by men haply instigated by the Devil some have had their joints crackt upon the wheel tortured upon the rack others fleyed alive some have had their flesh pull'd off their bones with red hot pincers some have been pull'd in pieces with Wild Horses or the Arms of trees drawn together for that purpose some have been burnt at the stake some boiled in lead some rosted alive upon Gridirons iron chairs or in frying pans some hang'd up by the hand till they were dead some sawn asunder some famisnt some starved to death some put to one torture some to another whatever the wit of man or the policy of hell prompted the persecutors to to make their lives miserable and their deaths painful and this moved pity in some of the spectators but shall we chuse out the most exquisite of all those and compare it with the torments of hell alas it bears no proportion for though they were sharp yet short I have indeed read of some by the great Tyrant commanded to be fleyed alive and that they might be sensible of death as he said it was done by degrees that they were fourteen daies in dying this was savage cruelty but as the pains were short of hell torments for it only reacht the body so fourteen dayes was far short of eternity but if all those forementioned pains and tortures had been inflicted upon one man and all the rest that ever poor wretch suffered and if this mans life had been preserved under these torments one whole year what heart if not made of Adamant but would lament him most men would think him miserable yet this comes short of the case in hand Those pains that reach the body only and touch not the soul come short of hell torments that reach both body and soul and what is one year to eternity these are invented by men haply not without the advice of the Devil but hell torments are devised by God as a sufficient recompence for the breaking of his laws by men and Devils where the soul the nobler part of man as well as the body shall be tormented which neither man nor Devil but only God alone could do the soul which should have done God the greatest service shall no doubt have the greatest punishment because it should have ruled the body and yet did God the greatest dishonour and the Devil the most work The never dying worm like Titius's Vulture will alwaies feed upon them and yet they shall never be consumed It cannot be a hard bargain to part with a temporal life for an eternal Nay it is not at thy dispose whether thou wilt dye or no then it were not so much though yet too egregious folly for dye thou must but the business is whether thou canst prolong thy life with the loss of thy soul a little longer and but a little In all other sufferings thou mayst have some respite some ease but in hell there is none now thou graplest with a disease or at worst with a man but in this with the Almighty Here thou hast some friends to comfort thee to pity thee at least but there is neither comfort nor pity The Devil and his Angels will rejoice in thy torments for being tormented themselves they have no greater solace than in tormenting thee here thou wilt be for ever helpless and comfortless and shalt not have so much as one drop of water to cool thy tongue Lu. 16.24 Oh
thy back upon Christ he will turn his back upon thee and be ashamed of thee If thou make light of his Supper thou shalt not tast of his daintes The question thou seest is not whether death be desirable or no Nature it self answers the contrary but whether the first or second death be the greater evil and so whether is to be chosen when both cannot be avoided The question is not whether pain be eligible but whether the pains of death or hell be the greater Not whether life be desirable but whether life or Christ be the better Whatever thy senses may say rectifyed Reason which should govern the sensitive faculties will tell thee the second death is far more formidable and that 't is better to deny thy self than deny thy Redeemer Oh my God is this the reward of Apostacy is this the wages the Devil gives his best servants Through thine assisting grace I will be thine Lord I resolve I will never forsake thee Lord do thou never leave me to my self nor forsake me MEDITAT X. Of Heavens Glory the reward of dying for Christ OH my soul thou hast seen the danger of revolting and denying Christ thou hast had a view of hell which is the reward of this sin thou hast looked into it and had a glimpse of it though it was but a little representation a true map of it the Devil himself cannot make nor give a full discription but here is enough to stay thy stomach how thinkst of it if thou trade for it canst thou make a savers bargain if thou lose thy soul to save thy life For this is the trade thou drivest if thou deny Christ here is the Devils offered wages 't is true he sugers this bitter pill with a promise of a longer miserable life in a cheating world but he cannot make good his bargain though he will not be behind hand with his wages Mat. 25.41 if thou depart from Christ now he will bid thee depart from him for ever what is thy resolution Halt not between two opinions if God be God serve him 1 Kin. 18.27 if Baal be God serve him thou canst not serve two masters God and Mammon If thou pretend to both thou art like to be cast off by both by God and the world as many hypocrites are the world hates them because they look like the godly and God hates them because they are really wicked consider therefore who is like to be the best master and who will give the best wages and if the ballances are yet equally poized I shall put in one weight more even an eternal weight of glory into Gods end which may haply turn the scales though the whole world were in the other end for if thou be faithful to the death thou shalt receive a crown of life and this crown will really over-ballance all that the Devil can put into the other end Thou hast seen there is but a little in the world worth the losing and a great deal in hell worth the fearing let us see if there be any thing in heaven worth the enjoying in the world is nothing but vanity in hell nothing but misery and in Heaven nothing but felicity now what wise man would lose this felicity and endure this misery for a little while to enjoy this vanity Thou hast seen the Devils wages that is the best of it for the worst the Devil himself cannot make thee understand for it is inexpressible and no word in humane language can set it forth to the life yet thou hast had a tast of it and a tast is better than a whole draught Now if thou would'st see what wages God will give thee thou must make a journey also into Heaven and see if there be any thing that may win upon thy affections thou seest already what the Devil and the world have bidden thee see also what wages God offers thee and then choose as thou seest cause see if there be any thing in Heaven to make up all thy losses crosses sufferings and pains which thou must be at for Christs sake and if there be not take thy course and make another choice view those celestial habitations those mansions of glory prepared for those that confess Christ before men and lose any thing for his sake view this purchased Inheritance this Crown of glory and those eternal pleasures that are at Gods right hand and see if God do not outbid the Devil and the World and so best deserves thy affections and consider whether this may not a little allay thy overmuch desire of life and fear of death and make thee willing to be at thy Redeemers will and Makers pleasure one view of this celestial Paradice may make thee disrelish all temporal felicity But how shall we sing the songs of Sion in a strange land or what conceptions can we have of these Heavenly Mansions while we abide in houses of clay Water can ascend no higher than the Fountain-head and Nature cannot transcend Nature what conceptions can a beast have of a rational being much lower must we have of a celestial being for the disproportion is greater how canst thou view those gloryes surpassing a thousand Suns when thou canst not view one Sun when it shines in its splendour but thy weak eyes are offended how canst utter those things which the Apostle that saw them calls inutterable how canst discourse of the Father of Spirits and knowest so little of the nature of a Spirit nay art so ignorant of thy own soul or tell what it is to enjoy God in glory when those little glimpses of him here are inexpressible or how canst thou discourse of that which eye never saw ear never heard of neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive of viz. What God is and what he hath prepared for those that love him for as those hellish flames which the wicked suffer cannot be fully described by those that endure them no more can those celestial joyes by those that enjoy them much less by a frail creature that hath had very little tast of those honey-dews that fall upon the heirs of glory In this wilderness of troubles we see few of those Canaans grapes and foretasts of Glory the full fruition no man living can discover Yet let us get a Pisgah sight of Canaan a remote view of glory and judge a little of the worth of the Jewel by the richness of the Cabinet that holds it and haply thou maist by the report as the Queen of Sheba of Solomons wisdom get some conceptions of it that may make thee like her be willing to take the journey though thou hearest not the one half of what there really is to be seen and though thy conceptions reach not the matter in hand yet may they reach thy affections and serve to dazle thine eyes that all earthly glory shall seem little to it To this purpose let us view the bespangled Spheres adorned with those beauty
full of trouble Yet many wish their dayes were three times double The Captive Slaves that in the Gallies lye To end their Bondage yet are loth to dye They flee from death although he be their friend For when he stops their Breath their Sorrows end Life is a warfare Death doth stint the strife We leave not fighting till we leave our life We fight against our sins the world and Devils At death we fully Vanquish all those evils To heavenly Joyes Death opens us the door Where sin and sorrow they shall be no more There 's no Corruption shall molest us there There 's no Temptation that we need to fear Why fear we Death then he this Boon will give Our Enemies shall dye but we shall live Life is the day wherein we labour hard Death is the night and then comes our reward Now we with Tempests on the Seas are driven Death is the Wind that blows us to our Haven Is he less happy that a brisker Gale Drives to the Shore or he that 's under Sail Whom fierce tempestuous winds as yet are driving Who with a thousand dangers yet are striving In life we in the raging Surges be Death comes and lands us in Eternity In life the Saints are Heirs but under age When death comes they receive their Heritage Heaven is our Kingdom but to come thereat There is no other way but through this Gate Life is our Journey Death our Journeys end Life is our Enemy and Death our Friend Death like a Pilot guides us to the Shoar He is the Porter that must ope ' the door We cannot serve our God or Christ enjoy Without distraction till our dying day Death 's but a quiet sleep when wearied 'T is but put off our Cloaths and go to bed Death is Gods pursivant and will compell Gods Friends to go to Heaven his Foes to Hell He is his Messenger none can prevent him None can resist him or the Lord that sent him Both Prince and Peasant drink of the same cup When he invites them home with him to Sup. All men must pledge the health Abel began There 's none exempt the Master nor the man The greatest Potentate cannot escape The way to Heaven and Hell lye through this Gate The high the low the rich and eke the poor When he doth knock must open him the door Nor fear nor favour makes him turn aside He will not be perverted with a Bribe What though some have their lives drawn out at length And we cut down by Death in our full strength What Hurt to us if we receive our pay For one Hours work as much as for a day What dammage to us if Commandment come When others work till night to leave at Noon The weary labourer pants and longs for rest And when he 's in his bed he thinks he 's best The Bed of Death to th' weary will give ease Our sleep's not broken there by worms nor fleas No fearfull Dreams nor Visions of the night Disturb our Fancies there or minds affright Within Death's Sheets the Grave we rest secure Free from oppression and tyrannick Power Our Souls like Captive Birds in Cages sing Death breaks the Cage and then the Birds take wing The world 's a Pest-house sin doth us infect Death 's our Physitian shall we him reject The Soul 's infected with sins foul disease And naught but Death can give us our release The world 's a Prison and we Captives be And only Death our Champion sets us free We mortal are when Death of life bereaves us We dye no more Death doth immortal leave us A thousand Maladies do each day attend us We 're sick to Death and none but Death can mend us In life we languish Death can make us well He 's like Achilles Spear can wound and heal Poor and in want we up and down do wander Death makes us all as rich as Alexander Death levels all both rich and poor do stand On equal ground none serve nor none command When Death hath done his work there 's no man can Discern between the Master and the man The Princes Skull no more than other men Bears the impression of a Diadem 'T is true of terrors Death is call'd the King And well he may while he retains his Sting But to Believers he no hurt can do For he hath lost his Sting and Poyson too In Stinging Christ this Serpent lost his Sting He that brought terror then doth comfort bring Christ conquer'd him and shall we fear to meet A Vanquisht Foe lying prostrate at our Feet For since that he was overcome and foil'd He is no Enemy but reconcil'd To good and bad he shews not the same face He 's Foe to Nature but a Friend to Grace We are poor mortals life is our disease Death our Physitian that can give us ease We groan for pain yet would not be set free We love our Bondage hate our Liberty Rather than over Jordans streams we 'l venture We 'l dye i' th' Wilderness or Egypt enter This Son of Anak Death more terror brings Than all the fiery Serpents with their Stings And though Egyptian Bondage doth torment us Flesh Pots and Leeks and Onions here content us At Death 't is true we must to Ashes turn But God will keep those Ashes in his Urn. And when the all-awakening trump shall sound The smallest Atoms of it shall be found And then by vertue of a new Indenture The Soul into her new-built house shall enter God shall with robes of honour then invest her And sin and sorrow shall no more molest her She shall by Christ her Judge be then acquitted And all her sins and trespasses remitted She shall in glory Halelujah's sing Unto the mighty God the worlds great King And wedded be to Christ in endless Joy And in her Husbands Bosom lye for aye Sorrow and Sighing then shall fly away And Tears shall swallowed be in endless Joy Then set thy House in order for thou must Within a little time return to Dust Lord make me then to know my later end How long the number of my dayes extend That I may know how frail I am before I go from hence and shall be seen no more When will this Joyfull Marriage be oh when Oh come Lord Jesus quickly come Amen Edward Bury FINIS The Author hath in the Press a. Book on the Subject these Poems are of Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside
maist do all things Trust not in thy own strength lest with Pembleton thou failest in the performance Mat. 9.17 God will not put new wine into old bottles nor the heaviest burden upon the weakest Horse the strongest if he leave them are weak and the weakest in his strength are strong if thy heart be upright God will either free thee from thy suffering or support thee under it he will fit the back before he lay on the burden if thou dye by a violent death so do those many thousands that are slain with the Sword and yet those that are slain by the sword are better than they that dye of famine Lam. 4.9 many a wounded man that yet escapeth with his life suffers more pains of his wounds than if he had been slain outright If thou refuse a few pangs for Heaven thou art not worthy of it yea a natural death may be as painful many times is more painful than a violent death but the reward of the latter if it be for God may clearly turn the scales and make it more eligible Thy enemies as before was said are not Masters of thy life neither is it in their power to take it away for they have no power but what they receive from Heaven 't is he that disposes of Angels and Men of Crowns and Kingdoms of Heaven and Earth that must dispose of thy life and is not he the fittest for the work is there any in the world can do it better is there any in the world thou hadst rather trust with thy life is not he the fittest to send for thee out of the world that sent Christ into the world for thy sake and wilt thou think thy life too dear for him that thought not the pangs of death nor the pains of Hell too much to suffer for thee hath he suffered so much to purchase glory and wilt thou suffer nothing to enjoy it his suffering was a thousand times more for thee than thine is like to be for him or rather for thy self for thou hadst the benefit of his death but he will have none by thine hath he provided a Mansion and wilt not leave thy Cottage to go to it Death 't is true is surly and grim but 't is thy Fathers Messenger and must do the message he gives in charge and 't is an Ambassador from the great King and Ambassadors are entertained not for their own but their Masters sake and death may be welcomed for the message sake he brings He comes to tell thee that thy work is done and thy wages is ready thy Warfare is accomplished the Field is won and the Crown is thine Mat. 25.21 that thou hast been faithful over a little and now must be Ruler over much and must enter into thy Masters joy That the Bridegroom is come and thou must go in with him to the wedding that thou hast been faithful to the death Rev. 2.10 and now shalt have a crown of life And is not such a message welcome and the Messenger that brings it will any wise man rather stay in Egypt than go through the red Sea at Gods command or endure a few Wilderness troubles to come to Canaan yea through a sea of blood to a Haven of rest If the way be troublesome the Journeys end is pleasant if thou art stung with fiery Serpents there is a brazen Serpent to heaâ— thee of thy wounds and to draw ouâ— the venom If the sea be rough the Piloâ— is skilful If thy disease be dangerous this Physician is skilful if thy wounds be deep this Surgeon will cure thee yea by Killing will cure thee of all distempers Were Death a pursevant from Hell as to many he is well mightest thou fear but being sent from Heaven and coming in thy Fathers Livery and his ugly Vizor taken off he is more amiable If thou have part in the first resurrection the second death on thee shall have no power Death 't is true Rev. 20.6 puts a cup of trembling into the hands of unrepentant sinners even a cup of the Lords indignation filled to the brim which they must drink up to the very dregs and Eternity will be little enough to see the bottom but what is this to thee thy part is sugered and 't is but one sup swallowed in a few moments of time to them it proves the first and second death to thee but a Sleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Those sparks which wicked men now on earth kindle by their lusts will there be blown up into an everlasting flame Mar. 9.44 the worm dyeth not and the fire never goeth out That death that puffs out the candle of the wicked only snuffs the other that it may burn brighter The godly while they are in the world act a Comedy which begins bad but ends well the wicked act a Tragedy which alwaies ends in blood and confusion death sets an end to both to the godliess miseries and the wickeds happiness Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them And if this be the only way to blessedness why art thou afraid to walk in it death will be the Funeral of thy Vices and the Resurrection of thy Graces here Josephs feet shall no longer be hurt in the stocks the iron shall no longer enter into his soul neither shall Jeremy lye here in the miry dungeon nor Daniel in the den of Lions nor Jonah in the Whales belly why wilt thou not be uncloathed that thou maist be cloathed upon and surrender this house of clay that thou maist have a better Thou art like an ill debtor that bortowest with prayers keepest with thanks and partest with it with repining Thy body is but lent thee yet art thou loth to restore what was borrowed Well dye thou must and whether it be fit that God or thee should determine of the Time and the Manner of thy death is the question in hand and is this become a controversie and wilt dispute thy right Heaven and Earth may stand amazed at thy folly if thou wilt not yield him his due he will ere long distrain for it and try the Title at Judgment where thou art like to be cast and thrown into Prison till thou hast paid the utmost farthing for if thou deny to glorifie God by thy death he will glorifie himself by thy destruction Oh my God I yield I surrender I submit I put my life into thy hands send for me when and by whomsoever thou wilt My spirit is willing though my flesh is weak I dare not trust my own deceitfull heart lest it betray me but thee I dare trust Lord strengthen my Faith confirm my Assurance clear up my Evidences for Heaven stand by me in all my Sufferings and lay no more upon me than thou givest me strength to bear then call me and I will run after thee though
it be by the very Gates of Hell I can do all all things through Christ that strengthens me MEDITAT IV. The Fear of Death is unsuitable to a Believer O My Soul why art thou yet disquieted within me why art thou cast down why dost thou meditate terror and all this when thou lookest Death in the face Is this amazement suitable for a Christian Souldier is this the fruit of all thy Preaching Praying Reading Meditating and thy other duties is this the result of all the pains thou hast taken in Heavens way Nay hath God set thee to strengthen others against the fear of Death to support the feeble hands and drooping hearts and art thou thy self ready to faint under the burden why man rouse up thy self a little didst never see death before that thou tremblest at the apprehension art thou fit to be a Captain of the Lords Host that art ready to fly at a shadow If the Shepherd be terrified well may the Sheep be affrighted if the apprehension of Death be so amazing what will the feeling of it be well mayest thou say with Nehemiah Shall such a man as I flee Neh. 6.11 Is not death bitter enough but thou must make it bitterer and dost faint before thou feel the burden where is thy wonted courage where are now thy arguments where with thou wast wont to blunt the Dart of Death and to uphold sinking Souls under the stroak of Death Death hath been often in thy eye in thy thoughts in thy Meditations and then it was not so terrible and now with Agag thou thoughtest the bitterness of Death was past and upon a new Apprehension oâ— it doth it seem so formidable Call to mind thy former resolutions to suffer for Christ yea thy Covenant engagement to him wherein thou devotedst thy sell and that thine was to him and at his dispose and dost now repent of thy repentings death is not so great an Enemy as thoâ— supposest nor so terrible as he seems plucâ— off his vizor and look him in the face and he will appear both thy Friend and thy Physician to cure thee of all thy maladies thou hast not now a day free from sin and sorrow for where the onâ— is the other will be also as the shadow will follow the substance or rather as the effect follows the cause neither art thou like to have till death sets thee at liberty thou art now a slave or servant but the year of Jubilee is coming when thou wilt be free Job 3.17 18 19. There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest there the Prisoners rest together and they hear not the voice of the Oppressor the small and the great are there and the Servant is free from his Master Death is sent by God as Moses into Egypt to bring thee out of Egyptian bondage to the promised Land and what if thy bondage like theirs be a little encreased at the present wilt thou murmur like them when thy deliverance is in sight though thou must through the red Sea the way is safe if God go before thee and if the way be dark he will be a Pillar of fire to give thee light thou needest not fear losing thy way that hast such a guide Here thou canst not serve God but the Egyptians are ready to stone thee but get but over this bridge of Death over this Jordan and thou maist serve him without distraction or disturbance here thou canst hardly have a sight of God but Death will bring thee to speak with him face to face to know him as he is and to enjoy him as thy own In this Wilderness thou meetest with many troubles many wants sometimes of meat sometimes of drink sometimes of cloaths and other necessaries but in Heaven there is no want no need of creature-comforts for what need the Pipe when we are at the Fountain-head here are many troubles many enemies fiery Serpents but when over this Jordan these troubles vanish all thy fears husht and thy self out of the reach of danger the Devil nor his instruments cannot pursue thee beyond Death here is thy promised Land thy purchased Inheritance thy Mansion-house and can Death that puts thee in possession be lookt upon as thy Enemy The thoughts of Death are many times worse than Death it self as the Picture of the Lyon seems fiercer than the Lyon himself Heb. 2.15 but Christ died to free those that through the fear of Death were all their life time subject to bondage Oh the precious hours that should be spent in solacing thy self with the thoughts of God and the forethoughts of Glory and taking a Pisgah sight of the Heavenly Canaan which now are fruitlesly spent between hopes and fears of our Journey thither not but that preparation should be made but no desponding fears should discompose thee for the Journey The thoughts of Eternal bliss and the weight of Glory that is before thee should divert thy mind from all the pains and sorrows thou meetest with in thy journey thither as the hopes of the prize makes him that runs the race overlook the foulness or roughness of the way and the hopes of a reward makes the Souldier hew his way through the thickest of his enemies That time which now is spent in sorrowful thoughts how thou shouldest part with the world and endure the pangs of death would be better spent in trimming up thy Lamp getting Oyl in thy Vessel and adorning thy self with thy Wedding garment and in praising God that thinks thee worthy to suffer for him and in consideration that after a little pain thou shalt enter into thy masters Joy where there shall be no more pain and that this light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for thee a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Is this thy living by faith that thou talkest of What can a coveteous worlding do more that hath his portion in this life than fear the time that he shall lose it what can the voluptuous Epicure do more that at death shall see an end of all his pleasure Is this thy living by Faith is this the fruit of thy hope and the evidences of thy love to God and the other graces of the Spirit Doth vain glory steel the Spirit of our Hectors that look death in the face undauntedly only in hopes of Honour and a surviveing Name do the Mahometans venture their lives upon conceipt that those that dye in the wars shall undoubtedly go to Heaven and there for ever have their will with beautiful women and all other sensual delights and will not the Enjoyment of God in glory work thee to a willingness to suffer what he would have thee suffer Is this thy professed obedience when thou startest at hard and difficult dutyes and only scummest off the fat and sweet of duty and leavest self-denying dutyes undone what dost thou in this more than an Hypocrite or a carnal man