conscience hath so wrought on thee that it hath stung thee for such a sin thou yet approvest thy self in it and thou wilt go on in thy pride still in such and such sins stil thou wilt do so do but know this that stand thou never so much upon thy resolution Death will certainly come and if he find thee in such a sin against thy conscience thou hast reserved in thy self a sting for Death Secondly a man shall know if Death come with a sting by this trial that Solomon giveth us in Ec. 11.9 Rejoyce oh young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thy heart and sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment If thou live a voluptuous life Death will certainly come with a sting Dives he lived a voluptuous life had he not a sting for it So others in Scripture did not their plentiful tables and voluptuous courses bring a sting on them A voluptuous life makes a sting for Death When a poor wretch is a dying and shall begin to reflect back on his life what have I done how have I lived so much time I have spent or mispent in apparel in vanity in eating in drinking in swaggering What comfort is this to his soul how can he answer this before God this is the very thing that will sting him at such a day when he can read nothing in his life but barrenness and unfruitfulness nothing that hath honoured God in all his life Certainly my brethren if there be an Epicurious voluptuous life this life will provide a sting for Death Alas you will say Is it so then we may fear that Death will seize on us thus for we confess we have gone on in a voluptuous life gone on in sin that our conscience hath condemned us for how shall we do to pull out this sting I would to God you were thus affected that you were convicted what a fearful thing it will will be if sin remain But wouldest thou have the sting of death pulled out before death come I. How shall I disarme it that I may look death in the face with comfort I. shall give you some wayes and means remember them and practise them First get but a part in Christ and the sting of death is gone thanks be to God saith the Apostle here that hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ It is he that in the Revelation is said to have the keyes of Hell and of death they are under his command and subjection he is victorious over them he hath vanquished them so that if a man have Christ he hath victory and power over Hell and Death I told you in the beginning that that which giveth a sting to Death is the guilt of sin It is so and it is a fearful sting Now that which takes away the guilt of sin is Christ If Christ be mine I have enough to answer the guilt of sin Therefore the Apostle saith Death cannot separate from the love of God in Christ What shall then Indeed nothing it is not the guilt of his sins Christ hath satisfied from them So that if thou wilt have the sting of death out get faith in Christ if thou be not hidden in the clefts of that Rock in the blood of Christ if Christ be not thy Justification and thy righteousness what hast thou to answer the Justice of God you must die and stand before God and how can you stand before God in your sins you cannot without Christ why do you not then study more for Christ Why do you not labour for faith in him It will be your wisdom to labour earnestly to make sure of him if you have him the sting of death is gone Death cannot hurt a person that hath Chriâ—… Get faith in Christ therefore that is the first Secondly 〈…〉 would not have Death terrible and fearful to you labour for sincerity 〈◊〉 â—â—ethren it is a marvellous thing and yet the truth uprightness and sincerity 〈…〉 is an enabling grace All the particular things that we account particulaâ—â—â—â—â—â—wise they have not an inabling vertue in them Some persons have a great dâ—â—â— of learning and wit and many friends much riches and the like yet there cometh an occasion sometimes that puzzleth all these there cometh an occasion sometimes that a mans learning is of no use and natural parts and wit cannot help and riches cannot inable him What time is that The time of death the heart of a man is put to it at such a time and now these shrink nothing can inable a man agaiâ—â— fear so much as sincerity and uprightness When the Prophet Isaiah told 〈◊〉 from God that he must die he flieth to this Lord remember how I have 〈◊〉 fore thee with an upright heart and done that which was good in thy sight When Death cometh to a wicked voluptuous person and telleth him I am here come for thee thou must appear before God what can this man say Lord I have lived before thee a voluptuous proud wretched life I was a scorner of thy Word a contenâ—…er and persecutor of thy people a swearer c. What though perhaps he can say Lord I have heard so many Sermons I have been so much in conference and the like will this inable a man against the fear of Death No nothing but this that he hath a sincere heart that his heart is unmixed that sin is not affected in his soul that there is no sin that he would live in no duty that he wonld not do Lord remember I have walked before thee uprightly I say nothing will inable a man more against fear then sincerity and nothing disgraceth perplexeth the soul in an exigent more then 〈◊〉 It is sincerity that takes away the sting of Death The Apostle in Râ—…m 14. saith he No man liveth to himself but if he live he liveth to the Lord and if he die he dieth to the Lord whether we live or die we are the Lords Here is the comfort we are the Lords saith he How proveth he that We live unto him That is the work of a sincere heart A true Christian liveth not to himself but to Christ Now if thy conscience give thee this testimony I have lived unto Christ then whether I live or die I am the Lords the Apostle concludeth it So right is that of Solomon Riches availeth not in the day of wrath but righteousness delivereth from death Thy righteousness and sincerity delivereth thee not from dying but from death It takes away the sting and power of Death Death shall not be death to thee it is only a passage to thee Therefore remember as to get a part in Christ so to get a perfect and sincere heart and then the sting of death is gone But a hypocritical divided heart a heart and a heart that will
to dispaire Where is it It may be in thy heart of all thy complaining and thou maist have it for all these exclaymings against thy self Tell me when thou findest those corruptions whereof and for which thou speakest against thy self Dost thou allow them or not dost thou confesse them and lament them or not I confesse them indeed but with such a finall deal of sorrow Is it such a sorrow as draws thee to God and drives thee out of thy self such as makes thee to fall before him and judge thy self worthy to be damned and submit to his Justice Is it such a sorrow as makes thee confesse and then purpose amendment Such as makes thee cry to him for power and strength such as makes thee rest on him for ability Dost thou determine still still to amend that that still troubleth thee Dost thou still continue to fight with the lusts of thy flesh by the spiritual weapons that God hath ordained for thee I say to thee thy Repentance thy Faith thy New Obedience may be true though it be weak When a man hath a shaking Palsey hand it is a hand A sick weake man that lies crying oh oh that can scarse turn himself between the sheets is a man a living man A poor child that is new born and hath nothing that discovereth reason almost but the shape of a man that poor child is a reasonable creature Faith beginneth with weake apprehensions and faint leanings on Christ Deep godly sorrow and other parts of Repentance may begin many times with little And amendment of life begins sometimes at a low soundation at small sins If it be true and sincere and constant if thou go on and continue in a course of daily renewing thy Repentance and Obedience and Faith and stirring by Gods means to get the increase of these graces and to be upright and sincere in them thou art blessed in them notwithstaading thy weaknesse take comfort in a little and be thankful for it God will give more and the only way to get more is to take comfort in a good measure in what thou hast and the way to take comfort is to labour to increase these graces Let not the weak troubled seebled Christian be troubled in mind as if he had no grace because he hath but a little as if he did not at all keep Christs sayings because he keepeth them but a little He is a scholler in the School that beginneth at Christ-Crosse-row as we call it And he is entred into the Colledge that beginneth but in a low book with the first rudiments of Logick And he is a member of the Family that began to be an Apprentise but yesterday and comes not to a deep knowledge of his Art and Mistery but is glad to do sorry work Beleeve it brethren there may be great conceits of Repentance and beleeving and obeying that may make a man good in his own eyes and be altogether false There may be a small measure of Repentance but if one be humbled in the smalness of that measure and labour and desire and pray and begg for the increase of that measure and take pains to edisie himself in it by the means of God then it is true and upright and shall save him Therefore rejoyce It is not with the Covenant of Grace as it was with that of Works The Covenant of Works the Law required perfection of Obedience to all the things prescribed a man must not only love God but love God perfectly But the Gospel satisfieth it self with accepting truch of endeavour to the thing required If there be Repentance though it be not in the full perfection if thou beleeve though not with the fullest measure of beleeving If thou Obey though not in the highest degree of obedience this Gospel this sweet this favourable gracious Doctrine giveth thee consolation enough Go home therefore comforted in the beginnings and resolved to proceed and know that thou shalt enjoy that which Christ hath promised freedome from damnation thou shalt never see Death THE YOUNG MANS LIBERTY AND LIMITS OR GODS JUDGMENT ON MANS CARRIAGE SERMON XVIII ECCLESIASTES 11.9 Rejoyce oh young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgement SOlomon in the conclusion of this Chapter is exhorting the sons of men to true Religion and the better to mould and frame them to the same he mindeth them of Death and Judgement without which there cannot be planted in us a right care and fear of God From the seventh verse to the latter end he hath to do with two forts of men First with those that were glued to this life and to the delights and pleasures thereof and he bringeth them in speaking thus Truly the light is sweet and it is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun verse 7. By light there we are to understand the light of the Sun shining on us while we enjoy this mortal life This many men suppose to be a very pleasant thing and they overmuch content themselves in the same These Solomon verse 8. refuteth by three Arguments The first is this that though a man live many yeares yet let him remember the dayes of darkness that is that a time of Death will come a time when our Sun will set and our light wil turn to darkness though we live never so long never so sweetly never so pleasantly though we enjoy the light of the Sun yet we should carefully remember that darkness abideth us Secondly faith Solomon those dayes are many His Argument is thus much Let a man consider with himself though he live many yeares yet notwithstanding the dayes and years of his life cannot be compared with the dayes and years of his Death a man is many more years under the ground in the Grave then above ground walking on the face of the earth Thirdly faith Solomon all that cometh 〈◊〉 vanity That is if a man may enjoy the light of the Sun and the pleasures of this life that makes his heartâ—…ight â—…ome yet all this is vanity there is no full contentment in these things but an emptiness in them all and no man knows how soon he may be bereaved of them Now in the words we have read Solomon hath to deal with the young man and he is altogether given to jollity and merriment he forgetteth God and the dayes of darkness and his latter end Well Solomon giveth him the bridle as it were and suffereth him to follow his own way by an Ironical concession or figurative speech declaring not what young men ought to doe but what their course is and what commonly they do Reâ—…ce 〈◊〉 young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but
continual readiness that which may furnish us abundantly with meditations in this kind It was a custome in former times for men to make their Sepulchres in their Gardens to mind them of death in the midst of the pleasures of this life This present Work may not unfitly be termed a Garden wherein whosoever takes a dayly walk may gather in the several beds thereof those wholsome flowers and hearbs which being distilled by serious meditation will prove water of life to a fainting spirit in some he shall find instruction in some incitation in others consolalion in all profit Here thou shalt find that Lethall Gourd sprung up by Adam his trausgression that makes all his posterity cry out There is Death in the Pot. There thou mayst gather Hearbs of Grace as a counterpoyson against the malignity of death in a third there is the spiritual Heliotropium opening with joy to the Son of Righteousness the hope of a blessed Resurrection Do the glittering shews of outward things make thee begin to over-fancy them here thou shalt find how little they will avail in death the consideration whereof will make them like that precious stone which being put into the mouth of a dead man loseth its vertue art thou over-burthened with afflictions here thou art supported in the expectation of a far more exceeding weight of glory art thou ready to faint under thy labours here thou shalt find a time of rest and of reaping doth the time seem over-long that thy patience begins to flag here thou hast a promise of thy Saviours speedy coming In a word be thy estate and condition what it will be here thou mayst have both directions to guide thee and comforts to support thee in thy journey on earth till thou arrive at thy Country in Heaven Certainly there is no man can sleight and undervalue so deserving a Work but he shall discover himself either to be ignorant or idle or ill affected especially when so judicious and learned men have thought it a fit concomitant for their several Labours which they have added for the accomplishment of it Therefore take it in good worth improve it for the good of thy Soul that being armed and prepared for death when it shall approach thou mayst have no more to do but to die and mayst end thy dayes in a stedfast assurance That thy sins shall be blotted out when the time of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the LORD Thine in Him who is the Resurrection and the Life H. W. THE TABLE THE Stewards Summons Page 1. TEXT LUKE 16.2 Give an Account of thy Stewardship for thou mayst be no longer Steward The Praise of Mourning Page 17. ECCLESIASTES 7.2 It is better to go to the House of Mourning then to the House of Feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart Deliverance from the King of Fears Page 33. HEBREWS 2.14 15. 14. For as much then as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil 15. And deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage The Perfection of Patience Page 47. JAMES 1.4 But let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing A Restraint of exorbitant Passion Page 61. 2 SAM 12.22 23. 22. And he said while the Child was yet alive I fasted and wept for I said who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the Child may live 23. But now he is dead wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me The Sting of Death c. Page 73. 1 COR. 15.56 The sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law The Destruction of the Destroyer c. Page 81. 1 COR. 15.16 The last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death The Worlds Losse and the Righteous Mans Gain Page 91. ISAIAH 57.1 And merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come The Good-Mans Epitaph c. Page 107. REVEL 14.13 I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their Works do follow them The Christians Center c. Page 117. ROM 14.7 8. 7. For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself 8. For whether we live we live to the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords The Improvement of Time c. Page 129. 1 COR. 7.29 30 31. 29. But this I say Brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none 30. And they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as if they rejoiced not and they that buy as though they possessed not 31. And they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away Security Surprized c. Page 143. 1 THESSAL 5.3 For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape A Christians Victory or Conquest over Deaths Enmity Page 159. 1 COR. 15.26 The last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death The great Tribunal or Gods Scrutiny of Mans Secrets Page 171. ECCLES 12.14 For God will bring every work into Jungement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill A Tryall of Sincerity c. Page 181. ISAIAH 26.8 9. 8. Yea in the way of thy judgments O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee 9. With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early for when thy judgments are in the earth the Inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness The Expectation of Christs Coming c. Page 195. PHIL. 3.20 21. 20. For our conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ 21. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Christs Precept and Promise or Security against Death Page 211. JOHN 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you if a man keep my saying he shall never see Death The Young-mans Liberty and Limits c. Page 223. ECCLESIAST 11.9 Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these
ΘΡΗÎΟΙΚΟΣ THE House of Mourning FURNISHED With DIRECTIONS for PREPARATIONS to MEDITATIONS of CONSOLATIONS at the Hour of Death DELIVERED IN LIII SERMONS Preached at the FUNERALS of divers faithfull SERVANTS of CHRIST By Daniel Featly Martin Day John Preston Doctors in Divinity Ri. Houldsworth Richard Sibbs Thomas Taylor Thomas Fuller And other Reverend Divines ECCLES 7.4 The heart of the wise is in the house of Mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth Ambr. de obit frat Non amitti sed praemitti videntur quos sed non absumptura mors sed aeternitatas receptura est Seneca Ep. 77. Iter imperfectum est si in media parte aut citra petitum locum steterit vita non est imperfecta si honesta ubicunqque desieris si benè desieres tota est Newly Corrected and Amended with several ADDITIONS LONDON Printed by G. Dawson and are to be sold by John Williams at the Sign of the Crown in St. Pauls-Chruch-Yard 1660. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER THere is no man that can plead Ignorance to the universal Decree of God concerning the necessity of Mans Mortality It is appointed for all men once to die and every man can say as that wise Woman of Tekoaeh we are all as water spilt upon the ground There is no Age Estate Condition or rank of Men but have been foyled with that invincible Champion Death who riding up and down the World upon his pale Horse above these five thousand years hath with an impartial stroke laid all flat before him some in there Infancy have proved what it is to die before they knew what it was to live others in the strength of Youth some in their old Age rich and poor high and low of all sorts young men may die old men must die even those that are stiled Gods and that by no fawning Sycophant but by God himself their Mortality proves them to be men to themselves though they be as Gods to others and as Epictetus once told the Emperour That to be born and to die was common both to Prince and Beggar The sicknesses and miseries of this World have made the proudest Painims to confess with St. Peter to Cornelius Even I my self also am a mortal man So that experience as well as Scripture concludes what man is he that liveth and shall not see death There are no ingredients in the shop of Nature that are sufficiently cordial to fortifie the heart against this King of terrors or his harbingers the velvet slipper cannot sence the foot from the gout nor the gold ring the finger from a fellon the richest Diadem cannot quit the head-ach nor the purple Robe prevent a Fever Beauty strength riches honour friends nor any nor all can repeal that sentence Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Every fit of an Ague and every distemper of this frail constitution being as a light skirmish before the main battel of Death wherein weak man being vanquished is led captive to his long home and when once the lines of Mortality are drawn upon the face of the fairest mortal he becomes a ghastly spectacle how lovely soever before and the conclusion is Bury my dead out of my sight This inevitable necessity however it be confessed and acknowledged of all yet lamentable experience teacheth that in the Christian world most men so live as though they should never die and at length they so die as though they should never live again and when the time of their dissolution cometh their souls are rather chased out by violence then yielded to God in obedience Indeed to a wicked man Death is the beginning of sorrows it is a trap-door to let him down to the everlasting dungeon of Hell but the children of God though they cannot scape the stroke yet they are freed from the sting of death they can play upon the hole of this Aspe without danger and welcome the grimmest approach of this Gyant with a smile being freed from the hurt of him by Him that is the Captain of the Lords Host who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light so that the sting of it being plucked out and the suffering sanctified by Christ death is become to every Believer but a dark entry to the glorious Pallace of Heaven Now as it is Gods tender mercy to his Children that their conflict and misery should be temporary but their perfect happiness eternal so it should be their care in this little space of time alotted them whereupon their everlasting condition depends so to provide that they may live happily where they shall live eternally and since we cannot escape death to prepare for it that we may get the sight of this Basilisk before it approach and so avoid the danger of it Wretched is the estate of that man who when these spiritual Philistims the terrors of death make war upon him shall have just cause to say The Lord is departed from me the death of such a one will be like the sleep of a frantick man who when the malignant humor is concocted awakes in a greater rage than he lay down whereas to him that is wise to consider his latter end death is no way dreadful death may kill him but it cannot hurt him it doth free him from temporary misery but cannot hinder him from eternal felicity and as that noble Captain of Thebes who having gotten the victory over his enemies but withal received his mortal wound he made this his grand enquiry whether his weapons were safe or not whether his buckler was not in his enemies hands and when it was replied all was safe he died with a great deal of chearfulness and fortitude So when a Christian is to grapple with death his main care is that his Buckler of Faith and the Helmet of his Salvation his Hope that they be safe to guard his Soul and then he passeth not much what becomes of his outward man he dies in peace and confidence Now that we may be fitted to encounter with this last enemy besides the manifold helps which God hath reached to us in his Word in the passages of his providence in the frequent examples of mortality before us continually and in our own sensible approaches to the gates of death I say besides these and infinite more this ensuing Volumn with so much care and pains compiled by Gods blessing and our endeavours may prove no small furtherance in our Pilgrimage Each Sermon therein being as a several Legasie bequeathed by those upon the occasion of whose deaths they were Preached as by so many Testators who themselves have made a reall experiment of Mortality and left these for our instruction that survive them It is true the dayly examples of Mortality are so many real Lectures that by a kind of dumb Oratory perswade us to expect our end but as they are transient so our thoughts of them vanish therefore it can be no small advantage to have in
affections that of sorrow as well as anger and the like I answer briefly The Scripture indeed biddeth us mortifie our affections but it doth not bid us take away our affections it biddeth us only mortifie and purge out the corruption of our affections Now there is a twofold corruption and distemper in the affections of men The first is when they are misplaced and setupon wrong objects so we mourn for that we should rejoyce in or we rejoyce in that we should mourn for Secondly when they are either excessive or defective either we over-do or we do not either not at all or not in that proportion and measure that we should Thus when we over-grieve for worldly crosses and too little for sin too much for the losse of earthly friends and too little for the losse of Gods favour and spiritual wants this is a distemper of the affections in the defect the heart grows earthly and fixed upon the creature and is drawn away and estranged from God Then there is the excesse that the Apostle speakes of when he exhorts them not to mourn as men without hope whether he spake there of the Gentiles as some think that cut their heads and made themselves bald in the day of their mourning an affected kind of outward shew they had to mourn which the Lord forbad the people of Israel to do or whether as indeed it is because they did not restrain inwardly and bridle the exorbitant excesse of their affection we should not mourn as the Gentiles but as men of hope mourn as men that can see the changes that God makes in the earth and in your Families and can see how neer God cometh to you and what use God would have you make of every particular tryal and affliction mourn so far as you see your own guilt in not making use of the opportunities you have had in enjoying your friends and so far as you see any evidence of displeasure from God so far we should mourn but not as men without hope But I briefly passe this intending not to insist upon it only by occasion because Solomom makes the place where any die the house of morning We come now to the proof of the point why going to the house of morning taking these occasions to affect our hearts is better then to go to the house of feasting then to take occasions of delighting our selves in outward things What 's the reason It is double First This is the end of all men What is the end of all men The house of mourning That which he meaneth by the house of mourning here is that which he calleth the end of all men that which putteth an end to all men and to their actions upon earth and that is Death So that the main point that in this place the wise man intendeth is but thus much I will deliver it in the very words of the Text we need not varie from them at all Death is the end of all men Death is that which every man must expect to be the end of his life and of his actions It is the common the last condition of all men upon earth I will give you but two places of Scripture that include all men in Death One in Job the third from the fourteenth verse to the 20. Verse of that Chapter Job sheweth there how Death is the End of all men he beginneth with the Kings and Counsellers of the Earth with Princes and great Warriors and descendeth afterward to prisoners and mean persons to labourers to servants to small and great all saith he lie down in the dust and go to the place of silence The other place is in Zachar. 1.5 Your fathers where are they and the Prophets do they live for ever That is look to all your fore-fathers that have been in all times before you whether they be those Fathers that you glory in Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the rest or those Fathers that disobeyed the word of Prophesie which indeed is the principall thing here intended all these Ancient persons they are dead or as S. Peter speaks of those that were disobedient in the dayes of Noah they are in prison they are in the grave yea and the Prophets too that preached to you they are dead the generations before you both of Prophets and people are all dead You see then that Death is the common condition of all men Kings and Subjects Prophets and people this is the last thing that shall be said of them all they are dead And it must be so First in regard of Gods decree It is that that God hath appointed and determined concerning all men that they must die there is a statute for it in heaven that can never be reverst It is appointed to all men once to die Heb. 9.17 Secondly in regard of that matter whereof all men are made of earth Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Your remembrances saith Job are like unto ashes your bodies to bodyes of clay How easie is it for the wind to blow away ashes for a potter to break in pieces a vessel of clay so easie it is to put an end to the memories and bodies of men they are but ashes and clay Thirdly in regard that every man hath in him that that is the cause of Death sin It is that that is as poison in the spirits and as rottennesse in the bones Sin brought in Death and Death seizes upon all men it consumeth all men from the very beginning by degrees Shew me a man without sin without it either in the committing of it or without it in the guilt of it you may then shew a man that shall not die while all men are under sin they are under Death Even our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ himself though he did not sin actually yet because he stood guiltie of our sins Death seized upon him So then Look to Gods decree that is All men shall die Look to the matter whereof every man is made that is a decaying dying substance And look to the cause of death in all men that is sin If any man can either escape Gods decree or bring a man that is not made of such a mouldring matter or produce and shew a man that hath no sin in him then you may shew a man that shall not die but till then this conclusion remaineth that the wise man setteth down this is the end of all men that they shall die But here it will be objected We find some men that did not die It is said of Enoch that he was translated that he should not see death Heb 11.5 And of Elijah that he went up by a whirle-wind into heaven in a chariot of fire 2 Kings 2.11 These men did not die To this I answer briefly Particular and extraordinary examples do not frustrate general rules God may sometimes dispence with some particular men and yet
but when he doth not use it in the service and for the glory of the Creator God hath given the creature a beeing for himself I have forfeited my beeing when I glorifie not God with it that man forfeiteth his wit his memory his strength his time his life and all that he is or hath when he doth not imploy them in Gods service to Gods glory Now sin is that that makes us deny the service and glory we owe to God sin is that that makes a forfeiture of our lives and all unto him Here is the first thing God hath given the creature a beeing for himself he preserveth the creature in beeing for himselfe when the creature therefore sinneth it forfeiteth its life and beeing to the Creator This makes sin odious Secondly this is it that declareth the wonderful justice and truth of God He said to Adam in the beginning assoon as ever he had fallen he should die and we find it true on him and all his posterity for Adam stood and represented the person of all men before God that one man was all men in him all men were under the sentence of death And we see it is true to this day We find God true in this let this make us beleeve his word in every thing else He hath been as good as his word he hath declared his justice and his truth in the death of all man-kind upon the sin of Adam he will declare it in every thing else in every promise in every threatning in every passage of his word let us give him the glory of his truth as we find it in this Thirdly it is advantagious very much for our selves as a means to prepare us for death the better When a man seriously concludeth Death is the end of all men then if I reckon and account my self amongst men it will be my end too and it may be my end now And we shall see what use Job makes of this All the dayes of my appointed time I will wait till my change shall come I make account a great change shall come such as hath been upon all my fathers before me so it will come upon me I will make account of it and therefore I will wait all my dayes So should we make account every day that this may be the day of my change in every thing you do make account that your change may begin then in that very action and this will be a means to make you wait for your change make you prepare for death It is that that Drusius noteth of Rabbi Eleazer that he gave his counsel and advice that a man should be sure to repent one day before he died He meant not that a man should defer his repentance till it did evidently that Death had seized upon him But because a man may conclude if it be possible I may live to day it is probable I may die to morrow therefore I will repent to day Do it now and do not delay it till to morrow This is that we are to do to account of every day as that which may be the day of our change and so to carry our selves in all our actions and occasions as if we should have no more time to do our work And this is especially to be observed in three things First in matter of sinning be careful to amend sin every day labour to mortifie sin this day as if thou shouldest have no more dayes to mortifie it in take heed of sinning now as if thou shouldest die now Some we see have been taken away in the very act of sin Ananias and Saphirah were taken away in the very act of sinning when they were telling a lie to the Apostle they died Zimri and Cosbie were slain in the very act of uncleannesse Corah and his company they died in the act of murmuring and resisting of God and his ordinances and ministers Let a man now reason with himself these were taken away in their sins it may be my case as well as theirs if I be found in sin That is the first Secondly bring it home to this particular also in another case and that is in redeeming of the opportunities of the time of our life Besides the general time of life there be certain opportunities certain advantages of time that the Scripture calleth seasons be careful to redeem them though you may enjoy your lives yet you may have none of these such as are seasons of glorifying God seasons of doing good seasons of gaining good to a mans self be careful therefore I say to mannage those opportunities and advantages of time so that you may glorifie God Whether you eat or drink or what soever you do do all to the glory of God Which way soever you may most advance Gods glory and pormote his worship which way soever ye may promote the cause of God drawing men to God and incouraging them in the wayes of God which way soever you may be useful employ your self at that time the present time because you must die and you may die now you may have no more opportunities to do it in And so likewise in all advantages wherein men may do good to men Exhort one another while it is called to day and while you have time do good unto all Do all the spiritual good and all the outward good that you can while you have seasons to do good Happy is that servant that his master shall find so doing when he cometh leading a fruitful and profitable life So do good to your own souls while you have time pray while you have time to pray hear the Word while you have time to hear it exercise repentance while you have time to repent perfect the work of mortification while you have time to mortifie your corruptions do your souls all the good you can by the advantages of all the ordinances of all the opportunities that God hath given you This is the end of all men it hath been the end of good and bad before and it shall be the end of good and bad now men must die their houses will be houses of mourning therefore mannage the time in doing all the good you can that God may be glorified men may be benefited and your own souls furthered that is the second thing Lastly in the manner of your conversation consider the time that you have to do every thing in Will a man be found idleing in the market-place when he should be working in the Vineyard Would you be feasting when God would have you mourning you shall see some that have been taken away when they little thought of it Belshazzer he was in his feasts and then cometh the sentence of death against him and other the like examples you may see in the Scripture Consider therefore the particular actions that you doe whether they be such as hold agreement with the state of a dying man So for the manner
my son would God I had died for thee my son All conditions that live find tears in mens eyes and consideration of their departure only the godly and the righteous man findeth none Here is their stupidity Can there be a greater stupidity then to make a man die twice as they die the death of their bodies so to make them suffer a death in our memories as they perish to the world so to perish also in our thoughts and meditations We owe God so much we owe piety so much we owe the memorial of many so much we owe our selves so much as to take it into consideration And yet no man considereth This is the fault which we may examine our selves of For if we now make reflection of all this upon our selves we must find a conformity with our times There is never a word of this Scripture but it is true now I will now take the parts in order First we cannot deny that evil is to come upon this place Nay it were well if it were to come it is come already it hath overtaken us If we load the earth with the evil of sin it is impossible that God should forbear long The evil of sin that surchargeth the earth must be unloaden again by this burthen by the burthen of punishment one burthen must justle out another Evils there have been impendant that we have seen Evils there are now present that we begin to groane under and no man can tell where that evil will stay There is evil present and evils to come because our evils are still multiplying the beginnings of sorrows and sufferings and fears God grant it may stay But our state and condition is like them in this that they are yet impendant We see the heavens grown black judgments are a ripening When ye see the sky red when ye see the skie black judgment is beginning not only beginning to bud but it beginneth to spread and inlarge it selfe Thus farr there is a correspondency There is evil that we have cause to fear and suspect yet further to come on this place Secondly there is a conformity with the other too in our negligence The world sendeth forth men now void of natural affection It was never so before For if before they neglected others yet they were careful of themselves But men now desperately neglect their own salvations There is no respect to God no pitty of others no not of themselves I do not wonder that men heretofore considered not when they loved their lives better then their sins because they had some sensible taste of that that was temporal when they loved their lives better then heaven But now men love not their lives best but their sins better for though their lives be in danger yet their sins are kept It is an admirable thing to consider how every way we are given to plenty to ryot to security notwithstanding God cometh neer and bringeth his judgment even to the door and makes it swell He forbeareth a long time to trie us with mercies and then he takes a severe course Where shall men see the face of an alteration our lives are the same our delights the same our vanities and follies the same we keep the same sins still as if we were bent to provoke God further to see what he will do That is an evident sign we consider not for what purpose God sendeth his plagues we consider not what he doth when he takes away others for our example none lay it to heart and take it into consideration it swimmeth not in his brain We begin to tremble and we think our selves well if we provide a countrey house but God hath beset us in the Countrey and in the City There will be no flight but to repentance there is the City of refuge and there is no way to repent but by consideration these must be took to heart before there can be amendment and till there be amendment there will he no removing of judgment It is plain then that we are conform able in that part of the Text. And in the first too That merciful men are taken away experience sheweth it daily they are taken so frequently that there is hardly any left they are not only taken away but swept away And if there were no other proof this representation this sad spectacle before our eyes that is an argument to make the proof of the conformity of the first part of the text with us In the text there is mention made of a righteous man of a merciful man The Spirit of God bringeth in all the parts by pairs It is fulfiled in the solemnity and occasion of this day by pairs God calleth us to piety by pairs he giveth us spectacles of mortality I thought I had come to do the duty for one to performe the solemnity of one Funeral but after I perceived I was called to do the office for two It was not so from the beginning it falleth not out so every day Here is the true proof that these are the times of mortality set the pairs any way and we shall see that there is one free none can secure himself from the stroke of death One a vertuous ancient Gentlewoman the other a grave learned minister but of younger condition here are both ages took away and both presented not only so but here are both conditions of life and both presented together and here are both sexes and both presented together to teach us that no sex no condition no age can secure themselves I will smite the Shepheard saith Christ foretelling the Disciples what should befal them Here is the smiting of the Shepheard and the sheep too But both together and I beleeve this place cannot send such another pair For the one He was the most eminent for his place For the other she was the most eminent for her piety I was not acquainted with the conversation of either and therefore I shall not speak much and the information I had it was not much for it was needless I may save a labour for both for if I speak any thing false ye are able to refute me if I speak any thing true as all must be true that is spoken here yet ye are able to prevent me and I can say nothing that ye know not For the one I here that he had the report of a man that was conscionable in the discharge of his place And all that I shall say of him shall be only this there is cause that ye should take to heart his death For what is the reason that in this little Parish that is as healthful as another But God is wounderful in his wayes and we must not search into the judgments of God that it is not full eight years but there have three succeeded that have been commended to this place and have died one after another Is it so that ye kill them with unkindness the world saith so I tell ye I know
avoids the corruptions that are in the world through lusts But this looking for the second coming of Christ This Argument John the Baptist used to press upon his hearers the Doctrin of repentance because the king dome of God was at hand This is that upon which Saint Peter groundeth his exhortatoin unto the people Acts 3.18 Repent saith he and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Therefore repent and return unto God do away your sins because there will a time of refreshing come and you had need then to be found in another hue in another state then in your old rotten withered condition and sinful lusts This is the Argument that the Aposte used to the Athenians to bring them from Idolatry to serve the living God because God hath appointed a time to judg the world in righteousness by that man whom ho hath ordained Even for that reason because God hath appointed a time to judg the world in righteousness therefore they should turne from their Idols to serve the living God There is nothing that doth so unbottome the heart nothing so shakes and looseneth a mans hold of sin and unrighteousness as the consideration of Christs coming to Judgment What will it boot me will the soul reason to keep my sins when Christ will come to judg me for my sins What shall I get by going on in a course of sin when I can look for nothing then but a sentence of wrath to be denounced against me This then is that that doth settle a man in a holy conversation in that respect Nay fourthly this is that also which quickneth a man to the practise of all holy duties in his place both in his general and particular Calling It is the very argument which the Apostle Saint Peter useth to stir us up to holiness of conversation Seeing saith he that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat As if he should have said Look now about the whole world and see what it is that now can comfort you if you be such as go on in a course of sin It may be you will say I fear not much for I have many friends Yea but all these shall die It may be thou hast store of lands but all that shall be burnt with fire It may be thou hast many pleasures but then there shall be nothing but Judgment The coming of the Lord that shall then put an end to all these and turn the course of things the expectation thereof is a special means to take us off from a course of sin and put us on to a course of obedience to make us walk in another kind of fashion while we are in the world Therefore the Apostle Saint Paul when he would â—…ir up Timothy to the work of the Ministry what is the Argument that he useth I charge thee before Christ who shall judg the quick and the dead As if he should say there shall be an appearing before the Lord and therefore if thou wilt give thy account up with joy at that day I charge thee to look to thy Ministry So may I say to every man in his place I charge thee that art a Master of a Family look to the business of thy family to the salvation of the souls of thy people I charge thee that art a father or a mother to look to the salvation of the souls of thy children I charge thee that art a Christian to look to the salvation of thy own soul And how is the charge I charge thee before the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judg the quick and the dead Because there shall come a time when both thou and they shall be present before Christ at his appearing therefore if thou wilt have comfort in them and in thy self and in Christ be careful to do the duty that concerns thy place Looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus So then you see in this respect also there is nothing so forcible an Argument to settle a man in a holy conversation in a heavenly course as this for a man alwayes to look for the second coming of Christ Lastly there is nothing fixeth a man so constantly in a holy course as this Our conversation faith the Apostle is alwayes in heaven We alwayes walk on earth as those that aspire to heaven because we alwayes look for the coming of Christ Wert thou carefnl to serve God yesterday do it to day also it may be Christ may come now and take thee away by death to day and there is no preparation for judgment afterward Little children saith Saint John now abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming What is it that giveth a man boldness and takes away shame from him at the coming of Christ What is the reason that a man hath not that spirit of fear and trembling upon him that shall be upon the hearts of all those that go on in sin when they shall cry to the mountains to fall upon them but this that he hath continued in a holy conversation and constantly walked before the Lord with an upright heart I have finished my course saith the Apostle I have fought a good fight I have kept the faith hence-forth is layd up for me a crown of righteousness which Christ the righteous Judg shall give to me and to all them that love his appearing Still the servants of God have incouraged themselves to persevere in a holy course from the expectation of the coming of Christ that will give them a reward for their constancy in his service It is the Argument that the holy Ghost useth to the Church of Philadelphia Rev. 3.11 Hold fast that thou hast and let no man take thy crown As if he should say There is a time coming when Crowns shall be given but to whome to those that hold out that persevere in a godly course Be thou faithful to the death and thou shalt receive a crown of glory This is that I say that will make a man go on will make him that is good in youth be good in age also because whensoever he dieth he shall receive his Crown This will make a man that he shall not begin in the spirit and end in the flesh this will make him that having put his hand to the plough he will not look back because he no further looks for comfort in the appearance of Christ then he hath had care to walk on constantly in a good course Thus you see the point proved to you that a Christian soul hath a main benefit by his looking for the second coming of Christ
the outward man which is the separation of the Body from the Soul it is no Death if it separate not both from God which it can never do if a man keep the sayings of Christ therefore though his body that keepeth the sayings of Christ be took from his soul yet he seeth not death so as to have any hurt by it he feeleth no ill by it nay it is good to him for it is a passage from misery to rest and felicity Thus ye have these words as faithfully interpreted to you as I know how And now I will make proof of this Doctrine thus explicated namely that thus to keep Christs sayings to know and follow the Doctrine of the Gospel is the only sure way to escape the danger and hurt of Death Saint Peter acknowledgeth as much when he said to the Lord Jesus Christ that he had the words of Eternal life then he that keepeth them is certainly safe against the hurt of Death So the Angel speaks to the Apostles whom the Pharisees had imprisoned when he brought them forth of Prison he biddeth them speak to the people the words of this life since Christs Doctrine is the word of life it must needs follow that the keeping thereof is a perfect Antidote against the poyson of Death And Saint Peter when he gave an account to the rest of the Apostles and the brethren of Judea of his going to the Gentiles he saith that an Angel appointed Cornelius to send for him that he might speak words to him whereby himself and his family should be saved and those words which cause a man to be saved you know will give him freedome enough from Death Thus I have proved the point by expresse Texts and there are two reasons of it The first is delivered by the Apostle Saint John in the first Epistle and second Chapter where he faith let that abide in you which you have heard from the beginning that is the Doctrine of the Gospel which Christ taught his sayings if that remain in you you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father He that hath fellowship with the Son and with the Father can never see Death for God is the fountain of life therefore those that are one with him and continue in him cannot see Death no more then he can be overwhelmed with darkness that is where the Sun shineth fully no more then the body can be dead as long as it hath communion with the soul so those in whom the word of Christ remaineth and stayeth they are assured that they shall remain with the Father and the Son and therefore being united to that that is life God the Father and the Son it is impossible that ever they should be hurt by the first or ever at all taste of the last Death Again the Word of Christ freeth him in whom it remaineth from the power and hurt of sin bringing to him remission of sins and sanctification And being free from sin the cause of Death it is easie to conjecture that he shall be freed from Death it self Let a mans Debt be satisfied and let the favour of the Prince be obtained and a Pardon granted the Prison shall never hold him long he shall not be brought to the place of Execution but when his guives are knocked off he is set at liberty so when we have obtained power against sin by the powerful work of the Spirit of God which alwayes at the same time doth bend the heart of man to rest on Christ for salvation and heartily to indevour to walk before him in holiness and righteousness when I say we are thus freed from the power and guilt of sin it is impossible that Death should lay hold upon us as his prisoner to carry us to the dungeon of Hell and to hold us under the wrath of God and that fiery indignation of his that causeth Hell to be Hell Therefore certainly the words of Christ are an undoubted truth and we must rest upon them without all distrust and wavering that he that keepeth his sayings shall never see death and that the knowledge and beleeving and obeying the Doctrine of the Gospel is the only sure way to escape the hurt and ill of Death it self Let us make some Application of this Doctrine to our souls First to stir us up to a right hearty thankfulness unto Almighty God that is pleased to cast our times and dayes into that age and those places where the Doctrine of the Gospel this Saying of our blessed Saviour is so clearly and plainly and evidently laid open to you and frequently and earnestly prest upon your souls where the Lord cometh to declare unto you the way to life where he scoreth you out a path that will bring you quite out of the clutches and danger of Death this is the happiness of our present Age and place where we live and this whole kingdom too The grace and mercy and favour of our loving God hath so disposed of us that we do not live in times of Paganisme and darkness where there was no news of Christ that we live not in places of Popish darkness where the Doctrine of the Gospel is so mixed and darkned with tricks and devices of their own that they cannot see Christ clearly It is our happiness I say that we do not live in those places and times where either Paganisme or Popery with their darkness covered Christ from us and caused us that we could not clearly see or hear him and so not keep his sayings But now grace is offered light is tendered to us we may be saved we may escape the danger of damnation if the fault be not solely and wholly in our carelesness and wilfulness and neglect and abuse of the means that God hath afforded us The heathen men that have not heard of Christ cannot possibly attain to life as far as we can judge by the Scripture And it is very difficult for the Papists that hear so darkly and are told of the Doctrine of the Gospel with so many sophistications to come to be saved But for us that have the Doctrine of the Gospel so plainly and carefully taught us and revealed unto us we may be saved and may easily see the way to obtain salvation So we go beyond them in happiness Oh blessed be the name of the Ever-living God that beside the peace and plenty and other temporal benefits wherewith he hath crowned this unworthy Nation of ours he hath added this blessing of blessings this King of favours to give us so clear a revelation of the Doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ alone Blessed be his name and let your hearts say Amen to this thanksgiving and let it be one part of your endeavour this day to give solemne praise every man apart and his Family apart for this unspeakable mercy of his in making you live in the dayes of Light and in the bright Sun-shâ—…ne of
before Christ so in judgment If not repent of thy guilt in this kind that thy sins may be done away when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of Christ And in the mean time set thy self in a contrary course to that thou hast been do as one that would have Death find thee in a good course for as death leaves thee judgment shall find thee If Death find the in a state of repentance in a course of reformation of thy evil wayes judgment shall find thee so too Let Death therefore find thee as a man interest in Christ as a man humbling thy soul abhoring thy self for thy former sins let Death find thee as a man reforming all those evils that are condemned in the Word and in thy conscience Now when I say let Death find the so I mean set about it presently for how soon Death may set upon thee thou knowest not whether to night or no and if this be not now done if thou set not about it now it may be too late thou shalt have no more time therefore do that now and go on constantly after knowing that Death may find thee every moment Therefore it is that God keeps from us upon purpose as it were the certain knowledge of the time of Death that we may be alwayes prepared for Death SINNES STIPEND AND GODS MUNIFICENCE SERMON XXIX ROM 6.23 For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. THe latter part of this Chapter from the 12 Verse to the end is spent in a grave and powerful dehortation of the faithful from security in sin against which the Apostle useth sundry arguments That which he presseth most is drawn from the several ends to which sin and righteousness doth lead men The end of sin is death verse 21. therefore that is not to be served The end of righteonsness is life everlasting verse 22. therefore that is to be imbraced Because there is now difference in the manner of the proceeding of these two ends Death coming from sin as from the meritorious cause but life from Righteousness another manner of way therefore the Apostle adds this Epilogue and Conclusion in the last Verse plainly shewing and more clearly expressing the manner of them both For the wages saith he of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. In which words we have a description of a twofold service Of sin in the former clause And of God or righteousness in the latter And how both these are rewarded The one with death it payes us well And the other with life which is bestowed by the free gift of God through Christ These are the two parts the two general points that we are to consider First the wages of sin is death saith the Apostle Of sin That is of the depravation and corruption of our nature and so consequently of every sin that being not only it self sin but the matter and mother of all sin when sin hath conceived it bringeth forth death when sin is put forth whereby he signifieth the general depravation and corruption of our nature from whence all sin flowes So it is here The wages The word in the original signifieth properly victuals because victuals was that that the Roman Emperours gave their souldiers as wages in recompence of their service but thence the word extends to signifie any other wages or Salary whatsoever The wages of sin is death by death here is signified and meant both temporal and eternal death especially eternal death for it is opposed to eternal life in the next clause of the sentence therefore that is that that is principally meant The wages of sin is death that is eternal death This for the exposition of the terms The point to be observed from this first part of the Text is this that Death is due to sin as wages to one that earns it To such a one wages is due in strict justice if a man have a hired servant he may bestow a free gift on him if he will if he will not he may choose but his stipend or his wages he must pay him unless he will be unjust for it is the price of his work and so is due to him that he cannot without injustice with-hold it After such a manner is death due to sin the very demerit of the work of sin requires it as being eraned God is as just in inflicting death upon sinners for their sins as any man is in paying his labourer or hired servant their wages for this is the general plain scope of the Apostles words here So in the beginning God appointed Gen. 2.17 where he told Adam concerning the forbidden fruit in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shallt die the death As if he should have said when thou sinnest death must be thy wages The same is repeated Ezck. 18.20 where it is said the soul that sinneth shall die expressing the wages of sin it is death that is the recompence of sin if sin have his due then death must follow So the Apostle had shewed before in this Epistle Rom. 5.12 that by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin so death went over all men for as much as all men had sinned All had sinned therefore all are payed with death And Saint James shews the consequence and connexion between these two the work and the wages he tels us Jam. 1.15 that when sin hath conceived it bringeth forth death All these places are evidences that death by Gods ordinance by his appointment is the due of sin as due to it even as wages is to a hired servant or one that hath earned it What death is it that is due to sin Both temporal and eternal death I say both deaths concerning both which the truth is to be cleared from some doubts It was the Pelagians errour to think that man should have died a natural death though he had never sinned so they thought that the natural temporal bodily death was not the wages of sin Contrary to the Apostle in the place I speak of Rom. 5. where he makes that death that goes over all men which must needs be natural death to enter by sin sin brought in death no sin no death at all But it may be objected when God told Adam in the day that he eat the forbidden fruit he should die the death he meant not temporal death there as the event shewes for such a death was not inflicted upon Adam in the day that he sinned for after he sinned he lived still in the world naturally he continued living many years after I answer not withstanding all this Adam may be said to die a natural death as soon as he sinned because by the guilt of his sin he then presently became subject to it and God straight-way denounced upon him the sentence of death therefore it may
and yet there is none of his coming Wilt thou still retain thine integrity right Jobs Wife as she speaks to him wilt thou still retain thy trust to what purpose is it It is in vain to serve the Lord as those wicked ones speak in Malachy Now if Hope will come in and say notwithstanding all these things yet pass by bad report and good report be of Davids mind I will yet be more vile before the Lord that chose me before thee and thy fathers house and I will stand it out notwithstanding all the mockings of men Here is a manifest sign that there is Hope Thus you may seek to find this grace in your selves and you shall find it by many such kind of assaults as these which Faith meeteth withall Now as you are to find it so you are to fight against the hindrances of this Hope And the hindrances of a mans hope are sometimes slavish fear sometimes an impatient spirit and sometimes even Death it self and that is a tedious affront indeed that Hope meeteth withall First Fear a kind of passion and perturbation of the spirit of a man that makes his grief begin before his affliction comes upon him this same Fear hath a great deal of painfulness in it Where the fearful are they are shut our with the unfaithful and without shall be dogs with those that are subject to this fearfulness Now Hope cometh to a man and faith Though I sometime be afraid yet put I my trust in God and therefore I will not fear what man can do unto me I will not be danted with any kind of slavish terrour Hold out thou that faist thou hast faith and be not afraid of the Arrow that flies by day nor of the terrour by night Here is the hindrance of this hope taken away Then there is an impatient spirit that many times possesseth men An impatient spirit and a hopeful heart they are both as contrary as can be You shall have many a man so touchy that he cannot endure any delay he must have things come according to his own mind or he loseth his patience presently Oh but I will patiently wait for the Lord saith hope And here is the opposition that must be made for the maintenance of this hope against all kind of impatiency In patience possesse your souls The last hindrance is death The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death We have many enemies in this world our very life is a warfare but amongst all the fightings and combates we meet with in the world there is none comparable to this last single combate we must undergo with death it self this is a terrible assault that betideth the hopeful faithful man to know that notwithstanding all his faith and all his hope and all his love and all his patience what grace or vertue soever he hath else yet not withstanding he must go down to the grave make his bed in the darkness and lie down in the dust and when he hath fought all that he can yet not withstanding he must down he must yeeld he must take the foyl the fall in the body howsoever the soul escapeth Now here is a kind of dismaidment of hope But I will tell you how it is spoken of the faithful and so of the hopeful The faithful are said to endure as seeing him that is invisible how do they endure by the supply of hope for this hope is it that makes the faithful against all hindrances to fight it out so as that they would not be delivered as it is spoken in the Epistle to the Hebrews And shall death separate us from that we hope for No faith the hopeful man it shall not Yea so far he is from being unwilling to submit himself to this way as knowing it to be the way whereby he cometh to that he hopeth for as that he is very ready and greedy of death it is the way to that I hope for saith he therefore it is sweely spoken of an Ancient and you will acknowledge it to be a sweet sentence of that Father Saint Austin He that desireth to be dissolved according to that of the Apostle and to be with Christ Non patienter moritur He doth not die patiently See here is a faithful a hopeful man and yet doth not die patiently what would the Father say He liveth saith he patiently the very life he liveth putteth him to his patience when he cometh to die he dyeth pleasantly he goeth away with his hope and his hope is full of immortality And no more for that point The next thing I observe is concerning the Object of this hope and this is it that Christ is Object of the Christians hope We have hope in Christ Hear it in the general hear it in the speciall In the general 1. Tim. 1.1 Saint Paul he beginneth his Epistle with Christ our hope Col. 1.27 The riches of the mystery of Gods grace to the Gentiles is Christ in you the hope of glory Here is Christ our hope and Christ your hope in the general In the special hear it in Saint Paul hear it in the prophets and others Saint Paul to me to live is Christ to die is gain Christ is to me in life and death advantage living or dying I am Christs I have hoped in the Lord faith the Prophet David And God is my hope and hath been my help even from my youth This is the general song of the whole Church God is our hope and therefore the Prophet Jacob made an excellent Ejaculation in those blessings he gave his sons when he said Oh Lord I have waited for thy salvation Here was his waiting his hope for the salvation of God from the God of his salvation And so let him slay me if he will saith holy Job yet not withstanding I will still trust in him Thus the faithful have hope and their hope is in Christ No more of it for the enlargement of it It sheweth to us in the first place this Note that A Christians wings do mount him above all means What are his wings his hope Whither slyeth his hope It takes its flight up to heaven to God to the right hand of God to Christ there is his hope So then he that hath this hope being poor he flyeth not to riches for they make themselves wings and fly away from him Being weak he flyeth not to the arm of flesh for in man there is no hope nor no confidence to be put in Princes in the Ballance they are lighter then vanity it self faith the Psalmist Being sick he flyeth not to the Physitian he fleeth to these as the means not to rest in them to make it the main of his aim the scope of his hope he doth not fly thus to them but he goeth to God that commandeth all that worketh above all against all and without all
Apostle Rom. 8.15 a man is then said to wait for death when he is looking for it at every turn as a Steward waits for his Master when he continually expects his return when upon every voyce he hears or upon every knock at the door he saith oh my Master is come this is he that knocks So a man is said to wait for death when in every action of his life in every motion of his estate in every passage of his courses saith well I must die when though his bones are full of marrow yet I must die when though riches come in like a flood yet I must die when changes appear upon himself or others yet I must die I have no abiding here I am but a sojourner and a stranger as all my fathers were I must not enjoy my Wife for ever Children for ever Friends for ever Lands for ever these comforts for ever my life for ever it is but a lease which may soon expire I am but a steward and I must be called to an account such a one is gone before and I must follow after the writ of Habeas Corpus hath seized on him and for ought I know the next may be for me so when death comes I am ready to answer it as Abraham did his Son Isaac here I am it comes not upon me as a thief in the night when I am asleep and think not of him but as Jonathans arrow to David who stayed in the field and expected when it should be shot and then he rose up and embraced him Yee brethren faith Paul in 1 Thes 5.4 are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a theif ye are all the children of the light therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober This is the first thing that waiting imports Another thing it imports is a serious preparation for the day of our change for it is not a naked expectation of a change arising from the certainty of death but it is also a religious preparation improving the intrim of time for the best advantage for a mans soul before the day of change doth come which is here implyed in waiting Solomon calls it a remembring Eccles 12.1 Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth whiles the evil dayes come not and the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them what is this remembring of the Creator but a care to know him a fear to offend him a study to obey him and when is that to be done Now now remember there must be a present acting of this Moses calls it a numbring of our dayes Psal 90.12 and more then that such a numbring as is joyned with an applying of our hearts to wisedome and the reason is because wisedome it directs to the choyce of such particular actions and works as tend to happiness so should a man after his serious consideration of death apply himself to such wayes and such actions by which he may comfortably close up his life with death it is a great point of wisdome to sute actions with their ends to sit and square the wood before we build the house to learn and discipline a troop before they go to battel to rig and trim and furnish the ship before we launch to sea this is preparation indeed Now this preparation for death consists in two things First in an undoing of that which unsits us to die Brethren he who is not fit to live he is not yet fit to die and that which ever masters the life will be of greatest force in death The Father spake it boldly on good grounds I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to die now that which unfits a man to die is sin it makes him find a bitter enemy of death Oh when this Kng of terrours shall present himself by thy bed side with his arrows in his hands I mean thy sins he will wound thee with infinite amazement and horrour the sting of death is sin faith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. Thou dost not prepare thy self for death if thou dost not undo thy sins which thou hast done in thy life the which consists First in a narrow search of thy sinfulness both of nature and practice Secondly in a secret humbling of thy soul for them Thirdly in an unfeigned repentance and forsaking of them Fourthly in a constant imploring and obtaining of mercy for them in the blood of Christ If thy soul doth give sin its discharge now death shall give thy soul a discharge hereafter Secondly in the qualifying our persons for the conquest of death there are three things by which we shall be able chearfully to meet and assuredly to conquer death First by having interest in the Lord Jesus the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ If thou hast gotten Christ into thy arms by faith thou carriest thy peace strength and advantage both through life and death For we are â—…ove then conquerors through him that loved us saith the Apostle Rom. 8.37 And to me to live is Christ and to die is gain faith the same Apostle Phil. 11 21. If thou hast a good Christ thou maist be consident of a good death Secondly renewedness of our nature What Saint John spake of he Martyes as some conjecture Blessed and happy is he that hath part in the first 〈◊〉 on such the second death hath no power that say I of a person renewed by the sanctifying quality of Gods Spirit I happy is he he shall have power even over the first death The Spirit and the Bride saith come if a man hath gotten the heavenly Spirit which beautifies the soul with the ornaments of Grace as the Bride is with her ornaments he is a fitted person he may well say to Death come and to Christ come Lord Jesus come quickly Thirdly uprightness of conversation Righteousness delivers form death saith Solomon and the righteous hath hope in his death if a mans work be Christs service if he have a heart enclined to keep a good conscience in all things to keep himself exact to the rule and to walk with God Blessed is that servant which his Master when be cometh shall find so doing that man that hath looked to Gods Word to guide his life may confidently look up to Gods mercy to comfort him in death Remember O Lord saith Hezekiah Isa 39. how I have walked before thee intruâ—…h and with a perfect bea rt Now all this doth the waiting for our change import in the Text to wit a serious expectation of it first by undoing those sins of ours which else for eyer will undo us and by interesting our persons into Christ from whom we must likewise receive the Spirit to change our hearts and uprightness to form a new our conversation But then you will say
up all the sons of Adam shall be swallowed up it self into victory Till then we shall all go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our several rank and order take our last walk the way of all flesh and it is happy if we go it as Abraham did here in peace and a special blessing if we be gathered as he was to his Fathers in the Autumne of a good old age In which words we have two Acts of a Tragedy the former acted upon his Stage thou shalt go to thy Fathers the latter under the scaffold and be buried in a good old age None die better then they who have life in their hope and none live better than they who have death in their mind and thought especially if it be in the time of their health and bloom of their beauty and pride of their youth and top of their earthly happiness For this cause Joseph of Arimathes is supposed by many to have set his Sepulchre in his Garden as it were to sawce his sweetest pleasures with the sad thoughts of his Funeral and John surnamed the Almoner began his Sepulchre on the day he was Consecrated Patriark of Alexandria and it was the manner of the ancient Emperours at their Coronation feast to have several sorts of Marble shewed them to the end that they might choose one of them for their Tomb-stone and agreeable hereunto the interlineary gloss yeeldeth a reason why God commanded that the oyle wherewith the Kings were annoynted should be compounded with Cinnamon and other spices quod sit cinericii coloris because it is of the colour of Ashes or rather such mould as is digged out of Graves to put them in mind that very day in which they were made Gods upon earth that they should die like men In which regard we have great cause to Bless the providence of our heavenly Father who in the midst of our Marriage feasts and many occasions of mirth and joy presents us with such sad spectacles as here we see to the end we should not exceed in our mirth or too far set our heart upon the pleasures and comforts of this life which like sticks under a pot after a blaze fall suddenly into ashes Let us learn from all the changes and chances of this mortal life not to sing a requiem to our souls here with the fool in the Gospel because we have wealth laid up for us for many years for if our riches take not their wings and fly away from us we shall be taken away from them we shall be arrested by Gods Bayliff Death and then we must go But thou shalt go Our observations from this Scripture ariseth from two springs 1. The manner 2. The matter The former divides it self into two Rivelets the latter into three In the former to wit the manner I observe 1. That these words were spoken to Abraham in a Dream when the Sun was going down a heavy sleep fell upon him 2. That they were spoken by way of Gracious promise In the latter to wit the matter I observe three blessings bestowed upon Abraham 1. A comfortable death Thou shalt go in peace 2. An honourable burial and be buried with thy Fathers 3. A seasonable time for both in a good old age First of the manner When the Sun was setting a deep sleep and dreadful darkness fell upon Abraham and God shewed him in a dream the misery and thraldome of his postetity in Egypt Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400. years vers 13. and lest at the sight hereof his heart should utterly have failed him and his bowels dryed up within him like a pot-sheard God cleareth the skie which was clouded with a smoak of a fiery furnass vers 17. and cheareth his heart reviving him with a promise of safety and peace for himself and of deliverance of his posterity also out of their grievous servitude after a certain period of years allotted for the promise of the growth and ripeness of the Amorites sins For dreams in general the great Secretary of Nature discovereth unto us that the Dreams of good men are better than the Dreams of bad and he will have his foelix or happy man to have a singular priviledge above other men even in his sleep And doubtless as a good conscience is a full feast in the day so it is a light banquet in the night for better thoughts and phantesies in the day beget better dreams in the night as the brighter colours in the Window when the Sun shineth cast clearer species intentionales or reflections from them on the Wall God is with his children as well in the night as in the day and he imparts his counsels and discloseth his secrets as well by dreams in the one as by visions in the other That prophesie of Joel I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams though it were fulfilled in the day of Penticost as Saint Peter instructeth us yet ought it not to be restrained to that day or the Apostles time only For it hath been verified in all after-ages and holdeth still for profitable and comfortable irradiations of Gods Spirit upon the soul by day and night though not for supernatural and prophetical revelations or not so frequent Dreams therefore as they are not with the Eastern people supertitiously to be observed so neither are they utterly to be neglected as idle and vain nocturnal phantasies The Poet could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jupiter sends Dreams and Ariflotle dreamed not when he wrote his exact discourse of Divination by dreams nor Artemidorus when he published his curious tract intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgment of Dreams for the experience of all times proveth that the Dreams of many men especially a little before their death have been very considerable When the window of the senses are shut the soul hath best leisure to look into her self and after sickness hath battered down the walls of the dark prison of the body in which she was close kept more light breaks in upon her and she seeth farther off then she could before and this is the meaning of the Platonicks in that their Apophthegme anima promonet in morte the soul looks out as it were neer death For this particular in my Text God is gracious to many of his children now adayes by Dreams or otherwayes to give them notice of their departure hence To some he maketh known the year to some the moneth to some the very day and hour when they shall go the way of all flesh And as here he fore-shewed Abraham his departure from hence per viam lecteum by the milky way as it were that is by a sweet and pleasant passage of a natural death in the autumn of his life so also in a Dream he
iniquity with God Therefore certain it is that after regeneration this original lust though the guilt of it be taken away yet as sin it remains the substance of it still remains and will as long as we live in this world For it is in us as it is well compared as the Ivy is in the wall which having taken root so twines and incorporates it self that it can never be quite rooted out till the wall be taken down so till body and soul be taken a sunder by death there will be no total riddance of Original corruption and the depravation of our nature it is still in us as appears by the temporal death even of the best Saints of those that are most sanctified in this life it shews there is remainders of corruption in them still for if there were not sin there would not be the wages of sin there would not be death if there were not sin Secondly the Use of it is to take away a fond Popish distinction of mortal and venial sin they teach some sins to be venial that is such sins as in their own nature deserve not death whereas the Apostle here speaking of all sin in general he saith the wages thereof is death And how can it be otherwise when all sin is the transgression of the Law and Saint John defines it and all transgression of the Law deserves and is worthy of the curse which is both the first and second death for Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are witten in the book of the Law to do them There is no sin then but it is worthy of death therefore there is no such venial sin as they dream of We deny not but that some sins are venial and some mortal in another sence not in respect of the nature of the sin but of the estate of the person in whom the sins are so we say all the sins of the Elect are venial because they either are or shall be pardoned And all the sins of reprobate persons are mortal because they shall never be pardoned It is the mercy of God and not from the nature of the sins that makes them venial for otherwise every sin in it self considered be it never so small is mortal for if it work according to its own nature it works death of body and soul It is a foolish exception that they bring against it that thus we make all sins equal and that we bring in with the Stoicks a parity of sin because we say all are mortal It is a foolish cavil for it is as if one should argue because the Mouse and the Elephant are both living creatures that therefore they are both of equal bigness Though all sins be mortal they are not all equal some are greater and some are lesser according as they are extended and aggravated by time and place and person and sundry other circumstances Suppose one should be drowned in the middest of the Sea and another in a shallow pond in respect of death all were one both are drowned but yet there is great difference in respect of the place for depth and danger So there is great difference in this though the least sin in its own nature be mortal as the Apostle saith here the wages of it is death Thirdly seeing the wages of sin is death it should teach us what Use to make of death being presented before our eyes at such times as this hereby we should call to remembrance the grievousness of sin that brought it into the world by the woful wages we should be put in mind of the unhappy service Had there not been sin there would have been no death upon the death of the soul came in the death of the body first the soul died in forsaking God and then the body died being forsaken of the soul the soul forsook God willingly therefore it was compelled unwillingly to forsake the body This is the manner how death came into the world by sin therefore death must put out sin That housholder when he saw tares grow among his wheat he said to his servants the envious man hath done this So whensoever thou feest Death seize upon any say to thy self sin hath done this this is the wages of sin and if man had never sinned we should have seen no such thing Fourthly this must deter us from sin since it gives such wages Indeed the manner of sin is for the most part if not alwayes to promise better but it is deceitful and this is the wages it payes thee The wages of sin is death The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated wages some take it quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the evening because wages are paid in the evening So the morning of sin may be fair but the evening will be foul when the wages come At the first sin may be pleasing but remember the end the end of it is death Like to a fresh River that runs into the salt Sea the stream is sweet but it ends in brackishness and bitterness Or like to Nebuchadnezzars Image the head was gold but the feet were of clay Or sin may be compared to that Feast that Absalom made for Amnon there was great chear and jollity and mirth for a while but all closed in Death in bloudshed and murther It deales with men as Laban dealt with Jacob he entertains him at the first with great complements but used him hardly at the last Or as the Governour of the feast said Joh. 2. All men in the beginning set forth good wine and then that which is worse so sin gives the best at the first but the worst it reserves for the last This should keep us from every sin though it seems never so pleasing and never so sweet to us remembring that the worst is still to come We read that when the people saw that Saul forbad them to eat though they were exceeding hungry yet not one of them durst touch the honey for the curse though they saw it so the pleasures of sin may drop as honey before our eyes but we must not adventure to taste of them because they are cursed fruit and because of the wages that will follow Never take sin by the head by the beginnings as the greatest part do but take it as Jacob took Esau by the heel look to the extream part of it Consider thy end and thou shalt not do amiss Jezabel might have allured a man when having painted her face she looked out of the window but to look upon her after she was cast out eaten of doggs and nothing remaining but her extream parts her scull and the palms of her hands and her feet it could not be but with horrour so sin may allure a man looking only on the painted face in the beginning but if a man cast his eye upon the extream parts it would then affright and deter him for the wages the end of
it is death What a world of people run blindly and desperately on they turn to the race of sin as the horse to the battel without fear as if the Psalmists Tremble and sin not were rather sin and tremble not Whereas we have great cause every one to tremble at the least motion of sin in our selves to which so dreadful and woful wages is due Lastly for this point so many of us as have repented and have already left the service of sin we must hence learn as to be humbled in our selves considering what danger and misery we have escaped so to be more thankful to Christ that hath freed us from so wretched wages due to our sins and that by taking the whole punishment upon himself For we must know beloved that the best of us by nature are children of wrath as well as others the stipend that we have earned is eternal death and surely it hath been payed to us nothing could have kept it from us but only the satisfaction of Christ coming between Gods justice and us Think we then if we can what misery it is that we have escaped as many of us I mean as be in the state of grace we have escaped death the hurt of temporal death we have escaped eternal death What is that a separation from the blessed presence and glory of God destruction of body and soul for ever unutterable torments company with the divel and his angels and the rout of reprobates darkness blacker and thicker then that of Egypt Weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth in the infernal lake that worm that never dies and the fire that never goeth out This is the wages of all sin and that it is not rendred to all sin and to all sinners the cause is only this that the payment hath been already exacted of Christ in the behalf of all true beleevers therefore in their own persons they are discharged how infinitely are we bound in thankfulness to him and how careful should we be to walk worthy of it resolving never to return to the service of sin again but to make it our whole study that we may please and honour such a Redeemer that hath redeemed us from such misery as this that we may please him for we had deserved eternal death as well as others and he hath not only freed us from that that we had most worthily deserved but most freely also bestowed that upon us that we could never deserve for so it followes in the next point The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That is the second thing to be considered the reward of the service of God You have heard of the reward the wages of sin Now the reward of the service of God is eternal life it is called life There is a twofold life belongs to men The one is natural and is common to all good and bad in this world The other spiritual proper to the faithful begun by the union of God and the soul and maintained by the bond of the spirit and this life hath three degrees The first is in this life unto death and it begins when we begin to beleeve and repent and come to a saving knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ as it is said This is eternal life to know thee to be the very God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Joh. 17.3 The second degree is from our death to our resurrection for in that time our souls being freed from our bodies are withal free from all sin original and actuall Thirdly after the Resurrection when body and soul shall be reunited we shall have immediate communion and fellowship with God and so enjoy a more perfect and blessed life then ever 〈◊〉 could here And this spiritual life with all the three degrees of it is the life here spoken of especially the last degree the perfection of it in heaven It is called eternal life because it shall never end For a thing is said to be eternal three wayes First which hath neither beginning nor end so God alone is eternal and none but he Secondly which hath no beginning and yet shall have an end so Gods decree is eternal for it never had a beginning yet when all things decreed are fulfilled it shall have an end Thirdly which hath a beginning but never shall have end and so the life of Gods Saints had a beginning as all created things have but it shall never have an end and this eternal life it is called here The gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Because we cannot deserve it but it is given and bestowed on us freely for Christ So then the point of observation from the latter part of the words is this that Our salvation it is the free gift of God given us only for the merits of Christ For observe I beseech you the Apostles words when he had said The wages of sin is death he doth not add and say but the wages of righteousness is eternal life but he calls that the gift of God To make us understand saith Damascene that God brings us to eternal life meerly for his own mercy not for our merits or else surely the Apostle would have made the latter part of the sentence answerable to the former But here perhaps some may ask why eternal life should not be the wages of righteousness as well as death the wages of sin I answer because there is not the same reason between sin and righteousness For first sin is our own it merits it but righteousness is none of our own it is the holy Ghosts and it is due to God Then again sin is perfectly evil and so it deserves death but our righteousness inherent is not perfectly good it is imperfect in this life and nothing that is imperfectly good can merit as wages eternal life therefore the Apostle makes such a manifest difference between them he calls death the wages of sin but eternal life the gift of God it is the free gift of God through Christ Indeed eternal life sometimes many times in Scripture is called a reward But there is a reward of mercy as well as of justice Nay God is said sometimes to reward his children in justice How is that Though the reward come originally from mercy yet accidentally it comes to be justice thus because God hath tyed himself by promise to reward now promise is debt from a just man Thus the Lord may be accounted a debtor How saith Saint Austin as a promiser if he had not promised eternal life otherwise he ows us nothing at all much less eternal life which is so great a thing Yet it may be doubted how eternal life is the free gift of God seeing it is given for the merits of Christ as it is here exprest the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord that is for the merits of Christ now a