flame Now those that are constant and faithful in these and the rest of the Ordinances and means God hath appointed to this end are likelyest to have the qualifications before mentioned and those thus qualified need not fear death those that walk evenly with God in Prosperity are most like to hold out in Adversity Heb. 2.14 and need not fear death nor him that hath the power of death the Devil The more faithful and constant any one is in the Trade of Godliness the more Assurance he may have of a happy death and joyful Resurrection and what hinders then but a chearful resigning our selves to death when God calls a man will not willingly resign up his old Lease till he have assurance of a better but who will not leave a Cottage for a Palace or exchange an old Suit for a new Rags for Robes when assurance of Heaven is got no wonder if earth be contemned for who will not change a Temporal Life for Life Eternal And thus Courteous Reader if thou art prepared I have spoken to thee in the Book if not in the Epistle wherein I have given thee some direction how thou maist be prepared and how thou maist come to be fit to live and fit to dye and fit to lye in the Arms of Christ for ever What effect the Book will have upon the one or the Directions on the other I know not but my desire is and my Prayer shall be that it may be beneficial both to the one and to the other This will be your own advantage but the comfort of him who subscribes himself Yours for your Souls good Edward Bury Eaton Octob. 23. 1680. Books printed for and sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheap-side near Mercers Chappel SErmons on the whole Epistle of Saint Paul to the Collossians by Mr. J. Daille translated into English by F. S. An Exposition of Christs Temptation on Matth. 4. and Peters Sermons to Cornelius and circumspect walking by Tho. Taylor D. D. A practical Exposition on the third Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians with the Godly mans choice on Psal 4. vers 6 7. by Anthony Bargess Christianographia or a description of the multitudes and sundry sorts of Christians in the world not subject to the Pope by Eph. Pagit Dr. Donns 40 Sermons being his 3 Volumes Forty six Sermons upon the whole Eighth Chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans by Tho. Horton D. D. late Minister of St. Hellens An Analytical Exposition of Genesis and of 23 Chapters of Exodus by George Hughes D. D. The Door of Salvation opened by the Key of Regeneration by George Swinnock M. A. An Exposition on the five first Chapters of Ezekiel with useful Observations thereupon by William Greenhill Gods holy Mind touching matters Moral which he uttered in ten Commandments Also an Exposition on the Lords Prayer by Edward Eston B. D. The Fiery Jesuit or an Historical Collection of the rise encrease doctrines and deeds of the Jesuits Horologiographia optica Dyaling universal and particular speculative and practical together with a description of the Court of Arts by a new Method by Sylvanus Morgan A seasonable Apology for Religion by Matthew Pool Separation no Schism in Answer to a Sermon preached before the Lord Maior by J. S. An Exercitation on a question in Divinity and Case of Conscience viz. Whether it be lawful for any person to act contrary to the opinion of his own conscience formed from arguments that to him appear very probable though not necessary or demonstrative The Creatures goodness as they came out of Gods hand and the good mans mercy to the bruit-Creatures in two Sermons by Tho. Hodges B. D. Certain considerations tending to promote Peace and Unity amongst Protestants Mediocria or the most plain and natural apprehensions which the Scripture offers concerning the great Doctrines of the Christian Religion of Election Redemption the Covenant the Law and Gospel and Perfection A Soveraign Antidote AGAINST THE FEAR of DEATH OR A Cordial for a Dying Christian being Ten Meditations suited to that End MEDITAT I. What Death is to a Believer and to an Vnbeliever WHY art thou cast down Psal 42.11 O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God What is it that thus amazeth and terrifieth thee Why art thou so distracted in thy duties and so full of anxious fears and doubts is it the apprehension of death that so disquiets thee Why man didst thou never look Death in the face till now didst never behold his grisly looks and grim face yea thou hast many a time and art thou yet afraid is this the fruit of all thy prayers and thy mortifying Meditations hast not thou instructed many Job 13.4 c. and strengthned the weak hands thy words have upholden him that was falling and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees but now it is come upon thee dost thou faint and when it toucheth thee art thou troubled Is a disease now more terrible than formerly Or the apprehensions of death than in times past or is it bad News that terrifies thee and makes thee afraid Some Papist plotting to take away thy life Psal 112.7 among others the Psalmist tells thee he shall not be afraid of evil tidings whose heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. Suppose they seek thy life and thirst after thy blood hast thou no hiding place no City of refuge to fly to till the storm be over Hast thou no interest in God no Friend in the Court to make thy complaint to Prov. 14.32 No comfort in time of need But dye thou must well yet the righteous hath hope in his death and doth thy hope and thy happiness then expire with thy life Come let us reason the case and see if there be so much cause of desponding as thou pretendest Art thou from under the protecting hand of God Ps 59.1 Or is his hand shortned that he cannot save Isa 50. or his ear heavy that he cannot hear Where is the bill of divorce that he hath given thee Or hath the Lord put thy life into thine own hands and dost thou think it will be wrested out by violence Art thou thine own keeper and dost mistrust thy strength Or is thy life put into thy Enemies hand and by whom Or can they take it away without a Commission God usually keeps the Keyes of Life and Death at his own girdle Or if thy Life be gone is thy Happiness at an end if not what need all this consternation this is more than thy Enemies can do without leave and if they could what a great matter is it for a man an Old man to dye but 't is him whom thou callest thy Father Numb 16.22 that can kill and make alive and brings to the
ready and what hopes is there of thee if God spare thee another year that thou wilt bring forth better fruit is old age the best and fittest for repentance and preparation to dye when thou wilt find enough to do to wrastle with pains and bodily distempers would a Captain take it for a sufficient excuse if a Souldier that is by ingagement to be ready at an hours warning and should give him a week a month a years time to make ready and at the end of that time he should plead his Arms are not fixed nor other necessaries provided and if the Captain give him another year and at the end thereof he should plead the same excuse would this be taken for a good excuse yet this excuse hath been in thy mouth many years together and 't is doubt if God yet lengthen thy daies and give thee more years it will be the same Hath not death entred into thy habitation hath it not taken away thy parents thy loving wife thy dear children and other of thy near relations and didst not yet lay it to heart wa st thou no wiser than fatted beasts that are taken away one after another to the Shambles and those that remain are senseless of the danger neither consider their turn is coming yea hath not death thrown many a dart at thee and sometimes wounded thee in the head sometimes in thy bowels and yet dost not consider that he hath a dart will reach thy heart Yea sometimes thou hast thought thou hast had thy deaths wound and yet wilt take no warning to get on thy Armour doth not the pains the aches the distempers of thy body under which thou daily groanest bid thee prepare for thy winding-sheet doth not news ring dayly in thy ear this and that friend relation or neighbour is dead and ere long others will say of thee he is dead also hast thou not interred many a dead corpse and preacht may a Funeral Sermon and given many an exhortation to the living to prepare for death and comforted many that have lost their friends by death and wast never yet satisfied that thou wast mortal and must dye also didst thou think thy self only exempted from the common lot of all men or that God would bring thee to Heaven another way or couldst thou wish thou wert immortal and shouldst live on earth to Eternity art thou willing to take the Earth for Heaven and the creature for God and the happiness thou meetst with here for Heavens glory hast enough to satisfy thee here below and desirest no more if not why wouldst not dye and come to happiness if the earth be more desireable to thee one year why not twenty and why not to eternity if God should bid thee choose thy time and appoint it thy self what time wouldst thou require haply Methusalems daies well but these would expire and death at the end would be as bitter as now it is If death were the road to Hell as 't is to the wicked thou mightest well startle at it And I have wondred at those of them that have been so prodigal of their lives when Life is the only preservative out of Hell Or if thy case were that of the beasts and thou were to be reduced unto the horrid estate of nothing death might make thee shrug but when thou believest that death to thee will be an entrance into glory an outlet to misery and an inlet to happiness and the same road that Christ and all the glorified Saints have gone to Heaven in how can this be reconciled with thy fears Hast thou had so many discourses of death and with death and dost believe that the sting is taken out by Christ and dost yet run from this Serpent and take him for an enemy that is but thy Fathers Messenger sent for thy good This must needs be thy sin and thy folly and doth too evidently bespeak thy Infidelity or the weakness of thy Faith Thou hast comforted others at the last gasp and prayed with them and for them thou hast strengthened the weak hands and feeble knees and now dost faint under the same burden But hadst thou had more mortifying Meditations of death and with the Apostle hadst learned to dye daily death would not have been so terrible a Bugbear to thee as now it seems didst thou once a day look him in the face by a serious meditation and by a believing expectation he would not look so grim and terrible Bears and Tigers are not so terrible to those that are their keepers and acquainted with them as to others The Lion in the Fable was at first sight a terror to the Fox but time much allayed his fear the more thou beholdest death the less deformed yea the more lovely he doth appear death will be no excepter of persons the rich and poor high and low whether they will or no must dance in this Ring when God commands he must and will strike death is written upon thy cradle and thou wast rockt upon the mouth of the grave and ever since no day hath been sure to thee but it might have been thy dying day 't is not long since thou didst bewail the death of thy Parents and 't is not long before thy children will bewail thine one generation comes and another goes and the latter treads out the steps of the former we trod out the steps of our predecessors and our posterity will do as much for us The world is but a Tent to abide in for a time an Inne to tarry in a night a Lodging place for a wayfaring man a baiting-place in a Journey Oh the folly of most men that take it for their Inheritance and look for no more but to the Godly 't is no continuing city no abiding place neither indeed worthy our love Were the world as the garden of Eden full of delights and pleasures thou hadst something to say for it and yet the worm of time would eat out the very heart of it the shortness of the continuance would spoyl the sport Many doat on beauty but none but the blind will fall in love with deformity it self The world is a Bochim a place of Lamentation and who falls in love with sorrow 't is a Golgotha a place of dead mens skuls and who but mad men converse among the Tombs 'T is a pest-house an infected and an infecting place where most we converse with are infectious 't is a prison a place of hardship where the soul hath not liberty to act according to its nature 't is a place of Egyptian bondage and slavery where there is little but moiling toyling working caring from morning till night for a poor living wherein we are so chained to our Oars that we have scarce time to eat our meat and what madness is it over eagerly to desire such a life and to quarrel those that ease us of our burden and put an end to our labours Here thou livest under continual pains aches griefs
here is no such thing Ridley and Hooper here accord Luther and Calvin are made Friends those Rivers of pleasure at Gods right hand quench all the sparks of contention pride and ignorance hath kindled among the godly and there is no bone of contention thrown among them there is nothing but sweet peace and concord and what was weak is there made strong and as no contention so no sorrow upon that account Every son of the first Adam came into the world crying and every son of the second Adam while he is in the world hath cause to cry God had one Son without sin but none without sorrow Christ himself was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief God chasteneth every son he receiveth and scourgeth those he loveth Heb. 12.8 If we be not chastized we are bastards and not sons But at death thy sorrow shall cease and thy joyes commence there shall be no more pain no more death for sorrow and sighing shall fly away But as thou shalt have an everlasting freedom from all hellish flames which is the portion of the wicked and their cup put into their hands by God so shalt thou have everlasting freedom from all temporal sorrow which is the godly mans cup and lot while they are here put into their hands by their loving Father here thou shalt be freed from sin the world and the Devil thy mortal thy sworn enemies thou shalt never more have a pale face a languishing body trembling joynts a dim sight or any infirmity or deformity there shall be none that stoop for age or any immature youth but all perfect men and women in the prime of their age as 't is conceived about the age and stature of Christ as Divines think the Apostle alludeth to that when he saith Eph. 4.13 Till we come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Unto such a stature that we should have been at had there been no infirmity or defirmity had hindred here we shall have no peccant humour no languishing disease no carking care no griping grief no fretting fear no consuming evil nay nothing that bears the name of evil the Wormwood and the Gall shall there cease for ever and sickness and diseases shall be no more no predominancy of humours no hurtful quality shall accompany our bodies when they are glorified Exod. 14.13 When this corruption shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality then may we say of sin and sorrow as Moses of the Egyptians These your enemies which you see to day ye shall see them no more for ever For as no unclean thing shall ever enter Heaven nor shall any thing that bespeaks sorrow or suffering we shall deal by these when we ascend into Heaven as Abraham did by his Servants when he went to offer his Son Isaac in Sacrifice leave them at the foot of the hill for if sin enter not there is no place for sorrow but unspeakable glory transcendent Joyes pleasure for evermore and though the glory there be inconceivable yet the faculties of the Soul shall be enlarged to receive it without offence now we cannot behold the Sun in its lustre but 't is an offence to the eye but then thou shalt be capacitated to behold a glory ten thousand times greater than the Sun with delight and shall not this death which ends all our sorrows and miseries and ushers us into this glory be welcome to us Nay but this is not all thou hast not only a crazy tottering ruinous house to live in but thou livest among bad Neighbours also and there is little comfort in a bad Neighbour-hood the house where thou dwellest is haunted with evil Spirits and thou canst have no freedom day nor night these continually trouble thee day and night and infest thee even in thy holy duties while sin that is the Devils daughter and his darling lives there her Father will not be absent and his presence is uncomfortable to a godly man he is thy sworn enemy and thou canst not be rid of him though thou givest him never so many foils he will not desist neither canst thou make any peace with him but upon harder terms than the men of Jabesh Gilead were offered by Nahash the Ammonite to put out their right eyes but nothing but the everlasting damnation of body and soul will serve him many a blasphemous temptation and many a poysoned arrow he darts into the Soul many a foul suggestion and fain would he make a rape of her he frequently storms the chief Fort Oh the hourly danger that thou art in by reason of his temptations and thine own corruptions for this is as Tinder to the fire ready to catch upon all occasions and many a time he enters the breach and if he were not beat back again would destroy the Fort of the soul many a snare and gin he layes for thee and baits his hooks according to thy inclination sometimes with one Bait sometimes with another like as a cunning Angler doth for Fish or the Fowler for Birds and what he finds most taking that he useth most sometimes he moves thee to presume if that prevail not to despair sometimes to neglect Duties if that serve not to trust in them or be proud of them sometimes to be proud of thy Enjoyments at another time to despond or murmur at thy wants or disappointments sometimes he baits his hooks with thy Relations and either perswades thee to Idolize them or moves them as he did Peter to tempt Christ Master save thy self and this proved Spira's ruine and I doubt not hath ruined many in this age He doth what he can to fly-blow all thy Duties and render them odious to God and takes advantage by every action thou dost making thee to neglect it or he foists in some by or base ends of his own into it or makes thee pride in it if things succeed to thy mind he puffs thee up with pride if thou meet with disappointments he makes thee repine and makes thee believe the world is a bad pay-master yea God himself a hard Master and that thou deservest better at his hand and as to thy calling sometimes he perswades thee that thou takest a great deal of pains for little or no profit and hast no competent reward for thy labour and therefore 't is better give it over and live at ease sometimes he perswades thee thy calling is honourable and would lift thee up above thy brethren a thousand are the shares which he layes in thy way to entrap thee and although thou shouldest repell them yet 't is a great trouble to be thus continually haunted by them as it is for a Chaste woman to be alway troubled with the unclean motions of a filthy Adulterer and as the Devil so the world layes traps for thee sometimes in pleasures sometimes
thy back upon Christ he will turn his back upon thee and be ashamed of thee If thou make light of his Supper thou shalt not tast of his daintes The question thou seest is not whether death be desirable or no Nature it self answers the contrary but whether the first or second death be the greater evil and so whether is to be chosen when both cannot be avoided The question is not whether pain be eligible but whether the pains of death or hell be the greater Not whether life be desirable but whether life or Christ be the better Whatever thy senses may say rectifyed Reason which should govern the sensitive faculties will tell thee the second death is far more formidable and that 't is better to deny thy self than deny thy Redeemer Oh my God is this the reward of Apostacy is this the wages the Devil gives his best servants Through thine assisting grace I will be thine Lord I resolve I will never forsake thee Lord do thou never leave me to my self nor forsake me MEDITAT X. Of Heavens Glory the reward of dying for Christ OH my soul thou hast seen the danger of revolting and denying Christ thou hast had a view of hell which is the reward of this sin thou hast looked into it and had a glimpse of it though it was but a little representation a true map of it the Devil himself cannot make nor give a full discription but here is enough to stay thy stomach how thinkst of it if thou trade for it canst thou make a savers bargain if thou lose thy soul to save thy life For this is the trade thou drivest if thou deny Christ here is the Devils offered wages 't is true he sugers this bitter pill with a promise of a longer miserable life in a cheating world but he cannot make good his bargain though he will not be behind hand with his wages Mat. 25.41 if thou depart from Christ now he will bid thee depart from him for ever what is thy resolution Halt not between two opinions if God be God serve him 1 Kin. 18.27 if Baal be God serve him thou canst not serve two masters God and Mammon If thou pretend to both thou art like to be cast off by both by God and the world as many hypocrites are the world hates them because they look like the godly and God hates them because they are really wicked consider therefore who is like to be the best master and who will give the best wages and if the ballances are yet equally poized I shall put in one weight more even an eternal weight of glory into Gods end which may haply turn the scales though the whole world were in the other end for if thou be faithful to the death thou shalt receive a crown of life and this crown will really over-ballance all that the Devil can put into the other end Thou hast seen there is but a little in the world worth the losing and a great deal in hell worth the fearing let us see if there be any thing in heaven worth the enjoying in the world is nothing but vanity in hell nothing but misery and in Heaven nothing but felicity now what wise man would lose this felicity and endure this misery for a little while to enjoy this vanity Thou hast seen the Devils wages that is the best of it for the worst the Devil himself cannot make thee understand for it is inexpressible and no word in humane language can set it forth to the life yet thou hast had a tast of it and a tast is better than a whole draught Now if thou would'st see what wages God will give thee thou must make a journey also into Heaven and see if there be any thing that may win upon thy affections thou seest already what the Devil and the world have bidden thee see also what wages God offers thee and then choose as thou seest cause see if there be any thing in Heaven to make up all thy losses crosses sufferings and pains which thou must be at for Christs sake and if there be not take thy course and make another choice view those celestial habitations those mansions of glory prepared for those that confess Christ before men and lose any thing for his sake view this purchased Inheritance this Crown of glory and those eternal pleasures that are at Gods right hand and see if God do not outbid the Devil and the World and so best deserves thy affections and consider whether this may not a little allay thy overmuch desire of life and fear of death and make thee willing to be at thy Redeemers will and Makers pleasure one view of this celestial Paradice may make thee disrelish all temporal felicity But how shall we sing the songs of Sion in a strange land or what conceptions can we have of these Heavenly Mansions while we abide in houses of clay Water can ascend no higher than the Fountain-head and Nature cannot transcend Nature what conceptions can a beast have of a rational being much lower must we have of a celestial being for the disproportion is greater how canst thou view those gloryes surpassing a thousand Suns when thou canst not view one Sun when it shines in its splendour but thy weak eyes are offended how canst utter those things which the Apostle that saw them calls inutterable how canst discourse of the Father of Spirits and knowest so little of the nature of a Spirit nay art so ignorant of thy own soul or tell what it is to enjoy God in glory when those little glimpses of him here are inexpressible or how canst thou discourse of that which eye never saw ear never heard of neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive of viz. What God is and what he hath prepared for those that love him for as those hellish flames which the wicked suffer cannot be fully described by those that endure them no more can those celestial joyes by those that enjoy them much less by a frail creature that hath had very little tast of those honey-dews that fall upon the heirs of glory In this wilderness of troubles we see few of those Canaans grapes and foretasts of Glory the full fruition no man living can discover Yet let us get a Pisgah sight of Canaan a remote view of glory and judge a little of the worth of the Jewel by the richness of the Cabinet that holds it and haply thou maist by the report as the Queen of Sheba of Solomons wisdom get some conceptions of it that may make thee like her be willing to take the journey though thou hearest not the one half of what there really is to be seen and though thy conceptions reach not the matter in hand yet may they reach thy affections and serve to dazle thine eyes that all earthly glory shall seem little to it To this purpose let us view the bespangled Spheres adorned with those beauty
the Sea and Hell must give up their dead and though worms may feed upon thy body yet thou shalt neither feel nor fear them Psal 22.6 and why shouldst thou disdain thy fellow-creatures seeing man in Scripture account is but a Worm Job 25.6 those cannot devour the body so as to hide it from God neither can they make it loathsom to God When a house is pull'd down it seems a ruinous heap but many times 't is in order to rebuilding and then 't is more glorious But if it be the pain of dying that doth affright thee and I know not what else it can be consider there is very little cause for it for we may daily see that many die and depart the world without any shew of sensible pain and depart in peace nay as in a sleep sometimes in a swoun without motion or appearance of pain and art afraid of that which even sucking Children undergoe and which all the world have or must endure and were it painfull wouldst thou grutch to bear an hours pain for Eternal Glory who usually sufferest as much pain for a meaner reward If thy dinner be sharp thy Supper will be sweet Thou wilt take pains for profit and suffer much for ease Oh my God did my dear Redeemer suffer such a shameful death for me to make me happy and shall I lose this happiness rather than go to enjoy it God forbid Lord give me in requisite qualifications and then call for me when and how thou pleasest yet Lord let me not dye unprepared and lose both my Life and Soul together MEDITAT VII Martyrdom not hurtful to a Christian OH my Soul what is it that thou dost boggle at Death thou hearest can do thee no hurt why then dost thou fear it O! but 't is a violent death thou fearest were it but a natural death thou couldst submit to it but to fall into the hands of the uncircumcised into the hand of bloody and deceitful men whose loving kindness is cruelty this thou canst not willingly bear all Death offers violence to nature and to be willing to dye by thy Enemies hand thou art not prest to use all unlawful means to escape but no means but what is lawful thou must be willing to submit to God and when he manifests this to be his will thou must chearfully suffer it but I fear this is but a Fig-leaf to cover a little Faith well let us argue the case To dye thou seemest willing but thou must choose thy death and God must have no hand in the business thou wouldst go to him but he must not send for thee especially by such a messenger thou likest not of This is Childrens play they would do any thing but what they are bid do go any whither but to School learn in any Book but their own But dost really think that thou art fitter to determine the circumstances of thy Death than God the time when the place where and the manner how or will God accept of thee for a Councellor in this case and what difference is there between the one and the other one stops thy breath and so will the other one sets an end to thy temporal being and so doth the other the consequences are the same and the pains of the natural death may be as great or greater than the other wouldst thou choose some violent distemper some raging disease some violent pain to end thy life Nay this thou likest not neither hadst thou the Stone the Strangury the Collick the Gout c. this might make thee live a dying life and make thee weary of thy life and with Job choose strangling rather than life and hadst rather endure this than a few minutes pain from the hands of man I fear this excuse is but to prolong thy time but buy not time at so dear a rate thou seemest careful not to come to Heaven too soon nor honour God too much by thy Death but take heed of wringing thy life out of his hands dye thou wilt thou sayest but it must be when thou caust live no longer and then no thanks to thee patience perforce is a Medicine for a mad Dog doth not Death whether by a Disease by the Sword or at the Stake signifie much the same thing as to the consequents of Death only the latter if it be in the cause of Christ speaks thee more a Christian and entitles thee to a Crown of Martyrdom and will encrease thy happiness Death at which door soever it comes in separates between the Body and the Soul but happily thou maist live a little longer by refusing to dye for Christ but will not a years enjoyment of God in Glory be as delightful to thee as a year longer spent upon the Earth and perhaps if the one be sooner than the other it may be with as little pain But suppose God should give thee thy choice either to dye a natural Death the next year or to dye by an enemies hand seven year after which wouldst thou choose I suppose thou wouldst seal to the longer Lease If so 't is not a violent death thou fearest so much as a short life but if this be thy fear to dye too soon God may send thee a languishing life and make thee long for death Job 3.21 22. and dig for it as for Silver and rejoyce exceedingly when thou canst find the grave But then 't is no thanks to thee to dye when thou canst live no longer or only desire death to be rid of thy pain and sometimes God punisheth an immoderate desire of life by imbittering their life to them and so makes them say as Job Troublesome nights are appointed to me If thou wilt willingly resign thy Life to God and leave it to his dispose thou wilt not make a losers bargain haply he may rescue it out of the Enemies hand however he will not be long in thy debt but for a temporal Life will give thee that which is Eternal which will be a thousand fold better Ignatius knew it when he said Burning hanging tearing my flesh in pieces with wild horses tantummodo ut Jesum nanciscar only let me enjoy Christ and was afraid left his friends should prevent his Martyrdom by their Prayers Seeing thy body must be reduced to dust 't is no matter whether it rot above ground or in it no matter whether thou be burnt to ashes or moulder to dust God will not lose one grain of thy dust Kill me they may saith the Martyr hurt me they cannot the worst they can do is but to send me to my Fathers house the sooner The love of Christ in the Martyrs was hotter than the Flames they burnt in and much allayed the heat of the Fire that some of them felt little or no pain O ye Papists saith one ye look for a miracle behold a miracle for in this fire I feel no pain it is to me as a bed of Roses They went as readily to
dye as to dine and accounted the day of their Death their Wedding day Paul was ready not only to be bound but to dye for Christ Many were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection they had Trial of cruel mocking scourging yea bonds and imprisonments they were stoned sawn asunder tempted slain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins Heb. 11.36 c. being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the World was not worthy they wandred in deserts and in mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth c. The more thou sufferest for Christ the more weighty will thy Crown of Glory be those that loved not their lives to the death but were killed for the Testimony of Jesus are placed under the Altar nay follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes and are cloathed with long white Robes and have Palms in their hands But if thou deny thy life to Christ he will deny thee entrance into this Heavenly Canaan and thou shalt not only lose thy reward but thy Soul also and expose thy self to Death Eternall If thou suffer with him thou shalt reign with him and if thou art ashamed of him he will also be ashamed of thee Those that honour him he will honour and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed If thou come to suffer for him as many eyes will be upon thee so many Prayers will be put up for thee and doubtless much comfort will be dropt into thy Soul by the Spirit of God who is the Comforter sent by God upon this business and God will stand by thee in suffering times and give in Cordials to refresh thy heart I have read of a Christian that under his Rack and Tortures as he after told his friends apprehended a young man with a handkerchief wiping the sweat off his face and comforting him The holy Angels will stand by thee and God will not be at a distance from his suffering Saints and who then need fear to dye that hath learnt to live if thou be prepared thou needst not fear what Messenger God sends for thee nor at what hour of the night thy master comes for Death cannot be sudden to the prepared Soul that is alwaies upon his watch and thou needst not fear what thy sufferings be if thou canst but say Propter te propter te Domine 'T is for thee and for thy sake we are killed all the day long and accounted as Sheep for the slaughter The more thou sufferest then the more deeply thou engagest God to thee and he will pay thee an hundred fold this is the best usury and the best way thou canst dispose of thy life for every year on Earth that thou hast lost thou shalt receive a thousand in Heaven and for one friend thou forsakest here thou shalt receive a thousand there and for every thing thou losest for his sake thou shalt be recompensed a thousand fold and as thou shalt have no loss so thy Enemies shall be no gainers by thy death they heap up coals of fire upon their own heads and without repentance prevent it augment their own damnation for Christ will take it as done to himself and their torments are like to be as durable as thy Joyes which will be for ever and ever Consider not so much what thou sufferest as for what and for whom if it be for the Truth it will prevail and if it be for Christ thou shalt not lose by it Truth is more precious than life it self and fit to be sealed with thy blood thou must deny thy self rather than deny thy God for he that gave thee thy life is fittest to dispose of it and whosoever parts with his life upon this account makes a good bargain he cannot buy this Gold too dear Many are the encouragements given in Scripture to persecuted Saints Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you And as great will be thy reward so great also are the company of thy fellow-sufferers even from righteous Abel to this day Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers Persecuted Yea Christ and his Apostles followed after for almost all of them dyed a violent death and greater than the Master is the Servant cannot be the world that hated Christ will hate his Servants also and persecute all that bear his Image If they hated him for righteousness sake they will hate all that are righteous Christ suffered for thee the wrath of God and wilt not thou suffer for him the wrath of man he was stung by Death and dost think it much to be strucken by it now the sting is out he suffered for thee the pains of Hell and think'st it too much to suffer the pangs of death for him when many times it is not so much as some have endured from an aking tooth and what is this to the recompense of reward he gave thee thy life and can take it if he please and yet desires thy consent and if thou refuse he will distrain of thee for this debt The worst of Enemies can but stop thy breath and the least of Creatures can do as much if animated by God The least Fly or Hair or Crumb of Bread will choak thee if God give it a commission and well maist thou fear it if thou hast denyed God to lay down thy life for his sake sickness or age will as surely end thy life as thy Enemies can though haply not so suddenly thou hast no assurance of it a day to an end neither canst thou have only put it into his hand and he will dispose of it for thy good how can the seed spring up if it be not sown or how can the body rise if not fallen if God suffer any to take away thy life 't is not out of any love to them or hatred to thee he loves his Child better than his Rod though sometimes the rod may be set on high when the Child is turned out of door yet when the child is reformed the rod shall be burnt they cannot preserve their own lives nor take away thine 't is God doth both and ere long they must tread the same steps and down to the same pit and travail the same road and enter Deaths dark Vault as well as others only here is the difference death which will bring thee as Joseph out of Prison will bring them in and as it knocks off the bolts from thy heels he will fasten shackles and chains upon theirs and shall bring them like Haman from his glory to his execution that death which will set an end to thy misery will terminate their felicity it will