to have a Luk. 24.20 suffered these things and so to enter into his glory Hath the Father made b Heb. 2.10 the Captain of our Salvation perfect through sufferings and will he not the same way bring many sons to glory Shall this High-priâ—st after the order of Melchizedek drink c Ps 110.7 of the Brook of Kidron in the way to Olivet before he lift up the head in a glorious Ascention And shall Saints the inferior Levites think much to taste it Zebedees Children do but taste a few drops at the bottome of d Mat. 20.22 23. the Cup of Kidrons water Christ hath drunk it off Saints do but sip of e Num. 5.27 c. these bitter waters not for satssfaction but submission to the Law they shall not cause their thighs to rot but conceive to glory What 's fabled of the Unicorn that he takes away the poyson by dipping his horn in the waters before the Beasts of the Forrests do drink after him Is true of our Lord he hath sweetned these waters of Marah with this Tree of Life for true Israelites to pledg him His holy body washed the waters of Jordan by his Baptism and healed the waters of Kidron by his Passion Christ that pure prolifick f Joh. 12 24 Corn of Wheat fell into the ground and died and bringeth forth much fruit The grave is made fertile by his death that Saints lying by his dead body may be impregnated and spring up in a green Resurrection and grow ripe to the harvest of glory They are implanted into the g Rom. 6.5 similitude of his death and shall be raised in the likeness of his Resurrection As that heavenly grain did rise so shall Saints sprout upon his stalk without Chaffe for the Garner of Paradise A. 4 A. 4. Again Saints dye not only in conformity to their head but to magnifie the glory of divine Grace in Salvation by the New-Covenant Christ takes away the radicall and fundamentall guilt of sin but not the totall in being thereof during this Life None shal go to heaven by the law of perfection according to the tenor of the first Covenant None shall boast of h Eph. 2.8 9. Tit. 3.5 work or merit for by grace are we saved None shall climbe to heaven but by i Gen. 28.11 12. Joh. 1.51 Jacobs Ladder whose foot is fixt upon the son of man We are saved by grace to k Rom. 3.27 exclude boasting we are saved l Act. 15.11 by faith that Christ may be m Phil. 1.20 magnified whether in life or death we are saved n Tit. 3.4 7. by mercy that the kindness and love of God our Saviour may appear we are not born but made heirs according to the hope of eternall life Nay we are saved by a Rom. 8.24 hope and with patience we wait for it Were we perfect here our faith would be clambering into vision and our hope into fruition our resting waiting panting frame would be swallowed up in preliminary injoyments of heaven our love would cast out all fear and torment and ride triumphant before resurrection to the capitol of glory But God hath an eye to that new and living way of salvation paved with the precious blood of the second Covenant wherefore though Christ be b Ro. 10.4 the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth yet he restores us not in this life to the beauty and perfection of holiness So that if sin remain in a Saint death must needs be its issue For sin when 't is finisht c Jam. 1.16 bringeth forth death Though death in all its circumstances be not the proper d Ro. 6.23 wages of sin unto a Saint because Christ hath satisfied and made us free from the Law e Rev. 8.2 of sin and of death Though death be not the f Ib. c. 6.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the stipendiary supper of a believer yet 't is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the four sauce wherewith the remnants and leavings of originall and the too great improvement thereof in actuall sins and infirmities are disht up Warm Bernard starts this question If Christ have delivered us g Bern. ad milit Templ f. 98. a. Ed. Pari 517. Utquid adhuc morimur non statim immortalitate vestimur Sane ut Dei veritas impleatur c. Why do we yet dye and are not presently clothed with immortality Verily that the truth of God might be fulfilled For because God loveth mercy and truth its necessary that man should dye because God had foredoom'd it but yet that he should also rise from the dead lest God should seem to forget his mercy So then though Death Lords it not over a Saint perpetually yet it remains a while upon us because of the truth of God Even as Sin though it reign not in our mortall bodies yet is it not totally taken from us Thus Bernard layes the burden of a Saints death upon the primitive fall the curse of God the veracity of his threatnings and fulfilling of that word to Adam in the day thou catest thereof thou shalt dye and a little before Adae delictum merito contrahimus quouiam cum peccavit in ipso eramus ex ejus carne per carnis concupisentiam genite sumus We are deservedly involved in Adams guilt because we all sinned in him for when he sinned we were in him and were begotten of his flesh by carnall concupiscence And is not this the very Doctrin of Paul a Ro. 5.11 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin So death passed upon all men for that all have sinned This is the guilt that carries those that have not sin'd after b V. 14. the similitude of Adams transgression into the grave Yea Infants Embryo's such as never saw the light from one dark grave to another Insomuch That though the second and glorious Covenant of free grace be c Ps 89.37 establisht as the Moon and as a faithfull witness in heaven yet it receives not its full accomplishment in all its promises till the Saints set down in the bosome of Christ after the great Tribunall and 't is not any the least impair or reflection upon the divine justice on this side the resurrection to visit the Saints transgressions with this Rod and their iniquity with these stripes d 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause sayes Paul treating of some violations respecting our Lords Supper many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep Wherefore though the guilt of sin be removed by justification through the merit of Christ and the dominion of sin by sanctification through the Spirit yet the totall remainders of originall or actuall sin are not stub'd out of the heart but some fibres and strings will stick behind in the best during this present life In like manner though e 1 Cor. 15.55 c. the
Phil. 3.21 shall be changed and fashioned like his most glorious body then shall we ever follow the Lamb with agile spirits whereever he goes leading us to the living fountains of waters The Lord graciously make us all fit vessels for the Temple not made with hands by the imputation of his Sons righteousness that after a holy life we may sleep peaceably in Jesus and reign triumphantly with him Most honoured Sir I humbly commend you into the bosome of this blessed Lamb and Prince of Life to be presented a Ephes 5.27 without spot or wrinckle unto himself To this Lamb-like Shepheard of Zion that his crook and his staffe may comfort you That goodness and mercy may follow you all your daies and you may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever So prayes humbly and earnestly begging your fervent petitions and blessings from the fountain of Israel upon Your most obedient Son in all humble duty and sincere affection in our Lord Jesus Samuel Lee. July 30. 1669. Contemplations ON MORTALITY PSALM 23.4 Yea though I should walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will not fear evill for thou wilt be with me thy crook and thy staffe they shall comfort mee CHAP. I. Upon the words of the Psalmist KIng David from his Royal Palace in Mount Zion might feast his eyes with many delicious Prospects 1. The first and chiefest was the Tabernacle of the Lord of Hosts who a Ps 87.2 loved the gates of that mountain more then all the dwellings of Jacob. This holy Prince delighted in communion with God and therefore is styled a man after Gods own heart he b Ps 13.1 2 4 5. swore against the slumber of his eye-lids till he found a place for the Lord a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. And where did he fix the Tents of the holy One of Israel did he not bring up the Ark from the house of Obed-Edam into the c Sam. 6.12 City af David with gladness For d Ps 132.13 the Lord had chosen Zion he desired it for his habitation Thrice happy those Princes who entertain the pure worship of God within their Courts They shal e Ps 89.15 know the joyfull sound of Temple-musick they shall walk O Lord in the shining light of thy countenance A Second lovely Prospect with which David enamelled his eyes was the pleasant City of Jerusalem f Ps 122.3 a City Compact together g Ps 48.2 3. beautifull for scituation the joy of the whole earth God is known in her Palaces for a refuge A third Was the valley of Kidron a dark valley through shades and precipitious rocks It s name from Kedar obscurities and thick shadows environed with mountains and a swift torrent trilling along its caverns This gave a comely off-set to the neighboring hills here were the shady strokes of natures pencil the more to illustrate the bright pieces of this holy Land-skip Hence were redoubled the pleasant and warbling ecchoes of the silver Trumpets at new Moons and Sacrifices The fourth and last was the three-ridged mount of Olivet fruitfull healthfull and pleasant In the first of these Prospects he saw the holy One of Israel walking in his Sanctuary and enjoyed sweet fellowship with the divine Oracles From the second he took a view of the State of this vain life In the third he might raise Contemplations upon the house of all living In the fourth he beheld as in a glasse a glorious cast of the Resurrection a Zach. 14.4 the day of Judgment and Ascention to Heaven The sweet Singer of Israel had tuned in consort with his Harp many choice Meditations near the murmuring waters of Kidron and here in this Psalm he playes upon the valley it self Let 's descant on his Lesson in four parts 1. Here 's a comparison of the state of death to a walk in the shady valley of Kidron I know it is usuall to interpret the shadow of death by great and deep afflictions but I shal accept the phrase in this method In its first notion that darknesse which seizes upon persons ready to die is represented In a second the grave and death it self It s plain by the conferences of b Job 3.5 10.21 34.22 38.17 Job with his Arabian comforters 't was Eastern language In a third by a Metalepsi those horrors and terrors that attend the agonies of dying mortals yea any grievous calamities that paint the face of death to the life in the glasse of imagination Here under an elegant Allegory holy David prosecutes the divine shepheardy Gods gracious care and conduct The green pastures and the chrystal streams with which his soul was refresht Not doubting but goodness and mercy should follow him all the dayes of his life and although he should be lead through the valley of the grave the Lions and the Bears the Tygers and the Wolves of those fell bottomes should not scare him I will fear no evill for thou art with me Assuring himself that the great Shepheard of Israel had wisdome and power sufficient to guide him safely and at length to enclose this sheep of his Pasture in the Folds of his c Ps 23.6 house of glory for ever Other shepheards tremble at the yelling of the Lions and the print of their foot stamps horror much more to convey their Flocks under such dismall shadows be the slads never so verdant and the gliding brooks never so sweet and pleasant left they and their sheep prove sorry comforters to one another when they slide together into the Maws of such ravening Butchers But here 's a blessed and glorious shepheard a Muscul in Loc. qui sciens prudensque ducet in mortem ipsam who purposes and resolves to lead his Flock through the jaws of death So that David sings this Psalm in the warm feelings of the divine Presence I le fear no evil thy crook and thy staffe they shall comfort me Secondly Here 's the person that walks through this tremendous valley ruddy royal and holy David Thy sanguin complexion must now turn blanck and melancholy when Abishags arms shall be cold and feeble comforters and thy reall body must shrink into this grim b 1 Sam. 15 16. Michols bed That conquering Sword at whose brandishing Edam and Ammon trembled must be shaped into deaths Sithe to mow thee from the Land of the Living Thy holy heart must take Sanctuary in the divine Covenant c Ps 49 15 89.48 that God will one day redeem thy life from corruption and thy darling from the hand of the grave Thirdly We should muster up the formidable evils that put on their armor gird on their Swords and whet their glittering Spears for a fatall encounter in this valley Fourthly We must prepare the Cordialls the Balms and all the sustaining comforts and quickning promises to refresh the Soul and uphold the spirit from sinking that we may fear no evil since God is
1. c. 51 the e Camden in Glamorganshire eternales domus those smoaky and fulsome Huts about which the leves animae the separate Ghosts do keep their residence here the sprightly Satyrs tread their measures and paint green circles in the Elysian Fields till the blushing dawn of eternity d Ps 22.29 None can keep alive his soul from death nor ransome his e Job 13.6 lamp from darkness The martiall Commander creeps under his Bed f Sueton in Coleg c. 51. with Caligula at the râ—â—â—ing of this Thunderbolt no Marble Palaces cau dazle the eyes or daunt the approaches of Death no iron bars can repell his force his aquafortis burns all afunder he stands not agast at the pale and wan looks of quivering Princes but like a gyant fluster'd with the wine of blood looks terrible on the proud Nimrods of the World Kings Edicts that Death be not whispered in their Courts are sullied on waste Paper they but daub their Royall Parchments with fond flourishes Their strongest Towers are but the spinstry of Spider-webs Death's too great a Flesh-fly to be catcht in such Tiffany Walls hee 'l hum in their ears with hatefull buzzing will they nill they There 's no Canon or Decree against him can stand inviolable Should Medes and Persians twist Laws as strong as Cables this Sampson snaps them asunder like raw Flax or twined threads If all Justinians pandects were cramb'd with severe penalties that death presume not to touch an Emperor or be rude with his Lady or Children hee 'l send a Phocas to find them out and hale them to his Slaughter-house The Captains of their Guard with their Halberdiers fling down their Arms and cry craven This old Leviathan g Job 41.29 counts their Darts as Stubble and laughs to scorn the shaking of their Spears When this storm rises this furious blast be takes down the top-gallants and the Flags of Admirals he cuts their Masts by the Board the wisest Pilot he flings over-board no Anchor holds they run adrift and are shattered upon the Rocks The cunning Lawyer with all his shirks and querks and Writs of Error cant hook out a Habeas Corpus from this unbribed Barr. Death has too subtle a Pate to be overmatcht he has Presidents and rul'd Cases and Records as high as Adam There 's no Chancery refuge or Appeal from the Club-law of this Kings-Bench he 's Lord Chief-Justice and Jaylor he 's Sheriff and Executioner But what sayes Hipocrates with his Coan Aphorisms and Galen with his long winded Method Can't he open a Vein in the Arm of this raging Adversary that his Sword may fall and the Galenture of his fury abate against Mankind Is there no inchanted Potion nor amorous Cup can lull him asleep O Physitians Are there no Recipe's in all your Dispensatories against the crack of Heart-strings Must his deadly Ague shake both you and your Patients into the Grave Must his dropsie drown you his Feaver burn you to Ashes his Consumption emaciate and waste you to Skelitons and set up your Bones in his Anatomy School What is there no Antidote no Treacle against the needle-teeth of this black Adder No! he turns a deaf ear to all your Siren-Lectures This Serpent a Eccles. 10 11. will bite for all your inchantments Such bablers are no better But alas for this day of darkness b Irel. 2.2 this gloomy morning that 's spread upon the Mountains Can we track no comfort in this thick Fog of Ignorance Are there no Trees of Life to be found in Lebanon Alas is Eden lost Is that Tree free among the dead did the venemous breath of the old Serpent wither it did he hack it down did he pluck it up by the roots Are there no sprouts from its chips nor no healing atomes that flew from its wounds into other shrubs or plants Is there no drug in Arabia no balm in Gilead no Spice in India can revive a languishing mortal What no Etheriall Spirits nor irradiating Sulfurs nor Minerall tinctures nor Elixirs of Life to cure this stroke Won't potable Gold snatch back the flying Spirit and intreat that noble guest to stay a while within its old Cloister new plaistred and gilt with this restorative Won't the limpid Alcahest make the blood volatile and circulate it nimbly against the cold congealing blast of death Won't the great red-powder cure it Then farewell all their empty notions and unpracticable maximes their clogging Syrups ill digesting Powders their life-exhausting blood-lets and their cold mortal Juleps O vain man Nullis mors est medicabilis herbis No Plant in natures garden springs To heal or swage these deadly stings Use the Physitian that 's a duty trust not in him for that 's a sin Good Asa had this mournful title upon his a 2 Chron. 16.12 13. Tomb that he sought not to the Lord but to the Physitians and slept with his Fathers Though the skilfulst Physitian and the holiest Saint do meet together yet both should count upon a last day a last hour and a last moment that they cannot passe b Isay 3.2 The mighty man and man of war the Captain of Fifty the honourable the Counsellor the cunning Artificer and the eloquent Orator Death takes them all by the hand and leads them into this gloomy Valley He reverences not the gray hairs he rises not up to the milk-white brow of the grave and ancient nor layes down his crooked Sith at the foot of aged and hoary head he strains no courtesies with the weaker sex nor gives it the upper hand the pitifull cries of tender Infants pierce not his Adamantine breast This tearlesse Moloch hugs them mortally in his brazen arms he hath Urns proportion'd to all their Ashes and Graves of every size But what though riches and honour though sweet natures virtuous minds prevail for no reprivall Must holy bones also see corruption Can't Faith Prayer wrestle a fall with this mighty King of terrors No no though the wicked twice fall under the dint of this Goliahs Sword yet 't is appointed for all a Heb. 9.17 ence to dye and after that to Judgment For as by one man sin entred into the world b Ro. 5.12 and Death by sin So death passeth upon all men for that all have sinned Faithfull Abraham must lye down in the Cave of Machpeloh Patient Job after all his Arabian Tragedies must act one Scene more and say to Corruption c Job 17.14 thou art my Father to the Worm thou art my Mother and Sister Strong Sampson must fall by this Jaw-bone in the Vineyards of Zorah and meek Moses though he dye in a d Deut. 32.50 Mountain must walk down this deep e c. 34.6 Valley of Abarim Wise Solomon by all his prudent and pollitick maximes of Government can't tame and rule this ferocious Behemoth nor tye this wild Bull at his Figtree But his sage breath must out at the dore
Ps 23.1 my shepherd I shall not want a full Table trickling Oil a running Cup are Davids portion Such a child that hath a God to his Father V. 5 fears no want Such a Lamb that hath a God to his Shepheard fears no evill His crook and his staffe shall comfort him Here 's green Pastures and pleasant Rivers in the very Valley of Death Faiths prospect of Heaven transports a Saint He sees Deaths Valley but 't is a Gilden Vale. 'T is a narrow Valley he leaps it over with his Shepheards staffe Faiths eyes are strong and its legs nimble He takes his rise from the promise and no sooner dies but is over Kidron At death carnall mens eyes are dim no spectacle no optick Glasse can help them to spie Jerusalem A Saint like Moses hath b Deut. 34.7 strong eyes nor is his natural moisture fled He stands upon the Pisgah of his own Tomb and sees crosse the whole Land of Canaan to the utmost c V. 2. even the Mediterranean Sea Others at death how feeble are d Eccl. 12.3 the knees of their Souls their hands the keepers of their house tremble and their thigh-bones the strong men bow themselves But the feeblest of the inhabitants of Zion I speak of such as stand in specula visionis e Zach. 12.8 in the watch-tower of Faith and look through the glasse of assurance they shall be as David in that day and the house of David shall be as God as the Angell of the Lord before them As David but why as David Sure strong was the faith and piercing the eye of David that saw glory so clearly through all the thick Fogs Mists of the Valley 'T was God was with him that cleared his eyes and pointed with his hands as he did to Moses and f Deut. 34.1 4. caused him to see it But neither Moses nor Aaron must enter to shew that the ceremoniall no nor the morall Law can't waft us over the Brook to Canaan But David the Prince of the new Covenant he shall tread down the Cananites and on his head shall his Crown flourish David the Subject had Daved the g Ps 84.3 King with him David the Servant had David the Son the Son of Jesse had the Son of God for h Ps 110.1 his Lord and Captain And whose Faith shall not flowre by Christs watering and whose fear shall not wither at his presence who fears death when this Shepherd sustains who fears his arriving to Heaven if a God if a God in Covenant if my God and my Father lead me Thou art now with me saies David I 'le not fear for shortly I shall be with thee Gods with us here but we are with him in heaven here drops of Heaven slide into us there we shall swim in heavens Ocean Here a little of the oil of joy trickles into our hearts from a Ps 133.2 the head of Christ there we shall b Mat. 25.21 enter into the fulness of our Lord and Masters joy here it enters into us and there we enter into it But still by virtue of his presence thou art with me and the vigor of his conduct thou shalt lead me Thou art with me to bring me to thee Thy Crook and thy Staffe they comfort me and why For they protect and guide me to thy holy Hill and to thy Tabernacles Thou wilt shew me the path of life At c Ps 16.11 thy tight hand are pleasures for evermore of all these five I hope to treat in their order If God permit CHAP. VIII Experimentall feelings of the Divine presence choice Comforts to a Saint at Death THou hast made known unto me the wayes of life and what followes Thou d Act. 2.28 shalt make me full of joy from thy countenance Gods face darts one beam of light on the path of a Saint to shine upon his way to glory another beam and that 's of joy upon the heart of a Saint to oil his motion And all but beams yet warming beams and experienc'd beams to hasten him to the Sun it felf A Saint ha's now but beams of joy and blessed be God for beams and such beams as direct and attract to the Sun it self to that Sun of joy to that fulness of joy in his countenance Saints look unto him and their c Ps 34 5. faces are enlightned our looking to God makes us look like him and the neerer to him the more we are like him Gods countenance is of a changing and transforming nature When God lookt upon Moses but through a chinck how did his face shine how lovely was it as well as glorious God smiles on a Saint in love and a Saint reflects upon God with joy But Saints have not only good looks from God but free entertainment He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters he restoreth my soul he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his Names sake oh how the cool Etesian gales from the rivers of the spirit in ordinances revive and refresh a Saint The experience of present mercies dispells the fears of future evills I will fear no evill for thou art with me God never forsakes a soul in covenant never withdraws his reall though sometimes his visible communion I foresaw the Lord alwaies a Act. 2 2◠27. before my face therefore my heart rejoices c. because thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave By nature Gods not with us but when once the day spring from on high doth visit us grace never sets in an evening whether we sleep or wake we are still with God Here 's the point to know aright that God is with us and we with him Whether we have walkt with God and he with us If Enoch walk with God then God will take him He that walks with God pleases God b Gen. 5.24 The Septuagint render the Hebrew word for walking by pleasing God and the Spirit of God delights in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and uses the same c Heb. 11.5 when treating of Enoch in the New Testament to shew what pleasure God takes in them that walk with him If we walk with God we have fellowship and communion with him God d 1 Joh. 1.6 7. is light and if we walk in light we walk with him Light is holiness and a holy person walks in light and dwells in God le ts not spot our garments and we shall walk with him in white e Rev. 3.4 The fine linnen of holiness alas what Saint doth keep it clean we must wash it daily in the Laver of the Spirit or else no company for a holy God The best of our linnen is but course and yellow it s well if it be sincere and true but then it shall shine with raies of glorious light and be laced and beautified with admirable gifts The Queen f Ps 45.14 shall be brought