to my Text These all dyed in Faith In the beginning of this Most Excellent Chapter the holy Apostle describeth Faith by three several Effects The first is That it procreates and begets a sure and certain hope of things promised by Almighty God ver 1. The second is That by Faith men please God ver 2. The third is That we believe things to humane reason incredible ver 3. Which done he illustrates and brighteneth the said Effects by Examples prompted out of the Sacred Book of God And first of all he produceth some Believers who flourished before the Flood as Abel Enoch Noah ver 4 5 6 7. to prove both the second and third effect the second by Abel and Enoch the third by Noah Afterwards he descends to a second Class of Examples reckoning up such ancient Fathers as lived after the Flood before Israel went down into Egypt Abraham I mean Isaac Jacob and Sarah to confirm the first Effect ver 8 9 10 11 12. Having explained the said Examples he super-adds an Amplification which beginneth with the words of my Text declaring that the forementioned ancient Patriarchs and Believers were both most certain in their Hope and constant in their Expectation of the Impletion of the Lord's Promise which he had made unto them For they dyed in Faith saith he such was their constancy And thus you may see the coherence of these words with the former Two things we may note in the Text it self which is a Sacred Narration 1. Qui. 2. Quid. That is 1. Who they be that are spoken of 2. What is spoken 1. Who All these And who be these I answer We may understand * Eagnejus in loc either Abrabraham Isaac Jacob and Sarah living after the Flood for of such he spake before †Defuncti sunt omnes isti quipest diluvium fuerunt vel omnes praeter Enochum translatum Dionys Carthus in locum or all those Patriarchs which lived both before and after Enoch excepted 2. What is spoken of all these That they dyed in Faith Where observe with me again two things 1. Quod. 2. Quomodo Or 1. That they dyed 2. How they died 1. They Dyed This puts me upon Death Aphilosopher called Secundus being asked of the Emperour Trajan What Death was described it thus Death is an eternal sleep he should have said a long sleep the dissolution of our bodies the fears of rich men the desire of poor men an mevitable event an uncertain Pilgrimage a Robber of Mankind the Mother of sleep the passage of Life the departure of the living and a dissolution of all thus he But we may more briefly term it a departed breath enlivened at first by breath cast upon it Thus they dyed and yet they were very good gracious and most eminent Saints for Death favoureth none but like a cruel Mower cuts down flowers even the fairest and goodliest the very best and Holy Men I mean which are the very Stars of the Earth as well as common grass ordinary and common men I mean in the spacious and capacious field of the world Doct. 1. Good Men then as you see must die like other men Death like those merciless and inexorable Creatures Fire and Water spareth none * Omnia sub leges Mors vocat atra suas all must away both good and bad This is the point which I will 1. Confirm and fortifie 2. Vindicate 3. Explicate 4. Apply I. I 'll confirm it 1. By Scripture 2. By Experience 3. By Reason 1. By Scripture which is full of such sad Examples as will sufficiently evince the truth of this Assertion Pervolve but the 5th chapter of Genesis and you shall find that all those good Patriarchs that lived before the Flood dyed as well as other wicked and ungodly men And then search for those that lived in succeeding Ages besides those whom my Text makes mention of as Joseph Moses Aaron Samuel David Josiah Hezekiah Isaiah c. and you shall find them all dead Acts 7.15 2. Nay do you but ask Experience what is become of such holy and heavenly men and women as you knew in your time and it will tell you they are all dead or if you will * August l. de Nat. et grat view but the Graves and Monuments that are in this Church and Church-yard and they will affirm the same 3. But I suppose that some of you do rather wonder why it should be so than doubt whether it be so seeing the truth of this assertion is so manifest and apparent and therefore understand 1. Reas That when Adam fell it was not the man that fell but mankind Rom. 5.19 so that all both good and bad must therefore taste of deaths cup as it is written Wherefore as by one man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin so Death passid upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 2. Reas It is a favour afforded by Nature Quod gravissimum fecit fecit commune ut crudelitatem fati consolaretur aequalitas That she hath made that common which is most grievous that so Equality might solace the Cruelty of that fate which is altogether inevitable And 3. Reas That which thou sowest is not quickned except it die 1 Cor. 15.36 So that the Godly cannot be raised according to the order and method which God hath decreed ordained in his Wisdom for their entrance into his heavenly Kingdom unless they be first by Death dissolved and like seed sown and interred in the ground from which they were first extracted To this purpose also is that 1 Cor. 15.50 Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God that is †Calvin in loc our Bodies as now they are corruptible unless they die and so be changed being raised again by the Power of God and made incorruptible 4. Reason God's Word must needs be verified Now God hath said In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 So that even the best must needs die one way or other that God may be true but eternally they cannot die because Christ dyed for them to exempt them from that Death Rom. 5.10.21 they must needs die temporally though they neither can nor shall be under the tyrannizing power of Death eternally 5. Reas The Godly are compounded of Elements as well as others And there is a Rule in Philosophy That whatsoever is made up of Elements must be dissolved again into the same for Composition is a beginning of a Combate a Combate of a Separation a Separation of a Solution so that needs they must die as well as others 6. Reas Christ himself the eternal Son of God died a temporal Death to bring them to everlasting Life John 3.16 and therefore how unreasonable a thing would it be if themselves should be exempted from that Death of the which he himself tasted shall the Physitian taste of a bitter cup for the Patients sake and shall not the Patient also himself
drink of the same Cup too 7. Reas Nay how can they be conformable to the same eternal Son of God their Lord and Saviour as they must be even by the unalterable eternal Decree of God Rom. 8.29 if they should not die as he dyed leaving us all an Example to follow after As if he should have said as much in effect as once Gideon said to his followers Judg. 7.17 As I do so shall ye do or rather mutatis mutandis as I die so shall you die after The Third Prosecution Object You will say unto me Why then was Enoch translated before the Flood and Elias after and why saith the Apostle We shall not all sleep 1 Cor. 15.51 if good men must die as well as others To this I answer Sol. Their very Translation was not without a kind of Death for they were changed and Death is but a change Job 14.14 The same may be said of those 1 Cor. 15.51 2d Object If you reply But what meaneth then the Apostle by this Antithesis when he saith expresly We shall not all sleep but we shall be changed Sol. I answer These words have troubled some not a little and therefore we shall find three differing Latin Translations 1. Some read the words thus We shall not die but we shall all be changed 2. Others read them thus We shall all rise but we shall not all be changed 3. Others thus We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed The Cause of which diversity I conceive to be this Because some were offended by the Greek Copies as 〈◊〉 they did contradict that in Heb. 9.29 but we need 〈◊〉 go so far as they a Distinction 〈…〉 all There is a twofold Death 1. Ordinary 2. Extraordinary 1. The Ordinary is a Solution of the Soul from the Body 2. The Extraordinary is an Abolition of mans corruptible Nature Now then when the Apostle tells us We shall not all die but we shall all be changed the sence of his words is not that therefore some shall not die at all but only that some shall not die an ordinary death because their souls shall not be severed from their bodies which notwithstanding it may be said that they shall die a kind of death which we call Extraordinary because there cannot be a change without an abolition of the former corruptible Nature The Third Prosecution I should now set sail and lanch forthwith into the deep of your hearts by some powerful Application but that I must clear all things first behind me before I can comfortably commit my self to such a vast Sea of Matter as is now before me declaring what I mean by the Death of the Godly when I say They must die like other men 1. Some things their death hath common with the deaths of the Ungodly 2. Some thing it hath peculiar I. The Commonness of both Deaths consists in six Respects 1st Respect As the Souls of the Ungodly are separated from their Bodies so the Souls of the Godly unless God take them away by a Death Extraordinary like Enoch and Elias Ecles 12.7 2d Respect As the Dissolution being natural and not violent followeth in the one when natural heat faileth the radical humour being by heat dryed up and exhausted like Oyl in a Lamp which also thereupon goes out and is extinguished so in the other Hence it is that the Grecians have called the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they are humourless 3d. Respect As this Dissolution when it is * Cic. l. 1. Tuscul Quaest violent happeneth in the one either by a casual substraction of the radical humour or by a suffocation of the natural heat upon some opposition made inwardly or outwardly so in the other See 1 Sam. 31.6 4th Resp As the dissolution of the one if it be not sudden happeneth * Suarez Metaphys Disputat 11. to 1. sect 3. fol. 232. two wayes 1. By divers Alterations and Dispositions which precede the instant of Death and corrupt the subject 2. By that destruction which it causeth in the very instant of death So the other 5. Resp As the Dissolution of the one is not only a separation of their souls and bodies but also a dissolution of those things whereof their bodies were compounded which also is aptly called Corruption 1 Cor. 15.12 so the Dissolution of the other 6. Resp As the one leaveth this world and goeth hence to some other place so the other Psal 39.13 Acts 1.25 So that * Socrates apud Plat. Socrates's description of Death may well be received as very proper and pertinent Death is the souls change of one place for another II. The Peculiarity of the Death of the Godly consisteth or will appear in sive things 1. Though the Souls of the Godly be dis-joyned from their Bodies like the souls of others yet are they not so violently taken away like the souls of others Luke 12.20 but rather surrendred with their good will and liking Mat. 27.50 Acts 7.59 2. The death of the Godly is not only a dissolution of the soul and body but also a separation of both from Sin Rom. 6.7 3. It is an abolition of all humane Frailties Rev. 11.4 so that one may truly say of it as a Martyr said to his fellow-Martyr of that bloody Bishop of London My Lord of London will be our good Physitian and cure us both c. 4. It is but an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Peregrination as Socrates calls it or a Transitus and an Exodus a going over and comming out not an Interitus or going down I say it is an Exodus or going out like the comming of Israel out of Egypt for so the Godly do but leave this World which is like Egypt full of toyl and pass on even triumphantly thorow the abhorred Confines of the King of Fear being carried upon the wings of Joy and in the arms of Angels into the Celestial Canaan which is full of unknown Delights and endless bliss Luke 23.43 Rev. 14.13 5. Nay it is a making rather than a marring of them a reparation and not a destruction In a word a state of Perfection and not of Perdition for being dead they are said to be made perfect Heb. 12.23 So that the Hebrews have aptly termed Death in that regard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words being inverted are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words signifie Perfection and Innocency to shew that Death shuts up and sinisheth all Imperfection and makes compleat and perfect When therefore I say that the Godly also must die like others I regard those six Respects which their death hath common with the death of others for otherwise though they dye as well as others yet do not they die like others in regard of those five Peculiarities which here I have purposely specified that the vast Difference which is between the Death of both might appear and be
wanton in their lives these even all these questionless neither have now nor ever had yet that true and Saving-Faith in which by which with which and according to which the Godly who only are true Believers both live and die for they rather live in their sins in general and by their cozening cheating usurious lending and lying in special and according to their envious lustful covetous ambitious prophane and atheistical hearts desire than in by with and according to Saving-Faith and as they live so they will die unless God grant them Faith and Repentance before in with and according to their sins Nam qualis vita finisita For as men live so they die usually My meaning is 1. As here they have no Faith so in death they shall have no Comfort nor Joy nor Peace Isa 48.22 2. And as here they could not live without scoffing deriding swearing cursing cozening lying contending whoring and prophaning of God's Sacred Name Word and Sacraments so after their death they shall not be able to live without suffering the Vengeance of Eternal Fire for their boldness in sinning Rom. 2.8 9. 3. And as here they did even exceed in their drink pride malice envy wrath strife contention lust avarice atheism authotheism polytheism and epicurism so God will exceed in punishing adjudging and condemning them to so much greater torments than others as they have been greater and more heinous offenders than other for God will render unto every man according to his deeds Rom. 2.6 Mark According that is proportionably Hence (b) Bonaventura Brevil p. 7. c. 7. Bonaventure because that infernal Fire burneth not but according to the disposition of sin and of that guilt and spot which preceding the improbity of lust hath contracted and because that is not equal in all therefore it is that some are more burnt than others in the same This will be the catastrophe end and period of all such as do not or will not live and die according to Faith but according to their sinful desires He that suffreth least in that Infernal Lake suffers more pain than all they together who either were troubled with the Stone Gout Cholick Strangury or else were racked skinned boiled in Oyl rosted upon a Spit or Gridiron burnt starved or buried alive (c) Haec omnia quae hic patimur merus lusus ac risus sunt sicum illis suppliciis in contentionens veniant Chrys ad pop Ant. hom 49. all these things which men here suffer are but a meer play sport a laughingmatter being compared with those unutterable unexpressable and unconceivable Tortures which by any damned wrecth are to be indured in that horrid Dungeon called Hell to all eternity And therefore conceive proportionably how grievous and how insufferable will be the burning of some among us who having outmatched others in sinning shal suffer to the very uttermost the vengeance of that merciless Fire without ease or end O my Brethren how can you sit here so quietly under your Ministry you that are guilty of such sins as convince you to be both void of Saving-Faith and also to be the persons that shall endure those unspeakable Tortures and burn in those merciless Flames which will torment you for ever and ever so as that you shall have no rest or ease neither day nor night The third Inference 3. If godly men being Believers do not only live by Faith but also die in with by and according to Faith then it behooveth us to die so too whensoever we shall be called to that state if we count our selves to be of the number of the Godly and will be certain of it To help those which heartily desire to be informed herein I 'll in the next place set down such Principles as are most necessary to the right happy attaining to such a blessed Death Four Principles 1. (d) These two Principles the first and second make mightily and mainly for that Preparation which is to be made against the day of Death They that will die so must first live so as that they may die so 2. (d) These two Principles the first and second make mightily and mainly for that Preparation which is to be made against the day of Death They must make comfortable provision for death 3. They must be sure that they have Faith 4. They must use their Faith according to that condition in which then they are Of these methodically For the first 1. They must live so that is 1. As Abraham who dyed in the Faith left his own Countrey and died (e) Mors Civilis nihil aliud est quam exilium civis Dr. Vulteius Jurispr l. 1. c. 24. Civilly before he died Corporally vers 8. So must they leave their native soil which is the Countrey of sin and die to sin mortifying the Body of sin before Death approaching dissolves the body of earth Col. 3.5 I am not ignorant of the extream difficulty of this heavy Task unto which I perswade the Godly and therefore I 'll labour to facilitate it as much as I may affording a few Subsidies which I desire God to bless unto you The first Subsidy 1. Set Faith on work that mighty Conquerour and then the conquest will be very facile and easie for This is our victory that overcometh the World even our Faith 1 John 5.4 Quest How shall I overcome sin by Faith Answ Believe verily that sin shall not over-power thee though it trouble thee Because 1. God hath promised thee that it shall not have dominion over thee Rom. 6.12 2. Christ himself hath died for thee that sin might not live but die in thee Tit. 2.14 2. Unsheath against sin when it assaults thee the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God as Christ himself did Mat. 4. 3. Discharge the great Ordnance of Prayer against it as Paul did 2 Cor. 12.8 4. Famish it by detaining and withholding all such occasions from it as usually feed it like Joseph Gen. 39.10 5. Over-awe it and affright it continually with the gresly remembrance of Death for then as all the men of Israel fled when they saw Goliah that huge lump of flesh with his deadly weapons about him 1 Sam. 17.24 so all your sins will flee as not daring to shew themselves in the presence of death who with his deadly arrowes may shoot you and cut off the silver Cords of your precious and dear Life in the very act of sin So as that you may do well to reason thus with yourselves when fin doth entice you would I do so if I were now to die No no and therefore why should I yeeld to such an evil in the which it may please God to cut me off by death so as that I shall not be able to say so much as God be merciful unto me a sinner See Eccles 7.33 6. Assure your selves that nothing will plague you more when you come to die than such sins as did not die before you
nothing that is done while I am asleep so must I very shortly sleep up and die not knowing any thing that shall be done here about me or with me or to me nor can or will any Sanctity or Godliness that is in me be able to deliver me from the fatal stroak of Death which will steal upon me like sleep for the very Godly must die as well as others And here let me press upon you a few Perswasives to this remembrance which is so rare in the very best The First Perswasive Consider how secure the best of us are without it like the people of Lais before the Damtes came upon them and slew them Judg. 18.27 so are we no longer then death is before us doth any thing almost go neer us or move us as appears by many things The instance but in a few 1. When the Plague doth cease in a place near us 2. When any other common sicknesse doth leave us or ours in our Families 3. When Warrs or rumours of Warrs threatning us do surcease among us 4. When a Funeral which did mind us of Death is forgotten again by us how secure grow we by and by and slow to good whereas as long as we were in some fear or danger and so consequently mindful of our latter end we were mightily stirred up to Duties And therefore should we not for this very cause strive to remember our Mortality more then we do that so doing we might shake off that gross security which is so common among us The Second Perswasive And do ye not see how strongly sin doth prevail against you when such holy thoughts of Death are departed from you Just as it was in the dayes of Moses with Issrael so it fares with us now when Moses was but gone out of their sight upon the Mount they presently fell to Idolatry and made a Golden Calf Exod. 31.3 4. So soon as Death is but a little departed out of our mind we fall to Spiritual Idolatry and make a God of the Belly Phil. 3.19 Or of out Parts or of our Money Ephes 5.4 Or of our Children or of our Gardens Houses Walks Friends In a word how foolish and vain are we as Moses implyeth Deut. 32.29 Psal 90.12 Do ye not find it so can ye deny it and had we not need then to keep Moses I should say death ever with us and not to let him go out of our minds that we might not so soon and easily fall to such Idolatry The Third Perswasive Consider we likewise how unquiet and how dubious we are most times when we do put off the most needful remembrance of death For as thereupon it comes to pass that we grow secure and backward in Duties and prone to sin as I have already shewed so can we not but after that even question our estates to God-ward and interest in those unknown and unexpressable joyes delights and pleasures which attend the Godly after Death in Heavens Kingdom like Aristotle who said when he was dying Anxius vixi dubius morior nescio quo vado so should we be forced to say in a manner if in that Case we should be assaulted by Death Anxiously we have lived doubtfully we die we know not whether we shall go to Heaven or Hell So true is that excellent saying of a wise man that sine Meditatione Mortis tranquillo esse Ammo nemo potest That without this Meditation of Death none may be quiet or enjoy true tranquility in his Mind Let none therefore that is Godly either refuse to pray as I said with Moses Lord teach us to number our dayes that we may be more wise and sober or to be beholding to any Creature to be put in mind by it of Death Forasmuch as you all see what need we had all so to do that we may not be so secure so prone to sin and so doubtful as many times we are and have been The Fourth use Must Godly men dye as well as others then let none of us that is Godly build Tabernacles here but rather let him live as a Pilgrim upon Earth like those ancient Believers Heb. 11.13 And as the * Chrysost in Matth. 22. hom 70. Scythiens who travel up and down not having any fixed or certain mansion-house so let him be in this present World as without a House without Lands without Money without a Wife without Children and without Friends that is if he have an House Land Money Wife Child Friend let him be so loose so indifferent so free so un-engaged un-intangled and untyed in his affection as if he had none 1 Cor. 7.29 30. because he may yea must ere long be * Habui enim illos tanquam amissurus Seneca Epist 64. without them And if he have no great means let him rather pass by them valiantly than peruse after them inordinately or wickedly for if he had them he would be forced very shortly to leave them and to be gone though he should be never so holy and godly according to my Text Those all dyed Guerrius †Considerat of Eternity hearing these words read in the Church Gen. 5.5 6 7 8. And dyed and dyed was so wrought upon thereby that he retired himself from the world and gave himself wholly to his devotion that he also might die the death of the godly Let these words of my Text work in like manner upon you I pray you and then your hearing will make you as happy as his did him How they dyed 2. You have heard of the death of these holy Patriarchs that lived before and after the Flood would you know how they dyed then mark what followeth In the Faith or rather According to Faith as the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original hath it and both antient and modern Interpreters translate it and the meaning of this speech is as †Gagueius in loc Expositors say they dyed * Lyra in loc by and with †Calvin in loc Faith that is being * Piscat in loc constant in the Faith and laying hold on the Promises made to Faith where by Faith we must understand likewise not a dead or historical or temporary Faith but a lively saving justifying Faith which is first discribed in the very front or first verse of this Chapter and then exemplified by so many Instances in the residue to the very end and period of it Whence resultes this most profitable and useful Observation The Second Doctrine That the Saints of God being true Believers do not only live by Faith but also die in by with and according to Faith So did all those holy Patriarchs that are mentioned by the holy Apostle in the beginning of this Chapter and so did the test whom he reckoneth up in the middle and ending of it as you may note veâ—se 21 22 31 39. So did Stephen the Proto-Martyr uttering when he was dying with much considence these very words Lord Jesus receive my
Spirit Mark first he calleth Christ Lord implying him to be his Redeemer and Owner that bought him Secondly He commendeth into his hands his spirit being perswaded that he was able to keep it and to restore it So * Such Examples are superadded for Illustration Babylas of Antioch the Martyr for he said when he was dying Return O my Soul unto thy rest because the Lord hath blessed thee because thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears my feet from falling I shall walk before the Lord in the Land of the living So †Dr. Hill in his direct to dye well p. 179. Peter Martyr for he said My Body is weak but my mind is well There is no Salvation but only by Christ who was given of the Father to be a Redeemer of mankind this is my Faith in which I die So blessed * Bagshaw in the life and death of Mr. Bolton p. 34. Bolton who when he was dying said to his hearers I feel nothing in my soul but Christ with whom I heartily desire to be So Pareus as the Preacher relates it in his Funeral-Sermon which I heard my self wrote to the same effect when his speech was gone This Catarrh hath taken away the use of my speech but he shall never rob me of my Faith in Christ The first Reason And it cannot be otherwise For 1. Their Faith can never fail them Luke 21.32 being like mustard-seed indeed Luke 17.6 which being ing once * Hemin l. 3. c. 24 sowen in a garden can hardly ever be rooted out again so that needs it must shew it self in death as well as life The second Reason 2. In death the Saints of God had most need of the use of their Faith by reason of First Satan who then will be sure to sift them as he sifted Peter Luke 22.31 and to bend all his forces against them to make them either presume or despair Secondly Carnal Reason which then will most of all discourage them suggesting such reasonings as these * Bernard Serm de Parm. 7 miserecord Who art thou or how great is that Glory and by which works thinkest thou to obtain it Thirdly Their own self-accusing Consciences who then above all times will most accuse them Rom. 2.15 being stirred up by Satan who is called the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12.10 So that they cannot but then especially exercise their Faith even as Souldiers in assaults and sharpest conflicts and battles when they must either conquer or die will then use their chiefest weapon most of all and so even die fighting if they must needs die like †Plutarchus Epaminondas who so ended his dayes in a fight I say the Saints cannot but so in like manner use their Faith as their principal weapon then most of all and so consequently die in with by and according to Faith APPLICATION For Application I 'll now deduce hence three Inferences 1. The Excellency of Saving-Faith 2. The Nullity of many mens pretended Faith 3. The Duty of all that will be counted godly and to be truly ennobled with Saving-Faith Of these in order The first Inference 1. Great then is the Excellency of Saving-Faith which holdeth out in death it self when Strength Physick Friends and all things else faile us Saul and Jonathan said David after their death were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their Death they were not divided 2 Sam. 1.23 The same may be said of all the Godly and their Faith after their departure that they were lovely and sweet companions in their lives and that in their very death they were not divided for These all dyed in the Faith saith the Apostle of the Godly that is as I shewed in my former Exposition with Faith having Faith for their companion in their death and expiration And therefore what do we talk of Silver Gold and earthly Jewels that they are excellent and precious things here is a Jewel indeed a most excellent and precious thing without all comparison even Saving-Faith which in death it self stands by us and tells us in a manner that whilst we breath it will never leave us nor forsake us yea abideth with us in some sort as * Est etiam fides rerum quando non verbis sed rebus ipsis praesentibus creditur quod erit cum per speciem manifest am se contemplandam praebebit Dei sapientia Aug. 2. quaest Evangel cap. 39. Est enim duples sides 1. Verborum in hac vita 2. Rerum in futura Vid. Lombard 1.3 dist 24. Ames Medulla Theol. lib. 2. c. 6. some say even after death which is more whereas neither Silver nor Gold nor Gemmes nor any other earthly thing can then stead us when the last breath leaves us the pangs of death are upon us O Faith Faith how admirable and amiable art thou therefore and must needs be in the eyes of him that hath thee for if heaps of Silver and Gold and Pearls which in death we must leave behind us be so precious as usually they are in the estimation of those that possess them thou must needs be or shouldst be infinitely more precious in the judgment of him who so hath thee as that in death it self he cannot lose thee O that my soul were but condignly affected with thy transcendent Excellency that so I might accordingly set that value and price upon thee as befits thy most rare and admirable Eminency And O that you also my Beloved were but thorowly convinced of this stupendious Excellency of Saving-Faith For then there is no question but you would labour more after so rare a Jewel as Faith is if you did want it and make more account and use of it then you do if you have it The Lord open your eyes that you may see the Orient Splendor and matchless worth of this rarest Pearl which in death it self will not depart from ye The Second Inference 2. This sheweth the Nullity of many mens pretended Faith for who will believe it that they have or ever had true Saving-Faith who before they come to die live so loosely as that Heathens and Turks themselves who are professed Infidels cannot well live more licensiously Of this sort are they that 1. Hate and despise so the Power of Religion in all those that are most happily ennobled with it 2 Tim. 3.12 2. Live so prophanely themselves as that Esau himself in his Prophaness could not out-strip them Heb. 12 16. caring neither for God nor Church nor Teacher nor Prayer nor Bible nor Sabbath nor any other part of God's most holy Worship 3. Tear so the sacred Name of God with their bloody Oaths In a word those that are so disobedient to Parents Husbands Masters and so angry fierce and passionate in their speeches so unfaithful unjust and deceitful in their dealings so mendacious and false in their communications so envious covetous and ambitious in their hearts and so lascivious filthy and
for Satan will then be sure to muster them up before your face when he cometh up with you to have his last bout with you being indeed the craftiest and subtilest Adversary you have Rev. 11.12 Brethren what I tell you now of this Adversary before you come to die the Dying have found by experience and confessed it as an infallible truth O God said the Earl of Essex at the point of death and Judge of all men thou hast let me know by warrant out of thy Word that Satan is then most busie when our end is nearest Moriantur ergo ante te vitia tua Let thy sins die therefore before thee that when thou art dying they may not so torment thee 7. Mortifie your sins by degrees one after another for then your conquest will be far more easie than if you should set upon all at once Nam virtus unita fortior For united Forces are ever stronger If you take a bundle of Arrowes you cannot easily break them but take one by one and you shall burst them quickly It is proportionably so with your sins which are like Arrowes piercing the very soul 1 Tim. 6.9 10. and therefore take one and one and break them by degrees and then it will be an easie matter for you to burst the necks of all your sins in time that is as you are tempted now to one then to another being bent nevertheless against all in the purpose of your hearts 8. You must make this account that you can never attain to a well-grounded and comfortable assurance of everlasting Bliss to be enjoyed after death unless you may see the death of your sins in a competent sort before you no no for he that will live when he dyeth must die while he liveth die I mean to sin and to the world Gal. 6.14 and therefore what certainty can you have of such a life if you be not sure of a such death 9. On the contrary perswade your selves that dying after the death of your sins you may be sure you shall die as Conquerours nay shall live most certainly and be new born rather than forlorn Like valiant Epaminondas who dying after the conquest and slaughter of his enemies said to his victorious Souldiers (a) Nunc Epaminonda vascitur quia sic moritur Valer. Max. Now Epaminondas is born because he dieth after this manner Die die therefore before you die that you may be sure you shall not die but live when you die which the Lord in mercy grant unto you 2. As the Patriarchs Heb. 11.4 8. so must you correspond with the Will of God in all good things Particularly 1. As Abel offered and offered a more acceptable Sacrifice than Cain Heb. 11.4 so must you offer and offer more acceptable Sacrifices and Services to God than others that is you must pray fast sing read hear visit speak and give c. in a better manner than common prophane and civil men and hypocrites which you must transcend 2. As Abraham being commanded to go into a strange Countrey went he knew not whither so must you go even about those many strange duties unto which God leads us as he sent him to a strange place As for instance 1. The Duty of Reconciliation Mat. 5.25 2. The Duty of not resisting Evil ver 26 3. The Duty of suffering evil men with patience ver 39 4. The Duty of loving our Enemies ver 44 5. The Duty of labouring after that Perfection which is in God himself ver 48. 6. The Duty of not carking and caring so much for the things of this life Mat. 6.25 7. The Duty of entering into the narrow Way which leads to Life Mat. 7.13 With none of these we may dispence but we must put our selves upon them all being called thereunto by that great God and Saviour who can command all 3. As Abraham being in a strange Countrey dealt justly paying for what he bought and purchased most exactly For the sacred Story relates that he weighed his Silver to Ephron for a burying-place that it might not want anything Gen. 23.16 so must you 1 Thes 4.6 As he instructed his houshold in the fear of God Gen. 18.19 so must you Ephes 6.4 5. As he was liberal expressing so much by his ready and chearful entertaining of strangers for he sate in his Tent door at noon which was dinner time looking out for strangers whereas some will rather hide themselves from strangers Gen. 18 1. so must you Heb. 13.1,2,16 6. As Isaac was wont to exspatiate and to walk out into the field to meditate Gen. 24 63 so let us in like manner duly and dayly either at home or abroad John 1.8 1 Tim. 4.15 More particularly let us meditate on these four last things 1. Death 2. Judgment 3. Heaven 4. Hell 7. As those antient Believers who dyed in the Faith did what they did in Faith and by Faith Heb. 11.4,8 c. so do you for whatsoever is not done in Faith is sin Rom. 14.23 Quest If you ask me How must we do things in Faith Answ Believing 1. That God will assist you as he hath promised you Ezek. 36.27 2. That he will accept of your good Deeds in and for Christ in whom he is well pleased Matth. 17.5 3. That he will graciously reward you Heb. 11.6 Of these three Acts of Faith together with your good Works make a Confection like that of 1st Stacte 2ly Onicha 3ly Galbanum and 4ly pure Frankinsence which after the art of the Apothecary was to be made in the time of the Levitical Law Exod. 30.34 35. that it may yield a sweet savour unto the Lord who takes delight in Faith which must be the chief ingredient in so sweet a composition The Second Principle You must make comfortable provision for the day of Death like Marriners who against a long and troublesom Voyage provide sundry strong and Cordial Waters which may strengthen them when they navigate over the great Ocean and meet with grievous Storms and Tempests Quest If you demand what I mean by this Comfortable Provision Answ Such seasonable and sutable Sentences as shall be able to support your fainting Hearts in that last and forest conflict as Hos 13.14 Luke 12.32 23.43 Rom. 14.7 8. 1 Cor. 15.41 42 43. 2 Cor. 5.1 2. 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Rev. 14.13 Rev. 21.2 3 4 5 7 8. These precious Cordials being well digested will make us even long for Death and cause us to be chearful in Death Like a Kings Son who being sent for to come home from a far cold and barren Countrey into which he was formerly banished to take possession of a most rich most spacious and most flourishing Kingdom left him by his Father cannot but take his journey and go on in his way with much rejoycing For so we are but sent for when we must die to come away from the barren and uncomfortable soil of this world to be enstated in the most Glorious and Capacious Kingdom
of Heaven And therefore imprint them all in your memories that so those everlasting Spirits of yours breathed into your bodies by the All-powerful God I mean your Souls may feed on them and sill themselves with them and be revived by them so consequently with such Honey-sweet-Cordials strengthening them may go hence when the time of their departure is come to God your Heavenly Father as Sampson to his Father with Honey in his mouth for he came eating Judg. 14.9 The third Principle You must make it sure that you have faith by an infallible Tryal 2 Cor. 13.5 trying your selves often by these three never-deceiving Signs 1. A thorow Humiliation Acts 2.37 2. A thorow Purgation from sin even every known sin so as that none reigns or rules in the heart Acts 15.9 3. A thorow Sanctification Acts 26.18 manifesting it self by a constant and earnest endeavour to walk in all God's Holy Commandments in general Luke 1.6 and by love unfained in special I mean that singular Love which the true Believer bears to God in Christ above all seeking his Glory in all things and more then all things and to the Châ—â—dren of God for God Gal. 6.5 1 John 3.14 Of which love St. * Aug. de Trin. l. 8. c. 7. Austin saith truly That a man knoweth more the love with which he loveth then his Brother whom he loves The Fourth Principle You are to make use of your Faith when death approacheth as the state of a dying Believer requireth it observing these ensuing Rules The First Rule A dying Believer must set his House in order Isa 38. and if he be free and of ability and have not done so before make his last Will and Testament according to Faith believing verily that God will be a Father to his Children if he be a Father and a Husband to his Wife if a Husbard and that he will bless that well-gotten Estate which he leaveth to his God-fearing Posterity whether it be much or little so as that they shall find content in it and so far forth as his blessing of it shall make for their good The Second Rule He must according to Faith possess his Soul in * Cum eâ—iâ—â— Deus sit qui nos castigat is misericordiae suae non obliviscatur cur it a nos conficimur marere cur solvimur in ejulator Cur murmuramus fremimus Doctor Daniel Tisianus in Lament 4.39 Patience eying by Faith such places as these Isa 26.3 Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 4.17 The consideration whereof caused an ancient * Aug. in Psal 36. Cenc 2. Doctor to say most aptly When thou dost consider what thou art to receive all the things that thou sufferest here imagine the most bitter pains pangs which thou must undergoe in thy last and sorest sickness will be vile unto thee neither wilt thou esteem them worthy for which thou shouldst receive it Thou wilt wonder that so much is given for so small a labour For indeed Brethren for everlasting rest everlasting labour should be undergone being to receive everlasting felicity thou oughtest to sustain everlasting sufferings but if thou shouldest undergoe everlasting labour when shouldst thou come to everlasting felicity So it cometh to pass that thy tribulation must needs be Temporal that it being finished thou mayest come to infinite felicity But yet Brethren there might have been long tribulation for eternal Felicity That for example because our felicity shall have no end our misery and our tribulations add sickness in special should be of long continuance for admit they should continue a thousand years weigh a thousand years with eternity Why dost thou weigh that which is finite be it never so great with that which is infinite Ten thousand years ten hundred thousand if we should say and a thousand thousand which have an end cannot be compared with Eternity So Macarius the Eygptian Anchorete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 15. Touching the Gift which Christians shall inherit this a man may rightly say that if any one from the time Adam was created unto the very end of the world did fight against Satan and undergo afflictions add or should be so long visited with the most grievous sickness he should do or suffer no great matter in respect of the Glory that he shall inherit for he shall reign with Christ without end 3. Let him give good instructions to the Survivers according to Faith like Jacob Gen. 49.2 3 4 c. and like (e) Dr. Hill in his Directions to die well p. 129. St. Austin who being near his end said Nature compelleth me to be dissolved I according to the Scripture phrase am to go the way of my fore-Fathers Now Christ inviteth me now I desire to see celestial Sights O keep you the Faith think you also that ye are mortal men Let this be your care to keep the Commandments of God if you regard me or keep any remembrance of me your Father think of these things savour these things do these things 4. Let him take his fill and farewel of Repentance viewing confessing and lamenting his sins as much as he can according to Faith and in Faith that is believing verily that he shall see them no more again for ever even as the Children of Israel saw the Egyptians of whom they were so much afraid no more again for ever Exod. 14.13 5. When he is brought to the very confines of that King of fear so as that now forthwith he must yield up his Ghost then let him even sleep up in Faith and die in the Lord according to Faith Rev. 14.13 I 'll explicate my meaning herein by these few Directions 1. Let him now eye the Promises formerly gathered for the same purpose like those antient Believers Heb. 11.13 2. Let him labour to be perswaded of them as they were Ibidem 3. Let him even imbrace the Lord Christ in the arms of his faith as old Simeon imbraced him in the armes of his body believing verily 1. That he died for him in particular that he might not die the death which is eternal Gal. 2.20 2. That he purchased Heaven for him in particular as the Author of his Salvation Heb. 5.9 like sweet (b) Guillermus de vita St. Bernard l. 1. c. 12. St. Bernard who when he seemed to stand before God's dreadful Tribunal in a grievous sickness told Satan accusing him That he for his part was not worthy indeed of everlasting Life but that his Lord and Saviour Christ having a twofold right to it by inheritance and by vertue of his passion was contented with the one and did impart unto him the other So let him perswade himself in like manner and answer the same Accuser of the Brethren in the same words if he trouble him as at such a time he is wont to do with his accusations to drive him to desparation 3. Let him pray in Faith to the Lord saying either with Stephen the Proto-Martyr Lord
is a Heaven And so Heaven above here * Ut supra meant or the Empyraean Heaven is a Kingdom of Heavens Secondly The Passion it self suffereth Violence 1. Suffereth Strange can Heaven suffer I answer Not properly but as it were 2. Violence And what is that It is a motion {inverted †} Tho. Aqu. in 5 Met. l. 6. proceeding from an exterior agent tending to that which by its own nature it hath no aptitude unto as here what Aptitude hath any of us naturally to win Heaven by force II. An Action And the Violent take it by force Where we have 1. Actors 2. The Action it self to be viewed 1. Actors And the Violent In the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original the Violent so called in the English are also invaders endeavourers urgers and such as press hard as these do who are bent for Heaven pressing and urging with the strongest arguments and with all their might and utmost endeavours the God of Heaven 2. The Action it self Take it by force 1. Take it The word in the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original properly is spoken of wild Beasts which take their prey which here is applyed to Men who take Heaven as a prey which they pursue till they have it 2. By Force To take a thing by force properly and commonly is take it by wrong Whence in the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrew Force is called by a name which also signifies wrong and injury and yet here is no wrong done to any when Heaven is taken by the Saints forcibly for it is their proper portion by Adoption that glorious Habitation and therefore when they seize on it by might they do what they do in it in their own * Understand a right derived from Jesus Christ who hath a double right to it Author vit Bern. l. 1. cap. 12. right 1 Pet. 1.3 But I desire now after all these Divisions and Subdivisions to come to some Compositions or Conclusions And 1. Let this be one 1. Doct. A powerful right Teaching and Christ-preaching-Ministry doth very much advance the winning of Heaven by a sacred Violence 2. Then take an other Heaven must be taken by an holy Violence For the first I shall raise and resolve about it these two Queries 1. What such a Ministry is 2. Why such a Ministry doth so advance the winning of Heaven by an holy Violence To the first I answer It is a Ministry which poureth out it self in torrents of affection lists up its voice like a trumpet comes to the heart in the demonstration of the Spirit thunders out the Judgements of God against all that is called flesh and not spirit strikes at the very root of every tree which brings not forth fruit to God labours mightily to desponsate souls to Christ and therefore holds forth none and nothing so much as Christ To the second Query I answer thus in seven Grounds 1. Such a Ministry will cry down sin 2. Will cry up Heaven 3. Will cry up Zeal 4. Will take away the Vail which is over all mens faces 5. Will take away all excuses and vain conceits 6. Will acquaint men with the absolute necessity of believing 7. Will inform them of that strictness of living which Christ requireth of all that will enter into Life everlasting 1. Ground It will cry down Sin according to that of Isa 58.1 and Mat. 3.10 as thus it will tell men that they which do such things as they do commit adultery and whoredom and all manner of uncleanness and lasciviousness with greediness do lie steal pour in strong drink and will be drunk and glut themselves with excessive eating live in usury in the sin of covetousness of anger of envy of pride without fear without remorse without repentance are worthy of death worthy of damnation and shall never inherit the Kingdom of God according to that dreadful Scripture Gal. 5.19 20 21. Thus such a Ministry cryeth out against all sorts of Sins and Sinners who when they hear them cry out so what sins will they not rather miss that eternal Life they may not miss And what evils will they not forsake that Heaven they may take When a man understands that either he must lose his life or his leg or arm or right hand or right eye though his leg be dear to him his arm dear his right hand dear his right eye dear yet will he lose any of these dear things or all rather than life because his Chyrurgion tells him that else he must die So poor Sinners when they are told by the Chyrurgions of their souls that either they must lose their best beloved Sins which are as dear to them as their legs their arms their right eyes right hands or lose Heaven if they will keep them they will with God's blessing do any thing rather than die forgoe any sin rather than go to Hell lose any profit rather than Heaven Heaven being infinitely absolutely indisputably better than both their eyes both hands both legs both arms in a word than all that is near or dear to them in all this worlds circumference 2. Ground It will cry up Heaven as the Baptist came crying and saying Repent the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 3.2 and as Christ himself came preaching and saying in my Text The Kingdom of Heaven suffers Violence and Rev. 21.17 which when poor souls hear how they will be startled with Gods Blessing how they will come as those Mat. 3.6 confessing their sins and acknowledging their former of citances and neglectings of Life and Salvation and being ready to do any thing to do well hereafter and to be saved as those Luke 3.12 Beloved if this were a Sea-town and a Vessel should arrive here from beyond the Seas and a Cryer should be sent up and down to cry That if any will buy take estates worth thousands in a goodly Country for a small matter yea for nothing upon the matter he may now be carried over in that Vessel and buy and take as much Land as he will and as cheap as he can desire O! how would those of your Town who have but little or no estates and are in want and have but little or no money with both hands imbrace such an opportunity take such a proffer and advantage and embark themselves to be gone and to take such estates in so goodly a Country and to inhabit such stately Seats This now is the case of poor souls we Ministers arrive with our Vessels I should say our Gospel-preaching which we carry in earthen-vessels at your Towns at your Parishes at your Temples we turn Cryers being for that end sent Isa 58.1 and bid to cry and cry up and down in your Towns and solemn Assemblies Isa 55.1 Ho if any man will buy cheap and take Heaven cheap or an estate in Heaven worth not only thousands but whole worlds and desires to have a goodly seat indeed let him come with
evidently seen of all The Fourth Prosecution Now for Application 1. Use This may inform us of the Greatness of the Wrath of God against Sin seeing that the very best cannot be exempted from Deaths Tyranny which God's flaming Wrath against and for Sin hath subjected us all unto It is almost 6000 years agone that Adam sinned by eating of the forbidden Tree and yet could not all this length of time make him forget that one Offence no no Manet alta mente repostum judicium Paridis said Virgil in another case and we may say as much in this The Lord remembers that Sin still and keeps his Anger against it still so as that no intervening Grace or Goodness in the holiest person can make him let go his Wrath or remit his first Mulct or Penalty Death I mean once menaced and decreed and yet as Moses complained once Psal 90.11 so may we now Who knoweth or understands considereth and believeth as Luther in Dutch rendreth the Original the power of thine Anger though we be even consumed by it ver 7. Wherefore in the first place let us learn and lay to heart the Power of the Lord's Anger for you see by Moses's complaint that scarce any knoweth it or considereth of it Whereupon it cometh to pass that Sin is 1. So slighted as it is in your Judgements 2. So embraced in your Affections 3. So multiplied in your Conversations because you do not once seriously consider the Powerfulness and Greatness of God's Wrath by which we are consumed one by one the very best not exempted The Second use Must godly Men who are like precious Wheat die like other men Then woe to the Ungodly which are but Chaff for what will become of them if God so deal with the green wood what will he do to the dry if he be so severe against his own for that old sin of Adam how rigorous then will he be against Aliens if they that are reconciled unto him by the death of his Son yet must taste of Deaths cup what will be the end then of you that are yet unreconciled Certainly my tongue is not able to express that unutterable and unspeakable Wrath which will most certainly seize on you unreconcil'd Adulterers Boasters Idolaters Lyars Cozeners and on you fierce proud envious worldly and covetous Men and Women for you must taste of a double Death the first and the second Rev. 21.8 Now how fearful and formidable the very first Death is you know all who ever saw a man unmann'd and laid in the dust to putrifie and to be meat for Worms whereby you may easily conceive how dreadful needs must be and will be both when one after another as it were shall require your souls as it is written Luke 12.19 20. Thou fool this night they shall require thy Soul from thee as the Original hath it Mark They shall require it and who be They but the first and the second Death as I conceive one seconding the other O think on this double Death all ye Drunkards and Fornicators Swearers Usurers Epicures Gurmands Atheists and Hypocrites and imagine in what a woful plight your Souls will be when those two Deaths shall so require them and they shall be forthwith thrown and cast into that formidable Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death Rev. 21.8 Lamentable was the case of the Men of Sodom when suddenly they saw and felt both Fire and Brimstone dropping down from Heaven upon their Bodies but infinitely more grievous woful and deplorable will be your condition then when these your immortal Souls shall begin to feel in a moment after their departure that ever-during Fire and Brimstone which the Lord in his Fury will rain upon them in that infernal Pit for as the †Bonavent Brevis cap. 6. pag. 7. peccant Spirit or Soul of man subjects it self to the baseness of sin perverting the Dignity of its Noble Nature so the order of God's Justice requireth that it as well as the Body should burn in the very dregs of worldly bodies corporeal Fire and Brimstone I mean which never shall be quenched This will be the Catastrophe of all your sports and delights and profits of your sinful Life It was a witty saying of a learned man That Marriage was a short and sweet song but that it hath a long and doleful close So of all the Pleasure we take in sin we may truly say that it is a Song short for the time and sweet for tune as long as it lasteth for it runneth much upon Quavers and Semiquavers of Mirth and Jubilation but the time suddenly changeth and the tune is altered for then followeth without rest the Sarges and Songs of sorrow and lamentation which cannot be measured by any time or uttered by any humane tongue Hence when one who had lived but a lewd and ungodly life was departing as one * Doctor Hill in his Direction to dye well p. 123. relates it of him he cryed out even in this World most lamentably O lamentable Destiny O infinite Calamity O Death without Death O those contiual Cryings which shall never be hearkened unto our eyes can see nothing but sorrowful Spectacles and intolerable Torments our ears can hear nothing but Wo Wo without end woful O thou Earth why dost not thou swallow O ye Mountains why do not ye cover us from the presence of the Judge How far do the Torments of Hell exceed all the tortures of this Life O ye bewitching Pleasures of this World how have ye led us blindfolded to the Horrors of Hell Wo wo for ever unto us who without hope are cast from the Favour of God so that after ten thousand years we might be delivered O that in any time we might have an end But it cannot be Our Temporal Pleasures have Eternal Pains our Mirth is now turned into Mourning and we are cast into Everlasting Fire Thus he I do not speak this to drive you to desperation but to perswade you to an alteration that you may change your Estates and Lives for better praying God All-powerful to turn you that you may be turned from your sins and he from the fierceness of his Wrath and so consequently may not come into that woful woful place of Torments which shall never have an End The Lord touch your Hearts that you may consider both your own Misery and this blessed Remedy and so may flie from that wrath which is to come The Third use If the Godly must die like other men then let every one of us that is Godly be more mindful of his own death then usually the very best are and let him make his particular application to himself Then I also must die as well as other men and moulder away into rottenness and dust see Deut. 23.29 Plato that Princeps Philosophia or Prince of Philosophy saith There is Nulla Salutatis Philosophia no wholsom Philosophy sed perpetua Mortis Meditatio but
a perpetual Meditation of Death It is saith Scipio The most honourable Philosophy to study a mans Mortality The Meditation of Death is the Life of the Wise nay it is the very Life of a Christian Life say I and the greatest wisdom of the Godly who is truly wise And therefore to help our selves herein The First Help Let us now and often pray with Moses the man of God Lord teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Psal 90.12 The Second Help Let us take an occasion by every thing we see to remember our latter end for as King Philips Remembrancer told him every day Philippe memento Mori Philip remember that thou must die so every Creature almost that comes to our view minds us of our Death saying as much to each of us in effect Remember man that thou also must die I 'le instance in Particulars The First Instance Our very Shooes we wear being made of Skins of dead Beasts tell us so much and therefore when we put them on let us remember that we also must die The Second Instance Our Victuals we eat being the flesh of dead Beasts say so much and therefore we need not then a Deaths-head to put us in mind of Death * Lang. Pol. as in ancient time among the Egyptians Deaths Picture was shewed to men at their Feasts to mind them of Death the Meat it self representing the Image of Death is a sufficient remembrancer whereby we may if we will yea ought to remember our Mortality The Third Instance When we walk in the coloured Fields and view the gay Diaperie of the Earth we may thereby be put in mind of Death for every Pile of Grass and every fading flower there tell us of it so as that we might if we did not turn our deaf ear to such Powerful Lectures hear as it were a Voice behind us saying All flesh is as Grass and all the Goodliness thereof as the Flower of the Field the Grass withereth the Flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Isa 90.6 I pray you therefore take notice of this Lesson The Fourth Instance The Earth we tread on preacheth the same Lecture telling us that being compounded of that Element we must needs return again unto it according to that * Damasc l. 1. de Fide c. 4. Philosophical Axiome Whatsoever is compacted of Elements must needs be dissolved again into the same Wherefore as often as we do but look on the Earth let us remember the Word of the Lord Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return Gen. 3.19 The Fifth Instance The Corps Sepulchres and Monuments of the Dead tell every one of us so much saying as it were Hodie mihi Cras tibi To day it is my turn to morrow it may be thine Wherefore I advise you to walk now and then up and down in a Church or Church-Yard and to view such Sepulchres and Monuments of the deceased deliberately for then you cannot but mind your own Mortality reading theirs upon their silent Tombs and memorials engraved with most legible Characters not so much in Marble as in the very dust wherein they lie and unto which they are returned The Sixth Instance Your own frail Bodies consisting of contrary Elements as Fire Air Water Earth I mean the four Humours Choler Blood Phlegm Melancholic which are like them combating and fighting one against another can tell you that needs there must follow a dissolution for as I told you Composition is the beginning of a Combate a Combate of Separation a Separation of a Dissolution Wherefore as in old time one came after the ancient Emperors riding in their Tryumphant Chariots crying with a loud voice †Tertul. in Apol. adv Gentes cap. 33. Respice post te Look behind thee So let me now come after all those high and hurtful conceits which you have had of your own Parts Worth Strength Youth Wealth Health and after all those applauding Flatterers which have made you often too secure saying with a loud Voice Look but upon your selves and behold your Bodies which a thousand wayes may be on a sudden dissolved though but one way they entered into this present World for whilst you are speaking walking eating writing thinking or sleeping these four contrary Elements are ever fighting whereupon as in other Battels one party may prevail in an instant and cause a great slaughter so one of them may prove predominant and cause a final dissolution of your weak and mortal Bodies and this may fall out so even suddenly and unexpectedly as experience hath taught us by the sudden Deaths of many who had not so much leisure as once to speak one word more after they were so suddenly and violently assaulted The Seventh Instance When you go to bed you are even by that silent custom of yours thought and told you of your Mortality for how can there be almost a more lively emblem of Mans dying than 1. His unraying of himself which may mind him of the putting off his Body of Earth 2 Cor. 5.4 2. His * Cum in lecto cubas sit tibi ipse jacentis habit is figura in Sepulchro Clausi Isid de summo bone lying down upon his Bed which may put him in mind of his lying down in the Grave which will be his Bed 3. His very sleeping which may call to his mind his last and longest sleep when he shall sleep in his Death and rise no more till at that great and dreadful day of the last Doom the shril and loud sounding Voyce of the Son of God shall awake him out of his sleep saying Surgite Mortui venite ad Judicium Rise O ye Dead and come to Judgment Hence the very * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Iliad 14. Heathen as well as the †Chron. 21.1 Acts 1.60 Pen-men of Gods Holy Spirit have resembled Death to a sleep and called sleep Deaths * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mnesimachus Com. Mystery and Death Sleeps Brother So †In Filiavel scient bené moriendi Fol. 47. Synopa the Cynick being nigh his end and very sleepy said to his Physician awakening him Ne mireris frater fratrem autevertit Wonder not at my sleeping one Brother preceds another * Pausan in Lacon Pausauias in like manner writes of the Laconiens that they set up two Simulachres for Death and Sleep as two Brethren Wherefore I beseech you that as often as you are going to bed to take your natural rest you will constantly remember by these three things that one needful thing which is Death making a particular application of each emblem as thus let a Godly man say to himself As now I go to my bed so I must go to my Grave and as I put off my Cloaths so ere long nay this night it may be I must put off my Earthly Tabernacle which is my Body and as I shall fall asleep and know
Jesus receive my spirit Acts 7.59 or with Christ himself Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Luke 23.46 and if God seem to be angry at that time then let him interpose the Death of his Son between his Wrath and his own soul in his last prayers saying (c) Hosius in Confess petrocoviens c. 13. I enterpose the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ betwixt me and thine anger no otherwise do I contend with thee And if he say to him Thou art a sinner let him answer Lord I put the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ betwixt thee and my sins If he say Thou hast deserved Damnation say I set the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ betwixt me and my bad merits and I offer his Merits instead of the merits which I ought to have but yet have not Thus I instruct the dying Christian to pray as men were taught many hundred years agone and therefore I beseech you that you will lay up these sayings in your hearts as Mary the thrice blessed Virgin the Shepherds words Luke 2.19 that so you may be able with much readiness to prompt them and to make use of them according to Faith and in Faith to your unutterable and endless Comfort which the Lord of Life in mercy grant unto you Let me add a few Incentives and then I have done So doing as hath been shewed in all these Rules and Directions you shall purchaseto your selves 1. Much Boldness 2. Much Quietness 3. Much Chearfulness 1. Much Boldness There is a twofold Boldness 1. A Well-grounded 2. A Groundless The one is good the other is bad 1. The good and Well-grounded I mean which proceedeth 1. From Righteousness and an holy walking with God which maketh a man as bold as a Lyon Prov. 28.1 For as the * Hemin l. 1. c. 105. Lyon being pursued by the Hunter doth not hide but rather shew himself and counteth it a great shame to flee yea * Isidore Etymol l. 6. looketh the Hunter in the very face and is not affrighted or daunted but rather encouraged So careful holy Walkers do not flie or shrink or fear or hide their faces but shew themselves most when death is nearest and are bold even to look him in the face as we may note in the three Children when they were threatned with death yea with a most grievous and extraordinary Death Dan. 3.18 and in divers holy Martyrs I 'll instance but in one * Ignatius Epist ad Pim. de Smyrna per Ephes O that I might but once enjoy those Beasts said Ignatius which are prepared for me and which I wish may quickly consume me and not being terrified abstain from me as they did from others and if they will not touch me I 'll impel and urge them Forgive me I know what is expedient for me let the Fire the Cross the constancy of Beasts Abscision Separation confraction of all my Members and a dissolution of my whole body and all Satans whips come to me that I may win Christ Thus he 2. From a holy Confidenc in God upon former experiences for such as be so careful to walk so holily as hath been formerly shewed cannot but find much sweetness in God and receive many tokens of love and favour from God Psal 31.19 20. so that needs they must be very confident in their lives bold at last in their death The Hebricians call therefore Boldness Betac Confidence because it proceedeth from it and the (b) Aqum 2. Sent. dist 26. q. 1. a. 3. Schools define it by Considence II. Much Quietness For 1. There can be no such discord as is and must be in careless providers for Death between 1. The Law of God and their own Consciences because they strive to the utmost to agree with it that it may not prove in the end their greatest adversary So Austin understands our Saviours speech Mat. 5.25 2. Hope and Reason for Reason it self cannot but reason for them upon such grounds drawn from holy Writ as cannot be denied For instance that one pregnant passage 2 Pet. 1.10 11. cannot but afford such a Premise as must needs infer for them a most firm Conclusion that entrance shall be ministred unto them upon their diligence in making their Calling and Election sure by an Holy Walking into the everlasting lasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Christ 3. God himself and them for In every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10.35 and as without Faith its impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 so with and by Faith a man cannot but please God and so be at peace with God Rom. 5.1 2. They that shall follow these Rules shall fix their minds upon the Lord 's never-failing Promises according to one of the said Rules and therefore they must needs be very quiet stayed and firm for the Promises are most firm even Yea and Amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 and therefore they that stay themselves in them must needs be so too even as he that buildeth upon a Rock builded firmly and as he that standeth upon a Rock stands firmly Hence when an holy Man was asked how he could pass his last sickness so without any trouble he answered That he did ever eye that excellent promise in Esa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because be trusteth in thee True it is that some holy Walkers and eminent Believers as Mr. Glover Mr. Peacock and others have been much troubled for all this in their latter end which may seem to cross what I have said but their trouble was not perpetual For fiâ—st They had comfort at last 2. Was rather a kind of peace then a war for their trouble was a war with Satan Now our war with Satan as Tertullian saith truly Is our peace because it brings peace at last 3. Was extraordinary whereas ordinarily an holy walking and confidence brings quietness and so I desire to be understood I close up therefore the prosecution of this second Incentive with a Speech like unto that which an Hebrew Interpreter made to King Ptolomy asking him How he might be at rest when he Dreamed Let Piety be the scope of all thy sayings and doings for by applying all thy Discourses and Works to excellent things whether thou sleepest or wakest thou shalt have quiet rest in regard of thy self Thus he And as he said to him so say I unto you would ye die and sleep up quietly then do as he advised him and put your trust in the Lord withall and it will be so 3. Much chearâ—ulness which is a higher degree of comfort being Positive wheras quietness is Negative comfort I or 1. There is not such cause and matter of discomfort and sadness in such as do so carefully provide for death and labour to die in and according to Faith as in other loose and careless persons who 1. Quench the Spirit that should comfort them
2. Grieve the Spirit that should comfort them Whereas careful providers for death rather 1. Blow up the good motions and workings of the Spirit as much as in them lyeth by their careful and holy walking and applying of the Lord's Promises so that needs they must feel more joy and comfort then others that do not so even as one that bloweth up Coals doth feel more heat then he which suffers them to go out 2. Please the Spirit of God and cherish his motions by their conformity to his Nature in that they labour to be as Spiritual as possible they may and so consequently to partake of his Nature so as that the Spirit being pleased and cherished cannot but please and cherish them again as they please and cherish him for if we that usually are very unkind and ungrateful yet cannot but be kind to those that be kind to us and make much of them as they make much of us how much more will that most kind and holy Spirit of God chear up those that cherish him and make much of them as they make much of him See Acts 9.31 how therefore they that walked in the fear of the Lord are also said to walk in the Comforts of the holy Ghost 2. Such are most fit for comfort and joy For 1. The muchness of Grace which is in them and procedeth from them cannot but be evidently seen and observed by them and cause them to joy in it and to be even exceeding glad for it like a man that hath and finds a treasure that was hid in his field see Mat. 13.44 Now the finding of such a Treasure will chear up the heart 2. The enlargment of their holy desires and endeavours cannot but procure joy which is an Laetitia quasi latitia enlargement of the Heart Psal 119.32 and is given to holy and careful walkers as a gracious remuneration from God Psal 97.11 3. Holy walkers and careful providers for death cannot but attain to a most happy consecution of that good which they desire even the enjoying of Christ by Faith a cognition or knowledge of the same consecution which is * Delectatio requirit consecutionem boni convenientis et consecutionis cognitionem Tho. Aquin. 1.2 q. 32. a. 1. required unto delectation as well as the consecution it self so that they cannot but rejoyce more or less sooner or later with that joy which is called Unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.7 8. or at least with a lesser degree of joy if God for causes best known to himself be pleased to suspend and to deny that higher degree of rejoycing 4. They are in a manner in Heaven already and Heaven is in them in that they mind nothing almost but Heaven as I shewed that men ought so to do so as that they cannot but joy in that which is so full of joy enjoying the very same objective Happiness with the Saints in Heaven though not the same subjective Happiness as not being yet capable of it for if he that is but in a Goldsmiths shop cannot but receive some splendor from the Gold that is in it how much more shall they that mind nothing but Heaven and so have their conversation in Heaven partake also more or less of that Joy Blessedness which is in Heaven and which the true Believer seeth as it were and beholds by his Faith and seeing admireth and admiring in a manner possesseth for by Hope we are saved already saith the Apostle Rom. 8.24 * Arist 2. Rhetor 11. Aristotle saith expresly That Admiration is the cause of Joy and Delectation because it maketh us hope that we shall acquire something which is delectable and joyful And therefore conceive ye what Joy the vision taking possession of Heaven it self which is so rare and so full of admiration must needs cause in a truly serious savingly believing mind For your greater delight and encouragement I 'll here set down some of those triumphant passages which some careful Providers for Death have uttered to this purpose a little before they were by Death unmanned I feel a light said * Fox Justus Jusbery one of Christ's blessed Martyrs which refreshes me with joy far above that which I am able to express desiring nothing more now then to be dissolved and to be with Christ So Adolphus Clarebachius Martyr at his death I believe there is not a merrier heart in the world at this instant than mine And for my part said Mr. Deering as concerning death I feel such joy of spirit that if I should have the sentence of lise on the one side and the sentence of death on the other side I had rather chuse a thousand times seeing God hath appointed the separation the sentence of death than the sentence of life So Mr. John Holland a fruitful Minister of God's Word having the day before he dyed continued his Meditation and Exposition upon Rom. 8. for the space of two hours or more said on a sudden O stay your reading what Brightness is this that I see have ye lighted any Candles No said one it is the Shunshine Sunshine said he No it is my Saviours Shine Now farewel world welcome Heaven the Day-Star from on high hath visiced my heart O speak it when I am gone and preach it at my Funeral for he spake to a Minister c Mr. Leigh in his Sermon intitled The Souls Solace against Sorrow p. 17. who relates it God deals familiarly with men I feel his Mercy I see his Majesty whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God he knows but I see things unutterable O what a happy change shall I make from night to day from darkness to light from death to life from sorrow to solace Thus joyful holy Walkers and true Believers have been at their departure and therefore be ye perswaded to trace their steps and to follow as ye ought those most needful Directions and Rules which were formerly delivered that so living and so dying by with and according to Faith you may also be mounted as the said Believers were upon the wings of Joy and feed as they did on those ravishing and transcendent Comforts which God like Manna is wont to rain down upon his holy Walkers in this men devouring Wilderness the World I mean from which God in mercy bring us all in the end of our dayes to a World of Joy and Glory which shall never have an end Amen Soli Deo Gloria FINIS