earth and walketh up and down in it Job 1. 7. yea as a roaring lion he walketh about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5. 8. No place can exempt us from his tentations whilst we live in this world He assaulted Adam in Paradise Lot in the Cave David in his Palace Josuah the high Priest in the presence of the Angel of the Lord Christ in the wildernesse Peter in the High Priests hall c. But when Death comes these Egyptians which you have seen to day ye shall see them again no more for ever Exod. 14. 13. Satan shall never more molest Gods children after this life is ended Hence saith Saint Ambrose Diabolus per quod potestatem habuit victus est The Devil who had the power of death Heb. 2. 14. hath by death his power abrogated and abolished Sixthly Death frees them from Gods frowns which sin often exposeth them to here and which to a child of God is more terrible than death it self For if in Gods favour is life as David affirms Psal. 30. 5. then in his frowns is death yea if Gods loving kindness is better than life Psal. 63. 3. then his frowns are worse than death There are no outward or corporal afflictions but a resolute and Roman spirit will stand under them the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity Prov. 18. 14. but the frowns of God and tokens of his displeasure are intolerable A wounded spirit who can bear It made David roar Psal. 32. 3. Hezekiah chatter Isa. 38. 14. yea Christ himself to sweat drops of congealed blood and to cry out in the anguish of his soul My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But after death the light of Gods countenance shines perpetually upon them and shall never admit either of a cloud or Eclipse when Lazarus died he who lay groveling at the rich mans gate was found in Abrahams bosome in a place of warmest love For seeing by Death Gods children are freed from corruptions therefore after death they have no need of Gods frowns or corrections Seventhly Death frees them from the very being and existence of sin At death the spirits of just men are made perfect Heb 12. 23. The death of their body delivers them from the body of death Death and sin do not meet in a child of God but so part that when the one comes the other is gone for ever As when Sampson died the Philistines died with him so when a child of God dies all his sins die with him Hence Ambrose saith Quid est mors nisi peccatorum sepultura what is death but the grave of our sins wherein they are all buried Thus death doth that at once which grace doth by degrees Grace indeed when it is once wrought in the heart under the conduct of the spirit it resists and fights against sin and gives it such mortal wounds that it never fully recovers again It dejects it from its regency but cannot eject it from its inherency It frees us from the raigning of sin but cannot free us from the remaining of sin After regeneration sin hath not dominion over us But yet there is a law in our members warring against the law of our minds and many times leading us captive unto the law of sin that is in our members so that we cannot do the good that we would but the evil that we hate that do we Rom. 7. 19. 23. But when death comes it wholly extirpates sin root and branch and not one or some few sins but all sin and that not for a time only but for ever when the souls of Gods children are dis-lodged from their bodies this troublesome and incroaching inmate shall be dis-lodged and thrust out of doors for ever Hence one saith Peccatum peperit mortem filia devoravit matrem Sin at first begat and brought forth death and death at last destroys sin as the worm kills the tree that bred it And as Bernard saith Death which before was porta inferni the trap-door of Hell is now introitus Regni the porch that lets us into heaven And Mr. Brightman saith what was before the Devils Sergeant to drag us to hell is now the Lords Gentleman-Usher to conduct us to heaven Thus I have shewed you in these seven particulars what are the evils that Gods children are freed from by death Now in the next place I will endeavour to shew you the priviledges that at death they are invested in and the good things that they are put into the present possession of But yet this must be premised that if I had the tongue and pen of men and Angels yet should I come far short of that which I aim at For whatsoever can be said of heaven is not one half as the Queen of Sheba said of Solomons magnificence of what we shall finde in that City of Pearl To expresse it saith a reverend Divine is as impossible as to compasse heaven with a span or to contain the Ocean in a nutshel And Chrysostom speaking of the happinesse of the Saints in heaven saith Sermo non valet exprimere experimento opus est words cannot expresse it we must have trial of it before we can know it But yet that which I shall say of it is contained in these six particulars First Death invests Gods children with perfection of all graces Here we know but in part we prophesie but in part But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. It 's true when God first regenerates and sanctifies us we have perfection of parts there is no grace wanting that is necessary to life and salvation For God doth none of his works by the halves But yet we attain not to perfection of degrees till death comes whilst we live here we are exhorted to adde grace to grace 2 Pet. 1 5 6 7. and one degree of grace to another We are commanded to grow in grace and in the knowledge of eur Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. To make a daily progress till we come unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ Ephes. 4. 13. But yet when we have done all that we can our faith is mixed with doubtings our love to God with love of the world our tears in repentance need washing in the blood of Christ our humility is mixed with pride our patience with murmurings and all our other graces have defects in them But in death they are all perfected and thereby we are put into a far better condition than we were capable of in this life Secondly Death puts the Saints into the present possession of Heaven a stately place into which there never did or can enter any unclean thing No dirty dog ever trampled upon this golden pavement It 's called Paradise Luke 23. 43. Indeed Paradise which God made for Adams palace though the stateliest place that ever the eye of mortal man
their death but their strength is firm they are not in trouble as other men From these and such like weak grounds they presume that their friends after death must needs go to heaven and therefore they comfort themselves and one another with these words whereas the truth is they may go to Hell after all these things Our Saviour Christ tells us Matt. 5. 20. that except our righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees we shall in no case enter into the Kingdome of Heaven And these men are so far from exceeding that they come short of the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees who were frequent in Alms-deeds in prayer in fasting Mat. 6. 2. 5. 16. and yet Christ calls them hypocrites Yea they made long prayers Matth. 23. 14. they compassed Sea and land to make one Proselyte v. 15. they payed even their smallest tithes v. 23. They outwardly appeared righteous unto men v. 28. they blamed their fathers for murthering the Prophets and by way of compensation to free themselves from the guilt they built Tombs for those Prophets and garnished the Sepulchres of the righteous v. 29. 30. notwithstanding all which Christ pronounceth many woes against them Thus we see what are ill-grounded hopes which prove but like a spiders web to those that trust in them I shall therefore in the next place shew you what is a well-grounded hope of the happinesse of our friends departed which consists in this When our deceased friends have in their life-time given us some good evidence of the work of grace and sanctification wrought in their hearts whereby we could discern that by Gods blessing upon the means their eyes were opened that they were turned from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God For then we may conclude that they have received forgivenesse of their sins and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified by faith that is in Christ Act. 26. 18. But this work of grace being inward and secret how shall we be able to judge of it Our Saviour Christ gives us a rule for our direction in judging of others Mat. 7 16 17 18 19 20. Ye shall know them saith he by their fruits Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good tree brings forth good fruit but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them From whence we may gather that as wicked men for the most part may be known by their wicked lives so gracious persons may be known by their gracious lives For it s as easie to carry fire in our bosome or oil in our hands without discovery as grace in our hearts without the manifestation of it Now many signes might be given whereby we may judge of the work of grace in others but I shall content my self for the present with these three First if living with them we observe that they make conscience of and practise private and secret duties as well as publick Hypocrites when they do duties do all to be seen of men that they may have glory of men Matth. 6. 2. 5. 16. and therefore in their very private prayers they love to make them in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets v. 5. they have Jacobs voice but Esaus hands the Lord indeed is much in their mouths but far from their reines Jer. 12. 2. they lay claim to Christ but yet have no share in him they deeply affirm of him but have no manner of right to him their faith is but phansie their confidence but presumption they are like the mad man at Athens that laid claim to every ship that came into the Harbour when he had no part in any Like Haman that hearing the King would honour a man concluded but falsly that himself was the man or like Sisera that dreamed of a Kingdome whereas Jaels nail was neerer his temples then a crown and thus they deceive themselves with their shews and think to deceive others but Gods children can usually discern them and discover them to be like Harpyes that are said to have Virgins faces but Vulturs talons but on the contrary a sound-hearted Christian though he dare not neglect yea though he prefer the publick yet he also makes conscience of private duties and prayes to his Father in secret so that if we observe this in them its one good ground that they have the work of regeneration wrought in their hearts Secondly if we observe them that they labour to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men as Saint Paul professeth that he did Act. 24. 16. If they have had respect to all Gods commandments as David Psal. 119. 6. If they have made conscience of the duties of both Tables serving God in holinesse and righteousnesse all the days of their lives Luke 1. 75. hiring themselves unto him for term of life not desiring to change their Master knowing that they cannot mend themselves neither for fairnesse of work nor fulnesse of wages whereas an Hypocrite is versutulus versatilis he casts about how to deceive God and man with meer shews of devotion being not afraid to be damned so he may seem to be saved and seeking so long to deceive others that in fine he deceives his own soul Imposturam faciunt patiuntur as that Emperour said of them that sold glasse beads for pearl They deceive and are deceived Thirdly when we have heard them groaning and mourning under the remainders of corruption and the relicts of sin crying out with the holy Apostle Rom 7. 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death When they have manifested their hatred against all sin and shunned every evil way saying with the wisest of men Prov. 8. 13. the fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride and arrogancy and every evil way do I hate whereas a dispensatory conscience is a naughty conscience Neither doth he Gods will but his own that doth no more nor no other then himself pleaseth as hypocrites use such holiday servants God cares not for Every one can swim in a warm Bath and every bird will sing in a Summers-day Judas will bear the Crosse so he may bear the bag and the carnal Capernaits will follow Christ for the loaves though not for love Joh. 6. 26. But Abraham will forsake all to follow God though he know not whither yea though God seems to go a cross way as when he promised him a land flowing with milk and honey and yet so soon as he came there he met with a famine Gen. 12. 10. If then you have observed these three things in your Christian friends whilst they lived you may have a well-grounded hope of their blessednesse after death which sure cannot but moderate your mourning for
to be comforted and said For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning Sorrow indeed and lamentation are the dues of the dead but it ought not to exceed either for measure or duration neither should we mourn so much for our friends departed as for our sins against God But our child that is snatched away by death was young and might have lived not only to have been a great comfort to us and the staff of our old age but very instrumental to Gods glory First we must not take upon us to be wiser than God or to teach him as when to give us children so how long to continue them unto us It 's his Royal Prerogative that He may do with his own what he pleaseth They are not so much our children as Gods Ezek. 16. 21. He doth but put them forth to us to nurse and may send for them home when he pleaseth We who are parents would not take it well if having set forth a child to nurse when we send for it home the nurse should refuse to part with it and grow into impatiency when we take it away Neither can God take it well at our hands Secondly Was your child young when he died Yet remember that it was Gods mercy to spare him so long For life is not long enough to deserve the title of time Eccles. 3. 2. There is a time to be born and a time to die He doth not say There is a time to be born and a time to live Death borders upon our births and as one saith Our Cradles stand in our graves Multos ostendunt terris bona fata nec ultra Esse sinunt finisque ab origine pendet God deals with some as a skilful Limner doth with his Master-piece brings it and sets it forth to be gazed at and admired by the multitude and after a while draws a curtain over it and carrieth it back into his house again so God sends some whom he endows with admirable parts to be looked upon and wondred at by the world and then draws the sable curtain of Death over them and takes them into his own habitation in heaven Indeed the longest liver hath but a short cut from the grave of the womb to the womb of the grave Orimur morimur we are born we die And considering the frailty of our lives it 's no marvel that we die so soon it 's rather a marvel that we escaped so long For Mors ubique nos expectat Death waits for us at every turn In the fields in the streets in our houses in our beds c. Mille modis morimur we come but one way into the world but we may go out a thoufand wayes Thirdly Did your child die young yet if he was ripe for heaven he lived till he was old enough Hierom saith of a godly young man that in brevi vitae spatio tempora virtutum multa replevit He lived long in a little time And indeed some live more in a moneth or two then others do in many years A good man saith reverend Doctor Preston prolongs his dayes though he dies young because he is ripe before he is taken from the tree He even falls into the hands of God that gathers him They that die soon in Gods fear and favour though as grapes they be gathered before they be ripe and as lambs slain before they be grown up yet besides the happinesse of heaven they have this advantage that they be freed from the violence of the wine-press that others fall into and escape many rough storms that others meet with Fourthly Did God take away your dear relation whilst he was young What then Hath God anywhere promised that all shall live till they be old Is not mortality the stage of mutability Doth not experience shew us that man is but the dream of a dream but an empty vanity but the curious picture of nothing but a poor feeble dying flash In Golgotha there are skulls of all sizes Bernard tells us Senibus mors in januis adolescentibus in insidiis Death stands at old mens doors and it lies in wait to surprize young men also It 's like lightning that blasts the green corn as well as the dry like the thunder-bolt that dasheth in pieces new and strong buildings as well as old Do you not know that as for our lands so for our lives we are but Gods tenants at will Mans life is his day and we see by experience that dayes are not all of a length but some longer some shorter Death is the Lady and Empress of all the World and from her sentence the youngest cannot appeal As the Rivers haste to the Sea and the Stars to the West so man hastens to the grave It's Domus Conventionis the House of Parliament where all estates and ages meet together Hence it is that we are exhorted to gather Manna in the morning of our lives To remember our Creator in the dayes of our youth Eccles. 12. 1. To present our first-fruits to God whose soul desires the first ripe fruits Micah 7. 1. and who will remember the kindnesse of our youth the love of our esponsals Jer. 2. 2. He would be served with the Primrose of our years and therefore he made choice of the Almond-tree Jer. 1. 11. because it blossometh first of all others and truly we have reason to obey his precepts and answer his expectation if we rightly consider the brevity of our lives Must we keep a mean in our mourning for our deceased friends This then may exhort and perswade parents to be careful in training up their children in the faith and fear of God in bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Ephes. 6. 4. and to labour to promote and see the work of grace in their souls that so if they die before them as oft-times they do they may have hope in their death and so not sorrow as do others that have no hope Probably this much aggravated David's sorrow for Absalon that he had cockered and not corrected him in his childhood and he now saw him taken away in his sinne and rebellion whereby he could have no hope of the Salvation of his soul So should all other relations do endeavouring to be heirs together of the grace of life that so when death makes a divorce betwixt them they may leave a well-grounded hope to their friends of their blessed estate and condition which cannot but much moderate their mourning for them It reproves and justly blames such as upon the loss of their godly friends give too much way to Satans tentations and their own corruptions whereby they become immoderate and excessive in their sorrow to the dishonour of God the disgrace of their profession the dis-fitting themselves both for the service of God and man in the duties of their general and particular Callings to the prejudice of the health of their bodies for
Vision Here indeed they see God in a measure as they are able but there they shall see him in all fulnesse and perfection Here as in a Glasse obscurely or as an old man through spectacles {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} But in Heaven they see him face to face now they know him in part but there they know even as they are known 1 Cor. 13. 12. Happier herein than Solomons servants for a greater than Solomon is there God looks upon them with singula complacency and they look upon him with infinite comfort I cannot better expresse the happinesse which the Saints enjoy in this beatifical Vision than in the words of a reverend and learned Doctor The Saints in heaven saith he that delight in the sight of Gods glory do still desire for ever to be so delighted their desire is without anxiety and trouble because they are satiated with the thing that they do desire and their satiety is without loathing because they still desire the thing with which they are satiated They desire without grief because they are replenished and they are replenished without wearinesse because they desire still they see God and still they desire to see him they enjoy God and still they desire for ever to enjoy him they love and praise God and still they make it their immortal business to love and praise him Et quem semper habent sempere haber volunt Whom they for ever have with love yet higher To have for ever they do still desire Sixthly lastly our friends departed in the Lord enjoy all these and more than can be spoken yea such things as neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor can enter into the heart of man to conceive of unto all eternity hence the Prophet David tells us Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence is fulnesse of joy and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore where is as much said in a few words as can be spoken of it For quality there is in heaven joy and pleasure for quantity a fulnesse a torrent whereat the Saints drink without let or loathing For constancy it is at Gods right hand who is stronger then all neither can any take us out of his hand It 's a constant happinesse without intermission and for perpetuity it is for evermore Heavens joyes are without measure mixture or end And the Apostle Paul tells us 1 Thess. 4. 17. we shall ever be with the Lord It is granted by all that one of the greatest aggravations of the torments of the damned in hell is the thought of the eternity of their torment and therefore it follows by the rule of contraries that it shall much heighthen the felicity and joy of the Saints in heaven to think that they shall continue to all eternity But why should these considerations moderate our mourning for them First because if our friends died in the Lord they have lost nothing by death but what may well be spared viz. sin and sorrow we use not to mourn for such losses of our friends which are but small and inconsiderable especially if it be of such things as are better lost than found but such are the losses of our Christian friends departed Is it not better to lose sin and sorrow than to retain them and upon this account it is that the wisest of men Solomon tells us Eccles. 7. 1. that the day of death is better than the day of ones birth The Greeks call the beginning of mans nativity the begetting of his misery Man that is born of a woman is born to trouble Job 14. 1. If he lives to see the light he comes crying into the world A fletu vitam auspicatur saith Seneca and Saint Augustine speaking hereof saith Nondum loquitur tamen prophetat Ere ever a child speaks he prophesies by his tears of his insuing sorrows Nec prius natus quam damnatus No sooner is he born but he is condemned to the Gallies as it were of sin and suffering and therefore in this Text Solomon prefers his Coffin before his Cradle whereupon one infers One would wonder saith he that our life here being so grievously afflicted should yet be so inordinately affected and yet so it is that God is even forced to smoke us out of our clayie cottages and to make our life to be unto us no better then a lingring death that we may grow weary of it and breath after a better Secondly Because they are not only not losers but they are great gainers by death they are immediately put into a far better condition than they were capable of in this life The day of death is to them the day-break of eternal righteousnesse It gives them malorum ademptionem bonorum adeptionem freedome from all evil and the fruition of all good And as it 's not a losse but a preferment and honour for a married woman to forsake her own kindred and fathers house to go to her husband so it 's not a losse but a preferment for the souls of our friends for a time to relinquish their bodies that they may go to Christ who hath married them to himself for ever Hence our Saviour Christ comforts the dying thief upon the Cross with this This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 23. 43. why then should we so mourn for them seeing our loss is their gain they are indeed absent from us but it is that they may be present with the Lord they have put off the old rags of mortality that they may be cloathed with immortality they have parted with flesh and blood that so they may be in a capacity of inheriting the Kingdome of Heaven 1 Cor. 15. 50. Justi vivunt saith Saint Augustine etiam quando corpore moriuntur Godly men live even when their bodies die They are not lost but laid up our grief therefore should not exceed either for measure or continuance I would not have you sorrow even as others that have no hope We mourn not for them but for our own losse for the loss of their sweet society and of all the comfort that we expected in and by them Truly for this we may mourn weep not for me saith Christ to those good women that followed him to his Cross but weep for your selves Yet alwayes remember that though there be reason for weeping and sorrow yet there is no reason for excessive and immoderate mourning For that is a sin and there is no reason because God hath taken away our friends and relations that therefore we should further provoke him by sinning against him Immoderate mourning is a chaâ—ging of God foolishly so did not Job though he rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground yet it was not through impatience but to worship God For the text saith In all this Job sinned not nor chaâ—ged God foolishly Job 1. 20. with 22. It was Jacob fault that he refused
worldly sorrow causeth sicknesse and death 2 Cor. 7. 10. and to the opening of the mouths of the wicked who scorn them and Religion for it saying These are your Professours that make Idols of their children and friends and mourn for the losse of them as if they had lost their God They are like Rachel that wept and lamented for her children and would not be comforted because they were not Such forget the exhortation which speaks to them as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when then art rebuked of him Heb. 12. 5. Prov. 3. 11. Indeed we are sometimes in danger of setting light by Gods corrections saying with those sturdy persons It is my burthen and I must bear it Jerem. 10. 19. But more frequently we are impatient either outwardly fretting at the rod like those plunging horses which will not indure their Rider or inwardly repining like those horses which digest their choler by biting their bridles And if we neither despise nor impatiently murmur against the dispensation of God yet our weaknesse is such that we are ready to take the affliction too much to heart so that our spirits droop and faint and this is so much the worse because it 's commonly accompanied with a wilful indisposition which will not suffer us to entertain such things whereby we might be truly comforted and the hearts of such many times like Nabals die within them that they are not capable of counsel so that all consolatory exhortations are to them like water spilt upon the ground whereas we should take our correction and humble our selves under the smart of it but withall we should look to Christ and beg of him that he would not suffer our Faith Hope and Meeknesse of mind to be overturned Again consider that it 's not love to them when we are perswaded that they are with the Lord which makes us excessively grieve when they are taken from us It is indeed self-love and carnal affection Our Lord Christ told his Disciples If ye loved me you would be glad because I go to the Father And what measure then do we offer to God herein We can many times send our children far from us where it may be we shall never see them again if we are but well perswaded that it will be for their good and preferment and yet we cannot indure to have them taken out of our sight by the Lord though we are perswaded that their souls are with him in the highest glory We ought to labour for such tractable and obedient hearts as may not be content perforce to let him take them but may willingly resign even our children if it were by sacrificing them with our own hands as Abraham to him who hath not thought his onely begotten Son too dear for us but hath delivered Him to death for our sakes Once more remember that it 's a sign that we felt not Gods love in them nor received them at his hand as we ought to have done if we do not thankfully give them back to him when he calls for them Hannah having received Samuel as a gift gotten by prayer from God did readily part with him to God again and she lost nothing by that loan which she so cheerfully lent to the Lord as you may see 1 Sam. 2. 20 21. and so dealt Abraham with his onely Sonne Isaac whom by faith in the promise he had obtained of the Lord Hebr. 11. 17. This is true indeed but yet Parent-like affections cannot easily part with and yield up children so dearly beloved But take heed lest whilst you plead love to your children or friends you do not bewray and discover unkindnesse unto God Dare any of you say Lord if I did not so love them I could be content to give them to thee Surely if with a calm spirit you think of this you would blush for shame that your heart should be so cold towards God as not to be willing to part with any thing you love when he calls for it To part with that which you much care not for is not at all thanks-worthy It 's said of Abraham that when God commanded him to sacrifice his own and only son that he arose early in the morning Gen. 22. 3. to do it he consulted not with flesh and blood nor with carnal reason nor with fond affections but as David said He made hast and delayed not to keep Gods commandments How should this shame our backwardnesse and our many reluctancies against the will of God when he hath declared it in taking away a dear child or relation from us How much better were it for us to do as David did that man after Gods own heart who when he heard that his child was dead arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and went into the house of the Lord and worshipped and then came into his own house and called for bread and did eat 2 Sam. 12. 20. Again the consideration hereof may minister singular consolation First To every godly person when he lies upon his sick bed and sees death approaching and his friends standing about his bed weeping and wringing their hands and that upon a twofold ground First Because himself hath hope in his death Prov. 14. 32. Death is to him as the valley of Achor It 's a door of hope to give entrance into Paradise and to translate him into a state of blessednesse whereas to the wicked it 's a trap-door through which they fall into hell It 's an excellent saying Improbi dum spirant sperant Justus etiam cum expirat sperat wicked men hope whilst they live but a godly man when he breaths forth his last hath hope He is like unto that dying Swan of which Aelian tells us that sang most sweetly and melodiously at her death though in her life-time she had no such pleasant note There is some truth in that saying of the Heathen Optimum est non nasci proximum quam celerrime mori For wicked men it had been best for them never to have been born or being born to die quickly seeing that by living long they heap up sin and thereby treasure up wrath against the day of wrath but as for good men the day of death is best to them because here to live is but to lie a dying and eternal life which they are now taking possession of is the onely true life as saith Saint Austine Secondly because as they have hope themselves in their death so they leave a good hope to their friends to quiet their hearts in their losse Oh what a cutting grief is it to a godly heart to see a child or kinsman or other dear relation taken away and cut off in the midst of his sins so that he can have no hope of his blessed estate in another life But on the contrary if self-love be not too prevalent with us we cannot