it in Scripture-Record All the Exemption from Death that the Best can claim or hope for is to be exempted from Eternal but not from Natural Death Grace does free Believers from the former Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die Joh. 11.26 Verily verily I say unto you If a Man keep my Sayings he shall never see Death Joh. 8.51 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the Second Death hath no Power Rev. 20.6 but it does not free from the latter It may indeed and does as to this Death exempt from the Curse and Sting of it O Death 1 Cor. 15.55 where is thy Sting but not from the Stroke of it not from the thing it self Naturally considered as it consists in the dissolving of the Vnion 'twixt Soul and Body Christ has unstung Death for every Believer the Serpent now may hisse but it cannot hurt yet it may sting so far as to put a Period to the present Life Doe Abrahams die must they die Oh happy Necessity blessed be God for it This is grounded not only upon their Natural Frame and Constitution as they are Flesh and Blood as well as others and made of the same brittle Materials Nor only upon their having Sin as well as others and where that is Death must follow upon it Nor only upon that Vniversal Statute It is appointed unto Men once to die Heb. 9.27 But also upon the special Love and Grace of God to his People He has prepared an Heaven for them they are designed to a future State of Blessedness shall be rewarded above for their Service below Now that they may be put into the actual Possession of all this they must die Death to the Saints is but their Transition into their everlasting Blessedness and so 't is not their Misery but their Felicity that they die This to the Wicked is in Judgment but to the Godly in Mercy The former die because God will glorify his Punitive Justice upon them in another World but the Other die because God will glorify his free Grace and Mercy upon them in another World Death shall come to an Abraham but it comes to him as a Friend not as an Enemy Whilst he is paying the indispensible Tribute due to Nature God is carrying on the glorious Designs of his Grace towards him But this I pass over I proceed to the threefold Amplification or to the three Specialties observable in the Death of Abraham The first of which points to the Order and to the Manner of his Death in this Branch Then Abraham gave up the Ghost and died In the Syriac Version 't is infirmatus est he was debilitated and weakened so he died In the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fainted and so he died thus also the Chaldee Paraphrast the Vulgar Oleaster and divers others * Malè in 70 Interpretibus additum est deficiens Abraham mortuus est quia non convenit Abrahae deficere imminui Qâ—ast Heb. in Gen. Hierome objects against this Rendring the Words as if it did reflect upon such a Person as Abraham to faint But what Disparagement could it be to him at such an Age to lie under bodily Fainting so long as he was not weak in Faith but strong in Faith giving Glory to God Rom. 4.19 20. meer Natural Weakness could not at all reflect upon him or be unbecoming to him The Samaritan Version renders it by Expiravit he expired breathed out his last Breath or his Soul and Spirit his Breath and Soul went out of him so he died This Reddition is most generally followed by Expositors The giving up of the Ghost is the usual Expression to set forth Death by so it s used as to Isaac Gen. 35.29 as to Jacob Gen. 49.33 as to our Saviour Joh. 19.30 passim We 'll consider it as 't is expressive not only of Abraham's simple Dying but also of some Adjuncts and Circumstances about his dying It notes 1. The Order of his Dying and what was the Antecedent to it Abraham first gave up the Ghost then he died First the Soul departs and then we die and when that is once gone out of the Body Death immediately follows That being the living vital quickning Principle in Man when that is once separated from the Body this must necessarily be turned into a dead Carcase a dead lump of Clay So long as that stays with us we live but when it takes its Flight from us into its higher Mansion forthwith we die The dissolving of the Union 'twixt Soul and Body as it necessarily antecedes Death so Death necessarily succeeds upon it This is the Order of Nature as to what goes before and what follows after in that which I am speaking of By the way let such who believe and who thereupon are united unto Christ rejoyce in this spiritual and mystical Vnion inasmuch as it does secure to them the Perpetuity of their Spiritual Life The Natural Vnion of the two Constitutive Parts of Man is dissoluble and so the Natural Life that results from it may cease But the Spiritual Vnion between Christ and the Believer being indissoluble consequently the Spiritual Life resulting from it is and shall be Abiding and Everlasting The Soul may leave the Body therefore that may die but Christ and the Animating Spirit will never leave the Soul therefore that shall never die How may Believers comfort themselves from this 2. It holds forth the Manner of Abraham's Death 1. As to the Speediness and Easiness of it 2. As to his ready and willing Submission to it 1. His Death was quick and easy He was not long in Dying did not stand out any long Siege Death did but summon him and he presently surrendred up himself he breathed out his last Breath and the Work was done Neither did he grapple with those sharp Pains those grievous Agonies and Conflicts which many feel in a dying-hour no he just expired just gave up the Ghost and that was all The Hebrew Word used in the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the * Dictio expiravit egressionem Spiritus è Corpote significat quae sit subitò sine Dolore Morâ Aben-Ezra Putant Rabbini 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse mortem quae Homini accidit absque ullo praevio morbo dolote Munster Expirando mortuus est mortis quadam facilitate usus quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vatab. Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Hebiaeos dicitur de Morte sine Dolore Grot. so Oleaster quamplurimi alii Calvine rejects this Exposition Rabbinical Doctors and many Interpreters after them make to import a quick speedy and easy Death But others observe Vid Fagium in Loc. that we can lay no great Stress upon the Word as importing and easy Death to belong to good Men at least not so as to be appropriated and limited to them because else-where we find it applied to wicked
Ministry in Publick and in Private about forty Years as that it will be superfluous for me to say much about it In short therefore he was an excellent Minister of Christ who if he be not to be rank'd amongst the first three 2 Sam. 23.23 the most famous and eminent of our Preachers in England yet he may well be look'd upon as more honourable than the Thirty His Ministerial Abilities were very considerable He was another Apollos an eloquent Man and mighty in the Scriptures a Scribe instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven in whom the Word of God dwelt richly out of which Treasure he ever brought things new and old He was as Scriptural Preacher had a singular Happiness in citing of Texts pertinent to the Matter he was upon and then in the opening and applying of them And as his Preaching was solid and judicious so it was acute too fill'd up with quick and nimble Invention He would sharpen plain practical Doctrines with considerable mixtures of Ingenuity and Fancy His great design in his Ministry was not to perplex his Hearers but to edify them not to fill them with quaint Notions and Speculations but with serious and important Truths not to please their Ears but to better their Hearts and awaken their Consciences not to advance his own Reputation but the eternal Salvation of them who heard him So long as God spared him Strength none more constant and frequent in Preaching than he and when God laid him aside that he could preach no more what an Affliction was that to him And his Frequency in it did not lessen his Pains in due preparing for it his Sermons were well weighed and studied he not daring to offer to the Lord that which cost him nothing What a great Man he was in Prayer all they can testify who ever joyned with him therein Indeed God had endowed him with an admirable Gift as to this I firmly hope it was something more than a bare Gift He was severely Orthodox sound in the Faith to a degree of Rigor a thorough pac'd Calvinist a firm Adherer to and Assertor of the Doctrine of our Church though he differed as to some Rites and Ceremonies imposed in it And herein he stood stedfast and unmovable to his last Breath God blessed his Labours where-ever he came with considerable Success In all Places whither the Providence of God carried him he had the Seals of his Ministry in the Conversion of many Souls There are many now in Heaven many yet remaining here on Earth who with Comfort can call him their Spiritual Father He has not published much of his Labours but what he has * His Pisgah Corrections Instructions Sermons upon particular Occasions published shows him to be an able Practical Divine 4. I come to the fourth and last thing to consider him in his Relative Capacity In which he was as praise-worthy and does as much deserve Imitation as in any of the foregoing Considerations of him God blest him with a pious and prudent Consort I must say no more of her because she is yet living And what an high degree of Love was there betwixt them Indeed they may be Patterns and Examples of Conjugal Affection and Concord to all who knew them They lived together near 45 Years and how often have I heard him say In all that time there had been no Contention betwixt them except in this who should love one another most He had no Children of his own but his Wives Children he was as tender over and as affectionate unto as if they had been his own His Love to them and Care of them was scarce to be parallell'd sure not to be exceeded And how he pray'd for them instructed them us'd all means for their Spiritual Good I hope they will never forget He had other Relations of his own some of which by Providence were cast upon him for his Care and Relief And he was a Father to them at once caring for their Bodies and Souls too And as to his whole Family he was ever careful of the Souls of all that came under his Roof in instructing them in the Principles of Religion in helping them to understand the Scriptures which were read in his Family Morning and Evening And his Method was to cause every Child and Servant to remember something that had been read which he would then in a plain and familiar way open to them and so proceed to Prayer He had many Servants who lived with him that bless God that ever they came into his House I have parallell'd him with Abraham in his Death I might with a salvâ distantiâ also parallel him with Abraham in his Life as they died alike so they lived alike I 'll go no further than the thing last mentioned Abraham is famous for his Zeal about his Family God himself has put an high Character upon him for this Gen. 18.19 For I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him And just thus it was with our Reverend Father allowing the Disparity betwixt Person and Person Well I have shewn you what a Man he was who died in a good old Age an old Man full of Years and is now gathered to his People Nothing now remains but a word of Exhortation 1. To Christians to you who move in a private Orb. Many things might be suggested to you upon the death of this aged and faithful Servant of God but I shall commend this only to you Prize good Ministers while you have them and be afflicted when you lose them How many Mercies do you deprive your selves of by your undervaluing them And particularly how many good Ministers are removed from you because you do not put such a value upon them as you ought When God takes them away then you see the worth of them but not till then Did not some of you sit under the Minstry of him who is now dead and gone Pray was his Person Ministry Labours prized and estimated according to what they deserved True he lived to a great Age but I fear the Lives of many others are shortened by that slighting of them which they meet with from their People Wherefore I beseech you to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them highly in Love for their Work 's sake And further so prize them as to improve them so as to thrive and profit by them Do the Prophets live for ever your faithful Guides and Teachers do they not die Now you have them in a few days they are taken from you does it not then concern you to make the best of their Labours whilst you partake of them How many Ministers have you worn out and spent and are you not at all the better for them The better the Minister is under whom you are placed the worser it will be with you if you be barren and unprofitable under him And then Be afflicted for bewail and lament the loss of good Ministers Indeed this is a great loss whether ye consider the Benefits ye percieve by them or the Evils that this does presage and boad and therefore should it not be laid to Heart Indeed as to our deceased Brother his great Age and Circumstances being considered you have more reason to rejoyce for that he lived so long than to mourn that he died at last Ah! but how many eminent Instruments are cut off when they are young in their * Mr. Charnock Mr. Stockton c. best State or when they are but just †As lately that useful Minister and faithful Servant of God Mr. Richard Fairclough entred upon a considerable Age Oh when such die with what grief of Soul should that be resented by all serious Christians 2. To Ministers My Brethren you see how your number is lessened day by day the ancient Oaks and Cedars are almost all cut down and what is the Duty now of you who survive Surely to double and treble your Diligence in your Lord's Work the fewer Hands are left the more laborious those must be that are left when other Pillars are removed the more Weight does lie upon those which stand the fewer there are to preach the everlasting Gospel the more industrious they must be in this who are yet spared The Antient die where are the Young Ones to succeed them to stand in their stead and to fill up the Vacancies made by their Death Blessed be God for it some such there are and they too Persons of excellent Accomplishments for the Work of the Ministry God increase their Number and double the Spirit of his old Elijah's upon them that still there may be a Succession of faithful Labourers in the Lord's Harvest 3. To Relations the near and dear Relations of the Deceased What shall I say to you shall I press Patience and Submission upon you under this loss Certainly his Condition being considered even his nearest Relation though she has the greatest share in it needs no Excitation to Patience Had he been taken away when he was in the Prime of his Days then the Affliction would have been very great then all Motives to quiet Submission to God's Will had been little enough but when it was otherwise I hope there 's not the least rising of Impatience in you Your Duty is Thankfulness and Imitation Thankfulness that ever you had him and that you enjoyed him so long Imitation so as to tread in his Steps and to write after that excellent Copy that he has set you And you that are Young pray remember the Tears he shed for you the holy Counsel and Admonition he gave you that great Love that he expressed to you and let all prevail with you to love God the People of God and to engage with your whole Heart in serious and universal Godliness And then if you be Followers of him as he is gathered to his People to his God and Saviour so whenever your Dying time shall come as God alone knows how soon it will come you shall be made Partakers with him of the fame Felicity FINIS
Men in their Dying As it is to those that perished in the General Deluge Gen. 7.21 to Ishmael himself in this Gen. 25.17 And for the Thing it self Abraham might have this easy Death but we cannot from him conclude that all Saints and they only shall have it This is wholly at God's dispose who orders every Man's Death to be easy or painful as he pleases Even the Godly sometimes have a rough Passage to Heaven while the wicked have a calm Passage to Hell Do we not see this verified in daily Experience the Good dying with sad Groans sharp Conflicts acute Pains and the Bad dying like Lambs having a very serene and placid Death As to this all things fall alike to all and there 's no Knowledg of the Love or Hatred of God by it All that I can say upon it is this An easy Death is a great Mercy Observ There can hardly be a parting of the two old Companions such a Violence offered to Nature but there will be some Pains and Difficulties attending this but the less there is of These the more there is of Mercy This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suiton in V. â—ng was passionately desired by the Emperor Augustus for Himself and all his Friends And indeed it is a Blessing much to be desired provided that this be done with due Submission to the Will of God We must not be our own Chusers as to the Circumstances either of Life or Death but in both entirely refer our selves to the Sovereign Pleasure of God And Christian comfort thy self in this whatever thy Pains may be in Dying thou art secured from those worser After-Pains that will succeed these to the ungodly and unbelieving That Death which is so painful to thee for a few Minutes Hours or Days when it has done its Work will put an end to all thy Pains and to whatever here is afflictive to thee 2. It imports Abraham's readiness and willingness to die He gave up the Ghost when God called for his Soul he freely gave it up there was in him no striving strugling or reluctancy nothing but a quiet and willing Resignation of himself to die 'T would have been strange had it been otherwise He that was willing at God's Command * Gen. 12.1 To go out of his own Country from his Kindred and Father's House to a Land that God would shew him †Heb. 11.8 though he knew not whither he went ‖ Acts 7.5 had no Inheritance in the Place no not so much as to set his Foot upon I say it would have been strange that he who so readily complied with this Command of God when as to his Earthly Interest things were no better Circumstantiated should have been backward to have complied with God's Will as to his removal from Earth when he knew upon this he should be taken up into Heaven This was in his Eye in his removal from his Country here for he looked for a City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God Heb. 11.10 But surely he might have and had a more immediate and proximate view of the Heavenly Inheritance in his Departure by Death which would put him into the present Possession of it No wonder therefore he should be thus willing to die A good Pattern for our Imitation Saints should be willing to die Observ Thus it was with Abraham himself and thus it should be with his Seed also We must with the greatest Readiness give up the Ghost whenever God demands it Not die out of Force or Necessity because we cannot help it but out of Choice and ready Resignation of Life to God's Will Sapientis est exire non ejici Sen. Ep. 30. a wise Man is not forced out of the World but he spontaneously goes out of it The wicked Oh how averse are they from Dying and can we blame them for it Their Souls are pull'd out of their Bodies whether they will or no they do not give them up but they are taken from them Thou Fool this night c. Prov. 14.32 The wicked in driven away in his Wickedness it 's an Allusion to things that are hurried away by some tempestuous Winds quite contrary to their own Natural Inclinations but the Righteous has hope in his Death and upon this Hope he dies willingly Certainly they who duely consider the Miseries of the present Life the true Nature of Death the Gain and Advantages of it to the Upright the * Quam praeposterum est quamque perversum ut cum Dei Volun atem fieri postulemus quando evocat nos accersit de hoc Mundo Deus non statim Voluntaris ejus imperio pareamus Cyprian de Mortal Serm. 6. Soveraignty of God over Men as to Life and Death cannot but be ready and willing to die Ripe Fruit how easily does it fall into the hands of him that gathers it Oh such who are fit to die ripe for Heaven how readly should they fall into God's Hands when by Death he comes to gather them The Truth is 't is not enough for such barely to be willing to die but this they should passionately yet not impatiently desire and pant after Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 1.23 In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.2 4. For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan being burdened So much for the First Amplification in the words about Abraham's Death The Second is taken from the Time of it Then Abraham gave up the Ghost and died in a good old Age an old Man and full of Years In a good old Age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sym. in an hoary Age like that of Samuel I am old and gray-headed 1 Sam. 12.2 This God had promised before to Abraham Thou shalt go to thy Fathers in Peace thou shalt be buried in a good old Age Gen. 15.25 and here it was made good to him The same is said of David 1 Chron. 29.28 of Gideon Judg. 8.32 It may here be queried Object How is Abraham said to die in a good old Age when if we compare his Age with those who lived before him it comes much short of theirs What 's an 175 Years to those several hundreds of Years that the Fathers before the Flood arrived at according to what is recorded of them Gen. 5. And in the Computation of the Lives of the Fathers after the Flood Gen. 11. we find all of them one excepted viz. Nachor who lived but 148 Years to be older than Abraham was Some answer He is said to die in a good old Age Answ an old Man Senex dicitur non spatio dierum Temporum cùm junior obierit omnibus Avis suis sed quia sensu Fide Sanctimoniâ Vitae profecerat in immensum not as to the measure of his Life by Days or
cannot assent to this Assertion without some stating and qualifying of it 'T is true when God is bringing great Evils upon a Family or a Kingdom then to be taken away young in order to being preserved from such Evils does carry the Love and Mercy of God in it as we see in the Instance of Jeroboam's Son 1 Kings 14.12 13. and of good Josiah 2 Kings 22.20 But to make this Proposition general and universal that we have no ground for He that promises long Life as a Mercy must be look'd upon as loving the Persons to whom he vouchsafes it That which makes old Age to be so generally burdensome and which causes Inquietude of Mind in Persons under it is the muny Afflictive Evils that accompany it Within there 's a sad Decay in the several Faculties of the Soul the Vnderstanding darkened the Reason clouded the Memory blunted the Affections dead and flat Without there are various Infirmities in the Body the Eyes dim the Ears deaf the Feet lame the Joynts benum'd the Hands tremble the Bones full of Aches the whole Body a Mass of Diseases what an Accumulation of Evils is here Hence old Age is commonly called Aetas mala the evil Age And Solomon speaks of it as such Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy Youth while the evil days come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them He first in general calls it the evil Days and then particularly in the following Verses he most elegantly sets it forth in the Decay of the several Parts of the Body O quam continuis quantis plena Senectus Longa malis Juv. Multa senem circumveniunt incommoda Hor. Now can any be patient under the Conflux of such Evils much more can any be thankful to God for extending their Lives to an Age which exposes them to such Discomforts Answ They may and they ought to be so You that feel all these reflect upon what is past How many Years did you live in Health and Strength how long was it before it was thus bad with you And should not the weighing of past Mercy quiet you under present Afflictions When all the Day has been fair can you not bear a showre at the Evening When your Way has been good in your whole Journy can you not submit to a little spot of bad Way when you are just at the end of your Journey This calls for Patience and Thankfulness from you And besides you are to consider the present Good as well as the present Evils that attend your old Age. Ye are not yet wholly unserviceable something yet you can do for the Good of others and for the saving of your own Souls All these Calamities do but set you nearer to Heaven every Wave drives your nearer to the Shore every Wind is but for the throwing down of the Earthly Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 that you may ascend to that House that Building of God which is eternal in the Heavens So that upon a spiritual account you have no reason to be impatient or to find fault with your old Age but to carry it like that * Georgias Leontinus in Val. Max. l. 8. c. 13. Aged Person that we read of who being an 107 Years old and being asked Why he would be willing to live so long answered Quia nihil habeo propter quod Senectutem meam accusem I undergo nothing for which I have cause to blame my old Age. Do but you consider the whole matter and you 'll have more reason to say the same Tull. de Sen. The Orator objects Four Evils in old Age 1. It disables for Business and Work 2. It renders the Body infirm and sickly 3. It deprives of all Pleasures 4. It brings near to Death The Vanity and Weakness of all these Imputations upon old Age he particularly makes out with great clearness and strength of Reason When Heathens have such sound Notions of this shall we Christians entertain false Notions of it Oh where God has blessed any of you with it do not murmur at it and give way to Discontent but heartily bless him for it 2. Is it a good old Age not only for the length of it but also for the Strength and Healthfulness of it where 't is so surely there must be great Thankfulness To live so long and yet to be strong and vigorous free from those Infirmities of Age that have been instanced in Nature yet keeps up its youthful Vigor there 's nothing in the Senses Organs Limbs Faculties of the Mind to shew that old Age is upon Persons nothing but only the hoary Head Oh what Mercy is this Whether we consider the Paucity of them that have it or the Advantage resulting from it for Service This is very good not only because it 's delightful and comfortable to him who has it but because it renders him serviceable to God and Man Alas the old decrepit decay'd Man here lives and that 's all his time of Service is over in a great measure he 's laid by like the Ship that 's worn out unfit to go to Sea any more Ah! but he that is old and yet hail and lusty that retains his former Vivacity of Body and Soul he 's as fit for Service as ever as useful in his Station as ever a wonderful Mercy What would some zealous Christians give for it If you have it I beseech you prize it improve it and be very thankful for it 3. But thirdly Is it a good old Age in the moral Notion of it Here is the highest Obligation to Praise and Thankfulness Can you take a view of your selves in the former Stages of your Lives that in all of them you have feared God and walk'd with him that all along you have been good and done Good that Holiness and Obedience have run through your whole Conversation And that now in the last Period of your Days yet you hold on in the good ways of God yet you are acting Grace yet bringing forth Fruit unto Holiness Rom. 6 2â— Rev. 3.2 yet your Works are good nay your last Works are your best better filled up than formerly Oh where 't is thus with any of you rejoyce rejoyce call upon your Souls and all within you to bless God for his rich Grace displaid towards you Here 's good old Age indeed Oh that thee was more of it in the World Well here 's living to and in a good old Age 't will not be long before it will be dying in this good old Age And how safe how sweet will that Dying be unto you whenever it shall come so much to the Aged 2. Something I would say to the Young Psal 39.5 Job 21.24 To you who are in your best State in the prime of your Days whose Bones are full of Marrow and whose Candle burns very bright Old Age has not as yet seiz'd upon you but you are hastening to it
the Shadows of the Evening are every Minute drawing nearer and nearer to you Jer. 6.4 That which I would urge upon you is that you would so order your Course now in the time of your Youth and Manhood as that when old Age shall come it may be to you a good old Age both living and dying Indeed 't is very uncertain whether you shall ever arrive at it as I shall shew by and by but possibly it may please God to continue you here so long Oh! let it be your great Care and Endeavour to provide now if it shall be so that it may prove an happy and blessed Age to you How is this to be effected Why Eccles 12.1 Remember your Creator in the days of your Youth close with God betimes make an early Dedication of your selves to God let him have the First-Fruits of one Time now engage in serious and universal Piety fill up your greener Age with Grace and Holiness Thus do and then 't will be a good old Age in the winding up of all The way to end well is to begin well and so to hold on in what is good If the Youth and Manhood have been vain and sinful it cannot well be expected that the old Age will be holy and comfortable what God may do in the Soveraignty of his Grace who converts when he pleases I do not meddle with I only speak of what may probably and rationally be expected The Fruits which do not set well in Spring seldom come to any good Maturity in Autumn so 't is here Besides the Disingenuity of putting off Vertue and Goodness to your old Age Non tantùm minimum in imo sed pessimum remanet Sen. for what is that but in effect to say that your worst is good enough for God that Sin and the World shall have your Flower and God have only your Bran that they shall have the first Broachings of the Vessel and God only the Dregs and Lees I say besides the disingenuousness of this towards God 't is a thing that will prove highly injurious and fatal to your selves For if you be not good at the finsh twill be hard for you to be so at the last Oh! let God and Godliness have all your Time make him the Alpha and the Omega of your Days let the whole Web of Life be spun with even Thread wallo in an uniform Courso of Obedience let it be good Youth good Manhood good old Age all good This is a 〈…〉 of must not expatiate upon it I go on to a Second Observation None live solong but at lust they die Abraham here had lived 75 Years a great Age but then he died The longest Day will have its Night There will be the setting of the Sun as well as the rising of it tho sometimes 't is very late before it sets There 's none continue so long upon the Stage but they go off at last The Glass that has but the ordinary Proportion of Sand in it is soon run out suppose there should be another with a far greater Proportion yet even that too by continual running at last would be empty So some Mens Time is soon run out there 's a speedy Period put to their Lives Others hold out and hold up a longer time but yet they too fall and die at last The Ante-Diluvian Fathers lived very long yet they died of every one of them Enoch only excepted it 's said And he died Gen. 5.5 c. Not to enlarge upon a Point so plain and indubitable let me subjoyn but a word of Advice 1. To the Old Vse How does it concern such always to be expecting and prepared for Death This should be done by the Young but much more by the Aged because of their more uncertain State as to Life Oh how near are old Age and Death to each other there 's but a small distance betwixt the hoary Head and the slimy Grave that which David said of himself there is but a step between me and Death 1 Sam. 20.3 every old Man may apply to himself The Young may die the Old must die Death lies in Ambush for the Young but it openly shews it self to the Ancient Senibus in Januis Adolescentibus in insidiis Bern. There 's but a little Sand left in their Glass but a little Oil to keep their Lamps burning their Lease is now almost expired and what follows but a Writ of Ejectment It 's Folly in any to dream of long Life but this would be prodigious Folly in you to whom the Residue of Life is so small And yet the Orator tells us Nemo est tam senex qui se annum non putet posse vivere There 's none so old but he thinks he may live one Year longer It being thus how should you live in a constant Expectation of Death how should you be always ready and prepared for it What! after you have had so long a Space to prepare for your Change yet to be unprepared what to be neither fit to live nor fit to dy not fit for work because your Strength is gone nor fit for Wages because not ripe for Heaven what a dismal Case is this Oh therefore be always ready that when you come to dy you may have nothing to do but just to dy and to go to God 2. Does this Counsel concern the Aged only no it reaches to others also For do not the Young die as well as the Old Verily every Man at his best State is altogether Vanity Psal 39.5 One dieth in his full Strength being wholly at ease and quiet Job 21.23 There are in the Grave the Skulls and Bones of Infants Youths strong Men as well as of the Aged The old Asse often carries the Skin of the young one to the Market according to the Jewish Proverb * Quis est tam stultus quamvis sit Adolescens cui sit exploratum se ad vesperam esse victurum Cic. de Sen. Who can assure himself be he never so young that he shall live a Day much less that he shall live to old Age What is Life more in the Young than in the Old 't is but a Breath in both and that God can stop as soon in the one as in the other Omnes eodem cogimur we are all going the same Way and must all tread in the same Common-Path Death puts no Difference betwixt the Weak and the Strong The new-built House sometimes falls when the old one stands Wherefore it lies upon you that are young to look and prepare for Death as well as upon the Eldest Oh that you would be wise to consider your latter End Deut. 32.29 Psal 90.12 that you would so number your Days as to apply your Hearts to Wisdome Do not procrastinate and delay what you have to do presuming upon living long and old Age which is the highest Folly and the most groundless Imagination But to day whilest it is
an hour a moment longer Not because its bitter to us to live but because 't is unnecessary for us to live 'T would be an Act of * Singularis est Dei Gratia vitae saturiâ—as ut ex eâ migrare parati sumus cum Animi Tranquilitate c. Rivet in loc singular Grace from God if by his Spirit he would bring us to this blessed Temper I have dispatch'd the two first Amplifications about Abraham's Death from the Manner and the Time of it let me add a little upon the Third viz. the Issue and Consequent of it He died what became of him after that why He was gathered to his People This like the preceding Expressions of giving up of the Ghost dying in a good old Age being full of Years does often occur in Scripture 'T is used of Isaac Gen. 35.29 of Jacob Gen. 49.33 of Aaron Numb 20.24 of many otheres Sometimes 't is expressed by being Gathered to their Fathers I will gather thee to thy Fathers says God to Josiah 2 Kings 22.20 And also all that Generation were gathered unto their Fathers Judg. 2.10 David was laid unto his Fathers Acts 13.26 The Promise to Abraham was Thou shalt go to thy Fathers Gen. 15.15 We read again and again of sleeping with their Fathers 1 Kings 11.43 1 Kings 2.10 passim It 's an usual Hebraism to set forth entring into the State of the Dead There 's a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in it it being a more soft and pleasing Description of that State instead of that which is more rough and harsh The Grave being the common Receptacle of all that die All go unto one place Eccles 3.20 I know that thou wilt bring me unto Death and to the House appointed for all living Job 30.23 therefore though Abraham died and was buried in Canaan where * Gen. 25.10 Sarah only was buried and none of his Progenitors yet upon his Death and Burial he 's said to be gathered to his People or Fathers The Papists Gloss upon it is he went to the Limbus Patrum Their Doctrine is that the Fathers and all the Old-Testament-Saints who lived and died before the Incarnation Passion and Resurrection of Christ were not immediately taken up into Heaven but shut up together in some secret Recesses or Cavernes of the Earth till Christ should come and suffer and rise again and then they were to be admitted into the Heavenly Glory And they tell us that these Fathers and others in this State did not feel any Paena Sensus as they in Purgatory do but only Paena Damni in their not having the immediate Presence of God and the Beatifick Vision And amongst other Proofs that they give of this my * Apponi ad Populum suum est consociari Non in majorum Sepulturâ juxta corpus sed perduci juxta Animam ad consortium Animarum Patrum illius quae erant in poenis tenebrarum usque ad discensum Filii Dei ad Inferos c. post Salvatoris Domini Resurrectionem transferendus ad Paradisum faelicitatis aeternae Lipem in loc So Lyranus P. Burgensis in Gen. 49.33 Bellarmin de Animâ Christi Cap. 11. Pet. Galat. Arcan lib. 6. c. 7. Text with other parallel Texts is insisted upon for one Abraham was gathered to his People i. e. he was not presently translated into Heaven but for a time shut up in a common Cell with the rest who died before him as only an Expectant of Heaven And hence they observe a Variation of Words in the setting forth of the Death of those who died since Christ came and of those who died before Christ came The former are said to die in the Lord to sleep in Jesus and the like but the latter are said to be gathered to their People to sleep with their Fathers and so on This Opinion we reject as having no solid Foundation in the Word of Truth And hold that as all Believers who now die do immediately enter into Glory for the Spirit returns to God who gave it Eccles 12.7 To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 23.43 We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 So that all who lived before Christ and believed in him did also upon their Dying immediately enter into Glory See this Limbus Patrum refuted and the Protestant Doctrine defended in River in Gen. Eâ—ercit 151. Idem summa controv Qu. 42. Rainold Censura libr. Apochryph Prael 79 c. Chamier Panstrat 〈◊〉 3. l. 25. c. 5 c. Christ being the same to Them that he is to Vs Heb. 13.8 his Merit extending to Them as well as to Us he being the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 and They believing in the Messiah to come as well as we believe in him as come what reason can be assigned why they should not partake of the same Blessings the same Happiness that we now partake of and consequently upon Death be put into the immediate Possession of the Glory of Heaven even aswe are But blessed Abraham was it thus with thee was this thy gathering to thy People to be shut up in some dark Caverns of the Earth God knows where and to be kept out of Heaven God knows how long In thy Life at God's Command thou wentest thou knewest not whither and at thy Death too didst thou go thou knewest not whither Wast thou the great Instance of Faith Rom. 4.3 the Father of the Faithful and yet does it fare better with the meanest of thy Seed now than it did with thy Self Was Heaven so much in thy Eye didst thou look for a City which had Foundations Heb 11. â—0 whose Builder and Maker is God and yet so long kept out of it and thrust into some Recluse whöse Builder and Maker is Man Is thy * So Austin expounds it Qâ—eâ— Evang. l. 2. c. 28. in Ep. ad Evodium So Muldonate in loc who yet to save himself is fain to say Non quod Abraham in Coelo esset sed quòd ita loqui singarur quasi esset in Coelo Bosome made use of to represent Heaven and that before Christ died and yet wast thou not as yet in Heaven Blessed Saint these things we poor dim-sighted Protestants know not how to understand The Adversay has led me out of my way I return to the words which I shall consider not only as a Periphrasis of Death or of the dead State that follows upon it but as holding forth something of a far higher nature As namely that Abraham's Soul as soon as Death had seized upon his Body was forthwith translated into the Fellowship and Society of the glorified Saints who lived and died before him Two things Expositors infer from them 1. The Existence of the Soul in its separated State from the Body They apply