wearie of this world wean'd from this scituation peinched with the coldnesse of this climate for this world alas is a great cooler to the heat of a gracious heart And were they as subject to it as its children are were they as much intangled with it Though now they may have a little heat yet then they would have none at all Secondly 't will free and remove you from all carnall objects then there shall bee no more Gold nor greatnesse to allure you from God no sinne nor sinnes pleasure to intice and bewitch you lie prostrate before you no selfe nor Satan to tempt and intrap you Good Lord what a good case will thine then bee in who or what can expresse those joyous rarities and transcendent verities of such glorious beings Oh! how unsearchable are the riches of such grace and favour Narrow hearts open your selves and the gates of your soules and let the King of glorie come in why should he be unto you as a wayfaring man that staies but for a night and is gone Thirdly 't will alter the nature of all your spirituall distresses there shall bee then no more doubts unresolved no more sins the ' I le be destroi'd no more graces unrevived no more feares of finall falling no more queries about the truth of your high calling no more want of God Christ and the good desired no more dislike of and from unknowne Christians no strangenesse of carriage among knowne members of Christ's bodie mysticall In a word there shall after this change never bee any more hearts hardnesse minds blindnesse wills perversenesse loves coldnesse zeales rashnesse listlesse desires heartlesse prayers tiresome spirit or rebellious flesh But holy hearts you shall be God-like Christ-like in all things 3. Suffer God to dispose you for it sith 't will come and you must be changed Men square wood before they build discipline their Troopes e're they joyne in battell rigg trimme and furnish their ships ere they launch put forth to Sea so God is fitting some every day of life for the day of death Would you know the way by which the Lord effects this blessed fitnesse for so glorious a change so great a worke as is the worke of dying observe then rightly these serious things in the sequell God fits his children for such a decease thus First by making the bodie of sinne irkesome to them There are some who with David have their sinnes ever before them cannot forget them are greevously Psal 51. 3. burden'd with them and their crie is such as this Oh! who shall deliver me from the bodie of this death This even this ha's made some wearie of the world yea and wearie of themselues too all the while longing to be there where they might never see or seele it more Such had rather die a thousand deaths then live dishonouring him in whose favour stands their life and whose loving-kindnesse is better than life as David speakes Hence also everie sanctified sorrow and suffering of this earthlie life puts him upon minding his last and long'd for home every decay of strength dimnes of sight dulnes of hearing and disabilitie of being and doing with all sicknes weaknes aches and pains these I say doe forewarne him of his approaching decease And thus with Job he waites all the dayes of his life untill his appointed change comes Holy hearts you 're well acquainted with the state of this distresse and therefore you must signe and seale to the truth of this experiment yet let not your hearts be troubled for sinnes burthen shall bee remov'd and you your selues certainely secur'd and sav'd Secondly by making death to them desirable this is a deathsweetning way and he acts in the businesse after this manner First suggesting into their thoughts that when death surprizeth them it shall be stinglesse and what 's the sting of death why the Scriptures tell you 't is sinne sinne is deaths Arrow which when 't is shot into the bowells of the soule at the appointed time of change oh how do's it wound with horrour cut with amazement and pierce with dread of a great just and glorious Majestie And then how do's the poore soule fester with despaire whil'st she cannot beleeve or hope to bee well and doe well after death who ha's been and done so ill in time of life And certainely if in life there 's no discharge from sinne in death the soule will greatlie feare if not throughly feel its discharge from Christ But to you that are in Jesus Christ be this word spoken The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made you free from the law of sinne and death The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law viz. sinnes Law Rom. 8. 1.2 1 Cor. 1. 15. for this place seemes to explaine the other Thus you are freed from both the power of sinne and death also I may adde and the victorie of the grave which cannot imprison or infringe your bodies long so long as to retaine you for ever Give thankes then unto God who ha's given you the victorie through your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and sing with Paul ô death where is thy sting ô grave where is thy victorie For when a poore soule considers within her selfe thus well I am now neere my time of change I must leave the world But Christ ha's promis'd that he 'l bee with me to the end of my course and ha's also assur'd me that my sinnes are forgiven and forgotten I have a discharge from them through the mercie of God Is she not then readie to crie out Come Lord Jesus come quicklie Death doe thy dutie freely and thus the poore drooping doubting Christian lives dying yet ne'r tastes of the second death God acquits the soule in Justification from sinnes guilt and cleanseth the soule through Sanctification from sinnes filth hee that 's washed from his old polutions hath the heavenly ornaments of Christ's Spirit He 's fit to solemnize a marriage with the Lambe God also perswades the soule that he ha's found a righteousnesse as well as a ransome for her Now beleevers may conclude then as the Scripture speakes that Righteousnesse delivers from death And that the righteous hath hope in his end He fits his to be changed by mortification also for when God by his Spirit has crucified sinne that would have slaine the soule Death cannot hurt much in smiring the carcase Hence is that of Christ Feare not them who kill the body but are not able to kill the soule Secondly the Lord makes the change desirable to some by inlightning Heb. 7. 25. their eyes and strengthning their hearts unto a fight and sense of all the al-sufficiencies of Christ to sustaine the soule under the straights of such a death what though sinne upbraids thee Satan affrights thee and thine owne heart trembles within thee that thou art at a stand knowest not what to doe nor how to die Yet beleeve for
Christ will carrie thee through Christ did not give himself for thee in vain that he should give thee up in thy last greatest triall give thee into the hands of Satan Why then leane on him who 's a stay of strength and you 'l not miscarrie He that hath and is had of a good Christ shall bee sure of a good death with strength and peace Thirdly by giving his a through taste of that heavenly joy heartie holinesse and reall happinesse that themselves shall possesse in the fruition of Christ when once they are changed This the Scripture calls first fruits of the Spirit and of glory And is' t not this that makes the Saints themselves groane within themselves waiting for the Redemption of their bodies Rom. 8. 23. The Lord ha's said it Oh how do's the taste of Heavens joy and of the powers of the world to come strengthen a renewed Christian leaning on Christ to lie under the stroake of death yea even to long that so great a worke were over and thus God sweetens death to the good gives it a good savour when they come to taste it it being the same cup which Christ himselfe did first drinke of Now you have heard how it fares with the good at their last change and how good such a change is to them But alas for the bad the Christ-lesse man 't is bitter unto him These things imbitter death to the gracelesse 1. The biting and tumifying sting of death that indisposeth to dying well 'T is biting oh how will the wofull thoughts of a mispent life of by past sinnes of slighting Jesus and his holy waies like fiery darts and scorching Scorpions peirce through the soule and Spirit Then uncleane sinners as James speakes of James 5. 3. the rust of ill gotten and ill kept gold the guilt of your sins shall eat your flesh as it were fire Then even then all scruing deceivers shall be forced to say of their own unlawfully acquir'd goods as Israel of Idolls get you hence But alas these are thy workes and they will follow thee flow faster into thy mind then thou canst get them out and make thy soule wearie even to the death Secondly Death's sting tumifies also Judas sinn'd betraid his Master improved the reward But what was his end hee fell head-long burst asunder in the midst and all his bowells gushed out Death had stung him and the sting made him swell so that his tumour being great the world could not hold him and for hast that hee might the sooner bee at his owne place he betrayed himselfe into the hands of Satan was his owne executioner There 's a time when stoutest sinners shall burst asunder under the hand of austeerest Justice If the Lord's love makes not breaches on mans Spirit drawes him not up towards Heaven his wrath will breake it beat it even to powder and cast it downe into the lowest Hell O sinners Learne then while a Saviour teaches what an evill sinne is Secondly the sudainnesse of an Heb. 4. 27. approaching Judgement After death comes Judgement and what 's the Judgement Christ-lesse man or woman I have sad newes for thee thou thy selfe and all thou art must bee presented before a Holy most Just and mighty God And with thee shalt thou bring all thy vaine thoughts will thou nill thou idle words uncleane and sinfull workes mispent time and Talents In a word all the secrets of thy heart shall then bee torne in pieces reveal'd and unfolded yea those secrets which no eye hath seen but his which is ten thousand times brighter then the Sunne yea even those secret sinnes which have been cover'd here by restraint from God or men shall be uncover'd there so that thou wilt bee fill'd with astonishment to see that which thine eies never did nor ever would behold There the hearts closest corners darkest depths shall then bee laid open made visible before the face of God Christ Angels and men A meere discourse of Righteousnesse and Judgement to come God being in it and Foelix hearning of it what effects did it worke in him thinke you why the Text tells you it made him to tremble and to bid Paul be gone hee could not endure to heare on 't So Belshazzar Dan. 5. 5 6. saw but the writing of Judgement upon the wall which did but import a temporall scourge And his countenance was changed his thoughts troubl'd him so that the joynts of his Ioines were loosed and his knees smote one against another And what 's any carnall man more then sensuall Belshazzar or carnall Foelix that he should thinke himselfe secure from Judgement You then that put this evill day farre from you beare in mind this thing A sonne of Love could not indure that hee prayed Enter not into Judgement with thy servant ô Lord How then can a child of wrath abide it who is by nature nothing else It 's called in Scripture the day of the Lord his great day his terrible day 'T is the day of Christs's comming Ioel. 2. 11. saith the Prophet Malachie And who shall stand when Mal. 3. 2. he appeareth for he is like a Refiners fire and fullers sope Thus you have seen things that imbitter the change to some even all that know not Christ and obey not his Gospel Thirdly the certaine standing before an impartiall Judge of quick and dead who cannot will not connive at sinne and sinners When all flesh shall appeare before the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. done in his bodie according to that he hath done whether it bee good or evill knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord We perswade men saith the Apostle Oh! how terribly intollerable are the thoughts of this surely words cannot utter it then he who said Lord depart from me I le have none of thy wayes shall find that God ha's said Amen to his prayers Adde to this that though he stand to be judged yet hee shall fall in the Judgement For the ungodly shall not stand in the Judgement as the Psal 1. 5. Psalmist notes You then whose destruction is of your selves if your precious soules miscarrie Consider sensibly in whom your helpe lies make out towards a Jesus betime for there 's no mercie shewed on the other side the grave one drop of water which is but a verie small thing if mis'd and desir'd cannot be obtain'd Then if ever you 'le owne free grace and fellowship with Christ Doe it now even while 't is called Heb. 4. 11. to day heare his voice and harden not your hearts for this day let slip you may ne'r have another Resisting sinners I wish you well my bowells are troubled for you oh pitie your selves and let not sinlive to kill your soules as it hath serv'd others who are gone to their owne place Remember and forget not Jerusalems fall and follie least sweet Christ hide the day of
was subject unto in all her apprehensions receptions and conceptions of the most Holy God and his most Holy things or of her selfe and others Besides her freedom from all impuritie and imbecility of affection her love then shal be undefiled like unto Christs and not weak cold or feeble as 't is whilst in an earthly Tabernacle 3. From all instruments of sin Shee 'l then be freed from such a body whose members are all weapons of unrighteousnesse and rebellious servants to her as shee 's a soule the Law viz. the power of the members can rebell no more against the law of her minde to lead her captive to sinnes law viz. sins power The unruly Carkasse shal never crosse vexe and disquiet her more Serenity and Magnanimity shall then cover her as a garment Shee shall then have the substance dominion and strength of a Spirit which is such as is in the Angels of God one of which did in one night slay 185000. 2 Kings 19. 35. Nor shall the vile body ever let in sinne by the sences to contaminate the precious soule any more The senses of hearing seeing smelling tasting and touching shall be spiritualiz'd ere that the soule will employ them againe The soul shal never re-enter into an unglorious body when once she 's rid on 't Nor shal shee ever have need so to doe for shal she not be contain'd in God and is not that better then to exist in a naturall body The soules of S t s although their strength bee now held in and buried in their massie sinful weake bodies shal then appeare in their native and originall strength Finally there shal be then mens sana in corpore sano a sound mind in a sound body The parts of the bodies glory are such as these 1. Freedome from all wants weaknesses distempers and uncomelinesse Neither blindnesse lamenesse deafenesse nor crookednesse shall enter that place of perfection The bodies of Saints though they dye imperfect yet shall they rise made perfect in all their parts What though their bodies be without form comeliness fashion yet they shal be made handsome beautiful and comely just like unto the glorious bodie of Christ yea and which is more they shal saith the Text be fashioned in the whole body like unto his bodie bee as handsome bodied as Christ is and have as comely a Person and feature as he himself ha's whom the Father loves dearly Mephibosheth shall have no lamenesse in his feet then he shal not halt before God in glory nor shall Moses stammer and falter with his tongue or need an Interpreter in that day For ha's not God promised to turne unto Zeph. 3. 9. his people a pure language that they may all call upon the Lord to serve him with one consent or as in the Originall with one shoulder 2. It shall have no want of outward sustenance Beings on earth may consist in what men shal eate and in that where with they shal be cloathed Providence existing in such supportments but the Kingdome of Heaven and Saints beings there consists not in meates or drinkes but in righteousnesse and true holinesse They shall hunger Revel 7. 16 17. no more neither shall they thirst any more for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feede them and leade them to living fountains of water as the spirit speaks Thirdly adde to this that the bodies weakenesse with want of health shall cease then Here the discord of the bodies Elementarie qualities and its corruptible nature concurring begets distempers diseases putrifactions and contagions Although afflictiōs come not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground but in glory by the powerfull influence of Divine Majestie upon the whole man there shall be a perfect harmony and agreement among all such qualities and dissonant humours Their bodies whether hot and dry or cold and moist shall have perfect health and strength Then ulcerous Lazarus shall be found as whole as a fish and in that day all inward or outward contagions and hurtfull impressions shall cease to be They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my Isa 11. 9. holy mountaine saith God There 's no beating bruising wounding stabbing or killing of bodies in glorie then the most high God with a stretched-out arme will free the Carkasse from all disposednesse to any inward decays of strength or vitall spirits which estate in Scripture is aptly cal'd a Condition or Inheritance incorruptible 1 Pet. 1. 4. Potentia non moriendi ex quadam hypothesi unionis cum anima originali ter perfecta immortali undefiled and that fadeth not away reserv'd in heaven for them Hence the body is invested with Potentia non moriendi immortality it can never be a dying body any more nor shall the Saints ever have cause to cry any more oh who shall deliver mee from this bodye of death and is not this that blessed day of the bodies redemption from sinne death its wages What but this made those followers of Christ who had receiv'd the first fruits of this glory wee speak of to groane within themselves waiting to enter this rest 4. And what misse of sleep can there be then when the body ha's ceas'd from its labours which makes it wanting in such a kinde Besides there will be no lacke of fire to heate us or aire to coole and strengthen the bodies breathing for there shall be an aura Quae supplet defectumaeris corporibus glorificatis caelestis as some affirm which shal supply the want of aire to glorified bodies but I rather judge there shall bee no misse of such things because there shall be no sunne to scorch them neither cold to pinch them the sunne shall not light upon them nor any heate as the holy Ghost ha's said 5. And can you think that he who cloaths Lillios on earth without their owne paines taking will let Saints in heaven goe naked Ha's not the Lambe of God promised that his shall walke with him in white and that his raiment is so fit and large and covers so wel as that nakednesse cannot appear Who tooke away Joshuah's filthy Revel 7. 16. garments when hee stood before the Lord caus'd his iniquities to pass from him and cloath'd him with change of raiments was 't not the Angell of the Covenant Jesus Christ 6. It s universal freedom from Sicut spiritus carni serviens non incongrué carnalis ita caro spiritui serviens recte appellatur spiritualis c. Aug. de civit Dei l. 13. c. 20. all power to affront the spirit of Christ by disobedience and dishonour And as subjection to sinne and Satan shews the body is naturall whilst here so submission to the spirit of Christ there will shew it is a spiritual body which is another part of its glorie 8. A general exemption from Restat ergo ut suam recipiat quisque mensuram quam vel habuit in
from our flesh and is' t not grieved vexed and resisted also if men goe one step further which is to despight it they have done their worst against it and their owne soules also These are the steps which reach to Hell Take heed you tread not the first of them quench not the Spirit 'T is a verie sad thing to sinne so fowly that if a man sinne 's but one sinne more he fall's finallie next to resisting comes despighting and then how can you bee renewed by Repentauce Is not this to venture the losse of a precious soule desperatelie and to be unkind to the Spirit immenslie than which what is more dismall the Spirit suffers being quenched And then the flesh that suffers being crossed in all its corruptions In the second birth right Regeneration all who are Christ's have their flesh crucified Gal. 5. 4. with the affections passions and lusts proud flesh is beaten downe and Christ's humble Spirit set on high in such a soule love to sinne is the life of sinnne if you loath it 't will die hatred unto it is a wounding of it who knowes not this that knowes Jesus Christ and hates sinne as 't is hatefull and makes hatefull sinne is or should be to Saints more hatefull then all things and to creatures most hurtfull When nothing else is hatefull or can make so in the sight of God Will you mind what one borne of God ha's said 't was this I hate the evill I doe Love of sinne must die when love of Christ will live and be lively lustings after sinne are lessened too if not whollie mortified one of the Lords births though he sinne yet he hungers not after it doe's not thirst to commit it ha's but listlesse desires towards it and troubl'd he is that he doth at all desire such an undesirable thing hee would faine be and doe better then hee is and does though his flesh be crossed and himselfe made to suffer Secondly in naturall birth 's the bearers bowells yerne towards the babe i' th birth least it should prove abortive right glad's the parent to see the child live and doe well her saying's like his is my sonne safe deale gently with 2 Sam. 18.32 5. him for my sake In spiritual births the bearers bowells yerne too the Lords bowells worke towards babes in Christ least they should miscarrie and loath is hee that poore soules should perish die in sinne and be damned Hence those sayings how shall I give thee up how shall I doe this or that against thee God would rather bring up then give up or cast out any soule will you marke his saying in sacred writ 't is this I desire not the death of sinners I had rather they would repent and live turne you turne you Ier. 31. 20. why will you die Is Ephraim my deare sonne is he a pleasant child for since I spake unto him I doe earnestlie remember him still therefore my bowells are troubled doe sound for him I will surely have mercie upon him O! how glad is God when men doe prove good live the life of Christ and prove godlie Christians Thirdly before the naturall birth the babe in the wombe receives not nourishment in an ordinarie way but in an extraordinarie manner not by the mouth but at the navell is cherisht invisibly yet cherish'd it is and doe's well In spirituall births babes in Christ are fed too but 't is mysteriouslie not in an ordinarie way the ordinarie way is praying reading hearing pondering and conferring of the good things of God but before this babe spirituall can tell how to use his mouth how to improve this ordinarie meanes of life so as to take in nourishment by it God by some extraordinarie way breakes invisiblie and sweetlie upon the soule and gives it a taste of his soule-ravishing Joyes inwardly secretlie And yet although he ha's it hee cannot tell you how he came by it how hee tooke it in so strangely was hee ravish'd he feels much but can speake out little of the Lords goodnesse to his owne soule for is' t not the nature of such things to cause joy in the heart more than in the countenance when other things are wont to make onely outwardly cheerfull The wind bloweth where it list's and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it comes nor whether it goes so is everie one that 's borne of the Spirit Is not the way of the Lord with a soule like the way of an Eagle in the aire the way of a Serpent on the rock neither of which you are able to track the way of a ship in the midst of the Sea which you cannot find out so hidden and mysterious are his workings Saints live the life of their Saviour invisiblie not by bread onely Fourthly before naturall birth 's babes in the wombe void not excrements t is the same in this case before that a man 's borne againe comes out of the wombe of sinne death and Hell Though he have the most refined nature yet voids hee not excrementall sinnes filthie defiled and defiling garments he preferres rags before robes that 's his follie Experience speake thou is' t not true Let the dispencers of the Lords sacred mysteries crie out and crie on ne'r so oft if you live in your sinnes you shall die die the death of Devills themselves yet you 'l never part with your excrimentall sinnes till you are come through the straights and felt the pangs of the new birth O! that men were wise and would consider this thing wisely and well who would not long to be borne againe to have a new nature and name and be made like to Christ Fifthly in naturall birth 's Homo epitome mundi vagiens nascitur babes are borne crying as the Philosopher notes In spirituall birth 's babes of Christ are borne crying too Grace in a Christian will doe like grace lead him to the Throne of grace and acquaint him with the God of Grace through Jesus Christ while he 's living he 's crying and praying to the living God and well-spring of everie good Christians when you were first changed had your eyes first opened did you not as well as now you doe hunger after Christ's Communion was it not verie sweet unto you when in all your wants you were carried out unto the God of supplies and was 't not a great ease to your spirits when you could and did poure out your soules before him Babes of Christ when borne doe eccho to their Father crie for crie When Christ cries out Saul Saul the answer is who art thou ô Lord and what wouldest thou have me to doe then Saul of Tarsus Acts 9. must be sent to for behold hee prayes saith Jesus he prayes God saith to his child seeke my face and the child's heart answers thy face Lord will I seeke ther 's like for like Saints love to retaliate with their God would you heare the heartie crie
for though 't is sweet yet 't is of an earthlie breed It ha's a glorie too but the best glorie of a flower must be preserv'd by a shower and when all 's done it withers and is lost at last Secondly Deaths certaintie it will not faile you 't will find you wherever you goe therefore when thy bones are full of marrow and riches comes in as a floud Argue thus yet I must die Christexpecting Christians can tell you that a wife a child a friend nor any of them can be injoyed for ever That their estates comforts and lives are going declining will desert them and therefore doe long for and desire a change after which they can change no more 'T is further cleare thus First from Gods decree It is appointed Heb. 9. 27. for all men once to die Secondly from the constitution of our natures Mans nature is a composition 2 Cor. 5. 1. of wasting ingredients he 's made up of dying materialls The Apostle calls the bodie a house of earth and know you not that earth may be and is corrupted do's breed that which will infect and infest it with a noisome stench Besides a house of earth is weake and what is there which hath not power on that which is weaknesse it selfe Adde to this that a Tabernacle is not made to last long 't is made on purpose for a short time of exigence and distresse Thirdly the defilements of our nature they put us to the sword murther us in our comforts have given being to this last change as well as others Trees and plants breed the wormes which at last make them lifelesse and so doe we serve our selves and soules If Adam give Rom. 3. 12. leave to sinne sinne will give way to death There 's no man living who shall not have his fit of dying though the death of Saints bee precious in the sight of the Lord yet die they must for his onely begotten sonne did not escape it What then though a man strive repine order his diet intreat and shun occasions yet as the Psalmist speakes none shall deliver his soule from the hand of the grave Live hee as long as Methuselah yet must hee die at last Gray-headed sinners what meane you to stand it out with God so long to breake with God for a trifle what 's your life that should bee spent laid out for him and that he requires from you 'T is not worth the honour to be accounted of force to draw your soules from God Oh then make no more waste of time redeeme it for if Christ ha's redeem'd you you cannot squander away the whole thereof and give him none Remember 't is a difficult thing to die well Thirdly mans necessitie and that first in respect of the bodie A corruptible bodie cannot enter into the incorruptible Heavens it must die and be chang'd It must leave its filth in the grave before it can be meet to dwell in the heavenlie places above The bodie is now the substance and matter of all diseases putrifactions infirmities and deformities although you take in the comeliest Creature your eyes have seen within the bounds of this observation For is' t not conceived in the likenesse of flesh heat of lust and staine of sinne the sensible Prophet sincerely confessed it Besides who knowes Psa 51. 5. not that knowes Christ that 't is the livelie instrument of sinne The verie excrements of whose nostrills ear 's pores and other passages duelie and trulie considered will seeme more loathsome then the uncleanest sinke or vault Oh! what vile bodies have wee and how great need have wee that they should be chang'd buried in the dust and refined Trees and plants bring forth leaves flowers fruits and pleasant smells But mans bodie brings forth naturallie nothing but vermine wormes rottennesse and a filthie stench Lord what is man that thou art mindfull of him and what ha's hee to bee proud of who 's made of such materialls First in respect of the soule that she may be freed from that discord which is in the bodie untill the change comes for whilest the bodie lives a naturall life there 's no businesse can bee dispatched which concernes the soules welfare without a mutinie in the heart the flesh is a home-bred enemie a bosome Rebell that 's daily against the Spirit because they are contraries The flesh alas forestalls all Divine motions actions and indeavours of the soule and Spirit and it begets and breeds an indisposednesse towards them all though all the wayes of God be pleasantnesse and all his paths peace yet this bodie of flesh will make them seeme irkesome burthensome and full of trouble Is' t not high time then that the bodie should be changed made a better servant to the soule Besides it 's sinne-sick distempers are infanable whilest it is here for ha's it not brought on man a certaine necessitie of sinning so that we cannot but displease the highest Lord. Doe you doubt of this why the Scriptures tell you that those who are in the flesh cannot please God that wretched Law of the Rom. 8. 8. members wars against the Law of the mind and Spirit of life which brings the whole man into an insupportable bondage This is mans miserie in his uprisings and downe-lyings a depraved nature Rom. 7. 23. is his associate and as David speakes innumerable evills doe encompasse him about and have taken hold of him that he 's not able to looke up to Heaven This bring 's Psal 40. 12. to mind a worthie saying of like concernment O flesh flesh I can neither live with thee nor without thee Now at the rebreathing in or the re-uniting of the soule to its owne proper person the bodie shall be found incorruptible and that even that will be found the last and best Resurrection Secondly rejoyce in and at the Vse 2 thoughts of such a change consider first 't will rid you of all uncleane societie with sin and sinfull flesh whilest we are here we converse and commerce with greatest sinners and with innumerable sinnes we alas walke among the Tombes with men that lie under the powers and pledges of the everlasting death persons who die living and will at last live dying and yet ne'r bee dead In this life Gracious Christians you heare the greatest Majesties name prophaned his wayes blasphem'd truths defam'd and doe see his friends are foil'd and spo'ld But after death you shall never heare such evill tidings any more Who then that 's wise will love and long to live with the dead more then the living or in the societie of condemned persons in a noysome goale rather than to have fellowship with the glorious Princes of God in the Heaven of matchlesse and endlesse glorie In this Babylon faithfull Jewes are forc'd to hang their Harpes upon the willowes are much disabled from singing sweetlie to the Lambe their Hebrew songs certainly then all whose mansions are with God are or should be
chiefest good 'T is not to have the least influence of heat and life from the least Ray of that Sun-like resplendent bodie of Christ not to have one glance of its glorie not to have one taste of those overflowing rivers of pleasures not to have one glimpse of that inaccessable light and Jehovah's glorie What shall I say the losse is And how shall I esteem it Surely none but one who ha's been in Heaven heard and seen what 's there can tell you what it is to bee shut out thence Paul could and did doe something this way having had in a rapture a little glimpse of that infinite glory And having drunke a small drop of those ever springing fountaines of matchlesse Joy and Peace Hence was he brought to call the most excellent things of this life and the knowledge of them but drosse and dung yea even dogs meat in comparison of those things above Oh how sweet how comfortable how refreshing are the surpassing rarities of Heaven Honest soules doe not your hearts burn within you when you thinke on them discourse on them and read of them even burne with love to them Sure I am whate're you thinke of these things and whatsoever the worke is that they make upon your spirits that the losse of them will be bitter And I seriously acknowledge through Gods goodnesse I count nothing gaine in respect of them when I am my selfe and compare the best of other things with them Oh paine of losse thou peircest the verie heart soule and inward parts dost wound deeply The paine of sence is but as a scar in the flesh to this for this cuts the verie heart in peeces breakes it to shivers Doe you not see this confirm'd by common experience oh how do's it fret vex and disquiet men to loose good bargaines on earth when a man do's but let slip an opportunitie of taking a good peniworth of commodities when it ha's been offer'd How do's hee upbraid himselfe with his negligence failing and folly There are some cannot get such a fault out of their minds along time especially if the gaine that would have come that way was such as that it would have made them rich men as long as they liv'd after Aye but what 's that bargain purchase or prize to this that may be lost in a moment at the best it lasts not long for life it selfe is but short with all the accommodations of it but I must needs tell all intelligent hearts ther 's enough in God to make you rich for ever and if he makes a bargain with you gives himself for your selves he 'l warrant his commoditie to last for ever and to serve for everie turne Heaven is meat drinke and cloathing health libertie and harbouring unto all that are seated there You see then by this what it is that imbitters death and the change to some this last ha's most gall and wormewood in 't namely the pain of losse which Christs sensible servants ne're sustaine Finally unto you who are the redeemed of the Lords Christ be these things spoken Feare not but desire to see this day your last and best even the last and best of all your changes Consider First the day of your change is the Lords pay-day everie labourer in the Lords vineyard shall then receive his peny everie prayer shall then have its answer Everie hungring and thirsting soule shall then bee filled shall ne'r hunger nor thirst more Everie sigh groane and the teares that have fallen from the eyes of Saints in secret or else where shall have their fruit even the quiet fruits of righteousnesse which were sowne in peace many yeares before And then all teares shall be wiped off from all faces of Saints yea even everie grace shall then be glorious Moses did and suffer'd much when he did but eye the reward what then shall wee be suffer and doe when wee receive it Then 't will goe well with the righteous no mans latter end will be like theirs First the soule will bee in its prime then for whilest it is in a corruptible bodie it is so ruled by senses and is so fiercely carried on by sensuall appetites that it 's compelled to give way to the bodie and cannot follow the light either of nature or Reason Hence the truth is withheld in unrighteousnesse and the soule cannot act like her selfe like a Spirit whose nature is to sore aloft towards the place whence she came Now till then the soul is made a servant and cannot looke out at the eyes but 't will bee infected nor heare by the eares but 't will bee distracted nor smell at the nostrills and not be tainted taste by the tongue and not be allured or touch by the hand and not bee defiled And everie sense on everie occasion temptation is ready to betray the soule untill the bodie is changed and made glorious Who then that 's wise will not long for his approaching decease that he may enter the Celestiall Paradise to exchange his brasse for gold his vanitie for felicitie vilenesse for honour bondage for freedome a lease of life temporall for an inheritance of life immortall Sith that to live here is to die for how much wee live so much wee die everie step of life is a step towards death and he that ha's liv'd the halfe of his dayes is dead the halfe of himselfe Death gets first our Infancie then our youth and so forward and certainly as long as we have lived so long we have died But 't is very grievous and irkesome Objection to mee to thinke of the taking asunder of soule and bodie Might they goe together as Enoch's did the change would bee more comfortable They are put asunder but for a time after which the 'l bee united Answer for ever Besides the union of the soule with Christ remaines in full force still as the Hypostaticall did when his bodie lay in the grave The Lords presence is with the bodie in the dust as much as the soule is in Heaven with God and in his presence God told Jacob hee would goe downe with him into Egipt and on 46. 4. also surely bring him up againe But Jacob was dead ere hee was brought up againe Therefore he carried up his carcase out of Egypt not his soule and so fulfilled his blessed Promise Saints why care you so much for the carcase why feare you to let it lie in the dust and to bee turned into its owne materialls ther 's not a bone nerve or sinew of the whole shall be lost he keeps all the bones of the Righteous saith the Psalm 34. 20. Prophet And ha's not Christ told you that the haires of your heads are numbred He has told them one by one and certainely in the Resurrection though you may have more in order to perfection yet you shall not have lesse Is not this comfortable Do's it not warme you at the heart and refresh you to see how you are car'd for