with feare First when it is considered as an ill Secondly when it is considered as an ill difficult and hard to be avoided Thirdly when it is considered as an ill to come For if it be not conceived a thing that is ill but good it is not feared but rather desired And then againe if it be but a slight ill such as hath but a weake strength in it which a man may easily master it is not feared but disdained And then thirdly if it be an ill that hath strength it and can hardly be resisted and overcome if it be present it is not feared but grieved for It must be evill apprehended as future apprehended as difficult and apprehended as ill if it be a thing that is to be feared Now all these things are in Death in the apprehension of Gods servants while they live First I say they apprehend it as Ill. Ill is twofold either that which is contrary to mans will and so it is called Malum tristitivum or else contrary to mans nature and so it is Malum corruptivum Now Death is contrary to man in both these senses both to his nature and to his will It is a thing he would not have because it is contrary to his nature and that is contrary to his nature that seekes the destruction of nature Now when a man apprehendeth Death as a thing that would destroy nature that would overthrow and dissolve break in pieces that goodly Fabrique as he conceiveth it and make that something to become nothing it is a thing that nature cannot beare it abhorreth So the servants of God as they have nature in them they have this naturall affection to preserve their beeing and this in it selfe is not simply sinfull but so farre as it exceedeth the rule Therefore you see that because men apprehend Death as an Ill contrary to nature they preferre other things that are Ill in a lesse regard in a lesse degree before that A man would rather part with his wealth then part with his life as wee see in Psal. 49. A man would give God a ransome for his soule if hee could hee would give all his goods to ransome his life Hee would rather be poore then not at all Nay a man will part with his ease with his health rather then with his life hee will be in paine rather then he will not bee Skin for skin and all that a man hath will hee give for his life Nay a man will part with his credit and estimation rather then with his life he will rather be disgraced then not be A living dogge is better then a dead lyon this is the speech of a man naturall he preferreth a dogge that hath life in him before a Lyon that is dead he would rather be a meane living man then a dead Prince That is the first thing men naturally conceive Death as a thing contrary to nature So it is a naturall Ill. Secondly as man conceiveth Death an Ill contrary to nature so he apprehendeth it an Ill not easily overcome When Goliah looked on David on the meannesse of his stature and the slendernesse of his preparation to fight he considered him as an enemie but as a weake one and therefore in stead of fearing he disdained him Dost thou come to mee as a dogge I will give thy flesh to the fowles of the heaven and to the beasts of the earth hee scorned him But when the Host of Israel looked on Goliah as a mighty enemie that they could not easily resist much lesse overcome the Text saith they were full of feare because of Goliah the strength of the adversarie was that that filled them with feare So when a man lookes upon Death and seeth it come as a mightie armed man provided with all weapons of warre seeth it come in to the most populous Cities as in the pestilence and slayeth tenne thousand before it seeth it come on the most strong and valiant men and breakes their bones and destroyeth them Who can stand before this Goliah hee that defieth the Host of God the host of Israel not onely the wicked but the servants of God are overcome by this enemie I say thus nature discourseth and thus a naturall man apprehendeth Death and therefore he conceiveth Death to bee a fearfull Ill because it is a thing that he cannot easily overcome That is the second Thirdly he conceiveth it as a thing Future as an Ill to come I am yet living and in health but how soone this health may turne to sicknesse and this life to Death I know not this is that that holdeth downe the spirit under feare As David said I shall fall one day by the hand of Saul one day so saith a man that liveth now in the multitude of his businesse in abundance of strength and abilitie every way I shall one day fall into the Grave I shall one day fall into the hands of Death Peter wee know how he affected Saphira with telling her of the death of her husband and faith he the feet of those that carried out thy husband shall carry thee out this affected her with feare so that she fell downe dead upon the apprehension of it Thus I say if we looke upon the object Death considered as an Ill that is a thing contrary to nature Death considered againe as a strong and mightie Gyant that none can overcome but it overcommeth them And then considered againe as a thing comming upon men now in the approach and wee know not how soone he will graspe a man in his hands and seaze upon him this is that I say that causeth that naturall feare that is in the children of God Then againe consider the Subject the person in whom the apprehension of such an object is and so likewise we shall see somewhat in the dispositions of men or in their state and condition here that may affect them with a naturall feare of Death The first is some men by constitution are more melancholy and are naturally of a more fearefull temper indeed distemper The braine is distempered the heart is distempered The braine apprehends things and lookes upon them through a false glasse through a deluded fancie and so makes a false report to the heart presenteth things more terrible then they are so sometimes the heart is ill affected by the misreport that is brought to it by the understanding sometimes both are distempered as that humour prevaileth more strongly in the body So also there are sometimes raised up turbulent and disquieting and violent passions that make some full of feare as we see in Belshazzar whose knees did smite together and all through the apprehension of death and so Felix when he heard of death and judgement to come hee trembled Though the feare of these men did not rise from melancholy but from inward guilt of conscience yet the effect sheweth that when men are affected with the apprehension of Death in the worst sight
the oath of Alleageance some for attempting to blow up Parliament houses Such as these are not Martyrs It is not the punishment it is the cause that makes the Martyr Our blessed Lord himselfe that never did evill was crucified betweene two evill doers there was an equall punishment there was not an equall cause It must be the cause that wee must looke to if wee looke to be blessed But I cannot stand upon that Here is the first interpretation To die in the Lord is for the Lord. But there is a second and that is more large Die in the Lord that is die in the faith of the Lord. Salute Andronicus and Iunius my fellow prisoners which were in the Lord before mee saith S. Paul that is that were Beleevers that were in the faith before mee And to let passe many other places if there bee no resurrection of the dead saith the Apostle then wee that are asleepe in Christ c. If wee beleeve that Iesus died then those that sleepe in Iesus shall hee bring with him c. And againe Hee shall descend from heaven with a shout and they that are dead in Christ shall rise first Now what is it to die in Christ in a large sense I will tell you Hee that would die in Christ first hee must die in obedience There are many workes of obedience that wee are to doe Our last and greatest act of obedience is to resigne up this same spirit of ours willingly chearfully into the hands of God that gave it If wee have not attained to that strength that some have done that is to live patiently and die willingly yet wee should labour to attaine to thus much strength to live willingly and to die patiently So as Christ may bee magnified in my body saith the Apostle I passe not it makes no matter let it either bee by life or by death When wee have done the worke that God hath set us to doe wee must be gone and thus must every one say with himselfe Lord if I have done all the worke thou hast appointed mee to doe call me away at thy pleasure Here is the first In obedience Secondly Die in repentance I remember what Possidonius said of Saint Augustine a little before his death that it was necessarie that men when they died they should not goe out of the world absque digna competenti resipiscentiâ without a fit competent repentance Hee himselfe did so for he caused the penitentiall Psalmes to be written and they were before him as hee lay upon his bed and hee was continually reading those penetentiall Psalmes and meditating upon them with many teares he died even in the very act of contrition I doe love to see a man chearefull upon his death-bed but I doe more love to see a man penitent There is a day indeed when God will wipe away all teares from our eyes When that commeth then he will wipe away these teares of repentance too these teares of godly sorrow But the Lord grant he may find mee with teaees in mine eyes Thirdly Die in faith Indeed if ever Faith had a worke to doe it hath then a worke to doe when all other comforts in the world faile us and friends goe from us then faith to lay hold on the promises I know that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall rise againe at the last day and bee covered with my skin and shall see God with these same eyes Thus faith And then fourthly Die with Invocation calling upon the name of God Thus have all the Saints of God done continually commending of their soules to God in prayers Saint Paul would have us commend our soules to God in well-doing And it is a necessary thing every morning wee rise and every night wee goe to bed but especially when wee see some harbingers of death sent unto us then to have nothing to doe but with our blessed Lord Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And with Saint Steven Lord Iesus receive my spirit And next to this let me put in also Mercie Charitie Die forgiving one another Thus our Lord taught us to doe when he cried out Father forgive them for they know not what they doe And Saint Steven taught us to doe so too Lord lay not this sinne to their charge And then lastly for I cannot stand upon these things there must be a death in Peace Peace with God Peace with our owne consciences and Peace with all the world And now the man that dieth thus dieth with willingnesse Dieth in repentance dieth in faith dieth with invocation dieth in charitie dieth in peace this man dieth in the Lord and such a one is blessed They that would thus die in him must live in him A man cannot bee said to die in London that never lived in London A man cannot be said to die in the Lord that never lived in the Lord. If thou dost not live in obedience in faith in repentance in invocation in charitie in peace thou canst not die in these A man must first live the life of the righteous before he can die the death of the righteous And then againe if a man would die thus Hee must bee well acquainted with death grow familiar with him by meditation Many things more I might have said to this purpose but I am loth to transgresse the houre I have done with that Give me only leave now to speake in a few words unto the present occasion You have brought here beloved the body of your wellloved neighbour Mistris S. H. late the Wife of your late reverend Pastour Doctor R. H. to be layed up together with her Husband in hope of a blessed and glorious resurrection It is long since that I did in this place performe this service at the buriall of his former Wife a woman of whom I may not speake for though I hold my peace the very stone here in the wall will say enough of her and you that know her cannot but assure the truth of it I am intreated to performe now the like duty to the second Wife And I was easily intreated to doe it for that name of brother and sister that was usually betweene us for many yeares continued may very well challenge of me any dutie I am able to performe I am straitned in time and I cannot speake what I would and I doe perceive alreadie by this that I have spoken that if I should speake much more my passion would not give me leave Let me tell you one thing amongst many others it is a thing extraordinary and it is for imitation The Vertuous woman in the last of the Proverbs is commended for many things Amongst others this is one Shee doeth her husband good and not evill all the dayes of her life And marke it I pray you It is not all the dayes of his life and yet peradventure some woman might bee thought a good
dignitie of thy soule iâ—… 〈◊〉 the breathing of God the Image of God he created it with 〈◊〉 Word redeemed it with his Sonne and in whomsoever his gâ—…e abides he will crowne it hereafter with his glorious presence What then remaines but that we esteeme our soules accordingly as God values them Let us not with the unhallowed voluptuous in these times make lords of our bodyes and slaves of our soules Let us not spend our dayes in providing for the lusts of the flesh Let us not in affectation of faire possessions of able servants of hopefull sonnes and good friends content our selves with bad soules A mans soule is himselfe saith Plato And O wretched wight saith Saint Austin how hast thou deserved so much ill of thy selfe as among all thy goods to be only thy selfe bad O remember the sublimitie of thy precious soule thou knowest not what a precious pearle thou hast in thy body like the hidden treasure in the Gospell it is of greater worth than the whole field I say not as he did know that thâ—…â—…ast a God in thee yet know that in that better part of thy nature thou art like to God for he hath given thee a soule of his owne breathing and stamped it with the impresse of his owne Image 〈◊〉 created it capable of the fruition of his owne presence in endlesse glorie In the consideration whereof walke worthily of this precious divine inspiration Thy Soule is a spirit let thy thoughts bee spirituall Thy Soule is immortall let thy meditations be of immortalitie and renounce thy body and good name â—…d gifts of the world for the gaining of thy soule For what shall it profit a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his owne soule So much shall serve to be spoâ—…n of the first point the surpassing excellencie and dignitie of the soule it is valued and prized here above the whole world Now the next is the possibilitie that a man may lose his owne soule The mention whereof causeth me to remember 〈◊〉 passage betweene Christ and his Disciples Mat. 24. Thâ—…â—…ples point Christ to the stately buildings of the Temple but they were soone damped when Christ told them that after a while there should not a stone bee left upon a stone So perhaps you are takeâ—… with admiration at the former part of the discourse concerniâ—…g the excellencie of mans soule but are damped to consider â—…at a man may lose it It is a substance immortall in respect of the being of it but defiled with sinne it is adjudgeable to death in regard of the well-being and a possibilitie so to die is nothing repugnant to the immortalitie of the soule The damned spirits they are alwayes dying anâ—… aâ—…e never dead they are alwayes deprived of Gods comfortable presence and are never released of their hellish torments As the Apostle saith in another case as dying and yet behold they live as living and yet behold they die The soule expiring is the death of the body and God forsaking is the death of the soule But you will say how is it possible The question is soone resolved if wee ponder the causes of death A thousand mortall maladies there are to kill the body and there are a thousand deadly diseases to destroy the soule There is no sinne so small but in the rigour of Gods justice and in its owne nature it may damne the soule When God in the beginning stated man in Paradise hee gave him a speciall caveate about the tree of knowledge he gives him a command thus In the day thou eatest thou shalt die What for bare eating No beloved but for the sinne for transgressing so small a Commandement of so great a God Sinne alone makes a separation betweene God and the soule and causeth the death of the soule The soule that sinnes the same shall die It may teach us that for the time that we live in this world there is nothing easier then to sinne There is a tree of Life and a tree of Knowledge and by eating of the tree forbidden commeth death there is a way of felicitie and a way to destruction there is a God of salvation and a ghostly enemie and by adhering to the principalitie of sinne a man may lose his owne soule Is it possible then that a man may lose his soule that is so precious and have we not great reason to try and to suspect our selves touching our standing towards God Is there not a maine necessitie to seeke the meanes to preserve us in the compasse and seales of grace It is lamentable to consider how in bodily diseases men can open their griefe and seeke for helpe and send to some learned Physitian Wee can goe to some noble learned counsell in case of law But alas the soule lies wounded in the way overladen with the grievances and pressures of sin distracted with the affrightings of a troubled conscience as if there were no balme in Gilead no Physitian there as if there were no Minister to afford helpe There is no seeking abroad a Lyon is pretended to bee in the way and Solomons sluggard folds his hands to sleepe O let not these things be so Be not as the horse and mule that have no understanding Neglect not the helpes of your preservation in grace but be continually watchfull with suspition and jealousie and abstaine from fleshly lusts that fight against your soules The Poet could say Theeves rise by night to robbe and kill and steale and wilt not thou wake to save thy soule God for the most part saith Saint Chrysostome hath alotted to nature all by twos two hands two eyes two feet two eares eares eyes hands feet two of all that if we chance to mayme one we can helpe to relieve the necessitie of it by the other but hee hath given us but one soule if we lose that what shift shall wee make for another soule a piercing contemplation if wee had grace to consider it Therefore O my soule tender thy selfe as my owne happinesse if thou be translated to heaven the body in time shall come thither this corruption shall put on incorruption this mortall shall put on immortalitie Againe if thou be haled with the fiends to the nethermost hell the body in time shall be â—…ormented with thee It is altogether just with the righteous God that they that meet in sinne should also consort in suffering Save thy selfe and save all and by wofull consequence lose thy selfe and lose all For what is a man profited if hee gaine the whole world and lose is owne soule So much for the second point the possibilitie of losing a mans soule Come we to the third the compossibilitie of outward prosperitie he may lose his soule in gaining the whole world In the diversitie of opinions concerning the chiefe good some there were that placed it in riches others in honours and how ever they differed in their judgements yet both agreed in this
upon this how they may die with comfort and end their dayes in peace How many prophane ones that set light by Death being apt to say like those Epicures Edamus c. Let us eate and drinke for to morrow wee shall die How many that doe put all to a desperate adventure God made us and hee must save us and wee shall doe as well as please God and there is an end How many are there whose hearts albeit they be in the house of God and in his presence are notwithstanding fraughted with malice with envie with worldlinesse with disdaine with secret scorning repining at the Word which they heare with wearisomenesse with spirituall sleepinesse and securitie You that are such as I have now said thinke in your consciences what would you die if God should now stop your breath and ascyte you by Death presently to appeare before his Majestie being thus full of ignorance of securitie of presumption of unsanctified of vicious of malicious of covetous thoughts could you find in your hearts to say Lord now let us depart Sure wee could not but Death must needs be to us as it is said to be to the wicked Rex terrorum the King of terrours if it should come upon us and find us in this case And yet what know wee how soone how suddenly wee may be overtaken some of us drop away daily some young some old some lie sicke longer some lesser time and how soone it will be our turne wee cannot tell Our breath is in our nostrills wee are all as grasse If the breath of the Lord blow upon us we doe suddenly wither as the flower of the field and returne agaâ—…e to our first Earth Why will we not labour to be now ready sith it may be alwayes truly said We may now depart either while we are here or in our way home or in our beds or at our meat Who can truly say to himselfe I am sure I shall not die this houre It may be now thou wilt demand of me What shall I doe that I may be ready To insist upon particulrs would be too long onely therefore in a word The best preparation for death is are formed life He that lives religiously cannot but die preparedly And it is a thousand to one if a wicked liver make a gracious end The Scripture makes mention of a double Death and so likewise of a twofold Resurrection the first Death is the death of the body which is the separation of it from the soule The second death is of the soule which is the separation of it from God The first Resurrection is the rising from the Death of sinne to a new life the second is that which shall be of the body out of the Grave at the day of Judgement Now what saith the Scripture Blessed and holy is hee that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no power Wouldest thou then bee freed from the second Death hell and destruction when thou art dead Now that thou art yet alive labour to have a part in the first Resurrection Note what Saint Paul saith of the wanton widow that shee is dead whilst shee lives So he that lives in the pleasures of sinne and in the wayes of his owne heart and after his owne lust hee is dead in soule though hee be alive in body and if hee seeke not to come out of this grave eternall death shall be his portion Well then wouldest thou prepare for Death wouldest thou be able alwayes to say Lord now now I am ready labour to know God our of his Word that is eternall life Labour to feele Christ live and reigne in thee by his Spirit labour to renounce every sinne doe not goe on in any knowne sinne against conscience renew thy repentance daily and still survey the state of thy soule that wickednesse may not get dominion over thee Let Death come when it will though the Lord should so visit thee that thou shouldest drop downe suddenly yet it shall not find thee unprepared thou hast a part in the first Resurrection there is no feare of the second Death But if thou wilt cherish thy heart in evil thou wilt goe on in thy ignorance in thy carelesse worship of God in thy prophaning the Sabbath in thy whoredome oppression malice drunkennesse excesse voluptuousnesse thou makest ready for hell and it is not thy Lord save me or I cry God mercy c. that shall serve thy turne I will tell thee who thou art like unto even to a man appointed after a yeare or two to be burned and in the meane space must carry a sticke daily to the heape so thou heapest up wrath against thy selfe and makest thy score so great that when Death comes thou shalt not know how to be prepared And thus have I finished the first generall part of my Text touching the disposition of the godly in respect of Death I proceed now in a word to the second the ground rule or warrant of this desire and preparation for death according to thy word as if Simeon had said this desire that I have now to end my dayes proceeds not from any carnall discontentment because I am now old and can take no great comfort in worldly things but the ground of it is thy Word and Promise thou Lord hast revealed unto thy servant that I should not die before I had seene my Saviour This word is now fulfilled and the sweetnesse thereof hath given mee that encouragement that I doe even long to bee dissolved and to be united unto thee Or againe thus Oh Lord this care that I have had to provide thus for Death and to be alwayes in a readinesse it hath not come from my selfe nature never taught it mee but thy Word hath instructed mee If I had not proceeded according to thy Word I should never have knowne how to have prepared my selfe to the time of dissolution This is the meaning of the words and so the Doctrine is plain viz. that Men ignorant in Gods word can never take comfort in death nor bee truly prepared to undergoe it This is plaine if we consider the Exposition which I have already given of that part of Simeons speech It is a generall Rule that of our Saviour Yee erre not knowing the Scripture A man ignorant in the Scripture can never rightly performe any spirituall dutie Hence was that of David Thy testimonies saith he are my delight and my counsellours If any matter came in hand that concerned his soule straight to the word of God went hee to know thence how to doe it as a man for his Lease or conveyance goeth to a Counsellour for direction So againe he confesses that if Gods Law had not beene his delight hee should have perished in his afflictions And so no comfort no true quiet in any trouble much more at Death without the guidance and information of the Word The
assurance that the sting of Death is plucked out that Gods wrath is appeased that sinne is pardoned that Heaven gate is opened whence shall wee fetch these but from the Scripture the directions for a holy life which is the best preparation for Death where shall we find them but in the Scripture Here then we see is a Caveat to all that have no will nor desire to be acquainted with the Scripture Divers thinke they should have done well enough though wee had no such Booke as we call the word of God To bee a Scripture-man is a by-word a reproach a matter of disgrace and sooner will men listen to some idle Pamphlet then to a matter of Scripture Well beguile not your soules with these vaine conceipts with your Popish and carnall imaginations I say and testifie from this place that that man or woman which careth not to be taught out of Gods booke cannot die like a Christian Who can teach thee the way to dye well but God And where doth God teach but in the Scripture If our thoughts of Death if our provision and preparation for Death be not warranted and guided by Gods word it is all in vaine Lord saith Simeon my desire of dissolution is according to thy Word my care to be prepared hath beene ordered by thy Word hee cannot die with comfort that cannot make the like profession And this may serve for the next generall part the the ground of this desire and preparation for Death it is Gods word Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart according to thy Word The third and last part followes the nature and qualitie of the death of the Righteous A departure in peace or a peaceable dismission Here are two things first a dismission secondly a dismission accompanied with peace The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Let thy servant depart may well be Englished thus Let thy servant loose Lord free mee enlarge mee set mee at libertie Hence wee learne that The servants of God doe by Death receive a finall discharge from all manner of miserie This is evident out of the force of the phrase here used Simeon knew that so long as hee lived his soule was as it were imprisoned in his body and in it hee was held in bondage under the remnants of Originall corruption subject to the assaults and temptations of Satan in continuall and daily possibilitie to trespasse and sinne against God beside other afflictions and grievances in the body and estate but hee had withall this knowledge and understanding of the nature of Death that it was an enlargement to the soule and a freeing of it utterly and finally from all those and the like incumbrances The same may be gathered from the phrase used by Saint Paul I desire saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee dissolved and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read the time of my departure the words shew that there comes a liberty by death to the soules of Gods servants The phrase that Saint Peter useth is worthy our observation for this purpose First hee tearmes death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the laying downe of a burden and by that meanes the soule is lightned and eased Secondly he tearmes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a going out from a place and condition of hardship The second booke of Moses which relates the departure of the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage hath the same name Exodus As for the point it selfe namely that the death of the Righteous is to them a discharge from all miserie the Scripture beares witnesse to it Blessed said he are the dead which die in the Lord even so saith the spirit that they may rest from their labours As long as they live here they are diversly troubled when they die their labours are at an end and they are received into rest Saint Iohn tells us that in his vision he saw the soules of them that were slaine lye under the Altar Now the Altar in the time of the Law was a place of refuge and safetie and thence it appeares that by death the servants of God are eft-soones received into a place of holy securitie where there is no expectation of any further miserie They are said to be received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into Abrahams bosome into the fellowship of the same happinesse with Abraham the Father of all true beleevers The Doctrine in the first place makes against those of the Church of Rome which maintaine a place of torment even for the servants of God after this life where they must bee tryed for a time before they can enter into Rest and happinesse This place they terme Purgatorie the torment here they hold to bee unspeakable and farre surpassing any torment which the wit of man is able to devise But this place among others is sufficient to overthrow this dotage for how were death to the Righteous a dismission a loosing a freedome from miserie if there followed after it a torment of farre greater extremitie then at any time before was ever tasted of So that the death of the servants of God being as I have proved it to bee an enlargement from misery certainly the soule is not bound in any new Prison whence it must expect and await and pray for a second dismission In the next place this Doctrine makes much for the comfort of Gods servants the face of Death to the wicked is very dreadfull the day of it is to them the beginning of sorrowes their soules are instantly arrested by the damned spirits and kept in everlasting chaines of darknesse but to those that are the servants of God it is otherwise I may by way of allusion to the phrase of my Text compare their day unto that which happened unto Ioseph in which hee was brought out of prison to bee Ruler over all the land of Egypt So is their death unto them a day of Bailement out of prison a day in which all teares shall be wiped away In which they shall have beauty for ashes and the oyle of gladnesse for the spirit of heavinesse and the long white robes of Christs Righteousnesse by which they shall be presented blamelesse unto God That day shall be to them even as was the day of escape to the Jewes a feast and a good day in which they shall see God as hee is and know him as they are knowne of him But hapily thou maist say how shall I know that the day of Death is the day of dissolution and this kind of dismission A very necessary quaere indeed this is for every man almost is ready to challenge to himselfe a part of this happinesse and it is a matter presumed upon by many which shall never enjoy it I will therefore give you one certaine marke by which wee may know assuredly that the day of our death shall be to us a day of enlargement and of finall discharge
am the Life Now the difference betweene these two wee may conceive with reverend Calvin to be this I am the Resurrection That is I have all quickening power in mee I am able to restore and give life to those that are dead And then I am the life I have such quickening power in mee that I am able to preserve and continue the life that I have given or restored to any I am the Resurrection and the life And then followes the Exposition of this Proposition and of the severall members of it for the truth of a copulative Proposition depends upon the truth of both the parts and members of it therefore there followes the Explication and confirmation of both the parts of this Proposition First of the first part I am the Resurrection this is explained and confirmed in these words Hee that beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live I have such a quickning power in mee saith Christ that I am able to restore spirituall life to that soule that is dead in sinnes therefore I am able to raise up the body that is dead in the grave I am able to give spirituall life to the soule which is greater and the more difficult worke and if I be able to doe the greater I am able to doe the lesse hee that beleeves in mee saith Christ though before he were dead in trespasses and sinnes yet hee shall live he shall live the life of grace Then followes the Explication and confirmation of the second member of the Proposition in these words Whosoever liveth and beleeveth in mee shall never die I am the life saith Christ for whosoever beleeveth in me and so is restored to spirituall life he shall never die hee shall never die to speake properly for he shall never perish he shall never die this life shall never be taken from him neither here nor hereafter not here for hee shall continue to live the life of grace not hereafter for though the body shall die yet this separation of the body from the soule it is not so properly a death as a passage to life a passage from the life of grace to the life of glory And this body also that is separated from the soule it shall bee quickned againe and shall be raised up to live for ever therefore hee that beleeveth in mee shall never die Thus you see the words expounded Now from the first member of this Proposition I am the Resurrection and the Exposition and confirmation of it in these words Hee that beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall he live Hence the point of Doctrine I will observe is this that Iesus Christ is the Fountaine and Authour of all life Hee is able to give and restore life to those that are dead He is the Resurrection Now whereas there is a double death and a double Life and consequently a double Resurrection we must understand that Christ is the Author of both in this place weare not to exclude either Therefore wee will indeavour to expound this generall doctrine in these three particulars First Christ hath such a quickning power in him that hee is able to raise up those dead bodies of his that now lie in the Grave Secondly Christ hath such a quickning power in him that he is able to raise up the soule that is dead in sinnes to a spirituall life Thirdly wee will shew you why Christ as in this place so else-where doth expresse both the state of the faithfull here and their estate after under the same phrase of speech he comprehends both under this terme I am the Resurrection For the first of these Christ is the Author of life he hath such a quickning power in him that hee is able to raise up the dead bodies of his out of their graves Wee will speake first of this Resurrection that is of the body though it be later in time Because that naturally we are more apt to conceive of the death and life of the body then of the death and life of the soule And secondly because that the understanding of this Resurrection of the body will give light to the understanding of the other of the soule And here first wee will shew briefly what this Resurrection of the body is And then prove that Christ is the Author and the Fountaine of it First the Resurrection of the body is this when the soule that was actually separate from the dead body returnes againe to its proper body and being united to it the man riseth up out of the Grave with an immortall incorruptible body to lead a glorified life This is the Resurrection of the body Now that Christ is the Author of this Resurrection of the body it is evident For as Christ himselfe by his owne power raised himselfe being dead in the Grave Ioh. 2. 19. saith Christ destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it againe speaking of the Temple of his body And so againe Iohn 10. 18. I have power saith Christ to lay downe my life and to take it up againe so likewise Christ by his quickning spirit hee will raise up the bodyes of those that are now dead in the Grave as we may see Ioh. 5. 28 29. Mervaile not at this saith Christ for the houre is comming in which all that are in the grave shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of man and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life c. In this regard Christ is called the first fruites of them that sleepe For as the first fruites being offered to God did sanctifie the whole crop and the owner hereby was assured of the blessing of God upon all the rest so Christ is the first fruits of the dead and his Resurrection it is an assurance to the faithfull of their Resurrection and the cause of it both an assurance a pledge of it and likewise a cause of it Therefore herein Christ the second Adam is opposed to the first Adam As the first Adam who was the roote of all man-kind did communicate death and mortalitie to all those that spring from him so likewise Christ the second Adam by his Resurrection hee conveyes life and a quickening power to all his members as wee may see 1 Cor. 15. 21 22. For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die Adam he communicates death and mortalitie to all that spring from him even so in Christ shall all be made alive Christ hee conveyes life to all his members and they are all quickened by his Spirit therefore Christ is called a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. The first Adam was made a living soule but the last Adam a quickning spirit not onely a living but a quickning spirit And this quickning power and vertue Christ did manifest before his resurrection by raising up three from death namely by raising the Widowes sonne
Luke 7. and Iairus his Daughter Luke 8. and Lazarus here in this chapter And at his resurrection also hee manifested this his quickning power in that he rose not alone but raised the bodies of many of his Saints with him many of his Saints arose with him and as they rose with Christ their head so also they ascended to glory together with Christ their head and the resurrection of these it was an effect of the resurrection of Christ it was by the power of Christs resurrection Of these we may reade Mat. 27. 52. 53. The graves opened and many bodies of the Saints that slept arose and came out of their graves after his resurrection and went into the holy Citie and appeared to many Thus you have the first conclusion proved that Christ is the Author of the resurrection of the body Now in the next place the second conclusion is this that Christ is the Author and Fountaine of spirituall life also Hee is the Author of the Resurrection of the soule and the resurrection of the soule it is this when the Spirit of grace of which we were all deprived in Adam returnes againe to the soule of a naturall man and so quickens the man that the man begins to rise out of the Grave of sinne and to lead a new life a spirituall life the life of grace this is the resurrection of the soule Now that Christ is the Author of this Resurrection also of this spirituall Resurrection wee may demonstrate this by a multitude of Divine testimonies but wee will single out some few of the chiefe wee need goe no further then this Evangelist which affords plentifull testimonie for the confirmation of this truth As in Ioh. 4. 10. There Christ speaking to the woman of Samaria he said unto her If thou haddest knowne the gift of God and who it is that said unto thee give me drinke thou shouldest have asked of him and hee would have given thee living water Here the Spirit of Christ it is compared to living water by an allusion to the water that continually springeth out of a Fountaine And the Spirit of grace is compared to living water from the effects of it because the Spirit of grace restoreth spirituall life to the soule and then preserveth this life therefore it is living Water and Christ is as the Fountaine of this water that yeeldeth and giveth this living quickning water of the Spirit Againe in Ioh. 5. 21. there Christ chalengeth this power to himselfe As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickneth them so the Sonne quickneth whom hee will As Christ when he was upon the earth hee raised whom he would from the death of the body so now being in heaven hee raiseth whom he will from the death of the soule Yea the voyce of Christ sounding in the ministrie of the Word accompanied with his quickning Spirit is of power and efficacie to raise those that are dead in sinnes as wee may see Ioh. 5. 25. Verily verily I say unto you saith Christ the houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare it shall live Againe in Ioh. 6. 35. there Christ stileth himselfe the Bread of life and the Living bread Iesus said unto them I am the bread of life and in verse 48. I am the bread of life and againe verse 51. I am the living bread Christ is the living bread the bread of life who as he hath life in himselfe so he communicates spirituall life to all those that feed upon him And here is a broad difference betweene this Bread of life and ordinary bread ordinarie food for though ordinarie food can preserve naturall life where it is yet it cannot restore life where it is not but Christ is such living Bread that he restores life to those that are dead in sinnes and preserves that life that hee hath restored thus hee is the living Bread Againe Ioh. 15. 1. there Christ compares himselfe to a Vine and the faithfull to so many branches I am the true Vine saith Christ and my Father is the husband-man And in verse 5. I am the Vine yee are the branches Now as the branch of the Vine sucks juyce and sappe from the stocke and roote of the vine so all the faithfull receive spirituall juyce and life from Christ their head As Adam hee is a common root of corruption and spirituall death to all that come from him so Christ is a common roote of grace and spirituall life to all those that are his members And in this regard Christ is compared to a head and the faithfull to his members Collos. 1. 18. Christ is the head of his body the Church Christ is the head and the faithfull are his members therefore as in the naturall body the head that is the principium the fountaine of sense and motion it is the head that by certaine nerves and sinewes conveyes sense and motion to all the members of the body so in the mysticall body the Church Christ is the head that conveyes spirituall life and motion to all that are his members to all the faithfull Thus you see the second conclusion explained and proved also that as Christ is the Author of the resurrection of the body so hee is of the resurrection of the soule too it is he that raiseth the soule to spirituall life Now in the third place we are to shew you the reason why this double quickning power is here comprehended under one terme I am the Resurrection Now that this double power of quickening is to be understood here under this one terme wee need not I hope spend time to prove for that Christ speakes here of the spirituall resurrection and the spirituall life this I take to be evident from Christs owne exposition in the words following Hee that beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live Hee that beleeveth in me though he were dead in sinnes and trespasses before yet hee shall live the life of grace therefore I am the Resurrection Againe that the resurrection of the body is not here excluded it may appeare from the scope and intent of these words of Christ for the scope of these words here is to perswade Martha that hee was able of himselfe by his owne power to raise up her dead brother to restore him to life saith hee I am the resurrection I have power to restore spirituall life to the soule that is dead in sinne and this is the greater worke therefore I am able to restore naturall life to the dead body to restore the body that is dead in the Grave to life againe Now the reasons why this double power is here comprehended under one terme I am the Resurrection the chiefe reasons I take to bee these two First this double quickning power is here comprehended under one terme in regard of the Analogie and proportion betweene these two betweene
sinne and corruption still remaine upon the sould Indeed as soone as the Spirit of grace quickens the soule the soule presently hates all sinne and begins to shake off these fetters of sinne and corruption and shakes them off by little and little but I say it shakes them not off all at once In this spirituall Resurrection sinne indeed receives a deadly wound but yet it is not wholly abolished In the spirituall Resurrection sinne is like a beast whose throat is cut that lies striving and strugling for life so sinne hath life in it but yet it hath a deadly wound therefore remember to thy comfort that that will bee true here betweene the power of grace and the remainders of sinne that is affirmed of the house of Saul and the house of David 2 Sam. 3. 1. there was long warre betweene them But the house of David grew stronger and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker So it will be betweene sinne and grace sinne will grow weaker and weaker and grace stronger and stronger But yet the weake Christian may object further but I feele the spirit so weake in me and the flesh so strong in me that I am afraid the flesh will prevaile and so I shall returne againe to my naturall estate To this I answer remember that this is contrarie to the nature of a true Resurrection to returne to death againe for at the last Resurrection the bodyes that are raised shall be immortall never to die againe so here those soules that are quickned to the life of grace they are raised to a durable immutable immortall estate never to die againe That which Christ saith of those that shall bee accounted worthie to attaine the second Resurrection the Resurrection of the body it is true here also hee saith those that shall be accounted worthy of the world to come of the Resurrection to life they shall never die for they are as the Angels of heaven Luke 20. 35 36. Those that partake of that Resurrection can never die so here those that partake of this spirituall Resurrection to the life of grace they shall never die this Resurrection to the life of grace it shall continue in them For the Spirit of grace when he once commeth into the soule and quickens it it continues there and remaines there for ever it is as a Well of water springing up to eternall life as Christ speakes Ioh. 4. 14. Whosoever shall drinke of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall bee in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life Now wee know a streame of water is of a vanishing nature yet if it bee nourished with a continuall Fountaine that can never be drie the streame will continually runne so it is with the streame of grace in the soule it is nourished with a continuall fountaine such a one as can never be dried up Thus you see here is comfort against sinne against the death of the soule Those that are united to Christ by faith they may be assured that Christ will be to them a Fountaine of spirituall life Secondly here is comfort against the death of the body against naturall death If thou be united to Christ thou needest not to feare temporall death remember that though the body bee dead beecause of sinne yet the spirit is life as it is Rom. 8. 10. The body that is dead that is it is mortall and subject to death because of sinne but the spirit the soule that liveth it passeth from the life of grace here to the life of glorie Yea and the body too that is laid in the Grave notwithstanding shall be raised againe by the quickning power of Christ. Remember Christ is thy head and therefore hee being risen from the dead thou shalt not perish You know as long as the head of the naturall body is above the water none of the members of the body can be drowned so it is here as long as Christ is risen none of his members can be held captive in the Grave Remember Christ is the first fruites of the dead the first fruites of them that sleepe therefore his Resurrection may bee a pledge and an assurance to thee of thy resurrection As wee have borne the Image of the earthly saith the Apostle so wee shall beare the Image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15. 49. As wee have borne about us these corruptible bodyes so when we rise againe we shall rise with immortall and incorruptible bodies and live a glorious life with Christ and so be made conformable to Christ our head therefore feare not the death of the body Remember that Death can destroy nothing in thee but sinne therefore feare not This consideration may comfort us as against our owne death so against the death of our friends Let us therefore receive comfort hence as Martha in this Chapter I know that my brother shall rise againe in the Resurrection at the last day and that did comfort her But here this question may bee demanded but is not this Resurrection of the body a benefit common to the wicked are not they partakers of this benefit from the resurrection of Christ as well as the godly shall not they be raised and quickned as well as the godly by Christ his Resurrection To this I answer that this Resurrection of the body to life it is a benefit proper to the faithfull to the true members of Christ for though unbeleevers and wicked persons shall bee raised up againe yet By a different cause And to a different end I say first by a different cause the wicked that are out of Christ cannot have any benefit from the Resurrection of Christ because they are out of Christ therefore they shall bee raised indeed but not by a quickning power flowing from the resurrection of Christ but by the divine power and command of Christ as a just Judge and they shall bee raised by vertue of that curse pronounced in Paradice Gen. 2. In the day thou eatest thou shalt die the death that includes eternall death therefore this curse must be executed upon them and therefore they most rise out of the Grave againe that body and soule may die eternally but the faithfull members of Christ shall bee raised by the quickning power of Christ as their head and Saviour Againe as the wicked shall be raised by a different cause so to a different end for they shall not be raised to life to speake properly that state is stiled eternall death therefore their Resurrection is stiled the resurrection of condemnation Ioh. 5. 27. they that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life and they that have done ill to the resurrection of condemnation they shall not rise to life but to eternall death but the godly only shall attaine this Resurrection of life and therefore they only are stiled the sonnes of
Kindnes so unkinde and harsh But what was his behaviour under all these For the generall sweet and heavenly For some particulars sad and weak when faith did worke hee was above all his stormes In the deepest calamitie faith can settle and compose the soule and fill it with the sweetest comforts When sense and nature did worke then hee was much impatient and the winde had the better over him In the one hee shewes himselfe a Christian In the other a man In the one Iob is beyond himselfe in the other below himselfe According to the time and manner of these severall workings he is like or unlike himselfe Thus it is with the best whose outward change doth not more vary but their inward carriage doth as much change At length Iob after many disputes with his friends and conflicts with himselfe concenterates his thoughts in two maine Points 1 One was still to trust in God let him bee what hee will and let him doe what hee will though hee should continue his present tryalls yea and exceed them though hee should kill mee yet saith hee Chap. 13. 15. though hee slay mee I will trust in him and there he disposeth of his soule 2 Another was to prepare for death all the dayes of my appointed time I will waite till my change come and there hee disposeth of his bodie Many arguments hee layeth downe in this Chapter which did occasion him to these thoughts and resolutions The first is the brevitie of mans life Verse 1. 2. Man thâ—…t is borne of a Woman is of few dayes hee commeth forth like a Flower and is cut downe hee fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not He sayth not yeeres nor moneths nor weekes but dayes and these dayes not many but few and these few dayes not long but short as quickly set as the shadow as quickly cropt as the flower Secondly the misery of that short life in the same place and full of trouble as if every Article of life were replenished with sorrow even as every veine of the body is with bloud this is own experience could tell him Thirdly the certaintie of Death The Sunne hath his appointed race which in the Winter is short in the Summer long but in both it hath a certaine time of setting so the race of mans life to some it may be shorter to some longer but the night will come and all must be closed up in Death verse 5. His dayes are determined the number of them they are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds which hee cannot passe and if so then high time for Iob to thinke of it and prepare for it Death began in a manner to seize on him already in severall parts in his feet for his wealth was gone in his loynes having lost his children in his heart his friends leaving him in his bosome for his wife was a discomforter nay in his very life it selfe so much as was wrapt up in the outward part of his body for that was diseased in his speech and spirits they grew hoarse and faint all these were the harbingers of a future dissolution Well therefore might Iob conclude ever I must not live and long I cannot live therefore though in much miserie and in bad dayes I will thinke of Death and fit my selfe for a good end and apply my selfe seriously and wisely for a good worke All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my change come Which words containe in them two parts First his future dissolution which hee calls a change and a change that is comming upon him as if hee had beene the next man till my change come Secondly his present disposition I will waite hee thinkes of death before death and prepares to die while yet he lives Neither was this a death-pang a fitte a humour which began quickly and expired suddenly Nay he will make it a serious businesse as if this should be his every dayes worke All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite Some reade it of my appointed warfare and others of my appointed labour they all intimate that hee meanes by his appointed time his appointed life the lease or terme of breathing which God had allotted allowed and decreed There are two propositions which naturally issue from the words and comprehend the juyce and marrow of the Text. First that there is a change which will befall the sonnes of men 2. Secondly we should alwayes waite till it come I begin with the first that There is a change which will befall the sonnes of men Be we poore or bee we rich bee we noble or bee we ignoble be we prosperous or be we afflicted be we strong or be we weake be we old or be we young be we good or be we bad be we male or be wee female whatsoever our natures bee whatsoever our parts be whatsoever our places be whatsoever our ages be whatsoever our courses be whatsoever our wayes be how faire and how durable our estates may appeare yet at length there is a change which will befall us That which Iacob spake in a patheticall way Ioseph is not and Simeon is not may truly be said of all the sonnes of men once they were now they are not though once we reckoned them upon our account yet at length they are shut out and stand aside as cyphers But that you may the better understand what change it is that is here meant you are to know that there is a fourefold change First a change of the condition this I call a temporall change wherein some or more or all of our outward câ—…mforts are shrivelled and feared up by some present miserie When povertie breakes in upon us as the hunter doth upon his game and causeth our riches as so many birds to which Solomon compares them to take to themselves wings and flye away When sicknesse stayeth our health in the bed and imprisoneth us to the chamber When our friends glide away from us like a river through their Apostacie or start aside like a broken bowe through their falshood or trecherie When the neere relation of Husband and Wife Parents and Children is cut asunder and the many sad teares for their losse imbitter all our former comforts But this is not the change intended in the Text. Secondly there is a change of the Body and this I call a corporall change for even these vilde bodyes of ours shall bee changed Looke as the spring is a refreshing change to the season of the yeare so shall the Resurrection be an exceeding change to our bodyes or as the morning is a change to the night so at the Resurrection shall our bodyes awake and their corruption shall put on incorruption neither is this the change which Iob here intends immediatly though some expound his ayme to be at this from whom I cannot absolutely dissent yet I thinke they hit not the right scope Thirdly there is a change of the Soule that I call a
heart and soule of every true beleever lying on his death bed or on the Gridiron or in the dungeon or on the gibbet or on the faggot did not the Spirit seale this truth aboveall other at such times to his servants were not then their hope full of immortality they could never have welcomed death embraced the flames sung in their torments and triumphed over death even when they were in the jawes of it When Iob was in the depth of all his miserie the Spirit spake in his heart I know that my Redeemer liveth and that hee shall stand in the latter day upon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reines bee consumed within mee Likewise when Saint Paul was now readie to bee offered and the time of his departure was at hand the Spirit spake in him I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is layd up for mee a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give mee at that day and not to mee onely but to them also that love his appearing Likewise when Gerardus was giving up the ghost the Spirit spake in him O Death where is thy sting Mors non est stimulus sed jubilus And though Robert Glover the Martyr all the night before his Martyrdome prayed for strength and courage but could feele none yet when he came to the sight of the stake he was mightily replenished with Gods holy comfort and heavenly joyes and clapping his hands to Austin the Spirit the Comforter himselfe spake in him Hee is come hee is come You have heard where the spirit saith so give eare now to a voyce from heaven declaring why the spirit saith so for they rest from their labours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth as well paine as paines broyles as toyles as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke so paine and paines in English are of kinne for labour is paine to the body and paine is labour to the Spirit and therefore what wee say to bee punished and tormented with a disease the Latine say laborare morbo and the throngs and throes which women endure in Child-bearing wee call their labouring Here then the dead have a double immortalitie granted them 1 From the labours of their calling 2 From the troubles of their condition freedome from paine and paines taking What then may some object doe the dead sleepe out all their time from the breathing out their last gaspe to the blowing the last trumpe as they suffer nothing so doe they nothing but are like Consul Bibulus who held onely a roome and filled up a blancke in the Roman fasti Nam 〈◊〉 factum consule nil memini or like mare mortuum without any motion or operation at all that cannot be the soule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most perfect Act or as Tullie renders the word a continuall motion as the word is taâ—…en in that old proverbiall verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it can no more bee and not worke then the winde can bee and not blow the fire and not burne a diamond and not sparkle the sunne and not shine therefore it is not sayd here simply that they rest from all kinde of motion or working but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but from toylesome labours soretravells and againe from their owne labours or workes not the Lords They keepe an everlasting Sabbath in not doing of their owne workes but Gods they rest from sinfull and painefull travells but not from the workes of a sanctified rest for they rest not day and night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was which is and is to come The rest of the soule is not a ceasing from all motion or opperation that cannot stand with the nature of a spirit but a setling it selfe with delight upon an all-satisfying and never satiating object such was the rest the sweet singer of Israel called his soule unto returne unto thy rest O my soule for the Lord hath dealt bâ—…untifully with thee Bodies rest in their proper places but spirits in their proper object in the contemplation fruition admiration and adoration whereof consisteth their everlasting content This object is God whom they contemplate in their mind enjoy in their will adore in both and this is their continuall worke and their worke is their life and their life is their happinesse which the Divines fitly expresse in one word glorification which must be taken both actually and passively for they glorifie God and God glorifieth them God glorifieth them by casting the full light of his countenance upon them and they glorifie him by reflecting some light backe againe and casting their crownes before him saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created They rest from their labours This Text of holy Scripture containeth in it the waters of Siloah not so much to refresh those that are tyred with their former labours having borne the heate of the whole day as to lave out the false fire of Purgatorie for blessednesse cannot stand with miserie nor rest with trouble nor reward with punishment but all that dye in the Lord are blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is à tempore mortis from the time of their death as venerable Beda and other expound the words and so blessed are they that they rest from all paine and paines and so rest that their workes follow them that is as I shall declare hereafter the reward of their workes If this lave not out the Romish fire which scareth the living more then the dead and purgeth their purses and not their soule wee may draw store of water to quench it out of divers other Texts of holy Scripture as namely First If the tree fall towards the South or towards the North in the place where the tree falleth there it shall bee Which Text Olympiodorus thus illustrateth in whatsoever place therefore whether of light or of darknesse whether in the worke of wickednesse or of vertue a man is taken at his death in that degree and ranke doth he remaine either in light with the just and Christ the King of all or in darknesse with the wicked and prince of the world To little purpose therefore is all that is or can be done for the dead after they have taken their farewell of us after wee are gone from hence there remaines no place for repentance or penance no effect or benefit of satisfaction here life is either lost or obtained but if thou O Demetrian saith Saint Cyprian even at the very end and setting of thy temporall life dost pray
which may furnish us abundantly with meditations in this kind It was a custome in former times for men to make their sepulchres in their gardens to mind them of death in the midst of the pleasures of this life This present worke may not unfitly be tearmed a Garden wherein whosoever takes a dayly walke may gather in the severall beds thereof those wholsome flowers and hearbs which being distilled by serious meditation will prove water of life to a fainting spirit in some hee shall finde instruction in some incitation in others consolation in all profit Here thou shalt finde that Lethall gourd sprung up by Adam his transgression that makes all his posterity cry out There is death in the Pot. There thou mayst gather hearbs of grace as a counter-poyson against the malignity of death in a third there is the spirituall Heliotroâ—…ium opening with joy to the Sunne of righteousnesse the hope of a blessed resurrection Doe the glittering shewes of outward things make thee begin to over-fancie them heere thou shalt finde how little they will availe in death the consideration whereof will make them like that precious stone which being put into the mouth of a dead man loseth it's vertue are thou over-burthened with afflictions here thou art supported in the expectation of a farre more exceeding weight of glory art thou ready to faint under thy labours here thou shalt finde a time of rest and of reaping doth the time seeme over-long that thy patience begins to flag heere thou hast a promise of thy Saviours speedy comming In a word be thy estate and condition what it will be heere thou mayst have both directions to guide thee and comforts to support thee in thy journey on earth till thou arrive at thy Countrey in Heaven Certainely there is no man can sleight and undervalue so deserving a Worke but hee shall discover himselfe either to be ignorant or idle or ill affected especially when so judicious and learned men have thought it a fit concomitant for their severall labours which they have added for the accomplishment of it Therfore take it in good worth improve it for the good of thy soule that being armed and prepared for death when it shall approach thou mayst have no more to doe but to die and mayst end thy dayes in a stedfast assurance That thy sinnes shall be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the LORD Thine in him who is the Resurrection and the life H. W. THE TABLE THe Stewards Summons Page 1. TEXT LVKE 16. 2. Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou mayst be no longer Steward The praise of Mourning Page 29. ECCLESIASTES 7. 2. It is better to goe to the house of Mourning then to the house of Feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart Deliverance from the King of feares Page 55. HEBREVVES 2. 14. 15. 14 For asmuch then as the Children are partakers of flesh and bloud hee also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Divell 15 And deliver them who through the feare of death were all their life time subject to bondage The perfection of Patience Page 79. IAMES 1. 4. But let patience have her perfect worke that you may bee perfect and intire wanting nothing A Restraint of exorbitant passion Page 101. 2 SAM 12. 22. 23. 22 And he said while the Child was yet alive I fasted and wept for I said who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the Child may live 23 But now he is dead wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back againe I shall goe to him but he shall not returne to me The sting of Death Page 121. 1 COR. 15. 56. The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law The destruction of the Destroyer Page 135. 1 COR. 15. 16. The last enemie that shall be destroyed is death The Worlds losse and the righteous mans gaine Page 151. ESAY 57. 1. And mercifull men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evill to come The good mans Epitaph Page 177. REVEL 14. 13. I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their workes doe follow them The Christians Center Page 193. ROM 14. 7. 8. 7 For none of us liveth to himselfe and no man dyeth to himselfe 8 For whether we live we live to the Lord and whether wee die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords The improvement of Time Page 213. 1 COR. 7. 29. 30. 31. 29 But this I say Brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none 30 And they that weepe as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as if they rejoyced not and they that buy asthough they possessed not 31 And they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away Securitie surprized Page 235. 1 THESSAL 5. 3. For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction commeth upon them as travaile upon a woman with child and they shall not escape A Christians victory or conquest over deaths Enmitie Page 263. 1 COR. 15. 26. The last Enemie that shall be destroyed is death The great Tribunall Gods scrutinie of Mans secrets Page 283. ECCLESIAST 12. 14. For God will bring every worke into judgement with every secret thâ—…ng whether it be good or whether it be evill A Triall of Sinceritie Page 299. ESAY 26. 8. 9. 8 Yea in the way of thy judgements O Lord have wee waited for thee the desire of our soule is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee 9. With my soule have I desired thee in the night yea with my Spirit within me will I seeke thee early for when thy judgements are in the earth the Inhabitants of the world will learne righteousnesse The expectation of Christs comming Page 321. PHIL. 3. 20. 21. 20. For our conversation is in Heaven from whence we looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesuâ—… Christ. 21. Who shall Change our vile body that it may bee fashioned like unto his glâ—…rious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himselfe Christs Precept and Promise or security against death Page 345. IOHN 8. 51. Verily verily I say unto you if a man keepe my saying he shall never see death The Young-mans liberty and limits Page 367. ECCLESIAST 11. 9. Rejoyce O young-man in thy youth and let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into
of men or whether men affect it in themselves but they account this a matter of praise a vertue praise-worthy to see nothing dolefull nothing worthy of mourning in the death of any one We see it is quite contrarie to the very course of the Scripture But it will be objected We are bid to mortifie our earthly affections and if we must mortifie our affections we must mortifie all our affections that of sorrow as well as anger and the like I answer briefly The Scripture indeed biddeth us mortifie our affections but it doth not bid us take away our affections it biddeth us only mortifie and purge out the corruption of our affections Now there is a twofold corruption and distemper in the affections of men The first is when they are misplaced and set upon wrong objects so we mourne for that we should rejoyce in or wee rejoyce in that we should mourne for Secondly when they are either excessive or defective either we over-doe or wee doe not either not at all or not in that proportion and measure that we should Thus when we over-grieve for worldly crosses and too little for sinne too much for the losse of earthly friends and too little for the losse of Gods favour and spirituall wants this is a distemper of the affections in the defect the heart growes earthly and fixed upon the creature and is drawne away and estranged from God Then there is the excesse that the Apostle speakes of when he exhorts them not to mourne as men without hope whether he spake there of the Gentiles as some thinke that cut their heads and made themselves bald in the day of their mourning an affected kind of outward shew they had to mourne which the Lord forbad the people of Israel to doe or whether as indeed it is because they did not restraine inwardly and bridle the exorbitant excesse of their affection wee should not mourne as the Gentiles but as men of hope mourne as men that can see the changes that God makes in the earth and in your Families and can see how neere God commeth to you and what use God would have you make of every particular tryall and affliction mourne so farre as you see your owne guilt in not making use of the opportunities you have had in enjoying your friends and so farre as you see any evidence of displeasure from God so farre we should mourne but not as men without hope But I briefly passe this intending not to insist upon it only by occasion because Solomon makes the place where any die the house of mourning Wee come now to the proofe of the point why going to the house of mourning taking these occasions to affect our hearts is better then to goe to the house of feasting then to take occasions of delighting our selves in outward things What 's the reason It is double First This is the end of all men What is the end of all men The house of mourning That which he meaneth by the house of mourning here is that which he calleth the end of all men that which putteth an end to all men and to their actions upon earth and that is Death So that the maine point that in this place the wise man intendeth is but thus much I will deliver it in the very words of the Text we need not varie from them at all Death is the End of all men Death is that which every man must expect to be the end of his life and of his actions It is the common the last condition of all men upon earth I will give you but two places of Scripture that include all men in Death One in Iob third from the fourteenth verse to the 20. verse of that Chapter Iob sheweth there how Death is the End of all men he beginneth with the Kings and Counsellers of the Earth with Princes and great warriours and descendeth afterward to prisoners and meane persons to labourers to servants to small and great all saith he lie downe in the dust and goe to the place of silence The other place is in Zachar. 1. 5. Your fathers where are they and the Prophets doe they live for ever That is looke to all your forefathers that have beene in all times before you whether they be those Fathers that you glory in Abraham Isaac and Iacob and the rest or those Fathers that disobeyed the word of Prophesie which indeed is the principall thing here intended all these Ancient persons they are dead or as S. Peter speakes of those that were disobedient in the dayes of Noah they are in prison they are in the grave yea and the Prophets too that preached to you they are dead the generations before you both of Prophets and people are all dead You see then that Death is the common condition of all men Kings and Subjects Prophets and people this is the last thing that shall be said of them all they are dead And it must be so First in regard of Gods decree It is that that God hath appointed and determined concerning all men that they must die there is a statute for it in heaven that can never be reverst It is appointed to all men once to die Heb. 9. 17. Secondly in regard of that matter whereof all men are made of earth Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne Your remembrances saith Iob are like unto ashes and your bodies to bodyes of clay How easie is it for the wind to blow away ashes for a potter to breake in pieces a vessell of clay so easie it is to put an end to the memories and bodies of men they are but ashes and clay Thirdly in regard that every man hath in him that that is the cause of Death sinne It is that that is as poison in the spirits and as rottennesse in the bones Sinne brought in Death and Death seizes upon all men it consumeth all men from the very beginning by degrees Shew me a man without sinne without it either in the committing of it or without it in the guilt of it you may then shew a man that shall not die while all men are under sinne they are under Death Even our blessed Saviour Iesus Christ himselfe though he did not sinne actually yet because hee stood guiltie of our sins Death seized upon him So then Looke to Gods decree that is All men shall die Looke to the matter whereof every man is made that is a decaying dying substance And looke to the cause of death in all men that is sinne If any man can either escape Gods decree or bring a man that is not made of such a mouldring matter or produce and shew a man that hath no sinne in him then you may shew a man that shall not die but till then this conclusion remaineth that the wise man setteth downe this is the end of all men that they shall die But here
die Saint Paul was growne humble and the Lord had prevailed upon him kept downe his spirit from being exalted above measure and now saith he my life is not deare to mee he was content to lay downe his life and all when he was humbled Beloved pride in some outward excellencies or other setteth a man above his place therefore when a man is tooke off from all that puffes up the spirit of a man he will be content to lay downe any of those things even life it selfe if need be Againe secondly Doth God doe it to strengthen faith in a man then the more thou strengthenest faith the more thou shalt be freed from these feares you know faith lookes upon Christ as the proper obiect of it and the more a man interesteth himselfe in Christ the more by Christ hee is freed from the feare of Death Christ hath redeemed us from the Grave and from Death and therefore when by faith hee lookes upon Christ and through him upon Death hee lookes upon that as a thing made instead of poison a medicine in stead of a destroyer a Saviour and deliverer as a meanes to free him from the bondage of sinne and miserie and afflictions c. Thirdly Doth God doe this that he may make men more holy and watchfull in their course then certainly the more thou canst purge out thy sinne in the course of thy life the lesse thou shalt feare death The sting of Death is sinne then if thou wilt have Death comfortable let thy life be conformable to Gods rule and word or else every sinne will present it selfe in death before thee specially those sinnes thou allowest thy selfe in will make Death as bitter as Hell Fourthly Doth God doe it for this end that he may make thee better prepared for death Then the more thou art prepared for Death before hand the lesse thou shalt feare it when it commeth upon thee it will not come as a stranger but thou wilt be ready to receive it as one with whom thou art acquainted already It is a great matter if men could learne this wisedome to die daily that is be every day imployed as dying daily I meane for the manner of your carriage not for the matter for the substance of the dutie If a man were sure to die this day he would lay aside all businesse and set himselfe to be prepared for judgement and would lay aside the use of any other comforts and delights But that is not the meaning but this that we carry our selves in businesse every day as if Death should seize upon us in that businesse that we might be found well-doing that is when a man followeth his earthly businesse with a heavenly mind when he keepeth to the rule of righteousnesse and truth in his ordinary calling when he is doing or receiving good in his company when he useth his pleasures and recreations as the whet-stone to the Sithe to make him fitter for God I say when thus we doe things to a right end and in a right maner if Death now should seize upon us in such an action it should find us well-doing And this is that we perswade you to if you would have death comfortable and not terrible be so imployed as that your actions may be good both for matter and forme that you are now about because Death may strike you in such an action But I cannot stand on these particulars Againe for the causes in our selves If you would be freed from the terrours of Death then rectifie your apprehensions and opinions of Death thinke of it as it is as it is I say to beleevers to those that are in Christ. It is not the destruction of nature and so a naturall Ill as you account it It is rather a cure of nature for assoone as ever we live we are dying and all our life it is but a living death a continuall decaying and dying Now when death commeth it putteth an end to all the decayes of nature and setteth all right againe It is but asleepe and sleepe it is not a destruction but a helpe of the bodie and that which inableth to vigour and strength and fitnesse to action Againe it is not the destruction of any part of a man the body it selfe is not destroyed indeed it is in the Grave but it is in the grave as in a bed of peace They shall come and rest in their beddes saith the Prophet The grave is but as a bed wherein the body lies asleepe and no man you know is troubled with feare that hee goeth to bed The grave is but as Gods chest to keepe in all his Treasure whereof the bodies of his servants are apart precious to him even in the grave in death Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and God will open this Cabinet and the Chest of the Grave in the great day of the Resurrection and bring the body out againe and then it shall be as good as ever it was nay I say not onely as good but much better too for our vile bodies shall bee made like the glorious bodie of Christ. Phil. 3. No man when he goeth to bed thinkes much to have his old cloathes taken off that they may be mended and made better against morning When we sleepe in the Grave it is no more but this the garment of the soule the body the old apparell that is taken off that it may be made better and a more glorious body this is all we lose nothing by it but our estates even our bodily estate is bettered by it And for the Soule Death doth not destroy that neither for know this the soule liveth for ever the bodie indeed returneth to the Earth as it was but the soule returneth to God that gave it The soule I say liveth that is the thing that Christ himselfe proveth in 22. Mat. Abraham is alive why so For God is not the God of the dead but of the living for God said I am the God of Abraham c. How can this be that God is the God of Abraham and yet he is dead Indeed he is dead if wee looke to the separation of the soule and body in the cessation of bodily actions but if we looke to the better part of Abraham his soule that continueth the ever-living God hath made an everlasting Covenant with him and therefore he dieth not Againe it is not onely not the destruction of nature but not of your actions neither Death doth not destroy them neither Indeed there is a cessation of bodily actions but it is that the body may have better strength and be the fitter instrument of holinesse after But for those actions of the soule that depend not upon the body they are as perfectly done when we are dead as when we are alive and better too When a man liveth upon the earth you see his soule is much hindered by the body A distempered sicke
carefull that they had no sinfull thought they would be patternes of the strangest expressions of conformitie to the rule that can be imagined if it were possible to be granted You may easily be perswaded of this doe you that now which they wish for and wish in vaine make use of the time of grace now there is no comming backe againe afterward Thirdly A third reason is this I shall goe to him As if hee should have have said I have another businesse in hand now the child is dead it is not for me to stand blubbering and spending my time for a dead Child I am going to him The word here is I shall returne to him Returne signifieth to goe backe to a place where one was before So David shall returne to his Child for he was there before there in respect of his body the principles of that is in the earth where the Child is and in heaven in respect of his soule where the Child is The Body returneth to dust whence it was taken and the soule to God that gave it The body is of the dust and returneth to dust the soule commeth from God and returnes to God againe Therefore he saith here I shall returne to him because I came from him When things are reduced to their first principles the body to the earth and the soule to God they are said to returne Yee see the phrase then The point briefly is this That the greatest care of a mans life the greatest businesse he hath to doe on earth is to prepare for death His businesse is not to care for his children that are dead and to spend unprofitable sorrow for them the maine businesse of my life is how I shall make my peace with God and bee fitted for death for I am going thither Wee should observe the death of others to stirre us up to a serious preparation for our owne death the Father should be stirred up by seeing his Child dead before him the elder by seeing the younger die before them we see how death hath shot his arrowes beyond and short and above and below us in those that are elder and younger and richer and poorer all sorts he will strike us at last this thing I say should stirre us up to prepare for our owne dissolution A man would thinke that there were no need of such a thing the very bare sight of Corse or a hearse the bare fight of a dead corpse the bare ringing of a bell or a Funerall Sermon should be warning enough to the living to tell him of death When a man sees a company carrying a dead body to the gaave he should say to himselfe It may bee the feet of these may carrie me next But how commeth it to passe that it is not thus Certainly there is not power in all examples to worke this it is the worke of Gods spirit Though a man observe the death of never so many before him yet this cannot worke in him a serious care to make preparation for his owne death except God adde a further worke to it We may see this in the expression of Moses when so many died in the Wildernesse Lord teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome As if hee should have said Though so many thousands died in the Wildernesse and that by so many severall kinds of death yet we shall never apply our hearts to wisedome by those examples except God teach us that wisdome Therefore we should pray to God to teach us by his Spirit to make use of Examples Men must give account for examples aswell as for rules men must give account for examples of mortalitie as well as for Sermons of mortalitie therefore let the example of others mortality stirre you up to prepare for your owne and that you may doe so be much in calling upon God Lastly Hee shall not returne to mee that is in this sense to converse on earth as he had done before I shall returne to him but hee shall not returne to mee He doth but reitterate and repeat what he had said before in effect This is the thing then that Parents must make account of both for themselves and their children For their children It should make them moderate therefore in their sorrow for them God now hath shewed his purpose and declared his will therefore wee should rest in that will of God This is the thing that David aymed at Gods will was not only to takeaway his child but so to take him away as never to returne to him againe in that manner Now God had declared his will and therefore why should I fast saith he as if he should say I will now rest in the will of God In all the things which we account crosses and losses in children and friends c. The maine businesse of a Christian is not to expresse sorrow but submission and subjection to God to exercise and inure his heart to patience and to rest in Gods good pleasure and will As Eli though he faild in his carriage to his sonnes yet he shewed a dutifull respect to God his heavenly father When Samuel told him the judgement of God that should come upon his house It is the Lord saith he let him doe what seemeth him good in his owne eyes though it were a heavy judgement such as whosoever should heare of it both his eares should tingle yet it is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good As if he should say I have nothing to doe in this businesse but to subject my selfe with patient submission and contentednesse to his will it is the Lord it becommeth not me to contend with him and to reason with God concerning his worke I confesse hee is righteous let him doe what seemeth him good in his owne eyes And so Aaron There was a heavy judgement befallen him his sonnes were consumed with fire yet the text saith Aaron held his peace When God manifested so great wrath to his house in wasting and consuming and burning his sonnes for offering of strange fire yet Aaron held his peace that is he did only mind how to glorifie God by a contented submission to his will So Iob hee heard not only of the losse of his children but that he lost them in such a manner by a violent death by a house falling on their heads yet the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed bee the name of the Lord. Whereas a carnall worldly man would have fallen to strugling and contending and quarrelling against God and so trouble and perplex his owne spirit We doe exceedingly imbitter Gods cup by mingling with it ingredients of our owne passions and so make the affliction more heavy and grievous then God intends it Here is the reason wee possesse not our soules with patience When we are sensible of the losse of friends and children c. let us learne to make it our businesse to thinke I have a
greater worke to doe to prepare for my owne death God in the death of this man speakes to me to prepare for my owne And then to glorifie God by submission to his will make it appeare that thou acknowledgest a power in God to dispose of thy house to doe every thing by patiently resting in his will And yet this comfort is added though children be tooke away that they shall not returne in an earthly manner yet they shall in a better manner Parents are contented to part with their children for a time for their preferment Children though theyare very young that are commended by the prayers of the godly Parents into the hands of God these whose hearts God hath inlarged and quickned fervently and faithfully to pray in the behalfe of their children they may rest in this assured that they shall meet at the Resurrection in a better manner their children shall be better preferred then if they were on earth and shall be raised up to perfection Here you see there is not a tooth bred in a child without a great deale of paine and every tooth cost some paine but this mortall bodie shall put on immortalitie and this corruption shall put on incorruption This weake body shall be made strong weake children strong without paine Death endeth these things and the Resurrection shall present him in a perfect measure of strength in a glorified estate So much for this text and for this time FINIS THE STING OF DEATH OR THE STRENGTH OF SINNE ROM 5. 12. By one man sinne entred into the world and by death sinne ROM 7. 9. When the Commandement came sinne revived and I died LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE STING OF DEATH OR THE STRENGTH OF SINNE SERMON VI. 1 Cor. 15. 56. The sting of Death is Sinne and the strength of Sinne is the Law SOlomon telleth thus that there is a season for every thing there is a time to bee borne and a time to die These two are the two great seasons of all men we are as sure to die as we are sure we have lived and every degree of our life is but a steppe to our death Every man of us hath but a part to act here in the world when wee have done that that God hath appointed us we are drawne off from the Stage by Death You will say this is a hard condition for so Noble a creature as Man is to be folded up in the grave for so faire a beautie as the life of man is to be closed up in eternall darknesse that Man should turne to the acquaintance of dust and wormes and make his habitation with rottennesse and loathsomnesse that Death should have the victorie of so excellent a Creature it is a hard condition The Apostle thinkes not so he thinkes otherwise Death saith he ver 54. is swallowed up in victorie As if he should say It need not trouble you to thinke so of Death the condition of it is not so strange and hard as men take it to be It is swallowed up in victory If a man have a strong enemy to deale with it might trouble him but it is no great matter to deale with a conquered enemie Christ hath overcome Death hath conquered that strong enemie Death is swallowed up in victory Therefore Saint Paul in the precedent and subsequent verses of this Chapter seemeth to insult and triumph over Death Oh Death saith he where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victorie As if he should say before Christ came and conquered thee Death thou wert victorious so it was there was a sting in it before Christ sweetned the Grave there was something that was terrible in the Grave but now because Christ is come and hath gotten the victory over the one and sweetned the other therefore Saint Paul breakes forth thus into an insultation and triumph But how can this be Why doth the Apostle thus triumph The reason is insinuated in the verse I have read to you the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law But this is the occasion of trouble to Christians No it is not thankes bee to God that hath given us victory through Iesus Christ our Lord As if he should say I will shew you the reason of my triumphing over Death there was a sting in Sinne and Sinne is the sting of Death and the Law is the strength of sinne but Christ hath tooke away sinne and hath satisfied the Law sinne being taken away Death cannot hurt me the Law being satisfied Sinne cannot prejudice me This was the cause of the Apostles and in him of every Christians insultation over Death The words I have read containe two parts First the sting of Death Secondly the strength of Sinne. First the sting of death is sinne Secondly the strength of sinne is the Law If there were no law there would bee no sinne and if there were no sinne there would be no death Sinne is the transgression of the Law and sinne is the sting of death I shall only at this time insist upon the first of these from whence I shall deliver that which if it please God to accompany with his Spirit may be usefull to you The proposition shall be the very words of the Text Sinne is the sting of death This Proposition I would not have you understand in this sense only that death came in by sinne meerely in a habit though that be true too But understand it in this sense That all the horrour and terriblenesse of Death all the power and rage it hath whatsoever makes it fearefull to a man it receiveth it all from sinne It is sinne that armeth Death against a man if Death have any weapons against a man Sinne puts those weapons into the hands of Death if Death have any poyson against a Christian the sinne of that person putteth that poyson in it Death may bee considered two wayes either as Christ hath made it or as we make it Death as Christ hath made it is a medicine to a Christian a passage and entrance to happinesse it is a day of redemption and refreshing and so we need not be afraid of it Death as we by sinne have made it is the Pale horse Saint Iohn speakes of in the Revelation it is as a fearfull arrest to the debtor it hath a sting in it and so it is fearefull But that I may open this point more profitably wee will enquire into these particulars First what death the Apostle speakes of here Secondly of what sinne he speakes of Thirdly in what respect sinne is called the sting of death And then we will make the use and application of all this First of what death doth the Apostle here speake of that sinne is the sting of For answer hereunto there is a double death corporall and spirituall Corporall death is the privation of the soule when the soule is severed from
the body Spirituall death when God and grace are severed from the soule The Text speakes of the corporall death Sinne is not the sting of the spirituall death for the spirituall death is sinne it selfe And here I will not contend with any man if he be full of enquirie but I will distinguish two parts of spirituall death and I grant in one of them is this sting In spirituall death therefore there are two parts or two degrees The first is called the first death That I take to bee the death of the soule in sinne The second part is when soule and body are for ever closed up in Hell And in this part sinne is the sting And remember this by the way Sinne is not onely a sting now but it will be a sting to men in Hell the sting the deadlinesse the extremity of punishment that is in Hell it is received all from sinne for the damned in Hell when they come there as they cease not to sinne so the sting of sinne ceaseth not to be with them and it may be delivered by conjecture I thinke Hell were no Hell if there were not the sting of sinne there So then you see what death the Apostle speakes of principally of corporall death but it may be extended to the second part of spirituall death for there sinne continueth and so the sting remaineth The next question is what sinne the Apostle speakes of when he saith the sting of death is sinne This is not a time to stirre controversies therefore those ancient controversies and such as are lately stirred up about originall sinne how farre it is the sting of death I let them goe In a word to let you see what sinne is the sting of death remember this Sinne may be considered two wayes either as it is intire untouched uncrushed Let that sinne be what it will be whether it be originall onely or whether it be any actuall sinne streaming from originall whether it be a sinne of ignorance or knowledge whether it be of pleasure or of profit A sinne immediatly that respecteth God or immediatly respecteth our neighbour whatsoever the sinne be if it bee not touched if it bee not crushed if it scape uncontrouled if it be in its native power and keepes in his kingdome if it rule in a man that sinne will certainly be the sting of Death Euery sinne vertually is the sting of death there is an aptitude in every Sinne. But in the event that Sinne proveth the sting of death that is untouched uncontrouled Not every sinne in the event proveth the sting of death but that Sinne that liveth in us or rather that Sinne that we live in that ruleth in us that we affect and love this is the Sinne that putteth a sting into death That very sinne that thou lovest and likest so much and pleadest for that sinne will make death terrible Secondly Sinne may be considered as it is galled and vexed and mortified in the Soule When a man setteth upon the root of Sinne and the way of Sinne and falleth a crucifying the body of Sinne and the members of it I say howsoever there bee divers motions and stirrings of Sinne in the soule yet if these be disavowed disaffected and mortified if there be a crucifying vertue passe over them if they come not within the judgement to approve them or within the affections to embrace and like them if they come not to be a mans trade and way and walke but fall within the improbation of the judgement to disavow them and the misliking of the affections to sorrow for them These shall not be the sting of death whatsoever the motions are But these untouched unmortified sinnes these are the sting of death Now these are the sting of death in a double respect First in respect of the guilt Secondly in respect of the corruption First they are a sting in respect of guilt Every Sinne remaining unsatisfied for remaineth with his guilt and when Sinne is not satisfied for there is the sting of death When the sinner hath nothing to oppose to the justice of God for the sinne he hath committed if the Sinne be in the booke of God uncrossed bee a debt there not blotted out by the blood of Christ if Christ have not satisfied for it if the sinner have not part in him as we shall heare anone then Sin is the sting of death And then secondly they are a sting in respect of the corruption and filthinesse of Sins unmortified Those filthy sinfull motions those depraving qualities inthy soule that thou likest and practisest in thy conversation they give thee up into the hands of Death to execute his Sting upon thee And therefore you that applaud your selves in Sinne and will goe on in Sin doe so But know this when thou commest to the full strength of thy Sinne let it be what it will when Death commeth it findeth the strongest weapon it hath in thy sinne the very power of thy sinne armeth Death against thy soule No man is more obnoxious and open to the sharpest dart of Death then that man that will goe on in Sinne. So you see what Sin is spoken of that is the sting of death that Sin is the sting of Death that a man loveth and doteth on The third Question is in what respect Sin is the sting of Death First by way of Eminencie because that then the sting of Sin beginneth most sensibly to worke in a man Not but that Sin hath a sting before Death but then the deluded sinner feeles his sinne there be divers times that Sin can sting a person before that but then howsoever the sinner hath deluded himselfe and the word of God and the world he can delude them no more Death then most ordinarily fixeth his sting in the soule and makes the sinner feele the smart of his sinne There be three times wherein Sinne can sting a man Before death At death After death Before Death God sometimes letteth loose the conscience of a man even of the most resolved sinner of him that beares himselfe up aloft in his owne eyes in scorne and contempt of the ministrie of the Word sometime I say God singleth out such a person and rippeth up all his heart strikes his Arrowes into his very soule and stings his conscience so irresistably that he knoweth not which way to turne from the wrath that boyleth in his soule And it is one thing to deale with the Minister and another to deale with God When God strikes his Arrowes of uengeance into the soule of a sinner then such a one is stung indeed this God doth sometimes before death Nay sometimes God stingeth the consciences of his owne children for sinne David cries out hee roared for the disquitnesse of his spirit his bones were broken he was sore vexed Lord how long saith he If there be such deepe disquiet by reason of this sting in the consciences of good persons
is that The time of death the heart of a man is put to it at such a time and now these shrinke nothing can inable a man against feare so much as sincerity and uprightnesse When the Prophet Isaiah told Hezekiah from God that he must die he flieth to this Lord remember how I have walked before thee with an upright heart and done that which was good in thy sight When Death commeth to a wicked voluptuous person and telleth him I am here come for thee thou must appeare before God what can this man say Lord I have lived before thee a voluptuous proud wretched life I was a scorner of thy Word a contemner and persecutor of thy people a swearer c. What though perhaps he can say Lord I have heard so many Sermons I have beene so much in conference and the like will this inable a man against the feare of Death No nothing but this that he hath a sincere heart that his heart is unmixed that sinne is not affected in his soule that there is no sinne that hee would live in no duty that he would not doe Lord remember that I have walked before thee uprightly I say nothing will inable a man more against feare then sinceritie and nothing disgraceth perplexeth the soule in an exigent more then hypocrisie It is sinceritie that takes away the sting of Death The Apostle in Rom. 14. saith he No man liveth to himselfe but if hee live hee liveth to the Lord and if hee die hee dieth to the Lord whether wee live or die wee are the Lords Here is the comfort wee are the Lords saith he How proveth hee that Wee live unto him That is the worke of a sincere heart A true Christian liveth not to himselfe but to Christ Now if thy conscience give thee this testimony I have lived unto Christ then whether I live or die I am the Lords the Apostle concludeth it So right is that of Solomon Riches availeth not in the day of wrath but righteousnesse delivereth from death Thy righteousnesse and sincerity delivereth thee not from dying but from death It takes away the sting and power of Death Death shall not be death to thee it is onely a passage to thee Therefore remember as to get a part in Christ so to get a perfect and sincere heart and then the sting of death is gone But a hypocriticall divided heart a heart and a heart that will sting a man That is the second Thirdly wouldest thou have the sting of death pulled out now Then mortifie thy sinnes now doe it presently Remember what Saint Paul saith but I thinke hee speakes it in respect of afflictions I professe by our rejoycing in Christ Iesus I die daily If it be meant of afflictions yet it should be verified of us in respect of sinne die daily to sinne and then the sting of death is gone Oh beloved our condition will be sad and discomfortable when at once we must enter into the field with Death and Sinne he that dieth daily to Sin hee hath nothing to doe with Death when it commeth Death may come to such a party but it cannot hurt him he may rest quietly when it commeth And observe it so much sinne as thou now sparest so much sting thou reservest for Death and is it not folly in a man to spare sinne that giveth a sting to Death But now as a man is to crucifie every sinne let me put in this caution and remember this advise As the sting of every sin is to be pulled out so pull out especially the sting of that Sin that now stingeth thy conscience that now lieth upon thy conscience for if it worke now it will worke fearfully at death Death doth not lessen the work of sin but inrageth it God wil then present and set thy sins in orderbefore thee perhaps God hath brought thee here to day to heare this Word getthee home and set thy soule in order The love of Sin and the feare of Death seldome paâ—…t and where Sinne is much loved Death will there be much feared Death is never more terrible then where sin is most delighted in Therefore crucifie sinne if thou wilt have the sting of death taken away It may be thou thinkest it is a troublesome worke but remember that those sinnes which thou now so much delightest in and lovest and livest in will then prove the sting of death to thee If a man would spend his time in the mortification of sinne when death commeth he should have nothing to doe but to let his soule loose to God and to give it up to him as into the hands of his most faithfull Creatour and Redeemer And is it not an excellent thing for a man to have nothing to doe with Death when it commeth Lastly here is a use of comfort If it hath pleased God to give any of us the grace to pull out the sting of death it is a great comfort But Death is approching you will say Oh but Death is disarmed the sting of it is taken away what a singular comfort is it then to you that Death is comming Indeed all the comfort that the soule is capable of is this that the sting of death is tooke away Now when Death commeth upon such a man it doth but free him from all that state of miserie hee is in here from all that extremitie of condition that he is put into from all those diversities of occasions pressing occasions of tumbling about in the world Death doth but put an end to all And which is an excellent comfort to a Christian Sin is ended with Death what afflicteth the soule of a Christian but that hee carrieth about him a body of sinne and of death This was a trouble to Saint Paul and is to every true Christian Now when Death commeth there is an end of this Body of sinne thou shalt never sinne more thou shalt never grieve the Spirit of God more thou shalt never be clogged with such imperfections and infirmities in dutie that death that commeth to thee shall passe thee to the fruition of eternall glory and what canst thou desire more then to be happy in eternall glory with God FINIS THE DESRVCTION OF THE DESTROYER OR THE OVER THROVV OF THE LAST ENEMIE PSAL. 9. 6. O thou Enemie thy Destructions are come to a perpetuall end ISAIAH 25. 8. Hee will swallow up Death in victorie LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE DESTRVCTION OF THE DESTROYER OR THE OVER THROW OF THE LAST ENEMIE SERMON VII 1 COR. 15. 16. The last enemie that shall bee destroyed is Death DEath is a subject that a Christian should have in his thoughts often and neither the hearing nor thinking nor speaking of it can be unseasonable for any place or person We have heard that the life of Philosophers is nothing but a meditation of Death and certainly the life of a Christian much more should abound in
is a nullitie of beeing in respect of a living creature there is nothing liveth Here is a perishing from a being to a not beeing Againe perishing may be a passage from a being to a worse beeing so an impenitent man when he dieth he passeth from life to death yea to an eternall death to a worse beeing that is a perishing and a proper perishing that is worse then to bee lost It is better to have no beeing then to have either of these But in neither of these senses the righteous man perisheth hee hath a beeing and a well-beeing after death His soule hath a real beeing with God in happinesse his body hath a beeing of hope though it be in the grave Nay it hath a real beeing of happinesse as it is a member of Christ in regard of the misticall union So in no sense he perisheth he is but tooke away hee is but removed it is but Exodus but transitus his death is not a going out of the Candle it is but a translation a removing of it to a better frame it is set upon a more glorious table to shine more bright The word is well expounded in the 11. Hebr. concerning Enoch whereas in the fifth of Genesis the Scripture saith Enoch walked with God and God tooke him in the Hebrewes it is said he was translated In the one he was tooke away that is in respect of the world In the other hee was translated that is in respect of heaven They are tooke away that is from the place of miserie the Dungeon the prison to a place of glory and happinesse They are tooke away from the house of clay to the house Eternall not made with hands in the heavens they are translated upward that is meant in this So that there are two observations in this First That Pietie and Mercie excuseth not from death Godlinesse it selfe freeth not a man from death Death it is that end that is propounded to all men The bodies of godly men are of the same mould and temper of the same frame and constitution as other men their flesh is as fraile their humours as cholericke their spirit as fading their breath as vanishing they owe the same debt to nature to sinne to God to themselves and their owne happinesse They are bound under the weight of the same Law the statute law is It is appointed to all men to die once It is well said to die once for the impenitent man dieth twice he dieth here by the separation of his soule from his body that is the first death and there is the second death that succeedeth that the death of the soule by a separation of it from God which is far worse But righteous and mercifull men die once the first death seizeth upon them It is appointed to all It is the end of all flesh in one place It is the end of all the earth in another place It is the end of all living the end of all men even mercifull and godly men are brought within the compasse of this law of Nature to yeeld up this debt due Righteousnesse excuses not it frees not It is a law that bindeth one as well as another As Basil of Seuleucia observeth though Adam was the first that sinned yet Abel was the first that died Adam committed the transgression the elder sonne was Cain the second Abel in the course of nature the eldest should have gone first but Abel righteous Abel that was the moytie the halfe of his comfort and the greater halfe though the younger Adam sinneth first and yet righteous Abel dieth first Hee gives the reason to be this because God would let us see in the Portall of death the table of the Resurrection he would shew us the linnaments of the Resurrection in the first man that dieth that righteous Abel is tooke away that we should be assured that he was but translated there was hope of the Resurrection confirmed even in his death But yet that is not all the reason I conceive that is more proper to this is righteous Abel dieth first to shew that even righteous and mercifull men must not expect immunitie from death and from suffering tribulation in this world it is the condition that befalleth Abel the righteous as well as Cain the Pharisee It belongeth to faithfull Abraham as well as to Apostatizing Demas to beloved Iacob as well as to rejected Esau to meeke Moses as well as to cursing Shemei to Deborah the Prophetesse as well as to usurping Athaliah to devout Iosiah as well as to impious Ahab to tender-hearted David as well as to churlish Nabal to the humble Publican as well as to the vaunting Pharisee It is the law and rule that is set to all there is no exemption righteousnesse pietie and workes of mercie then doe not exempt For if they could exempt how should pietie have the reward when should godlinesse come to the full recompence It is Death that makes way to the hope of reward And if it be so that righteousnesse excuseth not then neither honour nor strength nor beautie nor riches can excuse in the world for these are of farre lesse prevalencie with God then pietie So the Argument standeth strongly if Iob died that was a mercifull man if Abel was taken away that was a righteous man looke to other conditions then Caesar that is the Princes of the world shall be cut off their state and pompe shall not keepe them then Cressus that is the rich men of the world shall die their purse and plentie shall not excuse them then Socrates that is the prudent and learned men of the world their wisdome shall not prevent it then Helena that is the Minnions of the world the decking of their bodies and their beauty and painting shall bee fetched off they will expose them to death they shall not free them then Sampson that is the strong men of the world those that are healthy of able parts likely to out-live nature their strength shall not excuse them that no man should glorie in any thing without Neither the strong man in his strength nor the wise man in his wisedome or the rich man in his wealth but if hee glory in any thing to glory in the Lord. Though wee must not boast our selves of pietie yet as the Apostle saith yee have compelled mee If a man may boast of any thing it is of pietie that is rejoyce in this if God have made a man a vessell of mercie and an instrument of doing any good but otherwise to boast of it even that shall be the staine and further disgrace of it for righteousnesse it selfe excuses not from death all are subject to the same law that is the first observation Mercifull men are taken away as well as others Secondly there is a difference in the manner though they bee subject to death yet it is a subjection under another subjection Death is made subject to them they conquer Death So both
stand together they die and not die because their death is but a translation but a removing There are two persons two men in every penitent and godly man there is somewhat of a righteous man and somewhat of a sinner somewhat of the flesh and somewhat of the spirit so according to these two both lawes are kept the Law of commination that is kept thou shalt die the death there is the reward of sinne the law of promise that is kept thou shalt live for ever there is the reward of righteousnesse Mortalitie giveth the reward to sinne immortalitie to pietie Though they die they are but taken away The word implies these two things First it implies that their death is but a temporarie death Taking away is not a finall translation it doth not implie a nullitie Death though it cut the knot of nature yet not of grace It is true there is the sharpe Axe of Death there is no knot so Gordian but it will cut it asunder It is a great knot that was first knit betweene the body and the soule it cutteth that asunder It is a sure knot which is the Conjugal knot between man and wife it cutteth that asunder There is a naturall bond and union betweene Parents and children it cuts that asunder There is a civill union betweene friend and friend it cuts that knot asunder it takes one friend from another But there is the misticall union betweene the head and the members betweene Christ and the Church it cannot cut that knot asunder But looke as Christs body in the Grave it was not deprived of the Hypostaticall union so likewise the body of a Saint when it lies in the grave in corruption it is mellowing for immortalitie and eternitie yea then it enjoyeth the benefit of the misticall Union there is somewhat of a member of Christ that lies in the grave that dust that the body of a Saint is resolved into it is holy Dust because that misticall Union is not cut asunder Death cutteth not that knot It perfecteth the misticall Union in respect of the soule and it is but an interruption of the manifestation of the union in respect of the body it is never severed As the Husbandman hath some corne in his ground and some in his Barne the Corne in his ground is of no lesse value and account then that in his house and Barne Nay it is of more for that that is in his Barne shall not multiply so many bushels he putteth up and so many hee receiveth but that which is in the ground multiples therefore it is in as great account So it is with God There are many bodies of the Saints walking on the earth and those that are laid in the grave that are sowen as the Apostle saith for immortalitie The bodies of the Saints in the grave are of no lesse account with God then those which walke up and downe in the world and glorifie him with workes of pietie why the body is sowne to immortalitie there is still somewhat of Christ. That is the first thing it implies They are taken away it argues that their death is temporary Secondly it sheweth it is deliberate that their death is not sudden For there is a difference betweene these two to be snatched away and to be taken away Impenitent men when they are taken away in judgement they are snatched away in displeasure The godly man God takes him away removes him it is as gentle a word as could be used there cannot be a better word to expresse it in our translation then for God to take him away Iob and Moses expressed it so and so Isaiah here to shew that Death is never sudden to the mercifull and righteous man why because he is alwaies prepared It may bee sudden in respect of others but not to himselfe The stroke of Death may be the same to a righteous man as to an impenitent man they may both fall by the prevalencie of the same disease the same duration of sicknesse the same warning given them the same sympathy but there is a difference in regard of the suddennesse If it be a sudden stroke that overtakes an impenitent man then it is two wayes sudden even a premeditated death is sudden to him because he is not prepared sudden death commeth not to a prepared man because he lookes for it it may as I said be sudden to others but it is not to himselfe why because he expects Death he dieth daily hee dieth in his thoughts before hee dies in act he dies in meditation before he dies in passion I die daily saith the Apostle Death when it came to the Apostle it found him dying it could not come suddenly to him Death findes him setting open the dores therefore though it seeme sudden death it cannot be sudden because he is taken away the stroke of Death may be sudden but the issue of death is not sudden the stroke may be sudden to his body but not to his mind because he fitteth himselfe still for it There is the deliberation implied in the word his death is not sudden in that he is prepared God awaketh his heart to make him looke for it therefore when Death commeth though sooner or later it doth but take him it snatcheth him not away that is the meaning of the second The third word is the extent of this act from the evill to come that is a word that is not specified in the former part it makes both this and that the more full it makes a greater demonstration of Gods goodnesse hee is not only mercifull in taking away but he takes away from that that is evill hee takes from a bad estate to a better An evill that is present that is simply so an Evill for the time to come God takes righteous and mercifull men from both That I may lay a fit path for my proceeding in it Saint Austin devideth the nature of Evill well to those two heads there is the Evill of doing and the evill of suffering that is the evill of sinne and of punishment The first of these the Evill of sinne is opposite saith Aquinas to the increated good The second the Evill of punishment is opposite to the created good God takes away mercifull men from both these First from the Evill of suffering Two wayes he is tooke from that Hee is tooke away from the Evill of suffering that hee shall not see it and that he shall not undergoe it and endure it First that he shall not see it that he shall not bee a spectatour that is one part of taking away For righteous and mercifull men have tender affections and yearning bowels when they see Gods judgements extended over any place or person they sympathize with them they weepe with those that weepe and mourne with those that mourne God takes them from this sorrow and mourning It hath alwayes beene accounted one part of the happinesse of a godly man to be taken from
had removed the obstacles that then he would poure his wrath upon them Secondly there is another extent of the Word that is of the subject of the person No man It argueth the neglect to be generall A man would have thought that upon the mention of the first word Mercifull men are taken away the mourners should goe about in the streets the poore Orphans should weepe because they have lost a Patron No such matter no consideration on no hand that is a wonder had the mercifull man no wife no children no friend to mourne after him when he was buried in the earth was there no well-willers to him that had benefit by his pietie to mourne for the righteous man was there none like to himselfe one righteous man will mourne for another What is this then No man If they would not regard the pietie of the godly man or mercifull when he lived me thinkes when hee died there should be some consideration A Mountaine as long as it standeth men take no great notice of it but if fall all eyes looke upon it The Sunne when he is in his strength there are few eyes that looke on it but if it come to an ecclipse every man getteth into his Turret Generally men delight to looke upon those Starres that in their opinion they thinke are fallen All these the godly man is Hee shineth as a starre here as the Sunne in his strength after he is as a Mountaine as a Beacon upon a Mountaine more glorious The Mountaine and the starre falleth 〈◊〉 Sunne is in the Ecclipse Mercifull men are taken away and no man considereth it I will not say it is to be taken in the full extent it implieth not a nullitie but a paucitie As in that place in the Psalme There is none that doth good no not one The Prophet doth not implie that there was not one godly man at all but so few that they could hardly be numbred a great paucitie So here No man considereth that is those that considered were so very few that there was hardly notice taken of them they were hardly in the compasse of a Number Nay it is twice noted No man no man to shew it was almost a nullitie there is not any not any that is they were exceeding few What is the reason Because they were not acquainted with the rule and way of pietie therefore they mourned not If pietie were within it would simpathize without as there is like rejoycing so they would sorrow together Wee are not to thinke but they had naturall affection though it were almost cut off it is likely if any of their kinne were tooke away they would mourne If a Father or Mother were taken away the most impenitent man would have teares though not for sin yet for losses and crosses then there are those that would crie with Elisha My father my father the Chariots of Israel c. If a brother or a sister were taken away I doubt not but there are those that would follow with the voyce of lamentation Alas my brother alas my sister woe is mee for my brother Ionathan Wee have teares for brethren Further if it were but a child that were lost a man would be sure to find teares for them and sigh a long time after and would say with David Oh Absalom my son my son would God I had died for thee my son All conditions that live find teares in mens eyes and consideration of their departure only the godly and the righteous man findeth none Here is their stupiditie Can there be a greater stupiditie then to make a man die twice as they die the death of their bodies so to make them suffer a death in our memories as they perish to the world so to perish also in our thoughts and meditations We owe God so much we owe pietie so much we owe the memoriall of many so much we owe our selves so much as to take it into consideration And yet no man considereth This is the fault which we may examine our selves of For if we now make reflection of all this upon our selves we shall find a conformitie with out times There is never a word of this Scripture but it is true now I will not take the parts in order First wee cannot denie that evill is to come upon this place Nay it were well if it were to come it is come already it hath overtaken us If we load the earth with the evill of sinne it is impossible that God should forbeare long The evill of sinne that surchargeth the earth must be unloaden againe by this burthen by the burthen of punishment one burthen must justle out another Evils there have beene impendant that we have seene Evils there are now present that we begin to groane under and no man can tell where that evill will stay There is evill present and evils to come because our evils are still multiplying the beginnings of sorrowes and sufferings and feares God grant it may stay But our state and condition is like them in this that they are yet impendant We see the heavens growne blacke judgements are a ripening When yee see the skie red when yee see the skie blacke judgement is beginning not only beginning to bud but it beginneth to spread and inlarge it selfe Thus farre there is a correspondencie There is evill that we have cause to feare and suspect yet further to come on this place Secondly there is a conformitie with the other too in our negligence The world sendeth forth men now voide of naturall affection It was never so before For if before they neglected others yet they were carefull of themselves But men now desperatly neglect their owne salvations There is no respect to God no pitty of others no not of themselves I doe not wonder that men heretofore considered not when they loved their lives better then their sinnes because they had some sensible taste of that that was temporall when they loved their lives better then heaven But now men love not their lives best but their sinnes better for though their lives bee in danger yet their sins are kept It is an admirable thing to consider how every way we are given to plentie to ryot to securitie notwithstanding God commeth neere and bringeth his judgement even to the dore and makes it swell He forbeareth a long time to trie us with mercies and then he takes a severe course Where shal men see the face of an alteration our lives are the same our delights the same our vanities and follies the same we keepe the same sins still as if we were bent to provoke God further to see what he will doe That is an evident signe we consider not for what purpose God sendeth his plagues we consider not what he doth when he takes away others for our example none lay it to heart and take it into consideration it swimmeth not in his braine We begin to tremble and we thinke our selves well if we
woman that doth that but shee may perhaps out-live her Husband A vertuous woman will doe him good and not evill all the dayes of her life And for this amongst many other things I doe commend this vertuous Gentlewoman I may almost say with the words there in the end of that Chapter Many daughters have done excellently but thou surmountest them all So I may say many women peradventure have done excellently in this kind but I doe not know of any one that ever hath done the like to her Husband I pray you heare it Her Husband had a brother that lived in Portugall at the time of his death who was there married he had there three children at least two sonnes and a daughter This vertuous good Woman would give her selfe no rest till she had these children out of Portugall shee got the two sonnes hither And what was her care here is another excellencie of hers her chiefe care was for their soules What did shee or rather what did shee not to winne those children from Poperie in which they have beene brought up and to bring them to the true service of God Shee obtained it she got it When shee had done that wonne them to our religion she had not done all one of these had a desire to exercise some Merchandise by Sea Shee furnished him to the Sea shee furnished him with money for his adventures The other shee bound Apprentise here in the Citie to an honest trade and shee hath given them a liberall childes portion I may say so A childes portion that they may thanke God and I hope they wil have the grace to do it that they had I do not say such an Aunt in law but such a Mother Here was not all Shee sent for the Mother too shee was but sister-in-law to her Husband she sent for the Mother she sent for the Daughter they were here Shee clothed them she fed them some moneths and if shee could have wonne them to our religion she would have maintained the Mother while shee had lived shee would have brought up the Daughter as her owne child But that could not be done it was a worke beyond her strength You see here a vertuous Woman that did good to her Husband not all the dayes of his life but all the dayes of her life To the very last day of her life shee never did cease to doe good to her Husband in his kindred and I thinke I may say that shee was more carefull of his kindred then of her owne But this is not all This kindnesse you will say was shewed to her Husbands kindred Heare a little more therefore Shee knew that there were many Ministers that had a great charge of children and peradventure would be very glad to have some of their children taken off of their hands Shee hath given to the putting out of five Ministers children to bind them Apprentices fiftie pounds Shee knew that there were some poore persons of the Palatinate here which stood in necessitie Shee hath given to the reliefe of them twentie pounds Shee knew that there were many poore soules that lay in Turkish slavery Shee hath given for the redeeming of them twentie pounds Nay yet more Shee considered that her Husband was sometime a poore scholler in the Universitie of Cambridge And shee considered too that there are many Ministers Widowes that lived well while their husband lived that are faine to crave reliefe the greater is the shame of some men when they are dead Shee hath therefore given five hundred pounds to purchase lands and with this land to maintaine partly two Schollers in the Universitie from their first comming thither till they bee Masters of Art And then with the residue to maintaine foure Widowes that have beene the Wives of honest preaching Ministers Zacheus his offer was but halfe of his goods Lord halfe of my goods I give to the poore For ought I can perceive and understand above halfe of her estate shee hath given to charitable uses I say no more of her These workes of her will praise her in the gates Shee died in the Countrey And I am sorry that I had not information as I did desire of her behaviour in her sicknesse I have it not I can say nothing of it but thus much It was not possible that such a creature that lived thus as we know she did in obedience to God in repentance in faith with invocation of Gods mercie in Charity in Peace but that her death was blessed Shee that lived in the Lord no question but she died in the Lord and shee is blessed for Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. God Lord teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome and grant that as we grow in yeares we may grow in knowledge of thy truth in obedience to thy will in faith in thy promises in love toward thee and toward our neighbours for thy sake that when wee come to the end of our dayes wee may come to the end of our hope the salvation of our soules through Jesus Christ to whom with thee oh Father and thee oh holy Spirit three Persons but one true and immortall and onely wise God be given both from us and all thy creatures in heaven and in earth continuall praise honour glory dominion and power now and for evermore Let all those that heare the word of God depart from iniquitie Now the God of Peace that brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus the great Shepheard of the sheepe through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect to doe his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ. Amen FINIS THE CHRISTIANS CENTER OR HOW TO LIVE TO GOD. PHILIP 1. 20. Christ shall bee magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death 2 COR. 5. 15. They which live should not hence-forth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose againe LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE CHRISTIANS CENTER OR HOW TO LIVE TO GOD. SERMON X. ROM 14. 7. For none of us liveth to himselfe and no man dieth to himselfe for whether we live we live to the Lord and whether wee die wee die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die wee are the Lords THese words containe an Argument or reason which the Apostle useth to prove that the weake Christian should bee borne withall and that men should not judge because of the difference of meat amongst them Hee sheweth that they did not with the neglect of the knowledge of any truth keepe themselves ignorant in this particular but it was their weaknesse The strong should beare with the weake and the weake should not censure the strong the reason is because they agree in one end they propound one generall end to themselves that guides them in all their actions they walke in one way and in one path and
and drawes him to God therefore I say there are certaine graces that every one should exercise if he would not live to himselfe What are those First the knowledge of God in Christ. Get a more full and particular and experimentall knowledge of God All our looking to the creature is because we know not God perfectly if we did know him we would account him the chiefest of tenne thousand the Church when she knew Christ said so wee would account him as Elkanah said to Hannah Am not I better to thee then tenne sounes better then tenne friends then ten worlds Get therefore a more full knowledge of God that all power is in him One thing have I heard once and twice that power belongeth unto God saith the Psalmist Secondly Get faith in the exercise more All the worthies of the Lord in that 11. Hebr. What made them live â—…o to God and not to themselves as they did because they beleeved they did it by faith by faith Abraham denied himselfe by faith Moses forsooke the pleasures of Egypt by faith those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy wandred up and downe in sheepes skins and goats skins and would not be delivered When a man getteth interest in Christ by faith he shall see that in him that will satisfie all his desires and answer all his losses Thirdly exercise Love Faith workes by love The more we love God in Christ the more perfectly wee shall cleave to him Love is a uniting grace that uniteth the soule to Christ. The love of Christ constraineth mee saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. for wee thus judge if one died for all then it is fit they that live should not live to themselves And the truth is the more a soule loveth Christ the more it will live to him Lastly a word of the last Use and that is for instruction Beeing convinced that such is the estate of most men that they live to themselves and that whose estate soever it is it is a sinfull estate and argueth a man out of Christ and that there is a possibility of getting out of this estate Let it be for instruction to all those that in some measure live to God and not to themselves let it be to teach them and perswade them more fully to live to him and lesse to themselves A man simply considered without any relation to others or dependance upon another man he may please himselfe but when a man is considered in his dependance upon God and his relation to men hee must then observe the will of his Creatour in that relation God hath set him he must carry himselfe as his creature and observe the end that the creature is appointed to Nay he must carry himselfe as a Christian and observe the good of the body hee must carry himselfe as a member to doe good to the whole Let every Christian labour to doe this if he would have comfort to his soule that hee doth not live to himselfe that he is of the number of those that are accepted of God in life and death Labour to imploy his time and strength and gifts and whatsoever he is and hath to the good of others As every man hath received the gift let him minister to others as faithfull dispencers of the manifold grace of God If you have received gifts you have received them from God you have received them for the good of others you have received them as dispensers let every man saith the Apostle dispense the manifold grace of God if the Apostle had said be dispensers of the grace of knowledge that you have for the feeding of the soules of many and not of your estates or relieve as many as you can with your estates but take no care for their soules but when hee saith be dispensers of the manifold gifts of God his meaning is that whatsoever I have wherewith I am able to doe men good with whether it be inward or outward gifts the gifts of the mind or of the outward man anything whereby I can bee advantageous to others I must serve God and men in improving of that He that will not live to himselfe is bound to serve every man with every gift he hath If God have furnished a man with inward gifts the graces of his Spirit If a man have knowledge and faith or experience or comfort whatsoever graces of the Spirit hee hath there are duties appointed and a Communion of Saints exprest that men may be stirred up to exercise those graces in that communion for the good of all the Saints Therefore wee are said to have knowledge to profit with And gifts to edifie with All that a man hath God hath given him for this end that God may be glorified by it Herein is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruit Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Men have much benefit by the graces of the Spirit in others when they are improved as they ought they are as lights amongst men in the world Grace when it is opened like the Box of oyntment raiseth a desire in others after it Grace exercised and communicated to others it sheweth the amiablenesse of it Christians should therefore doe it that they may make Christianity lovely that they may make the profession of Religion amiable to the world that is by communicating the graces of God to others This every man should doe in his place in his person take all advantages this way And as it is good for others so it is good for a mans selfe to doe thus a man increaseth his owne store Liberalitie we say is the best husbandrie There is no promise in the Scripture for hoarding up there are many to distribute I say it is the best husbandrie in the world especially in spirituall things it is as the oyle increased in the pouring out like the loaves the more they were broken the more they multiplied still We see the hand nourisheth it selfe by administring food to the mouth so a Christian not onely exerciseth but increaseth grace in himselfe by communicating grace to others And what I say for spirituall I say for outward things If a man have wealth or honour or any of these outward things and an opportunitie he should imploy them for others that it may appeare that hee doth not live to himselfe Hee that layeth up riches only for himselfe and his family liveth to himselfe Hee that followeth his calling only for himselfe and his family liveth to himselfe Hee doth that which a man out of Christ would doe but a man that would live unto God hee must glorifie God with his estate To doe good and to distribute forget not for with such sacrifices God is pleased Heb. 13. Charge them that are rich in the world that they bee not high-minded but ready to distribute to the necessities of the Saints
1 Tim. 3. It is a charge laid upon all to glorifie God with their estates with their Authoritie as they are Magistrates as Iob saith I was a foot to the lame an eye to the blind a father to the fatherlesse a husband to the widow Hee did all things for the good of others All men are ambassadours sent from God for the good of the bodies and soules of others Am I a neighbour it is for the good of the body and soule of every one that converseth with me according to the manifold gifts bestowed upon me and I live no further to God then I doe extend and communicate all my particular gifts to the good of others both for soule and body Thus you have the point opened and pressed concerning living to our selves as a marke of those that are Christs that they doe not live to themselves I beseech you brethren let this be the advantage of Funerall Sermons that are preached upon the occasion of the death of our deceased brethren to teach us how to live Let every man hereafter resolue to lead a profitable and fruitfull life to doe all the good he can while he liveth that for much good done to many thankes may bee given by many on his behalfe FINIS THE IMPROVEMENT OF TIME OR THE RIGHT VSE OF TIMES SHORTNESSE JOB 7. 1. Is there not an appointed Time to man upon Earth EPHES. 5. 16. Redeeme the time because the daies are evill LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE IMPROVEMENT OF TIME OR THE RIGHT VSE OF TIMES SHORTNESSE SERMON XI 1 COR. 7. 29. 30. But this I say brethren the time is short It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weepe as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as if they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away THat I may briefly come to open to you the summe of that that I have to deliver out of this Scripture I desire you beloved in the Lord in few words to take notice of the drift and scope of the holy Apostle in this place and that is this The Corinths as it seemeth in the beginning of this chapter had written a Letter to Saint Paul wherein they did propound to him divers Cases of conscience and did intreate him that he would send his judgement concerning those points Some five or six we may gather they did write to him about One was this whether he thought it either a lawfull or a fitting thing for a man to marrie The second was Whether if a man were married his wife and he might not separate themselves one from another The third was If they did live together whether it were lawfull for the one to denie to the other matrimonall benevolence The fourth Whether if one of them being a beleever and the other an Infidell it were lawfull or convenient for the beleever to remaine a yoke-fellow to the Infidell These and divers other cases of conscience they intreated Saint Paul to resolve them in Now the Apostle in the beginning of this Chapter writeth an Answer to every one of these Questions they propounded To some of them he answered thus Indeed I cannot give an absolute determination what is to be done but I suppose this and this is best And to another I advise such a thing I cannot directly determine the will of God but I have received mercie of God to bee accounted faithfull and if you would know my opinion it is this And so he hee giveth divers doubtfull answers to their Questions only he telleth them this is fittest for the oportunitie When he hath done all he commeth to this I have read But this I say brethren c. As if he should say The Questions I have given you an Answer to I thinke you know not what to resolve upon because I say only this is my counsell or this is my opinion But this I am peremptory in that is That they that have wives bee as if they had none they that weepe as if they wept not and they that rejoyce as if they rejoyced not This I doe not come to say I suppose and I thinke it fit or I give my advise or for the present occasion it is fit to beethas But brethren herein I am confidenr and resolute that you should bee as if not in all things in this I am bold This is the drift of the Apostle that hee would bring in one thing wherein he is confident after the resolution of of divers Questions wherein he could not be so confident So then the words I have read containe two generall things First the Apostles Preface to his Exhortation Secondly the Exhortation it selfe The Preface in these words But this I say brethren The Exhortation in the rest of the words The time is short c. In the Exhortation there are likewise three things that I would note unto you First the ground of the Exhortation in these words The time is short Secondly the Exhortation it selfe in these words It remaineth that they that have wives bee as though they had none and they that weepe as if they wept not and they that rejoyce as if they rejoyced not and they that buy as if they possessed not and they that use the world as not abusing it Here is the Exhortation Then the third thing is a spurre the Apostle addeth to quicken them up to practise all these things in these words For the fashion of this world passeth away The first generall thing in the words is the Apostles Preface But this I say brethren And in this I would note but two things I will but name them because I would not be straitned in two principall points that I would gladly open First here I would note How confident and earnest and resolute a faithfull minister will be when hee commeth to a point that mainly concernes his people In all other things the Apostle giveth them his Answer so as it might seeme hee had not fully resolved them I give my advise saith hee and againe I suppose this But now when he commeth unto the right use of the world that it bee not abused and the thought of heaven that they might set themselves about it Here he commeth without ifs and ands he setteth it downe resolutely and positively Brethren this I say or this you must doe This is one thing that I might note Secondly I might note The compellation or terme that hee giveth them Brethren In which note who they are to whom Saint Paul giveth the Exhortation And it seemeth to mee as if the Apostle should say I am putting you now upon a duty that if I could not give you the terme brethren I should hope to prevaile little with you To come and tell a young gallant that
thinke of some way how wee might shift and shun it but it is beyond the kenne of our eyes we are no more able to see that then the Ayre being therefore out of sight it is out of our reach we know not how to grapple with it we know not with what weapons to encounter it And a Spirituall Enemie I call it because though it seize on the body it strikes at the soule By Gods decree the death of the soule is a concommitant of the death of the Body and were it not by Gods mercy reverst they would still come like lightning and thunder and strike both together Againe it is a spirituall enemie because it fighteth against us in the strength of sinne It commeth armed with a Sting the sting of death is sinne Some make question whether if Adam had never sinned he should ever have died But me-thinkes the Apostle Saint Paul putteth it out of qustion By one mans disobedience sinne came into the world and by sinne death All those Death 's that S. Austin reckoneth up First when the soule is deprived of God separated from him Secondly when the body is separated from the soule Thirdly when the Soule is separated from the body and from God and suffereth torments for a time Lastly when the soule is separated from God and rejoyned to the body to suffer torments eternally All these are the recompence and reward of sinne Therefore Death comming and being an Enemie thus armed whatsoever kind of death it be we may well say it is a spirituall enemie and the more spirituall the more dangerous Fourthly and lastly it is a continuall Enemie And it is the more dangerous for that It laies hold of us in the wombe and never leaves us till it hath brought us to the Grave Beloved wee doe not only die when we die but all the time we live assoone as wee begin to live we begin to die As Seneca saith Every day wee die because every day some part of our life is gone As a Candle it is no sooner lighted but presently it begins to waste as an houre-glasse it is no sooner turned but presently the sand begins to runne out So our life it is no sooner breathed but presently it begins to vapour out As the Sea what it gaineth in one place it loseth in another so our life what we gaine one way wee lose it in another looke what is added to it so much is tooke from it the longer a man liveth the lesse he hath to live Death doth by us as Iacob did by Esau catcheth us in the wombe and never leaveth us So wee see it is a Common a Secret a Spirituall a Continuall Enemie Next we are to consider How and wherein Death sheweth it selfe an Enemie What Death deserveth at our hands to bee thus accounted and feared Fearfull and terrible it is that is certaine So Aristotle It is the most terrible of all terribles Bildad in Iob calleth it the King of terrours What doth Death bring with it to make it fearfull I answer Death hath sundrie concomitants and companions that attend it that make it a formidable Enemie First the Harbingers that come along with it Sicknesses and diseases infirmities old age and difficulties These are all fearfull to nature and through feare of these Death keepeth men all their life in bondage They make our lives as it were a life rather like a life then a life indeed So that howsoever the Apostle said in another place as it were dying and Behold wee live There Death hath the tanquam and life the Ecce yet here we may say as it were living and behold wee die here life hath the tanquam and Death the Ecce Life is but as it were a life it is but the shadow of a life that man walketh in Man walketh in a vaine shadow and disquieteth himselfe in vaine It is true it lighteth not on all alike some it commeth on as a Lyon and breaking their bones from morning to evening it makes an end of them to others it is as a Moth in the garment secretly in their lives by degrees insensibly pining and consuming them Howsoever what Harbinger soever it bringeth it visiteth us with many touches and twitches before it come falling pell-mell thicke and three-fold on us when they come In respect of these it may be said to be an Enemie Secondly the dissolution that Death bringeth For it dissolveth the frame of nature It divorceth and separateth the soule from the Bodie those two companions that have lived so lovingly together and perhaps have lived a long time together This is another thing that makes Death looke like an Enemie Friends and companions that have lived long together are loth to part wee see in experience old folke commonly are more loth to part when they are old then when they are young Now there is none neerer then the soule and bodie there is none have lived so long or so loving it must needs be tedious for these to part and be an affliction and vexation when neither the body can longer retaine the fleeting soule or the soule longer sustaine the drouping body Therefore in respect of this also Death being the cause of this no marvell though nature reluctate and we looke upon it as on the face of an Enemie Thirdly the horrour of the Grave The men of Darknesse as Iob calleth it the place of oblivion the pit of stinch and rottennesse this is another thing that nature shrinketh and relucts at For there we must burie out of our sight that that once was the delight of our eyes as Ezekiel said by his wife And though it were never so lovely before yet it quickly becommeth loathsome Our Beds must be made in darknesse where corruption and wormes must be the Mattresse and Coverled to lie under us and spread over us Thou shalt say to Corruption thou art my father and to the worme thou art my mother and my sister That bodie of thine that God in the wombe so wonderfully made that thou all thy life-time peradventure hast delicately cherished lapped in Silke in Furre pampered with sweet wines Death as a proud Tyrant will set his foot upon it and throw thee downe to the horrid dungeon where thy flesh shall putrifie and thy bones rot and the beauty of it though sometime it were as the Rose and the Lilly of the field shall soone become as loathsome as the dung in the streets This is another thing that makes the face of Death dreadful and terrible when we thinke of such privations and annihilations as these thaâ—… wee shall come from a beeing to no beeing These cannot but make Death looke with the face of an Enemie Fourthly The losse and deprivation of all worldly contentments and worldly imployments that is another thing that makes Death terrible and fearfull to us Looke whatsoever contentment wee tooke in any thing here we must bid
First by way of comfort Against the feare of Death or against over-much sorrow for those that Death takesaway It is true Death is an Enemie But to whom only to the wicked that are out of Christ to those that have no benefit at all by his Death and Resurrection and ascension When Death commeth and findeth out these they may say as Ahab did to Eliah and more truly a great deale hast thou found me oh mine Enemie It is the worst Enemie they have in the world It is a cruell Sergeant that catcheth them by the throat and arresteth them for a debt that they are never able to pay It dragges them to the Jayle casteth them into the Dungeon to the chaines of Darknesse I have not a word of comfort to say to them They have no more comfort in Death then they have in Hell where though they shall lie in torments and paine they shall not have a drop of water to coole their tongue But to the faithfull in Christ there is comfort upon comfort For though Death be an Enemie yet remember first it is a subdued Enemie Secondly a reconciled Enemie Thirdly and lastly an Enemie that one day shall not be at all It is a subdued Enemie that is one comfort The strength and sting of it is gone When a Bee hath lost his sting and is a Droane it can hurt no more So Death is a Droane to a Christian it hums and buzzeth it doth no hurt it cannot sting the sting is gone Against all those Enemies that I formerly told yee of that are attendants on Death here is comfort First it is true Death commeth with ill Harbingers it bringeth sicknesses and aches and paine but there is comfort against this For when God sendeth paine remember hee promiseth to send patience too that he will put his hand under to helpe His left hand shall bee under us and his right hand over us to catch us hee hath promised comfort upon our sicke beds to make our bed in our sicknesse Wee need not make such an Allegorie as Ambrose doth this sweet flesh of ours the Bed of our soule it is under infirmities and weaknesses God helpeth us he makes our bed hee saith to the sicke of the Palsey Take up thy bed hee turneth our bed in our sicknesse either he sends us health so some expounds it hee turnes the bed of sicknesse into a bed of health or God turneth our bed for us in our sicknesse that is he refresheth us giveth us ease when we lie upon our sicke beds It is a Metaphor borrowed from those that attend sicke persons that helpe to make their Beds easie and soft and turne them that they may lie at ease So God hath promised his children in the painfull time of sicknesse to make their Beds easie and soft to cause them to lie at ease by the Patience that he will give them Secondly it is true Death bringeth dissolution and dissolveth the frame of nature it separateth and divorceth those two loving companions the Soule and the Body But there is comfort in this For though it divorce the Soule and the Body yet it cannot destroy the soule and the body even the body is in the hand of God when it is rotting in the earth as the Soule is translated to heaven Againe though they be separated yet it is but for a time one day they shall meet more joyfull and glorious then ever before and after that they shall never be separated againe Lastly though he separate the soule from the body and the body from the soule yet neither from Christ nor Christ from them Nay it is so farre from separating that it helpeth to unite us to Christ as I said before the dissolution of those shall bee the conjunction with him I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Thirdly it is true the horrour of the Grave attendeth Death and the putrifaction of this flesh of ours that must turne to corruptnesse it makes it terrible and fearfull But there is comfort against this For after that time of putrifaction there shall bee a time of restitution and though the wormes devoure this flesh of ours yet in that very flesh of ours wee shall see God another day These eyes shall see him There is comfort in that that when God shall come to restore us with himselfe what the Grave hath clothed with corruption he will cloath with glory these vile bodies hee will make them like the glorious body of Christ without all corruption Fourthly it is true Death depriveth us of worldly friends of worldly imployments this makes it terrible Yet there is comfort against this Though we be deprived of worldly friends it carries us to heaven to better company to Angels to the spirits of just and perfect men to God the Iudge of all to Iesus the Mediatour of the New Testament Nay besides one day hee will restore againe those very friends of which here we are deprived though wee lose them for a time in heaven wee shall meet againe and there renew a perpetuall league of societie and love So though it deprive us of worldly benefits it cannot of heaven and those are better they are not pleasures of sinne that last for a season but at the right hand of God that endure for ever So though it deprive us of worldly services it carrieth us to heaven to those that are better that are high and proper to the Church triumphant such as befit the Church to sing Hallelujahs and such as are profitable to the Church militant by the memorie of good examples and by the prayers they offer to God not in particular for they know no mans particular wants yet for the generall and common good of all Fifthly and lastly It is true the consideration of sinne and of Judgement and our uncertaine estate after death makes it terrible like the face of an Enemie Yet there is comfort against these For sinne I told you that though there bee a sting in the Serpent yet Christ hath drawne out that sting so that being a Serpent without a sting we may doe as Moses take it in our hand put it into our bosome and it will never doe us hurt to them that die in the Lord Death rather came by sinne then for sinne It is not betweene sinne and damnation but betweene sinne and salvation For judgement It is true Death presenteth judgement but it presenteth it with comfort for the day of Judgement is the day that the godly looke for and long for as the day of redemption not of confusion when they shall receive the sentence by which they shall bee absolved and not condemned For they know when God shall come to be their Judge hee shall come to be their Saviour And so for the uncertaintie of our future estate after death It is true the state of the dead in regard of naturall understanding it may be a thing
uncertaine and obscure yet from the secreâ—… revelation of Gods Spirit the Saints in some measure know how it will be with them after death Wee know though our earthly tabernacle be destroyed wee have a building given us of God All these things are helpes to give us comfort against the feare of Death and those Enemies that Death comes attended with that though it be an Enemie yet it is a subdued Enemie Secondly it may comfort us to consider that Death is not only a subdued but a reconciled Enemie of an Enemie it is made to bee a friend it is so to all the faithfull such a friend as they have not a better in the world It is most certaine the wicked have not a worse enemie in the world then Death and the godly have not a better friend so yee should see if I had leisure to shew you on the one side from what labour and care and miserie it helpeth to free them and on the other side to what comfort and rest and peace and joy it helpeth to bring them Lastly it may comfort us to consider that as death is an enemie a subdued enemie a reconciled enemy so it is an enemie that at last shall be destroyed The time shall come when Death and Hell shall be cast into the lake of fire the meaning is I thinke they shall be shut up in the bottomlesse pit where they shall only have leave to exercise their power on the Divell and damned reprobates that lie there in torments Death on the one side still gnawing of them that they ever die and yet Hell on the other side still preserving of them that they shall everlastingly live But the godly and the faithfull shall have their part and portion given them in the resurrection to life where they shall never â—…ast of death more What the Apostle saith of Christ is true of all those that are in Christ when they are once dead they shall die no more Death hath no more dominion over them But I cannot inlarge these comforts Yet Beloved I have a word or two of counsell I pray hearken to it Birefly thus Christ though he have overcome and destroyed both death and sinne for us for ever yet notwithstanding he will have us exercised also in subduing and overcomming them Christ hath not so fought for us but he will have us also fight for our selves as hee hath overcome death so must we for our parts that wee may have the comfort of that that Christ hath done Death being an enemie to us we must prepare and arme our selves against it that it may not be an Enemie too strong And for your better direction take these few heads First Remember that Death is the wages of sinne It is sinne that lead Death into the world it is in respect of that that Death is an Enemie to us and were it not for that it would bee no Eenemie at all Now then beloved if yee will not die in your sinnes let your care be to die to sinne labour to have sinne die in thee and then thou shalt not die in that When thou hast committed drunkennesse or prophanenesse c. thinke with thy selfe this is pleasant and sweet now but how will this tast another day when I shall come to lie upon my death-bed and my soule shall set on my pale lips ready to take her flight and bee brought before the Judgement seat of Christ What fruit will these things bring then What comfort and peace and joy will it procure to the conscience then Oh saith Abner to Ioab knowest thou not that this will be bitternesse in the end It will be as gall and wormwood therefore if yee would not have Death be bitter then let not sinne bee sweet now part with sinne betime That is the first Secondly learne to walke humbly with God betime and betime put your selves in a way of repentance and new obedience take heed of dallying with God and procrastinating and putting off the time What is the reason why a sort die as Plinie saith some doe that are stung with the Serpent Colemion some laughing some raging some soâ—…tish and secure others hoping some dispairing They have not beene carefull to walke with God while they lived because they wanted care then they want comfort now They that remember not God in their life saith S. Austin it is just with God to forget them in death The Apostle S. Peter would have us looke for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse But never looke thou to dwell in that heaven where righteousnesse dwelleth except righteousnesse dwell in thee And he exhorteth us that wee be found of God in peace at that day that is sweet and comfortable indeed but remember Peace and holinesse goe together if we would be found of God in peace wee must be found of him in holinesse Walke in holinesse and uprightnesse and then peace shall kisse thee on thy death-bed Marke the upright and just man the end of that man is peare Thirdly the better to subdue Death be willing to meditate and thinke oâ—… of Death learne the Art of dying practise the way of it betime learne to die daily How shall we doe that I will shew you Consider we have many little deaths to undergoe in the world as we have many delights Learne to inure and acquaint thy selfe before hand with the patient and quiet bearing and enduring of these many troubles and crosses that befall thee As Agamemnon first overcame the Lacedemonians by wrestling and then by fighting and Bilney first burnt his finger in the Candle that after he might the better endure the burning of his body at the stake So thinke with your selves If I cannot endure a little how shall I endure more If I cannot endure a light crosse a small affliction doe I murmure at that Am I impatient and repine at that How shall I beare the pangs of Death when they come Therefore let us inure our selves to a meeke and quiet bearing of lesser stripes so wee may be better able to endure heavier stroakes Many of us lay out a great deale of care how to live in the world we had more need take care how to die when wee shall leave the world Studie the Art of dying That is the third Lastly that we may the better subdue Death that it may not be an Enemie too strong Learne before so to dispose of our selves and order our affaires that when Death commeth wee may have nothing to doe but to die Get all differences reconciled all doubts settled all reckonings ordered sequester our selves from all other avocations that nothing may interrupt us when that worke is to goe in hand with Put thy house in order saith God to Hezekiah I say so to every one of you First your outward house that which concerneth your worldly estate put that house in order What wouldest thou make thy Will
deposition and laying downe of the same that so they may receive a glorified a clarified an incorruptible spirituall body not made of a spirit but serviceable to the spirit they desire that these eyes may bee so defecated that if they cannot behold the essence of God yet they may stedfastly behold the Empyrian heavens the splendour of our Saviour and the lustre of the bodies of the Saints more bright then the Sunne seven times they desire that these hands may bee blessed with the contrectation of that sacred body that redeemed them they desire that this body may be so transparent and lucid that the Soule may sally out freely not at the eye alone but at every part to contemplate those glorious objects that it may bee so prelucid that the very thoughts of the heart and the divine fancies that are in the imaginative part may bee seene through it that it may be so stript of corporall densitie and grossenesse that like lightning it may bee here and there that it may be fit for raptures and extasies and the Soule no more doubtfull whether shee be in the body or not in the body This the Saints desire and long after And let me speake this of you oh triumphant Soules that are now in blisse without the least impeachment of your happinesse This even you thirst after you esteeme it an imperfect estate to bee without your bodyes though you glorifie and praise GOD in your soules yet you count it an imperfect worke and say with the Psalmist In death no man remembreth thee and in the grave no man shall give thee thankes though your spirits doe it without ceasing without failing yet the whole man doth it not and such an insatiable aviditie there is in you of the praise of God that unlesse it bee done totally and fully you thinke it not done at all therefore you desire this glorified organe but the Saints on earth being much more depressed with this heavy clay cry out with these Saints In this wee groane earnestly c. To bee cloathed upon with our house c. An improprietie of speech I confesse for men doe not cloath them selves with houses yet of eminent elegancie and pregnant with varietie of instructions to shew the fitnesse of this glorie to every soule as apparell is fitted to every body to shew the comelinesse of this glory as apparell is an ornament to a man to shew the firme adhesion of this glorie the whole man as a garment doth cleave close unto him to shew the redundancie of this glorie that a man shall inveloppe himselfe in this glorie as a man doth inwrappe himselfe in his garment to shew the Authour of this glorie hee that made garments to cover mans nakednesse in Paradise below hee maketh robes of honour to adorne him everlastingly in Paradice which is above to shew the undeservednesse of it on our part that these garments they are not webbes of our owne spinning but robes of Gods giving to shew the all-sufficiencie of this glory in this life wee need houses to dwell in and rayment to cover us and food to nourish us and fire to warme us but this glory it shall be a Magazine of all spirituall store an house to shelter us a garment to cover us Manna to feed us water to refresh us it shall be all in all unto us These and many more instructions are folded up in the Cabinet of this Metaphor which streights of time will not give mee leave to unfold and spread before you but must leave them to your private meditations and so passing though unwillingly from these two houses which the Saints desire I must raise up your attention to their ardent affection unto them In this wee groane earnestly c. Wherein you see the intention of their affection and the expression of it The intention not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desiring but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desiring earnestly The expression of it by groanes In this wee groane earnestly The one the soule the other the body the one the forme the other the exercise the one the roote the other the branch or if you will the one the fire the other the fuell the one the flame the other the oyle that nourisheth the flame The first is the intension of the affection As those that are in a longing passion die if they bee not satisfied as the pregnant Mother groanes to be delivered of her burthen as those that are pressed under a heavy weight faint if they be not eased even so the Saints pressed downe with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that eternall weight of glorie mentioned in the precedent Chapter a burthen which did both presse them downe and raise them up that did both streighten them and enlarge them like the feathers of the Dove which adde to her Masse but take off from her gravitie which makes her more corpulent and yet more light even so this weight of glory so pressed downe the Saints that it raised them up to the Throne of the Lambe and feeling this body of sinne this body of death which they did beare about them as plummets of lead hanging at their feet they desire eft-soone to bee stripped of all incumbrances and impediments to depose and lay downe this cottage of clay that so being absent from the body they might be present with the Lord this was the violence of their affection In this wee groane earnestly c. An affection worthy the name of an affection truly grounded and thereforetowring so high that it is almost invisible to our weake sight There are some in this life that are fed with gall and wormewood with teares and groanes upon whom the wheele of oppression is roled breaking all their bones so that they seeke for death as for pearles and hidden treasures as an end and period of their miseries Others there are who seeing the vanitie of the things of this life and ballancing with them the transcendent excellencie of the Soule of man above the world had rather be idle or not be at all then to be so basely and meanly imployed and rewarded as the world doth remunerate her favourites Others make bitter invectives against the body as the onely impediment to the soule in her more pure speculations placing the happinesse of the soule in the separation from the body all these come farre short of this divine affection which hath not her rise from the miseries of this life or from the vanitie of the creature or from the incumbrances of this cottage but from a true apprehension of the love of God from a deepe panting after union with him from a taste of the powers of the life to come from a Soule inflamed with a coale from Gods Altar Looke upon these Saints in my Text they were indeed exercised beyond measure with those things which wee call miseries calamities afflictions at the mention whereof wee quake like Aspen leaves but were these tainted with impatiencie were these groanes fuliginous
losses and after all the ennumeration of his imaginarie gaine so much by usurie so much by extortion so much by fraudulent dealing the totall summe is collected to his hand What is a man profited whence the observation might be this that When the gaine of the world is attended with the losse of the soule the overplus will be just nothing The bargaine is such as that there is nothing gotten by it That is too sparing an expression it is short of Christs meaning who conceales the worst and refers it to our own collection for by the way it were a happinesse to be nothing it were profitable for the damned but this comes neerest Christs meaning it is a losse unredeemable and such as the world cannot countervaile when a man for the gaining of the world forfeits his soule Let us see it in some particulars First if it be a man that glories in the resplendancie of his fortunes and blesseth himselfe in magnifying his estate a Commander of Kingdomes and Nations an ingrosser of preferments and dignities yet First Death will attache him there is no carrying it away hee must of necessitie take his leave of his Mammon and then whose shall all these things bee for which he hath lost his soule Who gaines by the smallnesse of the Epha the greatnesse of the shekle the refuse of the wheate Where is the man that gloried in his abundance and store and thought himselfe the only happy man saith the Prophet David I went but by and hee was gone I sought him and his place could not be found There is a lively expression that illustrates it Ier. 17. As the Partridge gathereth young that shee brought not forth so hee that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the middest of his dayes and at his end shall be a foole What not before Yes he was alwayes a foole but then by conviction his owne conscience shall call him so by the confession of his owne tongue which shall call him so by the proclamation of just men they shall proclaime him so Loe this is the man that tooke not God for his strength but trusted in the multitude of his riches and strengthened himselfe c. Secondly having lost his supposed good hee loseth the fruition of God the chiefe good the countenance of the beatificall presence the fellowship and melodious harmonie of the glorious Angels his place and portion with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heaven And all proportionable to his owne deservings In his life-time he refused God being dead God refuseth him he turned his face from the poore and needie God in his affliction eternally turnes his face from him A losse so exceeding great that whosoever descends deepest in the meditation of it yet he shall be at a losse and to seeke for a full definition of it For as Chrysostome truly affirmes Though a man tell thee of tenne thousand hells all is one in comparison of this miserie to bee discarded of blessednesse and glorie and to bee hated of Christ. But if this be so what shall we say to further miserie having lost the chiefe good he receives his punishment with hypocrites and unbeleevers in the dungeon of extreame ill A place where there is nothing but horrour of conscience and desperation a companie of affrighting divels and with all this weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth In stead of merriment and joviall laughter and sâ—…urrulous lascivious songs and wasting and abusing the creatures of God nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth So that having come into the chambers of death and closed in the straites of the grave the man like the hedge-hogge leaves the apples behind him and only reserves the prickles of a wounded spirit in that sentence of Babilon As much as shee hath gloried her selfe and lived deliciously so much torment give her Lastly that that is the hell of hells that nothing may be wanting to his deserved woe he is out of hope of all gracious meanes of deliverance he must never looke for the revokation of Gods sentence though with Esau he seeke it with teares hee must never looke for mittigation of his horrour though hee begge with the unmercifull glutton for one drop of water The date of repentance is out the day of grace will never dawne againe the justice is implacable the fire unquenchable the worme unsatiable and all continuall without intermission for ever-more O! bottomlesse depth of horrour oh unexpressible torment of a forsaken soule what greater miserie saith devout S. Bernard then alway to be wishing for that which shall never be and for the removing of that that shall never cease to bee Therefore the summe is this Hath the covetous exchanged his soule for riches the ambitious for honours hath he lost it for the riches of Cressus the power of Alexander the Empire of Augustus the glory of the whole world yet in consideration of The end of his life losse of his God extremitie of his paine eternitie of all What is a man profited Now then for fome application and to draw toward a conclusion suffer the word of exhortation brethren and captiuate your thoughts to the obedience of Jesus Christ. You especially whom God hath blessed above others concerning the enjoyment of outward temporall things If ever you bee desirous to escape the direfull slaughter-house of Hell to escape those burnings and those everlasting yellings while you have time bethinke your selves of some saving course to flie from the wrath to come And now in time cast up your accounts take heed lest for the love of this present world you lose your God the life of your soules There is a way that seemes right to a man saith Solomon but the end of it is the manifold wayes of death Some Babilonish garment some Naboths Vineyard some sweet preferment but if the meanes be unlawfull if it disturbe conscience and prejudice the glory of God and occasion the destruction of thy soule then say What shall I doe when God shall rise up and when he shall visit what shall I answer This will be the reckoning of fooles at the last What hath pride profited us and what hath riches brought us Surely the gaine will bee no other then what Promethius is fabled to have had by Pandora's boxe a place to be tormented Or what Hercules got by Dianira's garment Such will be the finall issue of all Mammonists that live amongst Christians and under meanes of better reformation and more sanctification in their wayes I say this will be the finall issue The worme of despaire alway gnawing and never dying and the flames of eternall Tophet never to bee extinguished Therefore in such a case if thou tell me thou knowest what thou dost and what thou gainest Let me tell thee thou little knowest thy dammage and what thou hast lost Alas what are the goods of this life when they are compared with
shorter but I need not stand upon Philosophicall distinctions your life is a vapour Observe how the resemblance holds betweene the one and the other First a vapour is nothing but a breath therefore it is called so of a word that signifieth blowing or a breath or nothing but smoake therefore Act. 2. it is called a vapour of smoake and such is our life a vapour because breath is nothing but the breath of life So Moses called it in Gen. 2. 7. and when a man dies it is said his breath departs from him Therefore the Prophet Isaiah he brings it as an argument to shew what a vaine thing it is for a man to trust upon one that hath no more hold on his life then so Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils what account is to bee made of him yea it is even as smoake his dayes passe and vanish away as smoake Secondly vapours are ingendered in the earth and they lodge in the caverns and hollow places of the earth that is their mansion house where they have their beeing such a vapour is our life for this body of ours wherein our life is it is a body of earth Man hath his foundation in the dust Iob 14. and there God hath provided a receptacle and dwelling place for our life to bee received into and contained it is said when God gave it Adam first hee blew it into his nostrils there he made a lodging for it therefore man is said to have his breath in his nostrils in regard of which there is no trust to be given to him nor no account to bee made of him Thirdly Vapours are drawne out of the earth by the Sunne into the ayre some to higher regions then others are yet when they are all at their highest they have no fixing nor setling but are carried and agitated and tossed by the winds till at last they be dissolved into showres and dewes and fall backe to the earth so it is with our life we come all at the first as vapours out of the earth and there we have sunnes that draw us up the favour of Princes peradventure or great persons some to higher regions then others some are drawne to high places of honour but when they are there they have no setling nor fixing as vapours in the ayre they are hurried and tossed and carried to and fro from one wind to another and after a long and restlesse motion at last they fall downe to the earth againe out of which they were taken Fourthly where the earth exhales many vapours the earth is not so pure and wholsome as other places for by experience wee find the healthfullest places are in the hillie high Countreys but moarish low grounds have least health and shortest lives because of vapours our life is a vapour in this respect Many ill ayres continually exhaled in our corrupt natures the world is full of inordinate concupsicence and the Divell poysons every place where hee comes so that while wee live here wee live in a Moarish ground and full of ill vapours and ayre and therefore the higher we climbe the safer as God saith to Lot in another case when he bid him get him to the Mountaines and there hee should be safe so if we can get up to the Mountaine the mount Sion the place and habitation for God and his blessed Angels for ever there we shall dwell in safetie for there are no fogges and mists of temptations there are no ill ayres there is nothing that savours of sinne or miserie either to breed us anoyance or threaten vexation So you see the first thing what it is our life is resembled unto and how fitly the resemblance holds The second is wherein it is compared to a Vapour In two things The shortnesse of abiding The suddennesse of departing The shortnesse of abiding it appeares for a little while Where first observe the Apostle useth the word of appearing it is a thing rather in appearance then in deed of shew rather then substance such is a vapour when it first ariseth and breakes out of the earth it makes a great swelling to the eye as though it would fill the ayre and darken the Sunne yet it hath no soliditie nor substance with it but it is a meere empty tumour it seemes and appeares to be something but really it is nothing And such is our life it is rather a life in appearance then in deed and therefore Saint Austin knew not whether to call it a living death or a dying life for truly it is another manner of thing that deserves to be called life only that deserves to bee called so by which the soule lives to God and by which the soule lives hereafter with God that is the life of the soule this is the life of the body that is the life of Faith the life that I live is by faith in the Sonne of God Hee calls not that life by which the body is united to the soule but that he calls life whereby the soule is united to God the soule may be dead though the body be alive if it be a stranger to the life of God Dead in trespasses and sinnes it may bee dead while it lives Eph. 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Hee that lives in sinne is dead in sinne and the soule lives when the body is dead therefore that cannot be the true life by which the body breathes but that by which the soule subsists if the soule when it is separate from the body may have happinesse and live with God that deserves truly the name of life but if it be a stranger to it though it live that life is a dead life nay the worst death the Scripture calls it the second death where though we never die yet we are ever dying the life that we live here it is rather a thing in appearance then a being So all these things that belong to this life all the joyes and all the sorrowes of it they are rather appearing joyes and appearing sorrowes then true joyes and true sorrowes Consider first the joyes of our life they are not sound and true but false and vaine joyes if any wicked or ill thing bee the object of joy as it is of too too many they rejoyce in doing wickedly that is a false joy they rejoyee in that they should sorrow and mourne for and not only wicked and unlawfull but worldly outward things such as wee may rejoyce in honours pleasures riches and friends yet these being well examined there is no solide true joy but a vaine joy in them for they afford no rejoycing to the soule it is only matters of spirituall joy the joy in the holy Ghost that the soule rejoyceth in and with that joy the soule is ravished though it be bereft of other as againe the soule may be overcome with spirituall sorrow though there be abundance of outward joy
downe to the deepe as it is said of the Marriners in Psal. 107. what is the reason of this but that no flesh should glory in it selfe that every man might know that whatsoever he hath to make his life comfortable and pleasing to him it is from God that dispenseth it to men in that proportion as seemeth good to his owne wisedome God will have us know that all the happinesse of our spirits is in their union with the chiefe of spirits with himselfe and that when they are but a little separated from him when he doth but a little withdraw himselfe from them they are as a thing that is dead how shall wee know that the branches have sappe from the roote that it is that that makes them flourish and grow but by this If you doe but cut them off from the roote they wither presently So it is with the spirit with the heart of man if God doe but a little withdraw himselfe let sinne but make a separation betweene God and man now a man is like a withered branch he hath nothing now to revive him because hee is divided from the roote At the least it is with him as it is with a tree in Winter though the sappe remaines in the roote so though hee remaine in union with the roote yet the moysture is gotten into the roote it selfe and doth not now infuse it selfe into the branches I confesse the servant of God that is once united to Christ shall never be separated the union it is now and alwayes shall bee but never the lesse the sappe and comfort of the Spirit it may remaine in the head our life may be hid in Christ and may not appeare in us at all And we are then in that estate as if wee were branches cut off whereby it may appeare that whatsoever life and comfort and strength of heart we had it was from Christ and by the influence and worke of his Spirit And then for the time to come God doth it to prevent some distempers that might growe on the hearts of his servants if they should alwayes be in a like state of spirituall joy God doth it to prevent pride Paul was apt to bee lift up with those revelations therefore a messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet him And so it may be to prevent carnall confidence in the creature a man would begin to ascribe somewhat to himselfe to his present condition if it were alwayes thus with him you know what the Apostle Paul saith 2 Cor. 1. 10. We received in our selves the sentence of death that wee might not trust in our selves but in God that raysed the dead looke to what end Paul received the sentence of death to that end Gods faithfull servants sometimes receive the very sence of death as it were and the sence of the destitution and want of all spirituall comforts for the present Why That they might not trust in themselves or in those habits of grace and comforts they have or in any creature whatsoever The worke of Gods spirit in the regenerate soule it is but a creature a worke of God and God will not have men trust in any such thing in what then In him that rayseth from the dead God will bring them to such a state that they shall seeme as dead men as destitute of all spirituall comforts they have that they might trust in him that is able to rayse them out of such a state as that that looke as hee is able to give life to the dead body so he is able to give comfort to the distressed soule that is at that time in the shaddow of death Secondly it comes sometimes from Sathan and that is thus Sathan wonderfully sets himselfe against the seede of the woman especially against the promised seede Christ he will alway bee at his heele Gen. 3. 16. and in his opposition against Christ hee sets against the very glory of Christ among men and that is his kingdome hee would not have Christ exalt his kingdome over men Now the kingdome of Christ consists as the Apostle speakes not in meate and drinke but in righteousnesse and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost If he cannot keepe a Christian a true beleever from unrighteousnesse he will labour to interrupt his peace if he cannot keepe him from the habit of peace peace in the grounds of it yet hee will keepe him from the exercise and effects of that peace from joy he will hinder that as much as he can that hee may not have the sence of his blessednesse he knowes that spirituall joy strengthens a man to all spirituall duties and his endeavour is to weaken all the servants of Christ in all their services and therefore he doth at least labour against that with all his might that if they will needes goe on yet neverthelesse to propound and occasion as many things that may be troublesome to them and disquiet their hearts as he can And there are two principall wayes that I may but touch them whereby Sathan wondrously prevailes in this particular The one is by stealing out of their hearts those precious promises those comforts whereby the Word of God revives the soule You have forgotten saith the Apostle the consolations of God And the divell meets in man with two advantages to helpe him in the effecting of this First he turnes the thoughts upon new objects and herein hee doth diametricallâ—… and directly set himselfe against God in the way of his speciall providence that very thing that God in wonderfull wisedome hath wrought in the heart for the ease and comfort of man Sathan makes it an occasion of trouble and that is this the varietie of mans thoughts what is the reason that God hath framed the minde of man to change his thoughts continually and to have innumerable thoughts Certainly for the very ease of the Spirit of man for the very ease of the soule of man For if the minde should keepe intent upon any one thought long it would so worke upon that that it would weary it selfe out in working as wee see men by excesse of griefe in particular cases grow to be phrensie and distracted and the like Now this aptnesse of the minde to runne to varietie of thoughts that God hath made for the ease of man Sathan turnes it as a helpe to hurt him A man shall runne on into a world of businesse of temptations and distractions that shall draw him from the thought of those things that hee hath heard for the relieving of his Spirit wherein God spake comfort to his heart that hee may the better fasten those discouragements on him that he desires Secondly another advantage he hath for this end is this that is hee wondrously prevailes upon the heart of man by a carelesse neglect that is in men every man loves ease There is such a spirit in man such a disposition in the spirit of man that he avoydes the
Widow shee is dead while shee liveth even so are all such dead while they live dead in sinnes and trespasses and if so be those that are in this kind dead continue so till the death of the body seize upon them woe woe woe to them upon this followeth an eternall death endlesse easelesse and remedilesse torment upon body and soule for ever Thirdly the Saints have here consolation against the mortalitie and corruption whereto they are subject here in this world wherein their condition is common with the condition of all for that that befalleth one may befall every one in regard of the outward estate and condition All must die Nay further here is consolation against the distresses and afflictions and pressures whereto the Saints are subject above others for their profession sake in this very respect they are hated they are persecuted all that will live godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution and through many afflictions wee must enter into the kingdome of heaven Where is now their comfort surely this that is set before us you heard that naturall men are dead while they live but those that are in Christ doe live while they may seeme to bee dead Ionah lived when he was cast into the Sea swallowed up by a whale and was even as it were in hell so the Saints though swallowed up as wee may say in the tempestuous sea of this world by cruell Whales yet notwithstanding they still live that life that is begun here in this world whereof you heard before And to this purpose the Apostle Saint Paul in 2 Cor. 4. 8 9 10 11 12. sheweth plainly that though they are given up unto death daily for Iesus sake yet they are not destroyed not cleane swallowed up but that they live in Christ and that Christ liveth in them Wee are perplexed but not in despaire persecuted but not forsaken c. And this is it that doth comfort them both the fruition of that life that they have here and their expectation of the accomplishment and fulnesse thereof in the kingdome of heaven Now my brethren this is the rather to be observed of us because of all others the Saints seeme to be most subject to death And the truth is here is matter of admiration in regard of their happinesse that notwithstanding that condition whereto they are subject there is a life they enjoy in this world there is a better life prepared for them hereafter And what can be more desired Life of all things else is most esteemed Men are ready in sicknesse and in other distresses to spend all that they have as the Woman that was troubled with the bloudie issue spent all that shee had upon the Physitians to preserve life to recover health Solomon speaking according to the conceit of men saith that a living Dogge is better than a dead Lyon any life better then a death thus they imagine and Sathan well knew mens account of life when he could say Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will hee give for his life Now if so bee that this temporall life here that is but a flower but a bubble but a blast but a breath yea that life that in the shortnesse thereof is subject to so much perplexitie as it is be notwithstanding so highly esteemed what is the life here promised that while here in the enjoying in regard of the first fruits thereof is accompanied with such a peace as passeth understanding accompanied with the very joy of the Holy Ghost and in the consummation thereof such contentment such glory as the tongue of man cannot expresse the mind of man cannot conceive It is noted of the Apostle Saint Paul when he was caught up to the third heaven and saw but a glimpse of this life he did there see they are his owne words unutterable matter things that cannot bee exprest And therefore in this respect he saith and that which he saith may be most fitly applyed to this the things which eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither hath entred into the heart of man are such as God hath prepared for them that love him This is that Life which we are so to consider of as it may make us say with the Apostle I account that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory It will be here said whence commeth this or what may bee the ground thereof My Text telleth you It is stiled here Grace of Life Neither will I here insist upon the divers acceptations of grace as it is in man as it is Gratis data or as it is in God as it is Gratis faciens making us accepted with himselfe It is more cleare then need to be proved that eternall life it commeth from divine grace Grace is the ground of it Being justified by grace saith the Apostle and againe by Grace you are saved And indeed all things that bring us thereto are in the Scriptures attributed to Grace And needs must it be so For First out of God there can be nothing done to move him to doe this or that as if it should be done for our sakes either meriting or procuring of it Hee is independant and we are depending upon him and whatsoever wee have is out of our selves and commeth from him Againe in Man there can be nothing What is there in man but miserie whatsoever man had or hath if there be any good thing he hath it from this fountaine of goodnesse all our sufficiencie is of God And this is briefly to be noted against that proud and arrogant position of our Adversaries concerning the merit of mans workes as if man by any thing in him could merit or deserve this life it is not the merit of life but the grace of life Surely they know not God they know not his infinitenesse his all-sufficiencie they know not man his emptinesse his impotencie his vilenesse his cursednesse they know not this life they know not the reward the excellencie of it the disproportion betweene any thing that man can doe and this life that is thus graciously bestowed that have such a conceit Let them therefore passe with their foolish opinion For our owne parts it affordeth to us another ground of comfort and that in regard of our unworthinesse for as we are creatures we are lesse then the least of Gods mercies but as we are mortall creatures dust and ashes much more unworthy of any favour but as we are sinfull creatures having provoked the justice of God most most unworthy of any grace of any life most worthy of all judgements and vengeance of eternall death and damnation Where is now our hope what ground shall wee have that have nothing in
there yet remaine divers such heads noted by her with her owne hand signes of Grace signes of the truth of it of the growth of it of the effects of it meanes to grow in grace c. An excellent course Thus she shewed pietie in reading of the word of God the like shee did in prayer hearing others performe that dutie in her Familie but specially when shee was both husband and wife both master and mistris Death making a division betweene her deare Husband and her selfe shee used to pray her selfe and those that heard her and have given testimonie thereof admired her gifts that way Frequent she was as appeared in her often retyring her selfe to her Closet in her constant and secret devotion yea also shee tooke occasion of much fasting specially when shee heard of the troubles of the Church The cause of the Church much affected her either in matter of rejoycing or griefe shee continued it till her dying day and still her heart was upon the peace of the Church praying for it As thus she exercised her selfe in this holy manner so shee did likewise wonderfully respect those that were the Ministers of God Amongst many others I have heard long agoe that worthy Minister before mentioned from whom I have received most of what I have now related speake much of her and of her worthy Husband in this respect The feet of those that brought the glad tydings of salvation were beautifull to her And as shee was carefull to testifie her respect to them so shee her selfe gained no little recompence thereby for shee was still asking them questions still desiring to have such and such doubts resolved by them As thus her pietie was manifested so likewise was her Charitie constantly every weeke giving reliefe to the Poore ready upon all occasions that she was moved to to open her hands and to open them wide and that againe and againe not wearied in doing good Sober and grave she was in her cariage and attyre and therein a good example to the younger sort And thus shee continued even to her dying day full of sweet meditations upon her death-bed my selfe partaked of some of them Being asked what evidences she had for her salvation she answered good whether she doubted not shee replyed no though shee were of a tender conscience yet she had laid such a foundation as her faith remained firme Shee sweetly ended her dayes with prayers of her owne with desire of the prayers of Ministers still as they came to her for as she hearkened to and desired the benefit of their counsell when she lived so she desired the comfort of their prayers now in her death thus I say with a sound testimonie of her faith and of her good estate she ended her dayes and we may be assured that she is in the Number of those that are Co-heires of the grace of life I remember the Philosophers make mention of a word which containes in it a kind of collection or combination of all in one I may say of her that the graces and vertues and ornaments of others seemed to be gathered together and to meet in her And so her pietie toward God resembleth her to the two pious Hanna's the one the Mother of Samuel the other the Daughter of Phanuel Her charitie resembleth her to Dorcas Her love to the Ministers of God to the Shunamite that provided a Chamber a Table and a Candlesticke for Elisha In her relation to her Husband she shewed her selfe a true Daughter of Saraah In her relation to her children which she had a Bathsheba and Eunice To others a Priscilla the Wife of Aquila ready to instruct as occasion was offered And so my brethren she hath shewed her selfe a follower of those that through faith and patience inherit the Promise It remaineth to us to set such examples before us and to bee followers of them as they have beene followers of others and as others have beene followers of Christ that so walking in their steps wee may also bee in the number of such as have the comfort of this Text to be Co-heires of the grace of life which that you may doe c. FINIS PEACE IN DEATH OR THE QUIET END OF THE RIGHTEOVS PSAL. 37. 37. Marke the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace NUMB. 23. 10. Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. PEACE IN DEATH OR THE QVIET END OF THE RIGHTEOVS SERMON XXXIV LUKE 2. 29. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy Word IN the Text it selfe to let passe other things you have First a Request and secondly a Reason upon which the Request is grounded Of each of these in order and first of the first The Request The summe whereof is That he may die Where is considerable First the disposition of the servants of God in respect of death viz. 1. A desire and longing after it 2. A care to be alwayes ready for it Secondly the warrant or guide of that desire according to thy Word Thirdly the nature and qualitie of the death of the Righteous adeâ—…e in peace Of each of these apart The point that ariseth from the first branch of the first geneâ—…all part viz. the desire and longing of the Saints for their day of death is this that The servants of God have in them a contented comfortable and willing expectation of death The rise of this Observation is obvious enough one spirit workes in all Gods servants and brings forth like effects though not alwayes in the same measure that therefore which is true in Simeon which the very first view of the words import that the comming of Death was expected and desired by him is in some degree verefied sooner or later in all that are the Lords Hereunto agrees that of Saint Paul I desire saith hee to bee dissolved c. And hee averres the same of all true beleevers viz. that they groane earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with their house which is from Heaven and that they are willing rather to bee absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. The foundation of this desire is the knowledge and right understanding of the truth of that speech of Solomon to wit that the day of death is better then the day of a mans birth They have learned to know that the day of death to Gods servants is the day of freedome from all miseries and of entrance into eternall happinesse The miseries of this life which even the best are subject unto are many Losse of goods losse of credit losse of friends aches paines diseases fevers consumptions c. bondage under originall corruption and the fruits thereof as unbeliefe pride of heart ignorance covetousnesse distrustfulnesse hatred lust c. the buffetings and temptations of Sathan societie with the wicked all these miseries even
the Holiest and dearest servants of God are exercised with and divers of these doe make them many times mourne exceedingly and to cry one while O wretched man that I am and to groane out another while Woe is mee that I am constrained to live in Mesech and to have my habitation in the tents of Kedar of all these miseries Death is the end to Gods servants And so also it is an entrance into happinesse for albeit their bodyes rot in the Grave and bee laid up in the Earth as in Gods store-house untill the last day yet the soule forthwith even in an instant comes into the presence of the ever-living God of Christ and of all the Angels and Saints in Heaven the spirits of just men made perfect to Abrahams bosome to bee with Christ quanta haec felicitas What greater happinesse It was much that Moses obtained to see the back-parts of God but how much greater favour is it to see him face to face to have eternall fellowship with God the Father with Christ the Redeemer with the Holy Ghost the sanctifier The knowledge of this benefit of Death makes the face of it comfortable to Gods servants and causes them to strive with their owne naturall weaknesse that so they may even long for their day of dissolution But now against this point divers Objections may be alledged For first the Apostle Paul sayes that Death is the wages of sinne And else-where hee stiles it Christs enemie the last enemie that hee shall subdue is Death How should not death then be rather a day of misery to bee trembled at then a day of happinesse to bee longed for To this I answer that wee are to distinguish touching Death for it must be considered two wayes First as it is in its owne nature Secondly as it is altered by Christ in the first sence it is true that Death is the wages of sinne and the very suburbs and the gates of hell But in the second taking of Death it ceases to be a plague and becomes a blessing inasmuch as it is even a doore opening out of this world into Heaven Now the godly looke not upon Death simply but upon Death whose sting and venome is plucked out by Jesus Christ and so it is exceeding comfortable But then secondly it is objected that wee reade of many that have prayed against death as namely first David Returne O Lord saith he and deliver my soule oh spare mee for thy mercyes sake for in death there is no remembrance of thee Secondly Hezekiah when the message of death was brought to him Thirdly Christ himselfe Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me To all these I answer first touching Daâ—…d that when he composed that sixt Psalme hee was not only gâ—…vously sicke but also exceedingly tormented in mind for he wrestled and combatted in his conscience with the wrath of God as appeares by the first Verse of that Psalme therefore wee must know that hee prayed not simply against Death but against death at that time in asmuch as the comming of it was accompanied with extraordinary apprehensions of Gods wrath for at another time hee tells us that hee would not feare though hee walked through the valley of the shadow of Death And the like I say touching Hezekiah that his prayer proceeded not from any desperate feare of Death but first that he might doe more service to God in his Kingdome And with such a kind of thought was Saint Pauls desire of dissolution mingled Secondly hee prayed against Death then because he knew that his death then would be a great cause of rejoycing to evill men to whom his reformation in the State was unpleasâ—…ng Thirdly because hee wanted issue God had promised before to David that there should not faile a man of his seed to sit upon the throne of Israel so that his children did take heed 〈◊〉 their wayes Now it was a great discomfort to him to die childlesse for then he and others might have thought that he was but an Hypocrite inasmuch as God had promised issue to all those Kings that feared him and for this cause God heard his prayer and after two yeares gave him a sonne Maâ—…asseh by name And so I say the same touching our Saviour Christ that hee prayed not against Death as it is the separation betwixt Body and Soule as appeares by what the Apostle saith that hee was heard in that hee feared for hee stood in our roome and became a Curse for us it was the Curse of the Law which went with Death and the unspeakable wrath and indignation of God which hee feared and from this according to his prayer he was delivered But thirdly wee see in most good men a feare of Death and a desire of life and I my selfe may some godly man say doe feele my selfe ready to tremble at the meditation thereof and yet I hope I belong unto God I answer that there are two things to bee considered in every Christian Flesh and Spirit Corruption and Grace and the best have many inward perplexities at times and doubtings of Gods favour Now it is a truth which our Saviour delivers that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weake And as in all other good purposes there is a combat betwixt the flesh and the spirit so is there in this betwixt the feare of Death and the desire of Death sometime the one prevailes and sometimes the other but yet alwayes at last the desire of Death doth get the victory Carnall respects doe often prevaile farre with the best care of wife children and the like Thâ—…se are their infirmities but as other infirmities die in them by degrees so these also at last are subdued and the servants of God seeing clearely the happinesse into which their Death in Christ shall enter them doe even sigh desiring to bee clothed upon with their house which is from Heaven Here then is a good Marke by which we may know our selves to be Gods servants viz. by the state of our thoughts and meditations touching Death I will so deliver it as may bee most for the comfort of those that truly feare God I demand therefore of thee Dost thou know that the confident and comfortable expectation of Death is the worke of the Holy Ghost in Gods servants Dost thou desire unfeignedly that the same may bee wrought in thy heart Dost thou labour to know what happinesse comes by Death to those that feare the Lord Dost thou grieve at thine owne weaknesse to whom the thought of Death is sometime troublesome and unsavourie Dost thou pray the Lord so to assure thee of his favour in Christ that death may bee desired before it comes and welcome when it is come Dost thou when thou hearest this speech of Simeon wish that thou wert able to use the like words with the like resolution Surely
Spirituall change wrought in the soule by the Spirit of God nothing makes in this life such a change as true grace Wee all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. This change is like the tuning of a disordered instrument or like the refining of corrupt mettall or like the clearing of the darke ayre or like the quickning of a dead Lazarus but neither is this change that the text intends Fourthly there is a change of the life and this I call a mortall change we shall all be changed saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 5. life hath the first course but death will have the second As in a Comedie severall persons have severall parts to act which when they have dispatched they all draw off of the stage so though in life we all present our selves on the stage of this world and act severall Scenes and parts yet at length we must all retire and passe away through one and the same doore of mortallity This is the change which Iob speakes of to wit a change of his life by Death Here then are two things to bee demonstrated and proved for the making good of the point in hand viz. 1. That death is a change 2. That this change of death will befall all the sonnes of men First that Death is a change not an anihilation A change is a different and a divers order or manner of being Anihilation is one thing and mutation is another thing there the thing ceaseth utterly to be here the thing only ceaseth to be as once it was so it is with Death it doth not reduce us to nothing but alter our former something it changes our manner or order of being not our being absolutely Now observe Death is a change in five respects First it changes that neere union of the Soule and the body and makes of one two severalls they that were as the hands mutually clasping or as two persons conjugally tyed together when Death comes it plucks them asunder and divides one from the other as farre as heaven is from the earth Secondly it changes our actions or worke Whiles life remained here in our bodies while our day lasted we might have fedde the hungry clothed the naked visited the sicke râ—…ved the distressed frequented the ordinances bewailed â—…nnes but when death once enters the night is come in which â—…an can worke thou art then turned changed into an insenâ—…ble rotten and loathsome carkasse Thirdly it changes our countrey Whiles we live here wee are as children put abroad to schoole in a strange place hence it is wee are so often in the Scripture called Pilgrims and strangers This earth this lower world is not the proper home of the Soule But when Death comes wee change our countrey wee goe home to our owne place to our owne Citie the wicked shall goe to their owne place as it is said of Iudas and the godly to their owne Mountaine to their owne Kingdome Fourthly it changes our companie In this life we converse with sinfull men emptie creatures infinite miseries innumerable conflicts but when Death comes all this shall be changed wee shall goe to our God and Father to our Christ and Saviour and to the innumerable company of blessed Angels and Saints and the spirits of just men made perfect Fiftly it changes our outward condition When Death comes thou shalt never see the wedge of gold againe thou shalt never find thy delights in sinne any more all the excellencie of the creature and the contentments of them and the sensuall rejoycing in them shall goe out with life Death shall shut and close them up in an eternall night which shall never rise to another day So much for the first thing that Death is a change I come now to speake briefly of the second that this change of Death will be fall all the sonnes of men Psal. 89. 48. What man is hee that liveth and shall not see death shall hee deliver his soule from the hand of the grave We love to see most things the eye is never satisfied with seeing and yet many things there are which we shall never see Every man cannot see that which one man doth but there is one thing which every man shall see hee must see death There are many enemies from whom wee can deliver our selves and many more from whom we may be delivered but yet there is one enemie from which wee cannot defend our selves nor bee defended by others he will be to strong for every man let him strive repine order his dyet intreate doe what hee will or can No saith the Psalmist none shall deliver his soule from the hand of the grave And he puts a Selah a note of observation at the end of the verse That all the sonnes of men are subject to this change by death will appeare to you by these familiar Arguments The First may be taken from the qualitie of our lives which is sweetly set out in the Scripture under the termes of changeable things all which point out unto us the certaintie of death Sometime our life is compared to a shew Psal. 39. 6 Surely every man walketh in a vaine shew In a shew you know there is some devise or other opened carryed a-while about but at length it is shut up so it is with our lives Sometime againe it is compared to a shade or a shadow Iob 8. 9. Our dayes upon earth are a shadow a shadow is but an imitation of a substance a kind of nimble picture which is still going and comming and will set at last perhaps it is suddenly ecclipsed so is our life Sometimes aâ—…aine it is compared to a vapour Iames 4. 14. What is your life it is even a vapour that vanisheth away like 〈◊〉 poore cloude sometimes looking white sometimes blacke sometimes quiet and settled sometimes againe tossed up and downe with every wind and at last consumed and brought to nothing so it is with our lives Sometimes also compared to a Tale Psal. 90. 9. Wee spend our yeares as a tale that is told a meere discourse of this thing and that thing and indeed but a very parenthesis of a more tedious discourse and many times it is broken off in the very telling so it is with our lives Sometimes againe it is as grasse as in Esay 46. The voyce said crie aloude what shall I crie all flesh is grasse and the goodlinesse thereof as the flower of the grasse And verse 7. The grasse withereth and the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it And Iob in this chapter calleth it a Flower Hee commeth forth saith he like a flower and is cut downe A flower is a sweet thing but of an earthly breed fedde with showres at its best when it is in all its glory it is but to day and to morrow it
and sea shall cast up 〈◊〉 their dead Wee have the parties to bee examâ—…ed let us now here the Articles upon which they are to bee examâ—…ed First Death is to answer to this 〈◊〉 where is thy sâ—…ng these words may bee understood â—…o maâ—…r of wayes 1 Actively 2 Passively 1 Passively where is thy sting that is the sting thrust out by Deatâ—… 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Death is 〈◊〉 other then the present sence of the desert of death and guilt of conscience 〈◊〉 a dreadâ—… 〈…〉 take away this 〈…〉 for sinnâ—… 〈…〉 no 〈…〉 â—…is Saints and 〈…〉 of a punishment of sinne a remedie against all sinne of a short and fearefull cut to eternall death a faire and safe draw-bridge to eternall life 2 Actively where is thy sting that is the sting which causeth and bringeth Death In this sense the sting of death is sinne non quem mors fecit sed quo mors facta est peccato enim morimur non morte peccâ—…mus as Saint Austine most accutely and eloquently Sinne is sayd to bee the sting of Death as a cup of poyson is sayd to bee a potion of death that is a potion bringing death for wee dye by sinne wee sinne not by death sinne is not the off-spring of death but death the off-spring of sinne or as the Apostle tearmeth it the wages of sinne And it is just with God to pay the sinner this wages by rendring death to sinne and punishing sinne with death because sinne severeth the soule from God and not onely grieveth and despightfully entreateth but without repentance in the end thrusteth the spirit out of doores And what more agreeable to Divine justice then that the soule which willingly severeth her selfe from God should bee unwillingly severed from the bodie and that the spirit should bee expelled of his residence in the flesh which expelleth Gods grace and excludeth his Spirit from a residence in the soul This sting of death is like the Adders two forked or double for it is either originall or actuall sinne originall sinne is the sting of death in the day thou eatest of the Tree of knowledge thou shalt surely dye and as by one man sinne came into the World and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all had sinned Secondly actuall sinne is the sting of death the soule that sinneth it shall dye the sonne shall not beare the iniquitie of the father nor the father the iniquity of the sonne the righteousnesse of the righteous shall bee upon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shall bee upon him Howbeit if wee speake properly originall sinne as it is a pronesse to all sinne so it maketh us rather obnoxious to death then dead men but actuall sinne without repentance slayes out-right Adam did not die the day hee eat the fruit but that day became mortalis or morti obnoxius guiltie of death or liable to it originall sinne alone maketh us mortes but actuall mortuos dead men The Devill like to a Hornet sometimes pricks us onely but leaveth not his sting in us sometime he leaveth his sting in us and that 's farre the more dangerous He is pricked only with this sting who sinneth suddenly and presently repenteth but he who the Devil bringeth to a habit or custome insinne in him hee leaveth his sting Now wee know what the sting is let us enquire where it is The answer is if wee speake of the reprobate men or Devills it remaineth in their consciences if wee speake of the Elect it is plucked out of their soules and it was put in our Saviours bodie and there deaded and lost for hee that knew no sinne was made sinne for us to wit by imputing our sinne to him and inflicting the punishment thereof upon him That wee might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him for the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes were wee healed who his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree Athanasius representeth the manner of it by the similitude of a Waspe losing her sting in a Rocke Vespa acculeâ—… fodiens petram c. as an angry Waspe thrusteth her sting into a rocke cannot pierce or enter farre into it but either breaketh her sting or loseth it all so Death assaulting the Lord of life and striving with all her might to sting him hurt not him but disarmed her selfe of her sting for ever The first interrogatorie is answered wee know where Deaths sting is let us now consider of the second interrogatorie concerning the victorie of the Grave O grave where is thy victorie If the Grave as shee openeth her mouth wide so she could speake shee would answer My victories are to be seene in Macpelah Golgotha in all the gulphs of the Sea and Caves and pits of the Earth where the dead have beene bestowed since the beginning of the world My victorie is in the fire in the water in the earth in all Churnells and Caemitaries or dormitories in the bellies of fish in the mawes of beasts in holy shrines Tombes and sepulchres wheresoever corpses have beene put and are yet reserved Of all that ever Death arrested and they by order of divine Justice have beene committed to my custodie never any but one escaped whom the heaven of heavens could not containe much lesse any earthly prison he might truly say and none but he O grave where is thy victorie all save him I keepe in safe custodie that were ever sent to mee Yet may all that die in Iesus and expect a glorious Resurrection by him even now by faith insult over the Grave for Faith calleth those things that are not as if they were it looketh backward as farre as the Creation which produced all things at the first of nothing and as farre forward to the resurrection which shall restore all things from nothing or that which is as much as nothing Faith with an eye annointed with the eye-salve of the spirit seeth death swallowed up into victorie and the earth and sea casting up all their dead and upon this evidence of things not seene triumpheth over Death and Hell saying O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victorie Wee have spoken hitherto of Death and the Grave let us now heare what they have to say to us Death saith feare not mee the Grave Weepe not immoderately for the dead Death bids us die to sinne the Grave Burie all thy injuries and wrongs in the pit of oblivion both say to us flye sinne and neither of us can hurt you both say to us Give thankes to him who hath given you victorie over uâ—… both the sting of death pricks you not but if you die in the bosome of Christ rather delights and tickles you Death is no more Death but a sleepe the Grave is no more a grave but abed Death is but the putting off of our old rags the Grave is the Vestrie
held Secondly in his members by changing the nature of it to them and making it of a curse a blessing of a losse a gaine of a punishment either a great honour or a speciall favour or a singular advantage a great honour as to the Martyrs who thereby acquired so many Rubies to their crowne of glory as they shed drops of blood for their Saviour A speciall favour as to Abraham Iosiah and Saint Austin who were taken away that they might not see and feele the miserie that after their death fell on the postarity of the one the subjects of the other and the diocesse of the third A singular advantage to all the faithfull who thereby are discharged from all cares feares sorrowes and temptations and presently enter into their Masters joy For blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Now the meanes whereby Christ conquered death and utterly destroyed it are diversly ser downe by the learned some argue a contrariis contraries say they are to bee destroyed by their contraries as heate by cold moysture by drought sicknesse by health Death therefore must needs bee destroyed by life as the contrary but Christ is the resurrection and the life in him was life and life was the light of men Saint Austine declareth it after this manner Life dying contended with Death living and got a glorious and signall victory Nyssen thus the Devill catching at the flesh of Christs humane nature as a baite was caught by the hooke of his divine Saint Leo and Chrysologus thus if a Bayliffe or Serjeant arrest the Kings sonne or a privileged person and lay him up in a close prison without commission hee deserveth to bee turned out of his place for it So Death Gods Serjeant seizing upon his Sonne in whom there was no fault without warrant or commission was justly discharged of his office Is Death thus discharged hath Christ changed the nature of Death and freed all his Members from the sting of the temporall and feare of eternall death hath hee of a Posterne made it a street-doore of an out-let of mortall life an in-let of immortalitie why then are wee so much afrayd of death which can no more hurt us then a hornet or waspe after her sting is plucked out Christ fought with a living death wee with a dead death which doth not so much severe our soules from our bodies as joyne them to Christ not so much end our life as our mortalitie not so much exclude us out of the Militant as render us to the Triumphant Church Nothing is more dreadfull I confesse to the naturall man then Death which dissolveth the soule and bodie and the Grave which resolveth the bodie into dust and ashes To cure this maladie of the minde there is no vertue in any Drugge of nature the Philosophers in this case are Physitians of no value they tell us that sicknesse and death are tributa vivendi and the Grave the common house of the dead But of what of this what comfort is here doth this speculation discharge us from the tribute or make the payment thereof the easier doth it enlighten the darknesse of these prisons of nature or take away the stench from these under-ground houses no whit Yet God bee thanked there is a magazen in Scripture to pay these tributes there is light in Goshen to enlighten these houses there is Spicknard to perfume these dankish roomes there are 〈◊〉 in holy Scripture to strengthen the heart not onely against deadly maladies but also against death it selfe For there we heare of a voyce from heaven not onely affirming the happinesse of the dead but confirming it with a strong reason for they rest from their labours and their works follow them we heare of Tabernacles not made with hands but eternall in the Heavens wee heare that when wee are absent from the body wee are present with the Lord wee heare the Lord of life opening the eares and chearing the heart of the dead and saying I am the resurrection and the life whosoever beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live There wee heare death not onely disarmed of his sting but also slaine downe right O Death I will bee thy death O Grave I will bee thy destruction Secondly hath Christ destroyed Death and hath hee both the keyes of Death and of Hell then beloved when wee lye on our death-bed let us not have recourse after the popish manner to any Saint or Angell no not to the blessed Virgin her selfe but to her Sonne who is the Lord of life who satisfying for our sinnes at his death thereby plucked out the sting of death and after his resurrection quite destroyed this serpent In which regard he is styled stella matutina the Morning starre because hee ushereth in the day of eternitie and primitiae dormientum the first fruits of them that slept because in him the whole lump is sanctified When therefore the fiery Serpent hovereth over us to sting us to eternall death let us looke upon the Brazen Serpent and the other shall not hurtus Lastly hath Christ conquered Death and Hell and that for us let us then give him the honour of the greatest Worthy and noblest Conquerour that ever the World saw Cyrus and Alexander and Caesar were no way to bee compared to him for they subdued but mortall enemies hee immortall they bodilie hee ghostly they with great Armies and power of men but hee alone they when they were alive and in their full strength and vigour but hee at the houre of his death and afterwards I conclude therefore with Saint Ierome his insultation over Death and thanksgiving to the Lord of life O Death thou didst bite and wert bitten thou didst devoure and art now devoured by him whom for a time thou didst devoure by his death thou art slaine by his death wee live everlastingly thankes bee rendred unto thee O Saviour who hast subdued so powerfull an adversary and put him to death by thy death and passion The Ethiopians as Herodotus relateth make Sepulchres of glasse for after they have dryed the corps they artificially paint it and set it in a glazed Coffine that all that passe by may see the lineaments of the dead body but surely they deserve better of the dead and more benefit the living who draw the lineaments of their minde and represent their vertues and graces in a Mirrour of Art for I am not of their judgement among us who properly and deservedly are called Precisians because out of the purity of their precise zeale ita praecidunt they so neere paire the nayles of Romish superstition that they make the fingers bleed who out of feare of praying forsooth for the dead or invocating them are shie of speaking any word of them or sending after them their deserved commendations for it is pietie to honour God in his Saints
wit some red flower as well as white yet the Crowne and Garland of all Confessours are compleat And therefore not onely Beda and Bernard and Richardus and Andreus and Primasius and Haymo and Ansbertus and Ioachimus but also the Greeke and the Roman Church yea and the reformed also understand these words of all that dye in Gods favour for they read these words at the Funeralls of all the dead and not onely at the Funeralls of Martyrs Yea but how can any bee sayd to dye in the Lord that is continuing his Member sith Christ hath no dead Members I answer that the faithfull dye not in the Lord in that sense in which they live in him but in another they die not spiritually nor cease to bee his mysticall Members but naturally that is they continuing in Christs faith and love breathe out their souies and so fall asleepe in his bosome or dye in his love laying hold of him by faith and relying on him by hope and embracing him by charitie All they dye in the Lord who die in the act of contrition as Saint Austin who reading the penetentiall Psalmes with many teares breathed out his last gaspe sighing for his sinnes Or in the act of charitie as Saint Ierome who in a most fervent or vehement exhortation to the love of God gave up the ghost Or in the act of Religion as Saint Ambrose who after he had received the blessed Sacrament in a heavenly rapture and a holy parley with Christ left the body Or in the act of Devotion as Aquinas who lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven pronouncing with a loude voyce those words of the Spouse in the Canticles Come my beloved let us goe forth went out of this world Or in the Act of gratulation and thankes-giving as Petrus Celestinus who repeating that last verse of the last Psalme Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum Let every breath or every one that hath breath praise the Lord breathed out his soule Or in an Act of divine contemplation as Gerson that famous Chancellour of Paris who having explicated fiftie properties of divine love concluded both his Treatise and his life with fortis ut mors dilectio Love is strong as death To knit up all six sorts of men may lay just claime to the blessednesse in my Text. First Martyrs for they die in the Lord because they die in his quarrell Secondly Confessours for they die in the Lord because they die in his faith and in the confession of his name Thirdly all they that love Christ and are beloved of him for they die in the Lord because they die in his bosome and embracings Fourthly all truly penitent sinners for they dye in the Lord because they dye in his peace Firthly all they who are engrafted into Christ by a speciall faith and persever in him to the end for they die in the Lord because they die in his communion as being members of his mysticall body Lastly all they that dye calling upon the Lord or otherwise make a godly end for they dye in the Lord because they dye in the workes of the Lord and happy is that servant whom his Master when hee commeth shall find so doing From hence-forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza and some other render the word in the originall perfectly because the dead obtaine the blessednesse they hoped for but this Exposition cannot stand unlesse wee restraine this blessednesse to the soule For the perfect and consummate happinesse of all that die in the Lord consisteth in the glorification of their bodyes and soules when they shall see God face to face and the beames of his countenance directly falling upon the soule shall reflect also upon the body and most true it is which Paraeus observeth the deads blessednesse farre exceedes the blessednesse of the living for here wee have but the first fruits of happinesse but in heaven wee shall have the whole lumpe here wee hunger and thirst for righteousnesse there wee shall be satisfied To this we all willingly assent but it will not hence follow that they have their whole lumpe of happinesse till the day of Judgement Blessed they are from the houre of their death but not perfectly blessed but not consummatly blessed intensive as blessed as the soule by it selfe can be for that state in which it now is not blessed extensive not so blessed as the whole person shall be when the soule shall bee the second time given to the body and both bid to an everlasting feast at the mariage of the Lambe Others therefore more agreeable to the Analogie of faith render the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from hence-forth and referre the hence-forth not to the time of the uttering this Prophecie as if before it none were blessed for before this prophecie all the Apostles Saint Iohn only excepted and thousands of Saints and Martyrs had died in the Lord and were at rest from their labours but to the instant of their dying in the Lord they no sooner lost their lives for Christ then they found happinesse in him So soone as Lazarus dyed his soule was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome So soone as the Thiefe expired on the Crosse hee aspired to Paradise and was with Christ So Nazianzen teacheth concerning every religious soule I beleeve saith he that every noble soule which is in grace and favour with God presently as soone as shee hath shaken off the body which kept downe her wings flyeth joyfully streight up to her Lord and Saint Cyprian Death to the godly is not a departure but a passe from a temporall to an eternall life and no stay by the way as soone as we have finished our course here we may arrive at the goale there And S. Bernard The infidels call the parting of the soule from the body Death but the beleevers call it the Passeover because it is a passe from death to life For they die to the world that they may perfectly live to God To strike sayle and make toward the shore if all that dye in the Lord are blessed from the very moment of their death and this blessednesse is confirmed by a voyce from heaven let us give more heed to such a voyce then to any whisper of the flesh or divell Whatsoever Philosophie argueth or Reason objecteth or sense excepteth against it let us give more heed to God then man to the spirit then the flesh to faith then to reason to heaven then to earth although they who suffer for the testimonie of the Gospell seeme to be most miserable their skinnes being fleyed off their joynts racked their whole body torne in peeces or burned to ashes their goods confiscate their armes defaced and all manner of disgraces put upon them yet they are most happy in heaven by the testimonie of heaven it selfe the malice of their enemies cannot reach so high as heaven it cannot touch them there there much lesse awake them out of their
it will be objected Wee find some men that did not die It is said of Enoch that he was translated that hee should not see death Heb. 11. 5. And of Elijah that he went up by a whirle-wind into heaven in a chariot of fire 2 King 2. 11. These men did not die To this I answer briefly Particular and extraordinary examples doe not frustrate generall rules God may sometimes dispence with some particular men and yet the rule remaine firme I say it may be so But secondly we answer They had that that was in stead of Death to them some change though they did not die after the manner of other men So at the end of the world it is said that those that are alive shall be caught up and changed in the twinckling of an eye there shall be a sudden and almost undiscernable unperceivable change which shall be to them in stead of death But it will be objected further There is a promise made in Ioh. 11. That those that believe shall never die To this I answer with that common distinction There is a twofold death which the Scripture calleth the first and the second death The first death is the death of the body that ariseth from a dis-junction and separation of the body from the soule And there is a second death that ariseth from the dis-junction and separation of the soule from God The first death is no death properly the second death is that which is truly Death and so they shall not die A man may have a body separated from the soule and yet not his soule separated from God nor himselfe from Christ. Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ neither life nor death nor principalities nor powers c. Death you see shall not bee able to separate us from God it cannot separate the soule Nay it doth not separate the body from Christ the body remaineth a member of Christ as well while it is still in the grave as before God is not the God of the dead but of the living saith Christ Mat. 22. And therefore he proveth that even Abraham was not dead in that sense that they then tooke it but hee remaineth yet alive in as much as God was his God Abraham whole Abraham was Gods by vertue of Covenant so are all his posteritie the children of Abraham by faith in a spirituall sense they remaine with Christ and they are united to him as members to the head even when their bodies are in the grave So that I say they die not in that sense so as to have their soule separated from God though they die in the first sense that is to have their bodies separated from the soule But our Saviour in that place of Iohn speakes of the second of that death which is an everlasting separation of the soule from God As we say of wicked men that while they are alive they are dead so the Apostle speakes of the widow that lived in pleasures while she lived she was dead and the Church of Sardis had a name to live but she was dead This is true death indeed when that the soule of a man is separated and dis-joyned from God and from Christ And it is the state of every man by nature of every man under sinne though they walke up and downe and doe the actions of the living yet they are but dead men And as truly as they are said to be dead while they live so truly it may be said of the children of God that while they are dead they live as it is said of Abraham so it may bee said of all Gods servants they die not properly but remaine still in union with God and with Christ with God through Christ they are Christs and therefore Gods in him and therefore they die not Looke what the soule is to the bodie that is God to the soule the soule is the life of the body and God is the life of the soule they are still living men that have God the soule is alive even when the body lieth downe in the grave This shall serve for the opening of that they are not dead but alive they doe die in the first sense and in the common acceptation in respect of the separation of the body from the soule but they doe not die in the second sense in respect of the separation of the soule from God they doe not die eternally they doe not die properly Now briefly to make some use of this and to hasten to that I most intend to stand upon Is it so then that Death is the end of all men Let us make account of it for ourselves This seemeth but a plaine point and so indeed it is but I know there is nothing more usefull and I know there is nothing lesse regarded and lesse considered of seriously then this that we must die It is true wee all acknowledge it in the generall and every man the very worst the most ignorant and most prophane in the world will yeeld to this in the generall that all men must die and let a man come and tell them that they themselves must die they will grant it too but this is that that undoes us all we rest in generals and doe not seriously insist upon a serious application of it to a mans owne particular case and bring it home to a mans selfe to conclude thus I must die I may die soone this may be the last day of my life upon earth this may be the last time I may breathe this may be the last word that I shall speake the last action that I shall doe I know I must die and it may be I may die now This is that wee should principally intend and labour most after that when we reade the stories of the Scripture and see that Death is the end of all men that all must die and their houses must be houses of mourning to conclude the same for our selves All those worthies spoken of in Heb. 11. it is said they all died in faith I read such a man was a King but he died such a man was a Prophet but hee died such a man was Noble but he died such a one died in his youth such a one in his strength these died and I must die the same thing must be said of mee that is said of them I say let us not only say it but resolve and conclude upon it conclude for our selves that the same thing must be said of us that is said of all men All men must die we must die The benefit that floweth from it will be this First when a man bringeth it to his owne particular case it will make sinne more odious to him What is it that brought Death into the world what bringeth death upon us Sinne. By one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passeth upon all men for that
the market-place when hee should be working in the Vineyard Would you be feasting when God would have you mourning you shall see some that have beene taken away when they little thought of it Belshazzer he was in his feasts and then commeth the sentence of death against him and other the like examples you may see in the Scripture Consider therefore the particular actions that you doe whether they bee such as hold agreement with the state of a dying man So for the manner of doing holy duties Would you be found praying perfunctorily and carelesly Would you be found comming to the Sacrament unprepared What though you doe holy actions that are good for the matter would you be found doing of them with unfit and unprepared hearts You see what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 11. For this cause many are sicke and weake and many sleepe they slept they were dead for this even because they came unworthily to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Would you therefore bee found doing of holy duties and not in a right manner The serious consideration of this that Death is the end of all men with the particular application of it to a mans selfe that as it is the state of all men so it is mine in particular I must die and I may die now it hath an influence into all the actions of a mans life To conclude In the last place This point is of use to us also in the death of others First to moderate the mourning of Christians for the death of others Why It is the end of all men it is that that is the common condition of all men it should not be too grievous nor too dolefull to any man Wee would not have our friends to bee in another condition in their birth then others wee would not have them have more fingers or more members then a man and would wee have them have more dayes Let this serve as a briefe touch upon that Secondly it teacheth us to make good use of our fellowship while we are together Not only we may die but those that are usefull to us may die also let us make good use of one another while we live therefore This will make the death of others bitter and will be worse then the death and losse of our friends the guilt upon a mans conscience that hee hath not made that use of them while they were alive that he might have done let us therefore make the death of our friends easie by making good use of them while they live It did smite the heart of those Ephesians that they should see the face of Paul no more specially above the rest it grieved them that they should see him no more how would it have grieved them thinke you if they had alwayes hardned themselves against his ministrie before Thinke with your selves seriously here is such a Minister such a Christian friend that husband and wife that parent and child a time of parting will come let us make it easie now by making good use of one another while we live that when friends are tooke away we may have cause to thanke God that we have had communion and comfort of their fellowship and societie the benefit of their graces the fruit of their lives and not sorrow for the want of them by death So much for that I come now to the second and principall reason why it is better to goe to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting it is this because the living shall lay it to his heart What shall hee lay to his heart That that is the end of all men hee shall lay the death of men to heart The point I observe from hence is thus much It is the dutie of those that live to lay to heart the death of others That is seriously to consider and make use for themselves of the death of others You see the Text is cleare for the point And there is good reason why it should be so First in respect of the glory that commeth to God Secondly in respect of the good that commeth to our selves by it First God is glorified by this when wee lay to heart the death of others there is a dishonour done to God when wee slight the death of others good or bad It is a dishonour to God to slight any of his actions this is one of Gods workes in the world the death of men this is a thing wherein Gods hand is seene he saith to the sonnes of Adam Returne The spirit returneth to God that gave it It is hee that hath the power of life and death If a sparrow fall not to the ground without the providence of God much lesse the servants of God the precious ones upon the earth the excellent ones as David calleth them I say God is seene much in these workes and it is a great dishonour to God when men doe not consider the workes of his hands David by the spirit of Prophesie in Psal. 28. 5. wisheth a curse upon ungodly men and for this reason among the rest because they consider not the operation of his hands this is that that puts men into a curst estate and exposeth them to the wrath of God when they regard not the workes of the Lord. The actions of Princes and great men upon earth every man considereth of them and weigheth them It is that wherein wee give God the glory of his wisedome and of his truth of his power of his justice of his mercy of his soveraigntie and dominion and Lordship over the whole earth when wee labour to draw to a particular use to ourselves the workes of God in the world specially the death of men of all men good and bad for we must give it the same latitude and extent and scope that the Text doth here he speakes here of the death of men in generall and he saith of all men that their death shall bee laid to heart by the living Secondly as there is reason that we should take to heart the death of others in respect of the glory that commeth to God thereby so in respect of ourselves also much benefit commeth to ourselves by laying to heart the death of other men There be three speciall things considerable in the death of any one that is matter of profit and benefit to those that live and survive after them Therein we see the certainty nature cause and end of Death First therein we see the certainty of death For now we have not only the word of God that tels us that we shall die but the workes of God taking others before us that as the Sacraments are called Visible instructions because they teach by the eye and the outward senses so the death of others are visible instructions to the living it teacheth by the eye a man is guided by the eye to see his owne condition and as it were in a glasse there
is represented to him his owne state what we are they were once the time was that they converst with men as we doe that they spake for Gods glory upon earth as we doe and what they are now we shall be there will come a time when our workes shall cease as theirs doe when we shall be in the place of silence as they are I say it confirmeth to us the former certaintie and assurance of our death when we see others fall before us And there is great profit and benefit that ariseth out of this This is necessary to awaken mens drowsinesse and to quicken up mens dulnesse to a serious consideration of that that is so usefull to themselves A man would wonder that in the Wildernesse where so many thousands died for the hand of God was out against them for their murmuring and rebellion and they were destroyed by the destroyer as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 10. that there Moses should pray Lord teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome though they had a sight of so many dying before them and that continually yet they needed to bee stirred up to pray that God would teach them to make use of it So it is with us Wee have seene not only one or two die before us but there was a time not long since and you cannot forget it wherein the destroying Angel did walke at libertie about the Citie and kill thousands in our streets yet when so many died what securitie was there even among those that lived insomuch that after a while the sicknesse grew common and usuall and so unregarded Have we not need then as much as ever Moses had in the Wildernesse to crie to God to teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome Nay much more now when there is scarce one or none in comparison of those multitudes that were swept away in that visitation we have need of such helpes as these are and to joyne our prayers with them too that we may be stirred up to a serious application of it to our selves That 's the first thing it is necessary for living men to take to heart the death of those that are departed that they may see and be brought seriously to thinke of the certainty of their owne death Secondly therein also wee see the nature of death what the proper worke of it in the world is It is of singular use too The nature of death the proper worke of it is to disunite to separate to dis-joyne things here you have the soule separated from the body the estate separated from the man the man separated from his friends and all by Death First I say yee have the body separated from the soule and this is a usefull consideration The soule and the body while they keepe together in a man they may be helpfull and usefull one to another the time will come when they must be separated Alas the not considering of this is the cause of those great errours that are in the lives of men that they bestow so much time upon their bodies that they so much minde the present things of this life and their outward welfare as if they had no soules at all to regard as if there never should bee a separation of body and soule one from another What is the reason that there is all that care tooke for food for the body for apparell for the body for health for the body and such an utter neglect of the soule but because that men doe not dreame doe not thinke of a time of separation of a time of dis-junction of a time of parting these two All the worke of a mans life should now be to make a good use of the faculties of his soule that the body may be happy by it the soule will draw the body after it to its owne estate Now they are together if they joyne now in sinne after their separation there shall come a time when they shall be joyned in punishment if they joyne now in the service of God after they have beene separated a while by death there will come a time when they shall be againe joyned in glory and happinesse That is the first There will bee a separation of soule and body therefore make good use of them while they are together let the body be serviceable to the soule by all its senses and members let the soule rule and order the body by its understanding and affections c. that both body and soule may bee made blessed in an eternall conjunction together after death and in an everlasting union in the sight of God Secondly Death makes a separation betweene a man and all his outward estate in the world The rich man in Saint Luke 12. thought not upon this Soule thou hast much goods layed up for many yeares hee thought his soule and his goods should never have parted therefore take now thine ease saith he See what the end of it was Thou foole saith the Lord this night they shall fetch away thy soule and then whose shall these things bee The time is comming that these things shall bee none of thine they shall bee another mans they shall be some bodies else they shall be taken from thee How necessary is this consideration to take off mens affections from the world and to stirre them up to use their wealth and their estates while they have them so as may make for the glory of God A time shall come that they shall not have it to use that nothing shall be left them but a bare account to be given up Give an account of thy stewardship Luke 16. The maine businesse is now to be done while a man and his wealth are together while a man and his estate continueth together to use it to Gods glory otherwise it will be a woefull and heavy parting when death shall come to make a separation The young man went away sorrowfull when Christ would have his wealth from him because he had great possessions How sorrowfull will a man goe out of the world when he hath a great deale of wealth but he hath not prepared his account he cannot give up a reckoning of his getting of it of his using and imploying of it It is necessary therefore I say that men take to heart the death of those that die before them that when they see the bodies and soules of men parted men and their estates parted they may learne how to use their bodies and soules themselves and their estates while they are yet joyned together Thirdly Death doth not only part a mans body and soule a mans selfe and his wealth but it parteth a man from his friends from all his worldly acquaintance from all those that he tooke delight in upon earth Deathmakes a separation betweene husband and wife see it in Abraham and Sarah though Abraham loved Sarah dearely yet Death parted them
Let me have a place to burie my dead out of my sight It parteth father and child how unwilling soever they be see it in David and Absolom Oh Absolom my sonne would God I had died for thee and Rachel mourned for her children and would not be comforted because they were not It parteth the Minister and the people see it in the case of the people of Israels lamenting the death of Samuel and in the case of the Ephesians at the parting of S. Paul sorrowing especially when they heard they should see his face no more It parteth those friends who were so united together in love as if they had but one soule in two bodies see it in the separation that was made by death betweene David and Ionathan that were so knit together in their love that he bewaileth him Woe is mee for my brother Ionathan This is a necessary consideration for us that live that wee may learne to know how to carrie our selves towards our wordly friends and how to moderate our selves in our enjoyment of these worldly comforts Looke upon every worldly thing as a mortall as a dying comfort Looke upon children and friends as dying comforts Look upon your estates as that that hath wings and will be gone Looke upon your bodies that now you make so much of as a thing that must bee parted from the soule by death and that ere long See what advise the Apostle giveth 1 Cor. 7. 19. the time is short saith he therefore let those that marry bee as if they married not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it A man abuseth the world when he useth it beyond the consideration of the shortnesse of enjoying these things when hee lookes upon these things as things that hee shall enjoy alwayes But if we would use it aright looke upon things as things that we shall enjoy but for a short time This body that seemeth now to have some beautie in it yet it must die and be laied in the dust these friends that seeme now to haue some pleasure and delight in them yet I must die and be tooke from them this estate and wealth that now I set so much prize upon I must die and death will part me and it So I say lookeupon every thing as separable from us Moderate your affections likewise to them Vse them onely as comforts in the way as a traveller doth the pleasures of his Inne hee stands not to build himselfe houses against every pleasant walke he lookes upon he stands not to purchase lands and to lay them to every Inne he comes to lie at No he knowes that he is now but in his passage in his way he knowes that hee is not at home that is the place he is going to and after a time hee shall come thither So make account that you are not now at home it is death that must helpe you to your home Let this therefore take you off from all these things that are in the way It is a strange thing to see how Sathan besotteth and befooleth men They strive and labour to compasse many worldly things as if their happinesse stood in the enjoyment of them as if they should have their wealth and their comforts for ever What care is there amongst men to get wealth and many times lose their soules in getting the world Alas Death will part soule and body them and their wealth and all Doe wee not see this daily in the death of others before us such a one is dead where is his body now in the dust Where are his friends and his companions now Where is his wealth and his estate for which many flattered him and fawned upon him are they not all separated from him they have nothing now to doe with him he cannot dispose of one penny of his estate now it is left he knowes not to whom others now have the mannaging of it As now you can say this of others so there will a time come that other men will say the like of you I had such a friend but death hath parted him from me hee had such an estate but death hath parted him and his estate Let us therefore make this use of the death of others to conclude with our selves that there will be a parting of all those outward things that now wee are so apt to dote upon The third speciall thing considerable in the death of others that will be matter of profit and benefit to those that live and survive after them is the end and cause for which God sendeth Death abroad into the world with such a large commission that it goeth on with such libertie to every familie to every place that it seizeth upon every person What 's the reason of it You shall see in the severall deaths of men severall causes There is judgement and mercy sometime a mixture of both and sometime but of one of these Sometimes wee see an apparant judgement of God in the death of some A judgement of God upon themselves Thus the young Prophet that disobeyed the word of the Lord a Lyon met him in the way and slew him So those Corinths that did eate and drinke unworthily in the Lords Supper though they were such as were saved after yet neverthelesse for this very cause saith the Apostle some of them were sicke and weake and some slept they died they were judged of the Lord that they might not bee condemned with the world When you see death seizing upon men as an act of divine judgement of divine displeasure let it make you more fearefull of sinning against God lest you provoke against your selves the same wrath in the very act of sinne Sometimes againe it is a judgement of God upon others Thus God takes away divers of his servants because the world is not worthy of them And as this is an act of judgement upon the world so it is an act of mercie to them God in mercy taking of them away from the evill to come and from the evill present A judgement of God to others that are unworthy of them A mercie to themselves that they are tooke away from their owne evill from sinne from temptations from all the effects and fruits of sinne and taken away from the evill that is to come upon others An act I say of mercie to them So it was to the child of Ieroboam he should die and should not see the judgement that was to come upon his fathers house because there was found some good thing in him toward the Lord. So it was to Iosiah Hee should bee gathered to his fathers in peace and his eyes should not see all that evill which the Lord would bring upon Ierusalem and upon the inhabitants thereof An act of judgement to others Righteous and mercifull men are taken away and noman layeth it
to heart they consider not the causes wherefore God takes away those good men A Land a Kingdome a State a People a place is much weakned when those that are righteous and mercifull men when those that stand in the gappe and use their endevours to prevent judgements are taken away The house will certainly fall when the pillars are removed They are the people of God only that hold up a state that hold up the world Assoone as Noah is put into the Arke presently commeth the deluge upon the World Assoone as ever Lot was got up to Zoar presently the Lord rained downe fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah Assoone as ever the mourners are marked presently commeth the destroying Angell upon the rest Beloved when wee see those that are mourners for the evils of the times and places where they live tooke away we should lay it to heart and consider it as a signe of Gods displeasure as a signe that hee is a going and departing when he takes away his jewels as a signe that he is a comming to judge the world when hee beginneth to separate to take to himselfe his owne Certainly as soone as ever that number of the elect shall bee accomplished when the company of those that God hath determined to eternall life shall be fulfilled when the sheepe of Christ that are yet to be brought into his fold are gathered together when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in and the nation of the Iewes added then the world shall bee burnt with fire and the day of Iudgement shall come nothing shall hinder that generall destruction that shall be the end of all things here below As it is with the generall Iudgement of the world so with particular Iudgements upon Nations when God takes away his people when the Saints goe out of Ierusalem to Pila then commeth the sword of the enemie upon Ierusalem when God drawes out his owne people presently commeth judgement upon the rest It is good to observe Gods method and order that he takes in governing of the world at this day that in the death of the servants of God wee may consider our owne time that wee may prepare for those evils that are a comming and for those greater judgements that are hastning Thus you see what use may bee made of laying to heart the death of others God is much glorified thereby For all his attributes are seene in all his workes and the glorifying of God is a declaring of God to be as glorious as hee hath revealed himselfe to be in his attributes which is by shewing of them forth in his workes When men can see the wisedome the justice the power the mercie the truth the soveraigntie of God and all in the death of others then they glorifie God in taking to heart the death of others You see likewise what good commeth to a mans selfe by laying to heart the death of others He sees thereby the certainty of his owne death He sees the nature of death and what the proper worke of it is viz. to separate betweene him and all those outward comforts all those props and staies whereupon his heart rested too much on earth in the daies of his vanitie And lastly he sees the end and cause why God sendeth Death into the world sometime in judgement that men should take heed of sin sometime in mercie in mercy to the men themselves and in mercy also to those that live that they seeing the servants of God lodged up before the tempest may learne to feare and to hide and secure themselves under Gods speciall providence who can either hide them amongst the living or the dead in the worst times Now let us conclude with some application to our selves In the first place it serveth for the just reproofe of that great neglect that is in the world at this day that men lay not to heart the death of others I wish that this were only the sinne of worldly men I know to a worldly man it is of all things the most unpleasant thought that can be to thinke of death hee cannot endure to heare this they shall fetch thy soule from thee It is as unpleasant to him as it is to a bankrout to heare of a Sergeant comming to arrest him as unpleasant as it is to a malefactour to heare of being brought before the Iudge And that is the reason why men in the time of feasting cannot endure such discourses at their Tables as might put sad thoughts of death into them oh these are to melancholy thoughts Yea but in the meane time it is thy folly thy want of wisedome Hee that was guided by the spirit of wisedome and had now bought some wisedome at a deare rate by wofull experience of his former follies hee now seeth that it was farre better to goe to the house of mourning that is seriously to consider of that which men account the most ordinary cause of mourning that is the death of others and of themselves then to goe to the house of feasting that is to sport a mans selfe in the pleasures of the world and to give libertie to a mans selfe to all manner of delights But I say I wish that this were their fault onely and that it may die with them But it is too much the fault of Gods owne people Moses is faine to pray for Israel in the Wildernesse where they saw so many die before them that God would give them wisedome to number their dayes And Ministers have still the same cause to pray for the people and Christians to pray one for another that God would give them wisedome to lay to heart the death of other men Have you well considered of Death when you can only discourse that such a one that was profitable in his instruction is dead such a one by whom we have had good in conversing with is dead such a one that was young and likely to live many yeares longer is dead What of all this this is but idle and emptie discourse What use makest thou of this to thy selfe dost thou gather from thence the certaintie of thy owne death Dost thou consider what Death will doe to thee when it commeth how that it will separate betweene thee and all things in the world as it hath done them Dost thou consider for what cause God sendeth Death abroad into the world Dost thou consider this with thy selfe as thou oughtest to doe This is an act of wisedome This is that wee call due consideration when the soule reflects upon it selfe it is their case now and it will be mine and mine in the same manner therefore it is good for me to set my accounts straite with God When thou accompaniest another to the grave dost thou conclude thus with thyselfe the very next time that any death is spoken of it may bee mine or as Saint Peter speakes to Saphira after the death of Annanias The feet of those that have buried
thy husband are at the doore and shall carrie thee out also This is the reason of all that worldly-mindednesse of all that earnestnesse and intention to gaine the favour of men by indirect meanes this is the reason of all that immoderate care about our businesse with the neglect of our soules this is the reason of all that carnall securitie of all that forgetfulnesse of God and the account that shall be made at the day of Iudgement this is the reason of the unfruitfulnesse of our lives of our unprofitable spending of our times or of whatsoever else it be this is even the very reason of all because even those that professe themselves to be the people of God and to give God the glory of his attributes in all his workes yet they lay not to heart the death of those that are before them Men durst not they could not passe away their time in such unprofitablenesse and unfruitfulnesse as they doe if they did seriously consider and lay to heart the death of others before them Againe secondly As it condemnes the generall neglect that is amongst men of this dutie so it serves to reproue that sinfull laying to heart of the death of others that is too frequent and common in the world That is first when men with too much fondnesse and with too great excesse and distemper of affection looke upon their dead friends as if God could never repaire the losse nor make amends for that he hath done in taking of them away Rachel mourneth and will not bee comforted David mourneth and will scarce bee comforted Oh Absalom my sonne my sonne would God I had died for thee What is all this but to looke on friends rather as Gods then men as if all sufficiencie were included in them only Men looke on their friends as Micah did upon his Idoll when they had bereaved him of it they took away all his comfort and quiet You have taken away my Gods saith hee and what have I more or as Laban that when his Idols were stolne away his heart was dead hee could not stay in his house hee could not enjoy himselfe wherefore have you stollen away my gods saith hee So I say men looke on their dead friends as they should looke upon the Creatour and not as upon the creature they take their death to heart but not in a right manner This is the very reason why God many times makes your Christian friends so unprofitable to you when they live because you idolize them you advance them above God This is the reason also why you are so unable to beare the losse of them when they die God beating you now with your owne rodde and making you feele the fruit and effect of your owne folly This now is an ill taking to heart the death of friends to mourne as men without hope Secondly there is a taking to heart and considering of the death of men but it is an unrighteous considering an unrighteous judging of the death of others If men see one die it may bee a violent death then they conclude certainly there is some apparent token of Gods judgement on such a one If they see another die with some extremitie of torment and vehement paines certainly there is some apparant evidence of Gods wrath upon this man If they see another in some great and violent tentation strugling against many tentations they conclude presently certainly such are in worser case then others I may say to all these as Christ said once to those that told him of the eighteene men upon whom the tower in Siloe fell thinke you that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Hierusalem Or rather as Solomon saith All things come alike unto all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the cleane and to the uncleane to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Learne to judge righteous judgement to judge wisely of the death of others take heed of condemning the generation of the just But rather in the last place Make this use of the death of every one Doth such a man die by an ordinary sicknesse having his understanding and memorie continued to the end Doth such a man die in inward peace and comfort with cleare and evident apprehensions of Gods love so that he can with Simeon say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace What use shouldest thou that livest make of this now Certainly let the sweetnesse of their death make thee in love with the goodnesse of their lives That is the only way to a happy death to a comfortable end indeed the leading of a fruitfull and profitable life Againe dost thou see the children of God full of temptations full of feares and disquietnesse of spirit in their death Sometimes so overcome with the violence of the disease as that it may be they speake impertinently and idlely it may bee sinfully What use shouldest thou make of this now Certainly let the terriblenesse of the example of such a mans death let it bee a terrour to thee and a meanes to stirre thee up to more carefulnesse of making good use of thy time in this life Nabal dieth and his heart is in him as a stone If ever God quicken thee if ever God breath upon thy soule or enliven thee by the inward motions of his Spirit embrace those opportunities and seasons of grace lest God smite thee with an everlasting deadnesse Againe hath God caused the light of his countenance to shine upon thy heart Doth hee offer a gracious message of peace to thy soule Doth hee speake peace at any time by the ministerie of his Word Imbrace those offers yeeld to those conditions of peace lest thou bee deprived of peace at the end Againe hath GOD given thee any strength over temptations Hast thou prevailed over the assaults of Sathan and other of thy enemies Hath hee made thee a conquerour take heed how thou insnarest thy selfe againe how thou inthrallest thy selfe in yeelding to Sathans yoke lest hee buffet thee by him in a worse manner at thy end Thus I say thou canst see nothing befall any of GODS servants in their death or in the manner of their death whether it bee more pleasing or more sorrowfull more calme and quiet or more tempestuous and full of trouble whether it bee more comfortable or more lamentable but it may be usefull unto thee If it bee good it may bee it shall bee so with thee if it be bad it may bee it shall bee so with thee too The maine businesse that a man hath to doe is to make sure of himselfe in this life It was the question that Saint Austin made to those that told him of a violent death that seized upon one But how did he live saith hee He made no matter how he went out
and apprehension of it it causeth feare and terrour Secondly it commeth in others and generally in all from weaknesse of nature which in some is more then others according to their different constitutions and educations so the rich many times are more fearefull of Death then the Poore because they have more to lose so likewise voluptuous persons are more fearefull of Death then those that are more temperate because by voluptuousnesse they have dis-joynted and weakned their spirits So young men many times are more fearefull of Death then those that are old as we see in the storie Iudg. 8. 20. Iether the sonne of Gideon when he should have killed Zeba and Zalmunna the Text saith Hee was afraid because hee was a young man but Gideon that was elder did it willingly as a man better accustomed and experienced with observations of changes and varieties of accidents amongst men We shall see the servants of God themselves have discovered this weaknesse of spirit specially upon sudden apprehensions of things Abraham upon the sudden and violent apprehension of Death was put to asinfull shift I thought faith he the feare of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wives sake therefore I said this is my sister So Samuel when God sent him to anoint David he discovered this weaknesse If Saul should know what I am a doing he will slay me therefore hee desired to have some other message under the colour whereof he might put Saul off So Peter out of a sudden apprehension of death and feare of it he denyed his Master This weaknesse of spirit is in man naturally Further there is another thing that causeth this naturall feare and that is the unacquaintednesse men have with Death there is somewhat in this matter that is strange to men notwithstanding they heare and see many die before them daily they heare things spoken of by the Minister and they reade the Scripture and many excellent comforts but who hath seene these what becommeth of these men they see Death the strict Porter of the world let men out of the earth but he locks the dore of the Grave upon them and none commeth backe againe to tell what is done in that place of silence to tell what is become of men when they are in the Grave how they speed in that world of soules there is no man returneth from the dead to report these things to them Now this affecteth the naturall man nay all men naturally are affected with the fearefull apprehension of death because they know not what will come after as the naturall man speakes in Ecclesiastes When Ioram set out a watch-man to see what was abroad and spied an Armie comming he sent a servant but Iehu biddeth him goe behind him he sendeth another and hee goeth behind him still saith he I see the men goe but they come not backe the Text saith hee was afraid Make ready the Chariot saith Ioram If this be the issue that men goe but never come backe againe it is high time to looke about us Certainly beloved such are the apprehensions of death Wee see men saith the naturall man goe downe to the Grave and not come backe againe wee see that a man ceaseth to bee and to doe those actions that we doe when we are upon the earth therefore let us consider the matter more seriously When the Captaine of the fifty that came to the Mount to Elijah saw the two former Captaines and their companies consumed saw that they were all dead that they ceased to bee but he saw not what became of them afterward therefore he commeth with feare to the Prophet and intreateth him that his life might be precious in his sight All strange things we know affect men and every thing as it is more strange so it more affecteth man naturally Let there but come a beast out of the Wildernesse assoone as ever he commeth unto a man and seeth him he flieth from him because he is not used to the sight of man it is strange to him but now take a beast that is brought up in the pasture in the field he will come to a man without feare because he is used to the sight of him So it is here Death is apprehended as a strange thing as a thing that a man never knew by experience Men have seene thus much that people have died but they never heard of any that came backe againe to tell them how it fared with them after death This I say that men should goe to the place of silence and have all matters hushed all things kept secret downe there there commeth no report thence this affecteth men with feare These are the naturall causes Secondly there are other causes within that affect men with the feare of death and those are sinfull causes First the want of the feare of God and as this is lesse so the feare of Death is more therefore we shall find that wicked men that cast off the feare of God in their lives they are slavishly held under the feare of death this you shall see in those examples of Belshazzar a man that set himselfe with a high hand against God went on in a contemptuous course against God and prophaned the holy vessels when there was a hand writing upon the wall some terrible thing presented to him his knees smote together hee could not hold his joynts still And so Felix a man that lived without the feare of God when he heard of judgement and other things the text saith he trembled and so likewise Cain and divers others I need not stand on it It was one of the Judgements threatned in part 28. Deut. Because thou dost not feare the Lord thy God therefore wheresoever thou goest thou shalt find no ease neither shall the sole of thy foot have any rest but the Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee that is thou shalt be in continuall feare of death and thou shalt feare day and night and shall have none assurance of thy life in the Morning thou shalt say would God it were Even and at even thou shalt say would God it were morning because of the feare of thine heart wherewith thou shalt feare and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see This is this is the first thing Secondly another thing is this when mens hearts are too much glued to the world and marke it according as there is worldly affections and worldly-mindednesse in the hearts of Gods servants so the feare of Death is more in them according to the strength of the one is the feare of the other What is it that disquieteth men ordinarily and makes them that they cannot think of Death with comfort but this now they must lose their company part with all their friends when they die once Hezekiah complained of that I shall see man no more saith he with the
Inhabitants of the world This I say is that that affecteth the heart exceedingly that they must lose all their friends specially when husband and wife must part parents and children must part and familiar and deare acquaintance must part this causeth the feare of death because the heart is too much set upon the creature So likewise worldly businesse when a man loveth much employment much businesse he cannot abide to thinke of death Why so because all worke all enterprises cease in the grave as Iob saith A man hath neither the workes of his hands nor the enterprises of his head in the grave all actions cease both of the mind and bodie there So when a mans heart is set upon pleasures below there is neither love nor hatred in the grave saith Solomou That is those things that affected the heart that men love they cease there all his pleasures and comforts are gone So if a man love honour and applause amongst men it ceaseth in the grave all honour there is laid in the dust contempt is cast upon Princes this is that that affecteth men exceedingly that they shall lose their honours and pleasures and acquaintance and businesse and all when they come to the grave and that because mens hearts are set too much upon these things That is the second reason There is a third thing which is a sinfull cause of this feare of Death and that is the want of Assurance There be two things that a man not being assured of makes him feare Death and these may be in the children of God and as they are more in any one so the feare of death is more in them The first is when they are not assured of reconciliation with God that God is at peace with them pleased with them in Christ. The want of this assurance makes death fearefull for now they looke upon Death as a Sergeant as a Jaylour either it is a Sergeant to take them off their present comforts or as a Jaylour to hold them under those bonds and fetters that they would faine escape Now when a man looks upon Death either way it is terrible As a Sergeant so the rich man in the Gospell This night they shall fetch thy soule from thee they shall come to thee as a Sergeant to a Debtour to require a debt they shall require thy soule of thee Now we all know that a man that is in debt and either hath it not to pay or is unwilling to part with that he hath such a man cannot indure the sight of a Sergeant above all men because he commeth to fetch that from him that he would not part with Or if he looke upon Death as a Jaylour so Christ saith Agree with thy adversarie quickly lest hee deliver thee to the Iudge and hee give thee to the Iaylour and then he holdeth thee in prison from whence thou shalt not goe out till thou have paid the uttermost farthing Now when a man looks on Death as a Jaylour that holdeth all in the grave till the great Judge of heaven and earth calleth for them at the generall day of Assizes that great day of appearance when all the world shall be gathered together and every prison shall giue up their prisoners The sea and the grave shall give up their dead I say when a man standeth thus as unreconciled to God or at least as one that doth not apprehend this reconciliation is not perswaded of this that God is reconciled to him it is no marvell if Death be terrible to him Therefore in the sixth of the Revelation The Kings and Captaines and the great and mighty men they cryed to the mountaines to fall upon them and to hide them from the presence of the Lambe because the great day of wrath was come and who could stand So we see in 33. Isa. 14. there is crying out concerning the comming of God the sinners in Sion the hypocrites are afraid what is their feare who shall dwell with everlasting burnings and who shall remaine with consuming fire when they shall see nothing but terrourand wrath in God fire and consumption when they see nothing but such terrible things then feare cōmeth upon them Now marke hypocrites stand altogether unreconciled and therefore it is no marvell if they be afraid and the Saints of God so farre as they are defective in the assurance of Gods love so farre they conceive themselves in the state of Hypocrites and therefore they are so full of feares Againe a second thing that they stand unresolved of is concerning the future estates of their soules and bodies after death they are not sure of this that there is a better condition afterwards this is that great question Whether goe wee I goe now out of the bodie and whither then I goe out of the world and whither then I am going out of the company of men and whither then shall I goe to Angels and Saints or to divels shall I goe to Heaven or to Hell shall I have a beeing or not in miserie or in happinesse They know not what shall become of them they are unresolved of this point of their owne state to come whether they shall be in happinesse or horrour after death and therefore Death is terrible You have the point opened I will answer an objection or two and then come to the use It may be objected It seemeth the servants of God are not kept under the feare of death all those that are in the state of grace have faith faith that spendeth these feares and therefore since they are in the state of beleevers how can they be held under the feare of death To this I answer briefly there is faith in all the children of God that are effectually called but wee must know that Faith is considerable two wayes first as it is in conflict and secondly as it is out of conflict Now the Faith of Gods servants in conflict so sometime it is in conflict with feare and sadnesse of spirit Why art thou cast downe oh my soule why art thou disquieted within me c. Sometime it is in conflict with reason and sense thus the people of Israel when they came into the Wildernesse they looked for nothing but dying and destruction of nature for sense presented it to them therefore saith Moses which is the voyce of Faith Stand still and see the salvation of God c. Now in this conflict the successe is doubtfull sometime as it was betweene Amalek and Israel fighting together Amalek prevailed Israel had the worst sometime Israel preuailed and Amalek had the worst so sometime Faith prevaileth against sense and those fears that arise from sense and somtime again carnal fears and Sense prevaileth against Faith now accordingly are those effects in the hearts of Gods children But secondly sometime Faith is out of conflict it now triumpheth in assurance it is come now to full assurance of Faith as it
is called in the Scripture and then there is nothing so comfortable and desirable as death it selfe to the servants of God So wee see David in the 23. Psal. Though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death I will feare none ill for thou Lord art with mee And so the Apostle Saint Paul triumpheth over all things Nothing shall separate 〈◊〉 from the love of God in Christ neither principalities nor powers nor life nor death nor things to come nothing shall doe it the Apostles faith now was out of conflict it had got the field the day of Sense and now he lookes on Death with comfort So that I say in that measure that Faith workes in that measure feare of death ceaseth Secondly it may be objected But we see the servants of God are said to love the appearance of our Lord Iesus Christ and the Apostle Paul is said to desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ How can these stand with the feare of death under which Gods servants are held To this I answer briefly Gods servants must be considered in their desires two wayes First in their generall desires Secondly in a particular state wherein they are In their generall course their desire is most for the appearing of Christ they most desire to be with him as best for them but take them in some particular state wherein they are lesse provided and lesse fitted and prepared then they may be at a stand in their desires they may have the feare of death in them As a wife her generall desire is for nothing so much as for the presence of her husband yet she may be under some particular unfitnesse there may be something or other in the way that she would not have him come in at that instant though her desire be for nothing so much as for his company So it may be the case of the servants of God they may say sometimes Lord spare mee a little before I goe hence to strengthen my faith to perfect my repentance and holinesse to doe some particular worke and the like David considered this that there was something that he might doe that he had not done and that he would faine doe before he went and so Hezekiah and the rest of the servants of God The point is cleare I come to the Application It shall be a word of exhortation to cut of otheruses and that is this To stirre up the servants of God that if they be disposed to distempers under which they are held that they are afraid to die that therefore they labour by all good meanes to shake off the feare of death Why Consider and note well those two things that are in the Text. The first is this that it is an uncomfortable state to be held under the feare of Death you see it is called a Bondage here and that is enough to show the uncomfortablenesse of it he saith by the feare of death they were held in Bondage all their life long Now the feare of Death is a bondage principally in these two respects first because it is with them as it is with a Bond-slave A Bond-slave is afraid to looke on him that hath the command of him he apprehendeth him as no friend therfore he doth not love to looke on him so it is in this case when a man lookes upon Death as a thing that is no friend to him he cannot abide to looke on him every thought of Death is a presenting of death to him and it is a miserable bondage when a man cannot present Death to himselfe without feare Secondly there is this in it that makes it a bondage it holdeth downe the spirit of a man A bond-slave you know is bound with fetters and chaines in his captivitie so that he hath neither freedome of spirit nor freedome of action So it is with a man that is held under the feare of Death he cannot doe what he would he cannot rejoyce in God he cannot delight in the apprehension of glory to come he cannot entertaine a thought of parting with things present with that securitie and comfort of heart that he should doe and all because this feare as the fetters bindeth his hands and his feet and keepeth him in bondage This is the first thing the feare of death to be held under it it is an uncomfortable state Secondly as it is uncomfortable so it is possible that the servants of God may be free from these feares under which they are held We see the text sheweth it Christ came for this end that having destroyed him that hath the power of death that is the divell hee might deliver those that for feare of death were held under bondage Did Christ come for this end then it is possible to bee had for certainly Christ would not lose his end he came for this was his end not onely to deliver them from eternall death but also from the feare of temporall death It is possible therefore The servants of God have found it and therefore you shall see them brought in insulting and triumphing and glorying over Death Oh death where is thy sting oh Grave where is thy victory thankes be to God that hath given us victory through Christ our Lord When they looked upon Death through Christ they looked on it without this feare the sting and power is tooke out the very nature of it is changed and it is made now every way beneficiall I say it is possible for we are regenerate and begotten againe to a lively hope to an inheritance immortall and undefiled and in what measure the hope of heaven is in the heart of man in that measure the feare of death falleth in that heart now it is possible that we may attaine this fulnesse of hope and therefore it is possible that we may be freed quite from the feare of Death This may suffice by way of motive A word or two by way of direction If this be possible to be had how shall the servants of God get it you see some of Gods servants are held under the feare of death and that all their life long how shall we be freed from this feare I should now orderly take up the particulars laid downe as causes and shew that by these it is cured as for instance Doth God doe this for this end that he may humble a man then the more humble thou art the lesse thou shalt be in the feare of Death for God layeth these feares upon men to humble them therefore labour for perfect humiliation and thou shalt perfectly ridde these feares out of thy heart as we see plainly the servants of God the more humble they have growne the lesse carefull they have beene of life and the lesse fearefull of Death And so those servants of God that have beene brought to deny themselves and to renounce all their worldly expectation and advancements they have alwayes beene ready to
tell me then what is the disquiet that springeth from sinne in a Cain in a Iudas when it meets with a dispairing disposition Thus you see Sin hath this time to sting and therefore thinke not that Sin will never sting till death sometimes Sinne stingeth a man before death Another time is at death When Death commeth and arresteth a sinner in an Action from God seizeth on a person that is under the power of Sin on one that is in his sinnes untouched howsoever he behaved himselfe in his life-time yet then the very name of Death breakes his heart it apaleth him and then it stings such a person It is appointed beloved for all of us once to die Death will one day arrest every man but when Death appeareth before a man that hath not a part in Christ that is under the power of his sinnes when it commeth to a Belshazzar it makes his very joynts to smite one against another it is a sting to him amidest all those sweet morsels his sinnes which he so much affected and so earnestly pursued it is as a very poyson to him nothing is a poyson now to us but sinne only but then at the time of death sinne is a poyson indeed Lastly Sinne can sting not onely before and at but after death Both at the day of Judgement and after At the day of Judgement Is not the conscience of a sinner thinke you stinged and his spirit deeply affected by reason of the great wrath of God that is to be poured out when he shall cry to the mountaines to cover him when he shall call to those insensible creatures that are not able to lend him that courtesie to crush him to nothing Make this our owne case thinke of it it will be our case as it is appointed for us all to die so we must all come to judgtment And after the Judgement when the sentence goe you cursed is past the sting of Sin ceaseth not no the worme for ever gnaweth in Hell It were a happinesse for a sinner if he might onely heare the sentence if this worme might not still gnaw his conscience but then this is his burthen Sin shall sting him for ever This is the first respect in which sinne is called the sting of death because then Sinne stingeth more emminently and sensibly Secondly it is called the sting of death in respect of the metaphor the Apostle aludeth unto it is taken from the sting of a Serpent and so Sinne is a sting in a double respect First in respect of the fearefulnesse and then in respect of the hurtfulnesse of it First in respect of the fearefulnesse It is Sin that makes Death fearefull to a man Indeed I confesse that in the best Christian though Christ have pulled out the sting of death yet there are naturall grudgings and shruggings As to a Serpent though the sting be pulled away yet there are some abhorrings and dissikes in a man But then how terrible is Derth when it commeth in compleate Armour as it doth against a person in whom Sinne remaineth in its full power it must needs then be terrible See the difference betweene two persons the one is afraid of every one he meeteth the other is not what is the reason the one is greatly indebted and ingaged the other is free So it is with a Christian and another man the one cannot heare of Death but his heart breakes hee is full of feare and horrour the other heareth of Death and is onely somewhat affected in the hearing of it but not possessed with that feare as is the other what is the reason the sting of death remaineth in one and not in another Sin therefore is a sting in that respect Secondly it is a sting in respect of hurtfulnesse The sting of the Serpent is a hurtfull thing it poysoneth the vitall parts it takes away life it selfe All the evill that commeth to us by death commeth by sinne Man need not complaine of the ilnesse of the prison so much as of his owne folly that he ingaged himselfe in debt whereby he is cast into prison Why complainest thou of the misery in Hell rather labour to breake off thy sinnes that are the cause of all that miserie all the hurtfull qualitie and miserable condition that befalleth a person in Death and Hell is for Sin the eternall separation of the soule from God and all punishment that followes after in Hell are the fruit of mans sinne Hell had not beene Hell without Snne it is Sin that causeth it to become hurtfull Thus I have explained these inquiries Now I come to make Use and application and so conclude the Point The first Use of this point shall be this If Sin be the sting of death let it be our wisedome to get this sting pulled out in the time of our life Oh that this people were wise saith God then would they consider their latter end If you were wise that heare mee this day you would consider that Death will come and if it be not taken away before-hand with a sting upon the soule My brethren we have many enemies to deale with even now at this very instant but there is yet an enemie as the Apostle saith The last enemie to bee subdued is Deaeh he his behind and here is the difference betwixt Death our last enemie and some other of our enemies some other of our enemies cannot be subdued but by their presence but let me tell you this Death is such an enemy as is never subdued but by his absence thou canst never overcome Death in death thou must not reserve this combat till thou come to the field but thou must overcome this enemie before he commeth thou must overcome him in thy life How is that Pull out the sting of him now then Death is conquered How will you disarme the tongues of malicious slanderous persons and deprive them of their viperous speech by an innocent life So how will you take away the sting of death watch against Sin take away sinne and you take away the power from Death set upon Sin and Death is overcome so much sinne as is now dead so much is Death conquered I beseech you seriously consider these particulars First that it will not be long ere Death knocke at these dores of ours these houses of clay must shortly be ruinated wee must certainly be resolved into dust What is this life of ours but as a ship that is driven by a gale of breath When the breath of man ceaseth the ship lieth in a dead calme Man goeth to his long home saith Solomon and the mourners follow in the streets Death is our long home wee all are the mourners wee follow in the streetes This dead carcasse is an example that leads us to our home and a sermon to tell us that we must follow we follow now in a charitable expression but we shall follow one day in paying of the
such meditations No man can live well till he can die well Hee that is prepared for Death is certainly freed from the danger of death neither is there any so fit a way to bee ready for it as to be often minded of it Therefore I have made choice at this time to speake of this verse wherein ye see the Apostle declareth and leadeth us to treat of foure things First that there is a Death Secondly that this Death is an enemie Thirdly that this enemie is the last enemie Lastly that this least enemie shall be destroyed A word or two of each of these parts First Death is Yee know that well enough your eyes shew it you daily our senses declare it so plainly that no man is so senslesse that knoweth it not It is agreed upon by all Only for your better furtherance to make use of this point let us acquaint you with that which nature will teach yee concerning Death Secondly with that which Scripture will teach you above and better then Nature Nature sheweth yee concerning Death first what it is And then Secondly what Properties it hath It telleth us this That Death is an absence from life a ceasing from beeing when one was beeing to be thrust as it were out of the present world and be cast some where This is all that Nature informeth us concerning the Essence and beeing of Death Death is a dividing of us from this life and from the things of this life and sends us abroad we know not where Secondly Nature teacheth us three Properties concerning Death One that it is universall It hath tied all to it high and low rich and poore Death knockes at the Princes pallace as well as at the poore habitation of the meanest man It is a thing that respects no mans greatnesse it regardeth no wealth nor wit nothing Death takes all before it That Nature teacheth too Secondly Nature teacheth that Death is inevitable If a man would give all the world he cannot thrust it out of dores It takes whole Armies aswell as one man It scorneth to bee resisted by the Phisitians there is no words no meanes to escape it It is such an enemie as we must grapple with and it will conquer This Nature teacheth Againe Nature teacheth that death is uncertaine A man knoweth not when Death will come to him or when it will lay hold on him or by what meanes it will fetch him out of the world It may fetch him out of the world at any time or in any place and by such occasion as it is impossible for any wit to thinke of before This is in substance all that Nature teacheth And the knowledge of this it is for good use aswell to remember and consider it as to understand it But now I goe on to tell yee what the Scripture teacheth concerning Death for that giveth a perfecter and larger information of the thing then the dimme light of Nature The Scripture then over and above that which Nature sheweth telleth us concerning Death these things First it sheweth better what it is and then It sheweth whence it commeth and what are the causes of it Thirdly it declareth the consequences what follow upon it And lastly and bestly it telleth us the remedie against the ill of Death In all which Nature stumbleth and can doe little or nothing First the Scripture telleth us what it is It letteth us know that it is the disolution of a man not the annihilation It doth not make him cease to bee but takes asunder a while the soule from the body It carrieth the one to the earth and the other to another world so that both continue to bee though they be not united as before The word of God teacheth us that he hath created the world as it were a house of three Stories The middle is this present life where we be And there is a lower place the Dungeon a place of unhappinesse and destruction There is a higher place a pallace of glory According as men behave themselves in this middle roome so Death either leadeth them downe to the place of unhappinesse or conveyeth them up to the pallace of glory and blessednesse This Nature is ignorant of but the Scripture is plaine in The rich man dieth and his soule is carried to Hell the poore man when he died his soule was advanced to Heaven So that Death is nothing but the messenger of God to take the soule out of the body and to convey it to a place of more happinesse or more miserie then can be conceived Secondly the Scripture acquaints us further with the cause of death Philosophers wondred since nature desireth a perpetuitie and continuance of it selfe that man should be so short a time in the world The Scripture endeth this wonderment and tels us that man indeed was made immortall to continue for ever and should not have died but sinne came into the world and by sin death Death is the mother of sinne and of all miserie that by little and little draweth to death I say sinne the first sinne of our first Parents whereby they transgressed that most easie and equall mandate about eating the forbidden fruit That transgression that was the treading under foot the covenant of workes and the disanulling of it that sinne let in Death at a great Gappe and now it triumpheth and beareth rule over all the world Nature cannot tell which way in the world a man should die so soone and that hee that is the Lord of all creatures should bee inferiour to a great number of them in length of life But the word of God unridleth this riddle and telleth us that God made man that hee might and should have lived for ever but Sinne comming and comming in the person of the first man it brought death and made all men mortall and when sinne entred Gods curse came and that working upon us poore and miserable creatures it is the cause that we cannot continue long here It was equall that death should follow sinne for since God made man to obey his will when man had unfitted himselfe for Gods service it was reason that he should have a short continance of life for the longer he endured the more he would abuse himselfe Yee see then two things that the Scripture teacheth concerning death The third thing it sheweth is what followeth after death and that is plaine It is appointed for all men once to die and after death commeth judgement Nature never dreamed of judgement after Death but the Scripture telleth us there is a Judgement after Death Judgement what is that Judgement yee know is a calling of a man before Authoritie a looking into his wayes a considering of his actions a finding out whether hee be a sinner an evill doer and if hee find him so to passe sentence according to his evill deeds When God hath tooke the soule from the body hee takes the soule first
an enemie that it doth not cease till it hath dragged the soule into the presence of God and after from his Tribunall to the torment of eternall fire in Hell That succeedeth death for naturally of its owne nature it tendeth to the destruction of man because it is a fruit of sinne and therefore must needs be the perdition and overthrow of the soule For sinne bringeth destruction in regard it makes God angrie with us and separateth from him and by consequence from all manner of comfort and in regard it separateth from him it bringeth all manner of ill his wrath his hatred and ill will the greatest of all Death I say properly and of it selfe intendeth and seekes to draw all those that it layes hold on to a state of everlasting unhappinesse therefore it is an enemie So you see the second point opened The third is that Death is the last enemie after which there shall bee no more But I must tell you to whom it is the last not to all For there are a generation of men that shall feele death to be the least of enemies and in a manner the first But to the Saints and those that are prepared for death and those that will use the remedie to these and these alone death is the last enemie after once they have grappled and fought and encountred with this enemie they are at peace and rest as he saith Happy are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours There is no more toyle and miserie to a good man after death And why Because death seperateth sin from his soule as well as the soule from the body and so taking away the cause of unrest it must needs take away miserie and unhappinesse it selfe Indeed properly Death doth it not but the Lord Iesus Christ by death For it pleaseth him when his servants leave this world then they are fit to enter into a place of happinesse in another world which they could not be except they were freed from sin Death is the daughter of sinne and with a happy patricide as it were at once it destroyeth it selfe and sin and therfore it takes away all misery because it takes away all sinne Therefore it is the last enemie because it killeth the worst of our enemies for when we are dead there shall be no more enmitie betweene God and us and so no more enemy This is the third point The last is that this enemie shall bee destroyed A thing is destroyed abolished when it selfe ceaseth to be and is tooke out of the way and when all the ill effects that it would produce and effect or hath are removed So the Lord Jesus Christ abolisheth Death he destroyeth it that it shall never againe be knowne in the world or felt by his servants and he preventeth all those evill effects that it would worke in the soule for eternitie and removeth all the ill effects of it that it hath wrought on their bodies for the present time Death takes away a mans goods for the present Christ abolisheth that he giveth everlasting substance in heaven Death takes away friends Christ abolisheth that hee sends us to heaven where we have more friends and better Death brings the body to rottennesse and corruption it laieth it in the dust turnes it to putrifaction Christ abolisheth that at the Resurrection it shall rise againe in glory How that is done the Apostle tells us in the end of this chapter The body shall be laid in the dust a weake and feeble a mortall and naturall body but it shall bee clothed with immortalitie This mortall shall put on immortalitie this corruptible shall put on incorruption then shall bee fulfilled that saying Death is swallowed up in victorie But this is also limited it shall bee destroyed to whom To those that use the remedie those that partake of Christ those that have put on him that is the Resurrection and the life Thus I have laid before your eyes briefly these foure things that the Apostle leadeth us to treate of concerning death That it is That it is an enemie That it is the last enemie And that it shall be destroyed Now I desire to apply this and to make use of it First I shall be bold to play the Examiner to search each conscience a little Brethren let the word of God enter into your soules Yee heare that there is a death and that this death is a sore and bitter enemie and yee heare that to some sort of men it is the last enemie that ever they shall encounter with and bee freed from all the hurt of it it shall be utterly destroyed Now doe so much as discend every one into himselfe and inquire what care there hath beene to prepare for death to make use of the remedie against death what time and paines hath beene bestowed to seeke to get that that is the only meanes to escape the Dart of this enemie and that that is the only cause to procure this enfranchisement to the soule from that that else will destroy all A man hath not fitted himselfe to encounter with his enemie when hee lookes after wealth and followeth the pleasures and contentments of this life these things will doe no good they will be rather a burthen to the heart and vexe the soule and increase the mischiefe laying more sin upon the soule and giving death darts to pierce the soule with But when is a man fit for death and who may encounter with this enemie with safetie I will tell yee That man that takes the greatest care to disarme death of his weapons to arme himselfe with defensive weapons against death If an enemie come upon a man with good weapons in his hand and find him altogether unweaponed it is hard for a naked unarmed man to deale with him it is hard for a man that never thought of it before to fight with one that is skilfull at his weapons Death I told yee is an enemie and an enemie that is skilfull in his weapons and the weapon of death it is our owne sinne Death bringeth nothing with it to hurt a man It findeth with us and in us that whereby to hurt us So many corruptions as are in thy heart so many weapons So many idle words so many bad deedes so many swords to pierce thy heart Death maketh use of those weapons it findeth in our selves and with them hee destroyeth and killeth and brings us to perdition Now what have yee done beloved to disarme death what care have yee taken to breake sinne apieces that it may not be as a sword ready drawne for the hand of death when it commeth as Arrowes in a Bow to shoot at you when Death laieth hold on you That man that hath tooke no care to overcome sinne in the power of it and to get himselfe free from the guilt and punishment of it is unfit for death If death come upon him and find his offences
unrepented of unpardoned unsubdued he will so order those offences that he will thrust them into his soule as so many poisoned Darts that will bring sorrow and anguish and vexation and destruction to all eternitie Ye may see then whether yee have any fitnesse to meet with this Enemie whether yee be in case to fight that battell that of necessitie yee must for Death as I told yee before is enevitable If yee have not Get alone betweene God and thy selfe and there call to mind the corruption of thy nature the sinnes of thy childhood of thy body of thy mind bring thy soule into his presence confesse thy sinnes with an endevour to breake thy heart for them and to be sorry for them mightily crying to him in the mediation of that blessed Advocate Jesus Christ that died on the Crosse to pardon and to wash thy soule in his bloud and to deliver thee from the pollution of thy sinnes Begge the Spirit of sanctification to beate downe those sinnes and subdue thy corruptions Bestow time to performe these exercises daily carefully present thy selfe before God thus to renew thy repentance and faith in Christ to make thy peace with God Labour to purge away the filthinesse of thy sinne and then whensoever Death commeth thou shalt find in thy selfe sufficient against it thou hast disarmed it But if yee spend your time in pursuing profits and pleasures and follow the vanities of this life and either yee doe not thinke of death or yee thinke of it no otherwise then a heathen man would have done to no purpose yee thinke of it to enjoy the world while yee live because yee know not how soone death will end the world and you if you play the Epicures in the thought of Death to annimate you to enjoy the outward benefits of this life to thinke of it to no purpose but only to talke and discourse now and then as occasion serveth then Death will find your soules laden with innumerable sinnes that repentance hath not discharged and undoubtedly it will bring eternall perdition Have yee thus disarmed Death But againe a mans selfe must be armed or else hee cannot incounter with his enemie What is our Armour against Death to keepe off that blow The Apostle in one word sheweth us these Armours when hee saith a Breast-plate of faith and love and the hope of salvation a Helmet If a man have got faith to rest on Christ alone for eternall happinesse and his soule filled with the hope of glory and salvation through him and then with love to him and his servants for his sake These three vertues will secure a man against all the hurt that death can doe Faith Hope and Charitie the Cardinall vertues that Christian religion requires and commands us to seeke these are Armour of proofe against all the blowes of death hee that hath them shall never be hurt of Death because he shall never taste of the second death he hath onely to wrestle with the first Death and there is no terrour nor terriblenesse in that if a mans heart be secure by these Graces Faith whereby we depend on Christ and on him alone for grace and salvation bringing hope whereby we expect and looke for salvation of our soules by his bloud according to his promise and working charitie whereby we love him for his goodnesse and his servants for his sake If it be charitie not onely of the lip to speake well but that that produceth wel-doing I say this is that makes us that death cannot separate us from Christ but the further we are from life the neerer we are to him for when this outward taber nacle of our house is dissolved we have a building with God eternall in the heavens and death to such a man is nothing but the opening of the dore to let him out of the dungeon of the world and to place him happily in the Pallace of eternall blisse I pray enter into consideration how yee have behaved your selves in the course of your lives whether as Heathens or as Christians A man that takes no care to prepare for death though he come to the Church from Sunday to Sunday and partake of all Gods ordinances yet if the consideration of death bee not so imprinted in him that it become a motive to him to labour for Faith and hope and charitie and to endeavour to edifie himselfe in these graces he liveth as a Heathen or an Infidell and when death commeth to him it will doe him more hurt then it will an Infidell because by how much God hath given him more meanes to escape and by neglecting those meanes as his sin is greater so shall his punishment be Secondly if yee have beene carelesse for to prepare for this enemie Now be ashamed of it and sorrow for it let your hearts now smite yee and ake within you Oh foolish man or woman say I have lived twenty thirty forty fifty yeares and some more I have laboured against other enemies if men had any thing against me I would be sure to take order I have laboured for the things of this life for riches and friends and given my selfe leave for to enjoy pleasures and taken paines to doe good to my body but all this while it never came into my heart seriously to thinke I must die and after that commeth judgement that I must stand before Gods Tribunall and give account of my wayes I have not laboured to beware of Death and of sinne nor to kill my corruptions I have not laboured to increase in Faith and hope and charitie I have left my selfe unarmed against the last and worst enemie Oh what folly is this to live in the world many a long day and never to consider that there will be an end of all these dayes and the end of those the beginning of another life and a life that will be infinitely more miserable then this If this beloved have beene any of your faults to be carelesly forgetfull of your latter end not to consider of your departure hence if the world have so tempted you and pleasures have so enamoured you that you have forgotten your latter end blame your selves it is the greatest of all follies And that I may disgrace this folly and make you ashamed of it Consider a little That this is to be like children The Apostle biddeth us not to be like children in understanding but hee that forgetteth Death and is carelesse to prepare for it is a very child A little one never thinketh hee shall ever bee a man himselfe and maintaine himselfe and live in the world by his owne labour or by that he shall have from his friends he careth for nothing but meat and drinke and sport and pastime wee blame their folly and laugh at it as rediculous and therefore by our diligence we prevent that ill that might else come upon them Is it not thus with many of you yee live and build houses and raise
doth not bethinke how he is armed If God have fitted his servants for death he hath done most for them if they have not riches yet they are fit for death if they have not an estate amongst men it mattereth not a whit if they be fit for Death if they be miserable here in torments and sicknesse when others have health it is no matter all these increase their repentance makes them labour for Faith and Hope and Charitie whereby they are armed against Death Nothing can save us from the hurt of Death but the Lord Jesus Christ put on by Faith and that furnished with Hope and Charitie If God give a man other things and not these graces Death is not destroyed to him But if he deny him other things and give him these graces he doth enough for him Death is destroyed to him His body indeed falleth under the stroake of Death as other mens but his soule is not hurt Death layeth him a rotting as the common sort but the soule goeth to the possession of glory and remaineth with Christ When hee is absent from the body hee is present with the Lord. Nay when the last day shall come Death shall bee utterly swallowed up then the poore and fraile and weake body that sleepeth in corruption and mortalitie shall bee raised in honour and in immortall beautie and glory a spirituall body free from all corporall weaknesses that accompany the naturall body it shall be made most glorious and blessed even as if it were a spirit all the weaknesses that accompany the naturall beeing of the body shall be taken away and it shall enjoy as much perfection as a body can and therefore it is called spirituall Therefore I beseech you rejoyce in the Lord if your soules tell you that you are armed against this death FINIS THE VVORLDS LOSSE AND THE RIGHTEOVS MANS GAINE EZEKIEL 22. 30. I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before mee for the Land but I found none therefore have I poured forth my indignation upon them PHIL. 1. 21. For to mee to live is Christ and to die is Gaine LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE WORLDS LOSSE AND THE RIGHTEOVS MANS GAINE SERMON VIII ISAIAH 57. 1. And mercifull men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evill to come WHen I first began this verse I did never thinke that all things would have beene so sutable to the finishing of it as now I find they are For there is no circumstance that can be required to make a correspondencie betweene a former and a latter handling but is to be found in the two surveies I tooke upon this Text. The occasion of handling it now is the same that was before I began it at a Funerall and now at another Funerall I shall end it The place of handling the same as it was before I began the former part of the verse in this very street at the other end of it Now I shall finish it at this And the time it is the same and every way answerable to that it was before It was begun in a time of Mortalitie feared and now will be finished in a time of mortalitie certaine And that there should be no part of correspondencie wanting this latter part of the verse is answerable to the former it is but the same againe in other words In the former part there is mention of the righteous man here of the mercifull man they are both one In that hee is said to perish here to bee taken away they are both the same There No man is said to lay it to heart and here no man is said to consider it Both the same So that loke upon the whole both parts joyne together they walke on by paires two and two as the living creatures into the Arke Male and Female The first paire sets forth to you the state and condition of a godly man he is righteous and mercifull those are the male and female of Pietie The second sets forth to you the state and condition of a dying man hee perisheth and is taken away those are the Male and Female of death The third sets out the state and condition of a worldly man he layes it not to heart he never takes it into consideration those are the Male and Female of carnall securitie And that all the paires should now be made up the former part was handled at the buriall of a good old Man this latter now at the buriall of an old and verteous Gentlewoman those are the Male and Female of nature The former part that is a complaint that the Prophet made and so is the second and this second is set as a Commentarie to the first this latter part is as Eve created as a helpe to Adam for every word in this latter helpes to expound some word in the former The first word in the latter part tells us of the mercifull man that is the Exposition of the first word in the former part the righteus man Lest any man should make question who this righteous man was that the Prophet speakes of how we should know him and define him and find him find me a mercifull man and hee is truly a righteous man The second word in the latter part is taken away that hath reference to the second word in the former and it is a qualification of the harshnesse of the former there it is said The righteous man perisheth but lest any man should scandal at this word shall we thinke that he perisheth whose life it hid with Christ in God Shall the Scripture say that hee perisheth whose name is in the bundle of life written in heaven To lay aside therefore the rigour of the word here is the Qualification hee is taken away The third word of the latter hath reference to the third of the former too No man considereth it If any man aske the reason how it comes to passe that people should be without naturall affection that they take it not to heart that they are not grieved for Ioseph that they are not striken with any sense of their owne losses what should be the reason of it The reason is in this word they take it not into consideration They trouble not their heads and therefore not their hearts with it That it may make an aggravation of that They were so farre from taking of it to heart that they never propounded it to the examination and scanning of their judgement they consider it not So every word in the latter part is serviceable to the first I shewed concerning the first part who this Righteous man is how great the dignation of the Spirit of God is that hee will stile holy men that are so imperfect in holinesse yet because of their holy endeavours to walke in the wayes of God blamelesly the Spirit stiles them Righteous men Secondly I shewed how this Righteous
there grow a Fig-tree or Ivy out of the house that it spread the root through the chinckes and partitions of the wall a man that cuts downe the Fig-tree shall not profit for it is so fast rooted in the wall and in the chinkes that either hee must pull downe the wall or else it will not die Therefore a wise man will pull down his house and root out the Fig-tree and then set up stones and and there erect the house beautifull and so both are preserved he hath his end in both both the house is rebuilt and the Ivy consumed and rooted out So it is in case of sinne there is the house we carry about us the building the temple of our body the house is man himselfe sinne is the fig-tree it is such a fig-tree as insinuateth it selfe betweene every chinke and partition in our nature there is somewhat corrupt in every facultie of the soule and it sheweth the fruit in every part of the body that is an instrument of sin it hath so wound it selfe in that the fig-tree cannot be destroyed cannot be pulled out except the house be dissolved there must be a pulling downe of the Temple therefore God in wisedome by Death he takes the temple the house in peeces and then the fig-tree may be pulled out and then he erects the wall of that house more glorious then before it was throwne downe while the fig-tree was in it while sinne was in it it is raised up without it that is that the Apostle saith Corruption shall put on incorruption and mortalitie shall put on immortalitie the body that is sowne a naturall body it shall bee raised a spirituall it is sowne in dishonour it shall be raised in glory God therefore takes them away from the evill of sinne hee dissolveth the body that hee may purifie it and cloath it with immortalitie that it may be a purer body then when it was first presented in nature at the first Creation We see hereby what those good things are that Death bringeth It bringeth immunitie from the evill of suffering God takes away mercifull men that they see not that they suffer not And it bringeth immunitie from sinne that they doe not see it that they doe not commit it The use is a Pillar of confidence not to bee afraid of Death who would feare that which makes for his perfection that is the meanes of his translation to happinesse And in respect of others not to mourne for them that are tooke away out of this world as those that are without hope they are not tooke away but translated they are removed for their advantage for the better Elijah was removed from earth to heaven in a firie chariot shall Elisha weepe because hee enjoyeth him not No he is tooke from earth to heaven Ioseph was sold into Aegypt but it was to be a Ruler God intended that it is the same reason God translates us out of the world to give us the end of our hope even the salvation of our soules Shall we mourne as men without hope God takes them out of a valley of teares shall we mourne unsatiably for those that are tooke out of the valley of teares let us not bring their memory to the valley of teares they are past it God takes them from evill to good to the best good the good of immortalitie and eternitie the good of the enjoying of God of that that eye hath not seene nor eare hath heard It is true that when we see any impenitent man die any man die in his sinnes there is just cause of mourning That was the course that David observed he lost two sonnes Absolom a wicked sonne he mourned for him he lost the child that was begotten in adulterie for the life of which he prayed he mourned not for the childes departure and Saint Ambrose giveth the reason well he had a good hope and assurance that the child was translated to a better estate he doubted of Absolom he died in his sinnes therefore he mourned for him for his death not for the childes So when we see any die in his sinnes there is cause then of teares and of excessive teares then David crieth Absolom oh my sonne my sonne But if there be good evidences of a Saint translated to glory shall we mourne as men without hope As Saint Ierom speakes to Paula mourning for her daughter Art thou angrie Paula because I have made thy child mine Hee bringeth in God speaking thus dost thou envie me my owne possession my owne creature It is true for the state of an impenitent man he hath his good things here and his evill to come after there is cause of mourning for that he is translated from good to ill his heaven is in this world his heaven is in his treasure in his riches in his chests and upon his table and as he enjoyed a heaven here so hee must not looke for it after there is a place of another condition his heaven is here his hell after But the penitent and contrite his ill is here and his good after his hell is in this world in suffering and in mortifying the flesh in wrestling with sinne in incountring with tentations here is his hell and his torments but after commeth his heaven and his blisse so he is translated from bad to good he is tooke away from the evill to come So here is the meaning of all I have shewed first the meaning of the three phrases The second thing I propound is this What the Prophet bemoaneth and makes lamentation for and these mercifull men for if they be tooke away from evill present and evill to come evill corporall and spirituall sufferings extraordinary plague and famine sufferings ordinary sicknesse and tentation if it be so that no sinne shall fall upon them to destruction no tentation fall on them to destroy them here much lesse afterward if they be tooke from all these evils how commeth the Prophet to make lamentation that mercifull men are taken away from the evill to come for hee speakes it mourningly It is one sufficient reason he mourneth over them because others did not But there are two reasons that are more speciall There is the losse of the godly man for the present when hee is taken away that is a thing to be lamented And the danger of the world in respect of the losse of a godly man First the losse of a godly man that is a great punishment that God sendeth on a place there is a great losse to those that survive The losse of their example they shine as lights there is a Taper a Candle taken away Yee rejoyced to walke in his light saith Christ to the Iewes concerning Iohn there was a light not only of Iohns Doctrine but of his example whereby those that heard him walked There is the light of grace set up in the life of the Saints of God they are as a Taper to guide us in
while wee are here though wee doe see the face of God in the Mirrour or glasse of the Gospell yet because wee are absent from him as he is objectum Beatificans Because here the teares are not all wiped from our eyes and we have not yet a full rest from our labours nor a full reward for our services Therefore our Bessednesse here it is nothing to speake of in comparison of that Blessednesse which we shall have hereafter when the soule is separated from the body and is with the Lord. Therefore saith the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to bee with Christ and this quoth hee it is melius it is better Better Yea it is multo melius it is much better Yea it is multo magis melius you must beare with Saint Pauls incongruitie of speech it is much more better to bee with him If our hope were only in this life of all men beleevers the children of God were most miserable But the hope of our immortall life is the life of this mortall There was some little glimpse of this light even amongst the Gentiles such as did beleeve the immortalitie of the soule One of the heathen Poets could say No man is blessed till death Cressus the Lybian a man happy in his great achievements asked Solon Pray quoth he tell mee what man dost thou thinke happie Hee named one to him Tellus a man that was dead But quoth he whom else dost thou thinke happy Hee named two brethren more that did a worke of pietie to their Mother it were too long to tell you the particular storie and they were dead I thinke them happy quoth he Cressus began to bee angrie that hee himselfe should not be thought a happy man Am not I happy Oh quoth he I take thee for a great king but I account thee not happy before death Cressus grew to miserie and then he cried out Oh Solon Solon c. Here we have a word a voyce from heaven and the Word confirmed by the Spirit and we have testimonies of Scripture and we have some little glimpse of this light from the Gentiles yet notwithstanding flesh and bloud will not be perswaded of this that dead men should be happy that there is a happinesse in death There are many things they have against it First say they Death is an enemie It is very true Death is an enemie the Apostle calleth it so The last enemie that shall be destroyed is Death And say they it is a terrible enemie It is very true and of all terrible things the most terrible yea and nature abhorreth it exceedingly See it in any creature that liveth Marke if every creature would not use legges wings hoofes hornes tuskes beakes or whatsoever thing it is wherewith God and nature hath armed it to preserve life Solomon saith it but he saith it in the person of a carnall man as he doth many things by Metaphors in his booke of Ecclesiastes That a living dogge is better then a dead lyon Sathan is a lyar and the father of lies but yet notwithstanding that word of his was a truth Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will hee give for his life Vita dum super est benè est said Moecenas when he lay grievously sicke of the Gout So long as life remaines it is well enough You have one man that liveth in extreame povertie eateth no bread but the bread of affliction yet hee would live You have another man that carrieth about him a diseased body the arrowes of God sticking fast in him and the venome of them drinking up his spirits by some sicknesse yet he would live You have another man that hath a rotten name that stinkes while he liveth yet he would live still Yea and not only wicked men doe make many base shifts to live they have their portion in this life no wonder therefore they doe it but even Gods best children that looke for a better life then this when this is ended are not willing to part with this life if they could keepe it Doe you not remember how David pleaded for life Oh let me live that I may praise thy Name oh spare mee a little before I goe hence and bee no more Hezekiah turneth his face to the wall and wept oh shall the grave give thankes unto thee or shall the dead celebrate thy praise No Vivens it is the living it is the living that must praise thee as I doe this day I know indeed that sometime you shall find some of Gods children wishing for death Iob My soule hath chosen strangling and death rather then my life Lord I pray thee saith Moses kill mee out of hand and let mee not see my wretchednesse Elijah when hee fled from Iezabel for his life Lord quoth he take away my life for I am not better then my fathers Hee was not willing that Iezabel should take away his life but he would have God to take it away You know Ionah his pettish moode that he was in when hee would deeds thinke to know what was better for him then God himselfe doth Lord take I beseech thee my life from mee for it is better for me to die then to live These men of God they were sonnes of men they had their passions as other men have and passion was never good judge betweene life and death I know againe that there is a question made by Iob Wherefore is light given to a man that is in miserie and life to the bitter in soule Such a man I confesse that hath bitternesse of soule he may happily seeke for death as for treasures and be glad when hee hath found the grave But let God be but pleased a little to allay that bitternesse let him but lap up that bitter pill in sugar a little and then he will like life well enough Why doe we all this while goe from my Text Surely there be so many voyces upon earth against it that if there were not a voyce from heaven to say Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord we should scarce beleeve it But then if the dead be blessed why doe wee not die that wee may be blessed There is such a like Question of Scipio in that same booke of Tullies Somnium Scipionis Scipio asked his Father when his father had told him of those glories that the soule enjoyed in immortalitie Why saith he doe I tarry thus long upon the earth why doe not I hasten to die The schollers of Eugesius when they heard their Master dispute of the immortalitie of the soule went and laid violent hands upon themselves that they might go to that immortalitie And so Cato Vticensis after he read Platoes books of the Immortalitie of the Soule made away himselfe Many such examples there have beene And I find often-times in your bills many that have laid violent hands upon themselves some that cut their owne throats and
complaining Now saith Saint Paul bee as if not in weeping That is let the thoughts of the neerenesse of the shoare make you so contented as if there were no crosse at all lying upon you For I still follow the Metaphor the Spirit of God useth hee that is the poorest man in the Ship hee that doth nothing but dresse the sayles and as I said before plie the pumpe and it may be is beaten withall yet in the middest of all these he thinketh I shall by and by cast Anchor and though I worke hard yet one houre more will make me free So it should be with us in all afflictions as if not that is Thinke Death will come and end all I am sicke in body I am crost in my good name in my yoake-fellow Well Death will end all these I have but a little while to â—…arry in this world and short things must not be tedious On the other side Hee that rejoyceth as though hee rejoyced not That is in all the contentments of the world in all the joy a man hath in the things below as suppose a man have an estate here and credit given him or any thing that makes the world account a man happy Remember all these things will be gone assoone as I die as still to use the comparison let it bee the Master of the Ship he may thinke with himselfe all these are under me I can command them and punish them if they disobey yet assoone as I am out of the Ship they are as good as my selfe I am now neere the shoare and shall bee soone out of the place I am in let me therefore moderate my selfe So let us in all worldly contentments be so moderate as if wee should take our leaves of them and they of us And so for a man to bee as though hee possest not That is for a man not to inlarge his heart as the world is enlarged But if I have now so many pounds and therewith buy such a purchase and such a purchase let me live and carry my selfe in my thoughts as if I had nothing but food and rayment And then lastly commeth in the maine of all the rest They that use the world as not abusing it By world hee meanes all the good things of the world all that I named before and all that you can else thinke of Wife and children prosperity and adversity every thing on the right hand and on the left all commeth within the compasse of the World use all these things so But especially hee aymeth at worldly businesses the things wee are exercised about doe them as not abusing them as not letting your hearts bee set too much upon them but bee temperate and moderate in all that we may ever be fit for that great service that God hath to imploy us in Now out of all these put together the mayne Lesson that I would speake of is this That the true servants of God true beleevers all the blessings and erosses they meet with in this world they must have them as if they had them not This is the point I would open to you That in wife children prosperity crosses thinke what you can a beleever must bee in them as if not as if hee were not in that condition To give you for the proofe of this any other Scripture then my Text I suppose I need not the Apostle Saint Paul you see layes it downe in so many words Yet for the better confirmation of the point I will adde to that two or three other plaine places Only first I would a little explaine to you what it is for a man to use all these things as if not And I cannot for my life better lay it open to you then by such a comparison as this Looke how worldly men use the things of heaven so a heavenly man must use the things of the world To instance in a few duties that I will but name Suppose it be the duty of prayer Bring me out a true beleever and a worldling let them both be put upon this duty of prayer The true beleever his heart before he goes to prayer is so full of care that hee may pray aright so full of feare lest his heart should not carry it selfe as it should when he is in the duty his heart is so violently bent to it it so strugleth and striveth that hee may doe it as may please God When hee hath done he hath much joy and comfort if hee have carried it well and much sorrow and griefe if hee have carried it ill Thus a religious heart carrieth it selfe in this duty Now a worldly man doth the duty too but how as if not that is hee hath none of this care before hee commeth to it he hath none of this trouble when he is at it he hath none of this perplexitie when he hath done if he have miscarried in it If hee be able to come off it is well enough though it be performed in never so ill a manner Why his mind is after other things hee intends greater matters as hee thinkes The Minister hath taught him to pray and he can say his prayers and so hee doth the duty but still as if not Oragaine suppose a man whose heart is set upon Mammon put this man to recreation hee may perhaps find time to play at Bowles or Cards or Tables with a friend but how hee cares not whether hee winnes or loses hee whiles away the time but this is not the thing his heart is set upon that giveth him contentment but that which his mind is on is his commodities his trade his merchandize his businesse in the world Iust thus beloved it must be with every true beleever in the using of all the things of this life that is without care without feare without perplexitie without distraction and if they come on so if they goe so he must be pleased if hee have them and content if hee want them and howsoever his thoughts must bee carried higher and better To thinke thus I am the servant of God I have a Calling here I will follow it in obedience to God I have a Wife I will use her as a wife should be used I have childred I will have a care of their education But I must not come to be distracted about my calling about my wife and children and servants and good name or any thing that is here below I am here to day it may please God I may bee gone to morrow my hearts desire must be to be content with this that God is my all-sufficient portion if I bee in prosperity to be as if not if in affliction to carry my selfe so that in the middest of sorrow and trouble to bee as if God have freed me from all remembring still that my portion is in another life Thus you have seene both the lesson arising from the Text and what that is that in it is required of
every true beleever And this point I am now to prove and still I must use the compellation of the Apostle Brethren for as for others I have little hope of I will as I promised make it plaine out of the Scripture That a true beleever that would have comfort of it that hee is a true beleever must be as if not in all the things of this world There is one eminent place for this purpose viz. 1. Iohn 4. 10. Saith the Apostle there Love not the world nor the things of the worid if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Hence I argue thus Hee that must so use wife children credit friends good name prosperitie without loving of them it is likely he useth them as if not for love is the great wheele that setteth all the faculties aworke Now the Spirit of God doth directly forbid all Christians to love the world or the things of the world as they doe the Scripture absolutely injoyneth that we should not love them that is that our hearts must not be fixed on them Another place you have likewise in Colloss 3. 1. Set not your affections on things below Now as I said before if any man doe any thing that his affections are not upon that he doth not love and joy and delight in that hee doth not take care for and the like certainly that man useth it as if not but so must every true beleever use the things of the world so as that he must not set his affections upon them Other Scriptures I might give you to make good this point but I am somewhat afraid to bee straytned Two or three arguments I will adde to make it plaine Why every true beleever must be as if not in all these things First because all the things in this world which are contained in the Text they are all but emptie poore things to a beleever To another man who makes them his God in his conceit they are full but to a true beleever these things are well knowne to bee but emptie things I need give you no better proofe to make this evident then that which followeth in the Text For the fashion of this world passeth away The fashion of the world What is that That is a thing that is a shew without a substance Nay the word signifieth such a fashion as is in a Comedie or stage-play where all things are but for a while to please the eye A man it may bee acts the part of a King that is no better then a begger or a varlet so all things in the world are no better then shadowes and empty like a piece of a stage-play and no marvell if beleevers that know this use them as not Secondly another argument why Beleevers must in all these things use them as if not is because they are none of a beleevers and being none of his it is a meere folly for him to set his heart upon them How are they none of his you will say First for the truth of it these things below they belong to the men of this life but the treasure and estate of a Beleever is laid up in another life hee is but as a stranger and pilgrim here below and therefore they are none of his And then likewise they are none of his because he hath resigned them all up to God in the day when he made the bargaine for Christ. For when we come to be Christs wee must sell all to buy that Pearle and in selling all wee sell not only our corruptions and lusts but wives and children and pleasures and credit and all wee have them not now to have and to hold to doe what wee will with them but now that wee have Christ wee returne all to him and have them as Coppy-hold to bee tenants at will to that great Land-lord wee have only a little time in them And if it be so that every beleever hath no more to doe in this world but thus that he is meerely at the pleasure of God and can properly call nothing his owne but God and Christ then certainly hee must use all these things as if not Conceive it thus A Traveller goeth a long journey hee commeth at night to his Inne when hee is there hee is wondrous glad of his table of his bed of his fire of his meat and drinke and every thing and hee is wondrous welcome but hee doth not so delight in them as the host of the house who is living there and is right owner and hath the whole estate No hee only resteth there for a night after his weary journey but on the morrow God be with you then hee is gone So a worldly man he may say here is my estate here is my stocke all that I have is layed up here But a Beleever saith I am now in my journey I am here no other then a pilgrim my home is in Heaven and while I am passing through this pilgrimage If I have a piece of meat in my hunger and a cup of drinke in my thirst and clothes in my nakednesse there is all that I care for Thirdly the last and the maine Argument to proue that every true beleever must bee as if not in all the things of this world is because if he be any otherwise in them hee will be so intangled that hee shall not be fit for the service of God And this third Argument will be of the greatest force to a true beleever For the other two you will say if they be none of mine why doe I meddle with them and if they be empty why likewise doe I meddle with them But now thirdly if I meddle with them they will make me directly that I shall not bee a Christian they will hinder me from the service of my God this will make a beleever of all things to looke about him The Apostle saith directly that none that warreth intangleth himselfe that is thus Suppose a man have received presse-money to goe a souldier will he be so madde as to lay out his money upon a Farme in the Countrey when upon the command of his Captaine upon paine of death he must follow presently Beloved he that intangleth himselfe with the things of the world and of the flesh if his wife his pleasures his credit or any thing have taken up his heart or if sorrowes and afflictions drinke up his spirits and eate up his very soule when God calls this man now to come to prayer to come to the Church to heare his Word to fight against his lusts or to doe any duty alas his head his heart and all are eaten up with his Farme with his oxen with his wife with his crosses and afflictions so that he is altogether unfit for any service that God hath called him to Therefore saith Saint Iohn he that intangleth himselfe with these things below hee cannot possibly have the love
hee wrote from immoderate sorrow for them that were departed this life revealeth to them certaine comfortable truths concerning the Resurrection from the dead telling them that death it selfe is but as a sleepe whence they shall be raised at the last day by the voyce of the Archangell c. In the beginning of this Chapter hee prevents an objection that some might make For having fallen upon the discourse of the Resurrection hee well knew the curiositie of mans nature that leaves those things that are most profitable to enquire after such things that God hath hid and therfore some men might say Since there shall be such a time and such a change when will those times and seasons be When shall that great day of the Resurrection come when all shall bee brought together Of the times and seasons brethren saith the Apostle yee have no need that I write unto you verse 1. As if hee should say this is no needfull no necessarie thing for you to enquire into or for mee to tell you rather let us fall upon those things that are necessarie and usefull for neither you nor I can tell the particular time when that shall be yet know this that very suddenly such a time shall come and that when the world least thinkes of it The suddennesse hereof he setteth downe by a twofold comparison First by the comming of a thiefe in the night Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so commeth as a theefe in the nighâ—… verse 2. Secondly by the travaile that commeth upon a woman with child When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction commeth upon them as travaile upon a woman with child and they shall not escape This latter is that I have made choyce of at this time for my Text. A little for the explanation of the words When they shall say peace and safety The Apostle intendeth noâ—… to condemne either the speaking of peace to the children of peace or their rejoycing in that peace they have But that which he condemneth is that they cry peace to themselves whom God denounceth warre against Men that goe on in a course of sinning and in securitie and yet will perswade themselves that all shall be well with them in the end these are the men upon whom Death shall come thus suddenly and upon whom the Judgement day shall come thus unexpected When they shall say peace and safety that is when they are living in their sinnes walking on in their rebellions against God and shall yet be flattering themselves that it shall bee well with them notwithstanding this then shall Judgement come upon them then sudden destruction commeth By destruction here he meaneth not the destruction of the body or the soule the destruction of their beeing For the Soule even after the death of the body shall have a beeing and the body also shall be restored againe to its beeing and parts in the resurrection from the dead It were happy for wicked and ungodly men if there should be such a destruction of their beeing as that they should cease to bee any more for then this body the members whereof have beene the servants of sinne should not be tormented in Hell and then this Soule of theirs that hath set all the body on worke in the service of sinne it should not be sensible of that anguish that shall cause gnashing of teeth It were well I say for them if there should be such a destruction it is that which if they might have their desire they would wish above all things in the world But it will not bee such a destruction it shall bee worse with them It shall only be the destruction of their joy and comfort of all their contentments of all those things wherein they solaced and flattered themselves upon earth all these things shall bee destroyed Their riches that fed their lusts shall be destroyed and their company that incouraged them in sinne shall bee destroyed and all things wherein they have delighted themselves here upon earth shall be destroyed the whole earth shall bee burnt with fire before them And beside this that same chearefulnesse of spirrit and that free disposition whereby they incouraged themselves in the wayes of their pride or whatsoever else it was that made them seeme some body on earth all this shall cease and faile them and forsake them There shall be no mirth no wisedome no courage no friends no wealth no houses no apparell nothing to pride and delight themselves in there shall be an utter destruction of all these things Then shall destruction come upon them As paine upon a woman with child This sheweth the manner the kind of their destruction that shall come upon them It shall be first a sudden destruction it shall not give them warning either of the time or place as it falleth out with a woman with child her travell may come upon her in the street at the table when shee is talking c. So shall destruction come suddenly upon them they shall have no more warning then these generall warnings that they have in the preaching of the Word Secondly it shall bee a painfull destruction full of miserie and sorrow as travaile on a woman with a child And then thirdly It shall bee an inevitable destruction such a destruction as they shall never avoide All their wit friends power strength wealth or whatsoever else they have cannot put off the stroke of Judgement that shall come upon them as all the devices a woman hath cannot make her escape her travaile when it commeth So then the meaning of the words are as if the Apostle should have said When wicked and ungodly men in a course of sinne shall crie peace to themselves and flatter themselves in their rebellious courses then shall a sudden a painfull an inevitable destruction of all their comfort of all their props and hopes and helpes fall upon them In the words you have a twofold description First of the state and condition of the men of the world when Christ shall come to Iudgement Hee shall find all the world at rest As the Angell that stood among the myrtle trees spake in the 1 Zachar. 11. Wee have walked to and fro through the earth and behold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest Hee shall find all the men of the world in peace every man applauding himselfe in some vaine conceit in some hope and confidence or other They shall cry peace Secondly here is the consequent that followeth upon the vaine flatterie of themselves Then shall destruction come upon them And that destruction is farther described and amplified by a comparison taken from a woman with childe to declare the suddainnesse the painfulnesse the unavoidablenesse of it Thus you have the opening of the words Let us now come to the points of instruction that may be raised hence First here you may see and he that runnes may read
in a carnall and sinfull security wee see then so many of us at least that are children of the light and of the day what cause we have to be awakened and to doe that for others which they will not doe for themselves to bee more earnest in prayer more frequent in humbling our soules for our owne sinnes and theirs that God may lay aside and cast away his judgements and displeasure that either are feared or lie upon us It is not a fearfull thing that when the Lyon roareth the beasts of the Forrests tremble Yet the God of heaven roareth against the world at this day and the proud hearts of men doe not tremble before him Shall the beasts of the Forrests bee afraid of the Lyon more then the poore wormes of the earth of the mighty God of heaven and earth But this is the horrible Atheisme and infidelity that is in the hearts of men that they beleeve not Gods power and justice nor his threatnings I beseech you let every man be exhorted to stirre up his soule to this businesse to awaken himselfe in his owne particular person Consider that there are others that are awake that may bring you sorrow enough bee you awakened to prevent those miseries Sathan is awake to tempt you Bee sober and watchfull saith Saint Peter for your adversary the divill goeth about seeking whom hee may devoure Sathan is busie and watching to make you his prey watch you therefore that you enter not into tentation Your owne Corruptions are alwayes awake The concupisence and depraved disposition of the soule it is awake still to further every evill motion to draw you aside by its tentations Therefore saith the Apostle I beseech you abstaine as pilgrims and strangers from fleshly lusts that warre against the soule Doe as men in warre when they know that they have a waking enemie against them they will be sure to keepe their Watch. Beloved you cannot but know that your corruptions are awake you may perceive it in your sleepes and dreames take heed that you bee not found in a spirituall sleepe that corruption prevaile not over you Besides these the enemies of the Church are awake Heretiques are awake every where to bring men from the faith to pervert the faith of many oh be awake to prevent those Besides others are awaken to ransack houses to destroy Cities oh be awake that you may bee at peace with the Lord of Hosts the God of Armies that hath all power in his hand to keepe you safe Againe secondly consider the evill of this security you are in of this disposition of heart when you cry peace peace to your selves in the middest of Gods displeasure It is an evill disease a spirituall lethargie That disease we know in the body it takes a man with sleepe and so he dieth Oh how many are in this spirituall lethargie in this deepe sleepe of sinne at this day the Lord awaken them It is the more dangerous because it is a senslesse disease A disease that takes the senses from the soule and diseases we know that take away the senses are dangerous for it is not only a signe that nature is overcome by the disease but besides it draweth men from seeking for cure Thus it is with the spirituall lethargie it shewes not only that sinne hath prevailed in the heart that it hath overcome grace and thereupon you have yeelded unto it to your pride and covetousnesse and vanity as those that are subdued under a disease but it hindreth you from seeking the meanes to escape out of it Thou saist saith Christ to the Church of Laodicea that thou art rich and needest nothing and that was the reason shee sought not to Christ. It is our condition we have knowledge enough therefore we care not for the ordinances of God Wee have faith enough and therefore wee care not for increasing it though none of us say thus with our tongues yet most of us beleeve thus with our hearts As David saith of the ungodly man the wickednesse of the wicked saith in my heart So may I say the neglecting of the ordinances the carelesnesse of men in the use of the meanes of salvation saith in my heart that there is abundance of securitie that they are in a spirituall lethargie that leadeth to death As it is an evill disease so it causeth much evill It is that which driveth away the Spirit of God It is the counsell of the Apostle Grieve not the Spirit quench not the Spirit When wee neglect the motions of the Spirit the Spirit withdraweth it selfe Doth not your owne experience tell you this Consider a little what motions you have had how God by the checks of your consciences sometime by secret incitements as it were a spurre upon your hearts hath moved you to dutie and to leave your sinnes How have these moved you you have had purposes it may be to performe these duties to walke in the wayes of God to please him in all things the neglect of these purposes hath driven away the Spirit it may be God now leaveth you to finall hardnesse Againe it letteth in Sathan When the uncleane spirit is driven out hee goeth about seeking rest and finding none at last hee returneth from whence hee went and findeth the house swept and garnished and he entreth in and bringeth seven spirits more worse then himselfe Alas how many men are there that for a fitt in some particulars have altered their course and have thought to become new men yet rushing upon former occasions and temptations to sinne they have growne secure and carelesse and now Sathan hath gotten stronger hold of them with seven spirits worse Nay this is that that drives away Christ and the comfortable influence of his Spirit in the heart The Church in Cant. 5. was asleepe was in a spirituall slumber and Christ goeth away Shee seekes him whom her soule loved but shee could not find him I speake now to those that were awake and are now asleepe their hearts it may be are awake but they walke not with that watchfulnesse and humility of spirit before the Lord as they ought therefore now they are heavy and destitute of the comforts of the Spirit Well they may thanke themselves Christ hath hid himselfe to teach them to be more watchfull And to conclude This is the cause of positive Judgements You know what came upon the old world and upon Sodome and Gomorrah for their securitie And likewise of future Judgements it is that which casteth men from heaven to hell That servant that saith in his heart my Master deferreth his comming and therefore hee eates and drinkes with the drunken what is the issue of it Hee shall have his portion given him with hypocrites where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Mat. 24. Here is enough I suppose to awaken you Whensoever the heart of man is held downe with secure
us sometimes holding us long play as the house of David did the house of Saul till our strength be wasted and spent sometimes dispatching us with a sudden stroke as Absolom did Amnon when our hearts are merry within us This enemie Death the very sound of his name is like the name of Honiades to the Turkes dreadfull to some the very dreame of it dreadfull as Nebuchadnezars dreame was to him it troubled him and the image of it made him tremble and quake But though the hearing of an enemie may cause disturbance yet withall to heare that this enemie is overcome and destroyed the newes of that may cheare us Behold this is the newes that the Text bringeth It telleth us of an enemie indeed but it telleth us withall of the destruction of this enemie Death is the common enemie of man-kind It is our last enemie we may thinke it none of the least because it is the last yet here is the destruction of it Oh thou enemie thy destruction shall come to a perpetuall end It is already destroying and as it is the last so at the last it shall be destroyed Those are the two points that I am to treat of of an Enemie and of the destruction of this Enemie The Enemie is Death and the Last Enemie as the Text calleth it the last that shall assault us In that yee may note two things Its Qualitie and Its Ranke First its nature and qualitie An Enemie Secondly its order and ranke in what ranke it is Fyled not in the Fore-front of the battell but it commeth behind in the Reare it commeth in the end of the Armie when all other enemies have given over and setteth upon us at the last Secondly here is the destruction of the enemie that is the Milke and honey of the Text. Death though it bee an Enemie though it be a killing enemie it shall not bee a conquering enemie Hee that subdueth all our Enemies for us will in time subdue them to us And who he is the Apostle telleth you in the verse before the Text Christ our Lord Hee shall reigne till hee hath put downe all his enemies under his feet And as all His so all ours too both those that are Enemies to him and to his death Among the rest he will destroy that also As it is the last with which we shall be assaulted so it is the last that shall be destroyed There are three points of observation wee have here lying before us First that Death is an Enemie Secondly that Death is our last Enemie Thirdly that as Death assaulteth us last so at last it shall bee destroyed I begin with the first of these That Death is an Enemie And an Enemie indeed it is one of the Divels regiment The Divell he is the Generall of the Armie when hee brought sinne into the world he brought Death into the world Sinne drawes Death after it as the Needle drawes the thread First I will shew yee what kind of Enemie it is Secondly wherein it appeareth to be an Enemie First what kind of Enemie Death is A common secret spirituall continuall Enemie First a Common Enemie Common to all mankind The charge it hath is not like that upon the Aramites fight neither with small nor great save onely with the King of Israel Great and small King and Keisar all are markes that this aimeth at one killing weapon or other it hath for them all like Ishmael The hand of him is against every man The young and the old the strong and rich and noble and wise and holy none can scape none can keepe out of Deaths reach What man is hee that liveth and shall not see death Yee will object to me peradventure Those that shall live at the comming of our Lord at the end of the world shall not see Death I had thought I confesse to have stood a little upon this points discussion but I must not I have many things to say In a word therefore First these are but a few and a few make not a generall Secondly though these die not the ordinary naturall death but as Elijah and Enoch shall bee translated up to heaven yet in their translation and assumption they shall suffer a mutation and change which shall be in stead of Death Their change is a kind of Death to them as our death is a kind of change to us Therefore wee may account it a common Enemie to man-kind for as the Scripture saith It is the way of all the earth And the Grave it is the house appointed for all living It is a common Enemie and it is the more dangerous for that Secondly it is A secret Enemie And it is the more dangerous for that Secret Traytours are worse then open enemies these may be prepared against because we know them those may surprize us unawares because wee see them not nor suspect them Poore Uriah carrieth Death in his bosome so wee carry death about us though like a Moth it lie and fret in the garment and we see not when it eateth nor can certainly determine the time when it will grate asunder the thread of our life What man living can divine when and how and where Death will seize upon him it is not for any to determine such a thing it lieth so secret hee cannot find it out What a sort of diseases wee are subject to you may imagine how many Nay yee cannot imagine how many when the very eye as some Occolists observe hath above sixtie diseases What a many casualties there are every moment when as oft as wee step over the threshold wee cannot tell whether ever wee shall come home againe The fire saith Death is in me and the Water saith Death is in mee the earth we tread on hath Death in it the Ayre we breath in that which wee continually take in and put out at our nosethrils hath death in it Death dwelleth with us in our houses it walketh with us in the streets It lieth downe with us in our beds It is wrapped about us in our clothes that sticke to us Benhadad is slaine in his Bed Amnon at his Table Zachariah in the Temple Ioab at the Altar The disobedient Prophet is torne with a Lyon The unbeleeving Prince is trod to Death in the croude Abimelech slaine with a Mill-stone and Pyrrhus with the fall of a Tyle Adrian is choaked with a flie Victor is poisoned with Wine And one of the Emperours with the bread he recived in the Sacrament Thus Death waiteth every where and yet wee spie it not It is a secret Enemie and therefore the more dangerous Thirdly it is a spirituall Enemie And it is the more dangerous for that Spirituall I call it First because it is invisible for the spirits are invisible they cannot be seene Such an enemie is Death though we must all feele it yet wee cannot see it were it any way discernable we might
it farewell then Farewell to all to profits and pleasures and honours we shall carrie none of them away with us None of our pompe and glory shall descend after us as the Psalmist saith Farewell to all the gold and silver we have gathered together to all the goodly lands wee have purchased to all the stately houses we have built to all the pleasant gardens and orchards wee have planted to all the sports and pastimes we have had to all our merry consorts wee have kept company with to all our Jewels and wardrope to our dauncing and feasting and musicke Death pulleth us from all these and layeth us levell with the Dust It mingleth shovels and Scepters together It makes rich and poore the Prince and the Peasant alike I shall see man no more All relations we have now shall be broken off then betweene Husband and Wife Parents and children Master and servants neighbour and neighbour friend and friend wee shall dwell apart with our selves and not so much as shake hands one with another All the services and imployments wee are tooke up with here shall cease then there shall be no frequenting of the Exchange no exercising of Trade no bearing of Office no working in our Calling Death is the night that no man can worke in and Death is the place of silence where all affaires are cut off Where there is no worke nor invention nor wisedome nor counsell as Solomon saith in the booke of the Preacher Oh saith good Hezekiah I shall see the Lord no more in the land of the living There is no more service to be done to the Lord nor no more in the Church in that manner as it is now there is no exercise of Religion no Word no Sacraments no Fasting no Almes no Preaching no Prayer no Confession and thankes-giving The Corse cannot praise thee the Grave cannot give thankes they that goe downe into the pit cannot honour thee Oh Beloved how carefull and active and vigilant and diligent should this make us to be when wee consider it for the well improving of that time that wee have lent unto us and for the well-discharging of those places and offices and duties that are now laid upon us Considering that Death is an enemie that will cut us off from all affaires and bereave us of all opportunities of receiving or doing or performing any service to God at all either in Church or Common-wealth Fiftly and lastly Conscience of sinne and certaintie of iudgement and uncertainty of salvation for brevities sake I put them together these things come along with Death and make the face of Death terrible and fearfull Conscience of sinne first of all For Sinne it is the sting of Death And which of us is there that doth not arme Death with that sting Who can reflect on the passages of his life but he shall find it as full of sinne as the Leopard of spots Wee find nothing in sinne now but oblectation and delight and therefore wee hide it under our tongue and hugge it in our bosomes Oh but when Death commeth once it thrusteth these things out and oh the horrour and anguish that the poore conscience is tormented and made to smart with Againe with conscience of sinne certainty of judgement that is another dreadfull Arrow in Deaths quiver After Death commeth judgement And wee must all appeare before the judgement seat of Christ to receive according to what wee have done in our bodies First the particular judgement that passeth upon the soule it shall never be reverst for as the Tree falleth so it lieth And then the Generall judgement when the Body and Soule shall both bee wrapped up in the same condemnation Oh who can dwell with devouring fire with those everlasting burnings And then lastly The uncertaintie of our future estate For how many thousands bee there that die that cannot tell what becommeth of them when they die but they must sing that Farewell to their soules as Adrian to his My poore wandring soule whether art thou going What will become of thee Death then being accompanied with such an Armie of Terrours as these the Apostle might well call it as it is in the Text An Enemie That is the first thing Secondly we are to consider how it is called the last Enemie For two reasons First because it is the last that shall assault us So Caietan Secondly because it is the Last that shall bee destroyed So the common streame of interpreters It is the Last Enemie that shall assault us And here I have to note two things First that while wee live in the world we have more Enemies in the world For when there are some last there must bee others going before If Death bee the last Enemie there are some others beside I we have so God knoweth Enemies on every side Without us within us The Divell he is an Enemie to us and vollies of tentation hee hath to discharge against us So many tentations so many Enemies The World is an enemie to us An enemie when it seemeth a friend When it smileth it betrayeth it kisseth and killeth On the right hand it hath prosperitie to allure on the left hand adversitie to affright in every corner wicked counsell and company and example to seduce and insnare us Lastly our owne flesh is an enemie It is a Serpent wee carry in our bosomes The Divell is a serpent in Hell the world is a Serpent in our hand the flesh is a Serpent in our bosome Wee carry it with us where ever wee goe It is a con-naturall concorporate Enemie All our other enemies could doe us no hurt if it were not for that if this enemie that cohabiteth with us did not combine against us Know who everthou art there is no Enemie like thy selfe thy selfe is the worst enemie of all All the sparkes that flie out of Sathans engines could never sindge a haire of our heads if our flesh were not as tinder All the windes that blow in the foure corners of the world could not make shipwracke of us if our flesh were not a treacherous Pilot. Death that gnaweth the thread of our soule and body asunder could not separate them or them from God if the flesh did not whet the teeth of it and sharpen it with a sting So then we see we have a great many Enemies more to encounter us besides Death some without some within Therefore how should this teach us circumspect walking to behave our selves wisely in every thing as David when he knew Saul was his Enemie and had an eye upon him to doe him mischiefe How should it teach us to pray with David Lord teach mee thy way and lead me in the right path because of mine enemie That is one thing I have to note Againe another thing I have to note If Death be the last enemie then in all probabilitie it is like to be the worst Of the Divels regiment
Christ that causeth him to become a member of that misticall body whereof Christ is the head and that causeth him to be one with the Father and to be the child of God for by faith wee are become the children of God This Faith in Christ the Law doth not teach the former Covenant would not accept What to bring to the Law the Righteousnesse of another the satisfaction of another and to trust upon that to be entertained and received the Law rejects it Thou must pay thy selfe in thy owne person and with thy owne goods thou must yeeld perfect obedience to the Law and fully accomplish it in thy owne person it will not receive payment of another for thee it will not accept satisfaction of the righteousnesse of another on thy behalfe But oh the sweetnesse of the Doctrine of the Gospell If we have a Treasurer that is able and willing to pay the debt that will tender and make payment of it we shall be accepted for his sake so that we give him the glory of resting upon this payment and be not so absurd as to mixe any action of our owne to that payment that he hath made fully and compleatly for us This is a Doctrine of sweetnesse and favour and great compassion that though we cannot doe it of our selves we shall be accepted if our Suretie will doe it for us so that wee give our Suretie the glory of being a perfect and able pay-master and relie wholly upon his satisfaction The last part of the condition on our side is that we yeeld New obedience to the Law Perfectly to obey it to which wee are tyed by the former Covenant But now this is the obedience of the Gospell a thing farre different from the obedience of the Law that was formerly required in the old Covenant there a man was tyed and bound to obey perfectly fully compleatly without any defect In a word hee must pay the uttermost farthing hee must doe his dutie his whole dutie in all the parts and degrees with all fulnesse of perfection absolutely without any defect or want without any imperfection at all An impossible labour for corrupted man a service that none all having lost those abilities that God gave man at the first can ever reach to But then commeth the sweet Gospell the Doctrine of grace and favour of tender compassion and saith thus If thou wilt consent to obey thou shalt eate the good things of the Land If you mortifie the deedes of the body by the spirit you shall live Rom. 8. 13. But if you though never so much in shew under the Covenant of Grace live after the flesh you shall die Yee see New Obedience is required absolutely as a Condition of the Gospell for the obtaining of everlasting happinesse for the escaping of Death and Saint Iohn saith If wee walke in the light wee have fellowship â—…ne with another and the bloud of Christ shall purge us from all sinne so that this walking in the light and New Obedience is absolutely required of all those that intend to bee made partakers of Christ and his benefits they must give up their soules and bodies as instruments of his glory and not serve sinne any longer in the lusts thereof they must not give their members as weapons of unrighteousnesse to sinne but live as becommeth them that are one with Christ mortifying all the lusts of the flesh and quicken themselves or being quickned with him to practise all good things required in his word and to obey all his commands which was first written in Adams heart and then in Tables of stone This New Obedience is the same in substance that was required in the former Covenant but now with a gracious acceptation of endevour after perfection in stead of perfection the former tyed us to the obedience of all that was required in all fulnesse and then promising acceptance but the obedience that the Gospell requires is striving to this perfection in truth and sincerity desiring and labouring after it in putting out our selves towards it and then promising acceptance through the perfection of Christ in and by which our imperfections are done away Now Brethren you understand what this saying of the Lord Christs is by vertue of the keeping of which we must be secured if wee be secured from the hurt of Death What is it now to Keepe the saying of Christ It is to informe our Judgements in the understanding of these truths and assent to them as truths and to practise and follow them to doe the duties which wee have heard to practise the Doctrine of Repentance and Beleeving and Obedience I confesse our Saviour doth proclaime it thus Repent and beleeve the Gospell but for the more cleere explaining of it we make new Obedience a thing of it selfe and not included in the Doctrine of Repentance for it is an act of that whereof Repentance is a resolute wishing and desiring A man cannot possibly rest on Christ for salvation till hee hath so asked pardon as hee resolveth an amendment and when hee hath this resolution and relyeth on Christ for the pardon of his sinne then from him hee receiveth power to amendment of life and so his purpose commeth to action and his desire to execution Thus alone these two things differ as farre as I conceive Now I say this is the Doctrine of the Gospell and to keepe it is to know and beleeve and follow it to beleeve and obey as Christ saith If you know these things there is one part of the duty happy are you if you doe them there is asecond for they can never be done except they be done as knowne And thus I have interpreted the first part of the proposition namely the Antecedent Let us say somewhat of the latter too the benefit that followeth upon the former duty and for the obtaining of which the former duty is necessary namely that hee shall never see death What is it to see Death And what Death is meant here To see good things in the Scripture phrase is as much oftentimes as to enjoy them to have the benefit and commoditie of them to receive them to entertaine them Without holinesse no man shall see God that is no man shall enjoy God Blessed are the poore in spirit for they shall see God that is they shall enjoy God On the contrary to see a thing that is tearmed Evill is to bee annoyed with it to have the hurt of it lying upon a man and pressing him downe as they in Ieremy said Let us goe into Egypt where wee shall not see sword or famine meaning that they should not be pursued by warre and want of things needfull so that by seeing evill is meant the evill lying upon one and annoying and hurting one and so I suppose it is meant here And by Death is meant Naturall and as we may tearme it supernaturall and eternall Death For the keeping of Christs sayings
so freeth men from the latter as they never come neere it and so freeth them from the former as they never dread to be under the power of the latter And the first Death of the outward man which is the separration of the Body from the Soule it is no Death if it separate not both from God which it can never doe if a man keepe the sayings of Christ therefore though his body that keepeth the sayings of Christ bee tooke from his soule yet he seeth not death so as to have any hurt by it hee feeleth no ill by it nay it is good to him for it is a passage from miserie to rest and felicitie Thus yee have these words as faithfully interpreted to you as I know how And now I will make proofe of this Doctrine thus explicated namely that thus to keepe Christs sayings to know and follow the Doctrine of the Gospell is the only sure way to escape the danger and hurt of Death Saint Peter acknowledgeth as much when he said to the Lord Jesus Christ that hee had the words of eternall life then he that keepeth them is certainly safe against the hurt of Death So the Angell speakes to the Apostles whom the Pharisees had imprisoned when he brought them forth of Prison he biddeth them speake to the people the words of this life since Christs Doctrine is the word of life it must needs follow that the keeping thereof is a per a perfect Antidote against the poyson of Death And Saint Peter when he gave an account to the rest of the Apostles and the brethren of Iudea of his going to the Gentiles he saith that an Angel appointed Cornelius to send for him that he might speake words to him whereby himselfe and his family should be saved and those words which cause a man to be saved you know will give him freedome enough from Death Thus I have proved the point by expresse Texts and there are two reasons of it The first is delivered by the Apostle Saint Iohn in his first Epistle and second Chapter where hee saith let that abide in you which you have heard from the beginning that is the Doctrine of the Gospell which Christ taught his sayings if that remaine in you you also shall continue in the Sonne and in the Father Hee that hath fellowship with the Sonne and with the Father can never see Death for God is the fountaine of life therefore those that are one with him and continue in him cannot see Death no more then he can be overwhelmed with darknesse that is where the Sunne shineth fully no more then the body can bee dead as long as it hath communion with the soule so those in whom the word of Christ remaineth and stayeth they are assured that they shall remaine with the Father and the Sonne and therefore being united to that that is life God the Father and the Sonne it is impossible that ever they should be hurt by the first or ever at all taste of the last Death Againe the Word of Christ freeth him in who it remaineth from the power and hurt of finne bringing to him remission of sinnes and sanctification And being free from sinne the cause of Death it is easie to conjecture that hee shall bee freeed from Death itselfe Let a mans Debt be satisfied and let the favour of the Prince be obtained and a Pardon granted the Prison shall never hold him long he shall not be brought to the place of Execution but when his guives are knocked off he is set at libertie so when we have obtained power against sinne by the powerfull worke of the Spirit of God which alwayes at the same time doth bend the heart of man to rest on Christ for salvation and heartily to indevour to walke before him in holinesse and righteousnesse when I say wee are thus freed from the power and guilt of sinne it is impossible that Death should lay hold upon us as his prisoner to carry us to the dungeon of Hell and to hold us under the wrath of God and that fiery indignation of his that causeth Hell to bee Hell Therefore certainly the words of Christ are an undoubted truth and we must rest upon them without all distrust and wavering that hee that keepeth his saying shall never see death and that the knowledge and beleeving and obeying the Doctrine of the Gospell is the only sure way to escape the hurt and ill of Death it selfe Let us now make some Application of this Doctrine to our soules First to stirre us up to a right hearty thankfulnesse unto Almighty God that is pleased to cast our times and dayes into that age and those places where the Doctrine of the Gospell this Saying of our blessed Saviour is so clearely and plainly and evidently laid open to you and frequently and earnestly prest upon your soules where the Lord commeth to declare unto you the way to life where he scoreth you out a path that will bring you quite out of the clutches and danger of Death this is the happinesse of our present Age and place where wee live and this whole kingdome too The grace and mercie and favour of our loving God hath so disposed of us that wee doe not live in times of Paganisme and darknesse where there was no newes of Christ that wee live not in places of Popish darknesse where the Doctrine of the Gospell is so mixed and darkned with tricks and devises of their owne that they cannot see Christ clearely It is our happinesse I say that wee doe not live in those places and times where either Paganisme or Poperie with their darknesse covered Christ from us and caused us that we could not clearely see or heare him and so not keepe his sayings But now grace is offered light is tendred to us wee may be saved wee may escape the danger of damnation if the fault be not solely and wholly in our carelesnesse and wilfulnesse and neglect and abuse of the meanes that God hath afforded us The heathen men that have not heard of Christ cannot possibly attaine to life as farre as we can Judge by the Scripture And it is very difficult for the Papists that heare so darkely and are told of the Doctrine of the Gospell with so many sophistications to come to be saved But for us that have the Doctrine of the Gospell so plainly and carefully taught us and revealed unto us wee may be saved and may easily see the way to obtaine salvation So we goe beyond them in happinesse Oh blessed be the name of the Ever-living God that beside the peace and plenty and other temporall benefits wherewith hee hath crowned this unworthy Nation of ours hee hath added this blessing of blessings this King of favours to give us so cleare a revelation of the Doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ alone Blessed bee his name and let your hearts say Amen to this thanksgiving and let it
to this world and one that hath no further expectation then of things below Give me What A possession of buiall First A Possesson Hee would have it so conveyed as no man might make claime of it but that it should be for him and his for ever Therefore it was as it were a Church-yard that he begged such a one as was capable and had sufficient scope and roome for his whole Posteritie in the time to come in times of trouble and persecution for in this place were the Fathers and those Patriarches though we reade not of their Buriall in this place in the booke of God many of them yet notwithstanding it is likely that all the Patriarches had their bodies conveyed to this place and that the great ones in Egypt that so demeaned themselves that they had favour from the Court were brought to this place For these and himselfe and his present Familie about him whom it might please God to strike with Death he knew not how soone the holy Father desired a place separate that there might bee no mingling of the select people of God with those that were without God in the present world as the Apostle saith Now for this there is no distinction in our time for Christ being made the Corner stone hath made both walls one the Jewes and Gentiles being built upon himselfe all this difference is taken away But at that time it was fit to maintaine a distinction to keepe a note of difference As God set a marke upon the flesh of Abraham and upon the houses of the Isralites in Egypt so they kept this in all points even in their very Graves that a difference might be maintained betweene the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent to the uttermost Give mee a possession a burying place Here is the end why he would have this Possession A strange kind of Possession a thing that every one is borne to no man will denie this we say the land in the Church-yard is every mans every man is borne to that land Behold such a land such an inheritance this Father commeth to begge He hath not a foot of ground in all the whole land no place to dwell in but by their leaves no place to feed on but with their consent he is content thus to possesse to have it upon their hand to haue his house upon their liking and his field and grasse upon their affection and content to be gone and depart upon their bidding but when it commeth that his dead must be buryed there is no dislodging then no removing then that is a Possession he makes not other things his Possession but useth them in a transitorie manner So that the holy Ghost would teach us this that a mans Grave is his strong hold his Possession And indeed there is no Possession so durable and certaine as the Grave all the lands and all the meanes that a man hath in this world it may in the course of time either by the misguidance of the partie or the succession of prodigalls be made away that he that hath had full possessions may not have a foot of land to call his owne so Possessions are alterable sometime one mans sometimes anothers and againe anothers no man knoweth whose because they are still removing But when a man is possest of his Grave that is a long Possession that Lease is time out of mind and it holdeth to the comming of Christ to Judgement Though there be a sort of covetous men in the world that care not for lucre and gaine to remove dead bodies to make men pay deafe and yet presently when the memory of that payment is gone in this base respect to remove them from their naturall rest and to put new bodies in their roome Though this I say be practised by some yet notwithstanding the Lord hath ordered this that a man should have his Grave for ever and that all Christian men should know that they have no such true inherent possession sticking to them and they to it as the Grave Thus the great God bringeth us to life by death making us possesse the Grave here for a time and after possesseth us with life and glory and joy in the highest heavens Behold Abraham see how he beginneth to possesse the world by no land pasture or earable Lordship the first thing is a Grave So every Christian must make his resolution The first houshold-stuffe that ever Seleucus bought in Babylon was a Sepulchre stone a stone to lay upon him when hee was dead that he kept in his garden So we should begin to make that our chiefe utensill it should teach every Christian much more to be mortified so to the world as to bee settled upon nothing for a Possession so as the ground where his flesh shall rest in hope till the Lord revive him and give him his Spirit againe A strong kind of entrance this holy man made into the holy Land that the first thing hee takes possession of should bee a place of buriall for the dead Even so wondrously God useth to worke the promised seed it came of the dead wombe of Sarah and accordingly it is in this great and famous Historie that out of these dead ones the Lord takes such a firme possession of this Land that when foure hundred yeares were come about there was such a quicke issue that it drove all the Inhabitants out of the Land for out of Sarah that was now dead and Abraham and the Patriarches that were interred in his Cave out of their dead loynes the Lord raised a living issue of six hundred thousand footmen besides women and children that came under the conduct of Ioshua and discomfited the Captaines of the Land â—…d tooke possession The gracious God out of dead and poore things in the world raiseth strengeth and Majestie that those that they trampled upon and accounted as dead men the Lord made out of them such a living stocke that all the power of Canaan was not able to hold up and make head against them they were such a powerfull Armie but hid themselves in Caves and became as dead men to give place to these dead men Here is the wonderfull great glory of the Almightie out of meere nothing to worke all things and as he made all things that are seene out of nothing for by faith we learne that things that are seene were made of things that are not seene so he still continueth to lay his foundation in basenesse and humilitie in a ridiculous manner to flesh and bloud yet out of that hee bringeth large and infinite majestie and glory such as no man can aspire in his thoughts to thinke sufficiently of Give mee a burying place to bury my dead Behold he calleth here Sarah his dead he calleth her not Wife though it is said after in the Text that Abraham buried Sarah his wife yet that is in respect of the time of her life when they lived together and
in respect of the former societie and converse they had but now he speakes to the point she is no more his Wife but his dead It is translated by all in the Neuter Gender not my dead shee but my dead simply in the Neuter gender as a thing which now had not so much relation So it is true when men and women are severed by Death they are no more man and wife but one anothers dead For as the Apostle saith Doe you not know that as long as a man liveth his wife is subject to him and shee must not converse with another So likewise for men againe but when God dissolveth the contract by Death then as she is free for another man so she is no more his Wife so long as she was alive upon the ground she was his Wife but now when she is to goe into the ground he calleth her his dead but not his Wife The substance and summe is this That Matrimonie is Gods blessing for present use of mankind for the propagating of the Species to continue the seed of man to the worlds end that there may be still a generation to praise God their Creatour and so being a temporall thing ordained for the office of this life it ceaseth when Death commeth there is nothing but Death and that which Christ speakes of in the Gospell can make a separation when Death commeth all relations cease and a wife is no wife and a husband is no husband Behold out of thâ—… the infinite love of God in Christ that hath made all things all unions and contracts hath made all to be void but his owne for our Lord Jesus in life and death is our Husband our Lord our Master our Father as well in the one as in the other whereas by the intercourse of Death all things are dissolved two of the best friends that are may part upon discontent and body and soule must part at Death and Husband and wife the Symboll of Christ and his Church must part one from another yet when all societies and contracts part Christ doth not part from us but he is in the Grave as well as in the highest heavens our Husband and Lord and Spouse and wee are his Church still we keepe the same relation and as strong bonds in death as in life My Dead Yet notwithstanding though she was not Abrahams Wife yet she was Abrahams dead This must teach a man after he is freed by Death from the combination and contract yet that there is a care remaining to the Dead a love to that though not as to a Wife the respects of Man and Wife are carnall and fleshly Death commeth and cutteth downe the flesh therefore cutteth off that respect too but because she was dead and there was such bonds betweene them formerly therefore a man is bound to lament and sorrow for his dead as Abraham did here to love the memorie of the dead to speake well of the dead when occasion serveth to commend them for their vertues to use the friends of the dead as farre as is in their power with all courtisie to bee good to the children of the Dead those that the Mother hath left and not to cast them into the hands of a furious woman a new Wife that neither careth for dead nor living but to have a speciall regard to the bonds and familiaritie and that spirituall acquaintance that God made in this life and so to be good to all that come of that issue for their sakes Let me bury my dead Lastly it followeth why hee would burie his dead Out of my sight A strange thing Out of my sight Was his griefe so aggravated as hee could not still behold her face or was it necessary that the carkasse it selfe must be conveyed away must it needs be that the body being now no way amiable but noisome must be conveyed out of a mans sight The best friend in the world cannot endure the sight of a dead body it is a gastly sight especially when it commeth to that dissolution that the parts begin to have an evill savour and smell as all have when they are dead then to keepe themselves in life and health it is necessary to avoid them to burie their dead out of their sight And what so sweet a sight once to blessed Abraham as Sarah What so sweet a spectacle to the world as Sarah The great Kings of the world set her as a Parragon and shee came no where but her beauty enamoured them shee was a sweet prospect in all eyes every man gazed on her with great content to see the beautie of God as in so many lines marked out in the face of Sarah Yet now she is odious every eye that looked upon her before now winkes and cannot endure to looke upon her shee must bee taken out of sight Oh bethinke your selves of this you that take pride in this fraile flesh that pranke up your selves to make you gracefull in every eye you that studie to please the beholders you that are the great Minions of the world you that when age beginneth to purle your faces begin to redeeme your selves with paintings thinke of this Mother Sarah the beautifullest woman in the world is loathsome to her husband her sweetest friend therefore I beseech you in the feare of God leave these fooleries and vaine fancies remember what danger Sarahs beauty cast her into though it were a great gift of God yet shee had better have beene without it then to have that hazard of soule and body that shee was brought to by Abrahams travels and necessitie and know it that your best beauty is to please the eye of God to looke beautifull in his sight for the sight of God is never weary the sight of men will bee weary of you the best friends you have will loath to see you dead you will then be grisly in the eyes of men but the eye of God it is all one even in the dust and nothing can make you so ill-favoured but God will like you therefore labour to please Gods eye that never ceaseth nothing will make him alter his affection whereas the eyes of men this life is so full of foule alterations as the least sicknesse bringeth an abomination unto them I see the time prevents me I will speake a little to the present occasion We have here a depositum a gage a pawne of a deare Sister of ours a woman knowne to you all to be of a holy Christian conversation a neighbour full of peace and quiet and of good workes according to her calling Shee was also in the spirituall part a woman of a very good inclination loving the Word of God curious and attentive in the hearing of it Shee was much delighted in it and desired to communicate the knowledge she had in the Scriptures to others and to speake of it as often as occasion permitted By this studie it pleased the Lord to worke a constant and lively faith in
and douleia to little purpose doe it roundly enough and the people in their practice But wee give them their due and as much as themselves would be willing to receive as wee gathered from the behaviour of the Angell that was sent to Iohn Apoc. 19. 10. But in the meane time while they make a thriving trade of the flattering of the Dead they neglect and abuse the living Saints not only writing a Dele in their Indices expurgatory upon the testimonie of Pius or Prudens given by some more ingenuous men of theirs to some of our Divines in particular but also traducing the whole estate of our reformed Churches for schismaticall and hereticall Use 4. If there be some Saints of God here let us choose to be of their acquaintance and keepe their company because they doe best of all know the way to heaven and it is good to goe safely that journey by direction of the best and most skilfull guides lest we misse it in those places where the way turnes or where the path is not so well beaten as the other Roade 2. Gods Saints doe also die The Death of his Saints Holinesse frees not from death Abel Noah Abraham Moses David the Prophets the Apostles the Fathers are all dead Your Fathers where are they and the Prophets doe they live for ever Zach. 1. 5. God cuts off both the righteous and the wicked Ezek. 21. 4. The righteous perisheth and the hhasidim the mercifull men or the men of godlinesse are taken away Es. 57. 1. Yea and often-times as Menander was able to observe it Whom God loves best hee takes soonest An observation much like that in 1 King 14. 12 13. That sonne of Ieroboam who only of that family had some good thing in him was taken away young But whether sooner or later their holinesse frees not from death rich gilding upon an earthen pot keepes it not from breaking They are made of the same mettall of the same clay with other men The Apostles that brought the treasures of grace to the world were themselves Testacea vasa so Saint Hierome Vasa fictilia so Saint Gregorie but only earthen vessels 2 Cor. 4. 7. Clay in the hand of the potter Es. 64. 8. And therefore all things in this respect come alike to all Eccl. 9. 2. Use 1. If such die then Death is not alwayes evill for sure it is not evill to them to whom all things worke for good Rom. 8. 28. The sting of it is gone And though it have not a pleasant looke to entertaine us with it is but as a rude groome that opens the gate by which we must passe to a better place and to better company The godly have many advantages by death 1. Rest from their labours 2. A Crowne when they have finisht the race 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. 3. Freedome from danger of sinning any more Rom. 6. 7. 4. Death frees from a possibilitie of further dying 2 Cor. 5. 1. Let mee die saith Seneca and what hurt comes by that I can bee bound no more I can bee sicke no more I can die no more 5. They goe presently to God While we are at home in the body wee are absent from the Lord Wee are willing rather to be absent from the body and to bee present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6. 8. I desire to bee dissolved to bee with Christ Phil. 1. 23. 2 Tim. 4. 6. Wee wrong death when we call it horrid it is sinne which makes it to be so else it is but conceit There is often more paine in a tooth-ake then in dying Teares and blacke cloth and the tremblings of the guilty doe disguise Death and make it looke terrible Hee that said it was of all terrible things the most terrible was himselfe an Heathen and knew not what Christ had done to alter the property Once indeed it was uncouth and hideous but since Christ dyed it hath a more faire and pleasant face There can bee no danger in that way which all the Saints have gone As Phocion said to one that by the same sentence of the Judges was to dye with him Art thou not glad to fare as Phocion doth So are wee not glad to fare as the holy Patriarkes Prophets and Apostles have done and to goe after them Hee that went this way the first of any man-kind was holy a Saint it was Abel whom God accepted Wee use to call those passages and Streights which have beene first found and discovered by any by the names of the first Discoverers as the Streights of Magellanus and that a little lower Schouten Streight or Fretum le maire So if it may afford us any comfort for the passage let us call Death no longer Death but Abels streights Let us learne if not to love yet to contemne Death that so wee may have the more easie conquest over all other hard things It was a bravery in Damindas an heathen which Christians should be ashamed to come short of When Philip had broke into Peloponesus and some Lacedemonians said They were likely to sustaine much evill unlesse they could reconcile themselves to Philip Damindas said O Semi-viri quid nobis poterit acerbè accidere qui mortem contemnimus Ah poore spirited men what can be sharpe or hard unto us who have learned to despise death it selfe Use 2. Because Saints or holy men doe also die let us make the best use of them while they are with us To benefit and profit ourselves by our religious friends acquaintance neighbours and kindred When God raises up some man eminent for wisedome and a godly life hee is set up as a light for the towne or neighbourhood to walke by Yet oft-times such as dwell neere are carelesse and neglect their benefit when strangers farther off draw neere unto the light and gaine by it as wee use to let our owne bookes lye by and rather make use of such as we borrow to take notes out of them because we know not how soone they may be called for by the owners and presume that the other will still be in our keeping Wee should improve our good acquaintance and walke by the light while we enjoy it because many times the Sunne sets and it is night in a neighbourhood or a family when a good friend a good Parent or a good Master dyeth Remember Ioash and Iehojada 3. The Death of Gods Saints is precious in Gods sight When David was opprest with griefe it seemes hee had such thoughts as these Surely man is res nihili a vaine and worthlesse thing too low and too unworthy that God should take any notice of him or bee carefull of him But at last he overcame such thoughts when hee had found the experience of Gods tendernesse towards himselfe in particular and towards all his people and now resolves That God neglects not his as if hee were not affected with their miseries but their soules lives and safeties are deare and
terrestriall the other so noble the one so ignoble the other so magnanimous the one so abject the other These Saints they did duly consider that our life it is but a Pilgrimage that this whole world is but a Diversorie or Inne to refresh us for a while that it is a warfare all things within us without us our enemies that this body is but a Tabernacle a Tent a Cottage an earthen vessell a Gourd the scabbard the prison of the soule more brittle then glasse decaying mouldering of itselfe though it bee preserved from eternall injuries of ayre or weather they saw the vanitie the vacuitie the emptinesse of the things of this life their affections were alienated estranged and divorced from the world they had by watchings fastings grovelings on the ground teares and groanes scoured off the drosse of their soules and made them polished statues of pietie they had made up their accounts betweene God and themselves and had sued out their pardon for their defects and failings and had that seated in their consciences they did penetrate the cloudes with the eye of faith and did see the immense good things layd up for them in heaven with which being ravished and impatient of cunctation and delay they desire to be vested in the possession of them though it were with the deposition of their house of clay which they did beare about them Of these things they had not a bare conjecture but a certaine knowledge For wee know ver 1. that if our earthly house of this tabernacle bee dissolved wee have a building not made with hands eternall in the heavens from this full perswasion did arise this heavenly affection in this wee groane earnestly But alas how different is our disposition from this heavenly temper how pale how wanne is our countenance at the mention of Death at the least summons of our last accounts as vinegar to our teeth as smoake to our eyes as a sudden dampe to our lights as an horrid cracke of thunder in the middest of our jollities so is the mention of Death If any aske the reason of this it is too manifest Want of judgement what is the true good of the sonnes of men Want of apprehension of the happinesse of the Saints Want of faith in God of Union with Christ our soules never make any holy peregrination from the body and seate themselves with Angels and Archangels and trace the streetes of New Ierusalem wee anticipate not the joyes of the life to come by devout meditations and contemplations wee have not our conversation in heaven from whence wee looke for our Redeemer Our soule thirsteth not our flesh longeth not after the living God The reason of this is wee hang upon the teats of the world like babes and children we suck venome out of it to our soules wee walke upon our bellies as uncleane beasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee jutte against God and offend him our accompts are not streight and even therefore wee are afraid at the appearance of our Saviour and of our citation to appeare before his Tribunall wee groane when wee heare of death wee groane not that we may dye this is our condition and are not these different one unto another Doth not this staine the verdure of our countenances and cover us with shame and confusion to observe so manifest a declination of the fervor of the Spirit That you desire this heavenly temper I doubt not I should offer violence to Charitie the Queene of Graces if I should thinke otherwise For this cause many of you are strict in the performance of holy duties agreeable and convenient to this sacred time That your devotions may attaine a happy end let mee lend you an helping hand whilst I discourse these words which even now sounded in your eares In this wee groane earnestly c. Which I will resolve into three propositions 1. That wee are strangers in this life without our house 2. That the Saints desire their true and proper house 3. The intention of their desire In this wee groane c. That wee are strangers doe not the sacred Oracles declare our conversatinn our politie is in heaven saith the Doctor of the Gentiles Our life it is hid up with Christ Col. 2. Wee are fellow Citizens with the Saints of the houshold of God Ephes. 2. Doth not the chiefe of the Apostles intreat us as Pilgrims and strangers to abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule and doe not these and the like demonstrate unto us that a Christian lives with men yet abovemen in earth yet in heaven bound yet free deteyned with us yet farre above us living a double life one manifest the other Hid with Christ one contemptible the other glorious one naturall the other spirituall that his Parentage is from heaven that his Treasure is in heaven that his heart is in heaven that his roote is fastened in the everlasting mountaines though his branches are here below that his dwelling is in heaven though his peregrination be here on earth and did not these Oracles tell us thus much yet are there not enforcing arguments to convince us of this Truth Are not they strangers that are out of their proper place and are not Christians while they are here out of their place Is this world made for Man an Arke of travell a Schole of vanitie a Laborinth of errour a Grove full of thornes a Meadow full of Scorpions a flourishing garden without fruit a fountaine of miserie a river of teares a feigned fable a detestable frenzie and is this the place of man What meanes the fabricke of our body lifted up to heaven our hands eyes head upward but to shew us as Chalcidius the heathen man observed that our Progenitors are from heaven that our place is in heaven Every place is adequate to the thing placed in it is this world adequate to man are not his desires infinitely extended beyond the same Every place hath a conseruing vertue in it Doth this world preserve man well may it minister a little food to this beast of ours which we carry about us but can it afford the least favorie morsell to the soule it were to be wished that it did not poyson contaminate and defile the soule so that the safest way for the soule is to flie from the world as from the face of a Serpent Is this world the place of man why doth our tender Mother the Church assoone as wee come into the world snatch us out of the world and as soone as wee breathe in the ayre bury us by Baptisme in the Grave of Christ and assoone as we move in this world consigne us with the signe of the Crosse to fight against the world and all the pompes of the same and are not wee strangers Are not they strangers that have different lawes and divers customes and another Prince to rule and command them You have heard of the Prince of the ayre and the Lawes of the
the Psalmist One thing have I desired of the Lord which I will desire even that I may dwell in his house and behold the beautie of the Lord. And I wonder not when I contemplate the Majestie of God I wish my selfe all feare and when I consider the power of God I wish my selfe all humilitie and when I meditate on the goodnesse of God I wish my selfe all Love and when I contemplate the Beautie of God and of this house I wish my selfe all desire and so doe you also and therefore with unanimous votes you request me to conduct you to the gates of this house whereby you may enter into the same and according to the magnificence of this House so there are many gates whereby wee may enter and all of these reaching even to the Earth with the foot of Iacobs ladder There is the gate of Faith by it we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accesse unto God and that with boldnesse by this we lay hold on the Throne of Grace by this we prostrate our selves at his feet by this wee adhere and cleave close unto God by this wee live in Christ and Christ in us by this our hearts are purified our consciences washed with the bloud of Christ and fitted to see God and to enter into the holy of holyes unto which no uncleane thing can be admitted This is one Gate Another is the gate of Hope which entreth within the Vaile and bringeth us neerer unto God this grace taketh us by the hand and leadeth us through the streetes of New Ierusalem and sheweth us the Temple of the Lambe and the Lambe sitting in his Temple assuring us that wee shall live there with him this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heaven before heaven the life of the Soule the keeper of Christ the keeper of God This is a second Gate There is another Gate the gate of Charitie by this we enter not but presse in unto God and are not led but transported unto God and carried in a fierie Chariot By this grace we approach not neere unto God but forgetting the greatnesse of his Majestie wee lay hold on him we hang upon him we imbrace him we familiarly converse with him we freely consult with him we inseparably cleave unto him more close then any Polypus doth unto the Rock Another gate is the gate of humilitie a low gate but a sure and certaine gate the exaltation of the soule the honour the dignitie of the soule that which subjects the soule immediatly to God and so seateth it above all the creatures that gate whereby the soule steales into heaven though the gate bee never so streight by crouching bowing bending pinching of it selfe At these gates if you knocke earnestly by devout prayer and frequent Almes you may enter into this glorious and magnificent house with which the Saints desire to bee cloathed upon and this is the first house which they desire There is another house which the Saints desire and that is the house of their bodies glorified while they are here in this life they have a cottage rather than a house a cottage seated in a low waterie marish place exposing the soule to Agues Feavers and varietie of diseases so that shee is sometimes downe at the best but crasie and valetudinarie scarse any vicissitude and change either of age or place or calling but the soule is dangerously affected with it and in great hazard a dangerous Cottage ready to fall upon the soule and crash it in pieces a cottage full of holes and rifts in every storme and tempest of adversitie it raines through this cottage into the soule and makes the soule unhealthie in the Sun-shine of prosperitie the beames of the Sunne beate upon the soule and make it faint and weake many times a ruinous cottage so that the inhabitant is forced to spend almost all his time in repairing it in keeping it up in supplying the necessities of it distracted rent and torne with cares and sollicitudes for it so that little time is left for better duties for duties proper to the inner man and when the soule setteth her selfe to these duties then this Cottage is an impediment unto her taking off her minde from it by some sudden gust of a vaine thought or hindring her by some indisposition or compelling her by some urgent necessitie to breake off before shee is willing These and the like incumbrances doe much afflict the Saints therefore they desire to bee cloathed upon with a pure house a pleasant house a lightsome house a healthfull house a durable house a glorious house that might bee a helpe and incouragement to the soule in holy and religious duties In this wee groane earnestly c. You that are owners of the wonder are not ignorant what a wonder man is a composure of different natures Celestiall terrestriall Angelicall beastiall corporall spirituall greater then the world lesse then the world the richest Pearle and the basest foyle the Image of GOD and a peece of clay you are not ignorant how these two are affected one to the other in the Regenerate man if the body bee sound and well it kicketh against the spirit if it bee ill it afflicts the Spirit How doe I love my body as my fellow servant and eschew it as mine enemie how doe I hate it as my clogge and reverence it as my fellow-heire I buffet it as a slave and imbrace it as a friend I chastise it and keepe it under and then I want a companion to assist mee in the workes of pietie I cherish it and nourish it and then am I stung with the lusts of it It is a flattering enemie and a trecherous friend Oh my conjunction and oh my alienation that which I feare I imbrace and that which I love I feare before I make warre with it I am reconciled and before I am reconciled I am at variance what a strange misterie is this therefore the Saints mortifie and crucifie their bodyes they gird them close with the cords of strong resolutions they macerate them with watchings and fastings and make them thinne and pale and wanne that so they may be serviceable to the Spirit they labour that their hands may be translucent with fasting as the hands of Elphegus were that their countenances may bee living documents of humiliation that their bodyes may bee as transparent glasses wherein the thoughts of their hearts may be seene that their soules may have no more residence in the heart but may as evidently bee seene in every part of the body as there This they ayme at and when they have done all this yet they complaine of the dulnesse deadnesse heavinesse lumpishnesse of the body and are at enmitie with it and cry out Oh miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death not that they are simply enemies to the body but to this earthly corruptible body this sinfull body that depresseth the minde musing of many things and desire the
vapours from a malecontented spirit Did they not account these afflictions their Justs and Barriers and Turnaments and exercises of honour and chivalrie at which Angels and Archangels were present with their Euges and approbations God himselfe the chiefe Spectator and rewarder of these exercises they themselves tryumphing and boasting in their tryalls with the impresse of the Apostle on their shields of faith Wee are perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus They were more Eagle-eyed by the strength of grace to pry into the nothingnesse of the creature then all the Philosophers by the strength of nature they did mortifie and crucifie and keepe under the body with the lusts thereof and more truly detest the corruption of the outward man then any Platonist whatsoever but were these the grounds the rise of this celestiall affection nothing lesse to see God to enjoy God to dwell with him to converse with him to be bee dissolved to be with Christ these transported their affections not the emptinesse of the things below but fulnesse of things above not the basenesse of earthly things but the glorie of celestiall things not the miseries of this life or of this crazie vessell but the happinesse of the life to come they had but a glimpse of this strange light darted into their soules and the whole world was darknesse unto it they had a gust of sweetnesse cast into the palate of their soules and all things else were bitter and unsavorie Christ was placed in the summitie and height of their soules and the desire of the full fruition of him caused that fainting that earnest longing in their spirits You will say if this be so what will become of the greatest part of Christians who are afraid to die who are so farre from groaning to depose this Tabernacle that they groane at the least intimation of dissolution It is true that all men receive not this saying neither is it for every one to attaine to this perfection As there are two sorts of faith so there are two forts of Christians there is a strong faith and a weake faith and there are strong Christians and there are weake Christians the strong Christian is willing to dye and patient to live the weake Christian is willing to live and patient to dye hee goes when God calls but he could wish that God would deferre his calling hee hath good hopes of heaven but he desires a little more to enjoy the earth he loves God more then all yet his affections are not fully taken off from all hee is not perplexed with the feares of Hell yet hee is not ravished with the joyes of Heaven hee hath much strength but knowes it not as many a Spectator of a prize is better able to performe it then he that undertakes it but either through faintnesse of heart or ignorance of his owne strength dare not put it to the hazard but had rather commend another mans valour then trye his owne whereas a strong Christian a man growne in Christ sends a challenge to this Gyant Death singles him out as a fit object of his valour grapples with him not as with his match but as his underling insulteth over him setteth his foot on the necke of this King of terrours and by conquering him captivates with great facilitie all other pettie feares of ignominie povertie and the like which therefore are dreadfull because they tend to Death the last the worst the end the summe of all feared evills this is the unconquerable crowne of Faith this is the glory of a Christian this is the Diadem of honour wreathed about his Temples advancing him above all other men whatsoever But you will say may a man desire death Is this now a question what meanes the agony of the Apostle I desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ. What meanes the earnest longing of the Spouse Apoca. 22. The Spirit saith come and the Bride saith come and let him that heares say come What meanes her fainting in the Canticles I am sicke of love let him bring mee into his chamber Let mee see his face I am sicke unto death Let mee dye lest I dye that I may see him for ever What meanes the character of a true Christian As many as love the appearance of the Lord which cannot be without death What meanes the incredible contempt of death in ancient Christians insomuch that it was a received Maxime with the Heathen Omnis Christianus est contemptor mortis What meanes the heroicall encouragement of old Hilarion Egredere anima egredere quid times Goe out my soule goe out why tremblest thou What meanes the words of old Simion in the flames Thus to die is to live What meanes the rapture of Saint Chrysostome that hee would thanke that man that would kill him as transmitting him more speedily to those unconceivable Joyes What meanes this groaning and thirsting in my Text Doe not these demonstrate that it is lawfull to desire death Not simply in it selfe or for it selfe it is the separation of those two whom God hath coupled it is a cessation of being it is an evill of punishment the daughter of sinne to desire it simply were to desire evill which is abhorrent to nature much lesse ought wee to hasten our death by violent meanes Let their memories bee buried in perpeturall silence as the botches and ulcers of Christianitie who out of impatience have perpetrated this heinous sinne a sinne against God and man against nature against grace against the Church against the common-wealth against all things The Heathen man could say that we are the possession of God to be disposed of by him not by our selves the body is the structure of God the worke of his hands the Tabernacle which hee hath made and not to be removed or to bee taken downe but by his command while we live we may advance the glory of God the good of others wee may impeople heaven make up the ruines of Angels to hasten our death were to envie this glory to God this good to others In that distraction of our Apostle betweene two good things his owne glory and the good of others you know which way the scales inclined to the good of others as if he had said Let my glory be deferred so Gods glory be increased let my joy be increased let my joy be suspended so the joy of Angels and of the Court of heaven be intended by the conversion of sinners Nay more this is a small thing Let me be an Athema so Israel be blessed let me be blotted out of the booke of life so thousands bee inserted let the bowels of Christ be streightened to me so they bee enlarged to others this is life indeed this is the end of our life this will comfort
in his watchings and fastings and sackcloth by them hee overcame flesh and bloud by these he overcame God by them he overcame men by these hee made conquest of himselfe by them he enlarged the territories of Israel by these hee enlarged the bounds of heaven by them he made Hadadezer flye by these he made the Angell put up his sword and God to reverse his sentence by them he did remove temporall evils by these hee did procure everlasting good unto himselfe and others This is that humiliation which this sacred time requires not abstinence onely from meates which pamper this carkasse this is not the body of this fast but a vehement intention of religious duties above other times he that prayed twice a-day before let him now doe it seven times hee that fasted but once in the weeke let him now doe it three times or oftner as his body will permit him though it be to the sicknesse of the body it is an happy sicknesse of the bodie which is the sanity of the soule hee that gave Almes a little let him now double or treble his liberalitie hee that did delight before in recreations let him devote that time to prayer to humiliation doe not our sinnes require this our owne sins the sinnes of others if not our owne miseries for which we blesse God yet doe not the miseries of other Nations the Churches of God require this Doe wee not now beate our breasts and hang downe our heads and rend our hearts and punish our selves for our sinnes that God may not punish them Did not our sins call upon us for this dutie yet is not the sight of God the presence of our Saviour the joyes of Heaven the equalitie with the Angels the glory of a Kingdome worthie a teare a groane a sigh a fast are they now so contemptible or meane that no violence is requisite with what face shall wee appeare before our Saviour at his Tribunall when he shall demand of us his teares his watchings and fastings when he shall say unto us where are my teares are they water spilt upon the ground not to be gathered up Where are my sighes and groanes have they vanished into the ayre where are my watchings what not a teare for so many teares not a fast for so many fasts not a groane for so many miseries which I indured Had I shed but one teare should it not have broken up a fountaine of teares in thee Had I fetched but one sigh should it not have made thy life a perpetuall sigh But when I have done so much for thy sake shall it be lost wilt thou doe nothing for thy owne selfe shall I cast so much seed into the ground and reape nothing againe Oh my beloved what are all our afflictions what are all the afflictions of our selves to the least drop of gall that hee tasted to the least scourge which hee suffered how can we say that either wee loved God or our selves if wee doe not these things in testimonie of this If yee shall not performe these duties it is a small comfort for us that we have freed our soules it is your salvation wee thirst after and say in a better sense then the King of Sodome Danobis animas Give us your soules and without this wee have no comfort wee may be acquitted at the barre of God but wee shall not be crowned in his Throne for what is our crowne but you that heare us but if you shall thus groane as I doubt not but you doe in secret it is not I but God himselfe hath promised that they that sow in teares shall reape in joy that they which mourne here shall be comforted hereafter that they which groane here shall be refreshed in their proper house In this wee groane earnestly desiring to bee cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven Which God of his infinite mercie grant c. FINIS THE CARELESSE MERCHANT OR THE WOFULL LOSSE OF THE PRECIOVS SOVLE LUKE 12. 20. Thou foole this night thy soule shall be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided DEUT. 4. 9. Take heed therefore to thy selfe and keepe thy soule diligently LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE CARELESSE MERCHANT OR THE WOFVLL LOSSE OF THE PRECIOVS SOULE SERMON XXII MAT. 16. 26. What is a man profited if hee shall gaine the whole world and lose his soule TThe Patriarch Iacob in his vision at Bethel saw the Angels of God ascending and descending Gen. 28. So from the thirteenth verse of this Chapter wee have the Disciples of Christ ascending and descending For first their generall speaker Simon Peter had made a notable confession of our Saviours Divinitie and had received for the further incouragement of himselfe and his brethren such an excellent testimonie from our Saviour that the Angels of heaven might behold and observe and imbrace Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Iona for flesh and blood hath not revealed this to thee but my Father which is in heaven and I say thou art Peter and on this rocke will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it Which words were not only appropriate to him they were spoken to him but they were common to all the Apostles For as Origen argues shall we thinke that the gates of hell prevailed not against Peter but did against the rest Therefore that which was said to him was said to all and being such a glorious commendation behold the Angels ascend But secondly what if the earthly minde of man dreame of a Messias temporall and that they must be promoted to places of eminencie and stiled gracious Lords the case is too palpable for if Christ warne his Disciples and tell them of his approaching death at Jerusalem hee shall be sure to meet with a checke no such matter it shall not be so to thee Oh! here is a strange metamorphise a sudden alteration before a Confessor and now a controller there is no wisedome of the spirit in this and therefore no commendation for this but because he was somewhat too forward get thee behind mee for thou art an offence to me behold the Angels descend And surely this carnall wisedome had beene able to weigh them downe to the nethermost hell had not the wisedome of the wisest curbed and subdued and restrayned it What not suffer Yes Peter also must suffer and all that will follow Christ must renounce all the inâ—…icements of the world and mortifie all the corrupt exorbitancies of the flesh and resist all the temptations of the Divell For what is a man profited if hee gaine the whole world and lose his soule Which words are an exaggeration of the wofull estate of a temporizing Professor of a carnall Gospeller and they reach to our consideration these foure generalls First the excellencie and worth of mans soule which is of greater value then the whole world Secondly the possibilitie of the
crazie and all things are out of order yet this man can incourage himselfe in the Lord his God he can say to himselfe feare not Saith Daved though I walke in the valley of the shadow of death a dolefull condition yet I will feare none ill Psal. 23. And in another place though ten thousand should compasse mee in on every side I would lay mee downe and rest Though the Apostles were watched by souldiers layd in the stocks and for ought they knew the next day should be brought to execution yet they sing as merrily and sleepe as heartily as if they had beene on a Throne and had beene Kings in a Pallace Thus a good conscience will make a Christian happy if he be not his owne foe but our hearts are intangled with the world and wordly things that for the most part wee see not this priviledge But I leave that Next it may serve to reprehend and chide the most of us yea all in that we are distracted with feares unnecessary such as spend our spirits and consume our precious time such things as make our lives uncomfortable and dishonour God and our Religion and profession and all to no purpose Some things we feare a great while before wee neede perhaps that we neede not feare at all One saith Lord what would become of me if I should loose my wife if I should loose my children or loose my estate What would become of me if the times should be hard if there should be a deare yeare I can scarse bring both ends together now Another saith what shall I doe when I am old and cannot take paines for my living thus men feare a thousand inconveniences What neede wee meete evills halfe way what neede wee create to our selves such troubles sufficient for the day are the troubles of it But in regard of carnall feare all things make us afraid more then we neede and the feare of ill oft times perplexeth a man more then the ill it selfe that lights upon him And men of a melancholly disposition they frame to themselves such strange Chimera's Imaginations of things that perhaps shall never come to passe and so trouble themselves with a great deale of feare Thou art afraid of such and such losses perhaps thou maiest die first and such things perhaps shall never befall thee labour to prepare thy heart before hand and then feare them not I will shew you the inconveniences of this briefly First of all these feares of losses and crosses and the like they often bring a great deale of ill to men nay it brings a great deale of ill as the naturall event and consequent of it partly by the judgement of God Esay 66. 4. I will bring their feares upon them And that that wicked men feare shall come upon them This is the way to bring ill upon them when men will needs bee miserable is it not just with God they should The Romans will come and take away our Empire and so it was Saul was afraid that David should succeede him and so hee did When men will not learne to live by faith it is just with God to bring that that they feare upon them because they dishonour him by unbeliefe In the second place it not onely brings ill but it makes the heart unfit for ill when it comes In the feare of man there is a snare but in the confidence of the Lord there is a sure reward In the feare of man there is a snare what doth feare doe it insnares a man it binds a man hand and foote and layes him flat before his enemie when he comes and then his enemy tramples upon him It so weakens the Spirits and disheartneth a man before it comes that when it comes he is no way able to beare it For the feare takes away all the joy and content that a man may take in the present good that hee enjoyes at the hand of God that he cannot enjoy that because hee feares I know not what ill that may come and then when that ill comes he is not able to beare it his spirit is so weake I might shew much hurt that this feare doth both to the soule and to the body of man To the body of man how doth it weaken and contract the Spirits and bring diseases and some times death it selfe Feare doth much hurt to the soule Naturally Spiritually Naturally it weakens a man in regard of the operations of his soule that the body is not a fit instrument for the soule to worke by It makes a man doe diverse things rashly and inconsiderately and divers things out of incogitancie that hee knowes not what he doth he is unfit for holy duties unstable in all his wayes As he is thus in regard of his place and calling so in regard of the duties of Gods service he cannot doe these with a quiet heart with a peaceable spirit while he is possest with these feares You shall see almost all the sinnes in the world come from this feare What was the reason that Abraham and Sarah did equivocate was it not feare in that particular of men more then God and so they put God upon a miracle to preserve Saraahs chastitie in the case of Abimeleck What was the reason that Aaron yeelded to make an Idoll for the people of Israel and so joyned in Idolatry with them he was afraid of the people that they might doe him some hurt he durst not trust God with his preservation So Peter denyed his Master out of feare What is the reason that a Minister doth not sometimes reproove sinne that a Magistrate doth not sometimes reforme that that is amisse It is slavish feare they will not trust God to maintaine them in his owne cause What is the reason that many servants lye c. it is out of a slavish feare of their masters And so in regard of the things of the world men are inordinately afraid that they shall loose somewhat they possesse and therefore they take indirect courses Still this slavish feare and horrour and distrust of God it is almost the cause of all sin as wee may observe in the world This being so prejudicall in the last place let us fence our hearts against this feare By this meanes we shall honour Religion and make our lives comfortable incourage other Saints of God and draw people to like Religion when it yeelds such sweet contentment to the soules of men For doe but once againe muster together all our enemies and see if we have cause of feare For our spirituall enemies Will any man feare a wounded foe for the Lord God hath wounded Satan and trampled him under our feet and brought us as Ioshua did his Captaines to set our feet upon the necke of principalities and powers that through the mightie power of God wee are more then conquerours and shall we feare such an enemie as this Shall we
feare those sinnes that we are humbled for and which God hath made as if they had never beene For the evills of the world Why should we feare them those corrections that are immediatly from God there is no cause of feare in them As thus If God take away thy Wife or thy Child or thy friend or a part of thy substance what cause of feare is there Feare not saith God I will chastise thee in measure and will not make a full end of thee Jer. 46. 28. yet thou shalt not bee altogether uncorrected And then remember God proportions the correction to our strength as a Father not as a Judge hee aymes at our amendment not at our ruine If hee take away a friend that wee doted too much on if we set our mindes too much on the world and worldly things God will deprive us of them and so by this bee all in all to us and draw us neerer to himselfe have wee cause of feare to feare that that comes from God No will some say if we fall into the hands of God there is mercie but the mercies of men are cruell What if unreasonable men deale with us have wee not reason to feare ill from them they are outragious and cruell they bend their malice against us and if the enemie should come and make an iroad into our countrie and bring devastation what should we doe then I answer first in all things that fall from men there is a provident hand of God therefore saith our Saviour to his Apostles when he would incourage them saith hee there is a providence even concerning sparrowes there is none of them light on the ground without the providence of God So when he would encourage his Disciples against their adversaries your very haires are numbred As if he had said Almightie God knowes how many haires every man hath upon his head he numbers all our joynts hee tells our steps there is nothing befalls us but what the provident hand of God is in And wicked men the Divell and all his instruments God hath them in a chaine they cannot goe one step further then he gives them leave Againe consider what God said to Abraham here I am thy shield In regard of all the evills that men attempt against us whether in regard of scoffing or persecution and open hostilitie or whatsoever God is our sheild And the Psalmist calls him elsewhere our strong tower You know how it is if men encounter a strong Tower the enemie must first batter the Tower about their eares before they can hurt the men If a man fight with an enemie he must pierce his shield before he can hurt the man Wee may speake it with sacred reverence to the Majestie of God they must overcome God himselfe before they can hurt his people in doing any thing that shall prove in the event hurtfull as long as they keepe close to God The Lord intimated this to the people of Israell The Egiptians marched and followed hard after them to devoure them with open mouth God when he saw that hee removes the pillar of the Cloud and set it betweene them as if God should have said to them You deceive your selves to thinke to conquer my people you must conquer me before you conquer them So God is our strong Tower our shieid and our deliverer and hee will find deliverance for his people some way or other from the evill or in the evill or out of it as shall turne to our exceeding advantage For suppose the worst that can bee supposed that wicked men are let loose on us to doe all that their malice can invent they can but touch the body the shell of the soule and let the prisoner out of dores Upon this argument Christ incourageth us Feare not them that can kill the body but feare him that can kill both body and soule As if hee should say Doe the enemies threaten death they promise you life the greatest advantage and the happiest day that ever can befall a man that is in covenant with God is the day of death Then all they can doe is to kill the body for a while which God will raise maugre the malice of the Divell and all his instruments and possesse the soule of that blisse that is prepared for it And in regard of Death why should we feare that if we bee in covenant with God the nature of it is changed the sting is out and it is become beneficiall But you know the Saints die still The red Sea swallowed up the Egyptians but contrariwise to the Israelites it was a wall of protection on the right hand and on the left That then that was the ruine of the Egiptians it was the protection of the Israelites So it is in regard of death that that is the entrance to the dolefull miserie of evill men that is the most blissfull and joyfull day to a child of God that can be for then he rests from his labours and his workes follow him But notwithstanding all this it is hard to live without feare I enjoy many things I am afraid to lose them and my children are afraid and loath to part with me my heart wavers and is full of perplexitie how shall I be freed from this I know feare is a naturall thing deeply rooted in nature thinke not to get the conquest wholly but by little and little Labour to get the Spirit of God that is supernaturall that must overcome this for the strongest resolution of the most resolved spirit in the world will not overcome it it must bee by a power that is stronger then our owne namely by the Spirit of GOD that we being assured by the Spirit that God is our portion and living the life of faith we may not feare any thing in regard of this world Secondly labour to keepe our covenant with God there is an admonition Numb 14. 9. Only saith God remember you doe not rebell against God and then feare not this people for God is with you but hee hath forsaken them The righteous is bold as a Lyon but the wicked feares and oft-times where there is no feare What is the reason we are so faint-hearted that we feare the losse of the things of this world because we are not assured that God is our portion for if a man were assured that what hee loseth here God would make up in regard of his presence that hee would be All in all in stead of wife and goods and children and honours c. it is impossible that this man should feare the losse of any thing for hee possesseth all in God and he cannot be lost In particular labour to strengthen faith make God our strong Tower and live by faith hee shall not be afraid of ill tydings why his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal. 112 When men make the things of this world their portion when they make riches
and the arme of flesh their portion that they must relie upon here is a reed that will either breake or pierce a mans hand No wonder that this man feares in all occasions and extremities because he forsakes the Lord and cleaves to the creature But that man that lives by faith is without feare As Peter when hee began to sinke saith Christ Why dost thou feare O thou of little faith The reason he did sinke was feare and why did hee feare because his faith failed him he did not lay hold upon God and Christ. Lastly let us remember to order our selves aright in regard of our love and this will keepe us from inordinate feare For we must conceive that love is the fountaine of all other affections we love things and therefore we desire them if they be absent and wee rejoyce in them if they be present and wee feare the losse of them to be abridged of them Now let us order our love aright in regard of the things of this world and wee shall never feare much for it is the observation of S. Austin we feare to lose somewhat that we have attained or not to enjoy somewhat that we desire so it ariseth from love somewhat that wee love and afect we are afraid of the losse of it and this is the cause of feare Now in regard of wealth a man is afraid hee shall not have enough he shall not have a competencie it is because hee loves the things of the world too much A man is afraid of Death why because he loves his body too much A man is afraid hee shall lose his children or his friends what is the reason he loves them too much too inordinatly Wee should labour to love them only in and for God and then we shall not be afraid of the losse of them but shall be content to bee disposed in them and in ourselves as God shall see convenient in his heavenly wisedome A word for the occasion and that I will dispatch in a word You know the occasion of our meeting at this time and in this place it is to performe this last rite to the body of a Child that God hath taken lately to his mercie You see how Almightie God is pleased to dispose it sometimes even oft-times from the Cradle to the Grave out of the swadling-bands to the winding-sheete God will have it so sometimes and when it is so wee must lay our hands upon our mouthes and bee content with the will of God For those that are Parents let all learne this lesson not to dote too much upon their children not to be enamoured too much upon such flowers you know how soone God takes them away before you be aware It is not their witt or their comelinesse or agilitie and nimblenesse or healthy constitution or any thing that can award them from the stroake of death when God sends it Therefore learne to love them in and for God for his sake and you shall have no cause to feare the losse of them or grieve immoderately when they are taken away why because they are all alive still to God and this tender Babe is not lost he is but sent before he is alive still in the presence of God the soule still lives and the body shall live and is in Gods account Christ hath the charge of it and will raise it at the last day That man can lose no friend that loves his friend in and for God because they live with God and he shall enjoy them at the last day Againe as we may mourne for the losse of our friends and children or else we were without naturall affection so we must rejoyce that they have gained as we have lost them as they are taken from us so they are taken from the evils of the world from a great deale of sinne and miserie and what that might have beene the Lord only knowes therefore wee have cause to bee thankfull And beloved be thankfull too if God spare any if hee take one he might have taken all and prepare for it too be thankfull for them that are left And remember labour betimes to instruct your children in the feare of God let it be the first thing we infuse into them as soone as they be capable namely the elements of Christian Religion holy and heavenly things why because they may bee taken away before we are aware It may be wee have but a little time but a few opportunities to doe good to them I tell you what our conscience will tell us else that wee have not beene so carefull to instruct our children as they have beene capable And this will cut sore and lie heavie on our conscience and therefore let us doe it betimes Not only to prevent the Divell and his temptations but because you see how suddenly they may bee taken away from us in a moment So Children should be admonished to learne to know the Lord God in the dayes of their youth how soone that evill day may come we know not that the wise man speakes of therefore betimes while yee haue opportunitie doe it And for our owne part let us learne this First when God croppes such flowers that rise in the budde when he takes away such Children be thankfull to God that hee hath given us a longer time that he hath enlarged our dayes and prolonged our yeares that hee hath given us such a great deale of space and opportunitie to glorifie him here to doe him service in the land of the living to get evidence of our Calling and election and to get assurance of our peace with him Let us praise God for the length of our dayes a blessing of God in it selfe and a blessing to us if we improve it Againe every one remember if Children doe die old men must die any man may die For if Death strike such as doe but begin to live then we that have lived long it is time and reason to expect death and not to feare it I speake not this as if we should be slavishly afraid of death while we are so our lives are not comfortable What is the reason that we feare it inordinatly because we love our lives wee love our bodies and the world inordinatly and not in and for God And then by the continuall spectacles of mortalitie let us bee acquainted with death A vizour and apparition to a Child scarres him and he runnes from it at the first but at last he growes throughly acquainted with it and feares it not so it is in regard of death many men will not indure to heare of death they will not indure to thinke of it they will not indure to heare a Funerall Sermon or to come to the house of mourning to be put in mind of their latter end Death is a strange vizour to these men and women they are afraid of it and runne from it but if we did oft thinke of it as oft as we thinke
destroyed is death meaning temporall death at last then it shall be destroyed mortall shall put on immortality as the Apostle speakes but in the meane time it is destroyed in hope though it remaine indeede and must be undergone even of the faithfull in this life How be it to them Christ hath changed the nature of it and now they no longer undergoe it as the wages of sinne but for other causes As first the exercise of their graces their faith and hope and patience and the rest all these are exercised as in other afflictions so even in the death of Gods Children Secondly the totall remoovall and riddance of the reliques of sinne from which they are not freed in this life but when they die then all sinne is taken away for as at the first sinne brought death into the world so to the faithfull now death carries it out againe Thirdly their entrance into heaven and to bee at home with the Lord from whom wee are absent as long as wee are at home in these bodies Fourthly to prepare their bodies for renewing at the last day that is done by death for as a decayed Image or statue must first be broken that it may be new cast so these bodies of ours must bee broken by death that they may be cast into a new mold of immortalitie at the generall resurrection But here as some sinne remaines so death remaines though wee be in Christ yet wee are still in that estate wherein it is appointed to all men once to dye Thus even temporall death is left to the Children of God to bee undergone before they come to heaven It is left to them I say and that justly in respect of the remnants of sinne yet they undergoe it no other way but for their owne good and benefit How ever temporall death in its owne nature to an unbeleever is the wages of sinne And as temporall so eternall death for when God told man that in the day hee sinned he should die the death he meant not onely temporall but eternall death he meant that principally as I shewed before in that the Apostle opposeth it to eternall life in the next clause of the sentence Now Christ hath freede all beleevers actually from eternall death But how eternall death should be the wages of sinne may be doubted because betweene the worke and the the wages there must be some proportion that seemes not to bee betweene sinne and eternall death for sinne is a finite a temporall thing committed in a short time and that death is eternall Now to punish a temporall fault with an eternall punishment it seemes that it is to make the punishment to exceed the fault and that is against justice But for answer to this doubt wee must know that however sinne considered in the act and as it is a transcient action it is finite yet in other respects it is infinite and that in a threefold consideration First in respect of the object against whom it is committed for being the offence of an infinite Majestie it deserves an infinite punishment for wee know offences are reckoned of for their greatnesse according as the greatnesse of the person is against whom they are committed If hee that clippes the Kings coyne or deface the Kings Armes or counterfeit the broad Seale of England or the Princes privie Seale ought to die as a traytor because this disgrace tends to the person of the Prince much more ought he that violates the law of God die the first and second death too because it tends to the defacing of the Image and the disgracing of the person of God himselfe who is contemned and dishonoured in every sinne Secondly sinne is infinite in respect of the subject wherein it is the soule of man Seeing the soule is immortall and of an everlasting substance and that the guilt of sinne and the blot together staine the soule as a crimson and skarlet die upon wooll and can no more be severed from the soule then the spottes from the Leopard it remaines as the soule is eternall and as that is everlasting so sinne is infinite in durance and continuance and deserves an infinite wages and punishment which is eternall death Thirdly it is infinite also in respect of the tie betweene the desire and indeavour of an impenitent sinner for his desire is to walke on still in sinne and except God cut off the line of life never to give over sinning but he would runne on infinitely committing sinne even with greedinesse And it is reason that as God accepts the will for the deed in godlinesse so hee should punish the will for the deed in wickednesse if wee sinne according to our eternitie in our will and purpose to sinne God will punish us according to his eternitie it is just that they that would never bee without sinne if they might have their owne will should never be without punishment Thus we see eternall death is the wages of sinne though sinne be committed in a moment though it bee a transcient action in it selfe yet it is just with God to give it the wages of eternall death So you see Death both temporall and eternall is the wages of sinne Wee come to the Use of the point being thus declared First it teacheth us contrarie to the Doctrine of the Church of Romeâ—… that originall lust and concupiscence in the regenerate is a sinne for how else should God be just in inflicting temporall death upon infants that are regenerate actuall sinnes they have none and iâ—… they have no originall sin neither then God should inflict the wages of sinne where there were no sinne which cannot be because there is no iniquitie with God Therefore certaine it is that after regeneration this originall lust though the guilt of it be taken away yet as sinne it remaines the substance of it still remaines and will as long as we live in this world For it is in us as it is well compared as the I vie is in the wall which having taken root so twines and incorporates it selfe that it can never bee quite rooted out till the wall be taken down so till body and soule be taken asunder by death there will be no totall riddance of Originall corruption and the depravation of our nature it is still in us as appeares by the temporall death even of the best Saints of those that are most sanctified in this life it shewes there is remainders of corruption in them still for if there were not sinne there would not be the wages of sinne there would not be death if there were not sinne Secondly the Use of it is to take away a fond Popish distinction of mortall and veniall sinne they teach some sins to be veniall that is such sins as in their owne nature deserve not death whereas the Apostle here speaking of all sinne in generall hee saith the wages thereof is death
And how can it be otherwise when all sâ—… is the transgression of the Law as Saint Iohn defines it and all transgression of the Law deserves and is worthie of the curse which is both the first and second death for Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the booke of the Law to doe them There is no sinne then but it is worthy of death therefore there is no such veniall sin as they dreame of We denie not but that some sins are veniall and some mortall in another sence not in respect of the nature of the sin but of the estate of the person in whom the sins are so we say all the sins of the Elect are veniall because they either are or shall be pardoned And all the sins of reprobate persons are mortall because they shall never be pardoned It is the mercy of God and not from the nature of the sins that makes them veniall for otherwise every sin in it selfe considered be it never so small is mortall for if it worke according to its owne nature it workes death of body and soule It is a foolish exception that they bring against it that thus we make all sins equall and that we bring in with the Stoicks a paritie of sin because we say all are mortall It is a foolish cavill for it is as if one should argue because the Mouse and the Elephant are both living creatures that therefore they are both of equall bignesse Though all sins be mortall they are not all equall some are greater and some are lesser according as they are extended and aggravated by time and place and person and sundrie other circumstances Suppose one should be drowned in the middest of the Sea and another in a shallow pond in respect of death all were one both are drowned but yet there is great difference in respect of the place for depth and danger So there is great difference in this though the least sin in its owne nature be mortall as the Apostle saith here the wages of it is death Thirdly seeing the wages of sinne is death it should teach us what Use to make of death being presented before our eyes at such times as this hereby wee should call to remembrance the grievousnesse of sin that brought it into the world by the wofull wages wee should bee put in mind of the unhappie service Had there not beene sin there would have beene no death upon the death of the soule came in the death of the body first the soule died in forsaking God and then the body died being forsaken of the soule the soule forsooke God willingly therefore it was compelled unwillingly to forsake the body This is the manner how death came into the world by sin therefore death must put out sin That housholder when he saw tares grow among his wheate hee said to his servants the envious man hath done this So whensoever thou seest Death seize upon any say to thy selfe sinne hath done this this is the wages of sinne and if man had never sinned we should have seene no such thing Fourthly this must deterre us from sin since it gives such wages Indeed the manner of sin is for the most part if not alwayes to promise better but it is deceitfull and this is the wages it payes thee The wages of sinne is death The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated wages some take it quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the evening because wages are paid in the evening So the morning of sin may be faire but the evening will be foule when the wages come At the first sin may be pleasing but remember the end the end of it is death Like to a fresh River that runs into the salt Sea the streame is sweet but it ends in brackishnesse and bitternesse Or like to Nebuchadnezzars Image the head was gold but the feet were of clay Or sin may be compared to that Feast that Absalom made for Amnon there was great cheare and jollitie and mirth for a while but all closed in Death in bloudshed and murther It deales with men as Laban dealt with Iacob hee entertaines him at the first with great complements but used him hardly at the last Or as the Governour of the feast said Ioh. 2. All men in the beginning set forth good wine and then that which is worse so sinne gives the best at the first but the worst it reserves for the last This should keepe us from every sin though it seemes never so pleasing and never so sweet to us remembring that the worst is still to come Wee reade that when the people saw that Saul forbad them to eate though they were exceeding hungrie yet not one of them durst touch the honey for the curse though they saw it so the pleasures of sin may drop as honey before our eyes but we must not adventure to taste of them because they are cursed fruit and because of the wages that will follow Never take sinne by the head by the beginnings as the greatest part doe but take it as Iacob tooke Esau by the heele looke to the extreame part of it Consider thy end and thou shalt not doe amisse Iezabell might have allured a man when having painted her face shee looked out of the window but to looke upon her after shee was cast out eaten of dogges and nothing remaining but her extreame parts her scull and the palmes of her hands and her feet it could not be but with horrour so sinne may allure a man looking only on the painted face in the beginning but if a man cast his eye upon the extreame parts it would then affright and deterre him for the wages the end of it is death What a world of people runne blindly and desperatly on they turne to the race of sinne as the horse to the battell without feare as if the Psalmists Tremble and sinne not were rather sinne and tremble not Whereas we have great cause every one to tremble at the least motion of sinne in our selves to which so dreadfull and wofull wages is due Lastly for this point so many of us as have repented and have already left the service of sin we must hence learne as to be humbled in our selves considering what danger and miserie we have escaped so to be more thankful to Christ that hath freed us from so wretched wages due to our sins and that by taking the whole punishment upon himselfe For we must know beloved that the best of us by nature are children of wrath as well as others the stypend that we have earned is eternall death and surely it hath been payed to us nothing could have kept it from us but only the satisfaction of Christ comming betweene Gods justice and us Thinke we then if we can what miserie it is that wee have escaped as many of us I meane as be in the state of grace we have escaped
death the hurt of temporall death we have escaped eternall death What is that a separation from the blessed presence and glory of God destruction of body and soule for ever unutterable torments companie with the Divell and his angels and the route of reprobates darknesse blacker and thicker then that of Egypt Weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth in the infernall lake that worme that never dyes and the fire that never goeth out This is the wages of all sinne and that it is not rendred to all sinne and to all sinners the cause is only this that the payment hath beene already exacted of Christ in the behalfe of all true beleevers therefore in their owne persons they are discharged how infinitely are wee bound in thankfulnesse to him and how carefull should wee be to walke worthy of it resolving never to returne to the service of sinne againe but to make it our whole studie that wee may please and honour such a Redeemer that hath redeemed us from such miserie as this that wee may please him for we had deserved eternall death as well as others and hee hath not only freed us from that that wee had most worthily deserved but most freely also bestowed that upon us that we could never deserve for so it followes in the next point The gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. That is the second thing to bee considered the reward of the service of God You have heard of the reward the wages of sinne Now the reward of the service of God is eternall life it is called life There is a twofold life belongs to men The one is naturall and is common to all good and bad in this world The other spirituall proper to the faithfull begun by the union of God and the soule and maintained by the bond of the spirit and this life hath three degrees The first is in this life unto death and it begins when wee begin to believe and repent and come to a saving knowledge of God and of his Sonne Jesus Christ as it is said This is eternall life to know thee to be the very God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ Ioh. 17. 3. The second degree is from our death to our resurrection for in that time our soules being freed from our bodies are withall free from all sinne originall and actuall Thirdly after the Resurrection when body and soule shall bee reunited wee shall have immediate communion and fellowship with God and so enjoy a more perfect and blessed life then ever we could here And this spirituall life with all the three degrees of it is the life here spoken of especially the last degree the perfection of it in heaven It is called eternall life because it shall never end For a thing is said to be eternall three wayes First which hath neither beginning nor end so God alone is eternall and none but he Secondly which hath no beginning and yet shall have an end so Gods decree is eternall for it never had a beginning yet when all things decreed are fulfilled it shall have an end Thirdly which hath a beginning but never shall have end and so the life of Gods Saints had a beginning as all created things have butit shall never have an end and this eternall life it is called here The gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Because wee cannot deserve it but it is given and bestowed on us freely for Christ. So then the point of observation from the latter part of the words is this that Our salvation it is the free gift of God given us onely for the merits of Christ. For observe I beseech you the Apostles words when hee had sayd The wayes of sinne is death hee doth not adde and say but the wages of righteousnesse is eternall life but he calls that the gift of God To make us understand saith Damascene that God brings us to eternall life meerely for his owne mercie not for our merits orelse surely the Apostle would have made the later part of the sentence answerable to the former But here perhaps some may aske why eternall life should not be the wages of righteousnesse as well as death the wages of sinne I answer because there is not the same reason betweene sinne and righteousnesse For first sinne is our owne it merits it but rigteousnesse is none of our owne it is the holy Ghosts and it is due to God Then againe sinne is perfectly evill and so it deserves death but our righteousnesse inherent is not perfectly good it is imperfect in this life and nothing that is imperfectly good can merit as wages eternall life therefore the Apostle makes such a manifest difference between them he calls death the wages of sin but eternall life the gift of God it is the free gift of God through Christ. Indeed eternall life some times many times in Scripture is called a reward But there is a reward of mercie as well as of justice Nay God is sayd sometimes to reward his children injustice How is that Though the reward come originally from mercy yet accidentally it comes to be justice thus because God hath tyed himselfe by promise to reward now promise is debt from a just man Thus the Lord may be accounted a debtor How saith Saint Austin as a promiser if hee had not promised eternall life otherwise hee owes us nothing at all much lesse eternall life which is so great a thing Yet it may be doubted how eternall life is the free gift of God seeing it is given for the merits of Christ as it is here exprest the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord that is for the merits of Christ now a man that gives a thing upon merit hee gives it not freely I answer it is free in respect of us whatsoever Christ hath done we did not merit it If it be replyed Christs merits are made ours and wee merit in him and so it cannot be free I answer this reason were of force if wee our selves could procure the merits of Christ for us but that we could not doe but that also was of free gift Ioh. 3. God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that he that beleeves in him should not perish hee gave him freely of free gift so that though eternall life be due to us by the merits of Christ yet it is the free gift of God I wil stand no longer in proving the truth of the Doctrine I come to the application and use to conclude with the time First it serves to confute our adversaries of the Church of Rome in the point of merit They looke for heaven and eternall life as wages wee see the Apostle teacheth us otherwise that eternall life is not given in that manner but another manner of way It is not given as wages it is the
from all both former and following miseries and that is this If in the time of our life here our being subject to corruption and sinne hath seemed unto us the greatest burden and bondage They which have groaned and mourned under their owne naturall corruptions as it were under some heavy and tyrannous yoke or as the Israelites mourned under their Egyptian Task-masters to them only shall the day of death be a day of freedome If sinne be not a burden to thee if thou dost not many times lament and even mourne to thinke how thou art carried captive unto evill if thou dost not with griefe feele how thou art clogged with corruption and hindred by it from doing the good which thou shouldest certainly death will bee to thee the beginning of thy thraldome and after it thou shalt be a perpetuall bond-slave unto Sathan in the kingdome of eternall darknesse Marke this all yee that take delight in evill to whom it is a pastime to doe wickedly and who seeke rather how to satisfie then how to suppresse your owne corruptions who repute it a kind of happinesse to follow the swinge of your owne Iusts and to have libertie to doe as your owne hearts doe lead you when you dye this shall be your reward even a most miserable and endlesse captivity under Sathan him have you served in the lusts of sinne while yee lived his slaves shall you be without hope of releasement world without end This is the right Application of this Doctrine death is a day of enlargement to the godly it is a dismission The next particular is that it is a dismission accompanied with peace the lesson we are taught hence is that The servants of God have at their going out of the world a comfortable quiet and peaceable departure Thus Simeon here hee prayed for no other thing but that his end might be as the end of the Righteous is ever wont to bee even a departure hence in peace Hence is that generall rule of the Psalmist Marke the perfect man and behold the upright man for the end of that man is peace Agreeable whereunto is that of Solomon that the righteous hath hope in his death And memorable to this purpose is that which is storied of old father Iacob shewing unto us the quiet end of the Righteous Hee gathered up his feet into the bed and so gave up the Ghost It was the blessing promised to Abraham that he should goe to his fathers in peace And the same was made to good Iosias There is a twofold reason hereof First the assurance which they have of the favour of God in Christ. This must needs breed quietnesse when I am perswaded in my soule and conscience that all cause of danger after death is removed and that God is and will be gracious unto mee in his Sonne What cause of feare is here left what occasion of perplexitie If any man shall doubt whether the servants of God have this assurance I prove it thus that all of them first or last have it in some good measure If any man saith the Apostle have not the Spirit of Christ hee is none of his Hence it necessarily followes that all that are Christs have the Spirit of Christ but now the office of the Spirit is to beare witnesse with our spirit So that all that are the Lords as they are endued with Gods Spirit so they feele this Spirit bearing witnesse to their soules of this Adoption Secondly the comfortable Testimonie of their owne consciences touching their former care to glorifie God by a Religious and godly conversation Hence came Saint Pauls peace I have saith he fought the good fight I have kept the faith Therefore I am sure there is laid up for mee a Crowne of life Hence Hezekiahs I have walked before thee oh Lord in truth and with a perfect heart Not that they doe ground their hope upon the desert of their fore-ranne courses but because they know good workes to bee the way and doe understand by the Scripture that a holy life here is the first fruits of a glorified life hereafter Thus we see the truth of this point and the reasons upon which it is grounded Now here some may object first Wee see many worthy men that have made a great and an extraordinary profession of Religion in their lives and which have also carried themselves unblameably yet to give appearance of much angiush and perplexitie and even of a kind of despaire in their death How can wee say then that all good and holy persons have a peaceable departure I answer first Wee ought to remember the Rule our Saviour gives not to judge according to the outward appearance It is a very weake argument to say that this or that man dyeth without peace because to the standers by hee makes not shew of peace Certaine it is that as a man may have peace with God and yet himselfe for a time by reason of some tentation not feele it so a man being sicke or going out of the world may feele it and yet others that behold him cannot perceive it Secondly wee must know that these outward unquietnesses which doe many times accompany sicknesse doe happen as well and as ordinarily to good men as to the most wicked such as are ravings idle-talkings and strange accidents in the body in this sence all things come alike to all God hath made no promise in Scripture that those that serve him shall be freed in their deaths from violent sicknesses Therefore these things must not bee thought to be any abridgement of their peace Thirdly wee must consider that with the best servants of God Sathan is most busie when his end is neerest and when hee is as it were out of all hope of prevailing The red Dragon in the Revelation had greatest wrath when he knew his time to bee short When the evill Spirit was commanded once to come out of the child then it rent him sore Now these temptations though for the time they be very violent and extreme so that the party may hapily utter out some words and speeches of dispaire yet be they no finall prejudice to the inward peace Interrupt they may but utterly quench it they cannot because the power of God is made perfect through weaknesse And so even in death Sathan receives the greatest foile when hee thinkes to get the greatest victorie Thus then I answer in one word The peace of Gods servants at death is not ever in the like measure felt by them but yet it never dieth in them they which behold their death doe not alwayes see it yet they themselves sooner or later are sure sweetly and secretly to feele the same My reason for my assertion is grounded first upon that of the Apostle God commands light to shine out of darknesse Hee brings his servants to Heaven by the gates of
hell out of sorrow and angvish and tentation hee raiseth out their greatest quiet Secondly because the love of God is eternall and unchangeable Whom hee loves hee loves to the end It is unpossible that the Lord albeit he trie and that sharply yet should finally forsake those that are his in their greatest extremitie But againe secondly if you make a peaceable death to bee the reward of the Righteous what say you to this There bee many that in all their life gave little evidence of any Religion or grace but of the contrary rather yet in their death were very quiet and still and seemed to all that were by to have in them no manner of vexation no troublesome thoughts no perplexed motions shall wee say that these were good men because they seemed to goe away in peace It is true indeed it is the common opinion Doth a man lye quietly hath hee his memorie to the end died he like a Lambe surely then hee is gone to heaven but this is an absurd colection for First sometime this outward calmenesse is an ordinary consequent of some diseases as Consumptions and such like by which Nature being formerly weakned hath not power left to make resistance Secondly this outward calmenesse is no argument of a peaceable and quiet soule The Psalmist tells us of the wicked in whose death there are no bands Thirdly wee must distinguish betweene securitie and peace betwixt carnall senslesnesse and true spirituall quietnesse Nabals death was quiet enough yet hee were but a foole that would adventure his soule with Nabals I see many ignorant persons many of heathenish and brutish conversation very quiet in sicknesse without any feare of hell and judgement to come making no doubts casting no perills asking no questions complaining of no sinnes and so away they goe without any more adoe What shall I say that these died in true peace God forbid No when I compare together their ignorant secure benummed hardned kind of life with their senslesse and drowsie kind of death I must say that these are fearefull signes these things argue that the Divill had quiet possession where hee made so small adoe Thus then notwithstanding these Objections I will conclude that a peacefull death is the peculiar and individed priviledge of Gods servants However it be yet I know saith Solomon that it shall goe well with those that feare the Lord but there is no peace to the wicked saith my God Wee may make Use of this first to be a tryall betwixt our Religion and the Romish for from this Doctrine I avouch that Religion to be no true Religion because a Papist by the Rules of his owne Religion can never die in peace This is a hard saying thou maist object or how can I make it good I answer by two reasons First every Papist is taught to beleeve under paine of Anathema and the great curse that whosoever dyeth if hee have not in this life attained to perfection and throughly purged himselfe from the remainders of sinne by workes of satisfaction his soule must after death goe into Purgatory and there continue untill hee hath made a full satisfaction now the paine of Purgatorie is held for the time to bee as great as the paines of hell differing onely in this that it is not perpetuall Now I would faine know how can a man die comfortably and in peace and with a joyfull heart when hee thinkes with himselfe that albeit perhaps after some yeares hee shall goe to heaven yet in the meane space his soule must goe into such a place of unspeakable torment where if the matter be not well plyed by the prayers of them that are alive and by well feeing the Priests they may hap to lye for many yeares I say how can the Doctrine of Popery beget a peacefull death when it teacheth an expectation of such an hellish Purgatory Secondly every Papist as he is bound of a certaine to beleeve a Purgatory so further must he beleeve that hee cannot in this life be assured of salvation otherwise then by a kind of confused hope which may deceive him Now hee which by the witnesse of his owne conscience is sure that hee hath deserved hell and cannot attaine to any certaintie of discharge what comfort can such an one have to dye hee knowes that when hee is dead he must come to his account before God but yet can have no assurance that the Lord will acquit him in Christ Jesus I wish that this may seriously be considered by us for the establishing of us in the truth of Religion I say againe and testifie these reasons which I have alledged being weighed that a Papist by his owne doctrine can never expect that which Simeon did a departure hence in peace He knowes he must to torment he is taught that he cannot know in this world that God will pardon him In the next place let us come neerer home to our selves that we must all dye nothing more certaine Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne God hath decreed it and it cannot bee revoked if our end be not peaceable our estate after cannot bee happy Let our care then be spent about this one point how one may attaine to this to end our dayes in peace I doubt not but wee will all bee ready to say we hope so to doe but this is nothing for when the wicked man dyeth his expectation perisheth What becomes of the hope of the Hypocrite said Iob when God takes away his soule But what course then shall wee take that wee may finish our course with joy I will tell thee in few words I touched it a little before the best meanes for a peaceable departure is a godly and religious life I have fought the good fight saith Saint Paul and he could comfortably from thence inferre that therefore there was laid up for him a crowne of righteousnesse It was Christs owne inference I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the worke which thou gavest mee to doe and therefore now O Father glorifie thou mee with thine owne selfe The reason of it is first Gods promise blessed shall bee the undefiled in the way Those that honour mee I will honour said God Now this promise God will not breake He that goeth this way though it be with much weaknesse with many falls with sundry imperfections with divers wandrings yet he cannot misse of the promised peace Secondly life eternall hath three degrees the first is in this life when a man repenteth and beleeveth and is purged from dead workes to serve the living God The second is in death when the body goes to earth and the spirit returnes to him that gave it The third is at the last judgement These three degrees hang together like three linkes the second followeth the first and the third the two former the last cannot be hoped for where
the restoring of the body to life and the restoring the soule to life Secondly in regard of the certaine inseparable connexion betweene these two First I say in regard of the Analogie and proportion betweene these two the resurrection of the body and of the soule now the proportion and analogie consists especially in these foure things First as in the resurrection of the body the living soule must first returne to the dead body and quicken it before it can rise againe so here in the Resurrection of the soule the Spirit of grace must returne to the soule that is dead in sinnes and quicken it befor it can rise againe so that there is a similitude in regard of the first beginning and principle of this Resurrection Againe secondly there is an analogie and proportion in regard of the point and terme the state from which the Resurrection is for as in the resurrection of the body the body riseth from the state of corruption from the bondage of the Grave so here in this resurrection of the soule the soule and the whole man riseth from the state of spirituall corruption from the bondage of sinne The third proportion is in regard of the estate to which a man riseth for as in the resurrection of the body a man shall rise againe without those infirmities that the body had before he shall rise to lead another kind of life a glorified life so in this resurrection of the soule the sinner riseth and is raised up to lead a new kind of life a spirituall life and therefore it is called Newnesse of life Rom. 6. 4. that we should walke in newnesse of life both in regard of the new principle and fountaine of it the spring of grace in the soule And in regard of the new effects and new operations which are answerable to the new roote Fourthly there is a proportion also in regard of the perpetuitie of both for as in the Resurrection of the body the body shall rise an immortall body not subject to death any more so here in the resurrection of the soule when the sinner is restored to spirituall life he is raised up to a durable immutable estate hee shall continue to live this life of grace and the immortall seed that is put into him it shall never die so Christ saith verse 26. Hee that beleeveth in mee saith he and so liveth hee shall never die he is raised to an immutable estate to such a life as shall never be subject to spirituall death againe Thus you see the analogie and proportion between these two and in this respect they may both be comprehended fitly under one terme Secondly in regard of the infallible connexion betweene these two for wheresoever the resurrection of the soule to the life of grace goes before there the resurrection of the body to the life of glorie will certainly follow after for as the spirituall death of the soule did necessarily draw after it the mortalitie and death of the body so the spirituall life of the soule doth necessarily draw with it the immortalitie and the resurrection of the body therefore as in the Sacrament the name of the thing signified is given to the signe in regard of the neere conjunction and relation betweene them so here in regard of the neere conjunction betweene these two that they are never separate therefore they may both fitly be comprehended under one terme Thus wee have endevoured to expound the general doctrine in these three particulars Wee have shewed you that Christ is the Author and fountaine of the Resurrection of the body hee hath the quickning power in him whereby he is able to raise those bodyes that are dead in the grave Then he is the Author of the Resurrection of the soule too he is able to quicken those soules that are dead in sinnes And then we have shewed the reasons why these two the Resurrection of the body and of the soule are both comprehended under one phrase of speech I am the Resurrection Now I come to the Use and Application of that that hath beene delivered And the Use of the point is First for comfort Secondly for tryall and examination Thirdly for exhortation and direction First the Use of the point may be for comfort here here is matter of sound comfort to all those that are the faithfull members of Christ Jesus if thou be united to Christ by faith Christ is the Fountaine of life he will be the Fountaine of spirituall life therefore here is comfort against Death against the death of the soule and against the death of the body Comfort first against the death of the Soule comfort against sinne thatis the ill of all ills and is the death of the soule If thou be united to Christ Christ by his divine power he is able to free thee from the power and dominion of sinne from the bondage of sinne Dost thou complaine that thy understanding is darke and blinde remember Christ is able to give thee more light Ephes. 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Dost thou complaine that thy heart is hard and stonie remember that Christ is able to soften thy hard heart and to give thee a heart of flesh as he hath promised Ezek. 36. 36. I will take away their stonie heart and give them an heart of flesh Dost thou complaine that thy affections are unruly and set upon wrong objects remember to thy comfort that Christ is able to rectifie these affections hee is able to plant in thee the true love and feare of God as he hath promised Deut. 30. 6. I will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed that thou shalt love mee with all thy heart and with all thy soule And in Ier. 32. 40. I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall never depart from mee Dost thou complaine that thou canst not beare afflictions patiently remember that Christ thy head he is able to strengthen thee and hee will doe it as he did the Apostle Phil. 4. 13. saith he I am able to doe all things through Christ that strengtheneth me But here the weake Christian will bee ready to object but I have so many strong corruptions in me that I am afaid that I am not yet raised out of the grave of sinne that I am not yet raised out of my naturall estate To which I answer remember this to thy comfort that the first Resurrection is unlike to the second in this regard in regard of the measure and degree of it as soone as ever the soule quickens the dead body the dead body leaves the Grave and the state of corruption wholly and all at once but it is not so in the Resurrection of the soule When the spirit quickens the soule the soule begins to rise againe from the grave of sinne but yet the bands and fetters of
let not the allurement of vaine objects and vain companie let not the appetite and desire of base pleasures drive these thoughts out of your heads but examine your owne hearts whether you partake of the first Resurrection or no. Deceive not thy owne soule for though conscience may now sleepe thou mayst thinke thou art in a good estate yet let me tell thee the time will come when thy conscience will awake that if thou continue to wallow in any one sin if there be no change in thee in thy life in thy heart if in stead of growing better thou grow worse and bee hardned more and more in sinfull courses thy conscience will tell thee to thy face thou art a dead man thou hast no part in Christ for Christ is the Resurrection the Fountaine of spirituall life thou hast not yet attained the first Resurrection to the life of grace and therefore if thou goe on in this course thou shalt not attaine to the second Resurrection to the life of glory So much for that Use. The third and the last Use of the point is for exhortation and direction If now upon examination thou find that thou hast not yet attained to this spirituall Resurrection then let me counsel thee to give no rest to thy soule till thou hast attained it for remember that this is the first step to heaven and if thou set not the first steppe to heaven surely thou shalt never come thither As the Resurrection of Christ was the first degree of his exaltation so this spirituall Resurrection that we have spoken of it is the first degree of a Christians exaltation therefore get this in the first place yea get this and all will follow If thou attaine this thou maist be assured of the second Resurrection also to the life of glory Remember that Christ by raising himselfe from the dead by his owne power declared himselfe to be the eternall Sonne of God Hee was declared mightily to bee the Sonne of God by his Resurrection So if thou canst by a power and vertue drawne from Christ rise out of the grave of thy sinne then thou shalt declare thy selfe to bee the member of Christ the Sonne of God the daughter of God therefore labour to attaine this first Resurrection But here this question may be demanded but by what meanes now doth Christ convey this spirituall life to his children and how shall I get to bee partaker of this Resurrection by what meanes shall I attaine this first Resurrection to this spirituall life To this I answer briefly that by the same meanes by which Christ workes faith in the soule by the same meanes hee raiseth a sinner to life for he that beleeveth liveth and he that liveth beleeveth hee that beleeveth is raised to life therefore by the same meanes that Christ workes faith by the same meanes he raiseth a sinner to life Therefore the outward meanes is the Preaching of the Word the inward the Spirit of grace By such meanes as Christ will raise the bodies of the dead at the last day by the like meanes hee now raiseth the soules of those that are dead in sinne Now Christ will raise the bodyes that are now dead in the Grave at the last day First by his voyce Iohn 5. 28 29. and by the sound of the Trumpet 1 Cor. 15. 52. The Trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible And hee shall raise them by his quickning Spirit So by the like meanes Christ now raiseth our soules that are dead in sinnes therefore if thou desire to bee raised out of the grave of sinne let me counsell thee First to attend diligently to the word of God upon the preaching of the Gospell The word of Christ is a quickning word as Christ saith Ioh. 3. 63. My Word is spirit and life The voyce of Christ is a quickning voyce as Christ by his voyce raised Lazarus out of his Grave when Christ said to Lazarus Come forth presently Lazarus quickned and came forth so the voyce of Christ in the ministerie of the Word hath a quickning power to raise sinners from the death of sinne therefore when the Ministers crie aloude and the Prophets lift up their voyce as a Trumpet then hearken Secondly be frequent and fervent in Prayer for the Spirit of of grace and of Christ before thou heare pray and after thou hast heard pray that the Spirit of Christ may accompany his Word that so this may be a meanes to awaken and to quicken thee out of thy naturall estate and to raise thee out of the death of sinne Thou must pray to God to give thee a hearing eare and a beleeving heart that so the sound of the Word may not be as the sound of a Trumpet in the eares of a dead man but that thou mayst be quickned by the voyce of Christ. And though thou have continued a long time in thy sinnes yet bee not altogether discouraged remember that Christ is able to raise thee though thou have continued never so long in thy sinnes for hee that was able to raise Lazarus that was dead and buried and now stinking in the Grave he is able to raise up thee also In the last place in one word if upon examination thou find thou have attained to this spirituall Resurrection then here is a ground of exhortation To humilitie thankfulnesse Here is a ground of Exhortation to Humilitie and Thankfulnesse to joyne them both together because they usually goe together the proud person is alway unthankfull and the humble man is alway a thankfull man Now if thou have attained to this Resurrection thou hast great cause to be humble and to bee thankfull First thou hast great cause to bee humbled because thou hast nothing but that thou hast received thou hast great cause to bee humbled because thou puttest not any hand to this worke no more than the dead body of Lazarus could helpe to the raising of him No more then a creature being nothing can helpe to its owne creation no more can a sinner helpe forward this worke of his Resurrection therefore thou hast cause to be humbled for not putting the least helping hand to this worke it is wholly supernaturall Therefore let not any one arrogate any thing to the power of his free-will but remember the worke is wholly supernaturall Secondly as we have cause to be humbled so to be thankfull too doe but consider the desperate and dangerous estate of sinne whence thou art raised and then make thy humble confession with the Israelites when they brought their first fruites before God Deut. 26. 5. A Syrian ready to perish was my father hee went into Egypt with a few and became a Nation mightie and populous and the Lord brought him out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an out-stretched arme with terrour and signes and wonders and hath brought us to this place and hath given us this Land even a Land flowing with
milke and honey The like deliverance the Lord hath wrought for thee therefore bee thankfull and make thy thankfull acknowledgement with the Psalmist Psal. 115. Not unto us but to thy Name give the glorie And then desire God as he hath by his mercie brought thee to the Kingdome of grace so by his power to preserve thee to the Kingdome of glorie And desire Christ as he by his quickning Spirit hath made thee partakers of the first Resurrection to the life of grace so to make thee partaker of the second to the life of glorie FINIS DEATH IN BIRTH OR THE FRUITE OF EVES TRANSGRESSION GEN. 3. 16. Vnto the woman hee said I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children REVEL 12. 2. And shee being with child cryed travailing in birth and pained to be delivered LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. DEATH IN BIRTH OR THE FRVITE OF EVES TRANSGRESSION SERMON XXXVI GEN. 35. 19. And Rachell died IT is a statute law of God that all both men and women must die The causes for which it pleased Almightie God to leave the bodies even of his dearest children under the power of Death to be returned to dust are many First for the manifesting his truth according to that ancient threatning mentioned Genesis 3. 19. Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne Secondly for the manifestation of his power that by death hee may translate his chosen servants to life Sinne it was that brought Death into the world and God will shew his strength in this that Death shall be the utter abolishment even of that very thing which brought it first upon us and made us all lyable to it If there had not beene Sinne there should not have beene Death and now God will that in those that are his the Kingdome and being of sinne shall utterly be destroyed the head of Goliah shall be cut off with his owne sword and sinne shall bee extinguished by that which it selfe first procured Thirdly God subjects his children to this course that by it they may the better conceive what inestimable benefit they reape by Jesus Christ. When they doe thinke upon death as it is an enemie they cannot chuse but feare it Nature affecting a continuation and preservation of it selfe cannot chuse but loath and abhorre it Now then if Death being changed be so fearefull well may wee conclude that it would have exceeded in terrour if it had continued as at the first it was that is a gate and passage to everlasting torment in hell fire If the very sight of the Serpent afright us now the sting is out what would it have done if the sting had still remained Hereby then Almighty God would have us learne how deepely we stand ingaged to him for his mercie who by his Sonne Jesus Christ hath freed us from so great miserie Lastly the law of Death seizeth upon the very elect children of God that they may bee thereby made conformable to their head Christ Hee was as the wheat-corne which except it fall into the ground and die abideth alone Death was his passage the same must bee ours also The way of the tree of life is kept with the blade of a sword shaken under the stroake whereof we must first come before wee can hope for any entrance into Paradise as we see here it is sayd of Rachel she dyed And Rachel dyed I will not stand upon any division of the words but will God willing unite them together at this time in this discourse I conceive it is not altogether impertinent in the handling of these words of my Text to shew you the occasion of Rachels death what shee was and for what shee stands recorded in the sacred Scriptures Rachel was one of Labans Daughters and one of the Wives of Iacob Questionlesse shee was a good woman though in somethings faulty But the imperfections of the holy people of those times are neither to bee blazed abroad as though wee tooke pleasure in discovering their shame nor to bee followed neither as though by their doing this or that were a sufficient plea for us that were to draw bloud not milke out of the breasts of the sacred Scriptures and is a thing which for my own perticular were the cause never so just I doe from my soule abhorre and detest First of all then shee is recorded to have beene fruitfull by whom Iacob had two sonnes Ioseph and Benjamin and by her and Leah his other wife God accomplished his promise that Hee made to Abraham that his seed should be as the starres of Heaven which teacheth us that The fruitfulnesse of the wife is to bee reckoned as a blessing and to bee earnestly sought by prayer from Almighty God It is that blessing which God promiseth to the man that feares him and puts his trust in him That his Wife should bee as a fruitfull Vine and his Children they shall stand as Olive branches round about his table Psal. 128. 3. And in the precedent Psalme Loe Children are an heritage from the Lord and the fruite of the wombe are his reward happie is the man that hath his quiver full of them In former times barrennesse was accounted for a shame and reproach When God would punish Abimilech about Abraham and Sarah his Wife it is sayd that hee closed up all the wombes in the house of Abimilech Gen. 20. 18. And when God would blesse Iobs last dayes more than his first hee gave him seven sonnes and three daughters as an addition to his happinesse and as so many emblems of his grace and favour towards him In the rehearsing of the lives of the Fathers before the Flood you shall finde especially in Gen. 5. sundrie times thus such and such a one lived so many yeares and begate sonnes and daughters What was the blessing upon the first couple was it not this bee fruitfull and multiply Gen. 1. 28. What blessing gave the friends of Rebecka at her departure was it not this bee the mother of thousands and millions Gen. 24. 60. What was the manner of Gods blessing the Iewes after their returne from the captivity was it not this that their streets should be full of boyes and girles Zech. 8. 5. This being so it may serve for a two fold Use First it discovers the wretchednesse of their fault who grudge and repine at the increase of children as a burthen Some there are that prescribe to God how many children hee should bestow upon them and would set him downe a stint that they would not by any meanes have him exceed which argues a most miserable and a most faithlesse minde For whence is this feare of increase before it come and whence is this repining at it when it is come but from some distrustfull opinion or other that they conceive either of their inabilitie to maintaine them c Let me say
taken from our union with Christ We are planted into Christ sayth the Apostle Rom. 6. 4. 5. 6. By being planted with Christ there growes a similitude betweene Christ and us Wee are baptized and buried by baptisme sayth the Apostle into his death and wee are raised and quickned sayth hee by the resurrection of Christ that like as it was with Christ â—…o it is with us Hee was dead and raysed so wee are first dead to sinne and then alive to God Secondly it must be so from the nature of contraries for these two things are contrarie one to another there is an immediate opposition betweene them so as there must bee a removing of the one if there bee a possession of the other and there must bee first a removing of the one before the other can be in the soule As you see in sicknesse and in health there must first bee a removing of sicknesse before the bodie bee in a right state of health And as in life and death this is the order they are brought first from death to life and then one necessarily followes the other as life necessarily followes upon the removall of death and health upon the removall of sicknesse Thirdly it must bee so or else if both these were not and in this order wrought what difficultie were there in the life of a Christian what singular thing were there in a Christian above any man in the world Every man in the World doth outward actions if there were not such a change as from death to life there were no difference at all where were the difficultie The Scripture sayth The way is narrow and straight that leades to life and few there bee that finde it what narrownesse or straightnesse were there in the way to life if there were no more but thus that a man might settle upon some actions of Religion and so bee effectually changed If this were all what great matter were there in Religion what need Agrippa stand out in the mid-way what need hee be but halfe perswaded to bee a Christian hee might easily be perswaded to be a Christian if he might hold his Heathenisme and be a Christian too What need Faelix tremble to heare Paul dispute of righteousnesse and judgement to come if hee might be unrighteous and a Christian too What need the young man be sorrie when Christ bade him sell all and follow him if he might hold all hee had and be worldly affected and be a Christian too what need any of the labours of a Christian to what use were a power of godlines spoken of in Scripture What powerfull matter were there in Religion if a man might hold his sinnes and yet bee a Christian and a beleever and be in Christ too a drunkard and yet bee saved a prophaner of the Sabbath and yet bee in Christ what great matter were there it were nothing to bee a Christian nay who would not bee one What need Saint Paul expose himselfe to such watchings and fastings and sufferings if hee might have gone on in the way of the World and yet bee in Christ too No beleved it is another-gates matter to bee a Christian then for a man to hold his old customes and waies and courses and yet hope to bee saved too Let no man deceive himselfe â—…th this the matter of Christianitie it is a laborious worke Religion is a very serious thing A man that indeed will bee Religious hee must follow Christs rule first deny himselfe and take up his Crosse and follow him what need a man deny himselfe if hee might hold his sinnes and yet follow Christ Well know this the ground is cleare there must bee a turning from sin as well as a turning to God if a man have union with Christ. Now to conclude with a word of application First if it bee so It serves to convince us this day in the presence of God the multitude of us now before the Lord to heare the Word and professe our union with Christ and yet there is no such matter If wee were united with Christ there would bee living to God by vertue of that union with Christ. It is living to God in the course of our life that gives us comfort of our union with Christ. Deceive not your selves wee may say of many as the Lord sayth of Sardis Thou hast a name to live but art dead There are abundance that have a name to live but are dead A man would wonder at it that wee should say to a Congregation of so many people that there were few alive among them all that the most whose eyes are now upon the Minister and whose eares are open to the Word yet they are but dead they are not alive though they walke and though they speake and doe the actions of a naturall life they live naturally but are dead spiritually they have a name to live but are dead The Lord tells Ieremie Ierem. 5. That there was such want of good men in Ierusalem that hee might goe up and downe the Streets of Ierusalem and not finde a man A man would wonder that the Lord should use such an expression Hee might have said hee should not finde a good man a just man a godly man but not finde a man sayth hee as if hee were not worthie the name of a man in the Streets of Ierusalem that was not appliable and conformable to Gods will That a man should goe in the Streets of London and not finde a man that hee should goe into Moore-fields on the Sabbath day and see a multitude of dead Ghosts walking there that hee should goe in the Streets and see a multitude of dead persons sitting at their doores that hee should goe up and down to the houses of men and see a multitude of dead creatures talke of worldly things on the Lords day a man would wonder hee should finde so many dead men eating and drinking and talking and walking and yet dead still The Text makes it cleare here If wee bee not dead unto sinne wee are not alive to God there is no being alive to God except a man be first dead to sin Shall wee come to the tryall Beloved there wee shall finde among the many of you that heare the Word many are dead in sinne What meanes the prophanation of the Sabbath what meanes the great neglect of Familie-duties Come to your houses there bee not the prayers of living men there there bee not the meditations and conferences of men that are spiritually alive in your Families and shall wee thinke you are alive Come to men in their shops and dealings and see them dead in their worldlinesse and covetousnesse and shall we say they are alive to God Alas beloved goe to the particulars of mens lives you shall heare them speak the words of dead men spiritually dead in swearing and cursing and reviling and blaspheming and bitternesse and yet shall wee say that they are alive Looke upon
yeares yet it is but a naturall life a life full of miserie a life exposed to many vexations and disquiets a life that hath so many troubles in it that men in the best estate of health wish sometimes that they were dead through disquiets and troubles and yet for the preservation of a troublesome life if you were sure of that you would lose a member I know when we come and speake of renouncing your former wayes your covetousnesse and prophanenesse and pride and vanitie and wickednesse in any kinde wee speake of cutting off of hands of members of the bodie they are so deare therefore Christ saith If thy hand offend thee cut it off if thine eye offend thee pull it out it is better to goe to heaven with one hand then to hell with both This I say I know you apprehend it a hard lesson there is no life no Christ without such a death to sinne Yet it is a truth and a necessarie truth for you to know and therefore consider it and that seriously what you lose If we come and perswade you to cut off some usefull member yet you yeeld to that for a naturall life you will cut off a hand that is as usefull as any member of the body but we bid you cut off superfluous members those needlesse members the members of sinne that will be your death Wee would have you but to be rid of the Ulcer that is all we would have you deprived of to preserve spirituall life and to live to God If I were to speake for a naturall life it were but temporall it were but upon conjecture but we speake for a life upon certaintie When wee perswade you to die to sinne that you may live to God wee assure you that this will certainly follow on it you shall live to God if sinne die in you and we speake not only upon certaintie but for eternitie too you shall doe it for eternitietoo you shall doe it for eternitie it is not a life that ends Nay wee speake for a life wherein there is true happinesse that hath no mixture of miserie to make you wearie but a life that hath perfect peace and joy a life that hath blessednesse begun and shall have blessednesse perfected in heaven this life we perswade you to live Consider now what we say if there were more you shall live to God the more you die to sin Skin for skin saith Iob and all that a man hath he will give for his life but if it be such a life as this to live to God a spirituall life what to live as the Angels doe that live with God! to live as the Saints in Heaven that live in the fruition and sight of God wherein they are blessed such a life we perswade you to A life infinitely above this if this life had all the contentment the earth could give it it were not worthy to be compared though a man might live a thousand yeares in the confluence and abundance of all prosperitie it were not to be compared with one moment of the happinesse of the spirituall life that we shall live in for all eternitie with Christ. Now consider take things and compare them together here is such a particular sinne that I was given to to pride to covetousnesse to prophanenesse to wickednesse of this sort or of that sort if I goe on in it I die eternally I lose God and heaven and my soule and happinesse what shall I get by this when I have done it I gratifie Satan I destroy my soule I have lost my selfe and am undone for ever And what a madnesse is this for a man to venture the eternall ruine and destruction of himselfe and that for a thing of nothing for that that will make him miserable now and more miserable eternally Consider and know to whom I speake I speake to yon that have heard the Word and many times received the Sacrament What did you when you received the Sacrament was it not a pledge to you of your interest in Christ and of your union with him and that Christ is as truely united with you as that you ate and dranke Now let it appeare make you account whatsoever you were before make you account reckon ye goe not by guesse and say I hope it will be better with mee then it hath beene no but reckon conclude make accompt I must be another man I may not be what I was I must leave those things that are ill I must apply my selfe to another course Indeed I walked in a way of enmitie to the wayes of God in estrangement from God in worldly wicked wayes but it must not now bee so I must make account now that Christ is mine I am now dead to sinne and therefore dead to sinne that I may live to God if there bee any life of grace in me it will appeare by my death to sinne I must must make account of this I must doe this and this is the best way of making a right use of the Sacrament Why are men as bad after the Sacrament as before because they reckon not they make not account for themselves that they are dead to sinne Make account you have received life from Christ and you must act that life and now set your selves to it reason with your owne hearts why doe I thus and thus As Ezra reasons Ezra 9. 13. Lord since thou hast kept us from being beneath for our iniquities should wee sinne more So consider hath the Lord kept me from hell and admitted me to his Table where he hath spoken peace to mee hee hath spoken reconciliation in Christ shall I returne to sinne against him certainly he will be more angrie now then ever he was before the sinnes that I commit now will bee greater then all the sinnes I have committed hitherto for now I sinne against more grace and against greater mercie for God hath againe renewed the Covenant of peace whereas he might have cast me off for my former breach and shall I provoke him againe hath the Lord washed mee and shall I defile my selfe againe God forbid Reason with your selves I must not be as I was it is not for mee to doe as others that know not God and that are not in Covenant with God or as I was wont to doe before I know what it is to bind my selfe in covenant to receive the Sacrament I must be in another fashion and course of life then ever I have beene Therefore when temptations come to sinne for you must not thinke to be rid of all motions and temptations to sinne and whensoever there comes new temptations not to conclude you have received the Sacrament in vaine say not so but rather say now comes the tryall this is that whereby God will trie what fruit comes of the cost and paines and mercies he hath bestowed on mee here is a messenger sent for fruit If I can withstand the commands of sinne and resist the motions
thou hast this Hope in thee yea or no and thou must be sure that thou beest so farre from being a desperate past-hope like Cain that rather thou beleeve and hope above hope with Abraham not presuming but beleeving as hee did Now then how a man may know whether hee have this Hope in him or no I thinke he may find it out thus in few words There are divers temptations and especially three of a mans faith not to enlarge my selfe further in every of which Hope if it come in and play its part then it doth appeare to bee present to bee there As for example The first temptation that is a kinde of batterie against the strong hold of a mans faith it is the prorogation of Gods promises Hee is pleased to put them off longer and to dispose of them many times other waies then wee looke for Hereupon wee that are weake in Faith wee stumble at it and wee would hasten them on apace though wee know what the Prophet sayth Hee that beleeveth maketh not haste But we are such faithlesse persons that wee hasten on too much and would have God to come apace to make good his promises Now when God deferres these promises if a man commeth in with his hope and sayth The vision is yet for an appointed time though it tarrie waite for that that shall come will come and hee will not tarrie and though the Lord doth hide himselfe as it is in the Prophesie of Isaiah yet hee will returne againe If Hope will prompt Faith and tell it that the Lord is not slacke as some count slacknesse but hee will make sure his promise in the end then this is a manifest signe to a man that hath his faith thus supported that Hope is present there Here is then one search of it Another time there is another temptation that betideth a faithfull man and that comes to passe by Gods appearing in a manner an enemie by visiting him in his soule by wounding his conscience by setting him in a kinde of sight of Hell when hee is distressed in spirit as if God were now come out as a man of Warre against him and would not have mercie upon him Now if Hope can come in and say that God cannot forget to bee gracious nor cannot shut up his living kindnesse in displeasure and therefore I will endure and I will stay on the Lord for Hee will appeare and Hee will have mercy upon Zion I when the time the appoynted time commeth I will stay this time If I say Hope thus perswadeth the faithfull man of this goodnesse of God that shall bee revealed to him here is a manifest signe Hope is present There is a third temptation that Faith meets withall and that is concerning the mockings of men in the World when they deride the profession of Christians and faithfull men and will say as those profane and profuse fellowes in the Epistle of Saint Peter Where is the promise of his comming it is so long since his promise was made and yet there is none of his comming Wilt thou still retaine thine integritie right Iobs Wife as shee speakes to him wilt thou still retaine thy trust to what purpose is it It is in vaine to serve the Lord as those wicked ones speake in Malachie Now if Hope will come in and say notwithstanding all these things yet passe by bad report and good report be of Davids minde I will yet bee more vile before the Lord that chose mee before thee and thy fathers house and I will stand it out notwithstanding all the mockings of men Here is a manifest signe that there is Hope Thus you may seeke to find this grace in your selves and you shall find it by many such kind of assaults as these which Faith meeteth withall Now as you are to find it so you are to fight against the hinderances of this Hope And the hinderances of a mans hope are sometimes slavish feare sometimes an impatient spirit and sometimes even Death it selfe and that is a tedious affront indeed that Hope meeteth withall First Feare a kind of passion and perturbation of the spirit of a man that makes his griefe begin before his affliction comes upon him this same Feare hath a great deale of painfulnesse in it Where the fearfull are they are shut out with the unfaithfull and without shall bee dogges with those that are subject to this fearefulnesse Now Hope commeth to a man and saith Though I sometime be afraid yet put I my trust in God and therefore I will not feare what man can doe unto mee I will not be daunted with any kind of slavish terrour Hold out thou that sayst thou hast faith and bee not afraid of the Arrow that flies by day nor of the terrour by night Here is the hinderance of this hope taken away Then there is an impatient spirit that many times possesseth men An impatient spirit and a hopefull heart they are both as contrary as can be You shall have many a man so touchy that hee cannot endure any delay he must have things come according to his owne mind or he loseth his patience presently Oh but I will patiently waite for the Lord saith hope And here is the opposition that must be made for the maintenance of this hope against all kind of impatiencie In patience possesse your soules The last hinderance is death The last enemie that shall be destroyed is death Wee have many enemies in this world our very life is a warfare but amongst all the fightings and combates wee meete with in the world there is none comparable to this last single combate we must undergoe with death it selfe this is a terrible assault that betideth the hopefull faithfull man to know that notwithstanding all his faith and all his hope and all his love and all his patience what grace or vertue soever hee hath else yet notwithstanding he must goe downe to the grave make his bed in the darknesse and lie downeâ—… the dust and when he hath fought all that he can yet notwithstanding hee must downe he must yeeld hee must take the foyle the fall in the body howsoever the soule escapeth Now here is a kind of dismaidment of hope But I will tell you how it is spoken of the faithfull and so of the hopefull The faithfull are said to endure as seeing him that is invisible how doe they endure by the supplie of hope for this hope is it that makes the faithfull against all hinderances to fight it out so as that they would not bee delivered as it is spoken in the Epistle to the Hebrewes And shall death separate us from that we hope for No saith the hopefull man it shall not Yea so farre he is from being unwilling to submit himselfe to this way as knowing it to bee the way whereby he commeth to that he hopeth for as
withereth and is fit for nothing but the Oven so it is with our lives Many expressions of the like nature might be added the Scripture is plentifull in these comparisons comparing our life to the Spiders webbe to a Weavers shuttle to the breath of a candle to a pilgrimage to a journey to the dayes of an hireling c. all of them things of a changeable and variable nature The second argument may be taken from the qualitie of our Natures and therein there are two things considerable both which imply a certaintie of death First our composition and matter whereof we are made wee are reared out of a mouldering and wasting principle our bodies are therefore stiled an earthly house 2 Cor. 5. 1. A house though of Iron will in time be cankered but a house of earth as it is most impotent against assaults so it is of its owne nature most apt and subject to dissolution And in this respect also they ar termed Tabernacles Now a Tabernacle you know is a thing of no perpetuitie made only to be soone set up and that in a mans passage and then asso one taken downe againe Secondly beside this there is in our nature sinne and corruption and this is it that doth put us to the sword and cause this deadly change this tares our lives with a continuall consumption The tree breedes the worme which will destroy the life of the tree wee in Adam gave leave to sinne and now it is that sin gives leave to death In the day that thou shalt eate thereof thou shalt surely dye Gen. 2. 17. and Rom. 5. 12. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death passed over all men in that all have sinned The shadow doth not so neerely attend the body of man as Death doth the body of sinne And Rom. 6. 23. the very wages of sinne is death God should doe that man wrong that hath hired out his soule all his dayes to sinne if he did not at night pay him with the wages of death The third Argument may be drawne from the certaintie of the Resurrection wee all beleeve the resurrection of our bodyes and and therefore wee must needes conclude a change of our bodyes for what is the Resurrection but life from death for the dead to heare the voyce of Christ and live What is it but a breathing in of the soule againe the lighting of the candle againe the body could never be raised if it were not first changed Thou foole saith Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15. that which thou sowest is not quickned except it dye The fourth Argument is from the infallibilitie of Gods decree it is appointed unto men once to dye and after death to come to judgement Heb. 9. 27. Thou mayest sooner expect that the course of the Heavens shall bee altered and the Center of the earth bee dislocated then that the purpose of God concerning mans mortalitie should bee reversed nay that may be for heaven and earth shall passe away but this shall never be not one jot of the word of God shall fall to the ground God hath purposed it and none shall disanull it nay he hath established his purpose with a word of confirmation Gen. 2. in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye As if hee should have said Doe not deceive thy selfe but build upon it I have spoken it and will not alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth as sure as thou livest if thou eatest thou shalt dye Thus you see the first assertion cleared unto you I will addresse my selfe now to the second of which briefly too and then make Application of them both together As there is a certaintie of our change so wee should alway waite till it doth come There are two things which I will here inquire of for the fuller illustration of this point First what this continuall wayting may import Secondly why there should be such a constant wayting for the day of our mortall change First this continuall wayting mainly imports two things one acertaine expectation of death for wayting is an act of Hope expecting something if wee doe hope for that wee see not then doe wee with patience waite for it saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 15. A man is then sayd to wayte for death when hee is looking for it at every turne as a Steward waites for his Master when hee continually expects his returne when upon every voice hee heares or upon every knocke at the doore hee saith oh my Master is come this is hee that knockes So a man is sayd to wayte for death when in every action of his life in every motion of his estate in every passage of his courses sayth well I must dye when though his bones are full of marrow yet I must dye when though riches come in like a flood yet I must dye when changes appeare upon himselfe or others yet I must dye I have no abiding here I am but a sojourner and a stranger as all my fathers were I must not enjoy my Wife for ever Children for ever Friends for ever Lands for ever these comforts for ever my life for ever it is but a lease which may soon expire I am but a steward and I must bee called to an account such a one is gone before and I must follow after the writ of habeas corpus hath seized on him and for ought I know the next may bee for mee so when death comes I am readie to answer it as Abraham did his Sonne Isaack here I am it comes not upon mee as a thiefe in the night when I am a sleep and thinke not of him but as Ionathans arrow to David who stayed in the field and expected when it should bee shot and then hee rose up and embraced him Yee Brethren sayth Paul in 1 Thes. 5. 4. are not in darknesse that that day should overtake you as a theife ye are all the children of the light therefore let us not sleepe as doe others but let us watch and bee sober This is the first thing that wayting imports Another thing it imports is a serious preparation for the day of our change for it is not a naked expectation of a change arising from the certainty of death but it is also a religious preparation improving the interim of time for the best advantage for a mans soule before the day of change doth come which is here implyed in wayting Solomon calls it a remembring Eccles. 12. 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth whiles the evill dayes come not and the yeares draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them what is this remembring of the Creatour but a care to know him a feare to offend him a studie to obey him and when is that to bee done Now now remember there must bee a present acting of this Moses calls it a numbring of our dayes Psal. 90. 12. and
more then that such a numbring as is joyned with an applying of our hearts to wisedome and the reason is because wisedome it directs to the choyce of such particular actions and works as tend to happinesse so should a man after his serious consideration of death applie himselfe to such wayes and such actions by which hee may comfortably close up his life with death it is a great point of wisedome to sute actions with their ends to fit and square the wood before wee build the house to learne and discipline a troope before they goe to battell to rigge and trimme and furnish the shippe before wee launch to sea this is preparation indeed Now this preparation for death consists in two things First in an undoing of that which unfits us to dye Brethren hee who is not fit to live hee is not yet fit to dye and that which ever masters the life will be of greatest force in death The Father spake it boldly on good grounds I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to dye now that which unfits a man to dye is sinne it makes him finde a bitter enemie of death Oh when this King of terrours shall present himselfe by thy bed side with his arrowes in his hands I meane thy sinnes hee will wound thee with infinite amazement and horrour the sting of death is sinne saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. Thou dost not prepare thy selfe for death if thou dost not undoe thy sinnes which thou hast done in thy life the which consists First in a narrow search of thy sinfulnesse both of nature and practice Secondly in a secret humbling of thy soule for them Thirdly in an unfeigned repentance and forsaking of them Fourthly in a constant imploring and obtainig of mercie for them in the bloud of Christ. If thy soule doth give sinne its discharge now death shall give thy soule a discharge hereafter Secondly in the quallifying our persons for the conquest of death there are three things by which wee shall bee able cheerefully to meet and assuredly to conquer death First by having interest in the Lord Jesus The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law but thankes bee to God who hath given us victorie through our Lord Iesus Christ. If thou hast gotten Christ into thy armes by faith thou carriest thy peace strength and advantage both through life and death For wee are more then conquerours through him that loved us sayth the Apostle Rom. 8. 37. And to mee to live is Christ and to die is gaine sayth the same Apostle Phil. 1. 21. if thou hast a good Christ thou mayst bee confident of a good death Secondly renewednesse of our nature What Saint Iohn spake of the Martyrs as some conjecture Blessed and happie is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power that say I of a person renewed by the sanctifying qualitie of Gods Spirit I happie is hee hee shall have power even over the first death The Spirit and the Bride sayth come if a man hath gotten the heavenly Spirit which beautifies the soule with the ornaments of Grace as the Bride is with her ornaments hee is a fitted person hee may well say to Death come and to Christ come Lord Iesus come quickly Thirdly uprightnesse of conversation Righteousnesse delivers from death sayth Solomon and the righteous hath hope in his death if a mans worke be Christs service if hee have a heart enclined to keepe a good conscience in all things to keepe himselfe exact to the rule and to walke with God Blessed is that servant which his Master when he commeth shall find so doing that man that hath looked to Gods Word to guide his life may confidently look up to Gods mercie to comfort him in death Remember O Lord sayth Hezekiah Isa. 39. how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart Now all this doth the wayting for our change import in the Text to wit a serious expectation of it first by undoing those sinnes of ours which else for ever will undoe us and by interesting our persons into Christ from whom we must likewise receive the Spirit to change our hearts and uprightnesse to forme a-new our conversation But then you will say Why must there be such a wayting for this these grave clothes are too sadde for the freshnesse of our life and would you have us be like the mad-man in the Gospell who lived among the Sepulchres Nay I beseech you let us consider and settle our thoughts a little and you shall be stayed with reason there are many strong Arguments and reasons why we should thus waite both by expectation and preparation First it is the maine errand of our life God did not send us into this world to sinne and to adorne our selves with the creature but to bring him some honour and then to dye the factor is not imployed to take his pleasure abroad but to doe his Masters worke and then to returne home Tertullian confesseth he was a great sinner and therefore borne to repentance therefore doth God give us life as the Master allowes the servant a candle to worke by that we may repent of our sinnes and get our hold in Christ and worke out our salvation and doe the great businesse of beleeving to be good and to doe good and so by Death to goe up to heaven Secondly death is but once and that needs to bee well done which can be but once done if there might be another space after death a second edition to correct the faults and escapes of the former then a present and speedie preparation were not altogether so necessarie but saith the Apostle It is appointed for all men once to dye and after death to come to judgement Heb. 9. 27. no more but once Wee usually shadow out Death with an houre-glasse A fit Embleme but that when an houre-glasse is runne out it may bee turned againe but this once out can be set up no more thou shalt never live to amend thy errours in dying O then how needfull is it before-hand to prepare for Death Thirdly when death hath done with thee then God will begin with thee thou must once die and after this come to Judgement Heb. 9. 27. To judgement what is that thou must bee presented before the holy and just and great God who is the Judge of the quicke and the dead and with all that thou art and with all that thou hast done there must appeare then before him all the courses of thy life all the bent of thy affections all the secrets of thy heart shall then be pulled in peeces and opened and all thy workes and all thy words shall bee exhibited scann'd and surveyed and that with severity and righteousnesse how say you then is it not fit to be preparing for Death to fit thy soule to reforme thy heart and life wilt thou
be presented before Gods severe Judgement-seat with Usurie in thy baggs with bribes and oppression in thy hands with a scumme of holinesse in thy mind with uncleannesse in thy members with drunkennesse in thy mouth with swearing in thy tongue O Lord I tremble to thinke of it Fourthly the soule when it is once gone by Death can never be recovered any more the tree may be cut and that may grow againe the shippe may be lost and the wealth laboured up againe but if the glasse be broken in peeces it cannot bee made whole againe the soule of man is but one and the losse of that one is the losse of it for ever when death hath closed up thy eyes thou shalt never have opportunitie to pray more to weepe more to humble thy selfe more to fast more Never any Prophet or Apostle shall come unto thee in the Name of God more after death all the Ordinances cease unto thee for ever and all the space of returning shall cease unto thee for ever thou shalt not lye a fewyeares in flames of wrath and then get leave to come out and take a better course O no if once there then for ever there this life is the time of mercy and space of repentance but when Death shall deliver thee up to be judged by the Lord thou must stand for ever to his sentence therefore as Christ spake Agree with thine adversary while thou art in the way lest the Iudge deliver thee to the officer and hee cast thee into prison I tell thee thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the last mite Luk. 12. 58. And get oyle into your lampes before the doore be shut Fiftly consider it will be as much as thou canst doe to doe the worke of Death when Death doth come therefore prepare and get all thy other worke done before For my Beloved consider three things First Conscience usually is most active at the time of death a man that could withstand and silence it in his life yet when hee comes to dye he shall heare his voyce and perhaps not bee able to stand under the bitter inditements and manifold accusations of it then it will spread the booke of thy life before thee and then and there thou shalt see thy sinnes as gastly presented as if they were so many wounds newly made Secondly thy patience will bee tryed with varietie of paine interruption of sleepe every place will be a thorne to thee and every action a burden Thirdly thy faith may be tryed to the utmost if thou lookest to thy Wife her teares may trouble thee if to thy Children their cryes may perplexe thee ifto thy friends they may bee discomforters to thee and will Satan let thee alone all this while will he let him lye downe in comfort who would not scarce let him live an houre in peace oh what a victory would it be if hee could at the last make thee cast a way thy confidence it is true he cannotattaine it but he may desperately attempt it Why brethren who knoweth the power of those sharpe temptations which may then beset him Verily all the holinesse which we have attained already all the duties we have performed already we may then looke on them with teares and cry out O why no sooner why no better why no more then all the strength of thy faith will be little enough to support thee Will there then be a change befall even all the sonnes of men Then to make some Use and Application of what hath beene said to ourselves First build no Tabernacls here Wee have here no abiding Citie And brethren saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 29 30 31. The time is short it remaines that they that have wives bee as if they had none and they that weepe as though they wept not and they that â—…oyce as though they rejoyced not c. Why this thirst for riches there will bee a change why this unwearied seeking after the things of this life as if thy soule were to goe into a barne or a bagge and there tumble it selfe for ever Thou foole this night may thy soule bee taken away and whose possessions shall then thy carefull and only gettings bee the glasse will be broken and all the wine will flye abroad though thou hast with much eagernesse grasped the world in this life â—…et in death thy hands must open themselves and let it goe thou must not hold the world above thy life nor thy life beyond the day of death no wee cannot alway have that which we desire wee must certainly part with what we most esteeme of Secondly what comfort is this to a good soule If wee had hope onely in this life saith Saint Paul wee of all men are most miserable 1 Cor. 15. Death is a happy change to a holy person First it is a change which shall put a period to all his changes in this life his outward condition how ofâ—… doth it change sometime by joy and sorrow sometime by comfort and miserie by health and sicknesse by abundance and want but when Death comes all sorrow shall flye away for ever thou shalt never bee more troubled with a sick body with a sad estate with common losses but the change of a temporall life shall set thee in a full and settled possession of an heavenly His inward condition how oft doth it change sometime free anon distressed now a sweet view of heaven anon darkned with feare now rejoycing in Christ anon buffeted with Sathan now blessing God for grace anon distracted with the insolent workings of remaining corruptions but when Death comes then comes a change of all this it will release thee for ever of sinne and Sathan after death sinne shall be a burden no more and Sathan shall be a tempter no longer but thou shalt be as happy as thou canst desire and shalt enjoy thy God and thy Christ without feare or trouble in glory in felicitie in eternity all the cruell insolences of tyrants shall come short of thy soule thou shalt be above their malice and beyond thy selfe Secondly it is a change and no worse then a change just as Ioseph changed his garments and went into Pharaoh so thou shalt put off thy body and goe into glory put off thy mortality and goe into immortalitie Oh whatterrour to wicked men a day of change will befall them Why didst thou say Oh David there is no bands in their death and they are not in changes like other men Verily I should have checked thee hadst thou not recanted it presently thy selfe Psal. 73. 4. 17. 18. 19. and reported it to us that they are set in slipperie places and are brought into desolation and cast down into destruction in a moment and utterly consumed with terrour Good Lord what a change is that to them they judged with insolent and unrighteous judgement the Children of God now but death will change this the unjust steward
returneth to her Mothers house the earth but the soule the Bridegroome to his Fathers house the Father of 〈◊〉 in Heaven as both their gests are set forth in this chapter verse 7. the dust returnes to the earth as it was and the spirit to God that gave iâ—… But in the evening of the World at that dreadfull night after which the Angell swore there should bee no more day or time here the soule is given by God to the bodie againe and then the marriage is consummated and both for ever fast coupled and wedded for better for worse to runne one everlasting fortune and to participate either eternall joyes or torments together Thus man is brought to his long home or as the Seventy and Saint Ierome render the Hebrew his house of eternitie and the mourners go about the streets here is a short reckoning of all mankinde like to that of the Psalmist who alluding to the name of the two Patriarches sayth Coll ADAM ABEL All men are altogether vanitie so here upon the foot of the account in Bonaventâ—…res casting all appeare wretched and miserable describitur miseria mortis in morientibus compatientibus all are either dead corpses or sad mourners corpses alreadie dead or mourners for the dead and their courses and motions are two 1 Straite man goeth c. 2 Circular mourners goe about The dead goe directly to their long home the living fetch a compasse and round about the termini of which their motions shall bee the bounds of my discourse at this present Wherein that you may the better discerne my passage from point to point I will set up sixe Posts or standings 1 The Scope 2 Coherence 3 Sense 4 Parts 5 Doctrine 6 Use. The Scope will give light to the Coherence the Coherence to the Sense the Sense to the Parts the Parts to the Doctrine the Doctrine to the Use. Wherefore I humbly entreate the assistance of Gods Spirit with the intention of yours whil'st in unfolding this rich peece of Arras I shall point with the finger to 1 The maine Scope 2 The right Coherence 3 The litterall Sense 4 The naturall Division 5 The generall Doctrine 6 The speciall application of this parcell of holy Scripture First the Scope Although all other Canonicall bookes of this old and new Testament were read in the Church yet as Gregorie Nyssen acutely observes this booke alone is intituled Ecclesiastes the Preacher or Church-man because this alone in a manner tendeth wholy to Ecclesiasticall politie or such a kinde of life or conversation as becometh a Preacher or Church-man For the prime scope of this booke is to stirre up all religious mindes to set forth towards Heaven betimes in the morning of our dayes Chap. 12. verse 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth to enter speedily into a strict course of holinesse which will bring us to eternall happinesse to dedicate to God and his service the prime in both senses that is the first and best part of our time For as in a glasse of distilled water the purest and thinnest first runneth out and nothing but lees and mouther at the last so it is in our time and age Optima queque dies miseries mortalibus â—…vi prima fluit Our best dayes first runne and our worst at the last And shall wee offer that indignitie to the Divine Majestie as to offer him the Devills leavings florem aetat is 〈◊〉 consecrâ—…re faecem Deo reservarâ—… to consecrate the toppe to the Devill and the bottome to God feed the flesh with the flower and the spirit with the 〈◊〉 serve the world with our strength and our Creatour with ouâ—… weaknesse give up our lusty and able members as weapons 〈◊〉 sâ—…nne and our feeble and weake to righteousnesse Will God accept the blinde and the lame the leane and the withered for a sacrifice How can we remember our Creatour in the dayes of our age when our memorie and all other faculties of the soule are decaied How shall wee beare Christs yoake when the Grashopper is a burthen unto us when wee are not able to beare our selves but bow under the sole waight of age What delight can wee take in Gods service when care and feare and sorrow and paine and manifold infirmities and diseases wholy possesse the heart and dead all the vitall motions and lively affections thereof Old men are a kinde of Antipodes to young men it is evening with them when it is morning with these it is Autumne in their bodies when it is Spring in these the Spring of the yeare to decrepâ—…t old men is as the Fall Summer is Winter to them and Winter death it is no pleasure to them to see the Almond-tree flourish which is the Prognosticatour of the Spring or the Grashopper leape and sing the Preludium of Summer for they now minde not the Almond-tree but the Cypresse nor thinke of the Grashopper but of the worme because they are far on in their way to their long home and the mourners are already in the streets marshalling as it were their troops and setting all in equipage for their funerall no dilectable objects affect their dull and dying sences but are rather grievous unto them as the Sunne and Raine are to old stumpes of trees which make them not spring againe but rot them rather and dispose them to putrifaction And so I have past the first and am come to the second Post or standing The right Coherence When they shall be afrayd of that which is high and feare shall be in the way and the Almod-tree shall flourish and the Grashoper shall bee a burthen and desire shall faile because man goeth to his long home If this Consequence be firme the Coherence must needs bee good but if this bee infirme and lame that must needes bee out of joynt let us then consider of the Consequence Surely Aristotle seemeth to bee of another minde whose observation it is old men that have their foot on Deaths threshold would then draw backe their legge if they could and at the very instant of their dissolution are most desirous of the continuance of their life and seeing the pleasures of sâ—…e like the Apples of Tantaâ—… running away from them they catch at them the more grâ—…dily for want is the 〈◊〉 one of dâ—…ire and experience offereth us many instances of old men in whâ—… Saint 〈◊〉 growes young againe who according to the corruption of nature which Saint Austin bewaileth with teares â—…alunt libidiâ—…em expleri quam exâ—…gui they are so faâ—…re from having no lust or desire of pleasures as being cloyed there with that they are more insatiable in them then in youth the flesh in them is like the Peacockes quae â—…ctarecrudescit which after it is sod in time will grow raw again so in them after mortification by diseases and age it reviveth Sophocles the Heathen Poet might passe for a Saint in comparison of them for hee
here we see to the end we should not exceed in our mirth or too farre set our heart upon the pleasures and comforts of this life which like sticks under a pot after a blaze fall suddenly into ashes Let us learne from all the changes and chances of this mortall life not to sing a requiem to our soules here with the foole in the Gospell because wee have wealth laid up for us for many yeares for if our riches take not their wings and flye away from us wee shall bee taken away from them we shall be arrested by Gods Bayliffe Death and then wee must goe But thou shalt goe Our observations from this Scripture ariseth from two springs 1. The manner 2. The matter The former divides it selfe into two Rivelets the latter into three In the former to wit the manner I observe 1. That these words were spoken to Abraham in a Dreame when the Sunne was going downe a heavie sleepe fell upon him 2. That they were spoken by way of Gracious promise In the latter to wit the matter I observe three blessings bestowed upon Abraham 1. A comfortable death Thou shalt goe in peace 2. An honourable buriall and bee buried with thy Fathers 3. A seasonable time for both in a good old age First of the manner When the Sunne was setting a dead sleepe and dreadfull darknesse fell upon Abraham and God shewed him in a dreame the miserie and thraldome of his posteritie in Egypt Know of a suretie that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400. yeares vers 13. and lest at the sight hereof his heart should utterly have failed him and his bowels dried up within him like a pot-sheard God cleareth the skie which was clowded with a smoake of a fiery furnace ver 17. and cheareth his heart reviving him with a promise of safetie and peace for himselfe and of deliverance of his posteritie also out of their grievous servitude after a certaine period of yeares allotted for the promise of the growth and ripenesse of the Amorites sinnes For dreames in generall the great Secretarie of Nature discovereth unto us that the Dreames of good men are better than the Dreames of bad and he will have his foelix or happy man to have a singular priviledge above other men even in his sleepe And doubtlesse as a good conscience is a full feast in the day so it is a light banquet in the night for better thoughts and phantasies in the day beget better dreames in the night as the brighter colours in the Window when the Sunne shineth cast clearer species intentionales or reflections from them on the Wall God is with his children as well in the night as in the day and he imparts his counsells and discloseth his secrets as well by dreames in the one as by visions in the other That prophesie of Ioel I will poure out my spirit upon all flesh and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dreame dreames though it were fulfilled in the day of Penticost as Saint Peter instructeth us yet ought it not to be restrained to that day or the Apostles time only For it hath been verified in all after-ages and holdeth still for profitable and comfortable irradiations of Gods Spirit upon the soule by day and night though not for supernaturall and propheticall revelations or not so frequent Dreames therefore as they are not with the Easterne people superstitiously to be observed so neither are they utterly to be neglected as idle and vaine nocturnall phantasies The Poet could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iupiter sends Dreames and Aristotle dreamed not when hee wrote his exact discourse of Divination by dreames nor Artemidorus when hee published his curious tract intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgement of Dreames for the experience of all times proveth that the Dreames of many men especially a little before their death have been very considerable When the Windowes of the senses are shut the soule hath best leisure to looke into her selfe and after sicknesse hath battered downe the walls of the darke prison of the body in which she was close kept more light breakes in upon her and she seeth farther off then she could before and this is the meaning of the Platonicks in that their Apophthegme anima promonet in morte The soule lookes out as it were neere death For this particular in my Text God is gracious to many of his children now adayes by Dreames or otherwayes to give them notice of their departure hence To some he maketh knowne the yeare to some the moneth to some the very day and houre when they shall goe the way of all flesh And as here he fore-shewed Abraham his departure from hence per viam lacteum by the milkie way as it were that is by a sweet and pleasant passage of a naturall death in the autumn of his life so also in a Dreame he represented to Saint Polycarpe and Saint Cyprian their passage per viam sanguineam The bloody way of martyrdome Policarp not many moneths before hee was sacrificed for a whole burnt-offering to God dreamed that his bed was all on fire under him and Saint Cyprian saw in a Dreame the Proconsull give order to the Clerke of the Assizes to write downe his sentence which was to have his head cut off with a Sword which when the Clerke by signes made knowne to Saint Cyprian the godly Bishop earnestly desired a little delay of the execution that he might set his house in order and the Clerke answered him in his dreame that his petition was granted and so it fell out accordingly that that day twelve moneth after he had this Dreame this Saint of God closing first his owne eyes lost his head on earth but received a glorious crowne of martyrdome in heaven The second thing I observed in the manner was that these words were uttered by way of promise to Abraham whence Calvin rightly inferreth that Abrahams long life was a favour of God unto him not the purchase of his owne merits much lesse the fruit of his owne care for although speaking in ordinè ad secundas causas a man may be said by the observation of physick rules to prolong his dayes upon earth as Galen did who was otherwayes a man of a very crazie body and could not in all likelyhood have held out halfe so long yet if wee speake simply and absolutely it is certaine that as no man can by his care adde a cubite to his stature nor an houre to his life beyond the period set by God before all time for my times are in thy hands saith David and our dayes are determined saith Iob the number of our moneths is with thee thou hast appointed man his bounds which hee cannot passe Job 14. 5. and 7. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man are not his dayes as the dayes
had beene rather a singular favour to have kept him out of the common tracke with Enoch and have translated him that hee might not see death this objection is answered in the next words In peace it is no speciall blessing or favour to bring us to our fathers by death for statutum est omnibus hominibus semel mori the Statute provideth sufficiently to send us to the place where wee were borne but to send us thither in peace is a singular favour which God vouchsafeth his deare Children especially in such a peace as Abraham went in wherein a three-fold peace concurred 1 Peace of estaâ—… 2 Peace of bodie 3 Peace of conscience First thou shalt goe to thy fathers in peace that is in a peaceable time or the dayes of peace the stormes I foreshewed thee hanging over thy Posteritie shall not fall in thy time but thou shalt dye in a blessed calme thy house being set in order and thy friends about thee thy children shall close thine eyes and they whom thou broughtest into the World shall carry thee with honour out of the World Secondly thou shalt goe to thy fathers in peace that is thou shalt have an easie and a quiet passe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there shall bee no great strugling at thy departure but a kinde parting of soule and bodie thy soule shall earnestly desire to returne to the Father of spirits and though thy bodie shall contend in courtesie to stay it a while yet it shall without much adoe yeeld thou shalt like a ripe Apple fall from the Tree without plucking or a violent blast of Winde thou shalt goe out of thy selfe as a golden Taper when the waxe is spent and thou shalt leave a sweet smell a good name like a precious perfume after thee Thirdly thou shalt goe to thy fathers in peace that is in peace of conscience and peace with God which passeth all understanding thou shalt have no trouble in thy minde at the houre of death no terrours of conscience no fearefull conflict with despaire no dangerous assault of Sathan no flashes of hell fire all thy sinnes shall bee blowne away like a cloud and the beames of Gods countenance shall shine brightly upon thee and dry up all thy teares non sic impij non sic it shall not bee so with the wicked it shall not bee so with them for there is no peace to the wicked sayth my God neither in life nor death but as a ruffe sea is ruffest of all and most foaming and raging of all at the shore so the life of a wicked man is alwaies unquiet but most troublesome at all neare the end If hee die not in some garboyle as Sylla or in the act of uncleannes with Iohn the Twelfe or voyding his entralls with Arrius or rending his bowells with Iulian or falling upon his own sword with Nero or rayling and raging with Latomus if hee bee not punished in bodie with some violent â—…it of sicknesse or unsufferable pang of torment yet hee goeth not to his fathers in peace for there is sent a hue and cry after him to apprehend him and lay him in chaines of darknesse till the generall Assises at the dreadfull day of Doome when hee shall not bee â—…ound of God in peace but in wrath and reading in the looke of the â—…udge of quick and dead his dreadfull sentence hee shall cry to the hills to fall upon him and to the mountaines to cover him from the presence of God and wrath of the Lambe And thou shalt bee buried in a good old age Although the heathen Philosophers 〈◊〉 little accompt of of Buriall as appeared by that speech of Theodorus to the Tyrant who thretned to hang him I little passe by it whether my carkasse putrifie above the earth or on it and the Poet seemes to bee of his minde whose strong line it was Câ—…lo 〈◊〉 qui â—…on habet 〈◊〉 which was Pompeys case and had like to have beene Alexanderâ—… and William the Conquerours Yet all Christians who conceive more divinely on the soule deale more humanly with the bodie which they acknowledge to bee membrum Christi and Templum Dei amember of Christ and Temple of God If charitie commands thee to cover the naked sayth Saint Ambrose how much more to burie the dead when a friend is taking a long journey it is civilitie for his friends to bring him on part of the way when our friends are departed and now going to their grave they are taking their last journey from which they shall never returne till time shall be no more and can wee doe lesse then by accompaning the Corpes to the grave bring them as it were part on their way and shed some few teares for them whom wee shall see no more with mortall eyes The Prophet calleth the grave Miscabin a sleeping chamber or resting place and when wee read Scriptures to them that are departing and give them godly instructions to dye wee light them as it were to their bed and when wee send a deserved testimonie after them wee perfume the roome Indeed if our bodies which like garments wee cast off at our death were never to bee worne againe wee need little care where they were throwne or what became of them but seeing they must serve us againe their fashion being onely altered it is fit wee carefully lay them up in deaths Wardrobe the grave though a man after hee have lost the jewell doth lesse set by the casket yet hee who loves much and highly esteemeth of the soule of his friend as Alexander did of Homer cannot but make some reckoning of the Deske or Cabinet in which it alwaies lay wee have a care of placing the picture of our friend and should wee not much more of bestowing his bodie If buriall were nothing to the dead God would never have threatned Coniah that hee should have the buriall of an Asse nor the Psalmist so quavered upon this dolefull note dederunt cadaver servorum tuorum coeli volucribus O God the heathen are come into thine inheritance thy holy Temple have they defiled and made Ierusalem an heape of stones the dead bodies of thy servants have they given to the fowles of Heaven But thou shalt bee buried in a good old age Procopius observeth it in Miriam Aaron and Moses that as they exceeded one the other in holinesse so in dayes for Aaron out lived Miriam and Moses Aaron long life is a crowne when it is found in the wayes of righteousnesse cum senectute bona and albeit it is almost the burthen of every mans song that age is a burthen and a perpetuall disease or rather a continuall tract of diseases and a sequence of maladies yet none for ought I see goeth about to lay downe this burthen or to bee cured of this disease even they who most eloquently declaime upon the vanitie and exclaime against the miseries of this life and wish a thousand times that
an Icon or lively expression to the eye sicut galina congregat pullos suos As the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings Where are now our Anabaptists and plaine pack-staffe methodists who esteeme of all flowers of Rhetoricke in Sermons no better then stinking weedes and of all elegancies of speech then of prophane spells For against their wills at unawares they censure the holy Oracles of God in the first place which excell all other writings as well in eloquence as in Science doubtlesse as the breath of a man hath more force in a Trunke and the winde a lowder and sweeter sound in the Organ-pipe then in the open ayre so the matter of our speech and the theame of our discourse which is conveyed through figures and formes of Art both sound sweeter to the eare and pierce deeper into the heart there is in them plus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more evidence and more efficacie they make a fuller expression and take a deeper impression Secondly where are our prophane Criticks who delight in the flesh-pots of Egypt and loath Manna admire carnall eloquence in Poets and heathen Oratours and taske the Scriptures for rude simplicitie and want of all Art and eloquence It is true the Scripture is written in a style peculiar to it selfe the elocution in it is such as Lactantius observeth that it befitteth no other bookes as neither doth that wee find in other bookes befit it As the matter in Scripture so the forme is divine nec vox hominum sonat which consisteth not in the words of mans wisedome but in the evidence of the Spirit Yet is there admirable eloquence in it and farre surpassing which we find in all other writings Wherefore Politian the Grammarian who pretended he durst not touch any leafe in the Bible for feare of defiling the puritie of his language or slurring the glosse of his style is condemned as well by learned humanists as Divines And Theopompus who went about to cloath Gods word with gay and trimme phrases of heathen Oratours and Poets was punished by God with losse of his wits Thus have we viewed the forme let us now have an eye to the matter our Lords conquest over Death and the Grave There are two things most dreadfull to the nature of man Death and the Grave the one severeth the soule the other consumeth the body and resolveth it inâ—… dust the valiantest conquerours that with their bloody flags and colours have strucke a terrour unto all Nations yet have beene affrighted themselves at the displaying of the pale and wan colours of Death the most retired Philosophers and Monkes who have lived in Cells and Caves under the ground yet have beene startled at the sight of their Grave How much then are wee indebted to our Christian faith that not only overcommeth the world but also conquereth the feare of Death and the grave and dareth both in the words of my Text O death sting mee if thou canst O grave conquer mee if thou bee able O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victorie In which words the Apostle like a Cryer calleth Death and the Grave into the Court and examineth them upon two Articles first concerning the sting of the one secondly concerning the victorie of the other Will it please you then to fixe the eye of your observation upon the parts of this Text as they are layd before you in termes of Law 1 A Citation 2 An Examination In the Citation upon 1 the manner of it 2 the parties cited 1 Death 2 Grave In the Examination 1 Upon the first Interrogatorie put to Death touching the ledging of his sting 2 Upon the second Interrogatorie put to the Grave touching the field of his victorie First for the manner of Citing it is by an Apostrophe a figure often accurring in holy Scripture as in the booke of Kings O Altar Altar O ye mountaines of Gilboa and of the Psalmes lift up ye gates and bee ye lift up you everlasting doores and of the Canticles Arise O North and blow O South and in the Prophets O earth earth earth In imitation of which strings of rhetoricke the Auncient Fathers in their funerall Orations many times turned to the dead and used such compellations as these audâ—… Constaâ—… 〈◊〉 Paula heare O 〈◊〉 farewell O Paula From which passages our adversaries very weakely if not ridiculously inferres the invocation of Saints departed making weapons of plumes of leathers and arguments of ornaments and which is farre worse Divinitie of rhetoricke and articles of faith of tropes of sentences By a like consequence they might conclude that hills and trees and the earth and gates and death and hell have eyes to looke upon us or eares to heare us or that we ought to invocate them because the Holy Ghost maketh such Apostrophes to them as the Fathers doe to the soules of Saints newly departed out of their bodies Secondly for the parties here cited and called in their order first Death and then the Grave Death goes before the Grave because men dye before they are buried and the Grave is properly no Grave till it bee possessed by a dead bodie before it is but a hole or pit O Death In Hebrew Maveth from Muth whence mutus in Latine is derived and mute in English because Death bereaveth us of speech and for a like reason the Grave is tearmed Domus silentii a house of silence In Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 snpple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either from a word signifying to stretch because death stretcheth out the bodie or from words signifying to tend upwards because by death the soule is carried upwards returning to God that gave it In Latine Mors either quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our fatall portion or as Saint Austine will have it a morsu because the biting of the Serpent caused it The letter or word is but like the barke or rinde the sense is the juyce yet here wee may sucke some sweetnesse from the barke or rinde From the hebrew Muth we learne that our tongues must bee bound to their good behaviour concerning the dead we must not make them our ordinarie table talke or breake jeasts upon them much lesse vent our spleene or wreake our malice on them wee must never speake of them but in a serious and regardfull manner de mortuis nil nisi bene From the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutando Ï„ tenuem in Θ aspiratam wee must learne to extend our hands to the poore especially neare death which stretcheth out our bodies and to send our thoughts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the things that are above whether if wee dye well the Angells shall imediately carrie our souls From the Latine mors so tearmed quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divido wee are to learne to bee contented with our lot and beare it patiently considering first that wee brought it upon our selves secondly that wee gaine this singular benefit by it that our miserie shall not bee immortall O Death to which Death speaketh the Apostle for the Scripture maketh mention of the first and second death and Saint Ambrose also of a third The first Death with him is the death of nature of which it is sayd they shall seeke death and not finde it The second of sinne of which it is said the soule that sinneth shall dye the death The third of grace which sets a period not to nature but to sinne The Death here meant is the first Death or the Death of nature which the Philosophers diversly define according to their divers opinions of the soule Aristoxemis who held the soule to bee an harmonie consequently defined Death to bee a discord â—…len who held the soule to be Crasis or a temper Death to be a distemper Zeno who held the soule to bee a â—…ire Death to bee an extinction Those Philosophers who held the soule to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as Tullie interpreteth it continuam â—…tionem Death to bee a cessation The vulgar of the Heathen who held the soule to bee a breath Death to be an expiration Lastly the Platonickes who held the soule to be an immortall spiriâ—… Death to bee a dissolution or seperation of the soule from the bodie and this is two fold 1 Naturall 2 Violent 1 Naturall when of it selfe the naturall heate is extinguished or radicall moisture consumed for our life in Scripture is compared and in sculpture resembled to a burning lampe the fire which kindleth the flame in this light is naturall heate and the oyle which feedeth it is radicall moisture Without flame there is no light without oyle to maintaine it no flame in like manner if either naturall heate or radicall moisture fayle life cannot last 2 Violent when the soule is forced untimely out of the body of this Death there are so many shapes that no Painter could ever yet draw them Wee come but one way into the World but we goea thousand out of it as wee see in a Garden-pot the water is powred in but at one place to wit the narrow mouth but it runneth out at 100 holes Dye Some 1 By fire as the Sodomites 2 By water as the old World 3 By the infection of the Ayre as threescore and ten thousand in Davids time 4 By the opening of the earth as Corah Dathan and Abiram Amphiraus and two Cities Buris and Helice Some meet with Death In 1 Their Coach as Antiochus 2 Their chamber as Domitian 3 Their bed as Iohn the Twelfe 4 The Theater as Caligula 5 The Senate as Caesar. 6 The Temple as Zenacherib 7 Their Table as Claudius 8 At the Lords-Table as Pope Victor and Henry of 〈◊〉 Death woundeth and striketh some With 1 A pen-knife as Seneca 2 A stilletto as Henry the Fourth 3 A sword as Paul 4 A Fullers beame as Iames the Lords Brother 5 A Saw as Isaiah 6 A stone as Pyrrhus 7 A thunderbolt as Anustatius What should I speake of Felones de se such as have throwne away their soules Sardanapalus made a great fire and leaped into it Lucretiâ—… stabbed her selfe Cleopatra put an Aspe to her breast and stung therewith dyed presently Saul fell upon his owne sword Iudas hanged himselfe Peronius cut his owne veines Heremius beate out his owne braines Liciniusâ—…oaked â—…oaked himselfe with a napkin Porâ—…ia dyed by swallowing hot burning coales Haâ—…ibalâ—…ked â—…ked poâ—… son out of his ring Demosthâ—…s out of his Pen c. What seemeth so loose as the soule and the bodie which is plucked out with a haire driven out with a smâ—…ll frayed out with a phancie verily that seemeth to be but a breath in the nosthrills which is taken away with a â—…ent a shadow wâ—…ch is driven away with a scare-crow a dreame which is fâ—…yed away with a phansie a vapour which is driven away with a puâ—…e a conceit which goes away with a passion a toy that leaves us with a laughter yet griefe kild Homer â—…hter Phileâ—…on a haâ—…e in his milke Fabius a flye in his throat Adrian a smell of lime in his nosthrills Iovian the snuâ—… of a candle a Child in Plâ—…e a kerâ—…ll of a Raison Anacyeon and a Icesickle one in Martial which caused the Poet to melt into teares saying O ubi mors non est si jugulatis aquae what cannot make an end of us if a small drop of water congealed can doe it In these regards wee may 〈◊〉 the affâ—…ive in my â—…xt into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and say â—…uly though noâ—… in the Apostles sense O Death where iâ—… not thy sting 〈◊〉 wâ—… see iâ—…â—…st ouâ—… in 〈◊〉 in our 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 apparell in our breath in the Coâ—…t in the. Countrey in the Ciâ—… in the Field in the Land in the Sâ—… in the chamber in the Church and in the Church-yard where we meet with the second partie to bee examined to wit the Grave O Grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the language of Ashdod it signifieth one thing but in the language of Canaan another The Heathen writers understand by it First the first matter out of which all things are drawn and into which they are last of all resolved So Hippocrates taketh the word in his Aph. Secondly the ruler of the Region of darknesse or prince of Hell so Hesiod taketh it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hes. op dies Thirdly the state and condition of the dead or death it selfe so Homer taketh it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the language of Canaan it is either taken for the place of torment of the damned And in hell he lift up his eys being in torments and seeth Abraham afarre off and Lazarus in his bosome Secondly for the Grave and that most frequently in the Seventie Interpreters as namely I will goe downe into Hâ—…des to my sonne that is the Grave and let not his hâ—…ie head goe downe into Hades that is the grave in peace and in death there is 〈◊〉 râ—…berance of thee and who will give thee thankes in Hâ—…es that is the Grave and what man is hee that â—…veth and shall not see death and shall bee deliver his soule from the hands of Hades that is the Grave and Hades that is the Grave cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee and so it must bee here taken For though Hell in regard of the Elect bee conquered yet it â—…rnally possesseth the reprobaâ—…e men and Devills neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee destroyed at the day of Judgement oâ—… emâ—…d but in â—…ed rather and repleâ—…ed with the boâ—…es of all the damned whose soules are there aâ—…eadie But Hades that is the Grave shall lose aâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…ptives and prisoners for the eâ—…h
and the Resurrection the new dressing and richly embroydering them Enough hath beene said to convince us that Death which before was like a Serpent armed with a deadly sting is now but like a silly flye that buzzeth about us but cannot sting Yet as long as there is sinne in us we cannot but in some degree feare Death and as long as naturall affection remaines in us take on for them that are taken away Neither doth Christian religion plucke out these affections by the roote but only prune them All that my exhortation driveth unto is but to moderate passion by reason feare by hope griefe by faith and nature by grace Let love expresse it selfe yet so that in affection to the dead we hurt not the living Let the naturall springs of teares swell but not too much overflow their bankes let not our eye be all upon our losse on earth but our brothers gaine also in heaven and let the one counter-ballance at least the other The parish hath lost a great stay his company in London a speciall ornament his Wife a carefull Husband her Children a most tender Father the poore a good friend for besides that which his right hand gave in his life-time which his left hand knew not of by his Will hee bequeathed certaine summes of money for a stock to those Parishes wherein hee formerly lived and to the poore of this twentie pounds to be distributed at his Funerall Many shall find losse of him but he hath gained God and is found of him no doubt in peace for there were many tokens of a true child of God very conspicuous in his life and death Hee loved the habitation of Gods house and the place where his honour dwelleth Hee was just in his dealings and sougâ—…t peace all his life and 〈◊〉 iâ—… hee forgot nothing so easily as wrongs and though hâ—… eâ—…oyed the blessings of this world in abundant measure yet he joyed not iâ—… them his heart was where his chiefe treasure â—…ay in heaven he foretold his owne death and the manner thereoâ—… â—…hat it should be sudden and sudden it was yet not unexpected nor unprepared for for three dayes before he set his house in order and desired to converse with Divines and all his discourse was of the kingdome of God and the â—…ers of the life to come When the pangs of death came upon â—…im hee praâ—…â—…ost earnestly and desired if it so stood with God good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be â—…d yet uttered no speech of impatiencie but being 〈◊〉 â—…ow he did answered that he was in Gods hands to whom hee committed his soule as his faithfull Creatour and so died as quietly as he lived wherefore sith he lived in Gods feare and died in his favour and shall rise againe in his power though the losse of him be a great cut unto us as the losse of their children were to Pericles and Horatius Pulvillus yet as the one hearing of their death as hee was at a solemn sacrifice kept on his Crowne the other as hee was at a dedication held still the pillar of the Temple in his hand till the whole Ceremonie was performed So let us continue our devotion notwithstanding this Parenthesis of sorrow and make an end of our evening sacrifice concluding with the words of the Apostle immediatly following my Text Thankes bee unto God who hath given unto our brother and will give unto us all victorie over Death and the Grave yea and Hell too through Iesus Christ c. FINIS FATO FATVM OR THE KING OF FEARES FRIGHTED AND VANQVISHED SERMON XLIIII HOSEA 13. 14. O Death I will bee thy plagues THE Rose is fenced with pricks and the sweetest Flowers of Paradise as this in my Texâ—… are beset with thorns or difficulties which after I have plucked away the holy Spirit assisting mee I will open the leaves and blow the flowers in the explication of this Scripture and in the application therof smell to them and draw from thence a savour of life unto life The thorne groweth upon the diversâ—…tie of Translations for Rabbi Shelamo Iarchi reads the words ego ero verba tua ô mors I will bee thy words O Death Aben Ezra ero causa tuae mortis I will bee the cause of thy death Saint Ierome ero mors tua ô mors O Death I will bee thy death O Hell I will bite thee and hee conceiveth that when our Saviour descended into Hell and his flesh in the Grave saw no corruption hee spake these words to Death and Hell O Death I will bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thou mightest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by my death O Hell I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…d 〈◊〉 thee which devourest all things in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 â—…nder the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ô moâ—…s 〈◊〉 wheâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tâ—… indictâ—… what hast 〈◊〉 to say agaâ—… the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God Saint Paâ—…l ubi stimulus tuâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Death where is thy sting that is sayth Saint Austine where is sinne wherewith wee are stung and poysoned Is not this Chius ad Choum doe not these Translations 〈◊〉 well agree as harpe and harrow neither can it bee answered to salve the repugnancie and solve the difficultie that Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15. 55 his words have no reference to this Text in the Prophet for the last Translation approved by our Church in the marginall note upon the 1 Cor. 15. 55. â—…ds us to this versâ—…n Hosâ—…a and wee finde no other place in all the Scriptures of the old Testament to which the Apostle should allude buâ—… this And although Carvin endeavouring to untie this Gordiaâ—… knot saith â—…orily that it is evident that the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. doth not alledge the testimony of the Prophet to confirme any Point of Dâ—… delivered by him yet Calvin his evidence for it seemes to mee obscure and inevident his satis constat minime liquet for the expresse words of the Apostle 1. Cor. 15. 53. 54. 55. are for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortalitie so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortall shall have put on immortalitie then shall bee brought to passe the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory What shall wee say then hereunto With submission to those who out of better skill in the originall and upon more exact examination of all Translations may bring them to a better accord for the present I thus resolve First that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his translation is utterly to bee rejected for it is like the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 egge that hath no 〈◊〉 what sense can any man 〈◊〉 out of these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will bee thy words O Death unlesse wee helpe them with our English phrase I will 〈◊〉 thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to goe packing with his fellow Rabbin for his inâ—…ion is a manifest contradiction to
enemie and so the Apostle tearmeth it the last enemie that shall bee destroyed is Death For albeit Death by accident is an advantage as oftentimes an enemie doth a man a good turne which occasioned that excellent Treatise of Plutarch wherein he sheweth us how to make an Antidote of poyson and a good use of other mens maâ—…ice yet is it in it selfe an enemy alwayes to Nature and to grace also it sets upon the elect and the Reprobate the beleever and the Infidell the penitent and the obstinate but with this difference it flyes at the one with a deadly sting but at the other without a sting the one it wounds to death the other it terrifieth and paineth but cannor hurt But there being divers kinds of death which of them is here meant Death is a privation and privations cannot bee defined but by their habits that is such positive qualities as they bereave us of for instance sicknesse cannot be perfectly defined but by health which it impaireth nor blindnesse but by sight which it destroyeth nor darknesse but by light which it excludeth nor death but by life which it depriveth us of Now if there bee a fourefold life spoken of in Scripture viz. 1. Of nature 2. Of sinne 3. Of grace 4. Of glory There must needs be a foure-fold death answerable thereunto 1. The death of Nature is the privation of the life of nature by paâ—… soule and bydy 2. The death of sinne is the privation of the life of sinne by mortifying grace 3. The death of Grace is the privation of the life of grace by reigning sâ—…ne 4. The death of Glory is the privation of the life of Glory by aiâ—… and finall exclusion from the glorious presence of God and the kingdome of heaven and a casting into the lake of fire and brimstone prepared for the divell and his angells Of Death in the first sence David demandeth who is hee that liveth and shall not see death and shall hee deliver his soule from the hand of hell Of Death in the second sense Saint Paul enquireth how shall wee that are dead to sinne live any longer therein Of Death in the third sense Saint Paul must be meant where he rebuketh wanton Widowes Shee that liveth in pleasure is dead while shee liveth Of Death in the fourth sense Saint Iohn is to bee understood Blessed is hee that hath part in the first resurrection for on such the second death hath no power Saint Austin joyneth all these significations and maketh one sentence of divers senses hee is dead to death that is Death cannot kill hurt or affright him who is dead to sinne And another of the Ancients makes a sweet cord of them like so many strings struck at once hee that dyeth before hee dyes shall never die hee that dyeth to sinne before hee dyeth to nature shall never dye to God neither in this world by finall deprivation of grace neither in the world to come of glorie Of these foure significations of Death the first and last fort with this Text for that the first is to bee meant it is evident by the consequence here O grave I will be thy destruction And by the antecedents in Saint Paul When this corruptible shall put on incorruption c. And that the second is included may bee gathered both from the words of Saint Iohn And Death and bell were cast into the lake of fire and of our Saviour I was dead and I am alive and have the keyes of Hell and of Death And so I fall upon my second Observation viz. the Person menacing I the second person in Trinitie our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The word here used Ehi is the same with that we reade Exod. 3. Ehi Ashur Ehi I am that I am and if the observation of the Ancients be current that wheresoever God speaketh unto man in the old Testament in the shape of man or Angell we are to understand Christ for that all those apparitions were but a kind of preludia of his incarnation then the Person here threatning can bee no other then he besides the word Egilam in the former part of this verse being derived from Gaal signifying propinquus fuit or redemit jure propinquitatis pointeâ—… to our Saviour who by assuming our nature became our Alic by blood and performed this office of a kinsman by redeeming the inheritance which we had lost But we have stronger arguments then Grammaticall observations that he who here promised life to the dead and threatneth plagues to Death was the Sonne of God the Lord of quick and dead for the same who promiseth to redeeme from the Grave threatneth to plague Death but we all know that Redeemer is the peculiar style of the Sonne as Creator is of the Father and Sanctifier of the Holy Ghost tu redemisti nos thou hast redeemed us to GOD by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and Nation To the redemption of a slave that is not able to ransome himselfe three at least concurre the Scrivener who writeth the Conditions and sealeth the Bonds the partie who soliciteth the businesse and mediateth for the captive and layeth downe the summe agreed upon for his ransome and the person in whose power the captive is and who accepteth of the ransome Which of these is the Redeemer you will all say he that is at the cost of all so it is in our redemption from spiritual thraldome the holy Spirit draweth the condition and sealeth the bonds the Father receiveth the ransome the Sonne both mediateth for the ransoming and layeth downe the summe For we were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but the pretious blood of Christ as of a Lambe without blemish hee tooke part of our nature that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the divell and deliver them who through the feare of death were all their life time subiect to bondage Hence we gather that hee that destroyed Death must die but to affirme that the immortall and eternall Spirit of God expired is blasphemie and to say that the Father suffered is heresie longagoe condemned in the Patro-passions we conclude therefore with the Apostle that the second Person Christ Jesus hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortalitie to light by the Gospell And so I fall upon my last Observation the judgement here mentioned Devorica 3. Thy plagues there is no tittle or iota in holy Scripture superfluous some mysterie therefore lyeth in the number plagues in the plurall not plague in the singular which I conceive to be this that Christ put Death to many deaths and foyled and conquered it many wayes first in himselfe secondly in his members First in himselfe by destroying sinne the sting of Death Secondly by breaking the bonds thereof in his powerfull Resurrection wherwith it was impossible that hee should be
it is justice suum cuique tribure to give every one his due it is charitie to propose eminent examples of heavenly graces and vertues shining in the dead for the imitation of the living Such jewells ought not to bee locked up in a Coffine as in a Casket but to bee set out to the view of all and surely they deserve better of the dead who set a garland of deserved praises on their life then they who stick their Hearse full with flowers Tapers made of pure waxe burne clearely and after they are blowne out leave a sweet savour behinde them so the servants of Christ who have caused their light so to shine before men that they may see their workes and glorifie their Father which is in Heaven leave a good name like a sweet smell behinde them and why may wee not blow it abroad by our breath Deo Patri c. The rest concerning the life and death of the party is lost FINIS VOX COâ—…LI OR THE DEADS HERALD SERMON XLV APOCH 14. 13. And I heard a voyce from heaven saying unto mee write blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence forth c. VBi Vulnus ibi manus From whence wee tooke our wound from thence we receive the cure a voyce from heaven strucke all the living dead saying All flesh is grasse and the glory or goodlinesse of it is as the flower of the field The grasse withereth c. But here a voyce from heaven maketh all whole againe and representeth all the dead in the Lord living yea and flourishing too â—…aying Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord. To give a touch at the wound that the smart thereof may make the sense of the cure more delightfull Omnis caro foenum omnis homo flos All flesh is grasse and â—…very man is a flower There is difference in grasse some is longer and some is shorter so some men are longer lived some shorter Some grasse shooteth up with one leafe some with three some with five or more so some men have more in their retinue some fewer some none at all Some grasse withereth before it is cut as the grasse on the house toppe some is cut before it withâ—…reth as the grasse of the field so some men decay before the Sythe of death cutts them all other after Likewise there is a great difference among flowers 1. Some are for sight only not for the smell or any vertue in medicines as Tulips Emims and Crowne Emperials 2. Some for sight and smell but of no use in Medicines as Sweet-williams the painted Lady and Iuly-flowers generally 3. Some are both for sight and smell and of singular use in Medicines as Roses and Violets So some men are of better parts and greater use in the Church and Common-wealth others of lesse Some flowers grow in the field some in the garden so some mens lives and improvements are publike others private Some flowers are put in Posies some in Garlands some are cast into the Still so some men are better preferred then others and some live and die in obscuritie Lastly some flowers presently lose their colour and sent as the Narcissus some keepe them both long as the red Rose So some men continue longer in their bloome grace and favour others for a short time but all fade and within a while are either gathered cut downe or withered of themselves and die And for this reason it is as I conceive that we sticke herbes and flowers on the Hearse of the dead to signifie that as we commit earth to earth and ashes to ashes so we put grasse to grasse and flowers to flowers For omnis caro foenum All flesh is grasse and all the goodlinesse thereof as the flower of the field the grasse withereth and the flower fadeth away But the comfort is in that which followeth But the word of the Lord endureth for ever and this is the word which by the Gospell is preached unto you Whereof this verse which I have read unto you for my Text is part Which Saint Iohn inferreth as a conclusion or corrolarie upon the conclusion of the Saints and Martyrs lives this conclusion is inâ—…erred upon two premisses 1. The end of their labours 2. The reward of their worke The Syllogisme may be thus formâ—…d All they who are come to an end of their labour and have received liberally for their worke or are paid well for their paines are happie But all the dead that die in the Lord are come to an end of their labour for they rest from their labours and receive liberally for their workes follow them Ergo all the dead that die in the Lord are happy As in other Texts so in this wee may borrow much light from the occasion of the speech which here was this Saint Iohn having related in a vision a fearefull persecution to fall in the latter times whereby the earth should bee râ—…aped and the Saints mowen like grasse and true beleevers like grapes pressed in such sort that their blood should come out of the wine-presse even to the horse bellies breaketh into an Epiphonema vers 12. here is the patience of the Saints that is here is matter for their patience and faith to worke upon Here is their patience to endure for Gods cause whatsover man or divell can inflict upon them to part with any limbe for their head Christ Jesus gladly to forfeit their estates on earth for a crowne in heaven chearefully to lose their lives in this vale of teares that they may find them in the rivers of pleasures that spring at Gods right hand for evermore Here is worke for their faith also to see heaven as it were through hell eternall life in present death to beleeve that God numbreth every haire of their head and that every teare they shed for his sake shall bee turned into a pearle every drop of blood into a Rubie to be set in their crowne of glorie To confirme both their faith and patience Christ proclaimeth from heaven that howsoever in their life they seemed miserable yet in their death they shall bee most blessed and that the worst their enemies can doe is to put them in present possession of their happinesse Blessed are the dead c. So saith the spirit whatsoever the flesh saith to the contrarie Here wee have 1. A proposition De fide of faith 2. A Deposition or testimonie of the spirit A Proposition of the happy estate of the dead A deposition of the holy Ghost to confirme our faith therin 1. Saint Iohn sets downe his relation 2. A most comfortable assertion 3. A most strong confirmation The relation strange of a voyce from heaven without any speaker The assertion as strange of a possession without an owner a blessed estate of them who according to the Scripture phrase are said not to be The Confirmation as strange as either by an audible testimonie of an invisible witnesse So
hath beene and feare for what hee shall bee mingles and sowers all the joy and delight in that hee is And what is hee at the best a poore tennant â—…t â—…ill of a ruinous cottage of loame or house of clay readie to fall about his eares with a Grashoppers leape in a spot of ground His apparell is but stolne ragges his wealth the excrements of the earth his dyet bread of carefulnesse got with the sweat of his browes and all his comforts and recreations rather as Saint Austine tearmes them solati a miserorum quam gaudia beatorum sauces of misery then dishes of happinesse For albeit a good conscience bee a continuall feast and the testimonie of the Spirit an everlasting Jubile in the soule yet the most righteous man that breathes mortall ayre either by frailty or negligence or diffidence or impatience or love of this present life or suttletie of perswasions or violence of temptations so woundeth his conscience and grieveth the Spirit of grace that this feast is turned for a time into a fast and the Jubile into an ejulate or howling All things therefore layd together the scornes of the World assaults from the flesh temptations from the Devill rebukes from God checks from conscience sensible fayling of Grace spirituall dissertions with many a bitter agonie and conflict with despaire I cannot but perfectly accord with the Poet in his dolefull note Faelices nimium quibus est fortuna peracta jam sua they are but too happie whose glasse is well runne out and with the Evangelist in my Text beati mâ—…rtui blessed are the dead for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them they rest from those labours which tyreus that live and the workes which wee are to follow follow them A threefold cable saith the Wiseman is not easily brokn and such is this here in my Text on which the anchour of our hope hangeâ—…h 1 The testimonie of Saint Iohn Yea 2 The testimonie of the Spirit so sâ—…th the Spirit 3 A strong reason drawne from their rest and recompence they rest from their labours and they receive the reward of their labours they are discharged of their worke and for their worke If they were discharged for their worke and not discharged of their worke they could not bee said blessed because their tedious and painefull workes were to returne And much lesse happie could they bee tearmed if they were discharged of their worke but not for it for then they should lose all their labour under the Sunne they should have done and suffered all in vaine but now because they are both discharged of their worke for they rest from their labour and discharged for their worke for their workes follow them they are most blessed The Spirit here taketh the ground of this heavenly musick ravishing the souls of the living and able to revive the very dead either from the labourers pay or the racers prize If the ground be the labourers joy for their rest and pay the descant must bee this our life is a day our calling a labour the evening when wee give over our death the pay our penny If the ground be the racers joy for their prize the descant may bee this the Church is the field Christianitie is the race death is the last poste and a garland of glory the wager let us all â—…o run that we may obtaine Yea sayth the Spirit Wee read in the Law and the Prophets Thus sayth Iehovah the Lord in the Gospell Thus spake Iesus But in the Epistles and especially in the Revelation thus sayth the Spirit now the Spirit speaketh evidently heare what the Spirit sayth unto the Churches hee that hath an eare let him heare what the Spirit sayth unto the Churches and the Spirit and the Bride sayth come While Christ abode in the flesh hee taught with his owne mouth the Word of life but now since his Ascention and sitting in state at the right hand of his Father hee speaketh and doth all by his Spirit By the Spirit hee ordainâ—…th Pastours furnisheth them with gifts enlighâ—…h the understanding of the hearers and enclineth their wills and affections and so leadeth the Church into all truth In which regard Tertullian elegantly tearmeth the Spirit Christi Vicarium Christ his Vicar preaching in his stead and discharging the Cure of the whole World Secondly so sayth the Spirit not the flesh the earth denies it but Heaven avereth it when a man removeth out of this World the flesh beholdeth nothing but a corpes brought to the Church and a coffine layd in the Grave but the spirit discerneth an Angel carrying the soule up to Heaven and leaving it in Abrahams bosome till the Father of spirits shall give her againe to the bodie arrayed in glorious apparell There is no Doctrine the Devill the flesh and the World more oppose then this here delivered by the Spirit concerning the blessednesse of the dead for all Atheists all Heathen all carnall men all Saduces and sundrie sorts of Heretickes deny the Resurrection of the bodie and the greater part of them also the immortalitie of the soule A wicked and ungodly person beleeveth not his soule to bee immortall because hee would not have it so hee would not that their should be another World because hee can have hope of no good there having carried himselfe so ill in this faine hee would stifle the light in his conscience which if hee would open his eyes would clearly discover unto him a future tribunall yet sometimes hee cannot smother it and therefore as Tully who saw a glimering of this truth observeth hee is wonderfully tormented out of a feare that endlesse paines attend him after this life Well let the flesh and fleshly minded men deeme or speake what they list concerning the state of the dead the Spirit of truth sayth that all that dye in the Lord are blessed But where sayth the Spirit so In the Scriptures of the old and new Testament and in this vision and in the heart and conscience of every true beleever First in the Scriptures let mee dye the death of the righteous and let my last end bee like unto his refraine thy voyce from weeping and thine eyes from teares for thy workes shall bee rewarded and there is hope in thine end saith the Lord precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints the righteous shall wash his foot in the bloud of the wicked so that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous Christ is in life and death advantage for I am in a straight betweene two having a desire to depart and to bee with Christ which is fâ—… better Secondly in this vision for Saint Iohn heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write it as it were with a Penne of Iron upon the Tombe of all that are departed in the Lord for so saith the Spirit Lastly the Spirit speaketh it in the
God our workes as they are good they are not ours as they are ours they are not good 2 Because whatsoever wee doe in fulfilling the Covenant of Grace wee are bound to doe for the inestimable benefits which we receive by our Redeemer 3 Because wee imploy not our Tallent to our Masters best advantage no man walketh so exactly as hee might doe by the power of grace which would not be wanting to us if wee were not wanting to our selves But because wee may seeme partiall in our owne cause and take these reasons for demonstrations which our Adversaries will not acknowledge to bee so much as probable arguments let the ancient Fathers give in the verdict Saint Austine When the Apostle might truly have said the wages of righteousnesse is eternall life he chose rather to say but the gift of God is eternall life that we might understand that he brings us to eternall life not for our merits but for his mercies sake And Saint Basil There remaines an everlasting rest to those who fight lawfully not for the merits of their workes or verbatim according to the Greeke originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not according to the due debt of their workes but of the grace or by the favour of our most munificent God And Fulgentius To possesse the kingdome prepared for us is a worke of grace for of meere grace there is given not only a good life to these that are justified but eternall life to those that are glorified And Saint Ambrose Our momentarie afflictions are not worthy the glory that shall be revealed therefore the forme or tenour of the heavenly decrees upon men proceed not according to merits but the mercy of God And Marke the holy Hermite The kingdome of heaven is not a reward of workes but a gift of God prepared for his fruitfull servants And let Pope Gregorie conclude all As Eleazar who killed the Elephant yet was killed by the Elephant in his fall upon him so those who subdue vices if they grow proud of their victorie as all doe who conceive they merit heaven by it are subdued by and lye under those vices which they before subdued for hee dyes under the enemie whom he hath discomfited who is extolled in pride for the vice which he conquered The third difficultie was whither the workes follow the dead which may thus be expedited their good workes follow them not to the grave for there there the soule is not nor to Purgatorie for J have already proved there is no such place nor to Hell for none are blessed that come there The workes of the damned indeed follow them thither there they meet with them and with the Divell who seduced them to torment them for them there the swearers and blasphemers gnaw their tongues there the lascivious wantons are cast into a bed of fire there they who swome here in pleasures are throwne into a river of brimstone But the workes of the godly follow them to the place where they receive their recompence for them The fourth difficultie was when the workes follow the dead which may bee thus expedited some of their works follow them immediatly after their death others at the day of Judgement Those workes which they have done by and in the soule only without the helpe or use of the body follow them immediatly after death when the soule receives her reward for them but those which were performed partly by the soule and partly by the body follow them at the day of Judgement When the King shall say Come yee blessed of my Father possesse the kingdome prepared for you for I was hangrie and yee gave me meat I was thirstie and yee gave me drinke I was naked and ye cloathed me I was sicke and in prison and ye visited me Wee have peeled off the rhine let us now taste of the sweet juyce if our workes shall most certainly and plentifully bee rewarded Let us be zealous of good workes let us be filled with the fruits of righteousnesse let us in no case be weary of well-doing let us not cast away our confidence which hath great recompence of reward if a cup of cold water shall be reckoned for what thinke yee of a glasse of hot water to revive many a fainting soule If two mites cast into the treasurie shall be taken notice of what thinke yee of ten talents If Christ hath a bottle for every teare shed for him how much more for every drop of bloud There are infinite motives in holy Scriptures to incite us to good workes I will touch at this time only upon three 1. Our great Obligation to them 2. Our exceeding comfort in them 3. Our singular benefit by them First our Obligation to them is twofold 1. As men 2. As Christians As men wee are bound to serve him with our hands who gave us them As Christians we are to employ them in his service who loosened them after they were manacled and restored unto us the free use of them 2. Our comfort in them is exceeding great they assure us of our spirituall life for as the naturall life is discerned by three things especially 1. The beating of the pulse 2. The letting out of breath 3. The stirring of the joynts or limbes so also is the spirituall if the pulse of devotion beate strong at the heart if wee breath to God in our fervent prayers and lastly if wee stirre our joynts by walking in all holy duties and performing such good workes as are required at our hands we may be sure that wee have spirituall life in us we may build upon it that Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith and that we live in him by grace 3. Our benefit by them is manifold in this life and the life to come In this life peace of conscience their soule shall dwell at ease 2. Good successe in all we undertake whatsoever we doe it shall prosper 3. The service of the creatures for all things worke for the best to them that love God Lastly a comfortable passe out of this world we are sure our end shall be peace In the life to come the benefits are such as never eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor ever entered into the heart of man God grant therefore our heart may enter into them quia Aristoteles non capit Eurispum Eurispus capiat Aristotelum because wee cannot comprehend the joyes of heaven let them comprehend us You expect something to be spoken of our deare Sister deceased and much might be said and should by me in her praise but that one of her chiefest commendations was that shee could not endure praise Laudes quia merebatur contempsit quia contempsit magis merebatur Because shee deserved praise shee despised it and because shee despised it shee the more deserved it Silent modestie in her was her crowne in her life and modest silence of her was the charge
Judgement The one An expectation with desire and with an earnest longing the expectation of the faithfull of a Lord of a gracious Redeemer nay of a loving Husband Therefore every faithfull soule cannot but waite upon him As a faithfull servant that hath done his worke longeth for his Masters comming home that hee may give an account of his faithfulnesse and may bee acceptable ◅o his Master for his faithfull service that hee hath done in his absence that hee may expect his Masters remuneration But there is annother expectation of Christ to come that is not with desire but with horrour and dread and feare out of guiltinesse of conscience This is the expectation of a Malefactor in the Jayle he wayteth and lookes for the comming of the Judge to passe sentence on him and so to bee dragged to execution thus wicked men expect Christ thus wicked Angells expect him But the expectation of the godly is an expectation with love and desire an expectatiō not of a severe Judge but of a loving husband of a faithfull Master that hath promised a recompense to the service of beleevers even the least and lowest if it bee the gift of a cup of cold water in his name Therefore ye must take knowledge of the expectation here meant This I say is proper to beleevers Let us see the truth of the Doctrine in the Reason of it why every faithfull soule must needs long and desire the second comming of Christ. First because it is a part of Christs gracious promise which the faith of the soule leaneth on The proper object of faith is the promise of the Gospell this yee may see in the Text Christ had promised to come Amen even so here is the reason of this desire because his promise goeth before it The faithfull soule apprehendeth every other inferiour promise and every lesse promise much more this maine promise the very knot of all the very complement of all faith must needs expect and claspe fast hold upon this promise and give assent and acclamation to it as in the word Amen even so come as thou hast sayd and promised Many promises to this purpose hath our Lord and Saviour Christ pronounced for the stirring up of our faith and affection as namely that in the 14 of Saint Iohns Gospell toward the beginning where hee comforteth his Disciples in his absence If I goe I will come againe And so in Acts 1. 11. As yee see him ascend with your bodily eyes in his Person and flesh so yee shall see him descend But wee need not goe far for promises for immediately before the words and two verses besides in this Chapter the 7. and 12. Behold I come shortly This is the property of every godly man having the promise of the comming to leane upon it and to desire the accomplishment of the promise In the old Testament they had the promise of the first comming of Christ that they earnestly desired as Iacob Gen. 49. Lord I have wayted for thy salvation and Abraham saw Christs day afarre off and rejoyced And in the New Testament wee read of Anna and Zacharias and Elizabeth and the faithfull that waited for the consolation of Israel they waited for the accomplishment of this promise the comming of Christ in the flesh his first comming Shall they waite and earnestly desire the first comming of the Sonne of God in humilitie and humanitie and basenesse and shall not we earnestly expect his second comming in glory to manifest not only his glory but our glory shall not wee expect that comming of his wherein we shall be married to himselfe and whereby we shall be tooke up to himselfe Thus yee see the promise of Christ is one ground yea and a principall ground of this expectation of the faithfull The second Reason is drawne from the Union and conjunction betweene Christ and the faithfull soule That is in the Text too the Bride saith Come Now there is a neere union and conjunction in this same conjunction of Mariage amongst men wherein the love must needs be imperfect and but a-drop of that Ocean and wherein the love of the parties must needs be finfull yet notwithstanding wee see how vehement it is In the absence of one another the one longeth and pineth after the other and one partie enjoyeth not himselfe without the other Much more ought it to be so here in this heavenly contract betweene Christ and his faithfull Spouse should not here the Spouse bee sicke of love as the Spouse professeth of her selfe in the second of Canticles This vehement desire must needs arise out of the neerenesse and undevidednesse of that conjunction that is betweene Christ and a Christian There is little love where there is little desire of the thing beloved when it is absent Why doth the member of the Bodie desire immediate conjunction with the head but because it knows that the separation from the head is the death of the member So it is in this neere conjunction betweene Christ the head and his members the Church they must needs desire immediate and inseparable conjunction with the head because the separation from the head must be the death of the members That is the second Reason The third Reason of the Point is this because the Saints of God they know that the accomplishment of the full happinesse of the Church of God and likewise of themselves that are members of the Church it consisteth in this in Christ his second comming againe to judgement therefore they doe earnestly desire it and affect it and say Amen even so Come because I say they know this is the comming that perfects the Church of God perfects their glory in the state of happinesse which the Church and every member thereof doth expect they know that that is the time which shall be the Revelation of the sonnes of God who are here obscure and shall be till that day come They know well that all the graces and perfections that the child of God can attaine to in this imperfection all is but the first fruits all is but a tast and therefore they cannot possibly but lift up their heads and raise up their hearts to the expectation of that day wherein these first fruits shall bee perfected with full measure shaken together and running over whereas there shall be an absolute freedome from all sinne and from all the appurtenances of it an absolute perfection not of grace only but of glory which is the highest grace They shall be one with the head this is that which makes them looke for it Heb. 9. 28. the place I named before it is said Christ shall appeare to save them that waite for him Hee shall bring a full horne of salvation he shall perfect the salvation of the Saints till that day there is no perfection in the salvation of the Saints No though they goe to heaven yet before that day there is no perfect salvation because their bodyes are not joyned to
my glorie Wicked men see his glory what priviledge then betweene them and the godly It is true indeed wicked men see the glory of Christs person and they shall see and feele the glory of his justice but the godly see the glory not onely of his person not onely of his justice but the glory that no wicked man ever shall see the glorie of his Mercie and goodnesse and grace here is the difference God getteth himselfe glory upon Pharaoh in drowning of him but God getteth himselfe the glory of his Mercie in Israel in saving them in the bottome of the Sea so the godly they see the glory not onely of the person of Christ and that is infinite and surpasseth apprehension but they see the glory of his Mercie of his eternall goodnesse and they see it so as to bee like him to be translated into that glory to get a part and share of it as much as they are capable of they make themselves all glorious with his glory and shine with his brightnesse and beauty Alas brethren all the sight we can get of Christ in this world it is like the sight of the blind man that Christ cured hee bad him looke up and lift up his eyes and he saw men walking as trees an imperfect sight so wee have here but an imperfect glimpse of Christ we see him through a glasse through the Word and Sacraments and these meanes that he hath appointed an imperfect sight till Christ give us a cleere sight and makes us see perfectly and this is in the day of his returne All the sight and vision of Christ in this life it is but to see him in a glasse saith the Apostle as in a looking-glasse but then we shall see him face to face wee shall see him as he is What difference there is betweene the shadow in a glasse and the face it selfe so much difference there is betweene the sight of Christ here and hereafter when we shall see him as he is when we shall see him with open face and not in a mirrour Therefore let this incourage us and stirre up our hearts to expect and waite for the comming of Christ with vehement and daily prayers with fervencie of spirit with the Church and the Bride and the Spirit to say Even so Amen Come Lord Iesus FINIS The coherence Devision of the words Propos. 1. Every man in the world is Gods Steward Proved 1. By what every one receiveth from God 2. By what God expects from every one Psal 24. 1. mâ—…n doe not waste his goods 2. That they doe not abuse them to ill ends Luke 19. 27. Iames 4. 3. 3. To doe him Homage Acts 10. 33. 3. To returne him fruit Matt. 21. 33. Vse Two things required of a Steward 1. Dispensation Rom 1. 3. 4. Rom. 1. 14. 1 Tim. 5. 8. 2. Right ordering of his dispensations Luk. 12. 42. 1. Faithfully Heb 3. 5. Exod. 32. 19. 2. Wisely Rom. 8. 7. 1 Tim. 3. 17. Gen. 18. 19. Propos. 2. All Gods stewards must give an account Two dayes of reckoning 1. In this life By the Word Gen. 3. 11. 1 King 19. Mar. 3. Acts 2. By the Rod. Iob 33. 14. Mic. 6. 9. Iob 33. 19. 1 Cor. 11 30. Psal. 31. 5. 2. After this life A necessitie of a day of judgement 1. In respect of God his decree Acts 17. 31. Isa. 46. 10. His honour Eccles. 3. 16. 2. In respect of the Saints 2 Thes. 1. 5. For the manifestation of their innocency For the reward of their workes Mal. 〈◊〉 1â—… 18. 3. In respect of the wicked For the manifestation of Gods righteous proceeding against them Rom. 2. 5. For the persecting of their punishment Why God is said to call all men to an account 1. Because he will proceed in particular Job 27. 18. Jam. 5. 1 2 James 4. 3. Mat. 16. Mat. 5. 22. Mat. 15. 19. 2. Because he will proceed by method and order Psal. 50. Psal. 51. Rom. 7. A direction in the exercise of repentance 3. Because he will proceed by books Dan. 10. Rev. 20. Ioh. 12. 48. Ier. 17. 1. 4. Because God will exact of every one according to what he hath been trusted with Luke 12. 48. Vse 1. For confutation Atheists in the Church 2 Pet. 3. Vse 2. For instruction 1. Not to judge others Rom. 14. 10. 1 Cor. 4. 5. 2. To judge our selves here A twofold reckoning to be made here 1. Reckon with our selves Jer. 8. 6. Lam. 3. 39. Psal. 4. 2. Reckon with others 2 Sam. 12. 3. Acts 20. 26. Iames 5. 3. 3. To Exercise daily repentance Acts 17. 31. 4. To get an interest in Christ. Rom 8. 1. Exod. 25. 21. 5. To lead a holy conversation 〈◊〉 Pet. 3. 11. 2 Cor. 5. 〈◊〉 Acts â—…6 15 16. Vse 3. For Comfort James 5. Heb. 9. 27. The Coherence The meaning of the words The devision of the words Obser. 1. The death of others is a just occasion of Mourning Gen. 23. 2. Gen. 27. 41. Gen. 50. 10. 2 Sam. 25. 1. Zach. 12. 10. John 11. Act. 20. 38. Reas. 1. Reas. 2. Ier. 5. 3. Vse Object Answ. A twofold distemper in mens affections 1. 2. 1 Thes. 4. 13. Deut. 14. Observat. 2 Death the end of all men Iob 3. 14. Zach. 1. 5. Reas. 1. In regard of Gods decree Heb 9. 27. Reas. 2. In regard of the matter whereof men are made Job 13. 12. Reas. 3. In regard every man in him hath the cause of death Object Hâ—…b 11. 5. 2 King 2. 11. Answ. 2. Obiect Joh. 11. Answ. Rom. 8. 38. Matt. 22. Vse 1. Make account of it for ourselves The benefit of the particular application of death to a mans selfe 1. Sin will be made more odious Rom. 5. â—…1 2. The truth and justice of God will bee the more acknowledged 3. Death will be the better prepared for Job 14. 14. Three things wherein there is to be a particular application of death to a man 1. In matter of sinning Acts 5. 2. In redeeming of the time of life 1 Cor. 10. 35. Heb. 3. 13. Gal. 6. 10. 3. In the manner of our conversation Vse 1. In respect of the death of others 1. To moderate our mourning for the death of others 2. To improve the life of others Obser. 3. It is the duty of the living to lay to heart the death of others Reas. 1. 1. God is glorified by it Psal. 28. 5. Reas. 2. Our selves are benefited by it 2. Thereby we come to see the certainty of death 2. Thereby we come to see the nature of death The proper worke of death 1. To separate the body from the soule 2. To separate a man from his estate 3. To separate a man from his friends Gen. 23. 2 Sam. 1. 9. 1 Cor. 7. 19. 3. Thereby we come to see the end and cause of death 1 King 14. 13 2 Chro. 34. 28 Isa. 57. 1. Ezek. 9. 4. 5. Vse 1. For reproofe of the genetall neglect of this duty Vse 2.
all the enemies of a Christian are either reconciled or conquered and foyled and what then need he feare them For God that is an enemie to every man naturally he is reconciled Christ hath made our peace with God hee hath made our attonement we need not feare him slavishly though wee may and must feare him with a filiall feare we must not bee afraid of him with horrour as to runne from him but wee must so love him as to reverenâ—…e before his foot-stoole Againe in regard of the evills of the world they are enemies too but how Christ hath beene pleased to sweeten these to us all things in the world saith the Apostle speaking of afflictions Rom. 8. they worke for good to them that feare God Shall a man be afraid of his owne good Nay there is nothing in the world that more workes our good then afflictions and losses and crosses we might spare any thing better then them shall we be afraid of that that workes our good Death it is reconciled and made our friend It was the greatest enemie Christ hath pulled out the sting and changed the nature of it he hath made it the birth-day of eternitie a sweet passage to a better life Death brings not evill to a man that is in covenant with God but rather terminates all evill that he is molested with in the world So then some enemies are reconciled and made our friends and these wee have no reason to feare Againe there are some that are irreconcileable and they are conquered and overcome The Divell will never be friends with us therefore Christ hath spoyled principalities and powers and trampled Satan under-feet and now if he walke about yet hee is in his chayne he can bite but he can hurt none but those that willingly betray themselves into his hands For sinne it is of a condemning nature but those that are in covenant with God and walke with him it is removed as farre from them as the East is from the West it is throwne into the bottomelesse sea of Gods mercy so that it shall never anger God or hurt us any more then if we had not committed it Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Nay more God hath bestowed his Spirit whereby hee hath freede our hearts and whereby if a man labour to stirre up the grace of God in him and to walke comfortably as he might in the presence of God he might through the power of God free his heart from these horrours and feares for saith the Apostle yee have not received the Spirit of bondage to feare againe but yee have received the Spirit of adoption whereby wee cry Abba Father The Spirit of bondage casts downe the soule with horrour and feare but wee have the Spirit of God to assure us that wee have God for our Father reconciled in Christ and so by consequent that our sinnes are pardoned that death is overcome that Principalities and powers are spoyled and all things in the world though contrary in themselves yet they shall worke for our good So you see the ground of it a Christian hath no enemies some enemies are reconciled and others are trampled under foote that they cannot hurt him And wee receive this freedome by the Spirit of God that if wee would stirre it up and labour to walke as becommeth Christians we may make our lives very comfortable Briefly for Application First let us all take notice of the command that God gives to Abraham of this incouragement and make use of it to our selves and know that the power of grace and Religion must reflect upon a mans selfe He beloved shall be accounted the best Christian before God and in the sight of judicious men whose Religion is practicall and reflects upon himselfe Now there are many busie ones in the world that meddle with the conversations of others and are still talking and complayning of things without themselves but surely he is a happie man that reformes himselfe and that sets in tune his owne affections and passions as this in particular to labour to be without slavish and inordinate feare Alas wee may complaine of many that finde fault with many things but if they looke within there is a combustion of a great many unruly affections and passions and these are the things we never complaine of wee finde not fault with our selves as wee should wee should take notice of the Law of God that it is spirituall to set in order our hearts and mindes and soules as well as our tongues and hands The law of man reacheth but to the outward man if a man keepe himselfe in order in regard of these thought is free and the Law doth not take hold of a man for his affections but the Law God doth therefore you know that lusting after a woman in Gods account is reputed adultery the hating of a mans brother in his heart is accounted manslaughter he is accounted a murtherer that hates his brother so he that is angry unadvisedly you know what he is in danger of and that man is accounted guiltie before God that cannot order his affections in regard of those unruly passions that are within him This I observe by the way God in Scripture takes especial notice of it I am perswaded it is an infallible distinguishing character between an hypocrite a sincere child of God an hypocrite labours to wash the outside hee hath a demure countenance cleane hands smooth language c. these things are good but he goes no further he makes no conscience of secret contemplative wickednesse of the lusts of his heart and the thoughts of his minde these things he never enters into himselfe to mortifie But that man that is conscionable so walkes with God as that a wrie affection an inward lust after somewhat that is evill troubles him and humbles him before God the vanitie of his thoughts in secret cause him to mourne before God this is a signe of a man that walkes before God and accounts God a Spirit that searcheth the hearts and tryeth the reynes and therefore if ever wee will approve our selves to God let our Religion bee practicall and reflect upon our selves and among other things upon our inward man to set that in order Secondly by way of instruction we see what happy men and women we might be if we were not our owne foes If wee could attaine this pitch to live without feare that nothing should trouble us were it not a happy condition surely it is a thing feazeable some Saints have attained it in a great measure you know David when Ziglag was taken his wives gone all the spoyle taken and the people were ready to stone him what did poore David hee can incourage himselfe in the Lord his God notwithstanding this So it may be with a poore Christian his friends may forsake him perhaps the world is gone riches take to themselves wings it may bee his body is