evidently seen of all The Fourth Prosecution Now for Application 1. Use This may inform us of the Greatness of the Wrath of God against Sin seeing that the very best cannot be exempted from Deaths Tyranny which God's flaming Wrath against and for Sin hath subjected us all unto It is almost 6000 years agone that Adam sinned by eating of the forbidden Tree and yet could not all this length of time make him forget that one Offence no no Manet alta mente repostum judicium Paridis said Virgil in another case and we may say as much in this The Lord remembers that Sin still and keeps his Anger against it still so as that no intervening Grace or Goodness in the holiest person can make him let go his Wrath or remit his first Mulct or Penalty Death I mean once menaced and decreed and yet as Moses complained once Psal 90.11 so may we now Who knoweth or understands considereth and believeth as Luther in Dutch rendreth the Original the power of thine Anger though we be even consumed by it ver 7. Wherefore in the first place let us learn and lay to heart the Power of the Lord's Anger for you see by Moses's complaint that scarce any knoweth it or considereth of it Whereupon it cometh to pass that Sin is 1. So slighted as it is in your Judgements 2. So embraced in your Affections 3. So multiplied in your Conversations because you do not once seriously consider the Powerfulness and Greatness of God's Wrath by which we are consumed one by one the very best not exempted The Second use Must godly Men who are like precious Wheat die like other men Then woe to the Ungodly which are but Chaff for what will become of them if God so deal with the green wood what will he do to the dry if he be so severe against his own for that old sin of Adam how rigorous then will he be against Aliens if they that are reconciled unto him by the death of his Son yet must taste of Deaths cup what will be the end then of you that are yet unreconciled Certainly my tongue is not able to express that unutterable and unspeakable Wrath which will most certainly seize on you unreconcil'd Adulterers Boasters Idolaters Lyars Cozeners and on you fierce proud envious worldly and covetous Men and Women for you must taste of a double Death the first and the second Rev. 21.8 Now how fearful and formidable the very first Death is you know all who ever saw a man unmann'd and laid in the dust to putrifie and to be meat for Worms whereby you may easily conceive how dreadful needs must be and will be both when one after another as it were shall require your souls as it is written Luke 12.19 20. Thou fool this night they shall require thy Soul from thee as the Original hath it Mark They shall require it and who be They but the first and the second Death as I conceive one seconding the other O think on this double Death all ye Drunkards and Fornicators Swearers Usurers Epicures Gurmands Atheists and Hypocrites and imagine in what a woful plight your Souls will be when those two Deaths shall so require them and they shall be forthwith thrown and cast into that formidable Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death Rev. 21.8 Lamentable was the case of the Men of Sodom when suddenly they saw and felt both Fire and Brimstone dropping down from Heaven upon their Bodies but infinitely more grievous woful and deplorable will be your condition then when these your immortal Souls shall begin to feel in a moment after their departure that ever-during Fire and Brimstone which the Lord in his Fury will rain upon them in that infernal Pit for as the †Bonavent Brevis cap. 6. pag. 7. peccant Spirit or Soul of man subjects it self to the baseness of sin perverting the Dignity of its Noble Nature so the order of God's Justice requireth that it as well as the Body should burn in the very dregs of worldly bodies corporeal Fire and Brimstone I mean which never shall be quenched This will be the Catastrophe of all your sports and delights and profits of your sinful Life It was a witty saying of a learned man That Marriage was a short and sweet song but that it hath a long and doleful close So of all the Pleasure we take in sin we may truly say that it is a Song short for the time and sweet for tune as long as it lasteth for it runneth much upon Quavers and Semiquavers of Mirth and Jubilation but the time suddenly changeth and the tune is altered for then followeth without rest the Sarges and Songs of sorrow and lamentation which cannot be measured by any time or uttered by any humane tongue Hence when one who had lived but a lewd and ungodly life was departing as one * Doctor Hill in his Direction to dye well p. 123. relates it of him he cryed out even in this World most lamentably O lamentable Destiny O infinite Calamity O Death without Death O those contiual Cryings which shall never be hearkened unto our eyes can see nothing but sorrowful Spectacles and intolerable Torments our ears can hear nothing but Wo Wo without end woful O thou Earth why dost not thou swallow O ye Mountains why do not ye cover us from the presence of the Judge How far do the Torments of Hell exceed all the tortures of this Life O ye bewitching Pleasures of this World how have ye led us blindfolded to the Horrors of Hell Wo wo for ever unto us who without hope are cast from the Favour of God so that after ten thousand years we might be delivered O that in any time we might have an end But it cannot be Our Temporal Pleasures have Eternal Pains our Mirth is now turned into Mourning and we are cast into Everlasting Fire Thus he I do not speak this to drive you to desperation but to perswade you to an alteration that you may change your Estates and Lives for better praying God All-powerful to turn you that you may be turned from your sins and he from the fierceness of his Wrath and so consequently may not come into that woful woful place of Torments which shall never have an End The Lord touch your Hearts that you may consider both your own Misery and this blessed Remedy and so may flie from that wrath which is to come The Third use If the Godly must die like other men then let every one of us that is Godly be more mindful of his own death then usually the very best are and let him make his particular application to himself Then I also must die as well as other men and moulder away into rottenness and dust see Deut. 23.29 Plato that Princeps Philosophia or Prince of Philosophy saith There is Nulla Salutatis Philosophia no wholsom Philosophy sed perpetua Mortis Meditatio but
drink of the same Cup too 7. Reas Nay how can they be conformable to the same eternal Son of God their Lord and Saviour as they must be even by the unalterable eternal Decree of God Rom. 8.29 if they should not die as he dyed leaving us all an Example to follow after As if he should have said as much in effect as once Gideon said to his followers Judg. 7.17 As I do so shall ye do or rather mutatis mutandis as I die so shall you die after The Third Prosecution Object You will say unto me Why then was Enoch translated before the Flood and Elias after and why saith the Apostle We shall not all sleep 1 Cor. 15.51 if good men must die as well as others To this I answer Sol. Their very Translation was not without a kind of Death for they were changed and Death is but a change Job 14.14 The same may be said of those 1 Cor. 15.51 2d Object If you reply But what meaneth then the Apostle by this Antithesis when he saith expresly We shall not all sleep but we shall be changed Sol. I answer These words have troubled some not a little and therefore we shall find three differing Latin Translations 1. Some read the words thus We shall not die but we shall all be changed 2. Others read them thus We shall all rise but we shall not all be changed 3. Others thus We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed The Cause of which diversity I conceive to be this Because some were offended by the Greek Copies as 〈◊〉 they did contradict that in Heb. 9.29 but we need 〈◊〉 go so far as they a Distinction 〈…〉 all There is a twofold Death 1. Ordinary 2. Extraordinary 1. The Ordinary is a Solution of the Soul from the Body 2. The Extraordinary is an Abolition of mans corruptible Nature Now then when the Apostle tells us We shall not all die but we shall all be changed the sence of his words is not that therefore some shall not die at all but only that some shall not die an ordinary death because their souls shall not be severed from their bodies which notwithstanding it may be said that they shall die a kind of death which we call Extraordinary because there cannot be a change without an abolition of the former corruptible Nature The Third Prosecution I should now set sail and lanch forthwith into the deep of your hearts by some powerful Application but that I must clear all things first behind me before I can comfortably commit my self to such a vast Sea of Matter as is now before me declaring what I mean by the Death of the Godly when I say They must die like other men 1. Some things their death hath common with the deaths of the Ungodly 2. Some thing it hath peculiar I. The Commonness of both Deaths consists in six Respects 1st Respect As the Souls of the Ungodly are separated from their Bodies so the Souls of the Godly unless God take them away by a Death Extraordinary like Enoch and Elias Ecles 12.7 2d Respect As the Dissolution being natural and not violent followeth in the one when natural heat faileth the radical humour being by heat dryed up and exhausted like Oyl in a Lamp which also thereupon goes out and is extinguished so in the other Hence it is that the Grecians have called the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they are humourless 3d. Respect As this Dissolution when it is * Cic. l. 1. Tuscul Quaest violent happeneth in the one either by a casual substraction of the radical humour or by a suffocation of the natural heat upon some opposition made inwardly or outwardly so in the other See 1 Sam. 31.6 4th Resp As the dissolution of the one if it be not sudden happeneth * Suarez Metaphys Disputat 11. to 1. sect 3. fol. 232. two wayes 1. By divers Alterations and Dispositions which precede the instant of Death and corrupt the subject 2. By that destruction which it causeth in the very instant of death So the other 5. Resp As the Dissolution of the one is not only a separation of their souls and bodies but also a dissolution of those things whereof their bodies were compounded which also is aptly called Corruption 1 Cor. 15.12 so the Dissolution of the other 6. Resp As the one leaveth this world and goeth hence to some other place so the other Psal 39.13 Acts 1.25 So that * Socrates apud Plat. Socrates's description of Death may well be received as very proper and pertinent Death is the souls change of one place for another II. The Peculiarity of the Death of the Godly consisteth or will appear in sive things 1. Though the Souls of the Godly be dis-joyned from their Bodies like the souls of others yet are they not so violently taken away like the souls of others Luke 12.20 but rather surrendred with their good will and liking Mat. 27.50 Acts 7.59 2. The death of the Godly is not only a dissolution of the soul and body but also a separation of both from Sin Rom. 6.7 3. It is an abolition of all humane Frailties Rev. 11.4 so that one may truly say of it as a Martyr said to his fellow-Martyr of that bloody Bishop of London My Lord of London will be our good Physitian and cure us both c. 4. It is but an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Peregrination as Socrates calls it or a Transitus and an Exodus a going over and comming out not an Interitus or going down I say it is an Exodus or going out like the comming of Israel out of Egypt for so the Godly do but leave this World which is like Egypt full of toyl and pass on even triumphantly thorow the abhorred Confines of the King of Fear being carried upon the wings of Joy and in the arms of Angels into the Celestial Canaan which is full of unknown Delights and endless bliss Luke 23.43 Rev. 14.13 5. Nay it is a making rather than a marring of them a reparation and not a destruction In a word a state of Perfection and not of Perdition for being dead they are said to be made perfect Heb. 12.23 So that the Hebrews have aptly termed Death in that regard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words being inverted are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words signifie Perfection and Innocency to shew that Death shuts up and sinisheth all Imperfection and makes compleat and perfect When therefore I say that the Godly also must die like others I regard those six Respects which their death hath common with the death of others for otherwise though they dye as well as others yet do not they die like others in regard of those five Peculiarities which here I have purposely specified that the vast Difference which is between the Death of both might appear and be
Spirit Mark first he calleth Christ Lord implying him to be his Redeemer and Owner that bought him Secondly He commendeth into his hands his spirit being perswaded that he was able to keep it and to restore it So * Such Examples are superadded for Illustration Babylas of Antioch the Martyr for he said when he was dying Return O my Soul unto thy rest because the Lord hath blessed thee because thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears my feet from falling I shall walk before the Lord in the Land of the living So †Dr. Hill in his direct to dye well p. 179. Peter Martyr for he said My Body is weak but my mind is well There is no Salvation but only by Christ who was given of the Father to be a Redeemer of mankind this is my Faith in which I die So blessed * Bagshaw in the life and death of Mr. Bolton p. 34. Bolton who when he was dying said to his hearers I feel nothing in my soul but Christ with whom I heartily desire to be So Pareus as the Preacher relates it in his Funeral-Sermon which I heard my self wrote to the same effect when his speech was gone This Catarrh hath taken away the use of my speech but he shall never rob me of my Faith in Christ The first Reason And it cannot be otherwise For 1. Their Faith can never fail them Luke 21.32 being like mustard-seed indeed Luke 17.6 which being ing once * Hemin l. 3. c. 24 sowen in a garden can hardly ever be rooted out again so that needs it must shew it self in death as well as life The second Reason 2. In death the Saints of God had most need of the use of their Faith by reason of First Satan who then will be sure to sift them as he sifted Peter Luke 22.31 and to bend all his forces against them to make them either presume or despair Secondly Carnal Reason which then will most of all discourage them suggesting such reasonings as these * Bernard Serm de Parm. 7 miserecord Who art thou or how great is that Glory and by which works thinkest thou to obtain it Thirdly Their own self-accusing Consciences who then above all times will most accuse them Rom. 2.15 being stirred up by Satan who is called the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12.10 So that they cannot but then especially exercise their Faith even as Souldiers in assaults and sharpest conflicts and battles when they must either conquer or die will then use their chiefest weapon most of all and so even die fighting if they must needs die like †Plutarchus Epaminondas who so ended his dayes in a fight I say the Saints cannot but so in like manner use their Faith as their principal weapon then most of all and so consequently die in with by and according to Faith APPLICATION For Application I 'll now deduce hence three Inferences 1. The Excellency of Saving-Faith 2. The Nullity of many mens pretended Faith 3. The Duty of all that will be counted godly and to be truly ennobled with Saving-Faith Of these in order The first Inference 1. Great then is the Excellency of Saving-Faith which holdeth out in death it self when Strength Physick Friends and all things else faile us Saul and Jonathan said David after their death were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their Death they were not divided 2 Sam. 1.23 The same may be said of all the Godly and their Faith after their departure that they were lovely and sweet companions in their lives and that in their very death they were not divided for These all dyed in the Faith saith the Apostle of the Godly that is as I shewed in my former Exposition with Faith having Faith for their companion in their death and expiration And therefore what do we talk of Silver Gold and earthly Jewels that they are excellent and precious things here is a Jewel indeed a most excellent and precious thing without all comparison even Saving-Faith which in death it self stands by us and tells us in a manner that whilst we breath it will never leave us nor forsake us yea abideth with us in some sort as * Est etiam fides rerum quando non verbis sed rebus ipsis praesentibus creditur quod erit cum per speciem manifest am se contemplandam praebebit Dei sapientia Aug. 2. quaest Evangel cap. 39. Est enim duples sides 1. Verborum in hac vita 2. Rerum in futura Vid. Lombard 1.3 dist 24. Ames Medulla Theol. lib. 2. c. 6. some say even after death which is more whereas neither Silver nor Gold nor Gemmes nor any other earthly thing can then stead us when the last breath leaves us the pangs of death are upon us O Faith Faith how admirable and amiable art thou therefore and must needs be in the eyes of him that hath thee for if heaps of Silver and Gold and Pearls which in death we must leave behind us be so precious as usually they are in the estimation of those that possess them thou must needs be or shouldst be infinitely more precious in the judgment of him who so hath thee as that in death it self he cannot lose thee O that my soul were but condignly affected with thy transcendent Excellency that so I might accordingly set that value and price upon thee as befits thy most rare and admirable Eminency And O that you also my Beloved were but thorowly convinced of this stupendious Excellency of Saving-Faith For then there is no question but you would labour more after so rare a Jewel as Faith is if you did want it and make more account and use of it then you do if you have it The Lord open your eyes that you may see the Orient Splendor and matchless worth of this rarest Pearl which in death it self will not depart from ye The Second Inference 2. This sheweth the Nullity of many mens pretended Faith for who will believe it that they have or ever had true Saving-Faith who before they come to die live so loosely as that Heathens and Turks themselves who are professed Infidels cannot well live more licensiously Of this sort are they that 1. Hate and despise so the Power of Religion in all those that are most happily ennobled with it 2 Tim. 3.12 2. Live so prophanely themselves as that Esau himself in his Prophaness could not out-strip them Heb. 12 16. caring neither for God nor Church nor Teacher nor Prayer nor Bible nor Sabbath nor any other part of God's most holy Worship 3. Tear so the sacred Name of God with their bloody Oaths In a word those that are so disobedient to Parents Husbands Masters and so angry fierce and passionate in their speeches so unfaithful unjust and deceitful in their dealings so mendacious and false in their communications so envious covetous and ambitious in their hearts and so lascivious filthy and
2. Grieve the Spirit that should comfort them Whereas careful providers for death rather 1. Blow up the good motions and workings of the Spirit as much as in them lyeth by their careful and holy walking and applying of the Lord's Promises so that needs they must feel more joy and comfort then others that do not so even as one that bloweth up Coals doth feel more heat then he which suffers them to go out 2. Please the Spirit of God and cherish his motions by their conformity to his Nature in that they labour to be as Spiritual as possible they may and so consequently to partake of his Nature so as that the Spirit being pleased and cherished cannot but please and cherish them again as they please and cherish him for if we that usually are very unkind and ungrateful yet cannot but be kind to those that be kind to us and make much of them as they make much of us how much more will that most kind and holy Spirit of God chear up those that cherish him and make much of them as they make much of him See Acts 9.31 how therefore they that walked in the fear of the Lord are also said to walk in the Comforts of the holy Ghost 2. Such are most fit for comfort and joy For 1. The muchness of Grace which is in them and procedeth from them cannot but be evidently seen and observed by them and cause them to joy in it and to be even exceeding glad for it like a man that hath and finds a treasure that was hid in his field see Mat. 13.44 Now the finding of such a Treasure will chear up the heart 2. The enlargment of their holy desires and endeavours cannot but procure joy which is an Laetitia quasi latitia enlargement of the Heart Psal 119.32 and is given to holy and careful walkers as a gracious remuneration from God Psal 97.11 3. Holy walkers and careful providers for death cannot but attain to a most happy consecution of that good which they desire even the enjoying of Christ by Faith a cognition or knowledge of the same consecution which is * Delectatio requirit consecutionem boni convenientis et consecutionis cognitionem Tho. Aquin. 1.2 q. 32. a. 1. required unto delectation as well as the consecution it self so that they cannot but rejoyce more or less sooner or later with that joy which is called Unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.7 8. or at least with a lesser degree of joy if God for causes best known to himself be pleased to suspend and to deny that higher degree of rejoycing 4. They are in a manner in Heaven already and Heaven is in them in that they mind nothing almost but Heaven as I shewed that men ought so to do so as that they cannot but joy in that which is so full of joy enjoying the very same objective Happiness with the Saints in Heaven though not the same subjective Happiness as not being yet capable of it for if he that is but in a Goldsmiths shop cannot but receive some splendor from the Gold that is in it how much more shall they that mind nothing but Heaven and so have their conversation in Heaven partake also more or less of that Joy Blessedness which is in Heaven and which the true Believer seeth as it were and beholds by his Faith and seeing admireth and admiring in a manner possesseth for by Hope we are saved already saith the Apostle Rom. 8.24 * Arist 2. Rhetor 11. Aristotle saith expresly That Admiration is the cause of Joy and Delectation because it maketh us hope that we shall acquire something which is delectable and joyful And therefore conceive ye what Joy the vision taking possession of Heaven it self which is so rare and so full of admiration must needs cause in a truly serious savingly believing mind For your greater delight and encouragement I 'll here set down some of those triumphant passages which some careful Providers for Death have uttered to this purpose a little before they were by Death unmanned I feel a light said * Fox Justus Jusbery one of Christ's blessed Martyrs which refreshes me with joy far above that which I am able to express desiring nothing more now then to be dissolved and to be with Christ So Adolphus Clarebachius Martyr at his death I believe there is not a merrier heart in the world at this instant than mine And for my part said Mr. Deering as concerning death I feel such joy of spirit that if I should have the sentence of lise on the one side and the sentence of death on the other side I had rather chuse a thousand times seeing God hath appointed the separation the sentence of death than the sentence of life So Mr. John Holland a fruitful Minister of God's Word having the day before he dyed continued his Meditation and Exposition upon Rom. 8. for the space of two hours or more said on a sudden O stay your reading what Brightness is this that I see have ye lighted any Candles No said one it is the Shunshine Sunshine said he No it is my Saviours Shine Now farewel world welcome Heaven the Day-Star from on high hath visiced my heart O speak it when I am gone and preach it at my Funeral for he spake to a Minister c Mr. Leigh in his Sermon intitled The Souls Solace against Sorrow p. 17. who relates it God deals familiarly with men I feel his Mercy I see his Majesty whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God he knows but I see things unutterable O what a happy change shall I make from night to day from darkness to light from death to life from sorrow to solace Thus joyful holy Walkers and true Believers have been at their departure and therefore be ye perswaded to trace their steps and to follow as ye ought those most needful Directions and Rules which were formerly delivered that so living and so dying by with and according to Faith you may also be mounted as the said Believers were upon the wings of Joy and feed as they did on those ravishing and transcendent Comforts which God like Manna is wont to rain down upon his holy Walkers in this men devouring Wilderness the World I mean from which God in mercy bring us all in the end of our dayes to a World of Joy and Glory which shall never have an end Amen Soli Deo Gloria FINIS
several duties which I have mentioned formerly but we must not cease to put them forward stil and that by Force imitating in this that eminent Convert mentioned formerly blessed Austin I mean whose words are these after he had heard so much of those Worthies which one Potitian a Courtier and a Captain had spoken of to him how they did take Heaven by Violence leading constantly a most strict austere and vertuous Life and had withdrawn himself a little what did I not say against my self in this conflict for he was put thereby into a grievous strait How did I beat and whip mine own soul to make her follow thee O Lord namely constantly for many were her fits but she held back she refused and excused her self and when all her arguments were convicted she remained trembling and fearing as death to be restrained from her loose custom of sinning whereby she consumed her self even unto death As he thus whipt and forced his own soul so let us ours for have not ours their many sits and shists too drawing back when we are almost perswaded and make us give over in our several Performances of the Duties of Prayer and Meditation and such-like when we are almost over but hold them to it as he did his though they be never so averse nay though they do even tremble at it and pine at it and would rather not be than lose then loâ—se courses O Christians our Constancy will coronate all our labours and remunerate all our good Endeavours used for Heaven Heaven at last will pay for all Wherefore let us neither faint nor fail though never so much either discouraged or opposed For a farther manifestation and prosecution of all this that I have spoken I 'll use this familiar Comparison There is a Rock in the midst of the vast and boysterous Ocean Sea the proud Waves of which beat upon it the fierce Winds beat against it those immeasurable Seas of water which are in it encompass it but do either Winds or Waves or Waters move it or are they able to remove it or to break it No no they cannot they cannot Now a true Christian is such a Rock like Peter whose Name signifies a Rock and therefore no Winds of Persecution no Waves of Temptation no Seas of Affliction should turn him aside from his Stedfastness nor from his holy Conversation nor from his going to take Heaven by Violence but he ought to be as stedfast and unmoveable as others be unstable vain light and variable We have a notable place for this 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved Brethren Be ye stedfast unmovable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Do ye hear this Sirs what is required of you do ye see what ye must be I believe you do and therefore let every man here present prove a constant man and hold out firmly and strongly till he be unmann'd by death that he may be saved and heavened after death everlastingly which God in mercy grant 2. Be perswaded to force the Kingdom of Heaven it self Q. If you ask me How I answer By a forcible Entry striving 1. To enter in at that strait Gate which is called Christ 2. To press thorow that narrow Way of the difficultest and strictest of all good Works 3. To break thorow the Ranks Files of your great and mighty Enemies which are betwixt you and it 4. To pass with Courage and Patience through great Tribulations 1. Striving to enter in at that strait Gate which is called Christ Mat. 7.13 compared with John 9.10 where Christ himself saith I am the Door Many think that it is the easiest thing in the world to come to Christ and by him to Heaven but they are utterly deceived for so strait and strict is Christ as that he will not allow us so much as a look cast upon a woman to lust aster her in our hearts Mat. 5.28 nor any thing more in our ordinary communications to bind them than Yea or Nay saying Whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil that is as Expositors say of an evil Conscience or of the Devil ver 37. nor any private resistance to be made against evil for * That is resist not out of revenge any evil offered to you resist not Evil saith he ver 39. nor any miscalling of any man by the name of Fool or the like nor yet any passionate sit of anger or the like ver 22. nor any one sin else whatsoever it be for Sin no more saith he John 9.11 and if thy right eye offend thee that is cause thee to sin for the Original is Scandalise thee and sins are Scandals that is †Jun. in loc Stones at which we stumble pluck it out and cast it from thee and if thy right-hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee Mat. 5.29 30. to shew that * Christus hyperbolice docet resecandum quicquid nos impedit ne obsequium Deo praestemus Idem in loc any sin though it be as dear or near as ones right eye or hand must be cast away from us if we would not be Cast-awayes our selves nor have the doom and sentence of Damnation past upon us And besides O! what a hard thing it is by Faith to go into Christ and to lay hold on Christ to believe Christ or a Christ is nothing to that That poor man in the Gospel Mark 9.24 how he wept and cryed when he was to Believe in Christ Take one Comparison more from a Rock A man is Ship-wrackt at Sea but seeth a fair great Rock in the midst of the Sea and strives to get upon it but the Rock is high and he can sind nothing to hold by and besides when he comes very near it the winds and waves of the Sea beat him from it and if with much ado he get upon it one wave of the Sea raketh over his head and another and another and is like to wash him clean away and to cast him back again into the midst of the Sea This man is every man that goeth by Faith to lay hold on Christ for he is one that hath suffered Ship-wrack as well as others in our Father Adam and Christ is like a Rock in the midst of the Sea 1 Cor. 10.4 which this poor Ship-wrackt-man espies and whom to he draws and swims and makes to lie hold on by Faith to save himself in him and by him but Christ is high in his terms upon which he will be taken as ye were told just now and besides when this poor man comes to fasten himself upon him and to hold him he can find no Faith to hold by and so cries out and saith O I have no Faith not so much as a grain of mustard seed and therefore how can I lay hold on Christ O I must needs be cast away and be suffocated and drowned in those
a perpetual Meditation of Death It is saith Scipio The most honourable Philosophy to study a mans Mortality The Meditation of Death is the Life of the Wise nay it is the very Life of a Christian Life say I and the greatest wisdom of the Godly who is truly wise And therefore to help our selves herein The First Help Let us now and often pray with Moses the man of God Lord teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Psal 90.12 The Second Help Let us take an occasion by every thing we see to remember our latter end for as King Philips Remembrancer told him every day Philippe memento Mori Philip remember that thou must die so every Creature almost that comes to our view minds us of our Death saying as much to each of us in effect Remember man that thou also must die I 'le instance in Particulars The First Instance Our very Shooes we wear being made of Skins of dead Beasts tell us so much and therefore when we put them on let us remember that we also must die The Second Instance Our Victuals we eat being the flesh of dead Beasts say so much and therefore we need not then a Deaths-head to put us in mind of Death * Lang. Pol. as in ancient time among the Egyptians Deaths Picture was shewed to men at their Feasts to mind them of Death the Meat it self representing the Image of Death is a sufficient remembrancer whereby we may if we will yea ought to remember our Mortality The Third Instance When we walk in the coloured Fields and view the gay Diaperie of the Earth we may thereby be put in mind of Death for every Pile of Grass and every fading flower there tell us of it so as that we might if we did not turn our deaf ear to such Powerful Lectures hear as it were a Voice behind us saying All flesh is as Grass and all the Goodliness thereof as the Flower of the Field the Grass withereth the Flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Isa 90.6 I pray you therefore take notice of this Lesson The Fourth Instance The Earth we tread on preacheth the same Lecture telling us that being compounded of that Element we must needs return again unto it according to that * Damasc l. 1. de Fide c. 4. Philosophical Axiome Whatsoever is compacted of Elements must needs be dissolved again into the same Wherefore as often as we do but look on the Earth let us remember the Word of the Lord Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return Gen. 3.19 The Fifth Instance The Corps Sepulchres and Monuments of the Dead tell every one of us so much saying as it were Hodie mihi Cras tibi To day it is my turn to morrow it may be thine Wherefore I advise you to walk now and then up and down in a Church or Church-Yard and to view such Sepulchres and Monuments of the deceased deliberately for then you cannot but mind your own Mortality reading theirs upon their silent Tombs and memorials engraved with most legible Characters not so much in Marble as in the very dust wherein they lie and unto which they are returned The Sixth Instance Your own frail Bodies consisting of contrary Elements as Fire Air Water Earth I mean the four Humours Choler Blood Phlegm Melancholic which are like them combating and fighting one against another can tell you that needs there must follow a dissolution for as I told you Composition is the beginning of a Combate a Combate of Separation a Separation of a Dissolution Wherefore as in old time one came after the ancient Emperors riding in their Tryumphant Chariots crying with a loud voice †Tertul. in Apol. adv Gentes cap. 33. Respice post te Look behind thee So let me now come after all those high and hurtful conceits which you have had of your own Parts Worth Strength Youth Wealth Health and after all those applauding Flatterers which have made you often too secure saying with a loud Voice Look but upon your selves and behold your Bodies which a thousand wayes may be on a sudden dissolved though but one way they entered into this present World for whilst you are speaking walking eating writing thinking or sleeping these four contrary Elements are ever fighting whereupon as in other Battels one party may prevail in an instant and cause a great slaughter so one of them may prove predominant and cause a final dissolution of your weak and mortal Bodies and this may fall out so even suddenly and unexpectedly as experience hath taught us by the sudden Deaths of many who had not so much leisure as once to speak one word more after they were so suddenly and violently assaulted The Seventh Instance When you go to bed you are even by that silent custom of yours thought and told you of your Mortality for how can there be almost a more lively emblem of Mans dying than 1. His unraying of himself which may mind him of the putting off his Body of Earth 2 Cor. 5.4 2. His * Cum in lecto cubas sit tibi ipse jacentis habit is figura in Sepulchro Clausi Isid de summo bone lying down upon his Bed which may put him in mind of his lying down in the Grave which will be his Bed 3. His very sleeping which may call to his mind his last and longest sleep when he shall sleep in his Death and rise no more till at that great and dreadful day of the last Doom the shril and loud sounding Voyce of the Son of God shall awake him out of his sleep saying Surgite Mortui venite ad Judicium Rise O ye Dead and come to Judgment Hence the very * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Iliad 14. Heathen as well as the †Chron. 21.1 Acts 1.60 Pen-men of Gods Holy Spirit have resembled Death to a sleep and called sleep Deaths * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mnesimachus Com. Mystery and Death Sleeps Brother So †In Filiavel scient bené moriendi Fol. 47. Synopa the Cynick being nigh his end and very sleepy said to his Physician awakening him Ne mireris frater fratrem autevertit Wonder not at my sleeping one Brother preceds another * Pausan in Lacon Pausauias in like manner writes of the Laconiens that they set up two Simulachres for Death and Sleep as two Brethren Wherefore I beseech you that as often as you are going to bed to take your natural rest you will constantly remember by these three things that one needful thing which is Death making a particular application of each emblem as thus let a Godly man say to himself As now I go to my bed so I must go to my Grave and as I put off my Cloaths so ere long nay this night it may be I must put off my Earthly Tabernacle which is my Body and as I shall fall asleep and know
wanton in their lives these even all these questionless neither have now nor ever had yet that true and Saving-Faith in which by which with which and according to which the Godly who only are true Believers both live and die for they rather live in their sins in general and by their cozening cheating usurious lending and lying in special and according to their envious lustful covetous ambitious prophane and atheistical hearts desire than in by with and according to Saving-Faith and as they live so they will die unless God grant them Faith and Repentance before in with and according to their sins Nam qualis vita finisita For as men live so they die usually My meaning is 1. As here they have no Faith so in death they shall have no Comfort nor Joy nor Peace Isa 48.22 2. And as here they could not live without scoffing deriding swearing cursing cozening lying contending whoring and prophaning of God's Sacred Name Word and Sacraments so after their death they shall not be able to live without suffering the Vengeance of Eternal Fire for their boldness in sinning Rom. 2.8 9. 3. And as here they did even exceed in their drink pride malice envy wrath strife contention lust avarice atheism authotheism polytheism and epicurism so God will exceed in punishing adjudging and condemning them to so much greater torments than others as they have been greater and more heinous offenders than other for God will render unto every man according to his deeds Rom. 2.6 Mark According that is proportionably Hence (b) Bonaventura Brevil p. 7. c. 7. Bonaventure because that infernal Fire burneth not but according to the disposition of sin and of that guilt and spot which preceding the improbity of lust hath contracted and because that is not equal in all therefore it is that some are more burnt than others in the same This will be the catastrophe end and period of all such as do not or will not live and die according to Faith but according to their sinful desires He that suffreth least in that Infernal Lake suffers more pain than all they together who either were troubled with the Stone Gout Cholick Strangury or else were racked skinned boiled in Oyl rosted upon a Spit or Gridiron burnt starved or buried alive (c) Haec omnia quae hic patimur merus lusus ac risus sunt sicum illis suppliciis in contentionens veniant Chrys ad pop Ant. hom 49. all these things which men here suffer are but a meer play sport a laughingmatter being compared with those unutterable unexpressable and unconceivable Tortures which by any damned wrecth are to be indured in that horrid Dungeon called Hell to all eternity And therefore conceive proportionably how grievous and how insufferable will be the burning of some among us who having outmatched others in sinning shal suffer to the very uttermost the vengeance of that merciless Fire without ease or end O my Brethren how can you sit here so quietly under your Ministry you that are guilty of such sins as convince you to be both void of Saving-Faith and also to be the persons that shall endure those unspeakable Tortures and burn in those merciless Flames which will torment you for ever and ever so as that you shall have no rest or ease neither day nor night The third Inference 3. If godly men being Believers do not only live by Faith but also die in with by and according to Faith then it behooveth us to die so too whensoever we shall be called to that state if we count our selves to be of the number of the Godly and will be certain of it To help those which heartily desire to be informed herein I 'll in the next place set down such Principles as are most necessary to the right happy attaining to such a blessed Death Four Principles 1. (d) These two Principles the first and second make mightily and mainly for that Preparation which is to be made against the day of Death They that will die so must first live so as that they may die so 2. (d) These two Principles the first and second make mightily and mainly for that Preparation which is to be made against the day of Death They must make comfortable provision for death 3. They must be sure that they have Faith 4. They must use their Faith according to that condition in which then they are Of these methodically For the first 1. They must live so that is 1. As Abraham who dyed in the Faith left his own Countrey and died (e) Mors Civilis nihil aliud est quam exilium civis Dr. Vulteius Jurispr l. 1. c. 24. Civilly before he died Corporally vers 8. So must they leave their native soil which is the Countrey of sin and die to sin mortifying the Body of sin before Death approaching dissolves the body of earth Col. 3.5 I am not ignorant of the extream difficulty of this heavy Task unto which I perswade the Godly and therefore I 'll labour to facilitate it as much as I may affording a few Subsidies which I desire God to bless unto you The first Subsidy 1. Set Faith on work that mighty Conquerour and then the conquest will be very facile and easie for This is our victory that overcometh the World even our Faith 1 John 5.4 Quest How shall I overcome sin by Faith Answ Believe verily that sin shall not over-power thee though it trouble thee Because 1. God hath promised thee that it shall not have dominion over thee Rom. 6.12 2. Christ himself hath died for thee that sin might not live but die in thee Tit. 2.14 2. Unsheath against sin when it assaults thee the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God as Christ himself did Mat. 4. 3. Discharge the great Ordnance of Prayer against it as Paul did 2 Cor. 12.8 4. Famish it by detaining and withholding all such occasions from it as usually feed it like Joseph Gen. 39.10 5. Over-awe it and affright it continually with the gresly remembrance of Death for then as all the men of Israel fled when they saw Goliah that huge lump of flesh with his deadly weapons about him 1 Sam. 17.24 so all your sins will flee as not daring to shew themselves in the presence of death who with his deadly arrowes may shoot you and cut off the silver Cords of your precious and dear Life in the very act of sin So as that you may do well to reason thus with yourselves when fin doth entice you would I do so if I were now to die No no and therefore why should I yeeld to such an evil in the which it may please God to cut me off by death so as that I shall not be able to say so much as God be merciful unto me a sinner See Eccles 7.33 6. Assure your selves that nothing will plague you more when you come to die than such sins as did not die before you
of Heaven And therefore imprint them all in your memories that so those everlasting Spirits of yours breathed into your bodies by the All-powerful God I mean your Souls may feed on them and sill themselves with them and be revived by them so consequently with such Honey-sweet-Cordials strengthening them may go hence when the time of their departure is come to God your Heavenly Father as Sampson to his Father with Honey in his mouth for he came eating Judg. 14.9 The third Principle You must make it sure that you have faith by an infallible Tryal 2 Cor. 13.5 trying your selves often by these three never-deceiving Signs 1. A thorow Humiliation Acts 2.37 2. A thorow Purgation from sin even every known sin so as that none reigns or rules in the heart Acts 15.9 3. A thorow Sanctification Acts 26.18 manifesting it self by a constant and earnest endeavour to walk in all God's Holy Commandments in general Luke 1.6 and by love unfained in special I mean that singular Love which the true Believer bears to God in Christ above all seeking his Glory in all things and more then all things and to the Châ—â—dren of God for God Gal. 6.5 1 John 3.14 Of which love St. * Aug. de Trin. l. 8. c. 7. Austin saith truly That a man knoweth more the love with which he loveth then his Brother whom he loves The Fourth Principle You are to make use of your Faith when death approacheth as the state of a dying Believer requireth it observing these ensuing Rules The First Rule A dying Believer must set his House in order Isa 38. and if he be free and of ability and have not done so before make his last Will and Testament according to Faith believing verily that God will be a Father to his Children if he be a Father and a Husband to his Wife if a Husbard and that he will bless that well-gotten Estate which he leaveth to his God-fearing Posterity whether it be much or little so as that they shall find content in it and so far forth as his blessing of it shall make for their good The Second Rule He must according to Faith possess his Soul in * Cum eâ—iâ—â— Deus sit qui nos castigat is misericordiae suae non obliviscatur cur it a nos conficimur marere cur solvimur in ejulator Cur murmuramus fremimus Doctor Daniel Tisianus in Lament 4.39 Patience eying by Faith such places as these Isa 26.3 Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 4.17 The consideration whereof caused an ancient * Aug. in Psal 36. Cenc 2. Doctor to say most aptly When thou dost consider what thou art to receive all the things that thou sufferest here imagine the most bitter pains pangs which thou must undergoe in thy last and sorest sickness will be vile unto thee neither wilt thou esteem them worthy for which thou shouldst receive it Thou wilt wonder that so much is given for so small a labour For indeed Brethren for everlasting rest everlasting labour should be undergone being to receive everlasting felicity thou oughtest to sustain everlasting sufferings but if thou shouldest undergoe everlasting labour when shouldst thou come to everlasting felicity So it cometh to pass that thy tribulation must needs be Temporal that it being finished thou mayest come to infinite felicity But yet Brethren there might have been long tribulation for eternal Felicity That for example because our felicity shall have no end our misery and our tribulations add sickness in special should be of long continuance for admit they should continue a thousand years weigh a thousand years with eternity Why dost thou weigh that which is finite be it never so great with that which is infinite Ten thousand years ten hundred thousand if we should say and a thousand thousand which have an end cannot be compared with Eternity So Macarius the Eygptian Anchorete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 15. Touching the Gift which Christians shall inherit this a man may rightly say that if any one from the time Adam was created unto the very end of the world did fight against Satan and undergo afflictions add or should be so long visited with the most grievous sickness he should do or suffer no great matter in respect of the Glory that he shall inherit for he shall reign with Christ without end 3. Let him give good instructions to the Survivers according to Faith like Jacob Gen. 49.2 3 4 c. and like (e) Dr. Hill in his Directions to die well p. 129. St. Austin who being near his end said Nature compelleth me to be dissolved I according to the Scripture phrase am to go the way of my fore-Fathers Now Christ inviteth me now I desire to see celestial Sights O keep you the Faith think you also that ye are mortal men Let this be your care to keep the Commandments of God if you regard me or keep any remembrance of me your Father think of these things savour these things do these things 4. Let him take his fill and farewel of Repentance viewing confessing and lamenting his sins as much as he can according to Faith and in Faith that is believing verily that he shall see them no more again for ever even as the Children of Israel saw the Egyptians of whom they were so much afraid no more again for ever Exod. 14.13 5. When he is brought to the very confines of that King of fear so as that now forthwith he must yield up his Ghost then let him even sleep up in Faith and die in the Lord according to Faith Rev. 14.13 I 'll explicate my meaning herein by these few Directions 1. Let him now eye the Promises formerly gathered for the same purpose like those antient Believers Heb. 11.13 2. Let him labour to be perswaded of them as they were Ibidem 3. Let him even imbrace the Lord Christ in the arms of his faith as old Simeon imbraced him in the armes of his body believing verily 1. That he died for him in particular that he might not die the death which is eternal Gal. 2.20 2. That he purchased Heaven for him in particular as the Author of his Salvation Heb. 5.9 like sweet (b) Guillermus de vita St. Bernard l. 1. c. 12. St. Bernard who when he seemed to stand before God's dreadful Tribunal in a grievous sickness told Satan accusing him That he for his part was not worthy indeed of everlasting Life but that his Lord and Saviour Christ having a twofold right to it by inheritance and by vertue of his passion was contented with the one and did impart unto him the other So let him perswade himself in like manner and answer the same Accuser of the Brethren in the same words if he trouble him as at such a time he is wont to do with his accusations to drive him to desparation 3. Let him pray in Faith to the Lord saying either with Stephen the Proto-Martyr Lord
Jesus receive my spirit Acts 7.59 or with Christ himself Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Luke 23.46 and if God seem to be angry at that time then let him interpose the Death of his Son between his Wrath and his own soul in his last prayers saying (c) Hosius in Confess petrocoviens c. 13. I enterpose the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ betwixt me and thine anger no otherwise do I contend with thee And if he say to him Thou art a sinner let him answer Lord I put the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ betwixt thee and my sins If he say Thou hast deserved Damnation say I set the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ betwixt me and my bad merits and I offer his Merits instead of the merits which I ought to have but yet have not Thus I instruct the dying Christian to pray as men were taught many hundred years agone and therefore I beseech you that you will lay up these sayings in your hearts as Mary the thrice blessed Virgin the Shepherds words Luke 2.19 that so you may be able with much readiness to prompt them and to make use of them according to Faith and in Faith to your unutterable and endless Comfort which the Lord of Life in mercy grant unto you Let me add a few Incentives and then I have done So doing as hath been shewed in all these Rules and Directions you shall purchaseto your selves 1. Much Boldness 2. Much Quietness 3. Much Chearfulness 1. Much Boldness There is a twofold Boldness 1. A Well-grounded 2. A Groundless The one is good the other is bad 1. The good and Well-grounded I mean which proceedeth 1. From Righteousness and an holy walking with God which maketh a man as bold as a Lyon Prov. 28.1 For as the * Hemin l. 1. c. 105. Lyon being pursued by the Hunter doth not hide but rather shew himself and counteth it a great shame to flee yea * Isidore Etymol l. 6. looketh the Hunter in the very face and is not affrighted or daunted but rather encouraged So careful holy Walkers do not flie or shrink or fear or hide their faces but shew themselves most when death is nearest and are bold even to look him in the face as we may note in the three Children when they were threatned with death yea with a most grievous and extraordinary Death Dan. 3.18 and in divers holy Martyrs I 'll instance but in one * Ignatius Epist ad Pim. de Smyrna per Ephes O that I might but once enjoy those Beasts said Ignatius which are prepared for me and which I wish may quickly consume me and not being terrified abstain from me as they did from others and if they will not touch me I 'll impel and urge them Forgive me I know what is expedient for me let the Fire the Cross the constancy of Beasts Abscision Separation confraction of all my Members and a dissolution of my whole body and all Satans whips come to me that I may win Christ Thus he 2. From a holy Confidenc in God upon former experiences for such as be so careful to walk so holily as hath been formerly shewed cannot but find much sweetness in God and receive many tokens of love and favour from God Psal 31.19 20. so that needs they must be very confident in their lives bold at last in their death The Hebricians call therefore Boldness Betac Confidence because it proceedeth from it and the (b) Aqum 2. Sent. dist 26. q. 1. a. 3. Schools define it by Considence II. Much Quietness For 1. There can be no such discord as is and must be in careless providers for Death between 1. The Law of God and their own Consciences because they strive to the utmost to agree with it that it may not prove in the end their greatest adversary So Austin understands our Saviours speech Mat. 5.25 2. Hope and Reason for Reason it self cannot but reason for them upon such grounds drawn from holy Writ as cannot be denied For instance that one pregnant passage 2 Pet. 1.10 11. cannot but afford such a Premise as must needs infer for them a most firm Conclusion that entrance shall be ministred unto them upon their diligence in making their Calling and Election sure by an Holy Walking into the everlasting lasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Christ 3. God himself and them for In every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10.35 and as without Faith its impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 so with and by Faith a man cannot but please God and so be at peace with God Rom. 5.1 2. They that shall follow these Rules shall fix their minds upon the Lord 's never-failing Promises according to one of the said Rules and therefore they must needs be very quiet stayed and firm for the Promises are most firm even Yea and Amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 and therefore they that stay themselves in them must needs be so too even as he that buildeth upon a Rock builded firmly and as he that standeth upon a Rock stands firmly Hence when an holy Man was asked how he could pass his last sickness so without any trouble he answered That he did ever eye that excellent promise in Esa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because be trusteth in thee True it is that some holy Walkers and eminent Believers as Mr. Glover Mr. Peacock and others have been much troubled for all this in their latter end which may seem to cross what I have said but their trouble was not perpetual For fiâ—st They had comfort at last 2. Was rather a kind of peace then a war for their trouble was a war with Satan Now our war with Satan as Tertullian saith truly Is our peace because it brings peace at last 3. Was extraordinary whereas ordinarily an holy walking and confidence brings quietness and so I desire to be understood I close up therefore the prosecution of this second Incentive with a Speech like unto that which an Hebrew Interpreter made to King Ptolomy asking him How he might be at rest when he Dreamed Let Piety be the scope of all thy sayings and doings for by applying all thy Discourses and Works to excellent things whether thou sleepest or wakest thou shalt have quiet rest in regard of thy self Thus he And as he said to him so say I unto you would ye die and sleep up quietly then do as he advised him and put your trust in the Lord withall and it will be so 3. Much chearâ—ulness which is a higher degree of comfort being Positive wheras quietness is Negative comfort I or 1. There is not such cause and matter of discomfort and sadness in such as do so carefully provide for death and labour to die in and according to Faith as in other loose and careless persons who 1. Quench the Spirit that should comfort them