world Joh. 16.33 These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have Peace In the World ye shall have Tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the World Thirdly It is a peace that springs up from Purity and Sanctification the heart being purged the Conscience refined the Soul is full of peace within by the help of the testimony of a good Conscience goeth triumphant into his Eternal rest Thirdly Reason Reasons I shall give you some grounds or Reasons why they that are Perfect and Upright in their life shall certainly have peace in their death Reason 1 Reas 1. Because the God of peace hath an infinite intimate and everlasting love for his upright ones he loves them and they love him above all the world Cant. i. 4. We will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy love more than wine the upright love thee And he loves them as in Psal xi 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright He bids us behold the upright yea he beholds them with delight himself And in Psalm iv 3. He hath set apart him that is godly for himself he hath made a Covenant with them a Covenant of Peace and because he loves them he will lodge them in his Bosom Though Death can break the Knot of all human love and friendship yet it can never loosen the Bond of Divine Love as the Apostle says in Rom. viii 37 38. Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us For I am persuaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come Nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Secondly Reason 2 Reas 2. Because he hath proclaimed and promised Peace Rest and Glory to such Isa lvii 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness And Rev. xiv 13. And 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 works do follow them And Psalm lxxxiv 11. The Lord God is a Sun and Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory no good thing will be withhold from them that walk uprightly His time of Life is his time of War at the instant of Death the Warfare is ended and everlasting peace proclaimed his life is his Seed-time his end is the beginning of Harvest a full Harvest of peace and joy Psalm xcvii 11. Light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the Upright in heart When the body and soul of the Upright do part asunder the body betakes it self to rest in the Grave the soul flies into the regions of peace in the Divine Presence Thirdly Reason 3 Reas 3. Because God is righteous and he will recompence his Saints 2 Thess i. 6 7. It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you And to you that are troubled rest with us And thus you shall see Christ leading them into a land of peace Rev. vii 14 15 16 17. These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes It is great trouble that Saints undergo and a hard matter for a man to maintain his integrity amidst so many snares frowns and flatteries of the world This is their great comfort and encouragement and shall be their reward to inherit peace at the last As Lamech said Gen. v. 29. When the Lord gave him his Son Noah whose name signifies Rest and whose person was a type of Christ This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed Which the Apostle also intimates 1 Cor. xv 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Implying 1. That Saints are not altogether hopeless in this life 2. That all their hope is not here Fourthly Reason 4 Reas 4. Because when a Perfect and Upright man dieth he is gone out of the reach of all those things that might annoy his peace where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary be at rest Job iii 17. and are wafted over into Emmanuel's Land where they have all those glorious enjoyments in which they shall eternally acquiesce 1. He is totally freed from all evil sin cannot be there Rev. 21.27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Here he is full of complaints Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death But when he dies he sings this Epinikion I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2. When the Perfect and Upright man dies he and his Portion and Inheritance are brought together the Heir is restless in his expectations till he comes to the Inheritance but here the Portion is God himself which the Saint hath many times with much pleasure survey'd and hath had thereof many a delightful prospect of Faith rejoycing in it as sweet and full and satisfying and now doth possess that Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for him in Heaven 1 Pet. 2.4 and shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thes 3.17 3. He comes to enjoy his Beloved in Glory of whom he said when he saw him by Faith Cant. 5.10 My Beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousands and in the 16. verse Yea he is altogether lovely What will he say when he shall see him and be with him in his highest Exaltations in Glory 4. All his Graces shall be then compleated and there shall be no more place for desire for he shall sit down at that Fountain-head where is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Verse 1 Vse Informs that if the Perfect and Upright mans end be Peace then his life is full of trouble he hath trouble within and trouble without as the Apostle says of himself 2 Cor. 7.5 That he had no rest in the flesh but was troubled on every side without were fightings within were fears Saints in this life sail as it were upon a Sea of glass mingled with fire the Persecutions of men the Buffetings of Satan the Law in their Members make their present state unquiet How
did he deal with that holy and upright Man Job read the History of his Patience and you shall see If the Devil be at any time silent the World will make an out-cry If the World with-hold its rage for a little space the Devil will invade their spirits It is said of him that when he accosted the Lord Jesus Christ himself and had spent all his Arrows against him Luk. 4.13 When the Devil had ended all the temptation he departed from him for a season If he left him but for a little while in whom he could find nothing to fasten one temptation upon as Christ says in John 14.30 The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me Will he ever leave his Saints who have too much matter in them for his temptations to work upon He will not suffer them to be a moment quiet 1. He is continually striving against the very Being of Grace this Abaddon would utterly destroy it and maintains a War against it the Flesh lusting against the Spirit but that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world 2. He is disturbing the exercise of Grace his posture you shall see in Zach. 3.1 And he shewed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him I have often thought in my solemn retirements of Anselms Bird fastned to a stone by a thread often striving to flie up but the weight of the stone as often pull'd him down again A true Emblem of a gratious Soul who many times endeavours to get up into the Divine Presence but as oft as he attempts it the Devil is at hand to hinder and pluck him down again Verse 2 Vse 2. If the Perfect and Upright mans end shall be Peace then the days of the Upright man shall have an end the Psalmist says Psal 39.5 6. Verily every man at his best state is altogether Vanity Surely every man walketh in a vain shew There is an Emphasis in every word Man is Vanity every man is Vanity every man at his best state is Vanity he is altogether Vanity verily it is a certain truth surely every man walks in a vain shew his life is but the shew or shadow of a life That Sentence is unto all Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return and there is no exemption from that general Statute-law Heb. 9.27 It is appointed to all men once to die and after death the judgment Heretofore to the Fathers of old their Lives were like a long Summers day but as sin at first brought in death so as sin multiplied it shortned mens days and now our Lives are like a Winters day in all respects cold cloudy dark and short 't is no sooner Morning but the Night approacheth Jer. 6.4 I may allude to that place The day goeth away the shadows of the Evening are stretched out Two things may be deduced from hence First Here is comfort for the Perfect and Upright man though his life be trouble yet his end will come and bring him peace the great Devourer the Grave that swallows up others shall give him meat and the strong Lion Death that feeds on others shall yield him sweetness When Abraham had fought hard till the going down of the Sun and rescued Lot that was taken Captive Melchizedeck met him with Bread and Wine for his refreshment who was King of the City of Peace So when the upright Saint hath been in his hot disputes to deliver his soul from his Spiritual Enemies our Melchizedeck the Lord Jesus Christ will refresh him with Bread and Wine for his Flesh is Meat indeed and his Blood is Drink indeed and will lead him into the City of Salem a Land of Peace as the Apostle 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finish'd my course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and after many a terrible shock and dangerous storm the perfect and upright Saint through the wise conduct of his Pilot shall arrive safely at his desired Port of peace For there remaineth a rest to the People of God Heb. 4.9 Secondly If the Perfect and Upright man doth die then here is matter of serious consideration and lamentation for the living the life of Saints is to be desired and their death to be lamented unless we will incur that censure Isa 57.1 The Righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come 1. Consider what resentment the people of God had of old of the death of the Saints how they mourned and wept for them when they left their Society Jacob died and Israel wept Moses died and all the People mourned for him thirty days and when Stephen died Act. 8.2 Devout men carried him to his Burial and made great lamentation over him 2. Consider the great usefulness of living Saints especially in these three respects First As they are Supports Props and Pillars for so they are called Psal 75.3 The Earth and all the Inhabitants thereof are dissolved I bear up the Pillars of it They that take this to be the Psalm of Asaph do understand these words to be the words of God that he preserves and upholds his Saints which are the Pillars of the Earth They that take the Psalm to be a Psalm of David for Asaph do understand them as the words of David that he would countenance and encourage the people of God who were the Pillars to uphold a shaking Kingdom If a Moses be removed out of the gap what should hinder why the Judgment should not break in upon the people Isa 1.9 The Prophet tells us that the people acknowledge Except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small Remnant we should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah If God gather up his Jewels and takes them away he seems to be removing Himself that is a great truth Isa 57.1 Merciful men are taken away from the evil to come and an old saying many times true That they are taken away that evil may come Thus the Lord is said in Psal 78.50 He made a way to his anger When he had secured Lot he let down the fire upon Sodom and when he had Hous'd Noah in the Ark what could the wicked World expect but an over-whelming Deluge Thus they observed of old that the death of eminent Saints was the forerunner of some great Calamity as that long-liv'd Methuselah whose name doth signifie a Messenger of death died the year before the Flood came upon the whole World Augustine the year before Hippo was Sack'd Pareus a little before Heidleberg was taken Luther a little time before the Wars in Germany Ambrose a little before the Ruin of Italy What
in Psal 66.18 If I regard Iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me 2. In your civil commerce take heed to your spirit that you may be Perfect Just and Righteous in all your dealings shall Religion suffer among them that seem to love and own it Shall Piety be accounted a piece of Pageantry and Profession be esteemed no better than a Religious Cheat by the world through your unjust practices and so Religion have cause to say under all her Reproaches These be the wounds that I have received in the House of my Friends To Lie Dissemble violate Faith to break Promise and to break in Trade with design to defraud others and raise their own Families shut up Shops to shut out Creditors from their just dues is become a most prodigious practice a common and Epidemical sin both in City and Country the more is the pity if any such be concern'd that should have a better regard to the honour of Religion He that will be a compleat Christian must observe Second-table-duties as well as First-table-duties lest the World say of us that we are like Gods in our Meetings and Devils in the Market Saints at Church and Cheats in the Shop and on the Exchange These loose and unjust dealings of Professors are the things that hurry the World into Atheism this is one of those great Evils of our times that makes God angry and Men Atheists 2. Direct Principle your hearts with a true love to and fear of God 1. A true love to God and then you will serve God for God not as poor Tenants serve their Rich Landlords out of force or servile fear or as Lactantius said of the Graecians That they did worship their Gods alios ne noceant alios ut prosint their black Devils or mischievous Gods that they might not hurt them as well as their white Devils or more favourable gods that they might receive good from them 2. With a true fear of God without which we can never be true to God or Man As Constantius once tried his Courtiers when he publickly declared that those of them that would not forsake Christianity and the Worship of the true God and turn to the Idol-worship should be Banish'd his Court and when he found that many for Court-honours forsook their Religion he discarded them and entertain'd those only that did adhere to the true God saying They that will not be true to God will never be true to Man 3. Let Love and Fear go together Love will make us serve God willingly and true Fear will make us perform our duty to God and Man faithfully Let these two be as Aaron and Hur that held up Moses hands steddy to keep our hearts stedfast and upright with God Thirdly Direct Remember the Eye of the Lord is upon all your ways a Deus videt Angeli testantur God beholds and his Angels bear witness is enough to make any man cautelous and upright in his walking He sees us whose Eys are ten-thousand times brighter than the Sun in Heb. 4.13 Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Psal 11.4 The Lord is in his holy Temple i◠Lords Throne is in Heaven his eyes behold his eye-lids try the Children of men as a Judge who tries the cause and matter by the ear and observes by his eye the Malefactors countenance I have often told you and now tell you again Man may deceive Men but he cannot deceive God 1 King 22.34 Though Ahab disguis'd himself and girt on his Harness never so close yet could he not keep off the fatal 〈◊〉 So though the Hypocrite disguise himself he cannot hide from the eyes of God nor escape his Righteous hand Lastly Mind seriously Death 4 Direct and Judgment to come Jeroms Sive edo c. Semper vox illa terribilis sonat in auribus meis Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Rise ye Dead and come to Judgment would be a dreadful and awaking peal in the Ears of all sleepy and careless Sinners 2 Cor. 5.10 For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad and in Eccles 12.14 For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil When Death comes it draws aside the Curtain then all your false and vain pretences will be exposed to publick view Death plucks off the Sinners Vizor and unmasks the Hypocrit and then though he lived in honour and esteem in the world comes off the Stage like a Fool and dies with shame The second Use of Exhortation is to prepare for the Perfect and Upright mans end 2 Vse of Exhort there must be an habitual and actual preparation First consider 1 Consid no man knows how soon he may die Death is a slie and impartial Messenger who is deaf to all intreaties and arguments and cannot be bribed 't is not greatness nor goodness nor youth nor age nor riches nor interest can supersede it wherefore as Christ saith Luk. 12.35 36. Let your loins be girded about you and your lights burning and ye your selves like unto men that wait for their Lord. If Death delay its coming it is the Bridegrooms favour that the Bride may make her self ready But when God cuts down the sound and fruitful Trees that are all spine 't is a wonder he spares the rotten unsound and barren Trees that cumber the ground There be three things one of which we shall never escape First There be sudden unseen Occurrences or Providences of God by which men are taken off and of these they say Casus nunciat mortem latentem these accidental strokes of providence do shew us that death lies in ambush Some men die at Land sometimes at Sea sometimes they go forth well in the Morning and in a moment are dead Secondly There be Sicknesses and Diseases of which they say Morbus nunciat mortem appropinquantem every pain and distemper in the body is a real warning of deaths approach if we should escape both these there is Thirdly That which will certainly take men off Old age of which 't is said Senectus nuncia◠mortem praesentem Decrepit infirm Old age is Death begun in the body so that Nil habet quod speret senectus Old age can hope for nothing but Death Secondly Consider 2 Cons He that is prepared for Death before it comes shall not be afraid of the King of Terrors when he comes Though Death be in it self terrible yet I may allude to that in Isa 11.8 The prepared Saint shall play on the hole of this Asp and put his hand on the Cockatrice-den and not be afraid What Agag proudly and presumptuously said he may truly and