vertuous Life It signifies not nothing with the many to be remembred when they are gone Therefore is this Trust wont to be committed to Marbles and Monumental Stones Some have been so wise to prefer a remembrance among them that were so from their having liv'd to some valuable purpose When Rome abounded with Statues and Memorative Oblisks Cato forbad any to be set up for him because he said he had rather it should be askt why had he not one than why he had What a balmy Memory will one Generation leave to another when the savour of the Knowledge of Christ shall be diffused in every place 2 Cor. 2.14 and every thing be counted as dross and dung that is in any competition with the excellency of that Knowledge when that shall overflow the World and one Age praise his Mighty Works and proclaim his Power and Greatness to the next And the Branches of Religious Families whether sooner or later transplanted shall leave an odour when they are cut off that shall demonstrate their nearer Vnion with the true Vine or speak their relation to the Tree of Life whose Leaves are for the healing of the Nations even those that were deciduous and have dropt off may without straining a borrow'd expression signifie somewhat towards this purpose 4. From both the mention'd Subjects Good Parents may learn to do God and their Redeemer all the service they can and have opportunity for in their own time without reckoning too much upon what shall be done by a well-educated hopeful Son after they are gone unless the like dispensation could be pleaded unto that which God gave to David to reserve the Building of the Temple to his Son Solomon which without as express a revelation no Man can pretend The Great Keeper of these Keys may cross such purposes and without excusing the Father dismiss the Son first But his Judgments are a great deep too deep for our Line And his Mercy is in the Heavens Psal. 36. extending from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his Righteousness unto Childrens Children Psal. 103. FINIS BOOKS Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns the lower End of Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel Books Written by the Reverend Mr. J. Howe OF Thoughtfulness for the Morrow With an Appendix concerning the immoderate Desire of foreknowing things to come Of Charity in reference to other Mens sins The Redeemer's Tears wept over lost Soulâ— in a Treatise on Luke 19.41 42. With an Appendix wherein somewhat is occasionally discoursed concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost and how God is said to will the Salvation of them that perish A Sermon directing what we are to do after a strict Enquiry Whether or no we truly love God A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Esther Sampson the late Wife of Hen. Sampson Dr. of Physick who died Nov. 24. 1689. The Carnality of Religious Contention In two Sermons preach'd at the Merchants Lecture in Broadstreet A Calm and Sober Enquiry concerning the possibility of a Trinity in the Godhead A Letter to a Friend concerning a Postscript to the Defence of Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Trinity in Unity relating to the Calm and Sober Enquiry upon the same Subject A View oâ— that Part of the late Considerations addrest to H. H. about the Trinity Which concerns the Sober Enquiry on that Subject A Sermon preach'd on the late Day of Thanksgiving Decemb. 2. 1697. To which is prefix'd Dr. Bates's Congratulatory Speech to the King A Sermon for Reformation of Manners Books Written by J. Flavel THE Fountain of Life opened or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory Containing Forty Two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction Mysterious Incarnation Solemn Call and Dedication Blessed Offices Deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement A Treatise of the Soul of Man wherein the Divine Original Excellent and Immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the Necessity of its Separation from it considered and improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immâ—diately after Death assâ—rted discussed and variously applied Diverse knotty and difficult Questions about departed Souls both Philosophical and Theological stated and determined The Method of Grace in bringing Home the Eternal Redemption contriv'd by the Father and accomplish'd by the Son through the Effectual Application of the Spirit unto God's Elect being the second Part of Gospel Redemption The Divine Conduct or Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated All the Methods of Providence in our Course of Life open'd with Directions how to apply and improve them Navigation spiritualiz'd Oâ— A New Compass for Seamen Consisting of Thirty Two Points of pleasant Observations profiâ—able Applications serious Reflections all concluded with so many spiritual Poems c. Two Treatises the first of Fear the second the Righteous Man's Refuge in the evil Day A Saint indeed The great Work of a Christian A Touchstone of Sincerity Or Signs of Grace and Symptoms of Hypocrisie being the second Part of the Saint indeed A Token for Mourners Or Boundaries for Sorrow for the Death of Friends Husbandry spiritualiz'd Or The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things FINIS Job 1.1 Psal. 84.11 Hierom. Job 29.1 2 3 4 5. †Ostendunt terris hunc tantùm fata nec ultra esse siâ—unt †And here it may suffice to take notice that Greek Writers Poets Philosophers Historians and other Writers that have made only occasional mention of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the words next akin to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Lexicographers that have purposely given an account of it from Greek Authors that must be supposed best to understand the use of words in their own Tongue generally such as have not been engaged in a Controversie that obliges men usually to torture words to their own sense or to serve the Hypothesis which they had espoused have been remote from confining this or the cognate words to that narrow sense as only to signifie a place or state of torment for bad men but understood it as comprehending also a state of Felicity for the pious and good For such as have been concern'd in interpreting this or other like words with reference to the known and famous Controversie which I need not mention their Judgments must weigh according to the reputation they are of with the Reader The Greeks no doubt best understood their own Language And among them can we think that Homer in the beginning of his 1. Il. when he speaks of the many brave Souls of his Hero's those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Wâ—r he is describing sent into the invisible Regions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he ever dreamt they were all promiscuously dispatcht away to
an occasion to you of fixing your Minds and Hearts upon that mighty Theme you will find it easy and pleasant to you to amplify upon it and enlarge it to your selves And thereby through God's Blessing I doubt not arrive to a fulness of Satisfaction concerning this late Dispensation which hath a gloominess upon it but is in very deed only gloomy on one side viz. downwards and towards this wretched World this Region of Sorrow and Darkness but on the side upwards and towards that other World which casts its lustre upon it its Phasis and appearance will be altogether bright and glorious And the more you look by a believing intuition into that other World where our Blessed Redeemer and Lord bears rule in so Transcendent Glory the more will you be above all the cloudy Darkness of this event of Providence towards your selves and your Family Herein your perusal of this very defective Essay may be of some use to you And I reckon'd it might be of more lasting and peâ—manent use to you and yours after you and to as many others into whose hands it might fall as a little Book than as one single Sermon You will however I doubt not apprehend in it the sincere desire to assist you in this your present difficult â—rial followed by the faithful Endeavour of Most Honoured in the Lord Your very respectful and obliged Servant in him and for his sake JOHN HOWE May 17. 1699. Rev. 1.18 And have the Keys of Hell Hades or the unseen World and of Death THE peculiar occasion of this present Solemnity I mean that is additional to the usual business of the Lord's Day may be somewhat amusing to narrower and less considering minds i. e. That I am now to take notice to you of what the most would call the premature or untimely death of a most hopeful Young Gentleman the Heir of a very considerable Family greatly prepared by parts and pious Sentiments and further preparing by study and conversation to be useful to the Age cut off in his prime when the meer shewing him to the World had begun to raise an expectation in such as knew him of somewhat more than ordinary hereafter from him his future advantageous circumstances being considered of which you will hear further towards the close of this Discourse Nor did I know any passage in the whole sacred Volume more apt to serve the best most valuable purpose in such a case than the words now read none more fitted to enlarge our minds to compose them and reduce to a due temper even theirs who are most concern'd and most liable to be disturb'd or to instruct us all how to interpret and comment aright upon so perplexing and so intricate a Providence as this at the first and slighter view may seem unto us In order whereto our business must be to Explain this most weighty awful saying and Apply this most weighty awful saying 1. For the Explication these 3 things are to be enquired into 1. Who it is that claims and asserts to himself this Power here spoken of 2. What it is about which this claimed Power is to be conversant 3. What sort of Power it is that this emblematical expression signifies to belong to him 1. Who it is that claims the Power here spoken of Where the Enquiry is not so much concerning the Person that makes this claim which all the foregoing context puts out of question to be our Lord Christ. But touching the special notion and capacity wherein he claims it and according whereto it must be understood to belong to him And whereas he is described by very distinct Titles and Attributes promiscuously interwoven in the preceding verses of the chapter viz. that sometimes he is introduced speaking in the stile of a God as ver 8. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty And again v 11. I am Alpha and Omega But that sometimes he is represented in the form of a Man and accordingly described even from head to foot and said to appear in the Vision that exhibits him as one like the Son of Man that we might certainly understand him so to be verse 13 14 15 16. And such things said of him as are incident to a Mortal Man the shedding of his Blood verse 5. and that he was dead verse 18. former part Yea and expressions of this different import intermingled that we might know it was the same Person that was continuedly spoken of under these so vastly different Characters as I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead verse 17 18. We may thereupon very reasonably conclude that he is not here to be conceiv'd under the one notion or the other neither as God nor as Man separately or exclusively of each other but as both together as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God-man under which conjunct notion he receives and sustains the Office of our Redeemer and Mediator between God and Man Which will enable us the more clearly to answer the third Enquiry when we come to it concerning the Kind of that Power which is here claimed And which because there can be no doubt of the justice of his claim we are hereby taught to ascribe to him For the management whereof we are also hence to reckon him every way competent that he was par negotio that it was not too big for him No expressions being used to signifie his true Humanity but which are joyned with others as appropriate to Deity And that nothing therefore obliges us to narrow it more than the following account imports which we are next to enquire about viz. 2. The large extent of the object about which the Power he here claims is to be conversant i. e. Hades as we read Hell but which is truly to be read the unseen World and Death The former of these we with a debasing limitation and as I doubt not will appear very unreasonably do render Hell The Power belonging to Christ we are elsewhere taught to conceive is of unspeakably greater latitude And here we are not taught to confine it to so vile narrow limits as this translation gives it All things in the Context Conspire to magnifie him and agreeably hereto to magnifie his Dominion When therefore the apparent design is to speak him great that he should only be represented as the Jaylor of Devils and their companions is to me unaccountable unless a very manifest necessity did induce to it From the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there can be no pretence for it Tho' it ought to be extended it is by no means to be restrained to that sense Which as it is the ignoblest so it will appear but a very small minute part of its signification whether we consider the literal import or the common use of the word Literally it signifies but what we see not or what is
out of our sight And as the word of which it is compounded signifies also to know as well as to see it may further signifie that state of things which lies without the compass of our knowledge even out of the reach of our mental sight or concerning which tho' we are to believe what is revealed we cannot immediately or distinctly know it and in reference whereto therefore we are to walk by Faith not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 And the common use of the word hath been very agreeable hereto with Writers of all sorts i e. to signifie indefinitely the unseen World or the state of the deceased out of our World who are consequently gone out of our sight whether they were good or bad so as not peculiarly to signifie Hell or any place or state of Torment only It were easie to abound in Quotations to this purpose if it were either needful or proper in a Discourse of this nature What I intend in this kind I shall only set down on the by in the Margin upon which they that will may cast their Eye that the Discourse be not interrupted as to others that either have no need to be informed in this matter having known as much before as can be now told them or no inclination to be diverted from their present purpose in reading apprehending that what is generally told them only concerning the usual signification of a word is not said without some ground And let Texts of Scripture be consulted about that how Hades and the correspondent word in the O. T. Shee l are used there If we take the Help of Interpreters the impartial Reader is to judge of their Fidelity and Ability who go our way Upon the whole it being most evident that Hell is but a small and mean part of what is signified by Hades it will be very unreasonable to represent or conceive of the Power here ascribed to our Lord according to that narrow notion of it And would be a like incongruity as if to magnifie the Person of highest Dignity in the Court of a mighty Prince one should say He is the Keeper of the Dungeon Thâ— word it self indeed properly taken and according to its just extent mightily greatens him i.e. 't is as much as to say his Dominion is of unknown limits such as no Eye can measure We think with a sort of veneration of what is represented as too big for our knowledge We have a natural awe and reverence for unsearchable darkness But in the mean time we herein suffer a just diminution of our selves that when our enquiry stops and can proceed no further it being but a very little part of the Universe that lies within our compass having tir'd our enquiring Eye and Mind upon all the rest we write Hades call it unseen or unknown And because we call it so in reference to us God himself calls it so too It being his way as is observed by that noted Jew speaking to men to use the tongue of the children of men to speak to them in their own language and allow them to coin their own words Which at first they often do very occasionally nor as to this could they have a fairer or a more urgent occasion or that is more self-justifying than in one word to say of that other World that it is Hades or invisible when that is truly all that they have to say or can have any immediate notice of about it It hath therefore its rise from our selves and the penury of our knowledge of things And is at once both an ingenuous confession with some sort of modest cover and excuse of our own ignorance As with Geographers all that part of this Globe which they cannot describe is Terra incognita and with Philosophers such Phaenomena in nature as they can give no account of they resolve shortly and in the most compendious way into some or other occult quality or somewhat else as occult How happy were it if in all matters that concern Religion and in this as it doth so they would shut up in a sacred venerable Darkness what they cannot distinctly perceive it being once by the undeceiving Word expresly asserted that it is without therefore denying its reality because they clearly apprehend not what it is With too many their Religion is so little and their pride and self-conceit so great that they think themselves fit to be Standards That their Eye or Mind is of a size large enough to measure the Creation yea and the Creator too And by how much they have the less left them of Mind or the more it is sunk into Earth and Carnality the more capable it is of being the measure of all reality of taking the compass of all being created and uncreated And so that of the Philosopher takes place in the worst sense can be put upon it to see Darkness is to see nothing All is nullity that their sense reaches not Hades is with such indeed empty imaginary Darkness or in plainer English there is neither Heaven nor Hell because they see them not But we ought to have the greater thoughts of it not the less for its being too big too great too glorious for our present view And that it must as yet rest as to us and so let it rest a while under the name of Hades The unknown Dominion of our great Lord. According to that most express account he at his Ascension gave of the Existence of both parts together that less known to us and that more known Matt. 28.18 All power is given to me both in Heaven and Earth That Death is added as contained also within the limits of our Lord's Dominion doth expresly signifie his custody of the passage from this Visible World to the Invisible viz. as he commands the entrance into each distinct part of Hades the Invisible World consisting of both Heaven and Hell so he hath power over Death too which is the common out-let from this VVorld and the passage unto both But it withall plainly implies His very absolute Power over this Visible VVorld of ours also For it signifies he hath the power of measuring every ones time here and how long each Inhabitant of this World shall live in it If it belong to him to determine when any one shall die it must by consequence belong to him to assign the portion and dimensum of time that every one shall live Nor is there any conceivable moment in the time of any ones life whâ—rein he hath not this power of putting a period by death thereunto at his own pleasure He is therefore signified to have the power of every man's life and death at once And the Power of Life and Death is very high and great Power He therefore herein implicitly claims what is elsewhere expresly ascribed to him Rom. 14.78 9. None lives to himself i.e. de jure no man should or dies to himself For whether we live we live unto
intolerable disgraceful calamity urge them a rash obstinate presumptuous rushing upon Death because they do not consider consequences With Believers such as in reference to the concernments of the other World do walk by faith while as yet they cannot walk by sight in reference to those things 2 Cor. 5.7 it is a positive vital courage v. 8. We are confident and a preponderating inclination of will We are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord because as is manifest they do consider consequences and how blessed a state will certainly ensue How vast are these special differences of the same thing in the general willingness to die O the transports of Joy that do now most rationally result from this state of the Case when there is nothing left lying between the dislodging Soul and the glorious unseen World but only the dark passage of Death and that so little formidable considering who hath the Keys of the one and the other How reasonable is it upon the account of somewhat common herein to the Redeemer and the Redeemed altho' every thing be not to take up the following words that so plainly belong to this very case Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my Soul in Sheol or Hades thou wilt not forsake or abandon it in that wide World neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Thou wilt shew me the path of Life the path that leads unto that presence of thine where is fulness of Joy and to those pleasures which are at thy right hand or in thy power and which are for evermore and shall never admit either of end or diminution Psal. 16.9 10 11. Now what do we mean to let our Souls hang in doubt why do we not drive things for them to an issue Put them into those same safe hands that holds these Keys absolutely resign devote entrust and subject them to him get them bound up in the bundle of Life so adjoyn and unite them to him not doubting but as we give them up he will and doth in that instant take hold of them and receive them into union with himself as that we may assure our hearts that because he lives we shall live also Thus the ground of our hope becomes sure and of that joy which springs from such an hope Our Life we may now say is hid with Christ in God even tho' we are in our selves dead or dying Creatures Col. 3.3 Yea Christ is our Life and when he who is our Life shall appear we shall appear with him in glory verse 4. He hath assured us that because he is the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in him tho' he were dead shall yet live And that whosoever lives and believes in him hath thereby a life already begun in him in respect whereof he shall never die Joh. 11.25 26. What now can be surer than this so far we are at a certainty upon the included supposition i. e. that we believe in him And what now remains to be ascertain'd what Only our own intervening death we must 't is true be absent from these bodies or we cannot as we would be present with the Lord. And is that all can any thing now be more certain than that O happy state of our Case How should our hearts spring and leap for our joy that our affairs are brought into this posture that in order to our perfect Blessedness nothing is farther wanting but to die And that the certainty of death compleats our assurance of it What should now hinder our breaking forth into the most joyful thanksgivings that it is so little doubtful we shall die that we are in no danger of a terrestrial Immortality and that the only thing that it remain'd we should be assured of is so very sure That we are sure it is not in the power of all this World to keep us always in it That the most spiteful Enemy we have in all the World cannot do us that spite to keep us from dying How gloriously may good Men triumph over the impotent malice of their most mischievous enemies viz. that the greatest mischief even in their own Account that it can ever be in their power to do them is to put it out of their own power ever to hurt them more for they now go quite out of their reach They can being permitted kill the body and after that Luke 12.4 have no more that they can do What a remarkable significant after that is this what a defiance doth it import of the utmost Effort of humane power and Spite that here it terminates 't is now come to its ne plus ultra And so we are to look upon all our other Trials and Afflictions that in any providential way may befall us we may be sick in pain in poverty in disgrace but we shall not be alwaies in mortal flesh which is the subtratum and the root of all the rest Can we be upon better terms having but two things to be concerned about as necessary to our Compleat Felicity union with Christ and disunion from these bodies God is graciously ready to assist us in reference to the former tho' therein he requires our care subserviently hereto in reference to the latter he will take care himself in his own fit season without any care or concern of ours in the matter And only expects us to wait with patience till that sit season Come And come it will perhaps sooner than we may think He doth not alwaies go by our measures in judging of the fit season as this present instance shews 2. From the text taken in conjunction with this act of providence we may observe the great advantage of a pious Education Tho' the best means of such Education do not always prove Effectual yet this being much the more probable course upon which to expect Gods blessing than the Parents prophane negligence of the souls of their Children such an example wherein God by his blessing testified his approbation of Parental care and diligence should greatly quicken the endeavours of Parents herein as hoping hereby to serve his great and merciful and most principal design who hath these Keys and whose office it is to transmit Souls when they are prepared and ready out of this World of ours into that Blessed glorious World above And though they may think themselves disappointed when thorough Gods blessing upon their endeavours they have educated one to such a pitch as this young Gentleman was raised and brought up unto with a Prospect and Hope of his having a long course of service to run thro' here on the Earth Yet let Parents hence learn to correct what was amiss or what was wrong not what was right and well Their Action and Endeavour was what ought to be Their Error or Mistake if there was any was more principally as