persons that they had never been born therefore they shall seek death and shall not find it Mat. 26. They shall desire to dye that is to be reduc'd to nothing Revel 9. but this death shall fly from them who of you can dwell in everlasting burning Is 33. who of us can dwell in Eternal Flames Revel 6. If the viols and little cups full of Gods wrath do force the wicked to cry out how much more shall the Rivers and the Ocean of Gods vengeance force from them O mountains fall upon us O rocks cover us and hide us from the face of him that sits upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the day of his anger is come and who may abide it Prov. 1. But as they have stopt their ears to Gods gracious calls and hardned their hearts to his invitations to repentance then God shall also stop his ears to their outcries and his eyes to their horrid sufferings and when they shall be overwhelmed with fear and despair God will scorn and mock at their insufferable misery CHAP. 4. That Jesus Christ our Lord hath redeemed us from Eternal Death and by degrees doth deliver us from a spiritual Death WE read in the fifth Chapter of the Revelation of S. John That this beloved Disciple wept bitterly because no being in Heaven and Earth nor under the Earth was able to open the Book sealed with seven Seals that was in Gods right hand at that instant one of the 24 Elders spake to him Weep not behold the Lion of the Tribe of Juda hath overcome to open the Book and to loose the seven Seals Thus we have until now wept bitterly because we could find no body in the Armies of Israel to encounter with that horrid Monster Death But let us also wipe our Tears and take good courage my beloved for this same Lion of the Tribe of Juda hath order to fight with this dreadful Enemy our victorious and triumphing David who hath torn in pieces the infernal Lion bruised the antient Serpents Head and spoiled Principalities and powers triumphing of them in his Cross Col. 2.15 It is he that hath undertaken this glorious combat It was for that purpose that he left for a while the Throne of God the Father and the company of his Holy Angels 1 Sam. 17. It was for that intent that he came into the Camp and confusion of Israel contemning the shame and reproaches of his brethren He hath not borrowed the weapons and assistance of the world Heb. 2. all that he hath taken from us is our frail nature But he hath armed himself with righteousness as with a breast-plate and hath put on the Helmet of salvation He hath cloathed himself with vengeance as with a garment and hath covered himself with Jealousie as with a cloak he hath alone troden the Wine-press and no body hath assisted him Isa 59. Isa 63. but his arme hath saved him and his hand hath upheld him As David cut off Goliahs Head with his own sword Jesus Christ hath overcome Death by Death like unto the powerful Sampson he hath destroyed all the Enemies of his Glory by his Death 1 Sam. 17. He hath overcome in dying him who had the Empire of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2. and hath delivered them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage then was fulfilled this proof out of Hosea O death I will be thy plague O grave I will be thy destruction Hos 13. and that of Isaiah He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the Earth Isai 25. 1 Tim. 6. This blessed Prince King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath immortality and dwelleth in an inaccessible light hath destroyed death and brought to light life and immortality by the Gospel 1 Tim. 1. O death where is thy victory O grave where is thy sting The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but blessed be God who hath given us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. This great God and Saviour hath perfectly redeemed us from Eternal death as he himself doth teach us in the Gospel of St. John He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life chap. 5.25 I am the living bread which came down from Heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever Chap. 6.51 v. 40. Your fathers did eat Manna in the wilderness and are dead This is the bread which cometh down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not dye Chap. 8. Verily verily I say unto you If any man keep my word he shall never taste of death I am the resurrection and the life he that lives and believeth in me shall never dye and he that believeth in me although he were dead yet shall he live Chap. 11. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life by our Lord Jesus Christ Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection Revel 20. the second death shall never have any power upon him In one word the Gates of Hell that is to say Death can do no prejudice to them that are built upon Jesus Christ the rock of Eternity This merciful Saviour hath also delivered us from the spiritual death Eph. 2. For we being dead in our trespasses and sins he hath quickened us and raised us up together unto newness of life Colos 2. He hath carried our sins in his body upon the Cross that he dying unto sin we might live unto righteousness We are buried with him in his death by Baptisme that as Jesus Christ is raised from the dead by the Glory of God the father we also likewise should walk in newness of life 1 Pet. 2. Awake thou that sleepest and rise from the dead and Jesus Christ shall enlighten thee Rom. 6. For by his death he hath not only reconciled us to God the Father Eph. 5. Colos 11. but he hath also procured unto us the Holy Spirit that creates in us a new heart and imprints the image of his Holiness Ezek. 36. 2 Cor. 5. He makes us become new creatures and regenerates us by the uncorrptible seed 1 Pet. 1. This is that which the Scripture names the first resurrection Revel 20. St. Peter was ravisht in admiration at this great and wonderful benefit and therefore he acknowledgeth it Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 1. God discover'd to the Prophet Ezekiel a field cover'd with dry bones and commanded him to prophecy upon those bones Ezek. 37. At the Prophets Command
O Lord my God are thy wonderful Works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee If I should declare and speak of them they are more then can be numbred and being ravish'd into an Holy Admiration thou wilt say in the language of the same Prophet O God who is like unto thee who when thou hadst made me see many distresses and evils at last thou hast restored me to Life and drawn me out of the depths of the Earth Psal 71. Thou shalt increase my greatness again thou wilt comfort me And elsewhere What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me Psal 116. 18. The Consideration of God's redeeming us doth chiefly require us to deny our selves and consecrate our selves to his service for the Slave don't belong to himself but to him that hath redeemed him and paid his ransom As when God had deliver'd the Children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt he gave unto them his Law and his Ordinances in Mount Sinai Thus God hath redeemed us from the Tyranny of the Devil of the World of Sin of Death of Hell and from the power of all our Enemies that we might serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our life Luk 1. He hath given himself a ransom for us that we might become a peculiar people to him given to good Works Tit. 2. You are bought with a price Glorify then God in your Bodies and your Souls that belong unto God 1 Cor. 6. 19. One love must kindle another the Sacred Fire that is come from Heaven must enflame our hearts with an Holy Zeal for his Glory God hath loved us so much that he hath given his Holy Son that believing we might not perish but have everlasting life He hath not spared him who is the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person He hath deliver'd him to death for us yea to the ignominious death of the Cross And is it not just that we should love him above all worldly things a God so good and merciful Is it not just that we should love nothing but him and for his sake Is it not reasonable that we should offer unto him our Bodies and Souls as a Living and Holy Sacrifice pleasing to his Eye And if we have any Lust that offends him is it not just that we should willingly leave it betimes when it should appear as useful to us as our Hands and Feet and as dear as the Apple of our Eyes Whosoever he be that doth not deny himself is not worthy of him Matt. 10. 20. We must treat the body of Sin which the Holy Scripture stiles the Old man and the First Adam almost in the same manner as Christ the New Man and the Second Adam was treated upon the Cross Rom. 6. Instead of flattering it and seeking to satisfy its Lusts we must deprive it of all its pleasures make it drink Vinegar and Gaul teare its Head with Thorns bind and chain its Affections and nail them to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ with all its inordinate and brutish desires Mortify therefore your Members that are upon Earth Fornication Uncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry Gal. 5. Coloss 3. 21. To live in sin and to delight our selves in iniquity is to frustrate as much as in us lies our good Lord from that principal end which he designed in leaving for a while the Celestial Abode of his Glory and Immortality for he is come into the World to destroy the Works of the Devil Now the chief Work of the Devil the great Enemy of our Salvation in which he takes most Delight and Glory is Sin with which he ensnares Mankind for by Sin Death and all kind of Calamities are enter'd into the World John 3. Rom. 5. 22. It is to trample upon the only Son of God to affront the Spirit of Grace and esteem the Bloud of the Covenant a prophane thing It is to destroy the Fruits of the Death and Passion of our good Redeemer and pull down his Cross for he hath carried our Sins in his Body upon the Cross that dying unto Sin we might live unto Righteousness He hath given himself for his Church to sanctify it and to render it a Glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle nor any such thing If the Bloud of Bulls and of Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkled did Sanctify the uncleanness of the Flesh how much more shall the Bloud of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 23. Our Lord and Saviour was not only Dead but also buryed to teach us to bury also with him our sins and shut up in his Sacred Tomb all our carnal Lusts Don't you know all ye that have been baptized in Jesus Christ that you have been baptized in his Death we are then buried with him in his death by Baptisme 24. This Glorious Saviour is risen from the Dead and hath left his Sepulchre with his Funeral Attire to teach us to rise to newness of Life and to leave in our Grave that sin that encompasseth us and the ties of our corruption that bind us so fast To speak in St. Paul's language As Jesus Christ is risen from the dead by the Glory of the Father we also ought to walk in newness of life for if we are made one Plant with him by a conformity to his Death we shall also be One by a conformity to his Resurrection and as Christ who is risen from the Dead dies no more Death hath no more Dominion over him Likewise we ought not to apply our Members as instruments of iniquity unto sin but we ought to apply them unto God as being made alive from the dead Rom. 6. He is dead and risen again that he might have dominion over the dead and the living If any be in Jesus Christ let him be a new Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new Rom. 14. 2 Cor. 5. 25. Jesus Christ after his Glorious Resurrection is ascended up into Heaven to lift up thither our Hearts and to draw thither our affections and to teach us to reform our manners to live an Holy Angelical and Celestial life If you are risen with Christ seek those things that are above where Jesus Christ is sitting at the right hand of God think upon things above and not upon things upon Earth Coloss 3. 26. There is nothing in the World so lovely as Vertue It is the delight and pleasure of Heaven it is the Daughter of the living God and the true and lively Image of our great Creator O blessed decking of a Christian Soul O rich and precious Ornament of God's Children O Heavenly Grace what rare and strong Charms hast thou to win the
it causeth that death it self proves our Salvation and brings unto us unspeakable comforts I may also liken it to the Meal which the same Prophet cast into the Pot of which the Sons of the Prophets had made this complaint O thou man of God there is death in the pot It is the death of Death because it removes from it all deadly poison and causeth us to relish Angelical satisfactions I may therefore justly say of this Glorious Cross that it is The Tree of Knowledge of good and evil Because it makes known and understood the dreadful evils from which we are delivered and the infinite advantages which are procured to us 〈◊〉 Christ's death I may call it also the Tree of Life for every one that takes of the Fruit of this Tree with the hand of Faith and he that eats of it shall live for â—ver John 6. Believing Souls it is that Mystical Ladder which Jacob saw in a vision for it unites Heaven and Earth sinful Man with his God Gen. 28. It pleased the Father to make peace by the Bloud of the Cross of his Son and to reconcile all things unto himself whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven Coloss 1. It is by the means of this Blessed Cross that the good Angels are sent to our assistance and that all the Graces and Blessings of God are procured unto us by this Cross we shall ascend up to God and to his Eternal Happiness under the shadow of this Divine Cross our Souls do rest and enjoy the Peace of God which passeth all Understanding It is like the Golden Scepter which King Ahasuerus stretched out unto Esther for if we touch this precious Cross with the hand of Faith if we embrace it with a contrite Soul we shall obtain from the King of Kings not only the half part but all his Kingdom with all its Delights Honours and Advantages 18. Moses's Rod was chang'd into a Serpent as well as the Rods of Pharaoh's Magicians but this Serpent devoured all the rest Thus the death of our Lord and Saviour is accompanied with Sorrow Fear and Anguish but these fears swallow up all other fears and cause us to draw near with confidence to the Throne of Grace his Sorrows drive away all our Griefs and fill us with Joy and Eternal Comfort his Anguish gives ease and satisfaction to our Souls his troubled Mind is the cause of the settlement of our Consciences his drops of Bloud do wash down our Tears his Groans hinder us from Sighing and his grievous cryings do cause us to sing with Joy The Fetters of this Glorious Redeemer have purchased our Freedom and his Condemnation our Absolution he hath been content to drink Vinegar mingled with Gall and to swallow the very dregs of the Cup of God's Wrath and Justice that he might cause us to drink of the Rivers of his Divine Pleasures He cried out in the violence of his Grief My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth 27. That God might never forsake us and that in our greatest troubles we might have always his fatherly assistance ready at hand he hath stooped his Head to raise our hopes In short he is dead that he might deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to a cruel and unsufferable Bondage Heb. 2. So that all such as tremble and are afraid at the approaches of Death have not yet felt the power and efficacy of the Cross of our Lord Jesus They trample under feet the Bloud of the Son of God and as much as in them lies they render the fruits and efficacy of this blessed death of no effect 19. Consider well Christian Souls and imprint into your minds this Lesson Remember that death is never to be feared but when it proceeds from God's wrath and the curse of his Law and when our sins and offences have supplied it with offensive weapons when the Devil who seeks to devour us as a roaring Lion follows death at the heels and when at the same time Hell opens its infernal jaws to swallow us up But those who have placed their Faith and Hope in the Death and Passion of the Saviour of the World and who embrace his Cross are exempted from all its fears and out of the reach of all its poisonous Darts 20. My beloved Souls be not therefore frighted to see the face of the great Judge of the World 1 Tim. 2. Seeing that there is such an excellent Mediator between God and Man namely the Man Christ Jesus who hath given himself a Ransom for all Rom. 3. He hath disarmed God's Eternal Justice and stopt the proceedings of his Vengeance for God hath appointed him for all Eternity to be a Propitiation by Faith in his Bloud John 5. The Father judges no man but hath given all Judgement to the Son as he is the Son of Man There is now no condemnation to them that are in Jesus Christ whosoever believes in him shall never come into condemnation but is passed from Death to Life Rom. 8. John 5. 21. Fear no more the Thunderbolts and the flashes of Fire of Mount Sinai neither do you tremble when you hear its horrible Thunder Cursed is every one who continues not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them Deut. 28. For although Christs Hands be nailed and fastened to the Wood they pluck nevertheless out of the Hands of God's Justice his terrible Thunderbolts and the Sword of his Vengeance The precious Bloud that runs down from the wounds of this Divine Redeemer do quench the scorching heat of his Eternal burning As at the morning of our Saviours Passion he had a care of his Disciples and therefore he desired those that came to take him If you seek me let these goe John 18. Likewise he hath now a care of all such as believe in his name to secure them under the shadow of his Cross He takes their place and for them he stands before God's justice saying Seeing that you have taken me to be their pledge and that you have pursued me without Mercy seeing that I have sufficiently satisfied for all their crimes and have tasted for them the most bitter and cruel death suffer them to enjoy the freedom that hath been purchased at such a dear rate Suffer them to pass through death into the enjoyment of a blessed Life which is the price of my Bloud and the fruit of my Victories This merciful Redeemer hath put himself of his own accord in our stead and hath endured in his own Person all the pains which were due to our sins he hath been struck with Moses's Rod and pierced through with the Darts of the Law he hath been made a Curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a Tree Gal. 5. But we are not only by his means redeemed from the Curse of the Law but we are also blessed in him with all manner of
It is most certain that this death is not to be feared as an evil and an enemy but it is rather to be desired as a good Friend and a Blessing It is reported of the Thracians that they buried their dead with expressions of joy and the Inhabitants of the fortunate Islands did Sing and Dance at the Funerals of their dearest Friends I don't recommend these foolish examples of these extravagant and barbarous People who were without Hope and without God in the World such cannot fear death too much for if it frees them from some present and light evils it casts them into an Abysse of excessive torments Death is an Happiness it brings with it solid Comfort and Joy but it is when we dye in God's Favour and in the Faith of our Lord Jesus God hath sufficiently declared the Happiness and Pleasure of his Childrens death for he doth often abridge the days of those whom he favours and esteems Because he had seen some good things in the person of Abijah the eldest Son of Jeroboam King of Israel he took him away in the flower of his Age 1 Kings 14. He granted the same favour to Josias King of Judea one of the most Religious Princes of the World for he had declared to him by Hulda the Prophetess Behold I will gather thee unto thy Fathers and thou shalt be gathered into thy Grave in peace and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place 2 Kings 22. It is not to be doubted but that such are most happy as die in the Lord and rest from their Labours but I judge such happy in a twofold manner as Dye or rather cease from Dying in such miserable times so full of confusion and disorder Would not you laugh at a Workman that should grieve when his Task is ended and his Labour finished or at a Wayfaring Man that should lament to see the end of his painful journey through Prickles and Thorns and the scorching heat of the Sun or the unsufferable cold of the Winter Or would you not wonder at one that should vex himself when he is safely arrived in the Haven escaped the Waves of a tempestuous Sea and in a shelter from the Storms Wretched Man thou art far more foolish and extravagant than those of whom we speak for the most painful Labours of a Workman the most grievous weariness of a tedious journey and the swelling Waves of a troubled Sea are nothing in comparison of the Labours Misery and Troubles of this languishing Life You would doubtless esteem it a very great folly and madness in a prisoner to be sorry of being delivered out of his noisome Dungeon or in a Gally-Slave to be angry when he is to be loos'd from his Chains or in an offender to vex when he is freed from his Torments What think ye is there less madness and extravagancy in you when ye are grieved to see death freeing your Souls from this miserable Body where it is imprison'd withdrawing it from the painful employments of this unhappy Age more grievous and intolerable than that of the Gally-slaves and discharging you from the troubles of the Soul far more painful than the most unsufferable tortures of the Body no no death that thou dreadest so much is not the death of the faithful but the end of his miseries and the last period of all his torments Gen. 8. Noah when he went out of the Ark that stopt upon Mount Ararat had never so much cause to praise God and to offer unto him the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving as we have when he is pleased to cause us to see the end of the Inundation of so many evils and calamities and to make this floating Life or this living Death to stop upon Mount Sion The Children of Israel sung Songs of Thanksgiving when they came out of Egypt and saw themselves deliver'd out of a bitter and painful Bondage where they had been employed in gathering up Stubble and burning Brick but we have much more cause to rejoyce and to sing Songs of Praise when Death takes us out of the World where we suffer a kind of bondage laboring in vain employments and enduring the scorching heat of many afflictions that consume us Thou findest fault with some of the unconstant people that murmured to return again into Egypt when they were upon the borders of the promised Land but rather find fault with thine own filthy flesh if it offers to murmure and revolt when thou art at the entrance of thy Celestial Canaan Joseph rejoyced when the King of Aegypt sent for him out of prison Gen. 41. and have we not cause to be joyful when God sends for our Souls out of the World and causeth them to go out of their Bodies which to them is a kind of a Dungeon If therefore we can speak without impatient murmuring I conceive we have as good reason as Jonas to say O Lord take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to dye than to live Jonas 4. Or as the Prophet Elias It is enough Lord take away my life 1 Kings 19. Such a Soul may in an Holy transport safely speak in the language of David the Man after God's own Heart Bring my Soul out of prison that I may praise thy name the righteous shall compass me about for thou shalt deal bountifully with me Psal 141. A Prayer and Meditation for a Christian who comforts himself with the Consideration that Death delivers us from all evils which are so numerous in the World and which so often assault us O Glorious Prince of my Salvation thou hast hitherto strengthened me against all fears of Death but now I beseech thee with all mine Heart to give me Grace that death may not terrify and afflict me but also fill me full of Joy and Comfort Suffer me not to be like thy People Israel when they had forgotten their hard and cruell Bondage when they thought upon the Pleasures and Plenty of Egypt they did mutiny to return thither again when they were upon the borders of Canaan Give me Grace O my God to blot out of my Soul the fancy for the vain delights of the World and for the deceitsul Pleasures of this wretched Flesh Let me have always in my mind the Labours the Pains and Troubles of this miserable Life that I may continually look upon Death in the same manner as the Workman looks upon the end of his days work As the Wayfaring man looks upon the end of his Journey and as the Traveller looks upon the Haven of his last Rest Let me often meditate upon these horrible confusions that are this day in the World the Deluge of all manner of Evils that cover the face of the Earth the Rivers and Streams of Bloud that is shed the Fires and the Swords that devour so many Let me never forget the sad and lamentable state of thy poor Church that is like a small Boat upon
whole Nations and Kindreds the Flesh of all the Animals that have lived and died since the Creation of the World hath not been able to glut this horrid Monster All warfare is doubtful he that wins the Victory to day may soon after be put to flight He that rides at present in a Triumphing Chariot may become the footstool of his Enemy but Death is always victorious it triumphs with an insufferable insolency over all the Kings and Nations of the Earth it never returns to its Den but loaden with spoils and full of Blood The strongest Sampsons and the most victorious Davids who have torn in pieces and overcome Lions Bears and cut off the Heads of Giants have at last themselves yielded and been cut off by Death The Great Alexanders and the Triumphing Caesars that have made all the World to tremble before them and conquered the most part of the habitable Earth could never find any thing that might protect them from Deaths power when glorious Statues and stately Trophies were rais'd to their Honor Death did laugh at their Vanity and make sport with their Persons The rich Marbles where so many proud Titles are Engraven cover nothing but a little rotten Flesh and a few Bones which Death hath broken and reduc'd to Ashes We read in the Revelations of the Prophet Daniel That King Nebuchadnezar saw in a Dream a large Statue of Gold both Glorious and Terrible Its head was of pure Gold its Breast and Arms were of Silver its belly and thighs of Brass its Legs of Iron and its Feet were partly of Clay and partly of Iron As the Prince was beholding it with astonishment a little Stone cut out of a Mountain without hands was roll'd against the feet of this prodigious Statue and broke it all to pieces not only the Clay and the Iron were broken but also the Gold the Silver and the Brass all became as the chaffe which the wind blows to and fro This great Image represents the four Universal Monarchies of the World That of Babylon that of the Persians and Medes that of the Greeks and that of the Romans It represents also the Vanity and unconstancy of all things under the Sun for what is the Pomp the Glory the Strength and Dignities of this World but a smoak that the wind drives before it and a vapor that soon vanishes away All is like a shadow that flies from us or like a Dream that disappears in an instant when crazy Man that was created in the Image of God riseth out of the Dust he seems to be very glorious for awhile and becomes terrible but assoon as Death strikes at his Earthly part and begins to break his Flesh and Bones all the Glory Pomp Power and Magnificence of the richest of the most terrible and victorious Monarchs are chang'd into a loathsome Smell into contemptible Dust and reduc'd to nothing Vanity of vanities all is vanity Seeing therefore that Deaths cruelty is so notable that it spares none and that its power is so great that none can escape or resist it It is no wonder if Death is become so terrible and fills with fears grief and despair the minds of all Mortals who have not setled their Faith and Assurance upon God for there is no condemned prisoner but trembles when he beholds the Scaffold erecting upon which he is designed to be broken upon a Wheel or when he spies in the fire the Irons with which he is to be pincht to death In the midst of a sumptuous Feast King Belshasar saw the fingers of a Mans hand writing these words upon his wall of the Palace Mene Mene Tekel Vpharsin which the Prophet Daniel hath thus interpreted Mene God hath numbred thy Kingdom and finished it Tekel Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting Perez or Vpharsin Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians As soon as this Great Monarch had cast his eyes upon this miraculous writing it is said that his countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joynts of his Loyns were loosed and his Knees smote one against another Certainly the profound Worldling hath a greater cause to be dismayed in the midst of his Glory and Pleasures when he may perceive Death writing upon every wall of his House in visible Characters and printing upon his Forehead that God hath numbred his days and this in which he now breaths shall be soon followed by an eternal night That God hath weighed him in the ballance of his Justice and found him lighter than the Wind And that the terrible Creator unto whom vengeance belongs will soon divest him of all his Glory and Riches to cloath therewith his Enemies what comforts can be found by the wretched sinners who do not only understand the particulars of their final sentence but do also hear the thundring noise of the Great Judge of the world offended at their impieties They may now perceive Hell prepared to swallow them up and the fiery Chains of that doleful prison ready to receive them They may at present feel the hands of the executioner of Gods justice that seizeth upon them already and see themselves before stretcht and tortur'd in that place where there shall be nothing but weeping and horrible gnashing of Teeth at present they feel the fierceness of that fire and brimstone for it may justly be said of these wretched Varlots That Hell comes to them before they go to Hel and that in this life they are tormented with the grievous pangs of the second Death therefore some of them in despair do offer violence to themselves and commit an horrid murder upon their own persons as if they were afraid not to dye by a hand wicked enough the expectation of Death to them is more insufferable than Death it self and they had rather cast themselves into the bottomless pit of Hell than endure the apprehensions and fears of Hell in their guilty Consciences to be delivered of the flashes of Hell-fire that mounts up to their souls in this life they cast themselves in a brutish manner into that unquenchable Burning That which is most terrible is that the horrid and unsufferable fears that seize upon the wicked are not only for a moment for as a Criminal that knows that there is a sentence of Doom pronounced against him doth continually fancy and think upon those torments that are preparing for him assoon as he hears the door unlocking or a Fly bussing about his ears he imagines that some are entring to drag him from his prison to execution in some sense he desires what he apprehends and hastens the approaches of that for which he wishes and cannot avoid Thus desperate sinners that know there is a sentence of eternal Death pronounced against them in the Court of the King of Kings and that from this Sentence there is no Appeal nor Escape must needs be in continual fears Such foresee the fearful image of Death that disturbs
their quiet and as St. Paul expresseth himself Through fear of death they are all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2. That is They are like so many wretched Slaves that daily tremble under the inhumane power of a merciless Tyrant I am not ignorant that there be some Atheists who talk of Death with contempt and scorn and who make an open profession of braving Death without the least sence of fear nevertheless they feel in their souls some secret Thorns with which death doth often gaul them some fears and apprehensions with which it tortures and disquiets them when they dream least of her It is true they do for the most part boast of not fearing the approaches of Death and laugh at it when they imagine that she is at a distance from them but these are they who are most apt to tremble at the grim countenance of Death and soonest to discover their weakness and despair If there be any that seem to laugh at Death their laughter is only in appearance upon the Lips they are like a Child newly born that seems to laugh when he is inwardly tormented in its Bowels or like those that have eaten of the famous Herb mentioned by the Herbalists that causeth a pleasant laughter to appear upon the Lips of such into whose noble parts it conveys a mortal poison to bring them to an inevitable end There be some I confess then die without expressing any fear or dread of Conscience but these are either bruitish or sensless Persons much like unto a sleeping Drunkard who may be cast down a Tower without any knowledge or foresight of the danger or they be pleasant mockers who are like the foolish Criminals that go merrily to the Gallows or they be such as are full of Rage and Fury whom I may very well compare to an enraged wild Bear that runs himself into the Huntsmans snare such Monsters of Men deserve not to be reckoned amongst rational and understanding Creatures CHAP. 2. That in all the Heathens Philosophy there is no solid or true Comforts against the fears and apprehensions of Death THere be certain Physitians that seem at the first discourse to be very well skill'd in their Art and that talk of the Diseases and their Causes most Learnedly and accutely and nevertheless in their practice they are both unhappy and ignorant their unscasonable Learning doth disturb the Patient 〈◊〉 than their Physick doth ease him they increase 〈◊〉 sufferings of the languishing Body and add affliction to its pangs These kind of Physitians do very well discribe unto us in this particular the properties of the Heathen Philosophers for when they represent the calamities of our humane condition they sharpen their Wits and discover all their Skill and Rhetorick â—â—â—e of them laugh ingeniously at our miseries others do art ficially weep to behold them but in all their Writings and tragick Expressions we cannot find any solid and sincere Comforts to strengthen us against the apprehensions of Death therefore their contemptible and vain fancies oblige us to tell them as Job did to his friends who did disquiet instead of comforting him Your remembrances are like unto ashes your bodies to bodies of Clay Job 13. It is true some of these Learned Philosophers have very well spoken that we begin to dye assoon as we begin to breath and that our Life is like unto a Candle that lives by its approaches unto death whereof the Flame doth devour and consume it for the natural heat that entertains our life doth insensibly undermine it for it is that which spends our radical moisture or humidity that yields the same benefits unto our life as Oyl doth to a Lamp or Wax to a Taper Others have aswel said that our present life is but a swift Race from one Mother to another they meant from the Womb of our Mothers that brought us into the world into the womb and bosom of the Earth that will receive us at last for assoon as we are born we run a swift Race towards our Grave at that instant when we fly from death we do draw insensibly towards it and contrary to any intention we cast our selves into its Bosom and Arms. Some of the same School have compared Man to a bubble upon Water that rises and swells and immediately decreases and breaks others make him like to the waterish bottles of divers colours that Children cause with their breath and destroy with the same In truth all Mans Beauty is but a vain appearance that vanishes away in an instant Isai 40. All flesh is like grass and all the glory of man like the Flowers of the Field 1 Pet. 1. One of these great Philosophers being demanded what the life of man was answered never a word because such a question deserved no answer or rather because he would imitate the custom of his Age of speaking by guess and symbolick representations for that purpose he entred into a Chamber and past out of it again at the same instant This he did to express unto his Disciples that questioned him how that Mans Life is but an entrance in and egress out of the World the one succeeds immediately the other Another of the same Sect walkt in a bravado two or three turns and then shrunk into a Pit to signify That our Life is but a kind of Mascarade a vain appearance that soon vanishes when Men have well admired themselves and their Beauty and when they have drawn the looks and esteem of the World Death snatches them away dashes out all their Beauty and swallows their borrowed Glory in a mournful Grave It is with us as with Actors in a Comedy the one represents a King the other an Emperor the one a Counsellor the other a Minister of State but when the Comedy is ended and the Garments changed you know not which is which we are like Counters upon a Table some signify Unites others Tens others Hundreds and others Thousands and Millions but when they are gathered together and put again into the Purse this vast difference appears no more This is a lively Image of all mankind for in this life some appear upon the Throne others are seated upon a Dunghil some flourish in Golden and Silken attire others are cloathed with nakedness some Command as Princes others submit as Gally-slaves some are fed with exquisite Dainties others must be content with the Bread of affliction but when Death hath cast them all into their Graves together then they appear equal and alike All these witty expressions and others of the like nature are pleasant and true they teach well and flatter the fancy but they afford no real Comforts Therefore to all these Learned Doctors we may say as Job by way of reproach to his friends that did add sorrow to his affliction You are all Physitians of no value How then comfort ye me in vain Job 13.9 and 21.34 When a poor Patient is stretched with the Tortures of an unmerciful Gout or
wish for but that we may only have cause to return to thee Thanksgiving and to celebrate thy Divine praises That in this glorious and everlasting day we may sing continually with the Seraphims that flie about thy Throne holy holy holy is the Lord God of Hosts all that is in the Earth is his Glory and with the Blessed Saints now is come to pass Salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for Death is swallowed up into Victory the accuser of our Brethren is shut up in the bottomless pit he that accused them day and night before God They have overcome him by the Blood of the Lamb. They have not loved their own Lives unto Death Vnto him who hath loved us and washed us from all our Sins in his Blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God his Father to him I say as to the Father and the Holy Ghost be Glory power and Dominion 〈◊〉 ever Amen FINIS A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS In this BOOK CHap. 1. That there is nothing more dreadful than Death to such as have no hope in God Page 1. Chap. 2. That in all the Heathens Philosophy there is no solid or true comforts against the fears and apprehensions of Death p. 8. Chap. 3. Of divers sorts of Death with which we must incounter p. 16. Chap. 4. That Jesus Christ our Lord hath redeemed us from Eternal Death and by Degrees doth deliver us from a Spiritual Death p. 22. Chap. 5. Why we are subject to the Corporal or Natural Death and what advantages we do thereby receive in Jesus Christ p. 28. Chap. 6. From whence proceed the Fears of Death p. 44. Chap. 7. The first Remedy against the Fears of Death is to Meditate often upon it p. 52. Chap. 8. The Second Remedy against the Fears of Death is to expect it at every hour p. 65. Chap. 9. The Third Remedy against the Fears of Death is to consider that God hath appointed the time and the manner of our Death p. 77. Chap. 10. The fourth Remedy against the Fears of Death is to separate our Hearts from the World p. 109. Chap. 11. The fifth Remedy against the Fears of Death is to renounce Vice and to apply our selves to the practice of Piety and Sanctification Page 147. Chap. 12. The sixth Remedy against the Fears of Death is to repose our selves upon Gods good Providence p 206. Chap. 13. The first Consolation against the Fears of Death God will not forsake us in our most grievous pangs p. 267. Chap. 14 The second Consolation against the Fears of Death is to look upon God as a Merciful Father and to trust upon his infinite goodness p. 296. Chap. 15. The third Consolation against the Fears of Death is to represent continually unto our selves the Death and Sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to trust upon the Merits of his Cross p. 315. Chap. 16. The fourth Consolation against the Fears of Death is to Meditate often upon our Lord Jesus Christ as he did lie in his Tomb p. 335. Chap. 17. The fifth Consolation against the Fears of Death is to Meditate upon the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ p. 342. Chap. 18. The sixth Consolation against the Fears of Death is the Ascention of Jesus Christ into Heaven and his sitting at the right hand of God p. 346. Chap. 19. The seventh Consolation against the Fears of Death is our strict and unseparable union with Jesus Christ by the means of his Holy Spirit and the First Fruits of our Blessed Immortality p. 357. Chap. 20. The eighth Consolation is to consider that Death frees and delivers us from all the Evils that are in the World and what we daily suffer p. 375. Chap. 21. The ninth Consolation Death shall deliver us from Sin which we may see Reigning in the World and from the Reliques of our Corruption p. 391. Chap. 22. The tenth Consolation is the Glory and Happiness of our Souls at their egress out of the Body p. 412. Chap. 23. The eleventh Consolation is the glorious Resurrection of our Bodies p. 443. Chap. 24. The twelfth Consolation is the Destruction of Death and the Eternal and most Blessed Life which we shall injoy both in Soul and Body after our Resurrection Page 486. The Several Prayers and Meditations proper for every condition the devout Reader shall find at the end of those Chapters unto which the Prayers are sutable A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS Printed for John Starkey Bookseller at the Miter in Fleetstreet near Temple-Bar DIVINITY 1. A Discourse of the Freedom of the Will by Peter Sterry sometime Fellow of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge in folio price bound 10 s. 2. The Jesuits Morals Collected by a Doctor of the Colledge of Sorbon in Paris who hath faithfully extracted them out of the Jesuits own Books which are Printed by the permission and approbation of the Superiours of their Society Written in French and exactly Translated into English in folio price bound 10 s. 3. 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The Living Temple or the Notion improved that A good Man is the Temple of God By John Howe M. A. sometime Fellow of Magdalen Colledge Oxon in octavo price bound 3 s. 7. A Confutation of the Millenarian Opinion plainly demonstrating that Christ will not reign visibly and personally upon Earth with the Saints for 1000 years either before the day of Judgement in the day of Judgment or after it By Tho. Hall B. D. price bound 1 s. PHYSICK 8. Basilica Chymica Praxis Chimiatricae or Royal and Practical Chymistry augmented and enlarged by John Hartman To which is added his Treatise of Signatures of internal things or a true and lively Anatomy of the greater and lesser World As also the Practice of Chymistry of John Hartman M. D. Augmented and inlarged by his Son with considerable Additions all faithfully Englished by a Lover of Chymistry price bound 10 s. 9. The Art of Chymistry as it is now practised Written in French by P. Thybault Chymist to the French King and
seek amongst the rarest and most precious Treasuries of Wit and Learning belonging to the Heathen Antiquity turn over the Writings of the most Eloquent Orators of the Subtlest Philosophers of the most famous Poets examine the Secrets of the most expert and experienced Physitians consider their Practice and all the Remedies that they prescribe to the Soul and you shall find them too unskilful to perform the least Cure They do but charm and divert the Disease hardens us against the evil they furnish us with a good exterior and teach us to bear a good Meen but they have no real Antidote against the Venome that kills the Principle of Life nor Remedy that reaches to the Heart And as the Torrents that dry up in the hottest seasons such Consolations that flow not from the Fountain of Life vanish away without effect and dry up to nothing when a deep sorrow fear and affliction seize upon a sinful Soul It seems the contrivers of the Heathens Religion were sensible of this Truth for they have dedicated Temples and erected Altars to all manner of gods and goddesses not only to Vertues and Health but also to Vices and Diseases to Fear Cowardise Anger the Feavor the Pestilence and an infinite more but they left Death out of their Devotions This is an open Declaration that they knew not how to strike acquaintance with Death and win its esteem and favor They had no Sacrifices nor Incense that could allay its fury they lookt upon it as their most inhumane and unreconcileable Enemy The very name of Death did terrify them therefore it was one of their most unfortunate Omens Adrian the Emperor is a witness of what I say he was one of the greatest Princes in former Ages he had made most part of the habitable World tremble under his Scepter and put to death an infinite number of Men but at last he trembled and was astonished himself at the approaches of Death he had overcome the most barbarous Nations and tam'd the most savage Beasts but when he came to this last Enemy he had no weapons fit for the Encounter therefore in this occasion he discovers the weakness and unconstancy of his Mind far more disturb'd than his Body was with the Disease Sometimes he did employ the Magick Art to retard Death sometimes he did make use of his Sword and Poison to hasten it at last he kill'd himself by an abstinence from Food necessary to entertain his life He had conquer'd all the World and given Peace and Happiness to his Empire but he could not overcome himself or appease the troubles of his Conscience he was so far from satisfying the troublesome thoughts of his Soul that he suffers himself to be overwhelmed with despair he flatters his Soul in hastening its ruine for when his Disease did suffer him to breath he talkt unto it in this manner My little Soul my dearest Companion Thou art now going to wander in obscure Cold and strange places Thou shalt never jest again according to the wonted custom thou shalt never give me any sport or pleasure any more But some may say that Adrian was a powerful Monarch but no great Philosopher that he knew how to Govern and was well acquainted with the Politicks but that he was ignorant of the Morals and had no skill to dye well To answer this Objection let us give an example of one without exception who will satisfy all Opponents Aristotle is generally esteem'd to have been the Subtlest and the most Learned of the Heathen Antiquity he was the Prince of all the Philosophers the Glory of his Age and the Founder of his Sect when his excellent Soul had viewed all things examined the Heavens searcht among the excellencies of the Earth pryed into all the Wonders of the World and found out the rarest Secrets of Nature He could never find any solid Comforts against the apprehensions of Death Notwithstanding all his admirable Subtleties and his profound Learning the fears of this cruel Death terrifies his Conscience in such a manner that he confessed That of all terrible things Death was the most dreadful CHAP. 3. Of divers sorts of Death with which we must encounter WHen David had a design to fight with Goliah he could not make use of the Armor of King Saul therefore he took a smooth stone out of his Bag cast it with his Sling struck the Philistine in the Forehead and brought down this proud Giant who had defied the Armies of Israel We have already examined and tried all the Armor of humane Wisdom and Learning laid up in the Storehouses of the greatest wits of former Ages and we have found that they are not able to yield us any benefit when we shall encounter with Death Let us therefore now see whither we may overcome this Proud Enemy with the Sling of our mystical David with the weapons of our Divine Shepheard but before we begin the Encounter let us look and behold it in the face The enemy that I intend that you should overcome is a Monster with three Heads for there are three sorts of death the Corporal the Spiritual and the Eternal The Corporal Death is a separation of the Soul from the Body although our Body hath been fashioned with the Finger of God it is but a weak and frail Vessel made with the slime of the Earth but our Soul is of an Heavenly Spiritual and Immortal Substance it is a Sparkle and a Raie of the Godhead and the lively Image of our great Creator for when God had made our first Parent He breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Life Gen. 2.7 that we might thereby understand that our Souls do proceed from his immediate hand therefore he is named the Father of spirits Heb. 12. and The faithful Creator of Souls 1 Pet. 4. This Soul doth raise us a degree above all the Animals and above the Celestial Bodies and renders us like to the Angels of Heaven It is the Light that enlightens us the Salt that preserves us from Corruption In one word by this Soul we live enjoy our Sences move and understand as soon as this Angelical Guest leaves its Lodging and Earthly abode it looseth all Beauty and falls of it self into an inevitable ruine For this Flesh that we entertain with care and pamper with all manner of Dainties doth then corrupt and rot after that it hath been stretcht awhile upon Beds of Gold and richly attired in Purple and Scarlet it is cast upon a Bed of Worms and covered with the vilest insects of the Earth notwithstanding all its former perfumes it yields then a most horrid stink before it did ravish the eyes of the Beholders with its admirable Beauty but now it becomes so odious and horrible that the living care not to see it at last it is reduc'd to ashes according to the Sentence that was pronounc'd in the Earthly Paradise Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return The Spiritual Death is the separation
Jews but that he gave them full liberty to take up Arms to defend themselves to attack their Enemies and to make them suffer all the evils that they intended against them I find something like unto this proceeding for God would not call back the sentence of Death that he had pronounced against Mankind in the Garden of Eden nevertheless he allows us nay he commands his true Israel to take up Arms against Death to conquer and trample it under feet In the first place Jesus Christ who is our head hath encountered with Death and conquered it he hath pursued it into its Trenches and overcome it in its own Fortification Death thought to have devoured him but it hath been devoured it self as the Fishes are taken by the Hook that they think to swallow and as the Bees do hurt those whom they sting and doe greater harm to themselves for they cause but a present pain in our body and a heat that soon ceaseth but it causeth to it self greater damage for it breaks its sting and looseth thereby its life Thus Death by fixing its sting in the Humanity of Jesus Christ hath put him to a great deal of pain for a time but it hath thereby lost all strength vigor and sting by this means The men of Juda to satisfy the furious Philistins delivered into their hands Sampson bound with Ropes when they saw him the Philistins gave several joyful shouts but the Spirit of God came upon him in such a manner that he tore in pieces the two Ropes wherewith he was bound and overcame them by whom he was led away prisoner and kill'd a thousand of them Thus the miserable Jews for fear of the Romans deliver'd unto them our Lord Jesus Christ their Brother according to the flesh bound like a Malefactor when Hell saw him nailed to the Cross and afterwards laid in a Grave it did wonderfully rejoyce the Devil and his Angels began to sing Songs of Triumph But it was altogether unpossible that the Prince of Life should be detained in the Prisons of Death he hath not only broken out of the Grave by his infinite power but he hath also trampled under feet all his most furious enemies and overcame millions of infernal Fiends and to declare how Life and Death were in his power he hath Commanded Death when he was as it were a prisoner shut up in its Dungeon He hath broke open the Gates of this black prison and torn in pieces all its Fetters for when he was yet in his Grave he raised to life many that were dead who were seen in the Holy City and yet at present he holds in his hand the keys of Death and of Hell Therefore as Children do rejoyce at their Fathers Victory and as the Subjects are concerned at the prosperous proceedings of their King and as the Members are the better for the Glory and Honor of their Head thus we may justly glory in the most notable Victories and famous Triumphs of Jesus Christ who is our Father King and Head we may also justly glory that we are Lords of Death and that we have overcome it in the person of our Great God and Saviour I say this after the Apostle St. Paul That God hath quickened us together and raised us together and made us sit together in Heavenly places with Jesus Christ Eph. 2. Moreover as our Saviour hath once overcome Death for us he continues to overcome it in and by us he doth not suffer us to encounter with our enemies alone nor doth he leave us in time of need but as in a day of Battel a wise and provident General hath an eye in every place and encourages by his action and voice his Soldiers whom he perceives at handy-blows with the Enemy some he loads with praises others with promises by that means he encourageth such as behave themselves bravely rescues the weak and feeble and to such as are over-born he furnishes them with fresh Supplies Thus deals with us our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the great God of Hosts who sits above in the Heavens in his triumphal Chariot and beholds all our combats and encounters when he perceives us too weak that we might not be overcome by our most dreadful Enemies he furnisheth us with his Holy Spirit and his own Armor as Jonathan did to David when he deliver'd to him his Cloak his Bow his Belt and Sword besides this merciful Saviour disarms Death of its most hurtful weapons and takes away all its Arrows and Darts As the strength and power of Sampson did lodge in the hair of his Head which the Philistines could never have imagined so the strength and power of Death consists in such things as the world do least dream of The most dreadful weapons with which it terrifies and beats us are the Thunderbolts and Curses of the Law and our sins are as the poison in which it dips its Arrows or rather our sins are the fiery Dart with which it wounds and destroys us Now Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law when he became a Curse for us Gal. 3. He hath carried our sins in his Body upon the Cross 1 Pet. 2. And as the He-Goat Harazel he hath transported them away into an inhabitable Desart Levit. 16. He hath removed them from the eyes of our God as far as the East is from the West he hath cast them into the bottom of the Ocean and drown'd them in his Bloud so that we now see fulfilled what was foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Juda and they shall not be found chap. 50. Therefore being invested with the Grace of God and armed with the Vertue of his Holy Spirit Let us shew our courage and defie death let us look it in the fâ—â—e without fear laugh at all its threats and encounter with it without dread for it is now but like a Soldier who without his weapons carries himself proudly It is like a Bee that buzzeth about without its sting It is like an old Lion that roars but hath lost all his Claws It is like a Snake that would cast its poyson but hath no venemous Teeth left because they have been all pull'd out by him who hath bruised the Serpents Head If you consider nothing but Deaths Exterior its Face and fearful appearance its frightful Eyes its meager Body its iron'd Hands you cannot perceive any difference between the death of Gods Children and that of the most wicked Varlets but if you lift up the vizard and examine the Death of the one and of the other more exactly you will meet with as much difference as between Heaven and Earth the Paradise of God and Hell for as Moses's brazen Serpent which he lift up in the Desart had the form and appearance of a burning Serpent but nothing of the Prison and Fire thus the death of the faithful appears as the
death of other men but hath not the deadly and pernicious consequences for it is not only a sign and a testimony of Gods Grace and Favour but the beginning of our deliverance and the cure of all our Diseases As Moses when he had cast wood into the waters of Marah they had the same colour but not the same bitterness and unpleasant taste Thus the death of Gods dearest Children hath the same tincture and appearance as before but Christs Cross hath taken away the danger the trouble and extracted out of it its unsufferable bitterness and changed it into unspeakable sweetness As Pharaoh was drowned with all his Army in the waters of the Red Sea but the Children of Israel found a secure and a pleasant passage into the promised Land When they were arrived upon the other shoar of that dreadful Sea they sung unto God Songs of Triumph and Thanksgiving Thus Death opens its Throat to devour the Reprobates It is an Abysse where they can find no bottom but unto the Children of God it is a favourable passage into an eternal Bliss assoon as they are gone through they are arrived to a place of Assurance Joy and Rest where God furnisheth them with Songs of Triumph and Thansgiving to the Lamb 1 Rev. 15. Moses's Rod was turned into a Serpent but Aaron's being laid up in the Tabernacle began to flourish and bear Almonds Exod. 4. and 7. Thus while we are in the hands of the Law Death is dreadful and terrible but when we draw near to Christ the true Ark of the Covenant it blossoms and brings Fruits forth of Joy and Eternal Comfort Balaam the Prophet was called to curse the People of God but he blessed it contrary to the vain expectation of Balak King of Moab Thus Death hath been brought into the world by the Devil to destroy and utterly abolish the Holy Seed but God by his infinite Goodness and Wisdom hath changed it into Salvation and Blessing Let us not therefore be any longer puzled to find out the meaning of Sampsons Riddle Out of the eater came forth Meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness Judg. 14. For the Church of God unto whom Christ hath discover'd the most excellent Secrets of his Kingdom teacheth us to seek the Hony the sweetest comforts out of the Belly of this old Lion It is not possible to Judge of Musick by a Tone or of an Oration by a Period nor of a Comedy by a Scene So we must not judge of a Battel by the first Assault nor of a wrestling by the first embraces and effects of the wrestlers for some in the beginning of the Battel turn their backs who nevertheless at the last doe sometimes win the day and the victory and some in wrestling are foiled at the beginning who nevertheless at last supplant their Enemy and cast him upon the back Therefore that we may better understand the great and notable advantages that we have over death we must examine it all along until the end of the encounter we must take notice of every Assault that we do give unto this unreconcileable Enemy Assoon as the Taper of our Life begins to burn Satan sends forth his blasts to extinguish it Death labours to undermine ' this poor Dwelling from the first moment that it was built it besieges it on all sides it makes its approaches in time it saps the foundation it batters us with several diseases and unexpected accidents every day it opens a breach and pulls out of this building some stones But if Death labours to demolish on her part we on ours labour to repair And as those who built the Walls of Jerusalem held with one hand the Trowel and with the other a Sword to sight so we defend our selves as well as we are able against the assaults of Death Therefore we do not only endeavour to preserve this earthly Lodge that God hath Lett and Sett to us for a term and to mend up the continual Dilapidations that happen in it but at the very sight of death when it gives us the Assault we do then also advance our Spiritual building and labour to bring it to perfection so that we may say as the Apostle St. Paul If our outward man decays the inward man is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4. To speak true Death meddles with nothing but with the exterior part of Man for our principal Fort and chief Bulwark doth neither fear to be undermined nor sapt nor to be won by Assault for it is rais'd above the Heavens and built upon the Rock of Eternity it cannot be batter'd for as the Thunderbolts the storms of Hail and ill weather cannot prejudice the Sunbeams because they are of a Spiritual nature so all the Fury of the World all the Powers of Hell and the Rage of Death can never wrong the Soul that is of a Spiritual and Immortal Nature This Castle can never be famished for God furnisheth it with Manna from Heaven and from the Rock upon which it is built there runs a source of living waters that riseth to everlasting life In one word as the Serpents do crawl only upon the Dust Death hath no power but upon the earthly part of Man therefore our Lord Jesus Christ adviseth his Apostles To not fear them that kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul At the very instant of our Souls separation from the Body Death seeâ—s to have a great advantage upon us but when I consider all I find that it hath no cause to glory and that it is without reason that it chalenges the victory When a valiant Captain marches out of a Town almost destroyed to another more secure and better fortified with his weapons in his hand we say that he hath quitted his station and not that he is overcome Thus when this wretched Body decays and that our Souls depart well armed with Faith and Hope to lodge in a more secure place in the highest Heavens no body can say to speak properly that we have been overcome And as it happens with such as sail on the wide Sea when a violent storm threatens them with Shipwrack they think themselves very happy if they can quit then Vessel leave it to the mercy of the Winds and Waves and escape to Land with their Riches and Lives safe Thus it is with us who sail upon this tempestuous Sea of the world for when Death raiseth its most cruel storms we think our selves happy if we can leave this miscrable Body which seems as a ship to our Souls and if we can secure our Spiritual Life and our Heavenly Riches Therefore we may justly say to the faithful Souls that are frighted when they see Death threatening to drown them in its depths as St. Paul to his Ship-company who did tremble for fear at the sight of a roaring and furious Sea Take good courage my brethren for I do assure you in the name of the living God that your lives are
and with our Daughters with our Flocks and with our Heards there shall not an Hoof be left behind Exod. 10. Thus we in an Holy Confidence may talk with Death maugre thy Rage and Fury we will go up to Heaven to sacrifice unto our God immortal praises we shall get out of thy slavery We our Wives our Children our Brothers and Sisters our Parents and Friends all the People of God whom thou dost at present keep in a close restraint notwithstanding the infernal attempts of thine inhumane power there shall not remain so much as an handful no not so much as the least grain of our Ashes behind us When the Son of God shall appear in his Glory from Heaven he shall consume all Death's Trophies and Monuments with irresistable Flames so that it shall happen to this imperious Enemy of Mankind as it happened to the Kings of the Amorites mentioned in the Israelitish History Josh 10. for as Joshua suffered them to live until he was returned from his victory and then when he had perfectly overcome all his Enemies he Commanded them to be brought forth and gave order to his Captains to tread upon their necks and then with his own sword he dispatcht them cast them into a Cave and caused great stones to be rowled at the entrance of it Thus shall our true and Celestial Joshua deal with Death he suffers it to reign while he is gone to pursue his Enemies for the last Enemy that shall be destroyed by him is Death when he shall have perfectly subdued all other Enemies he will then conclude all his victories with a glorious end and accomplish the Churches Triumph by causing us to trample upon Death that shall be cast into the bottomless pit whereof the entrance shall be shut up for ever Rev. 10. then shall be accomplisht this glorious Prophesie Death is swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15. for the Spirit of God assures us in express words That Death shall be no more By what we have said it may easily appear what is become of the Rope thrice twisted by the Devil with an intent to strangle therewith all Mankind for the Son of God hath cut in pieces the first of these unhappy ties by his Almighty power by the Spirit of Sanctification he loosens the second by degrees and by the last he draws us to himself and then he burns and consumes it altogether therefore we have no reason to fear an Eternal Death nor to tremble when Hell opens wide its mouth If we resist the Devil he flies away from us Jam. 4. at last we shall trample him under our feet Rom. 16. It is true that the sad and doleful effects of the Spiritual death do commonly draw out of us many a sad Groan and Tear whilst our Soul remains in this sinful Flesh we are already got out of the Tombs of Corruption and Sin but yet bear about us as it were our Winding-sheet and some odd Reliques of our natural Misery But we have this consideration to comfort our drooping spirits That Christ will shortly give the same order from Heaven for us as he did for Lazarus Loose him and let him go Joh. 11. So that instead of the corruption of our Nature that is so incommodious to us he will invest us in Estate of Glory Incorruption Immortality and perfect Happiness for the Corporal Death we may justly say That our Lord and Saviour hath freed us from all the fears that it might beget in us so that it is my judgement that we may not only affirm that we have not the least apprehension of it but expect it with assurance for if we be truly of the number of the faithful and Gods adopted Sons we hope desire and hasten Deaths arrival by our most carnest and most passionate wishes What I have already declared in this Chapter might satisfy any Christian Soul and furnish it with sufficient considerations to strengthen it against all apprehensions of Death But as one that is wont to buy Stuffs in a Shop when he cheapens such as are slight and of a small value he casts his eye only upon a piece or a pattern and by that judges of the rest but when he intends to purchase a rich Tapestry of great value he desires to visit and consider every part one after another and make an estimation of the value and beauty of every corner So I judge that the Wise and Religious Reader will desire now that I have discover'd to him in gross the Body of Consolations against the fears of Death that I should in the next place unfold these hidden Excellencies produce every part of them by degrees to his contemplation and with my Pen make him take notice of all the Rarities CHAP. 6. From whence proceed the fears of Death AS a wise and discreet Physitian usually examines with care the causes of the Disease before he prescribes a Remedy and as an experienced Chirurgion searcheth the wound before he claps the Plaister to it Thus I judge it necessary to seek with diligence from whence the fears of death proceed before we shall appoint the Remedies to the faithful Souls for when we shall have perfectly understood the nature of the Disease and its principal Causes we shall without difficulty be better able to assign a convenient Remedy when we shall have searcht the wound and washt it clean we will with Gods assistance pour into it the true Balm of Gilead First we have just reason to accuse our selves of too much unmindfulness of Death we don't meditate so often as we should upon the misery and frailty of our poor and despicable nature we acknowledge it I confess with our tongues that our life is but a breath in our Nostrils a vapor that soon disappears a shadow that quickly vanishes away but in the mean time we flatter our selves in our hearts with more pleasant thoughts and desire as Herod that Men should look upon us as so many little Gods Acts 12. We suffer our selves to be deceived by the flattering insinuations of our corrupted Flesh and by the artificious suggestions of the old Serpent that whispers to us as to our first Parents You shall not dye Gen. 3. 2. We commonly affirm that Death is inexorable without Ears nevertheless we live as if we had concluded an agreement with Death and had secret intelligence with the Grave Is 22. Death approaches with Feet of Wooll without noise we imagine therefore that it will never come near us as that wicked servant of the Gospel Matth. 24. that gathered from his Masters delays of coming that he would not come at all We hate and abominate the sight of all those things that represent to us any appearance of Death or that calls into our minds its remembrance if at any time its Image comes in our way we turn from it our Eyes and banish out of our fancy all imaginations of it as of a most odious and deceitful illusion Death seizeth upon us
before we have well thought whither we be mortal or no Therefore we are sooner surprized and astonished at its approaches and we become like the foolish Israelites that trembled and fled before Goliah because they were not accustomed to behold him 3. We have too great confidence and depend too much upon second Causes we look upon Death as a thing that happens by chance or as an evil that may be prevented or at least put away from us for a time whereas we should be fully perswaded that God hath determined and appointed not only Death it self but also all the causes and means by which it commonly happens Therefore we are often fill'd with displeasure and reduced to murmure and repine against God we grin and bite the stone instead of adoring in all humility that wise Hand that casts it In a word when ever Death comes to us we are ready to say to it as the Devils to our Saviour Wherefore art thou come to torment us before the time Matth. 3. 4. We are too much wedded to these earthly vanities we are inseparable from the World we would willingly make here our abode for ever and cannot abide to hear that Death will remove us Our unlawful affections have no bounds and we often spend our selves in the pursuance of the miserable advantages of the Earth When we come almost to the end of our life and of our mortal journey it is then that many of us are most earnest to make a large provision of Worldly Vanities we build stately dwellings and sumptuous Palaces at that very moment when we should think of nothing but of building our Tomb and preparing our Winding-sheet We have so violent a passion for all the advantages of this life that to separate us from them it is to pluck out our Hearts and tear our tenderest Bowels When Death comes to our Bedside and offers to pull us out we are ready to say as the Sluggard in the Proverbs A little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands Prov. 6. When our Divine Bridegroom knocks at our Gates we are scarce willing to abandon our Delights as the Spouse in the Canticles what saith the Worldling Must I leave my sumptuous Palaces my pleasant Dwellings and my delightful Gardens Must I relinquish all this rich Tapestry these precious Moveables and all these rare and exquisite Ornaments that enrich my Parlors Chambers and Closets Must this unmerciful Death divest me so soon of all my Offices and Dignities and hinder me from a full and peaceable enjoyment of all these Riches and Treasures Must it ravish from me in an instant all my Delights and satisfactions Is there no remedy but must I be pluckt from the embraces of my beloved Wife from the sight of my dear Children and from the sweet company of all my friends Must I receive no more the services of my Domesticks When we are in this miserable disposition it is no wonder if death is terrible to us and if it causeth us to resent the sharpness of its sting for as Absalom when he was hanging by the hair of his Head in a Tree of the Forrest Joab took three Darts and struck him through the Heart thus when our affections are too much wedded and entangled with the World and its vanities and fill'd with the expectation of earthly contentments it is then that they are miserably exposed to all the Darts and violent attempts of Death 5. Another principal cause of the fear of Death is our ill Life We give our selves over to the vices debaucheries and licenciousness of this unhappy Age we suffer our selves to be corrupted by ill company and carried away with the Torrent of vicious Customs It is therefore no wonder if death fills our Souls with apprehensions for it comes to us armed with our sins and is preceded by the remorse of Conscience and horror of our Crimes How came it to pass that such a terrible astonishment fell upon King Belshazzar when he saw the fingers of an hand writing upon the Wall of his Palace the Sentence of his doom Dan. 5. It was because he did profane the Holy Vessels of God's House and because he did riot in the company of lascivious Women Wherefore did Felix tremble when he heard St. Paul discourse of Justice Temperance and of Judgement to come Acts 24. It was because he was a wicked Varlet given over to all manner of filthy and unjust living Thus because we profane the Members of our Body that are as the Vessels of Gods Sanctuary and House and because our life is vicious and disorderly we can't abide to hear death mention'd and when it comes to us we are ready to speak to it in Felix's language to St. Paul Depart for this time So that the love of Sin and the fear of Death are as two Sisters that hold one another by the hands or rather they are as Twins that are born and dye together As the Prophet Amos said to the Israelites Ye put for away the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near Amos 6. So may we say to the Men of this age Ye put far from you the day of Death as much as you are able and draw near to all manner of Impurity Covetousness Ambition Pride Vanity Usury Rapine Violence Envy Malice and such like Soul-plagues You don't only draw near to these abominable Vices but you do also worse to lodge them in your Bowels and to plant them in your Hearts Certainly we may very well apply to all vicious persons what the Prophet Jeremy tells of Jerusalem Her filthiness is in her skirts she remembreth not her last end Lam. 1. 6. I have taken notice of another imperfection in us we mistrust the Providence of God and know not how to repose our selves upon his Fatherly Care we have a too worthy esteem of our selves and of our own sufficiency We can't resolve to dye because we fancy our selves very useful in the world and that our Death would bring a considerable loss to the Church of God to the State or to our Family 7. Because the Soul and Body are linkt together in a very strict union we can't imagine how they can be separated without great and unspeakable pangs our infidelity is so great that we can't rest satisfied upon the promise of God who engages to succor us in our distress and to deliver us from all our troubles Is 50. It is true Jacob's Ladder that reaches from the Earth to Heaven doth fill us with admiration but it seems most difficult and uneasy to ascend Paradice is Rich Glorious and Delightful to the uttermost but its Gate is strait and choakt up with Thorns and Bryers 8 I judge that one of the chief causes of the fear of death is because we look upon God as a most severe and merciless Judge inflamed with anger and fury against us and armed with vengeance Whereas we should consider and acknowledge him to be a
merciful Father full of compassion and kindness for Mankind Every Slave trembles at the sight of his Lord and there is no Malefactor but is afraid when he appears before his Judge to be put to the question and can I who am all spotted with sin and black with my horrid crimes can I appear before that Glorious Throne that causes the Seraphims to cover their Faces with their Wings Is 6. How can I that am but stubble subsist in the presence of the God of vengeance who is a consuming fire Heb. 10. 9. There is another visible fault in us we don't imbrace with a true and lively Faith the Death and Passion of our Lord and Saviour we all speak of Jesus Christ crucified but we don't know the Divine Vertue of his Crucifixion nor feel its Efficacy we don't consider that his death hath torn in pieces the partition that did shut us out of the Heavenly Sanctuary and that his blood doth trace us a way to Paradise and procure an entrance into that place of Eternal Bliss 10. We don't represent to our selves as we ought to remove from our fancy the horror of the Sepulchre how our Lord and Saviour hath bin laid himself in the Grave and perfum'd it with his Holy and Divine sufferings We don't imprint into our imagination that it is just and reasonable that we should be conformable to Christ in his abasement if we will have any share with him in his Glory and exaltation 11. Besides that which nourisheth in our Souls the fears of Death is this we look upon it as if it were in its full strength and vigor whereas we should remember that Jesus Christ hath overcome and disarm'd Death by his powerful Resurrection and that for our parts we need but follow the footsteps of his Glorious victories and fasten that furious Beast to his Triumphant Chariot 12. We don't consider as we should with a serious and religious application of the mind How our Saviour Christ is not only risen from the Sepulchre victorious of death but that he is also ascended up into the highest Heavens as our fore-runner to prepare a place for us and that by departing out of our miserable bodies we follow the footsteps of our ever Blessed Saviour to reap with him the fruits of his most Glorious Victories 13. We stoop too much to consider our frail corruptible and mortal Nature and we seldom enter into this most useful Meditation That by the Holy Ghost we are nearly and unseparably united with Jesus Christ the Prince of Life and the Source of Light and that we have already in us the Seeds of Blessedness of Glory and Immortality 14. As the Children of Israel did murmure against Moses in the Desart and did wish to be again in Egypt This did proceed from a forgetfulness of their bitter slavery under which they had groan'd and of their painful labouring amongst the Bricks and the heat of the Furnaces and from their mindfulness of the pleasures alone which they had lost They dream't of nothing but of the plenty of Bread and Flesh of the Cucumbers Onions and of the Meats with which they had so often fill'd their bellies Thus we do repine at death because we don't dream of the evils from which it delivers us but think only upon the vain pleasures and seeming advantages of which it robs us 15. We imagine that Death destroys and reduces us to nothing And we don't consider that it never meddles with the principal part of our being but only pulls off from us Sin and breaks the rest of the Chains of our Spiritual Bondage so that Death is rather the Death of Sin than of the faithful 16. Here is another great fault in us We don't lift up our minds to consider the Glory prepared for us at the Egress of our Souls out of our mortal Bodies However we may demean our selves and what ever we may say we don't firmly without doubting believe the Felicities which God promiseth to us in the contemplation of his Face Sometimes we may think upon the joys of Paradise but it is a thought that doth pass through our Souls with too much speed and don 't take any root so that there be many if they were not ashamed would be ready to speak in that Emperor Adrian's Language My little Soul my dearest darling O Guest and Companion of my Body whither art thou now going 17. To these former causes of the fears of Death in us we may add another That we cast too much and suffer our eyes to dwell upon the rottenness and corruption that threatens our Body whereas we should carry our eye-sight to behold its Glorious Resurrection that shall soon follow Pleasant Abode and delightful Companion of my Soul must Death this cruel Death separate it from thee with so much violence Must thou part with thy dear and sweet company Must my Soul leave thee upon such grievous and lamentable terms That of so many Honors which have been heapt upon thee thou shalt not carry so much as their shadow to the Grave That of so many rich Moveables and Treasures thou shalt bear away nothing but a Winding-sheet a few Boards or at the most some pounds of Lead When thou hast lived in so much splendor and magnificence must thy covering be at last the Worms When thou hast walkt so proudly in Palaces Gilded with Gold and perfum'd must at last thy confinement be in a stinking and loathsome Sepulchre Must these beautiful Eyes be clos'd These Lips of Coral become pale This Golden Mouth be stopt and must this dainty Flesh rot and become odious to the eyes of the World 18. In the last place We don't think as we ought upon that Eternal Bliss and Glory that hath been prepared for us from the foundation of the World and into which we shall enter when Christ Jesus shall come from Heaven with his Holy Angels to judge both the Quick and the Dead when he shall reunite our Souls and Bodies together for all Eternity that he may be glorified in his Saints and wonderful in all the faithful CHAP. 7. The first Remedy against the fears of Death is to Meditate often upon it WE become acquainted with the most dreadful things by custome and conversation fresh Soldiers do commonly quiver and shake at the sight of an Enemy they tremble at the Volleys of Shot and half dead fall to the ground at the horrid noise of the great Ordnance but when their courage hath been hardened by a long exercise they can then without fear seek the Enemy in his greatest advantages and can go as merrily to the Combat as to a Feast or to a Triumph The showers of small shot the Lightning and Thunder of the Canon can't make them so much as to shut their eyes or stoop their heads They do then laugh at their former apprehensions Thus the first conceits of Death do commonly terrify us but when we seriously meditate upon it and look it
in the face we shall not only contemn it but we shall also seek it boldly in its retreats and with an assured and undaunted countenance we shall behold Death let fly all its Arrows and Launces all its Thunderbolts without the least apprehension As it is with them who are not wont to see Savage Beasts they dare not draw near to them and can scarce look upon them without fear but such as are familiarly acquainted with them can touch them without apprehension and freely play with them Thus it is with those who have never had the confidence to look Death in the face they tremble and are fill'd with astonishment assoon as they see its approaches but those who do often behold Death are familiarly acquainted with it and therefore they can with confidence thrust their Fists into its jaws Moses fled away from his Rod when it was first turned into a Serpent but when he began to take it into his hands and saw that it return'd to its former shape and being he was far from running from it or entertaining the least apprehension of it but rather he made a very happy use of it and by Gods Command he wrought many great miracles Thus it is with Death it frights us at first but if we can but take hold of it with the hands of a true and lively faith it will be so far from scaring or frighting of us that it will discover to us a world of delightful Wonders Death therefore is so far from terrifying such as are accustomed with it that it fils them full of comfort and joy as a Child that looks upon his Father who hath a Vizard on his face is frighted and begins to cry but if he hath but the confidence to pull off the Vizard and take but notice of the loving smiles of his Parent hid under that horrid deformity he will not only cease from weeping and settle his mind but he will also leap for joy and embrace him Thus if we look upon Death with a timerous countenance and behold its hideous appearance we shall be struck with a sudden horror but if we can with any assurance lift up its ugly Vizard we shall soon discover our heavenly Father and with tears of Joy we shall run to embrace him as the Apostles when they espied our Saviour in the night walking upon the Waves of the Sea cried out in a fright thinking that it had been a Spirit but when he drew near to them and heard his voice they perceiv'd him to be their Saviour when therefore they took him into their Ship the storm ceas'd immediately Thus if we look upon Death at a distance the blindness and ignorance with which we are possess'd will represent to us a frightful Spirit but if we examine and behold it nearer by the help of the Gospel Light we shall find it to be our Salvation and the accomplishing of our Redemption All our fears will then be calm'd and our Souls will return to their former repose In a word as he that runs from his Enemy increases his courage and renders him more earnest and resolved to pursue him Thus when Death sees us tremble and decline its approaches it becomes more proud and imperious over us We must therefore think betimes of Death represent it to our selves continually and enter into an acquaintance with it it was holy Job's practice for he cried unto the Pit thou art my Father and to the Corruption and the Worms you are my Mother and my Sisters Job 16. And imagine that this was the chief reason of Philip of Macedon's commanding a Page every morning to rouse him up out of his sleep with O King remember that thou art a mortal man For by this often repeated Lesson he labour'd to humble his lofty mind and teach his frail nature not to glory too much in the splendor of his Crown and Scepter nor to abuse the power committed to his Trust By this means also he became acquainted with Death that it might not seem strange when it should come in earnest to snatch him away This was also the designe of that Emperor Meruaan or Meruanes who caused this Motto to be Engraven upon his Seal Remember that thou must dye These words did call to his mind that which his Courtiers did not dare to mention to him So that this great Prince never confirm'd with his Seal the death of any man but at the same time he did represent to himself that his own death was not to be avoided for the same reason the Noblemen of China are wont to have their Coffins ready made betimes in their Chambers that at every moment they might look Death in the face for the same cause the Aegyptians in their most sumptuous Feasts did commonly place a dead mans Scull in an eminent corner of the room by this spectacle they intended not only to oblige the Guests to a moderation of their Joys and to a curbing in of their unruly Lusts but also to bring them acquainted with and to accustome them to behold it amongst all their Delights They treated Death as if their designe had been to invite it to their most delicious Feasts that they might rejoyce together with it Iohn 19. I conceive that the Jews for the same cause did build their Sepulchres in their Gardens of Pleasure that they also might have the image of death continually before them and that in the midst of all their divertisements it might be their most pleasant and ordinary entertainment For us Christians to oblige us to think upon Death there is no need that a Page should remember us every day that we are Mortal nor that the Motto of a Ring should call to our minds that we must dye there is no need of a Coffin to be plac'd in our Chambers in such things there is many times more Ostentation than Piety nor is it needful that a dead mans Skull be put before our Eyes or that a Sepulchre be built or hewen in our Gardens and places of Recreation and Delight for as Alexander the Great understood that he was a Mortal Man by the Bloud that ran out of his Wounds Thus the Diseases unto which we are subject and the daily infirmities that we feel do sufficiently instruct and assure us that we are Mortals And as a famous Philosopher when he receiv'd the unhappy news of his only Son 's untimely death answer'd the Messenger with a setled countenance I knew said he that I had begot him a Mortal man Xenoph. Thus will the faithful say without change of countenance or appearance of fear when his death is declar'd to him I knew that my Mother had conceiv'd me a Mortal Man I knew very well that Death is the Tribute that we must all pay to Nature and that upon this condition I am enter'd into the world If we will make use of any exterior help to imprint this Lesson into our Fancy we must practice with care the advice of
good Heli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good or with thy Servant Job The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. Thou hast pluckt out that strong root that did tye me to this Earth and hast out the pleasant string that did bind me so fast to the world that thou mightest transplant my heart in Heaven and lift up my affections to the things above A part of my self which I lookt upon as my Treasure is already with thee and the wings of Divine Love that enflames me caries me thither also at every moment Instead of continuing in my Sighs Groans and Tears for him or for her that I loved with all the affection and tenderness that I am capable of Give me Grace to employ my self in preparing to depart out of this earthly Tabernacle Enable me to imitate the Piety Zeal Faith and Constancy and all the other Noble Vertues of those whom thou hast received into thine Eternal Rest and crowned with Glory Let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my last End be like his Amen CHAP. 10. The fourth Remedy against the fears of Death to separate our Hearts from the World THe Children of Israel did leave the Wilderness with a ready mind and went joyfully over the River of Jordan when God Commanded them so to do The cause of this their readiness was an earnest longing for the Land of Canaan and their unsetled condition in the Wilderness having nothing but Tents to live in Death is to us the same in regard of our Heavenly Paradise as the River of Jordan was to the Children of Israel in respect of the promised Land Therefore from hence it appears that the best means of obliging our selves to a resolution of entring into this passage willingly is to free our selves from all those things which might incumber as stop or tye us to the World and to keep our selves always in a readiness to depart For that purpose it is not necessary that we should go out of the World but that the World should be banished and driven out of us and that we should renounce all the vanities and unruly affections so that we may be able to speak with the Apostle The world is crucified to me and I am crucified to the world for there be many who depart out of the World but leave there their Hearts and most tender Affections as Lot's Wife that went out of Sodom but left therewith her Treasures and Delights her most earnest desires as the Israelites who when they went out of Egppt left behind them their cursed affections with their pots of Flesh and Onions The same thing happens to many who separate themselves without any necessity from the acquaintance of Mankind and who affect a strange and austere kind of life They leave the society of wise and vertuous persons and the lawful use of the Blessings which Heaven hath vouchsafed to them and they deprive themselves of all that deserves our esteem and the means of glorifying God and edifying our neighbors but many times they carry with them their Corruptions their Vices and a legion of wicked Thoughts and carnal Desires By this means they give place to the Devil and expose themselves to all his temptations for that wicked Serpent delights himself rather in the Dens of Wild Beasts and in the Caves of the Earth than in the Palaces and Dwellings of Princes and Kings The most horrid and abominable Vices creep and breed rather in the Desarts and places of Retreat than in Publick and in the great Cities that are full of Inhabitants Lot remain'd chast in the most execrable City that was in the World but when he went aside to the foot of a Mountain and into a Cave to dwell he defiled himself with a monstruous Incest When Satan intended to tempt our Saviour Christ he carried him into a Desart and to the top of a Mountain From hence we may gather that this subtil Enemy of Mankind hath learnt by his long experience that the places of Retreat and the most solitary are the fittest for to lay his snares If our Saviour who was wholly innocent and free from Sin hath been able to overcome all manner of Temptations we are not of the same temper we are not furnished with such Armor as he was of Proof against all the enflamed Darts of the Devil for our miserable Flesh delights in its own destruction it opens the Ears and the Heart wide to the deceitful promises of Satan and suffers it self to be cheated by his damnable Enchantments It flatters us and causeth us to be â—ull'd aslcep in its bosom then like a treacherous Dalilah it betrays us into the unmerciful hands of our great Enemy Some cloath themselves with Hair and wear at their Girdle a knotted Cord whom the Devil drags to Hell with the invisible Chains of Lust Others climb up to the top of frozen Mountains and yet their Hearts do burn with impure Flames Some fret themselves in a mournful solitariness whose desires and longings are for the world and its vanities Others have their hands lifted up to Heaven whose mind is enslaved to the Earth and rooted in the rotten and filthy pleasures of the Times Some have a Lamp burning before them whose understanding is wrapt in gross darkness more palpable than that of Egypt Others have an empty Stomach whose Soul is full of abominable Passions In short Some live in appearance like Angels and yet they are possessed by legions of infernal Spirits Other seem to have no concernment in the World and yet lodge the whole World in their Hearts Under a course Habit there dwells oftimes more Envy more Vanity and Ambition than under the glorious attire of Silk and Gold Through a torn cloathing some Souls may be perceived swell'd with Pride and Arrogancy and in the company of Beggars are to be found many times the Designes of Kings and the lofty thoughts of the greatest Monarchs To speak plainly the good things and advantages of this life don't stop and wed us of themselves to this World but rather that Love and Affection which we bear to them for without doubt there be many that are more earnest and affectionate for the things that they want than others that enjoy them Some poor people have a far greater longing for Riches than ever Solomon had in the midst of all his great Treasures Some silly Women that are covered with old Rags and some contemptible Joanes have more Vanity and Pride in their Brains than ever had Queen Esther in her Richest and most Glorious Attire The Prophet Daniel was rais'd to an high and eminent Honour for he was the Governor of the third part of the Monarchy of the Persians and of the Medes nevertheless he was no more concerned in Babylon than if he had had there but a Sepulcre and worn the Chains of a Slave he sends forth as many Sighs and pours as many Tears
is by the vertue of Gods Divine Spirit which he hath bin graciously pleased to grant unto us and if the persons that we love and cherish as tenderly as your souls or those whom we are to reverence and honor labor to stir up the bowels of our compassion and to impede us in our Holy resolutions by base and earthly considerations let us tell them as our Saviour did to Mary Magdalene Le me alone for I am going to my Father John 20. Stop not my course for I hold already the prize and the promised Crown In short as Abraham let the Ram loose whereof the Horns were taken in a Thicket and offer'd it up in Sacrifice to God Gen. 21. Likewise let us free our minds from all worldly cares and carnal affections Let us offer them up all to God as a sweet smelling Sacrifice let us present them as a Burnt-offering consume them in the Flames of an Holy Zeal and love of his Divine Majesty When the Christian shall be thus prepar'd he shall never stand in fear of Death he will say to it with an assured countenance Come when thou wilt O Death I desire no reprieve for along while ago I have setled my affairs and wait for thee with patience the chief part of my self is not here below my Heart is already ravish'd into Heaven where God expects me with Arms wide open Therefore notwithstanding thy fearful darkness and the designe that thou hast to destroy me I will follow thee as couragiously and as joyfully as St. Peter did the Angel of Light that open'd to him the Gates of his Prison and freed him from his Chains Acts 12. A Prayer and Meditation for such as prepare for Death by a renunciation of the World O Infinite Lord of Heaven and Earth who dispossest of good and evil by thy Divine Providence and admirable Wisdom thou hast not suffer'd us to have here a lasting City that we might seek for that which is to come Thou dost discover before our eyes the vanity and unconstancy of all things under the Sun that we might labor to attain to solid and everlasting advantages Thou hast placed and reserved in Heaven an inexhaustible Treasure of Riches uncorruptible Crowns of Glory and Eternal Triumphs that thither we might transport our Heart and affections The source of Heavenly pleasures is with thee that we might always be athirst for the strong and living God and that we might desire with an Holy earnestness to look upon thy beautiful and glorious Face Most Glorious Creator seeing thou hast bestowed upon me an â—mmortal Soul suffer me not to be so wretched as to content my self with these mortal vanities and seeing thou hast made it of a Spiritual and Heavenly nature suffer me not to be so unhappy as to wallow in this miserable dust of the Earth or to cast my self into the puddle and dirt of carnal Lusts Give me Grace to renounce the World and all the Vanities that the World adores Give me Grace to possess all these decaying and perishing things as not possessing them that I may tramble upon all the pomp and glory of the Age that I may consider that the Gold the Silver the precious Jewels whereof the apparent beauty deceives the carnal eyes of Men is nothing else but hardened Earth that will crumble away and dissolve into Dust that I may remember that after my decease all these things will profit me no more than that vile Earth and the Stones that shall cover my dead Corps or the Wood or Lead which shall be given to it for a Coffin Give me grace to despise all the Honors and Dignities after which the Men of the World run so impatiently for they are but like a shadow that passeth away and like the smoak that ascendeth up put of our reach Pluck out of my heart the cares of this life and all solicitousness for the Earth that Death may never surprize me unawares and that there may be nothing to stop or hinder from going to thee when thou shalt be pleased to call me that my soul being totally disengag'd and freed from all these Bryars and Thorns I may be always ready at every moment to be offered unto thee as a living and a burnt Sacrifice The Children of Israel did fix and raise their Camp at thy Command Give me also Grace to be as ready prepar'd to live and dye to remain in this Tabernacle and to depart out of it when thou shalt send thine Orders and as this people did pass over the River Jordan with a wonderful joy to take possession of the promised Land O that I might also leave this miserable Wilderness with transports of joy to enter into the Celestial Canaan where the Milk and Hony of Divine Pleasures and of Eternal Comforts flow as in their natural Channel O God who art my portion and mine inheritance cast me not away with the men of the World whose portion is in this life Thou dost fill their paunch with thy good things they are full and leave sufficient for their Babes but for me all my comfort is that I shall behold thy face in Righteousness and shall be sanctified when I awake with thy likeness Amen CHAP. 11. The Fifth Remedy against the fears of Death is to renounce Vice and to apply our selves to the practice of Piety and Sanctification GOd is so wonderful in all his Works and he governs all his Creatures in such a manner that his very Enemies are constrain'd to acknowledge this Truth You have an excellent example in Balaam who beholding the Tents of the Children of Israel breaks out into this passionate wish Let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his Numb 25. He was a wicked Varlot that loved the wages of iniquity nevertheless he perceived by that Prophetical Light with which his Soul was enlightened how sweet and comfortable Death was to such as addict themselves in this life to the service and fear of Almighty God and how different it is from the death of the profane Worldlings who give themselves over to their Lusts and Delight in the unlawful pleasures of the Flesh for as the Drunkards sleep with a disturb'd and unquiet fancy likewise such as are drunken and full with the base and rotten pleasures of this life if they be not hardened by Atheisme do commonly depart out of the World with strange frights and horrid gripings of Conscience that cannot be express'd It is otherwise with a good Christian for as the Handicrafts man who hath work'd all the day in his Shop and the Husbandman who hath wearied himself in following his Plow lays himself down at night in peace so it is with a good Christian who hath carefully attended the works of Piety and Mercy in this life he sleeps his last sleep with a great quiet of mind and satisfaction of soul as righteous Jacob when he travelled a journey to his Mothers friends with his Fathers
command was not frighted to behold the Sun go down although he was in the midst of an open field Gen. 28. but he laid himself down in peace and slept sweetly having no other Bed but the Earth no other Pillow but a Stone no other covering than the Heavens nor other Curtains than the dark shadows of the night Likewise a Soul sanctified by the Spirit of God that walks in all the Commands of his Heavenly Father shall never be astonished for wheresoever his Sun goes down wheresoever Death Arrests him he will look upon himself as in another Bethel he will sleep quietly in the Lord Jesus in the most cruel death he will feel unspeakable and glorious joys and a Peace of God which passeth all understanding Acts 23. We may take notice of this blessed disposition in the Apostle St. Paul who had behaved himself with a good conscience towards God and towards Man 1 Cor. 15. He had labor'd more in his Ministry than all the other Apostles therefore he stands in no fear of deaths approaches but rather we may see him full of expectation and desires to pass through Death into Glory and Eternal Felicity This disposition is no less remarkble in Stephen the first Martyr of Christ Acts 6. in the midst of his most grievous torments he had a countenance shining as that of an Angel which was a certain testimony of his inward peace of Conscience and of the extraordinary joy of his Soul for as the Wise man informs us A merry Heart maketh a chearful Countenance Prov. 15. From the same wisdom proceeds this other Oracle that foretels unto every one what shall happen unto him The wicked is driven away in his wickedness but the righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14. Eccl. 1. Unto this is agreeable the excellent saying of Jesus the Son of Syrach It shall be well at the last with him who fears God he shall sind favor at the day of his death This life is but a moment that flies away apace and yet it determines our Eternal Estate it raiseth us to the highest Glory of Heaven or else it casts us headlong into the deepest Abysse of Eternal Misery for what Man soweth that shall he reap he that soweth in the flesh shall reap of the flesh corruption but he that soweth in the Spirit shall reap of the Spirit Eternal Life If you are afraid of a cruel and unhappy death keep your selves from an evil and a prophane life for commonly as Man's life is so is his death The most part of those who live in foul Lusts and Prophaness dye in hardness of heart or in grievous despair God's patience wearied out changes it self into a just resentment and fury Commonly God leaves at the hour of death such as have left him in the course of their lives he is inexorable to the cryes and sighs of such as have shut their Ears and Hearts to his Holy Word and his Fatherly Instructions he laughs at the horrid fears and most sensible torments of those that trample upon his sacred Commands according to his own words Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at naught all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh King Ahab was desirous to hear a pleasing Prophecy of happy things of the victory over the Syrian Army nevertheless he did continue in his Impieties and Tyranny therefore the Prophet Micah was not afraid of his displeasure but tells him boldly of the approaching Judgments of God which did hang over his guilty Head likewise some sinners desire to be flatter'd and soothed up in their extravagancies they expect notwithstanding their crimes declarations of Joy and Prosperity but we should be false Prophets possessed with a lying Spirit if we did not foretel to such people that a most lamentable and miserable death hastens apace upon them we should have a cruel charity for them if we did not labor to save them by fear as out of a fire if we did not shew them Hell with its jaws open ready to swallow them up and the Eternal Torments wherewith God will punish all impenitent and hardened sinners Knowing what God's vengeance is we must perswade Men to embrace Faith and Righteousness and if we did fail in this our duty their Blood should be required at our hands To what purpose have the Heathen Philosophers discoursed so Learnedly of the shortness of our life To what purpose have many of their Princes entertain'd things on purpose to mind them of their mortal condition Such kind of thoughts did fly in their fancy but they reapt but little benefit from them because they did not oblige them to an Holy and Reformed Life and by consequence they did not prepare them to a blessed Death It was also to no purpose that Balaam desired so passionately to dye the death of the Righteous and that his last end might be like a just man's Numb 23. for because he lived the life of a sinner and continued in his Abominations and Idolatry Numb 31. therefore he died as they and was comprehended in their punishment as he was a partner in their crimes it was but just and reasonable that he should share in their calamities and be a partaker of their torments To abandon Vice and Sin is to take from Death its Venom and all its fiery Darts It is to pluck from this furious Beast its Teeth and Claws it is to break the Cords and Chains by which the Devil drags us into Eternal damnation It is to destroy the Monsters that fright us and stifle the Furies that pursue us In short it tends to change Hell and its grievous Torments into an Heaven and its Glory There was never yet any person that lived an Holy and Religious Life but he died happily in the favour of his God Now that the Lord knocks open unto him the door of your hearts and at the hour of Death he will open unto you the Gates of Heaven present and give unto him whiles you are alive your Bodies and Souls and doubtless he will accept them and confirm the Gift with his own Seal here below he will enrich you with his Graces and crown you at last with his Glory Blessed are they that dye in the Lord but to dye in the Lord we must live to the Lord that we may be able to say with St. Paul Whether we live we live to the Lord whether we dye we dye to the Lord whether we live or dye we are the Lords To perswade us to this Religious Duty we must consider in the first place the Command that he gives us of loving him fearing him of repenting of our sins and of walking in his Holy ways unto this he exhorts us in the Holy Writings of the Old Testament as in the 6 of Deuteronomy Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
our ears and in our mind Put off thy shooes from thy feet for the place where thou standest is holy ground Exod. 6. Cast off there thy base and earthly affections and renounce thy sottish and filthy Lusts for thou art always before my eyes that are too clean and pure to suffer the sight of evil and the place where thou standest is sanctified by my presence Heb. 1. Remember that I see thine Heart that I search thy Reins and that I read thy most secret thoughts Revel 2. Christian souls imagine that God calls unto you from Heaven continually as hed id unto Abraham Walk before me and be perfect Gen. 17. Let therefore the dread of this Divine Majesty seize upon thee and possess thee When Potiphar's Wife tempted chaste Joseph to defile himself with Adultery she perceived nothing in the room but this object of her Lust but this Holy man perceives the Glorious Godhead between him and this lascivious Woman he perceives God's Eye that seeth into the greatest depths This made him break out into this expression How can I do this thing and sin against God Thus if our Flesh tempts us and if the vicious and prophane intice us into secret and shameful retreats to share in their filthy crimes Let us then remember that God is every where and wheresoever we hide our selves God hath an Ear to hear us an Eye to see us an Hand to record our Deeds Words and Thoughts God is all Ear all Eye and all Hand he discovers us as easily under the dark shadows of the night as at break of day he spies us through our Fig-leaves and beholds us in our most subtle disguises he understands our most inward thoughts and listens to the silent language of our Hearts he searcheth into all the Clossets of our Souls and into all the foldings and windings of our Consciences In a word all things are naked and altogether open to the Eyes of him with whom we have to doe An antient Philosopher did perswaded such as desire to be vertuous to chuse some grave and vertuous person and to represent him always in their presence and to live as in their sight Seneca We need not represent unto our selves imaginary appearances for in every place where we are and what ever we can do or think we are always in the sight of the Holy of Holies who is both our Witness and our Judge It was David's Meditation when he cried out O Lord whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whether shall I flye from thy presence If I mount up to Heaven thou art there if I go down into the pit thou art there also if I take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the Sea thither shall thine hand guide me and thy right hand uphold me If I say the darkness shall cover me behold the night shall be like light round about me darkness shall not hinder me from thee and the night shall shine as the day the night and the day are to thee alike 53. If the Devil and the World have ensnared us in their Nets and if we have been unhappily lull'd asleep in the bosome of some deceitful pleasure This consideration alone that God sees and understands us is able to awake us with an Holy dread and fear Let therefore the words of St. Paul sound continually in our minds Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall enlighten thee or Awake to Righteousness and sin not Eph. 5. 1 Cor. 15. Truly if we be not stupified and besotted above measure This dreadful voice that God thunders from Heaven is able not only to awake us from the sleep of iniquity but to oblige us also to cry out with Jacob God is here and I knew it not O that this place is dreadful it is the house of God it is the Gate of Heaven Gen. 28. Assoon as Peter had taken notice of our Saviours looks that were cast upon him he went out of the High Priests Hall and wept bitterly for his Apostacy Thus if we could but perceive and acknowledge that God casts his eye continually upon us we should repent of our Vices and our Hearts would quickly melt into Tears of Contrition 54. And because it is sometimes necessary to retain our selves with an Holy awe and to withdraw our selves out of Lust as out of the Fire you Religious Souls keep always in your mind a short Collection of the Judgements of God that have happened from time to time upon all manner of sinners Consider how God dealt with the Celestial Spirits who have not kept their original purity they are reserv'd for utter darkness and for eternal Chains until the great day of Judgement and say unto your selves If God hath not spared the Apostate Angels with he spare Man that rebels against him and offends him with delight remember the dreadful fall of our first Parents who although they had been fashioned with Gods own hand and instructed by himself have lost both themselves and all their posterity by listning to the deceitful suggestions of the old Serpent Cast your thoughts upon the first wicked World that was destroyed by a Deluge and upon the Cities of Sodom Gomorrah Admah and Zebolim upon whom fell the Fire and Brimstone of God's hot displeasure Look upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians overwhelmed with all their pride in the waves of the Red Sea Consider the three thousand that were kill'd with the Levites Swords because of the Idolatry of the Golden Calf and the four and twenty thousand whom a suddain death swept away because they went a whoring after Paal-Peor Look with fear upon the burning Serpents of the Wilderness that did cast their poison upon the Murmurers against God and their Superiors upon the Earth that open'd its mouth to swallow Corah Dathan and Abiram upon that Heavenly Fire that consum'd Nathan and Abihu who offered strange Fire unto the Lord upon the Bears that went out of the Forrest to devour two and forty young Rascals who mock'd Elisha the Prophet upon the Lion that devour'd the Prophet who disobey'd God's Command and hearkened to a lying Brother In short cast your eyes with astonishment upon Nebuchadnezzar feeding amongst the Beasts of the field Jezabel eaten up by Dogs Agrippa consumed with Worms and the rich Miser burning in the flames of Hell Dan. 4. 2 Kings 9. Acts 12. Luke 16. 55. Above all things think upon the last Judgement and consider this last day in which we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ to receive in our Bodies that which we shall have done whether it be good or evil remember that in this dreadful day God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness the secret contrivances and thoughts of the Heart before this Throne of Fire the Books shall be opened not only God's Books where all our Sins and Impieties are Registred but also the Books of our Consciences where the frightful
the plenty of Bread Ease and Idleness Ezek. 16. Christians if you desire to keep your Souls pure and undefiled that the Holy Spirit may Reign in them give no entertainment to the Devil let him find you always well employed and let him never see you at leasure to assault you with his hellish temptations Eph. 4. 72. After all we must seriously think upon death and represent it always before our Eyes for as a Pilate that will govern and steer the course of this life as we ought we must consider our latter end live always as if we were ready to dye and to breath forth the last gasp therefore this Sentence is worthy to be Engraven upon Cedar in Golden Characters What ever thou sayest or what ever thou doest remember thy latter end and thou shalt never sin Eccl. 7. Wonder not Christian Souls if in this Treatise where I am to furnish you with Remedies against the fears of Death I would have death it self to be a Remedy against Sin for these things are united and linked together or rather they hold one another by the hand for as a good and Holy Life is a safe preparation to an happy Death Likewise Death is a strong motive to oblige us to live well for there is none unless it be a brutish and a furious Varlot but at the hour of Death laments at the consideration of his former wicked Life and grieves that he hath not applyed himself to the fear of God and to the practice of Christian Vertues If a Malefactor after that he is condemn'd to dye and hath heard the Sentence of his doom did mind nothing but drinking and playing and neglect Prayer and Repentance by which such an one is to dispose himself to go to God every one would wonder at him as at a Monster and a Madman likewise if we consider as we ought that Death is certain and unavoidable and that God hath pronounced the Sentence in his anger and that not one shall be excepted this will be able to withdraw us from Vice and to perswade us to Holiness without which none shall see God Heb. 12. Therefore at every moment when Satan the World our own Flesh shall solicite us to any evil action let us think within our selves would I have death find and seize upon me in this employment Am I in a good disposition to go thus unto my God and to appear before his Tribunal Jesus the Son of Syrac had well consider'd this when he pronounc'd this excellent Sentence which I could wish were engraven in the Soul of every Christian Remember thy latter end and thou shalt not sin We must therefore live in the World without being guilty of its corruptions and abominations As the Fish preserves its sweetness in the midst of the Salt Waves of the Sea and as the Sheep never learn to bark nor to bite although they be always with Dogs Likewise although our conversation be in the World amongst the prophane and vicious Men of this Age we must not imitate their filthy Words their Oaths their Blasphemies and less Reason have we to follow their wicked and abominable Deeds we must live among them as Lot lived in the City of Sodom as Joseph in Aegypt as Daniel in Babylon Blessed and Holy is he who hath part in the first Resurrection the second Death shall have no power upon him When Jacob by God's Command went to Bethel he Commanded his Wives his Children and all that were with him Put away the strange Gods that are among you and be clean and change your Garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel Gen. 33. And I will make there an Altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me in the way which I went Then they delivered into Jacob's hands all the strange Gods that were in their possession and he hid them under an Oak in Sechem Thus before we go to the true Bethel to the dwelling where we shall eat our fill of the Bread of the Kingdom of Heaven Before you offer unto God the Sacrifice of your Souls you must if you be true Christians renounce Sin and all wicked Lusts which have been formerly your Idols I shall desire of you willingly that you would bury them deep in this base Earth but you had better do as God Commands you from Heaven Trample under foot all these abominable Vices and all these worldly Lusts that are to you as so many false Gods that you worship Ezek. Put away from before me these Idols of jealousie that provoke me to jealousie and sanctify this Temple of my Holiness Cleanse your hands ye Sinners and fanctify your selves ye double-minded put off the Old man with all his Deeds and put on the New man created according to the Image of God Righteousness and true Holiness and then you shall be admitted to the Holy Temple of my Glory to offer unto me in the innumerable Companies of Saints the acceptable perfume of Praises and Thansgivings Jam. 4. Eph. 4. This is a Duty so just and necessary that natural reason it self enlightned by Grace acknowledges it to be so nay the most wretched Varlets are constrain'd to give Glory to God and to condemn themselves they confess that they are indebted to the Divine Majesty but the payment of this debt they put off from day to day and when ever you come to them they are ready to demand a delay they acknowledge their faults the hainousness of their Crimes and the necessity of Repentance but they are always putting off Repentance and Reformation of life As when a sluggard is newly awak'd out of his sleep he desires yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep Prov. 24. Thus when ever Death appears the Voluptuous are yet requesting to enjoy their carnal Delights when the Lords Messengers are calling upon us to repair the breaches that the Devil hath made in our Souls we could willingly answer as the Jews did to the Prophet That the time is not come that the Lord's house should be built Hag. 1. The young man in his Youth and Strength is apt to say that it is not yet time to busy himself about Wisdom and Reformation and that when he comes to be old he will then repent of the sins of his Youth and the old man he endeavours to put his Repentance until the hour of his departure He expects to make then a general confession of all his crimes to satisfy all his neighbors and to restore what he possesseth so unjustly In short all Men in general do flatter themselves in their evil courses and most are so extravagant as to be perswaded that when they have lived in sin and iniquity all their life mispent God's Blessings abused his Mercies a Tear or a Sigh at the time of our Death will make a sufficient amends for all and that he will be fully satisfied if we say then as the
thy beautiful Face and as a beam of thy Glory as the rich Jewel which the Devil had taken from us as the highest perfection represented by thy Son Jesus Christ and as the chief part of that felicity unto which we pretend and into which thou wilt bring us in thine heavenly Paradise O God of my Salvation how bitter are the fruits of sin thou seest my displeasure for having yielded so long to that loathsome Tyrant and assisted my carnal Lusts that war against the Soul Thou seest the inward grief of my mind for having neglected to employ that life which I have received from thy Mercy and Goodness that I might live to fear serve and obey thy Sacred and Divine Commands What shall I say O Soveraign Lord of the World I have sinned against thee against thee have I sinned and done that which is abominable in thy sight but I repent in Dust and Ashes my sins appear before me day and night I consider them with horror Alas O Lord before whom all things are naked and open thou knowest that my greatest grief proceeds from my not grieving enough and that my most sensible affliction is of not being afflicted sufficiently because I cannot feel a Repentance answerable to the greatness and number of mine offences O God that searcheth the Heart and knowest all things thou understandest the greatness of my crimes and what should be my sorrow for their Commission thou desirest not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn and live Turn me O Lord and then I shall be turned Almighty God who fetchest Water out of the hardest Rocks draw out of my stony Heart the tears of sincere Repentance which might he acceptable unto thee Break and mollify this hard heart that it may receive the Waters of Eternal life but rather pluck out this wicked heart and give me a new heart fashioned with thine own hands an heart where thy Glorious Image with all its most beautiful features may appear with the most sacred beams that proceed from thy Divine Face an heart that may be enflam'd with an Holy Zeal for thy Glory and burn with a love for thee O God of all goodness who hast not spared the bloud of thine only Son to blot out the sentence of my doom grant me thine Holy Spirit that may sanctify me and make me a new creature that I may bear the marks and the Livery of thy chosen and that I may shine in the World as a Lamp that burns with an Heavenly Fire Crucify this miserable flesh with all its Lusts that I may live not I but that Christ may live in me that from henceforth I may live in the faith of the Son of God who hath loved me and given himself for me that he might redeem and cleanse me from all iniquity Animate my Soul enlighten mine understanding direct and govern the actions of my life take possession of me and rule me in such a manner that all mine affections words and thoughts may be sanctified by thy Grace and tend to the promotion of thy Glory That I may not only abhor all such things as are displeasing to thee but that I may also shun those which I know not whether they will be acceptable to thee that I may not only abominate the filthy vices but also hate the Garments infected with sin and that I may abstain from all appearance of evil If the Devil the World and mine own flesh tempt and stir me up to any sin let the dread of thy Divine Majesty seize upon my Soul let Death enter into my mind and fill me with such an holy fear as may stop and hinder me Give me grace to consider that I should be the most miserable of all Creatures if I did dye in offending and sinning against thee if I were buried with my crimes Let me always think upon St. John 's saying Blessed and Holy is he who hath part in the first Resurrection the second death shall have no dominion over him Seeing that thy saving grace unto all men hath appeared so openly unto me Grant that renouncing all impiety and worldly Lusts I may live soberly justly and religiously in this present life that I may apply my thoughts to all those things that are True Honourable Just Pure Lovely of good Renown and generally to all things that are vertuous and worthy of praise More especially grant O good God that I may be possessed with a violent Charity which may carry me to actions of Love and Mercy for thou delightest in such Sacrifices Charity covers a multitude of sins O merciful Lord the task which thou hast given me is long and tedious my life is but short and I know not how soon thou wilt come to knock at the door of mine house O God whose Mercies are for ever performe in me that which thou dost command and then command what thou wilt produce in me with power both the Will and the Deed according to thy good pleasure Give me grace to employ myself in thy work with Diligence Faithfulness and Zeal that I may not be troubled at thy Glorious coming Give me the Lamp of thy Sanctuary lighted at the beams of the Sun of Righteousness Fill my Soul with the precious and Divine Oil that runs from thy Spirit and cloath me with the Robes of Holiness and Light that I may be ready to follow the Bridegroom into the Banqueting Chamber and sit at thy Table with the holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and the Holy Virgin and with all those who have wash'd and whitened their Robes in the Bloud of the Lamb. Let me live the life of the Saints that I may dye the death of the Righteous that I may be admitted into thy Glorious Rest with thy Chosen and that when I am breathing forth thy last gasp thy Son Jesus Christ may call to me from Heaven Come good and faithful Servant enter into the joy of thy Lord Amen CHAP. 12. The sixth Remedy against the fears of Death is to repose our selves upon God's good Providence SOme persons there are so brutish and stupified that they never think upon the great end and designe of their Creation they are not able to give a just account wherefore God hath put them into the World they are Carnal and Earthly minds who imagine that they were created for themselves as brute Beasts onely to eat and drink Such are of the number of those that are mentioned by St. Paul their God is their Belly and their end is Eternal Misery But there are also some wise and vertuous minds that are continually meditating upon the favors that they received from Heaven which they employ to their right and proper end Such Celestial understandings being enlightned from above consider very well that they are not born for themselves but for their Countrey for their Parents for their Friends and chiefly for to serve God and his Church on Earth therefore they desire to live only to
glorify their Creator and advance his Kingdom When this good desire is well governed it is as acceptable to God as a sweet smelling Sacrifice This was David's earnest desire in the 119 Psalm Let my Soul live that it may praise thee This Holy Zeal forced so many bitter Tears from King Hezekiah in his sickness and caused him to intreat most earnestly to live yet longer in the World This Wise and Religious Prince did well foresee the fearful Evils the grievous Confusion and the abominable Idolatry that was likely to succeed after his Death in the Kingdom of Judea He was therefore very desirous to glorify God on Earth and to accomplish the Reformation which he had begun He desired to have Children whom he might teach to fear God with all their heart and to serve him according to his Holy and Divine Will that he might cause Piety to continue in his House and Royal Family he discovers this Holy desire in his Divine Hymn which he sung unto God after his miraculous recovery Behold for Peace I had great bitterness but thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back for the Grave cannot praise thee Is 38. Death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy Truth the living he shall praise thee as I do this day the Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth The Lord was ready to save me therefore we will sing my Songs to the stringed Instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. We find the same earnest desire in St. Paul for when he looks upon himself and upon the miseries that attend upon him on Earth and lifts up his Eyes to see the Heavenly Bliss that waits for him above he desires to depart out of this earthly Tabernacle and to be with Christ and acknowledgeth that it would be his great advantage but when he looks upon the Church of Christ his desire of the Salvation and instruction of his Brethren causeth him to prefer their Comfort to his own Happiness and Joy It is saith he more expedient for you that I remain in the Flesh and I know for certain that I shall abide and remain with you for your advantage and the joy of your faith This desire of Life with an intent of Glorifying God is Good and Holy but it is no easy task to keep it within its just and lawful bounds for very often it becomes vicious when it is stirr'd up by a fond love of our own persons which makes us so loth to dye For example when a great Prince animated with an Heroical Vertue is engaged in a War for the preservation of his Subjects and for the delivery of many afflicted People from oppression and Tyranny if God blesseth his Armies and causeth his Glorious designes to succeed he will not be well pleased if Death at that instant offers to cross him to break in pieces his victorious Arm to put an end to his Conquests and to cast his Crown to the ground he may justly complain in this manner Must I now leave off such a noble and a brave Designe must I here stop in the midst of such a glorious Race and must Death bury with my Body the expectations of so many good Men I am afraid that all my labors will vanish away with my breath I have just cause to fear that my fall will draw after me the destruction of many poor People that depend upon me I fear that oppression and Tyranny will resume fresh Spirits and a greater Boldness and prove for the future more grievous and unfufferable O cruel and inhumane Death by taking away my Life thou bringest my Friends to Execution and the Arrows that thou stickest in my Heart do pierce the Souls of many innocent People Likewise he that is promoted to be the King's Vicegerent in a Province or to be a Governor of a rich Countrey and an important Place may be grieved because Death snatcheth him away in the middle of all his business especially if it be in troublesome times and if he sees none of a sufficient ability to succeed him Must I will such an one say Must I quit so soon this Glorious employment Must I so quickly leave my Prince's service and forsake so many poor People as a Flock without a Shepheard Death how hateful and odious art thou Thou delightest to bring all things into confusion and trouble Thus a brave General of a victorious Army who being full of Courage manageth a successful War for the Honor of his Prince and the advantage of his Countrey cannot but complain against Death when it comes to subdue him before he hath totally subdued and overcome his Enemies especially if the times be so unhappy that none is able to undertake that employment after him he will be ready to break forth into complaints Must I leave off so many Glorious designs Must I forsake my most faithful Soldiers and abandon them to the mercy of their Enemies or to the capricious humour of an unexperienced Successor O Death full of envy wilt thou pluck out of my hands so soon this conquering Sword and cut off with one blow of thy Sithe so many great expectations In the same manner he that sits in the most Honourable seats of Judicature as a Judge a President or a Counsellor or any other chief Magistrate will doubtless mourn if Death seizeth upon him in the flower of his age especially if he fears that after him corrupt Men will succeed who may be likened to whitened Walls Must I will he say leave so soon this noble Office in which I took so much delight O inconsiderate Death why dost thou not suffer me to wear my Purple until such time as I shall be weary to bear it Why dost thou not permit me to sit here upon this magnificent Seat until I tumble off with old Age Likewise a faithful Minister of the Gospel when he perceives the work of the Lord to prosper in his hands Satan falls from Heaven by his means as a Lightning and Dagon to be brought upon his Face to the ground may justly wonder at Death's approaches and speak in this manner Must I so soon quit the duties of this Holy Function in which I took my greatest delight Must I break off from this Sacred Work by which I did advance so happily the Glory of God I am afraid that when I am gone ravening Wolves will enter into the Lord's Flock and a terrible night of ignorance will involve our posterity Thus a Father of a Family who passionately loves his Wife and Children shall never see death but shall feel all his Bowels move and his Heart tormented with grief he will sigh out such expressions as these Must I forsake a poor forlorn Wife swimming in Tears Must I leave my tender-hearted Parents who found my life a comfort and will find my
him from their Mothers womb Our Lord Jesus Christ when he was on Earth took up in his Arms the little Children that were brought unto him laid his hands upon them and recommended them to God his Father and now that he is in Glory his Love and tender compassion for them is no less Therefore if we offer him our Children with all our hearts he will take them into his protection he will stretch over them the Arms of his Mercy and will never take them away again In short seeing that he promiseth to them the Kingdom of Heaven and his Eternal Felicities he will never with-hold from them things needful for this present life We can do nothing without God but God can do all things without us A great many Children become debauch'd and are spoil'd in their Parents over-fond tuition wherecas many that are out of their sight and that live when they are departed shew good examples of Piety and Godliness for example in Isaack's House in the presence of this Holy Man there was a prophane Esau a Glutton whereas Jacob that lived at a distance from his Parents when he fled for fear of his Brother had always before his eyes the fear of Isaack his Father Gen. 27. Gen. 31. that is to say the God whom his Father worshipped In Jacob's House Ruben defiled his Father's Bed in an incestuous manner whereas Jâ—seph in Potiphera's House chose rather an apparent death and present sufferings than to touch his Masters Wise Gen. 39. David had the unhappiness to see some of his Children guilty of Incest and Murder whereas Joas and Josias two Orphan-Princes in their tenderest infancy became Vertuous and Religious Kings zealous for the service of God How many Children are there who notwithstanding all the care and labor of their Fathers fall into extremity of misery How many are taken from their Parents embraces and dragg'd from thence to the Gallows whereas there are others that without Father or Parents assistance don't only escape grievous dangers but rise to Honors and Dignities as Joseph in Aegypt Daniel in Babylon and Esther that was Fatherless and a poor Captive became a Queen and moreover God made use of her and of her credit to deliver his People from Haman's conspiracy We see every day that God blesseth in an extraordinary manner many Orphans Cast your Eyes upon the Children of the blessed Martyrs and thou shalt perceive many that God hath made notable instances of his especial favors and of the Mercy that he promiseth to shew unto thousand Generations of them that serve him and obey his Holy Commands Thou shalt find some that have much more happiness in this life than the posterity of the Persecutors Thou shalt see them with astonishment bestow their Alms upon the Children of such as have plundered their Houses and spoiled their Goods Whilst you are yet in being exhort your Children to fear God to serve and to addict themselves with all their Heart to the study of Piety that hath the promises of this life and of the life to come Teach them first to seek the Kingdom of God and its Righteousness and all these things shall be added to them over and above Finally when your life should be much more useful to your Children than it is remember what our Lord and Saviour saith He that loves Son or Daughter more than him is not worthy of him Heaven is far more excellent than the Earth The Salvation and the Happiness of our Souls is to be preferr'd to all the considerations of Flesh and Bloud It is not just that such as have given us or to whom we have given the enjoyment of a temporal life should hinder us from the fruition of a Spiritual and Eternal Life Besides when we recommend them to God we put them into the protection of a true and of a wise Friend who is acquainted with their necessities who is so Good to procure them that which shall be needful for them and Almighty to accomplish all things which may be for their advantage Let us therefore conclude that it is the duty of a good Father that fears God not to resist death not to fly from it when the Lord calls but according to the good example of the antient Patriarchs he ought to end his days willingly with the praises of God in his mouth and with exhortation to his Children to love him fear him and serve him with all their heart to continue in his Holy Covenant and to prefer him to all the Riches and Honors of this miserable Earth And as when our Saviour had bestowed his Blessings upon his Disciples a Cloud carried him out of their sight into Heaven Likewise when a good Christian shall have thus given his Blessings to his Children he will shut his eyes to all inferior things and think upon nothing but upon the Eternal Bliss of the Heavenly Paradise If God calls us to himself in a miserable and wretched time when our beloved Infants are weeping about our Bed ready to say to us as Isaack unto Abraham My Father here is Wood a Fire and a Knife but where is the Beast for a Burnt-offering Gen. 22. God causeth the visible signes of his heavy displeasure to appear every where In every corner we see nothing but Fire and Sword Death's frightful Image and the fearful appearance of Masacres do scare and terrify us Destruction is come into the Holy places the Fire hath reacht as far as God's own Sanctuary and no body is able to deliver us The deluge of God's wrath hath overspread our Land in such a manner that as Noah's Dove we cannot find where to pitch our feet All our expectation is that God would also reach down his hand unto us from above to receive us into that Ark which is above the Heavens and unto which your Soul is now departing Gen. 8. If our dear Children speak unto us in this Language Let us with the courage assurance and faith of the Father of the Faithful return unto them this answer My Children the Lord will provide Gen. 12. Rom. 4. It is he that acts beyond appearance and against all hope who causeth the dead to live and calls things that are not as if they were he will send to you his good Angels to help you in all your necessities when you shall be reduc'd to the uttermost misery ready to receive the last stroke of death God's hands will stop the sword of his justice he will change your crying and fears into joy and Eternal gladness There will be some Holy and devout Soul that loves the publick peace and tranquility that will bring to you the Olive-branch of Peace God can appease the Tempest with his breath at his Command the winds will be still and the roaring Waves that are ready to devour you will return to their former tranquility Otherwise he will preserve you miraculously alive in the midst of the greatest troubles and most fearful confusion And as
O God who art the Creator and Father of their Spirits cause them to endure a thousand Deaths and reduce them to nothing from whence thou hast fetched them rather than to suffer them to be enslaved to Vice Error or to Superstition that robs thee O Great God of thine Honor to ascribe it to the Creature Merciful and Almighty Lord I shall not say to thee as Esau did to Isaac when he had blessed Jacob My Father hast thou but one Blessing for I am certain that thou hast an infinite number and many inexhausible Fountains of all manner of Blessings but I beseech thee with all the Zeal and Earnestness that I can to Bless my dear Children with thy Heavenly and especial Favors take them into thy protection bear them in thy Hands embrace them with thy tender compassion and let them be as dear to thee as the Apple of thine Eyes Let thy fear be always before them Let them love thee with all their Heart and serve thee with all their Powers that they may Glorify thee in prosperity and adversity in Life and Death that Christ may be their gain whether they live or whether they dye but I am now leaving the World and my Children without Grief or mistrusting thy care of them I am ascending with joy up to thee who art my God my Father and their Father and I trust in thy great and Eternal Mercies that one day we shall see one another in thine Heavenly Kingdom when we shall be admitted to behold thy Face which shall fill us with unspeakable Gladness and Pleasure Amen CHAP. 13. The First Consolation against the fears of Death God will not forsake us in our most grievous pangs MAn is naturally afraid of pain and abhors all sufferings and grief now the most of us are perswaded that it is impossible to dye without enduring great pains therefore they abhor Death not so much for its own sake as for the evils that it causeth to suffer That we may be able to drive away this ill-grounded Fear and strengthen our minds against all apprehensions we must first consider that death is not so dreadful and painful as commonly imagined the Holy Ghost calls it a Sleep and the Heathens themselves have said that Sleep is Death's Cousen-german and the Image of frozen Death Now Sleep creeps upon us insensibly it charms our Sences softly and with invisible Fetters it ties and stops all our most active faculties although we sleep every night we are not able to discover how this happens to us It is said of Socrates one of the most famous Men of the first Ages when he had in obedience to the Decree of the Judges of Athens drunk poison when he felt the venom benumming his Sences and Death creeping into his Veins he declared with a pleasant countenance That he had never swallowed anything more sweet and comfortable Nothing can be imagin'd more pleasant than the death of the old Patriarchs The Holy Scripture tells us That when Jacob had made an end of commanding his Sons he gathered up his Feet into the Bed and yielded up the Ghost Gen. 49. The same is related of King David That when he had perswaded Solomon to fear God and to do justice he slept with his Fathers 1 King 1. God is as merciful to many in these latter days to cause them to dye in speaking and calling upon his Holy name their Souls are not pluckt from them by violence but of their own accord they separate from the Body and fly into Heaven with an Holy chearfulness The separation of such Souls from the Body happens without pain grief or suffering Such are like to a Taper that extinguisheth without any blast of Wind of its own accord when the Wax that kept it alive and nourisheth its flame is totally spent If you perceive some tost and tortured with grievous pangs in their death-bed they are not properly the pangs of death but the last struglings and motions of life for I cannot imagine that at the moment of the separation of our Souls from our Bodies we suffer any pain because at that instant all the Senses are then lulled asleep and our Bodies have no more strength nor life to hinder the Souls departing Death is so far from being so dreadful and painful as we commonly imagine that on the contrary it is that very thing that puts an end to all our pains and miseries And I am perswaded that the diseases that bring us to our graves are not so grievous as the other distempers that we endure whilst we live here on Earth such as are a cruel Gout a Stone in the Kidneys or a Canker in the Breast for they are tortures that rack us continually and a Fire that consumes us without ceasing But when our pains should be far more sensible and that we should have reason to impute them to death we have no reason therefore to fly from it or to abhor its approaches for otherwise we have as good cause to curse the hour of our Birth and weep for our Victories for there is no Birth without pain nor Victory without strugling the most Glorious and flourishing Laurels are watered with Bloud and Sweat The most excellent things are the most painful and to speak according to the common saying that One nail drives another so one evil is a Remedy to many other evils we commonly seek with an earnest longing as a good thing that evil that frees us from the violent pains that we can scarce endure To be healed oâ—â— our distempers we swallow most bitter Pills and Potions that gripe and torment our Bowels To be freed from the Stone we suffer a most painful cutting And that the Gangreen that hath seized upon one of our Members might not get to our Heart we endure it with patience to be cut off whether it be Arm or Leg therefore when Death should be much more grievous bitter and more cruel than it is commonly represented yet we ought to embrace it willingly because that it delivers us not only from some disease or some particular pain but generally from all pains aches and distempers The Physick works not always out the humour that disquiets us When we have drawn out a Stone from the Bladder many times others grow in the place that are worse The Surgeons hand let it be never so perfect answers not always his Patients expectation instead of removing his pain it increaseth it But the working and cure of Death is always certain and never fails the success is always happy to a Christian Soul That I may supply thee with some comfort in the midst of thy great pains and sufferings My Brother or My Sister remember that these things happen not to thee by chance but it is God who sends them to thee according to the decree of his Wisdom Ascribe not thy Disease to the influences of the Stars to blind Fortune but lift up thine Eyes to his appointment who hath stretched
that I may labor to attain unto it with transports of joy so that I may say with the Prophet David My Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips when I remember thee upon my Bed and meditate on thee in the night Watches My Sickness seems very tedious but alas Lord my Sins have continued longer and all this pain that afflicts me and forceth from me so many sighs is nothing in comparison of the advantages and happiness that waits for me in Heaven When the whole course of my life should be a continual languishing it is but a moment in respect of Eternity And this moment of affliction produceth in us a weight of Eternal Glory that excels all things else O Lord Let the distempers and pains of my Body turn to the health of my Soul and a powerful obligation to the Practice of Piety and of all Christian Vertues Let me learn thereby to renounce the World and deny my self and to cast my self wholly into thy Divine Hands and submit my self to thy Holy Will As Jesus Christ is gain to me whether I live or whether I dye give me Grace to be ready to praise and glorify thy Mercy both in Life or Death If it be thy pleasure to spare me my life O that I may live more circumspectly than ever I have done in the fear and obedience of thy Sacred Commandements and as St. Peter's Wives Mother rose up from her Bed of Sickness to serve our Lord Jesus if thou freest me from my plague let me rise out of thy Couch to glorify and serve thee until the last moment of my life But if thou art pleased to call me out of the world here I am O God ready to do thy Will and obey thee without the least resistance for my Soul is already separated from this languishing Carkass and resolved to follow thee It is not grieved to see this wretched Body weakened and crazy as an Habit worn out because thou hast prepared for it a Garment of immortal Colours It is not vexed because this earthly Tabernacle decays for it hath a more lasting Dwelling in Heaven whereof thou hast been the Builder I have long looked upon this Couch as a representation of my Grave where I shall shortly lye down to take my last repose I have long expected Death that will break in pieces the last link of this chain of Misery to put a period to all my pains and grievance to take me out of this woful and rotten Lodge that falls to pieces to introduce me into a Glorious Palace of immortality where thy Divine Majesty dwels and where I shall for ever Glorify thee with the thousands of Angels and with all the sanctified Souls Amen A Prayer and Meditation for a sick Person tormented with grievous pains O Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort have pity upon me thou knowest that I am vexed with fearful pains that disturb my Mind and torment my Body thine Arrows run through me on every side and my Soul hath its fill of bitterness Thy wrath hath torn me to pieces and thou seemest to have set thy self against me One depth calls for another At thy Command the Waves and Flouds have passed over my head Thou hast given me many days of affliction and nights of torment I am like a person breaking upon a wheel or burning in hot flames I feel a fire that consumes me as a Worm that gnaws and darts that pierce through my Heart Sure my sins must be abominable and grievous seeing thou infflictest this great punishment upon me for thou art Mercy it self and it is not willingly that thou afflictest the Sons of Men. O good God consider what thou art and what I am wilt thou stretch forth thine invincible Arm against the Leaf that the wind tosseth up and down wilt thou declare the fierceness of thine Eternal displeasure against Chaff and Stubble wilt thou let fly all thine Arrows against a wretched Worm of the Earth and wilt thou cast out all thy Thunderbolts against a little Dust O Great God I am not a worthy Object of thy wrath against which thou shouldest kindle all thy displeasure Remember that I am but flesh a Wind that passeth away and returneth not again but rather remember Lord that I am thy Child and that thou hast redeemed me with the Bloud of thine only Son O my God it is not possible for me to withold my complaints suppress my groans and to dry up this torrent of Tears my Soul is wearied out with this languishing life or rather with this unmerciful Death for is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow Is there any torture or pain like unto my torment When the Prophet Jonas saw a little Goard withered that afforded him before a favourable shelter and shadow from the Sun-beams when he felt them beating hot upon his Head he cried out Death is better to me than life How much more cause have I to speak in this manner I of whom the strengh is withered as the parched Ground in the midst of Summer I who feel a Fire in my Bones and an Heat in my Bowels that burns and consumes me by day and by night Shall not thine Almighty and Merciful Hand that hath freed me from Hell take me out also of this deep Abysse of Misery Thou who deliverest thy Children from the burning Furnace wilt thou not quench the fury of this Flame that devours me O Lord shut up my Lips and let there come out nothing repugnant to that respect that I owe to thy Divine Majesty To thee Great God belongs Justice but to me shame and confusion of face when thou shouldest cause me to endure a thousand Plagues and Torments more if this poor Body were able to suffer them and when thou shouldest cast me irrecoverably into the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone I should have no cause to complain of thy severity It is true my pains are great but they are nothing in comparison of my sins and offences my torments are violent but they are not to be compared with my Saviours bitter sufferings with that cold sweat and those drops of Bloud that fell from his precious Body My affliction is unmerciful but it is not to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in them that worship thee and persevere to the end in an obedience to thy Holy Will When thou shouldest kill me Lord yet would I hope in thee for thou afflictest me that I might not perish for ever with the rest of the World Thou causest my Body to be destroyed that my Soul might be saved Bruise me Lord and crush me to pieces so that I may become some of thy precious Wheat Cut and burn me in this momentary Life so that thou wilt be favourable to me in the life to come Cause this bitter cup to pass from me that I may not drink up all its dregs Nevertheless
not wrath very sore O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever behold see we beseech thee we are all thy People By this gracious and loving Title of Father the prodigal Son is perswaded to be able to oblige his Father to have compassion of him I will rise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants Thus although we have forsaken our Heavenly Father mispent the Riches of his Grace and lived a filthy and a prophane Life Nevertheless if we can be but moved with a serious and a true repentance and say to him from our hearts Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee I am no more worthy to be called thy Son He will forget all the miscarriages of our youth and will pass by all the offences that we have committed out of ignorance or mistake nay he will blot out all our wilful and deliberate sins he will not only embrace us when we shall cast our selves at his feet and in the arms of his Mercy but he will meet and receive us as his dearest Children he will kiss us with the blessed kisses of his Fatherly love he will give unto us his Holy Spirit that shall seal us for the day of Redemption and shall assure us that we are admitted to the liberty and all the priviledges of his Children he will shooe our Feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace and will give us all the assurances of our entire and perfect reconciliation He will cloath us here upon Earth with the Robes of Righteousness and Holiness and in Heaven he will bestow upon us uncorruptible Robes of immortality and Glory In this life he will give us the foretasts of Eternal Happiness and in the life to come he will lead us by the hand into the Banqueting Chamber and will cause us to sit there at Table with Abraham Isaack and Jacob and with all the First-born whose names are written in Heaven Out of this celestial abode all murmurings and complaints shall be banished but here shall be rejoycing and gladness for the conversion of poor sinners and for their admittance into the Kingdom of Heaven God himself shall invite the Holy Angels and blessed Spirits to share in these publick rejoycings saying to them We must rejoyce for these my Children were dead but now they are alive they were lost but now they are found again Let the miserable slaves of the Devil and of their filthy Lusts tremble at the approaches of death and let them look upon God as a dreadful Judge Rom. 2. For our parts we have not the spirit of Bondage to be again in fear but we have the spirit of Adoption whereby we may cry Abba Father Let the Sons and Daughters of Adam who have no other Being nor Life but that which they have received with their corrupted Nature fly from God's Presence for our parts we that are Regenerated by the Spirit of the second Adam we will draw near to him with boldness We will not say as that wretched Soul disturbed and frighted at the consideration of its crimes I heard thy voice I was afraid and hid myself Gen. 3. But rather having been brought up in the Schools of the Prophets and Apostles and having learn'd that we must prefer our Obedience to God's Will to all other things whatsoever we shall say unto him with Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth 1 Sam. 8. Or rather we will speak unto him in plainer terms O my God and Heavenly Father speak when thou wilt for thy servant is ready and resolved to obey thy Commands we will stay till God shall call the fourth time as that Holy Man Numb 31. Who because of his tender and unexperienced years could not distinguish between God's voice and that of a Man but we will have our Ears always open to his Divine Orders and at the first motion and summons of his Will we shall be ready to follow him as the Children of Israel were in the Wilderness when they raised their Camp and marched according to God's directions Numb 3. And as when the Levites stopt and put down the Ark in its own place 2 Chron. 3. Moses did commonly pray O Lord give rest to the thousands of Israel Likewise you believing Souls whom God hath chosen for his Ark and Temple assoon as you shall perceive that this wise Governor of Mankind intends to put a period to your painful Journey and laborious Race that is to say assoon as you shall perceive the least signe of death speak with an Holy confidence and joy Rejoyce O my Soul the time of thy freedom and of thine Eternal Rest approacheth Here is the Messenger of good news here is Death that will usher me in to the Glorious Palace of my Heavenly Father Father the hour is come Glorify thy Son that thy Son may Glorify thee John 17. When the hour was come that our Lord Jesus Christ was to go out of this World to the Father he said unto his Disciples who were grieved for his going from them If ye loved me ye would rejoyce because I said I go unto the Father for my Father is greater than I John 13. John 14. Christian Souls speak in this manner at the hour of your departing If such as are about you happen to weep and lament if they endeavour to move and stop you by the considerations of Flesh and Bloud tell them why are you grieved at my deliverance and at the end of my misery why would you hinder and retard my Glory and Happiness O how cruel is your Love how blind and unconsiderate is your Affection Certainly if ye did love me as ye ought ye would prefer my satisfaction and the accomplishment of my happiness to the small advantages that ye might gather from my abode with you ye should consider that the least part of the joy that I shall feel in my Heavenly Fathers House is a thousand times more worth than all the Pleasures of the Earth than the Honors of the Age and the Pomp and Glory of the World My friends or rather my enemies let me go for I go to my Father I go to behold his Face which is the most Divine satisfaction I go to take possession of that Inheritance prepared for me from the foundations of the World John 20. Matth. 21. A Prayer and Meditation for a believing Soul that strengthens it self against the fears of Death by an Assurance and Trust upon God's Fatherly Goodness and Infinite Mercy MY God and Creator I perceive that the time of my departure draweth near and that Death presseth sore upon me It summons me to appear before thy dreadful Tribual it frights me when it brings to my remembrance all my former sins and represents unto me the hainousness of my crimes O Great God when I seriously think upon what I am
Virgin My Soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour Or with the Glorified Spirits of Heaven To him that hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his bloud be Glory and Strength for ever and ever Amen 24. Christian Souls if the vast number of your sins come into your remembrance consider that it is not said that the Bloud of Christ cleanseth us only from a certain number of sins but That if we confess our sins he is Faithful and Just that is True and Merciful to forgive us our sins and that the Bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sins Let them be never so numerous drown them all as so many hellish Monsters in the bloud of thy Saviour take hold of this Divine Jesus with the Arms of Faith and Repentance wrap your selves up in his Winding sheet repose your selves upon his Cross and rest secure in the shadow of his Almighty intercession 25. But if the grievousness of your crimes fright you take hold at the same time of the Horns of this mystical Altar and all the powers of Hell will not be able to pluck you thence Comfort thy self sinful Soul for there cannot be a spot so black nor so deep but the Bloud of Christ is able to wash it clean away There is no crime so grievous and horrid but the Sacrifice of this Lamb without spot that taketh away the fins of the world can make an atonement for it Let thy sins be never so great they have their limits but thy Redeemers Merits are without limits and the efficacy of his sufferings continues for ever To assure thee of this truth and to encourage thee he was pleased upon the Cross to discover the Riches of his Mercy upon a wretched Robber who suffered then the hands of Justice for his crimes assoon as he saw him moved with Repentance he changed his infamous and painful Cross into a Paradise of Glory and Happiness and filled his Soul with the sweetest Comforts of his Holy Spirit This merciful Redeemer is the same yesterday and to day and shall be the same for ever Therefore be never so foul and abominable a sinner if thou dost groan under the burden of thy sins and art moved with contrition Heb. 13. thou oughtest not to cast off thy hopes and to be discouraged draw near with humility to thy Saviours Cross and wash thy self in the Bloud that comes out of his veins All the diseased persons that entred into the pool of Bethesda were healed of all manner of distempers Joh. 5. Likewise all spiritual diseases are cured in this Divine Pool of all their griefs it is not necessary to stay till a good Angel from Heaven come to move the Waters for Christ's Bloud is always fresh living and of the same Vertue and Efficacy we need not fear that others should step down before us or that the throng should hinder us for a thousand worlds may be all healed at the same instant neither do ye pretend that there is no body to cast you into this mystical Pool for our Lord will never refuse to admit you when you shall have been Bedrid eight and thirty years as the poor man that was troubled with the Palsie and when you shall be nailed to a Cross as the good Thief you may nevertheless dip your selves into this Divine Pool and feel its saving and healing Vertue It doth not only wash away the filth and heal all thy diseases but it gives also life to the Dead and renders the living immortal Whosoever thou art that dippest thy self in this precious Bloud thou mayest say with the Apostle St. Paul This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners of whom I am the chief 1 Tim. 1. Howbeit I have obtained Mercy the Lord will deliver me from all wicked work and will preserve me to his Heavenly Kingdom to him be Glory for ever and ever Amen 1 Tim. 7. 26. You understand therefore very well believing Souls that you have no cause to fear Death seeing that all its Darts have been broken to pieces all its Armor hath been torn and that its spoils appear so visibly upon Christs Cross You may see the Claws of this old Lion the paw of this devouring Bear the Teeth and Poison of this infernal Serpent and the Head of this prodigious Dragon you may see death swallowed up into victory and the Prince of Life leading it in triumph follow then the Glorious Chariot of this noble Conqueror singing with the Apostle O death where is thy Victory O Grave where is thy Sting The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but blessed be God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. 27. Therefore when God shall draw near to you covered with the vail of Death be not terrified seek not to run from him and to hide your selves from his all-seeing Eyes unto whom darkness is as the noon-day Gen. 3. Although you are by nature poor wretched blind and naked you have more substantial Garments than Fig leaves for you have the leaves of the Tree of Life that are designed for the salvation of the Gentiles Revel 22. The Leaves that shall never fade shall cover all your nakedness and adorn your immortal Souls for it is the Eternal Righteousness the most accomplished Righteousness of our Lord Jesus who hath been made unto us of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Dan. 19. It is Jesus Christ himself who is named The Lord our Righteousness It is the precious Garment of Salvation the Glorious Cloak of Righteousness mentioned by the Prophet Is 61. It is the Wedding Garment whitened in the Bloud of the Lamb without spot and the fine and bright Linnen which are the Righteousness of the Saints Ezek. 16. In short it is a Garment which will not only cover and adorn you but it will also heal all your infirmities and make you become immortal Rev. 7. 28. If you come before your Heavenly Father with this perfumed cloathing of your Elder Brother Jesus Christ Gen. 27. or rather if you be cloathed with him as with a Garment Rom. 1. You shall not only obtain the best and most advantageous Blessing but you shall enter into the possession of the uncorruptible Inheritance prepared for you from the beginning of the World For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is Eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 6. A Prayer and Meditation for a Christian who strengthens himself against the fears of Death by meditating upon the Death and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ O Merciful Saviour who hast cloathed thy self with our mortal Flesh that thou mightest offer it up as a Sacriffce to God succor me in my weakness and increase the Faith and Hope which thou hast begun in my Soul I see Death threatening to destroy me
instant be ready to say with all my heart I commend into thine hands my Spirit for thou hast redeemed it thou who art the strong and faithful God Amen CHAP. 16. The Fourth Consolation against the Fears of Death is to Meditate often upon our Lord Jesus Christ as he did lie in his Tomb. MAn doth naturally abhor and hate the sight of Graves some there are that cannot pass by a Church yard without expressing a distaste and secret displeasure not only such as make their abode in glorious Palaces and stately Dwellings but also such as reside in poor Huts or in pitiful Cabins such as are shut up in black Dungeons or exposed to the injury of the weather who have no other covering then the Sky can ever think upon Death without fear when they are to think that this Body must go into the Bowels of the Earth and lie down in a stinking and noisome Grave If ye will banish from your Minds this dangerous apprehension and these needless fears we must consider seriously with a religious application of our minds That we must never abhor the Earth because our Bodies have been made of Earth it hath been as it were the Mother that brings us forth We must also consider that it is the order of nature that all composed Bodies should return at their dissolution every part to its first principle therefore as the Soul mounts up to its first source and returns to God that gave it likewise it is no wonder if the Body returns to Dust because it proceeds from Dust and God hath pronounced a just Sentence in the earthly Paradise which shall never be revoked dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. Nicodemus inquired of our Lord Jesus Christ How can a Man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his Mothers Womb and be born John 3. This ridiculous and unprobable conceit is proved in a manner to be true in this occasion for we must enter again into the Womb of the Earth our common Mother that we might be Born again and pass into another Life It is not amiss to consider often the notable instances and excellent representations of our Death which St. Paul mentions in the 15 Chap. of the first Epistle to the Corinth for our Bodies are as the Seed which is cast into the Earth that it might bring forth O fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it dye It cannot flourish untill it rots The Students of Nature inform us that the generation of one thing is the corruption of another In this occasion we may say that the corruption and dissolution of this wretched Body is the means and way that leads to a more glorious Generation You that weep for the decease of your Friends and Kindred when you see them laid in their Graves remember what David saith They that sow in tears shall reap with songs of Joy Psalm 126. Consider that Death is the way of all flesh and the Grave is the last retreat which God hath appointed for all living so that if we be loath to enter into the Tomb we must desire Almighty God to grant us a Lodging by our selves to change the common course of nature or to create for us another World Now the Grave is not only the general Rendezvous of all Mankind but it is a Couch where they rest after this laborious and painful race therefore when the Prophet Isaiah speaks of the Death of good Men he saith They enter into peace they rest in their Beds Is 57. For when he looks to the blessed estate of their Souls he tells us that they are entred into that great and eternal Peace that raigns in Heaven but when he casts an eye upon their Bodies he saith that they rest in their Beds For this cause the places appointed to bury the Dead are named sleeping places by the Greeks to teach us that there they are fallen asleep in expectation of the great Morne when God shall send to awaken them with the sound of the Archangels Trumpet Therefore when Jacob was ready to give up the Ghost he commanded his Son Joseph not to bury him in Egypt that he might sleep with his Fathers Gen. 47. Likewise Job speaks in the same manner I shall sleep in the Dust of the Earth Job 7. And God held this Language unto Moses Thou art going to sleep with thy Fathers Deut. 31. and to David when thy days be fulfilled thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers 2 Sam. 7. And when the Prophet Daniel speaks of such as were deceased since the Creation of the World he saith They sleep in the dust of the Earth Dan. 12. Especially take notice Christian Souls that when God spoke to Moset from the midst of the burning bush he told him I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Exod. 4. they had been dead many Ages before nevertheless God names himself their God Now God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living Mat. 22. Those holy Men were not Dead in regard of their Souls because they were Immortal and God had admitted them into Eternal Bliss Their Bodies also to speak properly were not Dead but slept in their Graves as our Sâ—viour said of Jairus's Daughter The Damsel is not Dead but Sleepeth Mat. 9. and of Lazarus Lazarus our friend Sleepeth John 11. Moreover we may justly â—â—y that the Estate of our Bodies in the Grave is better and more pleasant then our daily sleep for when we rest in our Beds we be often disturbed in our fancy we labour and sweat and the richest and most magnificent Couches are not free from this evil whereas in our Graves our Bodies are at rest and secure from all sense of pain so that they enjoy a perfect Sleep and a rest without disturbance The greatest Princes and the proudest Monarchs are constrained to take up their Lodging one after another here in this House which God hath prepared for all living and to repose themselves in that Couch which is to receive all the Sons of Adam When the Sacred History gives an Account of the Kings of Judea and of Israel it adds at the end of their Life He slept with his Fathers Let us be never so wretched poor and miserable we shall all be entertained in this dwelling of Kings and lay our selves down upon their Beds therefore when Job through the grieveousness of his pain complained because he had not Dyed immediately after his Birth he saith for now should I have lain still and been quiet I should have slept then had I been at rest with Kings and Councellors of the Earth which built desolate places for themselves or with Princes that had Gold who filled their Houses with Silver It is in this House and upon this Couch that the Patriarcks Prophets Apostles Evangelists Martyrs and generally all the Faithful do rest who have lived in all the Ages of the World
as it is Recorded of St. Stephen that when he had commended his Soul into the hands of the Lord Jesus that he fell asleep Acts 7. Therefore when St. Paul reproves the Coriâ—thians and acquaints them that God had punished them with divers Diseases and Death because they had profaned the Lords Supper he tells them For this cause many are feeble and sick amongst you and many sleep And when he speaks of all those that were dead in the profession of Christs Religion he saith they sleep in Jesus and he names them they that sleep Now we are not better and nobler then the Saints of Paradise to expect that our Bodies should receive a better and more favourable entertainment then they In short there is nothing more able to remove from our fancy that horror of our Graves then the consideration of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is entred into the Earth as well as other Men and hath laid himself down there He hath Sanctified and perfumed that place with his Divine Presence he hath made it the object of our desires and the cause of our glory for there is no Subject but judgeth it an honour to lodge in his Princes Chamber and to lay down and sleep upon the Bed where he hath taken his rest although he hath remained there but a moment or an hour O glorious Tomb where Death and Life Disgrace and Glory are lodged together and where the Prince of Life the Author of all Honor and Happiness did rest himself Christians who desire to banish from your Souls all fears of Death and apprehensions of your Graves look upon your Sepulchres in the same manner as if you should see there Jesus Christ the King of Glory the Prince of your Salvation yet remaining asleep When old Jacob heard the mistaken news of the Death of his Son Joseph he was overcome with a violent grief so that he cryed out I shall go down with Sorrow to my Son into the Grave But the certain news of the Death and Burial of our true Joseph will fill us full of unspeakable comforts and will cause us to speak in another manner I shall go down to my Father into the Sepulcher with Joy The Prophet Elias raised to Life a Child which laid in his Chamber upon his Bed when he stretched himself upon it the Soul that was departed came again And Elisha raised another in the same manner by applying his Mouth to the Childs his Hands and Eyes to the little Infants But believing Soul God works for thee in this occasion a far more wonderful Miracle for our Resurrection and Life proceed from the Death and Burial of our great Prophet If we go into this holy Tomb if we lay our selves down upon this precious Body if we embrace it with a true and living Faith and a serious Repentance he will quicken us again and cause us to become Immortal for he hath been pleased to enter into the estate of the dead with an intent to procure unto us a blessed and a glorious Immortality A Prayer and Meditation for a Christian who strengthens himself against the horrible aspect of the Grave by looking upon our Lord Jesus Christ stretched out in his Tomb. O Wonderful Mediator between God and Man Thou art God Immortal and yet hast vouchsafed to take upon thee our Mortal Nature and to Dye for me miserable Sinner and to remain for a time in the estate of the Dead that thou mightest procure unto me a blessed Immortality Give me Grace to Meditate as I ought upon thy Sacred Body wrapped up in a winding sheet and laid in the Earth for by this means O sweet Jesus I shall be brought not to abhor the Grave I shall look with a stedfast and setled countenance on the Grave digging into which I must enter when thou shalt appoint it for the Servant is not greater then his Master It belongs not to the Creature to lift it self up above the Creator seeing that I expect to share in thy Glory and Exaltation it is but just and reasonable that I take some part in thy Disgraces and Abasement My reason assisted by thine holy Spirit teacheth me that I must be content to be wrapped up in thy Darkness and remain with thee in the valey of the Shadow of Death seeing that I hope to be cloathed one day with Light and Crowned with an eternal Life I must not only look upon the Grave without Fear but I shall consider it with Joy seeing that thou hast honoured it with thine holy presence and perfumed it with thy Divine and celestial perfumes I shall behold it in the same manner as if thou didst yet lye down in it as if I were to keep thee company there my Lord and my God A dead returned to Life again when he did but touch the Bones of thy Prophet but I do not only touch the Prince of Prophets but embrase thee with Faith as thou art dead for my Sins and as resting in thy Grave for my Salvation Thou shalt therefore make me sensible of thy Divine Vertue put in me the Seeds of Immortality and raise my hopes up to Heaven Already my Soul hath a share in the first Resurrection and one day this crazy Body shall return to newness of life If my Resurrection be not so quick and speedy as that of the Dead raised to Life by the Prophet It shall be far more glorious and lasting that I may bless thee with all thy Saints and praise thee for ever with thine Inheritance in Heaven Amen CHAP. 17. The Fifth Consolation against the Fears of Death is to Meditate upon the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ AS there is nothing more grieveous and unsufferable than to behold a proud and insulting Enemy who is alwayes victorious and whom none can overcome in his insolent and braving humor likewise there is nothing more pleasant and comfortable then to see such a pride cast down and to overcome such an Enemy Therefore the Children of Israel who had long groaned under the cruel tyranny of Pharaoh sung with Joy a Song of Triumph and Thanksgiving when God destroyed that wretched Tyrant and Buried him and his Army in the waves of the Red Sea For this cause when the Red Dragon the ancient Serpent called the Devil and Satan Exod. 15. who seduceth whole Nations was overcome and cast down from Heaven to the Earth There were Songs of Joy and Gladness heard in Heaven Revel 12. Now is come Salvation and Strength and the Kingdom of our God and the Power of his Christ for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night therefore rejoyce ye Heavens and ye that dwell in them From hence let us conclude Christian Souls as it was a grievous Affliction and a sensible Grief to behold Death tyrannising over all the World and shutting up in its Dungeons Kings and Monarchs Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and generally all the
Rivers that run in my Soul I am not yet come to thine Holy Paradise but thou hast caused Paradise to be in me Thou hast given unto me an unspeakable and glorious Joy and hast bestowed upon me that Peace of God that passeth all understanding O living and quickening Spirit unknown to the World thou strengthenest me in such a manner that death will never be able to fright me Thou hast united me to thy self by an unseparable Vnion O Prince of Life and hast put in me a Seed of Immortality an infallible Principle of Glory and a source of unspeakable Happiness Thou art in me to dwell with me for ever therefore thou shalt fill up the measure of thy most signal Favors My Faith by thy Divine assistance hath spied out the Kingdom prepared for us from the beginning of the World and shortly I shall see with mine Eies the unexpressable Beauties of that Celestial Countrey that flows with the Milk of the purest and sincerest Joys and with the Honey of the sweetest and most ravishing Comforts Thou hast sent a fore-taste of the Fruits of the Tree of Life but I shall come into thine Heavenly Paradise I shall ever have my fill of these delicious Fruits Now thou hast caused some drops of the dew of Heaven to fall upon mine Heart but then thou wilt make me drink of the Rivers of thy Divine Pleasures At present in my painful passage through this Valley of Tears in the midst of my Groans and Tears I may gather some Herbs but when I shall come to my Heavenly Countrey I shall reap my Hands full with Songs of Joy Here upon Earth I see God as in a Glass obscurely but in Heaven I shall behold him face to face and I shall be satisfied with his likeness My Lord and my God who by the infinite Merits of thy sufferings hast purchased for us this Spirit of Life and who hast given to my Soul such an Authentick Seal of my Salvation and such a precious earnest of thine Eternal Bliss I feel in me the motions and endeavours of of this New Man that Essays to leave this Body of Darkness and Death to enter into the Light of the Living Lord Jesus seeing thou hast made me partaker of the Spirit of thy Grace enlightned my Soul with thy Divine Knowledge and caused me to know the way of Life Seeing that thou hast given me to taste of the Heavenly Gift of the Powers of the life to come Seeing that thou hast vouchsafed to me the First-Fruits of thy Glory and that I already feel Heaven in my Soul Seeing that I behold thee with the Eyes of my Faith that I embrace thee with all my affections and that thou dwellest in my Heart perfect in me the work of thy Grace and bring me at last to thine Eternal Glory Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Amen CHAP. 20. The eighth Consolation is to consider that Death frees and delivers us from all the Evils that are in the World and that we daily suffer THere are certain Pictures with two Faces the one represents most ugly Features and the other beautiful and pleasant things This is the true Emblem of Death for it may be painted with a fearful Face a lean Body and iron Hands that ravish from us our Goods and our Honors and that divide our Persons dragging our bodies into a loathsome Sepulchre If we look upon Death in this manner we can do nothing less but tremble and fear We may also look upon it as a powerful Deliverer that unlooseth all our Fetters breaks our Chains to pieces lifts up our Souls to the highest Glory and Happiness If we consider thus there is nothing more lovely than death and nothing more to be desired I have hitherto endeavoured to shew how a Believer shall strengthen and comfort himself against the fears of Death but now I shall say something more with Heavens assistance I shall labor to prove not only that Death is to be expected without apprehension but to be received with an Holy Joy That it is not at all dreadful but rather it is to be earnestly desired I shall no longer give to speak right any Consolations against the fears of Death for I hope to make it plain that Death it self is to be looked upon as the greatest Consolation and Comforter That I may attain unto mine end I shall shew as in a Picture a short view of all the dreadful miseries of which Death delivers us and then I shall endeavour to paint out in the brightest Colours or rather I shall chaulk out unto you the Blessedness and Glories into which it ushers us Man's Life and Misery are Twin-Sisters that are born at the same time and owned Adam for their First Father they dye together at the same instant in true Believers We all know that Man begins his Life weeping and crying and ends it with sighs and Groans We come into the World all covered with Bloud and we go out wet all over with a cold Sweat If the Child cries not assoon as it is born we judge that it is dead and when the sick Body ceaseth to groan and sigh we say that he is past hopes so that as our crying is a token of Life likewise is and the end of thy sighs an infallible signe of thy Death Wretched Man how miserable is thy condition thy best friends rejoyce at thy crying and they weep and lament when thou ceasest to sigh and groan All the rest of thy time between thy Cradle and thy Grave is no happier it is but a continued Chain of Misery a mixture of pains a succession of evils and a Sea of bitterness As one Wave falls upon the back of another one evil is no sooner gone but another meets and threatens us one depth calleth another and all manner of Flouds and Storms pass over our Heads Job 5. As the Sparks rife out of the Fire to fly up and down Man is born for Misery and Pain and as the wisest of Kings speaks His days are nothing but pain and his employment but trouble in the night his Heart resteth not Eccles 3 There are scarce any dwellings but Messengers of ill news do sometimes come to them as they did to that of Job Job 1. By God's unchangeable order and appointment the days succeed the nights and divide the year into two equal parts for if the nights are longer in one season so much the shorter are they in another but the nights of our afflictions are so long that they seem to last several Ages whereas the days of our prosperity are so short that they are gone in a moment so that we may justly say with the Prophet Moses The best of our days are but labour and sorrow so soon doth our life pass away and we are gone Psal 90. It is as easy a taske to number the Stars of the Firmament and to reckon up the grains of
one after another and he also in his time yielded up the Ghost But Jesus Christ who is Risen from the Dead Dyeth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him so that he lives for ever and ever and will cause us all to become Immortal Therefore instead of desiring as Jacob to Live to go down into Egypt to see his Son Joseph we should earnestly desire to Dye that we might ascend up into Heaven there to behold our Lord Jesus Christ our Father and Redeemer When Jacob embraced again his wonderful and beloved Child in the exceeding transport of his Joy and Love he burst forth into this kind of Language Let me now Dye now that I have seen again thy Face and that thou art alive On the contrary when we shall embrace Christ in his Glory when we should behold his Divine Countenance we shall speak in another manner my Lord and my God seeing that I now look upon thee alive and Raigning in Heaven I shall live also and Raign with thee for ever and ever Amen A Prayer and Meditation for a believing Soul who strengthens it self against the Fears of Death by considering the glorious Ascention of Jesus Christ into Heaven and his sitting at the right hand of God O Holy and Divine Saviour I have often looked upon thy generous Behaviour and glorious Victories to strengthen my self against all apprehensions of Death but if thou wilt render my joy most perfect and accomplished give me Grace to Meditate upon thy Divine Triumph As thou hast engaged in many Encounters for my sake and hast vouchsafed unto me a share in thy Victory grant me also a share in thy glorious Ascention and Triumph As thou hast suffered for my Sins and art risen again for my Justification thou art also ascended up into Heaven to prepare a place for me thou art willing that I should be admitted into thy Noble and Divine Palace that I should be where thou art that I may behold thy Glory which thou hast enjoyed with God the Father before the Creation of the World O sweet and Merciful Lord what cause have I to fear to go to Heaven seeing that thou art there seated in the highest Glory and Felicity and that thou stretchest out thy merciful hand to receive and admit me Have not I good reason to expect to be glorified in thy Kingdom seeing that thou thy self dost bestow upon those that serve thee the Immortal Crowns and Scepters O great God and Saviour thy Throne is surrounded with Glory and Splendor nevertheless I will draw near unto it with boldness for it is a Throne of Love and a Throne of Mercy unto which every penitent Sinner may come Round about this glorious Throne I see a Rainbow of an Emerald colour that certifies me that thy Covenant is everlasting When thy Glory and Majesty did increase thy Love for me did not lessen and thy compassion and goodness were always the same Thou art the same yesterday and to day and thou shalt always be the same for ever Thou hast been pleased for my Salvation to lye in a Manger and to be nailed to a Cross Thou hast given thy Soul for my Ransome and hast spilt thy precious Blood to wash and cleanse me from my Sins and to make me a way that I might enter into thine holy Sanctuary In the midst of all that Glory and Light with which thou art now cloathed thou hast not thought it a scorn to acknowledge me for thy Brether and for a Member of thy Mystical Body It is for my sake that thou appearest before thine Heavenly Father it is for me that thou offerest up unto him Prayers and Supplications O wonderful Lord it is in thy power to give unto me the things which thou hast merited by thy Sufferings and which thou desirest for me by thy Prayers and Intercession for all power is given unto thee in Heaven and in Earth O Soveraign Monarch of the whole World hast not thou given unto us this great and gracious promise When I shall be lifted up from the Earth I shall draw all Men after me And is it not for us that thou hast prayed in this excellent manner Father I will that they also whom thou hâ—st given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me Seeing therefore that thou hast left this wretched Earth to go and Raign above in Heaven take unto thee my Soul O wonderful Redeemer and deliver it from this valley of Tears and Misery cause it to understand at the time of its departure those words of joy and eternal comfort Verily I say unto thee this day thou shalt be with me in Paradice Lord Jesus draw me with the cords of thy Mercy and Grace and I shad run after thee And seeing that I must of necessity pass through Death to come to thee the Prince of Life and Immortality give me Grace to consider it in the same manner as the Prophet Elias did the Fiery Charriots that carried him up to Heaven or as Jacob did the Waggon that carried him into Egypt to his Son that did Raign there this holy Father in a transport of joy cried out let me see my Son Joseph again and then let me Dye But when I shall be ravished with an unspeakable and glorious joy I shall speak in another manner Let me Dye that I may behold my true Joseph the Soul of my Soul the light of Life the Author of my Glory and Happiness O sweet Jesus I shall freely and willingly leave this wretched and crasie dwelling to enter into thy heavenly Palace to behold thy Glory and Magnificence O King of Kings and Lord of Lords when shall I hear that Divine Wisdom that drops from thy Lips and when shall I see thee sitting upon the Throne of thy Glorious Majesty where a thousand thousands wait upon thee and ten millions Worship thee When shall I enter into the Glorious Company of the Saints and Blessed Spirits that Sing forth thy Praises and cast at thy feet their most precious Crowns O glorious Monarch that art now in thy Kingdome enjoying a perfect happiness forget not thy poor Servant be not unmindful of thy Sâ—n or Daughter who am now overwhelmed with the sorrows of this miserable life and the anguish of Death Let not the Songs of the holy Angels and applauses of all the glorified Spirits hinder thee from listning to my Sighs and Groans O Almighty and merciful Lord look upon me with the eyes of thy Love and reach unto me thine helping hand Send unto me thine Angels of Light to receive my Soul and prâ—tect me from the Angels of Darkness that endeavâ—r to destroy me and to drag me headlong into Hell Let Some of thâ—se glorious Spirits that wait for thine orders and fly at thy command deliver me from Death and carry me upon their wings into thy Bosome I see the Heavens open and Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand
of God the Father Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Amen CHAP. 19. The Seventh Consolation against the Fears of Death is our strict and unseparable union with Jesus Christ by the means of his holy Spirit and the first Fruits of our Blessed Immortality OUr Lord Jesus Christ doth not onely live and triumph in Heaven but it is from thence our life our glory and our blessed Immortality proceed For as the Father hath life in himself he hath also given to the Son to have Life in himself and as the Father raiseth and quickneth the Dead likewise the Son quickneth whomsoever he will So that we may not only say to him as St. Peter Thou hast the words of eternal life John 6. but we may justly speak to him in Davids Language with thee is the fountain of Life in thy light shall we see light Ps 36. Therefore all those that are united and incorporated into Jesus Christ do participate of the fulness of his holy Spirit and by that means they became Immortal Now by the vertue of Christs Death and Pastion we are not only made partakers of the Fruits of his Sufferings but we are united to and Incorporated in him so that by that means we have obtained not only the grâ—â—t and precious promises of Glory and Immortality which he hath purchased for us by the infinite merits of his Sufferings but we receive the First-Fruits and foretasts of our future blessedness He that is lifted up and dwells on high quickens the Spirits of the humble Is 57. he dwells in our hearts by Faith Eph. 31. he pours into our Souls his holy and quickning Spirit for because we are the Children of God he hath sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to cry Abba Father Gal. 4. Whosoever hath not this Spirit of the Lord Jesus he is none of his By the means of this Spirit he dwells in us and we in him we become the Members of his Body and we may boast that we are his Flesh and his Bones All things that are most strictly united by Nature or Art are employed to represent this admirable union John 6. which we enjoy with Jesus Christ by the means of his Spirit that quickens us Rom. 13. From hence are derived these expressions of the holy Apostles We have put on the Lord Jesus Christ Gal. 3. And that when we draw near to him who is the living stone rejected of Men but lifted up and of great price with God 1 Pet. 2. we like so many living stones are built up together to make a Spiritual House For the same reason our Saviour informes us John 15. That he is the true Vine and that we are the branches And St. Paul assures us that if we are become one Plant with him by the conformity of his Death we shall also be one by the resemblance of his Resurrection Rom. 6. To shew unto us that this Sacred Union contains many ties of Love our Lord Jesus Christ is represented as our Brother our Father and our Bridegroom therefore the Apostle tells us that he thinks it no Disgrace to own us for his Brethren in saying Heb. 1. I will declare thy name unto my Brethren and also where he informes us Rom. 8. that God had predestinated us to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first born among many Brethren And after his Resurrection he speaks in this manner to Mary Magdalen John 20. Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father but go to my Brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Heb. 2. Therefore this glorious Redeemer shewing himself unto God with all the Elect saith Here I am and the Children which thou hast given me Hosea 2 And by the Mouth of Hosea he speaks to his Church and makes this promise unto her I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in Righteousness and in Judgment and in loving kindness and in Mercies From hence it is that this Church is called The Spouse of the Lamb in the Revelations and in the Canticâ—es the Spiritual Union betwixt Christ and his Church is expressed by a continual Allusion to a Marriage between Man and Woman And because our Meat and Drink are turned into our Body and Substance Jesus Christ assures us That his Flesh is truly Meat and his Blood is truly Drink That he is the true Bread come down from Heaven that gives Life to the World and that whosoever shall eat him shall live for ever But amongst all the Similitudes borrowed to represent our Union with Jesus Christ by his holy Spirit there is none employed more frequently in holy Scripture than that of the Humane Body for there is not any more proper for us all the Spirits that give life and motion proceed from the Head and assoon as the Members are separated from it they Dye In the like manner the Spirit that quickens us and makes us become new Creatures proceeds from Jesus Christ so that whosoever is separated from this Head he falls into Death and Eternal Destruction And as there are many Members nevertheless they make up but one Body because they are all animated with the same Spirit and they are kept alive by the same Head l kewise there be many Members belonging to Christs Mystical Body some engaged yet upon Earth and others glorified in Heaven nevertheless they make up but one only Mystical and Spiritual Body for they are all quickned by the same Spirit and receive all the celestial influences from the same Head St. Paul teacheth us this Doctrin in expresse terms 1 Cor 12. For as the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body so also is Christ for by one Spirit are we all Baptised into one Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit Finally because the same spirit that is in our Lord as in the Head and Fountain and in the Church in general as in the Body which is quickned and moved is also in every particular Member The holy Apostle is not satisfied to call this Spiritual Body of Christ and his Church Christ but he tells us moreover that whosoever is united unto him is made but one Spirit with him These and such like Representations let them be never so lively and noble are but dark shadowes and unperfect Images of our Union with Jesus Christ by his holy Spirit for the richest and most Magnificent Garment can never keep off from the Body Diseases nor hinder the approaches of corruption that creeps upon it There is no foundation never so firm and well setled that can free the house built upon it from the ruines and breach s of time and the weather Although the Sap mounts up from the root of the vine and runs