their bed of death they go to it in vtter darknesse where is weeping and gnashing of teeth So farre for the time which is called largely dayes that which is limitted called the appointed time followeth Of mine appointed time c. By appointed time Iob here meaneth his bounded life which can no more be extended beyond the appointed time then the Sea can passe her bounds Ps 104.9 Doctr. From whence this doctrine may be gathered that we liue by Gods decree not at our owne pleasure So Paul told the men of Athens for hauing taxed their superstition who wold bound the boundlesse presence of God to a temple made with hands and to Idols the worke of mens hands he she wecht hat the Almighty Maker of this Worlds-masse is not to be straitned who hath shut in with the straites of time fore-seâ— by himselfe all men and creatures hauing assigned their times and the bounds of their habitation Act. 17.26 And in this Booke of Iob it is moued by a question but taken for granted that there is an appointed time to man vpon Earth Iob 7.1 or a set time of mans warrefare here that is he is a Souldier and his life militant but how long and for how short a time he shall be and continue in this field of his bodie vnder corruption fighting against the strangelusts that are in the world it is ordered by him who hath summed vp all the number of his daies and measured his short time with a decree or Law which he cannot passe after it is said that God hath set Mans daies and numbred his moneths and limited his time that is that he hath set bounds to all the moments of his life here Iob 14.5 By which it is plaine that the maker of man hath in his hand the whole number of mans time such as it hath pleased himselfe to adde to the Moneths and yeeres that he hath giuen him in this vale of miserie The reasons First if God had not numbred the daies of man vpon earth they who loue the world would neuer leaue it nor they who suffer in it without speciall grace waite till God should worke their deliuerance from it They who liue in pleasure would neuer resolue to die and they would presently seeke their owne death and find it who liue in paine Secondly as wee are not borne at our owne pleasure so it is reason we should liue and die at his pleasure who hath formed vs in the wombe Thirdly God taketh small matters into his hands to order them Mat. 29.30 and shal we think that he hath not taken to himselfe the great matter of life and death to dispose of it A confutation of those who think that man can either shorten his owne life Vse 1 or draw it beyond the Lords score to make it longer Indeed man may by offering violence to himselfe become an vnnaturall instrument of the Lords iustice to cut of those daies that God hath finished but no man can later or sooner die then the Lord of death and time hath set his end Quest But hath not the Magistrate power ouer the life of a Malefactor and is it not in his hand to giue him his life or to take it from him when his sinne hath giuen him into the power of the Law and of the Magistrate vnto death Answ In this case the Magistrate hath no power but what is giuen him as when either the spite of time or sinne of Man shall accomplish what God hath purposed Ioh. 19.11 So Christ told Pilate who because he had the soueraignty of iudgement thought he had also the soueraigntie of life verse 10. But he had no power but what the decree of God and determined moment of mans saluation had then giuen vnto him If then the Magistrate saue a man who is iudged to die it is secretly to fulfill Gods time concerning him which is not yet come or if he cut him of it is because the time appointed to him by God is first come and he is Gods Minister to doe what God hath purposed to be done An instruction Vse teaching vs patience and contentment when any of our friends shall be taken from vs for God hath taken them from vs their time was come which as we cannot preuent so we may not enuie 2. Sam. 12.20.21 c. So for our own death we must willingly beare it seeing that God hath appointed that we shall once die and that once must once come Hebr. 9.27 It is I confesse naturall to all to be loth to lay downe this tabernacle but our obedience to the will of God must correct nature in so direct an opposition to his decree that hath made vs we must call to our remembrance not what we could wish but God hath purposed reasoning euerie man apart and priuately in his heart thus I must needes die because it is Gods ordinance and I will willingly die that I may shew my obedience to his will I must needes die to put of corruption and I will willingly die that I may see God Or I must needs die Looke Deerings 11. Lecture on the Epistle to the Hebrues that sinne may haue his pay the wages of sinne is death Rom. 6.23 and I will willingly die that sinne may be no longer and death may loose his sting and power So much for the mid-times of that naturall life in which Iob became attendant and did waite for a better life the period of time which he expected followeth Till my change were come Here Iob sheweth how long hee would waite by hope in his afflicted estateâ— euen till that period of time should come which he calleth the time of change when hee should finish the daies of his warre-fare on Earth and receaue the Crowne of his sufferings in glorie And here by the day of change he meaneth the day of death which is therefore called a change because it is the remoue of the faithfull from labour to rest in their bodies and from an Earthly to an Heauenly life in their soules which are taken vp to God Somewhere it is called the losing as of a Prisoner from the Prison and fetters of the flesh that hee may be with Christ Philip. 1.23 Also the godly in their blessed death are for this said to be taken away Esa 57.1 In their bodies from their house to graue from feare to security from sense of paine to ease and from their bodies of labour to their beds of rest in their soules from an house of clay to an house not made with hands from Men to Angels from Earth to Heauen from prison to libertie from mortalitie to immortall and from death to liue And we reade of the gathering of the righteous as of things scattered and straying from home to their people fathers Gen. 25 8. Iudg. 2.10 Thus we haue heard why Iob and other scriptures call the death of the godly a change From whence the doctrine is Doctr. That there is nothing in
the good mans death but what is profitable and excellent In the third to the Philippians vers 21. the Apostle calleth this alteration by death not the losse of our body but the change of our vile body that it may bee facioned like to the glorious body of Christ And is there any thing in this but what is excellent and worthy if any thing be worthy our trauell best paines here Iohn speaking of the Saints glorified saith All teares shall be wiped from their eyes Apoc. 21.4 His meaning is that as soone as death shall let them out of the world they shall haue no more sorrow that is sorrow that causeth teares And the same Iohn saith Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord Apo. 14.13 that is they who hauing liued righteously die wel in him are in the hand by the helpe of death leade presently to blessednesse The Saints militant did alwaies with the eyes of faith in the Gospell behold this great honour and preferment by death in the happy ends of the righteous and therefore sighed desiring their house from Heauen 2. Cor. 5.2 for they knew that if it were an honour to be remoued from a base cote to a Princes court it could not but be a double that is singular honour to bee translated from the Cotes of the Earth to the Court of Heauen Therefore they sighed that is could not be merrie till that change should come Paul saith that to be losed to wit from the bonds of his corruptible bodie was best of all Philip. 1 23. which hee would not haue said if any preferment had beene better then that by death which is from basenes into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God The reasons And further that there is so much good in the godlie mans death which is his change may be and is euident First by the things to which that their happie and blessed change by death is compared as to a hauen that after they haue passed the troublesome waues of the sea of this world carrieth them to their owne key or backe in the which they ride safely to their iourneys end after which they come home to their owne house being strangers here 1. Pet. 2.11 to the medicine that cureth most perfectly the sicknesse of life to the messenger that biddeth them to the marriage dinner of their great King Mat. 22.2.3 to their returne from banishment into their owne countrey and naturall land to their deliuerance from the gaole of sorrow where they are taken with Ioseph out of prison to be set with Princes to the laying downe of their tabernacle and to the putting on of their house from Heauen to a deliuerance like that out of Egypt from the bondage of corruption to the libertie of saints from a land of darknesse to a land where the sunne neuer goeth downe and from a land of destruction to the land of the liuing Now what is there in all these that is not perfitly good and desirable Secondly death abolisheth in the faithfull departed all power of sinning and sting of sinne Thirdly the bodie feeleth no more paine nor shal euer againe be sensible but of that which is excellently good desireable and comfortable and for the soule it shall presently be glorified Luc. 16.22 Fourthly death is but the dore of the soule out of an earthly dungeon such as the bodie is that must be destroied before the wormes into an heauenly kingdome or passage from death to life from a short death to a long life Lastly God executeth his iudgements vpon the damned and purgeth his Church by death An instruction to correct all vnreasonable and faithlesse weeping for our godly friends and brethren departed in the faith of Christ Vse 1 The Apostle to the Thessalonians exhorteth Christians if they sorrow for such not to sorrow for them as men that haue no hope 1. Thes 4.13 When Hester was taken from Mardochay who had brought her vp as his owne daughter to be married to King Assuerus and to receaue the crowne of Queene in the kingdome did he either bewaile or enuie that her great preferment the faithfull are taken from sorrowfullmen to be espoused to Christ and to receaue the crowne of glorie and shall they that liue by such vnmeasurable sorrow and taking on as is too commonly vsed at the graues of their friends vnwish to them in a sort so great happinesse Will a father be sorrie or can he without imputation of enuie repine that his sonne or daughter is with Ioseph taken out of prison to be set with Princes when thou giuest forth thy child to nurse and shee hath kept it long inough should shee because thou takest it home againe complaine thou wilt say she hath no reason for it Then what reason hath any father to murmure against the owner of the child hee taketh for taking of his owne Parents that so lose their children if they may be called lost that are so found are but nurses to them in their absence from their owne fathers house to nurse them with the milke of the Gospel and religiously to nurture them for the Lord who by death sends for them home to himselfe when he seeth time and when he so doth haue they cause to complaine of wrong father mother sonne wife husband brother are but lent goods which we must restore when the creditor and hee that owneth them calleth for them And shall we count our selues spoiled or vndone because they are required If one should lend vs a thing of price or thing that is costly would wee for a recompence of the vse of it vpbraid the owner because he sendeth for it or if we should might not he who was the lender iustly say is this my thanks and shall I be recompenced with so great impatiencie for my so great good will So if God should lend vs tenne deare children as he did to Iob and we should be made to part with them all in one day would it become vs with rough words to receaue that supposed losse or would we complaine of wrong where none is offered and where our good is sought and our childrens gaine be vnthankfull if we should may not the Lord of them and of vs iustly taxe our vnthankfulnesse and complaine of wrong May he not say did Iob my seruant so from whom I tooke ten children in one day and in a few daies all the honour and substance that he had did he not rather confesse my vnquestionable right in such moueables and say the Lord giueth the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord. Iob 1.21 If a great Lord should call vs and our child promising to both much honour and great wealth would we weepe and take on because our child is gone before and we our selues must shortly follow after would we not rather with much ioy so order our iourney and affaires that we also might with as great dispatch as might be receaue such preferment as wee know
Lord and in his feare and word to serue him Iob 28.28 to loue the good and hate the euill that oursoules may liue Am. 5.15 wee can encourage one another in wickednesse and say let vs eate and drinke for to worrow we shal die Esay 22.13 that is we remember our end but we remember it not wisely but as beasts to eate and drinke or we put off and make our end long but who prepareth for it and who is wise and of an vnderstanding heart Deut. 32.29 to consider it The rich man maketh his small barnes big as if he would make his short life endlesse Luk 12.18 The euill seruant saith my master deferreth his comming as if that which is put off would neuer come Math. 24.48 Nabal he that yet liueth in the carnall churles of this age applieth all his mind to riches and forgetteth his sudden end 1. Sam. 25.10.11.38 Absalons whol studie is to mount neuer thinking of his destruction so neare whose bodie though it stand at the lower end of the presence yet heart sitteth vnder the cloth of estate practising for the kingdome 2. Sam. 15.1.2.3.4.5 c. In the daies of Noah they eate they dranke they builded and remembred not the flood Luk. 17.27 In our daies men feede themselues without feare and forget their end Let vs therefore be warned better to remember our few and euil daies Gen. 47.9 to do the workes of God while it is day Ioh. 9.4 before the long night of sleepe come out of which there is no awaking till the last great trumpe call vs vp to iudgement Behold now is the accepted time behold now the day of saluation 2. Cor. 6.2 the rich man in hell once might and would not heare Moses and the Prophets afterward that is too late hee would and could not Luke 16.25.29 The enemie that is prepared for hurteth lesse and hee that maketh himselfe readie for the last enemie which is death neede not feare to such it bodeth no danger for such it hath no sting nor breath that can doe hurt If we first see this Basiliske death armed with repentance and with the shield and target of faith in our last houre by preparing for our end there is nothing in it that shall not be for our preferment and the full conquest of our troublesome life for then we may take it by the hand as a most welcome guest and as that last seruant whom the Master will send to bring vs to his great Supper and that at supper time when all things are readie Luke 14.17 when our warrefare is accomplished and our iniquities are pardoned when our weary course is finished and ioy commeth after the night of life which life was not properly nor can be truely called life but the shadow of death The person to be remembred followeth Thy Greatour c. The person in whose eye Salomon exhorteth his young Man to walke reuerently is God his Maker By which name or title hee doth secretly imply the great power of the Maker of all things and of mans Creatorr and sheweth that the end of Mans creation is to glorifie continually God his Creator as if hee should haue said Hee that gaue vs breath is Mightie and if he take away his breath by stopping our mouth and nosthrils we are gone and wherefore did he put his spirit of life into vs Was it to giue vs some large libertie to liue as wee list or was it not rather to prouoke vs to seeke his glorie that made vs This is Salomons meaning where we first are taught that the Al-mightinesse of the Creator and the worke of our strange and fearfull creation should make vs feare to liue in any forgetfulnesse of God by an impenitent and obdurate heart By such an argument the Prophet Amos stirreth vp a carelesse people to turne to God by repentance saying He that formeth the Mountaines and createth the winde which maketh the morning darknesse and walketh vpon the high places of the earth the Lord God of hosts is his name Ames 4.13 as if hee should haue said if God who is your mightie Lord and shall be your righteous Iudge bee able to create the windes to forme the Mountaines and to turne the morning into darknesse then is he able to persecute you with his storme to tumble the Mountaines vpon you and to couer you with the darknesse and shadow of death and to prepare an eternall iudgement of confusion for you to the destruction of soule and bodie For hee that made hell can cast into hell and he that causeth darknesse punish with vtter darknesse Dauid by a like argument inureth himselfe to the feare and reuerence of his wonderfull Maker saying I will praise thee that is I wil acknowledge thy goodnesse in all my life for I am feare fully and wonderfully made Psal 199.14 the meaning is if he should goe on in sinne the God who is fearefull can open hell to deuoure him and can shew himselfe as mighty in his iudgement to his destruction as hee was great in his loue to giue him being when before he was not So in Psal 119. ver 37. the Prophet hath these words thine hands haue made mee and fashioned me giue me vnderstanding therfore that I may learue thy commandements and he reasoneth thus Lord thou hast made mee in thy image therefore new-make me by thy word and as thou hast giuen me the shape of man so by teaching make me a new-man in the shape and soundnesse of a true worshipper Our Creation therefore should teach vs the life not of libertie but of repentance and holinesse in the feare of God The reasons Our life is nothing but a little breath and how easie is it for God to take away our weake life when weake man by stopping our breath is able suddenly and most certainely to send vs to our dust Gal. 2.22 Psal 104.29 And should not this weake and poore life fed with a little breath breath forth continually the praises of that God that so feedeth it from the shop of his prouidence Secondly God hauing greater power ouer vs then the Potter hath of the clay which he fashioneth who yet hath power to put it to some seruice or if it content him not to breake it to fitters Rom 9.21 Esa 45.9 should not this Clay Dust Man striue to please him in newnesse of life who hath power to bring him to glorie in his presence or if he be in no conformitie with his righteous will hath like power to breake him in peeces like a Porters vessell This condemneth those who set out no time for the dutie of meditating on their fearefull creation that the strange worke thereof may warne them to feare alwaies to doe euill Vse One cause why the people of Israel did so often and presumptuously prouoke God was because they forgate his wonderfull workes Psal 78.10.11 And it is said that the workes of God are sought out of all that loue them Psal 111.2.5
nor looketh for precisenesse and exactnesse in matters of religion at the hands of Gentlemen and Noblemen and that such drudgeries are to be imposed vpon vile and abiect persons for so they speake of the poore that receaue the Gospell but what say such men to Dauid who set himselfe with his whole heart to seeke the Lord and what will they thinke of Salomon who in this booke of his repentance calleth himselfe Ecclesiasâ—es or Preacher Are they better then Dauid and wiser then Salomon or doe they thinke because they liue better that is in better estate then poore men that therefore they shal liue longer and what difference concerning death betweene a Nobleman and a Beggar Eccles 3.20 when both goe to one place when in these Acts and Scenes of seeming life as at a game at chesse the highest now vpon boord may presently be the lowest vnder boord when the breath in the nostrels of the Rich may assoone be stopped and they assoone turne to their dust as other Men A fourth impediment is taken from the pleasures or lusts of youth things that bring repentance and sorrow like sweet meates of hard digestion for what are they when they come to the shot and reckoning are they not deare penniworths to all such guests as will needes be Merchants of them Salomon in this booke tels vs that though they be pleasant to the eie eare mouth and senses of a young man yet in the mind they leaue behind them an vnsauorie after-taste or loathsome disdaine For like an vncleane spirit in him they cast him now into the water and now into the fire Mark 9.22 And these are the lusts of youth by children so earnestly desired and by old folkes so much lamented A fift impediment of godlinesse is that beautie in youth which is too delicate and tender to weare the rough garment of repentance and a strict life but how soone is it blighted and strucken as the faire flower of glasse blasted with an eastwind for beauty is but a flower which if some sicknesse strike not suddenly yet the autumne of ripe yeeres impaireth and the winter of old age killeth and what careth death which is indifferent to all for a faire and goodly complexion And is not a beautifull face as mortall as a foule hue The like may be spoken of health strength and stature of body for what are they and of what time In their owne nature they are fickle things and without good vse crosses for concerning health the deuowring vulture of sicknesse doth after some short time waste it to nothing strength is common to vs with Beasts and there are many beasts stronger then we and for our comely stature it may as soone be brought downe to death and as deepely be buried in the coffin of the Earth as a meaner cize shall Further if men haue not vsed these to Gods glory but to pride and vaine glorie nor haue made them helpes to godlinesse but haue giuen them their head at sinne it will be said after death of such that a beautifull person a strong young man a goodly tall fellow and one that neuer knew what sicknesse meant is gone to Hell Therefore of beauty and hâ—â— attendants as health and strength and a goodly stature that may be spoken which is spoken vsually of fire and water that they are good seruants but ill Masters where they are ruled they doe good seruice where they ouer-rule they make foule worke A sixt impediment of godlinesse is the bad fellowship and example of those who being themselues drunken with the pleasures of youth seeke to drowne others in the same perdition and destruction and therefore offer to them the full cup that they likewise may stagger and fall from God by the like error and disobedience But Christian young men must turne away their eyes from very seeing the inchanted cuppe of such carnall Counselours And though they beate their eares euery day with such foolish sounds as these are that it is too soone and vnkindly in youth to be religious that such yeeres are for the lap of the world not for Ezras Pulpit that youth must haue a time c. yet euery day they should set Iosephs locke vpon them of not hearkning vnto them nor of being in their company Gen. 39.10 for it is a true saying he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled with it So hee that will touch the pitch of such must looke to be defiled with the companie If a man that had wallowed in the mire tumbled in the filthy chanel should offer to companie with vs would we not loatâ— and shun him and why would wee so auoid him but because quickly he would make his filth to cleaue vnto vs And doe not bad wicked persons set their markes and sinnes vpon those with whom they company Doe they not where they come leaue of their filth that is some print or badge of their prophanenesse behinde them And shall wee sit so close to them who haue so plunged themselues in the mire of sin who should either labour to drawe them out of filthinesse or withdraw our selues that we proue not as loathsome filthy as they are Should we not rather say if any will bee filthy let him be filthy by himselfe and if any will be beastly let him be beastly alone the filthy person and beastly man shall not haue me for a companion my soule shall haue no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 Pro. 1.10.15 4.14.15 Now where these corrupt perswaders wil tell a yong man that makes conscience of his waies That other yong men doe not so that young man if he will be Christs yong man in the Gospell must answere him say That yong men should consider not what the most doe but what the best doe that shall bee saued whose way is narrow and walkers in it not many Math. 7.14 Also that it is to be regarded not what the world doth to which we must not bee fashioned Rom. 12.2 but what Christ did and the Saints whom wee haue for leaders who yong kept the path of vertue and walked not in the common rode of sinners These and such like impediments of sanctification in young men and they who meane to giue their yong time to God must striue to ouercome yong by fighting that fight of faith and a good conscience to which their Baptisme hath sealed them 1. Tim. 1.18.19 Then Vse 3 they are here reproued who suffer sinne to grow in them by custome and vse till it bee helplesse and who suffer it so long to breede in the bone that it will not out of the flesh For we should deale with sinne as with a thorne which we will plucke vp yong and in the tender spray and not tarry till it be growne and haue daggers prickes but some suffer it till it be as an old man so deafe and froward that either it will not heare or it cannot In all their life they finde no
not when they shall die and if they cease from attendance the Master will come in a day when they thinke not Math. 24.50 Therefore they should alway looke for that which whether looked for or vnexpected will most certainly though stealingly come Secondly Christ appeareth vnto saluation onely to those that looke for him Hebr. 9.28 that is that so liue as whether hee come in the second watch or in the third he shall find them waiting in their doore for Him by continuance in well doing But doe they looke for him who continually serue sin in their mortall bodies and continually and ordinarily are holden in those cursed lusts of the world and flesh wherein is nothing but death and hell I speake of fornicators couetous drunkards daily swearers and other monstrous sinners doe they looke for him or would they curse and sweare and riot on the Sabbath and steale and whore as they doe and drinke so many healths till they haue left no foundnesse in them if they thought presenttly to die and presently to come to their terrible account they may presently come vnto it Thirdly wee serue a prentiship of attendance for our worldly freedome and to reason from the lesse to the greater will we not attend seuen yeres perhaps we shall not wait seuen dayes to be free for euer For by the portall of death the godlie passe from bondage to libertie from the land of Aegypt to the land of righteousnesse from the vale of tears to mansions of glorie An instruction to keepe alwayes in mind the day of our death Vse 1 that it preuent vs not by carnall forgetfulnesse or come vpon vs vnlooked for as Iehu furiously came vpon Iehoram 2. King 9.23.24 bee made with al speed to his charet thinking to flie but the arrow that Iehu shot preuented him So some thinking to flie from the flying arrow of death by running to their accustomed refuges as it were Charets of vaine delayes and hopes further to auoide it haue presently receaued into their bodies the fatall dart of death and haue presently died That we may thus remember death we must not be carelesse to spend our short time well as they are whose comfort standeth rather in an vncertain delay of death then in anie certainety of life eternall after death Our care must be to liue well so shall we without our care haue good assurance to die wel If we continue and increase in goodnesse we are well prouided for death and need not to feare the bitter effects of second death Blessed is that Seruant whom the Master when hee commeth shall find so doing Mat. 24.46 The Apostle Paul might well say he was ready to be offered to wit by that end of all the liuing death seeing he had fought a good fight in the battell of his life finished a good course in the race of his pilgrimage and kept faith in a good conscience 2. Tim. 4 6. Hee considered his life as a woman with child reckons her time as neere as shee can because then shee hopes for deliuerance the nerer the day of his last Iubilee or last breath drew the more his ioy increased being sure that then he should goe out of prison Leuit. 25.41.54 Thus had he ioy in death who had so well and long prepared himselfe to die A charge therefore vpon carelesse persons who Vse 2 as if they should say with the euill Seruant spoken of Math. 24.48 My Master doth differre his comming fall into a deep sleepe of false peace without all regard of awaking to righteousnesse 1. Cor. 15.34 till death come to cut them off with sinners Christ speaking of the dayes of Noah doth not say that the Men then were vnmercifull extortioners or idolatours but that they are they drank they married till the flood came that is were first drowned in securitie and after in water Luc. 17.26.27 Further speaking in like manner of the daies of Lot he saith of the men of that time that they ate they dranke they bought they sould they planted they built verse 28. but were these things vnlawfull No not in themselues but in their manner of vsing them for they entended nothing else till God rained fire and brimstone from Heauen vpon them and destroied them verse 29. That is nothing could warne them till death came that giues no warning And here our Sauiour setteth downe three sorts of men the first followed their pleasures onely they ate they dranke The second followed their profit onely they bought they sould The third and worst of all followed both their pleasure and profit for they builded for their pleasure and planted for their profit And doe not some of these or all of these lusts of the world hold carelesse Christians if we may call such Christians so in the loue of earthly things at this day that there is no remembrance of death in their waies Doe not worldlings entring into a dreame of an Heauen vpon Earth dote so vpoÌ„ things that perish with the vse that they neuer thinke of things eternall whether life or death euerlasting till they must no remedie passe from this world to another The foolish Virgines thought not of their oile till the Bride-groome came and there was no opening Mat. 25.8.11.12 And foolish sinners so flatter themselues with a slumbering opinion of preparing time â—inough for death when they goe on their last houre that they will know nothing till the flood come Mat. 24.39 nor looke toward heauen till they bee in hell Luc. 16.23 nor haue oile in their vessels and repentance in their hearts with it to meete the bride-groome Christ till the gate of mercie and of all hope be shut Math. 25.10 Meane while what doe they but follow the pride couetousnesse whoredome drunkennesse and lusts of their owne heart not remembring Ioseph But pray we beloued for a waking conscience and let not this keeper of the house in a heart past feeling so drowse and sleepe in vs that our house be broken digged through and rifled before we haue time or will to say Lord haue mercie on vs. So much for the attendance spoken of the term or continuance followeth Al the daies of mine appointed time c. The time of Iobs attendance or waiting on God for his helpe is the whole terme or act of his life which he calleth not yeeres but daies So hee measureth his short time by the inch of daies rather then by the span of moneths or long ell of yeeres Doctr. Which is to teach vs that the daies of man are few his life short vpon earth And that it is so experience and that which we see in daily vse doth shew besides the word which for this speaking of mans short time vseth to take the shortest diuision in nature to expresse it by as that it is the life of yesterday Ps 90.4 A life which is gone as soone as it comes vers 9. a life of few houres as a watch in the night vers 4.
our child hath entred on alreadie And why are we vnquiet seeing the Lord of Heauen and earth hath called our child from a base condition to noblenesse to bestow honours vpon him and ritches that shall not faile promising the like to vs by the way of death should we not rather so dispose our occasions and life that we may ioifully follow him whom wee haue not lost but sent before But you will say my child was young and died in his flowers well be it so yet they who die young so they die well are old inough to goe to God besides did not Ieroboams childe in whom were found good things die young 1. King 14.13 And did not Iosiah die old whom the Lord in a battle at Megiddo tooke from the filthy will of Iudah to plant him before himselfe in the garden of his owne presence in glorie 2. King 24.29 Neither can they be said to die yong whose perfection is growne to a blessed ripenesse before the Lord. But young or old if you haue reioiced in your child as in the Lords interest you will not think it much and why should you that the Lord should haue his owne or will you with Phurao offer to hold in the prison of life as in Egypt any seruant of his whom hee shall send for by death his last messenger and that aâ— supper time when all things are ready Luc. 14.17 While he liued God gane him to you as a pledge of his fauor now that he is taken away you must freely resigne him as a pledge of your obedience But you wil say He was my onely child Indeed the death of an onely childe is very greeuous to the Parents Zechar. 12.10 Am. 8.10 yet Abraham was readie to haue sacrificed his onely sonne Isaac at Gods commandement Gen. 22.3.10 and God gaue his onely sonne Christ to death for our salâ—ation Ioh. 3.16 wherefore as Elkanah said to Annah so and much more may the Lord say to vs am not I better to you then ten sonnes 1. Sam. 1.8 or are not our ten sonnes and all the children of the wombe his gift Ps 127.3 Then though he be your onely child and all you haue whom God thus by death taketh from you there is no cause of griefe or of complaint seeing the Lord hath but his owne when he hath taken him and seeing also that he taketh him and you giue him but as your pledge and earnest to binde vnto you the right of that inheritance that you looke for or as your Feof-fee of trust gone before to take the possession for you A reproofe to those Vse 2 who can see nothing in the death of their friends or in their owne deathes but what is dreadfull beyond measure and simply the end of man Such conceiue death not as he is to the righteous and as Christ hath made him to bee by his glorious death but as fooles iudge of him who behold him through false spectacles as he is in his owne vncorrected nature considered out of Christ that is vgly terrible and hideous So did they behold him in Amos who put the euill day of his comming that which they iudged to bee euill and the godly iudge to bee happie no day happier as far from them as they could by carnall delicacie and wantonnesse Amos 6.3 So did Belshazzar looke vpon him whose heart would not serue him to reade the hand-writing of his owne end so neare Dan. 5.5.6.30 And Nabal had no heart to die who when he must needes die died as a stone that is died blockishly and so faintly that he was as good as slaine before death slew him 1. Sam. 25.37.38 He had no comfort in death which hee could not see one that was as righteous but as churlish and prophane And no maruell for this Aduersarie death armed as Goliah and vaunting as that proud Gyant of Gath commeth stalking toward such in fearefull manner infulting ouer weake dust and daring the world to giue him a man to fight with Therefore at the sight of him the whole hoast of worldlings bewray great feare turning their backes and going backward as men readie to sinke into the earth with abated courages and lookes cast downe stained with the colours of feare death trembling like leaues in a storme and striken with the palsie of a sudden and violent shaking through all the bodie 1 Sam. 17.10.11 But the true Christian armed as Dauid with trust in God and expectation of victory by the death of Christ who by death ouercame death as Dauid cut off the head of Goliah with his owne sword dares and doth boldly encounter with this huge Philistian death supposed inuincible and seeming great but neither with sword nor speare but in the name of the God of the hoast of Israel by whose might onely hee woundeth and striketh him to the earth trampling vpon him in the returne of his soule to the place out of which it first came and singing ouer him this ioiful and triumphant song of victorie O death where is thy sting 1. Cor. 15.55 Hee hath Steuens eyes to looke into heauen and therefore cannot but haue the tongue of the Saints who say Come Lord Iesu come quickly Apoâ— 22 2â—â— For the ioy that is set before him he with his good Sauiour endureth the crosse of death and despiseth the shame of corruption to which the dust of his bodie must bee turned Heb. 12.2 Ob. Quest But you will say Is not death to be feared that worketh so fearefully beeing also enemie to nature and the wages of sinne Rom. 6.23 Ans Answ Indeede death is dreadfull out of Christ and in it selfe and wee haue reason to feare it as it is an effect of sinne for so God setteth his angrie countenance in it and so Aristotle it is simply fearefull and euill Which made an heathen man to say that of all terrible things death was most terrible Hee saw in the darke that death had much euill in it and that it was properly euill and but accidentally good but he could not see through the dark cloud that which made it so euill Therefore euill it is I confesse and fearefull And to this we haue a greater witnesse then the witnesse of man For the Apostle saith the sting of death is sinne 1. Cor. 15.56 Now so farre as it hath a sting and is in it strength it is to be feared The reason is so it is properly death and death in kinde But we speake not of death considered out of Christ or considered in it selfe but of death altered by the death of Christ and which by such a change is made our passage from death to life for so it is no dreadful thing but a thing desireable and so the sting is taken from it which is of force and carieth an edge of second death against all the workers of iniquitie who dying out of Christ die miserably hellishly and with horrible feare By Christ the doore death is made a doore out
neither pacifie conscience nor reconcile God A kinde of lumbring peace worldly men haue in their accursed fraternitie and riches and they that wallow in pleasures haue a kinde of pleasure in that loathsome filth But the couetous person when the crosse lighteth vpon that which he conceiued to bee his heauen and peace here his wealth hath nothing within but pettishnesse and hellish melancholy The carnal Epicure natural man when hee is crossed in his health with disabilitie to follow that life of excesse which before he most intemperately followed is presently altered from happie to miserable He that rose vpon the wheele of honour when it turneth it turneth him out of his heauen of peace into a hell of shamefull and raging vnquietnesse And the fellowship that the world maketh so much of and calleth good when it is euill what is it and what strength hath it of sound continuance in the whole band of it when death hath vnloosed it When it is sicke and dying the pleasures of it are they not either forgotten as vaine or remembred as grieuous Loe therefore the peace of worldlings and what is that they leane vnto who make not God their stay and therefore are they chaffe which euery winde of change scattereth Psal 1.4 where the peace of Gods children is not in these crakling blazes of corrupt happinesse but in Angelicall ioies and ioyes of the palace nor earthly but such as the Saints haue which passeth vnderstanding And if that peace which standeth vpon stronger proppes and likelihoods then any which is carnall and meerely of the world doth be many times broken off by the vnquiet blasts that come from this earthly skie how shall that peace that is set but vpon rotten posts of casualtie and brittlenesse bee able to stand in so continuall a tempest of trouble and alteration as day and night beates vpon it Therefore our rest is placed in the things which are aboue the sphere of changeable mortalitie and not in transitorie matters All is vanitie and vexation vnder the Sunne Eccle. 2.11 And there is no perfect peace till we dwell before the God of peace Honours haue galles in them and riches prickes In labour there is no profit and ease slayeth fooles Prou. 1.32 After mirth commeth heauinesse as a cloud after a faire sunne-shine In laughter the heart is sad and there is much errour in laughing Eccles 2.2 The difference then betweene this life which wee haue and that which we looke for standeth in this that this life is our sea and the other our hauen and that here we ride vpon tempestuous waters and there at anchor in our roade and port of peace For here we sowe in teares there wee reape in ioy Here we are burthened there we lay downe our burthens Here we are abroad in our Inne there at home in our fathers house Luk. 15. Here are our yeares of bondage there our yeares of Iubilee and perpetuall redemption Here is our leading into captiuitie there our going out Here is the battell there the Crowne Here the Church trauelleth there shee is deliuered Here shee crieth out there shee remembreth her paine no more Hee that here begun saying to his Church I haue afflicted thee will there make an end and say vnto her but I will afflict thee no more Naum. 1.12 And how is the day of death better to vs then the day in which we are borne Eccles 7.3 and why doth the voice that came from heauen say they that die in the Lord rest from their labours and why doth the spirit in the hearts of Gods children say as much for euen so saith the spirit that is it is iust of the same mind Apoc. 14.13 if they who goe hence come not out of labor but exchange it Nor better their estate but alter it Nor end their miserie but to remoue onely from such miseries A confutation of that Legend of Popish purgatorie Vse 2 which as a painted sepulcher is more builded for the liuing then for the dead A lie and fancie the gainefullest in all Poperie For from this supposed lake and imaginate hell of the temporarie chastisement of soules in the fire of purgatorie came all their markets of Masse Dirges and other trentals for the dead But how doe the godly rest from their labours immediately vpon their death or saith the spirit if they must continue for some yeares after their blessed death in burning fire as terrible as the fire of hell saue in respect that the one is eternall the other but for a time And not end their miseries but prolong them Or is there any rest in the fire or peace in the fire and water Or remission of punishment in a place of punishment Or ease in labour Or blessednesse in miserie Hath Christ said It is finished Ioh. 19.30 and shall men say nay but we shall feele more of it in Purgatorie He hath done it and shall any vndoe it Or thinke to doe it better The blood of Christ is our purgatorie 1. Ioh. 1.7 It and nothing but it purgeth our sinne and prepareth places for vs in heauen We neede no other sacrifice but it nor aduocate but him A pitifull digression therfore from the bloud of Christ to the bloud of Hales From the fire vpon the mount to the painted fire of purgatorie from the liuing to the dead Esay 8.19 Purgatorie then what is it but an impudent checke to the merit of Christ and quiet of the Saints And for these who stand for the Kitchin in which it burneth and chimney whereout it smoketh or rather Kitchin for which it burneth and chimney that it makes to smoke let them tell vs where the place is when it began how long it must continue who are there punished what is there punishment and who the tormentor that wee may beleeue them In these points they are at oddes with themselues and how then can they be at euen with vs or with the truth But this is more largely discouered by a worthy preachor vpon this very place in print And so for this lie of Purgatorie let vs leaue it to the inuentors to the Mowles and to the Buckes Esay 2.20 that is to the Egyptians from whom it came and the old Greeke Poets of whom Plato first receiued it and Virgil after him and diuers heathen Philosophers and Poets after them and let vs come to the first of these comforts that are expressed here Peace c. By peace the Prophet meaneth the peace of the righteous in the full ioy of their soules after death As if hee should haue said they shall then in their soules receiue immediately perfect prosperitie and consummation of blisse So much the word translated peace Doctr. will beare From whence the doctrine is In heauen there is not onely true happinesse but perfection of happinesse nor sound ioy onely but fulnesse of ioy The ioies prepared for the Elect are so absolute and strange that neither eye hath seene to wit eye mortall
Rahel and life to come So much for the first of those comforts that are promised namely peace that properly concerneth our soules The second which is rest and belongeth to our bodies followeth And they shal rest in their beds c. By beds the Prophet vnderstandeth the places into which the Lord bestoweth the bodies of his seruants in or after their death whether water or fire or the panches of wilde beasts or the chambers of the earth or sea or aire And these he calleth beds because they shall rest quietly in them as men in their beds till the morning bell or loud trumpet of the last great day warning all flesh to rise shal raise them Therefore it is an vsuall thing in the scriptures so soone as men die to say they fall a sleepe Whereby is meant that they are laid in their beds of peace whether Churchyard or Church and that before their bodies are carried forth for buriall thither the places in which God taketh their soules to his presence are their beds and so the beds of their death are the beds of their peace Beds made for them by God himself in the which after their last long sleep of death they presently enter into their last sweet sleepe of peace The Papists say otherwise who hold that the righteous take no possession of their beds of rest till the Priest haue put them into their beds of earth Indeed men giue them burials then but God doth prouide for them their bed of burial lat their death And they are called beds of rest to put difference betweene these beds of our nights-sleepe and those of our sleepe in death For here bee our beds neuer so soft or well made we often take no rest by reason of some disorder in our bodies or fancies in our head but in these sleeping places which the Prophet calleth beds of rest wee may lay vs downe and sleepe in peace Psal 4.8 the Lord of life being our keeper who will make vs dwell in safetie Indeed in it own nature the graue is an house of perdition rather then bed of rest but being altered to the Iewes in promise to vs in performance by Christs graue who was buried in the earth to change the nature of it it is made to vs a chamber of rest and bed of Downe The point here taught is Doctr. The graues of the righteous which by nature are houses of destruction and chambers of feare are by Christ and the graue of Christ made to them chambers of safetie and beds of rest Christ by his buriall hath consecrated and perfumed our graues making them which were prisons to hell gates to heauen Which made the Apostle speaking of the dead in Christ to say they sleepe not they die As if hee should haue said they goe to their beds and not to destruction 1. Thes 4.15 And the same Apostle speaking of the death of the righteous calleth it not a death but a sleepe 1. Cor. 15.51 as if hee had called it not rottennesse but rest For this cause also is our death in heathen Authors called a sleepe as the Scriptures call it and our graue our bed At night wee take our chambers and lie downe in our beds so when death comes which is the end of life as the night is of the day we goe to the chambers of the earth and there make our beds or lie downe in bed till the day of refreshing which is the day of rising come that commeth from the Lord. The reasons are This was figured in the embalmings which the Iewes vsed And this figure as al other figures of the old Testament must bee performed in one which one is Christ As therefore their embalmings did perfume the graues in which they laid their dead for a season so the most precious blame of Christs buriall did for euer sweeten to the Saints their graues of corruption Secondly as the end of Christs death was that he might vanquish death so it was one end why hee was buried that he might after the manner of conquerours subdue death at his own home and as it were pluck him out of his owne den and cabbin Thirdly the bodies of the godly are parts of Christs mysticall bodie while they are in the graue and when they are turned to corruption and therefore cannot but bee precious in his eyes and grauen vpon the palme of his hand till they be restored For as the Husbandman doth make no lesse reckoning of that corne which he hath sowne in his field and lies vnder the clod of the earth then he doth of that which he hath brought into his barnes So Christ doth as highly esteeme of those bodies as it were graines of corne that are sowne in corruption as of those that yet neuer saw corruption nor came to the graue Therefore wee shall not rest in death though we rest in our graues For that God who raiseth the Sunne daily out of his den will one day raise vs out of our graues to stand before him for euer A confutation of that fancie that hath so long deluded the simple world Vse 1 which is that dead bodies walke after their death and appeare to men For how can that be when the bodies of Gods children rest in their beds so soone as their breath departeth and the bodies of the wicked are in their prisons till the day of assise Whereof if any make question let him open their graue and see And seeing the soule returneth not after it hath left the bodie how can the body walke that wanteth a soule or soule be seene if it should walke that hath no bodie Or if death bee a loosing of our soules from our bodies Phil. 1.23 How can there be any death when soule and bodie are not parted and when the man is not dead but liueth But this fancie came from Pithagoras a Philosopher and is but a Philosophers dreame Pithagoras told his dreame to the world which was that the soules of men departed did enter into the bodies of other men good soules into good mens bodies bad into bad mens The world then beleeued him And since that time Satan who can turne himselfe into all formes did in the darke night of Poperie to deceiue that ignorant age change himselfe into the similitude and forme of some person that was lately or had beene long dead and was beleeued by such a transformation to bee the partie man or woman that hee made resemblance off So entred the errour that Spirits did walke and that dead bodies came out of their graues and haunted sundry houses in the night which were not the bodies of the dead but the Diuell in those bodies or shapes as is to be seene in Samuels counterfet shape raised by the Witch at Endor 1. Sam. 28.8.14.15 And this errour as it deceiued the blind world and somewhat troubled the seeing Math. 14.26 Act. 12.15 So it is still in the mouth and faith of credulous superstition at this day But
fill in them they haue Gods blessing inwardly in the peace of a contented minde outwardly in so much as is sufficient The wicked who haue them in greater measure haue them not vnder Gods hand nor as his blessings but as stolne wares that they shall answere for because they haue no right vnto them by Christ nor hold them in Capite that is in him Therefore their table is a snare vnto them and their prosperitie their ruine They liue to the encrease of their damnation and they die to take possession of it Fourthly they who with the glorified virgins wait for Christ in the life of the righteous are alway prepared for death when it knocketh Mat. 25.10 to open vnto it And what is a prepared death but an happy death And what followes an happie death but an happy life neuer to die againe Such goe in with Christ to his marriage of euerlasting life We see then that the last houres repentance the common refuge of worldlings as it commeth short of a sanctified life Vse so it seldome reacheth to an happy death or life after death For as the tree boweth before it bee cut downe so it falleth and in the place where it falleth there it shall be Eccles 11.3 That is as we liue so wee commonly die Or shall we thinke that men can easily begin righteousnesse at their last houre and that repentance in that houre is ordinarily good and sound repentance Let them well consider this who put off their conuersion to God and send away by hope of repenting old all those good motions that knocke at the doore of their hearts for a sanctified life One saith well While the Lord speaketh to thee make him answere and while he calleth let there bee an eccho in thy heart such as was Dauids who when God said seeke yee my face presently answered thy face will I seeke Psal 27.8 The Lord hath promised pardon to him that repenteth saith another but that hee or any other shall liue till to morrow he hath not promised Many in their puttings off fare as if they should say Lord let me sinne in my youth and pardon me in mine age But where in the meane season is their walking before God yong that peace may come when they are old And is it not a iust thing that men dying should forget themselues who liuing neuer remembred God Surely let them looke for no better who watch not the stealing steps of death in their tower of repentance in the life of the righteous And if moe things belong to repentance then can bee done in an houre and well in a mans life as to bring forth the buds of it young to beare fruits of it at more yeares to ripen it being man and to gather it toward death in the autumne of fruits how can they thinke one poore houre to be sufficient to bring the seednesse the spring the summer the autumne and full crop of these things together in so short time and how can they hope in such a span of life to prepare themselues for the Lord when so many els of long lâ—fe afford so scant measure to the best men to set them in a readinesse for him Let vs therefore while wee haue time laying vp treasures in heauen for our soules store vp in the summer of life for the winter of death which will come Prou. 6.8 In our last sicknesse and vpon our death-bed we are fitter to seeke ease for our bodies then mercie for our faults and grace for our soules Besides how fearefull will it be to be taken then by sudden death as by some vnexpected Officer without baile or warning and by it to bee brought to the goale of the earth in the bodie and in the soule to perpetuall prison in the torments of hell Of this more was spoken in the first Sermon and vse of the last doctrine there But shall they who liue well here Vse 2 liue well hereafter that is blessedly then their desperate and cursed errour is confuted who blaspheme the way of righteousnesse saying that it is to no purpose to bee so deuout godly and that they are most wise who giue themselues most libertie in the pleasures and iollitie of life So say the wicked in Malachy it is invaine to serue God Mal. 3.14 And the wicked in Iob say what profit to pray vnto him Iob 21 15. As if they should haue said we may serue God and we may pray to God but there is nothing gotten by it or they speed as well and are as wise that are cold in these matters as they who kindle and are hottest in them But they Prophet here saith that peace shall come that is they shall see the peace of God in heauen who make peace with God here and they that serue him shall raigne before him The wicked are as the chaffe which the wind driueth away Psal 1.4 That is so soon as God punisheth them with the wind of death their hope is gone But the godly haue a sure foundation and no storme either of death or of mans ill will can blow them to destruction whose house beeing builded by God not on the sand of time but vpon a rocke vnmoueable standeth fast in all changes Math. 7.25 The builder vp of Sion is the wise God whose worke abideth for euer Let the vngodly oppose themselues neuer so much they shall not be able to beate down Gods house and death is their aduantage Phil. 1.21 Or if the Princes Palace be safely guarded we must not think that any of Gods houses shall be left without their keepers sufficient watchmen and the righteous shall flourish when the hornes of the vngodly shall be broken And thus it is no vaine labour nor gamelesse seruice to serue the Lord. Doth a good life bring a good death Vse 3 Then the despairing words of Gods children in a troubled skie and when the waters enter into their soul as that God hath forsaken them that God hath cast them off in displeasure that God will not saue them and such like are words of distemper not of reason and iudgement For will God cast away his people The answere is Godforbid The meaning is hee will not Rom. 11.1 Neither can mans changeable tongue alter the decree of God that is vnchangeable Rom. 3.3.4 And we must not iudge of the estate of any man before God by his behauiour in death or in a troubled soule For there are many things in death which are the effects of the sharpe disease he dieth of and no impeachments of the faith he dieth in And these may depriue his tongue of the vse of reason but cannot depriue his soule of eternall life Which may bee spoken also of a troubled soule For as in a troubled water the face in the water cannot bee perceiued which when it commeth to be cleare is manifest so in a troubled spirit the face of Gods mercie seemeth to be changed against vs and to