Blood and much ado to get with hard Labour Cloaths to their backs or Meat to their bellies or to redeem a little Time for their Souls good this must needs be an uneasie Life and many times all their pains cannot keep them out of Prisons or their Children from Beggery These Poor Men many times have when they go to Bed a bundle of Cares to lay under their Heads not much easier than a bush of Thorns and this is the Portion of many Godly Men. But Death will take this Burden from them for in Heaven there will be no racking of Rents no grinding of the faces of the Poor there will be Rest without Labour and Pleasure without Pain there is no domineering Tyrant no oppressing Neighbour these are gone another Road if Repentance prevent not to pay back those Tears with Interest they have drunk here so greedily Here is no Bond-slave or Servant to live in subjection no naked back nor hungry bellies to feed or cloath here is Nectar and Ambrosia God himself to feed upon Here in this World Fears and Cares keep Men working by Day and waking by Night but 't is not so in Heaven there neither Pains nor Cares are necessary they praise God for their Enjoyments not beg for a supply to their Wants Here the care of all the Churches are upon us as upon Paul and we sympathize with others that are in Misery as Nehemiah did and hence we can scarce open our Eyes or Ears but we let some Grief into our Hearts some Persecution or other we hear of in one part of the World or other some suffering Saints some Massacre some Oppression or Persecution which adds still to our Trouble some Friend or other in Prison their Goods seized or they ruined or those that have yet escap'd are in continual fears and expectations that it will be their condition Wars and Rumours of Wars fill us with Distractions But there are no such Disturbances in Heaven Here sometimes we fear God is removing our Candlestick and taking away his Gospel from us and leaving us up to Egyptian Darkness but this fear never troubles the glorified Saints they matter not the Pipe that can go to the Fountain The consideration also of the Divisions Rents and Schisms that are among Christians yea the holiest Men cause many sad thoughts of Heart when Ephraim is against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah when one Godly Man Speaks Disputes and Writes so bitterly against another and are ready to dis-robe each other of their Graces But in Heaven Luther and Calvin the like we may say of other Dissenting Parties will agree one Heaven will hold that that now one Church cannot There will be perfect Love and Unity and no disagreeing Person or Party Here likewise loss in our Estates and disappointment in our Expectations or in our Affairs whether by the immediate Hand of God want of Fore-sight the carelesness of Servants or the malice of Enemies may disturb our Peace Hardship and Trouble also in our several Callings and Employments This makes us think that Part we Act upon the Theatre of the World is the hardest and most uneasie The faithful Magistrate that sets himself against the sins of the Times finds sad disappointments and the desired Reformation not attained he is ready to despond under his Burden The faithful Minister after all his hard Labour and Study to bring Souls to Christ finds not the wished Effect is ready with the Prophet Isa 49.4 to despond The like we may say of Parents Masters of Families and other Governours that do what they can to bring those under their Charge to Christ and cannot do it are ready to faint under their Burden But in Heaven all these Troubles will be over there will be no Contention in the State nor Trouble in the Church no disorder in the Family and nothing amiss in the Soul These things and many more cause our Trouble here and will do while we live but Death will prove the Funeral of our Troubles and the Resurrection of our Joys It was the rejoycing of a good Woman that was a Martyr that her Stake was put into the same hole that holy Mr. Philpot's was before her and it may be some comfort to us that we are going the same way to Heaven that our betters have gone in before us and we hope shortly to overtake them But that which makes our Lives uneasie is when God hides his Face from the Soul as sometimes he doth but in Heaven we shall never fear losing him we shall never look into the Casket and miss the Jewel we shall never see a frown in his forehead nor a wrinkle in his brow Now we find it a hard matter to wind up our Affections to God then it will be impossible to draw them off him then we shall leave all these Clogs behind us as Elijah did his Mantle when he ascended into Heaven And this is the Lesson this Providence teacheth us That our Troubles here may be sharp they will be but short the Righteous Man hath not long to suffer 5. But the Saints Happiness at Death consists not only in freedom from Evil but in the enjoyment of Good also What they are freed from you have heard what they shall meet with at Death rests to be spoken to but who can sing the Songs of Sion in a strange Land Who can describe that which eye never saw ear never heard tell of neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive of viz. the Joys that are prepared for those that love God Yet this I should speak to but seeing I have treated of this in another Book I shall be the briefer Were their Happiness only in their freedom from Misery it were no other than what bruit Beasts shall have whose Misery ends with their Life but Christ hath promised the pure in heart shall see God Mat. 5.8 which cannot be in this Life for no man can see his face and live Moses indeed by faith saw him that is invisible and some Glimpse of him a Believer may have but a clear Vision is only reserved for Heaven and by seeing God is meant enjoying him for without that the sight will bring little comfort for ought we know the Devils and the Damned may see him as Dives did Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom to their greater Torment But to see him as he is 1 John 3.2 is to enjoy him and this is the Beatifical Vision as Divines call it Yea we shall have as much knowledge of him as finite Creatures are capable of we shall apprehend him though not comprehend him for we may as well think to comprehend all the Water in the Sea in a Cockle-shell for what is finite to infinite Yet shall our knowledge of him be much enlarged for here the Apostle saith we see but in a glass but then face to face But how God will communicate himself to us we know not yet will he let
Register and records what is done there it will be a Witness a Judge and an Executioner The Memory also will not be in vain but will bring to mind things by us long ago forgotten the Sins committed the Duties omitted the Time lost the Opportunity let slip the Understanding will then know the worth of the things lost the vanity of those we had in exchange and the woful Bargain we have made and for this Conscience will lash to all Eternity 'T is one of the saddest Afflictions that can befal a Man in this Life to be under the Terrors of an enraged Conscience witness Spira that wish'd he were in Hell to know the worst of his Torments This was for one sin but when all their sins with all the aggravations shall stare them in the Face and when Conscience shall have an enlarged Commission it will then speak to purpose and not hold its peace Were a Man to grapple with the Creature it were not so much but who can contend with the Almighty Who can dwell with consuming fire or with everlasting burning Hell is the place where the Prisoner must pay the utmost farthing and God's Vials of Vengeance shall be poured out to the utmost all the Talents lent shall then be required and every vain Thought and every idle Word shall be answered for and every sin of Youth and riper Age of Ignorance and Knowledge Weakness and Wilfulness the sins of every Relation Calling and Employment of Omission Commission and Participation against the Law and against the Gospel with all their Circumstances and Aggravations Oh the numberless Number of bloody Bills will be brought in and fully proved not a vain word or thought or wanton glance of the Eye or wicked or lascivious Gesture or Action will be then omitted or forgiven there they must stay till they have paid the utmost Farthing for God will be no loser by them Those that have exceeded most in Sin shall exceed also in Torments as God threatens Babylon Rev. 18.15 16. No Tongue can tell nor Heart conceive how great their Torments will be for they will be inconceivable and unutterable If all the Tormenting Diseases that ever poor Creature groaned under were inflicted upon one Man and all the Racks and Tortures that ever were invented by Man or Devil were added to it and this Man's Life should be preserved under these Tortures for a Year for a Hundred or a Thousand Years sure it would be a miserable Spectacle But what is this to Hell Torments This reaches only the Body except by Sympathy when Soul and Body are tormented in Hell Or what is a Thousand Years to Eternity A thousand thousand rentings of the Soul from the Body is not so much as one renting of Soul and Body from God There are many now that cannot endure to hear the Devil's Name in a Sermon yet can they endure to lodge him in their Hearts but how will they lodge with him for ever If he now appear in some horrid shape how are they affrighted out of their Wits but how then will they dwell with him for Eternity Now if a Person be in pain they have some intervals some mitigation but there is none or some parts of the Body free when others are tormented but in Hell no Part Power or Faculty is free yet haply those Parts that sinned most may suffer most as the Rich Glutton's Tongue seemed to do their fire goes not out neither doth their worm dye Every Sense there will have its Torment as every Sense here hath its peculiar Sins Whether the Fire there be Material as some imagine or Metaphorical as others more probably conceive it is not much material for us to know and well if we never know if it be Material Fire God adds strength to it otherwise it could not touch the Soul if Metaphorical Fire 't is something more afflictive than our Imaginations can reach however Christ bids us not fear man that can but kill the body haply by Fire but cannot kill the soul but fear him that can cast soul and body into Hell Now our Fire consumes as well as torments but Hell Fire doth not so Wicked Men in Hell are like Moses's Bush always burning but never consumed would Hell-fire consume them it would be happy News but they are like the Salamander they live in it and will do to Eternity they never leave sinning and their sins are as Oyl or Pitch to increase the Flames and God will not leave plaguing them for their sins Jerome tells us their Sins are the Oyl and God's Wrath the Fire and while the Oyl is poured on the Fire will not out Those Bodies that now are so tender they cannot endure Cold nor Heat that must not have the Sun or Wind to see them for spoiling their Beauty will be now exposed to Fire and Flames those that could not away with an ill smell what will they do to endure the smell of burning Brimstone or what is worse represented by it Those that delighted in Pleasant Sights and Shews must here take up with the sight of Infernal Fiends and Leprous Souls far more ugly than the foulest Toad that crawls under our Feet and the choicest Melody will be the Yellings Roarings and Blasphemings of damned Devils and miscarrying Souls and nothing to be felt but Fire or what more is appointed for further Torment How will they dwell with everlasting burning that now cannot away with Summer-heat These Flames will neither regard Age Sex nor Beauty but like the Worms will feed upon one as soon as the other for as the Worms will make their Nests between those Breasts that now are exposed to shew and sale and eat out those wanton Windows of Love and Messengers of Lust and seize upon the fairest Face as on the most deformed Piece and rottenness will consume that Hair that now is made the Nets and Snares to catch our wanton Youth and Prey upon the most Ambitious Nimrod or proudest Person as soon as any other making no difference between the Prince and the Peasant the Dust of both will ere long be mixt and not known asunder so in like manner will they go undistinguished in the Infernal Pit for God will respect no Man's Person in the Judgment nor the Flames in Hell but as their Work is so will be their Reward That there will be degrees in Torment I think is out of doubt for there are degrees in Sin and the Judge of all the Earth will do Righteously Those that know their masters will and do it not shall be beaten with many stripes those that have abused most Talents have most to answer for It shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment than for Corazin and Bethsaida Bloody Persecutors of Christ and his Church are like to have the hottest place in Hell and those that commit that Sin unto Death shall speed worse than those that sin of frailty Those that now would be accounted Roaring
Boys will be such indeed when they come there for Roaring and Yelling will be their best Musick and all shall dance after this Pipe and bear a share in this Consort Oh that Men would be wise before it be too late and Hell hath shut her Mouth upon them for then they will have no rest day nor night but it is the duration that makes up the Misery compleat Did the Torments endure but a Hundred or a Thousand Years though it were long yet it would be some comfort that an end would come but the word Never is a Hell in the midst of Hell Were a Man in perfect Health and Strength adjudged to lye upon a soft Feather Bed without stirring Hand or Foot for a Year's space though he had the comfort of Friends Meat Drink and other Necessaries it would be thought a great Punishment much more if he lay upon a red-hot Gridiron and could be preserved with Life But what is either of these to Hell-Torments or a Year to Eternity But their Torment must run parallel with the Life of God the days of Heaven and the longest line of Eternity and when they have past as many Thousand Millions of Years as there are Piles of Grass upon the Earth Stars in Heaven Hairs upon Man Beasts Sands upon the Sea-shore Feathers upon all Fowl and Scales and Fins upon all Fish yet will their Misery be no whit abated or any nearer to an end than the first day they were cast into it for were this innumerable Number taken from Eternity it is never the less Oh Eternity Eternity who can judge of thee or find thee out If the Earth were converted into Paper and the Sea into Ink and every Grass-pile into Pens and every Sand upon the Sea-shore were a skilful Arithmetician and all of them with their conjoyned Labours when they had cast up their greatest Sums and added them together yet would it not reach Eternity Nay if the whole Firmament were written from end to end with Arithmetical Figures it would fall short Oh what then but Horror and Despair will seize upon miscarrying Souls when all their hopes are dash'd then will they seek Death but shall not find it Oh that these pains would break my Heart and end my Life say they Oh that I might at last be extinct or that these Infernal Spirits would tear me in pieces till they had rent me to nothing Oh that I had never had a Being cursed be my Father that begat me and the Womb that bare me cursed be those Companions of mine that helped to undo me and betray me into my Enemies hands Such as these are like to be the wishes that Eternity will extract from tormented Souls O that the consideration thereof would make Men wise before it be too late But if Death find us unprepared this that I have described will be our condition for ever which God forbid Lesson 6. The Sixth Lesson that this Providence teacheth us is this That seeing this our Friend is taken away in the midst of her days in her full strength while her breasts were full of milk and her bones moistened with marrow Job 21.24 This teacheth all but especially us that are of greater Age that survive her how necessary 't is for us to make Preparation for our own Death for if God deal thus with the green Tree what shall be done to the dry Young Men may dye Old Men must dye for we know neither the day nor the hour wherein our Lord and Master will come 'T is good therefore to watch every day and every hour we know not when he will send his Messenger to us to Command us to give an account of our Steward-ship for we shall be no longer Stewards We usually say That should be well done that can be but once done but we can dye but once 't is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the Judgment Heb. 9.27 Here is no room for a second Error as we say in War As the Tree falls so it lyes whether to the North or to the South so as Death leaves us so Judgment shall find us Now Death is no Fear-babe t is the King of Terrors and a Terror to Kings Hell is no Scare-crow neither Eternity a Jesting matter the Soul that is in danger is no Trifle but our chiefest Jewel and Salvation and Damnation are matters of Moment things of great Concern Now a Man would think that in Matters of such Concern it were not needful to use many words to make us mind it when we are earnest enough in lesser matters but 't is evident we are all faulty in some degree or other and the most altogether negligent Were but our Houses on fire over our heads we need not many Arguments to seek to save our selves and to quench the Fire Were we in danger of Drowning we need not many Arguments to perswade us to lay hold upon something or other to help us out Were we pursued with an implacable Enemy that sought our Lives or with a roaring Lion or ranging Bear we should double our Diligence and amend our Pace and use all means to escape the Danger And is the Soul so contemptible a thing that we matter it so little It is without our Diligence prevent it in danger to be drown'd in the Lake of Perdition and to be burnt in the Fire that never goes out and is pursued with those Infernal Furies that seek to devour her and yet we make but a little hast to rescue her But are our Houses our Estates our Bodies or our Lives to be preferred before the Immortal Soul the best part of Man And is a Moment of Time more to us than Eternity Do we take so much care what to eat and what to drink and wherewith to be cloathed and so little how the Soul is fed or cloathed decked or adorned This doubtlesly would bespeak our Folly Whatever the World dream or say to the contrary Heaven will be found to the Possessors of it a real Happiness and whatever Cost or Charge Pains or Labour we bestow a good Peny-worth and Hell will be found a real Misery and whatever we have into the Bargain we shall be losers the Rich Glutton found it so and many more here the worm dyes not and the fire never goes out One day in Heaven will make us forget all our Miseries on Earth and one day in Hell will make us forget all our fore-past Pleasures Now while we are unprepared for Death there is but the thread of our Lives between us and endless easeless and remediless Torments and this must needs be an uneasie condition to a considerate Man And which makes it the worse Death is always gnawing at this thread which if once broken all the World cannot piece it or yield us any relief Now in serious matters wise men should be serious Beggars when their wants are serious they will leave their Canting and beg in earnest as also