that are above as well as to mind the things that are above hence the Church prayeth in the Psalm Ps 67.1 God be mercifull to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cause his face to shine with us that is his grace to accompany our endeavours Gods grace is to be desired and mans endeavour not to be spared Now this may be summed up in a few words here are the two reasons why they do not obtain though they do desire First They neglect the active obedience of a righteous life they neglect the performance of those duties that lead to this end Obedience though it be not the cause of Heaven yet it is the cawsey to it though it doth not merit yet it is the means when our wishes go without duty then they are lame and out of joynt there must be Faith Repentance Holiness Ordinances Obedience to the commands of God c. 't is by these we please God It s said of the Ninivites and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seder Maamadoth ex tract Sabbath the Prophet saith not and God saw their Sackcloth and their Fasting but their works that they turned from their evil way Remember this He that made you without your assistance will not save you without your obedience and this obedience is to be universal not only to the easier duties but to the more difficult Some are easie as to believe we must be saved by an imputed righteousness to trust to another when we see our own imperfection these we are easily perswaded to but then to love our enemies to mortifie our corruptions to pull out our right eye and cut off our right hand these are hard sayings men will not go to the cost of universal active obedience and therefore wish and wish and do not obtain Secondly they decline the passive obedience of a righteous life and that makes them miscarry they would be willing to be saved by the Cross of Christ bit they are not willing to bear the Cross of Christ they would be willing to follow Christ to his Kingdom but they would not follow him to his Cross they would follow him into the Garden of pleasure but not to Golgotha the place of Souls they would be willing to eat bread with Christ at his Table but are loath to pledge him in his bitter Cup they would be glorified with his Glory but not be baptized with his Baptism There 's the great reason men do not attain Heaven they would be willing to dye the death of the righteous but are unwilling to dye the death for righteousness sake Alas Christians the Lord Jesus Christ will be your head but it is a head under a Crown of Thorns God will be your God as he was to Moses but he will appear to you in the burning Bush we must first enter into the sorrow of our Lord before we can enter into the joy of our Lord there are first those groans that are unutterable and then those joyes that are unspeakable He that hath not learned the lesson of the Cross has not learned his A. B. C. in Religion The Scriptures teach first a suffering with Christ and then a reigning with him Now there are few persons willing to suffer and therefore it is that so few get to Heaven Few think themselves to be graced as they in the Acts. Acts 5.41 when they are disgraced few that count themselves dignified when they are villified for Christ few that are convinced that though they lose all for Christ yet they shall lose nothing by him nay that though they lose all for him yet they may find it all again and more in him few that are like the antient Christians that were glad they had any thing to lose for Jesus Christ thus should it be with us all we must neither neglect the active nor decline the passive obedience of a righteous life if we would dye the death of the upright and have our last end like his Thus I have answered the two Questions let me now conclude in a few inferences from the premisses And first this shews us the wisdom and happiness of those that make choyce of a righteous life 'T is the best wisdom because they only take the right way to ensure a blessed death they have a prospect into futurity they consider what is coming and therefore provide for it And 't is their great happiness because they make sure of a heavenly reward after death therefore how strangely do we argue when we see a Worldling dandled upon the knees of prosperity we are prone to think surely this is one of the Favourites of Heaven the darling of providence surely God loveth that man he makes him so great and rich and on the other hand when we see the righteous afflicted in this World reproached threatned impoverished imprisoned banished martyred we are apt to judge surely this is not a person that God loves but it must be the end that must be regarded and then it will appear who is the happy man Psa 37.37 mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is Peace the happiness of life is to be esteemed of by the end and issue of it though the righteous mans way be affliction yet his end is peace that is an absence of all evil and the presence of all good the Hebrew word for Peace comes from a root which denotes perfection his end is perfection of happiness hence the Rabbin tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rab. Shimson Ben Cholpeta misna okatzim sub finem that the Holy blessed God finds not any vessel that will contain enough of blessing for Israel but the vessel of Peace according to that of the Psalmist Psa 29. ult the Lord shall bless his people with Peace indeed this is ALL therefore Balaam himfelf though a wretch and a reprobate wished himself no more happiness then the righteous should enjoy at death and in the other life If an unskilfull man should go to an exquisite Limner and see him draw the rude draught of a Picture he would wonder what he intended but if he would but stay till he had set to his ultimam manum his last hand and finished the piece he would see it to be excellent Thus it is with foolish men they look upon the rude draught of a Godly mans condition in this World and mis-judge it but if they had but patience to suspend their judgement till God had finished it they would find it excellent and worthy to be desired If a man had been present with God at his first dayes creation when God began to make the World when in the tohu vabohu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 1.2 in the indigested Chaos all things lay disorderly and confusedly jumbled together fire and water cold and heat
without some preface of Honour as King David my Lord the King c. and so he is about forty times called King David and my Lord the King David in one Chapter but now see what an alteration there is in the first verse of the next Chapter When the dayes of David drew nigh that he should dye He that was my Lord the King so often a little before now he comes to dye is plain David so that you see death maketh all equal Do you then desire to dye the death of a Great man Surely it is not so good as to dye in the fear of the great God and therefore Hezekiah a potent and noble Prince when he had a message of death pleads not Remember Lord that I have been a King that I have worn the Crown and swayed the Scepter Isa 38.3 but Remember Lord that I have walked before thee in truth with a perfect heart and have done that which is right in thy sight it s a poor thing in death to have been saluted Your Lordship and Your Ladyship Your Honour and Your Grace Your Highness and Your Majesty at every word if we cannot see our selves to be the persons whom the King of Heaven delights to honour Fourthly another had rather dye the death of the Wealthy many persons we see in the World they toyle and labour and sweat and if you ask them the reason it must needs be this that they might leave something behind them when they dye Christians that is not our own which we cannot carry with us into another World the rich man in this respect is like a poor man that is invited to a great mans Table whilst he is there he makes use of the Plate and Silver Spoons and other things but he must pocket up none of these but leave them behind him when he goes thence so God gives him a great many things here to use but he must leave them all at death Or just as it is with Travellers who make use of the movables of an Inne for that night they lodge there but the next morning they leave them and go onward in their journey Job 21.13 They spend their dayes in wealth and in a moment they go down to the grave Who would not choose to dye the death of the righteous rather than of Nabal or the rich man in the Gospel What a vain thing is man to desire to dye rich To leave a portion of Goods behind him and not to have a good portion in Heaven Surely the wealth and accommodations of the World do not make any person the more fit or willing to dye I remember a story that when the Duke of Venice shewed Charles the 5th at Venice his Earthly Paradice stately Palace Haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabb Gardens Riches Furniture Plate and Jewels and asked the Emperor what he thought of them he doth in a most Christian manner make no other answer but this These are the things that make men unwilling to dye Another shewing a private Christian the like sight expecting to be admired for it drew this speech from the Christian Sir you had need make sure of heaven or else you will be a great loser when you dye He that has set his heart on these things while he possesses them they will go to his heart when he is torn from them he will be unwilling to dye Fifthly let us compare the death of the righteous with the death of the Valiant some would choose this what large renown have many that have dyed upon the place in an engagement against the Enemies of their Country How doth their fame shine in History and the Chronicles of Nations embalm their Names to posterity Such as that glorious King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus Killed but not Conquered and that noble Captain Consalvo who being counselled to retire a little backwards from the Enemy made this answer Essendo egli consigliato a voler retirarsi alquanto indietro rispose desiderare d'haver piu tosto al presente la sua sepoltura un palmo di terrerro piu avanti che col ' retirarsi indietro poche braccia allungar la vita cento anni Guicciard That he had rather at that time get a span of ground forwards though he were sure to find his grave there then retreat a few yards to lengthen out his life a hundred years But though this may seem to be a brave and noble thing to dye so yet how poor comfort is it to their souls if they be not Souldiers of the Lamb called chosen and faithfull What does it avail them to be praised where they are not and be tormented where they are All their courage and resolution all their valour and magnanimity what is it to their Salvation without grace and piety They are laudable Virtues but not saving Graces 'T is true it is very honourable for a man to dye for his Country but let me dye the death of the righteous Sixthly let us compare the death of the righteous with the death of the Learned if some men were to choose what death they would dye they would choose to dye the death of a Philosopher when they have read of Seneca Plato Socrates and others with how much constancy and courage they looked death in the face they think it brave to dye like one of these but one spark of Grace is a better Lanthorn to lead you to happiness than all the reason and wisdom those men had they were wise to admiration and yet not wise to salvation It was the speech of St. Austin in his time Surgunt indocti rapiunt coelum c. Vnlearned men arise and snatch Heaven away whilst we with all our Learning go loaden to Hell Therefore what will it profit to dye the death of the Learned I tell you Solomons repentance was better to dye with than all Solomons wisdom Learning is a poor cordial to a dying man Scholarship is a rare Ornament but a miserable Comforter when you come to dye a good Handmaid to Godliness but a bad supplyer of the place of it when Godliness is wanting Therefore what will it profit a man to dye the death of the greatest Philosopher that ever was if that be all Seventhly another it may be would choose to dye the death of the Antient some say if they might choose what death they would dye they would wish to dye in a good old age to spin out the thread of their lives to a great length and to go away at last like a Lamp for want of oyl gradually to spend the radical moisture of the body and then without pain to yield unto nature But unless you dye the death of the righteous the longer your death is deferred the greater will be the misery that will be inflicted the longer a sinner lives the more wrath he layes up for himself and therefore excellent is that expression of the
Apostle Rom. 2.5 According to thy hardness and impenitent heart thou treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath What is the meaning of the phrase 'T is just like a covetous Miser that is making of a hoard he is every day adding something to it till it come to a great sum So thou treasurest up wrath the longer God continues thee the greater the wrath will be at last which thou must suffer Or as a man that every day is carrying a stick to a pile of wood with which at last he is to be burned the longer he lives the greater the pile and the more formidable the fire will be the longer God forbears thee the more interest thou must pay he will be thy sorer enemy because he was no sooner thine enemy If thou livest to be an Old man and not a Babe in Christ thy case is most dreadfull Old age in it self is not desirable an Old man is an animated grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sepulchre with a little life in it it is the refuge and anvil for diseases to meet in and beat upon and therefore they are called evil dayes in which there is no pleasure Eccles 12.1 'T is true the hoary head when nature has snowed Gray hairs upon a man is a Crown of Glory Prov. 16.31 but it is no Crown to thee unless found in the way of righteousness Therefore the Text is thus read in the Holy tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in fut niphal The hoary head is a Crown of Glory of ornament or comeliness in the way of righteousness let it be found or it shall be found it is either to be understood as a promise thus in the way of righteousness the Crown of Glory shall be found by the hoary head or as a command thus that the Gray head may be a becoming ornament to the antient let it be found in the way of righteousness it is necessary it should be found in that way What do Old men that are not good so long in the World What is the advantage they get Surely only this They live to see more evil and to do more evil and to deserve more evil than others do that is all the happiness of an Old man that is not gracious for it is not the venerable face that will commend to God nor the snowy head of the Antient that will make way for him before the Ancient of dayes but to dye the death of the righteous To name one more Eightly compare the death of the righteous with the death of the Martyrs all that dye for such are not saved but all that dye righteous they are saved there are many persons that may give their bodies to be burned 1 Cor. 13.3 and yet their souls shall burn in Hell many persons that may be Martyrs in our account who are but Malefactors in the account of God If we dye the death of a Martyr and not of a Godly one it will be no profit for it is not the death nor the cause only but the heart that makes a Martyr Three things make a Martyr there must not only be suffering but a good cause to suffer in and a good conscience to suffer with some Martyrs that seemed nothing else to us may really be nothing less when as no righteous persons but they are happy There are some persons that may seem to us to dye for the Lord and yet do not dye in the Lord but all upright men dye in the Lord and therefore you see if we make the comparison here the death of the righteous is much to be preferred And thus you have the first thing the reasons why wicked men when they come to dye desire to dye the death and have the last end of the righteous The second thing is How it comes to pass that though they desire it yet they do not obtain it I would not speak now concerning the sins of wicked men by which they forfeit this desired happiness if a man should never so much desire health and yet go immediately and drink off a cup of poison death would be his portion before health if a Water-man should never so much desire to be at Westminster and yet row towards London-bridge his desires would be but in vain Thus it is with sinfull men they contradict their desires in their pratices therefore their desires further them nothing in the way to happiness their practices carry them faster to Hell than their desires can to Heaven But if you ask me Why do those that desire it not obtain it My answer is Because they do but desire it they have nothing but faint velleities which is too sloathfull full a way to get these great things by there are many means conscientiously to be used that this last end of the upright may be enjoyed the Lepers in the Gospel were cured not sitting still but walking Luke 17◠14 as they went they were cleansed we must be up and doing we must be at the charges and expences not only of many an earnest wish but of many a salt tear and many a bitter sigh and many a deep groan and many a hard pull before we can obtain this blessing an happy estate in death and a glorious life after it are commodities not to be had at so cheap a rate as for a wish we can gain but a little of the Earth though we take a great deal of pains for it and do we think to obtain Heaven with no pains It was the saying of an antient Rabbin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabb If thou canst obtain but a little of this World which thou pursuest so much how canst thou look for any thing of the other World which thou followest not at all We must then be working as well as wishing Lam. 3. 41. Oratione operatio operatione fulciatur oratio Hieron therefore 't is said Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in the Heavens our hearts in praying and wishing our hands in acting and doing We ought to support our praying with our working and our working with our praying both these should go together we must be as well in the operative way as in the optative mood I remember the Fable of the Country man whose Cart stuck fast in the mire he falls a praying to Jupiter to help it out but doth nothing else and Jupiter bids him set his shoulder to the wheel and then cry to Jupiter so we must set our hands to the work and then desire to dye the death of the righteous Solomons advice is good Prov. 2.3 4. if thou shalt cry after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou shall seek for her as for silver and search for her as for hid treasure c. not only cry and lift up the voice but seek and search so the Apostle counsels Col. 3.1 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seek the things
light and darkness dry and moist if a man had seen this he would have wondered what will the wise God make of this piece of confusion but if this man had staid till the end of the sixth day he would have said with God Behold all is very good Thus he that looks upon the troubled estate of the righteous may wonder what God intends with them but stay to the end and you will see their condition blessed wicked men look no further then just before them to receive their good things in this life but you know there are many persons that may be coached to Hell when others may be whipped to Heaven nay many if they were not kept short of the things of the Earth would come short of the joyes of Heaven Doth any person think the Malefactor happy because he may ride in a gilded Coach to the Gallows Or the Child to be unhappy because the Father takes the rod and corrects him I remember one of the Popish Writers compareth the righteous and the wicked to the Hens and Hawks that are kept in Great mens houses you know whilst the Hen is alive she is not suffered to come into the house but to scrape upon the Dunghill and get her living there but when the Hen is killed she is served in to the Masters table whereas the Hawk whilst alive is kept in the house with great attendance but when 't is dead 't is good for nothing but thrown out upon the Dunghill So here the wicked have it may be a great deal of provision but when they dye there is no more use of them when as the Godly are preferred Now I appeal to you which of these is the happiest estate surely that is the best that is the best at last none would be so mad as to desire first his happiness and then his misery which would you choose of these two either to go through a pleasant Gallery where are all sorts of Pictures variety of sweet smells and all manner of delights to run through this into a flaming fire or to run through a flaming fire to come into a place of liberty peace and comfort See then the wisdom and happiness of those that make choice of a righteous life Secondly we learn hence the necessity of looking about us whether our endeavours are suitable to our wishes or else as you see for all your wishes to dye the death of the righteous you may dye the death of the reprobate Pray think of it the time will certainly come and may suddenly come when nothing but the life of the righteous will yield you comfort the Physicians they have left thee the Minister he is to come but alas it is too late to send for him for thou art not capable of receiving any instruction thy reasonable soul thy precious soul thy immortal soul sits trembling upon the threshold of thy lips to take its flight into another World go backward into this life you cannot stay here you may not go forward into another World you dare not Now this is the time and if have not lived the life of the righteous what a dreadfull estate are you in then The soul of a man at death is like a Prince beaten from one strong Hold into another the soul is first made to fly out of the lower parts of the body the legs and thighs and then comes into the upper parts of the body but the disease besiegeth it there and then it flyes to the heart its last refuge and cannot hold out long there Upon this account it concerns us greatly to ask every one himself How have I lead my life Where are my Graces What have I been doing nothing but wishing for Heaven and not labouring for it O consider how much you should be awakened and allarum'd by this you ought to deal honestly with your selves it is high time to bestir your selves you are upon the borders of Eternity none of you but desire to dye the death of the righteous O labour that your endeavours may be answerable If there was but one of you that had been wishing and not endeavouring and so like to be excluded out of bliss it might greatly startle you all who this might be When Christ told his Disciples one of them should betray him they come and say every one Lord is it I and when we tell you there are a great many in the World that do not endeavour but only wish to be saved and for this are in danger to be damned methinks you should every one say Lord is it not I If there was but one man in the whole World that was to be damned it might awaken us all lest any of us should be that one man As if an Army was drawn into a Field and a voice should come from Heaven that a Dart should strike one man of that Company dead and not tell the man would not every one have cause to be afraid So have we cause to entertain an holy fear and jealousie lest we should be of the number of such as shall fall short of the Glory of God Thirdly we learn hence the duty of adding working to our wishing in order to our arrival at the death of the righteous and this we are to endeavour both seriously and seasonably 2 Pet. 1.10 1. seriously Give diligence to make your calling and election sure 1 Cor. 15. ult Eccles 9.10 Abound in the work of the Lord Whatever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might Be in good earnest for thy precious and immortal soul And then 2ly do it seasonably because thou art so uncertain of the continuance of a natural life therefore be speedy in respect of a spiritual life Psa 119. ◠We should make hast and not delay to keep Gods Commandments there may be cases wherein it s not only lawfull but laudable for him that believeth to make hast such a case is this of our souls in which expedition is highly commendable 'T is observed of Solomon that he was but seven years in building the House of God 1 Kings 6. ult 7.1 and thirteen in building his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Miclal Yophi in loc R. Shelomoh Yarchi writes of it that the Scripture speaks it to his praise that he was so quick in Gods and so slow in his own work It is much with us in respect of our lives as with men that are sailing in a Ship before the wind whether they sit or lye work or be idle walk or stand still whatsoever they do yet the Ship is going forward towards the Port it is bound for So it is here whether we repent or do not repent pray or neglect to pray believe or do not believe be holy or remain unholy our lives wear away apace Therefore we had need look about us and to quicken our pace in the path of Godliness Men complain of the shortness of their lives Non sumus
vitae inopes sed prodigi and yet live as if their lives were too long O methinks there is enough in the death and last end of the righteous to perswade you to the way of the upright Be therefore adding working to your wishing remember that of Paul Gal. 6.7 8. Be not deceived God is not mocked according as a man soweth so shall he also reap He that sowes to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting The meaning of the Apostle is plainly this that there is a consonancy betwixt a mans life and death such as his sowing is such shall his reaping be Lastly to conclude the whole this may be the comfort of such as do live the life as well as desire to dye the death of the upright that choose the former part as well as the latter end of the righteous for as the wicked go from a temporal life to an eternal death Vita ad mortem sic impius vivit mors ad vitam sic pius moritur so the righteous go from a temporal death to an eternal life their death is both precious to God and advantageous to temselves The righteous may welcome death for death to a righteous man though it parts two near friends Soul and Body yet it unites two better friends the Soul and its Saviour to all Eternity The Scripture records concerning Moses in the last Chapter of Deuteronomy Deut. 34.5 that Moses the servant of the Lord dyed according to the word of the Lord the words in the Hebrew are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses dyed upon the mouth of the Lord The meaning is say the Jews l'Empereur paraph Jach in Dan. p. 258. Moses dyed kissing of God surely so it is with the Saints of God their Father gives them a kiss and so layes them down in the bed of the Grave therefore they that have lived righteously may at death smile themselves into a corpse for the body of a Godly man goes to his Lords bed and his soul to his Lords bosom the Grave is perfumed for his body and Heaven prepared for his soul I may say of righteousness as Solomon in a case not much differing Prov. 6.22 when thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee that is according to the Gloss of the Rabbinical Interpreters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when thou goest it shall lead thee viz. in thy passage through this World when thou sleepest it shall keep thee viz. when thou lyest down in the Grave and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee viz. when thou art awakened at the glorious Resurrection Well then all ye that are upright in heart and life I bring you glad tydings of great joy Psal 58.11 Eccles 8.12 Verily there is a reward for the righteous and it shall be well with them that fear God that fear before him it shall be so well that none of you shall desire to have it better while the languid wishes of the wicked betray them to the pit of Perdition your holy and earnest endeavours shall deliver you into the Mansion of Glory 1 Cor. 15 ult your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord God is too good to suffer himself to be overcome in love Dieu est trop bon pour se laisser surmonter en amour it shall never be said there is more love in man to righteousness than there is love in God to the righteous Therefore comfort your selves with these words for you shall in this World certainly obtain a comfortable dissolution and in the other World a joyfull Resurrection You shall dye the death of the righteous and like unto his shall be your last END