DEFENCE Against the Dread of Death OR ZACH. CROFTON'S Meditations and Soliloquies concerning the stroak of death sounded in his ears in the time 〈◊〉 his close Imprisonment in the Towâ— of London Anno. 1661 and 166â— Digested for his own private satisfaction and support in the vale of the shadow of death AND NOW Made publique for the advantage of such as abide under Gods present Visitation in London by the Pestilence Printed in the Year 1â—â—â— To the serious dying Christian Reader Especially those in and about London subjected to Gods visitation by the present Pestilence and under a daily exspectation of an arrest by death Christian and beloved Friends WHat was lately mine is now become your sad estate viz. the dreadful expectation of deaths stroak in the multitude of my thoughts within me the consolations of God did refresh and revive my soul the kind of death which threatned me is different from what impendeth you but the object of dread was to me and you the same viz Death and the same apprehensions of its nature which did affect me must affect you with fear and hope the ensuing meditations ministred a check to my passions and comfort to my spirit by these I perswaded my soul to be willing and contented though not desirous to part from my body and to let me cheerfully lye down and dye these were digested on my personal account for my private support and encouragement under the fears of death they having done their work were by me condemned to death at least to present darkness but are now by your sad condition animated and restored and the publication thereof is extorted by the importunity of some special friends who had formerly seen and perused them and in an affectionate sence of your sad condition subjected to the terrors of night the Arrow which flyeth by day the Pestilence which walketh in darkness and the destruction which wasteth at noon-day calling more loudly for Antidotes to the sting then to the stroak of death have restlesly sollicited these papers to be put into your hands The dread of death is as common as natural to man as is the stroak thereof it never appeared with its pale face to any subject of â—â—â—ht reason or true religion but with a terrifying aspect the Heathen accounted it of terrible things the most terrible they could no way render it comfortable but by representing it the sum the completion and so the period of evil and misery Cold comfort The Scripture calleth it the King of terrors which of Gods Saints have not feared to dye David was beset with the terrors of death Paul could not desire to be unclothed The onely begotten Son of God had his soul heavy unto death and in a fearful agony deprecated the stroak thereof the Saints never cursed the day of their birth and cryed out for their death but in the extremity of their perplexity and in the prevalency of their passion evidenced by this very character men exempt from phrensie and not miraculously extraordinarily acted by a divine spirit as were the three Children and other Martyrs must be the subjects of stoical Apathie senseless stupidity strong delusions or a reprobate sencâ— if they fear not the stroak of death I envy not some who havâ— I thought dyed too stoutly in suâ—h a cause their courage and conâ—â—dence in out-facing death But this I must say to all Christianun agere is not hominem exucre Christians cease not to be men nor is it fit they should so do Bernard well noteth of Peter the Apostle Bernardi Tract de gratia Libero Arbitrio that his sin was not in the simple fear of death Mortem evadere voluit quid istud criminis fuit voluit mori inculpabilis est To be unwilling affraid to dye is lawfully humane and not blame-worthy in a Christian It is equally monstrous in nature and a judgement from the Lord not to fear to dye and not to mourn for the dead I must say with the holy Greenham They are as well to be liked who fear death as those who joy at it And I for my part fluctuating on the waves of violence and uncertainty in an evil age and world must say as this good man Greenh work p. â— Notwithstanding my many crosses which hinder the comfort of my life I do not I dare not desire to die Death is in its nature most terrifying to the soul yet it s dreadful circumstances and concomitants do ordinarily more affect the sence and provoke the passions Seneca placed the most dread in the Scaffold the Ax the attendance the spectators the executioners and march to execution that pompa mortis These were no meanly affecting circumstances to me in my expectation of a violent death to you the suddenness the solitariness the certainty of the stroak by an inevitable noisom contagion may appear most grievous He who dieth in due course of nature meeteth with dread in death but he that dieth by some special kind of death as by sword or pestilence hath his dread aggravated and more eminently needeth the defence of a lively faith to repel the terrors of a lively sence which can and must be the result of a rational and Christian apprehension of deaths changed nature and quality with the sequels thereof through Christ the Lord of life these will alleviate the burden abate the strength abstract the sting and alter the countenance of death of any kind of death Familiarity breedeth contempt and casteth out fear the Fox by frequency playeth boldly with the lion We read of an Hungarian Prince who affected his youthful brother rebuked his daily meditations of death with an unexpected summons to execution Men little think of dying therefore are the terrors of death so stinging Plato perswading to thoughts of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defined true Philosophy to be a meditation of death Certain it is that they who will truly Christianize must be much in consideration of death and careful to dye well When men are every moment obnoxious to the sudden and certain stroaks of death it is time if ever they will be wise to labour to represent death lovely to their souls funeral Sermons â—ound best in the ears spectacles of mortality is the most pleasing sight and meditations of death the most delighting study not only to the mortified Christian but also to the dying man Croesus the rich King of Lydia when captivated stript and tyed alive to the stake which must make his funeral pile could affectionately cry out O Solon Solon and preach to Cyrus his Conqueror Solons Dictates of Mortality which in his prosperity he had despised And Seneca declining in Neroes favour and drawing nigh to his violent death did best discern and most clearly declare that mans felicity was after death The prophane men which in health neglect and despise Gods Ministers and cannot endure to hear of death or Jesus Christ can on a sick bed send for them gladly hear
as a dried leaf my life passeth away as a Weavers Shuttle and withereth like the grass the Ax or Halter can onely hasten what my study and labour is sure to produce in a little time if Death could not otherwise destroy my being these instrmuments enforced by mens cruelty should never do it but it is an easie matter to break a bruised reed and to force a dying life to breath out its last breath My soul my bodily constitution doth not more dispose me to dye then Gods determination doth bind me unavoidably to undergo it By Gods determination Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto all men and so to me once to dye The conclusion God made with man in Paradise when he made with him a Covenant of life was Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest of this fruit thou shalt surely dye the sin was committed the covenant was violated this condition was judicially denounced and duely executed Rom. 5.12 by one man sin hath passed on all men and death by sin the severity of God hath by a most righteous sentence subjected all men to the stroke of death am I a man and expect to be exempted from the common fate of my nature Immortality in the estate of innocency Immortality not natural was of grace not of nature created compounded man was capable of dissolution that grace was once forfeited never restored nature therefore returned to its course will inevitably work my ruine and resolve me into the nothing or the dust out of which I was first made The Lord Jesus Christ hath indeed Christ redeemed not from the stroak of death undoubtedly redeemed me from death but it is from the sting not from the stroak of death he doth secure me from the curse the consequences of death but he stayeth not the returned course of nature from passing on my being hunger cold neakedness sickness sorrows the assaults of violence with all other man-destroying-accidents did befal himself and are incident unto me and are as certainly as effectually destructive to my being since as before Christs death and resurrection I do most certainly believe Some may be changed yet not I. 1 Cor. 15.51 at the coming of our Lord in glory all shall not dye some shall be changed but I have no assurance that I am of that number nor is it probable for though I live in the last and worst days of the world that last day is not so near me as my lives end the great things which must be accomplished before that great and terrible day of the Lord come cannot be effected in those few days nature will permit me to live nor is it probable in this present age I will not envy the Saints then living the happiness of never dying but my soul I see no reason of hope that I should partake thereof Nature disposing me unto death God having determined death to pass upon me I cannot avoid it it will with certainty overtake me at the last It may overtake me sooner then I am aware or look for it I have not the certainty of one days exemption from this most certain condition I am subject to many casualties as well as diseases a tile from an house or a fall from my horse might soon kill me if I were abroad Death commeth on me where ever I am as an armed man whom I cannot resist and come to me the worst that can come it is but death which I can no way shun or long avoid My Soul be wise make a vertue of necessity stoop quietly under that stroke from which thou canst not stir Startle not in sence of that state from which there is no starting Whether I consume my self or be cut down by others it is but death this estate doth unavoidably attend me Let me be content chearfully submissively to bear the evil I am no more able to divert then to desire shall I stomack to entertain the guest whom I daily expect and who commeth with command and irresistable power whose coming I cannot prevent or delay who being come will not be dismissed or sent back for one moment I will bid welcome the certain unavoidable event though hastned by an uncertain unexpected stroak SECT II. DEath is not more certain to me Death is a common state then common to men this is the lot of all men the man liveth not who shall not feel the stroak of Death strong or weak rich or poor noble or ignoble good or bad must all die Great men die The power of Princes may precipitate and hasten the death of others but it cannot protect themselves from the stroak of death no not for a moment as for those who have riches Ps 49.7 8. there is not one of them can redeem his brothers no nor yet his own life from death when I die I shall rest with Kings and Counsellors of the earth Job 3.13 14. with Princes who had gold who filled their houses with silver Death hath subdued the most dreadful Conquerors of the world and devoured the most puissant Armies Strong men die Where are now the Sons of Anack what is become of the Giants of whom we read are they not dead could Sampsons strength repel or Davids Worthies stand under and against the stroke of death Best men dye Piety is no priviledge against the arrest of death John 8.52 53. are not the Patriarcks faln asleep where are the Fathers of old do the Prophets live for ever the best that ever lived died death is an high way a beaten road this tract is trodden Abel Adam Enoch Noah Abraham David Daniel Peter Paul James John yea the Lord Christ himself are all dead these with multitudes of all sorts ranks qualities languages and degrees have gone this way before me why then do I fear to follow after them Death is not more common in its general nature The kind of death is also common then in its special kind Violent death by all ways of ignominy and instruments of cruelty are common to men especially to Martyrs and Gods most faithful Ministers this way Gods Prophets Vrijah Isaiah Zechariah and others Christs Disciples Peter Paul James John and others The Primitive Fathers of the Church Polycarpus Ignatius Justinius and others And our first Reformers from Popish blindness and abominations Cranmer Ridley Latimer Hooper Rogers Bradford Taylor Saunders and many others went out of the world What day returneth without the death of men what age of the world hath passed not stained with the blood of Martyrs or violent death of holy men what kind of death peculiar to malefactors hath not Gods Ministers and Martyrs the zealous reprovers of publick sin been subjected to and undergone My Soul be thy condition what it can thou must conclude there doth no temptation befall me but what is common to man 1 Cor. 10.13 yea to the best of men and to the cheif of Martyrs what if the way
the Doctrines of Mortality and cry out I must die O Chist save me O Christ save me Nor is it marvell for every Balaam ready to curse Gods Israel on the sence of deaths appraach cannot but wish to die the death of the righteous I would willingly hope those who have now the charge of your souls are tender of you as Nurses and careful for you as Parents and that with due affection and fidelity they labour to fit you for and encourage you under the stroaks of death Never I am sure had you more need never were you more likely to hear the Charmer and to receive instruction then in so sad a day of visitation from the Lord. I wish I were without any grounds of fear to the contrary I lately travelling about my rustick affairs met many Ministers from your City among other Citizens withdrawing from that place of danger their recess I could not but observe with grief and anger thinking who must minister to you ghostly councel now your souls are in the shadow of death how must it sting your serious hearts to see your lovers and friends stand at a distance and your Prophets all gone I am not so uncharitable as to conclude the recess of any not specially bound to stay in infected places to be sin I beleive men that flye from the Pestilence are no more Atheistical or to be blamed as such then those who flye from the Sword I judge the recess of many may be a prudential serving of Gods providence unto the withdrawing of the contagion naturally communicating it self in vicinity but I cannot but judge Magistrates to keep order Physitians to help nature and Ministers to prepare for and encourage against death are bound to stay and in the discharge of their duty to trust God with their lives I cannot secure Ministers their lives in contagious places I well know that Histories tells us some of the Ministers and Deacons which ministred to the Saints in Alexandria Euseb Hist l. 7. c. 22. in the great Plague which there raged dyed thereof And that the Families of Bullinger and Beza were herewith infected yet themselves escaped and were preserved yet God hath ordinarily saved the lives of those who in love to immortal souls have adventured to loose them Mr. Sam. Fisher whose meditation on death in the time of the Plague in Salop we have publique among us is yet alive to tell unto Gods praise how himself and Reverend Mr. Blake were preserved in their Ministration to that place in the time of a raging Pestilence If despised I might be so bold I would desire your present Ministers to consider the late Bishop Halls advice in this very case he having justified the receâ—â—â—f private persons thus conculdeth concerning Ministers You urge the instance of your Ministers how unequally Bp. Halls Epist Dec. 4. Ep. 9. there is not more lawfulness in your flight then sin in ours you are your own we are our peoples you are charged with a body which you may not willingly lose nor hazard by staying we with all their souls which to hazard by our absence is to lose our own we must love our lives but not when they are rivals with our souls or with others how much better is it to be dead then negligent then faithless if some bodies be contagiously sick shall all souls be neglected to run away from a necessary and publique good to avoid a doubtful and private evil is to run into a worse evil then that we would avoid c. Whilst worthless I am dead as to my Ministry I hope I may be alive as to my Meditations And freely by an harmless Pen Minister them to you especially on a subject so innocent so necessary as is Death It s Dread and the Defence against it I beseech you receive these as ministerial suggestions for the good of your souls they were indeed onely spoken to my dying self Put your souls in my souls stead and they will speak to you the special kind of death which I dreaded may make some things seem improper to your present state but the general matter and scope of them is to obviate death as such in its general nature and so they are applicable to any kind of death I beseech you prepare your selves to dye and thereby perswade your souls to be willing to dye you and I must dye it mattereth not what kind of death we dye be we careful to dye in the Lord and for the Lord so shall death consummate our misery and conveigh our fouls into the fulness of felicity Austin well noteth Quid interest an Febris Let us say Pestis an ferrum nos de corpore solverit noli qua occasione Aug. Epist 122. ad victori sed quales ad se exeant dominus attendit inservis suis It mattereth not whether Sword or Plague kill us Saints are subject to any to every of them God doth more regard the disposition of his Dying Servants then the means of their death the change of quality in us changeth the quality of death unto us Now that God may fit you for death familiarize to you that King of fears fix your souls on Christ who is life in death and so fill your hearts with those comforts which may prevail with you to dye willingly untill he please to accept an attonement and call back the destroying Angel is and shall be the most affectionate and constant prayer of Yours in the Lord foâ— the good of youâ— souls whilst he is Z. C. July 20 th 1665. A DEFENCE Against the Dread of DEATH OR Z. C. his serious Soliloquies and Meditations of Death under the alarms thereof sounded in the time of his Imprisonment in the Tower of London An. 1661. The PREFACE THe wrath of the King is the messenger of death O sad messenger O evil tidings what is more unwelcome to man what is more distasteful to nature can it chuse but dismay my soul and affect my spirit is not Death that which nature hath determined to be of Terrible things the most Terrible doth not the Scripture denominate it Job 18.14 The King of Terrors doth not the sence of death daunt the courage of the stoutest men of War damp the comforts of this World doth not this discompose the most composed Christian and most serious Saint were not the snares the sorrows the shade of Death the things which David that good that stout man did so passionately bewail Ps 18.4 5. 116.3 and pray to be delivered from the fear of Death made upright Hezekiah Isa 38. To chatter like a Crane and mourn like a Swallow The Devil well knew what he said Job 2.4 when he said All that a man hath he would give for his life The Lord of life entred not the List to encounter Death without an heavy spirit he needed some comfortable companions to watch with him under this conflict he was not ashamed to profess My soul
which have all my days stung my soul and battered my body My soul take courage unto this last encounter herein my willingness to dye is the victory my fall is the fullest conquest that I ever did or can make be herein the more couragious considering Death is though an enemy yet a conquered and disarmed enemy Christ that Captain of my salvation hath tryed the strength of death and subdued it he by dying did overcome death and him who had the power of death viz. the Devil herein Satan was out shot in his own Bow and caught in his own snare what gained the Philistines by bringing forth Sampson to make them sport and to be insulted over in the house of Dagon but their own destruction the very same hath death and the Devil gotten by bringing the Lord of life to dye on the Cross and to the Grave which could not hold him these by getting have lost the victory O blessed Paradox by this my faith and my soul can out-face out-brave death whilst my nature and my body doth dread the assaults and stroak thereof Death struck the Lord of life with its sting and lost its sting by striking him and in him all that are his do ever since insult over death with an O death 1 Cor. 15.55 where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Since this foil death is befooled of its conquest over them whom it most insultingly strikes with success and cutteth down with power for it prevailing looseth its design The design of Death is to seal man under indelible guilt to set him under the curse of the Law and at everlasting distance from the Lord vers 56.58 The sting of Death is Sin the strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be unto God who hath given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord for hereby death doth to all that are in Christ Jesus effect what is directly contrary to its design it dischargeth that guilt under which they greived all their days and releaseth them from those curses of the Law by which they were chastened in this life and it transmitteth their souls unto the immediate and eternal enjoyment of God and Christ and although it holdeth the body for some time yet it divideth it not from Christ to whom it is inseperably united and by whom it shall be raised up to be reunited to the soul and perfectly possess God for ever My Soul why art thou afraid of a Bee which hath lost its sting why dost thou dread an enemy vanquished to thy hand and sprawling at thy feet Hath David kill'd Goliah and shall not trembling affrighted Israel up and pursue the Philistines hath the Lord Christ gotten and given me the victory over death by discharging thy guilt and bearing the punishment thereof in his own body unto the satisfaction of the Law and wilt thou fear to encounter the fiercest assaults thereof What shall a conquered enemy disanimate the Conqueror My Soul in the world thou hast tribulation in death thou hast terror but be of good comfort thou art now engaged in the last encounter with both and the Lord Jesus hath overcome the world and conquered death Triumph in death for thou shalt by dying be made triumphant over Death the World and the Devil Thy warfare is now accomplished let me now in my last act play the man and shew the valour of my Faith and Patience unto the due restraint of my now provoked fear and passions Then this shall be the matter of mine eternal happiness and honour that I have warred a good warfare I have fought a good fight I have kept the Faith SECT V. DEath is a curse The cursed nature of death is changed the punishment of mans sin the expression of Gods wrath and the execution of the Law and dreadful sentence pronounced against man It is so in its nature and of it self But it is not such to all that are thereto subjected the voyce from heaven hath proclaimed them Blessed Rev. 14.13 who dye in the Lord and hath rendred two reasons of the blessed state of their death First they rest from their labour they then reap no punishment Heb. 4.10 but are indeed blessed for he that is entred into his rest ceaseth from his own works of sin and sorrow as God ceased from his Secondly Their works follow them unto their acceptance with and recompence from the Lord. The nature of death is changed to such who are in Christ Death to Christs friends is a sleep and to such who die for Christ the friends of Christ do not dye but sleep Job 7.21 I account sleep a special blessing of God for the refreshment of nature my sleep is the image the similitude of death Death is the truest the onely sleep of a true Beleiver when I sleep I am as dead and when I dye I shall but sleep I shall indeed sleep longer in my grave then in my bed but I am sure I shall sleep more quietly without affrighting fancies or disturbing dreams and I shall at length awake and arise when my weary day is ended how willing am I to lye down and sleep My Soul art thou not willing thy weary body should have rest to dye is to a Saint no more then to undress and go to bed to lie down and sleep Joh. 11.11 Let what will become of Dives our friend Lazarus sleepeth The righteous when they dye are taken from evil to come Isa 57.1 2 and 26.20 death is their defence from danger distress and dread their grave is Gods pavilion and receptacle into which they his jewels are gathered Mal. 3.17 lest they should be left in the commotions of the world in which they his trusty friends and confederates are secured from the storm and blast of the terrible ones raised up by the Lord to shake terribly the earth my Soul what though the Chambers of death be dark wilt thou deem it a curse to be gathered into them by Gods special grace that thou mayst not feel hear or see the evil which his wrath and vengeance is about to bring on the places of thy present abode The just by death enter into peace when the whole world is full of Wars they rest in their beds when the house is all in an hurly burly and unquiet tumult Death is the Saints cessation from labour and travel their security from lamentation and trouble their estate of quiet and ease and their entrance into rest and glory The very wicked who with Balaam are ready to curse them whilst they live would gladly share lots with them in their death The worst of men are so apprehensive and affected that their latter end shall be exceedingly good that they cannot but wish to dye the death of the righteous Death is indeed a curse to sinners but the course of nature unto Saints The direful executioner of Gods wrath and law to all who die in their sin
but a messenger of divine favour to all who die in the Lord an harbinger of peace to all who walk in uprightness A grim Porter to fetch home to their fathers mansions all that are Gods children Death is indeed a dismal doom on the sons of the first Adam but the discharge of all sin sorrow pain and travel to all the sons of the second Adam death is in its nature vile and odious Ps 116.15 but precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints death is exceeding dreadful to such who are obnoxious to its sting but the stroak of death is desireable to all such who are acquitted from and armed against its sting Death by violence containeth in it a curse A good cause and conscience make death a blessing with an emphasis and increase yet a good conscience righteousness towards God and the testimony of Jesus being the cause procuring the same maketh the most base ignominious and cursed death a condition of glory and blessedness the blessing of them who dye in the Lord doth most certainly eminently and especially appertain to such who dye for the Lord. Phil. 1.29 It is a singular gift to beleive in Christ but to suffer and that unto death for Christ is a peculiar gift of special grace all Saints share not in it attain not the honour of it Stephen stoned for enforcing the truth of Religion by the strength of reason Act. 7 55 56. not to be resisted by the adversaries saw Heaven open to receive him at his death The slain for the Word of God and testimony which they held are lodged under Gods Altar in glory Rev. 6.9.10 11. and before the Throne of the Lamb they are cloathed in white robes to attend the Lamb the most cursed and ignominious death is changed and made glorious to just men by having passed on Gods best servants most zealous and faithful Prophets yea the only and beloved Son of God the Lord Jesus our Savior hath made death every any kind of death the blessing of his people My Soul mistake not the nature of death unto the increase of thy dread mind the condition make sure of the qualification which changeth its nature and then death will loose its affrighting vizard and have another aspect in thine eye and thou wilt incline to give it a more free acceptance am I in Christ I am then redeemed from the curse of death can I dare I desire to divert the course of nature Beware O my soul who am I Shall the earth be removed for me Job 18 4. shall I think to alter Gods purpose or to change the course of Gods providence towards men shall I not be satisfied to be saved from the sting unless I escape also the stroak of Death God never purposed Christ never promised to free me from this why do I presume to dream of it to look for it Shall my dread of the stroak darken the glory of Christs love or damp mine apprehensions and esteem of the unspeakable undeserved mercy of being saved from the sting of death God forbid God hath extracted the poyson shall my stomach nauseate and rise against this cup onely because it is bitter Oh no I will rightthankfully take it as the cup of salvation and dismiss my dread and dutifully submit my self to the Will of God onely wise my most gracious Father O my God not my will but thy Will be done God hath accounted poor weak worthless me worthy of the Ministry of the glorious Gospel of his dear Son he hath at this time culled me from among my brethren to bear a special Testimony to his truth to the power plainness purity and simplicity of Christs ordinances worship and officers and to those degrees of reformation in this Church and Nation which have been protested and solemnly sworn to the most high God herein I have beleived for these I have spoken written and disputed and shall I now fear to suffer shall I now dread death the crowning act of all my zeal diligence and fidelity is not this part of the cross of Christ and so the glorious crown of a Minister of the Gospel have I any thing wherein to glory save the Cross of Christ and shall I fear to be seen in my Masters Livery the honour of my now expected death is an high favour a peculiar priviledge an effect of special grace and therefore sufficient to perswade me to be not onely willing but desirous to be offered up by death to and for him who accounted not his life dear for me Death in and for this cause is not more my duty then my dignity the more ignominious it is the more glorious it shall receive the due recompence of reward 2 Tim. 2.12 If I suffer with Christ I shall be glorified with him and raign with him I have all my days wandred in this world like a Pilgrim in a strange Country it is now my Fathers pleasure to call and send for me home shall I refuse to go in the hand of a grim Messenger because of his gastly look and affrighting countenance may not the same bloody hand conduct me to my Fathers House which doth cut down mine and my Fathers foes what though the stroak of death be the same to good and bad the sequels of Death are not the same to both the Red Sea may pass Israel into the land of rest and yet ruine the Egyptians the same Sheriff who doth execute Traytours and malefactours doth put good subjects into the possession of their proprieties though he be dreadful in the one his very posse comitatus is desireable to the other Shall I foolishly draw back fear to be possessed of mine inheritance incorruptible and undefiled because I must be brought and put into it with Halberts Bills Swords and the Sheriffs train and power My Soul chear up reflect on thy self Christ his love and Gods grace notwithstanding my many slips falls and infirmities I will presume to say I have lived the life of the righteous the Covenant of God is on my flesh with God I have desired and endeavoured to walk though I have sometimes wandred and gone astray like a lost sheep I have embraced Christ my Lord and to him I will cleave as to my deer Redeemer I shall therefore dye the death of the righteous although I may be struck I shall not be stung by death Death may pass upon me as the course of nature and as an expression of humane rage but not as the curse of God or execution of his Law Let me make it my care to see my quality changed whilst I live and then I am assured God will change the quality of my death when I dye SECT VI. IF I now dye as mens rage doth threaten mine enemies desire and hope my friends fear and deprecate and my self have cause to expect I dye as a Malefactour and by the sentence of a righteous Law
thee afraid the splendor of his Majesty shall not dazle thine eyes nor discapacitate thy vision of him thy work shall not there be tyring thy service shall not then waste thy strength wear thy cloaths or dull thy spirits that thou shouldst wish for a return of time wherein to take thine ease obtain refreshment or renue thine apparel so eminent is this relation so easie so excellent is this employment that the Eternity hereof is mine exceeding mine infinitely great advantage I long to enter upon it I shall never desire to leave it mine eternal enjoyment of it is mine onely hope my Glory The Company with whom my soul parted from my body In Heaven I shall have glorious company shall associate is no less glorious then the place of my future residence or the business of my future employment when I dye I shall be admitted into and entertained by the assemblies of the first born whose names are written in heaven and the spirits of just men made perfect and the glorious Angels those shall henceforward be my companions for ever Oh blessed company who would not long to be with them who would not gladly go to them who can with any possible content think of parting from them how foolishly loath am I to leave my friends on earth yet I have not enjoyed their company without a cross many of them have scorned me many of them have slighted me many of them have failed me many of them have fallen out with me many times they have provoked my passion greived my soul and vexed my spirit all of them have one way or other given a check to my comfort and content in their society I now parting from them shall pass into enjoy and never more be parted from much better more desireable and more pleasurable company I shall now associate with Angels those glorious creatures the beauty of whose feet mortal eye can hardly look upon and live those holy spirits who wait immediately on God and with all power and speed perform the pleasure of the most high those active spirits which are sent of God to minister unto the heirs of salvation these are now attendant on me though I see them not they do me many good turnes though I perceive it not by them I am guarded in many dangers they keep me in all my ways they pitch their tents about me they do me much good and yet I understand not their nature office or ministry but now my Soul they attend my death to perform their last work to me to receive thee and carry thee into Abrahams bosom and to place thee in fellowship with themselves thou shalt thenceforward know them their natures and offices thou shalt familiarly converse with them and not be affrighted by them nor shalt thou be weary of their company these will not scorn thee these will not vex and grieve thee but as fast and faithful friends they will with freedom and fullness communicate themselves unto thee to the abundant increase of thy joy which will be the more abundant by the eternity of thy abiding with them My soul though at death thou art taken from among men and made a mate for Angels yet thou shalt not onely converse with these glorious creatures different in nature and seemingly above thee thou shalt now also associate with the spirits of just men made perfect thou shalt sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God thou shalt now be placed under the Altar among the souls of them who were slain for the Testimony of Jesus I have taken abundant pleasure in the fellowship of the Saints on earth yet there infirmities have many times occasioned to me great vexations Oh how pleasurable will their company be now they are made perfect I have had reverend thoughts of the Saints departed the Fathers of Old and the Martyrs of latter days how precious do I account the memory of Adam Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph David Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel Zachariah Peter Paul James John Ignatius Polycarpus Justin Athanasius Wickliff Hus Luther Calvin Beza Cranmer Ridley Latimer Hooper Glover Rogers Laurence Bradford with many others of these I have onely heard and read I never yet knew them but now my soul shall go to them now my soul shall know them it shall dwell in house and be most familiarly most intimately acquainted with them and not onely with these but also with all the elect of God whose names I have not yet heard of this blessed society shall so much increase the joy of my soul as to make Eternity the height of its desire of its delight who would not live for ever in so good a Neighbour-hood it hath often greived me to part from good men on earth I now lament that I must leave my godly friends on earth and go to Heaven without them and yet this my loss is made up by the enjoyment of others as good yea much better and I have an assurance that those I leave behind me shall come to me though I cannot come back to them but Oh what an hell would it be if time could cut me off from the blessed fellowship of these glorified Saints and Angels My soul put out pass freely into the Ocean of Eternity seeing thy voyage is made so comfortable by sailing in such blessed company â—orious â—ualities â—all enâ—ow my â—â—ul The Qualities of my soul shall be suitable to this heavenly place work and company for these also shall be Glorious after death conformity to God and exact similitude to the Lord 1 Joh 3 2â— shall be the endowment of my soul we are now the Sons of God it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Oh blessed vision which transformeth its subject the sight of God and Christ by faith as they are represented to us in the Gospel doth on earth begin that change in mans soul which is compleated by the beatifical vision of their real existency in themselves there can be no symmetry without similitude no communion without conformity two cannot walk together except they be agreed there can be no satisfying apprehension of the object but by a suitable organ Like to like is the formal reason of all true and full content they that will see God and live must be holy as God is holy and perfect as God is perfect My soul passing into immediate communion with must be made conformable to God his image stamped on man in his creation was the principle and capacity of communion with God this defaced by sin man was driven and hath been kept at a distance from God but this shall be now restored to and compleated in my soul that it may return into constant communion with God all that disparity and disproportion which rendred God dreadful and destructive to my being and therefore deterred mine approach to
they be such things is not eternity the very formality of them is not eternity that massie substance affixed to the exceeding weight of glory which counterpoiseth weigheth down and witnesseth the levity of those afflictions which we now suffer for a moment Eternity is the sting of sorrow but the strength of joy the horror of damnation but the honour of salvation the dread the dolor of the reprobate but the desire delight of the Elect the plague the sting of the gnawing worm and tormenting not consuming fire but the pleasure the lustre of the wedding garment and of the cooling refreshing streams of the waters of life My soul Christ my Savior hath redeemed me from the one and sealed me to the other of these conditions fear not therefore to go out of this body to pass through this red Sea this dark dreadful dismaying gulf into the Ocean of thine Eternity remember consider thy Lord long since declared strait is the gate and narow is the way which leadeth unto life I will by Gods grace stoop at this strait gate I will press through this narrow way seeing life so rich so glorious so blessed life is the end thereof to be enjoyed for ever The Conclusion § MOst blessed Jesus thou art the Lord of life and glory of thine own good will in compassion and pity to lost man thou didst leave the delights of Heaven and of thy fathers bosome and wast cloathed with mans mortal nature Thou hast subjected thy self to death to the most violent shameful and cursed death that thou mightest sweeten and sanctifie this cup in which all thine elect and Saints must pledge thee thou hast tasted death for all men Thou having felt the sting and encountred the strength of death didst conquer and triumph over the grave thou hast gotten thou hast given all that beleive in thee the victory over death thou art in thy Church and to thy Saints the first fruits from the dead thy glorious resurrection is our pledge and assurance that we shall not be always held under the power and dominion of death but that we shall be raised up to raign with thee for ever § I thy weak and worthless servant am under the expectation of death and if thou restrain not the wrath that is in man it may be a violent and shameful death under the dread hereof I look unto and desire to encourage my self in thee the captain of my salvation Be not far from me my God and my Saviour in this hour of my temptation but let thy grace support me under the stroak and save me from the sting of death strengthen my faith unto the full apprehension due application of thy death and resurrection to the curbing of my passions and check of my fears that I may willingly cheerfully follow thee through the vale of the shadow of death O be my God! my God and my Guide unto under death § Death is natural to man common to all men but its nature is changed unto some and but to some of the sons of men this dreadful Executioner of thy vengeance on the wicked is but a grim messenger to fetch thy children home this thy Sheriff executing Malectours putteth the heirs of salvation into the possession of that inheritance thou hast purchased for them and appointed to them the wicked dye when thy friends do but sleep and rest in their beds Be pleased O my Redeemer to know me and make me know my self to be one of that number to whom the nature of death is changed to whom it may not it cannot be apprehended or appear so dreadful evidence and cleer up to my soul and conscience that real supernatural change of quality in my self which may convince me of and secure unto me the contranatural change of the nature and quality of death to and upon me § Union with thy glorious self can only secure against the sting and encourage under against the terrifying apprehension of the stroak of death unite me O Lord unto thy self communicate to me thy grace that only evidence of my union with thee that assurance that only that full assurance that death shall not divide between thee and me death shall not seperate my soul from thee death shall not seperate my body from thee but my dust shall be regarded by thee my death shall be precious in thy sight make O my God the graces of thine holy spirit so legible in me that I may thereby make my calling and election sure and read readily that name that none can read but he who hath it and that I may be certainly resolved in my self that my name was written in thy book of life before the foundations of the world was laid § Thy grace O Lord hath been extended to me make me to see it teach me seriously to reflect it unto thy praise and the encouragement of my soul under and against the terrors of the dread of death I am through thy grace and abundant mercy called by the name I have been born within the pale of thy Church and under the Covenant of thy salvation I was dedicated to thee and thy service as soon as I was born thy covenant was then set on my flesh by baptism and I now bear it on my flesh I dare not with prophane Esau despise this my birth-right but must and by thy grace I will rejoyce that I pertake of the fatness of the Olive and that I am a branch from an holy root sanctified by and unto God Thou didst bless me O Lord with Christian nurture and education I have known thy word from my childhood thou hast seasoned me with and sanctified me by thy truth thy word is truth it hath been the delight of my soul and the direction of my life and faith Thy spirit hath been and is in me the spirit of conviction and of burning by it I see the finfulness of sin and possess with grief shame the iniquities of my youth and the evil of my ways and doings it lusteth against my flesh and draweth disposeth my mind to serve the Law of God when my flesh is forced to serve the Law of sin Thy glorious Gospel thy gracious spirit O Lord hath convinced me of and affected my soul with mine own guilt thy fathers wrath and justice and the salvation wrought out by thee and by thee alone I do beleive there is no name by which men can be saved but thy name most blessed Jesus thou art the true Messiah the only Mediator between God and man the all-sufficient Saviour of all that come unto thee unto thee O Lord I come weary and heavy loaden with my sin Oh give me easie pressed with a dread of thy fathers wrath plead my cause satisfie for me his offended justice be the propitiation for my sins oppressed with my lusts Oh save me from my sin subdue corruptions in me change my nature be to me a perfect Saviour for to thee I run on