sting of death its venome and poyson be pull'd out by the death of Christ yet our mortality is not abolished Although our Lord hath brought f 2 Tim. 1.10 life and immortality to light through the Gospel in its revelation and consignation to every believer yet not as to its compleat fruition till the day of Christ Then shall this mortall put on immortality and death shall be swallowed up in victory and then shall we render eternall thanks to the Father for giving us this victory g 1 Cor. 15.57 through our Lord Jesus Christ For reign he must till this last enemy also be put under his feet To conquer over death by rising brings more honour to God then to keep our foot from the grave or else Divine Wisdome would not run that course One's th' effect of powerfull manutenency But the other of creating omnipotency Hence as Christ the Naturall so shall Saints be declared the Adopted sons of God a Rom. 1.4 with power by the resurrection from the dead by reason of which union God will also raise them up like their glorious and mysticall head b Act. 2.24 by loosing the pains of death it being impossible for them likewise to be held by it For Christ being risen from the dead is become c 1 Cor. 15.20 the first fruits of them that sleep Our blessed Lord rose at the Passe-over and they shall rise at the day of Pentecost He rose as the head they as members all in their own order shall rise to glory Obj. But some may say Did not Enoch and Elias leap over this Valley of death into heaven Ans True but their translation moved upon the wheels of transmutation equivalent to death as they also who are found alive at the coming of Christ Though they passe not through the strainer of the grave yet they undergo the percolation of a change As the heavens shall d Ps 102.26 perish when they be changed and passe e 2 Pet. 3.10 away with a great noise and the Elements melt with fervent heat neverthelesse we look for new heavens and a new earth not in substance but in quality Even so Elijah though riding to heaven in a chariot of fire and the living f 2 Cor. 15.51 1 Thes 4.17 Saints at our Lords coming in a chariot of aire yet are all by a marvellous change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.5 translated to the vision of God CHAP. VI. Of the Formidable evills in the Valley of Death AS in a Land-skip let us take a quick prospect of those fatall and tremendous evills which cock their Helmets and make bare their Gorgon faces at the entrance in the passage and the utmost end of this direfull Valley 1. At the Entrance when these brazen gates flee open The soul bewitching comforts to which we must bid a longum vale an eternal farewell and those wracking pains which must be felt not on a Palate of Ivory but a Bed of Iron in which this Gyant Procrustes tortures all he catches must needs shoot barbed arrows into the Livers of all impenitent sinners The Phylosopher teaches h Aristot Rhet. l. 7. c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that change is the sweetest of all things It must be in things to the better or equall at least in goodness to precedent injoyments else 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bitterest of all To have been fair strong healthfull rich and happy sharpness the edge of present misery cuts the deeper Is not this a dead fly in the box of oyntment a gourd in the pot a snake in the grasse that poysons the joy of all thy comforts Must the amorous smiles of all thy sinfull pleasures corrupt into doleful howlings Here 's the parting style when the sweet embraces of the dearest conjugall relations must surrender up to mortall gripings Here livid and fainty kisses must take leave of pretty children his own bowels pignora chara nepotes those choice pledges of a mans survivall unto himself The friend that 's nearer than a brother must now shake hands and look back to little purpose at this dolesome and dark good-night His fine houses and fair possessions his fruitfull orchards of his own planting and his pleasant gardens with all its rills and fishponds his flowry meadows and beautifull prospects his gamefull parks and woody forrests his dutifull and toiling tenants must all come to his bedside and shake their heads and with dry eyes bid good-even to their old foolish rent-wracking covetous Landlord Then all these flashy thorny joyes that made so great a crackling under his pot having shot some splinters in his eyes and more in 's heart will leave him in thick darkness Then all his false parasites and trencher-guests for a sorry ring else hardly will march with him to the pits side and forsake his memory when closed in a cold stone Besides 't will gawl him to the heart in that hour to think what a feather cap fool a Eccles. 2.19 he leaves for his heir that will turn upon his left heel and twit the miser when he sees his chests all lined with gold and sorrow for nothing but that he shall never more have so true a drudge Then out goes the young Ruffian with the fork upon his shoulder to France and Venice to learn carriage among Whores Banditos and riotous persons till penury forces his belly to fellow common with a Luk. 15.30 16. Swine and quatrell with hogs for their husks and at length can hardly crawl home to the Surgeons Shop Are not these sweet Flowers for his memory to smell to And a soveraign Cordiall against the assaults of Death But were this all 'T were no match for a Roman Spirit No no! proud worldlings before departure often conflict with fearfull torments Agags b 1 Sam. 15 32. bitternesse of death arrests their souls and make their Spirits stagger The c Ps 18.4 116.3 pains of Death and of Hell get hold upon them These deadly sorrows switch them with such smart lashes Ut se sentiant mori as to leave lingring pains with strong and biding Convulsions Like Tiherius that cruell Tyrant when tormenting of Asinius Gallus told him he was not yet reconciled and therefore would not permit him to dye d Dion .. Cass in Tiber p. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he might count life a punishment and death a great benefaction Like the stroke of these c Rev. 9.6 Scorpions when men shall seek death but not find it and shall desire to dye but Death shall flee from them So sharp and pungent are these invenomed shafts f Job 7.15 that the soul chooses Strangling and death rather then life They are called g Act. 2.24 12. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pains of death the acute pains of a woman in travell when God shall h Job 33.19 chasten men with pains upon their Beds and the multitude of
pray him to stay a while till they have caught the fish of profit and honour They put off repentance till gray hairs and proffer sacrifices of threescore yeer old when they are rich enough to believe with a bag of gold by their sides and have fortified faith with the security of a great purchase against all the issues of Providence Then they 'l promise to build a fair Alms-house and cut their Coat of Arms upon the Frontispiece for a good Example I know there be many Gallios f Act. 18.17 that care for none of these things of Felix his temper that appoint g Ch. 24.25 Paul a more convenient season They count them sour cynicall that warn'd them of death and the wrath to come but oh how sour doe themselves look when the fear of death assaults them and conscience bites like an Adder for scorning former advice about circumspect walking and redeeming of precious time But O fool is it not better to be prickt with the goad of wisdome to hear rather verba pungentia quam palpantia smarting and searching words to Salvation then sinoath and oyly words to lamnation that Sermon that pricks not but delights the hearer is not the word of wisdome Hierom. in Eccles. 12.11 p. S 3 T. 7 Is it not safer to hear this Bell now ring in thine ear then in Hell Is it not more convenient to hear Paul preaching in his chain then for thee to tremble in thy chains for the dreadfull sentence at the Tribunall of Christ Then hoarding up of riches will not profit in that day of wrath nor fine fashions ward off the stroak of Christs iron rod Ps 2. Will griping gains or soft raiment lay up a good foundation for the time to come Can men dye with any safe reflections of comfort upon the actings of sin Can such appeal to God at death that they sincerely love him when they love h Jam. 4.4 his enemies so profusely Let not these frothy things be entertain'd by such as would fain dye peaceably Would ye sleep in the bosome of Christ happily then walk in his eye holily Live in the love of God and you may appeal safely at death and long for his Salvation I have a Gen. 49.18 waited for thy salvation O Lord saies dying Jacob. But how comes in this pious ejaculation of Jacob may some say at his blessing of Dan unless the holy Patriarch in the midst of other matters at the benediction of his children should seem to have fallen suddenly into a trance of joy through a quick glance upon his former waiting and that now he saw this glorious salvation neer at hand Others when they are curvetting upon their winged Coursers after worldly games and pleasures Dan's Serpent of judgment and the Adder of Death bites their heels in the path and the riders fall backward Then oh how earnest they are for dying the death of the righteous Alas the Time 's now past for such to long for that salvation on any good grounds who by faith and prayer never waited for it But in Jacobs glasse we may see the frame of a Saints heart and the heavenly strain of his song at death who in the midst of the compiling his will and testament concerning that which his soul loved and had long expected he breaks forth in the extasie of a joyfull appeal now when he sees it approaching Lord this is what I wait for this my soul longs and hankers after to enâ—â—â—â— a Pnbliul in Hodaep Hierosol l. 1. vid. pâ—â—ef ad Pâ—â—â—veli peregran Hieâ—osol * 3. edit Antwerp 1614 Aâ— it 's reported of a Jerusalem Pilgrim being at Mount Olivet that in the midst of his kisses of Christs supposed soot prints between devour sobs and sighs and tears he expired his last breath When the Soul cries out with David Now Lord b Ps 39.7 what wait I for my hope is in thee Or as Simeon Lord Now c Luk 2.29 let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy ordained and my beloved Saviour with his salvations Now my hope thus long deferr'd shall sprout up into a Tree of Life and feed my soul with the pleasant fruits of thy salvation This Rock of the Covenant shall pour out the chrystall streams from the Throne of God and the Lamb. Jacob and Simeon sing the same new song of the Lamb and fall asleep sweetly in the same armes Their love to Christ bubbled up into warm appeals the sails of their joy were swell'd with fresh gales of the spirit while they steer under the top-gallant of assurance into the haven of enjoyment They lye down on the pitch of Nebo on the very peak of Pisgah in a beautifull view of the delicious Landskip of the fat vallies and the rivers of milk and honey that run among the mountains of Canaan They begin to cast away the glasse and see more immediately to resolve the riddle the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13.12 and expound it by vision When Saints like Peter can passionately pour out their Souls into the breast of Christ a Joh. 21.17 Lord thou who knowest all things knowest that I love thee this contestation this blessed appeal will keep Peter from ever sinking in the mortall sea of Tiberias and hold up the chin of a Saint through the greatest floods and billows of tentation yea of death it self and waft them safely into the bosome of Christ triumphing Section 4. The fourth and last appeal is about the presence of God with us I have spoken already to the sense of divine communion in a former chapter and shall now only treat in brief about our appeal concerning it David had a sense of it that was his comfort and conquest but now he declares it that 's his triumph Lord thou hast been with me and thou knowest it and my soul knows it and I sensibly feel that thou art still with me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu mecum Thou with me saies the Hebrew restraining the divine presence to no certain time Thou standest with me by me on my side I will fear no evill The Lord stood by Paul in a tempest and said c Act. 27.24 fear not Paul and Pauls all in a calm The Syrtes or quicksands of Lybia the Euroclydons or most furious winds the rowling mountains of water fright not his faith When Sun Moon and Stars are mantled in Stygian darkness for many daies while others wish for day Paul enjoyes it No dangers terrifie a Saint when God is present The King of Terrors is subject to the King of Saints and gives up the keys of his Castle to this Lord Paramount and layes down the Mace at his Feet Si fractus illabatur orbis c. Though mountains be hurried into the heart d Ps 46.3 of the Sea the waters roar and the great hills shake with the swelling
of his lips he returns to his earth f Ps 146.4 and that very day his thoughts and his reasons of State must perish All his skill in Botanicks could not extract such an ens primum or a quintessence from his Cedars in Lebanon to prolong his life a moment beyond the appointed g Job 14.5 moneths and the bounds which he could not passe No nor holy Poul could not strengthen the stakes of his Tabernacle or keep its curtains from trembling but an East wind from the Roman wildernesse h smites it down to the ground Act. 18.3 and all his i skill in Tent-work could not raise it He therefore counts upon his house with God not made with hands k 2 Cor. 5. â— eternal in the Heavens and groans earnestly to be clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of Life Q. But why must Saints dye hath not Christ paid a ransome to purchase them from death Must Daniel the man of desires be led into this second Captivity Must John the beloved Disciple though he scape the boiling Oyl and rocky Patmos come down to his Tomb at Ephesus and walk in this six-foot Valley yes even he that lay in the bosome of Christ must also sleep in the bosome of the grave A. 1 To this may be replyed 1 Downam of Justifie p. 6. Edit fol. Lond. 1639. That Justification is a continued act of divine grace terminative quoad 1 nos in respect to us it lasts from our first conversion to the declarative sentence of absolution at the day of Judgment Indeed in respect to God who is actus purissimus a most pure and absolute act and sits down without any succession of times in the glorious noon of Eternity our justification admits no degrees It is not instill'd into us drop by drop in respect to him but so soon as a man doth truly believe he stands truly and perfectly righteous in the sight of God The Covenant of Grace is ratified simul semel together and at once at the Throne of God in the name and vertue of Christs righteousness so soon as ever we truly believe but 't is applied manifested and compleated to us in the successive methods of effectual vocation sanctification and finall redemption at the great day For while we continue sinners we have continuall need of justifying grace David as to fresh Commissions stood in need of a Ps 51.7 purging with Hysop from his leprous sins to receive an atonement Lev 14.6 19. and to have the Seal of the b Ps 32.5 forgiveness of the iniquity of his sin upon his acknowledgment and confession For as to us God is not said to remit those sins that are not yet committed but such c Rom. 3.25 as are past We are taught therefore by our Lord to pray d Mat. 6.11 12. Act. 5.31 every day forgive us our trespasses We sin dayly and must confess dayly and pray dayly for repentance and pardon Yea God himself in that Evangelicall promise by Esay assures us e Isay 43.25 I even I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delens am blotting out your trangressions for mine own sake and will not remember your fins to comfort us against tentations about daily infirmities Do we sin every day and is the truth not in him nay does he make him a lyar that saith f 1 Joh. 1.10.8.2.1 he hath no sin then we have need of a dayly Advocate to plead for us at the right hand of the Father a high Priest that g Heb. 7.24 continueth evir and h V. 25. liveth â—vâ—â— to i Heb. 9 24 appear in the presence of God and to make intercession for us By virtue whereof he k Joh. 14.2 3. prepares the heavenly Mansions in the Temple of Glory for us and us for them Then he will come again and receive us unto himself that where he is we may be with him and behold his glory And when this Prince of life the Judg of quick and dead shall appear he will pronounce that finall justifying and glorifying sentence l Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father m Ps 32.1 2. for blessed are they indeed to whom the Lord then imputeth not iniquity come and inherit the Kingdome prepared for you Then shall our justification be compleat in all its points at that joyfull declaration of Christ upon his Tribunall in Judgment No marvell then a Rom. 8.10 11. If the bodies even of Saints shall dye 'T is because of sin though the spirit be life because of righteousnesse But then shall all our sins be finally blotted our and cast behind his back in the b Mic. 7.19 depths of the Sea when those times of b Act. 3.19.20.21 refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord when he shall send Jesus Christ at the great Restitution whereof he hath spoken by all his holy Prophets since the world began Then shall Onesiphorus according to the prayer of Paul c 2 Tim. 1.18 find mercy in that day at the hand of Christ That day of full d Eph. 1.14 and 4.30 Redemption hath not yet appeared when the e Mat. 13.43 righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdome of their Father with everlasting joy upon their heads A. 2 Again Death was decreed and determin'd of God to seize upon faln sinners in all it kinds and yet we never find that doleful sentence repeal'd as to temporall dissolution in any promise f Joh. 11.25 I am the Resurrection and the Life saies Christ he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Yea our blessed Lord in his Sermon at Capernaum no less g Joh. 6. then four terms comforts his Disciples with the Doctrin of the Resurrection not that they should not dye but that he would raise them up at the last day Nay even to John himself Jesus h Joh. 21.23 said not that he should not dye But if I will that he tarry till I come what 's that to thee Peter No! both holy Peter and holy John Death is ordain'd as a means to purge and cleanse their bodies from the soil and filth of sin and to fit those sanctified Vessels for the life of glory A. 3 Saints therefore must look upon death with no other aspect then as the greatest bodily affliction which shall or can befall them and that it hath the same ingrediency though in a deeper measure with all the bitter Cups of triall which the Father is pleased to put into their hands They have one common reason and one common end to make them partakers of his holiness Sickness of the holinesse of Grace and Death of the holiness of Glory But are not Saints the members of Christs body Is the head glorified and must the Members pass this State of exinanition Must believers dye Yes and good reason too Should not the members be conformable to their head Ought Christ
Phil. 3.21 shall be changed and fashioned like his most glorious body then shall we ever follow the Lamb with agile spirits whereever he goes leading us to the living fountains of waters The Lord graciously make us all fit vessels for the Temple not made with hands by the imputation of his Sons righteousness that after a holy life we may sleep peaceably in Jesus and reign triumphantly with him Most honoured Sir I humbly commend you into the bosome of this blessed Lamb and Prince of Life to be presented a Ephes 5.27 without spot or wrinckle unto himself To this Lamb-like Shepheard of Zion that his crook and his staffe may comfort you That goodness and mercy may follow you all your daies and you may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever So prayes humbly and earnestly begging your fervent petitions and blessings from the fountain of Israel upon Your most obedient Son in all humble duty and sincere affection in our Lord Jesus Samuel Lee. July 30. 1669. Contemplations ON MORTALITY PSALM 23.4 Yea though I should walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will not fear evill for thou wilt be with me thy crook and thy staffe they shall comfort mee CHAP. I. Upon the words of the Psalmist KIng David from his Royal Palace in Mount Zion might feast his eyes with many delicious Prospects 1. The first and chiefest was the Tabernacle of the Lord of Hosts who a Ps 87.2 loved the gates of that mountain more then all the dwellings of Jacob. This holy Prince delighted in communion with God and therefore is styled a man after Gods own heart he b Ps 13.1 2 4 5. swore against the slumber of his eye-lids till he found a place for the Lord a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. And where did he fix the Tents of the holy One of Israel did he not bring up the Ark from the house of Obed-Edam into the c Sam. 6.12 City af David with gladness For d Ps 132.13 the Lord had chosen Zion he desired it for his habitation Thrice happy those Princes who entertain the pure worship of God within their Courts They shal e Ps 89.15 know the joyfull sound of Temple-musick they shall walk O Lord in the shining light of thy countenance A Second lovely Prospect with which David enamelled his eyes was the pleasant City of Jerusalem f Ps 122.3 a City Compact together g Ps 48.2 3. beautifull for scituation the joy of the whole earth God is known in her Palaces for a refuge A third Was the valley of Kidron a dark valley through shades and precipitious rocks It s name from Kedar obscurities and thick shadows environed with mountains and a swift torrent trilling along its caverns This gave a comely off-set to the neighboring hills here were the shady strokes of natures pencil the more to illustrate the bright pieces of this holy Land-skip Hence were redoubled the pleasant and warbling ecchoes of the silver Trumpets at new Moons and Sacrifices The fourth and last was the three-ridged mount of Olivet fruitfull healthfull and pleasant In the first of these Prospects he saw the holy One of Israel walking in his Sanctuary and enjoyed sweet fellowship with the divine Oracles From the second he took a view of the State of this vain life In the third he might raise Contemplations upon the house of all living In the fourth he beheld as in a glasse a glorious cast of the Resurrection a Zach. 14.4 the day of Judgment and Ascention to Heaven The sweet Singer of Israel had tuned in consort with his Harp many choice Meditations near the murmuring waters of Kidron and here in this Psalm he playes upon the valley it self Let 's descant on his Lesson in four parts 1. Here 's a comparison of the state of death to a walk in the shady valley of Kidron I know it is usuall to interpret the shadow of death by great and deep afflictions but I shal accept the phrase in this method In its first notion that darknesse which seizes upon persons ready to die is represented In a second the grave and death it self It s plain by the conferences of b Job 3.5 10.21 34.22 38.17 Job with his Arabian comforters 't was Eastern language In a third by a Metalepsi those horrors and terrors that attend the agonies of dying mortals yea any grievous calamities that paint the face of death to the life in the glasse of imagination Here under an elegant Allegory holy David prosecutes the divine shepheardy Gods gracious care and conduct The green pastures and the chrystal streams with which his soul was refresht Not doubting but goodness and mercy should follow him all the dayes of his life and although he should be lead through the valley of the grave the Lions and the Bears the Tygers and the Wolves of those fell bottomes should not scare him I will fear no evill for thou art with me Assuring himself that the great Shepheard of Israel had wisdome and power sufficient to guide him safely and at length to enclose this sheep of his Pasture in the Folds of his c Ps 23.6 house of glory for ever Other shepheards tremble at the yelling of the Lions and the print of their foot stamps horror much more to convey their Flocks under such dismall shadows be the slads never so verdant and the gliding brooks never so sweet and pleasant left they and their sheep prove sorry comforters to one another when they slide together into the Maws of such ravening Butchers But here 's a blessed and glorious shepheard a Muscul in Loc. qui sciens prudensque ducet in mortem ipsam who purposes and resolves to lead his Flock through the jaws of death So that David sings this Psalm in the warm feelings of the divine Presence I le fear no evil thy crook and thy staffe they shall comfort me Secondly Here 's the person that walks through this tremendous valley ruddy royal and holy David Thy sanguin complexion must now turn blanck and melancholy when Abishags arms shall be cold and feeble comforters and thy reall body must shrink into this grim b 1 Sam. 15 16. Michols bed That conquering Sword at whose brandishing Edam and Ammon trembled must be shaped into deaths Sithe to mow thee from the Land of the Living Thy holy heart must take Sanctuary in the divine Covenant c Ps 49 15 89.48 that God will one day redeem thy life from corruption and thy darling from the hand of the grave Thirdly We should muster up the formidable evils that put on their armor gird on their Swords and whet their glittering Spears for a fatall encounter in this valley Fourthly We must prepare the Cordialls the Balms and all the sustaining comforts and quickning promises to refresh the Soul and uphold the spirit from sinking that we may fear no evil since God is
1. c. 51 the e Camden in Glamorganshire eternales domus those smoaky and fulsome Huts about which the leves animae the separate Ghosts do keep their residence here the sprightly Satyrs tread their measures and paint green circles in the Elysian Fields till the blushing dawn of eternity d Ps 22.29 None can keep alive his soul from death nor ransome his e Job 13.6 lamp from darkness The martiall Commander creeps under his Bed f Sueton in Coleg c. 51. with Caligula at the râ—â—â—ing of this Thunderbolt no Marble Palaces cau dazle the eyes or daunt the approaches of Death no iron bars can repell his force his aquafortis burns all afunder he stands not agast at the pale and wan looks of quivering Princes but like a gyant fluster'd with the wine of blood looks terrible on the proud Nimrods of the World Kings Edicts that Death be not whispered in their Courts are sullied on waste Paper they but daub their Royall Parchments with fond flourishes Their strongest Towers are but the spinstry of Spider-webs Death's too great a Flesh-fly to be catcht in such Tiffany Walls hee 'l hum in their ears with hatefull buzzing will they nill they There 's no Canon or Decree against him can stand inviolable Should Medes and Persians twist Laws as strong as Cables this Sampson snaps them asunder like raw Flax or twined threads If all Justinians pandects were cramb'd with severe penalties that death presume not to touch an Emperor or be rude with his Lady or Children hee 'l send a Phocas to find them out and hale them to his Slaughter-house The Captains of their Guard with their Halberdiers fling down their Arms and cry craven This old Leviathan g Job 41.29 counts their Darts as Stubble and laughs to scorn the shaking of their Spears When this storm rises this furious blast be takes down the top-gallants and the Flags of Admirals he cuts their Masts by the Board the wisest Pilot he flings over-board no Anchor holds they run adrift and are shattered upon the Rocks The cunning Lawyer with all his shirks and querks and Writs of Error cant hook out a Habeas Corpus from this unbribed Barr. Death has too subtle a Pate to be overmatcht he has Presidents and rul'd Cases and Records as high as Adam There 's no Chancery refuge or Appeal from the Club-law of this Kings-Bench he 's Lord Chief-Justice and Jaylor he 's Sheriff and Executioner But what sayes Hipocrates with his Coan Aphorisms and Galen with his long winded Method Can't he open a Vein in the Arm of this raging Adversary that his Sword may fall and the Galenture of his fury abate against Mankind Is there no inchanted Potion nor amorous Cup can lull him asleep O Physitians Are there no Recipe's in all your Dispensatories against the crack of Heart-strings Must his deadly Ague shake both you and your Patients into the Grave Must his dropsie drown you his Feaver burn you to Ashes his Consumption emaciate and waste you to Skelitons and set up your Bones in his Anatomy School What is there no Antidote no Treacle against the needle-teeth of this black Adder No! he turns a deaf ear to all your Siren-Lectures This Serpent a Eccles. 10 11. will bite for all your inchantments Such bablers are no better But alas for this day of darkness b Irel. 2.2 this gloomy morning that 's spread upon the Mountains Can we track no comfort in this thick Fog of Ignorance Are there no Trees of Life to be found in Lebanon Alas is Eden lost Is that Tree free among the dead did the venemous breath of the old Serpent wither it did he hack it down did he pluck it up by the roots Are there no sprouts from its chips nor no healing atomes that flew from its wounds into other shrubs or plants Is there no drug in Arabia no balm in Gilead no Spice in India can revive a languishing mortal What no Etheriall Spirits nor irradiating Sulfurs nor Minerall tinctures nor Elixirs of Life to cure this stroke Won't potable Gold snatch back the flying Spirit and intreat that noble guest to stay a while within its old Cloister new plaistred and gilt with this restorative Won't the limpid Alcahest make the blood volatile and circulate it nimbly against the cold congealing blast of death Won't the great red-powder cure it Then farewell all their empty notions and unpracticable maximes their clogging Syrups ill digesting Powders their life-exhausting blood-lets and their cold mortal Juleps O vain man Nullis mors est medicabilis herbis No Plant in natures garden springs To heal or swage these deadly stings Use the Physitian that 's a duty trust not in him for that 's a sin Good Asa had this mournful title upon his a 2 Chron. 16.12 13. Tomb that he sought not to the Lord but to the Physitians and slept with his Fathers Though the skilfulst Physitian and the holiest Saint do meet together yet both should count upon a last day a last hour and a last moment that they cannot passe b Isay 3.2 The mighty man and man of war the Captain of Fifty the honourable the Counsellor the cunning Artificer and the eloquent Orator Death takes them all by the hand and leads them into this gloomy Valley He reverences not the gray hairs he rises not up to the milk-white brow of the grave and ancient nor layes down his crooked Sith at the foot of aged and hoary head he strains no courtesies with the weaker sex nor gives it the upper hand the pitifull cries of tender Infants pierce not his Adamantine breast This tearlesse Moloch hugs them mortally in his brazen arms he hath Urns proportion'd to all their Ashes and Graves of every size But what though riches and honour though sweet natures virtuous minds prevail for no reprivall Must holy bones also see corruption Can't Faith Prayer wrestle a fall with this mighty King of terrors No no though the wicked twice fall under the dint of this Goliahs Sword yet 't is appointed for all a Heb. 9.17 ence to dye and after that to Judgment For as by one man sin entred into the world b Ro. 5.12 and Death by sin So death passeth upon all men for that all have sinned Faithfull Abraham must lye down in the Cave of Machpeloh Patient Job after all his Arabian Tragedies must act one Scene more and say to Corruption c Job 17.14 thou art my Father to the Worm thou art my Mother and Sister Strong Sampson must fall by this Jaw-bone in the Vineyards of Zorah and meek Moses though he dye in a d Deut. 32.50 Mountain must walk down this deep e c. 34.6 Valley of Abarim Wise Solomon by all his prudent and pollitick maximes of Government can't tame and rule this ferocious Behemoth nor tye this wild Bull at his Figtree But his sage breath must out at the dore
their bones with strong pain when every bone shall have its pang and every pang from the strong arm of God oh how dreadfull to fall into the hands i Heb. 10.31 of the living God They are pains indeed which God calls pains when the soul shall be torn and rent from its beloved twin oh the tendons crack and the nerves with startling dolour snap in sunder We read of one but sick of the Palsie and yet k Mat. 8.6 grievously tormented When the Lord smites persons l Deut. 28.22 with Consumptions Feavers Inflamations and extream burnings oh what tossings and tumblings and pinings with wearisome hours when torn and grinded by the Stone or wrackt by the gout what tongue can express their miseries For a Herod to be eaten up of a Act. 12 23. Worms and such little wretches to pull a Prince piece-meal and to run away unquestioned For Jehorams b 2 Chron. 21.19 bowels to fall out by reason of his sickness and poyson his Courtiers For Asa to lye howling of the Gout and make all Jerusalem ring with his roaring Should not these tidings of three miserable Monarchs cool the fury and tame the madness of the Bedlam Hectors of our age To ruminate upon these terrors of death these painfull throws when men pour out their souls in dreadfull agonies methinks should take them a peg lower and put their carier in sin to a pause They who taste of the Cup of Death find it more bitter than Wormwood more venemous then the poyson of Asps all squeez'd into it Such as are under the gastly view of Death behold a griefly fearfull Monster that scares the bloody Heroes and vainglorious Gallants into exquisite horrors Obriguere comae vox faucibus haesit Their hait stands an end and their tongue faulters with amazing fears It has a direfull sting more horrid then a Scorpion or a Dragon This Cup unlesse sweetned with a lively sense of a gracious promise there 's no laying of your lips to it This fiery flying Serpent unlesse eased of his sting there 's no dallying with it in their bosomes for fool-hardy sinners Well might c Sueton. in Cas c. 87. Caesar wish a sudden and Augustus d Id. in Aug. c. 99. an easie Death who had beheld many astonishing spectacles in their long and bloody wars which might pierce hearts of Adamant and melt the most brawny and flinty breast and run down the most stoical Apathies into Rivers of mournfull Sympathies and compassions Methinks it should awaken snorting formalists to admit into the Hall of Conscience the Ecchoes of the roaring Elegies of such who dye as the historian phrases e Id. in Cas c. 88. non morte sua not a natural but a violent death when this Lion rampant rends the Soul from the body as he would the f Hos 13.8 Caul of a Kids heart When death shall meet them as a Bear bereaved of her Whelps or an evening Wolf that hath lurkt close in g Ps 104.20 her Den all the day long of a sinners life and comes forth barking at night and sharp set for her prey Then they are forc'd to drink deep of the wine of violence and to sup up the Cup of the avenger Then they a Job 15.33 shake off their unripe Grapes as the Vine and cast off their Flower as the Olive But alas the pains of naturall or the pangs of violent death are but the stinging of Gnats or Flea-bites to a scorched conscience and inflamed by the wrath of God When men come to dye and have trifled away pretious hours with Rattles and childish Baubles and the silly jingling Hobby-horses of Court or Country and at that turning point of Eternity have forgotten to make their peace with God then Conscience rowzes up like a Gyant refresht with the wine of Sodom and the Grapes of Gomorrah When the grinning Furies lasht the goatish Soul of Tiberius for all his Villanies within the dark and dismall Dungeon of his unclean breast Oh! who would not tremble to think of those goring wounds those secret and invisible tortures which wrackt his Soul and stretcht his tormenting imaginations upon the Devils Tenter-Hooks See how a Tacit. An nal l. 5. p. 107. Edit Basil 1544 Tacitus breaks forth upon the Theme Si recludantur Tyrannorum mentes posse aspici laniatus ictus had we Casements into the hearts of Tyrants the dreadfull marks of the Steel whips of Conscience would appear with bloody gashes And as b Dio. in Nerone l. 63. Dion the Historian speaking of the horrors of Nero neer the time of his death for the assasination of his Mother and other brutish crimes sayes that if a Whelp did but howl or a Hen cackle or the arm of a Tree creak by a strong wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was in a wofull anguish Oh how the wires of Megaerae fetcht blood and gobbets at every stroak from his Soul When God shall pour the scalding Lead of his wrath into these fresh wounds when the Law thunders from Mount Sinai and the lightnings of Paran glitter about him Then c Hab. 3.16 their bellies tremble their lips quiver at the voice and rottennesse enters into their bones When sin comes home to the Soul on a death-bed and accosts him as the Souldier did d Pollio in Mario p. 538. Ed. Lug. B. Marius the Black-smith and Triduan Emperor Hic est gladius quem ipse fecisti Here 's the Sword of thine own hammering and shaking it in the face of a sinner cries look how it shines 't is thine own furbishing Then wo to him who hath enlarg'd his desire as Hell and encreased that which is not his and laden himself with thick clay Then fain would he vomit up his sweet morsells but no Emetick of the shop can help him no Squills no Roots in Nicander can fetch them up Then they abhor to remember what they cannot forget and the eyes of their fancy are as quick and venemous as a Bafilisk Then with their robberies of Peter they would pay off Paul and for their defrauding of Ministers would give tenfold Tithes and with the ruins of old Abbayes and Mannors by oppression depopulations of Villages that they may a Isa 5.8 be alone in the midst of the earth in all haste they patch up Chappell 's Schoolls and Work-houses But God hates the Sacrifices of dying and putrilaginous bodies the Incense that oppressors offer proves the savour of death unto death he counts the sighs of their fleeting Spirits like the steams of rancid dung-hills which the fire of Hell sends up not the beams of his countenance who is now departed No warning pieces before could alarm them No blazing Comets could awaken or startle them though b Mantil Astrinom l. 1. p. 27. that of Mantilius be true in all ages Nunquam futilibus excanduit ignibus aether Never did blazing Comets shine in vain
hee 'l force no court complements upon them There 's a King of a fierce c Dan. 8.23 countenance understanding dark sayings will speak as big and as rough as they taunted to the poor he will make them bend the knee and do suit and service at his Court-Baron There they shall hear the Jaylors long-winded Lecture upon a sharp and cutting Text and can't get out of his Chappell though they sit at the lower end hee 'l keep them from sleeping and gash their memories with the keen knife of his tongue about the many Sabbaths they profaned and the means of Grace they contemned how they mockt at repentance and loll'd out the tongue at precisenesse hee 'l gripe them with the holy examples meek admonitions of Saints and their patient sufferings for the truth at their barbarous hands They 'l have cold stomachs to jeer and fleere in the face of this conscience-scalding Preacher hee 'l chain the blessed Bible to the Desk of their Pews which they had laid aside like an old Almanack Now it comes in date at this year of reckoning Hee 'l prove to their faces how they have slighted the heavy judgments of the late dreadfull Pestilence the astonishing Fire and the colour of the British Seas crimson'd and diaper'd with the blood of their brethren hee 'l gaul them with their base ingratitude in slighting the mercies of the great God who gave them reprievall and survivall after all these dismall memento's But now ha's delivered them from a Jerom. 21 7. the Pestilence and from the Sword and from the Famine into the hands of this dismall King of Assyria hee 'l once more rub up their dull senses with sharp rebukes about the numerous checks of conscience and the loud calls of the spirit which then they injoyed but now they may howl after without any pitty and that which shall vex them to the heart hee 'l ever be harping and grating odiously upon the same string and jarring in their ears and rubbing the old sore about their lost opportunities and seasons of grace This shall be a plain and home Sermon such as before they scoft at here will be no flowers of Rhetorick to set off Truth to the squeazy palate of a Sermon-sick Lady here will be no fear to displease greatness here 's no Trencher-Chaplains to soften expressions least the great Churl Stomack at sound reproofs that might save his soul No these dayes are past here 's no impatient lookings at the hour-glasse when the last sand drops to be gone to dinner here 's no being glad at sleevelesse errands to steal away through the croud and choak conscience with this flam that a little 's enough if well practised No! here 's a Preacher will hold them to it and taunt and twit them with the day of repentance being over and chain them to their seats and lock them in the stocks as they once did the Saints in Lollards-Tower till the Trump of the Resurrection sounds an Alarum to Judgment Is this the state of wicked mens souls while their bodies rot in the grave when will they learn to be wise for Eternity They must b Bernard de Conver. ad Clerico◠suffocate and slay the worm of conscience here saies Bernard that would not be bitten hereafter Is it not better to hearken diligently to a few Sermons here though ten hours long though a Act 20.7 Paul preach till mid-night then to be liuckt to that terrible Sermon that shall last many hundred years long from the day of death till the day of judgment and after that a second Sermon in the afternoon which shall know no evening but last to Eternity when rivers of tears can't wash away guilt nor ten thousand rivers of oyl can't make thy Sacrifice flame acceptably up to heaven O be wise while the day lasts Mic. 6.7 and do the work which the Father giveth to work b Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent But if ye reject this counsell and like foolish builders refuse this stone of the corner till that fearfull night shall overshadow you then your mouldring bodies must lye by it and be kept in that smothering prison while your lamenting souls are agitared and hurried with these condemning and tormenting Furies There your bodies though of ne're so fine a c Job 21.26 Clay must mix with the course allay of your once oppressed Slaves The dust of Princes must mingle with base and mean Peasants they and their Porters must lodge together Lords and Beggers know no distance and what Artist can form his Epitah by any distinct colour or grain in their mould Neither can heaps of Gold bride a fancied Charon to waft their bodies out of these gloomy regions these Egyptian shades to any Elysiam meadows of pleasure The searching brains of the ablest Counsellors can find no flaw in the Writ of Death nor get any bayl or mainprize from that tedious Gatehouse Here the Skull of the acutest Thomist through length of time will all dwindle into starvling Moss while he forgets to distinguish its fit season for the Weapon salve Alas it won't cure the fractures made by Deaths Pole-Axe No distinctions can satisfie this cunning sophister to turn the key and release the Prisoner But here they must all continue and abide in the state of the dead The ingenious Artificer can invent no clew to hand him out of this snaring maze this winding Labyrinth There 's d Eccl. 9.10 no invention or judgment no device knowledge or wisdome in the grave whither thou goest 'T is by the Decree of the e Dan. 4.17 watchers the time once doom'd and sixt there 's no reversion He that goes a Job 7.9 10. down into this far Country shall return no more to his house nor shall his place know him again There all sit down in deep silence till the moment appointed by the high and holy One who inhabits Eternity Then shall the enemies of his Sons Kingdome creep out of the dust to shame and everlasting contempt But the ashes of his people their gracious Father lays them up in the treasuries of his wakefull providence and they shall be his in that day that b Mal. 3.17 he makes up his Jewels when the joyfull voice of Christ shall gently raise them to that blissfull dawn when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rosie fingered morn shall blush out of the East and the Sun of Eternity shall gild their rising Temples for glory CHAP. VI. Of the fell Dragons at the further end of the grave MEthinks the way through the dark c Morisans Travels p 113. Grott near Naples opening towards the sulfurous mountains of Vesuvius and the stagnant air of Campania bears some resemblance with this close and terrible passage through the Valley of Death were the terrors many at the entrance they increase and multiply at the coming forth There 's no hiding stopping
or retreating when the Reapers are sent forth to gather the Tares d Mat. 13.30 together to bind them in bundles and to burn them to ashes no stately Mausoleums no Marble Tombs can detain the new-enlivened bodies when they begin to hear the shrill Ecchoes of the Arch-Angels Trumpet That acute voice which sounded so oft in the ears of Jerom Arise ye dead and come to Judgment The great doctrin of the Resurrection which vain Athenians derided now shines forth in its glory when the bones that were scatter'd at the graves mouth begin to crawl together See Ezek 37.8 how the sinews nerves and muscles climb up to their proper places and milk-white skin covers them round about Here 's an admirable spectacle of the imperiall power of God when so many millions of miracles shall proclaim that glorious and fearfull name of the Lord of Hosts when some dust shall creep up the Banks of Rivers and others from the depths of the Sea when that which was mingled with common Earth or the Sands of the Shore the Bowels of Fishes wild Beasts and Canniballs shall each Atome return to the structure of their proper Bodies and all the round Globe over new-quickned and living persons start up in every quarter Methinks the Angells stand gazing at it and trumpeting forth blessing a Rev. 5.13 Clem. Alex. strom l. 5. p. 405. honour glory and power to him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever That the ancient Heathens had some glimpses of this great point b Euseb de prepar Evang l. 11. c. 33. l. 13. c. 13. Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius out of Plato and Plutarch and our c Bradward de Caus Dei l. 1. c. 1. sect 39. p. 96. Bradwardin out of Pliny Varro Plato and Democritus give some evidence But whence the old Sophies lighted their Torches and how far they improved their faint and glimmering twi-light I must not enlarge nor shew who rose no higher then Pythagoras his doctrin of transanimation out of Porphyry and the Stoick Schools since we have a more sure word of Prophecy to which we do well d 2 Pet 1.19 to take heed as to a light shining in a dark place till the Day-star arise in our hearts We have here to consider with what consternation of Spirit all wicked and ungodly men shall lift up their heads out of the dust of Death How bitterly shall their Souls and Bodies greet and rue the day of their sad reunion These Simeons and Levies former brethren in evill now turn mutuall instruments of cruelty in their habitations Methinks the fore-dooming of that Tragicall Dialogue should fore amuse any reasonable creature To think how the lamenting body shall wring its hands at the moment of the Souls re-entry when the Soul it self shall tremble and all the bells of the senses ring backward at this fatall marriage How do the eyes gush forth with tears in that cloudy morning and the whole day overflown e Pro. 27 15 with continuall droppings of a soaking rain and that with tears of blood and flaming drops of brimstone They who were in this life mutuall tempters shall in that life be mutuall tormenters O that mortalls would put on Prometheus betimes and be wise beforehand and cry out with Jacob O my a Gen. 49.6 Soul come not into their secret unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united For both were guilty of self-murder and that of the deepest grain the strangling of Souls But alas were the body to rise only that were its happiness and perfection Resurrection in its simple notion speaks out the redintegration of nature The form of the Soul hath a strong and vehement appetite after the materiall Body It delights in union to perform the native and genuine functions of information Alas sinners shall not meerly rise but must all stand before the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ and can there be any thing more horrible to the immagination of a dying sinner not reconciled to God then the great and fearfull Tribunall When God b Eccl. 12.14 shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or evill When Death rides towards him on a meager and pale Horse that dismaies him most to spie Judgment galloping after him c Heb. 9.27 It s appointed for all to dye and rhen to Judgment There will a Judg sit down upon a fiery Throne of Carbuncle who shall not d Isay 11. â—â— judg after the sight of his eyes nor reprove after the hearing of his ears externall appearance and glittering greatness bribes the understanding and falfe witness perverts the sentence of an earthly worm he must go Secundum allegata probata according to proofs and witnesses But here 's a Judg e Ib. V. 3. of quick scent in the fear of the Lord righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness of his reins The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f Heb. 4.12 13. the Word essentiall pierces to the dividing of soul and spirit the joints and marrow he is a discerner of the thought and intents of the heart There 's not a creature but is manifest in his sight All things without are naked and stript of their vestments and all things within are cut open by his Razor and anatomiz'd to the back-bone and spinall marrow before the eyes of him with whom we have to doe The eyes of this Judg are g Rev. 1.14 c. as a flame of fire his feet like fine brasse burning in a Furnace he treads down and burns up his enemies at once His voice is as the sound of many waters who can abide the day of his coming Out of his mouth flowes a sharp two-edged Sword and his countenance is like the Sun shining in his strength a Rev. 2.23 He searcheth the reins and hearts and giveth to every one according to their works He that sits down on this Judgment Seat b Rev. 4.3 c. is to look on like the various and many-vein'd Jasper in the rare diversity of his excellent and glorious atributes and perfections like the incarnate Sardine in taking our flesh upon him and round about the Throne the enamouring Rain-bow of the Covenant shining like a pleasant green Emerald with all the glittering promises of the Spirit Upon twenty four Seats encompassing this illustrious Chair of heavenly state sit the reverend Assessors twenty sour Elders clothed in white Raiment and Crowns of Gold upon their Heads according to the twenty four Orders of Priests attending this great Prince of might and High-Priest upon c Zach. 6.13 his Throne and between his Princely and his Priestly Dignities the Counsell of Peace shall stand Before him burn seven Lamps of Fire and upon twelve Brazen Oxen stands a Sea of Glasse like Chrystall He is endued with the multiformions gifts and graces of the holy Spirit his hands are alwaies purely washt
Ps 23.1 my shepherd I shall not want a full Table trickling Oil a running Cup are Davids portion Such a child that hath a God to his Father V. 5 fears no want Such a Lamb that hath a God to his Shepheard fears no evill His crook and his staffe shall comfort him Here 's green Pastures and pleasant Rivers in the very Valley of Death Faiths prospect of Heaven transports a Saint He sees Deaths Valley but 't is a Gilden Vale. 'T is a narrow Valley he leaps it over with his Shepheards staffe Faiths eyes are strong and its legs nimble He takes his rise from the promise and no sooner dies but is over Kidron At death carnall mens eyes are dim no spectacle no optick Glasse can help them to spie Jerusalem A Saint like Moses hath b Deut. 34.7 strong eyes nor is his natural moisture fled He stands upon the Pisgah of his own Tomb and sees crosse the whole Land of Canaan to the utmost c V. 2. even the Mediterranean Sea Others at death how feeble are d Eccl. 12.3 the knees of their Souls their hands the keepers of their house tremble and their thigh-bones the strong men bow themselves But the feeblest of the inhabitants of Zion I speak of such as stand in specula visionis e Zach. 12.8 in the watch-tower of Faith and look through the glasse of assurance they shall be as David in that day and the house of David shall be as God as the Angell of the Lord before them As David but why as David Sure strong was the faith and piercing the eye of David that saw glory so clearly through all the thick Fogs Mists of the Valley 'T was God was with him that cleared his eyes and pointed with his hands as he did to Moses and f Deut. 34.1 4. caused him to see it But neither Moses nor Aaron must enter to shew that the ceremoniall no nor the morall Law can't waft us over the Brook to Canaan But David the Prince of the new Covenant he shall tread down the Cananites and on his head shall his Crown flourish David the Subject had Daved the g Ps 84.3 King with him David the Servant had David the Son the Son of Jesse had the Son of God for h Ps 110.1 his Lord and Captain And whose Faith shall not flowre by Christs watering and whose fear shall not wither at his presence who fears death when this Shepherd sustains who fears his arriving to Heaven if a God if a God in Covenant if my God and my Father lead me Thou art now with me saies David I 'le not fear for shortly I shall be with thee Gods with us here but we are with him in heaven here drops of Heaven slide into us there we shall swim in heavens Ocean Here a little of the oil of joy trickles into our hearts from a Ps 133.2 the head of Christ there we shall b Mat. 25.21 enter into the fulness of our Lord and Masters joy here it enters into us and there we enter into it But still by virtue of his presence thou art with me and the vigor of his conduct thou shalt lead me Thou art with me to bring me to thee Thy Crook and thy Staffe they comfort me and why For they protect and guide me to thy holy Hill and to thy Tabernacles Thou wilt shew me the path of life At c Ps 16.11 thy tight hand are pleasures for evermore of all these five I hope to treat in their order If God permit CHAP. VIII Experimentall feelings of the Divine presence choice Comforts to a Saint at Death THou hast made known unto me the wayes of life and what followes Thou d Act. 2.28 shalt make me full of joy from thy countenance Gods face darts one beam of light on the path of a Saint to shine upon his way to glory another beam and that 's of joy upon the heart of a Saint to oil his motion And all but beams yet warming beams and experienc'd beams to hasten him to the Sun it felf A Saint ha's now but beams of joy and blessed be God for beams and such beams as direct and attract to the Sun it self to that Sun of joy to that fulness of joy in his countenance Saints look unto him and their c Ps 34 5. faces are enlightned our looking to God makes us look like him and the neerer to him the more we are like him Gods countenance is of a changing and transforming nature When God lookt upon Moses but through a chinck how did his face shine how lovely was it as well as glorious God smiles on a Saint in love and a Saint reflects upon God with joy But Saints have not only good looks from God but free entertainment He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters he restoreth my soul he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his Names sake oh how the cool Etesian gales from the rivers of the spirit in ordinances revive and refresh a Saint The experience of present mercies dispells the fears of future evills I will fear no evill for thou art with me God never forsakes a soul in covenant never withdraws his reall though sometimes his visible communion I foresaw the Lord alwaies a Act. 2 2◠27. before my face therefore my heart rejoices c. because thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave By nature Gods not with us but when once the day spring from on high doth visit us grace never sets in an evening whether we sleep or wake we are still with God Here 's the point to know aright that God is with us and we with him Whether we have walkt with God and he with us If Enoch walk with God then God will take him He that walks with God pleases God b Gen. 5.24 The Septuagint render the Hebrew word for walking by pleasing God and the Spirit of God delights in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and uses the same c Heb. 11.5 when treating of Enoch in the New Testament to shew what pleasure God takes in them that walk with him If we walk with God we have fellowship and communion with him God d 1 Joh. 1.6 7. is light and if we walk in light we walk with him Light is holiness and a holy person walks in light and dwells in God le ts not spot our garments and we shall walk with him in white e Rev. 3.4 The fine linnen of holiness alas what Saint doth keep it clean we must wash it daily in the Laver of the Spirit or else no company for a holy God The best of our linnen is but course and yellow it s well if it be sincere and true but then it shall shine with raies of glorious light and be laced and beautified with admirable gifts The Queen f Ps 45.14 shall be brought
in war warmth influenced into thy Soul by sitting under the b Ps 91.4 Feathers of the Almighty under the wings of the Cherubims in his holy Oracle Art rhou warm'd by Ordinances and inflamed in thy affections to God and through a holy cherishing vitall heat Can'st say with David thou art with me then humbly infer I will fear no evill He that walks in c Ps 89.15 the light of Gods face and under the warmth of his wings no evill frights him no Lion in the way turns him aside from the paths of holiness A righteous man under the sense of the flowings in upon him of the righteousness of Christ is as bold as a Lion and makes all the beasts of the forrest tremble He playes with that huge d Job 41.2.5 Leviathan of Death as with a Bird and bores his jaw with a thorne The head of this e Ps 74.14 Crocodile is meat for his Soul in the wilderness he spreads a banquet for his companions and parts him among his spirituall merchants he makes a gain of death and feeds upon the Destroyer For f 1. Cor. 3.21 death is his because he is Christs and Christ is Gods He carries the g Rev. 2.17 white stone of absolution in his bosome and fears not the day of Judgment Christ is h Gal. 1.16 revealed in him and so shall his glory The i Col. 1.27 Eph. 3.17 dwelling of Christ in his heart by faith is not only the bode of glory but roots and grounds him in love and inlarges his Soul to comprehehend with all Saints the interminable bounds the unmeasurable dimensions the unintelligible knowledge of the love of Christ till he be filled with all the fulness of God Though as yet he sees not Christ by the eye of sense yet he is enamour'd with him by the eye of love from the optick nerve of Faith and k 1 Pet. 1.8 rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory A Saint cannot conceive the greatness of Christs love nor utter the exuberancy of his own joy As the love of Christ flowes in so his joy swells overflowes and tides it into the bosome of Christ He is as full of heaven as he can hold and is ready to take his Phoenix-flight upon the wing of an extasie into Paradise But where 's the Saint that injoyes such heavenly feelings of the presence of God Did we search our experiments to feel our feelings and tast our tastings of God More would find the Well and drink the waters of assurance Ut nemo in sese tentet descendere nemo Will no man dive into his breast To seek the face of such a guest Hast thou a Well of living waters within thee and ne're a Bucket A Fountain and ne're a Bason of Meditation Be a worthy Souldier of Gideon a Judg. 7.5 6. lap with the hand of Faith b Bochart de animal parti col 674. hasten and conquer the Midian of tentation O how it strengthens the nerves inspirits and puts a new life in the sinews of these Champions of valour to fight the Lords Battails A sense a tast of the waters of divine love makes a conquering Saint Like Sampson at death slayes all his Philistins destroyes their God and their Temple together What the touch of God upon the heart is may be better felt then exprest and what ye can express none understands but he that feels None hear these Unison strokes but virgin-Virgin-Souls that have learnt b Rev. 14.3 the Song of the Lamb No stranger intermedles with a c Prov. 14 10. Saints bitterness at first conversion nor the sweet fruit of joy in assurance These spices grow in the d Song 4 12 enclosed garden bitter are they in the root and taste at first but send forth a fragrant scent when pounded in the Mortar of Meditation These waters flow from a Fountain sealed like the head of Nilus but at length by their nitrous streams impregnate all the champion plains of the Soul with fertile and teeming joyes A Saint distills them into Spirits of consolation and then like an expert Chymist circulates all his duties and graces in the closed glasse of experience at the Sun of Gods countenance into an oyl of joy 'T is etheriall and volatile and comforts all that mourn ' I is fragrant wine and highly balsamicall fit for a sick beloved it e Song 7.9 goes down sweetly causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak The love of God is a glorious object seen by the eyes of the Soul turn'd inward Experience is like the chrystalline humour through which and Meditation is like the tunica a Spigel Anat fol. p. 301. Bartholin 80. p. 351 Ed Lug. B. 1651. retina the Network-Coat of the Eye upon which the various kinds and species of divine love are cleerly discern'd Like as the curious varieties of all manner of objects are brought into darkned rooms by convex glasses So 't is with a Saint in the private room of contemplation when his glasse is placed in the roof of his Soul and all worldly objects are shut out a heavenly heart lets in only the admirable things that come from above All that 's in Heaven flowes in and paints the Chambers of the Soul like Solomons Temple within and adorns a holy heart in lively colours with Palm-Trees and Cherubims The Queen is all glorious b Psal 45.13 within Her clothing of wrought Gold from the Isle of Ophir her garments of Phrygian Needlework But all these ornaments beautifie the heart within The Kings c Song 7.5 Galleries within the Soul are hung with the Arras of Grace and Tapistry Stories of Gods love from Election to Salvation from Heaven to Heaven Lift up your heads ye everlasting d Ps 24.9 dores that the King of glory may enter and there e Song 7.12 receive his loves Naked innocency and godly simplicity holy integrity and unblameable purity of life are a Saints outward ornaments the choicest lustre and radiancy shines in the presence Chamber The Soul that has it beholds it with unsatiable delight enjoyes it and is even inebriated and scarce it self with the pleasant draughts of this cordiall Nectar It drinks abundantly of this holy anodyne to asswage its sorrows The joyes of Heaven pour'd in from the golden cup of assurance is a choice opiative against death It perverts not but exalts the intellectualls and translates a Saint in a trance to glory Hast thou then any spirituall senses are they f eâ—ercised to discern both good and evill Heb. 5.14 Canst thou tast the bitter evill of death in the forbidden fruit and cure that mortall gust with the g Rev. 2.7 Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God Eph. 1.21 2. Hath the h Head of Principalities and Powers commanded away the Cherubims with their flaming Swords from the gates of Eden Has the Prince of Life called
run Solomons race a new counts that Prince a fool but proves himself to be so God commanded Solomon to write a Book on purpose to save our labour to quench our drought to excuse our oil and to set up his Herculean Pillars On the one side he graves all is vanity on the other ne plus ultra sail no further For now there 's no terra incognita no more land nor continent nor Isle to be discovered hear the conclusion of the b Eccl 12 13 whole matter Fear God and keep his commandment for this is the whole of man Solomons Ships of speculation went round the world and brings tidings of more gold for covetous wretches and more Apes and Peacocks for curious and weak fancies but no new thing under rhe Sun The old pleasures indeed shall waft home new toils new vexations but no satisfaction to a judicious Soul A wise man therefore fixes his eyes upon divine wisdome and daily contemplates the ribs of Solomons Ship laid up in the dock at Eziongaber shatter'd with its sore travells and learns the great prudence to stay at home to study his own heart and to ponder the paths of understanding Alas then may we not pitty deluded bewitched entangled mortalls that still hunt their game and follow the hot scent through the wildernesse and forrest of this world Oh! how they puff and pant and sweat and leap hedge and ditch after the deep throated hounds of their boundlesse desires to catch a shadow It s a plain sign they know little and have tasted nothing of God to hunt so fiercely after smoak and vapour I will not say 't is unlawfull to hunt wild Beasts for the food of man or to make room and preserve his safety But this I 'le say to take pleasure in setting the creatures at variance to make a sport of the fruit of sin to make that a recreation which God has made a curse is the sign of one that walks contrary to God I read of no godly man but of four other hunters in Scripture Nimrod and Esau and Ishmael and the cruell hunter of souls and I am sure they are wild and bad companions But there are a world of hunts-men that pursue the pleasures of sin and the gains of unrighteous Mammon and oh how these ignes fatui these inflam'd meteors lead thousands into the bogs of eternall darknesse And as the ancient Heathens sang of hunts-men Nec praeda quam caede magis c. Nunc hominum nunc bella gerunt vio lenta ferarum That eager hunters of Beasts in times of peace were usually bloody hunters of men in time of war That man has no communion with God whose Soul is immerst and drownd in sensuall pleasures Such as walk in the vanity of their minds a Eph. 4 18 are alienated from the life of God such have little honour or love for God that forsake the fountain of living waters and suck the mud of the broken Cisterns of the Creature Their Souls are as earthy as their objects and their spirits as base as their pleasures But remember that to lay up thy Soul in thy Barns to tye it in thy Bags to lodg it in thy Parks to pack it in thy Warehouse or stove it in thy Ship These are dangerous places to look for it when the world is in a light flame Shall I commend unto thee O man a gainfull Trade and a pleasant Chase The first is to lay out all thy Stock for the Pearl of price The second is to fall in company with David and a Ps 63.8 follow hard after God and never leave him till thou get a blessing As b Ps 42.1 the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God Here 's a hunted hart turns hunter himself Sin hunts a Saint and he pants for God and at length meets with lovely Venison but 't is in the Sanctuary savoury meat that his soul loves he tastes it and blesses his darling before he dyes He feeds upon a Kid of the flock takes the Cup of Salvation and Praises saying thou hast dealt bountifully with me c Ps 116.7 Return O my Soul unto thy rest He has no rest upon earth no rest but in God and therefore return O my soul unto thy God He looks upon the whole earth as Tohu vabohu without form and void d Gen. 1.2 and all the fulnesse thereof to be but emptinesse the roating of the seas to sound forth their shallownesse and all the starry heavens to be like e Stellae nebulosae vanishing clouds Unlesse he feel the warmth of the spirit of God moving upon the waters of his soul If thou hast indeed had spirituall feelings of God thy Soul 's warm'd thy thirst to the world slaked to God inflamed thy hot inquisition and pursuit of the creature coold and checkt Fools gather Cockleshells and Peebles when there lyes before them a mine of Gold or a rock of Diamonds And here 's the vast difference between the possessors of worldly and the inheritors of heavenly treasures Those make the man covetous of an evill e Hab. 2.9 covetousnesse to his house the other ennobles the minde with a communicative generosity And there 's reason for 't though no reason for sin yet there 's a reason to be rendred why the sinner acts so For the first loses by his hoarding and the other gains by his spreading The graces of the spirit in the soul as well as in the whole Church are a fountain of gardens f Song 4.15 a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon They are not wells pent up but overflowing Come saies David and I le tell you what g Ps 66.16 God hath done for my soul Experience in these Visions is like sailing upon an Ocean that hath an infinite round no diving to the bottome no kenning of a shore There 's alwayes a terra incognita an unknown land in heavenly mysteries and the more we discover it yields more various and excellent pleasures New fruits new tastes new paradises new gardens of delight new songs and new joyes for ever The Songs of the Lamb will be new a Rev. 14.3 to all eternity Here in this life the soul hoists up sails from the port of conversion on the waters of Merom the bitter waves of repentance mourning and tentation for sin then spreads them upon the Sea of Galilee in sweet communion with Christ and his holy disciples in the ship then passes the dead sea without danger and at length with a prosperous gale falls into the vast Ocean of eternall glory But to reentrench he that feels what God is to his soul is in wardly fild with a sense what he will be Death is no more able to amuse a holy soul inbosom'd with God and season'd with experiences of his love then the Carkass of the Lion was to fright Sampsons Parents nay it fed them with life-honey dropping
from the hony-comb Keep up thy feeling fellowship with God in the closest and choicest reflections upon his love and the fear of death will vanish Make conscience of secret sins and secret duties this will make way for secret communion and sweetly encrease it The more frequent and humbly familiar you are with God in holy reverence the more divine and soul-fainting emanations will flow from his heart to replenish thy soul and enlarge it for glory our a Ps 90.8 secret sins saies Moses are in the light in the broad day light of thy countenance Let 's consider a he sees the least aberration and wandering of our thoughts from his love let 's be as tender to avoid his displeasure as we would be joyfull in the beams of his face let 's b Ps 63 6. remember him upon our beds and meditate on him in the night watches Let 's c Ps 4.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commune with our own hearts and be still that we may commune with his and be joyfull Silete vacate be still from all passions and hurries give a vacancy to thy Soul to meditate on God and it will still thy fears The more our Souls are wrapt up in this communion the more they dye to the world and live to God Our life is a vapor to dying mortalls but death is a vapor to a living to a lively Saint But now let me end with a caution that 's mixt with a Cordiall A very holy Saint may set in a cloud and arrive at the haven in a storm God's tyed to believers by promise to save them but not to carry them in a Song 3.9 Solomons Chariot of the wood of Lebanon into Heaven Yet it stands firm what David sings in this present Psalm Thou art with me and therefore I 'le fear no evill When the Soul from feeling can chear up its spirits that God is with it It fears not who 's against it God for secret reasons b Luk. 24.16 may hold the eyes of some disciples that they may not know him to shew that all from grace to glory is from free love and that we can challenge neither grace to close with his Covenant nor assurance to discern our adherence The sprinkling of the Conscience from dead works the peace of God that passeth all understanding c Col. 3.15 to rule in our hearts and the joyes of the holy spirit all flow from the same Fountain All our springs are in Zion and bubble up from under the Throne of the Mercy-Seat Yea at the state of Death some ordinary Christians If meek and humble may injoy greater Visions then many gracious holy and sweetly gifted Ministers 'T is not alwayes the strength of Grace but the gift of influence that breeds and nourishes strong and bright assurance A Mary Magdalen shall call Jesus by the name of Rabboni When two experienc'd Disciples shall walk and talk with him many a mile and not see him nor taste him till the evening till the c Luk. 24 29. Supper of Glory But yet 't is rare for holy hearts to want these heavenly Visions The pure in heart shall see him in the Glasse of assurance as well as behold him hereafter face to face CHAP. IX Holy Appeals to God in Prayer great Comforts against Death DAvid was now at Prayer applying and appealing to God at owning and appropriating work telling God that he was with him Did not God know that he was with David Yet but God loves to hear from a Saint that he feels it A Saint must tell God that he feels it not to satisfie him as unacquainted with it For the Lord fills the Soul with himself and known unto the Lord are all his works from the beginning But because God delights to hear that we thankfully own and acknowledge it Thou art with me David speaks it upon his knees and with his Harp in his hands he sings it This Lesson Lord I learnt of thee wilt thou please to hear it Thou art with me in me and thou within me comest unto thy self I am full of thee and therefore my Soul over-flowes to thee Thy love is a fire which hath inflamed my heart and a Excellens sensibile laedit sensum being pent it preyes upon my spirits let it have it 's holy vent into thy bosome It multiplies upon it self and out it must wilt thou accept it For a while let it warm the strings of my Harp as well as of my affection and touch every tone with a flame of love as if a Seraphim had quickened it with a coal from the Altar Then let my Soul like fire ascend before thy Throne winged with that love from whence it came Prayer what is it but a flight of the Soul from it self to God A Soul affected with divine love hath Doves eyes its prayers hath Doves wings and flies with Letters of credence at its feet from the spirit within our Temples unto the holy Oracle within the Vail 'T is in Prayer that David pours out his Soul and sings Thou art with me he sayes not thou wilt be with me but inferres that God would be with him because he was so and therefore I shall fear no evill This God is our God a Ps 48.14 for ever and ever he will be our guide unto death and through death and after b Ps 73.24 death receive us to glory Faith carries the foot of prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Rev. 14.6 into the midst of Heaven as with Angels wings And as the Lord said to Joshua so may we say to praying Saints a Josh 1.3 every place that the soal of your foot shall tread upon that hath he given you the good land is before you go in and possesse it When we pray we enter the Court of Heaven where the Lord b Exod. 24.10 Ezek. 1.26 sits on a Saphire Throne embellisht with the morning Stars and the Rain-Bow of the Covenant round about him and thousands of Legions of Cherubims to minister to him We are taught by our blessed Saviour to pray Our Father which art in Heaven as if a Saint in prayer should account himself as it were assum'd into Heaven The Father sees us at all times but in prayer we doe Sistere nos coram present our Souls to be seen by him Should our hearts be in heaven when our souls are in prayer what heavenly hearts become so heavenly a presence as God's and so heavenly a quire as the Angells round about him Let 's pray that his will be done as it is in heaven that we be like a kind of earthly Angells that in all our prayers our wills may be hallowed into his d 1 Joh. 5.14 as when we shall come to heaven Then if we ask any thing e according to his will he heareth us To have our wills the best way is to have his holy will to be ours and then we may pray with reverence