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
to have a Luk. 24.20 suffered these things and so to enter into his glory Hath the Father made b Heb. 2.10 the Captain of our Salvation perfect through sufferings and will he not the same way bring many sons to glory Shall this High-priâ—st after the order of Melchizedek drink c Ps 110.7 of the Brook of Kidron in the way to Olivet before he lift up the head in a glorious Ascention And shall Saints the inferior Levites think much to taste it Zebedees Children do but taste a few drops at the bottome of d Mat. 20.22 23. the Cup of Kidrons water Christ hath drunk it off Saints do but sip of e Num. 5.27 c. these bitter waters not for satssfaction but submission to the Law they shall not cause their thighs to rot but conceive to glory What 's fabled of the Unicorn that he takes away the poyson by dipping his horn in the waters before the Beasts of the Forrests do drink after him Is true of our Lord he hath sweetned these waters of Marah with this Tree of Life for true Israelites to pledg him His holy body washed the waters of Jordan by his Baptism and healed the waters of Kidron by his Passion Christ that pure prolifick f Joh. 12 24 Corn of Wheat fell into the ground and died and bringeth forth much fruit The grave is made fertile by his death that Saints lying by his dead body may be impregnated and spring up in a green Resurrection and grow ripe to the harvest of glory They are implanted into the g Rom. 6.5 similitude of his death and shall be raised in the likeness of his Resurrection As that heavenly grain did rise so shall Saints sprout upon his stalk without Chaffe for the Garner of Paradise A. 4 A. 4. Again Saints dye not only in conformity to their head but to magnifie the glory of divine Grace in Salvation by the New-Covenant Christ takes away the radicall and fundamentall guilt of sin but not the totall in being thereof during this Life None shal go to heaven by the law of perfection according to the tenor of the first Covenant None shall boast of h Eph. 2.8 9. Tit. 3.5 work or merit for by grace are we saved None shall climbe to heaven but by i Gen. 28.11 12. Joh. 1.51 Jacobs Ladder whose foot is fixt upon the son of man We are saved by grace to k Rom. 3.27 exclude boasting we are saved l Act. 15.11 by faith that Christ may be m Phil. 1.20 magnified whether in life or death we are saved n Tit. 3.4 7. by mercy that the kindness and love of God our Saviour may appear we are not born but made heirs according to the hope of eternall life Nay we are saved by a Rom. 8.24 hope and with patience we wait for it Were we perfect here our faith would be clambering into vision and our hope into fruition our resting waiting panting frame would be swallowed up in preliminary injoyments of heaven our love would cast out all fear and torment and ride triumphant before resurrection to the capitol of glory But God hath an eye to that new and living way of salvation paved with the precious blood of the second Covenant wherefore though Christ be b Ro. 10.4 the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth yet he restores us not in this life to the beauty and perfection of holiness So that if sin remain in a Saint death must needs be its issue For sin when 't is finisht c Jam. 1.16 bringeth forth death Though death in all its circumstances be not the proper d Ro. 6.23 wages of sin unto a Saint because Christ hath satisfied and made us free from the Law e Rev. 8.2 of sin and of death Though death be not the f Ib. c. 6.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the stipendiary supper of a believer yet 't is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the four sauce wherewith the remnants and leavings of originall and the too great improvement thereof in actuall sins and infirmities are disht up Warm Bernard starts this question If Christ have delivered us g Bern. ad milit Templ f. 98. a. Ed. Pari 517. Utquid adhuc morimur non statim immortalitate vestimur Sane ut Dei veritas impleatur c. Why do we yet dye and are not presently clothed with immortality Verily that the truth of God might be fulfilled For because God loveth mercy and truth its necessary that man should dye because God had foredoom'd it but yet that he should also rise from the dead lest God should seem to forget his mercy So then though Death Lords it not over a Saint perpetually yet it remains a while upon us because of the truth of God Even as Sin though it reign not in our mortall bodies yet is it not totally taken from us Thus Bernard layes the burden of a Saints death upon the primitive fall the curse of God the veracity of his threatnings and fulfilling of that word to Adam in the day thou catest thereof thou shalt dye and a little before Adae delictum merito contrahimus quouiam cum peccavit in ipso eramus ex ejus carne per carnis concupisentiam genite sumus We are deservedly involved in Adams guilt because we all sinned in him for when he sinned we were in him and were begotten of his flesh by carnall concupiscence And is not this the very Doctrin of Paul a Ro. 5.11 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin So death passed upon all men for that all have sinned This is the guilt that carries those that have not sin'd after b V. 14. the similitude of Adams transgression into the grave Yea Infants Embryo's such as never saw the light from one dark grave to another Insomuch That though the second and glorious Covenant of free grace be c Ps 89.37 establisht as the Moon and as a faithfull witness in heaven yet it receives not its full accomplishment in all its promises till the Saints set down in the bosome of Christ after the great Tribunall and 't is not any the least impair or reflection upon the divine justice on this side the resurrection to visit the Saints transgressions with this Rod and their iniquity with these stripes d 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause sayes Paul treating of some violations respecting our Lords Supper many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep Wherefore though the guilt of sin be removed by justification through the merit of Christ and the dominion of sin by sanctification through the Spirit yet the totall remainders of originall or actuall sin are not stub'd out of the heart but some fibres and strings will stick behind in the best during this present life In like manner though e 1 Cor. 15.55 c. the
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
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
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
Oppressor c Hab. 2.11 the Stone cries out of the Wall and the Beam out of the Timber shall answer it When d Isay 34.13 14. the Owls of the Desert shall hoop among their shatter'd Palaces in hideous Consort and Satyres shall cry to their Fellowes Now woe to the ruiners of Cities by Fire and d Hab. 2.12 builders of Towns with blood that stablish their foundations by iniquity and cement the stones with the gore of the Innocent That put the f V. 15. Bottle to the nose of their Neighbours and make them drunk to behold their nakednesse That boast in their might g Is 5.11.22 to drink Wine that they are men of strength to mingle strong drink and how many they knock under Table h V. 23 24. Therefore as the fire devoureth stubble and the flame consumeth the chaffe So their root shall be rottennesse and their blossome shall go up as dust Now woe i Hab. 2.19 to him that saith to the wood of a Table awake and to the dumb stone of a Crosse arise for it shall teach These all compasse themselves k Isay 50.11 with sparks of their own kindling This they shall have at the hand of the Lord they shall lye down in sorrows CHAP. V. Of the State of the Dead NOt only in reference to the State of Sinners before and at the point of Death but as to their passage through the Valley of the grave many grand horrors do occupy the thoughts of mortalls Oh! that it were to prevent as well as fore-see what a damp 'tis to carnall Spirits to think of their heads being no sooner laid in the cold Cavern but Death as a Tyger or a Ps 49.14 Lion greedily feeds upon them With what a cold clamy sweat they faint away to think of going down to the Gates of Death and there to be lockt up in a loathsome Dungeon But here 's the sweet comfort of a Saint that Christ hath the b Rev. 1.18 Keys at his Girdle and will give them the c Ib. c. 2.28 morning Star They rest meekly pacified that their blessed Lord went the same way to glory that Ahrabam Samuel and David that Daniel Paul and John have beaten the path before them There is but one d Eph. 4.5 Lord one Faith one Baptism one new and living way to enter within the Vail that former Saints e He. 11.40 without us should not be made perfect But how mortally do the Pulses of unsanctified persons beat at the remembrance of the pit How they swound away with many a sinking qualm The fiery thoughts of their cold entertainment among the clods well may they scorch and shrivell up the plumes of their pride and jollity Oh how crest-faln and blew in the lip when this fatall guest knocks at dore The tenors of the old drunkards songs do they not quiver and rattle in their throats with wofull howlings What Vultures of grief would knaw their heart-strings did they dare to retire and meditate in this Charnell-house Were they so valiant and hardy Knights as to converse with Conscience in secret as heretofore they have met their impudent Mistresses f Pro. 7.9.10 with the attire of a Harlot in the twy-light in the evening in the black and dark night Would they not hang the head droop the wing and feel their Loins dissolv'd in trembling Palsies Do not their countenances g Dan. 5.6 change and their knees clatter together to read the writing upon the wall that their daies are numbred and sinisht How do the inhabitants of the earth melt at the musings on their forlorn estate in that hollow and deep Vault What! to be trodden upon by every footless worm to be insulted upon by an ugly grub to be bearded by a yellow Maggot and to be kept prisoner in stinking chains of darkness by noisome rottennesse Oh! how it vexes the high spirit of a Lord and nauseates the fine stomack of a Lady Then 's the time when all a Isay 14.9.10 11. the Kings of the Nations will rise up from their Thrones in the grave and passe this dolorous complement with the proud Emperor of Babel Art thou also become weak as we Art thou become like unto us Thy pomp is brought down to the grave and the noise of thy Viols the worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee where the Nouns in the Hebrew b Bochart de animal part 2. col 254. are feminine and the Verbs masculine the creatures contemptible but their feast magnificent upon the bowels of Princes Oh! how the woodlice flat-worms maw-worms the yellow-tails mites and wivils carve out their morsells and rejoice together Annon after the feast is ended the yellow hundred-foot takes up his Palace-royall in the skull of a King and the proud mincing Jezabels shall have their faces once more painted and spotted with the odious excrements of a black Beetle 'T is but lean comfort for haugthy big looks which the Lord abhors Pro. 6.1 21.4 to be humbled into these dark holes where their costly Sepulchrall Lamps shine with but a dim and blew light to search what impudent insects dare so boldly to crawl up and down their entrails and scorn to give account to their summons For a living worm counts himself more honourable then a putrifying Monarch Here on this side the grave after every meal they must have a fit of musick to digest their varieties and a sad poor fool must come in with his patches to make them merry But he that mocketh the poor whether in purse or parts c Pro. 175. reproacheth his Maker and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished Their gluttonous Feasts shall have sour sauce of deaths cooking and no Doctor can sweat away the surfeits of Conscience When Death hath once shook them by the shoulder into the grave hee 'l call also for a lesson at his Table and the Satyrs shall play low Funeral-Songs upon the Lure-strings of their perishing Nerves Dancein their courses while they are here they rise from their gormandizing Platters to play at Cards for whole Parks and fling the Dice for ancient Mannors But there flaming Devills will hurl their bones about from under the Altar and the Chancell rails without Sacriledge and thrust their own Rapiers red hot into their bushy Pates and make those hairy Comets to burn for warning Beacons O then they would fain prevail with Father Abraham to send Messengers to their a Luk. 16.28 five brethren upon earth to testifie to them lest they also come to this place of torment Here after the game at Tables is ended they hurry away with Coach and six horses in haste to hear a Sermon at the Play-house and are very well edified fully instructed and takes notes of the ready way how to reach Hell speedily But there death and his b Hs. 2.14 master will handle them without Mittens
yet to see no body O Souls will you be warn'd by the noises of these Canons at distance shall that insatiable thirst and gnawing worm well view'd in the glasse of divine threatnings provoke you to mend Or will you stay rather till you feel the loins of wrath in its unsupportable burden and then cry out to late Alas thy Conscience then at every turn will dun thy Soul with that of Abraham to f Luk 16.25 Dives O Son remember c. Remember the many holy Sabbaths the pretious Sermons the earnest zeal of painfull Ministers to pull thee as a firebrand out of the fire Remember the good examples the pious presidents the melting admonitions the sore afflictions and fatherly visitations of God Remember me thy now sweltring Conscience that shook the often by the Collar that scared thee to some duties and gave thee many a warm Item of this wrath to come Remember how thou scoffedst at puritans and mourners for sin Remember that good spirit that cried to thee Return return harden not tâ—y heart hearken while 't is called to dâ—y But now vain is the hope or mercy vain to lift up the bitterest cries thou shalt find no place for repentance in the breast of God g Heb. 12.17 no change in his minde though thou seek it carefully with tâ—ars The day of thy blessing is past Now the hope of the hypocrite is cut off â—nd swept down like a Spiders Web. Now thou hast no rest from this angry teazd Vulture that knaws thy Liver night and day And that which puts the bloody and circumflex accent the abiding tone upon all thy maladies They are Eternall who can dwell with a Is 33.14 everlasting burnings who will set b Is 27.4 briars and thorns against him in Battail who can enter the Lists and contend with consuming fire when it shall devour before him and be very c Is 50.3 tempestuous round about him when he shall shew d Is 30.3 31. the lighting down of his arm with the indignation of his anger with the flame of a devouring fire with scattering and tempest and hailstones When the pile of Tophet shall be fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone shall kindle it These are the fiery Serpents the Haseraphim the Devills the fell Dragons that gape with open mouth that hisse with inflamed tongues and pour out floods of venome at the further end of the grave upon every impenitent sinner O that the terror of the Lord would perswade men to take hold of his arm to makepeace with him and to be e Job 22.21 at rest O that I could rowze vain man from the lap of pleasure Will ye sleep on the e Pro. 23.34 top of a Mast in such a rowling and â—umbling tempest when every whist may tosse you into the deeps of Hell Be wise at last if possible and shale off your senseless slumbers O hard heat that tremblest not at the rattling of his Chariots when he clotheth the necks of his Horses with thunder against thee as in the day of Battail That 's a hard heart which is not frightd at it self and what will be the event Ask not me saies f Bern ad Eugen. f. 237. a. Bernard but ask Pharaoh Be instructed by the Egyptian Carkasses on the shore of the Red-sea Will you learn to g Ps 2.12 kisse the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little O when it flames all a broad how terrible is it The flames of London were but painted fire to this That suckt up houses but this h Mat. 10.3 immortall Souls But where 's the Remedy O kisse the Son lest he be angry O blessed Son O gracious Saviour that 's a I. 2.12 angry if he be not kist and griev'd if he be not loved He loves b Pro. 8.17 36. them that love him and complains that they wrong their own Souls and love death that hate him Vile Sinners we are angry with him because he calls for love who needs not care for 't le ts be angry with our selves because we give it not He 's angry with sinners that Sinners kisse him not V. 3. Such as cast away the cords of his Laws he casts about them the cords of his love And must such sinners kisse him yes they kisse the creatures why not him he made our hearts he loves our hearts and chides to have them 'T is a jealous love no waters quench but such as freely run into it Here 's loving anger and wrath in grace he fights with kind anger that he may embrace with love 'T is the heat of love that kindles his anger but if neglected 't will blaze into a flame His love hastens us with the voice of anger that the fire of his anger consume us not His anger calls us from his anger but not to his anger but to his love His mouth checks us that we may kiss it and his heart is moved for us that we may move into it when anger warns 't is loving anger but love too long abused kindles the flame of wrath If so much love in this holy anger to bring us to him what manner of love in those blessed kisses when we come Let 's then love his anger and kiss his love For happy are all they that put their trust in him Ps 2.12 You that are living hearken to his anger that ye may never feel it lay this love to heart and consider its latter end This love will gather the Saints together and set apart the godly the kind c Ps 4.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benignus in heart d Ps 50.4 that love him for himself For such have made an everlasting covenant of Salt with him by sacrifice CHAP. VII Of a Saints Comforts against all the Evills in Death .. I Will fear no evill saies David For thou art with me thy crook and thy staffe they comfort me Here are evills great and manifold in this Valley of Death evills to be feared and trembled at but not by a David A Saint will fear no evill what David no evill not the evill of losse nor the evill of sense Anacephalaeosis not the parting from many sweet injoyments not the curse of the Law thundering from Sinai and lightning from Ebal not the conflicts of conscience nor the darts of Satan not the pangs of sickness nor the pangs of death not the mouldring dust nor unsavory stench not the hideous darkness nor the tedious night of the grave as you may perceive by the foregoing Chapters O valiant David when God stands by thee what do'st thou not stagger at the doctrin nor fear the event of thy resurrection to Judgment not the strictness of that awfull Judg nor his doomfull sentence nor the long face or silver hairs of Eternity No no! David will fear no evill and here
's his Cordiall For thou art with me thy crook and thy staffe they comfort me He fears no evill because God is with him He fears God and therefore nought but God I 'le forewarn you whom ye shall fear a Luk. 12.5 sayes our Lord fear him who after he hath kil'd hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him The filiall fear of God expells the tormenting fear of death and hell it self Holy David with one God in his hand encounters and vanquishes every evill and scatters the fear of evill Let the King of Terrors muster his Forces and order his Troops in Battalia The shadow of death to David is but the shadow of evill Though b Ps 3.6 ten thousand Curiassiers run upon him atilt with envenom'd and poysoned spears c Ps 4.8 he layes him down in the bosome of God he sleeps in peace For thou Lord makest him to rest in safety The d Job 26.11 Pillars of Heaven tremble and are astonisht at his reproof who keeps a Saint in his arms Hee 'll scourge the black Tents of e Hab. 3.7 Mat. 27.54 Cushan with affliction and the pale Curtains of this Land of Midian like the Souldiers at our Lords Sepulchre shall tremble to detain a Saint in the grave For he that keepeth Israel f Ps 121.3 shall neither slumber nor sleep hee 'l awaken him in due time in the resurrection morning to enter the Courts of Glory David saies not I shall not dye and therefore I will not fear But though I dye I will not fear for thou art with me Be the waters of Kidron never so deep the fire of Tophets Valley never so quick and furious g Ps 40.2 the pit of Moloch never so dark and obscure God hath secured my heart from fear because he is with me a Isay 43.2 The waters shall not drown nor the fire burn nor the pit swallow The power and wisdome the mercy and truth of God encircle the faith of a Saint he dyes b Heb. 11.13 kissing and embracing the promises and like good old Simeon taking Christ in his arms he tunes his Swanlike c L k. 2.28 29. Sonner and sings himself asleep at the mouth of the grave Thou art with me For thou art mine A God in Covenant guides to death and receives to glory Other friends take leave at death Here 's a friend like Ruth d Ruth 1.16 goes through with theâ— to Canaan Others shake hands at the grave they weep with Orpah and depart This friend takes thy spirit into his e Luk. 23.46 hands immediately and keeps thy body in his privy f Is 26 20. chamber of presence God is the God of Abraham even in the grave God g Mat. 22.32 is not the God of the dead but of the living God is the God of whole Abraham therefore Abraham is alive to God his immortall soul is alive with God his precious dust is alive to God and therefore Abrahams body shall arise to glory 'T is in his keeping who keepeth all the h Ps 34.20 bones of his Saints not one of them is broken and to morrow I mean at the resurrection of the just all their i Ps 35 10. bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee Josephs bones are embalm'd for heaven and lye in a more magnificent Tomb then Egyptian Pyramids and k Gen. 50.25 Exod. 3.19 Josh 24.32 Heb. 11.22 follow the Ark to Canaan Does the Father take care of his childrens bones what chest do they sleep in with l Is 26.19 my dead body saies Christ in the Cedar Chest of the Covenant What doe they sleep in the arms of his own beloved Son yes they m 1 Thes 4.14 sleep in Jesus and shall rise with Jesus They are baptized into his death n V. 14. and buried in his grave and brought in the clouds together with him The same new Tomb the same Fine Linnen the same Spices the same Angels for a Saviour and for his Saints Little did Joseph of Arimathea think that he embalmed the whole body mysticall of Christ and wrapt the Saints together with him in the same o Joh. 20 7 Napkin but so he did by reason of their communion with him But does the Father and the Son likewise take such heavenly care of dying Simeons and is the Spirit of Grace at a distance from the bodies of Saints which are his p Temples No such matter though there were not a stone of these Temples lying upon another yet the Spirit will rear them up The Spirit of God is at work in the grave of a Saint If the a 1 Cor. 6.19 spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you So then well may a Saint with holy Jacob b Ro. 8.11 gather up his feet into his bed and sweetly fall a sleep For the Father keeps him the Son lies by him and the Spirit quickens him All heaven will come down to the grave of a Saint and not wake their beloved till c Gen. 49.33 the day break and the shadows flee away then up he gets to the mountains of Myrrhe and to the Hills of Frankincense d Song 6.4 But to follow David its worth tracing the footsteps of David nay the footsteps of God with David in this Valley Therefore he fears not for God is with him le ts listen to his Harp and learn the Ditty Methinks I hear five principall Songs of spirituall consolation for a dying Saint An Experimental feeling of the divine presence For thou art with me David ha's it and David feels it and therefore speaks it 'T is his safety to have it his joy to feel it and his love to speak it the having of God at death carries us to heaven safely the feeling it wings us thither and makes us sing of it to others when we are flying A holy Appeal to God in Prayer David must now be supposed upon his knees praying harping singing for thou art with me All the joyfull Prayers of a Saint end with Songs and the Songs with this Epiphonema this burden shall I call it No! this Diapsalma this Selah this Diapason this Close upon all the Strings For thou art with me A Saint in Covenant and a Saint knowing it may dye sweetly T is a strong Cordiall 't will sweat away death For thou art with me and what 's the reason For thou art mine He that can prove that God is his may sweetly inferre that God is with him God's with none but who are his But they that are so and know it so shall fear no evill For God makes them d Act. 2.28 full of joy with his countenance Divine Relation is a Saints Sanctuary Fly to this holy Tower and thou art safe The Lords a
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