their death but their strength is firm they are not in trouble as other men From these and such like weak grounds they presume that their friends after death must needs go to heaven and therefore they comfort themselves and one another with these words whereas the truth is they may go to Hell after all these things Our Saviour Christ tells us Matt. 5. 20. that except our righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees we shall in no case enter into the Kingdome of Heaven And these men are so far from exceeding that they come short of the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees who were frequent in Alms-deeds in prayer in fasting Mat. 6. 2. 5. 16. and yet Christ calls them hypocrites Yea they made long prayers Matth. 23. 14. they compassed Sea and land to make one Proselyte v. 15. they payed even their smallest tithes v. 23. They outwardly appeared righteous unto men v. 28. they blamed their fathers for murthering the Prophets and by way of compensation to free themselves from the guilt they built Tombs for those Prophets and garnished the Sepulchres of the righteous v. 29. 30. notwithstanding all which Christ pronounceth many woes against them Thus we see what are ill-grounded hopes which prove but like a spiders web to those that trust in them I shall therefore in the next place shew you what is a well-grounded hope of the happinesse of our friends departed which consists in this When our deceased friends have in their life-time given us some good evidence of the work of grace and sanctification wrought in their hearts whereby we could discern that by Gods blessing upon the means their eyes were opened that they were turned from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God For then we may conclude that they have received forgivenesse of their sins and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified by faith that is in Christ Act. 26. 18. But this work of grace being inward and secret how shall we be able to judge of it Our Saviour Christ gives us a rule for our direction in judging of others Mat. 7 16 17 18 19 20. Ye shall know them saith he by their fruits Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good tree brings forth good fruit but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them From whence we may gather that as wicked men for the most part may be known by their wicked lives so gracious persons may be known by their gracious lives For it s as easie to carry fire in our bosome or oil in our hands without discovery as grace in our hearts without the manifestation of it Now many signes might be given whereby we may judge of the work of grace in others but I shall content my self for the present with these three First if living with them we observe that they make conscience of and practise private and secret duties as well as publick Hypocrites when they do duties do all to be seen of men that they may have glory of men Matth. 6. 2. 5. 16. and therefore in their very private prayers they love to make them in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets v. 5. they have Jacobs voice but Esaus hands the Lord indeed is much in their mouths but far from their reines Jer. 12. 2. they lay claim to Christ but yet have no share in him they deeply affirm of him but have no manner of right to him their faith is but phansie their confidence but presumption they are like the mad man at Athens that laid claim to every ship that came into the Harbour when he had no part in any Like Haman that hearing the King would honour a man concluded but falsly that himself was the man or like Sisera that dreamed of a Kingdome whereas Jaels nail was neerer his temples then a crown and thus they deceive themselves with their shews and think to deceive others but Gods children can usually discern them and discover them to be like Harpyes that are said to have Virgins faces but Vulturs talons but on the contrary a sound-hearted Christian though he dare not neglect yea though he prefer the publick yet he also makes conscience of private duties and prayes to his Father in secret so that if we observe this in them its one good ground that they have the work of regeneration wrought in their hearts Secondly if we observe them that they labour to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men as Saint Paul professeth that he did Act. 24. 16. If they have had respect to all Gods commandments as David Psal. 119. 6. If they have made conscience of the duties of both Tables serving God in holinesse and righteousnesse all the days of their lives Luke 1. 75. hiring themselves unto him for term of life not desiring to change their Master knowing that they cannot mend themselves neither for fairnesse of work nor fulnesse of wages whereas an Hypocrite is versutulus versatilis he casts about how to deceive God and man with meer shews of devotion being not afraid to be damned so he may seem to be saved and seeking so long to deceive others that in fine he deceives his own soul Imposturam faciunt patiuntur as that Emperour said of them that sold glasse beads for pearl They deceive and are deceived Thirdly when we have heard them groaning and mourning under the remainders of corruption and the relicts of sin crying out with the holy Apostle Rom 7. 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death When they have manifested their hatred against all sin and shunned every evil way saying with the wisest of men Prov. 8. 13. the fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride and arrogancy and every evil way do I hate whereas a dispensatory conscience is a naughty conscience Neither doth he Gods will but his own that doth no more nor no other then himself pleaseth as hypocrites use such holiday servants God cares not for Every one can swim in a warm Bath and every bird will sing in a Summers-day Judas will bear the Crosse so he may bear the bag and the carnal Capernaits will follow Christ for the loaves though not for love Joh. 6. 26. But Abraham will forsake all to follow God though he know not whither yea though God seems to go a cross way as when he promised him a land flowing with milk and honey and yet so soon as he came there he met with a famine Gen. 12. 10. If then you have observed these three things in your Christian friends whilst they lived you may have a well-grounded hope of their blessednesse after death which sure cannot but moderate your mourning for
earth and walketh up and down in it Job 1. 7. yea as a roaring lion he walketh about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5. 8. No place can exempt us from his tentations whilst we live in this world He assaulted Adam in Paradise Lot in the Cave David in his Palace Josuah the high Priest in the presence of the Angel of the Lord Christ in the wildernesse Peter in the High Priests hall c. But when Death comes these Egyptians which you have seen to day ye shall see them again no more for ever Exod. 14. 13. Satan shall never more molest Gods children after this life is ended Hence saith Saint Ambrose Diabolus per quod potestatem habuit victus est The Devil who had the power of death Heb. 2. 14. hath by death his power abrogated and abolished Sixthly Death frees them from Gods frowns which sin often exposeth them to here and which to a child of God is more terrible than death it self For if in Gods favour is life as David affirms Psal. 30. 5. then in his frowns is death yea if Gods loving kindness is better than life Psal. 63. 3. then his frowns are worse than death There are no outward or corporal afflictions but a resolute and Roman spirit will stand under them the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity Prov. 18. 14. but the frowns of God and tokens of his displeasure are intolerable A wounded spirit who can bear It made David roar Psal. 32. 3. Hezekiah chatter Isa. 38. 14. yea Christ himself to sweat drops of congealed blood and to cry out in the anguish of his soul My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But after death the light of Gods countenance shines perpetually upon them and shall never admit either of a cloud or Eclipse when Lazarus died he who lay groveling at the rich mans gate was found in Abrahams bosome in a place of warmest love For seeing by Death Gods children are freed from corruptions therefore after death they have no need of Gods frowns or corrections Seventhly Death frees them from the very being and existence of sin At death the spirits of just men are made perfect Heb 12. 23. The death of their body delivers them from the body of death Death and sin do not meet in a child of God but so part that when the one comes the other is gone for ever As when Sampson died the Philistines died with him so when a child of God dies all his sins die with him Hence Ambrose saith Quid est mors nisi peccatorum sepultura what is death but the grave of our sins wherein they are all buried Thus death doth that at once which grace doth by degrees Grace indeed when it is once wrought in the heart under the conduct of the spirit it resists and fights against sin and gives it such mortal wounds that it never fully recovers again It dejects it from its regency but cannot eject it from its inherency It frees us from the raigning of sin but cannot free us from the remaining of sin After regeneration sin hath not dominion over us But yet there is a law in our members warring against the law of our minds and many times leading us captive unto the law of sin that is in our members so that we cannot do the good that we would but the evil that we hate that do we Rom. 7. 19. 23. But when death comes it wholly extirpates sin root and branch and not one or some few sins but all sin and that not for a time only but for ever when the souls of Gods children are dis-lodged from their bodies this troublesome and incroaching inmate shall be dis-lodged and thrust out of doors for ever Hence one saith Peccatum peperit mortem filia devoravit matrem Sin at first begat and brought forth death and death at last destroys sin as the worm kills the tree that bred it And as Bernard saith Death which before was porta inferni the trap-door of Hell is now introitus Regni the porch that lets us into heaven And Mr. Brightman saith what was before the Devils Sergeant to drag us to hell is now the Lords Gentleman-Usher to conduct us to heaven Thus I have shewed you in these seven particulars what are the evils that Gods children are freed from by death Now in the next place I will endeavour to shew you the priviledges that at death they are invested in and the good things that they are put into the present possession of But yet this must be premised that if I had the tongue and pen of men and Angels yet should I come far short of that which I aim at For whatsoever can be said of heaven is not one half as the Queen of Sheba said of Solomons magnificence of what we shall finde in that City of Pearl To expresse it saith a reverend Divine is as impossible as to compasse heaven with a span or to contain the Ocean in a nutshel And Chrysostom speaking of the happinesse of the Saints in heaven saith Sermo non valet exprimere experimento opus est words cannot expresse it we must have trial of it before we can know it But yet that which I shall say of it is contained in these six particulars First Death invests Gods children with perfection of all graces Here we know but in part we prophesie but in part But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. It 's true when God first regenerates and sanctifies us we have perfection of parts there is no grace wanting that is necessary to life and salvation For God doth none of his works by the halves But yet we attain not to perfection of degrees till death comes whilst we live here we are exhorted to adde grace to grace 2 Pet. 1 5 6 7. and one degree of grace to another We are commanded to grow in grace and in the knowledge of eur Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. To make a daily progress till we come unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ Ephes. 4. 13. But yet when we have done all that we can our faith is mixed with doubtings our love to God with love of the world our tears in repentance need washing in the blood of Christ our humility is mixed with pride our patience with murmurings and all our other graces have defects in them But in death they are all perfected and thereby we are put into a far better condition than we were capable of in this life Secondly Death puts the Saints into the present possession of Heaven a stately place into which there never did or can enter any unclean thing No dirty dog ever trampled upon this golden pavement It 's called Paradise Luke 23. 43. Indeed Paradise which God made for Adams palace though the stateliest place that ever the eye of mortal man
it s a duty to mourn for the dead For as a reverend and learned Doctor saith sorrow and lamentation is the dues of the dead It is fit that the body when it s sown in corruption should be watered with the tears of them that plant it in the earth and to be without natural affections is an Heathenish sin Rom. 1. 31. and one of those that make these later times perilous 2 Tim. 3. 3. From whence we may observe It s lawful to mourn and sorrow upon the death of our friends and relations Our Lord Christ himself wept at the death of Lazarus Joh. 11. 35. And the Church made great lamentation for Stephen Act. 8. 2. And the widdows wept for Dorcas Act. 9. 39. And Paul sorrowed when Epaphroditus was deadly sick Phil. 2. 27. Seventhly As do others that have no hope i. e. as the Heathen do which are ignorant of these things Hence The Heathen use to be immoderate in their mourning for the dead becaue they want a hope of the present blessednesse of their souls and the future resurrection of their bodies Forbidden Gods people Lev. 19. 27 28. Eightly But I would not have you do so saith the Apostle Hence Christians which know these things must be moderate in their mourning Ninthly Vers 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again c. Hence observe first The resurrection of Christs body from the dead is a sure and certain pledge and evidence of the resurrection of out bodies So the holy Apostle Paul makes it 1 Cor. 15. 12 c. If Christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead But if there be no resurrection of the dead then Christ is not risen and verse 20. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept c. Tenthly Even so them also which sleep in Jesus Hence observe That the bodies of the Saints departed sleep in the arms of Jesus He takes care of all the bones yea of the very dust of his Saints that none of it shall be wanting when he comes to raise their bodies again at the last day Our bodies even whilst they lie in the grave are members of Christ and therefore it s no marvel though he takes such care of them Eleventhly Will God bring with him Whence I gather That when Christ shall come to judgment then shall the resurrection of our bodies be This is an Article of our faith It was typified by the budding and blossoming of Aarons dry rod By Jonas deliverance out of the belly of the Fish where he had been three dayes and three nights It was believed by the Patriarchs of old Heb. 11. 13. And its an infallible truth that these bodies of ours that are sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption 1 Cor. 15. 42. And for our further security Enoch before the flood and Elijah after the flood were taken into heaven in their bodies Neither indeed is this contrary to reason though it be above the reach of reason For why cannot Christ as well raise a body out of the dust as at first he made it out of the dust especially considering that the soul is preserved in heaven for this very end to be joyned to the body again This Job was confident of Job 19. 26 27. Though after my skin wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God c. Nay it s not contrary to the course of nature For we yearly see that the resurrection of the Spring succeeds the dead Winter the day the night and thou fool the corn that thou sowest is not quickned except it die saith Paul 1 Cor. 15. 36. and the same Apostle tells us Rom. 8. 11. That if the Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in us Besides Christ is the second Adam and as we did bear the image of the first Adam in corruption so we must bear the Image of the second Adam in glory 1 Cor. 15 22. 45 49. Twelfthly But that which is the principal thing that I intend to insist on is a Doctrine held forth to us in the latter end of the fourteenth verse That ye sorrow not as do others that have no hope Whence A well-grounded hope of the happinesse of our friends deceased should moderate our mourning for them This without question moderated Abrahams mourning for Sarah Mourn indeed he did for the text saith Gen. 23. 2. that Sarah died and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her but that he kept a mean in his mourning appears by the next words v. 3 4. And Abraham stood up from before his dead and bespake a burying place to bury his dead out of his sight and this he did that the object being removed his sorrow might be mitigated This also moderated Josephs and the Israelites mourning for Jacob Gen. 50. 1. where it is said that Joseph fell upon his fathers face when he died and wept upon him and kissed him and vers. 10. it s said that Joseph and the Israelites made a mourning for him seven dayes but v. 3. It s said that the Egyptians who mourned as men without hope mourned for him threescore and ten dayes This also moderated Davids mourning for his child 2 Sam 12. 23. Now he is dead wherefore should I fast can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me And this was Martha's comfort when her dear Brother Lazarus was dead I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day Joh. 11. 24. In the prosecution of this Point I shall shew you First what is meant by a well-grounded hope Secondly Wherein the happinesse of our friends departed in the Lord consists Thirdly why the consideration of these things should put a mean to our mourning for them Fourthly I will answer some objections that may be made against it And fifthly make application of it For the first What do you call a well-grounded hope I use this Epithite to distinguish it from that ill-grounded hope wherewith so many do delude themselves as First because their friends were born of Christian Parents Baptized and brought up in the Church Secondly Because they had gotten some knowledge and made an outward profession of Religion Thirdly because they used to attend upon the publick ordinances and that with some seeming devotion Fourthly Because they were free from grosse sins and dealt justly with every man Fifthly Because they enjoyed outward peace and prosperity the Sun of God shining upon their Tabernacles Sixthly Because they died quietly like lambs and it may be went out of the world with some good words in their mouths Psal. 73. 4 5. There are no bands in
worldly sorrow causeth sicknesse and death 2 Cor. 7. 10. and to the opening of the mouths of the wicked who scorn them and Religion for it saying These are your Professours that make Idols of their children and friends and mourn for the losse of them as if they had lost their God They are like Rachel that wept and lamented for her children and would not be comforted because they were not Such forget the exhortation which speaks to them as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when then art rebuked of him Heb. 12. 5. Prov. 3. 11. Indeed we are sometimes in danger of setting light by Gods corrections saying with those sturdy persons It is my burthen and I must bear it Jerem. 10. 19. But more frequently we are impatient either outwardly fretting at the rod like those plunging horses which will not indure their Rider or inwardly repining like those horses which digest their choler by biting their bridles And if we neither despise nor impatiently murmur against the dispensation of God yet our weaknesse is such that we are ready to take the affliction too much to heart so that our spirits droop and faint and this is so much the worse because it 's commonly accompanied with a wilful indisposition which will not suffer us to entertain such things whereby we might be truly comforted and the hearts of such many times like Nabals die within them that they are not capable of counsel so that all consolatory exhortations are to them like water spilt upon the ground whereas we should take our correction and humble our selves under the smart of it but withall we should look to Christ and beg of him that he would not suffer our Faith Hope and Meeknesse of mind to be overturned Again consider that it 's not love to them when we are perswaded that they are with the Lord which makes us excessively grieve when they are taken from us It is indeed self-love and carnal affection Our Lord Christ told his Disciples If ye loved me you would be glad because I go to the Father And what measure then do we offer to God herein We can many times send our children far from us where it may be we shall never see them again if we are but well perswaded that it will be for their good and preferment and yet we cannot indure to have them taken out of our sight by the Lord though we are perswaded that their souls are with him in the highest glory We ought to labour for such tractable and obedient hearts as may not be content perforce to let him take them but may willingly resign even our children if it were by sacrificing them with our own hands as Abraham to him who hath not thought his onely begotten Son too dear for us but hath delivered Him to death for our sakes Once more remember that it 's a sign that we felt not Gods love in them nor received them at his hand as we ought to have done if we do not thankfully give them back to him when he calls for them Hannah having received Samuel as a gift gotten by prayer from God did readily part with him to God again and she lost nothing by that loan which she so cheerfully lent to the Lord as you may see 1 Sam. 2. 20 21. and so dealt Abraham with his onely Sonne Isaac whom by faith in the promise he had obtained of the Lord Hebr. 11. 17. This is true indeed but yet Parent-like affections cannot easily part with and yield up children so dearly beloved But take heed lest whilst you plead love to your children or friends you do not bewray and discover unkindnesse unto God Dare any of you say Lord if I did not so love them I could be content to give them to thee Surely if with a calm spirit you think of this you would blush for shame that your heart should be so cold towards God as not to be willing to part with any thing you love when he calls for it To part with that which you much care not for is not at all thanks-worthy It 's said of Abraham that when God commanded him to sacrifice his own and only son that he arose early in the morning Gen. 22. 3. to do it he consulted not with flesh and blood nor with carnal reason nor with fond affections but as David said He made hast and delayed not to keep Gods commandments How should this shame our backwardnesse and our many reluctancies against the will of God when he hath declared it in taking away a dear child or relation from us How much better were it for us to do as David did that man after Gods own heart who when he heard that his child was dead arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and went into the house of the Lord and worshipped and then came into his own house and called for bread and did eat 2 Sam. 12. 20. Again the consideration hereof may minister singular consolation First To every godly person when he lies upon his sick bed and sees death approaching and his friends standing about his bed weeping and wringing their hands and that upon a twofold ground First Because himself hath hope in his death Prov. 14. 32. Death is to him as the valley of Achor It 's a door of hope to give entrance into Paradise and to translate him into a state of blessednesse whereas to the wicked it 's a trap-door through which they fall into hell It 's an excellent saying Improbi dum spirant sperant Justus etiam cum expirat sperat wicked men hope whilst they live but a godly man when he breaths forth his last hath hope He is like unto that dying Swan of which Aelian tells us that sang most sweetly and melodiously at her death though in her life-time she had no such pleasant note There is some truth in that saying of the Heathen Optimum est non nasci proximum quam celerrime mori For wicked men it had been best for them never to have been born or being born to die quickly seeing that by living long they heap up sin and thereby treasure up wrath against the day of wrath but as for good men the day of death is best to them because here to live is but to lie a dying and eternal life which they are now taking possession of is the onely true life as saith Saint Austine Secondly because as they have hope themselves in their death so they leave a good hope to their friends to quiet their hearts in their losse Oh what a cutting grief is it to a godly heart to see a child or kinsman or other dear relation taken away and cut off in the midst of his sins so that he can have no hope of his blessed estate in another life But on the contrary if self-love be not too prevalent with us we cannot
them But wherein consists the happinesse of our friends who are departed in the Lord I shall shew this in two particulars First in the evils that they are freed from by death Secondly In the good things that they are put into the present possession of so that their happinesse is both privative and positive What are the evils that they are freed from by death They may be reduced to these seven heads First They are freed from worldly cares businesses and troubles For its Gods institution since the fall that every one shall live either by the sweat of his brain or by the sweat of his brow And Eliphaz tells us that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward Job 5. 7. and the Apostle tells us that he that careth not for his own and especially for those of his own house he hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel 1 Tim. 5. 8. So then whilst we live here we cannot be free from multiplicity of cares businesses and troubles The world is like a tempestuous Sea where troubles succeed one another as one wave follows another Dolor voluptas Invicem cedunt brevior voluptas Joy and sorrow as one wittily saith make chequered work in our lives Sorrow bedews our cheeks with tears and joy wipes them off again Our condition in this life is not unlike to that of the Israelites in the wildernesse where they met with many troubles dangers and occasions of sorrow Are we hurt then if by a tempest of sicknesse we are driven out of the Sea of this world into the safe harbour of the grave the onely place where the weary are at rest Job 3. 17. where they enter into peace and rest in their beds Isa. 57. 2. For which cause amongst others they are pronounced blessed by God himself Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their labours Indeed the messenger of death is to most men and women very terrible but to a dying believer then acting faith it s nothing so but it s entertained by him as a welcome messenger sent from the Father to a child at nurse to bring it home where it shall be better provided for whilst it transmits him from all his cares and sorrowes into that place and state of blisse where all tears shall be wiped from his eyes and he shall never sorrow more Revel. 21. 4. Secondly they are freed from the company and society of the wicked which whilst they lived was a cause of much sorrow to them and that First because of their sins which were a continual grief to their godly hearts Hence David professeth that Rivers of waters ran down his eyes because men kept not Gods Law Psal 119. 136. and the Apostle Peter tells us that just Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For saith he that righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds 2 Pet. 2. 7 8 Gods children are so tender of their Fathers honour that they cannot see or hear his Name blasphemed his truths adulterated his Sabbaths profaned his Ministers and Ordinances despised c. but it goes like so many daggers to their hearts neither can they be free from such occasions of sorrow whilest they continue in this wicked world death only removes such objects of grief from them Secondly Because of the wrongs injuries and persecutions which they meet with from them These Goats will be pushing at Christs Sheep sometimes wounding them in their good names sometimes wronging them in their estates and othersometimes raising greater persecutions against them For the Apostle tells us that this is the portion of all Gods children in this life All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. and our Saviour Christ tells his Disciples that the time should come that whosoever killed them should think that he did God service Joh. 16. 2. Thus Cain persecuted Abel Ismael Isaac yea which of the Prophets or Apostles did not the wicked of their times persecute This made David to cry out Wo is me that I fojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace Psal. 120. 5 6. But now in the grave the wicked cease from troubling There the prisoners rest together and hear not the voice of the oppressour Job 3. 17 18. Thirdly Death frees them from evils to come God herein dealing as Parents use who have children forth at nurse or at school when troubles or dangerous diseases come into those places where their children are they send for them home that they may be in safety So God many times takes his children out of this world that he may secure them from imminent dangers Or as when our houses are in danger of firing we remove our treasure and jewels in the first place into places of more security So where God wrath s like fire is breaking in upon a place he removes his children to heaven as to a place of greater safety It s the fathers love and care saith one then hastily to snatch away his child when the wilde Bull is now broken loose and running upon him The wise Husband-man hastens to get in his corn before the storm cometh or the swine be turned out into the field to root up all This is that which the Lord by the Prophet Isaiah long since assured us of Isa. 57. 1. The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come As it was a sign that Sampson meant to pull down the house upon the heads of the Philistines when he pulled down the Pillars that bare up the roof So its a shrewd sign that God intends to ruine a State when he takes away those that were the Pillars and props of it When Methusala died the flood came upon the old world when Josias was gathered to his Fathers the Babylonish captivity hastened When S. Augustine died Hippo was taken and sackt by the Vandals and Heidleburg by the Spaniards shortly after the death of Pareus Fourthly Death frees them from all sicknesses Diseases pains and all other bodily distempers It cures the blind eyes the deaf ears the dumb tongue the lame legs the maimed hands c. It easeth the tormenting stone the painful gout the aking head the intolerable twisting of the guts the loathsome strangury c. Death to the godly is the best Physician it cures them not of one disease but of all and of all at once and of all for ever yea it cures them of death it self Fifthly it frees them from the fiery darts and temptations of Satan from which they cannot be free whilst they live here For the whole world is the Devils Diocesse He goes to and fro in the