but this as you would not have your Sun set in a Cloud I mean Dye uncheerfully for your selves as you would not sadden the hearts of your surviving Godly friends as you would not bring up an evil report upon the Protestant Faith which you profess which teacheth Christians that assurance of Salvation may be had as you would not open the mouths of the wicked to cast dirt upon holyness when they see the professours of it go to death with Reluctancies as you would prevent all this make Religion your great business that so when your dying hours come your Souls may be full of sweet peace and comfort live as strangers in this world and persons belonging to another that you may be willing and ready to remove and go home when God shall send for you which that you may be shall be the earnest Desire and Prayer of him who is Your Soul Friend and Servant in CHRIST Chr. Scott From My Study in Milton Hamlet this 3d January 1672. Philippians 1.21 Latter part of the Verse And to dye gain The whole verse runs thus For me to live is Christ and to dye gain THe Particle causal for which stands in the front of the verse bids us to look back to something that went before to make the sense perfect and some Expositors lead us a good way back for the cohaerence of the words But I shall not go any farther then the words immediately preceding wherein the Apostle had declared his willingness either for life or death so Christ might in either be glorified by him And now as a reason of that profession or resolution he comes in with these words For me to live is Christ and to dye gain In the whole Verse observe these two parts 1. The Christians duty in these words To me to live is Christ. 2. The Christians priveledge in the last words and to dye gain Or thus 1. Here is the believers aim and scope while he lives and that is Christ either 1. The glory of Christ or 2. The enjoyment of Christ. 2. It is blessedness when he dyes he that liveth with Christ or unto Christ while he lived he can't be a loser when he dyes many have lost for Christ but never any lost by Christ no sooner or later living or dying Christ will make up all his losses to such a one to dye is gain Or yet again if you please I shall resolve the words into three general parts thus and there rest 1. You have a great and gracious priveledge and that is gain by dying t is not the lott of all to have death an advantage and therefore I call it a priveledge and a great one 2 You have the Apostles confidence of it in particular to himself in this particle me to me to dye is gain as he sayes 2 Tim. 4.8 there is layd up for me a Crown so to me to dye is gain it would be little advantage to know that others shall gain by dying except I can affirm it of my self to me to dye is gain 3. You have this probation as I may so call it of his right to this priveledge that it was not a thread-bare hope as the confidence of most is in these words to me to live is Christ and if to me to live be Christ then to me to dye must be gain to me to live is Christ and to dye gain There is nothing of difficulty in the words only I confess I meet with various readings of them amongst Expositers though no very great or material difference as for example Beza reads the words thus Mihi enim est Christus in vita in morte lucrum Christ is to me gain both in life and in death and sayes that as in the former words v. 20. so in these which are a reason of them Christ is the (a) Christus est utriusque membri subjectum subject of each part and gain the praedicate thus Christ is my gain in life and Christ is my gain in death Gualt to the same purpose to me in life and death Christ is gain that is sayes he (b) Haec est vita mea si Christum videam glorificari c. this is my life If I may but see Christ glorified whether I live or whether I dye Tremellius reads the words thus (d) Vita mea Christus si moriar lucrum est mihi Christ is my life and if I dye my gain Piscator reads it wholly according to the vulgar Translation the words saies he are ratio distributionis propositae a reason of the distribution foregoing and that is plain by the particle causal for and saies 't is as if the Apostle had said Christ shall be glorified in my body if I live for to me to live is Christ that is all the actions of my life and sufferings of it too do and shall tend to his glory but if otherwise that I dye and be killed for his sake even my death also shall not only redound to his glory but to my own gain and advantage Zanch. his gloss the same with this in effect which reading soever you follow the doctrine that I shall lay down will naturally flow from the Text. I intend onely to speak to the latter part of the verse namely to these words and to dye gain and there are two points that I might commend unto you from the same the first more general which is this Doctr. 1 Even those that are most dear to Christ must yet dye a natural death good or bad if sons of Adams the Statutum est is gone forth they cannot be exempted 't is appointed to man once to dye Man that is every man indefinite propositions are aequivolent to universal 't is true in respect of deaths consequences the Saints have advantage of the wicked as I hope to your comfort and their awakening to make good but in respect of deaths passage they are equally sharers Eccles 2.16 how dyeth the wise man even as the fool But that is not the point intended again 2dly the Doctrine I intend is this Doct. 2 All those that belong to Christ they gain by dying all such to whom to live is Christ to them to dye shall be gain if you please take it thus Doctr. The Saints of God whenever or however they dye they still change for the better they gain by their change those that have made Christ their aim the glory of Christ living to him the enjoyment of Christ he living in them to all these death shall be a gain Believers gain by dying that 's the point I have to make good How full are the Scriptures of pertinent testimonies for the asserting of this comfortable truth Isa 57.1 The righteous perisheth How perisheth God forbid their is terrour in that expression the words following are a correction a sweetning of that seemingly bitter expression t is a good perishing they are taken away from the evil to come enter into peace rest
in their beds c. so 2. Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved if it be does the Apostle make a Scruple of that no for down it must nothing more certain but if it be that is when it shall be dissolved what then we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens these mud-wall houses whose foundation is in the dust which we keep such a do to patch up and all our patching will not long serve neither they must they will down well and let them down we shall get by it our dwelling will be well mended we shall have a beter house c. Hence Eccles 7.1 the day of death is better then the day of birth The one the out-let from the other the inlet to a world of little ease less comfort St. Paul knew there was good by dying else so wise a man would never have desired it I desire to be dissolved And saies one upon the place A good man (a) Vitam in patientia mortem in desiderio hath life in patience but death in desire well pleased to live but better pleased to dye Surely were there not some advantage to be made by dying it would not be matter of choice and option But for the prosecuting this point I shall do but these two things 1. Shew in what respects beleivers gain by the change of death And 2. Apply it for our own advantage present and future For the first thing and that is to shew in what respects beleivers gain by this change of death and this I shall hold out unto you but in these three particulars 1. In the change of their place 2. In the change of their estate 3. In the change of their company Look upon them in any or all these respects and death makes the Saints of Christ great gainers First they gain in the change of their place and this I shall hold out unto you in these four things First they change Earth for Heaven is not that a gain John 17.26 Father I will that they whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory You know where Christ is he is in Heaven Acts 3.21 why then dying they must be there too for they must be where he is he told his Disciples when he left them he went but to prepare a place for them in those mansions in his Fathers house and when he had done that he would come again and receive them to himself that where he was they might be also John 14.2.3 Now what a change is here is not this gain beloved only here is the mischief we know what Earth is we don't yet know what Heaven is as St. John sayes it does not yet appear what we shall be 1 John 3.2 otherwise I am perswaded we would not care how soon death did us that happy and good turn but so long as we live here on earth look as it fared with Christ's Disciples when they stood looking upon their Lords ascending Acts 1.9 While they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight there was a cloud that parted him above and them below so there are clouds between our heaven and us we can't see into it and therefore know not how good 't is being in it all we can get sight of it but a few glimpses and sparklings and that but now and then of that Royal City if the Coelestial excellencies and surpassing joyes of that glorious bliss and blissful glory Matt. 7.14 were but apparent we should quickly cry as Peter in the transfiguration oh good being there come death if thy gain be such even when thou wilt that 's the first thing they change Earth for Heaven place well amended They change a bloody field for a place of triumph what is this life but a continual combate this world but a place of blood wars and rumours of wars are the dayly tidings of the poor christian scarrs and wounds the frequent badges of christianity look into the Scriptures and you frequently read of warring fighting striving christians resembled to souldiers and bid alwayes to go harnest will you see a few expressions to this purpose 1 Tim. 1.18 I charge thee Son Timothy that thou war a good warfare 2 Tim. 2.3 Endure hardness as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 6.12 Fight the good fight of Faith yea as if they were never to be out of the field so long as here they are bidden Eph. 6.12.13 14. To put on the whole armour of God and with their loyns girt c. T is true wicked men they know not what a conflict means what a conflict with the world means they are of the world Joh. 15.19 and therfore the world loves its own what a conflict with Satan means they are his John 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and though I cannot say he loves them yet he is quiet with them so long as he keeps the house rules the roast all is peace Luke 11.21 what a conflict with their lusts means their lusts and they are agreed what a war between flesh and spirit means they consist but of a single principle yea but God's people can't be thus quiet no the world is to them a right warfar but now comes death and that puts an end to all these bloody battles takes them away from this bloody field and whither but to a place of triumph see 2 Tim. 4.7.8 I have fought my fight I have finisht my course and henceforth is laid up for me a crown no more fights now c. And that 's a second peice of their gain in reference to the place this is a good change a feild of blood for a place of triumph They change a place of banishment for their own countrey a place where they are but strangers and pilgrims for their fathers house I am a sojourner and stranger before thee as all my fathers were sayes the Prophet speaking of this life t is true Psal 39.12 they have a countrey of their own where they have a rich and glorious inheritance there is a kingdome they belong to but it s above no sight of it but what the eye of faith gives them 2 Cor. 5.7 we walk by faith and not by sight in my fathers house are many Mansions yea but they are held from them hid from them for the present the saints here are far from home from their countrey their friends kindred and alliance they are above but now comes death and that carryes them home into their countrey to their fathers house that inheritance of the Saints in light Coll. 1.12 while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord but now they shall go home to their Father from a strange countrey where they have met with nothing but injuries and oppressions where they have been neither known nor valued
according to their worth but the precious sons of Sion yet esteemed as earthen pitchers where they have been hated and hooted at Behold I and the children whom thou hast given me are for signes and wonders Esa 8.18 they shall go now where they are known honour'd priz'd shining forth in the glory of their Father As a Kings Son and Heir to a Crown travelling in a strange countrey under a disguise no more set by then an ordinary man but coming home to his Fathers Court there he is honoured why thus will it fare with the Saints if once death be sent for them and in that respect gain by dying in reference to the place they change for And lastly they change a valley of tears and waters of Marah for a place that knowes not what a tear means how often is it the voice of a Saint while be lives here my tears have been my meat day and night you know what the Psalmist sayes Psal 126.5 They that sow in tears c. and he that goeth forth weeping intimating that our seed time is very watery what is this world but a Bochim a place of weeping to have a gracious heart and not wet cheeks are almost inconsistent so many occasions of weeping meet the Saints withall that they can't long keep dry eyes tears for offending God tears for present and frequent losses of their beloved tears for the sins of others whereby God is dishonoured Rivers of tears gush out of mine eyes because they keep not thy Law Psal 119.136 tears for the sufferings and oppressions of the Church and people of God By the waters of Babylon we sate down and wept when wee remembred Sion Psal 137.1 Some occasion or other still furnishing them with matter of new and fresh sorrows yea but now comes death and that carryes them from this weeping countrey and sets them in a place where tears and sorrows are not known Rev. 21.4 God shall wipe away all tears there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain Oh what a change is here And thus you see that in all these particulars believers gain by dying in the change of their place Then secondly as they better themselves by dying in respect of the place so also in respect of their estate and condition in this respect also Death makes them great gainers and this I shall hold out unto you in these five particulars They change labour and travel for rest and peace what is a mans life while here but labour sorrow and sweat All things are full of labour Eccles 1.8 God sent no man hither to be idle this life is for working if he will have his hands full though but of earth it shall be with travel and vexation of spirit Eccles 4.6 Yea sore travel hath God given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith Eccles 1.13 wouldst thou have blessings temporal or wouldst thou have blessings spiritual neither will come with sitting still the man in pursuite of the former he is up early a bed late and eats the bread of carefulness and the Christian that pursues the latter he carryes them not with a few yawning wishing no he must digg and delve for these too if thou cryest after knowledge If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures Prov. 2.3 4. Would he have salvation Phil. 2.12 Luke 13.24 2 Pet. 1.10 Luke 12.19 Matth. 8.11 he must work for it work out your salvation strive to enter in at the strait gate give diligence to make your calling and election sure what blessings soever you look at t is the diligent hand that maketh rich and while life lasteth mans labour and travel will not end to be sure not the Saints whoever take their ease they must not their work is too great to sit down and sing the fools requiem Soul take thyne ease Yea but now death finishes all their labour and travel and puts them to rest though they could not have a sitting time on earth yet now they shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdome of God Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord they rest from their labours and Heb. 4.4 there remains a rest for the people of God though they have it not here they shall have it it remains for them what ever travel or trouble awaites their life their end is peace Psal 37.37 Mark the upright man behold the just the end of that man is peace if once death comes then they rest bodies rest and souls rest bodyes rest Isa 57.2 They enter into peace and rest in their beds yea and souls rest too if Abrahams bosome be a resting place Well that 's the first thing I think you 'l call this a gain by dying their condition is much bettered from labour and travel to rest and peace but then They change corruption and mortality for incorruption and immortality Heb. 2.15 1 Cor. 15.53 This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality while here they are alwayes in fear of death which is a bondage as the Apostle calls it at least in expectation of it yea but then mortality shall be swallowed up of life and no more dying fears 1 Cor. 15.54 When this corruption shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass that saying which is written death is swallowed up in victory while here what crazy bodyes do we carry about us alwayes a dying and drawing on yea but when we come above they shall have impotentiam moriendi be under an impossibility of dying though as the learned observe not absolutam naturalem for so God only immortal he only hath an absolute and natural impossibility of dying but ex gratia doni by the free gift and good pleasure of God our bodies put under an impossibility of dying any more and in this respect better with us then it should have been had we stood with Adam in his innocency for then our bodyes had had only (a) Potâ—ntiam non moriendi er Hypoth si a conditional power of not dying but now a certain impossibility of dying any more Now will not our estate be much bettered till we have once got this dying work over we have cause every moment and in every corner where we come to look for him bed and board at home and abroad nescis quo loco c. (b) Nâ—scis quo loco mors te expectat 90 omni locuto mortem expectes thou knowest not where death will look for thee therefore every where look thou for it sometimes its approach is so suddain that the same day yea hour finds thee in the ruff and leaves a cold and breathless carcass (c) Quem dies vidit veniens superbum hunc dies vidit fugienâ— jatentem this same death watching us every where t is our trouble but when once
Crowns put on shall be cloathed with their Robes have their palms in their hands and be set upon their Thrones and seats Royal Matth. 19.28 Christ told them before Ye that have walked with me in regeneration shall sit upon Thrones and now will make good his word to them therefore there inheritance is called a Kingdome Luk. 12.32 Yea a glorious kingdome a kingdome incorruptible that fadeth not away now 't is come it was long since prepared for them and now they being prepared for it shall have it Matth. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my father receive the Kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world oh little thought the world when time was what honour awaited this poor despised handful yea but now to the grief of their hearts and gnashing their teeth they shall see to what honour God designed them their life was hid before though Kings children yet they were in their nonage oh with what a scornful eye did the worldly gallant look upon a poor Saint too low companions for his worship yea but now death comes and the Saint hath the better of him he is for higher company than ever he was the King of Kings admits him to himself and to a participation of that glory in comparison of which the highest earthly honour was but a Glow-worms shine where Angels and crowned persons are his everlasting associates himself crowned with the same glory and that 's a second peice of their gain by death in respect of their company but then And Lastly in the loss of friends themselves yea their dearest and best beloved they gain yet dearer and more desirable 't is true they are dear friends and dear relations that death deprives them of rending the wife from the tender embraces of her beloved husband in comparison of whose society all other worldly friends are not esteemed rending the husband from the bosome of the wife the flower and crown of all her earthly delights and sublunary contentments rending the children from the parents bosomes who would if God had so pleased redeemed their lives though with the loss of their own 2 Sam. 18.33 O Absalom Absalom would God I had dyed for thee my son my son Absalom and how much more piercing the loss of children gracious were it not for the hopes of the one above the other these are huge and sore losses Iob stood under the reports of a lost estate pretty couragiously but when this messenger of death came Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking in their elder brothers house and the house is fallen upon them and the young men are dead them Iob arose and rent his mantle cap. 1.10 Yea but yet even here the Saint by death becomes a gainer for it carryes them to friends far better and dearer to God their best friend and father to Jesus Christ like whom is no beloved 1 Thess 4.17 We shall be ever with the Lord comfort one another with these words it was the saying of one Carpenter a Martyr My wife and children are so dear to me that all the riches of the greatest Duke could not buy them from me but for the love of my Lord I willingly forsake them all and holy Bernard was wont to say Lord Jesus I love thee plus quam mea plus quam meos plusquam me more than all my goods and possessions more than all my friends and relations more than my self to this love loving and beloved friend death carryes them I hope you will not think they leave any so desirable behind them It was a most brave speech of Socrates when his friend Crito perswaded him Vt si vitam suam c. (a) Ut si vitam suam ipso negligeret liberis tamen parvulis amicis ab ipso pendentibus servaret incolumem Liberi illi qui mihi eos dedit curae sunt amicos hic discedens inveniam aut vobis similes aut meliores nec vestra societate diu cariturus that if he did not regard his life for his own sake yet for his childrens sake and the sake of his friends that depended on him he should do what he could to preserve it to whom he made this worthy answer As for my children he takes care of them who gave them me and as for my friends when I am gone hence I shall find friends either such as you are or better and however I do look not to be long without your company too you will shortly follow me he was an Heathen but I am sure his speech sounds most Christian does the dying Saint lose dear friends it is their loss but not his he is going to dearer and that 's the third thing wherein in point of the company he is a gainer by dying And thus I hope I have cleared my Doctrine and made it good that Gods people gain by dying They gain by the change of their place They gain by the change of their estate and condition They gain by the change of their company We come now to see what improvement we can make of this comfortable truth to our own benefit and advantage and the uses shall be these Vse 1 First learn hence the great difference between the death of Gods people and the deaths of wicked and prophane wretches there is not the thousandth part so much difference in point of desirableness between the seeming excellencies and flourishing pompe of the worlds greatest darlings and the low sad afflicted weather-beaten estate of Gods poor Saints in reference to their lives as there is reall difference in their deaths and latter ends we say death is a gain to the Saints yea but non sic impiis not so to the wicked to them no let them try if death will advantage them you make a gain by dying yes dye and try death to the Saints t is a rest and refreshing but to these as one sayes well 't is like the distracted slumber of a condemned person who anticipates his next mornings execution in a frightful dream The Saints may say to death as David to Ahimaaz come in thou bringest good tidings but the wicked may say to him as Ahab to Elijah Hast thou found me O mine enemy beloved by the rule of contraryes if there be gain in the death of the righteous then there is loss in the death of the wicked and poor hearts there is indeed Shall I shew you in a few particulars what loss there is in the death of the wicked man why thus then First he loseth all the hopes that ever he had and in the room of them succeeds black despair we cannot deny but there is a vain hope in wicked men of happiness a foolish hope that it shall go well with them hereafter how ever they live here we would fain beat them from it but we cannot we tell them 't is a good believing hope t is a holiness reproaching hope 't is an Heaven debasing hope t is a Devil pleasing
old books and tattered clothes and for banishment I count the whole earth mine and for death that will but hasten me to God to whom I live and with whom I would fain be he could not daunt him with dying tydings yea but now tell the other of death and you trouble him you put him into Belshazzars fits when he saw the hand writing upon the wall Dan. 5.6 His countenance was changed his thoughts troubled him Luk. 2.29 Phi. 1.23 2 Cor. 5.8 the joynts of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another the Saints of God are brought in in Scripture as men rather desirous of then dreading a dissolution Lord now let thy servant depart said good Simeon I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ said the Apostle Paul We are willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord Looking for and hastening to the coming of Christ not dreading it 2 Pet. 3.12 Rev. 22.20 2 Tim. 4.8 1 Cor. 1.7 fearing and flying it and the whole troop of Saints are brought in crying come Lord Jesus yea they are said to love the appearing of Christ and to wait for him from Heaven yea but now are wicked men thus affected towards death no and can ye blame them they should be mad if they were death hath too ghastly a countenance for them to look at with such an eye there is nothing to them so dreadful in all the world as death Now if you would know the reason of this the Doctrine contains it the Saints know they shall gain by it but not so the wicked man Obj. But I have here an objection to answer methinks I heare some say but are the Saints thus affected to death and do wicked men dye thus trembling we often see the contrary as to both the Saint fearful and the wicked daring in point of death for answer to this as to both thus and first for the gracious heart Sol. 'T is possible a pretious Saint of God to meet death with some reluctancy and that from a double cause 1. First they consist of two principles flesh and spirit imperfectly sanctified now the flesh may prevail and so far a natural fear of death surprize for the present but let the spiritual and sanctified part prevail and so far death's fear abated there is a mixture of unbelif with faith so much unbelief so much unwillingness but so much faith so much desire and the more faith the less fear or 2. There may be a certain unpreparedness at present in a souls apprehension for death and that may cause some unwillingness apprehending some unfitness evidences not so clear assurance clouded O spare me a little that I may recoâ—er my strength before I go hence and be no more seen as a Spouse that is to marry an Husband she would be prepared for his coming and though she may exceedingly desire his coming yet because things not so ready as she would have them perhaps she may not so desire his coming at that present so the gracious heart not but that he looks at death as gain not because he would not be with Christ with whom he accounts it best being but perhaps would be more fitted for his presence which he hopes to be if God spare him but still with a sweet and holy submission to the Lords good will and pleasure Obj. Yea but then for wicked men do not we often see them go to death without any such car and affrightment no such terrours upon their spirits as you speak of Now to this I Answer First 't is possible they may be ignorant of death and its consequences dye like fooles and beasts without regard to what followes thinking when dead there is an end of them say not such are scarce to be found among Christians for I l'e tell you the ignorance of thousands is most lamentable and dreadful Or Perhaps they deceive themselves with vain hopes if it shall be well with them and God will be gracious to them the Hipocrite along time deceived others and 't is just with God he should at last deceive himself their hope may last till death it self gnawes it asunder (a) O quam multi cum hac spe ad aeternos labores bella desendunt Eph. 4. as one sayes many goe down to Hell with a vain hope of Heaven Or 3. Perhaps they are dead before they dye the Apostle speaks of some that are past feeling feared they are senseless and not awakened Nabal like their hearts dead as a stone as one sayes Many go down to Hell waking not till they feel those flames about their ears could you speak with any or all these but an hour after death they would sing another song Now you must know 19. 1 Sam. 25.38 when we speak of death being so terrible to sinners we speak of sinners with their eyes opened their consciences a little enlightned and awakened and to these the tydings of death are killing I warrant you they cannot look it in the face with their own faces smiling and truly you cannot blame them for what should make a wicked man willing to dyer first at the best they are uncertain what shall become of them as Aristotle when ready to dy cryed out I dye doubtfully and whither I shall go I know not (b) Dubius morior quo vadam nescio and Adrian the Emperour animula vagula c. quos nunc abibis in locos oh my poor soul what places art thou now going into why what then can make them willing is it to be rid of some pain they feel nay then they are well helpt up no no they may often in a rage call for death as they do but when it comes to they dare not dye and you cannot blame them 't is only the Saint of Christ dares dye and the reason why the one welcomes the other dread deaths approach 't is the Saint believes a gain the other dreads a loss by a dying time And that 's a second Use Vse 3 Again thirdly do Gods Saints gain by dying let it be for comfort and support to all Gods number what a soul-comforting point is this to all you whose faces are heaven-ward to you to live is Christ why then to dye shall be gain And there is a threefold account whereupon you may bottome comfort from this honey truth as First here is comfort against your own death how may this kill in every good heart the fear of dying doest thou upon thy receiving the sentence of death in thy self shrink and give back for shame remember thy self thou'lt get by it I tell thee Friend it comes for no harm but good to thee It was a worthy Speech that Artabanus gave Xerxes that mighty Emperour of Persia who viewing his huge Army of at least a thousand thousand Men drinking up Rivers as they went and commanding Hils and Seas to give way unto them he fell a weeping because it came
into his mind that within an hundred years not one of that goodly Company would be found alive to whom he answered thus I would quoth he that were the worst for we endure more sorrow by retaining life neither is there any one of these or of all men living besides so happy upon Earth that he does not often cast in his mind how much more pleasure there is in dying then there is in living I am sure the Saints of God may truly say so dost weep to think of death I tell thee my friend thou wilt get more by dying then ever thou shall get by living I have read of Trophonius and Agamedes (a) Venerantes Deum petieâ—unt mercedem operis laboris sui nihil certi sed quod ess toptinum homini who having built a Temple to Apollo as they were worshipping god in the same they beg'd a reward of their labour and pains and they would not ask any certain or particular good thing but only asked quod optimum esset homini that which should be best for man and sayes the Author presently upon the request mortui sunt reperti they were both found dead beloved for Gods Saints it were the greatest good indeed I desire sayes the Apostle to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multo magis melius much more better or best of bests Phill. 1.23 and that 's the first branch of your comfort namely against your own death 2. Then Secondly here is matter of comfort and support against the loss of your godly relations 't is true 't is hard to flesh and blood to part with near and dear relations and not to express immoderate sorrow truly but that we are inconsiderate at such a time if we would set their gain against our loss it would be matter of great support I am not against the sending our gracious friends to the graves with tears and grief next to tears for Gods dishonour and the Churches sufferings I know no better use tears can be put to then to lament the departures hence of good men and good women to let the world know its great loss by their removal wither related to us or not and if nature somewhat exceed for relation sake I think it either no offence or very pardonable I plead not against our sorrowing but excess of it as (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naturales irrreprehensibiles Turbari lonum est sed non perturbari i. e. nimiopere turbari Maerori succumubere animum despondere one sayes these passions of grief and sorrow they are natural and unreproveable but when they break their bounds and become inordinate then sinful therefore Bernard distinguisheth between turbationem perturbationem 't is good sayes he to be troubled but not over-troubled when we give way to the excessive breaking out of those passions sitting down and sinking in our sorrowes and leâ—ting our greifs so swallow us up that with Rachel we refuse to be comforted this I condemn and would strengthen you against I pray thee friend what is the cause of those thy excessive greifs at the departure of thy gracious friends is it thy own loss or their loss thy own be quiet man he that took away one might have taken away more nay all had he pleased is it their loss nay there thou art mistaken they have lost nothing but every way gained Oh could our dead husbands dead wives dead Parents dead friends I mean dead in Christ that have changed a poor earthly Tabernacle for a Princely Pallace Sorrows for Joyes Earth for Heaven Travel for Rest behold us here lying in tears for them they would say to us as sometimes Christ to the daughters of Jerusalem weep not for us but for your selves we are well never so well nay till now never well oh the gain that the Saints have by death may bear up the spirits of their dearest friends at their parting with them that 's a second branch of comfort 3. And lastly here is comfort against all deaths Harbingers your Crosses Afflictions Persecutions and tryals that on this side Heaven you meet withall all changes and chances all troubles and losses wherewith this life is laden from the womb to the tomb from the Cradle to the Grave man is born to trouble as the sparks flye upward and if the Saints should scape them that were strange indeed I hope while you live in your enemies countrey you do not expect it but be of good chear none of them all can harm thee how prove you that Sir why thus if the King of terrours cannot harm thee none of his petty underlings shall do it if death be thy gain these shall not be thy loss run therefore your race though afflicted with hope and patience thou mayest say of the worst of troubles or troublers as he of that Tyrant He may kill me but he cannot hurt me It was a bâ—ave speech of Damindas when some told him now Phillip was broke into their Country they were afraid of suffering grievious things (b) O Semi vir inquit quid nobis poterit acerbe accidere qui mortem contemnimus O you half spirited men what need we fear suffering who have learned to despise even death it self why so here death shall be your advantage therefore none of these shall be your prejudice that 's a third Use then Vse 4 4. Fourthly and lastly I have only a word of Exhortation and Councell wherewith I wil shut up all that 's too fold 1. To all that hear me and my Councell to you is as ever you expect to have death do you a kindness so look you be found of this Saints number of this same poor scorned company of Saints believe it those be they that can hold up their heads in death when others have cause to tremble and look ruefully these be they shall get by death when others shall loose all and whatever your opinion of them be now you 'l wish to be of them one day I know not that ever I met with that man that would not have dyed a Saint though he lived a very Devil then with Baalam Oh that my Soul might dye the death of the Righteous and my last end be like His but don't cozen your selves holiness in Life hope in Death and happiness of death follow each other If not of this number as sure as the Lord lives death will not pleasure you but ruine you That 's the first 2. To the Saints themselves and my councell is that you would endeavour after a full assurance that your death shall be thus benefiâ—â—â—â— to you to know in your selves as the Apostle speaks Heb. 10.34 not only by Guess Conjecture or Hear-say but be able to say as the Apostle here to me to dye is gain without which you 'l never be able to dye like your selves but timerously and doubtfully which though we cannot say but may be sometime the case of
shall be safe indeed yea sit down and be quiet which this troublesome yet bewitched world will not afford us thither I hope you aspire whither she is but gone before I have no more but to end with my well wishes beseeching God to bless guide and keep you to fill you with himself to stay your mind upon himself to enable you to make a wise and holy improvement of this stroake and to say what shall I receive good at the hand of the Lord and not evil The Lord continue you a comfort to yours and make them comforts to you and make your little Daughter the Relict of your deceased Yoke-fellow the inheritrix of her Mothers Vertues that all her excellent endowments may so live and flourish in that little child of hers that we may say of her gone as Cicero of his Sulpitius (a) Nullâ—m monumentum clarius Sulpitius relinquere potuit quam effigiem morum suorum virtutis constantiae pictatis ingenij filium he could not have left a better monument than so lively a Portraiture of his goodness in his Son I hope Sir you will pardon me the giving you this trouble and let the singular respect I bear to your self and the honour I owe to the memory of your pious Consort now with God plead my excuse I have no more but to assure you of my being and remaining Your Cordial Friend and Servant in CHRIST JESUS Chr. Scott From my Study in Milton Hamlet this 3. Ian. 1672. To my Worthy and much Honoured Friends Captain John Bradman and Mrs. Sarah Bradman his Wife Friends Relations to Captain Richard Haddock Mr. Isaack Heath Mr. Richard Fisher Brothers in Law to Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher Daughter in Law to Mrs. Marjory Fisher late VVife to Captain Robert Fisher together with the rest of her Pious Relations and Friends whether to Me Known or Unknown My Christian and Worthy Friends UNderstanding it was the great desire of your dear Kinswoman and my loving friend Mrs. Fisher that if it might have been I should have preached Her Funerall Sermon and hearing by some after your comming down that your design was that rather then her desire should not be answered to have had it done in private Though for my own part I thought it not convenient by reason of the multitude of people which could not have received benefit and the offence that might have been taken yet had it not been otherwise resolved but her request had been insisted upon I must have submitted to any inconveniencies rather then not have answered her and your desires In order to which after I heard of it I applyed my self that little time I had to the work but very glad that it was at last performed by another in publick where no offence could be given or danger incurred And now because I could not serve her and your desires in that last office yet in the Testification of my great respects I owe to her memory and your selves her dear relations I have thought good to copy out my then prepared Meditations and in these few sheets of Paper to present you with them as to serve for an acknowledgement of my thankfulness to you all for your respects shewed to me a Stranger to you and undeserving from you so to testify my great esteem of that precious Saint of Christ and to let all that shall read them see that such losses are deeply to be lamented I cannot say they are word for word the same but as near as possible the same they should have been if I had then preached them perhaps although not for any worth in them yet for her respect whose death hath occasioned them you may at some spare hours cast an eye upon them and if they may be matter of advantage to your selves or any other I should be glad being joyfull I might serve or do good to any that belonged to her though unknown to me I believe you all affectionately loved her and delighted in her truly the best and now the only way left to testify your respect of her is to set before your eyes and keep in your memoryes the Pious example of her holy life and to be followers of her so far as she was of Christ Jesus a Copy with fewer blots a rule less crooked I know not where you will find on this side heaven The work that she hath done I know you expect to do leave her and prepare for your own that when Christ comes he may find you no worse prepared then I hope he found her to this end let matters of soul-concernment which are the only business of life have more and matters of the world have less of your hours then ever they have had It s strange to see how this vain world where we can be but a very little time at longest should so eat up our Affections Thoughts Desires Dayes and Years that for the one thing needfull we can find no leisure as if our God our Christ our Souls our Heaven were nothing worth It was an excellent speech of Charles the fifth to the Duke of Venice who when he had shewed him the glory of his Princely Palace and earthly Paradise instead of admiring it or him for it he only returned him this grave and serious Answer haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori these are the things that make us unwilling to Dye so truly this is the great cause why Christians play loath to depart when their times come and make death such a Bug-bare they have been with Martha combred with much serving alwayes so busied about laying up Treasures that they must now leave behind them that they are unprovided of that which should serve them for their great Journey Oh my friends when you are Bees for Earth but Drones for Heaven what low thoughts have you of it Methinks is an Incongruous sight if we could see inâ—o it that a man who is animal brevis aevi should be infinitae Sol icitudinis a creature but of a dayes continuance in the world yet of infinite cares about the world and what is this world we pursue as one sayes (a) Vita quid est hominum vasti quid gloria mundi Dulla est somnus fumus umbra fugax what is this life what is the glory of this vast world a Bubble a Dream a little Smoake a flying Shadow And yet what Folly and Madness possesseth the hearts of men Eccles 9.3 to doâ—e on this windy Bubble to please themselves with this foolish Dream to embrace this blacking Smoake and ever to bee catching at this flying Shadow till with Esops Dog the substance be lost and past recovery But I hope better things of you whom I write you are not to Learn in point of knowledge how to distinguish of things that differ and I hope it need not be pressed in point of practise to looke not at things seen but at things not seen All I shall say to you shall be
health wants honours good name children hath he all these and thinks he wants nothing ah poor heart he don't know his wants he wants God without whom all his enjoyments nothing worth quid prodest diviti quod habet si Deum qui omnia dedit non habet what will a wicked mans All do him good whiles without God the giver of all good he wants grace more precious than Gold he wants pardon of sin peace of conscience set him by set him by he is a poor wanting creature but give me the Saint of God 't is he we would speak to come friend thou hast other manner of riches than the other but dost thou want nothing oh God help me Sir want yes I have an hard heart and would have it softned I have strong corruptions and would have them subdued I have weak graces at best and would have them strengthned I beleive and scarce beleive hope and scarce hope sometimes have comforts sometimes none my wants are great lo here a wanting world nothing but wants while in this world but now comes death and he goes where he shall want nothing for temporals no need of them nothing for spirituals all perfect t is the saying of one (a) Eacilius exponi potest quid non sit in caelo quam quid sit in caelo t is easier to tell what is not in heaven than what is in heaven I cannot tell you what the riches of it are but to be sure there be no wants there Rev. 7.16 17. they shall hunger no more thirst no more and chap. 21.23 That City hath no need of the Sun or Moon the glory of God lightens it and the Lamb is the light thereof No no the Saints needy dayes are gone now their wanting time is over here 's nothing but what is desirable and here 's every thing that is desirable yea fulness of all desirableness and eternity to compleat all when once death hath wasted them over upon that shore they shall find nothing wanting to compleat their everlasting blisfulness as I remember one speaking of hell sayes n = * Non mihi si centum linguae sint oraque centum Ferrea vox omnes scelerum comprendere formas Omnia paenarum percurrere nomina possem Non mihi si centum c. which is Englished briefly thus No heart of man can think no tongue can tell The direful pains ordain'd and felt in Hell So may I say of Heaven Had I a thousand tongues I might not express its full happiness will glorious Robes please will princely Attendance please will delicious Feasting please I could fetch Scriptures to attest all these 〈…〉 dark resemblances of that glory but what spend I words when the Apostle who was a little eye witness and ear witness when he was caught up into Paradise 2 Cor. 12.4 yet concludes its fulness of happiness thus 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him Now whether to change a barren countrey which is alwaies in want for such fulness of estate and unutterable plenty be not a gainful change judge you but this change do Christs Saints make by dying And thus I have shew'd you in these five particulars that Saints gain by dying in part of estate and condition one step farther and we shall come to the use As they make a gain of death in the change of their place as they make a gain by death in respect of their estate and condition so they gain in the change of their company in this respect also death makes them gainers and this I shall hold out unto you in these three particulars First they change unholy company for company that is holy and pure unholy company why the Saints associate not themselves with such here Ps 6.8 Psal 119.115 Ps 120.5 Psal 16.3 doth not the Psalmist banish such his society away from me ye wicked doth not he complain Wo is me that I dwell in Mesech does he not profess all my delight is in the Saints that dwell on earth I answer t is true he does so and the like do all Saints desire as man is a sociable creature so by his society you may judge of the man wicked men are for company like themselves and Saints for Saints society the righteous are abomination to the wicked and the wicked are abomination to the righteous Canaanites are thorns in the Israelites sides and pricks in their eyes I would as soon guess at a man bound for heaven or hell by his companions as by most marks I know it was the speech of a good woman lying upon her bed of sickness and under some trouble of spirit her comforts eclipsed Lord sayes she I hope thou wilt not send me to hell for there be the wicked and thou knowest I never loved their company upon earth Gods Saints had rather be in a desart then with debauched companions Psal 55.6 O that I had wings like a dove then would I flee away yea wander far off and remain in the wilderness but though these be not the Saints companions by way of choice or option yet so long as their converse and walk lyes here in the world they must have to to do with ungodly ones t is true their fellow Saints are their dear associates the company they delight in but they cannot sometime avoid sinners company too for then as St. Paul sayes 1 Cor. 5.10 they must go out of the world yea but now comes death and that sets them among company pure and perfect now they are for Mount Sion the city of the living God the heavenly Hierusalem the innumerable company of Angels the general assembly the Church of the first born and with God the judge of all with the spirits of just men made perfect with Jesus the mediator c. Heb. 12.22.23 Now they are in the kingdome which no unclean thing enters where are shut out all dogs and sorceres and whoremongers murderers Idolaters lyars with the rest of that cursed rabble this is Gods holy place where must come none but holy persons called the Inheritance of the Saints in light Coll. 1.12 the inheritance undefiled 1 Pet. 1.4 where they shall have no wicked Belialite to vex persecute trouble mock reproach or bark against holiness and holy persons no they are gone by themselves to a place of their own and shall never more disquiet thee in thy eternal and uninterrupted enjoyment of thy long wished for rest and peace Oh what a gainful change is this to hearts truly gracious company well amended that 's the first thing Then secondly they change company of an inferiour and lower rank for Princes and Kings society nay indeed none come there but Kings all crowned persons Rev. 1.6 He hath made us Kings and Priests to God such they were here though their glory was obscured but now they go to have their
hope 't is a sin encouraging hope and 't is a soul-damning hope all this notwithstanding they will hold it the Devil hath begotten such a blind fancy in them that notwithstanding they go on in sin yet they bless themselves and say I shall have peace God is merciful and I do not fear but to fare as well as the precisest of them all and this hope may be so fine a spun thred that it may be drawn out to the very dying hour yea but then it breaks Prov. 11.7 When a wicked man dyes his expectation perisheth and the hope of unjust men is cut off as one sayes on that place perhaps he might even dye in strong hopes of heaven but his hope and breath failed him together 't is the righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 the other might have it to his death but not in his death then farewel that as one sayes the wicked hopes breathing but the godly hopes expiring Iob. 27.8 What is the hope of the Hypocrite (a) improbidum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justus etiam cum expirat sperat though he hath gained when God takes away his soul what is it why it is a vain nothing he would not let it go while he lived but now he dyes it must go many times the poor wretch if a little awakened shewes you that his hope is departed before himself departs by his dolourous out-cryes sick bed shrikes and despairing speeches but however beyond death no wicked mans hope can hold it no his hopes are all lost They lose all their peace by dying but had ever the wicked man peace God sayes There is no peace to the wicked Esa 48.22 I mean that quiet that they had in their breasts by their tame submission to Satan as their Soveraign and from their sleepiness or deadness of their consciences that they stirred not to their trouble and disquieting this is now gone and changed for horrors stings of conscience and teeth meeting bites of the never dying worm they have hitherto been men very quiet all at peace devil at peace never troubled them consciences at peace seldome had an angry word from them as fine consciences for the wicked mans tooth as were in the world for they might do what they would lye swear be drunk they would seldome braul or say why do you so this was brave indeed yes if it would hold but it will not sure Now that a dying hour is come How is it now what all quiet still no no now the dog is awakened and it will bark now the Lyon is roused and will roar every flash is fire and every word a Scorpions sting oh conscience conscience it was long before thou spakest but now thou doest 't is death to hear thee oh could you speak with the poor heart an hour after death and ask now what peace man put that question to him is it peace Jehu is it peace is all quiet still you will find the case much altered lo here the mans peace and quiet 't is all gone all lost Then They change their comforts such as they had impure and mixt but better then none at all for pure torments those pleasures and delights which they did enjoy they are all lost and what but bitter pain succeeds them Luk. 16.25 Son remember thou in thy life time hadst thy good things hadst them but gone now as 't is said of Babylon Rev. 18.14 The fruits that thy soul lusted after they are departed from thee all things which were dainty and goodly they are departed from thee and thou shalt find them no more at all the man had riches but they are gone gay clothes full tables cups running over but all lost Laban and his bags Nabal and â—is flocks they are parted Belshazzar and his Boules Herod and his Harlots they are now asunder all lost A great Lord shewing to a friend his great House and pleasant Gardens his friend said to him Sir you had need make sure of Heaven or else when you dye you will be a very great loser all these comforts they are all lost They change their wicked companions which were sometime the desire and delight of their soules for the company of Devils and damned spirits Go from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels there be their companions now as the Devil said to Saul this day shalt thou he with me time was when they would not be for Saints society I warrant ye they now would if they might but now they shall not no there is a left hand company for them these roaring boyes shall have roaring companions In a word they change whatever happiness they stood possest of for completion perfection and perpetuity of misery wicked men gain by dying oh poor hearts pessima mors peccatoris the death of a wicked man is a most dreadful thing as one sayes (a) Mala in mundi amissione pejor in carnis separatione pessima in vermis ignisque contritione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is bad in the loss of all their worldly good things 't is worse in Soul and body parting and worst of all in the worm and fire that followes it all you prophane wretches what happiness ye look for take it before your death as indeed you do crying Let us eat and drink to morrow we dye come fetch Wine we will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant Esa 56.12 or as they are notably deciphered Wisedome 2.5 6 7 8 9. Our time is a shadow that passeth away and after our end there is no returning come on therefore let us enjoy the good things that are present let us speedily use the creatures let us fill our selves with costly wine and oyntments let no flower of the spring pass by us let us crown our selves with rose buds before they be withered let none of us go without his part of voluptuousness for this is our portion what gallant fellowes if this would hold but as our Saviour sald to Judas what thou doest do quickly so say I to you make hast make hast for if death comes all 's gone oh sad is the death of wicked and prophane wretches they are losers great losers And that 's the first Use Again Vse 2 Learn hence the reason of that great difference between the righteous and the wicked in their entertainments of death the one meets it with resolution holy confidence cheerfulness the other with fear trembling and astonishment the reason is the one knows he shall gain by it but the other as well he may dreads a loss tell the Saint of dying you do not put paleness into his cheeks When Modestus Lieftenant to Julian that Apostate and persecuting Emperour told Basil of grievous things as he thought confiscation of goods and banishment and death the good man answered presently all these are nothing for confiscation of goods I have nothing but a few
heart I am sure in the unblame ableness of life she was an Israelitess indeed in whom was no guil one of the ornaments of her Sex well reported of by all yea of the truth it self free from the crimes of sinful Age Non sine peccato sed sine querela I say not without sin but without complaint and no marvel for she set the Lord alwayes before her therrfore she did not fall the grace of God that appeared to her wrought so effectually in her that it taught her and inabled her to deny all ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and Godly in this present evil World 10. Shall I leave her in this respect and speak of her as a Wife she was her husbands Crown Prov. 12.4 A vertuous woman is the crown of her Husband a rich Portion of the Lords own bestowing Prov. 19.14 House and riches are the Inheritance of Faâ—hers but a prudent Wife is of the Lord. She was one of Salomons wives mentioned Prov. 31.11 12. One that the heart of her Husband might safely trust in so that he shall have no need of spoyl She will do him good and not evil all the dayes of her life Oh the teares she shed for him while absent beyond the Seas and the many prayers she put up for his prosperous and safe return besides her earnest desires to her Friends that in their Prayers they would still remember her dear Husband Her desire was exceeding great in this her last sickness if the Will of God might be so that she might live but till his return once more to see him and speak with him but God was pleased to deny her as he did his Servant Moses going over into the land of Canaan though both to their great gain taking him up to the land of Canaan above instead of that below and her to a far dearer husband and head namely Christ Jesus where this beloved Disciple now resteth in the bosome of her best love as I nothing question 11. Shall I mention her as a Mother how tender and affectionate a parent winning by love not ruling by rigor indeed she had but one Child of her own a young Daughter and was Mother in Law to one more of her last dear husbands who I dare to say will ever testify that she had not a mother in Law of a Mother in Law but an indulgent affectionate kind and endearing mother indeed and if she had travailed in pain of her she would not have been more willing to travail in pain for her in what had lain in her power to have done her good 12. Shall I mention her as a kinswoman friend sister relation those dear and mutual kindnesses that I have both seen and heard of between her and you her dear relations and that great love between you tells me that I shall but revive your gre fs Peradventure add to them which I am loath to do and therefore will make an end and set your patience at liberty which I should think and fear I had greatly tyred but only for your great love that I am perswaded you all bear to the memory of your choice and dear friend 13. For her death I can say little and therefore will say nothing she removed from us to the City where I had not the happiness of being one of her visitants but I question not but she whose life had been so exemplary could not but finish that well spent life as comfortably To conclude therefore I have read of Apelles that he was used to say that to draw the compleat picture of a beautyful woman he must take one part from one another from another a third from a third c. and put them altogether methinks this Christian Gentlewoman had followed this course in vertues and spiritual excellencies one Christian excels in one vertue another in another but I scarce know any one necessary thing that tended to make up a compleat Christian but in some measure it was in her Well she is gone we following and in the prime of her dayes and flower of her years she is sent for hence but the loss ours not hers Life is compared to a Comedy (a) Ut fabula sic vita non quam dâ—u sâ—d quaâ— ben abbâ— râ—fert no matter how short if well acted which how hers was you have heard I know her loss is much lamented by all neighbours that knew her more by all her friends that knew her better and most of all by her dear relations that enjoyed her but shew your selves Christians that are nearlyest concerned bearing Gods hand as quietly and patiently in her death as she bare it in her life Your loss is great confest but her gain greater nay you have not lost her praemaâ—stis no amisistis she is but stept before not lost you 'l see her again them that sleep in Jesus God will bring with him 1 Thess 4.14 Follow you her example make ready Let your loynes be girt your lights burning and be your selves like them that wait for their Lord when he returnes from the Wedding that when he comes and knocks you may open to him Luke 12.35 36. And then you 'l see her again see your wife again your sister again your friend and kinswoman again yea where all sorrow and mourning shall fly away and everlasting joy shall be upon all your heads Where youth shall never wax old where your life shall fear no ending where there shall be no more sickness to wast and make pale no more death to seperate dear friends no more greif felt no more signs heard as Aust most sweetly (a) Ubi juveâ—tus nunquam sen sâ—it ubi vita terminum nescit ubi amor nunquam tep scit ubi sâ—nitas nunquam marcescit ubi gaudium nuâ—quam decrescit ubi dolor nunquâ—m sâ—ntitur ubi genitus nunquam audi ur c. c. For the which place and time the Lord in Mercy fit and prepa o us All and unto which in his due time bring us as our Hope is he hath done this our dear Sister Amen Amen FINIS