there be daies in the Year of the Sun was translated from Earth to Heaven next after Adams death seven Patriarchs remaining Witnesses of his Translation Elijah Elijah a strong Lord as the word signifies called also Elias who in prayer Jam. 5.17 18. 2 King 2.11 12. prayed so the Greek that it might not rain and it did not rain that it might rain and it did rain This Elijah had his Rapture and his Rapture was a Type of Christ's Ascension He went up by a whirlwind into Heaven Elisha seeing it cryed my Father my Father the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof All that do live shall die or be changed Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep That is 1 Cor. 15.51 52. we shall not all die Now that by sleep he means Death the whole Discourse of that Chapter makes evident What shall become of us then This is answered in the words following but we shall be changed There shall be a corporeal and numerical Resurrection if Job may be credited Though worms destroy his body Job 19.26 27. yet in the flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me Every man shall have a Resurection out of his own Dust The dead in Christ 1 Thes 4.16 1 Câ—â—â—5 53 54. shall rise first These shall be raised into a state of Incorruption This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality Now those then living having Christ for their Life shall not die but be changed into the same state of Incorruption Col. 3.4 and Immortality of those that shall have a numerical Resurrection given them by the power of God and the God of power SECT IV. Why Natural or Corporal Death is the Circumference of the Vniverse THat Man is Mortal and not a match for Death hath appeared why Man is mortal and not a match for Death will appear by these following Reasons Reasons Man hath sinned therefore man is mortal and must die Sin is that wretched womb wherein Death lay Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death All sorts and kinds of Death whether violent natural spiritual or eternal they are the stipend of sin Sin is the most mischievous thing in the world for it begins in turning the Heart from God and ends in turning God from the Heart Psal 9.17 now is not this man like to be turned into Hell Sin is that unhappy womb that have been productive of all the penal Judgments that have been in the world the first and the second Death Fire and Famine Poverty and Prison Plague and Pestilence the Rack and the Stake binding and banishing bleeding and burning they are the products of sin Oh my soul Nil nisi peccata timeo Chrysostom So Anselm all thy cares and crosses all thy fears and frowns all thy sorrows and sufferings all thy tears and troubles all thy tryals and travels they are the monstrous and prodigious Births and Effects of sin Wonder not that one said I fear nothing but sin Sin is the Mother Death is the Daughter Rom. 5.12 By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned Sin is like Pandora's box which being opened was full of all evils filling the Earth with Diseases and all other Calamities What is said of War Bellum est malum complexum may be said of Sin it is a complex and complicated Evil. Sin is Evil only Evil all Evil alway Evil altogether Evil. We cannot speak worse of Sin than it is nor of Man being a Sinner than he is As God is that Good in whom is all Good Bonum in quo omnia sunt bona and no Evil so Sin is that Evil wherein is all Evil and no Good Death is the product of Sin Let the great Doctor of the Gentiles speak who had a great command of Oratory 1 Cor. 15.21 Vorstius By Man Adam the first came death That is by the Sin of Man came the Death of man by the Sin of man came the first and the second death upon man By man came death Not only Mortality as one saith but also eternal Death When the Jews are under a severe stroke they say This is part of the Golden-Calf That is this suffering is for our sin The Mother of Nero concerning him and from our sin Is it not pity that any man should say of his sin as she did of her Son Let me die so He may live Dost thou say let my sin live though I die and be damned then I say thou seemest to me to be within a step of Death within a step of Damnation Dost thou say to thy sin as God did to Joshua I will not fail Thee Josh 1.5 nor forsake thee Then I say thou art in danger of Hell fire and it is mercy to a wonder yea mercy above wonder that thou art out of Hell All men that live must die and all that die are bound for the grave that is the next stage When sin came into the world and that came in by cating Death came in with it Well may we cry Ah Sin Sin Sin thou hast digged all the graves and made all the funerals that have been in the world It was once said of the goodly Buildings of Rome that the sins of the Germans meaning the money got by the Popes Factors for sin-pardons granted the Germans have built these Thus when we see those goodly Buildings the bodies of men cast unto the ground yea cast into the ground we may truly say the sins of men have unbuilt have pulled down their Bodies Man Reas 2. is formed out of the dust therefore man is mortal and must die As our Bodies dwell in houses of clay Job 4.19 the foundations whereof are laid in the dust so our Bodies are but Clay-builts and they cannot stand long We were reared at first our of the dust and we are making to our Center every moment Bodies are but Clay-builts though some be painted and decked and beautified more than others yet all are dust and that makes to its Center Soul as thy Original was so shall thy Conclusion be as thy beginning was so shall thy endiâ— be Though Man now seem to be somewhaâ— better than dust yet to dust shall he return Bodie alive are but living dust Man is dust while he lives returns to the Dust when he dies and 〈◊〉 turned into dust after Death It was said to Adam and in him to all Mankind not only as a curse but also as a command Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread until thou returnest to the ground that is until thou diest for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return Phil. 3.21 As thy Alpha was so shall thy Omega
nothing yea so poor that he had bankrupted himself and was worse than nothing then Christ became his Portion When man by his sin had stripped himself naked and to cover his nakedness had Fig-leaves upon his Loins then Christ became his Portion Rom. 5.6 8. In due time Christ died for the ungodly While we were yet sinners Christ died for us Ah! what a poor pittance a Christless soul hath though he hath a Kingdom before him an Empire before him Who for the most part have been the Princes and Petentates of the warld the Dons and Emperours of the world but the Nero's and Nebuchadnezzars of the world the Pharoahs and Pilates of the world Had a man as many Kingdoms yea could a man have as many worlds Esth 1.1 as Ahasuerus had Provinces who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 Provinces yet if without Christ he would be but a Beggar be but a Bankrupt Is not Christ then a seasonable Portion But consider the season of this Portion under a two-fold notion in reference to the work and in reference to the wages In reference to the work Sin was the work now this was a desperate work a dangerous work a damnable work Sin is a darkning of the Glory of God a defacing of the Image of God a murdering of the Son of God a grieving of the Spirit of God and a wronging of the Soul of man Is not Christ now a seasonable Portion Adam says God hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat Gen. 3.11.12 And then the man said the woman which thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the Tree and I did eat Here is the work and that is sin now sinful work is sad work In reference to the wages Sin was the work Death was the wages In the day thou eatest thereof Rom. 6◠23 dying thou shalt dye The wages of sin is death All manner of deaths the first and the second death Sin pays all its servants in black money Christ is an incomparable Portion To whom will ye liken Christ Is he not without compare Was Absalom a Beauty without compare among the Sons of David Certainly Christ is among the Sons of God Absalom was a Beauty in Body but a Black in Soul Christ was a Beauty without a Spot a Substance without a Shadow an Ocean of Sweet without a Drop of Gall. Jer. 10.16 The portion of Jacob is not like them Was it ever said of any one but that only One Christ Jesus that he was all Desires But so Can. 5.16 Ainsworth Psa 86.8 Christ is His palate sweetnesses yea he is all Desires Among the Gods there are none like unto thee Jehovah neither are there any Works like unto thy works Take now a prospect of the Incomparableness of Christ in a twofold respect his Person and his personal Excellency Christ is an incomparable portion in respect of his person Christ was God and Man and herein he was without compare Now this person of his as God-man is the Object of Faith Joh. 8.24 If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins If ye believe not that I am God as well as man ye shall die in your sins and be damned for your sins Christ is an incomparable Portion in respect of his personal Excellency As the person of Christ is the Object of Faith so the personal Excellency of Christ is the Object of Love Soul do but look upon Christ and thou canst not but love him such are his personal Excellencies Suffer a Tast by way of Instance Reflect his Love Did ever any one love as Christ loved He loved his enemies 1 Pet. 3.18 and for those was bled to Death by whom he was bled to Death He suffered for sins the just for the unjust Inspect his Life His Life was a mirrour of Holiness As he is a principle in His so he is a president for His. Heb. 4.15 No blot in his Scutcheon Sin in his Soul In all points tempted like us yet without sin Though Christ was tempted unto sin not into sin Reflect his Kindness Was ever any one so kind as Christ was Luke 8.26 27. he sets sail for the City of Gadara to dispossess one man at most two men possessed with Devils and that dwelt in Tombs Luke mentions but one man Mat. 8.28 and Matthew mentions two men possessed with Devils coming out of the Tombs Inspect his Obedience He fulfilled to a punctilio the whole will of God Jon. 17.4 I have finished the work which thou gavest me t◠do Christ fulfilleth the Righteousness of the Law for His and fulfilleth the Righteousness of the Gospel in His. Reflect his Humility Was every any one so humble as Christ was Joh. 13.5 He left his Fathers bosom for his Mothers womb a Throne for a Manger Heaven for Earth Quericus Leigh in Loc. He washed his Disciples feet not their head but their feét One upon a consideration of this example cried thou hast overcome me oh Lord thou hast overcome my pride this example hath mastered me Inspect his Sympathy How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah Hos 11.8 how shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together When Christ strikes His every stroak goes as it were to his own Heart when he is about to strike he is as it were unresolved whether he shall strike or no and when he hath stricken he doth as it were repent that ever he did strike Do not all these motions of Gods Heart appear in the highest strains of passionate Rhetorick Reflect his Mercifulness Was ever any one so merciful as Christ Luke 10.30 31 32 c. witness the man that sell among Thieves between Jericho and Jerusalem the Priest and the Levite passed by but the Samaritan had mercy Inspect his Muteness Was ever any one so mute as Christ was Isa 53.7 He was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep before the Shearers is dumb so opened he not his mouth Reflect his Meekness Moses was not to compare with Christ for Meekness Say we not well Joh. 8.48 49. that thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil Jesus answered I have not a Devil but I honour my Father and ye do dishonour me Is not his Meekness a Mirror Inspect his Mindfulness Was every any one so mindful as Christ was Go tell the Disciples Mar. 16.7 and Peter Be sure ye tell Peter Peter hath been sining and may now be unbelieving tell the Disciples and Peter Peter hath been denying and now may be doubting be sure therefore ye tell Peter Peter hath been denying before the Crucifixion and may now be hesitating about the Resurrection Go tell the Disciples and Peter DIRECT IV. ART actually in Christ Direct 4. get
accommodates Page 93. 1. Freâ—y 2. Fuâ—y 6. Christ is an advantaging Rock He is All 1. Between God and Them 2. Between Them ond God 7. Christ is a secure Rock He secures 1. Under Danger 2. From Danger 8. Christ is a daraâ—â—e Rock Thus 1. As to his Life 2. As to his Love 10. A Portion Page 95. Quest But what manner of Portion is Christ Sol. 1. Christ is a necessary Portion Thus 1. To suffer all for Thee 2. To do all in Thee 2. A Soul Portion Thus He is 1. The Meat of the Soul 2. The Medicine of the Soul 3. A satisfying Portion Thus in respect Page 98. Of the 1. Susableness of the Object Page 98. Of the 2. Sufficiency of the Object 4. A durable Portion Thus Christ is 1. In respect of his Life 2. In respect of his Love 5. A seasonabâ—â— Portion Thus He is Page 100. 1. In reference to the Work 2. To the Wagâ—s 6. An incomparable Portion Thus Christ is 1. As to his Person 2. As to his personal excellency Now here take a Prospect or Taste of his 1. Love 2. Life 3. Kindness 4. Obedience 5. Humility 6. Sympathy 7. Mercifulness 8. Muteness 9. Meekness 10. Mindfulness DIRECT IV. Direct 4. Get thorough Grace Assarance of another Life after Death for there câ—n be no Assurance of this Life against Death Pag. 104. Quest 1. Is Assurance attainable in this Life Quest 2. What is this Assurance which is attainable in this Life Pag. 105. Quest 3. But why is Assurance attainable in this Life Pag. 108. Sol. In respect of 1. Precept 2. President 3. Promise Quest 4. But unto what is Assurance attributed which is attainable in this Life Pag. 109. Quest 5. But what course shall I steer for this Assurance which is attainable in this Life Pag. 110. Sol. 1. Be much in private Prayer 2. Watch at Wisdoms Gates 3. Study a greater Conformity to Christ 4. Make Christ the Object of thy Trust and live upon Grace in him 5. Converse those that are assured 6. Look unto the Spirit for Assarance Quest 6. But what Motives are there to endeavor this Assurance which is attainable in this Life Pag. 111. Sol. 1. Would ye not be staggering at the Promise 2. Would ye face Death under the severest complexion 3. Would ye be eminently spirited for the eminentest service 4. Would ye be ready and rigged for an eternity 5. Would ye find every bitter Cup sweetned 6. Would ye dwell in the Suburos of Heaven DIRECT V. Direct 5. Reflect those things that thorough Christ may sweeten the thoughts of Death Pag. 113. To this end reflect Death and the Promise 1. Death No Terror in it c. because 1. 'T is stingless 2. It cannot break the Covenant 3. Called a Sleep 4. A going to the Fathers 5. A Rest 6. It cannot break Vnion 2. The Promise as to its greatness and preciousness A threefold Promise 1. Civil 2. Religious 3. Divine Pag. 116. Divine Promises are greater than a Believers 1. Expressions 2. Conceptions 3. Wants 4. Weaknesses 5. Fears 6. Faith 7. Corruptions 8. As great as divine Commands 9. Greater than divine Threatnings 10. Like unto God himself What is great in God is laid under Promise Pag. 125. 1. His Power 2. His Presence 3. His Pardon 4. His Providence 5. His Spirit 6. Goodness 7. Faithfulness 8. Counsel 9. Conduct 10. Himself DIRECT VI. Direct 6. Drink of the Brook by the way and lift up thy head Pag. 132. Cordial 1. Thou shalt be no Loser but a Gainer by Death Death will be 1. An Out-let to Sin 2. An In-let to Glory Cordial 2. Death will scrip thee of thy Rags of Mortality Pag. 136 Cordial 3. Whether living or dying thou art Christs Cordia 4. Death will arrive and aâ—â—hor thee in a desirable and delectable 〈◊〉 and Haven Cordial 5. Death will and that at once gâ—ave aliâ—ny 1. Cares 2. Snares 3. Fears 4. Tears 5. Temptations 6. Tribulations Pag. 141. Cordial 6. Art actually in Christ Then thou art an Heir Pag. 143. Quest 1. But who are those that are Christs Sol. 1. Those who are so by eternal Douation 2. Those who are so by effectual Vocation Quest 2. But are those who are Christs Heirs Quest 3. But of what are these Heirs Sol. 1. They are Heirs of things present Pag. 145. Quest But what are these things present Heirs 1. Of Christ 2. Of the Grace of Christ 3. Of the Spirit of Christ 4. Of the Ministery of Christ As 1. Of Men. Pag. 148. 2. Of Angels Wherein 1. Their Nature 2. Qualities 3. Number 4. Place 5. Degrees 6. Office 5. Of the Righteousness of Christ Pag. 150. 6. Of God 7. Of Gospel-Priviledges As 1. Of Access 2. Audience 3. Assistance 4. Acceptance 8. Of Gospel-Promises Pag. 153 Quest What are the things laid under promise 1. Eternal Life 2. Pardon of Sin 3. Power against Sin 4. Purity of Soul 5. Peace of Conscience 6. Growth in Grace Pag. 155. 7. Perseverance in Grace 8. Supporting Grace 9. Supplying Grace Quest But what are these times of need Pag. 158. Sol. A time of 1. Poverty 2. Plenty 3. Debauchery 4. Tribulation 5. Temptation 6. Declension 7. Death 8. Danger 9. Dissertion 10. Duty Pag. 161. Thus whether ye respect 1. The Duty to be performed Or Pag. 164. 2. I differency of Spirit to perform the Duty Duty not be disputed For 1. Thy Safety is in a way of Duty 2. Thy Mercy is in a way of Duty Supply of Grace is laid under promise 1. For a time of action Pag. 165. 2. For a time of pâ—ssion Sol. 2. They are Heirs of things to come Quest But what are these things to come Sol. These shall be indulged hereafter 1. Perfect Knowledge 2. Perfect Vnity 3. Perfect Grace 4. Perfect Peace 5. Perfect Vision 1. Without Amission 2. Without Intermission 6. Perfect Freedom Thus Pag. 166. 170. 1. From Satanical Suggestion 2. From sinful Commanion 3. From sinful Corruption Cordial 7. Art actually in Christ Thou art on the best side On this side are 1. Holy Saints 2. Holy Angels 3. A holy God 4. A holy Christ. Pag. 173. 1. The strongest side 2. The soundest side 3. A prudent 4. A prevailing A fourfold Conquest hath Christ made 1. Over Sin 2. Satan 3. The Earth 4. Heaven Cordial 8. An interest in the Blood of Christ Pag. 175. Quest What manner of Blood is Christs Sol. 1. Precious 2. Pure 3. Purifying 4. Purchasing 5. Pardoning 6. Pleading 7. Procuring 8. Pacifying 9. Conquering 10. Crucifying 11. Softening 12. Qâ—ickening 13. Justiâ—ying 14. Invaluable His Blood is invaluable for he is the Pearl Quest But what manner of Pearl is Christ Pag. 182. Sol. 1. A necessary earl 2. A rare Pearl 3. A taking Pearl 4. A making Pearl For 1. He pays thy debts 2. He bears thy charges 5. An inestimable Pearl 6. An unlosable Pearl Cordial 9. Art actually in Christ Be joyous then for he is the object of thy
that to this end To shew the Generality of the Condition All naturally are dead dead in sin To shew the Certainty of it We may believe it and are not to be unbelieving about it To shew the Corruptibility of our Nature Though we are dead yea dead in sin yet it is connatural unto us to be unwilling to take notice of it There is an eternal Death Is the first Death so amazing so amusing what is the second Death then Is the first Death The King of terrours to a Christless Soul who then is able to say what the second Death is to this Soul There is the second Death as well as the first Death He or She that overcometh shall not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 2.11 not so the Greek be hurt of the second Death There is a twofold Death both of the Body and of the Soul The first Death of the Body is the Separation of the Soul the second Death of the Body is the Torment of Eternity There is also a twofold Death of the Soul 1 Separatio Animae The first Death of the Soul is Sin the second Death of the Soul is a casting out from the Face of God 2 Cruciatus aeterni and that for an Eternity Hell as some fancy is not Mount Aetna 1 Peccatum nor yet Purgatory according to the conceit of the blind and bloody Papist Hell must needs be a dismal place 2 Profectio à facie Dei in aeternum a Dungeon of Darkness for the Sun-shine of Gods presence never comes there To the damned saith one the Loss of Heaven is more grievous than the Torment of Hell Heaven and Hell are the greatest Opposites Estius Matth. 11.23 or remotest Extreams And thou Capernaum that art lifted up to Heaven shalt be thrown down to Hell The second Death is Hell and the punishment thereof the punishment of Sense and of Loss There is a corporal or natural Death Moses my servant Josh 1.2 is dead How great soever and good soever Moses was he is dead now he is gone off the Stage now he is gathered to his Fathers now he is gone into an Eternity now Moses is dead and God preach his Funeral Sermon Joh. 11.32 Moses my servant is dead Lord said Mary if thou hadst been here my Brother had not died This is natural or corporal Death which is the following Subject SECTION II. What this Natural or Corporal Death is which is the Circumference of the Vniverse BUT what is Natural Quest Sol. or Corporal Death I shall not pretend to a Definition which relate to the Nature and Essence but present a Description which relate to the Properties and Effects Natural Death Descriptio is the Deprivation of natural Life Death is no Essence nor Substance but Privation Death is the Disunion between the Soul and the Body A man then dies when the Body for a time and but for a time is separated from the Soul or the Soul takes leave of the Body Death is but departed Death from lifened Dust Thou hidest thy face they are troubled Psal 104.29 Mors a morsu which our first Parents tasted Isa 2.22 Mors a mora which yet tarrieth for us All. Gen. 35.18 Omne Ens est Bounm omne Ronum est Ens. thou takest away their breath they die and return unto their dust When our Breath goes out our Life goes out when we cease breathing we cease living our Breath going our Life goeth our Life is but a Breath but a Blast Mans Breath is in his nostrils God breathed into mans nostrils the breath of life Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Unless Breath goeth forth we die and Death is nothing else but a going forth of the Breath Life is a going forth of the Breath by Respiration and Death is a going forth of the Breath by Expiration It is said of Rachel And it came to pass as her soul was in departing for she died that she called his name Ben-oni that is The Son of my sorrow but his Father called him Benjamin that is The Son of the right hand God that made all things saw that all things which he made were very good Every Being is good and every Good is a Being therefore Lord saith one seeing thou hast not made Death suffer not that which thou hast not made to reign over that which thou hast made Death is a Fall August Omnes eramus ille unus Hemo Rom. 5.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which came by a Fall Adam sinning fell he falling all his posterity fell in him and with him It was not Man but Man-kind that fell By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men in whom so the Greek all have sinned Nature when she was young caught a fall as Mephihosheth did whereof she hath halted ever since Breath departing is dying and departed Breath is Death Death is not a Creature but the Grave of Creatures Jam. 1.15 Who ever was the Father of Death Sin was the Mother of Death if the Apostle may be credited Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death The first and the second Death are the products of sin Sin Lex naturae Tributurn mortalium Plato Visibile Verbum is that unhappy Womb that have been productive of the first and second Death Death as one calls it is the Law of Nature and Tribute of Mortals It is the municipal Law of the Earth to die once of Heaven to live for ever of Hell to die for ever We may call Death a Visible Word I am writing of natural Death it is as natural to die as to live yet when we say a man dies naturally we seem to speak improperly for a Man dies not as a Beast dies through the Annihilation of Nature but from the Appointment of God It is once appointed unto man to die Heb. 9.27 and after death the Judgment The word once say some is not to be referred to die as if there were some suspition that man could die twice but the word once is referred to appoint it was once appointed and that once shall stand It is enough that God hath once appointed Death but after this the Judgment Some understand this of a particular Judgment which God passeth upon the Soul immediately after death but if I mistake not we may with once interpret it of the general Judgment Estius Pool in loc which will be a solemn Promulgation and total Execution of the Sentence Once for All. SECTION III. Whether Natural or Corporal Death be the Circumference of the Vniverse DEath is the Circumference of the Vniverse Death's Motto is Nulli cedo and every mans Line meet in this Circumference To be a Man is to be mortal for to be a Man is to be a Sinner To be unwilling to die is to
studied the Art of Living well when Age came upon me and gray hairs appeared here and there my care was to Die well I then studied the Art of Dying well He saith also thou shalt die Summum Bonum Ars optima est vivendi discere Artem bene moriendi not because thou art sick but because thou livest The Heathens hold Death to be mans chiefost Good The Covenant of the Grave is shewed to no man but the Watch-word is given to all men The Physicians exclaim that Life is short and Art is long but Divines teach that the best Art of Living well is to study the Art of Dying well Is it not pity that men should not know unto what they were born into this world until they are ready to go out of this world Who knoweth but to live is to die and to die is to live Life is a thing that few understand but those that are ready to leave it A person in a dying hour shall wish himself not a Man that hath not been a good Christian One speaking of himself that he had lived well another said I wish thou mayest die well being asked the reason why he said so answered because we live to die and die to live 2 Cor. 5.10 As Death leaves thee Judgment will find thee Death goeth before Judgment followeth after As the tree falleth so it lieth We must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ This Art of Dying well may be studied must be studied But what course shall I steer Quest and by what compass shall I sail in studying the Art of Dying well Would ye Die well Sol. 1. then through Christ Live well The right way to Die well is to Live well The way to die the death of the righteous Qualis vita Finis ita is to live the life of the righteous Such a Life such a Death mostly Live well and Die well are in conjunction are in connexion they are like Rebecca's Twins going hand in hand Live well and Die well they are like the two Temples of Vertue and Honour that were so contiguously built that none could go into the Temple of Honour that did not first pass through the Temple of Vertue There is little if any probability of dying well if there be not a living well That Death is not to be sported with that a strict and serious life is not the humour of some conceited and singular persons in the world witness Balaam the Prophet so much courted by Balak the Prince Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his Num. 23.10 Here is the most knowing man in the East who was not for living the life of the righteous and yet was for dying the death of the righteous But as the Way is so is the End like to be and as the Work is 1 King 4.29 30 31. so is the Wages like to be Solomon the Sage of Sages one wiser than all men whose understanding was as the sand of the Sea shore this most knowing man in the world Eccl. 1.14 writes upon all vanity and vexation of spirit Living well is praevious unto dying well Mark the perfect man Psa 37.37 and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Whatsoever his Beginning was his End is peace Though he had not peace in Life yet he shall have peace in Death and though he should not have peace at Death yet he shall have peace after Death Better is the beginning of a thing than the end thereof to a Soul out of Christ but better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof to a Soul in Christ for the end of that man is peace I have fought a good fight 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness c. Would ye die well then through Christ die daily Let both ears be laid to the Apostle here By your rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord I die daily Or as the day 1 Cor. 15.31 Those words I protest are not in the Greek As the day I die or I die daily I expose my self daily to death for the Gospel and the Conversion of the Gentiles but as I am daily dying so I am dying daily But unto what are those who are actually Christs to Die daily Quest These are to die unto Self and unto the world Sol. Unto Self Is not Self a Monster a Mountebank the Antichrist within The civil Rule is so defaced that many if not most men are Compounds of Self Let a Minister or Member or Neighbour sink or swim it is all one to them It is become proverbial Every man for himself A Maxim drawn in Hell and ushered into the world by the Prince of Darkness Now there is a six-fold Self unto which those who are actually Christs are to die Those actually Christs are to die unto sinful Self We must kill sin or sin will kill Vs It is a taking Prospect to see Sin die Rom. 6.2 while we live How shall we that are dead to Sin live any longer therein Those actually Christs are to die unto lawful Self Though where there is no law there is no transgression yet those actually Christs are to deny themselves in lawful things and to die unto lawful self It may be 't is but a peccadillio a little thing and lawfull in it Self 1 Cor. 6.12 but if this should offend thy Brother deny thy self in it and die to it All things are lawful unto me but all things are not expedient all things are lawful unto me but I will not be brought under the power of any Those actually Christs are to die unto natural Self These are to die to their Arts and Parts Gifts and Reason natural Acquirements and Accomplishments 1 Cor. 12.31 Covet earnestly the best gifts and yet I shew unto you a more excellent way One Dram of Grace is better than a Pound of Gifts one Drop of Grace is better than a Sea of Gifts one Mite of Grace is better than a Mountain of Gifts Those actually Christs are to die unto moral Self These must not only die unto gross and enormous sin but also to the least Immorality Let none of you suffer as a murderer 1 Pet. 4.15 or as a thief or as an evil doer or as a busie body in other mens matters Those actually Christs should be so far from be-being murderers or thieves or evil doers that they should not be according to the Greek Bishops in anothers Diocess and Priers into other mens matters Those actually Christs are to die unto relative Self This takes in the nearest and dearest Relations Am not I better to thee than ten Sons 1 Sam. 1.8 and and yet these must be died unto Wives are near and dear Relations Though Adam was Emperour of
able to secure his for an eternity Those that thou hast given me have I kept and none of them are lost Christ the Rock of His secures two waies Vnder Danger Peter was in great danger of drowning but Christ secured him and kept his Head above water Dan. 6.22 Daniel was in great Danger when cast into the Den of Lions to take up his Quarters but Christ secured him there stopping the mouths of the Lions From Danger To be delivered in the Fire is a mercy but to be delivered from the Fire looks like a greater mercy Psa 59.10 To be delivered when down of the Plague is a mercy but to be delivered from falling down of the Plague looks like a greater mercy The God of my mercy shall prevent me Christ is a durable Rock Material Rocks they are durable Job 19.24 Rom. 6.9 Job wisheth that his words were graven with an Iron Pen and Lead in the Rock for ever Thus Christ the Rock of His is a durable Rock Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Now Christ is a durable Rock in respect of his Life and Love In respect of his Life Once dying he ever died In that he died Rom. 6.10 he died unto Sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God In respect of his Love As once dying he ever liveth Joh. 13.1 So once loving he ever loveth Having loved his own which were in the World he loved them unto the End Fear not Death for Christ is Thine and he is a Portion Christ is the Portion of a Christan that Jehovah is is evident that Christ is Jehovah is as evident That Jehovah is the Portion of a Christian is evident Thou art my Portion Jehovah Psa 119.57 I have said that I would keep thy words Jehovah is my Portion saith my Soul therefore will I hope in him The Gold and Silver which I had in my House Lam. 3.24 are gone into Captivity but my Gold and Silver in Heaven are not gone into Captivity Jehovah is my Portion still They who have Jehovah for their Gold and Silver are happier and richer than Good and Silver can make them Jehovah is my Portion saith my Soul That Christ is Jehovah is as evident Jehovah is my Shepherd I shall not want Psa 23.1 Shall the Sheep want so long as the Shepherd hath it In his daies Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely Jer. 23.6 and this is the name whereby he shall be called Jehovah our Righteousness Christ is Jehovah and so the Portion of a Christian But what manner of Portion is Christ Quest Sol. Though this be a good Task yet this is a great Task a Task too great for me but though I cannot sound this Bottom yet suffer me to let down my Line Christ is a necessary Portion Martha say Christ One thing is needful But what is this One thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the written Word So Ambrose Calvin Chrysistom But what is the Word without the Spirit Luke 10.42 without Christ it is but as the Instrument without the Hand If this one thing be not Christ I am sure it is not without Christ But what of this one thing It is needful There is Need or Necessity of one thing So the Greek Not benè esse but esse There is One thing not onely needful and useful but also needful above all things useful above all things and that not only to the well-being but also to the very Being of a Christian A Man or a Woman cannot be a Christian without it be satisfied without it be sanctified without it be saved without it Are there not many things without which a person may be and yet live well and do well die well but if this person be without Christ and the Grace of Christ and the Spirit of Christ and the Gospel of Christ he cannot live well and do well and die well but perisheth for ever is undone for ever is damned for ever Tria sunt omnia Vnum est necessarium It hath been said Three things are All things but here One thing is All things There is a necessity of One thing God at first gave ten Commandments but lest these should be too many for Mans Memory Christ reduces them to Two Love to God and our neighbour Yea here All is reduced to One There is a Necessity of One thing 1 John 5.11 Christ perfectly knew mans Memory to be predigiously treacherous and therefore reduceth All to One There is need of One thing Now certainly if this One thing be not Christ yet it cannot be without him For this is the record c. and this life is in his Son There is an indispensible Necessity of him as a portion in a two-fold respect to suffer All for Thee to do All in Thee To suffer All for Thee Oh says the Soul I cannot satisfie Divine Justice God is angry with sinners every day I cannot appease Divine Wrath What are thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oil Can I give my first-born for mine iniquity or the seed of my Body for the sin of my Soul No Soul thou canst not satisfie for one Sin but Christ can satisfie for All hath satisfied for All He hath paid thy Debt if thou beest his and not left thee a penny to pay in a way of merit John 19.30 but in a way of duty It was Christ that said it and God heard him when he spake it It is finished As Christ is a Christians Lord and Law-giver so he is a Christians Soveraign and Surety To do All in Thee Oh says the Soul as I am nothing so I can do nothing Oh I cannot serve Christ as I should serve Christ as I would Oh I cannot Ark in a Christ as I should nor Anchor upon a Christ as I would The Velle as well as the posse what though I have the Habit of Grace what shall I do for the Act of Grace Soul Christ is Actor as well as Author of Grace When the Apostle imposed a working out of Salvation he might as well have imposed the making a new Heaven and a new Earth Phil. 2.12 13. but this is subjoyned It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do Christ is God Now the Desire as well as the Deed is from Christ Christ is a Soul-portion The Body is but as the Cabinet the Soul is the Jewel What is the Body without the Soul it is loveless and lifeless What is the Body without the Soul it is at best but an imbalmed Carcass that no Spectator is taken with Now as the Soul is the Life of the Body for the Body without the Soul is dead so Christ Jam. 2.26 is the Life of the Soul Because I live ye shall live also The Life of Saints is not in their private
but also for ever gone I am left by a God and it is better to be left by all the world than to be left by God But Soul there is that laid and lodged in the Promise that will weigh down this Fear Is there such another Promise which according to the Greek for there are five Negatives in it may be read thus For he hath said I will not Heb. 13.5 not leave thee I will never not not forsake thee May not now the preciousness of the Promise be read in the geatness of it Divine Promises they are greater than a Believers Faith Faith if I may so write is mighty and can do mighty things What cannot Faith do Faith can do more than Force As it is true to believe is very difficult it is as true unto him that believeth all things are possible Heb. 11.30 33 34 35 36 37. Read but that Scriptural Martyrology which is the Book Martyrs epitomized and there you may find the noble Acts of Faith It is Faith that overcometh the world This is the victory that overcometh the world 1 Joh. 5.4 even our Faith Yea it is Faith that maketh a Conquest upon the God of this world Resist the Devil Jam. 4.7 and he will flee from you But how shall he be resisted In the Faith Whom resist stedfast in the Faith 1 Pet. 5.9 Oh the mighty power of Faith But I dare assert that you are not to take the Act of Faith without Christ the Object of Faith What can the Instrument do without the Hand Indeed the Faith of Believers can do much but Faith can do nothing unless it be laid in the Bosom and Bowels of the Promise Abrahams Faith was exceeding great He was very gray and so was his Consort but what made his Faith so strong He had the promise of a strong God and this gave strength to his Faith He staggered not at the promiso through unbelief Rom. 4.19 20 21. but was strong in Faith giving glory to God And being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform Is there not now a greatness in the Promise and is not the preciousness of it legible in the greatness of it Divine Promises they are greater than a Believers Corruptions Consider the evil of Sin and that will appear to be exceeding great Sin hath Evil all Evil and nothing but Evil in it Sin is only evil altogether evil alway evil Rom. 7.13 That sin by the Commandment might become exceeding sinful or that Sin by the Commandment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might become hyperbolically sinful or that Sin by the Commandment might become a Sinner to a wonder a Sinner above wonder beyond comparison Sin is a darkening of the Glory of God a defacing of the Image of God a crucifying of the Son of God a grieving of the Spirit of God and a wroâ—ging of the Soul of man There is Evil enough in Sin to undo all the world Is not Sin the cry of the damned in Hell and should not Sin be the cry of the dead upon Earth Is there not a world of Sin within Thee and within Me yea a world of Sin within Thee and within Me not yet seen by Thee and by Me Now though Sin be so great an Evil that nothing is so great yet the Greatness and Goodness of God wrapped up in the Promise Isa 1.18 is greater than Sin Though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be white as Snow and though they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wooll This Promise is great and precious as well as great Divine Promises they are as great as divine Commands The Commands of God are great exceeding great Acts 16.31 Is not Faith a great Command Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Spira sound it so who said Ye call upon me to believe I tell you I cannot believe Oh! how fain would I believe but I cannot It is as possible to keep the Moral Law as to believe for it is natural to work for Life but supernatural to believe for Life Faith is a great work Joh. 6.29 but now he that wills it works it This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent Faith is the work the work that God esteemeth in stead of all works But Faith is not only a work so esteemed by God Col. 2.12 but it is also the work of God It is called a Faith of the Operation of God God commands the making of a new heart and a new spirit and might he not as well have commanded the making of a new Heaven Ezek. 18.31 and a new Earth Make ye a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die oh house of Israel But what God commands his to do in one place he promiseth to do for his in another place Ezek. 36.26 27. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgments and do them I will give you Legs and lead you too I will habituate the Soul with Grace and actuate Grace in the Soul and for the Soul As the Habit so the Act of Grace shall be from me May not now the preciousness of the Promise be read in the greatness of it Divine Promises are as great if not greater than Divine Threatnings Hath God threatned the Vnbeliever with Darkness and Death He hath promised to the Believer light and life Rom. 5.21 Hath God threatned the Vnbeliever with Damnation he hath promised unto the Believer Salvation Doth Sin reign unto Death the second Death Grace reigns thorough righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Is the wages of Sin Death the first and the second Death all manner of Deaths the portion of a Christless Soul is nothing else but Death Rom. 6.23 Exod. 20.5 6. his whole estate lies in the valley of the shadow of death But now though the stipend of sin be death yet the gift of God is eternal life thorough Jesus Christ our Lord. Hath God visited Iniquity to the third and fourth Generation He sheweth mercy unto thousands of Generations May not now the preciousness of the Promise be read in the greatness of it Jer. 10.6 Divine Promises they are like unto God Himself God is great exceeding great There is none like unto thee Jehovah thou art great and thy name is great in might Now whatever is great in God he hath made it over by promise unto Believers Take a Taste His Power The Lord can do whatsoever he will though he will not dâ— whatsoever he can His Power hath no Patent but â—s Pleasure Power belongeth to God God is as much acted in making a Flie as in making an Elephant The Power of God is greater than the power of Sin Nah. 1.3 than the power of Men than the power
lay down their Blood on this side the Grave But I rather understand it with others which dye in the Lord in the Faith of the Lord Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.13 for the One is blessed as well as the Other All these dyed in Faith According to Faith so the Greek that is these dyed in the Faith of the Person of Christ that was to come but Believers now dye in the Faith of the Person of Christ that did come that had his Veins breathed and his Vitals let out upon the Cross The Blessing pronounced upon these described persons Those that dye in the Faith of Christ are blessed The timing of this pronounced Blessing upon these described persons From henceforth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From this time so the Greek The Soul of a person living and dying in a Christ goeth not to Purgatory but to Glory when Time goes in to Eternity Luk. 23.43 To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise and that Paradise the Heaven of Heavens The infallible Testimony concerning the blessedness pronounced upon these described persons From this time yea saith the Spirit The Amplification of it That they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Now this Amplification falls under a twofold Notion Rest and Reward to these distinctly Rest That they may rest from their labours That they may rest from the labour of their particular Callings from their Afflictions and Persecutions from their Sins and Sorrows from their Temptations and Tribulations from their Distresses and Desertions The Grave is the House and Bed of the Body to all that dye Heaven is the Rest and House of the Soul to all those who dye in the Lord. Psal 19.11 Saints here have a Rest in their labours in the keeping of them there is great reward but Saints hereafter shall have a Rest from their labours that they may rest from their labours Reward And their works do follow them Not in a way of Debt but in a way of Grace not in a way of Merit but in a way of Mercy Their works follow them go with them for the words saith one well weighed sound so Leigh in loc Works here are put metonimically for the wages and reward of their works which reward is not in a way of merit but in a way of mercy Every one shall receive according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 They shall follow their works no more who are followed by their works And their works do follow them Not in kind the very same individual works which they have done here follow them not for they are transient Acts and have no subsistency but the Blessing which lie in the promise for such works when Believers die their works follow them thorough free-grace in glorious rewards when Vnbelievers dye their works follow them thorough divine Justice in everlasting torments Mariners carry Glasses of Spirits along with them in their dangerous and difficult Voyages Art actually in Christ Then the Cross is the way to the Crown and the Wilderness is the way to Canaan thou art for ought I see going back into the Wilderness take therefore these comfortable Cordials along with thee in thy progress to the Holy Land Art astually in Christ Cordial I. Phi. 1.21 Triumph then for thou shalt be no loser but a gainer by Death To me to live is Christ and to dye is gain A Soul in Christ is a great gainer by Death but a Soul out of Christ is a great loser by Death he loseth these lesser and lower things we brought nothing into this world and it is as certain we can carry nothing out this man loseth his company a carnal and a cursed crew a drinking and a damning crew this man takes leave of all his Relations at once Father and Mother Wife and Children yea this man living and dying out of Christ loseth his Soul Matth. 16.26 and that is a considerable loss an universal loss an irreparable loss a kind of an infinite loss for it is the loss of an infinite God and this God a God of infinite love Saul dying lost his Kingdom and I fear his Soul too Hered dying lost his Crown and I fear his Soul too But now a Soul living and dying in Christ is a greater Gainer than Loser by Death for Death will be an Out-let to Sin and an In-let to Glory Art actually in Christ Then Death will be an Out-let to Sin Sin is a fatal Monosyllable As Grace is the best so Sin is the worst Monosyllable as Love is the best so Lust is the worst Monosyllable now will it be any loss but a gain to lose sin where is the Soul that would keep it who knows that every thing less than Hell is less than Sin A Soul living and dying in Christ leaves his Bags Rom. 6.7 and his Barns his Friends and Relations but he leaves his Sins also which is a greater Gain than the other a Loss Death gives a Bill of Divorce to Sin He that is dead is freed from Sin The Body sins not without the Soul Here every Soul in Christ cries out of one Sin or another Oh the pride of my Heart saith one and the passion of my Heart saith another Oh the darkness of my Heart saith one and the deadness of mine saith another Oh the treaâ—hery of my Soul saith one and the tympany of mine saith another Oh the wantonness of my Spirit saith one and the worldliness of mine saith another But there will be no complaining in the Grave when thy Head hath a pillow of Dust As there will be no working in the Grave so there will be no sinning in the Grave when the Soul takes leave of the Body then Sin takes leave of the Soul and of the Body too and that for ever Art actually in Christ Then Death will be an In-let to Glory If Christ be thine and thou beest Christs then Death to thee will be the beginning of life Thou layest down one life to take up another and that which thou takest up is far better than that which thou layest down Phi. 1.23 Lend an ear to the Apostle I am in a straight between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is far better For I am in a strait the word is very significant and a metaphor not onely from the straitning of the Body by diseases but also of the coangustation or straitning of a City on every side besieged a metaphor taken from the straitness of places where we are intercepted by an enemy Leigh Cri. sac in loc shut up not finding an issue Yea it signifieth also the straitning and perplexity of the mind when one knoweth not what to do and whither to turn him As if the Apostle had said I am drawn divers ways this way with the desire of Christ that way with the
Heaven and must be the way for his also By his own blood Heb. 9.12 he once entered into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us The spurious spawn of the Papists are under a prodigious mistake who say That Heaven is not that place where the Man Christ is above or beyond the visible Skies but the happiness they have within them If Israel according to the flesh passed thorough the Red Sea unto Canaan as Type so Israel according to the Spirit must pass thorough the Red Sea of Christs blood Heb. 10.19 unto Heaven the Antitype Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest but how by the blood of Jesus Our Sins did shut Heaven but Christs blood is the Key that opens the Gate of Paradise for us Christ's blood is pacifying blood Christs bleeding was Gods pacifying Christ's blood Col. 1.21 22. is the blood of Atonement You hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh thorough death Christ's blood is not onely a Sacrifice but also a Propitiation denoting a bringing us into favour with God It is one thing for a Traytor to be pardoned and another thing for this Traytor to be brought into favour Mans sin rent him from God but Christ's blood Rom. 5.10 cements him to God Reconciled to God but how by the death of his Son Had we as much Grace as the Angels had we offered up millions of Sacrifices had we wept Rivers of Tears we could never have appeased an angry Deity It is the blood of a Christ that ingratiates us into the favour of God and causeth him to look upon us with a smiling Aspect When Christ dyed the vail of the Temple was rent This was not without a mystery shewing that thorough Christ's blood the vail of our sins is rent which did interpose between God and us One Theodoret. calls the Cross the Tree of Salvation because the blood which trickled down the Cross distilleth Salvation It is the blood of Christ that pacifies Christ's blood is conquering blood After the Combat and the Conflict is the Conquest Nay in all these things Rom. 8.37 we are more than Conquerors thorough Christ that loved us These things but what things were these There were seven Dishes and each Dish enough for the strongest Palate Tribulation Distress Rom. 8.35 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Persecution Famine Nakedness Peril Sword yet in all these things we are more than Conquerors We over-overcome so the Greek We are more than Conquerors in them because we are Conquerors by them But how is this thorough Christ. Though Christians may be killed yet they cannot be conquered for though they die in the Combat yet like Sampson they shall have the Conquest The Conquest that the Christian hath is thorough Christ's blood They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb Rev. 12.11 and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death Conquest is thorough Christ Christ's blood is crucifying blood A Christ bleeding to death will bleed sin to death They that are Christs Gal. 5.24 have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts As that Physick saves a mans life which removes his sickness so that which is life to the soul is death to the sin We must look upon our sin as that which was the death of our Lord and we must look upon the death of our Lord as that which will be the death of our sin Our old man is crucified with him Rom. 6.6 that the body of sin might be destroyed Sin drew out the life-blood of Christ and faith in Christ's blood will draw out the life-blood of sin Christ's blood is softening blood Though the heart of man be the hardest thing in the world yet the blood of Christ God-man can soften the heart of man Oh says one my heart is like the nether milstone and what can soften that Oh says another my heart is like an Adamant and what can soften an Adamant Is there any thing in the world that can soften an Adamant Yea Soul blood will soften an Adamant The blood of Christ if applied will soften the most Adamantine heart The blood of Christ if applied can dissolve the most stony heart and break the hardest sinner The Jews who are hardened to a Proverb for one saith Dost thou think that I am a hard-hearted Jew these Jews shall have the Rock of their Hearts turned into a Fountain of Tears Zech. 12.10 They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn as one for his onely Son and be in bitterness as one for his first-born God himself hath laid himself under Promise to take away the stony heart and to give an heart of flesh Ezek. 11.19 There is nothing so hard but it may be softened if it lay a steeping in this blood Water will soften the earth but it will not soften a stone the blood of Christ if applied will soften a stone yea an heart of stone This blood turns a flint into a spring The Jaylors heart was dissolved Christ's blood is quickning blood The life of a thing is in the blood The life of the flesh Lev. 17.11 is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the Altar to make an atonement for your sins for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul The blood is called life because the seat of life is in the blood and this was a figure of Christ a Type of Christ's life whose flesh is meat indeed and whose blood is drink indeed The life of our soul Sanguis Christi Clavis Coeli Luther is in the blood of Christ Christ's blood is Heaven's Key One little drop saith One of Christ's blood is more worth than Heaven and Earth What is the blood of a Grape yea what is the blood of a Son though an onely Son to the blood of a Saviour Can we give our first-born for our iniquity the seed of our body for the sin of our soul It is the blood of Christ that quickeneth John 6.53 54. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day Christ's blood puts vivacity into us Christ's blood is justifying blood Justification â—s a great thing to be acquitted from sin and death the wages thereof and to be accounted righteous unto life and Glory the Reward thereof is not this a great thing and yet this is by Christs blood The moving cause of Justification is the free Grace of God but the meritorious cause of Justification is the blood of Christ Being justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3.24 thorough the redemption that is in Christ Jesus The justification of one sinner is more than the creation of all the world There are many not onely in Italy but also in England who
as he loves himself yea he seems to love them above himself for he loves them and lays down his life for them Who loved us Ezek. 18.31 32. and washed us from our sins in his own blood Why will ye dye O house of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth saith Jehovah God Why will ye dye will ye not onely kill your selves but also me Let me dye that ye may live let me have a Cross that ye may have a Crown let me be betrayed that ye may be blessed let me be buffeted that ye may be beautified let me be crucified that ye may be crowned let me be sacrificed that ye may be sanctified and saved Thus Joh. 13.1 a Christ loveth and who but a Christ thus loveth His are loved rather than Himself if not above Himself And having once loved he ever loveth Christ is a living yea ever-living Physician Physicians below may dye must dye yea Rom. 6.10 often dye before the Cure is made but Christ having once dyed dyeth no more but lives for evermore The Physician of the Body is mortal as well as the Patient and may dye before the Patient but Christ the Physician of the Soul having once dyed no more dyeth death Joh. 5.26 hath no more domiaion over him As the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself Christ is a valuable Physician Job speaking of his Visicors calls them Job 13.4 Physicians of no value but Christ is of value of great value of greatest value Col. 2.9 In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead personally Christ is rarely skilled infinitely qualified he knoweth every Cause to him therefore is easie every Cure Nullus effectus dature sine causa effectus sequitur virtutem causae Causa est prior essecto Faelix qui â—otuit rerum cognoscere causas 1 Kings 4.32 33. Prov. 8.14 Effects cannot be produced without Causes It is a Maxim That where sufficient Causes are in Act there of necessity the Effect must follow The Effect cannot be existent before its Cause Effects must depend upon their Cause as their Base and Principle It is an approved Aphorism That the Cause precedes the Effect in order of Nature and Time and Both every thing resolves into its principle It is usually said They are happy who know the causes of things And in respect of corporal diseases they say That a disease is half cured when the cause of it is discovered Christ knows the cause and therefore can make a cure Solomon was a great Philosopher his Parables prove his divine wisdom He was prodigiously parted greatly read in Trees and Pants in Beasts and Birds in creeping things and Fishes which manifest his humane wisdom But a greater than Solomon is here under discussion One that is not onely understanding in all things but also understanding it self I am understanding Christ is a sudden Physician Some Physicians of the Body are long in curing As some persons are long diseased palsical Eneas kept his Bed eight years The woman whom Christ called a daughter of Abraham had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years There lay also at the Pool of Bethesda a man which had an infirmity thirty and eight years Now as some persons have been long diseased so some Physicians are long in curing such diseases They are long in curing if there be money coming Their Cures are like Chancery-Suits depending several years Isai 107.20 but Christ is quick at curing He sent his word and healed them It is enough to the Centurion if he can but get a word from Christ Speak the word onely Matth. 8.8 13. and my Servant shall be healed And Jesus said unto the Centurion Go thy way and as thou hast believed so be it done unto thee And his Servant was healed in the self-same hour Christ is a seasonable Physician The season of a mercy does greatly accent the mercy For a person to be sinking in the Thames and for another to rescue him from those merciless waves is not this in season Mark 5.23 24 c. For the daughter of Jairus who was at the point of death and the woman with her issue of blood of twelve years time to be both healed was not this in season For a person to be arrived near the Gates of Hell by his Sin and for Christ to give him check by his Grace is not this in season Zech. 3.1.2 For Joshua to stand before the Angel of the Lord for Satan also to stand at his right hand to resist him to be his Adversary margent and for God to rescue Joshua being a Brand plucked out of the Fire is not this in season Christ is a sutable Physician All Cures they say are by Sympathy or by Antipathy Both these ways Christ cureth Christ cureth by Sympathy In all their afflictions he was afflicted An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth Isa 63.9 1 Cor. 15.21 for a Tooth Blood for Blood By man came death by man also came the resurrection of the dead Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Christ cureth by Antipathy There is Good for Evil Light for Darkness Life for Death Heaven for Hell God hath not appointed us unto wrath 1 Thess 5.9 Non cur atur pars nisi curetur totum 2 Pet. 3.18 but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Physicians say If ye would cure any unsound part ye must cleanse the whole Body Christ cures by Sympathy and by Antipathy he must needs universally cure that every way cures Christ hath once suffered the just for the unjust A Physician asking a Lacedemonian How he did answered The better that 〈◊〉 meddle not with Thee nor take of thy Physick Certainly no Soul unto whom Christ hath been a Physician will say so of his Physick Christ is an incomparable Physician Christ is incomparably qualified and under an incomparable qualification It is said of a good Chyrurgion or Physician that he must have an Eagles Eye a Lyons Heart and a Ladies Hand Christ with the greatest Reverence be it written hath all these A good Physician must have an Eagles Eye He that is good at healing had need be good at seeing that he may discover where the fault and the failing is Thus Christ is incomparably qualified He is excellent at seeing excelling in seeing so good at seeing Joh. 9.6 7 that he gave sight unto one that was born blind A good Physician must have a Lyons heart He that is a Physician must be strong and stout-hearted for if the Physician fail how will the Patient bear up his courage A Physician must deal freely and plainly with the Patient telling him the disease and the danger if he take not this or that he is a dead man c. Thus Christ deals freely and plainly with the souls of men and women telling them If ye believe not that I am he ye
Life a Taper burning 'T is like the wind that passeth not returning Ah! what is Life a Flood and Ebb and Man Sails then into a timeless OCEAN Ah puzling Theme was Austin at a loss What Life to call let not my Gold be Dross Mans Nostril is a passage for his Breath 'T is then a dying Life or living Death Life 's but a dying Death our Bodies are But living Graves the longest Liver share But in a span of days Death homeward sends A CIRCLE 't is beginning where it ends Ah daring Death the Tribute due to Nature The Law of Mortals not reflecting Stature And of the Universe the Emperess That visit Mortals in a various dress III. The Assertion THE Hebrew Proverb travels very far In Golgotha Skulls of all Sizes are Death 's not a bie but beaten path for All Here Croesus Codrus stumble may and fall One shoots the Gulf yet grounds upon a Shelf A Manuscript deceiveth DEATH it self No distance doth this Law of Nature know But Mortals reap according as they sow Death to the Grave is path for any Foot This common Gulf the mean and mighty shoot They blessed are much more let this take Air In Peter's Chain than He in Peter's Chair Ah Miscreant to refuge in a Lye Ah Monster-Man I see as I pass by Thy Triple-Crown begins to stand awry Down Dagon-like let this fall from on high Break Crown Head Neck this is the common Cry Thus wished 't is that thou may'st ever dye Popes dyed have without a doleful Song Unless it were because they lived long Where 's Adam Abram Isa'c Jacob Where Inventi non sunt they SEPULCRED were What Proto-Adam Yea He was a Man Red-earth I find when that his name I scan This Proto-Man finds Death on Nature enter Thus earth to earth returns as to its Center What Abraham 't is strange 't is true he dies And in the CAVE of Mackpelah he lies What Isa'c too a TYPE so eminent Types Shadows are Death pitched hath his Tent With Abraham Ah when his Days were spenâ— He like a Son unto his FATHER went WHat Jacob too Esau supplanted He One named right for Name and Act agree Ah but Supplanters may supylanted be Him daring Death transplanted have I see Mortality whatever Men suggest Antiquity hath for her native Crest Did not Death reign from ADAM unto MOSES Wher 's Matthew Mark Paul Peter James and Joses Our Fathers where are They the greatest Sage Is slily passing going off the STAGE Well stiled then is Death most aged King Who led the Van and up the Rear does bring Ah read Death's Motto in a Ladies Line My lot's to Day to morrow may be thine And wondâ—r not at that true Celled-sense Amongst these Skulls I find no difference But where 's Methuselah of all most gray Scan but his name the word the man bewray Years lived he Nine hundred sixty nine But dyed then no longer was his Line Though many now on Beds of IVORY Do stretch themselves yet these must also lie In Beds of Earth this Tribute pay they must And for their Heads a Pillow have of Dust The great Mogul erects his Nest on high But liveth he that shall not also dye All dyed have that lived have or have Translated been and so deceiv'd the Grave Thus dye shall All that live or changed be From ADAM all derive their Pedigree Now Reasons take from one so low in Stature Why Death should be a Tribute due to Nature IV. The Reasons 1. The Decree of God DEath seizeth All for this is God's Decree She seizeth but will not surrender Thee Death Heavens Statute is in Scripture-sense Each mans line meets in this Circumference Earth Heaven Hell their Laws are different If writing thus be not impertinent Earths Law municipal is once to dye But Heavens is to live eternally Hell also hath a LAW to dye for ever Take prospect here of three Once alway never 2. The Matter of the Body ADd nextly now the Matter of the Man This Fabrick then Eternize if ye can Ah mortal Man made up of Elements Earth Air Fire Water are Ingredients For Man to dye to me appeareth just Who at the first was reared out of dust The Breath of God the Soul I find to be The Work of God the Body seems to me The Building 's Clay the Basis also Dust The Creature to the Center dying must 3. The Merit of Sin ALl sinned have and therefore All must dye This must be true or Truth must be a Lye The Soul dyes not 't is an immortal Spirit The Body dyes 't is Sins undoubted Merit Sins venial and mortal Papists make But this distinction is a gross mistake As Adam's bounds were set and Soul endued So breaking these a double Death ensued 'T is better thus infernal Sophistry To naus'ate than a double Death to dye V. The Uses THree Uses now of daring Death be making High Prudence 't is right Measures to be taking I. Of Trial. TRy mortal Man come to the Test and try Stage Persons also Things yet Man must dye Can any PERSON Or can any THING That Persons deck match Death this timely bring I. Of Beauty CAN Beauty that 's a Snare from Death's Arrest Bail MORTALS No as Ages do attest Can Beauty so admired by the Tall No mortal Man for Nature caught a Fall When she was young as did a petty Prince Which caused hath her halting ever since She 's courted painted spotted yet I see 'T is native Beauty without sports to be Some try to mend but while they mend they marr For Beauty-spects the SPOTS of Beauty are Fade Beauty will like Flowers of the Field Not shot-free girded with an Ajax's Shield She fades faints falls and running of her Race Hath for her Soutch'on but a wrinkled Face Where 's Sarah that the Court of Pharaoh charm This daring Death this Beauty doth alor'm Where 's Absalom the Beauty of his Age He acts his part and gooth off the Stage From Head to Fóót no Blemish could be found But Beauty dyes Death marching is her Round This Tribute due to Nature payed He The Halter was his Hair upon a Tree Here Isr'el's Mirror had his mortal Stroak Will others now call this the Royal Oak II. Of Men and Means CAn Men or Means each Creature in its Station From Natures instinct plot its Conservation What Drug by Galen could prescribed be Or could Hippocrates by DOSES free His Pat'ents No they differ as to Stature Yet payment make of Tribute due to Nature For Spirits Chymists are Phlebotomy A Monster seems in that extracting eye They breathe no Veins rare Spirits they apply But salved is not DEATH by Chymistry Two wayes there are Diseases for to cure But neither can face-paling Death allure Is Sympathy the way the Arrow 's wide For Digby that admired Artist dy'd Or is A NTIP ATHY ah but undarted Is still the White beloved Luke's departed Speak Borgius that I may hear the sound Who
that an ENOSH is deterred From dying Thoughts for Bildad hath averred That Death the King of Terrors is to thee If Christless dying and thus unto me Lend but an Ear to what the Romists say Rome unto Heaven is the onely way Ah but my Soul go not so far about A Papal-Toe may sometimes have the Gout Rome's Monster goeth wrong and will not suffer A going right this Candle wants a Snuffer Yea an Extinguisher that lighted may A better be and light a better way Ah needs must Hell a dismal Dung'on be Where Heavens Sun shall never shine to thee Sin hath no Mean but not at all to be Sin is the Means for to endanger thee Prepare for Death let this appear to thee Certain uncertain is the Time to me Death if no Children did a Rachel cry Ah crying be a Christ or else I dye Doth Death arrest and find thee without Grace With Judas then go to thy proper place If true Grace here shall not implanted be Then Woe Woe Woe hereafter unto thee III. Of Triumph A Scend my Soul on Mount Gerizim stand A taking Prospect is the Holy LAND 〈◊〉 joyous Saint no Corrosive to thee â—f stingless Death can a Memento be â—ot fuller is of light the Worlds bright eye â—or yet the Sea with water never dry â—i en that mans Heart with joy who truly see â—he Death of Christ the Death of Death to be â—ad Heaven Sin thus Anselm speaks about it â—uch rather would He be in Hell without it 〈◊〉 drop of Sin doth unto Mortals bring â—ore evil than a Sea of Suffering â—here may be Sorrow without Sin but can â—n without Sorrow be unto the man â—eath's an Eclipse to man this happen may 〈◊〉 in a clear so on a cloudy day â—one until Dearth were blest in Solon's eye â—hey blessed are that in a JESUS dye 〈◊〉 moment Man be winged like a Dove â—nd restless too till Arked with thy Love â—lace thy self with Loves If Christ be thine â—ALL into Honey WATER into Wine â—nverted are Now Marah tasteth sweet â—nd lovely will appear a winding sheet â—ake Death familiar this welcome thus â—ome Life come Death with good Ignatius â—he presence of all Good is Heaven and â—he absence of all Evil Here 's a Land 〈◊〉 then my Soul suck sweetly here and crave it 〈◊〉 Heaven 't is to hope it what to have it â—hus Time 's a Space lent from Eternity Globe that rolls with slie Celerity 〈◊〉 it is true Alpha it is that lends it 〈◊〉 is as true Omega 't is that ends it VI. The Epilogue FAith thorough Grace make now of Sacred Truth Must NESTOR dye so may the Shumem-Youth T is true Life is the Triumph of each Stature T is true Death is the Tribute due to Nature All Ages Statures Sexes Sifes must This payment make and bedded be in dust And he dyed this Epitaph must have Each individual upon his Grave Death ingress had by Sin this sadly woundeth Sin egress hath by Death this gladly soundeth Reader the Bodies-death doth perfectly From Deaths-body the Saint indempnifie Death a Dilemma is non-plust are All Who enter Lists and so resign the Wall The Fear of Deáth the Soul with Terror fill Death killeth once but Fear doth often kill A Creature with the Ephemera may Be as to Life a Creature of a Day Tears unto One the God of Nature gives Another not a Day in Nature lives View Nature now and in this Glass descry Art a Day old then old enough to dye The best of Men they are but Men at best The worst of Men dye sooner than the rest In hearing hear in saying also say In trying try in praying also pray In doing do in giving also give In living dye in dying also live Are grace-ful Veins found running thorough Thee All Glory then be given unto THREE FINIS
ἜΣΧΑΤΟΣ ἘΧΘΡΟΣ OR THE DEATH of DEATH IN THE DEATH of CHRIST BEING A NARRATIVE of the First DEATH as the MISTRESS of MORTALS and EMPRESS of the UNIVERSE Consisting of various Sections and Directions as appears by the Index in order to a holy LIVING and happy DYING By R. MAYHEW Minister of the Gospel Author of Love to the Life and the Paternal Gift â—ob 30.23 I know that thou wilt bring me to death and â—o the house appointed for all living Cor. 15.26.55 The last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death O Death where is thy sting Nil sic revocat a peccato quam assidua Mortis meditatio Bern. Quis intelligit se quotidie mori Sen. LONDON Printed by Thomas Snowden for the Author in the Year 1679. TO THE Candid and Cordial READER Reader A Reflection of four things the Immutability of God the Mutability of the World the Immortality of the Soul and the Mortality of the Body have been alaruming unto this Essay and alluring this Narrative of pale Death the Mistress of Mortals and Emperess of the Vniverse To these distinctly The Immutability of God Man is mutable but God is immutable Mal. 3.6 I am Jehovah I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed The most of Men are mutable as the Moon which scarcely abideth two daies in a shape but God is immutable Under all the Changes that are made by Man yea under all the Changes that are made by God there are no Changes made in God He is the Father of Lights with whom is no variableness Jam. 1.17 neither shadow of turning He is the Father of Lights not of Light God is compared to the Sun but his Light is much perfecter The Sun is the Body of Light but God is the Father of Lights of all Light Aethereal Natural Spiritual Coelestial The firmamental Sun hath its Turnings and annual Departures from us it rise and set may be clouded and eclipsed but God in some sense riseth not setteth not Psal 145.18 departeth not He is nigh unto all them that call upon him unto all them that call upon him in truth There is not only no turning in God but also not so much as the Shadow of it nor the least Imagination of a Shadow The Mutability of the World The World is a Mass of Mutabilities every Man every State every Thing is as it were a Planet whose spherical Revolutions are some of a longer and some of a shorter continuance That Cardinal was an Atheist Cardinal as well a Papist who preferred his part in Paris to his part in Paradise The World is a Fools Paradise and its Motto is This Something is Nothing Hoc aliquid nihil Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for riches certainly make themselves wings they fly away as an Eagle towards Heaven Prov. 23.5 Luther The whole Turkish Empire saith one is but a crum that the Master of the Family casts to a Dog Who but the Alexanders and Caesars of the World the Nebuchadnezzars and Nimrods of the World the Pharoahs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes 6.17 and Pompeys of the World that have been ordinarily the Lords of the World Riches are uncertain Trust not in uncertain Riches In the Vncertainty of Riches Eccl. 5.10 so the Greek Riches are unsatisfying He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied therewith Pro. 11.4 nor he that loveth abundance with increase Riches are unprofiting Riches Aut deserunt aut deseruntur profit not in the day of wrath but Righteousness delivereth from death Riches either leave us or are left by us They are not Food but Fewel to Desire They are like Salt-water the more we drink Dulce Venenum Bern. the drier we are Riches are like the Apples of Sodom more in shew than in substance and if touched they crumble to sulphur Riches saith one are a sweet poison The World and the Soul must part or Christ and the Soul will not meet The two Poles will sooner meet than the Love of Christ and the Love of the World The Immortality of the Soul In this World the Body was first and then the Soul but in Heaven the Soul is first and then the Body Origen If the World saith one be the Book of God then the Soul is the Image of God Plato Another calls the Soul the Glass of the Trinity The Soul is worth more Worlds than this world hath Souls in it The Soul is precious The precious Sons of Sion Precious Sons Lam. 4.2 having precious Souls And as the Soul is precious so the Redemption of the Soul is precious Psal 49.8 Oh how highly did Christ prize it when his Veins were breathed and his Vitals let out to redeem it He became obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross Phil. 2.8 The Soul is the Breath of God the Beauty of Man the Wonder of Angels the Envy of Devils The Body is but the Cabinet the Soul is the Jewel and this is immortal Eccl. 12.7 Then shall the Dust that is the Body return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit that is the Soul unto God who gave it Christ and the converted Thief do go from Cross to Crown from Earth to Heaven To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 23.43 Mark 8.37 The loss of the Soul is a considerable loss a comprehensive loss an irreparable loss What can be given in Exchange for the Soul The Loss of the Soul is a kind of an infinite loss for it is the loss of an infinite God Psal 145.9 and this God a God of infinite Love The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works The Soul is a Blossom of Eternity and hath a Stamp of Immortality Man hath a Soul Matth. 10.28 which Death it self despaireth how to kill Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul The Mortality of the Body Man is Mortal and not a Match for Death Zach. 1.5 Our Fathers where are they and the Prophets do they live for ever To be a Man is to be a Sinner and to be a Sinner is to be Mortal As it is true what Man is he that liveth and sinneth not It is as true what Man is he that sinneth and dieth not What man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the power of the grave Man is but a Wink of Life Psal 89.48 Oculus apertus oculus clausus The Heathens Emblem for Life was an eye open and for Death an eye shut as if there were no material difference between the living and the dying Job 30.23 but the Twinkling of an Eye Death is the Circumference of the Vniverse and every mans Line meet in this Circumference May not every Individual say as He did I know that thou wilt bring me
to Death and to the House appointed for all living Ab Vtero ad Sepulcrum From the Womb to the Tomb is the Motto of Infant-Man Reader a Reflection upon these things together with Gods Glory thy Good and my Good have encouraged unto this work though I be the Benjamin the Least the Last of my Fathers House The work is good though the workman be bad The Subject is Death wonder not for no sooner did we begin to live but we began to die and shall continue dying until we be swallowed up of Death We dwell in Clay-Houses and our Bodies are Clay-Builts The School-men say Gratia infusa effusa diffusa that a good Thought is Grace infused a good Word is Grace effused a good Work is Grace diffused I would not out-bid my self neither would I know any thing by my self but my sin but second Thoughts and Reviews may better the first if not be better than the first Many with my self though not so much as my self may see Emendata are Emendanda that what is mended needs mending and what is bettered needs bettering yea the best sometimes not good enough to be called good It could never be said of any one but that only One Christ Jesus that he did all things well Luke 23.4 41. I find no fault in this man this man hath done all things well this man hath done nothing amiss I am not altogether insensible that my Thoughts are very short of Things and that my Words are far short of my Thoughts I dare not therefore be so peremptory concerning this Writing as Pilate was concerning his when he said John 19.22 What I have written I have written To give a penny is below an Alexander he will give a City To give Farthings and Fragments is below the Majesty and Magnificence the Grandeur and Glory of Princes and Potentates Araunah as a King gave unto David But Reader a penny to Me may be as much as a pound to Another Had I more thou shouldest have it Goats hair contributed to the Erection of the Tabernacle and the two Mites which made a Farthing received a welcome into the Treasury I have formerly sent through importunity two little-little Tracts into the World the one entituled Love to the Life the other A Paternal Gift The Author and Actor of Grace Christ Jesus the Lord by his Blessing hath made way for them into the Hands and Hearts of many Glory to God in the Highest which hath among other things encouraged the sending of this third Tract as a Modicum and Morsel and Mercy into the world also which is Mans last Scene in the acting whereof he goeth off the Stage not altogether despairing but hoping that this also through the same Blessing will meet with the like Entertainment and Welcome from those who are acquainted with Christ and acquitted by Him Reader Earl of Marlborrough to Sir Hugh Pollard Dying and dead mens dying words p. 2. it was the saying of an Earl not long before his death in a Letter of his to a Knight as followeth There is a certain thing going up and down the world called Religion that how dressed soever loseth not its Being the great and good God hath not left it without a witness more or less sooner or later in every mans Bosom to direct him in the pursuit of it Bullinger The Truth of Religion saith one is not to be judged by the Prosperity or Aversity of the Professors of it Most if not all the Learned men in the world have found that the Notion of God and Religion is the first engraven in and the last defaced out of the Minds of Men. Earl of Leicester A great person left this Testimony behind him concerning Christian-Religion that the sincere profession of it had in it Sweets and Joys that Courts were Strangers unto Basil The reason saith one why Julian and all other Apostates slight Religion is because they do not understand it Religion is a persons Interest Rolls rebuilding of the City p. 177. a Nations Interest how infatuated soever persons of worldly Grandeur and Glory may be This is the Religion of the Papists He that shall assassinate a King in Zeal for their Religion shall be canonized for a Saint Ah Religion ever to be abhorred and dreaded by those that are not of it as being resolved to propagate it self every where by secret Plots and open Violence by Fire and Sword Per Fas Nefas by Fraud and Force But what have I to do with those blind and bloody Papists with those children of Belial with those children of Blood Is this Religion of God which hath no other way to promote and propagate it self but by Fire and Massacre Is not the Religion of the Papist Rebellion Is not the Faith of the Papist Fancy Is not the Mercy of the Papist Murder Those born in England are born saith one in the Region of Religion in the Land of Goshen Mr. Ness Christians walk and work in the Valley of Vision Now Religion is the Beauty and Bulwark of a Nation It is to a Nation as the Palladium was to Troy which could not be destroyed so long as that was possessed It is like Sampsons Lock which while he retains he retains his Strength and is invincible Men differ not so much from Beasts in Reason as in Religion Religion is the highest Reason What can be more rational than for the supream Truth to be believed the highest Good to be embraced the first Cause of all things to be owned and feared and for those who were made by God and live wholly upon him to improve all for him and live wholly to him It was the will of God that the Body of Moses should be interred in a secret place unknown to any man to prevent Superstition Verse 9. of Judes ep and Idolatry among the Jews Now as the Angel and the Devil strove for the Body of Moses when he was dead And as seven Cities contended for Homer when he was dead though they cared not for him while he lived thus it fares with Religion Is it not now made a meer Eccho Do not men now speak of it Vox praeterea nihil as of the Lacedemonian-Nightingale a Voicc and nothing more Many contend and contest for the Carkass and Skeliton of it few contend for the Life and Substance of it which consisteth in Works not in Words We should rather be Agents than Disputants in Religion The Vanity of the Head is to argue much but the Sincerity of the Heart is to act much Look but into the Divine Mirror and there read such multitudes of Truths and so precious as will take up a mans time were he to live as many Years as Methuselah did Days It is not the subtle Head but the sincere Heart that shall go to Heaven That Man is under a prodigious Deception and Delusion who hopes to
save any thing by his Religion but his Soul He that sets up Religion to get any thing by it more than the Glory of God and the Salvation of his Soul will make a bad Bargain of it in the Close It is said of One that he would have Religion along with him Andronicus so far as it lay in his way Religion is like cold weather good for those that are sound bad for those that are unsound Differences also about Religion should not make men careless to have any but careful to have the best Julian That wicked Apostate loved the worst Religion best and was a professed Friend to all Foes of Goodness One being convinced of an Heathenish Custom thought Monica that Religion was not so poor as to borrow Rites from Pagans The Polanders are said to be of all Religions It is said if a Man hath lost his Religion he may seek it in Poland Poland and he shall be sure to find it or he may conclude that it is vanished out of the world May not the same be said of England that was said of Poland Galeacius to the Jesuit Let that Religion said one to another be cursed for ever which shall wed men to the World and divorce men from God Men may differ in Religon and yet be of the same Religion for every Difference in Religion is not a differing Religion Have a care not only of the Profession of Truth but also of the Truth of Profession lest bare Profession ends not in blessed Possession It is not enough to act a part or personate Religion but a man must be a religious person He spake like Himself who said Clarks Mirrour p. 39. that Religion did but effeminate mens minds and unfit them for noble Enterprises But why do I harp upon this string so long I shall only add this and so close Be of that Religion which the Protestant spake of who being asked by a Papist where his Religion was before Luther wittily answered in the Bible where thy Religion never was Now Reader Deut. 33.27 that the Eternal God may be thy Refuge and underneath thee everlasting Arms That Grace may be opened to thy Heart and thy Heart unto Grace that the Blessing of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob may be upon thee that the Eternal Spirit may be with thee that thou mayest distinguish between Light and Darkness Life and Death Truth and Error Gold and Dross Silver and Tin Flowers and Weeds Corn and Chaff is the Breathing of his Soul who through Grace more than desires as for Himself so for Thee that thou mayest not live to die but die to live and dying see the Death of Death in the Death of Jesus R. Mayhew Vita fugit nulloque Sono dilabitur Aetas Sic fugiendo solet fallere Vita fugit Vita fugit liquidam velut Unda supervenit Undam Sic Tempus trudit Tempora Vita fugit Vita fugit pars prima fugit pars altera fugit Tertia pars fugiet tempore Vita fugit Vita fugit res dicta satis res omnibus aequa Cognita nòn aequè credita Vita fugit Vita fugit celeris Mors Vltima Linea rerum Rerum tempus edax Vivito Vita fugit THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK SECT I. WHether there be a natural or corporal Death the circumference of the Vniverse Page 1 2 c. SECT II. What this natural or corporal Death is which is the circumference of the Vniverse Page 4 5. SECT III. Whether natural or corporal Death be the circumference of the Vniverse Page 7 8 c. SECT IV. Why natural or corporal Death is the circumference of the Vniverse 1. Man hath sinned therefore Man is mortal and must dye Page 11 12 c. 2. Man is formed out of the Dust therefore Man is mortal and must dye 3. God hath appointed Death therefore Man is mortal and must dye SECT V. The Brevity of Life Page 14. SECT VI. The Certainty of Death Page 16. SECT VII The Vncertainty of the time of Death Page 17. SECT VIII The Impartiality of Death Page 19. SECT IX Directions concerning Death the Tribute of Nature and Law of Mortals This Section hath a double Aspect looking to a Soul out of Christ and to a Soul in Christ Page 20 c CHAP. I. To the Soul out of Christ Direct 1. Put not far away the day of Death Direct 2. Take not God's work out of God's hand Direct 3. Tremble for thou may'st dye and be damned That Death is terrible appears by its 1. Antecedents 2. Nature 3. Consequents Page 22. Direct 4. Go to Christ in whose Death is the Death of Death Quest 1. What is this coming or going to Christ Sol. It is a believing in Christ. Page 24. Quest 2. Is there a necessity of going to Christ for Salvation Sol. Christ is a Saviour is the Saviour Quest 3. But am I called to go unto this Saviour for Salvation Page 25. Sol. Called thou art therefore go Quest 4. But what shall I be welcome if I go Sol. Come and welcome Quest 5. But is not an Impossibility imposed Sol. He that commands coming concerns himself with drawing Quest 6. May a lost Soul go to Christ Sol. A lost Soul may go must go Quest 7. But can a Soul believe in Christ without Christ Sol. No but he that calleth to come causeth to come Quest 8. What manner of Saviour is this Saviour Page 26. Sol. 1. A merciful 2. A meek 3. A free 4. A desirable 5. A delectable 6. A faithful 7. A fruitful 8. An incomparable 9. An invincible A fourfold Conquest hath Christ made 1. Over the World 2. Over the Heart 3. Over Hell 4. Over Heaven Page 31. 10. Christ is a full Saviour There is in Christ a fulness 1. Of Power 2. Of Pardon Christ pardons Sin in respect of his 1. Deity 2. Dignity 3. Mercy 4. Merit There is also in Christ a fulness 3. Of Light 4. Of Love 5. Of Wisdom 6. Of Righteousness Pag. 35. The Law required a threefold Righteousness 1. Habitual 2. Practical 3. Passive Wherein the Law threatned 1. A Privation of Comfort 2. An Infliction of Torment All answered by Christ for those that are Christs CHAP. II. To the Soul in Christ Page 38. DIRECT I. Direct 1. Prepare thorough Christ for the first Death Quest But what course shall I steer and by what compass shall I sail that I may prepare for this Death Sol. 1. Make thorough Christ Mortality thy Meditation 2. Be much thorough Christ in Prayer To this end reflect Page 42. 1. The Income of Prayer 2. The Influence of Prayer 1. Prayer thorough Christ had an Influence over the four Elements 1. Over the Air. 2. Over the Fire 3. Over the Earth 4. Over the Water 2. Prayer thorough Christ had an Influence over the Prison 3. Prayer thorough Christ had an Influence upon the great Luminaries 4. Prayer had an Influence upon the Son 5.
delight and desire Pag. 184. 1. Christ is the Object of thy delight Delight is unlawful and lawful 1. Vnlawful 'T is then unlawful when 't is 1. Sinful 2. Hypocritical 3. Treacherous 2. Lawful This is 1 Natural 2 Spiritual Thus 1. In the People of God 2. In the Commandments of God 3. In God himself Quest What manner of delight is this delight Pag. 186. Sol. 1. A Strong 2. A Holy 3. A cordial 4. A constant delight 2. Christ is the Object of thy desire This desire is 1 Natural 2 Spiritual That Christ is a Person without compare in a Christians eye and the Object of a Christians desire will appear by a reflection 1. Of his Person 1. As Man 2. As God-Man Pag. 188. 2. Of his Affection 1. In the freeness of it 2. In the fulness of it 3. In the firmness of it To this is superadded that Christ is the Churches 1. Mercy 2. Merit 3. Mine 4. Mirror Quest But what manner of desires are cordial desires Pag. 193. Sol. 1. Good 2. Lawful 3. Working 4. Constant 5. Holy 6. Hard. 7. Acquiescing Unto which three things are added 1. Whether cordial desires shall be answered 2. Why cordial desires shall be answered Because 1. Imposed 2. Promised 3. Encouraged There 's encouragement 1. Unto these desires 2. After these desires 3. How cordial desires shall be answered 1. In kind 2. In effect Cordial 10. Christ is the Physician of greatest value Quest But what manner of Physiician is Christ Pag. 200. Sol. 1. Choice 2. Costly 3. Cheap 4. Appointed 5. Approved 6. Loving 7. Living 8. Valuable 9. Sadden 10. Seasonable 11. Sutable 12. Incomparable Cordial 11. Art actually Christs Be joyous also for the Death of Him is the Death of His. Pag. 206. 1. Christ disarms the first Death 2. Christ prevents the second Death 1. He will be thy Guide unto Death 2. He will be thy Guide thorough Death THE DEATH of CHRIST THE DEATH of DEATH Section I. Whether there be a Natural or Corporal Death the Circumference of the Universe THE word Death is capable of a various Acceptation in the Sacred Scripture There is an Vniversal Death But of the tree of knowledg of Good and Evil thou shalt not eat Gen. 2.17 Moriendo morieris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obnoxius eris morti tum Corporis tum Animae Joh. 14.6 for in the day thou eatest thereof dying thou shalt die So the Hebrew and Junius Thou shalt surely and suddenly die so Ainsworth Thou shalt die the Death so the Septuagint Now this is if I mistake not both the first and the second Death so Pool in his Synopsis It is temporal and eternal Death together with the Causes Signs Antecedentes Consequents and Effects of it whatsoever so that all Dangers Difficulties and Deaths are implied in this Judgment threatned for Disobedience Dying thou shalt die That is thou shalt Die this way that way every way if Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life interpose not between Thee and Death There is a Judicial Death He that believeth not is condemned already Joh. 3.18 because he believeth not in the Name of the only begotten Son of God The Man is under the Judgment before the Judgment the Man is already cast the Sentence is past 12 Verse of Judes Epistle only there is a suspension of the Execution We read in Jude of those who are Twice dead Dead spiritually for want of a principle of Life and dead judicially under the Wrath of God They were obnoxious to the first death by original corruption and obnoxious to the second death by actual transgression They were dead say one in respect of their natural Condition Jenkins in â—lo pool in loc Piscator and dead in respect of their final Declension Twice dead altogether dead They were obnoxious to the first Death by Nature and to the second Death by Sin These men were alive naturally Quest. though dead spiritually how then were they twice dead They were judged twice dead Sol. either Because a spiritual Death is so great a Death that it may well go for two Deaths One spiritual Death is worse than a thousand natural Deaths Or They are said to be twice dead because they were dead both in regard of an internal Habit of Grace Caryl in loc p. 553. and in regard of an external Act of Grace There is a spiritua Death This Death looks two waies To the Saint to the Sinner To the Saint Now the Saint is dead To the Law Thus he is dead To the Ceremonial Law If ye be dead with Christ from the Rudiments or Elements of the world Col. 2.20 A majore ad minus why as though living in the world are ye subject to Ordinances It is an Argument from the greater to the less Ye are freed from the Rites which God himself prescribed freed from worldly Philosophy or Judaical Ceremonies Pool in loc therefore freed from new Rites by men invented or from old Rites by humane Authority revoked as one saith upon the place To the Moral Law I through the Law am dead to the Law Gal. 2.19 that I might live to God I have no Commerce with the Law I through the Law of Faith am dead to the Law of Works I through the Law of Christ am dead to the Law of Moses That I might live to God that I might live according to the Precept of Christ live according to the Gospel of Christ The Saint is dead to the world God forbid that I should glory Gal. 6.14 Contemptus est a me save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and Romanus Fervor Furor I unto the world The Apostle here speaks of the World as Luther did of Rome I contemn the Heat and Fury of Rome Thus did the Apostle I contemn the world and the things thereof the world and the things therein The Saint is dead to Sin As to be dead in sin is the worst death so to be dead to sin is the best Death How shall we that are dead to sin Rom. 6.2 live any longer therein To be dead to sin is to be freed from the servitude of sin to have the Force and Power of sin killed It is a metaphor taken from Death because Death is the privation of Life and of Actions To the Sinner Now the Sinner is dead in sin As the Saint or Soul in Christ is dead to sin so the Sinner or Soul out of Christ is dead in sin And you who were dead in trespases and sins Ephes 2.1.5 Hath he quickened these words are not in the Greek The sense here is imperfect but this is supplied in a verse following Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ made alive together with Christ so the Greek What he had touched upon in the first verse he repeats in the fifth verse and
be unwilling to be a Man for to be a Man is to be mortal Luther Cedo nulli As one said in the matters of God and Faith I give place to none so saith Death I give place to none As it is true what Man is he that liveth and sinneth not Eccles 7.20 Ps 89.48 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homo There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not It is as true what man is he that liveth and dieth not What man is he that liveth and shall not see death that is shall not die What Man What Man or Woman The Greek and the Latine words for Man comprehend both Sexes What Man so the English and Junius What strong Man so Ainsworth and the Hebrew Mi Geber Mi Geber Geber a Man so called from his power and strength A strong man or a man in his strength It is properly one who is neither a Boy nor an old Man What strong man or man in his strength is he that shall not see death that shall not die Shall he deliver his soul or Life from the hand or power of the grave From this long Text there is this short meditation That man is mortal Every man and woman is mortal and not a match for Death All men and women may die yea must die What man is he that liveth and shall not die what man that is no man Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect Rom. 8.33 34. That is none shall Who is he that condemneth That is not one Thus here what man what strong man That is no man no strong man Not Caesar nor Pompey though the one could not endure a Superiour nor the other an Equal Not Sampson or Scaliger though persons of strength not Gustavus or Huniades though persons of conduct and courage Not Alexander or Ajax though persons of Terror Not Gideon or David though persons of valour Not Peter or Paul though the one the Doctor of the Jews and the other the Doctor of the Gentiles All the Apostles died yea all the Apostles save John who had such intimacy with Jesus died violent deaths and laid down their Blood on this side the Grave concerning which Luther was so troubled that he did not Death is the way of all flesh the way of all men the way of all the world Death is a Tribute due to Nature and every man must pay this Debt what Debts soever he leave unpaid Death is the way of all men This way Gen. 47.28 31. Gen. 35.29 Jacob went He bowed himself upon the Beds-head that is he died This common way did Isaac go He gave up the Ghost died and was gathered unto his people being old and full of daies Though Isaac was old and full of daies yet he died This common way Abraham went He gave up the Ghost Gen. 25.8 and died in a good old age an old man and full of years and was gathered unto his people Though Abraham lived to a good old age yet he died He died in a good old age an old man and full The Hebrew goes no farther He died full Full of what Our Translators to fill up the sense add by way of Explication full of years This way Methuselah also went Gen. 52.7 His daies were nine hundred sixty and nine years and he died This man was long-lifted indeed would not a man living in his time have thought that he had been immortal But he was mortal Though he lived to be very gray yet he died at last If the Majesty of Heaven call him upon the stage this is the last Act wherewith the Commedy ends Et mortuus est And he died Methuselah is his name which is by Interpretation He dieth And He died is the Epitaph for every Individual Death periods the daies of a long-lifed Methuselah And He died Though he had lived so long yet he died at last Though he had lived so many daies yet there came a time when he had not a day longer to live Though he had lived so long in the world yet there came a day when his Time went into Eternity And He died All Object have not died All have not been graved All have not had a Pillow of Dust for their Head All have not passed under the first Death All Solu have died or been translated All shall die or be changed To these distinctly All that have lived have died or been translated I read but of two men who made a leap over the Grave and did not see Death Now these two were Enoch and Elijah Enoch Enoch taught as the word signifies walked with God Gen. 5.24 and was not for God took him Enoch was so little like the world that his stay was little in the world Enoch was so like God himself that God takes Enoch unto himself He was not for God took him Not that there was an Annihilation of him but a Translation of him he was personally translated Soul and Body were translated to Heaven Enoch walked with God and he was not And not He so the Hebrew He was saith one translated from the society of men Junius This is a difficult Scripture but the Apostle gives a full Heb. 11.5 and unerring Comment upon it By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and he was not found because God had translated him for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God Here is One that never went to the house of the Grave As God had before translated him out of a State of Sin into a State of Grace so Enoch was such a proficient in Grace that God translated him from Grace to Glory without so much as looking into the Grave Gen. 4.17 Jude ep v. 14. There was an Enoch in the Hebrew Chanoch who was the third from Adam and who was the immediate Son of cursed Cain But this Enoch or Chanoch was according to Jude the seventh from Adam And Enoch also the seventh from Adam Enoch was so the seventh from Adam as that both Adam and Himself must be computed to be Two of that Number Enoch was not so the seventh from as to be the seventh after or the seventh that came of Adam The like expression there is in Matthew Mat. 1.17 All the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations Into which Abraham and David themselves must be taken to make them up fourteen Enoch also was not so the seventh person from Adam as that there were no more than seven persons begotten from the time of Adam to Enoch for all those six Patriarchs mentioned before Enoch are said to beget Sons and Daughters but Jenkin in loc Enoch is called the seventh from Adam because he was exactly in that particular direct Line the seventh from Adam to Him Ainsworth This Enoch after saith one he had lived so many years upon the Earth as
be Hence the Body of man is called vile 1 Cor. 15.47 Who shall change our vile body and make it like his glorious body The Body of the first Adamâ— was formed out of the Earth and is said to be of the earth earthy And as in the first Body so in the bodies of all men Earth is the predominant element our bodies are vile the chief Ingredient oâ— their mixture being the Earth which comparatively to those higher and nobler elements is but vile Gen. 18.27 Abraham writes himself Dust and Ashes Dust is Earth made by the Heat of the Sun Ashâ—s Earth made by the Heat of the Fire They Amos 6.4 who now lye upon beds of Ivory must lye down in a bed of Earth and rest their Heads upon a pillow of Dust. Most sleep in the Dust while they live but all must sleep in the Dust when they die He only who hath laid up his Heart in Heaven Eccl. 12.7 can comfortably think of laying down his Head in the Dust Then shall the Dust the Body return unto the earth as it was and the Spirit the Soul unto God who gave it Mans Body is Dust materially while he lives and Dust formally when he is dead God hath appointed Death Reas 3. Heb. 9.27 Ps 31.15 therefore Man is mortal and must die 'T is once appointed for Man to die and 't is enough that it is appointed once As the Statute is past that Man must die so how long he shall live and when he shall die Isa 57.15 My times are in thy hand He who inhabits eternity is also the Lord of Time Some live as if they were Masters of Time and could appoint out their own Term Isa 28.15 as if they had made a Covenant with the Grave and an Agreement with Death they speak as if their Tongues and their Time were their own To morrow shall be as this day Isa 56.12 and much more abundant That rich Caitiff looked upon his Time as his own Soul take thine ease Luk. 12.19 20. thou hast goods laid up for many years but God said Thou Fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee The Psalmist doth not speak himself the Master but the Servant of Time My times are in thy hand That is all my Times my times of Health or Sickness of Joy or Sorrow of Truth or Triumph of Light or Darkness of Life or Death all my times are in thy hand It is well that our Times are in Gods hands Man is not wise enough to use the Time that God sets him much less is he wise enough to set his own Time God appoints Death all manner of Deaths Jer. 15.2 3. four kinds of Deaths saith the Prophet Death is Heavens Statute and who can reverse that was not that to be reversed by man Esth 8.8 that was sealed with the Kings Ring Who then can reverse Death the Law of Nature the Statute of Mortals the Circumference of the Vniverse Death is the House appointed for all living Job 30.23 Job 19.25 I know that thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living As I know that my Redeemer liveth so I know assuredly know that I shall die and go to the Grave of Silence Death bring us back to what we once were and shew us what we are It is true as I have written that some have lived and not died and that some shall live and not die yet those few Exceptions do not infirm but rather confirm the Truth of the general Rule which is That all must die because none escape but upon some special Exception Death is called a Change If a man die Job 14.14 shall he live again All the daies of my appointed time will I wait until my change come Death is natural but we die by a Law we die by Apointment the house appointed for all living Some say of Malefactors who are put to death for crimes against the Law that They are slain by the Law We may say of every man He is slain by a Law the house appointed for all living Thou turnest man to destruction Psal 90.3 that is to Death the destruction of all men as to their corporeal constitutions and external enjoyments But what then And sayest Return ye children of men God having turned man to Death saith presently Return ye children of men That is go back into what ye were return to the Dust. SECT V. The Brevity of Life IF the first Death Fui nihil amplius be the Mistress of Mortals and the Empress of the Vniverse reflect then the Brevity of Life I have been and that is all said Saladine the Great who was Conquerour of the East The longest liver hath but a handfull of Daies and Life it self is but a Circle alwaies beginning where it ends Dan. 7.9 Hodiè mihi crà s Tibi With the Ancient of Days there are no Days and Time will be when Time shall no more be The Child born in the morning is old enough to die before night To Dâ—â— to Me to Morrow to Thee is Deaths Motto When Jacob was asked by Pharoah How old art thou or according to the Margent How many are the daies of the years of thy life Gen. 47.8 9. His answer was Few and evil have the daies of the years of my life been c. A great Physician say that Art is long Life is short Ars longa Vita brevis Hippocrares Oculus apertus clausus Job 14.1 Margent The Heathens Emblem for Life was an Eye open and for Death an Eye shut as if there were no other difference between the living and the dying but the Twinkling of an Eye Man that is born of a woman is of few daies and full of trouble Job scarce thinks Himself worth the naming who doth not speak of himself in his own name Man that is born of a woman But what of this man he is of few daies short of daies and full of trouble Few daies and many troubles make up the Character of Man We use to say short and sweet Multum in parvo but here it is short and sewre yea short and bitter As some speak Much in a Little much matter in a little Discourse And as some do Much with a Little much Good with a little Talent so all suffer Much in a Little much Trouble in a little Time many Sorrows in a few Daies The daies of man are few compared with the daies that man lived before the Flood then man lived to six seven eight nine hundred almost a thousand years They are few also compared to the daies of God As the daies of God cannot be counted because they are so many so the daies of Man can scarcely be counted because they are so few Psa 39.5 Mine Age says the Psalmist is as nothing before Thee All Time is as Nothing compared to Eternity what a
Nothing then is the Age of one Man unto Eternity Some things created and finite are so great above others that they are nothing unto them What is the Ant unto the Elephant what is the Shrimp to the Whale what is the whole body of the Earth to the body of the Heavens It is but a point say Naturalists As one part of the Earth is but a point to the whole and the whole Earth but a point to the Heavens so one part of Time is but a moment to all Time and all Time is but a moment to Eternity especially to the Eternity of God What is Finite unto Infinite The Brevity of mans life will yet appear beyond all modest contradiction by the expressions wherewith it is cloathed by the metaphors wherein it is emblemed and by the Things whereunto it is compared For instance The Life of Man is compared to a Weavers Shuttle Job 7.6 My daies are swifter than a Weavers Shuttle A Weavers Shuttle is an Instrument of a very swift and sudden Motion this passeth the Loom or Web with such speed that it is grown to a Proverb for all things quick and transient The Life of Man is compared to an Hand-breadth Psal 39.5 Thou hast made my daies as an Hand-breadth That is not long which is no longer than the Breadth of an Hand not long in the largest Extent The Life of Man is compared to a Tale that is told Psal 90.9 We spend our daies as a tale that is told That is suddenly and swiftly A Discourse from the mouth especially in the mind out-runs the Sun as much as the Sun out-runs the Snail The Thoughts of a Man will travel the world over in a moment The Life of Man is compared to a Vapour What is our Life Jam. 4.14 it is even as a Vapour which for a while appeareth and then vanisheth away Though all a man hath is short of Life yet this Life of Man soon evaporates and expires SECT VI. The Certainty of Death OUR Bodies are but living Graves no sooner did we begin to live but we began to die and continue dying until we be swallowed up of Death As every Man had his Genesis his beginning or comming into this world so every Man shall have his Exodus his ending or going out of the world 1 Chr. 29.28 Oh soul flatter not thy self and thy soul with an undiable state David was a man after Gods own heart and yet concerning him it is said That he died Though he lived to a good old age full of daies riches and honour yet he died and Solomon his Son reigned in his stead Anaxagoras Scio me genuisse mortalem Deaths seisure is without surrender and from her sentence there is no Appeal When News arrived at one concerning the death of his only Son he seemed not to be over-concerned but to reply without Regret I know that he was begotten mortal I know the Son is mortal as well as the Father Gen. 5.5 8 11 14 17 20 27 31. Those long-livers recorded in the sacred Scripture and transmitted to posterity died They lived long but they did not out-live Death They lived long in the world but at last they left the world They lived long but a day came when they could not live a day longer Death is the obscurest thing in the world The Grave is a gloomy place and filled not only with natural but also with metaphorical Darkness SECT VII The Vncertainty of the Time of Death THough Death be certain yet the Time of Death is uncertain Death is certain but the Day or Hour of Death is uncertain Little did Julian think that Death had been at the Door before he was wounded by an unknown hand Vicisti Galilaee vieisti 1 Kings 22.27 1 Sam. 15.32 33. and blasphemed Thou hast overcome oh Galilaean Thou hast overcome Little did Ahab think that the day of Death had been so near dawning when he gave in charge concerning Micaiah Put this fellow in the Prison and feed him with the bread of Affliction and with the water of Affliction until I come in peace Little did Agag think of being hewed in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal when he said Surely the bitterness of death is past Pharoah stood upon even ground with God little thinking Exod. 5.2 Exod. 14.27 Isa 36.13 that the Sea should be his Sepulchre when he said Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Little did Sennacherib think that he stood upon the Brink of Eternity Isa 37.38 when these words were spoken by his servant Hear ye the words of the great King the King of Assyria when he seemed to stand upon higher ground than God Little also did Herod the Mount of Pride according to his name think Acts 12.21 22. that his Grave had been digging when he so charmed his Auditory with his Oratory that they gave a shout It is the voice of a God and not of man The Manner and Time of Death is uncertain Some indeed have predicted the Manner of their Death thus Ridley that he should be burned and not drowned Thus Jewel he long before his Sickness predicted the Approach of it And in his Sickness predicted the precise day of his Death But this is rare very rare What is prayable Object 1. is attainable but the knowledge of the length of life is prayable To pray for a Physical Sol. or Literal knowledge of our End that is what Year or Day our Lives shall end Caryl Vol. 1. p. 355. is a sinful Curiosity and presumptuous Intrusion into the secret Will of God but to pray for a metaphysical or spiritual knowledge of our End that is how we may end any day of the year or hour of the day in an holy Duty and humble submission of our selves to the revealed Will of God this is warrantable But Obj. 2. Isa 38.5 Hezekiah had fifteen years added to his daies and therefore he knew how long he should live and when he should die This Sol. is such a Favour as that we read not of the like indulged any other of Gods Servants though very high in Favour with him This Great and Good King is indulged and assured a Lease of his Life fifteen years longer well now may this be ushered in with a Note of Attention and serious Consideration Behold I will add unto his daies fifteen years It is sealed also being an unusual Grant with an unusual Miracle Behold I will bring again the shadow of the degrees Isa 38.8 which is gone down in the Sun-dial of Ahaz ten degrees backward so the Sun returned ten degrees by which degrees it was gone down As we are to reflect the Brevity of Life the children of men being many times of as short a continuance as Jonahs Gourd which came up in a night and perished in a
night And as we are to reflect on the Certainty of Death this being a Tribute due to Nature and a Debt to be paid by every Individual so we are to reflect the Vncertainty of the Time of Death which comes to many persons as a Thief in the night suddenly silently unexpectedly SECT VIII The Impartiality of Death DEATH is common to All. Pallida mors pulsar Regum turres pauperumque tabernas Zach. 1.5 Death when she marches her Rounds knocks at a Palace as well as at a Cottage at the Princes Palace as well as at the Peasants Cottage The King as well as the Beggar may die must die The persecuting as well as the persecuted may die must die The man in his Robes as well as the man in his Rags may die must die Your Fathers where are they and the Prophets do they live for ever The Hebrew Proverb is That in Golgotha are Skulls of all sizes as well as of all sexes Death knows no difference no distance Death is like the Sword of Alexander the Great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.13 that knew not how to make a Difference The Apostle in the Book of Martyrs epitomized speaking of those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy saith These all died in Faith or according to the Greek according to Faith All these died naturally though they died believingly There is not a man in the Charter of man-kind but he is obnoxious to the common and equal Law of Death There are no Sons of Zerviah too hard for Death though a Sampson this great Leviathan Death account him but a straw One being asked by another where he had been answered Diogenes to Alexander the Great Job 3.19 I have been comparing the Skulls of Princes with the Skulls of Peasants the Skulls of the mightiest with the Skulls of the meanest the Skulls of the richest with the Skulls of the poorest the Skulls of the highest with the Skulls of the lowest and I find no difference The small and the great are there and the Servant is free from his Master The small cannot escape the Hands or slip through the Fingers of Death because they are little the great cannot rescue themselves from the power or break out of the hands of Death because they are big Death is impartial from the Threshold to the Throne SECT IX Directions concerning Death the Tribute of Nature and Law of Mortals This Section hath a double Aspect and looks to a Soul out of Christ and to a Soul in Christ Chap. 1. To the Soul out of Christ ARt out of Christ Take heed then of puting far away the day of Death Directions There is a wicked Proverb I thought no more of it than I did of my dying day As if a man should not concern himself with the Thoughts of Death What became of that French King when he died Lewis the 11th that would not think of Death while he lived He prohibited upon pain of Death to speak of Death in the Court There is Deaths day Non putaram and this is not to be put far away This is the Fools motto I never thought of it The Master say to the Servant Is this done Is that done The Servant say to the Master I never thought of it Mark 16.16 Luk. 13.3 Oh say Christ to the Soul why didst thou not believe and repent for He or She that believeth not shall be damned and except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Oh say the Soul to Christ I never thought of it Oh say Christ why didst not thou love me 1 Cor. 16.22 for If any man love me not let him be Anathema Maran-atha a curse to the coming of the Lord to pass the definitive Sentence Oh say the Soul I never thought of it Oh say Christ why didst thou not Ark in me and Anchor upon me Joh. 14.6 when I am the Way the Truth and the Life Oh say the Soul I never thought of it Oh say Christ why didst thou not get Oil in thy Vessel against a dying hour and a wedding-garment against a judging hour Oh say the Soul I never thought of it Oh Soul if thou hastary love to thy self love to thy Soul take heed that â—â—ou dost not lay under that black Brand as to Death that they did as to Judgment Yâ— Amos 6.3 that put far away the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near Oh Soul take heed thou speakest not of Death as one did of Hell Demonax who being asked what Hell was profanely said stay until I come there and I will send thee word from thence Hell is not a place to be sported with There are many that have not only a name to live but also the nature of life that sometimes tremble at the Thoughts of shooting this Gulf. That saying Isa 56.12 had too great a Tincture of Atheism To morrow shall be as this day and much more abundantly Art out of Christ Direct 2. Take heed also of taking Gods work out of Gods hand God who giveth life may call for it when he pleaseth but man must not Gen. 22.2 God imposed upon Abraham an Oblation of Isaac it had been Murder for the Father to have killed the Son had not God imposed it God is the Being of Beings and doth all things well Some Romish Parasites have flattered the Pope into this divine priviledge which is peculiar to God and the prerogative of God God is so high that he cannot look above himself but looks below himself and hath none to whom he is to give an Account of his Actions Behold he taketh away Job 9.12 who shall turn him away who may say unto him what dost thou yet the blind and the bloody Papists have slattered the Pope into this divine priviledge no man must question him do what he will if he carry thousands to Hell with him no man must say unto him what dost thou I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand is a Dialect becoming a God but unbecoming a man Gods work is not to be taken out of Gods hand Might not the consent of Paul to the Death of Stephen lay near Pauls heart so long as he lived Act. 22.20 When the blood of thy Martyr Stephen was shed I also was standing by consenting to his death and kept the rayment of them that slew him Oh Soul take heed of breathing their Veins and letting out their Vitals unto whom Death is stingless Take heed of having a hand in their Death who through grace see the Death of Death in the Death of Christ If those who are actually Christs die a natural Death God takes notice of it Moses my servant is dead Josh 1.2 Psal 116.15 But if they die a violent Death God takes especial notice of it Precious in the eyes of Jehovah is the
death of his Saints If a Christian of Christs making goes bleeding to Heaven or burning to Heaven if he lays down his Blood on this side the Grave this goes near the heart of God Art out of Christ Direct 3. tremble then for in a moment thou mayest die and be damned too They spend their time in mirth Job 21.13 Anxius vixi dubius morior Oh ens entium miserere mihi Sed c. Arist Job 18.14 Caryl in loc and in a momeut go down to the grave Death by the Philosopher is called of all formidable things the most terrible These were some of the last words of that great Philosopher I have lived anxiously I die doubtfully Oh Being of Beings have mercy upon me but now it is too late for me to call for mercy Death is called by Bildad the King of Terrors This is a very strange Title We have read of many Titles which have been given the Kings of the Earth as most Serene most Christian most Sacred c. but if at all rarely of such a Title as this King of Terrors For a man to be brought to the King of Terrors is for a man to be brought to death or to his last end The Philosopher in this sense called Death the King of Terrors when he called it the most terrible of terrible things Death is terrible upon a threefold consideration Antecedents Nature Consequents Death is terrible if we consider the Antecedents of it 2 King 4.18 19 20. The Forerunners or Harbingers of Death are Pains Diseases Sicknesses and these are terrible The Shunamites Son was taken sick when he was with the Reapers crying to his Father My Head my Head being carried home he sate on his Mothers knees until noon and then died Death is terrible if we consider the Nature of it Death Mors Sceptra Ligonibus aequa is a Disunion All Disunions are troublesom but some are terrible Death according to the Poet is the greatest Leveller in the world Death levels Scepters and Plow-shares it makes all alike The Disunion that Death makes between Husband and Wife is terrible but Death makes a Disunion between them that are nearer than Husband and Wife even between Soul and Body Eccl. 12.7 Husband and Wife are one flesh but Soul and Body are one person Then shall the Dust the Body return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit the Soul unto God Death is terrible if we reflect the consequents of it I have said to corruption thou art my Father Job 17.14 Nativitas mala Vita pejor mors pessima and to the Worm thou art my Mother and my Sister Now soul art out of Christ what is thy Death then like to be It may be said of a person living and dying out of Christ that his Birth is bad his Life is worse his Death is worst of all Some are so sick that they cannot live and yet so sinful that they cannot die their Cry is Oh Lord we cannot die Oh Lord we must not die O Lord we dare not die Oh Lord we will not die Rev. 9.6 We read of some that shall seek death but shall not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them Others there are that Death seek but they would not be found and that Death desire to have but they flee from it A great person hearing the Verdict which the Physicians brought in against him that he must die cryed out Let me live though it be the Life of a Toad under a Threshold Art out of Christ tremble then and realize a state of Death Do not only read of Death but also realize Death Do not look upon Death as a Physical Notion and a Mathematical Conclusion be much in the reflection of this Text and Truth Luk. 16.22 23. It came to pass that the Beggar died and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom the Rich man also died and was buried and in Hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment Here is Death and Damnation too Thou mayest die and be damned too Art out of Christ go then to Christ Direct 4. in whose Death is the Death of Death To be Christless is to be Godless to be Graceless to be Gloryless go then to Christ Art in a state of Sin go then to Christ for Grace Art in a state of Darkness go then to Christ for Light Art in a state of Death go then to Christ for Life Art in a state of Damnation go then to Christ for Salvation Isa 53.3 Encline your ear and come unto me hear and your souls shall live Paul was a great Orator a great part of his Oratory was to perswade men to come to Christ and be saved He that winneth souls is wise Art Christless and Godless Graceless and Spiritless May not I say to thee with the Alteration of a word Acts 13.36 as was said to the stock of Abraham To thee is the word of this salvation sent But there is a Lion in the way an Adder in the path But what is this comming to Christ Quest 1. this going to Christ A comming Sol. Joh. 6.40 or going to Christ is a believing in Christ As Faith is the Souls Eye He that seeth the Son and believeth on him hath eternal life And as Faith is the Souls mouth Joh. 6.54 Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life And as Faith is the Souls Ear Joh. 5.24 He that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me And as Faith is the Souls Hand Joh. 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he priviledge to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name So Faith is the Souls Foot Joh. 6.35 He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst But Quest 2. is there an indispensible Necessity of going to Christ for Salvation Can Salvation be had no where else Is he not only a Saviour but also the Saviour That Christ is a Saviour Sol. Luk. 2.11 is evident Vnto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. That Christ also is the Saviour is as evident Now we believe not because of thy words Joh. 4.42 for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world I remember the time when if I could have gone to Heaven by my Education Civility Forms of Prayer of mine own making or by my Fathers Copy I would not have made use of Christ but at last I found that there was Salvation in no other Act. 4.12 Isa 51.12 and sailing by the gates of Hell in my apprehension I also found that no Voice but the Voice of Christ would still the Voice of Desperation There is no Paradise without this Tree no Light without this Sun no God no
Wisdom the Wisdom of God yea the God of Wisdom hath builded her house prepared him a Church he hath hewn out his seven pillars Patriarchs Prophets Seers Apostles Evangelists Pastors and Teaâ—hers or by seven may be understood the manifold gifts of the Spirit for it is ordinary in Scripture to take seven for a perfect number Pro. 8.14 for a number of perfection Is not that a lofty as well as a lovely strain when Christ thus speaks of himself Counsel is mine and sound Wisdom I am Vnderstanding I have strength Oh Soul though the best and wisest of men have too little of that wisdom from above which is first pure Jam. 3.17 and then peaceable yet there is in Christ for those that are Christs a fulness of Wisdom There is in Christ for those that are Christs a fulness of Righteousness He is stiled Jesus Christ the righteous Little children 1 Joh. 2.1 I write unto you that ye sin not Whatsoever ye do or suffer do not sin ye had better be sick than sinning better be suffering than sinning better be dying than sinning better be dying for a Christ or dying in a Christ than sinning against a Christ Little children I write unto you that ye sin not but if any one sin so the Greek whether Jew or Gentile whether man or woman Tis. We have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Christ is not only righteous but also Righteousness Jer. 23.6 In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is the name whereby he shall be called Jehovah our righteousness There is in Christ a twofold Righteousness imputed and imparted an imputed righteousness in order to Justification an imparted righteousness in order to Sanctification Both these are together legible Who is made of God unto us wisdom 1 Cor. 1.30 righteousness sanctification and redemption That there is a fulness of righteousness in Christ is evident because he fully answèred what the Law could challenge of those that are His now the Law required of these a threefold righteousness habitual practical passive Habitual that is a Conformity of our Natures to the Holiness of the Law Now this was found in Christ in whom there is a fulness for his 1 Pet. 1.19 He was a Lamb without blemish and without spot Christ was free from all sin without blemish and spot without original and actual sin he was sound within and without Practical a Conformity of our Wills to the Edicts of the Law This also was found in Christ. There was not the least Aberration in his works words Joh. 14.30 or thoughts The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me Christ had no Corruption that might be sewel to his Temptation though tempted unto sin yet was he not tempted into sin Passive a Conformity of our sufferings to the Threats and Curses of the Law This also was found in Christ in whom there is a fulness for His. But what did the Law threaten Quest. Sol. The Law threatned a privation of Comfort and an instiction of Torment A privation of Comfort This answers to our omission of good Time was when Christ was deprived of that Comfort and Influence Mark 15.34 which at other times he had from the Deity so far as to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me An infliction of Torment This answers to our commission of evil Luke 22.44 This also was found in Christ in whom there is a sulness for His. Time was when Christ lay under torment and sense of wrath which caused him to sweat water and blood Thus is the Law exactly answered by the fulness of Christs righteousness CHAP. II. To the Soul in Christ. ART in Christ prepare then through Christ for the first Death Directions It is a solemn work to die we had need therefore prepare to do that work well which is but once to be done In this world we pray often and preach often and hear often in this world we meditate and mourn often discourse and dispute often yea which is worse than all in this world we sin often but we shall die but once Caesar Borgia I have read of one who being sick unto death said when I lived I prepared for every thing but Death now I must die and am unprepared for Death It is our prudence to die well because we can die but once A man had need to do that wisely which he can do but once An error in Death is like an error in War ye cannot commit it twice All the time we live is but a passage unto Death and therefore should be a preparation for Death It is said of David 1 Chron. 22.5 that before his death he prepared abundantly for the house of the Lord. It is the Duty and Dignity the Prudence and Property of those who are actually Christs before their death to prepare abundantly for their death What is true of Judgment is true of Death Amos 4.12 Not Vi Armis but this is true of Judgment Prepare to meet thy God oh Israel The Israel of God is to meet the God of Israel in the way of his righteous Judgments by Prayers and Tears not by Sword and Spears Heart-work is hard work and yet this is imposed 1 Sam. 7.3 Prepare your hearts unto the Lord and he will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistines Ezek. 18.31 Ezek. 36.26 God impose upon man the making of a new heart and he might as well have imposed upon him the making of a new Heaven but what God impose upon man in one place he promise to do for man in another place Make ye a new heart Pro. 16.1 A new heart will I give them God impose upon man the preparation of the heart when the preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. But what course shall I now steer Quest. and by what compass shall I now sail that I may prepare for Death Make through Christ Mortality thy Meditation Sol. 1. Meditate death Bern. be much in the Meditation of Mortality Nothing saith one so revokes from sin as a daily Meditation of Death The Heathen could say that the whole life of man should be nothing else but a Meditation of Death One presented Antipater King of Macedon with a Book treating of Happiness but his answer was I have no leisure to read it Days of Grace have their Dates take heed therefore of saying to morrouâ— to morrow As a man must not say to Christ so a man must not say to Death as a penurious and parcimonious man say to an indigent person come to morrow Sine mora Heb. 4.7 Diem perdidi Vespatian Mané I am not at leisure now Without delay was the Motto of Alexander the Great To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts The present time
is mans time The good Emperour not hearing a Cause or doing some charitable Act in the day would complain at night unto his Courtiers Sirs I have lost a day 2 Cor. 6.2 Hoc Nunc nullum habet crastinum Aug. Delays are dangerous yea Delay is the Mother of Danger Delay is almost as bad as Denyal There is a word which is the Lords Adverb and the Devils Verb Early say God stay sâ—y the Devil Now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation This Now saith one hath no to morrow Take heed of playing the Courtier with thy Soul the Courtier do all things late he riseth late dineth late goeth to bed late and repenteth late Henry the fourth asked the Duke de Alva if he had seen the great Ecclipse of the Sun which had lately been no said the Duke I have so much to do upon Earth that I have no leisure to look up to Heaven Let thy Thoughts be taken up with Death Ambrose I have not saith one so lived that I am afraid to die or ashamed to live longer Death is a Theam worthy the most serious and solid the most spiritual and sanctified meditation Be much through Christ in prayer Multiply cries and cry mightily unto Christ that Heaven may be thy Haven that Paradise may be the Port for thy Soul Prayer is the first and should be the last Dish If ye be Christs ye must Pray while ye live and Pray when ye die ye must live and die Acts 7.59 praying Thus Stephen did They sloned Stephencalling upon the name of the Lord and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Yea thus a greater than Sephen Luke 23.34 the Lord and Life of Stephen the Lord Jesus Christ did Father forgive them for they know not what they do When the Heart-blood of Christ was comming forth then was the heart-prayer of Christ also comming forth Rev. 8.3 4. Gen. 48.16 Father forgive them for they know not what they do We read of an Angel that stood at the Altar The Angel is Christ the Angel that redeemed Jacob from all evil the Angel of the Covenant The Altar is Himself who sanctifieth prayer as the Altar did the Gift This Angel which is Christ had a golden Censer his own Body Mal. 3.1 To him was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints or that he should add to the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was befere the Throne Christ by his Intercession perfumes the prayers of his being the only High Priest of the New Testament And the smoak of the Incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand It is such a prdyer that I intend a pure prayer a Gospel prayer a prayer that passeth a Christ that passeth out of the Angels hand that passeth through the hand of the Son 1 Sam. 1.15 Rom. 8.26 to the heart of the Father Now what is this Prayer but a pouring out of the Sonl to God what is pure prayer but a breathing out that before God which was first breathed in by the Spirit of God As Fear is so principal a Grace that it is sometimes put for all grace Now I know that thou fearest God Gen. 22.2 seeing thou hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son And as Faith is so principal a Grace that it is sometimes put for all Grace Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith so Prayer is so principal a part of Worship that it is sometimes put for all worship Mat. 21.13 Luk. 18.1 1 Thes 5.17 My house shall be called an house of prayer but ye have made it a den of thieves Pure Prayer is imposed therefore incumbent Christ spake a Parable that men ought alwaies to pray and not to faint To pray alwaies is not to faint in prayer Pray without ceasing Pray there is the Act without ceasing there is the Duration of that Act. As it is the duty of a Christian of Christs making to pray so it is the property of this person to pray A living Child is a crying Child Until the Child come out of the womb it cannot cry but when it come into the World it cry So long as a a man is in the womb of a natural state Gal. 4.6 he cannot cry Father Father Because ye are Sons God hath â—sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts Act. 9.11 crying Father Father Was Paul ever said to pray until converted from his Pharisaical state Go for behold he prayeth He who was a Persecutor before is a Prayer now Soul if God design thee for Heaven he will put thee upon prayer yea Mat. 6.6 upon closet-prayer But thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet 'T is death to a living man long â—o hold his breath If we breath we live if we breath not we die Thus 't is death as it were to a truly gracious soul long to be kept from inward and intimate converse and communion with God and Christ with God in Christ. A declining of this Duty will prove a drawn Flood-gate unto great Iniquity Where is that man like to stop who declines this Duty Eph. 6.18 Praying alwaies there 's the Duty with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit there 's the Direction If we would prepare for death we must be much in prayer To this end reflect the Income of prayer and Influence of prayer Be much in the reflection of the Income of prayer A Soul in Christ would not lose his Incomes of prayer for a world for a thousand worlds if there were so many Oh what have thy Tears and thy Triumphs been in a Closet Oh what have thy Sighs and thy Sights been in a Closet O what have thy Shines and thy Smiles been in private prayer Oh how melted have thy Soul been and mortified have thy sin been when thou hast been engaged and enlarged in private prayer Have not thy Soul been sent away with more of the sanctifying and with more of the sealing work of the Spirit too Davids Incoms of prayer were great and he valued them greatly I love the Lord why because he hath heard my voice Psa 116.1 2. and my supplications because he hath enclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him so long as I live What an estimate is set upon the Income of Prayer Be much in the reflection of the Influence of Prayer Prayer hath a great Influence for instance Pure Prayer through Christ had an Influence and Command over the four Elements Aire Fire Earth Water Over the Air. Elias which was Elijah praved earnestly in prayer he prayed Jam. 5.17 18. so the Greek That is he prayed earnestly for the ingemination hath this force that it might not rain and it did not that it might rain and it did Over the Fire Thus it had in
Beaven without him I had rather saith another be in Hell with a Christ than to be in Heaven without him Heaven is the presence of all Good and the absence of all Evil. Redde mihi vitam aeternam quam debes That Monk died like himself who said Lord pay me Heaven which thou owest me Heaven is a Flower of Salvation blown out the Saint here is in the Suburbs of Heaven Heaven is the Inheritance of those unto whom Christ is Life and unto whom Death shall be gain If Heaven be the Inheritance of these Quest what manner of Inheritance then is Heaven Heaven is a free Inheritance Sol. 1. Would it not puzzle all the Saints on Earth and Angels in Heaven to bring in the worth of Heaven and yet this is a Donatâ—â—e Many Inheritances here below are bought but this Inheritance is given Here men buy Inheritances and pay to the worth of them Luk. 2.32 but Heaven though it cannot be valued to its worth yet it is given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fear not little-little Flook there are two diminitives in the Greek for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom The word translated Flock signifies a little Flock but Christ to shew the exceeding littleness of it adds another word little Fear not little-little Flock Heaven is a full Inheritance Ahasuerus had a large Territory he reigned from India unto Ethiopia over 127 Provinces A man would have thought that 127 Provinces had been enough for 127 persons and yet this large Territory was a poor pittance Many have large Inheritances here below and cannot live upon them but Heaven is an Inheritance thou mayest live upon if possessed of this Inheritance thou shalt never want more Heaven is a perfection of Felicity without intermission and amission If once possessed of this Inheritance then thou wilt say with Jacob It is enought Thou wilt as one reads it make known the way of life satiety of joys before thy face Ainsworth Psa 16.11 pleasures at thy right hand to perpetuity Heaven is a living Inheritance Heaven is not only a living Inheritance but also an Inheritance of Life Death is legible in the face of the Earth but Life is legible in the face of Heaven I am come that ye might have life Life here life hereafter Mutability and Mortality Rev. 2.10 are written upon all things here below but Heaven is called a Crown of Life Be thou faithful unto death there is the precept and I will give thee a Crown of life there 's the promise Heaven is a lasting Inheritance The Inheritance will last so long as the Heir last Into what a time of Debauchery are we fallen and how short-lifed are earthly Inheritances How long soever the Fathers were in getting them the Children are not long in spending them An earthly Inheritance may be spent but this heavenly Inheritance cannot be spent Though those who are actually Christs may lose all at Sea and all 〈◊〉 Land all in the Ship and all in the Shop all within doors and all without doors yet they cannot lose Heaven this is a lasting Inheritance yea this is an everlasting Inheritance The Apostle having imposed a making of the calling and election sure subjoyns this For so an entrance will be ministred unto you abundantly 2 Pet. 1.10 11. into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This Kingdom is the Kingdom of Glory because stiled an everlasting Kingdom It is called the Kingdom of Christ because given to him as a reward of his passions It is an everlasting Kingdom because the Vnion between Christ and a Christian is everlasting As Christ on earth is the Christians Medium of Reconciliation and Communion so Christ in Heaven is the Christians Medium of Vision and Fruition There are among other things these six things which those who are actually Christs can never lose The Soul cannot be lost The Soul is a Blossom of Eternity hath a stamp of Immortality now Death it self though the Mistress of Mortals and Empress of the Vniverse despairs how to kill this Fear not them which kill the body Luk. 12.4 and after that have no more that they can do Men. may kill the Body but they cannot kill the Soul Those who assert without blushing the Mortality of the Soul seem at least to stand upon the Brink of Atheism Though the Body return unto the Dust yet the Soul to Hell or Heaven Luk. 23.43 1 Pet. 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peccare not Perire Though the Veins of the penitent Thief were breathed and his Vitals let out yet his Soul goes to Heaven To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise To day is not this emphatical and doth not Christ promise more than the Thief asks Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation Who are kept the Greek word is a military word taken from Souldiers they are safely kept kept as a Garrison in time of War against the Enemy Though a Soul actually in Christ may sin 1 Joh. 3.9 and do sin yet not unto Death not unto the second Death He that is born of God sinneth not not to condemnation The Saviour cannot be lost Once and Ever is Christs Motto Though yesterday some were not Semèl Simùl Heb. 13.8 to day some are but to morrow these may not be yet yesterday to day and for ever Christ is the same Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever The same yesterday before his coming in the flesh The same to day while in the flesh The same for ever Heb. 9.24 after his Ascension unto and Admission into the Kingdom of Heaven now to appear in the presence of God for us Art actually Christs then though thou mayest lose thy Lands lose thy Limbs lose thy Liberty lose thy Life yet thou canst not lose thy Love lose thy Christ The Grace of Christ cannot be lost Grace may decay but it cannot die it may be abated but it cannot be abolished it may be shaken in the Soul but it cannot be shaken out of the Soul Grace 1 Pet. 1.13 is incorruptible seed Which were born not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible Grace is the Seed the Heart is the Soil Gold may be lost Goods may be lost Grandeur may be lost but Grace cannot be lost this must go into Glory when Time goeth into Eternity The Spirit of Christ cannot be lost What the Body is without the Soul Lifeless and Loveless that the Soul is without the Spirit and yet this Spirit cannot be lost What Wheels are to the Chariot and Oil to those Wheels that the Spirit is to the Soul and yet this Spirit cannot be lost What Sails are to the Ship and Wind to those Sails that yea infinitely more than that is the Spirit to the Soul Joh. 16.14 and yet this Spirit cannot be lost I will pray the Father and he shall
children of God 'T is a sanctifying Spirit Abel differed not from Cain Abraham from Absalom Isaac from Ishmael Jacob from Esau Simon Peter from Simon Magus James the Lords Brother from Judas the Lords betrayer in respect of their Substance but in respect of the Spirit which the one had but the other had not It is the Spirit that sanctifies 2 Thes 2.13 God hath chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth 'T is a sealing Spirit After ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of Promise Eph. 1.13 The use of a Seal is two-fold and consists in two things In the Nature of it In this sense Christ was sealed Labour not for the meat that perisheth Joh. 6.27 but for that which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of Man shall give for him hath the Father sealed To Seal a thing is to stamp the Character of the Seal upon it In the Vse of it This is two-fold To ratifie A Seal is to ratifie any Grant or Conveyance made in writing A writing sealed is authentick this confirms the Testimony that is given by any one of the Truth of any thing Such was the manner among the Jews Joh. 3.33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true Thus by way of Ratification To Appropriate A Seal is to appropriate distinguish or keep safe Rev. 7.4 In this sense are the Servants of God sealed I heard the number of them that were sealed and there were sealed an hundred forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the Children of Israel Thus by way of Appropriation Thus the Spirit of God is a sealing Spirit it confirms and assures the Soul of the love of God of life from God of life with God And grieve not the holy Spirit of God Eph. 4.30 whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption The Spirit here according to the Greek Text is set forth with very great Energy and the Text may be thus read Grieve not the holy the Spirit of that God Not a Spirit but the Spirit not holy but the holy and not of God but of that God Would ye prepare for Death Look then unto Christ and lay the Stress of Obedience upon Him Obedience is or ought to be the White in a Christians eye at which he should level every arrow Obedience is better than Sacrifice and hearkning than the fat of lambs A man truly gracious had rather with one have Grace to be obedient Luther than Power to work Miracles Obediene is two-fold active and passive and the stress of both to be laid upon Christ but to these distinctly Active Lay the stress of Doing for a Christ upon a Christ. Acti agimus Active Obedience is a Doing what God imposeth now being acted we act Not that we we Apostles we Disciples we accounted Cedars in Lebanon not Shrubs of the Valley are sufficient of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God Were they so what are we then If insufficient as to thinking what are we then as to acting To do what we ought when we ought and as we ought is from Christ. Passive Lay the stress of Dying for a Christ upon a Christ. Passive Obedience is a suffering what God inflicteth Passive Obedience brings as much Glory to God as active Obedience doth Luther was troubled that he did not lay down his bloud on this side the grave and pass through a violent death as all the Apostles but John did Art actually in Christ then possibly thou shalt not long live his Servant but die his Sicrifice now Passion as well as Action dying as well as doing bleeding or burning as well as believing is from Christ Phil. 1.29 and the Grace of Christ To you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe but also to suffer for his sake Suffering-work is Noble work the Noblest work Mat. 6.10 for though Saints be inferiour to Angels as to Action yet they are superiour to Angels as to Passion for they are Spirits and incapable of suffering 1 Tim. 5.21 6. Verse of Judes Epist Psa 37.24 2 Pet. 2.4 The Apostle speaketh of elect Angels These fell not from their estate As the elect Saints cannot finally fall Though he fall yet shall he not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand so the elect Angels did not foully fall Now Suffering was the Consequent of Sinning And spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell True Obedience may be known three waies By the Sincerity of it My rejoycing is this the testimony of a good Conscience how that in sincerety 2 Cor. 1.12 and godly simplicity c. By the Vniversality of it Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandments Psa 119.6 We must not only respect all Gods Commandments but also respect them all alike and give them all the like respect Obedience must be Vniversal By the Constancy of it As Obedience must be sincere and Vniversal so constant 1 Cor. 15.58 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3.11 Be ye stedfast unmoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord. If we would prepare for Death we must lay the Stress of Obedience whether active or passive upon Christ for he is All and in All or according to the Greek All things and in all things It may be understood of Persons as well as Things Christ is All from the Father All to the Father All with the Father but to these distinctly Christ is All from the Father I am come that ye might have life life here Joh. 10.10 and life hereafter and that ye might have it more abundantly The life of Grace and of Glory they are by Christ Christ is All to the Father I am the Way the Truth and the Life Joh. 14.6 no man commeth unto the Father but by me Every word here hath its Article in the Greek Christ is the Way wherein the Truth whereby and the Life whereunto we walk Christ is the Way without Error the Truth without Falshood and the Life without Death Truth lies between Way and Life as if the Way to Life were through Truth Christ is All with the Father I know thou hearest me alwaies Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 3.17 hath Gods Ear at all times Christ is at Gods right hand yea Christ is as Gods right hand Christ is the Object of the Fathers delight This is my Beloved Son in whom I acquiess so the Greek It is an emphatical word and signifieth an infinite Affection DIRECTION II. ART actually in Christ Direct 2 Sen. Artem bene vivendi moriendi study then through Christ the Art of Dying well May a Heathen speak When I was young my care was to live well I then
Eden and had all the creatures to serve him yet a Consort must be cast in as the Complement of his external Felicity Gen. 2.18 It is not good that man should be alone I will make an help meet for him But how near and dear soever Wives are 1 Cor 7.29 they must be died unto It remain that they who have wives be as though they had none Those actually Christs are to die unto religious Self A man must have a Righteousness of his own Mat. 5.20 Phil. 3.9 Except your Righteousness And yet this Righteousness must not be his own but Christs Paul dies to his own Righteousness Not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law Unto the World As those actually Christs are to die unto Self so unto the World Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world Thus generally but now particularly Those actually Christs are to die to the Worship of the World The men of the world Joh. 4.24 Col. 2.8 20. if they worship not a false God yet they worship a true God falsly for He is a Spirit and must be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth According to the Truth of the Rule and in Truth of Heart Is is not connatural unto man to worship a God of his own making rather than the God that made him Those actually Christs are to die unto the Wisdom of the World As the Friendship of the World Job 28.28 is Enmity with God so the Wisdom of the World is Folly with God The fear of the Lord that 's wisdom and to depart from evil that 's understanding The men of the world think themselves very wise Prov. 26.12 but seest thou a man wise in his own eyes there is more hope of a fool than of him The men of the world think themselves and are thought by others Jer. 4.22 to be very wise but they are wise to do evil to do good they have no knowledge Worldy wisdom or the wisdom of the world is the greatest folly in the world To be witty in sinning to make a mock at sin and to make wickedness our work is the greatest folly in the world Those actually Christs are to die to the Mode of the World It is a profane Proverb as good out of the World as out of the Fashion But were there ever such Fashions in the World as are now in the world Do not Men look like Monsters Do not Women look like Harlots Are we not the Apes of the false French As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance 1 Pet. 1.14 Those actually Christs are to die to the Manners of the World These must be daily dying to the Debauchery and Prophanity to the Adultery and Sodomy the Idolatry and Iniquity of the Times It was once sinfully said Act. 14.11 Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men but may it not now be said that Devils are come up unto us in the likeness of men Do not some men account Oaths their greatest Rhetorick Cheating the greatest Ingenuity Atheism their greatest Art Rebellion their greatest Religion Sin their greatest Safety He that departeth from Evil Isa 59.15 maketh himself a prey is accounted mad Margent Those actually Christs are to die to the pleasures of the world Ah! many spend and end their daies in sinful pleasures They spend their time in mirth Job 21.13 and in a moment go down to the grave That word If any man will not work neither let him eat seem to be vanishing now and most men seem to read it thus If any man will not play neither let him eat Gaming is much the Mode and as men live in their sins so they live upon their sins All the Income that many have is their Gaming Those actually Christs are to die to the profits of the world The men of the world make the world their Business Prov. 28.22 Jer. 17.11 it is their Element they make baste to be rich But he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his daies and at his end shall be a fool DIRECT III. ART actually in Christ Direct 3. Non mori sed damnari metuo Mortem optare malum timere pejus Jer. 20.3 be not surprized then with a Pannick Fear concerning the Arrests of the first Death I am not afraid to die but I am afraid to be damned I am not afraid of the pains of Death but I am afraid of the pains of Hell It was the word of Henry the fifth to wish death is not good but to fear death is worse No man should be afraid to die but he that is ashamed to live Thou art in Christ and dost thou fear death If a soul in Christ fear death what then may a soul out of Christ If a soul in Christ dread the shooting of this Gulf then a soul out of Christ may be a Magor-Missabib fear round about Shalt thou fear death when Christ is thine consider what he is He is a Father and a Friend a Foundation and a Fountain a God and a Guide a Guard and a Good a Rock and a Portion to these distinctly Fear not Death for Christ is thine and he is a Father He is stiled the Father of Eternity Isa 9.6 Whither should the Child go but to the Father Whither should the Christian go but to Christ But if Christ be a Father Quest what manner of Father then is Christ to his Children What good soever is in any Creature Sol. is more eminently in Christ All the dispersed Excellencies that are throughout the Vniverse meet in Christ Psal 94.9 and concenter in him He that planted the Ear shall not he hear and he that formed the Eye shall not he see He that gives Ears to others must needs be all Ear himself and he that gives Eyes to others must needs be all Eye himself Take now the Characters Properties and Properties of a natural Father and see how Christ infinitely out-bids and out-vies such a natural Father A natural Father pitieth the Child To be without natural affection is a sin against Nature 2 Sam. 18.5 A Father pitieth his Child yea then most pitieth him when he standeth in most need of pity The Father then take the greatest Care when there is the greatest Cause When the Child is sick and weak under amazing pains and amusing pangs when sickness and weakness are upon the Child then there is the greatest paternal pity and affection unto the Child Thus yea infinitely more than thus Christ as a Father pitieth his Children Though Christ as man had a Father yet Christ as God is a Father Psal 103.13 As a Father pitieth his Children so Jehovah pitieth them that fear him A natural Father provideth for
than unfallen Spirits This Rock Christ is higher then fallen Souls He is not only higher than Absolom and Agag Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Demas but also higher than the Church for he is Head of the Church yea the Head of the Church not onely by way of Emphasis but also by way of Exclusion Col. 1.18 And himself is the Head of the Body the Church So the Greek This Rock Christ is higher than unfallen Spirits Christ is not only higher than the Kings of the Earth but also higher than the Angels of Heaven He that is higher than the highest regardeth Eccl. 5.8 and there be higher than they Angels are higher than the highest of Men but Christ is higher than the highest of Angels for he is Head of the Angles yea the Head of the Angels not only emphatically but also exclusively Col. 2.10 And ye are compleat in him who is the Head of all principality and powwer Christ is highest Christ is a strong Rock Material Rocks they are strong very strong Job 39.28 It is said of the Eagle the Princess of Birds that she abideth upon the Rock the crag of the Rock and the strong place The Crag of the Rock is the Tooth or Edge of the Rock which is most inaccessible This mystical Rock Christ is strong very strong stronger than Men stronger than Angels Oh says the Soul I am weak and not only weak but also weakness it self and not able to weather another storm But Soul Christ is strong strength it self 1 Sam. 15.29 The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent What is a Goliah in the hands of this David Christ is not only the Power of God but also the God of Power who strengthens against sin and who strengthens unto service Christ the Rock of His strengthens against sin Christ is strong stronger than the strong man armed and can cast him out when he please and where he please 1 Joh. 4.4 Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world Oh says the Soul these Achans within these Goliahs within these Sauls within But what are these to Christ the Rock of His Christ the Rock of His strengthens unto service He strengthens His unto Action and unto Passion unto doing and unto dying but to these distinctly Christ the Rock of His strengthens his unto Action A Little is too much for Vs A◠is but Little to Christ Phil. 4.13 I can do all things is not this a lofty strain but how through Christ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me Christ the Rock of His strengthens his unto Passion Suffering work is noble work bleeding and burning work the noblest work that ever the Sons of Adam were engaged in Saints indeed are inferiour to Angels as to Action but superiour to Angels as to Passion for they are spirits and so impassible Now Christ the Rock of His strengthens His unto Passion as well as Action and unto dying Phil. 1.29 as well as doing It is given unto you in the behalf of Christ not only to believe but also to suffer for his sake Such a Rock Christ is Christ is a firm Rock Material Rocks are firm Rocks flinty Rocks are firm Rocks God speaking of Jacob Deut. 32.13 that is the Sons of Jacob saith He made him suck Honey out of the Rock and Oil out of the flinty Rock Christ the Rock of His is a firm Rock He stood until his hour was come all the combined Furies and Forces of Hell and Earth They sought to take him Joh. 7.30 but no man laid hands on him because his hour was not yet come Christ the Rock of His was firm in Action and in Passion Christ was firm in Action and did well I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Joh. 17.4 Christ was firm in Passion and died well He was obedient to death Phil. 2.8 even the death of the Cross Christ is an ancient Rock Material Rocks may plead Antiquity Exod. 15.5 6. Jehovah said unto Moses I will stand before thee there upon the Rock in Horeb. Rocks were befere Men Dan. 7.22 but Christ was before Rocks He is stiled The Ancient of Days Christ may plead Antiquity in a two-fold respect Generation and Regeneration Christ may plead Antiquity in respect of Generation Christ had a Hand in making the first man Gen. 1.26 Come let us make man Christ may plead Antiquity in respect of Regeration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 2.10 As nothing was done in the first Creation without Christ so nothing was done in the second Creation without Christ We are his workmanship his work so the Greek created in Chrift Jesus unto good works Christ is an accommodating Rock Material Rocks accommodate with Water Deut. 8.15 He brought them forth water out of the Rock of flint Christ the Rock of His accommodates His out of him goeth water living water If thou knewest the gift of God Joh. 4.10 and who it is that saith unto thee give me to drink thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Christ accommodates freely and fully Christ the Rock of His accommodates freely If any one thirst let him come unto me and drink Joh. 7.37 Christ the Rock of His accommodates fully As Ch ist is a free so a full Rock here thou mayest fill thy pitcher up to the very brim If thou comest to Christ thou comest to a Fountain and in a Fountain water for Quantity and Quality is ever the same Rev. 21.6 I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely Here is giving that 's freely and of the Fountain that 's fully Christ is an advantaging Rock Material Rocks they are commodious Job saith Job 28.1 There is a Vein for the Silver and a place for the Gold Gold hath its place hath its Rock Col. 3.11 Christ the Rock of His is very advantagious unto His for he is All and in All. Christ the Rock of His is All between God and Them He hath crossed the Book cancelled the Bond discharged the Debt Heb. 10.14 for ever perfected them that are saustified His Garment is large enough to cover His. Christ the Rock of His is All between Them and God He is concerned with the performance as well as the person and with the Service as well as the Soul Christ is not only All between God and Them in a way of Satisfaction but also All between Them and God in a way of Service He is a merciful Heb. 2.17 and a faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of his people Christ is a secure Rock Material Rocks are secure places Prov. 30.26 Joh. 17.12 Solomon speaks of a feeble Folk yet make they their houses in the Rock Christ the mystical Rock is
at Wisdoms Gates Cant. 7.5 and wait in her Galleries The King is held in the Galleries The King is Christ and these Galleries are those things wherein he takes his Turns The Ordinances of Christ are the Galleries of Christ Christ is not only met there but also had there yea held there Would ye be assured study then a greater conformity to Christ Had Zimri peace who slew his Master Hast thou peace in thy Slips and Trips In the sliding of thy Foot and backsliding of thy Heart A want of conformity interrupts communion The more Grace thou hast the more Peace thou are like to have The more thou art in a way of conformity to Christ the more communion thou art like to have with Christ. Isa 32.17 The fruit of Righteousness shall be peace and the effect of Righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Would ye be assured make Christ then the Object of your Trust and live upon Grace in him He that hath not a Rock to stand upon and a Christ to trust in will be a Magor-Missabib fear round about when buffeting and banishing come when fire and famine come when bleeding and burning come Is not a Horse or a House or a Shop or a man Isa 26.4 a vain thing to trust in Trust ye in Jehovah until Eternity for Jah Jehovah is a Rock unto Eternity And as the Object of your Trust must be Christ so if ye would be assured ye must live upon Grace in him 2 Tim. 2.1 Thou therefore my Son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Would ye be assured converse then those that are assured Christian Conference often prove Christian Comfort Christian courage and Christian confidence 2 Cor. 1. â— Who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them that are in any trouble by the comforts wherewith we our selves are comforted of God Would ye be assured look then to the Spirit for Assurance Look not so upon men and means as to overlook the Spirit Look not so to the Instrment and Institution as to overlook the Spirit Rom. 8.16 The Spirit himself beareth witness together with our spirits that we are the children of God But Quest 6. what motives are there to endeavour this Assurance which is attainable in this Life Would ye not be Staggering at the Promise Sol. 1. Endeavour then through Christ evidence for interest in Christ This was the Character and Commendation of Abraham Rom. 4.20 21. He Staggered not at the Promise through unbelief but was strong in Faith giving Glory to God being fully perswaded that what God had promised he was able to perform Fully perswaded a Metaphor taken from Ships coming into a Port with Top and Top Gallant according to the Dialect of Seamen with all the Sails spread and filled Thus Abraham there seems not a Sail of his Soul but was filled with the Gales and Gusts of Assurance Would ye face Death under the severest Complexion Endeavour through Christ evidence for interest in Christ. 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. It is the assured Soul that will look and laugh Death in the Face Saying and Singing Oh Death where is thy Sting Oh Grave where is thy Victory Would ye be eminently spirited for eminent Service endeavour through Christ evidence for Interest in Christ Will a Coward come under the cutting of the Sword 2 Cor. 32.7 8. the pricking of the Spear the roaring of the Cannon It is the Soul that hath Evidence for Interest in Christ that will face Danger Difficulty Death 2 Chron. 32.7 8. There are more with us than with them for God is with us and for how many will ye reckon Him Would ye be ready and rigged for an Eternity endeavour through Christ evidence for Intrest in Christ. We know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved 2 Cor. 5.1 We have a Building of God an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens Would ye find every bitter Cup sweetned endeavour through Christ evidence for Interest in Christ. Ye may look for the water of Marah for a bitter Cup yea for a Cup of Bitterness for a Cup of Blood but Sights of Christ the Loves of Christ Phil. 1.21 Evidence for Interest in Christ will sweeten all To me to live is Christ and to die is gain Would ye dwell in the Suburbs of Heaven endeavour through Christ Evidence for Interest in Christ Assurance is as it were a Heaven upon Earth To be laid in the Arms lodged in the Bosom and locked up as it were in the Breast of a crucified Christ is Assurance and is not this a Lesser and a Lower Heaven Psa 30.6 a Heaven upon Earth In his Favour is Life yea Lifes so the Hebrew Get now Assurance of another Life after Death for there can be no Assurance of this Life against Death That Assurance is attainable what this Assurance is and why it is attainable unto what this Assurance is attributed together with the Directions and Motives about attaining it have been though weakly discussed which leads to the following Direction DIRECT V. A At actually in Christ Direct 5. Reflect then those things that through Christ may sweeten the Thoughts of Death There is a Beauty even in Death it self to a Soul actually in Christ It is said of a godly man in Death Job 5.26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of Corn cometh in in his season A happy death is the close of temporal happiness and the beginning of eternal A happy death stands between Grace and Glory like the Baptist between the Law and the Gospel and is the connexion or knitting of both A happy death is the Result of a holy Life It is written 1 Sam. 15.35 that Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death Though Saul saw Samuel and Samuel afterward saw Saul accidentally but Samuel went not intentionally to see Saul at lest as formerly to direct 1 Sam. 19.22 23 24. and assist him in the affairs of his Kingdom until the day of his death Thus Soul if thou wilt decline duty if thou wilt not stand upon the pinnacle of duty if thou wilt not steer a right course and sail by a right compass thou mayest lose sight of Christ and see him no more until the day of thy Death yea thou mayest go down to the Grave in sorrow and die in a cloud If therefore thou wouldest sweeten the Thoughts of Death be through Christ in a right Reflection of Death and the Promise of Death and what it is not as to Terror and Trouble of the Promise and what it is as to greatness and preciousness Be through Christ in a right Reflection of Death and what it is not as to Terrour and Trouble I am now writing of a person actually in Christ and of the first Death Now there is no Terror
and Trouble in this Death to this person for these Reasons Because this Death is stingless to this person Reas 1. Oh Death where is thy sting If Death hath no sting then it hath much honey for this person Christ Jesus Judg. 18.8 9. the true Sampson hath slain this Lion and brought a honey-comb out of the carkass to this person Christ hath been the Death of Death for this person and why should that have Terror in it which hath no Life in it We say the living Lion is not so terrible as he is painted what terror then is there in a dead or in a painted Lion Because this Death cannot break the Bond of the Covenant between God and this person Though the House of this person be not so with God 2 Sam. 25.5 though the Head of this person be not so to study for God though the Hand of this person be not so to work for God though the Heart of this person be not so to lodge a God and though the Foot of this person be not so to run to a God and for a God yet he hath made with him an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure The Covenant of God Mat. 22.32 is with this person though he dies I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob They were dead when God spake this Exod. 3.6 Now saith Christ there God is not the God of the dead but of the living All are alive to him even the dead are alive to him As their Souls are alive to him so their Bodies are as living Bodies to him though rotting in their graves he owns them as much as when flourishing in stately Structures The Relation of God to Abraham Isaac and Jacob was as strong when they were dead as when they were alive Because this Death is called a Sleep to this person What Terror is there in Sleep What Trouble in going to Bed weep not saith Christ concerning the Maid Luk. 8.52 she is not dead but sleepeth It was Christ also that said Our Friend Lazarus sleepeth Joh. 11.11 but I go that I may awake him out of sleep Now sleep is sweet especially the sleep of a labouring Man Because this Death is called a going or gathering to Fathers for this Person Thus Abraham died and was gathered unto his People Gen. 25.8 Thus Jacob also died and was gathered unto his People Gen. 49.33 But as Death is a going and a gathering to our earthly Fathers so it is a going to our God and a gathering to our Heavenly Father Because this Death is called a Rest to this Person As sleep is a short Death so Death is a long sleep And as Death is a sleep so it is a Rest We usually say when a Man goes to sleep he goes to Rest yet Rest is more than sleep for sometimes a man sleeps when he doth not Rest Job 3.13 his very sleep being troubled and he troubled in his sleep but when Rest is joyned with sleep it is perfect sleep Job cursing his Conception and Production saith Now should I have lien still and been quiet Isa 52.7 I should have slept then had I been at rest This Life is a Day of working and Death is a Night of resting Hence the Grave is called a Bed The righteous shall enter into Peace they shall rest in their Beds When the righteous man dies or is taken away he is but gone to Bed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dormitorium We therefore call those places where the dead are laid up and buried Dormitories or sleeping places Both the Greek and Latin words meet in this Signification There is a four-fold Rest Obtained by Death A Rest from Labour and Travel Eccl. 9.10 There is no workring in the Grave There is no work nor device nor Knowledg nor Wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest A Rest from Trouble and Oppression No Wars no bloody Battles in the Grave What is said of Babylon may be said of the Grave Isa 14.4 How hath the Oppressor ceased A Rest from passion No Sorrow no Grief in the Grave There the wicked cease from troubling Job 3.17 and there the weary be at Rest. A Rest form Sin This is the last but this is the best There is in the Grave no Law of the Members warring against the Law of the Mind He Rom. 7.23 that is dead is freed from Sin Because this Death cannot break the Vnion between Christ and this Person Christ and those that are Christs are one That they may be one Joh. 17.21 22 23. as thou Father art in Me and I in Thee that they also may be one in us That they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one Though Death may break the Vnion between the Soul and the Body yet it cannot break the Vnion between the Soul and Christ For as when Christ died Death did not break that hypostatical Vnion between the Divine and the Humane Nature though Death disunited the Soul and the Body of Christ yet it did not disunite God and Man in Christ So though Death triumph over the natural Union of the Soul and Body it can never break the mystical Union between Christ and the Soul The Vnion between Christ God-man and those actually His is inviolable this Vnion out-lives Death Be through Christ in a right Reflection of the promise in respect of the greatness and preciousness of it Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1.4 Exceeding great greatest so the Greek In which pure and precious Text and Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye have something implied and something expressed 1. Implied This is the Giver and this is Christ. As he is the great promise so he is the great Giver of the premise As he is the great Gift so he is the great Giver Given 2. Expressed Now herein ye have 1. The Gift Promises These are great things they are the Churches Stock they are a Believers Patrimony 2. A Description of these Promises 1. By their greatness exceeding great or greatest 2. By their preciousness And precious Given exceeding great and precious promises 3. The persons concerned in these exceeding great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1.1 Vs Given unto us But who were these They were those that had obtained precious Faith 4. The Medium through which were given these greatest and precious promises whereby Through the power of God and Christ in the Dispensation of the Gospel Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises That is saith one Gifts spiritual and eternal of old promised by the Prophets Gerrard The promises are divine conveyances of Consolation they are the Veins of Christ whereby his Blood is carried into all his Body The promises run with the sweetest stream◠when Satan rages with
As God is faithful who hath promised so God hath laid his faithfulness under promise I will not suffer my faithfulness to fail or lie His Counsel As God hath laid his Spirit and Gâ—odness Consilium malum Consultori pessimum and Faithfulness so his Counsel under promise Counsel is the Spirit and Quintessence of Reason Reason drops out and distills it self into Counsel It is an old Adage or Proverb That bad Counsel is worst to the Counsellor Princes formerly used to have learned men about them whom they called Remembrancers Themistocles had his Anaxagoras Alexander his Aristotle Scipio his Panaetius and Polybius but David in all his straights asked counsel of the Lord Psal 119.24 and consulted him as his Oracle Thy Testimonies also are my delight and my Counsellors or the Men of my Counsel The Orator said Men of Counsel are to a Commonwealth Margent as the Mind Reason or Vnderstanding is to any particular man Young mens Counsels Cicero Descriptio are very dangerous Jeroboam lost ten Tribes by following them Counsel is good Advice given and ought to be taken about things to be done The Grecians in matters of great importance did resort in respect of Counsel to the Temple of Apollo Ex. 18.26 The small matters were judged by the Heads of the People but the hard Causes were brought unto Moses God did speak by a Mâ—ses but now he speaks by a Messiah Heb. 1.2 whom he hath appointed Heir of all things Of old also they enquired of Abel 2 Sam. 20.18 They plainly spake in the beginning saying Surely they will ask of Abel and so make an end Abel was a City the Inhabitants thereof in former times being reputed just and pâ—udent were in affairs of weight resorted unto for Counsel whence it grew into a Proverb That they who needed Advice should ask at Abel Others think that this City-Matron puts Joab in mind of the old Law which commanded Deut. 20.10 11. that a City should be summoned before besieged and a Cessation of Arms upon embracing Conditions of Peace But to a Christ should the Soul now go for counsel and him should the Soul now consult as an Oracle who infallibly thus speaks Counsel is mine Prov. 8.14 Luk. 12.10 11 12 and sound wisdom I am understanding I have strength The highest and the holiest counsel is laid and left under promise When they bring you unto Synagogues Magistrates and Powers take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer or what ye shall say for the holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say His Conduct As God hath laid his Counsel so his Conduct under promise He shall feed his flock like a shepherd There is feeding but is there all no Isa 40.11 He shall gather the Lambs with his Arm There is gathering but is here all no He shall carry them in his Bosom There is carrying but is here all no there is leading also and that gently those with young or that give suck Oh saith the Soul the way to Hell is so much beaten and the way to Heaven is so little beaten that I know not how to go without leading Oh saith another the way to Hell is down-hill but the way to Heaven is up-hill that I know not how to go without leading But Soul leading is laid and left under promise I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not Isa 42.16 I will lead them in paths that they have not known Himself God hath laid himself under promise Ye shall be my people Ezek. 36.28 and I will be your God Who is able to say what God is One being asked what God was answered He must be a God that can give a Solution to this Question Now God Himself hath laid Himself under promise 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty Thus there are four things recorded and transmitted to Posterity in the preciousness of them There is a precious Soul As the Redemption of the Soul is precious so the Soul that is redeemed is precious The precious sons of Sion comparable to fine gold Lam. 4.2 how are they esteemed as earthen Pitchers the work of the hands of the Potter These are precious in the eyes of God but vile in the eyes of the world There is precious Faith Faith is a precious Plant an outlandish Plant a Plant of God's own planting and of a divine Extract Faith is not a Native but a Donative it is Heaven-born and not a Slip growing in our own Garden 2 Pet. 1.1 To all that have obtained like precious faith There is a precious Christ Pearls are precious Christ is a Pearl yea the Pearl the Pearl of great price of greatest price It would puzzle and pose Lam entius not onely all the Saints but also all the Angels to bring in the worth and the weight of this Pearl He can never dye a Bankrupt worse than nothing nor a Beggar worth nothing that hath this Pearl 1 Pet. 2.7 Vnto you therefore which believe he is precious Or Honor Greek One thinks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Abstract is put for the Concrete Honor for honorable and precious There is a precious Promise Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises 2 Pet. 1.4 So that here is a precious Saint thorough precious Faith closing with a precious Christ in a precious Promise DIRECT VI. ART actually in Christ Direct 6. Drink then of the Brook by the way and lift up thy head Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord Rev. 14.13 yea from henceforth saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them In this Bundle of Myrrhe in this Text and Truth so sweetly-sweet there is the Subject and the Predicate The Subject This is Blessing Blessed The word seems to signifie greatly blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and happy The Predicate Now this is referrible to two Heads the Pronunciation of it and the Amplification of it The Pronunciation of it Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord yea from hencesorth saith the Spirit Wherein there are these things The Persons The Dead The without Heart so the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primum vivens ultimum morienâ— Arist for as Life beginneth so Death endeth in the Heart One therefore calls the Heart the first living and the last dying The Dead blessed are the Dead or the without Heart A Description of these Persons which dye in the Lord. In Christ Jesus the Lord in the Faith of Christ Jesus the Lord. Which dye in the Lord or for the Lord for the Lord Jesus for the sake of the Lord Jesus so Beza and Mede that pass thorough a violent death that suffer death for Christ and
love of the Brethren for whom my life in the flesh is necessary I am in a strait having a desire a vehement earnest and continued desire Having a desire to depart to dye and to be with Christ Death of it self should not be desired because this desire crosseth nature the grand desire to dye should not be to be out of the world but to be with Christ which may confute the error of those who dream that the Soul separated from the Body does sleep Which is far better It is very significant in the Original far much better or much more better Art actually in Christ Cordial II. Triumph then for Death will strip thee of thy Rags of Mortality Queen Esther appears before King Ahasuerus in her Royal Apparel If Joshuah appears before an Angel he must have change of rayment Could not he appear before an Angel in his own Rags How then shall a Soul appear before God without Christ's Robes There is no appearing before God in the Rags of Mortality nor in the Rags of Morality Self-righteousness is a Rag yea a menstruous Cloth Morality is but old Adam in another Dress Phi. 3.7 8 9. What things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod canibus exponitur and do count them but dung Dogs-meat so the Greek that I may win Christ And be found in him in him here and in him hereafter not having mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is thorough the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith Death is a putting off the Rags of Mortality and Morality that the Soul may be decked and diessed with the Robes of Glory Art actually in Christ Cordial III. Triumph also whether living or dying thou art Christs Blessed are they that live in the Lord and blessed are they that dye in the Lord. There are many that live not in the Lord and dye not in the Lord that living and dying are not the Lords but while thou livest and when thou dyest thou art the Lords for thou art Christs Rom. 14.7 8. None of us liveth to himself and no man dyeth to himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we dye we dye unto the Lord whether we live therefore or dye we are the Lords Now to have a Christ in Life and a Christ at Death is not this a comfortable Cordial Art the Lords in Life and the Lords at Death Go then from a Reflection of this Truth as Hannah did from Eli and let thy countenance be no more sad at the thoughts of Death Do men say the Nations are angry they are consulting conspiring and confederating against Christ and those that are Christs and thou mayst go bleeding out of the world or burning out of the world true saith the Soul but Christ is mine while I live and will be mine when I dye Does Conscience say Winter is coming a Storm is at Hand we may be near a showre of blood the winds are like to rise and be prodigious the waves are like to roar and be impetuous true saith the Soul but Christ is mine while I live and will be mine when I dye Does Satan say thy Life is uncertain and thy Death is certain Man is mortal and not a match for Death true saith the Soul but whether I live or dye I am the Lords It is said in the Life and Death of a worthy Minister Mr. Jessey That he passed unto Glory triumphing rejoycing under the very stroke of Death Art actually in Christ Cordial IV. Triumph also for Death will arrive and anchor thee in a desirable and delectable Harbor and Haven Ah poor Soul it may be thou hast as it were been at Sea ever since thy new Birth thy second Birth and hast met with winds and waves there with storms and tempests there it may be thou hast been without Sun-light there without Moon-light there yea without Star-light there but when Death arrests thy Body it will arrive thy Soul at a desirable and delectable Harbor and Haven yea at a Harbor and Haven of desire and delight The Navigator meets with hard things at Sea there is often nothing but difficulty in view danger in view yea Death in view but he forgets these when he comes within sight of the Harbor within sight of the Haven But Soul what Harbor like unto Heaven what Haven like unto Heaven when thou art landed at this Port at this Paradise thou wilt then forget thy Tryals and Troubles and Travels thy Sicknesses and Solitudes and Sufferings Luk. 23.43 And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise This Text is like a bundle of myrrh and being so sweetly-sweet I shall touch upon the Meditations flowing from it That unto the worst hath Christ shewed mercy at last Meditat. Thou Thee Verily I say unto Thee Thou This man had been very bad for he had been a Thief and Theft is a great Sin for it is the breach of the great Command of the greatest God This man had sinned and this man was to suffer for his sin yea to suffer death for his sin and yet Christ had mercy upon him Though this man had lived to his last day and possibly to a little part of that day yet Christ said unto him To day It is very emphatical Mat. 20.9 To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The Saviour promiseth more than the Sinner asketh He that came into the Vineyard at the eleventh hour had his penny had his pay That Christ was God manifested in the flesh Shalt Thou shalt This Text and Truth prove the Deity and Divinity of Christ Thou shalt Had not Christ been God he would not have spoken thus and had not Christ been God he could not have thus spoken 1 Tim. 3.16 Thou shalt Great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh That words of Assurance are Christ's words No Soul hath a word of Assurance for Heaven until Christ speaks it John 6.63 68. The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life To day shalt thou be If Christ be a Mute the Soul is in doubt I that speak unto thee am he If Christ be a Mute the Soul is in a maze If Christ be silent the Soul is sad A word of Assurance is from Christ Whither should we ge but unto thee thou hast the words of eternal life No voice but the voice of Christ will still the voice of Desperation If the Soul be comforted Isa 51.12 and assured Christ must be the Text and the Preacher too I even I am he that comforteth thee Not I with another not I or
another but I and no other That Paradise is under promise for Converts Thou shalt be in Paradise Glory is entailed upon Grace Happiness is entailed upon Holiness and the Crown is appointed for the Converts Head Thou That this person was convinced appears in the Context Luke 23.40 41 42 Doest not thou fear God seeing thou art in the same condemnation And we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds but this man hath done nothing amiss And he said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom That this person also was converted appears in the Text or Christ would not have laid Paradise under promise 1 Cor. 6.9 for Paradise is for none but Converts of his own making Thou shalt be in Paradise The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God The unrighteous as unrighteous and in a state of unrighteousness Mat. 18.3 shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not not so the Greek enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Persons must be converted as well as convinced and changed as well as called or they cannot be passed thorough the Gates into the City Ye shall not not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Not not two Negatives strengthen an Affirmative That which makes Paradise a Paradise indeed is to be with Christ there With me Thou shalt be with me in Paradise What would a Paradise be without Christ What would Heaven be though Angels be there and the Spirits of just men made perfect be there if Christ were not there Whom have I in Heaven but thee As if the Psalmist had said Heaven would not be a Heaven to me were it not for thee Christ's being with the Soul here makes a Heaven here and the Souls being with Christ hereafter makes a Heaven hereafter Would not Heaven be a Baca a valley of tears A Bochim a house of mourning if the Soul were not to find Christ there John 14.1 2 3. Let not your hearts be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me in my Fathers house are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also That the Soul of a Convert is a Blossom of Eternity and hath a Stamp of Immortality As the Mortality of the Body so the Immortality of the Soul is legible in this Text and Truth Thou shalt be with me and that in Paradise Though thy Body dye yet thy Soul shall live yea live with me Fear not them which kill the Body Mat. 10.28 but are not able to kill the Soul Though the Body dyes the Soul lives That when Time goes into Eternity then the Converts Soul shall go into Glory To day Thou art upon earth to day and thou shalt be in Heaven to day Thy Body is upon a piece of timber this morning but thy Soul shall be in a place of Triumph before night To day To be in Paradise is much but to day to be there is more The time accents the mercy For Christ to speak in the Future Tense to a graceless Soul is not so amazing and amusing as for Christ to speak in the Present Tense For Christ to say He that believeth not shall be damned is sad but to say Thou Fool this night shall thy Soul be required of thee this is sadder For Christ to say He that believeth shall have everlasting life is much but for Christ to say To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise is much more Though thou hast been sinning to this day yet after this day thou shalt never more sin All persons are bound for Hell or for Heaven for there is no Purgatory but what is in the foolish fancy of the blind and bloody of the barbarous and butchering Papists This cruel Crew cast all men into three Ranks Some are Apostles and Martyrs persons eminently godly these they say go immediately to Heaven Some are Apostates and Persecuters of the Faith these they say go immediately to Hell There is a middle sort of ordinary sinners that immediately after death go neither to Heaven nor to Hell but to Purgatory where they say they must bear the punishment of their sins until they be prayed out Luk. 16.22 23. But all Souls are bound for Heaven or Hell The poor man dying arrived at Heaven the rich man dying arrived at Hell The Soul of this Convert was to be where the Soul of Christ was to be and did not his Soul go into Glory Ought not Christ to have suffered these things Luk. 24.26 and to enter into his Glory Was not the Soul of this Convert in Heaven before his Body was in the Grave Stephen dyed in this Faith that the Soul of a Convert goes into Glory when his Time goes into Eternity or he would not have prayed Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit They stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Art actually in Christ Cordial V. Triumph also for Death will grave and that at once all thy Cares and Snares all thy Fears and Tears all thy Temptations and Tribulations Art actually in Christ Death then will grave all thy Cares Martha was careful and troubled about many things As it is said Luk. 10.40 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 10.41 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She was cumbred about much serving cumbred The Greek word to cumber or be cumbred signifies to be drawn or wried round and round about so it is said Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things Martha Martha she is named twice and the name signifieth Bitter as if Christ had said Bitter Bitter 1. Bitter to her self in making her self a Drudge and neglecting the Word 2. To her Sister in chiding and accusing her Thou art careful The word signifies excessive and sinful Care 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Solicitude And troubled The word seems to signifie anxiously to be wreathed with the difficulty of a thing to be accomplished Martha was excessively and forbiddenly careful and thoughtful yea anxiously wreathed she had too much Care and Trouble when she was upon earth but she hath no care upon her now she is in Heaven Is not this the cry here Bread for the day Bread by the way Is not this the Cry here Bread for me and Bread for mine A little meal in my Barrel Eccl. 9.10 and a little Oil in my Cruse Oh says the Widow I am going to bake this Cake for me and my Son and then to dye But now Soul Death will grave all thy Cares for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest This life is a day of working but death is a night of resting This life is
was a time of great Debauchery when it is said Will ye steal murder commit Adultery Jer. 7.9 10. swear falsly burn incense unto Baal and walk after other gods whom ye knew not And come and stand before me in this house whereupon my Name is called and say We are delivered to do these abominations Was it so then it is so now Is it not then a time of need and do not those who are Christs stand in need of fresh and full supply from the God of Grace of the Grace of God The reason is evident for as these are to be good at all times in all places and among all persons so they are to be best in the worst of times in the worst of places and with the worst of persons A time of Tribulation is a time of Need. Christ was not without the Cross and shall the Church be the Christian be The Messiah was not without the Cross and shall the Minister be the Member be Ought not Christ to have suffered these things Luke 24.26 and to enter into his Glory Shall not the Soldier go where the Captain goes but this way the Captain went Heb. 2.10 The Captain of their salvation made perfect thorough suffering Did Christ suffer and not sin Shall we sin and not suffer Acts 14.22 We must thorough much Tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God The wilderness is the way to Canaan the Cross is the way to the Crown I John Rev. 1.9 who also am your Brother and Companion in Tribulation Is not this also a time of Need and do not those who are Christs stand in need of supply from the God of Grace of the Grace of God A time of Temptation is a time of Need. God had one and but one Son without sin and yet this Son was not without Temptation Mat. 4.1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Christ was made like unto man that he might be tempted and man is tempted that he may be made like unto Christ Our whole Life saith One is but a Temptation Augustine There is no Christian without Temptation Saul gave Michal to David but to what end That she might be a snare unto him and that the hands of the Philistines might be upon him Now Temptations are from without or within From without Thus sometimes from Satan they are Eve was not long in the Garden before she was laid under Temptation Gen. 3.13 The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat And sometimes from Fellow-Creatures Thus Joseph's Mistress tempted him unto whom he said How can I do this great wickedness Gen. 39.9 and sin against God From within A man is then tempted when he is drawn away of his own hearts lust Jam. 1.14 and enticed Temptations could never hurt us if Corruptions did not join issue Were there not in us tinder as there is in Satan fire were not the heart the Mother of Corruption as Satan is the Father of Temptation how insignificant would his sollicitations and suggestions be But where is the Garden without weeds where is the Gold without dross where is the House that is without rubbish where is the Heart that is without leaven where is the Man or the Woman that is without sin Is not a time of Temptation then a time of need and do not those who are Christs stand in need of supply from the God of Grace of the Grace of God A time of Declension is a time of Need. The Prophet saith Mic. 3.6 Night shall be unto you from a vision and it shall be dark unto you from divining and the Sun shall go down over the Prophets and the day shall be dark over them Was it so and is it not so Is not the Sun greatly gone down over the People and the Prophets too Over Members and Ministers too Where is that zeal for God and his Glory that formerly was in thee and in me Is there that affection Jer. 2.2 and action that care and conscience now in thee and in me as was in the day of our first espousals Is there now that desire and delight that frequency and fervency in duty that was in thee Rev. 2.4 and in me under our first conversions But I against thee so the Greek because thou hast left thy first Love Where is that curious and critical observance of the Lord's Day and of the Lords Commands that formerly was in thee and in me Oh that it were with thee and with me as it formerly was when that discourse was a lost discourse if we did not speak of a Christ and that Duty a lost Duty if we did not speak with a Christ Is there a decaying and declining in Grace and Gifts Certainly then it is a time of need and those who are Christs stand now in need of fresh and full supplies from the God of Grace of the Grace of God A time of Death is a time of Need. All things make to their center Man Gen. 3.19 makes to his center every moment Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return Death is the way of all men the way of all flesh the way of all the world Your Fathers Zech. 1.5 where are they and the Prophets do they live for ever we know not what it is to shoot this Gulf when many come in sight of it they cry out Lord we cannot dye Lord we will not dye Lord we dare not dye Is not then a time of Death a time of Need and do not those who are Christs then stand in need of supply from the God of Grace of the Grace of God A time of Danger is a time of Need. Are there not wrought as it were so many miracles as we are preserved moments Ah! how obnoxious to contagion of Soul and Body and how obnoxious to casuaity of Body and Basket hath Sin left us 1 Cor. 15.30 Why stand we in jeopardy every hour These days look like the last days and in the last days perilous times shall come The Apostle gives us a Narrative of his dangers In perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of mine own countrey-men 2 Cor. 11.26 in perils of the heathen in perils in the city in perils in the wilderness in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren Now Soul art in danger at Sea in danger at Land in danger of Soul and Substance in danger of Body and Basket then this time of Danger is a time of Need and those who are Christs stand now in need of supply from the God of Grace of the Grace of God A time of Dissertion is a time of Need. Dissertion is the lowest dreg of a Christians cup. To lose sight of Christ who is so taking a Beauty is a loss indeed For we are in the wilderness and have at most but a pisgah-sight of the Holy-land It was not enough to
shall desire The Mother therefore and the Sons joined together in this work But what follows Grant that these my two Sons may sit the one at thy right hand and the other at thy left in thy Kingdom She might mean his kingdom on Earth To sit on the King 's right hand signifies the next place to the King and to sit on his left hand signifieth the third place in the Kingdom for the greater any one is in a Kingdom the nearer doth he sit to the King But Jesus answered and said Ye know not what ye ask The like Check he gives to James and John Luke 9.54 55. Shal we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them as Elias did But Christ rebuked them saying Ye know not of what spirits ye are Ye know not what Spirit acts you Ye think ye are acted by such a Spirit as Elias of old but ye erre Ye have a zeal but not according to knowledge This is not a divine motion 't is at most and at best but a humane Affection Our desires are unlawful if we do not desire things that are lawful In order therefore to the constituting of Desire that it may be right we must desire things that are lawful Cordial desires are working desires Endeavour is added unto Desire There must be Works as well as Words and doing as well as desiring True Endeavour is ever a Concomitant of true Desire The man that had been infirm thirty and eight years John 5.5 6 7 8. could not goe into the Pool but he could lay at the Pool yea did lay at the Pool Though he could not cure himself yet he could wait there to be cured and was cured in waiting there He that is nothing but Desires shall have nothing that he desires but he that addeth good Endeavours unto good Desires can ask nothing that is good if for his good but he may have it There must not onely be desiring but also doing or they are not desires from the heart and will not be granted Psal 27.4 Lend an ear unto what the Psalmist speaketh One thing have I desired of the Lord One thing among many things one thing above many things One thing have I desired of the Lord Here is desiring but is here all No here is doing as well as desiring here is seeking as well as desiring One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after But what is it That I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life It seems that a great Estimate was set upon Church-communion then though there be too little Veneration for this now Here he would dwell 'till he died here he would dwell 'till he had upon earth no longer to dwell But what was in his Eye Were not Loaves No was it not a Name amongst Men No Two things were in his eye and should be in thine too in mine too greater sight and greater light Greater sight to behold the beauty of Jehovah i. e. to behold the face of Jehovah for Beauty sits in the face and the face is the Seat of Beauty And as greater sight so greater light to enquire in his Temple Cordial desires are constant desires Jehu was soon out of Breath Ye did run well who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth Gal. 5.7 The desires of an Hypocrite are not desires from the heart for he looks one way and rows another pretends one thing and intends another he hath Jacobs voice and Esau's hands You must do by an Hypocrite as we do by Hebrew read it backward An Hypocrite must be read backward The Desires of an Hypocrite are by Fits and Starts therefore not cordial desires but now cordial desires are constant desires they will captivate denyal The Begger at the gate knocks and continues knocking he takes no denyal Thus the Woman of Canaan cryed unto Christ Mat. 25.22 23. but Christ answered her not a word Christ was a Mute and yet she cryed For the Disciples said send her away she cryeth after us Christ answered I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel He seemed before to neglect her but here he seemeth to deny her She cries still Lord help me As her Daughter was her own so her Daughters case was as her own Lord help me She meets now with another repulse It is not meet to take the Childrens bread and to cast it to Dogs Was not here enough to seal up her lips As Christ was a Mute at first is not She a Mute at last No but she answers by an ingenious inversion Truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their Masters Table If I be a Dog I am thy Dog Crumbs belong to Dogs give me therefore the portion of a Dog She had indeed this property of a dog to hold fast If I be a Dog indulge me the place and portion of a Dog let me have the Room of a Dog and the Fare of a Dog Christ now if I may write it with a holy reverence is as it were in a holy captivity to her cordial and constant desire This appears by what follows Oh Wonan great is thy Faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt And her daughter was made whole from that very hour Cordial desires are holy desires If the Heart be at work then Holiness is in the Eye Though perfection be not in a Christians hand yet 't is in a Christians eye the beat bent and byass of his Soul is after perfection That is a desire from the heart 2 Cor. 7.1 which is a desire to be perfecting holiness 'till the Soul be perfectly holy and perfect in heliness When desires are from the heart they are desires after more holiness after more grace The Disciples said unto the Lord Luk. 17.5 Increase our faith Those who had most grace desired more grace When the Desire is from the Heart 't is a Desire more for Grace than for Peace more for Conformity than for Communion more for Holiness than for Happiness more for Purity and Perfection than for Pleasure and for Pardon Phil. 1.23 May the Apostle speak I am in a strait between two having a desire to depart to die and to be with Christ which is far far better or which is best of all I cannot think that this holy and happy Man desired only to be perfectly happy but also to be perfectly holy I cannot think that he only desired Death for full Communion with Christ but also for full Conformity unto Christ I cannot think that he only desired a death to come upon the life of his Body but also a death to come upon the Sin of his Soul Cordial desires are hard desires Desires from the Heart and the Desires of the Heart are not weak and feeble but hard and strong desires As the Cry of a Christ was so the cry of a Christian is but the
shall dye in your sins except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish If ye come not to me and close not with me upon Gospel-terms ye will live in your wounds and lie in your wounds and die in your wounds and be damned for your wounds How freely did Christ deal with the woman John 4.16 17 18. He said unto her Go call thy Husband and come hither The woman answered and said I have no Husband Jesus answered and said unto her Thou hast well said I have no Husband for thou hast had five Husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thy Husband in that didst thou say truly A good Physician must also have a Ladies hand A Physician must use the Patient gently and carry it towards the Patient tenderly Herein Christ also is incomparably qualified How tenderly did Christ carry it towards the Adulteress Woman not Adulteress John 8.10 11. Woman not Harlot Woman not Whore Woman Where are those thine Accusers Hath no man condemned thee She said No man Lord. And Jesus said unto her Neither do I condemn thee Go and sin no more Art actually in Christ Cordial XI M. Knox. In Adamo primo potuimus non mori in Adamo secundo non possimus mori Be joyous at last for the death of Him is the death of death unto His. Blessed saith one is their death who have part in the death of Jesus In Adam the first there was a possibility of living in Adam the second there is an impossibility of dying I have read of One who pretended that he had a Salve for every Sore a Medicine for every Malady and could cure all diseases but death Death the Mistress of Mortals was such a disease that he could not cure Death the Emperess of the Vniverse was such a disease that he could not cure But now the death of Christ will make a cure of death it will make a cure of a twofold death of the first and the second death The death of Christ disarms the first death Oh Death where is thy sting Oh Grave 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. where is thy victory The sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be to God that giveth us the victory thorough our Lord Jesus Christ The death of Christ is the death of this death unto a person actually in Christ it is to Him a stingless death it is to Him not a Foe but a Friend this person may look this death in the face and laugh Oh Death where is thy sting As if an honest man being set upon by an High-way man should disarm him and then say Where is thy Sword now Where is thy Pistol now The death of Christ prevents the second death Oh! what is the first to the second death The second death is eternal death Rev. 2.11 Who can dwell with devouring fire who can dwell with everlasting burnings Now those actually in Christ and overcoming thorough Christ shall not be hurt of the second death He or She that overcometh shall not not so the Greek be hurt of the second death But Soul art actually in Christ that thy Soul then may be filled with joy and peace like the water-pots of Galilee up to the very brim thorough believing be in a reflection of these two concluding words Art actually in Christ Then He will be thy Guide unto death For this God is our God but how long until Sin rise or Satan rage until there be a sliding foot or a backsliding heart until I be a Captive to Temptation without or Corruption within and I fear no longer mark the words For this God is our God for ever Psal 48.14 and ever he will be our Guide even unto death Art actually in Christ Then He will be thy Guide thorough death Luk. 23.43 To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Was Socrates glad when his death approached because as he thought he should go to Homer Hesiod and other learned men whom he thought he should meet with in the other world How much more should they who live and dye in a Christ be filled with joy and peace that they shall go unto God and Christ that they shall go unto Angels and Apostles Drink now of the Brook by the way and lift up thy head for the death of Christ is the death of death Haec tria perpetuò meditare Adverbia Pauli Tit. 2.11 12. Haec tria sint Vitae regula sancta tuae HALE-LU-JAH POEMA MORTUALE OR AN ELEGY UPON DEATH THE LAW of NATURE AND TRIBUTE of MORTALS By R. M. No Poet nor the Son of a Poet. Dust Bodies are and unto Dust return Souls locked are not in a sable URN In Christo vixi morior vivamque perennè Gratia Christe mihi Gloria Christe Tibi Anno Praedicto 1679. I. The Prologue The Vale of the Author to the Reader AS with Hortensius 't is not with Me Unapt to write but apt to speak was He Nor do I with ALBERICUS compare Unapt to speak but apt to write his share For words or works their Genius rarely lay But haltingly do I go either way Death subject is a Cup full to the Brim An Ocean where Elephants may swim In POETRY I 'm learning but to spell Are Deeps exhausted with a Muscle-shell One was a Mute wise Cato being there Give fancy Vent Du-Bartas was not here This Poem now takes air our mortal Fate As to CONDOLE so to Congratulate Dost live to dye this shews a doleful state Dost dye to live this Dolour antiquate Is Truth the White let that Man never speed Who from the Issue censures of the Deed. Man may attempt all Men to please as soon As He that made a Vestment for the Moon To suit each interchange ah jugling Ape Dayes scarcely two She keepeth in a Shape Prose Poems too meet with a critick woùnd Some Faults will find besides Faults to be found Wing Momus then this Book is not for Thee And Zoilus take thy Flight as far as He. Art Notional 't was no Prophetick Brain Art Critical 't is no Poetick Strain But art Celestial here lies the STRESS Most lovely Truth shews in her native Dress Now Reader take taste eat but also wish 'T is Lordly Fare though in an earthen Dish II. The Description PAle Death the Subject is but what is Death From lifened dust but a departed Breath But is not Death so worthy Meditation An Essence No nor Substance but Privation There Beings are but Death no Being have No Creature 't is for Creatures 't is a Grave Death 's but a Fall which by a Fall invaded This Microcosm whereby he was degraded Some Persens are for Debts in PRISON laid This Debt pays Man though Man be left unpaid Man mortal is this Microcosmus must Strike Sail to Death and graved be in dust Life 's but a breathing Death a Tale that 's told He doth but live that liveth to be old A Vapor is man's
Remedies for all Diseases found But Death He dyes and dying did assure No Drug or Dose of Death could make a Cure Let Nature now most fortifie that can Health's highest sphere a Crisis proves to Man One way to come into the World had all But to go out a thousand and to fall A Nail kills Sisera but by a Stone Goliah falls for he would stand alone This Giant now meets with a mortal Blow Right goes an Arrow out of Heavens Bow One wound Goliah kills but twenty three Great Caesar had and then departed he Strong Samson enters now of whom 't is said He Rubbish made and under Rubbish laid Thus Men and Means disputing Con and Pro Do act their Parts and off the Stage do go III. Of Honour and Policy CAN Honour No the tallest Pines are shaken By smallest winds and may not this awaken Sure footing Soul hath not Magnificence This may be in the Preterperfect Tense This Bucket-like now up now down is She But down the mot'on swiftest seems to me Could I prefer such have Preferment should Not that would Places but that Places would All worldly Grandeur in the Dust is laid As Caesar took so Caesar Tribute paid Thus ROMAN Honour passeth as a Blast Though Pompey slew slain Pompey was at last High Haman staged is making uproar Next to the King does now this Abject soar As to Design in Jewish blood he wallows As to Desert ascendeth He the Gallows CAN Policy No MAZIRINI may Strike Sail to Death and go this common way Ah where 's Pythagoras with prudent Cato Where 's Seneca with Socrates and Plato Where 's Cicero with Athen's Legislators And where 's Apollo with the Commentators But where is that admired Aristotle Yet Euripus would not into his Bottle So often ebb and flow this Deep that He Unsatisfied would the Bottom see But where 's Achitophel accursed may Such Policy be to the latter Day An ORACLE was He within his Age But hangs himself and falleth off the Stage Where 's Solomon more wise than any other That côuld detect the true from feigned Mother Ah turbid Death He was a mortal Sage And being mortal goeth off the STAGE IV. Of Wealth CAN Riches No or Truth is made a Lye But Wealth 's a gilded lying VANITY The World saith One to Man is God's Epistle But often proves to Man a vexing Thistle The World 's a Labyrinth my Soul beware And Michal-like is given as a Snare Ah bitter-sweet and that but for an hour Sweet is the Promise but the Payment sowre The World 's a Cheat the things thereof decay And Laban-like for Rachel Leah pay A Syrens Song and unto Whoredom pander Which causeth many Dinah-like to wander Ah England mourn and grow into a Passion The Spanish Mode is now an English Fashion Most vainly Mortals worldly things aspire These are not Food but Fewel to Desire Shall Hearts be set on that where onely Feet Should standing be hence bearing but a Sheet Job staged is and not for Wealth the least But greater than the greatest of the East His Substance winged is the Blow was such But Jah Jehovah gives him twice as much No Object for the Eye is Wealth and can This Object be unto the Heart of Man But worldly Men make for themselves a Rod Below a Soul is all below a GOD. Where 's Crassus Croesus Crates Aristippus Or Cyrus Xerzes Dives and Philippus Left by the World are they where living find them And dying they do leave the World behind them Where 's He that had so vast a Territory Who Ruler was according to the Story Of Provinces an Hundred twenty seven The Man is dead and gone to Hell or Heaven V. Of Fortitude CAn Fortitude This Mortals rarely deck A rare but rich Gem 't is about the neck Of Potentates refute it if ye can Son unto Caesar Valor makes a Man Great Alexander would immortal be Unwounded wounded mortal proved he Where 's little David yet hath little Fear Who killed both the Lyon and the Bear Philistine-foreskins hanged up may be As signal Trophies for a Saul to see Yea Gath-Goliah dreadful in his motion Had native Blood prescribed for a Potion Ah but he dyes as Scripture hath averred And in the Royal City was interred Stout Hannibal Rome's Terror where is He Or those stout Scipio's that would not flee Where 's Saladine that Oriental Victor Or where should I dig for puissant Hector Huniades doth next ascend the STAGE Who all his Race did war with Turcists wage In Battels many stoutly he engage And thorough Valor Turky did enrage To this vast Empire dreadful was his name Their crying Babes were stilled with the same Jobs iron Pen take to engrave his Fame My Narrative defective is and lame That to Posterity transmitted may His Valor and his Conquest be I say Where 's Scanderbeg who was so valorous And with his Valor so victoricus In more than twenty Battels he engage Proud Saracens whose right Arm did presage His Valor and his Conquest in his Age This matchless Valor goeth off the Stage VI. Of Learning CAn Learning This to Tully doth allye Knots-Gordian this thorough Art untye Which one no way but by his Sword espie But did not Tully and his Nephew dye Keep Learning in her native Orb and thus Shall due Respect be for Philologus Wher 's Homer Horace Zeno and Prochorus Or Xenophon Tertullus Theodorus Wher 's Plato Plautus Plutarch Theophrastus Or Memucan Alvarez and Erastus Wher 's Austin with his Tract of Recantation Or Ambrose modest in his Meditation Though Ignorance to Learning giveth check Yet surely this the Sons of Adam deck Thus Learning in a Lord as was of old Assimilates a DIAMOND in Gold Wher 's Origen so full of Allegories Or Moderators in the Consistories Wher 's Jewel who the Truth defended well Or Bolton on Death Judgment Heaven Hell Wher 's Chrysippus his Study might have bled him For ought I see had not Melissa fed him Wher 's Hilary for Stile so greatly eyed Or Gregory that was so mortified Wher 's Basil Beda too so preaching then If one speaks Truth the stones did cry Amen Where are those prying Ones of Issachar And wher 's Erasmus learnings morning Star Wher 's CYPRIAN so worthy Martyrdom With very many more but here 's no room Wher 's Moses mighty both in Words and Deeds Death unto Death the man in Moab bleeds Wher 's Cranmer Ridley Lambert and the rest Ah dead are these and dying are the best II. Of Terror ART out of Christ On Ebal stand I must And Lectures now not onely read of Dust But also Wrath that 's blown into a flame Almighty Breath is kindler of the same To Souls in Christ Death is most amiable Most terrible of all things formidable To Christless Ones yea this appears to me Of HELL the very Suburbs for to be Ah mortal Man If I may speak my Sense Infernal Dregs are in the future Tense 'T is pity