we now see them and to infer thereupon that being of the same power and efficacy in all other things nothing is impossible nor uncertain of all that which God doth say and promise unto us And therefore as St. James saith Receiving His holy Word by Faith in our Hearts and the Promises which He hath made us to give us Eternal Life we ought to assure our selves of it and take away all fear and apprehension of Death What was the cause of the ruin of us and our Fore-fathers Was it not because they did decline from the Word of God to follow their own Fancies and the Counsel of Satan If then on the contrary we will cleave to it without leaning any jot either to the right hand or to the left we shall live by it and in it Hearken unto Me saith GOD speaking by Isaiah and your Soul shall Live And Zachary in his Song He hath given us a knowledge of Salvation And St. Peter speaking to Jesus Christ Thy Words are Words of Eternal Life If GOD the Prophets and Apostles do assure us that the Word of God received by a true Faith in our Hearts doth there quicken keeping and retaining it What occasion have we then to fear Death Moreover by Faith we dwell in Jesus Christ and have him dwelling in us who having Life in himself as his Father doth quicken us and all those unto whom he doth communicate himself Wherefore then being his Members Flesh of His Flesh and Bone of His Bones in brief being one with him shall we fear Death Hath not He power over it and not only for Himself but also for us He saith S. Cyprian who hath once overcome Death for us will always overcome it in us Hath not he beat down dispossessed chased and spoiled Satan the Prince and Lord of Death Hath not he accomplished the Law and by this perfect Obedience which he hath born to God his Father appeased his Anger satisfied his Will and abolished the malediction of the Law which is nothing else but Death Did not he die to make it die when he rose again Hath not he broken and dissipated all the Torments plucked down the Gates of Hell and triumphed over her and all her Power Say not henceforth faith St. Paul who shall go up into Heaven or who shall descend into the depths for to bring Life unto us For Jesus Christ is dead and risen again from the dead for to deliver us from death and risen again to restore us to Life He is our Pastor and for this Reason we ought not to fear that any Creature should snatch us by Violence out of his Hands or can hinder him from giving us Eternal Life He is our Advocate we ought not then to fear to be overthrown in Judgment nor that by Sentence we should be condemned to death He is our Mediator we need not to fear the Wrath of God He is our Light we not fear Darkness He is our Shadow and our Clouds we ought not then to fear the heat of the Fire Eternal no more than did the Children of Israel the heat of the Sun in the Wilderness being hidden under the Pillar Let us then for these Reasons forsake and cast behind us all Fear of Death which having had no Power nor Advantage over the Head shall have no Power over his Members Again By Faith we have with Jesus Christ God his Father and are allied and joined together with him as he saith by his Prophet I will marry thee if thou wilt promise me thy Faith And Jesus Christ in St. John He that loveth me will keep my word and I and my Father will come and dwell in him For this Reason we are also called his Temples because we are consecrated and dedicated unto him by his Holy Spirit that he should dwell in us Now seeing God is with us we have the Original the Fountain the Cause the Beginning and the Author of Life we have the great Jehovah of whome all things depend by whome all things are and move in whome the Angels Archangels Principalities the Heavens and all the Elements consist we have him from whome all Creatures Visible and Invisible take their Life and their Being by the Participations which they have with him We have him who is the most Perfect and most Soveraign Work-man of all things who by his breath doth quicken and make them to Live and by his power infinite doth preserve them We have to make short Him who only can fatisfie and by his Presence cause that of Life and of all other good things we shall have and think we have enough Shall we then fear Death in such company If as St. Augustine saith God is the Soul of our Soul we cannot die but by being separated from him the which David doth confirm in one of his Psalmes saying Those shall perish O Lord who do depart and go from thee which being considered let us strive only to keep him with us by Faith and Obedience and besides let us take away all the fear which we may have of Death Again by Faith we have the Spirit of God You are not Carnal saith St. Paul writing to the Romans but are Spiritual for who hath not the Spirit of God is none of his And else-where speaking to the Galathians Have you not the Spirit of God by Faith Now this Spirit is the Spirit of Life if God withdraws it from his Creatures they die they perish and come suddenly to nught On the contrary when he pleaseth to send and pour it upon them he raiseth and restoreth them in an instant even as we see a Hen brooding of her Eggs by a secret vertue doth disclose and bring them to Life albeit that before they were without sence or feeling Even so doth the Spirit of God all Creatures by his Divine Power He giveth testimony and doth assure us in our Hearts that we are the Children of God to the end that from him as from our Father by a certain and assured hope we should wait and look for Life He is a pledge unto us for fear lest we should doubt Having therefore such earnest of Life having testimony from him who being the Spirit of Truth cannot lie nor abuse having him himself who is the preserver of all Creatures shall we fear Death It is as much as who should fear the darkness at noon-day the Spirit of him who hath raised again Jesus Christ and who hath up-held him because he should not be overcome of Death being in us will quicken us also saith Saint Paul and will preserve us from it let us then put away all fear of it Faith also causeth that God doth adopt and repute us for his Children you are all Children of God by faith saith St. Paul and St. John he hath given power to all those that shall receive him and believe in his Name to be made the Children of God then being Children we are the Heirs and Co-heirs with
to pass it did ever miscarry when the Children of Israel did fear at the passage of the Red-Sea Moses did shew unto them that if they would trust in God they should see his Glory and Power which they did see passing safely through the midst of the danger where their Enemies did perish So shall all the Faithful through the straights of Death provided that they commend themselves to God and do only set their trust upon him They being in the Desarts although they were bitten by the Serpents yet were they preserved from the danger in looking upon him that Mofes had caused to be erected So also although the cursed and envious Serpent hath tainted us with his Venom yet shall we not die if by faith we look upon Jesus Christ Crucisied Let Death come let it take us let it bind us yet shall we break the bonds as easily as did Sampson those of the Philistines his Enemies let it swallow and devour us as the Whale did Jonas yet shall it fain to disgorge and cast us up again if in the midst of the depth we do remember God and call upon him Let it bury us as it once did Jesus Christ yet shall we rise again as he did and it shall be impossible for this Tyrant to retain us under his Power After having shewed how we should arm our selves against the apprehensions of Eternal Death Let us also shew that we ought not only not to fear the temporal but also desire it and when it pleaseth God to send it unto us to thank him for it to rejoice at it to embrace it and to sing for Joy whether it be that we behold the Misery the Mishaps and evils of this Life from which it doth deliver us or else the joy and contentment of eternal Life whereto it doth bring us As for the poverties miseries incertitudes accidents and mutabilities of this Life not only the Scripture but also diverse wise and great Philosophers doth shew them unto us And there is one amongst them who declaring the Original of the Greek Phrase signifying Life sayeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is that Life hath been so called of the Greeks because of the violence of the assaults excess pains and out-rages which therein we suffer which are innumerable both in Body and Soul Our Bodies are subject to cold to heat to hunger to thirst to time to age and to so many Diseases that there is no part but hath his particular infirmity The feet are subject unto the gouts the belly unto gripings the sides to pleurisies the stomach to rawness the lungs to the cough the head to a thousand Diseases we need but a spider or other little worm to kill us we need but a hair or a crum to strangle us in sum the flesh with all its strength is nothing else but grass Is it to day green and pleasant let but the Sithe pass it will cut down a thousand leaves at once which in an hour will be drie and withered The Greeks do call the body of Man in their Language Soma and Demas whereof the one is taken from a phrase which signifieth to bind and the other comes near to that which signifieth Sepulchre for to shew unto us in what estate and disposition soever he be he doth represent rather Death unto us than Life and Servitude than Liberty As for the Soul it is first subject to all the evils and diseases of the body for it is unpossible if that be ill but that for the conjunction and amity which is between them it must endure and feel pain Moreover she hath her own distempers as ignorance sin mistrust suspicion jealousie hatred envy love lust ambition and passions the which as tormentors do hale her the one one way the other another as if they would pull it to pieces I leave a million of importunities which she hath and which man taketh to attain to his purposes to live in rest and at ease to be in honour to maintain his alliances and friendships to beware of his Enemies to encrease his House to amintain and keep it in its greatness the which do torment us oft-times in such sort that we can neither eat or sleep at ease And we must not think that there is any estate exempt from this misery begin at the highest Prince or Emperour that ever was in the World and so discoursing descend to the poorest begger that ever the Earth did bear and you shall not find one content neither the Artificer nor the Merchant nor the Advocate nor the Gentleman nor the Duke nor the King enter into their closets there you shall often find them as said Menander laid upon their Beds with a mournful Voice and pitiful crying Alas alas Valeri IX speaketh of a King unto whom the Scepter and Diadem were offered before he put it on his head he took it in his hands then having looked long upon it he cryed out O Diadem if one knew the miseries and incumbrances which thou doest bring there is no man that finding thee upon the ground would once take thee up shewing by that exclamation that the Life of Kings is less happy than that of private Persons Tyberius Caesar under whom Christ was crucified and who commanded that he should be worshipped as a God also as Tertullian records it after the Death of Augustus his Predecessour who by will had left him Heir as well of his Goods as of the Empire which being offered him by the Senate according to custom doubted a great while whether he might accept of it by reason of the fear that he had of the weight of this charge and of the pain that he was to suffer in the undergoing of it Dioclesian after he had held the Empire some twenty years left it of his own accord and chose for the rest of his time to live a peaceable and domestical Life wherein after the great agitations and storms of trouble which he had during the time of his Government he found the rest to be so sweet and pleasing and his mind so contented and freed that many times amongst his familiars he did witness that the time had never seemed so good to him nor his Sun-shine days so pleasant shewing by these words how he did abhor the Imperial Life although that few Emperors before or after him had had such Honours in Victories and other prosperities as he had These Examples do sufficiently shew that the Life of Kings is not so happy as some men sometimes esteem them more by errour than by reason and they are far from being at quiet and without trouble For by how much a Tree is planted and seated in a higher place by so much the more is it subject to the wind so also are the great men more than the commons to divers fortunes and accidents the Thunder-bolts and the Tempests fall ordinarily in high places so do the greatest misfortunes upon Men of state and renown And if in this
Jesus Christ and we are by the means of this adoption certain once to come unto Life unto the rest and unto the glory wherein we shall Reign Eternally with his Father Moreover being Children of God we are of his Houshold and it is not in his House where Death dwelleth it is in Hell in the Devil's House in Heaven and the Place where God abides there is an unspeakable Light so great a Beatitude and Happiness that in the Contemplation thereof David crying out said O how they are happy that do inhabit and dwell in thy House And elsewhere In this consists all my good Lord that I may be near unto thee Again being Children we are at Liberty free from Sin free from Death free from the Condemnation and Rigour of the Law freed from Service and Force of the Devil what do we fear being then Children of God and consequently Brothers of Jesus Christ Is it possible that he can ever deny or abandon his Flesh and Blood or suffer them to die having Power to save them Therefore being the Children of God our Father he loveth us with a Love unseigned and Fatherly And if as saith St. Paul during the time that we were his Enemies he had such a care over us that not sparing his only begotten Son he hath delivered him over to Death to preserve us from it and to reconcile us unto himself now that we are his Friends and in his Favour will he not save us Who is that Man who considering these Reasons will not presently assure himself and cast away all fear which he had of Death That which also ought to assure us against Death and take away all fear which we have of it and of the Horrour and Anguish prepared for the reprobate and damned is our Calling that God of his Grace hath vouchsafed to withdraw us out of the Darkness wherein we were and to illuminate us by his Holy Spirit teaching us by his Holy Word wherein we ought to trust and wherein lyeth our Salvation and so what we ought to do to please and obey him to the end that walking in his Law and serving him in all Justice and Holiness we might after we have a little suffered in this World be faithfully glorified with him in the end for that which God beginneth he will accomplish and when he hath determined to call any one to him and to save him he never changeth his Counsel neither doth repent himself of the good that he will do unto him He us Unchangeable and so stedfast in his Purpose and Determination that that which he once Wills and Ordains he doth execute without being turned from it If then we feel in our selves that God hath given us the Grace to hear to believe and to love his Word and to fly from and reject all that which is contrary to it and to have an Affection to observe that which he commandeth us and a dislike if haply by infirmity or otherwise we chrnce to commit any thing against his Law Let us not doubt but we are regenerate elected and predestinated to Eternal Life and consequently out of danger of Death Let us then take away all fear and let us say with St. Paul What shall separate us from the Love and Charity of God What shall make us to think that he hath not a will to save us It shall not be Pain Affliction Hunger Persecution nor Adversity nor Death nor any Creature whatsoever shall make us to doubt that he doth not love us in the favour of Jesus Christ and that having chosen called and justified us in him but that finally he will also glorify us by him The Sacraments which Jesus Christ hath left us for the Confirmation of our Faith ought likewise to assure and strengthen us against the Fear of Death First Baptism by the which we are buried and die with Christ that we may rise again with him in the which we are washed from all our sins and clothed with his Innocency to the end that presenting our selves to the Father so adorned and covered with the Robe of our Elder Brother we may receive his Holy Blessing and be saved from the Deluge wherein all the Infidels perish as Noah was in his time by the Ark. Having then the Promises of God as we have said before and over and above his Sign and Seal by the which he has bound himself to render that Life to us which we havelost by our Sin wherefore then do we fear Death doe we think that he will revoke or that he will deny and disavow his own Sign and Seal Secondly The Lord's Supper where we take the Bread and the Wine for to be received into the Communion and Participation of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and by Consequent into the Fruits of them that is to have part in his Obedience in his Justice in his Satisfaction and Redemption in the Testament and new Alliance and generally in all the promises of God the which by his Death have been ratified It remaineth now to conclude our purpose and to infer upon the precedent things that if we fear Death it is for want of considering them or if we do consider them it is for want of believing them for there is no man so timerous being firmly perswaded of that which is spoken but will take away all fear of Death and will say with David I shall not die but always live to declare perpetually the Works of the Lord and praise him And who will not scorn at it with St. Paul and insult upon it saying O Death where is thy Victory Where is thy Sting Where is thy Strength Where is thy Terrour and Fear which Men had of thee Jesus Christ our Saviour perceiving the time of his Death draw near said that in short time he should pass from this World to go to his Father calling Death a Passage which should greatly comfort us We have almost all this opinion rooted in us and it is that which doth so Discourage us that it is a dangerous passage and uneasie Now for to take it from us and to stir up our Hearts he would needs pass it before us and as it were sound the depth to the end that we seeing that he did not stick at it should take Courage As also we see before and after him the Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other Holy Persons have done it who having passed it without any apprehension of Danger and being escaped safe and well do now rejoice with God that they are gotten to the Land and to the Port where they did aspire Shall we then be such Cowards shall we be so faint hearted and of such tender and effeminate Courage as to fear to go by a place so frequent and a way so great and beaten that Men go it as said some of the Ancients Blindfold Likewise we see that not one alone of those that trusted in God calling upon his aid that put themselves
to the Joy of the Children of god Unto the Thief it was said This Day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Luk. 23. Joh. 5.6 which cannot be understood of the Body but shews that the faithful Dying makes the passage from Death to Life The which ought only to be understood of the Soul seeing that the Body must first be brought to Earth and that it must put off all Corruption for to rise at the last Day Incorruptible and in Glory Mat. 22. Thus Jesus Christ against the Saduces who denied the Immortality of Souls shews that forasmuch as God calls himself the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob Exod. 3. infallibly the Souls departed do live for he is not the God of those that are dead in such sort that they are no more but he is the God of those that are and that live and doth good to the Posterity of those that are and not of those that are not which cannot be understood but of their Souls seeing their Bodies were returned to the Earth Whereby we see that they deceive themselves greatly that say that their Souls die and vanish with the Body where they Sleep also those likewise who think that they enter into other Bodies Mak 6. Luk. 9. Even the Pagans by natural Apprehensions have believe that the Souls were Immortal a we see that Euripides in the Tragedy which he intituled Hecuba doth declare it when he brings in Polixen speaking to Hecuba and dying saying to her What shall I say to Hectâ— thy Husband who was dead she aâ— swered her tell him that I am the most wretched in the World And in that which he entituled The Supplicant he says The Spirit shall return to Heaven Likewise Pholicides says That the Soul is immortal and living always waxeth not old Pythagoras in his Golden Verses said If when thou hast left the Body thou comest into Heaven thou shalt be as God living always and being no more Mortal Cicero likewise Writes of it in his Book of Friendship and in that which he writ of Age in some sort comforting himself in the hope which he had of the immortality of his Soul We see then that it is a thing most assured that the Soul is immortal as the Lord by his Word which is the Infallible Truth of Heaven doth shew it us And likewise the Pagans how Ignorant soever they were of the true Religion have well understood it Wherefore those that deny the Immortality of Souls accuse God of lying and make themselves in worse estate than the Pagans This Knowledge is a great Consolation to the Faithful in all their Afflictions and doth take from them the fears of Death knowing that their Souls being separated from their Bodies live in Heaven 1 John 2 in which they are admonished not to settle themselves upon the transitory things of this Life and not to load their Souls with the burthen of Sin to the end that dying they may be raised up towards God our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour unto whom we ought with a stedfast faith to recommend them Now even as the faithful do rejoice at it the unfaithful on the other side knowing the Souls to be immortal are so much the more fearful of Death seeing the eternal pains and torments to be prepared for them at their going forth of this World James 1. 1 Pet. 1.4 So that which serveth to the Elect for Joy and Instruction is unto the wicked nothing but Sorrow and occasion of Despair The Second Point TOuching the Body it is all apparant that it is subject to die as well because that we know that those that were in times past are dead and that we see that those of our time die one after another as principally because that the Lord declares to Adam that by reason of his Sin he with his posterity shall be subject to return into the Earth from whence he was taken Gen. 3. The Apostle says Rom. 5.8.6 That by Man Sin came into the World and by Sin Death and so Death came unto all Men by reason that all have sinned â—nd the reward of Sin is Death whereof the hour is uncertain unto us â—uke 12. Although we are certain â—hat it is the Journey that every man must go by reason that unto them â—ll it is ordained to die once Jos 12. 1 Kings 2 The Scripture is full of Testimonies upon this matter although it be well enough known of all by every days Experience Heb. 9. Job 14. The Pagans themselves without Instruction of the Word of God have well understood that unto Man it is a thing that cannot be avoided as Euripedes shews it in the Tragedie of the Supplicants saying That every part of Man must return from whence it came the Spirit into Heaven the Body into the â—â—â—ih which is the Mother and Nurse thereof Wherefore it is a thing known to all that we must die but now by how much it is easie to believe that necessity to die is imposed upon us by so much is iâ— more difficult to believe that our bodies being returned to dust shall risâ— again And indeed the sensual Maâ—â— cannot comprehend any thing there in neither hath any thought of it as we see that the Pagans never thought of it although that they have disputed of the immortality oâ— Souls But the Man that is regenerate by the Spirit of God doubt not but that the Lord can raise the dead seeing he will have it so and that nothing can hinder his Will Psal 115. For as sayth the Prophet he doth what he will Apoc. 4. We must then fee how the Scripture dotâ— assure us that the Bodies as well oâ— the good as of the wicked shall rise again the first â—o be crowned with Glory the other with perpetual Infamy Dan. 12. For to teach us thâ— Resurrection it compares Death to a â—leep as hath been already said to â—he end we may be certain that as the bodies after they have laboured shall rest by Sleep that they being awaked may with so much more alacrity return to work so when we shall have made an end of this present Life our Bodies shall be brought to the Tomb as in a Bed of rest for to rise again from thence at the latter day and be put into their place Job prophecying of the Resurrection the which he did firmly believe says I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he will stand up at the latter day upon the Earth and although after my Skin this Body shall be devoured by Worms yet with my Flesh shall I see God I shall behold him and my Eyes shall look upon him and none other for me although my Reins are consumed within me Job 14. 19. David foretels the Resurrection of Christ by whom we shall rise again the which was figured by this that Jonas was three days and three nights in the Whales Belly as Jesus Christ himself declares it Johu 2. Mat. 12. The Prophet Isay
Christian Exortation against the fearc of Death For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead Corin 15 Ch. p 21. TWO DISCOURSES The FIRST A CHRISTIAN'S EXHORTATION Against the FEARS OF DEATH The SECOND A brief and clear Declaration of the Resurrection of the Dead With suitable Meditations and Prayers touching LIFE and DEATH Recommended as proper to be given at Funerals By W. S. LONDON Printed for Tho. Bever at the Hand and Star next to the Middle Temple-Gate near Temple Bar 1690. Price bound 1 Shilling A DISCOURSE Against the Fears of DEATH PLATO said That the Philosophy wherein Man living in this World should principally exercise himself is the Meditation of Death That is to say of his condition in the World frail diseased and mortal of the divers accidents of this humane Life and of the Hour of Death so uncertain and unknown to the end that considering these things he might withdraw his affection and trust from this World that he might despise it and all temporal things wherein he sees and discovers so much inconstancy and such suddain and frequent mutations or changes and that by such a despising of uncertain and casual things he should stir up himself unto a contemplation of those that are Divine and Heavenly and forsaking that which is here perishing and transitory he should choose his part in Heaven and should stay himself at that which is permanent and eternal For the like reason Philip the Father of Alexander the Great a man of good understanding and of very great consideration to the end that in the midst of his great prosperity he should not forget himself in his Duty gave order that one of his Gentlemen should every day at his waking come and speak these words unto him King have in remembrance that thou art a mortal Man Jesus Christ also our Saviour and Master intending the same doth exhort us to Watch and to lay up Treasures in Heaven and not on Earth where all things are uncertain and changeable We see by this that during our Life we cannot do better then to think upon Death and our Body being upon the Earth to accustom our selves to have always our Spirit and Heart in Heaven Now because that the remembrance of Death is a fearful thing to many I have bethought my self to pass away my Griefs and to recreate my self from my other Studies and also to give you a testimony of the Obligation which I think I have towards you as well for the good which you have done unto me as for the Friendship which you bear me to write unto you and to present this small Treatise wherein I have briefly touched certain Points wherewith the Faithful may Arm themselves against Death which he ought to do in time and prepare himself to receive it with assurance at such time as it shall please God to send it for that which doth astonish many is that the coming thereof is suddain unto them and that they are surprized unlooked for We see by experience in a frontier Town that when it is well Victualled and provided of all things necessary to with-stand a long Siege those within are a great deal the more assured and bold whereas if it were unprovided they would stand amazed and tremble with fear if they should chance to see the approaching of the Siege It is easie to judge by that of what importance it is to have prevented a danger and to be prepared for it To provide therefore and arm the Faithful Man against Death we must note that there are two sorts of it the one is temporal of the body which Christians ought to desire the other is eternal of body and Soul which they ought not to fear persevering in the Faith of our Lord. That it is so all Fear pre-supposeth evil and danger we do not fear that which is good but long after desire and pursue it and when it offers it self we receive it joyfully but an evil we apprehend and fear we fly from it and when it happens unto us we sorrow and do complain If then it doth appear by good and evident Proofs that the Faithful Man is not in danger of this second Death may we not then conclude that if we fear it it is foolish and without occasion And surely if we had judgment and never so little Faith it were sufficient presently to take away the fear of it from us For first the proper nature of faith is to animate and quicken our heart so soon as it is received in us The Just saith the Prophet shall live by Faith Now even so as the Body whiles the Soul is in it liveth and dieth not until such time as it be separated from it no more doth the Faithful Man persevering in the Faith which hath been inspired and put into his Heart by the Grace of God Although saith David I should walk in the midst of the shadow of Death I will not fear for Thou art with me O Lord What was the cause of this assurance was it not Faith Armed wherewith we ought no more to fear Death then we do Sickness when we are in perfect health well disposed and in good liking or Poverty when we have plenty and abundance of all good things Secondly By Faith we have remission and an abolition of all the faults which we have done Why do we then fear Death There is no Death where there is no Sin 〈…〉 Death 〈…〉 Paul and elsewhere The Reward of Sin is Death Sin causeth God to be angry with us and that in His Anger He condemneth us to Death Now all Seeds doth bring forth according to their sort and quality The Wheat bringeth forth Wheat and the Rye Rye and we must not hope for any Fruit if there be not Seed before hand This being true and witnessed in a thovsand places of the Scripture that unto a Christian all his Sins and debts are acquitted by the Grace and Mercy of God that they are forgotten that they are covered that they are not imputed and that they are remitted and pardoned that they are cast as far from us as the East from the West provided that there be no more Seed thereof we need not look for any Fruit That is to say if there be no more Sin there is no more anger of God nor of death and by consequent that also there ought to be no more fear Thirdly By Faith we have the Word and the Promises of GOD whereupon it is grounded Among others this Whoso Believeth shall not Die but is passed from Death to Life Now this promise can no more fail than He that gave it us It is Eternal and all that God saith is as sure and permanent as Heaven and Earth For this cause when we look into them we ought in them to consider the vertue and power of this Word by the which they were once Created and ever since preserved and maintained in that estate wherein
happiness to die Others say he was so honest a Man therefore is it that God took him as he did Enock for fear lest by the Malice and Corruption of this Age he should change When the Fruit is ripe must it not be gathered for fear lest it should rot on the Tree Others say be died in the prime of his Age by so much the happier is he for as said Anacharsis That Ship is happiest which arriveth first at the Port. Moreover there is no certain time determined for all Men to die But as we see in Fruit time some are gathered sooner than the others so is it amongst Men. There are some also that say we must honour the Dead by mourning for them falling into the superstition of the Jews who holding his opinion did hire certain Singers and Musitians to sing pitiful and funeral Songs for the Death of their Friends which Jesus Christ did reprove in the House of the Prince of the Synagogue and not without cause for it is not good in praise o a Body to mourn for it Complaints and Tears are rather signs of Misery than any thing else We do not now weep for the holy Martyrs which yet we should do if in Tears there did consist any Honour but we honour them by a remembrance of them with blessing and thanksgiving and by Pain and Study we endeavour to follow them If likewise we have a Friend whom we will honour after his Death it must not be with Tears and Lamentations but rather by an honourable mansion which we are to make of him and of his Vertues and by a desire which we have to imitate and follow his good and laudable course of Life It is time to conclude this present Treatise and to resolve on the precedent Reasons that we must neither fear nor fly Death but rather love and desire it more than Life and prefer the day of our Death before the day of our Birth for by our Birth we come to Pain and Affliction and dying we go to God and to perpetual rest Let us then strictly examine them and judge of them that we may take away the fear of the one and the excessive love of the other God through his holy Spirit give us the Grace to do it So be it A Clear Declaration Of the RESURRECTION Of the DEAD FOrasmuch as in all times there have been some who have mocked at the Resurrection and have utterly denied it Mat. 12. Acts 17. 1 Cor. 15. It is not without good Cause that the Apostle St. Paul doth so carefully teach us that the Dead shall rise again for even as the Knowledge doth bring unto us a Soveraign Joy and Consolation and doth give us a Will and Affection to follow unto the end JESUS CHRIST our Head and Spouse to be Crowned with him with that Eternal Beatitude which God hath prepared for his Children Mat. 25. So also those that are not assured of the Resurrection which is the Foundation of our Religion are less affectionate to follow the Lord and to give themselves to Piety and Justice And we must not doubt but the wicked who abandon themselves to all impiety against God and who without remorse of Conscience do exercise all sorts of Wickedness against their Neighbours they do it so much the more freely as to perswade themselves that if they escape the Judgment and Punishment of Men they shall hear nothing of it after this Life For seeing that to avoid only the vengeance of the Magistrate in this World they hide as much as they can their iniquities and give such good Colours to their mis-deeds as possibly they can that they may not be convicted Wicked how much more do you think they would be bridled from doing Evil if they were perswaded that although their Bodies die yet their Souls shall remain Immortal and shall endure the Judgment of God which it hath deserved and that one day their Bodies shall rise again that both Body and Soul may be Eternally tormented in Hell Heb. 10. by the Judgement of God so horrible and fearful Heb. 10. whereupon we may see how necessary it is to know that the Dead shall rise again this Doctrine being the principal upholder of Christian Religion of which if a Man be not altogether perswaded all is nothing And it is impossible to persevere amongst so many Difficulties and Afflictions which are daily present at the serving of the Lord For if the hope of the Resurrection were not we should be the most miserable of the Earth Cor. 15. seeing that in this World the Faithful are ordinarily more afflicted than the Infidels but our Consolation is the Promise of Jesus Christ that although the World shall rejoice for a time and that we shall weep Joh. 16. Rom. 8. Psal 37. and 73. the time will come that our Head will visit us and rejoice our Hearts with a Joy that shall never be taken from us Now for to understand this Article of Faith we must well consider these three Points First we must know whether the Soul now dieth with the Body or no. Secondly Whether the Body returns so to the Earth that it cannot â—ise again Thirdly If it doth rise who is â—t doth raise it and in what estate it shall be when risen The first Point AS for the first Part. The Lord for to declare unto us the Immortality of Souls compares Death â—o the Sleep of Man and saith that those that are dead sleep assuring us that even so as when the Body doth sleep the Soul doth not sleep as appears by so many Dreams which Men have that also although the Body shall be put into the Sepulcher as in a place of Sleep nevertheless the Immortal Soul shall be gathered and assembled in its place from whence it shall come again at the day of Judgment to put on her Body that therein she may enjoy the happy Life or suffer Eternal Punishment Rom. 2. Mat. 25. Luk. 8. The Apostle speaking of the Daughter of Icairus whom the Lord did raise again saith That the Spirit did return into her shewing that it was not dead like the Body but only that she was gone to the Place from the which by the Commandment of Jesus Christ she came again to re-enter into her Body as also that of Lazarus of Bethleem Joh. 11. For ever so as the Body doth return to the Earth from whence it was taken so the Spirit doth return to God who gave it The same Evangelist declares that the Soul of Lazarus lives in Heaven and that of the evil Rich Man in Hell Luc. 16. And the Lord dying to shew that the Soul was not subject to Death as the Body did recommend his Soul to his Father Luk. 22. Act. 7. Saint Steven the first Martyr recommended his to Christ Saint Paul desired to be dissolved and to be with Jesus Phil. 1. knowing that after his Soul should be delivered out of the Prison of his Body it should go
and the world shall rejoyce 2 Tim. 3. And the Apostle declares that whosoever will live holy in Christ he shall endure affliction Act. 5.20 21. We see that the Apostles and those which received their doctrine have almost always been in continual afflictions Col. 1. Heb. 10.11 In our time the afflictions of the faithful have been notorious that there is none so simple but may see them Mat. 6. Marc. 14. 1 Cor. 10 11. 1 Thes 1.3 On the contrary part the wicked instead of receiving punishment in this world are ordinarily better at their ease than the faithful and do flourish like the bay Tree as saith the Prophet Psal 37. Wherefore there must necessarily be another place where the good shall be recompenced with joy and the wicked with sorrow otherwise God should not be just and Christ should have dyed in vain But some one will say God doth accomplish his promises upon the souls of the just and his threatnings upon those of the unjust and by that means God shall not cease to be just although he should not raise again the bodies of men With this we must consider that if it be so that a free retribution is done to the soul as according to the promise of God it ought to be done to the just and punishment is justly inflicted upon the soul of the reprobate to the end that the justice of God may be safe so must it also of necessity be that the bodies be recompenced some with honour others with disdain to the end that God may remain just for ever For even as the Soul of man renued by the holy Ghost giveth it self to serve God so doth the body when it ceaseth from evil doing and being even ready to be martyr'd for professing the Lord serving to Justice and Holiness Rev. 12. For Example we have the Prophets Rom. 6. Act. 7. St Stephen the Apostles and so many Martyrs and true Servants of God whose bodies have greatly given themselves to serve God Rev. 6.8 Also in like manner as the spirit of the wicked doth imploy it self but only to offend God likewise they employ their bodies to serve to filthiness and iniquity and to do all evil Rom. 6.7 therefore just it is that the bodies of the Saints which served God and of the wicked which disobeyed God should both be raised by him to receive according to what they have done for or against him Furthermore they who deny the Resurrection of the body do likewise make the incarnation and bodily passion of Jesus Christ unprofitable For if the body do not rise again what needed he to take humane nature upon him and to suffer in it to deliver our bodies from the everlasting curse Seeing that if it were so that the bodies being dead should so return to the Earth that they should have no more being and so could neither enjoy happiness nor suffer pains and sorrows had it not been enough that he had only suffered his soul being heavy to death for to deliver the Souls from Hell Marc. 14. Whosoever then denies the re-establishment of bodies thro' ignorance makes the humanity of Christ unprofitable and accuseth God the Father of cruelty as if he had taken pleasure to see his well beloved Son so cruelly entreated without having for his part deserved it and without that it should serve to the Elect he maketh him also for his part in blaspheming a Lyer with his Father because he says that he will raise his at the last day In like manner doth he accuse the holy Ghost of vanity which by the mouth of the Prophets hath prophesied and foretold the Resurrection of the Dead Also he disanulleth Christian Religion for if the dead do not rise again Christ also is not risen and so the preaching of the Apostles should be false and we should be abused to believe their doctrine and those which are dead in Christ should be cast away Cor. 15. The Lord fitting himself to our capacity as the mother to the child teacheth us the Coelestial things by the comparison of the things Terrestrial to the end we comprehend that which otherwise is incomprehensible unto us And touching the matter which we have now in hand the Prophet Esay declares unto us Esai 19. that even as in Winter the grass of the field seems to be dead and in the spring after it hath felt the dew it springs and waxeth green again so likewise our bodies being dead shall rise again when at the latter day they shall feel the dew of the grace of God hearing the voice of the Son of man The Apostle saith Mat. 24. that as the seed must die before it be quickned 1 Thess John 5. and then it riseth by vertue of the sap which it hath had in the Earth in greater glory then it was sown 1 Cor. 15. so likewise all men must die that they may rise again the elect in greater glory then they were set upon the Earth by the vertue of the eternal Spirit of Jesus in whom they died Rom. 1. Thess 4. the probate in greater dishonour then they were before by the vertue of the immortal spirit of Satan in whom they are departed For seeing the Lord doth excellently unfold his power towards the insensible creatures we ought not to doubt but he hath at the least as much will to shew his power in making them to rise again for whom he died to the end to crown them with glory and his enemies to be charged with shame and infamy seeing they have so much dishonoured him When a nut or the kernel of a Pear or Apple is rotted in the ground God causeth it to rise again to a great tree for to bear much more fruit being risen again then it did before and a grane of Wheat being put into the ground and dying brings forth much fruit John 12. do we think that the Lord hath not as great power to raise up men as he hath to raise these things so small and as it were of no value Shall it not be easie for him to raise us again as it hath been easie to him to draw us forth of the matrix of the mother alive where before we were born we were as it were in a Sepulchre If the Prophets and Apostles in the name of God have raised up the dead Psal 18 shall it be impossible to the Lord by his power to raise them 2 King 4. Acts 9. Let us assure our selves that nothing can separate the body and soul of the faithful from the love which God beareth them neither hinder but that he shall make the wicked both in body and soul to be his foot-stool Now by reason that the Apostle saith John 6. that the body which is sown is not that which riseth again Heb. 10. 1 Cor. 15. there are some that will infer thereupon that at the Resurrection our souls shall not return into those bodies which now we have but into other bodies which the Lord
and infectious sin And for the first we see that the Lord said to Moses Exod. 33. who was desirous to see him Man shall not see me upon the Earth and live As for the other it was cause that the wicked Angels were cast down from Heaven and man out of Paradice Gen. 3. for there is nothing common between God and a sinful man Wherefore the faithful shall have a spiritual body discharged and purified from all sin There shall also be no defect in their bodies nor imperfection and all deformity and vice which cometh of sin shall be done away for the Lord will transform their vile and contemptible bodies and make them conformable and like unto his glorious body Phil. 3. 1 John 3. Moreover they shall no more suffer any torments pains sickness nor any other adverse thing because there shall 〈…〉 rning nor weeping nor â—â—â—â—uring for the Lord will wipe away all tears from their Eyes And there shall happen no more corruption to them by death Rev. 25. whereof there shall be no more remembrance Isa 25. but being made immortal they shall be made incorruptible Rev. 7.21 and delivered from all suffering for to be in a happy state for ever Their Soul which before was a living Soul Gen. 2. shall be changed into a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15. then it shall be delivered from all sorrows griefs annoy perturbations and fear which came thro' sin Psal 61. and shall be set in rest joy consolation happiness and perpetual assurance without being any more perplexed nor defiled with troublesom affections Then being put in so excellent estate both of Body and Soul the Image of God shall truly shine upon them having this power to serve God being perfectly wise holy pure irreprehensible innocent without spot 1 Cor. 1. good just true immortal and incorruptible being resplendant in glory and honour before the Throne of God Col. 1. The which shall be the white vesture wherewith St. John saith Rev. 14.21 They shall be cloathed which is the pure and shining Vestments Rev. 3.4.6.7 which are the justifications of the Saints that shall hold the Palms in their hands in sign of Victory Rev. 19. after that the books being opened they shall hear the Voice full of meekness Rev. 7. grace and mercy receiving in the presence of the wicked who judged them the out-casts of the Earth Rev. 10. the sentence of eternal blessing being found written in the book of life which is the book of the Lamb Sap. 4.5 being clothed with the innocency of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 4. and having the name of their Father written in their forehead Rev. 13.21 they shall be with Christ the Spouse 2 Cor. 5. crowned with the incorruptible crown of life Gal. 3. and eternal glory Apoc. 14. being pronounced the sons and heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ Rev. 2. and Judges with him of the Apostate Angels 2 Tim. 4. and of the reprobate 1. Pet. 5. for all power and judgment is so given to the Son Rom. 8. Gal. 4. that he will participate in this honour as his assistants Wisd 3. they shall be put in possession of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19. having praise of God Luc. 22. which is the incorruptible heritage 1 Cor. 6. which cannot contaminate nor wither and which is preserved in Heaven for them John 5. they shall shine therein as the Firmament Rev. 2. and as the Sun Mat. 25. and as the Stars for ever 1 Cor. 4. Then they shall have their right in the Tree of Life Pet. 1. and shall enter into the new Coelestial Jerusalem Dan. 12. in the which there shall be no Temple Mat. 13. for the Lord Almighty is the Temple thereof and the Lamb Wisd 3. They shall be in it everlasting Kings and High Priests Rev. 2.21 22. offering sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving unto the Lord. Then being in the House of God Rev. 15.7 which is the blessed house which the faithful have in Heaven which is not made with hands 2 Cor. 5. they shall be filled with the magnificence of the Lord and shall bud like the Olive branch and blossom like the Palm and like the Cedar which is in Lebanus Psal 16.17.52 92. being immortal and incorruptible and shall not be importuned by Satan to sin and offend God The face of God which is the Fountain of Light 1 Cor. 13. the River of Pleasure Psal 16. and Ocean of Goodness Rev. 22. they shall see which shall give them such a great and perfect Joy that all the Joys which may be compared to that are but as a sparkle compared to a great Fire Marc. 9. It will make them forget all Terrestrial Heb. 11.12 what pleasure soever they could take in them in the world and they shall not remember any thing that may bring them sorrow or grief They shall be led to the Mountain of Sion and to the City of the living God which hath no need of the Sun nor Moon to shine in it Rev. 21.22 for the light of God hath lightned it and the Lamb is the Candle thereof and of thousands of Angels and of the assembly of the first born which are written in Heaven 2 Cor. 11. and to God which is the Judge of all Col. 1. and to the sanctified Souls of the Just Eph. 1. and to Jesus Christ their Head and their Spouse Mediator of the new Covenant Rev. 19. and of the blood shed speaking better things then that of Abel then with all his company and the other Saints with whom they shall be fellow Citizens being domesticks of God they shall be called to the nuptial banquet of the Lamb and shall enjoy the Kingdom of God their Father Rev. 19. the felicity which Jesus Christ by his death hath conquered for them Heb. 2.5.9.10 in whom they have put their whole trust Gal. 3.4 as he himself promiseth saying Rom. 4.5 Father I will that those which thou hast given me be with me Eph. 1.5 and see my glory which thou hast given me Rom. 5.9.10 and then I dispose the Kingdom unto you as the Father hath disposed it unto me John 12.14.17 to the end that you may eat upon my Table in my Kingdom The Apostle saith Luc. 22. If we dye with him we shall live with him and if we suffer with him we shall reign with him 2 Tim. 2. and shall be glorified with him Rom. 8. Of these promises the Children of God need not doubt for seeing that the Lord when he died gave Paradise to the Thief can be not more easily give it to those to whom he hath promised it Luc. 23. when he shall come into such great Glory and Majesty And now being with him and seeing him as he is they shall have a much greater Joy then had the Disciples seeing him transfigured that shall be so understanding Mat. 17. that they shall know all the Saints that ever have been Marc. 9. Luc. 9. and even those with whom they have conversed in this
and most affectionate Children It is enough for me to be among of the least of thy House amidst the greatest sinners that have obtained pardon of thee and that have some shelter in thy Palace where there are so many Dwellings That even in thy House I may be as little as thou shalt please provided that thou wilt preserve me thine for ever O Merciful Father I beseech thee that for the love of thy well beloved Son my only Saviour thou wouldst give me thy holy Spirit which may puriâ—â—e my heart and strengthen me in such sort that I may always dwell in thy House there to serve thee in Holiness and Justice all the days of my Life Amen Prayers WHat do we in this world but heap sins upon sins So that the morrow is always worse then the day before and we do not cease drawing thy indignation upon us But being out of this world in thy heritage we shall be altogether assured of our perfect and eternal felicity the miseries of the bodies shall be abolished the vices and filthiness of the Soul shall be done away O Heavenly Father increase our Faith in us for fear lest we should doubt of things so certain Imprint thy Grace and thy Love in our Hearts which may lift us up to thee and strengthen us in thy fear And because thou hast lodged us in this World there for to remain as long as it shall please thee without declaring unto us the day of our departure the which thou alone knowest I do beseech thee to take me out of it when thou in thy mercy pleasest and then to do me that good that I may acknowledge the same that in the mean while I may fit my self thereuuto as thou hast appointed by thy holy Name through Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour and Redeemer Amen Another THis body is the Prison of the Soul yea a dark Prison narrow and fearful we are as it were banished men in this world our life is but woe and misery on the contrary Lord it is in thy heavenly Kingdom that we find our Liberty our Country and our perfect Contentment A wake our Sould by thy word to the remembrance and apprehension of such a good imprint in our Hearts the love and the desire of the Everlasting good things and only to be wished for give unto our Consciences some taste of that joy wherewith the happy Souls which are in Heaven are filled that I may hold as dung and filth all that which the Worldlings find so fair and covet so much which so obstinately they retain and do adore with such fervency Cause that finding taste but in thy verity and grace I may wait for calling upon thee the day of my perfect deliverance thro' Jesus Christ thy Son to whom with thee and the holy Spirit be glory Everlasting Amen Another O Lord Jesus the only Salvation of the Living Life everlasting of the dead I submit my self to thy holy Will whether it be thy pleasure yet to suffer my Soul to be some space within this body for to serve thee or that it please thee to take it out of prison being assured that what thou keepest cannot perish I am content with all my heart that my Body return into the Earth from whence it was taken believing the last Resurrection which shall make it immortal incorruptible and full of Glory I do beseech thee to fortifie my Sould against all temptation environ me with the buckler of thy Mercy to beat back the darts of Satan As for me I am weakness it self but I rely upon thy strength and goodness I cannot alledge any good thing before thee whereof to boast on the contrary alas my sins infinite in number accuse and torment me but thy merit assures me that I shall be saved for I hold for certain that thou wert born for me that thou wert tempted that thou hast obeyed to God thy Father that thou hast taught and brought Life Everlasting for me seeing thou hast given thy self to me with all these good things let not such a gift be unprofitable let thy blood wipe out the filth of my faults thy Justice cover my Iniquities thy Merits make me to find Grace before the heavenly Throne If my Evils do increase augment thy Grace in me so that Faith Hope and Charity may not dye but rather wax strong in me that the apprehension of Death do not daunt me but that even after this body shall be as it were dead cause that the Eyes of my Soul may lift themselves up to Heaven that the Heart may then cry fervently unto thee Lord I commend my Soul into thy Hands fulfil thy work for thou hast bought me I am thine by the Gift of thy Father to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be Everlasting Glory Amen The Humble Suit of a Sinner for the Pardon of his Sins O Most just and dreadful God equitable in all thy Judgments who sufferest no Sin to pass unpunished either in this Life or in the Life to come Let me have with Job this Consolation That afflicting me thou wouldst not spare me here to punish me hereafter Here rather burn here cut that hereafter thou mayest spare me That Union O God which thou didst put at my Creation betwixt my Soul and my Body I have not employed for to serve thee therefore I will that henceforth it be dissolved For too great affection I had to Riches and for my ill employing of them I will deny my self of all things under the Sun and will have no more but a Sheet Coffin and an hole to lye in and wait for thy Coming For the too great love I carried to my Husband Wife Children Parents Friends Companions Conversation and Company I will now willingly abandon them all and their Embracements and kindly Usage I will also have an end put to all my Senses that henceforth I neither See Hear Touch Taste nor Smell any thing for not having ruled them nor shut them up by mortification when the Devil was seeking entry into my Soul From henceforth Lord I will put silence to this wicked Tongue of mine which hath been so great an Instrument of Impiety swearing lying cursing defaming backbiting detracting and breaking forth so often in impure dishonest and injurious Speeches against thee and my Neighbour For the too great mind I had to run go and walk in the ways of the wicked For the too frequent impure postures gestures and motions of my Body I will lye dead in the Grave and desire that henceforth none do so much as name me or speak a word of me by reason I was too desirous to be in every ones mouth and to be praised and conserved in their Memories and because I did so much affect Honour Dignity and the things of the Earth and did so much search after delicate fare soft bedding and good cloathing and did nourish and pamper this flesh of mine with too great care for honour I will lye in abjection and for that I aspired to have others bowing their heads to me and to be lifted above them I will have them to trample over me For my love to the Earth I will return to it for my Food I will have the Worms to crawl in and out at my Mouth for my Bed I will have a Grave for my Garments a Sheet and for thy dainty usage of my Body I will henceforth turn all my Beauty into Corruption Receive then O just God all these things in Punishment of my many Offences for so this being thy just Will it is also mine Only O god of Justice let my Punishment be here in this Life that I may find thee to be a God of Mercy in the Life to come for thou hast declared by thy Servant David that thy Mercies are above all thy Works Grant this O Lord for the Merits of thy only Son my Saviour Jesus Christ Amen FINIS