comfortably say Surely the bitterness of death is past while others say of Death and the Grave as Jacob said of Luz at first How terrible is this place He may say of them This is none other than the House of God Thirdly 3. Cons Consider the wicked ungodly and unprepared Sinner can have no hopes in his death Isa 57.2 There is no peace saith my God to the Wicked every pain and sickness that befals him is like the ratling of the wheels of the fiery Chariots and the prancing of the horses of the terrible ones that come to fetch away his soul and now he hath no hope nor life left in him Job 8.13 The Hypocrites hope shall perish he can expect no other but that his soul and body must shortly be pluck'd asunder never to meet together but in Hell That we be habitually prepar'd 2. Direct First Let us get an interest in Christ without him there is no peace with God and without peace with God there can be no peace in the latter end Job 22.21 Acquaint now thy self with God and be at peace Whence once we have got an interest in Christ we may die in peace As Simeon when he had got Christ in his arms could say Now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace O be perswaded to receive and embrace Christ to believe in him and resign up your selves to him as you desire to die in peace and to be happy for ever If you were now upon your Death-beds and your Physician should turn Preacher and your Doctor become a Divine and tell you your Sickness is incurable there is no more hopes of your life you are not like to be men of this world you must prepare for another world you had best make your peace with God and get an interest in Christ I can do no more for you and so the Lord have mercy upon your souls Oh! what would the Blood of Christ be worth in such a day how welcome would he be in such an hour Secondly Be sure that ye be in a Regenerate and Converted state Except a man be born again he shall never see the Kingdom of Heaven And lastly Repent of all your sins Sin like Jonahs Gourd will eat up the comforts of life and devour your peace in death therefore said the Heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A good and holy life prepares for an happy death Deal with sin as the Lords of the Philistines advis'd concerning David 1 Sam. 29.4 Who though he had liv'd peaceably amongst them yet when they went down to fight against Israel would not suffer him to go down to the battel along with them lest he should turn his hand against them So though sin hath been a pleasant Companion with us all our life yet when we go down to encounter death we must take heed that sin don't go along with us for it will certainly turn its hand against us and put a sting into Death and deadly teeth into that Lion Secondly That you may be actually prepar'd First 1 Direct Let every day be well fill'd Days well fill'd with the works of Righteousness will make souls well fill'd with the fruits of Righteousness which are Peace and Joy Let every days work be well done examine your selves every night whether your work be done and what is done amiss and ask your souls every night upon doing this whether it can willingly pass from this day into Eternity Job 5.26 it is said concerning that upright man Thou shalt come to thy Grave in thy full Age Diu vixit qui bene vixit like as a Shock of Corn cometh in his season which implies two things First That he shall come willingly to his grave as a man that hath done his work goes willingly to his rest so is he a Volunteer to Death that his soul need not be forc'd out of his body as Lot was out of Sodom nor need he be drag'd out of the World as the rich Fool in the Gospel Secondly That when the Upright man dies he goes as one ready and prepar'd as a Shock of Wheat in its season this Saint goes like the Ox in the Emblem that that stands betwixt the Altar and the Plough with this Motto Ad utrumque paratus as ready for the Sacrifice as for the Yoke and thus Paul saith of himself Phil. 1.23 I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better betwixt two i. e. betwixt Life and Death In a Strait that is as a City that is Besieged and straiten'd or as Iron between two Loadstones loth to leave the Philippians and loth to stay any longer from Christ and therefore after he had stood a while in Aequilibrio at last he inclines rather to be with Christ who is altogether desirable 1. His Common Presence is the preservation of the World 2. His Spiritual Presence is the very joy and life of Saints 3. His Glorious Presence the Eternal happiness of Believers and Oh! how did the heart of our deceased Friend breath after this highest of enjoyments Secondly 2 Direct Let your accounts be always ready The careless Steward can't bear the news of his Lords coming before his Accounts be ready and adjusted There is a secret fearfulness in all persons negligent of their Accounts to hear of Christs coming Every one of us must give account of himself to God and the sleepy soul fears to hear this Voice Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou maist be no longer Steward and having so many Debts and Talents to account for he knows not how to set upon that work yet he that will be always ready must keep his accounts even and must often ask how the case stands between God and his soul and he need not be afraid though he hath never so many Talents Debts and Arrears to account for beyond his ability having the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus Christ to ballance the account Thirdly 3 Direct take your solemn leave every day of all the World that if God should call you the World may not be found hanging on your hearts to make you unwilling to go at his call Every night say to your Friends and to your Estates farewell as being willing to leave them This is to die daily and by this means you will die comfortably and willingly Fourthly Let your Graces be all in a readiness active vigorous and abounding that when Christ comes these Graces being in you 2 Pet. 1.11 An entrance may be abundantly ministred unto you into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Faith Hope and Love must stand always expecting the Lords coming and be renewing Acquaintance with God and making a fresh application of the Blood of Christ that the soul may have a clear sight of his interest in the Righteousness of Christ and his right to Divine favour Lastly 5 Direct Familiarize Death to your souls we are afraid of Death and remain unprepar'd for Death because we and Death are strangers When you lie down let Death lie down with you when you awake let Death talk with you when you walk let Death be your Companion Make a more serious improvement of your spectacles of Mortality Funeral occasions than you are wont to do that if God bid you die as Num. 27.12 He bad Moses go up to Mount Abarim and die there You may be as ready to go and die as to go to your Beds Only let Faith give you always the fair Prospect of Christ of Heaven and Glory that your hearts may be possest with this assurance 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens FINIS
world Joh. 16.33 These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have Peace In the World ye shall have Tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the World Thirdly It is a peace that springs up from Purity and Sanctification the heart being purged the Conscience refined the Soul is full of peace within by the help of the testimony of a good Conscience goeth triumphant into his Eternal rest Thirdly Reason Reasons I shall give you some grounds or Reasons why they that are Perfect and Upright in their life shall certainly have peace in their death Reason 1 Reas 1. Because the God of peace hath an infinite intimate and everlasting love for his upright ones he loves them and they love him above all the world Cant. i. 4. We will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy love more than wine the upright love thee And he loves them as in Psal xi 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright He bids us behold the upright yea he beholds them with delight himself And in Psalm iv 3. He hath set apart him that is godly for himself he hath made a Covenant with them a Covenant of Peace and because he loves them he will lodge them in his Bosom Though Death can break the Knot of all human love and friendship yet it can never loosen the Bond of Divine Love as the Apostle says in Rom. viii 37 38. Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us For I am persuaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come Nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Secondly Reason 2 Reas 2. Because he hath proclaimed and promised Peace Rest and Glory to such Isa lvii 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness And Rev. xiv 13. And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them And Psalm lxxxiv 11. The Lord God is a Sun and Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory no good thing will be withhold from them that walk uprightly His time of Life is his time of War at the instant of Death the Warfare is ended and everlasting peace proclaimed his life is his Seed-time his end is the beginning of Harvest a full Harvest of peace and joy Psalm xcvii 11. Light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the Upright in heart When the body and soul of the Upright do part asunder the body betakes it self to rest in the Grave the soul flies into the regions of peace in the Divine Presence Thirdly Reason 3 Reas 3. Because God is righteous and he will recompence his Saints 2 Thess i. 6 7. It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you And to you that are troubled rest with us And thus you shall see Christ leading them into a land of peace Rev. vii 14 15 16 17. These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes It is great trouble that Saints undergo and a hard matter for a man to maintain his integrity amidst so many snares frowns and flatteries of the world This is their great comfort and encouragement and shall be their reward to inherit peace at the last As Lamech said Gen. v. 29. When the Lord gave him his Son Noah whose name signifies Rest and whose person was a type of Christ This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed Which the Apostle also intimates 1 Cor. xv 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Implying 1. That Saints are not altogether hopeless in this life 2. That all their hope is not here Fourthly Reason 4 Reas 4. Because when a Perfect and Upright man dieth he is gone out of the reach of all those things that might annoy his peace where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary be at rest Job iii 17. and are wafted over into Emmanuel's Land where they have all those glorious enjoyments in which they shall eternally acquiesce 1. He is totally freed from all evil sin cannot be there Rev. 21.27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Here he is full of complaints Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death But when he dies he sings this Epinikion I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2. When the Perfect and Upright man dies he and his Portion and Inheritance are brought together the Heir is restless in his expectations till he comes to the Inheritance but here the Portion is God himself which the Saint hath many times with much pleasure survey'd and hath had thereof many a delightful prospect of Faith rejoycing in it as sweet and full and satisfying and now doth possess that Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for him in Heaven 1 Pet. 2.4 and shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thes 3.17 3. He comes to enjoy his Beloved in Glory of whom he said when he saw him by Faith Cant. 5.10 My Beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousands and in the 16. verse Yea he is altogether lovely What will he say when he shall see him and be with him in his highest Exaltations in Glory 4. All his Graces shall be then compleated and there shall be no more place for desire for he shall sit down at that Fountain-head where is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Verse 1 Vse Informs that if the Perfect and Upright mans end be Peace then his life is full of trouble he hath trouble within and trouble without as the Apostle says of himself 2 Cor. 7.5 That he had no rest in the flesh but was troubled on every side without were fightings within were fears Saints in this life sail as it were upon a Sea of glass mingled with fire the Persecutions of men the Buffetings of Satan the Law in their Members make their present state unquiet How
the perfection of a Saint is his uprightness I shall now give you a few Lines or Characters of a Perfect and Upright man and you will easily observe how they suit both the Original and the Copy this worthy Friend and precious Saint for whose sake they were drawn First A Perfect and Upright man is one of a sound and single heart A single-hearted Christian his heart is never more divided in him than when he cannot keep his heart undivided from God he is inside and outside the same he professes the true God to be his God and is like the God whom he doth profess he owns the truth and is like the truth which he owns which is said to be Una semper sui similis his tongue is always the Index of his heart and his heart doth never give his tongue the lie As they that search into the Veins of the Earth for Silver and Gold the deeper they dig they say the purer is the Ore The more you know of his heart and the more you see him in his private Chamber and secret Closet the more pure and the more refined will you observe him to be he may indeed as a Man have some blemishes in his face but his heart in the mean time cries out with the Apostle Rom. 7.15 That which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. He dares not indeed come to be weighed in the Ballance with a God of infinite Holiness yet is content and humbly desires to be tried by the Touch-stone of the Spirit of the Holy God As in Psal 139.23 24. Search one O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Secondly He is One all whose motions are guided and directed by the will of God to which he is so fixed that nothing can make him warp from it As they said of Fabritius amongst the Heathens That he was so true to his principles that it was as easie to persuade the Sun from his Ecliptick Line as to hope that he should leave them So this Perfect and Upright Saint regards not Traditions and Opinions of Men without God but exactly observes his Sacred and Divine Precepts And when he sees how some men lose themselves by leaving the Word as a wise Pilot he Steers his course by Card and Compass having Oculos ad Coelum Manus ad Clavum his eye to the Star and his hand to the Helm and as the Pin of a well-set Dial casts shadow according to the Suns motion so he moves according to the conduct and direction of the Word and Spirit that he may be according to the Apostles exhortation 1 Phil. 27. Only let your Conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ Thirdly A Perfect and Upright man is one whose thoughts words and actions do all tend to and terminate in the Glory and Honour of God as in 1 Cor. 10.13 Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all â—o the glory of God As in the well-disciplin'd Army of Israel â—he Ark of God was always carâ—ied in the midst of the Host So in all the well-order'd affairs of his life the Honour of God â—s still in the midst of all his â—houghts he knoweth that he â—s not his own as in 1 Cor. 6. â—0 But is bought with a price â—herefore must glorifie God in body and in spirit which are Gods Fourthly The Perfect and Upright man is One who is the same at all times in all companies and conditions First at all times In the time of the Gospels prosperity he leads the Van in all the duties of Religious Worship In the time of Religions Wane he is Religions Champion In days of the greatest Defection he keeps himself from the pollution of the times like Noah in Gen. 6.9 When all flesh had corrupted their way he had this testimony Noah was a just man anâ— perfect in his generation and Noah walked with God He is another Nehemiah Baruch Jeremiah oâ— Ebedmelech or one of those few names in Sardis Secondly In all Companieâ— he is the same He remembers he is one of Gods Witnesses and therefore out of a meal-mouth'd baseness will not betray the truth Thirdly He is the same in every condition Rich or Poor he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homo quadratus a square man cast him where you will what ever he lose he will not make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience Secondly I must shew you what Peace that is which is the end of a Perfect and Upright man First what it is not Secondly what it is First It is not meant that they shall have no pains in their Death for sometimes they that have the most inward purity and peace have the most outward pain and they that have no purity nor peace within have little or no pain without but they go off as they are wont to say like Lambs that were filthy Swine and cruel Lions in their Lives These things the Lord doth variously dispense as seems best in his own Wisdom and most for his own Glory Psal 73.4 It is said of the Wicked There are no bands in their death but their strength is firm and so sail smoothly to their Eternal torment Secondly Neither is this the Peace here meant which is mentioned in Luk. 11.21 When a strong man armed keepeth his Palace his good are in peace That is the peace of the Wicked arising from the Devils possession of their hearts or from their carnal security not that their case is good but they see not their own danger and think all is well either 1. From a blind Conscience that cannot see or 2. From a brib'd Conscience by some formal duties or good works which must not see or 3. From a sleepy Conscience that cannot foresee or 4. From a seared Conscience that will not see But by Peace here is meant all Good the highest Good Joy Rest and Glory as in that Prayer of the Apostle Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope the God that worketh hope in you the God who is the object of your hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing a peace that is founded in Faith perfected in Vision of which the Saints have some fore-tasts in this life the fulness in the life to come when they shall enter into peace a true spiritual internal and eternal peace a peace arising from satisfaction the Lord Jesus Christ having born the Wrath and satisfi'd the Justice of God that they may have full peace Therefore in Joh. 14.2 it is called his peace Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Secondly This Peace is the fruit of Victory the absolute Conquest of Jesus Christ over Principalities and Powers and triumph over the
the taking away of so many Worthies of the Lord eminent Lights in the Church and excellent Instruments both here and elsewhere may portend I cannot tell Secondly Consider their usefulness in being examples of Holiness in the places where God hath set them the examples of Saints are of great use in their generation Justin Martyr was Converted by reading the Lives of dead Saints The examples of Men whether good or bad have a mighty influence upon the minds and manners of others Theodosius owning Religion made all his Courtiers to become Religious Thirdly The Lives of Perfect and Upright men are greatly useful and desirable for their Counsels and Instructions to propagate and promote Religion Prov. 10.21 The Lips of the Righteous feed many A few words the Woman of Samaria spake to the people brought many to seek after Christ John 4.29 How useful this our Deceased worthy Friend in all these respects was you all know as a Prop and Pillar to the Family to the place where he lived and by his Example and Counsels that scarce any that conversed with him but was the better for him let us then lament and cry out with David Help Lord for the Godly man ceaseth for the Faithful fail from among the Children of men Psal 12.1 I need not tell you of his eminency in Religion his Love to Christ his Zeal for the Gospel and for the House of God his free and generous mind to the faithful Ministers and Members of Jesus Christ which you know better than I I shall say only this of him He liv'd a pious life he died full of gracious breathings after God and is entered into his glorious never-ending enjoyments only my heart moves me to send up this affectionate expression after him which was Davids for his Beloved Jonathan 2 Sam. 1.26 I am distressed for thee my Brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been unto me There be two Uses of Exhortation First To live the life of the Perfect and Upright man Secondly So to prepare for the Perfect and Upright mans end that we may have peace First 1. Vse of Exhort Imitate the Perfect and Upright man or rather take your measure from Heaven let this be your Ambition to strive who may write most exactly after this Copy or the Original Matth. 5.48 Be you perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect sincere and upright compleat in all parts of piety Be you like him though you cannot be equal to him 1 Cons The Wisdom of man is to approve himself to God who judges of men according to the integrity of the heart Though David had great failings and foul miscarryings yet he hath this remark put on him that he was a man after Gods own heart and he is a man after the heart of God whose heart comports with the heart of God and in whose heart God is who dwells with the Upright in their hearts as on his little Throne or lower Heaven He that is every where per modum vestigii is with the Upright per modum imaginis they bear his Image it is no matter if men commend us who are very free and prodigal of their praises or what we think of our selves but as the Apostle says in 2 Cor. 10.18 Not he that commendeth himself is approved but whom the Lord commendeth 2. Cons It 's our work to keep our hearts upright and it is Gods promise to give us peace He that will have the Beatifical Vision must be pure in heart Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God and he that will ascend to the spirits of just men made perfect in Heaven must be perfect and upright and of a refined spirit on Earth Heb. 12.23 There is no comfort like this in a dying hour to be able to say as Hezekiah Isa 38.3 Remember O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight which made Paul make it the business of his life Act. 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men having a true and firm hope of the Resurrection as in v. 15. and that he might have peace at the last It is a remarkable story I have sometimes read of an ancient Servant when Age and Infirmity had thrown him upon his Death-bed in a kind of soliloquy thus he discourseth I am now a dying man and am going to the Judge of all the World What Friend have I to stand by me in this day His Riches Gold and Silver Houses Lands tell him they will bear the expence of his Sickness buy his Coffin and Winding-sheet c. His Acquaintants and Relations tell him they could Weep and Pray for him and attend him to the Grave But his good Conscience says He would go through Death and to the Judg with him O says he This is a Friend indeed farewell Estate farewell Relations I and my good Conscience will go together 3. Cons Without a perfect and upright heart all your Profession is but one continued act of provocation your duties like the Beauty-spots as they call them upon their painted faces they account them their Beauty but they are their Deformity and such are all Religious duties without a perfect heart This Integrity and Uprightness is the Golden thread that must run through all the actions of our life An Hypocrit may do as much or more than others but a perfect man though he may not do so much yet he does better than others The Devil may put on Samuels Mantle but that cannot change his nature he is the Devil still The Apostle tells us That out of the dregs of time both the Gloworm-Formalist and such like Vermin should arise 2 Tim. 3.1 to the 10. v. 4. Cons Mark and consider the end of the Partial Formal and Hypocritical Professors like Comets that blaze for a time yet go off with an ill savour so the hope of the Hypocrit fails or as the New Moon that shines briskly and clearly at first until it come to the Wane and then leaves the World under an universal darkness They are hated of God and Man of God because they be not as they seem to be of Men because they seem to be what they are not and at last Isa 33.14 The Sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulness hath suprized the Hypocrite who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Direct 1. If you would be Perfect and Upright in your lives First Look to your heart at all times which is the seat of affections the fountain of actions 1. And especially In your Spiritual duties observe how the Upright man carries it with God let your heart and God be together in all your duties If your heart be perfect in duty there will be peace in the duty but the prayers of the Wicked are abomination and
in Psal 66.18 If I regard Iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me 2. In your civil commerce take heed to your spirit that you may be Perfect Just and Righteous in all your dealings shall Religion suffer among them that seem to love and own it Shall Piety be accounted a piece of Pageantry and Profession be esteemed no better than a Religious Cheat by the world through your unjust practices and so Religion have cause to say under all her Reproaches These be the wounds that I have received in the House of my Friends To Lie Dissemble violate Faith to break Promise and to break in Trade with design to defraud others and raise their own Families shut up Shops to shut out Creditors from their just dues is become a most prodigious practice a common and Epidemical sin both in City and Country the more is the pity if any such be concern'd that should have a better regard to the honour of Religion He that will be a compleat Christian must observe Second-table-duties as well as First-table-duties lest the World say of us that we are like Gods in our Meetings and Devils in the Market Saints at Church and Cheats in the Shop and on the Exchange These loose and unjust dealings of Professors are the things that hurry the World into Atheism this is one of those great Evils of our times that makes God angry and Men Atheists 2. Direct Principle your hearts with a true love to and fear of God 1. A true love to God and then you will serve God for God not as poor Tenants serve their Rich Landlords out of force or servile fear or as Lactantius said of the Graecians That they did worship their Gods alios ne noceant alios ut prosint their black Devils or mischievous Gods that they might not hurt them as well as their white Devils or more favourable gods that they might receive good from them 2. With a true fear of God without which we can never be true to God or Man As Constantius once tried his Courtiers when he publickly declared that those of them that would not forsake Christianity and the Worship of the true God and turn to the Idol-worship should be Banish'd his Court and when he found that many for Court-honours forsook their Religion he discarded them and entertain'd those only that did adhere to the true God saying They that will not be true to God will never be true to Man 3. Let Love and Fear go together Love will make us serve God willingly and true Fear will make us perform our duty to God and Man faithfully Let these two be as Aaron and Hur that held up Moses hands steddy to keep our hearts stedfast and upright with God Thirdly Direct Remember the Eye of the Lord is upon all your ways a Deus videt Angeli testantur God beholds and his Angels bear witness is enough to make any man cautelous and upright in his walking He sees us whose Eys are ten-thousand times brighter than the Sun in Heb. 4.13 Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Psal 11.4 The Lord is in his holy Temple i◠Lords Throne is in Heaven his eyes behold his eye-lids try the Children of men as a Judge who tries the cause and matter by the ear and observes by his eye the Malefactors countenance I have often told you and now tell you again Man may deceive Men but he cannot deceive God 1 King 22.34 Though Ahab disguis'd himself and girt on his Harness never so close yet could he not keep off the fatal 〈◊〉 So though the Hypocrite disguise himself he cannot hide from the eyes of God nor escape his Righteous hand Lastly Mind seriously Death 4 Direct and Judgment to come Jeroms Sive edo c. Semper vox illa terribilis sonat in auribus meis Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Rise ye Dead and come to Judgment would be a dreadful and awaking peal in the Ears of all sleepy and careless Sinners 2 Cor. 5.10 For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad and in Eccles 12.14 For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil When Death comes it draws aside the Curtain then all your false and vain pretences will be exposed to publick view Death plucks off the Sinners Vizor and unmasks the Hypocrit and then though he lived in honour and esteem in the world comes off the Stage like a Fool and dies with shame The second Use of Exhortation is to prepare for the Perfect and Upright mans end 2 Vse of Exhort there must be an habitual and actual preparation First consider 1 Consid no man knows how soon he may die Death is a slie and impartial Messenger who is deaf to all intreaties and arguments and cannot be bribed 't is not greatness nor goodness nor youth nor age nor riches nor interest can supersede it wherefore as Christ saith Luk. 12.35 36. Let your loins be girded about you and your lights burning and ye your selves like unto men that wait for their Lord. If Death delay its coming it is the Bridegrooms favour that the Bride may make her self ready But when God cuts down the sound and fruitful Trees that are all spine 't is a wonder he spares the rotten unsound and barren Trees that cumber the ground There be three things one of which we shall never escape First There be sudden unseen Occurrences or Providences of God by which men are taken off and of these they say Casus nunciat mortem latentem these accidental strokes of providence do shew us that death lies in ambush Some men die at Land sometimes at Sea sometimes they go forth well in the Morning and in a moment are dead Secondly There be Sicknesses and Diseases of which they say Morbus nunciat mortem appropinquantem every pain and distemper in the body is a real warning of deaths approach if we should escape both these there is Thirdly That which will certainly take men off Old age of which 't is said Senectus nuncia◠mortem praesentem Decrepit infirm Old age is Death begun in the body so that Nil habet quod speret senectus Old age can hope for nothing but Death Secondly Consider 2 Cons He that is prepared for Death before it comes shall not be afraid of the King of Terrors when he comes Though Death be in it self terrible yet I may allude to that in Isa 11.8 The prepared Saint shall play on the hole of this Asp and put his hand on the Cockatrice-den and not be afraid What Agag proudly and presumptuously said he may truly and