but a messenger of divine favour to all who die in the Lord an harbinger of peace to all who walk in uprightness A grim Porter to fetch home to their fathers mansions all that are Gods children Death is indeed a dismal doom on the sons of the first Adam but the discharge of all sin sorrow pain and travel to all the sons of the second Adam death is in its nature vile and odious Ps 116.15 but precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints death is exceeding dreadful to such who are obnoxious to its sting but the stroak of death is desireable to all such who are acquitted from and armed against its sting Death by violence containeth in it a curse A good cause and conscience make death a blessing with an emphasis and increase yet a good conscience righteousness towards God and the testimony of Jesus being the cause procuring the same maketh the most base ignominious and cursed death a condition of glory and blessedness the blessing of them who dye in the Lord doth most certainly eminently and especially appertain to such who dye for the Lord. Phil. 1.29 It is a singular gift to beleive in Christ but to suffer and that unto death for Christ is a peculiar gift of special grace all Saints share not in it attain not the honour of it Stephen stoned for enforcing the truth of Religion by the strength of reason Act. 7 55 56. not to be resisted by the adversaries saw Heaven open to receive him at his death The slain for the Word of God and testimony which they held are lodged under Gods Altar in glory Rev. 6.9.10 11. and before the Throne of the Lamb they are cloathed in white robes to attend the Lamb the most cursed and ignominious death is changed and made glorious to just men by having passed on Gods best servants most zealous and faithful Prophets yea the only and beloved Son of God the Lord Jesus our Savior hath made death every any kind of death the blessing of his people My Soul mistake not the nature of death unto the increase of thy dread mind the condition make sure of the qualification which changeth its nature and then death will loose its affrighting vizard and have another aspect in thine eye and thou wilt incline to give it a more free acceptance am I in Christ I am then redeemed from the curse of death can I dare I desire to divert the course of nature Beware O my soul who am I Shall the earth be removed for me Job 18 4. shall I think to alter Gods purpose or to change the course of Gods providence towards men shall I not be satisfied to be saved from the sting unless I escape also the stroak of Death God never purposed Christ never promised to free me from this why do I presume to dream of it to look for it Shall my dread of the stroak darken the glory of Christs love or damp mine apprehensions and esteem of the unspeakable undeserved mercy of being saved from the sting of death God forbid God hath extracted the poyson shall my stomach nauseate and rise against this cup onely because it is bitter Oh no I will rightthankfully take it as the cup of salvation and dismiss my dread and dutifully submit my self to the Will of God onely wise my most gracious Father O my God not my will but thy Will be done God hath accounted poor weak worthless me worthy of the Ministry of the glorious Gospel of his dear Son he hath at this time culled me from among my brethren to bear a special Testimony to his truth to the power plainness purity and simplicity of Christs ordinances worship and officers and to those degrees of reformation in this Church and Nation which have been protested and solemnly sworn to the most high God herein I have beleived for these I have spoken written and disputed and shall I now fear to suffer shall I now dread death the crowning act of all my zeal diligence and fidelity is not this part of the cross of Christ and so the glorious crown of a Minister of the Gospel have I any thing wherein to glory save the Cross of Christ and shall I fear to be seen in my Masters Livery the honour of my now expected death is an high favour a peculiar priviledge an effect of special grace and therefore sufficient to perswade me to be not onely willing but desirous to be offered up by death to and for him who accounted not his life dear for me Death in and for this cause is not more my duty then my dignity the more ignominious it is the more glorious it shall receive the due recompence of reward 2 Tim. 2.12 If I suffer with Christ I shall be glorified with him and raign with him I have all my days wandred in this world like a Pilgrim in a strange Country it is now my Fathers pleasure to call and send for me home shall I refuse to go in the hand of a grim Messenger because of his gastly look and affrighting countenance may not the same bloody hand conduct me to my Fathers House which doth cut down mine and my Fathers foes what though the stroak of death be the same to good and bad the sequels of Death are not the same to both the Red Sea may pass Israel into the land of rest and yet ruine the Egyptians the same Sheriff who doth execute Traytours and malefactours doth put good subjects into the possession of their proprieties though he be dreadful in the one his very posse comitatus is desireable to the other Shall I foolishly draw back fear to be possessed of mine inheritance incorruptible and undefiled because I must be brought and put into it with Halberts Bills Swords and the Sheriffs train and power My Soul chear up reflect on thy self Christ his love and Gods grace notwithstanding my many slips falls and infirmities I will presume to say I have lived the life of the righteous the Covenant of God is on my flesh with God I have desired and endeavoured to walk though I have sometimes wandred and gone astray like a lost sheep I have embraced Christ my Lord and to him I will cleave as to my deer Redeemer I shall therefore dye the death of the righteous although I may be struck I shall not be stung by death Death may pass upon me as the course of nature and as an expression of humane rage but not as the curse of God or execution of his Law Let me make it my care to see my quality changed whilst I live and then I am assured God will change the quality of my death when I dye SECT VI. IF I now dye as mens rage doth threaten mine enemies desire and hope my friends fear and deprecate and my self have cause to expect I dye as a Malefactour and by the sentence of a righteous Law
they be such things is not eternity the very formality of them is not eternity that massie substance affixed to the exceeding weight of glory which counterpoiseth weigheth down and witnesseth the levity of those afflictions which we now suffer for a moment Eternity is the sting of sorrow but the strength of joy the horror of damnation but the honour of salvation the dread the dolor of the reprobate but the desire delight of the Elect the plague the sting of the gnawing worm and tormenting not consuming fire but the pleasure the lustre of the wedding garment and of the cooling refreshing streams of the waters of life My soul Christ my Savior hath redeemed me from the one and sealed me to the other of these conditions fear not therefore to go out of this body to pass through this red Sea this dark dreadful dismaying gulf into the Ocean of thine Eternity remember consider thy Lord long since declared strait is the gate and narow is the way which leadeth unto life I will by Gods grace stoop at this strait gate I will press through this narrow way seeing life so rich so glorious so blessed life is the end thereof to be enjoyed for ever The Conclusion § MOst blessed Jesus thou art the Lord of life and glory of thine own good will in compassion and pity to lost man thou didst leave the delights of Heaven and of thy fathers bosome and wast cloathed with mans mortal nature Thou hast subjected thy self to death to the most violent shameful and cursed death that thou mightest sweeten and sanctifie this cup in which all thine elect and Saints must pledge thee thou hast tasted death for all men Thou having felt the sting and encountred the strength of death didst conquer and triumph over the grave thou hast gotten thou hast given all that beleive in thee the victory over death thou art in thy Church and to thy Saints the first fruits from the dead thy glorious resurrection is our pledge and assurance that we shall not be always held under the power and dominion of death but that we shall be raised up to raign with thee for ever § I thy weak and worthless servant am under the expectation of death and if thou restrain not the wrath that is in man it may be a violent and shameful death under the dread hereof I look unto and desire to encourage my self in thee the captain of my salvation Be not far from me my God and my Saviour in this hour of my temptation but let thy grace support me under the stroak and save me from the sting of death strengthen my faith unto the full apprehension due application of thy death and resurrection to the curbing of my passions and check of my fears that I may willingly cheerfully follow thee through the vale of the shadow of death O be my God! my God and my Guide unto under death § Death is natural to man common to all men but its nature is changed unto some and but to some of the sons of men this dreadful Executioner of thy vengeance on the wicked is but a grim messenger to fetch thy children home this thy Sheriff executing Malectours putteth the heirs of salvation into the possession of that inheritance thou hast purchased for them and appointed to them the wicked dye when thy friends do but sleep and rest in their beds Be pleased O my Redeemer to know me and make me know my self to be one of that number to whom the nature of death is changed to whom it may not it cannot be apprehended or appear so dreadful evidence and cleer up to my soul and conscience that real supernatural change of quality in my self which may convince me of and secure unto me the contranatural change of the nature and quality of death to and upon me § Union with thy glorious self can only secure against the sting and encourage under against the terrifying apprehension of the stroak of death unite me O Lord unto thy self communicate to me thy grace that only evidence of my union with thee that assurance that only that full assurance that death shall not divide between thee and me death shall not seperate my soul from thee death shall not seperate my body from thee but my dust shall be regarded by thee my death shall be precious in thy sight make O my God the graces of thine holy spirit so legible in me that I may thereby make my calling and election sure and read readily that name that none can read but he who hath it and that I may be certainly resolved in my self that my name was written in thy book of life before the foundations of the world was laid § Thy grace O Lord hath been extended to me make me to see it teach me seriously to reflect it unto thy praise and the encouragement of my soul under and against the terrors of the dread of death I am through thy grace and abundant mercy called by the name I have been born within the pale of thy Church and under the Covenant of thy salvation I was dedicated to thee and thy service as soon as I was born thy covenant was then set on my flesh by baptism and I now bear it on my flesh I dare not with prophane Esau despise this my birth-right but must and by thy grace I will rejoyce that I pertake of the fatness of the Olive and that I am a branch from an holy root sanctified by and unto God Thou didst bless me O Lord with Christian nurture and education I have known thy word from my childhood thou hast seasoned me with and sanctified me by thy truth thy word is truth it hath been the delight of my soul and the direction of my life and faith Thy spirit hath been and is in me the spirit of conviction and of burning by it I see the finfulness of sin and possess with grief shame the iniquities of my youth and the evil of my ways and doings it lusteth against my flesh and draweth disposeth my mind to serve the Law of God when my flesh is forced to serve the Law of sin Thy glorious Gospel thy gracious spirit O Lord hath convinced me of and affected my soul with mine own guilt thy fathers wrath and justice and the salvation wrought out by thee and by thee alone I do beleive there is no name by which men can be saved but thy name most blessed Jesus thou art the true Messiah the only Mediator between God and man the all-sufficient Saviour of all that come unto thee unto thee O Lord I come weary and heavy loaden with my sin Oh give me easie pressed with a dread of thy fathers wrath plead my cause satisfie for me his offended justice be the propitiation for my sins oppressed with my lusts Oh save me from my sin subdue corruptions in me change my nature be to me a perfect Saviour for to thee I run on
thee I relye thee I embrace with all my soul to be my Lord and my King refuse reject me not O God of my salvation I have resigned up my whole man to thy most holy word and will and desire to walk in thy most holy ways thy love shed abroad in my heart hath enflamed me with a love to thy name to thine ordinances thy people and thine house the zeal of thy house hath consumed me I have through thy spirit embraced esteemed thy truth in the love thereof and thy people for the truths sake which is in them For thy sake I have denied all outward comforts I have taken up my cross and followed thee Consider remember O Lord my present bonds for thy sake I am killed all the day long I am accounted as a Sheep for the slaughter the reproaches of them who reproach thee are fallen upon me all this is come upon me yet have I not departed from thee nor dealt falsly in the Covenant in which thy glory is concerned § These things O Lord I do reflect not as matters of merit in me or as engagements on thy justice to do me good for I well know they are not mine own and if they were and were perfect yet I must when I have done the best I can acknowledge I am an unprofitable servant all I can do is due to thee the best of my actions are but the debt I ow thee but alas my best actions are full of sin my righteousness is as a filthy rag a menstruous garment which needeth thy propitiation and thy fathers pardon and must be perfumed by the incense which is on the censer in the right hand of thee my high Priest Yet O my Savour I reveiw these things in me as the effects of thy grace to me of thy spirit in me and as infallible evidences of thine union to me for flesh and blood could not reveal nor work these things in me by thy grace sanctifying my nature my soul is and shall be saved ô refuse me not deny me not to be thine O let thy spirit of adoption seal up my relation to thee and mine interest in thee let me not remain in the dark or be deceived in a matter of so great concernment to me clear up to me by certain premises the truth the realty of mine inseperable union with thee else I am undon have said nothing to my soul in all that I have said against the dread of death § Grant unto me O Lord the remission of all my sins the sence of the guilt thereof doth sting my soul under the apprehensions of mine approaching death Whatsoever doth befall me in this life I beseech thee suffer me not to dye in my sin Oh convince me of humble me for and turn me from all iniquity and every reigning lust but graciously cast it behind thy back blot it out of thy remembrance that in the day it is sought for it may not be found against me sin hath passed on me and death by sin but deliver me O my Saviour from falling by under the second death from which there is no possibility of redemption Secure unto my soul thy sufferings as the full ransom of my soul and the satisfaction to thy fathers law and justice for mine offences and for my many great trangressions so shall I be able to meet death with boldness I shall then insult over that King of terrors with on O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory I shall then triumph over death and him who hath the power of death the Devil If my heart deceive me not I would not sin that grace â—hould abound but now blessed Saviour that I have sinned I do I dare not but earnestly beg thy grace may abound that I may in my death through the pardon of sin sing unto thy praise thanks be unto God who hath given met he victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. § O thou the only high Priest of my profession thou canst be touched with mine infirmities thou knowest the power the prevalency of my natural passions under the apprehensions of mine approaching death thou ever livest to make intercession for me graciously rebuke my passions restrain my fears revive my faith renew my hope and establish my heart under and against all those amazing affrighting apprehenfions of death which nature dotâ— conceive sence doth dictate or Satan doth suggest unto my dread Compassionately grant me the comfortable supports of thy presence grace and spirit whilst I walk in the vale of the shadow of death that I may with all patience and meekness lie down and receive that stroak of death which I cannot avoid and yet cannot be willing to receive That I may with submission drink that bitter cup thou puttest into my hand concerning which my nature not corrupted with sin could not but pray Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me give me an heart groaning to be clothed on with my house from heaven whilst I cannot desire to be uncloathed of this earthly tabernacle and seeing my presence in the flesh is mine absence from thee O Lord perswade me to be willing to be dissolved that I may be with thee which is best of all § As a man I cannot desire I cannot but fear to die be pleased O my Savior to convince me of and afflict me with the happy sequels of my death that the sence thereof may make me contrary to the power property of my nature desirous to die let not the dread of death drive me to accept on sinful terms the deliverance from the most violent and shameful stroak thereof enable me to live the last breath of this my dying life in the ways of thy truth and holiness to the praise of thy grace and in this last act to play the man couragiously evidencing my self affected with a clear sence that all the evils of death are discharged and assured that I am united to thee who art the resurrection and the life through whom though I die I shall live again and having fought the good fight of faith and finished my course of nature I shall escape the curse of death and be received into eternal life and glory with thy self thy blessed Saints and Angels for ever guide me all my days by thy counsel and at last receive me into thy glory Into thy hands I commit my spirit it is thine own thou hast redeemed it and thou wilt keep it until thy glorious appearance blessed Jesus my Lord and my Redeemer Amen Amen Amen FINIS
is exceeding sorrowful unto death Mat. 26.38 39. and once again and a third time to pray Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Shall I exspect to be exempt from Shall I be afraid or ashamed to express the passions which were existent in all Gods Saints and from which my Lord and Master himself was not freed I am a Christian but yet a man I am a Minister but yet a man if I dye as I now fear I dye innocently Lord thou knowest I dye for righteousness sake I shall be a Martyr though of the lowest orbe this may mitigate dread but it maketh no change in me or in death yet terrors attend it and passions abide in me The most resolved Paul was so far from being ashamed 2 Cor. 1.8 9. that he was desirous the Church should know he was pressed above measure when he despaired of life and received in himself the sentence of death and 5.4 the most desirous to be cloathed with their House from Heaven could never yet desire to be uncloathed of their earthly Tabernacle nature can be much more content to be changed then to dye Death draweth me out of the bosome of the Wife of my delight divideth me from my Children the glory of my youth driveth me from my Kindred Acquaintance Friends and all humane society Can I part from these with dry eyes can men think I bear to these a natural affection and expect I should bid adiew to them not affected with natural passion doth nature and religion direct me to love them and will they not allow me to grieve when I leave them Death doth discapacitate me for the service of my God and his Church the grave cannot praise him Death cannot celebrate him They who go down into the pit cannot hope for his truth will not Christianity true Piety teach me with dread to discern this estate am I perswaded my life is more profitable for the Church can I then avoid St. Pauls strait Phil. 1 21 22 23 24. and be easily resolved what to choose though to me it is more profitable that I dye Death doth destroy my being when I am dead I am not can dissolution choose but dictate dread to sensible much more to rational beings Death is the wages of sin the witness of Gods wrath and the curse of the Law and by its circumstances made such with an emphasis can then a man of Religion receive the same without reluctancy and great remorse Death is the inlet of mine immortal soul into the Ocean of eternity can I apprehend it without amazement and great astonishment Let malefactours outface out-dare this King of dread and obtain to themselves the name and honour of Martyrs by their only abandoning the fear of death I dare not imitate I must not justifie I cannot I will not follow them these fig-leaves will not hide their sin from the face of God My soul keep thy passions within bounds then fear not to give them vent and to express the same before God and Men impossibile est hominem exuere Christianity doth not require thee to turn stoick and cease to be a man Let the fear of Gods casting thee into hell have the preheminence then cease not to fear mens killing thy body sell not thy self to save a natural life and then spare nothing to redeem the same from death by the exception of this one thing thy self make the Devil a liar as did Job and then be not troubled to set thy seal to a truth spoken by the father of lies viz. that all that a man hath he would give for his life Let not the dread of death transport thee to accept deliverance on terms of sinning against God then be not afraid or ashamed to let men observe thee subjected thereunto mourn not as without hope then spare not to mourn that thou must part from them whose duty it is to mourn over thy grave I bless God I see in nature much in Scripture more abundant reason to make me willing none to make me desirous to dye I look for those things and that estate which I will not exchange for my natural life but I could be glad to enjoy my life and them The cup of death is bitter my stomach riseth at and against it I cannot but pray Oh my Father If it be possible let this cup pass from me If it be possible let this cup pass from me Good Father Let this cup pass from me yet I hope I shall never want grace to subjoyn not my will but thy will be done not my will but thy will be done not my will but thy will be done whilst Death is Death and I a Man I cannot but dread it I cannot desire it I will therefore endeavour to defend my soul against the dread thereof and check my passions by contemplating what may make me content to undergo and cheerfully to stoop unto what I cannot I dare not desire any more then I can avoid or dare decline it when directed by a righteous yea a gracious God to arrest me my soul silence support thy self considering SECT I. DEath is of all things most certain Death is most certain most sure to overtake me to befall me dust I am and to dust I must return my life may be a while prolonged but nothing is more certain then that death will ere long put an end unto it man that is born of a woman is but of few days My natural constitution is corruptible In mans natural constitution not onely obnoxious to the assaults of violence from without but also subject to innate corruption principles destructive to it self my body is at best but an earthly Tabernacle always out of repair and ready to fall patched up by daily bread which will not be able to sustain its being when the grinders begin to fail the Keepers of this my house do already tremble my strong men begin to bow many diseases now grow upon me these are the Harbingers of mine approaching death I do already bear in my back the stone which will ere long most crrtainly batter in peices the earthen vessel of my body this Pitcher may a little while go to the Well but it will at length come broken home The contrary elements and qualities whereof my body is compounded and by which it doth now subsist do conclude the certainty of my death heat and cold moysture and draught are enemies each to other by their opposition my being is upheld and yet the militation of these in me tend to the annihilation of me The hand of violence may indeed hasten on me that estate which nature will most certainly most speedily effect the Plumb which is not plucked will fall the Grass which is not cut will wither the stoutest Oak of longest growth will at last come to dust if it be not consumed to ashes my strength is not the strength of stones nor is my flesh â—rass I am
as a dried leaf my life passeth away as a Weavers Shuttle and withereth like the grass the Ax or Halter can onely hasten what my study and labour is sure to produce in a little time if Death could not otherwise destroy my being these instrmuments enforced by mens cruelty should never do it but it is an easie matter to break a bruised reed and to force a dying life to breath out its last breath My soul my bodily constitution doth not more dispose me to dye then Gods determination doth bind me unavoidably to undergo it By Gods determination Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto all men and so to me once to dye The conclusion God made with man in Paradise when he made with him a Covenant of life was Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest of this fruit thou shalt surely dye the sin was committed the covenant was violated this condition was judicially denounced and duely executed Rom. 5.12 by one man sin hath passed on all men and death by sin the severity of God hath by a most righteous sentence subjected all men to the stroke of death am I a man and expect to be exempted from the common fate of my nature Immortality in the estate of innocency Immortality not natural was of grace not of nature created compounded man was capable of dissolution that grace was once forfeited never restored nature therefore returned to its course will inevitably work my ruine and resolve me into the nothing or the dust out of which I was first made The Lord Jesus Christ hath indeed Christ redeemed not from the stroak of death undoubtedly redeemed me from death but it is from the sting not from the stroak of death he doth secure me from the curse the consequences of death but he stayeth not the returned course of nature from passing on my being hunger cold neakedness sickness sorrows the assaults of violence with all other man-destroying-accidents did befal himself and are incident unto me and are as certainly as effectually destructive to my being since as before Christs death and resurrection I do most certainly believe Some may be changed yet not I. 1 Cor. 15.51 at the coming of our Lord in glory all shall not dye some shall be changed but I have no assurance that I am of that number nor is it probable for though I live in the last and worst days of the world that last day is not so near me as my lives end the great things which must be accomplished before that great and terrible day of the Lord come cannot be effected in those few days nature will permit me to live nor is it probable in this present age I will not envy the Saints then living the happiness of never dying but my soul I see no reason of hope that I should partake thereof Nature disposing me unto death God having determined death to pass upon me I cannot avoid it it will with certainty overtake me at the last It may overtake me sooner then I am aware or look for it I have not the certainty of one days exemption from this most certain condition I am subject to many casualties as well as diseases a tile from an house or a fall from my horse might soon kill me if I were abroad Death commeth on me where ever I am as an armed man whom I cannot resist and come to me the worst that can come it is but death which I can no way shun or long avoid My Soul be wise make a vertue of necessity stoop quietly under that stroke from which thou canst not stir Startle not in sence of that state from which there is no starting Whether I consume my self or be cut down by others it is but death this estate doth unavoidably attend me Let me be content chearfully submissively to bear the evil I am no more able to divert then to desire shall I stomack to entertain the guest whom I daily expect and who commeth with command and irresistable power whose coming I cannot prevent or delay who being come will not be dismissed or sent back for one moment I will bid welcome the certain unavoidable event though hastned by an uncertain unexpected stroak SECT II. DEath is not more certain to me Death is a common state then common to men this is the lot of all men the man liveth not who shall not feel the stroak of Death strong or weak rich or poor noble or ignoble good or bad must all die Great men die The power of Princes may precipitate and hasten the death of others but it cannot protect themselves from the stroak of death no not for a moment as for those who have riches Ps 49.7 8. there is not one of them can redeem his brothers no nor yet his own life from death when I die I shall rest with Kings and Counsellors of the earth Job 3.13 14. with Princes who had gold who filled their houses with silver Death hath subdued the most dreadful Conquerors of the world and devoured the most puissant Armies Strong men die Where are now the Sons of Anack what is become of the Giants of whom we read are they not dead could Sampsons strength repel or Davids Worthies stand under and against the stroke of death Best men dye Piety is no priviledge against the arrest of death John 8.52 53. are not the Patriarcks faln asleep where are the Fathers of old do the Prophets live for ever the best that ever lived died death is an high way a beaten road this tract is trodden Abel Adam Enoch Noah Abraham David Daniel Peter Paul James John yea the Lord Christ himself are all dead these with multitudes of all sorts ranks qualities languages and degrees have gone this way before me why then do I fear to follow after them Death is not more common in its general nature The kind of death is also common then in its special kind Violent death by all ways of ignominy and instruments of cruelty are common to men especially to Martyrs and Gods most faithful Ministers this way Gods Prophets Vrijah Isaiah Zechariah and others Christs Disciples Peter Paul James John and others The Primitive Fathers of the Church Polycarpus Ignatius Justinius and others And our first Reformers from Popish blindness and abominations Cranmer Ridley Latimer Hooper Rogers Bradford Taylor Saunders and many others went out of the world What day returneth without the death of men what age of the world hath passed not stained with the blood of Martyrs or violent death of holy men what kind of death peculiar to malefactors hath not Gods Ministers and Martyrs the zealous reprovers of publick sin been subjected to and undergone My Soul be thy condition what it can thou must conclude there doth no temptation befall me but what is common to man 1 Cor. 10.13 yea to the best of men and to the cheif of Martyrs what if the way
be dirty and dreadful tedious and tiresome shall I draw back or not drive after so many so good such excellent men as are gone before me Levius communia tangunt say men by nature how easie is a common yoke whilst then mine is the common state of men and good men abate thy fears advance thy courage follow with chearfulness and content Let the motto of the happy unhappy Lady Jane Gray give check to the admiring censures of the spectators of my death Non aliena putes homini qua obtingere possunt Sors hodierna mihi tunc erit illa sibi I tread no untroden tract I am not the first I shall not be the last that dye I go the way that many most and best have gone before me and others must daily and hourly follow after me whatsoever is my chance death is the condition common to men and the grave doth know no difference between them who run out the course of nature and those who are cut off by violence One dieth in his full strength Job 21.23 24 25 26. being wholly at ease and quiet his breasts are ful of milk and his bones are moistned with marrow another dieth in the bitterness of his soul and never eateth with pleasure these both lye down alike in the dust and the worm shall cover them without any difference or distinction Let me dye which way God hath determined by sickness or by sword in my bed or on a publique stage in old age or in the prime of my days in course of nature or by the hands of violence I can but dye and dye I must for I am a man and death is common certain and natural unto man SECT III. DEath this common state My death is decreed by God with all its circumstances is determined by the Lord whatsoever doth relate unto this condition is concluded in the councels of the most high these no man can alter or avoid God is of soveraign power his purposes must and shall prevail against all powers whatsoever what is by him decreed must stand most certainly to come to pass My time is then in the hands of the Lord he will preserve me from the force of any disease and fury of the oppressor until the date by him determined be expired my time is appointed on the earth Job 14.5 my days are determined the number of my moneths are with the Almighty he hath set the bounds thereof These I cannot I must not expect to pass nor can the distempers of nature most violent diseases or the fury malice or power of men break in upon them to anticipate their course or accelerate their period I cannot I shall not be cut down before the time nor any other way then that God hath decreed shall not I be willing to go when and how God will have me go The decrees of Heaven are unalterable and unavoidable it is mans duty to submit to them without demur or debate Shall I can I profess a filial relation to God and obedience to the will of him my Father and not resign up my self my time and my life to be disposed by God is a reluctancy in this case competible with my prayer thy will be done or consistent with that my resolved supplication in this very case not my will but thy will be done men are but like diseases executioners of Gods decree upon me they have against me no power but what is given them from above though therefore I am loath to leave my cottage and present sensible comforts shall I dare to resist or refuse chearfully to yeild unto and resign them at the pleasure of mine absolute Lord and Soveraign by which alone I hold them Consider Oh my soul it is the Lord more righteous then to do me wrong more gracious then to do me hurt who doth dispose my time and state Let him do what seemeth good unto him There is a season to every thing under the Sun Eccles 3.1 11. there is a time to every purpose un-the Heaven Gods time is the set time to all things and the best time to the Sons of men every thing is beautiful in its time so shall death be to me when my time is come when mens work is done it is fit they go to bed lye down and sleep man goeth forth to his work and to his labour Ps 104.23 until the evening When Corn is ripe it must be cut done I shall not fall without Gods determinate counsel shall I dare can I desire to contradict that I shall not be cut down until I be ripe and my cutting down be seasonable can I wish to stand longer I have lived shall I not now be content to dye according to Gods determination SECT IV. THe assaults of Death are the assaults of an enemy Death is an enemy but conquered armed with power and irresistible This is very true but yet Death is the last enemy I must encounter and cannot be otherwise conquered then by my falling under its stroak my whole life hath been a militation and my death is but a military finishing of my course my willingness to dye mine encountring this King of terrors with a Christian faith with a calm quiet and composed Spirit can onely make my dying words trumpet with triumph 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have all my life-time fought with Death as Sampson with the Philistines it often assaulteth me by hunger nakedness cold infant-weakness sickness natural diseases and the assaults of violence shall I think it strange to receive another onset and to take one turn more with my constant enemy Shall I fear by the power of grace to vanquish him whom I have by the strength of nature and help of art I many times resisted and repelled O my soul Sin my Dalilah hath deceived me and spoiled me of my natural strength I cannot now as formerly fight with and beat back this Philistine mine onely conquest of him is to fall before and with him when he hath divided my body from my soul he hath done his worst and will soon find a few such victories will waste his strength so that he shall not be able to keep the field to appear in the world or to assault the sons of men My soul consider thy present state compose thy self cry unto God for strength of faith that thou mayst by dying be at once revenged on thine enemy I shall when dead be for ever freed from that warfare with Satan Sin and the World which I have been constrained to wage all my life long I shall then no longer fight for my strength youth growth credit comforts and conscience all which I have all my time defended with much difficulty and great danger Death mine enemy shall then set me free from the Devils temptation the worlds enticements the outrage of men the arrows of the Almighty and the lustings of mine own flesh all
which have all my days stung my soul and battered my body My soul take courage unto this last encounter herein my willingness to dye is the victory my fall is the fullest conquest that I ever did or can make be herein the more couragious considering Death is though an enemy yet a conquered and disarmed enemy Christ that Captain of my salvation hath tryed the strength of death and subdued it he by dying did overcome death and him who had the power of death viz. the Devil herein Satan was out shot in his own Bow and caught in his own snare what gained the Philistines by bringing forth Sampson to make them sport and to be insulted over in the house of Dagon but their own destruction the very same hath death and the Devil gotten by bringing the Lord of life to dye on the Cross and to the Grave which could not hold him these by getting have lost the victory O blessed Paradox by this my faith and my soul can out-face out-brave death whilst my nature and my body doth dread the assaults and stroak thereof Death struck the Lord of life with its sting and lost its sting by striking him and in him all that are his do ever since insult over death with an O death 1 Cor. 15.55 where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Since this foil death is befooled of its conquest over them whom it most insultingly strikes with success and cutteth down with power for it prevailing looseth its design The design of Death is to seal man under indelible guilt to set him under the curse of the Law and at everlasting distance from the Lord vers 56.58 The sting of Death is Sin the strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be unto God who hath given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord for hereby death doth to all that are in Christ Jesus effect what is directly contrary to its design it dischargeth that guilt under which they greived all their days and releaseth them from those curses of the Law by which they were chastened in this life and it transmitteth their souls unto the immediate and eternal enjoyment of God and Christ and although it holdeth the body for some time yet it divideth it not from Christ to whom it is inseperably united and by whom it shall be raised up to be reunited to the soul and perfectly possess God for ever My Soul why art thou afraid of a Bee which hath lost its sting why dost thou dread an enemy vanquished to thy hand and sprawling at thy feet Hath David kill'd Goliah and shall not trembling affrighted Israel up and pursue the Philistines hath the Lord Christ gotten and given me the victory over death by discharging thy guilt and bearing the punishment thereof in his own body unto the satisfaction of the Law and wilt thou fear to encounter the fiercest assaults thereof What shall a conquered enemy disanimate the Conqueror My Soul in the world thou hast tribulation in death thou hast terror but be of good comfort thou art now engaged in the last encounter with both and the Lord Jesus hath overcome the world and conquered death Triumph in death for thou shalt by dying be made triumphant over Death the World and the Devil Thy warfare is now accomplished let me now in my last act play the man and shew the valour of my Faith and Patience unto the due restraint of my now provoked fear and passions Then this shall be the matter of mine eternal happiness and honour that I have warred a good warfare I have fought a good fight I have kept the Faith SECT V. DEath is a curse The cursed nature of death is changed the punishment of mans sin the expression of Gods wrath and the execution of the Law and dreadful sentence pronounced against man It is so in its nature and of it self But it is not such to all that are thereto subjected the voyce from heaven hath proclaimed them Blessed Rev. 14.13 who dye in the Lord and hath rendred two reasons of the blessed state of their death First they rest from their labour they then reap no punishment Heb. 4.10 but are indeed blessed for he that is entred into his rest ceaseth from his own works of sin and sorrow as God ceased from his Secondly Their works follow them unto their acceptance with and recompence from the Lord. The nature of death is changed to such who are in Christ Death to Christs friends is a sleep and to such who die for Christ the friends of Christ do not dye but sleep Job 7.21 I account sleep a special blessing of God for the refreshment of nature my sleep is the image the similitude of death Death is the truest the onely sleep of a true Beleiver when I sleep I am as dead and when I dye I shall but sleep I shall indeed sleep longer in my grave then in my bed but I am sure I shall sleep more quietly without affrighting fancies or disturbing dreams and I shall at length awake and arise when my weary day is ended how willing am I to lye down and sleep My Soul art thou not willing thy weary body should have rest to dye is to a Saint no more then to undress and go to bed to lie down and sleep Joh. 11.11 Let what will become of Dives our friend Lazarus sleepeth The righteous when they dye are taken from evil to come Isa 57.1 2 and 26.20 death is their defence from danger distress and dread their grave is Gods pavilion and receptacle into which they his jewels are gathered Mal. 3.17 lest they should be left in the commotions of the world in which they his trusty friends and confederates are secured from the storm and blast of the terrible ones raised up by the Lord to shake terribly the earth my Soul what though the Chambers of death be dark wilt thou deem it a curse to be gathered into them by Gods special grace that thou mayst not feel hear or see the evil which his wrath and vengeance is about to bring on the places of thy present abode The just by death enter into peace when the whole world is full of Wars they rest in their beds when the house is all in an hurly burly and unquiet tumult Death is the Saints cessation from labour and travel their security from lamentation and trouble their estate of quiet and ease and their entrance into rest and glory The very wicked who with Balaam are ready to curse them whilst they live would gladly share lots with them in their death The worst of men are so apprehensive and affected that their latter end shall be exceedingly good that they cannot but wish to dye the death of the righteous Death is indeed a curse to sinners but the course of nature unto Saints The direful executioner of Gods wrath and law to all who die in their sin
dulled my sences stupified my soul and discomposed me unto the duties of holiness they have been baits and snares whereby I have been entised unto and entangled in sin they have diverted my soul from seeking and solacing it self in more serious and satisfying delights the sinfulness of my pleasure hath eaten out the sweetness of my pleasure These pleasures of sin are but for a season are often changing Short and do soon vanish will certainly expire cannot endure for ever and leave bitterness behind them when they go away they have cost me more smart and greif when they have been ended then they did afford me joy or content whilst they continued I may willingly dismiss those pleasures which I have bought at so dear a rate possess so uncertainly and for so short a season and proved so vain empty and dissatisfactory My Soul Let me chearfully contentedly cease from my pleasure among the living on earth whilst I shall therein cease from the sinning and sorrowing necessarily attendant on and inseparably annexed unto my pleasures and yet consider all joy is not at an end with me when I die Joy succeedeth and yet remaineth I pass not from all pleasure when parted from these I onely leave what is sensible and sinful but death shall transmit my soul into Gods presence in which are rivers of pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 can I think the fulness of lasting joys solacing my soul in the sight of God will not compensate my loss of the sensible pleasures of sin which are but for a season did these cast the scales of Moses judgement and affections in his time of life Heb. 11.25 26 27. youth and strength causing him to despise the Crown and glory of Egypt and to chuse affliction with the people of God rather then to be called the son of Pharoah's Daughter And shall not the sence and expectation thereof make me content to leave the delights which I cannot longer enjoy It was my duty to have refused them sooner I may well be content to relinquish them now I can enjoy them no longer My soul yeild unto rejoyce in and bless God for that necessity which doth enforce thy duty and willingly leave those pleasures which would have left thee in bitterness if thou should longer abide in the body the onely subject capable of these sensible pleasures SECT IX DEath will deprive me of all my outward comforts Death doth deprive me of outwardcomforts which I have long enjoyed to supply my necessity goods and possessions in the world Wife Children and Servants which ministred to me Be it so it is Gods mercy I have enjoyed them for so long a time I am in the possession of them a tenant at Gods will he doth not the least wrong to take them from me so kind hath God been to me he hath let me possess them whilst they could do me good and I had need of them when I am dead they connot minister to me I shall have neither need nor use of any or all these comforts I may well be content to leave what I shall not lack what I cannot use it is I confess a mercy to have them but it speaketh imperfection to have need of them is it not much better to be in an estate of perfection without them then to have these comforts to me continued and my self abide imperfect Death doth deprive me of some comforts Such as content not nor continue but they are such which afford no true content nor are they of any continuance they are though the best things under the sun yet at the best they are but things under the sun Eccl. 1.1 2 and all things under the sun are vanity and vexation of spirit they give a little and indeed but a little content to my sence but not any to my soul they were not obtained without care retained without fear nor will they now be relinquished without greif I cannot deny them to be flowers flowers of beauty and pleasure but I must confess I ever found them fading and full of pricks I have not enjoyed them without vexation and if I live longer I shall ere it be long lose them and have them taken from me they all have the wings of the morning and flye away in a moment I can already say of some what I shall soon say of the rest I had servants trusty and faithful to me but they are gone My means by my ministry I had goods yearly renuing my store but it is taken from me I had Children sweet babes the cheif of natures blessings but my Josephs my Benjamins are not mine outward enjoyments have been to me a Gourde of refreshment and present delight Jon. 4.6 7 but a Jonahs Gourde of vanity in the root of which is a worm which doth and will soon make it wither if I pass not from my present comforts they will peirce my soul with care and fear and at last perish in mine hand I may well be content to die from those comforts which are sure to die from me and leave me in sorrow even in worldly sorrow which worketh death 2 Cor. 7.10 What great difference is it for me to be parted from my comforts or to have my comforts parted from me can any thing but a childish temper make me cry when those pleasing toyes are taken from me which I freely leave when tired with them or which I fling from me with fury when I feel my self hurt by them what cause have I to be thus dismaied to be divided from those comforts which I have thus long enjoy'd to supply my need yet with certain dolor and uncertain durance shall I so foolishly love as not be content to leave what loadeth me with care and fear yet cannot last but will be gone from me if I stay longer in this world Death taketh me from my outward comforts but yet I leave them to and for the comfort of my relations and friends which stay behind me they will have the use of them they will do them good though I leave them they are not lost my turn is served by them shall I grudge that others have them to serve their turn as they served mine hath it not been my care to get goods that I might leave them to my Relations and shall I now be unwilling to leave them that little which I have gotten and which can now do me no more good Though death deprive me of some useless moveables yet it leaveth me my most precious jewels and chiefest substance the graces of my soul the glorious priviledges of my faith death cannot touch or take from me and these are more worth then all the world My soul play the Merchant be content to see thy luggage and empty cask cast overboard to save thy choice commodities and thy pearls of price death may take me from riches it cannot touch my righteousness it may anticipate my pompous Funeral but
it cannot hinder my graces from going with me to Heaven though I must at death leave my outward comforts this is mine advantage I may retain and carry with me mine integrity My soul death shall not meddle with thy best treasure be therefore content to part with thy worst enjoyments thine outward comforts whilst thy tottering tabernacle must fall thine earthly cottage must be burnt rejoyce and bless God that thou canst save any thing much more that thy best goods thy substance is escaped and secured for being herewith stored thou shalt possess an estate much more plentiful and pleasant then what thou hadst in this life and world Death cuts me off from my relations but casteth them on God SECT X. DEath will cut me off from my dear Relations whose dependance hath been on my care for them but it will then dispose them under the more immediate care protection Psal 68.5 Hos 14.3 and providence of God who is judge of the Widows case and with whom the Fatherless find mercy It peirceth my soul to hear the Wife of my bosom cry Oh Husband What shall become of me when thou the covering of mine eyes art taken from me and to hear my Children cry What shall become of us when our careful compassionate Father is gone be still my soul submit yeild unto my God even so father for so it seemeth good unto thee Is it not my duty by an act of faith to cast my fatherless Children on the Lord have I not taught and often assured my Widow she must trust in God was it not the Lord who provided for them by me in vain had I risen early gone to bed late eaten the bread of carefulness if God had not built my house Shall I think the same God cannot or shall I fear he will not provide for them without me they may be put upon some more sensible straits to exert some more special acts of faith more eminently to exercise some graces but they have the same assurance and some better security that they shall enjoy food convenient the Fountain abideth full and flowing though not by the same pipe and conduit which is cut off it is Gods property and promise to take care of the Widow and Fatherless especially of such who are so made for the testimony of his truth Why do I disquiet my self for the sadness of that condition which setteth my dear Relations in a more special dependance on God and secureth to them the more peculiar providence of God I love them I have looked after them whilst I lived I will now leave the care of them to him who expressed it by me who can and will express the same without me who is charged with them by his own property and promise who is more immediately more eminently bound to look after them by taking thus taking me from them O my God! give my Wife and Children a fear of thee submission to thee and faith in thee be thou the Husband of my Widow and the Father of my fatherless Children that to the praise of thee who failest not they may tell the world the unbeleiving world they lost nothing by loosing thus loosing me they traded to good advantage by freely willingly cheerfully contentedly giving up a most loving Husband and tender Father to the pleasure of a gracious faithful never failing God who stayeth with them and careth for them when he by death doth take me from them SECT XI AFter death Death hindreth me from knowing what is done under the sun and so I shall know no evil I must lie down in the pit I shall be covered with darkness I shall not know what is done under the Sun This will indeed be my state but yet whilst I lie down in the pit I shall abide in safety and be delivered from my brethrens rage and fury My Brother Reuben proveth most faithful and affectionate by letting me down into the pit he thereby secureth not onely my life but also my liberty against my brethrens malice their hands cannot then reach me to do me hurt they cannot draw me thence to sell and enslave me to any Ishmaelite their envy may enquire for me but they shall not find me I shall be preserved in safety and preferred to glory when their entangled state shall affect their hearts and make them with bitterness to remember and confess they are verily guilty concerning their brother in that they saw the anguish of his soul Gen. 42.21 when he besought them and they would not hear him my being put into the pit is the passage to glory God hath determined for his beloved Josephs If darkness cover me it doth the better suit my sleeping state and capacitate me thereunto light is indeed pleasant to the eye but it is perturbing preventing when men desire to sleep my gracious God layeth me in the grave as in an house of darkness and as on a bed of silence that my wearied body may the better sleep and take its rest until it shall be awakened by his last trumpet which shall summon me to meet my Lord in glory I have no great cause to be troubled for that Nothing but evil under the sun to be known I shall not know what is done under the Sun for there can be little done against me after I am dead nothing that can hurt me suppose mens foolish envy should digg up my stinking carcass to burn or bury it under the Gallows they may annoy themselves they cannot afflict me sure I am they can do nothing under the Sun which shall concerne me when I am dead why shall I be so curious as to covet the knowledge of other mens affairs I might possibly know some good by my life but that will be but very little but I were therein sure to know very much evil and such evil as would and must afflict me whilst I know nothing under the Sun I shall not know the prophaness blasphemies impieties injustice oppressions violence superstitions perfidies perjuries and persecutions which are done under the Sun all which would call for and constrain greif in my soul and tears from my eyes seeing I could not know a little good without knowing so much evil shall I not be content to be freed from a so vexatious burden as is the knowledge of things under the Sun I hate life Eccles 2.17 because the work which is wrought under the Sun is greivous unto me for it is vanity and vexation of spirit What if I do not know what is done under the Sun After death I shall know much good I shall know much better things my soul the seat and subject of mine understanding shall be acquainted with and fully apprehend the glories which are above the Sun I shall then know the depths of divine mercy the mysteries of mans salvation 1 Cor. 13.12 I shall then know as I am known I shall perfectly know God and Christ shall I stick to