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
and subsist with my very self I cannot be and be without them I cannot lay them down without laying my self aside vanity vexation and trouble qualifie my life as inseperable to it why am I perplexed with an apprehension that such a life draweth to a period I have all my days been persecuted by humane rage and power and so should be still if I live longer I may well be contented to be resolved into an estate of peace when men have killed my body they have done their worst their all they have me not to insult over they do much better for me then they are aware of they give me a writ of ease from all my travel and trouble in the grave the wicked do and shall cease from troubling Job 3.17 18. the weary shall be at rest the prisoners do rest together and they hear not the voice of the oppressor My soul were there no more in death but this release from greif pain sorrow and travel thou mayest well resign me up to the stroak of death I may be content not to be that so I may not be so miserable well may death be sweet to me to whom my whole life hath been so bitter how many have desired death because of the danger distress and dolour of their lives how many have sinfully destroyed their lives to deliver themselves from their cares fears greifs wants and woful pains I desire not I dare not I will not tempt God and murmur against his providence by hastening my death by a violent untimely unlawful unnatural act of self-violence all the days of mine appointed time I will wait till my change come but I may very cheerfully willingly yeild unto that stroak which is sent of God to ease me of so great a burden the rather because Death is my discharge from sin as well as from sorrow and death onely can be the discharge thereof In iniquity I was conceived Psal 51.5 in sin did my Mother bring me forth sin is to me as natural as my self it is inherent in my being it was born with me it hath grown up with my â—ody that will not that cannot be divided from this this corruptible body is the uphold of the body of corruption these two do stand and will fall together This dying flesh is not only the subject of sence but also the seat of sin the members of my body are the instruments of sin unto and until death how tormenting hath life been unto my soul by reason of temptation unto sin the constant militation of my flesh hath made my life a continual conflict how have I feared to nourish my body because thereby I made provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof I could never yet tame sin but by buffetting my flesh and by abstracting from the supports of my being I cannot be rid of sin till I be released of life Oh the care to avoid fear to commit sin to which I have been subject how many times have I been forced to embrace sorrow to shun sin and to sit alone exposed to scorn and misery because I durst not run to the excess of riot with other men Mortification of sin hath been the main of my business since I saw the sinfulness of sin and yet do I what I could it would and doth exist in me and prevail upon me to the often checking my comforts hindring my communion with God and wounding my conscience by omissions of and defects in duty by commission of hainous sins and many abberrations from my heavenly father forced to fetch me home by paternal castigation though Gods grace hath maintained in me a constant militation thaâ— sin could not reign in my mortaâ— body and my Father hath ever kept me under the rod of correction yet the law in my members hath rebelled against the law in my mind and led me captive unto sin the best of my life hath been a candid confession and a continual complaint that the good I would do I do not and the evil I would not do that I do and an affectionate outcry Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin I must I may whilst I live make it my care to keep under my body lest my sin overcome me and yet whilst I abide in the body I shall bear about a body of corruption the death of this shall be and it onely can be the destruction of that Onely in the grave I shall cease to sin when I am not I shall not be sinful I shall not be a sinner My Soul Dost thou desire to be freed from the suggestions temptations and inclinations to sin and yet tremble at the thoughts of dissolution which will and onely can deliver thee from them all be assured after death thou shalt not be greived for because thou shalt not be stained with thy daily guilt thy sinful nature shall then no more greive the Spirit of thy holy God Hast thou waged a mortal warfare against thy sin all my life and wilt thou now give back in the last mortal stroak though this fall upon thy self with some violence it will certainly give thee the full conquest over thy lusts with which thou hast so long contested fall willingly under that fall which will make thee full victor over these cursed Philistines Come O my soul be willing to stoop that thou mayst lay down thy load submit freely to that stroak which will for ever set thee free from all sin and from all sorrow cease to complain that thy life hath been tedious and tiresom troubleous and toilsom or shew thy self content and truly glad to be eased desire to be dissolved that thy burden of sin and sorrow may be discharged Be still O my soul the stroke of death is dreadful but it once struck doth for ever dismiss and destroy the suggestions of Satan the motions of sin the actings of unrighteousness the apprehensions of Gods wrath and afflictions by mens rage and envy with all other evils who would not bear some dread to be delivered from so great distress when I am dead I shall cease from my labour I shall rest from mine own works of sin and sorrow these are indeed most properly mine own works produced procured by my self created continued by and with my self acted by existent in and with my self to be only desolved and destroyed with my self whilst I am I am as yea above others of my brethren the Butt of Satans rage and mens malice the subject of strong passions and finful motions whilst I have lived I have not done duty to God without great defect I have not delivered my Masters message among men without great danger Satan hath hunted me into sin and wicked men hath hunted me into sufferings they have lien in wait for me they have laboured to make my tongue my trap and to ensnare me by my words but I may now be content these can follow me no further they
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
DEFENCE Against the Dread of Death OR ZACH. CROFTON'S Meditations and Soliloquies concerning the stroak of death sounded in his ears in the time 〈◊〉 his close Imprisonment in the Towâ— of London Anno. 1661 and 166â— Digested for his own private satisfaction and support in the vale of the shadow of death AND NOW Made publique for the advantage of such as abide under Gods present Visitation in London by the Pestilence Printed in the Year 1â—â—â— To the serious dying Christian Reader Especially those in and about London subjected to Gods visitation by the present Pestilence and under a daily exspectation of an arrest by death Christian and beloved Friends WHat was lately mine is now become your sad estate viz. the dreadful expectation of deaths stroak in the multitude of my thoughts within me the consolations of God did refresh and revive my soul the kind of death which threatned me is different from what impendeth you but the object of dread was to me and you the same viz Death and the same apprehensions of its nature which did affect me must affect you with fear and hope the ensuing meditations ministred a check to my passions and comfort to my spirit by these I perswaded my soul to be willing and contented though not desirous to part from my body and to let me cheerfully lye down and dye these were digested on my personal account for my private support and encouragement under the fears of death they having done their work were by me condemned to death at least to present darkness but are now by your sad condition animated and restored and the publication thereof is extorted by the importunity of some special friends who had formerly seen and perused them and in an affectionate sence of your sad condition subjected to the terrors of night the Arrow which flyeth by day the Pestilence which walketh in darkness and the destruction which wasteth at noon-day calling more loudly for Antidotes to the sting then to the stroak of death have restlesly sollicited these papers to be put into your hands The dread of death is as common as natural to man as is the stroak thereof it never appeared with its pale face to any subject of â—â—â—ht reason or true religion but with a terrifying aspect the Heathen accounted it of terrible things the most terrible they could no way render it comfortable but by representing it the sum the completion and so the period of evil and misery Cold comfort The Scripture calleth it the King of terrors which of Gods Saints have not feared to dye David was beset with the terrors of death Paul could not desire to be unclothed The onely begotten Son of God had his soul heavy unto death and in a fearful agony deprecated the stroak thereof the Saints never cursed the day of their birth and cryed out for their death but in the extremity of their perplexity and in the prevalency of their passion evidenced by this very character men exempt from phrensie and not miraculously extraordinarily acted by a divine spirit as were the three Children and other Martyrs must be the subjects of stoical Apathie senseless stupidity strong delusions or a reprobate sencâ— if they fear not the stroak of death I envy not some who havâ— I thought dyed too stoutly in suâ—h a cause their courage and conâ—â—dence in out-facing death But this I must say to all Christianun agere is not hominem exucre Christians cease not to be men nor is it fit they should so do Bernard well noteth of Peter the Apostle Bernardi Tract de gratia Libero Arbitrio that his sin was not in the simple fear of death Mortem evadere voluit quid istud criminis fuit voluit mori inculpabilis est To be unwilling affraid to dye is lawfully humane and not blame-worthy in a Christian It is equally monstrous in nature and a judgement from the Lord not to fear to dye and not to mourn for the dead I must say with the holy Greenham They are as well to be liked who fear death as those who joy at it And I for my part fluctuating on the waves of violence and uncertainty in an evil age and world must say as this good man Greenh work p. â— Notwithstanding my many crosses which hinder the comfort of my life I do not I dare not desire to die Death is in its nature most terrifying to the soul yet it s dreadful circumstances and concomitants do ordinarily more affect the sence and provoke the passions Seneca placed the most dread in the Scaffold the Ax the attendance the spectators the executioners and march to execution that pompa mortis These were no meanly affecting circumstances to me in my expectation of a violent death to you the suddenness the solitariness the certainty of the stroak by an inevitable noisom contagion may appear most grievous He who dieth in due course of nature meeteth with dread in death but he that dieth by some special kind of death as by sword or pestilence hath his dread aggravated and more eminently needeth the defence of a lively faith to repel the terrors of a lively sence which can and must be the result of a rational and Christian apprehension of deaths changed nature and quality with the sequels thereof through Christ the Lord of life these will alleviate the burden abate the strength abstract the sting and alter the countenance of death of any kind of death Familiarity breedeth contempt and casteth out fear the Fox by frequency playeth boldly with the lion We read of an Hungarian Prince who affected his youthful brother rebuked his daily meditations of death with an unexpected summons to execution Men little think of dying therefore are the terrors of death so stinging Plato perswading to thoughts of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defined true Philosophy to be a meditation of death Certain it is that they who will truly Christianize must be much in consideration of death and careful to dye well When men are every moment obnoxious to the sudden and certain stroaks of death it is time if ever they will be wise to labour to represent death lovely to their souls funeral Sermons â—ound best in the ears spectacles of mortality is the most pleasing sight and meditations of death the most delighting study not only to the mortified Christian but also to the dying man Croesus the rich King of Lydia when captivated stript and tyed alive to the stake which must make his funeral pile could affectionately cry out O Solon Solon and preach to Cyrus his Conqueror Solons Dictates of Mortality which in his prosperity he had despised And Seneca declining in Neroes favour and drawing nigh to his violent death did best discern and most clearly declare that mans felicity was after death The prophane men which in health neglect and despise Gods Ministers and cannot endure to hear of death or Jesus Christ can on a sick bed send for them gladly hear
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
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
entertain such an exchange of objects to mine understanding is not my loss great and greatly to be lamented by which I onely loose the knowledge of vanity which would not make me happy and iniquity which would make me miserable but gain the knowledge the perfect knowledg of good much good true and substantial good only good without the least mixture of evil and that in an estate in the enjoyment of perfect glory SECT XII AFter death there shall be no remembrance of me No remembrance of me after death nor of my sin but it s no matter a great name foolishly purchased by the great precipitacie of some in the world is nothing but a great bubble of vanity which will wear out at last time will eat it out of the strongest Cities or marble Monuments and I hope when I am forgotten my sin shame will also be forgotten serious thoughts suggest unto me content the little good I have done should be forgotten so that my folly and wickedness may not be remembred and yet My soul be not dismaid the Scripture doth declare the memory of the just is blessed Psal 10.7 112.6 and the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance God hath provided that his peoples names shall live when their dead bodies shall consume in the grave the Lord hath used me whilst I lived as an instrument of his truth and honour can I dye and be forgotten in his Church or among his people shall not my works follow me shall not my works praise me in the gate can the sinners by me reproved or the Saints by me converted to or confirmed in the truth remember themselves their sin or duty and forget me God hath blessed me with many lasting memorials of nature a fruitful progeny I need not build tombs or Cities and call them after my name for when I am dead my sons will preserve the memory of my name the rotting of the name is a curse entailed on men of rotten lives and is ordinarily effected by Gods cutting off the budding race and hopeful progeny whatever hath befallen me in this life God hath not suffered this cause procuring or producing this effect to be my lot I will not therefore torment my self with a fear that it should follow me when dead Notwithstanding my sinfulness my care shall be that my life and death may make it legible that my name is written in the book of life and therein I have cause to rejoyce more then if the devils weâ—â— subject to me Luk. 10.20 I have laid hoâ—d on Gods Covenant he hath given me a place in his sanctuary better then a name of sons and daughters my name can never be blotted out of that book mine interest and relation by that covenant shall ever be acknowledged and remembred I therefore cannot possibly be buried in oblivion SECT XIII DEath will remove me from my place Death wil remove me from my place but it is movable that it shall know me no more it will so but shall this dismay me am not I a pilgrim in this earth as all my fathers were the Patriarchs passed their time on earth in moveable tents Looking for a City whose founder and maker is God Heb. 10.10 the houses in which I have lived have seemed to be more lasting structures yet they never were to me any durable stations I have not indeed removed my tents but I have been often removed from my tents I have ever been in a shifting state moving from one house unto another from one place to another and this hath been to me very tedious and irksom my Father did indeed raise many stately structures In Dublin in Ireland not one of all his sons possessed them or any of them the brick walls may bear his name none of his children do or can inhabit them God hath made constant motion my condition he hath wisely moved me from place to place that I might be in love with no place under the sun if I have liked mine house place never so well I have by one means or other been forced to leave it and that either because it was none of mine or else mens persecuting rage would not suffer me in peace to possess it or because my Masters work hath been done in that place and called me to another How often have I been forcibly removed from people whom I have dearly loved and from places where I thought I had pitched my tent and resolved to rest I digged a grave for my children wherein I intended to have been intombed my self and yet my dead babes are dispersed their graves are at a distance each from other and t is very unlikely my grave should be with any of them If Death remove me from my place it doth nothing but what hath been common to me all my life I will not therefore think it strange once more to remove my place but will readily contentedly pack up and be gone for this remove shall be my last remove for this remove shall be my best remove for this remove shall move me from Earth to Heaven and there I have an house of mine own a better house then any this world affordeth an house not made with hands an eternal house whose builder and maker is God a Mansion house prepared by Christ my precursor for to entertain me and wherein I must and shall abide for ever an house which time cannot waste or ruine nor humane force pull down or raze an house most pleasantly scituated accommodated with all conveniencies exempt from all annoyances and amply furnished with what may make it to me an happy habitation an house it is for which I shall pay no rent or taxes in which I shall not live a tenant at will but I shall possess this house fully freely and for ever being once settled in it I shall not desire to leave it I shall not be sequestred out of it and that which is worth all this house is mine own house mine inheritance purchased for me by my Saviour and passed unto by the gift of my gracious Father none can dispute my title or by an Ejectione firma force me out of my house My soul Shall I not be willing to go to and live in mine own house and that being so well scituate so conveniently formed so well furnished rather then in a strangers inconvenient house Shall I not prefer an house of Gods building before the best of mans shall I not chuse an eternal rather then a decayed falling ruinous habitation My soul be not troubled at this remove thou beleivest in God beleive also in Christ he hath said in his Fathers House are many mansions John 14.1 2. if it were not so he would have told us he is gone before to prepare a place for his removing people shall I not up and after such an harbinger to possess the glorious mansions of his most gracious provision Why is my remove by