exulting Victors and Strength enough to hold them in its Dungeon till the Resurrection This Mouth of Infidelity is presently stopped Here follows A justifying Reason such as clears the Triumph from the Charge of Absurdity It is confessed if Death were but it self and not Pars minima sui it would be unworthy of the Honour of being insulted over it would be an Insect of an inconsiderable Sting if not a perfect Drone An Enemy too despicable to be triumphed over with Harp and Psaltery nor would Christians blow a Trumpet for the Overthrow of a Wasp But Death's Name is Legion and as it 's an Host of Enemies in one it is a formidable one The Sting of Death is Sin q. d. Sin is the whole Element of Evil it is all the Evil of Doing Nothing beside is Evil essentially or meritoriously This Hell of Sin being infused into Death makes it like it self even the whole Element of Misery and all the Evil of Suffering where then if not here shall be found a Trophy for Faith Here in Death envenomed by Sin By Sin whereof a Spark made Devils of the most blessed Creatures And no more than the imputed Guilt made the ever-living God to sweat Blood Seems this to be a Paradox Hear then The Strength of Sin is the Law q. d. No wonder that Sin is so pernicious a thing for the Curse of the Divine Law is on it And who can think what is God's Power or his Law 's Terror His Law must be like himself as in its Precepts and Promises so in its Threats The Punishments of so great a King must necessarily be great The Breach of his Law 's Duty can deserve no less than Extremity and Eternity of Misery and the Curse laid upon it is no less No marvel then that Sin 's Guilt maketh a Hell of Death being the Law 's Curse maketh Sin a worse thing than Death or Hell an Evil that Hell it self must have all Eternity to punish But over both Law and Sin God giveth us the Victory As fiery as this Law is Christ's Blood quencheth it As boiling a Furnace as it makes of Sin it cannot make Sin to be the Death of a Believer's Soul These the worst of Enemies are first slain For upon our first believing Christ's Righteousness is imputed and by that Imputation the Law 's Curse and Sin 's Condemnation are removed Over them we have Triumph sounded Rom. 7.4 Ye are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ And ver 24 25. Who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death's Dominion is therefore at an end though its Power to kill the most holy Body and to detain the most sacred Dust for a time be not taken from it In short the Grace of Christ hath made Sin a broken Enemy the Law a kind Friend and Death a useful Servant Doth the Saints Triumph therefore precede or exceed Victory let the Wise judg When Israel was brought through the Red Sea what Songs of Praise were straitway sung though they had a howling Desart to be passed through and were not presently in Canaan Their Songs injected Terror to the Dukes of Edom and the mighty Men of Moab Yea the Greeks no sooner heard the Articles of Peace purchased for them by Titus Flaminius but they cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Saviour a Saviour Plutarch in vit T. Flam. And with such Shouts of Joy as made the Air to ring and the Birds to drop down astonished A deep Lethargy it is that maketh Christians Joy to be less while their Reason for it is infinitely more That restrains them from such Triumph as would make the Infidel World to tremble But O where shall Offerings and whole Burnt-offerings be found For this Victory this Inchoate one Lebanon is not sufficient or the Cattel upon a thousand Hills But as Jehoshaphat in Berachah the Saints throughout the Earth do bless the Captain of their Salvation and Conquest The next Verse and Breath is An holy Gratulation A lovely Heaven of it in a little Globe of Words Thanks be to God! To the Father Son and Spirit our One God be all holy Obedience Whereof Gratitude is the principal Part that which contains and animates all Laws bind to Obedience and Benefits unto Thankfulness But God our Law-giver is in all things our Benefactor His very Laws all are Benefits To him be therefore all Obedient Thankfulness and all Thankful Obedience To him Who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Of his Saints Victory we publish the Truth We declare his Gift of Grace to be the Original We testify the Limitation of this Gift unto Believers only and the Extent of it unto all Believers As well to Babes in the Cradle of Christianity as the oldest Mnason's in God's Kingdom We proclaim the never to be forgotten Purchaser of it the Lord Jesus Christ Whose Death gave the Angel of Death his mortal Wound Whose Resurrection certified and exemplified Believers Whose Righteousness by Faith received instateth them in the Power of an endless Life Whose Sanctifying Spirit mortifieth sinful Lusts which be not the least Stings of Death Whose Comforting Spirit takes out the Pain and Anguish that Sin sticketh into our Souls And whose Glorious Appearing one day will fulfil his old Word to a tittle O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Waving all others the Argument I take hence is this Holy Believers on Christ do rejoice in their Victory over Death Truly Righteously and Holily they rejoice in their Salvation by Christ They sing O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory c. The Plural Number in which he speaks may assure us that the Apostle sung in Consort Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory And it shall be shown that this Text is all the Holy Catholick Church's Song Which while Militant is so far triumphant We may say of Death and of all Enemies in Combination with it as St. John saith of the World Whosoever is born of God overcometh them And this is the Victory that overcomes them even our Faith Consequently he that overcometh and shall not be hurt of the second Death must take it for his Duty and make it his Practice to joy in the Lord and rejoice in the God of his Salvation But lest with the Dogs I should shut Children out of the Church-Doors and wound any that have already the Arrows of the Almighty sticking in them I must premise two things Obstructions are allowed for It is not affirmed that all or any Believers do always rejoice Full oft they are hindred by Bodily Maladies by Mental Mistakes by Satan's Buffetings and by Divine Desertions Under which their Harp is turned to Mourning and their Organ into the Voice of them that weep And Secondly Degrees be wondrously different Of them that sing Triumph the Voice of some is as Thunder which all
State of Grace but verbis mentalibus by secret spiritual Words by internal mysterious Whispers testifying unto them that they are in that blessed State For the Matter of Witnessing is more than Enabling a Person to read his Evidence In Westminster-hall he would not be taken for a Witness who should do no more than hold a Candle to one reading his Evidence But the Holy Ghost the Comforter is expresly named a Witness to Believers of their being taken into the Number and being bless'd with all the Privileges of the Sons of God Ordinarily therefore I say that Believers do know the Cause of Joy that they have Though as hath been foresaid Times of Desertion there are in which they know it not And it is most certain the heavenly Comforter doth not at all times comfort Nor is joyful Assurance of the very Essence of justifying saving Faith But by reason of fore-named Obstructions Children of Light may sit all their days in the Dark and in the Deeps And ascend to Heaven at last in a thick Cloud Otherwise we do all generally believe and teach that the Spirit of Adoption being given unto Sons as Sons of God he is given unto every Child of God And commonly they do know themselves Conquerors who are in Christ and are not reprobate unsound Christians This being admitted they must be dead and not lively Stones as St. Peter calls them if they Rejoice not They must cease to be Men if they become not joyful Ones They must be stupified as soon as Justified and Adopted For the Humane Nature hath an inseparable Instinct and Power which on good Tidings heard doth transport Minds and Bodies into Expressions of Gladness Diffusing Spirits and by them sending forth the News trying as it were by communicating to multiply it Gaudio cogendi vis inest The Roman Orator says and all Men feel it Joy enters with a Violence and with a grateful Violence that we are not able to resist breaks forth from us Who thinks that David was able to forbear his Dance before the Ark Or that the healed Cripple could contain himself from Running Leaping and Praising God We have read of them who have died of Joy and it is true which one saith Should Believers have the Degrees of Assurance which imprudently they do sometimes desire they must presently Die for Joy or be kept Alive by Miracle In short then Believers must put off Nature if they rejoice not in Christ's Grace They must be without natural Affection if they be without any spiritual Consolation if ordinarily they be so Secondly Believers are wise Men And it is Wisdom to rejoice in such Felicity as Victory over Death In the Day of Prosperity Nature necessitates Joy and Reason enforces it For Happiness is a Feast made for Mirth and how monstrous a Folly must it be to frustrate so kind a Design upon us Wisdom is a true Gust and right Relish of things Sapit cui res sapiunt ita ut sunt But how far be they from it who taste no Sweetness in the Milk and Honey that flow in this Victory Hearts delighting not themselves in Substances do most certainly delight themselves in Shadows And what a Delusion is that what a gathering together of all Folly and a very Sea of it The Laughter of Wretches laden with Irons or standing on the Ladder ready for Execution seems not greater Madness than the Disconsolateness of them when they are both pardoned and advanced Should the Saints and Angels in Heaven cease rejoicing it were to be asked What Wisdom is in them They would be to be charged with extreme Folly Unreasonable it would be for them to give over Rejoicing as it would be for Devils and damned Ghosts to begin And yet it is most certain that Justified and Adopted Believers have as true Cause of Joy as Angels and glorified Spirits are in a State only in Degree less blessed consequently have as true Reason to sing Hosannah's here below as they to sing Hallelujah's above and cannot but hold on Songs of Joy in the House of their Pilgrimage without first becoming sensless of their Conquest Joyful Praise is comely for them Nor is Triumph on the way to Hell more unreasonable than on the way to Heaven it is discreet In a word To think that Saints did ordinarily incur and indulge the Guilt of its Neglect would be to think them what the World stiles them Men besides themselves This Guilt would be a dead Fly in their Ointment and make it to send forth so stinking a Savour of the most loathsom Folly Thirdly Believers are Righteous Men and it is their Justice to be glad and triumph in their Victory over Death Justice witholds not what is due when it is in the Power of its Hand to repay To repay Vengeance to Evil-doers and Praise to them that do well Death and its Complices the Law Sin Satan and Hell are Enemies that have tragically used Believers made them to bear God knows what shamed them and tempted them to curse the Day of their Birth held them subject to Bondage through Fear all the time that they laid under their Power A holy Revenge is now owing to Sin and to Satan and now that through Christ they are taken out of those cruel Hands they are able to pay it able to expose them and put them to open Shame to shew abroad how they themselves have been used by one mightier than they how the Law as damning is abolished Sin is condemned Satan's Head is bruised Death is plagued the Grave is destroyed and Hell hath its Mouth stopp'd On the contrary there is no finding out to Perfection the Breadth and Length the Depth and Height of God's Grace The Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord passeth all Vnderstanding His Grace and his Gift by Grace unto Believers are ineffable infinitely free without Merit in us or any Motive Astonishingly rich while we were Enemies most defiled and deformed ones and equally without Power to resist damning Justice and without the Prudence to ask Saving-Mercy Angels our Elders and Betters were not pitied but irreversably doomed to Destruction More than Angels and all the Creation was worth was given to redeem us even as much more than they are worth as God by Essence exceedeth the mere Creature Christ is God by eternal Essence and yet God spared not that his Son but gave him up to redeem Rebels whereat Hell envies and Heaven wonders A vast Tribute of Praise must hence rise due so due that if Believers be silent the Stones must needs cry out Believers that now are no longer Mutes have the dumb Devil expell'd and their Mouths opened for Praise their Tongues touched with a Coal from the holy Altar and qualified to lift up the Name of their Redeemer But what save Triumph in their Victory through him can render to Death the things that are Death's or to Christ the things that are Christ's If Faith doth not now play
to the Vnity and Purity of Faith Speaking of the Differences of Brethren in this City he thus expressed himself I am amaz'd to see good Men thus tear one another in the dark Nor can I understand how they should have Grace in due Exercise who value their particular Designs above the Interest of the Catholick Church and who confine Religion to their own Notions and Models To another complaining of Reproaches from pretended Friends his Answer was To me to be judged of Man and of Man's Judgment is a small thing I bless God I value not my own Name but God's only I do confess when Men wound the Credit of the Gospel through me it is hard then to bear up Nor may it be forgotten what he hath said to his dear and excellent Friend and spiritual Son of this City Dr. D. H. I bless God in fifteen Years time I have not ever given any Man's Credit a Thrust behind his Back But when I had ground to speak well of any Man I did so with Faithfulness and when I wanted a Subject that way I kept Silence O in what Concord might Prelatists and Dissenters walk much more the Dissenters themselves had they more of this Balsamick Spirit What agree in Principles of Faith in all substantial Parts of Worship and assert all of us the same Necessity of Holiness and yet bite and devour one another Blessed Saviour send down thy Spirit to us with the Wisdom that is pure and peaceable But to return Of the Man so pure and peaceable it must be added His TRIUMPHS in the Favour of God were transcendent Triumphs over Law Sin Death Grave and Hell Too few do I discern to aspire to such as he had long attained O how dwelt he on the Mount How oft was he as in the third Heaven What a Jacob what an Israel was holy Fleming Such a Wrestler and Prevailer with God such a Moses to whom God spake as it were Face to Face such a Nazarite with a Soul with a Life and with a Name darkned with no Cloud except but that of his own Humility which doth together darken a Man to himself and beautify him in the Eyes of God and Saints A Man so highly favoured of God and blessed with so much of Heaven upon this Earth is not oft found I suppose in any one Age. There is no end of Instances every Day seeming to have been a holy Sabbath and Communion-day and Day of spiritual Jubilee unto him In his last Sickness he had more than one wondrous Manifestation of God's Love to his Soul and one which he declared he had not Strength enough to have born much longer But now Of his DEATH in the Lord what shall my trembling Heart utter It was but July the 17th that his Sickness seized him and the 25th he who had so much seen the Salvation of God departed in Peace On his first Arrest O Friends said he to such as were about him Sickness and Death are serious things But till the Sparks of his Fever had risen to a Flame he was not aware that that Sickness was to be unto Death for he told a Relation of his that if it should so be it was strange being the Lord did not use to hide from him the things that he did with him and his His heavenly Father knew his thorow Preparedness for Glory and pleased not to give the Premonition which he saw him not to want Sudden Death is sudden Glory to such Saints Yet before his Expiration he was apprehensive of its Approach Calling to him a Friend he asked What Freedom do you find in Prayer for me Seems God to becken to your Petitions or does he bind you up and leave dark Impressions on your Mind This way said he I have often known the Mind of the Lord. His Friend telling him he was under Darkness in the case he said Well I know your Mind Trouble not your self for me I think I may say that I have been long above the Fear of Death His Groans and Struglings argued his Flesh to be under no small Pains But his Answers to enquiring Friends certified that the Irons did not enter his Soul Always he would say I am very Well or I was never Better or I feel no Sickness Thus would he say while he was seen to be very sensible of every thing beside Pain The malignant Distemper wasting his Natural Spirits he could speak but little But what he spake was all of it like himself Having felt himself indisposed for his wonted Meditation and Prayer he thus said to some near him I have not been able in a manner to form one serious Thought since I was sick Or to apply my self unto God as I ought But though I have not been able to apply my self unto God he has applied himself unto me And one of his Manifestations was such as I could have born no more Opening his Eyes after a long Sleep one of his Sons asked him how he did he replied Never better Do you know me said the Son unto which with a sweet Smile he answered Yes yes dear Son I know you This was about two Hours before his Ascension About an Hour after it he cried earnestly Help help for the Lord's Sake And then breathing weaker and weaker he soon gave up his precious Ghost The renewed Eagle took flight to the Mountain of Spices As his Life his Death also speaketh And whosoever hath Ears to hear let him hear what the Spirit speaketh by both of them unto the Churches His Diary the rich Treasure of his Experiences is not at hand And therefore cannot as yet be brought into publick Light But from the few Manuscripts which are here found I shall add some Hints that I judg to be very directive and incentive I mean unto the Faith of Reliance and of Assurance in which he was so eminent Unto the Love of God and Men wherein he was so vigorous Unto Meditation and Prayer and Heavenly Mindedness wherein he was so grand an Exemplar They are indeed but Hints And if any Difference be they are the most ordinary of his Memorials The more sublime and extraordinary ones are kept back of a Suspicion that the Generality of good and honest Readers might be more amused than edified by things so stupendious And so very much out of the common Road of Christian Experience But to proceed Aug. 16 1685. Thus he wrote I found some sweet Access to the Lord in the Morning in the lively Actings of Grace and after I had this Day set down some Remarks of the Day before I had some clear Impress of this Since thou art careful to improve thy Talent of Observation more shall be given and the Oil shall not fail whilst there are Vessels to receive And now O the sweet Evening of this same Day when in the outer-Walk where I had found a sore Damp for some time the Door was as it were cast open with such a clear imparting
by them exposed to the Jealousies of his Children and to the Prejudices of his Enemies Their Character is blotted and they must be taken rather for the defiling Pitch than the cleansing Salt of the Earth Lastly Believers are obedient Children of God and it is their required Obedience to triumph in their Victory through Christ It is not only a Licence for it that the Gospel giveth them but it is a Precept The old Primitive Law bound Man innocent to Joy and Glory in his blessed Life The Redeemer's Law doth not less oblige Man renewed to Joy and Glory in his more wonderful Salvation in his more blessed Life brought out of Death Who knows not how expresly and repeatedly this Precept is proclaimed Be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye Righteous Shout for Joy all ye that are upright Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud Rejoice and be exceeding glad Rejoice in the Lord and again I say Rejoice Rejoice evermore Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with Joyfulness and Gladness of Heart thou shalt serve thine Enemies c. Texts are numberless Under the Law it self many were the Feasts instituted for one Fast In the Gospel-day the Holy Ghost is sent to be a Comforter extraordinary It were endless to enumerate the Ways in which God expresseth his Zeal for his Saints Joy The Reasons of which Zeal are both great and evident For Joy is the commanding Affection the End of all others that which all do subserve and seek And if this Ruler be corrupted all its Servants are necessarily wicked If this Potentate be not obedient to God it draws the whole Man into Rebellion He that rejoiceth not in Christ Jesus feels a thousand Temptations to forsake him yea in a fearful Degree he doth forsake him for not to delight and rejoice in him is to vilify and dishonour him and that is to forsake him with whatever unpleasant Services you shall all the while follow him All is Carrion that is not chearfully given it is not pure Sacrifice that is not offered with Joy and Gladness In short Thoughts of a Christ not delighted in will come but seldom and stay but little in any Mind and a Heart not delighted in him will soon believe a little Meditation of him to be enough and all the Duties which are laborious to be an Excess Why are secret ones and publick so generally neglected What maketh Backwardness to them and Weariness in them Whence rise Christians Inclinations to foolish forbidden Chats and Games Whence cometh their Quarrelsomness with each other and with their spiritual Fathers and Nurses To these and many like Questions it must be answered They rejoice not in Christ Jesus It needs not be said how impossible it is without Joy in him to rejoice in Tribulations to take joyfully the spoiling of outward Goods and to lay down our Lives for him Sense doth sufficiently certify it What shall we then judg of Believers if we take them for Men that make no Conscience of rejoicing in Christ We must judg them in the worst sense to be Solifidians very Demoniacks that break all Bonds and cast the strongest Cords of God behind their Backs which is as truly impossible as it would be unrighteous for a sound Believer ordinarily to do Extraordinary is the Case of Persons obstructed by a melancholy Habit of Body and temporary Temptations To will is present with them though how to do they find not They are not Fugitives but Captives and sold under Sorrow So that it is a Duty they would do which they do not do while remembring Death they are troubled they complain and their Spirit is overwhelmed Of other Christians I stick not to say They do not rightly seek the Lord who rejoice not and are not glad in him through whom they are Conquerors of Death who are Strangers to the Peace the Joy and the Glory of Faith Rom. 5.1 2 3. I am next to show that §. 2. Saints do Righteously triumph aloud over Death To shout for Joy as soon as they are in Christ is their reasonable Service The Equity of the Command is apparent as the Authority of the Law-giver and the Objections against it are Chaff easily blown away The Sum of them all is this Heaven only is the Seat of high Joy On Earth 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absurd and out of Place It is a Business proper for none but Spirits made perfect unspotted with Sin unclouded with Sorrow unalarmed with Fear but most unfit for Souls that are bemired with Corruption laden with Guilt clothed with Infirmities surrounded with Temptations and in Jeopardy every Hour The Answer is of no Difficulty Though the King's Presence makes the Fulness of Joy above it gives abundance below The Victory given to Believers in Vocation and Adoption possesses them of an Heaven on Earth We which have believed do enter into Rest Heb. 4.3 Ye that believe on the Name of the Son of God may know that ye have eternal Life 1 Joh. 5.13 This but-inchoate Victory makes all old things pass away and all things become new The Believer's Corruption is mortified Guilt 's pardoned Infirmities gradually healed Temptations rebuked Persecutions sweetned Death disarmed and all things are made to serve his Interests All things are yours 1 Cor. 3. What is there to hurt after removal of Sin 's Guilt and the Law 's Curse which is the Divine Hatred and Wrath What is lacking to his Comfort whose Transgression is forgiven and Sin covered In short There do meet in this inchoate Victory of Believers all things requisite to make an Object of Joy unspeakable and thereby to justify the most lofty Triumph For what should put a Soul into Exultation if not First So Great a Blessing One if it must be called it is One and All. And of a Greatness shining forth in the extreme and eternal Evil from which it exempts and Good wherewith it endows If the Pitch of Joy should be proportionable to the Good of its Object here can be no Excess Secondly So Everlasting an One The greatest things if like Jordan's Streams they hasten to a sulphurous Lake are unworthy of Delight It is a sorry Feast on which Death it self must one day feed But Duration makes things of value to be invaluable And nothing is more durable than a Believer's Victory His Crown is immortal And Heaven shall no longer be a Kingdom than he reigns in it with Christ Peccata non redeunt his Pardon is irrevocable the Love of God to him is unchangeable the Seed of God in him is incorruptible If then Immortality it self doth appretiate all Joy is not too much for him whose Object is for all Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly So Sutable an One The most durable Goodness gives little Joy without Sutableness Pleasure is applicatio convenientis convenienti All the Mines of India would less transport a famishing Man than a Morsel of Bread But never was