the sting of Death they can play upon the hole of this Aspe without danger and wellcome the grimmest approach of this Destroyer with a smile being freed from the Venom of this Serpent by him who is the Captain of the Lords Hosts who hath abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to light He has by his own Death made Death to them not onely tollerable and easie but desirable and gladsome Indeed none dared cope with this King of Terrors but our Blessed Lord and he by dying went into the Den of this Dragon Fought it and Conquered it in its own Territories and Dominions 6. Prop. Notwithstanding all that Christ hath done to reconcile us to a view and prospect of our Dissolution yet so deep is the love of Life and fear of Death implanted in us all that Nature cannot but tremble at the approaches of it Though this Serpent is bereaved of his Sting and the Nature of it changed to every holy man yet its hissing affects us at sometimes with a cold sweat and shivering some regrets and aversation from it The heart of that man who is most heavenly and covetous of entring the promised new Canaan who breathes after that happy Country the Jerusalem above is now and then startled at his passage thorough the howling Desert which leads thither he would be cloathed with Immortality and yet unwilling to put off the Garment of this Body We would be blessed and happy but wish it might be some other way than by dying Loath weare to be absent from the Lord and yet desirous to be present here we may desire to be with the Lord and yet at sometimes very loath to depart it is often the case of many a Child of God that he very willingly would be at his journeys end and yet at the same time dreads the going the way of all flesh which leads to it thus like little Children we are covetous of being cloathed with a new Garment and yet may be so pained and pinched in the putting of it on that it may force a Tear or two to distil from our Eyes in the exchange of our Sute of Flesh for the Robes of Glory 7. Prop. This natural fear of Death frequently sinks and degenerates into a very vitious and sinful one It is difficult in this matter so to fear as not to over-fear Our Passions of this nature are often subject either to mistake their Object by fearing what we need not or else to exceed their bounds by fearing more than we need or ought Hence it often comes to pass That this dread of Death has proved a great snare to the best Men. What mean and unmanly shifts what poor tricks and artifices what unfriendly ways and methods have many used even to the spilling of others Blood to save their own They have sullied their Names and Reputations wounded their own Spirits and grieved those of their Friends and all to eke out an Inch of Life Abraham though dignified with that Illustrious Title of the Father of the faithful yet so unbelieving was he of God's Providence over him that he betakes himself to sinful Equivocations those Cousin-germains to a Lye to save his Life While we use any indirect means to prolong our days it plainly Reproaches us to our faces that we fear men more than God and Death more than Hell and Damnation which is very absurd and foolish to fear the less and not the greater evil to be afraid to dye but not to be Damned Great reason therefore there is to watch over this Natural Fear lest it prove immoderate and betray us into the hands of many foul Temptations as it did Abraham Isaac and Peter Our Saviour gives us praemonitions about it when he instructs us not to be afraid of men who can kill the body and after that have no more that they can do but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear c. Luke 12.4 5. One fear like fire drives out another If the fear of God more prevailed in our hearts it would wonderfully qualifie and moderate all the powers of our Souls that there would not be such prevailing excesses and disorders in them Our care therefore must be that our Natural Fear be compatible with that which is gracious and that we never dread any thing further than it is consistent with the fear of God 8. Prop. This Natural fear of Death being kept within due bounds may very much be improved to our advantage 1. It will help us to be more patient underder all poenal evils So Sentence of Death be not executed Stripes and Imprisonment Fines and Banishment are more easily under-gone Skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life Job 2.4 A living man will not complain Lam. 3.39 Thou art alive man that one word encircles many Blessings and I pronounce an hundred Good things in that comprehensive Monosyllable Of all other evils we say They are not so bad as Death and therefore they may and must be bore 2. It will make us more watchful against all sinful evils God has in his Law appointed Death as a punishment for many Offences that it might be a curb and bridle in our Mouths to restrain us from the Commission of those Sins and when men throw this aside what wickedness is there which they will not attempt Eve was emboldned to sin by the Devils telling her she shall not die Men will not commit that wickedness which they know is not onely against God but against their own lives also 3. It will weaken our pride It will render us more low and vile in our own Eyes This will much abate our Pride and keep us humble Put them in fear O God viz. of Death that they may know themselves to be but men Psal 9.20 4. It will strengthen our Faith We received saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 1.9 10. the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the Dead While a man looks to sense and is upheld by sensible Comforts there is not that exercise for Faith which otherwise there would be for the exercise therefore and strengthning of his Grace so acceptable to God and advantageous to us God exposes his Children to this fear of Death that when all other helps and supports are removed they may fly to him for Refuge The Bohemians when they lost their famous Captain Zisca stiled themselves Orphans She that is a widdow indeed and desolate trusteth in God 1 Tim. 5.5 Whereas while she had an Husband and Children she trusted over-much in them The Hemorrhoisse made not her Applications to our Lord till all her stock was spent A poor and afflicted people will trust in the name of the Lord Zeph. 3.12 5. It will quicken our preparations for death God therefore wills it That we should have not onely some thoughts but also some fears of Death that we may improve the day of Grace and
be working while it is called to day Fear is an Affection which quickens to Action Noah being moved with fear prepared an Ark Heb. 11.7 They that fear not Death grow desperate their Language is Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die but they that are armed with this well-guided and bounded fear infer much more wisely saying Let us pray read hear repent believe obey for to morrow we die Thus you see great advantages may be made of this Natural infirmity and we may learn how to turn our Water into Wine to make those thoughts of Death which at some times lie very cold at our Stomachs to become very cordial and reviving against all sinful and immoderate dread of it Grace though it do not extinguish yet it corrects and regulates Nature and by the ways above mentioned mortifies this fear that it prove not a Temptation to Sin Stoicism hath attempted to do this but Christianity onely can and hath effected it In the School of Christ is best taught the right Cure of all our amazing and distracting fears 2. I come now to inquire into the grounds and causes of this fear As before I distinguished this fear it self so now I shall the causes of it into Natural and Sinful 1. Natural Causes Death on this account is dreadful because it is a future unavoidable evil to Nature As a future possible good is the object of hope so a future possible evil is the object of fear and much more it is to be dreaded when it is a certain futurity as death is which no ways can be declined Nature looks upon Death as its Enemy whose design is to divorce and separate Soul and Body two ancient Comerades no wonder therefore that it shun it when it knows it shall one day fall by the hand of it Memorable is the passage of that Martyr to the Executioner driving the Staple into the Stake Pray friend knock it in fast for Nature will be working And that this fear is greater in some than others from the very constitution and temperament of the Body is every days observation Our very natural Complexion renders us either more bold or fearful This is a natural Passion which though it may be Corrected and Sanctified yet it cannot be totally Conquered for Religion changes not the temperament of the Body Good men who are of this fearful temper and melancholy disposition and experience the tyranny of this Natural Passion have need to pray for the Sanctification of it I never thought Religion did depend upon the temper of the Body but I am sure the acting and exerting of it very much doth But these fears so far as they are Natural they are Lawful for they are not Transgressions of any precept and though they may be reckoned amongst our infelicities and weaknesses yet they come not into the number of our Sins and Crimes 2. There are sinful grounds of this fear of Death these chiefly are to be regarded and they are very many some I shall name and can do little more than in the gross produce them leaving you to enlarge on them and I am sure any man of thoughts may be very Copious on this Subject his own inward sense of things strongly will attest all to him This sinful fear proceeds 1. From the want of a holy fear the fear of the Great God As the fear of him is the less the fear of God in our Lives is the ready way to cast us into a slavish fear of Death It was one of the Judgments Threatned Deut. 28.58 65 66. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name THE LORD THY GOD Then neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest but the Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee and thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have no assurance of thy life 2. From the want of faith in the death of Christ springs this fear of our own death Even the children holy and religious persons who live soberly righteously and godly are sometimes beset with these uncomfortable apprehensions of Death being now and then plagued with the remainders of an unbelieving heart as if still Death were not subdued as if Death had conquered Christ and not Christ Death The Disciples were terrified and frighted and unbelieving thoughts did arise in their hearts Luk. 24.37 38. Fools our Lord calls them and slow of heart to believe ver 25. We trusted that it had been he which would have redeemed Israel v. 21. Here their Faith flag'd and hang'd the wing extreamly their Buckler was much battered and stood in need of beating out again Weakness of Faith gives strength to our Fears and doth both greaten and multiply them upon us Faith is not without its Conflict with sadness of Spirit and carnal fears Amalek sometimes is too hard for Israel and the House of Saul frequently prevails over the House of David 3. This Fear proceeds from want of serious meditation on Death and due preparation for it Our negligence and sloath in not finishing that Work which God has put into our hands to do way well make us loath to come to an account with our Lord. Bad Stewards are afraid of a Reckoning and Death coming thus suddenly puts all into Confusion Suddenness and fear are joyned together Prov. 3.25 Suddenness of Destruction is the description of a doleful and fearful Estate When men have laid in no Antidotes and Cordials against Death then like Nabal their Hearts die before they do This was Davids Case Psal 39. ult O spare me Stay a little that I may get strength to combat with this Adversary The best are too backward in their preparations for this Encounter with this grim and gastly Enemy and therefore are not without their fears But oh who can express that great fearfulness which needs must surprise Unregenerate men who are clapping many Stings into their Deaths by their repeated and continued Sins they take pains to make their End uneasie and with their Vices dress up Death in a terrible Vizard to affright them What ease can they live at whose Souls this Night may be turned out of their soft Beds where now they lye securely snorting into a Bed of Flames one would think these Men should eat their Bread with trembling and the thoughts of their danger should keep them waking There is no wonder that a sinful Cause should produce a sinful Effect and that Mens Terrors should be increased with their Offences Every wicked man must look Death in the face with pale cheeks It was a Copy of Julians countenance but not of his dying one when he said Vitam repescenti naturae tanquam debitor bonae fidei redditurus exulto What Solomon speaks of Prophane mens merry living That even in laughing their heart is sorrowful Prov.
Truth 1. Prop. Man in his first Creation was not made Mortal or Corruptible Adam fell into a dying condition in the day that he Rebelled against the Crown and Dignity of Heaven I know the Question is much controverted Whether Adam were made Immortal or no This were to make Death necessary before Sin which the Apostle contradicts when he writes Rom. 5. That by one mans sin death came into the World and Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death Death is the fruit and effect of our Disobedience and passes upon all inasmuch as all have sinned Rom. 5.12 2. Prop. All men are now subject unto death as it is poenal The first Sentence reaches all Mankind Gen. 2.17 Most men look on Death as the common lot and condition of Mankind resulting from their frail condition and the jarring and warring Principles of their composition which for want of poise destroy one another They think it belongs onely to our Natural and not at all to our Moral Capacity reckoning it to be the consequent of their Being and not the demerit and punishment of our Guilt It is very true though the principles of our Nature are subject to Dissolution yet if we had not declined from the Law of our Creation we had not inclined to the Grave or Corruption but God had made our Life commensurate with our Holiness and prolonged our Time with our Obedience But alas Death now is not more Natural than it is Poenal All Mankind is Condemned as soon as Born Life is a Reprieve and short suspension of the execution of that Sentence which in the day of Adam's Transgression was pronounced on him and his descendants And oh miserable we if we improve not this small scantling of time to sue out our Pardon and make our peace with this incensed Judge of Heaven and Earth who though he be a Serene yet withal is a dreadful Majesty and will infallibly Execute the severity of the Sentence on every Offender who doth not timely accept and comply with those Terms and Articles of Peace which in the Preaching of his Gospel are tendred to them 3. Prop. Fear and Bondage are inseparable attendants on such a sinful and poenal state It cannot be avoided but that the expectation of Death in such a condition must be very troublesome This is a strait Yoak and will pinch the Necks of all the Sons and Daughters of Adam though some wear it more easily than others This will perplex our minds raise storms within and sink us frequently into deep despondencies for we know not how to cast it off in vain are all attempts to slip the Neck out of this Collar we are unable to deliver ourselves no man can free his own Soul We are in God's Chain and it is impossible to break it all our strivings will contribute nothing to its Removal but onely gall and torment us more 4. Prop. Whatsover bitterness and gall there is in Death it is from Sin that makes it more terrible than otherwise it would be 1 Cor. 15.56 The sting of Death is sin So many Sins as thou committest so many stings thou puttest into thy Death to render it more dreadful to thee Could a man dye and have no Sin laid to his Charge though there might be some pain yet there could not be Terror in his departure out of this World Well may Death be called the Terrible of Terribles when there is not onely an apprehension of the dissolution and divorce between the Soul and Body but there interposes and starts up the guilt of many Sins which confront the Sinner and stare him in the face nay those sins that had a gaudy and tempting dress will then be strip'd of all their feigned Beauties and appear in all their dreadful Circumstances agitating and terrifying the Consciences of men with the expectation and dread of future Evils When the Sinner dare not die yet cannot live what Convulsions must there needs be in his Breast which must terrify him like the cracks of a falling House What a calm and well-natured Death might a man have far beyond that Euthanasia which Augustus wished for himself if Sin and Hell and approaching Judgment and a gnawing Worm within did not drive him into Agonies and Despair Alas when nothing is in view to him but these things and the conclusion of the whole matter will with him be nothing short of hideous Darkness and a tormenting Fire having Heat but no Light gnashing of Teeth late Remorse incurable Wounds Self-hatred and all imaginable distresses even to be hated of God and to hate him for ever He must needs turn away his Face in the anguish of his Soul from beholding such distracting Objects These things our Sins procure for us and fill our Souls with all the anticipations of Hell 5. Prop. The Death of Christ applyed by Faith is the onely Soveraign Remedy to deliver us out of this estate of Fear and Slavery Our Heavenly Elisha hath cast Salt into those bitter Waters and so healed them Death to a Believer is a Serpent without a sting He hath fortified us against these Fears two ways 1. By giving us the example of his Dying His tasting of Death before hand keeps it from being a Cup of Trembling and wonderfully will this animate our Spirits under all dejections That our Lord walked in this dark Valley before us 2. By affording us the merit and efficacy of his Death This is very operative to this purpose to consider That our Redeemer and the Captain of our Salvation undertook our Deliverance by his own Death so that now there is no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 For being justified by Faith in the Death of Christ they have peace with God and in themselves Rom. 5.1 Thus has Christ changed the nature of Death that it should be more desirable than dreadful to a good Man being like Josephs Chariot sent for dying Jacob to carry us to the place of our hope and desire This made the Apostle ring that sharp and shrill Note in the ears of Death and send that bold and brave Challenge to the last eneny 1 Cor. 15.55 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Death is swallowed up in Victory It is not now so much an Outlet of Temporal as an Inlet of Eternal Life Well might the Apostle write insultingly as a man offering Sacrifice for Victory and singing a Triumphant Song while his Feet stood on the Neck of his Enemy We know now to whom to have Recourse when our Spirits droop at the apprehension of our Decease not to Saints or Angels not to the Blessed Virgin her self but to her Son who is the Lord of Life that Brazen Serpent we are to look upon when that Fiery one of Death puts out his Sting and we are sufficiently Antidoted against all the Poyson that is spit at us Thus we see the Children though they cannot escape the stroak yet they are freed from