painful sting of death in the two former particulars then in this third is the very poison of it That as the sting of a Bee may be very painful but This is the Hornet and Scorpion This Scorpions sting in the tail as those Rev. 9. 10. in the end of our life is most deadly as they use to say Maximè mortiferi morsus bestiarum morientium the biting of a dying beast is most deadly the sting of death if dipt in the venome of Gods wrath is both intolerable and incurable That facies Hypocratica which Physicians speak of of a spent dying man looks very ghastly but no sight in all the world more dreadful than to see an awakened dying sinner as a Saul Judas Francis Spira c. conflicting with death and sin and the law and Gods curse and wrath altogether If in a dying houre in stead of Gods reviving smile the sinner meeteth with his deadly frown so that when death hath made his grave his sin like a massie grave-stone Isa 24. 20. lie heavy upon him how miserably is that poor wretch pressed to death and how deadly is that groan when you may hear him sighing out his soul with this saddest mone Oh! I am so sick that I cannot live and yet woful wretch that I am Dr. Harris so sinful that I dare not die Oh that I might live Oh that I might die O that I might doe neither At non sic abibunt odia Friend you shall doe both because you are a sinner you must die but because you die in your sin you shall live in torment to eternity 4. For that is the last and worst sting of death which thrusts the sword in to the hilts that it is such a sting quo mortales ex hac vitâ Del-Rio Adag pag. 250. expellens ad mortem secundam exstimulat that this first death when come if better care be not before taken will prick us on and thrust us into a second for so was the tenor of the first sentence In dying thou shalt die So that one death Gen. 2. 17. leadeth on to another the first to the second that whatever it be which the unpardoned sinner suffereth in the first death it is but the beginning Matth. 24. 8. Deut. 32. 22. of sorrowes the fire now kindled will burn to the lowest hell for so we read of death mounted on his pale horse and hell following him Rev. 6 8. and that was in the time of the See C. à Lapide in Hos 13. 14 Gospel and not onely of the Law that after death cometh judgement Heb. 7. 29. and that when the body returneth to the dust the spirit shall return unto God who gave it Eccles 12. 7. if not to him as a Father to be received into his bosome then as to a Judge to receive its everlasting doom and if as the Apostle saith the Devil hath the power of death Heb. 2. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Targum habet imperium mortis Grotius you may easily gather that with some death and hell are not farre asunder and although he helped the Heathen to put out of their mindes the dreadfulnesse of it by the dream of their Elysian fields as he doth the Turks now by that of their Paradise yet to an awakened sinner now at the point of death to bee but in danger of it as not knowing whither he shall go leaveth him at a woful losse but if as they say of the Molle he hath then first his eyes open and so cometh to see himself now on the brow of the the hill and from that precipice now certainly falling into the lake of fire and brimstone he giveth himself utterly lost for ever And thus in all these four respects we see that death hath his sting 2. And Hades or the grave hath 2. Prov. 30. 15. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 5. 24. 2 Kings 2. 11. 1 Cor. 15. 51. Immutatio illa species mortis erit Beza in Heb. 9. 27. or will have the victory it being that open Sepulchre which still crieth Give Give till it have swallowed up all for it is appointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all men once to die Heb. 9. 27. even Enochs and Elijahs assumption and the change of those who shall be found alive at the last day being a kinde of death and an analogicall dissolution so that death having one age after another as it were mowed down the whole field of the world and as a last enemy having conquered all the great Conquerors of the earth and with them vanquished all else and still keeping the field will have thereby obtained a complete victorie 1. In thus bringing down all 2. So as never to have risen more as some conceive had it not been for Christ who as he is the Resurrection and the Life John 11. 25. so by him onely either as Head or Judge is the resurrection from the dead 1 Cor. 15. 21. 3. And yet further so as that the most of them that rise again shall presently sink down again into eternal death and so this sting prove's that worm which never dieth where the fire never goeth out Mark 9. 48. Igne quasi salietur vide Brugensem in locum Myrothec in John 3. 36. but where the sacrifice is salted with fire ver 49. burn's but consume's not fire being of a burning but salt of a preserving nature Perdit sed non disperdit cruciat ita ut nunquam perimat as Camero somewhere expresseth it So that to them the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will answer the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will be both in victoriam and in perpetuum and so a signal and a final victory Now confider this ye that forget Vse Psa 50. 22. 1 King 14. 6. God for as the Prophet said to Jeroboams wife I am sent to you with heavy tidings this day if there be such a four-forked sting in death as we have seen in the former particulars then to you who are not as yet made partakers of the grace of 1 Pet. 3. 7. life here is matter of 1. Fear 2 Care First of Fear and O that the Vse 1 consideration of this sting might now prick your hearts kindly that the sting it self may not at last mortally wound them Seneca according to his surly Stoical Principle would perswade himself and others that it is ill to desire death but worse to fear it But the Word of God teacheth us that such as they have no cause to desire it but great cause heartily to fear it and that by reason of their fear of it they are all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 1. 15. Whence it is that 1. In their health and life they cannot endure their thoughts being fears seriously to think of it Like them who put far away the evil Amos 6. 3 4 5. 6. day and for that purpose chaunted to the sound of
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euripid the Scripture of truth I am sure saith of all such that through fear of death they are all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 15. And if life as you use to say be sweet it can be no lesse then the bitternesse of death 1 Sam. 15. 32. How bitter is the bare Ecclus. 41. 1. remembrance of it to him that is at ease but the approach of it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter bitterness as the case was then with him even to an Hezekiah Isa 38. 17. and if the message of it made him weep v. 3. then 1 Sam. 28. 20. wonder not if Saul at it swooned quite away It is a bitter sting that with the So Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Justin Mart. ad Graeces adhortat 1. prick of it letteth out the life-blood of the dying man if when it taketh away from him this life he hath no assurance of a better but dieth with Aristotles word in his mouth dubius morior quo vadam nescio be he never so wise a Philosopher or Adrians quos nunc abibis in locos should he be with him never so great an Emperor It is not death as death that even the godly desire or rejoice in for in that sense Paul would not be 2 Cor. 5. 4. Joh. 21. 18. unclothed and Peter is said in that respect to be carried whither he would not It is some greater good which God vouchsafeth to such at death and after it which whilest others then want and have no assurance of it must needs be a dolorous and deadly sting that thus first letteth out their dearest life 2. And therewith which is a second stinging wound all the comforts of life Which should they abide yet the man is gone whose very soul was wrapt up in them but now hath no benefit by them and then the stateliest room though never so richly hung and furnished is but a sad sight where's nothing else to be seen but the dead master in his coffin in the midst of it All dearest Relations are at once then snapt asunder The pleasantest childe now half fatherlesse turn's away his face as not being able to endure to see a dear Father die The dearest wife which was before the desire of thine eyes thou now Ezek. 24. 16. 21. Gen. 23. 4. desirest with Abraham to have buried out of thy sight Thy most loving friends may then stand by and weep over thee but cannot help thee and at last with a longum vale bid thee good night and so part and doth not this â—uth 1. 17 sting As for Honors and outward greatness 1 Sam. 4. 10. Phinehas his wife now dying calleth them Ichabod this sting prick's that swoln bladder and so his breath goe's forth and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all his thoughts all his goodly glistering thoughts as that Psal 146. 4 word seemeth to signifie perish Which words hold not forth a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pope John the 22. would gather out of them as though after death his soul should sleep and think of nothing but to expresse that all his former great high thoughts in his life time then at death come to nothing For pleasures and former facetious and jovial merriments old Barzillaies 2 Sam. 19. 35. eyes grow dim in that evening when he was but now entred within the shadow of death but are quite closed up in this midnight in old Eccles 12. 5. age desire faileth but in death it is wholly extinct Death if nothing do it before will break many a knot of good fellows then adieu sworn fellow-drunkard well if you and I can now come to a good reckoning and adieu also you sweet Mistress and all that dalliance you wot of till you and I stand before our Judg and all that be brought to light which was done by us in secret And adieu to you too my more innocent merry companion nec ut soles dabis jocos the whole club of wits are now all amort and not one Jest more for now that God and Death are in good earnest it is past Jesting past Drinking Whoring yea rejoicing in wife or children or friends Or Riches which should they as with some Nations they are be buried with thee yet in that day of Prov. 11. 4 wrath they will not be able to profit thee for if in thy life time they do not as often they doe make themselves Prov. 23. 5 wings and flee away from thee yet in death thou wilt be taken from them thy close fist will be then open and all that dust which before thou gripedst in thy hand will then See Shickard in his Jus RegiuÌ„ cap. 6. Luke 12. 20. run through thy fingers and then thou fool whose shall all these things be Blessed Hezekiah who in this case could say of Gods Word and Promises and Providences In these things is the life of my spirit but Isa 38. 16. the very spirit of the worldlings life is wrapt up in this bundle of outward contentments so that if that threed be once cut and so all these be scattered and lost then as Micah said What have I more the man is Judg. 18. â—4 utterly undone and to whom in time of his life it was death to part with a penny it will be an hell at death to part with all as it was once said by one to a great Lord upon his shewing him his stately house and pleasant Gardens Sir You had need make sure of Heaven or else when you die you will be a very great loser Nor is this all for were it onely the losse of life and outward comforts of it that sting death fastneth even in the heirs of life 3. Thirdly therefore there is a deeper sting in it which the godly are freed from of which we read in the following Verse in these words The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law ie sin Rom. 5. 12. Puncturâ peccati morimur P. Martyr armeth death with its sting which otherwise could never have had power to hurt or touch us whatever the Socinian saith to the contrary and the law now broken doth ex accidente irritate and per se declare and manifest and aggravate sin and so giveth it its strength and death its warrant thus to arrest and execute us and hinc illae lachrymae hence is the deepest sting of death and deadliest groan of the dying sinner for that with death the weight both of sin and the law fall on him together which presseth him yet lower and woundeth him deeper even to the soul and conscience whilest he is hereby made sensible that his death is the wages of his sin so that he dieth not as a Rom. 6. 23 Martyr or barely as a Man but as a Malefactor under the guilt of sin and sense of Gods wrath and if there was a
never any more trouble nor the Devil tempt 3. Nor which is a far greater word God frown which yet in the time of our life he seeth just cause sometimes to doe and to vail his face from us but then we come to live not by faith which admits of doubting but by 1 Cor. 13. 12. Rev. 22. 4. vision and that face to face that morning will be as 2 Sam. 23. 4. without clouds because we shall be above them and in nearest conjunction with the Jam. 1. 17. Father of Lights with whom there is no over shadowing whatever the loansom estrangments be that we meet with here yet when Lazarus is once dead he who was kept out of the rich mans Luke 16. 32. gates is then found in Abrahams bosome the place of warmest love And that most lively warmth most lively felt in this chill and dark evening of death in it there is light Zech. 14. 7. in grace as well as in nature the afternoon Sun is oftentimes very warm and the setting Sun shines out sometimes most gloriously So Oecolampadius making good the splendor of his own name now dying and that of an uncomfortable death viz. the plague could lay his hand upon his breast say hic abundè lucis est here here in this dark evening is abundant light then then in that gloomy shadow of death have humble Beleevers and oftentimes none more then they who before had been most sad and broken-hearted met with divinest raptures ravishments of Gods love with gloriousest shines and most pleasing smiles of his countenance and sweetest kisses of his mouth as the loving mother kisseth the sweet babe and so layeth it down to sleep So the Maimonid More Nevoch parte tertia cap. 51. ad finem Buxtorf Lexic Râ—bin ad vocem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem in Florileg Hebr. pag. 205. Jewish Masters expound that Deut. 34. 5. of Moses his dying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad â—s Jehovae as though God did take away his soul with a kisse and so of their 903 kindes of death which they use to reckon up this their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the death which commeth by such a kisse they say is omnium placidissima of all most pleasant and comfortable which they say also Moses and Aaron and Miriam only dyed of but many besides them through Gods mercy have at that time known what the kisses of Christs mouth mean And yet this both in Moses and Aarons deaths is to this purpose singularly remarkable that whereas you read of Gods bidding Moses to goe up to Deut. 32. 49. 50. Numb 20. 25 26. Heinsii exercit sacrae in Matth. cap. 16. mount Nebo and there die and of Aaron to go up to mount Hor and strip him of his garments die there you shall not finde in either places that ut capistrati ad mortem mali trahebantur that as Malefactours they were dragged to it as to an execution but on the contrary without the least reluctance they did as they were bid like me thinks well natured children although others of the Family sit up latter and it may be have greater provisions preparing for them yet without crying or the least whimpering make themselves ready and go up to bed when their Father bids them and well they might although others staid behinde and were to be entertained with Canaans milk and hony which they were cut short of seeing they were thus sent to bed with a kisse never to have the least appearance of a frown more 4. But might we here adde and never Ezek. 28. 12. sin more you may say this would seal up the summe complete all and leave of this sting neither mark nor remembrance Nor will this be wanting and therefore in the last place I shall be bold to add this too For as sin in this life had as to the Beleever lost its condemning guilt and dominion so in death it will be deprived of its beeing or inexistence indeed as long we shal here continue to dwell in these houses of clay it will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which will keep possession and have its dwelling in us Rom. 7. 17. but when our souls shall then be dislodged of our bodies this incroaching and troublesome Inmate shall once for ever be thrust out of doors from both bodies and souls together the death of our body delivering us perfectly from this body of death by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it s controverted whether be meant this our mortal body or the body of sin which Rom. 7. 24. Docet non finiri hos conflictus quandiu mortale corpus circumgestamus quando corpus peccati aliquando exuemus Paraeus in locum is more deadly I grant the latter but would not exclude the former because both of them are put together as when Samson died the Philistines died also together with Judg. 16. 30. Vide Annotat in V. T. incerti Autoris Canta brig 1653. In Lev. 11. 25. See Mr. Cotton on Eccles 7. 1. him This some think was typed out by that in the Law where it is so often spoken of mens being unclean until the evening but more fully and plainly asserted in the New Testament where the souls of just men once got to Heaven are said to be made perfect Heb. 12. 23. Other places are brought by some to the same purpose as that Rom. 6. 7. He he that is dead is freed from sin which though meant of a death to sin in mortification yet alludes to what is in natural death as Interpreters agree upon the place and those expressions of Christs presenting us to himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faultlesse Jude 24. not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5. 27. which to our particular persons is done in death Ecles 12. 7. and that also 1 Cor. 15. 26. where death is said to be the last enemy which is to be destroyed which they conceive it could not be if sin should remain in us undestroyed after death but because these places may seem to be capable of a satisfying answer I wave them and content my self with that one before mentioned I Confesse some * See Mr. B. his vindiciae legis pag. 118. Divines of very great worth conceive it is not death but Cinerefaction that wholy rids us of sin i. e. that we are not wholy freed from it as soon as the soul is departed and the body is now dead but when it is turned into dust and ashes and this they would inferre from the instance of Lazarus who after he had been John 11. dead four dayes was raised up to life yet so as he died again which yet he should not have done if the Image of God had in his first death been perfected in him and so he wholly freed from sin To which I briefly answer 1. That it is no good way to prove that to be the ordinary and general course which God takes
it and say that God promiseth to his meek servants that their hearts shall Psa 22. 26. live for ever and if for ever then in death it self and thence it is that such generous blood indeed commeth then to such hearts which enableth many to end their lives not in mournfull Elegies but in most joyfull songs of praise and thanksgiving or without any dolorous sense or mournful complaint of the sting of death and where is it then when it is thus earnestly desired and so welcomly entertained I grant that this is not so with all believers Hezekiah in this case did not sing like the Swan but chattered Isa 38. 14. as the Crane and mourned as the Dove And many may bee the reasons why God in wisdome and faithfulnesse may let some Believers setting Sun at least for a time be muffled up in a cloud the fault is in themselves that wheras Satan useth then most fiercely to cast his fiery darts they then are not carefull Ephes 6. 10. to hold up the shield of faith which might quench them but by their willing or wilfull unbelief take a course to thrust them in deeper The Bee Animasque in Vulnere ponunt Virg. Geor. 4. dieth when she hath left her sting in the wound but if the man who is stung carelesly let it alone he may come to more smart by it which by his care timely to get it out might be prevented like carelesnesse of a worse sting breedeth greater smart in the case wee now speak of What therefore hath bin said of a Believers security and comfort in this kinde is to be understood of him as such viz. as he approveth himself to be a true believer stirring up and acting his faith in Christ Otherwise although the second death shal have no power over him yet as he may be found carelesse and negligent the first death if it surprize him in that posture may very sorely sting and wound him for as it is said of mans laws so it is as true of Gods promises they favour not them that are asleep but such as are awake and watchfull and so to such a wakefull Christian death is but a sleep indeed not it self not death but an enterance Miseri infideles mortem appellant Fideles vero quid nisi pascham Bernard de natura dignit divini amoris into life as Bernard saith miserable unbelievers call it death but to faithful believers what is it but a passeover but a Jubile Though in it self it be an enemy yet by the death and life Christ it is so disarmed that his servants can earnestly desire it and gladly welcome it by reason of the great good it bringeth with it and as for all the evil it may seem to threaten or inflict can securely despise it and victoriously triumph over it and with Paul here say O death where is thy sting c. For the further clearing whereof that we more distinctly see in what sense the sting of death is taken out and the power of the grave abolished as to believers we are to take notice 1. Negatively that is not so to be understood as though they should never either die or meet with any anguish in death 1. That death should not so far sting them as not to take away their bodily life from them that was once given out of John should be true of them that they should never die for John 21. 23. so the longest lived of them have done Gen. 5. and the wisest shall Psal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 49. 10. and the best oftentimes soonest as sadly appeared in the untimely deaths of Judah's and our English Josiah for as for this death Gods sentence in dying thou shalt die or Gen. 2. 17. thou shalt surely die upon Adams sin both to himself and his whole posterity in ordinary course was and continueth irreversible so that it is appointed for men that is generally Heb. 9. 27. for all men once to die and because the best are sinfull whilest they live therefore they must die once that once at last they may sin no more Obj. And if it be replyed that that sentence upon the first Adam is taken off from the faithful by Christ the second Adam Answ I answere true but yet in Gods most wise order and method and that appeareth in two particulars 1. That although as to all curse and wrath and vindicative Justice that was at first in it all that is taken away by the imputation of Christs satisfaction in our justification yet the full freedom from it yea and from worse evils then death is that we might be kept more humble and dependant on God and Heaven at last more welcome is carried on and perfected by degrees As on the one side when the sentence of death was passed upon Adam and so he was a dead man yet he did not at that instant presently die as deadly poison taken doth not alwaies kill presently but some after a shorter and some after a longer time so here on the other side the most Soveraign medicine may not perfectly cure at the first but when it hath had its perfect work and although our Redemption by Christ be full and our recovery by him will be made compleate before he have done with us yea even at the first we are as I said in our justification freed from the state of death yet the guilty malefactor is not alwaies presently taken out of prison upon his first receiving of his pardon nor we at the first wholly quit from the miseries of this life nor from bodily death no nor from sin which to a godly heart is more bitter then death Did not our Heavenly Father know how both for the present and the future to improve them all to his own glory and our good he could would cut short his work in righteousnesse and at the first Rom. 9. 28 at once pardon guilt extinguish sin remove sorrow and abolish death simul semel omnia but a man and so sin and death in the godly may have his deaths wound before he be quite dead and a conquered captived enemy may for some time be kept alive and have much good use made of him before he be finally executed and so it is in this divine Oeconomy of Gods grace to his servants and in his processe against these our enemies he rescueth us orderly and by degrees from one enemy after another from one insult of the same enemy after another 2. And which is the second particular in this divine method of God observable he doth deliver us from the worst first first from that which is wholly inconsistent with his favour to us and our interest in him as First from his revenging wrath and the condemning guilt of sinne and so from the state of death in our justification Rom. 5. 1 2. and 8. 1 2 c. And therewith from the dominion of sin in our sanctification
skill of faith to apply it aright to our wounded souls it would be able so perfectly to take out the sting of death that we should have no cause to be troubled with the fear of it for so it is signanter dictum by death he hath Heb. 2. 14 15. destroyed him who had the power of death so as to deliver them that were all their life time in bondage by reason of their fear of it so that if we shall fear it is some bodies fault it is none of his for on his part activè quoad causam fundamentum and in the sense that fear is sometimes taken for the thing feared we are delivered from the fear of death Though on our part through weaknesse of faith or want of due exercise of it passivè quoad effectum vel eventum we may be too much disturbed with this passion and accordingly fear it as a man before in danger if now by his friend indeed set in safety we may truly say he is put out of fear though for his part as not sensible of it you may possibly see him yet stand quaking and trembling like him who after a storm which he hath been in is now safe on the shore and yet his head is so dizzy and turns round that he think 's he is still rowling and tossing in the tempest But shall we be so silly that when Christ hath knockt off our chains the Devil through these fears should tie and keep us bound with straws Nay shall we be so unkind I had almost said so prophane as with Ahaz Isa 7. in such a trembling fit as you read of v. 2. not only to weary men but God also v. 13 not only be injurious to our own peace and life but also to the worth and efficacy of Christs death as though it were not able to fetch out the sting and all the poison of ours Especially seeing that after his death followed his Resurrection those Act. 2. 24. chains of death being too weak to hold him but that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that exceeding greatnesse of his mighty Ephes 1. 19. Judg. 16. 9 12. power Samson-like easily snapt them as so many burnt threeds asunder and so disruptis mortis sepulchri inferni repagulis he riseth in the glory of that his might as a Conquerour over death and so dieth no more Rom. 6. 9. that we might fear no more Death hath no more dominion over him that the terrour of it may have none over us Thus our Elisha hath cast that 2 King 2. 21. salt into these bitter waters and so healed them that from thenceforth there might be no death in them and although there were sometimes death in the pot and a deadly poisonous sting in that death yet by casting in of this meale there is now no harm 2 Kings 4. 40 41. but meat and medicine life and strength in it and how long then shall we be so weak as like children to be afraid of our Physician and Physick Or like such timorous men who when in the dark are afraid of any thing they see thinking it to be a Devil or an enemy which when it come's near proves their very friend But when shall we once attain to that boldnesse of faith as not to 1 Tim. 3. 13. fear death which by the death and resurrection of Christ is become a Serpent without a sting and although an enemy yet such an one as hath lost the victorie The way to our help herein will Helps against fear of death be 1. To enquire into the occasions and causes of this our malady and then 2. To apply to each their several proper remedies that so although we must all die yet we may die in peace and whereas some say that all die of a Feaver yet we may not in a cold shaking fit but with such peace comfort joy and triumph that we may then say Pauls words with Pauls spirit and faith O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1. Now amongst those causes of Causes of this fear our fear of death some may be more blamelesse and excusable if not justifiable for a true believer and that as acting faith may lawfully in some cases desire the continuance of life and so far in a regular way and measure fear death 1. From a natural aversation from death if not as a fruit of sin yet as an enemy and destroyer of nature which before I hinted was in Peter and Paul yea in Christ himself as appeared in his agony and bloody Lu. 22. 44. sweat in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being amazed and very heavy and his soul being exceeding sorrowful unto death Mark 14. 33 34. so that again and again he prayeth the same words v. 39. that if it were possible that Cup might passe from him Matth. 26. 39. I confesse there was more bitternesse in that Cup then of a bare natural or a more ordinary violent death but yet death as it is in it self a privation of life and so a natural evil so it was no sin in our Saviour in way of natural affection to turn from it but the perfection of his obedience to subject himself and his natural desires and Matth. 26. 42. Mark 14. 36. fears to his Fathers will in it 2. From some more speciall grounds of desire of continuance of life As till he attain some mercy desired so Moses desireth to live to go over Iordan and see that goodly Mountain and Lebanon Deut. 3. 25. and Hezekiah weeps * When he heareth he must die before he had an heir Isa 28. 3. Or some mercy promised as no doubt Simeon could not have been willing to see death till as was revealed to him he had seen the Lords Christ though then he desired to depart Luke 2. 26 28 29 30. Or till he effect and accomplish some work and service which God hath called and fitted him unto so the Psalmist desireth to live to propagate Gods praise Psalm 119. 17. 5. Psalm 71. 18. as a true labourer will desire his day may last till his work be done but in these and the like particulars there is rather a desire of life then fear of death though where there is a true desire of any thing the fear of the contrary to it must needs bee proportionable 3. In some other respects there may be more formal fears of death and yet lesse sinful and more excusable As in general by reason of the greatnesse of that change and task which in death every man the best Saint is brought to and put upon For so All changes usually affect us let it be but the turning of the blood as they use to call it after the opening of a vein the man is oft at a swooning fit But as all Greatnesse is awful so Ezek. 1. 18. great tasks are wont to make us very thoughtful and sollicitous