persons that they had never been born therefore they shall seek death and shall not find it Mat. 26. They shall desire to dye that is to be reduc'd to nothing Revel 9. but this death shall fly from them who of you can dwell in everlasting burning Is 33. who of us can dwell in Eternal Flames Revel 6. If the viols and little cups full of Gods wrath do force the wicked to cry out how much more shall the Rivers and the Ocean of Gods vengeance force from them O mountains fall upon us O rocks cover us and hide us from the face of him that sits upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the day of his anger is come and who may abide it Prov. 1. But as they have stopt their ears to Gods gracious calls and hardned their hearts to his invitations to repentance then God shall also stop his ears to their outcries and his eyes to their horrid sufferings and when they shall be overwhelmed with fear and despair God will scorn and mock at their insufferable misery CHAP. 4. That Jesus Christ our Lord hath redeemed us from Eternal Death and by degrees doth deliver us from a spiritual Death WE read in the fifth Chapter of the Revelation of S. John That this beloved Disciple wept bitterly because no being in Heaven and Earth nor under the Earth was able to open the Book sealed with seven Seals that was in Gods right hand at that instant one of the 24 Elders spake to him Weep not behold the Lion of the Tribe of Juda hath overcome to open the Book and to loose the seven Seals Thus we have until now wept bitterly because we could find no body in the Armies of Israel to encounter with that horrid Monster Death But let us also wipe our Tears and take good courage my beloved for this same Lion of the Tribe of Juda hath order to fight with this dreadful Enemy our victorious and triumphing David who hath torn in pieces the infernal Lion bruised the antient Serpents Head and spoiled Principalities and powers triumphing of them in his Cross Col. 2.15 It is he that hath undertaken this glorious combat It was for that purpose that he left for a while the Throne of God the Father and the company of his Holy Angels 1 Sam. 17. It was for that intent that he came into the Camp and confusion of Israel contemning the shame and reproaches of his brethren He hath not borrowed the weapons and assistance of the world Heb. 2. all that he hath taken from us is our frail nature But he hath armed himself with righteousness as with a breast-plate and hath put on the Helmet of salvation He hath cloathed himself with vengeance as with a garment and hath covered himself with Jealousie as with a cloak he hath alone troden the Wine-press and no body hath assisted him Isa 59. Isa 63. but his arme hath saved him and his hand hath upheld him As David cut off Goliahs Head with his own sword Jesus Christ hath overcome Death by Death like unto the powerful Sampson he hath destroyed all the Enemies of his Glory by his Death 1 Sam. 17. He hath overcome in dying him who had the Empire of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2. and hath delivered them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage then was fulfilled this proof out of Hosea O death I will be thy plague O grave I will be thy destruction Hos 13. and that of Isaiah He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the Earth Isai 25. 1 Tim. 6. This blessed Prince King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath immortality and dwelleth in an inaccessible light hath destroyed death and brought to light life and immortality by the Gospel 1 Tim. 1. O death where is thy victory O grave where is thy sting The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but blessed be God who hath given us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. This great God and Saviour hath perfectly redeemed us from Eternal death as he himself doth teach us in the Gospel of St. John He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life chap. 5.25 I am the living bread which came down from Heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever Chap. 6.51 v. 40. Your fathers did eat Manna in the wilderness and are dead This is the bread which cometh down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not dye Chap. 8. Verily verily I say unto you If any man keep my word he shall never taste of death I am the resurrection and the life he that lives and believeth in me shall never dye and he that believeth in me although he were dead yet shall he live Chap. 11. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life by our Lord Jesus Christ Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection Revel 20. the second death shall never have any power upon him In one word the Gates of Hell that is to say Death can do no prejudice to them that are built upon Jesus Christ the rock of Eternity This merciful Saviour hath also delivered us from the spiritual death Eph. 2. For we being dead in our trespasses and sins he hath quickened us and raised us up together unto newness of life Colos 2. He hath carried our sins in his body upon the Cross that he dying unto sin we might live unto righteousness We are buried with him in his death by Baptisme that as Jesus Christ is raised from the dead by the Glory of God the father we also likewise should walk in newness of life 1 Pet. 2. Awake thou that sleepest and rise from the dead and Jesus Christ shall enlighten thee Rom. 6. For by his death he hath not only reconciled us to God the Father Eph. 5. Colos 11. but he hath also procured unto us the Holy Spirit that creates in us a new heart and imprints the image of his Holiness Ezek. 36. 2 Cor. 5. He makes us become new creatures and regenerates us by the uncorrptible seed 1 Pet. 1. This is that which the Scripture names the first resurrection Revel 20. St. Peter was ravisht in admiration at this great and wonderful benefit and therefore he acknowledgeth it Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 1. God discover'd to the Prophet Ezekiel a field cover'd with dry bones and commanded him to prophecy upon those bones Ezek. 37. At the Prophets Command
Virgin My Soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour Or with the Glorified Spirits of Heaven To him that hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his bloud be Glory and Strength for ever and ever Amen 24. Christian Souls if the vast number of your sins come into your remembrance consider that it is not said that the Bloud of Christ cleanseth us only from a certain number of sins but That if we confess our sins he is Faithful and Just that is True and Merciful to forgive us our sins and that the Bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sins Let them be never so numerous drown them all as so many hellish Monsters in the bloud of thy Saviour take hold of this Divine Jesus with the Arms of Faith and Repentance wrap your selves up in his Winding sheet repose your selves upon his Cross and rest secure in the shadow of his Almighty intercession 25. But if the grievousness of your crimes fright you take hold at the same time of the Horns of this mystical Altar and all the powers of Hell will not be able to pluck you thence Comfort thy self sinful Soul for there cannot be a spot so black nor so deep but the Bloud of Christ is able to wash it clean away There is no crime so grievous and horrid but the Sacrifice of this Lamb without spot that taketh away the fins of the world can make an atonement for it Let thy sins be never so great they have their limits but thy Redeemers Merits are without limits and the efficacy of his sufferings continues for ever To assure thee of this truth and to encourage thee he was pleased upon the Cross to discover the Riches of his Mercy upon a wretched Robber who suffered then the hands of Justice for his crimes assoon as he saw him moved with Repentance he changed his infamous and painful Cross into a Paradise of Glory and Happiness and filled his Soul with the sweetest Comforts of his Holy Spirit This merciful Redeemer is the same yesterday and to day and shall be the same for ever Therefore be never so foul and abominable a sinner if thou dost groan under the burden of thy sins and art moved with contrition Heb. 13. thou oughtest not to cast off thy hopes and to be discouraged draw near with humility to thy Saviours Cross and wash thy self in the Bloud that comes out of his veins All the diseased persons that entred into the pool of Bethesda were healed of all manner of distempers Joh. 5. Likewise all spiritual diseases are cured in this Divine Pool of all their griefs it is not necessary to stay till a good Angel from Heaven come to move the Waters for Christ's Bloud is always fresh living and of the same Vertue and Efficacy we need not fear that others should step down before us or that the throng should hinder us for a thousand worlds may be all healed at the same instant neither do ye pretend that there is no body to cast you into this mystical Pool for our Lord will never refuse to admit you when you shall have been Bedrid eight and thirty years as the poor man that was troubled with the Palsie and when you shall be nailed to a Cross as the good Thief you may nevertheless dip your selves into this Divine Pool and feel its saving and healing Vertue It doth not only wash away the filth and heal all thy diseases but it gives also life to the Dead and renders the living immortal Whosoever thou art that dippest thy self in this precious Bloud thou mayest say with the Apostle St. Paul This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners of whom I am the chief 1 Tim. 1. Howbeit I have obtained Mercy the Lord will deliver me from all wicked work and will preserve me to his Heavenly Kingdom to him be Glory for ever and ever Amen 1 Tim. 7. 26. You understand therefore very well believing Souls that you have no cause to fear Death seeing that all its Darts have been broken to pieces all its Armor hath been torn and that its spoils appear so visibly upon Christs Cross You may see the Claws of this old Lion the paw of this devouring Bear the Teeth and Poison of this infernal Serpent and the Head of this prodigious Dragon you may see death swallowed up into victory and the Prince of Life leading it in triumph follow then the Glorious Chariot of this noble Conqueror singing with the Apostle O death where is thy Victory O Grave where is thy Sting The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but blessed be God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. 27. Therefore when God shall draw near to you covered with the vail of Death be not terrified seek not to run from him and to hide your selves from his all-seeing Eyes unto whom darkness is as the noon-day Gen. 3. Although you are by nature poor wretched blind and naked you have more substantial Garments than Fig leaves for you have the leaves of the Tree of Life that are designed for the salvation of the Gentiles Revel 22. The Leaves that shall never fade shall cover all your nakedness and adorn your immortal Souls for it is the Eternal Righteousness the most accomplished Righteousness of our Lord Jesus who hath been made unto us of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Dan. 19. It is Jesus Christ himself who is named The Lord our Righteousness It is the precious Garment of Salvation the Glorious Cloak of Righteousness mentioned by the Prophet Is 61. It is the Wedding Garment whitened in the Bloud of the Lamb without spot and the fine and bright Linnen which are the Righteousness of the Saints Ezek. 16. In short it is a Garment which will not only cover and adorn you but it will also heal all your infirmities and make you become immortal Rev. 7. 28. If you come before your Heavenly Father with this perfumed cloathing of your Elder Brother Jesus Christ Gen. 27. or rather if you be cloathed with him as with a Garment Rom. 1. You shall not only obtain the best and most advantageous Blessing but you shall enter into the possession of the uncorruptible Inheritance prepared for you from the beginning of the World For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is Eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 6. A Prayer and Meditation for a Christian who strengthens himself against the fears of Death by meditating upon the Death and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ O Merciful Saviour who hast cloathed thy self with our mortal Flesh that thou mightest offer it up as a Sacriffce to God succor me in my weakness and increase the Faith and Hope which thou hast begun in my Soul I see Death threatening to destroy me
O Lord my God are thy wonderful Works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee If I should declare and speak of them they are more then can be numbred and being ravish'd into an Holy Admiration thou wilt say in the language of the same Prophet O God who is like unto thee who when thou hadst made me see many distresses and evils at last thou hast restored me to Life and drawn me out of the depths of the Earth Psal 71. Thou shalt increase my greatness again thou wilt comfort me And elsewhere What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me Psal 116. 18. The Consideration of God's redeeming us doth chiefly require us to deny our selves and consecrate our selves to his service for the Slave don't belong to himself but to him that hath redeemed him and paid his ransom As when God had deliver'd the Children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt he gave unto them his Law and his Ordinances in Mount Sinai Thus God hath redeemed us from the Tyranny of the Devil of the World of Sin of Death of Hell and from the power of all our Enemies that we might serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our life Luk 1. He hath given himself a ransom for us that we might become a peculiar people to him given to good Works Tit. 2. You are bought with a price Glorify then God in your Bodies and your Souls that belong unto God 1 Cor. 6. 19. One love must kindle another the Sacred Fire that is come from Heaven must enflame our hearts with an Holy Zeal for his Glory God hath loved us so much that he hath given his Holy Son that believing we might not perish but have everlasting life He hath not spared him who is the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person He hath deliver'd him to death for us yea to the ignominious death of the Cross And is it not just that we should love him above all worldly things a God so good and merciful Is it not just that we should love nothing but him and for his sake Is it not reasonable that we should offer unto him our Bodies and Souls as a Living and Holy Sacrifice pleasing to his Eye And if we have any Lust that offends him is it not just that we should willingly leave it betimes when it should appear as useful to us as our Hands and Feet and as dear as the Apple of our Eyes Whosoever he be that doth not deny himself is not worthy of him Matt. 10. 20. We must treat the body of Sin which the Holy Scripture stiles the Old man and the First Adam almost in the same manner as Christ the New Man and the Second Adam was treated upon the Cross Rom. 6. Instead of flattering it and seeking to satisfy its Lusts we must deprive it of all its pleasures make it drink Vinegar and Gaul teare its Head with Thorns bind and chain its Affections and nail them to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ with all its inordinate and brutish desires Mortify therefore your Members that are upon Earth Fornication Uncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry Gal. 5. Coloss 3. 21. To live in sin and to delight our selves in iniquity is to frustrate as much as in us lies our good Lord from that principal end which he designed in leaving for a while the Celestial Abode of his Glory and Immortality for he is come into the World to destroy the Works of the Devil Now the chief Work of the Devil the great Enemy of our Salvation in which he takes most Delight and Glory is Sin with which he ensnares Mankind for by Sin Death and all kind of Calamities are enter'd into the World John 3. Rom. 5. 22. It is to trample upon the only Son of God to affront the Spirit of Grace and esteem the Bloud of the Covenant a prophane thing It is to destroy the Fruits of the Death and Passion of our good Redeemer and pull down his Cross for he hath carried our Sins in his Body upon the Cross that dying unto Sin we might live unto Righteousness He hath given himself for his Church to sanctify it and to render it a Glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle nor any such thing If the Bloud of Bulls and of Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkled did Sanctify the uncleanness of the Flesh how much more shall the Bloud of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 23. Our Lord and Saviour was not only Dead but also buryed to teach us to bury also with him our sins and shut up in his Sacred Tomb all our carnal Lusts Don't you know all ye that have been baptized in Jesus Christ that you have been baptized in his Death we are then buried with him in his death by Baptisme 24. This Glorious Saviour is risen from the Dead and hath left his Sepulchre with his Funeral Attire to teach us to rise to newness of Life and to leave in our Grave that sin that encompasseth us and the ties of our corruption that bind us so fast To speak in St. Paul's language As Jesus Christ is risen from the dead by the Glory of the Father we also ought to walk in newness of life for if we are made one Plant with him by a conformity to his Death we shall also be One by a conformity to his Resurrection and as Christ who is risen from the Dead dies no more Death hath no more Dominion over him Likewise we ought not to apply our Members as instruments of iniquity unto sin but we ought to apply them unto God as being made alive from the dead Rom. 6. He is dead and risen again that he might have dominion over the dead and the living If any be in Jesus Christ let him be a new Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new Rom. 14. 2 Cor. 5. 25. Jesus Christ after his Glorious Resurrection is ascended up into Heaven to lift up thither our Hearts and to draw thither our affections and to teach us to reform our manners to live an Holy Angelical and Celestial life If you are risen with Christ seek those things that are above where Jesus Christ is sitting at the right hand of God think upon things above and not upon things upon Earth Coloss 3. 26. There is nothing in the World so lovely as Vertue It is the delight and pleasure of Heaven it is the Daughter of the living God and the true and lively Image of our great Creator O blessed decking of a Christian Soul O rich and precious Ornament of God's Children O Heavenly Grace what rare and strong Charms hast thou to win the
for them now if there be any reason to render unto every one that which hath been dearly bought and purchased with a great price and seeing that it would be a great sin to refuse unto any man that which he hath paid for with the Bloud of his only and beloved Son how can we refuse our Souls unto God seeing that they belong to him because he hath not only created them and stamped in them his Image but he hath also purchased them with the Bloud of his only Son in whom from all Eternity he is well pleased We must not therefore imitate the example of naughty paymasters or unjust possessors of other Men's Goods we must not expect until our Souls be plucked from us by violence but rather like the good and righteous Debtors we must return them willingly and yield them up into his hands who hath paid for them an infinite and an unvaluable Ransome David was of this mind when he said Into thine hand I commit my spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth Psal 31. 11. In this Death and Passion of our Glorious Redeemer we learn not only our Duty but also sufficient grounds of comfort and hope and if I may so say it is in the Bowels of this dead Lion that we find the sweetest and most ravishing Consolations this Chief Priest that bears us upon his Breast in his Heavenly Sanctuary or rather upon his Heart will not forsake us in the day of our distress and will not give us over to the fears and pangs of death for seeing that he hath encountred with this cruel Death seeing that it hath felt its sting its shiverings and pains and that he hath bin tempted as we have bin in all things except in sin he is merciful and faithful to have compassion of our infirmities he is no less able to assist us in our temptations and to make us in all things more than Conquerors 12. Believing Souls consider with me the noble expressions of St. Paul Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God 2 Cor. 1. These excellent Truths may be very well applied to our Lord Jesus Christ whom the Holy Ghost names The Apostle and High Priest of our Profession Heb. 3. For the comfortable assistances which he hath received from God in the time of his greatest anguish are precious tokens and infallibie assurances of God's future help in our need for as when he was in his bitter Agony when his Soul was cast down with deadly sorrow an Angel from Heaven comes to comfort him Likewise when we shall be engaged in an encounter with death when it shall endeavour to fill our Souls with sadness and apprehensions he will doubtless send unto us some of his good Angels that be at his right hand I mean the faithful Teachers of his Holy Word or else he will send from Heaven some of his blessed Spirits that stand about his Throne and that are commonly employed in the preservation of the Godly The Holy Ghost himself the Comforter of afflicted Souls and the true Oil of Gladness will then drive from our hearts all grief and refresh us with his Heavenly Comforts He will not forsake us until he hath brought us to the Head Spring of Eternal Joy and Comfort 13. Our Lord and Saviours deliverance from death is an Image and an assurance of our future deliverance which we are to expect from God's Mercy and Almighty Power for as when St. Paul saith that this High Priest in the days of his Flesh offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from Death And was heard in that he feard We are not to understand that he was freed altogether from death but rather that he had the favour granted to him of swallowing Death up into Victory and of triumphing over the Powers of Hell and that through the shame and bitterness of death he is gone into his Glory and into the Joys of his Heavenly Paradise Likewise when we pray unto God in our greatest distresses and deepest sorrows when we pour into his bosom the Tears of a sincere Repentance he hears us from his Sanctuary and delivers us from Death not by hindring us from dying but by raising our Souls to pass through Death into an immortal Life from this valley of Tears into Happiness and endless Bliss 14. If we will be sully perswaded that God will not with-hold from us the Joys and Comforts of his Holy Spirit and that he will make us more than Conquerors of death by admitting us into an Eternal Felicity we need but cast our eyes upon our Lord Jesus Christ for as he who bestows much will not refuse a little so God who hath not spared his only Son but hath delivered him for us all to an ignominious and cruel Death how shall not he with him freely give us all things St. Paul hath taught to argue in this manner and to gather this consequence necessary from God's proceedings Rom. 8. 15. When Christ our Lord gave up the Ghost upon the Cross the vail of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom Heaven was opened and a repenting Thief was admitted All this happened to teach us that we may enter into the Holy of Holies by the Bloud of Jesus by the new and living way which he hath consecrated by the Vail which is by his Flesh and that this merciful Lord hath always his Arms wide open to receive us and that he will never refuse the Glory of Heaven and the delights of his Paradise to the greatest sinners that repent and that seek to his Eternal Mercy by his infinite Merits 16. The Death of this great God and Saviour is the payment of all our debts and the expiation of all our crimes it is the healing of all our diseases the freedom from all our miseries for it hath overcome Satan and the powers of Hell It is the death of an Eternal Death it is this meritorious death that hath purchased for us Heaven and all its Excellencies and procured to us a Right to God's Paradise and to its Delights and Pleasures In short it is this Death that conveys Pardise into our Souls before we enter into Paradise and fills our minds with an Heavenly and Divine Peace and an unspeakable and glorious Joy 17. This Cross of our Saviour may be compared to the Wood which Moses cast into the Waters of Marah for it takes away from the natural Death of God's Children whatsoever is incommodious and bitter and causeth us to relish Sweetness and Comforts that cannot be express'd It is like the Salt which the Prophet Elisha cast into the Waters of Jerico to make them wholsom and fruitful for
it causeth that death it self proves our Salvation and brings unto us unspeakable comforts I may also liken it to the Meal which the same Prophet cast into the Pot of which the Sons of the Prophets had made this complaint O thou man of God there is death in the pot It is the death of Death because it removes from it all deadly poison and causeth us to relish Angelical satisfactions I may therefore justly say of this Glorious Cross that it is The Tree of Knowledge of good and evil Because it makes known and understood the dreadful evils from which we are delivered and the infinite advantages which are procured to us 〈◊〉 Christ's death I may call it also the Tree of Life for every one that takes of the Fruit of this Tree with the hand of Faith and he that eats of it shall live for â—ver John 6. Believing Souls it is that Mystical Ladder which Jacob saw in a vision for it unites Heaven and Earth sinful Man with his God Gen. 28. It pleased the Father to make peace by the Bloud of the Cross of his Son and to reconcile all things unto himself whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven Coloss 1. It is by the means of this Blessed Cross that the good Angels are sent to our assistance and that all the Graces and Blessings of God are procured unto us by this Cross we shall ascend up to God and to his Eternal Happiness under the shadow of this Divine Cross our Souls do rest and enjoy the Peace of God which passeth all Understanding It is like the Golden Scepter which King Ahasuerus stretched out unto Esther for if we touch this precious Cross with the hand of Faith if we embrace it with a contrite Soul we shall obtain from the King of Kings not only the half part but all his Kingdom with all its Delights Honours and Advantages 18. Moses's Rod was chang'd into a Serpent as well as the Rods of Pharaoh's Magicians but this Serpent devoured all the rest Thus the death of our Lord and Saviour is accompanied with Sorrow Fear and Anguish but these fears swallow up all other fears and cause us to draw near with confidence to the Throne of Grace his Sorrows drive away all our Griefs and fill us with Joy and Eternal Comfort his Anguish gives ease and satisfaction to our Souls his troubled Mind is the cause of the settlement of our Consciences his drops of Bloud do wash down our Tears his Groans hinder us from Sighing and his grievous cryings do cause us to sing with Joy The Fetters of this Glorious Redeemer have purchased our Freedom and his Condemnation our Absolution he hath been content to drink Vinegar mingled with Gall and to swallow the very dregs of the Cup of God's Wrath and Justice that he might cause us to drink of the Rivers of his Divine Pleasures He cried out in the violence of his Grief My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth 27. That God might never forsake us and that in our greatest troubles we might have always his fatherly assistance ready at hand he hath stooped his Head to raise our hopes In short he is dead that he might deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to a cruel and unsufferable Bondage Heb. 2. So that all such as tremble and are afraid at the approaches of Death have not yet felt the power and efficacy of the Cross of our Lord Jesus They trample under feet the Bloud of the Son of God and as much as in them lies they render the fruits and efficacy of this blessed death of no effect 19. Consider well Christian Souls and imprint into your minds this Lesson Remember that death is never to be feared but when it proceeds from God's wrath and the curse of his Law and when our sins and offences have supplied it with offensive weapons when the Devil who seeks to devour us as a roaring Lion follows death at the heels and when at the same time Hell opens its infernal jaws to swallow us up But those who have placed their Faith and Hope in the Death and Passion of the Saviour of the World and who embrace his Cross are exempted from all its fears and out of the reach of all its poisonous Darts 20. My beloved Souls be not therefore frighted to see the face of the great Judge of the World 1 Tim. 2. Seeing that there is such an excellent Mediator between God and Man namely the Man Christ Jesus who hath given himself a Ransom for all Rom. 3. He hath disarmed God's Eternal Justice and stopt the proceedings of his Vengeance for God hath appointed him for all Eternity to be a Propitiation by Faith in his Bloud John 5. The Father judges no man but hath given all Judgement to the Son as he is the Son of Man There is now no condemnation to them that are in Jesus Christ whosoever believes in him shall never come into condemnation but is passed from Death to Life Rom. 8. John 5. 21. Fear no more the Thunderbolts and the flashes of Fire of Mount Sinai neither do you tremble when you hear its horrible Thunder Cursed is every one who continues not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them Deut. 28. For although Christs Hands be nailed and fastened to the Wood they pluck nevertheless out of the Hands of God's Justice his terrible Thunderbolts and the Sword of his Vengeance The precious Bloud that runs down from the wounds of this Divine Redeemer do quench the scorching heat of his Eternal burning As at the morning of our Saviours Passion he had a care of his Disciples and therefore he desired those that came to take him If you seek me let these goe John 18. Likewise he hath now a care of all such as believe in his name to secure them under the shadow of his Cross He takes their place and for them he stands before God's justice saying Seeing that you have taken me to be their pledge and that you have pursued me without Mercy seeing that I have sufficiently satisfied for all their crimes and have tasted for them the most bitter and cruel death suffer them to enjoy the freedom that hath been purchased at such a dear rate Suffer them to pass through death into the enjoyment of a blessed Life which is the price of my Bloud and the fruit of my Victories This merciful Redeemer hath put himself of his own accord in our stead and hath endured in his own Person all the pains which were due to our sins he hath been struck with Moses's Rod and pierced through with the Darts of the Law he hath been made a Curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a Tree Gal. 5. But we are not only by his means redeemed from the Curse of the Law but we are also blessed in him with all manner of
Ascension of our Divine Saviour we shall see this same Death bound to his Triumphing Charriot and we shall see this glorious Redeemer exalted above the highest Heavens and sitting gloriously at the Right hand of God we shall see him invested in an almighty Power worshipped by all the Creatures we shall see him commanding not only the Angels of Light and the celestial Spirits that are about his Magnificent Throne but commanding also over this World over Death the Devils and Hell Because he hath been obedient unto Death yea to the ignominious Death of the Cross God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven in Earth and under the Earth Phil. 4. and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father Every Souldier doth not always bear a part in the Triumph of their General and all the Subjects do not tast of their Princes happiness but as we are the Brethren of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Members of his Mistical Body we have a share in his Triumph and in the glory of his Empire therefore the Apostle St. Paul informs us that our Life that is to say our glory and eternal Felicity is hid with Christ in God in another place he tells us in express words That God who is rich in Mercy hath made us sit in Heavenly places with Jesus Christ This glorious Saviour is gone to take possession of the Kingdom of Heaven not only for himself but also in our names and for us therefore he informs the Holy Apostles and all true believers That in his Fathers House there are many Mansions I am going to prepare a place there for you In the same manner he speaks in that admirable Prayer in the which he consecrates himself to God for the great Work of our Redemption Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me For the same reason St. Paul tells us in his Epistle to the Hebrews for our comfort Heb. 6. that Christ is gone into Heaven as our forerunner The High Priest of the Jews did enter into the earthly Sanctuary to present himself before God for the people Heb. 9. Thus our Lord Jesus Christ is gone into the Heavenly Sanctuary to appear for us in the presence of God The High Priest of the Jews did bear upon his Breast and Shoulders the Names of the 12 Tribes of Israel but Jesus Christ hath graven us upon his Heart according to the Prayer of the Spouse in the Canticles Can. 8. Set me as a Seal upon thine Heart as a Seal upon thine Arm for Love is strong as Death The High Priest of the Jews did cast off the Names of the Twelve Tribes with his Robes But neither Death nor Life nor things present nor things to come shall ever separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ Rom. 8. The Royâ—â— Diademe that was put upon Esthers Head never câ—â—sed her to forget her People and Parentage she was mâ—gâ—â—â—ly grieved for her Hamans Conspiray and the Decree which he had caused King Ahasuerus to Sign and 〈◊〉 with his Signet I may likewise say that the Glory unto which our Lord Jesus Christ is now raised can never make him forget the People that he hath redeemed with his Blood He is not unmindful of Satans plots nor of the Sentence of Doom pronounced against us by the great Monarch of the World and confirmed with his great Seal His glorious Head may be Crowned with the Râ—inbow but his merciful Heart is inflamed with Love for us He thinks it no disgrace to acknowledge us for his Brethren and to pray God for us upon his glorious Throne where thousand millions wait upon him and ten thousand thousands Worship him He is able to Save to the full all such as draw near to God through him for he lives always to intercede for us If the Father hath always granted him his Request when he was in his greatest abasement can we imagine that his Intercession will be fruitless now that he is ascended up to the highest Glory From the Chariot of his Triumph he beholds all our Encounters and our struglings with Death he sees all the Enemies that Assault us and all the Dangers unto which we are exposed He is acquainted with the deep Malice and the crafty Designs of the Enemies of our Salvation He perceives all the Darts that they let flie against us therefore he covers us with his Shield and will not suffer us to yield to Temptation He fulfills his Vertue in our Infirmities and makes us more then Conquerors he hath an eye alwayes upon his Flock he holds his Sheep all in his hand and none is able to pluck them from thence When he was upon Earth in his Agony at this word that dropt out of his Mouth I am he John 10. his Enemieâ— fell backward and when he was in Deaths Prison he constrained it to obey him and shall he not now that he is exalted up to the highest Heavens in the glory of his Triumph have the same power and command over Death the World and Hell When he walked upon the Waters he cried to his Apostles It is I be not affraid John 6. how much rather may he speak unto us in this manner now that he sits upon the Throne that can never be moved Christian Soul who trembles at the approaches of Death imagine that the Lord Jesus Crowned with Glory calls to thee from Heaven fear not for I call thee and hold out unto thee my Arms I that am thy Saviour and Redeemer who have satisfied for all thy sins with my Blood and who have redeemed thee from the Curse of the Law and eternal Damnation I have disarmed Gods Justice vanquished Hell broken the Serpents Head and swallowed up Death into Victory I have purchased for thee the Glories of Heaven and the Delights of Paradice I have trampled upon the World and all its powers I am Worshipped by all the Church triumphing in Heaven and by Legions of holy Angels that fly about my Throne I will therefore send some of them to guard thee and when thou shalt leave the Body where thou livest as a Sttranger they shall bring up thy Soul into this glorious abode of Immortality whether I am come to prepare a place for thee Without doubt if the Author of our hope is fixed in the vaile that is in Heaven where Jesus Christ is gone in as our forerunner we shall not apprehend the most contrary and boisterous storms raised against us by the Prince of the powers of the Aire who works with efficacy in the Children of Rebellion we shall tred under foot all the billows of this troublesome Sea and through these swelling waves we shall march safe to our Divine Jesus If at
Jews but that he gave them full liberty to take up Arms to defend themselves to attack their Enemies and to make them suffer all the evils that they intended against them I find something like unto this proceeding for God would not call back the sentence of Death that he had pronounced against Mankind in the Garden of Eden nevertheless he allows us nay he commands his true Israel to take up Arms against Death to conquer and trample it under feet In the first place Jesus Christ who is our head hath encountered with Death and conquered it he hath pursued it into its Trenches and overcome it in its own Fortification Death thought to have devoured him but it hath been devoured it self as the Fishes are taken by the Hook that they think to swallow and as the Bees do hurt those whom they sting and doe greater harm to themselves for they cause but a present pain in our body and a heat that soon ceaseth but it causeth to it self greater damage for it breaks its sting and looseth thereby its life Thus Death by fixing its sting in the Humanity of Jesus Christ hath put him to a great deal of pain for a time but it hath thereby lost all strength vigor and sting by this means The men of Juda to satisfy the furious Philistins delivered into their hands Sampson bound with Ropes when they saw him the Philistins gave several joyful shouts but the Spirit of God came upon him in such a manner that he tore in pieces the two Ropes wherewith he was bound and overcame them by whom he was led away prisoner and kill'd a thousand of them Thus the miserable Jews for fear of the Romans deliver'd unto them our Lord Jesus Christ their Brother according to the flesh bound like a Malefactor when Hell saw him nailed to the Cross and afterwards laid in a Grave it did wonderfully rejoyce the Devil and his Angels began to sing Songs of Triumph But it was altogether unpossible that the Prince of Life should be detained in the Prisons of Death he hath not only broken out of the Grave by his infinite power but he hath also trampled under feet all his most furious enemies and overcame millions of infernal Fiends and to declare how Life and Death were in his power he hath Commanded Death when he was as it were a prisoner shut up in its Dungeon He hath broke open the Gates of this black prison and torn in pieces all its Fetters for when he was yet in his Grave he raised to life many that were dead who were seen in the Holy City and yet at present he holds in his hand the keys of Death and of Hell Therefore as Children do rejoyce at their Fathers Victory and as the Subjects are concerned at the prosperous proceedings of their King and as the Members are the better for the Glory and Honor of their Head thus we may justly glory in the most notable Victories and famous Triumphs of Jesus Christ who is our Father King and Head we may also justly glory that we are Lords of Death and that we have overcome it in the person of our Great God and Saviour I say this after the Apostle St. Paul That God hath quickened us together and raised us together and made us sit together in Heavenly places with Jesus Christ Eph. 2. Moreover as our Saviour hath once overcome Death for us he continues to overcome it in and by us he doth not suffer us to encounter with our enemies alone nor doth he leave us in time of need but as in a day of Battel a wise and provident General hath an eye in every place and encourages by his action and voice his Soldiers whom he perceives at handy-blows with the Enemy some he loads with praises others with promises by that means he encourageth such as behave themselves bravely rescues the weak and feeble and to such as are over-born he furnishes them with fresh Supplies Thus deals with us our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the great God of Hosts who sits above in the Heavens in his triumphal Chariot and beholds all our combats and encounters when he perceives us too weak that we might not be overcome by our most dreadful Enemies he furnisheth us with his Holy Spirit and his own Armor as Jonathan did to David when he deliver'd to him his Cloak his Bow his Belt and Sword besides this merciful Saviour disarms Death of its most hurtful weapons and takes away all its Arrows and Darts As the strength and power of Sampson did lodge in the hair of his Head which the Philistines could never have imagined so the strength and power of Death consists in such things as the world do least dream of The most dreadful weapons with which it terrifies and beats us are the Thunderbolts and Curses of the Law and our sins are as the poison in which it dips its Arrows or rather our sins are the fiery Dart with which it wounds and destroys us Now Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law when he became a Curse for us Gal. 3. He hath carried our sins in his Body upon the Cross 1 Pet. 2. And as the He-Goat Harazel he hath transported them away into an inhabitable Desart Levit. 16. He hath removed them from the eyes of our God as far as the East is from the West he hath cast them into the bottom of the Ocean and drown'd them in his Bloud so that we now see fulfilled what was foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Juda and they shall not be found chap. 50. Therefore being invested with the Grace of God and armed with the Vertue of his Holy Spirit Let us shew our courage and defie death let us look it in the fâ—â—e without fear laugh at all its threats and encounter with it without dread for it is now but like a Soldier who without his weapons carries himself proudly It is like a Bee that buzzeth about without its sting It is like an old Lion that roars but hath lost all his Claws It is like a Snake that would cast its poyson but hath no venemous Teeth left because they have been all pull'd out by him who hath bruised the Serpents Head If you consider nothing but Deaths Exterior its Face and fearful appearance its frightful Eyes its meager Body its iron'd Hands you cannot perceive any difference between the death of Gods Children and that of the most wicked Varlets but if you lift up the vizard and examine the Death of the one and of the other more exactly you will meet with as much difference as between Heaven and Earth the Paradise of God and Hell for as Moses's brazen Serpent which he lift up in the Desart had the form and appearance of a burning Serpent but nothing of the Prison and Fire thus the death of the faithful appears as the
death of other men but hath not the deadly and pernicious consequences for it is not only a sign and a testimony of Gods Grace and Favour but the beginning of our deliverance and the cure of all our Diseases As Moses when he had cast wood into the waters of Marah they had the same colour but not the same bitterness and unpleasant taste Thus the death of Gods dearest Children hath the same tincture and appearance as before but Christs Cross hath taken away the danger the trouble and extracted out of it its unsufferable bitterness and changed it into unspeakable sweetness As Pharaoh was drowned with all his Army in the waters of the Red Sea but the Children of Israel found a secure and a pleasant passage into the promised Land When they were arrived upon the other shoar of that dreadful Sea they sung unto God Songs of Triumph and Thanksgiving Thus Death opens its Throat to devour the Reprobates It is an Abysse where they can find no bottom but unto the Children of God it is a favourable passage into an eternal Bliss assoon as they are gone through they are arrived to a place of Assurance Joy and Rest where God furnisheth them with Songs of Triumph and Thansgiving to the Lamb 1 Rev. 15. Moses's Rod was turned into a Serpent but Aaron's being laid up in the Tabernacle began to flourish and bear Almonds Exod. 4. and 7. Thus while we are in the hands of the Law Death is dreadful and terrible but when we draw near to Christ the true Ark of the Covenant it blossoms and brings Fruits forth of Joy and Eternal Comfort Balaam the Prophet was called to curse the People of God but he blessed it contrary to the vain expectation of Balak King of Moab Thus Death hath been brought into the world by the Devil to destroy and utterly abolish the Holy Seed but God by his infinite Goodness and Wisdom hath changed it into Salvation and Blessing Let us not therefore be any longer puzled to find out the meaning of Sampsons Riddle Out of the eater came forth Meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness Judg. 14. For the Church of God unto whom Christ hath discover'd the most excellent Secrets of his Kingdom teacheth us to seek the Hony the sweetest comforts out of the Belly of this old Lion It is not possible to Judge of Musick by a Tone or of an Oration by a Period nor of a Comedy by a Scene So we must not judge of a Battel by the first Assault nor of a wrestling by the first embraces and effects of the wrestlers for some in the beginning of the Battel turn their backs who nevertheless at the last doe sometimes win the day and the victory and some in wrestling are foiled at the beginning who nevertheless at last supplant their Enemy and cast him upon the back Therefore that we may better understand the great and notable advantages that we have over death we must examine it all along until the end of the encounter we must take notice of every Assault that we do give unto this unreconcileable Enemy Assoon as the Taper of our Life begins to burn Satan sends forth his blasts to extinguish it Death labours to undermine ' this poor Dwelling from the first moment that it was built it besieges it on all sides it makes its approaches in time it saps the foundation it batters us with several diseases and unexpected accidents every day it opens a breach and pulls out of this building some stones But if Death labours to demolish on her part we on ours labour to repair And as those who built the Walls of Jerusalem held with one hand the Trowel and with the other a Sword to sight so we defend our selves as well as we are able against the assaults of Death Therefore we do not only endeavour to preserve this earthly Lodge that God hath Lett and Sett to us for a term and to mend up the continual Dilapidations that happen in it but at the very sight of death when it gives us the Assault we do then also advance our Spiritual building and labour to bring it to perfection so that we may say as the Apostle St. Paul If our outward man decays the inward man is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4. To speak true Death meddles with nothing but with the exterior part of Man for our principal Fort and chief Bulwark doth neither fear to be undermined nor sapt nor to be won by Assault for it is rais'd above the Heavens and built upon the Rock of Eternity it cannot be batter'd for as the Thunderbolts the storms of Hail and ill weather cannot prejudice the Sunbeams because they are of a Spiritual nature so all the Fury of the World all the Powers of Hell and the Rage of Death can never wrong the Soul that is of a Spiritual and Immortal Nature This Castle can never be famished for God furnisheth it with Manna from Heaven and from the Rock upon which it is built there runs a source of living waters that riseth to everlasting life In one word as the Serpents do crawl only upon the Dust Death hath no power but upon the earthly part of Man therefore our Lord Jesus Christ adviseth his Apostles To not fear them that kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul At the very instant of our Souls separation from the Body Death seeâ—s to have a great advantage upon us but when I consider all I find that it hath no cause to glory and that it is without reason that it chalenges the victory When a valiant Captain marches out of a Town almost destroyed to another more secure and better fortified with his weapons in his hand we say that he hath quitted his station and not that he is overcome Thus when this wretched Body decays and that our Souls depart well armed with Faith and Hope to lodge in a more secure place in the highest Heavens no body can say to speak properly that we have been overcome And as it happens with such as sail on the wide Sea when a violent storm threatens them with Shipwrack they think themselves very happy if they can quit then Vessel leave it to the mercy of the Winds and Waves and escape to Land with their Riches and Lives safe Thus it is with us who sail upon this tempestuous Sea of the world for when Death raiseth its most cruel storms we think our selves happy if we can leave this miscrable Body which seems as a ship to our Souls and if we can secure our Spiritual Life and our Heavenly Riches Therefore we may justly say to the faithful Souls that are frighted when they see Death threatening to drown them in its depths as St. Paul to his Ship-company who did tremble for fear at the sight of a roaring and furious Sea Take good courage my brethren for I do assure you in the name of the living God that your lives are
before we have well thought whither we be mortal or no Therefore we are sooner surprized and astonished at its approaches and we become like the foolish Israelites that trembled and fled before Goliah because they were not accustomed to behold him 3. We have too great confidence and depend too much upon second Causes we look upon Death as a thing that happens by chance or as an evil that may be prevented or at least put away from us for a time whereas we should be fully perswaded that God hath determined and appointed not only Death it self but also all the causes and means by which it commonly happens Therefore we are often fill'd with displeasure and reduced to murmure and repine against God we grin and bite the stone instead of adoring in all humility that wise Hand that casts it In a word when ever Death comes to us we are ready to say to it as the Devils to our Saviour Wherefore art thou come to torment us before the time Matth. 3. 4. We are too much wedded to these earthly vanities we are inseparable from the World we would willingly make here our abode for ever and cannot abide to hear that Death will remove us Our unlawful affections have no bounds and we often spend our selves in the pursuance of the miserable advantages of the Earth When we come almost to the end of our life and of our mortal journey it is then that many of us are most earnest to make a large provision of Worldly Vanities we build stately dwellings and sumptuous Palaces at that very moment when we should think of nothing but of building our Tomb and preparing our Winding-sheet We have so violent a passion for all the advantages of this life that to separate us from them it is to pluck out our Hearts and tear our tenderest Bowels When Death comes to our Bedside and offers to pull us out we are ready to say as the Sluggard in the Proverbs A little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands Prov. 6. When our Divine Bridegroom knocks at our Gates we are scarce willing to abandon our Delights as the Spouse in the Canticles what saith the Worldling Must I leave my sumptuous Palaces my pleasant Dwellings and my delightful Gardens Must I relinquish all this rich Tapestry these precious Moveables and all these rare and exquisite Ornaments that enrich my Parlors Chambers and Closets Must this unmerciful Death divest me so soon of all my Offices and Dignities and hinder me from a full and peaceable enjoyment of all these Riches and Treasures Must it ravish from me in an instant all my Delights and satisfactions Is there no remedy but must I be pluckt from the embraces of my beloved Wife from the sight of my dear Children and from the sweet company of all my friends Must I receive no more the services of my Domesticks When we are in this miserable disposition it is no wonder if death is terrible to us and if it causeth us to resent the sharpness of its sting for as Absalom when he was hanging by the hair of his Head in a Tree of the Forrest Joab took three Darts and struck him through the Heart thus when our affections are too much wedded and entangled with the World and its vanities and fill'd with the expectation of earthly contentments it is then that they are miserably exposed to all the Darts and violent attempts of Death 5. Another principal cause of the fear of Death is our ill Life We give our selves over to the vices debaucheries and licenciousness of this unhappy Age we suffer our selves to be corrupted by ill company and carried away with the Torrent of vicious Customs It is therefore no wonder if death fills our Souls with apprehensions for it comes to us armed with our sins and is preceded by the remorse of Conscience and horror of our Crimes How came it to pass that such a terrible astonishment fell upon King Belshazzar when he saw the fingers of an hand writing upon the Wall of his Palace the Sentence of his doom Dan. 5. It was because he did profane the Holy Vessels of God's House and because he did riot in the company of lascivious Women Wherefore did Felix tremble when he heard St. Paul discourse of Justice Temperance and of Judgement to come Acts 24. It was because he was a wicked Varlet given over to all manner of filthy and unjust living Thus because we profane the Members of our Body that are as the Vessels of Gods Sanctuary and House and because our life is vicious and disorderly we can't abide to hear death mention'd and when it comes to us we are ready to speak to it in Felix's language to St. Paul Depart for this time So that the love of Sin and the fear of Death are as two Sisters that hold one another by the hands or rather they are as Twins that are born and dye together As the Prophet Amos said to the Israelites Ye put for away the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near Amos 6. So may we say to the Men of this age Ye put far from you the day of Death as much as you are able and draw near to all manner of Impurity Covetousness Ambition Pride Vanity Usury Rapine Violence Envy Malice and such like Soul-plagues You don't only draw near to these abominable Vices but you do also worse to lodge them in your Bowels and to plant them in your Hearts Certainly we may very well apply to all vicious persons what the Prophet Jeremy tells of Jerusalem Her filthiness is in her skirts she remembreth not her last end Lam. 1. 6. I have taken notice of another imperfection in us we mistrust the Providence of God and know not how to repose our selves upon his Fatherly Care we have a too worthy esteem of our selves and of our own sufficiency We can't resolve to dye because we fancy our selves very useful in the world and that our Death would bring a considerable loss to the Church of God to the State or to our Family 7. Because the Soul and Body are linkt together in a very strict union we can't imagine how they can be separated without great and unspeakable pangs our infidelity is so great that we can't rest satisfied upon the promise of God who engages to succor us in our distress and to deliver us from all our troubles Is 50. It is true Jacob's Ladder that reaches from the Earth to Heaven doth fill us with admiration but it seems most difficult and uneasy to ascend Paradice is Rich Glorious and Delightful to the uttermost but its Gate is strait and choakt up with Thorns and Bryers 8 I judge that one of the chief causes of the fear of death is because we look upon God as a most severe and merciless Judge inflamed with anger and fury against us and armed with vengeance Whereas we should consider and acknowledge him to be a
vain that they did beat at the gate with a Lord Lord open unto us Matt. 25. The door could not be open'd to them but it was answered from within Verily I say unto you I know you not I know that the chief and principal purpose of this and other Parables is to teach us how we should be prepar'd to expect the Glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but they may very well be applied unto Death for it hath pleased God to keep secret and hidden the day in the which he will call us to himself and that of our Saviours coming to judgment that we may be equally prepar'd and dispos'd for the one as well as for the other As we shall be found at the time of our death so shall we be judged at the great day when Christ shall come down from Heaven with the Angels of his Power and from that judgement there shall be no Appeal Let us therefore put off the Sin that doth so easily beset us and break all the Chains of our filthy Lusts Let us disarm death and take from it its venemous Darts and its piercing stings Let us pluck off the Claws and the Teeth of this furious Beast and extinguish all its fires and it shall never be able to terrify us Let us live the life of Saints and God will give us grace to dye the death of the Righteous and to end like unto them Let us live as we would that we had lived at that instant when Death is upon our Lips Let us live as if at every moment we were to dy and at every hour God did call unto us from his Heaven Come and appear to Judgement And when Satan the World and our own Flesh solicite and draw us to evil let us say within our selves Is it thus that thou wilt reward the Lord thy God and acknowledge all the Blessings and Favors that thou hast received from his bountiful hand O Fool dost thou conceive that thou canst go to Heaven by marching in the Read to Hell If thou dost wilfully cast thy self away into the depths of sin what assurâ—nâ—â—â—ast thou of rising again by Repentance If 〈◊〉 â—orsakest God art not thou afraid God will forsake thee Is it thus that thou preparest thy self to dye Are these Lusts the Arms with which thou must encounter Death Art thou ready to draw near to the Sacred Majesty of thy God and to appear before his great Tribunal The night is far spent the day is at hand Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the Armor of Light Rom. 16. Let us live as Children of God and Heirs of his Kingdom Phil. 3. Let us be blameless and shine as Lights in the World Let our conversation be as Citizens of Heaven from whence we expect the Lord Jesus Eph. 2. Let us go to the Holy and Heavenly Jerusalem by the way of good Works which God hath prepared that we might walk in them Zach. 13. In all our Actions Words and Thoughts let there be engraven Holiness to the Lord. Let us declare by our Deeds that we really believe without doubting whatsoever the Holy Scripture declares of the Eternal pains of Hell and of the unspeakable joys of Heaven Gal. 6. Whilst we have time let us do good to all but chiefly to the Houshold of Faith Eph. 5. Let us redeem the time for the days are evil Doe not as Adam did who to eat of the forbidden Fruit so pleasing to his taste lost the Paradise which God had given him Let us not loose the Eternal Delights that God hath prepared for us from the beginning of the World for a moment of carnal pleasure Let us imitate the Holy and Wise Virgins put Oil in our Lamps betimes let us fill up our Hearts with Faith Hope and Charity and put on the Robes of Righteousness and Holiness As God's faithful Servants Let us labor to accomplish our Taske Let us be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord that when Death shall appear or rather when the Prince of Life shall call us to himself we may be ready to give him an exact account of our Talents with which he hath intrusted us and that we may say unto him in sincerity and truth I have done the work that thou hast given me I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith O most excellent Lord I have nothing else to do but to receive from thy hand the Crown of Righteousness which thou hast promised to all that love thine appearance I have nothing else to do but to enter into thy Glorious Rest where thou dost embrace in thine infinite Mercies all such as have overcome Sin and Death and kept thy Works unto the end A Prayer and Meditation for him that prepares for Death by Repentance and an Holy Life O God the Holy of Holies who art Holiness it self Sin hath introduc'd Death into the World and rendred this our Enemy so terrible Strengthen me with thy Divine Vertue that I may be able to take from it betimes its mortal Weapons and its fiery Darts and that strength and poison which is so natural to it Seeing that since the Creation of the World thou hast prepared thine Heavenly Kingdom for me give me Grace to employ the remainder of my life to purge my Conscience from dead Works and to sanctify my Body and Soul that I may be in an Estate convenient for such an Holy Abode into which no impure nor defiled thing shall enter that I may be in a disposition fit to behold thy Glorious Face that cannot be seen without Holiness O Heavenly Father enlighten mine understanding with the light of thine Holy Spirit that proceeds from thee that I may discover the ugliness of sin and its dangerous consequences that I may abhor and abominate it with all mine heart that I may look upon it as an infernal Monster and as Satans Image as a grievous filth which hath disfigured the Master-piece of thine hands and blotted out of our Souls the chief features of thy Divine Image Give me grace to esteem it as that cursed Fire that hath kindled thy wrath set the whole world in a flame as that unfufferable burden under which Nature it self sighs and groans and under which Heaven it self complains as the murderer of our first Parents and of all Mankind in general as the Executioner that crucified the Lord of Glory and spilt his precious Bloud In short give me grace to treat it as our most unreconcileable enemy that provoketh thy vengeance and that labors to cast us headlong into the Abysse of Eternal Torments O Father of Mercies give me grace to perceive all the Beauties of Holiness and the Glory that shall reward it that I may be enflamed with its love and embrace it with all the affections of my Soul that I may look upon it as the the off-spring of Heaven as an image of
and ready with its jaws open to devour me But Lord I come to cast my self before thy Blessed Cross I take hold of the Horns of this Altar I dip my self in thy Bloud I put on the Robes of thy Righteousness and wrap my self up in thy Death O Holy Redeemer I know that thou hast been distressed and grievously perplexed at the approaches of Death and that thine Agony hath been so bitter that thou hast sweated drops of Bloud and the Holy Angels have come down to comfort thee whereas thy Servants the Martyrs have gone to death and their sufferings with expressions of Joy as to a most splendid Banquet or to a Triumph Thou hast prayed with strong Crying and Tears to be delivered from death and that this Cup might pass away so that thou mightest never tast of its bitterness But Lord thy death was not as mine and as that of thy blessed Martyrs Thy death was an atonement for the sins of the whole World whereas our death is not intended as a satisfaction to God's justice but rather to render us capable of receiving the blessed Fruits of his Eternal Compassions Thou didst bear the strokes of God's Justice and endure the fierceness of his wrath enflamed against the sins which thou hast loaded on thy self But we instead of this consuming Fire which thou hast quenched with thy precious Bloud we perceive the flames of Love instead of the Hand of thy justice we see thy Arms wide open to receive us into Eternal Happiness Death good Lord was armed with our sins and iniquities and with all that is dreadful in Hell but I see that all the Armor of Death are hung upon thy Cross they are the Trophies and everlasting marks of thy Glorious Victory Thou hast felt not only the most sensible Darts of Death but also the most terrible Thunderbolts and fearful Curses of the Law Thou hast secured us from all that violence thou hast redeemed us from the dreadful Curses When thou wast made a Curse for us thou hadst not only to encounter with death but also to destroy him who had the Empire of Death and to break in pieces the Gates of Hell Thou didst spoil Principalities and Powers shewing them openly and triumphing of them in thy Cross O wonderful Saviour How marvellous are thy Works and worthy of the continual admiration of Men and Angels Thou hast drunk up the very dregs of the Cup of God's fury that we might never taste of it and thou hast taken upon thee all the punishment that our sins and offences had deserved that we might never feel them Thy grievous pangs alleviate my torments thy bruises and wounds are my health and cure thy fears do comfort and settle my mind and thy distressed Soul doth fill mine full of joy and comfort thy crying doth appease the troubles of my Conscience and thy drops of Bloud do wash down my Tears thine affliction comforts me thy sorrow is my joy and thy bitterness is my sweetness thy death is my victory and thy Cross is my Triumph I shall no longer apprehend to dye seeing thou didst procure unto me Life and Immortality O Glorious and Merciful Lord the Kingdom of Heaven belongs unto thee by a twofold Right it belongs to thee because thou art the only Son of God and the Heir of all things it belongs to thee also because thou hast purchased it with the infinite Merits of thy Sufferings the first is sufficient for thee the second thou hast resigned unto me that I might one day enjoy this Heavenly Kingdom as the fruits of thy Death and the price of thy Bloud I have hoped in thee Lord I shall never be confounded I know that nothing impure or defiled shall enter into thine Holy Jerusalem but thy Bloud shall wash me from all my sins and make me as white as Snow O Glorious Lord O thou that art wonderful how precious is thy death unto me It is the payment of all my debts the atonement of all my crimes and the ransom of the whole World It is our peace with God our re-union with Heaven and our reconciliation with the Blessed Angels of Light It is the death of Death it self and the ruine of Hell In short it hath not only drawn me out of an Abysse of Misery freed me from Eternal Damnation and the infinite torments of the bottomless Pit but it hath purchased for me Heaven with all its Glory and Paradise with its unspeakable Delights David was much admired for making use of Goliah 's Sword to cut off his Head but who will admire and wonder at thee O victorious Son of David seeing thou hast swallowed up Death into Victory by thine own death Sampson was wondered at because he killed a few Enemies by his death but who will not wonder at thee O Son of Righteousness who by thy death hast destroyed all the enemies of our Salvation and given to death itself its death's wound Jacob slept peaceably at the bottom of the mysterious Ladder which reacht from the Earth up to Heaven But O my Lord God I shall lay my self down and find more peace and quiet at the bottom of thy blessed Cross seeing that by its means I have access to the Father unto whom thou hast reconciled me seeing that I may with boldness go to the Throne of Grace to obtain Mercy and Help in time of need Lord Jesus I discover in thy Cross not only the source of my sweetest Comforts of my greatest Joys and of my noblest expectations but I learn also there how to dye well and I perceive all the Vertues in their greatest perfection that should accompany my Soul at its Egress out of this Body O Lord Who art Perfection it self and who hast left me such a notable Example that I might imitate it give me Grace to express to all my Relations that cordial and holy affection and that tenderness which I see in thee give me Grace to forgive with all mine Heart mine Enemies that I may pray God for them who have persecuted me with fury Give me Grace in my greatest pains to follow the example of thy sweet Nature of thy Goodness of thy Patience and noble Resolution Inflame my Soul with an earnest Zeal for thy Glory and with such a love as caused thee to offer thy self up in Sacrifice to God Here I am O God ready to perform thy Will my Soul is none of mine but thine who art its faithful Creator and its merciful Saviour Seeing that thou hast paid its Ransom that thou hast washed and cleansed it in thy Blood cloathed it with thy Righteousness and put it in a capacity of entring into thine Heavenly Sanctuary and of appearing before the Father of Lights do with it as it shall seem good unto thee O sweet Jesus who hast been pleased to Dye and be Crucified for me wretched Sinner give me that Grace that I may for ever live and raign with thee and that I may at every
as the fire St. Paul intends to teach us this truth when he tells us that this Body is sown an earthly and a sensual Body but it shall rise again an heavenly and a spiritual Body we are not so to understand these words as to think that God will change them into Spirits or into such uncomposed bodies as are the Heavens for they shall yet be made up of flesh and bones and they shall have all the essential parts of an humane Body as we have already taken notice but I conceive that they are named spiritual and heavenly because they shall have no more the gross and earthy qualities and they shall live no more a Sensitive and an animal life In a word they shall need no more meat or drink than the Stars and Celestial Bodies no more than the holy Angels of God I confess that our Lord Jesus Christ ascended up into Heaven in a cloud not because that a Cloud was necessary to uphold and keep up his glorious Body for if in the estate of his infirmity and humiliation this divine Body was able to walk upon the waves of the Sea without sinking by the assistance of his divine Nature how much more since its glorification shall it be able to ascend up on high and to go whither he listeth If the help of any Creature had been necessary to uphold him he might have had Legions of Immortal Angels to carry him up but Christ needed not to be assisted neither by a Body nor a Spirit nor by any other Creature This Cloud therefore that appeared at his Ascention was no token of the infirmity of his humane Nature it did rather manifest the glory and magnificence of his Divine Majesty unto which this precious Body was united personally God hath often revealed himself attended by a Cloud as upon Mount Sina in the Ark of the Covenant at the Dedication of Solomone Temple therefore that Cloud in which God was pleased to discover himself is stiled The Glory of God that is the Sign and visible expression of his Glorious Presence and Divine Majesty Let us therefore gather from hence that the Cloud which attended upon the glorified Body of Jesus Christ was no needful help to carry him up to Heaven but as it were a Chariot of Triumph to cause him to go with more glory and pomp The Bodies of the Saints after the Resuriection shall shine and be full of glory they shall not only have some superficial splendor upon their Countenance or Skin as Moses when he had been with God forty days and forty nights in the Holy Mountain but they shall shine within and without as a true Diamond that casts abroad on all sides its light and flames So that it shall happen to them as it happened to our Saviour upon Mount Tabor for it is said that his Garments became White as the Light In the same manner at the time of our Transfiguration our bodies that are but the Garments of our Immortal Souls shall be as clear as the Light and as bright as the Celestial Globes I speak here nothing but what the Prophet Daniel saith before me Daniel 12. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever And our Saviour assures us Math. 23. That the Children of God shall shine in the Kingdom of their Father as the Sun These glorified Bodies shall never corrupt nor putrify but they shall be for ever uncorruptible Therefore St. Paul assures us that the Corruptible must put on incorruption so that I may safely affirm that their glory shall be more durable than that of the Sun or of the Moon or of the Stars for although these Celestial Bodies never corrupt out of any inward principle although there can be no alteration happen to them neither from their essential form nor from the properties that come from it nor from any other inherent quality they shall nevertheless corrupt out of an external principle for the Almighty hand of God which made them shall change and alter them as the royal Prophet tells us in 102 Psalm The heavens shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed 1 Pet. 5. Unto this St. Peter doth very well agree The Heavens saith he shall pass away with a great noise Where as the glorified Bodies shall never corrupt neither by any internal principle nor by their essential form nor by the properties and accidents that flow from it nor by any external cause nor by any accident whatsoever that can be imagined for the Almighty hand of God shall make them never to marr them again From hence it follows that they shall Die no more but shall continue Immortal for with incorruption they must put on Immortality therefore when our Saviour speaks of the estate of the glorified Saints Luk. 20. he saith not only that they shall not Die but that they cannot Die any more because they shall be like the Angels being the Children of the Resurrection In this consists the difference between them and those whom God hath raised up already mentioned in the Old and New Testament For they were forced to return to their sensual life to eat and drink and therefore they were again subject to corruption and Death but at the day of the general Resurrection whatsoever is Mortal shall be swallowed up by Life therefore St. Paul applies to this glorious day the accomplishment of this Prophecy Death is swallowed up into Victory and he brings in these who shall be cloathed with this Immortal Glory braving Death and the Grave in this triumphing Language O Death where is thy Victory O Grave I where is thy Sting In short to make us sensible that our Bodies shall put on all the richest and most noble qualities that can be imagined and to express all in a word the Holy Ghost assures us that they shall bear the Image of the Son of God and be made conformable to his glorious Body St Paul declares this Truth in the 15 Chap. of the first of the Corinth The first Man saith he was of the Earth Earthly the second Man was the Lord from Heaven as is the Earthy such are they that are are Earthy and as is the Heavenly such are they also that are Heavenly and as we have born the Image of the Earthy we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly And in Philip. 3. he saith we wait for the Lord Jesus from Heaven who shall change our vile Body that it may be like to his glorious Body from hence you may gather Christians that at the rebuilding of this little Temple of the Godhead there shall happen no such thing as at the rearing up of the Temple of Jerusalem for when that was Rebuilding at the return from the Babilonish Captivity they that had seen the former