of it by chance too but when and as it happens This is worse than Paganish Blindness for besides what from their Poets the vulgar have been made to believe concerning the three fatal Sisters to whom they ascribed no less than Deity concern'd in measuring every ones Life The grave discourses which some of them have writ concerning Providence and its extent to the lesser intermediate concerns of Life much more to that their final great concern of Death will be a standing Testimony against the too-prevailing Christian Scepticism they ought to excuse the Soloecism who make it of this wretched Age But such among us as will allow themselves the liberty to think want not opportunity and means by which they may be assur'd that not an imaginary but real Deity is immediately and constantly concern'd in measuring our Time in this World What an awful thought is this And it leads to a 2 Inference That it is a great thing to die The Son of God the Redeemer of man hath an immediate presidency over this affair He signalizes himself by it who could not suppose he should be magnified by a trifle We slightly say such a one is Dead Consider the matter in it self and 't is great A reasonable Soul hath chang'd States an intelligent Spirit is gone out of our world The life of a Gnat a Fly those little Automata or self moving things how admirable a production is it It becomes no man to despise what no man can imitate We praise the Pencil that well describes the external figure of such an Animalculum such a little Creature but the internal vital self moving power and the motion itself what Art can express But an humane life how important a thing is it T was one of Plato's thanksgivings that God had made him a man How careful a guard hath God set over every mans life fencing it by the severest Law If any man shed mans blood by man shall his blood be shed and how weighty is the annexed reason For in the image of God he made man This then highly greatens this matter He therefore reserves it wholly to himself as one of his peculiarities to dispose of such a life I am he that kills and makes alive We find it One of his high titles The God of the Spirits of all flesh He had what was much greater to glory in that he was The Father of spirits indefinitely spoken When he hath all the heavenly Regions the spacious Hades Peopled with such Inhabitants whose dwelling is not with flesh and for vast multitudes of them that never was that yet looking down into this little world of ours this minute spot of his creation and observing that here were Spirits dwelling in flesh he should please to be sâ—ylâ—d also the God of those Spirits signifies this to be with him too an appropriate glory a glory which he will not communicate farther then he communicates Godhead And that he held it a divine right to measure the time unto each of them of their abode in flesh determine when they shall dislodge This cannot be thought on-aright without a becoming most profound reverence of him on this account How sharp a rebuke is given to that haughty Prince The God in whose hands thy breath is hast thou not glorified That would prepare the way and we should be easily led on were we once come to think with reverence to think also with pleasure of this case that our life and every breath we draw is under such a Divine Superintendency The H. Psalmist speaks of it with high complacency as the matter of his Song that he had a God presiding over his life So he tells us he would have each 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 composed not more of Night and Day than of Prayer and Praise directed to God under this notion as the God of his life Psal. 42.8 And he speaks it not grudgingly but as the ground of his trust and boast Psal. 31.14 15. I trusted in thee O Lord I â—aid thou art my God my times are in thy hand That this Key is in the hand of the Great Emmanuel God with us will be thought on with frequency when it is thought on with delight 3. Our Life on Earth is under the constant strict observation of our Lord Christ. He waits when to turn the Key and shut it up Thro' the whole of that time which by deferring he measures out to us we are under his Eye as in a state of probation He takes continual notice how we acquit our selves For his turning the Key at last is a judicial act therefore supposes diligent observation and proceeds upon it He that hath this Key is also said in the next Chapter verse 18. to have Eyes like a flame of fire with these he observes what he hath against one or another ver 20. And with most indulgent patience gives a space of Repentance ver 21. and notes it down if any then repent not as we there also find Did secure Sinners consider this how he beholds them with a flame in his Eye and the Key in his hand would they dare still to trifle If they did apprehend how he in this posture stands over them in all their vain dalliances idle impertinencies bold adventures insolent attempts against his Laws and Goverâ—ment presumptuous affronts of his high Authority Yea or but in their drowsie slumbrings their lingering delays their neglects of offered Grace Did they consider what notice he takes how they demean themselves under every Sermon they hear in every Prayer wherein they are to joyn with others or which perhaps for customs sake they put up alone by themselves How theiâ— hearts are mov'd or unmov'd by every repeâ—ted Call that is given them to turn to God get their Peace made by application of their Redeemer's reconciling Blood In what Agonies would they be what pangs of trembling would they feel within themselves lest the Key should turn before their great work be done 4. Whatsoever ill designs by this observation he discovers 't is easie to him to prevent One turn of this Key of Death besides the many other ways that are obvious to him disappoints them all and in that day all their thoughts perish 'T is not therefore from inadvertency indifferency or impotency but deep counsel that they are permitted to be driven on so far He that sitteth in the Heavens laughs and he knows their day is coming He can turn this Key when he will 5. His Power as to every ones Death cannot be avoided or withstood The act of this Key is definitive and ends the business No man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit nor hath he power in Death Eccles. 8.8 'T is in vain to struggle when the Key is turn'd the Power of the Keys where it is supremely lodg'd is absolutely decisive and their Effect permanent and irrevocable That Soul therefore for whose Exit the Key is turned must thereupon then
continue the later in Duties in the Evening saying we ought not to make that Day shorter than other Days Though he was very intent on his Studies yet on Saturdays he always broke them off at Noon and spent the Afternoon in reading Divinity and preparing himself for the Lords Day He was always constant in his secret Duties and suffered nothing to hinder him from the performing of them Before he expired he spoke with great assurance of his Future happiness and hopes of meeting his Relations in Glory Thus far goes that Account His Sickness was short When hearing of it I went to visit him I was met in an Ante-chamber by his ingenious dear Brother to whom it is no reproach to be second to him and who it is to be hoped will be at least truly so making him though a fair Example yet not a Standard who hath for divers years been most intimately conjunct and conversant with him known his way his Spirit his manner of Life his purity And may be led on and excited thereby wherein he hath observed him to excel others to endeavour not to come short but if it were possible to excel him remembring he is to be the next solace of his Parents hope of his Family and resort of his Country if God shall vouchsafe to continue him in succeeding time From him I had little expectation of finding his Sick Brother in a conversable condition the malignity of his Feaver having before seized his head and very much disordered his intellectuals but going in I was much surprized to find it so far otherwise He presently knew me his understanding that served him for little else faiâ—ed him not in the concernments of Religion and of his Soul There was not an improper or misplac't word tho' the case could not admit of interchanging many that came from him Concerning the substance of the Gospel of Christ as it could be shortly summed up to him he said he had no doubt and his transactions with Christ himself accepting him resigning and entrusting himself absolutely and entirely to him and God in him were so explicite distinct clear as could leave no place of doubt concerning him He profest his concurrence to such requests as were put up to God concerning him and the next Morning slept quietly in the Lord. Nor now will it be unfit to shut up the Discourse with some few suitable Reflections upon this double Subject The Text and This Providence taken together 1. How happy is it when this Power of our Great Redeemer and Lord mention'd in the Text and a preparation with chearful willingness dutifully to comport with it concur and meet together as they have done in this instance Our Lord hath shewn his Power He asserted it in the Text. In this Instance he used it giving an open Testimony that he takes it to belong to him to make such translations from one World to another whensoever he judges it a fit season Nor is solicitous whether men acknowledge his right so to do or no or what Censures they will pass upon what he hath done He doth his own work and leaves men to their own talk or mutterings or wonder or amusement at it as they will So it becomes Sovereign Power to do establish't upon the most unquestionable foundations exercis'd according to the wisest and most righteous Measures He hath used his own right and satisfied himself in the use of it He thought not himself concern'd to advise with any of us about it who as his Counsellor should instruct him Isa. 40.13 Rom. 11. v. 34. He owes so much to himself to act as unaccountable to no one nor liable to any ones controll Here is most rightful resistless Power justly and kindly us'd on the one hand And on the other how placid how calm a resignation Here was no striving no crying no reluctant motion no querulous repining voice Nothing but peaceful filial submission a willingness to obey the Summons given This was an happy accord the willingness of this departing Soul proceeding not from stupidity but trust in him who kept these Keys and such preparedness for removal as the Gospel requir'd O happy Souls that finding the Key is turning and opening the door for them are willing to go forth upon such terms as knowing whom they have believed c. And that neither principalities or powers life or death c. can ever separate them from the Love of God in Christ Jesus their Lord. Life they find hath not separated whereof was the greater danger and Death is so far from making this separation that it shall compleat their Vnion with the blessed God in Christ and lay them infolded in the everlasting Embraces of Divine Love Happy they that can hereupon welcome Death and say Now Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace that before only desired leave to die and have now obtained it that are with certainty of the Issue at the point of becoming compleat Victors over the last Enemy and are ready to enter upon their Triumph and take up their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death is swallowed up in Victory O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Happy Soul here will be a speedy end of all thy griefs and sorrows they will be presently swallow'd up in an absolute plenitude and fulness of Joy There is already an end put to thy tormenting cares and fears for what Object can remain to thee of a rational fear when once upon grounds such as shake not under thee thou art reconcil'd to Death This is the most glorious sort of Victory viz. by reconciliation For so thou hast conquered not the Enemy only but the Enmity it self by which he was so Death is become thy Friend and so no longer to be feared nor is there any thing else from whence thou art to fear hurt For Death was thy last Enemy even this bodily Death The whole Region beyond it is to one in thy case clear and serene when to others is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever There are no terrible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no formidable consequences no reserves of misery no treasures of wrath to be feared by thee To one in thy condition may that without hesitation be apply'd nihil metuit qui optat mori He fears nothing who desires to die What is the product of some mens infidelity is the genuine product of their faith From so contrary Causes may proceed the same Effect The Effect a willingness to die or a bold adventure upon Death is the same but only in respect of the general kind with great differences in the special kind according to the difference and contrariety of the Causes whereof they discernibly tast and savour With Infidels it is a negative dead stupid partial willingness or but a non-aversion and in a lower and much diminished degree Or if some present
out of our sight And as the word of which it is compounded signifies also to know as well as to see it may further signifie that state of things which lies without the compass of our knowledge even out of the reach of our mental sight or concerning which tho' we are to believe what is revealed we cannot immediately or distinctly know it and in reference whereto therefore we are to walk by Faith not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 And the common use of the word hath been very agreeable hereto with Writers of all sorts i e. to signifie indefinitely the unseen World or the state of the deceased out of our World who are consequently gone out of our sight whether they were good or bad so as not peculiarly to signifie Hell or any place or state of Torment only It were easie to abound in Quotations to this purpose if it were either needful or proper in a Discourse of this nature What I intend in this kind I shall only set down on the by in the Margin upon which they that will may cast their Eye that the Discourse be not interrupted as to others that either have no need to be informed in this matter having known as much before as can be now told them or no inclination to be diverted from their present purpose in reading apprehending that what is generally told them only concerning the usual signification of a word is not said without some ground And let Texts of Scripture be consulted about that how Hades and the correspondent word in the O. T. Shee l are used there If we take the Help of Interpreters the impartial Reader is to judge of their Fidelity and Ability who go our way Upon the whole it being most evident that Hell is but a small and mean part of what is signified by Hades it will be very unreasonable to represent or conceive of the Power here ascribed to our Lord according to that narrow notion of it And would be a like incongruity as if to magnifie the Person of highest Dignity in the Court of a mighty Prince one should say He is the Keeper of the Dungeon Thâ— word it self indeed properly taken and according to its just extent mightily greatens him i.e. 't is as much as to say his Dominion is of unknown limits such as no Eye can measure We think with a sort of veneration of what is represented as too big for our knowledge We have a natural awe and reverence for unsearchable darkness But in the mean time we herein suffer a just diminution of our selves that when our enquiry stops and can proceed no further it being but a very little part of the Universe that lies within our compass having tir'd our enquiring Eye and Mind upon all the rest we write Hades call it unseen or unknown And because we call it so in reference to us God himself calls it so too It being his way as is observed by that noted Jew speaking to men to use the tongue of the children of men to speak to them in their own language and allow them to coin their own words Which at first they often do very occasionally nor as to this could they have a fairer or a more urgent occasion or that is more self-justifying than in one word to say of that other World that it is Hades or invisible when that is truly all that they have to say or can have any immediate notice of about it It hath therefore its rise from our selves and the penury of our knowledge of things And is at once both an ingenuous confession with some sort of modest cover and excuse of our own ignorance As with Geographers all that part of this Globe which they cannot describe is Terra incognita and with Philosophers such Phaenomena in nature as they can give no account of they resolve shortly and in the most compendious way into some or other occult quality or somewhat else as occult How happy were it if in all matters that concern Religion and in this as it doth so they would shut up in a sacred venerable Darkness what they cannot distinctly perceive it being once by the undeceiving Word expresly asserted that it is without therefore denying its reality because they clearly apprehend not what it is With too many their Religion is so little and their pride and self-conceit so great that they think themselves fit to be Standards That their Eye or Mind is of a size large enough to measure the Creation yea and the Creator too And by how much they have the less left them of Mind or the more it is sunk into Earth and Carnality the more capable it is of being the measure of all reality of taking the compass of all being created and uncreated And so that of the Philosopher takes place in the worst sense can be put upon it to see Darkness is to see nothing All is nullity that their sense reaches not Hades is with such indeed empty imaginary Darkness or in plainer English there is neither Heaven nor Hell because they see them not But we ought to have the greater thoughts of it not the less for its being too big too great too glorious for our present view And that it must as yet rest as to us and so let it rest a while under the name of Hades The unknown Dominion of our great Lord. According to that most express account he at his Ascension gave of the Existence of both parts together that less known to us and that more known Matt. 28.18 All power is given to me both in Heaven and Earth That Death is added as contained also within the limits of our Lord's Dominion doth expresly signifie his custody of the passage from this Visible World to the Invisible viz. as he commands the entrance into each distinct part of Hades the Invisible World consisting of both Heaven and Hell so he hath power over Death too which is the common out-let from this VVorld and the passage unto both But it withall plainly implies His very absolute Power over this Visible VVorld of ours also For it signifies he hath the power of measuring every ones time here and how long each Inhabitant of this World shall live in it If it belong to him to determine when any one shall die it must by consequence belong to him to assign the portion and dimensum of time that every one shall live Nor is there any conceivable moment in the time of any ones life whâ—rein he hath not this power of putting a period by death thereunto at his own pleasure He is therefore signified to have the power of every man's life and death at once And the Power of Life and Death is very high and great Power He therefore herein implicitly claims what is elsewhere expresly ascribed to him Rom. 14.78 9. None lives to himself i.e. de jure no man should or dies to himself For whether we live we live unto
the Lord or whether we die we die to the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords For to this end Christ both died and rose again and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living In summ here is asserted to him a Dominion over both Worlds this in which we live and that into which we die whether the one or the other part of it And so in reference to Men who once have inhabited this World the sense of this â—ext and that we are insisting on is the same Tho' Hades is of vastly larger extent than only to be the receptacle of such as have liv'd here it having also in both the parts of it innumerable Inhabitants who never had a dwelling assigned them in this World of ours at all But thus far we have the vast extent of our Lord Christ's Dominion competently cleared to be the proper intendment of this Text. And that it never meant so faint and minute a representation of it as only to make him Keeper of the bottomless Pit Tho' of that also he hath the Key as we shall further take notice But are now to enquire of what will tak up less time 3. The Kind of that Power over so vast a Realm or manifold Realms signified by this emblematical expression of having the Keys â— Every one knows that the Keys are Insignia some of the tokens of Power and according to the peculiarity of the Object may be of Divine Power The Jews as some Writers of their Affairs say appropriate the Keys of three others of four things to God only Of Life or the entrance into this World Of the Rain or the Treasures of the Clouds Of the Earth say some as of the Granary of Corn. And of the Grave Of which says one of their own The Holy Blessed one hath the Keys of the Sepulchres in his hand c. And as we may be sure he admits thither so he emits from thence and as he says in the future Age the H. B. one will unlock the Treasures of Souls and will open the Graves and bring every Soul back into its own body c. Nor is this Key of the vast Hades when it is in the hand of our Redeemer the less in the hand of the Holy Blessed One for so is he too But it is in his hand as belonging to his Office of Mediator between God and Man as was before said And properly the phrase signifies Ministerial Power being a manifest allusion to the common usage in the Courts of Princes of entrusting to some great Minister the Power of the Keys as it was foretold of Eliakim Isa. 22. that he should be placed in the same high station in Hezekiahs Court wherein Shebna was of whom so severe things are there said and that the Key of the House of David should be laid upon his shoulder c. ver 20 21 22. And the House of David being a known Type of the House or Church of God and he himself of Christ who as the Son hath power over the whole house according to this typical way of speaking our Lord is said Rev 3.7 to have the Key of David to open so as none can shut to shut so as none can open i. e. to have a final decisive power in all he doth from which there is no appeal Nor could any thing be more congruous than that having the Keys of the Celestial House of God the Heavenly Palace of the Great King the Habitation of his Holiness and Glory in which are the Everlasting Habitations the many Mansions the Places prepared for his Redeemed he should also have the Keys of the Terrestrial Bethel which is but a sort of Portal or Vestibulum to the other The House of God and the Gate of Heaven And as he is implied to have the Keys of this introductive preparatory Kingdom of Heaven as the Keys of the Kings Palace where is the Throne or Seat of Government and the Keys of the Kingdom must mean the same thing when he is said to give them to the Apostle Peter and the other Apostles This was but a Prelude and a minute Instance of his Power of those Keys of Hades and of the glorious Heavenly Kingdom it self contained therein which he was not to delegate but to manage himself immediately in his own Person If moreover he were signified by the Anâ—el Rev. 20.1 who was said to have the Key of the bottomless Pit That also must import a Power tho' great in it self yet very little in comparison of the immense Hades of which he is here sâ—id to have the Keâ—s So remote is it that the Power ascribed to him there should be the measure of what he here assets to himself And the difference must be vastly greater than it is possible for us to conceive or parallel by the difference between having Power over the Palace all the most delightful most spacious Territories in the vastest Empire of the greatest Prince and only having Power over a Dungeon in some obscure corner of it Which for the great purposes whereto all this is it be applied we can can scarcely too much inculcate And to such application let us now with all possible seriousness and intention of spirit address our selves Which will consist in sundry Inferences or Deductions laying before us some suitable matter Partly of our Meditation Practice The former whereof are to prepare and lay a ground for the latter 1. Divers things we may collect that will be very proper for our deep Meditation which I shall propose not as things that we can be suppos'd not to have known before but which are too commonly not enough thought on or considered And here we shall somewhat invert the order wherein things lye in the Text beginning with what is there latter and lower and thence arising with more advantage to what is higher and of greater concernment As 1. That Men do not die at random or by some uncertain acciaccidental by stroak that as by a slip of the hand cuts off the thred of Life but by an act of Divine Determination and Judgment that passes in reference to each ones Death For as the Key signifies Authority and Power the turning this Key of Death that gives a Man his Exit out of this World is an Authoritative Act. And do we consider in what hand this Power is lodg'd we cannot but apprehend every such act is the effect of Counsel and Judgment What Philosophers are wont to discourse of fortuitous Events in reference to Rational Agents or Casual in reference to Natural must be understood but with relation to our selves and signifies only our own ignorance of futurities but can have no place in the all-comprehending Mind as if any thing were a contingency unto that For them that live as if they thought they came into this World by chance 't is very natural to them to think they shall die and go out
if the reason of Gods conduct and the course of his dispensation herein had been equally hidden as that State it self is it had been a bold presumption to enquire and prie into it modesty and reverence should have restrained us But when we find it holds a manifest agreement with other parts of his Counsel that are sufficiently revealed and that the excellency of the Divine Wisdom is most conspicuous and principally to be beheld and admired in ordering the apt congruities and correspondencies of things with each other and especially of the ends he proposes to himself with the Methods and Ways he takes to effect them 't were very great oscitancy and an undutiful negligence not to observe them when they stand in view that we may render him his due acknowledgments and honour thereupon 'T is manifest that as God did not create Man at first in that which he designed to be his final State but as a Probationer in a State of Trial in order to a further State So when he Apostatized and fell from God he was graciously pleased to order for him a New Tryal and put him into the hands of his merciful Redeemer who is intrusted with these Keys and with the Power of Life and Death over him to be managed and exercised according to the terms plainly set down and declared in His Gospel Wheresoever he is with sufficient evidence revealed and made known Men immediately come under obligation to believe in him to intrust and commit themselves into the same hands to rely upon the truth of his Word in every thing he reveals as the ground of their submitting to his Authority in every thing he requires What concerns their present practice he hath plainly shewn them so much as it was requisite they should preapprehend of future Retributions Rewards and Punishments he hath revealed also not that they should have the knowledge hereof by immediate inspection but by taking his word That as their first Transgression was founded in Infidelity that they did not believe God but a lying Spiâ—it against him their first step in their Recovery and return to God should be to believe him and take his word about things thâ—y have themselves no immediate sight or knowledge of This point was by no means to be quitted to the first Apostates As if Gods saying to them if you Transgress you shall Die or go into Hades was no sufficient inforcement of the Precept unless he had given them a distinct view of the States of felicity or misery which their Obedience or Disobedience would lead them into This had been to give away the whole cause to the revolted Rebels and rather to conâ—ess errour and oversight in the Divine Government than impute fault to the impugners of it This being the State of the Case How suitable had it been to the design of this Second Trial to be made with Men to withdraw the vail and let every ones own Eyes be their informers of all the Glories of the Heavenly State and hereupon proclaim and preach the Gospel to them that they should all partake herein that would entirely deny themselves come off from their own bottom give themselves up absolutely to the Interest Love Service and Communion of their Redeemer and of God in him To fortifie them against the assaults and dangers of their Earthly Pilgrimage by reversing that Rule The Just shall live by Faith even that Faith which is the Substance of the things hoped for and the Evidence of things not seen or by inverting the method that in reference to such things We are to walk by Faith not by Sight and letting it be We are to walk by Sight not by Faith And that lest any should refuse such Compliance with their Great Lord Whole Hades should be no longer so but made naked before them and the covering of Hell and Destruction be taken off and their own Eyes behold the infernal horrors their own Ears hear the shrieks and howlings of accursed Creatures that having rejected their Redeemer are rejected by him We are not here to consider what course would most certainly effect their Salvation but what most became the Wise Holy God to preserve the Dignity of his own Government and save them too otherwise Almighty Power could save all at once As therefore we have cause to acknowledge the kindness and compassion of our Blessed Lord who hath these Keys in giving us for the kind such notices as he hath of the state of the things in Hades So we have equal cause to admire his Wisdom that he giâ—es us not those of another kind that should more powerfully strike sense and amaze us more but instruct us less That continues it to be Hades still a state of things to us unseen as yet As the case would have been on the other supposition the most generous noble part of our Religion had been sullied or lost the Tryal of our Faith which is to be found unto Praise Honour and Glory at the appearinâ— of Jesus Christ even upon this account that they who had not seen him in his mean circumstances on Earth nor did now see him amidst all the Glories of his exalted State yet believing lov'd him and rejoyced in him with joy unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.7 8. This Faith and all the glorious tryals of it with its admirable atchievements and performances whereby the Elders heretofore obtained so good a Report and high renown on Earth and which filled the World with wonder had all vanished into obscurity and Darkness i. e. If they had believed no more or no greater things than every Man besides had the immediate view of by his own Eye-sight And yet the trial had been greater on another Account than the Divine Wisdom in conjunction with Goodness and Compassion thought fit ordinarily to put sincere Christians upon For who could with any tolerable patience have endured longer abode on Earth after they should once have had the glory of the Heavenly state immediately set in view before their Eyes especially considering not so much the Sufferings as the impurities of their present State What for great reason was a special vouchsafement to one Apostle was for as great to be common to all Christians How great is the Wisdom and Mercy of our Blessed Lord in this partial concealment of our future State and that while so much as is sufficient is revealed there is yet an Hades upon it and it may still be said It doth not yet appear what we shall be 1 Joh. 3.2 But as these Majestick Life-breathing words of our Great Lord do plainly offer the things that have been mentioned and many more such that might occur to our Thoughts and Meditation so will they be thought on in vain if they be not followed and answered by suitable Dispositions and Actions of Heart and Life Therefore the further use we are to make of this great Subject will be to lay down 2. Divers
the sorrows of Death come upon him he is at the same time said to be the mighty God it was declared the Government should be upon his Shoulders As he was the first begotten from the Dead viz. both submitting to Death and conquering it so he was the Prince of the Kings of the Earth a small part of his Kingdom too his Throne being founded on his Cross his Governing Power in his Sacrifice i. e. The Power whereby he so governs as that he may also save making these two things the salving the Rights of the Godhead injured by Sin and the delivering of the Sinner from an Eternal ruine to agree and consist with one another What an endearing obligation is this to obey That he will be the Author of Eternal Salvation to them that obey him Inasmuch as while our obedience cannot merit the least thing from him yet his vouchsafing to govern us doth most highly merit from us For he Governs by writing his Law in the heart which makes our heart agree with the Law and by implanting Divine Love in us which vanquishes enmity and disaffection and vertually contains in its self our obedience or keeping his Commandments Joh. 14.15 and 23. 1 Joh. 5.3 Therefore this Government of his over us is naturally necessary to our Salvation and blessedness and is the inchoation and beginning of it as our perfected Love to God and conformity to his Nature and will do involve and contain in themselves our compleat and perfect blessedness with which a continued enmity or a rebellious mutinous disposition against God is naturally inconsistent and would be to us and in us a perpetual everlasting Hell There can therefore be no inthralling servitude in such obedience but the truest liberty that by which the Son makes us free indeed Joh. 8.36 Yea a true sort of royalty For hereby we come in the most allowable sense to live as we will our will being conformed to the will of God Whereupon that was no high extravagant rant but a sober expression We are born in a Kingdom to serve God is to reign And we know this to be the will of God that all should honour the Son as they honour the Father Herewith will the Evangelically Obedient comport with high complacency accounting him most highly worthy that it should be so Wherein therefore the Christian Law seems strictest and most rigorous in the enjoyned observance of our Lord Christ herein we shall discern an unexceptionable reasonableness and comply with a complacential approbation And let us put our own hearts to it and see that without regret or obmurmuration they can readily consent to the equity of the precept 'T is enjoyned us constructively at least that because Christ Dy'd for us when we were Dead quite lost in Death we that live hereupon should settle this which our selves as a sixed judgment and upon that intervening judgment yield to the constraint of his Love so as henceforth no more to live to our selves q. d. God forbid we should henceforth be so profane we must now for ever have done with that impious unlawful way of living What after this that we have so fully understood the state of our case that we should be so assuming as ever again to offer at such a thing as living to our selves to make our selves Deities to our selves Or to live otherwise than unto him who Dyed for us and Rose again 2 Cor. 5.14 15. This is high and great and may seem strict and severe What to havâ— the whole stream of all the actions and aims the strength and vigour of our Lives to be carried in one entire undivided current unto him and as it must be understood Gal. 2.19 to God in him so as never more to live to our selves a divided separate life apart from him or wherein we shall not finally and more principally design for him How high is his claim but how equal and grateful to a right mind with what a plenitude of consent is every Divine Command taking this into the Account esteemed to be right in all things So as that whatsoever is opposite is hated as a false way Psal. 119.128 And as the precept carries its own visible reason the keeping of it carries its own reward in it self Psal 19.11 And is it too much for him who bears these Keys and obtained them on such terms and for such ends to be thus affected towards him We are required without exception without limitation or reserve whatsoever we do whether in word or work to do all in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Col. 3.17 Enquire we Do our Hearts repine at this Law Do not we Doth not this World owe so much to him Why are we allowed a place and a time here Why is not this World a flaming Theatre Is it not fit every one should know under whose Government they live by whose Beneficence under whose Protection and in whose name they may act so or so and by whose Authority Either obliging or not restraining them requiring or licensing them to do this or that Doth this World owe less to him that bears these Keys than Egypt did to Joseph when thus the Royal word went forth in reference to him I am Pharaoh and without thee shall no Man lift up his hand or foot in all the Land of Egypt How pleasant should it be to our Souls often to remember and think on that Name of his which we bear Isa. 26.8 Mal. 3.18 and draw in as vital breath the sweet odours of it Cant. 1.3 How glorious a thing should we count it because he is the Lord our God to walk in his Name for ever and ever as all People will walk every one in the Name of their God Mic. 4.5 And then we shall account it no hard Law whatever we do to do all in the Name of our Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father by him and for him blessing God every Day that we are put by him under the mild and merciful Government of a Redeemer Then we shall rejocyingly avow as the Apostle doth 1 Cor. 9.21 That we are not without Law to God but under Law to Christ. VVhereupon when you find your special Relation is thus settled and fixed unto the great Lord both of this present visible World and of Hades or the invisible World also by your Solemn Covenant with him and evidenc't by the continued correspondency of your heart and Life your Dispositions and actions thereunto 7. Do not regret or dread to pass out of the one World into the other at his call and under his conduct though through the dark passage of Death remembring the Keys are in so great and so kind a hand And that his good pleasure herein is no more to be distrusted than to be disputed or withstood Let it be enough to you that what you cannot see your self he sees for you You have oft desired your ways your motions your removals from
place to place might be directed by him in the VVorld Have you never said if thou go not with me carry me not hence How safely and fearlesly may you follow him blindfold or in the dark any whither not only from place to place in this World but from world to world how lightsome soever the one and gloomy and dark the other may seem to you Darkness and light are to him alike To him Hades is no Hades nor is the dark way that leads into it to him an untrodden path Shrink not at the thoughts of this translation though it be not by escaping Death but even through the jaws of it VVe commonly excuse our aversion to Die by alledging that Nature regrets it But we do not enough consider that in such a compounded sort of creature as we are the word Nature must be ambiguous There is in us a sensitive Nature that regrets it but taking the case as it is now stated can we think it tolerable that it should be regretted by the reasonable Nature unto which if we appeal can we suppose it so untrue to its self as not to assert its own Superiority or to judge it fit that an intelligent immortal Spirit capable of so great things in another World should be content with a long abode here Only to keep a well-figured piece of Flesh from putrifying or give it the satisfaction of tasting meats and drinks that are grateful to it for a few years And if for a few why not for many and when those many were expired why not for as many more And the same reason always remaining why not for alwaies The case is thus put because the common meaning of this allegation that Nature regâ—ets or abhors this dissolution is not that they are concerned for their Souls how it may fare with them in another World which the most little mind or trouble themselves about but that they are to have what is grateful to them in this World And was this the end a reasonable Spirit was made for when without reason sense were alike capable of the same sort of gratifications VVhat Law what Equity what rule of Decency can oblige the Soul of a Man capable of the Society and Enjoyments of Angels to this piece of Self-denial for the sake of his incomparably baser Body Or can make it fit that the nobler and more excellent Nature should be eternally subservient to the meaner and more ignoble Especially considering that if according to the case supposed the two last foregoing directions be complyed with there is a sort of Divine Nature superadded to the whole Humane Nature that cannot but prompt the Soul ennobled by it to aspire to suitable even to the highest operations and enjoyments whereof it is capable and which are not attainable in this present bodily state And if there were still a dispute between Nature and Nature it s enough that the great Lord of Hades and of this present sensible World too will determine it In a far lower instance when the General of an Army commands it upon an enterprize wherein life is to be hazarded it would be an ill excuse of a cowardly declining to say their Nature regrets and dreads the adventure The thing is necessary Against what is so unavoidable as Death that is an abject mind that reluctates Come then let us imbolden our selves and when he brings the Key dare to die It is to obey and enjoy him who is our life and our all Say we chearfully each of us Lord Jesus receive my Spirit into thy hands I commit it who hast Redeemed it 8. Let us quietly submit to Divine Disposal when our dear Friends and Relatives are by Death taken away from us For consider into what hands this affair is put of ordering every ones decease and removal out of this into the other World and who hath these Keys 'T is such a one whose right if we use our thoughts we will not allow our selves to dispute or to censure his administration His Original Right is that of a Creator and a God For all things were Created for him and by him Col. 1.16 And without him was nothing made that was made Joh. 1.2 â—he First and the Last to all things v. 17. His supervening Right was that of a Redeemer as hath been already noted from this context and as such he had it by acquisition dying to obtain it overcoming Death I am he that liveth and was dead And then as he elsewhere declares by constitution All Power is given me both in Heaven and on Earth Mat. 28.19 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports rightful Power And who are we or any Relatives of ours whom all the Power of Heaven and Earth hath no right to touch What exempt jurisdiction can we pretend our selves to belong unto Or will we adventure to say not denying his right he did not use it well in this case who is more fitly qualifyed to Judge than he that hath these Keys And let this matter be yet more throughly discuss't What is it that we find fault with in the removal of this or that person that was near and delightful to us Is it that he was to Die at all or that he Dy'd so soon If we say the former Do we blame the constitution appointing all Men once to Die by which this World is made a portal to another for all Men and whence it was necessary none should stay long in this but only pass thorough into that World wherein every one is to have is everlasting abode Or is it that when we think it not unfit this should be the general and common course there should yet have been a particular dispensation for this Friend or Relation of mine Let the former be supposâ—â— the thing we quarrel at and consider the intolerable consequences of the matters being otherwise as the case is with this Apostate Sinful World Such as upon second better-weighed thoughts we would abhor to admit into our minds even as the matter of a wish What would we wish to Mankind a sinning immortality on this Earth before which a wise Heathen profest to prefer one Day vertuously spent Would we wish this World to be the everlasting Stage of indignities and affronts to him that made it Would we wish there should never be a judgment Day and that all the wise righteous Councels of Heaven should be ranverst overturned only to comport with our terrene sensual inclinations Is this our dutifulness and loyal affection to our Blessed Lord the Author of our Beings and the God of our â—ives whose rights and honours should be infinitely dearer to us than our selves Is it our kindness to our selves and all others of our kind and order that are all naturally capable and many by gracious vouchsafement sitly qualified to enjoy a perfect felicity in another World that we would have all together confined for ever to this Region of darkness impurity and
The same things are accepted with God and approved of Men Rom. 14.18 Thus being Dead they as Abel yet speak 7. And it is a brighter and more unsullied testimony which is left in the minds of Men concerning such very hopeful persons as Die in their Youth They never were otherwise known or can be remembred than as excellent Young Persons This is the only Idea which remains of them Had they lived longer to the usual Age of Man the remembrance of what they were in youth would have been in a great degree effac'd and worn out by latter things perhaps blackened not by what were less commendable but more ungrateful to the greater part especially if they liv'd to come into publick Stations Their just zeal and contestations against the wickedness of the Age might disoblige many and create them Enemies who would make it their business to blast them and cast upon their name and memory all the reproach they could invent Whereas the lustre of that Vertue and Piety which had provok't no body appears only with an amiable look and leaves behind nothing of such a person but a fair unblemisht alluring and instructive Example which they that observed them might with less prejudic'd minds compare with the useless vicious Lives of many that they see to have filled up a room in the World unto extream old age either to no purpose or to very bad And how vast is the difference in respect of usefulness to the world between a pious young Gentleman dying in his youth that lived long in a little time untainted by youthful Lusts and Vanities and Victorious over them and an accurst Sinner of an hundred years old Isa. 65.20 One that was an Infant of days and though an hundred years old yet still a Child that had not filled up his days with any thing of real value or profit to himself or others as some very judicious Expositors understand that Text that as he aptly speaks had nothing besides Grey Hairs and Wrinkles to make him be thought a long liver but who might truly be said not to have liv'd long but only to have been long in the World How sweet and fragrant a Memory doth the one how rotten and stinking a name doth the other leave behind him to survivors Therefore such very valuable young Persons as are taken hence in the flower of their Age are not to be thought upon that account of usefulness to this World to have lived in it that shorter time in vain They leave behind them that testimony which will turn to account both for the Glory of Gods grace which he hath exemplified in them and which may be improved to the good of many who shall have seen that an Holy Life amidst the temptations that the youthful Age is exposed to is no impracticable thing and that an Early Death is as possible also to themselves But besides their no little usefulness in this World which they leave we must know 8. That the Affairs and Concernments of the other World whither they go are incomparably greater every way and much more considerable And to this most unquestionable maxim must be our last and final resort in the present Case All the perturbation and discomposure of mind which we suffer upon any such accasion arises chiefly from our having too high and great thoughts of this World and too low and diminishing thoughts of the other and the evil must be remedy'd by rectifying our apprehensions in this matter Because that other World is Hades unseen and not within the verge of our sense our sensual minds are prone to make of it a very little thing and even next to nothing as too many will have it to be quite nothing at all We are concerned in duty to our blessed Redeemer and Lord and for his just honour to magnifie this his Presecture and render it as great to our selves as the matter requires and as our very narrow minds can admit And should labour to correct it as a great and too common fault a very gross vulgar Error to conceive of persons leaving this world of ours as if they hereby became useless and upon the matter lost out of the Creation of God So is our fancy prepossest and filled with delusive Images that throng in upon it thorough our unwary senses that we imagine this little spot of our Earth to be the only place of business and all the rest of the Creation to be meer vacuitâ— vast empty space where there is nothing to do and nothing to be enjoyed Not that these are formed positive thoughts or a settled judgment with good Men but they are floating imaginations so continually obtruded upon them from what lies next the objects of sense that they have more influence to affect the Heart and infer suitable sudden and indeliberate emotions of Spirit than the most formed judgment grounded on things that lie without the sphere of sense can outweigh And hence when a good man Dies elder or younger the common cry is among the better sort for the other do less concern themselves O what a loss is this Not to be repaired not to be born Indeed this is better than the common stupidity not to consider not to take it to Heart when the Righteous Man perisheth or is taken away And the Law of our own Nature obliges and prompts us to feel and regret the losses which afflict us But such resentments ought to be followed and qualified by greater thoughts arising from a superiour Nature that ought presently to take place with us of the nobler employments which God calls such unto of whom this World was not worthy Heb. 11.38 And how highly his great and all comprehending interest is to be preferr'd before our own or the interest of this or that Family Country or Nation on Earth And at once both to enlarge and quiet our minds on such occasions we should particularly consider 1. The vast amplitude of the Heavenly Hades in comparison of our minute spot of Earth or of that dark Region wheresoever it is reserved for the just punishment of dilinquents according to such intimations as the Holy Scriptures give us hereof which being writ only for the use of us on Earth cannot be supposed to intend the giving us more distinct accounts of the state of things in the upper World than were necessary for us in this our present state But it is no obscure hint that is given of the spaciousness of the Heavenly Regions when purposely to represent the Divine immensity 't is said of the unconsined presence of the great God that even Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him 1 King 8.27 2 Chron. 6.18 How vast scope is given to our thinking minds to conceive Heavens above Heavens incircling one another till we have quite tired our faculty and yet we know not how far short we are of the utmost verge And when our Lord is said to have ascended far above all Heavens
vertuous Life It signifies not nothing with the many to be remembred when they are gone Therefore is this Trust wont to be committed to Marbles and Monumental Stones Some have been so wise to prefer a remembrance among them that were so from their having liv'd to some valuable purpose When Rome abounded with Statues and Memorative Oblisks Cato forbad any to be set up for him because he said he had rather it should be askt why had he not one than why he had What a balmy Memory will one Generation leave to another when the savour of the Knowledge of Christ shall be diffused in every place 2 Cor. 2.14 and every thing be counted as dross and dung that is in any competition with the excellency of that Knowledge when that shall overflow the World and one Age praise his Mighty Works and proclaim his Power and Greatness to the next And the Branches of Religious Families whether sooner or later transplanted shall leave an odour when they are cut off that shall demonstrate their nearer Vnion with the true Vine or speak their relation to the Tree of Life whose Leaves are for the healing of the Nations even those that were deciduous and have dropt off may without straining a borrow'd expression signifie somewhat towards this purpose 4. From both the mention'd Subjects Good Parents may learn to do God and their Redeemer all the service they can and have opportunity for in their own time without reckoning too much upon what shall be done by a well-educated hopeful Son after they are gone unless the like dispensation could be pleaded unto that which God gave to David to reserve the Building of the Temple to his Son Solomon which without as express a revelation no Man can pretend The Great Keeper of these Keys may cross such purposes and without excusing the Father dismiss the Son first But his Judgments are a great deep too deep for our Line And his Mercy is in the Heavens Psal. 36. extending from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his Righteousness unto Childrens Children Psal. 103. FINIS BOOKS Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns the lower End of Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel Books Written by the Reverend Mr. J. Howe OF Thoughtfulness for the Morrow With an Appendix concerning the immoderate Desire of foreknowing things to come Of Charity in reference to other Mens sins The Redeemer's Tears wept over lost Soulâ— in a Treatise on Luke 19.41 42. With an Appendix wherein somewhat is occasionally discoursed concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost and how God is said to will the Salvation of them that perish A Sermon directing what we are to do after a strict Enquiry Whether or no we truly love God A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Esther Sampson the late Wife of Hen. Sampson Dr. of Physick who died Nov. 24. 1689. The Carnality of Religious Contention In two Sermons preach'd at the Merchants Lecture in Broadstreet A Calm and Sober Enquiry concerning the possibility of a Trinity in the Godhead A Letter to a Friend concerning a Postscript to the Defence of Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Trinity in Unity relating to the Calm and Sober Enquiry upon the same Subject A View oâ— that Part of the late Considerations addrest to H. H. about the Trinity Which concerns the Sober Enquiry on that Subject A Sermon preach'd on the late Day of Thanksgiving Decemb. 2. 1697. To which is prefix'd Dr. Bates's Congratulatory Speech to the King A Sermon for Reformation of Manners Books Written by J. Flavel THE Fountain of Life opened or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory Containing Forty Two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction Mysterious Incarnation Solemn Call and Dedication Blessed Offices Deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement A Treatise of the Soul of Man wherein the Divine Original Excellent and Immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the Necessity of its Separation from it considered and improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immâ—diately after Death assâ—rted discussed and variously applied Diverse knotty and difficult Questions about departed Souls both Philosophical and Theological stated and determined The Method of Grace in bringing Home the Eternal Redemption contriv'd by the Father and accomplish'd by the Son through the Effectual Application of the Spirit unto God's Elect being the second Part of Gospel Redemption The Divine Conduct or Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated All the Methods of Providence in our Course of Life open'd with Directions how to apply and improve them Navigation spiritualiz'd Oâ— A New Compass for Seamen Consisting of Thirty Two Points of pleasant Observations profiâ—able Applications serious Reflections all concluded with so many spiritual Poems c. Two Treatises the first of Fear the second the Righteous Man's Refuge in the evil Day A Saint indeed The great Work of a Christian A Touchstone of Sincerity Or Signs of Grace and Symptoms of Hypocrisie being the second Part of the Saint indeed A Token for Mourners Or Boundaries for Sorrow for the Death of Friends Husbandry spiritualiz'd Or The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things FINIS Job 1.1 Psal. 84.11 Hierom. Job 29.1 2 3 4 5. †Ostendunt terris hunc tantùm fata nec ultra esse siâ—unt †And here it may suffice to take notice that Greek Writers Poets Philosophers Historians and other Writers that have made only occasional mention of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the words next akin to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Lexicographers that have purposely given an account of it from Greek Authors that must be supposed best to understand the use of words in their own Tongue generally such as have not been engaged in a Controversie that obliges men usually to torture words to their own sense or to serve the Hypothesis which they had espoused have been remote from confining this or the cognate words to that narrow sense as only to signifie a place or state of torment for bad men but understood it as comprehending also a state of Felicity for the pious and good For such as have been concern'd in interpreting this or other like words with reference to the known and famous Controversie which I need not mention their Judgments must weigh according to the reputation they are of with the Reader The Greeks no doubt best understood their own Language And among them can we think that Homer in the beginning of his 1. Il. when he speaks of the many brave Souls of his Hero's those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Wâ—r he is describing sent into the invisible Regions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he ever dreamt they were all promiscuously dispatcht away to