upon them and is never satisfied nor they consumed 4 They have not rest in their death n Nec mihi mors gravis est posituro morte dolore Ovid. Metam 3. that which men looke upon as the end of troubles is to them but the beginning of misery the soule of my Lord shall be knit in the hundle of life but the soule of my Lords enemies shall be in a sling 1 Sam. 25.19 The soules of the enemies of God as in a sling are ever restlesse their good things are at an end their Sun is set and a darke night over-spreds them If hell be their grave though there be horrid darknesse and eternall night yet no sleepe there they rest not who here slept when they should have watched The death of the righteous far otherwise 1 He lies down in peace he hath been long travelling a tedious pilgrimage and he is now arrived at his journies end he is come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his long home Eccles 12.5 and is quiet the spirit returns to him that gave it Eccles 12.7 as may be read in the letters of that o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacred name they are all quiescent so the good man returning to him his originall in him rests as in his center Marke the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 he lyeth down and nothing can make him afraid he is confident of the favour of God p Anima mea quid dubitas sexaginta annis servisti Christo mortem times Hilar. apud Hier. as whom he hath faithfully served in a holy endeavour keeping the Law with his whole heart Psal 119.34 and where he hath fallen short of his obedience he hath returned by repentance and supplication to his God 1 Kings 8.47 and hee hopes that he whose paths are mercie and truth unto such as keepe his Covenant and Testimonies Psal 25.10 will shew mercie unto them that love him and keepe his Commandements Exod. 20.6 2 The death of the righteous puts an end to his sin he hath been in a constant endeavour of deading sin in his mortall body and now it is done he hath gained a state of innocency in perfection then man had a power not to have sinned but now he shall have no power or rather not so much weaknesse or imperfection that he may further sin a great blessing which onely the pious soul is truly apprehensive of Who hath observed the perversnesse of his will and the frowardnesse of his affections Who hath felt the reluctancy of the flesh against the spirit and the motions of sin mutining in his mortall body Now to be translated into such a condition as he cannot further displease God but freely and faithfully serve him not being carryed away with any temptations unto sin Excellent is that passage in Nazianzen Adam sinning against God though he were rejected Paradice yet he doth gain thereby death and the cutting off of sin lest the evill should have been immortall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q Naz. Orat. 42 so the punishment it selfe became to man a mercie and he is well seconded by his comment r Nicetas after man was fallen had he not been obnoxious to a necessity of dying he had incurred the greatest misery viz. sin working here therefore he hath a benefit which is death because it stops and breakes off sin for although death hath the nature of a punishment yet it became a mercie not suffering the sinner to be immortall for how should we without any either feare of God or dread of judgement have added sin to sin if wee had been immortall who are so sinfull to day dying to morrow with the immortall devill we should even have vyed offences without either endeavour of new obedience or remorse by humble repentance ſ O munde immunde si sic me tenes breviter transeundo quid facere diu permanendo Bern. If the unclean world so entangle us so soon passing what would it have done long remaining if our vile affections so entise us while we are but pilgrimes what would they have done had we been of constant abode here Cicero spake well t Mihi non à diis immortalibus vita erepta est sed mors donata est Lib. 3. de Orat. if he understood what he sayd Life is not taken away from me by the immortall gods but death is given unto me for as it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chim Sca. Pad Gr. 6. a powerfull act of God so is it likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an act of grace and favour a blessing rather then a curse as if it had been given rather for a x Non pro poena mortem dedit Deus sed pro remedio Ambr. de side res remedy then a punishment while viper like it kils its mother sinne and destroys our destruction 3 Death puts an end to the miseries of the righteous thus the divine goodnesse turns all to the best for them that love him as mans punishment to his benefit by stopping of his sin so to his greater happinesse by ending of his misery Augustine from a passage in Plato or Plotinus that father Jupiter having compassion on men made their bands soluble draws this collection y Lib. 9. de Civ Dei c. 10. that the Philosopher thought that this very thing that men are mortall in body proceeds from the mercie of our divine Father lest they should alwayes be held with the misery of this life Thus far the Text of Scripture is plain that after Adam had tasted of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evill whereby I am sure he became accursed God thrust him out of Paradice and set a guard upon the Tree of life lest man should taste of that fruit and live for ever Gen. 2.22 and so in that he shortened his dayes he ended his misery which there at once hath its period from whence that custome tooke its stirt of planting a lawrell Crown at the head of the dead mans cossin in token of triumph and victory obteined over the troubles and miseries of this life for to be sure in the other he shall meet with none Paradice would not admit of pain much lesse will heaven Sorrow was part of the curse misery was inconsistent with the state of innocencie it cannot then stand with eternall happinesse God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes there shall be no more sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 the presence of God shall be our joy our delight to doe his will z Paris de Rhet div our constant worke the praise of our Creator to sing eternall hallelujahs unto our God and the Lambe that sits upon the Throne 4 The death of the righteous is their birth day a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oec in
cannot die evill who liveth well Now as that is a good and wel-led life which is passed in holinesse and vertuous actions that an evill one which is led in wickednesse answerably the death is to be weighed from the forepassed actions of life so that if the life be led in a religious observance of God his Law in a holy obedience to his will the death cannot be bad for it is a translation to immortality But if otherwise it is necessary it must be evill for it transmits to eternall misery how comfortably could a good old Simeon pray that hymne and sing while he prayed Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace with what a religious confidence could old Hilarin farewell with his soule d Hier. de Hilar who had served his God sixty years the conscience of that faithfull service satisfied that his future being could not bee unhappy A heavenly life here on earth must needs give security of a happy life in heaven he that lives here hath no cause to feare to die hereafter e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doroth. doctr 8. for indeed I call the holy the onely life the wicked man hath a being here but onely the righteous man lives We use to count our dayes and number our years according to the time we are on earth Deceive not thy self who ever thou art Compute thou hast only lived that day in which thou hast denyed thine own will in which thou hast resisted thy corrupt affections in the which thou hast not transgressed the rule of equity Compute thou hast onely lived that day which malice and wickednesse envy or pride hath not clouded which hath not been wasted in sin in which thou hast stood upon thy guard and hast not been foyled by fleshly temptations Compute thou hast only lived that day which pious meditation and holy practice hath enlightned not which the darknesse of sin hath turned into a night apply only unto thy life that day the benefit of which by a holy conversation hath redounded unto thy soul The rest is but idle pastime a phrase which humours most men well but such empty cyphers will prove nothing but reall woes at heavens account Shall we compute that a day of life in which men consume eternity and heape unto themselves punishments never to have an end such a life tends unto and ends in death and is in truth but a death live therefore while here thou art sow the seeds of holinesse that thou mayst reape happinesse Bud forth in the blossomes of a future life that thou mayst gather the fruit hereafter the present must answer to the future the worldly lusts subdue thy corrupt appetites let the spirit of God rule in thy heart set thy affections on things above let thy conversation be in heaven and hope well one day thou mayst come thither as Cicero said of Hercules he had never been inrolled among the gods in heaven if he had not laid out his way thither while he lived so if we walke not in that holy way while here we live we shall never be registred with the Saints in blisse f Beru There is no way unto the Kingdom without the first-fruits of the Kingdome neither may they hope to reign there as Kings who have not here ruled over their properlusts If yee looke God should take you as he did Enoch you must as he walke with God a holy ever ushers in a happy life It was a bold and sharpe reply of those Philosophers to Alexander an exemplary Prince for Armes and Arts who passing some territories where his conquering sword had made him master hearing of learned men as his manner was sent for them and propounded to them many questions they giving him good resolution as an argument of his royall satisfaction he would have them aske him what they pleased that hee might grant it to them they joyntly asked of him immortality the Prince began to smile before sayes he I thought you wise men but now I thinke you fools to aske of me immortality who my selfe am mortall While I consider the condition and manners of the most of men I may make the like demand give me immortality if nature prompts them or Religion hath better taught them that they are mortall I make my reply with them to Alexander why then doe you live evill letting loose the reynes of all kinde of sin and wickednesse as if you were immortall as if you had no thought of death or feare of judgement For if we weigh well the actions of the most can we judge any otherwise of them for where is he who lives according to the decorum of heaven whose practice answers to that holy faith he would be accounted to make profession of Philosophy tels us that naturally men desire the chiefest good eternalll happinesse But all this while Religion hath been preached in the world it cannot worke so much upon mens affections as to win them to the right means of gaining of it they would obtein the chiefe good yet they would not be good g Aug. Ser. 12. ae verb. Dom. Doest thou not see how thou oughtest to blush at thy selfe who wouldest have all things good yet thy selfe wouldest not be good thy house thou wouldest have filled with goods and shall it have thee an evill master What is it that thou wouldest have ill not a wife not a childe not a servant not a house not a garment not thy shoos and yet thou carest not though thy selfe be evill thinke better of thy life then of thy shoos All things about thee if they be elegant and faire please and wilt thou be vile and filthy in thy selfe if thy good things could speake unto thee which thou enjoyest would they not say unto thee as thou wouldest have us good so doe we desire thee to be and may they not secretly murmur to God against thee behold thou hast given so many good things to this man yet he himselfe is evill Cannot he who gave these good things and makes them good unto thee if thou displease him take away the comfortable enjoyment of them turne the blessing into a curse thy prosperity into thy destruction get therefore with them his good will by doing his good will that at last he may give thee better and more reall the true goods Conjoyne thy selfe to the fellowship of Saints be of the holy Church here below that thou maist be one of the Church triumphant in glory Labour according to the grace of God given unto thee to doe the will of God here on earth as they doe in heaven that so thou maist doe it more perfectly hereafter with them h Cum quibus fuerit vobis consortium devotionis erit communio dignitatis Leo Ser. 5. de Epip For with whom we have a consort devotion we shall have a community of dignity If thou wouldest have the righteous mans end live as doe the righteous let it be thy delight to
doe the will of God order thy actions according to that perfect rule he hath given thee walke in an universall obedience to all the Laws There is says the Moralist a concatenation of vertues and it is not one but all that entitles the vertuous man The Jews say that God uttered all the Commandements in one breath I am sure they are linked together Thou shalt not kill Neither shalt thou commit adultery Neither shalt thou steale c. Deut. 5.17 18. the breach of one dissolves the chaine An offence is not in this or that onely but in any and he that offends in one is guilty of all Jam. 2.10 in that he offends against justice and the will of the Law-giver who gave the one and gave the other and is equally disobeyed in either He that observes one commandement not another he does his own will not Gods and did his corrupt affections equally prompt him he would disobey in what he doth observe Looke not onely to the affirmative precepts but also to the negative knowing the latter may be as destructive as the former i Peccat ille qui imperata neglexerit sed plus peccat qui interdicta non servat Hier. p. 3. Ep. 2. if not more looke not onely to the greater but also to the lesser knowing that there is an obligation upon thee from God to both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 5.19 He that shall unbinde or unloose one of these least Commandements one and of the least he shall be called k Minimus nullus Gloss Chrys the least in the Kingdom of God l Contemptus cujuscunque praecepti praecipientis iniuria est Hier. par 3. Ep. 18. the contempt of any command is the injury of him that does command and therefore the holy Prophet I love all thy commandements and all false wayes I utterly abhor Psal 119.128 2 Do righteousnesse at all times Psal 106.3 Have not heats of Religion but ever regulate thy actions by the rule of truth with a perpetuall constancy the school observes well that affirmative precepts binde always but not at all times negative always and at all times and it may be observed all the morall precepts of God the fourth of the first Table and the first of the second excepted for which there is good cause in that imperious insolent superiors may counter command the eternall run in the negative holding us to a continuall performance Let opportunity beare no plea nor privacie give thee no advantage to commit iniquity in that the eye of justice ever watches over thee though the custome of corrupter times would connive at some faults yet ken that Text in the righter reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.11 Serve the Lord not the time though the multitnde of transgressors might seeme to beare thee out yet know m Vbi maior est peccantium turba maior est divinitatis iniuria Salv. de gub li. 3. the greater number of offenders the more God is offended and take not licence for the least offence knowing the Law being of eternall truth is not variable by circumstances of time place or looser practice but tyes to a constant and perpetuall observation 3 Walke in the full latitude of every commandement Looke to every branch every Iota and point thereof rest not in the outward but minde likewise the more inward and spirituall performance abstain not onely from the outward act but keepe close sentinell upon the heart which if thou canst not keepe free from injected thoughts yet delight not thy selfe in them lest they win consent but smother them there so soon as they be discovered the Cockatrice is with more ease and lesse danger crushed in the egg ere it be disclosed My Saviour will not acquit him from adultery who hath abstained from the forbidden bed but tels us the lustfull looke carries a guilt with and is adultry in the heart Mat. 5. man is not innocent when the act does not perfect the will when hee brings not forth the evill which the heart conceives n Concupiscere nefas est quod fieri crimen est Hier. par 3. Ep. 15. when it is an iniquity to think what it is a sin to do 4 Continue in this obedience unto thy lives end Faint not nor be we ary of well doing Finish thy course be faithfull unto the death for the crown of life Revel 2.10 o Non inchoasse sed persecisse iuslitia est Idem Ep. 22. It is not to begin well but to persevere in what is well begun that is perfect justice Nay I may say p In cassum bonum agitur si ante vitae terminnm deseratur quia frustra velociter currit qui priusquam ad metam venerit desicit Greg. Mor. it is in vain to begin if wee persist not as to run in the race if we hold not unto the mark Evill beginnings may be corrected by a following practice but an evill end transmits us to remedilesse eternall misery If the Word of GOD may carry it divine Truth speaks thus much The righteousnesse of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression as for the wickednesse of the wicked hee shall not fall thereby in the day that hee turneth from his wickednesse neyther shall the righteous be able to live in the day that hee sinneth Ezek. 33.12 the like is to be read Ezek. 18.21 22 24. Ill beginnings do not prejudice the true convert the benefit of good beginnings are forfeited through future failings If we at last forsake GOD and list our selves in the Devils service it may be just with him there to leave us under his power q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jon. Ep. ad Magn. whose we are while to him we yield our selves to have our reward from and with him It is not enough to be and live but we must likewise dye Saints if we expect to be and live such for ever It is the end crowns the action perseverance confirms the righteous man Thus the righteous man orders himself though hee rests not in his own righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnes which is of GOD by faith Phil. 3.9 So r De sanctis patribus annotandum est ita sub vet Test vixisse ut uon illinc restiterunt sed aspirarunt semper ad novum adeoque certam cius communionem amplexi sunt Calvin Instit lib. 2. c. 11. Sect. 10. the holy Patriarchs which lived under the old Testamentrested not there but ever aspired unto the grace of the Gospel and so embraced its certain communion ſ Omnis antiquitas colentium verum DEVM omnis numerus apud secula priora sanctorum sacra fide vixit placuit neque Patriarchis neque Prophetis neque quisquam omnino sanctorum nisi in redemptione Domini nostri Jesu Christi salus iustificatiofuit Leo Serm. 1. de Pass
Faith hath been the sure means of salvation to so many as have obteined it The promise of faith the law which was after given could not disanull Gal. 3.17 The object of faith though not so cleerly exhibited untill these latter ages of the World yet faith in the promise did bear date and that of grace was after the fall the first if not the onely covenant without question the onely possible means of obteining justification before God Order therefore thy life as if there were no Gospel but dye as if there were no Law live as if there were not anothers righteousntsse to plead for thee but dye in the confidence of thy Saviours merit Walk towards Heaven in that t Nihil crit incommodi sivitae sanctitatem existimemus esse viam non quidem quae aditum aperiat in gloriam coelestis regni sed qua clecti à Deo suo in eius mâ—nisestationem ducantur quando haec bona eius voluntas est glorificari quos sanctificavit Calvin In stit l. 3. c 18. Sect. 4. perfect way a strict obedience to GODS Law but let faith open for thee the gate to blessednesse let such be thy life that such may be thy last end 2 Dye the death of the righteous There is 1 a death for sin 2 a death in sin 3 a death to sin A death for sin that is that we all suffer a just punishment for our offences u Aug. de haeres c 88. It was a branch of the Pelagian Heresie that Adam though hee had not sinned yet he should have dyed not by the merit of sin but by a necessity of nature Such a principle might better be allowed in a x Mors naturae finis est non poena Sen. sual 7. Moralist then a Christian For though Adam were a mortall y Ideo factum est per peccatum non mortale quoderat sed mortuum quod non sicret nisi peccaret Lomb. Sent. li. 2. dist 19. creature yet had hee kept his innocency by grace hee had been conserved from death For the body is dead because of sin Rom. 8.10 and so my Saviour while hee would stand in our stead to answer for us he dyed for the ungodly Rom 5.10 2 A death in sin so we dye yea daily dye and will not consider it The drunkard that drinks down iniquity swils himself into the condition of a beast thinks not that there is death in the pot 2 Kings 4. The lustfull Wanton that awayts the twylight and then slips to his carrion considers not that the harlots house is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death Proverbs 7 27. The doubling tongue that dallies with the heart feels not when it kils its own soul Thus too many Felons play with their own destruction 3 A death to sin this is the Saints death who mortifie their members on earth and kill sin in their mortall bodies Prâ—cious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his Saints Psal 16.15 z Vbi homo occiditur mundo non terminatione sensuum sed fine vitiorum Leo Ser. in nat Machab. When men dye unto the World not by an end of being but by an end of sinning forsaking those former accustomed ways of wickednesse and living in godlinesse which before they did not which is a kind of death and resurrection in us Blessed and holy is he who hath his part in the first resurrection of such the second death shall have no power Apoc. 20.6 If the consideration of that blessed life which follows upon the death to sin may nothing affect us wee might rayse I think arguments from the other members of the division to move us Death in sin is the soul of death a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Orat. 19. the death of the soul it divides GOD from the soul who is the life thereof How circumspect if wee observe it are men to preserve bodily life and the life of life how do they neglect Wee will avoid the infected house and the b 1 King 8.38 plague of our heart wee cherish in our bosome If our body be wounded wee run to the Chyrurgeon and we wound our souls by our sins which cut deeper then any two edged sword killing that which is immortall and yet we are senslesse of the misery If nature or art could help us we would preserve our bodies everlasting and our souls shall we voluntarily murther Oh! what pity is it to see how men trifle away life soul salvation and imbezle eternall blisse for a thing of nought They dote upon and humour every vile affection though to their endlesse destruction Man drinketh iniquity like water Job 15.16 like hungry Rats that raven down their own bane wee thirst wee drink wee dye Again for sin wee dye that it is which hath caused all those sorrows and vexations troubles and infirmities hath brought all that inundation of evils that hath broken in upon mankinde That it is which hath separated the soul from the body and layed in its dust c Peccatum mortis pabulum Lact. li. 4. Sin is that whereby death lives and wee dye it procured the death of the Son of God Hee dyed for our sins that wee should dye unto sin that as Christ was raysed from the dead by the glory of the Father so we also should walk in newnesse of life Rom. 6.4 Oh let not that precious bloud of the Son of GOD be spilt in vain he gave himself for us that hee might redeem us from all iniquity Titus 2.14 and he reedeemed us by such a price that hee may worthily possesse us I cannot read that passage in d Serm. 1. de elem Cyprian without a moved passion nor take it into deeper meditation without a melting heart where hee brings in the Devill at the day of judgement as it were insulting over my ever blessed Saviour I says he for those whor thou seest with me have neyther been buffeted nor scourged nor born the crosse nor shed my bloud nor redeemed them by the price of my passion neyther do I promise unto them an heavenly Kingdom neyther do I recall them to Paradise restoring immortality yet what precious and great gifts gotten in a long time and by large expence by pawning and imbezelling their goods even while they are scorned and derided at and somtime by a popular fury even ready to be stoned shew mee the like president in the pale of thy Church those rich men flowing with abundance are they so free towards thee will they give so much to thee though they might thereby translate their possessions into everlasting treasures Yet in these expences for me none are fed none are clothed none are comforted but all things are prodigally and foolishly wasted In thy poor thou art clothed in thy hungry thou art fed thou dost promise eternal life to them that labour in thy service yet thine whom thou dost honour with the recompence of
BALAAMS BETTER WISH Delivered in a SERMON BY WILLIAM ROSE PROV 14.32 The wicked shall be driven away in his wickednesse but the righteous hath hope in his end MAY 8. 1647. I Have perused this fruitfull and profitable Sermon on Numb 23.10 and judge it worthy to be printed and published JOHN DOWNAME LONDON Printed by R. L. for SAMUEL MAN at the signe of the SWAN in Pauls Church yard 1647. To the RIGHT WORSHIPFULL Sir EDMOND BACON Knight and Baronet Right Worshipfull IT pleasing GOD in a gracious dispensation of mercy to lay his hand of visitation upon me so as I have been disenabled to that publike function of the Ministery to which I am set apart I boldly adventured on this more publick course willing to give some testimony of my desire to do my GOD the best service I was able though with the hazard of mine own repute being never such as I fear to be a loser May it please my good GOD to accept of these my weak endevours whose glory and his Churches good be ever my ayme and may you daigne them a gracious patronage for the unweighed censures of the many I passe not much Mine own sicknesse first pitched me on this subject and while I considered your body so enfeebled through infirmities and your many years the two most certain fore-runners of approching death it emboldned mee to tender this Dedication hoping you would willingly entertain such a wish and make it yours The ship that draws water but at one leak may be repayred but when it breaks in on all sides it threatens speedy wrack when the crazed aged body is become a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian a living sepulchre it portends the grave is neer We are at best but of b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. ad Apoll. a days continuance and you by the blessing of GOD have lived to the evening of age to the Sun-set of mans life it is now high time to think on sleep and making your bed in the dust I am confident diviner thoughts have long since deaded your affections unto the world Length of days c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pind. Olym. Od. 1. the cleèrest witnesses of wisdom have given you experience of the Wisemans conclusion Vanity of vanities and you who in your yonger years have had a care to live well now make it your chiefe to dye so It is not the thought of your end will draw it neerer nor the meditation of death will one minute shorten your life if so who might not feare a publick odium that should move you to such a thought For You d Deus amorem viri quem diligit in animos hominum dignanter resudit Malm. de reb gest Aug. lib. 4. who by the goodnesse of GOD have lived so generally beloved cannot dye but much lamented though there be neyther solemne Funerall to rayse the pomp nor mourning women e Horat. de art Poet. ut quae conductae plorent in funere Your endeared friends the poor whose wants have been by You relieved and widows will make lamentation In that desires cannot prolong your days on earth here shall be my Amen When the set period of your life is come may you lye down in comfort rest in peace arise to glory be happy to eternity So prays Your worths true honourer and humble servant in Christ William Rose BALAAM'S better Wish Numb 23.10 Let mee dye the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his THe LORD being now about to settle Israel in the land of Canaan the lot of their inheritance which he had entayled upon them by promise to their father Abraham their Prince and Priest Moses and Aaron for tempting the LORD at Meribah and the whole number of the men of strength for their infidelity must not take possession so he wears them out by long journeys for forty yeers in the Wildernesse and consumes them by fatall wars while they were wasted Yet to make his word good to their posterity hee drived out and destroys the Amorites before Sâ—hon and then King with Og the King of Bashan their army coasting about the Wildernesse did now verge upon the borders of Moab Balaac being somwhat surprised with feare as successe strikes dread into the hearts of adversaries casts about to secure himself Poore man had he been quiet he might have been secure but his feare which made him forecast to prevent might betray him to a future ruine The LORD had not said it Israel had no commission signed against Moab but if he will oppose himself an enemy to them he may justly provoke GOD and them against him Hee sends to the Midianites with whom hee was inleague to consult for their future safety Who together sent Elders with the Ambassadours of Balaac to Balaam on whom they so doted as if he had commanded the power of Heaven and could curse and blesse whom he pleased Foolish thoughts the mannage and order of men and their affairs is from no other but from the wisdom and order of an eternall providence who giveth victory to some and layeth the honours of other in the dust Who is pleased to reveal the purpose of his proceedings to particular men which neither yet are principalls in the successe nor any way carry on the designe though he gives them to foreknow the event To Balaam GOD gives to foresee the happy and flourishing estate of Israel under the grace of divine protection and their successe ordered by Heaven which caused him to break forth into this patheticall peroration Let me dye c. The wicked man as wicked men may have had good words in his mouth the Wizzâ—rd had a good wish I dare joyn with him in his prayer praying it may be with a better spirit and affection My hearty desire to Heaven shall be when I shall have accomplished as an hireling my dayes and shall return unto my dust I may dye the death of the Righteous in the mean time the LORD grant mee the guidance of his grace I may so live that my last end may be like his The text presents us with Balaams wish concerning his end of this present life and the happinesse of his future being When we shall have premised somthing of this Balaam what hee was and a word or two of the phrese of speech wee shall fall upon these three mayn quaeries of the text 1 Who is the righteous man 2. What is the difference between the death of the righteous and the wicked 3 The ultimate end of either which will fully discover unto us the reason and cause of this his desire 1 To derive his pedegree to describe his countrey to descant on his name were but a dry discourse which would have more of pomp then weight more bulk then substance I shall onely touch at his condition to term this Balnam a Prophet is a better character then the Scripture yields him which entitles him at best but a Divinour
will worship which the Lord will not approve of who as it is most meet will be served as himselfe pleases again the knowledge of sin is by the Law Rom. 7. which in the nature of an exact rule shews both what is streight and what is crooked Sin being nothing else u Peccare est tanquam lineas transilire Cic. Paradox but as it were to passe the line to transgresse that rule of equity which is the bound of all our actions According to this Law the righteous man regulates himselfe in an universall constant full and finall obedience 1 He loooks to all and every precept I love all thy commandements and all false wayes I utterly abhor Psal 119.128 2. He hath not heats of Religion but is constant in his practice he worketh righteousnesse at all times 3 He takes the commondement in the full latitude and extent and looks to the letter and to the life of the Law 4 He continues and perseveres in this obedience unto his end perfecting holinesse in the feare of God Which end will discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not Mal. 3.18 Which we come to state the difference of the death of the righteous and the wicked the maine thing the Text drives at wherefore I passed the other more briefly as taking them upon a firme supposall cleerly granted this will discover the very soul of the desire and the height of the blessing of Balaams wish The carnall eye will scarce discerne the difference for as dyeth the wicked so dyeth the righteous as dyeth the foole so the wise Eccles 2.15 that is the end of all natures debt must be discharged by a dissolution and a generall guilt of sin layes all under an equall forfeiture Death passes upon all men in that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 So that death following ever upon sn and both of them being as generall as humane nature we must finde some speciall difference Hath the righteous man a better death but yet it is as questionable which is the best x Suet. in vit Iulius Caesar on all occasions when he little thought his own end to be so neere even the night before he was slain in the Capitoll prefers a sodain death y Idemin Aug. Augustus calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good death where the z Vbi moriendi sensumceleritas abstulit Cic. deam sodamnesse takes away the sense of dying and these two great Caesars according to their desires the last of them not violent yet both of them had a sodain death this they say he prayed against that he might dye a Nec morte violenta nec immatura quod Israelitis promissum fuerat Grot. ex Gemara neither a violent nor a sodain death which was promised to the Israelites to be sure this might be a wicked mans end how sodainly doe they perish they goe down quick into hell Psal 55.15 The Moralist thought to dye well b Bene mori est libenter mori Sen. Epist 61. was to dye willingly and c Optanda mors est sine metu mortis mori Sen. Trag. such a death was to be wished as was without the feare of death The good man may with Moses on the top of Nebo even see the Land of blisse yet be loth to depart the wicked may without any comfortable assurance of Gods favour without any ravishing apprehension of future happinesse and joyes after this life be willing to leave the world the very troubles and misery he may here meet with may move the man with the burthen at his back to call for death and to embrace it d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anacr hoping that may put an end to all his evills of which otherwise he cannot apprehend how to be acquitted for there the weary be at rest Iob. 3.17 Therefore they rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can finde the grave vers 22. when the sorrows of death may compasse about the good and they may finde trouble and heavinesse Psal 116.3 1 From the pangs of death which that expresse of humane feare speaks in my Saviour Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me 2 From the conscience of their own infirmity 3 From the feare of divine judgements at which the Prophet trembled Psal 119.12 Good Agathon death approaching being somwhat troubled his friends about said unto him and dost thou father feare to whom hee replyed f Doroth. doct 2 I have endevoured to keepe the Commandements but I am a man and how know I whether my workes please God for other is the judgement of God and other the judgement of men Some may thinke it a happy death to depart in a full age in a calme quietly upon their beds with their friends about them to have a solemne Funerall an honourable Interment a stately Sepulcher all these may a wicked man have when the good by some unhappy accident may be taken off the waters may swallow him up or the beasts devoure him the indiscriminating sword of the enemy or the noysome pestilence common calamities may sweepe him away the fury of persecution may uncaske his soule yet this makes not the end of the one happy or the other wretched the Divine must give us some more reall difference 1 The wicked man departs this life in the displeasure of the Almighty he laboured not to please him while here he lived and he must not looke to dye in his good pleasure he would live without Law and he must perish by the sentence of the Law he may expect no mercie at his death who contemned mercie while he lived if he hath m Psal 73.4 no bands in his death he hath no comfort having no hope to rest upon but what an evill life can afford which ever ends in misery if he be taken away in his green years yet his sins are ripe if he hath filled his dayes and lives while he be an hundred years old he shall be accursed Isay 65.20 He hath heaped up wrath against the day of wrath and God takes him away as with a whirlewinde both living and in his wrath Psal 98.9 2 The wicked goe down into the inward chamber or the closet of the chambers of death Prov. 7.27 that dungeon or prison where they are fast locked up in misery and iron reserved in everlasting chains untill the judgement of the great day Jude 6. the Prophet sayes they goe down into hell Psal 55. the second interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is there in chiefe their grave is hell not onely the outward courts but the very depth of hell Prov. 9.18 3 The grave hath dominion over them Psal 49.14 They sold themselves slaves under sin and now death hath power over them the first transmits them to a second death and eternall misery the worme doth not onely feast upon them but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 death feedeth or banquetteth
coll 3. for of a truth the Christians life is hereafter though in the ordinary phrase of speech a man is sayd to live while here he is and to dye when he makes an end of dying death being not the end of life but the end of death and our birth day unto eternall blisse for if it be accustomably sayd a man childe is borne when he breaks forth out of the wombe of his mother into this light may not he be as rightly said to be borne who loosed from the bonds of flesh is brought forth into the land of the living it had obteined a custome in the Church that the day in which holy men departed this life they called it the day of their nativity and the usuall solemnities they called them b Beda hom in Ioh. 16. not funeralls but birth day feasts to raise this to a higher speculation God is the life of the soule as the soule is of the body While here we live our soule is separated from its life which is God which St. Paul hints While we are present in the world we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5 6. It is true he cherishes us with the breathings of his spirit he streams the rayes of his grace into our hearts but we enjoy not his glorious presence which gives fulnesse of life and vigour into the soule Again the state and condition here we are in being so transient our life but a blast but a bubble such a nothing deserves not the title of life but that state of incorruption to which death transmits us that fixed immortality that and that onely is life indeed 5 Death is gaine unto the righteous It is the end of the day when they receive their penny the reward of that faithfull service they have yeilded unto their God c Bene moritur qui cum moritur lucrum facit Sen. he dyes well says the moralist who makes a gain by his death that does the righteous man he exchanges this cottage of clay for a mansion in the new Jerusalem a house not made with hands eternall in the heavens he exchanges his poore possession for a glorious inheritance he changes this fading miserable for an ever blessed life he d O preclarum diem cum ad illud divinorum animorum con cilium caetumque proficiscar cum ex hac turba colluvione disâ—edam Cic. de Senect changes the company and fellowship of sinfull men for the blessed society of God and his holy Angels by whom he shall be most lovingly entertained e Suet. in Aug. Augustus at the Epilogue of his life desired his friends about him to give him a plaudite as if conscient to himselfe that he had acted his part well upon the stage of this World the righteous man shall have his plaudite from a better Theatre God the Father entertains him with a well done thou good and faithfull servant Mat. 25.21 God the Son entertains him with come yee blessed children of my Father Mat. 25.34 The whole hoast of heaven congratulate him for if there be joy in heaven at the repentance of a sinner Luk. 15.7 what exultation will there be at the entertainment of a righteous man into blesse if they rejoyce when he is but set in the way what will they doe when he comes to heaven 6 Death to the righteous is his marriage day in which he is conjoyned to his espoused Lord Christ Death is but the Paranymphus which presents the faithfull soule unto her bridegroom Oh happy meeting of a happy day to be evermore happy in the imbraces of her loving and beloved Lord f Suet. Augustus tooke the farewell of his life at the lips of Livia and dyed in the complement so he left her whom he loved The righteous man dyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deut. 34.5 at the mouth of God g In osculo Domini Virg. in Apoc. 14. at a kisse of Gods mouth but it is a kisse of welcome and friendly entertainment of him in whom his soule delighteth as the indulgent mother takes her little one into her armes when it is about to sleepe So God takes his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his little righteous ones when they sleepe in death into the armes of his mercie and kisses them with the sweet imbraces of his love and favour and though a while he may lay them by to rest in Abrahams bosome while the number of the elect shall be gathered together yet his eye is ever on them and they enjoy his presence in which is fulnesse of joy If I should adde no more is not this enough to make good and to give us to joyne issue with Balaam Let me dye the death of the righteous but we will follow him to the ultimate period of his wish and let my last end be like his Though death be the end of all yet not the last that betideth man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and let my afterwards or let it be to me after death as to him We will consider then what follows death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9 27. after death judgement The punctuall circumstance of time is not limited by any verbe neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that whether it shall follow presently or in a longer tract the Text leaves undetermined and the terme after may as well signifie the precedencie of things done and order as reference to any particular time h In loc Aretius would streighten it by altering the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon that I like not this liberty with the sacred Text in the least Iota neither will that conclude it For circumstantiall notes of time as were easie to evidence are in Scripture largely or more streightly taken for yeares before or after and it is not peremptorily to conclude from the Apostles phrase It may be more easily resolved if we consider man according to his essentiall principles the judgement of the soule follows presently upon the dissolution that receiveth sentence and is carryed by the Angels into Abrahams bosome a place of rest and happinesse or thrust into torment the body is to expect its doom while that great day of the generall judgement these two being now separated we will take some liberty to speake of some things though of lesser note and might not so fully lie in Balaams wish that betide the body after death There being some small difference observable 1 The grave What ever the humerous Cynicke thought i Laert. in vita Diog. who cared not what became of his corps when hee was dead yet the wiser man said that an untimely birth was better then he that had no buriall Eccles 6.3 it was the curse of that wicked woman the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the walls of Jezreel 1 King 21.23 and she shall be as dung upon the face of the field 2 King 9.37 it was the doom of Jehojakim that he should have the buriall
of an asse Jer. 22.19 which implies that the civill interment of the body and committing of it to earth was honourable And as the old Law was full of types and ceremonies so they whose soules wereseparated to severall mansions as if they would expresse this truth in a type the faithfull were buryed by themselves from whence was that phrase to be gathered to their Fathers Gen. 25.8 As Jacob gave commandement concerning his bones that he would not be buryed in Egypt k Gen. 47.29 Gather me not with the wicked prayes the Prophet Psal 26.9 not to take notice of the solemnities used at their funerals and to passe the customes from hence derived to other Nations looke we onely to our own They who deny the common faith or whose more vileactions have been a scandall to their profession we eyther bury them not at all or dishonourably but they who live and dye in the faith of Christ and their good conversation hath given us to hope that their bodies shall one day be partakers with their souls in bliffe we give them a more decent buriall in places set a part for that use the Church yard which the Germanes call l Godw. ant Gods Acre or his field where the bodies of his Saints are sown corruptible to spring and arise again incorruptible and immortall 2 The resurrection though our bodies doe moulder and resolve into yet they doe not lose themselves in the dust they onely leave their weaknesse and corruption which adheares unto them by the contagion of sin from which being purged the substance of the body returns again to prove that there is a resurrection were too large a digression and a needlesse labour it being so cleere a constat among Christians that we hold it an article of our faith We are baptized not onely for the remission of sins but also into the resurrection of the flesh 1 Cor. 15. from whence I conceive the Greeks call baptisme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the clothing or putting on of immortality and again we lay down out bodies in the dust in the sure and certain hope thereof It was an ill reading of that Text the wicked shall not arise in judgement Psal 1.5 which strained that glosse m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyr. Hier. cat 18. Theoph. in Joh. 3. not to judgement but to condemnation the true reading is they sholl not stand in judgement according to the * Stare in judicio Latine phrase they shall not be acquitted but fall when they are judged For as Aquinas rightly argues n Suppl 3. partis qu. 75. art 2. that which is taken from the nature of the species is alike found in every individuall of the same species the resurrection is such and therefore it belongs to every particular Every one must arise the most wretched liver and the false beleever but here is the difference o Resurrectio incredulis parata est gloria autem resurrection is sola credentibus repromissa est Eus Em. hom 1. de Symb. though all arise yet the glory of the resurrection is onely promised unto the faithfull Which was that Saint Paul so earnestly endevoured after if I may by any meanes obteine the resurrection of the dead Phil. 3.11 that of the wicked not deserving the title being but an upstanding to everlasting death Here the body being raysed by the power of GOD out of the dust meets it soul again and are conjoyned together to the righteous a joyfull meeting one of them being happy in the other and both of them in a full expectation of a never ending felicity Sad to the wicked soul being fettered again to the body like malefactors accessories in the same guilt to receive together a just but fearfull recompence of reward 3 Judgement is an act of justice terminated upon man A sentence given by GOD upon his actions There is a twofold judgment assigned by Divines a Session and a grand Assize a particular and a generall For every man is to be considered as he is a singular person in himself and as his sins have had influence into others And as he is a member of mankind 1 As he is an individuall and particular person so is he adjudged by God presently after his death when he is doomed according to what he hath done in the body although not fully because not in the body but onely in the soule that onely appearing and having its sentence the body lying asleepe in its dust 2 As he is a part of mankind so he is called at the great and generall day when there shall be a full summons and an universall appearance of all the living that ever were and as generall a sentence neither yet does God judge twice for the same thing and inflict double punishment for one sin but that which before was not compleatly inflicted then shall the wicked be given up to be tormented and the good glorified in soule and body both and thereseems to be in this equity that the body which hath been a fellow worker with the soul either of holinesse unto life or unrighteousnesse unto death should have her part proportionable in the reward by which generall judgement the righteousnesse of God shall be acquitted and vindicated from all slander not onely from the testimony of every guilty conscience but also by the cleere acknowledgement of every one summoned to appeare at the barre Righteous O God art thou and just are thy judgements The secrets of all hearts being then revealed and the full number of each mans sins being then made up for wicked men finish not their sins with their dayes some mens sins following after judgement 1 Tim. 5.24 they give while they live bad examples which are drawn into practice they leave behinde them the memory of unrighteous deeds which multiply to posterity and acknowledge them their first and proper parent So the vertuous lives of good men lead others by the hand unto holinesse and their faith is filed for posterity Abraham is long since in blisse yet is his faith impressed in the hearts of his children who walke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the steps of the faith of that holy Father Rom. 4.12 how will it adde to the crown of rejoycing as glory of that blessed Saint to see so many trails after him in that tread of faith and righteousnesse which he hath before trodden out how will it blisse those faithfull dispensers of the word and other holy men who by their devout faith and religious practice have converted many unto righteousnesse to appeare with those they have brought to fight under Christ his banner might I rather in the rerelead up but one convert then to march in the van of all the worlds happinesse or triumphant glory The Son of man being mounted on the throne of his Majesty then follows disquisition of actions Heavens records shall be brought forth the books shall be opened the book of life and according to their
works written in that book the dead shall be judged Apoc. 20.12 Not to enter into any nice School disputes concerning this book what it is how mens actions are therein registred and enrolled when the Holy Spirit is pleased to besilent I will not over-sawcily determine It is enough our actions are all therein recorded not a good work word alms-deed prayer but it is there noted not a tear of contrition for sin that fals to the ground but GOD latches it Put thou my teares in thy bottle are not these things written in thy book Psal 66.8 As on the other side not a wicked action idle word vile thought but they are there recorded likewise These things thou hast done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest I had been such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them inorder before thine eyes Psal 50.21 He now unseen sees and observes what afterwards openly he will produce when he shall sit in righteousnesse to judge the world When hee shall come to try our actions and accordingly sever the good and bad with his discriminating fan in his hand parting the chaffe and soyle from the cleaner grains where the good wheat shall be layd up in Gods granery and the evill like the tares cast into the fire Having thus spoken of what betides man after death I now come to close with the ordinary reading and discover unto you the ultimate period the last end of the righteous man The LORD hath taken him unto himselfe to be with him eternally blessed blessed to eternity but the difficulty will be to describe unto you what blessednesse is p Futura beatitudo acquiri potest aestimari non potest Eus Em. though here wee must labour and lay earnest for it yet we cannot rightly esteem of it to say it is q Est status omnium bonorum congregatione perfectus Boet. de cons Phil. 3. lib. 3. pros 2. a perfectstate consisting in the aggregation and collection of all good things While we take it thus up in the grosse it lesse affects us And to take it up in particulars thinking thereby more fully to explain it wee shall fall as short When as Saint Paul who was rapt up into the third heaven sits down in an extasie neyther eye hath seen neyther eare hath heard neyther hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the good things that GOD hath layd up for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 It were I think impudent temerity in any one to go about to determine None I am sure did ever yet by a Jacobs ladder scale Heaven and make fuller discovery of that land of the living that hee might make us a more perfect relation r App. ad Aug. tom 9. The kingdom of GOD is greater then all report it is better then it can be praysed it surpasses all knowledge it is more excellent then all glory that can be imagined neyther ought I therefore to be silent in what I can say because I cannot what I would neyther because we say GOD is ineffable therefore may we not speak of him what we are able so that we beleeve more then we speake And ever bound our words with fear and piety What we cannot conceive GOD hath revealed unto us by his Spirit 1 Cor. 2.10 But it is observable where the Spirit hath revealed unto us these unconceivable things condescending to our understanding to move us it hath set them forth under the notion of temporall goods which wee make great account of Which yet in our conceits thereof if we rest we are as far beneath them as earth is heaven The Spirit sayth the righteous shall have a Kingdom and weare upon their heads a crown of righteousnes they shall be clothed with long white robes of innocence they shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob at his table in that Kingdom which shall be richly furnished to do the will of GOD ſ Delectatio erit cibus Paris and our delight in him shall be our meat and he shall give us to drink of the rivers of his pleasure This kingdom shall be theirs by a sure inheritance being coheirs with Christ the eternall Son of GOD. They shall enter into their masters joy where they shall bear a part in that heavenly quire to sing perpetuall hallelujahs unto the Lambe that sitteth upon the throne Heaven shall be theirs a treasury of riches and all wealth and to adde to the perfection of these of that kingdom there shall be no end The crown of glory shall bee immarcessible it shall not breed like Jonahs gourd a worm to eat it our garment of immortality no moth shall fret it those riches no canker shall destroy them those joys shall have no alloy of grief to abate them Those delights shall breed no surfet Those streams of pleasures shall not run dry but be mayntained by a continuall spring that day shall know no night the Sun shall not be ecclipsed nor clouded by darknesse for the Lambe is the light of the new Hierusalem that eternall city affords all things eternall and they shall be for ever to enjoy them The righteous shall enter into everlasting life t Aug. Ser. 74. because men love to live here on earth life is promised them and because they are affraid to dye therefore eternall life is promised them What doest thou love to live thou shalt have it What dost thou feare to dye thou shalt not suffer it ô living life and everlastingly blessed where is rest without labour wealth without losse health without languishing abundance without want perpetuity without corruption life without death where is light without darknesse knowledge without ignorance understanding without errour reason without obscurity memory without forgetfulnesse where what ever is desirable is to be enjoyed and nothing shall be desired that is not meet Where GOD shall be seen without end loved beyond measure praysed without wearisomnesse who in that he is the perfection of being shall satisfie the understanding perfection of goodnesse shall satisfie the will and truly amiable shall fill our affections Wee shall be amazed at his justice admire his mercy be ravished with his goodnesse What shall I adde more The righteous shall sit at the right hand of Christ they shall not onely enjoy GODS presence but shall be ever happy in a gracious union and constant communion with the Godhead u De cons Phi. lib. 3. pros 9. Boetius rayses a high pitch because by the gaining of blessednesse men are made blessed and blessednesse is the divinity it self it is manifest men are blessed by obteining the divinity and as by obteining of justice men are made just and by obteining of wisdom men are wise so says he by obteining the divinity men are made gods every blessed man therefore is a GOD who though but one by nature it hinders not but that there may be many by participation GOD promises himselfe indeed to Abraham an
exceeding great reward Gen. 15.1 of which the Prophet David lays hold the LORD is the portion of mine inheritance Psal 16.5 heare Saint John We are now the sons of GOD but it doth not yet appear what wee shall be but wee know when hee shall appeare wee shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 John 3.2 The sight of GOD which is the promise of a righteous man makes him like even unto GOD. I can rayse my meditations no higher I must here rest adde onely if I may rayse your affections more to desire the righteous mans end by shewing you on the contrary the fearfull and miserable end of the wicked man 1 As he dyes in GODS displeasure so is he deprived of his glorious prefence for ever The greatnesse of this punishment is not to be valued in that so great an evill is the privation of any good to be esteemed as is that good which it deprives us of when as therefore the good of which the damned are deprived is infinite so must the punishment be to be cast out of GODS presence to be under his eternall enmity ten thousand hels is not such an evill as to have omnipotency an irreconciled enemy and he who is all Goodnesse 2 Hee is given over to the tyranny of the Devill and just that who while he lived here was subject served and obeyed Satan when hee dyes should be enslaved to and possessed of him And with whom by a disobedient will hee would partake in sin hee should though unwilling partake with him in the punishment and be tormented of him 3 Torture in hell fire which burns and yet consumes not but the wicked are repaired to everlasting flames as the Poetsfabled of Premetheus x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hesiod Theog whose liver the devouring Eagle eat in the day and what was then devoured grew again in the night so in the midst of those consuming flames y Damnata natura dat pabulum accepit incrementum Euseb Em. ho. 1. ad Mon. the damned nature yields fuell and receives increase If the finger in the flame yea but a little time is not now to be endured how unsufferable will it be body and soul to be scorched in hell flames eternally 4 The punishment in all his senses not onely his feeling with smart but his sight shall be grieved with most horrid apparitions his hearing terrified with bitter out-cryes and gnashing of teeth his smelling offended with intollerable stench his taste tormented with hunger and thirst and infested with a more bitter humour then gall or wormwood 5 A collection of griefs and all miseries shall flow in upon him I will heap mischiefs upon them I will spend mine arrows upon them Deut. 32.23 not one or a second or some few but a heap of mischiefs shall fall upon the wicked and GOD setting him up as a butt will even empty the quiver of the arrows of his fury upon them Greatnesse of grief may now take away the sense of grief but then it shall sharpen them 6 A worm never dying a conscience of sin now sins are veyled under the huke of delight and appear not so foule then shall they appear in their filthinesse to the grief of the guilty in the sight of which they shall displease themselves and repent without any profit LORD what contrarieties seem to accord in the punishment of the wicked to make them wretched they see thee and they see thee not they see thy frown and not thy face They are deprived of life yet they live they are dead yet they endure and are sensible of misery The fire burns them yet consumes them not it flames yet gives no light A horrid darknesse overspreads them yet there is a cleer medium to see themselves miserable but can see nothing whereby they may be happy 7 And that which makes him fully miserable to suffer all these eternally the greatest punishment if it may have a period may better be endured but so great and endlesse is the sum of misery It may well be noted for injustice and tyranny in Tiberius who would not be reconciled to the offender and loved to reserve men to torment So that a guilty man dying ere hee came to the rack he cryes out Carnulius hath escaped and passing by the prison one entreating of him to hasten his punishment hee made this reply z Suet. in Tib. Nondum tecum in gratiam redii I am not yet returned into favour with thee GOD is no Tiberius no tyrant yet will not be reconciled to the guilty soule the reason is different For sin being an offence against an infinite goodnesse deserves an infinite punishment which man being not able to endure must suffer eternally And again the sinner dying unrepenting sins eternally and then it is just that if man sins GOD should punish unto eternity Who is it now that shall deeply consider the blessed departure and happy end of the righteous and on the other side the desperate death and unhappy end of the wicked but will conclude that there was good cause which did move Balaam thus to wish and who is not ready to joyn in request with him that his last end may be like the righteous man What remains shall be to shew you how our last end maybe like his 1 Live the life of the righteous Rest not in a bare wish as Balaam did good desires are like good dreams which vanish when we awake and come to nothing and doe but deceive him that trusts in them the worst of men may wish so well unto themselves but I dare not promise them they shall so obtein it All would have the Crown but they will not try the combat they would have the penny but they would not sweat in the vineyard they would wish the righteous mans death but they will not live the life of the righteous a Cor. à Lap. For to dye well is happinesse to live well is labour but one is not granted without the other Eternity depends upon death that upon a good or bad life once to perish is to perish eternally b Plut. in Lacon Iphicrates sayd it was a speech unworthy of an Emperour to say I had not thought how much more unworthy of a Christian is it to say I had not thought there had been such difference between a holy and an unholy life I had not thought that Eternity had depended upon this momentany being To all the advertisements thou hast had before take this at last which I shall again repeat Upon a holy life depends a good death and upon that Eternity and if thou perishest once thou perishest eternally c Eus Em. ho. 7. de Pass It is in the power of this present life that that may be happy which is everlasting for if thou leadest this present well the future cannot be miserable if thou fearest to die evill feare to live evill but feare not he
eternall reward are not to be equalled in number to mine which perish Oh what a sad thing is it that although Christ hath done daily does and hath promised to doe so much for us yet we should voluntarily leave his service whose yoake is so easie and put our necks under the tyranny of Satans subjection the professed enemy of Chrisl the underminer of our salvation the adversary of our souls eternall blisse who makes himselfe mirth at our misery and onely triumphs in our torment let us therefore withdraw subjection from such a vile tyrant draw our necks out of the yoake of so wilfull so wofull a slavery Let us dead sin in our mortall bodies that death may have no dominion over us So may our departure be in peace we may have a happy end a gloriors resurrection a gracious acceptance an acquitting sentence a crown of righteousnesse and to help us the better in these two to live and dye the life and death of the righteous Be 3 In a continuall meditation of death e Plato Which is the life of a wise man and surely considering the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the time he wants discretion who doth not frequently thinke upon it Strange it is the Devill should yet foole us after so long an experience with the like temptation that hee flattered our first parents yee shall not dy onely here the difference they did take that at once which wee doe at smaller portions as thou shalt not dye this yeare this moneth this day so we receive in smaller pils what they received in one bole and all of us swallow the same dose but a surer word tels us we are here of no continuance like a poast that stayeth not a bubble a smoake a vapour a dream a shadow wee are somthing wee are nothing wee are here wee are gone f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pind. Pyth. Od. 8. the very dreame of a shadow and yet that we should dote of a long stay here of a truth the life of a Christian is hereafter in the mean time the mediation of death makes a life it draws us neerer and sets us in view as it were of our life and certainly makes a holy life for he that continually thinks he must die will so live as he is willing to dye he that looks upon every day that passes not as one of that number of his dayes which his desiring hope may promise him but as his last he fits himselfe accordingly for it as Eumolpus if he spake not better then he did g Ego sic semper ubique vixi tanquam ultimum diem nunquam rediturum consumerem Petron. Sat. I have so every where lived and at all times as if I had spent my last day never again to have been recalled and surely we never spend a day so well as that which we thinke to be our last those three vertues sayes the h In Clim sca parad grad 6. Scholiast are effects of this meditation 1 That we are without passion 2 That wee pray without intermission 3 That we keepe our selves unspotted from sin 1 That we are without passion 1 It unlinkes our love from the world so transient so uncertaine so unsatisfying to the soule of man so unworthy of our affection while we looke of it in a deepe consideration of our own and its mortality we discover its vanity we conclude it s nothing and we loath it 2 It allayes our anger i Hi motus animoruma tque haec certamina tanta pulveris exigui iactu compressa quiescunt Virg. Georg. 4. as the tetchy Bees which fight in troops in their bitter conflicts cast up a little dust among them and you part them presently nothing sooner cools those hotter distempers of choler then the dust of mortality remember thy end and let emnity cease Eccles 28.6 that which kils them utterly would kill them instantly were it well applyed death which shall destroy them with the body the thought of it would soon dead them in the body were it serious Oh how sedate and peaceable would we be were we christianly mortified 3 It abates the feare of death A fore-warning is a fore-arming against miseries he that acquaints his thoughts with them before they come is better able to endure the shock As Palladius reports of an Eremite who being neere his death was merry and cheerefull his disciples about him trembled and mourning said unto him Doest thou suffer and art nothing moved and we but suffer with thee and weepe to whom hee replyed I am quiet because I have often walked this way by meditation I have often dyed so no new thing happens unto me k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clim sca parad grad 6. The memory of death is a daily death and he that dies daily dies not discontentedly nothing betides him but what he hath before thought and he is well provided for it hee knows how to dye before he dyes and it nought amates him 2 It quickens our prayers as a spur to our devotion the soule the more it is abstracted from the body the neerer it draws to God and taking heat and warmth as it were from that fountain of light and life it is more active and vigorous in fervent affection 3 It is a sentinell upon the soule and keepes the good man that he consents not to any sin Titles of honour may court but they shall not coozen him Pleasures of the world may tempt but they shall not entangle him Affections of the flesh may flatter but they shall not entise him l Facile contemnit omnia qui semper cogitat se moriturum Hier. Ep. ad Paul Hee slights them all he is resolved to persevere in his integrity and to preserve himselfe unspotted as the spouse of Christ And cast an eye yet a little further thinke on judgement when thou must give an account m Luke 16.2 of thy Stewardship Not an evill action which thou hast unjustly committed but thou must answer for which though thou happily hast forgot yet are they not slipt out of the divine memory Dost thou not watch over my sin My transgression is sealed up in a bag and thou sowest up mine iniquity Job 14.17 When the Pharisees brought the adulteresse and accused her unto my Saviour he wrote upon the ground he speaks not but yet he writes sinner observe although God is silent yet he writes he seems to dissemble thy sin yet he records it and at last those records shall be produced and according to those things written in that booke shalt thou be judged Thy idle words vanish not nor dye in the aire they are breathed out into Yea thy vile thoughts shall not be smothered in thine own breast but as they are manifest and known to him who tryeth the heart and reines so shall they be filed upon thy account to answer for To conclude Thinke on the death of the righteous who lies down in peace
thereby puts an end to his sin and to his misery Whose death is his birth day unto blessednesse the day when he receives a gracious reward of his well doings his marriage day unto Christ and union with God thinke on his last end Glory and honour and immortallity and eternall life the crown of righteousnesse the kingdome of heaven to be admitted to the inheritance of the Saints in glory to be like the Angels to sit down on Christs right hand and to reigne with him to see the face of God in blisse for ever and to be satisfied with his likenesse is it possible these should not affect thee if not let the death of the wicked affright thee to ly down in sorrow and to goe into the inward chambers of death where the grave shuts her mouth upon them and have no rest from their trouble and misery but it is to them a beginning of torment weigh their end to be deprived of Gods favour to be ejected out of his presence to be given over to the tyranny of the Devill to be tortured in hell where the worme dyeth not and the fire is not quenched where they shall in soule and body in all parts endure all kinde of misery and these eternally without any hope of reconciliation with God or end of pains If the thought of eternity cannot ballance thy thoughts what will O that men were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Deut. 32.29 So consider as they might escape the fierce anger of the Lord in that great day to be revealed against offenders for to understand as to doe what is right lest our knowledge be our misery for better were it not to have known the way of righteousnesse then having known to turn from the holy commandement 2 Pet. 2.21 For he that knows his masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes Earnestly endeavour after holinesse and pray to him who is the way the truth and the life to establish thee in his truth to lead therein the right way that tends to life To close your ears in a short meditation of that which one day will close all our eyes death the weary mans rest the Christians comfort the solace of afflicted souls the greatest blessing next a Saviour conferd on sinfull mankind the rode of paradise the scal of heaven the gate of happinesse a haven secure from all tempests a Physician to cure all diseases a restoring cordiall in a pill of alloes working health and salvation to mankinde a good midwife by whose hands we are broughtforth into the land of the living a blessed day whose Sun sets in glory or happy night whose morning dawns in blisse or blessed twi-light between time and eternity blessed lying down which arises to immortality blessed sleepe that awakes to eternity Sweet death may I never looke a squint on thee but with an eye full of hope of that happinesse which thou dost usher in that I may as willingly lay down this body as leave a prison be undressed of this clothing of mortality as I would of my wearing cloaths and commend my body to the dust as I would my weary bones to a bed of down May I never so dote on this dirty hovell that I would not willingly exchange it for a house not made with hands or be so enamoured of this cottage of clay that I would not readily lapse my lease unto my great Creator In the mean time may I so live that I may die to live to eternity that I may die while here I live that I may live for ever walking in that right and perfect way which leads to that door that opens to those heavenly lodgings blessed eternity may my thoughts lose themselves while my soule find it selfe blessed in eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doroth. doctr 8.