comfortably say Surely the bitterness of death is past while others say of Death and the Grave as Jacob said of Luz at first How terrible is this place He may say of them This is none other than the House of God Thirdly 3. Cons Consider the wicked ungodly and unprepared Sinner can have no hopes in his death Isa 57.2 There is no peace saith my God to the Wicked every pain and sickness that befals him is like the ratling of the wheels of the fiery Chariots and the prancing of the horses of the terrible ones that come to fetch away his soul and now he hath no hope nor life left in him Job 8.13 The Hypocrites hope shall perish he can expect no other but that his soul and body must shortly be pluck'd asunder never to meet together but in Hell That we be habitually prepar'd 2. Direct First Let us get an interest in Christ without him there is no peace with God and without peace with God there can be no peace in the latter end Job 22.21 Acquaint now thy self with God and be at peace Whence once we have got an interest in Christ we may die in peace As Simeon when he had got Christ in his arms could say Now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace O be perswaded to receive and embrace Christ to believe in him and resign up your selves to him as you desire to die in peace and to be happy for ever If you were now upon your Death-beds and your Physician should turn Preacher and your Doctor become a Divine and tell you your Sickness is incurable there is no more hopes of your life you are not like to be men of this world you must prepare for another world you had best make your peace with God and get an interest in Christ I can do no more for you and so the Lord have mercy upon your souls Oh! what would the Blood of Christ be worth in such a day how welcome would he be in such an hour Secondly Be sure that ye be in a Regenerate and Converted state Except a man be born again he shall never see the Kingdom of Heaven And lastly Repent of all your sins Sin like Jonahs Gourd will eat up the comforts of life and devour your peace in death therefore said the Heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A good and holy life prepares for an happy death Deal with sin as the Lords of the Philistines advis'd concerning David 1 Sam. 29.4 Who though he had liv'd peaceably amongst them yet when they went down to fight against Israel would not suffer him to go down to the battel along with them lest he should turn his hand against them So though sin hath been a pleasant Companion with us all our life yet when we go down to encounter death we must take heed that sin don't go along with us for it will certainly turn its hand against us and put a sting into Death and deadly teeth into that Lion Secondly That you may be actually prepar'd First 1 Direct Let every day be well fill'd Days well fill'd with the works of Righteousness will make souls well fill'd with the fruits of Righteousness which are Peace and Joy Let every days work be well done examine your selves every night whether your work be done and what is done amiss and ask your souls every night upon doing this whether it can willingly pass from this day into Eternity Job 5.26 it is said concerning that upright man Thou shalt come to thy Grave in thy full Age Diu vixit qui bene vixit like as a Shock of Corn cometh in his season which implies two things First That he shall come willingly to his grave as a man that hath done his work goes willingly to his rest so is he a Volunteer to Death that his soul need not be forc'd out of his body as Lot was out of Sodom nor need he be drag'd out of the World as the rich Fool in the Gospel Secondly That when the Upright man dies he goes as one ready and prepar'd as a Shock of Wheat in its season this Saint goes like the Ox in the Emblem that that stands betwixt the Altar and the Plough with this Motto Ad utrumque paratus as ready for the Sacrifice as for the Yoke and thus Paul saith of himself Phil. 1.23 I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better betwixt two i. e. betwixt Life and Death In a Strait that is as a City that is Besieged and straiten'd or as Iron between two Loadstones loth to leave the Philippians and loth to stay any longer from Christ and therefore after he had stood a while in Aequilibrio at last he inclines rather to be with Christ who is altogether desirable 1. His Common Presence is the preservation of the World 2. His Spiritual Presence is the very joy and life of Saints 3. His Glorious Presence the Eternal happiness of Believers and Oh! how did the heart of our deceased Friend breath after this highest of enjoyments Secondly 2 Direct Let your accounts be always ready The careless Steward can't bear the news of his Lords coming before his Accounts be ready and adjusted There is a secret fearfulness in all persons negligent of their Accounts to hear of Christs coming Every one of us must give account of himself to God and the sleepy soul fears to hear this Voice Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou maist be no longer Steward and having so many Debts and Talents to account for he knows not how to set upon that work yet he that will be always ready must keep his accounts even and must often ask how the case stands between God and his soul and he need not be afraid though he hath never so many Talents Debts and Arrears to account for beyond his ability having the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus Christ to ballance the account Thirdly 3 Direct take your solemn leave every day of all the World that if God should call you the World may not be found hanging on your hearts to make you unwilling to go at his call Every night say to your Friends and to your Estates farewell as being willing to leave them This is to die daily and by this means you will die comfortably and willingly Fourthly Let your Graces be all in a readiness active vigorous and abounding that when Christ comes these Graces being in you 2 Pet. 1.11 An entrance may be abundantly ministred unto you into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Faith Hope and Love must stand always expecting the Lords coming and be renewing Acquaintance with God and making a fresh application of the Blood of Christ that the soul may have a clear sight of his interest in the Righteousness of Christ and his right to Divine favour Lastly 5 Direct Familiarize Death to your souls we are afraid of Death and remain unprepar'd for Death because we and Death are strangers When you lie down let Death lie down with you when you awake let Death talk with you when you walk let Death be your Companion Make a more serious improvement of your spectacles of Mortality Funeral occasions than you are wont to do that if God bid you die as Num. 27.12 He bad Moses go up to Mount Abarim and die there You may be as ready to go and die as to go to your Beds Only let Faith give you always the fair Prospect of Christ of Heaven and Glory that your hearts may be possest with this assurance 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens FINIS
going thither for many times we step from the Womb into the Tomb or in the midst of our days drop into the Grave but 't is called our Long home because of our long stay there 3. Death is called the end of man because it puts an end to all the troubles temptations fears and pains of life it is the Out-let of all Misery and the In-let to all Happiness When Death cometh to put an end to the days of the Upright he then begins his Triumphs and may go away with Colours flying and Trumpets sounding O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory From the whole Observ I shall give you this Doctrinal point That He that is Perfect and Upright in his Life shall certainly have Peace in his Death When the Question is asked Who shall be admitted into the Mount Zion below or enter into the new Jerusalem above the Answer from Heaven is Psal 15.1 2. as you may see Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle Who shall dwell in thy holy Hill He that walketh Uprightly and worketh Righteousness and speaketh the Truth in his heart That great Gospel-promise Isa 26.2 3. Open ye the Gates that the Righteous Nation which keepeth the Truth may enter in Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee It is also promised in Isa 57.1 2. The Righteous perisheth and no man laies it to heart and Merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their Beds each one walking in his Uprightness In opening and confirming this Doctrine I shall shew you three things First What is meant by these terms Perfect and Upright as they are understood sometimes in the same and sometimes in a different sense sometimes they are taken Conjunctim and as Synonymous signifying one and the same thing and sometimes divisim severally First As they are taken divisim so the word Perfect here seems to relate to the Upright mans Inside and to the pure frame of his heart especially and the regular motions of all the faculties of the soul In this sense it is taken chiefly in that command of God to Abraham Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect And in that holy Profession of David Psal 101.2 I will walk in the mid'st of my House with a perfect heart There are two other respects also in which men are said to be perfect First In respect of their Justification by the compleat Righteousness of Christ every true Believer in this respect may be said to be Perfect having all his imperfections covered and done away by him whose Name is the Lord our Righteousness As in Heb. 10.14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Secondly Men may be said to be Perfect with respect unto their Sanctification though the work it self be yet Imperfect First In respect of the Spirit of God the Author of that Glorious work who will certainly perfect what he hath begun according to that Prayer of the Apostle 1 Thes 5.23 And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly In respect of the work it self which is a tendency unto perfection a direct tendency to the future perfect state of Saints in Glory Where ever it is begun the gracious heart is always breathing longing and working in continual motion towards that perfection and content with no state measures or degrees short of it As we may see in that Blessed Apostle Paul Phil. 3.13 14 15. Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Let us therefore as many as be Perfect be thus minded Secondly When these terms are severally understood this word Upright seems more specially to relate to the regularity of a mans outward deportment in a just exact and holy Conversation according to the rules of Righteousness prescribed in that Royal Law the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ when he is holy in all manner of Conversation without Deceit and Guile in all his commerce and dealing with men both in Commutative and Distributive Justice in his private and publick capacity They that Defraud and Cheat and deal Unjustly with their Brother are strangers to Uprightness the Shame and Reproach of their Holy profession Thirdly Here in this place I conceive both Perfect and Upright signifie the same thing and are exegetical as if one Epithete had been too little to express the worth of such an excellent and incomparable Person That you may see the excellency of that perfect Man First we will hear what the Scripture saith of him not to say any thing of Noah Lot Job and others who were perfect and upright in their Generation who were the glory of the places and days in which they lived Gen. 25.27 there is a description of the Righteous and the Wicked the Perfect and the Profane as Learned Authors observe Esau was a cunning Hunter a Man of the Field and Jacob was a plain Man dwelling in Tents Esau was like Nimrod a mighty Hunter before the Lord like the Hectors of our times a man of a rugged ranting spirit But Jacob was Ish Tam a plain Man sine fuco fallaciâ without Welt or Guard as we are wont to say non acutus ad fallendum not cunning to deceive though once he did supplant his Brother which was more his Mothers contrivance than his own and another time which was more his Brothers folly than his own fraud There is so much excellency in a Perfect and Upright man that the Lord commands Moses Exod. 28.30 Thou shalt put on the Breast-plate of Judgment the Urim and the Thummim and they shall be upon Aarons heart when he goeth in before the Lord And Aaron shall bear the Judgment of the Children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually That the words Urim and Thummim were ingraven on the pretious Stones of the Breast-plate is agreed upon by the most and some are of opinion that they were done by the Finger of God himself Urim signifieth Lights Thummim which comes from the same root with that word by which Jacob was expressed is rendered Perfections both in the Plural number to imply that abundance of Knowledge and Holiness that should be in the Priests of the Lord. Uprightness i. e. upright towards God and upright towards Man and to teach the Spiritual Priests of God if they will enter into the Holy of Holies and ask Counsel of God they must have this Urim and Thummim this light of Knowledge and Perfection Uprightness is called Perfection because
Visibles or things seen as what they have of Invisibles or things not seen nor by what they have of this World in their present possession as by what they have of another World in futurition nor by what they are but what they shall be not according to the occurrences of Life but their happiness in Death which he thus demonstrates from his own observation and experience in the Text and context In the 35. v. of this Psalm he shews us the Wicked in all their pomp and grandeur I have seen the Wicked in great power and spreading himself as a green Bay tree or as in the Margin a green Tree that groweth in his own Soil And what is this goodly shew in the 36. verse he saith Yet he passeth away and loe he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found And why could he see no more of him He gives a reason in the 38. verse The Transgressors shall be destroyed together the end of the Wicked shall be cut off But is it so with the Saints No Though they be like a dry Tree yet mark the Perfect man trace him through all the troubles of life Behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace The Text is a description of the Life and Death of a Pious man First his Life that is Perfect and Upright Secondly his Death and that is Peace The conclusion arises out of the Premises Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright c. From the doubling of the terms we may learn these three things as intended thereby First to mark him with a curious eye of observation and serious consideration to mark how he carries it toward God towards man how he is at home and abroad how he deports himself in every condition of Life mark him exactly in all his Natural Civil and Spiritual actions observe him Inside and Outside the more you know him the better you will love him and the better you love him the more you will look upon him Behold his Life and if there be no comliness in the outward appearance yet there is comfort enough in his Death The end of that Man is Peace Even Balaam did wish Oh that I might die the death of the Righteous that my latter end may be like his Secondly Mark him and behold him with an eye of imitation let the Upright man be the Copy after which you write Though we cannot safely follow Man in all things because the best Lights out of Heaven are but Moon-lights at best and have their blemishes yet we may safely follow them in their Uprightness and 't is our duty to follow them as they are followers of Christ Jesus especially in these three Specimens of their Uprightness First the Purity and Singleness of their heart having the testimony of a good Conscience that there is no way of Wickedness in them but they are like the followers of the Lamb in Rev. 14.5 In whose mouth was found no Guile for they are without fault before the Throne of God Secondly in the Beauty and Purity of a spotless life whose Conversation as well as Conscience is without spot and blame abstaining from all appearance of evil according to that Exhortation in Phil. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom ye shine as lights in the World Thirdly In a faithful perseverance in the ways of God to the end as in Prov. 4.25 26 27. Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eye-lids look straight before thee Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established Turn not to the right hand nor to the left which implies these two things especially First That there must be no decays nor faintings in the way and work of Holiness but a continual increase as in Prov. 4.18 The path of the Just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day lest it be with us as it was charged upon Ephesus as in Rev. 2.4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love As some understand she had left Christ who was the Object of her love or as others She left that degree and measure of love wherewith she at first loved him We must not only keep up the same heat of love and heighth of affections to Christ but love to Christ being a Divine fire must increase more and more till the Soul ascend in a holy flame into his Bosom Secondly There must be no diversion or turning from the ways of God neither to the right hand nor to the left i. e. either to avoid the frowns on the one hand or to enjoy the smiles of the world on the other hand Or else First Not turn to the right hand by any excesses or doing more than God hath commanded for God will say to men â—hat do so Who hath required these things at your hands Or charge us as he did the People Jer. 7.81 That they did that which came not into his heart Their hearts can never be right with God that is only right in their own eyes Secondly Turn not to the left hand by any defects or neglect of what God hath commanded but go straight on as the Kine that carried the Ark 1 Sam. 6.12 They went straight on and turned not as they went Let it be your aim to be thorow-pac'd in Religion throughout with God that though you cannot do all the good and shun all the evil you would yet you may be able to say as in Psal 18.21 I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God and in the shutting up oâ— our days appeal with good Hezekiah Isa 38.3 Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart Thirdly It implies To behold the Upright man till he comes to the Grave Mark the Perfect man observe his Life behold him till ye see his latter end till ye see how he comes off the Stage the end of that man is to be considered as well as his beginning see him in Life see him in Death Death is said to be a mans End in several respects 1. As it puts an end to all the actions of his life when death appears it shuts the Windows binds up or breaks the Working-instruments Eccles 9.10 Solomon tells us Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest 2. 'T is the end of man because it brings man to the end of his Journey therefore when man dyeth he is said to go to his Long home Eccles 12.5 the Grave is said to be his Long home not his last home for the body must not lodge there for ever nor is it said to be his long home because he is long
the perfection of a Saint is his uprightness I shall now give you a few Lines or Characters of a Perfect and Upright man and you will easily observe how they suit both the Original and the Copy this worthy Friend and precious Saint for whose sake they were drawn First A Perfect and Upright man is one of a sound and single heart A single-hearted Christian his heart is never more divided in him than when he cannot keep his heart undivided from God he is inside and outside the same he professes the true God to be his God and is like the God whom he doth profess he owns the truth and is like the truth which he owns which is said to be Una semper sui similis his tongue is always the Index of his heart and his heart doth never give his tongue the lie As they that search into the Veins of the Earth for Silver and Gold the deeper they dig they say the purer is the Ore The more you know of his heart and the more you see him in his private Chamber and secret Closet the more pure and the more refined will you observe him to be he may indeed as a Man have some blemishes in his face but his heart in the mean time cries out with the Apostle Rom. 7.15 That which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. He dares not indeed come to be weighed in the Ballance with a God of infinite Holiness yet is content and humbly desires to be tried by the Touch-stone of the Spirit of the Holy God As in Psal 139.23 24. Search one O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Secondly He is One all whose motions are guided and directed by the will of God to which he is so fixed that nothing can make him warp from it As they said of Fabritius amongst the Heathens That he was so true to his principles that it was as easie to persuade the Sun from his Ecliptick Line as to hope that he should leave them So this Perfect and Upright Saint regards not Traditions and Opinions of Men without God but exactly observes his Sacred and Divine Precepts And when he sees how some men lose themselves by leaving the Word as a wise Pilot he Steers his course by Card and Compass having Oculos ad Coelum Manus ad Clavum his eye to the Star and his hand to the Helm and as the Pin of a well-set Dial casts shadow according to the Suns motion so he moves according to the conduct and direction of the Word and Spirit that he may be according to the Apostles exhortation 1 Phil. 27. Only let your Conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ Thirdly A Perfect and Upright man is one whose thoughts words and actions do all tend to and terminate in the Glory and Honour of God as in 1 Cor. 10.13 Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all â—o the glory of God As in the well-disciplin'd Army of Israel â—he Ark of God was always carâ—ied in the midst of the Host So in all the well-order'd affairs of his life the Honour of God â—s still in the midst of all his â—houghts he knoweth that he â—s not his own as in 1 Cor. 6. â—0 But is bought with a price â—herefore must glorifie God in body and in spirit which are Gods Fourthly The Perfect and Upright man is One who is the same at all times in all companies and conditions First at all times In the time of the Gospels prosperity he leads the Van in all the duties of Religious Worship In the time of Religions Wane he is Religions Champion In days of the greatest Defection he keeps himself from the pollution of the times like Noah in Gen. 6.9 When all flesh had corrupted their way he had this testimony Noah was a just man anâ— perfect in his generation and Noah walked with God He is another Nehemiah Baruch Jeremiah oâ— Ebedmelech or one of those few names in Sardis Secondly In all Companieâ— he is the same He remembers he is one of Gods Witnesses and therefore out of a meal-mouth'd baseness will not betray the truth Thirdly He is the same in every condition Rich or Poor he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homo quadratus a square man cast him where you will what ever he lose he will not make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience Secondly I must shew you what Peace that is which is the end of a Perfect and Upright man First what it is not Secondly what it is First It is not meant that they shall have no pains in their Death for sometimes they that have the most inward purity and peace have the most outward pain and they that have no purity nor peace within have little or no pain without but they go off as they are wont to say like Lambs that were filthy Swine and cruel Lions in their Lives These things the Lord doth variously dispense as seems best in his own Wisdom and most for his own Glory Psal 73.4 It is said of the Wicked There are no bands in their death but their strength is firm and so sail smoothly to their Eternal torment Secondly Neither is this the Peace here meant which is mentioned in Luk. 11.21 When a strong man armed keepeth his Palace his good are in peace That is the peace of the Wicked arising from the Devils possession of their hearts or from their carnal security not that their case is good but they see not their own danger and think all is well either 1. From a blind Conscience that cannot see or 2. From a brib'd Conscience by some formal duties or good works which must not see or 3. From a sleepy Conscience that cannot foresee or 4. From a seared Conscience that will not see But by Peace here is meant all Good the highest Good Joy Rest and Glory as in that Prayer of the Apostle Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope the God that worketh hope in you the God who is the object of your hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing a peace that is founded in Faith perfected in Vision of which the Saints have some fore-tasts in this life the fulness in the life to come when they shall enter into peace a true spiritual internal and eternal peace a peace arising from satisfaction the Lord Jesus Christ having born the Wrath and satisfi'd the Justice of God that they may have full peace Therefore in Joh. 14.2 it is called his peace Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Secondly This Peace is the fruit of Victory the absolute Conquest of Jesus Christ over Principalities and Powers and triumph over the
world Joh. 16.33 These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have Peace In the World ye shall have Tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the World Thirdly It is a peace that springs up from Purity and Sanctification the heart being purged the Conscience refined the Soul is full of peace within by the help of the testimony of a good Conscience goeth triumphant into his Eternal rest Thirdly Reason Reasons I shall give you some grounds or Reasons why they that are Perfect and Upright in their life shall certainly have peace in their death Reason 1 Reas 1. Because the God of peace hath an infinite intimate and everlasting love for his upright ones he loves them and they love him above all the world Cant. i. 4. We will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy love more than wine the upright love thee And he loves them as in Psal xi 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright He bids us behold the upright yea he beholds them with delight himself And in Psalm iv 3. He hath set apart him that is godly for himself he hath made a Covenant with them a Covenant of Peace and because he loves them he will lodge them in his Bosom Though Death can break the Knot of all human love and friendship yet it can never loosen the Bond of Divine Love as the Apostle says in Rom. viii 37 38. Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us For I am persuaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come Nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Secondly Reason 2 Reas 2. Because he hath proclaimed and promised Peace Rest and Glory to such Isa lvii 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness And Rev. xiv 13. And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them And Psalm lxxxiv 11. The Lord God is a Sun and Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory no good thing will be withhold from them that walk uprightly His time of Life is his time of War at the instant of Death the Warfare is ended and everlasting peace proclaimed his life is his Seed-time his end is the beginning of Harvest a full Harvest of peace and joy Psalm xcvii 11. Light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the Upright in heart When the body and soul of the Upright do part asunder the body betakes it self to rest in the Grave the soul flies into the regions of peace in the Divine Presence Thirdly Reason 3 Reas 3. Because God is righteous and he will recompence his Saints 2 Thess i. 6 7. It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you And to you that are troubled rest with us And thus you shall see Christ leading them into a land of peace Rev. vii 14 15 16 17. These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes It is great trouble that Saints undergo and a hard matter for a man to maintain his integrity amidst so many snares frowns and flatteries of the world This is their great comfort and encouragement and shall be their reward to inherit peace at the last As Lamech said Gen. v. 29. When the Lord gave him his Son Noah whose name signifies Rest and whose person was a type of Christ This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed Which the Apostle also intimates 1 Cor. xv 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Implying 1. That Saints are not altogether hopeless in this life 2. That all their hope is not here Fourthly Reason 4 Reas 4. Because when a Perfect and Upright man dieth he is gone out of the reach of all those things that might annoy his peace where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary be at rest Job iii 17. and are wafted over into Emmanuel's Land where they have all those glorious enjoyments in which they shall eternally acquiesce 1. He is totally freed from all evil sin cannot be there Rev. 21.27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Here he is full of complaints Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death But when he dies he sings this Epinikion I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2. When the Perfect and Upright man dies he and his Portion and Inheritance are brought together the Heir is restless in his expectations till he comes to the Inheritance but here the Portion is God himself which the Saint hath many times with much pleasure survey'd and hath had thereof many a delightful prospect of Faith rejoycing in it as sweet and full and satisfying and now doth possess that Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for him in Heaven 1 Pet. 2.4 and shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thes 3.17 3. He comes to enjoy his Beloved in Glory of whom he said when he saw him by Faith Cant. 5.10 My Beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousands and in the 16. verse Yea he is altogether lovely What will he say when he shall see him and be with him in his highest Exaltations in Glory 4. All his Graces shall be then compleated and there shall be no more place for desire for he shall sit down at that Fountain-head where is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Verse 1 Vse Informs that if the Perfect and Upright mans end be Peace then his life is full of trouble he hath trouble within and trouble without as the Apostle says of himself 2 Cor. 7.5 That he had no rest in the flesh but was troubled on every side without were fightings within were fears Saints in this life sail as it were upon a Sea of glass mingled with fire the Persecutions of men the Buffetings of Satan the Law in their Members make their present state unquiet How
did he deal with that holy and upright Man Job read the History of his Patience and you shall see If the Devil be at any time silent the World will make an out-cry If the World with-hold its rage for a little space the Devil will invade their spirits It is said of him that when he accosted the Lord Jesus Christ himself and had spent all his Arrows against him Luk. 4.13 When the Devil had ended all the temptation he departed from him for a season If he left him but for a little while in whom he could find nothing to fasten one temptation upon as Christ says in John 14.30 The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me Will he ever leave his Saints who have too much matter in them for his temptations to work upon He will not suffer them to be a moment quiet 1. He is continually striving against the very Being of Grace this Abaddon would utterly destroy it and maintains a War against it the Flesh lusting against the Spirit but that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world 2. He is disturbing the exercise of Grace his posture you shall see in Zach. 3.1 And he shewed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him I have often thought in my solemn retirements of Anselms Bird fastned to a stone by a thread often striving to flie up but the weight of the stone as often pull'd him down again A true Emblem of a gratious Soul who many times endeavours to get up into the Divine Presence but as oft as he attempts it the Devil is at hand to hinder and pluck him down again Verse 2 Vse 2. If the Perfect and Upright mans end shall be Peace then the days of the Upright man shall have an end the Psalmist says Psal 39.5 6. Verily every man at his best state is altogether Vanity Surely every man walketh in a vain shew There is an Emphasis in every word Man is Vanity every man is Vanity every man at his best state is Vanity he is altogether Vanity verily it is a certain truth surely every man walks in a vain shew his life is but the shew or shadow of a life That Sentence is unto all Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return and there is no exemption from that general Statute-law Heb. 9.27 It is appointed to all men once to die and after death the judgment Heretofore to the Fathers of old their Lives were like a long Summers day but as sin at first brought in death so as sin multiplied it shortned mens days and now our Lives are like a Winters day in all respects cold cloudy dark and short 't is no sooner Morning but the Night approacheth Jer. 6.4 I may allude to that place The day goeth away the shadows of the Evening are stretched out Two things may be deduced from hence First Here is comfort for the Perfect and Upright man though his life be trouble yet his end will come and bring him peace the great Devourer the Grave that swallows up others shall give him meat and the strong Lion Death that feeds on others shall yield him sweetness When Abraham had fought hard till the going down of the Sun and rescued Lot that was taken Captive Melchizedeck met him with Bread and Wine for his refreshment who was King of the City of Peace So when the upright Saint hath been in his hot disputes to deliver his soul from his Spiritual Enemies our Melchizedeck the Lord Jesus Christ will refresh him with Bread and Wine for his Flesh is Meat indeed and his Blood is Drink indeed and will lead him into the City of Salem a Land of Peace as the Apostle 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finish'd my course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and after many a terrible shock and dangerous storm the perfect and upright Saint through the wise conduct of his Pilot shall arrive safely at his desired Port of peace For there remaineth a rest to the People of God Heb. 4.9 Secondly If the Perfect and Upright man doth die then here is matter of serious consideration and lamentation for the living the life of Saints is to be desired and their death to be lamented unless we will incur that censure Isa 57.1 The Righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come 1. Consider what resentment the people of God had of old of the death of the Saints how they mourned and wept for them when they left their Society Jacob died and Israel wept Moses died and all the People mourned for him thirty days and when Stephen died Act. 8.2 Devout men carried him to his Burial and made great lamentation over him 2. Consider the great usefulness of living Saints especially in these three respects First As they are Supports Props and Pillars for so they are called Psal 75.3 The Earth and all the Inhabitants thereof are dissolved I bear up the Pillars of it They that take this to be the Psalm of Asaph do understand these words to be the words of God that he preserves and upholds his Saints which are the Pillars of the Earth They that take the Psalm to be a Psalm of David for Asaph do understand them as the words of David that he would countenance and encourage the people of God who were the Pillars to uphold a shaking Kingdom If a Moses be removed out of the gap what should hinder why the Judgment should not break in upon the people Isa 1.9 The Prophet tells us that the people acknowledge Except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small Remnant we should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah If God gather up his Jewels and takes them away he seems to be removing Himself that is a great truth Isa 57.1 Merciful men are taken away from the evil to come and an old saying many times true That they are taken away that evil may come Thus the Lord is said in Psal 78.50 He made a way to his anger When he had secured Lot he let down the fire upon Sodom and when he had Hous'd Noah in the Ark what could the wicked World expect but an over-whelming Deluge Thus they observed of old that the death of eminent Saints was the forerunner of some great Calamity as that long-liv'd Methuselah whose name doth signifie a Messenger of death died the year before the Flood came upon the whole World Augustine the year before Hippo was Sack'd Pareus a little before Heidleberg was taken Luther a little time before the Wars in Germany Ambrose a little before the Ruin of Italy What