earth and walketh up and down in it Job 1. 7. yea as a roaring lion he walketh about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5. 8. No place can exempt us from his tentations whilst we live in this world He assaulted Adam in Paradise Lot in the Cave David in his Palace Josuah the high Priest in the presence of the Angel of the Lord Christ in the wildernesse Peter in the High Priests hall c. But when Death comes these Egyptians which you have seen to day ye shall see them again no more for ever Exod. 14. 13. Satan shall never more molest Gods children after this life is ended Hence saith Saint Ambrose Diabolus per quod potestatem habuit victus est The Devil who had the power of death Heb. 2. 14. hath by death his power abrogated and abolished Sixthly Death frees them from Gods frowns which sin often exposeth them to here and which to a child of God is more terrible than death it self For if in Gods favour is life as David affirms Psal. 30. 5. then in his frowns is death yea if Gods loving kindness is better than life Psal. 63. 3. then his frowns are worse than death There are no outward or corporal afflictions but a resolute and Roman spirit will stand under them the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity Prov. 18. 14. but the frowns of God and tokens of his displeasure are intolerable A wounded spirit who can bear It made David roar Psal. 32. 3. Hezekiah chatter Isa. 38. 14. yea Christ himself to sweat drops of congealed blood and to cry out in the anguish of his soul My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But after death the light of Gods countenance shines perpetually upon them and shall never admit either of a cloud or Eclipse when Lazarus died he who lay groveling at the rich mans gate was found in Abrahams bosome in a place of warmest love For seeing by Death Gods children are freed from corruptions therefore after death they have no need of Gods frowns or corrections Seventhly Death frees them from the very being and existence of sin At death the spirits of just men are made perfect Heb 12. 23. The death of their body delivers them from the body of death Death and sin do not meet in a child of God but so part that when the one comes the other is gone for ever As when Sampson died the Philistines died with him so when a child of God dies all his sins die with him Hence Ambrose saith Quid est mors nisi peccatorum sepultura what is death but the grave of our sins wherein they are all buried Thus death doth that at once which grace doth by degrees Grace indeed when it is once wrought in the heart under the conduct of the spirit it resists and fights against sin and gives it such mortal wounds that it never fully recovers again It dejects it from its regency but cannot eject it from its inherency It frees us from the raigning of sin but cannot free us from the remaining of sin After regeneration sin hath not dominion over us But yet there is a law in our members warring against the law of our minds and many times leading us captive unto the law of sin that is in our members so that we cannot do the good that we would but the evil that we hate that do we Rom. 7. 19. 23. But when death comes it wholly extirpates sin root and branch and not one or some few sins but all sin and that not for a time only but for ever when the souls of Gods children are dis-lodged from their bodies this troublesome and incroaching inmate shall be dis-lodged and thrust out of doors for ever Hence one saith Peccatum peperit mortem filia devoravit matrem Sin at first begat and brought forth death and death at last destroys sin as the worm kills the tree that bred it And as Bernard saith Death which before was porta inferni the trap-door of Hell is now introitus Regni the porch that lets us into heaven And Mr. Brightman saith what was before the Devils Sergeant to drag us to hell is now the Lords Gentleman-Usher to conduct us to heaven Thus I have shewed you in these seven particulars what are the evils that Gods children are freed from by death Now in the next place I will endeavour to shew you the priviledges that at death they are invested in and the good things that they are put into the present possession of But yet this must be premised that if I had the tongue and pen of men and Angels yet should I come far short of that which I aim at For whatsoever can be said of heaven is not one half as the Queen of Sheba said of Solomons magnificence of what we shall finde in that City of Pearl To expresse it saith a reverend Divine is as impossible as to compasse heaven with a span or to contain the Ocean in a nutshel And Chrysostom speaking of the happinesse of the Saints in heaven saith Sermo non valet exprimere experimento opus est words cannot expresse it we must have trial of it before we can know it But yet that which I shall say of it is contained in these six particulars First Death invests Gods children with perfection of all graces Here we know but in part we prophesie but in part But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. It 's true when God first regenerates and sanctifies us we have perfection of parts there is no grace wanting that is necessary to life and salvation For God doth none of his works by the halves But yet we attain not to perfection of degrees till death comes whilst we live here we are exhorted to adde grace to grace 2 Pet. 1 5 6 7. and one degree of grace to another We are commanded to grow in grace and in the knowledge of eur Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. To make a daily progress till we come unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ Ephes. 4. 13. But yet when we have done all that we can our faith is mixed with doubtings our love to God with love of the world our tears in repentance need washing in the blood of Christ our humility is mixed with pride our patience with murmurings and all our other graces have defects in them But in death they are all perfected and thereby we are put into a far better condition than we were capable of in this life Secondly Death puts the Saints into the present possession of Heaven a stately place into which there never did or can enter any unclean thing No dirty dog ever trampled upon this golden pavement It 's called Paradise Luke 23. 43. Indeed Paradise which God made for Adams palace though the stateliest place that ever the eye of mortal man
to be comforted and said For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning Sorrow indeed and lamentation are the dues of the dead but it ought not to exceed either for measure or duration neither should we mourn so much for our friends departed as for our sins against God But our child that is snatched away by death was young and might have lived not only to have been a great comfort to us and the staff of our old age but very instrumental to Gods glory First we must not take upon us to be wiser than God or to teach him as when to give us children so how long to continue them unto us It 's his Royal Prerogative that He may do with his own what he pleaseth They are not so much our children as Gods Ezek. 16. 21. He doth but put them forth to us to nurse and may send for them home when he pleaseth We who are parents would not take it well if having set forth a child to nurse when we send for it home the nurse should refuse to part with it and grow into impatiency when we take it away Neither can God take it well at our hands Secondly Was your child young when he died Yet remember that it was Gods mercy to spare him so long For life is not long enough to deserve the title of time Eccles. 3. 2. There is a time to be born and a time to die He doth not say There is a time to be born and a time to live Death borders upon our births and as one saith Our Cradles stand in our graves Multos ostendunt terris bona fata nec ultra Esse sinunt finisque ab origine pendet God deals with some as a skilful Limner doth with his Master-piece brings it and sets it forth to be gazed at and admired by the multitude and after a while draws a curtain over it and carrieth it back into his house again so God sends some whom he endows with admirable parts to be looked upon and wondred at by the world and then draws the sable curtain of Death over them and takes them into his own habitation in heaven Indeed the longest liver hath but a short cut from the grave of the womb to the womb of the grave Orimur morimur we are born we die And considering the frailty of our lives it 's no marvel that we die so soon it 's rather a marvel that we escaped so long For Mors ubique nos expectat Death waits for us at every turn In the fields in the streets in our houses in our beds c. Mille modis morimur we come but one way into the world but we may go out a thoufand wayes Thirdly Did your child die young yet if he was ripe for heaven he lived till he was old enough Hierom saith of a godly young man that in brevi vitae spatio tempora virtutum multa replevit He lived long in a little time And indeed some live more in a moneth or two then others do in many years A good man saith reverend Doctor Preston prolongs his dayes though he dies young because he is ripe before he is taken from the tree He even falls into the hands of God that gathers him They that die soon in Gods fear and favour though as grapes they be gathered before they be ripe and as lambs slain before they be grown up yet besides the happinesse of heaven they have this advantage that they be freed from the violence of the wine-press that others fall into and escape many rough storms that others meet with Fourthly Did God take away your dear relation whilst he was young What then Hath God anywhere promised that all shall live till they be old Is not mortality the stage of mutability Doth not experience shew us that man is but the dream of a dream but an empty vanity but the curious picture of nothing but a poor feeble dying flash In Golgotha there are skulls of all sizes Bernard tells us Senibus mors in januis adolescentibus in insidiis Death stands at old mens doors and it lies in wait to surprize young men also It 's like lightning that blasts the green corn as well as the dry like the thunder-bolt that dasheth in pieces new and strong buildings as well as old Do you not know that as for our lands so for our lives we are but Gods tenants at will Mans life is his day and we see by experience that dayes are not all of a length but some longer some shorter Death is the Lady and Empress of all the World and from her sentence the youngest cannot appeal As the Rivers haste to the Sea and the Stars to the West so man hastens to the grave It's Domus Conventionis the House of Parliament where all estates and ages meet together Hence it is that we are exhorted to gather Manna in the morning of our lives To remember our Creator in the dayes of our youth Eccles. 12. 1. To present our first-fruits to God whose soul desires the first ripe fruits Micah 7. 1. and who will remember the kindnesse of our youth the love of our esponsals Jer. 2. 2. He would be served with the Primrose of our years and therefore he made choice of the Almond-tree Jer. 1. 11. because it blossometh first of all others and truly we have reason to obey his precepts and answer his expectation if we rightly consider the brevity of our lives Must we keep a mean in our mourning for our deceased friends This then may exhort and perswade parents to be careful in training up their children in the faith and fear of God in bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Ephes. 6. 4. and to labour to promote and see the work of grace in their souls that so if they die before them as oft-times they do they may have hope in their death and so not sorrow as do others that have no hope Probably this much aggravated David's sorrow for Absalon that he had cockered and not corrected him in his childhood and he now saw him taken away in his sinne and rebellion whereby he could have no hope of the Salvation of his soul So should all other relations do endeavouring to be heirs together of the grace of life that so when death makes a divorce betwixt them they may leave a well-grounded hope to their friends of their blessed estate and condition which cannot but much moderate their mourning for them It reproves and justly blames such as upon the loss of their godly friends give too much way to Satans tentations and their own corruptions whereby they become immoderate and excessive in their sorrow to the dishonour of God the disgrace of their profession the dis-fitting themselves both for the service of God and man in the duties of their general and particular Callings to the prejudice of the health of their bodies for
worldly sorrow causeth sicknesse and death 2 Cor. 7. 10. and to the opening of the mouths of the wicked who scorn them and Religion for it saying These are your Professours that make Idols of their children and friends and mourn for the losse of them as if they had lost their God They are like Rachel that wept and lamented for her children and would not be comforted because they were not Such forget the exhortation which speaks to them as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when then art rebuked of him Heb. 12. 5. Prov. 3. 11. Indeed we are sometimes in danger of setting light by Gods corrections saying with those sturdy persons It is my burthen and I must bear it Jerem. 10. 19. But more frequently we are impatient either outwardly fretting at the rod like those plunging horses which will not indure their Rider or inwardly repining like those horses which digest their choler by biting their bridles And if we neither despise nor impatiently murmur against the dispensation of God yet our weaknesse is such that we are ready to take the affliction too much to heart so that our spirits droop and faint and this is so much the worse because it 's commonly accompanied with a wilful indisposition which will not suffer us to entertain such things whereby we might be truly comforted and the hearts of such many times like Nabals die within them that they are not capable of counsel so that all consolatory exhortations are to them like water spilt upon the ground whereas we should take our correction and humble our selves under the smart of it but withall we should look to Christ and beg of him that he would not suffer our Faith Hope and Meeknesse of mind to be overturned Again consider that it 's not love to them when we are perswaded that they are with the Lord which makes us excessively grieve when they are taken from us It is indeed self-love and carnal affection Our Lord Christ told his Disciples If ye loved me you would be glad because I go to the Father And what measure then do we offer to God herein We can many times send our children far from us where it may be we shall never see them again if we are but well perswaded that it will be for their good and preferment and yet we cannot indure to have them taken out of our sight by the Lord though we are perswaded that their souls are with him in the highest glory We ought to labour for such tractable and obedient hearts as may not be content perforce to let him take them but may willingly resign even our children if it were by sacrificing them with our own hands as Abraham to him who hath not thought his onely begotten Son too dear for us but hath delivered Him to death for our sakes Once more remember that it 's a sign that we felt not Gods love in them nor received them at his hand as we ought to have done if we do not thankfully give them back to him when he calls for them Hannah having received Samuel as a gift gotten by prayer from God did readily part with him to God again and she lost nothing by that loan which she so cheerfully lent to the Lord as you may see 1 Sam. 2. 20 21. and so dealt Abraham with his onely Sonne Isaac whom by faith in the promise he had obtained of the Lord Hebr. 11. 17. This is true indeed but yet Parent-like affections cannot easily part with and yield up children so dearly beloved But take heed lest whilst you plead love to your children or friends you do not bewray and discover unkindnesse unto God Dare any of you say Lord if I did not so love them I could be content to give them to thee Surely if with a calm spirit you think of this you would blush for shame that your heart should be so cold towards God as not to be willing to part with any thing you love when he calls for it To part with that which you much care not for is not at all thanks-worthy It 's said of Abraham that when God commanded him to sacrifice his own and only son that he arose early in the morning Gen. 22. 3. to do it he consulted not with flesh and blood nor with carnal reason nor with fond affections but as David said He made hast and delayed not to keep Gods commandments How should this shame our backwardnesse and our many reluctancies against the will of God when he hath declared it in taking away a dear child or relation from us How much better were it for us to do as David did that man after Gods own heart who when he heard that his child was dead arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and went into the house of the Lord and worshipped and then came into his own house and called for bread and did eat 2 Sam. 12. 20. Again the consideration hereof may minister singular consolation First To every godly person when he lies upon his sick bed and sees death approaching and his friends standing about his bed weeping and wringing their hands and that upon a twofold ground First Because himself hath hope in his death Prov. 14. 32. Death is to him as the valley of Achor It 's a door of hope to give entrance into Paradise and to translate him into a state of blessednesse whereas to the wicked it 's a trap-door through which they fall into hell It 's an excellent saying Improbi dum spirant sperant Justus etiam cum expirat sperat wicked men hope whilst they live but a godly man when he breaths forth his last hath hope He is like unto that dying Swan of which Aelian tells us that sang most sweetly and melodiously at her death though in her life-time she had no such pleasant note There is some truth in that saying of the Heathen Optimum est non nasci proximum quam celerrime mori For wicked men it had been best for them never to have been born or being born to die quickly seeing that by living long they heap up sin and thereby treasure up wrath against the day of wrath but as for good men the day of death is best to them because here to live is but to lie a dying and eternal life which they are now taking possession of is the onely true life as saith Saint Austine Secondly because as they have hope themselves in their death so they leave a good hope to their friends to quiet their hearts in their losse Oh what a cutting grief is it to a godly heart to see a child or kinsman or other dear relation taken away and cut off in the midst of his sins so that he can have no hope of his blessed estate in another life But on the contrary if self-love be not too prevalent with us we cannot
and affable nature and loving and courteous disposition Of his indefatigable diligence in his imployments and shunning yea hating of idlenesse I shall only adde one word more of his ingeniousnesse in and the usefulnesse of his recreations which were divers one while he exercised himself in the Art of Dialling another while he applied himself to Musick But I shall say no more of these because he attained not to any perfection in them that which he followed with most diligence and delight was the Art of Drawing Painting and Limning whereof he hath left many very good Pieces for so young a Practitioner and had he lived longer probably he would have attained to a great perfection therein He had also a Poëtical Vein whereof I shall give you a taste by and by His meditation upon the History of Christs Transfiguration Matth. 17. 1 c. Jesus Christ is so willing that we should have communion with him in this life that he takes us up into his most secret retirements Prayer is a divine ascention and whosoever would pray spiritually must have an holy elevation of spirit to meet God in that duty High Turrets of faith and mountains of graces are the real helps in prayer In prayer we are sure to enjoy Gods presence It 's a sure way to see God face to face and if I may so say in his natural complexion we may meet with God as Moses did in the Mount Sinai of Prayer It was in the Mount praying when the fashion of Christs countenance was altered It is in the mountain of prayer that Christs purity appeareth more and more to a believer Never more whitenesse do believers see in Christ then in their prayers to him In this life the Saints have a taste of the glistering and whitenesse of his out-side But in the life to come it is that they have immediate fruition of himself In this life we only see a sudden transfiguration to stay our stomacks as I may say till hereafter at what time we shall see him as he is and if this transfiguration appears white He began to write a Book in Verse which he calls Spuma Musarum which he purposed to dedicate to his Father and Mother I shall only give you an account of the first Verses in it that by them you may judge of the rest Rete venatur ventos To hunt the winds with a net Thou that do'st strive the windes with net to catch Unfruitful labours to thy self do'st hatch What! catch the wind If caught thou 'lt not enjoy Thy dear times worth to purchase such a toy And when y' have done look in your net you 'l find All that remains is folly yea and wind Many littles make a mickle 'T is Unity brings strength if then you 'ld have Strong Noble Vertues Vices to outbrave Unite your weak-limb'd forces and you 'l see Many a little will a mickle be T. B. FINIS Upon the death of that pious young Gentleman Mr. Thomas Bewlije Thomas Beulije Anagram O beati humiles If either Fate or Fortune had Made such a breach among us I should have call'd them blind or mad Or envious thus to wrong us I should have in my showers of tears exprest A weeping eye with furious anger drest That when in all the garden did But one choice flower appear It should be thus nipt in the bud Who can with patience bear But most in that in this one flower alone The sole hope of the Root is overthrown But stay it was a better hand More sacred and more wise Then Fate or Fortune can command Those Heathen-Deities The root 's not dead the flower is but transplanted With added beauty which before it wanted And happy they who humbly can submit To Him whose Wisdom hath transplanted it Thomas Beulye Anagram Thy Love-beams THY LOVE-BEAMS Lord so strongly shone on me That I impatient was of more delayes But needs must leave the Earth to go and see The sacred Fountain of those glorious rayes Thomas Beulie Anagram The Smile above * * The posie of the Ring given at the Funeral Set your affections on things above Not things of sence It was THE SMILE ABOVE loadstone of love That drew me hence Ad Parentes Thomas Beaulie Anagram Leave me as I both LEAVE ME AS I BOTH you 't is for our gain When you know how I do you 'l not complain Thomas Bewlie Anagram I 'me well as both I 'ME WEL AS BOTH you can be nay I am Better because triumphing with the Lamb Yet I 'me not gone for ever our parting is Till Death unlock for you this door of bliss J. C. A. M. On the Death of that Ingenious industrious and pious young Gentleman Mr. Thomas Bewlie Junior OH death of terrors King could nothing move Thee to suspend this stroak no not the love Nor cries of Parents Tutor Friends and all That knew his worth and now bemoan his fall Nor 's age but eighteen years nor that estate To which this onely Sonne was destinate Not's active soul and hand nor 's nimble head Nor 's skill in Common-Law could thee out-plead Nor 's tongues nor 's Logick nor 's Philosophy Nor 's drawing Limning nor his Poetry Not disposition sweet nor 's gracious heart Not's love to God! nor that he did impart To Saints not's pity great to poor and such As age and chance with want afflicted much No! Servant like thou but to passe didst bring The Counsel wise of God his Soveraign King Who at this time and thus hath cropt this Rose With 's hand of love and giv'n't a safe repose In heaven above where he doth clearly see What in his Mountain thoughts he spied to be Then cease you Parents Tutor Friends to waile He is with God your grief cannot avail Another VIew underneath this stone a fancy choice Invention good a Sed'lous hand to poise The greatest things a mind made wise by grace And Tongues with Arts not Scantlingly t' embrace His Parents joy now grief his kindreds losse O' th' Bewlies Phoenix here remains the drosse On the Death of his dear Friend and cousen Mr. Thomas Bewley Junior Gent. ARt fled dear Soul and is thy purer breath Become a Victime ah too rich for death Could not the Riv'lets from thy Parents eyes Prevail for once to drown the destinies Or 's death so envious that th' art onely shown Cropt like a bud before thou wer 't well blown Envious indeed in that he doth deny Us the enjoyment of thy company Which joyn'd with goodnesse and a candid mind Must few Aequators no Ascendent find But here methinks injustice taints my will In that while worth'less I would take my fill In Traffique sure Divine of which each part Throughout thy Soul might make a sev'ral Mart. I envy thee that perfect happy shore To which on earth 't was thy desire to soaere Injust perhaps it seems yet let me say That though I could have wish'd a longer stay So great 's thy gain in thy friends greatest losse That wee 'l conjoyn the harp unto the crosse To thee thy parents greatest love did run A fit Meridian for affections Sun And nature will have vent perhaps immerse Their eyes in tears attending on thy Herse Yet should but an Impartial Judge stand by He 'd think your tears from passions contrary Proceeded that that seeming dismal sound Did not through sorrow but through joy abound That 's love indeed if Parents don't complain At their own losse if 't be their childrens gain 'Twixt Joy and Sorrow T. E. Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Dr Tuck Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Quest Answ Object Ans. Quest Answ Quest Answ Dr. Sâ—ought Dr. Tuckney Rev. 21. 2â— Rev. 22. 20. Dr. Hall Dr. Reynold Mr. Trapp Quest Answ Object Answ Gen. 37. 35. Object Answ Vse 1 Pet. â— 7. Vse Joh 14. 28. Mr. Baines Object Answ Psa. 119. 60. Vse Gen. 31. 53. Mr. Pat. Drummond
them But wherein consists the happinesse of our friends who are departed in the Lord I shall shew this in two particulars First in the evils that they are freed from by death Secondly In the good things that they are put into the present possession of so that their happinesse is both privative and positive What are the evils that they are freed from by death They may be reduced to these seven heads First They are freed from worldly cares businesses and troubles For its Gods institution since the fall that every one shall live either by the sweat of his brain or by the sweat of his brow And Eliphaz tells us that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward Job 5. 7. and the Apostle tells us that he that careth not for his own and especially for those of his own house he hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel 1 Tim. 5. 8. So then whilst we live here we cannot be free from multiplicity of cares businesses and troubles The world is like a tempestuous Sea where troubles succeed one another as one wave follows another Dolor voluptas Invicem cedunt brevior voluptas Joy and sorrow as one wittily saith make chequered work in our lives Sorrow bedews our cheeks with tears and joy wipes them off again Our condition in this life is not unlike to that of the Israelites in the wildernesse where they met with many troubles dangers and occasions of sorrow Are we hurt then if by a tempest of sicknesse we are driven out of the Sea of this world into the safe harbour of the grave the onely place where the weary are at rest Job 3. 17. where they enter into peace and rest in their beds Isa. 57. 2. For which cause amongst others they are pronounced blessed by God himself Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their labours Indeed the messenger of death is to most men and women very terrible but to a dying believer then acting faith it s nothing so but it s entertained by him as a welcome messenger sent from the Father to a child at nurse to bring it home where it shall be better provided for whilst it transmits him from all his cares and sorrowes into that place and state of blisse where all tears shall be wiped from his eyes and he shall never sorrow more Revel. 21. 4. Secondly they are freed from the company and society of the wicked which whilst they lived was a cause of much sorrow to them and that First because of their sins which were a continual grief to their godly hearts Hence David professeth that Rivers of waters ran down his eyes because men kept not Gods Law Psal 119. 136. and the Apostle Peter tells us that just Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For saith he that righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds 2 Pet. 2. 7 8 Gods children are so tender of their Fathers honour that they cannot see or hear his Name blasphemed his truths adulterated his Sabbaths profaned his Ministers and Ordinances despised c. but it goes like so many daggers to their hearts neither can they be free from such occasions of sorrow whilest they continue in this wicked world death only removes such objects of grief from them Secondly Because of the wrongs injuries and persecutions which they meet with from them These Goats will be pushing at Christs Sheep sometimes wounding them in their good names sometimes wronging them in their estates and othersometimes raising greater persecutions against them For the Apostle tells us that this is the portion of all Gods children in this life All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. and our Saviour Christ tells his Disciples that the time should come that whosoever killed them should think that he did God service Joh. 16. 2. Thus Cain persecuted Abel Ismael Isaac yea which of the Prophets or Apostles did not the wicked of their times persecute This made David to cry out Wo is me that I fojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace Psal. 120. 5 6. But now in the grave the wicked cease from troubling There the prisoners rest together and hear not the voice of the oppressour Job 3. 17 18. Thirdly Death frees them from evils to come God herein dealing as Parents use who have children forth at nurse or at school when troubles or dangerous diseases come into those places where their children are they send for them home that they may be in safety So God many times takes his children out of this world that he may secure them from imminent dangers Or as when our houses are in danger of firing we remove our treasure and jewels in the first place into places of more security So where God wrath s like fire is breaking in upon a place he removes his children to heaven as to a place of greater safety It s the fathers love and care saith one then hastily to snatch away his child when the wilde Bull is now broken loose and running upon him The wise Husband-man hastens to get in his corn before the storm cometh or the swine be turned out into the field to root up all This is that which the Lord by the Prophet Isaiah long since assured us of 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 As it was a sign that Sampson meant to pull down the house upon the heads of the Philistines when he pulled down the Pillars that bare up the roof So its a shrewd sign that God intends to ruine a State when he takes away those that were the Pillars and props of it When Methusala died the flood came upon the old world when Josias was gathered to his Fathers the Babylonish captivity hastened When S. Augustine died Hippo was taken and sackt by the Vandals and Heidleburg by the Spaniards shortly after the death of Pareus Fourthly Death frees them from all sicknesses Diseases pains and all other bodily distempers It cures the blind eyes the deaf ears the dumb tongue the lame legs the maimed hands c. It easeth the tormenting stone the painful gout the aking head the intolerable twisting of the guts the loathsome strangury c. Death to the godly is the best Physician it cures them not of one disease but of all and of all at once and of all for ever yea it cures them of death it self Fifthly it frees them from the fiery darts and temptations of Satan from which they cannot be free whilst they live here For the whole world is the Devils Diocesse He goes to and fro in the
beheld wherein was a confluence of all earthly felicities was but a type and shadow of it Heaven is a large place In my fathers house saith our Saviour there are many mansions Joh. 14. 2. It s a golden City having the glory of God in it and her light like to a stone most precious even like a Jasper stone clear as Chrystal and the wall of it is of Jasper and the City is pure gold clear as glasse the foundations of the wall are garnished with all manner of precious stones and the City hath no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof Rev. 21. 11 19 23. It 's a City whose builder and maker is God Heb. 1. 10. and therefore having such an Architect it must needs infinitely transcend the stateliest Fabricks that were ever made by man It hath been neer these six thousand years in preparing Matt. 25. 34. and Christ ever since his ascension hath been further preparing of it for us Joh. 14. 2. I go saith he to prepare a place for you Let us say therefore as Fulgentius did when he saw the Roman Nobility mounted in their pride and bravery Si talis sit Roma terrestris qualis est Roma coelestis If Rome be such a glorious and glittering place what is Heaven How should these considerations make us to grow weary of the world and groan and breath after heaven where are riches without rust pleasure without pain joy without sorrow youth without decay Ubi totum sit quod velis nihil sit quod nolis where is all that the heart of man can wish and his mind desire where is nothing more that can be desired nothing more than can be desired If an Heathen could say Fugiendum est ad clarissimam patriam ibi pater ibi omnia How much more should a Christian say Let us flee apace to our own Countrey that is above sith there is our Father yea there is all that heart can wish or need require Thirdly a third priviledge wherewith all the Saints departed are invested is that they have immediate fellowship with the blessed Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12. 22 23. In heaven they enjoy Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Patriarchs and all the Prophets and Apostles and the noble army of Martyrs their godly friends and relations which went before them and all other the true members of Jesus Christ of what Tongue or Nation or Kindred soever they have been One of the greatest happinesses which the godly enjoy in this world is the Communion of Saints The Prophet David professeth that all his delight was in the Saints and in those that were most excellent Psal. 16. 3 and though he was a King yet made he himself a companion of all them that feared God and of them that kept his Precepts Psal. 119. 63. He would have such and none but such by his good will about him Mine eyes saith he shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me He that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me Psal. 101. 6. And yet by woful experience we see how many bones of contention the Devil casts in amongst them to sowr their society and what breaches many times are occasioned by small and trifling matters But in heaven they are all of one mind which makes their society the more comfortable When Grinaeus lay on his death bed he told some friends that came to visit him that he was going to that place Ubi Luthero cum Zuinglio optime convenit where Luther and Zuinglius who because they differed in judgment about the manner of Christs presence in the Sacrament could never agree on earth agreed excellent well In heaven if there be degreesof glory as probably there are yet shall not those who have their choicest graces crowned with the greatest weight of glory despise or over-look the meanest Saint but they are perfectly knit together in the bonds of dearest love Fourthly Another priviledge which our Christian friends departed enjoy in heaven is that they are neerlier united to their Head Christ than possibly they could be in this world It 's true that even whilst they live here they are the members of Christ For the holy Apostle tells us that as we have many members in one body so we being many are one body in Christ Rom. 12. 4. 5. yet are we now at a great distance from him Our head is in heaven and we upon the earth and therefore Saint Paul tells us that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6. and this makes us sigh and groan not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life vers. 4. And this made the Church to pray so pathetically Cant. 8. 14. Make hast my beloved and be thou like to a Roe or to a young Hart upon the mountains of Spices And Paul himself considering his distance from his Head cties out Dis cupio solvi tecumque O Christe manere Phil. 1. 23. I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by much far the better And no marvel though the members do so long to be conjoyned with their Head in heaven For there as one saith excellently the Lord Jesus Christ perpetually and without intermission manifesteth the most glorious and visible signes of his presence and seals of his love He there pours forth all the plenteous demonstrations of his goodnesse to his members and gives them eyes to see it and minds to conceive it and so fills them with exceeding fulnesse of love to him again so that they even swim in pleasure and are overwhelmed with joy A joy too big to enter into them and therefore they are said to enter into it Matth. 25. 21. A glory fitter to be believed than possibly to be discoursed An exceeding excessive eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. Such a weight that if the body were not upheld by the mighty power of God it were impossible but that it should faint under it Oh therefore let there be continual ascensions in our hearts thitherward Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to our head in heaven Praying with the Church Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly and then ere long he will send his chariots for us as Joseph did for his Father and will fetch us riding upon the clouds and convoy us by his Angels through the air and put us into that general assembly of happy and blessed souls and though death like Peters good Angel smite thee on thy side yet it is only that it may lead thee out of thy prison through the Iron gates into the City of God Fifthly the next priviledge which the Saints enjoy in death is the beatifical