Recreation but this is no fault of mine 't is doubt they will want time for other things also but those that will not give themselves the trouble 't is doubt will ere long meet with trouble of another nature Others may think the Book useless because many have treated upon this Subject To these I answer The more shame they are practised no better It was indeed Solons complaint That there were many good Laws made but one was wanting to put all the rest in execution So many good Rules for Life and Death are published but could a Book be published to perswade men to live by these Rules it would be a happy work I am not so vain or simple to think this may prove such a piece yet I know not what better Subject to treat of that is more likely to prevail than a Treatise of Death to perswade men to practise the Rules of Life for those that put far from them the evil day are most like to neglect their daily Duty and what hitherto is written seems too little to effect the work and therefore I have added my Testimony to the rest I know 't is easie for Momus to quarrel and find fault with another mans Tale when perhaps he may tell it worse himself 't is easier to find fault with another than to be free from faults himself Those that have done better or will do better I shall give them their due respect for others I shall not value their censure what I have done hath pleased my self and the work was undertaken for my self and I hope I shall not displease any sober or discreet person but for those that God his Word his Works or his Providences cannot please I neither hope nor desire to please what I have done is intended for a Cordial for those that have Death in their eyes and the Fear of God in their hearts and these usually have better Stomachs than to nauseate their meat because not modishly drest those I mean that have Gods beauty-spots not the Worlds upon them I mean Grace in the heart not Spots on the face to adorn them and make them lovely in the eyes of God and good men 't is these I speak to As for those that take the World for their Portion and therefore are loth to leave it I shall not envy them but pity them their Portion is little worth for Nobleness of Blood Greatness of Birth Crowns and Kingdoms shine not so bright as the Image of God in poor Lazarus at the Gate or Job upon the Dunghil for Grace is better than a thousand Escutcheons for these are but empty badges of Honour I have only two sorts of persons here to speak to The first are poor Desponding Christians that though they have right to and Interest in Christ and Glory yet are under some black and direful apprehensions of Death and though they would willingly live to God and if required dye for God yet are not out of fear of Death To these I have spoke unto most in the Book and and therefore shall say little to them in the Epistle The other sort are such that though they would dye the Death of the Righteous and have the righteous mans reward yet are they loth to live their-lives they would have the wages but none of the work they would dye happily but will not live holily they would land in Heaven but they sail the contrary way they will not go into the Vineyard and yet expect their penny at night such as these haply are afraid of Death and well they may for it will speak no good to them but evil as Ahab said of Micaiah Now I have said but a little to those in the Book for it was not my business and therefore I shall speak the more to them in the Epistle not that I have any comfort for them in this Condition but only this that there is a possibility to get out and therefore would willingly lend them my hand to help them â—ut and therefore I shall reach out some Directions which if they take they will â—e capable of the comfort the Book it self holds forth and the Directions are these that follow 1. Direction If you would look Death in the Face with comfort get your Corruptions mortified and the power of sin abated for til then Death will be an Enemy there is nothing that makes Death terrible but unpardoned unmortified sin an honest man can look the Judge in the face without fear when the Malefactor trembles Paul could triumphantly insult over it 1 Cor. 15.54 55 56 57. Oh Death where is thy sting Oh Grave where is thy Victory the sting of Death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ You see sin is the sting of Death and what hurt can the Serpent do that hath no Sting what a bold challenge was this to Death as if Paul had said Death do thy worst I fear thee not In like manner Ambrose could say I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to dye and Ann Askew the Martyr in her Confession 〈◊〉 neither wish for Death neither do I fear it As Christ hath not taken away sin it self but the guilt of it so hath he not takeâ— away Death it self the consequent of sin but the sting of it so that every godly maâ— may say with the Martyr Kill me it may hurt me it cannot the worst it can do is bâ—â— to send me to my Fathers house the sooner but to others the Serpent is dangerous and his sting deadly for if sin dye not the Soul cannot live 't is true some there be that seem to brave Death to his Face but this shews an ignorant mind and a seared Conscience and an hard heart for 't is impossible if the Conscience be awake that a man should look into Hell yea leap into it without horror Death to such if their eyes be open will be terrible yea of all Terribles the most terrible saith a Heathen yea the King of Terrors saith Bildad Job 18.14 yea and as experience tells us the Terror of Kings Nothing can make Death look terrible but unpardoned sin till therefore this Pardon be obtained your condition is damnable till you have assurance of it it will be uncomfortable Now Faith and Repentance have the Promise of Pardon and Eternal Life and the want of this will make you liable to Eternal Death Luk. 16.16 He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be Damned He that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find Mercy Leave off therefore lusting after Riches Honours and Pleasures and spend your time in minding your main Interest fight against sin which is your greatest Enemy for if sin dye not before you your Souls must dye 't is not enough to quarrel sâ—â— but you must kill it 't is not enough to coâ—fess it but you
ready and what hopes is there of thee if God spare thee another year that thou wilt bring forth better fruit is old age the best and fittest for repentance and preparation to dye when thou wilt find enough to do to wrastle with pains and bodily distempers would a Captain take it for a sufficient excuse if a Souldier that is by ingagement to be ready at an hours warning and should give him a week a month a years time to make ready and at the end of that time he should plead his Arms are not fixed nor other necessaries provided and if the Captain give him another year and at the end thereof he should plead the same excuse would this be taken for a good excuse yet this excuse hath been in thy mouth many years together and 't is doubt if God yet lengthen thy daies and give thee more years it will be the same Hath not death entred into thy habitation hath it not taken away thy parents thy loving wife thy dear children and other of thy near relations and didst not yet lay it to heart wa st thou no wiser than fatted beasts that are taken away one after another to the Shambles and those that remain are senseless of the danger neither consider their turn is coming yea hath not death thrown many a dart at thee and sometimes wounded thee in the head sometimes in thy bowels and yet dost not consider that he hath a dart will reach thy heart Yea sometimes thou hast thought thou hast had thy deaths wound and yet wilt take no warning to get on thy Armour doth not the pains the aches the distempers of thy body under which thou daily groanest bid thee prepare for thy winding-sheet doth not news ring dayly in thy ear this and that friend relation or neighbour is dead and ere long others will say of thee he is dead also hast thou not interred many a dead corpse and preacht may a Funeral Sermon and given many an exhortation to the living to prepare for death and comforted many that have lost their friends by death and wast never yet satisfied that thou wast mortal and must dye also didst thou think thy self only exempted from the common lot of all men or that God would bring thee to Heaven another way or couldst thou wish thou wert immortal and shouldst live on earth to Eternity art thou willing to take the Earth for Heaven and the creature for God and the happiness thou meetst with here for Heavens glory hast enough to satisfy thee here below and desirest no more if not why wouldst not dye and come to happiness if the earth be more desireable to thee one year why not twenty and why not to eternity if God should bid thee choose thy time and appoint it thy self what time wouldst thou require haply Methusalems daies well but these would expire and death at the end would be as bitter as now it is If death were the road to Hell as 't is to the wicked thou mightest well startle at it And I have wondred at those of them that have been so prodigal of their lives when Life is the only preservative out of Hell Or if thy case were that of the beasts and thou were to be reduced unto the horrid estate of nothing death might make thee shrug but when thou believest that death to thee will be an entrance into glory an outlet to misery and an inlet to happiness and the same road that Christ and all the glorified Saints have gone to Heaven in how can this be reconciled with thy fears Hast thou had so many discourses of death and with death and dost believe that the sting is taken out by Christ and dost yet run from this Serpent and take him for an enemy that is but thy Fathers Messenger sent for thy good This must needs be thy sin and thy folly and doth too evidently bespeak thy Infidelity or the weakness of thy Faith Thou hast comforted others at the last gasp and prayed with them and for them thou hast strengthened the weak hands and feeble knees and now dost faint under the same burden But hadst thou had more mortifying Meditations of death and with the Apostle hadst learned to dye daily death would not have been so terrible a Bugbear to thee as now it seems didst thou once a day look him in the face by a serious meditation and by a believing expectation he would not look so grim and terrible Bears and Tigers are not so terrible to those that are their keepers and acquainted with them as to others The Lion in the Fable was at first sight a terror to the Fox but time much allayed his fear the more thou beholdest death the less deformed yea the more lovely he doth appear death will be no excepter of persons the rich and poor high and low whether they will or no must dance in this Ring when God commands he must and will strike death is written upon thy cradle and thou wast rockt upon the mouth of the grave and ever since no day hath been sure to thee but it might have been thy dying day 't is not long since thou didst bewail the death of thy Parents and 't is not long before thy children will bewail thine one generation comes and another goes and the latter treads out the steps of the former we trod out the steps of our predecessors and our posterity will do as much for us The world is but a Tent to abide in for a time an Inne to tarry in a night a Lodging place for a wayfaring man a baiting-place in a Journey Oh the folly of most men that take it for their Inheritance and look for no more but to the Godly 't is no continuing city no abiding place neither indeed worthy our love Were the world as the garden of Eden full of delights and pleasures thou hadst something to say for it and yet the worm of time would eat out the very heart of it the shortness of the continuance would spoyl the sport Many doat on beauty but none but the blind will fall in love with deformity it self The world is a Bochim a place of Lamentation and who falls in love with sorrow 't is a Golgotha a place of dead mens skuls and who but mad men converse among the Tombs 'T is a pest-house an infected and an infecting place where most we converse with are infectious 't is a prison a place of hardship where the soul hath not liberty to act according to its nature 't is a place of Egyptian bondage and slavery where there is little but moiling toyling working caring from morning till night for a poor living wherein we are so chained to our Oars that we have scarce time to eat our meat and what madness is it over eagerly to desire such a life and to quarrel those that ease us of our burden and put an end to our labours Here thou livest under continual pains aches griefs
Hell that the Soul is Immortal and the Scripture the Word of God pardon the supposition for some deny the whole and most men live as if they did not believe it but whatever thy present thoughts be if thou art unregenerate thy future thoughts will shew thee thy folly and thou wilt have time enough to wish thou hadst neglected thy Ease Honour Pleasure Grandure yea thy life it self to have made thy peace with thy God and made preparation for Eternity for this preparation would have made thee dye never the sooner nor the neglect of it have made thy life the longer whether thou art prepared or no Death will make a very great change when Eternity is an addition to thy weal or woe If prepared Death cannot hurt thee for it hath lost his sting if not it cannot benefit thee for it terminates thy happiness and dates thy misery the godly shall never have no more Suffering because they have no more sin the wicked as they are never weary of sin so God will never be weary of punishing Haply thou maist live in great misery here and thinkest Death will set thee at liberty but if thou art in an unregenerate condition 't is but leaping out of the Frying-pan into the fire from Temporal Troubles to Eternal Torments which are ten thousand times worse and is it not then time to be serious and haply thou art young and strong and thinkest thou maist live many a fair day yet but what assurance hast when younger and stronger are gone before thee Job 21.23 c. In Job's days such as thee have dyed and so they do still One dyes saith he in his full strength being wholly in peace and quietness his Breasts are full of Milk and his bones are moistned with Marrow And another dyes in the bitteeness of his Soul and never eateth with pleasure Some dye in the Zenith or heighth of their perfection in the highest degree of worldly Prosperity having abundance of good blood and fresh spirits even compassed in their Fat Psal 17.10 as the Psalmist hath it for a full Belly many times makes a foul heart and most weeds grow in the fattest soil and experience teacheth that present health and strength are no assurance of a long life Amos 6.3 think not because thou puttest far from thee the evil day in thy thoughts that therefore 't is really at a great distance It follows not that because thou winkest and wilt not see Death therefore Death is blind and cannot see thee No No he is stealing upon thee at unawares tacito pede with a swift but silent foot and if he arrest thee before thou hast made thy peace with the Creditor Mat. 5.26 thou wilt be cast into Prison till thou hast paid the utmost Farthing Our time-wasting Gallants that spend their time idly or worse than in doing nothing will one day find the Bill of their accounts many fathoms longer than they imagined then they will set a greater estimate upon time than now they do and willingly would they redeem their lost hours which now they know not how to pass away at a high rate but it will not be now they set Death at defiance and meet it half way and hasten it by their Intemperance Drinking Whoring or shorten their lives in a Drunken Fray or Whores Quarrel but when Death comes in good earnest Dan. 5.5 it will seem as terrible as Belshazzers hand-writing upon the wall make their hearts to ake and their joints to tremble especially did they know the consequences of Death they would not be such prodigals of their lives or did they mind their work which they have to do they would not be such Prodigals of their time they should do it in and would think it went away fast enough without driving Oh! how a little time will alter these mens Judgments then their Feathers and Fancies will be laid aside when they stand upon Christs left hand and all their wealth will not purchase one drop of water to cool their tongues 'T is not then a Baalams wish will serve turn nor a Lord have Mercy upon me Mal. 7.22 25.11 will do their work Lord Lord open to us will not prevail those are not like to receive the reward of the Righteous that persecute them for righteousness sake Then they will befool themselves as fast as now they befool others wiser than themselves Then they shall change their minds and sigh for grief and say Wisd 5.3 c. This is he that we sometimes had in derision and in a Parable of Reproach we Fools thought his life Madness and his End without honour now he is reckoned among the Children of God and his Portion is among the Saints c. What hath Pride profited us or what hath Riches with our Vaunting brought us all these things are passed away like a Shadow and as a Post that passeth by c. Then our proudest Gallants willingly would be found in the garb or Fashion now they disdain and deride Now they call those Fools that deny themselves their Ease their Pleasure or Carnal Interest for Conscience sake but then they will befool themselves for choosing Pebbles before Pearls Earth before Heaven and the Creature before God for these things will prove but a pitiful Portion when there is most need Now they think Heaven is held at a dear rate and they will not come up to the price but then they 'l know that it was sold at a cheap rate when they parted with it for a lust and that the World was bought too dear when they gave the Soul for it Mat. 16.26 Now like Damocles they feast themselves without fear and see not the Sword that hangs over their heads ready every moment to pierce into their Brains and end their lives with their dinner Now they prize their honour more than their honesty and consider not that if the foundation of honour be not laid in Vertue the building cannot stand for those that lay the foundation in a shadow the building is but like a Castle built in the air and will soon fall about their Ears but that honour is lasting where God is the top of the Kin and Religion lyes at the bottom But to pass over this I shall give you some account of my present undertaking Some there are that think Books of this nature are unseasonable especially to our youthful Gallants because it spoils their Mirth and they have time enough to think of such things hereafter and they cannot endure to have their Enemy brought upon the Stage for this spoils the Play But to this I answer A young Sheep-skin is brought to the Market as soon as an old and I see not but the Gentry die as well as others yea many by Intemperance hasten their own death and when the Disease is common why should not the Remedy 'T is like enough these will not have time to read this from their necessary
we would but when our work is done and with our Master's leave We must not with our own hands pluck down these earthly Tabernacles neither deny our consent when God will pluck them down we are Tenants at will and must not think to have our Houses at our own dispose whether they shall down or not we came not into the world but at his appointment and must not go out without his leave I know a Godly man though he have some assurance of a better habitation is not so reconciled to death as to choose it for its own sake for Deaths looks are not lovely it being the King of terrors Job 18.19 and the terror of Kings and in it self formidable and hath daunted the courage of the stoutest Souldiers and triumphs over the most triumphant Conquerour and sometimes discomposeth the most composed Christian And therefore as on the one hand it should not be overmuch feared so on the other it should not be overmuch slighted Christ himself had some fearfull apprehensions of it and well he might knowing what he had to suffer the Sting was then in but by his death it was taken out in reference to Believers yet the Serpent is formidable but not poysonful it will strike still though it cannot sting and as 't is an Outlet to Life so 't is an Inlet to Eternity and who can enter into so vast a Gulph and so boundless an Ocean without amazement where he can find neither bank nor bottom 'T is impossible for men to put off Humanity neither doth Christianity teach us to be Stoicks yet it teacheth us to bound and moderate our passions and not overmuch to fear Death When we have a lawful call to it and when 't is our duty to dye when God sends let who will be the Messenger obey we must Lu. 12.5 Fear not them saith Christ that can kill the body and can do no more but fear him that can cast both Soul and Body into Hell yea I say unto you fear him All outward things must be undervalued for Life sake but Life it self must go for Gods sake if thou sell thy life for any worldly advantage thou wilt make a hard bargain For what good will the world do thee when thou art dead Luk. 12.20 Thou fool saith Christ this night will thy soul be required of thee and then whose are these Thou must part with any thing in the world to preserve it but if thou sell thy Soul to save thy life or part with Christ upon that account thou wilt make a bad bargain Mat. 16.26 for what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in Exchange for his soul This is not to prevent death but to Exchange one death for another temporal death for eternal 'T is not a choosing death thou art Press'd to but a submission to the will of God that is required at thy hands and of two evils the least is to be chosen if thou must either choose death or choose sin death is the more eligible for sin will expose thee to the second death and prove the everlasting separation of soul and body from God which is worse a thousand times than death If thou must lose thy life or thy soul let life go if thou must deny life or deny Christ Christ is better than thy life being the very life of thy soul and he that to avoid a little temporal pain incurs eternal torments makes a foolish bargain Now though there be no reason to love death yet is there great reason why thou shouldst love God better than life Psal 63.3 whose loving kindness is better than life though life be dear yet Christ is dearer The Cup of death may be bitter but Hell and Damnation and the eternal Wrath of God are much bitterer which if thou forsake Christ thou must drink up to the bottom which Eternity will be little enough to do God puts Sugar into the former none into the latter Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them But those that miscarry are sent away with a curse Mat. 25.41 Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels c. 'T is true after the Fall death was threatned as a Curse and a Judgment for sin but by the death of Christ the nature of it is changed to Believers Psal 116.15 and the malignity of it abated Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints the sting is taken out and we may put the Serpent into our bosom 't is now to the godly a Sleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth and so 't is said of Stephen he fell a sleep and the Grave is but Gods Cabinet to hide his Jewels where they are secured from the evil to come Isa 57.12 26.20 't is but a Chamber to hide them in till the indignation be past And though Deaths chambers be dark they are best to sleep in where thou shalt meet with no disturbance no noise without or terrour within thou shalt neither see nor hear nor feel nor fear evil death is but a sturdy Porter to open the door of thy Fathers house the gates of Heaven to thee to let thee in And though it may expose thee to some pain for the present 't is not much and 't is but momentary and not worthy the glory that shall be revealed for endless Joy presently succeeds it and pain will soon be forgotten If thou canst but stoop a little and croud in at this strait gate and narrow door thou wilt enter into that spacious City the New Jerusalem If thou canst not love death for its own sake yet entertain him for his Masters sake for it is the Embassadour of the great God and for his Message sake for he brings an Answer of peace To submit unto the will of God and to be obedient unto the death is not only thy Duty but thy Wisdom and Interest and to say with Christ Not my will but thine be done and with Samuel 1 Sam. 3.10 Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth If thou deny thy Life when God requires it Christ will deny thee entrance into those Heavenly Mansions and 't is a thousand times better lose thy life than lose his love think not yet that Heaven is had upon hard terms thou maist haply lose something for Christ but shalt never lose by him the way to save thy life is to hide it with God in Christ The hardest terms that Christ propounds are but reasonable 't is thy Interest to go to Heaven though it were even through the flames of Hell much more through the pangs of Death Paul easily concludes to dye for him was gain and to be with Christ was best of all he dyed daily and carried his life in his hand
the hands of the cruel into the hand of thy blood-thirsty Enemies but consider who 't is that appoints Death is it not the great God that gives life and is there any but he that can take it away can any act without him when they cannot breathe without him is it not he that kills and makes alive and brings to the Gates of Death and back again is it not he without whose Providence a Sparrow cannot fall to the ground by whom all the hairs of thy head are numbred As thy life is not put into thy own hands to live while thou listest and to dye when thou pleasest no more is it into thy enemies hands to take it away when their pleasure is but in the hand of thy mercifull Father who best knows when thy work is done and when thou art ripe for glory 'T is true he useth Instruments sometimes one and sometimes another but these instruments cannot go one link beyond their commission and these are of his own chooseing sometimes inanimate creatures must do his Will and prove his Executioners thus the waters must drown the old world thus the Red Sea must overwhelm proud Pharaoh and his Host thus the fire must burn up Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities adjacent thus the Earth must swallow up Corah Dathan and Abiram and their company sometimes bruit Beasts 2 King 2.24 thus the two she-Bears that killed forty two Children that mocked the Prophet 2 King 17.25 26. thus he destroyed those that feared him not with Lions yea sometimes very Insects are his Executioners thus he plagued Pharaoh and his people and many others Herod was devoured of Worms and many of Lice and the least of creatures if animated by him can stop the breath of the proudest Tyrant and the strongest and most potent Prince without him can do nothing The Devil himself cannot touch one of Jobs Cattel without his leave the fire cannot burn the three children nor the Lyons devour Daniel having no Commission from him A world of Arians could not destroy Athanasius nor a world of Papists Luther and Calvin God as he hath appointed all men to dye so he hath determined by what death the time when and the manner how and the instruments by whom and every circumstance belonging to it If he pleased he can make five of his people put a hundred to flight Lev. 26.8 and a hundred chase ten thousand Isa 69.1 his hand is not shortned that he cannot save neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear I know in our Creation we were by our composition made subject to death but by his blessing had we not sinn'd we had not dyed for sin brought death into the world but when the Fall came man had not only an aptitude to a dissolution but an irrevocable decree past upon him and dye he must and ever since nature of it self tends to ruine and our bodies like an old house must yield to time and fall in pieces God I know hath power in his hand to maintain life longer or take it away sooner and he acteth accordingly he sets one a longer Lease than another as he thinks fit The Fathers of the first ages lived long some of them near to a thousand years in our age few reach a hundred and there are but few that live so long as Nature might spin out their lives but either by some disease some accident some violence or other offered to Nature their lives are cut off Mans body being compounded of the four elements and of contrary qualities heat and cold drought and moisture except God by his special blessing keep these in peace they will strive for the predominancy and indanger the compositum When sin entred into the world Rom. 5.12 death entred by sin and so death passed over all for as much as all have sinned and Christ in the work of Redemption hath not freed us from the first but the second death not from the stroak but the sting of death Christ died not to deliver us from hunger and thirst cold and nakedness sickness and diseases but so far forth as is for our good and God himself and not we our selves must be Judge in the case Christ himself suffered these miseries and dyed by the hand of cruelty and greater than the Master is the Servant cannot be and man is as liable to this as before Christs suffering Nature thou seest disposeth thee to death and God hath determined the time when for God is the God of Nature and disposeth it as he sees good Well maist thou expect death as the wages of sin and every day doth expose thee to some danger or other which may take away thy life Death comes irresistible like an armed man thou hast no time certain no time promised no breath but what God puts into thee and therefore thou shouldest daily expect death let it come in what shape it will or let God send by what messenger he pleaseth thou shouldst bid him welcome thou shouldst stoop willingly under the stroke for 't is but death still thou canst not avoid it therefore make a vertue of necessity Seeing thy Lamp must out 't is not much whether it be put out or burn out whether the tree rot down or be cut down whether the Rose wither or be gathered if the later 't is like to be put into the bosom all is but death and a death thou owest and a death thou must pay thy natural constitution adapts thee to it and God by his decree designs thee to it and 't is thy duty to submit and no reason to the contrary for it is thy interest The potion thou art to drink is prescribed and mixt by the wise Physician the Cup thou art to drink comes out of thy Fathers hand and no more nay not so bitter as he gave his only Son and he drank up the very dregs of it for thy sake yea and there is Sugar put into thine to sweeten it All the circumstances of thy death are determined by him and none can add one dram to the potion he hath mixed for thee and yet dost thou grumble that it is too much or too bitter dost thou think thy self wise enough to alter Gods Eternal Decrees who hath determined thy daies the number of thy months are with him Job 14.5 he hath appointed thy bounds that thou canst not pass Or wilt thou quarrel the messenger he sends and like the foolish dog bite the stone and let the passenger that threw it go free is there evil in the city 〈◊〉 3.6 and the Lord hath not done it without his leave a dog cannot move his tongue against thee nor an enemy his finger whoever be the Instrument God is the Author Isa 10.5 if the King of Assyria be the rod God is he that holds the rod and when the Child is reformed the rod will be burnt David could see God even in Shimei's cursing 2 Sam. 16.10
Moses shall come and bring it into the Heavenly Canaan and though Death in it self be a Punishment yea a curse threatned upon the fall and remains so still to wicked men to whom it is an inlet into eternal misery yet to the godly the curse is taken away by the death of Christ who for us was made a Curse and dyed that cursed death upon the Cross to take away the Malignity of it who by his death disarmed Death and took away his weapons wherein he trusted yea took away his sting that now thou maist put the Serpent into thy bosom and now Death is so far from putting an end to Believers happiness that it puts an end to their sorrows and is the very Gate to eternal Life and at the very stroak of Death in that moment of time their Joyes commence and their sorrows end death to the Wicked is a Pursivant sent from Hell to fetch them thither to the Godly a Messenger sent from their Father to bring them home 't is to the body but a quiet sleep free from hurtful dreams or fearful Visions The Grave is but a Bed of Roses perfumed by the Body of Christ a resting Chamber a Repository where God lays up his Jewels wherein thy dust will be kept as in a Cabinet and not one grain of it shall be lost Rev. 20.13 but the Earth the Sea the Grave and Hell shall then give up their dead and then both Body and Soul shall be received into the City of Pearl where no dirty Dog shall trample upon the Pavement when that Death hath done his Office the Angels shall do theirs and carry the Soul into Abrahams bosom and lodge it for ever in the arms of Christ and at the Resurrection when the Soul and Body shall be reunited they shall both be glorified for ever and freed from all mutation and change and all things else that may be called Evil when Death hath broken the Cage the Bird will be at liberty and sing sweetly when the prison Walls are pull'd down the prisoner will be free and is this that which thou fearest how many thousand deaths would a miscarrying Soul endure for Heaven at last yea if Eternity were spent in the continual feeling the very pangs of Death it would be much easier for a damned Soul if it felt no more than now it is and art thou so nice that thou canst not endure it for one Hour for one moment upon the promise of Eternal life Death brings in the Harvest of thy hopes the fruit of thy Prayers the reward of thy pains and of all the losses and sufferings thou hast had for Christ God is now sending for thee to make thee a King and wilt thou now withdraw thy self like Saul and hide thy self as he did when they sought him to make him King here lyes the perfection and end of thy Faith and of thy Hope the Salvation of thy Soul for these Graces as well as others are imperfect here here is the only place where happiness is to be had the only soil where hearts-ease grows and yet must God needs whip thee home or thou wilt not matter it well if now thou refuse to come at his call when thou call'st he may give thee no answer and when thou knockest he may not open but sure some root of bitterness lyes at the bottom either thou dost not believe there is such a happiness or that it is not thine or hast placed thine affections elsewhere and canst not remove them and made some other choice which thou wilt not leave Didst thou stedfastly believe that there was a reward for the Righteous and that thou art one of those that shall receive it how can this be reconciled with thy fears would any wise man take a great deal of pains for an Inheritance and then lose it all for want of taking possession thou hast in thy life-time 't is very like suffered a hundred times as much pain as thou art like to do at thy death and shall this dismay thee more than all the rest the day of Death is not so gloomy as 't is thought to be Solomon when he was upon his Throne in the midst of his Jollity commends his Cosfin Better saith he is the day of Death than the day wherein a man is born Eccles 7.1 Many of the wiser Heathens were of the same mind they wept and mourned at the birth of their Children to consider the troubles they were like to meet with in this troublesome World when they feasted and rejoyced at the death of their friends because their troubles were over and their rest was come and surely Believers have better ground of rejoycing than they had a more sure foundation for Faith and Hope to build upon Oh Death how pleasant is thy face to those acquainted with thee thou art black but comely to those that know thee thou art indeed attended with a little pain but with endless bliss the one makes makes thee feared the other beloved Oh my Soul let us draw a little nearer and take a more exact view of Death and see what is the worst hurt he can do us the best good he will bring us and compare the one with the other and compute the odds and see whether we can make a savers bargain of it and if so how little cause of fear we have It may be thou thinkest thou must part with all thy carnal Joys and worldly delights thy sensual pleasures thy merry Company and bid farewell to all thy merry meetings and pleasant Jokes with all thy Recreations Pastimes and pleasant Sports and be Buried in silence and laid in the dust and must bid thy pleasures adieu and poor Soul is this thy trouble and the cause of thy fear hast thou not better in exchange for them are there not more and more lasting Joyes in the presence of God Psal 16.11 Rivers of pleasures without bank or bottom at the right hand of God for evermore unknown Pleasures unseen Delights which no eye hath seen nor ear hath heard of neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive of such as no stranger shall ever meddle with Pro. 5.14 and will not those make thee amends Let the Epicures of the Age that choose pleasures for their portion plead this argument let the Drunkard howl when the new Wine faileth Joel 1.5 or when the Cup is snatched from his mouth Alas thou hast met with little Joyes and those mixed and the greatest part Wormwood and Gall a litttle Honey and many Stings a little bitter-sweet pleasure that ends in pain yea short and transitory in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is Heaviness but what are those to the Joyes unspeakable and full of Glory that is in Heaven 'T is true there are some that are the Sons and Daughters of pleasure Psal 73.5 That are not in trouble as other men neither are
of France in Hungary Germany Savoy Piedmont England Scotland and especially of Ireland where two or three hundred thousand have perished in a sew weeks for since the fiery Jesuits became an Order having their Name rather from Judas than Jefus the Christian world hath been in a flame yea the poor Indians have tasted of their cruelty wherever they set their foot like Saul they make havock of the Church and many hundred thousands have been cut off by their bloody hands and all along thou maist trace the Church in blood and tears and dost thou think much to be one of those that shall cry Rev. 6.19 How long Lord holy and true before thou avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial 1 Pet. 4.12 as if some strange thing happened to thee for this is no temptation but what is common to man When such great Commanders and old Souldiers lead thee the way thou needest not be ashamed or afraid to follow them dost think to escape drowning in a common deluge The Apostle was sure of nothing but of bonds and imprisonment and was ready not only to be bound but to dye for Christ If thou go to suffering thou treadest not in an untrodden path for the Captain of thy salvation was made perfect by suffering A few daies and thou wilt be even with the greatest Kings and Emperours Job 21.23 For death is a perfect Leveller and if dye thou must as well as others dispute not the case with God what death it must be or who is fittest to determine it In one of these late years death slew an hundred thousand in our chief City and two or some say three hundred thousand more by the hand of cruelty in one Kingdom in Ireland and sometimes many thousands in one battel A death thou owest and a death thou must pay and whether in thy Bed or on a Tree or at the Stake if thy cause be good 't is not much matter whether thy life be ended by the course of nature or by violent hands whether thy lamp be burnt out or put out whether the Rose be gathered or withered if the latter even so Father for so it seemed good to thee Death is an enemy that cannot be resisted the only way to conquer it is to fall under it so Christ our chief Captain did we shall never conquer till we be overcome and never be victors till we are conquered and then both death and the fear of death and and he that hath the power of death the Devil shall be subdued for when he hath separated the soul from the body he hath done his worst and spit his venom and like a Ree that hath lost his sting can do no more mischief and then thy Conquest is fully obtained and the last enemy is subdued for then death and bell shall be cast into the lake of fiâ—e yea there shall be no more death thou shalt then be for ever freed from the dread and danger of it death pricks that ulcer that would never be cured while thou livest when Corn is ripe and cut 't is fit for use the conquest of death is made easie by the death of Christ that now Believers may triumphantly sing O death where is thy sting 1 Cor. 15.55 56. O grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ It cannot now sting thee but strike thee and the very wound it gives is the way to heal thee it seals up thy salvation to thee and makes it sure out of a possibility to lose it seals up wicked mens damnation and puts them into an irrecoverable condition Christ which was made a Curse for us hath taken away the curse of death and by hanging on a tree which was threatned as a curse Gal. 3.13 he hath sanctified that death also to Believers who suffer for him and for the testimony of a good conscience and their condition is also happy for they rest from their labours and their works follow them All Saints dye but all are not Martyrs all have crowns but not all the crown of Martyrdom but only those that love not their lives to the death all shall have white robes Rev. 7.11 c. but these shall have long white robes and palms in their hands and shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes If thou canst get the qualifications fit for a dying man thou needest not fear death nor the manner of it to such deaths black Vizor is taken off and there are few wrinkles seen in his forehead thy death is decreed and the manner of it and though thou knowest not what eventually will happen yet observe what is Gods will of command and so thou wilt know what is thy duty secret things belong to God but things revealed to us thou hast no promise to be freed from the Prison the Stake the Sword or the Halter and promise not thy self greater freedom than God hath promised he hath promised indeed all shall work together for thy good and this promise is sufficient for why shouldest thou desire freedom if it be not good for thee he hath promised that if thou art faithful to the death Rev. 2.10 thou shalt have a Crown of life that he will never leave thee nor forsake thee and that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against thee And these promises he will assuredly keep if thou break not with him There is no death which a malefactor may dye but it may be a Believers lot and then why not thine God hath accounted thee worthy to preach the Gospel and to dispense the Mystery thereof and if he account thee worthy also to suffer for him and to seal thy doctrine with thy blood it is a double honour yea such as the Apostles gloried in for to dye for the Truth if cal'd to it is both a Duty and a Dignity if thou suffer with him you will be glorified together Pass on therefore out of this Egypt out of this house of bondage couragiously though through the red Sea yea a sea of blood to this heavenly Canaan yea though thy way lye through a wilderness of troubles for thine Inheritance will make thee amends murmur not for thou shalt have no cause to repent there is enough in God to give thee content and to pay thee for thy pains if thou think there is not stir not a step further if there be never faint in the way never leave Heavens road for a piece of foul way or for the Cross that lyes in it go on towards Heaven yea though thy way lye by the gates of Hell nay thorow the very flames of it much more though it lye thorow the pangs of death haply thou maist be burnt for an Heretick this is no new thing hundreds of thousands
full of trouble Yet many wish their dayes were three times double The Captive Slaves that in the Gallies lye To end their Bondage yet are loth to dye They flee from death although he be their friend For when he stops their Breath their Sorrows end Life is a warfare Death doth stint the strife We leave not fighting till we leave our life We fight against our sins the world and Devils At death we fully Vanquish all those evils To heavenly Joyes Death opens us the door Where sin and sorrow they shall be no more There 's no Corruption shall molest us there There 's no Temptation that we need to fear Why fear we Death then he this Boon will give Our Enemies shall dye but we shall live Life is the day wherein we labour hard Death is the night and then comes our reward Now we with Tempests on the Seas are driven Death is the Wind that blows us to our Haven Is he less happy that a brisker Gale Drives to the Shore or he that 's under Sail Whom fierce tempestuous winds as yet are driving Who with a thousand dangers yet are striving In life we in the raging Surges be Death comes and lands us in Eternity In life the Saints are Heirs but under age When death comes they receive their Heritage Heaven is our Kingdom but to come thereat There is no other way but through this Gate Life is our Journey Death our Journeys end Life is our Enemy and Death our Friend Death like a Pilot guides us to the Shoar He is the Porter that must ope ' the door We cannot serve our God or Christ enjoy Without distraction till our dying day Death 's but a quiet sleep when wearied 'T is but put off our Cloaths and go to bed Death is Gods pursivant and will compell Gods Friends to go to Heaven his Foes to Hell He is his Messenger none can prevent him None can resist him or the Lord that sent him Both Prince and Peasant drink of the same cup When he invites them home with him to Sup. All men must pledge the health Abel began There 's none exempt the Master nor the man The greatest Potentate cannot escape The way to Heaven and Hell lye through this Gate The high the low the rich and eke the poor When he doth knock must open him the door Nor fear nor favour makes him turn aside He will not be perverted with a Bribe What though some have their lives drawn out at length And we cut down by Death in our full strength What Hurt to us if we receive our pay For one Hours work as much as for a day What dammage to us if Commandment come When others work till night to leave at Noon The weary labourer pants and longs for rest And when he 's in his bed he thinks he 's best The Bed of Death to th' weary will give ease Our sleep's not broken there by worms nor fleas No fearfull Dreams nor Visions of the night Disturb our Fancies there or minds affright Within Death's Sheets the Grave we rest secure Free from oppression and tyrannick Power Our Souls like Captive Birds in Cages sing Death breaks the Cage and then the Birds take wing The world 's a Pest-house sin doth us infect Death 's our Physitian shall we him reject The Soul 's infected with sins foul disease And naught but Death can give us our release The world 's a Prison and we Captives be And only Death our Champion sets us free We mortal are when Death of life bereaves us We dye no more Death doth immortal leave us A thousand Maladies do each day attend us We 're sick to Death and none but Death can mend us In life we languish Death can make us well He 's like Achilles Spear can wound and heal Poor and in want we up and down do wander Death makes us all as rich as Alexander Death levels all both rich and poor do stand On equal ground none serve nor none command When Death hath done his work there 's no man can Discern between the Master and the man The Princes Skull no more than other men Bears the impression of a Diadem 'T is true of terrors Death is call'd the King And well he may while he retains his Sting But to Believers he no hurt can do For he hath lost his Sting and Poyson too In Stinging Christ this Serpent lost his Sting He that brought terror then doth comfort bring Christ conquer'd him and shall we fear to meet A Vanquisht Foe lying prostrate at our Feet For since that he was overcome and foil'd He is no Enemy but reconcil'd To good and bad he shews not the same face He 's Foe to Nature but a Friend to Grace We are poor mortals life is our disease Death our Physitian that can give us ease We groan for pain yet would not be set free We love our Bondage hate our Liberty Rather than over Jordans streams we 'l venture We 'l dye i' th' Wilderness or Egypt enter This Son of Anak Death more terror brings Than all the fiery Serpents with their Stings And though Egyptian Bondage doth torment us Flesh Pots and Leeks and Onions here content us At Death 't is true we must to Ashes turn But God will keep those Ashes in his Urn. And when the all-awakening trump shall sound The smallest Atoms of it shall be found And then by vertue of a new Indenture The Soul into her new-built house shall enter God shall with robes of honour then invest her And sin and sorrow shall no more molest her She shall by Christ her Judge be then acquitted And all her sins and trespasses remitted She shall in glory Halelujah's sing Unto the mighty God the worlds great King And wedded be to Christ in endless Joy And in her Husbands Bosom lye for aye Sorrow and Sighing then shall fly away And Tears shall swallowed be in endless Joy Then set thy House in order for thou must Within a little time return to Dust Lord make me then to know my later end How long the number of my dayes extend That I may know how frail I am before I go from hence and shall be seen no more When will this Joyfull Marriage be oh when Oh come Lord Jesus quickly come Amen Edward Bury FINIS The Author hath in the Press a. Book on the Subject these Poems are of Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside
must forsake it 't is 〈◊〉 enough to rail against it but you must haâ—â— it with an irreconcileable hatred aâ— shake hands with it and give it a bill 〈◊〉 Divorce and well you may for it is yâ—â— implacable Enemy and the cause of 〈◊〉 your misery and will be the cause of yoâ— Eternal Damnation if you repent not of 〈◊〉 This is it that arms Death against you 〈◊〉 when 't is mortified and subdued it will 〈◊〉 pardoned and when it is pardoned Deâ— may buzze about your ears like a Dâ—â— Bee but cannot sting you by stinging Châ—â— he lost his sting that he cannot sting 〈◊〉 of Christs faithful people Hence manâ— the Martyrs went as chearfully to dye aâ— dine and accounted their Dying-day tâ—â— Wedding-day as indeed it is to all Belâ—ers for in this life they are betroatheâ— Christ and at their Death the Marâ—â— will be consummate and they shall forâ— enjoy their Beloved and be Eterâ— lodged in his Bosom Oh the madneâ—â— the men of the World who lodge this pent sin in their Bosom which breakâ— match between Christ and the Soul 2. Direct There is another Enemy that must be overcome as well as sin or will not dye chearfully and happily and that is the World for till it be overcome and crucified a man is not fit to dye neither can he be willing to dye Gal. 6.14 for who can willingly part with what he loves By Christ saith the Apostle I am Crucified to the World and the World to me the world and he were at a point there was no love lost the World mattered him not and he mattered the World as little they were each to other as a dead Carkass offensive and unsavoury and though the World should lay many Temptations before him it would signifie no more than if they were presented to a dead man though she draw forth her two breasts of Profit and Pleasure he scorns to suck at such botches he looks upon it as a dead thing and behaves himself as dead to it He had learned to want and to abound and in every Estate to be content and therefore mattered not her Superfluities and for Necessaries he knew he should not want them A prosperous Estate could not make him surfeit nor a wanting Estate repine he was semper idem alwayes the same as Job upon the Throne and upon the Dunghill he still keeps his Integrity he wears the world about him as a loose Garment ready to cast off upon all occasions and he is at a point with all things under the Sun if he may keep them with a good Conscience he is content if not he is content also and it behooves others that would look Death in the face with comfort to learn this lesson for if the affections close with the World 't is impossible Death should be either safe or comfortable safe it cannot be for it makes a man break his peace with God for two such Masters as God and Mammon no man can serve Mat. 6.24 for if he love the one he will despise the other Jam. 4.4 Know you not saith the Apostle that the friendship of the World is Enmity to God Whosoever therefore will be a Friend of the World will be an Enemy to God 1 John 2.15 And again Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Those that goe a Whoring from God to the Creature and woe this vile Strumpet the World are very unfit to be received into the bosom of Christ have it we may use it we must as a Traveller doth his Staff so far as 't is helpful but love it we must not if we will not renounce the love of God a man may allow his wife a Servant to wait upon her but not to lodg in her bosom the love of the World is Enmity with the Lord Enmity both active and passive it makes a man both to hate God and to be hated by God he cannot be espoused to the World but he must be divorced from God see this in Judas in Demas in Demetrius in Ahab he will have Naboath's Vineyard or he will have his blood though he lose his Soul for it Col. 3.2 wise therefore was the Apostles Counsel to set our affections on things above and not on the Earth Things on Earth are mutable and momentary subject to vanity or violence when things above are as the dayes of Heaven and run parllael with the Life of God and line of Eternity and as the love of the World makes a man dye unsafely putting him out of a capacity of eternal happiness so it makes him dye uncomfortably also for who can willingly part with a present good for a future uncertainty with a thing he loves for he knows not what If the World seem a Pearl in his eye he will not let it goe if he have no assurance of a better Mat. 19.22 see this in the young man in the Gospel that would not exchange Earth for Heaven nor the Creature for God that parted with Christ whom he pretended to love rather than with his Estate which he did love Oh World how dost thou bewitch thy greatest admirers how dost thou deceive those that trust in thee But could we see the worth of Heaven or had we but a Pisgah-sight of the Heavenly Canaan we should soon make Moses's choice but the blind Moles of the World think God holds it at too dear a rate and if he will not abate he may keep it to himself some indeed while Religion is in credit will follow the Cry yet resolve they will never lose by it as the Young man before mentioned who came to Christ hastily but went away heavily the world breaks many a match between Christ and the Soul by bidding more as they think than God doth but it will fail in the payment but he that forsakes not all for Christ cannot be his Disciple the lesson I know is hard but necessary and there is a great reason it should be so when we look upon the World as our chiefest Jewel we are loth to throw it over-board but when we see the Vanity Emptiness yea Nothingness that is in it and can have recourse to a better Treasure we shall not matter it while we look upon it as our chiefest Treasure we shall be unwilling to part with it but when by the eye of Faith we can see better Treasure beyond Death and observe how little good it can do us at Death or after when we have most need we shall not much value it For indeed it proves like a bush of Thorns the harder we grasp it the more deeply it wounds and when by Experience we find that no Content Satisfaction or Happiness is to be had in the enjoyment we shall not much trouble at the loss In a word while the World is admired Death is hated but when Heaven is
ready to offer it up when God required it Acts 21.13 and was willing not only to be bound but to dye for Christ at Jerusalem the recompence of reward was in his eye the Crown of glory was in his sight which Christ the righteous Judge should give him at the last day Phil. 1.21 and his desire was that Christ might be magnified by him both by his life and by his death Thou canst contentedly endure pain for health and wilt thou not endure it for Christ and everlasting Happiness Wilt thou not endure some few gripes for glory Thou hadst thy life given thee upon this condition to part with it when God requires it thou art a Tenant at will and so at anothers dispose and if thou wilt surrender God will build thee up a more sumptuous house if thou wilt not he will distrain upon thee pluck down thy house shortly and cast thee into Prison Life it self was given on no other terms but to be at Gods dispose and think not that thou hast wrong Death is the common road wherein all men walk Kings and Emperours leave their Crowns and Scepters at his gate rich and poor great and small bond and free croud in at this door and travail this road if thou willingly resign thou maist make an advantage if not ere long thou wilt be constrained to do it upon harder terms and seeing a death thou must dye what matter is it what Messenger 't is that Death sends to distrain for this Rent whether an ordinary disease or an extraordinary Pursivant whether thou dye in thy bed or go to Heaven in a fiery Chariot and if so the Crown of Martyrdom will be thy Reward Death to the wicked is but an entrance into Hell the beginning of sorrowes yea of eternal death Rev. 20.6 but those that have a part in the first resurrection the second death of them shall have no power Oh my foul why art thou afraid of death seeing the sting is taken out and the nature of it changed let us view it a little better and see what the godly have thought of it and what the Scripture saith of it Isaiah tells thee Isa 57.1 2. The righteous are taken away from the evil to come to enter into peace and to rest in their beds and is Rest so terrible to the weary man Paul calls it a departing Phi. 1.23 and to be with Christ and is this so dangerous to lye in Christs bosom in eternal bliss Job makes no more of it than the cutting down of a flower Job 14.1 2. and is this a matter of such moment Simeon calls it a departing in peace Luk. 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Joshua calls it The way of all the earth Joshua 32.14 Behold saith he I am this day going the way of all the earth and wilt thou be afraid of going in this beaten road In Christs account 't is but a falling asleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth the like was said of Stephen And when he had said this Act. 7.60 he fell asleep and who is afraid of falling asleep 'T is called also a finishing our course 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight saith Paul I have finished my course And who would be afraid of his journeys end 'T is called a going hence O spare me Psal 39.13 saith David that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more a going home Man goeth to his long home Eccle. 12.5 saith Solomon and what danger is in going home 't is but a resting from our labour saith the Spirit Rev. 14.13 There the wicked saith Job cease from troubling and the weary are at rest Job 3.17.18.12 there the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor the small and the great are there and the Servant is free from his Master And how sweet is rest to a weary man and doubtless death to the godly is the end of all misery and the beginning of Happiness O my God I am fully convinc'd and I see great reason why I should submit to thee and lay down my life at thy feet and I resolve through thine assisting grace so to do and to submit my self to the stroak of death when and how it shall please thee Lord assist me in these resolutions lest my enemy surprize me and my deceitful heart betray me and my frail flesh insnare me and make me dishonour my God deny my Redeemer break my Peace with thee wound my Conscience and lose my soul by any sinâ—â—l complyance or denying my Life when thou cal'st for it MEDITAT II. Death is common to Good and Bad. O My Soul why art thou yet afraid at the apprehension of death why dost thou draw back why dost thou frame excuses is death any strange or unwonted thing that thou hast not seen nor heard of before then there were some cause but is it not as common as 't is for a man to be born is it not the end of all flesh the way of all the world Omnibus una manet nox et calcanda semel via lethi is it not the common road that all men tread when they go out of the world young and old great and small rich and poor good and bad all throng in at this Gate and art thou loath to stoop so low Death sometimes strikes the child in the womb and sometimes the man that stoops for Age and art thou afraid of that which unborn Babes and crooked old age undergo Heb. 9 27. and that which is as sure as the coat upon thy back It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after Death the Judgement All men dye once and most men twice but the second Death is far more formidable Job 14.1 2 5. Man that is born of a woman is of a few dayes and full of trouble He cometh up like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not His dayes are determined the number of his Months are with God he hath appointed his Bounds that he cannot pass Job 14.14 and 10.9 'T is therefore thy Duty all the dayes of thy appointed time to wait till thy change come for he hath made thee as the Clay and will bring thee to Dust again 1 Tim. 6.7 Wis 7.16 Thou broughtest nothing into the world and 't is certain thou shalt carry nothing out all have one entrance into Life and a like going out Death makes a very great change so that wicked men have cause to fear it the Godly to desire it and all to expect it Life flies away suddenly and cannot be retained Death comes speedily and cannot be resisted O death Ecclus. 41.1.2 how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives at rest in his possessions unto the man that hath nothing to vex him and hath prosperity in all things yea unto
it be by the very Gates of Hell I can do all all things through Christ that strengthens me MEDITAT IV. The Fear of Death is unsuitable to a Believer O My Soul why art thou yet disquieted within me why art thou cast down why dost thou meditate terror and all this when thou lookest Death in the face Is this amazement suitable for a Christian Souldier is this the fruit of all thy Preaching Praying Reading Meditating and thy other duties is this the result of all the pains thou hast taken in Heavens way Nay hath God set thee to strengthen others against the fear of Death to support the feeble hands and drooping hearts and art thou thy self ready to faint under the burden why man rouse up thy self a little didst never see death before that thou tremblest at the apprehension art thou fit to be a Captain of the Lords Host that art ready to fly at a shadow If the Shepherd be terrified well may the Sheep be affrighted if the apprehension of Death be so amazing what will the feeling of it be well mayest thou say with Nehemiah Shall such a man as I flee Neh. 6.11 Is not death bitter enough but thou must make it bitterer and dost faint before thou feel the burden where is thy wonted courage where are now thy arguments where with thou wast wont to blunt the Dart of Death and to uphold sinking Souls under the stroak of Death Death hath been often in thy eye in thy thoughts in thy Meditations and then it was not so terrible and now with Agag thou thoughtest the bitterness of Death was past and upon a new Apprehension oâ— it doth it seem so formidable Call to mind thy former resolutions to suffer for Christ yea thy Covenant engagement to him wherein thou devotedst thy sell and that thine was to him and at his dispose and dost now repent of thy repentings death is not so great an Enemy as thoâ— supposest nor so terrible as he seems plucâ— off his vizor and look him in the face and he will appear both thy Friend and thy Physician to cure thee of all thy maladies thou hast not now a day free from sin and sorrow for where the onâ— is the other will be also as the shadow will follow the substance or rather as the effect follows the cause neither art thou like to have till death sets thee at liberty thou art now a slave or servant but the year of Jubilee is coming when thou wilt be free Job 3.17 18 19. There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest there the Prisoners rest together and they hear not the voice of the Oppressor the small and the great are there and the Servant is free from his Master Death is sent by God as Moses into Egypt to bring thee out of Egyptian bondage to the promised Land and what if thy bondage like theirs be a little encreased at the present wilt thou murmur like them when thy deliverance is in sight though thou must through the red Sea the way is safe if God go before thee and if the way be dark he will be a Pillar of fire to give thee light thou needest not fear losing thy way that hast such a guide Here thou canst not serve God but the Egyptians are ready to stone thee but get but over this bridge of Death over this Jordan and thou maist serve him without distraction or disturbance here thou canst hardly have a sight of God but Death will bring thee to speak with him face to face to know him as he is and to enjoy him as thy own In this Wilderness thou meetest with many troubles many wants sometimes of meat sometimes of drink sometimes of cloaths and other necessaries but in Heaven there is no want no need of creature-comforts for what need the Pipe when we are at the Fountain-head here are many troubles many enemies fiery Serpents but when over this Jordan these troubles vanish all thy fears husht and thy self out of the reach of danger the Devil nor his instruments cannot pursue thee beyond Death here is thy promised Land thy purchased Inheritance thy Mansion-house and can Death that puts thee in possession be lookt upon as thy Enemy The thoughts of Death are many times worse than Death it self as the Picture of the Lyon seems fiercer than the Lyon himself Heb. 2.15 but Christ died to free those that through the fear of Death were all their life time subject to bondage Oh the precious hours that should be spent in solacing thy self with the thoughts of God and the forethoughts of Glory and taking a Pisgah sight of the Heavenly Canaan which now are fruitlesly spent between hopes and fears of our Journey thither not but that preparation should be made but no desponding fears should discompose thee for the Journey The thoughts of Eternal bliss and the weight of Glory that is before thee should divert thy mind from all the pains and sorrows thou meetest with in thy journey thither as the hopes of the prize makes him that runs the race overlook the foulness or roughness of the way and the hopes of a reward makes the Souldier hew his way through the thickest of his enemies That time which now is spent in sorrowful thoughts how thou shouldest part with the world and endure the pangs of death would be better spent in trimming up thy Lamp getting Oyl in thy Vessel and adorning thy self with thy Wedding garment and in praising God that thinks thee worthy to suffer for him and in consideration that after a little pain thou shalt enter into thy masters Joy where there shall be no more pain and that this light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for thee a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Is this thy living by faith that thou talkest of What can a coveteous worlding do more that hath his portion in this life than fear the time that he shall lose it what can the voluptuous Epicure do more that at death shall see an end of all his pleasure Is this thy living by Faith is this the fruit of thy hope and the evidences of thy love to God and the other graces of the Spirit Doth vain glory steel the Spirit of our Hectors that look death in the face undauntedly only in hopes of Honour and a surviveing Name do the Mahometans venture their lives upon conceipt that those that dye in the wars shall undoubtedly go to Heaven and there for ever have their will with beautiful women and all other sensual delights and will not the Enjoyment of God in glory work thee to a willingness to suffer what he would have thee suffer Is this thy professed obedience when thou startest at hard and difficult dutyes and only scummest off the fat and sweet of duty and leavest self-denying dutyes undone what dost thou in this more than an Hypocrite or a carnal man
true it wounds thy body but thy Soul is safe but it destroyes them both in body and soul and it brings more profit to the soul than dammage to the body 't is but as the prick of a pin to a dangerous Ulcer which were it not prickt would prove mortal it will put an end to thy pains and a beginning to thy Joyes for when thy life expires sin also dyes and sin and sorrow are breathed out with thy life and from this day thy Lease in Heaven bears date which shall never expire Rouse up thy self O my Soul be not dejected God minds thee no hurt Death will not cannot hurt thee Kill me they may saith the Martyr hurt me they cannot the worst they can do is but to send me to my Fathers house the sooner Many a warning thou hast had many a Corps thou hast interred many a Funeral Sermon thou hast Preached for shame say not thou hadst not sufficient warning wast thou so mad as to think of going to Heaven another way or that thou wast immortal when thou sawest so many about thee dye daily or that thou shouldst live to old age when thou sawest so many dye young and felt so many sensible Symptoms of thy approaching death thou hast as thou didst suppose some grounded hopes that thou hadst a part in the first Resurrection and that therefore the second death on thee had no power and why then is death so terrible Many have more distempers in their Souls than in their Bodies 't is true this is thy case yet thou hast hoped thine are not mortal the malignity of the disease is over when many others have Plague-Sores running upon them these may expect death and have cause to fear it it will but heal thy distempers but inrage theirs thou hast had many meditations of death and many discourses with death and you did seem pretty well agreed thou hast looked death in the face and is he now become more terrible or art thou more timerous that when he comes to thy Bed-side draws thy Curtains and shakes thee by the hand thou tremblest hath Christ done thee no good by his passion by subduing Death disarming him pulling out the sting and trampling him under foot yea laying him prostrate at thy feet hath all the pains thou hast taken in heavens way workt no more upon thee set thee up no higher where now is thy promised obedience and thy prayers Thy will be done when thou art ready to resist Gods Will when 't is manifested and preferrest thine own before it why dost call thy Father the only wise God when thou thinkest thy own wit best and that thou knowest best when 't is best for thee to dye and wilt not submit to his will and that if thou wouldst speak out thy mind is to indent with Christ this thou wilt do or Suffer but not that this sin thou wilt leave but that thou wilt not thou wouldst pick and choose thy duties and take the easiest part of it and leave the difficult dangerous and costly part undone and wilt not have heaven at so dear a rate Thou pretendest a desire to be happy and who doth not Balaam desires the death of the righteous and that his end may be like his but they will not live the righteous mans life and thou art not willing to dye his death for he is conformable to the will of God both in life and death which is that thou dost dislike O my Soul some great thing is amiss with thee thy corruptions are as strong fetters to hold thee in the Devils Slavery thy grace is weak and cannot procure thy freedom the Devil is too cunning for thee the world subtil and thy own heart deceitful to betray thee into Satans hands Oh my God this is my condition this is the estate of my Soul here lyes my distemper the world lyes too close to my heart and Christ lyes at too great a distance my corrupt deceitful heart is ever and anon puting me on to choose this for my happiness a little Grace I see will not carry me through the temptations that lye before me but Lord speak the word and grace will flourish and corruption will dye thou hast said and I believe it that thou wilt not break the bruised reed Mat. 12.20 nor quench the smoaking flax till thou bring forth Judgment unto victory Lord I believe help my unbelief and let not my little grace be lost in the great heap of the rubbish of my corruptions Lord if thou open mine eyes to see the emptiness of the creature and the fulness of Christ then shall I love the one and despise the other Psal 119.32 and shall run the ways of thy Commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart I see no reason why I should be exempted from obeying thy Will even to the laying down of my life and though flesh and blood will not yield willing obedience to it yet 't is my resolution thus to do Lord strengthen my resolution I know my fears are the result of my Infidelity Lord strengthen my faith that I may overcome them for by thy strength I shall stand and without thy assisting grace I shall Apostatize and fall back Leave me not to my self for then I shall undo my self dishonour my God scandalize Religion bring a reproach upon the Gospel wound my Conscience break my Peace with my God and undo my Soul Luk. 9.62 Let me not O Lord now I have put my hand to the Plow look back again Nor when I have begun in the Spirit Gal. 3.3 end in the flesh Rev. 2.10 Lord make me faithful to the death and then give me a Crown of Life MEDITAT V. The World is not desirable to a Christian OH my Soul why art thou desirous to stay in the World and why so unwilling to go to thy Father The time was when thou wast otherwise minded thou lookedst upon it as Bochim a place of tears a Golgotha an unlovely habitation thou wast not willing to dwell in Meseck and in the tents of Kedar thy affections did like fire mount upward and what Load-stone hast now to draw thee back thou wast at a point with all things under the Sun and didst wear the World about thee as a loose garment ready to cast off upon all occasions and dost now spit upon thy hands and take better hold dost now set up thy Staff and with Peter say 't is good being here Art now beginning to build Tabernacles here and slight that house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens thou didst conclude with Solomon Eccles 1.14 All is Vanity and vexation of spirit and now at last hast found some solidity 2 Pet. 2.22 art thou now returnining with the dog to his Vomit and the washed Sow to her wallowing in the Mire are the Scales of ignorance now fallen from thine eyes and dost thou see some excellency in the worlds enjoyments that before
Jonah out of the Whales Belly or Joseph or Jeremy or Paul or Silas or Peter to come out of Prison when the time of deliverance came was ever fick man afraid of Health or Lame man of being restored to his Limbs or a Blind man of being recovered to his sight was ever Hungry man afraid of his meat or thirsty man unwilling to drink or weary man unwilling to rest or was ever Turkish Slave unwilling to leave his Oars or enjoy his freedom yet have none of these so much cause to rejoyce in their freedom as the poor Soul hath in the freedom purchased by Christ and to be enjoyed at death Doth not the Husbandman long for the Harvest when he shall receive the fruits of the Field the reward of his labour doth not the Souldier long for the Victory when he shall receive the Crown doth not the Traveller desire his Journeys end and the Mariner his wished Port and the Labourer for the Sun-setting when his work is done and his wages is due and wilt thou only be afraid of the time when thy misery shall end and thy Joyes commence and all because there is a little dirty though not dangerous way to pass though there be an eternal reward for a temporal yea momentany Pain yea a thousand weight of pleasure for an ounce of grief Oh foolish Soul hast thou fought the fight and won the day and is it but stooping down and take up the Crown and wilt not be at so much pains Is there but one stile more to thy Fathers house and wilt thou sit down here and go no further but one hour between thee and Glory and hast thou spent so many years in reference to it and now wilt not add that hour to the rest hast thou almost run the race and shall one Lake in the way make thee to retire when the end is in sight hast subdued all the Enemies but one and is he disarmed also and lyes prostrate at thy feet and yet faintest and forsakest the Field dost thou fly from the Serpent when the sting is out hast thou vanquished the Flesh the World and the Devil and yet fearest Death which is a reconciled Friend hast thou overcome him that hath the power of Death and fearest thou Death it self Hast thou overcome the substance and dost quake at the shadow many thousand lose their Lives upon lower ends and venture them for a lower reward than here is propounded some for vain glory others for a corruptible Crown and wilt not venture thy life for Eternal glory and to secure thy Soul some venture Life and Soul and all in a Whores Quarrel or a Drunkards fray and wilt thou not in the cause of God and vindication of the truth and that when thy Captain stands by thee are the Gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem open and wilt not enter wilt lose all rather than strike one stroak more O my God let not the Flesh the World nor the Devil deceive me let me not faint under the burden nor ever turn my back upon thee Lord strengthen me and I will suffer for thee MEDITAT VI. What hurt can Death do a Believer OH my Soul what makes thee yet draw back are not all these foregoing considerations enough to satisfie thee but yet the thoughts of Death do appale thee and the thoughts of the Grave make thee to shiver heretofore thou hast even courted Death and solaced thy self with the Meditation of the Grave and the forethought of the time when Sin and Sorrow should be no more and now dost quake at the apprehension of it and art frighted at his grim countenance Consider a little what he is whence he comes and what message he brings and then see if he be so formidable as he seems he is but a Messenger and comes not upon his own errand neither runs he before he be sent he comes not from an Enemy but a friend yea from one that loves thee yea from that friend that sent Jesus Christ to dye for thee and the same love is exercised in the one as in the other he sent first to purchase an Inheritance for thee and now sends to thee to receive it He comes to tell thee the Great King of Heaven and Earth Greets thee and invites thee to the Marriage Feast to the Wedding Supper to drink Wine with Christ in his Fathers Court he comes to tell thee thou hast fought the good fight thou hast finisht thy course and from henceforth is laid up for thee a Crown of righteousness which Christ the Righteous Judge shall give thee at the last day that thou hast been faithfull over a few things and shalt be Ruler over many things and shalt enter into thy Masters Joy He comes to tell thee thou art at Age and must receive thine Inheritance that thou hast been long enough tossed to and fro upon the Waves of trouble and now must enter into the desired Port that thou hast long enough fed upon husks and now must come to thy Fathers house where there is bread enough and to spare he comes to tell thee thy Warfare is accomplished the race is run the prize is won and from henceforth the Crown of Glory is thine own and what hurt is in all this or why is such a Messenger to be feared he comes not as haply thou mayst suppose to break thy peace with thy God no but to make an everlasting peace which shall never be broken to assure thee God and thy departing Soul are at peace and all controversies are ended and that thou shalt never more see one frown in the face of God nor one wrinkle in his forehead he comes not for thy hurt but thy good not to hinder thy promotion but to promote it not to destroy thy body but only sow it in the Earth that it may spring forth a glorious body that corruption may put on incorruption 1 Cor. 15.55 and the mortal may put on immortality that Death may be swallowed up of Victory He comes not to make thee miserable Rev. 14.13 but happy Blâ—ssed are the Dead which dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them He comes not to separate thee from God this he cannot do For neither Death Rom. 8.28.29 nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No Death brings us into a nearer Union and more close Communion 'T is not come to make void the Covenant with God but to make it good for God hath promised in the Covenant to give Christ and Heaven and Glory to thee and how can this be made good till Death and though the body lye for a season in the Grave as Israel did in Egypt after Gods Covenant with Abraham yet shortly Death like
dye as to dine and accounted the day of their Death their Wedding day Paul was ready not only to be bound but to dye for Christ Many were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection they had Trial of cruel mocking scourging yea bonds and imprisonments they were stoned sawn asunder tempted slain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins Heb. 11.36 c. being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the World was not worthy they wandred in deserts and in mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth c. The more thou sufferest for Christ the more weighty will thy Crown of Glory be those that loved not their lives to the death but were killed for the Testimony of Jesus are placed under the Altar nay follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes and are cloathed with long white Robes and have Palms in their hands But if thou deny thy life to Christ he will deny thee entrance into this Heavenly Canaan and thou shalt not only lose thy reward but thy Soul also and expose thy self to Death Eternall If thou suffer with him thou shalt reign with him and if thou art ashamed of him he will also be ashamed of thee Those that honour him he will honour and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed If thou come to suffer for him as many eyes will be upon thee so many Prayers will be put up for thee and doubtless much comfort will be dropt into thy Soul by the Spirit of God who is the Comforter sent by God upon this business and God will stand by thee in suffering times and give in Cordials to refresh thy heart I have read of a Christian that under his Rack and Tortures as he after told his friends apprehended a young man with a handkerchief wiping the sweat off his face and comforting him The holy Angels will stand by thee and God will not be at a distance from his suffering Saints and who then need fear to dye that hath learnt to live if thou be prepared thou needst not fear what Messenger God sends for thee nor at what hour of the night thy master comes for Death cannot be sudden to the prepared Soul that is alwaies upon his watch and thou needst not fear what thy sufferings be if thou canst but say Propter te propter te Domine 'T is for thee and for thy sake we are killed all the day long and accounted as Sheep for the slaughter The more thou sufferest then the more deeply thou engagest God to thee and he will pay thee an hundred fold this is the best usury and the best way thou canst dispose of thy life for every year on Earth that thou hast lost thou shalt receive a thousand in Heaven and for one friend thou forsakest here thou shalt receive a thousand there and for every thing thou losest for his sake thou shalt be recompensed a thousand fold and as thou shalt have no loss so thy Enemies shall be no gainers by thy death they heap up coals of fire upon their own heads and without repentance prevent it augment their own damnation for Christ will take it as done to himself and their torments are like to be as durable as thy Joyes which will be for ever and ever Consider not so much what thou sufferest as for what and for whom if it be for the Truth it will prevail and if it be for Christ thou shalt not lose by it Truth is more precious than life it self and fit to be sealed with thy blood thou must deny thy self rather than deny thy God for he that gave thee thy life is fittest to dispose of it and whosoever parts with his life upon this account makes a good bargain he cannot buy this Gold too dear Many are the encouragements given in Scripture to persecuted Saints Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you And as great will be thy reward so great also are the company of thy fellow-sufferers even from righteous Abel to this day Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers Persecuted Yea Christ and his Apostles followed after for almost all of them dyed a violent death and greater than the Master is the Servant cannot be the world that hated Christ will hate his Servants also and persecute all that bear his Image If they hated him for righteousness sake they will hate all that are righteous Christ suffered for thee the wrath of God and wilt not thou suffer for him the wrath of man he was stung by Death and dost think it much to be strucken by it now the sting is out he suffered for thee the pains of Hell and think'st it too much to suffer the pangs of death for him when many times it is not so much as some have endured from an aking tooth and what is this to the recompense of reward he gave thee thy life and can take it if he please and yet desires thy consent and if thou refuse he will distrain of thee for this debt The worst of Enemies can but stop thy breath and the least of Creatures can do as much if animated by God The least Fly or Hair or Crumb of Bread will choak thee if God give it a commission and well maist thou fear it if thou hast denyed God to lay down thy life for his sake sickness or age will as surely end thy life as thy Enemies can though haply not so suddenly thou hast no assurance of it a day to an end neither canst thou have only put it into his hand and he will dispose of it for thy good how can the seed spring up if it be not sown or how can the body rise if not fallen if God suffer any to take away thy life 't is not out of any love to them or hatred to thee he loves his Child better than his Rod though sometimes the rod may be set on high when the Child is turned out of door yet when the child is reformed the rod shall be burnt they cannot preserve their own lives nor take away thine 't is God doth both and ere long they must tread the same steps and down to the same pit and travail the same road and enter Deaths dark Vault as well as others only here is the difference death which will bring thee as Joseph out of Prison will bring them in and as it knocks off the bolts from thy heels he will fasten shackles and chains upon theirs and shall bring them like Haman from his glory to his execution that death which will set an end to thy misery will terminate their felicity it will