Tertullian said Nulli rei natus nisi poenitentiae That he was born for penitential sorrow All that are fitted for death are Benoni's Sons of Sorrow and their tears for sin are so many dissolved Pearls Nay they do not only weep for their own sins but likewise for the sins of others So did Ezra Nehemiah Daniel c. They endeavour to wash away those sins with a flood of tears which they cannot bear down with a stream of power Thus did David Psal 119.136 So did Isaiah Isa 6.5 And Jeremiah wisheth his eyes were a Fountain Jer. 9.1 he would have them not to drop as a Limbeck but like a Fountain send forth streams of tears to bewail the sins and miseries of the People So St. Paul could not speak of the sins of others without tears in his eyes Phil. 3.18 Now as St. Ambrose told Monica weeping for her Son Austine Impossibile est tantarum lachrymarum filium perire So may I say to those that weep for their own sins and the sins of others it is impossible they should eternally miscarry Yea Austin himself said of his Mother and other good Women Mulierculae istae lachrymis suis Coelum nobis praeripiunt when we have done all we can with our learning these Women with their tears will get Heaven before us Indeed the way to Heaven is by Weeping-Cross Jacob as you read Gen. 29. could not obtain Rachel till he had first married Leah Heaven is a beautiful place as Rachel was a beautiful person but there is no obtaining it till we have got our eyes bleared Leah-like with penitential tears To end this Christ oft went as we read in the Gospel from Bethanie to Jerusalem So a true Christian must go from the House of Sorrow to the Vision of Peace 3. Preparation for Death consists In forsaking the sins we mourn for 3. Dir. Deplorata relinquendo After you have disgorged your sin by sorrowful confession take heed you turn not again with the Dog to your former vomit 2 Pet. 2.22 which if you do it will highly aggravate your sin not at all ease you of the burthen So saith St. Austin Qui pectus suum tundit se non corriget aggravat peccata non tollit And St. Bernard saith Verus poenitens semper est in labore dolore dolet de praeteritis laborat pro futuris cavendis A true Penitent saith he is full of sorrow and care sorrowful he is for what is past careful he is for the future to avoid the sins he hath sorrowed for And St. Ambrose saith Ille vere plangit commissa qui non committit plangenda He truly lamenteth the sins he hath committed who doth not afterwards commit such things as are to be lamented We ought to renounce all sin Peccatum in deliciis as St. Bernard calls it that darling sin which lies nearest the heart According to our Saviours Precept we should pluck out a right eye and cut off a right hand i. e. Part with sins that are as near and dear unto us as the members of our body Mat. 5.29 30. Col. 3.5 Immedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum est ne pars sincera trahatur Better to part with a gangren'd Member that is offensive then endanger the whole life So it is better for you to leave your dearest sins or the occasions and incentives thereto then that the whole man should be utterly and eternally ruined by them St. * Jerom. lib. 2. Ep. 15. Jerom's counsel is to be followed Nulli parcas ut soli parcas animae Spare not lust but let it be mortified that so thy Soul may be spared for fleshly lusts war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 Say not of any sin as Lot did of Zoar Gen. 19.20 Is it not a little one and my Soul shall live O my Friend there is no little God to sin against no little punishment reserved for any sin for Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not said that the wages of this or the other sin is death but of sin indefinitely i. e. of all sin of every sin of any sin Death not onely temporal but eternal too for this is chiefly here meant as it appears by the opposition to eternal life in the Text is as due to every sin lived in as wages is to him that earns it And thereupon St. Austin said Audacior est qui cum uno peccato dormit quà m qui cum septem hostibus He is fool-hardy indeed that can sleep securely in any known sin Even those sins which you count small faults become great by frequent repetition and in a short time lay Conscience waste As small expences multiplied insensibly waste a vast Revenue and therefore saith the same * Aust lib. De decem chordis Father Noli illa contemnere quia minora sunt sed cave quia plura sunt c. What your little sins as you call them want of other sins in weight they make up in number and therefore take heed of them †See Resin'd Courtier Small wounds multiplyed will let out life and a great number of narrow leaks endanger the sinking of the stateliest Ship and several minute drops of Rain swell to an overflowing deluge Ehud kill'd Eglon who was a very fat man with a Dagger of a cubit long as you may read Judg. 3.16 a long Sword could have done no more it may be not so much A Pocket-Pistol Pen-Knife or Stilletto are more dangerous many times than bigger Weapons because not discerned and so no danger is suspected Thus it is with your small sins as you are pleased to call them they are not taken notice of by you and therefore you fear no harm from them whereas indeed because undiscerned they are the more deadly Resolve then with David to refrain thy feet from every evil way Psalm 119.101 Yea to hate every fable way vers 104. Vain thoughts vers 113. as well as lying vers 163. For Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one Point he is guilty of all That is say some he makes it appear that he keeps no Precept in obedience to God for if he did he would refrain from every sin as well as any sin Or according to Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase 'T is but a small excuse for you to think that this is but one transgression and therefore not considerable for obedience to God's Will is required universally to all that he commands and he that offends in one though he keep all the rest is guilty of the breach of that obedience and punishable as well as if he had broken all In vain doth any man hope for Heaven that lives in any known sin 1 John 3.3 He that hath this hope viz. of seeing God in glory vers 2. purifieth himself even as he is pure Heaven is not like your common Inns that receive all commers or like the Ark in which entred both clean and
Tombs but this impatient man is among the Living and molests and grieves those that are near him 2. Immoderate sorrow wasteth the Spirits See Prov. 15.13 By sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken It weakens the Body and hastens Death 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the world worketh Death saith the Apostle by sorrow of the world we may understand immoderate sorrow about worldly things hastens death and eats out the very comfort of Life You read of Moses Deut. 34.7 He was an hundred and twenty years old when he dyed his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated What should be the reason Why surely under God his own meekness For Numb 12.3 He was very meek above all the men that were upon the face of the earth Hippocrates saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animalia quae felle carent ut Cervi sunt longaeva So meek persons many times live longest but impatient persons through fretting discontent bring their bodies into a Consumption Suppose as Job saith Job 6.12 Your strength was the strength of stones yet continual dropping of tears and drooping under sorrow would bring you down and wear you away for the same Job tells you Job 14.19 The waters wear the stones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepè cadendo And the wise man tells you Prov. 12.25 Heaviness in the heart of a man makes it stoop Immoderate grief like a heavy burthen laid upon a man will make him stoop and break him Many a man looks wrinkled with sorrow and care long before he is wrinkled with age Cura facit canos quamvis homo non habet annos Let us then Seneca Consâ—l ad Poâ—â—â— c. 23. as an Heathen said spare such grief as this is Faciliùs illi nos dolor iste ad jiciet quà m illum nobis reducet For soon will it send thee to him whom thou bewailest than bring him back to thee 3dly and lastly It greatly provokes God Indeed A meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price 1 Pet. 3.4 but a froward peevish spirit is abomination to him as you may read Prov. 11.20 17.20 22.5 So Ps 18.26 Discontent is a sin that God takes special notice of Exod. 16.7 8 9 12. So the Apostle tells us God was not well pleased The meaning is for the words are a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was highly displeased with the murmuring Israelites for they were overthrown in the wilderness 1 Cor. 10.5 10 compared This must needs he hateful to God for it is a decompounded sin made up of many bitter ingredients as pride passion unthankfulness c. Sighings sobbings sorrowfull exclamations do penetrate the heavens and enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts but make no good musick there God is thereby provoked to lengthen our miseries and adjourn our mercies Paula Romana who carried it frowardly and fretfully at death of her Children met with many losses of that nature We say Impatiens aegrotus crudelem facit medicum And so it is strugling and stubbornness that makes the Father continue to beat the Child Indeed God is an indulgent tender-hearted Father to his Children Psal 103.13 yet he will not burn the Rod till their stout stomacks be taken down How did he pursue Jonah with winds and tempests nay he casts him over-board into the sea and plunged him over head and ears into the hell of the Whales belly never leaving him till he submitted to his will to go to Niniveh Ferre minora volo nè graviora feram Let us bear lesser troubles patiently lest God lay greater troubles upon us To end this A man in a seaver the more he struggles the more he encreaseth his pain A wild Bull in a net Isa 51.20 instead of breaking forth by strugling he more entangles himself So we gain nothing by our strugling impatience and obstinacy against God but encrease of our miseries Oh! then let us not by any means give passions a loose reign for Phaiton-like with his wild Horses they 'l do a world of mischief Consid 10 Tenthly and lastly consider Death is very advantagious to the godly Phil. 1.21 For me to die is gain There is a privative and positive benefit that death brings to believers To begin with the first Death frees a believer 1. From sin Peccatum peperit mortem filia devoravit matrem Sin brought in death Rom. 5.12 and 6.23 and death carryes out sin Viper-like it devoures that which brought it forth He that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 Here indeed is no perfection 1 John 1.8 Grace is like Gold in the Oar mingled with much dross the most refined soul hath some dregs and is daily contesting with home-bred corruptions Cum avarit â nobis cum impudicitiâ cum irâ cum ambitione congressis est Cyprian Here the best are continually afflicted either for their sins or with their sins But death frees them from all sin Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me saith St. Paul from the body of this death Why by the death of the body we are delivered from sin which is the body of Death 1 Cor. 15.26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death If sin continued after death death were not a believers last enemy Dictum est primo homini morieres si peccaveris nunc dicitur morere nè pecces nisi peccâssent illi non morerentur peccarent autem justi nisi moriantur St. August de Civitate Dei Lib. 13. Cap. 3. Whilst we are in the wilderness of this world latet Anguis in herbâ fiery Serpents sting us sins stick close to us but at death as St. Paul cast the Viper off his hand Acts 28.3 5. so do Believers shake off sin Their dying day is the funeral of all their Vices the least of which maks them grieve here as the least hair makes the eye to water After death they are like God himself in perfect holiness and righteousness not having spot or wrinkle Ephes 5.27 2. From Satans temptations The Devil like to Joab makes our miseries his sport and play 2 Sam. 2.14 He is the great Peripatetick going up and down the World Job 1.7 and 2.2 This roaring lyon is continually ranging for his prey 1 Pet. 5.8 He assaulted Christ the Head Mat. 4.1 c. and so he doth the members Quid aliud in mundo quà m pugna adversus Diabolum quotidiè geritur Cypr. The righteous are the white at which the Devil most shoots the Arrows of temptation Chrysostome somewhere in his Homilies hath this comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. As Pirats upon the Sea set upon the richest Vessels so Satan seeing a Vessel fraught with Grace useth all art and exerciseth all violence to master both the Vessel and the Prize But in Heaven they shall no more be troubled with Satans fiery darts for the Accuser of the Brethren is cast out Rev.
this he had said to God Job 10.2 Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me When God takes away Relations he testifieth against you as he did against Naomi who had lost her husband and two sons Ruth 1.5 21 compared that something in your lives hath been displeasing to him God oft-times visits the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children Exod. 20.5 34.7 2 Sam. 12.14 1 King 15.29 30. Isa 14.21 Parents may by their sins provoke God to bring upon their children a temporal but not an eternal death for Ezek. 18.20 The soul that sinneth it shall die Indeed all persons as well Children as Parents ow a death to God if not by reason of actual yet of original corruption that is in them Psa 51.5 Rom. 5.12 Yet God many times takes away Children and other Relations not having an eye so much to their sins as to the sins of parents and others that provoke God to inflict a penal evil Well then pray to the Lord to discover to thee thy sin which provoked him so soon to take away thy Friend Psal 4.4 Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still When others are a sleeping do you be a thinking what sins you were guilty of that might cause God to deprive you of such a Relation Search into God's Word and see for what sins God usually punisheth with loss of Friends Now God might take away thy Relation for such sins as these 1. Thy sin might be undervaluing thy Friend May be thou didst not prize him according to his worth and now God will teach thee the worth of him by the want of him You would not follow his good counsels reproofs example c. and therefore God might because you did not work by it put out this burning and shining Light It may be you dealt by him as the Philistines did by Sampson make sport with him and a laughing-stock of him and therefore God took him away Or 2dly Thy sin might be overvaluing thy Friend You might over-love him too much rejoyce in him or trust in him too much God breaks the Conduit-pipes when you forget the Fountain Gustavus the renowned King of Sweden said God would take him away because he was too much admired and his words were too true a prophecy Indeed hopeful Children godly Relations they are Jewels Mal. 3.17 but if you take them and make a golden calf of them and idolize them God may justly break them to pouder as Moses dealt with the golden Calf Exod. 32.3 4 20 compared So Hezekiah brake in pieces the brazen Serpent that Moses had made when he saw the people give divine worship unto it 2 King 18.4 When you make Idols of Friends and Relations bestowing that love joy and delight upon them which is due to God he may justly break them to pieces Jonah took more delight than he should have done in his refreshing Gourd and that hand that sent it sent a worm to destroy it Fond Parents like foolish Apes kill their young ones with imbraces Or 3dly Thy sin might be foolish indulgence Eli was too indulgent towards his Sons 1 Sam. 3.13 his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not or according to the Original frowned not upon them he was too gentle in his reproofs and corrections as you may see 1 Sam. 2.22 c. and God threatned that all the encrease of his house should die in the flower of their age and his two sons Hophni and Phineas should in one day die both of them ver 33 34. And accordingly it came to pass 1 Sam. 4.17 So David too fondly affected Absolom and he lived to see him come to an untimely death Or 4thly Thy sin might be undutifulness to thy own Parents Absalom even now mentioned had once three sons as you may read 2 Sam. 14.27 but he lived to see them all buried as you may gather from 2 Sam. 18.18 Absalom was an undutiful child seeking to take away the life of his Father and God takes away his childrens lives Or 5thly Thy sin might be Lasciviousness or Wantonness You read 2 Sam. 12.14 The Child gotten in Adultery dieth Solomon loved many strange women 1 King 11.1 and he left but one son behind him as we read of in Scripture Rehoboam by name v. 43. and he no wiser than he should be as you may reade 1 King 12. Or 6thly Thy sin might be Bloodshed or Murder God threatned Ahab's posterity for his murdering of Naboth 1 King 21.21 so God threatned David for his murdering Uriah 2 Sam. 12.9 10. that the Sword-should never depart from his house and he lived to see two of his Children slain incestuous Amnon 2 Sam. 13. and rebellious Absalom 2 Sam. 18. Or 7thly Thy sin might be Oppression See Job 27.13 14 15. God there threatens that the Sword or Famine or some such sudden and fearful Judgment shall sweep away the Oppressors Children So Amos 4.1 2. There is the posterity of Oppressors threatned God may most justly take away the lives of their Children who take away the livelihood of others Children It is seldom seen that a covetous griping Oppressor or Usurer leaves many Children behind him For these and some other sins mentioned before God may suddenly deprive us of dear and near Relations Now what saith Conscience doth it not fly in your face and tell you that you have been guilty of some one or more of these sins With Pharoah's Butler call to mind thy fault this day Gen. 41.9 And having thus found it out 2. Confess it to God be deeply humbled for it and pray heartily for pardon thereof Say as Josephs Brethren did Gen. 42.21 We are verily guilty concerning our Brother Let your uncircumcised hearts be humbled and accept of the punishment of your iniquity as the Expression is Levit. 26.41 Turn sorrowing for your Friend into sorrowing for your Sins that have deprived you of his sweet society We find 2 Sam. 24. David sin'd in numbering of the People and God punisheth him in lessening the number of them See what David doth vers 10. His heart smote him after he had numbred the People and he said unto the Lord I have sinned greatly in that I have done And now I beseech thee O Lord take away the iniquity of thy Servant for I have done very foolishly No sooner was David convinced of his sin by the testimony of his Conscience acted by the Spirit of God but presently makes his humble addresses to God confessing his sin and heartily bewailing his folly he prayes to God for pardon thereof vers 17. David seeing the People smitten by the destroying Angel he cries out Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these Sheep what have they done David knew very well that the People were not without their faults justly deserving this and a greater judgment yet reflecting upon his sin as an occasion of this judgment he endeavours to acquit them taking the fault wholly upon himself and
and what art thou now afraid to depart Go out my Soul And with that he laid himself down upon his Pillow and quietly slept in the Lord. That good man Oecolampadius when he lay a dying being asked by some of his friends whether the light did not offend him he clapt his hand on h s breast saying Hic sat lucis est Here is light enough meaning comfort So that solid Divine and eminent Christian Master Bolton said to some of his Friends that came to visit him at the point of death I am said he by the wonderful mercies of God as full of comfort as mine heart can hold and feel nothing in my Soul but Christ I could produce great store of such like Examples but let these suffice Object But are not some of God's dear Servants unwilling to die as was David Psal 102.24 and Hezekiah Isa 38.1 2 3 Do not some die with little or no comfort Answ As for David and Hezekiah they were publick Magistrates and desired to live longer that they might be serviceable in their Generation and bring glory to God They knew if they had died at such a time the wicked would have insulted and made Songs of Tryumph at their Funeral They feared Distractions both in Church and State which might follow upon their death And haply they were the more unwilling to die because in their apprehensions not sufficiently prepared for Death Possibly by falling unadvisedly into some sins they had blurred their evidences and wounded their Consciences It is therefore good counsel which * Dr. Boreman in Serm. on Phil. 3 20. p. 45. Carthusianus gives and that is so to provide for the coming of Death ut nihil in mente resideat quod Conscientiam mordeat cum quo mori timeat that no sin reside or remain in our breast which may wound and trouble the Conscience and with which we being guilty cannot die in peace and safety Sin like Jonah in the Ship raiseth a tempest in the Soul The reason why many find so little comfort at death is because they are too negligent in preparing themselves for it I end this with that of the Psalmist Psal 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace 3. and last Consider 3. And lastly By this means you shall arise again with comfort That there will be a Resurrection of the Body is clear from Scripture Insomuch that our Saviour told the Sadduces which said there is no Resurrection Matth. 22.29 Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures When Jesus told Martha that her Brother should rise again Joh. 11.23 she replyed vers 24. I know that he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last Day And the Apostle spends the largest Chapter in all his Epistles in proving this Point against some in the Church of Corinth who denied it 1 Cor. 15.12 Well then at Christs second coming to Judgment we must all rise again with our own bodies and give an account of our own Works as you may see 2 Cor. 5.10 Rom. 14.12 This will be a joyful day to such as have lived in expectation of it and preparation for it For when Christ their life appears they shall appear with him in glory Col. 3.4 They shall have a Crown of Righteousness conferred upon them 2 Tim. 4.7 8. They shall rise to everlasting life Dan. 12.2 John 5.29 They shall lift up their heads with joy They shall have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming 1 Joh. 2.28 For he who is their Saviour Surety Intercessor Head and Husband will be their Judge He will at that day gather them together and place them on his right hand and pronounce that blessed Sentence Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World They shall be Assessores in judicio like Justices of the Peace upon the Bench with the Judge approving of that righteous Sentence which Christ shall pronounce upon the wicked both Men and Devils 1 Cor. 6.2 3. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World Know ye not that we shall judge Angels * Psalm 149.9 This and much more honour have all the Saints in that great day They enter upon such happiness as shall never end Dan. 12.3 They shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever see 1 Thes 4.14 c. After the Apostle had spoken of the Resurrection and second coming of Christ he tells us that Believers shall be for ever with the Lord vers 17. And then he adds Comfort one another with these words vers 18. This eternal happiness will make amends for all our pains and care in our Christian course Thus you see how comfortable their condition is that live in continual expection of Death and preparation for Death They live comfortably they die comfortably and they shall rise again with comfort Whereas on the other side if men be careless herein they have no true comfort whilst they live even in laughter their heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness Prov. 14.13 So it was with Belshazzar Dan. 5.4 5. God saith again and again by the Prophet Isaiah That there is no peace to the wicked Isa 48.22 57.21 And if they have no true peace and comfort whilst they live I am sure they have none when they come to die As Ahab said to Elijah so may a wicked man say upon the approach of Death 1 King 21.20 Hast thou found me O mine Enemy Death to him is the King of Terrors as Bildad in Job call'd it Job 18.14 Or as the Philosopher Arist Eth. ad Nic lib. 3. c. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing is so terrible to him as Death The Soul at such a time is usually full of horrors and heavy apprehensions Pangs of Death horrour of Conscience sense of Guilt and frights of Hell are sufficient to render him perfectly miserable If there be any wicked men that die with little sense of pain and less fear of Death as Psal 73.4 we must know that this is security and sensless stupidity no true peace And if they have no true peace and comfort neither in life nor at death they 'l have none after death nor at the general Resurrection for no sooner is the soul separated from the body but God passeth a particular judgment upon it Eccles 12.7 Heb. 9.27 and dooms it to misery Even as Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth for an Example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. And at the second coming of Christ to Judgment the body shall rise and be reunited to the soul and Christ will pronounce that dreadful Sentence upon all wicked persons Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels And this Sentence being once pass'd shall never be alter'd Hence it is called
Eternal Judgment Heb. 6.2 If Felix trembled to hear of judgment to come as you may read he did Acts 24.25 How will wicked men tremble when Christ comes to execute Judgment upon them as you read he will Eccles 11.9 12. last vers 2 Thess 1.7 8 9. Jude 15. Wicked men will then cry to the Hills to fall upon them and hide them from the face of him that sits upon the Throne c. Rev. 6.16 17. They would then count it an happiness to be able to die but alas They shall seek for death but they shall not find it and they shall desire to die but death shall flee from them Rev. 9.6 So then wicked men shall rise again but it will be to their everlasting shame and misery Dan. 12.2 They shall come forth to the Resurrection of ◠Damnation John 5.29 And they shall have bodies to be tormented in which Devils have not and they shall be miserable as long as God is happy and that is to all eternity and for ever Mat. 25.46 These shall go away into everlasting punishment Sinner and Hell-fire shall never be parted This word never breaks the heart of a sinner and gives new life to those insufferable torments which exceed all expression or imagination When ten hundred thousand millions of Ages are past the misery of the damned is as fresh to begin as it was the first moment they entred upon it If there was any hope of an end 't would something ease the heart but Eternity is intolerable O Eternity Eternity Eternity Methinks the dreadful terrors of Eternity should strike fire out of a Flint and make the hardest heart to melt into tears for sin and quicken the dullest soul to Godliness Death which is the end of all things Ex hoc momento pendet Aeternitas shall bring Man to a condition that shall never end Vegetative and sensitive Creatures when once dead they have no more a Beeing But Man when this life is ended shall live again and that to eternity either in bliss or misery Where are mens wits or what think they on that they do not prepare Wherefore Courteous Reader as David said to Solomon in another case so say I to thee 1 Chron. 22.16 Arise and be doing and the Lord be with thee Amen FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epaphroditus's Sickness AND RECOVERY In three Sermons The First Preached at St. Michaels in Coventry upon the 14th day of December in the morning being the Lecture day And the two other Preached the Lords Day following being the 18th of the same instant in the same Church Anno Dom. 1670. By Thomas Allestree M. A. Rector of Ashow in the County of Warwick I was brought low and he helped me Psal 116.6 The Lord hath chastned me sore but he hath not given me over unto Death Psal 118.18 Nè umbrâ quidem corporis nedum vivo ac sano corpore dignus est quisquis usque adeò Stoicus est factus ut vitam ac sanitatem corporis quâ utraque ad gloriam Dei uti poterit non sentiat donum esse divinae munificentiae sed susque deque faciat sive sanus sit sive aegrotet vivatne vel moriatur Musculus in Psal 102.3 4. LONDON Printed for the Author Anno Dom. 1671. To the Right Worshipful Mr. Thomas King Mayor with the Aldermen his Brethren and the rest of the Inhabitants of the City of Coventry The Author wisheth continuance of health with increase of grace and peace SIRS THese three following Sermons though conceived elsewhere were first brought forth in your Ancient Honourable City The subject matter of them is seasonable for these sickly times Though you in your City as I am informed by * Mr. Feak and Mr. Wanley your present Ministers those who have best reason to know have been this last year as healthful as at other times a mercy which you can never be too thank-full for yet the Towns and Villages about you yea the most part of this Nation I hope you are sensible of it have been sorely visited with sickness I therefore at the importunity of some Friends thought good to make these Notes publick The Word preached is too soon †Vox audita perit sed litera scripta manebit forgotten and reacheth but to few but Printed may be seen by many and perused at pleasure I hope these Sermons that found acceptance with many when Preached will being Printed find the like acceptance with the sober Christian You have that here presented to the eye which was delivered to the ear for I have made little or no alteration onely I have inserted several Latine Sentences which I did not mention in the Pulpit partly because I would avoid the suspition of vain-glory and partly because they would have taken up too much of that little time alotted every Sand of which we should frugally improve to the profit of the bearer You that understand Latine may read these Quotations to your better satisfaction You that like them not because you cannot understand them may over-look them These Sermons like the Author come forth in a plain dress My desire was not with elegant cadencies of words to please an itching ear but with plain Scripture-evidence to affect an honest heart And strong-lines could not reasonably be expected from one so weak as I then was being but lately recovered of a grievous sickness Well dear Friends whatever they be I humbly present them to your acceptance as a testimony of my thankfulness and to shew how willing I am To serve your Souls in what I may T. Allestree Ashow March 27. 1671. Epaphroditus's sickness First Sermon PHIL. 2.27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death but God had mercy on him THE Philippians to whom St. Paul wrote his Epistle were Inhabitants of Philippi which was a chief City of Macedonia and a Colonie Acts 16.12 It was the Metropolis of that part of Macedonia and a Roman Colonie whose Inhabitants came from Rome to dwell there vers 21. * Musculus in Phil. 1.1 Coloniae sunt gentes ad terram aliquam habitandum missae saith Musculus It was formerly called Crenida 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the fruitful Fountains that issued from the Hill on which it was built Eò quòd circa collem cui inaedificata fuit uberrimi Fontes promanarent Muscul in Phil. 1. v. 1. Some * Itinerarium totius sacrae scripturae p. 539. say there were veins of Gold found close by it Philip King of Macedon Father of Alexander the Great caused it in the year before Christ 354. to be reedified and enlarged and then after his own name called it Philippos or Philippi Hanc Philippus Rex Macedoniae munitiorem reddidit propter vicinos Thraces ac in nominis sui memoriam Philippus vocavit Muscul Muscul in Phil. 1.1 It was enriched with many priviledges much Gold found there but it was not so happy in that as in Pauls praying
and tost upon the Waves of a troublesome World Is not this World like a round Ball stuck full of Pins so that upon what part soever the Godly are cast they meet with trouble and misery According to that of our Saviour John 16.33 In the World ye shall have tribulation So that to have his life prolonged what was it but a prolongation of his misery and an adjournment of his happiness Tiberius Caesar said to one that requested death rather than long imprisonment Sueton. Nondum tecum redii in gratiam he told him He had not such a favour for him The like favour God here denies for the present to Epaphroditus and can this be truly call'd a Mercy Answ It cannot be denied but death is better than life to the Godly and rather to be chosen for it frees from sin sickness Satans temptations c. Yea it brings them to the happy vision and fruition of God to the society of blessed Saints and Angels and puts them into possession of everlasting happiness Calvin in Phil. 2.27 Longum esset enumerare omnia quae faciunt ut mors fidelibus potior sit vitâ optabilior Yet for all this as that learned Author saith Vita per se aestimata est praeclarum Dei beneficium praesertum qui Christo vivunt iis vitam lucro esse dicimus Life considered in it self is a choice mercy of God and advantagious to the Godly And to glorifie God in this bodily life is Non parva dignatio no little savour which God vouchsafeth to us so Calvin And Musculus Muscul in Phil. 2.27 saith Mors ipsa quatenus est peccati stipendium horribilis naturae in seipsâ considerata capax est misericordiae tà m corà m Deo quà m corà m hominibus Death as it is the wages of sin and terrible to nature is capable of mercy both before God and Man Besides as the same Author observes there were several circumstances which would have rendered his death in a sort miserable and no doubt did then trouble his mind Desolatio videlicet perturbatio Ecclesiae as the too much dejection of his people at the sad news of his death and the desolation that might follow upon it and withal the consideration that he could be no longer serviceable to them and to the Apostle in his bonds which he much desired Besides we may farther add that the continuance of a good mans life is a great blessing in this respect that the longer he lives the more good he doth and so his reward will be the greater 2 Cor. 9.6 He that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully There are degrees of glory as may be gathered from 1 Cor. 15.41 42. 1 Cor. 3.8 Secundum non propter opera The most gracious here shall be most glorious hereafter Those that do most for God here shall receive most from God hereafter So that had Epaphroditus died he had had his reward the sooner but living he makes it the greater For those of the longest standing and greatest proficiency in the School of Grace here shall take the greatest degrees of Glory hereafter I end this with the words of that truly pious and learned * Doctor Hammond in Phil. 1.22 Divine Life in it self and for the advantages of serving God and encreasing our Crown is a desirable thing Use and Application Vse 1 1. This may serve to confute or reprove the Manichees or any others that hold this present life in it self is evil Heming in Phil. 1.17 Manichei hanc praesentem vitam ut malum per se damnarunt Heming Surely God would never have made prolongation of life a motive to obedience as you find Deut. 6.2 30.16 c. so Prov. 3.16 4.10 22. 9.10 11. and elsewhere nor would the Apostle here have reckoned Epaphroditus's recovery amongst the mercies of God if this present life had been evil This is such a mercy we ought to bless God for Psal 66.8 9. O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard who holdeth our soul in life Muscul in Psal 103.3 4. Nè umbrâ quidem corporis nedum vivo ac sano corpore dignus est c. He is not worthy of the shadow and shape of a body much less of a living and healthful body that doth not look upon life and health as mercies Vse 2 2. This consideration should make us patient under afflictions that befal us So long as we have life and health we have no cause to complain as though God dealt hardly with us We read Gen. 19. that Lot had most of his Goods which he had not time to remove and his Sons in Law consumed in a fearful fire from Heaven and his Wife turned into a Pillar of Salt before his eyes a sad spectacle yet he counted it a mercy amidst manifold miseries that God had spared his life Vers 19. Behold now thy Servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life It is a mercy thou hast thy health but if this be gone after loss of Goods and Children as in Job's case yet it is a mercy thy life is spared that thou art on this side the Grave and a sad eternity Lam. 3.22 23. It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness Therefore as he adds vers 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain A living man hath cause to be thankful but none to murmur life and health being the choicest of outward mercies 3. and last Vse 3. And lastly Let us not if life and health be such choice mercies provoke God to deprive us of them Sin as I told you before is the procuring cause of sickness yea and of death too Rom. 5.12 so Rom. 6.23 Death both Temporal and Eternal is as due to sin as wages to him that earns them Temporal Death 't is true sooner or later will seize on us all yet many by sinning impair their health and shorten their dayes as these places shew Job 15.32 Psal 94.23 Prov. 10.27 Eccles 7.17 But more particularly I shall name several sins some of which in their own nature tend to impairing of health and shortening a mans dayes and others of them God hath threatned with destruction I pray you observe them and learn to avoid them as you love prolongation of health and life 1. Disobedience to Superiours See Exod. 20.12 This fiffh Commandement of honouring thy Father and Mother is said to be the first Commandement with promise Ephes 6.2 It is the first Commandement that hath this special promise annexed to it viz. Prolongation of dayes By Father and Mother we understand Political Ecclesiastical and Natural Parents Take heed then of an irreverent and disobedient carriage towards the King and those that are in authority under him You read Numb 16.
Church and People So Naomi Ruth 1.3 5. had lost her Husband and two Sons and vers 19 20. because God had dealt thus bitterly with her she refuseth her Name will be called Marah that signifies bitterness and not Naomi that signifies pleasant she refuseth this Name being so unsutable to her condition So the women of Bethlehem at the untimely death of their Infants Mat. 2.16 18 mourn will not be comforted And indeed the female kind naturally is more disposed to tenderness than the male Isa 49.15 and so more apt to weep immoderately and as one saith of the two the more to be pittied and the more capable of excuse and pardon But yet immoderate Sorrow in none is to be allowed As we approve not then of a Stoical Apathy for the best of Gods Servants have passions in them See Dr. Renolds on the Passions Acts 14.15 James 5.17 and passions are the feet of the soul placed in the sensitive appetite by the finger of God and Nature so neither do we approve of passions when irregular for then they are diseases of the mind depravers of reason disturbers of the understanding and cause the wisest men to speak and act not like themselves We find our Saviour Luke 7.12 13. saying to the Widow who wept for her only son Weep not he doth not there forbid natural affection but inordinate passion not tears simply but their excess not tears of sympathy and parental tenderness but despairing repining tears To shut up this See Dr. VValkers Sermon on that Text. the Apostle would have us to mortify inordinate affection Col. 3.4 that of sorrow as well as that of anger c. now it is inordinate when set on wrong objects or when it is in extreams either defective or excessive This corruption or disorder in our affections must be purged out Now I shall lay down several Arguments to prevent inordinate mourning at death of Friends Take ten which are as so many Corks to the Net to keep the soul under such losses from sinking too deep in sorrow CHAP. II. Ten Considerations to prevent immoderate Mourning at the Death of Friends IN the first place Consider the Necessity of Dying For We must needs dye 2 Sam. 14.14 So Eccles 12.5 Man goeth to his long home Man indefinitely i. e. every man high and low rich and poor beautiful and deformed male and female young and old good and bad all go to their long home the Grave So Ps 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see Death See Mr. Dugards Sermon on that Text. Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the Grave Selah No though he now liveth yet he shall not alway live but sooner or later shall see Death Joshua and David call Death The Way of all the Earth Josh 23.14 1 King 2.2 This way all Creatures of the Earth walk and therefore Job calls the Grave The House appointed for all Living Job 30.23 No man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit Eccles 8.8 But when his time is come The Spirit shall return to God who gave it Eccles 12.7 Death that black Prince or King of Terrors So called Job 18.14 is an invincible Champion who riding on his pale Horse for above these five thousand years hath with an impartial stroke layd all flat before him The long-liv'd Patriarchs Adam Seth Enoch c. like stout Oaks held out long but were forced at last to submit to Death's fatal stroak as you my read Gen. Chap. 5. Statutum est omnibus semel mori Heb. 9.27 It is appointed for all men once to dye It is Statute Law enacted in the Court of Heaven the decree is establisted the writing signed and like the Laws of the Medes and Persians Dan. chap. 6. vers 8. never to be reversed whilest this world lasteth we onely read of two exempted since the Creation of the World Enoch and Elijah who though they dyed not yet underwent a change and the like is not now to be expected So then that all must dye is an universal rule admitting of no exception And how soon all we may be brought in as Examples to this general Rule we know not Even Kings on Earth are but Earthen Kings and like Nebuchadnezzars Image Dan. 2. stand on feet of clay and moulder away as well as others Aequo pede pulsat pauperum tabernas regumque turres Hor. I have said ye are gods but ye shall dye like men Psal 82.6 7. Augustus mortuus est Nay Christ himself dyed the Lord of Life is put to Death though he did not sin actually yet because he had our sins by imputation Isa 53.6 1 Pet. 2.24 He stood guilty of our sins for he became our Surety and therefore underwent a dissolution though indeed he saw no corruption Acts 2.27 so Acts 13.37 Now as Phocion said to one that was condemned to the same death with him Art thou not glad to fare as Phocion doth So shall we be too much cast down at death of our Friends seeing the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles nay Christ himself hath tasted death's bitter Cup. Well then at death of your Friend consider that Job 21.33 Every man shall draw after him as there are innumerable before him Me-thinks this should somewhat alleviate our sorrow Seneca de consol ad Polib .24 Quis tam superbae impotentisque arrogantiae est ut in hâc naturae necessitate omnia in eundem finem revocantis se unum ac suos seponi velit An Heathen looked upon it as a great piece of weakness and pride for any man to expect that either he or any of his should be exempted from the general rule of mortality Consid 2 Secondly consider The friends you lose are not so much yours as God's 1 Chron. 29.14 All things come of thee saith David And St. James saith Jam. 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights c. Children among other things are the gift of God This Lesson our great Grandmother Eve taught us calling her first-born Cain saying I have gotten a man from the Lord Gen. 4.1 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musculus in locum By the favour help and blessing of God as his gift So saith Jacob Gen. 33.5 These are the Children which God hath graciously given me And God tells us he gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau Josh 24.4 Psal 127.3 Lo Children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward Clavis coeli sepulchri cordis matricis in manu Dei It is God that opens and shuts the Womb at his pleasure See Gen. 30.2 22. God may say truly what Benhadad said falsly 1 King 20.3 Thy silver and thy gold is mine thy wives also and thy children even the goodliest are mine We use to bestow upon relations a term of propriety
whatever we deliver on this point comes as far short of the Truth it self as the Picture of the Sun in the Wall doth of the greatness and brightness of it in its Orbe Gaudium erit in fine sed gaudium erit sine fine Bern. It shall be joy in the end but joy without end Carnal joy of wicked men is bruitish and sensual Eccles 2.2 I said of laughter it is mad and of mirth what doth it It is neither true nor lasting It is not true for saith the same wise-man In the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowful Prov. 14.13 Nor is it lasting for The pleasures of sin are but for a season Heb. 11.25 But now heavenly joy is both true and lasting For Psal 16.11 In thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore And Psal 36.8 9. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the River of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of Life They shall lye at the fountain and be for ever bathing themselves in Rivers of Pleasures that flow from the everlasting Fountain The joy that comes streaming into the soul of a Believer that hath made his peace with God it passes all understanding Phil. 4.7 It is joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 Yet this is but a dark representation of heavenly joy God indeed gives his People here a little of the hidden Manna of joy but hereafter he will give into their bosoms good measure pressed down shaken together and running over as expression is Luke 6.38 Tanta est dulcedo coelestis gaudii saith St. Austin ut si una guttula diffluerit in infernum totam amaritudinem inferni absorberet The joyes of heaven saith * Mr. Strode's Anatom of Mortality p. 294 295. another are so many that God only can number them so great that he onely can aestimate them of such variety and perfection that this world hath nothing comparable unto them they are so great that they cannot be measured so long that they cannot limitted so many that they cannot be numbred so pretious that they cannot be valued yet we shall see them without weariness love them without measure and praise them without end It is such joy as our Lord and Master hath And because too great to enter into us he bids us enter into it Mat. 25.23 Well done good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. O joy surpassing all other joy when shall I enjoy thee Thus courteous Reader I have like the searchers of Canaan brought thee a cluster of Grapes a taste as it were of the plentiful Vintage which thou mayest expect in the heavenly Canaan Now considering these manifold benefits that come by death both privative and positive we may conclude on better grounds than the heathen did that the dead are blessed Faelices nimiùm quibus est fortuna peracta Jam sua Blessed they are and that by a voice from heaven who dye in the Lord Rev. 14.13 In Domino i. e. in Domini favore Happy they are that dye in the Lords favour Death is so sanctified in Christs death that of a curse it is changed into a blessing Christ tasted deaths bitter Cup and suck'd out the venom of it Now then to conclude this Chapter if death be so advantagious to Believers upon the account of Christ Let us not sorrow as without hope for those that sleep in him 1 Thes 4.13 14. If the dead in the Lord could speak they would say as our Saviour did to the women that lamented him Luke 23.27 28. Weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children You and yours are in the valley of Bochim subject to sin sorrow devils assaults wicked mens rage suspensions of the light of Gods countenance c. weep then for your selves and your children that are thus tossed upon the waves of a troublesome world but weep not for us who are at rest in the Haven of Heaven Me-thinks dear Friends these several Considerations as Davids Harp should charm down all passions and distempers of spirit that arise at loss of Friends They may be called Eshcol for they are a whole cluster of Grapes Numb 13.24 Press them by Meditation and squeeze out the wine that is in them to your comfort CHAP. III. Several Apologies answered NOtwithstanding what I have said to make us patient at death of Friends me thinks I hear several complaining every one thinking their burthen greatest and they want not arguments and pleas to aggravate their sorrows Every sin hides it self under some Fig-leaf Excuse and this sin of Discontent at death of Friends hath several Apologies Let us discuss the chief of them I know most commonly sorrow stops its ears against the sweet charmes of Reason yet for father satisfaction of the discontented I shall give in Replys to several Pleas and according to my ability I shall faithfully debate the case And to begin first with complaints that Parents take up at loss of Children for they usually are most discontented One cryes out My Child was still-born or died presently after it was born 1. Apology answ and which most of all troubles me it died unbaptized Answer To have a Child still-born or suddenly expiring is matter of grief especially to the female Parent Our Saviour observes John 16.21 A woman when she is in travel hath sorrow because her hour is come but as soon as she is delivered of her child she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world The sight of a living child is the best cordial that can be given to a fainting woman under her pain and travel but if the child be still-born or suddenly expiring the pangs of grief conceived hereat are greater to the tender mother than pangs of travel For the former pangs at most do but rend the flesh but these inward throes do tear the very soul Luk. 2.35 Yet for your comfort consider these ensuing particulars 1. Consider He that hath taken this Child away can give another God gave Eve another seed another son instead of Abel Gen. 4. last God took away Job's children as you reade Job 1. but he gave him as many more afterwards Job 42.13 God's hand is not shortned nor grows he infirm in the latter end of the world He can do the like for thee if it please him 2. Consider If your Child had lived Moses-like it had been exposed to the water of Affliction For as St. Austin saith Aug. Ser. de bono pat Infans nondum loquitur tamen prophetat The poor Infant that cannot speak yet by crying when it comes into the world prophesies of its future condition as very lamentable It cryes as soon as born and cannot laugh as some observe till it hath been forty dayes in the world And little cause it has God-wot to laugh then for
it sleeps by fits and starts either cold starves it or heat overcomes it or hunger pines it or wind pains it sickness sores and teeth-breeding torture it When it begins to go if with Mephibosheth it be not lame on its feet 2 Sam. 9.13 it may meet with many a knock And afterwards it is beset with bryars and thorns of temptations and troubles So that in time if thy Child had lived it might have complained with Job chap. 3.11 Why died I not from the womb why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly for now should I have lyen still and been quiet I should have slept then had I been at rest v. 13. so Job 6.8 9. 10.18 19. he still harps upon the doleful string and continues his pittiful complaint as weary of life Put case thy Child had not been so sorely afflicted yet no mothers Child can escape scot-free for Job 5.7 Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward Blow the coal and you shall see the sparks fly upward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haec enim levium Lex est Duport 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in loc It is the nature of sparks to fly upwards so it is ordinary for man to be in trouble So Job 14.1 That is true of Bóetius In hoc vitae salo circundantibus agitamur procellis Whilst we are in this life we are tost on a sea of troubles Shall we grieve that our Child is come so soon to the shoar and freed from the winds and waves of care and trouble 3. Consider If your Child had lived it would have been matter of pains and care to you What great care do Parents take what great pains are they at to provide for Children Prov. 13.22 2 Cor. 12.14 1 Tim. 5.8 Nulli parentibus magis noxii quam filii nimis amati Salvian ad Eccl. Cathol lib. 3. p. 435. The care of the Mother for the little Child is great she hath troublesome dayes and wakeful nights in the nursing of it How doth the Father cark and care for its Education and future Portion The care of both eats out many times the heart of their Religion St. Jerom reports of Metania who when she saw her Husband dead presently before he was cold had two Children died also whereupon she said Expeditius sum tibi servitura Domine quia tanto me onere liberâsti I will now serve thee more readily being delivered from many encumberances 4. Consider If this Child had lived it had been a great question whether you might have had any comfort of it or not Who knows whether it might have proved a wise-man or a fool Children are certain cares but uncertain comforts Some Children Viper-like seek the death of those that were a means to give them life Dr. Vanes Wisdome Innocence p. 143. Hecuba when with child of Paris dreamed she was brought to bed of a Firebrand and so indeed he proved afterwards Our first Parents had great hopes that their first-born would have been a comfort to them and therefore gave him an honourable name Gen. 4.1 calling him Cain that signifies a Possession They looked upon him as a choice Possession but he proved a very wicked person and to the great grief of his Parents murdered his Brother Abel v. 8. How was Eli crossed in his Hophni and Phineas see 1 Sam. 2.12 1 Sam. 3.13 compared David promised himself some happiness in his son Absalom which name signifies a Father of Peace but the Child proved a Father of War and Misery to him 2 Sam. 16.11 David said to Abishai and to all his Servants Behold my Son which came forth of my bowels seeketh my life So Adonijah whom his Father David had not displeased at any time even this his Darling usurps his Fathers Kingdom as you may see 1 Kin. 1.5 6. Many times aged Parents are forced to complain as the Tree did in the Fable that it was rent and torn and split asunder with the same Wedg that was cut off from its own Body Children many times are living Monuments of Disgrace to their Parents Mic. 7.6 The Son dishonoureth the Father the Daughter riseth up against her Mother So that instead of finding Honey thou mightest have met with a Sting To end this the Wise-man saith Prov. 17.21 He that begets a Fool doth it to his sorrow and the Father of a Fool hath no joy And v. 25. A foolish Son is a grief to his Father and bitterness to her that bear him And who knows but thy Child might have proved such a one 5. Lastly consider It had been better for the greatest part in the world they had died as soon as they were born St. John tells us The whole World i. e. the greatest part of the World lieth in wickedness 1 Joh. 5.19 Few there be that serve God And if we serve him not as Christ said of Judas Mat. 26.24 It had been good for us if we had not been born Or like Aristotle's Ephemeron or Jonah's Gourd we had perished the same day or night that we came into the world For the longer we live the more sin we commit and the greater will be our damnation at last Surely an untimely birth is better than he that comes in with vanity and departs in darkness Eccl. 6.3 4. Surely The day of death is better than the day of ones birth Eccles 7.1 And the Heathen as though he had lighted his Candle at this Torch said right Optimum non nasci proximum quà m citò mori It is best not to be born or being born to die soon for by this means poor mortals are freed from much sin and misery I conclude this with that of Lactantius Lactant. de opificio hominis c. 4. Stultissimi sunt qui de morte immaturâ quaeruntur They are Fools in the Superlative degree that complain because Friends die soon Object But my chid dyed unbaptized Answ Children of believing parents are within the Covenant Act. 2.39 The Promise is to you and to your children c. Rom. 11.16 1 Cor. 7.14 * See Mr. Attersal on Book of Numbers pag. 1081. Unto Infants belongs the promise of Grace the forgiveness of sins the regeneration of the Spirit the Imputation of Christs Righteousness the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.13 14. And therefore they ought by no means to be denyed the outward sign and ceremony which is the least part of the Sacrament if the things signified belong to them who shall dare to debar them of the outward sign It is the duty of Parents to bring their children to Baptism which is the Seal of the Covenant and Sacrament of admission or entrance into the Church Besides who knows not but Circumcision was a type of Baptism Col. 2.11 12. or that Baptism succeeded in the room of it now we know children were circumcised the eighth day Gen. 17.12 so 21.4 before that time the child was too weak to bear the pain
we cannot redress Arch-bishop Abbot saith well to this purpose Lect. 24. on Jonah 4.1.157.158 If God according to his unsearchable purpose after we have done our duties leave our Friends in darkness let us admire God's Justice towards them and his Favour to us stand amazed at the one and kindly imbrace the other but be patient in both We may not take upon us to be more pitiful to our friends than God who is perfect Pity Let us in humility sigh and groan for them and be thankfull for our selves but let there be no anger no displeasure To shut up this We reade Exod. 14.31 That when the Egyptians were overwhelmed in the Cataracts of God's displeasure The People feared the Lord. And when Ananias and Sapphira were suddenly struck dead for their hypocrisie it is said Act. 5.11 Great fear came upon all the Church and upon as many as heard these things So let the death of thy Relation cut off in his wickedness work a fear in thee and turn thy sorrow for him into sorrow for thine own self and manifold sins lest thou come also into the place of torment CHAP. IV. Containing some Practical Directions to prevent immoderate Weeping WHat I have delivered in former Chapters may suffice by way of consideration I shall now Direct to something by way of Practice to prevent excessive grief at death of friends I pray you observe these 8 Directions and put them into speedy practice 1. Direct Accustome thy self to bear lesser afflictions which you may daily meet with There is scarce a day passeth over our heads but God doth try our patience in one kind or other Job 5.7 Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward Prov. 27.1 Boast not thy self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Every day like a big-bellied woman is with child of somewhat and we know not before-hand what trouble it may produce whether great or small but Mat. 6.34 Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof q. d. Every day may bring enough grief and vexation with it do not by distracting care antedate the evil of it or add sorrow to it A Disciple of Christ must take up his cross daily Luke 9.23 If we daily bear lesser afflictions patiently we may be inabled to bear stronger tryals St. Paul by inuring himself to bear lesser crosses which he daily met with he could in time bear the greatest that God did lay upon him Phil. 4.11 I have learnt in what ever state I am therewith to be content Nay he makes a light matter of all afflictions 2 Cor. 4.17 The Prophet tells us Lam. 3.27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth Much good comes by a timely bearing the cross It will make a man suffer willingly v. 28. He sits alone and keeps silence because he hath born it upon him It will make a man suffer humbly ver 29. He putteth his mouth in the dust It will make him suffer willingly vers 30. He gives his cheek to him that smiteth him Milo could carry a Bull being used to carry it daily when it was a Calf by daily bearing lesser troubles you may be enabled for greater tryals But if you sink under light burthens what will you do when great ones come 2. Direct Expect such losses before hand It is reported of Anaxagoras and some report the like of Xenophon that he was not much troubled at the death of his son for said he Memini me genuisse mortalem I lookt upon him as a mortal man Troubles that come of a sudden and unexpected are most troublesome because they find uâ— unprepared to bear them An heavy burthâ—â— cast on a mans shoulders unawares startles him sinks him and makes him cry out because he thought not of it and so was not prepared to bear it Weigh then such burthens in your thoughts aforehand Qui sua metitur pondera ferre queat Spinx Philosophica p. 635. Look upon Friends and Relations standing like Nebuchadnezzars Image on feet of clay frail and mortal and that death ere long will separate betwixt dearest friends Ruth 1.17 Expect the worst that may befall thee Make account the time we live here is short Man and Wife and such like Relations must shortly part and then when this divorce comes you 'l weep as if you wept not 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. so moderate will you be in weeping 3. Direct Set not your affection too much upon any Relation The more we love any thing the more loath we are to leave it Isidore saith Cum gravi dolore amittuntur quae cum magno amore habentur Isodor de sum bonor Inordinate affection causeth extraordinary affliction according to that of the Poet Quem res plus nimio delectavere secudae Mutatae quatient si quid mirabere pones Invitus Horat. Epist 10. lib. 1. If we love and rejoyce too much in Relations whilst we have them we shall grieâ—â— too much when we lose them How impatiently did Jacob take the supposed death of Joseph you may read Gen. 37.33 34 35. There was such a vain of grief opened as could not be stenched and the reason was if any reason can be given for it He loved him more then the rest of his Children vers 3. So he is impatient of Benjamins going out of his sight Gen. 42.38 and all was because he loved him so dearly Gen. 44.20 Jonah overjoyed in his Gourd whilst he had it Jonah 4.6 But when the next morning God withered his Gourd vers 7. he takes it so impatiently that he wisheth his own death vers 8.9 We find Judg. 18.24 Micah was sore troubled when his Idol-Gods were taken away Many make Idols of their Children and Relations poor Idol-Gods that cannot defend themselves from death and when they are taken away they are sore troubled ready to weep themselves into their Graves with them whom they too much affected 4. Direct Labour to clear up your interest in God Make him your friend who will be light to you when you sit in darkness Mic. 7.8 and comfort you under any trouble 2 Cor. 1.4 5 6. Such an one that hath an interest in God may say in midst of trouble Psal 116.7 Return to thy rest O my soul God is indeed the souls only resting-place Jer. 50.6 God is Centrum quietativum animae Jehovah is compounded of quiescent letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Literae quiescentes to shew there is no true rest but in him And in him there is rest As Noah was safe in the Ark whilst toss'd with tempests Make then but God thy Friend and thou maist with Noah's Dove have recourse to the Ark and find rest there when flouds of miseries are abroad We read Mat. 8.26 Christ rebuked the Winds and Waves so that there was a great calm In him we may have peace in the midst of worldly troubles John 16.33 Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia If God give comfort
yearning in his bowels with bitter grief that he should be the cause of bringing this destruction upon his dearly beloved People So should we when our sins have been a cause to hasten the death of our dear Friend confess them unto God be deeply humbled for them and pray heartily for pardon thereof And then Thirdly and lastly Let us be careful to avoid these sins for the future This God expects Job 36.9 10. He shews them who are holden in the Cords of Affliction their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded he openeth also their ear to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity This the Church hath practised in times of great distress Lam. 3.40 Let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. Oh! how should our hearts rise against such sins as rob us of our dear Friends If any mortal man had murdered our Father or Mother Son or Daughter Brother or Sister or any other near and dear Friend or Relation We would not endure that man but prosecute the Law on him to the uttermost and we would rejoyce to see justice done upon him Our hand would not spare our eye would not pitty him Oh then take an holy revenge upon your Lusts which have provoked God to take away such or such Relations let your hearts be transported with infinite indignation against them 2 Cor. 7.11 Say in the Language of Elihu Job 34.31 I have born chastisement I will not offend any more nor provoke God in this manner by my sins to take away my Friends Mortifie therefore your earthly members fornication uncleanness inordinate affection c. Coloss 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kill or make dead Pursue these sins with a deadly implacable hatred not only odio aversationis but inimicitiae Oh! let not your sins survive any longer but as they have killed your Friend so let them be buried with him in his Grave Use 4 4. Imitate deceased Friends in what is good There is no Friend so universally bad but there is something of good in him worth imitation some good might be distil'd from him if we put under the fire of Charity Who so deeply buried * Refined Courtier p. 58. saith a learned man under the rubbish of his own ruines that something of goodness may not be discerned by a charitable Surveyor We find David commending Saul in that Panegyrick or Funeral Oration mentioned 2 Sam. 1. Do not like the silly Sheep leaping off a Bridge follow one another in irregular wayes to your destruction Nequaquà m facere nos improbos improbitas debeat aliena Salv. Salv. de Gub. Dei lib. 7 p. 241. What you find in any materially good follow it but chiefly imitate your godly Friends Phil. 3.17 But in as much as they have their failings as pure Gold hath its dross and the purest Wheat its Chaff follow them so far onely as they follow Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 Make then your godly Parents your Paterns as * Mr. Dugard in Epist deâ—icat to his Sermon on Ps 89 48 Constantines Sons are said to resemble him to the life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Write after those good Copies which deceased Friends have set you Jerom having read the Life and Death of Hilarion who died Christianly as he lived Religiously Well said he Hilarion shall be the Champion whom I will follow Zeno Cilliaeus consulted with the Oracle how he might live well and he received this answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If he was of the same colour with the dead This he interpreted to mean That he should get and read all the antient Books that he could hear of and then steep and die his mind in those sacred Notions A * Mr. Patrick in his Serm on Psal 90.12 Reverend Divine saith of this Sentence what St. Paul did of Epimenides's Sentence Tit. 1.13 This testimony is true If you would live well Look as like to the dead in the Lord as ever you can and labour to turn your Souls into their shape As living Examples are to be followed so the dead are not to be forgotten Heb. 6.12 Be not slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises It is said of Abel Heb. 11.4 That being dead yet speaketh which as it may be understood of his blood calling for Vengeance Gen. 4.10 Heb. 12.24 So likewise of his example calling for our imitation Heb. 12.1 Well then was thy Friend a strict observer of the Sabbath a constant frequenter of the Ordinances a diligent reader of God's Word a faithful Instructer of his Children and Servants Was he a lover of good Ministers a reliever of good People a reprover of Vice an encourager of Vertue Was he much in praying laborious in his Calling Was he serviceable to his Neighbour faithful to his Friend a forgiver of his Enemies In a word Was he temperate meek patient peaceable humble honest heavenly-minded c If these and the like vertues were conspicuous in thy Friend Go thou and do likewise Luke 10.37 Though your Friend be dead and buried yet let his vertues live in your practice Use 5 5. Admire Gods goodness who as yet continues thee in the land of the Living Life is a mercy that we ought to bless God for Psal 66.8 9. O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard who holdeth our soul in life So Ps 103.1 2 3 4. The Psalmist there amongst other mercies blesseth God for healing his Diseases and redeeming his life from destruction Indeed God's delivering our Soul from Death is an effect of his bounty as ye may gather from Psal 116.7 8. It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed Lam. 3.22 For God to maintain that radical moisture that Oyl that feeds the Lamp and Light of thy Life is as * Mr. Goodwin on Rom. 2.4 5. one saith as great a miracle as the maintaining the Oil in the cruse of the poor famished Widow 1 Kings 17.16 When thou therefore hearest of the death of any Friend Neighbour or Relation consider with thy self it might have been thine own case thou art made of no better Mould then he was 'T is God only that preserveth the House of Clay from falling to the ground As thou accompaniest him to the Grave to pay the last office of Love consider thou mightest have been carried forth and others have accompanied thee Is it not a miracle of mercy that the Dart of Death should kill many round about thee and yet miss thee Conclude that the Hand of God guides it and it is his meer mercy that thou art yet spared When Lot as I told you before had his Wife turned into a Pillar of Salt and his Sons in Law swept away by a fearful showr of Fire and Brimstone he took it for a great favour that God had spared his life Gen. 19.19 Behold now thy Servant hath found grace in thy sight and
forbidden Fruit he should surely die Now we know Adam did eat Gen. 3. and the threatning took effect for after that he had eaten every day some part of his life was gone The wise Man tells us Eccles 3.2 There is a time to be born and a time to die What no time to live Truly it may be the wise man thought this life-time was so short that it was not worth taking notice of or it may be he would give us to understand that all the while we live we are in a dying condition An Heathen by the dim candle-light of Nature had a glymps of this for saith Seneca Quotidie morimur quotidiè enim demitur aliqua pars vitae Vita hominum dum crescit decrescit dum augetur minuitur Cylind as a Candle you know is no sooner lighted but begins to waste it is not the last blaze that spends it but it spends all the while it burns So an Hour-glass is no sooner turned but presently the Sand begins to run out The longer a man lives the less he hath to live Oh did we but see the Glass of our Life running many of us would see but little Sand remaining Well then let your going to the House of Mourning and following the Corps to the Grave mind you of your mortality that God will shortly bring you to the Grave The House appointed for all men living Job 30.23 15th and last Use Lastly Let death of Friends put us upon preparing for Death Seneca said Aetate fruere mobili cursu fugit Use time while you have it He meant it not in that sence in which the merry Greeks and voluptuous Epicures take it 1 Cor. 15.32 Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die But he would have us to imploy our short time in doing vertuous actions Labour that the Temple of Grace be erected in your souls before the Temple of your bodies be pulled down I have read how Peter Waldo about the year 1160. a Merchant of Lyons Mr. Fuller in his Holy War rich in substance and learning was walking and talking with his Friends when one of them suddenly sell down dead which lively spectacle of mans mortality so impressed the soul of this Waldo that instantly he resolved on a strict reformation of life which to his power he performed Mr. Dugard in his Serm. on Ps 89 48. pag. 39. Ribad de vita Fr. Borgia lib. 1. c. 9. It is likwise reported of Sir Francis Borgia a Spanish Courtier That having been at the Funeral of the Empress and considering how little a Grave had devoured all earthly Greatness he said when he came home Augustae mors mihi vitam attulit The death of the Empress hath brought me life and forthwith he became a wonderfully reformed man So when Friends die and we return from their burial let us resolve to lay aside worldly vanities and return home more grave and serious Let us set our House and Souls in order Luke 12.40 Be ye therefore ready for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not As we know not the time of our general so neither of our particular judgment It is good for us to stand upon our watch Mar. 13.32 and to improve all our opportunities both of doing and receiving good that so we may be as the wise Virgins Mat. 25. having Oyl in our Lamps Grace in our Hearts and may be fitted and prepared to meet the Bridegroom of our Souls when ever he cometh Now because preparation for Death though last mentioned is a chief and principal use that we should make of death of Friends I shall therefore somewhat enlarge upon it and shew you in the next Chapter wherein it consists CHAP. II. Shewing wherein preparation for Death consists NOW preparation for Death consists in these following Particulars 1. In praying unto God 1. Dir. Praecandos Confess thy manifold sins at the Throne of Grace and pray to God for pardon thereof Moses David Daniel Paul and other good men mentioned in Scripture were conversant in this duty of Prayer Our Saviour himself in the dayes of his flesh offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears Heb. 5.7 The * Per miserere mei tollitur ira Dei Publican confessing his sins and most humbly suing out the pardon of them went away justified Luke 18.13 14. How did Christ remember the Thief upon the Cross praying to him Luke 23. 42 43. Jacob was frequent and prevalent with God in prayer Gen. 32.28 even when he was old and weak he humbly presented his devotion to God Gen. 48.31 Heb. 11.21 Stephen that saw Heaven opened Acts 7.56 as he lived so he died praying Abel rediv in life of Luther and Erasmus vers 59. Luther he died praying and resigning his Spirit into Gods hands Erasmus breathed out his Soul in these Ejaculations Mercy sweet Jesus Lord loose these Bands How long Lord Jesus How long Jesus Fountain of Mercy have mercy upon me c. Bishop * Dr. Bernard in life of B. Vsher Usher he died like Mr. Perkins who expired with crying for mercy and forgiveness Pray then to God that he would pardon your manifold sins and fit you for death say with David Psal 39.4 Lord make me to know my end and the measure of my dayes that I may know how frail I am Pray with Moses Psal 90.12 Dr. Abbot on Jonah 4.2 p. 521. So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Prayer rightly performed as a learned Doctor saith is the best Sacrifice which the Soul can send up into Heaven 2. Preparation for Death consists in bewailing our sins 2. Dir. Peccata deplorando We should be like Doves of the Valleys all of us mourning every one for his iniquity as the Prophet speaks Ezek. 7.16 A broken and contrite heart saith David O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 The words are a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he means God highly prizeth a broken and contrite heart under the sence of sin St. Bernard saith Qui non plangit peccata non sentit vulnera He is not sensible of his spiritual wounds who doth not bewail his sinful condition And again saith another Father St. Austin Gravissima peccata gravissimus lamentis indigent Great sins call for great sorrows David saith Psal 6.6 All the night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with my tears and Psal 38.6 I go mourning all the day long so that night and day he mourned for his sins And Peter having sin'd he went out and wept bitterly Mat. 26.75 The crowing of the Cock was a Monitor of his fault And some say he never heard a Cock crow after but he wept bitterly for his offence in denying so shamefully as he did his Lord and Master St. Paul complains of a Body of Death Rom. 7.24 * Tertul. lib. de Panitent c. ult
unclean Beasts No there enters in nothing that defileth Rev. 21.27 and Rev. 22.15 see 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. and Gal. 5.19 20 21. There is a Catalogue of sins mentioned I pray you observe them and learn to avoid them if you expect to have a better life when this is ended He that dies to sin when he lives shall live when he dies and may say upon his death-bed as Myconius said to Luther his Friend that came to visit him Dr. Boreman's Sermon on Phil. 3.20 p. 47 48. This sickness is not unto Death but unto Life for when he dies to nature he shall live with God unto all eternity Let us therefore as the Author to the Hebrews exhorts Heb. 12.1 lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us As Racers lay aside things burthensome and troublesome so do you lay aside sin which is a burthen and hinders you in your spiritual Race * See Crit. sacra in vocem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some say the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a casting off as a man doth a long worn sute that begins to do him discredit to wear it or rather as a man coming out of Prison having filthy rags about him and full of Vermine hurls them away into a Dunghill or Ditch and never purposeth to touch them more It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin that doth beset us or wrap us about A Metaphor taken from a long Garment Deal with the old worn Garment of sin as Elijah did by his Mantle 2 Kings 2.13 lay it aside if ever you think to ascend to Heaven 4. Preparation for Death consists in doing good works 4. Dir. Benefaciendo Negative Holiness will not bring with it Positive Happiness Many build their hopes of future happiness upon this sandy Foundation That they are no Drunkards Whoremasters Swearers Lyars c. Because they are not guilty of open scandalous miscarrages therefore they bless themselves in their condition as the Pharisee did Luke 18.11 God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican It is good indeed to keep our selves unspotted from the World but this is not sufficient we must do good works visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction This is pure Religion and undefiled before God as St. James tells us Jam. 1.27 It is not enough not to do evil but we must likewise do good Ps 34.14 Isa 1.16 17. Rom. 12.9 Sinful omissions are not to be looked upon as bare negations or privations but as breaches of a positive Law which commands the contrary so that omission of duty is as damnable as commission of sin God cursed Meroz not for fighting against the People of God but because they did not come out to their help against the Mighty Judg. 5.23 It was as true a fault in them Hag. 1.2 c. not to set up the House of God as in others to pull it down The Tree that bears not good fruit is fuel for the fire as well as the Tree that bears evil fruit Mat. 3.10 Mat. 7.19 The unprofitable Servant was cast into utter darkness not for spending but for not improving his Masters Talent Mat. 25.30 So the five foolish Virgins as you may read before vers 3. and 10. compared were shut out of doors not for abusing in wasting but for wanting of Oil So you may read afterwards in that Chapter many will be doomed to Hell because not active in works of charity vers 41 42 c. It is not said ye took away my Meat Drink and Cloaths from me but ye gave me no Meat Drink Cloathing c. therefore depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire c. So * Luk. 16.19 Dives was cast into the place of torment non quòd abstulit aliena sed quòd non donavit sua not for robbing Greg. Hom 40. but for not relieving poor Lazarus Good works are necessary Salvation is not ordinarily obtained without them as these places shew Mat. 25.34 c. Luk. 16.9 Rom. 2.6 7 8 9 10. Gal. 6.9 10. 1 Tim. 6.18 19. Heb. 6.10 10.24 Nemo malâ morte unquam moriebatur qui libentèr opera charitatis exercuit Jerom. Bona opera sunt praedestinationis occultae indicta futurae foelicitatis is praesagia via regni Bern. Tractat. de gratia non causa regnandi Bernard Actus boni Christianae fidei quasi testes quia Christianus nisi bona opera fecerit fidem suam penitus approbare non possit Salv. Salvian de gub Dei lib. 4. p. 99. Now when I speak of good Works I do not only mean works of Charity for works of Piety and of our particular Callings are also good works Be much then in praying reading hearing meditating alms-deeds and the like To shut up this Particular we read how Jacob when he went to his own Countrey sent his Droves before him Gen. 32.16 and he followed after them Heaven is a Christians Countrey send droves of duties thither afore-hand as Prayers Meditations Affections Longings Alms-deeds c. that so when you depart this Life you may follow after them 5. Preparation for Death consists in putting on the Vertues of Christ 5. Dir. Virtutes Christi induendo You set your Watch not by the Clock but by the Sun order your motion according to that of Christ the Sun of Righteousness Christ propounds himself an Example and commands us to learn of him Mat. 11.29 1 Pet. 1.21 22. He sets himself as a Pattern for us to work by or as a Copy for us to write after I 'll name some Vertues that shined forth with greatest lustre in the Life of Christ and should likewise be conspicuous in the lives of all such as expect Salvation by him 1. There was in Christ Spiritual Wisdom Christ when he was a Child was sitting among the Doctors and was able to pose them Luke 2.46 47. He was sitting among the Doctors both hearing them and asking them questions and all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were out of themselves with admiration It was beyond their understanding what they heard from him in the praeludium of his Ministry And he is said to encrease in Wisdom Luk. 4.22 ver 52. In respect of his humane nature he did so but as God he was absolutely perfect in knowledge Solomon who was the Oracle of his Age 1 Kings 4.29 30 31. was a Type of Christ in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Col. 2.3 A Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding of Counsel and Knowledge did rest upon him Isa 11.2 Let us resemble him in Wisdom Labour to be filled with the knowledge of God's Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding increasing in the knowledge of God Col. 1.9 10. The New
healed of it but afterwards he felt many bad motions and sinful lusts stirring in him then he earnestly desired God to return to him the Head-ach again rather than suffer the peace of his Soul to be disquieted with those lusts So that you see bodily Pains and Diseases are sent by God to prevent or purge out sin But more particularly God sends sickness to prevent or purge out these following sins to name a few 1. Pride See 2 Cor. 12.7 Some by the Thorn in the flesh understand some extream pain as the Head-ach so Theophilact Some refer it to the Iliaca Passio or Wind in the small Guts See Mr. Leigh's Annot. on 2 Cor. 12.7 so Aquinas Some to the Gout or pain in the Stomach as Nazianzene and Basil are said to interpret it These or the like bodily Distempers may be well compared to a Thorn in the flesh because they are as painful to the body as if a Thorn or Splinter was thrust into the flesh This Thorn was sent o let out the wind of Pride Lest saith the Apostle I should be exalted above measure Job under his sores and sickness and other afflictions that God exercised him with confessed his vileness and abhord himself in Dust and Ashes Job 40.4 42.6 2. Worldly-mindedness God sends sickness to withdraw their heart and affections from things here below and to cause them to mount up and aspire more unto Heaven The best are apt to fall in love with this wretched world as Peter said Luke 9.33 Master it is good for us to be here God in sickness makes his servants willing to remove They see Riches and Friends cannot ease them of their pains and therefore they desire to be gone Phil. 1.23 and to be translated into the new Jerusalem where no Inhabitant shall say he is sick Isa 33.24 3. Security In health and prosperity the best are apt to forget God As David said Psal 30.6 7. In his prosperity I shall never be moved Lord by thy favour thou hast made my Mountain to stand strong but when God did hide his face and left him to the dangerous assaults of his Enemies or fury of some sickness then he was troubled and cryed to the Lord and pleaded with him in prayer as you may read in the following verses 8 9 10 11. When he casts his people on their backs in a sick-bed then especially they look upward 4. Insensibleness of others sufferings under sickness Most men are insensible of the sufferings of others like those voluptuous Epicures as if unconcerned in others miseries they are not affected with their Brethrens calamities Amos 6.3 4 5 6. Even the best are too too stoical herein whilst in Health not sufficiently sensible of the miseries that others lie under by reason of sickness But when God hath visited us with sickness then we pity those that lie under the same or the like sufferings The Poet Virgil brings in Dido speaking thus Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco She being in misery did pitty those that were in misery David whom God had much exercised with sickness had learnt to pity others as you may see Psal 35.13 14. 5. Unthankfulness We do not whilst we are healthful and strong rightly prize health nor are we duly thankful for so great a mercy Carendo magis quà m fruendo We know the worth of things best by the want of them As God threatned to take away Corn and Wine and Oyl from Judah because she did not know i. e. thankfully acknowledge them to be Gods good Gifts Hos 2.8 9. So God many times deprives his People of health that they may learn to prize it the more and to improve it more to his glory when he sends it again 6. The sixth and last sin that sickness sent by God is a means to purge out or prevent is Forgetfulness of Death Jerusalem in prosperity remembred not her last end Lam. 1.9 The best of us in times of health too too seldom think of Death which made Moses cry out Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end God therefore sends sickness which is Ante-ambulo Mortis the fore-runner of Death to mind them that the King of Terrors is not far off they at such a time expect Death and look upon it as that which will certainly come Abel Redivivus in his life Bishop Andrews said oft in his sickness It must come once and why not here David in sickness saw the vanity of Man in his best state Psalm 39.5 Surely every man at his best state is altogether vanity Selah And vers 11. he warbles it over again on his doleful Harp Surely every man is vanity Selah So Moses under God's afflicting hand Psalm 90.7 saw the frailty of Man's life and therefore prayed vers 12. So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Thus you see God sends sickness for the purging out or preventing of several sins in his People 2. The other end that God hath in such passages of his providence towards his Servants is for the tryal and exercise of their Graces Affliction is sent to try us Psal 66.10 11. Jer. 9.7 1 Pet. 4.12 It is both the Touchstone and Whet-stone of Grace A Feaver or some such like Distemper is as a fiery Tryal to try the truth of God's Graces in us and to set them awork in so much as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 12.10 I take pleasure in infirmities for when I am weak then am I strong When he was weak in Body he was strong in Grace But more particularly God sends sickness to try and exercise these following Graces 1. Faith and Hope I put them both together for they are nigh of kin The Apostle speaks of God's suffering his People to be in heaviness through manifold temptations that is afflictions for the tryal of their Faith as you may see 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Job's Faith was seen and set awork under his sufferings Job 13.15 Though he slay me yet will I trust in him It is Faith indeed to trust in that God that seems to frown So hope is seen and set awork in a tempest It is compared to an Anchor Heb. 6.19 whose use is best seen in a storm 2. Patience In times of affliction there is matter for patience as well as faith to be exercised about Rev. 13.10 so 2 Thess 1.4 The Apostle saith Tribulation worketh Patience Rom. 5.3 He means It occasions the exercise of Patience James 5.11 Ye have heard of the Patience of Job saith Saint James Ye had not heard so much of his Patience had it not been for his sickness and such like afflictions which God exercised him with Sickness is the School of Patience 3. Love to God Jer. 2.2 I remember thee saith the Lord the kindness of thy youth the love of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the Wilderness in a Land that was
of the rebellion of Corah and how the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed him up and his Company vers 32 33. So rebellious Absalom came to an untimely death and David was much moved with grief in that he died in rebellion 2 Sam. 18.9 33 compared See Prov. 16.14 The wrath of a King is as Messengers of Death but a wise man will pacifie it and it follows vers 15. In the light of the Kings countenance is life Be not disobedient and irreverent in your carriage towards Ministers which are your Spiritual Parens You may read 2 King 2.23 24. Two She Bears destroyed forty two Children for mocking the Prophet Though Children yet God would not bear it in them Possibly as some think because there were so many gathered together they were set on by their Idolatrous Parents to do what they did and therefore God justly punished them with the loss of their Children Lastly Be not disobedient to Natural Parents God may justly deprive them of natural life that are without natural affection Prov. 30.17 Prov. 20.20 Mar. 7.20 The eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the young Eagles shall eat it Homer though commonly reported to be blind yet saw and observed as much for speaking of one that did not relieve his Parents he tells us he lived but a short time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad Δ. Take heed then of disobedience to Magistrates Ministers or Natural Parents as you love your lives 2. Take heed of lustful uncleanness Sodom and Gomorrha and the Cities about them burnt strongly in lust Jude 7. and God sent a strange fire to destroy them from off the face of the Earth Gen. 19.24 25. So God cut off Onan for his filthiness Gen. 38.9 10. So 1 Cor. 10.8 you read how that for uncleanness there fell in one day three and twenty thousand Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 7. c. 53. Pliny tells us of Cornelius Gallus and T. Aetherius two great persons in Rome that died in the act of unchastity The Dog-dayes of lust are very dangerous Indeed this sin consumes the radical moisture and so in its own nature tends to weakness and sickness and the shortening of a mans dayes The wise Man tells you The Harlots house enclineth unto death and her paths unto the dead Prov. 2.18 so likewise Prov. 5.9 11. Prov. 6.26 33 34 35. Prov. 7.22 23. Prov. 31.3 Solomons Mother there adviseth him not to give his strength unto Women 3. Take heed of intemperance in eating and drinking This is as a Knife to cut our own Throats see Prov. 23.1 2. When thou sittest to eat with a Ruler a Magistrate or some great Man consider diligently what is before thee and put a Knife to thy Throat if thou be a man given to appetite Some read it impones cultellum gutturi tuo and then the sence is this thou dost as good as put a Knife to thy Throat if thou be a man given to appetite thou mayest endanger thy life if thou feedest too plentifully So vers 29 30. Who hath wo who hath sorrow who hath wounds without cause who hath redness of eyes They that tarry long at the Wine Our own luxuries as one saith fill us full of Diseases which shorten this our short day of life and set our Clock forward that it striketh dead before the time of our natural circle is gone about Deinde cogitemus saith Musculus Musculus in Ps 6.2 quae sit illorum vaesania qui per gulam intemperantiam seipsos donâ— sanitatis privant variis morbis obnoxios reddunt We may say of fasting and feasting as the Womâ—n sang of Saul and David Sam. 18.7 Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands feasting kills more ten to one than fasting Poor people who have the shortest meals have commonly the longest graces and the best health The Glutton digs his Grave with his own teeth the Drunkard drinks healths so long to others that he hath none to himself Non est in potâ vera salute salus And it is but just with God to strike him dead that makes himself dead drunk Take heed then of this sin it is good advice at all times but most seasonable at this time which is a time of much feasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag. Aurea Carmina We ought saith an Heathen to have a care of our bodily health and to observe a mean in drinking dyet and recreation 4. Take heed of immoderate sorrow This like an heavy burthen breaks a man and makes him stoop Prov. 12.25 Heaviness in the heart of man makes it stoop So Prov. 15.13 A merry heart makes a chearful countenance but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken David tells us Psal 31.10 My life is spent with grief and my years with sighing And the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the World worketh death Immoderate sorrow for loss of worldly things weakens the body and hasteneth death 5. Take heed of impatience passion and discontent The murmurring Israelites were destroyed of the destroyer 1 Cor. 10.10 An impatient man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own scourge We say truly the hasty man never wants wo. Pettish fretful passionate persons like the Demoniack in the Gospel Mar. 5.2 3. wound and cut themselves Wrath is compared to fire in Scripture Gen. 39.19 20. Esth 1.12 Est intus flamma medullas This fire of passion devours and consumes that which should maintain natural life The passionate man like Mount Aetna consumes his own bowels with inward burnings Thus as Eliphas tells Job Job 5.2 Wrath killeth the foolish man Vexing and fretting under providential dispensations spends a mans spirits and puts him upon taking such unlawful courses as are oft-times attended with destruction Prov. 19.19 A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment for if thou deliver him yet thou must do it again q. d. A passionate man is no sooner delivered from one danger but he brings himself into another 6. Take heed of Envy Job 5.2 Envy slayeth the silly one If a man be so silly as to hug this Viper in his bosom he doth it to his destruction Envy like a Moth doth insensibly consume a man depriving him of health and the comforts of this life Hence the wise Man calls envy the rottenness of the bones Prov. 14.30 The envious man melts away at the prosperity of others as you may see Psal 112.10 Invidus alterius rebus macrescit opimis The Dart of Envy is as a worthy Divine observes like that in Homer Dr. Pierce in Sinner impleaded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad γ. v. 348. Reflexa est ei cuspis Scuto in valido It alway recoyls into the breast of him that shot it and mischieves most at rebound 7. Take heed of pride and ambition
place Psalm 68.20 He that is our God is the God of Salvation and to God the Lord belongs the issues from death This God whom the Righteous are related to and have an interest in can help in greatest straits and send in deliverance when they are nigh unto death and stand in most need of help That God that kept Moses's Bush burning yet it was not consumed Exod. 3.2 and preserved Noah's Ark upon the Waters from perishing in the Waters This God can preserve his People under sickness and their saddest tryals and in his due time give them an happy issue out of all afflictions See what the Psalmist saith Psal 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart or according to Orig. The Rock of my heart or according to Septuag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The God of mine heart and my portion for ever When the Godly Man's flesh fails health declines strength is weakned then is God ready to support him under sickness and to ease him of his pains either by restoring him to health or by taking him out of the miseries of this sinful World by death So that if we belong to God as Bullinger Bulling in phil 2.27 saith Optimè nobiscum agitur sive revalescamus sive moriamur it will go well with us whether we live or die 2. This Consideration affords comfort not only to believers ' midst personal sickness but likewise to God's Church ' midst national calamities Though Church and State lie as it were bed-rid languishing unto Death under Schism and Division Sin and Errour and other national Calamities Yet let us not despair of help for he that cured Epaphroditus here who was sick nigh unto death can help us even in this extremity See Ezek. 37.11 12 13. God like a skilful Bone-setter or Chyrurgeon can bind up the breach of his People and heal the stroak of their Wound as the expression is Isa 30.26 God hath promised to heal in case we return unto him by prayer and unfeigned repentance Isa 19.22 so Jer. 33.6 None indeed can heal us but he Hos 5.13 All others except God be of the Quorum are Physitians of no value Let us then as it is Hos 6.1 Come and return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up Una eademque manus vulnus opemque feret 3. This consideration may afford comfort to such as are spiritually sick and in their apprehensions nigh unto eternal death and destruction That God that raised Epaphroditus who was deadly sick in body can cure thy Soul mortally wounded with sin Let such as are wounded in conscience consider this Though your wounds have been grievous and of a long standing yet they exceed not the skill and power of God the spiritual Physitian God can yea and will cure you if you turn to him and relie upon him Take my word for it Nay it is not only mine but God's Word or I should be loth to speak it in this place See Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way Ezek. 18.27 and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon So Matth. 11.28 Come unto me saith Christ all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Come to Christ and wellcome he keeps open house to all comers 4. And lastly Gods dear People that by their sinning have blurred their evidences for Heaven and fallen from some degrees of Grace and Spiritual Comfort as David did Psal 51.8 12. Let them not despair of recovery That God that restored Epaphroditus's sick body to its pristine health Ps 147.3 can restore thy soul to spiritual health peace and comfort Thus he dealt by David Psal 23.3 He restoreth my soul He is the Creator of Peace and Comfort Isa 45.7 so Isa 57.17 18 19. and hath promised in his due time to speak peace unto his People and to his Saints but let them not turn again to folly Psal 85.8 I end this with that of the Evangelical Prophet Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his Servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light a Child of light it seems may walk in darkness i. e. have little or no comfort for the present yet let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Let him still wait on God prayingly believingly obediently c. in God's due time which is ever best comfort will come And so much for this Use by way of comfort Vse 2 2. By way of instruction We learn if God cure the body of sickness as he did Epaphroditus here surely it is he that cures the Soul of sin which is a far harder work God upon the account of Christ who as at this time came into the World to undertake for us heals our souls of sin by applying Christs perfect Righteousness to the soul he removes the guilt and by his blessed Spirit implanting in the soul the Seeds of Divine Grace he heals it of the filth of sin Psal 103.3 Who pardoneth all thine Iniquities who healeth all thy Diseases God alone that cures the body of its distempers heals the soul of its spiritual maladies The Scribes and Pharisees acknowledged as much Luke 5.21 The Pope cannot pardon sins The Ministers of the Church of England absolve no otherwise then declarativè as the Embassadors of Christ God doth it autoritativè the authority is wholly his We do but pronounce the Pardon which before we speak is really done in Heaven to sincere Penitents Vse 3 and last 3. And lastly By way of Exhortation 1. To all in general Let us be exhorted to go to God for help in time of sickness It was he that cured Epaphroditus when sick nigh unto death Too too blame are they who in sickness and such like straits consult Astrologers Witches Devils and I know not whom for help It was an inexcusable sin in Ahaziah King of Israel who in his sickness sought to Baalzebub the Godd of Ekron for recovery of his health and for so doing God threatned him and accordingly brought it to pass that he should not come down from his sick-bed but should surely die Read the passage in 2 King 1.2 c. What good got Saul by consulting the Witch of Endor Surely the Wounds of God are rather to be chosen than the Devils Plaisters Indeed their best cures are deadly wounds For if the mortal body should be restored by such unlawful means yet the immortal soul which is the far better part is thereby much endangered Habes hoc loco qui omnes depollit morbos Bul in Phil. 2.27 O do not go about indirectly to wind your selves out of trouble you have a God to repair unto who can help at all straits and at every turn your head cannot ake