the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augmentum Aquinas as if the Law were the encrease and augmentation of sin because by hearing the Law the desire of a man unrenewed is the more increased after sin Luther Luthers similitude is very apposite to this purpose as fire saith he in burnt lime-stone appeareth not until ye cast water on it and then immediately it smoaketh so the fire of concupiscence which should be quenched by the Law is from mans own latent corruption provoked by the Law There is no fault in the Law but in mans distempered will and appetite As when a sick patient longs after meat forbidden by the Physitian there is no fault in the Physitian but in the distempered appetite of the patient The other part of mans misery through sin How sin is a sting is the misery of death the sting of death is sin As by the sting of a venomous Serpent cometh an inflamation of the blood together with a great torment and pain in the body so by sin which is the sting of that old Serpent cometh pain and horror in the conscience and consumption in the body with dissolution and death at last And as the sting is the only weapon of a Serpent without which he can do no harm so sin only specially impenitency and unbelief are the strength and weapon of death which make it both fearful and hurtful to the children of men Sin which is the sting of the old Serpent Sin brings death when it came into the world and was tastened in our nature by a virtual consent in our first parents it brought death along with it Rom. 5.12 By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin 1 Cor. 15.21 By man came death By death the wages of sin we understand both all the alterations in the body preceding our death and also all the pains and evils that accompany death Thus then by death we understand those particular evils of misery 1. A subjection to the necessity of dying 2. Alterations and sickness in the body disposing it for death 3. Fear of death 4. Pain in death 5. The separation of soul and body 6. The curse of death First man by sinning became subject to a necessity of dying By death is understood 1. The necessity of dying Assoon as he sinned he became mortal No sooner sin entred into his soul but mortality and corruption immediately entred into his body then the parcels of dust that were bound together by the bond of innocency were shaken loose and as a glass of sand turned up the body became mortal and the life of man subject to a continual flux and decay for after he had sinned and not till then it was said by the Lord of life unto him Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return Gen. 3.19 It may be truly said of Adams body that in the state of innocency it was both Mortal and Immortal in respect of a capacity indifferent to dye or live and also it may be said to have been neither mortal nor immortal in respect it was created free from a necessary subjection to dying or an absolute appointment of God to live for ever It was the gross error of Pelagius a patron of corrupt nature and an enemy to free grace Pelagius confuted To affirm that Infants were not born in sin but that they had it only by imitation when he was pressed by force of argument taken from the death of Infants as a bitter fruit of original corruption in them his answer was that man would have dyed though he had never sinned because said he man had a mortal body composed of contrary elementary qualities which warring one against another would have made alteration in the body and in the end brought it to corruption and dissolution But for confutation of this error we should consider First as God created Adam with power of free will to stand or fall so he created him with a capacity to dye or not dye according to the right use or abuse of his free will Next as God did not create Adam with an inclination though he was of a mutable condition to sin for as an inclination to sin being the first step of turning from God is sinful and the most holy God is not the Author of sin so a subjection to the necessity of dying was not before man subjected himself willingly to sin for our most just God though by an act of soveraign power and dominion over his own creature as the Potter over his vessel he might annihilate the same yet would he not punish his innocent creature before it had sinned and was found guilty and lyable to punishment This was Abrahams argument for sparing the innocent in Sodom if there were any Shall not said he the Iudge of all the earth do right Gen. 18.25 As for the contrary Elementary qualities of heat and cold moystness and dryness created in the body I answer if man had persisted in his integrity keeping an harmony with God and his will then God would have kept these qualities in a right temper and just symmetry amongst themselves without destroying one another As by an over-ruling providence he preserved the Lyon and the Lamb the Woolf and the Kid together in one Ark of Noah without the destruction of the Lamb and Kid as he restrained the Lyon from destroying the living Ass or the dead body of the Prophet 1 King 13. As he restrained the fire Dan. 3. in the exercise of it that it did not so much as singe a hair of their heads though at the same time he did not destroy the fire in the heat and nature of it So the Lord would have preserved those elementary qualities in their nature and first act though in their second act and exercise he would have restrained them from destroying one another if man had stood in integrity And will not the Lord preserve our glorified bodies in heaven in a condition of an immutable immortality and incorruption though they will be raised as is very probable with the same Elementary qualities wherewith they were created in the state of integrity 2. Weakness and sickness Secondly as sin brought on man a necessary subjection to death and dissolution so it brought alterations upon the body by weakness and sickness Thus David acknowledged in the time he was under some distemper in body Psal 38.3 there is no rest in my bones because of my sin weakness and sickness of the body is a consequent of sin if man had continued in the state of innocency his labour exercise in the body should have been to him as a recreation with delight and continued strength in his Spirit whereas it is since the fall with toyl in the body and faintness in the Spirit Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread Mans fainting and weariness of Spirit in the labour of his calling do convince him guilty of
original corruption and preach unto him humiliation and repentance as weariness so sickness in the body is a fruit of sin It is a commotion and collision of those humors in the body which God restrained from breaking out one upon another so long as man by sin transgressed not the bounds set to him by God but when man passed his bounds then the humors of the body passed their bounds and like an impetuous flood after the bulwark is removed over-runs the whole body Sin made way to this inundation which in the estate of integrity was barred up in the body by the over-ruling providence of God who shutteth up and openeth the barrs even of the great ocean at his own pleasure Thirdly from sin is that tormenting fear of death 3 Tormenting fear of death which keepeth the heart of miserable man in straitness and bondage Heb. 2.15 Through the fear of death all their life time are subject to bondage In which words a sinner is compared to a Malefactor condemned shut up in prison and under a continual fear of the execution of the sentence It is the Apostles allusion also Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath shut up all under sin that is it hath convinced all men of guiltiness and of obligation to eternal death Iob 18.14 Death is called the King of terrors Heathens called it the most fearful of all fearful things Caligula the fourth Roman Emperour hid himself under a bed when he heard the noise of thunder guiltiness in the conscience is the worm that breeds this gnawing and tormenting fear of death Cains guiltiness made him fear every one that met him would kill him This fear of death until it be qualified and tempered by Faith in the Merit of the death of our Lord doth exceedingly torment and disquiet the heart of man in the midst of all his pleasures even a glancing thought of death maketh his heart sorrowful Amidst all his plenty he is like unto Damocles who had not a heart to taste the dainties on Dionysius his table for fear of the drawn sword hanging over his head by an hair in like manner the fear of death in his adversity doth wonderfully disquiet him he taketh a very small cross though it were but a sore head to be a beginning of his endless woes to be a drop of that cloud of fierce wrath that is to be poured out upon him in vials at his death and judgement and to be a Messenger sent of God to arrest him Fourthly 4. Pain in dying Pain in dying is also a bitter fruit of sin This bitterness and Antipathy betwixt the living man and death is a part of the wages of original sin It is true some wicked men may have little or no pain at their death Psal 73.4 There are no bands in their death But all that calmeness is but a shore Sun-shine before a storm the fearful tempest of Gods wrath abideth them their day comes on apace wherein their worm dyeth not and their fire will not be quenched The rich Glutton no doubt at his death had store of all Lenitives that could give him any ease whereas Lazarus had none But that rich man afterward felt the pain to the uttermost he got not a drop of cold water to refresh him The death of some wicked men is like those Fishes going down with much facility through Jordan till they once fall into the dead Sea and there they die so the wicked man is driven away in his wickedness but the righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 Fifthly 5. Separation of the soul and body In the first death is implyed the dissolution it self when the soul and body by their union making up one person are separated the one from the other This actual separation is also a punishment of sin Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death It is true Enoch and Elias were born in sin but had not this separation of soul and body yet it is certain when they were translated in the body to heaven they were separate from the society of men living on the earth they were changed from a state of corruption which was a separation not of the soul from the body but of all corruption from the body and of the remainders of sin dwelling in both Moreover God who is above all his penal Laws and Statutes might according to his good pleasure give an Indulgence and Immunity to his servants from that penal Ordinance of death as he did grant unto David an Indulgence to eat of the Shew-bread notwithstanding there was a positive Statute to the contrary The sixt and last evil of misery implyed in death threatned against man before his fall and deserved by his fall 6. The cuâ—â—â— of death is the curse of death when it serve has a darke dreadful passage into the second dâ—aâ—h and outer darkness This by the fall was deserved by all and herein stands the curse of death that not only it separateth the soul and the body but as Gods officer it openeth the prison door to the end the soul the prime malefactor may be first drawn forth and put under the execution of wrath and therefore the body which did second the soul in obeying the lusts of the flesh is put to the suffering of eternal wrath at the day of resurrection Death to the rich Glutton was a dark trance carrying him into hell As hell it self and the bottomless pit are the wages of sin deserved by all so is also the curse of death in being a passage unto hell due unto all sinners for as the Malefactor deserveth the execution of the sentence of death so in like manner to be carried in such a way that leads to the place of execution This Doctrine serveth for our humiliation Vse 1 seeing sin is the cause procuring death with all the alterations going before Sin is matter of humiliation in all bodily distempers the pain accompanying and the destructions following it It is our duty when ever any change seiseth on the body to humble our spirits before God and to acknowledge the sins of our souls Remember the distemper of the soul brought on all the distempers and indispositions upon the body There may be many new and strange diseases in this sinful age whereof it is hard for the most skilful Physitian to finde out and shew the true natural cause but it is most easie to find out the true spiritual cause both of our new and old diseases which is the corruption of our inward man as in the last and worst of times new and strange sins do abound foretold 2 Tim. 3. which our Ancestors and many honest Pagans having nothing but natures light would have abhorred and said as Hazael Am I a dead Dog to do such things so no wonder there be new diseases inflicted justly by God as new punishments of new and uncouth transgressions Therefore at what time soever thou findest any alteration in thy
dying man with an incurable wound unto eternal death As the sting of of the Scorpion inflameth and tormenteth the whole man that is stung so known sins unrepented of put soul and body in a flame of unquenchable fire thus it was with that miserable rich man Luke 16.24 Delay not thy repentance and the seeking of thy remission till thou art on thy death bed would ye not think that malefactor a careless fool and unnatural to himself who should delay to seek his remission unto the very day he were taken out of prison to the place of execution though God hath promised mercy to him that repenteth yet hath he not promised repentance to him that delayeth The sluggard foldeth his hands and saith yet a little sleep a little slumber and his poverty cometh as an armed man he cannot resist it Prov. 24.34 so it is with a careless Professor who sleepeth over his days and hath not a thought of death till it be at door then doth it surprize him as an enemy armed with the dart and sting of sin unrepented of and such a man not guarded by the shield of faith into the righteousness of Jesus Christ is confounded and overcome as a naked souldier with fear at the very sight of death Such debtors who delay to think on their debts and in time to speak for favour with their creditors when the term of reckoning and payment comes they are confounded with shame and fear therefore delay not but in time confess thy debts unto God seek thy discharge and acquittance in the blood of Christ who is the surety of the new Covenant Labour by faith in the charter and Covenant of grace for a sight of that great salvation purchased by the death of Jesus that at thy death with old Simeon thou mayst say and sing that Swan-like song Mine eyes have seen thy salvation now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2.29 2. As thou wouldst be well prepared for death Labour to keep a good conscience in thy life-time This is the chest wherein thy remission and peace is kept a man of good conscience in all things willing to live honestly as the Apostle describes Heb. 13.18 he liveth aad dieth in peace It was Hezekiah his great comfort in his sickness and apprehension of death 2 Kings 20 3. I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart It was Pauls comfort 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness A good conscience is a continual feast it hath the sweetest relish at death when a man at that time is become like old Barzillai through age and debility 2 Sam. 19.35 his senses of seeing tasting and hearing fail him yet even at that time the relish of a good conscience will most refresh him 3. Be thou prepared as the wise virgins were to meet the bridegroom not only with light in their lamps as the foolish virgins were also but with oyl in their vessels Not only must thou have the light of a fair profession before the world but also thou must have in thy heart the oyl of charity toward God and man If thou have love toward God and his holy commandments and love unfained toward thy neighbour but specially toward those in whom thou seest most of the image of God then art thou prepared for death and life eternal is prepared for thee 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him And 1 Joh. 3.14 By this we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren but thou who hatest thy neighbour art filled with bitterness and desire of revenge and wilt not commit thy cause to him who judgeth righteously thou art not yet prepared for death so long as thou art in the gall of bitterness for he that loveth not his brother abideth in death 1 Joh. 3.15 That rigid and merciless servant who had no pity on his fellow servant was cast into prison So saith our Lord our heavenly father will do unto us if we from our hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses Mat. 18.33.4 We should be prepared as good and faithful servants waiting for the return of their absent Lord. Luke 12.36 Having their loyns girded and watching In those Eastern countreys the servants for their better expediting business at home or their Journeys abroad did gird up their long cloaths that they should not entangle their feet and retard them in their course The Apostle Eph. 6. speaketh of the girdle of truth and sincerity when our affections are taken off from things earthly trussed up united together and set on God when our heart is in heaven where our treasure is Then and not till then is a man prepared for death When his minde is heavenly and his affections are not trailing on the things of the earth like long garments licking up the dust for a worldly minded man is not yet prepared for death A man that spendeth all his time and care upon repairing the house where he dwelleth for the present but speaketh not for another house nor sendeth away any of his furniture to it will ye say such a man hath any mind to remove so a worldly-minded man that spendeth his time and strength of spirit upon this present world who speaketh not to God in time by prayer for that eternal house in heaven that sendeth not his heart before him as a part of his heavenly furniture such a man is not prepared for removal out of this world Therefore let us obey our Lords warning Luke 21.34 Let not your hearts be oppressed with surfeiting or drunkenness and with the cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares A heart fixed on the world is taken away unwillingly at death the worldly man who had his full heaven in a full barn his soul was taken from him Luke 12.20 The worldly-minded man unless he repent and become heavenly-minded doth in some respect die a violent death he doth not as our Lord did commit his spirit into the hands of his Father but his soul is taken from him against his will he is drawn forth as a Malefactor from the prison of his earthly house to the place of execution But the spiritual man that hath his heart drawn off the world and set on God he hath his soul ready in his hand to put it over into Gods hand he knoweth whom he hath believed and that his faithful creator will keep the good thing committed to him against that day As thou must gird up thy loyns so thou must watch for thou knowest not how soon thy Lord may send his messenger for thee Watch over thy heart that it depart not from the living God by unbelief nor be drawn away by thy inordinate concupiscence and unruly affections watch over thy
endeavour to glorify God in the body Vse 3 Sound comfort to the Godly let the meditation on these glorious qualities of the body in the day of resurrection comfort thy heart under all the pains and troubles in the body Thy vile body will be changed now thy body is decaying and dying daily thou art troubled in underpropping thy ruinous house of clay and do what thou canst one time it will fall down but there is thy comfort it will be raised in incorruption This was the ground of the Apostles comfort against the decay and dissolution of the body 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens there we will get a Mansion John 14.2 In my Fathers house are many Mansions then our condition will not be subject to alterations like men dwelling in a Tabernacle and removing from place to place but it will be fixed and permanent without any change it will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an abiding of glory and joy 2. Though now possibly there be some deformity in thy body yet in that day thy body shall be compleat and comely though at thy death thy body were full of fores and ulcers yet if thou dye in the Lord thy body shall be raised in honor and comely beauty in that day Lazarus will have no sores as the body will be fully purged in that day from all contagion of sin so will it be freed from all deformity which was only a Symptom of indwelling corruption 3. Whereas thy body is now weak and frail a little thing doth soon distemper thy Spirit and little labour makes thy body weary This is thy comfort that in the day of resurrection thy body will be raised in strength though now thou canst not go up a little hill without some weariness in the body yet in that day thou shalt go up in the body to the third heaven and shalt not be weary 4. Now thou art much troubled about the natural operations and imployments of the body for food and rayment and other things pertaining to this decaying life but in that day thou wilt have appetite after nothing but God himself and all thy appetite will be fully satisfied by a perpetual delight in thy God infinite all-sufficient unchangeable and eternal in glory goodness and bounty towards thee Thou who art vexed disquieted in this life with the relicks of inordinate concupiscence remaining in the body thou hast cause to be humbled in the sight of God for that body of death yet there is thy comfort thou shalt be freed in that day from all such molestation in the body and thou shalt be like unto the spotless Angels without all inclination to delight in any thing but in the knowledge and love of God◠In that day great will be thy joy at the meeting of the soul and the body Though at parting here by death there was much pain and trouble like the parting of Iacob and Benjamin yet their meeting will be with great joy like the meeting of Iacob and Ioseph the soul will bring down good news from heaven to the body like the report of the faithful spies Numb 14. to encourage the body to go with it unto the heavens where they shal rejoyce together for ever in the presence of God then shall their joy be encreased at their meeting with Christ and perpetuated in their abode with Christ in the third heaven and following with praise and triumph the Lamb where-ever he goeth To him with the Father and holy Spirit be all praise honour and glory now and ever Amen Of Eternal Life by and with CHRIST PSAL. 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness AS the glorious resurrection of the body is a refreshing stream from the fulness of Christ so is also eternal life Eternal life is in and from Christ which is the full and compleat happiness of soul and body in one person This is purchased by the Merit of the righteousness and obedience of Iesus Christ Rom. 5.20 21. Where sin abounded Grace did much more abound that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Iesus Christ our Lord by Faith in Iesus Christ we get a right and claim unto eternal life Ioh. 6.47 he that believeth on me hath everlasting life by him we shall be put in possession of eternal life Math. 2◠34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you After that the bodies of them that have done good are raised up and inlivened with the souls then shall the Saints go with the Lord unto the third heaven and there in soul and body enjoy eternal life The great blessing of eternal life is laid before us by the Psalmist The sense of the words in these words I know some Interpreters understand the words to be meant of the lively sense of Gods favour bestowed upon his children after they have been for a time under a night of trouble It is most true light is sown even in darkness for the upright in heart though the Lord hide his face in a little wrath for a moment yet with everlasting kindness will he have mercy Isa 54.8 But I conceive as many sound Interpreters do the Prophet speaketh of that confidence and hope the children of God have of rest happiness and satisfaction after this life when their bodies that sleep in the grave shall be awaked to the resurrection of life Because he opposeth the hope of after happiness as a strong prop to sustain the children of God in all their troubles and wants in this life against the temptations from the prosperity of wicked men in this present world to whom God giveth a large portion of things worldly The Prophet comforteth himself and all the Godly with the hope of that full and enduring portion in the other life some read the latter part of the verse thus I shall be satisfied when thy Image or likeness is awaked and the original will bear it as if the meaning were thus when I who was once created to thy Image shall rise again I shall be satisfied but I encline rather to the ordinary reading I shall be satisfied with thy Image when I awake by Image is understood the face of God which in the former part of this verse is called a beholding of Gods face in the immediate seeing whereof will stand our eternal happiness when we shall see him as he is 1 Ioh. 3.2 In the words we have The parts of the Text. 1. The time of his compleat and consummate happiness when I awake 2. The matter of his happiness and the manner of enjoying it the matter and object Gods face or likeness the manner
better for me to die then to live His fit groweth worse vers 9. I do well to be angry even unto death Yet his merciful Father takes not Jonah away in this fit but spared him and gave him grace to out-live this fit by repentance The children of God recover themselves by repentance and in an holy indignation revenge themselves upon themselves for their former distemper So David recovered from his fit of impatiency rebukes himself Psa 73.22 I was as a beast before thee 4. Cast not away thy confidence but walk by faith In a time of trouble the Just shall live by faith Hab. 2.4 The children of God in times of great and long troubles are subject to fits of unbelief Judg. 6.13 Gideon said O my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us And David Psa 116.11 I said in my haste All men are lyars Psa 31.22 I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine eyes Notwithstanding special promises of God to the contrary yet he had his own fit of distrustfull fear to be cut off by the hand of Saul Against such fits guard thy heart with submission to his divine wisedom in the training up of his own children He scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth Heb. 12.6 Consider his gracious wisedom ordering thy afflictions for thy souls good Heb. 12.13 He chastiseth us for our profit that we may be partakers of his holinesse But when thou hast such a fit of unbelief and canst not beleeve that the Lord in love chastiseth thee but punisheth thee in anger Remember the daies of old when the Lord heard thy praiers and thou hadst a sweet return of peace to thy soul In the experience of this say thou to thy heart as Sampsons Mother said to her Husband Manoah Judg. 13.23 If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands Look into thy own heart and if thou in a time of great trouble fear to offend him and desire to obey thou maist and shouldst rest on him as thy God Isa 5.10 Who is amongst you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him rest in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Though thou see not any appearance of deliverance yet rest on the power of God submit to his will and use no unlawful means for thy own delivery So did the three children Dan. 3.17 Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand but if not Be it known unto thee O King we will not serve thy Gods The third particular to be considered is the way how the Apostle attained this contentation of minde in all estates of life I have learned saith he and I am instructed in the original it is I am instructed in a mystery or secret The mystery and secret of contentment in whatsoever estate Doct. The mystery of contentment is taught only in the School of Christ It is not taught from principles of nature is taught only in the School of Jesus Christ The truth of this Doctrine will appear if we consider 1. how it is not taught 2. how it is taught It is not taught from any principles of corrupt nature because this being alike in all the children of Adam must be uniform in its operations and so all men should be taught this contentment but the contrary is seen in many male-contents and murmurers under their present condition in the world Corrupt nature frets at every thing displeasing to flesh and bloud until it be healed by the grace of regeneration But where this secret fretting is there can be no true contentment Neither can it be taught by the moral precept of Natural men It is true heathen men Nor by morall precepts of natural men specially the Stoick Philosophers have spoken somewhat to this purpose yet they did not teach men to be content in whatsoever estate They did commend that horrid sinne of self-murther in the case of dis-contentment They compared mans life to a banquet that he might willingly leave when once he were full and to a stage-play that he might leave when once he were wearied And Seneca cals such a death a gate to liberty This is not to teach contentment in every estate As they failed fouly in their precepts so in their practise of contentment It is true some heathens appeared content in their sober and course diet of living Fabricius that Noble Romane Senator was content to feed upon his dish of Roots and he answered to these Legats who would have corrupted him with vast Sums of gold to betray his own Countrey that a man who was content to feed on Roots needed not their gold yet they were not content in every estate they could not endure disgrace in the world for their honour was their Idol Lucretia and Cato of Vtica could not bear their disgrace with any contentment but made away themselves in their violent fits of discontentment Augustine And August lib. 1. de Civit. Dei cap. 20. saith well That it is but a weak spirit that cannot comport with the want of health in the body or with the want of the applause of the people Next the truth of this Doctrine appeareth It is taught 1. By the Word if we consider positively how this mystery of contentment is taught It is taught in the School of Christ 1. By the Word of God 2. By the example of Christ 3. By the Spirit of Christ 1. Is is taught by the Word of God It is called the word of Patience because it commands us to be patient Rev. 3.10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience saith the Angel of the Covenant to the Church of Philadelphia I will also keep thee from the hour of Temptation c. It is taught by the word of precept which commandeth us to be godly and where godlinesse is it hath with it contentment 1 Tim. 6.6 Godlinesse with contentment is great gain That is godlinesse which hath alwaies with it contentment is great gain 1 Tim. 6.8 Having food and raiment let us be therewith content Heb. 13.5 Be content with such things as ye have It is taught by the word of threatning 1 Cor. 10. Neither murmure ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer he threatens them from the fearfull destruction that fell upon murmurers against the Lords dispensation Jude ep 15 16 17. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him These are murmurers complainers It is taught fully by
therefore in it there is no certain knowledge 2. There is a knowledge of a thing from the natural and immediate cause of it This is an assent firm and evident and is called Science 3. There is a Moral certitude when a man knoweth the certainty of his estate for the present but is uncertain whether it will continue as a man from sense may know a present heat in his body but is uncertain whether the same will endure some learned Divines in the Roman Church grant this moral certitude of salvation 4. There is a Certitude of Divine Faith whereby we assent to supernatural truths not from any evidence intrinsecal in the thing known but from evidence of Divine authority revealing the same in the Word The certitude of knowledge in a man renewed concerning his perseverance is not opinion for that is uncertain and lyable to error It is not Science because this is from natural reason But the knowledge of perseverance is taught by Scripture and divine revelation Neither is it moral certitude only for the present but it is a certitude of divine Faith grounded on divine Authority in holy Scriptures Obj. Obj. But how can a man know with certainty of Faith that he himself believeth because it is not particularly revealed in Scripture that such a man by name believethâ— Therefore the proposition of his believing in special not being founded on divine authority the conclusion concerning his perseverance and certainty of salvation cannot be certain by a divine Faith Answ I answer 1. A conclusion may be de fide Answ 1 and should be assented to by a divine Faith if it be deduced from one proposition set down in holy Scripture and another made evident by the light of nature or sense As for example this conclusion the Father and the Son in the holy Trinity are two distinct persons is and should be assented to with a divine Faith and yet is deduced from one proposition known by the light of nature To wit that which begets is distinct from that which is begotten and from another proposition known by the light of the Word To wit but the Father begets and the Son is begotten in like manner this couclusion Jesus born of the Virgin Mary is the Messiah is to be assented to with divine Faith and yet our Lord inferreth the same from one proposition known by the light of Scripture To wit Isaiah 35. he that doth the works of the Messiah is he true Messiah But I do these works saith our Lord Math. 11.3 Now this assumption was known by sense and by seeing him do those works So I say this conclusion I shall persevere in grace unto eternal life is assented unto by divine Faith and is deduced from one proposition known by the light of Scripture To wit He that believeth shall not perish but persevere unto eternal life Ioh. 3.16 And from another known by the light of spiritual sense in the renewed man To wit But I believe 2. This spiritual sease of a Believer is not a fantasie or imagination but is soundly founded on the qualifications and marks of true saving Faith as they are holden forth in holy Scripture as 1. That true faith from sense of Gods love doth humble the heart and afflict the spirit with sorrow for sin Zach. 12.10 They shall look upon him whom they pierced and they shall mourn This look is by believing and it brings home with it a sense of love which woundeth the heart with sorrow for sin 2. True Faith purgeth and purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 Christ received by Faith to dwell in our hearts doth by the sweet smell of his oyntments and graces purge out of our hearts the sent and delight of sinful and vile lusts 3. This true saving Faith is not dead and idle but holy and operative It worketh by love Gal. 5.6 as the fire worketh by heat on the objects see before it so Faith by love to God bringeth forth works of holyness toward God and of righteousness toward our neighbour 4. Lastly it is a prevailing and overcoming Faith 1 Joh. 5.4 This is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith and Faith resisting and overcoming temptations is a sound Faith Though a renewed man and sound Believer may be overcome by temptation at a time in his affections Yet his will is not wholly subdued and overcome for the ill he doth he willeth it not Rom. 7.19 To Iesus Christ the Author and Finisher of our Faith with the Father and holy Ghost be all praise Amen Victory over DEATH through CHRIST 1 COR. 15.56 57. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through Jesus Christ AS our perseverance in the state of grace A peaceable death flows from the fulness of Christ is a fruit of the Merit of Christ so a peaceable death in the savour of God and in the hope of glory is a refreshing stream flowing from the fulness of Jesus Christ The comfortable tast of the fruits of the Cross of Christ doth sweeten the bitterness of death as that tree did sweeten the waters of Marah Exod. 15.25 In the words two points offer themselves to our consideration 1. A twofold misery from which we are delivered In the words two points to wit the sting of death and the strength of sin 2. The procurer of our deliverance Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ As for the one part of our misery In what sense the Law is the strength of sin the curse and rigor of the Law and how we are delivered from it we spoke already in a Sermon on Act. 13.39 Only I would speak one word or to clear how the Law which forbiddeth sin and threatneth punishment to the sinner is said to be the strength of sin It is not to be understood so as if the Law did strengthen a man to or in sinning for it prohibites sin and reveals wrath from heaven against all unrighteousness and disobedience but the Law is called the strength of sin because a man unrenewed before the time the Lord by grace rectifies his will and affections doth from his own inbred corruption take occasion at hearing of the Law to enlarge his vast desires toward all the sins forbidden therein It is not so much the forbidding of sin as sin forbidden and heard of that provoketh the sinful appecite Rom. 7.7 8. Is the Law sin God forbid Nay I had not known sin but by the Law but sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concup scence for without the Law sin was dead Our inordinate concupiscence when it is once awaked by hearing of sins forbidden like a sleeping Dog awaked becomes more fierce to commit sin like those whose appetite is depraved by that disease called Malacia or Pica they long most after meats forbidden for this reason Aquinas renders
admonition to put us in mind to be moderate and sober in spirit in the use of things worldly Man is subject to a necessity of dying therefore set not your hearts too much upon those things ye must sometimes leave 1 Cor. 7.31 Vse the world as not abusing it we abuse it and it abuseth and abaseth us when we make it Master of our affections then make we the earth our heaven and happiness and by so doing the world draweth away the heart from true happiness The Apostle telleth us the fashion of this world passeth away like a Stage-play as the word imports within the space of an 100. years if the world endure so long new Actors and Players will come upon the Stage One generation goeth and another cometh like some going to the common market others who have made either a good or evil bargain coming from it you would think that Son foolish and evil-advised who being sent by his Father to travel for a short time in a strange countrey should marry there without his Fathers consent in a place which he must leave and he knoweth not how soon his father may send for him and reckon with him for misdemeanors abroad and shall we be so foolish and unadvised as to espouse our hearts to the world For who can tell how soon the Lord may send his messenger death for us and sentence us with an eternal divorce because our hearts went a whoring from him after strange lovers 2. Be not proud of any thing enjoyed Let us not be proud of any thing we enjoy in this present world Thou canst not tell how short a time thou maist enjoy it It is both vanity and folly to be proud of a borrowed cloak thou canst not tell how soon it may be sent for and thou divested of it The Romans of old did put a Sergeant in the triumphal Chariot to keep the triumphing Conqueror amidst all his triumph within the bounds of moderation and sobriety of spirit by crying to him Memento te esse mortalem Remember thou art a mortal man Philip of Macedon directed his Page every morning to call at his chamber door with this morning salutation Memento mori Remember death Thoughts of mortality in the morning keeps our spirits sober all day long Tamberlane that great captain and conqueror caused a winding sheet to be carried in his march before him the displaying of deaths banner made him sober minded amidst all his warlike and victorious banners it is well known some Jews of the greater and better sort had their sepulchers in their gardens that in the midst of their pleasures they might be mindful of death The thoughts of it were as water to their wine for preserving them from surfeit and drunkenness with worldly cares and pleasures This doctrine serveth for exhortation Vse 4 seeing sin hath brought on man a necessary subjection unto death Be preparing for our change it is the wisdom and duty of every person to be preparing for their change this is a duty required both of young and old The Preacher giveth the same counsel to young men Eccles 12.1 Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth and his reason is taken from deaths insensible and yet most certain approach because the time is coming when the marrow of the back-bone which joyns all the members to the head and one to another as a silver cord will be loosed The heart that is like a golden bowl from which all the parts of the body drink in the vital spirits will be broken And the head that is like a wheel eminent and conspicuous above other members as the wheel is above the cistern it will be broken and laid in the dust Although thou be young yet remember the day of death comes on apace No sooner begin we to live but so soon begin we to die Our life is in a continual flux and sometime it will run out The serious fore-thought of this change will be a mean to mortifie youthful lusts This will make sin die in thee before thy self die and thy life will be most comfortable after thy dying to sin from thenceforth Christ liveth in thee Gal. 2.20 and he comforteth and reviveth the heart where he dwelleth and liveth Isa 57.15 If the young should prepare for their change what should those do who are of riper years and by course of nature neerer to the end of their journey should not such prepare for their removal as Job did Job 14.14 All the days of my appointed time will I wait Motives till my change come Consider 1. The necessity of death is inevitable it is appointed for all to die Heb. 9.27 Nothing earthy can exempt thee not thy riches the rich Glutton died Not thy honour Kings are laid in the dust Not thy wisdom Solomon died against it nor might nor strength wil guard thee Great Commanders have been arrested and hurried to deaths prison in the head of their armies yea grace will not exempt thee Abraham the believing Patriarchs died 2. Consider the circumstances of time place and manner are all most uncertain One said truly we all come into the world one way but we go out of it a thousand divers ways Therefore thou shouldst be preparing at all times for thou knowest not at what hour of the day or watch of the night death may come upon thee as a thief Did not death and destruction come upon the old world when they were most secure Mat. 24.38 And upon the rich man at the time he had most rest and plenty of provision for many days Luke 12.18 Therefore number to thy self not years but days and count every day as thy last day Psal 90.12 So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom and is not this a special point of wisdom to foresee the plague and hide our selves under the shadow of Christ and the merit of his death from the curse of death Prov. 22.3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished yea the Heathen Poet could say Think every day thy last day in all places guard thy heart and be preparing for death at home and abroad thou mayst go out of thy house in good health in the morning but return home sick and die before the evening 2 King 4.18 Old Eli went out in good health in the morning but dyed before the evening 1 Sam 4.18 How to prepare for death Object But how shall I be prepared for death Answ 1. Labour for repentance and reconciliation with God be reconciled with thine adversary while thou art in the way Mat. 5. which place Augustin applieth to this same purpose Augustine for if thou dyest in thy impenitency having God thy adversary consider in time what will be thy fear and confusion in the day of thy appearing before his tribunal Sin unrepented of is the sting whereby the first death woundeth a
ways that thou maist be found in thy Lords ways walking in his holy commandments blessed is the man whom his Master when he cometh sindeth so doing as thou watchest over thy own heart and ways so watch and long after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and this longing for death out of a love to be with him is a sure evidence of a soul well prepared for death 2 Tim. 4.8 The Lord will give a Crown of righteousness not to me only but to them also who love his appearing To him with the Father and holy Ghost be all praise Amen Having spoken of the sting of death we proceed to speak the cure and of our deliverance from it Of the cure of death The Author of our deliverance and victory is the Lord Iesus Christ the Captain of our salvation The Apostle compareth death to a conquering and prevailing enemy which by its sting and weapon woundeth many with a mortal and incurable wound because such men as live to sin and die in their guiltiness go down by the first death to the second into that bottomless pit out of which there is no redemption Jesus Christ our Lord by the merit of his death alone hath overcome death Doct. Christ only hath overcome death for all that believe in him and of a bitter enemy hath made death a comfortable friend to all who believe in him for by him alone we get victory over death That we may understand this point the better we should consider in what respect Christ hath delivered us from death he hath not delivered us from our obligation and subjection to the necessity of dying for we see believers dye as well as unbelievers Neither hath he delivered us from being subject to sicknesses and alterations going before death David complains the pains of hell got hold upon him Psal 116.3 that is extream pains in his body and anxiety in his spirit Neither hath our Lord delivered from pain at the hour of death nor from the separation of soul and body by death But our Lord hath overcome death in these respects 1. In respect of 1. The sting of death In respect of the sting of death he hath taken away our sins and as an enemy is overcome when his deadly weapon is taken out of his hand so our Lord overcame death by taking away sin on his cross for sin is the sting of death Hos 13.14 O Death I will be thy plagues This the Apostle cites 1 Cor. 15.54 The Captain of our salvation upon the cross as in an open and pitched battel did spoyl principalities and powers Col. 2.15 One of these powers armed against us was death he took away our sins on the cross and so spoyled death of his weapon as a valiant Conquerour takes away the weapons from a subdued enemy 2. 2. The fear of death Jesus Christ our Lord hath freed us from the fear of death Heb. 2.15 he was partaker of flesh and blood he took upon him our nature that he might deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Our Lord by taking away our sins the sting and weapon of death doth deliver us from the fear of death for that which maketh an enemy fearful is his deadly weapon It is true sometimes men may fear even a naked enemy but they have no cause seeing he cannot harm them so some of Gods dear children at a time may exceed in the fear of death but they have no such cause of fear neither would they be so afraid 3. The curse of death if they were strong in the faith of Jesus Christ who hath disarmed death 3. Our Lord hath delivered us from the curse of death that to us the first death is not a dreadful passage to the second Ioh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life Rev. 14.13 Blessed are they that die in the Lord that henceforth they may rest from their labours As for weakness sickness pain and alterations in the body though our Lord hath not delivered us from them yet by the merit of his death and the grace of his Spirit he sanctifieth them to us and in a gracious providence turneth them to a good and spiritual use Our Lords death is like to that salt that purged and sweetned the naughty waters of Jericho 2 Kings 2.21 and like the meal cast into the pot wherein was the bitter herb 2 Kings 4.41 The death of our Lord hath taken wrath and the curse from out of all our afflictions and maketh them useful and profitable unto us Our Lord in a gracious dispensation turneth the bodily sickness of his own children into a spiritual medicine for purging an humorous and distempered soul for bringing down the tympany and swelling pride of the heart such as glory and boast in the beauty or strength of the body do see in time of sickness the weakness and vileness of the body and so being humbled learn to glory onely in the Lord and in the beauty of his grace in the inward man A sanctified sickness purgeth out of the heart covetousness the hearts Dropsie thirsting for more of this present world when the sick man seeth the emptiness of things worldly which cannot give him any ease in the time of his greatest need A sanctified sickness purgeth out unruly lusts which are as a burning feaver to the soul sickness takes down the body and grace sanctifying it turns it into a temple to the holy Ghost The wise Master-builder useth sickness as a sharp edged tool for polishing the body for the inhabitation of the Spirit that it may be a temple prepared In like manner our wise and merciful Lord though he deliver not his own children from death yet he maketh their death to be of singular good use to them It is a putting off of corruption that they may be clothed upon with incorruption The death of wicked men dying in their guiltiness is like unto a thiefs putting off his cloaths to the end he may be scourged but the death of the godly is like unto a childs putting off the old garment that he may put on the new that is incorruptible and will not fade but ever have a beautiful lustre It is for this their soul doth groan and long 2 Cor. 5.2 In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven 4. The dominon of death As for deaths dominion and power over our bodies in the grave our Lord did take it also away by the merit of his death and declared his victory over and our deliverance from it by raising his own body and by loosing the bonds of death when our Lord awoke from death and stretched out the strength of his Godhead like Sampson he broke asunder those bonds as cords of flax Our deliverance from the grave will
be fully manifested in the day of the glorious resurrection of our bodies Object Object But is not the punishment of sin as well as the fault taken away in our Justification by the blood of Jesus how comes it to pass that the children of God notwithstanding the forgiveness of their sins are yet punished by temporal death Answ I answer Answer Death is not inflicted on Believers in wrath that death temporal is formally and properly a punishment when it is inflicted by God as a Judge in his wrath and when it is a door and passage to the second death and to a perpetual separation from the face of God But the death of the godly is not inflicted by God in wrath for these reasons 1. Because in the remission of their sins and reconciliation with God in their justification all wrath is taken away God forgiveth and forgetteth their sins Isa 43.25 I blot out thy transgressions for my own names sake and will not remember thy sins But where wrath remaineth sin is not forgotten 2. That which is sent and turned by God into a blessing is not inflicted in wrath but death is turned into a blessing to the children of God Rev. 14.13 it is a passage unto their eternal rest in their countrey that is above It is as a speedy passage by sea to a traveller returning home to his Fathers house 3. That which which is precious in the eyes of the Lord is not inflicted in wrath for precious things are testimonies of love and not evidences of wrath but the death of the Saints is precious in the eyes of God Psal 116.15 Next I answer death to the godly is not a door of fear and condemnation but of hope and salvation Rom 8.1 There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus There may be in a great Princes house a common door and gate at which Malefactors do enter and go down into the dark dungeon at which also the children may enter and go up to the rooms above that are full of light The door is one and the same but the use of it is far diverse in the respect to the one and the other So dissolution at death is common both to the godly and wicked but the relation that death hath to them is diverse to the one it is a passage for glory and to the other for eternal pain from whence it appeareth that the punishment standeth not so much in the dissolution of the person which is common both to the godly and wicked As in that ordination of the first death to be a passage unto eternal death which in Gods purpose is ordained and in justice executed on the wicked It is true death wil be bitter in the pains of it even to the godly but this bitterness of death is not properly a punishment to the godly as a bitter potion given out of the hand of a loving father to his weak child is not given as a punishment but as a medicine that though it be painful for a time yet he may have stronger health in time to come So after the bitterness of death is passed the children of God get confirmed health and salvation in the kingdom of heaven Object Object But hath not Christ by dying once fully satisfied for us how is it then that Believers are not freed from that debt of death for the which their surety hath given satisfaction Answ I answer true it is Our Lord died Answ Believers dy not to satisfie divine justice that by his death he might satisfie divine justice fully but to this end we dy not that we may satisfie divine justice for a finite creature cannot satisfie infinite justice yea the wicked in hell do not by their sufferings fully satisfie they will be ever in satisfying but never able to make out the satisfaction The end of the death of the Godly is not as was the end of Christs death to satisfie the justice of God as a Judge but to subject themselves to his fatherly pleasure and wisdom that by death they may be purged from the dross of inbred corruption and thus enter into the glory and Joy of their father for corruption cannot inherit incorruption did not our Lord fulfill all righteousness for us in his active obedience and yet we stand obliged to the mandatory power of the Law as we have endeavoured to prove elsewhere in Serm. 4. on Ezek 36 6.27 though we be not bound to obey the Law for the same end our Lord obeyed it to wit for our justification yet we are bound thereto for this end that by our obedience we may testifie our thankfulness to the Lord our creator and redeemer likewise in our Lords passive obedience his end was to satisfie for our guiltiness and obligation to punishment but a special end in all our sufferings is that we may be conformable to the Lord our head Rom 8.29 not by satisfying with him but by our patient submission to the will of our heavenly father like as our Lord in all things submitted to the will of his father Object Object But many of the dear children of God are not freed from the fear of death as David and Ezechias had their own fears in a large measure Psal 116. Isa 38. How then say ye that Christ hath delivered us from the fear of death Answ Answ Believers have a natural fear of death I answer it is no wonder the godly have a natural fear because they have as all creatures a natural desire of self-preservation and this natural fear being concreated with man in the state of integrity was not sinful But sometime this natural fear exceeds in the godly when faith and hope is weak This excess of natural fear is in them a sinful infirmity not to be defended by any but to be pitied by others and mourned for by themselves and prayed against by all weakness of faith at such times makes their fears great and strong when the children of God have deep apprehensions of death and but weak apprehensions of Iesus Christ and of eternal life by him then is their eye fixed on the bitter potion which breeds astonishment until the time they gather their thoughts and by faith and hope look to that eternal health which will follow upon this bitter potion Our Lord said to Peter Mat. 14 Why art thou so fearful O thou of little faith little faith makes much fear but a vigorous faith into Gods special presence though it do not altogether expel yet will it moderate and regulate our natural fear of death Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff comfort me They are as children in their loving Fathers hand and fear not to pass through that dark trance to their eternal Mansions of light and glory This doctrine serves to rouse raise our hearts unto the duty of Thankfulness
in the hour of temptation we get rest in time of our life from divers temptations which Satan as a crafty fowler useth thereby as so many calls and whistlings to allure into his Net divers kinds of silly fools in our yonger years we are tempted to untowardness and frowardness in riper years to riot and sensuality after that to pride and ambition and in our declining age to covetousness and worldly mindedness To have our hearts even then fixed in the world when one of our feet is already in the grave a most untimely temptation and yet prevails with too many Is it not therefore best to be dissolved and to be with Christ There and then will be perfect peace and freedom from this body of sin and inordinate concupiscence which like a troubled sea raised up with the winds of temptations doth cast up mire and dirt but in heaven with Christ our Lord there is a perpetual calm all the stormy winds are in the inferior region of the air so all the winds of temptations are here below but none there where our Sun of righteousness shineth for ever Man here is subject to one cross after another like Paul no sooner out of the danger of the raging sea but a Viper leapeth upon his hand Act. 28. No sooner do our eyes dry but we are put to weeping again The breathing times and respite God in his goodness giveth to us at one time are to prepare us for a new onset at another time is it not therefore best to be there where all tears will be wiped from our eyes Rev. 21.4 2. It is best to be in heaven with Christ if we compare the small beginnings of glory here with that cempleat glory and hapiness there here the children of God receive the earnest of the spirit and the first fruits of eternal life but what is the earnest penny in comparison of that full sum of glory which cannot be conceived or numbred by the heart of man here And what is the handful of the first fruits in comparison of the full harvest of Joy in heaven I grant the earnest should comfort and encourage us in the assured expectation of the full bargain of happiness for faithful is he who hath promised And the first fruits some grains of peace and joy bestowed on us here should comfort us in the hope of that full joy there that shall never be taken from us The same was a ground of the Apostle his willingness to be dissolved and of his confidence to be eternally happy after his dissolution 2 Cor. 5.6 8. He hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit we are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord 6. Consider to what society and company we go at our death we remove not to a strange countrey but to our fathers house to the immediate fruition of God Father Son and Holy Ghost to the soc ety of holy Angels and to the souls of just men made perfect what ravishment and contentment of spirit had Peter upon the Mount in the society of our Lord at his transfiguration and of those two witnesses Moses and Elias It is good to be here said he what then wilt thou think and say when thou shalt have an immediate communion with thy Lord and a comfortable but unspeakable communion with all the Angels and Saints in heaven Old Jacob was much encouraged to go down unto Egypt when he considered Joseph was there before him to receive and welcome him when he looked beside to the waggons and provision sent to him for his journey and when he looked behinde him to a land of famine from which he was to depart So at the hour of death we have matter of encouragement when by faith we look before us Our Joseph the Lord Jesus Christ the great Steward and dispenser of grace and glory is before us to welcome us when we look with the eye of sense and experience beside us Our Ioseph sendeth some provision of faith and hope to hold in the life of grace by the way And when we look behinde us we leave a world abounding in sin and misery That divine Philosopher Socrates said death would be a hard matter to me if I thought not I were going to men departed this life and those far better then many who stay behind them Therefore in this respect also it is best to be dissolved and to be with Christ 7. Consider our happy condition is a thing certain and sure already prepared for us by the merit of Christ and reserved for us in heaven 1 Pet. 1.4 It is not with us blessed be God as with the Emperour Hadrian he knew not whether his soul went at death when he said O my silly wandering soul into what places wilt thou now go But a Believer saith with Paul 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed Our Lord hath told us Joh. 14.12 I go to prepare a place for you As a man espousing a wife in a strange countrey returneth to his own countrey maketh all ready for her coming home and in his convenient time sendeth his special friends for her to convoy her home so our Lord by his word hath suited us and by faith wrought in us by his Spirit hath espoused us unto himself he hath gone before us prepared all happiness for us and in his own good time doth send his holy Angels to convoy our souls at death unto that eternal house in heaven not made with hands The sight and knowledge of this made the Apostle to groan in his spirit and long for it 2 Cor. 5.1 2. As one dwelling for a time in a strait dark and rainy house compassed about with naughty and wicked neighbours such a man after he hath gotten a promise of a large lightsome and close house that hath the society of good and comfortable neighbours how much will he long for the term of removal Such is our condition in the body Much straitness and suppression of spirit through many grievous troubles much ignorance and darkness in our understanding Many temptations like rain dropping in through the open and ill-guarded organs of our senses And also many wicked men do compass us like Bees to sting us but in that house and happy condition above there is largeness of spirit and freedom from all molestation full light and knowledge stability perpetual in grace and glory above the rain and wind of temptations And there is the blessed society of God Angels and perfect souls Therefore from all these considerations we must and should conclude it is best to be dissolved and to be with Christ with whom our life is hid in God Object Object But may not the child of God in a time of sickness desire to live and pray to God for recovery Answ I answer no doubt he may so did David Psal 39.13 Answ A believer may in time of sickness pray to live and Ezekias Is
38. but desire of life should be well qualified 1. It must be ever with submission to the good will of thy heavenly father thou must say as our Lord did Father if it be thy will let this cup pass away from me yet not my will but thine be done 2. It must be out of a serious intention and resolution to honour the God of thy life by bringing forth the fruits of righteousness after thy sickness that all who know thee may praise thy God not only in his power manifested in thy bodily recovery but in his mercy for healing thy soul and making thee to grow in grace after thy sickness 3. It must be with an earnest desire to glorifie God in thy calling As Paul Phil. 1.24 It is best for you that I abide in the flesh As Parents being sick may lawfully desire to live that they may bring up their children in the knowledge and nurture of the Lord but all this must be done with a submission to the will of God Object Object May a man out of discontentment for troubles worldly desire to be dissolved Answ That was Jonahs sinful fit of impatience Answ but it lasted not It is not lawful our of discontent to desire death we should be much displeased and discontent with our sins but in no wise with the good and blameless providence of God in afflicting us for our sins It were evil for us if death should take us away in such a fit It were with the silly fish but a leaping out of the lukewarm water into the hot fire It is a weakness of spirit to fret and faint under crosses but the strong spirit beareth them with resolution To this purpose Augustine doth argue well Augustine that Cato and Lucretia were both of weak spirits in so far as they could not bear those disgraces wherein they were innocent sufferers but out of their weakness of spirit and a desperate discontentment they became Agents in their own perpetual shame and confusion by self-murder and leaving their station without any order from God who had placed them therein It is most certain that crosses through Gods grace sanctifying them are means to wean the heart of the child of God from the world as babes are weaned from the brest after it is crossed with wormwood But the main ground wherein riseth and standeth the desire of Gods children to be dissolved is this that they may be delivered from the burthen and bondage of indwelling corruption and be with Christ which is best of all Therefore whatsoever thy present condition be labour thou to be content therewith This is a sure ground of comfort after thou art once in a state of grace and favour with God through Christ Thy present estate be it what it will prosperity or adversity it is ever the best Reverence his wise and holy providence God hath placed thee in this world Submit thou to his will for the time of thy abode or removal As God put Noah in the Ark so the holy man stayed there till God commanded him to come forth Joseph and Mary stayed in Aegypt till God sent them word to depart out of it So must we with patience abide in a miserable world until the time God sendeth for us and when death cometh as a messenger from God then should we answer as Rebekkah did to her nearest friends when they said Gen. 24. Wilt thou go with this man She answered readily and resolutely I will go She leaveth parents friends and all So at death should we be willing to leave all in this present world for it is best to be with Christ the prince of life and Lord of Glory To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be all Praise Honour and Glory for now and ever Amen The glorious resurrection of the body by CHRIST JOH 5.28 29. Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice And shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation THe great priviledge of the glorious resurrection of our bodies The resurrection of the body a fruit of Christs Merit is also a sweet refreshing stream flowing out from the fulness of Christ his love merit and power 1 Cor. 15.22 Since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead we get a right and claim to this priviledge by Faith in Jesus Christ the purchaser of it Ioh. 5.24 Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into damnation but is passed from death into life It is spoken of the whole person and supposeth man made up of soul body also in the praeterit time he is passed from death unto life because his interest and claim to Christ doth ensure unto him all the benefits purchased by the death of Christ As the purchase is by the merit and satisfaction of Christ The application and appropriation of the right and claim by Faith in Jesus Christ so we are put in the possession of it by our Lord at his second coming Philip. 3.21 he shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned according to his glorious body In the words we have these four points considerable 1. In the words 4. points 1. The certainty of the resurrection of the body The hour is coming Our Lords Disciples and hearers marvelled when they heard of the Mysterie of the first resurrection whereof our Lord was speaking that those who were yet dead in their sins and trespasses should be quickned by the word and Spirit in these words he saith marvel not at that for not only is there a first resurrection in this world to a new life but also a second resurrection in the other world into eternal life 2. The universality of the resurrection All in the graves 3. The powerful means of the resurrection They shall hear his voice and shall come forth 4. The different ends of the resurrection according to the difference of the persons that will be raised They that have done good unto life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation From the first point we observe this Doctrine and Conclusion Doctrine There shall be a resurrection of the body It is most certain there will be a resurrection of the body The hour and time appointed for it in Gods purpose is coming saith our Lord in whose lips was never found guil There is a certainty of infallibility in respect of divine prediction for heaven and earth will pass away before one of his words fall to the ground and there is also a certainty of immutability in respect of Gods Decree and eternal purpose for the counsel of the Lord shall stand and he shall do all his pleasure Isa 46.10 The resurrection of the body is
most true that good Works are necessary by way of concomitancy in him who is to be saved for without holiness none shall see the face of God Heb. 12.14 Although thou canst not be justified in this life by thy good Works yet in the day of resurrection thou shalt be judged according to thy Works Math. 25. 2 Cor. 5.10 Therefore as in the day of resurrection thou wouldest differ from evil doers who will be raised unto damnation see thou differ from them in thy living and dying Godly differ from the wicken in living 1. The wicked man in his life-time employeth his desires endeavours and time to serve his own lusts but the care of a Godly man and sound believer will be to serve his Lord Rom. 13.14 Put on the Lord Iesus and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof 2. The wicked man walketh in the broad way that leadeth to destruction he taketh unto himself ease and pleasure in sin as one having room in a broad way he doth not afflict or grieve his own heart at any time by refusing the unlawful desires of it But thou who wouldst rise to life must walk in the strait way that leadeth unto life thou must straiten and hem up thy desires and afflict thy unrenewed part and flesh by refusing and rejecting unruly desires and if at any time thy heart look back unto sin thou must afflict thy Spirit with Godly sorrow for any step thou hast made toward the broad way The Godly man and sound believer differeth also from the wicked in his dying Godly differ from the wicked in dying The wicked man at his death layeth not hold on Christ and dyeth unwillingly but thou that wouldst rise unto life thou must with old Simeon an old expectant of glory embrace Christ and hug him and the Promise of life made in him in the arms of thy faith as a dying man holdeth fast his gripe so shalt thou keep thy gripe of Christ in the day of resurrection thou shalt be found in him The Godly man dieth willingly commending his Spirit unto God as a faithful Creator he goeth unto death as his bed out of the which he will rise in that morning of eternity with refreshment but the ungodly and impenitent go to death unwillingly as unto a prison out of which they know they will be carried unto Judgement This is the heavenly posture of a Godly man on his death-bed he resteth by Faith on the only merit and satisfaction of Jesus Christ as a sick man doth upon a soft Mat underneath him he hath the lively hope of a glorious rest to his soul after its parting from the body and of a glorious resurrection of the body as a Pillow to hold up his head and heart that in all his pain he fainteth not and he hath good Works as a coverlet to adorn him in the sight of all that behold him The Believer at his death resteth not on them they are his coverlet but not his mat he is adorned and covered with them before the world who seeth them in him and should both glorifie God in his rich and free love for his graces bestowed on him and should labour to imitate him in his good life and happy death If thus thou differ from wicked men in thy life and death and be not an evil doer as they are in the purpose of their heart and course of their life The Lord who by his grace maketh thee to differ from them in this life shall in eternal mercy make thee to differ from them in thy resurrection for thy resurrection shall be unto eternal life if thou live to Christ thou shalt dye in Christ and in that day thou shalt be found in him and go with him to the third heaven and remain in glory for ever with him It serveth for a ground of terrour and awakening to the ungodly Vse 2 Terror to ungodly men who rush into sin as the horse into the Battle go on in their sins like the Ox unto the slaughter and will not know the evil of their wayes till the deadly dart of Gods wrath strike through their souls Remember O foolish man if thou live and dye in thy sins and as Zophar speaketh Iob 20.11 If thy bones be full of the sins of thy youth and they lie down with thee in the dust thou shalt rise unto damnation what thou wouldest not believe in this thy day thou shalt be forced from sense of pain to believe in that day of the Lord and then shall the faithful Ministers of Jesus Christ say as Paul did to his fellow-Passengers in the Ship Act. 27.21 If ye had hearkened unto me ye should not have gained this harm and loss The remembrance of neglected opportunities will encrease the fretting torment of their souls It may be thou hast pain and sickness in thy body with great agony at thy death but consider all that is but as a flea-bite in comparison of that worm that dyeth not and the fire which cannot be quenched Thou mayest be assured unless thou repent while thou art in the body thy pained and deformed body shall be raised up in greater pain and deformity An ugly and hideous spectacle will thy face and body be so that if it were possible in that day thou wouldest flye from thy self Then soul and body at their reunion and uniting will in a manner curse one another and live or rather languish together as it were in mutual imprecations for ever This will be a part of their hell like two Mastiffs chained together and tearing one another the soul will curse the body and all the Members of it for ministering temptations by the eyes and ears and for being too ready to bring forth and act sin conceived in the heart then soul and body that sinned together shall be tormented together as they were bound together in sin so also in punishment therefore let the sad forethought of pain in the body in that day calm thy impetuous affections Remember as thou sowest in the body so shalt thou reap in the body Gal. 6.8 thou shalt receive according to that thou hast done in the body 2 Cor. 5.10 The serious forethought of this will be an awful means to suppress thy tumultuary affections The Town-clerk Act. 19.40 composed the tumult with one word we are in danger said he to be called in question for this dayes uproar so consider thou art in danger to be called in question in that day of resurrection for the insurrection and rebellion of thy heart against thy Lord in this thy day The Royal preacher soundeth forth this sad but profitable Note into the ears of young men who are dit-times violent like Jehu in their sinful courses Eccles 11.9 Rejoyce O young man in thy youth c. but know thou that for all those things God will bring thee unto Judgement This Doctrine serveth for a solid ground of comfort to the Godly who