continual readiness that which may furnish us abundantly with meditations in this kind It was a custome in former times for men to make their Sepulchres in their Gardens to mind them of death in the midst of the pleasures of this life This present Work may not unfitly be termed a Garden wherein whosoever takes a dayly walk may gather in the several beds thereof those wholsome flowers and hearbs which being distilled by serious meditation will prove water of life to a fainting spirit in some he shall find instruction in some incitation in others consolalion in all profit Here thou shalt find that Lethall Gourd sprung up by Adam his trausgression that makes all his posterity cry out There is Death in the Pot. There thou mayst gather Hearbs of Grace as a counterpoyson against the malignity of death in a third there is the spiritual Heliotropium opening with joy to the Son of Righteousness the hope of a blessed Resurrection Do the glittering shews of outward things make thee begin to over-fancy them here thou shalt find how little they will avail in death the consideration whereof will make them like that precious stone which being put into the mouth of a dead man loseth its vertue art thou over-burthened with afflictions here thou art supported in the expectation of a far more exceeding weight of glory art thou ready to faint under thy labours here thou shalt find a time of rest and of reaping doth the time seem over-long that thy patience begins to flag here thou hast a promise of thy Saviours speedy coming In a word be thy estate and condition what it will be here thou mayst have both directions to guide thee and comforts to support thee in thy journey on earth till thou arrive at thy Country in Heaven Certainly there is no man can sleight and undervalue so deserving a Work but he shall discover himself either to be ignorant or idle or ill affected especially when so judicious and learned men have thought it a fit concomitant for their several Labours which they have added for the accomplishment of it Therefore take it in good worth improve it for the good of thy Soul that being armed and prepared for death when it shall approach thou mayst have no more to do but to die and mayst end thy dayes in a stedfast assurance That thy sins shall be blotted out when the time of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the LORD Thine in Him who is the Resurrection and the Life H. W. THE TABLE THE Stewards Summons Page 1. TEXT LUKE 16.2 Give an Account of thy Stewardship for thou mayst be no longer Steward The Praise of Mourning Page 17. ECCLESIASTES 7.2 It is better to go to the House of Mourning then to the House of Feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart Deliverance from the King of Fears Page 33. HEBREWS 2.14 15. 14. For as much then as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil 15. And deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage The Perfection of Patience Page 47. JAMES 1.4 But let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing A Restraint of exorbitant Passion Page 61. 2 SAM 12.22 23. 22. And he said while the Child was yet alive I fasted and wept for I said who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the Child may live 23. But now he is dead wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me The Sting of Death c. Page 73. 1 COR. 15.56 The sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law The Destruction of the Destroyer c. Page 81. 1 COR. 15.16 The last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death The Worlds Losse and the Righteous Mans Gain Page 91. ISAIAH 57.1 And merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come The Good-Mans Epitaph c. Page 107. REVEL 14.13 I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their Works do follow them The Christians Center c. Page 117. ROM 14.7 8. 7. For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself 8. For whether we live we live to the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords The Improvement of Time c. Page 129. 1 COR. 7.29 30 31. 29. But this I say Brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none 30. And they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as if they rejoiced not and they that buy as though they possessed not 31. And they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away Security Surprized c. Page 143. 1 THESSAL 5.3 For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape A Christians Victory or Conquest over Deaths Enmity Page 159. 1 COR. 15.26 The last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death The great Tribunal or Gods Scrutiny of Mans Secrets Page 171. ECCLES 12.14 For God will bring every work into Jungement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill A Tryall of Sincerity c. Page 181. ISAIAH 26.8 9. 8. Yea in the way of thy judgments O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee 9. With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early for when thy judgments are in the earth the Inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness The Expectation of Christs Coming c. Page 195. PHIL. 3.20 21. 20. For our conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ 21. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Christs Precept and Promise or Security against Death Page 211. JOHN 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you if a man keep my saying he shall never see Death The Young-mans Liberty and Limits c. Page 223. ECCLESIAST 11.9 Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these
conscience hath so wrought on thee that it hath stung thee for such a sin thou yet approvest thy self in it and thou wilt go on in thy pride still in such and such sins stil thou wilt do so do but know this that stand thou never so much upon thy resolution Death will certainly come and if he find thee in such a sin against thy conscience thou hast reserved in thy self a sting for Death Secondly a man shall know if Death come with a sting by this trial that Solomon giveth us in Ec. 11.9 Rejoyce oh young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thy heart and sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment If thou live a voluptuous life Death will certainly come with a sting Dives he lived a voluptuous life had he not a sting for it So others in Scripture did not their plentiful tables and voluptuous courses bring a sting on them A voluptuous life makes a sting for Death When a poor wretch is a dying and shall begin to reflect back on his life what have I done how have I lived so much time I have spent or mispent in apparel in vanity in eating in drinking in swaggering What comfort is this to his soul how can he answer this before God this is the very thing that will sting him at such a day when he can read nothing in his life but barrenness and unfruitfulness nothing that hath honoured God in all his life Certainly my brethren if there be an Epicurious voluptuous life this life will provide a sting for Death Alas you will say Is it so then we may fear that Death will seize on us thus for we confess we have gone on in a voluptuous life gone on in sin that our conscience hath condemned us for how shall we do to pull out this sting I would to God you were thus affected that you were convicted what a fearful thing it will will be if sin remain But wouldest thou have the sting of death pulled out before death come I. How shall I disarme it that I may look death in the face with comfort I. shall give you some wayes and means remember them and practise them First get but a part in Christ and the sting of death is gone thanks be to God saith the Apostle here that hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ It is he that in the Revelation is said to have the keyes of Hell and of death they are under his command and subjection he is victorious over them he hath vanquished them so that if a man have Christ he hath victory and power over Hell and Death I told you in the beginning that that which giveth a sting to Death is the guilt of sin It is so and it is a fearful sting Now that which takes away the guilt of sin is Christ If Christ be mine I have enough to answer the guilt of sin Therefore the Apostle saith Death cannot separate from the love of God in Christ What shall then Indeed nothing it is not the guilt of his sins Christ hath satisfied from them So that if thou wilt have the sting of death out get faith in Christ if thou be not hidden in the clefts of that Rock in the blood of Christ if Christ be not thy Justification and thy righteousness what hast thou to answer the Justice of God you must die and stand before God and how can you stand before God in your sins you cannot without Christ why do you not then study more for Christ Why do you not labour for faith in him It will be your wisdom to labour earnestly to make sure of him if you have him the sting of death is gone Death cannot hurt a person that hath Chriâ⦠Get faith in Christ therefore that is the first Secondly ãâ¦ã would not have Death terrible and fearful to you labour for sincerity ãâã ââethren it is a marvellous thing and yet the truth uprightness and sincerity ãâ¦ã is an enabling grace All the particular things that we account particulaââââââwise they have not an inabling vertue in them Some persons have a great dâââ of learning and wit and many friends much riches and the like yet there cometh an occasion sometimes that puzzleth all these there cometh an occasion sometimes that a mans learning is of no use and natural parts and wit cannot help and riches cannot inable him What time is that The time of death the heart of a man is put to it at such a time and now these shrink nothing can inable a man agaiââ fear so much as sincerity and uprightness When the Prophet Isaiah told ãâã from God that he must die he flieth to this Lord remember how I have ãâã fore thee with an upright heart and done that which was good in thy sight When Death cometh to a wicked voluptuous person and telleth him I am here come for thee thou must appear before God what can this man say Lord I have lived before thee a voluptuous proud wretched life I was a scorner of thy Word a contenââ¦er and persecutor of thy people a swearer c. What though perhaps he can say Lord I have heard so many Sermons I have been so much in conference and the like will this inable a man against the fear of Death No nothing but this that he hath a sincere heart that his heart is unmixed that sin is not affected in his soul that there is no sin that he would live in no duty that he wonld not do Lord remember I have walked before thee uprightly I say nothing will inable a man more against fear then sincerity and nothing disgraceth perplexeth the soul in an exigent more then ãâã It is sincerity that takes away the sting of Death The Apostle in Rââ¦m 14. saith he No man liveth to himself but if he live he liveth to the Lord and if he die he dieth to the Lord whether we live or die we are the Lords Here is the comfort we are the Lords saith he How proveth he that We live unto him That is the work of a sincere heart A true Christian liveth not to himself but to Christ Now if thy conscience give thee this testimony I have lived unto Christ then whether I live or die I am the Lords the Apostle concludeth it So right is that of Solomon Riches availeth not in the day of wrath but righteousness delivereth from death Thy righteousness and sincerity delivereth thee not from dying but from death It takes away the sting and power of Death Death shall not be death to thee it is only a passage to thee Therefore remember as to get a part in Christ so to get a perfect and sincere heart and then the sting of death is gone But a hypocritical divided heart a heart and a heart that will
Will not God be offended and displeased Shall I go on in this vanity Would I have the judgement of God find me in this company would I have it seize upon me in this imployment in this business in this action Fear lest God should strike thee in such an act lest Death should seize upon thee in such a place and let that make thee keep a constant watch against the shares that are in those places Fourthly keep good company Company you know is a good means to keep men awake Two are better then one and wo to him that is alone saith Solomon I say good company for there are a company that will infect you Keep not company with a froward person lest thou learn his frowardness So keep not company with drunken and swearing persons these are the Divels instruments to keep a man in carnal security No keep company with those that have a charge given them to exhort one another daily and to consider one another to provoke to love and good works Keep company with the Saints and make use of all opportunities to provoke others and to be provoked by others That is the fourth help Fifthly would you be kept from this sinful security then keep God alwayes in your sight It is a good way for a man that would keep himself awake to fix his eye upon some object Fix your eye upon this main object God Whether shall I depart from thy presence faith David This is that the Lord would have his people to consider to keep them from sin in Jer. 23.23 Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God a far off Do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord Can a man hide himself from God in any secret place Think in thy chamber in thy parlour in thy shop in thy house in thy friends house in the street in the Church in every place wheresoever thou art that there God is also If a man had but alwayes some one before him as a witness he would not venture upon many things that he now doth If a malefactour should see the Judge before him if the child had alwayes his fathers eye upon him or the servant had alwayes his Master sitting about him and above him though there are many that are unjust servants yet nevertheless he would serve him at least with eye-service Now set your selves in the eye of God that sees you in the dark hears you in your most secret whisperings knows every action of your life and every circumstance of those actions This will be a means to keep thee from security I will add but one more which is the sixt Consider thy latter end The night is now coming upon us If it were told any of us that this night thou shalt die as it was told the rich man in Luke 12. Thou fool this night shall they take away thy soul I think there is none that heareth me this day but he would certainly keep waking this night But it is not bodily waking we plead for but spiritual waking a waking from sin a waking to repentance And we tell you that Death is now at the door ready to seize upon you We speak not only to you that are aged that are at the brink of the grave but we speak also to you that are young Death may seize upon you and strike you this night be awakened now to repentance I remember what God said to the Church of Sardis Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain That Church was asleep as many of us are at this day God cometh to awaken you now as he did them that that little goodness you have left may be renewed and confirmed You that are quite out of the way of grace and go on in a course of sin sit now down and humble your souls get into a secret corner wherein you may consess those many provocations whereby you have provoked God all your dayes and resolve to amend if the Lord spare you Begin now delay it no longer it may be the last night the everlasting night to you take this warning now therefore be awakened to repentance This is that the Scripture calleth upon so much Eccless 11. Rejoyce O young man in the dayes of thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in thy youth and walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all this thou shalt come to Judgment As if he should say You that are in the middest of your delights that solace your selves in the middest of the abundance of the earth which you enjoy that sport your selves in the pleasures of this would know that there will come a Judgment day see therefore now what will best answer God then Since the end of all things is at hand saith the Apostle let us be sober and watch We know not how neer the end of the world is we know indeed it shall not be yet be cause Antichrist must be destroyed and the Jewes called before that day come but nevertheless certainly thy end is neer thy day thy particular death and that is the time of thy particular Judgment may be sudden It is appointed for all men once to die and after that cometh the Judgment That is the particular Judgment that cometh upon Death so I say this may be the night of thy death and the morning may be the day of thy particular doom Judg your selves now that you may not be Judged of the Lord It was the use that the Apostle made even to good men For this cause saith he many are sick and weak and many sleep that is they are dead what then If we would Judg our selves we should not be judged of the Lord. So say I to you judg your selves now bring your selves as prisoners before the Bar arraign your selves as malefactors before the Judg bring out the particular bills of inditement against your selves whereby you have provoked God yet there is mercy the day of grace and opportunity of repentance and turning unto God yet lasteth therefore do it now I might add many other helps to this purpose but these shall suffice at this present We have an example before our eyes enough to warne us of this Here is an example of Death which should teach us now to awaken our selves and not to live securely as men that dream of a long life for many years Here is a young man dead took away in the prime of his time in the beginning of his dayes his sickness though it held him not long yet it was somewhat violent How know you what a short time you have though you are now young or if you live longer what sickness you may have it may be you may be deprived of your reason and senses therefore now while health and reason and sense while these Warning Sermons are afforded take time and make use of time lest your security make good
to dispaire Where is it It may be in thy heart of all thy complaining and thou maist have it for all these exclaymings against thy self Tell me when thou findest those corruptions whereof and for which thou speakest against thy self Dost thou allow them or not dost thou confesse them and lament them or not I confesse them indeed but with such a finall deal of sorrow Is it such a sorrow as draws thee to God and drives thee out of thy self such as makes thee to fall before him and judge thy self worthy to be damned and submit to his Justice Is it such a sorrow as makes thee confesse and then purpose amendment Such as makes thee cry to him for power and strength such as makes thee rest on him for ability Dost thou determine still still to amend that that still troubleth thee Dost thou still continue to fight with the lusts of thy flesh by the spiritual weapons that God hath ordained for thee I say to thee thy Repentance thy Faith thy New Obedience may be true though it be weak When a man hath a shaking Palsey hand it is a hand A sick weake man that lies crying oh oh that can scarse turn himself between the sheets is a man a living man A poor child that is new born and hath nothing that discovereth reason almost but the shape of a man that poor child is a reasonable creature Faith beginneth with weake apprehensions and faint leanings on Christ Deep godly sorrow and other parts of Repentance may begin many times with little And amendment of life begins sometimes at a low soundation at small sins If it be true and sincere and constant if thou go on and continue in a course of daily renewing thy Repentance and Obedience and Faith and stirring by Gods means to get the increase of these graces and to be upright and sincere in them thou art blessed in them notwithstaading thy weaknesse take comfort in a little and be thankful for it God will give more and the only way to get more is to take comfort in a good measure in what thou hast and the way to take comfort is to labour to increase these graces Let not the weak troubled seebled Christian be troubled in mind as if he had no grace because he hath but a little as if he did not at all keep Christs sayings because he keepeth them but a little He is a scholler in the School that beginneth at Christ-Crosse-row as we call it And he is entred into the Colledge that beginneth but in a low book with the first rudiments of Logick And he is a member of the Family that began to be an Apprentise but yesterday and comes not to a deep knowledge of his Art and Mistery but is glad to do sorry work Beleeve it brethren there may be great conceits of Repentance and beleeving and obeying that may make a man good in his own eyes and be altogether false There may be a small measure of Repentance but if one be humbled in the smalness of that measure and labour and desire and pray and begg for the increase of that measure and take pains to edisie himself in it by the means of God then it is true and upright and shall save him Therefore rejoyce It is not with the Covenant of Grace as it was with that of Works The Covenant of Works the Law required perfection of Obedience to all the things prescribed a man must not only love God but love God perfectly But the Gospel satisfieth it self with accepting truch of endeavour to the thing required If there be Repentance though it be not in the full perfection if thou beleeve though not with the fullest measure of beleeving If thou Obey though not in the highest degree of obedience this Gospel this sweet this favourable gracious Doctrine giveth thee consolation enough Go home therefore comforted in the beginnings and resolved to proceed and know that thou shalt enjoy that which Christ hath promised freedome from damnation thou shalt never see Death THE YOUNG MANS LIBERTY AND LIMITS OR GODS JUDGMENT ON MANS CARRIAGE SERMON XVIII ECCLESIASTES 11.9 Rejoyce oh young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgement SOlomon in the conclusion of this Chapter is exhorting the sons of men to true Religion and the better to mould and frame them to the same he mindeth them of Death and Judgement without which there cannot be planted in us a right care and fear of God From the seventh verse to the latter end he hath to do with two forts of men First with those that were glued to this life and to the delights and pleasures thereof and he bringeth them in speaking thus Truly the light is sweet and it is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun verse 7. By light there we are to understand the light of the Sun shining on us while we enjoy this mortal life This many men suppose to be a very pleasant thing and they overmuch content themselves in the same These Solomon verse 8. refuteth by three Arguments The first is this that though a man live many yeares yet let him remember the dayes of darkness that is that a time of Death will come a time when our Sun will set and our light wil turn to darkness though we live never so long never so sweetly never so pleasantly though we enjoy the light of the Sun yet we should carefully remember that darkness abideth us Secondly faith Solomon those dayes are many His Argument is thus much Let a man consider with himself though he live many yeares yet notwithstanding the dayes and years of his life cannot be compared with the dayes and years of his Death a man is many more years under the ground in the Grave then above ground walking on the face of the earth Thirdly faith Solomon all that cometh ãâã vanity That is if a man may enjoy the light of the Sun and the pleasures of this life that makes his heartââ¦ight ââ¦ome yet all this is vanity there is no full contentment in these things but an emptiness in them all and no man knows how soon he may be bereaved of them Now in the words we have read Solomon hath to deal with the young man and he is altogether given to jollity and merriment he forgetteth God and the dayes of darkness and his latter end Well Solomon giveth him the bridle as it were and suffereth him to follow his own way by an Ironical concession or figurative speech declaring not what young men ought to doe but what their course is and what commonly they do Reââ¦ce ãâã young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth and walk in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but
heart and sorrow for sin If earnest and constant prayer unto God If lamenting of youthful miscarriages and the not answering of time and means and opportunities and religious education and that godly care that was exercised in order to his spiritnal welfare and building of him up in the knowledge of God and of Christ If I say the lamenting of the neglect of opportunities of this kind If so be the desire of the prayers of others for him and that out of a sense of his own disability to plead his own cause If so be a gracious communication of God unto him in wayes of comfort in the time of his sickness supporting him under divers pressures and many sore and grievous temptations that lay upon him If so be his setled resolution concerning his spiritual estate and the satisfying of others in many doubts and disquiets of spirit that rose within him If so be the due respect to the Lords day the desire of promoting the sanctifying of it both by himself and others with a continual grief proceeding from a sense of his own disability to answer to the occasion and duties of the day If there be any thing to be concluded of concerning Religion from such passages as these then brethren I have all these as so many materials put into my hand to build withall and so to reare up a testimony before you concerning this disceased And thus in brief have I testified of him and to you all he though dead now speaks but in a more special manner to you that are young men his death and that example we have in him of mortality is as a loud Sermon preached unto you concerning the care you ought to have to bethink your selves in your younger years of the things that concern your spiritual and eternal welfare and how much it concerns you now to give all dilligence to make your calling and election sure Your thoughts it may be are too much upon your patrimony and inheritances your houses and possessions your great estates and your matches that thereby you may as you use to say raise your fortunes too too apt you are to be taken up with these considerations and to pursue thoughts of this nature but you see by this example how God may come and prevent the accomplishment of all these and in that day in that very day all these thoughts will perish death may come marry you to the dust and call you not to your fathers mansions but to the common house appointed for all living where you must say to corruption thou art my father and to the worme thou art my mother and my sister this was his condition and so may yours be too Therefore you young men remember you your Creatour in the dayes of your youth and know you that God hath provided instructions and counsels in his Word that are directed to young men that they may know how to cleanse their way and to flie the lusts of youth and betimes to begin with God that so whether they live to old age or be cut off in youth they may be gathered to their Fathers in a good and a full age like a Shock of Corn and so receive the blessing of the promise SPIRITUAL HEARTS-EASE OR The VVay to Tranquility SERMON XXXI JOHN 14.1 2 3. 1 Let not your hearts be troubled you beleeve in God beleeve also in me 2 In my Fathers house are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also IN the 33. verse of the former Chapter our Saviour Christ told his Disciples that he must now go away from them Little children yet a little while I am with you and you shall seek me and as I said to the Jews whether I go you cannot come so say I now to you This message of the departure of Christ from the earth of his being took from them did exceedingly sad their hearts and very much perplex and disquiet their spirits they knew what a comfort they had in the presence of Christ they knew what a faithful Teacher he was what a mighty Protector he had been how gracious and full of Heavenly comfort he had manifested himself to them at all times in his being with them and they could not now think of parting with him without much perplexity and disquiet and trouble of spirit Therefore the words that I have now read are the speech of our blessed Saviour to comfort them strengthening their hearts against those disquiets under which they were exercised In which words you may briefly observe these three things for time will not suffer me to stand much upon them First a duty whereunto they are exhorted Secondly the means whereby it may be performed Thirdly the lets that were to be removed that hindered them in the performance of the duty in the use of these means The duty that is to be performed is in the beginning of the first verse Let not your hearts be troubled The means whereby to perform it in the words following You beleeve in God beleeve also in me The lets and impediments of the performance of it in the use of these means are so many objections and doubts as are wisely prevented by the wisdome of God in the two verses following I shall take them as I come to them in order and but give a brief touch upon every one of them First the duty that is to be performed it is this to stablish comfort their hearts Let not your hearts be troubled The word that is here translated trouble it signifieth such a trouble as is in water when the mud is stirred up or when the waves and surges are raised by some tempest or storm It signifieth such a trouble as is in an Army when the Souldiers are disranked and routed when they are disordered and it shewes thus much that those distempers that are in the hearts of men in the affections of men do exceedingly hinder their judgments that they can see no more nor discern things no better then a man can do in a muddy water All the affections are as so many Souldiers in an Army disordered that keep not their due subordination to their leader and guide by reason that the understanding that should guide the will and affections is now made a servant to them And this distemper of spirit ariseth from the inordinacy of the affections the inordinate motion and agitation of them This is called trouble Let not your hearts be troubled Be not disturbed thus and disquieted and disordered So that no faculty of the soul can perform its own work So as that it is disabled to judge of things according to truth but that you are misled and deluded by mists and appearances It is with the mind in sorrow as it
and yet there is none of his coming Wilt thou still retain thine integrity right Jobs Wife as she speaks to him wilt thou still retain thy trust to what purpose is it It is in vain to serve the Lord as those wicked ones speak in Malachy Now if Hope will come in and say notwithstanding all these things yet pass by bad report and good report be of Davids mind I will yet be more vile before the Lord that chose me before thee and thy fathers house and I will stand it out notwithstanding all the mockings of men Here is a manifest sign that there is Hope Thus you may seek to find this grace in your selves and you shall find it by many such kind of assaults as these which Faith meeteth withall Now as you are to find it so you are to fight against the hindrances of this Hope And the hindrances of a mans hope are sometimes slavish fear sometimes an impatient spirit and sometimes even Death it self and that is a tedious affront indeed that Hope meeteth withall First Fear a kind of passion and perturbation of the spirit of a man that makes his grief begin before his affliction comes upon him this same Fear hath a great deal of painfulness in it Where the fearful are they are shut our with the unfaithful and without shall be dogs with those that are subject to this fearfulness Now Hope cometh to a man and faith Though I sometime be afraid yet put I my trust in God and therefore I will not fear what man can do unto me I will not be danted with any kind of slavish terrour Hold out thou that faist thou hast faith and be not afraid of the Arrow that flies by day nor of the terrour by night Here is the hindrance of this hope taken away Then there is an impatient spirit that many times possesseth men An impatient spirit and a hopeful heart they are both as contrary as can be You shall have many a man so touchy that he cannot endure any delay he must have things come according to his own mind or he loseth his patience presently Oh but I will patiently wait for the Lord saith hope And here is the opposition that must be made for the maintenance of this hope against all kind of impatiency In patience possesse your souls The last hindrance is death The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death We have many enemies in this world our very life is a warfare but amongst all the fightings and combates we meet with in the world there is none comparable to this last single combate we must undergo with death it self this is a terrible assault that betideth the hopeful faithful man to know that notwithstanding all his faith and all his hope and all his love and all his patience what grace or vertue soever he hath else yet not withstanding he must go down to the grave make his bed in the darkness and lie down in the dust and when he hath fought all that he can yet not withstanding he must down he must yeeld he must take the foyl the fall in the body howsoever the soul escapeth Now here is a kind of dismaidment of hope But I will tell you how it is spoken of the faithful and so of the hopeful The faithful are said to endure as seeing him that is invisible how do they endure by the supply of hope for this hope is it that makes the faithful against all hindrances to fight it out so as that they would not be delivered as it is spoken in the Epistle to the Hebrews And shall death separate us from that we hope for No faith the hopeful man it shall not Yea so far he is from being unwilling to submit himself to this way as knowing it to be the way whereby he cometh to that he hopeth for as that he is very ready and greedy of death it is the way to that I hope for saith he therefore it is sweely spoken of an Ancient and you will acknowledge it to be a sweet sentence of that Father Saint Austin He that desireth to be dissolved according to that of the Apostle and to be with Christ Non patienter moritur He doth not die patiently See here is a faithful a hopeful man and yet doth not die patiently what would the Father say He liveth saith he patiently the very life he liveth putteth him to his patience when he cometh to die he dyeth pleasantly he goeth away with his hope and his hope is full of immortality And no more for that point The next thing I observe is concerning the Object of this hope and this is it that Christ is Object of the Christians hope We have hope in Christ Hear it in the general hear it in the speciall In the general 1. Tim. 1.1 Saint Paul he beginneth his Epistle with Christ our hope Col. 1.27 The riches of the mystery of Gods grace to the Gentiles is Christ in you the hope of glory Here is Christ our hope and Christ your hope in the general In the special hear it in Saint Paul hear it in the prophets and others Saint Paul to me to live is Christ to die is gain Christ is to me in life and death advantage living or dying I am Christs I have hoped in the Lord faith the Prophet David And God is my hope and hath been my help even from my youth This is the general song of the whole Church God is our hope and therefore the Prophet Jacob made an excellent Ejaculation in those blessings he gave his sons when he said Oh Lord I have waited for thy salvation Here was his waiting his hope for the salvation of God from the God of his salvation And so let him slay me if he will saith holy Job yet not withstanding I will still trust in him Thus the faithful have hope and their hope is in Christ No more of it for the enlargement of it It sheweth to us in the first place this Note that A Christians wings do mount him above all means What are his wings his hope Whither slyeth his hope It takes its flight up to heaven to God to the right hand of God to Christ there is his hope So then he that hath this hope being poor he flyeth not to riches for they make themselves wings and fly away from him Being weak he flyeth not to the arm of flesh for in man there is no hope nor no confidence to be put in Princes in the Ballance they are lighter then vanity it self faith the Psalmist Being sick he flyeth not to the Physitian he fleeth to these as the means not to rest in them to make it the main of his aim the scope of his hope he doth not fly thus to them but he goeth to God that commandeth all that worketh above all against all and without all
Apostle Rom. 8.15 a man is then said to wait for death when he is looking for it at every turn as a Steward waits for his Master when he continually expects his return when upon every voyce he hears or upon every knock at the door he saith oh my Master is come this is he that knocks So a man is said to wait for death when in every action of his life in every motion of his estate in every passage of his courses saith well I must die when though his bones are full of marrow yet I must die when though riches come in like a flood yet I must die when changes appear upon himself or others yet I must die I have no abiding here I am but a sojourner and a stranger as all my fathers were I must not enjoy my Wife for ever Children for ever Friends for ever Lands for ever these comforts for ever my life for ever it is but a lease which may soon expire I am but a steward and I must be called to an account such a one is gone before and I must follow after the writ of Habeas Corpus hath seized on him and for ought I know the next may be for me so when death comes I am ready to answer it as Abraham did his Son Isaac here I am it comes not upon me as a thief in the night when I am asleep and think not of him but as Jonathans arrow to David who stayed in the field and expected when it should be shot and then he rose up and embraced him Yee brethren faith Paul in 1 Thes 5.4 are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a theif ye are all the children of the light therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober This is the first thing that waiting imports Another thing it imports is a serious preparation for the day of our change for it is not a naked expectation of a change arising from the certainty of death but it is also a religious preparation improving the intrim of time for the best advantage for a mans soul before the day of change doth come which is here implyed in waiting Solomon calls it a remembring Eccles 12.1 Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth whiles the evil dayes come not and the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them what is this remembring of the Creator but a care to know him a fear to offend him a study to obey him and when is that to be done Now now remember there must be a present acting of this Moses calls it a numbring of our dayes Psal 90.12 and more then that such a numbring as is joyned with an applying of our hearts to wisedome and the reason is because wisedome it directs to the choyce of such particular actions and works as tend to happiness so should a man after his serious consideration of death apply himself to such wayes and such actions by which he may comfortably close up his life with death it is a great point of wisdome to sute actions with their ends to sit and square the wood before we build the house to learn and discipline a troop before they go to battel to rig and trim and furnish the ship before we launch to sea this is preparation indeed Now this preparation for death consists in two things First in an undoing of that which unsits us to die Brethren he who is not fit to live he is not yet fit to die and that which ever masters the life will be of greatest force in death The Father spake it boldly on good grounds I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to die now that which unfits a man to die is sin it makes him find a bitter enemy of death Oh when this Kng of terrours shall present himself by thy bed side with his arrows in his hands I mean thy sins he will wound thee with infinite amazement and horrour the sting of death is sin faith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. Thou dost not prepare thy self for death if thou dost not undo thy sins which thou hast done in thy life the which consists First in a narrow search of thy sinfulness both of nature and practice Secondly in a secret humbling of thy soul for them Thirdly in an unfeigned repentance and forsaking of them Fourthly in a constant imploring and obtaining of mercy for them in the blood of Christ If thy soul doth give sin its discharge now death shall give thy soul a discharge hereafter Secondly in the qualifying our persons for the conquest of death there are three things by which we shall be able chearfully to meet and assuredly to conquer death First by having interest in the Lord Jesus the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ If thou hast gotten Christ into thy arms by faith thou carriest thy peace strength and advantage both through life and death For we are ââ¦ove then conquerors through him that loved us saith the Apostle Rom. 8.37 And to me to live is Christ and to die is gain faith the same Apostle Phil. 11 21. If thou hast a good Christ thou maist be consident of a good death Secondly renewedness of our nature What Saint John spake of he Martyes as some conjecture Blessed and happy is he that hath part in the first ãâã on such the second death hath no power that say I of a person renewed by the sanctifying quality of Gods Spirit I happy is he he shall have power even over the first death The Spirit and the Bride saith come if a man hath gotten the heavenly Spirit which beautifies the soul with the ornaments of Grace as the Bride is with her ornaments he is a fitted person he may well say to Death come and to Christ come Lord Jesus come quickly Thirdly uprightness of conversation Righteousness delivers form death saith Solomon and the righteous hath hope in his death if a mans work be Christs service if he have a heart enclined to keep a good conscience in all things to keep himself exact to the rule and to walk with God Blessed is that servant which his Master when be cometh shall find so doing that man that hath looked to Gods Word to guide his life may confidently look up to Gods mercy to comfort him in death Remember O Lord saith Hezekiah Isa 39. how I have walked before thee intruââ¦h and with a perfect bea rt Now all this doth the waiting for our change import in the Text to wit a serious expectation of it first by undoing those sins of ours which else for eyer will undo us and by interesting our persons into Christ from whom we must likewise receive the Spirit to change our hearts and uprightness to form a new our conversation But then you will say
up all the sons of Adam shall be swallowed up it self into victory Till then we shall all go ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in our several rank and order take our last walk the way of all flesh and it is happy if we go it as Abraham did here in peace and a special blessing if we be gathered as he was to his Fathers in the Autumne of a good old age In which words we have two Acts of a Tragedy the former acted upon his Stage thou shalt go to thy Fathers the latter under the scaffold and be buried in a good old age None die better then they who have life in their hope and none live better than they who have death in their mind and thought especially if it be in the time of their health and bloom of their beauty and pride of their youth and top of their earthly happiness For this cause Joseph of Arimathes is supposed by many to have set his Sepulchre in his Garden as it were to sawce his sweetest pleasures with the sad thoughts of his Funeral and John surnamed the Almoner began his Sepulchre on the day he was Consecrated Patriark of Alexandria and it was the manner of the ancient Emperours at their Coronation feast to have several sorts of Marble shewed them to the end that they might choose one of them for their Tomb-stone and agreeable hereunto the interlineary gloss yeeldeth a reason why God commanded that the oyle wherewith the Kings were annoynted should be compounded with Cinnamon and other spices quod sit cinericii coloris because it is of the colour of Ashes or rather such mould as is digged out of Graves to put them in mind that very day in which they were made Gods upon earth that they should die like men In which regard we have great cause to Bless the providence of our heavenly Father who in the midst of our Marriage feasts and many occasions of mirth and joy presents us with such sad spectacles as here we see to the end we should not exceed in our mirth or too far set our heart upon the pleasures and comforts of this life which like sticks under a pot after a blaze fall suddenly into ashes Let us learn from all the changes and chances of this mortal life not to sing a requiem to our souls here with the fool in the Gospel because we have wealth laid up for us for many years for if our riches take not their wings and fly away from us we shall be taken away from them we shall be arrested by Gods Bayliff Death and then we must go But thou shalt go Our observations from this Scripture ariseth from two springs 1. The manner 2. The matter The former divides it self into two Rivelets the latter into three In the former to wit the manner I observe 1. That these words were spoken to Abraham in a Dream when the Sun was going down a heavy sleep fell upon him 2. That they were spoken by way of Gracious promise In the latter to wit the matter I observe three blessings bestowed upon Abraham 1. A comfortable death Thou shalt go in peace 2. An honourable burial and be buried with thy Fathers 3. A seasonable time for both in a good old age First of the manner When the Sun was setting a deep sleep and dreadful darkness fell upon Abraham and God shewed him in a dream the misery and thraldome of his postetity in Egypt Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400. years vers 13. and lest at the sight hereof his heart should utterly have failed him and his bowels dryed up within him like a pot-sheard God cleareth the skie which was clouded with a smoak of a fiery furnass vers 17. and cheareth his heart reviving him with a promise of safety and peace for himself and of deliverance of his posterity also out of their grievous servitude after a certain period of years allotted for the promise of the growth and ripeness of the Amorites sins For dreams in general the great Secretary of Nature discovereth unto us that the Dreams of good men are better than the Dreams of bad and he will have his foelix or happy man to have a singular priviledge above other men even in his sleep And doubtless as a good conscience is a full feast in the day so it is a light banquet in the night for better thoughts and phantesies in the day beget better dreams in the night as the brighter colours in the Window when the Sun shineth cast clearer species intentionales or reflections from them on the Wall God is with his children as well in the night as in the day and he imparts his counsels and discloseth his secrets as well by dreams in the one as by visions in the other That prophesie of Joel I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams though it were fulfilled in the day of Penticost as Saint Peter instructeth us yet ought it not to be restrained to that day or the Apostles time only For it hath been verified in all after-ages and holdeth still for profitable and comfortable irradiations of Gods Spirit upon the soul by day and night though not for supernatural and prophetical revelations or not so frequent Dreams therefore as they are not with the Eastern people supertitiously to be observed so neither are they utterly to be neglected as idle and vain nocturnal phantasies The Poet could say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Jupiter sends Dreams and Ariflotle dreamed not when he wrote his exact discourse of Divination by dreams nor Artemidorus when he published his curious tract intituled ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã judgment of Dreams for the experience of all times proveth that the Dreams of many men especially a little before their death have been very considerable When the window of the senses are shut the soul hath best leisure to look into her self and after sickness hath battered down the walls of the dark prison of the body in which she was close kept more light breaks in upon her and she seeth farther off then she could before and this is the meaning of the Platonicks in that their Apophthegme anima promonet in morte the soul looks out as it were neer death For this particular in my Text God is gracious to many of his children now adayes by Dreams or otherwayes to give them notice of their departure hence To some he maketh known the year to some the moneth to some the very day and hour when they shall go the way of all flesh And as here he fore-shewed Abraham his departure from hence per viam lecteum by the milky way as it were that is by a sweet and pleasant passage of a natural death in the autumn of his life so also in a Dream he
ÎΡÎÎÎÎÎÎΣ THE House of Mourning FURNISHED With DIRECTIONS for PREPARATIONS to MEDITATIONS of CONSOLATIONS at the Hour of Death DELIVERED IN LIII SERMONS Preached at the FUNERALS of divers faithfull SERVANTS of CHRIST By Daniel Featly Martin Day John Preston Doctors in Divinity Ri. Houldsworth Richard Sibbs Thomas Taylor Thomas Fuller And other Reverend Divines ECCLES 7.4 The heart of the wise is in the house of Mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth Ambr. de obit frat Non amitti sed praemitti videntur quos sed non absumptura mors sed aeternitatas receptura est Seneca Ep. 77. Iter imperfectum est si in media parte aut citra petitum locum steterit vita non est imperfecta si honesta ubicunqque desieris si benè desieres tota est Newly Corrected and Amended with several ADDITIONS LONDON Printed by G. Dawson and are to be sold by John Williams at the Sign of the Crown in St. Pauls-Chruch-Yard 1660. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER THere is no man that can plead Ignorance to the universal Decree of God concerning the necessity of Mans Mortality It is appointed for all men once to die and every man can say as that wise Woman of Tekoaeh we are all as water spilt upon the ground There is no Age Estate Condition or rank of Men but have been foyled with that invincible Champion Death who riding up and down the World upon his pale Horse above these five thousand years hath with an impartial stroke laid all flat before him some in there Infancy have proved what it is to die before they knew what it was to live others in the strength of Youth some in their old Age rich and poor high and low of all sorts young men may die old men must die even those that are stiled Gods and that by no fawning Sycophant but by God himself their Mortality proves them to be men to themselves though they be as Gods to others and as Epictetus once told the Emperour That to be born and to die was common both to Prince and Beggar The sicknesses and miseries of this World have made the proudest Painims to confess with St. Peter to Cornelius Even I my self also am a mortal man So that experience as well as Scripture concludes what man is he that liveth and shall not see death There are no ingredients in the shop of Nature that are sufficiently cordial to fortifie the heart against this King of terrors or his harbingers the velvet slipper cannot sence the foot from the gout nor the gold ring the finger from a fellon the richest Diadem cannot quit the head-ach nor the purple Robe prevent a Fever Beauty strength riches honour friends nor any nor all can repeal that sentence Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Every fit of an Ague and every distemper of this frail constitution being as a light skirmish before the main battel of Death wherein weak man being vanquished is led captive to his long home and when once the lines of Mortality are drawn upon the face of the fairest mortal he becomes a ghastly spectacle how lovely soever before and the conclusion is Bury my dead out of my sight This inevitable necessity however it be confessed and acknowledged of all yet lamentable experience teacheth that in the Christian world most men so live as though they should never die and at length they so die as though they should never live again and when the time of their dissolution cometh their souls are rather chased out by violence then yielded to God in obedience Indeed to a wicked man Death is the beginning of sorrows it is a trap-door to let him down to the everlasting dungeon of Hell but the children of God though they cannot scape the stroke yet they are freed from the sting of death they can play upon the hole of this Aspe without danger and welcome the grimmest approach of this Gyant with a smile being freed from the hurt of him by Him that is the Captain of the Lords Host who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light so that the sting of it being plucked out and the suffering sanctified by Christ death is become to every Believer but a dark entry to the glorious Pallace of Heaven Now as it is Gods tender mercy to his Children that their conflict and misery should be temporary but their perfect happiness eternal so it should be their care in this little space of time alotted them whereupon their everlasting condition depends so to provide that they may live happily where they shall live eternally and since we cannot escape death to prepare for it that we may get the sight of this Basilisk before it approach and so avoid the danger of it Wretched is the estate of that man who when these spiritual Philistims the terrors of death make war upon him shall have just cause to say The Lord is departed from me the death of such a one will be like the sleep of a frantick man who when the malignant humor is concocted awakes in a greater rage than he lay down whereas to him that is wise to consider his latter end death is no way dreadful death may kill him but it cannot hurt him it doth free him from temporary misery but cannot hinder him from eternal felicity and as that noble Captain of Thebes who having gotten the victory over his enemies but withal received his mortal wound he made this his grand enquiry whether his weapons were safe or not whether his buckler was not in his enemies hands and when it was replied all was safe he died with a great deal of chearfulness and fortitude So when a Christian is to grapple with death his main care is that his Buckler of Faith and the Helmet of his Salvation his Hope that they be safe to guard his Soul and then he passeth not much what becomes of his outward man he dies in peace and confidence Now that we may be fitted to encounter with this last enemy besides the manifold helps which God hath reached to us in his Word in the passages of his providence in the frequent examples of mortality before us continually and in our own sensible approaches to the gates of death I say besides these and infinite more this ensuing Volumn with so much care and pains compiled by Gods blessing and our endeavours may prove no small furtherance in our Pilgrimage Each Sermon therein being as a several Legasie bequeathed by those upon the occasion of whose deaths they were Preached as by so many Testators who themselves have made a reall experiment of Mortality and left these for our instruction that survive them It is true the dayly examples of Mortality are so many real Lectures that by a kind of dumb Oratory perswade us to expect our end but as they are transient so our thoughts of them vanish therefore it can be no small advantage to have in
things God will bring thee into Judgment Abrahams Purchase c. Page 233. GEN. 23.4 I am a stranger and a sojourner among you give me a possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight Gods Esteem of the Death of his Saints Page 243. PSAL. 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints The desire of the Saints after immortal Glory Page 251. 2 COR. 5.2 For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven The Careless Merchant c. Page 265. MAT. 16.26 What is man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul Christs second Advent c. Page 273. REVEL 22.12 Behold I come shortly and my reward is with me to give every man according to his works The Saints longing for the great Epiphany Page 263. TITUS 2.13 Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Lifes Apparition and Mans Dissolution Page 291. JAMES 4.14 For what is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away Saint Pauls Trumpet c. Page 303. ROM 13.11 And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep The Righteous Mans resting-place c. Page 313. GEN. 15.1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abraham saying Fear not Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward The righteous Judge c. Page 323. JAM 2.12 So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty Sins Stipend and Gods Munificence Page 335. ROM 6.23 For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Profit of Afflictions c. Page 343. HEB. 12.10 For they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Spiritual Hearts-ease c. Page 355. JOHN 14.1 2 3. 1. Let not your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also in me 2. In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you 3. And if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there you may be also Faiths Triumph over the greatest Tryals Page 367. HEB. 11.17 By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up his Son Isaac and he that had received the promise offered up his only begotten Son The Priviledge of the Faithful c. Page 377. IPET 3.7 As Heirs together of the grace of life Peace in Death c. Page 387. LUKE 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word The Vital Fountain c. Page 399. JOHN 11.25 26. 25. Jesus said unto her I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live 26. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die Death in Birth c. Page 411. GEN. 35.19 And Rachel died The Death of Sin and life of Grace Page 419. ROM 6.11 Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Hopes Anchor-Hold c. Page 433. 1 COR. 15.19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable The Platform of Charity c. Page 445. GAL. 6.10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good to all especially to them that are of the houshold of faith Death prevented c. Page 463. JOB 14.14 All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change shall come Iter Novissimum or Man his last Progress Page 473. ECCLESIAST 12.5 Man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets Tempus putationis or the ripe Almond gathered Page 485. GEN. 15.15 And thou shalt go to thy Fathers in peace thou shalt be buried in a good old age Io Paean or Christs Triumph over Death Page 493. 1 COR. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory Fato Fatum The King of Fears frighed c. Page 501. HOS 13.14 O Death I will be thy plagues Vox Coeli The Deads Herauld Page 509. APOC. 14.13 And I heard a voyce from Heaven saying unto me Write blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth c. Victoris Brabaeum or The Conquerours Prize Page 517. APOC. 14.13 So saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them Faith's Eccho or The Souls AMEN Page 527. REVEL 22.19 AMEN Even so come Lord Jesus Deaths Prerogative Page 539. GEN. 3.19 For dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return The Patriarchal Funeral Page 549. GEN. 50.10 And he made a mourning for his Father seven dayes The true Accountant Page 559. PSAL. 90.12 So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts to wisdome The Just-Mans Funeral Page 575. ECCLES 7.15 All things have I seen in the dayes of my vanity there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness The Righteous Mans Service to his Generation Page 587. ACTS 13.36 For David after he had served his own Generation after the will of God fell asleep c. The Crown of Righteousness c. Page 597. 2 TIM 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto them also who love his appearing THE STEVVARDS SUMMONS SERMON I. LUKE 16.2 Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou maist be no longer Steward IN the Chapter going before our blessed Lord and Saviour had preached the Doctrine of the Free Grace of God in the Remission of Sin and receiving of Repenting and Returning Sinners in the Parable of an indulgent Fathers receiving of a prodigal Son The Pharisees were a People that hardned their own hearts and scoffed at every thing that Christ delivered therefore now in this Chapter he cometh to summon and warn them to appear before God the great Master of the world to give an account of their stewardship that by the consideration of Gods proceeding in the day of Judgment they might know the better how to prize the Remission of Sins in the day of Grace This he doth by presenting to them a Parable of a certain rich man that had a steward who was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods calleth him to an account and to the end that the Pharisees might not think that it was a matter to be jested withal and that such considerations
for for as I said his disease seized on him with such violence and extremity that he had no space for any thing but to pray us to pray with him and for him That which we may learn from such examples as these is this That we therefore be good Stewards in the time of our life We know not what violent sicknesse may seize upon us and how it may dis-inable us to expresse our selves to men or to set our reckonings even with God Be serious therefore in the point while you have health and strength All of you are now called to a reckoning by the preaching of the Word and Gospel if this will not prevail expect another calling by sicknesse by terrours of conscience by death You are not sure but that the next calling may be by death as it was with this our brother let me put this therefore as a remembrance to every one of you that you behave your selves as dying daily Remember thou art a Steward and must give an account of thy Stewardship Alexander had his Remembrancer Saint Jerome had another Remembrancer Whether I eat or drink saith he or whatsoever I do me thinks I hear the voyce of the last trumpet and of the Arch-Angel Arise you dead and come to Judgment Let me now be thy Remembrancer Remember thou art a Steward and that thou must be called to an account of thy Stewardship When thou art in holy duties remember thou must give an account with what strength thou servest God When thou art in business in thy family remember thou must give an account how thou hast walked toward thy servants toward thychildren toward them that God hath given the. Thou that hast an estate remember that thou must give an account to the great Lord of the gitting and of the spending of that estate Thou that art in places of authoritie over others remember thou must give an account how thou comest to them how thou hast behaved thy self in them Let every one remember that he must give an account of what service he hath done to his Master of what use he hath been unto God and what to others The more God hath been glorified and others benefited thâ more shall our souls be comforted at that great day of appearance when the leaââ smile of GODS countenance will be worth a thousand worlds and the testimony oâ a good conscience will be preferred before all the treasures of the Eearth THE PRAISE OF MOURNING OR MOURNING Preferred before MIRTH. SERMON II. ECCLESIASTES 7.2 It is better to go to the House of Mourning than to the House of Feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart IN the former Chapter the Wise Man had been shewing the vanity and insufficiency of all earthly things to make a man happy and how much the World is mistaken in seeking happiness in any thing here below In this Chapter and those that follow he cometh to direct men in the right way to find it and sheweth them where they should seek it and where they should find it First he telleth them of a good name in the first verse A good name is better than pretious ointment The second means is a good death the day of death is better than the day of ones birth The third is a right mourning it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting Afterward he proceedeth to other particulars But this he bringeth in upon the former to prevent an objection that some might make for having said that the day of death is better then the day of ones birth some might object What goodnesse can there be in death as for those that are dead they cease to be and they that are alive reap no benefit by it but mourning and there is little good little happinesse in this to exercise a mans thoughts about mournful objects Yes saith he it is better to go to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting for the living will lay it to his heart And upon this he spendeth some time because naturally we are exceeding backward to beleeve that it is good for a man to be mourning upon earth Others make the dependance of the words thus That Solomon having before shewed the vanity of riches he doth in the six former verses of this Chapter prefer even death it selfe before wealth and abundance And he sheweth wherein it is better First in the Adjuncts The Adjunct of death is mourning the Adjunct of wealth and abundance is feasting yet mourning is better then feasting And because it seemeth a Parradox to every natural man he cometh to confirm and prove it By the Effects In the third verse Sorrow is better then laughter for by the sadnesse of the countenance the heart is made better Sorrow can do that for us that wealth cannot it makes the heart better By the different subjects in which they are That same worldly mirth is in the heart of fooles In the fourth verse the heart of fooles is in the house of mirth but this mourning it is in the heart of the wise the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning By the Efficient cause One cause of mourning is the rebukes of the wise In the fifth verse It is better to hear the rebukes of the wise then for a man to hear the song of fools And then in the sixth verse by a Prolepsis he prevents an objection that some might make For whereas he had said that mourning was better then joy some might say It seemeth otherwise there is delight in joy there is none in mourning He telleth them that that delight it is but a very short delight but as the cracking of thorns under a pot it is but vanity As the cracking of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of a fool this also is vanity We will not stand much about the matter So many severall men as handle this book do severally connect and joyn the words together according to their own conceits and opinions of them It is evident that in this verse that I have now read to you the Wise man speaks of such a mourning as is occasioned by the death of freinds And he saith of that mourning that it is better then to be in the house of feasting That he speaks of such a mourning appears by that which followeth first he saith that that is the end of all men he speaks therefore of such a mourning as is upon the end of men upon the departure of men out of this world and secondly he saith the living will lay it to his heart he speaks of such an end of men as is opposite to the life of men In a word By the house of mourning he meaneth a house wherein some one is dead which giveth occasion to the parties that dwell there of sorrow and mourning for their departed friend It is better to go to
such a house By the house of feasting he meaneth not only such a house wherein there is feasting but also all manner of abundance as commonly men shew their wealth in feasting By the end of all men he meaneth that which the Schools calls the end of termination Now there is a twofold end of termination as they speak either Positive or Privative A Positive end as a point is the end of a line and an instant is the end of time because the line resolveth it selfe into a point at last and all time resolveth it self at last into an instant A Privative end and that is that that causeth a cessation of beeing that is the end of action wherein all the work and invention and enterprizes of a man cease Of such an end here he speaks such an end of a man as that he ceaseth to be as he was upon earth and ceaseth to do as he did upon earth By laying to heart he meaneth more then a bare konwing or a bare observing and taking notice of things There is to be understood here a serious pondering an often considering of it as it is said of Marie She layed those sayings to heart and so Iacob he layed the sayings of Joseph to heart It is such a serious considering and pondering and discussing of every thing as they may bring it to some use may draw some fruit and benefit out of it to themselves So that the summe and substance of the words is thus much It is a better thing for a man to be conversant about the thoughts of death and to take hold of all occasions that may bring the serious consideration thereof into his heart then to delight himselfe in those worldly pleasures and sensual delights wherein for the most part men spend their lives The reason is because their is some benefit that ariseth thereby to the inward man some advantage gained to the soule whereas by the other there is none at all there is much hinderance and hurt but no furtherance and benefit The words then you see consist of a Proposition And a proof or confirmation of that Proposition The Proposition It is better to go to the house of mourning then to go to the house of feasting The confirmation or proofe of it is double first because this is the end of all men secondly because the living will lay it to his heart This latter part is that which I purpose most to insist upon In the former He calleth the house wherein any one dies the house of mourning It is better to go to the house of mourning Where you see That the Death of men with whom we live is a just occasion of mourning to some The holy Ghost would not have described the house wherin a man dies in this manner if their were not some equity and justice in mourning upon such an occasion For he speaks not here as I conceive only with reference and respect to the common custome of natural and worldly men but with respect to the natural disposition and affection that is in the heart of man and the equity of the thing There should be mourning and there is in it a just occasion when men are taken away by death When Sarah died the text saith that Abraham came to mourn for Sarah to weep for her And Esau when he speaks of the death of his father Isaac he calleth the time of his death the time of mourning the dayes of mourning for my father are at hand So Ioseph when his father was dead it is said that he mourned for his father seven dayes When Samuel was dead all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him When Iosiah was dead there was such a great lamentation for him that it became a pattern of excessive mourning In that day there shall be a great mourning in Ierusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon Our Saviour Christ when he looked upon Lazarus he wept because he was dead And those Ephesians this was it that broke their hearts they sorrowed most of all for the words which S. Paul spake that they should see his face no more I need not stand upon the proof of the point There is great reason for it first if we respect men in their usefulnesse to others There is no man but is of some use and so farre as a man is useful to another there is just ground of mourning for the losse of such a one Therefore David he mourned for the death of Saul though he was a wicked man because he was useful in his time by way of goverment And as there is more usefulnesse so there is more cause of mourning as we see in the death of Samuel and Iosiah and others Secondly because when those that are useful are taken away a man seeth some effects partly of his own guilt and partly of Gods displeasure Of his own guilt If those die that are evil that he did not do them that good that he might while they lived he did not converse so profitably as he might have done to further their spiritual good If they be good and gracious that he received not benefit by them that he did not mannage the opportunities as he might have done to have made that use of their society and conference of their prayers and spiritual helps of all those gifts and endowments that they had And as in the defect so likewise in the excesse there is guilt When a man idoliseth the creature too much and trusteth too much to the arm of flesh when he setteth too great a price upon men he may apprehend the displeasure of God taking away his brother that was as it were a curtain that stood between God and him taking away those that hid God from his eyes Upon these occasions and grounds the servants of God have reflected upon themselves seeing the death of others that are near and dear unto them and have drawn from thence matter and cause of mourning Nay it is a thing that the Lord looks for Thou hast smitten them and they have not grieved When God takes away any that are usefull to us there is a smiting and a correction in it even to those that live to those that were intimate and inward with him and God expects that men should mourne and grieve for it I briefly note this for I intend not to stand upon it against that Stoicall Apethy that stupidity I cannot say whether it have seized on the spirits of men or whether men affect it in themselves but they account this a matter of praise a vertue praise-worthy to see nothing doleful nothing worthy of mourning in the death of any one We see it is quite contrary to the very course of the Scripture But it will be objected We are bid to mortifie our earthly affections and if we must mortifie our affections we must mortifie all our
affections that of sorrow as well as anger and the like I answer briefly The Scripture indeed biddeth us mortifie our affections but it doth not bid us take away our affections it biddeth us only mortifie and purge out the corruption of our affections Now there is a twofold corruption and distemper in the affections of men The first is when they are misplaced and setupon wrong objects so we mourn for that we should rejoyce in or we rejoyce in that we should mourn for Secondly when they are either excessive or defective either we over-do or we do not either not at all or not in that proportion and measure that we should Thus when we over-grieve for worldly crosses and too little for sin too much for the losse of earthly friends and too little for the losse of Gods favour and spiritual wants this is a distemper of the affections in the defect the heart grows earthly and fixed upon the creature and is drawn away and estranged from God Then there is the excesse that the Apostle speakes of when he exhorts them not to mourn as men without hope whether he spake there of the Gentiles as some think that cut their heads and made themselves bald in the day of their mourning an affected kind of outward shew they had to mourn which the Lord forbad the people of Israel to do or whether as indeed it is because they did not restrain inwardly and bridle the exorbitant excesse of their affection we should not mourn as the Gentiles but as men of hope mourn as men that can see the changes that God makes in the earth and in your Families and can see how neer God cometh to you and what use God would have you make of every particular tryal and affliction mourn so far as you see your own guilt in not making use of the opportunities you have had in enjoying your friends and so far as you see any evidence of displeasure from God so far we should mourn but not as men without hope But I briefly passe this intending not to insist upon it only by occasion because Solomom makes the place where any die the house of morning We come now to the proof of the point why going to the house of morning taking these occasions to affect our hearts is better then to go to the house of feasting then to take occasions of delighting our selves in outward things What 's the reason It is double First This is the end of all men What is the end of all men The house of mourning That which he meaneth by the house of mourning here is that which he calleth the end of all men that which putteth an end to all men and to their actions upon earth and that is Death So that the main point that in this place the wise man intendeth is but thus much I will deliver it in the very words of the Text we need not varie from them at all Death is the end of all men Death is that which every man must expect to be the end of his life and of his actions It is the common the last condition of all men upon earth I will give you but two places of Scripture that include all men in Death One in Job the third from the fourteenth verse to the 20. Verse of that Chapter Job sheweth there how Death is the End of all men he beginneth with the Kings and Counsellers of the Earth with Princes and great Warriors and descendeth afterward to prisoners and mean persons to labourers to servants to small and great all saith he lie down in the dust and go to the place of silence The other place is in Zachar. 1.5 Your fathers where are they and the Prophets do they live for ever That is look to all your fore-fathers that have been in all times before you whether they be those Fathers that you glory in Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the rest or those Fathers that disobeyed the word of Prophesie which indeed is the principall thing here intended all these Ancient persons they are dead or as S. Peter speaks of those that were disobedient in the dayes of Noah they are in prison they are in the grave yea and the Prophets too that preached to you they are dead the generations before you both of Prophets and people are all dead You see then that Death is the common condition of all men Kings and Subjects Prophets and people this is the last thing that shall be said of them all they are dead And it must be so First in regard of Gods decree It is that that God hath appointed and determined concerning all men that they must die there is a statute for it in heaven that can never be reverst It is appointed to all men once to die Heb. 9.17 Secondly in regard of that matter whereof all men are made of earth Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Your remembrances saith Job are like unto ashes your bodies to bodyes of clay How easie is it for the wind to blow away ashes for a potter to break in pieces a vessel of clay so easie it is to put an end to the memories and bodies of men they are but ashes and clay Thirdly in regard that every man hath in him that that is the cause of Death sin It is that that is as poison in the spirits and as rottennesse in the bones Sin brought in Death and Death seizes upon all men it consumeth all men from the very beginning by degrees Shew me a man without sin without it either in the committing of it or without it in the guilt of it you may then shew a man that shall not die while all men are under sin they are under Death Even our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ himself though he did not sin actually yet because he stood guiltie of our sins Death seized upon him So then Look to Gods decree that is All men shall die Look to the matter whereof every man is made that is a decaying dying substance And look to the cause of death in all men that is sin If any man can either escape Gods decree or bring a man that is not made of such a mouldring matter or produce and shew a man that hath no sin in him then you may shew a man that shall not die but till then this conclusion remaineth that the wise man setteth down this is the end of all men that they shall die But here it will be objected We find some men that did not die It is said of Enoch that he was translated that he should not see death Heb 11.5 And of Elijah that he went up by a whirle-wind into heaven in a chariot of fire 2 Kings 2.11 These men did not die To this I answer briefly Particular and extraordinary examples do not frustrate general rules God may sometimes dispence with some particular men and yet
the rule remain firm I say it may be so But secondly we answer They had that that was in stead of Death to them some change though they did not die after the manner of other men So at the end of the world it is said that those that are alive shall be caught up and changed in the twinckling of an eye there shall be a sudden and almost undiscernable unperceivable change which shall be to them instead of death But it will be objected further There is a promise made in Joh. 11. That those that believe shall never die To this I answer with that common distinction There is a twofold death which the Scripture calleth the first and the second death The first death is the death of the body that ariseth from a dis-junction and separation of the body from the soule And there ie a second death that ariseth from the dis-junction and separation of the soule from God The first death is no death properly the second death is that which is truly Death and so they shall not die A man may have a body separated from the soule and yet not his soul separated from God nor himselfe from Christ Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ neither life nor death nor principalities nor powers c. Death you see shall not be able to separate us from God it cannot separate the soule Nay it doth not separate the body from Christ the body remaineth a member of Christ as well while it is still in the grave as before God is not the God of the dead but of the living saith Christ Mat. 22. And therefore he proveth that even Abraham was not dead in that sense that they then took it but he remaineth yet alive in as much as God was his God Abraham whole Abraham was Gods by vertue of Covenant so are all his posterity the children of Abraham by faith in a spiritual sense they remain with Christ and they are united to him as members to the head even when their bodies are in the grave So that I say they die not in that sense so as to have their soule separated from God though they die in the first sense that is to have their bodies separated from the soule But our Saviour in that place of John speaks of the second of that death which is an everlasting separation of the soul from God As we say of wicked men that while they are alive they are dead so the Apostle speaks of the widdow that lived in pleasures while she lived she was dead and the Church of Sardis had a name to live but she was dead This is true death indeed when that the soul of a man is separated and dis-joyned from God and from Christ And it is the state of every man by nature of every man under sin though they walk up and down and do the actions of the living yet they are but dead men And as truly as they are said to be dead while they live so truly it may be said of the children of God that while they are dead they live as it said of Abraham so it may be said of all Gods servants they die not properly but remain still in union with God and with Christ with God through Christ they are Christs and therefore Gods in him and therefore they die not Look what the soule is to the body that is God to the soul the soul is the life of the body and God is the life of the soul they are still living men that have God the soul is alive even when the body lieth down in the grave This shall serve for the opening of that they are not dead but alive they do die in the first sense and in the common acceptation in respect of the separation of the body from the soul but they do not die in the second sense in respect of the separation of the soul from God they do not die eternally they do not die properly Now briefly to make some use of this and to hasten to that I most intend to stand upon Is it so then that Death is the end of all men Let us make account of it for our selves This seemeth but a plain point and so indeed it is but I know there is nothing more useful and I know there is nothing lesse regarded and lesse considered of seriously then this that we must die It is true we all acknowledge it in the general and every man the very worst the most ignorant and most prophane in the world will yeeld to this in the general that all men must die and let a man come and tell them that they themselves must die they will grant it too but this is that that undoes us all we rest in generals and do not seriously insist upon a serious application of it to a mans own particular case and bring it home to a mans self to conclude thus I must die I may die soon this may be the last day of my life upon earth this may be the last time I may breath this may be the last word that I shall speak the last action that I shall do I know I must die and it may be I may die now This is that we should principally intend and labour most after that when we read the stories of the Scripture and see that Death is the end of all men that all must die and their houses must be houses of mourning to conclude the same for our selves All those worthies spoken of in Heb. 11. it is said they all died in faith I read such a man was a King but he died such a man was a Prophet but he died such a man was Noble but he died such a one died in his youth such a one in his strength these died and I must die the same thing must be said of me that is said of them I say let us not only say it but resolve and conclude upon it conclude for our selves that the same thing must be said of us that is said of all men All men must die we must die The benefit that floweth from it will be this First when a man bringeth it to his own particular case it will make sin more odious to him What is it that brought Death into the world what bringeth death upon us Sin By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have finned This I say is it that will make sin odious to a man it will make a man look upon sin as a deadly evil A man will avoid an infections disease that is mortall and deadly and pestilential and the like Why because it is deadly it is as much as his life is worth The same is sin it is that that brought death upon all man-kind and will bring it upon thee When doth the creature forfeit his beeing to the Creator
of doing holy duties Would you be found praying pefunctorily and carelesly Would you be found coming to the Sacrament unprepared What though you do holy actions that are good for the matter would you be found doing of them with unfit and unprepared hearts You see what the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 11. For this cause many are sick and weak and many sleep they slept they were dead for this even because they came unworthily to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Would you therefore be found doing of holy duties and not in a right manner The serious consideration of this that Death is the end of all men with the particular application of it to a mans selfe that as it is the state of all men so it is mine in particular I must die and I may die now it hath an influence into all the actions of a mans life To conclude In the last place This point is of use to us also in the death of others First to moderate the mourning of Christians for the death of others Why It is the end of all men it is that that is the common condition of all men it should not be too grievous not too doleful to any man We would not have our freinds to be in another condition in their birth then others we would not have them have more fingers or more members then a man and would we have them have more dayes Let this serve as a brief touch upon that Secondly it teacheth us to make good use of our fellowship while we are together Not only we may die but those that are useful to us may die also let us make good use of one another while we live therefore This will make the death of others bitter and will be worse than the death and losse of our freinds the guilt upon a mans conscience that he hath not made that use of them while they were alive that he might have done let us therefore make the death of our freinds easie by making good use of them while they live It did smite the heart of those Ephesians that they should see the face of Paul no more specially above the rest it grieved them that they should see him no more how would it have grieved them think you if they had alwayes hardned themselves against his ministry before Think with your selves seriously here is such a Minister such a Christian freind that husband and wife that parent and child a time of parting will come let us make it easie now by making good use of one another while we live that when freinds are took away we may have cause to thank God that we have had communion and confort of their fellowship and society the benefit of their graces the fruit of their lives and not sorrow for the want of them by death So much for that I come now to the second and principal reason why it is better to go to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting it is this because the living shall lay it to his heart What shall he lay to his heart That that is the end of all mèn he shall lay the death of all men to heart The point I observe from hence is thus much It is the dutie of those that live to lay to heart the death of others That is seriously ro consider and make use for themselves of the death of others You see the Text is clear for the point And there is good reason why it should be so First in respect of the glory that cometh to God Secondly in respect of the good that cometh to our selves by it First God is glorified by this when we lay to heart the death of others there is a dishonour to God to slight any of his actions this is one of Gods works in the world the death of men this is a thing wherein Gods hand is seen he saith to the sons of Adam Return The spirit returneth to God that gave it It is he that hath the power of life and death If a sparrow fall not to the ground without the providence of God much lesse the servants of God the precious ones upon the earth the excellent ones as David calleth them I say God is seen much in these works and it is a great dishonour to God when men do not consider the works of his hands David by the spirit of prophesie in Psal 28.5 wisheth a curse upon ungodly men and for this reason among the rest because they consider not the operation of his hands this is that that puts men into a curst estate and exposeth them to the wrath of God when they regard not the works of the Lord. The actions of Princes and great men upon earth every man considereth of them and weigheth them It is that wherein we give God the glory of his wisdome and of his truth of his power of his justice of his mercy of his soveraignty and dominion and Lordship over the whole earth when we labour to draw to a particular use to our selves the works of God in the world specially the death of men of all men good and bad for we must give it the same latitude and extent and scope that the Text doth here he speaks here of the death of men in general and he saith of all men that their death shall be laid to heart by the living Secondly as their is reason that we should take to heart the death of others in respect of the glory that cometh to God thereby so in respect of our selves also much benefit cometh to our selves by laying to heart the death of other men There be three special things considerable in the death of any one that is matter of profit and benefit to those that live and survive after them Therein we see the Certainty of Death Therein we see the Nature of Death Therein we see the Cause End of Death First therein we see the certainty of death For now we have not only the word of God that tels us that we shall die but the works of God taking others before us that as the Sacraments are called visible instructions because they teach by the eye and the outward senses so the death of others are visible instructions to the living it teacheth by the eye a man is guided by the eye to see his own condition and as it were in a glasse there is represented to him his own state what we are they were once the time was that they converst with men as we do that they spake for Gods glory upon earth as we do and what they are now we shall be there will come a time when our works shall cease as theirs do when we shall be in the place of silence as they are I say it confirmeth to us the former certainty and assurance of our death when we see others fall before us And there is great profit and benefit that
ever Lot was got up to Zoar presently the Lord rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah Assoon as ever the mourners are marked presently cometh the destroying Angel upon the rest Beloved when we see those that are mourners for the evils of the times and places where they live look away we should lay it to heart and consider it as a sign of Gods displeasure as a sign that he is a going and departing when he takes away his jewels as a sign that he is a coming to judge the world when he beginneth to separate to take to himself his own Certainly as soon as ever that number of the elect shall be accomplished when the company of those that God hath determined to eternal life shall be fulfilled when the sheep of Christ that are yet to be brought into his fold are gathered together when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in and the nation of the Jewes added then the world shall he burnt with fire and the day of Judgement shall come nothing shall hinder that general destruction that shall be the end of all things here below As it is with the general Judgement of the world so with particular Judgements upon Nations when God takes away his people when the Saints go out of Jerusalem to Pila then cometh the sword of the enemie upon Jerusalem when God drawes out his own people presently cometh judgement upon the rest It is good to observe Gods method and order that he takes in governing of the world at this day that in the death of the servants of God we may consider our own time that we may prepare for those evils that are a coming and for those greater judgments that are hastning Thus you see what use may be made of laying to heart the death of others God is much glorified thereby For all his attributes are seen in all his works and the glorifying of God is a declaring of God to be as glorious as he hath revealed himself to be in his attributes which is by shewing of them forth in his works When men can see the wisedome the justice the power the mercy the truth the soveraignty of God and all in the death of others then they glorifie God in taking to heart the death of others You see likewise what good cometh to a mans self by laying to heart the death of others He sees thereby the certainty of his own death He sees the nature of death and what the proper work of it is viz. to separate between him and all those outward comforts all those props and staies whereupon his heart rested too much on earth in the dayes of his vanity And lastly he sees the end and cause why God sendeth Death into the world sometime in judgement that men should take heed of sin sometimes in mercy in mercy to the men themselves and in mercy also to those that live that they seeing the servants of God lodged up before the tempest may learn to fear and to hide and secure themselves under Gods special providence who can either hide them amongst the living or the dead in the worst times Now let us conclude with some application to our selves In the first place it serveth for the just reproof of that great neglect that is in the world at this day that men lay not to heart the death of others I wish that this were only the sin of worldly men I know to a worldly man it is of all things the most unpleasant thought that can be to think of death he cannot indure to hear this they shall fetch thy soul from thee It is as unpleasant to him as it is to a Bankrupt to hear of a Sergeant coming to arrest him as unpleasant as it is to a Malefactor to hear of being brought before the Judge And that is the reason why men in the time of feasting cannot endure such discourses at their Tables as might put sad thoughts of death into them oh these are too melancholly thoughts Yea but in the mean time it is thy folly thy want of wisedome He that was guided by the spirit of wisedome and had now bought some wisdome at a deare rate by woeful experience of his former follies he now seeth that it was farre better to go to the house of mourning that is seriously to consider of that which men account the most ordinary cause of mourning that is the death of others and of themselves then to go to the house of feasting that is to sport a mans selfe in the pleasures of the world and to give liberty to a mans selfe to all manner of delights But I say I wish that this were their fault onely and that it may die with them But it is too much the fault of Gods own people Moses is fain to pray for Israel in the Wildernesse where they saw so many die before them that God would give them wisdom to number their dayes And Ministers have still the same cause to pray for the people and Christians to pray one for another that God would give them wisdome to lay to heart the death of other men Have you well considered of Death when you can only discourse that such a one that was profitable in his instruction is dead such a one by whom we have had good in conversing with is dead such a one that was young and likely to live many years longer is dead What of all this this is but idle and empty discourse What use makest thou of this to thy self dost thou gather from thence the certainty of thy own death Dost thou consider what death will do to thee when it cometh how that it will separate between thee and all things in the world as it hath done them Dost thou consider for what cause God sendeth Death abroad into the world Dost thou consider this with thy selfe as thou oughtest to do This is an act of wisdome This is that we call due consideration when the soul reflects upon it self it is their case now and it will be mine and mine in the same manner therefore it is good for me to set my accounts strait with God When thou accompaniest another to the grave dost thou conclude thus with thy self the very next time that any death is spoken of it may be mine or as Saint Peter speaks to Saphirah after the death of Annanias the feet of those that have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out also This is reason of all that worldly-mindednesse of all that earnestnesse and invention to gain the favour of men by indirect means this is the reason of all that immoderate care about our businesse with the neglect of our souls this is the reason of all that carnal security of all that forgetfulnesse of God and the account that shall be made at the day of Judgment this is the reason of the unfruitfulnesse of our lives of our unprofitable spending of our times or
of whatsoever else it be this is even the very reason of all because even those that professe themselves to be the people of God and to give God the glory of his attributes in all his works yet they lay not to heart the death of those that are before them Men durst not they could not passe away their time in such unprofitablenesse and unfruitfulnesse as they do if they did seriously consider and lay to heart the death of others before them Again secondly As it condemnes the general neglect that is amongst men of this duty so it serves to reprove that sinful laying to heart of the death of others that is too frequent and common in the world That is first when men with too much fondnesse and with too great excesse and distemper of affection look upon their dead friends as if God could never repair the losse nor make amends for that he hath done in taking of them away Rachel mourneth and will not be comforted David mourneth and will scarce be comforted Oh Absalom my son my son would God I had died for thee What is all this but to look on freinds rather as Gods then men as if all sufficiency were included in them only Men look on their freinds as Micah did upon his Idol when they had bereaved him of it they took away all his comfort and quiet You have taken away my Gods saith he and what have I more or as Laban that when his Idols were stoln away his heart was dead he could not stay in his house he could not enjoy himselfe wherefore have you stollen away my Gods saith he So I say men look on their dead freinds as they should look upon the Creatour and not as upon the creature they take their death to heart but not in a right manner This is the very reason why God many times makes your Christian freinds so unprofitable to you when they live because you idolize them you advance them above God This is the reason also why you are so unable to bear the losse of them when they die God beating you now with your own rod and making you feel the fruit and effect of your own folly This now is an ill taking to heart the death of freinds to mourn as men without hope Secondly there is a taking to heart and considering of the death of men but it is an unrighteous considering an unrighteous judging of the death of others If men see one die it may be a violent death then they conclude certainly there is some apparent token of Gods judgment on such a one If they see another die with some extremity of torment and vehement pains certainly there is some apparent evidence of Gods wrath upon this man If they see another in some great and violent tentation strugling against many tentations they conclude presently certainly such are in a worser case then others I may say to all these as Christ said once to those that told him of the eighteen men upon whom the Tower in Siloe fell think you that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem Or rather as Solomon saith All things come alike unto all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Learn to judge righteous judgment to judge wisely of the death of others take heed of condemning the generation of the just But rather in the last place Make this use of the death of every one Doth such a man die by an ordinary sicknesse having his understanding and memory continued to the end Doth such a man die in inward peace and comfort with cleare and evident apprehensions of Gods love so that he can with Simeon say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace What use shouldest thou that livest make of this now Certainly let the sweetnesse of their death make thee in love with the goodnesse of their lives That is the only way to a happy death to a comfortable end indeed the leading of a fruitful and profitable life Again dost thou see the Children of God full of temptations full of fears and disquietnesse of spirit in their death Sometimes so overcome with the violence of the disease as that it may be they speak impertinently and idely it may be sinfully What use shouldest thou make of this now Certainly let the terribleness of the example of such a mans death let it be a terrour to thee and a means to stir thee up to more carefulnesse of making good use of thy time in this life Nabal dieth and his heart is in him as a stone If ever God quicken thee if ever God breath upon thy soule or enliven thee by the inward motions of his Spirit embrace those opportunities and seasons of grace lest God smite thee with an everlasting deadnesse Again hath God caused the light of his countenance to shine upon thy heart Doth he offer a gracious message of peace to thy soule Doth he speak peace at any time by the ministery of his Word Imbrace those offers yeeld to those conditions of peace lest thou be deprived of peace at the end Againe hath GOD given thee any strength over temptations Hast thou prevailed over the assaults of Sathan and other of thy enemies Hath he made thee a conquerour take heed how thou insnarest thy selfe againe how thou inthrallest thy self in yeelding to Sathans yoke lest he buffet thee by him in a worse manner at thy end Thus I say thou canst see nothing befal any of Gods servants in their death or in the manner of their death whether in be more pleasing or more sorrowful more calm and quiet or more tempestuous and full of trouble whether it be more comfortable or more lamentable but it may be useful unto thee If it be good it may be it shall be so with thee if it be bad it may be it shall be so with thee too The main businesse that a man hath to do is to make sure of himself in this life It was the question that Saint Austin made to those that told him of a violent death that seized upon one But how did he live saith he He made no matter how he went out but how he carried himself in the world And truly this is the great Question that every man should put to his soule I must out of the world how have I lived when I was in the world had GOD any glory by me had men any good by me have I furthered my account against the day of reckoning that I may give it up with joy it makes no matter how I go out of the world I am sure if my life have been serviceable to God and beneficial to men my departure shall be for gain and advantage it is
for a better world Thus much shall serve briefly for the opening of these words and for that that is appliable from them For the present occasion a word Funeral Sermons are not intended for the praise of the dead but for the comfort of the living Therefore I have chosen such an argument to handle at this time as might be of use and profit to you that live Besides that I am in particular and by particular order debarred of speaking any thing concerning our deceased Sister though I might have spoken much and that very useful to you The best use that you can make will be this to consider the life that she led amongst you She was a pattern and example of holinesse of a wise and upright carrirge in her wayes follow her in that Mark the Godly and upright man the end of that man is peace There was none that knew her but upon good assurance are perswaded of her happinesse now Would you then have the same happinesse after take the same course that she did be much in prayer and dependance upon the ordinances and in fellowship with the servants of God be profitable in doing good profitable in receiving good mannage the opportunities and times well that God giveth you as she did gaining much in little she did much work in a short space let that be your care and then this will be your comfort in the end Thus if you make this use of the death of others before you you shall prepare for your own death and that shall be only a passage for you to Eternal life DELIVERANCE FROM THE KING of FEARS OR FREEDOME FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH SERMON III. HEBR. 2.15 For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage IN these words that I have read to let pass other parts of the Chapter the Apostle sets down the humiliation of Christ with the fruit of it His humiliation in his Incarnation and death The fruit of it in subduing him that had the power of death and delivering those that were kept under the fear of death in bondage all their life At this time we will speak only of the last part the fruit of Christs death in delivering those that were kept under the fear of death The persons that are kept under this fear are said to be the children Gods own children those for whom Christ died yet they were kept under the fear of death and that not at some particular time when tentation had got some special advantage over them but it was a trouble and a burden to them all their life long and that not a small burden or an easie trouble but such as kept them as in bondage The words you see are easie There are two points that arise from them First that Gods children those for whom Christ died are many times hold strongly under the fear of death Secondly that Christ by his death freeth them from those fears I shall onely insist at this time principally on the first That Gods own children the Children that were partakers of flesh and bloud it is taken either for the humane nature or the infirmities of that nature even these children were held under the feare of death I will shew the grounds of it The fear of death in the children of God ariseth either from some causes without or from somewhat within them From without them and so the fear ariseth from God an act of his providence upon his children Or from Sathan a work of his malice These are the causes from without For the first God in his providence and that in his special and fatherly providence whereby he doth order all things for the good of his children for the present increase of their grace and the fitting them for glory hereafter He I say in his providence ordereth it thus that they shall be kept many of them a great while under the feare of death and this he doth for special good ends The first is to humble them Adam as soon as he had sinned against God as his fall was by pride he would have had a higher condition then he was in so when God would bring him back again he beginneth first to humble him and how doth he that Dust thou art saith he and to dust thou shalt return he sheweth him that he was a dead man by sin and so would have the meditation of death to humble Adam and in him all his posterity after him So David when he desired that some means might work upon his enemies for their good he prayeth Put them in fear that they may know that they are but men He doth not onely pray that mortality might be presented to them but so presented that it might leave an impression of fear upon their affections that they might know what they are that they have not their beeing or the power of subsisting in themselves but that they must look for it above themselves to him that hath the issues of life and death in his own hand And this is necessary that all the servants of God should be kept humble by some means or other The Apostle Paul you see he had attained a great measure of grace yet he standeth in need of something to humble him therefore the messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet him that he should not be exalted above measure that he might be kept humble God intendeth to raise up his children to a glorious estate therefore as men lay a low foundation when they intend to erect a high building so God layeth the foundation of all grace and comfort in his servants in humiliation therefore he will not only have them mortal but he will have them apprehend their mortality and dying condition with fear that they may be humbled by this fear That is the first thing Secondly God aymeth at the strengthening of faith in his servants While a man looks to sense and is upheld by sensible comforts there is not that exercise of faith now every grace is strengthened by exercise that God therefore may have faith exercised and so strengthened in his servants he will expose them to the fear of death The Apostle Paul found this we received saith he the sentence of death that we might not turst in our selves but in him that raiseth us up from the dead He doth not onely say thus we acknowledge this to be a truth that we must die but we received the sentence of death received it as a man receiveth a sentence of death from a Judge received it so as it made some impression upon our hearts received it with some inward sense with some inward feare which was a violent work such a work as knocks us
men We shall see the servants of God themselves have discovered this weakness of spirit specially upon sudden apprehensions of things Abraham upon the sudden and violent apprehension of Death was put to a sinful shift I thought saith he the fear of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wives sake therefore I said this is my sister So Samuel when God sent him to anoynt David he discovered this weakness If Saul should know what I am a doing he will slay me therefore he desired to have some other message under the colour whereof he might put Saul off So Peter out of a sudden apprehension of death and fear of it he denyed his Master This weakness of spirit is in man naturally Further there is another thing that causeth this natural fear and that is the unacquaintedness men have with Death there is somewhat in this matter that is strange to men notwithstanding they hear and see many die before them daily they hear things spoken of by the Minister and they read the Scripture many excellent comforts but who hath seen these what becometh of these men they see Death the strict Porter of the world let men out of the earth but he locks the door of the Grave upon them and none cometh back again to tell what is done in that place of silence to tell what is become of men when they are in the Grave how they speed in that world of souls there is no man returneth from the dead to report these things to them Now this affecteth the natural man nay all men naturally are affected with the fearful apprehension of death because they know not what will come after as the natural man speaks in Ecclesiastes When Joram set out a watch-man to see what was abroad and spied an army coming he sent a servant but Jehu biddeth him go behind him he sendeth another and he goeth behind him still saith he I see the men go but they come not back the Text saith he was afraid Make ready the Chariot saith Joram If this be the issue that men go but never come back again it is high time to look about us Certainly beloved such are the apprehensions of death We see men saith the natural man go down to the Grave and not come back again we see that a man ceaseth to be and to do those actions that we do when we are upon the earth therefore let us consider the matter more seriously When the Captain of the fifty that came to the Mount to Elijah saw the two former Captaines and their companies consumed saw that they were all dead that they ceased to be but he saw not what became of them afterward therefore he cometh with fear to the Prophet and intreateth him that his life might be precious in his sight All strange things we know affect men and every thing as it is more strange so it more affecteth man naturally Let there but come a beast out of the Wildernesse assoon as ever he cometh unto a man and seeth him he flieth from him because he is not used to the sight of man it is strange to him but now take a beast that is brought up in the pasture in the field he will come to a man without fear because he is used to the sight of him So it is here Death is apprehended as a strange thing as a thing that a man never knew by experience Men have seen thus much that people have died but they never heard of any that came back again to tell them how it fared with them after death This I say that men should go to the place of silence and have all matters hushed all things kept secret down there there cometh no report thence this affecteth men with fear These are the natural causes Secondly there are other causes within that affect men with the fear of death and those are sinful causes First the want of the fear of God and as this is lesse so the fear of death is more Therefore we shall find that wicked men that cast off the fear of God in their lives they are slavishly held under the fear of death this you shall see in those examples of Belshazzar a man that set himself with a high hand against God went on in a contemptuous course against God and prophaned the holy vessels when there was a hand writing upon the wall some terrible thing presented to him his knees smote together he could not hold his joynts still And so Felix a man that lived without the fear of God when he heard of judgment and other things the text saith he trembled and so likewise Cain and divers others I need not stand on it It was one of the Judgments threatned in part Deut. 28. Because thou dost not fear the the Lord thy God therefore wheresoever thou goest thou shalt find no ease neither shall the sole of thy foot have any rest but the Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee that is thou shalt be in continual fear of death and thou shalt fear day and night and shall have none assurance of thy life in the Morning thou shalt say would God it were Even and at even thou shalt say would God it were morning because of the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see This is the first thing Secondly another thing is this when mens hearts are too much glued to the world and mark it according as there is worldly affections and worldly-mindedness in the the hearts of Gods servants so the feare of Death is more in them according to the strength of the one is the fear of the other What is it that disquieteth men ordinarily and makes them that they cannot think of Death with comfort but this now they must lose their company part with all their freinds when they die once Hezekiah complained of that I shall see man no more saith he with the inhabitants of the world This I say is that that affecteth the heart exceedingly that they must lose all their freinds specially when husband and wife must part parents and children must part and familiar and deare acquaintance must part this causeth the fear of death because the heart is too much set upon the creature So likewise worldly business when a man loveth much employment much business he cannot abide to think of death Why so because all work all enterprises cease in the grave as Job saith A man hath neither the works of his hands nor the enterprises of his head in the grave all actions cease both of the mind and body there So when a mans heart is set upon pleasures below there is neither love nor hatred in the grave saith Solomon That is those things that affected the heart that men love they cease there all his pleasures and
of Christ to him then ever when it was in the body So then here is a cessation of baser actions and imployments to give place to more noble and heavenly and excellent actions wherein the soul shall be employed in heaven There is then no losse of actions neither Again there is no losse of company This is a thing that troubleth men husband and wife to part friends to part But we lose no company by death howsoever we lose the company of men that we cannot assure ourselves friends indeed for of all the friends we speak of in the main point when they come to be tryed there are few to be found to be friends But then we go to them whose love is perfect than you may be sure of and have the truth of their love Again how little comfort nay how little have you company with those friends you desire Is not much part of our life spent without any sight of our friends Is not half of it spent in sleep in the night and the other half in businesse and pleasure Alas how little time have we to enjoy our friends we rest on But then we shall perfectly enjoy them when there shall be no need of sleep when there shall be perfection of love and freedom from distraction and imployment when the servants of God shall fully and freely and sweetly and comfortably enjoy one the other Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the meanest of the Saints shall meet in the expression of love in such a perfection as we cannot speak of And this is certain you shall go to many Who can tell the dvst of Jacob Now you have some one or two or three or a few men or women that you account friends and dote much upon but then you shall have ennumerable company a world of friends of men and women multitudes they cannot be numbred they are as the stars of heaven for number I say there is no losse of company by this means Again you shall lose no pleasures by death it may be you shall lose some few sensual bruitish pleasures a few mixed corrupt pleasures pleasures that have the mixture of sorrow and fear in them that imbitters them to the soul of a man but it shall not be so then you shall be freed from imperfect pleasures and have perfect ones at Gods right hand for evermore pure pleasures Again you lose no necessary convenience neither the rich man loseth no riches by death he loseth his money doth he lose his riches therefore No The Angels are rich but they have no money the Saints are rich they want nothing but they have no money It may be thou losest a child thou shalt find a Father it may be thou losest a weak friend that loveth not long or it may be not so truly as thou thinkest he doth and thou findest friends that are many and perfect and pure in their love that love with a perfect heart And what then are all those losses when you enjoy that which shall make the soul happy for ever Thus I say you shall rectifie your opinions concerning Death look upon it aright have true apprehensions of it Get an intrest in Christ and look on death through him get faith and then all these things that I have spoken shall be your advantage so the Apostle concludeth Christ is to us in life and in death advantage If we live he is gain to us in life and if we die he is advantage to us in death And death is reckoned amongst the special favours and priviledges Christ hath given to his Church All are yours what all life and death things present and things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods So we see that Death is amongst the priviledges that Christ hath given his Church therefore rectifie your opinions concerning Death make good that I spake before and you shall find this good that I now speak And for the last the unacquaintance with Death let not that trouble you none come from the dead to tell you what is done there but look on the servants of God before and when they die and you shall find enough how they apprehended Death when they have looked on it in the glasse of the Gospel Look upon them before death Jacob being to close up his dayes with blessing of his children Lord saith he I have maited for thy salvation He looked upon Death through Christ the Saviour of the world that he should be saved by him and though it be true that there is a further meaning for the Tribes in those words of Jacob yet this was proper to Jacob himself he looked upon Death now approaching as that that he was delivered from and set into that freedom purchased by Christ So old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Jacoh accounted it his salvation old Simeon a departure from a worse place to a better from worse company and comforts to a better A change for the better still and a departing in peace Again secondly look on the servants of God in death see what they have said too Josiah a man that was upright in heart he went to the grave in peace he was gathered to his fathers in peace that he should not see the evill that should come upon his people here is all it was but a peaceable taking of him away from a more troubelous condition if he had lived longerâ⦠Beloved he died in war yet it is said he was gathered in peace he had inward peace with God though he failed in that particular action And the Apostle in the 2 Cor. 5.4 This is our desire that we may be clothed upon not that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality may be swallowed up of life A strange speech he counteth death life to him he counteth the death of this life to be the death of mortality by laying aside this earthly tabernacle as he said in the first verse mortality is swallowed up of life And therefore you give wrong names to things for while you live you die because your life it is a dying condition and while you die you live because then the cessation of life it is as the river Jordan to the people of Israel no more but a passage to Canaan not a floud to drown them so it is with the servants of God death is but a passage to heaven it is not destructive to them So that if men did but rectifie their opinions of Death as I told you before when their hearts are right set when they are humbled and not lifted up with worldly things when their faith is strengthned and setled in them when they are made watchful in a holy course looking for Death when they are established with the assurance of Gods favour then I say they may find that all these natural fears of death were upon mistake they did
not rightly apprehend the thing Other things I should have added but I am loth to hold you too long A word for the occasion and so I will conclude the departure of our Sister here was the occasion as of this meeting here so of this Text in particular She gave good evidence to those that knew her more inwardly that she was in Christ that the was delivered not onely from eternal death but from fear of tempor all death too It pleased God to exercise her a great while under the fear of death the apprehension of it was of some terrour to her but neverthelesse when God called her to it indeed then the fear of death was hid from her and Christ then applied the fruit of his death in freeing her from those fears She was not freed from them out of a Stoycal Appethy or want of natural affection and passion but out of a spiritual and faithful application of Christ to her selfe upon good grounds She looked upon God as her Father and much delighted to expresse her apprehension of him under that notion and she very often manifested her rejoycing in that interest she had in God as his child no marvel then if the fear of death were taken away we see here in the text that they are children that are delivered from the fear of death When we are in the state of Gods children by adoption and grace then there is rather a desire then a fear of death It is but as our Fathers white Horse so it is called in the Revelation A child at school when he seeth one riding post through the streets as if he would run over him or tread upon him he cryeth out But if he sees that it is his fathers man sent to bring him from school to his Fathers house all his fear is past and he laugheth and rejoyceth So when we are the sons and daughters of God by adoption we apprehend Death as our Fathers pale Horse sent by him to bring us from a place of prison on earth home to our Fathers house a place of liberty in heaven So it was with her She looked upon Christ as her Husband and though she left a husband upon earth yet it was her owne expression she was to go to her Husband in heaven which was farre better for her And therefore I say having these apprehensions of God as her Father and that she was adopted to the estate of a child by grace and looking upon Christ as her husband no marvel she was freed from the fear of Death And that these were upon good grounds those that knew her course best knew that she expressed it by her abundant care to please God by her desire to serve God by her endeavour to mortifie and subdue ill in her selfe by her growth in grace in her latter times these good evidences did shew that it was not a rash and groundlesse perswasion but a true and real apprehension of God and Christ that freed her from this Fear of death Beloved many times the life of Gods servants is uncomfortable to them because for some of those reasons I have spoken of before they are afraid of Death and they apprehend it not with comfort and this they doe because they see not the interest they have in better comforts then Death can take from them I have the rather therefore spoke this of her that you may take notice of it and apply it to your selves And to conclude make this use of all to grow more humble and watchful and holy to strengthen faith more and by dying daily to prepare more for Death For faith is the rectified apprehension of things Death it is not so fearful as you think it is you lose not so much as you think you lose Nay again because this trouble and this fear dishonoureth God therefore when God calleth us to Death he hideth these fears from us as he did from this servant of Christ at this time before us though she were fearful before yet she was exceeding comfortable all the time when the apprehension of Death approached upon her So it shall be with thee if thou be careful to use the means to prepare for Death mind thou the dutie that God enjoyneth thee in thy life and leave the event and issue to him either he will glorifie himself by thy fears or else he will glorifie himself by delivering thee from thy fears THE PERFECTION OF PATIENCE OR THE COMPLEATE CHRISTIAN SERMON IV. JAMES 1.4 But let Patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and intire wanting nothing IN the second verse of this Chapter the Apostle perswadeth the distrest servants of God to bear their afflictions chearfully My Brethren saith he count it all joy when you fall into divers tentations This Exhortation he presseth in the third verse by shewing the gracious effects of tentations when God sanctifieth them Knowing this that the tryal of your faith worketh patience Yea but if this be all the fruit of our afflictions and tentations that we shall be made patient what great matter is that what great advantage cometh by patience It is but a dull grace it is meerly passive He telleth them that it is such a grace as is necessary to the beeing and perfection of a Christian in the words that I have now read to you Let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and intire wanting nothing I shall speak something for the explication of the terms and phrases used here and then come to elect such points as shall offer themselves to us from them First I will shew what is meant by patience Secondly what is meant by Patience having her parfect work Thirdly what is meant by this that doing of this they shall be perfect and intire wanting nothing Patience in a word it is a grace or fruit of Gods spirit whereby the heart of a beleever willingly submiteth it self to the will of God in all afflictions and changes in this life I say it is a work or fruit of Gods spirit In respect of this work the efficient is called The God of Patience and long suffering which is the same with Patience is made a fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 The subject of this is the heart The act of this Patience is to submit a mans self willingly to God in afflictions I say willingly for there is a submission which is by force when God subjects a man to himselfe not by a gratious and sweet inclining of the will but by a powerful subduing of the person Now when I say there is such a willing submission to God in afflictions the meaning is thus That there may be in a believer in a child of God a Velietie an inclination of the will a natural desire to be freed from Afflictions yet nevertheless there is in him that willingness that is here the Patience of a Christian There may be a willingness an unwllingness in one
also arising from the sense of his guilt He was guilty of sin and by sin he had brought this sorrow upon himself and therefore who knoweth whether the Lord will be gracious to me in sealing to me the pardon of my sin this way in adding this mercy as a further assurance of his love in granting me the forgiveness of my sin God had told him by Nathan that his sin was pardoned though he told him the Child should die it may be by the same mercy he will release me from this sentence of death upon my Child whereby he released me from the guilt of my sin before Here I say is the sense of his own sin The point I note hence is That Parents in the miseries that befal their children should call their own sin to remembrance All the sorrows and sicknesses and pains and miseries that befall children should present to Parents the remembrance of their own sin It was the expression of the Widdow of Sar epta to the Prophet Eliah Art thou come to call my sins to remembrance and to slay my child She saw her sin in the death of her Child So I say in all the afflictions and crosses that befall children the Parents should call to remembrance their own sin But some men will here say There seemeth to be no need of such a course for God hath said plainly That the child shall not die for the sin of the Parent And after God cleareth his own waies from inequality and injustice by that argument The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father Therefore what reason is there that Parents should call their sins to remembrance in the miseries that befall there children I answer Though he say the child shall not die for the Parents sin yet we must understand it aright for what doth he mean by the sins of the Parent And what doth he mean by death By sins of the Parent he meaneth those sins that are so the Parents as that the children are not at all guilty of those sins then the children shall not die By Death he meaneth as the word signifieth the destruction of nature So death shall not befall the child for that sin that himself is not guilty of But how then come little children to die before they have committed any sin actually was this for their own sin or for the sin of their Parents I answer for their own sin they die for the soul that sinneth it shall die and all children have sinned they brought sin into the world and sin brought death as the Apostle speaks therefore death reigneth over all even over those that have not sinned according to the similitude of Adams transgression that is that have not sinned actually as Adam had done yet nevertheless they die because they have sin upon them they have the corruption of nature In sin they were born and in iniquity their mother conceived them and the wages of sin is death therefore they die for their own sin But what if temporal judgments and afflictions befall them is this for their own sin or for the sin of their Parents I answer for both both for their own and for the sin of their Parents for as death so all the miseries of this life are fruits of original sin which is an inheritance in the person of every child by nature as soon as it is born but yet if the sin of the Parents be added to it that may bring temporall judgments There are many instances and examples of this how God hath visited upon the posterity of wicked persons the sins of their Fathers according to that threatning in the second Commandement And this you shall see either in godly children of wicked parents or in ungodly children of godly Parents Suppose a man leave a great deal of wealth to his children and have one that fears God amongst them it may please God to lay some losse or crosse upon him to the undoing of him he may utterly be impoverished and beggered and deprived of all that means that his father left him by unrighteousness He getteth an heir and in his hand is nothing saith Solomon that is God deprived him of all that estate his father left him by unrighteousness Now I say here is a judgment upon the father and yet a mercy upon the child A judgment upon the father that all that he hath laboured for that which he lost his soul for should be vain should come to nothing and not benefit his posterity as he thought Yet it is a mercy to the child to the child of God He by this means is humbled it draweth him from the world Nay when God emptieth him of these things that were unrighteously gotten he giveth him it may be an estate another way wherein he shall see God his Father provide for him without any indirect and unlawful courses So sometimes the very shame and reproach that falleth upon wicked children here it is a judgment to the parents and to the children too Upon the parent as far as he is guilty of the neglect of his duty and of evil example and the like so he is punished in the shame that befalleth his posterity As it is a blessing upon a man that he is not ashamed to sit in the Gates as Solomon speaks no man can upbraid him with his children So it is a correction to Gods children even when their children prove ungodly so farr as they have been negligent and careless of their duty This was the case of old Eli a good man yet nevertheless the hand of God was gone out against his house and family and what was the reason of it Because thou honourest thy sons above me they made themselves vile and thou restrainest them not therefore will I bring a judgment upon thy house at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle I say it may come to pass and that by reason of that natural affection that is in Parents that that misery that befalleth their children may be an exceeding cross and an affliction to them God layes sharp corrections on them when he makes those children which they accounted as comforts and the hope of their life to be the very cross and vexation of their life There is then ye see such a course of Gods dealing with men to visit the sins of the Fathers upon the children that is if the children walk in their fathers steps if the child and the father agree in a course of sin if the father by omission or commission make himself guilty of the sin of the child c. and so if the child either by imintation or allowance go on in his fathers way he draweth a greater judgment upon himself by adding to his fathers sin and as they are alike in sin so they shall be alike in judgment You see likewise for temporal judgments that God may and often-times doth lay many
why is thy conntenance fallen Or as that great King said to Nehemiah Why is thy countenance sad So if men would put the question to themselves concerning their affections as concerning love why do I set my heart upon such and such things and so likewise concerning their sorrow and anger and every thing Why is it thus As Rebecca said when the children did strive in her womb so when there is a conflict of passion in the soul against reason since it is so why am I thus Who art thou that fearest mortal man saith Isaiah to the Church If men I say did thus they would not break out into such exorbitancy of passions as commonly they do The way then to order any affection aright is to reduce it to the principles of sanctified and rectified reason and judgement Let reason be guided by the Word of GOD and let the affections be ordered by that reason so rectified Thus it was with man in the state of innocency and experience telleth us that in the state of corruption all disorder cometh from the want of this subordination of the affections to reason in their several actions and motions When a man goes hood-wink'd up and down he is in danger of stumbling and falling into one hole or other this is for a man to walk in darknesse then a man-walketh in darknesse when he is not guided in all his actions and affections by the light of truth shining in his understanding A man should therefore strive to check himself and to suffer others to check him Why is it thus If a man cannot give a cause and a reason it is a passion to be rejected a distemper o be repented of This is the first thing He saw no reason therefore he would not do it The second is this It was altogether bootlesse Why should I fast I cannot bring him back again He meaneth bring him back again to live on the earth So Job meaneth when he speaks in the same manner If a man die shall he live again he cannot be brought again to live and converse among men The point I note hence is this That all the actions and opportunities of this life cease in death There is no calling of them back again No bringing of a man back to take new opportunities to enioy the comforts he hath lost and to make use of the means he hath neglected and to redeem the time he hath slackly let passe When the request was put to Abraham by Dives that some might come from the dead to tell his brethren upon earth where he was No faith he that request shall never be granted that a man should come from the dead to give warning to the living much lesse that a man himself should return from thence to begin upon a new score a new reckoning to have a new time appointed when that time is past over They have Moses and the Prophetes let them hear them God hath appointed the means and a time to use the means Now they have Moses and the Prophets After this life they shall have none of these means no time of using them The child shall not come back again nor the man shall not come back again Death is a strict door-keeper all that passe out that way the door is shut on them they shall never return back We read of many several Ages that have gone to the place of silence we never read of any that came thence to tell what is done there we never heard of any yet that came back again to reform his course A friend with all his prayers and tears cannot bring back a friend that is dead It teacheth us a point of wisdom to make good use of our time the time of grace we have We draw neerer death every day then other and when once we are dead we shall never be brought back again upon the earth If a man had all the world and would give it to obtain an hours time upon earth to do what he neglected before he cannot have it therefore while it is called to day harden not your hearts yet a little while and you shall have the light saith Christ while ye have the light walk in the light Make use of the means of grace the time may come when ye may wish as Dives is described to wish that some body much more that you your selves might come from the dead Certainly if those in Hell were to come from the dead again though it were to live a hundred years on earth a holy strict and concionable life to watch over all their wayes to keep a good conscience towards God and men they would not omit a duty nor slight a duty they would not omit an opportunity a minute but spend their whole life in working out their salvations with fear and trembling they would sleep and awake with fear lest they should sin they would be careful that they had no sinful thought they would be patterns of the strangest expressions of conformity to the rule that can be imagined if it were possible to be granted You may easily be perswaded of this do you that now which they wish for and wish in vain make use of the time of grace now there is no coming back again afterward Thirdly A third reason is this I shall go to him As if he should have said I have another business in hand now the child is dead it is not for me to stand blubbering and spending my time for a dead Child I am going to him The word here is I shall return to him Return signifieth to go back to a place where one was before So David shall return to his Child for he was there before there in respect of his body the principles of that is in the earth where the Child is and in heaven in respect of his soul where the Child is The Body returneth to dust whence it was taken and the soul to God that gave it The body is of the dust and returneth to dust the soul cometh from God and returns to God again Therefore he saith here I shall return to him because I came from him When things are reduced to their principles the body to the earth and the soul to God they are said to return Ye see the phrase then The point briefly is this That the greatest care of a mans life the greatest business he hath to do on earth is to prepare for death His business is not to care for his children that are dead and to spend unprofitable sorrow for them the main business of my life is how I shall make my peace with God and be fitted for death for I am going thither We should observe the death of others to stir us up to a serious preparation for our own death the Father should be stirred up by seeing his Child dead before him the elder by seeing the younger die before them we see how death hath shot his arrowes
the Stage by Death You will say this is a hard condition for so Noble a creature as Man is to be folded up in the grave for so fair a beauty as the life of man is to be closed up in eternal darkness that man should turn to the acquaintance of dust and worms and make his habitation with rottenness and loathsomeness that Death should have the victory of so excellent a Creature it is a hard condition The Apostle thinks not so he thinks otherwise Death faith he ver 54. is swallowed up in victory As if he should say It need not trouble you to think so of Death the condition of it is not so strange and hard as men take it to be It is swallowed up in victory If a man have a strong enemy to deal with it might trouble him but it is no great matter to deal with a conquered enemy Christ hath overcome Death hath conquered that strong enemy Death is swallowed up in victory Therefore Saint Paul in the precedent and subsequent verses of this Chapter seemeth to insult and triumph over Death Oh Death faith he where is thy sting Oh grave where is thy victory As if he should say before Christ came and conquered thee Death thou wert victorious so it was there was a sting in it before Christ sweetned the grave there was something that was terrible in the Grave but now because Christ is come and hath gotten the victory over the one and sweetned the other therefore Saint Paul breaks forth thus into an insultation and triumph But how can this be Why doth the Apostle thus triumph The reason is insinuated in the verse I have read to you the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But this is the occasion of trouble to Christians No it is not thanks be to God that hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord As if he should say I will shew you the reason of my triumphing over Death there was a sting in Sin and Sin is the sting of Death and the Law is the strength of sin but Christ hath took away sin and hath satisfied the Law sin being taken away Death cannot hurt me the Law being satisfied Sin cannot prejudiceme This was the cause of the Apostle and in him of every Christians insultation over Death The words I have read contain two parts First the sting of Death Secondly the strength of Sin First the sting of death is sin Secondly the strength of sin is the Law If there were no law there would be no sin and if there were no sin there would be no death Sin is the transgression of the Law and sin is the sting of death I shall only at this time insist upon the first of these from whence I shall deliver that which if it please God to accompany with his Spirit may be useful to you The proposition shall be the very words of the Text. Sin is the sting of death This Proposition I would not have you understaud in this sense only that death came in by sin meerly in a habit though that be true too But understand it in this sense That all the horrour and terribleness of Death all the power and rage it hath whatsoever makes it fearful to a man it receiveth it all from sin It is sin that armeth Death against a man if Death have any weapons against a man Sin puts those weapons into the hands of Death if Death have any poyson against a Christian the sin of that person putteth that poyson in it Death may be considered two wayes either as Christ hath made it or as we make it Death as Christ hath made it is a medicine to a Christian a passage and entrance to happiness it is a day of redemption and refreshing and so we need not be afraid of it Death as we by sin have made it is the Pale horse Saint John speaks of in the Revelation it is as a fearful arrest to the debtor it hath a sting in it and so it is feareful But that I may open this point more profitably we will inquire into these particulars First what death the Apostle speaks of here Secondly of what sin he speaks of Thirdly in what respect sin is called the sting of death And then we will make the use and application of all this First of what death doth the Apostle here speak of that sin is the sting of For answer hereunto there is a double death corporal and spiritual Corporal death is the privation of the soul when the soul is severed from the body Spiritual death when God and grace are severed from the soul The Text speaks of the corporal death Sin is not the sting of the spiritual death for the spiritual death is sin it self And hear I will not contend with any man if he be full of enquiry but I will distinguish two parts of spiritual death and I grant in one of them is this sting In spiritual death therefore there are two parts or two degrees The first is called the first death That I take to be the death of the soul in sin The second part is when soul and body are for ever closed up in Hell And in this part sin is the sting And remember this by the way Sin is not only a sting now but it will be a sting to men in Hell the sting the deadliness the exreamity of punishment that is in Hell it is received all from sin for the damned in Hell when they come there as they cease not to sin so the sting of sin ceaseth not to be with them and it may be delivered by conjecture I think Hell were no Hell if there were not the sting of sin there So then you see what death the Apostle speaks of principally of corporal death but it may be extended to the second part of spiritual death for their sin continueth and so the sting remaineth The next question is what sin the Apostle speaks of when he faith the sting of death is sin This is not a time to stir controversies therefore those ancient controversies and such as are lately stirred up about original sin how far it is the sting of death I let them go In a word to let you see what sin is the sting of death remember this Sin may be considered two wayes either as it is intire untouched uncrushed Let that sin be what it will be whether it be original only or whether it be any actual sin streaming from original whether it be a sin of ignorance or knowledg whether it be of pleasure or of profit A sin immediately that respecteth God or immadiately respecteth our neighbour whatsoever the sin be if it be not touched if it be not crushed if it scape uncontrouled if it be in its native power and keeps in his kingdome if it rule in a man that sin will certainly be the sting of
Death Every sin vertually is the sting of death there is an aptitude in every Sin but in the event that sin proveth the sting of death that is untouched uncontrouled Not every sin in the event proveth the sting of death but that sin that liveth in us or rather that sin that we live in that ruleth in us that we affect and love this is the Sin that putteth a sting into death That very sin that thou lovest and likest so much and pleadest for that sin will make death terrible Secondly Sin may be considered as it is galled and vexed and mortified in the Soul When a man setteth upon the root of Sin and the way of Sin and falleth a crucifying the body of Sin and the members of it I say howsoever there be divers motions and stirrings of Sin in the soul yet if these be disavowed disaffected and mortified if there be a crucifying vertue pass over them if they come not within the judgment to approve them or within the affections to embrace and like them if they come not to be a mans trade and way and walk but fall within the improbation of the judgment to disavow them and the misliking of the affections to sorrow for them These shall not be the sting of death whatsoever the motions are But these untouched unmortified sins these are the sting of death Now these are the sting of death in a double respect First in respect of the guilt Secondly in respect of the corruption First they are a sting in respect of guilt Every Sin remaining unsatisfied for remaineth with his guilt and when Sin is not satisfied for there is the sting of death When the sinner hath nothing to oppose to the justice of God for the sin he hath committed if the Sin be in the book of God uncrossed be a debt there not blotted out by the blood of Christ if Christ have not satisfied for it if the sinner have not part in him as we shall hear anon then Sin is the sting of death And then secondly they are a sting in respect of the corruption and filthiness of Sins unmortified Those filthy sinful motions those depraving qualities in thy soul that thou likest and practifest in thy conversation they give thee up into the hand of Death to execute his Sting upon thee And therefore you that applaud your selves in sin and will go on in Sin do so But know this when thou comest to the full strength of thy Sin let it be what it will when Death cometh it findeth the strongest weapon it hath in thy sin the very power of thy sin armeth Death against thy soul No man is more obnoxious and open to the sharpest dart of Death then that man that will go on in Sin So you see what Sin is spoken of that is the sting of death that Sin is the sting of Death that a man loveth and doteth on The third Question is in what respect Sin is the sting of Death First by way of Eminencie because that then the sting of Sin beginneth most sensibly to work in a man Not but that Sin hath a sting before Death but then the deluded sinner feels his sin there be divers times that Sin can sting a person before that but then howsoever the sinner hath deluded himselfe and the word of God and the world he can delude them no more Death then most ordinarily sixeth his sting in the soul and makes the sinner feel the smart of his sin There be three times wherein Sin can sting a man Before death At death After death Before Death God sometimes letteth loose the conscience of a man even of the most resolved sinner of him that bears himselfe up alost in his own eyes in scrone and contempt of the ministry of the Word sometime I say God singleth out such a person and rippeth up all his heart strikes his Arrows into his very soul and stings his conscience so irresistably that he knoweth not which way to turne form the wrath that boyleth in his soul And it is one thing to deal with the Minister and another to deal with God When God strikes his Arrows of vengeance into the soul of a sinner then such a one is stung indeed this God doth sometimes before death Nay sometimes God stingeth the consciences of his own children for sin David cries out he roared for the disquietness of his spirit his bones were broken he was sore vexed Lord how long faith he If there be such deep disquiet by reason of this sting in the consciences of good persons tell me then what is the disquiet that springeth from sin in a Cain a Judas when it meets with a dispairing disposition Thus you see Sin hath this time to sting and therefore think not that Sin will never sting till death sometimes Sin stingeth a man before death Another time is at death When Death cometh and arresteth a sinner in an Action from God seizeth on a person that is under the power of Sin on one that is in his sins unrouched howsoever he behaved himself in his life-time yet then the very name of Death breaks his heart it apaleth him and then it stings such a Person It is appointed beloved for all of us once to die Death will one day arrest every man but when Death appeareth before a man that hath not a part in Christ that is under the power of his sins when it cometh to a Belshazar it makes his very joynts to smite one against another it is a sting to him amidst all those sweet morsels his sins which he so much affected and so earnestly pursued it is a very poyson to him nothing is a poyson now to us but sin only but then at the time of death sin is a poyson indeed Lastly Sin can sting not only before and at but after death Bothat the day of Judgment and after At the day of judgement Is not the concience of a sinner think you stinged and his spirit deeply affected by reason of the great wrath of God that is to be poured out when he shall cry to the mountains to cover him when he shall call to those insensible creatures that are not able to lend him that courtesie to crush him to nothing Make this our one cause think of it it will be our case as It is appointed for us all to die so we must all come to judgement And after the Judgement when the sentence go you cursed is past the sting of Sin ceaseth not no the worm for ever gnaweth in Hell It were a happiness for a sinner if he might only hear the sentence if this worm might not still gnaw his conscience but then this is his burthen Sin shall sting him for ever This is the first respect in which sin is called the sting of death because then Sin stingeth more eminently and sensibly Secondly it is called the sting of death in
sting a man That is the second Thirdly wouldest thou have the sting of death pulled out now Then mortisie thy sins now do it presently Remember what Saint Paul saith but I think he speaks it in respect of afflictions I profess by our rejoycing in Christ Jesus I die dayly If it be meant of afflictions yet it should be verified of us in respect of sin die dayly to sin and then the sting of death is gone Oh beloved our condition will be sad and discomfortable when at once we must enter into the field with Death and Sin he that dieth daily to Sin he hath nothing to do with Death when it cometh Death may come to such a party but cannot hurt him he may rest quietly when it cometh And observe it so much sin as thou now sparest so much sting thou reservest for Death and is it not folly in a man to spare sin that giveth a sting to Death But now as a man is to crucifie evey sin let me put in this caution and remember this advise As the sting of every sin is to be pulled out so pull out especially the sting of that Sin that now stingeth thy conscience that now lieth upon thy conscience for if it work now it will work fearefully at death Death doth not lessen the work of sin but inrageth it God will then present and set thy sins in order before thee perhaps God hath brought thee here to day to hear this Word get thee home and set thy soul in order The love of Sin and the fear of Death seldome part and where Sin is much loved Death will there be much feared Death is never more terrible then where sin is most delighted in Therefore crucifie sin if thou wilt have the sting of death taken away It may be thou thinkest it is a troublesome work but remember that those sins which thou now so much delightest in and lovest and livest in will then prove the sting of death to thee If a man would spend his time in the mortisication of sin when death cometh he should have nothing to do but to let his soul loose to God and to give it up to him as into the hands of his most faithfull Creator and Redeemer And is it not an excellent thing for a man to have nothing to do with Death when it cometh Lastly here is a use of comfort If it hath pleased God to give any of us the grace to pull out the sting of death it is a great comfort But Death is approaching you will say Oh but Death is disarmed the sting of it is taken away what a singular comfort is it then to you that Death is coming Indeed all the comfort that the soul is capable of is this that the sting of death is took away Now when Death cometh upon such a man it doth but free him from all that state of misery he is in here from all that extremity of condition that he is put into from all those diversities of occasions pressing occasions of tumbling about in the world Death doth but put an end to all And which is an excellent comfort to a Christian Sin is ended with Death what afflicteth the soule of a Christian but that he carrieth about him a body of sin and of death This was a trouble to Saint Paul and is to every true Christian Now when Death cometh there is an end of this Body of sin thou shalt never sin more thou shalt never grieve the Spirit of God more thou shalt never be clogged with such imperfections and infirmities in duty that death that cometh to thee shall pass thee to the fruition of eternal glory and what canst thou desire more then to be happy in eternal glory with God THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DESTROYER OR THE OVER THROW OF THE LAST ENEMY SERMON VII 1 COR. 15.26 The last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death DEATH is a Subject that a Christian should have in his thoughts often and neither the hearing nor thinking nor speaking of it can be unseasonable for any place or person We have heard that the life of Philosophers is nothing but a meditation of Death and certainly the life of a Christian much more should abound in such meditations No man can live well till be can die well He that is prepared for Derth is certainly freed from the danger of death neither is there any so fit a way to be ready for it as to be osten minded of it Therefore I have made choice at this time to speak of this verse wherein ye see the Apostle declareth and leadeth us to treat of four things First that there is a Death Secondly that this Death is an Enemy Thirdly that this Enemy is the last Enemy Lastly that this last Enemy shall be destroyed A word or two of each of these parts First Death is Ye know that well enough your eyes shew it you daily our senses declare it so plainly that no man is so senseless that knoweth it not It is agreed upon by all Only for your better furtherance to make use of this point let us acquaint you with that which nature will teach ye concerning Death Secondly with that which Scripture will teach you above and better then Nature Nature sheweth ye concerning Death first what it is And then Secondly what Properties it hath It telleth us this That Death is in absence from life a ceasing from beeing when one was beeing to be thrust as it were out of the present world and be cast some where This is all that Nature informeth us concerning the Essence and Being of Death Death is a deviding of us from this life and from the things of this life and sends us abroad we know not where Secondly Nature teacheth us three Properties concerning Death One that it is universal It hath tied all to it high and low rich and poor Death knocks at the Princes pallace as well as at the poor habitation of the meanest man It is a thing that respects no mans greatness it regardeth no wealth nor wit nothing Death takes all before it That Nature teacheth too Secondly Nature teacheth that Death is inevitable If a man would give all the world he cannot thrust it out of doors It takes whole Armies as well as one man It scorneth to be resisted by the Phisitians there is no words no means to escape it It is such an enemy as we must grapple with and it will conquer This Nature teacheth Again Nature teacheth that death is uncertain A man knoweth not when Death will come to him or when it will lay hold on him or by what means it will setch him out of the world It may fetch him out of the world at any time or in any place and by such occasion as it is impossible for any wit to think of before This is in substance all that Nature teacheth And the knowledg of this
and commands us to seek these are Armour of proof against all the blows of death he that hath them shall never be hurt of Death because he shall never taste of the second death he hath only to wrestle with the first Death and there is no terrour nor terribleness it that if a mans heart be secure by these Graces Faith whereby we depend on Christ and on him alone for grace and salvation bringing hope whereby we expect and look for salvation of our souls by his blood according to his promise and working charity whereby we love him for his goodness and his servants for his sake If it be charity not only of the lip to speak well but that that produceth wel-doing I say this is that makes us that death cannot separate us from Christ but the further we are from life the neerer we are to him for when this outward tabernacle of our house is dissolved we have a building with God eternal in the heavens and death to such a man is nothing but the opening of the door to let him out of the dungeon of the world and to place him happily in the Pallace of eternal blisse I pray enter into consideration how ye have behaved your selves in the course of your lives whether as Heathens or as Christians A man that takes no care to prepare for death though he come to the Church from Sunday to Sunday and partake of all Gods ordinances yet if the consideration of death be not so imprinted in him that it become a motive to him to labour for Faith and hope and charity and to endeavour to edifie himself in these graces he liveth as a Heathen or an Infidel and when death cometh to him it will do him more hurt then it will an Infidel because by how much God hath given him more means to escape and by neglecting those means as his sin is greater so shall his punishment be Secondly if ye have been careless for to prepare for this enemy Now be ashamed of it and sorrow for it let your hearts now smite ye and ake within you Oh foolish man or woman say I have lived twenty thirty forty fifty years and some more I have laboured against other enemies if men had any thing against me I would be sure to take order I have laboured for the things of this life for riches and friends and give my self leave for to enjoy pleasures and taken pains to doe good to my body but all this while it never came into my heart seriously to think I must die and after that comes Judgement that I must stand before Gods Tribunal and give account of my wayes I have not laboured to beware of Death and of sin nor to kill my corruptions I have not laboured to increase in Faith and hope and charity I have left my self unarmed against the last and worst enemy Oh what folly is this to live in the world many a long day and never to consider that there will be an end of all these dayes and the end of those the beginning of another life and a life that will be infinitely more miserable then this If this beloved have been any of your faults to be carelesly forgetful of your latter end not to consider of your departure hence if the world have so tempted you and pleasures have so enamoured you that you have forgotten your latter end blame your selves it is the greatest of all follies And that I may disgrace this folly and make you ashamed of it Consider a little That this is to be like children The Apostle biddeth us not to be like children in understanding but he that forgetteth Death and is careless to prepare for it is a very child A little one never thinketh he shall ever be a man himself and maintain himself and live in the world by his own labour or by that he shall have from his friends he careth for nothing butmeat and drink and sport and pastime we blame their folly andlaugh at it as rediculous and therefore by our diligence we prevent that ill that might else come upon them Is it not thus with many of you ye live and build houses and raise your names to be glorious and to make a fair shew in the world but to get grace and to get faith and hope and love and repentance none of your thoughts almost run that way scarce any of your thoughts are so bestowed Is not this to be children in understanding Again he is a foolish man that knoweth he shall meet an enemy and will not prepare If a man should hear of twenty or thirty thousand souldiers were gathered against the City and besieged it to destroy it He would not be so foolish and so simple then as to bestow himself in his trade and to follow his business and to give himself to merrimeut but he would get his weapons and he would look about him help to arm the City and to make it strong Why do ye not consider that your soul is as a City Death will come against it and batter you with sickness with pains and at last will certainly take it and if the soul be not prepared will carry it to Hell fire Why will you be so retchless and sensless to eat and drink and labour to grow rich to bury your selves in eatrthly labours and never think how to escape how Death may be kept out that will destroy soul and body I presume you are ashamed of this folly by this time I hope ye will go away with remorse and sorrow for so carelesly neglecting a thing of so great importance to be provided for In the third place therefore I entreat you begin this great work this day Consider if you have not begun the enemy lieth in wait for thee oh man or woman if thou be never so young thou maist meet with him before night if thou be old thou must meet with him ere long Prepare for him betime think what an enemy may encounter thee in the way If a man be to travel though he be not assured to meet with an enemy yet he will strive to get good company and weapon himself he will carry his sword something he will do that if a theef come to rob him he may be able to prevent the danger Beloved think that there is an enemy that way-laies us as we go along in the world one time or other he will be sure to come upon us therefore stir up your selves begin this day to prepare for this enemy How shall I prepare for Death I told you before it is not amiss in a word to repeat it Get Faith in Christ and Hope and Charity and repentance These will be means to prepare and help thee against Death Therefore if hitherto thou have not lament and bewail the sinfulness of thy nature and life Assoon as thou art out of this place get thee into a solitary room fall upon thy knees lament thy
doth in gaining the world he loseth himself He that will lose his life shall save it and he that will save his life shall lose it Mark 10. A man never loseth a shadow more then when he followeth it the faster he pursues it the faster still it runneth from him such is the pursuit after anything out of God the more a man pursueth iâ⦠the more he loseth himself he is driven so many paces from heaven so many degrees from his own happiness This is the folly and madness of the world whereby Sathan deludeth men leading them after vain shewes of earthly delights in carnal security flattering themselves in the pursuit of the world dreaming of happiness and comfort and in the conclusion imbrace nothing but a shadow and emptiness and comfort and in the conclusion imbrace nothing but a shadow and emptiness This I say is the misery of man Now put both together Consider what we lose that that is truly good that that is blessedness indeed and what we get that that is but a shadow that that is emptiness indeed Men lose that they seem to have ãâã and want that they pursue after A secret judgement of God because they sought not that that they should do Thus we see the point opened I hasten to the application The first use is for Convictionâ⦠Since there is such a truth as this that no man that professeth himself to be in Christ that professeth himself to be a beleever should live to himself that is do any action of his life ayming at himself as the uttermost end in those actions It serveth in the first place to convince us that profess our selves to be Christians and beleevers to be such as know Christ though with these differences some are more weak and some more strong yet I say it convinceth every man to stand guilty before the Lord that if he live to himself he is none of Christs This is the property of every true Christian even of the weakest aswell as of the strongest for the Apostle speaks of all None of us saith he whether weak or strong Christians live to over selves if thou therefore live to thy self thou art none of those the Apostle speaks to thou art none of those that live and die to the Lord thou art none of those that are the Lords whether in life or death Let us therefore first be convinced of this that there is such a sinful disposition in the hearts of men that profess themselves to be Christians and yet live to themselves That is the first thing I would convince you of at this time Secondly I would shew you that whatsoever this disposition is it argueth a soule and sinful heart None of us do so saith the Apostle other men that have no part in these priviledges and comforts they do so they live to themselves Thirdly we will convince you of this life that it is simply necessary That so without delay every one ââ¦hat is convinced that he liveth to himself may now begin to leave that course to live to himself and hereafter live to God For the first of these To convince us that there are many amongst us that professe our selves to be Christs and yet are thus disposed and have this sinful affection to live to our selves Take this first in the general If there were not such a disposition in mens hearts the holy Ghost would not thus have directed the spirit of the Apostle in expressing this as a note of difference between them and others and as an argument that a strong Christian should beare with the weak because they do not live to themselves The Scripture giveth not rules in vaine But that yet we may see it more clearely you shall find this very thing complained of sometime and sometime forbidden Complained of Phil. 2.21 All seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ Such a disposition there was in them that they sought their own they lived to themselves And forbidden 1 Cor. 10.24 Let no man seek his own but every one another mans wealth A thing expresly and in termes so clearely forbidden as no man can hide himself from the light of it He is certainly guilty of the breach of this command that seeks after his own that seeks himself But how shall we know that we may be more sensible of our own case whether it be thus with us or not whether we live to our selves and not unto God I will give you two general rules and tryals whereby a man may discern whether he live to himself or not The first is this Consider when a lust and an occasion meet together how you are I shall shew it in divers particulars Take it thus Sometimes you shall see that a man is put on to a good duty by incouragement sometimes he wants those incouragements Mark now how a man determineth and resolveth to act or to cease his action by vertue of these incouragements Sometimes you shall see that there is a command to a duty but no outward incouragement to that duty that may satisfie the desire of a mans heart in self-respects He must obey God in this command but he shall gain nothing in the world by it he shall neither grow rich nor get more esteem among men or have a more easie or pleasent life in outward things all self-respects fail in this action The question is what a man resolveth upon in this If now his heart start aside from God and fall off from the duty because he wants those incouragements that a man looks after a way for himself fulness to himself then it is evident thou hast respect to thy self Jehu all the while that his zeal to God might further him and the better settle himself in the kingdom of Israel he can call others to come up and see his zeal for the Lord but when his zeal had no such baiteâ⦠and allurement to those actions then Jehu turneth against God and falleth to Idolatry and other sins Jehu is not now the man when these incouragements faile that he was before You have abundance in John 6.10 seeking Christ that still discovered a living to themselves in it You seek me saith our Saviour because of the loaves they had some outward advantage by him and therefore so long they sought him So the Lord discovered them in Hos 7. to be such as lived to themselves even in holy duties You cry unto me saith God but it is for corn and wine and oyle for this they cryed but when they had corn and wine and oyle what zeal had they then He that should have been upright when he waxed fat he kicked with the heel as the Lord speaks under the name of Jesurum to Israel That is one case Consider when things come thus that sometime those worldly advantages fall off from a man in the profession and practise of religion if he fall off from the duty
place as it falleth out with a woman with child her travel may come upon her in the street at the table when she is talking c. So shall destructiou come suddenly upon them they shall have no more warning then these general warnings that they have in the preaching of the Word Secondly it shall be a painful destruction full of misery and sorrow as travail on a woman with child And then thirdly It shall be an inevitable destruction such a destruction as they shall never avoid All their wit friends power strength wealth or whatsoever else they have cannot put off the stroke of Judgment that shall come upon them as all the devices a woman hath cannot make her escape her travail when it cometh So then the meaning of the words are as if the Apostle should have said When wicked and ungodly men in a course of sin shall crie peace to themselves and flatter themselves in their rebellious courses then shall a sudden a painful an inevitable destruction of all their comfort of all their props and hopes and helps fall upon them In the words you have a twofold description First of the state and condition of the men of the world when Christ shall come to Judgment He shall find all the world at rest As the Angel that stood among the myrtle trees spake in the 1 Zachar. 11. We have walked to and fro through the carth and behold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest He shall find all the men of the world in peace every man applauding himself in some vain conceit in some hope and considence or other They shall cry peace Secondly here is the consequent that followeth upon the vain flattery of themselves Then shall destruction come upon them And that destruction is farther described and amplified by a comparison taken from a woman with child to declare the suddainness the painfulness the unavoidableness of it Thus you have the opening of the words Let us now come to the points of instruction that may be raised hence First here you may see and he that runs may read it that They are most secure that are in least safety A man is in the greatest danger when he is in the greatest security Then a mans Judgment is neerest when he least thinks of it when he least freareth it This is the very thing that the holy Ghost would have us to take notice of here At that very time not before that time they shall crie peace Nor after the time when they had done it and repented of it But just at the very time when they are in the middest of their sins applauding of their own estate living under the power and guilt of sin then cometh the destruction upon them and they shall not escape Thus far the text That we may make the point clear before we come to prove it give me leave first briefly to tell you what we mean by that security which is upon men even in their chiefest dangers Know therefore that there is a twoford security A holy spiritual Security A sinful carnal Security There is first a holy and spiritual security and that even in this state where into we are fallen which consisteth in a mans reconciliation with God when he is in termes of peace with him having obtained remission of his sins and his favour through Jesus Christ so that God is pleased with him in his Son hath received him into the Covenant of grace interested him into all the promises and is become his God by a Covenant for ever Now here a man may be secure yea and he must be so in a spirituall manner Confidence upon the goodness of God in Christ upon the promises of God in the Gospel is that which is requisite in every Chriistian it is that which God commandeth Fear not saith he in one place And again Trust in the Lord. The Scripture is full in a calling for such security as this that men should lay aside all those carking and distracting cares when once they are in the Covenant of Grace that now they should mind nothing but duty and not be troubled about success For my brethren it is such a security as makes a man not to neglect duty but such as freeth a man from those disquiets of soul about the event of things This was that which David had and rejoyced in I laid me down in rest and peace for the Lord keepeth me in safety This is that which the Lord commanded the people of Israel to doe Isa 26.20 Come my people enter thou into thy chamber and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self c. He would have them secure themselves under his protection and in his ordinances This is such a security as draweth men neerer to God bringeth them to further acquaintance with God keepeth them in a constant communion with God causeth them to walk in Gods presence c. This is a good security But then secondly there is a sinful carnal security that is when a man yet living in a course of sin he beareth up his spirit against all fear either of judgments threatned or judgments approaching upon him under a vain hope of I know not what mercy in God and of I know not what assurance from men and upon worldly conceits and flatteries either from others or his own heart Here is now a sinful carnal security not warranted but condemned in the word of God This is the security that is ever an ill prognosticator and fore-runner of some heavy judgment to fall upon that person in whom it is This is the security that we have now in chase First then we will make it appear that it is an infallible sign of Gods Judgment upon a person or a people to cry peace to themselves to be secure and no way troubled at their estate when God is at war with them You shall see this in instances and examples See it in particular persons and in States and Kingdoms and you shall generally find it that before the destroying judgment came upon them they have been given up to this security we speak of this crying of peace upon a false ground See it in Agag 1 Sam. 15.13 The bitterness of death is past But was it past Nay at that very time the bitterness of death was upon him for the very next thing that we meet withall in the Story is that Agag was hewen in pieces before the Lord in Gilgall Ye have Belshazzar in Dan. 5. wondrous secure carrowsing and quaffing in the holy vessels that were taken out of the Temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem amongst his Princes and Nobles his Wives and his Concubines as if there would be no change of his estate and translation of his Empire But what was it so Nay at that very time the very same hour faith the text verse 5. came forth
we carry in our bosomes The Divell is a Serpent in Hell the world is a Serpent in our hand the flesh is a Serpent in our bosome We carry it with us where ever we go It is a con-natural concorporate Enemy All our other enemies could do us no hurt if it were not for that if this enemy that cohabiteth with us did not combine against us Know who ever thou art there is no Enemy like thy self thy self is the worst enemy of all All the sparks that slie out of Sathans engines could never sindg a hair of our heads if our flesh were not as tinder All the winds that blow in the four corners of the world could not make shipwrack of us if our flesh were not a treacherous Pilot. Death that gnaweth the thread of our soul and body asunder could not separate them or them from God if the flesh did not what the teeth of it and sharpen it with a sting So then we see we have a great many Enemies more to encounter us besides Death some without some within Therefore how should this teach us circumspect walking to behave our selves wisely in every thing as David when he knew Saul was his Enemy and had an eye upon him to do him mischief How should it teach us to pray with David Lord teach me thy way and lead me in the right path because of mine enemy That is one thing I have to note Again another thing I have to note If Death be the last enemy then in all probability it is like to be the worst Of the Divels regiment it is I told ye before He is the General of the Army And beloved beleeve it the Divel is very politick and subtile in marshalling his forces he will not place his best Souldiers in the forefront of the battel but keeps them in the Reare he puts them behind that when all the rest have wearied and tired us they should set on us afresh He is so cunning a disputant that he reserveth the best arguments for the last A cunning Gamester that plaies his best play at the last A cunning Archer that shoots his best shaft at the last So since Death is the last Enemy it is like to be the sorest Now the sorer we are like to find him the carefuller we should be to arme against him alwayes to put our selves in a readiness that whensoever he cometh he may find us weaponed that if it were possible we might be alwayes doing as if we were dying it being the height of the perfection that any soul can attain to as the heathens themselves well obierved for a man to spend every day as if it were his last day That is one reason why the Apostle here calleth Death the last Enemy because the last is like to be the worst Again another reason As it is the last by which we are assaulted so it is the last that shall be destroyed That the Apostle principally meant here as Interpreters commonly understand it when he saith the last enemy that shall be Destroyed is Death he meant that Death is the Enemy that shall be destroyed last And this leadeth me to the last point I propounded to speak of That Death is an enemy and the last enemy and at last shall be destroyed It shall be destroyed that is one thing Who undertakes the doing of it Our selves In likelihood Death is more likely to destroy us then we it But as it is said of the seven-sealed book in the Revelation when there was none in heaven or in earth or under the earth that was able to open it the Lion of the tribe of Judah prevailed to open the book So the Lion of the tribe of Judah prevaileth to destroy this enemy that none in heaven or in earth or under the earth but only he is able to destroy He saith of him as David of Goliah when he defied the host of Israel and all men ran away Let no mans heart fail him So saith the son of David The Lord of David let no mans heart fail him I will go to fight with yonder Philistim Oh Death I will be thy death It is spoken in the person of Christ whom Saint Peter calleth the Lord of life He subdueth all Enemies and it is he that will destroy Death he will not leave him till he have trod him under foot But when will Christ do this We see Death playes the Tyrant still it killeth and spoyleth as fast as it did his sickle is in every ones harvest as fast as the corn grows up he cuts it down he leaveth not an ear standing How long Lord how long before this that the Apostle tells us of will be At last His meaning is at the general day of the Resurrection when the end of the world shall come then Christ shall destroy him And he bringeth it in the rather to assure the Corinths of that that some of them doubted of namely that there should be a Resurrection For unless the dead should arise how can Death be destroyed But Death shall be destroyed therefore it is out of question that the dead shall rise again But what comfort have we in the mean time if Death be not destroyed till then if till then it play the domineering Enemy No not so neither We have comfort enough in that that Christ hath already done Though it be not already destroyed yet it is already subdued It is not only subdued but disarmed and not only so but captivated and triumphed over He subdued it when he died in suffering death he overcame Death he beat him in his own ground at his own weapons in his own hold he disarmed him When he rose again then he spoyled him of his power and took his weapons away and triumphed over him in the open field When he ascended into heaven then he carried those spoils with him in token of conquest as Sampson took the Gates of Gaza on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill Christ by Death took the sting of Death away by his Resurrection he took the strength of Death away by his Ascension he took away the hope of Death for ever conquering or prevailing more finally at the last Judgement he will take away the name and Being of Death so that it shall never be more remembred but mortality shall be swallowed up of life I Christ hath done this for himself perhaps but what is this to us Nay Christ hath done it not only for his own victory but he hath given us victory he is not only a conqueror but he hath made us conquerors thanks be unto God that hath given us victory In a word Christ hath and will do by Death as he doth by our sins he hath subdued them already at the last he will utterly destroy them sin and Death both of them are already subdued at last they shall be abolished and destroyed that they
avoids the corruptions that are in the world through lusts But this looking for the second coming of Christ This Argument John the Baptist used to press upon his hearers the Doctrin of repentance because the king dome of God was at hand This is that upon which Saint Peter groundeth his exhortatoin unto the people Acts 3.18 Repent saith he and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Therefore repent and return unto God do away your sins because there will a time of refreshing come and you had need then to be found in another hue in another state then in your old rotten withered condition and sinful lusts This is the Argument that the Aposte used to the Athenians to bring them from Idolatry to serve the living God because God hath appointed a time to judg the world in righteousness by that man whom ho hath ordained Even for that reason because God hath appointed a time to judg the world in righteousness therefore they should turne from their Idols to serve the living God There is nothing that doth so unbottome the heart nothing so shakes and looseneth a mans hold of sin and unrighteousness as the consideration of Christs coming to Judgment What will it boot me will the soul reason to keep my sins when Christ will come to judg me for my sins What shall I get by going on in a course of sin when I can look for nothing then but a sentence of wrath to be denounced against me This then is that that doth settle a man in a holy conversation in that respect Nay fourthly this is that also which quickneth a man to the practise of all holy duties in his place both in his general and particular Calling It is the very argument which the Apostle Saint Peter useth to stir us up to holiness of conversation Seeing saith he that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat As if he should have said Look now about the whole world and see what it is that now can comfort you if you be such as go on in a course of sin It may be you will say I fear not much for I have many friends Yea but all these shall die It may be thou hast store of lands but all that shall be burnt with fire It may be thou hast many pleasures but then there shall be nothing but Judgment The coming of the Lord that shall then put an end to all these and turn the course of things the expectation thereof is a special means to take us off from a course of sin and put us on to a course of obedience to make us walk in another kind of fashion while we are in the world Therefore the Apostle Saint Paul when he would ââ¦ir up Timothy to the work of the Ministry what is the Argument that he useth I charge thee before Christ who shall judg the quick and the dead As if he should say there shall be an appearing before the Lord and therefore if thou wilt give thy account up with joy at that day I charge thee to look to thy Ministry So may I say to every man in his place I charge thee that art a Master of a Family look to the business of thy family to the salvation of the souls of thy people I charge thee that art a father or a mother to look to the salvation of the souls of thy children I charge thee that art a Christian to look to the salvation of thy own soul And how is the charge I charge thee before the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judg the quick and the dead Because there shall come a time when both thou and they shall be present before Christ at his appearing therefore if thou wilt have comfort in them and in thy self and in Christ be careful to do the duty that concerns thy place Looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus So then you see in this respect also there is nothing so forcible an Argument to settle a man in a holy conversation in a heavenly course as this for a man alwayes to look for the second coming of Christ Lastly there is nothing fixeth a man so constantly in a holy course as this Our conversation faith the Apostle is alwayes in heaven We alwayes walk on earth as those that aspire to heaven because we alwayes look for the coming of Christ Wert thou carefnl to serve God yesterday do it to day also it may be Christ may come now and take thee away by death to day and there is no preparation for judgment afterward Little children saith Saint John now abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming What is it that giveth a man boldness and takes away shame from him at the coming of Christ What is the reason that a man hath not that spirit of fear and trembling upon him that shall be upon the hearts of all those that go on in sin when they shall cry to the mountains to fall upon them but this that he hath continued in a holy conversation and constantly walked before the Lord with an upright heart I have finished my course saith the Apostle I have fought a good fight I have kept the faith hence-forth is layd up for me a crown of righteousness which Christ the righteous Judg shall give to me and to all them that love his appearing Still the servants of God have incouraged themselves to persevere in a holy course from the expectation of the coming of Christ that will give them a reward for their constancy in his service It is the Argument that the holy Ghost useth to the Church of Philadelphia Rev. 3.11 Hold fast that thou hast and let no man take thy crown As if he should say There is a time coming when Crowns shall be given but to whome to those that hold out that persevere in a godly course Be thou faithful to the death and thou shalt receive a crown of glory This is that I say that will make a man go on will make him that is good in youth be good in age also because whensoever he dieth he shall receive his Crown This will make a man that he shall not begin in the spirit and end in the flesh this will make him that having put his hand to the plough he will not look back because he no further looks for comfort in the appearance of Christ then he hath had care to walk on constantly in a good course Thus you see the point proved to you that a Christian soul hath a main benefit by his looking for the second coming of Christ
affections of the whole man yeeld obedience now to his will and thou shalt find him a Jesus then He is not a Jesus a Saviour except he be a Lord and Commander also But you see I cannot stand to insist upon this The occasion of our meeting at this time is to commit to the Earth the body of our Sister departed She hath now the termination and conclusion of all her waiting and expectation And after so long a waiting there remaineth a sleeping in the Grave awhile when the soul resteth in the hands of Christ and waiteth for that great day when body and soul shall be joyned together I perswade my self well of her that She was one of the number of those waiters that shall have joy at the coming of Christ I had not much knowledg af her only I observed in her sickness a good purpose and desire of new and better obedience and performing better service to Christ then she had done if God should have spared her longer And she expressed also a great desire of Christs second coming a desire that he would receive her to himself and that these dayes of sin might be finished Much she was in these desires and she had good warrant for it for she was careful as I am informed to set up the kingdome of Christ in her Family It is the duty of a good Wife to be a help to her Husband especially in matters of piety and the worship of God and therein her example should teach wives to strive herein She was alwayes stirring him up to prayer in his Family to a more careful sanctifying of the Lords day herein She was frequent She was much mortified to the world for some late years as it was observed in her daily course by those that knew her Thus she laboured to fit her self and her Family that she might have comfort in the great Day of the appearing of the Lord Jesus I speak upon information for your edification to stir you up to labour to fit your selves for Christ by purging out of sin in your hearts and lives Labour to fit your Families for Christ that when you and your servants and children shall appear before him you may look on them and look on Christ with comfort as men that before have prepared themselves for the coming of Christ and as those that then shall lift up their heads because the day of their redemption draweth nigh CHRISTS PRECEPT AND PROMISE OR SECURITY AGAINST DEATH SERMON XVII JOHN 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you if a man keep my saying he shall never see Death IT is not long men and brethren since Death rode in triumph thorow this City and did bear down all before him he locked up your houses pulled down your windows and made the wealthiest among you put upon them the semblance of Banckroutness by locking up their doors and turning their backs to their houses and running away so it plaid the Tyrant then there died thousands a week and the Grave that alwaies cryeth Give give was almost cloyed with carkasses Death served himself so fast that the Prison could scarse hold the Prisoners It might almost have been said then of this City as once it was of AEgypt There was scarse a house wherein some were not dead at least where there was not the fear of Death Now it hath pleased God to shew you more favour and men now die but by scores Death goeth his old pace and takes away a few secretly without observation But Death is amongst you still and still will be so long as sin is among you and therefore it will not be unseasonable upon this occasion for me to speak and you to hear somewhat that may arme you against this last and worst Enemy Death which though he make not such a stir in these times of less Mortality yet he will certainly take us all away one by one And who can tell but he may be amongst the number of the hundred or fewer hundreds that die now as no man could tell wether he should be amongst the number of the thousands then Since Death therefore is alwayes an enemy and alwayes fighteth against us though not alwayes with like fury and violence it is a part of wisdome in us alwayes to hear and to practise that which may secure us against the danger of death And that is taught in this Text. Verily verily I say unto you If a man keep my saying he shall never see death Wherein not to speak any thing of the Context I pray take notice who speaks the words The Author of truth the Death of Death he that can best tell by what means a man may shun the hurt of it he that hath vanquished it and overcome the uttermost of his assaults Our Lord Jesus Christ that hath slain death and brought life and immortality to light He giveth us this direction for the avoyding of the hurt of Death Then observe the manner of his speaking Verily verily I say unto you with an affirmation earnest and redoubled He never affirmed any thing unture therefore that which he speaks is an undoubted verity He never spake any thing rashly therefore that which he affirmed so earnestly is a weighty thing and of great consequence And lastly observe that which I only shall insist upon the matter of his direction here comprehended in a hypothetical proposition which hath as all such have two parts An Antecedent and a Consequent In the one he sheweth the Duty to be done as a necessary condition for the obtaining of that which is specified in the other The first hath the Duty The second the benefit that floweth from the Duty These two are knit together in a most necessary consequence If a man keep my word he shall never see death You see now the only and perfect remedy against the evil of Death that is to keep the saying and word of Christ If any would know by what means he may be secured against the terrible of all terrible things as one calleth Death here is a sure and certain rule for him and he need not doubt of it it cometh from the mouth of Christ let him keep his saying and then Death shall never do him harm I will first interpret these words unto you and then make them good by Scripture and Reason and then apply them and commit my self and you and all at last to the blessing of God First then when our Saviour Christ saith If a man we must conceive him to mean generally at least indefinitely If any man whatsoever for so it pleaseth him to in large his promise in the redoubling of the word that no man may have cause to say he is excluded except he exclude himself Keep my sayings Here first I must shew you what is meant by sayings and then what it is to keep those sayings The Saying or words of Christ is the doctrine of the Gospel the Covenant of Grace which by an excellency
is called His because by it he bringeth life and immortality to light as I said before which in former times was hid as it were in the dark and not made known so publikely to the sons of men The Gentiles knew little or nothing of it The Jewes knew what they knew with much darkness and obscurity He that was almost the first Preacher of this Gospel in clear terms without any vail or darkness John Baptist who was as it were between both he did delives this doctrine not so darkly as the Prophets before him nor so clearly as after it was by our blessed Saviour and those that succeeded him Therefore I say it is the Saying of Christ by an excellency because he did in a manner first begin to teach and declare the same in the cleareness and sweetness thereof and he sent his Apostles abroad to make it plain and manifest to all the world that a man may run and read it And His likewise it is called because he is the Author of it for he is the worker of that salvation which it declareth to us Now his Doctrine of the Gospel hath two parts The first acquainting us with our misery The second with the Remedy For as the Bond and Acquittance specific the debt but to different purposes the one to ãâã the Debtor to the payment the other to absolve and acquit him even so the Law and the Gospel both declare the misery of man the one to tye it fast upon him the other to help him the better to lease it from him The Physitian intreateth of the sickness as well as the Cure but of the sickness alone for the cures sake The Judge passeth a sentence of condemnation and then largly rehearseth the crime and punishment due to the offender the Pardon likewise makes mention of the fault and the punishment but in a different manner and to a different end So the Gospel declareth mans misery and borroweth so much of the Law that may lay down our wretched estate in our selves and so draw in that which is the main and principal part of it the remedy of our souls And this part of the Gospel the Apostle St. Paul succinctly delivereth in a few words Rom. 3.23 All have sinned and are come short of the glory of God All have sinned and All have sinned in such a short and measure and degree that they are fallen short of the glory of God by which the Apostle I think meaneth life Eternal that Glory that had it not been for sin he would have bestowed upon the sons of men by vertue of the first Covenant he made with them The second part of the Gospel the words of Christ is concerning the Remedy whereby a man may be helped against this misery And for that purpose it sheweth us Who helpeth us And how he helps us And what is to be done by our selves that we may obtaine and enjoy this help The Person that helpeth us is the Son Manifest in the flesh the Son of God taking our nature upon him and cloathing himself in the similitude of sinful flesh the Eternal Son of the Father assuming I say the very nature of man into the unity of his Person so becoming God and Man in the same Person he is the sole Redeemer neither is there any other name under heaven by which we can be saved but by his alone Again it sheweth us by what means he saveth us as the Apostle speaks plain enough in the next verse to that I spake of before being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ To the intent that he might free us from the Curse of the Law and wrath of God and the danger of eternal Death he vouchsafed to be made sin for us to satisfie the justice of his Father by enduring the Curse of the Law and to accomplish the Righteousness of the Law by being made in our stead under the Law so he became a Propitiation for the sins of the sons of men as the Apostle saith in that place Thus Christ by his perfect satisfaction made to his Father and by that perfect Righteousness whereby he was subject to the Law for our sakes hath absolutely and fully delivered us from the power of sin and of Death and performed the work of our Redemption by vertue whereof by the merit and worth and value whereof we are delivered and saved and Redeemed from this Death and from all other evils that crosse our eternal happiness And thirdly the Gospel sheweth us by what means we may become partakers of this happiness and Redemption in Christ and telleth us of three things as it were Conditions of the Covenant of Grace of the New Covenant which is ratified by the bloud of Christ I say of three things the Conditions on our parts of that Covenant which if we do we shall certainly be saved by the Redemption in Christ. The first is Repentance The second is Beleeving The third is our New obedience All and each of these plainly exprest in the word of God As for Repentance it is that where with John the Baptist began his Preaching It is that that our Saviour commanded his Apostles to declare to the Jewes Repent for the kingdome of heaven is at hand It is that which himself preached at the first as Saint Mark witnesseth chap. 1.15 It is that which Saint Paul began with when he came to the Athenians Acts. 17. and now he admnisheth all men every where to repent It was the first of the foundations of the Doctrine of the beginning of Christ that was wont to be taught in the Ancient Church as withesseth the Authour to the Hebrewes chap. 6. not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and then he proceedeth to the rest This Repentance is that which the Lord requireth absolutely of the sons of men as a condition of the new Covenant the Covenant of Grace without which they cannot possibly be made partakers of the same And this Repentance hath four parts every one of which is so needful that without it the rest is little worth First lamenting for our sins and being sorry for our iniquities as David said of himself Psal 38. I will declare my iniquity and be sorry for my sins And so the Apostle Saint James expresseth it chap. 4.9 Afflict your selves mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into sorrow and your joy into tears Therefore Christ you know was sent to Preach glad tydings to the Prisoners and Captives and the opening of the prison to the prisoners and to bring the oyle of gladness to those that mourned in Sion A man must first be a Mourner in Sion one that simiteth on his thigh and saith with Jeremy Woe to me because I have sinned Secondly to this Sorrow must be joyned acknowledgement and confession of sin to Almighty God
the outward man which is the separation of the Body from the Soul it is no Death if it separate not both from God which it can never do if a man keep the sayings of Christ therefore though his body that keepeth the sayings of Christ be took from his soul yet he seeth not death so as to have any hurt by it he feeleth no ill by it nay it is good to him for it is a passage from misery to rest and felicity Thus ye have these words as faithfully interpreted to you as I know how And now I will make proof of this Doctrine thus explicated namely that thus to keep Christs sayings to know and follow the Doctrine of the Gospel is the only sure way to escape the danger and hurt of Death Saint Peter acknowledgeth as much when he said to the Lord Jesus Christ that he had the words of Eternal life then he that keepeth them is certainly safe against the hurt of Death So the Angel speaks to the Apostles whom the Pharisees had imprisoned when he brought them forth of Prison he biddeth them speak to the people the words of this life since Christs Doctrine is the word of life it must needs follow that the keeping thereof is a perfect Antidote against the poyson of Death And Saint Peter when he gave an account to the rest of the Apostles and the brethren of Judea of his going to the Gentiles he saith that an Angel appointed Cornelius to send for him that he might speak words to him whereby himself and his family should be saved and those words which cause a man to be saved you know will give him freedome enough from Death Thus I have proved the point by expresse Texts and there are two reasons of it The first is delivered by the Apostle Saint John in the first Epistle and second Chapter where he faith let that abide in you which you have heard from the beginning that is the Doctrine of the Gospel which Christ taught his sayings if that remain in you you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father He that hath fellowship with the Son and with the Father can never see Death for God is the fountain of life therefore those that are one with him and continue in him cannot see Death no more then he can be overwhelmed with darkness that is where the Sun shineth fully no more then the body can be dead as long as it hath communion with the soul so those in whom the word of Christ remaineth and stayeth they are assured that they shall remain with the Father and the Son and therefore being united to that that is life God the Father and the Son it is impossible that ever they should be hurt by the first or ever at all taste of the last Death Again the Word of Christ freeth him in whom it remaineth from the power and hurt of sin bringing to him remission of sins and sanctification And being free from sin the cause of Death it is easie to conjecture that he shall be freed from Death it self Let a mans Debt be satisfied and let the favour of the Prince be obtained and a Pardon granted the Prison shall never hold him long he shall not be brought to the place of Execution but when his guives are knocked off he is set at liberty so when we have obtained power against sin by the powerful work of the Spirit of God which alwayes at the same time doth bend the heart of man to rest on Christ for salvation and heartily to indevour to walk before him in holiness and righteousness when I say we are thus freed from the power and guilt of sin it is impossible that Death should lay hold upon us as his prisoner to carry us to the dungeon of Hell and to hold us under the wrath of God and that fiery indignation of his that causeth Hell to be Hell Therefore certainly the words of Christ are an undoubted truth and we must rest upon them without all distrust and wavering that he that keepeth his sayings shall never see death and that the knowledge and beleeving and obeying the Doctrine of the Gospel is the only sure way to escape the hurt and ill of Death it self Let us make some Application of this Doctrine to our souls First to stir us up to a right hearty thankfulness unto Almighty God that is pleased to cast our times and dayes into that age and those places where the Doctrine of the Gospel this Saying of our blessed Saviour is so clearly and plainly and evidently laid open to you and frequently and earnestly prest upon your souls where the Lord cometh to declare unto you the way to life where he scoreth you out a path that will bring you quite out of the clutches and danger of Death this is the happiness of our present Age and place where we live and this whole kingdom too The grace and mercy and favour of our loving God hath so disposed of us that we do not live in times of Paganisme and darkness where there was no news of Christ that we live not in places of Popish darkness where the Doctrine of the Gospel is so mixed and darkned with tricks and devices of their own that they cannot see Christ clearly It is our happiness I say that we do not live in those places and times where either Paganisme or Popery with their darkness covered Christ from us and caused us that we could not clearly see or hear him and so not keep his sayings But now grace is offered light is tendered to us we may be saved we may escape the danger of damnation if the fault be not solely and wholly in our carelesness and wilfulness and neglect and abuse of the means that God hath afforded us The heathen men that have not heard of Christ cannot possibly attain to life as far as we can judge by the Scripture And it is very difficult for the Papists that hear so darkly and are told of the Doctrine of the Gospel with so many sophistications to come to be saved But for us that have the Doctrine of the Gospel so plainly and carefully taught us and revealed unto us we may be saved and may easily see the way to obtain salvation So we go beyond them in happiness Oh blessed be the name of the Ever-living God that beside the peace and plenty and other temporal benefits wherewith he hath crowned this unworthy Nation of ours he hath added this blessing of blessings this King of favours to give us so clear a revelation of the Doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ alone Blessed be his name and let your hearts say Amen to this thanksgiving and let it be one part of your endeavour this day to give solemne praise every man apart and his Family apart for this unspeakable mercy of his in making you live in the dayes of Light and in the bright Sun-shââ¦ne of
overcoming of all sin and by the vertue of Christ he shall prosper in this I beseech you therefore set your selves awork about this great business to get Repentance and Faith and New Obedience it is much more needful then sleep then meat then attire there is nothing in the world so requisite for thy welfare as these things Scrape thou riches together in the same quantity that Solomon did and ten thousands times more yet thou shalt see Death once within a hundred or half a hundred years Get wisdome yet thou shalt see Death after a few years Take pleasure with as much greediness as he did once when he forgat himself for a space yet thou shalt see death These things that the foolish world hunts after with so much earnestness of desire will not secure thee from the sight of the King of feares Death as Job calleth it But if thou once get Faith and Repentance and new obedience then thou hast obtained that that all the riches and honour and pleasures and learning or whatsoever seemeth desirable in the world will not help their possessors to What will you do brethren Grovel still on the earth and still be mad after back and belly Or will you now begin to think I must die I must shake hands with that dismal enemy pale-faced Death that is able to strike terrour into the strongest heart and amazement into the stoutest soul that is not well confirmed and if this Death find me destitute of true Repentance and Faith and New Obedience it will seize upon me and dragg me before the Judgement seat of God where I shall be Henced away with a malediction and curse and be forced to take my place with the Divel and his Angels in unquenchable flames Oh what shall I do then to secure my self from the great from the strong arme of death I will repent now I will begin Lord draw me help me that I may do it I will beleeve now Lord do thou work Faith that requirest it I will obey Lord inable me to preform such needful duties as thou commandest me Shall this be your practice when you come home Will you thus study to practise Repentance and Faith and Obedience and study to cry and call for it and use all your endeavour Or what will you do will you be as idle and careless as negligent and slothful in making after these graces as before Will you be as greedy of the transitory vanities of this life as in former times Oh abuse not the word of God If thou go out of the Church without a full purpose to apply thy self from hence forward either to begin or to proceed in the practise of the saying of Christ Cursed be thou in thy hearing cursed be that hour that thou hast spent and cursed be thy misbestowed labour thou dissembling hypocrite But if thou labour to practise this of Christ namely to keep his sayings the Doctrine of the Gospel to repent to beleeve and to obey blessed art thou in thy hearing and in thy doing and in thy obedience happy is the time and the place and all things that concur together to draw thee to so needful a work I pray Brethren set not your labour upon gold and silver and money and trash not upon the pleasures and delights and contentments of the world not on any other thing but mainly and principally above all things let your chief care be for Faith and Repentance and Obedience If you strive for these things earnestly and heartily and constantly as sure as the Lord is in heaven he will bestow them upon you and with them the benefit of benefits Freedome from Death And now I shall speak comfort to those few that are in the world that keep these sayings of Christ Let them be of good comfort if their capital enemy the King of fears and the King of Afflictions be held from a possiblity of doing them harm nothing can harme them He that Death cannot hurt paine cannot hurt poverty and disgrace cannot hurt nothing can hurt him You know if the King of an Army be reconciled to a place he will keep his Souldiers from spoyling and burning and destroying that place If Death be put out of power to do thee hurt and God be reconciled in Christ because thou keepest the saying of Christ nothing can hurt thee thou art the happiest man under the Sun Why should the poor sad afflicted grieved mourning lamenting Saints of God envie them that are rich and jolly and merry worldlings any of their pleasures and profits any of those things wherewith they like Idiots make themselves laugh at What hath not God given thee better things then he that thou shouldest murmure and whine and weep for want of them art thou still complaining for want of them Remember what Saint James faith Let the brother of low degree that is abased and dispised in the world rejoyce yea rejoyce with great boasting and glory in his Exaltation This is the exaltation of the Saints Christ writing his sayings in their hearts and inclining them through the operation of his Spirit and the powerful work of his Word to repent and beleeve hath freed them from the danger of Death and interessed them into eternal happiness and that blisse that no tongue can expresse nor no heart conceive This is thy happiness it is not to be rich or to be great for these cannot deliver the owner from the hurt of Death natural nor from the danger of Death eternal But to have Faith and Repentance and Obedience this is riches and exaltation for he that hath them shall not alone escape the Dungeon of eternal darkness but be advanced to the Palace of everlasting felicity The Saint is the happy man the penitent beleever and true practiser of Christian obedience he is the sole and only happy man under the Sun for whatsoever storme he suffereth in this present world he shall certainly escape Death and obtaine Glory Blesse God and bless thy self in God magnifie him rejoyce in him take comfort in thy lot and portion Death that devoureth Kings that destroyeth Emperours that conquers Captaines and men of valour shall not be able to approach thee for thy hurt for thou keepest the saying of the Lord Jesus Christ Rejoyce I say in this magnisie him that is the Authour of it and account thy self happy that thou hast receââ¦ed from him so excellent a gift as to be in some measure inabled to keep his saying Yea if it were so may some Christian heart object then I should esteem my self the happiest man alive â⦠but alas where is this Repentance you describe where is this New Obedience in me that still still find my self captive and thral to passion to this and that and the other lust and divers corruptions Where is I say that Repentance when I find so much fin Where is that Faith when I find so much wavering and quaking so much aptness to distrust and almost
still a generation to praise God their Creator and so being a temporal thing ordained for the office of this life it ceasoth when Death cometh there is nothing but Death and that which Christ speaks of in the Gospel can make a separation when death cometh all relations cease and a wife is no wife and a husband is no husband Behold out of this the infinite love of God in Christ that hath made all things all unions and contracts hath made all to be void but his own for our Lord Jesus in life and death is our Husband our Lord our Master our Father as well in the one as in the other whereas by the intercourse of death all things are dissolved two of the best friends that are may part upon discontent and body and soul must part at Death and Husband and wife the Symbol of Christ and his Church must part one from another yet when all societies and contracts part Christ doth not part from us but he is in the Grave as well as in the highest heavens our Husband and Lord and Spouse and we are his Church still we keep the same relation and as strong bonds in death as in life My Dead Yet not withstanding though she was not Abrahams Wife yet she was Abrahams dead This must teach a man after he is freed by Death to the combination and contract yet that there is a care remaining from the Dead a love to that though not as to a Wife the respects of Man and Wife are carnal and fleshly Death cometh and cutteth down the flesh therefore cutteth off that respect too but because she was dead and there was such bonds hetween them formerly therefore a man is bound to lament and sorrow for his dead as Abraham did here to love the memory of the dead to speak well of the dead when occasion serveth to commend them for their vertues to use the friends of the dead as far as is in their power with all courtisie to be good to the children of the Dead those that the mother hath left and not to cast them into the hands of a furious woman a new Wife that neither careth for dead nor living but to have a special regard to the bonds and familiarity and that spiritual acquaintance that God made in this life and so to be good to all that come of that issue for their sakes Let me bury my dead Lastly it followeth why he would bury his dead Out of my sight A strange thing Out of my sight Was his grief so aggravated as he could not still behold her face or was it necessary that the carkasse it self must be conveyed away must it needs be that the body being now no way amiable but noisome must be conveyed out of a mans sight The best friend in the world cannot endure the sight of a dead body it is a gastly sight especially when it cometh to that dissolution that the parts begin to have an evil savour and smell as all have when they are dead then to keep themselves in life and health it is necessary to avoid them to bury their dead out of their sight And what so sweet a sight once to blessed Abraham as Sarah What so sweet a spectacle to the world as Sarah The great Kings of the world set her as a Parragon and she came no where but her beauty enamoured them she was a sweet prospect in all eyes every man gazed on her with great content to see the beauty of God as in so many lines marked out in the face of Sarah Yet now she is odious every eye that looked upon her before now winks and cannot endure to look upon her she must be taken out of sight Oh bethink your selves of this you that take pride in this frail flesh that prank up your selves to make you graceful in every eye you that study to please the beholders you that are the great Minions of the world you that when age beginneth to purle your faces begin to redeem your selves with paintings think of this Mother Sarah the beautifullest woman in the world is loathsome to her husband her sweetest friend therefore I heseech you in the fear of God leave these fooleries and vain fancies remember what danger Sarahs beauty cast her into though it were a great gift of God yet she had better have been without it then to have that hazard of soul and body that she was brought to by Abrahams travels and necessity and know it that your best beauty is to please the eye of God to look beautiful in his sight for the sight of God is never weary the sight of men will be weary of you the best friends you have will loath to see you dead you will then be grisly in the eyes of men but the eye of God it is all one even in the dust and nothing can make you so ill-favoured but God will like you therefore labour to please Gods eye that never ceaseth nothing will make him after his affection whereas the eyes of men this life is so full of foul alterations as the least sickness bringeth an abomination unto them I see the time prevents me I will speak a little to the present occasion We have here a depositum a gage a pawn of a dear Sister of ours a woman known to you all to be of a holy Christian conversation a neighbour full of peace and quiet and of good works according to her calling She was also in the spiritual part a woman of a very good inclination loving the Word of God curious and attentive in the hearing of it She was much delighted in it and desired to communicate the knowledg she had in the Scriptures to others and to speak of it as often as occasion permitted By this study it pleased the Lord to work a constant and lively faith in her to put all her trust and considence in him She was now taken upon the sudden therefore the Lord hath left her as a pattern for us to look upon to take heed to our selves that we may make our peace with God and look for death every moment because we know not how soon we may be arrested She was indeed a woman of great trust and faith in God and one whose mouth was full of his praise still admiring and recounting the wondrous grace of God to her in all the course of her life in sparing her in giving her comfort in her conscience concerning the pardon and forgiveness of her sins and providing for her worldly helps which she thought never to attain to and in many other particulars She did open the grace of God according to her best understanding still giving the praise to his holy Name and no doubt if the stroke upon her had not been so fatal and as deadly as now it was we should have had the like fruit more abundantly at this time Howbeit she was not as one altogether destitnte but she called for and craved
the prayers of Gods people that they would lift up their hearts and hands and voyces to the Lord to look upon her and release her of her misery and trouble either by life or death for she was content either way She had some touches also of Divine Scripture as occasion offered themselves As when the light was brought in she desired to have the light of Gods countenance to shine upon her And when her eye-strings were broke that the tears did distill down she desired the Lord God to put her tears into his bottle and many such Luminations there were that came from her Her surcharged spirits were so taken and strucken as a man might perceive at the first there was no way but one her self drawing her self within as though that in the outward man there were no room for the soul to dwell there or to have a fit and opportune habitation I must needs advertise you of one thing that this cnstome of praising and commending of the dead is very full of danger because a man may be a lyer and a flatter before he be aware when he never intended it But truly for ought that I could discerne this Sister of ours was one that was very well deserving of a quiet and moderate spirit intentive and careful to govern her house and children and no way exorbitant for any thing that I can hear It is true that all are not of one Model as the bodies of men and women are not of one height and colour so the souls and spirits are not all of one elevation neither but we esteem the children of God according to that they have received and not according to that that they have not received as the Apostle speaks I say therefore according to the grace she had received I verily beleeve she was faithful and true to it that she received not the grace of God in vain she sought by all means to nourish and cherish it from one degree to another and to proceed from grace to grace And therefore I conclude in the judgement of Charity that we have very strong hopes and great probabilities of her happy translation She was a Daughter of Sarah as Saint Peter speaks of Women that he would have them demean themselves as Daughters of Sarah and such a one she was in her habit and attire in the manner of her life and society and company and therefore I doubt not but she inheriteth with Sarah the place of blessed mansions that the Lord hath made infinite specious and wide and capable for all blessed souls that put their trust in him Now this let us make use of to our own souls In that she had not that largeness of time she supposed to have had but was surprised so soon and vehemently as she could not dispose of her self in that manner as we know by experience she would have done it should be a lesson to us to be ready for God to be acquainted with God We have had two Corses one after another one a man another a woman both taken suddenly in respect of the time though they had thought to have made an overture of themselves to the world and thought to have made all things fair and easie by the confession and expression of their faith to the world but they were not suffered to do it So all presume to have time to make the world know that they be humble and penitent and to make their confession but many put it off till it be too late Let us not be put off with vain presumptions the Lord giveth and the Lrod takes we know not how soon We were born we know not when we shall die we know not when The Lord prepare us all for it GODS ESTEEM OF THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS PREACHED At the Funeral of Mr. John Moulson of Hargrave at Bunbury in Cheshire By S. T. SERMON XX. PSAL. 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints THe Psalm was composed by David to be an acknowledgment of that favour and grace of God which himself had experience of at some time or other but when or what the particular occasion of it was we are uncertain Some refer it to that escape which he made when Saul and his Troops had compassed him about upon the discovery of the Ziphites 1 Sam. 23.26 27 28. Others because Jerusalem is mentioned in the Psalm and Jerusalem at that time of Saul was not built as they conclude well against the time of the penning of it so they find also another occasion his escape from Absolom and that great plot 2 Sam. 15.14 Others include also his spiritual Conflicts his combattings with Gods wrath and his dispairs because of his sins together with some sicknesses and strong diseases accompanied with griefs and anxieties of mind In all which he found God benevolous and merciful unto him in the sense of which he rejoyces and as it was in his duty gives thanks and praises unto God He saith in the fourteenth vers he would make publique business of it and would pay his vowes corum populo in the presence of all the people and good reason he had for God hath oft releeved him and taken much care to preserve his life as he is ever tender of the safety of all his people for Pretiosa in oculis Jehovae c. Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints The words are a Simple universall affirmative proposition wherein 1. The subject or thing spoken of is The death of Gods Saints 2. That which is spoken of it is That it is precious in the sight of the Lord. Which proposition may be resolved into these three observations 1. That there be some that are Gods Saints 2. That Gods Saints do also Die 3. That the Death of Gods Saints is precious in Gods sight 1. There be some that are Gods Saints Sanctorum ejus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so the vulgar latine reads it Misericordium ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so Pagnin after S. Hierome Bonificorum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so Piscator Piorum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so Mollerus The Kings translators have rendred it in our last English His Saints though they have given themselves a liberty in other places to render the Hebrew that is here by our English Holy as Ps 16.10 hhasideka Thy Holy one and the Hebrew word that properly signifies holy by our English Saints as Psal 16.3 Kedoshim To the Saints The Saint in the Text is in Hebrew hhasid and hhasid is beneficus and but in a secundary sence Sanctus Yet whereas it is rendred by the Septuagint once ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã venerandus venerable which our English translates The good man Mic. 7.2 and once ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã reverend or as our English hath it Righteous Prov. 2.8 Yet in all others places it is translated by the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sanctus Saint or Holy and it
receive the sentence either of Come ye blessed or go ye cursed After which sentence once pronounced there shall never question be made of the end of the joy of the one or the ease of the torments of the other But here ariseth a question you know the world consists but of two sorts of persons beleevers and unbeleevers For the beleever it is evident and plain Joh. 5.24 He is passed already from death to life he hath everlasting life already he shall not come into judgement And for the unbeleever it is as plain Joh. 3.18 that he is already condemned even already both are judged already both the beleever and unbeleever the beleever is saved already the unbeleever is damned already what need therefore a general a second Judgement To this I answer that there is a very great need of it both in respect of the justice and of the mercy of God whose property it is alway to reward the godly and to punish the wicked which seeing he doth not to the full in this life it must needs be that a day will come that he will fully do it You know the course of the Lord as David speaks good men have bands in their death and wicked men are lusty and strong good men are in evil condition and wicked men in prosperity Diogenes the Cinnick seeing Harpalus a thief long in prosperity he was bold to say that wicked Harpalus his living long in prosperity it was an argument to Diogenes that God had cast off his care of the world that he respected not mens affairs And indeed the prosperity of the wicked hath brought the Saints of God to a stand Davids foot slipped almost in seeing the prosperity of the wicked It made Job to say Job 24.12 Men groan out of the City by reason of oppression and the souls of the slain cry out and yet God chargeth them not with folly This made Jeremiah to expostulate his cause with the Lord Jerem. 12. Let me talk with thee of thy judgments Why doth the wicked prosper and they that transgress thy commandements This makes the godly take up that passionate complaint Psal 73.11 How doth God know it is there any knowledg in the most high Certainly we have cleansed our hearts in vain in vain we have washed our hands in innocency in vain we labour to live godly lives Why Every day we are chastened for the Lord corrects us every morning And these have the wealth of the world they have the world at will We in Christianity know this to be true Dives hath the world at will while poor Lazarus is shut out of doors hungry and thirsty cold and naked full of necessity every way This being so the day must needs come that the one shall have fulnesse of glory and the other of misery But to answer those places before cited To the former Joh. 5. where it is said The beleever is passed already from death to life he hath everlasting life already It is true he is passed already from death to life by faith he hath it already and by hope he shall not come into judgement that is of condemnation so we must understand it but there is a judgement of absolution that is to be executed and so when the Lord Jesus Christ shall descend from heaven with the sound of a Trumpet and the voyce of the Archangels then the dead in Christ shall rise first and be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ and then they shall be set at his right hand and hear that heavenly sentence Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the beginning of the world You see the answer to that that beleevers shall not come into judgement that is not the judgement of condemnation but of absolution at the last day Now for the other place where it is said Joh. 3.18 the unbeleever is condemned already It is true he is condemned already and that three wayes First of all he is condemned already in the counsel of God Secondly he is condemned already in the word of God Thirdly he is condemned already in his own conscience First in the counsel of God God hath made an eternal decree of Predestination whereby he hath elected some to salvation and predestinated them thereto and others to damnation In this Gods eternal decree the unbeleever is already condemned nay before ever he came into the world as you have it in the example of Jacob and Esaâ⦠Rom. 9. before ever they had done good or evil God hated the one and loved the other Secondly in the word of God he is condemned Jo. 3.18 Why because he hates the light and loves darkness Thirdly in his own conscience he is condemned for the continual horrour thereof gives him no rest day nor night there is a worm continually gnawing there and a sting tormenting him but the full execution thereof is to be in the day of wrath when he shall be set at the left hand of Christ and hear the sentence Goe ye cursed into eternal fire prepared for the divel and his Angels O what a terrible day will this be to all the wicked workers of iniquity for Christ Jesus the Judge shall come then to give them their reward This shall be a black a sad a woful dismal day to them they shall not be able to look on the Judge he shall be so terrible to them You see the terriblness of the Judge set down by Saint John Revel 20.10 11. where it is said he saw a great white throne and one sitting thereon from whose face fââ¦ed heaven and earth and their place was no more found Heaven and earth are great and mighty creatures insensible creatures that have not sinned they flie and tremble and hide themselves at the coming of the great Judge and shall man silly sinful man think to stand before the Judge without trembling Indeed if a man could present himself spotless without blame he needed not to fear but alas it is far otherwise there is none that doth good and sinneth not saith Solomon The most righteous before men are stained and poluted in the sight of God and may cry with the Leper Unclean unclean what is man that he should be pure or the son of man that he should be just with God The Angels of heaven are impure in his sight how much more filthy man that drinketh iniquity as water Job 15. So in Psal 14.2 When God looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there were any that would uuderstand and seek after God Will he find any that frames themselves according to the rule of perfection that he requires surely no but this he finds they are all corrupt and abominable in their doings there is none that doth good no not one so sinful is man in his whole race sinful in his conception he is conceived in sin before ever he sees light in this
a Sarah for obedience Rebecca for wisedome Mary for piety Martha for houswifery a true Lydea she heard and God opened her heart that she attended to those things she heard A true Dorcas full of good works they that knew her knew her so far as wisedome and discretion dictated to her full of charity of good works and almes-deeds But her life was a vapour that appeared for a little while and then vanisheth away She verified my Text too truly in that it pleased God suddenly to call her even in the prime and strength of her years she was but a young woman and she dyed in Child-bed You that are Child-bearing women I wish you to set this pattern and example before your eyes and learn by this spectacle to see how neer you walk to the brink of your grave when you come to be delivered of child I wonder therefore by the way that any should find fault with that solemn thanks-giving that is appointed by the Church to be rendred to God for women for his preserving them from the great danger of Child-birth there is but a step between you and death you should then have a care to prepare for your death I see a great deal of time spent to prepare all brave and fine God may quickly turn all your chambers and hang them with black and turn your jollity into mourning therefore you shall rather prepare for your winding-sheet and for your grave for undoubtedly she did so and I may in some sence apply that litterally of the Apostle to her In bearing of children she is saved It is true the Apostle gives that as an argument of comfort to women because before he had preached obedience to them a doctrin that they do not well relish yet he gives two reasons because Adam was first made and she first sinned that is another reason yet lest she should be too much discouraged with that of the Apostle and because the pain of child-bearing was threatned to women for a part of their curse the Apostle adds that as a comfort In bearing of children they shall be saved Notwithstanding the pain and sorrow of child-bearing was inflicted as a punishment upon them yet under that curse there is a way of salvation opened if they be such women saith the Apostle as continue in faith and charity with holiness and sobriety These vertues being eminent in this dear Christian sister of ours no doubt but in bearing of children she is saved that is she found under that curse a way to a blessing an everlasting blessing of salvation How she disposed her self in the time of her sickness those of the family well know truly I have not oft scarse ever heard of a woman of her rank and quality for she was a woman well descended and well bred and yet I never heard of a woman more beloved and more bewayled her Husband complains of his loss never man lost a better wife all the servants never any had a better Mistriss and all the neighbours never any had a better neighbour Concerning her in the time of her sickness they can give a better and more particular testimony then I I only did one office and service to her when in the absence of your reverend Pastor I was called I visited her an hour or two before she went when God knowes she was faint and weak and able to breath but a few words but they were sweet I told her I hoped and doubted not but that as she had made a Christian profession in her life time so now she would seal it up she answered I have endeavoured to serve God but with a great deal of infirmity and weakness I rest not upon that I rest upon my evidence and there is my comfort I doubt not but he that hath given me the evidence will also give me the inheritance I think these were the last words she spake Thus she is gone to her rest her body to rest as a prisoner of hope till the Resurrection her soul rests in the arms of God I have no more to say to her or of her then that Christ said to the woman in the Gospel Woman go in peace thy faith hath saved thee SAINT PAULS TRUMPET OR AN ALARM FOR SLEEPY CHRISTIANS SERMON XXVI ROM 13.11 And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep THe holy Apostle in this Chapter he delivers a number of precepts and general rules for satisfaction and enforceth them with sundry reasons Among them all the words that I have read they are one principal both Precept and Reason enforcing it Considering the season it is time that ye arise from sleep These few words may be called Saint Pauls Trumpet to rouze the sluggish Christian They were the occasion of the conversion of that famous instrument St. Austin as he saith in the eighth Book of his Confessions the last Chapter He reports that when the time of his Conversion came near he was in a marvellous great agony and conflict beset with a number of Temptations whereby Satan would still have detained him in the spiritual sleep he was in being in this marvellous conflict he could not but go from his Chamber to his Garden and there he prostrated himself on his face before the Lord and earnestly and ardently called upon God And in his Prayer as himself records he seemed that he did hear the voice of a Child speak to him Tolle lege Take up the book and read Hereupon running back again to his study his Book being open the first place that he cast his eye upon was this Verse It is now time considering the season that you awake ouâ⦠of sleep And saith he with the end of the sentence I found an infused life He found in the reading of this sentence as soon as he had read it the life of grace infused into him and his conversion was compleat This place of Scripture hath been famous in the Church for the conversion of that famous instrument I would to God as we do not despair that the Lord would bestow the same blessing among some of us who not only hear these words read but are now to be expounded in your ears For the understanding of which we are to inquire of divers things for the meaning of the words First we are to inquire what is here meant by sleep It is time to awake out of sleep Secondly what is meant by arising or awaking out of sleep Thirdly who they be that must arise or wake out of sleep Fourthly and lastly why the Apostle doth bestow this exhortation upon sleepy persons that cannot hear what he saith For the first of these what is meant by sleep Sleep in Scripture is threefold Natural Moral Spiritual Natural sleep is that spoken of Psal 3.5 I will lay my self down to sleep and rise again This natural sleep is the rest and restitution of nature Moral sleep is natural death
this is the death and dissolution of nature of which the Scripture speaketh Dan. 12.2 They that sleep in the dust shall rise again And Act. 7. ult When Steven had spoken these words he fell asleep that is he died Spiritual sleep it is the sleep of sin and security this is the death and privation of grace in the soul as the other is the privation of life in the body of this our Text speaketh It is time to arise or awake out of this sleep the sleep of sin and security Now the state of sin and security is compared here to the state of sleep because there are many resemblances and likenesses between the state of a sinner and a sleepy man for what effect sleep hath in the body the same effect hath the sleep of sin in the soul I will shew it you in a few instances and so pass it First They that sleep saith the Apostle sleep in the night The same that the Apostle aims at here It is time to awake out of sleep because the night is past The night is a time to sleep in So those that sleep in sin it is because they are in the night of sin there is a darkness the Canopy is spread over them the Sun of grace and the day of salvation shines not upon them their eyes are closed up in darkness as it is with a sleepy man Again when a man goes to sleep he puts off his cloaths he lies naked exposed to all dangers And when a man is in the sleep of sin and security he wants his garments to be cloathed with Christs righteousness and holiness he lies naked exposed and open to all Gods displeasure and all the arrowes of Gods wrath So in Deut. 32. when the Israelites the people of God had made a Calfe Moses came and saw them naked that is destitute of Gods protection and wanting that garment that armour of proof that righteousness that before they had upon them Again a man naturally layes himself down willingly to sleep he is willing to take his rest So it is in the sleep of sin every natural man is willing to lay himself down to sleep in sin to take his ease and rest in sin for there is no man but hath free will to sin though no man bath free will to good And again as sleep it surprizeth a man suddenly oft-times before he is aware or before he can remember himself where he is or what he is doing so the sleep of sin it oft surprizeth a man before he is aware As we see in the Disciples of Christ themselves Mat. 26. bodily sleep surprized them even then when they intended to watch and when Christ appointed them to watch but the sleep of their minds and souls was much more for that was not a time to sleep if they had known what they had been about Again further as the sleep of the body binds up the senses and makes a man sensless of that which is good or evil he that sleeps offer him a Kingdom it moves him not threaten him draw a sword offer a stab him he stirrs not he is not sensible he is unmoveable a man that is asleep where you left him there you shall find him still So it is in the sleep of sin it binds up all the spiritual senses that a man that is in this sleep he wants a seeing eye and a hearing ear he knows nothing he sees nothing of God but that which will make him in-excusable he tastes not he feels not how good God is to him Offer him the kingdom of heaven and grace in the means it moves him not threaten him draw out the sword the weapons of Gods wrath against him he fears nothing As he is insensible in these courses so he is immovable look where he was at the first there shall you find him still there is no difference but he is as a dead man as long as he sleeps thus in sin To conclude this point sixtly the sleep of the body deludes a man with many vain dreams and foolish conceits false joyes and false fears and false hopes c. which are nothing true So the sleep of sin in the soul it hath the same effect it feeds a man up with false joyes and false hopes it casts him down with false fear where no fear is A man in the state of sin he fears the face of man the eye of man the word of man the hand of man he fears not the eye of God nor the word of God nor the mighty power of God So likewise for false joyes a man that is a beggar he dreams that he hath gold enough that he tumbles in it So beggars in grace those that have not a rag of righteousness upon them they dream that they are rich and encreased in goods and that they have need of nothing when they know not that they are poor and beggarly and naked as the Church of Laodicea So this spiritual sleep it fils a man with false conceits A man sometime when he goes to sleep he thinks not to sleep long but to take a nap and wake by and by yet it may be he sleeps beyond his compass sometime he wakes no more So it is with a man in sin he hopes to wake he thinks to sleep but a little but sometime he sleeps long and sometime he never wakes So we see how aptly the spirit compares the state of a man in sin to sleep This is the first thing in the meaning of the words Now the second thing is what is meant by waking or arising out of sleep To wake or to rise out of sleep is for a man to do in the matter of Christianity as a man that awakes out of sleep And for a man that wakes out of sleep there are three things he doth and so out of the sleep of sin First there must be an opening of the eyes and a beholding of the light And this is the first thing in awaking out of the sleep of sin and security a man must labour to open his eyes to behold the light of Gods word and that shining grace that the Lord propounds to him in the Scriptures he must open his eyes to behold the light and that will discover such objects as will keep him awake Therefore men sleep so much in the night because they are in the dark and not in the light they see objects in the day time that keeps them awake So for this sleep of sin if we would keep awake let us open our eyes to behold the light of grace and in the light of the Scriptures we shall see objects that will help to keep us waking we shall see Gods displeasure the wrath of God we shall see those things that eye cannot see nor ear hear nor hath entred into the heart of man We shall see them in their beginning and degrees though the full
And this will cut sore and lie heavy on our conscience and therefore let us do it betimes Not only to prevent the Divel and his temptations but because you see how suddenly they may be taken away from us in a moment So Children should be admonished to learn to know the Lord God in the dayes of their youth how soon that evil day may come we know not that the wise man speaks of therefore betimes while ye have opportunity do it And for our own part let us learn this First when God crops such flowers that rise in the bud when he takes away such Children be thankful to God that he hath given us a longer time that he hath enlarged our dayes and prolonged our years that he hath given us such a great deal of space and opportunity to glorifie him here to do him service in the land of the living to get evidence of our Calling and election and to get assurance of our peace with him Let us praise God for the length of our dayes a blessing of God in it self and a blessing to us if we improve it Again every one remember if Children do die old men must die any man may die For it Death strike such as do but begin to live then we that have lived long it is time and reason to expect death and not to fear it I speak not this as if we should be slavishly afraid of death while we are so our lives are not comfortable What is the reason that we fear it inordinatly because we love our lives we love our bodies and the world inordinatly and not in and for God And then by the continual spectacles of mortality let us be acquainted with death A vizour and apparition to a Child scares him and he runs from it at the first but at last he grows throughly acquainted with it and fears it not so it is in regard of death many men will not endure to hear of death they will not endure to think of it they will not endure to hear a Funeral Sermon or to come to the hous of mourning to be put in mind of their latter end Death is a strange vizour to these men and women they are afraid of it and run from it but if we did oft think of it as oft as we think of sin in the cause of it And when we feel sorrow think here is a harbinger of death I feel pain in me ere long I must surrender to the stroak of Death And as oft as we see spectacles of mortality to read a lecture of Death And when we lay our selves down in our beds think of Death And upon all occasions come to the house of mourning and think of Death If the Serpents sting be plucked out a man may handle it he is shie at the first but after finding it cannot hurt him he fears it not So we have cause to thank God for death as well as for other things thus far because he hath changed the nature of it and made it a sweet passage to another life And then though God take Children or friends or goods or any thing in this world he will be our exceeding great reward he will be All in all to us here and hereafter THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE OR THE RULE OF JUDGEMENT SERMON XXVIII JAM 2.12 So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the Law of Liberty VPon the like sad occasion I have already handled something out of these words The last thing that I came to was That in the day of Judgement God will call both the words and actions of men to account He will bring their words and their actions to judgement not only their works 2 Cor. 5.10 God will bring every work to judgement and so Eccles 12. He will bring every thing to judgement whether good or evill But besides that he will bring every word to judgement too even the very vain words of men of every idle word men shall give account Matt. 12.36 And the very rash and passionate speeches of men what they speak in passion and repent not of even those passionate speeches that they thought might have easily been passed by He that calls his Brother fool shall be in danger of hell fire Matth. 5.22 Then much more those evil speeches against God Jude 13 14. He shall come with thousands of his angels in judgement against all those that have spoken against him They have spoken against God they have reviled him he shall judge them for all their evil and cursed speakings against him saith the Apostle They in fury and madness fell to evil and cursed speaking and slighted God and despised him therefore he shall come in great glory with thousands of his Angels to make it appear that he is more glorious then they thought him to be and he will now stand for the vindicating of his honour and the manifesting of his glory in such a terrible appearance at that day Against all those that speak evil and against all their cursed speakings against him saith the Text evil speaking against God is cursed speaking Because it exposeth a man to a curse it leaves him under a curse that shall appear at that day to be just against him so we see God will bring both words and works to judgement at that day And the reasons are First because the Law of God binds men in their speeches as well as in their actions I say the Law that shall judge them doth now bind them in their very speeches as well as in their actions You have two commandements expresly taking notice of the words of men The third commandment of the words of men concerning God he that takes the name of Godin vain he will not hold him guiltless And then the ninth commandment of the words of men concerning men Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour Now God that hath made a Law to bind and to order men in the matter of speech certainly he will judge men by that Law You know that Kings and Princes and Parliaments and Kingdoms they make not Lawes in vain but they are the directions whereby the judges proceed in their course of judgment upon malefactours So I say Gods Law it is not in vain it is not a bare direction onely to us in point of obedience but also the express rule whereby Christ himself will proceed in matter of judgement Again secondly there is great reason that words as well as actions should be brought to judgement because God and men are injured by words as well as by actions First concerning God you read of some Psal 73. that set their mouths against God and against heaven Indeed they can do no more hurt to God then a man that shoots an Arrow at the Sun can hurt the Sun by shooting at him but in their intention they set themselves against God in as much as their tongues are set against
before Christ so in judgment If not repent of thy guilt in this kind that thy sins may be done away when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of Christ And in the mean time set thy self in a contrary course to that thou hast been do as one that would have Death find thee in a good course for as death leaves thee judgment shall find thee If Death find the in a state of repentance in a course of reformation of thy evil wayes judgment shall find thee so too Let Death therefore find thee as a man interest in Christ as a man humbling thy soul abhoring thy self for thy former sins let Death find thee as a man reforming all those evils that are condemned in the Word and in thy conscience Now when I say let Death find the so I mean set about it presently for how soon Death may set upon thee thou knowest not whether to night or no and if this be not now done if thou set not about it now it may be too late thou shalt have no more time therefore do that now and go on constantly after knowing that Death may find thee every moment Therefore it is that God keeps from us upon purpose as it were the certain knowledge of the time of Death that we may be alwayes prepared for Death SINNES STIPEND AND GODS MUNIFICENCE SERMON XXIX ROM 6.23 For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. THe latter part of this Chapter from the 12 Verse to the end is spent in a grave and powerful dehortation of the faithful from security in sin against which the Apostle useth sundry arguments That which he presseth most is drawn from the several ends to which sin and righteousness doth lead men The end of sin is death verse 21. therefore that is not to be served The end of righteonsness is life everlasting verse 22. therefore that is to be imbraced Because there is now difference in the manner of the proceeding of these two ends Death coming from sin as from the meritorious cause but life from Righteousness another manner of way therefore the Apostle adds this Epilogue and Conclusion in the last Verse plainly shewing and more clearly expressing the manner of them both For the wages saith he of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. In which words we have a description of a twofold service Of sin in the former clause And of God or righteousness in the latter And how both these are rewarded The one with death it payes us well And the other with life which is bestowed by the free gift of God through Christ These are the two parts the two general points that we are to consider First the wages of sin is death saith the Apostle Of sin That is of the depravation and corruption of our nature and so consequently of every sin that being not only it self sin but the matter and mother of all sin when sin hath conceived it bringeth forth death when sin is put forth whereby he signifieth the general depravation and corruption of our nature from whence all sin flowes So it is here The wages The word in the original signifieth properly victuals because victuals was that that the Roman Emperours gave their souldiers as wages in recompence of their service but thence the word extends to signifie any other wages or Salary whatsoever The wages of sin is death by death here is signified and meant both temporal and eternal death especially eternal death for it is opposed to eternal life in the next clause of the sentence therefore that is that that is principally meant The wages of sin is death that is eternal death This for the exposition of the terms The point to be observed from this first part of the Text is this that Death is due to sin as wages to one that earns it To such a one wages is due in strict justice if a man have a hired servant he may bestow a free gift on him if he will if he will not he may choose but his stipend or his wages he must pay him unless he will be unjust for it is the price of his work and so is due to him that he cannot without injustice with-hold it After such a manner is death due to sin the very demerit of the work of sin requires it as being eraned God is as just in inflicting death upon sinners for their sins as any man is in paying his labourer or hired servant their wages for this is the general plain scope of the Apostles words here So in the beginning God appointed Gen. 2.17 where he told Adam concerning the forbidden fruit in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shallt die the death As if he should have said when thou sinnest death must be thy wages The same is repeated Ezck. 18.20 where it is said the soul that sinneth shall die expressing the wages of sin it is death that is the recompence of sin if sin have his due then death must follow So the Apostle had shewed before in this Epistle Rom. 5.12 that by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin so death went over all men for as much as all men had sinned All had sinned therefore all are payed with death And Saint James shews the consequence and connexion between these two the work and the wages he tels us Jam. 1.15 that when sin hath conceived it bringeth forth death All these places are evidences that death by Gods ordinance by his appointment is the due of sin as due to it even as wages is to a hired servant or one that hath earned it What death is it that is due to sin Both temporal and eternal death I say both deaths concerning both which the truth is to be cleared from some doubts It was the Pelagians errour to think that man should have died a natural death though he had never sinned so they thought that the natural temporal bodily death was not the wages of sin Contrary to the Apostle in the place I speak of Rom. 5. where he makes that death that goes over all men which must needs be natural death to enter by sin sin brought in death no sin no death at all But it may be objected when God told Adam in the day that he eat the forbidden fruit he should die the death he meant not temporal death there as the event shewes for such a death was not inflicted upon Adam in the day that he sinned for after he sinned he lived still in the world naturally he continued living many years after I answer not withstanding all this Adam may be said to die a natural death as soon as he sinned because by the guilt of his sin he then presently became subject to it and God straight-way denounced upon him the sentence of death therefore it may
be said he straight-way dyed As a condemned person is called a dead man though he be respited for a time Besides the Messengers and Sergeants of death presently took hold of him and arrested him for sin as hunger and thirst and cold and diseases daily wasting of the natural moysture to the quenching of life Indeed God suffered him that the sentence was not presently executed so to commend his own patience and to give to Adam occasion of salvation the promise of Christ being after made and he called to repentance by that means to attain a better life by Christ then he lost by sin It is objected again Christ redeemed us from all sin and all the punishment thereof but he did not redeem us from bodily death from temporal death for the faithful we see die still even as others do therefore it is concluded by some that temporal death is not the wages of sin for then when we were free from sin by Christ we should be freed from that Our answer to this is that Christ hath freed all his elect not only from eternal but even from temporal death though not from both in the same manner From temporal death first in hope of which the Apostle speaking 1 Cor. 15. saith The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death meaning temporal death at last then it shall be destroyed mortal shall put on immortality as the Apostle speaks but in the mean time it is destroyed in hope though it remain indeed and must be undergone even of the faithful in this life Howbeit to them Christ hath changed the nature of it and now they no longer undergo it as the wages of sin but for other causes As first the exercise of their graces their faith and hope and patience and the rest all these are exercised as in other afflictions so even in the death of Gods Children Secondly the total removal and riddance of the reliques of sin from which they are not freed in this life but when they die then all sin is taken away for as at the first sin brought death into the world so to the faithful now death carries it out again Thirdly their entrance into heaven and to be at home with the Lord from whom we are absent as long as we are at home in these bodies Fourthly to prepare their bodies for renuing at the last day that is done by death for as a decayed Image or statue must first be broken that it may be new cast so these bodies of ours must be broken by death that they may be cast into a new mould of immortality at the general resurrection But here as some sin remains so death remains though we be in Christ yet we are still in that estate wherein it is appointed to all men once to die Thus even temporal death is left to the Children of God to be undergone before they come to heaven It is left to them I say and that justly in respect of the remnants of sin yet they undergo it no other way but for their own good and benefit However temporal death in its own nature to an unbeleever is the wages of sin And as temporal so eternal death for when God told man that in the day he finned he should die the death he meant not only temporal but eternal death he meant that principally as I shewed before in that the Apostle opposeth it to eternal life in the next clause of the sentence Now Christ hath freed all beleevers actually from eternal death But how eternal death should be the wages of sin may be doubted because between the work and the wages there must be some proportion that seems not to be between sin and eternal death for sin is a finite a temporal thing committed in a short time and that death is eternal Now to punisha temporal fault with an eternal punishment it seems that it is to make the punishment to exceed the fault and that is against justice But for an answer to this doubt we must know that however sin considered in the act and as it is a transcient action it is finite yet in other respects it is infinite and that in a threefold consideration First in respect of the object against whom it is committed for being the offence of an infinite Majesty it deserves an infinite punishment for we know oftences are reckoned of for their greatness according as the greatness of the person is against whom they are committed If he that clips the Kings coyn or deface the Kings Arms or counterfeit the broad Seal of England or the Princes privie Seal ought to die as a traytor because this disgrace tends to the person of the Prince much more ought he that violates the law of God die the first and second death too because it tends to the defacing of the Image and the disgracing of the person of God himself who is contemned and dishonoured in every sin Secondly sin is infinite in respect of the subject wherein it is the soul of man Seeing the soul is immortal and of an everlasting substance and that the guilt of sin and the blot together stain the soul as a crimson and skarlet die upon wooll and can no more be severed from the soul then the spots from the Leopard it remains as the soul is eternal and as that is everlasting so sin is infinite in durance and continuance and deserves an infinite wages and punishment which is eternal death Thirdly it is infinite also in respect of the tie between the desire and endeavour of an impenitent sinner for his desire is to walk on still in sin and except God cut off the line of life never to give over sinning but he would run on infinitely committing sin even with greediness And it is reason that as God accepts the will for the deed in godliness so he should punish the will for the deed in wickedness if we sin according to our eternity in our will and purpose to sin God will punish us according to his eternity it is just that they that would never be without sin if they might have their own will should never be without punishment Thus we see eternal death is the wages of sin though sin be committed in a moment though it be a transcient action in it self yet it is just with God to give it the wages of eternal death So you see Death both temporal and eternal is the wages of sin We come to the Use of the point being thus declared First it teacheth us contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome that original lust and concupiscence in the regenerate is a sin for how else should God be just in inflicting temporal death upon infants that are regenerate actual sins they have none and if they have no original sin neither then God should inflict the wages of sin where there were no sin which connot be because there is no
iniquity with God Therefore certain it is that after regeneration this original lust though the guilt of it be taken away yet as sin it remains the substance of it still remains and will as long as we live in this world For it is in us as it is well compared as the Ivy is in the wall which having taken root so twines and incorporates it self that it can never be quite rooted out till the wall be taken down so till body and soul be taken a sunder by death there will be no total riddance of Original corruption and the depravation of our nature it is still in us as appears by the temporal death even of the best Saints of those that are most sanctified in this life it shews there is remainders of corruption in them still for if there were not sin there would not be the wages of sin there would not be death if there were not sin Secondly the Use of it is to take away a fond Popish distinction of mortal and venial sin they teach some sins to be venial that is such sins as in their own nature deserve not death whereas the Apostle here speaking of all sin in general he saith the wages thereof is death And how can it be otherwise when all sin is the transgression of the Law and Saint John defines it and all transgression of the Law deserves and is worthy of the curse which is both the first and second death for Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are witten in the book of the Law to do them There is no sin then but it is worthy of death therefore there is no such venial sin as they dream of We deny not but that some sins are venial and some mortal in another sence not in respect of the nature of the sin but of the estate of the person in whom the sins are so we say all the sins of the Elect are venial because they either are or shall be pardoned And all the sins of reprobate persons are mortal because they shall never be pardoned It is the mercy of God and not from the nature of the sins that makes them venial for otherwise every sin in it self considered be it never so small is mortal for if it work according to its own nature it works death of body and soul It is a foolish exception that they bring against it that thus we make all sins equal and that we bring in with the Stoicks a parity of sin because we say all are mortal It is a foolish cavil for it is as if one should argue because the Mouse and the Elephant are both living creatures that therefore they are both of equal bigness Though all sins be mortal they are not all equal some are greater and some are lesser according as they are extended and aggravated by time and place and person and sundry other circumstances Suppose one should be drowned in the middest of the Sea and another in a shallow pond in respect of death all were one both are drowned but yet there is great difference in respect of the place for depth and danger So there is great difference in this though the least sin in its own nature be mortal as the Apostle saith here the wages of it is death Thirdly seeing the wages of sin is death it should teach us what Use to make of death being presented before our eyes at such times as this hereby we should call to remembrance the grievousness of sin that brought it into the world by the woful wages we should be put in mind of the unhappy service Had there not been sin there would have been no death upon the death of the soul came in the death of the body first the soul died in forsaking God and then the body died being forsaken of the soul the soul forsook God willingly therefore it was compelled unwillingly to forsake the body This is the manner how death came into the world by sin therefore death must put out sin That housholder when he saw tares grow among his wheat he said to his servants the envious man hath done this So whensoever thou feest Death seize upon any say to thy self sin hath done this this is the wages of sin and if man had never sinned we should have seen no such thing Fourthly this must deter us from sin since it gives such wages Indeed the manner of sin is for the most part if not alwayes to promise better but it is deceitful and this is the wages it payes thee The wages of sin is death The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã translated wages some take it quasi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the evening because wages are paid in the evening So the morning of sin may be fair but the evening will be foul when the wages come At the first sin may be pleasing but remember the end the end of it is death Like to a fresh River that runs into the salt Sea the stream is sweet but it ends in brackishness and bitterness Or like to Nebuchadnezzars Image the head was gold but the feet were of clay Or sin may be compared to that Feast that Absalom made for Amnon there was great chear and jollity and mirth for a while but all closed in Death in bloudshed and murther It deales with men as Laban dealt with Jacob he entertains him at the first with great complements but used him hardly at the last Or as the Governour of the feast said Joh. 2. All men in the beginning set forth good wine and then that which is worse so sin gives the best at the first but the worst it reserves for the last This should keep us from every sin though it seems never so pleasing and never so sweet to us remembring that the worst is still to come We read that when the people saw that Saul forbad them to eat though they were exceeding hungry yet not one of them durst touch the honey for the curse though they saw it so the pleasures of sin may drop as honey before our eyes but we must not adventure to taste of them because they are cursed fruit and because of the wages that will follow Never take sin by the head by the beginnings as the greatest part do but take it as Jacob took Esau by the heel look to the extream part of it Consider thy end and thou shalt not do amiss Jezabel might have allured a man when having painted her face she looked out of the window but to look upon her after she was cast out eaten of doggs and nothing remaining but her extream parts her scull and the palms of her hands and her feet it could not be but with horrour so sin may allure a man looking only on the painted face in the beginning but if a man cast his eye upon the extream parts it would then affright and deter him for the wages the end of
and remediless torment upon body and soul for ever Thirdly the Saints have here consolation against the mortality and corruption whereto they are subject here in this world wherein their condition is common with the condition of all for that that befalleth one may befall every one in regard of the outward estate and condition All must die Nay further here is consolation against the distresses and afflictions and pressures whereto the Saints are subject above others for their profession sake in this very respect they are hated they are persecuted all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution and through many afflictions we must enter into the kingdom of heaven Where is now there comfort surely this that is set before us you heard that natural men are dead while they live but those that are in Christ do live while they may seem to be dead Jonah lived when he was cast into the Sea swallowed up by a Whale and was even as it were in hell so the Saints though swallowed up as we may say in the tempestuous sea of this world by cruel Whales yet notwithstanding they stil live that life that is begun here in the world whereof you heard before And to this purpose the Apostle Saint Paul in 2 Cor. 4.9 10 11 12. sheweth plainly that though they are given up unto death daily for Jesus sake yet they are not destroyed not clean swallowed up but that they live in Christ and that Christ liveth in them We are perplexed but not in despair perseouted but not forsaken c. And this is it that doth comfort them both the fruition of that life that they have here and their expectation of the accomplishment and fulness thereof in the kingdom of heaven Now my brethren this is the rather to be observed of us because of all others the Saints seem to be most subject to death And the truth is here is matter of admiration in regard of their happiness that notwithstanding that condition whereto they are subject there is a life they enjoy in this world there is a better life prepared for them hereafter And what can be more desired Life of all things else is most esteemed Men are ready in sickness and in other distresses to spend all that they have as the Woman that was troubled with the bloudy issue spent all that she had upon the Physitians to preserve life to recover health Solomon speaking according to the conceit of men saith that a living Dog is better then a dead Lyon any life better then a death thus they imagine and Satan well knew mens account of life when he could say Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will be give for his life Now if so be that this temporal life here that is but a flower but a bubble but a blast but a breath yea that life that in the shortness thereof is subject to so much perplexity as it is be notwithstanding so highly esteemed what is the life here promised that while here in the enjoying in regard of the first fruits thereof is accompanied with such a peace as passeth understanding accompanied with the very joy of the Holy Ghost and in the consummation thereof such contentment such glory as the tongue of man cannot express the mind of man cannot conceive It is noted of the Apostle Saint Paul when he was caught up to the third heaven and saw but a glimps of this life he did there see they are his own words unutterable matter things that cannot be exprest And therefore in this respect he saith and that which he saith may be most fitly applied to this the things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath entred into the heart of man are such as God hath prepared for them that love him This is that Life which we are so to consider of as it may make us say with the Apostle I account that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be campared with the glory which shall be revealed in us for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory It will be here said whence cometh this or what may be the ground thereof My Text telleth you It is stiled here Grace of Life Neither will I here insist upon the divers acceptations of grace as it is in man as it is Gratis data or as it is in God as it is Gratis faciens making us accepted with himself It is more clear then need to be proved that eternal life it cometh from divine grace Grace is the ground of it Being justified by grace saith the Apostle and again by Grace you are saved And indeed all things that bring us thereto are in Scriptures attributed to Grace And needs must it be so For First out of God there can be nothing done to move him to do this or that as if it should be done for our sakes either meriting or procuring of it He is independant and we are depending upon him and whatsoever we have is out of our selves and cometh from him Again in Man there can be nothing What is there in man but misery whatsoever man had or hath if there be any good thing he hath it from this fountaine of goodness all our sufficiency is of God And this is briefly to be noted against that proud and arrogant position of our Adversaries concerning the merit of mans works as if man by any thing in him could merit or deserve this life it is not the merit of life but the grace of life Surely they know not God they know not his infiniteness his all-sufficiency they know not man his emptiness his impotency his vileness his cursedness they know not this life they know not the reward the excellency of it the disproportion between any thing that man can do and this life that is thus graciously bestowed that have such a conceit Let them therefore pass with their foolish opinion For our own parts it affordeth to us another ground of comfort and that in regard of our unworthiness for as we are creatures we are less than the least of Gods mercies but as we are mortal creatures dust and ashes much more unworthy of any favour but as we are sinful creatures having provoked the Justice of God most most unworthy of any grace of any life most worthy of all judgements and vengeance of eternal death and damnation Where is now our hope what ground shall we have that have nothing in our selves surely this the ground of this life the grace of God What God doth he doth for himself for his own names sake Grace is free And these two joyned together give evident demonstration of God to be a God in the thing that he doth confer upon thee and in his dealing of it the greatness of the
and the more difficult work and if I be able to do the greater I am able to do the less he that believes ix me faith Christ though before he were dead in trespasses and sins yet he shall live he shall live the life of grace Then followes the Fxplication and confirmation of the second member of the Proposition in these words Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die I am the life faith Christ for whosoever believeth in me and so is restord to spiritual life he shall never die he shall never die to speak properly for he shall never perish he shall never die this life shall never be taken from him neither here nor hereafter not here for he shall continue to live the life of grace not hereafter for though the body shall die yet this separation of the body from the soul it is not so properly a death as a passage to life a passage from the life of grace to the life of glory And this body also that is separated from the soul it shall be quickned again and shall be raised up to live for ever therefore he that believeth in me shall never die Thus you see the words expounded Now from the first member of this Proposition I am the Resurrection and the Exposition and confirmation of it in these words He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Hence the point of Doctrine I will observe is this that Jesus Christ is the Fountain and Author of all life He is able to give and restore life to those that are dead He is the Resurrection Now whereas there is a double death and a double Life and consequently a double Resurrection we must understand that Christ is the Author of both in this place we are not to exclude either Therefore we will endeavour to expound this general doctrine in these three particulars First Christ hath such a quickning power in him that he is able to raise up those dead bodies of his that now lie in the Grave Secondly Christ hath such a quickning power in him that he is able to raise up the soul that is dead in sins to a spiritual life Thirdly we will shew you why Christ as in this place so else-where doth express both the state of the faithful here and their estate after under the same phrase of speech he comprehends both under this term I am the Resurrection For the first of these Christ is the Author of life he hath such a quickning power in him that he is able to raise up the dead bodies of his out of their graves We will speak first of this Resurrection that is of the body though it be later in time Because that naturally we are more apt to conceive of the death and life of the body then of the death and life of the soul And secondly because that the understanding of this Resurrection of the body will give light to the understanding of the other of the soul And here first we will shew briefly what this Resurrection of the body is And then prove that Christ is the Author and the fountain of it First the Resurrection of the body is this when the soul that was actually separate from the dead body returns again to its proper body and being united to it the man riseth up out of the Grave with an immortal incorruptible body to lead a glorified life This it the Resurrection of the body Now that Christ is the Author of this Resurrection of the body it is evident For as Christ himself by his own power raised himself being dead in the Grave John 2.19 faith Christ destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it again speaking of the Temple of his body And so again Joh. 10.18 I have power faith Christ to lay down my life and to take it up again so likewise Christ by his quickning spirit he will raise up the bodies of those that are now dead in the grave as we may see Joh. 5.28 29. Marvel not at this faith Christ for the hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of man and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life c. In this regard Christ is called the first fruits of them that sleep For as the first fruits being offered to God did sanctifie the whole crop and the owner hereby was assured of the blessing of God upon all the rest so Christ is the first fruits of the dead and his Resurrection it is an assurance to the faithful of their Resurrection and the cause of it both an assurance a pledge of it and likewise a cause of it Therefore herein Christ the second Adam is opposed to the first Adam As the first Adam who was the root of all man-kind did communicate death and mortality to all those that spring from him so likewise Christ the second Adam by his Resurrection he conveyes life and a quickning power to all his members as we may see 1 Cor. 15.21.22 For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die Adam he communicates death and mortality to all that spring from him even so in Christ shall all be made alive Christ he conveyes life to all his members and they are all quickned by his Spirit therefore Christ is called a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 The first Adam was made a living soul but the last Adam a quickning spirit not only a living but a quickning spirit And this quickning power and vertue Christ did manifest before his resurrection by raising up three from death namely by raising the Widdows son Luke 7. and Jairus his Daughter Luke 8. and Luzarus here in this chapter And at his resurrection also he manifested this his quickning power in that he rose not alone but raised the bodies of many of his Saints with him many of his Saints arose with him and as they rose with Christ their head so also they ascended to glory together with Christ their head and the resurrection of these it was an effect of the resurrection of Christ it was by the power of Christs resurrection Of these we may read Mat. 27.52 53. The graves opened and many bodies of the Saints that slept arose and came out of their graves after his resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared to many Thus you have the first conclusion proved that Christ is the Author of the resurrection of the body Now in the next place the second conclusion is this that Christ is the Author and Fountain of spiritual life also He is the Author of the Resurrection of the soul and the resurrection of the soul it is this when the Spirit of grace of which we were all deprived in Adam returns again to the soul of a natural man and so quickens the man that the man begins to
for at the last Resurrection the bodies that are raised shall be immortal never to die again so here those souls that are quickened to the life of grace they are raised to a durable immutable immortal estate never to die again That which Christ saith of those that shall be accounted worthy to attain the second Resurrection the Resurrection of the body it is true here also he saith those that shall be accounted worthy of the world to come of the Resurrection to life they shall never die for they are as the Angels of Heaven Luke 20.35 39. Those that partake of that Resurrection can never die so here those that partake of this spiritual Resurrection to the life of grace they shall never die this Resurrection to the life of grace it shall continue in them For the spirit of grace when he once cometh into the soul and quickens it it continues there and remains there for ever it is as a Well of water springing up to eternal life as Christ speaks Joh. 4.14 Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life Now we know a stream of water is of a vanishing nature yet if it be nourished with a continual Fountain that can never be dry the stream will continually run so it is with the stream of grace in the soul it is nourished with a continual fountaine such a one as can never be dried up Thus you see here is comfort against sin against the death of the soul Those that are united to Christ by faith they may be assured that Christ will be to them a Fountaine of spiritual life Secondly here is comfort against the death of the body against natural death If thou be united to Christ thou needest not to fear temporal death remember that though the body be dead because of sin yet the spirit is life as it is Rom. 8.10 The body that is dead that is it is mortal and subject to death because of sin but the spirit the soul that liveth it passeth from the life of grace here to the life of glory Yea and the body too that is laid in the Grave notwithstanding shall be raised again by the quickening power of Christ Remember Christ is thy head and therefore he being risen from the dead thou shalt not perish You know as long as the head of the natural body is above the water none of the members of the body can be drowned so it is here as long as Christ is risen none of his members can be held captive in the Grave Remember Christ is the first fruits of the dead the first fruits of them that sleep therefore his Resurrection may be a pledge and an assurance to thee of thy resurrection As we have borne the Image of the earthly saith the Apostle so we shall bear the Image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15.49 As we have borne about us these corruptible bodies so when we rise again we shall rise with immortal and incorruptible bodies and live a glorious life with Christ and so be made conformable to Christ our head therefore fear not the death of the body Remember that Death can destroy nothing in thee but sin therefore fear not This consideration may comfort us as against our own death so against the death of our friends Let us therefore receive comfort hence as Martha in this Chapter I know that my brother shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day and that did comfort her But here this question may be demanded but is not this Resurrection of the body a benefit common to the wicked are not they partakers of this benefit from the resurrection of Christ as well as the godly shall not they be raised and quickned as well as the godly by Christ his Resurrection To this I answer that this Resurrection of the body to life it is a benefit proper to the faithful to the true members of Christ for though unbeleevers and wicked persons shall be raised up again yet By a different cause And to a different end I say first by a different cause the wicked that are out of Christ cannot have any benefit from the Resurrection of Christ because they are out of Christ therefore they shall be raised indeed but not by a quickning power flowing from the resurrection of Christ but by the divine power and command of Christ as a just Judge and they shall be raised by vertue of that curse pronounced in Paradice Gen. 2. In the day thou eatest thou shalt die the death that includes eternal death therefore this curse must be executed upon them and therefore they must rise out of the Grave again that body and soul may die eternally but the faithful members of Christ shall be raised by the quickning power of Christ as their head and Saviour Again as the wicked shall be raised by a different cause so to a different end for they shall not be raised to life to speak properly that state is stiled eternal death therefore their Resurrection is stiled the resurrection of condemnation Job 5.27 they that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life and they that have done ill to the resurrection of condemnation they shall not rise to life but to eternal death but the godly only shall attain this Resurrection of life and therefore they only are stiled the sons of the resurrection Luke 20.36 So much may suffice for comfort A second Use of the point may be for trial and examination since we profess to be Christians to be members of Christ let us here try the truth whether we be so in deed or no. Christ is the Resurrection he is the Author of the first Resurrection to a spiritual life The first thing that Christ doth in the soul of a sinner is to raise the soul to a spiritual life therefore examine whether thou have felt this quickning power or no this first Resurrection to a spiritual life When Christ was upon the earth he had power to raise up all those to life again that died but yet he raised but few there are but three that we read of those that we named before The Widdows son Jairus Daughter and Lazarus here So likewise Christ now hath power to quicken all those that are dead in sin to raise them to spiritual life but yet he quickens but few in comparison of those that continue still in their sins Therefore let us all examine our selves upon this point whether we have attained the first Resurrection or no. If we be true members of Christ we partake of the first Resurrection for Christ is a fountain of spiritual life to all his members therefore examine this look to the first resurrection to the Life of grace thou maist know it briefly by three signs First by forsaking of sin
others with whom she had long and private intimacy of many years acquaintance I must and will speak That which I told you was recorded of Rachel that she was fruitful in procreation of Children may in a great measure be spoken of her for if the Scripture account bearing but of two children fruit certainly it will make an extraordinary fruit in bearing of twelve which she did It is a certaine token of a true and faithful servant of God to frequent his house to pray unto him to praise him in his Church earnestly to labour to be instructed in his will out of his Word then and there read and preached to them all which evidences of a good Christian were found in this our Sister For her constant coming to Church I my self can now speak upon my own knowledge I have seriously and strictly examined my self and I profess ingeniously before God that knows my heart and you that here me speak that I cannot call to mind that ever she mist coming to Church twice a Sabbath day since I came which I would be heartily glad I could speak as well of others of this Parish as of her For some of them have got such a fisking trick up and down to go to other Churches as if there were no rellishable food at their own that I fear at the last they will come to none at all I pray God they amend this fault It was a vertue in her that deserved commendation and it is a vice in them that deserves reprehension When she was in Gods house she did not as too too many do imploy her time in sleeping or some such ill course but I ever observed her to listen very diligently and attentively to what was delivered for the nourishing of her soul I confess I do not remember that ever I saw her take any notes in the Church of Sermons that were preached for it seems she did it when she came home for since her death going to her house accidentally I met with a book of hers wherein she had written many texts of Scripture with notes the day when they were preached and the persons by whom most of those which I have preached I saw and perused and others of strangers that I my self have heard these qualities are not to be past over in silence but are worthy of your serious imitation Neither did she think it fit barely to set them down for her own instruction only but what she heard upon the Sabbath day that she constantly practised upon the week dayes She catechised her children in those points spending some time in training them up in the knowledge of God and putting them in mind of their duty to him in whom we live and move and have our being by repeating Gods word delivered by hearing them read Gods word printed and by singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs That she was a most provident and careful Wife and a most indulgent and loving Mother all that knew her can best testifie and some of them have informed me And this let me speak and I have it from the mouth of some that prehaps did not think I would have mentioned it at this time and would have had it concealed but for reasons best known to my self I hold it very fit to relate she was ever held to be of a most sweet nature and of a very loving disposition that she was very charitable and inclined to relieve the poor It is likewise testified of her she was liberal alway but more liberal now then usually having had a consideration of the hard and needy times to which end as if she had prognosticated her own death she laid some money according to that ability that God had blessed her with for the relief of the poor Let no man censure me for speaking these things I do for if I should not have given her her just and deserved praises some that now hear me and knew her from her cradle might justly have censured me for too much remisness Thus for her life As for her death I can say little touching it It pleased God not to give her any long time of sickness but to take her away though not unprepared yet on a sudden with a short warning When her bitter pangs first came upon her she called to her Husband and desired him to joyn with her in hearty prayer to Almighty God that he would be graciously pleased to extend his mercy towards her that he would be pleased to let her live longer that she might repent of her sins and beg mercy at his hands for them that she might amend her life And if he would not grant this for her yet for those many poor Children that were young that she was to leave behind her she desired him to be a careful Father over them all she prayed to God devoutly to send a blessing both upon him and them Much she could not then speak because of her pains that now began still to increase upon her When she was in the extremity of her labour he being absent as it was fitting she sent down to him to desire him to pray to God on her behalf that he would ease her of those grievons pains and preserve her in the great pain and peril of Child birth The propitious God it seemed heard him and granted his request for presently to the thinking of the standers by she was well delivered Not satisfied with this having received so great a blessing from God she sent down again to desire him to give God thanks for her safe delivery But God that had determined to take out of this miserable life quickly turned that hope of the standers by into a fear and suddenly she changed which perceiving as long as she was able to speak she cried Lord Jesus have mercy on my soul Lord have mercy on me Lord pitty me poor miserable wretch and when she could not speak she held up her hands to heaven as desirous to make her peace with that God whom she knew she had highly offended I make no question but God hath translated her from the valley of tears to the Mount Sion of blessedness whither God of his infinite mercy bring us all THE DEATH OF SINNE AND LIFE of GRACE SERMON XXXVII ROM 6.11 Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. THe intent of this Chapter is to take off an abuse of the Doctrine of the Gospel which publisheth the free Grace of God to great sinners The Apostle had said in the latter end of the 20. Verse of the former Chapter where sin abounded Grace did much more abound From hence some did infer that therefore under the Gospel they might take liberty to sin the more their sins were and the greater they were the more they should occasion God to manifest his abundant Grace upon them This the Apostle answers in this Chapter and he answers it two wayes
in the subject too not only a certainty that those that are in Christ shall live but it is certain to you make account of this make this conclusion for your selves build on it know it for your selves as he said to Job it is certain if you be in Christ you are dead with Christ and you shall live with Christ make account of this Lastly the efficient cause of this great change exprest in these terms it is Jesus Christ our Lord make account of this if you be in Christ there comes a vertue from Christ an effectual working of Christ by his spirit in your hearts such a powerful work as will conforme you to Christ dead and to Christ risen that you shall be dead to sin and alive to God not by any sttength in your selves or any excellent endowment in your own natures not by any natural inclination and ability but through the vertue and power of Jesus Christ our Lord working in you Thus you have the Text opened We will speak first of the Analogy and proportion the agreement between the metaphors here used and the things exprest by them That which the Apostle would express is that there is a marvellous spiritual real change in all those that are in Christ from what they were before Now let us see how sitly it is exprest in these words that he saith you are dead to sin and alive to Ged that he chuseth to express it by life and death Had it not been fit to have said thus much you are changed in your dispositions in your inclinations in your intentions in your actions you are changed in your conversations you are other kind of men in the inclination of your hearts you bring forth other fruit you lead other lives then you were wont to do But he expresseth it here yet more fully that is by that that includes all these and if there be any thing more may be added it includes that too ye are dead and alive Then we will consider First generally how death and life express the state of them that are in Christ Secondly consider them in their particular application how death expresseth the first part of a mans change in sanctification and life the second part First we take them in general and let this be the point that A man that is indeed effectually changed by vertue of his union with Christ he hath such a change wrought in him as in a dead and living man as in life or in death Now first take it in general you know life and death they imply first a general change when a man is alive or when a man is dead there is not a change in some part only but in the whole So it is here when a man is effectually changed from what he was by vertue of his union with Christ A member may be dead and yet nevertheless the man alive but if the man be dead there is a general change that goes throughout it possesseth every part every member so that now there is no member of him but death rules in it then he is a dead man So it is in this when a man is dead spiritually there is not a change in some particular actions only in some particular opinions only there is not an alteration of some of his old customs only but it is a general change so it goes through the whole man It is a change in the understanding he judgeth things otherwise then he was wont to do And there is a change in the will the inclination of it is to other objects then he was wont to be inclined to And thence there is a change in his intentions he propounds other ends to himself then he was wont So there is a change in respect of the whole the Word is the rule of all a mans actions There is a change from particular evils from one as well as another that when any thing is discovered to him to be a sin to be a transgression of the rule he is turned from it So likewise when any thing is discovered to him to be a duty agreeable to the rule according to the will of God revealed in his Word he is a vessel of honour prepared for it and that is it the Apostle especially means when he compares them to vessels and he describes them thus they are vessels of honour fit for the service of their Master prepared for every good work So that now as the Apostle saith there remaineth no more conscience of sin That is there remains not now any sin to cleave to the conscience to defile it to cleave to the conscience so as a ruling enemy would do that would take away all true and perfect peace all boldness and access to the throne of Grace there is no such conscience of sin This making conscience of every sin is that that frees conscience from being defiled in that sence with any sin so much for the first Well secondly it is expressed by death and life to shew the orderliness in the proceeding of this change When a man is changed by the efficacy and working of Christ to whom he is united it proceeds in such a manner as the change in death or life You know death or life begin within first it begins in the inward man in the heart first And as in natural death or natural life there is a dying first of the root and a quickning first at the root So likewise in spiritual death or life it is an orderly proceeding it begins first within Our Saviour Christ gives this direction First make the inside clean and then all will be clean against the hppocrisie of the Scribes and Pharisees that looked more to outward actions So this change it is not only a meer civilizing of a man a conforming of him to that society he converseth with in outward actions but renewing of a man in the spirit of his mind Rom. 12.2 So the change begins from within Hence it is that first he is good and then he doth good according to the speech of Christ make the tree good and then the fruit will be good we will not stand upon it you see the Analogie and agreement holds between these two in general Now we come to take them apart more specially First how this being dead to sin agrees with that change that is in a man that is in Christ from sin Reckon this saith the Apostle make account of this that you are dead to sin that is now there is such a change and turning from your evil courses from whatsoever it is that is truly and properly called sin in Scripture you are changed from it Now in whatsoever sence a man may be said to be dead in that sence a man in Christ is changed from sin there is somewhat in his change expressing that death Now there is a threefold death A Civil Death A Judicial Death A Natural Death We begin with the judicial first
as Gods great Work begins in the judgment There is a judicial death so one that is alive now in respect of natural life may yet be said to be judicially dead when he is dead in sentence when by the Judge he is condemned to death when he is adjudged to die So reckon ye your selves dead to sin make account of this that now in your judgment there is a sentence passed out against sin that it shall be slain that it shall be mortified thus your judgment stands and thus you look upon it as a thing dead in sentence and that is the first It is that in Ezek. 36.31 saith the Lord When I shall be pacified to thee this shall follow upon it thou shalt judge thy self worthy to be destroyed for all thine iniquities and abominations When God is reconciled to a man which is as much as to say when a man is in Christ for by Christ we are reconciled to God this follows upon it that man comes now to judge sin to be a deadly thing to judge sin to be dead and to judg himself worthy to be destroyed for it He looks on sin as it should be looked upon his opinion is right concerning it he accounts it an iniquity a thing against that rectitude against that equity and righteousness wherewith man was once endowed in the Creation and from which so far as he swarves so far he is plunged into death As you know that curse was denounced against man when he sinned he should die so he cannot look upon iniquity upon that that is contrary to that righteousness wherein he was made but he looks upon it as on death it self and a deadly thing he looks upon it as upon an abomination That look as persons that sinned capitally were an abomination to the Land and people among whom they sinned as the Scripture speaks of murtherers and the like the land was defiled if the sentence of death were not executed so it is here in the opinion and judgment of a man that is in Christ he accounts this the greatest defilement that his soul remains so far polluted and defiled as there is any life left in sin That is the first thing reckon this then that sin is dead immediatly that is that you now come to pass as Judges do a sentence of death against sin and that howsoever a Malefactour be not naturally dead when he is judicially dead yet he is in an order to it the next thing that follows will be to be cut off So it is with sin when a man comes to judge himself for his iniquity worthy to be destroyed for his abominations this is the next thing that follows he will not rest till that be slain and subdued till that Malefactour be condemned to death and cut off and took out of the way Here is the first thing herein this change is like death Secondly there is a civil death too so one that lives naturally may be dead civilly so one that is under the subjection and power of another such a one is dead civilly The civil Law accounts any one that is under subjection to be Civiliter mortuus as they speak that is he is in that sence not accounted among living men he is one dead because he is not annimated and acted by his own will but by the will of him that rules him so reckon ye your selves dead saith the Apostle Make account that when you are in Christ sin is no more to be ruler and commander to act and animate and quicken you to obey its lusts that you should be acted and animated by it that as soon as sin tempts you should obey presently make account in this sence you are dead to sin that is sin is dead in you civilly it hath not a ruling power it comes not now as one that hath power to sway all before it that is it the Apostle saith in this Chapter sin shall not have dominion You have a new Master a new Lord you are no more under the rule and dominion of sin that is the second Thirdly there is a natural death as well as a judicial and civil death so things are said to be dead naturally two wayes Imperfectly Inchoate Perfectly Consummate Natural death imperfect and but begun is this as when there is a great blow given with an axe to the root of a tree whereupon certainly it will wither and die and be made altogether unfruitful for the time to come though for the present it have leaves upon it and though for the present all the fruit that is on it be not quite shook off yet now the tree is said to be dead because there is a blow given at the root whereupon it will wither and certainly die So a man is said to be dead when he hath a deadly wound given him though he be not now dead though he may stir and live after and perhaps do some hurt to him that wounded him yet he is dead because he is irrecoverably wounded every one that looks on him will say he is dead So as soon as a man is in Christ by vertue of his union with Christ there is such a blow given to the root of sin not in the judgment only but in the affections also so as it never recovers its strength again to bring forth fruit in that abundance as before and it alway withers and decayes more and more till it be quite removed Now as it is in this case with a tree will you know when it is dead take it in the Spring All the trees in Winter seem to be dead but come in the Spring and in Summer and then if a man see there are no leaves if he see no fruit upon the tree now he concludes it is dead indeed because it brings not forth fruit in the season of fruit So take a man when there is an occasion an opportunity to turn to folly when upon deliberation and judgment he may consider of that opportunity to mannage it for the service of sin it will appear now if he be dead he will not in such an occasion yeeld but at such a time especially resist sin at such a time he will not bring forth the fruit of sin Look what the Spring is to the tree that is occasion to the sinfulness of mans heart Indeed when sin takes a man upon disadvantage upon unequal terms that he deliberates not and considers not what he is doing as David saith I said in my hast then many times sin prevails and binds him as a theef doth the master of the house hand and foot yet nevertheless when he well weighs and considers things at such a time it will appear that sin is dead Thus you see how sitly the terms hold to express the change of a Christian his judgment is right he condemns sin as death in the purpose and covenant of his heart whereby he is bound to God he disposeth it from its
God had allotted allowed and decreed There are two propositions which naturally issue from the words and comprehend the juyce and marrow of the Text. First that there is a change which will befall the sons of men Secondly we should alwayes wait till it come I begin with the first that There is a change which will befall the sons of men Be we poor or be we rich be we noble or be we ignoble be we prosperous or be we afflicted be we strong or be we weak be we old or be we young be we good or be we bad be we male or be we female whatsoever our natures be whatsoever our parrs be whatsoever our places be whatsoever our ages be whatsoever our courses be whatsoever our wayes be how fair and how durable our estates may appear yet at length there is a change which will befall us That which Jacob spake in a pathetical way Joseph is not and Simeon is not may truly be said of all the sons of men once they were now they are not though once we reckoned them upon our account yet at length they are shut out and stand aside as cyphers But that you may the better understand what change it is that is here meant you are to know that there is a fourfold change First a change of the condition this I call a temporal change wherein some or more or all of our outward comforts are shrivelled and seared up by some present misery When poverty breaks in upon us as the hunter doth upon his game and causeth our riches as so many birds to which Solomon compares them to take to themselves wings and flie away When sickness stayeth our health in the bed and imprisoneth us to the chamber When our friends glide away from us like a river through their Apostacy or start aside like a broken bow through their falshood or treachery When the neer relation of Husband and Wife Parents and Children is cut asunder and the many sad tears for their loss imbitter all our former comforts But this is not the change intended in the Text. Secondly there is a change of the Body and this I call a corporal change for even these vild bodies of ours shall be changed Look as the spring is a refreshing change to the season of the year so shall the Resurrection be an exceeding change to our bodies or as the morning is a change to the night so at the Resurrection shall our bodies awake and their corruption shall put on incorruption neither is this the change which Job here intends immediatly though some expound his aim to be at this from whom I cannot absolutely dissent yet I think they hit not the right scope Thirdly there is a change of the Soul that I call a Spiritual change wrought in the soul by the spirit of God nothing makes in this life such a change as true grace We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 This change is like the turning of a disordered instrument or like the refining of corrupt mettal or like the clearing of the dark air or like the quickening of a dead Lazarus but neither is this change that the text intends Fourthly there is a change of the life and this I call a mortal change we shall all be changed faith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.5 life hath the first course but death will have the second As in a Comedy several persons have several parts to act which when they have dispatched they all draw off of the stage so though in life we all present our selves on the stage of this world and act several Scenes and parts yet at length we must all retire and pass away through one and the same door of mortality This is the change which Job speaks of to wit a change of this life by Death Here then are two things to be demonstrated and proved for the making good of the point in hand viz. 1. That death is a change 2. That this change of death will befall all the sons of men First that Death is a change not an anihilation A change is a different and a divers order or manner of being Anihilation is one thing and mutation is another thing there the thing ceaseth utterly to be here the thing only ceaseth to be as once it was so it is with Death it doth not reduce us to nothing but alter our former something it changes our manner or order of being not our being absoluteââ¦y Now observe Death is a change in five respects First it changes that neer union of the Soul and the body and makes of one two severals they that were as the hands mutually clasped or as two persons conjugally tyed together when Death comes it plucks them asunder and divides one from the other as far as heaven is from the earth Secondly it changes our actions or work Whiles life remained here in our bodies while our day lasted we might have sed the hungry clothed the naked visited the sick relieved the distressed frequented the ordinances bewailed our sins but when death once enters the night is come in which no man can work thou art then turned changed into an insensible rotten and loathsome carkass Thirdly it changes our country Whiles we live here we are as children put abroad to school in a strange place hence it is we are so often in the Scripture called Pilgrims and strangers This earth this lower world is not the proper home of the Soul But when Death comes we change our country we go home to our own place to our own City the wicked shall go to their own place as it is said of Judas and the godly to their own Mountain to their own Kingdome Fourthly it changes our company In this life we converse with sinful men empty creatures infinite miseries innumerable conflicts but when Death comes all this shall be changed we shall go to our God and Father to our Christ and Saviour and to the innumerable company of blessed Angels and Saints and the spirits of just men made perfect Fifthly it changes our outward condition When Death comes thou shalt never see the wedge of gold again thou shalt never find thy delights in sin any more all the excellency of the creature and the contentments of them and the sensual rejoycing in them shall go out with life Death shall shut and close them up in an eternal night which shall never rise to another day So much for the first thing that Death is a change I come now to speak briefly of the second that this change of Death will besal all the sons of men Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall be deliveâ⦠his soul from the hand of the grave We love to see most things the eye is never satisfied with seeing and yet
the Almond-tree but the Cypress nor think of the Grashopper but of the worm because they are far on in their way to their long home and the mourners are already in the streets marshalling as it were their troops and setting all in equipage for their funeral no dilectable objects affect their dull and dying sences but are rather grievous unto them as the Sun and Rain are to old stumps of trees which make them not spring again but rot them rather and dispose them to putrifaction And so I have past the first and am come to the second Post or standing The right Coherence When they shall be afraid of that which is high and fear shall be in the way and the Almond trce shall flourish and the Grashopper shall be a burthen and desire shall fail because man goeth to his long home If this Consequence be firth the Coherence must needs be good but if this be infirm and lame that must needs be out of joynt let us then Consider of the Consequence Surely Aristotle seemeth to be of another mind whose observation it is old men that have their foot on Deaths threshold would then draw back then leg if they could at the very instant of their dissolution are most desirous of the continuance of their life and seeing the pleasures of sin like the Apples of Tuntales running away from them they catch at them the more greedily for wants is the whestone of desire and experience offereth us many instances of old men in whom Saint Pauls old man grows young again who according to the corruption of nature which Saint Austin bewaileth with tears malunt libidinem explers quam extingai they are so far from having no lust or desire of pleasures as being cloyed therewith that they are more insatiable in them then in youth the flesh in them like the Peacocks ãâã coct a recrudescit which after it is sod in time will grow raw again so in them after mortification by diseases and age it reviveth Sophocles the Heathen Poet might pass for a Saint in comparison of them for he thanked God that in his old age he was free from his most Imperious Mistris lust these men on the contrary desir ãâã inthral themselves again in youthly pleasures and concupiscence in them is kindled even by the defect of fewel it vexeth them that their sins for sake them that through the impotency of their limbs and faculties they cannot run into the like excess as in former times their few dayes before death are like Shrovetide Before Lent they take their fill of flesh and fleshly desires because they suppose that for ever after they must fast from them Thus they spur on their jadish flesh now unable to ran her for met Stages saying let us crown our selves with Rose-buds for they will presently wither let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die To reconcile the seeming difference between the miracle of humane wisdome Aristotle and the Oracle of divine Solomon two distinctions may be made use of Of old Age. 1 In the entry when it is vigorous 2 In the exit when it is decrepit et ne ad mala quidem bona Of old Men. 1 As they ought to be 2 As they are When Euripides was taxed as too great a favourer of the semale Sex because in all his Tragedies he brought in vertuous women and fitted them with good parts to Act whereas Sophocles and other Poets of that Age brought lewd and immodest women upon the Stage and put odious parts upon them he made this Apology for himself others faith he in their Poems set forth women as they are but I such as they should be Solomom words are capable of a like construction desire faileth because man goeth to his long home that is it doth in the best and should in all for what a preposterous thing were it for a man that hath one foot already in the grave and is drawing the other after to desire to cut a cross caper and dance the morice or for him that is neer his eternal Mansion house to hanker by the way and feast and revel it in an Inn. Moreover Solomon here speaketh of a Bââ¦rzillai who hath no taste of his meat no sence of delight no use in a manner of sense to whom dainties are no dainties because he cannot taste them musick is no musick because he cannot hear it sweet odours are no sweet odours because he cannot small them precious stones are no precious stones because he cannot value them the fairest becaues are no beauties because he cannot discern them In a word he speaketh of an old man in whom all carnal lusts are either quite extinct or happily exchanged into spiritual or swallowed up with sorrow and fear of death and a horrible apprension of judgment And so I come to the third Stage which is the litteral sence and genuine interpretation of the words As in Origen his Hexapla every word almost had an Asterisk or star upon it so there needs a star or some other light to be put upon every word of this Text for there is a mist of obscurity upon each of them and a man may well miss his way if he know not exactly who is here the man what 's meant by his going or gate where is his long home and whence are these Mourners First whether man be taken Collectivè for the whole kind or Species as the Logicians speak or Distributivè for every man in particular we shall seem to be at a loss Man taken Collectivè stirs not a foot to his long home for Philosophy reprieveth universal natures from death or dissolution and true it is though single men every day die yet mankind dieth not If man be taken Distributivè for all particular men of what rank or quality soever we shall have much to do to distinguish the men in the former part of the Text from the mourners in the latter If all are attended with mourners to their funeral then mourners themselves must have mourners and so either the train will be infinite or the lag will be destitute of mourners Secondly why useth he this phrase of going if it import death sith some expect death and move not at all towards it some run to it to some it is sent some leap into it as Cleombrotus some ride to it in state as Antioches Epiphanes some are tumbled down into it as S. Purius Melicus some are dragged to it as Seinus In a word when death surprizeth most men and that in all postures of the body why is dying here called going man goeth Thirdly where is this long home in Heaven or in earth Purgatory or Hell If we speak of Heaven or Hell the Epithet long fals short for they are eternal habitations of Purgatory or the grave suppose there were any Purgatory yet neither of them may be properly termed a long home fith neither the body stayes long in
have lost the jewel doth less set by the casket yet he who loves much and highly esteemeth of the soul of his friend as Alexander did of Homer cannot but make some reckoning of the Desk or Cabinet in which it alwayes lay we have a care of placing the picture of our friend and should we not much more of bestowing his body If burial were nothing to the dead God would never have threatned Coniah that he should have the burial of an Ass nor the Psalmist so quavered upon this doleful note dederunt cadaver servorum tuorum coeli volucribus O God the heathen are come into thine inheritance thy holy Temple have they desiled and made Jerusalem an heap of stones the dead bodies of thy servants have they given to the fowls of Heaven But thou shalt be buried in a good old age Procopius observeth it in Miriam Aaron and Moses that as they exceeded one the other in holiness so in dayes for Aaron out lived Miriam and Moses Aaron long life is a crown when it is found in the wayes of righteousness cum senectute bona and albeit it is almost the burthen of every mans song that age is a burthen and a perpetual disease or rather a continual tract of diseases and a sequence of maladies yot none for ought I see goeth about to lay down this burthen or to be cured of this disease even they who most eloquently declaim upon the vanity and exclaim against the miseries of this life and wish a thousand times that they were dead would be loath to be taken at their word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in greek signifieth praemium a reward as senectum old age and doubtless old age in general is so to be accounted for it is reckoned among the blessings which God bestowed upon Job Isaac David and Jehoida who are all said to have dyed in a good old age or full of dayes riches and honour For howsoever to some men in some case contraction of their dayes hath proved an advantage by abridging their present and preventing their future forrows as it was to good King Josiah who was timely taken away that he might not see the evil which after his death fell upon his people and to Saint Austin who dyed immediatly before Hippo was taken Yet length of dayes ordinarily is a blessing and promised to such as obey their Parents honour thy father and thy mother that thy dayes may be long as on the contrary shortning the dayes of life is threatned by the Psalmist as a curse to the blood-thirsty and deceitful man and Eli took it for such when Samuel from God told him there should not be an old man in his family Howsoever if old age be not perpetually and simply a blessing in it self yet as it is here qualified with bona I am sure it is The Almond-tree is beautiful of it self how much more when it is hung with jewels and precious stones as Xerxes his Platihas was and crowned with health riches honour and the comfort of a good conscience These make old age such a burthen as bladders are to him that swimmeth which bear him up or feathers to a bird which though they have some weight yet by them she raiseth her self up and flyeth By this time you expect I know the application of this Scripture but it is made already not in word but in deed not by me but by him whose empty Casket we behold with tears yet rejoycing that God hath taken out the jewel to adorn his Spouse the triumphant Church in Heaven He is already gone in soul to his Fathers and is now going in body to them to be buried in their Sepulchre his body and soul are now distracted and we for his distraction his soul is gone and our hearts are gone I ever held sighs the best figures and tears the fluentest rhetorick in a Funeral speech if I had better known this honourable Personage I could have spoken more in his praise yet no more then the City and Conntrey will prove to be true by the miss of him Desiderantur reliqua ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 10 PAEAN OR CHRISTS TRIUMPH OVER DEATH A FUNERAL SERMON Preached at Lambeth August 3.1639 SERMON XLIII 1 COR. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory I Fear lest some here present that are of a more melting disposition stung with the sense of their present loss and overcome with grief and sorrow for it may frame an answer with a deep sigh to the Interrogations in my Text saying here is Deaths sting here is the Graves victory here is Deaths sting for it hath stung him to death who was the stay of my comfort and joy of my life here is the Graves victory for it holdeth the Corps of my dearest Friend captive and close prisoner in his Coffin If any thus troubled in mind hear me this day let them stop the flood-gate of their tears and lengthen their patience but to an hour and by Gods assistance in the Explication and Application of this parcel of Scripture I will make it appear to them that their Friend is not dead but sleepeth and that death hath not swallowed up him but he hath swallowed up death into victory and that already in soul he insulteth over Death in the words of my Text O Death where is thy sting and shall hereafter in body when this corruptible shall put on incorruption insult in like manner over the grave saying O grave where is thy victory This sentence is like a Ring of Gold enamelled or cloth of Tissue imbroidered or a peece of rich plate curiously wrought and engraved materiam superavit opus the workmanship seems to go beyond or at least equal the mettal for this sentence consisteth of three figures at least First an Apostrophe which by a kind of miracle of art giveth life to dead things and ears to the deaf like to that O earth earth earth hear the voyce of the Lord. Secondly an insultation like to that in the Prophet Esay Where are the Gods of Hamar and the gods of Arphad or the gods of the City of Sepharvaim Thirdly a double Metaphor the former taken from a Serpent Bee Wasp or Hornet the latter taken from a Conquerour for Death is here compared to a Bee Wasp Hornet or Serpent without a sting the Grave to a Conquerour that hath lost his booty or prisoner O death c. Such Drawn-works wrought about with divers coulors of Art we find often in the Sacred coutext especially in the Prophesies of the old Testament and the Epistles of Saint Paul in the new If we look up to the heavens we find in some part of the skie single starrs by themselves in others a Constellation or conjunction of many stars so in some passages of holy Writ you may observe one figure or trope as namely a membrum or similiter cadence as I was hungry and you gave me meat
quasi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or quasi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã supple ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã either from a word signifying to stretch because death stretcheth out the body or from words signifying to tend upwards because by death the soul is carried upwards returning to God that gave it In Latine Mors either quasi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã our fatal portion or as Saint Austin will have it a morsu because the biting of the Serpent caused it The letter or word is but like the bark or rind the sence is the juyce yet here we may suck some sweetness from the bark or rind From the hebrew Muth we learn that our tongues must be bound to their good behaviour concerning the dead we must not make them our ordinary table talk or break jeasts upon them much less vent our spleen or wreak our malice on them we must never speak of them but in a serious and regardful manner de mortuis nil nisi bene From the Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as it is derived from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã mutando ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã tenuem in ãâã aspiratam we must learn to extend our hands to the poor especially near death which stretcheth out our bodies and to send our thoughts ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to the things that are above whether if we die well the Angels shall immediately carry our souls From the Latin mors so termed quasi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã divido we are to learn to be contented with our lot and bear it patiently considering first that we brought it upon our selves secondly that we gain this singular benefit by it that our misery shall not be immortal O Death to which Death speaketh the Apostle for the Scripture maketh mention of the first and second death and Saint Ambrose also of a third The first Death with him is the death of nature of which it is said they shall seek death and not find it The second of sin of which it is said the soul that sinneth shall die the death The third of grace which sets a period not to nature but to sin The Death here meant is the first death or the Death of nature which the Philosophers diversly define according to their divers opinions of the soul Aristoxemis who held the soul to be an harmony consequently defined Death to be a discord Galen who held the soul to be Crasis or a temper Death to be a distemper Zeno who held the soul to be a fire Death to be an extinction Those Philosophers who held the soul to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is as Tully interpreteth it continuam motionem Death to be a cessation The vulgar of the Heathen who held the soul to be a breath Death to be an expiration Lastly the Platonicks who held the soul to be an immortal spirit Death to be a dissolution or separation of the soul from the body and this is two-fold 1 Natural 2 Violent 1 Natural when of it self the natural heat is extinguished or radical moisture consumed for our life in Scripture is compared and in sculpture resembled to a burning lamp the fire which kindleth the flame in this light is natural heat and the oyle which feedeth it is radical moisture Without flame there is no light without oyle to maintaine it no flame in like manner if either natural heat or radical moisture fail life cannot last 2 Violent when the soul is forced untimely out of the body of this Death there are so many shapes that no Painter could ever yet draw them We come but one way into the World but we go a thousand out of it as we see in a Garden-pot the the water is poured in but at one place to wit the narrow mouth but it runneth out at 100 holes Die Some 1 By fire as the Sodomites 2 By water as the old World 3 By the infection of the Ayre as threescore and ten thousand in Davids time 4 By the opening of the earth as Corah Dathan and Abiram Amphiraus and two Cities Buris and Helice Some meet with Death IN 1 Their Coach as Anteochus 2 Their chamber as Domitian 3 Their bed as John the Twelf 4 The Theater as Caligula 5 The Senate us Caesar 6 The Temple as Zenacherib 7 Their Table as Claudius 8 At the Lords-Table as Pope Victor and Henry of Luxenburge Death woundeth and striketh some With 1 A pen-knife as Seneca 2 A stilletto as Henry the Fourth 3 A sword as Paul 4 A Fullers beam as James the Lords Brother 5 A Saw as Isaiah 6 A stone as Pyrrhus 7 A thunderbolt as Anustatius What should I speak of Felones de se such as have thrown away their souls Sardanapalus made a great fire and leaped into it Lucretia stabbed her self Cleopatra put an Aspe to her breast and stung therewith died presently Saul fell upon his own sword Judas hanged himself Peronius cut his own veines Heremius beat out his own brains Licinius choaked himself with a napkin Portia died by swallowing hot burning coals Hannibal sucked poyson out of his ring Demosthenes out of his Pen c. What seemeth so loose as the soul and the body which is plucked out with a hair driven out with a smell fraied out with a phancy verily that seemeth to be but a breath in the nostrils which is taken away with a scent a shadow which is driven away with a scare-crow a dream which is frayed away with a phansie a vapour which is driven away with a puffe a conceit which goes away with a passion a toy that leaves us with a laughter yet grief kild Homer laughter Philemon a hair in his milk Fabius a flie in his throat Adrian a smell of lime in his nostrils Jovian the snuff of a candle a Child in Pliny a kernil of a Raison Anacyeon and a Icesickle one in Martial which causeth the Poet to melt into tears saying O ubi mors non est si jugulatis aquae what cannot make an end of us if a small drop of water congealed can do it In these regards we may turn the affirmative in my Text into a negative and say truly though not in the Apostles sence O Death where is not thy sting for we see it thrust out in our meats in our drinks in our apparel in our breath in the Court in the Country in the City in the Field in the Land in the Sea in the chamber in the Church and in the Church-yard where we meet with the second party to be examined to wit the Grave O Grave ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In the language of Ashdod it signfied one thing but in the language of Canaan another The Heathen writers understand by it First the first matter out of which all things are drawn and into which they are last of all resolved So Hippocrates taketh the word in
his Aph. Secondly the rule of the Region of darkness or prince of Hell so Hesiod taketh it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hes op dies Thirdly the state and condition of the dead or death it self so Homer taketh it Il. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In the Language of Canaan it is either taken for the place of torment of the damned And in hell he lift his eyes being in torments and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosome Secondly for the Grave and that most frequently in the Seventy Interpreters as namely I will go down into Hades to my son that is the Grave and let not his hoary head go down into Hades that is the grave in peace and in death there is no remembrance of thee and who will give thee thanks in Hades that is the Grave and what man is he that liveth and shall not see death and shall he deliver his soul from the hands of Hades that is the Grave and Hades that is the Grave cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee and so it must be here taken For though Hell in regard of the Elect be conquered yet it eternally possesseth the reprobate men and Devils neither shall it be destroyed at the day of judgment or emptied but inlarged rather and replenished with the bodies of all the damned whose fouls are there already But Hades that is the Grave shall lose all her captives and prisoners for the earth and sea shall cast up all their dead We have the parties to be examined let us now hear the Articles upon which they are to be examined First Death is to answer to this Interrogatory where is thy sting these words may be understood two manner of wayes 1 Actively 2 Passively 1 Passively where is thy sting that is the sting thrust out by Death in which sence the sting of Death is no other then the present sence of the desert of death and guilt of conscience and a dreadful expectation of damnation and hell to ensue upon it take away this sting from the death of the body that it is a punishment for sin and an earnest as it were of eternal death and it can hurt no man This sting Christ hath plucked out of the death of all his Saints and of a curse made it a blessing of a torment an ease of a punishment of sin a remedy against all sin of a short and fearful cut to eternal death a fair and safe draw-bridge to eternal life 2 Actively where is thy sting that is the sting which causeth and bringeth Death In this sence the sting of death is sin non quem mors fecit sed quo mors facta est peccato enim morimur non morte peccamus as Saint Austin most accutely and eloquently Sin is said to be the sting of Death as a cup of poison is said to be a potion of death that is a potion bringing death for we die by sin we sin not by death sin is not the off-spring of death but death the off-spring of sin or as the Apostle termeth it the wages of sin And it is just with God to pay the sinner this wages by rendring death to sin and punishing sin with death because sin severeth the soul from God and not only grieveth and despightfully entreateth but without repentance in the end thrusteth the spirit out of doors And what more agreeable to Divine justice then that the soul which willingly severeth her self from God should be unwillingly severed from the body and that the spirit should be expelled of his residence in the flesh which expelleth Gods grace and excludeth his Spirit from a residence in the soul This sting of death is like the Adders two forked or double for it is either original or actual sin original sin is the sting of death in the day thon eatest of the Tree of knowledge thou shalt surely die and as by one man sin came into the World and death by sin and so death passeth upon all men for that all had sinned Secondly actual sin is the sting of death the soul that sinneth it shall die the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father nor the father the iniquity of the son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Howbeit if we speak properly original sin as it is a proness to all sin so it maketh us rather obnoxious to death then dead men but actual sin without repentance slayes out-right Adam did not die the day he eat the fruit but that day became mortalis or morti obnoxius guilty of death or liable to it original sin alone maketh us mortes but actual mortuos dead men The Devil like to a Hornet sometimes pricks us onely but leaveth not his sting in us sometime he leaveth his sting in us and that 's far the more dangerous He is pricked only with this sting who sinneth suddenly and presently repenteth but he who the Devil bringeth to a habit or custome in sin in him he leaveth his sting Now we know what the sting is let us enquire where it is The answer is if we speak of the reprobate men or Devils it remaineth in their consciences if we speak of the Elect it is plucked out of their souls and it was put in our Saviours body and there deaded and lost for he that knew no sin was made sin for us to wit by imputing our sin to him and inflicting the punishment thereof upon him That we might be made the righteousness of God in him for the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes were we healed who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree Athanasius representeth the manner of it by the similitude of a Wasp losing her sting in a Rock Vespa acculeo fodiens petram c. as an angry Wasp thrusteth her sting into a rock cannot pierce or enter far into it but either breaketh her sting or loseth it all so Death assaulting the Lord of life and striving with all her might to sting him hurt not him but disarmed her self of her sting for ever The first interrogatory is answered we know where Deaths sting is let us now consider of the second interrogatory concerning the victory of the Grave O grave where is thy victory If the Grave as she openeth her mouth wide so she could speak she would answer My victories are to be seen in Macpelah Golgotha in all the gulphs of the Sea and Caves and pits of the Earth where the dead have been bestowed since the beginning of the world My victory is in the fire in the water in the earth in all Churnels and Caemitaties or dormitories in the bellies of fish in the maws of beasts in holy shrines Tombs and sepulchers wheresoever corpses have been put and are yet reserved Of all that ever Death arrested and they by order of divine Justice have been
committed to my custody never any but one escaped whom the heaven of heavens could not contain much less any earthly prison he might truly say and none but he O grave where is thy victory all save him I keep in safe custody that were ever sent to me Yet may all that die in Jesus and expect a glorious Resurrection by him even now by faith insult over the Grave for Faith calls those things that are not as if they were it looketh backward as far as the Creation which produced all things at the first of nothing and as far forward to the resurrection which shall restore all things from nothing or that which is as much as nothing Faith with an eye annointed with the eye-salve of the spirit seeth death swallowed up into victory and the earth and sea casting up all their dead and upon this evidence of things not seen triumpheth over Death and Hell saying O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory We have spoken hitherto of Death and the Grave let us now hear what they have to say to us Death saith fear not me the Grave Weep not immorderately for the dead Death bids us die to sin the Grave Bury all thy injuries and wrongs in the pit of oblivion both say to us slie sin and neither of us can hurt you both say to us Give thanks to him who hath given you victory over us both the sting of death pricks you not but if you die in the bosome of Christ rather delights and rickles you Death is no more Death but a sleep the Grave is no more a grave but a bed Death is but the putting off of our old rags the Grave is the Vestry and the Resurrection the new dressing and richly embroydering them Enough hath been said to convince us that Death which before was like a Serpent armed with a deadly sting is now but like a silly flie that buzzeth about us but cannot sting Yet as long as there is sin in us we cannot but in some degree fear Death and as long as natural affection remains in us take on for them that are taken away Neither doth Christian religion pluck out these affections by the root but only prune them All that my exhortation driveth unto is but to moderate passion by reason fear by hope grief by faith and nature by grace Let love express it self yet so that in affection to the dead we hurt not the living Let the natural springs of tears swell but not too much overflow their banks let not our eyes be all upon our loss on earth but our brothers gain also in heaven and let the one counter-ballance at least the other The parish hath lost a great stay his company in London a special ornament his Wife a careful Husband her Children a most tender Father the poor a good friend for besides that which his right hand gave in his life-time which his left hand knew not of by his Will he bequeathed certain sums of money for a stock to those Parishes wherein he formerly lived and to the poor of this twenty pounds to be distributed at his Funeral Many shall find loss of him but he hath gained God and is found of him no doubt in peace for there were many tokens of a true child of God very conspicuous in his life and death He loved the habitation of Gods house and the place where his honour dwelleth He was just in his dealings and sought peace all his life and ensued it he forgot nothing so easily as wrongs and though he enjoyed the blessings of this world in abundant measure yet he joyed not in them his heart was where his chief treasure lay in heaven he foretold his own death and the manner thereof that it should be sudden and sudden it was yet not unexpected nor unprepared for for three dayes before he set his house in order and desired to converse with Divines and all his discourses was of the kingdome of God and the powers of the life to come When the pangs of death came upon him he prayed most earnestly and desired if it so stood with Gods good pleasure to be eased yet uttered no speech of impatiency but being asked how he did answered that he was in Gods hands to whom he committed his soul as his faithful Creatour and so died as quietly as he lived wherefore sith he lived in Gods fear and died in his favour and shall rise again in his power though the loss of him be a great cut unto us as the loss of their children were to Pericles and Horatius Pulvillus yet as the one hearing of their death as he was at a solemn sacrifice kept on his Crown the other as he was at a dedication held still the pillar of the temple in his hand till the whole Ceremony was performed So let us continue our devotion notwithstanding this Parenthesis of sorrow and make an end of our evening sacrifice concluding with the words of the Apostle immediately following my Text Thanks be unto God who hath given unto our brother and will give unto us all victory over Death and the Grave yea and Hell to through Jesus Christ c. FATO FATVM OR THE KING OF FEARES FRIGHTED AND VANQUISHED SERMON XLIV HOSEA 13.14 O Death I will be thy plagues THe Rose is fenced with pricks and the sweetest Flowers of Paradice as this in my Text are beset with thorns or difficulties which after I have plucked away the Holy Spirit assisting me I will open the leaves and blow the flowers in the Explication of this Scripture and in the Application thereof smell to them and draw from thence a savour of life unto life The Thorn groweth upon the diversity of Translations for Rabbi Shelamo larchi reads the words Ego ero verba tua ô mors I will be thy words O Death Aben Ezra ero causatuoe mortis I will be the cause of thy death Saint Jerome Ero mors tua ô mors O Death I will be thy death O Hell I will bite thee and he conceiveth that when our Saviour descended into Hell and his flesh in the Grave saw no corruption he spake these words to Death and Hell O death I will be thy death for therefore I dyed that thou mightest be slain by my death O hell I will bite and devour thee which devourest all things in thy chops The Septuagint render the Hebrew ubi causa tua ô mors ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã where is thy plea or thy indictment what hast thou now to say against the chosen of god Saint Paul ubi stimulus tuus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã O death where is thy sting that is faith Saint Austin where is sin wherewith we are stung and poysoned Is not this Ghius ad Choum do not these Translations as well agree as harp and harrow neither can it be answered to salve the repugnancy and solve the difficulty that
Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15.55 his words have no reference to this Text in the Prophet for the last Translation approved by our Church in the marginal note upon the 1 Cor. 15.55 sends us to this verse in Hosea and we find no other place in all the Scriptures of the old Testament to which the Apostle should allude but this And although Calvin endeavouring to untie this Gordean knot saith peremptorily that it is evident that the Apostle 1 Cor 15. doth not alledg the testimony of the Prophet to confirm any Point of Doctrine delivered by him yet Calvin hiâ evidence for it seems to me obscure and inevident his satis constat minime liquet for the express words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.53 54 55. are for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory What shall we say then hereunto With submission to those who out of better skill in the original and upon more exact examination of all Translations may bring them to a better accord for the present I thus resolve First that Rabbi Iarchi his translation is utterly be to rejected for it is like the white of an egg that hath no taste what sense can any man pick out of these words ero verbo tua ô mors I will be thy words O Death unless we help them with our English phrase I will do thine errand Secondly Aben-Ezra is to go packing with his fellow Rabbin for his interpretation is a manifest contradiction to the former words of the Prophet I will ransome them from the power of the grave I will redeem them from death he that will redeem them from death can in no sense be said to be the cause why they die but why they die not Besides both he and Iarchi stumble at the same stone to wit the word Deborica which they derive from dabar signifying verbum or causa whereas they should have derived it from Dever signifying pestem or a plague Thirdly for Saint Jerome his translation though it differ somewhat from the original yet it is no Antithesis to the Text but an elegant Antanaclasis or at least a Metonymie generis pro specie mors pro peste I will be thy death for I will be thy plague Fourthly for the translation of the Septuagint which Saint Paul most seemeth to follow because writing to the Gentiles who made use of that translation and understood not the original he would not give them any offence nor derrogate from it which was in great esteem among all in regard of the antiquity thereof and it stood the Christians in those dayes in great stead to convince the unbelieving Jewes It well agreeth with the Analogie of faith and the meaning of the holy Spirit and the Hebrew letter also will bear it for Ehi as Buxtorphius the great Master of the holy tongue out of David Kimchi observeth signifieth ubi where as well as ero I will be and a venemous sting and pestis the plague differ but little so that although the words in the original seem to be spoken by an affirmation but in Saint Paul and the Septuagint by an interrogation in the one by a commination in the other by an insultation yet both come to one sense and contain an evident prophesie of Christ his conquest over Death and Hell I have pluked away the thorn and now I am come to blow the flower and open the leaves of the words O death I will be thy plauges that is I will take away from Death the power of destroying utterly and from the Grave the power of keeping the dead in it perpetually If we take the words as spoken by way of insultation ô mors ubi est aculeus tuus O death where is thy sting thus we are to construe them as a hornet or serpent when his sting is plucked out can do no hurt to any other but soon after dyeth it self so Death is disarmed by Christ and left as good as dead for as David cut off Goliahs head with his own sword and Brasidas ran through his enemy with his own spear so Christ conquers over Death by death in as much as by his temporal death he satisfied both for the temporal and the eternal death of them that believe in him And as he conquered Death by his death so he destroyed the Grave by his burial for suffering his body to be imprisoned and afterwards breaking the gates and barrs of the prison he left the passage open to all his members to come out after him their head These sacred and heavenly mysteries are shrined in the letter of this Text for although the Prophet speaketh to the Israelites and maketh a kind of tender unto them of redemption from temporal death and deliverance from corporal captivity yet to confirm their faith therein he bringeth in the promise of eternal redemption from whence they were to infer if God will redeem us from eternal how much more from temporal death if he will deliver us out of the prison of the grave how much more out of common Goals what though our enemies have never so great a hand over us what though they exceed in their cruelty and put us to all exttemity and do their worst against us their cruelty cannot extend beyond death nor their malice beyond the Grave but Gods power and mercy reacheth farther For he can and he promiseth that he will revive us after we are dead and raise us after we are buried he will pluck deaths sting out of us and us out of the bowels of the Grave Death hath not such power over the living nor the grave over the dead as God hath over both to destroy the one and swallow up the other into victory For therefore the Son of God vouchsafeth to taste death that Death might be swallowed up by him into victory Although Death swallow up all things and the Grave shut up all in darkness yet God is above them both therefore when we are brought to the greatest exigent when nothing but death and torments are before us when we are ready to yeeld up the buckler of our faith and breath out the last gasp of hope let us call this Text to mind O death I will be thy plagues neither Death nor the Grave shall be my peoples bane because I will be both their bane and change their nature which destroyeth all nature For to all them that believe in me Death shall not be a postern but a street-door not so much an out-let of temporal as an in-let of eternal life and though the grave swallow the bodies of my Saints yet it shall cast them up again at the last day Thus the words yeeld us
singular comfort if we take them as a commination and they afford us much or more if we take them as Saint Paul and S. Chrysostome do by an insultation As a man offering sacrifice for victory and full of mirth and jollity he leaps and tramples upon Death lying as it were at his mercy and sings an Io Poean a triumphant song wherewith Gerardus a great friend of Saint Bernards breathed out his last gasp of whom he thus writeth In the dead time of the night my brother Gerard strangely revived at midnight the day began to break I sent for to see this great miracle found a man in the very Jaws of death insulting upon death and exulting with joy saying O death where is thy sting Death is not now a sting but a song for now the faithful man dyeth singing and singeth dying And so having plucked away the prickles and opened the leaves by the Explication of the letter I come now to smell to them and draw from thence the savour of life unto life Ero pestes tuae ô mors As Saint Jerome writeth of Tertullian his Polemmical Treatises against hereticks Quot verba tot fulmina Every word is a thunderbolt so I may truly say of this verse quot verba tot fulmina So many words so many thunder-bolts striking Death dead by the light whereof we may discern three parts 1. The menaced or party threatned Death 2. The menacer or party threatning I. 3. The judgment menaced plagues 1. The menaced impotent mors Death 2. The menacer Omnipotent Ego I. 4. The judgment most dreadful pestes plagues 1. First of the party menaced Death Christ threatneth destruction to none but to his or his Churches enemies But here he threatneth Death Death therefore must needs be an enemy and so the Apostle termeth it the last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death For albeit Death by accident is an advantage as oftentimes an enemie doth a man a good turn which occasioned that excellent Treatise of Plutarch wherein he sheweth us how to make an Antidote of poyson and a good use of other mens malice yet is it in it self an enemy alwayes to Nature and to grace also it sets upon the elect and the reprobate the believer and the Infidel the penitent and the obstinate but with this difference it flyes at the one with a deadly sting but at the other without a sting the one it wounds to death the other it terrifieth and paineth but cannot hurt But there being divers kinds of death which of them is here meant Death is a privation and privations cannot be defined but by their habits that is such positive qualities as they bereave us of for instance sickness cannot be perfectly defined but by health which it impaireth nor blindness but by sight which it destroyeth nor darkness but by light which it excludeth nor death but by life which it depriveth us of Now if there be a four-sold life spoken of in Scripture viz. 1. Of nature 2. Of sin 3. Of grace 4. Of glory There must needs be a four-fold death answerable thereunto 1. The death of Nature is the privition of the life of nature by parting soul and body 2. The death of sin is the privation of the life of sin by mortifying grace 3. The death of Grace is the privation of the life of grace by reigning sin 4. The death of Glory is the privation of the life of Glory by a total and final exclusion from the glorious presence of God and the kingdome of heaven and a casting into the lake of fire and brimstone prepared for the devil and his angels Of Death in the first sense David demandeth who is he that liveth and shall not see death and shall he deliver his soul from the hand of hell of Death in the second sence Saint Paul enquireth how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein Of Death in the third sense Saint Paul must be meant where he rebuketh wanton Widdows Shee that liveth in pleasure is dead while shee liveth Of Death in the fourth sense Saint John is to be understood blessed is he that hath part in the first resurrection for on such the second death hath no power Saint Austin joyneth all these significations and maketh one sentence of divers senses he is dead to death that is Death cannot kill burt or affright him who is dead to sin And another of the Ancients makes a sweet cord of them like so many strings struck at once he that dyeth before he dies shall never die he that dyeth to sin before he dyeth to nature shall never die to God neither in this world by final deprivation of grace neither in the world to come of glory Of these four significations of Death the first and last sort with this Text for that the first is to be meant it is evident by the consequence here O grave I will be thy destruction And by the antecedents in Saint Paul When this corruptible shall put on incorruption c And that the second is included may be gathered both from the words of Saint John And Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire and of our Saviour I was dead and I am alive and have the keyes of Hell and of Death And so I fall upon my second Observation viz. the person menacing J the second person in Trinity our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ The word here used Ehi is the same with that we read Exod. 3. Ehi Ashur Ehi I am that I am and if the observation of the Ancients be current that wheresoever God speaketh unto man in the old Testament in the shape of man of Angel we are to understand Christ for that all those apparitions were but a kind of preludia of his incarnation then the Person here threatning can be no other then he besides the word Egilam in the former part of this vers being derived from Gaal signifying propinquus fuit or redemit jure propinquitatis pointeth to our Saviour who by assuming our nature became our Alie by blood and performed this office of a kins-man by redeeming the inheritance which we had lost But we have stronger arguments then Grammatical observations that he who here promised life to the dead and threatneth plagues to Death was the Son of God the Lord of quick and dead for the same who promiseth to redeem from the Grave threatneth to plague Death but we all know that Redeemer is the peculiar stile of the Son as Creator is of the Father and Sanctifier of the Holy Ghost tu redemisti nos thou hast redeemed us to GOD by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and Nation To the redemption of a slave that is not able to ransome himself three at least concur the Scrivener who writeth the Conditions and sealed the Bonds the party who soliciteth the business and mediateth for the captive and layeth down
ill in this fain he would stisle the light in his conscience which if he would open his eyes would clearly discover unto him a future tribunal yet sometimes he cannot smother it and therefore as Tully who saw a glimering of this truth observeth he is wonderfully tormented out of a fear that endless pains attend him after this life Well let the flesh and fleshly minded men deem or speak what they list concerning the state of the dead the Spirit of truth faith that all that die in the Lord are blessed But where faith the Spirtt so In the Scriptures of the old and new Testament and in this vision and in the heart and conscience of every true believer First in the Scriptures let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like unto his refrain thy voyce from weeping and thine eyes from tears for thy works shall be rewarded and there is hope in thine end faith the Lord precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints the Righteous shall wash his foot in the blood of the wicked so that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous Christ is in life and death advantage for I am in a straight between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Secondly in this vision for Saint John heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write it as it were with a Pen of Iron upon the Tomb of all that are departed in the Lord for so faith the Spirit Lastly the Spirit speaketh it in the heart and soul of every true believer lying on his death bed or on the Gridiron or in the dungeon or on the gibber or on the saggot did not the Spirit seal this truth above all other at such times to his servants were not then their hope full of immortaility they could never have welcomed death embraced the flames sung in their torments and triumphed over death even when they were in the jaws of it When Job was in the depth of all his misery the Spirit spake in his heart I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shal I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my rains be consumed within me offered and the time of his departure was at hand the Spirit spake in him I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to them also that love his appearing Likewise when Gerardus was giving up the ghost the Spirit spake in him O death where is thy sting Mors nonest stimulus fed jubilus And though Robert Glover the Martyr all the night before his Martyrdome prayed for strength and courage but could feel none yet when he came to the sight of the stake he was mightily replenished with Gods holy comfort and heavenly joyes and clapping his hands to Austin the Spirit the Comforter himself spake in him He is come he is come You have heard where the spirit faith so give ear now to a voyce from heaven de claring why the Spirit saith so for they rest from their labours ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth as well pain as pains broyls as toyls as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in greek so pain and pains in english are of kin for labour is pain to the body and pain is labour to the spirit and therefore what we say to be punished and tormented with a diseafe the latine say laborare morââ¦o and the throngs and throes which women endure in Child-bearing we call their labouring Here then the dead have a double immortality granted them 1 From the labours of their calling 2 From the troubles of their condition freedome from pain and pains taking What then may some object do the dead sleep out all their time from the breathing out their last gasp to the blowing the last trump as they suffer nothing so do they nothing but are like Consul Bibulus who held onely a room and filled up a blank in the Roman fasti Nam bibulo factum consule nil memini or like mare mortuam without any motion or operation at all that cannot be the soul is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a most perfect act or as Tullie renders the word a continual motion as the word is taken in that old proverbial verse ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and it can no more be and not work then the wind can be and not blow the fire and not burn a diamond and not sparkle the sun and not shine therefore it is not said here simply that they rest from all kind of motion or working but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but from toilsome labours sore travels and again from their own labours or works not the Lords They keep an everlasting Sabbath in not doing of their own works but Gods they rest from sinful and painful travels but not from the works of a sanctified rest for they rest not day and night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was which is and is to come The rest of the soul is not a ceasing from all motion or opperation that cannot stand with the nature of a spirit but a setling it self with delight upon an all-satisfying and never satiating object such was the rest the sweet singer of Israel called his soul unto return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Bodies rest in thier proper places but spirits in their proper object in the contemplation fruition admiration and adoration whereof consisteth their everlasting content This object is God whom they contemplate in their mind enjoy in their will adore in both and this is their continual work and their work is their life and their life is their happiness which the Divines fitly express in one word glorification which must be taken both actually and passively for they glorifie God and God glorifyeth them God glorifieth them bycasting the full light of his countenance upon them and they glorifie him by reflecting some light back again and casting their crowns before him saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created They rest from their labours This Text of holy Scripture containeth in it the waters of Siloah not so much to refresh those that are tyred with their former labours having born the heat of the whole day as to lave out the false fire of Purgatory for blessedness cannot stand with misery nor
dispose themselves for their dusty dissolution David saith Psal 19.7 I will bless the Lord who hath given me warning my reins also instruct me in the night season He speaketh this in relation to his mortality it following soon after my flesh also shall rest in hope God gave David warning that death should not surprize him of his mortal condition his reins that is some inward wastings and secret weakness of nature minded him that he must return to his first original God in like manner gives us warning and may we have wisdome to take it some years before our eye-strings break our eyes are blind as to small prints our ears deaf as to love sounds evident monitors that our bodies are ungiving to return to dust God of his goodness sanctifie unto us all decayes in nature that they may effectually mind us of our mortality it is said of Sampson when his hair was cut off Jud. 1.6.20 He awoke out of his sleep said I will go out as at other times before and shake my self but he quickly found the case was altered with him Thus we in our declining age think to rise as early go as late run as fast travel as far do all things as actively as twenty years ago when we were young but it will not be age hath clipt our strength God make us sensible thereof that we may remember our end and apply our hearts unto wisdome AMEN THE PATRIARCHAL FUNERAL GEN. L. 10. And he made a mourning for his Father seven dayes THere are two great names concealed in this Text but express'd by the Prophet David in a peculiar and eminent manner Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people the Sons of Jacob and Joseph Great was the name of Abraham but all his Sons were not accepted only Isaac was in the Cevenant Great was the name of Isaac but his Son Esau was rejected Great then must the name of Jacob be who had twelve Sons and all accepted The whole people of God descended from him and were called Israelites and the Sons of Jacob as his by generation from his loins One of these twelve was Joseph and the rest did equally descend from him and might be called his Sons by preservation from his care and power Howsoever he is exempted from the number of his Brethren and that he might be styl'd a Father two Sons of his are numbred with his Fathers Sons and ranked with the Patriarchs Thus were all the people of God the Sons of Jacob and Joseph and Joseph while the Son of Jacob the Father of the Sons of Jacob. These are the two concealed in the Text Jacob the Father and that Father dead Joseph the Son and that a mourning Son for he made a mourning for his Father seven dayes These words contain a brief relation of a Patriarchal Funeral in which two general parts are presented to our view The Solemnization of the Obsequies and The Continuation of the Solemnities In the description of the Solemnization there are four particulars observable The Connexion The Person The Action The Occasion The Connexion in the conjunctive particle And the Person understood in the following pronoun He the Action represented what He that is Joseph did he made a mourning The Occasion expressed for whom he mourned for his Father The Connexion of the Text is double in reference to the Person and in relation to the Action The Connexion of the Person And he the Connexion of the Action with the precedent actions of that person And he made a mourning I shall begin with the Connexion of the Person and in my whole discourse exactly prosecute the method of the Text. When aged Jacob yeelded up the Ghost and was gathered unto his people the Physitians embalmed Israel and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten dayes They were not as yet the apparent enemies of God they had their tears for Jacob who afterward would have drowned all his Sons they preserved and prolonged the dayes of his life and when those were cut off they continued the dayes of his weeping But there is a difference between a formal and a real sorrow between a solemn and a serious grief between a popular and a filial sadness Wherefore Joseph is not contented with the Egyptian mourning he hath a nearer relation then those strangers had and therefore more of affection is expected from him his filial sympathy must go beyond their accustomed civility the Egyptians mournned and he made a mourning for his Father This is the Connexion in respect of the Person that of the action followeth When Jacob was near the time of his dissolution Joseph put his hand under his thigh and sware unto him that he would deal kindly and truly with him that he would bury him in the burying place of his Fathers When he gathered up his feet into the bed and dyed Joseph fell on his Fathers face and wept upon him and kissed him and so paid the first fruits of a Funeral with his eyes and with his lips After this be commanded the Physitians to follow with Spices and embalm him desirous to preserve that body to the utmost possibility from corruption from which he had received his generation Then he entreated and obtained leave of Pharaoh to perform his Oath which he sware unto Jacob he went up to the Land of Canaan to take possession with his Fathers body and laid him in the field which Abraham bought There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife there they buried I saac and Rebekah his wife there Jacob buried Leah and there Joseph buried Jacob. And having thus fulfilled all the duties belonging to a Son there remaining but this one fitter to be performed then required he made a mourning for his Father This is the Connexion of the Action The Person or chief mourner then is Joseph he which once was dead in the thoughts of Jacob and desires of his brethren survives his Father to attend his Funeral and to preserve his Brethren alive His coming into Egypt cost aged Jacob many a tear and he must pass into Canaan to demonstrate his gratitude and pay that debt unto his Father there This eminent Person is proposed for an example unto all ages of the world what he here performed was no legal Ceremony he was a Patriarch and long before the Law he was a singular and signal type of Christ and hath done nothing which may misbecome the most retired and sublimed Christian And this will readily appear if we joyn the Action to the Person He made a mourning I call 't an Action which may as well be term'd a Passion as a mourning so a Passion as he made it so an Action a passionate Action or an active passion The internal grief of his mind and sorrow of his heart as an inward passion of his Soul was voluntarily rais'd within him by resolved and continued thoughts of his Fathers death and at the same time the expression of
knew that the waters were abated from off the earth If we mourn for the death of any person departed and the waters appear upon the face of man yet after the seventh day when the Olive leaf is pluckt when we have considered the peace and rest and joyes of the souls departed in the fear of God 't is time for the waters to abate for mourning to cease Thirdly the number of Seven is the number of holiness as God rested the seventh day so blessed and hallowed it Seven dayes Aaron and his Sons the Priests were consecrated seven dayes an Attonement was made and the Altar was sanctified Seven dayes hath Joseph set apart for his Fathers Funeral to shew that mourning for the dead is something sacred the tenth of the Egyptian mourning an act of Piety a part of Religion The Jews observed that the Circumcision was deserred till the eighth day that a Sabbath might pass upon the child and so sanctifie it before it was circumcised and Joseph appointeth seven dayes for mourning one of which must necessarily be that day which God blessed and sanctified in the beginning to procure a blessing upon that duty and to sanctifie his sorrow Upon which seasonable Consideration I shall take leave to conclude my meditations on the Text and apply my self to the present Solemnity which gave the occasion to consider it that I may make such use of the work of this holy day as may sanctifie the sorrow of it And now most Honorable Sir the Joseph of this time the chief Mourner of this day be pleased to endeavour the Sanctification of your mourning by these reflexive Meditations First learn from hence to meditate upon your own Mortality and be now assured by this neer and home example that your self shall die This may seem but a cold monition but a dull reflection every Grave preacheth that Doctrime and every Skeleton readeth as good a Lecture when we come into the House of God our feet will learn thus much and the ground we tread upon will thus far instruct us 'T is true the examples of our mortality are numerous but they are not equally efficacious the nearer our relations are to those which die the more we are concerned in their death and there is none so neer in his concernment as that of the Father and Son There is a difference between the language of the Scriptures and such a Prophet as Nathan was one tells us that all men are sinners the other says thou art the man So common Funerals tell us all men are mortal but that of a Father speaketh not only plainly but particularly thou art so From his vivacity the Son receiveth life and in his death must read his own departure 'T is possible to imagine an immortal family and then the deaths of others concern'd that not but where the Father 's dead there can be no pretence or thought of immortality Beside there 's something more then propinquity of nature in a Father Religion teacheth us that our dayes are otherwise bound up in our Parents lives Remember the first Commandement with Promise Honorthy Father and thy Mother that thy dayes may be long in the land consider that you have lost in his death all further opportunity of improving the hopes of that promise and that you stand now only as to him upon what comfort you have in your former duty and in your past obedience Thus learn to fix a more immediate and more concerning meditation of your own mortality upon the death of him in whose life yours was involved both by a natural and spiritual dependance Secondly reflect upon that love and entire affection which you have lost and could no otherwise be lost but by losing him in whom it lived Love is of that excellent nature that it is esteemed by the best of men and accepted from the meanest persons what then is the affection of a Father what is the purity of that fire which God and Nature kindles in the brest of man what were the flames which ever burnt upon the Altar of your Fathers heart who never hated any man See but the nature of Paternal love in David who when Absalom his Son but a most rebellious Son openly sought his life and Crown and dyed in that unnatural attempt went up into his chamber and wept and as he went thus he said O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my Son my Son Measure by this example the affection you have so lately lost who never gave any offence as Absalom did and yet had in your Fathers eye all the reasons of love which Absalom could have Know then you make a mourning as Joseph did for a Father that loved you remember that the love of Jacob was divided between twelve Sons and therefore though it was high it could not be whole and entire to Joseph as for many years your Fathers hath been unto you Thirdly I speak not this out of design to renew or advance your grief to tell you what you have lost alone but I propound this privation that I may contrive it for your imitation endeavouring to stir up the same fire and to kindle the same affection in your self who now are wholly to be considered in the same relation What you were to him others are now to you and what he was to you you are now wholly unto them Before your natural affection was partly taken up with duty respect honour and obedience due to a Father from a Son it is now taken off from those expressions as to him that it may descend the more entire upon those which come from you as you from him Thus far you have been the Joseph of the Text be now the Jacob that those two great names may be concealed not only in the Text but in your breast Thus far you have been the better part of Absalom learn now to be the David that we may truly say that tender affection that Paternal love dyed not with your Father but survives in you to your and his posterity Fourthly I desire you to look not only upon that which you have lost but also upon that which he hath left behind him Vulgar and common persons as they carry nothing out of this world so they leave nothing in it they receive no eminency in their birth they acquire none in their life they have none when they die they leave none aâ⦠their death But honorable persons as they die like common men so that only dyeth with them which was common unto all degrees of men their singular respects the priviledges of their greatness their honors survive them and descend unto their Heirs with their Inheritance Give me leave then yet to speak unto you as to the Heir of your Fathers Honors consider what the nature and design of honors are remember they were first graciously conferred as a reward of the vertues of your Ancestors and were
as wisely continued upon a presumption and as an encouragement of the same vertures in their Successors Your Honor knows how long the greatness of your Family hath been preserved acknowledg first the vigilant providence and infinite goodness of God in the preservation of it while so many glorious Titles have been lost so many Noble Families cut off Next study to preserve and advance it further by the exercise of those vertues upon which it was first built and hath been since continued endeavour to uphold not only your own but the very name of Honor in this Age in which partly the want of such vertues as are necessary to support it partly the weakness of that power which first gave life unto it partly the unreasonableness of foolish men who endeavour to cast a dis-esteem upon it have too much eclipsed the glory of it Lastly as I have advised you with the Son of Sirach to let tears fall upon the dead and to use lamentation as he is worthy so I shall conclude with his following advice when that is done then comfort thy self for thy heaviness that is not only be comforted after sorrow that consolation may succeed your griefs this is the common revolution of the world not only be comforted in lieu of your sorrow that consolation may recompense your griefs that were but a vulgar compensation but take comfort in your sorrow and rejoyce in your self that you have been so happy as to be truly sad There is so much deceitfulness in the heart of man so much hypocrisie in Funeral mourning that you may bless God for your own assurance of the sincerity of your natural affection and religious respect to your Parents and take delight in a just expectation that it will be rewarded by the future respect of your children So having performed the duty of Joseph who made a mourning for his Father you may expect the blessing of Joseph given by the mouth of Jacob for whom he mourned Joseph is a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a Well whose branches run over the Wall That this Benediction may be your Honors portion shall be my constant prayer By the God of thy Father who shall help thee and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above blessings of the deep that lyeth under blessings of the breasts and of the womb Amen Amen THE TRUE ACCOUNTANT SERMON L. PSAL. 90.12 So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome SUch is the pravity of our natures ever since the first fall of Adam as that we prove very apt Scholars to learn that which is ill but we are very dull and backward to mind any thing that is good We want no teaching to set us forwards in the wayes of wickedness but in the performance of the least good we are not able to move one step without the guidance and direction of the holy Spirit of God Therefore it is a good prayer of David for every one of us Psal 143.10 Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead meinte the land of uprightness There are many Teachers abroad in the world and more than know how to teach aright and there are many Doctrines which are dayly prest and intruded upon the weak and simple and more than are useful and saving But there is but Unum necessarium one thing that is needful one thing in special to be minded and looked after even so to live as that we may become wise for Eternity so to walk on earth as that we may be fitted for Heaven This is the main Doctrine we are to learn and our Instructer is God We have none to teach us but God and we have no other way to implore this favour of God but by our prayers in the words of Moses So teach us c. You know the Penman of this Psalm by the Inscription A Prayer of Moses the man of God and I think it is safer to keep to the letter of the Text than to busie your thoughts with the various and doubtful conjectures we meet with in ancient and modern Expositors The Text is a Prayer to God to teach us the true Art of Arithmetick to make us true Accountants for Heaven how we may know to number our dayes aright In this Prayer we meet with two things First what he begs of God 1. To number his dayes 2. To be taught this duty 3. To be taught it in such a manner So teach us Secondly the end wherefore he begs this of God That we may apply c. The end is the gain of true wisdome to make us wise for Heaven And here we have 1. The kind and nature of this wisdome what this wisdome is of which Moses here speaks and that is in making the best provision we can for the eternal welfare of our Souls 2. The subject of it our Hearts 3. The means of obtaining this wisdome and that is by the consideration and thought of Death By the careful numbring of our dayes we attain this wisdome The meditation of Death makes us truly wise Before we fasten upon the Text we will take a survey of the Context which stands thus 1. Observe Moses having spoken of the wrath of God in the foregoing verse Who knoweth the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath of the sudden he betakes himself to prayer The thought and consideration of Gods anger makes us to pray 2. Observe here after that Moses had given us a description of the wrath of God presently his thoughts are taken up with the meditation of Death The wrath of God thought on makes us to think of Death First of the first the anger of God meditated upon makes us to fly to our prayers The fear of this quickned the devotion of Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20.3 And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord. He feared therefore he prayed The thought of Gods anger may well bring us upon our knees and when danger approacheth it is high time to seek the Lord. The Romans made Fear a god and worshiped it for a god the Indians worship the Devil for fear he should hurt them and all this shews us what a command fear hath over the hearts of men to make them to pray They that never think of God in the day of prosperity will hasten to call upon him in the day of trouble The text sayes When the ship was ready to sink the marriners were afraid and every man cryed unto his God Joh. 1.5 A man will never sooner acknowledg a Deity then in the midst of his fears Such is the base spirit of man as that the long-sufferance and patience of God makes some men turn meer Atheists Therefore it is that so many believe there is no God saith Tertullian quia seculo iratum tam diu nesciunt because they do not see that God is
angry with the World they feel not the wrath of God therefore they conclude he is no God and as long as God holds off from punishing they hold off from praying His Judgments prove him a God when his Mercies cannot perswade the world so much Every man hastens to seek the Lord when he is angry his Justice terrifies us his Mercy hardens us his Goodness makes us to rebel his Anger teacheth us to pray we forget God when he is gracious and fly amain to him when he threatens Let us often think of the wrath of God and let the thought of it so far work upon us as to keep us in a constant awe and fear of God and let this fear drive us to God by prayer that fearing as we ought we may pray as we are commanded and praying we may prevent the wrath of God If our present sorrows do not move us God will send greater and when our sorrows are grown too great for us we shall have little heart or comfort to pray Let our fears then quicken our prayers and let our prayers be such as are able to avercome our fears so both wayes shall we be happy in that our fears have taught us to pray and our prayers have made us to fear no more Now is the time for us to pray before grief wax too strong for us for the time may come when we shall not be able to pray by reason of the sense and feeling of the wrath of God upon us Now our prayers in the time of health may be as Incense before the Lord as a sweet odour in the nostrils of God but if we neglect to offer up this Incense we must look for the Incense of Vengeance to fall down upon us Apoc. 8.5 If God take the Cenfer in his hand and fill it with the fire of his wrath then follows nothing but thundrings lightnings and terrible commotions in the Soul Vespasian Gonzaga gave for his Symbol three Flashes of Lightning the first did touch the second did burn the third did rend and tear in pieces The first affliction haply may lightly touch and affect us the second may scare us and stir up the fire of devotion in us but the third will prove so terrible as that it will tear asunder all our prayers so terrifie our spirits as that we shall not be able to pour out our complaints before the Lord or acquaint him w th our troubles The anger of God at the first may be but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as a little Cloud as big as a Mans hand but if we neglect it it may break out upon us with that fierceness violence as that it may interrupt our prayers and hinder the ascent of them to the Throne of Grace Therefore before the wrath of God break forth upon us let us seriously think of it and prevent it by our prayers Let a timely fear incite our prayers and quicken our devotion This holy fear will kindle an holy devotion in our hearts and as a watchful keeper of the heart shall suffer no thoughts to break forth but such as shall amount alost to Heaven As cold water makes the fire more fierce and vehement so does this fear make our prayers more earnest and servent And this is our first Observation The fear of Gods wrath drives us to our prayers and makes us the more importunate with God for mercy The second Conclusion now follows which ariseth from the Context after the prophet had given us a description of the wrath of God he pitcheth his next thoughts upon Death And this brings in our next Observation The wrath of God thought upon makes us to think of Death He that ruminates upon the wrath of God which he hath incurr'd by sin must needs think of Death the sad effect of sin When I remember how far I have provoked the anger of a just God by Sin I cannot choose but think of Death This was Jobs case who while he was under the wrath of God and felt not the comfort of the pardon of his Sins he did imagine there was no other way but death with him Job 7.21 Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquities for now shall I sleep in the dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning but I shall not be As if he had said Deliver me O Lord from thy wrath and grant me the pardon of my sins otherwise I am but as a dead man before thee Solomon speaks of the wrath of a King Pro. 16.14 that it is as messengers of death Surely then the wrath of God may very well be a Messenger sent from God to put us in mind of Death If the Wrath of man be so fierce what is the wrath of God if the frown of a King strike a man dead what power is there in the looks of an angry God to bring us to nothing If the smoke of mans anger can do this what cannot the flame of Gods wrath do even consume us to very ashes Does the fear of Gods Wrath put us in mind of Death 1. This discovers our own guilt what a weight of sin lies upon our Souls otherwise what reason had we to tremble at the denunciation of Gods wrath against us if we were not conscious to our selves of a world of wickedness which harbours in our breasts Were we not privy to a masse of Corruption lurking within us the fear of death would never affright us A strong wind is able to shake and bend the strongest tree and the wrath of God will make the most godly man alive to quake and tremble Imagine the easiest death that is it cannot be but that Nature will have some struglings with it It is impossible to die such a death as shall have no pangs to attend upon it Thus it is even in the death of the greatest Saints there must needs be some strivings and wrestlings in the Conscience with the wrath of God The heart of no Christian is so far quieted and appeased at the hour of death as that all fear is banished out of it and a man hath not the least remembrance of sin and of the wrath of God due to sin lodging in his breast This holy fear is in the best of Gods children and proves as an excellent preparative for death He is best fitted for Death that meditates of tenof the wrath of God due to sin We see we have many occasions presented to us to put us in mind of Death we are never without some Watchword or other to beat the remembrance of Death into our thoughts David had Death ever in his eye Psal 119.109 My soul is continually in my hand like a Souldier he carried his life in his hand and was prepared for the next encounter and made ready for it In all the Judgments of God Death like the ashes which Moses sprinkled is scattered and cast over all our heads Death like
this world Heathens themselves were wont to say that the chiefest wisdome and the main study of Philosophy was only this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã even a careful and serious thought of death The memory of a Christian is never better employed then when the thought of death is presented before it This is our wisdome to consider and study how to die well He is a wise man whose memory serves him to think of death The soundness of the stomack is the strengthening of all the rest of the parts of the body so the vigour and strength of the memory in thought of death is the chief support of the soul and if the remembrance of death decay not in us there is no want of wisdome in the soul Is it the meditation of death that makes us wise Judge ye then how many fools there are in the world that never entertain the least thought of death into their hearts that live and run on in sin and never think of the hour of death It is the folly which the Prophet chargeth Ierusalem with that she did not consider her latter end Lam. 1.8 She remembreth not her last end therefore she came down wonderfully In the height of her pride she never thought of death It is strange to see that we should neither think of our own departure nor heed the death of others who are constant Monitors and Remembrancers to us of our own frailty If the Sun chance to be eclips'd we stand amazed at the sight of that darkness which over-spreads the face of that glorious body but we never regard the declining and eclipse of man who is the more noble and glorious creature If the Sun be darkned we wonder at it if man die we never heed it Why then let me stir up your thoughts to the meditation of death that ye may be so wise as to have ever in mind the approach of death 1. Let us think of others that are daily going to their long homes Do we not see some continually coming into the world and others making as much speed out of the world some entring upon the stage others going off As it is in the constant revolution of the heavens some Stars rise and others set and fall so it is with the Sons of men some live others die some daily come forth out of their Mothers wombs others daily return to the womb of their common mother even the earth from whence they were taken 2. Let us look upon our selves and consider how neer death is approaching to us and what hast it makes towards us We know not how soon death may surprise us therefore let us be so wise as to provide for his coming Death for all that we know is now digging of our graves even now he thinks of us when we little think of him let us then be as watchful for death as he is for us let us think of sickness in the time of health and in the day of prosperity remember the hour of death Even in the midst and height of all the glory and happiness of this world let us bring into our remembrance the time of our change and dissolution It is observeable that at the very time of Christs glorions transfiguration the conference which past between Christ and Moses and Elias was concerning the death of Christ Luk. 9.31 They speak of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem to shew unto us that when we are in the height of our glory and honour our thoughts should be busied with the remembrance of our death and departure out of this world I do not like the proverb which is too frequent in your mouths I thought of such a thing no more then of my dying day Let us remember the old Canon in another sense Finis primus sit in intentione Let our end be first in our thoughts and intention let the time of our death be the first thing we think of either morning or evening that so the constant thought of death may take away the terrour of death and being so well acquainted with death before hand we may never he terrified with the approach of it but being guarded with faith and a good Conscience we may boldly look death in the face and triumph in the conquest of the Conquerour through Christ our Saviour by whom we obtain victory over death and the fruit and benefit of our conquest even the Salvation of our souls in Jesus Christ I have done with the text now I fall upon the more careful part of this duty We Ministers at such solemn times as these have an hard Province put upon us in these occasions commonly the wind stands in our faces and we have a crabbed Dilemma cast in our way even that of Agathon in Athenaeus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã If we seek the truth we shall not please if we please we shall hardly speak the truth We walk between two fires the displeasure of God and the frown of man We value not the latter so we may not run the hazard of the former Our chief care is in respect of God that while we seek to give to breathlesse man a little breath of praise we do not dare to dishonour the living God And if this we aim at we need not be afraid to give some satisfaction to the world and right the honour of the dead provide that while we seek to keep up the Fame of another we do not lay to pawn our own reputations or which is far worse make shipwrack of a good conscience On the one hand charity binds me to speak all the good I can of my Neighbour on the other hand conscience in joyns me to utter nothing but the truth Therefore while charity guides me and conscience awes me I hope I may promise to my self a favourable construction from you of all that I now speak I shall not flie out into any empty schemes of Rhetorick concerning the birth of this Worthy Knight Sir William Armyne well known and belov'd in these parts ye all know his descent and extraction he was cut out of no mean quarry Here his bones now rest where he once liv'd with honour and many of his Ancestors before him Do you think I lay any great weight upon all this It is not Birth but Breeding not Breeding but Geace that ennobles a Family Blood without Manners is base Blood Manners without Grace like a glorious Shadow without the Substance I remember what a good man mean of birth answered one that was Noble in Blood and base in Manners ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã As my Birth and Parentage is a shame to me so art thou a shame to thy Birth Grace in the heart not Gold in the Purse is the best Inheritance of a Christian There are some stains in the best in the Purse is the best Inheritance of a Christian There are some stains in the best Coats there are spots in
but his proceedings which before wanted not clearness in themselves but clearing to our eyes shall then be pronounced declared and adjudged just in the presence of Devils men and Angels so that ignorance shall not doubt nor impudence dare to deny the truth thereof But before we take our final farewel of the words in our Text know they are also capable of another sence I have seen the righteous man perish in his righteousness that is I have seen a good man continuing in goodness and snatched away in the prime of his years whilest wicked men persisting in their profaness have prolonged their lives to the utmost possibility of nature I confess Saint Paul will in no case allow the word perishing to be applied to the death of the Godly but startles at the expression as containing some Pagan impiety therein pointing at it as an Atheistical position Then they also which are faln asleep in Christ are perished However in a qualified sence not for a total extinction but temporal suspension of them in this world the Prophet pronounceth it of a just mans death The righteous perish and no man layeth it to his heart Yet as if suspecting some ill use might be made of that term perishing in the next words he mollifieth the harshness thereof and who best might expounds his own meaning The righteous man is taken away from the evil to come Indeed when a just man dyeth with Abraham in a good old age he is not properly said to be taken away but in Scripture-Phrase to tarry till God comes Thus when Peter was very inquisitive to know how John should be disposed of Christ answered him If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee John of all the Jury of the Apostles dyed in his bed a thorow old man of temper and temperance of a strong and healthful natural constitution moderate in diet passions and recreations Ahijah and Josiah may be instances are cut off by an untimely death such are properly said to be taken away Now even such men God not only without the least stain to his Justice but in great manifestation of his mercy may cause to perish or if that be too harsh a tearm may take them away from the evil to come And that in three several acceptions First to keep him from that evil of sin which God in his wisdom foresees the good man would commit if living longer and left to those manifold temptations which future times growing daily worse and worse would present to and press on him True it is God could by his restraining and effectual Grace keep him though surviving in sinful times from being polluted therewith but being a free Agent he will vary the ways of his working sometimes keeping men in the hour of temptation sometimes from the hour of temptation The later he doth sometimes by keeping the hour from coming to them or rather from coming to the hour making them to fall short thereof and preventing their approach thereunto by taking them away in a speedy death Thus mothers and Nurses suspecting their children would too much play the wantons disgrace them and wrong themselves when much company is expected at their houses haste them to bed betimes even before their ordinary hour Secondly From the evil of sin which other men would commit and he beheld to the great grief and anguish of his heart Lot-like for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds Manifold Uses might be made of the Just mans thus perishing in his righteousness First men ought to be affected with true sorrow yet the Prophet saith The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to his heart Surely his wife or children will or else the more unworthy haply he hath none when dying His kindred will except which is impossible with Melchisedech he be without father without mother without descent His friends will though rather the rich than the righteous have friends whilest living and leave them when dying But to satisfie all objections at once By none are meant very few inconsiderable in respect of those multitudes that pass the righteous mans death unrespected Parallel to that place in the Proverbs None that go to her return again neither take they hold of the path of life Not that adultery is the sin against the holy Ghost unpardonable but vestigia pauca retrorsum Be thou by an holy Riddle One among that None I mean a mourner in Sion for the righteous mans death amongst these very few who lay it to their hearts Secondly Men from hence are seriously to recollect and apply to themselves the doctrine of their mortallities when thee see the righteous man perish in his righteousness There is a bird peculiar to Ireland called the Cock of the Wood remarkable for the fine flesh and folly thereof All the difficulty to kill them is to find them out otherwise a mean marksman may easily kill them They flie in woods in flocks and if one of them be shot the rest remove not but to the next bow or tree at the furthest there stand staring at the shooter till the whole covy be destroyed As foolish as the bird is it is wise enough to be the embleme of the wisest men in point of mortallity Death sweeps away one and one and one and the rest remain no whit moved at or minding of it till at last a whole generation is consumed It fareth with the most mens lives as with the sand in this hypocritical hour-glass behold it in outward appearance and it seemeth far more then it is because rising upon the sides whilest the sand is empty and hollow in the midst thereof so that when it sinks down in and instant a quarter of an hour is gone in a moment Thus many men are mistaken in their own account reckoning upon three-score and ten years the age of a man because their bodies appear outwardly strong and lusty Alas their health may be hollow there may be some inward infirmity and imperfection unknown unto them so that death may surprise them on a sudden Thirdly They are to take notice of Gods anger with that place from which the righteous man is taken away Solomon speaking of the death of an ordinary man saith The living will lay it to heart But when a righteous man is taken away the living ought to lay it to the very Heart of their hearts especially if he be a Magistrate or Minister of eminent note When the eye-strings break the heart-strings hold not out long after and when the seers are taken away it is a sad symptome of a languishing Church or Common-wealth Lastly Men ought to imitate the vertuous examples of such as are dead The cloud and pillar at the Red-sea was bright toward the Israelites to guide and direct them with the light thereof but
6. Epist Jude 14. Reas 1. Because of Gods decree Heb 9 27. Reas 2. Because of his righteousness Reas 3. Because of clearing his wayes before all men and Angels Reas 4. Because of his hatred against sin declared In particular judgements in this life Reas 5. Because of the horrour that is in the conscience of the wicked The manner of the Judgement 1 It shall be the last Judgement 2 It shall be a General judgement 2 Cor 5 10.3 It shall be a manifest jndgement 4. It shall be a sudden judgement 5 It shall be a righteous judgement Rom 2 5. 6 It shall be an eternal judgement Vse 1. A preservative against tentation Vse 2. For Instruction Acts 17 31. Vse 3. Keep a good conscience Vse 5 To fear God Observat 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mic. 7.2 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Pro. 2.8 Reas Tho. Aquin. Quod lib 9. act 16 Cajes Tract de Indulg Canus 1.5 Cap. 5. Luther L. de capt Bab. Melancth in Apol. Confes art 4.5.27 Lorich in Forotalilio haet 1. de Sanct. Bellarmine indeed in the very beginning of his Retractations tells us he allowes not the word Divus to be given to the Saints and that either the word fell imprudently from him or writing a B. for Beatus the Printer mistook it for D. and printed Divus But others stick not at the word nor at much more Stratius in an Ode of his thus Kinaldus Antister beatis additus agminibus Deorum And Melchior Nunez in an Epiâ⦠of his to Ignatius anno 1544 among other matters of the Indyes speaking of the Iesuits Zaviers death calls it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Zaverii Bishop Vida in his bymne called Divis caelestibus after he hath invocated the B. Virgin and others saith Tum vos caducicorporis Ceu nos onusti pondert Quondam mares aut virgines Nunc Dii beati caelites And to adde but one more Liââ¦siâ⦠in Virg. A pricolli cââ¦p 30. thus Tunc libi audes DEA dicit omnââ¦s sextus aetas ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Men. Reas ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is Testa Such a tyle brick or pot as is made of burnt clay Morior Desinam alligari posse definam agrot are posse desinam posse mori Observat 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Reas Vse ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Num. 23.10 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ez. 44.25 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Origen Parts of the Text. The excellency of mans soul 1. By nature and that in respect Plato 1. Of the original Aug. Manichees Heb 12.9.2 The Image Plato Aristocle In respect of the substance The indowments The comand over the body 2. By grace 1. In Redemption 2. In renovation 3. By glory Bern. Vse To take especial care of our souls Plato Aug. The possibility to lose the soul Mat. 24. Quest Answ How the soul may be lost Vse 3. A man may lose his soul in gaining the world Note 1. Rich men Are covetous Ambiâious men Vse To tax covetous men Bern. 1. Ambitious The loss by this gain Observat The worlds gain with the souls loss it comes to nothing 1. Death takes all away Jer. 17.11 2 He loseth the chiefe good Chrysost 3. Possest of the greatest ill Simile 4. Without hope of deliverance Bern. Vse To prevent this misery betimes Parts of the Text. Doctr. Christ will come to judgement to reward the godly and ungodiy The speediness of Christscoming 1 Cor. 10.11.1 Job 2.18.1 Pec. 4.7 Two benesits concerning Christs coming to judgement 2 Pet. 3.3.1 Consuted by S. Peter Psal 9 0.4 Mat. 14.24 Numb 14.25 Luk. 12 38. 2 By S. Paul 1 Thes 2. Object Heb. 9.26 Answ Act. 1.7 Signs of Christs coming Of three sorts 1. Long before The preaching the Gospel to all the world Mat. 24.14 2 The revealing of Autichrist 2. Thes 2.3 3 General deparure from the ftaith 4. Corruption in manners 2 Tim 3. 5. Persecution of the Church 6. General security 7. Calling of the Jewes 2. Signs immediately before Christs coming 3. In Christs coming Revel 1. 2. The Judgement it self Two Judgements 1. Particular 2. General Quest Joh. 5.24 Joh. 3.18 Answ Necessity of a day of Judgement Psal 37 Job 24.12 Jer. 12. Psal 37.11 Unbeleever condemned already how Revel 20.10 11. Job 15. Psal 14.2 4. The end of Christs coming The punishment of the wicked Psal 60.3 Isa ult Ezek. 38 12. Rev. 14 10. Eternity of the torment of the wicked Extremity of torments Iam. 2. The reward of the godly Isa 2. Isa 12. Vse 1. Comfort Vse 2. Terrour to the wicked Mal. 4.1 Vse 3. To be fitted for the day Looking four things in it 1. Earnestness Rom. 8.19 2. Patience 1. Thes 1.3 Heb. 10.36 1. The time is uncertain 2. It seems long 2. Gods strange working 3. Joy Rom. 5.1 4. Diligence 2. Pet. 3.14 Blessed hope 1. In freedome from all ill 2. To enjoy all good Appearing of Christ twofold 1. In the flesh in humility Psal 22. 1. To Judgement in glory 1. His person 2. Throne 3. Attendants 4. Administration 5. Saints 2 Thes 1 10. Christ is God 1 Ioh. Isa 9.6 Christ a great God Vse 1. Comfort to Gods children 2. Terror to the wicked Object Answ Comfort that Christ the Saviour is Judge Act. 17.31 Doctr. Every Christi an so to live as expecting the appearing of Christ Luke 2.36 Phil. 3.20 Jude 21. 2 Pet. 2.14 Obs 1. Col. 3.3 Vse Observat 2. Observat Vse 1. Vse 2. Observat Vse 1. Aug lib. 8. Confess Cap. ult Parts of the Text unsolded Sleep threefold 1. Natural Psal 3.5 2. Moral Dan. 12 2. Act. 7. ult 3. Spiritual compared to sleep 1. For the time the night 2. Exposed to danger Dââ¦ut 32. 3. Willingness 4. Suddenness Mar. 26. 5 Insensibleness and immovableness 6 Vain fancies 7 The continuance 2 What meant by waking 1 To open the eyes to see the light 2 To rouze the senses 3. Get out of bed 3 Who must awake Quest Answ 1 The natural man 2 The regenerate Cant. 5.2 Mat. 25. Rev. 3.2 4. Why the Apostle calls upon those that are asleep Exhortations not in vain 1 To the godly 2 To the wicked The dead sleep of the world 1. Idolaters Rev. 2. 2. Adulterers 3 Drunkards Prov 23. 4 Sabbath-breakers 5 Oppressors 6 Security The sleep of the Church Signs of sleepy Christians 1 Carelesness 2 When men intend nothing but slâ⦠3 Wasting of time 4 Decay of natural heat Exhortation to awake from sleep 1 It is unprofitable 2 It unfits for duty 1 Exercise 2 Combate 3 To wait our Masters coming 3 Our enemy sleeps not Mat. 13. Prov. 24. 4 Gods mercy sleeps not 5 Gods judgments sleep not 6 We are all to meet death Parts of the Text. Propos They that are in covenant with God may be without carnal fear 1 What