Salvation which also knows what is the Will and Expectation and Decree of God who is very Pure and Holy hath chalked out Rules of the highest Perfections and Attainments though withal it doth foresee that Men and Women through Ignorance Errour Failings Infirmities and Temptations will not arrive up unto but come short of them However there is no Salvation nor Assurance nor yet well grounded Hope to be had for Men and Women without a sincere and diligent endeavour without an actual pressing forward towards the mark of the high Calling which is in Christ Jesus even unless they follow and strive after the very highest Perfâ—ctions and Attainments of Christianity even until they do indeed lay aside every weight and the Sin that doth so easily beset them and run with Patience the Race that is set before them resisting unto Blood striving against Sin Which if they have not done as yet God expects it from them and woe be unto them if they do it not As aforesaid for this cause God doth as yet leave us breathing on this Earth oâ—ly for a very little while longer that we should set in Order what things are wanâ—ing in our Souls That is we should fill and make up and supply what is yet wanting according to what hath been afore spoken of If we have been and are a-doing this when the Time draws nigh that we must die and be taken off from this Earth God will translate us up into Heaven because we have this Testimony that whilst we were here by this doing we pleased God Which again is done by Faith SERMON IV. Isaiah 38. 1. Set thine House in Order for thou shalt Die and not live SO much of the Duty enjoined Set thine House in Order Now come we to the Reason annexed For Thou shalt die and not live I have composed a Sermon concerning Death and Mortality on Hebrews 2. 15. which also I have caused to be Printed and thus it now remains written for the Generations to come Psal 102. 18. This is an easie Subject to Discourse on because here so many things lie open common â—â—d obvious to the Knowledge of all People whatsoever Yet here again on the other hand it is so much the more hard to Preach thereon inasmuch as Preaching the Word should be in a somewhat higher strain above the level of the usual Talk and Thoughts of common People for it should make known such things which are not commonly known already For it is according to the Mind and Will of God that Knowledge should be increased Dan. 12. 4. So that is not barely to gratifie an itching Ear or the Athenian-like temper which is in Mankind in being desirous to hear or tell of some new thing for besides to answer the expectation of our Hearers it is our Duty And new things do I declare Isa 42. 9. at least such as do newly spring up in our mind although they be old Truths However we are also allowed of God having Authority for the same from his Word and also his Apostles and Ministers for our example hereof both to Preach the very same things which are commonly known and Preached already as also to write and speak the same things again which we have already written and spoken in order to stir up your pure Minds by way of Remembrance and also to make safe and full Proof of our Ministry And so whilst in the Course and Order of my Ministry I do partly Preach such things which I have Preached already and also some other farther Truths from week to week according as God bringeth the same to my Knowledge herein I do exactly answer and comply with that saying of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Every Scribe instructed into the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a House-holder which bringeth forth out of Treasury things new and old My intention and design at present is only to make known what new and further Thoughts and Truths do arise in my Mind as I Treat upon these words Thou shalt die and not live Of which as we speak it may be convenient and profitable to use this method 1st To handle the words simply and abstractedly Thou shalt die and not live 2dly To shew what mighty Force Reasoning and Exhorâ—ation is in this Consideration Thou shalt die and not live to the iâ—â—â—nt tâ—at we may set our House that is all our Worldly Concerns Body and Soul in Order because that we shall die and not live These words were not spoken and intended to Hezekiah only but they are also spoken and do belong unto and are for Admonition unto every Man and Woman of every Countrey Nation and Language and of every Generation and Time even from Adam until the last Resurrection of the Dead when they shall not Marry nor be given in Marriage and Men and Women shall be Born and Created no more It is hence demonstratively evident that it doth belong to all because the reason thereof doth sensibly and evidently belong to all Thou shalt die and not live For if any Man or Woman is exempted or priviledged from Death and from being liable unto it then indeed these words do concern Hezekiah who afterwards died but not him or her But it being most certain for nothing is so sure as Death that all must die therefore of necessity these words of Isa 38. 11. are a Command and Instruction they are for the Learning and Admonition of every one of us upon whom the ends of the World are come And as Jesus Christ spake to his Disciples and Followers What I say unto ye I say unto all watch From whence it doth appear that that word of his did appertain to the whole Multitude that followed him as unto the Twelve from hence it will appear also that what the Lord the Creator and Preserver of all Mankind said unto Hezekiah it is as much and the very same for we are to take and receive it all one as if the Lord God should speak to every Son and Daughter of Men that were Descendants from Adam and Eve whom He bath Created and calls them all by Names Set your Houses severally in Order for ye shall die and not live It is as certain and unavoidable that we shall die as that we now live We of our selves could not possibly hinder our selves from coming forth into life and the light of the Living For when and as soon as we were ready and ripe for the bringing forth we struggled in the Womb and the God of Nature ordered and provides a way for our coming forth from thence neither is it in the Knowledge or Power of the Embryo or Infant to strangle or suffocate it self in the Womb or of it self for it is done by the Mother or some other outward accident to pass away as the untimely Fruit of a Woman neither hath it Strength or Understanding immediately after it is brought forth to kill or destroy it self And as it grows up towards Manhood
days in the Lâ—nâ— whither ye go over Jordan to possess it This is sufficient prolonging ones days to a witness to live the length of a whole Eternity or to live for evermore In the Land that is the new Heavens and new Earth where dwelleth Righteousness After we are gone over Jordan hereby is typified and signified the River of this Liâ—e for to possess it For indeed the very truth of the matter stands on this wise if we shall be rendred meet and found worthy As Jesus the Prince of Life did say when he heard that Lazarus was sick This sickness is not unto Death When indeed it was a sickness unto Death for Lazarus died of that sickness But Christ the Way the Truth and the Life spake on this wise knowing in himself what he would do even raise Lazarus to Life again And so it was for the Glory of God that God might be glorified thereby Even so in very like manner the words of our Text may be read and reversed Set your House in order for thou shalt live and not die For the Soul which is we our selves doth not die when it goes out of this Body but only leaves this earthly House and departs from this Body and changes its place of Abode and Habitation I remember that I was very much pleased and transported within my self because I find from out of the Sâ—râ—ptures of Tâ—uth and mine own Spirit witnessing the same what I have Read in Cicero and Zenophon Heathen Authors where Cyrus and Cato and Scipio are brought in speaking to this purpose and effect Saith Cyrus It could never be perswaded to me that these Souls of ours when they go out of this Body do die or perish For most certainly they live unto God the Father of Spirits For my part I do as firmly bâ—lieve and am as verily perswaded of all this as that I now write these Lines or as I am assured that I now live and breath It hath bâ—â—n aforesaid That even in the midst of Life Health and Vigour every one of us was sick unto Death because that we did all along carry about with us in the Body the Seeds of Corruption and Mortality Which holds true as to the Flesh and outward part of us But as to our Souls we are not sick unto Death but alive unto 〈◊〉 in the Apostle's Phrasâ— or alive unto Everlasting Life if we have the Seeds of Grace and Holiness in our Souls which are indeed the Principles of Life and Immortality abiding within us To this agrees the meaning of the Holy Ghost in several places of Scripture particularly in the Gospel of John Saith Jesus Christ Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life John 5. 40. For the Bread of God is he that cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the world I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly Whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the Water that I shall give him shall be a Well of Water springing up into Everlasting life John 4. 14. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living Water John 7. 38. These two last Scriptures comâ— directly to our present purpose For it being here said In him a Well of Water springing up unto everlasting life and here it is said That it shall flow out of his Belly and by what the Scripture elsewhere saith that such an one hath in him everlasting life all this shews and confirms that the Saints and Servants of the Most High God by having Grace and Holiness and the new Life ingraffed in them they have also thereby even whilst their Souls inhabit in this weak vile and dying Body here on Earth the Seeds and Principles of Immortality and Eternal Life so that they shall never see Death that is Death Eternal and when their Souls go out of these Bodies they do not die but live And so it is found true in them what Seneca saith who herein spake much more like a Christian than like an Heathen for Flesh and Blood could not reveal these things unto him but God his Creator saith he That day which some fear to be their last he means the Day of Death is indeed the Birth-day of Immortaliâ—y For in truth the Souls of the Righteous are then Born and brought forth into another World into an inâ—â—niâ—ely better and more enduring sâ—ate The Vngodly are not so It is otherwise with the Wicked and the Children of Disobedience or the Children of Perdition as the Scripture Phrases them For whâ—t is the greatest Happiness to the Righteous is the beginning of Sorrows unto these The Day of Death is either the best or worst of all the foregoing Days even according as the foregoing Life hath been Good or Evil Godly or Ungodly for the Souls of these Miserable Creatures do also live and exist and they are sensible also Yet according to the meaning of the Holy Ghost especially in many places of the Revelations and also according to the desire and feeling of the Creatures themselves it is Death and not Life or rather worse than Life to abide in Torment Pain and Misery And therefore it is so ofâ—en called the second Death or Death The Soul that sinneth it shall die Turn you turn you why will ye die Not that the Souls of them will ever cease to be in no wise But they will be in such a wretched condition that Death would be better than Life According as it is written In those days shall men seek to die and death shall flee from them As it is here explained these two manner of ways this is the Order Decree and Appointment of God our Creator upon all the Reasonable Inhabitants of the Earth who are commonly called or known by the Name of Men and Women It is appointed for all once to die but after that the Judgment and then they are to rise and live again For the hour is coming in the which all that are in the Graves shall hear his voice And shall come forth They that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Sâ—eing then that all these things must so be yea and they shall so be what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness Looking for and endeavouring whatever we can in this short space between during the few and evil days remaining of our Pilgrimage that we may rise unto the Resurrection of Life Most People have done some little good in the foregoing part of their Life according to their Station and Capacity their Condition and Employment in the World But as it was said Ahab served Baal a little but Jehu shall serve him much So let every one of us make the like Inference and Reasoning and to take up the same Resolution as to put it
Bed God shall surely Visit you it might at first seem an hard matter to make it out from thence Which notwithstanding will easily and clearly appear if we attend unto and consider throughly that Reasoning and Inference which lies as it were hidden within those very words For though indeed and in truth these words according to the intent and meaning of Joseph when he then spake them were a prophecy and foretelling that God would bring the Children of Israel from out of the Land of Egypt the House of Bondage unto that good Land the Land of Canaan which he had promised and Sworn unto Abram that begat them that he would do But as the Apostle saith by the Spirit concerning what befel the Sons of Jacob and Joseph All those things happened to them in a Figure So what God did and the several things Recorded of them they are a Shew and Representation to us they are a Type and Signification that as the Lord God the Creator and Preserver yea and the Restorer of Mankind did lead forth the Children of Israel from out of Egypt through the Wilderness into the Land of Promise So he did before that time and hath ever since and doth continue to do so at this Day to lead all the Generations yea and single Persons of Men and Women of every Nation Countrey and Language from and throughout this Earth unto the Land of Promise the Heavenly Canaan either to the New Heavâ—n and New Earth where dwelleth Righteousness or else to the Land of Darkness of Dragons and Scorpions where the Shadow of Death and no Light is the Inhabitation of Sin and Misery Where every Son and Daughter of Men and all the descendants from Adam and Eve shall be after that we shall Die and are removed from hence But now I come to that inward Reasoning and Inference which lies couched and included within those words of Joseph and Reader do thou observe it When we Die it is evidently seen that the Soul and Breath vanisheth and goes away and seems to be nothing at all And so the Body or House of Clâ—y putrifies and turns into common Earth and undistinguishable Dust and consequently as good as nothing or as nothing as to a Reasonable and Living Creature Now what is absolutely nothing cannot be properly the Object of God's care and concern and what is not simply nothing or as it were nothing he doth not neither so much mind Because that as God is a Being or rather the Foundation Root Centre and Comprehensive of all Beings he containing all things that are in himself As the Divinely Inspired Psalmist saith His tender Mercy is over all his Works So of necessity it must be his work or being for to engage God's Conservation care and concern about it As we learn from Heb. 12. 26. Every least Word or Particle of Scripture is observable for from out of it may be gathered some Truth and Signification So that when we Read Therefore Sprang there even of one and him as good as Dead Heb. 11 12. From hence we may Reason and infer that when any one is Dead he is then as we commonly say as good as nothing And inasmuch as God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living therefore when Joseph spake thus by the Spirit God shall surely Visit you both himself included when he was just giving up the Ghost as also his Brethren who were to Die a little afterwards hereby must be meant and understood as the last End and Event of things will most fully prove and manifest it that God would both speak unto and also do somewhat for his Creatures after that they are Dead and gone and that is no other but to raise up to Life again what before was Dead and to give it a Being what before had no being or at least as good as no Being Our selves whilst here in life do not usually go into the Grave or into a Charnel House to Visit Dry Boneâ— for when our friends and acquaintance are once Dead if we are perhaps invited and go to their Funeral and accompany their Corps to the Ground there is an end of all Visits as to them And also unless we are Dumb or Mute or Ideots we nâ—ver make a visit to any one but we talk somewhat or another to him And also when we Read of a Duty implied of Visiting and Ministring unto those that are Sick or in Prison Mat. 25. 43 44. We may from thence learn that the end of all Visits unto People seeing that much time is Squandred away herein amongst Rich People to impertinent talk and impertinent purposâ—s should be to be helpful one to another For they in Sickness or in Prison cannot so well help themselves or to edifie one another Either to ask or Minister help shoulâ— be the End of all Visits Though here again the Humour and manner of this Corrupt World is to say unto such as are in Want or Distress Depart in peace be you warm and filled But notwithstanding they give them not those things which are needful to the Body what doth it profit James 2. 16. What do all their good and pitiful words signify which cost them nothing People are very free of them and of their fruitless Wishes when they Visit People in Imprisonment or in Distress Or they spend their Time in some vain worldly Talk without dropping one Word of Godly and Divine Conversation But as God is infinitely greater and better than Man so his Visits do as much differ from and proportionably excel theirs in Help and Benefit For whereas Man says and doth not which is sometimes for want of Power and more commonly through Dissimulation or for want of Will God both says and doth Our Good and Gracious God doth most effectually answer the true end of all Visits For he never makes a Visit where it is understood in a way of Love and Friendship for the Scripture also makes mention of God's Visiting in a way of Anger and Punishment as Jer. 5. 9. Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord Shall not my Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this But either he doth some good thing or some helpful thing to those he visits With God to say and to do is one and the same thing For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast For hath he said and shall it not come to pass Yes as surely as he ever sâ—id though most commonly the one may be according to his own Divine Method some Thousands of Years before the other From all which hath been aforesaid on this Argument put together it may be evidently concluded That whereas God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who ordered and decreed him to be put to death in the Flâ—â— but quickned by the Spirit by which also he went and preached to the Spirits in Prison 1 Pet. 3. 18 19. shall surely visit all the Children of Men who
Being as the Logicians and Metaphysicians say But only a Dissolution of a Thing and a Privation of a Being And that is only as to the Body which is as the breaking of a Shell towards the hatching or bringing forth of a Chicking or as a Woman when she is in Travel hath Pain and Anguish till the bringing forth of her Child But after that is born she remembers no more the Pain or Anguish for joy that a Child is born into the World Even so through the Pain and Languishing of Death the Soul is born and comes forth into the invisible World and she remembers no more the Pangs and Throws and Anguish she felt by the Body dropping from her as she came through the Gate of Death and now she is in an Happy and Blessed State But this is only the favour God bears unto his own People and the Heritage of the Servants of the Lord No Weapon that is formed against them shall prosper Isa 54. 17. For though the Devil thought to make an end of them and destroy them utterly by Sin and Death yet they are escaped whole and safe through them both It is only to such who have this Blessing and Mark of Favour from God as to see the Lord's Christ before they see Death It is these that dâ—part in Peace The People of that Generation did see Christ in the days of his Flesh We of this present Generation may see Christ in his Grace and Revelation which is full of Mercy Goodness and Truth Simeon took up the Child Jesus in his Arms and Blessed God Even so we may go yet nearer and farther and take up Christ and receive him into our Hearts This is seeing the Lord 's Christ in our days when we see him within us with the Eyes of Faith or with the Eyes of our Understanding being enlightened When what we have heard we have seen with our eyes we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life for the Life was manifest and we have seen it and bear witness and shew uâ—to you Eternal Life which was manifest unto us or rather within us And so Paul saith by the Spirit unto those to whom he writes Little Children of whom I travail in birth until Christ be formed in ye The same is the end of all our Preaching to beget Christ formed in you which is a work of time and by degrees And if this be done ye will never see Death Eternal Though ye will for all see the first Death for Moses is dead and the Prophets are dead yet ye will never be hurt by the second Death SERMON V Isaiah 38. 1. Set thine House in Order for thoâ— shalt Die and not live TO see the Lord 's Christ before we see Death is to be a Partaker of the Divine Nature to have the Christian or Christ-like Nature formed and fashioned within us And that not in part or in some things only bâ—â— in the whole and throughout And the very God 〈◊〉 Peace Sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lorâ— Jesus Christ This word wholly and whole being repeated twice here in the same verse doth shew that thâ— Holy Ghost doâ—h lay exceeding much stress and necessitâ— thereon As the Soul doth actâ—ate the whole Body eveâ— so Christ should actuate the Soul throughout and wholly But here is the fault and failure of the generalitâ— of People of those who call themselves Christian whether they be of the straiter Sect of the Christiaâ— Religion whatever it be or whatever they are called for they would pretend unto others and seem to themselves to be more Holy Real and Sincere in their Christian Profession and the Service of God than others I profess truly I do not love to name the distinguishing Names for I would that the time were once come as it is drawing on in these latter days When the Lord shall be one and his Name one and then all those Nick-names of the several Sorts and Sects of Christianity will be laid aside and be used no more in our Tongue But it hath been my Observation a long time and I seldom knew it fail that when I have came near and beheld the Lives and Manner of Conversation of the Dissenters who seem to be more Religious than ordinary who talk so much of Christ I find that they are for taking up Christ in some yea perhaps in most but not in all things And whereas he that keeps Christ's Sayings shall never see Death John 8. 51. Yet they do not keep and obey that last Commandment which Christ Jesus is Recorded to have given as consequently comprehensive and of greatest concernment of all the rest Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever he hath commanded us Matth. 28. 20. But contrariwise several of them do break some or more of these least Commandments and teach Men so Matth. 5. 19. Do not some break or rather neglect those his lesser Commandments concerning Baptism and the Lord's Supper which he commanded to do in Remembrance of him These are lesser Commandments which are only the possitive outward Duties or Ordinances of Religion in comparison to the greater things of the Law which concern intrinsick Good or Evil Right or Wrong Again doth another sort observe strictly the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Justice and Mercy For it hath been observed of those who are called Rigid Strict Presbyterians â—hat they have been given unto Oppression Injurious Dealing all for their own ends an Heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed Children 2. Pet. 2. 14. And they have been noted to be Stubborn Perverse Blood-thirsty and Cruel Which is as contrary to Mercy one of the weightier matters of the Law as Darkness is to Light And so that together with their Pervereness is as diametrically opposite to Long-Suffering the Gentleness and Mâ—ekness of Christ as any thing in the World can be Now if you charge any of them closely and talk with them of these things they have a parcel of Sayings and Excuses as indeed all Sin and Transgression hath its excuse There being nothing so bad in the World but somewhat may be said for it Distinctions and Traditions of their own whereby they would make the Commandments of God of none effect So it is evident they break one of his least Commandments and teach Men so Which Disobedience and Prevarication of theirs shews that Christ the Wisdom of the Father who knew was in Man had not supposed against a vain and unlikely thing such as would never happen for these do contrary and different unto it every day But what is the consequence or harm of breaking of one of the least of those his Commandments and teaching Men so He shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven which there signifies the Ministration or Profession of the Gospel This Gospel being to prepare us for and get us