it is indeed a Terror to Kings too the Philosopher calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most formidable of Formidables and Nature in the best doth find it frightful enough yet our Lord saith I will not leave you Comfortless John 14.18 The First Comfort against the Fear of Death and that our Lord hath left us for our Relief is 1 Cor. 15.55 that Christ hath unstinged that Serpent and that now his Redeemed may triumph over it Moses first fled from the Serpent but being better informed he took it by the Tail and then it became an Useful Rod in his Hand Exod. 4.3,4 Thus Israel at first fled from Goliah as affrighted with the sight of such a Monster of Mankind but so soon as they understood that David had slain him and laid him along without his Head upon the ground then did they run as fast to him to trample upon him c. as they had before run away from him sore affrighted 1 Sam. 17.24,52 So could we but believe that Christ our Lord David had swallowed up Death in Victory as we are assured Isai 25.8 and that Christ's Death is the Death of Death Hos 13.14 then might we sing a Triumphant Song with the Apostle over both Death and the Grave c. A Second Breast of Comfort against the Fear of Death is that precious Promise of God Thou shalt not be afraid when Destruction or Death cometh Job 5.21 and thus God said to Old Jacob fear not to go down to Egypt for I will be with thee and I will bring thee back again c. Gen. 46.3,4 Accordingly our Saviour saith to his sanctified ones Isai 13.3 Fear not to go down among the Dead which is a going the way of all the Earth Josh 23.14 for I will go down with thee and I will assuredly also bring thee back again as one of my Children of the Resurrection Luke 20.36 as if he had said I will bring you without failure from the Jaws of Death to the Joys of Heaven as surely as Ezra and Nehemiah brought all the Captive Jews out of the Captivity of Babylon and we must consider for our Comfort that Death seizeth upon the Body only which we derive from the First Adam as Joseph's Mistress seized only upon Joseph's Garment his Person escaped so the pretious Soul is returned to God that gave it Eccles 12.7 A Third Breast of Consolation for Saints to suck against the Fear of Death is the Righteous hath Hope in his Death Prov. 14.32 Death to a Believer is as the Vally of Achor Josh 7.24,27 Israel's entrance into the Land of Promise a Door of Hope Hos 2.15 into the Heavenly Canaan there to sing Hallelujah's to the Lord for ever Death indeed to Sinners is but a Trap-door that drops them down into Hell Psal 9.17 When that Grim-Sergeant Arrests them by God's Permission and Commission in the Devil's Name and hurls them into an Infinite Ocean of Hell-fire Oh what Dreadful Skreaks doth that Guilty Soul give when it is hurried away and hurled into Everlasting Burnings Isai 33.14 and to swim naked as i◠Scalding Lead and Liquor for evermore But blessed be God 't is better with the Saints whose Debts are all paid by their Dear Redeemer they are not afraid of the Arrest of Death but looks upon it as God's Officer sent to give them possession of a Mansion of Glory and therefore their Hearts are not troubled when their Lord sends for them to be ever with him in Heavenly Happiness John 14.1,2,3,4 and 16.7 and 1 Thes 4.17.18 Oh how willing was Old Jacob to go down into Egypt when it was only to see his younger Son Joseph whom he had not seen for many years c. How much more willing yea desirous ought we to be to go up to Heaven a far better place than Egypt there to see our Elder Brother Jesus Christ How glad were those Three Wise Men of the East to take a long Journey when it was only to see the Babe of Bethlehem Christ in the Cradle c Now if we can but say as those Wise Men said We have seen his Star c. Matth. 2.2,11 how much more ought we to long for this Journey c. that we may behold our Lord Christ advanced upon the Throne of his Glory and to behold his Face in Righteousness Psal 17.15 c. which is a Beatifical Vision a Sight far exceeding those Three Romam in Flore Paulum in Ore Christum in Carne which Father Augustin so earnestly wished to see namely Rome in its Glory Paul in the Pulpit and Christ in the Flesh Alas all those Sights are infinitely below the beholding him in his Glory 1 John 3.2 It was a good Prayer of the same Augustin saying Lord can no Man see thy Face and live O then let me die that I may see it c. A Fourth Cordial against the Fear of Death is Better is the day of our Death than the day of our Birth Eccles 7.12 'T is better every way For 1. Our Birth begins our Miseries but our Death ends them if we die in the Lord we are blessed Rev. 14.13 Whereas Man born of a Woman is born to trouble c. Job 14.1 Yea miserable so soon as warm in the Womb at Conception Psal 51.5 Birth is our entrance into this lower present Evil World Gal. 1.4 but Death in Christ is our entrance into the best and blessed World 2. We come crying into this World c. but some Saints have gone singing and triumphing out of it into a better World hoping that their Death was but the Day-break of Eternal Brightness c. A Fifth Cordial is that Death cannot separate us from the Love of God Rom. 8.28 'T is so far from destroying the Union that it is called a sleeping in Jesus 1 Thes 4.14 And as by sleep the frame of the Body is refreshed so by Death the Union of the Soul is refined Now when we are wearied with our days Labour we are not afraid to go take our rest When Lazarus died our Lord said our Friend Lazarus sleepeth John 11.11 and he said the same of Jairus's Daughter Matth. 9.24 and this is the frequent Phrase in Scripture to call Death a Sleep Job 7.21 2 Sam. 7.12 1 Cor. 11.30 Now as Sleep doth not separate Friends but only for a time betwixt good Night and good Morrow so no more doth Death which is but a bidding good Night for after sleeping in the Grave as in a Bed Isai 57.2 the Morning comes to rise again The Sixth Cordial is 2 Cor. 5.1,2,3 to 9. We know 't is not we think or we hope only this is the true Triumph of our Trusting in Christ our leaning upon the Lord Isai 50.10 that when our Clayie Cottages moulder down we have a Mansion of Glory to go to While we abide in those tottering Tabernacles we groan earnestly being Burdened ver 2.4 that is both with Sin and Misery whereof we have here our
have I to live can I tast what I eat or drink c and how long have I to live ver 34. that is my Breath is corrupt or my Spirits are Spent my Days are extinct and the Grave is ready for me as Job speaks of himself Job 17.1 He was Senex quasi Seminex half dead and felt himself pedetentim mori to die by peace-meal even sensim sine sensu insensibly yielding every day somewhat to Death and therefore he tells David with a most thankful Heart that it was not adviseable for him to embrace his Royal Offer of a Courtly Life to him who was now superannuated and was already as it were dead both to Meat and Musick all such delights of the Sons of Men Eccles 2.8 Those days saith he are come upon me wherein I can have no pleasure Eccles 12.2,3,4 Therefore 't is high time now for me and for all such Aged Ones as I am to make and pack up our Fardles and prepare to pass hence into that better Country which is Heaven as the Holy Patriarchs did Heb. 11.13,14,15,16 My continuance can be but short here in this World saith old Barzillai to David and therefore I would not now leave my Habitation where I may retire and rest me from the Noise of the World but now my whole work is a firm resolve to make ready for Death and to lay hold on Eternal Life 2 Sam. 19.35,36,37 1 Tim. 6.19 And indeed this is the indispensable Duty not only of such as are Old but 't is necessary for all that are Young to do so likewise because this Quantity and the length of the Lives of all Persons in all Ages is very uncertain the Proverb saith as soon goes the Lambs Skin to the Market as that of the Old Sheep the Young may die as well as the Old must die And 't is an old observation yea and a true one that there be more of Mankind which die under Ten Years old than they which live above Sixty Years We all live in Houses of Clay and our Foundation is in the Dust easily crushed as the Moth with the least touch of Man's Finger and much sooner are we crushed with the Finger of God Job 4.19 If our Cottages of Clay had a Foundation of Brass or Marble they might possibly stand some time in the World but seeing our best Foundation is no better than Dust call'd Terra Fricabilis which is so easily crumbled asunder in the Hand of a Child Oh 't is no less than a Miracle of Mercy that some of us do subsist so long alive upon the Earth seeing the Walls of our Earthly Tabernacles as Paul calls the Body 2 Cor 5.2 are weak and the Foundation of our Clay-House is far weaker being but Dust light flying and unstable Dust which is soon wherried and whirled about with every puff of Wind Hence Man is not only a Clod of Clay neatly made up by a skilful Potter as was the first Man Adam of the Earth Earthy 1 Cor. 15.47 and a Lump of Dust Gen. 3.19 but also he is but an heap of Vanity yea at his best estate Kol-Adam Kol-Abel omnis Adam est totus Abel every Adam or Man is wholly Abel or Vanity even when he seems to be well underlaid on all sides and most setled and likeliest to live Psal 39.5,11 And again Adam Abel's compar est Adam is Abel's Mate Man is like to Vanity and as a Shadow that hath no substance in it or subsistence at all Psal 144.4 and he not only consumes away like a Moth as Psal 39.11 as before with the least touch the Moth is crushed but 't is said further that Man is crushed before the Moth Job 4.19 It is not said there before the Lion that would be no wonder but 't is said before the Moth to shew what a poor thing Man is when a Moth can crush him that a Fly can choak him as it did Pope Alexander that an Hair in a Mess of Milk may stifle him as it did great Marius the Roman General and as some say Pope Adrian also Thus Druslus the Emperor Claudius's Son was suffocated with a Pear that was cast up and catched by his Mouth in sport only Thus Aemilius Lepidus was destroyed by a light bruise upon his Toe Many such Stories I might relate of this Nature but to be short let me add only one more which I can both affirm and confirm upon my own knowledge that a great Lord of this Land who was my Patron c. that was brought to his Death only by paring a Corn upon his Toe which did after Gangreen and struck upwards whereof at last he died All these Instances with many more which might be added do demonstrate the uncertainty of our Lives as there is nothing more certain than our Deaths for that is established by the great Statute of Heaven that all Men must once die Heb. 9.27 yet as to the time of it there is nothing more uncertain especially considering how Man is destroyed from Morning to Evening Job 4.20 the Hebrew reading is he is beaten to pieces as in a Mortar with one Misery upon another until the very Breath be beaten out of his Body at length yea and all this from Morning to Evening that is not only all the day long but even all the life long which is here for its brevity compared to an Artificial Day and such as no Man can be sure he shall have twelve hours to his Day For how many are there whose Sun hath set at High-noon even in the prime and pride of their Days they have been snatcht away by the Hand of Death yea yet higher how many do we see whose Sun doth set at its very rising so that they are carried from the Grave of the Womb to the Womb of the Grave even from their Birth to their Burial And assuredly we all every Hour as well as every Day do yield somewhat unto Death and nearer and nearer do we approach to our latter end yea and the longest liver of us hath but a short cut from the first Rising of our Sun to its last Setting from our Birth to our Burial The Psalmist saith that the Sun knoweth the time of its going down Psal 104.19 But this cannot be said of any of the Sons of Men that they know the time of their going down to the Grave good Isaac knew it not Gen. 27.1,2 except only Hezekiah who by a special dispensation from God knew it much less can we that are old know the time of our going down or the Quantity of our Old Age. The Jewish Rabbins do mention three Steps or Degrees in the measure of Old Age the first they call Senes the second they name Annosi and the third they stile Decrepidi and thus they reckon when a Man comes to be Sixty Years old such an one they reckon'd to be reached only to the Borders of Old Age passing along until he stepped on unto Seventy Years
becometh slow and Feeling daily faileth c. 2 dly Or the Golden Bowl be broken that is the Heart as some sense it which is the primum Vivens ultimum Moriens the first that Lives and the last that Dies therefore is it called the Fort-Royal of Life Or the Pericardium about the Heart which the Soldier pierced with his Spear in our Saviour's side from whence there came forth Blood and Water John 19.34 and 1 John 5.6 But others do interpret it to be rather the Head or Skull called the Brain-pan for the Brains are contained within the Meninges thereof and the Piamater covereth them like a Swathing Cloth or the inner Rind of a Tree as in a Cup or Bowl and a wound in this is ever mortal Now the Hebrew word here being the same with Golgotha which signifies a Skull 2 Kings 9.35 Matth. 27.33 and Judg. 9.53 all this make the latter Interpretation the more probable for when Death comes with his Javelin or Dart to wound the Brain-pan or Skull which is round like a Cup or Bowl and is called here Golden because of its colour then the Sutures or Seams of the Skull are parted asunder from whence it comes to pass that the Chaps of Dying Persons do fall and the Almonds of their Ears are stopped c. Oh what cause have we break forth into David's words saying We are wonderfully framed Psal 139.14 If the pretious Office of this Golden Bowl for preserving the Brain c. be well considered 3 dly Or the Pitcher be broken at the Fountain that is either the Veins at the Liver as some say which is the Shop of Sanguification or Blood-making those Veins carry Blood from the Liver into all parts of the Body by way of Circulation c. Or as others understand it the Arteries which carry Spirits from the Heart and conveys Nourishment Sense and Motion from one part to another c. There is yet a Third Sense put upon this Pitcher that is the Bladder is broken at the Spring of Water or Urin c. Now as when either the Veins at the Liver especially the Vena Cava Vena Porta as the Anatomists name them or the Arteries at the Heart do come once to lose their drawing and distributing Office and Vertue then the Body doth immediately decay even so when the Muscle at the Neck of the Bladder comes to be broken and loseth its Retentive Faculty then the Water or Urin doth run insensibly from a Dying Person without stay 4 thly Or the Wheel is broken at the Cistern that is according to the Sentiments of some Expositors the Head which draweth all the Operations of Life from the Heart and hence it is that when any dreadful Fright is apprehended by our Heads and suddenly doth surprize us we presently are struck with a Paleness because all the Blood in our Faces doth run back to the Heart as to the Fountain of Life c. But others are of opinion that by this Wheel broken at the Cistern must be meant the Lungs broken off from their double Office and Motion of Inspiration and Respiration and this Breaking or Obstruction is caused by Phlegmn from the Stomach which is as a Cistern from all parts of the Body c. The Lungs are as a Wheel transmitting the Air in and out by a Motion up and down like to that of a pair of Bellows which Men learnt to make from the posture and operations of Mens Lungs that were of God's making and thus indeed Man learns all other Artifices from God the great Artificer God instructs the Husbandman Isai 28.26 and all others also Now tho' there be no open Passage betwixt the Stomach and the Lungs and therefore there is no ordinary purging of the Lungs but upwards by spitting and coughing yet when the Stomach is overcharged with Phlegm the former distilleth the latter into the Lungs and thereby stoppeth them in their Motion This may be exemplified thus when a Man or Beast is dead there seemeth no way of entrance for Water into the Bladder no not so much as for any Air for if we blow the Bladder full of Wind none of it will issue out and yet while Life lasteth in the Body both Water and Sand doth pass through little Veins called Valvulas into the Bladder even so by some such like secret passages doth the Cistern of the Stomach convey Phlegm into the Lungs yea sometimes to the very stifling of them and upon this stoppage of the Lungs with Phlegm so that the Wheel cannot turn the Air or breath up and down and in and out to the Nostrils Then from this obstruction of the Lobes whereof the Lungs do consist so that their Motion like a pair of broken Bellows is broken off then followeth the Rutling in the Throat which is the common Herauld proclaiming that Death is at Hand c. NB. Note well How Solomon the Eldest Son of Wisdom hath left upon Record in Eccles 12. a most sublime Lecture of Anatomy as well as of Divinity in his Dissection of the infirm Body of Old Age which he sweetly setteth forth by a continued Allegory Ubi quot Lumina imo Flumina Orationis that is containing so many Lights yea and Floods of Eloquence and all this Solomon did not so much to demonstrate his own excellent Skill and unparallel'd Prudence but more especially and principally to instruct yea and to provoke all Mankind to become wise unto Salvation and to remember our Creator early before any of these Evils of Old Age come upon us c. CHAP. VIII Counsel and Comfort to Young and Old against the Evils of Old Age the Fear of Death and the Terror of the Day of Judgment THIS Eight Chapter consists as well of Comforts as of Counsel against the Evils of Old Age against the Fear of Death and against the Terror of the Day of Judgment First The Comforts against the Evils of Old Age 'T is a Time desired by all who are they that would not live long c but 't is welcomed by few because of the Burden of Distempers that it brings along with it c. If God bless us to live up to Old Age we ought not to complain of it for 't is a blessing we must bless God for Length of days is from the Right Hand Riches and Honour from the Left Prov. 3.16 And God promised to his Jerusalem after its Restoration that there should be Old Men and Old Women in the Streets of it with Staves in their Hands Zech. 8.4 yea and it was God's Curse upon the House of Ely that not any that were Old should be found in it 1 Sam. 2.32 Therefore if God do still preserve the rotten Thread of our Lives and draw it out to last so long and yet the Clue have a little more Yarn upon the Botton Oh how thankfully ought we to welcome this Guest of Gods own sending and not to complain of it as our great