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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88578	A Christians duty and safety in evill times Delivered in severall sermons, upon four texts of scripture, viz. Christ's prayer the saints support, on Iohn 17 15[.] A divine ballance to weigh all doctrines by, on 1 Thes.5. 21[.] A Christians great enquiry, on Acts 16.30, 31[.] A description of true blessedness, on Luke 11. 28[.] By that faithfull messenger of Jesus Christ, Mr Christopher Love, late minister of Laurence-jury, London. Whereunto is annexed The saints rest, or Their happy sleep in death. As it was delivered in a sermon at Aldermanbury, London. Aug. 24. 1651. By Edmund Calalmy. B. D.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Calamy, Edumnd, 1600-1666. Saints rest.	1653 (1653)	Wing L3147; Thomason E1434_3-4; ESTC R209589	82,542	242

they came into the world Are there not many that have lived to gray haires and are hastening to the grave who never put their hands to any work which God sent them into the world for to doe Beloved I would leave with you one sad text of Scripture and it is worthy to be engraven in gold Esay 65.20 Esa 65.20 There shall no more thence be an Infant of dayes nor an old Man that hath not filled his daies for the Child shall die an hundred years old but the siner being an hundred years old shall be accursed This is the most dismal text that I know of in the old Testament to wicked men yet comfortable to the godly It is a promise of the conversion and bringing in of the Gentiles I will give you the sence of it There shall be no more an infant of dayes That is A man that hath lived to many dayes to many yeares and yet hath no more Knowledeg of God hath done no more service to God then a very infant There were many such that lived in the time of the Prophets that were men of dayes yet infants in understanding Knowledg Nor shall there be an old man that hath not filled his dayes That is the old man that doth not act grace that doth not serve and glorifie God that doth not fullfill the duty of every day that fills his daies with sin and not with righteousnesse this is the man that hath not filled his daies There are many such old men in the world whose wrinckled faces and gray-haires doe declare them to be fourscore years of age yet in regard of grace and knowledge they are not come to the age of 14 years Now how may this justly be for rebuke to any of you who are infants of daies who have done God no more service and are no more acquainted with God then Children you have lived many daies but they have bin emptie daies your hearts are full of sin no marvell then that they are so emptie of grace Is there not many a man woman who may with shame and sorrow thus reflect upon selfe before God Have not I lived to 40.60 nay it may be 80 years yet Lord thou knowest my daies are emptie daies I have not done any good all my life time In Scripture dialect when good men die they are said to die in a good old age But an old Drunkard an old Adulterer or an old Swearer dieing in an old age it is a bad old age not a good old age When you come to d●e then Conscience will reflect upon you and say I am an old man but I have not done the work which God sent me in to the world for to doe I have read of an old Disciple who was 90 years of age and being asked the question how old he was he said he was 45 years of age they answered your gray-haires discover you to be much more saith he if that you reckon number of years I have lived fourscore and ten but if I compute how long I have lived a devoted life to God then I am but 45 for the other halfe of my time I lived a dead man O how many are there in the world that have lived as dead men all their dayes There is a passage in Eccles 7.17 Ecles 7.17 Be not over much wicked neither be thou foolish why shouldest thou die before thy time Some Interpreters carry it this way A man walking in drunkenesse excesse and riot doth as it were shorten his daies Others That he that thus lives is dead whilst he lives before his time of death and when death comes he is twice dead Indeed a man cannot die before Gods time Iob 14.5 Iob 14.5 Seeing his dayes are determined the number of his months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that hee cannot passe Now though thou canst not die before Gods time yet thou maist die before thy time that is when thou comest to die before thou art prepared and fitted to die before thou hast done thy worke thou art the man that dost die before thy time And that I take to be the meaning of those words O think of it Though thou canst not die before Gods time yet thou maist die before thy time before thou art fitted for death before thou hast done the worke for which God gave thee thy life If Iesus Christ did pray that his Disciples might not die before they had done their work then what blame are they worthy of from whom if they should live till Doomes day God should have no more service then now he hath and in whom he should then see as much sin as now he doth The next Use is a use of Comfort 3 Vse for Comfort If it be so that Jesus Christ doth not desire that his People should be taken out of the world untill they have don their work Then all you that are Gods people know that as long as God doth continue you here in the world he hath work for you to doe Suppose thou art thrown into Prison consider that is a part of thy work thou must doe for Iesus Christ If thou art a Minister of the Gospel and art under Poverty Repoach or cruel Persecution for Righteousnesse sake consider that this is part of the service that thou art to do for God Christ will not take you away when you have halfe your work for to doe but when you have finished your work then you shall go for to receive your wages I remember a saying of Mr Bolton Bolton when hee was on his Death-bed saith hee O Lord this is my comfort that though I have ended my dayes yet I have done my worke before I die This is comfortable indeed to a godly heart but dreadful to you that are wicked who when you have ended your daies have not begun your work have not begun to serve your God O this will be great gauling of Conscience unto you another day O this will be the worm that will gnaw upon you in hell to all eternity to remember that God set you out your work for to do in this world and vouchsafed you both time and meanes for the accomplishment of it but you trifled away your time sinned away many heavenly opportunities of grace and mercy played all the day long when you had so much work for to doe so that when your daies were at an end you had not begun your work As it was with Charles the King of Sicily Charles King of Sicily who cried out with consternation of heart I have not begun to live and yet I am now going to die O let not this guilt lie upon your Consciences let not this be the worm to gnaw you in Hell to remember that you lived long in the world yet did not the work for which God sent you into the world Now I proceed to the fourth Observation out of these words 4 Doctrin I pray

A CHRISTIANS Duty and Safety IN Evill Times Delivered in severall Sermons upon four Texts of Scripture viz. Christ's Prayer the Saints support on Iohn 17 15 A Divine Ballance to weigh all Doctrines by on 1 Thes 5.21 A Christians great Enquiry on Acts 16.30 31 A Description of True Blessedness on Luke 11.28 By that faithfull Messenger of Jesus Christ Mr CHRISTOPHER LOVE Late Minister of Laurence-jury London Whereunto is annexed The Saints Rest or Their Happy Sleep in Death As it was delivered in a Sermon at Aldermanbury London Aug. 24. 1651. By EDMUND CALAMY B. D. LONDON Printed for E. Brewster and George Sawbridge at the sign of the Bible on Ludgate-hill near Fleet-bridge 1653 TO The Christian READER ALthough God had blessed Mr Love with great abilities yet such was his humility that he judged few or none of his Sermons worthy publique view as hee often sayd to his friends after he had received the Sentence of death yet it is admireable to consider what good entertainment all those pieces have found which have hitherto been published As by this providence God putteth much honour upon the name and memory of this good man so upon this account his deare widdow and friends are prevailed with by importunity to yeeld unto the printing of more Sermons though they bee neither so full nor exact as doubtlesse they would have been if they had come abroad from the Authors own Pen. The matter is wholsome seasonable and profitable much savoring of his gracious spirit who preached them and manifesting unto the world the workings both of his heart and life being zealously devoted unto the service of Christ and Christians soules hereby this faithfull Minister of Christ Jesus though dead yet still speaketh And although he hath finished his Testimony upon earth yet hee is still by his workes serviceable in the land of the living Endeavor in good earnest to make a spirituall improvement of these and such like Helps put by divine providence into thy hand and let the Lord be magnified in thy conversation for all that soul-advantage which thou mayst receive Labour to bee well rooted in the Truths of the Gospell bear up couragiously against the evill of these declining times and because multitudes do shamefully disgrace their Profession by their carnall selfe-seeking and apostacy therefore doe thou the rather hold forth the power of godlinesse in waies of selfe-deniall and faith unto the honour of Christ In him we are Thy Friends and Servants SIMEON ASHE EDM CALAMY JER WHITAKER The Contents of the following Sermons Text. Iohn 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the World But that thou shouldest keep them from the evil The context opened page 1 Four things Observable in the Prayer of Christ Page 2. 1. The time when he made this Frayer pag. 2 Observation It is warantable and commendable for Ministers to pray after their preaching page 2 Observation Christians should then have most holy and ardent affections in their breasts when they are even leaving of this World page 4 Christs practise should be our pattern p. 5 2. The Gesture he used pag. 6. 3. The Manner of his praying pag. 7. 1 He aimed at Gods glory page 7 2 He prayed to God his Father ibid 3 He prayed for his Disciples page 8 4. The matter for what he prayed pag 9. The words of the Text explained page 10. Two Reasons why Christ would not pray that his Disciples might be taken out of the World page 12 1. Doctrin It is not warrantable for any to wish for death because of persecutions or afflictions which they sear or feele pag. 13. Three Reasons of the point 1. Because our lives are great blessings pag. 14. 2. It is more commendable to pray for a sanctified use of Affliction then for deliverance from it p. 15. 3. There is much honour to be gained by a patient bearing of affliction p. 15. Use for Reprehension of such as wish for the day of their death page 16 2 Doctrin In some cases it is lawfull for a man to wish for death p. 19. 1. When he desires it not because of sufferings but because of sin pag. 19. 2 That he may thereby have a more full enjoyment of Christ p. 20 3 Doctrin It is not the desire of Iesus Christ that any of his servants should die so long as he hath any work for them to doe in this Wortd p. 21. Three Uses 1 For Counsel that you would desire to live no longer then that you may serve God and do good to others page 22 2 For Reproofe of those who are hastening to the grave and yet have not begun the work for which God sent them into the World page 26 3 For Comfort when you have finished your work then you shall goe to receive your wages page 31 4 Doctrin No man dies but God doth take him away page 33. Were our lives in owr own hands we should live to long were they in our enemies hands we should die to soon p. 34 5 Doctrin It may be a great comfort to the people of God that they have the prayer of Iesus Christ to keep them from evill whilst they live in the World page 35 Two questions resolved for the clearing of this Doctrine page 36.37 The efficasy of Christ's Prayer continues for ever page 38 Six practical Inferences 1 Christs Prayer should not exclude our prayers p. 40. 2 Christ is praying for us before the Devil is tempting of us p. 42. 3 The remembrance of Christs prayer should check sinfull Motions in us page 43. 4 Christ prayer must not lessen our care page 44 5 There is a pronesse in our nature to be defiled with the evil of the times p. 45. 6 Every man by nature is unable to keep himselfe p. 45 Five Directions how to accomplish the ●rayer of Christ 1 Avoyd all disputing with the Devil page 47 2 Avoyd all occasions unto sin p. 48 3 Consider the Al-seeing eye of God page 49. 4 Chuse suffering rather then sin p. 50 5 Flee to Christ for refuge p. 51 Text 1 Thes 5.21 Prove all things Hold fast that which is good The context opened p. 53 VVhat is meant by prophesying p. 54 Doctrine From the Conrext viz. Those that have attained unto the highest perfection of grace and knowledge that it is possible for men in this life to attain unto are not to despise or neglect the Ordinances of Iesus Christ page 57 1 Reason Our Sanctification is not perfect in this life page 59 2 Reason Sin lyes hidden in the secret corners of the heart page 60 The words of the Text explained VVe must hold fast the truths of the Gospel in judgment that we run not into error page 63 In practise that wee run not into sinne page 64 Doctrine It is the duty of all hearers of the Word to try and prove all Doctrines which they hear page 65 Four Cautions about trying of Doctrines 1 People must not

and therefore death is called a sleep because we must all awake in the morning of the resurrection We are in the grave as in our bed and when the trumpet of God and the voice of the Archangel shall sound wee shall all rise out of our grave as out of our beds Death is but a sleep for a certain time 8. Sleep is a great refreshing to those that are weary sick and when the sick man awakes he is more lively chearful then he was before he fell asleep and therefore sleep is called Medicus laborum redintegratio virium recreator corporum The great Physician of the sick body the redintegration of mans spirits the reviver of the weary body And so it is with death when Gods people awake out of the sleep of death they shall bee more active for God then ever they were before when you lie down in the grave you lie down with mortal bodies It is sown a mortal body 1 Cor. 15.42 43. but ●t shall rise up an immortal body it is sown in dishonour but it shall rise up in honour it is sown a natural body but it shall rise up a spiritual body 9. As in the morning when wee arise out of our beds we then put on our clothes So in the morning of the resurrection wee shall put on a glorious body like to the glorious body of Iesus Christ we shall put on Stolam immortalitatis the garment of immortality 10. As no man when he layeth him down to sleep knoweth the direct time when he shall awake So no man can tell when the resurrection shall be They do but cozen you who say that the general resurrection shall bee such or such a year for as no man can know the minute when he shall awake out of his natural sleep no more can any man know when we shall arise from the sleep of death 11. As it is a very easie thing to awake a man out of sleep it is but jogging of him you wil quickly awake him So it is with the sleep of death it is as easie for Jesus Christ to awake us out of the sleep of death as it is for me or you to awake a man out of sleep in bed Nemo nostrûm tam facilè excitat dormientem de lecto quàm Christus jacentem in sepulchro 12 As when a man ariseth in the morning though he hath slept many houres nay suppose he could sleep twenty yeares together yet notwithstanding when hee awaketh these twenty yeares will seem to bee but as one houre unto him So it will be at the day of judgment all those that are in their graves when they awake it will be tanquam somnus unius horae but as the sleep of one houre unto them 13 Lastly and most especially As sleep seizeth only upon the body and outward senses but doth not seize upon the soul the foul of man is many times most busie when the man is asleep and God hath heretofore revealed most glorious things to his children in Dreams when they have been asleep God appeared unto Abraham and many others in Dreams the body sleeps but the soul wakes So it is with the sleep of Death the body that dies but the soul doth not die There are some men that are not afraid to teach you That the soul sleeps as well as the body and that when the body dies and fals asleep the soul likewise continues in a dull Lethargy veternoso somno correptus neither capable of joy nor sorrow untill the resurrection Beloved This is a very uncomfortable and a very false Doctrine They endeavour to prove it from my Text they say That Stephen when he died fell asleep It is true in regard of his body he fell asleep but his soul did not fall a sleep that which was stoned fell asleep which was his body only for when he was stoning he saw Jesus Christ standing ready to receive his soul into Heaven Lord Jesus saith he receive my spirit Stephens soul could not be stoned though his body was stoned So when Jesus Christ was crucified his soul was not crucified I mean when his body was killed his soul was not killed indeed he did endure torments in his soul which made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But yet his soul did not die So when Stephen died his soul went to Christ It is true when a childe of God dies the soul goes to sleep How is that The soul goes to sleep in a Scripture sense that is it goes to rest in Abrahams bosom O blessed sleep it goes to rest in the embraces of God it goes into the armes of its Redeemer it goes into the heavenly Paradise it goes to be alwayes present with the Lord. But take heed of that wicked opinion to say that the soul sleeps in an Anabaptistical sense that is That itlies in a strange kinde of Lethargy neither dead nor alive neither capable of joy nor forrow untill the resurrection Though Stephens body fell asleep yet his soul did not fall asleep but immediatly went unto Jesus Christ in heaven Thus I have given the Explication of the words Now give me leave to make some Application of all unto our selves Vse 1 If the death of Gods children bee nothing else but a falling asleep then let this comfort us against the deaths of our godly friends though they die unnatural and violent deaths though they be stoned to death though they be burnt to ashes though they bee sawn asunder c. Here is a message of rich consolation which as a Minister of Christ I hold out unto you this day viz. That the death of a child of God let it bee after what manner soever it will it is nothing else but a falling a sleep he goes to his grave as to his bed and therefore our burying places are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dormitoria our sleeping houses A childe of God when hee dies hee lies down in peace and enters into his rest And as a man when he is asleep is free from all the cares and troubles that he hath in the day time So the people of God when they are fallen asleep they are free from all the miseries crosses losses and afflictions that we are troubled withall There fore give me leave to say to you as Christ did to the women that followed him to the Crosse bewailing and lamenting of him O daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your children So say I O weep not for those that are dead in the Lord that are fallen asleep in Jesus Christ they are at their rests they do not know the troubles that wee are troubled withall Abraham remembers us not they are not sensible of our miseries and afflictions let us weep for our selves and for the miseries that are coming upon us and let us know that when Gods children die they doe but lie in their beds untill the morning of

the resurrection and then they shall put on Stolam immortalitatis the garment of immortality and their bodies shall be made like unto the glorious body of Jesus Christ And know one thing more which is all in all viz. That when the body of a childe of God fals asleep his soul immediatly goes into the arms of Christ and there lives for ever in the embraces of Jesus Christ though the body falls asleep yet the soul is received into Abrahams bosom I beseech you comfort one another with these words Vse 2 Let me beseech the people of God that they would look upon death not as it is presented unto us in Nature's Looking-Glasse but as it is set down in a Scripture-dresse Nature presents death in a very terrible manner and it is true death is very terrible to a man out of Christ but to you that are in Christ the sting of death is taken away death is nothing else but a quiet and placid sleep a putting off of our clothes and a going to bed till we awake in the morning of the resurrection Death to a childe of God is nothing else but a putting off his earthly tabernacle a going from an earthly prison into an heavenly palace a hoising up sail for Heaven the letting of the soul out of prison as a bird out of the cage that it may flee to Heaven a change from a temporary hell to an eternal heaven a going out of Egypt into Canaan and therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1.15 It is not mors hominis but mors peccati not the death of the man but the death of his sins It is Sepultura vitiorum It is the pilgrims journeys end the sea-mans haven an absence from the body and a presence with the Lord. Let all Gods people look upon death through Scripture-spectacles and consider it as it is sweetly represented in this Text Remember blessed Stephen stoned to death and yet falling asleep And remember also that excellent saying of Austin That a childe of God should be as willing to die as to put off his cloaths because death is nothing else to him but a sleep and a departure from misery to everlasting happinesse Vse 3 To beseech you all every night when ye go to bed to remember this Text and especially to remember these four things First When you are putting off your cloaths remember that you must shortly put off your bodies And Secondly When you go into your beds remember that it will not bee long before you must go down into your graves And Thirdly When you close your eyes to sleep remember that it will not be long before death must close your eyes And Fourthly When you awake in the morning remember that at the resurrection you must all arise out of the grave and that the just shall arise to everlasting happiness but the wicked to everlasting misery It is a saying of an Heathen man That the whole Life of a man should be nothing else but meditatio Mortis but a meditation of Death And it is the saying of Moses Deut. 32.29 O that men were wise that they understood this that they would consider their later end Beloved it is the greatest part of wisdom every day to remember our later end That man is the only wise man and happy man in Life and Death that is ever mindfull of his Death Quest But before I make an end I must answer one Question v z. Whether the death of the wicked be not in Scripture compared to a sleep as well as the death of the godly Answ I answer That in Scripture wicked men are said to fall asleep when they die 1 Kings 1●● 28. It is said of idolatrous Ieroboam that he slept with his fathers of Baasha and Omri those wicked Kings that they slept with their fathers But then the Question will be In what respect is the death of the wicked compared to a sleep Even as a man which is asleep sometimes hath no benefit rest nor ease thereby when the sick man awakes he is many times more sick then hee was before hee went to sleep Some men are much disquieted in their sleeps by hideous and fearful dreams Nebuchadnezzar when he was asleep had a most scaring dream and when he awoke he was amazed therewith So it is with a wicked man Death to a wicked man is a sleep but it is a terrifying sleep the soul that goes immediatly to hell where it is burned with fire that never shall be quenched and where the worm that never dies is alwayes gnawing upon it The body that indeed lies in the grave asleep but how even as a malefactour that sleeps in prison the night before he is executed but when he awakes he is hurried and dragged to execution so the wicked man fals asleep in death but when he awakes he awakes to everlasting damnation But a childe of God when he sleeps the sleep of death he sleeps in his Fathers house when he awakes he awakes to everlasting happines Vse 4 And this makes way for the fourth and last Use which is a Use of very great consequence And it is to beseech you all that you would labour so to live that when you fall asleep you may sleep an happy sleep There is the sleep that the wicked man sleeps when hee dies and there is the sleep that the godly man sleeps when he dies Now I beseech you labour so to live that when you fall asleep your sleep may be an happy sleep unto you that when you awake in the morning of the resurrection it may bee an happy awakeing unto you Quest But then the great Question will bee How shall I doe this I shall give you five helps for this Answ First If you would sleep an happy sleep at death then you must labour to sleep in lesus Christ It is said 1 Cor. 15.18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ And 1 Thes 4 14. If we beleive that Iesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him What is it to sleep in Jesus To sleep in Jesus is to die in the faith of Jesus Christ 2. To sleep in Jesus is to die with an interest in Jesus Christ to die as a member of Christ united to him as our head For you must know that the dust of a Saint is part of that man who is a member of Jesus Christ and every believer when he sleeps in the dust he sleeps in Jesus Christ that is he lies in the grave and his dust is part of Christ mystical and Christ as an head will raise it up and cannot bee compleat without it Now then if ever you would sleep an happy sleep labour to get a real interest in Christ labour to live in Christ while you live And then when you fall asleep you shall be sure to sleep in Jesus There are many would have Christ to receive their souls at

may also glorifie thee v. 1. The End of Christs Prayer was the glorifying of his Father so the End of our prayers should be the glorifying of God Many men will cry Lord give me glory when they do not with pantings of heart say Lord let me give glory to thy name Christ said Hallowed be thy name expressing his respect to the honouring and glorifying of the name of God that was the first peticion in Christs Prayer to shew that the glorifying of the name of God ought to be the first and cheifest thing in our prayers Christ prayed O my father 2. Christ prayed to God his Father to teach you that you must not only pray with an awful apprehencion of God but also with fiducial confidence in God Heb. 11.6 11. Heb. 6. Without faith it is impossible to please God for he that comes unto him must beleive that he is and that be is the Rewarder of them that diligently seeke him You must never come to God to ask doubtingly but you must come with fiducial confidence as a Child to a Father 3. 3. Christ prayes for his Disciples with great enlargement Christ prayes with great enlargment for the good of his Disciples I doe not read in above 3. or 4. verses that Christ prayed for himself all the rest of the prayer was for his disciples that God would keep them in unity truth and glorify them and all other beleivers with himself in heaven Here then behold the wonderful affection that Jesus Christ beares unto his Church and people that when he was to die he should pray more for the saveing of their souls then for the saveing of his own life o herein the superabundant love of Jesus Christ is manifested who when he was in expectation to die a painful shameful accursed death under going the wrath of God due unto our sins yet that then he would remember his elect servants in whose stead he stood and for whose sins he died with such enlargement of heart in prayer The fourth Circumstance considerable in this prayer of Christs is the matter for what he prayed 4. Circu The matter for what Christ prayed And that is layd down 2 wayes 1. Negatively who should not be the subject matter of his prayer I pray not for the world v. 9. This is a good argument against those that plead for universal Redemption If Iesus Christ would not spend his breath to pray for them then surely he would not spend his precious bloud to purchase heaven for them Then it is layd down Affirmatively whom he prayed for I pray for them that thou hast given me for they are thine you that are elected you that are regenerated I pray for you He makes many requests unto his Father in the behalfe of his Disciples that God would keep them that they might be one with him v. 11. That God would sanctify them v. 17. That they might come to heaven and be with Christ v. 24. And as in the text I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil The words you see are set down two wayes The words explained 1 Negatively what Christ did not pray for in the behalfe of his Disciples I pray not that thou should est take them out of the world 2. Affirmatively what Iesus Christ did pray for I pray that thou shouldest keep them from the evil of the world Questiō It may be demanded why Christ sayd these words That he would not pray that his Disciples might be taken out of the world Jesus Christ knew that his end was at hand Answer that his houer was comeing that he should depart out of the world 13. Iohn 1. Now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto his Father having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end when the Disciples heard this they thought thus with themselves Lord if thou wilt leave this world what will become of us when thou art gone we shall be in the world as a ship without a Pilot as sheep without a Shepard and therefore they prayed that they might die with Christ Iohn 11.16 Ioh. 11.16 Then said Thomas which is called Didymus unto his fellow Disciples Ioh. 13.37 let us also goe that we may die with him And 13 Iohn 37. Peter said unto him Lord why cannot I follow thee now I will lay down my life for thy sake The Apostles were all on fire to die for Jesus Christ Now Christ seeing them so willing to die therefore to check this impetuous mocion he tells them that he would not pray that they should now die but saith he I will pray unto my Father that when I am gone and you remaine behinde me in the world he would keep you from the evil of the World Now if you should aske me what especial Reason there was why Iesus Christ would not pray that they might be taken out of the world Reasons why Christ would not pray that his Disciples might be taken out of the world I Answer 1. If the Disciples had dyed when Iesus Christ dyed then peeple would have thought that they had bin sharers 1. Reason or co-partners with Christ in purchaseing our Salvacion Esa 63.3 Hence it is sayd that Christ did tread the wine-presse of his Fathers Wrath alone and that there was none with him Christ will have the sole honour of our Salvacion There were two common theeves two unworthy persons that dyed with Christ that the world might see that it was Christ's death alone that merited Salvacion for men A second Reason is this 2. Reason Christ did not pray that the Disciples might be taken out of the world because he had further work for them to do here in the world As if he had sayd I have the Gospel for you to divulge and propogate souls for you to convert mine Elect to gather in therefore I will not pray the Father to take you out of the world but to keepe you from the Evil of the world though I will not pray to keep you from the evill of Afflictions and Persecutions which for my namesake ye must expect to meet withal in the world yet I will pray to keep you from the evil of sin that you fall not into sin through the allurements or frownes of the world the malicious temptations of Satan the suggestions and inclinations of your own corrupt hearts when I am gone I will pray that my Father would keep you from the evil of the times and places in which you live 3. The words thus explained I shall draw five Conclusions from them First from Christs refusing to pray to his father to take the Disciples out of the world they desireing to die with Christ for feare of persecution Thence observe Doctrin That it

is not warrantable for any to wish for Death because of persecutions and afflictions which they do feele or feare Ionah 4.3 This you finde was the fault of Ionah ch 4. v. 3. Now therefore O Lord I beseech thes take away my life from me for it is better for me to die then to live This he said in a pettish humour being displeased and angry that the Ninevits were spared thinking that therein he should be accounted a false prophet Because of affliction or reproach in the world to desire death is a thing that the Scripture doth not warrant 1. Reason why we should not with for dea●h And the Reasons thereof are three 1 Because your lives are great blessings and you doe vallue them at too low a rate when you thus rashly wish for death It is true there are some men that doe vallue their lives at too high a rate and they are such as will not lay down their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ his truth and peeple when they are called thereunto Others there are that doe vallue their lives at too low a rate and they are such as wish to be taken out of the world because of troubles and afflictions that they meet withal in the world Now this is a sin this is an undervaluing of your life which is the greatest of all temporal blessings A second Reason is this 2 Reason Because it is a more commendable thing to pray that God would in his due time remove trouble from us then to cry out Lord remove us from trouble to pray that God would sanctify our hearts paciently and thankefully to beare those crosses that he shall be pleased to exercise us withal rather than deliver us from trouble by taking us out of the world for God hath ten thousand wayes to free us from trouble besides laying us in the grave he can put an end to our troubles and yet lengthen out our lives 3. There is more honour to be gained by a patient bearing of our burden then by being delivered from it 3 Reason The Souldier never growes famous for his vallour until he comes to bear the brunt of the Battel in the Field And the Christian never shines in grace untill he comes into the fire of afflictions especially if he suffer in bearing witnesse unto the truth of Christ Therefore we should be content yea rejoyce in our sufferings and not desire death to be rid of the troubles of this life If it be so Vse of Reprehension that it is not warrantable for any man to desire death because of any Affliction he feares or feeles Then hence I draw a Use of Reprehension to many sorts of men in the world But cheifly to you that are of such passionate and peevish spirits froward and distempered soules that if God doth but lay upon you any affliction if he doth but mingle any crosses with your comforts any gall and wormwood with your pleasant things so that it may be your estates are taken away your persons imprisoned and your worldly comforts taken from you oh then in a peevish mood with Ieremy you curse the day of your birth And with Ionah you wish for the day of your death Now this is sinful It is true Good men have failed herein as Job chap. 6. v. 8.9 Iob 6 8 9. O that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing I long for even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off Here you see Iob wisheth for death yea even longs for death wooes as it were destruction and is an importunate and earnest suiter for the grave and all this was because Gods afflicting hand was sore upon him And we finde him expressing the same distemper in the name of others Iob. 3.2 Job 3 21. Which long for death but it cometh not and digg for it more then for hid treasure There is a sharpnesse and bitternesse in bodily death yet some are so afflicted in body and so oppressed in spirit that they account the very bitternesse of death to be sweetnesse the gall and wormwood of Affliction makes death to such as sweet as honey and as much longed for as the honey comb And they doe not onely long for it but they dig for it and that not in an ordinary way but they dig as for treasure yea as for hidden treasure which shewes the earnestnesse of this desire after death This distemper also seised upon the spirit of the Prophet Elijah ● Kings 19 ● 1. Kings 19.4 He himselfe went a dayes journy into the wilderness and came and sa●e down under a Iumper Tree and he requested for himselfe that he might die and sayd it is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am not better then my fathers The reason of this pettish desire in Elijah was because Iezebel who had slain many of the Lords prophets did threaten also to take away his life It may bee many of you to whom I speak have lost your estates your tradeing now are in poverty and lie under disgrace and therefore you are apt and ready to wish that God would take you out of the world but know that this is a very sinful frame of spirit to long for death only to be freed from the troubles of this life to desire to lie down in the bed of the grave only to ease our bodies and rest our outward man If we think life not worth the continuing in this world unlesse we enjoy our outward comforts ease plenty and prosperitie honor wealth and friends we do hereby much undervalue the great blessing of life This at the best is an infirmity and this Christ here rebuked in his Disciples Again because Christ would not pray for his Disciples to be taken out of the world they desiring death fearing persecution 2d Doct. When it is lawfull to with for death Here it may be intimated That in some cases it is lawfull for a man to desire to die as First when he desires it not because of sufferings but because of sins when a man doth desire to shake off a body of flesh that he might be rid of and freed from a body of sin this is commendable This was Pauls prayer 2. Cor. 5.8 We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 2. Cor. 56. To desire death not because it doth kill thy person and ease thy paine but because it doth kill thy corruption and put an end to thy sining not as a postern gate to let out thy temporal but as a street door to let in eternal life in this case it is lawful 2. It is lawful to desire death that thou maist thereby have a more full enjoyment of Jesus Christ This the Apostle sets down Phil. 1.23 Phil. 1.23 I am in a streight betwixt two having a desire to depart