Answer art thou a Christian indeed and dost thou talk after this manner as if thou wert a Stranger to God to Christ to Heaven and the Happiness of Glorified Saints there whom is it thou callest Father every time thou Prayest is it not the God of Heaven What dost thou make of Jesus Christ thy Professed Lord and Saviour whose love to thee was so great that he would manifest it in no other way than that by which he might most endear himself unto thee and most strongly engage thy Love and Affections unto him and that was by laying down his Life and shedding of his Blood a a Ransom for thy Soul and a propitiation for thy Sins whom thou professest also to believe that he is Aseended up into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God presenting his Blood and Sufferings before the Throne of the Majesty on high that both thy self and thy Services that are Impure and Imperfect in themselves may yet be accepted through him Is it not through his Righteousness alone that thou hopest for Justification unto Life and Happiness and through his Strength that thou art enabled to perform all thy Duties and yet dost thou not know him what a strange thing is this But alas sayest thou it is very little that I know of him never did I see him in all my days But what if thou hast not beheld him with thy Bodily Eyes yet canst thou not say with the Apostle whom having not seen yet thou hast and dost believe in him and sometimes it may be so as to rejoyce with that Joy that is unspeakable and full of Glory and tho' thou hast not known him after the Flesh yet thou hast known him after the Spirit though thou hast known him but a little and what thou dost see and know of him Spiritually is but through a Glass darkly yet be not dejected fear not for he knows thee perfectly and hath separated thee and set thee apart for himself from Eternity and hath effectually called thee in time Justified thee by his Grace yea he knows thee by Name and now in the approach of Death he is coming to take thee to himself where thou shalt see him as he is and know him as thou art known of him And as for those Glorious Creatures the Angels and Saints in Heaven methinks it should even Ravish thee to think how those Noble and Excellent Creatures will flock about thee and bid thee welcome into Heaven as one greatly beloved of the Lord saying unto thee not as the Angel once said unto the two Mary's Mat. 28. come see the place where the Lord lay but come see the Throne where thy Lord sits in all his Majesty and Glory But may some say I may well be afraid to die because it is that which puts an end to my life and being here and who can without fear look upon himself and see his Body withering and decaying and not be troubled at it is not Death the great Dread and Terror of the World Job therefore calls it The King of Terrors O how doth the Expectations of Death appale the Faces weaken the Hands shake the Hearts imbitter the Pleasures and damp and cool the Spirits even of the Mighty ones of the Earth Should God say unto many that they should set their Houses in Order for they shall die and not live should they see a Tekel written upon their Walls their days are finished this night shall their Souls be taken from them what sad Lamentations would most Men make Life O how sweet is it to them all that they have would they give for their Lives doth not Nature it self teach us to seek the Preservation of our Beings and abhors whatever tends to its Dissolution as death doth To this I Answer because of this abhorrency of Death which is implanted in the Nature of all Men living there may be even in the best of God's People a fear of Death and an unwillingness to die Our Lord himself who was without Sin discovers something of this who though to shew his great willingness and readiness to die for Sinners said I have a Baptism to be Baptized withal which was the Baptism of his Blood and how am I straitned till it be accomplished thinking long for the coming of the day of his Death whereby the work of our Redemption was in a great measure to be accomplished yet when Death came to him see how his pure and innocent Nature was put to it when he cry'd out Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me It is true in his Case there was more than Death in it there was wrath there was a curse there was all the Sins of the World wrung into that Cup to mingle him a bitter draught but this was also something of it for there was Death in the Cup. It will therefore be the Wisdom of Christians to whatever measure of confidence and assurance they may have attained so as upon good grounds to have overcome the fears of Death and to look upon their dying day as the most joyful day in their lives yea though in this confidence their Hearts may sometimes pant after the coming of that day and they ready to cry out make haste my beloved come Lord Jesus come quickly yet will it be your wisdom to buckle on all your Armour to get all your Evidences and Experiences ready for the conflict of that day and hour may be such as that you may stand in need of your utmost Preparations for you know not how the Flesh may shrink in the day of Trial. But if it should be so yet be not discouraged O Christian for possibly this very instance of our Lord may be left upon Record for this very end to comfort his People when they shall be overtaken with the same fears and troubles And as for the sweetness of this present Life the losing whereof makes thee to fear Death let me ask thee this Question Who art thou that art so fond of this present Life Art thou a Christian indeed and in truth or dost thou only make a profession of Religion without the life and power of Godliness If thou art only an outward professor I wonder not that thou shouldst set so high a price and value upon life and art so unwilling to part with it because all thy happiness is terminated in things that are enjoyed on this side Death and the Grave for as for those great and glorious things that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor can possibly enter into the Heart of Man to conceive that God hath prepared for them that love him and which are to be enjoyed beyond time in Eternity thou hast no lot or portion in those matters What wonder therefore if thou mourn and sigh even to the breaking of thy Loyns when Death comes to put an end to thy Life for then it separates between thee and thy happiness for ever But if thou art one that truly
such a sufficient Ransome no man can give to God Christ is indeed become a Ransome for Believers but it is to deliver them not from the first but from the second Death for as to the first Death it is appointed unto all Men once te dye Some have a longer time in this world and others a shorter but all dye one goes before and another follows after one Man rots in the Grave and makes it empty that he which is yet alive may have a place to lye down therein We all dwell in houses of clay whose foundations are in the dust which will shortly tumble down into it Earthly Tabernacles we have that must be dissolved and laid in the Earth here we have no abiding place Death and the Grave will shortly take all for all go to one place all are of the dust and all turn to dust again Eccles 3.20 Some are sent before and others follow after but all go the same way some have a long Race to run others but a short but Death is at the end of both To him that is old Death is certainly near and to him that is young Death is not far off He that dyes not till he is old travels a long way before he meets with Death whereas he that dyes young hath but a short way to his long home Death meeting him betimes but still whither young or old all must dye the decree is gone forth and there is no reversing of it There is an appointed time to Man upon Earth as Job speaks and when that is expired Death cuts him off and throws him into the Grave the house appointed for all living Death is inexorable it spares none and the Grave is in atiable it is not satisfied with any when it hath the Husband it gapes for the Wife when it hath the Parent it gapes for the Child when it hath one Generation it gapes for another one Generation passeth away and another Generation cometh and the latter crowds the former out of the world No Man hath a dispensation against Death there must be a dissolution of all things and therefore a dissolution of all Men. No Man hath more Priviledge than another against the Sentence of Death the greatest Prince dyes as soon as the meanest Peasant Neither Power nor Wisdom neither Strength nor Riches neither Beauty nor Honour nor any outward Excellency whatsoever can protect any against the stroke of Death these things can do much among Men yea every thing but they avail not against Death powerful Death despiseth them all Power can do nothing to ward off the stroke of Death from any where is Alexander and Casar and all the Great Conquerors of the World why they and all their Greatness and Power are gone down into the Grave and after all their Conquests over others have yielded themselves up as conquered by Death There is no Title can be given unto Man which sets him farther off from Death than to call him God and this high Title God himself hath honoured some Men with Psal 82.6.7 I said ye are Gods but least they should be lifted up with Pride with the same Breath he adds an humbling Consideration to take down all proud and lofty Thoughts but ye shall dye like Men. Kings and Princes that are the greatest for worldly Power and have the priviledge to be called Gods yet have they not the priviledge of God not to dye like men No Mans Wisdom can save him from dying Death will be too hard for the most cunning Politician Wisdom is an excellent Gift of God and renders a Person lovely in the Eyes of all it makes a mans face to shine it sets a Glory and Beauty upon a Mans Person and Actions a Man can hardly give a greater Commendation of any Man than to say he is a Wise Man and yet of Solomon not only the wisest of Kings but the wisest of Men it is said than he stept with his Fathers as well as others and though he tells us Wisdom excells Folly as far as Light excells Darkness yet we know wise men dye as well as the foolish and bruitish person We read indeed of a poor Wise Man that by his Wisdom delivered a City but we never read of any that by their Wisdom delivered themselves or others from Death no for as there is no work no levise in the Grave whither we are going so is there no Knowledge or Wisdom that can keep a man from going into the Grave Eccless 9.10 No Man by his strength can overcome Death Bodily health and strength are no defence at all against Death It is true they are great Mercies where God gives them unto any a sickly weakly Man is burthensome to himself and others though God heaps upon him other Mercies in abundance as Wealth Honours and Relations yet he takes little delight in them the want of Health imbitters all whereas a Man that is hcalthful and strong takes delight in every Comfort and Enjoyment though it be even poor and mean in comparison of what others have but though health and strength be so great a Mercy yet can they not withstand the Power of Death they may make a man dye with strong pains upon his bed but they cannot defend him against Death If God bestow upon any of us a strong healthy Body it is a great Mercy and we ought to be thankful for it but we may be soon laid in the Grave for all that Death should not be a stranger to us because sickness and distempers are strange things to us for we have not long Life much less can we escape the stroke of Death because we are bealthy and strong for in the fullness of our strength we may be in Death one dyeth in the fullness of his strength when his Bones are full of Marrow As for the strength of any Man though he be a Sampson yet this great Leviathan Death counts it but as straw and the soundest and purest health but as rotten wood David complains that the Sons of Zerviah were too hard for him But there are none such that are too hard for Death Death stays not to take men at advantage when they are weakned with age and sickness as Simeon and Levy did the Schecemites when they were sore Gen. 34.25 No Death can do its work as easily and as speedily in health as in sickness in strength as under weakness No man by his Riches can protect himself against Death all the Riches in the world are too low a Value to ransome any from Death and the Grave Solomon tells us Money answers all things and indeed rich Men can do great things by their Wealth many seek the favour of such their Riches make them many Friends The Wise Man tells us The rich mans wealth is his strong City Prov. 18.11 by reason whereof they trust to their Wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their Riches thinking they are well provided for against all Evils What made
Majesty of Heaven condescends so low as to entreat us with more Earnestness and Affection to pity our own Souls and accept of a Pardon then Guilty Condemned Sinners desire to obtain it but when this Life is at an end there shall be no more Offers of Mercy but the Blood of Christ shall then be a Spring shut up and a Fountain Sealed that none can wash in it and be Cleansed Death Seals up the State of a Sinner for ever You know what Abrabam tells the Rich Man in Hell in Luke 16.26 Between us and you says he there is a great Gulf fixed so that they that would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence The State and Condition that Men enter upon after Death is fixed and unalterable Therefore O Sinner what thou dost for God for Heaven for thy Soul do it quickly for this is the only Time and Season for thee to work in and as thou now Sowest so thou shalt Reap for ever The State of Man under Death being thus it greatly concerns all Men to wait for Death Job tells us it should be his Practice Job 14.14 All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change comes Now waiting as it relates unto Death may include three things Meditation Expectation and Preparation First Meditation He that waits for the Accomplishment of any Worldly Business especially if it be of Concernment to him how busie will his Mind and Thoughts be in musing upon it He now that is waiting for the coming of Death considering both the certainty of it that it will come and the uncertainty of it when it will come and believes withal that Eternal Happiness or Eternal Misery will be that State to which Death will bring him cannot but have his Thoughts much taken up about it This will make a Soul Truly and Spiritually Wise and therefore the Psalmist Prays Lord teach us to number our Days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom He that is truly Wise will Meditate of Death and he that Meditates of Death will be truly Wise The more we number our Days and think of our Time the fewer Sins we shall have to number for as a Copy is then safest from blotting when dust is thrown upon it so are we from Sinning when we remember we are but Dust Secondly Waiting includes in it Expectation That which we wait for we are in Expectation of and that Man may be said to wait for Death that in every Action of his Life in every Alteration of his State and Condition saith to himself well I must Die when though his Bones are full of Marrow though Riches come in upon him like a Flood yet saith he I must die I have no abiding Place here I am but a Stranger and Sojourner in this World as all my Fathers were I have now Wife and Children Friends and Lands but I cannot enjoy any of these for ever no nor my Life it self for I have but a Lease of it and that but a short one too which will soon expire I expect Death daily even in the midst of all my Enjoyments I am but a Steward of all that I have here and I must shortly be called to an Account such and such are gone before me and I am following after The other day Death snatched away such a dear Relation from me this day it hath seized upon such a Friend and Acquaintance and to morrow the same Messenger may come for me It is that I expect and therefore I wait for it Thirdly Waiting includes in it Preparation He that waits for Death ought to be preparing for it This now is exceeding Requisite because it is above the reach of Words to express how much depends upon this Preparation it is that our whole Life should have respect unto every thing that we do ought to have a tendency in it to make Death Comfortable But of this Preparation for Death I shall speak more hereafter in its proper place This waiting for Death by way of Meditation on it by way of Expectation of it and by way of Preparation for it is very necessary considering what an Important difficult Work the Work of dying is and this will appear if we consider two things First what Death is Secondly what Death doth First what Death is and here are three things considerable Death is a Deprivation Death is a Desolution and Death is a Destruction All which make Death terrible and the Work of dying difficult First Death is a Deprivation It strips us of all those Comforts that in this World did Refresh us Friends Relations Lands Houses these have often delighted us while we live yea it may be too much by setting our Affections inordinately upon them and now what Grief of Soul doth it create to us violently by Death to be torn from them but part we and they must whether we will or no and that for ever Job tells us We came naked into the World and we shall return naked out of it The Apostle indeed seems to intimate as if some Men in our days could scarcely believe it and therefore to beat Men off from such a conceit he tells them 1 Tim. 6.7 We brought nothing with us into this World this is true and all Men will grant it and says the Apostle it is certain we shall carry nothing out of it Death makes all lie equal in the Dust Secondly Death is a Dessolution In Life Soul and Body are united and live lovingly together there is a near union between them a union which because of their long Acquaintance and Co-habitation together is become so dear that no union can be more desirable as to the continuance of it nor no union more dreaded as to the Dissolution of it except it be the Spiritual union between Christ and the Soul There are several kinds of unions and generally Love is the ground of them all There is an union of Friendship between one Friend and another whom Love hath united so strongly that they seem to Act as if one Soul animated them both so Jonathan loved David even as his own Soul This is a strong union There is also a Relative union between Parents and Children so Jacob loved Benjamin so that it is said his Life was bound up in the Life of the Lad This is a stronger union than the former There is also a Marriage union between a Man and his Wife and this is a stronger union than either of the former Man and Wife making but one Flesh as the Scripture speaks But yet there is a union that is stronger and nearer than any of these Vnions and that is the Vnion between Soul and Body for these two make but one Person Now all dis-unions are uncomfortable and some dis-unions are dreadful and as some dis-unions are dreadful so those dis-unions are most dreadful which rend that from us that is nearest and dearest to us
Word of God into his hand and falls a Reading of it where he meets with some things Commanded by God which possibly through ignorance or heedlessness he did not take notice of before to be his Duty Conscience at such a time takes part with the Word of God and by its Admonitions helps forward the Convictions of the Word upon the Heart of a Sinner that so there may be an Obediential Conformity thereunto Here now Conscience is a Faithful Monitor At another time when a Sinner hath not only through carelessness but through wilfulness and presumption fallen into the Commission of some great and horrid Sin possibly at such a time some Friend comes to him and deals plainly and freely with him by reproving him sharply and severely for his Sin Conscience now joyns in with the Reproof and becomes as true a Friend unto the Sinner as any he hath if he will but hearken unto him here now Conscience thunders out both the Threatnings of the Law and the Vengeance of the Gospel telling the Sinner that they that do such things are worthy of Death nay that they deserve Hell for because of these things sake says Conscience cometh the Wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience Conscience here now shews it self an exact and upright Reprover But then there is another Office that Conscience hath and that is to be an Accuser and this Office it commonly makes use of when it is throughly awakened upon a Death-bed for when a Man comes to lie upon a Sick-bed and sees the Visions of Death and the Grave before him the Charges of Conscience at such a time upon a Sinner are most quick and smart for Conscience being just as it were a going to give up its Accounts unto the Great God the Judge of all Flesh where it will speak nothing but the Truth begins now to give the Sinner some Account of what it must and will say before the Tribunal of God then And this is one Reason why Conscience is so strict and so severe in its Charge against the Soul that it will let nothing pass that comes into the mind of a Sinner without leaving some stinging Remembrances of its former guilt even such as are more bitter than Death it self This now makes Dying to be so hard and difficult a Work O happy Souls are they who at such a time have their hearts sprinkled from the Evil of an Accusing Conscience by the Blood of Jesus Christ for they only can have Peace and Comfort in the hour of Death This Work of dying though it be so hard and difficult a Work yet is it that we must all undergo for Death is continually hastening towards us The Blessed Apostle St. Paul thought Death always to be near it made such speed to him that he lookt upon himself always as a dying Man and therefore he tells us That he did die daily 1 Cor. 15.31 and in Rom. 8.36 For thy sake says he we are killed all the day long we are counted as Sheep for the Slaughter And if we make Hezekiah's Reckoning to be our own though he was under a fit of Sickness when he said it but we are in Health yet we shall not be much mistaken in the Account when he tells us From day even unto night says he thou wilt make an end of me What though Death hath not laid his cold hands upon us by some Mortal Disease yet may he not lie in Ambush for us and cut us off suddenly Time hath Wings and flies away swiftly from us and truly Death doth not creep but with the same swiftness posts towards us Man is wasting and consuming every day his Body wastes his Strength wastes his Parts waste his Time wastes yea his very Life wastes and whither tend all these Consumptions and Wastings but only to the hastening of Death neither will these end till they terminate in Man's Dissolution But though Man in this Life is always hurrying on unto Death yet how few are there that consider how suddenly themselves or others may die we easily and slightly pass over the Thoughts of Death and the suddenness of its approach because it is that we have no mind to We would not yet die our selves and therefore we will not think we shall Guests that are unwellcome to us we either keep them out of our Houses or turn them out as soon as we can Such are the Thoughts of Death either of our own or others and therefore if possible we endeavour to keep them out of our minds altogether but if sometimes they will thrust in upon us we turn them out again as soon as we can filling our Thoughts with some other things But alas this will not do always for the Thoughts of Death will return again upon some occasions or other God by some Providence may be will awaken Conscience and stir up Thoughts of Death in our minds let us do what we can to hinder them yea though we do what we can to stifle them but this is no thanks to us for of our selves we will not be brought to think of or regard how suddenly others do and our selves may die till by some sad Providence we are brought to the Sick bed of some Friend whom Death hath bedewed with cold Sweats and rackt with Convulsims so that he lies gasping and dying before us till our Eyes be brought thus to Affect our Hearts our Hearts are seldom Affected as they ought with the Sence of our Mortality Now as Death comes suddenly upon many so commonly it comes violently upon wicked Men their Souls are not surrendred or delivered up unto God but they are rent and torn from them by Force and Violence A wicked Man cannot commend his Soul into the Hands of God when he is dying Indeed we have a form of making the Wills of dying Men wherein the Person that lies upon his Death-Bed says I commend my Soul into the Hands of God which in the Judgment of Charity because we have nothing to do to Censure Mens Eternal State in the General we must not wholly Condemn yet it is to be feared that few that say those words do it heartily and sincerely and upon such Grounds as God will accept and receive when they leave their Bodies There are some who have lived in Sin all their Days yet have strong presumptions of the Mercy of God upon their Death-beds God is a merciful God say they and therefore with boldness and confidence they commend their Souls unto him relying upon his Mercy for Salvation But such are strangely Ignorant of the method of God in saving Sinners and by Custom in Sin and the Judgment of God upon them for it they are become insensible their Consciences are seared and asleep and so neither their Sin nor the misery they are liable to for Sin doth in the least trouble them But otherwise the Death of a wicked Man is violent he doth not resign up his Soul unto God but it is
PRACTICAL DISCOURSES CONCERNING DEATH AND HEAVEN DISCOVERING The great Necessity of a speedy Preparation for Death with the danger of neglecting or delaying such Preparations ALSO The Excellency Glory and Happiness of Heaven opened and explained as the Portion of all true Believers after Death By Nathanael Ranew late of London Bookseller London Printed for N. R. and sold by J. Robinson A. and J. Churchill J. Taylor and J. Wyat. 1694. TO THE READER Christian Reader THE Desire of all Men is to be Happy and the Design of these Discourses is to bring Men to the Enjoyment of the highest Happiness The former Treatise being a Discourse of Death and the Grave which are as a Way through which all must pass to the attaining of this Happiness is that which is not acceptable but grievous unto Flesh and Blood The Dissolution of the Union between Soul and Body a turning to corruption and rottenness in the Grave where Worms shall gnaw and feed upon those Bodies that now are the Beauty and Comeliness of this lower Creation as quickned and animated by Rational and Immortal Souls that inhabit in them this is that which Nature dreads and of all things in the World most abhors and where there are in any no higher Principles to act from than what is founded in Nature to such Death must needs be very terrible because it is that which tends to its ruine and destruction Now it being the State and Condition of all Men by Nature since their Apostacy from God to have a prevailing Principle and Inclination in them unto the Creature and to take up with the Enjoyments of this World for their Happiness when Death comes to break asunder the Bonds of Life such Persons are of all Creatures most miserable and no wonder then if Death be formidable unto them If now upon this or any other account there be any thing in the pale face of Death that makes it have a grim and ghastly Aspect so that the thoughts of it are frightful and amazing to thee and thou startest back as one that is afraid to die yet be not discouraged from studious Meditations of Death for though at the first they may be terrible yet when thou hast accustomed thy self unto such Contemplations thou wilt find them very profitable and such as will by the Blessing of God work thy Heart into such a serious frame and put thee upon those Endeavours and Practices as have a tendency in them to fit thee for the approach of Death which will much abate the fears and dread thereof unto thee And as a farther encouragement unto so beneficial an employment take into thy most serious thoughts the Glory and Happiness of Heaven unto which Death brings all those that are prepared for it which is the subject of the second part of these Discourses and truly this is a State of so great Bliss and Happiness as may well lift up thy Soul above all the discouragements of the pains and torments of Sickness the horrours and fears of Death in the separation of Soul and Body thereby and the loathsomeness and corruption of the Grave and fill thee with vehement longings and desires after the possession and enjoyment of it I need not I hope make any Apology for the publishing of that which may be helpful to prepare Christians for Death and Heaven and such is the design of the following Discourses and that they may be so read them over attentively meditate on them seriously pray over them fervently and practice what is contained in them diligently and constantly and through the Blessing of God they will be effectual to bring thee unto the Happiness of Heaven which is the earnest and hearty Desire and shall be the daily Prayer of the Publisher If thou reapest any benefit hereby give God the Glory for his Assistance herein and let him have thy Prayers who desires nothing so much as the Honour of God and the good of Souls Farewel An Introduction Practical Preparation for Death CHAP. I. Of Death in general Of the sorts and kinds of Death mentioned in Scripture Death befalls all Men there is no withstanding of it nor any priviledged from it The time of Death urknown unto us yet Fixed and Appointed by GOD. Death makes all equal Sin subjects unto Death DEATH is a Subject every Christian should often have in his thoughts because it is that unto which he is lyable every moment of his Life neither the hearing thinking nor speaking of it can therefore be unseasonable at any time And tho' Considerations of Death to living Men are usually most unwelcome yet are they as profitable to promote the Interest of a Christian as any other for no Man can live well till he can dye well and no Man is so prepared for Death as he who frequently imploy's his Thoughts in the Consideration of his own Frailty and Mortality Indeed Custom hath made it become almost an improper thing either for a Minister to Preach of Death without the Representation of a Funeral or for one Christian to speak unto another of their Latter End without it be in the House of Mourning where an Example of their Mortality is before their eyes But if the Mouths of Christians were more frequently filled with Discourses of Death and the Grave to which all are hastening but know not who shall get thither soonest they would find such Benefit and Advantage thereby in the quickning and hastning their Preparations for their dissolution that they might always be in a readiness when Death shall come as would infinitely make amends either for the unaccustomariness of the Work or whatever pains and labour they had taken with their hearts to render them fit for the coming of their Lord. What Death is is as little known unto some as it is consider'd by most many take it to be nothing but a Cessation of Life and all actings in this World and it were well if there were not too many to be found who think this to be all that Death doth and when they are thus dead there is an end of them making themselves no better than the Beast that perisheth Happy were it for all wicked Men if Death were no more than this But though Death be a Cessation of Natural Life and so of all Natural Motion and Action yet is it more properly a Separation between Soul and Body whereby the Body becomes a dead unactive thing because the Soul which is the Principle of Life and Operation hath forsaken it but yet Death as it reacheth not the Soul at all for that lives after its Separation from the Body so it shall not for ever keep Soul and Body asunder but only until God's appointed Time and then shall the Body be raised again out of the Grave by the mighty Power of GOD and united to the Soul to live together in a state of Blessedness or Misery for ever according to what they have both been and done together in this World
said of it is but like the painting of the fire to the eye which expresseth not the pain and anguish that is in it unto the Senses For if we understand by Death a Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Death I may allude to what the Psalmist saith of the Power of God's Anger Who knows the Power of thine Anger So who knows the dreadfulness of the Horror and Pain that is contained in thee O Death according to our Fear of thee So yea and much greater is the Misery which the wrath of God by thee inflicts upon all those that live and dye in their sins But though Death be thus terrible yet is it the more common acceptation of it that chiefly affects the generality of Mankind for as for Spiritual Death or Death in sin because of the present pleasures and Delights which bewitch the Senses this they are insensible of And as for Eternal Death that is looked upon by many as a Dream or Notion as a thing that may never be or if among some it be credited for a Truth yet is it looked upon as that which is a great way off and if the terror of it doth startle the Consciences of some yet are they soon quieted with such thoughts as these Christ dyed for all and God is a merciful God and so they hope all shall be well with them But now for Temporal Death which consists in the separation of the Soul from the Body this is so much Death to them that they think there is no other but that at least they apprehend none so prejudicial to them This is a Truth so evident that which way soever they go or turn objects of Mortality present themselves before their eyes in the Death of Friends Relations and others whereby the reigning Power of Death over all is visible sweeping away all Men before it into the Grave the place of silence and rottenness yea themselves are not without some symtoms of their approaching dissolution diseases and distempers as well as business and employments wasting and consuming their bodies dayly whereby they may be convinced that they also are made of the same Mould and must shortly be crumbled into the same Dust with others Thus Death meeting with them so often and staring them so frequently in their faces gives them to understand that there is no way for them to escape its stroke the thoughts whereof cannot but now and then make them fear and tremble But though nothing be more certain than Death yet nothing is more uncertain than the Time of Death For though all shall dye yet all do not dye at the same time nor after the same manner To some God gives long Warning Nature wasting and consuming in them by lingring Distempers with others God is more quick shooting them with an Arrow as it were and suddenly they are wounded unto Death and Destruction Some their hoary Heads are found in the Way of Righteousness and they come to their Graves in a good old Age others arise early to that height of Impiety that the Earth groans under the burthen of their great Wickedness and God is so provoked thereby that he causeth the Earth to swallow them up quick to some the Promise of Long Life made for an Encouragement to Obedience and Holy Walking is turned into a Performance God satissying them with length of days and then leaves them to depart in peace shewing them his Salvation others God cuts off in the midst of their days and of their sins also and they go down quick into the Grave and into Hell too Though the days of a good Man at the most are but few yet because of some special Goodness they are often prolonged so though the days of a wicked Man at the most are but few yet because of some special Wickedness they are often shortned The Wise Man proves this Assertion Prov. 10.27 The fear of the Lord prolongeth or adds to days but the days of the wicked shall be shortned As every Man because he is a Sinner shall live but few days so some shall not live half their days because they are Notorious Sinners The short of it is this Death doth not always give Warning how many rise in the Morning that make their Beds in the Grave before the Evening How many go well to Bed at Night whose Sleep is their Death and they arise no more until the Morning of the Resurrection How often have we seen many projecting for themselves and theirs great things in the World laying house to house and land to land that with the Fool in the Gospel they might eat drink be merry for many year when on a sudden or in that very Night their souls have been taken from them To presume therefore of Long Life and thereupon to neglect to prepare for Death is the great 〈◊〉 piece of Folly imaginable for scarce is 〈…〉 Week passeth over our heads wherein we may not hear of some or other that are suddenly gone into another World and that which hath been the Case of others may be ours also It is the sad Condition of a wicked Man let him dye how and when he will he dies miserably if Death cut him off suddenly then he goes down quick into Hell that Gulf of all Woe and Misery If Death gives him long Warning by a succession of many years distempers yet all this while he doth but pine away in his Iniquity and encreaseth his Misery when Death shall cut him off and throw him into that place of Torment the pain and anguish whereof is so great that it cannot be sufficiently expressed no not by them that feel it But now it is the happiness of a godly Man let him dye never so suddenly yet he always dyes happily because he is in a state of Peace and Reconciliation with God it is true he may dye without a sence and feeling of that Peace and so his passing thorow the Valley of the Shadow of Death may be terrible to him but still God is with him and though the eye of his Faith be held so that he cannot discern him to be his God though his Rod and his Staff do not comfort him yet they do support and strengthen him and as soon as Death hath opened his eyes he beholds the face of God to his everlasting joy and satisfaction Doth Death then come certainly and sometimes suddenly It is thy Wisdom O Christian always to be prepared for it and then let it come when it will tho' this Night thou maist bid it welcome But as Mans Life is short and frail so is his Death sure and certain for it is the common lot 〈◊〉 Men. Man saith Job that is all Men are good 〈◊〉 dye it is the way of all the Earth it is the end of all Men. Who is he that lives and shall not see Death No Man can redeem his Brothers no nor his own Life from Death that he should still live for ever and not see Corruption
the rich Man in the Gospel else so confidently say to his Soul Thou bast Goods laid up for many years eat drink and be merry But Death would not be put off so for that Night was his Soul taken from him notwithstanding all his great Possessions It is in vain to cry out on a Death Bed with that wretched Cardinal Beauford in Henry the Sixth Time Wherefore should I dye being rich will not Death be bribed Will Money do nothing No truly it cannot for as Riches profit not in the day of Wrath to pacifie the Justice of an angry God so neither will they profit in the day of Death to bribe that King of Terrors Beauty is another outward Excellency that many glory in and indeed it is a great Ornament a Gift of GOD and no small one it is a taking thing We delight in things that are beautiful Beauty to some is a Portion among men to others a favour from God It is a silent Eloquence a tacite Perswasion and works much upon some What is said of the Church Psal 45.11 So shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty I know it is spoken there of Spiritual Beauty the Graces of the Spirit of God which beautifie and adorn the Church in the eyes of Christ for it is said the KING's Daughter is all glorious within But yet it is true also in some me sure of outward Corporeal Beauty it is a desireable thing and may duly be an attractive of Love it is that which draws the Eyes and Hearts of many tho' often it is an incentive to Lust both to great Men and to good Men. Solomon loved strange Women the Scripture saith and they turned away his heart from God and having smarted severely for it as a fruit of the sincerity of his Repentance and to prevent so great wickedness in others he hath left us many Excellent Cautions and Counsels in Sacred Writ against the ensnaring Temptations and powerful Charms of Beauty But though Men are deluded and deceived by beautiful Objects and Persons yet Death is not A beautiful Face is as mortal and as soon yea sooner many times turned into duct and corruption than a face that is deformed Death regards a goodly well favoured Joseph or Absolom no more than a leprous Vzziah or Gebazi nor doth it spare a beautiful Rachel more than a blear ey'd Leah Favour is deceitful and Beauty is vain in this respect for they profit none in a dying hour the beautifulest Person and the most lovely Complexion is quickly turned into Paleness and Corruption when once the time of their dissolution is come Death soon making those that for their Beauty and Comeliness were most admired by others become most loathsome and intolerable and they most desirous with Abraham to bury such dead out of their sight By what hath been said it appears that all Men notwithstanding all their great Attainmen's in Worldly Excellences are not exempted from dying And as no outward so no inward-Excellency and Perfection can priviledge any from Death no not Grace it self Grace is as Salt to the Soul to preserve it from Moral Corruption for ever but it cannot preserve the Body from Natural Corruption in this World In Heaven where there shall be nothing but Grace and Holiness in the Soul in perfection there there shall be no dying but here on Earth where Grace is insperfect being mingled with Sin and Corruption there is a necessity of dying Death is become domestical to us we have the Seed of it within us we carry it daily in our bosoms I mean in the body of Sin as the Apostle calls it that we carry about with us which will never be extirpated and destroyed till the death of the body All our Prayers and Tears cannot prevent Death Prayer can do great things to instance in particulars of its Prevalency would be endless Our Lord himself tells us That whatever we ask the Father in his Name he will give it us John 16.23 That is an Astonishing Scripture Esay 45.11 Thus saith the Lord The Holy One of Israel and his Maker Ask me of things to come concerning my Sons and concerring the Works of my hands command ye me As if saith one God was as ready to do them service as if they had him at their Command There is a kind of Omnipotency in Prayer and therefore it is said of Jacob that as a Prince he had power with God and prevailed Gen. 32.28 And the Apostle tells us The effectual fervent Prayer of a Righteous Man availeth much how much the Apostle could not tell us but leaves it to every one to make Observations from their own Experience But though Prayer can do such great things yet it cannot prevent Death We read indeed that the Prayer of Faith doth save the Sick but though it can even restore from a sick-bed yet it cannot raise from a Death-bed Nay Christ himself hath not so Redeemed us that we should live for ever and not see Corruption he hath Redeemed us that we shall live for ever in Heaven but he hath not Redeemed us that we should live for ever on Earth and not dye no it was the Priviledge of Jesus Christ the Redeemer that he should not see Corruption and therefore of him only it is said Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption But may some say this necessity of dying seems not to be unalterably imposed upon all Men for some have lived who never dyed and some shall live hereafter that shall not dye I Answer It is true the Scripture makes mention of Two and but Two that lived here oâ— Earth and by special Grace and Favour were exempted from Death ascending up unto God leaping over Death and the Grave as it were in their passage to Heaven and they are Enoch and Elias concerning Enoch it is said That by Faith he waâ— transtated that he should not see Death Heb. 11 5â— He was a Person eminent for Holiness for it is said That he walked with God three hundred years and obtained this Testimony before his Translationâ— that he pleased God Gen. 5.22 And being such an Eminent Proficient in Grace as that there waâ— none that we read of like him at that time he obtained such Grace and Favour from God as none did for it is said He walked with GOD and he was not for GOD lock him O the Excellency of Grace and Holiness how highly doth it ennable and advance a Man Enoch walked with God and God thinks the Earth not good enough for him and therefore he takes him to himself into Beaven nay this is not all so much was God taken with the Holiness of Enoch that he shall not go to Heaven in the ordinary way as other Saints do by Death but he shall be translated from Grace to Glory without so much as looking into the Grave The like we read of Elias another eminent and zealous Servant of God 2 King
imprinted upon Man God's Image being defaced by Sin Mortality took place Man never had an Impossibility not to die but he had a possibility not to die and that was the State of Man's Immortality In his State of Innocency his Life was made as long as his Obedience In God's dealing with our first Parents he back'd his Command with the threatning of Death Gen. 2.17 Of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Our first Parents disobeyed this most righteous and equitable Command of God and thereby brought Death upon themselves and all their Posterity For though God formed Man as the Holy Story tells us out of the Dust of the Earth yet so long as Man stood he never said to Dust thou shalt return but only put in a supposition or threatning that in case he did fall he should surely die But when by Sin he had fallen from God then he hears what he must be Dust thou art and unto Dust thou shalt return So that the Justice of God stands engaged to inflict Death upon every Transgressour And to this the Apostle ascribes it Rom. 5.12 By Sin Death entered into the World and so Death passed upon all because all have sinned Death therefore seizeth upon us not as we are Men but as we are Sinners To die is a penalty inflicted upon Man for Sin If Man had not sinned he had not been under a necessity of dying but by sinning he became mortal Sin therefore is not only the Sting of Death but the Cause of Death It is that which gives it not only its Terror but it s very Being and therefore it is somewhat remarkable that among all the Creatures in the World Man only is termed mortal It is certain other Creatures decay and perish as well as Man yet among all perishing things Man only hath the wretched Denomination of being mortal and there is good Reason for it since he alone of all perishing things being created immortal voluntarily subjected himself unto Death and by his own default brought upon himself the Name of Mortal as a brand of perpetual Infamy CHAP. II. Thoughts of Death ought to be laid to heart by all It is a Christian 's great Wisdom and ought to be his greatest care to provide for Death The great folly and danger of neglecting or delaying such Preparations upon hopes of long life Sickness a very unfit time for such a work Men very prone to put off thoughts of Death and Preparation for it with the Reasons thereof Time short though long enough for our great work if diligently improved Excellent Essects that the Consideration of our latter end would produce It is a very comfortable thing to have all things set right between God and the Soul before a dying hour Time ought therefore to be valued and our days wisely to be numbered THough the Life of Man be very short frail and uncertain though Death hath nothing of a peradventure in it but is that which will most certainly over-take all Men none being able to withstand it nor any priviledged against it Yet how strangely besotted are the generality of Men in putting far from them this evil day as if because God hath not told them the exact time when they shall die they were not bound to take any notice that they shall die But doubtless this is as great a piece of Folly as most we can be guilty of For why doth God so often visit us with Pains and Distempers upon our Bodies which threaten Death Why are we so frequently called to the house of Mourning to accompany others unto their long home Is it not that hereby we might reflect upon our own Mortality with the most serious thoughts by beholding the Death of others Doubtless much of a Christian's Life should be spent in the thoughts of Death and in a right numbring of his days so as to lay to heart his latter end It is not that which should be forced upon us by some unexpected Providence of God in snatching some away out of the World by some sudden stroke by the hearing whereof we are amazed and by whose Funeral the thoughts of Death force themselves into our Minds but we should make it the Matter of our daily Meditation the thoughts of which we should accustom ourselves unto and that not only when with old Barzillai we have not long to live when by Reason of Age our Strength is departed when Infirmities and Distempers upon us are so many that we can taste no sweetness in any outward Enjoyments but even with Joseph of Arimathea who made his Sepulchre in his Garden a place of Pleasure so should we in the midst of all our Delights and Recreations and when we are best able to relish what sweetness there is in them even then should we check all such Inclinations in us by accustoming our Minds unto the frequent serious awful thoughts of our latter end For this we have the practice of our blessed Lord who when he was transfigured before his Disciples the Glory whereof was so great that St Peter's weak Eyes were not able to behold it yet he then thought no Subject so fit to be discoursed of as that of his Death which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem Luk. 9.31 It is therefore a wicked Proverb that is frequent in the Mouths of many They thought not of such a thing no more than they thought of their dying Day Alas poor foolish Man what not think of thy dying day Dost thou know what thou sayest Is the day of thy Death of no more Concernment to thee than so What not so much as to think of it Dost thou not know Oh vain trifling Man that thy dying day will be to thee the beginning of a state of Happiness that shall never cease or an entrance on a state of Misery that shall never know an end And what is it not worth thy bestowing a thought upon it For Shame O foolish Man for I scarce know how to call thee Christian thy talk is so profane and thy Life so loose that it savours little of Christianity to be sure not of the power of Godliness if thy ways be according to thy Words It is said of the Old World that they eat they drank they married and were given in Marriage until the day that Noah entred into the Ark and they knew it not till the Flood came and swept them away What was the Old World destroyed because they knew not of the coming of the Flood No Noah was a Preacher of Righteousness and doubtless he had told them of it many a time but yet it is said they knew it not till the Flood swept them away that is they knew it not so as to consider and make Provision against the Deluge came so they knew it not So is it now with many in this Case they are not undone eternally by not knowing they
shall die for there are none how profane and Atheistical soever but will own that they must die but this ruines them for ever that they consider it not so as to make timely provision for a dying hour The Care and Wisdom of a Christian discovers it self much by his Preparations for Death The Prudence of a Man appears in nothing more than in making a good choice for himself Now there are two Estates that do abide all Men a State of Happiness in Heaven and a State of Misery in Hell and these are both of them eternal Life is the time of our choice Death which comes at the close of our days discovers what our choice hath been The daily Improving of our Time in the preparing our Souls for our Dissolution is a good Evidence of a wise and happy choice Job complains of some that die without Wisdom the Reason is because they live not wisely that is they do not with Care and Wisdom prepare themselves for Death This Wisdom is wanting in most Men in regard whereof we may say of them as the Psalmist Psal 49.20 Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the Beasts that perish That is though in their Lives they be Men of great Honour and Excellency yea though wiser in their Generation as our Lord speaks than the Children of Light Yet they perish like a Beast for he that dies unpreparedly dies foolishly For the Wisdom of a Man discovers it self much in serious Meditations of and diligent Preparations for his great Change This was that which God so passionately wish'd for his People of old Deut. 32.29 Oh that my people were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end And the truth of it is it is a great piece of Wisdom and a high attainment in a Christian with Care and Prudence to consider of and prepare for his latter end yea so great is it that it is too wonderful to be gained by Art or Study we must get it upon our knees by Prayer Holy David therefore as one convinced both how necessary and profitable this Wisdom would be and being sensible also of his own inability for to attain it makes it his earnest Prayer unto God that he would instruct him herein Psalm 39.4 Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my days what it is that I may know how frail I am As if he had said Lord I have taken this and that and the other thing into my thoughts for possibly his mind had been in the dust and he had been handling the Clay out of which he was taken yet by all these Considerations of the Natural Constitutions of my Body and my Subjection thereby unto Death and the Grave being a poor feeble Creature I cannot bring my Heart to be so thoroughly sensible of my frailty as I ought Lord therefore do thou make me to know it The same Holy desire we find breathed out by Moses in Psalm 90.12 So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto Wisdom as if he had said Lord I have been at the work my self I have endeavoured to number my days to count over the time of my life but by what I can do I cannot tell how long or how short my life will be it is true I can tell to threescore or fourscore years which usually is the longest term of Man's life and I can tell no farther but yet for all that I cannot apply my heart unto Wisdom this I must have from thee therefore O Lord teach me Though we need but little Arithmetick to number our days Naturally yet we need a great deal of Grace to number them Spiritually Dying is a great work and requires great care and circumspection We can die but once how careful should we be then that we die well Man had need be very exact in doing that which he cannot do a second time and such is the work of Dying An Errour in Death is like an Errour in War which we cannot commit twice O what Reason have we then to be careful that we do not Err at all where it is impossible of Erring again Actually to Err twice is more sinful but not to have a possibility of Erring twice is most dangerous We transgress the Laws of living a thousand times over but the Laws of dying no Man ever transgress'd a second time And that we so often transgress the Laws of Living is an aggravation of sin upon all Men and that we can transgress the Laws of Dying but once is the Seal of Misery upon most Men. How should we then cry unto God for Wisdom to make us careful always to live so that we may be prepared for a dying hour If now the Wisdom of a Christian consists in making preparations for Death then those Persons are guilty of great folly and run desperate hazards who upon hope of long life neglect such Preparations Yet if a Minister in a great Congregation should go from Man to Man and ask them whether they are prepared to die would not must not most if they will speak the Truth be forced to say they are not if upon this you deal faithfully with them and shew your selves a true Friend to their Souls laying before them their great folly and danger herein by such Strong and Powerful Convictions that their Consciences are forced to yield to you and themselves brought with Tears to confess their foolishness hereupon what Resolutions do they take up and what Promises do they make binding their Souls to God by many Vows witnessed with many Prayers and Tears that they will make it the business of their Lives for the time to come to prepare for Death but alas how soon do these seemingly strong Resolutions die and come to nothing and Death that under those Convictions they feared was ready to seize upon them every moment is now as far from their Persons they hope as he is from their thoughts He threatens them not as formerly and therefore they fear him not as formerly Distempers of Body which sometimes frighted them into an awe and fear of Death are now departed from them and so is Death with them at least as to their Apprehensions They have now a Healthful strong Constitution of Body and what doth this Prognosticate but long Life and many days yet to come they hope Doth not the Word of God say that the Age of Man is Threescore years and Ten and many times by Reason of Strength which they feel no want of it is Fourscore and for their parts they have not lived above Thirty or forty years as yet and therefore surely they have a great deal of time still to come and then they will bethink themselves of dying and that will be time enough But O foolish Man what vain confidence is this in which thou trustest who gave thee this Knowledge of thy Life and Time that thou art thus strangely bold and
presumptuous as if thou hadst the Lease thereof in thine own hands and at thine own dispose Indeed we read of good Hezekiah that upon his recovery from a fit of Sickness God gave him a Lease of his Life for fifteen years but who ever had the like Scripture and Experience speak of nothing more plainly than the Frailty and uncertainty of Man's Life It is therefore compared to the Wind to a Leaf to a Flower to a Shadow to a Vapour by all which the Spirit of God sets forth to us the Frailty Brevity and uncertainty of Man's Life endeavouring hereby to take us off from all foolish conceits and vain hopes of long life for what is our Life but a Vapour that appeareth for a while and then vanisheth away a little breath turned in and out by the Nostrils a narrow passage that is soon stopt and we are gone We have no Assurance of our Life no not for a moment Death lies in Ambush every where for us We have a Proverb that the young Man may die but the old Man must die whereas Observation will inform us that incomparably more die young than old And did we but seriously consider by what small pins this Frame of Man is held together it would appear no less than a Miracle that we live one day or hour to an end so many dangers so many Casualties do we pass through every moment and are the thoughts of Death and thy preparation for Death and that Eternity that follows it to be put off to such uncertainties Are not all thy days on Earth few and thou hast spent some of them already and possibly those few days of thine that are already past and gone are all the days thou hast to pass say not then to God to thy Conscience or to others that put thee upon a present preparation for Death and Eternity I will do it to morrow or hereafter boast not thy self O vain Man of to morrow for thou knowest not even what this day may bring forth to thee possibly this day may bring forth thy death and where then will be thy to morrows preparation for it But suppose Death should not cut us off suddenly but give us warning of its approach by Sickness and Distempers of Body yet how unfit a time is that to prepare for dying for Diseases sometimes come with that Violence that they quickly take away Mens Senses and Vnderstandings and having lost the use of their Reason they are fit for nothing And hast thou O presumptuous sinner that trustest to a Sick-bed preparation for Death and Eternity and Assurance that this shall not be thy State and Condition then nay thou hast just cause to fear that thus it shall be because in the time of thy Health and Strength when God called after thee to look towards himself and to mind thy Everlasting Concernments thou wou'dit not therefore now that thou art come to lie upon a Death bed and thy Conscience is awakened with horrour because of thy former negligence and the prospect of thy future Misery that now the Violence of thy Distempers should be so great as to render thee uncapable of such a Work Or if God should be so merciful to thee which thou hast no reason to expect as to continue to thee the use of thy Reason and Vnderstanding so that being apprehensive of the approach of Death and Conscience also be awakened and terrifying thee with the fears of a strict account that thou art going to give unto the Great God of all that thou hast done in the Body whether it be good or evil dreading also what the Consequences thereof may be by reason of thy negligence and carelessness in the time of thy Health and Strength to make preparation for thy Eternal State It being thus with thee and thine Eyes being opened to see whither thou art going thou art very desirous it may be now to set thy Soul in order because thou fearest thou shalt die and not live Yet thy Sickness may be so sharp and pains may come upon thee with that Extremity that all thou canst do will be little enough to mind thy Body God may visit thee with such strong pains upon thy bed as may make thee cry and roar with such horrours as may make thee a terror to thy self and to all that come near thee so that all thou canst do for thy self or what others can do for thee may not be able to give thee any ease or relief And is this the time thou choosest to prepare thy self for Death and Eternity in What when thou canst hardly tell how to turn thy Body upon thy Bed for a little ease Dost thou think this a fit time to turn thy Soul fron Sin unto God in Suppose thou wert now cast upon a Sick-bed and thy Body full of pains if any one should come and put thee in mind of some Worldly Business wouldst thou not think it a good excuse to say Pray trouble me not now because I am Sick Speak to me of these things when I am Well again And dost thou think it Reasonable to be excused from Worldly Business because thou art Sick and yet dost thou Judge it the best time for thee to be employed about thy Spiritual concerns when thou art sick yea when thou art dying Surely desperate folly and madness is in the hearts of these Men who thus live and thus think to die Alas the time of Sickness is a time of spending not of getting it is not a time to gain Evidences for Heaven but to use them and to take the comfort that flows from them Alas poor Man thou shouldst now be solacing thy Soul in God as thy Father reconciled to thee in Christ and having made it the business of thy life to serve and please him sincerely though not without weaknesses and imperfections thou shouldst now be able to say thou hast through Jesus Christ received the Atonement and art continually rejoycing in hopes of the Glory of God the comfort whereof should be so great as to swallow up all thy Bodily pains and distempers and carry thee chearfully through the Pangs of Death so as that thou shouldst be able to say Blessed be God I am not sick for mine Iniquities are forgiven me This should be thy State and Condition upon a dying bed But if thou hast thy work to do thy Preparations for Heaven and Eternity to make when thou art upon thy Sick yea thy Death-Bed Oh how miserable I had almost said how desperate is thy Case How many Gracious Souls have found it work enough upon a Death-bed to attend the Pains and Distempers of their Bodies and believe it O Sinner who ever thou art thou wilt find it a great truth that to suffer and be sick is work enough for any Man at one time But suppose God should be so Gracious to thee as by some lingering and gentle sickness for many days yea months together give thee warning of thy
improved We have so much time allotted us as will serve to do our real business in and to answer the ends of living A Christian's Work in this World is not to incumber himself with many things or to vex himself about the accomplishing of great designs for the World to get a great Estate to abound with Pleasures to grow great in the esteem of Men these things are as much below a Christian's Work as they are below his Reward And whoever thou art that designest these things for thy self thou maist not have time enough for the attaining of them but yet Heaven may be got in that time that the World cannot thy Salvation may be wrought out God may be made propitious to thee through Christ the one thing needful the better part that shall never be taken away from thee these may be obtained by thee and secured to thee as thy Portion in that time that God hath given thee if thou art diligent in improving of it Do not sigh and mourn therefore that thou canst number no more days do not murmur and complain at the shortness of thy Life What wouldst thou do if thy days were more What use wouldst thou make of thy time if it were longer Is it that thou mightest save thy Soul and make thy Peace with God that thou desirest more time Why thou needest not more time for these purposes than God hath allotted thee already thy Life is long enough if thou didst use it aright It is not a little time that we have but it is a little that we use God hath not given us a little but we throw away much Our Portion is not small for what we are to Trade but our mispence is exceeding great God is not niggardly and sparing in wha◠he hath given us but we are prodigal and profuset foolishly wasting away our hours they that have abundance of time given them through their Imprudence and Mispence are utterly undone and then they whine like Beggars as if they had had no time whereas those that have less time than others that make these Complaints have so improved that little that Thanks be to God they are rich in good Works and say it is enough let God call for them when he pleaseth If now upon the serious Consideration of the shortness of time any shall be stirred up and provoked to a diligent Improvement of it so as to prepare themselves for their latter end they shall find such Benefits as these redounding to their Souls thereby First It will be a great means for the Prevention of much Sin He that shall seriously consider with himself I must shortly die how soon I know not will presently reflect upon himself under a Temptation to Sin and say Why should I commit this or that Evil which if it be not a means to hasten my end yet will certainly make it more uneasie and uncomfortable when I come to lie upon a Death-bed and consider what I have done amiss Possibly I may die to morrow for who knows what a day may bring forth O why then shall I venture to commit that evil to day which will be as Gall and Wormwood and like Bitterness and Vexation to my Soul then Would I do it did I believe that I were to die to morrow Why should I then do it to day that know not whether I shall live till to morrow for it is possible this may prove the last day of my Life Secondly He that shall seriously consider his latter end and shall diligently employ himself and his time accordingly shall find his life most comfortable and contentful and his Death most easie and peaceable As for the Contentment of Life if you look abroad among Men in regard of their outward Estate and Condition you shall find that that Man who by his Industry hath got to be aforehand in the World hath much more Peace and Quietness in his Life than he that is behind-hand or gone back and is continually struggling with Necessities and Wants So is it in Spirituals also he that hath been wise in improving the Opportunities that God hath vouchsafed him for the getting of Grace and making his Peace with God through Christ he that hath done thus a great part yea a chief part of the business of his Life is done he is prepared in some measure for all Conditions the wise Providence of God may dispense to him be it Sickness or Health be it Life or Death for he is aforehand as it were in the business of his everlasting Concerns so that if God lengthen out his Life in this world he carries on his great work and business unto greater degrees of Perfection not only without Trouble and Disturbance but with great Ease and Pleasure Or if God see good to cut short his days and call him to give an Account of his Talents his great business is not now to go about but his Accounts are ready and he in some measure prepared to give them up unto his Lord and Master and O blessed is that Servant whom his Master when he comes shall find so doing But this is not all the frequent considering our latter end brings Ease and Peace in Death it abates if not removes the fears of it Death in Scripture is called the King of Terrors and many times the fear of Death is more terrible than Death it self Now that which makes Death thus terrible to us is the knowledge of our Guilt and the Apprehensions of God's Wrath and Displeasure justly deserved thereby this gives Death its Sting and Terror Now he that makes it his business to live in constant Preparation for Death by Acts of Repentance for former Sins and by frequent Applications of the Blood of Christ to his Soul by Faith he removes both the Sting and the Fear of Death at once For how can he be afraid of Death whose frequent Thoughts and Meditations of it make it familiar to him And as for the Sting of Death that cannot hurt him neither for where Sin is truly repented of it is really pardoned and Sin being pardoned the Power and Sting of it whereby it hurts and wounds others is taken away as to him so that though others are held in Bondage under the fear of Death all their lives and feel the deadly Sting of it when they come to die yet he fears not either the suddenness of its Approach nor the power of its Sting Now dying being a work of great weight and difficulty it is not only of great Concernment but it will be full of Sweetness and Comfort to us when we come to lie upon a 〈◊〉 had to be able to say that all things are set straight and right between God and our Souls Such Persons are no small Proficients in Grace and Holiness but are strong in the 〈…〉 CHAP. III. The State of Man considered under Death What it is to wait for Death with Reasons why we must prepare for it Dying is an important
difficult Work Death continually hastning towards us yet few consider how suddenly themselves or others may Die. Death comes violently to Wicked Men yet no Man dies before his time however in Scripture some are said so to do An Exhortation to prepare for Death with Motives to quicken Christians thereunto and Directions to help them therein HAving spoken something of the Life of Man as it hath Relation unto the Subject I am speaking to which by Reason of Sin is become short frail and uncertain I shall now consider the State of Man under Death which is the end of his Temporal but the beginning and entrance upon his Everlasting State which that Christians may with the more profit and advantage meditate upon I shall reduce all that I have to say of it unto three particulars The State of Man under Death is a State that admits of no returning unto Life a State that admits of no amendments and a State that is fixed and determined First The State of Man under Death is a State that admits of no returning unto Life again When once the Sun of this Life is set it will arise no more upon thee for ever Are not my Days few says Job Cease from me that I may take comfort a little before I go whence I shall not return And Job 10.20 When a few Days are come says he I shall go whence I shall not return Job 16.22 That 's a strange Journey indeed that admits of no return That which pleaseth us while we live is the hopes of returning to our Homes again but when we die we take a Journey whence there is no returning for there is no recovery out of the Grave when once we are Dead Indeed it is a fundamental Article of the Christian Faith to believe the Resurrection of the Dead for the Scripture tells us that all Men shall stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive according to what they have done in the Body Now if there be not a Resurrection of the Dead how can this be therefore our Lord tells us plainly John 5.28 that the hour is coming when all that are in their Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth but this time is not yet come and till this time comes the sentence of Death is irreversible upon all And though God hath already stretched sorth his hand to the Grave for the raising of some Persons from the Dead miraculously yet as those few that have escaped Death make no breach upon this general Truth that all must Die so it doth not at all infringe this general Truth that God will not now by the manifestation of the same miraculous Power raise any from the Grave because some have been raised and recovered out of it Secondly The State of Man under Death admits of no amendments or alterations Life is the Time of Working in Death we receive the Reward of our Work Our Lord tells us of himself I must Work the Works of him that sent me while it is Day for the Night comes wherein no Man can Work Joh. 9.4 Death puts an end to all Works whether they be Natural Civil or Religious There is no eating or drinking nor any pleasure to be taken in any outward enjoyments in the State of Death there is no buying or selling or getting gain when we are Dead nay Death puts an end to all Spiritual Works those Duties that upon Earth were the Saints exercise in the Grave there is an end of them there is a dying and perishing for ever in respect of Faith and Repentance in respect of praying and hearing the Word these are Heavenly Works but the Time for the performance of them is while we are here upon Earth None of these Labours are in Heaven or in Hell no nor in the Grave whither we are all going In Heaven there is nothing but rest in Hell though there be no rest yet there is no labour In Hell there is nothing but Wages in Heaven there is nothing but Reward our whole Work lies in the few Days that are on this side both What we do for the obtaining of Heaven or for the avoiding of Hell it must be done now for there is no Work no Device in the Grave whither we are all going Thirdly The State of Man under Death is a State that is fixed and determined He that dies under the Guilt of Sin shall never have it forgiven him The Blood of Christ that was appointed for the Pardon of Sin and for the Justification of a Sinner shall never make God propitious to a Soul that dies under the Guilt of Sin though that Blood now speaks better things than the Blood of Abel and crying aloud to Heaven nay in Heaven for Mercy hath obtained Pardon and forgiveness for thousands of Souls now in Glory yet hath it no virtue in it that shall be applicable to any Sinner for the remission of his Sins when once the Sentence of Death is executed upon him There is a Sacrifice appointed by God to take away Sin in this Life even the Blood of Christ that cleanseth from all Sin and now he intreats and beseecheth Sinners to come unto him that they may have Life by him but those that will not now accept of his Gracious offer but continue in Sin and Disobedience all their days and die under the Guilt thereof there remains no more Sacrifice for them and it is impossible they should ever be Pardoned because the Sufferings of Christ were never Ordained as an Expiatory Sacrifice for their Sins His bleeding and dying upon the Cross will do them no good at all now the Time and Season of Mercy and Grace with them is gone and past for ever Nay let me add a dreadful word unto all such instead of any Benefit and Advantage that will come to them by the Blood of Christ it is that which cries loudly against them for the Wrath and Vengeance of God to fall upon them to Eternity Besides he that dies under the guilt of Sin dies also under the filth and pollution of Sin from whence he shall never be cleansed We read in Scripture of a Refiner's Fire but Hell Fire is not of this Nature it enrageth the Sinner but it doth not Refine him No that Sin or Holiness that accompanies Men out of this World shall abide with them for ever he that dies in a State of Sin his guilt remains upon him for ever there are no Seasons of Grace to be enjoyed in another World nor are there any Operations of the Spirit of God vouchsafed to Renew and Change Men hereafter Whilst we are in this World though the Law Condemns us for our sin and guilt and the Gospel disowns us for our filth and pollution yet even such as we have been Washed have been Justified have been Sanctified and so may we for the Blood of Christ is still a Fountain open to wash in for Sin and for uncleanness and the Infinite though Provoked
For Friends to be parted never to see the Faces of one another again this is sad And therefore when St. Paul was taking his leave of the Saints in Macedonia in Acts 20.38 it is said They fell on his Neck and kissed him sorrowing most for the words that he spake that they should see his Face again no more But it is sadder for Parents and Children to be disunited David found it so when he cryed out so Passionately for his Son 2 Sam. 18.33 O Absalom my Son my Son would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son It is yet more sad to have a dis-union made between a Man and the Wife of his Bosom when God shall take away with a stroke the desire of his Eyes one that hath been a meet and fit Yoke-fellow in the Lord whose Eyes can refrain from weeping or their Hearts from bleeding under such a sad stroke of Providence But yet there is a dis-union that comes nearer than all these and that is a dis-union between the Soul and the Body those two Old Sweet Intimate Companions born together into the World and who have lived in sweet Society together all their Days for Death to come and make a Dissolution between two so near and so dear together by a violent rending and tearing the Soul and Body asunder Oh this is exceeding sad and dreadful indeed and that which must needs make the Work of Dying hard and difficult Thirdly Death is a Destruction So David calls it Psal 90.3 Thou turnest Man to destruction That Excellent Frame of Man's Body which David tells us was fearfully and wonderfully made in secret and curiously wrought in the lower parts of the Earth by God himself and that with Infinite Power and Wisdom Psal 139.14 15. Sickness will not only stain its Glory and make the Beauty of it to consume like a Moth But Death will Demolish and pull it down to the ground turn it into Corruption and Putrefaction yea into Dust it self utterly destroying it so that it shall not be any more until by the Power of God it shall be raised up again at the last day Death now being so destructive a thing unto Man that nothing will content it less than his Annihilation in the Grave dying must needs be a hard and difficult thing unto Flesh and Blood Secondly Dying is an important difficult Work if we consider what Death doth now this I shall explain by opening these two things First Death occasions our Spiritual Enemies to assault us Secondly It awakens Conscience against us First Death occasions our Spiritual Enemies to assault us most fiercely Now these Enemies are two Sin and Satan First Sin When doth the Guilty Prisoners Crimes come into his Mind but when he hath a Summons to appear before his Judge And when doth the Guilt of Sin fly in the Face of a Sinner but when Death hath him under his Arrest to carry him before God the Great Judge of Heaven and Earth Multitudes of Sins that before lay hid and seem'd to be quite forgotten now shew themselves and come fresh into a Sinner's mind as so many Witnesses against him which upon the Review he cannot but Remember though formerly he had forgot them Oh what a number of horrid Wickednesses do now haunt his Thoughts with dismal apprehensions in the dark night of Death walking up and down like so many Frightful Ghosts scaring and terrifying his Soul Well may an Impenitent Sinner say then unto Death hast thou found me O mine Enemy art thou come O Death to call my Sins to Remembrance and to slay my Soul Secondly The Devil will then be very fierce and furious in his Assaults His Time now is but short and therefore his Rage is great This is his hour yea his last hour and therefore the Power of the Prince of Darkness is now most put forth he knows he hath but a few hours more to wait and if he can but keep the Sinner so long he is then his for ever Assure thy self therefore O Sinner he will be diligent in watching thy Sick-bed both by night and by day and if all the Power or Policy of Hell can prevent it neither Cordial shall benefit thy Body nor Counsel and Advice profit thy Soul The Devil is the great Enemy of Souls and because he is miserable himself he therefore labours that all others may be as miserable as he is now the ways by which he expresseth his Enmity against Souls that he may keep them from Eternal Life are these Sometimes by obstructing the Work of Grace in the Souls of Men and thus he works with all his might by all his Wiles and Devices that he can to draw men unto and keep them in a way of Sin that they may not set their Faces towards Heaven much more that they may not with earnest endeavours of Soul seek to obtain it It is true God always hath the Devil in a Chain and can if he pleaseth restrain and hinder him in all his Malicious Attempts against his Children and many times he doth manifest his Power and Grace towards his Servants in a dying hour by curbing in the Malice of that Evil one that he shall not be able to trouble and molest them in their Passage into Heaven But yet sometimes God doth then permit the Devil to shew his Malice against his People and then how fiercely and furiously doth he make his Assaults upon them Then it is they meet with the sorest Trials and because he could not prevail upon them formerly as a Tempter now he turns to be their Accuser charging all their Sins upon their Souls with all the bloody aggravations of them upbraiding them with all their Profession as if they had been but Hypocrites in all that they had done This God sometimes permits him to do that their Grace being exercised the Trial thereof may appear to be more precious than Gold that perisheth being found to the Praise and Glory of God and the Shame and Reproach of their Adversary the Devil in a most Glorious Conquest over all his Temptations for through the Grace and Strength of Christ they overcome him in all his Accusations and notwithstanding all they go not only quietly but sometimes Triumphantly into Heaven and Glory Secondly Death awakens Conscience The Practice of a Sinner is to lull Conscience asleep that he may the more quietly and undisturbedly go on in Sin but when Death comes usually the Conscience of a Sinner is awakened if the Sinner be not past feeling given over to a reprobate sence Conscience hath its Times and Seasons of stirring in the Souls of Men as sometimes under the Preaching of the Word Conscience begins to stir within a Sinner and tells him that those Duties that have been laid before him by the Minister are the Commands of the Great God and therefore ought to oblige him to Obedience Here Conscience is an honest Informer Sometimes when a Sinner is taking the
may be prevail to a Victory sometimes even over those over whom it shall never prevail unto Condemnation This now calls for a constant work of Mortification Every day there are corrupt Inclinations and Propensions to be kept in sinful thoughts to be contended with Evil motions to be supprest and it is not the meer Habis and Principle of Grace received in our first Conversion without the vigorous and constant Exercise of it in a way of Mortification that will overcome all these Though Regeneration hath given Sin its Deaths wound yet Mortification must daily weaken and subdue its Power and Strength and according as the work of Mortification is successful in the Soul so will be our Peace and Purity in Life and our Joy and Comfort in Death Secondly Keep Conscience clear that it may not have the guilt of any known sin to charge you withal Now Conscience may then be said to be clear when it is pure and when it is a Peaceable Conscience that is peaceable must be pure and a pure Conscience usually is a peaceable Conscience When Conscience is free from all known and willful defilements and not justly burthened with the guilt of Sin then is Conscience clear If it be possible do not wound Conscience and if you would not have a care of Sin he that is not watchful to avoid Sin cannot have a clear Conscience It is impossible for us while we are surrounded about with Infirmities and oppressed with a Body of Sin and Death which the Apostle complains of to keep our selves free and unspotted from all Sin for in many things we offend all Those Sins now that are Sins of weakness and Infirmity as they are usually small Sins and so hardly discernable many times by our selves nor others so they do not break our Peace with God nor obscure the clearness of our Consciences but they are known and willful sins that waste and wound the Conscience and they that are not careful to keep themselves from sinning thus can never have a clear Conscience nor be in a prepared State for Death for how can Conscience speak Peace unto the Soul upon a Death-bed with the guilt of any known sin upon it If you wound Conscience by sin now Conscience will wound you for sin hereafter Any known sin committed against Conscience will exceedingly discompose and trouble the Soul in a dying hour Reader doth thy Conscience reprove thee for living in any sinful way or for being careless and remiss in looking after Heaven and Eternity hearken unto Conscience now that Conscience may hearken unto you another day O Sinner when thou shalt come to lie upon a Death-bed and begin to examine thy Conscience how things are with thee and how it is like to go with thee for ever thou wouldest then be glad to have Conscience give thee a comfortable answer and say all is well and all shall be well with thee to Eternity thou hast been Faithful in following my Counsels and Reproofs that from the Great God according to his Word I delivered unto thee and now I will be as Faithful in declaring to thee the Truth of things as to thy future State fear not therefore for it shall certainly go well with thee for ever Wouldst thou now have Conscience speak thus comfortably to thee at Death hearken to what Conscience saith to thee now for if thou dost not hearken unto Conscience in thy life time when it Faithfully Admonisheth and Reproves thee Conscience will not hearken unto thee at thy Death to excuse and acquit thee but will prove thy great Accuser and Condemner Guilt lying upon the Conscience makes the Soul ashamed and afraid to come before God even in this Life much more at Death A Guilty Sinner chooseth rather to run away from God that if it were possible God might not find him Thus we imitate our Grand-Father Adam who as soon as he had sinned endeavours to hide himself from God among the Trees of the Garden And who of us is there but may observe the same by himself what slavish fear what dejection and sinking in our Spirits doth seize upon us when we come before God in the Performance of a Duty after we have provoked him by some known sin with what Doubtings with what Fears and misgiving of heart do we come into his Presence as if we were not willing that God should take any notice that we are before him and if we are not in continual pain while we are performing the Duty yet we would willingly enough that the Duty were done and over And if we cannot tell how to engage in Duty with a guilty Conscience how shall we be able to contend with Death with a guilty Conscience If the Presence of God in Duty be so dreadful and terrible unto the Soul under the Apprehension of some known sin committed by it and not pardoned to it that it makes it quake and tremble to come before him what then will the Presence of God in Death and Judgment when Conscience shall be awakened to make terrible Reflections not upon a particular sin but upon the sins of a whole Life if not Repented of Oh with what horrour and amazement with what Consternation and Confusion must such a Soul be filled withal But now he whose Conscience is clear Oh how doth he Rejoyce to draw nigh to God how glad is he to go up unto the House of the Lord as David speaks with what delight doth his Soul hasten unto God in Duty that it may taste how good the Lord is that it may see the Power and Glory of God so as it hath sometimes done in his Sanctuary O with what Peace and Contentment of Mind shall I say alas these are Expressions of too low and too mean a Signification to represent the workings of such a Soul towards God rather with what Joy and Rejoying with what Triumph and Exultation doth such a Soul make its abode and stay with God in Duty where it enjoys the sweet and refreshing Smiles of his Countenance and sits under the delightful Banner of his Love Thus it is with a Christian in Duty that hath a clear Conscience And if it be thus with him in Duty and Conscience continue to keep its clearness and inoffensiveness in an upright walking with God daily it cannot be bad or ill with such a Soul at Death A Conscience kept clean and pure in Life will be quiet and peaceable in Death nay let me say more he who hath made it his care and business to walk continually with a clear and inoffensive Conscience in his Life shall certainly have much boldness yea and usually a great deal of Joy and Rejoycing in Death and though the Devil may and will labour to disturb such a Soul's Peace and Comfort then yet a Conscience sprinkled with the Blood of Christ shall be too hard for him And what Conscience doth in God's Name on good grounds upon a Death bed God will confirm and enlarge
to the Soul 's everlasting Comfort and Consolation when Death shall bring it to appear before him Thirdly Would you be prepared for Death get sin pardoned and labour much after the Assurance of it Sin is the cause of death the means by which Death came into the World had there been no sinning there would have been no dying but sin coming into the World death came along with it Rom. 5.12 As by one Man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned By sinning against God Man is come under a necessity of dying The wages of sin says the Apostle is Death nay sin is that which gives Death its sting so we read 1 Cor. 15. and 56. The sting of Death is sin This is it which gives Death its power and makes it so dreadful and because of Guilt lying on the Soul makes it unfit to die But now where the Soul is sprinkled with the Blood of Christ the Guilt of Sin taken away by an Act of Pardon and Forgiveness that Soul is prepared to receive and entertain Death whensoever it comes and though it make not that Death shall not be yet it makes that Death shall not hurt for Sin is pardoned Sin is that which makes the Soul cry out bitterly under the Apprehonsions of Death and of the Wrath of God Oh that I had never committed such and such Sins Why know O pardoned Sinner thou hast thy wish for God when he pardons Sin makes it to be as if it had never been committed Things forgotten are no more to us than as if they had never been Why now says God I will forgive their Iniquities and I will remember their Sins no more And doth God O fearful Soul make thy Sins to be as if they had never been by his pardoning Grace and Mercy and shall not thy former fears of Sin and of Death by Reason of Sin be now as if they had never been Thou need'st not fear O trembling Soul that thou shalt ever be questioned again for those Sins that God hath once forgiven thee God's Acts of Oblivion can never be repealed for the Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance Guilt binds a Sinner over unto Punishment no wonder then that an unpardoned Sinner who is unfit to die is afraid of Death for whenever Death comes to such a Soul it comes with a deadly incurable Sting Death to an unpardoned Sinner is Death with a witness for it is Death and Hell in to the Bargain But now to a pardoned Sinner let Death come when and how it will he is prepared for it his Condition is safe he cannot be miserable Death may kill him but it cannot hurt him and therefore what need he fear it Now if you would know the Safety and Happiness of your Condition labour for an Assurance that your Sins are pardoned Your future Happiness depends upon the pardon of Sin but your present Comfort depends upon your Assurance that Sin is pardoned He whose Sins are pardoned dies safely but he who knows his Sins are pardoned dies comfortably Pardon of Sin frees from Condemnation but it is Assurance of Pardon that brings Peace and Comfort That Man is not so ready to die nor in such a prepared Frame of Soul for Death as he ought to be in who though his Sins are pardoned and thereby he hath a Right and Title unto Heaven yet walks in the dark and is at Vncertainties whether his Sins are pardoned or not for as our pardon of Sin is necessary to our dying happily so the Assurance of our Pardon is necessary to our dying comfortably Take a Man that is at a loss and under Doubts and Fears that his Sins are not pardoned if Death should come to him while he is under those Doubts and Fears with what difficulty would he make a shift to die How hardly would he be brought to it What Pretences and Excuses would he make Alas says he I know not where I am nor what Death will do with me and though I am so sick that I cannot live yet I am so afraid I dare not die for I know not whither I am going nor where my Dwelling shall be for ever whether in Heaven or in Hell O what shall I do therefore But now he whose Sins are not only pardoned but he walks daily under the comfortable Assurance thereof it being sealed and witnessed to him by the Spirit of God which Spirit as the Apostle saith witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God If Death comes to him he rejoiceth for saith he I know that if my earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved I have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens The Sum of all is this Pardon of Sin is very good for it is our Safety for they that are pardoned shall certainly be saved but to have Sin not only pardoned but to have the Assurance that it is pardoned this is much better For God to love us so as to pardon and accept us is the ground of our Hopes for Heaven hereafter But to have God manifest his Love and to assure us that he loves us is our Heaven on this side Heaven And the more we have of this Assurance the more joyfully and comfortably shall we be able to pass through a dying Hour Fourthly Would you be prepared for Death labour for Hearts and Affections crucified to the World and all things here below It is impossible we should ever be willing to leave the World when God calls us hence till we have first learned to use the World as if we used it not 1 Cor. 7. and 31. For if our Affections are set upon worldly Things and our hearts engaged in an eager prosecution of them it will be as Death to us before we die to think of parting with them and much more unwilling shall we be to take our everlasting Farewel of them when Death comes to us in good earnest This is commonly the Temper or rather the Distemper of most Men the Delights and Accommodations that God affords them for their more comfortable passage through this World and to encourage them with greater Chearfulness to serve him have got such an Interest in their Hearts and Affections that they prize and value them above measure The Love of the World and the things of the World is grown so prevalent with many that if they might have their Desires they would not care for nor trouble themselves with any other Heaven but would be content to live here always saying Let us build Tabernacles nay let us have a continuing City here But O Lord forgive them for they know not what they say They never experimentally tasted the Excellency and Sweetness of Heaven and heavenly Things and that is the Reason they are so in love with Earth and earthly Things Now what wonder is it that those who place their Happiness
in the Things of this World should be unwilling to die that the Thoughts of Death which parts them and their Happiness should be bitter and unpleasant This now is naturally the Temper of all Men till God opens their Eyes and discovers to them more excellent Things even Things of a spiritual and divine Nature which as they are more suitable to their Souls so are they more durable and satisfying and having once tasted what present Sweetness Peace and Joy there is in God and in ways of Holiness besides what is laid up for them hereafter in Heaven their Hearts and Affections are now become dead to the World and all worldly Things so that they have no relish and savour of these Things upon their Spirits But as St. Paul saith of himself so it may be said of them they are now crucified unto the World and the World is crucified unto them The World sees no Glory or Beauty in them and they see as little in the World How easily now can such take their leaves of it when God by Death calls them to it The Apostle tells us for his part he did die daily 1 Cor. 15. and 31. And did we die daily in our Desires and Affections unto the World and the Things thereof it would not be so hard for us to die when we come to it in good earnest When Death comes to a Man whose natural strength and vigour hath been wasting and consuming a long time by lingring Sicknesses and Distempers his Death is not so hard and strong as that Man's Death is whom a few day's Sickness cuts off in the midst of his strength and Vigour Nature being strong in him to make resistance against it whereas in the other the strength of Nature is wasted and consumed and so Death to him is more easie So is it here the Christian whose Love and Affection to the World and the Contentments of this present Life hath for many years been consuming and dying will more freely and readily part with them at Death than he whose Love and Affections are strongly and eagerly bent upon them such a one must be rent and torn from them by force and violence in the hour of Death When our heart 's set loose from all things that are desirable under the Sun and there is nothing upon Earth that insnares and intangles our Affections towards it one Difficulty yea and a great one too in our way of dying is then removed Death will rend and tear that heart that is glued in love to any thing in this World Therefore O Christian as to all thy worldly Enjoyments possess them as if thou possessed'st them not rejoice in them as if thou rejoicedst not and use the World as not abusing of it for the Fashion of the world passeth away How dreadful will Death be to one who as the Apostle saith minds earthly Things and how easie will Death be to one whose Mind and Conversation is in Heaven It is good therefore for us to consider that we are but Strangers and Pilgrims here Heaven is the proper Place and Dwelling for holy Souls Make provision therefore by a holy weanedness of Heart and Affections for your departure bence send your best things to Heaven before-hand that is your Heart your Love your Delight and then you your selves will the more readily and willingly follow after them Fifthly Would you be prepared for Death live every day then as if it were your last doing nothing therein but what you would be willing to be found doing at Death and Judgment He that shall every day seriously consider with himself for ought I know this may be my last day The shadows of Death may stretch themselves over my Life before the shadows of the Evening overtake me I have no Assurance of my Life here no not for a moment How is it therefore with thee O my Soul as to Eternity what is thy daily Work and Employment Is it that wherein if I should meet with Death at the end of it I can comfortably give an Account thereof unto the Great God If I knew this to be my last Day would I be thus employed as I now am If not why do I venture upon the doing of that which I would be loath Death should find me a doing since I know not but Death may overtake me before I have finished what I am about Reader whoever thou art possibly thou mayest be guilty of no very great mistake if thou shouldst think with thy self as healthful and as strong as now I am yet there may be some secret invisible Hand of Death stretched out towards me possibly this very day I may feel some Symptoms and some Fore-runners of it some mortal incurable Disease may seize upon me before Night and cast me upon a sick Bed which to me may prove a Death bed Supposing now that this were thy very Case and that thou hadst received the Sentence of Death though not as Hezekiah did by a Messenger sent immediately by God unto him as he had but by the Violence of some Distemper accompanied with those Signs and Tokens that usually are and have been presages of Death unto others How then wouldst thou spend those few small Moments of Time that thou hast yet left thee on this side Eternity How would thy Thoughts work What would thy Words and Discourses then be Surely thou wouldst not be so abominable stupid and secure so wretchedly careless and negligent of thy Soul and of thy eternal Interest and Concerns when thy Soul is as it were sitting upon thy Lips and looking over into Eternity being ready to take its sudden flight thither as to be plodding and contriving in thy Thoughts how to enjoy the Pleasures Profits and Delights of the World which you now find to be nothing but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit nor yet would you be so desperately mad and bold as to send then for your vain and wicked Companions with whom you have consumed so many Days and Years in Sin and Wickedness that you and they might now laugh and waste away your last Hours together also No certainly there is no relish and savour now in any of these Things unless it be that which is bitter yea surely the Remembrance thereof will then be more bitter to the Soul than Gall and Wormwood Oh now the Consideration of the Wants and Exigences of the Soul begin to thrust and force themselves into the Mind and Thoughts of a Sinner O the sight of a righteous and a severe Judge of a strict Account and of a dreadful Tribunal Oh the bitter Vpbraidings and Terrors of an accusing Conscience the fearful Reflections upon past Sins and the Expectations of future Torments the Fears and Thoughts of these Things do now fill the Mind and perplex the Soul and make a Sinner cry out O what shall I now do to be saved Were you never in all your Lives by the Death-bed of a careless negligent Sinner whose
Conscience was then awakened under Horrors and Desperation If you have not others have and what hath been their dying words Oh that God would pardon their sins that he would Sanctifie and Save their Souls that he would spare them a little space that he would grant them a little time longer that they might recover their Strength that they might Repent of their Sins and Reform their Lives or else that he would graciously manifest his Love and Favour to their Souls and receive them to his Mercy This is the Language these are the Thoughts and Cares of Men upon a Sick bed when they see death coming near them and staring them in their Faces And if this were thy Case and Condition O Sinner that thou didst now lie tumbling and tossing upon a Sick-bed yea upon a Death-bed would not these things be in thy mind would not the same Thoughts and Cares possess thy Soul and the same words and discourses fall from thy Mouth why let the same Care the same Thoughts the same words take up some part of every day and hour of this Life now for thou knowest not but that this moment thou art as near death as if thy Friends and Relations yea and thy Physicians also despaired of thy life and had given thee over for dead O if we could thus spend every day as if it were our last we should then hardly be brought to the doing of any thing but what we would be willing death should find us doing and how exceedingly would this further our Preparations for a dying hour Sixthly He that would be in a readiness for a dying hour must frequently meditate of his own death and of the death of Christ To Meditate of our own death will make us Studious to prepare for it and to Meditate of the death of Christ will Arm us against the Fears of our own Deaths He that by frequent Meditations of his own death and of the death of Christ hath made death familiar to his Soul is not only prepared for death but in a great measure also freed from the fears of death As to the considering of our own death the Scripture is often in calling upon us to lay the thoughts of it to our hearts Oh that my People were wise says God that they understood this that they would consider their latter end And though a Man lives many years and rejoyces in them all yet let him remember the days of darkness for they shall be many Eccle. 11.8 By days of darkness we are to understand death or the State of death during the abode of our Bodies in the dark Grave or in the darkness of the Grave He that frequently ponders of his ways will at length be brought to turn his feet unto God's Testimonies as David speaks of himself So he that often thinks upon death will by the serious thoughts of it be stirred up to make some timely preparation for it this being the end to which the Contemplations of death doth tend This is that Wisdom which Solomon tells us the Living gain by going often to the House of Mourning even so to lay to heart the thoughts of death so as to make preparation for it It is sad that the Goodness and Mercy of God should occasion our forgetfulness of him and of our selves and yet it is commonly so with us When God lays his Afflicting hand upon us especially under some smart stroke we are then brought to seek God as the Prophet speaks In their Affliction they will seek me early There is some tendency in Afflictions to make us mindful of God and of our own Interest and Concerns which is the design God aims at in Afflicting us But when God is pleased to open his hand towards us as the Psalmist speaks and fill us with his Blessings then we are very prone to forget both him and our selves we forget God because when we are full we are ready to deny God and say who is the Lord and we forget our selves because we return not that Duty and Obedience which such Goodness and Mercy should engage us to And because the Streams of Mercy now run pleasantly about us we consider not how many the days of darkness are that will overtake us shortly but put far from us the thoughts of death and the Grave and this is the Reason why when death comes it finds us so unready and unprepared and we so troubled and discomposed in our Spirits and under so many fears and doubts as to our Spiritual and Eternal concerns Frequently therefore O Christian make thy private Retirements Commune with thy self alone visit Death and the Grave in thy thoughts take a walk now and then in the Valley of the Shadow of Death suffer not thy thoughts to be estranged from such Meditations If thou findest thy self shy and unwilling to engage in such a work yet bring thy heart to it inure thy self to the thoughts of Death in general and of thine own death in particular And that thou mayest not be afraid of it to the Meditation of thine own death joyn the Consideration of the death of Christ who hath Conquered death took away its Sting By dying he slew death was the death of death as it was Prophesied of him in Hosea 13.14 O Death I will be thy Plagues O Grave I will be thy Victory He now that by Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is interested in his death may say when ever the time of his departure comes thanks be to God through Christ I am ready and prepared for it Muse therefore much upon the Death of Christ for herein lies thy support and comfort O Soul against thine own Death Seventhly He that would be prepared for death must labour for an assurance of a better life always living by Faith in the Contemplation of the Glory and Happiness of Heaven He that is assured of an Eternal Life in Heaven need not nay will not much fear a Temporal death here upon Earth Christians the time is coming when you and all things and persons in this World must take your leaves one of another and part for ever what then O Christian will bear up thy Spirit at such a time why nothing less than the sense and hopes of the love of God and of thy Interest in Christ some Evidences of a work of Grace upon thy Soul which is an earnest and foretaste of Heaven and Glory These are the only things that will bear up thy Soul in a dying hour When a Man hath attained to some well grounded Assurance of his Interest in God and Christ and thereby of his Right and Title unto Heaven then are things in a good posture with him and he in a readiness for Death and the Grave And how light will that Soul make of death that hath the assured hopes of Heaven and Glory to encourage him to go through it He that by Faith lives in the daily Contemplations of the Glory and Happiness of
Heaven walking in the Light of God's Countenance and is able to say I know that my Redeemer lives and that when this Earthly Tabernacle of his Body shall be dissolved into dust that he hath a Building of God an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens which death will bring him unto and this is all the hurt death can do him he that hath such an Assurance as this is cannot but welcome death and embrace it not only with Contentment but with Delight and Joy and even then when his Soul is struggling and striving to get loose from his Body with what Holy Longing and vehemency of desire will he cry out and say come Lord Jesus come quickly CHAP. IV. Of willingness and unwillingness to Die Difference between Christians in reference unto Death Whether it be lawful to desire Death In what cases it may and in what not A willingness to Die may be even in Wicked Men and sometimes they may Die peaceably and quietly though Death is never comfortable and happy to them In the Best there may be an unwillingness to Die though a Saint as a Saint is always desirous of Death Reasons that should encourage the People of God always to be willing to Die Believers should not only desire to Die but they should long for Death DEath in it self is not desirable nor can it be Nature not only shuns but abhors it nor is it possible that Nature should be reconciled to that which seeks its Annihilation and Destruction as Death doth And accordingly as these Fears are either strengthened and increased by Sin and Guilt or conquered and overcome by Grace so are we more or less enclined towards or averse from Death To be willing to Die when God calls us to it is a thing greatly to be desired and argues no small attainment in Grace when we do it upon good grounds And yet sometimes to be unwilling to Die is not to be condemned as evil and sinful To be willing to Die that we may be with Christ when God calls us to it is a frame of Soul in which the People of God should always be desirous to be found but yet to be desirous to Live when either the Great Work of a Christian is not finished or when his Life may tend to the Glory of God and the Good of his Church is that which is not sinful or unlawful we may see this Truth both in David and Hezekiah in David in Psal 6.4 5. Deliver my Soul O Lord spare me for thy Mercy-sake for in Death there is no remembrance of thee David at this time being troubled in Mind under the apprehensions of God's Wrath and so wanting the assurance of his Love as you may read in the Psalm prays that he might be spared And so Hezekiah Isai 38.2 prays for a longer time of Life as for other Reasons so for this as one because having begun a Reformation in the Church of God he was desirous to live that he might carry it on farther to the Glory of God and the Good of his Church A Christian ought so to live not only as to be prepared for Death but so as to be willing to die but yet he is a true Christian who though he doth not die so willingly yet dies preparedly he that dies preparedly and willingly dies most comfortably but yet he that dies preparedly dies safely and happily In reference unto Death there is a great difference between Nominal Christians and Real Christians and also between one true Christian and another There is a difference in reference unto Death between those that are called Christians but yet are not truly so Some there are whose Consciences are so awakened upon a Death-bed setting their Sins before their Faces with such horrible bloody Circumstances and withal representing the Wrath of God and the Everlasting Torments of Hell as due unto them for their Sins that they cry out in Horrour and Despair their Sins are greater than can be forgiven and feeling a Hell in their Consciences here they die under Desperation of ever escaping Hell hereafter or of obtaining Mercy and Pardon from God This was the case of Judas who under Horrours of Conscience despairing of Mercy endeavours to ease his Conscience by laying violent hands upon himself and is as the Scripture saith gone to his own place Others there are who though they would be called Christians yet are not so indeed but yet are so bold and confident in Death that Heaven is theirs as if they were in the possession of it already Our Lord tells us of some in Luke 13.25 who had such strong presumptions of Heaven that with a confident boldness they knock at Heaven's Gate crying Lord Lord open unto us as if there were no more to be done but only the opening of the door and letting them into Heaven but you know what Answer our Lord returns them I know you not depart from me ye workers of Iniquity Both these sorts of Persons the despairing Sinner and the presumptuous Sinner are alike miserable in their Death though they differ vastly from true and real Christians for they die neither happily nor comfortably for they die under the guilt of their Sins and so perish for ever which no true Christian doth And as Hypocrites and sincere Christians differ in their Death so also do true and real Christians differ in the manner of their dying some when they come to lie upon their Death-beds God is pleased to withdraw the light of his Countenance and the manifestations of his Love and Favour from them and in their apprehensions God seems to have cast them off and will be favourable to them no more and though their Life draws nigh to the Grave yet their Soul is full of trouble they are so in the dark and can see no light in such a State of desertion that God seems to have forsaken them their Sun is as it were setting in a Cloud and in this State of dismal darkness they die not knowing what shall become of their Souls for ever which yet go safely to Heaven being built upon the Rock of Ages the Lord Jesus Christ against which the Gates of Death and Hell shall never prevail Some again there are who though they are true Christians yet are weak Christians though they have the Grace of God in Truth yet they have it not in that growth and strength that some have their Faith is true but they are not strong in Faith they love the Lord Jesus in sincerity but not with that fervour and ardour that some do they have a good Hope towards God but their Hope is not lively and operative Such Christians as these now though they take Death patiently yet they would willingly live they go indeed when God by Death calls for them but they could wish that it would please God to stay for them a little longer they have some good Hopes of Heaven when they die but they desire a little
Glory yet must we not wish for that absolutely for though the Holy Apostle desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ yet was he in a strait and what to choose he tells us he wist not and we know how he qualifies and debates the business and what the issue came to you may read in 1 Phil. 21.22 23. Still therefore in all our desires after Death in general yet as to the particular time when we must always say Not our Wills but thy Will O Lord be done This holy desire of Death now is that which can only be found in the Godly for they only can desire Death upon good grounds but yet there may be a a willingness to die even in Wicked Men and sometimes they may die peaceably and quietly though Death is never comfortable and happy to them That they may sometimes die willingly and peaceably is often seen they may have no bands in their Death as others have as the Psalmist speaks but their strength is firm they are not under troubles and disquietments because of their Sins and the Wrath of God Conscience doth not fly in their Faces by terrible reflections upon their former wicked Lives God doth not make them possess their Sins in the bitterness of their Souls and as for the Devil he will not vex and trouble them that is not for his Advantage for he knows while they are under a spirit of security and senselessness he hath them fast enough and therefore he will not Torment them before their time lest they should get out of his Clutches But all is very quiet and peaceable as to outward appearance and they die as it is commonly expressed by ignorant Persons as quiet as a Lamb This may be the State and Condition of a Wicked Man upon a Death-Bed he may die quietly without any doubting upon his Spirit as to his Eternal State as if all were well and should be well with him for ever not that his Sins are pardoned and God reconciled nor that his Conscience hath not wherewith to trouble him because it is silent no the Worm of Conscience is Hungry and hath matter enough to Torment him in Hell to Eternity but it is not permitted to prey and feed upon the Sinner as yet This peace and Juietness that he now enjoys is not from any knowledge of his good Estate but from his Ignorance how bad his State is he sees not the Wrath of God hanging over his Head nor the Justice of God set in opposition against him and therefore he goes on quietly to his Grave As all the trouble and disquietness of a Godly Man in Death is because he is ignorant of the goodness of his State and Condition so the quietness and peace of a Wicked Man in Death is because he is ignorant of the badness of his State and Condition If a Godly Man dies under fears and troubles it is not because his State is not good but because he knows not that his State is good And if a wicked Man dies in peace it is not because his State is not bad but because he knows not that his State is bad Did a Godly Man know the goodness of his State and Condition his troubles and fears would soon be turned into joy and rejoicings And did a Wicked Man know the badness of his State and Condition his peace and quietness would soon be turned into mourning and lamentation and though now Friends and Acquaintance yea his own Heart and Satan also may flatter him yet Death will open his Eyes and undeceive him and then he shall know for ever by sad experience the Truth of that Scripture in the 57 of Esay last verse There is no Peace saith the Lord unto the Wicked Now as a wicked Man may die willingly yea peaceably so in a Godly Man there may be sometimes an unwillingness to die though a Godly Man acting as a Godly Man ought he is always desirous of Death That there may be in the best of God's Children an unwillingness to die the Scripture is clear Thus was it with the Prophet Jer. 37.20 Now I pray thee O my Lord the King let my supplication be accepted before thee that thou cause me not to return to the House of Jonathan the Scribe least I die there And our Lord forewarning Peter of the manner of his Death tells him that he should be carried whither he would not John 21.18 It is with many of the People of God as it was with Lot who though his Righteous Soul was vexed day by day by beholding the unclean conversation of the Sodomites 2 Pet. 2.18 Yet O how he lingred when God would have taken him from thence as you may see Gen. 19.16 So is it with many of the Saints of God who while they live in this World are always vexed not only with the corruptions of their own Hearts but also with the wickedness of the times yet are they if not unwilling yet not so willing to leave the World as they should be but this unwillingness of theirs proceeds not from the want of Grace but from the weakness of their Grace In the best of God's Children there is Flesh as well as Spirit Sin and Corruption as well as Grace and if at any time Sin and Corruption prevail over Grace as sometimes they do no won-wonder if they be unwilling to die Those of the People of God that do believe do yet believe but in part and though the Spirit be ready in them yet the Flesh is weak But though there be some unwillingness in the best to die yet they know and are sensible that it is their Sin and fault they know they ought to be willing to die and even in this their Spirits in them strive against this weakness of the Flesh and in the end they conquer their fears and overcome their backwardness and unwillingness to die according to that Gracious Promise in Psal 29.11 the Lord will give strength unto his People the Lord will bless his People with Peace The Nature of Grace is such that it will work it self through all fears and doubts both as to Sin and Death And when once the Eye of a Christian's Faith is opened to look within the vail and to discover something of the Glory and Happiness of Heaven and of the Soul's interest therein nothing then satisfies such a Soul but to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. A Godly Man acting as a Godly Man is one that is always desirous of Death because he knows the day of his Death will not only be better to him than the day of his Birth but better also than any day of his Life Now that the People of God may always be willing to die there are several Arguments that should encourage them unto it and I shall but name a few in general First the Afflictions and Distresses that the People of God are Subject to in this World and that
the Body in the Grave it were then a tolerable evil but when we shall consider death as a punishment for sin as that which puts us into an unchangeable Estate this is that which makes it dreadful and terrible indeed While we are in this World which is the time of our preparation for an Eternal State of Strangers yea of Enemies we may become Friends but when death hath once seized upon us it is impossible our State should then be changed We cannot now say of the vilest Sinner in the World that there is no hope of him we must not write desperation upon the fore-head of the wickedst Man on Earth but if he dies in that State then he is lost and undone for ever for as the Tree falls so it lies as death leaves Men so Judgment will find them And this Judgment is such as is conclusive and never to be Repealed Hence it is therefore that take the most hardned Sinner one whom Custom in sinning hath made past feeling yet when he comes to die if Conscience be but awakened it is impossible for him to look death in the Face without great fears and horrours Nay it is a sight so amazing and confounding that were it not for the Righteousness of Christ and that Satisfaction he hath made unto the Justice of God by his death it were utterly impossible that any Believer should bear up under it but Blessed be God the Blood of Christ then speaks Peace and so Believers are not only supported but carried comfortably unto Heaven through the gloomy Valley of the Shadow of death Death being thus terrible now it must needs be looked upon as a dreadful Enemy unto Man An Enemy now is one that when he comes against us always comes Armed to do us a mischief such an Enemy now is death for ever since the Fall of Man death hath been Armed with a deadly Sting now this Sting of death whereby it becomes hurtful unto Man is sin so saith the Apostle The sting of death is sin Now this Sting reacheth not only to the Body but to the Soul also as to the Body it takes away all those Contentments and Comforts wherewith it was here Refreshed and Delighted Death rends the Husband from the Wife and the Wife from the Husband it divides Children from their Parents and Parents from their Children death spoils us of whatsoever is desirable in this life strips a Man of all and turns him naked out of the World But this is not all death not only bereaves us of all that is good here but it brings many Evils along with it Sickness pains on the Body Grief and Anguish upon the Mind and Spirit It is a terrible Enemy to wrastle and contend withal it will make a Man sweat and bleed no Man can Encounter with death but he shall feel great Anxiety and Vexation both of Body and Mind unless he have strength from above to enable him to go through the Contest Death in its own Nature is so furious an Enemy unto Sinners that it will not cease till it hath pulled the Body down into the Grave and dragg'd the Soul into the Presence of God and from his Tribunal into the Torments of Eternal Fire where the first death terminates in the second death and the Torments exceed not only all our Expressions but all our Apprehensions also where death that is now such a dreadful Enemy would there be counted an unspeakable Mercy for there they shall seek death but shall not be able to find it But more particularly the Enmity of death appears in these particulars First The Fears of death do much abate our desires after the Enjoyment of God in Heaven It is true every Believer is one that loves God above all and looks upon Heaven as that which shall be his dwelling place for ever and accordingly sincerely desires and longs after it and in his daily Conversation walks with his Face thitherwards but when he sees death stands in the way between him and Heaven and that there is no coming for him to that place of Bliss but he must pass through that dark Valley this puts him to a stand and makes his desires weak and low The best Christians I believe have sometimes felt such workings as these within their Souls for tho' the Regenerate part discovering it self in the work of Sanctified Affections would be soaring upwards towards God and Heaven in whose presence the Soul would fain be but seeing death standing in its way how are the desires of such a Holy Soul kept down by the fears of it and he turned back as one that was afraid to come into his Father's presence Where is the Christian the Eye of whose Faith is so steadily fixed upon Christ in Heaven whose Soul is sometimes ready to cry out I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better yet withal when he sees the rude hand of death stretched out to undress him and that there is no coming unto Jesus Christ for him but by first suffering a Dissolution and laying down of his Earthly Tabernacle in the Grave though he would fain be with Christ that he might enjoy him whom his Soul loveth yet seeing this dismal Enemy death in the way doth not shrink back and cry out O I dare not venture O what a dreadful Enemy is this and what dreadful Enmity doth it put forth in the obstructing our desires though after God and Heaven causing us to run from God as it were at that time when we truly and dearly love him Happy Souls are they in whom Faith and Love work so powerfully as to conquer and overcome these fears Secondly If death as an enemy prevails so as to abate our desires after the Enjoyment of God in Heaven it will be apt to endanger our falling in love with this present World and so make us miserable by causing us to take up with the men of this World who have their Portion in this Life Take a Christian whose desires after Heaven are weak though true because blunted by the apprehensions of some frightful difficulties that must be gone through for the attaining of it how apt is such a one to be tempted to think that it is best for him to take up with those delightful pleasures that may be had here without such dangerous adventures but now if that which darkens the Blessed Vision of Heaven and our unspeakable Happiness in the fruition of God there and which also deadens our desires after this blessedness be once removed which usually is the dreadful apprehensions of death with what ease can such a Soul with a Holy Scorn and Contempt despise all the trifling Vanities of this World as things not worthy to be regarded Thirdly The Enmity of Death manifests it self in obstructing a Christians endeavours towards Heaven A discouraged disconsolate Soul moves but slowly be it towards Earth or Heaven Difficulties that should stir up greater diligence usually are great
discouragements unto our endeavours and we are apt to cry out with Solomon's Sluggard There is a Lion in the way and therefore it is that the hands of the Sloathful refuse to labour And so it is with us in Spirituals difficulties soon discourage and hinder our endeavours whereas they should be a whet to Industry The Kingdom of Heaven says our Lord suffers violence and the violent take it by force But alas in many Christians the fears of death are so strong that they keep them in Bondage all their Days But now were Death removed out of our way could Christians be cloathed upon with their House which is from Heaven without laying down the earthly Tabernacles of their Bodies in the Grave were there no such thing as dying to make way for our Entrance into Heaven how delightful would the Thoughts of Heaven be to us we should not then run with Patience but with Chearfulness the Race that is set before us we should no longer need Motives to quicken us in our way to Heaven but so earnest and vehement would our desires and longings be after it that nothing could stop the eager pursuits of our Souls for the obtaining of it How delightfully should we pray Lord let thy Kingdom of Glory come Our Meditations thereof would so draw forth our Affections and ravish our Souls in the delightful fore-thoughts of it that we should think nothing hard to part with for the attaining of it But that now which abates our Desires after Heaven must needs hinder our diligent Endeavours in the use of Means for the obtaining of it Now as Death is an Enemy so it is the last Enemy but yet withal it is an Enemy that shall be destroyed so the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 15. and 16. Now the last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death But how or by whom is this last Enemy Death destroyed and overcome I answer Not by our selves for Death seems rather to have destroyed us than we it when it brings the Body down into the Grave and turns it into Corruption and Rottenness But this last Enemy is destroyed by our victorious Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ the Captain of our Salvation he it is who by the Merit of his Death hath overcome Death and of a deadly Enemy hath made it become a most comfortable Friend to all that believe in him Now for this we must know Christ hath not delivered us from our Obligation unto Death for since the Fall of Man Death is become necessary for a Christian being the only way appointed by God for our Entrance into Heaven and therefore we see that Believers die as well as Vnbelievers Neither hath Christ delivered us from Sickness and Distempers the usual Fore-runners of Death David complains Psal 38. My Loins are filled with a loathsome Disease there is no soundness in me because of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my Bones because of my Sin But now in these Respects Christ hath overcome Death for Believers First He hath taken away the Sting of Death This Captain of our Salvation upon the Cross as in an open Field and pitch'd Battel did spoil Principalities and Powers Col. 2.15 Now one of these Powers armed against us was Death and the Weapo◠with which Death fights against us is Sin Our 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ now took away our Sins upon the Cross and so spoil'd Death of his Power For having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them on his Cross Death once struck the Lord of Life and Glory with its Sting and by striking him lost its Sting in his blessed Side so that ever since all that are in Christ do or may insult over Death as being conquer'd and overcome for them so speaks the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. and 55 57. O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin says he and the Strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly Christ delivers Believers from the fears of Death Heb. 2.14 15. Forasmuch then as the Children were 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 But is this all No the Apostle adds another end and that is that he might deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life-time subject unto Bondage Now that which makes an Enemy to be feared is his Strength his deadly Weapons Christ now by dying on the Cross took away the Weapons of Death its Sting whereby it hath Power to hurt and that is Sin Now Death being disarmed Christians are free'd from the Fears of it It is true Men may sometimes fear a naked Enemy but there is no real Cause for it seeing he cannot hurt them And so the People of God sometimes may exceed in their Fears of Death but they have no just Cause neither would they be so afraid of Death if they were strong in the Faith of Jesus Christ who hath disarmed Death for them Thirdly Christ delivers his People from the Curse of Death In it self Death is a Curse the Punishment of Man's Sin the Expression of God's Wrath the Execution of the Law and the dreadful Sentence pronounced against Man upon his Apostacy from God In the day thou eatest thereof says God thou shalt die the Death But all that die under the stroke of Death do not die under the Curse of it all deserve it indeed but to some the Nature of it is changed thorough him who is the Resurrection and the Life they that believe shall never die A Voice from Heaven hath pronounced them blessed that die in the Lord Rev. 14.13 The Nature of Death is changed to them that are in Christ such do but sleep To die to a Saint is no more than to undress and go to Bed Let what will become of Dives our Friend Lazarus sleepeth John 11.12 The Just by Death enter into Peace they rest in their Beds and are taken from the Evil to come Death to the wicked is like a Malefactor's putting off his Cloths that he may be scourged according to Law So Death uncloathes the wicked that by the Wrath of God they may be tormented for ever But now to the godly Man Death is but like a Child's putting off an Old Garment that he may put on a new one So Death uncloathes the Godly of the Rags of their Mortality that they may be cloathed with an incorruptible Garment that shall never fade or change but keep its beautiful Lustre and Glory for ever Fourthly Christ delivers his People from the Dominion of Death It is true when Death hath laid their Bodies down in the Grave in seems to have Dominion over them but it is but for a while for our Lord Jesus hath taken away this seeming Dominion of
fearest God thou needst not be so foolishly fond of this Life for what is there in it that should make thee coat upon it Is it not a Life full of cares and troubles Have not thy Sins made it so The Wise Man tells us that all that is in this Life that can be outwardly enjoyed is nothing but Vanity and vexation of Spirit Hast thou not by experience found it so Thou shouldst therefore with Holy Job bless God not only for giving of Life but for taking of it away also God gave it thee for a time and but for a short time too and if thou wert so wise as thou shouldst be thou oughtest to count it thy felicity that it is so short for it is a Life of sorrow and who will complain because his sorrows are so short It may be thou hast met with some pleasures here that gratifie thy sense but are they comparable to what thy Soul hath tasted in the enjoyment of God unto which God by Death is calling thee to the enjoyment of with himself in Heaven to all Eternity Darest thou say that Earth is like Heaven Is Christ in those dark and dim discoveries he makes of himself in the Gospel like to Christ in the full and open manifestations of himself in all his Glory in Heaven Canst thou say thy Soul is so like him in Wisdom Holiness Joy and Peace here as it will be above when it comes to be enrolled among the Spirits of just Men made perfect If thou wilt be in love with Life be in love with Eternal Life and henceforth fear not to die at God's call for the obedience that thou owest unto God binds thee and the gain that Death will bring should both invite and encourage thee Though Death ends this Life it begins another and though thou may'st rot under ground in one part of thee yet it is in thy vilest part thy Body and even that will spring up and flourish again shortly And in the mean time thy Soul thy better part shall live a more noble and excellent life Think well therefore of Death for as it ends thy Life so it ends thy Sin and thy sufferings also In these particular Instances O Christian thou feest how little cause there is for thee to be afraid of Death I shall now in the next place endeavour to discover how unfit and uncomely a thing it is for Christians to fear Death and for this consider First A Christians fearing of Death brings a reproach upon Religion as if there were not that in Christianity that could lift up a Soul above the fears of Death For a Papist that professeth no Man can in an ordinary way be assured that he shall go to Heaven when he dies to tremble at the thoughts of Death this is no great matter it is but to act according to what his Religion teacheth him but for one that professeth the knowledge and assurance of Salvation and a future happy State to stand amazed at death the way and passage through which God hath appointed we must enter into Heaven where this happiness is to be enjoyed shews if not a want of Faith yet at least a great weakness of Faith and gives occasion to those that speak evil of the good ways of God to reflect disgracefully upon Religion Secondly To live in fear of Death is that State of Bondage and Slavery which wicked Men are under and from which Jesus Christ came to deliver his People And therefore for a Believer to live dejectedly under the fears of Death is a very uncomely thing Indeed the fears of wicked Men are so great that they cannot think of Death without horrour and when they come to die they are compelled to it for of all things in the World they dread Death most and could they but be assured that they shall live here always they would desire no other Heaven Fearfulness and amazedness under the apprehensions of Death is the proper State of wicked Men that Slavery and Bondage unto which they are always subject for upon good grounds they can have no hopes in Death but are full of fearful expectations of Wrath and fiery Indignation that shall Torment them for ever But now for true Believers God hath made your state and condition very unlike unto theirs as to the issues of Death because you have good hopes of Eternal Life even in Death so says the Wise Man Prov. 14.32 The Righteous hath hope in his Death Now since there is so great an unlikeness between you and them both in Death and after Death let there not be a likeness between you and them as to your fears of Death let a Faelix tremble at the hearing of Death and Judgment but let not the Godly hang down their Heads but lift them up with joy and rejoicing because the day of their Redemption draweth nigh Thirdly Consider this to be afraid of Death is to fear that which is but the Shadow and semblance of Death For to speak strictly a state of Sin and separation of the Soul from God for Sin this is Death properly but the separation of the Soul from the Body only is but the Shadow of Death But O how seldom is it to see Men trembling because of a spiritual Death because they are dead in trespasses and sins though this be infinitely more dreadful than any temporal Death can be And therefore to shew how full of Woe and Misery this Death is it is called Damnation which is the extremity of all Misery This is that now to which this spiritual Death tends and in which it will terminate Hence therefore Wicked Men are said to be condemned already and the wrath of God abides upon them and that they shall have their Portion in that Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death This shall as certainly be their Portion as if they were there already Therefore O Christian if thou wilt fear Death fear not that which is the shadow and the appearance of it but fear that which is Death indeed fear Sin that is the cause both of the first and of the second Death also for if thou art spiritually alive and raised from the Death of Sin as all true Believers are how uncomely a thing is it for thee to fear the Shadow the appearance of an evil which cannot hurt thee when thou art delivered from the evil it self Fourthly Consider for a Christian to fear that which is both common and certain is an uncomely and unsuitable thing Afflictions in general are the common lot of all God's People in this World but Death is that which is more common because it is that which befals all both good and bad from other outward Afflictions there is a possibility that some may be free or if they befal them they may be delivered from under them again but no Man can escape Death What Man is he that liveth saith the Psalmist and shall not see Death shall he
we may come to the full Enjoyment of our longed for Happiness Hath God cast thee O Christian upon a Bed of Pain and Sorrow and is it likely to prove thy Death-bed Are there such Symptoms of thy departure that God seems to tell thee plainly thou shalt die and not live O do not reply and say It is too soon yet thou art too young to die and go to Heaven What though God call thee to Glory and Blessedness sooner than thou expectest yet shame not thy self grieve not others that behold thee much more disparage not the Happiness of Heaven nor of that God who is to be eternally enjoyed there by thy unwillingness to go thither Secondly May some say we shall have so many Evils to encounter with that will create us so much fear and trouble and withal so many Pains will befall us in a dying hour that we cannot tell how to think of Death we are so affrighted at it To this I answer It is true a Christian cannot expect to die without Assaults of Enemies nor without the Pains of Death but yet a Christian need not fear nor be unwilling to die for all this First One Discouragement may be the Apprehension of the guilt of Sin which they then fear will stare their Consciences in the Face and how to bear up under it they know not But know O Christian if Sin hath lost its Throne in thy Soul if it hath no Interest in thy Affections so that it is not embraced with any Love or Delight it shall never ruine or condemn thee For it is a certain Truth where Sin doth not rule there Sin shall never damn He that by the Grace and Spirit of Christ is enabled to mortifie his Sins and all sinful Affections and Inclinations thereunto and by a penitential Conversion of Soul from Sin unto God hath forsaken his sinful ways all his former Provocations though never so great lose their damning Power For where Sin is once in the Exercise or godly Sorrow confessed unto God it is by him graciously pardoned Nay the Apostle tells us in 1 John 1.9 If we confess our Sins God is not only merciful and gracious but he will be just and righteous to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness And what greater security can a Christian desire for his support than the Truth and Faithfulness of that God who is Truth it self and cannot lie Secondly There is another thing that may startle a Christian's Confidence and make him unwilling to die and that is the fears of the Assaults of Satan who will do what he can not only to hinder our future Happiness but to interrupt our comfortable passage through Death It is true the Devil will be very active in a dying hour But be not discouraged give not place to his Temptations For where Sin is pardoned as it is to all Believers What hath the Devil wherewith to shake a Christian's Confidence or to undermine his Hopes and Expectance but what is built upon Lies and Falshood If therefore you will give Credit unto this Father of Lies when he endeavours to weaken those certain Assurances the great God hath given you of his resolved Designs to save such as you are and so come to be disturbed and confounded in your Thoughts about your present and future State you must blame your selves Till therefore it can be proved that Sin may be repented of and not pardoned that Sin may be pardoned and yet the Soul perish and undone till God or Christ prove either forgetful unable or false be not dejected It is the great Comfort of a Christian that the Devil hath no other Arguments to disquiet a Believer with in a dying hour but what are bottom'd on these gross Absurdities And though Satan may be furious in his last Assaults yet O Christian remember when thou art walking through the Valley of the shadow of death thou walkest not alone In that dark and gloomy Valley God hath his Rod and his Staff in readiness for thy Assistance and Encouragement and know further O believing Soul that Christ our compassionate High Priest knows what it is to die and hath been acquainted with the Subtilties and Fury of the Tempter by smart Experience and his sympathy hath taught him pity and because he is our Head he will not forget his Members under their afflicting Temptations in that hour For though he be in Heaven he retains the same Bowels and Affections now in his glorified State which he had here upon Earth and doth continually improve his Intercession in Heaven for the benefit security and relief of his afflicted People in their greatest dangers and Extremities If any poor Believers shall here object the pains of Death as being so great and to their apprehensions insupportable and therefore they are unwilling to die Let them consider that they are but short and suddain and though they are made by God our necessary passage into Glory yet they shall soon be over and forgot when the Soul by death is set free from the Body and takes its flight into the Presence of God in Heaven And alas what are the dying pains and groaning gasps of departing Saints compared to the Gripes and Stingings of an awakned Conscience for sin and the horrid fears of the Wrath and Vengeance of God which though they are not seen by others because inward yet are they the frequent and daily Tormenting Exercises of sinners both in Life and Death And though the pains of the Godly in a dying hour may sometimes be afflictive unto Sense yet it often happens through the Goodness and Mercy of God to them that their Fears in Life exceed their Pains in Death and this King of Terrors doth not gripe so hard nor stab so painfully as we are apt to think and if he doth God many times comes in with such strong Consolations upon departing Souls in the Manifestations of his Love to and Presence with them as turns their Fears and Sorrows into Joy and Rejoycing But if God should not manifest himself thus Comfortably unto some for their Support but leave them to the feeling of their Fears by undergoing great pains in Death yet as soon as the stroke is given the pains are gone and their fears are over How quickly do the first openings of that Eternal Morning swallow up all the Remembrances of our dying sorrows O when the Joys and Visions of our God invade and Exercise our departed Souls then comes the great and welcome Pledge of our Eternal Conquest of this last Enemy and after a short sleep of Bodies in the Dust whilst Souls return to God the Trump will sound the Lord will come the World shall perish or be refin'd by Flames and the Dead shall rise and die no more and then as the Apostle speaks shall we be ever with the Lord. But some may say we could willingly die but that we know not what will become of us hereafter we cannot tell
what our future State will be and therefore we are afraid of Death The desires we have of our Eternal Happiness puts us upon hoping the best but our doubts and fears are so many we cannot but tremble to think of our departure because we are under such uncertainties whither we shall go when Death takes us hence To this I Answer who art thou that makest these Objections Either thou art a wicked Man or one that truly fearest God If thou art a Wicked Man under the guilt of thy Sins and in an unpardoned State I cannot wonder that thou art afraid of Death nor can I blame thee that thou art unwilling to die Thou hast cause enough to make thee fear and tremble For there is nothing in Death or what is to come after it if thou understandest thy danger aright but what might fill thee with the greatest Terror and Consternation imaginable Whatever thou fearest is to come and may come quickly for ought thou knowest is infinitely far greater and worse than what thou canst now imagine what thou feelest or fearest are but the beginning of thy Sorrows nay all the Miseries thou canst meet with in Life and all the pains that thou canst suppose to be in Death fall infinitely short of those unconceivable Horrours and Miseries that are the Portion of Sinners in the next Life And for any Comfort or Relief against Death whilst thou art in thy Sinful State there is nor can be none Thy work therefore must be speedily to get into Christ labour to have thy Sins Pardoned Follow God with earnest Cries Tears and Importunities of Soul that thy sinful Nature may be changed and Sanctified and then let Death come when it will though thou die under never such fears and uncertainties as to thy future State yet Eternal Happiness attends thee and when Death hath once closed the Eyes of thy Body the Eye of thy Soul will quickly be opened to thy everlasting Joy and Consolation If thou art one that truly fearest God but yet art unwilling to die because thou art uncertain how it may go with thee as to thy Eternal State Why then examine thine own heart whether these fears do not proceed from thine own carelessness God hath vouchsafed to thee many means and opportunities for the encreasing thy Knowledge for the strengthening thy Faith for the enlarging thy Love for the confirming thy Hope for the establishing thy Soul in the ways of God and to provoke and stir thee up unto the continual Exercise of Grace that hereby thou mightest grow up into some Knowledge and Assurance of his Love towards thee through Christ and so mayest groundedly conclude the certainty of thy future Happiness But thou hast been sloathful not putting forth thy self with all diligence in the improving the Helps and Advantages God hath put into thy hands and therefore thou art so in the Dark and under fears how it may go with thy Soul for ever if this be thy case go humble thy Soul before God lie low in his presence beg earnestly the manifestations of his Love and Favour towards thee And for time to come put forth the endeavours of thy Soul unto the utmost in the use of all the means God vouchsafes unto thee for the removing thy Fears satisfying thy Doubts encreasing thy Knowledge confirming thy Faith and Hope in a future State of Happiness provided for thee and how soon God may come in whilst thou art thus humbling thy self before him and manifest his loving kindness unto thy Support and Comfort thou knowest not But however if he should for some Reasons thou canst not at present apprehend leave thee to walk under thy Doubts and Fears still yet if thou art sincere one that hath the Grace of God in Truth in thy Soul I would say thus much that these Fears and Jealousies about the attainment of the Happiness of Heaven if it be a Distemper as it is become so natural to us all that it is with much difficulty cured in this present State but yet it may be with great diligence and industry of Soul But for thy Comfort O doubting Believer know though these Doubts and Fears are sinful and thou dost thereby provoke God yet they shall not prejudice thy future Happiness though they may and do often hinder thy present Peace and Comfort For certainly God will never Damn a Believing Soul let such a one think what he will of himself For though thou art not assured that thou art his yet God knows all those that are his and not one of them shall Eternally perish Suppose therefore that thou shouldst die under Doubts and Jealousies and thy Soul should go out of this World sitting in a Cloud of Tears this hinders not but it may arise in a fair morning of Glory Heaven only is a place privileged from Tears and Fears But may some Soul say I am not willing to die because I fear I have no Grace or at least it is but little that I have for when I compare my self with others the most I can say of my self is this that all my Grace and Holiness lies in a Love to Grace and in a desire after Holiness I hope through Grace I can say that there is nothing in all the World if I might have my choice that I desire more than to be like my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ But O how short do I fall both of my Rule and of my Desires my walkings in the ways of God are very uneven and unconstant the corruptions of my heart are so great and so frequently breaking forth by Fleshly Affections and Worldly Desires that if there be any Grace within me it is very hard to diseern it by reason of the sin that doth accompany and go along with it and how then should such a one as I dare to think of dying Were Grace strong and vigorous could I sensibly find the strength encrease and growth of it in a tendency towards perfection I could then think of dying with some courage But the weakness and imperfection of Grace much discourageth me that I cannot with any willingness and chearfulness entertain the thoughts of it in my Soul To this I Answer let not the thoughts of Death discourage thee O weak Christian for Death can no more shall no more hinder the Happiness of a weak Believer than of a strong Believer It is true a strong Faith may carry thee more comfortably to Heaven but a weak Faith will carry thee as truly to Heaven For Faith saves not as it is strong or weak but as it is true and a weak Faith is true Faith as well as a strong Faith Grace and Holiness is of Absolute necessity for every Christian for without them it is impossible to please God or to enjoy him For as the Apostle saith Without Holiness no man shall ever see the Lord. But yet all Christians are not equally Holy there is a measure or stature to which all Christians are
Comfort that many of God's People have languished a long time under the want of assurance and some of them most part of their lives yea and in their last Sickness and almost to their last gasp and then God hath Graciously come in and Sealed up his Love and Favour to their Souls whereby they have been filled will Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Never fear death therefore for want of assurance for that is the most usual time when God doth bestow it upon his People But if he doth not then give thee this assurance yet he will put under his Everlasting Arms that shall bear thee up notwithstanding all thy fears and doubts and carry thee safe through the pains of Death into Glory where thou shalt have as much of the Love of God and of the Assurance thereof as thou canst wish or desire But may some say were we prepared to die we could willingly embrace Death whensoever God sends it But alas our State and Condition is such that we fear we are not fit for Death and how then can we Comfortably think of dying I Answer if this be the true case of thy Soul as thy Fears suggest that thou art not really prepared for Death thy Condition is sad and dangerous and if Death seize upon thee in this State thou art irrecoverably miserable and all the Comfort that can be given unto thee is this that yet there is a possibility of Salvation as yet there is some hope because thou art not actually under the power of Death God is yet waiting time is yet lengthened out space is yet granted to you to prepare to meet this King of Terrors And in the Improvement of these lies all your Hopes for Heaven and Eternity You have hitherto been great loiterers in your great work spent much of your precious time to little purpose neglected many opportunities lost many warnings vouchsafed to you Now therefore be diligent What was the whole time of your Life given you for but to prepare for Death and have you lived so many years in the World to prepare for your last hour and are you still both unwilling and unfit to die What have you been doing wherefore is it that you have lived have you had any business of greater concernment to mind than to be prepared for your latter end O foolish Souls and unwise who else would run such desperate hazaras God hath frequently told you that you must die how often hath Death by God's appointment come among your Acquaintance and Relations and sometimes into your own Habitations and snatched away many before your Eyes how often hath it been told you such a Friend is dead in such a place and such an Acquaintance in another place and such a Relation in such a Family And by all these warnings will you not believe that you are Mortal and shall shortly die as well as others If you do believe it where is the prepartion you make for it when you are still crying out O you are not fit to die was not this your Language long since how many years hath it been heard from you When God hath visited you with Sickness not once but often and you were going down into the Chambers of the Grave in your own apprehensions did you not then cry out Lord I am not ready O spare me yet a little longer that I may recover my strength yet once again before I go away from hence and shall be seen no more and God was nigh to your Voice and heard your Cry and granted your Request and tried you once and again a little longer and what are you not yet fit to die whose fault is it surely your own And if Death take you away in this State you will justly bear the blame and punishment of it for ever Whoever thou art into whose hands these lines may fall presently put thy self upon the Trial how it is with thee and endeavour to put the Question out of doubt think not that God must wait upon you whilst you dally and trifle away your time hast thou been careless and negligent formerly be so no longer O search and examine thy Soul and follow the search close and home to thy Conscience till thou come fully and clearly to discern how it is with thee idle not away thy time one moment longer but begin this day delay not thy Preparations for Death until to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth What is requisite to make thy preparations such as may render Death Comfortable in thy thoughts and Expectations I have already laid down in the third Chapter of this Treatise to which I refer thee But notwithstanding what hath been spoken because there may yet be some fears arising in the hearts of some troubled Christian 's which they cannot get the Victory over so as readily and willingly to submit unto Death I shall in the next place propose some Consolatory Considerations for their Encouragement and support against a dying hour As First Consider that Gracious Promise God hath made unto his People in all Ages that he will never leave them nor forsake them And this is a Cordial so full of Divine Consolation that if Christians did but believe and live up to the Comfort that might be drawn from it they would not fear much less sink under any Affliction that can befall them It was no small Trial St. Paul was under when after his being rapt up into the third Heavens where he heard things that were unspeakable or impossible to be uttered he had given him a Thorn in the Flesh the Messenger of Satan to Buffet him upon which he makes his Prayer thrice that it might be removed from him What Answer now doth he receive from God why the Thorn remains in his Flesh still and the Messenger of Satan continues to Buffet him but yet he hath a better return to his Prayer even the making good of this Gracious Promise to him that God would not leave him nor forsake him for says God My Grace shall be sufficient for thee my Strength is made perfect in Weakness And therefore the Apostle orys out in the deepest of his Afflictions with Transports of Joy most gladly therefore will I Glory in my Infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon me yea says he I take pleasure in Infirmities in Reproaches in Necessities in Persecutions in Distresses for Christ's sake for when I am Weak then am I strong for I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me 2 Cor. 12.9 10. Thus for God to stand by his People and to strengthen them under their Afflictions is more than for God to deliver them out of them and he always doth the one or the other if he deliver not his People out of afflictions he always strengthens them under them and the greater the Afflictions of any of his People are the more is his Power seen in supporting them because they then most need it
it were not my pleasure to part with it all that Men or Devils could do they were not able to wrest it out of my hands Now though Christ by his death and sufferings accomplished several ends as the satisfaction of the Justice of God the procuring Pardon and Remission of Sin and the obtaining Heaven yet this also was one end of his death and a very comfortable one too and that is the overcoming of death for Believers Christ Jesus the Lord of Life and Glory hath by his death spoiled Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in his Cross By his death he hath not only destroyed death but him also that had the power of death that is the Devil and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lives-time subject unto that bondage The Blood of Jesus Christ hath slain death's Enmity not that death is so destroyed that Believers shall not die but it is unstung It still wears its Dart by which it strikes all Men but it hath lost its sting by which it hurts Is death therefore riding upon its pale Horse and making haste towards thee O Believer fear it not be not dismayed at it though there may be much of pain in it yet there is nothing of the Curse in it it is as a Serpent without a sting thou mayest take it into thy hand yea into thy bosom without danger Death poured out all its Poison upon Christ when he was made a Curse it fastned yea it lost its sting in his blessed Side And who would fear an Enemy that is conquered Death to a Believer is not only an innocent harmless thing but it is one of his best Friends death is yours says the Apostle speaking to Believers It is theirs as a special Privilege When Christ was upon the Cross there was a Contention between him and death and as it was prophesied of him he was then the plague of death and the destruction of the Grave for he swallowed them up in Victory So that now death drives but a poor Trade among Believers all that it can do is but to destroy the Body and to afright some that are weak in the Faith but it cannot hurt them Victory over death is as sure to them as if they had already overcome and therefore says the Apostle speaking of Death and the Grave Thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly Meditate upon the Resurrection of Christ This is a great Fundamental Article of the Christian Religion that upon which the Faith the Hope and Happiness of a Christian for Eternity is built for as Christ died for our Sins so he arose again for our Justification And if Christ had not risen the Faith and Hope of a Christian is but vain If Christ be not risen a Christian shall not rise and if there be no Resurrection there is no Life everlasting If Christians have hope only in this Life they are of all Men most miserable But blessed be God Christ is risen and therefore the Faith and Hope of a Christian stands firm for it is built upon the Rock of Ages against which as the Gates of Death did not so the Gates of Hell shall not prevail That Christ is risen the Scripture is clear an Angel declares it Matth. 28.6 He is not here he is risen as he said Come see the place where the Lord lay Holy Men who were Eye-witnesses hereof give their Testimony to this Truth when our Lord shewed himself alive to them by the space of Forty Days in nine several Apparitions and once was he seen of five hundred Brethren together 1 Cor. 15.6 And says the Apostle Acts 2.24 He was raised from the dead the pains or bands of death being loosed because it was not possible he should be holden of them It was possible Death should seize upon him and so it did he willingly yielding himself up unto it because as our Surety he owed a death by way of satisfaction to the Justice of God for our sins which he had taken upon him and accordingly he paid it otherwise Death could not have taken hold of him But though death did take hold of him yet could it not keep it though it had possession of him in the Grave yet it could not keep him there no that was impossible partly because he is life essentially life so himself tells us I am the Resurrection and the Life Now it is not possible for death to hold life it self longer under its power than he who is life it self pleaseth And then partly it was not possible Christ should be held under the power of death in â—espect of us for having undertaken the great work of restoring us unto life if his life had been subdued by death if he had been held down a Prisoner under the power of death and the grave we had been lost and undone for ever for as the Apostle argues if Christ be not risen then our Faith is vain we are yet in our sins But Christ being to carry on the work of our Redemption to perfection though he submitted himself to die yet was it impossible Death should have Dominion over him for ever Christ therefore is risen and he is risen as a publick Person in the behalf of all Believers who are therefore called the Children of the Resurrection and said to be risen with him Eph. 2.6 Christ's Resurrection is not only the Cause of a Believer's Resurrection but the security of his happy Resurrection therefore he is said to be the first fruits of them that sleep Now as the first fruits did both assure and sanctifie the whole Harvest so doth Christ do for Believers by his Resurrection he assures them of their Resurrection and sanctifies it also that it shall be a blessed Resurrection even unto an Eternity of Happiness And therefore it is with respect to Believers that Christ is called the First-born or the first begotten from the dead who are in their time and order to be born from the dead the Resurrection giving New Birth or Being unto those bodies which while they were in the Grave seemed to have none For as certainly as the whole Harvest follows the first Fruits so doth the general Resurrection of Believers at the last day follow the Resurrection of Christ For as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15. and 12. If Christ be risen from the dead how can it be but that there must be a Resurrection from the dead If we acknowledge the Body of Christ is risen we cannot rationally deny the Resurrection of our own bodies because Christ's Resurrection is not only the Exemplar of our Resurrection but the Cause of it for because Christ and Believers are but one Mystical Body he the Head they the Members and the Head being risen the Members shall not always lie rotting in the Grave but shall in due time arise also For the Spirit of Life that is in Christ
Resurrection where thou shalt be out of the reach of all Afflictions and Sorrows and where thou canst not be endangered by sin the Tempter or any of his Temptations And concerning the Resurrection of the Body it is not only one of the most Excellent Mysteries of the Christian Religion but it is also one of its Glorious Advantages It is that which the Heathens with all their deep Reasonings could never attain to the understanding of but though Humane Reason be blind and cannot find out this Glorious Mystery yet we who are Christians have the sure and certain Knowledge of it discovered to us by Divine Revelation and when Reason is once savingly enlightned from above O how the Justice and necessity of the future Resurrection of the Body is not only acknowledged but admired I confess when a Believer is cast upon his Death-bed and his Soul ready to take its leave of the Body in its passage unto Heaven it is no small cause of Joy and rejoycing to consider that as soon as it hath cast off its Earthly Tabernacle it shall be immediately admitted into the Glorious Presence of God himself where it shall view and contemplate his Face with infinite and unspeakable delight and satisfaction But yet that Holy Joy and that Heavenly Sweetness which sometimes is so Powerful that it Ravisheth the Soul of a Believer on a Death-bed whilst it Contemplates that Happiness to which it is going may be disturbed and imbittered by the Consideration of the poor Bodies being cast into the Earth there to become a Feast for Worms to feed upon But be not troubled at this O Believing Soul for this seeming Destruction of thy Body shall not be Eternal though it fall into the Grave by Death where it seems at present to be lost and forgotten yet shall it have a certain Resurrection and then the Ignominy and Disgrace under which it lay in the Grave shall appear not to have been so great as its Resurection out of it shall appear Glorious for it is sown in Corruption but it is raised in Incorruption it is Sown in dishonour but it is raised in Glory it is Sown in weakness it is raised in Power it is Sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body in 1 Cor. 15.42 43. Fear not therefore O Believing Soul but commit thy Body with Confidence unto the Earth and let thy Heart rejoyce let thy Tongue be glad and let thy Flesh rest in the hopes of a blessed Resurrection for assure thy self thy Body shall not always lie rotting in the Grave neither shall in there see Corruption for ever but there shall come a time when God shall shew it the path of Life again when thy Soul shall descend from Heaven to assume its new raised body out of the Grave to become a most glorious Body even like unto the glorious Body of Jesus Christ being made more spiritual and so more suitable to the Nature and Operations of the Soul that it may become a fit Partner with it in the Blessedness and Happiness of Heaven for evermore Fourthly Consider the Familiarity that Believers have expressed towards Death Ordinarily indeed Men put death into such ugly shapes and represent it to themselves under such terrible and afrighting forms that they pass their lives under slavery and bondage through the fears of it all their days The visage of Death appears so grim and full of horrour to the minds of some that the serious forethoughts of it seem to them to be a tormenting them before their time O how vastly different are the thoughts of a wicked and a godly man concerning Death and the Grave the one looks upon death as full of Dread and Horrour the other looks upon it as a Messenger of Peace and Joy and how can it be otherwise For to the wicked it comes as a dreadful Enemy armed with the wrath of an angry God which burns to the lowest Hell But to the Godly it comes as a peaceable loving Friend sent with Tydings of Peace and Reconciliation from him who is the God of Peace and Love Natural fear of Death in a wicked Man is great but when natural fear is encreased by guilt lying upon the Conscience and staring a Sinner in the face Oh what dismal Horrour and Confusion must seize upon such a Soul under the Apprehensions of Death Well may such a one look upon the Grave as a Dungeon and Death as Hell it self an awakened Conscience representing to his view nothing but the Fiends and Furies of that Infernal Pit that wait to be the Executioners of the Wrath and Vengeance of the great God upon him in the Woes and Miseries of everlasting Burnings Who wonders therefore to hear such an one crying out upon a Death-bed with Horrour and Anguish of Soul Oh I am so sick I cannot live and yet I am so sinful I dare not die and yet die I must Oh would to God that the serious Thoughts of these things might be laid to heart by all profane Sinners What a happy means might it possibly be to prevent the Horrours and Consternation of Soul in many upon a Death-bed But if Sinners cannot bear the Thoughts of these things in their Minds now for fear of Distraction how will they bear the sight and presence of them then If the thinking and speaking of them now be dreadful the feeling of them will be far more tormenting But now a godly Man thinks and speaks of death after another manner for if he thinks and speaks of death as a godly Man may and ought to do he is so far from being terrified with the thoughts of it that he thinks of it comfortably speaks of it familiarly As it was wont to be the speech of a very Holy Person now with God who was pretty well stricken in years I hope it will not be long before I shall be in Heaven for few live above sixty or seventy years and I am now a good many above fifty certainly therefore it cannot be long before I shall die Thus this Holy Soul being desirous of death did use delightfully to reckon how little time there was to pass between it and Heaven and with a holy longing of Soul reaching after death as one that was troubled that it was so long a coming Thus certainly did holy Job look upon death not as an Enemy nor yet barely as a Stranger but as one of his Friends whom he was well acquainted with took a kind of Deligh and Contentment in it See with what an unusual but yet sweet and familiar manner he salutes and welcomes death and all its Retinue in Job 17.14 I have said to Corruption thou art my Father and to the Worm thou art my Mother and Sister The Holy Man makes no more of Death and the Grave than as if he were going to be embraced by a compassionate Father or a tender-hearted Mother or Sister whose Bowels were full of love and pity to him Thus St. Paul also
speaks of Death as that which he was daily familiar with being in Deaths often frequently thinking thereof for said he I die daily Thoughts of Death was that which he accustomed himself unto and that was one Cause why he was so willing to embrace it And thus it should be with all of us were our hearts rightly affected and we so familiarly acquainted with death as we ought Those of us who have the most lively Faith would not only not be afraid of death but we should even court it as that which is better than life But I would not here discourage any weak Believer for I dare not say that they are no true Believers who are not come up to this frame of Soul Though it is true Grace is the same in all Believers one Believer hath the same that another Believer hath yet all that are Believers do not attain to the same degrees of Grace There are some and it is their sin and ought to be their Humiliation that Death and they are little acquainted they seldom descend into the Grave by frequent Meditations of their Mortality they look not into the Pit out of which at first they were taken and into which they are shortly to return now their comfort in the thoughts of death is little if any at all because death and they are such Strangers to one another These may be true Believers but they are weak and faulty But now others there are who are so advanced in Grace above their Brethren that by a constant Familiarity with death are so composed in their Spirits that they fear it not nay they rejoice in the thoughts of it not because they think they shall not taste of death for they know that death will overtake them as well as others they are sensible that the time of their departure draws nearer and nearer daily These things they believe but they do not afflict themselves therewith so well are they acquainted with death both in the Nature and in the Effects of it And were they to die presently this would not much trouble them for they know the bitterness of death is past though death it self be not the Gall and the Wormwood is taken out Christ hath been there before them and therefore the sting of death which is sin is gone the dangers yea and the difficulties also in dying are removed out of the way This they believe and therefore they are not afraid though by death they descend through the Grave into Heaven for their Jesus their Saviour is there and they know that till they die where he is they cannot be wherefore they say though we die nay therefore will we die that we may see him Wouldst thou therefore O weak Believer attain unto this sweet frame of Spirit accustom thy self then to a holy familiarity with death conceive of it under the fairest and easiest Notions this is that the Spirit of God in Scripture delights in when it speaks of death with respect to the People of God it always makes use of the most comfortable Expressions to represent it to them by So sweetly is death enamell'd and so richly is it cloathed in the holy Language that it seems to have a kind of Lustre and Beauty upon it to draw the Hearts and Affections of Believers to be desirous of it Look a little therefore O Believer into the Sacred Oracles and see how the Spirit of God teacheth us to cloath Death with delightful Expressions sometimes it is called an undressing or uncloathing And what Man that hath worn a Suit of Cloaths till it is become filthy and nasty would not be glad to put off his old filthy Garments that he might put on Change of Raiment And why should not a Christian be willing to lay down the Earthly House of his Tabernacle though it be in the Dust of the Grave that he may be cloathed upon with his House which is from Heaven Sometimes Death is compared to Rest they shall rest in their Beds says the Prophet and Job speaking of the state of Man in death tells us there the weary are at rest Now when a Man hath wrought hard and taken great pains and labour all the Day how desirous is he to go to Bed and take his Rest And is not Death the same to thee O Christian Doth not the Spirit of God call it so Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours And surely there is no rest like to that rest that a Christian obtains after his spiritual labours and conflicts with Sin Satan the World and his own evil Heart when the Soul is set free from the Body and takes its flight at once from all these into the Bosom of God that place of Rest and Happiness which remains for the People of God As there is no Yoke like unto the Yoke of Christ when a Christian suffers for him for it is a Yoke lined with Love My Yoke says he is easie and my Burthen is light So there is no Rest and Happiness like that which is with Christ for the same Happiness that he enjoys his Children and Servants enjoy also Sometimes death is called a Sleep so says our Lord our Friend Lazarus sleepeth it is spoken of his death now who of us when the day is spent and the night hath overtaken us is afraid to go to bed and sleep And why then should a Christian when his Days are finished and the Night of Sickness is come upon him be afraid to fall asleep though he sleep the sleep of Death By such Considerations as these and the like that the Scripture holds forth to us Christians should endeavour to allay the bitterness beautifie the deformity blunt the edge and take out the sting of death that all hard thoughts of it might be buried and instead thereof there might grow up a sweet Familiarity and Acquaintance between them and death Oh how would this facilitate the work of dying and cause holy Souls to exult with joy and rejoicing when death is approaching towards them And here I cannot but make a little Digression to reason the Case with some weak Believers whose unwillingness to die is very great because their fears of death are so many But why should the fears of Death so amaze and terrifie thee O weak Believer Hast thou not the same Grace in thee with others Hast thou not the same Faith the same Hope the same Love acting and working in thee Dost thou not serve the same Lord Hast thou not the same God for thy Father the same Jesus for thy Saviour the same Spirit of Consolation for thy Comforter Art thou not going to the same Heaven nay art thou not going to the same Heaven in the same way that all the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and Saints of God in all Ages have gone before thee Death was the Gate through which they all entred into Heaven and why then shouldst thou be so unwilling to go to Heaven