happily is to die willingly The maine worke of Preparation is effected when our hearts are perswaded to bee willing to die Now in the explication of this point I would distinctly handle three things First I will proue that to liue without feare of death is a thing may bee obtained one may be deliuered from it as certainly as a sick man may bee cured of an ordinary disease Secondly I will shew how vncomely a thing it is for a Christian to bee afraid of death that so we may bee stirred vp the more to seeke the cure for this disease Thirdly I will shew by what meanes we may bee deliuered from the feare of death if we vse them Of the two first more briefly and of the last at large CHAP. II. Prouing that we may be cured of the feare of death FOR the first that the feare of death may be remoued and that we may attaine to that resolution to be willing to die without lothnesse is apparant diuers waies First it is euident Christ died to deliuer vs not onely from the hurt of death and from the deuill as the executioner but also from the feare of death too Now Christ may attaine to the end of his death vnlesse we will deny the vertue of Christ and his death and think that notwithstanding it cannot be obtained Heb. 2. 14 15. And the more apparant is this because in that place hee shewes that there is vertue in the death of Christ to cure this feare of death in any of the Elect if they will vse the meanes For as our sinnes will not bee mortified though there be power in the death of Christ to kill them vnlesse wee vse the meanes to extract this vertue out of the death of Christ so is it true that the feare of death may be in some of Gods Elect but it is not because Christ cannot deliuer them but because they are sluggish and will not take the course to bee rid of those feares The Physician is able to cure them and vsually doth cure the same disease but they will not take his Receipts 2. The Apostle intreating of the desire of death saith That God hath wrought vs vnto the selfe-same thing 2. Cor. 5. 5. We are againe created of God that wee might in our selues aspire vnto immortality and are set in such an estate as if we answered the end of his workemanship we should neuer be well till wee be possessed of the happinesse in another world which hee shewes in those words of being absent from the body and present with the Lord ver 8. 3. The Prophesies haue run on this point For it was long since fore-told that Christians knowing the victory of Christ ouer death should be so farre from fearing death that they should treade vpon him and insult ouer him O Death Where is thy sting c. Isay 25. 8. Hos. 13. 14. 2. Cor. 15. 54 55. 4. It is a condition that Christ puts in when he first admits Disciples that they must deny their owneliues and not onely be content to take vp their crosse in other things but their liues must not bee deare vnto them when hee cals for it Luk. 14. 26. 5. Wee are taught in the Lords Prayer to pray That Gods Kingdome may come And by his Kingdom he meanes the Kingdom of Glory as well as the Kingdome of Grace Now in that wee are taught to pray for the Kingdome it shewes wee should desire it and that by prayer wee should bee more and more heated in our desires 6. Wee are borne againe to a liuely hope of our inheritance Now if wee bee afraid of the time of our translation thither how do we hope for it after a liuely manner A desire of going to heauen is a part of that seed cast into our hearts in our regeneration 1. Pet. 1. 3 4. 7. Wee haue the example of diuers men in particular who haue desired to die and were out of feare in that respect Gen. 49. 18. Iacob wayted for Gods saluation and Paul resolues that to die and to be with Christ is best of all for him Phil. 1. 21. Yea in Rom. 7. 23. hee is vehement O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from this body of death Simeon praies God to let him die Luk. 2. 29. And the Prophet in the name of the godly said long before Christ O that the saluation of Israel were come out of Syon Psal. 14. 7. And we haue the example of the Martyrs in all Ages that accounted it a singular glory to die And in 2. Cor. 5. 2 7. the godly are said to sigh for it that they might bee absent from the body and present with the Lord and so do the first fruites of the Holy Ghost those eminent Christians mentioned Rom. 8. 21. Lastly not onely some particular godly men haue attained to this but the whole Church is brought in in the 22. Ch. of the Reu. praying for the comming of Iesus Christ and desiring too that hee would come quickly And 2. Tim. 4. 8. The loue of the appearing of Christ is the Periphrasis of the childe of God Thus of the first point CHAP. III. Shewing how vncomely it is to feare death FOR the second how vncomely a thing it is in Christians to feare death may appeare many waies 1. By the feare of death wee shame our Religion while we professe it in our words wee deny it in our workes Let Papists tremble at death who are taught that no man ordinarily can be sure he shall go to heauen when he dies But for vs that professe the knowledge of saluation to be astonished at the passage to it shews at least a great weaknesse of faith and doth outwardly giue occasion of disgrace to our Religion 2 By that which went before we may see how vncomely it is to bee afraid of death For thereby we disable the death of Christ wee frustrate the end of Gods workemanship we stop the execution of the Prophesies we renounce our first agreement with Christ wee mocke God in praying that his Kingdome may come we obscure the euidence of our owne regeneration and we transgresse against the example of the godly in all ages 3 Many of the Pagans greatly setled their hearts against the feare of death by this very reason Because there was no being after death and therefore they could no more feele misery then then before they were borne And shall we Christians that heare euery day of the glorious saluation we haue by Christ be more fearefull then they were Let them feare death that know not a better life Shall we be like wicked men Their death is compelled Shall ours bee so too They by their good wils would not lose their bodies in this life nor haue their bodies in the next life But since God hath made vs vnlike them in the issues of death Shal we make our selues like them in the lothnesse to die Let Foelix tremble
vnpossible or vnnecessary to attend this doctrine or the like Yea it may be it will fare with many of vs as it doth with those that are troubled with the raging paine of the teeth their paine wil cease when the Barber comes to pull out the tooth so it may be you may finde this deceit in your owne hearts that you wil not feele the feare of Death till the discourse of the medicine be ouer and so let it bee as water spilt on the ground But let vs all awake and in the power and strength of Christ that died to deliuer vs from the feare of death let vs al lay the plaisters close to the sore and keepe them at it till they be throughly whole There bee tvvo vvaies then of curing this feare of Death 1. The one is by contemplation 2. The other is by practice There be some things if we did chuse them out soundly to thinke of them would heale vs wonderfully There bee some things also to be done by vs to make the cure perfect If contemplation bee not auailable then practice will without faile finish the cure The cōtemplations are of two sorts 1. For either they are such meditations as breede desire of Death by way of motiue 2. Or they are such as remooue the obiections which cause in mans mind the feare of Death For the first there bee tvvo things which if they bee soundly thought on will worke a strange alteration in our harts 1. The one is the happinesse wee haue by Death 2. The other is the miseries wee are in by Life Can any man be afraid to be happy If our heads hearts were filled with arguments that shew vs our happinesse by Death we would not be so sencelesse as to tremble at the thought of dying Our happines in Death may bee set out in many particulars illustrated by many similitudes full of life and vertue to heale this disease of feare 1. Death makes an end of all the tempests continual stormes with which our life is tossed It is the Hauen and Port of rest and are wee so mad as to desire the continuance of such dangerous tempests rather then to bee in the hauen whither our iourney tends 2. Death is a sleep For so the dead are said to be asleep 1. Thes. 4. 14. Look what a bed of rest sleep is to the weary labourer such is Death to the diligent Christian. In death they rest in their beds from the hard labours of this life Esay 37. 2. Reu. 14. 13. And was euer the weary labourer afraid of the time whē hee must lye downe and take his rest 3. The day of Death is the day of receiuing wages wherin God paies to euery godly man his penny And doth not the hireling long for the time wherein hee shall receiue wages for his work Iob. 7. 2. And the rather should we long for this time because we shall receiue wages infinitely aboue our worke such wages as was neuer giuen by man nor can bee if all this visible world were giuen vs. 4. In death the seruant comes to his freedome the heire is at his full age and it is such a liberty as i◠glorious neuer such a freedome in the world Rom. 8. 21. Shall the heire desire to be still vnder age and so still vnder Tutors and Gouernors or shall the seruant feare the day of his freedome 5. In death the banished returne and the Pilgrims enter into their Fathers house In this life wee are exiled men banished frō Paradise and Pilgrims Strangers in a far Countrey absent from God heauen In death wee are receiued to Paradise and settled at home in those euerlasting habitations in our Fathers house Luke 17. Iohn 14. 2. Heb. 13. 11. And can we bee so senceless as to be afraid of this 6. Death is our birth-day we say falsely when we call Death the last day For it is indeed the beginning of an euerlasting day and is there any greeuance in that 7. Death is the funerall of our vices and the resurrection of our graces Death was the daughter of Sinne and in death shall that be fulfilled The daughter shall destroy the mother Wee shall neuer more be infected with sin nor troubled with ill natures nor be terrified for offending Death shall deliuer vs perfectly whole of all our diseases that were impossible to be cured in this life and so shal there be at that day a glorious resurrection of graces Our gifts shall shine as the Starres in the Firmament And can we be so sottish as stil to be afraid of Death 8. In death the soule is deliuered out of prison For the body in this life is but a loathsome and darke prison of restraint I say the soule is restrained as it were in a prison while it is in the body because it cannot be free to the exercise of it selfe either in naturall or supernaturall things For the body so rules by senses and is so fiercely carried by appetites that the soule is compelled to giue way to the satisfying of the body and cannot freely follow the light either of Nature or Religion The truth as the Apostle saith is with-held or shut vp through vnrighteousnesse Rom. 1. 18. I say it is a loathsome prison because the soule is annoied with so many loathsome smels of sinne and filthinesse which by the body are committed And it is a darke prison For the soule looking through the body can see but by little holes or small casements The body shuts vp the light of the soule as a dark Cloude doth hide the light of the Sunne or as the interposition of the earth doth make it night Now death doth nothing but as it were a strong wind dissolue this Cloud that the Sunne may shine cleerely and puls downe the walles of the prison that the soule may come into the open light 9. The liberty of the soule in death may be set out by another similitude The world is the Sea our liues are like so many Gallies at Sea tost with continuall Tides or Stormes our bodies are Gally-slaues put to hard seruice by the great Turke the deuill who tyrannically and by vsurpation doth forcibly cōmand hard things Now the soule within like the heart of some ingenuous Gally-slaue may bee free so as to loathe that seruitude and inwardly detest that tyrant but yet so long as it is tyed to the body it cannot get away Now death comes like an vnresistable Gyant and carries the Gallies to the shore and dissolues them and lets the prisoners free And shall this glorious liberty of the soule bee a matter of terrour vnto vs Had we rather be in captiuity still 10. In this life wee are cloathed with rotten ragged foule garments Now the Apostle shewes that death doth nothing else but pull off those ragged garments and cloath vs with the glorious robes of saluation more rich then the robes of the greatest
bodies againe much better then now they are Those vile bodies wee lay down in death shall be restored againe vnto vs glorious bodies like the body of Christ now glorified Phil. 3. 21. And therefore death loseth by taking away our bodies we haue a great victory ouer death The graueis but a Furnace to refine them they shall come out againe immortall and incorruptible CHAP. XIIII The desire of long life confuted 3. Ob. OH but if I might liue lōg I would desire no more if I might not dye till I were fifty or threescore yeeres old I should bee contented to dye then Sol. There are many things may shew the vanitie folly of men in this desire of long life For 1. If thou art willing to dye at any time why not now Death will bee the same to thee then it is now 2. Is any man angry greeued when he is at sea in a tempest because hee shall be so quickly carried into the Hauen Is he displeased with the wind that wil soon set him safe in the harbour If thou beleeue that death will end all thy miseries why art thou carefull to defer the time 3. Till thy debt be paid time wil not ease thee thy care will continue and therefore thou wert as good pay at the first if thou bee sure it must bee paid at all 4. In this world there is neither young nor old When thou hast liued to that age thou desirest thy time past will bee as nothing Thou wilt still expect that which is to come thou wilt be as ready to demaund longer respite then as now 5. What wouldest thou tarry heere so long for There will bee nothing new but what thou hast tasted and often drinking will not quench thy thirst thou hast an incurable Dropsie in thy heart and those earthly things haue no abilitie to fill thy heart with good or satisfy thee 6. Wouldest not thou iudge him a Sot that mournes because hee was not aliue a hundred yeres agoe And thou art no better thou mournest because thou canst not liue a hundred yeeres here 7. Thou hast no power of the morrow to make it happy to thee If thou dye young thou art like one that hath lost a Dye with which hee might as well haue lost as wonne 8. Consider the proportion of time thou desirest to thy selfe reckon what will be spent in sleep care disgrace sickenesse trouble wearinesse emptinesse feare and vnto all this adde sinne and then thinke how small a portion is left of this time how small good it will do thee What can that aduantage thee with such mixtures of euill It is certaine to liue long is but to be long troubled and to die quickly is quickly to be at rest 9. Lastly if there were nothing else to be said yet this may suffice that there is no comparison between time and eternity What is that space of time to eternity If thou loue life why dost thou not loue eternall life as was said before CHAP. XV. Of them that would liue to do good 4. Ob. BVT I would liue long to do good and benefite others and to do God seruice to benefite others by mine example Sol. 1. Search thine owne heart it may be this pretence of doing good to others is pleaded onely because thou wouldst further thine owne good Thou wouldst not seek the publicke but to finde thine owne particular 2. God that set you to do his worke knowes how long it is fit for thee to bee at the same hee knowes how to make vse of the labours of his worke-men Hee will not call thee from thy worke till he be prouided to dispatch his businesse without thee 3. It may be if thou be long at thy worke thou wouldest marre all thy last workes would not be so good as thy first it is best to giue ouer while thou dost well c. 4. If God will pay thee as much for halfe a day as for the whole art thou not so much the more to praise him 5. It is true that the best comfort of our life here is in a religious conuersation but thy Religion is not hindred by going to heauen but perfected There is no comparison betweene thy goodnesse on earth and that in heauen For though thou maist do much good here yet it is certaine thou dost much euill here too 6. Whereas thou perswadest thy selfe that by example thou maist mend others thou art much mistaken A thousand men may sooner catch the plague in an infected Towne then one be healed It is but to tempt God to desire continuāce◠in this infectious world longer then our time for the best way is to get farre from the contagion If diuers fresh waters fall into the Sea what doth that to take away the saltnesse of the Sea No more can two or three Lots reforme a world of Sodomites CHAP. XVI Why men may not make away themselues to be rid of the miseries of life 5. Ob. BVT then it seems by this that it were a mans best course to cast away life seeing so much euill is in life and so much good to be had in death Sol. 1. I thinke the most of vs may bee trusted for that danger For though the soule aspire to the good to come yet the body tends vnto the earth like a heauy clog weighes men downewards 2. That is not the course wee must cast the world out of our hearts not cast our selues out of the world It is both vnseemly and extremely vnlawfull It is vnseemly for it is true we ought willingly to depart out of this world but it is monstrous base like cowards to runne away out of the battaile Thou art Gods souldier and appointed to thy standing and it is a miserable shame to runne out of thy place When Christ the great Captaine sounds a retreat then is it honourable for thee to giue place Besides thou art Gods tenant and dost hold thy life as a Tenant at will the Landlord may take it frō thee but thou canst not without disgrace surrender at thy pleasure and it is extreme slothfulnes to hate life onely for the toiles that are in it 2. And as it is vnseemely so it is vnlawfull yea damnable It is vnlawful for the souldier that runnes away frō his Captain offends highly so doth the Christian that makes away himselfe and therefore the cōmandemēt is not onely Thou shalt not kill other men but generally Thou shalt not kill meaning neither thy selfe nor other men Besides wee haue no example in Scripture of any that did so but such as were notorious vvicked men as Saul Achitophel Iudas and the like Yea it is damnable for he that leaueth his work before God calls him loseth it besides incurres eternall death As the souldier that runneth away dieth for it when he is taken so the Christian that murdereth himselfe perisheth I say that murdereth himselfe being himselfe CHAP. XVII Why we shold not be
haue belieued and that hee is able to keepe that which I haue committed to him 2. Tim. 1. 12. Besides we should labour to get a particular knowledge and assurance of our happines in death and of our saluation We should study to this end the Arguments that shews our felicity in death And to this purpose it is of excellent vse to receiue the Sacraments often For Christ by his Will bequeathed Heauen to vs Ioh. 17. and by the death of the Testator this Will is of force and is further daily sealed vnto vs as internally by the Spirit so externally by the Sacraments Now if we get our Charter sealed and confirmed to vs how can we be afraid of the time of possession Hee is fearelesse of death that can say with the Apostle Whether I liue or die I am the Lords Rom. 14. 8. 4. That charge giuen to Hezekiah concerning the setting of his house in order Esay 38. is of singular vse for this Cure Men should with sound aduice settle their outward estates and dispose of their worldly affaires and according to their meanes prouide for their wife and children A great part of the feare and trouble of mens hearts is ouer when their Wils are discreetely made but men are loth to die so long as their outward estates are vnsettled and vndisposed It is a most preposterous course for men to leaue the making of their Wils to their sicknesse For besides their disabilities of memories or vnderstanding which may befall them the trouble of it breeds vnrest to their minds and besides they liue all the time in neglect of their duty of preparation for death 5. We may much help our selues by making vs friends with the riches of iniquity we should learne that of the vniust Steward as our Sauiour Christ sheweth since we shall be put out of the Stewardship we should so dispose of them while wee haue them that when wee die they may receiue vs into euerlasting habitations Luke 16. An vnprofitable life is attended with a seruile feare of death 6. It would master this feare but to force our selues to a frequent meditation of death To learne to die daily will lessen yea remoue the feare of dying Oh this remembring of our latter end and learning to number our daies is an admirable rule of practices It is the forgetfulnesse of death that makes life sinfull death terrible Deut. 32. 19. Psal. 90. 12. Lam. 1. 9. And wee should beginne this exercise of meditation betimes Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth Eccl. 12. 1. This is that is called for when our Sauiour Christ requires vs and all men so to watch and heerein lay the praise of the fiue wise Virgines Math. 25. 3. Thus Iob will waite till the time of his change come Iob 10. 14. And of purpose hath the Lord left the last day vncertain that we might euery day prepare It were an admirable methode if we could make euery day a life to beginne and end as the day begins and ends 7. Lastly because yet wee may finde this feare combersome and our natures extremely deceitfull there is one thing left which can neuer faile to preuaile as far as is fit for vs and that is hearty prayer to God for this very thing Thus Dauid praies Psal. 39. 4. and Moses Psal. 90. 12. and Simeon Luk. 2. 32. And in as much as Christ died for this end to deliuer vs from this feare we may sue out the priuiledge and by prayer striue with God to get it framed in vs It is a suite God will not deny them that aske in the name of Christ because it is a thing that Christ especially aimed at in his owne death To conclude then wee haue proued that it is possible to be had and most vncomely to want it and likewise the way hath beene shewed how both by meditation practise this Cure may bee effected If then it bee not wrought in any of vs we may heere finde out the cause in our selues For if wee would hereby bee soundly aduised and ruled we might attaine to it all the daies of our life to sing with the Saints that triumphant song mentioned both in the Old and New Testament Oh death where is thy sting Oh hell where is thy victory Death is swallowed vp into victory so as we are now the conquerours through him that loued vs and gaue himselfe to death for vs euen Iesus Christ the righteous To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost bee all praise in the Churches throughout all ages for euer Amen FINIS The drift of the whole Treatise The profit of following these directions The parts of the Treatise 1 2 3 Eight Arguments to proue we may be helped against the feare of death Fifteeene Reasons why it is an vncomely thing to be afraid to die An exhortation to attend vpon the meanes of cure Two waies of curing the feare of death The wayes of curing this feare by conteÌ„plation The happines of a Christian in death shewed 17. wayes The dissolution of the body is the absolution of the soule Eccles. 7 1 The miseries of life two waies considered The miseries of a naturall life shewed three waies Three dreadfull considerations about sin Six things euery godly maÌ„ wants while hee liues here in this world Life bitter in respect of God diuers waies Eight aggrauations of the miseries of life in respect of the corrections of God The world full of diuels Our conflict with diuels 9. Apparant miseries of life in this vvorld In this world the dead bury the dead What the seeming felicities of the world are Fifteene ArgumeÌ„ts to proue the vanity of the best worldly things The amity of the world is the enmity with God All subiect to vanity or violence Mat. 6. 19 20. They may be lost at the very seate of iudgemeÌ„t Eccl. 3. 16 18. 4. 1 2 Our mortality aggrauated by 4. considerations The causes in our selues why wee should not be in loue with life 4. Effects of corruption of nature in vs. Ten reasons to shew the folly of meÌ„ in pre tending the feare of the pain of death 9. Arguments to shew the vanity of men in desiring to liue long Sixe reasons against their pretence that would liue long to do good as they say Against selfe murther 6. Reasons about parting with our frieÌ„ds in death Fiue Arguments against the pleasures of life Fiue obseruations about the honors of this world Seuen mo â—ue to leaue the loue of riches 7. Things that cure the feare of death in practice