a Prisoner that begs for his Life and is not the life of the Soul of greater value 'T is the Immortal Soul that lyes at the stake while we are playing a Game at Folly God is in earnest his Messengers are in earnest and shall we who are most concerned and who are like to be the greatest losers be in jest Were it our Riches Honours Pleasures or such like that were in danger the matter were not much but 't is the Soul and need not we be in earnest But seeing 't is for Souls I shall back this Exhortation with these following Considerations 1. Consider seriously that we must dye but when we know not 't is our Wisdom to have Death always in our Eye and with the Apostle to dye daily 1 Cor. 15.31 Death comes never the sooner for our Preparation for it neither stays the longer if we expect it not the frequent thoughts of it will put us on to our Duty when the putting far from us the evil day Amos 6.3 will make us neglect it This cursed Security and hope of Impunity is the source of all the Wickedness in the World Because Sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is wholly set in them to do wickedly Eccles 8.11 But this is not preservation but a reservation to a greater Evil this Forbearance is no Acquittance whatever we think of it Death is stealing upon us tacito pede with a silent foot and how soon he will enter our Lodgings we know not and then the Play is ended and we must march off the Stage This Motive haply may seem needless to mind Men of what they all know already but I think 't is not useless for though all Men will easily confess they must dye yet 't is not easie to make them consider of it or believe their Death is near nay if we look upon most mens Actions and manner of Living 't is easie to conclude that neither God nor Death are in their thoughts Were we but sure that Christ would come to Judgment within a Month whâ—t a Reformation should we see in the World Our Time-wasting Gallants would not then spend so much time in Hawking Hunting Drinking Whoring as now they do Holiness would not then be their scorn nor Religion their reproach and yet who knows whether it may not be within a Week Or could we be assured that Death would then Summon us to render an account of our Steward-ship in so short a time it would make the proudest of us to vail our Peacocks Plumes and entertain other thoughts of Death and Judgment and of Eternity than at present we have and we should not be so prodigal of our time as now we are but spend more of our time in hearing reading meditating and other Religious Exercises than now we do So that 't is the vain hopes of long Life which God never promised to any that encourages many in their wickedness and makes the Godly themselves the more secure 't is good therefore to view our Charter and see what time is granted us and not like the unfaithful Servant say My Lord deferreth his coming c. lest he come unawares and give us a Reward of our Folly the Poet shews these mens Folly that future their Repentance upon hopes of long life Fleres si scires unum tua tempora mensem Rides cum non sit forsitan una dies Many would weep and lament did they know they had but a Month to live that now laugh and rejoyce not having a day to live of this sort was the Rich Man mentioned Luke 12.16 c. O vain World how dost thou cheat us O cunning Devil how dost thou delude us and hide from our Eyes our latter end How dare any Poor Man that hath not made his Peace with his God neither hath any assurance of his Love spend an hour in an Ale-house or a day in Vanity and not know but it is his last We have many Spectacles of Mortality daily before us younger and stronger than we go to the Grave before us and many Monitors of Mortality within us Pains and Aches Griefs and Troubles even gray Hairs to mind us of our Winding-sheets The Lord grant we may know the voice of the rod and of him that sends it The Rich Man Luke 12.16 promises himself a lasting Happiness in the World when he had not a day to live and no doubt we have many such in our Times But alas one Month or one Year for ought we know may make a great and considerable alteration in our Families and haply those may be taken away that thought they had many a fair Year to live and much Worldly Happiness to enjoy Sometimes Death strikes the Child in the Womb when he spares them that stoop for Age there is no Degree Age or Sex that is secure neither Rich nor Poor Noble nor Base Young nor Old Fair nor Foul Religious nor Profane can plead an Exemption from the Arrest of Death for all of us are dust and unto dust we must return Gen. 3.19 Eccles 12.7 Those Houses of Clay wherein we live will ere long moulder into dust about our Ears 2 Cor. 5.1 'T is our Wisdom therefore to look out for another Habitation a building an house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens whose foundation and builder is God This Life of ours for the shortness and uncertainty of it is compared unto the most fleeting fading perishing things we can name as to Grass to the Flower of the Field a Bubble a Post a Weaver's Shuttle a Thought a Shadow the dream of a Shadow or if any thing be more vain and what manner of men then ought we to be 1 Pet. 3.11 The dimness of our Eyes the deafness of our Ears the rottenness of our Teeth the wrinkles in our Cheeks the feebleness of our Limbs and every decay in Nature warns us of our approaching ends Death shoots many Darts at us and at length will hit us to the heart It was Jerusalem's fault and folly and I wish it be not ours to forget our latter end Lam. 1.9 2. Consid Let us further consider that we have a great deal of Work to do before we can be fit to dye and but a little short uncertain time to do it in and therefore more Diligence is required and 't is work of the greatest Concernment if our time were in our own power and at our own dispose sure and certain or were our Work but a little or of little concern whether it were or no it might be some excuse to us for our Idleness and Time-wasting but this is not our case Were Pleasures the end why we were sent into the World as many of our Gallants of both Sexes seem to suppose then many in our times take an effectual course but endless Pleasures they mind not the way to Heaven will prove a little rougher God sent us into the World
that you complain and spend so many sighs and sobs and sorrowful tears Why is your Countenance cast down or why doth Discontent appear in your Face Why God hath taken away from you your Daughter which you loved and from whom you expected much comfort and that without your leave and â—iking and against your will But will this bear an Action Did not he love her as well as you And was he not as well able to prefer her Was not she his as well as yours Yea had he not a greater Interest in her She was his by â—â—ght of Creation did not he make her of nothing Was she not his also by right of Redemption when his only Son lost his Life to buy her out of Slavery She is Christ's by Donation being one that his Father gave to him which he will not lose John 6.39 And she hath also devoted her self to him and resigned her self and all she had to his dispose She is also his by Preservation 't is he that maintained her at his own Cost and Charges ever since she had a Being and paid you well for Nursing her Christ hath also a Matrimonial Right in her she being espoused to him In the time of the Law the Children begotten in Bondage were accounted the Master's and you being God's Servant he hath an Interest in your Children also She is his Daughter as well as yours his by Adoption What Interest you have was only given or lent you being but Instrumental in her production and will you yet dispute the Point which hath most Right to dispose of her She call'd him Father and so she was his Adopted Child as well as you Mother She was the Work of his hands he was the Potter she but the Clay and whose is the Pot but the Pot-makers He made her for his Glory and will you not give him leave to glorifie himself in her Salvation By a mutual consent she is married to Christ and if he demand his Wife will you deny her If any other lay any claim to her Body yet the Spirit returns to God that gave it He breathed into her the breath of Life and 't is he alone that restrains her breath She was yours indeed by Relation both you and she are God's by Purchase You are not your own but bought with a price And he that hath call'd her hence will ere long send for you after her This is no continuing City you look for and she hath found one above whose Builder and Maker is God While she was here she was a Tenant at will in a poor crazy Cottage a House of Clay subject to moulder about her eaâ—s Now she is commanded by the Landlord to surrender yet with a Promise of a better Habitation God hath commanded to pull down this Earthly Tabernacle and hath provided her a Palace A house not made with hands but eternal in the heavens whose builder and maker is God and hath exalted her from a Cottage to a Crown And is this the wrong that you complain of Hath not God much more cause to complain of you that do what you can to hinder her Promotion She was under Age but now comes to Inherit If you say you had her not long enough who shall be Judge her Father or you Do you pretend to any Promise of a longer time Produce it if you can if not lay your hand upon your mouth Could you have provided better for her than he hath done If not why do you envy her Happiness He hath sent for her home to his own Court provided a Husband for her married her to his Son who hath lodged her in his own Bosom And what wrong is in all this What cause of sighs and groans and showers of tears And he claims as great a Priviledge in you as in her and ere long if it be denied will distrain for it and try his Title and repining will do no good 't is much better to submit as David did who fasted and prayed when his Son was living but when he was dead comforted himself and said I shall go to him but he shall not come to me 2 Sam. 12.23 But perhaps if a separation must be you had rather have gone before her But must your Will needs be preferred before God's who gave you liberty to choose Indeed this was David's fault and failing till he was chid out of this Humour 2 Sam. 18.33 O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son Jonah in a pet had rather have died than his Gourd should have withered he prayed for Death and told the Lord That he did well to be angry even unto death for the Gourd's sake but God had determined he should live and the Gourd should die Our Lives are not in our own hands nor in our Enemies hands but in the hands of God we cannot appoint God what to do or who to call for neither is it fit we should he knows best when our Task is done and when we are ready But you did expect she should have lived longer but what ground had you to build such an Expectation upon T is true she was young but do not far younger than she was feel the dint of Death Yea haply if it were well considered as many die before they come to her Age as live beyond it you your self buried one at a far younger age your knew she was Mortal and why should you promise her more time than God had promised her I am sure God never made any Promise to frustrate his Eternal Decrees she might indeed have lived longer even to the Age of Methusalem had God will'd it and she might also have died younger yea and never saw the Sun But who is it that he hath made of his Cabinet-Counsel Or who is it that can come to a composition for a Lease of his own or Friend's Life But is this all the thanks you render to God for sparing her with you to comfort you for about Twenty Years that you murmur Had it been more haply had it been Twenty more the thanks had been all one and your sorrow at the parting never the less and will nothing content except we be our own carvers But suppose you hoped she should survive you and what then Would not there have been grief at the parting But you would have had the burden cast upon her shoulders but God that bids us take up the Cross will have the making of it himself and lays it upon whose back he pleaseth and will not humour us so far as to let us have our will when it stands in competition with his own And truly this Cross is so perfectly of God's making that he that runs may read it But had he made use of any Instrument his Hand might have been seen in the Work But she was hopeful and could not be spared and is not this matter of Comfort to you which you make
She is dead also And would there not be another separation if she survived We are in this Life like Men in a croud almost thronged to Death and he that first gets out is best at ease and would you wish her again in the midst of the throng Now if you say as I believe you will these are not your desires to have her back Why then all these Tears these Sighs these Sobs if you imagine she is better than you This looks as if you envied her Happiness and would have her bear part of your Burden Nay immoderate Sorrow signifies that you have hard thoughts of her condition for who can mourn for those he thinks happier than himself Who mourns for his Childrens Advancement especially if he knew they were out of Danger this would look more like Envy than Love to mourn for another's Welfare If Galeacius that Italian Marquess when he was offered great Riches if he would renounce his Religion cryed out Let their Money perish with them that hold all the Wealth in the World worth one day's Communion with Christ How much more may a glorified Saint say so if he were tempted by the World's Splendour to leave his Coelestial Enjoyment that City of Pearl that Mansion of Glory the Beatifical Vision the Enjoyment of Christ those Rivers of Pleasures to come and make his abode in the World for any earthly Greatness how scornfully would a glorified Saint entertain such a Motion And how little would these Promises affect him The Martyrs that had comparatively but a little taste of Christ yet disrelished all things else in comparison of him and forsook all for him Yea loved not their lives to the death but laid them down at the Stake for his sake and in his cause But now they enjoy him in Glory what value think you they put upon him The greatest cause of sorrow for a dead Child is when we fear their miscarrying and are conscious of the neglect of our Duty to them in reference to their Salvation This we may mourn for and it may be a corrosive to our hearts and it should make us careful for the time to come But to mourn for those immoderately that we believe are translated into Glory and have the highest pitch of Happiness we could wish for them is our weakness or our sin or both Such Tears will neither glorifie God nor benefit us or our Relations living or dead but are spent in vain And seeing weeping cannot prevail with God nor with our departed Friends to return let us dry up those Tears and make no more such wast but turn them into a right Channel and mourn for sin which is the cause of their Death and of our Trouble 5. The last Consideration I shall commend unto you is to consider your own Condition the uncertainty of your Life and the hast that Death makes to post you after her yea you are following your lamented Daughter at the very heels For when your Part is play'd you will march off the Stage How soon a parting blow will be given to divide you from your other Relations you know not how soon Death will enter into your Lodgings had your Daughter lived 't is not likely you would have continued long together You have lived a considerable time the most People in the World die younger why then take it you so ill that your Daughter is stept over the Stile before you when you your self are ready to tread upon her heels and to tread out her foot-steps Yet a few years and then I shall go whence I shall not return Job 16.22 And your place will know you no more Job 7.10 The thread of your Life will soon be cut which can never be pieced and your Glass run out which will never be turned and the Day be over which will never dawn again Such Meditations of Death did always run in Job's mind he is much upon this Subject and had Death always in his Eye And the like would do you no hurt but much good O remember that my life is wind mine eye shall no more see good The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more Thine eyes are upon me and I am not As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more He shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more Job 7.7 c. Let me alone that I may take comfort a little before I go hence whence I shall not return even to the land of darkness and the shâ—dow of death Job 10.20 21. He knew that he had not long to trouble the World and therefore desired he might not meet with much Trouble in the World Death whether it strikes you or your Relations gives a parting blow and which ever goes first the other will not stay long behind Now is it worth the while to spend your days in sorrowing for your dead Daughter when she hath drunk that Health that you your self must so quickly Pledge Or to wish her again for so short an Enjoyment when one of these days you will enjoy her to Eternity when she shall be much more lovely than here she was If you place your Happiness in the Enjoyment of your Relations in this Life 't is a short-liv'd Happiness and you will shortly have occasion to say as one about to leave the World Spes fortuna vale te Farewel Hope and Comfort for ever But sure while God is present a Christian need not care much who is absent If we could be as sensible of the with-drawings of God from the Soul as of the departure of Friends and Relations it would prove our greater trouble If our hopes were only in this life we should of all men be most miserable Indeed there is cause of sorrow if they die unconverted and breath out their Happiness with their Lives But for the Godly they cannot only say Dum spiro spero While there is Life there is Hope but also Dum expiro spero I have Hope in Death it self Prov. 14.32 Death it self is a Door of Hope to give them entrance into the Paradice of God but to the Wicked a Trap-door to let them into Hell Both Godly and Wicked shall change their Place but not their Company for they shall have such Company they delighted in here Those that must leave all their Comforts behind no wonder if they are unwilling to depart Never had Adam more cause to be unwilling to leave Paradice or the Jebusites the strong Holds in Sion or the unjust Steward to leave his Office or the Devils to go out of the Demoniack when they knew they should never enter there again than a wicked Man hath to leave the World Solomon calls the Grave our long Home Man goeth to his long home Eccles 12.5 And well he may some haply may sleep there Six Thousand Years before the Resurrection but Heaven and Hell may be
under Sail whether we heed or no we are in continual motion Yet many that have one foot in the Grave and the other ready to drop into Hell yet put far from them the evil day and under gray hairs nourish green hopes and desires and Young Persons depend over-much upon their Youth But the Jewish Proverb is That many an old Camel carries a young ones Skin to the Market And we say A young Sheep-skin may go thither as well as the old And Experience teacheth us that Old Men many times carry Young ones to their Graves Man in Scripture is compared unto Grass which in the morning grows up and flourisheth and in the evening is cut down dead and withered Psal 90.5 6. Or like unto a Sleep ver 4. Or to a Dream when one awakes To the Dream of a Shadow as Pindarus hath it or the shadow of Smoak saith another Or if there be any thing more vain it may lively represent our Lives and when Death comes he knows no difference between the Poor and the Rich the Noble and the Base Time with his Sithe mows down the Lillies of the Crown as well as the Grass of the Field All flesh is grass and the glory thereof as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth c. Isa 40.6 7. Who then would trouble themselves much about Worldly things Who would cark and care pine and repine when he knows not whether he have a day to live or what shall be in the Womb of the next Morning How much better is it to mind our own end than to be troubled at anothers Death For we must deny our selves in our Relations if we will be the Disciples of Christ If we love any thing in the World above Christ we cannot be his Disciples he will have the prevailing degree of our love or he will not love us if we lodge any thing nearer to our heart than himself he will give us a Bill of Divorce and put us away The resigning up our Comforts and Relations to him is the best way to secure them for God will remove our Idols out of his sight we are his Spouse and have devoted our selves to him and must hang loose to the Creature and stick fast to him and not break our Vows to God made when we were espoused to him lest we provoke him to Jealousie by our over-fond affecting any Creature-Comfort These things we can spare Christ we cannot spare let all go so our Husband remain If we keep up our Love to him unspotted these saddest Providences will work for our good Rom. 8.28 Submission under the Correcting Hand of God is the surest soonest way to get from under the Rod when murmuring and repining makes him double his strokes for he will either bend us or break us humble us or make our hearts ake he will bring down our stubborn Wills or he will know why for 't is in vain for us to think to struggle out of his hands or to keep out of his reach and indeed the World is not so desirable now neither have the Godly found it so heretofore So as to desire it for our selves or Relations for though it be a Wicked Man's Heaven 't is a Godly Man's Purgatory yea all the Hell they are like to have and who would desire to live in Hell When our Work is done and our Wages ready who would wish himself again in the Vineyard to moil and toil and bear the burden and heat of the day When we are entring Canaan shall we again have a hankering mind after Egypt the Onions and Garlick and the Flesh-pots and to have our Ears bored and be made Bond-slaves for ever The World is full of the Devil's Lime-twigs and he baits his Nets and Hooks with Riches Honours and Pleasures when he fishes for Souls It may be said of Poverty and Riches as the Women in their Dances said of Saul and David Poverty hath slain Thousands but Plenty Ten Thousands Many thousands dye of a Surfeit Oh how hard have many found it to guide a great Ship in a Storm and Tempest when a little one can thrust into any little Creek or Harbour 'T is hard carrying our Cup even in a prosperous condition 't is much to keep under Pride Sensuality Passion Luxury Drunkenness and Debauchery and other enormous sins which are the Worms which breed in abundance 'T is not in vain that Agur prays Prov. 30.8 Give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord Or lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of God in vain A Mediocrity a Competency a Sufficiency without Superfluity is the surest Portion a State too big may be as troublesome as a Shooe too big for the Foot 'T is not the greatness of the Cage that makes the Bird sing neither a great Estate that produceth inward Joy A Staff may be helpful to a Traveller when a burden of Staves may be troublesome The Moon never suffers Eclipse but at the Full. I know Poverty is a hard Weapon but Abundance is more dangerous and wounding Hence it is our Saviour Christ tells his Disciples how hard it is for a Rich Man to enter Heaven even as hard as for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle Matth. 19.24 The Reason is because 't is hard for those that have Riches to keep off their Affection from making them their God by loving them trusting in them and taking them for their Portion But this doth not always follow some great Men are good Men but many times Pride and Sensuality are the Worms that breed in the fairest Fruit or in the finest Cloath And if Riches be so dangerous what Estate should we wish for our Friends The World also is a Pest-House and almost every one ready to infect another and is there not cause to rejoyce when any of our Relations are out of the reach of the Infection 'T is an Egypt not only for Slavery Misery and Bondage but also there is scarce a House where there is not some dead Person in it yea many Families Villages and Towns there are where very few Spiritually alive are to be found and who but Mad-men would delight to live among the Tombs 'T is a Sodom for Wickedness and but a few Righteous Lots to be found in it and their Souls also are continually vexed with the unclean Conversation of their wicked Neighbours 'T is a Raging Sea and the Godly are Weather-beaten and continually driven up and down by Storms and Tempests and many Professors here make ship wrack of Faith and a good Conscience 'T is an Inn where good and bad are Entertained for a Night but the worst Men are accounted the best Guests and if any suffer it shall be the Godly The World is an Own Mother to Vice but a Step-mother to Vertue as the Earth is to Weeds when it would choak
the good Seed so the Godly should suffer did not their Father look to them These are Strangers and 't is no wonder if they meet with hard Usage and that Dogs bark at them Happy therefore is that Person that hath safely past through all these Dangers and is safely arrived at home and got to his Journey 's end The World doubtless is not desirable for our selves or our Relations that are already past through the Pikes of Danger and are out of the reach of the Devil and his Instruments and we our selves are pressing hard after This may satisfie us in this Providence If you apply this to the present â—ase your Daughter is out of the danger and you are a days Journey behind and in a little time will over-take her and seeing the World out of which she is gone and you are hastening is not desirable and seeing after a short space you will enjoy her to Eternity without interruption Then mourn not for her but rather rejoyce that she hath left you so much ground of Comfort behind her that her Life was such that she lived desired and dyed lamented and was not a Corazine to your heart as many Children are to their Parents in this Age when they behold their vicious Lives and Conversations and sometimes their untimely Death But she hath left a good savour behind her yea a good Name more precious than precious Ointment These Cordials may keep up your sinking Spirit from fainting under this sad Providence the Lord grant they may be effectual to this end By these and the like Arguments Madam I have upon the like Occasion oft-times argued my self into content and stilled those boisterous Storms and Tempests which Passion and Discontent had raised in my breast and brought the Controversie between God and me to this Result That God was wise and I was foolish and that it was much fitter for him to dispose of me and my Relations than it was for me and brought me to a Resolution to let him who had ruled the World for so many thousand Years to Rule it still The like Consideration had the like Operation on Job though at first he had a mind to quarrel God yet at last he lays his hand upon his mouth and humbles himself in Dust and Ashes and cries out I am vile what shall I answer These Meditations brought me to know that it was fitter for me to prepare for my own Death than to bewail the Death of another yea made me know that it was of much more concern to take care of my Relations while living to fit them for their Eternal Being than to bewail them especially those I have comfortable hopes of when dead and to be troubled more at my own Neglects than at God's Providence And the Lord grant that these and the like Meditations may have the same or rather a better Effect upon you to quiet your Spirit under this present Providence But Madam though this be necessary to bring us to submit unto God and bring our Wills to God's Will and to acquiesce in what he doth yet 't is not sufficient God doth not lash us only to make us leave crying or to cease our murmuring but in these Visitations he hath a further design upon us his Rod speaks more than this unto us he expects that his Physick should have some other Operation upon us and not only leave us as it finds us but should do us some good also the Father beats one Child that the rest may beware It was good for me saith David that I was afflicted that I might learn thy statutes Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I learn to keep thy commandments Psal 119.67.71 If God preserve us 't is no great matter whether it be in Salt or Sugar Fish prosper as well in salt as fresh Water The Wallnut-tree they say bears best when most beaten and I am sure many times Christians thrive best under Affliction The Wind shaking the Tree makes it take deeper and better Root quae nocent docent bitter Pills may sometimes be as necessary as Sweet-meats a Lesson set on with whipping is best retained and many times Correction doth what Cockering will not and there is no doubt whatever Man intends God in Correcting his Children minds their good Heb. 12.10 These bitter Pills procure sweet Health as sharp Winters kill Weeds and Worms and God's Vines bear the better for bleeding neither are they hurt when superfluous branches are lopt off Camomile the more 't is trod upon the more it spreads and the more the Cypress-tree is bowed down the more it riseth Ephraim found the benefit of Affliction this made him Obedient when before he was as an untamed Heifer unaccustomed to the Yoak Jer. 31.18 c. Manasseh's Prison and Fetters were better to him than his Crown and Scepter 2 Chron. 33.12 c. As 't is said of Queen Elizabeth Mr. Ascham was a good Tutor to her but Affliction did her most good Correction with Instruction is sure and safe Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest O Lord and teachest him in thy Law Psal 94.12 Feri domine feri saith Luther strike me as much as thou wilt if thou wilt instruct me lash me and spare not so thou wilt Lesson me God doth chastise his People that they may not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11.32 God hath a double end in your present Visitation and both for good one to set an end to your dear Daughter's Misery and the other to prepare you for Happiness by weaning you from the World and raising up your heart to Heaven whither your Delight is gone And happy are you if you learn this Lesson and wisely improve this Providence if you learn the voice of the rod and of him that holds it Micah 6.9 For the rod of reproof gives wisdom Prov. 29.15 Vexatio dat intellectum A Father Corrects his Child not so much in Revenge for the fault done as for caution for the future Schola crucis Schola lucis The way to the Crown is by the Cross When God's Judgments are abroad in the World the Inhabitants thereof should learn Righteousness Isa 29.9 Under such Providences as these God would not have us be like unto bruit Beasts in a Pasture when one by one goes to the Shambles the other regard it not All Spectacles of Mortality especially those of so near a concern should mind us of our latter end and make us prepare for Death when we see younger and stronger than we go to the Grave before us We should be like ingenious Children when one is beaten the other should not only cry and tremble but also take warning We should not blame our Father's Cruelty but our own Folly and if all work together for our good why not this Nay doubtless a good use may be made of this and if well improved we shall have cause to say with the Psalmist It was good for us that we were afflicted Some
terrible he may hum but not hurt strike but not sting kill a Believer yet not hurt him the worst is to send him to his Father's House the sooner But what is this to those in whom sin not only lives but raigns It will bring sad tidings to such 't is indeed the cause of all the Crosses and cross Providences they meet with here in this World but brings forth far bitterer Fruit which will not be ripe in this World which Reprobate Wretches must feed upon to Eternity Whatever we suffer here we may thank Sin for it haply we have laid some Creature-Comforts too near our hearts Well the Achan must be removed or God will not be pacified But if we dye while â—in is alive our present Suffering though to the â—oss of our Relations Wealth Honours Pleaâ—ures yea and Life it self is but a Flea-biting â—o our future Torments Then sin how pleaâ—ant soever it look now will be found our greatest Enemy All Men in the World and the Devil â—o help them can but kill the Body 't is Sin onâ—y that kills the Soul and God casts both Soul â—nd Body into Hell for sin the loss of which is more than the loss of the World Matth. 16.26 The loss of it is incomparable and irreparable â—he Rich Glutton could not with all his Wealth Purchase one drop of Water to cool his tongue Luke â—6 24 c. The Soul it self is a Precious Piece next the Angels the most precious that ever God made being made in his own Image and the greatest and richest Purchase that ever was made â—nd cost the greatest Price the Precious Blood of the Son of God 'T is that which is most like â—nto God himself and fitted for Communion with him and of Enjoying him for ever 'T is â—ndued with excellent Faculties the Understandâ—ng Will Affections Conscience Memory and many more which make a Man differ from a Beast and resemble an Angel And for duraâ—ion it runs parallel with the days of Heaven with the longest times of Eternity neither is â—here any thing in the World to be compared to 〈◊〉 and there is nothing but sin can hurt or wound it and this alone makes it subject to Eternal Torments and rents it out of the hands of God and the arms of Christ when nothing else can do it Sin makes Men in a worse condition than the Beasts that perish which were in the Creation little lower than the Angels the one is thrown into the Ditch and so ends their Misery the other into Hell with the Devil and his Angels where they are ever dying and never able to dye ever suffering those insufferable Pains out of which is no hope of Redemption for when they have been there as many thousands of Years as there are Grass-piles upon the Earth Stars in Heaven Sands upon the Sea-shore and Hairs upon their Heads they are never the nearer going forth than they were the first day they were cast into it for a thousand thousand Millions substracted from Eternity doth not lessen the Account Oh the horrible Nature of Sin which plucks the Soul from the Eternal Embraces of her dear Redeemer and from those Rivers of pleasures at God's right hand for evermore and lodges it among the Devils and the Damned in those Eternal Flames to all Eternity in those Rivers of Brimstone kindled by the Wrath of God Isa 30.33 Here we may behold the deadly Fruits of Sin and shall we bewail the Death of Relations which indeed is the Fruit of Sin and shall we not bewail and prevent its more deadly and dangerous Effects when without Repentance our Souls as well as our Bodies are like Eternally to perish Lesson 2. From this Lecture of Mortality before us is this It may plainly shew us how little good the World will do us when we have most need and by this we may take a true estimate of its Worth or rather of its Vanity We use to say that is good that will do us good and 't is a Friend that will help in time of need I am sure the World will not cannot do it 't is true if we look upon it through the Devil's Spectacles it will look fair and so will an Old Hag in her Paint and Plaister but this is the way to be egregiously deceived but that there is really little worth in it observe with me these following Considerations 1. Consid Riches Honours Pleasures or whatever else the World can brag of cannot prevent Death though sometimes it doth hasten it The truth of this is evidently seen in this Providence for had it been a vast Estate sumptuous Buildings costly Apparel Men or Means Food or Physick that could have preserved her Life doubtless she had not dyed but this could neither prevent the Disease remove it or take away the Malignity of it For when Death comes and come it will it will neither be bribed nor baffled Diseases are God's Servants when he bids them go they go and when he bids them come they come and what he bids them do they do it like the Centurion's Servant Mat. 8.9 Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis If God strike the Creature cannot heal God hath the Keys of Life and Death at his Girdle and our way is to go to him and neither trust to Physicians as Asa or to Witches as Saul 'T is he that kills and makes alive and brings to the gates of death and back again Deut. 32.39 'T is he that passed that Decree more firm than the Laws of the Medes and Persians That all men should once dye and after death come to Judgment Heb. 9.27 By force of this your Daughter dyed and so will you ere long All that the Rich Man had Luke 12.19 20. could not bribe Death one Night neither can any Man Ransom his Brother from Death The Rich Cardinal Beuford found it true to his sorrow Though Money be the greatest Commander in the World it will be out of Commission in the World to come Death is a perfect Leveller it will Lodge the Poor and the Rich the Fair and the Foul the Young and the Old the King and the Beggar in the same Bed without Respect of Persons let the World say what it will to the contrary and Happy be those that are prepared or otherwise it will prove but a Trap-door to Hell Death regards not any however dignified or distinguished the King then must leave his Robes and the Beggar his Rags behind him the Scull of the one retains no impression of a Crown nor of the other of his Slavery Now great Men are like Capital Letters they take up more room and be more gorgeously adorned and clad commonly go before others but signifie the same thing So the greatest signifies no more than a Man and the meanest signifies no less Or like unto Counters some in the Account signifie Pounds some Shillings some Pence and some less but when they are in the Box they
That seeing all must dye the Righteous have not long to suffer for Death will set an end to all their Miseries and enter them into their Eternal Enjoyments of God and Glory and put them into the possession of those Mansions of Glory prepared for them by God before the foundations of the world And then any Man may judge whether there be any great cause why they should fear Death which is the only Cure of all their Miseries and the only Porter to open Heaven-gates to them It remains that we speak something of those whose Happiness expires with their Life and their Miseries commence at their Death Lesson 5. The Fifth Lesson this Providence teacheth is That seeing Men and Women may be taken away in the Flower of their Age and Death can put a period to their Lives then what a miserable condition are Wicked Men in when one day may put an end to all their Happiness and all their Hopes for both their Happiness and their Hopes is only in this Life and shall expire at their Death for whether they are Noble or Base Rich or Poor Young or Old by what Names or Titles soever they are dignified or distinguished if they have no better a Portion than the World can bestow upon them 't is at the longest for term of Life and at Death their lease expires Their Glory then will not follow them and their Pomp will take her leave Oh what a change Death will make among many of our greatest Gallants their Happiness depends upon a ticklish point and hangs but by the thread of their Lives and there are a thousand Diseases Distempers Casualties and Accidents ready to cut the thread and every Creature waits but for a Divine Commission to stop their breath and they are not sure of one day to an end The Experience of this very Age proves this point fully how many hundred thousands were in Ireland stript of all in a moment and left as poor as Job and many lost their Lives with their Estates The like may we hear of in other Countries in London an hundred thousand dyed in one Year and what a change did Death make to them that have their Portion only in this Life What the Wise Man saith Prov. 23.5 Rich's take wings and fly away We see by Experience many rich at Night and poor ere Morning bâ—t we also see many Rich Men snatch'd away from their Riches who are well o're Night and deâ—d in the Morning yet many Men hunt and havk after Riches and never overtake them and if they do cannot hold them many purchase them too dear even with the loss of their Souls and the shipwrack of a good Conscience and these make a hard bargain for the Soul is more worth than all the World Mat. 16.26 That a Wicked Man is not long to enjoy his Happiness is made out in the following Considerations 1. Consider at Death all Men of what Degree soever from the least to the greatest will leave behind them all these outward Enjoyments viz. Riches that very many so much glory in and trust to and cannot take with them the worth of a shoe-latchet Woe then to them that have no other Portion what will their poor Souls do to Eternity though now their Riches be their strong hold Prov. 18.11 yet can they not help in the evil day Zeph. 1.18 Yet here they are honoured as Gods but they are but Dung-hill Deities most Men dote upon them as much as the Athenians did upon Diana's Temple and Offer not only their Children but their Souls unto them But let their Attainments or Enjoyments be what they will at Death they must leave all behind them Kings and Emperours must leave their Crowns behind them and the Bishop his Mitre the Pope himself not excepted then those that have made a great hurly-burly in the World could not satisfie their Dust will be contained in a little Urn. At Death the Emperour must lay by his Robes and the Beggar his Rags for Death will lodge them in the same Bed and set them upon even ground The griping Usurer must leave his Gold and cease to fill his Bags with Silver when his own Mouth shall be fill'd with Earth Kings then must bid farewel to their Crowns and Kingdoms as Solomon to his Ivory Throne and our great Gallants their well-contrived Houses though they call them after their own names Psal 49.11 c. Haply they may leave them to Fools haply to Strangers haply to Enemies to enjoy It was the Speech of a good Man to a great Lord when he shewed him his sumptuous Buildings pleasant Gardens Walks Orchards and other Rarities Sir saith he you must make sure of Heaven or you will never be recompenced in the Earth for all the Pains and Cost you have bestowed here Yet many like the Rich Man in the Gospel Luke 12. sing a Requiem to their Souls and promise themselves long Life when haply they have not a day to live They put the evil day far from them and because they see not Death think Death heeds not them when he is even staring them in the Face They lodge Riches nearest their Heart and from it they expect their greatest Security but the Mortal Sithe is too hard for the Royal Scepter yet many consider it not but buy Faggots for their own burning for the rust of their Gold will eat their flesh as fire James 5.3 Here they have their Summer and their Winter Houses curious Parlours Banqueting-Houses Rooms richly adorned soft Beds and easie Couches but if they have no better Portion Death will strip them of this and lodge them in a stinking Dungeon and darksom Cell full of deadly Horror void of Light or Comfort a noisom sulphurous stinking Prison here are no curious Gardens or pleasant Walks for Recreation neither is there any thing to recreate the Eyes the Ears the Smell the Tast or the Touch the Object of Sight will be Infernal Devils and Damned despairing Wretches the Melody the groans and sighs the roaring yelling scrietching of damned Souls for the Taste pinching Hunger and parching Thirst or something that is worse their Smell is burning Brimstone and their Touch the scorching Flames Oh the Pains the Time the Cost and Charges many Men are at in adorning their Habitations Gardens Walks Orchards c. when all this while the poor Soul lyes neglected and slighted no Tree in the Orchard must grow disordered but must be pruned muck'd and manured when in the Soul nothing is in order no Weed must grow in the Garden when no Vice must be weeded out of the Soul Here they have pleasant Walks and Summer-shady Bowers their Rich Pastures Pleasant Meadows their Flocks and Herds their numerous Cattle both small and great and whatever their hearts can desire that can be purchased for Love or Money but Death will strip them to the skin and they shall carry nothing hence neither can they call ought their own but Tortures and
had not begg'd so earnestly for a drop of Water to cool his Tongue Here are no Ladies of Pleasure for they will be found with another Name Here are no wanton Delilahs to sport with upon the Bed of Lust no changeable Suits of Apparel no new Fashions for our mincing Minions no Recreations to drive away the weary hours then they will have time enough if we may call Eternity Time to think upon their past Folly and Repent though too late to think of the bad Bargain they made when they sold their Souls their Heaven and their Happiness for a little Temporary Pleasure which perish ere they were budded which bear no more proportion to true Pleasure than painted Fire upon the Wall to true Fire that hath neither Light nor Heat then will their Garb be changed and their Diet and Attendants they will be stript of all their Costly Robes and Ornaments which will be forgotten or remembred with sorrow there will be neither Mirth nor Musick Singing nor Dancing but Weeping Wailing and wringing of Hands no Curious Sights to please the Eye no Melody for the Ear no delicious Taste for the Palate or any thing else to please the other Senses those curious Bodies to the pampering of whom the Soul is neglected will be exposed to Torture and Torments were a man condemned to lye one Year upon a red-hot Gridiron upon a raging Fire and his Life could so long be continued we should think him to be a miserable Creature But what is this to Hell-Torments Or what is a Year to Eternity where they shall never dye yet alwaies endure the Pangs of Death At Death they will find an end of all their Pleasures but Eternity will not end their Miseries Their Laughter here is not Mirth but Madness like a frantick man that is going to Execution and shrieks and bawls for others to bear him company yet these are the good things the rich Glutton had in this Life and for which he must pay so great a Reckoning at his Death This was his Heaven his Hell came after O Death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives at ease in his possessions and hath prosperity in all things Ecclus. 41.1 Now these delicate Bodies are so nice that they cannot endure the Summers heat nor Winters cold but the Flames will not regard their Beauty nor the Tormenter their Niceness Then farewel all their Merry-meetings and drunken Matches their Feasts their Plays their wanton Dalliance all those Toys will be laid aside Now Pleasure is the God they worship and sacrifice their Souls unto but the Name of it then will never more sound in their Ears nor any thing that bears the least resemblance of it be presented to them their witty Jests and merry Jokes will then be left and well it were for them if they could forget them and it will be their Trouble to think how this way they drive away their Time that was too swift of it self The Thought of Death is troublesome to them and they think 't is unseasonable for a 〈◊〉 but Poor Folks Old People or Ministers but for the Young the Rich the Strong it will but indispose them and dispirit them and put them out of Humour they will not see Death and then they think Death will forget them but it steals upon them tacito pede with a silent Foot and enters their Lodging before they are aware and however they now esteem highly of their Carnal Delights ere long they will find that one grain of Godly Sorrow is worth a pound of Frantick Mirth for the one ends in Eternal Pleasure the other in endless Misery when their Sport will be spoiled Oh what alteration will Death make when it comes no time will then be spent in Wanton Embraces Amorous Songs or Lascivious Discourse the Adulterer and Adulteress will take no delight in each others Company nay they will curse the time they ever saw the Face each of other When Fire from Heaven fell upon Sodom it quench'd their heat of Lust O that these Sons and Daughters of Pleasure would think of the time when their Pleasures will vanish but the Sting remain for certainly this will be the case of every one that dyes in an unregenerate condition let them be High or Low Rich or Poor Noble or Base for God is no excepter of Persons 3. The Third thing that Wicked Men must leave at their Death is all their Honour and their Glory for this will not follow them then though they greedily hunt after it now Psal 49.12.16 17. For though the Memory of the godly i◠blessed the name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 How Odoriferous do the Names of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and other Saints smell in all Ages And how fulsomly do the Names of Wicked Debauch'd and Bloody Persecutors stink Such as Cain Pharaoh Haman Jeroboam Judas Herod and such-like Those whose Names have survived them have such a blot upon them that will never be wiped off But what they now Glory so much in must ere long be left behind those proud aspiring Nimrods those Babel-builders their Dust ere long will be mingled with the Dust of their meanest Slaves and Servants for those who are hewen out of the same Rock why should they not be buried in the same hole of the Pit These External Advantages make no real difference in the Eyes of God or Wise Men for who values a Horse for his Trappings But however these will be taken away and then they will stand upon even ground and although many Men now do Worship a Golden Calf they will then perceive it was but a dumb Idol All those lofty Titles which now they load themselves with as Worshipful Right Worshipful Honourable Right Honourable Reverend Right Reverend Majesty Holiness c. must then descend with them into the Dust for great Saladine can carry nothing with him but his Shirt Indeed Holiness will go with us into another World as it is an inherent Quality not as 't is a Title unjustly attributed to some Men in that Kings and Emperours nay the Pope himself will speed never the better for their Crowns nor the Beggar the worse for his Rags for as Death so God accepteth of no Man's Person for outward Advantages 't is Internal Qualifications he regards Acts 10.35 External Splendour dazles not his Eyes Titles of Honour signifie nought these of themselves neither please nor displease neither help nor hinder though the abuse may hinder these are given to good and bad and no man knows love or hatred by them The Rich Glutton had Plenty when Poor Lazarus was in want Crowns and Kingdoms are but the Crumbs which the great Housholder throws to the Dogs that shall not taste of the Childrens Bread But now Dives hath none to wait at his Table or any to receive his Scraps none new to bow the knee before him or to be uncovered these days are over Now many Mens greatest design
Boys will be such indeed when they come there for Roaring and Yelling will be their best Musick and all shall dance after this Pipe and bear a share in this Consort Oh that Men would be wise before it be too late and Hell hath shut her Mouth upon them for then they will have no rest day nor night but it is the duration that makes up the Misery compleat Did the Torments endure but a Hundred or a Thousand Years though it were long yet it would be some comfort that an end would come but the word Never is a Hell in the midst of Hell Were a Man in perfect Health and Strength adjudged to lye upon a soft Feather Bed without stirring Hand or Foot for a Year's space though he had the comfort of Friends Meat Drink and other Necessaries it would be thought a great Punishment much more if he lay upon a red-hot Gridiron and could be preserved with Life But what is either of these to Hell-Torments or a Year to Eternity But their Torment must run parallel with the Life of God the days of Heaven and the longest line of Eternity and when they have past as many Thousand Millions of Years as there are Piles of Grass upon the Earth Stars in Heaven Hairs upon Man Beasts Sands upon the Sea-shore Feathers upon all Fowl and Scales and Fins upon all Fish yet will their Misery be no whit abated or any nearer to an end than the first day they were cast into it for were this innumerable Number taken from Eternity it is never the less Oh Eternity Eternity who can judge of thee or find thee out If the Earth were converted into Paper and the Sea into Ink and every Grass-pile into Pens and every Sand upon the Sea-shore were a skilful Arithmetician and all of them with their conjoyned Labours when they had cast up their greatest Sums and added them together yet would it not reach Eternity Nay if the whole Firmament were written from end to end with Arithmetical Figures it would fall short Oh what then but Horror and Despair will seize upon miscarrying Souls when all their hopes are dash'd then will they seek Death but shall not find it Oh that these pains would break my Heart and end my Life say they Oh that I might at last be extinct or that these Infernal Spirits would tear me in pieces till they had rent me to nothing Oh that I had never had a Being cursed be my Father that begat me and the Womb that bare me cursed be those Companions of mine that helped to undo me and betray me into my Enemies hands Such as these are like to be the wishes that Eternity will extract from tormented Souls O that the consideration thereof would make Men wise before it be too late But if Death find us unprepared this that I have described will be our condition for ever which God forbid Lesson 6. The Sixth Lesson that this Providence teacheth us is this That seeing this our Friend is taken away in the midst of her days in her full strength while her breasts were full of milk and her bones moistened with marrow Job 21.24 This teacheth all but especially us that are of greater Age that survive her how necessary 't is for us to make Preparation for our own Death for if God deal thus with the green Tree what shall be done to the dry Young Men may dye Old Men must dye for we know neither the day nor the hour wherein our Lord and Master will come 'T is good therefore to watch every day and every hour we know not when he will send his Messenger to us to Command us to give an account of our Steward-ship for we shall be no longer Stewards We usually say That should be well done that can be but once done but we can dye but once 't is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the Judgment Heb. 9.27 Here is no room for a second Error as we say in War As the Tree falls so it lyes whether to the North or to the South so as Death leaves us so Judgment shall find us Now Death is no Fear-babe t is the King of Terrors and a Terror to Kings Hell is no Scare-crow neither Eternity a Jesting matter the Soul that is in danger is no Trifle but our chiefest Jewel and Salvation and Damnation are matters of Moment things of great Concern Now a Man would think that in Matters of such Concern it were not needful to use many words to make us mind it when we are earnest enough in lesser matters but 't is evident we are all faulty in some degree or other and the most altogether negligent Were but our Houses on fire over our heads we need not many Arguments to seek to save our selves and to quench the Fire Were we in danger of Drowning we need not many Arguments to perswade us to lay hold upon something or other to help us out Were we pursued with an implacable Enemy that sought our Lives or with a roaring Lion or ranging Bear we should double our Diligence and amend our Pace and use all means to escape the Danger And is the Soul so contemptible a thing that we matter it so little It is without our Diligence prevent it in danger to be drown'd in the Lake of Perdition and to be burnt in the Fire that never goes out and is pursued with those Infernal Furies that seek to devour her and yet we make but a little hast to rescue her But are our Houses our Estates our Bodies or our Lives to be preferred before the Immortal Soul the best part of Man And is a Moment of Time more to us than Eternity Do we take so much care what to eat and what to drink and wherewith to be cloathed and so little how the Soul is fed or cloathed decked or adorned This doubtlesly would bespeak our Folly Whatever the World dream or say to the contrary Heaven will be found to the Possessors of it a real Happiness and whatever Cost or Charge Pains or Labour we bestow a good Peny-worth and Hell will be found a real Misery and whatever we have into the Bargain we shall be losers the Rich Glutton found it so and many more here the worm dyes not and the fire never goes out One day in Heaven will make us forget all our Miseries on Earth and one day in Hell will make us forget all our fore-past Pleasures Now while we are unprepared for Death there is but the thread of our Lives between us and endless easeless and remediless Torments and this must needs be an uneasie condition to a considerate Man And which makes it the worse Death is always gnawing at this thread which if once broken all the World cannot piece it or yield us any relief Now in serious matters wise men should be serious Beggars when their wants are serious they will leave their Canting and beg in earnest as also