penalty And if I grant as much of a natural disposition in the Body to a dissolution if not prevented by a Glorifying Change it will no whit advantage their impious cause But withall man was then so far Immortal as that he had a posse non mori a natural capacity of not dying and the mo ietur vel non morietur the actual event of Life or Death was laid by the Lord of Life and Death upon his obedience or disobedience And man having sinned Justice must be done and so we came under a non posse non mori an impossibility of escaping death ordinarily because of the peremptory sentence of our Judge But the day of our deliverance is at hand when we shall attain a non posse mori a certain consummate Immortality when the last Enemy Death shall be destroyed and how that is done I shall next enquire SECT II. YOu have seen the ugly face of Death you are next to see a little of the Love of our great Redeemer You have heard what sin hath done you are next to hear what Grace hath done and what it will do You have seen the strength of the Enemy you are now to take notice of the Victory of the Redeemer and see how he conquereth all this strength 1. The Beginning of the Conquest is in this world 2. The Perfection will not be till the day of Resurrection when this Last Enemy shall be destroyed 1. Meritoriously Death is conquered by Death The Death of sinners by the Mediators Death Not that he intended in his Meritorious work to save us from the stroke of death by a prevention but to deliver us from it after by a Resurrection For since by man came death by man also came the Resurrection from the dead 1 Cor. 15. 21. For as much as the children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part with them that he might destroy him through death that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject unto bondage Heb. 2. 14 15. Satan as Gods Executioner and as the prosperous tempter is said to have had the power of death The fears of this dreadful Executioner are a continual bondage which we are liable to through all our lives till we perceive the deliverance which the Death of the Lord of Life hath purchased us 1. By Death Christ hath stisfied the Justice that was armed by sin against us 2. By Death he hath shewed us that Death is a tolerable Evil and to be yielded to in hope of following life 2. Actually he conquered Death by his Resurrection This was the day of Grace's triumph This day he shewed to Heaven to Hell and to earth that death was conquerable yea that his personal Death was actually overcome The blessed souls beheld it to their Joy beholding in the Resurrection of their Head a virtual Resurrection of their own Bodies The Devils saw it and therefore saw that they had no hopes of holding the Bodies of the Saints in the power of the grave The damned souls were acquainted with it and therefore knew that their sinful bodies must be restored to bear their part in suffering The Believing Saints on earth perceive it and therefore see that their bonds are broken and that to the righteous there is hope in death and that our Head being actually risen assureth us that we shall also Rise For if we believe that Jesus died and Rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4. 14. And as Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him So shall we Rsie and die no more This was the beginning of the Churches Triumph This is the day that the Lord hath made even the day which the Church on Earth must celebrate with joy and praise till the day of our Resurrection We will be glad and rejoyce therein Psal 118. 24. The Resurrection of our Lord hath 1. Assured us of the consummation of his satisfacttion 2. Of the truth of all his Word and so of his promises of our Resurrection 3. That Death is actually conquered and a Resurrection possible 4. That believers shall certainly Rise when their Head and Saviour is Risen to prepare them an everlasting Kingdome and to assure them that thus he will Raise them at the last A bare promise would not have been so strong a help to Faith as to the actual Rising of Christ as a pledge of the performance But now Christ is risen and become the first fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. 20. For because he Liveth we shall live also John 14. 19. 3. The next degree of destruction to this Enemy was by the gift of his Justifying and Sanctifying Grace Four special benefits were then bestowed on us which are Antidotes against the Enmity of Death 1. One is the gift of saving Faith by which we look beyond the grave as far as to eternity And this doth most powerfully disable Death to terrifie and discourage us and raiseth us above our Natural fears and sheweth us though but in a glass the exceeding eternal weight of glory which churlish Death shall help us to So that when the eye of the unbeliever looketh no further than the grave believing souls can enter into Heaven and see their glorified Lord and thence fetch Love and Hope and Joy notwithstanding the terrours of interposing death The eye of Faith foreseeth the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time and causeth us therein greatly to rejoyce though now for a season if need be we are in heaviness through manifold temptations And so victorious is this Faith against all the storms that do assault us that the tryal of it though with fire doth but discover that â—t is much more precious than Gold that peâ—isheth and it shall be found unto praise and â—onour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ whom having never seen in the flesh we â—ove and though now we see him not yet believing we rejoyce with unspeakable glorious joy 1 Pet. 1. 5 6 7 8 9. and shall shortly receive the end of our Faith the Salvation of our Souls Thus Faith though it destroy not Death it self destroyeth the Malignity and enmity of DEATH while it seeth the hings that are beyond it and the time when â—eath shall be destroyed and the Life where death shall be no more Faith is like David's three mighty men that brake thorow the Host of the Philistines to fetch him the waters of Bethlehem for which he longed 2 Sam. 23. 15 16. When the thirsty soul saith O that â—ne would give me drink of the waters of Salvation Faith breaks thorow death which standeth in the way and fetcheth these living waters to the soul We may say of Death as it is said of the World 1 John 5. 4 5. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh
promise and leave us in the dust for ever It cannot be Hath he conquered Death for himself alone and not for us Hath he taken our Nature into Heaven to be there alone and will he not have all his members with him Remember then Christian when thou lookest on thy grave that Christ was buried and hath made the grave a bed of rest that shall give up her trust when his Trumpet sounds And that his Resurrection is the pledge of ours Keep therefore thy rising and glorified Lord continually in thy eye If Christ were not risen our preaching were vain and your faith were vain and all men were miserable but we most miserable that suffer so much for a life which we had no ground to hope for 1 Cor. 15 14 17 19. But now we have an Argument that Infidelity it self is ashamed to encounter with that hath been the means of the conversion of the Nations unto Christ by which we may put even Death it self to a defiance as knowing it is now a conquered thing If it could have held Christ captive it might also have held us But he being risen we shall surely rise Write it therefore Christians upon your hearts mention it more in your conference for the encouragement of your faith Write it on the grave-stones of your friends that CHRIST IS RISEN and that BECAUSE HE LIVETH WE SHALL LIVE ALSO and that OUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD though we are dead and when he shall appear who is our Life we shall also appear with him in glory John 14. 19. Col. 3. 3 4. Though we must be sown in corruption in weakness and dishonour we shall be raised in incorruption strength and honour 1 Cor. 1. 15. 42 43. While our souls behold the Lord in glory we may bear with the winter that befalls our flesh till the sping of Resurrection come Knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall also raise us up by Jesus For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inner man is renewed day by day while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 2 Cor. 4. 14 15 16 17 18. As we are risen with Christ to newness of life so we shall rise with him to glory Use 10. LAstly If Death be the last Enemy to be destroyed at the Resurrection we may learn hence how earnestly believers should long and pray for the second coming of Christ when this full and final Conquest shall be made Death shall do much for us but the Resurrection shall do more Death sends the separated soul to Christ but at his coming both soul and body shall be glorified There is somewhat in Death that is penal even to believers but in the coming of Christ and their Resurrection there is nothing but glorifying grace Death is the effect of sin and of the first sentence passed upon sinners but the Resurrection of the Just is the final destruction of the effects of sin And therefore though the fears of Death may perplex us me-thinks we should long for the coming of Christ there being nothing in that but what tends to the deliverance and glory of the Saints Whether he will come before the general Resurrection and reign on earth a thousand years which some expect I shall not presume to pass my determination But sure I am it is the work of faith and Character of his people to love his appearance 2 Tim. 4. 8. and to wait for the Son of God from Heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come 1 Thes 1. 10. and to wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 7. and to wait for the adoption the redemption of our bodies with inward groanings Rom. 8. 23. O therefore let us pray more earnestly for the coming of our Lord and that the Lord would direct our hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ 2 Thes 3. 5. O blessed day when the glorious appearing of our Lord shall put away all his servants shame and shall communicate Glory to his members even to the bodies that had laid so long in dust that to the eye of flesh there seemed to be no hope Though the Majesty and glory will cause our Reverence yet it will not be our terrour to the diminution of our joy It is his enemies that would not have him rule over them whom he cometh to destroy Lu. 19. 27. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him as Henoch the seventh from Noah prophesied Jud. 14. 15. But the precious faith of the Saints shall be found to praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 7. When the chief Shepherd shall appear we shall receive a Crown of glory that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5. 4. He that was once offered to bear the sins of many and now appeareth for us in the presence of God shall unto them that look for him appear the second time without sin to salvation Heb. 9. 24. 28. And When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in Glory Col. 3. 4. The Lord shall then come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe in that day 2 Thes 1. 10. This is the day that all believers should long and hope and wait for as being the accomplishment of all the work of their redemption and all the desires and endeavours of their souls It is the hope of this day that animateth the holy diligence of our lives and makes us turn from the carelesness and sensuality of the world For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godlily in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2. 11 12 13. The heavens and the earth that are now are kept in store by the word of God reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men And though the Lord seem to delay he is not slack of his promise as some men count slackness for a day is with him as a thousand years and a thousand years but as a day But the day of the Lord will come as a Thiefin the night in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Seeing then all
these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements melt with fervent heat But we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness 2 Pet. 3. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. Beza marvelleth at Tertullian for saying that the Christians in their holy Assemblics prayed pro mora finis Apologet. c. 39. And so he might well enough if it were not that to Christians the Glory of God is dearer than their own felicity and the salvation of millions more precious than the meer hastening of their own and the glory of the Church more desirable than our personal glory and the hallowing of Gods Name were not to be prayed for before the coming of his Kingdom and the Kingdom of grace must not necessarily go before the Kingdom of glory But as much as we long for the coming of our Lord we are content to wait till the Elect be gathered and can pray that he will delay it till the Universal Body be made up and all are called that shall be glorified But to our selves that are brought out of Aegypt into the Wilderness how desirable is the promised Land When we think on our own interest we cry Come Lord Jesus Come quickly The sooner the better Then shall our eyes behold him in whom we have believed Not as he was beheld on earth in his despised state but as the glorious King of Saints accompanied with the Celestial Host coming in flaming fire to render vengeance to the rebellious and Rest and Joy to believing souls that waited for this day of his appearance Then Faith and Patience shall give up their work and sight and fruition and perfect love shall everlastingly succeed them The rage of Persecutors shall no more affright us the folly of the multitude shall no more annoy us the falseness of our seeming selfish friends shall no more betray us the pride of self-conceited men shall no more disturb us the turbulency of men distracted by ambition shall cast us no more into confusions The Kingdom that we shall possess shall not be lyable to mutations nor be tossed with pride and faction as are these below There is no monthly or annual change of Governours and Laws as is in Lunatick Common-wealths but there will be the same Lord and King and the same Laws and Government and the same Subjects and obedience without any mutinies rebellions or discontents to all eternity The Church of which we shall then be members shall not be divided into parties and factions nor the members look strangely at each other because of difference of opinions or distance of affections as now we find it to our daily grief in the militant Church We shall then need no tedious debates to reconcile us Unity will be then quickly and easily procured There will be no falling out in the presence of our Lord. There will be none of that darkness uncharitableness selfishness or passion left that now causeth our dissentions When we have perfect Light and perfect Love the perfect Peace will be easily attained which here we labour for in vain Now there is no Peace in Church or State in Cities or Countries in families or scarce in our own souls But when the glorious King of Peace hath put all his enemies under his feet what then is left to make disturbance Our enemies can injure us no more for it is then their portion to suffer for all their former injuries to Christ and us Our friends will not injure us as here they do because their corruption and weakness is put off and the relicks of sin that caused the trouble are left behind O that is the sight that faith prepareth for that is the day the blessed day that all our dayes are spent in seeking and waiting and praying for then shall the glory of holiness appear and the wisdom of the Saints be justified by all that now is justified by her children Then it shall be known Whether faith or unbelief whether a heavenly or earthly mind and life was the wiser and more justifiable course then shall all the world discern between the righteous and the wicked between them that serve God and them that serve him not Mal. 3. 18. Then sin that is now so obstinately defended and justified by such foolish cunning shall never more find a tongue to plead for it or a Patron to defend it more Then where is the man that will stand forth and break a jest at godliness or make a scorn of the holy diligence of Believers How pale then will those faces look that here were wont to jear at piety What terrour will seize upon those hearts that here were wont to make themselves sport at the weaknesses of the upright servants of the Lord That is the day that shall rectifie all judgements and cure the errours and contemptuous thoughts of an holy life which no perswasions now can cure that is the day that shall set all straight that now seems crooked and shall satisfie us to the full that God was just even when he prospered his enemies and afflicted the souls that loved him and walkt in their integrity before him We shall then see that which shall fully satisfie us of the reason and equity of all our sufferings which here we underwent we shall marvel no more that God lets us weep and groan and pray and turns away his face and seems not to regard us We shall then find that all our groans were heard and all our tears and prayers did succeed which we suspected had been lost We shall then find that a duty performed in sincerity through all our lives was never lost no nor a holy thought nor a Cup of cold water that from holy love we gave to a Disciple We shall then see that our murmurings and discontents and jealous unbelieving thoughts of God which sickness or poverty or crosses did occasion were all injurious to the Lord and the fruit of infirmity and that when we questioned his Love on such accounts we knew not what we said We shall then see that Death and Grave and Devils were all but matter for the glorifying of Grace and for the triumph of our Lord and us Up then my soul and shake off thy unbelief and dulness Look up and long and meet thy Lord. The more thou art afraid of death the more desire that blessed day when mortality shall be swallowed up of life and the name of death shall be terrible no more Though death be thy enemy there is nothing but friendly in the coming of thy Lord. Though death dissolve thy nature the Resurrection shall restore it and make thee full reparation with advantage How glad would I have been to have seen Christ but with the Wise Men in the Manger or to have seen him
disputing with the Doctors in his Child-hood in the Temple or to have seen him do his Miracles or heard him Preach much more to have seen him as the three Disciples in his transfiguration or to have seen him after his Resurrection and when he ascended up to Heaven But how far is all this below the sight that we shall have of him when he comes in glory when the brightness of his shining face shall make us think the Sun was darkness and the glory of his attendants shall make us think what a sorbid thing and childish foolery was all the glory of this world The face of Love shall be then unvailed and ravish us into the highest Love and Joy that our natures are capable of Then doubt and fear and grieve if thou canst What then wilt thou think of all these disquieting distrustful Thoughts that now so wrong thy Lord and thee If going into the Sanctuary and foreseeing the end can cure our brutish mis-apprehensions of Gods providences Psal 73. 17. how perfectly will they be cured when we see the glorious face of Christ and behold the New Jerusalem in its glory and when we are numbred with the Saints that judge the world We shall never more be tempted then to condemn the generation of the just nor to think it vain to serve the Lord nor to envy the prosperity of the wicked nor to stagger at the promise through unbelief nor to think that our sickness death and grave were any signs of unkindness or unmercifulness in God We shall then be convinced that sight and flesh were unfit to censure the wayes of God or to be our guides Hasten O Lord this blessed day Stay not till Faith have left the earth and infidelity and impiety and tyranny have conquered the rest of thine inheritance Stay not till selfish uncharitable pride hath vanquished love and self-denyal and planted its Colonies of Heresie confusion and cruelty in thy dominions and Earth and Hell be turned into one Stay not till the eyes of thy servants fail and their hearts and hopes do faint and languish with looking and waiting for thy salvation But if yet the day be not at hand O keep up Faith and Hope and Love till the Sun of perfect Love arise and Time hath prepared us for Eternity and Grace for Glory FINIS Some imitable Passages of the Life of Elizabeth late Wife of Mr. Joseph Baker THough I spoke so little as was next to nothing of our dear deceased friend it was not because I wanted matter or thought it unmeet But I use it but seldom lest I raise expectations of the like where I cannot conscionably perform it But he that hath promised to honour those that serve and honour him Joh. 12. 26. 1 Sam. 2. 30. and will come at last to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that do believe 2 Thes 1. 10. I know will take it as a great and acceptable act of service to proclaim the honour of his grace and to give his servants their due on earth whose souls are glorified with Christ in Heaven though Serpentine enmity will repine and play the envious accuser It is not the history of the Life of this precious servant of the Lord which I intend to give you for I was not many years acquainted with her but only some passages which either upon my certain knowledge or her own Diurnal of her course or the most credible testimony of her most intimate judicious godly friends I may boldly publish as true and imitable in this untoward distempered generation She was born Novem. 1634. in Southwark near London the only child of Mr. John Godeschalk alias Godscall Her Father dying in her Child-hood she was left an Orphane to the Chamber of London Her Mother after married Mr. Isaac Barton with whom she had the benefit of Religious Education But between sixteen and seventeen years of age by the serious reading of the Book called The Saints Everlasting Rest she was more throughly awakened and brought to set her heart on God and to seek salvation with her chiefest care From that time forward she was a more constant diligent serious hearer of the ablest Ministers in London rising early and going far to hear them on the week dayes waiting on God for his confirming grace in the use of those ordinances which empty unexperienced hypocrites are easily tempted to despise The Sermons which she constantly wrote she diligently repeated at home for the benefit of others and every week read over some of those that she had heard long before that the fruit of them might be retained and renewed it being not novelty that she minded In the year 1654. being near one and twenty years of age after seeking God and waiting for his resolving satisfying directions she consented to be joyned in marriage to Mr. Joseph Baker by the approbation of her nearest friends God having taken away her Mother the year before With him she approved herself indeed such a Wife as Paul no Papist describeth as meet for a Bishop or Pastor of the Church 1 Tim. 3. 11. Even so must their Wives be grave not slanderers sober faithful in all things Some instances I shall give for the imitation of others 1. She was very exemplary in self-denial and humility And having said thus much what abundance have I comprehended O what a beauty doth self-denyal and humility put on souls Nay what a treasure of everlasting consequence do these two words express I shall give you a few of the discoveries 1. It appeared in her accompanying in London with the holiest how mean soever avoiding them that were proud and vain and carnal She desired most to be acquainted with those that she perceived were best acquainted with God neglecting the pomp and vain glory of the world 2. When she was called to a married state though her portion and other advantages invited persons of greater estates in the world She chose rather to marry a Minister of known integrity that might be a near and constant guide and stay and comfort to her in the matters which she valued more than riches And she missed not of her expectations for the few years that she lived with him Even in this age when the Serpent is hissing in every corner at faithful Ministers and they are cnotemned both by Prophane and Heretical Malignants She preferred a mean life with such a one for her spiritual safety and solace before the Grandeur of the world 3. When some inhabitants of the City of Worcester were earnest with me to help them to an able Minister Mr. Baker then living in Kent had about an hundred pound per annum and when at my motion he was readily willing to take a great charge in Worcester upon a promise from two men to make the maintenance fifty pounds a year by a voluntary Contribution of the continuance of which he had no security his Wife was a promoter and no discourager of his self
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You see here what it is that conquereth the enmity of death in our sanctification even that powerful love of God that is then given us which will go to him through the most cruel death 4. A fourth Antidote that is given us by Christ against the Enmity of Death is the Holy Ghost as he is the Comforter of the Saints He makes it his work to corroborate and confirm them As sin hath woven calamities into our lives and filled us with troubles and griefs and fears so Christ doth send his spirit to undo these works of Satan and to be a Comforter as well as a Sanctifier to his members As the Sanctifying Spirit striveth against the entising sinful flesh so the Comforting Spirit striveth against the troubling flesh as also against the persecuting as well as the tempting world and the vexing as well as the tempting Devil And greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world 1 John 4. 4. The Spirit of Christ overcomes the disquieting as well as the tempting Spirit But with some difference because our comforts are not in this life so necessary to us as our Holiness Joy being part of our Reward is not to be expected certainly or constantly in any high degree till we come to the state of our Reward And therefore though the Holy Ghost will carry on the work of Sanctification universally constantly and certainly in the Elect yet in many of them his Comforting work is more obscure and interrupted And yet he is a Conquerour here For his works must be judged of in reference to their ends And our comfort on earth is given us for our encouragement in holy wayes that we be not stopt or diverted by the fear of enemies and also to help on our love to God and to quicken us in thanks and praise and draw up our hearts to the life to come and make us more serviceable to others And such a measure of comfort we shall have as conduceth to these ends and is suitable to our present state and the employment God hath for us in the world if we do not wilfully grieve our Comforter and quench our joyes So that when Death and the Grave appear before and our flesh is terrified with the sight of these Anakims and say We are not able to overcome them and so brings up an evil report upon the promised Land and casts us sometime into murmuring lamentation and weakning-discouragements yet doth the Ho-Ghost cause Faith and Hope as Caleb and Joshua to still the soul Numb 13. and causeth us to contemn these Gyants and say Let us go up and possess it for we are well able to overcome it Ver. 30. The Comforting Spirit sheweth us his death that conquered death Heb. 2. 14 15. even the Cross on which he triumphed openly when he seemed to be conquered Col. 2. 15. He sheweth us the glorious Resurrection of our Head and his promise of our own Resurrection He sheweth us our glorified Lord to whom we may boldly and confidently commend our departing souls Acts 7. 59. And he sheweth us the Angels that are ready to be their Convoy And he maketh all these Considerations effectual and inwardly exciteth our Love and heavenly desires and giveth us a triumphing Courage and Consolation So that Death doth not encounter us alone and in our own strength but finds us armed and led on by the Lord of life who helps us by a sling and stone to conquer this Goliah If a draught of Wine or some spiritful reviving liquor can take off fears and make men bold what then may the Spirit of Christ do by his powerful encouragements and comforts on the soul Did we but see Christ or an Angel standing by our sick-beds and saying Fear not I will convoy thy soul to God this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise What an unspeakable comfort would this be to a dying man Why the Spirit is Christ's Agent here on earth and what the Spirit speaks Christ speaks And therefore we may take its comforting words as spoken to us by Christ himself who spoke the like to the penitent Thief to shew bellevers the virtue of his Cross and what they also may expect from him in their extremity And our Physician is most wise and keeps his Cordials for a fainting time The Spirit useth so sustain and comfort us most in our greatest necessities We need not comforts against death so much in the time of prosperity and health as when death draws neer In health we have ordinarily more need of quickening than of comforting and more need to be awakened from security to a due preparation for death than to be freed from the terrible fore-thoughts of it though inordinate fears of death be hurtful to us security and deadness hurts us more And therefore the Spirit worketh according to our necessities And when Death is neerest and like to be most dreadful he usually giveth the liveliest sense of the joyes beyond it to abate the enmity and encourage the departing soul And if the comfort be but small it is precious because it is most pure as being then mixed with no carnal joyes and because it is most seasonable in so great a strait If we have no more but meer support it will be yet a precious mercy And thus I have done with the third degree of the destruction of Deaths Enmity by these four Antidotes which we receive at our Conversion and the Consequents thereof 4. The fourth degree of this Enemies destruction is by it self or rather by Christ at the time and by the means of death which contrary to its nature shall advantage our felicity When Death hath done its worst it hath half killed it self in killing us It hath then dismissed our imprisoned souls and ended even our fears of death and our fears of all the evils of this life It hath ended our cares and griefs and groans It hath finished our work and ended all our weariness and trouble And more then this it ends our sinning and so destroyeth that which caused it and that which the inordinate fears of it self had caused in us It is the time when sin shall gasp its last and so far our Physitian will perfect the cure and our greatest enemy shall follow us no further It is the door by which the soul must pass to Christ in Paradise If any Papist shall hence plead that therefore allmenmust be perfect without sin before death or else go to Purgatory to be cleansed because as we die so Christ will find us or if they ask How death can perfect us I answer them It is Christ our Physitian that finisheth the cure and Death is the time in which he doth it And if he undertake then do it it concerns not us to be too inquisitive how he doth it What if the patient understand not how blood-letting cureth the infected blood that
is ordinarily endured to prevent a longer A woman doth bear the pains of her travail because it is short and tends to the bringing of a child into the world Who would not submit to any labour or toyl for a day that he might win a life of plenty and delight by it who would not be spit upon and made the scorn of the world for a day if he might have his will for it as long as he liveth on earth And should we not then cheerfully submit to our momentany afflictions and the troubles of a few dayes which are light and mixt with a world of mercies when we know that they are working for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. Our clamorous and malicious enemies our quarrelsome Brethren our peevish friends our burdensome corruptions and imperfections will shortly trouble us no more As our life is short and but a dream and shadow and therefore the pleasures of this world are no better so our troubles also will be no longer and are but sad dreams and dark shadows that quickly pass away Our Lord that hath begun and gone on so far will finish his victories and the last enemy shall shortly be destroyed And if the fearful doubting Soul shall say I know this is comfort to them that are in Christ but what is it to me that know not whether I have any part in him I answer 1. The foundation of God still standeth sure the Lord knoweth his own even when some of them know not that they are his own He knoweth his mark upon his sheep when they know it not themselves God doubteth not of his interest in thee though thou doubt of thy interest in him And thou art faster in the arms of his Love then by the arms of thy own faith as the child is surer in the Mothers arms then by its holding of the Mother And moreover your doubts and fears are part of the evil that shall be removed and your bitterest sorrows that hence proceed shall with the rest of the enemies be destroyed 2. But yet take heed that you unthankfully plead not against the mercies which you have received and be not friends to those doubts and fears which are your enemies and that you take not part with the enemy of your comforts Why dost thou doubt poor humbled soul of thy interest in Christ that must make the conquest Answer me but these few Questions from thy heart 1. Did Christ ever shew himself unkind to thee or unwilling to receive thee and have mercy on thee Did he ever give thee cause to think so poorly of his Love and grace as thy doubts do intimate thou dost Hast thou not found him kind when thou wast unkind and that he thought on thee when thou didst not think on him and will he now forget thee and end in wrath that begun in Love He desired thee when thou didst not desire him and gave thee all thy desires after him and will he now cross and deny the desires which he hath caused He was found of thee or rather found thee when thou soughtest not after him and can he reject thee now thou cryest and callest for his grace O think not hardly of his wonderous grace till he give thee cause Let thy sweet experiences be remembred to the shame of thy causless doubts and fears and let him that hath loved thee to the death be thought on as he is and not as the unbelieving flesh would misrepresent him Quest 2. If thou say that it is not his unkindness but thy own that feeds thy doubts I further ask thee Is he not kind to the unkind especially when they lament their own unkindness Thou art not so unkind to him as thou wast in thy unconverted state and yet he then exprest his Love in thy conversion He then sought thee when thou wentest astray and brought thee carefully home into his Fold and there he hath kept thee ever since And is he less kind now when thou art returned home Dost thou not know that all his children have their forwardness and are guilty of their unkindnesses to him And yet he doth not therefore disown them and turn them out of his family but is tender of them in their froward weakness because they are his own How dealt he with the peevish Prophet Jonah that was exceedingly displeased and very angry that God spared Nineveh lest it should be a dishonour to his Prophesie in so much that he wisht that he might die and not live and after repined at the withering of his gourd and the scorching of the Sun that beat upon him The Lord doth gently question with him Dost thou well to be angry and after hence convince him that the mercy which he valued to himself he should not envy to so many Jonah 4. How dealt he with the Disciples that fell a sleep when they should have watcht with Christ in the night of his great agony He doth not tell them You are none of mine because you could not watch with me one hour but tenderly excuseth that which they durst not excuse themselves The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak When he was on the Cross though they all forsook him and fled he was then so far from forsaking them that he was manifesting to admiration that exceeding love that never would forsake them And knowest thou not poor complaining soul that the kindness of Christ overcometh all the unkindness of his children and that his blood and grace is sufficient to save thee from greater sins then those that trouble thee If thou hadst no sin what use hadst thou of a Saviour Will thy Physitian therefore cast thee off because thou art sick Quest 3. Yea hath not Christ already subdued so many of thy enemies as may assure thee he will subdue the rest and begun that life in thee which may assure thee of eternal life Once thou wast a despiser of God and his holy wayes but now it is far otherwise with thee Hath he not broken the heart of thy pride and worldliness and sensuality and made thee a new Creature and is not this a pledge that he will do the rest Tell me plainly hadst thou rather keep thy sin or leave it Hadst thou rather have liberty to commit it or be delivered from it Dost thou not hate it and set thy self against it as thy enemy Art thou not delivered from the reign and tyranny of it which thou wast once under And will not he perfect the conquest which he hath begun He that hath thus far delivered thee from sin thy greatest enemy will deliver thee from all the sad effects of it The blessed work of the Spirit in thy Conversion did deliver thee from the bondage of the Devil from the power of darkness and translated thee into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Then didst thou enter the holy warfare under his banners that was never overcome in the victorious Army that shall