and Sense to govern our bodily Appetites and Passions to grow indifferent to the Pleasures of Sense to use them for the refreshment and necessities of Nature but not to be over-curious about them not to be fond of enjoying them nor troubled for the want of them never to indulge ourselves in unlawful Pleasures and to be very temperate in our use of lawful ones to be sure we must take care that the Spiritual part that the sense of God and of Religion be always predominant in us and this will be a principle of Life in us a principle of divine Sensations and Joys when this Body shall tumble into Dust. VI. If Death be our putting off these Bodies then the Resurrection from the Dead is the Re-union of Soul and Body the Soul does not die and therefore cannot be said to rise again from the Dead but it is the Body which like Seed falls into the Earth and springs up again more beautiful and glorious at the Resurrection of the Just. To believe the Resurrection of the Body or of the Flesh and to believe another Life after this are two very different things the Heathens believed a future State but never dreamt of the Resurrection of the Body which is the peculiar Article of the Christian Faith. And yet it is the Resurrection of our Bodies which is our Victory and Triumph over Death for Death was the Punishment of Adam's sin and those who are in a separate state still suffer the Curse of the Law Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Christ came to deliver us from this Curse by being made a Curse for us that is to deliver us from Death by dying for us But no man can be said to be delivered from Death till his body rise again for part of him is under the power of Death still while his body rots in the Grave nay he is properly in a state of Death while he is in a state of Separation of Soul and Body which is the true notion of Death And therefore St. Paul calls the Resurrection of the Body the destroying Death 1 Cor. 15. 25 26. He must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet the last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death That is by the Resurrection of the Dead as appears from the whole scope of the place and is particularly expressed 54 55 c. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass that saying which is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but blessed be God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. This is the perfection and consummation of our reward when our Bodies shall be raised incorruptible and glorious when Christ shall change our vile Bodies and make them like to his own most glorious Body I doubt not but good men are in a very happy state before the Resurrection but yet their happiness is not complete for the very state of Separation is an imperfect state because a separate Soul is not a perfect Man a Man by the original Constitution of his Nature consists of Soul and Body and therefore his perfect happiness requires the united glory and happiness of both parts of the whole Man. Which is not considered by those who cannot apprehend any necessity why the Body should rise again since as they conceive the Soul might be as completely and perfectly happy without it But yet the Soul would not be an intire and perfect Man for a Man consists of Soul and Body a Soul in a state of Separation how happy soever otherwise it may be has still this mark of God's displeasure on it that it has lost its body and therefore the Reunion of our Souls and Bodies has at least this advantage in it that it is a perfect restoring of us to the Divine Favour that the badge and memorial of our Sin and Apostacy is done away in the Resurrection of our Bodies and therefore this is called the Adoption viz. the Redemption of our Bodies 8. Rom. 23. For then it is that God publickly owns us for his Sons when he raises our dead Bodies into a glorious and immortal Life And besides this I think we have no reason to doubt but the Reunion of Soul and Body will be a new addition of Happiness and Glory for though we cannot guess what the pleasures of glorified Bodies are yet sure we cannot imagine that when these earthly Bodies are the instruments of so many pleasures a spiritual and glorified Body should be of no use A Soul and Body cannot be vitally united but there must be a sympathy between them and receive mutual impressions from each other and then we need not doubt but that such glorified Bodies will highly minister though in a way unknown to us to the pleasures of a divine and perfect Soul will infinitely more contribute to the divine pleasures of the Mind then these earthly Bodies do to our sensual pleasures That all who have this hope and expectation may as St. Paul speaks earnestly groan within themselves waiting for the adoption even the redemption of our bodies 8. Rom. 23. This being the day of the Marriage of the Lamb this consummates our Happiness when our Bodies and Souls meet again not to disturb and oppose each other as they do in this World where the Flesh and the Spirit are at perpetual Enmity but to live in eternal Harmony and to heighten and inflame each others Joys Now this consideration that Death being a putting off these Bodies the Resurrection of the Dead must be the raising our Bodies into a new and immortal Life and the Reunion of them to our Souls suggests many useful thoughts to us For This teaches us how we are to use our Bodies how we are to prepare them for Immortality and Glory Death which is the separation of Soul and Body is the punishment of Sin and indeed it is the cure of it too for Sin is such a Leprosie as cannot be perfectly cleansed without pulling down the House which it has once infected But if we would have these Bodies raised up again immortal and glorious we must begin the Cleansing and Purification of them here We must be sanctified throughout both in body soul and spirit 1 Thess. 5. 23. Our Bodies must be the Temples of the Holy Ghost must be holy and consecrated places 1 Cor. 6. 19. must not be polluted with filthy Lusts if we would have them rebuilt again by the Divine Spirit after the desolations which Sin hath made Thus St. Paul tells us at large 8. Rom. 10 11 12 13. And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness That is that divine and holy Nature which we receive from
lived very ungodly Lives and are now awakened by the approaches of Death to see an angry and provoked Judge an injured Saviour a righteous Tribunal and think they hear that fatal Doom and Sentence pronounced on them by their own Consciences Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels 3. Those who are doubtful of their own condition and are apt to fear the worst 1. As for the first sort of these Men who have sincerely endeavour'd to please GOD and have the testimony of their Consciences that in simplicity and godly sincerity they have had their conversation in this World Christ has delivered them from all their fears by his death upon the Cross and his Intercession for them at the right hand of God The best Men dare not stand the trial of strict and impartial Justice they are conscious to themselves of so many sins or such great imperfections and defects that their onely hope is in the Mercy of GOD thro' the Merits and Mediation of CHRIST and in this hope they can triumph over Death as St. Paul does O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to GOD who hath given us the victory by our Lord Iesus Christ who destroyed Sin and plucked out the sting of Death by his Death upon the Cross who triumphed over Death by his Resurrection from the Dead and is invested with Power to raise all his true Disciples from the Dead Is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto GOD by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them This is the happy state of good Men when they come to die they can look into the other World without terrour where they see not a Court of Justice but a Throne of Grace where they see a Father not a Judge a Saviour who died for them and has redeemed them with his own Blood What a blessed Calm and Serenity possesses their Souls nay what Joy and Triumph transports them How do their souls magnifie the Lord and their spirits rejoyce in GOD their Saviour when they see him ready to pronounce them blessed and to set the Crown upon their heads Who would not die the death of the righteous and desire that his latter end may be like his What wise Man would not live the life of the Righteous that his latter end may be like his that in the agonies of Death and in the very jaws of the Grave no disturbed thoughts may discompose him no guilty fears distract him but he may go out of the World with all the joyful presages of eternal Rest and Peace 2. As for wicked Men who never concerned themselves with the thoughts of God and another World while they were in health many times a dangerous Sickness which gives them a nearer view of Death and Judgment awakens their Consciences and overwhelms them with the unsupportable terrors of future Vengeance then they begin to lament their ill-spent lives to tremble before that just and righteous Judge whom they have provoked by repeated Villanies whose Being they formerly denied or whose Power and Justice they desied now they cry passionately to Christ for Mercy and will needs have him to be their Saviour though they would not own him for their Lord nor submit to his Laws and Government now these Men are mighty earnest for comfort the Minister who was the subject of their Drollery before is sent for in great hast and it is expected from him that he should lull their Consciences asleep and send them quietly into another World to receive their doom there Now it is very fitting to let these Men know while they are well that there is no comfort to be had when they come to die For there is no peace saith my GOD to the wicked and no Man who knows them can speak Peace to them without making a new Gospel or corrupting the old one What I have already discourst concerning a Death-bed Repentance is a plain proof of this but though we set aside all that and proceed upon the common principle That a true Penitent whenever he sincerely repents thô it be upon his Death-bed after a long life of wickedness shall be pardoned and rewarded by God yet upon these principles it is impossible that a wicked Man when he comes to die should have any Comfort without a vain and Enthusiastick Presumption and the reason is very plain because it is impossible either for himself or others to judge whether his Repentance be true and sincere such a Repentance as if he were to live longer would reform his Life and bring forth the fruits of an universal Righteousness and it is agreed on all hands that no other Repentance but this can be accepted by God. Now it is absolutely impossible without a Revelation for any Man to know this who begins his Repentance upon a Death-bed he may feel indeed the bitter pangs and agonies of Sorrow and may be sincerely and heartily sorry that he has sinned And this every dying Sinner is who is sorrowful he is sincerely sorrowful that is he does not counterfeit a Sorrow but really feels it and I know nothing else to make Sorrow sincere but that it is real and not counterfeited and therefore to be sorrowful and to be sincerely sorrowful is the same thing And will any Man say that whoever is sorry for his sins when he comes to die shall be saved Then no Sinner can be damned who does not die an Atheist or stupid and distracted or suddenly without any warning for it is impossible for a Sinner who is in his wits and believes that wicked Men shall be eternally punished in the next World not to feel an amazing remorse and sorrow of mind when he sees himself just a falling into Hell. A dying Sorrow then though it may be sharp and severe almost to the degree of Amazement and Distraction and it is hard if such a Sorrow be not real and sincere is not saving Repentance and therefore though Sinners may feel themselves very heartily sorrowful this does not prove them to be true Penitents and yet this is the only evidence they can have of their Repentance and the only thing they rely on that they are sure their Sorrow is very sincere and I doubt not but it is for all true Sorrow is sincere but Sinners who are very sorry for their sins may be damned Since then sorrow for Sin is the onely evidence such Men can have of the sincerity of their Repentance let us consider whether the meer dying sorrows of Sinners be any evidence at all of this or what kind of evidence it is True Repentance does at least include a change of Mind a turning from our sins to God a deep sence of the evil of Sin and an abhorrance of ourselves for it a great reverence for God and for his Laws as
IMPRIMATUR Z. Isham R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. Ã Sacris Septemb. 11 1689. A Practical Discourse CONCERNING DEATH BY WILLIAM SHERLOCK D. D. Master of the TEMPLE LONDON Printed for W. Rogers at the Sun over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street MDCLXXXIX To the Worshipful THE MASTERS of the BENCH And the rest of the Members of the two Honourable Societies OF THE TEMPLE My much Honoured Friends ONE reason of Publishing this Plain Discourse is because I cannot now Preach to you as formerly I have done and have no other way left of discharging my Duty to You but by making the Press supply the place of the Pulpit Part of this You have already heard and should have heard the rest had I enjoyed the same Liberty still which God restore to me again when He sees fit if not His will be done And the only reason of this Dedication is to make this publick and thankful Acknowledgment before I am forced from You if I must be so Unhappy of Your Great Respects and many singular Favours to me which have been always so free and generous that they never gave time nor left any room for me to ask especially that obliging Welcome You gave me at my first coming I mean Your Present of a House which besides the Conveniencies and Pleasure of a Delightful Habitation has afforded me that which I value much more the frequent opportunities of Your Conversation Though I am able to make You no better Return than Thanks I hope that Great MASTER whom I serve will and that GOD would multiply all Temporal and Spiritual Blessings on You is and always shall be the sincere and hearty Prayer of GENTLEMEN Your Most Obliged and Humble Servant W. Sherlock THE CONTENTS THe Introduction Page 1 CHAP. I. The several Notions of Death and the Improvement of them 4 SECT I. The first Notion of Death that it is our leaving this World with the Improvement of it 6 SECT II. The second Notion of Death that it is our putting off these Bodies 35 SECT III. Death considered as our entrance upon a new and unknown State of Life 69 CHAP. II. Concerning the Certainty of our Death 89 SECT I. A Vindication of the Iustice and Goodness of God in appointing Death for all Men 92 SECT II. How to improve this Consideration that we must certainly die 110 CHAP. III. Concerning the time of our Death and the proper Improvement of it 125 SECT I. That the general Period of Humane Life is fixt and determined by God and that it is but very short 128 SECT II. What little reason we have to complain of the Shortness of Humane Life 184 SECT III. What Use to make of the fixt Term of Humane Life 144 SECT IV. What Use to make of the Shortness of Humane Life 162 SECT V. The time and manner and circumstances of every particular Man's Death are not determined by an Absolute and Unconditional Decree 185 SECT VI. The particular time when we are to die is unknown and uncertain to us 196 SECT VII That we must die but Once or that Death translates us to an unchangeable State with the Improvement of it 234 CHAP. IV. Concerning the Fear of Death and the Remedies against it 328 The Conclusion 351 ERRATA PAge 130. l. 8. for unreasonable read unanswerable p. 214. l. 13. r. at present A Practical Discourse CONCERNING DEATH 9 Hebrews 27. It is appointed for Men once to die The INTRODUCTION THere is not a more effectual way to revive the True Spirit of Christianity in the World than seriously to meditate on what we commonly call the four last things Death Judgment Heaven and Hell For it is morally impossible men should live such careless lives should so wholly devote themselves to this World and the service of their Lusts should either cast off the fear of God and all reverence for his Laws or satisfie themselves with some cold and formal Devotions were they possest with a warm and constant sense of these things For what manner of Men ought we to be who know that we must shortly die and come to Judgment and receive according to what we have done in this World whether it be good or evil either eternal Rewards in the Kingdom of Heaven or eternal Punishments with the Devil and his Angels That which first presents it self to our thoughts and shall be the Subject of this following Treatise is Death a very terrible thing the very naming of which is apt to chill our Blood and Spirits and to draw a dark veil over all the Glories of this Life And yet this is the condition of all Mankind we must as surely die as we are born For it is appointed unto Men once to die This is not the Original Law of our Nature for though Man was made of the dust of the Earth and therefore was by nature Mortal for that which is made of dust is by nature corruptible and may be resolved into dust again yet had he not sinned he should never have died he should have been immortal by Grace and therefore had the Sacrament of Immortality the Tree of Life Planted in Paradise But now by Man Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned 5 Rom. 12. and thus it is decreed and appointed by God by an irreversible Sentence dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Now to improve this Meditation to the best advantage I shall 1. Consider what Death is and what Wisdom that should teach us 2. The certainty of our Death that it is appointed unto Men once to die 3. The time of our death it must be once but when we know not 4. The natural fears and terrors of Death or our natural aversions to it and how they may be allayed and sweetned CHAP. I. The several Notions of Death and the Improvement of them 1. WHat Death is and I shall consider three things in it 1. That it is our leaving this World. 2. Our putting off these earthly Bodies 3. Our entrance into a New and Unknown state of Life for when we die we do not fall into nothing or into a profound sleep into a state of silence and insensibility till the Resurrection But we only change our place and our dwelling we remove out of this World and leave our Bodies to sleep in the Earth till the Resurrection but our Souls and Spirits live still in an invisible State. I shall not go about to prove these things but take it for granted that you all believe them For that we leave this World and that our Bodies rot and putrifie in the Grave needs no proof for we see it with our eyes and that our Souls cannot die but are by nature Immortal has been the belief of all Mankind The Gods which the Heathens Worshipped were most of them no other but dead Men and therefore they did believe that the Soul survived the Funeral of the
Christ will secure the life of our Souls and translate us to a happy state after death but it will not secure us from the necessity of dying Our Bodies must die as a punishment of Sin and putrifie in the Grave but yet they are not lost for ever for if the spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Iesus from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit which dwelleth in you that is if your Bodies be cleansed and sanctified be the Temples of the Holy Spirit he will raise them up again into a new Life Therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh for if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live If ye subdue the fleshly principle if ye bring the Flesh into subjection to the Spirit not only your Souls shall live but your Bodies shall be raised again to immortal Life And this is a mighty obligation on us if we love our Bodies and would have them glorious and immortal not to pamper the Flesh and gratifie its appetites and lusts not to yeild your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity but to yeild your members servants to righteousness unto holiness that being made free from sin and becoming the servants of God ye may have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life As the same Apostle speaks 6. Rom. 19 22. it is our relation to Christ that our very Bodies are his Members it is our relation to the Holy Spirit that our Bodies are his Temples which entitles our Bodies to a glorious Resurrection But will Christ own such Bodies for his Members as are Members of a Harlot Will the Holy Spirit dwell in such a Temple as is defiled with impure Lusts And therefore such polluted Bodies will rise as they lay down in Dishonour will rise not to immortal Life but to eternal Death For can we think those Bodies well prepared for a glorious Resurrection to be refined into spiritual Bodies which are become ten times more Flesh than God made them which are the Instruments and the Tempters to all Impurity Is there any reason to expect that such a Body should rise again spiritual and glorious which expires in the flames of Lust which falls a Sacrifice in the quarrel of a Strumpet which sinks under the load of its own Excesses and Eats and Drinks itself into the Grave which scorns to die by Adam's sin but will die by its own without expecting till the Laws of Mortality according to the ordinary course of Nature must take place Holiness is the only principle of Immortality both to Soul and Body Those love their Bodies best those honour them most who make them instruments of Vertue who endeavour to refine and spiritualize them and leave nothing of fleshly appetites and inclinations in them those are kindest to their Bodies who consecrate them for Immortality who take care they shall rise again into the Partnership of eternal Joys All the severities of Mortification abstinence from bodily pleasures watchings Fastings hard lodging when they are instruments of a real Vertue not the arts of Superstition when they are intended to subdue our Lusts not to purchase a liberty of sinning are the most real expressions of honour and respect to these Bodies It shews how unwilling we are to part with them or to have them miserable how desirous we are of their advancement into eternal Glories for the less of Flesh they carry to the Grave with them the more glorious will they rise again This is offering up our Bodies a living Sacrifice when we intirely devote them to the service of God and such living Sacrifices shall live for ever for if God receives them a living Sacrifice he will preserve them to immortal Life But the highest honour we can do these Bodies and the noblest use we can put them to is to offer them up in a proper sence a Sacrifice to God that is willingly and chearfully to die for God when he calls us to suffering first to offer up our Souls to God in the pure flames of Love and Devotion and then freely to give up our Bodies to the Stake or to the Gibbet to wild Beasts or more savage Men. This vindicates our Bodies from the natural shame and reproach of Death what we call a natural Death is very inglorious it is a mark of dishonour because it is a punishment of Sin Such Bodies at best are sown in dishonour and corruption as St. Paul speaks but to die a Martyr to fall a Sacrifice to God this is a glorious Death this is not to yeild to the Laws of Mortality to Necessity and Fate but to give back our Bodies to God who gave them to us and he will keep that which we have committed to his trust to a glorious Resurrection and it will be a surprizing and astonishing Glory with which such Bodies shall rise again as have suffered for their Lord for if we suffer with him we shall also be glorified together Which seems to imply that those shall nearest resemble the Glory of Christ himself who suffer as he did This is the way to make our Bodies immortal and glorious We cannot keep them long here they are corruptible Bodies and will tumble into Dust we must part with them for a while and if ever we expect and desire a happy meeting again we must use them with modesty and reverence now We dishonour our Bodies in this World when we make them instruments of Wickedness and Lust and lay an eternal foundation of shame and infamy for them in the next World it is a mortal and killing love to cherish the fleshly Principle to make provision for the Flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof but if you love your Bodies make them immortal that though they die they may rise again out of their Graves with a youthful vigour and beauty that they may live for ever without pain or sickness without the decays of age or the interruptions of sleep or the fatigue and weariness of labour without wanting either food or raiment without the least remains of corruptions without knowing what it is to tempt or to be tempted without the least uneasie thought the least disappointment the least care in the full and blissful enjoyment of the Eternal and Soveraign Good. SECT III. Death considered as our Entrance upon a new and unknown State of Life III. LEt us now consider Death as it is an Entrance upon a new and unknown State of Life for it is a new thing to us to live without these Bodies it is what we have never tried yet and we cannot guess how we shall feel ourselves when we are stript of Flesh and Blood what entertainments we shall find in that place where there is neither eating nor drinking neither marrying nor giving in marriage what kind of
unknown Happiness of those Joys which now we have such imperfect conceptions of 2. Nor is it on the other hand any encouragement to bad men that the Miseries of the other World are unknown for it is known that God has threatned very terrible Punishments against bad men and that what these punishments are is unknown makes them a great deal more formidable for who knows the power of God's wrath who knows how miserable God can make bad men This makes it a sensless thing for men to harden themselves against the Fears of the other World because they know not what it is And how then can they tell though they could bear up under all known Miseries but that there may be such Punishments as they cannot bear That they are unknown argues that they are something more terrible than they are aquainted with in this World they are represented indeed by the most dreadful and terrible things by Lakes of Fire and Brimstone Blackness of Darkness the Worm that never dieth and the Fire that never goeth out But bad men think this cannot be true in a literal sence that there can be no Fire to burn Souls and torment them eternally Now suppose it were so yet if they believe these Threatnings they must believe that some terrible thing is signified by everlasting Burnings and if Fire and Brimstone serve only for Metaphors to describe these Torments by what will the real Sufferings of the Damned be for the Spirit of God does not use to describe things by such Metaphors as are greater than the things themselves And therefore let no bad man encourage himself in Sin because he does not know what the punishments of the other World are This should possess us with the greater awe and dread of them since every thing in the other World not only the Happiness but the Miseries of it will prove greater not less than we expect CHAP. II. Concerning the Certainty of our Death HAving thus shewed you under what Notions we are to consider Death and what Wisdom we should learn from them I proceed to the second thing the Certainty of Death It is appointed to men once to die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it remains it is reserved and as it were laid up for them I believe no man will desire a proof of this which he sees with his eyes one Generation succeeds another and those who live longest at last yeild to the fatal Stroke There were two men indeed Enoch and Elias who did not die as Death signifies the separation of Soul and Body but were translated to Heaven without dying but this is the general Law for Mankind from which none are excepted but those whom God by his Soveraign Authority and for wise Reasons thinks fit to except which have been but two since the Creation and will be no more till Christ comes to Judge the World For then St. Paul tells us those who are alive at Christ's second coming shall not die but shall be changed 1 Cor. 15. 51 52. Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed This is such a Change as is equivalent to Death it puts us in the same state with those who are dead and at the last Judgment rise again SECT I. A Vindication of the Iustice and Goodness of GOD in appointing Death for all Men. BUt before I shew you what use to make of this Consideration that we must all certainly Die let us examine how Mankind comes to be Mortal This was no dispute among the Heathens for it was no great wonder that an earthly Body should die and dissolve again into dust it would be a much greater wonder to see a Body of Flesh and Blood preserved in perpetual youth and vigour without any decays of Nature without being sick or growing old But this is a question among us or if it may not be called a question yet it is what deserves our consideration since we learn from the History of Moses that as frail and brittle as these earthly Tabernacles are yet if Man had not sinned he had not died When God created Man and placed him in Paradise he forbad him to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die 2. Gen. 16 17. And when notwithstanding this threatning our first Parents had eat of it God confirms and ratifies the Sentence Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return 3. Gen. 19. What this Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was is as great a mystery to us as what the Tree of Life was for we understand neither of them which makes some men who would not be thought to be ignorant of any thing to flie to Allegorical Sences but though I would be glad to know this if I could yet I must be contented to leave it a Mystery as I find it That which we are concerned in is that this Sentence of Death and Mortality which was pronounced on Adam fell on all his Posterity As St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 15. 21 22. That by man came death and in Adam all die And this he does not only assert but prove 5. Rom. 12 13 14. Wherefore by man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned for until the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no law nevertheless death reigned from Adam till Moses even over them who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trangressions The design of all which is to prove that men die or are mortal not for their own sins but for the sin of Adam Which the Apostle proves by this argument because tho' all men as well as Adam have sinned yet till the giving the Law of Moses there was no Law which threatned Death against Sin but only that Law given to Adam in Paradise which no man else ever did or ever could transgress but he Now sin is not imputed where there is no law That is it is not imputed to any man to death before there is any Law which threatens death against it That no man can be reckoned to die for those sins which no Law punishes with death Upon what account then says the Apostle could those men die who lived between Adam and Moses before the Law was given which threatens death And yet die they all did even those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression who had neither eaten the forbidden Fruit nor sinned against any other express Law threatning death This could be for no other sin but Adam's he
sinned and brought Death into the World and thus Death passed upon all men for his sin notwithstanding they themselves were Sinners for tho' they were Sinners yet that they died was not owing to their own sins because they had not sinned against any Law which threatned death but to the sin of Adam and therefore in a proper sence in Adam all die Now this is thought very hard that the sin of Adam should bring death upon all his Posterity that one man sinned and all men must die and therefore I suppose no man will think it improper to my present Argument to give you such an account of this matter as will evidently justifie the Wisdom and Goodness as well as the Justice of GOD in it I. In the first place then I observe that an immortal Life in this World is not the original Right of earthly Creatures but was wholly owing to the Grace and Favour of God. I call that an original Right which is founded in the Nature of things for otherwise properly speaking no Creatures have any right either to being or to subsistance which is a continuance in being It is the Goodness and the Power of God which both made the World and upholds and sustains all things in being And therefore Plato confesses that the inferiour Gods those immortal Spirits which he thought worthy of Divine Honours were both made by the Supreme God and did subsist by his Will for He who made all things can annihilate them again when he pleases and therefore their Subsistence is as much owing to the Divine Goodness as their Creation But yet there is a great difference between the natural gift and bounty of God and what is supernatural or above the nature of things What God makes by nature immortal so that it has no principles of Mortality in its constitution Immortality may be said to be its natural Right because it is by nature immortal as Spirits and the Souls of Men are And in this case it would be thought very hard that a whole race of immortal Beings should be made mortal for the sin of one which would be to deprive them of their natural Right to Immortality without their own fault But when any Creature is immortal not by Nature but by supernatural Grace God may bestow this supernatural Immortality upon what conditions he pleases and take the forfeiture of it when he sees fit and this was the case of Man in Innocence His Body was not by Nature immortal for a Body made of Dust will naturally resolve into Dust again and therefore without a supernatural power an earthly Body must die for which reason God provided a remedy against Mortality the Tree of Life which he planted in Paradise and without which man could not be immortal so that Mortality was a necessary consequence of his losing Paradise for when he was banished from the Tree of Life he could have no Remedy nor Preservative against Death Now I suppose no man will question but God might very justly turn Adam out of Paradise for his disobedience and then he must die and all his Posterity die in him for he being by Nature mortal must beget mortal Children and having forfeited the Tree of Life he and his Posterity who are all shut out of Paradise with him must necessarily die Which takes nothing from them to which any man had a right for no man had a natural right to Paradise or the Tree of Life but only leaves them to those Laws of Mortality to which an earthly Creature is naturally subject God had promised Paradise and the Tree of Life to no man but to Adam himself whom he created and placed in Paradise and therefore he took nothing away from any man but from Adam when he thrust him out of Paradise Children indeed must follow the condition of their Parents had Adam preserved his right to the Tree of Life we had enjoyed it too but he forfeiting it we lost it in him and in him die We lost I say not any thing that we had a right to but such a supernatural Priviledge as we might have had had he preserved his Innocence and this is a sufficient Vindication of the Justice of God in it He has done us no injury we are by nature mortal Creatures and he leaves us in that mortal state and to withdraw favours upon a reasonable provocation is neither hard nor unjust II. For we must consider farther when Sin was once entred into the World an immortal Life here became impossible without a constant series of Miracles Adam had sinned and thereby corrupted his own nature and therefore must necessarily propagate a corrupt nature to his Posterity His earthly Passions were broke loose he now knew good and evil and therefore was in the hands of his own counsel to refuse or choose the good or evil and when the Animal Life was once awakned in him there was no great dispute which way his affections would incline To be sure it is evident enough in his Posterity whose boisterous passions act such Tragedies in the World. Now suppose in a state of Innocence that the Tree of Life would have preserved men immortal when no man would injure himself nor another when there was no danger from wild Beasts or an intemperate Air or poisonous Herbs yet I suppose no man will say but that even in Paradise itself could we suppose any such thing Adam might have been devoured by a Beast or killed with a Stab at the Heart or had there been any Poison there it would have killed him had he eaten or drunk it or else he had another kind of Body in Paradise than we have now for I am sure that these things would kill us Consider then how impossible it is that in this fallen and apostate State God should preserve Man immortal without working Miracles every minute Mens passions are now very unruly and they fall out with one another and will kill one another if they can of which the World had a very early example in Gain who slew his Brother Abel and all those Murders and bloody Wars since that day put this matter out of doubt Now this can never be prevented unless God should make our Bodies invulnerable which a body of flesh and blood cannot be without a Miracle some die by their own hands others by wild Beasts others by evil Accidents and there are so many ways of destroying these brittle Bodies that it is the greatest wonder that they last so long and yet Adam's body in Paradise was as very Earth and as brittle as our Bodies are but all this had been prevented had men continued innocent they would not then have quarrelled or fought they would not have died by their own hands nor drunk themselves into a Feavour nor over-loaded Nature with riotous Excesses there had been no wild Beasts to devour no infectious Air or poisonous Herbs and then the Tree of Life would have repaired all the decays of Nature
and then thou shalt not so much as see the God thou worshippest the Earth shall shortly cover thee and then thou shalt have thy mouth and belly full of clay and dust Such thoughts as these will cool our desires to this present World will make us contented when we have enough and very charitable and liberal of what we can spare For what should we do with more in this World than will carry us thorough it What better and wiser use can we make of such Riches as we cannot carry with us into the other World than to return them thither before hand in acts of Piety and Charity that we may receive the rewards and recompences of them in a better life that we may make to our selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when we fail they may receive us into everlasting habitations When he finds his mind begin to swell and to encrease as his fortune and honours do Lord thinks he what a bubble is this which every breath of Air can blow away How vain a thing is Man in his greatest glory who appears gay and beautiful like a Flower in the Spring and is as soon cut down and withered Though we should meet with no change in our fortune here yet we shall suddenly be removed out of this World the scene of this life will change and there is an end of earthly Greatness And what a contemptible mind is that which is swelled with dying Honours which looks big indeed as a body does which is swelled out of all proportion with a Dropsy or Timpany but that is its Disease not a natural Beauty What am I better than the poorest Man who beggs an Alms unless I be wiser and more vertuous than he Can Lands and Houses great Places and Titles things which are not ours and which we cannot keep make such a mighty difference between one man and another are these the Riches are these the Beauties and Glories of a Spirit are we not all made of the same mould is not God the Father of us all must we not all die alike and lie down in the dust together and can the different parts we act in this World which are not so long as the Scene of a Play compared to an eternal Duration make such a vast difference between men This will make men humble and modest in the highest fortune as minding them that when they are got to the top-round of Honour if they keep from falling yet they must be carried down again and laid as low as the dust Thus when he finds the Body growing upon the Mind and intoxicating it with the love of sensual Pleasures he remembers that his Body must die and all these Pleasures must die with it that they are indeed killing Pleasures which kill a mortal Body before its time that it does not become a man who is but a Traveller in this World but a Pilgrim and a Stranger here to study Ease and Softness and Luxury that a Soul which must live for ever should seek after more lasting Pleasures which may survive the Funeral of the Body and be a spring of ravishing Joys when he is stript of Flesh and Blood. These are the thoughts which the consideration of Death will suggest to us as I have already shewed you And it is impossible for a man who has always these thoughts at hand to be much imposed on by the Pageantry of this World by the transient Honours and Pleasures of it It is indeed I think a very impracticable Rule which some men give To live always as if we were to die the next moment Our lives should always be as innocent as if we were immediately to give up our accounts to God but it is impossible to have always those sensible apprehensions of Death about us which we have when we see it approaching but though we cannot live as if we were immediately to die which would put an end not only to all innocent Mirth but to all the necessary Business of the World which I believe no dying man would concern himself for yet we may and we ought to live as those who must certainly die and ought to have these thoughts continually about us as a guard upon our actions For whatever is of such mighty consequence to us as Death is if it be certain ought always to give Laws to our Behaviour and Conversation 2ly If it be certain we must die the very first thing we ought to do in this World after we come to years of understanding should be to prepare for Death that whenever Death comes we may be ready for it This I confess is not according to the way of this World for dying is usually the last thing they take care of This is thought a little unseasonable while men are young and healthful and vigorous but besides the uncertainty of our lives and that it is possible while we delay Death may seize on us before we are provided for it and then we must be miserable for ever which I shall speak to under the next Head. I doubt not but to convince every considering man that an early Preparation for Death is the very best means to make our lives happy in this World while we do continue here Nor shall I urge here how a life of Holiness and Vertue which is the best and only Preparation for Death tends to make us happy in this World delivers us from all those Mischiefs which the wildness and giddiness of Youth and the more confirmed debaucheries of riper Years expose Men too for this is properly the commendation of Vertue not of an early Preparation for Death And yet this is really a great engagement and motive to prepare betimes for Death since such a Preparation for Death will put us to no greater hardships and inconveniencies than the practice of such Vertues as will prolong our lives preserve or increase our fortunes give us honour and reputation in the World and makes us beloved both by God and men But setting aside these things there are two advantages of an early Preparation for Death which contribute more to our Happiness than all the World besides 1. That it betimes delivers us from the fears of Death and consequently from most other fears 2ly That it supports us under all the troubles and calamities of this life 1. It betimes delivers us from the sears of Death and indeed it is then only a man begins to live when he is got above the fears of Death Were men thoughtful and considerate Death would hang over them in all their Mirth and Jollity like a fatal Sword by a single Hair it would sowre all their Enjoyments and strike terror into their hearts and looks But the security of most men is that they put off the thoughts of Death as they do their preparation for it they live secure and free from danger onely because they will not open their eyes to see it But these are such examples as no
the greatest Sinners to Baptism and justifying them by the Blood of Christ and what the Gospel requires of baptized Christians to continue in this justified State In the first case nothing is required but Faith and Repentance upon which account we are so frequently said to be justified by faith not by the deeds of the law to be justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus to be saved by grace thro' faith not of works least any man should boast And I believe upon inquiry it will be found that Justification by Faith always relates to this Baptismal Justification when by Baptism we are received into Covenant with God and into a justified State only for the sake of Christ and through Faith in his Blood which one thing well considered would put an end to most of the Disputes about Justification and about Faith and Works which I cannot explain now but shall only observe that the constant opposition between Justification by the Faith of Christ and Justification by Circumcision and the Works of the Law to the observation of which they were obliged by Circumcision is a manifest proof that Justification by Faith is our Justification by the Faith of Christ in Baptism which is our admission into the Christian Church makes us the Members of Christ and the Children of God which is a state of Grace and Justification as Circumcision formerly made them God's peculiar People in Covenant with him which is the Justification of Circumcision and Justification by Faith and Justification by Circumcision would not be duly opposed if they did not relate to the same kind of Justification that is that Justification which is the immediate effect of our being in Covenant with God. But now when we are justified by a general Repentance and Faith in Christ at Baptism we also vow a conformity to the Death of Christ by dying to sin and walking in newness of life that is we vow an universal Obedience to all the Laws of Righteousness which the Gospel requires of us as Circumcision made them debtors to the whole law which is the reason why the Works of the Law and that Evangelical Righteousness which the Faith of Christ requires of us are so often opposed in this Dispute the one the Righteousness of the Law or of Works the other the Righteousness of Faith and therefore as Circumcision could not justifie those who transgressed the Law no more will Faith justifie those who disobey the Gospel but the righteousness of the law must be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Now the necessary consequence of this is that meer Sorrow for Sin and the meer Vows and Resolutions of Obedience without actual Holiness and Obedience of Life according to the terms and conditions of the Gospel will not save a baptized Christian for meer Sorrow for Sin and Vows of Obedience will be accepted only in Baptism but when we are baptized we must put our Vows in execution or we fall from our Baptismal Grace and Justification and therefore when we relapse into Sin after Baptism no Repentance will be accepted but that which actually reforms our lives for Baptismal Grace is not ordinarily repeated no more than we can repeat our Baptism This I take to be the true meaning of that very difficult place 6 Heb. 4 5 6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of GOD and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of GOD afresh and put him to open shame This severe passage occasioned some dispute about the Canonical Authority of this Epistle for it was thought that the Apostle here excluded all Men from the benefit of Repentance who fell into sin again after Baptism but it is certain this is not the Apostle's meaning nor do the words import any such Doctrine but his meaning is either that Men who have been baptized and thoroughly instructed in the Christian Religion may sin themselves into an impossibility of Repentance which is the most ordinary interpretation of the words and which sence I gave before of them and is in part the true sence though I think not the whole or that Men after Baptism may fall into such a state as nothing can deliver them out of but Baptismal Grace and Regeneration and since Baptism cannot be repeated the state of such Men is hopeless and desperate according to the terms of the Gospel however God may deal with them by a Soveraign and Prerogative Grace for tho' we can expect and rely on no other Grace but what God has promised in his Gospel yet God does not absolutely confine himself nor must we confine his Grace and this he tells us is the case of all Apostates from the Christian Faith The understanding of this is necessary to my present purpose and therefore I shall briefly explain it 1. That the Apostle here speaks of persons who were baptized is plain from the words Those who were once enlightned the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are those who have been once baptized for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the ancient Writers signifies Baptism as Iustin Martyr himself tells us in his second Apology that Baptism is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Illumination because their minds are enlightned by it and being once enlightned plainly refers it to Baptism which can be administred but once and what follows proves this to be the meaning of it and have tasted of the heavenly gift that is saith St. Chrysostom received remission of Sins in Baptism and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost the Holy Spirit being given at Baptism and have tasted of the good word of GOD been instructed in the Doctrines of the Gospel which in the Apostolick Age immediately followed Baptism for Men were then admitted to Baptism immediately upon their profession of Repentance and Faith in Christ and were afterwards instructed in the Christian Religion and the powers of the world to come that is those miraculous Gifts and Powers which were bestowed on the Apostles for a confirmation of the Faith of Christ and which most Christians did in some degree or other partake of in Baptism This is a plain Description of Baptism with the effects and consequents of it 2. That he speaks of such as after Baptism totally Apostatize from the Faith of Christ is as plain for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who fall away From what from their Christian Profession which they made at their Baptism that is who renounce the Faith of Christ and turn Iews or Heathens again for these Men crucify to themselves the Son of GOD afresh and put him to open shame that is they declare him to be an Impostor
dying is to confirm our selves in this belief that Death does not put an end to us that our Souls shall survive in a state of Bliss and Happiness when our Bodies shall rot in their Graves and that these mortal Bodies themselves shall at the sound of the last Trump rise again out of the dust immortal and glorious A Man who believes and expects this can have no reason to be afraid of Death nay he has great reason not to fear Death and that will reconcile him to the thoughts of it though he trembles a little under the weaknesses and aversions of Nature II. Besides the natural Aversions to Death most Men have contracted a great fondness and passion for this World and that makes them so unwilling to leave it whatever glorious things they hear of another World they see what is to be had in this and they like it so well that they do not expect to mend themselves but if they were at their choice would stay where they are and this is a double death to them to be snatched away from their admired enjoyments and to leave whatever they love and delight in behind them and there is no remedy that I know of for these Men to cure their fears of Death but only to rectifie their mistaken opinions of things to open their eyes to see the Vanity of this World and the brighter and more dazling Glories of the next There are different degrees of this and therefore this remedy must be differently applied some Men are wholly sunk into flesh and sence and have no tast at all of rational and manly Pleasures much less of those which are purely intellectual and divine they are Slaves to their lusts lay no restraints on their bruitish appetites the World is their God and they dote on the riches and pleasures and honours of it as the only real and substantial goods Now these Men have great reason to be afraid of Death for when they go out of this World they will find nothing that belongs to this World in the next and thus their happiness and their lives must end together It is fitting they should fear Death for if the fear of Death will not cure their fondness for this World nothing else can you must not expect to perswade them that the next World is a happier place than this but the best way is to set before them the terrors of the next World those Lakes of Fire and Brimstone prepared for the Devil and his Angels to ask them our Saviour's question What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul These Men ought to fear on till the fear of Death cures their vicious passion and fondness for this World and then the fear of Death will by degrees cure itself Others there are who have a true reverence for God and govern their inclinations and passions to the things of this World with regard to his Laws they will not raise an Estate by Injustice Oppression or Perjury they will not transgress the Rules of Sobriety and Modesty in the use of sensual Pleasures they will not purchase the honours and preferments of this World at the price of their Souls but yet they love this World very well and are extreamly delighted in the enjoyments of it they have a plentiful Fortune or a thriving Trade or the Favour of their Prince they live at ease and think this World a very pleasant place and are ready to cry It is good for us to be here Now it cannot be avoided but that in proportion to Mens love of this World though it be not an immoral and irregular passion they will be more afraid and more unwilling to leave it when we are in the full enjoyment of an earthly Felicity it is difficult for very good Men to have such a strong and vigorous sence of the next World as to make them willing and contented to leave this they desire to go to Heaven but they are not over-hasty in their desires they can be better pleased if God sees fit to stay here a little longer and when they find themselves a going are apt to cast back their eyes upon this World as those who are loth to part This makes it so necessary for God to exercise even good Men with afflictions and sufferings to wean them from this World which is a Scene of Misery and to raise their hearts to Heaven where true and unmixt Happiness dwells The only way then to cure this fear of Death is to mortifie all remains of love and affection for this World to withdraw ourselves as much as may be from the conversation of it to use it very sparingly and with great indifferency to supply the wants of Nature rather than to enjoy the pleasures of it to have our conversation in Heaven to meditate on the glories of that blessed Place to live in this World upon the hopes of unseen things to accustom our selves to the work and to the pleasures of Heaven to praise and adore the Great Maker and Redeemer of the World to mingle ourselves with the heavenly Quire and possess our very fancies and imaginations with the glory and happiness of seeing GOD and the Blessed JESUS of dwelling in his immediate Presence of conversing with Saints and Angels this is to live like Strangers in this World and like Citizens of Heaven and then it will be as easie to us to leave this World for Heaven as it is for a Traveller to leave a foreign Country to return home This is the height and perfection of Christian Vertue it is our mortifying the Flesh with its affections and lusts it is our dying to this World and living to God and when we are dead to this World the fear of dying and leaving this World is over For what should a Man do in this World who is dead to it When we are alive to God nothing can be so desirable as to go to him for here we live to God only by Faith and Hope but that is the proper place for this divine Life where God dwells So that in short a life of Faith as it is our Victory over this World so it is our Victory over Death too it disarms it of all its fears and terrors it raises our hearts so much above this World that we are very well pleased to get rid of these Bodies which keep us here and to leave them in the Grave in hopes of a blessed Resurrection III. The most tormenting Fears of Death are owing to a sence of Guilt which indeed are rather a fear of Judgement than of Death or a fear of Death as it sends us to Judgment and here we must distinguish between three sorts of Men whose Case is very different 1. Those who are very good Men who have made it the care of their lives to please GOD and to save their Souls 2. Those who have