of his lips he returns to his earth f Ps 146.4 and that very day his thoughts and his reasons of State must perish All his skill in Botanicks could not extract such an ens primum or a quintessence from his Cedars in Lebanon to prolong his life a moment beyond the appointed g Job 14.5 moneths and the bounds which he could not passe No nor holy Poul could not strengthen the stakes of his Tabernacle or keep its curtains from trembling but an East wind from the Roman wildernesse h smites it down to the ground Act. 18.3 and all his i skill in Tent-work could not raise it He therefore counts upon his house with God not made with hands k 2 Cor. 5. â— eternal in the Heavens and groans earnestly to be clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of Life Q. But why must Saints dye hath not Christ paid a ransome to purchase them from death Must Daniel the man of desires be led into this second Captivity Must John the beloved Disciple though he scape the boiling Oyl and rocky Patmos come down to his Tomb at Ephesus and walk in this six-foot Valley yes even he that lay in the bosome of Christ must also sleep in the bosome of the grave A. 1 To this may be replyed 1 Downam of Justifie p. 6. Edit fol. Lond. 1639. That Justification is a continued act of divine grace terminative quoad 1 nos in respect to us it lasts from our first conversion to the declarative sentence of absolution at the day of Judgment Indeed in respect to God who is actus purissimus a most pure and absolute act and sits down without any succession of times in the glorious noon of Eternity our justification admits no degrees It is not instill'd into us drop by drop in respect to him but so soon as a man doth truly believe he stands truly and perfectly righteous in the sight of God The Covenant of Grace is ratified simul semel together and at once at the Throne of God in the name and vertue of Christs righteousness so soon as ever we truly believe but 't is applied manifested and compleated to us in the successive methods of effectual vocation sanctification and finall redemption at the great day For while we continue sinners we have continuall need of justifying grace David as to fresh Commissions stood in need of a Ps 51.7 purging with Hysop from his leprous sins to receive an atonement Lev 14.6 19. and to have the Seal of the b Ps 32.5 forgiveness of the iniquity of his sin upon his acknowledgment and confession For as to us God is not said to remit those sins that are not yet committed but such c Rom. 3.25 as are past We are taught therefore by our Lord to pray d Mat. 6.11 12. Act. 5.31 every day forgive us our trespasses We sin dayly and must confess dayly and pray dayly for repentance and pardon Yea God himself in that Evangelicall promise by Esay assures us e Isay 43.25 I even I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delens am blotting out your trangressions for mine own sake and will not remember your fins to comfort us against tentations about daily infirmities Do we sin every day and is the truth not in him nay does he make him a lyar that saith f 1 Joh. 1.10.8.2.1 he hath no sin then we have need of a dayly Advocate to plead for us at the right hand of the Father a high Priest that g Heb. 7.24 continueth evir and h V. 25. liveth â—vâ—â— to i Heb. 9 24 appear in the presence of God and to make intercession for us By virtue whereof he k Joh. 14.2 3. prepares the heavenly Mansions in the Temple of Glory for us and us for them Then he will come again and receive us unto himself that where he is we may be with him and behold his glory And when this Prince of life the Judg of quick and dead shall appear he will pronounce that finall justifying and glorifying sentence l Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father m Ps 32.1 2. for blessed are they indeed to whom the Lord then imputeth not iniquity come and inherit the Kingdome prepared for you Then shall our justification be compleat in all its points at that joyfull declaration of Christ upon his Tribunall in Judgment No marvell then a Rom. 8.10 11. If the bodies even of Saints shall dye 'T is because of sin though the spirit be life because of righteousnesse But then shall all our sins be finally blotted our and cast behind his back in the b Mic. 7.19 depths of the Sea when those times of b Act. 3.19.20.21 refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord when he shall send Jesus Christ at the great Restitution whereof he hath spoken by all his holy Prophets since the world began Then shall Onesiphorus according to the prayer of Paul c 2 Tim. 1.18 find mercy in that day at the hand of Christ That day of full d Eph. 1.14 and 4.30 Redemption hath not yet appeared when the e Mat. 13.43 righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdome of their Father with everlasting joy upon their heads A. 2 Again Death was decreed and determin'd of God to seize upon faln sinners in all it kinds and yet we never find that doleful sentence repeal'd as to temporall dissolution in any promise f Joh. 11.25 I am the Resurrection and the Life saies Christ he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Yea our blessed Lord in his Sermon at Capernaum no less g Joh. 6. then four terms comforts his Disciples with the Doctrin of the Resurrection not that they should not dye but that he would raise them up at the last day Nay even to John himself Jesus h Joh. 21.23 said not that he should not dye But if I will that he tarry till I come what 's that to thee Peter No! both holy Peter and holy John Death is ordain'd as a means to purge and cleanse their bodies from the soil and filth of sin and to fit those sanctified Vessels for the life of glory A. 3 Saints therefore must look upon death with no other aspect then as the greatest bodily affliction which shall or can befall them and that it hath the same ingrediency though in a deeper measure with all the bitter Cups of triall which the Father is pleased to put into their hands They have one common reason and one common end to make them partakers of his holiness Sickness of the holinesse of Grace and Death of the holiness of Glory But are not Saints the members of Christs body Is the head glorified and must the Members pass this State of exinanition Must believers dye Yes and good reason too Should not the members be conformable to their head Ought Christ
Phil. 3.21 shall be changed and fashioned like his most glorious body then shall we ever follow the Lamb with agile spirits whereever he goes leading us to the living fountains of waters The Lord graciously make us all fit vessels for the Temple not made with hands by the imputation of his Sons righteousness that after a holy life we may sleep peaceably in Jesus and reign triumphantly with him Most honoured Sir I humbly commend you into the bosome of this blessed Lamb and Prince of Life to be presented a Ephes 5.27 without spot or wrinckle unto himself To this Lamb-like Shepheard of Zion that his crook and his staffe may comfort you That goodness and mercy may follow you all your daies and you may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever So prayes humbly and earnestly begging your fervent petitions and blessings from the fountain of Israel upon Your most obedient Son in all humble duty and sincere affection in our Lord Jesus Samuel Lee. July 30. 1669. Contemplations ON MORTALITY PSALM 23.4 Yea though I should walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will not fear evill for thou wilt be with me thy crook and thy staffe they shall comfort mee CHAP. I. Upon the words of the Psalmist KIng David from his Royal Palace in Mount Zion might feast his eyes with many delicious Prospects 1. The first and chiefest was the Tabernacle of the Lord of Hosts who a Ps 87.2 loved the gates of that mountain more then all the dwellings of Jacob. This holy Prince delighted in communion with God and therefore is styled a man after Gods own heart he b Ps 13.1 2 4 5. swore against the slumber of his eye-lids till he found a place for the Lord a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. And where did he fix the Tents of the holy One of Israel did he not bring up the Ark from the house of Obed-Edam into the c Sam. 6.12 City af David with gladness For d Ps 132.13 the Lord had chosen Zion he desired it for his habitation Thrice happy those Princes who entertain the pure worship of God within their Courts They shal e Ps 89.15 know the joyfull sound of Temple-musick they shall walk O Lord in the shining light of thy countenance A Second lovely Prospect with which David enamelled his eyes was the pleasant City of Jerusalem f Ps 122.3 a City Compact together g Ps 48.2 3. beautifull for scituation the joy of the whole earth God is known in her Palaces for a refuge A third Was the valley of Kidron a dark valley through shades and precipitious rocks It s name from Kedar obscurities and thick shadows environed with mountains and a swift torrent trilling along its caverns This gave a comely off-set to the neighboring hills here were the shady strokes of natures pencil the more to illustrate the bright pieces of this holy Land-skip Hence were redoubled the pleasant and warbling ecchoes of the silver Trumpets at new Moons and Sacrifices The fourth and last was the three-ridged mount of Olivet fruitfull healthfull and pleasant In the first of these Prospects he saw the holy One of Israel walking in his Sanctuary and enjoyed sweet fellowship with the divine Oracles From the second he took a view of the State of this vain life In the third he might raise Contemplations upon the house of all living In the fourth he beheld as in a glasse a glorious cast of the Resurrection a Zach. 14.4 the day of Judgment and Ascention to Heaven The sweet Singer of Israel had tuned in consort with his Harp many choice Meditations near the murmuring waters of Kidron and here in this Psalm he playes upon the valley it self Let 's descant on his Lesson in four parts 1. Here 's a comparison of the state of death to a walk in the shady valley of Kidron I know it is usuall to interpret the shadow of death by great and deep afflictions but I shal accept the phrase in this method In its first notion that darknesse which seizes upon persons ready to die is represented In a second the grave and death it self It s plain by the conferences of b Job 3.5 10.21 34.22 38.17 Job with his Arabian comforters 't was Eastern language In a third by a Metalepsi those horrors and terrors that attend the agonies of dying mortals yea any grievous calamities that paint the face of death to the life in the glasse of imagination Here under an elegant Allegory holy David prosecutes the divine shepheardy Gods gracious care and conduct The green pastures and the chrystal streams with which his soul was refresht Not doubting but goodness and mercy should follow him all the dayes of his life and although he should be lead through the valley of the grave the Lions and the Bears the Tygers and the Wolves of those fell bottomes should not scare him I will fear no evill for thou art with me Assuring himself that the great Shepheard of Israel had wisdome and power sufficient to guide him safely and at length to enclose this sheep of his Pasture in the Folds of his c Ps 23.6 house of glory for ever Other shepheards tremble at the yelling of the Lions and the print of their foot stamps horror much more to convey their Flocks under such dismall shadows be the slads never so verdant and the gliding brooks never so sweet and pleasant left they and their sheep prove sorry comforters to one another when they slide together into the Maws of such ravening Butchers But here 's a blessed and glorious shepheard a Muscul in Loc. qui sciens prudensque ducet in mortem ipsam who purposes and resolves to lead his Flock through the jaws of death So that David sings this Psalm in the warm feelings of the divine Presence I le fear no evil thy crook and thy staffe they shall comfort me Secondly Here 's the person that walks through this tremendous valley ruddy royal and holy David Thy sanguin complexion must now turn blanck and melancholy when Abishags arms shall be cold and feeble comforters and thy reall body must shrink into this grim b 1 Sam. 15 16. Michols bed That conquering Sword at whose brandishing Edam and Ammon trembled must be shaped into deaths Sithe to mow thee from the Land of the Living Thy holy heart must take Sanctuary in the divine Covenant c Ps 49 15 89.48 that God will one day redeem thy life from corruption and thy darling from the hand of the grave Thirdly We should muster up the formidable evils that put on their armor gird on their Swords and whet their glittering Spears for a fatall encounter in this valley Fourthly We must prepare the Cordialls the Balms and all the sustaining comforts and quickning promises to refresh the Soul and uphold the spirit from sinking that we may fear no evil since God is
to have a Luk. 24.20 suffered these things and so to enter into his glory Hath the Father made b Heb. 2.10 the Captain of our Salvation perfect through sufferings and will he not the same way bring many sons to glory Shall this High-priâ—st after the order of Melchizedek drink c Ps 110.7 of the Brook of Kidron in the way to Olivet before he lift up the head in a glorious Ascention And shall Saints the inferior Levites think much to taste it Zebedees Children do but taste a few drops at the bottome of d Mat. 20.22 23. the Cup of Kidrons water Christ hath drunk it off Saints do but sip of e Num. 5.27 c. these bitter waters not for satssfaction but submission to the Law they shall not cause their thighs to rot but conceive to glory What 's fabled of the Unicorn that he takes away the poyson by dipping his horn in the waters before the Beasts of the Forrests do drink after him Is true of our Lord he hath sweetned these waters of Marah with this Tree of Life for true Israelites to pledg him His holy body washed the waters of Jordan by his Baptism and healed the waters of Kidron by his Passion Christ that pure prolifick f Joh. 12 24 Corn of Wheat fell into the ground and died and bringeth forth much fruit The grave is made fertile by his death that Saints lying by his dead body may be impregnated and spring up in a green Resurrection and grow ripe to the harvest of glory They are implanted into the g Rom. 6.5 similitude of his death and shall be raised in the likeness of his Resurrection As that heavenly grain did rise so shall Saints sprout upon his stalk without Chaffe for the Garner of Paradise A. 4 A. 4. Again Saints dye not only in conformity to their head but to magnifie the glory of divine Grace in Salvation by the New-Covenant Christ takes away the radicall and fundamentall guilt of sin but not the totall in being thereof during this Life None shal go to heaven by the law of perfection according to the tenor of the first Covenant None shall boast of h Eph. 2.8 9. Tit. 3.5 work or merit for by grace are we saved None shall climbe to heaven but by i Gen. 28.11 12. Joh. 1.51 Jacobs Ladder whose foot is fixt upon the son of man We are saved by grace to k Rom. 3.27 exclude boasting we are saved l Act. 15.11 by faith that Christ may be m Phil. 1.20 magnified whether in life or death we are saved n Tit. 3.4 7. by mercy that the kindness and love of God our Saviour may appear we are not born but made heirs according to the hope of eternall life Nay we are saved by a Rom. 8.24 hope and with patience we wait for it Were we perfect here our faith would be clambering into vision and our hope into fruition our resting waiting panting frame would be swallowed up in preliminary injoyments of heaven our love would cast out all fear and torment and ride triumphant before resurrection to the capitol of glory But God hath an eye to that new and living way of salvation paved with the precious blood of the second Covenant wherefore though Christ be b Ro. 10.4 the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth yet he restores us not in this life to the beauty and perfection of holiness So that if sin remain in a Saint death must needs be its issue For sin when 't is finisht c Jam. 1.16 bringeth forth death Though death in all its circumstances be not the proper d Ro. 6.23 wages of sin unto a Saint because Christ hath satisfied and made us free from the Law e Rev. 8.2 of sin and of death Though death be not the f Ib. c. 6.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the stipendiary supper of a believer yet 't is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the four sauce wherewith the remnants and leavings of originall and the too great improvement thereof in actuall sins and infirmities are disht up Warm Bernard starts this question If Christ have delivered us g Bern. ad milit Templ f. 98. a. Ed. Pari 517. Utquid adhuc morimur non statim immortalitate vestimur Sane ut Dei veritas impleatur c. Why do we yet dye and are not presently clothed with immortality Verily that the truth of God might be fulfilled For because God loveth mercy and truth its necessary that man should dye because God had foredoom'd it but yet that he should also rise from the dead lest God should seem to forget his mercy So then though Death Lords it not over a Saint perpetually yet it remains a while upon us because of the truth of God Even as Sin though it reign not in our mortall bodies yet is it not totally taken from us Thus Bernard layes the burden of a Saints death upon the primitive fall the curse of God the veracity of his threatnings and fulfilling of that word to Adam in the day thou catest thereof thou shalt dye and a little before Adae delictum merito contrahimus quouiam cum peccavit in ipso eramus ex ejus carne per carnis concupisentiam genite sumus We are deservedly involved in Adams guilt because we all sinned in him for when he sinned we were in him and were begotten of his flesh by carnall concupiscence And is not this the very Doctrin of Paul a Ro. 5.11 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin So death passed upon all men for that all have sinned This is the guilt that carries those that have not sin'd after b V. 14. the similitude of Adams transgression into the grave Yea Infants Embryo's such as never saw the light from one dark grave to another Insomuch That though the second and glorious Covenant of free grace be c Ps 89.37 establisht as the Moon and as a faithfull witness in heaven yet it receives not its full accomplishment in all its promises till the Saints set down in the bosome of Christ after the great Tribunall and 't is not any the least impair or reflection upon the divine justice on this side the resurrection to visit the Saints transgressions with this Rod and their iniquity with these stripes d 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause sayes Paul treating of some violations respecting our Lords Supper many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep Wherefore though the guilt of sin be removed by justification through the merit of Christ and the dominion of sin by sanctification through the Spirit yet the totall remainders of originall or actuall sin are not stub'd out of the heart but some fibres and strings will stick behind in the best during this present life In like manner though e 1 Cor. 15.55 c. the
in Innocency and round about the Throne in this Majesticall Temple-Session angelicall Cherubims full of eyes cry night and day f Rev. 4.8 Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty who was and is V. 5. and is to come and from out of the Throne proceed lightnings and thunderings and voices At so radiant and tremendous a Spectacle in such a glorious and orient Theatre how can the direfull persecutors of the Church look up O how they creep to the Rocks for some hole some cleft to pitty them O Nimrod Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezar O Nero Trojan and Dioclesian whither will ye run from the face of the Lamb that sits on the Throne who with his fulgent Eyes searches and pierces to the Center of the Universe O Pope of Rome and thy cursed Shavelings It s in vain now to stand poring on g Bern. de Consid ad Eugen f. 237. h. Bernards good monitions to thy stubborn Predecessor Eugenius O Bonner and Gardiner what will become of you and your â—ccessâ—râ— for pushing and goring and letting out the blood of Saints all in the Book of Martyrs Remember James Abbes and the a Fox Martyrs Vol. 3. p. 956 c. Ed. 1641. Sheriffs Servant at Bury who railing at that faithfull Martyr was strook with madnesse and cried out James Abbes is the Servant of God and is saved but I am damn'd and inveighed at the Priest that brought him the Hoste that he and such were the cause of his damnation Is it so terrible before hand in the presentiments and preaccusations of Conscience before that great and fearfull Day of the Lord come What will be the horror of execution when the blood which is dryed up in prisons as well as drawn forth by whips and flames shall be weighed to a drop and a grain in the ballance of this righteous Judg. So much b Rev. 18.7 torment and sorrow give them Then the Beast shall be taken and with him that false Prophet the Pope that wrought Miracles before him Both these shall be cast alive into the Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone Then they that c Rev. 14.10 c. worship the Beast and his Image and receiv'd his Mark in Hand or Forehead shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone in the presence of the holy Angells and in the presence of the Lamb the smoak of their torment shall ascend for ever and ever They shall have no rest day nor night who ador'd the Beast or his Image or received the Mark of his Name And this brings me to the last Consideration and that 's Eternity The misery of Hell could I speak it properly were it to end but a moment on this side Eternity either in blisse or abatement of pain or compleat annihilation 't were a soveraign Cordiall The memory of it would be a cooling drop day by day upon the tongue of every Dives to keep it from blistering into blasphemy But to ponder upon this dreadfull Ever and to champ upon it to Eternity it s a thousand times more bitter then Wormwood Aloes or Coloquintida 'T is to swallow down the wine of astonishment and to pledg one another d Deut. 30.33 with the poyson of Dragons and the cruell venome of Aspes I dare any wicked man in the world to run on in their follies with any serious apprehensions of Eternity Clem Alexandr Strom. l. 1. p. 222. Edit Lug. B. or calm convictions of it upon their Spirits Poor Heathens have highly asserted the Souls immortally and common reason evinces that there can be no communion between God and Belial light and darkness can't associate If the Soul be immortall and its union to â—od be the life of the Soul must it not when God's absent absent for ever from all unholy persons lye down in Eternall death He that walketh in light 1 John 1.6 7 c. dwelleth and hath fellowship with the Father and with the Son But he that lives and dies in darkness can never come to or abide in Eternall Light But must be cast out into utter darkness where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth I know there be such in our daies or else I should not mention it who would fain tamper with the false doctrin of Origen and like his weak Disciples would perswade themselves that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebr. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek often note but a stated determination of time and therefore may be so understood in this case Poor wretches will they hazard their all upon a pittifull conjecture a jejune criticism in Grammar and run fool-hardy upon the pikes of divine vengeance and the thick bosses of his Bucklers under the thin covert of a words acceptation sometimes in that sense in Scripture when the nature of the matter and the force of the context obliges should you not rather deeply weigh and ponder upon those places where the damnation of the wicked is opposed to the eternall salvation b Dan. 12.2 Mat. 25.46 Jude 7 21 22. of the Godly Do you believe eternall life for the Saints and shall the wicked who come not into a life of grace shal they after a set race of years be raised to glory Such as never repent never close with Christ never fly to the promise while here and is there any repentance in the grave or remission of sins O fool twice dyed in grain that darest to venture thy Soul upon the punctilio of a word Nay is not that very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used and applyed to the divine c Rom. 16.26 Heb. 9.24 Majesty who inhabits eternity and dwelleth in the inaccessible light Nay are there not other cogent expressions setting out the perpetuity of that estate in misery where their word is absent with which they play their lives at stake Is there not a dolefull d Mat. 5.26 Rev. 1.18 prison which no man can unlock or break through or be let forth till he pay the utmost farthing Is there not a place where the a Mark 9.44 46 48. worm of Conscience dies not and the fire shall never be quencht Are these but dry metaphors Take heed thy Soul be not the dreadfull fiery comment that thou sinck not into b Luk. 16.26 that great gulf c Riv. 20.3 that bottomless-pit If thou wilt be d Pro. 9.12 wise be wise for thy self and believe on the Son e Joh. 3.36 to everlasting life he that beliveth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him O Souls will you warm your thoughts and unfreeze your security at that fearfull fire will you open your eyes at the sight of that horrible darkness Fire that yields no light and flames that are thick with darkness O monstrous misery A cohabitation with Devills The Drum of the Ears even tingles and is broken in pieces with distracted roarings of men and devills and
thereof yet a Saint drinks of a river that makes glad the City of God and glides with its silver streams along the banks of his Soul A Saint a Ps 143.5 remembers the daies of old meditates on all his works and muses on the work of his hands He recounts his sweet songs in the night his pleasant touches on the harp when the spirit of God was pleased to sing in consort I Remember saies the Psalmist the b Ps 77.10 years of the right hand of the most High when his candle shined upon my head and by his light I walkt through darkness The secret of God was upon my Tabernacle when c Job 29 3. c. I washed my steps in butter and the rocks poured me out rivers of oyl He that hath enlarged my Soul d Ps 4.1 in distresse he that hath e 2 Cor. 1.10 delivered doth and will deliver Christ is the root of his faith experience like a heavenly dew makes it spread and flower in appeals to heaven and grow within the firmament Nay all a Saints graces are like the Misseltoe have noe root of their own but in the true vine their sap life is from Christ and experience sucks it out Thou hast been with me and continually with me and therefore I will not fear I was cast upon thee f Ps 22.10 from the womb thou art my God from my mothers belly Thou art my hope O Lord God thou art my trust from my youth By thee g Ps 71.6 I have been held up from the womb thou art he that tookest me out of my mothers bowells my praise shall be continually of thee Cast me not off in my h V. 9. old age forsake me not when my strength faileth Thou i V. 20 shalt quicken me again and bring me up again from the depths of the earth See how Davids feeling communions did wing his soul up into heaven and keep it there The Lark is a lively embleme of a Saint alwaies singing while mounting to heaven and then silent in a gracious sadness when by any tentation drawn down to the world Behold in David how experience feeds upon God and drinks out of God and then like a Dove lifts up ' its eyes to heaven in appeals of praise under the sense of divine veracity love and mercy O my Soul thou hast Doves eyes eyes like the spirit when thou raisest up thy wings in heavenly praise and thankfulness Appeals are the fruit of gratitude and oh how comely is this for Saints Bernard f Bern. f. 89 b. saies 't is clemency in God to deny ungratefull men their petitions that they may not fall under heavier condemnations for their frequent ingratitudes Let us then sing forth his glory and make every mercy to sound upon the Harp and Viol. My lips saies the Prophet g V. 22. shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee and my Soul which thou hast redeemed My tongue shal talk of thy righteousness all the day long He Hath heard my voice I a Ps 116.1 2. will call upon him as long as I live He hath been with me and he will be with me and David tells this not to the sons of men nor to his own soul only but to God himself When David and his Harp are alone and the singer of Zion is planting his heavenly thoughts into the melodious strings O the Shushannims the Lilly tunes that David playes 't would ravish ones Soul to lay an ear to the key-hole To hear an other Saint flowing forth in appeals It dissolves our Souls into rivers of pleasure but for our own Souls to be swimming in these Sanctuary waters O extasie of joy The Soul by appeals dives into the Ocean of love and appears not till the resurrection The life of such a Saint is hid with God in Christ and at his appearing and kingdome shall break forth in orient and radiant lustre It builds none of Peters Tabernacles in the mount of present Vision it longs for fulness and looks upon Tabor as but a small petty step to glory and under the sweet manifestations of its future communion cries out when dying with that b Mr. Newman of New-England holy Saint of late Angels do your office Was God with a Saint in electing love before a Saint was Is God with a Saint in the breathings sealings of his spirit before a Saint clearly sees himself with God and shall such stand amused at death What 's Death to a Saint It neither separates from God nor Christ nor the Spirit nor Angells nor Saints nor Heaven nor Glory 'T is a friend to a Saint one of the Guard-Chamber to the King of Heaven turns the key and hands us into his presence A Saint like Androdus in Gellius hath pickt the thorn out of the foot of this Lion and behold how tamely he walks by his side till the morning of Triumph Is God with a Saint and can he say so because he feels so The grave which is like the darkness of Egypt to others it may be felt gives the light of Goshen to a Saint since Christ hath left a path light and a luminous glittering print of his footsteps in it when he passed through it A Saint draws its enlightned aire into the lungs of meditation for his nourishment God's with him and a Saint sees him tasts him feels him and therefore c Act. 2.26 his heart rejoyces his tongue is glad and his flesh rests in hope It was said of Lazarus d Joh. 11.3 Behold he whom thou lovest is sick and it may be said of every departing Saint Behold he whom thou lovest is dead No! saies Christ this damsell-soul e Mar. 5 39 is not dead but sleepeth and my bosome shall warm it till it wake and minister to mee The vigor of Christ shall cherish the body of a Saint as Elisha did the Shunamites child and raise it to a glorious life when the Sun of assurance shines glitteringly at the evening of his life in the face of an appealing Saint his Soul may presage joyfully that such a ruddy a Mat. 16.2 evening is the certain token of a radiant and illustrious day to follow the bright morning of his resurrection A day wherein the Captain of our Salvation our victorious and triumphant Joshua will lead the Armies of Israel into the land of Canaan and command the Sun of glory to stand still for ever in the noon of Eternity and that permanent happiness never to know an evening O then haste my beloved and come away a Song 8.14 be like a young Roe or a Hart upon the Mountains of Spices Thou b Rev. 22.16 Root thou Off-spring of David thou bright and Morning Star that shinest in that ruddy dawning haste thine appearance The Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come come quickly Amen Even so come Lord Jesus FINIS The Errata PAge 9 line 34 shrink read screik p. 1 l. 21 Noahs second r. the second Noahs p. 12. l. 30. attaching r. from attaching p. 32 l. 8 sharpness r. sharpens p. 42 l. 5 sticks r. strikes p. 69. l. 1 pangs r. pains p. 85. l. 7. whereas r. where 's p. 88. l. 34 bode r. bope p. 94 l. 24 again r. against p. 94 l. 29 spi r. spirit p. 97 l. 22. oyl r. toyl p. 108 l. 21 through r. though p. 123 put in this note in the margin at the words a Opticks teach us a Vittellon optic l. 2. Theorem 17. p. 67. edit Basil fol. 1572.