wicked Conscience In the decay of their Age the vices of their Mind gather strength and flourish Instead of weeping for the sins of their youth they add sin to sin and are more hardened in evil Old Age imprints more furrows and wrinkles in their malicious Hearts than it doth upon their Foreheads Neither Men nor their Lives are to be measured by a Yard or an Ell We must not only consider how long we have liv'd but how well we have liv'd and employed the course of this Life for there are some young Men who have the Wisdom and Prudence of Gray Heads and there are Gray Heads that become as weak as Infants and some that scarce go out of that simple Age The first are twice Children the other continue always in their Childhood Some young Men have perform'd such brave and Glorious Deeds that one would judge by the passages of their Lives that they have lived several Years or Ages on the contrary Some old and decrepid persons can scarce prove that they have bin long in the World unless it be by their Church Register by their Gray Hairs or by the great number of their wicked and abominable actions This consideration causeth the Author of the Book of Wisdom to say That that old Age is not the most Reverend that can shew a number of years but Wisdom is to be reckoned old Age amongst Men and a Life without spot Ch. 4. It is certain he hath lived sufficiently who hath learn'd to live well and hath prepar'd himself to dye well To what purpose should this miserable and languishing Life be lengthened a few days Art thou afraid to be happy too soon and fearest thou to see the end of thy Torments Doth the Traveller endeavour to lengthen out a painful and dangerous way Doth the Workman grieve to have finish'd betimes his laborious Task Doth the Soldier murmure because he comes off from his Watch and Guard Miserable Man What are all the years for which thou dost so impatiently afflict thy self and vainly desire for a day with God is as a thousand years and a thousand years in his sight are but as one day He that sails upon the Seas admires the spacious extent of the Waters the difference of the rowling Waves that mount up sometimes to the Clouds and then fall down again into an Abysse And such as travel by Land are delighted to see on one side deep Vallies and on the other high Mountains that reach above the Clouds but if God had but taken us up into the seat of his Glory and that we should from that high Heaven cast down our Eyes upon this base and unworthy Globe of the Sea and Land to behold the proud and stately Mountains with the most swelling Waves they would appear unto us but an even Plain or rather they would seem altogether very little Thus when we compare the Men of the World the one with the other we shall find that some have liv'd long and others but a little while that some are old others are young but in respect of God there is no difference between the young and the old between an over-aged Methusalah who lived Nine hundred threescore and nine years Gen. 3. and a Child that hath only seen the Light of the Living for the life of all Mankind is but a moment in comparison of Eternity If thou art ready to dye for Righteousness of a violent Death meditate seriously upon the saying of the Prophet David Psa 116. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Arm thy self with an Holy confidence and say with Eli 1 Sam. 3. It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Imitate the generosity of St. Paul Acts 20. and grave in thine heart these Divine expressions The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying That Bonds and Afflictions abide me but none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self so that I might finish my course with joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of the Grace of God Remember always the Prayer that our Lord and Saviour offered up unto God in the greatest Agony Father O my Father if this Cup may not pass away from me except I drink it thy Will be done Forget not also at this time Christs advertisement He that loveth his life shall loose it and he that hateth his life in this world shall save it to eternal life John 12. O Great and Glorious Lord God the Enemies of thy Truth and Glory are met together against thy dear Children whom thou hast sanctified by the blood of the Covenant but they are not able to do any thing but what thou hast appointed to be done in thine Eternal Wisdom A Prayer and Meditation upon the time of Death O Merciful Lord who dost govern all things by thine infinite wisdom and hast reserved the times and the seasons in thine own power thou hast not only written my name in the Book of the living but thou hast also measured the length of my life and appointed the hour of my death Thou hast numbred my days and prescribed to me my bounds that I cannot pass beyond them O Soveraign Lord of the World that hast from all Eternity mark'd out with thy finger the moment of my entrance into this life and the time of my going cut This miserable body is but a crazy Tabernacle made up of Earth subject to all manner of infirmities Nevertheless none is able to destroy it without thy Divine assistance the same hand that hath fashioned and formed it must break it to pieces if a Sparrow fals not to the ground without thy leave it is not possible that my soul should fly away into Heaven without thy express Command My God and Father give me Grace not to be of the â—â—â—ber of suâ—h wretches as are in daily apprehensions of Death but let me rest upon thee who dost kill and give life who dost cast into the Grave and fetch him thence again Let Satan and all the enemies of thy Glory plot against me what they can they are not able to do any thing but what thy Wisdom hath ordained and appointed before the fâ—undation of the world Without thy leave and permission they are not able to pluck an Hair from my Head nor diminish a moment from the time that I am to live in this earthly Tabernacle O Almighty and most merciful God I recommend unto thee my Soul as to my faithful Creator and leave it wholly into thine hands Here I am to accomplish thy Will and to submit my self to thy pleasure without any resistance whether this Soul which thou hast created after thy likeness and which is an Image of thy Divinity remain in this Body that I may be able to serve thee on Earth or whether thou dost call for it and take it up into Heaven that it may glorify thee in the company of thy
complain but shall be transported with joy and adore that infinite Goodness which thou hast declared to us poor and miserable sinners who out of thine incomprehensible Love hast made us thy Children and Heirs of thy Kingdom O Goodness worthy of the admiration of Heaven and Earth we were all lost but we shall be all found in God we were dead but by death we shall return to life we were over-whelmed in a grievous misery but by this means we shall attain to the greatest happiness O my God I recommend unto thee my Soul as to a faithful Creator Heavenly Father my Spirit I leave in thy Hands Amen CHAP. 15. The third Consolation against the fears of Death is to represent continually unto our selves the Death and Sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to trust upon the merits of his Cross IF we will dye with a peacable and quiet mind we must always represent to our selves the death and sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ and rely upon the merits of his Cross for the death of this Prince of Life should be the Model of ours and the bottomless Fountain of Comforts to a believing Soul 1. By looking upon this perfect example the wonder of Men and Angels we learn to endure with an Holy resolution and patience all the evils and pangs that accompany Death Luk 22. For although our Saviours Torments were most bitter so that his Soul was sorrowful unto death although there issued out of his innocent Body a bloudy Sweat for the violence of his pain nevertheless none ever heard the least murmuring or expression of impatience Isai 53. He was led to the slaughter as a Lamb and as a Sheep before the Shearer is dumb 2 From hence we learn that the last hours of our life must be employed in fervent and continual Prayers unto God seeing that this Beloved of the Father offers unto him at such a time his Prayers and Supplications with great Cries and a floud of Tears as to him who was able to deliver him from Death Heb. 5. In the bosoms of this Heavenly Father he poureth out all his Griefs and three times he presents this request Father if it be possible that this cup should pass away from me except I drink it Matth. 26. 3. We learn to present our selves before God's Divine Majesty with Humility and to resigne our selves wholly to his wonderful Providence seeing that he who thought it no robbery to be equal with God he whom the millions of Angels and Seraphims worship continually thought it no disgrace to himself to fall upon his knees three times to the ground and submit his Will to that of his Heavenly Father for after that he had said Father if it be possible let this cup pass away from me except I drink it He adds these words Nevertheless O Father not as I will but as thou wilt Matth. 26. 4. If at the time of our death an excessive sorrow or a malignant humour seize upon our minds so that in that disposition we are not able to see the Heavens open nor God who stretcheth out his Arm to receive us into his Rest Let us remember that this merciful Lord speaks to us as he did to his three Apostles who fell asleep when he was in his Agony Cannot you watch one hour with me Mat. 29. My dear Children it is no time to fall asleep with the foolish and inconsiderate Virgins trim your Lamps put on the Garments of Light to meet your Celestial Bridegroom and to enter with him into the Marriage Chamber Matth. 25. 5. God requires that we should do as much good at all times to our friends as we are able and to express the sincerity of our affections to those with whom Nature and our Duty have caused us to be related but especially at the hour of death we are more bound to this Religious Duty therefore Jesus Christ hath shewn us an excellent example for when he was nailed to the Cross and ready to breathe forth his Soul into the hands of his Heavenly Father he had an especial care of his Holy and Blessed Mother saying to his beloved Disciple My Son behold thy Mother and to her Woman behold thy Son 6. We must not only do good and shew kindness to our friends but we must forgive our greatest enemies such also as employ their greatest fury against us for by this means we shall follow the Blessed footsteps of our Gracious Saviour for he had compassion upon them that crucified him and mocked him Father said he forgive them for they know not what they do 7. By the Cross of Jesus Christ we learn to put our trust in the goodness of God in our greatest pangs and to embrace him as our most loving Father and Redeemer when he seems to discover to us a severe countenance full of wrath and displeasure for this Eternal Son of God in his most violent tortures when his Heavenly Father did suspend his aid and assistance and withheld the effects of his Grace the expressions of his Love and the comforts of his Divine Spirit nevertheless he looks upon him as his God and reposes himself upon him he prays unto him with an Holy assurance and repeats these passionate words My God my God! 8. If we will dye willingly and leave these crazy Bodies with a joyful mind when the time is come that we must go to the Father of Spirits we must remember with what resolution our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ prepar'd himself for death and how willingly he commended his innocent Soul into the hands of God his Father when he required it No man taketh my life away from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this Commandement have I received of my Father John 10. Heb. 10. This caused him to speak in this manner Here am I O God to do thy will Luk 23. Therefore when he gave up the Ghost he cried with a loud voice to shew that his precious Soul was not taken from him by violence but that he did willingly offer it up as a Sacrifice to God 9. In this rich description of Christ crucified we may further learn what should be our last words and last thoughts for if God vouchsafes to us the use of our Tongues until the last gasp we cannot end our life more comfortably than by such expressions as our Saviour made use of upon the Cross Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit But if we cannot move our Lips and that we cannot pronounce these words we must inwardly meditate upon them in our minds and express them with motions of the Heart 10. When we look more narrowly into the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ we may easily find how much we are bound to give up our souls unto God when he is pleased to call for them for this Blessed death is the price and ransom that he hath paid
of Gods everlasting Will and that it carries with it a Commission sealed with the Signet of the living God Adore therefore with all humility the supream Monarch of Heaven and Earth and say to him as David with a profound submission Lord I held my tongue and said nothing because it was thy doing Psal 39. I don't wish thee to have an Heart of Flint without natural affection Piety and Religion are not barbarous they don't deprive us of our Bowels the affection that thou bearest to thy Children is not displeasing to the Father of Mercies if it be but well govern'd and don 't exceed the natural bounds It is lawful for thee to be sensible of their griefs to weep for their distempers and to pray for the recovery of their health But when God hath dispos'd of them and receiv'd them into his Eternal Rest thou must stop all thy Sighs wipe all thy Tears and say as David did after the death of his beloved Child We shall go to them but they shall not come to us 2 Sam. 12. Do they dye of a violent death stop not thy consideration at the evil blasts that have carried them away but lift up thy mind to the great God that draws these winds out of his Treasuries and being arm'd with an Holy constancy say with the patient Job The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken them away blessed be the name of the Lord. I am but a weak instrument which God hath employed to put them into the World but he is their King their Father and their Creator he is also their Saviour and Redeemer Now it is both just and reasonable that God should dispose of his Subjects of his Children of his Workmanship and of those whom he hath redeem'd with his precious blood The Master of a Family gathers at his pleasure the Flowers and the Fruits of his Garden sometimes he cuts off the Buds sometimes he suffers them to blossom sometimes he gathers the green Fruit sometimes he stays till it be ripe and shall not Almighty God have the liberty to dispose at his Will of all that grows in his own Territories The Master of the Family hath not created the Trees and Plants that are at his Command but God hath made and fashioned with his Almighty hand all his Children and all the Men of the World our Flowers wither and spoil in a moment and our Fruits are soon rotten and become unprofitable notwithstanding all our care and skill to preserve them But the Flowers that God cuts or pulls off he transplants them in his Heavenly Garden and gives them a perfect and a Divine Luster and Glory that shall never fade and the greenest fruits that he gathers he preserves them for all Eternity in unspeakable sweetness Doth this Death draw near to threaten thy person when it hath dispatch'd thy dearest friends be not frighted at its appearance for it is not able to anticipate not a moment the hour appointed by the wisdom of Almighty God and when that moment shall be come that he shall call thee to himself from Heaven offer no resistance and stop not thy Ears at thy Creators voice say with the Prophet Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth 1 Sam. 3. Exod. 33. O merciful God seeing that thy Glorious presence goes before me I am ready to depart out of this crazy Tabernacle and to quit this miserable wilderness to enter into the Heavenly and happy Canaan Say with our Saviour Father the hour is come Glorify thy Son that thy Soâ—may Glorify thee John 17. Hast thou lived many years upon Earth ascribe not the cause to the constitution of thy Body to the manner of thy Living nor to the skill of thy Physitians but remember that it is God that lengthens thy days and come and humble at his feet thy Reverend gray Hairs which the Holy Scripture stiles a Crown of Silver or a Crown of Glory Prov. 16. Art thou threatened with Death in the Flower of thine age Fret not thy self at it and let not the least words proceed out of thy mouth but what is seasoned with the Salt of true Piety Remember that it is God alone that cuts off the thread of thy Life and puts a period to thy mortal Race Thou hast as much reason to be grieved because thou art born too late as to be sorry that thou diest too soon Instead of spending thy self in useless complaints which is as if thou that art but an earthly Vessel newly formed shouldest cast thy self against the Rock of Eternity remember to adore and praise thy Great Creator and return him hearty thanks in that he is so well pleased to crown thee in the middle of thy Race and so bountiful as to bestow the Salary of the whole day upon thee who hast labour'd but a few hours He shews thee much favor to transplant thee before thou hast felt the heat of the day and the scorching of the Sun Remember that is it the pleasant gale of his Divine Mercy that drives thee so fast into the secure Haven of Eternal happiness think not therefore that Gods calling thee away in thy strength is a testimony of his displeasure and hatred for to hasten and render a person most happy is no sign of ill will It may be that God calls thee because he hath found some good thing in thee as in Abija the Son of Jeroboam King of Israel because he loves thee dearly and favours thee he intends only to remove thee from the approaching evils as he did Josias one of the Holiest and most Religious Princes that hath ever been because thou dost walk before him and seekest to please him he will take thee up into his Holy and Heavenly Paradise as he did Enoch for fear that the temptations of the World should alter thy Religious disposition and for fear that the Enemy of thy Salvation should prevail upon thee by his continual and wicked suggestions to leave the way of Righteousness in which thou dost walk at present As there are some rich Stuffs whereof the Ashes are most precious and others whereof the Cinders are good for nothing but to be cast away Thus there are some happy gray Heads where the rich and precious Relicks of Justice and Piety do shine whereas others are only fit to discover the follies and vanity of our humane Nature As there is some sort of Wine that grows better by old age and preserves its strength until it comes to the Dregs whereas other Wine there is that soon becomes sower and useless Likewise there are some Men whom old Age makes better and wiser so that they are like to the Indian Trees that yield precious Persumes and Frankincense only when they begin to decline and wither The old Age of such is most Honourable and sends forth a mâ—st blessed perfume of Piety Whereas others do but corrupt with Age and give out a most silthy stench under a white Head they hide a black Soul and a
command was not frighted to behold the Sun go down although he was in the midst of an open field Gen. 28. but he laid himself down in peace and slept sweetly having no other Bed but the Earth no other Pillow but a Stone no other covering than the Heavens nor other Curtains than the dark shadows of the night Likewise a Soul sanctified by the Spirit of God that walks in all the Commands of his Heavenly Father shall never be astonished for wheresoever his Sun goes down wheresoever Death Arrests him he will look upon himself as in another Bethel he will sleep quietly in the Lord Jesus in the most cruel death he will feel unspeakable and glorious joys and a Peace of God which passeth all understanding Acts 23. We may take notice of this blessed disposition in the Apostle St. Paul who had behaved himself with a good conscience towards God and towards Man 1 Cor. 15. He had labor'd more in his Ministry than all the other Apostles therefore he stands in no fear of deaths approaches but rather we may see him full of expectation and desires to pass through Death into Glory and Eternal Felicity This disposition is no less remarkble in Stephen the first Martyr of Christ Acts 6. in the midst of his most grievous torments he had a countenance shining as that of an Angel which was a certain testimony of his inward peace of Conscience and of the extraordinary joy of his Soul for as the Wise man informs us A merry Heart maketh a chearful Countenance Prov. 15. From the same wisdom proceeds this other Oracle that foretels unto every one what shall happen unto him The wicked is driven away in his wickedness but the righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14. Eccl. 1. Unto this is agreeable the excellent saying of Jesus the Son of Syrach It shall be well at the last with him who fears God he shall sind favor at the day of his death This life is but a moment that flies away apace and yet it determines our Eternal Estate it raiseth us to the highest Glory of Heaven or else it casts us headlong into the deepest Abysse of Eternal Misery for what Man soweth that shall he reap he that soweth in the flesh shall reap of the flesh corruption but he that soweth in the Spirit shall reap of the Spirit Eternal Life If you are afraid of a cruel and unhappy death keep your selves from an evil and a prophane life for commonly as Man's life is so is his death The most part of those who live in foul Lusts and Prophaness dye in hardness of heart or in grievous despair God's patience wearied out changes it self into a just resentment and fury Commonly God leaves at the hour of death such as have left him in the course of their lives he is inexorable to the cryes and sighs of such as have shut their Ears and Hearts to his Holy Word and his Fatherly Instructions he laughs at the horrid fears and most sensible torments of those that trample upon his sacred Commands according to his own words Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at naught all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh King Ahab was desirous to hear a pleasing Prophecy of happy things of the victory over the Syrian Army nevertheless he did continue in his Impieties and Tyranny therefore the Prophet Micah was not afraid of his displeasure but tells him boldly of the approaching Judgments of God which did hang over his guilty Head likewise some sinners desire to be flatter'd and soothed up in their extravagancies they expect notwithstanding their crimes declarations of Joy and Prosperity but we should be false Prophets possessed with a lying Spirit if we did not foretel to such people that a most lamentable and miserable death hastens apace upon them we should have a cruel charity for them if we did not labor to save them by fear as out of a fire if we did not shew them Hell with its jaws open ready to swallow them up and the Eternal Torments wherewith God will punish all impenitent and hardened sinners Knowing what God's vengeance is we must perswade Men to embrace Faith and Righteousness and if we did fail in this our duty their Blood should be required at our hands To what purpose have the Heathen Philosophers discoursed so Learnedly of the shortness of our life To what purpose have many of their Princes entertain'd things on purpose to mind them of their mortal condition Such kind of thoughts did fly in their fancy but they reapt but little benefit from them because they did not oblige them to an Holy and Reformed Life and by consequence they did not prepare them to a blessed Death It was also to no purpose that Balaam desired so passionately to dye the death of the Righteous and that his last end might be like a just man's Numb 23. for because he lived the life of a sinner and continued in his Abominations and Idolatry Numb 31. therefore he died as they and was comprehended in their punishment as he was a partner in their crimes it was but just and reasonable that he should share in their calamities and be a partaker of their torments To abandon Vice and Sin is to take from Death its Venom and all its fiery Darts It is to pluck from this furious Beast its Teeth and Claws it is to break the Cords and Chains by which the Devil drags us into Eternal damnation It is to destroy the Monsters that fright us and stifle the Furies that pursue us In short it tends to change Hell and its grievous Torments into an Heaven and its Glory There was never yet any person that lived an Holy and Religious Life but he died happily in the favour of his God Now that the Lord knocks open unto him the door of your hearts and at the hour of Death he will open unto you the Gates of Heaven present and give unto him whiles you are alive your Bodies and Souls and doubtless he will accept them and confirm the Gift with his own Seal here below he will enrich you with his Graces and crown you at last with his Glory Blessed are they that dye in the Lord but to dye in the Lord we must live to the Lord that we may be able to say with St. Paul Whether we live we live to the Lord whether we dye we dye to the Lord whether we live or dye we are the Lords To perswade us to this Religious Duty we must consider in the first place the Command that he gives us of loving him fearing him of repenting of our sins and of walking in his Holy ways unto this he exhorts us in the Holy Writings of the Old Testament as in the 6 of Deuteronomy Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
more That if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a terrible expectation of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries for our God is a consuming fire Chap. 10. And in the Revelations it is not only said that in the Holy Jerusalem there shall no unclean thing enter or that committeth Abomination or a Lye and that God will shut out the Dogs the Witches the Fornicators the Murderers the Idolaters and whosoever doth love or do a lye Chap. 2.22 But the Spirit of God assures that the timerous that is such as are more afraid of Man than of God the Unbelieving the Execrable and Murderers the Fornicators and Witches the Idolaters and Lyers shall have their portion in the Lake that burnes with Fire and Brimstone which is the second death Chap. 13. 6. When we should speak the language of Angels when we should give all our Goods to nourish the Poor and when we should give our Body to be burn'd if we have not charity we are but like the sounding Brass and like the thinkling Cymbal When we should be able to perform Signes and Wonders if we be not cloathed with Innocency and Holiness if we be not adorned with Meekness and Love Christ will at last treat us as the foolish Virgins with a Depart from me I know you not When we should be able to cast the Devil out of other Men it will avail us nothing unless we can cast him out also of our own hearts with all the wicked Lusts that he nourisheth there To what purpose shall such cry out at the great day Lord Lord have not we prophesied in thy name have not we cast out Devils in thy name have not we done many miracles in thy name Jesus will return them this sad answer Depart from me ye workers of iniquity 7. Consider that whatsoever be your share of the advantages of this life when you shall come to dye you shall not carry away with you your Riches your Honors nor your Pleasures but if you be rich in Faith and good Works if you be cloathed with Holiness and crowned with Righteousness If Piety and the service of God be your delight you shall carry away out of the World this Spiritual Treasure this Celestial Glory and this Angelical Satisfaction It is what the Holy Spirit teacheth when it tells us Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord for they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them 8. Let us always have before our eyes the blessed examples of so many Saints who have traced us the way to Heaven by their Piety and good Works they are enter'd into the Paradise of God and the Glory of his Kingdom It is reported of a Painter that when he had a designe to represent an accomplished Beauty he borrowed from divers Objects the Excellencies and Perfections with which he was to adorn his Picture from the Lillies he took their whiteness from the Roses their red tincture from another Object the wonder of the Eye from another the coral of the Lips and so of the other parts Likewise to restore in our Souls the Image of God defaced by sin we must borrow the Vertues and Excellencies of former Men for example Represent always to your selves Abel's Innocency Henoch's Holy life Noah's Justice Abraham's Faith Lot's Hospitality Isaack's Obedience the Faithfulness of Jacob the Chastity of Joseph the Patience of Job the Meckness of Moses the Zeal of Phineas the Constancy of David the Wisdom of Solomon the Piety of Josias the Prayers of Daniel the Tears of Jeremiah the Fastings of Hester the Holy Earnestness of the Woman of Canaan the Devotion of Cornelius the Charity of the Samaritan the Alms of Dorcas and of the poor Widow the Publicans Humility the good Thiefs Repentance the Tears of Mary Magdalen the Weepings of Peter the undaunted Courage of St. Paul and his indefatigable disposition and the glorious Martyrdom of St Stephen and of so many noble Souls of all Ages and Sexes who have gone to the torments with as much joy as to Feasts and to Triumphs and who have sealed with their Blood the truth of the Gospel with an undaunted resolution Seeing therefore that we are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us pursue with constancy the Race that is set before us 9. Chiefly Let us look to Jesus the Author and finisher of our Faith for he hath left us an example that we might follow his footsteps All the Vertues that we admire in these faithful Souls are but like so many little beams of the Sun of Righteousness and a weak Image of his Glory There is no Fire so perfect but it sends up a Smoak nor Righteousness so accomplish'd but hath its Imperfections whiles we are cloathed with this weak flesh The behaviour of the most Holy and Perfect is defiled by many infirmities but our Lord and Saviour is the Lamb without spot or blemish in whose Mouth there is no guile for it was necessary that we should have such an High Priest who is Holy Blameless separated from Sinners The perfect image of all Vertues was never found in any mortal Man on Earth but Jesus Christ is the fairest amongst the Sons of Men his Lips are full of Grace in him alone we have a perfect model of all Vertues and of all Perfections that we can imagine Therefore when the Apostle had perswaded the Romans to renounce the Lusts of the Flesh Drunkenness Anger Envy and such like sins instead of making an enumeratiun of the Vertues opposite to these Vices he thinks it sufficient to propose Christ's Holy example Put on the Lord Jesus Christ saith he to teach us that all the Vertues and Graces do enter and meet in the Sacred Person of our Saviour Jesus Christ in the highest degree of perfection 10. We are so much the more obliged to imitate Jesus Christ and to imprint in our hearts his Holy Image because that he is not only our Father our Lord and our King but he is also the blessed Head of that Body whereof we are Members It is not just to unite defiled and profane Members to an Head so Glorious and so Holy Whosoever gives himself over to his Lust and Delights in the corruption of sin maimes as much in him lies the Sacred Body of the Son of God This consideration drew from St. Paul this expression Shall I take the Members of Christ for to make them the Members of an whore 11. The Divine Spirits dwelling in our Hearts is a great obligation to Holiness of life know you not that you are the Temple of God and the Holy Ghost dwelleth in you Ezek. 8. Shall we be so base as to uncover our filthy and dirty thoughts before so Holy and Divine a Guest Shall we be so bold as to erect upon his Altar Idols that may provoke him to jealousie His eyes are so
Death an affliction Must I abandon my dear Children whom I love as my Soul without guide and in danger of loosing the small temporal means that I have provided for them in danger also of being overcome by the vicious customs of the age and inticed to Idolatry and Superstition That we may be able to govern this violent passion that prevails so much upon our minds we must labor betimes to bring our selves to this That we may rest upon the good Providence of our Heavenly Father Christian Souls meditate upon this excellent saying in the 37 Psalm Leave thy ways to the Lord and trust in him and he will direct thee And in the 59 Psal Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he will sustain thee Forget not also that blessed exhortation of St. Peter Cast all your cares upon God for he careth for you Imprint also in your minds St. Paul's assertion All things work together for good to them that love God Remember the noble resolution of this great Apostle According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by life or by death Thou desirest to be instrumental in the service of God and of the Publick it is an excellent desire indeed and praise worthy but it belongs to God to appoint the service that he intends to receive from thee it belongs to him to prescribe unto thee thy task and to order thy bounds he knows when he is to release thee from thy labor and how long thou must fight Is thine eye evil because thy God is so good and gracious as to shorten thy work and troubles All such as follow chearfully the Banners of the God of Hosts and never retreat without the Command of the great General of Heaven and Earth shall enjoy a blessed victory and obtain the honor of the Triumph as well the Novice and the fresh Soldier as the old and long experienced All such as labor faithfully in the Lord's Vineyard shall receive from him an eternal Reward as well he that continues but an hour as the other that bear the heat and burden of the day When thou shouldest have gone but a few steps in the paths of Righteousness thy God is so noble and liberal that he will bestow upon thee an uncorruptible Crown of Glory as well as if thou hadst continued there many years Great Princes that yield unto the King of Kings a Religious Respect and that seek your greatest Glory in the Cross of Christ submit your selves altogether to the pleasure of your universal Monarch for seeing the Lives of all Men are governed by his wise Providence he hath a particular regard and an high esteem of the Lives of Kings and Princes the Sons of his right hand Therefore whilst it is expedient for his Glory and their Salvation that they should live upon Earth he placeth round about their Sacred Persons his Holy Angels and encompasseth them with a wall of Fire Remember that as soon as the King of Israel was seated upon the Throne God commanded him to take in hand the Book of his Law and to read in it all the days of his life Ask from him that Wisdom and Prudence that is requisite to govern such multitudes of People and beseech him to grant unto you the strength and virtue that is necessary to bear so great a burden Let the Sword that he hath intrusted in your hands be to do justice upon Offenders and to protect the Guiltless As you are living Images of God's Soveraign Authority over his Creatures Remember that you should also represent his Goodness and Mercy follow the example of him who resists the Proud but gives grace to the Humble Live in such a manner that your Subjects may cherish and honor you as their common Father may obey and serve you as their Lord and may respect and fear you as their King Suffer not your Heart to be puft up with pride when you behold the large Dominions that God hath put under your Command and the People that own you for their Soveraign But lift up your eyes to the spacious Heavens take a view of their vast Extent and see how the whole Earth is inconsiderable in comparison of them and think upon God before whom all Nations are but as the smallest dust of a Ballance and as a few drops of Water Consider well that your Subjects are Creatures that God hath made after his own likeness and redeemed by the death of his Son and that they are to Reign with you for ever in Heaven Remember that the more God hath committed to your Trust the greater must be your reckoning and that you must one day appear in person before his dreadful Throne without Scepter or Crown as so many wretched Sinners to implore his Mercy Search into your selves and examine what you are your Bodies are subject to wounds infirmities and diseases as that of the meanest of your servants Your Souls also are moved with the same Passions and Lusts as theirs In short you are entered into the World in the same manner as the most miserable Slave and you shall go out of it again as he doth so that if a crowd of flatterers sooth you up as they did Herod A voice of God and not of Man Acts 12. Mind well what God speaks to you from Heaven I have said that ye are Gods and the Children of the most high nevertheless you shall dye as Men and you that are the chiefest shall fall as the rest Psal 72. During the time of your abode in the World employ your Blood Sweat and all the Strength and Power that God hath put into your hands for the good and advantage of your States and for the defence and preservation of the people that shelter themselves under your wings And if in the midst of your greatest and most flourishing Prosperities Death comes to give you a summons to depart let fall the Scepter willingly to joyn your hands together and to fall down and adore the King of the whole Earth Grieve not for the loss of worldly Glory that passeth away as a Lightning or as a shadow for God promiseth another that shall be more lasting than the light of the Sun If you can but overcome Death and your selves God will cause you to sit down upon another Throne and will bestow upon you a Kingdom that shall never be moved Revel 3. Heb. 12. Wise and Religious Princes be not solicitous for the things that shall happen after your decease He by whom Kings Reign and Princes do Justice is able enough to enrich your Successor with the Graces and Qualities that become a powerful Prince It may be that he will bestow upon him more Glory and Happiness than upon you When King David had ended his mortal Race God took him into his Rest it seems at first that the loss of so
Armies I speak not unto you prophane Atheists that laugh at the most Holy things and that are of opinion that all fear of God must be banished out of your Troops and Companies and that the most wretched Varlets are the best Soldiers but I speak to you Christian and Religious Commanders who forget not by your promotion amongst Men that you are nevertheless the Soldiers of Jesus Christ and although you wear at your side a material Sword forget not to employ also the sword of the Spirit the word of God that dwels in your hearts Neither do I intend to speak to you who manage War with an intent only to satisfy your Revenge your Ambition or your Covetousness but I speak to you brave and worthy Captains who have purified your weapons in an Heavenly Fire who undertake War only to procure a more lasting Peace to the publick and who fight only to serve your Prince and Countrey you that are the great bulwarks of States and Empires by whose labors and watchings Men sleep in security Let the whole World see by experience in your persons that there is nothing that agrees better with true generosity than Piety and the fear of God behave your selves always as in the sight of your Maker who is at your Elbows and accompanies you in all your actions Remember that he commanded to remove all filth from the Camp of Israel because of his Holy and Divine Presence If you will obtain his Blessing upon your persons and designes cast out of your Armies the filth of Vice and Punish without Mercy the Rapes Burnings all Impiety and Blasphemies make your Soldiers put in practice St. John the Baptist's most excellent advice to the Soldiers of his time who enquired what they were to do to be be saved Do violence said he to no man neither accuse any falsly and be content with your wages Live as Lambs and fight as Lions Spare as much as you can the bloud of your Soldiers and shed not that of your Enemies but against your Wills because they are God's Creatures and Men that bear his Image Never trust to your own valor and experience but remember that it is God who gives Courage and strengthens the hands in the day of Battel who causeth Fear and Terror to fly whither he listeth Look always upon David's example There was never a Captain more couragious nor more willing to venture his life and yet there was never a person more zealous in Prayer to God nor more submissive to his Will nor more careful to return unto him the praise of all his advantages and if Death comes to put a stop to your victories or to call you away in a trice in which your Prudence and Courage is requisite wonder not at it consider that God offers you by this means an occasion of a more Glorious Victory and of a more Magnificent Triumph for the victory over thousands of Mortal Men and of the whole World is nothing in comparison of a victory over Death and Hell Inquire not who shall succeed you in the Conduct of your Army out of a distrust of God's good providence for he who is able to raise up Children unto Abraham out of Stones can raise up also from thence Captains and Soldiers when he pleaseth to give a check to the Enemies pride and to deliver his People from their hands he can make Gideons Jephtha's Sampsons and such like extraordinary Commanders Who knows but that he will cause a General to succeed you that shall have more Courage and Generosity and that shall be blessed with a greater Happiness and more Glorious Successes When Moses departed to his Rest Joshua Commanded in his stead and for that purpose God enabled him with a noble Spirit of Wisdom and Courage for one Enemy that Moses overcame Joshua destroyed thousands whereas Moses did but coast along the Land of Canaan and turn up and down in the Wilderness Joshua brought the People of Israel into that pleasant Countrey and into a peaceable possession of it Seeing therefore that it is God's pleasure leave to others the care of worldly Wars and ye go to gather the pleasant and delicious Fruits of an Eternal Peace which hath been purchased unto you by the Bloud of Christ Likewise ye faithful Ministers of Jesus Christ remember to shew the example of a resignation to God's good pleasure according to your Doctrine Let not Death cause you to draw back thou hast my Brother a Will to Glorify God on Earth well but thou shalt Glorify him better in Heaven with more zeal and less hindrance whilst thou art surrounded and fetter'd with these Fetters of Mortality thy Ministry must needs be accompanied with many imperfections Thou imaginest that if it pleased God to prolong thy days thou mayest be instrumental in the reformation of the World but thou art mistaken My Brother for this World is accustom'd to Evil and this Age is hardened in Iniquity Preach as much as thou wilt to the Inhabitants of this inferior World it shall be as in the times of Noah the Herald of Righteousness when the patience of God waited for the conversion of Sinners for the whole Earth hath corrupted its ways so that all the thoughts and imaginations of the Heart of Man are evil continually from his Cradle they are corrupt and filthy And if God doth not interpose his Almighty Hand and declare in us the Virtue of his Holy Spirit our thoughts will grow worse and worse until we tumble into our Graves If thou afflict never so much thy just and innocent Soul and spend thy self in exhorting the greatest Sinners to fly from the wrath to come and the judgements of God that hang over their guilty Heads it may be thou shalt be mocked by thy nearest Relations as Lot was by his Sons-in-law When thou wouldest thunder out the threatenings of God's Law against the abominations of Israel as the Prophet Isaiah did once thou shouldest be forced at last to confess I have labour'd in vain I have employed my strength for nought Isai 49. Jer. 6. When thine Eyes should be converted into a fresh Spring of Tears and when thou shouldest spend the days and the nights in calling upon the Superstitious the Schismaticks and Idolaters to forsake their false worship and their unchristian proceedings thou shalt not be able to soften the hardness of their Hearts nor overcome their obstinacy but they will be ready to speak to thee in the Jews language to Jeremiah As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouths to burn incense unto the Queen of Heaven and to pour out Drink-offerings unto her as we have done we and our Fathers our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem for then had we plenty of Victuals and were well and saw no evil Jer. 44.
up to the Throne of his Glory but according to his promise he hath not left us destitute but hath sent us the Comsorter to dwell with us for ever namely the Spirit of Truth whom the world seeth not nor cannot know John 14. Christs Corporal presence was enjoyed but by a small number of People but this Divine Spirit is like a large River that swells and runs over every where John 7. This Holy Spirit is not only with us but also within us He is poured out into our Hearts He Seals us for the day of Redemption He is the earnest of our Inheritance until the full consummation of the Glory reserved for us in Heaven Therefore when this merciful Saviour saw his Apostles afflicted in an extraordinary manner for his Leaving of the World he speaks to them in this Language Because I have said these things unto you Sorrow hath filled your Hearts Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you But if I depart I will send him unto you John 16. When St. Paul took his last farewel of the Elders and People of the Church of Ephesus they wept bitterly being grieved to the Heart because he had said That none of them should see his face any more But to comfort them he assures them that in Heaven they had a Father and a Protector and such a Shepherd as would never forsake them I commend you said he To God and to the word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified Act. 20. Remember therefore O Man of God seriously to consider all these things If the Lord who hath called thee to the Sacred Function of the Ministry continues thee in the world labor with courage and diligence in thine Holy employment Be not tired in the service of this good Master and merciful Saviour fight the good fight of the Faith endure patiently all manner of Labors as a good Soldier of Jesus Christ be as earnest and as careful for the Lord's Sheep as Jacob was for those of Laban Here what he professed of himself In the day the drought consumed me and the frost by night and my sleep departed from mine eyes Gen. 20. Jacob endured patiently these grievous pains and labor and the time of his service seem'd to him to be but of a few days because of the love that he did bear unto Rachel Likewise thou wilt joyfully endure the troubles of thine Office digest with patience all the inconveniencies if thou dost sincerely love the Lord Jesus and his Heavenly Spouse If thou dost esteem the salvation of Souls for whom Jesus Christ hath suffered death if thou hast well understood the Excellency of thine Heavenly Reward and the Glory prepared for thee when thou shalt have finished the time of thy painful and difficult service and of thy mortal Race for they who bring many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12. Jacob had to do with a deceitful and unfaithful man But God is not as Man that he should Lye or as the Son of Man that he should Repent Gen. 23. Be thou faithful until Death and he will give thee the Crown of Life Revel 2. If it is the Lord's pleasure to lessen thy task so that instead of employing thee in his Vineyard he intends to take thee up into his Kingdom to drink there of his new Wine if at the time that thou thinkest of sowing with Tears thou art transported to the place where thou mayest reap with Songs of Triumph If in lieu of the opposition which thou must suffer from sinners God will grant to thee his Eternal Consolations and receive thee into the harmonious Societies of the Church Triumphant adore his Goodness and his infinite Mercy cast thy self into his hands and resolve chearfully to will what is pleasing to him if during thine abode in this Valley of Tears God hath given thee a livelyhood and if thou hast found in him thy joy thy satisfaction and thy greatest comfort Death will be thy greatest advantage thou shalt find in thy Saviour thy Rest thy Glory and Eternal Delights Phil. 1. Meditate often upon the words of the Holy Apostle St. Peter The Elders which are among you I exhort who am also an Elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the Glory that shall be revealed feed the Flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy Lucre but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over God's Heritage but being ensamples to the Flock and when the chief Shepheard shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5. You also who are afraid to leave behind you a desolate afflicted and comfortless Widow Come and learn this Lesson to relye upon the goodness and tender compassions of the Father of Mercies who never fails to comfort the forlorne in all their afflictions and who is always near to them that call upon him in their distresses 2 Cor. 1. Psal 145. He bears so much favor to the Widows that he calls himself The Judge of the Widows Psal 68. that is the Protector of their integrity and right and severe revenger of the wrongs that they suffer Therefore God tells us in express words That he maintains the Widow and establisheth her Borders Prov. 15. Seeing Job was so merciful as to cause the Widows Heart to sing Job 28. How much more may we expect from God's goodness he will doubtless fill her with his Heavenly joys and the ravishing comforts of his Holy Spirit I mean not the foolish Widows that seek for nothing but pleasure worldly diversion and carnal pastimes who live in the delights of the Age and who are dead whilst they live But I mean the wise Widows who being left alone by their Husbands death have their confidence and trust in God continuing in Prayer day and night Our great God and merciful Lord hath not only said in general that he is the Judge the Protector and Comforter of the Widow But he hath vouchsafed unto some his most signal Favors and extraordinary Blessings In the Reign of Abab while a cruel Famine overspread the Land God sent the Prophet Elijah to a poor Widow of Sarephtah who was preparing her self and her Son to dye as soon as they had eaten a little remnant of Meal and Oil that was left but the Holy Prophet comforted her in this manner Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel the barrel of Meal shall not waste neither shall the cruse of Oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth Rain upon the Earth 1 King 5. Many Widows have been comforted in such a miraculous manner for God hath so ordered it that their provisions have not failed although it may
out the Heavens and Commanded the succession of the Seasons and who is the Author and Lord of thy Life We need not tempt God as the Philistins did of old and require from him a miracle to know if it be his hand for God assures us that he himself inflicts the Wound and binds it up that his hand strikes and heals again 1 Sam. 5. Affliction cometh not forth of the Dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground Job 5. Who is able to say that these things are come to pass and the Lord hath not commanded them doth not evil and good proceed from the appointment of the most High There is no evil in the City but God hath done it that is to say that there is no distemper nor affliction but he over-rules and governs it by his wonderful Providence This perswasion will stop our murmuring in the midst of our greatest troubles and violent paines it will cause us to say with David I have held my peace Lord and have not open'd my Lips because it was thy doing Or if we offer to speak it shall be in the language of a blessed Servant of God Lord thou troublest me but it is sufficient for me to know that it is thy hand Job 2. As if he should have said this Physick is very bitter O great Physitian of my Soul and Body but I will freely drink it up because thou hast prescribed it It is not just to receive good at the hand of God and refuse evil to complain of a disease that he hath sent us for a few days instead of blessing him for the health which he hath continued unto us many years In short when our Souls should be troubled with the anguish of death when drops of bloud should come out of our veins we must in such a case lift up our Eyes to Heaven and say with our Lord and Saviour Father if it please thee that this Cup should not pass away from me except I drink it Nevertheless O Father not my Will but thy Will be done Luk 21. This same consideration will keep us from falling into despair and from fancying that the evils will swallow us up For seeing God sends both evil and good and that he is faithful and just that he is true and merciful he will not suffer us to be tempted that is that we should be afflicted above that we are able but with the temptation he will make away to escape that we may be able to bear it 1 Cor. 10. He kindles not all his wrath at once and employs not all his fury he discovers not all the strength of his Arm Psal 78. but when his anger is hottest he remembers to have pity and compassion on the afflicted for he knows of what we are made that we are but Dust and Ashes Hab. 3. He remembers that we are but Flesh that is to say weakness it self a wind that passeth away and returneth not again Psal 103. He regulates his chastisements not according to the horridness of our sins but according to our great weaknesses Gen. 18. Psal 78. Therefore when God speaks of David's Son the true and lively Image of the Holy Seed with which he hath concluded an Eternal Covenant he speaks in this manner If he commits sin I will chastise him with the Rod of Men and with the stripes of the Children of men but my mercy shall not depart away from him 2 Sam. 7. And St. Paul speaking in general of the afflictions with which God visits his Children 1 Cor. 10. he stiles them Humane temptations to assure us that they shall never exceed the strength and power of our weak Nature The wise and experienced Physitian appoints neither Physick nor Bleeding to the Patient until he hath well examined his Pulse and understood thereby the disposition of his Body and shall not God's Eternal Wisdom that never acts without good reason and that perfectly knows the Pulse and Temper of our Souls that searcheth our Reins and that sees our very Heart proportion his Physick and Remedies to our weaknesses for his design is to heal and not to destroy us He once inflicted punishments upon Babylon by measure and numbred the Viols of his Wrath which he poured upon the seat of the Beast and shall not this good God measure the Rods and weigh the Afflictions with which he reproves his Children shall not he number their Sighs and Tears This consideration comforts King David Thou saith he O God tellest my wandrings put thou my tears into thy bottle are they not in thy Book Ps 56. Although Flesh and Bloud may think otherwise I am perswaded that Diseases may be looked upon as the sweetest and most favourable afflictions It was David's perswasion for when he was to chuse one of these three Plagues either War Famine or Plague which is the most grievous most hated and dreadful of all distempers he chose the Plague We should never forget the reason of his choise Let us fall now said he to the Prophet Gad into the hands of the Lord for his Mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of Man The evils which God sends to us are expressions of his Love and of his Fatherly Care of us for God begins his Judgements that is his Chastisements at his own House and shews most severity to the Servants whom he loves best 1 Pet. 4. Therefore he tells the Angel of the Church of Laodicea As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Revel 3. The greatest affliction that can happen to us in the World is never to be afflicted and the most grievous temptation is never to be tempted St Paul to the Hebrews speaks most excellently upon this subject Forget not saith he the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto Children my Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with Sons for what Son is he whom the Father chasteneth not but if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye Bastards and not Sons Heb. 12. All things work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8. The Diseases of the Body are the Physick of the Soul The Aches which thou seelest in thy Body are Instructions of thy Mind God intends to make thee sigh for thy sins water thy Couch with thy Tears and abhor the remembrance of thy former miscarriages Psal 6. The causes of thy present pain and grief He intends to make thee partaker of his Holiness Heb. 12. If it please God to sanctify his afflictions to thee thou wilt be able to say with David It was good for me that I was afflicted that I might learn thy Commandments Before that I was afflicted I went astray but now I keep thy Word Psal 119. Although our Lord and Saviour was the only Son and
for them now if there be any reason to render unto every one that which hath been dearly bought and purchased with a great price and seeing that it would be a great sin to refuse unto any man that which he hath paid for with the Bloud of his only and beloved Son how can we refuse our Souls unto God seeing that they belong to him because he hath not only created them and stamped in them his Image but he hath also purchased them with the Bloud of his only Son in whom from all Eternity he is well pleased We must not therefore imitate the example of naughty paymasters or unjust possessors of other Men's Goods we must not expect until our Souls be plucked from us by violence but rather like the good and righteous Debtors we must return them willingly and yield them up into his hands who hath paid for them an infinite and an unvaluable Ransome David was of this mind when he said Into thine hand I commit my spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth Psal 31. 11. In this Death and Passion of our Glorious Redeemer we learn not only our Duty but also sufficient grounds of comfort and hope and if I may so say it is in the Bowels of this dead Lion that we find the sweetest and most ravishing Consolations this Chief Priest that bears us upon his Breast in his Heavenly Sanctuary or rather upon his Heart will not forsake us in the day of our distress and will not give us over to the fears and pangs of death for seeing that he hath encountred with this cruel Death seeing that it hath felt its sting its shiverings and pains and that he hath bin tempted as we have bin in all things except in sin he is merciful and faithful to have compassion of our infirmities he is no less able to assist us in our temptations and to make us in all things more than Conquerors 12. Believing Souls consider with me the noble expressions of St. Paul Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God 2 Cor. 1. These excellent Truths may be very well applied to our Lord Jesus Christ whom the Holy Ghost names The Apostle and High Priest of our Profession Heb. 3. For the comfortable assistances which he hath received from God in the time of his greatest anguish are precious tokens and infallibie assurances of God's future help in our need for as when he was in his bitter Agony when his Soul was cast down with deadly sorrow an Angel from Heaven comes to comfort him Likewise when we shall be engaged in an encounter with death when it shall endeavour to fill our Souls with sadness and apprehensions he will doubtless send unto us some of his good Angels that be at his right hand I mean the faithful Teachers of his Holy Word or else he will send from Heaven some of his blessed Spirits that stand about his Throne and that are commonly employed in the preservation of the Godly The Holy Ghost himself the Comforter of afflicted Souls and the true Oil of Gladness will then drive from our hearts all grief and refresh us with his Heavenly Comforts He will not forsake us until he hath brought us to the Head Spring of Eternal Joy and Comfort 13. Our Lord and Saviours deliverance from death is an Image and an assurance of our future deliverance which we are to expect from God's Mercy and Almighty Power for as when St. Paul saith that this High Priest in the days of his Flesh offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from Death And was heard in that he feard We are not to understand that he was freed altogether from death but rather that he had the favour granted to him of swallowing Death up into Victory and of triumphing over the Powers of Hell and that through the shame and bitterness of death he is gone into his Glory and into the Joys of his Heavenly Paradise Likewise when we pray unto God in our greatest distresses and deepest sorrows when we pour into his bosom the Tears of a sincere Repentance he hears us from his Sanctuary and delivers us from Death not by hindring us from dying but by raising our Souls to pass through Death into an immortal Life from this valley of Tears into Happiness and endless Bliss 14. If we will be sully perswaded that God will not with-hold from us the Joys and Comforts of his Holy Spirit and that he will make us more than Conquerors of death by admitting us into an Eternal Felicity we need but cast our eyes upon our Lord Jesus Christ for as he who bestows much will not refuse a little so God who hath not spared his only Son but hath delivered him for us all to an ignominious and cruel Death how shall not he with him freely give us all things St. Paul hath taught to argue in this manner and to gather this consequence necessary from God's proceedings Rom. 8. 15. When Christ our Lord gave up the Ghost upon the Cross the vail of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom Heaven was opened and a repenting Thief was admitted All this happened to teach us that we may enter into the Holy of Holies by the Bloud of Jesus by the new and living way which he hath consecrated by the Vail which is by his Flesh and that this merciful Lord hath always his Arms wide open to receive us and that he will never refuse the Glory of Heaven and the delights of his Paradise to the greatest sinners that repent and that seek to his Eternal Mercy by his infinite Merits 16. The Death of this great God and Saviour is the payment of all our debts and the expiation of all our crimes it is the healing of all our diseases the freedom from all our miseries for it hath overcome Satan and the powers of Hell It is the death of an Eternal Death it is this meritorious death that hath purchased for us Heaven and all its Excellencies and procured to us a Right to God's Paradise and to its Delights and Pleasures In short it is this Death that conveys Pardise into our Souls before we enter into Paradise and fills our minds with an Heavenly and Divine Peace and an unspeakable and glorious Joy 17. This Cross of our Saviour may be compared to the Wood which Moses cast into the Waters of Marah for it takes away from the natural Death of God's Children whatsoever is incommodious and bitter and causeth us to relish Sweetness and Comforts that cannot be express'd It is like the Salt which the Prophet Elisha cast into the Waters of Jerico to make them wholsom and fruitful for
Heavenly Blessings when we were without Christ we were Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel having no Hope and without God in the World But we who were far off are made nigh by the Bloud of Christ we have access with confidence by Faith in his precious Bloud so that we may go with boldness to the Throne of Grace to find mercy and help in time of need Heb. 4. Rejoyce therefore Christian Souls for you are not come to the Mount that might be touch'd with hands nor to a burning Fire nor unto Blackness and Darkness and Tempest and the sound of a Trumpet and the voice of words which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more but ye are come unto mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel For Abels Bloud called for vengeance against his own Brother Heb. 12. Col. 1. but the Bloud of Christ pleads for Mercy Pardon and Forgiveness for them who were his enemies in their understandings and wicked deeds And if when we were enemies we have been reconciled unto God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. How much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life and intercession 22. Never fear neither the Devil nor all the powers of Hell for according to God's antient promise The seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3. The Lord of Glory hath spoiled the Principalities and Powers he hath made a show of them openly triumphing over them in his Cross Colos 2. By his death he hath destroyed him who had the Empire of death that is the Devil so that he hath crusht to pieces this red Dragon that did devour whole Nations and People Heb. 2. Rev. 12. As it happened when the Children of Israel did look to the brazen Serpent which Moses set up in the wilderness they were perfectly cured of the bitings of the fiery Serpents Likewise you wretched sinners who feel the venemous and deadly wounds of the old Serpent cast the eyes of your faith upon Jesus Christ crucified and you shall be saved from death John 3. As when the Angel destroyed the First-born of Egypt he had not the power to meddle with the Children of Israel who had sprinkled their doors with the bloud of the Paschal Lamb so the Devil who destroys the Children of this world hath no power to touch those whose Hearts and Consciences are washed in the Bloud of the spotless Lamb. And as Pharaoh and all the Egyptians that followed him were overwhelmed and drowned in the waters of the Red Sea Heb. 10. which served as a passage to the Children of Israel to their promised Land Thus Satan and all his wicked Spirits are as it were swallowed up in this precious Sea of Christs Bloud which opens unto us a way to the celestial Canaan Rejoyce you Heavens and you that dwell in them for the accuser of our Brethren is cast out who accused them day and night before God but they have overcome him by the Bloud of the Lamb 1 Pet. 1. Jam. 5. Christian Souls resist the Devil and he will fly from you If he goes about as a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour be not troubled at his fury nor at his infernal power for he is tied to a Chain that he cannot stretch nor break He hath been overcome by the Lion of the Tribe of Juda Take therefore the shield of Faith that you may be able to quench all the fiery Darts of the Devil Rev. 6. and speak to him with an undaunted Soul Get thee behind me Satan for thou hast no part in me I belong to the Lord Jesus who hath paid my ransom who hath redeemed me with his Bloud and sealed me with his Spirit The Gates of Hell have no power upon those that are built upon the Rock of Eternity Matth. 16. 23. Let not your sins cast you into the Abysse of despair nor drive you from the Anchor of your Hope for God hath so loved the World that he hath given his only Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life they that are whole have no need of the Physitian but they that are sick John 3. Our Saviour is not come to call the Just to Repentance such as are puft up with a vain conceit of their own Righteousness but sinners who acknowledge their faults and are sorry for them The sacred Arms of your Redeemer that were stretched wide open upon the Cross are yet stretched wide open to receive us and from the highest Heavens where he dwells he causeth these comfortable words to be heard Come unto me all ye that travel and are heavy loaden and I will give you rest Matth. 11. This merciful Lord is come to seek for the lost Sheep to save such as were perished and to redeem his people from their sins As by one Man Sin came into the World and by Sin Death thus death is come upon all Men for they have all sinned likewise by the obedience of one we are become conquerors over death Rom. 5. And we have obtained the gift of Righteousness and Immortality it is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World and that hath made an atonement for all our iniquitites John 1. For as the Ram that was caught by the Horns in a Thicket was offered up unto God as a burnt-offering instead of Isaack Eph. 5. Thus the true Lamb of God hath been offered up unto God upon the Cross for us as a Burnt-Sacrifice well-pleasing unto him he hath born our iniquities in his Body upon the Tree and by his stripes we are healed Isai 53. He hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows the chastisements of our peace was upon him As Aaron did put upon the live Goat Hazazel all the sins of the People Lev. 16. God hath made him who knows no sin to be made sin for us that we might become the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. Acts 10. Whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins in his Name Therefore rather than to play the desperate as Cain Achitophel and Judas let us cry out with King David O blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered O blessed is he unto whom the Lord imputeth no sin Psal 31. Or let us burst out into St. Pauls language Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect it is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed Rom. 8. Let us therefore embrace this crucified Jesus and say with the Blessed
as it is Recorded of St. Stephen that when he had commended his Soul into the hands of the Lord Jesus that he fell asleep Acts 7. Therefore when St. Paul reproves the Coriâ—thians and acquaints them that God had punished them with divers Diseases and Death because they had profaned the Lords Supper he tells them For this cause many are feeble and sick amongst you and many sleep And when he speaks of all those that were dead in the profession of Christs Religion he saith they sleep in Jesus and he names them they that sleep Now we are not better and nobler then the Saints of Paradise to expect that our Bodies should receive a better and more favourable entertainment then they In short there is nothing more able to remove from our fancy that horror of our Graves then the consideration of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is entred into the Earth as well as other Men and hath laid himself down there He hath Sanctified and perfumed that place with his Divine Presence he hath made it the object of our desires and the cause of our glory for there is no Subject but judgeth it an honour to lodge in his Princes Chamber and to lay down and sleep upon the Bed where he hath taken his rest although he hath remained there but a moment or an hour O glorious Tomb where Death and Life Disgrace and Glory are lodged together and where the Prince of Life the Author of all Honor and Happiness did rest himself Christians who desire to banish from your Souls all fears of Death and apprehensions of your Graves look upon your Sepulchres in the same manner as if you should see there Jesus Christ the King of Glory the Prince of your Salvation yet remaining asleep When old Jacob heard the mistaken news of the Death of his Son Joseph he was overcome with a violent grief so that he cryed out I shall go down with Sorrow to my Son into the Grave But the certain news of the Death and Burial of our true Joseph will fill us full of unspeakable comforts and will cause us to speak in another manner I shall go down to my Father into the Sepulcher with Joy The Prophet Elias raised to Life a Child which laid in his Chamber upon his Bed when he stretched himself upon it the Soul that was departed came again And Elisha raised another in the same manner by applying his Mouth to the Childs his Hands and Eyes to the little Infants But believing Soul God works for thee in this occasion a far more wonderful Miracle for our Resurrection and Life proceed from the Death and Burial of our great Prophet If we go into this holy Tomb if we lay our selves down upon this precious Body if we embrace it with a true and living Faith and a serious Repentance he will quicken us again and cause us to become Immortal for he hath been pleased to enter into the estate of the dead with an intent to procure unto us a blessed and a glorious Immortality A Prayer and Meditation for a Christian who strengthens himself against the horrible aspect of the Grave by looking upon our Lord Jesus Christ stretched out in his Tomb. O Wonderful Mediator between God and Man Thou art God Immortal and yet hast vouchsafed to take upon thee our Mortal Nature and to Dye for me miserable Sinner and to remain for a time in the estate of the Dead that thou mightest procure unto me a blessed Immortality Give me Grace to Meditate as I ought upon thy Sacred Body wrapped up in a winding sheet and laid in the Earth for by this means O sweet Jesus I shall be brought not to abhor the Grave I shall look with a stedfast and setled countenance on the Grave digging into which I must enter when thou shalt appoint it for the Servant is not greater then his Master It belongs not to the Creature to lift it self up above the Creator seeing that I expect to share in thy Glory and Exaltation it is but just and reasonable that I take some part in thy Disgraces and Abasement My reason assisted by thine holy Spirit teacheth me that I must be content to be wrapped up in thy Darkness and remain with thee in the valey of the Shadow of Death seeing that I hope to be cloathed one day with Light and Crowned with an eternal Life I must not only look upon the Grave without Fear but I shall consider it with Joy seeing that thou hast honoured it with thine holy presence and perfumed it with thy Divine and celestial perfumes I shall behold it in the same manner as if thou didst yet lye down in it as if I were to keep thee company there my Lord and my God A dead returned to Life again when he did but touch the Bones of thy Prophet but I do not only touch the Prince of Prophets but embrase thee with Faith as thou art dead for my Sins and as resting in thy Grave for my Salvation Thou shalt therefore make me sensible of thy Divine Vertue put in me the Seeds of Immortality and raise my hopes up to Heaven Already my Soul hath a share in the first Resurrection and one day this crazy Body shall return to newness of life If my Resurrection be not so quick and speedy as that of the Dead raised to Life by the Prophet It shall be far more glorious and lasting that I may bless thee with all thy Saints and praise thee for ever with thine Inheritance in Heaven Amen CHAP. 17. The Fifth Consolation against the Fears of Death is to Meditate upon the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ AS there is nothing more grieveous and unsufferable than to behold a proud and insulting Enemy who is alwayes victorious and whom none can overcome in his insolent and braving humor likewise there is nothing more pleasant and comfortable then to see such a pride cast down and to overcome such an Enemy Therefore the Children of Israel who had long groaned under the cruel tyranny of Pharaoh sung with Joy a Song of Triumph and Thanksgiving when God destroyed that wretched Tyrant and Buried him and his Army in the waves of the Red Sea For this cause when the Red Dragon the ancient Serpent called the Devil and Satan Exod. 15. who seduceth whole Nations was overcome and cast down from Heaven to the Earth There were Songs of Joy and Gladness heard in Heaven Revel 12. Now is come Salvation and Strength and the Kingdom of our God and the Power of his Christ for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night therefore rejoyce ye Heavens and ye that dwell in them From hence let us conclude Christian Souls as it was a grievous Affliction and a sensible Grief to behold Death tyrannising over all the World and shutting up in its Dungeons Kings and Monarchs Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and generally all the
they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the Fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the Flame kindle upon thee and say with David When I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil for thou art with me thy Staff and thy Rod shall comfort me Psal 23. It seems the Primitive Christians had adesigne to shew us this Truth by the Picture of a Giant-like man wading through the Sea with a Staff in his hand and a Child upon his Shoulder for this Giant is the Emblem of a Christian who lifts up his mind as high as Heaven The Sea signifies the dangers of this World and the fears of Death The Staff represents Faith that keeps us up in our passage through Life and Death upon which when we lean we worship the living God of Heaven and Earth and the Child is an Image of Christ therefore he that bears him is called Christophorus that is He that bears Christ Cesar could not endure to see his Pilot tremble in a furious Storm at Sea because he was in his Boat we have far less reason to be afraid seeing that we carry in our Hearts the great Emperor and Monarch of the World the Hope and Comfort of Israel Cesar was as much in danger as his Pilot to make Shipwrack but our Lord Jesus Christ hath all the Winds at his Command He can still the most disturbed Sea and through the most grievous death he can cause us to pass and arrive to the safe Haven of an Eternal Rest and of a most happy and glorious life When David shewed himself with a purpose to fight with Goliah he spoke to this prodigious Philistines in this manner I come unto thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the Armies of Israel But you Christian Souls when you are to encounter with Death you may say to it not only I come to thee in the name of him who Commands legions of Angels and all the Armies of immortal Spirits but I come to thee cloathed with his Armor strengthened by his Holy Spirit and assisted by him in person for Jesus Christ who hath overcome death for us intends to overcome it by us We are the living Stones which he hath chosen of his disinteressed Mercy to bring down that proud insulting Enemy that causeth all Worldlings to tremble and cover their faces with Shame and Confusion Judg. 6. We have already seen a Sampson breaking in pieces with a wonderful strength the Cords with which he had been bound by the Philistians and tearing also the Body of a young Lion in which he found some few days after Honey most pleasant to his taste It will be much easier for us when we shall be strengthened with the Divine Vertue of the Lord Jesus of whom Sampson was but a Type to tear in pieces all the Cords and Chains of Death We shall rent in pieces the Body of this old Lion and when we shall search into his Bowels with a serious and repeated meditation we shall find the sweetest and most ravishing Comforts As when the Prophet Elias was carried up to Heaven in a fiery Chariot he let fall his Cloak with which Elisha separated the Waters of Jordan so that he passed through the River on foot Likewise our Saviour Jesus Christ being ascended up above the Clouds to the Throne of his Glory he hath left us the precious Cloak of his Righteousness he hath granted us his Holy Spirit that we might pass through the turbulent Waves of this tempestuous Sea of the World by its Divine Vertue and that through death we might enter into immortal Life And as the death of our Lord Jesus Christ separated his Soul from his Body although both his innocent Soul and Holy Body remained always united personally to his Divinity In the same manner the Believers death disunites for a time his Soul from his Body but it can never separate it from the Spirit of the Lord Jesus that is the Soul of our Souls and such an Holy Flame that it can never be extinguished When the High Priest of the Jews put off his Priestly Garments he cast off at the same time his Breast-plate where the names of the twelve Tribes were engraven Exod. 20. Not only our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life not only our Pictures are printed upon the Palms of his hands with the Bloud of the Covenant but we be as a Signet upon his Heart Cant. 8. so that we cannot be separated from him no more than his heart can be taken from him his Love is stronger than Death and his embraces are embraces of Love Ruth promised to Naomi that Death alone should be able to separate them Ruth 1. But on the contrary we may tell our Lord and Saviour who is as our Father Brother and Husband not only death shall never be able to separate us but it shall rather bring us nearer unto thee and cause us to rest in thy bosome where we shall be for ever satisfied with thine Heavenly delights Christians you need not fear Death for you are not to be wounded by all its Darts for you have been dipt in the River that springs to Eternal Life The Spirit of the Lord Jesus that is in you is the Spirit of Life the beginning of immortality and the only Spring of Eternal Glory and Happiness Seeing that the breath of the Prophet Elias raised a dead Body to life the Spirit and the Breath of the Father and of the Son will be able to keep your Spiritual life from decaying unless it be in Death's power to stop the breath of the Almighty unless it be able to limit the beams of Light and Glory that came from his Divine countenance unless it can cause the Rivers of living Water that spring out of his Throne to cease and dry up It is not possible that it should cause us to perish and render us miserable Therefore you are certain of your Eternal Happiness while Jesus Christ shall be the Author and Well-Spring of Light Life Glory and Immortality and that his Holy Spirit shall be victorious over Death and Hell and you may sing with David I shall not dy but live and declare the Works of the Lord Ps 118. You be not only sure of this Glory and Eternal Happiness and you be not only enter'd into possession of it by your Faith and Hope but you begin already to enjoy it and its First-Fruits for he that believes in Jesus Christ is past from Death to Life and whosoever hath the Son of God hath Eternal Life As the Prophet Moses when he was in the Wilderness did not only see afar off the Land of Promise but he tasted of its delicious Fruits Thus we don 't only behold afar off with the Eye of Faith our Celestial Inheritance but we taste at present and relish some of its blessed Delights And as the Fruits brought by the Spies were the same
the Nurse leaves sometime the Child to his Legs and suffers it to fall that it might know its own strength and learn to hold faster by the Hand Thus God withdraws from us the assistance of his Grace to humble us and to cause us to implore more earnestly the help and favourable succors of his Holy Spirit When St. Peter felt the Sacred Flames of that Holy Zeal that was kindled in his Heart and that sincere love that he had for Christ he rejoyced and imagined himself to be strong enough to resist all the powers of Hell and to frustrate all the fiery Darts of the Devil This good opinion that he had of himself and of his own ability transports him to that confidence as to contradict our Saviour Christ and to protest Although all should be offended in thee yet will not I be offended and when I should dye with thee yet will not I deny thee This was he who trembled at the voice of a Damsel so that his Fall and Apostacy was as notable as his Confidence was great therefore it warns such as stand that they should take heed of falling into misfortune Rom 11. There is no good natured Child but is vexed to live amongst such as Curse and Reproach its Parents and if we should happen to be concerned unawares in the offence or to occasion the death of him from whom it had its being it will feel an Eternal displeasure Now it is certain that whilst we live in this world we must spend our time amongst those that blaspheme the Holy Name of God and abuse the Glory of his Eternal Godhead Moreover Vice and Corruption are so universal that we our selves offend this Father of Mercies and Compassions we add sin to sin and heap up our iniquities together Let us therefore conclude from hence Believing Souls that Death is not to be feared as an Evil or a Misery but that it is rather to be desired as an Advantage and a Blessing For seeing that it is to be wished for because it frees us from all the calamities and sufferings of the World It is far more desirable because it closeth our Eyes and conveys out of our sight all the sins and abominations that abound in the World and because it stops our Ears and hinders us from hearing the Impieties and the filthy Discourses that infect the Air. Seeing that Death is to be embraced with joy because it delivers our Bodies from the diseases that torment them and our minds from the cares and displeasures that vex and afflict them It deserves to be welcomed with greater expressions of Gladness because it delivers us from all remains of sin and puts a period to our natural corruption so that it is to be esteem'd and look'd upon as the Death and Destruction of the Old Man rather than the Death of a true Believer Sampson rejoyced in his Death because he knew that in dying his mortal Enemies should dye also and be destroyed with him we have more cause to rejoyce at our Death and to give God thanks at that time seeing that in dying or rather in passing from Death to Life we may see the Destruction of all the dangerous Enemies of our Salvation Who are more dreadful to us than the Philistins were to Sampson All the most cruel and barbarous Men of the World are not so much to be feared as the Lusts of our filthy Flesh that put out the Eyes of our understanding that cause us to be the Devil's sport and to worship many false Gods We commonly run out with haste from a place infected with the Plague and should not we make as much speed by our Vows and Prayers to get out of the World seeing that Vice is so Infectious and Universal all over it that so many thousand Souls are therewith miserably spoiled Seeing the World is as a Babylon where all manner of Debauchery Vice and Vertue are mixed together where Unjustice and impiety Reigns have we not greater cause to be transported with Joy when God delivers us from our woful Captivity than the Children of Israel had when it pleased him to call them out of Babylon should we not sing unto him when the Lord returned back and restored them of Sion that came back from their Captivity we were as those that dream though our Mouths were full of Laughter and our Tongues with Songs of Triumph In short as the Lord Jesus when he had restored Lazarus to life and taken him out of his Grave he had compassion of him and could not see him any longer wrapped up in his Winding Sheet and tied with a Napkin therefore he commanded Loose him and let him go Likewise this Merciful Lord who hath made us to be partakers of the first Resurrection and called our Souls out of the noisom Grave of our Lusts is moved with compassion for us when he sees these wretched Souls drag about them the reliques of Sin and some Remains of that Corruption in which they were wrapped Therefore he will cause them to hear this sweet and comfortable voice Loose them and let them go Let them go to the Eternal Mansions to the City of the living God to the Heavenly Jerusalem to the Glorious Companies of Angels and to the Church and Congregation of the First-born whose Names are Written in Heaven A Prayer and Meditation for a true Christian who comforts himself with this Consideration That Death shall deliver him from Sin that Reigns so much in the World and from all Remains of his wretched Corruption O Most Gracious High Priest Holy Innocent separated from sinners exalted above all the Heaveâ—â— who art now shining in Light and Glory look upon mâ— from thy Sanctuary and Compassionate my wretched Estate Thou understandest well the cause of my grief O Lord who searchest the Hearts and readest my most Secret Thoughts Thou knowest O my God that I grieve to see so much Injustice and Impiety reigning this day in the World to see Vice Prophaness Superstition and Schism committing so many disorders in thy Holy Church But that which chiefly increaseth my pain and aggravates my displeasure is to see my self guilty and spotted with the general corruption and to feel my Flesh warring and strugling against the Spirit The Lusts of the Flesh do not only disturb me but they get many times the victory and insult upon my infirmities Sin shews not only it self to me in all its Hellish deformity so that I am thereby ashamed of my self but I also acknowledge to the praise of thy Grace that all that is best in me cannot endure an exact Inquisition of thy Justice Alas my God how imperfect is my Piety How languishing is my Devotion I worship thee too much for custom and in a very slight manner I often praise thee with my Tongue and Honour thee with my Lips whilst my Heart is far from thee The Love that I bear to thee is not pure and enflamed and my Charity instead of being
of the former For thou shalt change this vile body and make it like to thy glorious body this corruptible shall put on incorruption and whatsoever is mortal in us shall be overcome and swallowed up by life With these same languishing eyes I shall behold thee upon a Cloud of the Heavens and a Throne of fire with these ears that are going to be stopt I shall hear the sound of the last Trump and the Songs of the blessed Angels with this Tongue that can scarce speak and move I shall sing forth thine Eternal and Divine praises with the Church Triumphing with these dying hands I shall embrace and take hold of thee with these feet that are already in the Grave I shall follow thee whither soever thou goest and walk about the streets of the new Jerusalem this same Body that is now dropping into the rotten Grave shall be carried up into Heaven to shine as the Stars or as the Sun for ever and ever O Lord I am ready to depart out of this Tabernacle there is nothing but a breath in my nostrils the shadow of Death appears upon mine eye lids and my Soul is upon my lips but I am fully perswaded that in this flâ—sh which shall be cast away to the worms and left in a rotten Grave I shall behold thy Glory and magnificence I shall see thy face and shall be satisfied with thy likeness when I shall awake again Amen CHAP. 24. The Twelfth Consolation the Destruction of Death and the Eternal and most Blessed Life which we shall enjoy both in Soul and Body after our Resurrection WE have sufficiently treated of that happiness which is prepared for our Souls at their departure from the Bodies and of the glorious Resurrection promised to these Bodies when Jesus Christ shall come down from Heaven in his Glory to judge the quick and the dead It seems 〈◊〉 we have nothing more to say but as Moses when he had made the Ark of Shittim wood and lined it with fine Gold he put round about a Crown of Gold upon the Top. In the same manner now that we have declared unto you the incorruption and future glory of our Bodies which are to be look'd upon as sacred Arks 〈…〉 God 's Majesty shall dwell for ever Now that we 〈…〉 how by the Almighty and gracious power of 〈…〉 they shall become more uncorruptible than the 〈◊〉 wood and more glorious than fine Gold I will nâ—w with Gods a â—â—â—ance draw about them a Crown more precious than the purest Gold and richer than all the â—ewels in the World I mean to Crown this work and intend to end it with as perfect a Picture as I am able to draw of the Eternal Glory and Happiness which we expect to enjoy both in Soul and Body after our Resurrection But first I must say something of the entire and perfect destruction of all our Enemies and represent unto you the overthrow and the fatal end of Death When Jesus Christ shall appear again to Judge the World in Righteousness he shall sit upon a glorious and a most splendid Throne Solomons magnificent Throne was but its shadow and imperfect Type he shall then send forth his Angels who shall gather together the Elect with the sound of a Trumpet from the four parts of the World and from one end of the Heavens to the other The sight of this glorious Saviour shall then fill us with an unspeakable joy and cause us to burst forth into this Language Is 25. Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us This is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation But when all the kinreds of the Earth shall behold this glorious King in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory they shall lament and strike their Breasts in despair they shall call to the Mountains and Rocks Revel 6. Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come who shall be able to stand It is then that the Lord shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness and shall manifest the thoughts of the heart with the most secret contrivances The Books shall be opened not only of the guilty Consciences where Satans Image and Deeds shall be engraven but also the other Books where God himself hath written with his own finger all our actions words and our most secret thoughts All Men shall be judged according to the things written in the Books St. John declares this in the 20. of the Revelations I saw a great White Throne and him that sate on it from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was no place for them And I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works Unto this St. Paul agrees we must all appear before the judgement Seat of Christ that every one may receive in his Body according as he hath done whether it be good or evil There are three sorts of persons that are to stand before this glorious Tribunal such as never had any other teacher but Nature who were not acquainted with any other Works of God but of Creation and Providence for God hath not left himself without witness in doing good The second sort have been assisted with a Divine Revelation from above under the Law which hath distinctly taught them what Works are pleasing to God These may have heard something of a Messias from the ancient Prophets they may have seen his pourtraiture in the Types and Shadows of Moses ordinances The other sort have had the Grace of God clearly and plainly revealed unto them unto whom our Lord Jesus Christ hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel There are none of these persons if they have lived in Impiety and debauchery and are dead in impenitency that shall be able to excuse themselves in this dreadful day of Judgement But some are more guilty than others therefore they shall be condemned to more greivous Tortures The knowledge that God hath bestowed upon Man hath been darkened by the Prince of darkness but it hath not been totally extinct and that Law which God hath engraven in the Soul of Man hath not been altogether blotted out but there remains yet some relicks So that there is no Man living that can affirm that he hath done all the good deeds which his Conscience was perswaded that he ought to perform and that he hath omitted all the evil acts of which his Conscience did convince him They who have lived and are Dead without any Law of God revealed unto them shall be judged without the Law Such shall be condemned for having taken pleasure in
imagine that this Sign of the Son of Man is the Sign of the Cross which shall appear in the air This opinion in it self is harmless but in regard that it hath no foundation in holy Scripture I am not to insist upon it Others believe that it shall be the Fire with which Jesus Christ shall burn the Earth dissolve the Elements and punish unbelievers This conceit is grounded upon St. Pauls words to the Thessal 2. Thes 1. It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Others conceive that this Sign of the Son of Man is nothing else but the Body of Jesus Christ bearing and discovering the print of the nails in his hands and feet and the wound of the Spear in his side This they gather from these words of the first of the Revel Behold he cometh with Clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him There be others yet that take it in another sence and that believe that there shall be no particular Sign but that we must understand by this Sign of the Son of Man all those things which shall declare the end of the World and the coming of Jesus Christ to judge the quick and the dead If we take the words in this manner there will be an excellent allusion to that which is commonly practised when Kings and Princes make their publick entrance into great Cities for their coming in is proclaimed by the sound of a Trumpet and by the attendants of Majesty a Train and Pomp that usually accompanies it In the same manner the glorious coming of Jesus Christ shall be known by the sound of the Archangels Trumpet and by all the Signs and wonderful alterations which shall suddenly happen in the Heavens This last opinion is very likely and the former advanceth nothing contrary to the analogy of Faith Therefore in harmless matters which are controverted and not plainly decided by the Word of God we leave to every pious Soul a liberty to chuse that which it likes best Some inquire further If it be true that the Souls of the Damned go down into Hell immediately after their egress out of the Body and if they are tormented in a Fire that goeth not out whereof the heat never lessens as the Christian Religion teacheth and as we may see in the Parable of the rich Glutton doth it not follow that these wretches are already judged How is it therefore that the Son of God will judge them again at the last day and send them to an everlasting burning prepared for the Devil and his Angels I answer First That it is no absurdity to say that one Sentence shall be pronounced twice for Men are wont to read the Sentence of Doom to the Prisoner before he is taken out of Prison afterwards the same Sentence is published before all the people at the time of execution Likewise when the Souls of the Wicked go out of their wretched Bodies God pronounces to them the Sentence of his Death But when Jesus Christ shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory he shall publish the same Sentence before all the Men of the World and all the Angels of Heaven Besides that Sentence was never pronounced but to the Soul but then it shall be declared both to the Soul and Body and both together shall be sent to the everlasting burning from whence they shall never be reprieved From hence therefore Christians you may gather that there are three degrees of Punishments or Torments to the Wicked for in this Life they have a Worm that knaws their Bowels and Heart and a kind of Hell that Torments their Consciences At the going of their Souls out of the World they are cast headlong into the Eternal flames of Hell where they suffer unspeakable Torments at that time their Bodies are senseless in their Graves as the Bodies of the righteous But at this last and dreadful day of Judgement as the Grave shall restore all the Dead Bodies Hell which is the place designed for the Torment of the Damn'd shall give up all the Souls that are tormented in its flames and these cursed Souls shall be remitted to their miserable Bodies to suffer the pangs of an eternal Death Revel 20. Thus they shall be cast in Body and Soul into the bottomless pit where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth At that time the Beast the false Prophet and all the Enemies of God and of his Church shall be cast alive into the Lake burning with fire and brimstone which is the second Death Revel 19.10 11. And when all these Offenders shall be executed the Executioners themselves shall be punished for their Crimes when the Damned shall be cast into eternal Tortures the Devils and infernal furies shall be sent after them as it is said The Devil who seduced the Nations shall be cast into the lake of fire and Brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever Revel 20. What a dreadful sight is it to behold all those Roaring Lions those furious Dragons in their rage vomiting forth fire and flames What a joyful spectacle shall this be to the Children of God to look upon these infernal Devils bound fast with those Chains which they shall never be able to break and shut up in this bottomless pit out of which they shall never be released Our Lord shall cast into this Lake of fire and brimstone and shut up in this bottomless pit not only the Devil and his Angels the Beast and the false Prophet and generally all wicked Souls and unbelievers but he shall cast therein also Death and the Grave or rather he shall abolish them for ever As Josuah when he conquered the Kings of the Amorites he never killed them until such time as he had overcome all his Enemies Likewise our Lord Jesus Christ our true Joshua hath encountered with Death upon the Cross and overcome it by his Resurrection but he will not destroy it altogether until the last day when he shall come to judge the World Then to perfect all his glorious victories he shall destroy this last Enemy this destroyer of his Brethren and of his Members so that Death shall be no more It shall be no more for the wicked they shall seek it in vain to be freed from their Torments It shall flie away from them as a shadow that departs and is no more to be found Death shall be no more for Gods Children for it shall never disturb their Rest and Happiness If the old Serpent could enter into Paradise we should fear his temptations and inflamed Darts and if Death did continue in its Empire and Command
at break of day when the Sun riseth upon our heads but rather looseth all obscurity and darkness which the presence of the Sun drives away untill it be perfectly enlightened Likewise our understanding shall loose nothing of that light and perfection which it receives now from the breaking of the day of Gods Grace but as the Son of Righteousness riseth upon iâ— more and more in joy and Salvation it shall perfectly loose all Darkness and Ignorance by degrees until it be fully enlightned From hence it seems we may conclude that we shall know all the persons in Heaven whom we have known here below on Earth for if the glorified shall remember the wicked who have Tormented them they must needs remember also Believers who have bestowed upon them their Alms and done them good If it were otherwise the Apostle St. Paul would not tell the Corinthians We are your glory as also you are ours at the day of the Lord Jesus And he would not write thus to the Thessalo What is our hope our joy and our Crown of Glory Is it not you before the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming verily you are our glory and our joy Now if in the estate of Glory St. Paul should not know the Corinthians and Thessalo unto whom he had Preached the Gospel how shall they be his Joy his Glory and his Crown at the coming of the Lord Jesus This reason seems to me as clear as the Sun Nevertheless I cannot affirm that in Heaven we shall know again them whom we have known upon Earth by the features of their countenance for there shall be a wonderful alteration The faces of all the Saints shall be so beautiful so perfect and so full of light and glory that the most knowing shall not be able to judge them to be the same whom we have seen upon Earth Some therefore fancy that we shall know one another by the assistance of the discourse but our voice shall then be changed as well as our countenance and it is doubtful whether we shall discourse of the former things happened on Earth for our chief employment shall be to behold Gods face and to sing forth his praises I had rather therefore affirm that we shall know one another by an infused knowledge by which we shall know all things which are possibly to be known and by the light of that glory with which God shall fill our Souls In short this knowledge shall proceed from no other principle then that of all the knowledges which we shall have in that State of Glory and Perfection I am therefore more than fully perswaded that we shall know in Heaven our Parents and our Friends and generally all the persons whom we have known here below but we shall also perfectly know them whom we never knew in the World and never saw with he eyes of the flesh We shall know the holy and Blessed Virgin Mary the Patriarks the Prophets the Apostles the Evangelists the Confessors the Martyrs and generally without exception all the Saints who shall be Crowned with Glory and joy in Heaven There is no body can question but that in the Celestial Paradice we shall have more knowledge and understanding then ever Adam had in the earthly Now when God caused a deep sleep to fall upon him when he took one of his Ribs and formed therewith a Woman he had seen none of this done nevertheless when his eyes were open he knew her therefore he declared his judgement in this manner This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh And shall not we when God shall rouse us up from the deep sleep of Death with the sound of the last Trumpet know the Spouse of the Son of God which he hath drawn out of his side and fashioned with his own precious Blood St. Peter when he was enlightned by a beam of our Saviours Glory in his transfiguration knew Moses and Elias whom he had never seen before And shall not we know all the Children of God upon Mount Sion when we shall be transfigured our selves and that we shall shine all as the heavenly light whereof that of Mount Tabor was but an imperfect shadow and representation But although we shall know in Heaven all the persons whom we have known on Earth we shall look upon them in another manner and love them with another affection for all that we have of the animal and earthly life shall be totally abolished and as our knowledge shall be clear and certain our love shall be pure and heavenly I am not able to express this better than St. Paul doth in these words Although I have known Christ according to the flesh nevertheless I know him no more according to the flesh Christians consider well these expressions they will be able to remove all difficulty and doubts out of your minds We are all fully perswaded that all the Inhabitants of Heaven shall know very well our Lord Jesus Christ for how can it be otherwise but that we must know this glorious Monarch of Men and of Angels whose sacred countenance shall shine as the Sun and who shall sit upon his Magnificent Throne about which Legions of Seraphims flie and who shall be there adored for ever by all the Church glorified Nevertheless St. Paul saith That although he hath known Jesus Christ according to the flesh That is to say according to the manner of this low and earthly life when he lived here on Earth at present he did not know him in the same manner he did not consider him otherwise but as he is at present invested with an unspeakable Glory and splendor In the same manner although we shall know all them whom we have known on Earth we shall no more know them according to the flesh that is to say according to this animal and sensual life our love shall have nothing of earthly or carnal but it shall be altogether Spiritual and Heavenly I beseech you Christians consider well what St. Math. tells us in 22. Chap. The Saduces who say that there is no Resurrection came to Christ to intangle him with this difficult question Master Moses said if a Man Die having no Children his Brother shall Marry his Wife and raise up seed unto his Brother Now there were with us seven Brethren and the first when he had Married a Wise Deceased and having no Issue left his Wife unto his Brother likewise the second also and the third unto the seventh and last of all the Woman Died also therefore in the Resurrection whose Wife shall she be of the seven for they all had her Our Saviour answers not that this Woman shall belong to none of those Husbands because they shall not know her nor distinguish her from other Women but he replyes to them you err not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God for in the Resurrection they neither Marry nor are given in Marriage but are as the Angels of God in Heaven From hence
the glorious liberty of the Children of God And in the 3. Chap. to the Colos he saith you are Dead and your Life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is your Life shall appear you shall appear also with him in Glory Therefore this glorious appearing is stiled a blessed Hope that is to say the fulfilling and accomplishment of all that we expect or hope for as in the 2 Chap. to Titus St. Paul saith We expect the Blessed Hope the appearing of the Glory of our great God who is the Saviour Jesus Christ Then shall be the consummation of the Glory and of the head and of the Members for then the Son of God shall cause the Damned to feel that Power which he possesseth in Heaven and in Earth and in the Depths he shall discover himself to the faithful in his greatest Glory and most Divine Splendor Therefore this glorious Day of his descent from Heaven with the Angels of his power is mentioned as the first day of his manifestation of his appearing and of his Kingdom for this cause when the Holy Ghost speaks of this day it stiles it The day of the Lord Jesus Christ or the day of the Lord Jesus as also the Day of the Lord and the day of God As it shall be the Day of the Lord Jesus it shall also be our Day therefore St. Paul calls it The day of our Redemption because that in this day our Lord shall redeem our Bodies out of their Graves and shall bestow upon both our Souls and Bodies Eph. 4. all the Fruits of that Redemption which he hath purchased for us with his Blood Rom. 8. and shall raise us up to the highest Glory and most perfect happiness Heb. 9 It is the happy Day of the Consummation of our Marriage with this Divine Lamb. It is the day of our Joy and Triumph with the glorified Men and Angels It is the day of our Coronation and of our entrance into our Kingdom when the King of Kings the Lord of Lords shall Crown us with his own hand and put us in possession of an Empire prepared for us from the beginning of the World In a word it is the day when we shall come to the Lord Jesus and be with him as he is with the Father that we may be all in one Because of the glorious and wonderful things which shall come to pass on this day it is named The great Day St. Jude calls it thus when he speaks of the Revolted Angels he saith That God hath reserved them in everlasting Chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day In this manner many understand the words of St. John when he describes the Foul Spirits and likens them to Frogs which he saw coming out of the Dragons Mouth and of the Beast and out of the Mouth of the False Prophet and saith They are the Spirits of Devils working Miracles which God sent forth unto the Kings of the Earth and of the whole World to gather them to the Battle of that great Day of God Almighty Revel 16. Lastly this glorious Day is not only called The day of Judgement the Day of the Lord the Day of our Redemption and the Great day but oftimes without any addition it is stiled the Day and that Day as in the 10. Chap. to the Hebrews Let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and good Works not forsaking the assembling our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching In the first Epist to the Thessal You are not in Darkness that that Day should surprise you Thus in 2 Epist to Timothy and first Chap. St. Paul saith I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that Day And when he remembers the good and charitable Deeds of Mesiphorus he prays for him in this manner The Lord grant unto him that he may find Mercy of the Lord in that day And in the 4 Chap. speaking of himself he saith I have fought the good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give at that Day It is so stiled because of its excellency it is the Day of Dayes the end of all the Seasons the Consummation of all Ages and Times after this there shall be no more alteration of Days Months and Years Therefore an Angel is represented in the Revel lifting up his hand to Heaven swearing by the living God who hath Created Heaven and all things therein the Earth and all things in it and the Sea and the things that are there That there shall be no more Time for instead of this unconstant time which flies away without leaving any sign of its being an everlasting Eternity shall succeed an Eternity always the same always Blessed with Happiness alwayes glorious and joyful This Divine and Magnificent Day shall begin at the end of all other Days but shall never draw to an end Therefore St. Peter in these words calls it an Eternal day or Eternity 2 Pet. 3. Glory be to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ both now and for ever Amen And in expectation of this Day of Days all Creatures are groaning and travailling in pain until now but especially Believers who have the First Fruits of the Spirit groan in themselves desiring with an earnest and holy desire to see the breaking of this great and glorious Day It is the end of all the Prophecies and the accomplishment of all Gods gracious promises to his People in all the Ages of the World It is the end and price of our Spiritual Calling the fulfilling of all our desires and expectations the Crowning of all our Labors and the highest step of that glory and happiness unto which we pretend You Devout Souls that delight in the contemplation of Celestial things I pray consider with me the accomplishment and the perfection of three kinds of works which have been succeeded by their several Rests The first was that of the Creation of the World for in six days God Created the Heaven and the Earth and all things in them and when he had finished his Works and found that they were good and perfect he rested the seventh day Gen. 1. 2. Therefore he Blessed and Sanctified it The second great work was that of Redemption for when our Saviour had fulfilled all the Prophesies which meâ—tioned him when he had caused the meaning of all the ancient Types and Figures to appear in his person and in his sufferings when he had fully satisfied the justice of God and purchased for us with his Blood an Eternal Redemption he cried out all is finished John 19. and he bowed his Head and gave up the Ghost After this Christ had nothing more to do nor to suffer but he
of the Soul from the Body seeing that Death which shall separate you from your selves is not able to separate you from the Spirit of the Lord Jesus The Soul of our Souls the Seal of the promises of God and the earnest of our future Inheritance Instead of looking backwards and longing for these perishing advantages and for Honors that can only dazle the eye consider that Death shall wipe away all Tears remove all your grief and raise you above all the storms of the World above all the miseries and troubles that cover the face of the Earth That you may be able to follow this Death more chearfully Remember that it draws you out of a place all polluted with Sin and infected with Impiety to transport you into a new Heaven adorned with Righteousness and Holiness and perfumed with the Prayers Praises and Thanksgivings of the Glorified Saints remember that it frees you from all remains of corruption and gives Deaths wound to all your Lusts Mind not so much the false appearance of Death for to the wicked it is as it were the Subburbs of Hell the jaws of the bottomless pit and the beginning of their endless Torments but to you Believers it is the Gate of Heaven an entrance into Paradice and a passage to a most happy Life Learn to relish now the Joys wherewith your Souls shall be for ever satisfied when God shall Crown you with his Glory and make you Drink of the Rivers of his Pleasure Seeing that your Soul is going to put on a Garment of an Immortal colour and to dwell for ever in the Palace which God hath built with his Almighty hand Cast off willingly this wretched crasie and corruptible Body depart willingly out of this Earthly Tabernacle which turns of it self into Dust Consider well that if it falls by Death it shall rise again at the Resurrection and that when it shall have been the Dwelling and the Food of Worms it shall at last become the Temple of God and the Tabernacle of his Glory Finally O Religious Souls shut your eyes to the World and to all the vanities in it which the World adores and aspire to the real advantages which God hath prepared for you before the Creation of the World and which you shall injoy when the World shall be no more Let your precious Faith and your blessed hope enter into Eternity it self to behold that extraordinary happiness and glory which God shall accomplish when he shall bring us both in Soul and Body into his Celestial Paradice to see his face in which is fulness of Joy Seeing that this perfect happiness and infinite Glory which never entered into the Heart and thoughts of Man shall never be perfectly accomplished but at that Day when Jesus Christ shall appear from Heaven to be glorified in his Saints and to become wonderful in all Believers Think alwayes upon this Glorious Day the end of all our wishes the fulfilling of all your hopes and the perfection of all the designes which God hath conceived in himself from all Eternity You Devout Souls that are grieved to see the World prosper and Satans Empire flourish to see Gods Children subject to all the Darts of Death take good courage and rejoyce with an holy Joy for shortly all the Enemies of God and of your Salvation shall be punished with an everlasting punishment as from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Shortly the Devil his Angels his Agents and Slaves shall be bound up in Chains of Darkness and cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone and shut up in the bottomless pit Shortly Death shall be no more and this Church of Jesus Christ ' whose Miseries and Afflictions cause you to weep shall be shortly cloathed with unspeakable light and glory It shall enter with Joy and Triumph into the Heavenly Jerusalem and you your selves shall sing with all the glorified Armies of Heaven Seeing that Christ shall come as a Thief in the Night and shall surprise all the Children of the World unawares prepare your Souls Believers with the love of God and an expectation of your Merciful Lord behave your selves in the same manner as you would do if you were now at the Eye of this great Festival as if you did spie already the breaking of this most happy day Entertain now the same affections and joy as if you did hear the voice of God and the Trumpet of the Archangel as if the Earth were already in a flame and as if Jesus Christ himself were coming in the Clouds of Heaven And seeing that no impure thing shall enter into the Heavenly and Holy Jerusalem and that without Holiness no Man shall see the face of God cleanse your selves Christians from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of the Lord forsake all manner of Vice give your selves over to Vertue and to the practice of good Works imitate the diligence of the Faithful Servant that you may not be ashamed at the coming of your Great Master Take heed that you be not like the Wise Virgins that slept as well as the foolish but watch and pray that you may not enter into Temptation for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak Redeem the time for the dayes are evil and make haste to put on the Garments of Righteousness and innocency fill your Hearts with the Holy Oyl of Faith of Hope and Charity Take your Lamps in your hands and let your Souls shine with a Divine Light In this blessed disposition let us go and meet our Heavenly Bridegroom and hasten his coming by our Prayers and Groans Let our Souls be full of Love let them sigh for our Divine Jesus and being moved with the same affection as St. John let us say to him with an earnest desire Come Lord Jesus and if he answers for certain I come quickly Let the Longing of our Souls increase more and more that we may be able to Pray more fervently and to cry out from the bottom of our Souls unto Heaven Come Lord Jesus even come Lord come quickly Amen A Prayer and a Meditation for a Believing Soul that rejoyceth and comforts it self in looking upon Deaths Destruction and the everlasting and Blessed Life which we hope to injoy both in Soul and Body after the Resurrection O Great Judge of the World bottomless Fountain of Life and happiness thy Gracious hand hath put into mine Heart the seeds of Immortality the first-fruits of Heavens Glory and the foretasts of everlasting Delights Thou hast made me to behold by Faith the joys and happiness of Paradice where thou shalt receive my Soul when it shall depart out of this wretched World and to Meditate upon the Glory which thou preparest for my Body when thou shalt take it to thy self to make it like to thy Glorious Body Now raise my thoughts and my hopes to this highest glory and happiness which thou hast promised to our