thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name for thou only art holy and all Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest Psal 112.6 The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance A fifteenth Comfort in Death We may well rejoyce at Gods gracious messenger of Death because it is the wiping of all tears from our eyes and the finall end of all our troubles and sorrows the world the flesh the devill shall no more oppresse distract and hurt us with their distractions delusions and deceits Eccl. 4.1 So I turned and considered all the oppressions that are wrought under the Sunne and behold the tears of the oppressed and none comforteth them Ver. 2. Wherefore I praise the dead which now are dead above the living which are yet alive Hos 13.14 Hear what comfort our loving God gives us I will redeem them from the power of the grave I will deliver them from death O death I will be thy destruction repentance is bid from mine eyes A sixteenth Comfort in Death Rejoyce Because it is the imitating of our Saviours passion as farre as we are able that we may see his glory Matth. 10.38 He that taketh not his crosse and followeth after me is not worthy of me And Chap. 16. ver 24. If any man will follow me let him forsake himself and take up his crosse and follow me And somewhat more Luk 9.23 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his crosse daily and follow me And Chap. 14. ver 27. Whosoever beareth not his crosse and cometh after me cannot be my Disciple 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also raigne with him if we deny him he also will deny us Joh. 17.24 Father I will that they which thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world Matth. 10.24 The Disciple is not above his Master nor the servant above his Lord it is enough for the Disciple to be as his Master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the Master of the house Belzebub how much more them of his houshold A seventeenth Comfort in Death It is our freedome from sinne death and hell and all our enemies The day of death saith Solomon is better then the day of birth therefore is that day a day of rejoycing to us St Paul desireth to be dissolved and to be with Christ and saith it is the best of all Rom. 6.7 He that is dead is freed from sinne Ver. 11. Likewise think ye also that ye are dead to sinne but are alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. An eighteenth Comfort in Death It is our taking possession of the fullnesse of rest in the communion of Saints in the love of the eternall God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost and therein peace for ever therefore rejoyce Lazarus is said to be presently carried into Abrahams bosome where most sure he had immediate possession in a high degree of eternall peace Gerrards Meditat. p. 25. Death is the beginning of a holy life Isa 57.1 2. The righteous perisheth and no man considereth it in heart and mercifull men are taken away and no man understandeth that the righteous is taken away from the evill to come Peace shall come they shall rest in their beds every one that walketh before him Matth. 11.28 29. Hear our gracious Saviour Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Take my yoak on you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall finde rest unto your souls 2 Thes 1.7 And to you which are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall shew himself from Heaven with his mighty Angels And if then surely also from our severall changes till then Heb. 4.3 9. For we which have beleeved doe enter into rest There remains therefore a rest for the people of God for he that is entred into his rest hath also ceased from his own works as God did from his let us study to enter into that rest Job 3.12 13. Why did the knees prevent me and why did I such the breasts for so should I now have lyen and been quiet I should have slept then and have been at rest A nineteenth Comfort in Death Jesus Christ is in Death and Life to us gain and causeth death to be to us advantage the end of unexpressible evils the beginning of unexpressible and eternall joy Phil. 1.21 For Christ is to me both in life and death advantage All the miseries of Lazarus end in his death and his eternall joyes begin in Abrahams bosome Our Saviour Jesus entred by the gate of death into his glory and thereby hath prepared joyes 2 Cor. 2.9 such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive for them that love him Isa 35.10 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with praise and everlasting joyes shall be upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladnesse and sorrow and mourning shall flee away A twentieth Comfort in Death Doubt not of the all-sufficient love of God to thee in his Sonne Jesus He that gave thee a body when thou hadst none can give thee a heavenly body so soon as thou art at liberty from this of earth and will most certainly dispose of thee in Jesus as of his servants which is the best for thee His power and his will is sufficient to give thee joyes beyond thy thoughts Have thou true faith and true belief that God is and that he is the rewarder of them that seek him Give him thy whole soul and spirit and humbly crave the assistance of the eternall God that he will for his Sonne Christ Jesus his sake fully and freely enable thee to give to the Sacred Trinity in Unity three Persons but one Almighty God Father Sonne and holy Ghost all honour glory and praise as his most obedient servant for ever And say with true faith and love O gracious Father Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven And in thy most free and gracious love to a poor sinner in Jesus Christ thy only Sonne my Saviour doe thou compell my unworthy and corrupted will to doe unto thy most Sacred Majesty true and perfect service Doe thou O blessed Father for thy free goodnesse sake convert me wholly into that service for thou art my only Lord God and I am thy servant so come Lord Jesus come quickly and receive my spirit Amen Amen Matth. 19.26 With God all things are possible Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient walk before me and be thou perfect Chap. 15. ver 1. Fear not I am thy buckler and thy exceeding great reward Psal 50.7 Hear O my people and I will speake hear O Israell and I
perfectly to serve thee the God of our Fathers although we be not clensed according to the purification of the Sanctuary O Lord we beseech thee let thy loving kindnesse and thy mercie to poor miserable sinners in Jesus direct our hearts as the hearts of thy elected servants to pray unto thy sacred Majestie in spirit and truth and we humbly beseech thee let thy ears hearken to our praiers and the praiers of all thy servants who desire to fear thy Name Two things we most humbly beg of thee O our mercy denie us not them before we die Remove farre from us vanity and lies Give us neither poverty nor riches feed us with food convenient for us least we be full and denie thee and say Who is the Lord or least we be poor and steale and take the Name of our God in vaine so we will praise thee O Lord in the power of thy might saying Thou wast angry with us because of our mighty sinnes provoking thee but thy wrath is turned away and thou comfortest us Thou art our preserver and our refuge we will trust and will not feare for thou Lord God art our strength and long and our salvation O our good and blessed Lord and King in the power of thy mercie we will extoll thee and will blesse thy Name for ever and ever Praise ye the Lord O our soules we will praise the Lord during our lives as long as we have any being we will sing unto our God O our God blessed is the man unto whom thou imputest not iniquity O teach us thy statutes Teach us to pray unto thee in a time when thou maist be found Thou art our secret place thou preservest us from trouble thou compassest us about with joyfull deliverance because thy mercie endures for ever O instruct us and teach us the way that we should goe and guide us with thine eye least we be like the horse and mule which have no understanding O our loving God give us grace to trust in thee that thy mercie may compasse us and that we may rejoice in thy salvation and give thee praise with all the faculties both of our souls and bodies continually O cause us to trust truly in thee for so we shall not perish Give us grace and strength O Lord by the power of thy saving spirit in Jesu truly to humble our selves for the afflictions and sinnes of our enemies so in thy mercie shall our praiers return into our own bosomes but doe thou save and comfort them O Lord for thy goodnesse and let it be thy will O God that our tongue utter thy righteousnesse and thy praise every day We desire to doe thy will O our God yea thy Law is within our hearts deale with thy servants according to thy mercies and teach us thy statutes we are thy servants grant us therefore understanding that we may know thy testimonies we love thy Commandements above gold yea above fine gold therefore we esteem all thy precepts most just and hate all false waies Thy testimonies are wonderfull therefore doth my soul keep them The entrance into thy word sheweth light and giveth understanding to the simple Look upon us O Lord and be mercifull unto us as thou usest to doe unto them that love thy Name Direct our steps in thy Word and let none iniquity have dominion over us shew the light of thy countenance upon thy servants and teach us thy statutes Righteous art thou O Lord and just in thy judgments Trouble and anguish are come upon us yet are thy Commandements our delight The righteousnesse of thy testimonies is everlasting O grant us understanding and we shall live Hear our voice O Lord according to thy loving kindnesse O quicken us according to thy judgments Great are thy tender mercies O Lord quicken us according to thy free mercy and thy goodnesse Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israell know us not yet thou O Lord art our Father and our Redeemer thy Name is for ever O give us thy saving spirit of life in Jesus from Heaven for we can receive nothing except it be given us from Heaven O Lord why hast thou made us to erre from thy waies and hardned our hearts from thy feare returne for thy servants sake and for our Saviour Jesus Christ his sake doe thou write our Names in the book of life with thy servants Let our complaints come before thee O Lord and give us understanding according to thy word Let our supplications come before thee O Lord and deliver us according to thy promise Our lipps shall speak thy praise O God when thou hast taught us thy statutes Our tongues shall treat of thy word for all thy Commandements are righteous Let thy hand help us for we have chosen thy precepts We have longed for thy salvation O Lord and thy Law is our delight Let our souls live and they shall praise thee and thy judgments shall help us We have gone astray like lost sheep seek thy servants for we doe not forget thy Commandements Our sinnes O Lord our sinnes they have taken hold of us that we cannot look up they are more in number then the hairs of our heads therefore our hearts have failed us Let it please thee O Lord to deliver us make haste O God to help us Our souls thirst for God even for the living God when shall we come and appear before the presence of God O God thou art our guide for ever have mercy upon us according to thy loving kindnesse according to the multitude of thy mercies doe away our offences Wash us throughly from our iniquities and cleanse us from our sinnes for we know our iniquities and our sinnes are ever before us Against thee against thee onely have we sinned and done evill in thy sight that thou mayest be just when thou speakest and pure when thou judgest behold we were born in iniquity and in sinne have our mothers conceived us Thou O Lord lovest truth in the heart therefore give us wisdome in our inward affections Purge us with hysop and we shall be clean wash us and we shall be whiter then snow make us to hear of joy and gladnesse that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Hide thy face O Lord from our sinnes and put away all our iniquities Create in us clean hearts O Lord and renew right spirits within us O cast us not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from us Open thou our lips O Lord and our mouthes shall shew forth thy praise Deliver us from bloud O God of our salvation and from the secret trapps of our deadly enemy Have mercy upon us O God have mercy upon us for our soul trusteth in thee and in the shadow of thy wings will we trust till the afflictions of our sinning against thee be overpast We will call upon the most high God even to the God that performeth his promise towards us We will
over man Pale death beateth alike upon poor mens cottages and the towers of Princes It pitieth not the poor nor spareth the rich It snatcheth away youth in the flower of their lives and spareth none All flesh is grasse and all the glory of it as the flower of the field Behold a grave and discern if thou canst the captive from the King the strong from the weak the faire from the deformed then be not proud Tell me where are those lovers of the world which were lately with us certainly nothing remains of them but ashes and wormes In all humility then my soul meditate often upon thy dissolution for he which humbleth himself shall be exalted A man when he is dead is changed and consumed and where is he Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for so saith the spirit that they rest from their labours and their works follow them they neither hunger nor thirst c. Lazarus was carried of the Angels into Abrahams bosome that is he died in the Lord. Here we have no abiding City but we seek one to come Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live and full of sorrow he shooteth up as a flower and is cut down he flieth as a shadow and never continueth in the same condition I am a pilgrim and a stranger as all my fathers were The world passeth away and the lusts thereof Through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdome of Heaven The just are oppressed that they may cry and crying may be heard I beseech you as pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshly lusts which warre against the soul The present sufferings of this life are not worthy of the glory which shall be revealed in us Watch for you know not what hour your Lord will come Walk thou in wisdome and in right reason because a man in whatsoever he doth considereth the end and accordingly doth accommodate and dispose himself to the means that lead unto it Get wisdome therefore for it is more precious than gold The wisdome of the flesh is death but spirituall wisdome is life and peace It is appointed to all men once to die and after death comes the judgment The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night Be thou watching if thou watch not I will come to thee as a thief and thou knowest not what houre I will come unto thee Man doth not know his end but as the Fishes are taken with a baite or hooke and the Birds are taken with netts and snares so is man taken in an evill time which is not known unto him Do not deferre to turn unto the Lord neither delay from day to day the reason is for suddenly his anger cometh and in his wrath he will destroy thee Blessed is that servant whom when the Lord cometh and knocketh he doth finde watching We die daily we chang daily and yet we do believe we are eternal Dust and ashes thou art and into them thou shalt returne If onely in this world we have hope we are of all men most miserable The Just shall shine as the Sunne in my Fathers Kingdome As Christ our Saviour rose from the dead so shall we also rise The Sonne of God came into this world that all which beleeve in him should not perish but have everlasting life I Would not have you ignorant concerning those which are at sleepe that you sorrow not as they which have no hope Better is the day of death then the day of birth I have praysed the dead above the living Death is the necessary guist of corrupted nature which is rather to be imbraced then avoided He which beleeveth in him which sent me hath eternall life and doth not come into Judgment But passeth from death to life When I am weake then I am strong Happy is the man that endureth temptations because that when he is tryed he shall receive the Crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Be ye mercifull as your Father which is in Heaven is mercifull be ye imitatours of God as dear Children A Christian ought not onely to beare the Name of Christ but the Similitude also of his manners For the Name of Christ is frustrate to him that onely doth imitate Christ in Name The mercilesse shall have justice without mercy Give to the poor and thou shalt have Treasure in Heaven He which hath mercy on the poor is blessed Blessed are the mercifull for they shall receive mercy Come ye blessed of my Father and enter into the Kingdome prepared for you from the creation of the world for I was hungry and ye gave me to eate c. In as much as you did it to one of these you did it to me From suddain and unprovided death good Lord deliver us He which liveth well cannot die ill nor he scarce die well that lives ill To you it is given not onely to beleeve in Christ but also to suffer for him I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither can heart conceive the mercies prepared of God for them that love him What is there in this world can content the soul There is nothing the soul is content with nothing but God Our heart is unquiet untill it test in thee I shall be satisfied when thy glory doth appeare Almighty God made man that he might understand the chief good in understanding might love it in loving might possesse it and in possessing might enjoy it There is more joy in Heaven over one sinner that truly repenteth then over ninty nine just persons who need no repentance Jesus Chrst came into the world to save sinners His sins are forgiven him which are many because he loved much Now ye are no longer guests and strangers but ye are Citizens of the holy City and houshould of God Blessed is that servant whom the Lord when he cometh doth finde watching There is nothing hid which shall not be made known nor any thing secret which shall not be revealed Of that day no man knoweth no not the Angels of Heaven nor the Sonne of man So God judgeth thee as he findeth thee when he calleth Blessed is that servant whom the Lord when he cometh doth finde watching namely in a state of grace and not sleeping in his sins Prepare thy rightousnesse before judgement and before thou be sicke take Physick We love God because he first loved us The fear of God is the beginning of wisdome who feareth God doth good From the love of God we do receive the spirit of saving health As often as I consider the day of Judgment my whole body doth tremble whether I eat or drinke or whatsoever I do that terrible noise seemes alwaies to sound in my eares Arise ye dead and come to Judgment Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord for no flesh shall be justified in thy sight The just shall scarce be