to have a Luk. 24.20 suffered these things and so to enter into his glory Hath the Father made b Heb. 2.10 the Captain of our Salvation perfect through sufferings and will he not the same way bring many sons to glory Shall this High-priâ—st after the order of Melchizedek drink c Ps 110.7 of the Brook of Kidron in the way to Olivet before he lift up the head in a glorious Ascention And shall Saints the inferior Levites think much to taste it Zebedees Children do but taste a few drops at the bottome of d Mat. 20.22 23. the Cup of Kidrons water Christ hath drunk it off Saints do but sip of e Num. 5.27 c. these bitter waters not for satssfaction but submission to the Law they shall not cause their thighs to rot but conceive to glory What 's fabled of the Unicorn that he takes away the poyson by dipping his horn in the waters before the Beasts of the Forrests do drink after him Is true of our Lord he hath sweetned these waters of Marah with this Tree of Life for true Israelites to pledg him His holy body washed the waters of Jordan by his Baptism and healed the waters of Kidron by his Passion Christ that pure prolifick f Joh. 12 24 Corn of Wheat fell into the ground and died and bringeth forth much fruit The grave is made fertile by his death that Saints lying by his dead body may be impregnated and spring up in a green Resurrection and grow ripe to the harvest of glory They are implanted into the g Rom. 6.5 similitude of his death and shall be raised in the likeness of his Resurrection As that heavenly grain did rise so shall Saints sprout upon his stalk without Chaffe for the Garner of Paradise A. 4 A. 4. Again Saints dye not only in conformity to their head but to magnifie the glory of divine Grace in Salvation by the New-Covenant Christ takes away the radicall and fundamentall guilt of sin but not the totall in being thereof during this Life None shal go to heaven by the law of perfection according to the tenor of the first Covenant None shall boast of h Eph. 2.8 9. Tit. 3.5 work or merit for by grace are we saved None shall climbe to heaven but by i Gen. 28.11 12. Joh. 1.51 Jacobs Ladder whose foot is fixt upon the son of man We are saved by grace to k Rom. 3.27 exclude boasting we are saved l Act. 15.11 by faith that Christ may be m Phil. 1.20 magnified whether in life or death we are saved n Tit. 3.4 7. by mercy that the kindness and love of God our Saviour may appear we are not born but made heirs according to the hope of eternall life Nay we are saved by a Rom. 8.24 hope and with patience we wait for it Were we perfect here our faith would be clambering into vision and our hope into fruition our resting waiting panting frame would be swallowed up in preliminary injoyments of heaven our love would cast out all fear and torment and ride triumphant before resurrection to the capitol of glory But God hath an eye to that new and living way of salvation paved with the precious blood of the second Covenant wherefore though Christ be b Ro. 10.4 the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth yet he restores us not in this life to the beauty and perfection of holiness So that if sin remain in a Saint death must needs be its issue For sin when 't is finisht c Jam. 1.16 bringeth forth death Though death in all its circumstances be not the proper d Ro. 6.23 wages of sin unto a Saint because Christ hath satisfied and made us free from the Law e Rev. 8.2 of sin and of death Though death be not the f Ib. c. 6.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the stipendiary supper of a believer yet 't is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the four sauce wherewith the remnants and leavings of originall and the too great improvement thereof in actuall sins and infirmities are disht up Warm Bernard starts this question If Christ have delivered us g Bern. ad milit Templ f. 98. a. Ed. Pari 517. Utquid adhuc morimur non statim immortalitate vestimur Sane ut Dei veritas impleatur c. Why do we yet dye and are not presently clothed with immortality Verily that the truth of God might be fulfilled For because God loveth mercy and truth its necessary that man should dye because God had foredoom'd it but yet that he should also rise from the dead lest God should seem to forget his mercy So then though Death Lords it not over a Saint perpetually yet it remains a while upon us because of the truth of God Even as Sin though it reign not in our mortall bodies yet is it not totally taken from us Thus Bernard layes the burden of a Saints death upon the primitive fall the curse of God the veracity of his threatnings and fulfilling of that word to Adam in the day thou catest thereof thou shalt dye and a little before Adae delictum merito contrahimus quouiam cum peccavit in ipso eramus ex ejus carne per carnis concupisentiam genite sumus We are deservedly involved in Adams guilt because we all sinned in him for when he sinned we were in him and were begotten of his flesh by carnall concupiscence And is not this the very Doctrin of Paul a Ro. 5.11 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin So death passed upon all men for that all have sinned This is the guilt that carries those that have not sin'd after b V. 14. the similitude of Adams transgression into the grave Yea Infants Embryo's such as never saw the light from one dark grave to another Insomuch That though the second and glorious Covenant of free grace be c Ps 89.37 establisht as the Moon and as a faithfull witness in heaven yet it receives not its full accomplishment in all its promises till the Saints set down in the bosome of Christ after the great Tribunall and 't is not any the least impair or reflection upon the divine justice on this side the resurrection to visit the Saints transgressions with this Rod and their iniquity with these stripes d 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause sayes Paul treating of some violations respecting our Lords Supper many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep Wherefore though the guilt of sin be removed by justification through the merit of Christ and the dominion of sin by sanctification through the Spirit yet the totall remainders of originall or actuall sin are not stub'd out of the heart but some fibres and strings will stick behind in the best during this present life In like manner though e 1 Cor. 15.55 c. the
Contemplations ON MORTALITY Wherein The Terrors of Death are laid open for a Warning to Sinners And the Joyes of Communion with Christ for Comfort to Believers Phil. 3.20 21. We look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body Bernard To the Knights of the Temple The death of Christ is the death of my death because he died that I should live for how is it possible that he should not live for whom life hath dyed LONDON Printed in the Year 1669. To his highly honoured FATHER Mr. Samuel Lee Grace and Peace be multiplied from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ Honoured and Dear Sir THis little Tract was hatcht by the warmth of your desires it hath broke shell too hastily It looks but callow and speeds to your bosome for wing and protection The bonds of nature grace and promise oblige it from me I wish it 't were worthy your view might help your faith or raise your joy I shall wrap my Preface under the dignation of your paternal leave in a Testimony a Request and a Prayer My Testimony respects a gratefull acknowledgment of your singular goodness unwearied kindness and tender love from my birth upward When reason budded your wholsome and godly counsels ever dropt as rain Deut. 32.2 your speech as dew as smal rain upon the tender herb and as showres upon the grass The warmth of your affection cherisht me under the divine influence into a flower your wisdome then transplanted me into the nurseries of grace and learning and at length to the Muses garden at Oxford It was ever your pious care to place me under the shadow of holy Tutor I magnifie God and thankfully acâ—s knowledge your prudence and love My body indeed was ever but tender and weak your affections strong and vigorous your charges great your sollicitous thoughts were ever wakefull that no unkind storm might blow upon me I prosper'd for God was with you your prayers went up his blessing came down and lo by the grace of God I hope your labour hath not been altogether in vain in the Lord. You watcht me and the Lord us both and hath kept us as the apple of his eye and hath blest us together many lustres of years There 's none like the a Deut. 33.26 God of Jesurun that rideth on the heavens for our help and in his excellency upon the skie The eternal God be your refuge and underneath the everlasting arms Dear Sir my Request follows The God of Heaven hath sprung a branch out of your roots and given you to see a grand-son of your own bowels Blessed be his name who begins to speak concerning his servants a 2 Sam. 7.19 house for a great while to come Will you please to give him a principal share in the lifting up of your hands to the holy Oracle that the Covenant may never depart out of his mouth b Isay 59.21 nor the mouth of his seed which the Lord graciously grant him nor the mouth of his seeds seed for ever Will you please to lay your hands on his head and say of him as holy Jacob to Joseph c Gen. 48.15 The God who fed me all my life long to this day the Angel who redeemed me from all evil when I came over Jabbok from Laban my hard Uncle Bless the Lad let my name be named upon him let the good will of him that dwelt in the bush over shadow his heart Will you please to blesse him in the name of the mighty God of Jacob that his dayes may be long If it seem good in the eyes of the divine wisdome that he may grow to a multitude in the midst of the earth and see peace upon Israel that his smel may be of a field which the Lord hath blessed d Deut. 33 12. Let the Lord cover him all the day long let him dwel between his shoulders He is design'd for the Sanctuary if the Lord please to accept and gift him and to blesse his times with seasons and places of wholsome and pious literature Bee pleased to blesse him as a freewill offering in the name of the Lord that your little Samuel may be girt with a linnen Ephod to minister before him in Shiloh to burn incense and whole burnt offrings upon his Altar that grace being poured upon his heart and lips he may have the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to weary souls Honoured Sir My humble Prayer remains that the great God of Heaven would please graciously to support your spirits under the weakness of age that you may never want the staffe of Jacobs faith to lean upon in the hour of worship that your sleep may be sweet in Bethel upon the Corner-stone and afterwards may ascend the Seraphicall Ladder after the great Angel of the Covenant into Heaven that over all your sacrifices of prayer and praise that Angel of the Lord a Judg. 13 19. may do wonderfully that at evening-tide the covenant of free-grace may shine full in your face like the b 2 Sam. 23.4 light of the morning when the Sun is arising even a morning without clouds and that your assurance may spring like the tender grass by clear shining after rain that c Luk. 2.28 Simeon like you may take Christ in the arms of your faith while living and that Christ may warm your heart in the armes of his love when dying That you may sing aloud that lovly Song Now let thy Servant depart in peace For mine eyes have seen thy Salvation that having seen him here as a Prince of peace you may see him there as the King of glory If the following papers may contribute any thing I rejoyce waiting that blessed time when all our joyes shall be full and none d Joh. 16.22 24. take them away when Christ shall see us again and e Heb. 9.28 appear the second time to our Salvation When the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall also f Rev. 7.7 wipe away all tears not only from standing in but springing out of our eyes when the tear-fountain shall be dryed up and the g Punctum lachrymale Bartholin Anat p. 344. conduit stopt Here 's little but sinning and suffering mourning and praying there shall be nothing but holy enjoying rejoycing and praising Here we h 2 Cor. 5.2 4. groan being burdened with clay-tabernacles which set heavy and weighty upon us since the animal spirits are much exhausted by length of dayes and the sorrows of this frail life And yet we groan but not simply to be unclothed not meerly to put off our clay but to be clothed upon after our clay is baked in the earth into a transparent Porcellane Tabernacle fit for glory When Mortality shall be swallowed up of life and our vile bodies i
19 12. secret faults or are purely cleansed from all the stains of hypocrisie But that the bent of the heart is to God that the constant pointing of the needle of our love is to heaven that we approve no sin not the least intumescence fermentation or rising of an evill thought without actuall combate or at least a serious inward habituall displicency of heart against it springing from that radicall hatred which is in us through grace against the least concupiscence Though when we b Rom. 7.22 would doe good evill be present with us yet there is a chrystall fountain of delight in the Law of God bubbling from the inward man that cleanses and carries away the very soil of our thoughts This holiness of heart conformity of will to the Law of God flowes from the grace that dwelleth in us Thou art with me saies David A holy God makes the heart holy the heart of a Saint by the light of holiness sees God a holy God to be with it In c Ps 36.9 thy light we doe see light the light of grace and we shal see light even the light of glory Many infirmities are and will lurk in the choicest of Saints The Ivy of sin will shoot its roots and fibres into the joints and cracks of our Mud-walls but when these fall that shall wither A Saint is alwaies hacking at the boughs of actual and stubbing at the root of originall sin His sincerity makes him to lay about him and though he can't appeal Lord I have no sin yet thus he can Lord be mercifull to me a sinner d Ps 51.9 Hide thy face from my sins the face of thy justice the face of thine anger and look upon the e Ps 84. â— face of thine anointed within the vail f Ps 55.1 hide not thy self from my supplications g Ps 119.19 hide not thy commandments from me O h Ps 69.17 hide not thy face from thy Servant I am i Ps 119.94 thine Lord save me for I have sought thy Precepts I have kept the waies of the Lord and have not k Ps 18.21 wickedly departed from my God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have not dealt so wickedly as to go away from God and his holy wayes through the tentation of any wickednesse Not as if there were any departure from God that were not wicked but I have not committed so great a wickednesse as to fall away from the wayes of God His Judgments a Ps 18.22 were before my face and I did not put away his Statutes from me Neither his Statutes in respect to purity of worship nor his judgments that is his judiciall Law in respect to morall obedience Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to the cleannesse of my hands in his b V. 24. eye sight To wash our hands in the Laver of the Sanctuary before his eyes because he sees them not because men see their impurity David would not rake in any foul dunghill of sin or pollute his fingers with the pitch of bribery or the sanies the ulcerous matter of any corruption because God saw him Nay I was upright c V. 23 before him and have kept my self from mine iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have guarded watcht and strictly observed my self as to mine own iniquity whatever it were ambition lying or any fruits of a sanguine complexion Can'st thou thus appeal to God in Prayer that thou keepest thine eye upon God and that the eying of his face guards thy heart from sin Thou may'st then cheerfully infer that God is with thee that he will enlighten the lamp of thy Soul with the light of his love and thus lift up thy Soul with David The Lord my God will enlighten my darknesse and though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no evill for thou wilt be my guid to glory Section 2. A second Appeal may flow from a retrospect a reflection on a well spent life He that hath faithfully appealed about the sincerity of his heart may doubtlesse reap his Sheaves with joy from the Harvest of a holy life For out of the abundance of the heart d Mat. 12.34 the mouth speaketh the hand worketh and the foot runneth In whose hearts are the a Ps 84.5 waies of them that passe through the Valley of Bacah up to the Temple of Beracah Such as have Gods holy waies in their hearts want not feet to walk and run in them when the heart is in the foot it runs nimbly like a Roe or a young Hart upon the Mountains of Bether They goe from strongth to strength till they all appear before him in Zion Thy law is in b Ps 40.7 8 my heart that 's the root of obedience and therefore lo I come to thee When the heart believes the c Rom. 10.10 mouth confesses unto Salvation when the heart is fixed settled and calmed from carnall fears then d Ps 57.7 108.1 the tongue praises the harp warbles and the ten-string'd Instruments of the Soul make the Temple-Marbles to ring aloud of his glory When the heart bubbles up with a good matter e Ps 45.1 then the tongue becomes the pen of a ready writer The body alas is but the f Rom. 6.13 weapon the organ and altar of the soul When some persons are impeacht of an ungodly life they retort let every one answer for himself their hearts are good and that they are no hypocrites But can hearts be good when lives be naught or can lives be unholy when hearts be gracious Such as the vein is such will the metall prove that 's melted from it as the fountain such is the stream as the root such the fruit like star like influence The Pleiades will soften with showres and Orion will bind with frost The cause and its effects are of the same blood and kindred Out g Pro. 4.23 of the heart are the issues of life naturall carnall and spirituall Whoever can look back on a well ordered conversation to him shall be shewn h â—s 50.23 the Salvation of God He that hath his Quiver full of holy works may shoot at this enemy Death in the gates The ungodly cannot i Ps 1.5 stand in Judgment but he that delights in the Law of the Lord whatever he doth shall prosper when holinesse hath taken root in the heart it blossomes and flowers in peace of conscience and joy of the Spirit and brings forth pleasant fruits in the conversation and goodly spices in the hour of death Like the Psalmist in his affliction so a Saint at death comforts himself with the holy Songs he had warbled in his youth The end of the wicked is to be cut off Ps 77.6 and a Prov. 14 32. he is driven away in his wickednesse but the righteous he that hath walkt uprightly hath hope in his death Mark the perfect and
pray him to stay a while till they have caught the fish of profit and honour They put off repentance till gray hairs and proffer sacrifices of threescore yeer old when they are rich enough to believe with a bag of gold by their sides and have fortified faith with the security of a great purchase against all the issues of Providence Then they 'l promise to build a fair Alms-house and cut their Coat of Arms upon the Frontispiece for a good Example I know there be many Gallios f Act. 18.17 that care for none of these things of Felix his temper that appoint g Ch. 24.25 Paul a more convenient season They count them sour cynicall that warn'd them of death and the wrath to come but oh how sour doe themselves look when the fear of death assaults them and conscience bites like an Adder for scorning former advice about circumspect walking and redeeming of precious time But O fool is it not better to be prickt with the goad of wisdome to hear rather verba pungentia quam palpantia smarting and searching words to Salvation then sinoath and oyly words to lamnation that Sermon that pricks not but delights the hearer is not the word of wisdome Hierom. in Eccles. 12.11 p. S 3 T. 7 Is it not safer to hear this Bell now ring in thine ear then in Hell Is it not more convenient to hear Paul preaching in his chain then for thee to tremble in thy chains for the dreadfull sentence at the Tribunall of Christ Then hoarding up of riches will not profit in that day of wrath nor fine fashions ward off the stroak of Christs iron rod Ps 2. Will griping gains or soft raiment lay up a good foundation for the time to come Can men dye with any safe reflections of comfort upon the actings of sin Can such appeal to God at death that they sincerely love him when they love h Jam. 4.4 his enemies so profusely Let not these frothy things be entertain'd by such as would fain dye peaceably Would ye sleep in the bosome of Christ happily then walk in his eye holily Live in the love of God and you may appeal safely at death and long for his Salvation I have a Gen. 49.18 waited for thy salvation O Lord saies dying Jacob. But how comes in this pious ejaculation of Jacob may some say at his blessing of Dan unless the holy Patriarch in the midst of other matters at the benediction of his children should seem to have fallen suddenly into a trance of joy through a quick glance upon his former waiting and that now he saw this glorious salvation neer at hand Others when they are curvetting upon their winged Coursers after worldly games and pleasures Dan's Serpent of judgment and the Adder of Death bites their heels in the path and the riders fall backward Then oh how earnest they are for dying the death of the righteous Alas the Time 's now past for such to long for that salvation on any good grounds who by faith and prayer never waited for it But in Jacobs glasse we may see the frame of a Saints heart and the heavenly strain of his song at death who in the midst of the compiling his will and testament concerning that which his soul loved and had long expected he breaks forth in the extasie of a joyfull appeal now when he sees it approaching Lord this is what I wait for this my soul longs and hankers after to enâ—â—â—â— a Pnbliul in Hodaep Hierosol l. 1. vid. pâ—â—ef ad Pâ—â—â—veli peregran Hieâ—osol * 3. edit Antwerp 1614 Aâ— it 's reported of a Jerusalem Pilgrim being at Mount Olivet that in the midst of his kisses of Christs supposed soot prints between devour sobs and sighs and tears he expired his last breath When the Soul cries out with David Now Lord b Ps 39.7 what wait I for my hope is in thee Or as Simeon Lord Now c Luk 2.29 let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy ordained and my beloved Saviour with his salvations Now my hope thus long deferr'd shall sprout up into a Tree of Life and feed my soul with the pleasant fruits of thy salvation This Rock of the Covenant shall pour out the chrystall streams from the Throne of God and the Lamb. Jacob and Simeon sing the same new song of the Lamb and fall asleep sweetly in the same armes Their love to Christ bubbled up into warm appeals the sails of their joy were swell'd with fresh gales of the spirit while they steer under the top-gallant of assurance into the haven of enjoyment They lye down on the pitch of Nebo on the very peak of Pisgah in a beautifull view of the delicious Landskip of the fat vallies and the rivers of milk and honey that run among the mountains of Canaan They begin to cast away the glasse and see more immediately to resolve the riddle the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13.12 and expound it by vision When Saints like Peter can passionately pour out their Souls into the breast of Christ a Joh. 21.17 Lord thou who knowest all things knowest that I love thee this contestation this blessed appeal will keep Peter from ever sinking in the mortall sea of Tiberias and hold up the chin of a Saint through the greatest floods and billows of tentation yea of death it self and waft them safely into the bosome of Christ triumphing Section 4. The fourth and last appeal is about the presence of God with us I have spoken already to the sense of divine communion in a former chapter and shall now only treat in brief about our appeal concerning it David had a sense of it that was his comfort and conquest but now he declares it that 's his triumph Lord thou hast been with me and thou knowest it and my soul knows it and I sensibly feel that thou art still with me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu mecum Thou with me saies the Hebrew restraining the divine presence to no certain time Thou standest with me by me on my side I will fear no evill The Lord stood by Paul in a tempest and said c Act. 27.24 fear not Paul and Pauls all in a calm The Syrtes or quicksands of Lybia the Euroclydons or most furious winds the rowling mountains of water fright not his faith When Sun Moon and Stars are mantled in Stygian darkness for many daies while others wish for day Paul enjoyes it No dangers terrifie a Saint when God is present The King of Terrors is subject to the King of Saints and gives up the keys of his Castle to this Lord Paramount and layes down the Mace at his Feet Si fractus illabatur orbis c. Though mountains be hurried into the heart d Ps 46.3 of the Sea the waters roar and the great hills shake with the swelling
1. c. 51 the e Camden in Glamorganshire eternales domus those smoaky and fulsome Huts about which the leves animae the separate Ghosts do keep their residence here the sprightly Satyrs tread their measures and paint green circles in the Elysian Fields till the blushing dawn of eternity d Ps 22.29 None can keep alive his soul from death nor ransome his e Job 13.6 lamp from darkness The martiall Commander creeps under his Bed f Sueton in Coleg c. 51. with Caligula at the râ—â—â—ing of this Thunderbolt no Marble Palaces cau dazle the eyes or daunt the approaches of Death no iron bars can repell his force his aquafortis burns all afunder he stands not agast at the pale and wan looks of quivering Princes but like a gyant fluster'd with the wine of blood looks terrible on the proud Nimrods of the World Kings Edicts that Death be not whispered in their Courts are sullied on waste Paper they but daub their Royall Parchments with fond flourishes Their strongest Towers are but the spinstry of Spider-webs Death's too great a Flesh-fly to be catcht in such Tiffany Walls hee 'l hum in their ears with hatefull buzzing will they nill they There 's no Canon or Decree against him can stand inviolable Should Medes and Persians twist Laws as strong as Cables this Sampson snaps them asunder like raw Flax or twined threads If all Justinians pandects were cramb'd with severe penalties that death presume not to touch an Emperor or be rude with his Lady or Children hee 'l send a Phocas to find them out and hale them to his Slaughter-house The Captains of their Guard with their Halberdiers fling down their Arms and cry craven This old Leviathan g Job 41.29 counts their Darts as Stubble and laughs to scorn the shaking of their Spears When this storm rises this furious blast be takes down the top-gallants and the Flags of Admirals he cuts their Masts by the Board the wisest Pilot he flings over-board no Anchor holds they run adrift and are shattered upon the Rocks The cunning Lawyer with all his shirks and querks and Writs of Error cant hook out a Habeas Corpus from this unbribed Barr. Death has too subtle a Pate to be overmatcht he has Presidents and rul'd Cases and Records as high as Adam There 's no Chancery refuge or Appeal from the Club-law of this Kings-Bench he 's Lord Chief-Justice and Jaylor he 's Sheriff and Executioner But what sayes Hipocrates with his Coan Aphorisms and Galen with his long winded Method Can't he open a Vein in the Arm of this raging Adversary that his Sword may fall and the Galenture of his fury abate against Mankind Is there no inchanted Potion nor amorous Cup can lull him asleep O Physitians Are there no Recipe's in all your Dispensatories against the crack of Heart-strings Must his deadly Ague shake both you and your Patients into the Grave Must his dropsie drown you his Feaver burn you to Ashes his Consumption emaciate and waste you to Skelitons and set up your Bones in his Anatomy School What is there no Antidote no Treacle against the needle-teeth of this black Adder No! he turns a deaf ear to all your Siren-Lectures This Serpent a Eccles. 10 11. will bite for all your inchantments Such bablers are no better But alas for this day of darkness b Irel. 2.2 this gloomy morning that 's spread upon the Mountains Can we track no comfort in this thick Fog of Ignorance Are there no Trees of Life to be found in Lebanon Alas is Eden lost Is that Tree free among the dead did the venemous breath of the old Serpent wither it did he hack it down did he pluck it up by the roots Are there no sprouts from its chips nor no healing atomes that flew from its wounds into other shrubs or plants Is there no drug in Arabia no balm in Gilead no Spice in India can revive a languishing mortal What no Etheriall Spirits nor irradiating Sulfurs nor Minerall tinctures nor Elixirs of Life to cure this stroke Won't potable Gold snatch back the flying Spirit and intreat that noble guest to stay a while within its old Cloister new plaistred and gilt with this restorative Won't the limpid Alcahest make the blood volatile and circulate it nimbly against the cold congealing blast of death Won't the great red-powder cure it Then farewell all their empty notions and unpracticable maximes their clogging Syrups ill digesting Powders their life-exhausting blood-lets and their cold mortal Juleps O vain man Nullis mors est medicabilis herbis No Plant in natures garden springs To heal or swage these deadly stings Use the Physitian that 's a duty trust not in him for that 's a sin Good Asa had this mournful title upon his a 2 Chron. 16.12 13. Tomb that he sought not to the Lord but to the Physitians and slept with his Fathers Though the skilfulst Physitian and the holiest Saint do meet together yet both should count upon a last day a last hour and a last moment that they cannot passe b Isay 3.2 The mighty man and man of war the Captain of Fifty the honourable the Counsellor the cunning Artificer and the eloquent Orator Death takes them all by the hand and leads them into this gloomy Valley He reverences not the gray hairs he rises not up to the milk-white brow of the grave and ancient nor layes down his crooked Sith at the foot of aged and hoary head he strains no courtesies with the weaker sex nor gives it the upper hand the pitifull cries of tender Infants pierce not his Adamantine breast This tearlesse Moloch hugs them mortally in his brazen arms he hath Urns proportion'd to all their Ashes and Graves of every size But what though riches and honour though sweet natures virtuous minds prevail for no reprivall Must holy bones also see corruption Can't Faith Prayer wrestle a fall with this mighty King of terrors No no though the wicked twice fall under the dint of this Goliahs Sword yet 't is appointed for all a Heb. 9.17 ence to dye and after that to Judgment For as by one man sin entred into the world b Ro. 5.12 and Death by sin So death passeth upon all men for that all have sinned Faithfull Abraham must lye down in the Cave of Machpeloh Patient Job after all his Arabian Tragedies must act one Scene more and say to Corruption c Job 17.14 thou art my Father to the Worm thou art my Mother and Sister Strong Sampson must fall by this Jaw-bone in the Vineyards of Zorah and meek Moses though he dye in a d Deut. 32.50 Mountain must walk down this deep e c. 34.6 Valley of Abarim Wise Solomon by all his prudent and pollitick maximes of Government can't tame and rule this ferocious Behemoth nor tye this wild Bull at his Figtree But his sage breath must out at the dore
sting of death its venome and poyson be pull'd out by the death of Christ yet our mortality is not abolished Although our Lord hath brought f 2 Tim. 1.10 life and immortality to light through the Gospel in its revelation and consignation to every believer yet not as to its compleat fruition till the day of Christ Then shall this mortall put on immortality and death shall be swallowed up in victory and then shall we render eternall thanks to the Father for giving us this victory g 1 Cor. 15.57 through our Lord Jesus Christ For reign he must till this last enemy also be put under his feet To conquer over death by rising brings more honour to God then to keep our foot from the grave or else Divine Wisdome would not run that course One's th' effect of powerfull manutenency But the other of creating omnipotency Hence as Christ the Naturall so shall Saints be declared the Adopted sons of God a Rom. 1.4 with power by the resurrection from the dead by reason of which union God will also raise them up like their glorious and mysticall head b Act. 2.24 by loosing the pains of death it being impossible for them likewise to be held by it For Christ being risen from the dead is become c 1 Cor. 15.20 the first fruits of them that sleep Our blessed Lord rose at the Passe-over and they shall rise at the day of Pentecost He rose as the head they as members all in their own order shall rise to glory Obj. But some may say Did not Enoch and Elias leap over this Valley of death into heaven Ans True but their translation moved upon the wheels of transmutation equivalent to death as they also who are found alive at the coming of Christ Though they passe not through the strainer of the grave yet they undergo the percolation of a change As the heavens shall d Ps 102.26 perish when they be changed and passe e 2 Pet. 3.10 away with a great noise and the Elements melt with fervent heat neverthelesse we look for new heavens and a new earth not in substance but in quality Even so Elijah though riding to heaven in a chariot of fire and the living f 2 Cor. 15.51 1 Thes 4.17 Saints at our Lords coming in a chariot of aire yet are all by a marvellous change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.5 translated to the vision of God CHAP. VI. Of the Formidable evills in the Valley of Death AS in a Land-skip let us take a quick prospect of those fatall and tremendous evills which cock their Helmets and make bare their Gorgon faces at the entrance in the passage and the utmost end of this direfull Valley 1. At the Entrance when these brazen gates flee open The soul bewitching comforts to which we must bid a longum vale an eternal farewell and those wracking pains which must be felt not on a Palate of Ivory but a Bed of Iron in which this Gyant Procrustes tortures all he catches must needs shoot barbed arrows into the Livers of all impenitent sinners The Phylosopher teaches h Aristot Rhet. l. 7. c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that change is the sweetest of all things It must be in things to the better or equall at least in goodness to precedent injoyments else 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bitterest of all To have been fair strong healthfull rich and happy sharpness the edge of present misery cuts the deeper Is not this a dead fly in the box of oyntment a gourd in the pot a snake in the grasse that poysons the joy of all thy comforts Must the amorous smiles of all thy sinfull pleasures corrupt into doleful howlings Here 's the parting style when the sweet embraces of the dearest conjugall relations must surrender up to mortall gripings Here livid and fainty kisses must take leave of pretty children his own bowels pignora chara nepotes those choice pledges of a mans survivall unto himself The friend that 's nearer than a brother must now shake hands and look back to little purpose at this dolesome and dark good-night His fine houses and fair possessions his fruitfull orchards of his own planting and his pleasant gardens with all its rills and fishponds his flowry meadows and beautifull prospects his gamefull parks and woody forrests his dutifull and toiling tenants must all come to his bedside and shake their heads and with dry eyes bid good-even to their old foolish rent-wracking covetous Landlord Then all these flashy thorny joyes that made so great a crackling under his pot having shot some splinters in his eyes and more in 's heart will leave him in thick darkness Then all his false parasites and trencher-guests for a sorry ring else hardly will march with him to the pits side and forsake his memory when closed in a cold stone Besides 't will gawl him to the heart in that hour to think what a feather cap fool a Eccles. 2.19 he leaves for his heir that will turn upon his left heel and twit the miser when he sees his chests all lined with gold and sorrow for nothing but that he shall never more have so true a drudge Then out goes the young Ruffian with the fork upon his shoulder to France and Venice to learn carriage among Whores Banditos and riotous persons till penury forces his belly to fellow common with a Luk. 15.30 16. Swine and quatrell with hogs for their husks and at length can hardly crawl home to the Surgeons Shop Are not these sweet Flowers for his memory to smell to And a soveraign Cordiall against the assaults of Death But were this all 'T were no match for a Roman Spirit No no! proud worldlings before departure often conflict with fearfull torments Agags b 1 Sam. 15 32. bitternesse of death arrests their souls and make their Spirits stagger The c Ps 18.4 116.3 pains of Death and of Hell get hold upon them These deadly sorrows switch them with such smart lashes Ut se sentiant mori as to leave lingring pains with strong and biding Convulsions Like Tiherius that cruell Tyrant when tormenting of Asinius Gallus told him he was not yet reconciled and therefore would not permit him to dye d Dion .. Cass in Tiber p. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he might count life a punishment and death a great benefaction Like the stroke of these c Rev. 9.6 Scorpions when men shall seek death but not find it and shall desire to dye but Death shall flee from them So sharp and pungent are these invenomed shafts f Job 7.15 that the soul chooses Strangling and death rather then life They are called g Act. 2.24 12. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pains of death the acute pains of a woman in travell when God shall h Job 33.19 chasten men with pains upon their Beds and the multitude of
's his Cordiall For thou art with me thy crook and thy staffe they comfort me He fears no evill because God is with him He fears God and therefore nought but God I 'le forewarn you whom ye shall fear a Luk. 12.5 sayes our Lord fear him who after he hath kil'd hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him The filiall fear of God expells the tormenting fear of death and hell it self Holy David with one God in his hand encounters and vanquishes every evill and scatters the fear of evill Let the King of Terrors muster his Forces and order his Troops in Battalia The shadow of death to David is but the shadow of evill Though b Ps 3.6 ten thousand Curiassiers run upon him atilt with envenom'd and poysoned spears c Ps 4.8 he layes him down in the bosome of God he sleeps in peace For thou Lord makest him to rest in safety The d Job 26.11 Pillars of Heaven tremble and are astonisht at his reproof who keeps a Saint in his arms Hee 'll scourge the black Tents of e Hab. 3.7 Mat. 27.54 Cushan with affliction and the pale Curtains of this Land of Midian like the Souldiers at our Lords Sepulchre shall tremble to detain a Saint in the grave For he that keepeth Israel f Ps 121.3 shall neither slumber nor sleep hee 'l awaken him in due time in the resurrection morning to enter the Courts of Glory David saies not I shall not dye and therefore I will not fear But though I dye I will not fear for thou art with me Be the waters of Kidron never so deep the fire of Tophets Valley never so quick and furious g Ps 40.2 the pit of Moloch never so dark and obscure God hath secured my heart from fear because he is with me a Isay 43.2 The waters shall not drown nor the fire burn nor the pit swallow The power and wisdome the mercy and truth of God encircle the faith of a Saint he dyes b Heb. 11.13 kissing and embracing the promises and like good old Simeon taking Christ in his arms he tunes his Swanlike c L k. 2.28 29. Sonner and sings himself asleep at the mouth of the grave Thou art with me For thou art mine A God in Covenant guides to death and receives to glory Other friends take leave at death Here 's a friend like Ruth d Ruth 1.16 goes through with theâ— to Canaan Others shake hands at the grave they weep with Orpah and depart This friend takes thy spirit into his e Luk. 23.46 hands immediately and keeps thy body in his privy f Is 26 20. chamber of presence God is the God of Abraham even in the grave God g Mat. 22.32 is not the God of the dead but of the living God is the God of whole Abraham therefore Abraham is alive to God his immortall soul is alive with God his precious dust is alive to God and therefore Abrahams body shall arise to glory 'T is in his keeping who keepeth all the h Ps 34.20 bones of his Saints not one of them is broken and to morrow I mean at the resurrection of the just all their i Ps 35 10. bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee Josephs bones are embalm'd for heaven and lye in a more magnificent Tomb then Egyptian Pyramids and k Gen. 50.25 Exod. 3.19 Josh 24.32 Heb. 11.22 follow the Ark to Canaan Does the Father take care of his childrens bones what chest do they sleep in with l Is 26.19 my dead body saies Christ in the Cedar Chest of the Covenant What doe they sleep in the arms of his own beloved Son yes they m 1 Thes 4.14 sleep in Jesus and shall rise with Jesus They are baptized into his death n V. 14. and buried in his grave and brought in the clouds together with him The same new Tomb the same Fine Linnen the same Spices the same Angels for a Saviour and for his Saints Little did Joseph of Arimathea think that he embalmed the whole body mysticall of Christ and wrapt the Saints together with him in the same o Joh. 20 7 Napkin but so he did by reason of their communion with him But does the Father and the Son likewise take such heavenly care of dying Simeons and is the Spirit of Grace at a distance from the bodies of Saints which are his p Temples No such matter though there were not a stone of these Temples lying upon another yet the Spirit will rear them up The Spirit of God is at work in the grave of a Saint If the a 1 Cor. 6.19 spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you So then well may a Saint with holy Jacob b Ro. 8.11 gather up his feet into his bed and sweetly fall a sleep For the Father keeps him the Son lies by him and the Spirit quickens him All heaven will come down to the grave of a Saint and not wake their beloved till c Gen. 49.33 the day break and the shadows flee away then up he gets to the mountains of Myrrhe and to the Hills of Frankincense d Song 6.4 But to follow David its worth tracing the footsteps of David nay the footsteps of God with David in this Valley Therefore he fears not for God is with him le ts listen to his Harp and learn the Ditty Methinks I hear five principall Songs of spirituall consolation for a dying Saint An Experimental feeling of the divine presence For thou art with me David ha's it and David feels it and therefore speaks it 'T is his safety to have it his joy to feel it and his love to speak it the having of God at death carries us to heaven safely the feeling it wings us thither and makes us sing of it to others when we are flying A holy Appeal to God in Prayer David must now be supposed upon his knees praying harping singing for thou art with me All the joyfull Prayers of a Saint end with Songs and the Songs with this Epiphonema this burden shall I call it No! this Diapsalma this Selah this Diapason this Close upon all the Strings For thou art with me A Saint in Covenant and a Saint knowing it may dye sweetly T is a strong Cordiall 't will sweat away death For thou art with me and what 's the reason For thou art mine He that can prove that God is his may sweetly inferre that God is with him God's with none but who are his But they that are so and know it so shall fear no evill For God makes them d Act. 2.28 full of joy with his countenance Divine Relation is a Saints Sanctuary Fly to this holy Tower and thou art safe The Lords a
from the hony-comb Keep up thy feeling fellowship with God in the closest and choicest reflections upon his love and the fear of death will vanish Make conscience of secret sins and secret duties this will make way for secret communion and sweetly encrease it The more frequent and humbly familiar you are with God in holy reverence the more divine and soul-fainting emanations will flow from his heart to replenish thy soul and enlarge it for glory our a Ps 90.8 secret sins saies Moses are in the light in the broad day light of thy countenance Let 's consider a he sees the least aberration and wandering of our thoughts from his love let 's be as tender to avoid his displeasure as we would be joyfull in the beams of his face let 's b Ps 63 6. remember him upon our beds and meditate on him in the night watches Let 's c Ps 4.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commune with our own hearts and be still that we may commune with his and be joyfull Silete vacate be still from all passions and hurries give a vacancy to thy Soul to meditate on God and it will still thy fears The more our Souls are wrapt up in this communion the more they dye to the world and live to God Our life is a vapor to dying mortalls but death is a vapor to a living to a lively Saint But now let me end with a caution that 's mixt with a Cordiall A very holy Saint may set in a cloud and arrive at the haven in a storm God's tyed to believers by promise to save them but not to carry them in a Song 3.9 Solomons Chariot of the wood of Lebanon into Heaven Yet it stands firm what David sings in this present Psalm Thou art with me and therefore I 'le fear no evill When the Soul from feeling can chear up its spirits that God is with it It fears not who 's against it God for secret reasons b Luk. 24.16 may hold the eyes of some disciples that they may not know him to shew that all from grace to glory is from free love and that we can challenge neither grace to close with his Covenant nor assurance to discern our adherence The sprinkling of the Conscience from dead works the peace of God that passeth all understanding c Col. 3.15 to rule in our hearts and the joyes of the holy spirit all flow from the same Fountain All our springs are in Zion and bubble up from under the Throne of the Mercy-Seat Yea at the state of Death some ordinary Christians If meek and humble may injoy greater Visions then many gracious holy and sweetly gifted Ministers 'T is not alwayes the strength of Grace but the gift of influence that breeds and nourishes strong and bright assurance A Mary Magdalen shall call Jesus by the name of Rabboni When two experienc'd Disciples shall walk and talk with him many a mile and not see him nor taste him till the evening till the c Luk. 24 29. Supper of Glory But yet 't is rare for holy hearts to want these heavenly Visions The pure in heart shall see him in the Glasse of assurance as well as behold him hereafter face to face CHAP. IX Holy Appeals to God in Prayer great Comforts against Death DAvid was now at Prayer applying and appealing to God at owning and appropriating work telling God that he was with him Did not God know that he was with David Yet but God loves to hear from a Saint that he feels it A Saint must tell God that he feels it not to satisfie him as unacquainted with it For the Lord fills the Soul with himself and known unto the Lord are all his works from the beginning But because God delights to hear that we thankfully own and acknowledge it Thou art with me David speaks it upon his knees and with his Harp in his hands he sings it This Lesson Lord I learnt of thee wilt thou please to hear it Thou art with me in me and thou within me comest unto thy self I am full of thee and therefore my Soul over-flowes to thee Thy love is a fire which hath inflamed my heart and a Excellens sensibile laedit sensum being pent it preyes upon my spirits let it have it 's holy vent into thy bosome It multiplies upon it self and out it must wilt thou accept it For a while let it warm the strings of my Harp as well as of my affection and touch every tone with a flame of love as if a Seraphim had quickened it with a coal from the Altar Then let my Soul like fire ascend before thy Throne winged with that love from whence it came Prayer what is it but a flight of the Soul from it self to God A Soul affected with divine love hath Doves eyes its prayers hath Doves wings and flies with Letters of credence at its feet from the spirit within our Temples unto the holy Oracle within the Vail 'T is in Prayer that David pours out his Soul and sings Thou art with me he sayes not thou wilt be with me but inferres that God would be with him because he was so and therefore I shall fear no evill This God is our God a Ps 48.14 for ever and ever he will be our guide unto death and through death and after b Ps 73.24 death receive us to glory Faith carries the foot of prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Rev. 14.6 into the midst of Heaven as with Angels wings And as the Lord said to Joshua so may we say to praying Saints a Josh 1.3 every place that the soal of your foot shall tread upon that hath he given you the good land is before you go in and possesse it When we pray we enter the Court of Heaven where the Lord b Exod. 24.10 Ezek. 1.26 sits on a Saphire Throne embellisht with the morning Stars and the Rain-Bow of the Covenant round about him and thousands of Legions of Cherubims to minister to him We are taught by our blessed Saviour to pray Our Father which art in Heaven as if a Saint in prayer should account himself as it were assum'd into Heaven The Father sees us at all times but in prayer we doe Sistere nos coram present our Souls to be seen by him Should our hearts be in heaven when our souls are in prayer what heavenly hearts become so heavenly a presence as God's and so heavenly a quire as the Angells round about him Let 's pray that his will be done as it is in heaven that we be like a kind of earthly Angells that in all our prayers our wills may be hallowed into his d 1 Joh. 5.14 as when we shall come to heaven Then if we ask any thing e according to his will he heareth us To have our wills the best way is to have his holy will to be ours and then we may pray with reverence
behold the upright for the b Ps 37.37 end of that man is peace He 'l give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold If there be any choicer thing than grace and glory and truly that 's God himself he 'l keep back nothing From whom from such as walk c Ps 84.11 uprightly He 'l shew d Ps 16.11 Ps 23 3 the path of Life but 't is to such as first have been lead by him in the paths of righteousnesse Happy man that can unfeignedly and skilfully tune Hezekiahs Song Remember e Isay 38.3 now now at the point of death O Lord how I have walkt before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Integrity of hearr and the goodness of his doings are his double appeal at the appearance of death Though the good we have done be very little yet if that little fruit grow from a sanctified root God graciously accepts it because 't is of his own planting As David spake of his royall preparations for the Temple So must we of all our graces duties services f 1 Chron. 29 14. All things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee Do any fragrant spices perfume the air of a Saints discourse Or any pleasant fruits garnish the garden of a Saints life We must invite as the Spouse doth Let g Song 4.16 my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits The trees of righteousnesse are h Isai 61.3 of his planting that he may be glorified like the Trees of Lign-Aloes like the Cedars of Lebanon which the Lord hath planted and not man Numb 24.6 and Psal 104.16 i Phil. 2.13 To will and to doe to think and to act the hearts integrity and the lifes sanctity are all from his good pleasure Whoso can enter his appeal at the throne of grace with the testimony of his conscience that k 2 Cor. 1.12 in simplicity and godly sincerity he hath had his conversation in this world may rejoyce at the remembrance of the day of the Lord Jesus and long for its approach Section 3. A third Appeal concerns our love to God Opticks teach us that lines and raies of light come from all parts of a luminous body and traverse and cut one another at innumerable angles but some are centrall from the midst All the affections are but emanations beamings from the heart and will but love is the cardinall centrall ray What we love that sets all the wheels of the Soul in motion Love 's the commandresse of all our forces It a Ps 86.11 unites all the powers under its banner and leads all the squadrons of the soul into the fortress of Gods name The Soul before acquaintance with God was like a bird wandring from its nest but now she hath found where to lay her a Ps 84.3 young even all its unfledg'd desires upon thine altars O Lord of Hosts my King and my God The Soul that 's in love with God loves him only thirsts pants cries after him Whom b Ps 73.25 have I in heaven but thee and none upon earth do I desire beside thee Are there no Saints there no Angels there Yes but they move in the stated inferior Orbs both of their own essence and his affection he mounts higher and the glory of the Sun of Gods countenance eclipses all these Stars that a Saint sees none in heaven to love like God All these he loves in the order of his ascension to the bosome of God A Saint passes by the Angells ascending and descending on Jacobs Ladder till he comes to the embraces of the c Gen. 28.12 13. Lord above at the top of all Non aliud tanquam illum as d Bernard f. 94. b. Bernard heavenly non aliud praeter illum non aliud post illum A Saint loves none like him none besides him none after he hath tasted of his loveliness And again Nec pro illo aliud nec cum illo aliud neâ— ab illo ad aliud convertamur The Soul embraces none in stead of him none in competition with him neither turns about from him to any besides him Bern. p. 77. b. Bonum est magis in camino habere te mecum quam esse sine te vel in coelo It 's better to be with thee in a Furnace then in Heaven without thee A Saint loves heaven for God not God for heaven Heaven is heaven because God is there and where ever God is that place is a Saints heaven As a faithfull Spouse is not taken with the Jewells Bracelets and Ear-rings but the lovely person that gives them 'T is not the place but the person not the Palace but the Prince not the glorious Throne but the Father of Mercies upon it God lov'd first and kindled these holy flames and whither doe they towre but upward into the element of love within his bosome O let my prayer saies David a Ps 141.2 Dirigatur instar coâ—umâ—â— be directed as incense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the love of my heart like a pillar of incense No incense was fragrant to God but what smoaked in the fire that first came down from heaven no love but that which first flasht from God O let our love stream straight upright into heaven in perfumy and spicy pillars not waved by chill blasts of the worlds tentations The Torch of our affections was first kindled from b Ezec. 10.6 between the wheels of the chariot of Cherubims and it lights our winged feet into the Chamber of Presence We have none in heaven to love and none in earth to desire but God Here upon earth there 's nothing desireable but God In heaven there are things desireable but nothing so lovely as God He is the only prime and ultimate object of the Souls satiety Hearken to this c Ps 45.10 O daughter consider his lovely and beautifull glory incline thine ear and forget thy fathers house The memorable relish of the song of divine love inchants the Soul with a holy forgerfulness of old terrene relations So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty O Queen of Zion forget thy black Egyptian Father and all his tawny-moor Princes of the adust race of Cham. Run to the arms of thy Solomon desire him upon earth and love none besides him in heaven and he will greâ—tly desire thy beauty Thy beauty a Alas 't is his beauty that shines upon thee First thy beloved is thine and then thou art his he plants his Lillies and then feeds among them But let 's descend a little and try the pretended love of mortalls by these higher than Lydian touchstones Dost thou love any thing in the world more then God above God beyond God without God and not in order to him How then can d 1 Joh. 3 17. the love of the Father dwell in you Dost thou love him