imbibed all this into their hearts and ears cut off all their members which they have upon earth Col. 3.5 I mean their dearest sins as Fornication Uncleanness inordinate affectiō evil concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry and that they will go as far as their legs I mean the legs of Faith will carry them even so far as to the loving of their very enemies the giving of their bodies to be burnt the losing of their estates their ease their sinful and sensual delights and the incurring of the hatred of all their friends yea of all the world rather than go from Christ and go from Life and go from the World which is to come The uses of the point will be these 1. use will be one of Information Then how desirable must needs such a Ministry be You do all desire and covet to have such servants and workmen as do their work so faithfully so painfully and so well as that you may perceive and see your selves how much they do advance your estates on Earth and if so how much to be desired then is that painful and powerful Ministry which doth so labour to advance your spiritual estates and your soules that they may win Heaven We read John 5.4 that An Angel went down at a certain time into that Pool and troubled the waters and that whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of what disease soever he had and how much longed for the comming down of such an Angel was to the people then especially to the lame and to the blind and to the impotent and to the withered ver 3. I leave to you to judge Now every powerful and Christ-preaching-Minister is such an Angel so he comes into the Pulpit so he troubles the water making the Word which he preacheth to be troublesome to obstinate and impenitent sinners and so he causes it by God's blessing to become wholesome to many a poor creature that is blind or lame or impotent or withered which then and thereupon can and will being made whole and sound even offer a Sacred Violence to Heaven it self and strive to take it by force and therefore O how lovely O how amiable O how desirable O how much to be loved and longed for must needs be a powerful Christ-preaching-Ministry and those Gospel-Angels which come to us in the Name of the Lord O how welcome must they needs be to sin-sick and sin-lame souls though they trouble them a little first because they come with healing in their preaching and cure them at last and make them to make out for Heaven 2. Use is one of Exhortation Is it so Then 1. Encourage such a Ministry Quest How I answer 1. Hear it carefully as Mat. 3.5 they came from all parts to hear the Baptist preach even from Jerusalem and from Judea and all the regton round about Jordan So when such Johns teach let all the people that can come and hear them stirring up one another as those in Isaiah saying Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his wayes for out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Isa 2.3 2. Follow and do what such a Ministry teacheth according to that famous Scripture Jam 1.22 But be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves Mark deceiving your own selves so that you do but deceive your own souls when you but come and sit before us and do none of the things which are taught by us when you say What will this babler say when having heard us press the forwardness of the Saints ye will not live as Saints when having been told how ye must force Heaven ye mind nothing less than Heaven when after ye have drunk in our Sermons tending to Life and Glory ye will not so much as wag one foot nor stir at all that ye may drink in those ineffable Pleasures which flow and stream from Jehova's Face in the Kingdom of Glory And besides what encouragement do ye give us as long as ye regard our words no more than fables after they have been with all seriousness and sadness tenderness trueness earnestness and eagerness powerfulness and piercingness faithfulness and ferventness delivered uttered and preached by us O it must needs be a deading of our affections a cooling of our courage a stupifying of our spirits when after all our Gospel-Reports made by us we must take up that sad complaint of Isaiah the Prophet Who hath beleived our Report Isa 53.1 Wherefore as those Sorcerers which heard Paul preach were so affected with and wrought upon with his preaching as that they kindled a fire and burnt their books before all men not at all regarding the price thereof which amounted to fifty thousand pieces of Silver nor the loss which thereby they sustained because they would rather lose their Books and lose their Gain and lose all their Silver than lose their Souls and lose Life and lose Heaven Heaven being far more valued more esteemed more prized of them than all their books which were burned by them So do ye now go and do likewise ye need not kindle a fire for it for I have kindled a fire for you already by this my preaching for is not my Word like Fire saith God Jer. 23.29 Do ye only bring I 'l not say your books but your sins which I have preached against in this Sermon and burn them before all men that is let the Word which I have taught you now so burn them up as that we may see them no more hear of them no more be troubled about them and with them no more as when a thing is burnt we are troubled with it no more O Sirs where are those your books I should say yoursins which must be burnt bring them hither and burn them here before me in and by this Fire which I have made for you bring hither your Usury your Pride your Lusts your Uncleanness your Lasciviousness your Anger your onvious dispositions your idle courses your Drunkenness your Gurmandizing your Laziness your Slothfulness your Covetousness which is Idolatry and all the evils of your tongues which though little are such unruly members and let them all be eaten up by this Fire which I have now kindled crying and saying Lord burn up these our Corruptions by this Sermon O Sirs do not your hearts already burn as the Disciples hearts when Christ opened the Scriptures to them Luke 24.32 Do ye not feel this Fire O that God would work now upon your souls O that he would blow this Fire O that he would cause his holy Spirit to blow upon your spirits O that he would by his co-operation make this Word of his which I preach and which is indeed like Fire effectual to your salvation O that he would make it burn up all
is a Heaven And so Heaven above here * Ut supra meant or the Empyraean Heaven is a Kingdom of Heavens Secondly The Passion it self suffereth Violence 1. Suffereth Strange can Heaven suffer I answer Not properly but as it were 2. Violence And what is that It is a motion {inverted †} Tho. Aqu. in 5 Met. l. 6. proceeding from an exterior agent tending to that which by its own nature it hath no aptitude unto as here what Aptitude hath any of us naturally to win Heaven by force II. An Action And the Violent take it by force Where we have 1. Actors 2. The Action it self to be viewed 1. Actors And the Violent In the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original the Violent so called in the English are also invaders endeavourers urgers and such as press hard as these do who are bent for Heaven pressing and urging with the strongest arguments and with all their might and utmost endeavours the God of Heaven 2. The Action it self Take it by force 1. Take it The word in the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original properly is spoken of wild Beasts which take their prey which here is applyed to Men who take Heaven as a prey which they pursue till they have it 2. By Force To take a thing by force properly and commonly is take it by wrong Whence in the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrew Force is called by a name which also signifies wrong and injury and yet here is no wrong done to any when Heaven is taken by the Saints forcibly for it is their proper portion by Adoption that glorious Habitation and therefore when they seize on it by might they do what they do in it in their own * Understand a right derived from Jesus Christ who hath a double right to it Author vit Bern. l. 1. cap. 12. right 1 Pet. 1.3 But I desire now after all these Divisions and Subdivisions to come to some Compositions or Conclusions And 1. Let this be one 1. Doct. A powerful right Teaching and Christ-preaching-Ministry doth very much advance the winning of Heaven by a sacred Violence 2. Then take an other Heaven must be taken by an holy Violence For the first I shall raise and resolve about it these two Queries 1. What such a Ministry is 2. Why such a Ministry doth so advance the winning of Heaven by an holy Violence To the first I answer It is a Ministry which poureth out it self in torrents of affection lists up its voice like a trumpet comes to the heart in the demonstration of the Spirit thunders out the Judgements of God against all that is called flesh and not spirit strikes at the very root of every tree which brings not forth fruit to God labours mightily to desponsate souls to Christ and therefore holds forth none and nothing so much as Christ To the second Query I answer thus in seven Grounds 1. Such a Ministry will cry down sin 2. Will cry up Heaven 3. Will cry up Zeal 4. Will take away the Vail which is over all mens faces 5. Will take away all excuses and vain conceits 6. Will acquaint men with the absolute necessity of believing 7. Will inform them of that strictness of living which Christ requireth of all that will enter into Life everlasting 1. Ground It will cry down Sin according to that of Isa 58.1 and Mat. 3.10 as thus it will tell men that they which do such things as they do commit adultery and whoredom and all manner of uncleanness and lasciviousness with greediness do lie steal pour in strong drink and will be drunk and glut themselves with excessive eating live in usury in the sin of covetousness of anger of envy of pride without fear without remorse without repentance are worthy of death worthy of damnation and shall never inherit the Kingdom of God according to that dreadful Scripture Gal. 5.19 20 21. Thus such a Ministry cryeth out against all sorts of Sins and Sinners who when they hear them cry out so what sins will they not rather miss that eternal Life they may not miss And what evils will they not forsake that Heaven they may take When a man understands that either he must lose his life or his leg or arm or right hand or right eye though his leg be dear to him his arm dear his right hand dear his right eye dear yet will he lose any of these dear things or all rather than life because his Chyrurgion tells him that else he must die So poor Sinners when they are told by the Chyrurgions of their souls that either they must lose their best beloved Sins which are as dear to them as their legs their arms their right eyes right hands or lose Heaven if they will keep them they will with God's blessing do any thing rather than die forgoe any sin rather than go to Hell lose any profit rather than Heaven Heaven being infinitely absolutely indisputably better than both their eyes both hands both legs both arms in a word than all that is near or dear to them in all this worlds circumference 2. Ground It will cry up Heaven as the Baptist came crying and saying Repent the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 3.2 and as Christ himself came preaching and saying in my Text The Kingdom of Heaven suffers Violence and Rev. 21.17 which when poor souls hear how they will be startled with Gods Blessing how they will come as those Mat. 3.6 confessing their sins and acknowledging their former of citances and neglectings of Life and Salvation and being ready to do any thing to do well hereafter and to be saved as those Luke 3.12 Beloved if this were a Sea-town and a Vessel should arrive here from beyond the Seas and a Cryer should be sent up and down to cry That if any will buy take estates worth thousands in a goodly Country for a small matter yea for nothing upon the matter he may now be carried over in that Vessel and buy and take as much Land as he will and as cheap as he can desire O! how would those of your Town who have but little or no estates and are in want and have but little or no money with both hands imbrace such an opportunity take such a proffer and advantage and embark themselves to be gone and to take such estates in so goodly a Country and to inhabit such stately Seats This now is the case of poor souls we Ministers arrive with our Vessels I should say our Gospel-preaching which we carry in earthen-vessels at your Towns at your Parishes at your Temples we turn Cryers being for that end sent Isa 58.1 and bid to cry and cry up and down in your Towns and solemn Assemblies Isa 55.1 Ho if any man will buy cheap and take Heaven cheap or an estate in Heaven worth not only thousands but whole worlds and desires to have a goodly seat indeed let him come with
that day and wipe away our tears from our eyes as it is written Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Mat. 5.4 and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes Rev. 7.17 Now our tears may do us good being shed for sin but if we forbear weeping till we come to the place of weeping Mat. 24.51 what will that weeping then avail us O nothing nothing When that great sinner Mary Magdalen wept it was here and it was for her great offences and that made her so famous as she is Luke 7.38 50. O let her fame inflame us therefore that we may weep so likewise and that our end may be like hers though she was a sinner Luke 7.37 When * Amphilochius apud Vossium de vita Ephr. p. 16. St. Basil asked Ephreem why he relused to be a Preacher he said Because he was a sinner unto whom St. Basil replied I would to God I were such a sinner And so well were it for we if we were such sinners as she and others were who so wept and so repented Again Now force your selves to leave what formerly ye did love your sins I mean which were as dear to you as your lives and to confess them according to these noted Scriptures Jer. 3.12 Only acknowledge thine Iniquities and Isa 1.10 Cease to do evil I joyn both Confessing and Leaving together for so doth God himself Prov. 28.13 and therefore do not you put them assunder but confess and forsake Among Men he that confesseth dyeth but here and before God he that confesseth liveth So he that forsaketh Prov. 28.13 He that covers his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Now when I say confess I desire to be understood thus confess with †A Corollarie for Deprecations to be added to our Confessions Deprecations added to your Confessions as a Corollary like Daniel who so confessed Dan. 9.4 19. As thus Go and spread a Catalogue of all your main and known sins having one in readiness before the Lord and say thus and thus we have done Here descend to Particulars and when you have so done cry and say with Daniel O Lord hear O God forgive And it shall come to pass that if you shall so confess your Iniquities and the Iniquities of your fore-fathers and your uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled that the Lord will remember his Covenant made with and Promise made to his People that he will forgive their Iniquity and remember their Sin no more Lev. 26.40 Jer. 31.31 34. 1 John 1.9 Your fleshly hearts will be drawing back as being very unwilling to confess so even so much and all that they know for that is tedious to them but do ye make them stand to it and to hold out to the end of this great and mighty Work and so labour to take Heaven by Force And when that is done according to your minds then forsake what you have confessed according to that fore-alleadged passage in Pro. 28.13 and do even with much indignation and detestation cast off the works of darkness and walk for the future honestly as in the day not in Ryotting and Drunkenness not in Chambering and Wantonness not in Strife and Envying for it is high time to awake out of sleep the night is far spent the day is at hand according to that of the Apostle Rom. 13.11 12. O precious O blessed O wonder-working Scripture for this Scripture it was which so much advanced blessed * Aug. Confes 1.8 c. 1 2 3 c. Austin's to-be-admired Conversion when in his Hoast's Garden he heard a Voice saying Turn and read and he had turned to that place and read it and wept and cryed and was fallen all along under a Fig-tree and had said Why not now Lord why not now O my Brethren as he did then being moved by that Voice so do you turn to this Scripture read it and having read it deliberately either in a Garden or in your Closets and Chambers fall all along upon your faces I have done so my self in the like case and in the beginning of my Conversion and cry and weep and say How long Lord how long Why not now why not now O let this be the last day of our shame O now let us be converted now changed now metamorphosed now altered Here be extraordinarily earnest for the Conversion of a Sinner is a greater work than that of the Creation as * August apud vegam in Jer. 31.18 Divines affirm and no less than a miracle even a stranger miracle than it was in the beginning to make the World for there was nothing to hinder God in creating the great World but in renewing this our little World besides our own natural corruption all things on earth all Devils in Hell are ready to withstand him Therefore cry again and say with Ephraim every one of you Lord turn me and I shall be turned Jer. 31.18 And if your sluggish hearts would have you to make an end before you have your errands end and would be gone force them to stay and make them to make an end that is do not give over crying and praying for your Conversion till you be converted nor let your hearts depart from the place till you can and do depart from sin and so cast off sin which else will cast off you and put off the works of darkness which else will throw you into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore O Sirs I have put you upon a hard task but †For it is like necessity which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Thales Force will go far with it and therefore force your selves to it O my God work upon this Peoples hearts and take them into thine own hand like a Potters vessel and break them in pieces and when thou hast so done new-make them and new-create them effigiating them after thy own Likeness and turning them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God I humbly intreat thee Acts 26.18 III. All the Duties or Discharges of your High Calling 1. In Resolving * Of this Resolution depends all our whole Service of God Edm. Bunny p. 1. Resolution is a mighty thing and puts us upon action and brings mighty things to pass and without it little or nothing will be done Beloved What is the reason why so many men do not travel so far as others do nor go to wars as thousands do is it not because they are not resolved as others are So that so many thousands do not travel to Heaven nor will war for Heaven it is because they are not yet resolved For he that never resolves himself to do well and to leave the dangerous state of sin wherein he liveth is far off from doing the same but he that sometimes resolves to do it although by frailty he performeth it not at that time yet is that
Acts 17.11 enoble then your blood and enable your minds to mind heavenly things for such are the things comprized in this Book called the great things of the Law Hos 8.12 Put your selves to it therefore and force your minds to this most noble exercise which will so enoble your souls 4. In Relieving And Relieving 1. The Bodies of others 2. The Souls of others First Their Bodies with Food and Rayment and such other necessaries as they do want according to that noted Scripture Heb. 13.16 But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased And that of our Saviour Sell that ye have and give Atms provide your selves bags which wax not old a Treasure in the Heavens which faileth not where no Thief approacheth neither Moth corrupteth Luke 12.33 Where note that in the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod ab altero nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 misericordia derivatur Original there is a word for Almes which by a Metonymie declares the Benefactors and Almes-givers merciful Disposition shewn by his Donation and that he gives his Almes as he ought who by his giving ostends and sheweth that he is affected with the misery of the Relieved and therefore how few give Almes and relieve the Needy as they ought Again Note here that the Chaldeans and Syrians and Hebrews call Almes Righteousness Which * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 name is also retained in the Greek Testament 2 Cor. 9.9 as it is written He hath dispersed abroad he hath given to the poor his Righteousness remains for ever to shew that Almes-giving is a piece of Justice and that he who gives Almes is to observe the Rules of Justice and to distribute to every one according to his need as it is written Acts 4.35 And Distribution was made to every man according as he had Need. And who do so not one of an hundred A little will serve with many for many Few will do as †Clerk in his Life p. 251. Luther who when a poor Student came to his door begging an Almes and his Wife pleaded Penury gave him a Silver Bowl and as * Idem in his Life pag. 760. Bernard Gilpin who when he saw naked People would pull of his Cloaths and cloth them Ministers had need therefore to call upon men frequently Give Almes gives Almes and give to every man as he hath need And you had need to call upon your own souls for it for O how backward are they and how unwilling to be drawn to it With many every penny of money which they give when pressed to it is as a drop of their blood and they are as loath to spare the one as the other But I pray you consider this you that are so backward to this That mans Estate consists of three parts 1. Necessaries 2. Decency 3. Superfluity God allowes you the two former but requires the third for the poor If a man refuse to part with it he forfeits the former too and God oft-times takes the forfeit But I cannot yet so leave Charity for it is so lovely so comely so exceeding goodly O it ravishes with its Beauty replenishes with its Bounty and cherishes with its Benignity all that need it and come near it where it is in truth for it is just like fire for so it warms the naked makes lightsome the sadded and with its comfortableness cherishes the destituted and therefore make much of this Fire O let it not by any means go out but rather go and kindle it go and feed it go and keep it in and let many be fed be filled be refreshed by it nay let it set your selves on fire that your hearts may burn with it like fire which else will be as cold as a Key and had need therefore to be heated with it and inflamed by it Secondly Their Souls you must feed with your lips according to that in Prov. 10.21 The Lips of the Righteous feed many namely with wholesome admonitions seasonable instructions profitable reprehensions and comfortable communications O Beloved what cause have we to inculcate this such a time as this wherein so many who profess much yet express little of that Goodness that Sweetness that Delightfulness that Riches that Happiness which is in God in Christ in his Word in Heaven So as that I may well and seasonably here take up that sad complaint which Isidore made in his time speaking of Heaven Though this Kingdom be Eternal not a word of that for what man is there that spends the least part of a day in meditating upon that that once makes mention of that that instructs his Wife and Children of that all our talk is but vain But let this be mended and because our bashful natures are utterly averse from such talk let us oppose Grace against Nature and force Nature let us offer an holy Violence to our selves and constrain our selves to talk better and to talk more of Heaven * Evagrius 1.4 c. 14. One Writes of some Martys that though their Tongues were cut out yet they did speak and shall not we that have our Tongues and the use thereof lest us speak Oh speak speak one to another and that often as those in Mal. 3.16 and when you do speak speak the wonderful Works of God as the Apostles did Acts 2.11 or as †Nil nisi castum vel Sermo Dei ex ejus ore processi◠Author vitae Hieronymi Jerome of things chaste and of God's Word and begin so to do this very day and after this very Sermon as they at that day O do not defer it any longer the sooner the better the Matter in hand will furnish you with Matter for it is of the great Kingdom of Heaven which must be taken by Force and therefore stir up one another talking of it with your Wives Children Servants Neighbours Fellow-Hearers saying one to another as †Aug. Confess 1.8 c. 1. Austin once said to Alipius his friend after he had heard much of some mens taking of Heaven by Violence What is this What suffer we under the Tyranny of Sin Unlearned men such as Authony and others in Egypt and Milan do take Heaven by Violence and we with all our Learning without Hearts behold how we lie groveling in flesh and blood so what do we suffer say Heaven suffers and suffers Violence and we suffer it to be taken by others and will not take it our selves O! come come let us also offer Violence to it that by force we may take it Heaven is high but not too high for Forcers Forcers will carry it Thesore let us force our selves and do our utmost to win it Thus talk and speak one to another 5. In Fasting For turn to me with Fasting saith God Joel 2.12 And what eminent Fasters have most of the Lords most Renowned Saints and Servants been David that man after God's own
do thou work upon this peoples hearts and let the Spirit of Life come into the wheels of their souls let him so move their affections as that they may be lifted up like those Wheels in Ezekiel Ezek. 1.20 21. because the Spirit of Life is in them O let not all these my labours be utterly lost but let some poor souls be now won to the Shepherd of souls O Souls Souls are ye nothing moved yet with all this I hope you are nay methinks you are by your attention if ye be then move and move indeed I mean so strongly so vigorously so effectually towards Heaven to take it by Force as that the world may see your change your zeal your forwardness your labouring for Heaven Heaven ye see is even at hand as the Baptist said once The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand when he so preached it up Mat. 3.2 it was so and so it is now and divers enter into it nay take it by Force O do you so likewise and so live for ever So be it To God alone be all Honour and Glory A New and Living Way OF DYING OR A TREATISE Shewing how Saints after they have comfortably overcome Sin the World by Faith and after a New and Living Manner have lived an Holy and Heavenly Life by Faith may die at last after a New and Living Way by in and according to Faith Upon that Famous Scripture HEBREWS 11.13 These all dyed in Faith And provided especially for Preparation to be made by all men against the Approach of Death in these Sickly Times By Christopher Jelinger And Published by some Christian Friends London Printed in the Year 1664. To The Vertuous Lady The Lady ANNE SEYMOUR Grace and Mercy be multiplied MADAM MY great Respect and thankful Mind which I bear to your Worthy-Self and to your Noble Family for many Favours received hath caused and compelled me to Dedicate this Tract to your much-honoured Name and if it may but find entertainment and acceptance I shall count my labour well bestowed Only give me leave Much Honoured Lady to give you a short Account of this my present Undertaking These late Times are and have been very sickly and many every where are fallen asleep and when the time of our departure will be the Lord only knoweth and we our selves also know this that it cannot be long before we likewise shal go to our long home and be no more seen at our present homes because our life is but a vapour Jam. 4.14 and we flie away Psal 90.10 which not with standing how few are there which prepare themselves for that time Cogitantes de fine infinito ut vivant in infinitum VVhence it cometh to pass that most men when after they have lived a careless life they come to be unmanned by Death they go Imparati in locum paratum Unprepared to a place prepared idque in aeternum and that for ever for that which ends All is without end And their nearest friends are much the cause of it for the common fashion of Friends is to put their friends in mind of Death when they doubt that they can live no longer Zenas the Lawyer and Luke the Physician must have given them over before they will send for Barnabas to give them good Counsel and solid Consolation against their dissolution But I for my part will not deal so with my Christian Friends My design in this Tract is this To tell men plainly that shortly they must put off their caribly Tabernacles shew them evidently How they must die whilst they live that they may live when they die dying in by and according to Faith This this I aimed at when I penned this Treatise which if it be acted by Faith will so work upon mens and womens precious souls and do them so much good as that they will even long to enjoy the chiefest good and when their work here is done will shew them Heaven open for them where there is health only and no sickness living and no dying incorruption and no corruption ease and no pain singing and no sorrowing For the former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 Many I confess have written on this subject of Death but you will find that I have left the common road as much as I might for my principal aim in this Tract is To put men upon that New and Living Way which the Apostle speaks of Heb. 10.20 and which must be taken by Faith according to which we must die to live for ever That Great God and Saviour who can do whatsoever he will in Heaven and on Earth so bless these my Labours to you Madam and to al that shal read them as that both you and they may fare the better for them here and hereafter for ever So prayeth Your Ladiships Most humble Servants CHRISTOPHER JELINGER A New and Living Way of Dying HEB. 11.13 These all Dyed in Faith ALmighty God as one saith well hath given to men three Mansions of a diverse Quality 1. The World wherein they live 2. The Grave wherein they corrupt 3. Either Heaven wherein they are crowned or Hell wherein they are tormented In the World their Companion is Vanity In the Grave the Worms In Heaven the blessed Angels and in Hell cursed Devils I add For like and like sute best one with an other Good Men I mean with good Angels and evil Men with Angels-Transgressors and yet such is the folly of most men that they would have perpetual habitations and an ever-during happiness in this vain World where neither such felicity nor perpetuity is to be expected for as all have sinned so all for Sin must be by Death dissolved even the best not excepted as by those Worthies which my Text speaketh of it appeareth So that men should rather forecast what course it were best for them to take that being thrust out of those earthly Tabernacles in which now they mansion they might mount up into that most blessed and blissful House of God which is not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 What this Course is which men should take you will understand by my future Discourse wherewith I shall God willing entertain your Christian Patience declaring FAITH to be that most happy Instrument which must bring you to such a firm durable and glorious settlement This ushered and conveyed those gracious Saints which my Text speaks of out of their earthly and unstable habitations into those heavenly Mansions above and places of unexpressable Delights for they all dyed in Faith and the end of Faith is as St. Peter tells us the salvation of our Souls 1 Pet. 1.9 I shall therefore call the whole ensuing Discourse A New and Living Way of Dying and shew therein how we may in a most sweet comfortable manner after an holy and heavenly walking die at last by in and according to Faith Faith I mean unfeigned lively and saving In which the antient Patriarchs dyed according
of Heaven And therefore imprint them all in your memories that so those everlasting Spirits of yours breathed into your bodies by the All-powerful God I mean your Souls may feed on them and sill themselves with them and be revived by them so consequently with such Honey-sweet-Cordials strengthening them may go hence when the time of their departure is come to God your Heavenly Father as Sampson to his Father with Honey in his mouth for he came eating Judg. 14.9 The third Principle You must make it sure that you have faith by an infallible Tryal 2 Cor. 13.5 trying your selves often by these three never-deceiving Signs 1. A thorow Humiliation Acts 2.37 2. A thorow Purgation from sin even every known sin so as that none reigns or rules in the heart Acts 15.9 3. A thorow Sanctification Acts 26.18 manifesting it self by a constant and earnest endeavour to walk in all God's Holy Commandments in general Luke 1.6 and by love unfained in special I mean that singular Love which the true Believer bears to God in Christ above all seeking his Glory in all things and more then all things and to the Châ—â—dren of God for God Gal. 6.5 1 John 3.14 Of which love St. * Aug. de Trin. l. 8. c. 7. Austin saith truly That a man knoweth more the love with which he loveth then his Brother whom he loves The Fourth Principle You are to make use of your Faith when death approacheth as the state of a dying Believer requireth it observing these ensuing Rules The First Rule A dying Believer must set his House in order Isa 38. and if he be free and of ability and have not done so before make his last Will and Testament according to Faith believing verily that God will be a Father to his Children if he be a Father and a Husband to his Wife if a Husbard and that he will bless that well-gotten Estate which he leaveth to his God-fearing Posterity whether it be much or little so as that they shall find content in it and so far forth as his blessing of it shall make for their good The Second Rule He must according to Faith possess his Soul in * Cum eâ—iâ—â— Deus sit qui nos castigat is misericordiae suae non obliviscatur cur it a nos conficimur marere cur solvimur in ejulator Cur murmuramus fremimus Doctor Daniel Tisianus in Lament 4.39 Patience eying by Faith such places as these Isa 26.3 Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 4.17 The consideration whereof caused an ancient * Aug. in Psal 36. Cenc 2. Doctor to say most aptly When thou dost consider what thou art to receive all the things that thou sufferest here imagine the most bitter pains pangs which thou must undergoe in thy last and sorest sickness will be vile unto thee neither wilt thou esteem them worthy for which thou shouldst receive it Thou wilt wonder that so much is given for so small a labour For indeed Brethren for everlasting rest everlasting labour should be undergone being to receive everlasting felicity thou oughtest to sustain everlasting sufferings but if thou shouldest undergoe everlasting labour when shouldst thou come to everlasting felicity So it cometh to pass that thy tribulation must needs be Temporal that it being finished thou mayest come to infinite felicity But yet Brethren there might have been long tribulation for eternal Felicity That for example because our felicity shall have no end our misery and our tribulations add sickness in special should be of long continuance for admit they should continue a thousand years weigh a thousand years with eternity Why dost thou weigh that which is finite be it never so great with that which is infinite Ten thousand years ten hundred thousand if we should say and a thousand thousand which have an end cannot be compared with Eternity So Macarius the Eygptian Anchorete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 15. Touching the Gift which Christians shall inherit this a man may rightly say that if any one from the time Adam was created unto the very end of the world did fight against Satan and undergo afflictions add or should be so long visited with the most grievous sickness he should do or suffer no great matter in respect of the Glory that he shall inherit for he shall reign with Christ without end 3. Let him give good instructions to the Survivers according to Faith like Jacob Gen. 49.2 3 4 c. and like (e) Dr. Hill in his Directions to die well p. 129. St. Austin who being near his end said Nature compelleth me to be dissolved I according to the Scripture phrase am to go the way of my fore-Fathers Now Christ inviteth me now I desire to see celestial Sights O keep you the Faith think you also that ye are mortal men Let this be your care to keep the Commandments of God if you regard me or keep any remembrance of me your Father think of these things savour these things do these things 4. Let him take his fill and farewel of Repentance viewing confessing and lamenting his sins as much as he can according to Faith and in Faith that is believing verily that he shall see them no more again for ever even as the Children of Israel saw the Egyptians of whom they were so much afraid no more again for ever Exod. 14.13 5. When he is brought to the very confines of that King of fear so as that now forthwith he must yield up his Ghost then let him even sleep up in Faith and die in the Lord according to Faith Rev. 14.13 I 'll explicate my meaning herein by these few Directions 1. Let him now eye the Promises formerly gathered for the same purpose like those antient Believers Heb. 11.13 2. Let him labour to be perswaded of them as they were Ibidem 3. Let him even imbrace the Lord Christ in the arms of his faith as old Simeon imbraced him in the armes of his body believing verily 1. That he died for him in particular that he might not die the death which is eternal Gal. 2.20 2. That he purchased Heaven for him in particular as the Author of his Salvation Heb. 5.9 like sweet (b) Guillermus de vita St. Bernard l. 1. c. 12. St. Bernard who when he seemed to stand before God's dreadful Tribunal in a grievous sickness told Satan accusing him That he for his part was not worthy indeed of everlasting Life but that his Lord and Saviour Christ having a twofold right to it by inheritance and by vertue of his passion was contented with the one and did impart unto him the other So let him perswade himself in like manner and answer the same Accuser of the Brethren in the same words if he trouble him as at such a time he is wont to do with his accusations to drive him to desparation 3. Let him pray in Faith to the Lord saying either with Stephen the Proto-Martyr Lord