whether it be good or evil But because Generals do not so much affect us unto our Edification I shall be a little more particular in my Discourse upon this Subject and so I shall speak something concerning Death in a Threefold Sence as the Scripture holds it forth unto us And so there is I. A Death in Sin II. A Death to Sin And III. A Death for Sin First There is a Death in Sin this the Scripture mentions often 5 John 25. The hour is coming and now is when the Dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live So 5 Ephes 14. Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light So let the dead bury the dead Mat. 8.22 This Death in Sin consists in the want of a Principle of Spiritual Life being the deprivation of the Life of Grace and Holiness which is the Life of the Soul and without which the Soul is dead And thus all Men naturally are dead because they are without the Spirit of Christ which enlivens and quickens the Soul to all Acts of Grace and Holiness wherein this Spiritual Life doth manifest it self as the Soul enlivens and quickens the Body unto all Acts of Nature wherein the natural Life doth manifest it self That all Men are thus dead in Sin naturally is evident from Scripture 2 Ephes 1 2 3. The Apostle writing to the Ephesians who by the Almighty Power of God were raised from this Spiritual Death as he tells them in the First Verse And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins that he might beget in them a grateful Sense of God's Goodness towards them herein He describes to them their former deplorable Condition Wherein says he in times past ye walked according to the Course of the World according to the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that worketh in the Children of Disobedience And in Ver. 3. the Apostle puts himself into the Number Among whom says he we all had our Conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature Children of Wrath even as others And then in the fourth Verse he gives them to understand by whom they were raised out of so miserable an Estate But God says he who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by Grace ye are saved Now this Spiritual Death or this Death in Sin is the fruit and effect of our first Parents Apostacy from God whereby we are not only deprived of the Image of God which is the Beauty yea the Life of the Soul but are also depraved with the Image of the Devil which is not only the Deformity of the Soul but even as Death unto it And because this is a Spiritual Death and reacheth chiefly to the Soul it is therefore the more hurtful and dangerous though the effects of it extends it self to the Body also being that which is the Cause of Natural Death for therefore the Body is a frail dying Body because it is joyned to a sinful Soul but this is not all the Mischief it doth for this Death in Sin unless Grace prevent is that which ends in Eternal Death which consists in an everlasting separation of Soul and Body from the eternal Enjoyment of God in Heaven in whose presence there is fulness of Joy and at whose right hand there are Pleasures for evermore Secondly There is a Death to Sin of this we read Rom. 6.2 How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein So in 1 Pet. 2.24 That we being dead to sin should not live any longer therein This Death to sin consists in the Spirits indwelling in the Soul by its sanctifying Operations enabling the Soul to mortifie sin Hence the Apostle tells us Rom. 8.13 That if through the Spirit we mortifie the deeds of the Body we shall live Such therefore who have felt the Efficacy of an Almighty Power from the Death of Christ by the Operation of the Spirit applying of it to their Souls to break the power and strength of sin so that it doth not reign in them they may be said to be dead to sin because sin is dying in them As those Persons over whom Distempers have prevailed so far that they have lost their bodily strength that it cannot be recovered again are said to be dead even while they live so tho' sin still live in the godly by reason of the Remainders of it yet are they dead to sin because the Power and Strength of it is abated and lessened the Spirit of Sanctification prevailing dayly over sin so that it doth not rule and reign as formerly it did Thus to dye to sin is to be made alive to God and blessed are they that have a part in this Resurrection from the death of sin to the life of Grace for on such the second Death shall have no Power Thirdly There is a Death for Sin or because of sin Now this is Two-fold Temporal and Eternal 1. Temporal Death This is contained in that merciful Threatning God gave unto Adam in Paradice to prevent his Apostacy Gen. 2.16 17. where after God had so largely expressed his bounty and goodness unto man in giving him liberty to eat of every Tree of the Garden restraining him only by a Command from the Tree of Knowledge for the Tryal of his Obedience as Ver. 17. Of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat which he backs with a Threatning in the next Words For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye The Truth of which Threatning the Experience of all Mankind to this day is a standing Confirmation so true is that of the Apostle As by one Man sin enter'd into the World and Death by sin and so Death passed upon all for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 2. There is an Eternal Death for sin and this follows upon the Death of the Body consisting in the separation of Soul and Body from the Presence and Favour of God for ever in Hell and is in part executed on the Souls of wicked Men at Death and perfectly upon Soul and Body at the Resurrection when the Wicked shall be turned into Hell and punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power which in Scripture is called the Second Death Rev. 21.8 Where wicked and unregenerate persons are said to have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the Second Death This is the height and perfection of all Misery This now is the Substance of what is contained in this Word Death so far as Words can explain it which if we consider in all the forementioned Sences it is that which we cannot comprehend all that hath been
fearest God thou needst not be so foolishly fond of this Life for what is there in it that should make thee coat upon it Is it not a Life full of cares and troubles Have not thy Sins made it so The Wise Man tells us that all that is in this Life that can be outwardly enjoyed is nothing but Vanity and vexation of Spirit Hast thou not by experience found it so Thou shouldst therefore with Holy Job bless God not only for giving of Life but for taking of it away also God gave it thee for a time and but for a short time too and if thou wert so wise as thou shouldst be thou oughtest to count it thy felicity that it is so short for it is a Life of sorrow and who will complain because his sorrows are so short It may be thou hast met with some pleasures here that gratifie thy sense but are they comparable to what thy Soul hath tasted in the enjoyment of God unto which God by Death is calling thee to the enjoyment of with himself in Heaven to all Eternity Darest thou say that Earth is like Heaven Is Christ in those dark and dim discoveries he makes of himself in the Gospel like to Christ in the full and open manifestations of himself in all his Glory in Heaven Canst thou say thy Soul is so like him in Wisdom Holiness Joy and Peace here as it will be above when it comes to be enrolled among the Spirits of just Men made perfect If thou wilt be in love with Life be in love with Eternal Life and henceforth fear not to die at God's call for the obedience that thou owest unto God binds thee and the gain that Death will bring should both invite and encourage thee Though Death ends this Life it begins another and though thou may'st rot under ground in one part of thee yet it is in thy vilest part thy Body and even that will spring up and flourish again shortly And in the mean time thy Soul thy better part shall live a more noble and excellent life Think well therefore of Death for as it ends thy Life so it ends thy Sin and thy sufferings also In these particular Instances O Christian thou feest how little cause there is for thee to be afraid of Death I shall now in the next place endeavour to discover how unfit and uncomely a thing it is for Christians to fear Death and for this consider First A Christians fearing of Death brings a reproach upon Religion as if there were not that in Christianity that could lift up a Soul above the fears of Death For a Papist that professeth no Man can in an ordinary way be assured that he shall go to Heaven when he dies to tremble at the thoughts of Death this is no great matter it is but to act according to what his Religion teacheth him but for one that professeth the knowledge and assurance of Salvation and a future happy State to stand amazed at death the way and passage through which God hath appointed we must enter into Heaven where this happiness is to be enjoyed shews if not a want of Faith yet at least a great weakness of Faith and gives occasion to those that speak evil of the good ways of God to reflect disgracefully upon Religion Secondly To live in fear of Death is that State of Bondage and Slavery which wicked Men are under and from which Jesus Christ came to deliver his People And therefore for a Believer to live dejectedly under the fears of Death is a very uncomely thing Indeed the fears of wicked Men are so great that they cannot think of Death without horrour and when they come to die they are compelled to it for of all things in the World they dread Death most and could they but be assured that they shall live here always they would desire no other Heaven Fearfulness and amazedness under the apprehensions of Death is the proper State of wicked Men that Slavery and Bondage unto which they are always subject for upon good grounds they can have no hopes in Death but are full of fearful expectations of Wrath and fiery Indignation that shall Torment them for ever But now for true Believers God hath made your state and condition very unlike unto theirs as to the issues of Death because you have good hopes of Eternal Life even in Death so says the Wise Man Prov. 14.32 The Righteous hath hope in his Death Now since there is so great an unlikeness between you and them both in Death and after Death let there not be a likeness between you and them as to your fears of Death let a Faelix tremble at the hearing of Death and Judgment but let not the Godly hang down their Heads but lift them up with joy and rejoicing because the day of their Redemption draweth nigh Thirdly Consider this to be afraid of Death is to fear that which is but the Shadow and semblance of Death For to speak strictly a state of Sin and separation of the Soul from God for Sin this is Death properly but the separation of the Soul from the Body only is but the Shadow of Death But O how seldom is it to see Men trembling because of a spiritual Death because they are dead in trespasses and sins though this be infinitely more dreadful than any temporal Death can be And therefore to shew how full of Woe and Misery this Death is it is called Damnation which is the extremity of all Misery This is that now to which this spiritual Death tends and in which it will terminate Hence therefore Wicked Men are said to be condemned already and the wrath of God abides upon them and that they shall have their Portion in that Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death This shall as certainly be their Portion as if they were there already Therefore O Christian if thou wilt fear Death fear not that which is the shadow and the appearance of it but fear that which is Death indeed fear Sin that is the cause both of the first and of the second Death also for if thou art spiritually alive and raised from the Death of Sin as all true Believers are how uncomely a thing is it for thee to fear the Shadow the appearance of an evil which cannot hurt thee when thou art delivered from the evil it self Fourthly Consider for a Christian to fear that which is both common and certain is an uncomely and unsuitable thing Afflictions in general are the common lot of all God's People in this World but Death is that which is more common because it is that which befals all both good and bad from other outward Afflictions there is a possibility that some may be free or if they befal them they may be delivered from under them again but no Man can escape Death What Man is he that liveth saith the Psalmist and shall not see Death shall he
the rich Man in the Gospel else so confidently say to his Soul Thou bast Goods laid up for many years eat drink and be merry But Death would not be put off so for that Night was his Soul taken from him notwithstanding all his great Possessions It is in vain to cry out on a Death Bed with that wretched Cardinal Beauford in Henry the Sixth Time Wherefore should I dye being rich will not Death be bribed Will Money do nothing No truly it cannot for as Riches profit not in the day of Wrath to pacifie the Justice of an angry God so neither will they profit in the day of Death to bribe that King of Terrors Beauty is another outward Excellency that many glory in and indeed it is a great Ornament a Gift of GOD and no small one it is a taking thing We delight in things that are beautiful Beauty to some is a Portion among men to others a favour from God It is a silent Eloquence a tacite Perswasion and works much upon some What is said of the Church Psal 45.11 So shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty I know it is spoken there of Spiritual Beauty the Graces of the Spirit of God which beautifie and adorn the Church in the eyes of Christ for it is said the KING's Daughter is all glorious within But yet it is true also in some me sure of outward Corporeal Beauty it is a desireable thing and may duly be an attractive of Love it is that which draws the Eyes and Hearts of many tho' often it is an incentive to Lust both to great Men and to good Men. Solomon loved strange Women the Scripture saith and they turned away his heart from God and having smarted severely for it as a fruit of the sincerity of his Repentance and to prevent so great wickedness in others he hath left us many Excellent Cautions and Counsels in Sacred Writ against the ensnaring Temptations and powerful Charms of Beauty But though Men are deluded and deceived by beautiful Objects and Persons yet Death is not A beautiful Face is as mortal and as soon yea sooner many times turned into duct and corruption than a face that is deformed Death regards a goodly well favoured Joseph or Absolom no more than a leprous Vzziah or Gebazi nor doth it spare a beautiful Rachel more than a blear ey'd Leah Favour is deceitful and Beauty is vain in this respect for they profit none in a dying hour the beautifulest Person and the most lovely Complexion is quickly turned into Paleness and Corruption when once the time of their dissolution is come Death soon making those that for their Beauty and Comeliness were most admired by others become most loathsome and intolerable and they most desirous with Abraham to bury such dead out of their sight By what hath been said it appears that all Men notwithstanding all their great Attainmen's in Worldly Excellences are not exempted from dying And as no outward so no inward-Excellency and Perfection can priviledge any from Death no not Grace it self Grace is as Salt to the Soul to preserve it from Moral Corruption for ever but it cannot preserve the Body from Natural Corruption in this World In Heaven where there shall be nothing but Grace and Holiness in the Soul in perfection there there shall be no dying but here on Earth where Grace is insperfect being mingled with Sin and Corruption there is a necessity of dying Death is become domestical to us we have the Seed of it within us we carry it daily in our bosoms I mean in the body of Sin as the Apostle calls it that we carry about with us which will never be extirpated and destroyed till the death of the body All our Prayers and Tears cannot prevent Death Prayer can do great things to instance in particulars of its Prevalency would be endless Our Lord himself tells us That whatever we ask the Father in his Name he will give it us John 16.23 That is an Astonishing Scripture Esay 45.11 Thus saith the Lord The Holy One of Israel and his Maker Ask me of things to come concerning my Sons and concerring the Works of my hands command ye me As if saith one God was as ready to do them service as if they had him at their Command There is a kind of Omnipotency in Prayer and therefore it is said of Jacob that as a Prince he had power with God and prevailed Gen. 32.28 And the Apostle tells us The effectual fervent Prayer of a Righteous Man availeth much how much the Apostle could not tell us but leaves it to every one to make Observations from their own Experience But though Prayer can do such great things yet it cannot prevent Death We read indeed that the Prayer of Faith doth save the Sick but though it can even restore from a sick-bed yet it cannot raise from a Death-bed Nay Christ himself hath not so Redeemed us that we should live for ever and not see Corruption he hath Redeemed us that we shall live for ever in Heaven but he hath not Redeemed us that we should live for ever on Earth and not dye no it was the Priviledge of Jesus Christ the Redeemer that he should not see Corruption and therefore of him only it is said Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption But may some say this necessity of dying seems not to be unalterably imposed upon all Men for some have lived who never dyed and some shall live hereafter that shall not dye I Answer It is true the Scripture makes mention of Two and but Two that lived here oâ— Earth and by special Grace and Favour were exempted from Death ascending up unto God leaping over Death and the Grave as it were in their passage to Heaven and they are Enoch and Elias concerning Enoch it is said That by Faith he waâ— transtated that he should not see Death Heb. 11 5â— He was a Person eminent for Holiness for it is said That he walked with God three hundred years and obtained this Testimony before his Translationâ— that he pleased God Gen. 5.22 And being such an Eminent Proficient in Grace as that there waâ— none that we read of like him at that time he obtained such Grace and Favour from God as none did for it is said He walked with GOD and he was not for GOD lock him O the Excellency of Grace and Holiness how highly doth it ennable and advance a Man Enoch walked with God and God thinks the Earth not good enough for him and therefore he takes him to himself into Beaven nay this is not all so much was God taken with the Holiness of Enoch that he shall not go to Heaven in the ordinary way as other Saints do by Death but he shall be translated from Grace to Glory without so much as looking into the Grave The like we read of Elias another eminent and zealous Servant of God 2 King
presumptuous as if thou hadst the Lease thereof in thine own hands and at thine own dispose Indeed we read of good Hezekiah that upon his recovery from a fit of Sickness God gave him a Lease of his Life for fifteen years but who ever had the like Scripture and Experience speak of nothing more plainly than the Frailty and uncertainty of Man's Life It is therefore compared to the Wind to a Leaf to a Flower to a Shadow to a Vapour by all which the Spirit of God sets forth to us the Frailty Brevity and uncertainty of Man's Life endeavouring hereby to take us off from all foolish conceits and vain hopes of long life for what is our Life but a Vapour that appeareth for a while and then vanisheth away a little breath turned in and out by the Nostrils a narrow passage that is soon stopt and we are gone We have no Assurance of our Life no not for a moment Death lies in Ambush every where for us We have a Proverb that the young Man may die but the old Man must die whereas Observation will inform us that incomparably more die young than old And did we but seriously consider by what small pins this Frame of Man is held together it would appear no less than a Miracle that we live one day or hour to an end so many dangers so many Casualties do we pass through every moment and are the thoughts of Death and thy preparation for Death and that Eternity that follows it to be put off to such uncertainties Are not all thy days on Earth few and thou hast spent some of them already and possibly those few days of thine that are already past and gone are all the days thou hast to pass say not then to God to thy Conscience or to others that put thee upon a present preparation for Death and Eternity I will do it to morrow or hereafter boast not thy self O vain Man of to morrow for thou knowest not even what this day may bring forth to thee possibly this day may bring forth thy death and where then will be thy to morrows preparation for it But suppose Death should not cut us off suddenly but give us warning of its approach by Sickness and Distempers of Body yet how unfit a time is that to prepare for dying for Diseases sometimes come with that Violence that they quickly take away Mens Senses and Vnderstandings and having lost the use of their Reason they are fit for nothing And hast thou O presumptuous sinner that trustest to a Sick-bed preparation for Death and Eternity and Assurance that this shall not be thy State and Condition then nay thou hast just cause to fear that thus it shall be because in the time of thy Health and Strength when God called after thee to look towards himself and to mind thy Everlasting Concernments thou wou'dit not therefore now that thou art come to lie upon a Death bed and thy Conscience is awakened with horrour because of thy former negligence and the prospect of thy future Misery that now the Violence of thy Distempers should be so great as to render thee uncapable of such a Work Or if God should be so merciful to thee which thou hast no reason to expect as to continue to thee the use of thy Reason and Vnderstanding so that being apprehensive of the approach of Death and Conscience also be awakened and terrifying thee with the fears of a strict account that thou art going to give unto the Great God of all that thou hast done in the Body whether it be good or evil dreading also what the Consequences thereof may be by reason of thy negligence and carelessness in the time of thy Health and Strength to make preparation for thy Eternal State It being thus with thee and thine Eyes being opened to see whither thou art going thou art very desirous it may be now to set thy Soul in order because thou fearest thou shalt die and not live Yet thy Sickness may be so sharp and pains may come upon thee with that Extremity that all thou canst do will be little enough to mind thy Body God may visit thee with such strong pains upon thy bed as may make thee cry and roar with such horrours as may make thee a terror to thy self and to all that come near thee so that all thou canst do for thy self or what others can do for thee may not be able to give thee any ease or relief And is this the time thou choosest to prepare thy self for Death and Eternity in What when thou canst hardly tell how to turn thy Body upon thy Bed for a little ease Dost thou think this a fit time to turn thy Soul fron Sin unto God in Suppose thou wert now cast upon a Sick-bed and thy Body full of pains if any one should come and put thee in mind of some Worldly Business wouldst thou not think it a good excuse to say Pray trouble me not now because I am Sick Speak to me of these things when I am Well again And dost thou think it Reasonable to be excused from Worldly Business because thou art Sick and yet dost thou Judge it the best time for thee to be employed about thy Spiritual concerns when thou art sick yea when thou art dying Surely desperate folly and madness is in the hearts of these Men who thus live and thus think to die Alas the time of Sickness is a time of spending not of getting it is not a time to gain Evidences for Heaven but to use them and to take the comfort that flows from them Alas poor Man thou shouldst now be solacing thy Soul in God as thy Father reconciled to thee in Christ and having made it the business of thy life to serve and please him sincerely though not without weaknesses and imperfections thou shouldst now be able to say thou hast through Jesus Christ received the Atonement and art continually rejoycing in hopes of the Glory of God the comfort whereof should be so great as to swallow up all thy Bodily pains and distempers and carry thee chearfully through the Pangs of Death so as that thou shouldst be able to say Blessed be God I am not sick for mine Iniquities are forgiven me This should be thy State and Condition upon a dying bed But if thou hast thy work to do thy Preparations for Heaven and Eternity to make when thou art upon thy Sick yea thy Death-Bed Oh how miserable I had almost said how desperate is thy Case How many Gracious Souls have found it work enough upon a Death-bed to attend the Pains and Distempers of their Bodies and believe it O Sinner who ever thou art thou wilt find it a great truth that to suffer and be sick is work enough for any Man at one time But suppose God should be so Gracious to thee as by some lingering and gentle sickness for many days yea months together give thee warning of thy
such The Happiness of those that are in Christ lies in the Manifestation of the Divine Love and Favour unto their Souls now this Death cannot hinder them of I know many of God's People have not the Light of his Countenance liftted up upon their Souls in Death but their passage to Heaven is dark and uncomfortable God loves them though they know it not yet by this darkness and uncomfortableness which Death brings upon them by their passage through it Death is but bringing them to the most clear Discoveries of the Love of God to their Souls in Heaven with which they shall then be filled and satisfied to all Eternity Our Comfort in Death lies in the Knowledge of our Interest in Christ but so doth not our Happiness that lies in our Interest in Christ whether we know it or not Our Consolation in a dying hour springs from our Assurance that Christ is ours and we are his but our safely and security in that hour ariseth from the certainty of our Interest in Christ Indeed our Ignorance that we are in Christ when we come to die may prejudice our present Peace and Comfort in Death but it shall not prejudice our future Happiness after Death They that are in Christ are always in a safe Condition they may die uncomfortably indeed but they cannot die miserably they are built upon the Rock of Ages and therefore though they fall by Death into the Grave even as others yet they perish not with others Death may kill them but it cannot hurt them He that hath an Interest in Christ being united to him by Faith need not fear what Death can do unto him True and thorough Conversion from Sin unto God is a sure Foundation for Peace and Safety both in Life and Death He that is interested in Christ is built upon a Rock that is Impregnable the Gates of Death and Hell shall not prevail against him To behold a Man dying that is in Christ this is Comfortable for such a one dies that he may live for ever and changes only a Temporal for an Eternal Life To behold a Christless Person but not in a dying condition this is something tolerable for who can tell but that the next Sabbath or the next Sermon God may make it a time of Love to his Soul even such a day of his Power and Grace towards him as thereby savingly to draw him unto Christ But to behold a dying Man and a Christless Man also this is dreadful yea even intolerable for such a one dies from Earth to be Damned in Hell It was a sad and doleful Complaint and Oh that it might startle and awaken some secure Sinner to look after Christ that was once uttered by one upon a Death-Bed being just a dying Oh I want nothing now but a Christ to Save me O miserable State and Condition indeed for in having him the Soul hath all that can do it good or make it good but in wanting of him the Soul hath nothing that can do it good here or make it happy hereafter Interest in Christ is the only true Preparation for Death This now is the general Direction for our Preparation for Death without which there is no dying happily or comfortably But the more particular Directions are these that follow First Wouldst thou be prepared for Death then die unto Sin by daily and constant endeavours to mortifie and subdue the Power and Strength of it in the Exercise of a Holy Life The Apostle tells us in Rom. 6.23 That the wages of Sin is Death By which he means Temporal and Eternal Death This now is the Fruit of Sin for Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death But is there no way to escape this Death yes from Spiritual and Eternal Death there is a deliverance and therefore the Apostle tells us in Rom. 6.13 That if we through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the Body that is the deeds of the Body of Sin then we shall live and not die that is we shall live Spiritually and not die Eternally and as for a Temporal Death though we cannot scape the stroke of it yet we shall be free from the Curse and Sting of it Wouldst thou therefore O Christian be prepared for Death when it comes then take from it now its Power and Strength When the Philistines saw Sampson was too strong for them they labour to know wherein his great Strength lay and when they found it was in the Hair of his Head they would not be quiet till they got his Hair cut off Every Christian hath to deal with a dreadful Enemy unto Nature and that is Death Assault he will all of us at one time or other yea and be too hard for us If now we would overcome him we must find out where his great Strength lies the Spirit of God now tells us that the Power and Sting of Death is Sin so we read in 1 Cor. 15.56 The Sting of Death is Sin And the Power and Sting of every Mans particular Death lies in his own Sins Death cannot hurt any of us but by that Power and Strength that our sins put into its hands Christian the way how thou mayest overcome thine Enemy Death is set open to thee his Strength is discovered to thee that thou mayest have thine Advantage against him to weaken him and to take away his Strength and that is by dying unto Sin this will be the Death of Death Yield not therefore at any time to its Solicitations for this is but to make Death the more strong and Powerful to wound thy Soul and Conscience When therefore thou art tempted unto any Sin though it may seem pleasant and delightful yet before thou yieldst unto the Temptation say to thy self O my Soul how will this relish with me when I come to lie upon a Death-bed and my Soul sits trembling upon my Lips ready to take its Flight unto the Tribunal of God What Peace and Comfort will it procure to my Conscience then Will not the Remembrance of it prove more bitter than Gall and Wormwood and the grating Reflections of Conscience more stinging and tormenting to the Soul than a thousand Deaths could possibly be Wouldst thou not have Death bitter then let not Sin be sweet now Part with Sin betimes get that removed that is the troubler of a Death-Bed and the Sting of Death and that is Sin Make it your daily business to be dying unto Sin Now this dying unto Sin implies our constant endeavours to subdue the Power and Strength of Sin and this is done by daily Mortification It is true in the People of God Sin doth not Reign and that is Comfortable to consider Sin in the Work of Conversion hath received such a Wound as is incurable but yet wherever Sin is in any Soul it doth not use to lie dormant but where it cannot Reign it will molest and struggle yea and it
may be prevail to a Victory sometimes even over those over whom it shall never prevail unto Condemnation This now calls for a constant work of Mortification Every day there are corrupt Inclinations and Propensions to be kept in sinful thoughts to be contended with Evil motions to be supprest and it is not the meer Habis and Principle of Grace received in our first Conversion without the vigorous and constant Exercise of it in a way of Mortification that will overcome all these Though Regeneration hath given Sin its Deaths wound yet Mortification must daily weaken and subdue its Power and Strength and according as the work of Mortification is successful in the Soul so will be our Peace and Purity in Life and our Joy and Comfort in Death Secondly Keep Conscience clear that it may not have the guilt of any known sin to charge you withal Now Conscience may then be said to be clear when it is pure and when it is a Peaceable Conscience that is peaceable must be pure and a pure Conscience usually is a peaceable Conscience When Conscience is free from all known and willful defilements and not justly burthened with the guilt of Sin then is Conscience clear If it be possible do not wound Conscience and if you would not have a care of Sin he that is not watchful to avoid Sin cannot have a clear Conscience It is impossible for us while we are surrounded about with Infirmities and oppressed with a Body of Sin and Death which the Apostle complains of to keep our selves free and unspotted from all Sin for in many things we offend all Those Sins now that are Sins of weakness and Infirmity as they are usually small Sins and so hardly discernable many times by our selves nor others so they do not break our Peace with God nor obscure the clearness of our Consciences but they are known and willful sins that waste and wound the Conscience and they that are not careful to keep themselves from sinning thus can never have a clear Conscience nor be in a prepared State for Death for how can Conscience speak Peace unto the Soul upon a Death-bed with the guilt of any known sin upon it If you wound Conscience by sin now Conscience will wound you for sin hereafter Any known sin committed against Conscience will exceedingly discompose and trouble the Soul in a dying hour Reader doth thy Conscience reprove thee for living in any sinful way or for being careless and remiss in looking after Heaven and Eternity hearken unto Conscience now that Conscience may hearken unto you another day O Sinner when thou shalt come to lie upon a Death-bed and begin to examine thy Conscience how things are with thee and how it is like to go with thee for ever thou wouldest then be glad to have Conscience give thee a comfortable answer and say all is well and all shall be well with thee to Eternity thou hast been Faithful in following my Counsels and Reproofs that from the Great God according to his Word I delivered unto thee and now I will be as Faithful in declaring to thee the Truth of things as to thy future State fear not therefore for it shall certainly go well with thee for ever Wouldst thou now have Conscience speak thus comfortably to thee at Death hearken to what Conscience saith to thee now for if thou dost not hearken unto Conscience in thy life time when it Faithfully Admonisheth and Reproves thee Conscience will not hearken unto thee at thy Death to excuse and acquit thee but will prove thy great Accuser and Condemner Guilt lying upon the Conscience makes the Soul ashamed and afraid to come before God even in this Life much more at Death A Guilty Sinner chooseth rather to run away from God that if it were possible God might not find him Thus we imitate our Grand-Father Adam who as soon as he had sinned endeavours to hide himself from God among the Trees of the Garden And who of us is there but may observe the same by himself what slavish fear what dejection and sinking in our Spirits doth seize upon us when we come before God in the Performance of a Duty after we have provoked him by some known sin with what Doubtings with what Fears and misgiving of heart do we come into his Presence as if we were not willing that God should take any notice that we are before him and if we are not in continual pain while we are performing the Duty yet we would willingly enough that the Duty were done and over And if we cannot tell how to engage in Duty with a guilty Conscience how shall we be able to contend with Death with a guilty Conscience If the Presence of God in Duty be so dreadful and terrible unto the Soul under the Apprehension of some known sin committed by it and not pardoned to it that it makes it quake and tremble to come before him what then will the Presence of God in Death and Judgment when Conscience shall be awakened to make terrible Reflections not upon a particular sin but upon the sins of a whole Life if not Repented of Oh with what horrour and amazement with what Consternation and Confusion must such a Soul be filled withal But now he whose Conscience is clear Oh how doth he Rejoyce to draw nigh to God how glad is he to go up unto the House of the Lord as David speaks with what delight doth his Soul hasten unto God in Duty that it may taste how good the Lord is that it may see the Power and Glory of God so as it hath sometimes done in his Sanctuary O with what Peace and Contentment of Mind shall I say alas these are Expressions of too low and too mean a Signification to represent the workings of such a Soul towards God rather with what Joy and Rejoying with what Triumph and Exultation doth such a Soul make its abode and stay with God in Duty where it enjoys the sweet and refreshing Smiles of his Countenance and sits under the delightful Banner of his Love Thus it is with a Christian in Duty that hath a clear Conscience And if it be thus with him in Duty and Conscience continue to keep its clearness and inoffensiveness in an upright walking with God daily it cannot be bad or ill with such a Soul at Death A Conscience kept clean and pure in Life will be quiet and peaceable in Death nay let me say more he who hath made it his care and business to walk continually with a clear and inoffensive Conscience in his Life shall certainly have much boldness yea and usually a great deal of Joy and Rejoycing in Death and though the Devil may and will labour to disturb such a Soul's Peace and Comfort then yet a Conscience sprinkled with the Blood of Christ shall be too hard for him And what Conscience doth in God's Name on good grounds upon a Death bed God will confirm and enlarge
a help or blessing to the publick And though he longs to die for himself knowing it will be much to his Advantage because when he departs hence he shall be with Christ which is far better yet he should be unwilling to die so long as he can say with St. Paul that for him to abide in the Flesh is and will be more needful for others To be willing to deferr our Glory and Happiness for a time that God may be glorified and others benefited by us here is an excellent frame of Spirit in any Christian Secondly positively it is lawful in some cases to desire Death And thus none but a true Christian can truly desire to die Now there are three cases in which it may be lawful for a Christian to desire Death First When God brings a Christian into such a condition as that he may bring God more Honour and Glory by his Death than by his Life In such a case it is lawful to desire Death and this was the case of Sampson who was a Type of Christ The Philistines having brought him into a low and suffering condition though partly through his own Sin yet being animated by the Spirit of God and knowing that by his Death he should destroy many of the Enemies of God he begs strength from him thereunto which God in an extraordinary manner granted him for he took hold of the Pillars of the House and so pulled down the House upon himself and upon the Philistines slaying thereby more at his Death than he did in all his Life This was the case of many of the Martyrs who being called to suffer for the Truth were very desirous to die knowing that their Death would tend more to the Glory of God than their Life and therefore they willingly and chearfully sealed to the Truth of God with their Blood Secondly It is lawful to wish for Death that we may be free from offending of God Sin is a miserable Thraldom and Bondage unto a Child of God to have a Nature within him that is continually inclining him unto and putting him upon that which is sinful and provoking unto God is that which a Holy Soul cannot tell how to bear Oh to find a Law in his Members always warring against the Law of his Mind and leading him Captive to the Law of Sin and Death It is that which makes his Life burthensome to him This I know works little upon wicked Men for when they are acting of Sin they are in their Element but to a Gracious Soul unto whom the loving kindness of God as David speaks is better than Life to such a one a sinful impure Nature whereby he offends and displeaseth God is more bitter than Death and therefore he is continually making out after that State wherein he shall be without Sin while he is here he knows he cannot be free from all Sin but yet he follows after it if he may apprehend that for which he is apprehended of Christ Jesus and therefore forgetting the things that are behind he reacheth forth unto those things that are before pressing forward towards the mark for the price of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus if by any means he may attain to the Resurrection of the Dead that is to that State of perfect Holiness and freedom from Sin which he shall arrive to at the Resurrection of the Dead And because he sees he cannot but Sin whilst he is here and that dying only will be the end of Sinning therefore he longs for Death that he may come to an end of Sinning Thirdly It is lawful to wish for Death that we may come to the full and perfect enjoyment of God and Christ in Glory In this frame of Spirit we find the Apostle when he crys out in that Holy Agony I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ The Scripture it self makes it the Character of a true Christian that he is one that loves the appearing of Christ and this is that which cannot be enjoyed without Death now that which we love we wish the enjoyment of and consequently we desire to use those means that tend thereunto Our Lord himself in Joh. 17. prays for all Believers that they might be where he is that they might behold and enjoy his Glory and hath taught us to pray that the Kingdom of God might come by which is meant not only the Kingdom of Grace but the Kingdom of Glory also And indeed true love unto Christ will put us upon desiring to be with him for that is the property of true love always to manifest an ardent and strong desire after the enjoyment of its beloved Object If now a Christian who hath enjoyed Communion with God in his Ordinances desires the sincere milk of the Word that he may grow thereby And if that Soul that hath tasted how Good and Gracious the Lord is in any Duty is ready to cry out with David in the 42 Psalm As the Heart panteth after the Water Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul is athirst for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God that he may see his Power and his Glory so as he hath seen him in the Sanctuary If a Christian now so much desires the enjoyment of God in his Ordinances wherein there is always a mixture of Sin and Pollution going along with them should he not doth he not much more then desire the enjoyment of God in Heaven where there shall be a a perfect freedom from all Sin and all sinful mixtures that here are a continual grief to a Gracious Soul and a just provocation to a Holy God where he shall be for ever with the Lord beholding the beauty of his Face and being fully satisfied and delighted with the enjoyment of his presence in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose Right Hand there are Pleasures for evermore But though it may be lawful to wish for or to desire Death when we may thereby bring Glory to God when we may thereby be free from Sin and come to the perfect enjoyment of God and Christ in Glory yet in all these cases we must take in these Cautions that for the time of our Death we must still refer our selves to the good will and pleasure of God For though it may be lawful to wish for Death when we may thereby glorifie God yet we must not absolutely wish for Death so because our Hearts are very treacherous and may easily impose upon us and deceive us herein And though to wish for Death that we may be freed from Sin is a holy wish yet we must not wish that absolutely neither but must herein refer our selves to the pleasure of God how long he will have us to conflict with our Lusts and Corruptions bearing about with us a Body of Sin and Death And though it be a holy wish to desire to die that we may enjoy God and Christ in
the Body in the Grave it were then a tolerable evil but when we shall consider death as a punishment for sin as that which puts us into an unchangeable Estate this is that which makes it dreadful and terrible indeed While we are in this World which is the time of our preparation for an Eternal State of Strangers yea of Enemies we may become Friends but when death hath once seized upon us it is impossible our State should then be changed We cannot now say of the vilest Sinner in the World that there is no hope of him we must not write desperation upon the fore-head of the wickedst Man on Earth but if he dies in that State then he is lost and undone for ever for as the Tree falls so it lies as death leaves Men so Judgment will find them And this Judgment is such as is conclusive and never to be Repealed Hence it is therefore that take the most hardned Sinner one whom Custom in sinning hath made past feeling yet when he comes to die if Conscience be but awakened it is impossible for him to look death in the Face without great fears and horrours Nay it is a sight so amazing and confounding that were it not for the Righteousness of Christ and that Satisfaction he hath made unto the Justice of God by his death it were utterly impossible that any Believer should bear up under it but Blessed be God the Blood of Christ then speaks Peace and so Believers are not only supported but carried comfortably unto Heaven through the gloomy Valley of the Shadow of death Death being thus terrible now it must needs be looked upon as a dreadful Enemy unto Man An Enemy now is one that when he comes against us always comes Armed to do us a mischief such an Enemy now is death for ever since the Fall of Man death hath been Armed with a deadly Sting now this Sting of death whereby it becomes hurtful unto Man is sin so saith the Apostle The sting of death is sin Now this Sting reacheth not only to the Body but to the Soul also as to the Body it takes away all those Contentments and Comforts wherewith it was here Refreshed and Delighted Death rends the Husband from the Wife and the Wife from the Husband it divides Children from their Parents and Parents from their Children death spoils us of whatsoever is desirable in this life strips a Man of all and turns him naked out of the World But this is not all death not only bereaves us of all that is good here but it brings many Evils along with it Sickness pains on the Body Grief and Anguish upon the Mind and Spirit It is a terrible Enemy to wrastle and contend withal it will make a Man sweat and bleed no Man can Encounter with death but he shall feel great Anxiety and Vexation both of Body and Mind unless he have strength from above to enable him to go through the Contest Death in its own Nature is so furious an Enemy unto Sinners that it will not cease till it hath pulled the Body down into the Grave and dragg'd the Soul into the Presence of God and from his Tribunal into the Torments of Eternal Fire where the first death terminates in the second death and the Torments exceed not only all our Expressions but all our Apprehensions also where death that is now such a dreadful Enemy would there be counted an unspeakable Mercy for there they shall seek death but shall not be able to find it But more particularly the Enmity of death appears in these particulars First The Fears of death do much abate our desires after the Enjoyment of God in Heaven It is true every Believer is one that loves God above all and looks upon Heaven as that which shall be his dwelling place for ever and accordingly sincerely desires and longs after it and in his daily Conversation walks with his Face thitherwards but when he sees death stands in the way between him and Heaven and that there is no coming for him to that place of Bliss but he must pass through that dark Valley this puts him to a stand and makes his desires weak and low The best Christians I believe have sometimes felt such workings as these within their Souls for tho' the Regenerate part discovering it self in the work of Sanctified Affections would be soaring upwards towards God and Heaven in whose presence the Soul would fain be but seeing death standing in its way how are the desires of such a Holy Soul kept down by the fears of it and he turned back as one that was afraid to come into his Father's presence Where is the Christian the Eye of whose Faith is so steadily fixed upon Christ in Heaven whose Soul is sometimes ready to cry out I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better yet withal when he sees the rude hand of death stretched out to undress him and that there is no coming unto Jesus Christ for him but by first suffering a Dissolution and laying down of his Earthly Tabernacle in the Grave though he would fain be with Christ that he might enjoy him whom his Soul loveth yet seeing this dismal Enemy death in the way doth not shrink back and cry out O I dare not venture O what a dreadful Enemy is this and what dreadful Enmity doth it put forth in the obstructing our desires though after God and Heaven causing us to run from God as it were at that time when we truly and dearly love him Happy Souls are they in whom Faith and Love work so powerfully as to conquer and overcome these fears Secondly If death as an enemy prevails so as to abate our desires after the Enjoyment of God in Heaven it will be apt to endanger our falling in love with this present World and so make us miserable by causing us to take up with the men of this World who have their Portion in this Life Take a Christian whose desires after Heaven are weak though true because blunted by the apprehensions of some frightful difficulties that must be gone through for the attaining of it how apt is such a one to be tempted to think that it is best for him to take up with those delightful pleasures that may be had here without such dangerous adventures but now if that which darkens the Blessed Vision of Heaven and our unspeakable Happiness in the fruition of God there and which also deadens our desires after this blessedness be once removed which usually is the dreadful apprehensions of death with what ease can such a Soul with a Holy Scorn and Contempt despise all the trifling Vanities of this World as things not worthy to be regarded Thirdly The Enmity of Death manifests it self in obstructing a Christians endeavours towards Heaven A discouraged disconsolate Soul moves but slowly be it towards Earth or Heaven Difficulties that should stir up greater diligence usually are great
Death by the Merit of his own Death and hath declared his Victory over it and our deliverance from it by raising up his own Body from the Grave Christ by his Death did meritoriously conquer Death for Believers but he did not actually conquer it till his Resurrection but then he did the Day of his Resurrection was the Day wherein Grace did triumph thorough Christ towards believing Souls for on that Day Christ did openly shew to Heaven to Hell to Earth that Death was not only conquerable by Believers but that it was actually conquered for them thorough him Blessed Souls in Heaven believe it to their everlasting Consolation and are thereby fully confirmed in the Resurrection of their own Bodies because their Head is already risen for them The damned in Hell have the Knowledge of it to their greater Torment because they now know their sinful Bodies shall be raised to suffer for ever with their Souls in that Place of Torment and therefore they believe and tremble The Saints on Earth also know it and therefore they rejoice in the believing Expectations of it being assured that as the Bonds of Death were loosed by which Christ was held in the Grave for the space of Three Days but could not possibly be held by them any longer so neither shall it be possible for Believers always to be held under them But there is a time coming when all that are in their Graves shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and shall come forth Joh. 5.28 And if we believe says the Apostle that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him in 1 Thes 4. and 14. for says the same Apostle Christ is risen and become the first Fruits of them that sleep in 1 Cor. 15.20 And as Christ being raised from the Dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him So the time will not be long before Believers shall also be raised from the Dead and shall die no more for there shall then be no more Death nor Sorrow nor Crying nor Pain no more Diseases or Fears of Death or the Grave for behold all former things are passed away and all things are become new Rev. 21.45 But though Christ hath overcome Death yet is there still a Fear of it in most And indeed Death is an Object of Fear neither is all Fear of Death to be condemned as sinful Now for the better understanding of this that Death is an Object of Fear and when it may be lawful to fear Death and when the Fear of it is sinful I shall consider Man in a threefold Respect As he is a meer Man as he is a sinful Man and as he is a true Believer First I shall consider Man as he is a meer Man compounded of Soul and Body and so the Nature of Man abhors Death and if it were possible as it is not to find out a Man in the World that were free from all manner of Sin yet would he fear Death were he liable to it because it is that which tends to his Dissolution and Destruction Thus our Lord Jesus Christ himself though he was perfectly holy and free from all Sin yet in this sense he feared Death and therefore he prays Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me Thus now to fear Death as it is evil and destructive unto Nature is not sinful or unlawful Secondly Consider Man as he is sinful and unregenerate and so Death is an Object of Fear and full of Horror For to all such Death comes armed with Power not only to make a Separation between Soul and Body for so Death rules over all but it comes to kill and to destroy Soul and Body for ever for to such it is not Death alone as it is to the Godly but it is Death and Hell together Rev. 6.8 And I looked and behold a pale Horse and his Name that sat on him was Death and Hell followed with him It is no wonder if Death be dreadful and terrible unto such but it is rather a wonder that such can take any rest in the night or enjoy any quietness in the day that under the Fears of Death they are not distracted But here is the Misery of such they are so afraid of Death that they will not let the Thoughts of it come into their Minds but do what they can to banish the Thoughts of that evil day far from them But know O foolish Sinner though thou sleepest and art secure in Sin yet thy Death and thy Damnation slumbers not for Death and Hell are riding on Horse-back making haste towards thee and will soon overtake thee to thy eternal Ruine and Destruction and then thou shalt know by sad Experience that the Fears of the first Death which now thou labourest to stifle yea to drive away from thy Thoughts were not so full of dread and horror as the feeling of the Second Death will be for ever Death therefore unto wicked Men is an Object to be feared and the fear of Death in them is not only lawful but commendable and that upon which their Thoughts should much dwell because it is that which will prevent much Sin in them while they live and may possibly render Death more comfortable to them when they come to die Thirdly Consider Man as regenerate and become a true Believer yet so he may and often doth fear death For let a Man be never so much a Saint yet he will be still a Man and therefore as death will be death so nature will still be nature and therefore death as death will be abhorred Neither is there any necessity that the fear of death should be wholly conquered and subdued in the Godly so as that if should not be because it may and often doth turn to their Benefit and Advantage for hereby they are made to walk more humbly with God and more watchfully over themselves for while they consider that they are poor frail dying Creatures subject unto death continually and that they must pass from thence unto Judgment to give an Account of what they have done in the Body by this means they are kept from falling into many Sins that now would wound their Consciences and break their peace and hereafter make their death more dark and uncomfortable By this fear of death also the Godly are quickened in their preparations for Heaven and Eternity for because death is so certain that it will come and withal so uncertain when it will come the Godly are hereby stirred up unto a speedy and diligent preparation for it that so they may be ready for their departure whensoever God by death shall call them hence And death now is an Object of Fear in general so are there Reasons why Christians fear death in particular as First Some are afraid of death because of the extremity of those pains which they must undergo when they are dying and because of the
we may come to the full Enjoyment of our longed for Happiness Hath God cast thee O Christian upon a Bed of Pain and Sorrow and is it likely to prove thy Death-bed Are there such Symptoms of thy departure that God seems to tell thee plainly thou shalt die and not live O do not reply and say It is too soon yet thou art too young to die and go to Heaven What though God call thee to Glory and Blessedness sooner than thou expectest yet shame not thy self grieve not others that behold thee much more disparage not the Happiness of Heaven nor of that God who is to be eternally enjoyed there by thy unwillingness to go thither Secondly May some say we shall have so many Evils to encounter with that will create us so much fear and trouble and withal so many Pains will befall us in a dying hour that we cannot tell how to think of Death we are so affrighted at it To this I answer It is true a Christian cannot expect to die without Assaults of Enemies nor without the Pains of Death but yet a Christian need not fear nor be unwilling to die for all this First One Discouragement may be the Apprehension of the guilt of Sin which they then fear will stare their Consciences in the Face and how to bear up under it they know not But know O Christian if Sin hath lost its Throne in thy Soul if it hath no Interest in thy Affections so that it is not embraced with any Love or Delight it shall never ruine or condemn thee For it is a certain Truth where Sin doth not rule there Sin shall never damn He that by the Grace and Spirit of Christ is enabled to mortifie his Sins and all sinful Affections and Inclinations thereunto and by a penitential Conversion of Soul from Sin unto God hath forsaken his sinful ways all his former Provocations though never so great lose their damning Power For where Sin is once in the Exercise or godly Sorrow confessed unto God it is by him graciously pardoned Nay the Apostle tells us in 1 John 1.9 If we confess our Sins God is not only merciful and gracious but he will be just and righteous to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness And what greater security can a Christian desire for his support than the Truth and Faithfulness of that God who is Truth it self and cannot lie Secondly There is another thing that may startle a Christian's Confidence and make him unwilling to die and that is the fears of the Assaults of Satan who will do what he can not only to hinder our future Happiness but to interrupt our comfortable passage through Death It is true the Devil will be very active in a dying hour But be not discouraged give not place to his Temptations For where Sin is pardoned as it is to all Believers What hath the Devil wherewith to shake a Christian's Confidence or to undermine his Hopes and Expectance but what is built upon Lies and Falshood If therefore you will give Credit unto this Father of Lies when he endeavours to weaken those certain Assurances the great God hath given you of his resolved Designs to save such as you are and so come to be disturbed and confounded in your Thoughts about your present and future State you must blame your selves Till therefore it can be proved that Sin may be repented of and not pardoned that Sin may be pardoned and yet the Soul perish and undone till God or Christ prove either forgetful unable or false be not dejected It is the great Comfort of a Christian that the Devil hath no other Arguments to disquiet a Believer with in a dying hour but what are bottom'd on these gross Absurdities And though Satan may be furious in his last Assaults yet O Christian remember when thou art walking through the Valley of the shadow of death thou walkest not alone In that dark and gloomy Valley God hath his Rod and his Staff in readiness for thy Assistance and Encouragement and know further O believing Soul that Christ our compassionate High Priest knows what it is to die and hath been acquainted with the Subtilties and Fury of the Tempter by smart Experience and his sympathy hath taught him pity and because he is our Head he will not forget his Members under their afflicting Temptations in that hour For though he be in Heaven he retains the same Bowels and Affections now in his glorified State which he had here upon Earth and doth continually improve his Intercession in Heaven for the benefit security and relief of his afflicted People in their greatest dangers and Extremities If any poor Believers shall here object the pains of Death as being so great and to their apprehensions insupportable and therefore they are unwilling to die Let them consider that they are but short and suddain and though they are made by God our necessary passage into Glory yet they shall soon be over and forgot when the Soul by death is set free from the Body and takes its flight into the Presence of God in Heaven And alas what are the dying pains and groaning gasps of departing Saints compared to the Gripes and Stingings of an awakned Conscience for sin and the horrid fears of the Wrath and Vengeance of God which though they are not seen by others because inward yet are they the frequent and daily Tormenting Exercises of sinners both in Life and Death And though the pains of the Godly in a dying hour may sometimes be afflictive unto Sense yet it often happens through the Goodness and Mercy of God to them that their Fears in Life exceed their Pains in Death and this King of Terrors doth not gripe so hard nor stab so painfully as we are apt to think and if he doth God many times comes in with such strong Consolations upon departing Souls in the Manifestations of his Love to and Presence with them as turns their Fears and Sorrows into Joy and Rejoycing But if God should not manifest himself thus Comfortably unto some for their Support but leave them to the feeling of their Fears by undergoing great pains in Death yet as soon as the stroke is given the pains are gone and their fears are over How quickly do the first openings of that Eternal Morning swallow up all the Remembrances of our dying sorrows O when the Joys and Visions of our God invade and Exercise our departed Souls then comes the great and welcome Pledge of our Eternal Conquest of this last Enemy and after a short sleep of Bodies in the Dust whilst Souls return to God the Trump will sound the Lord will come the World shall perish or be refin'd by Flames and the Dead shall rise and die no more and then as the Apostle speaks shall we be ever with the Lord. But some may say we could willingly die but that we know not what will become of us hereafter we cannot tell
of his Son much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his Life For certainly he is able to save unto the utmost all that come unto God by him seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them Christ hath not lost his Love and Affection to his People by his Advancement Harbour not therefore O Believing Soul any suspicious thoughts in thy Heart concerning him as if by his Exaltation into Heaven he were now become forgetful of any of his Members here below groaning under Sin or Misery for though the days of his Passion are ended yet so are not the days of his Compassion He retains the same Temper and Disposition of Soul now he is in Glory his Heart is not changed though his Condition be but he still bears the same Respect to his People now that he did when he was on Earth for indeed he there Lives and Acts upon the account of Believers so says the Apostle He appears in the presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 Doth God O Believing Soul by Diseases and Distempers upon thy outward Man cause thy Beauty and Comeliness to consume and wither hath long and tedious Sicknesses almost wasted and destroyed thy Body and by all art thou brought so low that thou despairest of Life Doth Death seem to be written upon all thy helps to Life And do all the means that are used for thy Recovery seem rather to further thy Dissolution than any way to hinder it Why yet fear not Death but Remember as God hath Glorified and highly Exalted Jesus Christ whose Form and Visage as the Prophet speaks was marr'd more than any Mans so he will Exalt thee also not to an Equality of Glory with Christ for in Heaven he shall be the Light and the Glory of it but yet there shall be some likeness and Conformity in all the Members of Christ unto him who is their Head Fear not therefore O Christian the worst that Death or the Grave can do unto thee for assure thy self as because he lives Believers shall live also so where he lives there Believers shall live also Thirdly Another Consideration for the removal of the fear of Death is frequent Meditation of the Happiness of the Soul in Death and of the Resurrection of the Body after Death As for the Happiness of the Souls of Believers in death it is exceeding great the Body at present suffers loss for though once it was an excellent Fabrick the Workmanship of God's hands yet being forsaken by the Soul it is become loathsome and turns to Corruption and rottenness so says the Wise Man The Body returns to the dust from whence it was taken there to consume and moulder away this is the State of Man's Body in Death procured by Sin and inflicted by God But now for the Soul that returns to God that gave it either to partake of Eternal Blessedness or to receive Eternal Punishments Now that the Happiness of Believers in their Souls is great at Death will appear if we consider either the Evils they are freed from or the Blessedness they attain unto as for the Evils that accompany our present State in this Life Death frees Believers from them all at once during this Mortal Life indeed Sufferings are annexed to the State of a Christian as a necessary Appendix to his very Being for such is our condition while we are here that Afflictions are almost become as needful for the Soul as Food and Raiment is for the Body therefore saith the Apostle if need be you are in heaviness through manifold Tribulations 1 Pet. 1.6 God sees it needful that Afflictions should be and in his Wisdom and Mercy he proportions the Afflictions of his People to their necessities This Life is a Life of Suffering unto the People of God it is their appointed Path and Way through which they must walk to Heaven therefore says the Apostle We must through many Tribulations enter into the Kingdom of God It is appointed for us so to do And indeed as Job speaks Man is born to trouble as the sparks flyupward he comes into the World crying and all the rest of his time between the Cradle and the Grave he is not much Happier for his Life is made up of Sin and Suffering the Evil of Sin and the Evil of Suffering there is a kind of a continual Chaining or Linking together of one Misery or Affliction to another a mixture of Pain and Sorrow or Succession of Evils and Troubles that runs through all his days as one Wave falls upon the neck of another so one Evil is no sooner gone but another comes in its room One depth as the Psalmist speaks calls upon another Floods and Storms of Miseries and Afflictions daily pass over our heads And if Troubles and Afflictions come not of themselves nor are caused by others we can Mint and Coin them our selves by our Sins Our Lord tells us That sufficient to the day that is to every day are the Evils and Troubles thereof but as if they were not enough we can create Troubles to our selves before hand and Anticipate in our Fancies and Apprehensions for our greater Vexation and Trouble Evils that are to come though we know not whether we our selves shall live till they come And herein we are more cruel to our selves than the Devil is to himself for that Evil Spirit cares not to be Tormented before his time whereas we antidate and bring Evils that are at a distance from us nearer to us by unquiet Apprehensions and sinful distracting Vexations entertained in our minds and so the fears of Miseries to come make us far more miserable than when those miseries are come upon us and by the Apprehension of an imaginary Evil we make it become a real Affliction and an unfeigned Torment to us in our resentment of it Thus Sin and Sorrow Afflictions and Temptations divide our days and time while we are here until Death comes for a Believers relief and then there shall be an end put to all his Sorrows and Sufferings because there shall be an end of Sinning After Death there shall be no Cries nor Tears under any Miseries or Afflictions no fears of future Evils nor no grief for past sins the causes of them no Poverty or Distress shall come near that Holy place the Habitation of Holy Souls all the Inhabitants there are become Kings possessed of Riches and Glory without value Fear not therefore O dying Believer whose Soul by Death is getting free from thy Body for thou art but removing from Earth to Heaven where thou shalt instantly be with thy dear Lord and Saviour thou art but going to thy God and Father and the Father of Spirits to visit those Mansions of Glory that are there prepared for thee Chearfully therefore take thy leave of thy Body and let it know that thou art taking thy flight to Heaven during the time that it shall sleep in the dust of the Grave until the morning of the
are there for ever abolished and taken away There are no Deformities upon the Body to render it Contemptible nor no Reproaches upon the Name to make it Scandalous there is no Sickness or Distempers upon the outward Man nor no Desertions or Darkness upon the inward Man there are no Temptations from Satan to vex the Soul nor no Weaknesses and Infirmities to annoy the Body there 's no more Death or dying but Life for evermore Mortality is now swallowed up of Life Corruption hath put on Incorruption and Mortality hath put on Immortality and Death and Hell are cast into the Lake of Fire and which is more than all this there that is in Heaven we shall no more sin nor offend God to all Eternity Earth and Hell are the places both of sin and Suffering but Heaven is a place of perfect Joy and perfect Holiness nothing enters in there that is either Afflictive Polluted or Defiled When Death parts Soul and Body for a time then Sin and the Soul part for ever Here we are continually sinning and offending of God and it is the constant grief of a Godly Man that he doth so here our Righteousnesses are no better than filthy rags and Grace it self hath its defects when we believe most strongly we must cry out Lord help our unbelief but now in Heaven there are none but the Spirits of Just Men made perfect In a word there is nothing there that may in the least be an Allay or Diminution unto the Happiness of that blessed State that is there enjoyed to Eternity But this is not all Death doth not only free Believers from all that is Evil and Afflictive but it brings them to the perfect Enjoyment of whatever is beneficial and good Death being the means and way by which they enter into Heaven where Blessedness and Happiness is to be enjoyed in such fulness of perfection as exceeds not only our Apprebensions but our Imaginations For there it is that the infinitely great and blessed God discovers himself in all his Glory to be enjoyed by the Saints as their Portion to Eternity There it is that they shall behold their once bleeding and dying but now Glorified Redeemer Cloathed in their own Nature who loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood who was dead but is alive and now lives for ever more and because be lives they shall live also There they shall Enjoy that which was the great desire of the Apostle and theirs also to be with Christ which is best of all and how much blessedness is included in those few words to be with Christ the enjoyment of Heaven only where Christ is can make known to us There it is that Believers fully understand the meaning of that Article of our Christian Faith even the Communion of Saints here it was that they placed their Delight in the Saints the Excellent ones of the Earth and there their Delight shall be in great measure in the Saints some of the Excellent ones of Heaven There shall then be no mixture of sin and Corruption with our Graces which here is an Allay to the Lustre and Brightness of them but they shall Shine forth in their full Glory and Beauty Grace there shall be in its full Perfection nothing shall then be wanting in our Knowledge nor any thing imperfect in our Love our Obedience shall then flow from us with all readiness and chearfulness of Soul and our Joy and Delight in God shall not admit of the least Diminution or Disturbance to Eternity This O Soul is that in general which the Happiness of Heaven is made up of and to the Enjoyment of this Happiness without Interruption or Cessation for ever is that to which Death brings all Believers And surely if ever those words have any Truth in them they are here verified so that a Saint may truly say The lines are now fallen to me in a pleasant place I have a goodly Herit age O Blessed and Glorious State indeed who is there that knows and believes this infinite unconceivable Happiness that would not willingly die to enjoy it Unto which State of Blessedness God of his infinite Mercy bring us all to the Enjoyment of for the alone sake of Jesus Christ our only Saviour and Redeemer Amen FINIS
Word of God into his hand and falls a Reading of it where he meets with some things Commanded by God which possibly through ignorance or heedlessness he did not take notice of before to be his Duty Conscience at such a time takes part with the Word of God and by its Admonitions helps forward the Convictions of the Word upon the Heart of a Sinner that so there may be an Obediential Conformity thereunto Here now Conscience is a Faithful Monitor At another time when a Sinner hath not only through carelessness but through wilfulness and presumption fallen into the Commission of some great and horrid Sin possibly at such a time some Friend comes to him and deals plainly and freely with him by reproving him sharply and severely for his Sin Conscience now joyns in with the Reproof and becomes as true a Friend unto the Sinner as any he hath if he will but hearken unto him here now Conscience thunders out both the Threatnings of the Law and the Vengeance of the Gospel telling the Sinner that they that do such things are worthy of Death nay that they deserve Hell for because of these things sake says Conscience cometh the Wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience Conscience here now shews it self an exact and upright Reprover But then there is another Office that Conscience hath and that is to be an Accuser and this Office it commonly makes use of when it is throughly awakened upon a Death-bed for when a Man comes to lie upon a Sick-bed and sees the Visions of Death and the Grave before him the Charges of Conscience at such a time upon a Sinner are most quick and smart for Conscience being just as it were a going to give up its Accounts unto the Great God the Judge of all Flesh where it will speak nothing but the Truth begins now to give the Sinner some Account of what it must and will say before the Tribunal of God then And this is one Reason why Conscience is so strict and so severe in its Charge against the Soul that it will let nothing pass that comes into the mind of a Sinner without leaving some stinging Remembrances of its former guilt even such as are more bitter than Death it self This now makes Dying to be so hard and difficult a Work O happy Souls are they who at such a time have their hearts sprinkled from the Evil of an Accusing Conscience by the Blood of Jesus Christ for they only can have Peace and Comfort in the hour of Death This Work of dying though it be so hard and difficult a Work yet is it that we must all undergo for Death is continually hastening towards us The Blessed Apostle St. Paul thought Death always to be near it made such speed to him that he lookt upon himself always as a dying Man and therefore he tells us That he did die daily 1 Cor. 15.31 and in Rom. 8.36 For thy sake says he we are killed all the day long we are counted as Sheep for the Slaughter And if we make Hezekiah's Reckoning to be our own though he was under a fit of Sickness when he said it but we are in Health yet we shall not be much mistaken in the Account when he tells us From day even unto night says he thou wilt make an end of me What though Death hath not laid his cold hands upon us by some Mortal Disease yet may he not lie in Ambush for us and cut us off suddenly Time hath Wings and flies away swiftly from us and truly Death doth not creep but with the same swiftness posts towards us Man is wasting and consuming every day his Body wastes his Strength wastes his Parts waste his Time wastes yea his very Life wastes and whither tend all these Consumptions and Wastings but only to the hastening of Death neither will these end till they terminate in Man's Dissolution But though Man in this Life is always hurrying on unto Death yet how few are there that consider how suddenly themselves or others may die we easily and slightly pass over the Thoughts of Death and the suddenness of its approach because it is that we have no mind to We would not yet die our selves and therefore we will not think we shall Guests that are unwellcome to us we either keep them out of our Houses or turn them out as soon as we can Such are the Thoughts of Death either of our own or others and therefore if possible we endeavour to keep them out of our minds altogether but if sometimes they will thrust in upon us we turn them out again as soon as we can filling our Thoughts with some other things But alas this will not do always for the Thoughts of Death will return again upon some occasions or other God by some Providence may be will awaken Conscience and stir up Thoughts of Death in our minds let us do what we can to hinder them yea though we do what we can to stifle them but this is no thanks to us for of our selves we will not be brought to think of or regard how suddenly others do and our selves may die till by some sad Providence we are brought to the Sick bed of some Friend whom Death hath bedewed with cold Sweats and rackt with Convulsims so that he lies gasping and dying before us till our Eyes be brought thus to Affect our Hearts our Hearts are seldom Affected as they ought with the Sence of our Mortality Now as Death comes suddenly upon many so commonly it comes violently upon wicked Men their Souls are not surrendred or delivered up unto God but they are rent and torn from them by Force and Violence A wicked Man cannot commend his Soul into the Hands of God when he is dying Indeed we have a form of making the Wills of dying Men wherein the Person that lies upon his Death-Bed says I commend my Soul into the Hands of God which in the Judgment of Charity because we have nothing to do to Censure Mens Eternal State in the General we must not wholly Condemn yet it is to be feared that few that say those words do it heartily and sincerely and upon such Grounds as God will accept and receive when they leave their Bodies There are some who have lived in Sin all their Days yet have strong presumptions of the Mercy of God upon their Death-beds God is a merciful God say they and therefore with boldness and confidence they commend their Souls unto him relying upon his Mercy for Salvation But such are strangely Ignorant of the method of God in saving Sinners and by Custom in Sin and the Judgment of God upon them for it they are become insensible their Consciences are seared and asleep and so neither their Sin nor the misery they are liable to for Sin doth in the least trouble them But otherwise the Death of a wicked Man is violent he doth not resign up his Soul unto God but it is
Jesus the Head will diffuse it self into all its Members to quicken and raise them also in the morning of the Resurrection And indeed Christ is not perfectly risen till all Believers are risen also For though Christ's personal Resurrection was perfect when he arose out of the Grave and though all Believers did then arise with Christ representatively yet till all Believers arise personally at the last day the Resurrection of Christ hath not received its full perfection How comfortable therefore is this to a Believer to consider that by the same Faith that he puts Christ's Resurrection into the Premises he may put his own Resurrection into the Conclusion If Christ be in you says the Apostle speaking to Believers in Rom. 8.10 11. The body is dead it is a poor frail dying body because of sin And though you are really united unto Christ by his Spirit dwelling in you which is a great and glorious Priviledge yet your bodies must die as well as others but the Spirit saith he is life because of Righteousness Though your bodies die your souls shall be su'allowed up in life upon your dissolution this Happiness Believers have even in death But this is not all for saith the Apostle if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you what then why though your bodies must fall by Death into the Grave yet they shall rise and live again at the Resurrection and that by virtue of the Spirit of Christ which dwelleth in you and is the Bond of your Mystical Vnion with him who is your Head for says the Apostle He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Because Christ is your Head and his Spirit dwelleth in you you shall be raised again and that not as others by a meer word of his Power as the wicked are but by the Spirit of Life dwelling in Christ your Head which is an excellent Priviledge indeed O the Consolation that the hope of the Resurrection fills the Believing Soul withal it is this Blessed Hope that supports it not only under the Troubles of Life but makes it Triumph even under the Pains and Agonies of Death it self Thirdly Meditate frequently upon the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven Now this Ascension of Christ into Heaven as it was full of Glory and Triumph in respect of himself so is it full of admirable Comfort in respect of Believers As to himself his Ascension was Triumphant a Cloud was prepared as a Royal Chariot to carry up this King of Glory into Heaven so it is said in Acts 11.10 That whilst his Disciples beheld he was taken up and a Cloud received him out of their sight and no doubt a Royal Guard of Angels attended the Solemnity of their Lord's Ascension If when Christ came into the World to suffer Angels waited upon him for even then it was said of him Let all the Angels of God Worship him surely much more then now that he hath finished the work of Mans Redemption do the Angels Worship him in his return to Heaven again where he is exalted to have a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow both of things in Heaven and things on Earth and things under the Earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the Glory of God the Father But may a poor Believer say what is all this to me what am I the better that Christ is Ascended and Exalted thus in Glory Yes this is much for the advantage of Believers for it is the same Jesus that was Crucified for them that God hath made both Lord and Christ It is he who took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham who is Exalted above Angels being gone into Heaven Angels Principalities and Powers being made subject unto him It is this Jesus Christ whom God hath raised from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church Ephes 1.20 21. Christ Ascended into Heaven as a publick Person or the fore-runner of Believers for he is not gone to take possession of Heaven only for himself but also in our Name and for us So the Apostle tells us Heb. 6.20 speaking of the most Holy place within the Vail whither says he the fore-runner that is Christ is for us entred And if we will not believe the Apostle Christ himself tells us the same thing John 14.2 In my Father's House are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you And if I go away I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Christ is now in Heaven transacting the Affairs and Concerns of Believers both for their present Peace and Comfort and for their future Eternal Happiness not only by intercepting the daily cry of their sins by the continual Representation of his Death and Sufferings unto his Father and so making an Atonement and Reconciliation with God for them but by the Blood of his Cross he maintains this Peace and keeps up good thoughts in God towards Believers sprinkling their poor and weak but sincer Services with the Incense of his own Merits so that though both they and their Services deserve to be rejected for their own sakes yet they shall both be accepted for Christ's sake This now is something that Christ is doing in Heaven in the behalf of Believers since he is Ascended to his Father and to their Father to his God and to their God But yet this is not all for in that comfortable Prayer of his to his Father before his Ascension into Heaven which is say some the Copy of his Intercession now he is in Heaven he doth as it were tell us that he looks not upon himself as perfectly Happy until he hath the whole number of Believers with him in Glory and therefore says he John 17.24 Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where Lam that they may behold that is that they may enjoy my Glory which thou hast given me O what Comfort then is here to all Believers against the Fears of Death for assure thy self O Believing Soul that neither Death nor the Grave shall be a bar to thy Happiness thou must die it is true so did Christ but he is Risen and Ascended up into Heaven and so shalt thou also in due time and therefore says the Apostle He hath made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.6 Salvation and Happiness is made sure to a Believer by Christ for if when we were Enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death
above others may be one Reason to encline them to a willingness to die not out of a discontented mind because they are weary of or impatient under their sufferings This was the Sin of Moses Numb 11.15 when he prayed unto God if thou deal thus with me I pray thee kill me out of hand if I have found favour in thy sight and let me not see my wretchedness This is a great Sin in the Wicked and sometimes an Infirmity that the Godly fall into but the Scripture allows it not in any Faith and Patience under the afflicting hand of God is very becoming a Christian but Impatience and Discontent is to be abominated Though a Christian knows that it is better for him to die than to live yet out of a Fit of Impatience and Discontent because of Affliction we ought not presently to wish for Death St. Paul knew it was far better for him to die than to live He tells us so Phil. 1.21 yet durst not he desire it absolutely though a Man subject to many and great Afflictions but was in a strait what to do as himself saith and therefore submits himself to the Will of God Yet is it not utterly unlawful for a Christian to desire Death that he may be free from the Miseries of this Life because these Things occasion the drawing forth of Sin and Corruption whereby God is dishonoured his Spirit discomposed that he cannot serve God with that Freedom and Chearfulness of Soul as he might and as he desires Every day a Christian must look for Crosses and Afflictions and sufficient to every day are the Evils thereof Luke 9.23 And therefore a Christian may upon good grounds desire to be loosed from those Miseries and Afflictions if it be the will of God But in the mean time till he can have his desires in this Case let him in patience possess his Soul Secondly Another Reason that may make the People of God willing to die may be in respect of the wicked that they may not be always Spectators of those abominable Wickednesses whereby God is daily dishonoured his Name blasphemed This made Rebekah desirous of Death for when Esau had taken ungodly Wives it is said they were a grief of Mind to Isaac and Rebekah because they knew that God was greatly dishonoured thereby therefore says Rebekah unto Isaac I am weary of my life because of the Daughters of Heth and if Jacob take a Wife among them such as those that are of the Daughters of the Land what good will my life do me Gen. 27.46 O who can express what grief it is to those that fear God to live in the midst of a wicked and ungodly Generation that are continually provoking God by their wicked lives What godly Man's heart can but bleed to hear the Name of God rent and torn by cursed Oaths and Hellish Blasphemies to behold the Vncleanness the Drunkenness the Lying the scoffing at Godliness the corrupt filthy scurrilous idle Talking that overflows in all Places so that those that fear God had better be any where almost than in the Company of most Men This was a grief and vexation to the Soul of righteous Lot for in seeing and hearing the filthy Conversation of those wicked Sodomites they vexed his righteous Soul from day to day by their unlawful Deeds This made the Prophet David cry out in Psalm 120.5 9. Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar No wonder therefore that those whose Souls are affected with the dishonour of God are desirous to depart out of this World and cry out Oh that they had the wings of a Dove for then would they flee away and be at rest Thirdly Another thing that may make the People of God willing to die is freedom from the Temptations of Satan The Devil is the great Enemy of Mankind miserable he is himself and envies that any should be otherwise than himself is and therefore he makes use of all his Craft and Subtilties against Man And herein Christians are much endangered and hereby he frequently manageth his Temptations with Success for many are his Wiles and Devices that he makes use of to draw the People of God into Sin What unwearied Assaults from Satan do many Christians labour under not only for Days and Weeks but for Months and Years whereby he allures and enticeth them with restless Importunities to the Commission of some Sin or other which they are no more able to fly from than they are to out-run themselves Now to any that have tasted the Sweetness of Holiness what can be more hateful than daily Instigations to Sin And to such who understand the Blessedness of Communion with God what can be more bitter than to find themselves chain'd as it were to a Devil who makes such Applications of vile Objects to their Fancies continually that they cannot in the least turn themselves from Oh how irksome must it needs be to a gracious Heart to be always haunted with the Spectacle and Image of some Sin even as black as Hell Now this being the Case of the People of God to be uncessantly followed with the Temptations of Satan how willing should they be to die because never till then shall they be out of the reach of his fiery Darts For as it is in Heaven only that there is no Sin so it is in Heaven only that there shall be no Temptations unto Sin Fourthly Another thing that may make the People of God always willing to die is a perfect freedom from all Sin While they are here they sin and are in continual danger of falling from God and no Man can tell how far any of them may fall for though it be admitted that they cannot fall totally and finally yet they may fall dreadfully and fearfully as we read of some in Scripture who have lain long sighing and groaning under broken Bones and wounded Consciences Our Natures are so polluted with the Leprosie of Sin that we shall never be perfectly cured of it while we are in this World Under the Law we read that when any earthen Vessels were defiled they could not be sufficiently purged till they were broken in pieces Lev. 11.33 The spiritual Improvement whereof is to teach us that we can never be perfectly cleansed from the pollution of our Natures till we are broken in pieces by Death The best Man's Sanctification is not perfect here the holiest Man is not thoroughly cleansed while he lives but hath much of Filthiness remaining in him The wise Man in Prov. 20.9 silences all Men with this Question Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my Sin Who can say so Why none can We may do much in the work of Mortification in the use of Means as the Spirit of God directs us in the Word we may by the strength of the Spirit keep Sin from reigning in our mortal Bodies Rom. 6.10 But though it Reign not as a King
yet it may Rule as a Tyrant and we be brought into Captivity by it and by force kept in Bondage under it sometimes How willing therefore should a Christian be to die that he may be free from Sin for he that is dead saith the Apostle Rom. 6.7 is free'd from Sin Death only will free us from the danger and possibility of offending God any more for then we shall come to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect Heb. 12. 23. Why then O Christian shouldst thou desire to linger long here upon Earth and to spin out a miserable Life in this VVorld whereof Sin and Sorrow will have the greatest Share Here the best Christians are engaged in perpetual Conflicts between Sin and Grace Sin will not yield and Grace cannot yield Corruption compels one way and Grace commands another Haste therefore O Christian out of this troublesome Contest yea make haste to Heaven for there and there only it is that this Controversie will be ended for there we shall no more live in fear of new Sins nor in sorrow for old Sins but all Sorrow and Sighing shall cease all Tears shall there be wiped from our Eyes and which is better all Sin shall be rooted out of our hearts for ever Upon this Account now Death is not only necessary in it self but it is that which the People of God should embrace with the greatest willingness and chearfulness that may be But this is not all for the People of God must go one step higher and it is what the VVord of God doth require and that is not only to be content or willing to die but long for Death To be contented to die is a good Temper of Soul and may be an Argument of the Truth of Grace for it is seldom or never found in a wicked man to be sure not from a right Principle But truly Christians this is no such great Matter in comparison of what we should labour to attain unto Muse seriously upon it a while O Christian Is it not a strange kind of Expression to drop from the mouth of a Saint that he is content to be happy that one that professeth all his Happiness lies in the hopes he hath of enjoying God in Heaven and that it is the End and Design of his Life that he may attain unto this and that yet when he comes to speak of Death he should only say he is contented to die that he may be happy in the Enjoyment of God We use not to speak thus concerning the World here Men are not said to be content to be rich but covetous after Riches not willing to be advanced but ambitious after it And why then should it be said only of a Christian that he is contented to be with God and contented to be in Heaven Why Oh why should not the Soul the more noble excellent Part of a Man be carried out with vehement and earnest longings after its proper and full Happiness as well as the Body that vile Part of Man is carried with restless Appetite after Health Safety and Liberty Why should a Soul alone be contented to be happy when all things in the World do so ardently court and so vehemently pursue their respective Ends and several Perfections Truly this is not that Frame and Temper that Christians ought to content themselves with but their Souls should be raised up to a higher pitch even to a holy longing after their being ever with the Lord. It is the Duty of a Christian to look out after so much Enjoyment of the blessed God as we are now capable of and because we cannot fully and perfectly enjoy him in this Life to long after the time of our departure hence and with holy Pantings of Soul breath forth earnest Desires that we may be fully and eternally happy in the Enjoyment of him Be not therefore O my Soul contented only but be holily covetous and full of vehement longings after an Eternity of Blessedness in the Enjoyment of God and because this Body is that which hinders this desired and longed for Happiness though thou may'st not dissolve and break it into pieces thy self yet with Submission to the Divine Will wish it were broken desire that it may be dissolved And though thou must be contented to live God's time yet henceforth be desirous of and long to die To set this a little home upon thy Conscience O Christian consider that this Frame of Soul is that which the Scripture makes the Temper and the Duty of all Believers Indeed there are few Professors that are of this Evangelical Temper of Soul yea but few that are willing to believe they ought to be so But yet this Frame of Soul is made the Character of a sincere Christian the Scripture abounds with Expressions of this Nature Luk 21.28 Our Lord speaking concerning the day of Judgment for the encouragement of Believers bids them look up and lift up their Heads for their Redemption drew nigh by with our Lord means not a bare speculation but a beholding with joy and longing for that day and time 2 Tim. 4.8 The Lord shall give a Crown of Righteousness to them that love his appearing And in Tit. 2.13 we are commanded to live godly in this present World as those that are looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ So in 2 Pet. 3.12 What manner of Persons says the Apostle ought we to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness looking for and hastning to the coming of the Day of God By these Scriptures it appears what is the nature and temper the disposition and inclination of a Godly Man even to look to love to long and to hasten unto the enjoyment of God for that which is of God in any Soul must needs carry the Soul after God But here I am afraid least some weak Christians should be troubled because they cannot find these ardent desires and holy longings of Soul in themselves after their dissolution and enjoyment of God Now that I may not discourage any weak Believer nor make the Hearts of those sad whom God would not have made sad I shall add a few words though not for encouragement unto sloathfulness yet for support against fears and despondency Therefore O Christian search thine own Heart and see how it is with thee and if thou findest it is so as the objection intimates see then if thou canst find out the cause thereof possibly thou art grown careless in thy spiritual watch or thou givest too much liberty to thy self in things that are lawful the World it may be is got too near thy Heart thy Affections run out too much after it And no wonder then if while this frame and temper continues and things are thus out of order with thee thou dost not long after Heaven nor art willing to die though it be the only way by which thou canst come to the enjoyment of God
Souls after the enjoyment of God and Christ both Martyrs and others O cryeth one the Love of Christ in my Heart casteth a mighty heat he knoweth that the desire I have to be with him paineth me I have sick Nights and frequent fits of Love Fevers for my well-beloved Nothing is so painful to me as the want of his presence but it is a sweet pain O that he would cool my Love-Fever for him with real enjoyment of him O Great King says one why standest thou aloof off why remainest thou among the Mountains O well-beloved why dost thou pain a poor Soul with delays A long time out of thy Glorious Presence is as two Deaths and as two Hells to me we must meet I must see him hungring and thirsting for Christ hath brought on me such a necessity of enjoying him that cost what it will I cannot but assure Christ to my Soul one smile of his Face to me is a Kingdom a sight of him is worth a World of Worlds Sweet Jesus crys one out wilt thou let me see Heaven to break my Heart and never give me leave to enjoy it O fairest where dwellest thou O never enough admired and adored Godhead how can Creatures of yesterday be able to enjoy thee O what pain crys one is it that Time and Sin should be as so many thousand Miles between a loved longed for Lord and a pining Love-sick Soul Hell and as I now think all the pains of it laid on me could not put me off from loving of him I would refuse says one no condition not Hell excepted reserving always God's hatred to buy the possession and enjoyment of Jesus Oh closed Doors and Vails Curtains and thick Clouds crys one that hold me in pain while I find the sweet burnings of his Love within me which many waters cannot quench O Death do thy utmost against us O Torments O Malice of Men and Devils bring Hell to help you in Tormenting the Followers of the Lamb we will defie you to make us too soon happy and to waft us too soon over the water to that Land where that Plant the Plant of Renown grows O cruel time that Torments us and suspends our dearest enjoyments that we wait for when we shall be bathed and steeped Soul and Body in the depth of this Love of Loves I half call says one his absence cruel and that Mask and Vail upon his Face a cruel covering that hideth such a fair fair Face from a sick Soul I dare not challenge himself but his absence is a Mountain of Iron upon my heavy Heart Oh when shall we meet What do we here but sin and suffer Oh when shall the Night be gone and the Shadows fly away and the morning of that long long Day without Cloud or Night dawn The Spirit and the Bride say come Oh when shall the Lamb's Wife be ready and the Bridegroom say I come also O Time be not so slow but run yea fly away swiftly O Sun move speedily and hasten our Banquet O Heavens cleave asunder that the bright Face and Head may set it self through the Clouds O that the Corn were ripe and this World prepared for his hook How long is it to the dawning of the Marriage day O sweet Lord Jesus take wide steps O my Lord come over the Mountains at one stride cut short Years and Months and Hours shovel time and days out of the way post post haste our desired hungred longed for Meeting love is sick to hear of till too Morrow fly O my beloved like a Roe or a young Heart upon the Mountains of Separation O that thou wouldst remove says one the covering and draw aside the Curtain of Time that thou wouldst rent the Heavens and come down O that the Shadows and Nights were gone that the Day would break and be that feedeth among the Lilies would cry and call to his Heavenly Trumpeters make ready and let us go down and fold together the four corners of the World and Marry the Bride the Lamb's Wife since he hath looked upon me my Heart is not my own But I shall not proceed farther herein though the Subject be exceeding delightful but notwithstanding what hath been said herein I am far from thinking that these holy pantings and longings of Soul are to be found in every Godly Man or that none are truly Godly but those that find and feel in themselves these pantings and longings of Soul after the enjoyment of God in this vehement and ardent manner no I dare not say so for I believe multitudes yea the generality of Believers through sloathfulness never attain to this high pitch of Grace and Assurance of the Divine Love and Favour who yet go to Heaven very safely but where there are any that do attain unto this plerophory or full assurance such Souls live as it were on the very Suburbs of Heaven it self And by this we may see what is the Duty of a Christian to labour after and what sweet peace joy and delight we all lose who do not come up to this frame and temper of Soul even such as passeth our understandings to conceive or our expressions to make known which made a Godly Man once cry out in a holy pang of love unto Jesus Christ If I can get no more O let me be pained to all Eternity with longing for him the joy of hungring for Christ should be my Heaven for evermore CHAP. V. Death terrible in its self It is a dreadful Enemy Wherein its Enmity doth consist This Enemy shall be destroyed though it be the last Enemy that shall be destroyed Christ by his Death hath overcome Death for Believers and how far he hath done it Of the fear of Death and the Causes thereof How the fears of Death may be Conquered and overcome It is very uncomely for Christians to be afraid of Death It is possible for Christians to live without the fear of Death How Christians may die with Courage and Joy THo' death as it brings Holy Souls to the Eternal Fruition of God is desirable yet considered in its self it is dreadful being accompanied with Diseases and Distempers the fore-runners of a Dissolution and Separation between Soul and Body causing all the Actions and Operations of Life to cease in which State the Body quickly turns to Corruption and Putrefaction and in time to common Earth Now though this be dreadful unto Nature yet is there more of Terror in death unto Impenitent sinners because to them it is not only a Gate to let them into the Grave but a Gate to let them into Hell the first death transmitting them unto the second death And yet how great is the folly of Men that they fear death for that which is least formidable in it but do not fear it for that which renders it justly terrible Could death do no more to us than what reacheth to pains and distempers on the outward Man and the dissolution and destruction of