thy self as it were in the grave and see thy ghastly skull lying in the dust among the worms of the earth and then look on thy glorious Head in Heaven and so comfort thy self with this that as vile and loathsome a spectacle as thy diseased body is now and thy dead body will be shortly yet it is a precious member of Jesus Christ who will by his infinite power change and fashion this contemptible dust into the likeness of his glorious body in heaven 4. Comfort in respect of death it comes to the godly without a sting In this we are taught to triumph 1 Cor. 15.55 56. O death where is thy sting Now to clear up your comfort in this consider that sickness and death are said to sting when God as a revenging Judge sends them to execute the curse of the law for sin so that death is compared to a fearful Serpent which kills and devours all the men and women in the world And saith the Apostle the sting of this Serpent Death is sin it 's sin that makes the sting and then he adds the strength of sin is the law The strength that sin hath to sting is from the curse of the Law and the Law hath its strength and power from the wrath of God for the law worketh wrath Rom. 4.15 So that by all you see that by the sting of death is meant the dreadful torments of hell which at death come from the wrath of God through the curse of the Law for sin O poor Christless sinner what a miserable case art thou in Look well as thou fittest in thy seat and thou mayst see this stinging Serpent Death lye under thy feet when thou liest down this Serpent lies under thy bed when thou art at meat this Serpent lies under thy table when thou goest out of thy house thou mayst see this Serpent at the door ready to sting thee to heâ— But now here comes in the unspeakaâ— comfort of believers for though death hâ— power to kill them yet it hath no poâ—er to sting them because all the cauâ— of Deaths sting are taken away by Jesâ— Christ 1. Sin is gone for this lamb of Gâ— hath taken away the sins of the world Joâ— 1.29 Observe they are taken away â— if they had never been Hence 1 Pet. â— 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his owâ— body on the tree So that by the righteouâ—ness of Christ given to us by God and received of us by Faith and thereby maâ— our own we are fully cleared and absoâ—ved from sin and God will never impuâ— it to us 2. It follows that the curse of the Law is gone for Christ hath delivered us froâ— the curse of the law being made a curâ— for us So that the law hath no strength tâ— binde us to punishment there being neither sin to binde us for nor punishment tâ— binde us unto 3. The wrath of God which makes thâ— punishment is also taken away for it iâ— God that justifieth Rom. 8.33 and we havâ— thereby peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1 So that God is ours and for us to love bless and save and glorifie us and therefore every believer may with comfort hold up the Blood of Christ in the very face of the King of Terrors and say Here is my Christ my righteousness but O death where is thy sting Nay further Death is now changed from coming to execute the curses of the Law for it comes to fulfil the blessings of the Gospel for death to a believer is a work of a reconciled Father whereby he looseth his childe out of earth into heaven so that we may see death so full of the love and goodness of God that it should even indear it to us and make it lovely and precious to our souls That is a most comfortable promise Joh. 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you If a man keep my saying he shall never see death It is not meant he shall never die as the Jews understood it ver 52. And I conceive it is not only intended he shall never die the second death but the meaning also seems to be this that a Childe of God shall see so much of God and Christ and Heaven that he may even overlook the fears of death which are swallowed up by God and Christ and Life Lastly Comfort in respect of our glorious victory over all diseases and death at the day of Judgment This victory consists in two things 1. In putting a final period to all diseases and death Sickness shall never trouble us more and death shall never kill us more I warrant thee Christian thy head will never ake in heaven and for certain there will be no Funerals in that Country but corruptible must put on incorruption and mortal shall put on immortality 2. In that the bodies of believers shall then be never the worse for the diseases and death which they have suffered but the bodies which were sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory Beloved a Saint may live comfortably in any condition by living in the joyful knowledge of the day of judgment Hence when the Apostle had propounded this as an argument of comfort that yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry He adds this Now the just shall live by faith meaning they shall live a life of holiness and comfort in believing the day of judgment And Saint Paul having made a glorious description of that great day 1 Thes 4.15 16 17. makes this use of it vers 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words And in this the godly did comfort themselves Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also which have the first-fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies This is a most comfortable life to live as those that are always groaning and waiting for the day of judgment A believer may apply this to his comfort against any particular trouble Art thou disgraced and reproached in thy name summon as it were all thy accusers to the day of judgment and believe what a name thou shalt have then and that thou shalt be sure to come off with credit at that day when the glorious Judge of quick and dead shall confess thee before his Father and Angels and Men and as mean and obscure as thou seemest now the world will have other thoughts of thee when they see thee appear with Christ in glory Col. 3.4 And therefore we learn that one great work of that day will be to make a clear and open manifestation of the sons of God Rom. 8.19 Art thou troubled with unreasonable and wicked men so that thou mayst say with David My soul is among Lyons and I lye even among them that are set on fire Psal 57.4 Consider what Christ will do to them at the day of judgment and what
What shall a man give in exchange for his soul Be pleased to accept this poor thing which I humbly offer to you give it a little room in your Study and Closet and let the truths therein have a great place in your hearts Now blessed of the Lord be you and your hopeful posterity for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof and especially for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush NOw for the rest of you my dearly beloved my joy and my longed for It is now thirteen years since upon your free choice and consent I was setled to be your Minister I mourn that I have done you no better service yet I bless God that I have done you no worse Some of you are the people of my joy others are the people of my hopes but God knows you are all the people of my love possibly you may not enjoy my Ministry long though if any thing but death part us it is like for your sakes to be one of the saddest days of my age Some know I might have had better places both before and since I knew you but I never thought my self too good for you the Lord make me better whilst I stay and give you a better when I am gone You will wonder to see me appear to you thus publick my late visitation whereby I was brought down to the gates of the grave and brought up again was the occasion of my preaching these Sermons and the unanimous advice of four godly reverend and learned Ministers all known to you caused their printing without which my own private thoughts of them had never consented to have them licensed for the Press I have devoted this little plain Treatise to the Will of God knowing that if he put power and savour in it it will prosper I expect to be scorned by some but if God say Well done I care not who findes fault I had rather bear the reproaches of thousands then that one poor â—oul should lose the least spiritual and saving good which I may be a means to help him unto I leave it with you as a testimony of my sincere love to you not so much that you may remember me but that you may remember your selves your sins and your souls and that you may remember God Christ Heaven Hell Death and Judgement which are always present before you Brethren I must needs witness that most of you have been constant hearers of the Word and that you have many hundred Sermons to answer for but you must be doers as well as hearers of the word the sins of men and the terrors of the Lord make me afraid that there is a storm rising and I doubt there will be a great fall of many professors and if you will believe our Saviour you shall finde that those onely are built on a rock and shall certainly stand who are both the hearers and doers of the word I refer you to his own words Matth. 7.24 25 26 27. I beseech you let not the world and sin come between your hearts and Christ let nothing keep you from heaven which cannot keep you from hell Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen Your servant for Jesus sake Edward Lawrence Baschurch July 11. 1661. Reader THough nothing be more certain and common then Death it is no common thing to be prepared for it or else salvation would be common As there are no Truths that are more necessary to be oft preacht and heard then those which almost all men know so also no duties are more necessary to be urged then those that almost all confess and think they practice who will not acknowledge that preparation for death should be the daily business of our lives and done with the first and most serious of our cares And yet to the shame of corrupted humane nature we must speak it thousands that are uncertain to live an hour and certain to be lost for ever if death surprize them in the state which they are in are as mindless of a serious preparation and of the change which should go before that change as if it were no part of their concernment Methinks it is a very doleful spectacle to see men unprepared to dye as busily taken up with impertinent diversions as if their work were done already One drinking and prating and singing in an Alehouse or Tavern though unprepared to dye another imployed in feasting and complement and such company and discourse as will least trouble him with such thoughts while yet he is unprepared to dye another scraping for deceitful riches or gaping and scrambling for preferment while yet he is unprepared to dye another quieting his carnal heart with meer hypocritical outsides and lip-service as if he could charm an unprepared soul into Heaven by saying or hearing a few words and few will know feelingly what an important work Preparation is till the terrors of approaching death be upon them One of Gods means for mens preparation is to give his Ministers a special fitness to assist them in the work As Christ took part with the children that were partakers of flesh and bloud Heb. 2.14 and in all things must be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-priest and in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted v. 17 18. so that we have not an High-priest that cannot be touched with the feeling our of infirmities Heb. 4.15 Even so his Ministers must be mortals frail and subject to like passions as other men James 5.17 and the treasure of the spirit must be in earthen vessels 2 Cor. 4 7. They must be sick that they may the better teach you to prepare for sickness and they must be exercised in preparing for death themselves that they may be the fitter to teach you to prepare The God of Comfort comforteth them in all their tribulations that they may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the Comfort wheâ—ewith they are comforted of God â—nd whether they be afflicted or comforted it is for your consolation and salvation Even when they are pressed out of measure above strength insomuch as they despair of life they receive the sentence of death in themselves that they may not trust in themselves but in God that raised the dead that thanks may be given by many on their behalf 2 Cor. 1.3 4 6 8 9 11. Whereas those that are insensible of their neerness to eternity and in healthful prosperity grow secure are like to be no lively feeling Preachers nor fit to waken others to that serious preparation which they
find this to be the effect of Davids sickness Psal 38.3 4. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thy anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin For mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Beloved people would not be so fond of their sins if they saw the diseases and dangers which they bring upon them as a man would not be greedy of the daintiest meat if he knew it were mixt with Rats-bane nor be proud of the finest cloaths if he knew they were infected with the Pestilence So if people saw the Plague Pocks Dropsie Fever and the Consumption in their pride and oaths and lyes and drunkenness and covetousness it would make them afraid of sin as well as of sickness and therefore look not upon sin as it appears in your honours profits and pleasures as it appears at an Ale-house May-pole or Maurice-dance or Cock-pit or Bear-bait or Stage-play for there thou canst not see sin for its pleasures but look upon thy self on a bed of languishing and there see thy sins standing in order before thee and then tell me what fruit thou hast in these things Look upon thy self as hanging over the lake of brimstone and then call thy drunken Companions about thee and bid them pour out their flagons and quaff off their cups and see whether all these can make thee merry when the flames of hell begin to catch and kindle in thy guilty soul call in thy lyes and injustice to bring thee thy treasures of wickedness and lay them under thy pillow and see whether they can bring thee ease when Death and Hell and the day of Judgment stand present before thee And my Brethren it is observeable that when we sin in our sickness we should see far more evil in it then as it is the meritorious cause of that disease as we should look further into a sickness then as it causeth present aches and pains in the body we should see that Death and Eternity which comes after so we should see more evil and danger in sin then as it brings such a disease for the evil of it is not spent in that therefore we should look upon it as provoking God to punish us with diseases and with death and hell which diseases are loosing us into The second End to convince us of the vanity of the creature now we are truly convinced of the vanity of the creature when we judge it to be empty of that good which must free a sinful man from misery and fill him with true happiness It must needs be a vanity when a man may be miserable with it and happy without it Now Christ appoints diseases as means to convince us of this vanity of the creature for as one saith wittily the world is the Devils Chess-board wherein a man can neither move forward nor backward but the Devil attaches him with some creature or other and indeed we are so full of the spirit of the world as it 's called 1 Cor. 2.12 which doth so fill our hearts with the world that God and Christ and Heaven and Salvation are nothing to us and therefore this sin is called a denying God that is above Job 31.24 25 28. and Agur tells us that when a man is full of the world he is apt to deny God and to say Who is the Lord Prov. 30.9 Oh what poor scornful thoughts a covetous proud secure worldling hath of God and Christ and Saints and Ordinances and Salvation Now this is one great use of sicknesses to convince a man of the vanity of the world and this is a most convincing argument for I dare challenge all the worldlings which the world it self can own to name me that earthly creature and tell me what I shall call it which can heal the wounds of a guilty conscience or can take out the sting of death or of which a man can truly say Here is a treasure which a lump of phlegm cannot take from me If thou canst not say this of the creature I grant thou mayst use it for thy good but be ruled by a friend never choose it for thy portion But more particularly we may hereby be convinced of the vanity of these five things First Of the vanity of our selves Sickness moved David to beg wisdom of God to know how frail he was Psal 39.4 and this made Job compare himself to a leaf and to the dry stubble and to a flower and shadow Job 13.25 and Cap. 14.2 and we read that this is the use of sickness to hide pride from man Job 33.17 that is to take it quite away to be seen no more and if we did look on every thing which we are usually proud of as it will prove on a sick bed or death-bed it would be an effectual means to abase us and to hide pride from us Beloved it is a most precious thing for a man to be fill'd with the knowledge and sense of his own emptiness and vanity The Kingdom of heaven is unchangeably entail'd upon all such Mat. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven Hereby a man is sweetly qualified for every duty Faith never acts with more integrity and strength then when it acts from the belief of a mans own emptiness for when self is most denied Christ is most acknowledged and believed then doth a man most heartily and strongly receive and rest upon Christ to justifie and to save him when he sees what a guilty condemned lost wretch he is in himself and when he sees what a weak helpless creature he is then doth he most trust to the infinite power of Jesus Christ and this also doth exceedingly endear his heart in love to God when he sees that God is so good and so full of grace and love and mercy as to chuse and call and pardon and save such a vile and loathsome creature as he then repentance is most inward and spiritual when a man with Job abhors himself and repents in dust and ashes Job 42.6 and this fills the heart with prayer for prayer begs of God what a man wants in himself therefore when a man sees himself poor and empty of all good and knows that he cannot be supplied from himself then doth he pray to be fill'd with the fulness of God Now I say sickness is a special means to convince a man of his emptiness and vanity for hereby a man is left bare and empty of all those creature-comforts which seemed to fill him before and now he sees that nothing will fill him but grace and glory and that there is nothing in him to make up this fulness Secondly To convince us of the vanity of great men Oh what is a Prince or a Noble-man or Gentleman when the Pox or the Fever or the Consumption will insult over him and scorn him and make nothing of him and there is nothing in him
them desperate Now to arm you against the former temptation which concerns the business in hand fill your hearts with the belief of God as he is a God of judgement for the Lord is known by the judgement which he executeth Psal 9.16 therefore he tells us I kill and I make alive Deut. 32.39 So saith he Isa 45.7 I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things All the evil of punishment which comes into the world comes from God all the hurt that is done by fire water wind thunder earthquakes God doth it all the hurt that comes by famine pestilence sword blasting mildew God doth it all that dye God kills them all that go to hell God damns them and is not this a terrible God Thirdly look not on God as men judge of him when they are secure and God is patient but as he appears when men awake with guilt and God awakes in wrath Beloved if every Sin should presently bring a Judgement if every Oath should kill a Cow and every Lye break a Bone and every act of Drunkenness turn a man into a Dropsie then sin would be accounted more dangerous and God more terrible But as we read Psal 55.19 Because they have no changes therefore they fear not God When men can swear lye be drunk scoff at godliness prophane Sabbaths and yet eat drink sleep work and play all alike this makes them confident that God is not so angry with them as a company of precise Puritans would have them believe We read of this Atheistical temper Psal 50.21 22. These things hast thou done meaning the crying sins fore-mentioned and I kept silence saith God I did not disturb thee nor hinder thee and thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self that I liked sin as well as thou didst but thou wilt be of another minde when I come to reprove thee and to set thy sins in order before thee and to tear thee in pieces when there shall be none to deliver thee We read Psal 40.11 Evil shall hunt the violent man to destroy him and it is said Numb 32.23 Your sin shall finde you out Sinners lye close and hide themselves in their sins as if judgement could never finde them Oh but consider sicknesses and death and hell are looking for thee they are hunting after thee Heark methinks I hear the cry of the hunters and the sound of the feet of death pursuing thy soul I may say unto thee as she said to Sampson The Philistines are upon thee Sampson Sickness is upon thee sinner death and judgement is coming upon thee the wrath of the eternal God is roaring against thee these things should make thee cry out with David Psal 119.20 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Lastly Consider God as a God of all sicknesses and diseases to convince thee that he is a terrible God these with other judgements are called the terrors of God Job 6.4 The terrors of God do set themselves in aray against me and it 's clear that God for this reason is terrible for that is terrible which is destructive to the health and life and being of man this makes fire water wind thunder men and devils terrible and this makes Sickness the Pestilence Fever the Pocks the Stone the Consumption and Death and Judgement terrible Now therefore what a terrible Majestie is God who makes all these so terrible for as there is no fear of an Ox-goad or of the Jaw-bone of an Ass but the one in the hand of a mighty Shamgar was a terrible instrument of death to six hundred men Judges 3.31 and the other in the hand of a strong Sampson killed heaps upon heaps heaps upon heaps a thousand men Judges 15.16 So this makes all diseases and all instruments of death terrible because they are in the hand of a mighty God who for this reason is to be acknowledged and feared as a very terrible God Secondly informs us of the infinite patience of God towards ungodly men which appears in that God hath all diseases and death at command to avenge himself upon them and yet that he is pleased so long to forbear The Scripture makes known the glory of God to us by this Attribute Exod. 34.6 The Lord merciful and gracious long-suffering So Psal 86.14 Rom. 2.4 This patience of God is his infinite goodness whereby he doth moderate and with hold his wrath from falling upon sinners Pardoning grace takes a way the wrath of God and looseth the believer from being bound to suffer it But here the sinner lyes condemned and stands bound over by the Law to suffer Gods wrath but God by his infinite patience forbears to inflict it Now I shall briefly propound these three Considerations to convince us of the patience of God 1. Consider the greatness of that wrath which God withholds from falling on you viz. all the punishments which are threatned in the curses of Gods Law God doth not only keep off millions of diseases but also mountains of torments from coming upon thee every day the great difference which is betwixt thee and a damned soul in hell is made by the patience of God Oh poor Christless sinner when I stand seriously looking on thee eating and drinking and laughing and sporting in thy sins as if thou thoughtest thy self as safe as ever an Angel of heaven and then believe what the Scripture speaks against thee and see what is in God against thee I cannot but tremble to look thee in the face to see whither thou art so merrily going and what an alteration sickness and death is shortly like to make with thee but for present God in infinite patience withholds all the wrath that thou deservest 2. Consider the great provocations that God doth bear Sin is said to provoke or call forth the wrath of God and notwithstanding such horrid sins call and cry for his wrath yet in the infinite power of his patience he forbears The Scripture ascribes a Voice to three things which cry aloud for Gods wrath 1. Sin cryes Gen. 18.20 21. The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is great Swearing cryes Pour out thy wrath on the Blasphemer that belcheth out me Drunkenness cryes Oh thou consuming fire devour this Beast that commits me So there is a cry against a Nation and against a City or Family Oh Profaneness cryes Come away Pestilence come away Famine and devour England that is so filled with me but yet God in infinite patience withholds his Judgments 2. The Estates of men which are gained by sin and wickedness cry for vengeance James 5.4 Hab. 2.11 The stone shall cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber shall answer it The Prophet speaks as if all the parts of a house built by fraud and blood did consent to cry one after another for vengeance against the founders of it the Stone cryes Lord revenge
the cruelty and injustice that laid me and the Timber answers and cryes Make inquisition for the blood that laid me Oh you that eat the bread of deceit and live upon lyes and injustice were your consciences awakened you might hear the very bread on your tables and the money in your purses and the stones and timber of your houses cry for the vengeance of God against you and yet this infinitely patient God bears with you Lastly the sighs and groans of Gods people cry aloud for vengeance against their Persecutors and Oppressors Exod. 3.7 I have seen the affliction of my people which are in Aegypt and have heard their cry Psal 12.4 For the oppression of the poor and the sighing of the needy will I arise Beloved the godly are hated for their likeness to God this makes the difference betwixt them and the wicked for herein they differ from the world and a man must either make God his enemy and the Devil his father and be content to damn his own soul or else the world and he will never be friends but he that is born after the flesh will persecute him that is born after the spirit Now herein is glorified the patience of God when they that wrong his people rake in the apple of his eye and yet this tender Father stands by and sees his children scorned and loathed and murdered for choosing and honouring and fearing and pleasing him and for a long time bears all Lastly the infinite patience of God appears in that he can always ease himself of his enemies and yet he forbears God complains that the sins of men are a trouble to him Isa 1.14 and that they weary him Isa 43.24 and saith he Amos 2.13 Behold I am pressed under you as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaves Now the Scripture speaks as if God did ease and comfort himself in the destruction of his enemies Isa 1.24 Ah I will ease me of my adversaries Ezek. 5.13 I will cause my fury to rest upon them and I will be comforted Now God can suddenly thus ease and comfort himself let him but command the Pestilence the Fever the Pocks c. they will quickly fetch them to hell never to trouble him more but in his infinite patience and long-suffering he spares them and bears with them Thirdly Informs us of the reason why godly Ministers are so serious in shewing men their danger and pressing them to repentance because they see Almighty God armed with such a multitude of diseases and judgments and deaths against men when a Minister is filled with love to and longing for the salvation of his people and sees the diseases and other judgments which lye at the door of every sinner and knows that the want of his care and faithfulness may be the damnation of a soul or more before another opportunity this must needs make Ministers labour earnestly for the salvation of their people and therefore it is an excellent thing for a Minister to preach and pray and administer Sacraments and live as if he saw God and Christ and Angels and Devils and Death and Judgment looking him in the face to preach as if he were to die preaching and people were to die under his Sermons Hence saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ whence he infers vers 11. Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord we perswade men Beloved we know what Christ will do to us if we preach the word deceitfully and damn the souls whom we are sent to save We know the doom of those who know not God and obey not the Gospel 2 Thes 1.8 9. We know whither drunkards and whoremongers and blasphemers and worldlings and all unregenerate persons are going and therefore knowing the terrors of the Lord we perswade men we are sent in the stead of Christ to perswade you to heaven and therefore dare not stand in the stead of Devils to flatter you into hell Sirs it is not many weeks since I was even past preaching and I know that death and I must shortly meet again and I know ere long you will be past hearing and therefore I would preach and live so that when sickness and death return I may be found labouring to save my self and them that hear me In the mean time when I look upon God and see millions of deaths in his hands and every death hell following it I dare not but warn you to flee from the wrath to come Mat. 3.7 Beloved a faithful Minister would never tell you of your sins but to cause you to forsake them and the word Hell should not be so often in his Pulpit but that he is afraid lest his people should come there he hath no secret grudge against you neither desires the woful day God knows Jer. 17.16 but he dares not deceive you he dares not be damned for you in preaching you and himself into hell The fourth informs us whence it is that we hear so much of the unexpected deaths of men why here is the cause God commands a disease or some other messenger of death to go and to fetch them away and they are gone if any die God tells all the world who kills them I kill saith he Deut. 32.39 Hence we see great men for a while fill a Country and a frown of their faces and a stamp of their foot makes all to quake about them but they prove like Pharaoh of whom we read Jer. 46.17 Pharaoh King of Egypt is but a noise So they make a great noise in the Country a while and then like a sound in the Air pass away Methinks a great man is like a great winde it blows violently and rageth a while as if it would throw down all afore it but it proves but a wind which is soon spent and laid So a furious wicked man he blusters and ruffles a while as if he would blow down God and man but a disease and death comes and he gives up the ghost and where is he David made this observation Psal 37.35 36. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green Bay-tree Observe he spreads himself he enlargeth his power and riches and greatness But see what follows Yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found for a sickness comes and like a tempest takes him away in a night Job 27.20 and so by the blast of God they perish Job 4.9 So we see others which would be as great sinners but that they are not so great men for instrumenta explicandae nequitiae desunt as Seneca speaks they want instruments to do mischief these curst Kine have short horns and so cannot do so much hurt these men are full of lyes oaths drunkenness and are set on fire against God and godliness sinning with that impudence as if they would out-face and brow-beat God and man and make death
out of the land of Egypt and God chuseth this as a fit preface to the Ten Commandments as if it were a sufficient reason to all to worship and obey him Exod. 20.2 I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt c. yet how often did the discontented Jews upbraid God with that mercie Would to God we had died in the land of Egypt wherefore hast thou brought us out of the land of Egypt Thus many in sickness and pain forget the mercie of God in all the days of their health and life in a few hours sickness they forget a whole age of rich mercie Lastly discontent frets and disquiets a mans self Psal 37.1 and therefore it hurts them more then the affliction as if man have a cut or wound in his flesh this will disease and trouble him but if a fretting humour fall in the wound to vex and inflame it this is far more hurtful and dangerous then the wound it self so thy sickness must needs trouble thee but if under thy visitation thy heart abound with proud and peevish humours which makes thee fret against God this makes thy condition far more miserable then the disease it self would make it Secondly observe four Causes of Discontent 1. Ignorance of Gods dominion over his creatures this is clear by the parable of the labourers in the Vineyard Matth. 20. where our Saviour doth silence the labourers murmuring about their wages with this Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own vers 15. implying that if they had known and considered that it was his own they would have found no cause to quarrel So many murmure in their sickness to see worse sinners have their ease and health but they do not consider that their life health and bodies are Gods own and all diseases are his own and he sends them to whom he will and though others have more mercy yet they have no wrong do not you put your Oxen to labour and after that to the slaughter yet if any question you for using the poor cattel so cruelly you will not stick to tell them Friends we hurt nothing of yours may we not do what we will with our own Sirs God hath a greater right over you then you have over your cattel if he disease you and destroy you he hurts nothing of yours and therefore he may do what he will with his own 2. Discontent ariseth from mens expectation of settlement in the world for certainly they that trust to vanity shall be filled with vexation of spirit for disappointment always breeds discontent as the Husbandman that dungs and ploughs and sows his ground if his expectation of a crop be too great and he doth not consider how many thousand dangers may come between the Plough and the Sickle but reckon aforehand of so many measures for his family and so many to pay rent and so many for seed now if the crop fail at harvest here is a sad repining and discontent so if a mans expectation of the world is too high and having heaped up riches he begins to bless himself saying I have so much for a purchase and so much for portions for my children now if when he is just catching at them to use them they take themselves wings and flie away no marvel if they leave the owner murmuring at the Providence When the Israelites were so miraculously saved from Egypt they thought that deliverance had put a period to all their troubles and therefore every cross being a disappointment sets them on murmuring so they that promise themselves health and ease and plenty in the world when sickness and want comes they presently fret and complain whereas they that look and prepare for changes live in a more composed and quiet frame if mercie comes they are thankful and if affliction comes they are content The third Cause of discontent is Unbelief Hence the Israeliles murmure because they believed not the good report which Joshua and Caleb gave of the land of Canaan Numb 14.11 How long will it be ere they believe me for all the signes which I have shewed among them Sirs an unbelieving heart is always a discontented heart for an unbeliever hath nothing to still and quiet the heart with in his afflictions observe every cross takes away something which did feed and please the heart as health riches credit pleasures and friends c. now when these are lost a man doth as it were feel something go out of his heart but then faith fills and stills the heart by bringing into it God and Christ and heaven Why art thou disquieted O my soul trust still in God Psal 43.5 but now God and Christ and the promises and heaven are nothing to an unbeliever and so yeild him no peace and comfort therefore he must needs be like the troubled sea when the storms and winds of affliction blow upon him and he hath nothing to calm and comfort his soul Lastly discontent ariseth from mens being so very sensible of the evil of affliction and senceless of the evil of sin Mens bodies are tender and their senses quick and therefore even the biting of a flea the scratching of a Pin is presently felt and men are so tender of their reputation profits and delights that the least touch in these is a cross to them but their hearts are so hard and consciences feared that they can lye securely under all the curses of Gods book and have mountains of wrath abide on them and feel nothing and therefore afflictions lye so heavie because sin lyes so easie Whereas if a man knew what sin is and saw at night what wrath he had treasured up all the day he would rather wonder that he were out of hell then murmure that he were in trouble this did silence the Church when she remembred the wormwood and the gall because she knew that it was of the Lords mercies that she was not consumed therefore she pleads Lam. 3.39 Wherefore doth a living man complain A man that deserves death and hell cannot reasonably complain if he be alive as it is unreasonable for a Thief that deserves to be hanged to complain because he is whipt And then it is added a man for the punishment of his sin Why should a man complain of that which he hath brought upon himself Solomon speaks of this as very unequal Prov. 19.3 The foolishness of a man perverteth his way that is mans sin brings him into trouble and his heart fretteth against the Lord. Man is in all the fault and he would have God to bear all the blame In the next place observe four sad consequences of this Sin First murmuring debaseth a man by turning him into the likeness of the basest creature we have a remarkable Scripture for this in Psal 59. in the sixth verse David saith of his enemies They return at evening they make a noise like a dog and go round
about the City that is they go about like the Devils beagles hunting Gods people Well saith David vers 14. seeing they love the sport so well At evening let them return and make a noise like a dog and go round about the City that is let thy judgements so afflict them that they may like hungry and angry Curs go crying and yelling about the City so that here the murmuring of a man in trouble is compared to the yelling of a dog so this sin is compared to the roaring of Bears Isa 59.11 We roar all like bears and Zanchy observes that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated murmurers Phil. â— 14 signifies a noise like the grunting of a swine nay this sin makes a man like the very Devil who is a most restless and discontented spirit and therefore is said Matth. 12.43 To walk about seeking rest and finding none And it is true of many on their sick-beds which we read Hos 7.14 They have not cryed unto me when they have howled viz. like beasts upon their beds Now what a fearful case is this that when in thy sickness thou shouldst have been full of the thoughts and language and savour of a Christian so as to be praying unto and praising and pleasing God and saving and edifying others and quieting and solacing thy own soul that thou shouldst by murmuring and discontent be yelling like a Dog roaring like a Bear howling like a Beast grunting like a Swine and be like a restless and desperate Devil Secondly discontent unfits the soul for every duty you cannot indure to see your children go grumbling to meat and grumbling to School and grumbling to bed and grumbling to ask you blessing so it greatly provokes God to see people go murmuring to prayer and murmuring to Sermons and murmuring to Sacraments Beloved lay this up as a rule and let it always reign in your hearts viz. That a man can never go holily and comfortably to any duty except his heart be reconciled to these three things To God to all men and to all Gods Providences Therefore when a man is quarrelling with God and men and murmuring at all Gods dealings always either complaining that his mercies are too little or his afflictions too great how miserably unfit is such a man to look God in the face in any duty Thirdly murmurers are always miserable according to our Proverb An angry person never wants woe as if a man that hath his body full of sores come in a crowd where he is always jogged and thrust this must needs hurt and vex his sores Beloved a discontented spirit is a sore spirit and the least touch of affliction doth vex it and therefore for such a man to live always in a croud of miseries wherewith he is continually hurt and vext this must needs be a miserable man It is observable that God himself is set to cross such a man Lev. 26.27 28. If ye walk contrary to me I will walk contrary to you As thus God would have you to believe love fear and please him Now you walk contrary to God you deny hate despise and provoke him Well you would have God to bless preserve pardon and save you Oh but God wiâ—l walk contrary to you he will curse destroy and damn you Now they cannot but be in an unquiet condition who have God himself always crossing and thwarting them See Psal 18.26 With the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward If you will be cross with God he will be cross with you and therefore observe when you are discontented something falls out from Wife Children Servants or Neighbours to exasperate and fret you more so that I say this sin makes a man spend his days in bitterness and sorrow Lastly murmurers shall be judged at the last day as ungodly men Jude v. 14 15 16. where we see that when the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints one great work of that day will be to execute judgement on ungodly murmurers and complainers therefore as you fear the portion of murmurers then do not live the life of murmurers now Thirdly this Doctrine reproves those who are so stupid and senceless in their sickness as not to own the hand of Christ in their visitation for seeing all diseases come from him we are to receive them as the good messengers of Christ saying with Naomi Ruth 1.13 The hand of the Lord is gone out against me This stupidity of spirit is that sin whereby men slight and despise the judgments of God so as neither to be affected in the sense of their sins nor of Gods displeasure for them We have a clear instance of this sin Jerem. 10.19 I said truly This is my grief and I must bear it In the beginning of the verse the people sadly bewail their present afflictions Woe is me for my hurt my wound is grievous now it aggravates their present misery to be upbraided with their former stupidity I said viz. in my trouble heretofore truly this is my grief and I must bear it off as well as I can implying that they formerly thought that they could easily bear off the strokes of God We often hear the like confident language from many stupid sinners on their sick beds saying Indeed I am not well I am something out of order but I will strive with it and hope to shake it off shortly and so go on with my building or trading or purchasing c. Thus usually men flatter themselves in their sickness talking as if they were but beginning to live when perhaps they are ready to die these strive to put far from them the evil day Amos 6.3 Like those who boasted that they had made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell Isa 28.15 as if they had made some bargain with Death and Hell and had them in Bond and Covenant not to hurt them this sensless spirit possest those Hos 7.9 Isa 42.25 This sin is forbidden Prov. 3.11 My son despise not the chastening of the Lord. Beloved it is a fearful thing to despise any affliction perhaps yet it is but little but it comes from a great God and upon a great Errand therefore remember Psalm 2.11 If his wrath be kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Consider further the evil and danger of this sin in two particulars First It doth greatly provoke and call forth the wrath of God Isa 26.11 When thy hand is lifted up they will not see they will take no notice of thy displeasure but they shall see Oh then is the judgment of God fearful on the ungodly when Gods wrath puts them past security when the seared conscience is turned into a gnawing conscience I tell thee sinner if sickness will not awaken thee hell will You know if a Father whip his Childe to humble and melt him it cuts the very heart of his Father to see his Childe laugh in his face So when God visits a
to the expence of thy precious time and Estate besides men are hereby so flesht with cruelty and given to fight that oftentimes the end of such is either to be killed or hang'd Now for the defence of this cursed sin men usually pretend these and such-like Objections which I shall briefly answer and so proceed to other Uses Object 1. Must I then be branded for a base Coward in suffering every one to abuse me Answ He is a base Coward that is so poor spirited as to serve a base lust and to be a slave to a conquered Devil but he hath a Divine Spirit that will do the will of God and rule his own spirit and conquer himself therefore shew thy courage by setting all thy might against thy sins Tertullian useth this ingenious art to divert the Christians from beholding the spectacles of cruelty in the Heathenish Games by directing them to behold how grace doth conflict with and conquer over sin Behold saith he wantonness destroyed by chastity falshood slain by faith cruelty beaten by mercy malapertness overcome by modesty tales sunt apud nos agones in quibus ipsi coronamur and such are the conflicts with us in which we are crowned De spectaculis cap. 29. So I say if thou lovest fighting fight with thy sins so shalt thou be crowned for a Champion when a company of strong and stout fellows shall be damned for Cowards besides thou mayst have opportunity to shew thy self no Coward when thou art called to suffer reproach poverty banishment imprisonment or death for the sake of Christ by thy chearful and obedient suffering of which thou wilt be more then a Conquerour over sin the world death devils when a company of proud Swaggerers who venture their limbs and lives in quarrelling and fighting for the Devil will basely turn Papists or Infidels before they will venture any thing for Jesus Christ Object 2. But I shall do them good by beating them and make them rule their tongues and carry themselves more civilly hereafter Answ Thou mayst do them good by thy graces but never expect to do them good by thy sins The Scripture directs thee to a better way to do thy enemy good Mat. 5.44 Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you Rom. 12.21 Overcome evil with good And Solomon tells us that a soft tongue and not a hard cudgel breaketh the bone Object 3. How then must I live I can never be in quiet I am abused by such that would provoke any man alive to strike them Answ I confess the world is full of many daring contentious spirits whose mouths call for strokes Prov. 18.6 and who as Austin speaks carry the Devil in their tongues But this will not excuse thee if thou canst not rule their tongues rule thy own hands Remember David how was that Royal person rated by Shimei 2 Sam. 16.7 Come out come out thou bloody man and thou man of Belial But see how David takes it vers 10 12. Let him curse because the Lord hath said unto him Curse David It may be the Lord will look upon my affliction and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day I would therefore seriously advise thee when thou art thus provoked to see heaven and hell looking thee in the face and hear the Scripture crying in thy conscience Render good for evil and go to heaven but Render evil for evil and go to hell This may work thy heart into Davids frame which appeared in his carriage towards Saul 1 Sam. 24.13 Wickedness proceeds from the wicked but my hand shall not be upon him So when thou art provoked by the insolent behaviour of unreasonable men say Wickedness proceeds from the wicked I can expect no better from such but I will leave my cause with God for I am resolved that my hand shall not be upon him Sixthly This Doctrine reproves those who threaten to do hurt and mischief unto others This was Jezabels sin who threatned to slay Elijah as he had caused Baals Prophets to be slain 1 Kings 19.2 So let the gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time Thus Saul is said to breath out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord Acts 9.1 and so those bloody Jews bound themselves under a curse that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul And so many threaten others that they will be even with them that they will do them a mishief or that they will be the death of them Now thou seest that power to hurt or disease or any other way to trouble a man belongs to Jesus Christ and what ground hast thou to expect that Christ will exercise his power to fulfil thy lusts besides this is a fearful curse of God upon many that they are so far left to themselves as to will and intend and threaten mischief and thereby bring guilt upon their own souls and yet are never able to finish their sin so as to do the hurt they intend to others and this is a very torment to many a malicious wretch that he lives travelling with iniquity and yet is never able to bring it forth Furthermore how darest thou threaten to do a man hurt when thou art bound to pray to God to do him good yea and to preserve him from that very evil which thou threatnest against him Again it often appears that God intends the very same mischief to thee which thou intendest to others Psal 35.8 Let his net that he hath hid catch himself into that very destruction let him fall But to conclude this consider that when many a man is threatning and devising mischief to others a disease from Christ doth suddenly take him and turn him to hell before he can bring it to pass Seventhly It reproves the great wickedness of such who curse others by wishing diseases or other judgments upon them We often hear such horrible speeches as these A plague on him a pox on him c. as if they and not Christ had power to command diseases to go and they will go or as if the power of Jesus Christ must be the servant and instrument of a proud froward and malicious heart This sin is forbidden to be used towards our worst enemies Rom. 12.14 Bless them that persecute you bless and curse not and it is made the signe of a graceless man to have his mouth full of cursing Rom. 3.14 for his heart is full of pride malice and anger and these fill his mouth with cursing Consider if thou curse others God will curse thee Psal 109.17 18 19. As he loved cursing so let it come unto him Consider further some will curse their friends their husbands wives or children and sometimes God hath punished such cursed speeches in bringing
their curses to pass We read of a Mother that in a passion cursed her Son thus Get thee gone I would thou mightest never come again alive and the same day her Son went into the water and was drowned Another woman said in her anger to her Childe The Devil take thee and presently the poor childe was possessed with the Devil These and many more such dreadful examples should make all afraid of such or any other words of cursing Consider once more that every man should have his heart filled with love unto and earnest desires of the good of all men and should be always in a frame to offer up these desires in prayer to God Now how contrary to this is that devillish spirit which inclines thee to hate and to curse others The Apostle James sets out the great hypocrisie and wickedness of a man who with the same tongue will bless God and curse men James 3.9 10. Therewith bless we God even the Father and therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing My brethren these things ought not so to be Lastly This Doctrine reproves those who hasten diseases and death to themselves by their own sins I may reason with such sinners in Solomons words Eccles 7.17 Be not over-much wicked neither be thou foolish why shouldst thou die before thy time It is not meant the time absolutely appointed by God for that cannot be prevented but it 's meant that time which in the course of nature they might have probably lived unto as a Lamp will burn till the Oyl be spent but it may be quencht or blown out sooner So in the course of nature many a man might have probably lived many a year but oftentimes either by a sudden blast of God or by some diseases which are bred by his own sins the lamp of his life is quickly blown out and some of such sins I shall here particularly reprove I might instance in that horrible sin of self-murder which ordinarily proceeds from pride unbelief revenge covetousness discontent or despair when men cannot despite God and man enough by their lives they will attempt to do it by their deaths and will venture with their own hands to cut the thred of their own lives and to loose themselves out of the troubles of earth into the torments of hell I might also mention the horrid sins of Treason Murder Witchcraft Theft c. which sins binde their bodies to the wrath and justice of men and their souls and bodies to the wrath and vengeance of God These sins bring men to be hanged like dogs because they could not be contented to live like men I shall instance in these five sins which do provoke God to visit men with diseases some of which do of their own nature bring men to untimely sickness and death 1. Persecution of Gods people This is a sin which doth not only bring everlasting damnation hereafter but usually it also brings some fearful judgments on the bodies and families of Persecutors here Hence we read Psalm 55.23 Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their daies It would take up far more room then I can here spare to instance in the fearful examples of Gods vengeance upon the very bodies of the cruel enemies of Gods Church and people whereby we might see that all the cruelty which the most barbarous persecutors have invented to torment the Christians with hath not been comparable to those torments wherewith God hath tortured their Enemies with fearful and strange diseases We read of that bloody Herod who murdered the Infants Matth. 2.16 that he was smitten by the hand of God with a most shameful and painful disease so that his body boiled and burnt with heat and his bowels were gnawn he was tormented with a ravenous and insatiable appetite after meat his privy parts were rotten and full of filthy vermine and after he had endured a while the horririble pangs of a lingring death he died in desperate madness and misery See Eusebius Ecclesiastic Histor Lib. 1. Cap. 8. Tertullian amongst other examples of the like kinde reports that one Claudius Herminianus in Cappadocia being enraged that his Wife was turned Christian to revenge himself did exercise much cruelty upon the precious Christians for which God did smite him with a fearful plague wherewith after a while he was tormented he dyed ad Scapulam cap. 3. Steven Gardiner a bloudy butcher in Queen Maries days hearing that Bishop Ridley and Master Latimer were burned at Oxford rejoyced greatly and being at dinner ate his meat merrily but whilst the meat was in his mouth the wrath of God came upon him so that he was taken from his board to bed where continuing fifteen days in intolerable anguish by reason he could not expel his urine his body being miserably inflamed within he was brought to a wretched end with his tongue all black and swoln hanging out of his blasphemous mouth I shall conclude this by warning all that either love their souls lives or posterity or country to take heed of wronging the precious people of God the truth is the Nation which persecutors are a curse unto and the souls of persecutors themselves are dearer to godly Christians then all their own private interest which persecution can take from them and therefore I say to all malicious enemies as Tertullian said to Scapula a Ruler in Carthage and a cruel enemy to Christians Parce tibi si non nobis parce Carthagini si non tibi Spare thy self if thou wilt not spare us spare Carthage if thou wilt not spare thy self So I say if ye will not spare the holy people of God spare your selves if ye will not spare your selves spare your families spare your poor children if you will not spare your families spare the precious nation spare London spare England for you swallow up all by swallowing up Gods people The second sin which I shall here reprove is unworthy receiving the Lords Supper God often punisheth this sin with bodily diseases Hence we read 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep Now that you may know the evil and danger of this sin I shall shew you what it is to eat and drink the Lords Supper unworthily A man eats and drinks the Lords Supper unworthily when he is without the gracious qualifications which make the heart fit and meet and agreeable to this blessed Ordinance The best way to understand this is to consider what is in the Ordinance and what is in the heart and then by comparing them together to see whether they do meet and agree as for example in the Lords Supper Jesus Christ crucified with all the blessings of the Gospel are shewed forth 1 Cor. 11.26 well and there is a Believer who by faith sees and discerns the Lords Body as it is set forth therein now such a heart and the
ordinance do meet the heart agrees and is suitable to the ordinance and so is fit and worthy to receive it but on the other hand here is a dead unbelieving sinner that hath no principle or faculty to discern Jesus Christ or to receive him as hereby offered therefore he comes unworthily he is not fit for his heart and the ordinance do not agree but he is like a blinde man before the most glorious shew Again here is spiritual food meat indeed and drink indeed to feed and satisfie a soul with grace and pardon and salvation Well and here is a poor soul hungring and thirsting after this very food Now such a man is fit and comes like a hungry man to a good and wholesome feast but here is another dead sinner that sees and feels his want of nothing and so is no more fit and meet for such an ordinance then a man that lyes dead in a Coffin is to eat the bread and wine which is dealt at his funeral nay further you may see the unworthiness of a wicked man in that his heart is against the Lords Supper as a man is very unfit for a feast when he loaths and his stomack doth rise against every dish on the table and against all the company So my Brethren a man is very unfit for the Lords Supper when his heart hates and riseth against Christ and against holiness against all godly Christians Sirs here is set before us that which condemns all sins and which requires the greatest strictness and holiness so that to be sure the man that hates Christ in a Minister or in a Christian cannot but hate him in the Lords Supper Well you see who are unworthy and who by this sin bring diseases and other judgements of God upon themselves in this life and also damnation on their bodies and souls in the life to come I might here also tell you that the godly themselves for want of the present exercise of grace suitable to this Ordinance may bring diseases and death upon themselves for as Christ with all his benefits is herein actually set forth so grace should actually come forth to meet him to take receive and enjoy him as when a feast is ready drest and disht up those that are fit guests must not onely have life and stomachs c. but they must also actually eat and drink The application is easie I shall therefore conclude this reproof in seriously warning all to take heed of unworthy receiving the Lords Supper would any man eat that which he knows would breed the Pestilence or the Fever or the Dropsie Why Christ tells you if you come unworthily you eat and drink judgement to your selves And certainly though the food be precious and wholesome and it is your duty to receive it worthily yet by unworthy receiving you do that which may bring the Plague Pox Fever c. upon you and without sound repentance will bring damnation upon your bodies and souls for ever The third sin to be here reproved is niggardliness this is a sin whereby men restrain from themselves the lawful use of the creature they have not hearts to take and use the creatures to those ends which God hath made them good for but basely defraud their own backs and bellies by grudging themselves the meat drink clothes recreations physick which nature requires and God allows The word speaks expresly against this sin Eccles 6.12 such men play the thieves in robbing God of the honour and themselves of the use of these mercies and they love their â— states better then themselves and by prâ—serving their riches they disease and destroâ— their own bodies 4. Drunkenness to which may be addâ— the sin of gluttony The former bring themselves to untimely sicknesses anâ— death by taking too little of Gods creâ—tures and these by taking too much consider the evil and danger of thiâ— sin of drunkenness in these five particulars 1. Drunkenness doth unman the drunkard and turns him into a very beast Hencâ— saith the Prophet Hos 4.11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart This is given as one reason of the peoples wickedness mentioned in this Chapter because they were so besotted with drunkenness and whoredom which sins took away all knowledge and wisdom from them Augustine saith Ebrietas est blandus daemon quam qui habet seipsum non habet Drunkenness is a flattering Devil which he that hath hath not himself Drunkenness is voluntaria insania wilful madness as Seneca speaks A Drunkard though at other times he may be learned yet now he can neither understand discourse see go ride nor do any business as becomes a reasonable man look on a drunkard and consider yonder goes one with the immortal soul and precious body of a man yonder staring eyes stammering tongue staggering limbs would if they were filled with the Spirit be precious instruments to honour God and become blessings to man but what a beastly creature is he made by this filthy sin 2. A drunkard is unfit for any employment he is good for nothing Who will venture his business with a drunken Servant or his life with a drunken Physician or his soul with a drunken Minister how many thousand of mens lives have been lost by drunken souldiers Whatever a mans estate be he may be cheated of all when he is drunk 3. A drunkard is unfit for all societies and that for divers reasons I shall mention but this one viz. a man cannot commit a secret to a drunkard who will chuse such a friend to whom a man can speak nothing but what he will have proclaimed in every Alehouse or Tavern in the Country Now what ever a man says to a drunkard no body knows but that the next time he is drunk he will tell all 4. Drunkenness betrays a man to all sin for a man at the best is full of the principles of Sin Now drunkenness is apt to set all a work and leaves a man incapable of many restraints which might be used to a sober person who knows what a man full of sin may do in his drunken mood when he hath neither grace nor reason nor counsel of others nor fear nor shame to restrain him and therefore what horrid sins are committed in drunkenness swearing cursing whoring fighting yea and murdering also Clitus was a dear and faithful friend to Alexander yet Alexander murders him when he was drunk though he was ready to kill himself for it when he was sober Augustine reports that a son of one in Hippo who was too much cockered by his Father came home drunk in which sin he would have ravished one of his Sisters slew his Father and wounded to death two of his other Sisters Lastly drunkenness shuts a man out of heaven and by untimely sicknesses and death hastens him to hell The Apostle assures us 1 Cor. 6.10 that no drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God Oh what a fearful sin is this it hurries a
man into eternity and sinks him into hell when he comes there drunkenness is a sin which of its own nature breeds Dropsies Consumptions and other diseases as we read Hos 4.7 The Princes makes themselves sick with bottles of wine and daily examples witness the sudden and untimely death of many drunkards It is reported of one that when he was drunk as he was getting up on his Mare he said in a drunken frolick that his Mare would carry him to the Devil and his Mare threw him down and broke his neck Sirs do not venture to be drunk lest you fall into hell before you be sober The last sin which I shall here reprove is the beastly sin of whoredom This is a sin against a mans own body 2 Cor. 6.18 hence we read Prov. 6.26 The Adulteress will hunt for the precious life See further Prov. 7.22 26.27 He goeth after her as an ox goeth to the slaughter For she hath cast down many wounded yea many strong men have been slain by her Her house is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death And thus you see that by this filthy sin men and women sacrifice their health estates names bodies and souls to their stinking lusts carrying a filthy and guilty soul in a rotten body whilst they live and shutting themselves out of heaven into hell when they dye Now that this use of reproof may leave some deep convection in your consciences consider what thy health and life is givâ—n thee for viz. that thou mayst have opportunity of serving and honouring the great God and of providing for eternity Now therefore what a bloudy wretch art thou to thy self that thou shouldest by thy own sins shorten thy space of repentance and put a sad period to all thy blessed oppâ—rtunities and days of Salvation and dispatch thy self beyond all ordinances and means and hopâ—s and possibilities oâ— Salvation and so make thy self unable to live before thou art ready to dye Vse 3. Of Consolation to the truely godly This Doctrine is a great ground of comfort to all the children of God whereby they may see that all sicknesses dangers and deaths come through the hands of their own father for it is a most certain way of comfort to the godly in any sickness to bring their hearts to the first Cause and Author of their Visitation for if they are at peace with him they will be sure to finde peace and comfort in their affliction Hence the Apostle teacheth us Phil. 4.6 7. Be careful for nothing that is do not torture and distract and break your hearts with sinful cares and fears but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God bring your hearts and desires unto him And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and mindes through Christ Jesus Perhaps thou hast nothing to keep thy estate from loss nor thy body from aches and pains nor thy name from reproach nor thy life from death But however thou shalt have the peace of God to keep thy heart full of grace and comfort through Christ Jesus and if the heart be thus kept the blessing and comfort of all is kept in it for in this case thou mayst lose friends out of thy company riches out of thy estate health and ease out of thy body and yet thou mayst keep the peace and comfort of all in thy heart Now that your hearts may be refreshed with this Doctrine I shall shew herein these five grounds of comfort 1. In respect of the season of the visitation 2. Of the end 3. In respect of the godly themselves who are visited 4. In respect of death Lastly in respect of the day of judgement 1. In respect of the season of our Visitation we may be assured that Jesus Christ will chuse the best and fittest season to visit us in See 1 Pet. 1.6 Wherein ye greatly rejoyce though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations This is an argument of comfort that our afflictions come in a season when we have most need of them Husbandmen know that there is a season when the ground hath need of frost and snow and parents know that there is a season when their children have need of the rod And so there are seasons wherein we that are Gods husbandry and Gods children have need of his fatherly chastisements and in these times he chuseth to visit us I shall contract all that I will say of this in the application of a general truth to this particular case viz. that the time and season of Gods remarkable Providence is called the fulness of time in Scripture So we read Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son so that place seems something pertinent to our purpose Eph. 4.10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him Where note that this is the great and mysterious work of God to gather together in one full body all his Elect that those which are already in heaven with those who are to be gathered out of the world may all meet in Christ their Head and so be the fulness of him that fills all in all Now this work is said to be done in the fulness of time So that this is the glorious work which God is carrying on by ordinances mercies afflictions diseases death he is gathering all his people together bringing them into a body unto their head and I say this is all done in the fulness of time Now there are two things which make a fulness of time 1. When it 's a time set and appointed by God for such a dispensation a time full of the Decree and Counsel of God and wherein his Decrees are fulfill'd So the coming of Christ was in the fulness of time viz. in the time set by God 2. When time is fitted and prepared for such a work in which respect also Christ came in the fulness of time time had been travelling as it were for this many ages Prophesies and promises and the faith and expectation of Believers were full of Jesus Christ and so the time being fitted for his coming he comes in the fulness of time Now to apply this to the case in hand whenever sickness or death comes it is in the fulness of time 1. In that time which is set by the wisdom and counsel of our Father for the good of his children he set the time of thy birth and of thy new birth so he hath appointed the time of thy visitation and of thy death which are all times appointed to demonstrate and glorifie his infinite power and love towards thee 2. They come in a time most fit for such a work Sin grows to such an head that it's time for sickness or some
project to have himself honoured and Mordecai hanged vers 4 6. But in onâ— night God turned the scales by a Divinâ— touch upon the Kings heart and so Mordecai is brought to the honour and Hamaâ— to the gallows Oh what became of thiâ— great Courtiers thoughts when instead oâ— the honour which he expected he had thâ— halter which he deserved And thus wâ— finde that God hath gracious thoughts oâ— love and mercy to his people and the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever and the thoughts of his heart to all generations But men have thoughts of setting up themselves and throwing down the Church of God but they fade in their ways and their thoughts perish Lastly See your enemies in the hands of Christ What are they all when they may be sick or dead or damned before they can do thee any hurt Isa 51.12 I even I am he that comforteth thee Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and of the son of man which shall be made as grass We may learn here that a Christians fear of man proceeds from his ignorance of three things 1. Of God therefore saith God I even I am he that comforteth thee Sirs if there be more power and goodness and wisdom in him that comforts us then there is strength and subtilty and malice in them that trouble us what need we be afraid do but believe who comforts thee and thou needst not fear or care who troubles thee for God can take away the troubles of man but man cannot take away the comforts of God 2. Of themselves Therefore saith God Who art thou What thou who art my childe and hast me thy father to comfort thee and yet wilt thou be afraid of a man Oh what a poor-spirited creature art thou to be afraid of a man 3. Of the vanity of man Therefore saith God He is a man and can do no more then a man and he is a man that shall dye and wither as the grass Christians God and Sickness and Death and Hell are nearer your enemies then they are to you and I tell you do but believe Gods threatnings against them and you will see no reason to fear their threatnings against you Secondly live in a holy awe and fear of Jesus Christ Psal 33.8 Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him A man that is a tenant at will can tell you he is afraid of offending his Landlord for saith he I live under him I am at his mercie he can keep me in and turn me out of my living when he will Beloved if we knew the power of Christ as well as we do the power of a Landlord and were as much afraid of hell as we are of loosing our livings the same reason would prevail with us to be afraid of offending him for we live at his mercie and life and death is at his Will let me therefore warn you as God did the Israelites speaking to them of Jesus Christ Exod. 23.21 Beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for if you continue in your sins he will not pardon your transgressions for my Name is in him Upon this ground we are required to fear him Psal 2.9 10 11. He will break his enemies with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potters vessel Therefore it is made the wisdom of Kings and Judges of the earth to serve the Lord with fear It is very observable that as Gods Attributes give being and life to a Christians graces so a Christians Graces bring glory to Gods Attributes as for example the Power and Truth of God causeth Faith and the Goodness of God causeth Love and the Greatness of God causeth Fear in the hearts of the godly So God hath a peculiar name of praise and glory from the graces of his people because of their faith and hope in him he is called the trust and confidence and hope of his people and because of their delight in him he is called the song and joy of his people and because of their awe and dread of him he is called the fear of his people the fear of Isaac Gen. 31.42 See Isa 8.13 Sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread We have a special instance of this in Job cap. 31. in which Chapter Job by many solemn protestations and serious imprecations asserts his innocencie in several duties as in chastity equity to his servants charity to the poor c. Now he clears himself that the reason of his integrity in these things was not because he was afraid of ever a man alive Hence saith he vers 34. Did I fear a great multitude or did the contempt of families terrifie me No no he had a great awe upon his heart vers 23. For destruction from God was terror to me and by reason of his greatness I could not endure How contrary to this is the secure temper of many who rage in malice against God and godliness and fill the land that bears thâ—â— with lyes oaths drunkenness whoredoms injustice Sabbath-breaking contempt of Ordinances c. yet they make no more of God and his Judgements then the very stones or dirt under their feet But oh what work will diseases and death make among these secure and senseless Atheists shortly methinks I hear the wrath of God roaring against them and the Lyon hath roared who will not fear Amos 3.8 Be perswaded then to stand in awe of God for which purpose lay up that Scripture Eccles 8.12 13. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God that fear before him But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God 3. Labour to make your peace with God you see what he can do against you he can disease or kill or damn you when he will therefore it 's your great wisdom and safety to have this God on your side and to be at peace with him The Scripture perswades to this duty with this argument Isa 27.4 5. Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battel I would go through them I would burâ— them together meaning if my enemies who are but as briars and thorns before me who am a consuming fire will fight it out against me I will burn them up quickly I will have them in hell presently but saith he vers 5. If they will by sincere faith and prayer take hold on my strength and make peace with me they shall make peace with me Now to prevail with you herein consider what this peace with God is it 's that blessed State whereby God in Christ is for the good and happiness and eternal salvation of Believers and whereby they are
wholly turned and set for the service and glory of God So that in this case a man may improve his knowledge and faith by all the advantages both from Scriptures and Creatures and get his soul filled with the highest thoughts of the infinite power and wisdom and goodness of God and then boldly say This is my infinitely great and good Father and all his glorious power and wisdom and love is on my side then he may look into the world and see all things working busily about him and then conclude that this is the greatest work upon the wheels to bring happiness and salvation to me and to that body of which I am a member And then on the other hand he may look in himself and see all the powers of his body and soul united in this great designe to please and praise and enjoy God So that by these things you may learn what it is to be at peace with God whereby you may also see what is the enmity betwixt God and a sinner it is that whereby a sinner is against God so as to be fearfully bent to hate and deny and despite him and God is against the sinner so as to blast and curse and damn him so that this is thy case sinner if thou art not at peace with God all manner of diseases and all kindes of deaths and dangers yea and all the curses of the Bible are against thee because the God of all these is against thee I would therefore seriously perswade you to come to agreement with God which that you may do let me tell you that I am this day sent as an Embassador of peace from the Lord of life and death who hath committed to me the word of reconciliation So that I have authority from him to offer most blessed conditions of peace viz. if you will this day sincerely turn from sin to God and truely receive Jesus Christ as he is offered in the Gospel you shall have the great God to be your Father his onely begotten Son the true God to be your Husband and Saviour the infinite and blessed Spirit to be your Comforter you shall have grace and peace to abide with you here and an everlasting Kingdom of glory to possess and enjoy hereafter Sirs are not these blessed and honourable terms Well where lyes the difference Answ In nothing but sin Now what a fearful case is this that after God the Father hath sent his onely begotten Son and after he hath dyed the most shameful painful and accursed death of the Cross and after so many hundred Sermons and offers of peace Wilt thou now break with God for a base lust canst thou indure hereafter to lye among the Devils and damned in everlasting burnings and to see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and hear thy own conscience upbraiding thee to all eternity that thou hast lost heaven and dost lye in hell for loving thy cups oaths whores or the dust of the earth better then Jesus Christ O Sirs repent and believe quickly you have more need to do it then either to eat drink or sleep for ought you know you may be in hell before such another offer be made I am sure there are millions of diseases and deaths waiting at your doors to break up the treaty I shall therefore conclude this in the words of Eliphaz to Job cap. 22.21 22 23. Aquaint now thy self with God and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee Receive I pray thee the law from his mouth and lay up his words in thy heart If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy Tabernacles Fourthly prize and improve godly Ministers and people whilst you have them seeing it appears by this Doctrine that you know not how soon they may be sent for to heaven where I am sure they will be better respected Now the greatest honour that you can shew to godly Ministers is to be doers of the Word which they are Preachers of Ministers are more honoured by the conversion though of the poorest servants then by the highest commendations which the most able and learned Doctors are able to express for this is their greatest glory to be instruments of Gods glory in the salvation of poor souls for thereby the Word of God is glorified 2 Thes 3.1 By the applause of men Ministers may be cryed up for persons of excellent gifts and parts but this is their greatest glory when by the salvation of souls the excellencie of the power appears to be of God and not of men But Beloved the ignorant unbelieving world knows not the worth of godly Ministers or Christians because they see not the excellencie of God and Christ and Holiness and Heaven which are the causes which make them so precious The world knoweth us not because it knew him not 1 Joh. 3.1 But whatever the men of the world think who can prize nothing but honours and riches and pleasures to which they should be dead and crucified I tell you godly Ministers and Christians are the blessings of their age and those are the best Kingdoms and Countries and Towns and Parishes and Families which have most of them and which love them best Solomon tells us Prov. 10.11 The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life I need not tell you what a necessary publick mercy a well of good and wholesome water is to the Town or Family where it springs Now a righteous man is a Well of Life he is a spring of spiritual Aqua vitae Many a poor sinner or sad swounding Christian receives the spiritual life of grace and strength and comfort from the mouth of a godly Minister or Christian Prov. 15.4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life It 's a Metaphor taken from the Tree of Life in Paradise which was Gods Ordinance to preserve man alive had he continued in innocencie Thus a godly man is a tree of life in this evil world he turns a Family into a Paradise where he grows and is prized so that many a man who was dead in sin and many a fainting childe of God is quickned and revived by feeding on the fruit of his wholesome tongue Now my Brethren the serious consideration that these blessings are by sickness and death ready to be taken from us should cause us to esteem and improve their spiritual and savoury company How did Elisha cleave to Elijah when he knew he was presently to be taken from him and therefore we finde that three times Elijah to try Elisha his constancie seemed to shake him off but Elisha every time answers most solemnly As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not leave thee 2 Kin. 2.2 3 6. and if you read the story you will finde that it proved well for Elisha that he was so wise and careful to improve that precious opportunity See Acts 20.25 where Paul useth this
risen with a burning heat but it withereth the grass and the flower thereof falleth and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways Oh tell thy friends lands silver and gold that thou art going into Eternity and art presently to stand before the Judge of Quick and Dead and see what help they can afford thee Thou wilt certainly finde Solomons words true Prov. 11.4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath Beloved If we would know whether a man be happy or miserable we must not look upon him as he appears in his honours and riches c. but follow him to his death and the day of judgment see how he speeds there and how he comes off then for then the man comes to his proof and we shall see that all the riches of the world yield no profit in those great daies but then the highest carnal Monarch shall be no more respected by the Judge of all the world then the ugliest Devil of Hell when a poor godly servant or day-labourer shall be crowned with incorruptible glory before his face Oh therefore you rich men look among all your jewels and treasures whether you have a God and Christ and grace for your poor souls these only are the provision which will maintain you against the terrors of death and the dread of judgment 6. Exhortation to poor men to prepare for sickness and death We think them poor who have nothing to live on in this world but they are poor who have nothing to live on in the other world Poor people you cannot come at the silver and gold and riches of this world when you will but you have as much freedom to the riches of the other world as the mightiest Prince upon earth Thou mayst call God Father and ask what thou wilt and live upon the everlasting Kingdom of heaven as thy own and therefore you that are poor and godly let your riches of the other world comfort you against the poverty of this Look on thy cold Cottage and then look on thy house not made wiâ—h hands Look on thy poor leathern cloaths and then look how thou shalt be cloaâ—hed when thou appearest with Christ in glory Look on thy brown bread and course fare and then remember the entertainment which Angels and Saints have in heaven Oh poor people though you know not how to be maintained whilst you live yet get saving grace and you will be rich enough to go to heaven when you die The last Exhortation shall be to such who in some respects seem nearer death then other persons I shall instance only in three sorts of people to whom I shall direct this Exhortation to prepare for sickness and death First Such whose callings and imployments do expose their lives to daily and great dangers as Water-men Colliers Carpenters Masons c. These men by a leak in a Boat or Ship a fall of a little earth a slip of a foot may be turned to heaven or hell every day Yet we often see that many who live in the greatest dangers live in the greatest sins My earnest advice to you is to prepare for death that though you stand in dangerous places yet you may stand upon sure ground for the salvation of your souls Sirs for ought I know you may get heaven with less danger then you get your livings Remember what precious souls you have and that every time you venture your lives you venture your souls too Labour by sound repentance to forsake your sins and to turn to God Do not swear and lye and be drunk and deceive others Do not prophane the Lords daies if you expect that God should preserve you on working daies labour by a sound faith to rest on Christ to save your guilty souls see your nearness unto Eternity be often looking from the places where you are into heaven and hell and see what a little there is betwixt you and them and seriously consider if now you should fall into Eternity in which of those two places would be your portion Get such a saving knowledge of God that you may comfortably commit the keeping of your lives unto him and solemnly worship God in your Closets and Families and live in the fear of God and in peace with him and use your callings to his glory that he may preserve you in your ways or however that if you do die in your callings you may not die in your sins Secondly Such who though they have ordinarily present case and health yet they are subject to dangerous and sudden pains and fearful distempers as Convulsions Falling-Sickness Stone c. you have need in regard of these to be always prepared for sickness and death you would not be without what remedies you can get when your distempers come Oh do not be without God and Christ and Grace if death should come in them Whatever you are doing consider Now my distempers may surprize me therefore if they take you in bed at meat at work let them not take you in your sins in all likelihood these fits will shorten your daies therefore let them hasten your repentance these distempers will fill you with torturing pains or for present deprive you of your reason parts senses c. so that then will be a very unfit time to prepare for death therefore improve your times of health and ease as merciful opportunities that when your diseases or death finde you they may not finde you unprovided Sirs always remember that you carry death in your bodies therefore be sure to carry grace in your souls Lastly Women that are with childe have special reason to be prepared for sickness and death God hath inseparably fixt this punishment upon this Sex that in sorrow they shall bring forth children Gen. 3.16 And our Saviour tells us Joh. 16.21 A woman when she is in travel hath sorrow And experience witnesseth the grievous pangs and pains of all and the sad deaths of very many in this condition so that thou must certainly within a few weeks be grievously diseased and thou mayst probably dye do not then venture into such dangers in a Christless state Poor woman perhaps thou hast bred that life which will be thy own death therefore labour to finde that Christ is as sure formed in thy heart as the babe is formed in thy womb and before that sad and dangerous hour of the birth of thy childe come examine throughly whether the new birth be past in thy soul I would not have thee oppress thy heart with the dismal fore-thoughts and distracting fears of that time for to be sure sufficient to that day will be the evil thereof but I would have thee so prepared that the short pangs of childe-bearing may not end in the everlasting pangs and torments of hell and that thou mayst be a new creature and found in the righteousness of Jesus Christ that if thou shouldst no longer live with thy
Husband nor enjoy the fruit of thy womb upon earth thou mayst live with Christ and enjoy the fruit of his righteousness in heaven for ever I shall conclude this with that suitable Scripture 1 Tim. 2.5 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childe-bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety lest poor women should be swallowed up with the sad thoughts of the sin mentioned in the former verse where it 's said that Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the gransgression for which sin disgrace and punishment is fixt to the Sex these words are added for their comfort to shew that notwithstanding that sin and the punishment thereof yet they shall be saved in childe-bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety Poor woman methinks I see thee walking with two souls over eternity and both full of sin Oh therefore hasten to make thy peace with that God whose power alone must take the childe out of the mothers bowels that so thou mayst comfortably depend and call upon him to save both your lives but however to save your poor souls I come now to urge this duty with these seven Motives Mot. 1. It is the will of God that you should be prepared for sickness and death in so doing you do the will of God he commands you to wait and watch and prepare for the day of judgement Matth. 24.42 Mar. 13.33 35. Now it 's a certain rule that all those Scriptures which command us to prepare for the day of judgement do imply our duty to be prepared for sickness and death which are the forerunners of that day and the same preparation which is made for the one will serve for the other Now my Brethren this is a sufficient reason to move you to this duty for it 's the will of God which makes it our duty and binds us to it and must be the reason to us why we do it or we can never be prepared aright Beloved God would have us to be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 to reign with him in heaven and therefore to be always ready against the time that he sends for us thither Mot. 2. It 's a signe of a very wise man to be prepared for sickness and death Prov. 22.3 A prudent man fore-seeth the evil and hideth himself A wise godly man sees sickness and death and the day of judgement before him he knows he must go through all these and therefore he takes care to provide so as to be safe and happy in those great dangers Beloved it 's the greatest wisdom in the world to be wise to salvation It 's better miscarry in a thousand businesses then in the business of Salvation Now he that is wise to salvation prepares against all the dangers that he must be saved from and the greatest danger is at death when a man must go through that door where so many millions fall into hell what a wise man then is he who is prepared so as that door to him is the door of heaven Many that get estates and preferments in the world are much admired for their wisdom and yet when death comes they must be damned for their folly Remember the Parable of the ten Virgins five whereof were wise and five were foolish Now why were those five called wise the reason was because when that great cry was made at midnight Behold the Bridegroom cometh they were prepared and why were the other five foolish because they were unprepared for that great time Beloved when the great God our Saviour shall come out of heaven with his mighty Angels and his glorious Saints and shall shew his blessed face in the clouds and sound a trumpet that will call all the quick and dead before him in the twinkling of an eye certainly they will prove the wisest persons that are so prepared as to stand and triumph and lift up their heads with joy in that great appearance Ah Sirs when Come ye blessed and Go ye cursed hath distinguished and parted the world it will then be known who are wise men and who are fools Mot. 3. Because it 's altogether uncertain when sickness and death will come the Scripture useth this argument Mar. 13.33 Watch and pray for ye know not when your time is Solomon elegantly sets forth the uncertainty of our time Eccles 9.12 For man also knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them As the fishes are sporting in the water and are presently masht in the net and as the birds are hopping in the chaff and are presently caught in the snare so poor man is suddenly and unexpectedly surprised in the snares of death Sometimes a man is fast asleep and sickness awakens him sometimes he is feeding at the table and death comes between the cup and the lip sometimes he is riding a journey and death throws him into eternity and sometimes he is making a purchase and death comes and breaks the bargain sometimes he is marrying a wife and death comes and mars the match Sirs sickness and death are under no rules of civility they care not for disturbing the weightiest business in the world if therefore we cannot say of any thing I will do this or I will have that before I am sick or dead certainly our very next work should be to prepare for sickness and death Mot. 4. Because thou knowest not what kinde of sickness or death may come upon thee We read of a great death 2 Cor. 1.10 Sometimes death comes with great pains and great terrors and great temptations which make it a great death so that the provision of a whole age of grace will not without the mighty support of Gods Spirit keep thee holy and cheerful at such a time It is said Job 18.13 The first-born of death shall devour his strength The first-born is the chiefest and mightiest in it's kinde and therefore the meaning is that death shall come in the most cruel and terrible manner to devour a man Now set before thee those that have dyed in the most fearful pains of body and have been assaulted with the most horrid temptations and consider this may be thy case however prepare against the worst that Sin and Death and Devils and men can do against thee Mot. 5. By thy being prepared for sickness and death thou art also prepared for health and life for there is none so fit to live as he who is fit to dye the same graces which will make thee holy and patient and joyful in sickness will make thee so in health for the same faith love humility meekness and patience which qualifie the soul for passive obedience do also fit the soul for active obedience as the same provision of victuals or money which is made against
a siege or famine will be useful and profitable if such times do not happen so that you can neither be well nor sick nor live nor dye without this work of preparation Mot. 6. That man is in a most blessed condition who is prepared for sickness and death for every thing which makes him prepared makes him blessed I shall onely instance in two things 1. All the happiness of the other world is his own 1 Cor. 3.22 Things to come are yours Christians your sins snares and troubles are almost past but they will be all over shortly but your joy glory and happiness are to come The happiness of heaven is to come and the glory of the day of judgement is to come Now all these joys that are to come are yours for they are setled upon you in the Covenant of Grace 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come Now that man is fit to dye and is in a most blessed condition who when sickness and death comes hath a right to go to heaven Poor childe of God! the best of thy hopes and comforts and happiness lies beyond death and thou canst not come at them for this life but sickness and death will put thee into possession of all and thou art like to see a strange sight so soon as death hath loosed thee out of this life 2. He is by the graces of Gods Spirit fitted for heaven he is made meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 Beloved grace makes a man fit to receive glory the joys of heaven are brought and received into the soul by grace if thou wilt be prepared for death live now as thou hopest to live for ever in heaven do nothing but what thou wouldst do going to heaven Besides by grace the heart of a Believer fastens on heaven he lays hold on eternal life he prayes hears and receives Sacraments with his heart having fast hold on heaven How fit therefore is such a man to have sickness and death come to let him into heaven Last Motive If you are not prepared for sickness and death you will be prepared for hell Sirs if a godly man doth good and a sinner doth evil both go into eternity the one to be a treasure in heaven the other to be a treasure in hell Now what a fearful condition is this for a man to be always laying up provision against himself in hell We read Rom. 9.22 of vessels of wrath fitted or made up for destruction if you will not be made up for heaven you must be made up for hell Oh believe what a fearful condition this is to be always ready to be turned into hell thou dost not think of this whilst the pleasures of sin and the patience of God last But what a case wilt thou be in when there will be nothing in thee but torments and nothing in God towards thee but wrath Beloved be convinced of the certainty of hell thou mayst as certainly see hell by the light of Scripture as thou mayst see men and beasts and earth and trees by the light of the Sun hell is as certain as sin and sinners there is wrath in God as sure as there is sin in man God's justice is as sure as his mercie and he hath bound himself to condemn unbelievers as well as to save believers See Joh. 3. ult Mark 16.16 See your nearness to hell whilst you are unprepared for sickness and death methinks I see that every step thou goest thou art ready to tread in the flames Poor soul thou hangest over the lake of brimstone by the twin'd thred of life when that breaks thou art drowned and damned for ever there is nothing appears between thee and hell but the hand-breadth of time Oh what a sight is this to see a company of secure sinners drinking and swearing and swaggering and ranting and roaring within an hand-breadth of everlasting burnings Again consider the greatness of hell-torments here is a depth that thou canst not fathom who can speak of the greatness of hell-torments when it 's our duty to believe they are unspeakable Canst thou tell how many years eternity lasts or how much punishment sin deserves Dost thou know how much wrath Omnipotencie can inflict or how much torment a vessel of wrath can hold then mayst thou measure the torments of hell and fathom the lake of fire and brimstone Consider but this one thing viz. the greatness of God who inflicts the torments he is a God to whom vengeance belongs and he were no God if he could not do that which belongs to him consider God is great in every thing that he is to whom he is a father a portion a husband he is a great father a great portion a great husband to whom he is an enemy he is a great enemy Oh how great must their misery be who must for ever feel the weight of that hand which made heaven and earth Beloved if but the ach of a tooth be so grievous that it takes away the taste of a whole monarchy of the world while it lasts how inconceiveably great must their torments be who have the power that made all the world set awork to torment their bodies and souls through all eternity Nay consider further God will raise up his glory out of his enemies misery those are always great works which God makes to please himself and to demonstrate his glory when he would glorifie his power and goodness and wisdom he makes a world when he would glorifie his grace and love and mercie he gives a Christ and when he would glorifie his justice and holiness he damns a sinner O wo wo wo be those poor souls out of whose torments God will raise up to himself an everlasting revenue of unspeakable glory Oh then what a miserable cheated soul art thou who wilt venture to be one hour unprepared for sickness and death when for ought thou knowest thou mayst be in the bottom of hell before the clock strike next I shall now in the last place conclude this Use by giving you ten Directions to direct you how to prepare for sickness and death Direct 1. Labour by a strong and lively faith to be always receiving and resting upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ Beloved the greatest danger you are to provide against is that sickness and death do not bring you to hell Now being found in Christs righteousness you shall have thereby a safe and comfortable way and passage through these into heaven for by reason of this you may stand on the very gates of death and triumph with the Apostle Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Now this righteousness
according as the Word describes and presents it to him and surely this makes people so unprepared to dye because they want an understanding of things It cannot sink into their hearts that sin is so bad and Christ so good or the world so vain or grace so precious or hell so terrible or heaven so glorious but they are so confident that lust is sweet and riches are precious and death is far off and hell is but a bug bear and heaven is but a fansie And in this confidence they will live and dye and therefore the Apostle prayes that the Philippians may try things that differ that they may be fit for the day of Christ I shall therefore give you this Direction in these following particulars 1. Look upon God and the world together and you shall see the difference for this end I beseech you search and believe that Scripture Isa 40.15 -17. Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance Behold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing All nations before him are as nothing and they are counted to him less then nothing and vanity Now let thy heart judge of and act towards God and the world according to this difference Set all the world before thee give every creature its due see what a vast world of Kingdoms and Nations it is look upon the strong Islands which are fortified and moted about with the Seas which this great God takes up as a very little thing see a world of great and mighty men before thee see the rich world of gold and silver and precious stones lying on heaps before thee look upon the lands and buildings which make all the woods fields pastures medows orchards vineyards gardens towns cities and stately houses in the world O what a glorious world is this which made the very Angels shout for joy at the rearing of it Well take a full survey of the glory and beauty of this great world and then looking on a drop of water hanging on a bucket what a poor thing is this which is ready to break and fall on the ground and no body catcheth at it look also upon the small dust of the balance a thing of neither weight nor worth it doth not so much as turn the scales Now labour by faith to have such a clear insight into the greatness and goodness of God and Jesus Christ that thou mayst be able to judge all the world to be but as a drop of the bucket or as the small dust of the balance to thy Father and Saviour and let thy whole man act according to such a wise holy just judgement and this will exceedingly fit thee for sickness and death which come to loose thee from such a vain world into the presence and everlasting injoyment of such a glorious God 2. Look upon sin and upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ look upon these together Beloved faith hath a deep insight into the evil of sin for it sees the glory of God which sin is against wherein the evil of it appears and believes the dreadful curses of the law and what the wrath of God and what hell is and what an immortal being a man is that must suffer these Faith also hath a piercing insight into the excellencie of Christs righteousness it sees what an infinitely-glorious God Jesus Christ is which makes his righteousness so precious and meritorious and so savoury and satisfactory to the Father and for this reason so all-sufficient for faith to rest and live upon for this is the precious property of justifying faith that it receives Christs righteousness for salvation for the same reason which God receives it for satisfaction that is because it is the righteousness of God and indeed faith must see God satisfied before it can see the believer saved and seeing enough in Christ for the satisfaction of God it sees the same sufficiencie in him for the salvation of the Believer Now Christs righteousness never appears more precious then when the soul is filled with the deepest sight and sense of sin for then the soul believes him to be a great Saviour when he sees the great evil of sin which he saves him from and therefore it is observable that the Apostle demonstrates the direful guilt and filth of sin as a preface to that great Doctrine of Justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ Rom. 3. from vers 9. to the end of that Chapter And as you know it was a sad and fearful case for the poor Jews to be bitteâ— with the fiery Serpents and to lye groaning under the pain and anguish of those poisonous and deadly wounds yet then what a glorious sight was it to look upon the brazen Serpent and thereby to finde power and vertue to heal them presently So my Brethren it is a fearful case in it self for a man to stand in the very jaws of death and to look into the horrid nature of sin and see death and devils and hell and all the curses of the law ready to flee in his face and yet how glorious is it then to look upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ and see them all swallowed up and himself saved And thus as he sees the grace of God in Christ raigning and over-abounding all sin Rom. 5.20 21. so his faith and hope and joy grounded thereon doth rise above and over-abound and swallow up all his fears of death and hell which he was in because of his sins 3. Look upon all your sufferings on earth and upon the glory of heaven together The Apostle tells us Act. 14.22 We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God Observe there is an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven out of all our afflictions and our way to heaven lyes through much tribulation an hypocrite seems to go strongly in the way to heaven but oftentimes when he comes to trouble persecution c. there he is stopt and can go no farther but he that believes the goodness of duty and the glory of heaven if tribulation sickness poverty persecution seek to stop him he goes through them he knows duty is sweet and safe and therefore he will follow it till it bring him to heaven whatever it cost him Tertullian comforts the Martyrs in prison with this That in their close and dark prisons they might see illam viam quae ad Deum ducit that way which leads them to God There is a way to heaven out of prison sick-bed or any other affliction Hence those that come to heaven are said to come out of great tribulation Rev. 7.14 Sometimes a poor Saint comes hot as it were out of the furnace of affliction into heaven from chains and bolts in a prison he is loosed into heaven from gasping and groaning upon a sick-bed to heaven surely when he comes there he findes a strange alteration Well look upon thy self now as standing
time to have a name from the doing of it for it is observable that the actions of men give a name to these three things viz. to themselves to the places and to the times wherein they live 1. Then do nothing but what thou wouldst have a name from the doing of it man loves sin but he cannot endure to be called according to his sins but if thou dost abhor the name of a drunkard swearer lyar why dost thou live in the sins of drunkenness swearing and lying 2. Do nothing that thou wouldst not have the land to have a name from for the land hath a name from the practice of the people a holy people make a holy nation a prophane unclean perfidious people make a land of prophaness of whoredoms of treachery c. What sins thou livest in thou dost not onely make thy self but also as much as in thee lies thou makest the land laothsome to God and men 3. Do nothing which thou wouldst not have thy time have a name from it makes thee have sad thoughts to think of the time of drunkenness whoredom lying c. but times of prayer meditation holy conference c. are sweet 4. Take heed of idleness this sin makes empty and unprofitable times and leaves people unprepared for sickness When Calvin was reproved for inordinate labour he gives this savoury answer What saith he would ye have my Lord finde me idle Sirs would you have sickness and death and the day of judgement finde you idle Our Saviour in the Parable having intrusted his servants with their talents he bids them Occupy till I come Luk. 19.13 See Christ's coming and improve your talents for him till he come Now that you may abhor this sin of idleness 1. Consider that if you be not doing good you will be doing hurt man is a busie creature let a man look at any time within himself he can never see his heart stand still We read of some 2 Thess 3.11 Who work not at all and yet are busie-bodies Sirs the soul is quick at work a man may quickly lay up abundance of treasures in heaven or hell For as Bernard saith well If you are not exercised in the labours of men you are in the labours of devils 2. Make the work of Salvation thy main business labour to turn every day into a day of Salvation Sirs it is an excellent thing for a man to live so in his calling relations recreations afflictions duties of Gods worship as if all the powers of his body and soul were set upon the work of Salvation this will keep a man from idleness For that man will never want business that knows he hath a soul to save 3. Consider what little time thou hast for this great work perhaps it may never be done if it be not done now they were fools that said Let us eat and drink for to morrow we dye it had been a wiser speech to have said Let us repent believe and pray for to morrow we dye 4. Consider what thou hast to set thee on work and to keep thee from idleness look into hell and see sin and the world and devils thrusting thee therein and thou wilt finde it business enough to save thee from those unquenchable flames Look into heaven and see God and Christ and Ministers and Christians always calling thee thither and see thy own sins carnal friends men devils a world of stumbling-blocks lying in thy way to stop thee from going into that everlasting happiness and thou wilt finde work enough to go to heaven Look into thy self and see what sins thou hast to conquer and bewail what wants to supply what graces to quicken and ripen what duties to perform what storms and troubles to prepare against Look on God on Christ and see what objects are there for all the powers of thy body and soul to be exercised upon Hast thou any time for idle thoughts or words or affections that hast such a God and Christ to think of and to speak of and to set and fix thy heart and love and delight upon Look into the family and town and place where thou livest and see Christless parents or Christless children or Christless brothers and sisters or Christless servants or Christless neighbours and thou mayst have that in thee to speak or do which may save their souls from hell and shall they perish and be damned by thy idleness Look into the Church and Kingdom where thou livest and consider wherein thou mayst serve them and be a blessing to them and how thou mayst be an instrument to fill them with the Name and Kingdom and Will of Jesus Christ Nay look upon every creature about thee the Heavens Earth Waters Birds Beasts Plants c. see them all filled with the Power Wisdom and goodness of God and as it were bringing their praises to thee that thou mayst be their mouth to honour and exalt God Methinks Sirs these things should keep us from idleness 5. That thou mayst fill up thy time take heed of losing a suffering opportunity Beloved a suffering opportunity is a precious opportunity it 's an opportunity to honour God further the Gospel to save thy own and others souls to be a blessing to thy posterity and to leave thy name as a blessed savour behinde thee I would not tempt men to lust after sufferings I know the Devil would have his servants to serve him by passive as well as active obedience yet I would have none so base as to chuse to sin rather then to suffer and to prefer Apostasie before Martyrdom Sometimes a man may fall into such a nick of time that duty may cost him his life and a sin may save his life This case is implied in the words of our Saviour Mat. 16.25 Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall save it Now that is a sad loss of a suffering opportunity when a man saves himself from suffering by sin Consider the fearful consequences of this hereby thou savest thy estate name life and losest thy soul which is clearly implied in the next words vers 26. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Remember when thou runnest into a known sin to avoid suffering thou makest a bargain thou makest an exchange thou gettest the world and the Devil and Hell get thy soul Consider further it is the highest improvement of thy name estate and life to sacrifice it to the glory and will of Christ by suffering for him this is the best that thou canst make of thy self Sirs it is more honourable if thou art called to it to be burned at a stake for Christ then to be burned with Fever or to die for Christ in a Prison then to die in a sick bed Consider lastly What a woful case will sickness and death finde thee in
then that time must needs be precious which gives thee an opportunity to gain these The Apostle determines this 2 Cor. 6.2 Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation Now God is offering Christ for thy Salvation now the Spirit is striving for thy Salvation now Ministers are praying preaching and travelling for thy Salvation Thus God fills thy time with salvation-work Oh then what a mercy it is to be restored to such precious opportunities when perhaps if thou hadst dyed in thy last sickness thou wast in great danger to be damned and now thou hast time to labour to be saved The second Duty to be performed by those who are restored to health is this Keep up a frequent remembrance of thy visitation and of the Lords dealing with thee therein It seems by the contents of it that David penned Psalm 38. in a time of great sickness and it 's very observable that he gives that Psalm this title A psalm of David to bring to remembrance Implying that one special use of this Psalm was to bring his sickness to remembrance Whence we may learn that it is our duty in our health to be often remembring the hand of God in our sickness when thou art full of mirth and findest thy heart apt to be loose from God in thy recreations then remember the pains of sickness and this will cause a spirit of moderation and sobriety to rule thy heart when thou art going to worship God it may much quicken thee with a new and fresh spirit to consider how near thou wast to eternity in such a sickness and to go to duty as one that is newly risen out of a sick-bed and that thou art still praying hearing receiving Sacraments as it were in the very gates of death So when thou art tempted to any sin remember thy sickness consider Wilt thou bring again upon thy self an Ague Fever Dropsie Consumption c Beloved in abundance of cases it will do your souls much good to be often remembring your visitation Thirdly examine what good thou hast got by thy visitation Beloved many come out of a sickness like Rogues out of a gaol Rogues they went in and worse Rogues they come out So they were Drunkards Whoremongers Persecutors of Gods people when they went into sickness and are far worse and more hardned in their sins when they come out of sickness Let us therefore all examine what good we have got by our sickness as you know after a man hath been in a course of Physick he observes whether he coughs less or burns less c. and whether his stomack be better and strength better and sleep better so if thou hast been in a course of sickness observe whether thy corruptions abate and whether thy heart be better since thy visitation is pride less and peevishness less and covetousness less and canst thou pray better and sanctifie Sabbaths better and hear Sermons better and is thy discourse better and thy life better David upon search found sweet experience of the blessed effect of his affliction Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy statutes So canst thou say Before I was sick I could not endure to be provoked I was very light and loose in company I was very apt to be proud and self-conceited but now I bless God I am more patient and more serious and more humble Fourthly take special care to avoid sin after thy recovery I say to thee as Christ said to another upon the same occasion Joh. 5.14 Thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee Thou thoughtest thy disease was very bad and grievous but consider there are worse things then thy sickness was worse pains and worse miseries Oh then sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee I shall press this duty in these four Particulars First watch especially against those sins which thou wast most inclined unto before thy sickness Some conceive that the impotent man before-mentioned was visited especially for some particular sin which our Saviour did particularly aim at in bidding him sin no more The Apostle tells us of some 2 Pet. 2.22 that return with the dog to his own vomit where he compares those that seemed to loath sin and after return to the same sin to a sick dog which when he hath eased himself by vomiting up that which made him sick goes and licks up again his own loathsome vomit and so we see very many who lick up in time of health those very sins which they seemed to loath and vomit up in time of sickness Beloved sin appears in its actings most strong when the instruments are most strong therewith a man commits it and the weakness of the instruments causeth a weakness in the actings of sin and therefore when the body is weak all those sins which are fulfilled by the body seem weak too but now when the body gathers strength as a man hath strength to eat and strength to work and strength to walk so without the mighty power of the Spirit strength will also return into sin Therefore I say Watch and pray and fight against those sins which thou wast most apt to commit before thy sickness Secondly take heed of surfetting with the profits and pleasures and preferments of the world for as a man after long fasting is apt to surfeit when he returns to his meat so when a man by sickness hath been long with-held from the creature there appears such a fresh kinde of pleasure and delight in the world and the heart is so eager in the desires of it that there is great danger of being glutted with it We should therefore receive all the blessings of the creature as the Israelites did eat the Pass-over Exod. 12.11 where we finde that they were to eat the Pass-over as those that were ready to go out of Egypt towards Canaan with their loyns girt their shoes on their feet their staves in their hands and they were to eat it in haste So my Brethren we should eat drink buy fell work take our recreations as those that are hasting away into eternity and as if we were ready drest to go to heaven Thirdly Beware of security for we are apt herein to be like Pharaoh who when one plague was past thought himself safe enough from that or any other So when one fit of sickness is past we look for no more but dream of a long time of ease and peace and health before us but we should be rather like one that is sick of an Ague who when the fit is over eats drinks and is merry but yet he looks for another fit So Sirs is a sickness over and past why I do not deny but that God who hath given thee a stomach and provided food would have thee to eat and drink and he that hath created matter for thy delight and made thee a risible creature doth allow thee to be merry and
cheerful yet look for another fit sickness is like to come again and death will be sure to come shortly therefore take heed of security Lastly that heed of pride and vain-glory this was the sin of good Hezekiah of whom we read that after he was recovered from his sickness his heart was lifted up 2 Chron. 22.24 25. and this appeared in that when he was courted by the King of Babylon he did in a bravado shew all his riches Isa 39.2 Poor Hezekiah thou wast in a better frame when on thy sick-bed thou wast turning thy face to the wall but we may see by this sad instance how apt we are after a mercie and deliverance to be puft up with high thoughts and conceits of our selves The last Duty which I shall mention is this Be careful to perform thy sick-bed-vows and resolutions A vow is a solemn promise made to God either of a duty or of something which may further us in our duty to God The matter of a vow is either to do that which God commands or to forsake sin which God forbids or to do something to further our obedience or to abstain from something which might be an occasion of sin and which we may abstain from A vow must not be of a thing unlawful for that were as if we should promise God to hate him or not to love him it must be also of that which we have power to do else we have no power to promise to do it The nature of a vow is a promise made to God which promise brings an obligation upon us to perform it this promise must not be made rashly for a vow must be the fruit of grace and not the fruit of sin and we must not make promises to God in a passion yet I do not deny but such vows must be performed for it 's one thing sinfully to vow and another thing to vow to sin in such a case we must be humbled for the manner of the vow and graciously pay what we sinfully vow'd It hath been the practice of the godly to make vows to God in their troubles Psal 132.1 2. Lord remember David and all his afflictions how he sware unto the Lord and vowed to the mighty God of Jacob. Now Sirs in the fear of God make conscience to perform your sick-bed-vows Indeed wicked men are forward to make vows when they are sick and as forward to break them when they are well As Pharaoh when the plagues were upon him he would let Israel go but when they were removed his heart was hardned and they should not go But it is the property of a godly man to make good his vows Psal 15.4 Hence saith David Psal 56.12 Thy vows are upon me O God Beloved vows are heavy things David felt them lying upon him and pressing him to the performance of them Vows take up a great deal of room in the soul they fill the conscience when a man is tempted to do that which he hath vowed against his vow will be upon him presently that he dare not do it See what conscience David made of his vows Psal 66.13 14. I will pay thee my vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble Psal 116.14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people Sirs if you break your vows your vows will break you I shall conclude this in the words of Solomon Eccles 5.4 5. When thou vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed Better it is that thou shouldst not vow then that thou shouldst vow and not pay So much for the Exhortation to those who are recovered from sickness My last Exhortation is to exhort you to some Duties to be performed in time of sickness which I shall lay before you in these twelve particulars Duty 1. Own and acknowledge the hand of God in thy visitation as a man in a croud that receives a blow upon his head will presently turn about to see whence the stroke comes so as soon as Gods hand toucheth thee let thy eye be upon him and labour to finde a special presence of God appearing in thy visitation Poor soul thou art now parted from the use of Ordinances in publick and thou must labour to finde Sabbaths and Sermons and Sacraments in thy sickness that is thou must endeavour to finde the presence of God that appears in these Ordinances appearing to thy soul in the aches and troubles and pains of a sickness To this purpose I have read a saying of an holy Minister of the Gospel which he spoke on his sick-bed concerning people that were then worshipping God in publick Oh said he that they did now see what I do now feel we have a choice example of this duty of acknowledging the hand of God in our visitation in Job cap. 1. where we read that after he had stood still and heard the messengers which came one upon the heels of the another with the sad tidings of the loss of his cattel and servants and children the very first thing he does is to turn to God and to fall down and worship him and acknowledge his hand in his affliction vers 20 21. so I say So soon as ever thy disease begins presently own and acknowledge and worshâ—p God who is the cause of thy visitation so did David Psal 38.2 Thy arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore Consider this affliction comes from the Wisdom and Will and Power and Justice of God and by this disease he hath now chosen to come to thee and to appear to thee therefore labour to have thy heart filled with him that all thy words and actions may favour of him Hereby thou wilt see Reason against all Sin and Reason for all Duties and withal a ground for all comforts Duty 2. Labour to have thy heart filled with the thoughts of thy death and judgement it is the great sin of many that in their sickness strive to put the thoughts of death and judgement far from them and labour to fill their hearts with confidence that they shall live and so many poor wretches fall into hell before they did think they should dye But certainly it 's the safest and wisest way so soon as thou art assaulted with sickness to see thy death and judgement standing before thee and to receive the sentence of death in thy self 2 Cor. 1.9 Look upon thy disease as bringing thee to death and after that to a judgement which will settle thee in heaven or hell presently As thou lyest on thy sick-bed look into the other great world where thou art entring see in what state place and company thou art now to all eternity to be fixt Look into hell and see those many millions of Devils that are chained up there Look what a dreadful case the learned great rich strong and beautiful swaggerers ranters
all the powers of my soul â—nd members of my body and I can say â—f many things that I do that they come â—ot from my created nature or corrupted â—ature but from Christ that liveth in me â—nd I am convinced of this by such things â—s these 1. I can look on my sins and finde a â—ower within me that loaths them and would crucifie them and be revenged of them and it 's the greatest burden of my â—ge that I have any thing in me against the will and glory of so good a God and which â—s displeasing to him and makes me so unâ—ike unto him 2. I can look at Gods Commandments â—nd finde a power within me agreeing with them so that they are the very law of my minde I account them all holy just and good and they are for that reason precious to me because they are against my sins and I judge it the best work that I can do to be doing the Will of God revealed in these good Commandments 3. I can look upon the world and upon the Kingdoms and Country where I live and I judge it the greatest happiness and glory of a Nation which I most pray for and in my place and calling contend for to have all places filled with the Name and Kingdom and Will of Jesus Christ 4. I look upon men and I see amongst them a company who are separared from the world and differ from the world and are of another spirit who appear and shine in the image and likeness of the most holy God in whom there is a sweet agreement betwixt their lives and the Scriptures and the life of Jesus Christ is manifested in them Now my heart doth judge these the best people in the world and to be far more excellent then their carnal Neighbours I love and delight in them and desire living and dying to be found with my heart joyned to them Poor soul iâ— thou canst finde these things sincerely in thee thou art certainly a part of Christ and shalt go in peace from thy death-bed to thy head to sit together with him in heavenly places Duty 4. If thou finde on Scripture grounds that thy sins are pardoned and thy peace is made with God then improveâ— thy experience in a spiritual triumph over all the enemies of thy Salvation Say to Death that stands daring anâ— staring thee in the face O death where iâ— thy sting And Death must answer in effect thus When Christ laid down his life I lost my sting but Christ took up again his life but I could never take up again my sting Ask the grave O grave where is thy victory The grave must answer I lost the victory when Christ rose again from me and I must needs give up thy precious Body when it is called for at the resurrection of the just Look on the Devils and see how Christ hath spoiled these principalities and powers and triumphed openly over them Col. 2.15 and now rejoyce thou in the spoil Let that be spiritually fulfilled in thee which was spoken Isa 33.23 The lame take the prey Death and Devils are spoiled by Christ and the poor weak sick Christian takes and triumphs in the prey So that because of this Let the weak say I am strong Joel 3.10 This may make thee even to forget thy aches and pains so that thou shalt not say I am sick because the Lord hath forgiven thy iniquities Isa 33.24 Duty 5. Having thus seen a settlement of my soul and body to all eternity make a godly consciencious and seasonable settlement of thy outward estate this ought to be done if it be not done before and if thou art in a capacity to do it This was part of Isaiah his message to Hezekiah on his sick-bed Isai 38.1 Set thy house in order for thou shalt dye and not live Now in making thy Will be ruled by this principle Be sure that thy will be ruled by the Will of God that so thy last Will and Testament which is the signification of thy will may make it appear that thy will is in subjection to the Will of God and that thou doest Gods Will when thou makest thy own will For this purpose observe these three Directions 1. If thou hast got any thing unjustly take order so far as is possible to make restitution do not dye in injustice to go with a curse to hell thy self and to leave the curse of God behind thee upon thy family 2. Be full of love and faithfulness to thy Relations Christ himself is our pattern herein who when he was nigh unto death commended the care of his Mother to his beloved Disciple John 19.27 Then saith he to his disciple Behold thy mother Let thy last Will and Testament witness that thou diest in conjugal love to thy wife Give her of the fruit of her hands Prov. 31. ult endeavour to make thy poor widows life as comfortable as thou canst and although I advise not husbands to leave power in the hands of their wives to wrong and defraud their poor fatherless children for sad experience witnesseth that many widows are so careful to get themselves husbands that they grow careless of their poor children yet however leave no tye upon her to binde her from after-marriage seeing God hath made her free do not thou leave her bound Again provide so for thy children that there be neither want nor strife nor emulation among them and though I advise to nothing to prejudice the first-borns birth-right yet I must witness against it as the great sin of many Parents that are so ambitious to set up their Families that they highly advance the elder brothers and often leave the younger to be as poor as beggars or as bad as thieves 3. Dye in dear love to the Church of God and to the poor that so far as thou art able thy last Will and Testament may savour of good will towards them It is the wickedness of many that they seek to make a Monopoly of the world by ingrossing to themselves and their families and restraining the good and use of it from others but every man keeping to the rules of justice should dispose of his estate so as may make it most useful for Gods glory and to be a blessing unto man And therefore consider that if thou expectest when thou dyest to be received into the everlasting habitation of Gods poor in the other world let their lives be made somewhat more comfortable by thee in this world Duty 6. Use all lawful means to recover thy health though thou art ready to dye yet it 's thy duty to endeavour to live thy life is Gods and he hath bound thee to keep it for him till he call for it and thou art the Churches servant and must not by thy sinful neglect defraud her of her right thou hast yet need to mortifie sin and to grow in grace and to strengthen thy assurance of Salvation and to lay up more treasures in
to die to the Lord Rom. 14.18 I tell you a man may with courage and resolution burn at a stake and men burn him to death because of his profession of the truth of Christ and yet this is but the height of hypocrisie and he may hereby dye to himself And though men may commend him for a Saint yet God may justly condemn him for an hypocrite but he that willingly yeilds himself to dye in obedience to God dyes in the Lord and to the Lord and graciously offers up his life as a sacrifice of a sweet savour to God in Christ Consider further thou dost hereby graciously finish all passive and active obedience thou now leavest thy Country and Estate and Father and Mother and Wife and Children to fulfill the will of God So also all that thou hast been doing by Prayer Meditation Sacraments Sabbaths c. thou willingly yeildest to have finisht by death thou art heartily willing that the old man of sin be put off by death for ever and that the new man of holiness be put on for ever Consider thou hast often pray'd to be filled with the likeness and presence of God which can never be till death Christ hath prayed that thou mayst be where he is that thou mayst see his glory Joh. 17.24 and this can never be till thou dyest therefore I say be willing to dye call upon the sad mourners about thee saying to them as Jacob to Joseph Gen. 46.30 Let me dye Dear yokefellow let me dye sweet children let me dye my pleasant Jonathans let me dye and turn thy face to God and say with Simeon Luk. 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Lastly Commend thy soul to God this is an act of a Believer whereby he freely gives up himself to God and Christ as his right and due to glorifie and to enjoy him for ever in heaven Now by giving up thy soul to God thou givest up thy body too for the body will be sure to follow the soul if the soul go to hell the body must go thither too if the soul go to heaven the body must be glorified there too therefore see God as it were standing by thy bed-side saying to thee My son give me thy heart give me thy soul give it me from sin and self give it me from the world and devils give it me for I made it and bought it and I will save it Oh then give it up and commend it to God See the infinite and unchangeable love and mercy of God in Christ to thy soul and believe that with this love he will graciously and lovingly receive thy soul and see what God will do with thy soul in what fulness of holiness and joy and glory he will settle it for ever See that thy soul be such as thou mayst comfortably commend it unto God do not present to him a drunken ignorant proud covetous unbelieving soul but a believing loving holy humble soul See thy soul cloathed with Christs righteousness and aâ— such give it up to God to be blessed and glorified for ever in Heaven saying Father into thy hands I commit my spirit FINIS Pâ—al 52.7 Psa 39.11 â—sa 22.17 Psalm 10.18 Job 40.9 1 Cor. 10.22 Job 40.9 Psal 128.3 Jer. 9.21 Job 21.21 2 Kin. 4.40 Psal 94.12 Jam. 5.14 Psal 17.14 Psal 49.7 Job 9.17 Eph. 2.6 Col. 3.4 Luke 12.4 Jam. 5.11 Phil. 4.17 Heb. 10.31 Gal. 4.29 1 Tim. 4.16 Rev. 6.8 Job 23.14 Deut. 30.20 Psal 41.2 â—ct 8.22 â—eut 13. â—1 Job 33.13 Rom. 3.4 Exod. 16.3 17.3 Prov. 23.5 Isa 57.20 Lam 3.19 22. Numbers 12.14 Job 21.23 Prov. 25.15 Act. 23.12 Cor. 3.9 * Cyprian de mortalitate 1 Cor. 13.12 2 Cor. 5.1 Phil. 3.21 Gal. 3.13 1 Cor. 15.54 1 Cor. 15.43 Heb. 10.37 38. 2 Cor. 5.4 Prov. 27.1 Psa 33.11 2 Cor. 5.19 Jam. 1.22 2 Cor. 4.7 Heb. 3.13 Deut. 34.7 Prov. 12.4 Prov. 1.8 Psal 22.30 Eccl. 12.1 Psal 71.6 2 Tim. 3.15 Matth. 25. Vers 6. Vers 8. Phil. 1.9 10. Job 38.7 2 Tim. 1.18 Luk. 12.20 Psal 88.3 Acts 14.17 Prov. 3.24 Rom. 5.8 Eph. 5.2 Gal. 2.20 1 Joh. 3.23 2 Pet. 3.14 Heb. 11.4 Prov. 23.26