displeasure or other mutining passion because the main interest of thy friend is laid up in God perhaps thou sayest Oh! it was my dear father my tender mother my sweet brother or sister my son or my daughter whose life and mine seem to be bundled together he or she was my right hand my right eye and will God take such an one from mee I had rather hee should take any one else yea my very self to have spared such an one thus foolishly do some passionate ones rangle with the just determinations of their omnipotent Lord God as churlish Nabal did with well deserving David 1 Sam. 25. Naball refused to part with some of his provisions to relieve David and his hungry souldiers by whom Naball and his flocks had been so preserved Naball answers with expostulations with pleading his propriety in his bread his water and flesh as thou dost thine in thy friends hence he concludes that Davids motion was very unjust and the most unreasonable that could have been made what saith he shal I take my bread my water and my flesh that I have killed and prepared for my sheerers and shall I send it to I know not whom nor whence they be There be many servants now adaies which break away every man from his master What is come upon me saies Naball Who is David who is the son of Jesse See we had need of this moderation when God sends crosse providences to us else we shall murmur against the Lord himself and this murmuring is a great sin The second rule is timely pacification we must not mourn over-much 2 Timely pacification or over-long when God takes away our friends Jer. 31.15 Mat. 2.18 this will be to call Gods wisdome into question it was Rachels fault that she refused to be comforted but it was Jobs high commendation that he was timely quieted and satisfied after the losse of so many friends and such an abounding estate from hence that it was the soveraign Lord God that had done it he composeth his mind and blesseth God not onely when he was full of children and wealth but when he was emptied of both and that by Satans malice and other malignant adversaries even then did Job blesse the Lord Job 12.1 and gave him thanks what for the death of his children what for the losse of his goods and estate what for the loss of his reputation amongst his hollow hearted friends no not simply so but from this consideration it is the great Jehovah the Lord of hosts let God do what he shall please with me with my relations and with all that I call mine yet I stil find abundant cause to thank him what when God shall thunder and lighten against him with storms and tempests from heaven from earth from hell what when hee shal shake the high Cedars as if he meant to pul them up and destroy them root and branch and make the earth to tremble as you may imagine when so many evills crowded in upon him when the grown up children of his own body were slain 1 Pet. 4.14 then to say blessed be the name of the Lord so timely to be content surely the spirit of glory and of God did rest upon humble and holy Job the servant of the Lord. The spirit is out of rest like Noahs dove hove ring about not finding where to rest the soul of her foot till she came to the Ark so the Godly-wise under their soaking afflictions go from place to place till they come to the Lords sanctuary and mercy seat where they find rich materialls of praising and blessing God in their afflictions and for their afflictions suppose it be losse of an eminent father or any other neere or dear relation of children as Jobs was Job 1.13 to the 20. they feasting one another to maintain and enjoy brotherly love and concord then to bee destroyed by a violent tempest beating down the house by the power and malice of the Devill who also but a little before had all his camells taken by plunder and his servants slain by the cruell sword a litttle before that also had his flock of sheep and his servants with them burnt with fire from Heaven and a little before that had his oxen plowing and his Asses feeding by them all violently taken away by the Sabeans which aggravating gradations might have eternized his sorrows but holy Job wel had learned that as God is not always chiding neither must we be always mourning besides he did assure himself that the rod of the wicked Ps 103.9 Ps 125.3 shall not always rest upon the lot of the righteous and however it be yet God is good to his Israel Thirdly for satisfaction which respects the goodnesse of God towards thee and towards thy lost friends Friends in Gods name mourn yet cōsider that your friend that is dead did war a good warfare 2 Tim. 4.7 combate with implacable foes did fight the good fight did finish his course did keep the faith and was kept by the mighty power of God to salvation Consider he is now dead in the peace of God and is even now enjoying what was promised in Abraham's bosom is now reaping what he sowed and insulting over all his spirituall adversaries faith is now in fruition thy friends soul is now wearing that Crown of glory which Christ had purchased with his dearest blood And now consider is it any branch of religious reason now to be murmuring and complaining of our losse as if it had been irrepairable to our selves or our friends since our friend is with the Lord Rom. 8.37 is more then a conqueror through him that loved him and is rejoicing praising and magnifying the Lord as for other mercies so for death which came so seasonably and so graciously to deliver Christ's prisoner out of durance to discharge Christ's valiant souldier from fighting with spirituall adversaries who command to triumph for ever over them to live and reign with Christ in heaven and to bee enthroniz'd into a kingdom of glory and to be actually in the great assembly saying Rev. 19.1.3 and singing Hallelujah Hallelujah salvation power and glory bee to our God Hallelujah the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Well then let us be glad rejoice since living friends are no loosers by thy gracious friends departure and since deceased friends are such gainers put off your sable weeds and rejoice for such as you believe do dye in the Lord imitate their holy foot-steps Phil. 3.17 follow them as they followed Christ put on the milkie white garments of holiness and righteousness all your days till you can say you are gainers by death and shal in God's time be translated to be for ever with your friends Rom. 16.7 who were in Christ before you as Saint Paul spake went to heaven before you to see enjoy that salvation which Simeon spake of in the text where you shall
dy Ibid. 4 Hee lades them with sweet apprehensions of infinite love 133 How to entertain the approach of death 134 And death it self in the article of death 135 136. Whether it be sinfull to fear death 137 Ans Not simply unlawfull 138 Basely to fear death a sin 138 Who lead an evill life must needs fear death Ibid The Saints fear death and others but from divers principles 139 It 's not improbable but we maâ— enjoy relations after death 142 How to shut up our own eyes and bind up our own jaws in death 143 4 Exhortation Let not friends grieve over-much for them that dye in the Lord. 144 Friends may weep a while but not too long ibid. 145 Friends may use laudable ceremonies about the dead 146. Friends may be at cost with the dead ibid. 147. Friends may keep sad mourning seats Ibid. Rules of advice to living Friends 1. To mourn with moderation 149. 150. 2. With timely pacification 151 152 153. 3. To be satisfied with the goodness of God yet continued to thee who survivest 154. 4. To be comforted again 156. 5. Our mourning not without a good mixture of joy 158 159. 6. Labour an holys acquiescence in the al-suffiency of thy Lord God 180 161 162 163. Imprimatur EDMUND CALAMY The Author's Letter to Sir ROBERT HARLEY about the beginning of his long sickness Honorable Sir AS I do much bless God for the Religious stedfastness in such vertiginous times when so many reeds have been shaken with every wind so I am confident you will ever bless God for that your house was built upon the Rock and for the excellencies of Christ and of his attractive loves to your soul who made you sick of love after the more full injoyment of him who is a head of fine gold and a Cluster of Camphere the Lord your righteousness the chief of ten thousand who hath invited you to repentance unto life and to more daily communion with his excellency Pardon my boldness Gracious SIR possibly God will use my little Talent to warm your heart with the shining love of Jesus Christ so peerless so sweet so chast so full so unchageable so adequate and magneticall in all his Mediatoriall works upon your soul I say upon your soul so miraculously saved by the Lord and pulled out of the suburbs of Hell so unexpectedly so undeservedly so freely in the day of your souls first love espousall to his blessed self Time was Noble SIR that your Honour walked in the way of your own heart bathed and rolled in a worldly Paradise of princely favour when your thoughts were too much I presume taken up about additionalls with which to enamell your present state with worldly contentments whose emptiness together with your Christlesseness the God and Father of all your mercies discovered in his own time to that your pretious soul and withall did let down some beams and glimpses of the unum necessarium more necessary then to be born to live to be fed and clad I mean Jesus Christ and him crucified when heavens infinite mercy caused the day to break and the shadows to flye away presently upon which you must confess with godly Junius statim mihi alio facies apparuit when you then heard with other ears understood with another intellect saw with other eyes spake another language and with a new tongue read the Scripture with another spirit and understood with another sense and understanding yea and acted by other principles then before old things then vanished away all things became new But how I answer by that power of God that exceeding greatness of power which raised Christ from the dead and set him at the right hand of God SIR thus you came to know Jesus Christ and him Crucified which is above all knowledge especially to know our selves to be Crucified with him Oh! that is wisedom indeed and knowledge most transendently excellent for it will make a man wise to salvatioÌ„ Besides thus to know Christ and thus to know him for our selves is of most excellent use to us at present since it is not onely an informing and speculative knowledge but a conforming and reforming a practicall and operative knowledge which works mightily on the unregenerate part perswading that also by degrees to bee Crucified with Christ and to live more intirely by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us Pretious soul this life by faith is life indeed the present life naturall is a death to this life but the believers spirituall life that is a life purchased at the dearest rate viz. by the most unvaluable blood of Christ It 's to live in God the Father spiritually to live in Jesus Christ by the mysticall union and by the sanctifying Spirit of God breathing this life into dead souls and quickening our dead dry bones enabling impowering us to cry Abba Father by the Spirit of his Son and loosing the tyed tongue to say from our own particular interest O Lamb of God which takest away my sins all my sins the sins of all my liâ—e nay all my other mens sins all the sins of my vile nature nay my sins of the first Adam and all this blessed Jesus as freely as ever the rain did fall or the Sun did shine never to impute any one of them to me but acquitting and absolving thy poor creature meerly for thy mercies sake to justifie me for ever before the eyes of thy glory nor is this all O Father of mercies says the pardoned soul but thou dost also richly engratiate thy poor servant to be the beloved Spouse of thy dearest Son and to confer that grace of Adoption to bring me nigh to thy self by the blood of Christ yea to confer sanctification on mee that I might also partake of thy divine nature of a Briar to make me a sweet Rose of a Lyon a Lamb of most deformed defiled abominable within and without to make mee lovely comely fair as the Moon beautifull as the Sun so to take me into thy most holy Covenant with thy self and to give me a propriety in all things in heaven and earth Thus life is mine and death is mine the world is mine things present and things to come all is mine I am Christ's and Christ is Gods a very strange Paradox a very large Inventory yet no larger then the New Covenant in which God hath said I will be your God and you shall be my people that 's proof enough for qui habent habentem omnia habent omnia here is a Bee-hive of the sweetest honey much beloved in the Lord before your the effectuall calling like the wandring Bee your honour went from flower to flower from one tree to another and found but little sweetness if any at all and what ever it was you were content to forsake that too for Christ but then you said as Jacob in another case I have enough my son Joseph is yet alive
up for thee so vile a wretch I say didst think it was halfe true which was told thee of the desirablenes and excellency of Jesus Christ to all believers in and after their blessed change Loe now what ever discovery here hath been made all the tongues of men and Angels are not able to reveile the hundredth part of thy beatificall fruition in the bosome of glory who dost depart this fraile life in the true relation of a dear Servant of God who dyest in that blessed peace according to the Word of God Thus much of this sweet consolalation Which divides it self into six particulars 1. That Death is spoiled of it's power to hurt us and of a conquered foe is made a friend 2. Saints cannot miscarry in their death because Christ is with them 3. All the godly have the first fruits of glory in hand 4. The saints honour glory and immortality is already prepared and reserved for them in heaven 5 Death is an haven after a storm a rest to all laborious saints a sure hiding place and sanctuary to soul and body 6. The saints promised and hoped for happiness coms sure at last Which happiness hath been amplified 1. In the matter blessedness in God enjoyed 2. In the manner the beholding of Gods face Next followeth the exhortation which is four-fold 1. To be thankfull for this sight of Simeon 2. To prepare for an happy death Solidly Timely 3. To submit to God's dispose in life or death 4. Not to mourn overmuch for them that dye in the Lord. 1 Exhortation Let all gracious Simeons be truly thankful for their sight of Christ with any glimpse of true faith Mal. 4.2 this is Oculata fides or faith illightned with a beam of the Sun of righteousnesse holding forth glorious things laid up in store for the admirers of Jesus Christ for all those whom he hath drawn near unto himself with the sweet honey-combs of his matchless love Cant. 1.4 Cant. 4.10 and with the sweet savour of his costly oyntments and with that untold unvaluable mine of evangelicall grace Look on blessed Saint fix thine eyes upon that Covenant-goodness into which thy poor soul is admitted and be thankfull which Covenant was the birth and product of God the Fathers everlasting love and mercy to all his seeing Simeons Deut. 7.7 the Legacy of free grace of the Father Son and Holy Ghost richly enamelled with royall priviledges and most gracious promises comprehending all those jura regalia of the remission of sin Rom. 9.4.5 of justification before God of adoption and son-ship And by the way observ that Remission of sin which Christ did bleed out for thee who scarce ever didst bleed out a tear for him 't is a choice mercy bestowed on none Rom. 11.23 but such as are vessels of mercy viz. Gods pretious people those blessed ones whom God makes the objects of blessedness Exo. 34.6.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and proclaims himself in his glory as to Moses the Lord the Lord God mercifull c. and shall not such be thankfull Believing Simeon faith doth as it were antidate thy happiness and make things to come as if they were present and as one sayes substantiates things not yet seen and appropiate them to thy self Ps 60.7 as Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine These places were not then conquered but God had spoken in his holinesse and that was assured to Davids soul hee had made a sure Promise Psa â—32 7 Isai 55.3 Acts 2.30 Covenant and Oath to David and so a believer may say heaven is mine heaven is mine God and Christ everlasting glory is mine Faith looks on the promise as fulfilled already and put into its hand in the full assurance of it and after a sort into perfect enjoyment as when the Spirit brought Ezekiel in the visions of God to Jerusalem Ezec. 1.1 his body was commorant in Babilon's captivity by the river Chebar even then his spirit is said to be in Jerusalem for his spirit did lift him up between heaven and earth Ezec. 8.3 and brought him in those visions to Jerusalem The soul may be in sweet communion with God in heaven when the body may be in the earth Every Simeon's soul is in a sense in heaven already sweetly solaced in the beatificall Vision Mat. 5.8 Rev. 15.3 Rev. 2.17 Rev. 22.1.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. â— 9 and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb tasting the heavenly Manna and bathing her self in those rivers of pleasure which the Lord hath put within Christ's purchase and prepared for them that love him to which our blessed Lord doth point as a means of this enjoyment Mat. 6.21 Lay up your treasure in heaven for where your treasure is there will also your heart be A Simeon may be below Col. 3.2 and yet his affections above as Paul doth exhort set your affections on things above and not on things beneath so that a gracious soul is under a double consideration of earth and of heaven whose mind is not said to be where he is but where he likes and loves best and therefore have some of the Ancients wont to say that even here below the soul fetcheth many a flight to heaven with those dove-like wings of silver Psal 68.13 and those feathers of yellow gold in the Psalm 68.13 to see the God of Glory to speak with Jesus Christ at Gods right hand to present her petitions by her gracious Advocate and Mediatour at heavens Throne in expectation of a most gracious answer Again the soul flies up to heaven to visit those innumerable Angels and to contemplate the Patriarks and Prophets happiness to admire the Apostles honour to congratulate all the Assemblies of the first born and to salute the spirits of just men made perfect Rev. 4.1 this Saint John saw a door in heaven opened and he heard a voyce as it were of a trumpet talking with him which said come up hither and immediatly he was in the Spirit and behold a Throne was set in heaven and one sate on the Throne whence the Prophet John by a call from heaven coms up but how not Corporally but Spiritually then the Spirit lifted up the good man in sweet meditation and most holy affection as Simeon here whose gladded and thankfull heart breathed out this Song in the text Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart c. Then O believer put on thy white robes of holiness Rev. 7. â— 13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it s but a little while when with Elijah thou shalt ascend joyfully when those earthly raggs shall fall off and thy Christ shall cloath thee over with his bright garment of Glory bear up then blessed Saint rejoice and be thankful in hope of the glory of God it 's a duty becoming thee to be thankfull Rom. 5.2 See what argument Christ useth to raise up the drooping hearts of his
dejected Disciples Lu. 24.17 What manner of communications are these while you walk and are sad Joh. 17. What are you so sad are you not advised that I must depart and glorifie my Father Joh. 14.3 and that when you go hence I must and will prepare mansions of glory for you do not you consider what I am to you and what you are to me whom I have so and so honoured already and am in you the hope of glory Col. 1.27 and that you shall shortly in three days expect my Resurrection from the dead Mat. 16.21 1 Cor. 15.20 Joh. 14.1 an assured evidence of your Resurrection you my beloved Disciples be not troubled at my death and departure Judg. 8.2 nor at your own but praise and give thanks for certainly the gleanings of the grapes of Ephraim which you enjoy are infinitely better then all the vintage of Abiezer the earnest and first fruits which even now you live spiritually upon Eccle. 1.2 chap. 12.8 do excell and transcend all the glory and vanity of things sublunar or below 1 Cor. 1.26 27 28. and before in Deut. 7.7 And indeed my beloved Disciples consider what moved me and my Father to own you rather then others so undeservedly when wee passed by so many of the great men and nobles of the world to make you vessels of honour and to give you an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you Rom. 9.21 2 Tim. 2.21 1 Pet. 1.4 What am I said David and my Fathers house that I should be son in law to a King 1 Sam. 18.18 whence was it that the mother of my Lord should com unto me Luk. 1.43 sayd Elisabeth to the Virgin Mary Great was the joy in the hearts of the four lepers of the great and besieged city of Samari◠2 Kings 7.3 to the 12. whom the Lord so wonderfully relieved and enlarged Alas all these were but as nut-shells and oyster-shells compared with the mercies of blessed Simeon whose mercies as they be reall celestial and lasting for ever so they do call for reall and angelicall prayses Heavens candidates bee glad at deaths approach thou art next apparent to glory and indeed be thankful for it may bee thou maist bee one of the next souls who may be gloriously ushered in thither nay in a sense thou art in heaven already thy faith is there thy hope is there thy conversation is there while thy eye is fixed on thy Christ there and thou art daily translated from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord Eph. 1.3 and all this is sealed to thee by the Spirit of promise of which more fully afterwards mean while do but open thy eyes and thou canst not but be really thankfull fiducially to see all the prophesies and all the promises to thee accomplished although thou see it but a far off And now that thou maist be thus thankful let me be assistant to thee in four or five directions Direction Luk. 2 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Study thou poor mortall to praise and magnifie thy God and thy Christ in the highest as the Angells did at the nativity of Christ high mercies do cal for high praises thankfulness may be in carnal earthly men for good turns done them yea and gladness in the beast that receiveth fodder But O thou saved by the Lord thou must act higher even from a principle of Covenant-grace reached out to a lost and dead sinner by the hand of unconceivable mercy procured by the Lord Jesus saving thee so mightily and wonderfully not out of the common store-house of divine providence but out of the Ark of the Covenant or bosom-love of thy Lord Jesus Christ Therefore O blessed soul thy thankfulness must be super-abounding and thy whole soul be poured out in this duty with holy vows and fixed resolutions as that sweet singer of Israel Psal 116. I will love thee I will serve thee Psal 116 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgivings and I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people in the Courts of the Lords house in the midst of thee O Jerusalem praise ye the Lord Lo what a pattern of high and reall thankfulness is here presented unto gracious Simeons 2. To be more real in our thankfulness for such salvation-mercies as Simeons here was we must look farther then the superficies and out-side of a mercy for as God in his workings of good providence hath a wheel within a wheel so he hath oftimes a mercy within a mercy and when wee are called to such a piece of thankfulness as is here required wee must brighten the souls eye of faith and by the prospective of divine promises covenant-goodness we must dive deep and look far to see if it were possible not onely the hand of mercy stretched forth to us but the very heart of Gods mercy opened to us Genesis 6. compared with 1 Pet. 3.19 nay through that mercy the soul must look on the Lord himself for else we do but see the Ark of preservation as the old world did not the covenant-goodness of God in that Ark nor his Church in that Ark nor his Christ there nor all the saved of the Lord even thy self there spiritually in the heart of God and Jesus Christ you must look into the inside of your mercies else you will but see the bush on fire and it preserved but not the good will of him that dwelt in the bush Exod. 3.2 Deut. 33.16 for one may observe the Lords faithfulness in keeping covenant and promise and not look on Jesus Christ the promoter of the covenant by and with whom the Lord made such a covenant therefore wee must throughly look as well on the in-side of the mercy whence a mercy comes originally on Gods mind aim end as on the mercy it self reached out to us we must look on Gods mind towards us in the mercy how to walk act before him in fom sutableness expectatiō to the mercy we do enjoy to live more holily to worship more devoutly to act faith in Gods al-sufficiency to trust in him more to recumb depend more to be the Lords more entirely thē ever before For as in many mercies there is a good out-side but a better in-side so in the carriages of the people of God there is not only a more out-side-carriage before the Lord but a more intern spiritual cordial acting of a thankful soul to serve the Lord more sincerely more absolutely more graciously and more holily as David not onely throughout the 116 Psalm but also Psalm 42.5 after more experience of the Lord and a farther inspection into his gracious dealing with him hee sayes O my soul trust thou in God for I shal yet give him thanks and praise him for the help of his countenance so vers 11
or see us die as one going to sleep O meditate on these things now while the glasse runs and hath at least some sands in it that it shall never repent thee to have soundly repented nor to have graciously lived and orthodoxly believed to have self-denyed for Christ taken up his Cross Maâ— 16 2â— Maâ— 19. â—8 Phil. 1.21 followed him in the regeneration to have been the servant of Christ to have lived to Christ dyed in Christ But then will every tongue say not O that I had lived longer but O that I had lived better O that I had sinned lesse and believed more O that I had prayed more Mar. 9.24 been more in duty more in Christian communion conversed more with the Scriptures been more in the promises studied more the covenant of grace sanctified the Lord's day more taught and better educated my family c. So shalt thou never repent any good but rejoyce that ever thou hadst any gracious breathings and wilt say O welcom death and blessed bee my God and Father who now calls for his child and servant I come I come Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart c. farewel my body and you my friends take this body of mine which I so long governed so ill to your dispose and Lord take my soul into the arms of thy mercy since now thou callest me according to thy word So much of the third viz. our holy and solemn meditation of and conference with death 4. The fourth is to set all things in order for an happy death here comes in many things very considerable 1. The soul must be set in order as thy understanding by saving illumination to know the things that belong to thy peace Luk. 19.42 thy will in order to be a sanctified will in its desires dominions and endeavours thy affections in order to fix them upon their right holy objects thy faith in order patiently to wait for the due accomplishment of all the pretious promises which in Christ are made over to a sanctified soul no more of setting the soul in order having said so much already 2. The body must be set in order 3. The estate must be set in order 1. The body is a sinfull mortal decaied naturall body Rom. 6.6 subject to a thousand mâ—lâ—dies and miseries which must be mortified and crucified of its reigning domineering power and all the organicall parts must be subj cted unto Jesus Christ till when the body is not in order to dye he that will dye happily must keep a daily funerall of his transgressions errours and sinful miscarriages towards God self and men that albeit they may have a kind of slavish being in us yet they must have no dominion over us 2. The members of the body must becom the meÌ„bers of Christ Rom. 6.12 as the eye to see the tongue to speak 1 Cor. 6.15 the hand to work the foot to walk for Christ and all the parts to suffer with Christ before we can be in order to dye 3 The body must be kept as a chast virgin for Christs use 1 Cor. 6.15.19 and the holy Ghosts use whose Temple it is wee must be sanctified bodies as well as sanctified souls but the dear servants of God have much ado with their bodies to subdue tame and bring under their untruly members of which Saint Paul did sorely complain and said to will is present but to perform that which was good hee found not Rom. 7.18 The reason was because his unregenerate paâ—t took so great advantage from and by the inordinate pravity of the body which is become so prone to serve the mind and will in every sinfull motion within and like tinder so naturally proclive to catch at any temptations and allurements to sin from without 1 Thes 5.23 that the blessed Apostle Paul does pray that the Thessalonians bodies as well as their spirits and souls be sanctified throughout and preserved blamelesse unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 4. The body as well as the soul must be in covenant with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost before it can be in order to die but then though death may kil yet death cannot hurt the body for God is the Saint God and father in death and when the body lies reposed in the grave Psal 116.15 Gen. 50.25 Exod. 13.19 Jos ult 32. precious in the Lords sight is the death of his Saints and God sets a great price even upon their bodies and bones though the Saints themselvs in their sufferings have a low estimate of their bodies which I think hath so steeled and resolved them to under-go and cheerfully to wade through the bloody persecutions of most cruell and butcherly Neroes knowing the Lord God his covenant-goodness even unto their bodies should they be burnt to ashes or torn with wild beasts as multitudes were served in the primitive times since Fox Martyrol Again the Lord Christ is their head even in the grave and they be his members upon which he also sets a great price so as when the soul departs to God who gave it even then the bodies of the Saints have after a sort a principle of life within them do but sleep when they bee dead do belong to Christ by covenant whom he wil raise up Eccl 12.7 Isa 26.19 Mar. 9.21 1 Cor 11.30 chap. 15.20 Eph. 1.19 by that very exceeding greatness of power whereby his own mortall body was raised up and not onely awaken them but introduce their own souls and receive them up to himself to be for ever with him in glory Col. 3.4 Nor is it possible that any one member of Christ Ps 34.20 can loose one muscle nerve artery bone or sinew one eye one limb or one hair of the head but shall arise a compleat beautifull and well-featured body however his or her body was mangled and deformed here before or at the time of death and buriall and since for the bodies in covenaÌ„t to be united to Christ a perfect body according to the Apostle a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 Nor will Christ suffer one part never so little to be wanting for Christ must account for our bodies to his Father who of terrestiall must make them celestiall of corruptible 1 Cor 15.41 42 43 44. incorruptible of dishonorable glorious of weak powerfull and of natural must make them spirituall bodies 3. The holy Ghost is in CovenaÌ„t w th our bodies whose work it is and will be to fil those old mansions with such a plenitude of the spirit as those glorified bodies shall be capable of Ps 16.9.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hope Prov. 7.27 and at present do live in hope of though they groan a while with the rest of the creature so then the body must be in Covenant with God before it is well ordered to lye down in
the chambers of death which is by the way a rich comfort to the saints of God that God Father Son Holy Ghost are in Covenant with bodies Num. 23.10 Ps 102.13 14. as wel as souls yea when they shal be laid in the grave and moultered to dust God is in covenant with that dust with Ahrahams with Isaacs and Jacobs dust with the dust of their seed lying in their graves in which respect the saints bodies are said to sleep in their death to rest in hope Nay I verily believe there is more yet in the dust and bones of dead bodies that they have a kind of desire after resurrection 1 Thes 4.16 Isai 60.1 Isai 26.19 Joh. 5.28 go but into a vault of mens dead bones and tarry there an hour or two and they will draw much of your spirit and livelihood from you put you under great thirst till some days after and after the word of command from Christs mouth to arise to come forth to appear and to stand before Christ to receive their glorious enlargment and blessed investiture into that glorious Kingdom which their Lord Christ hath purchased for all that dye in Jesus Thus our bodies must be set in order before death in these four last mentioned respects 1. They must be mortified crucified bodies 2. Implanted members of Christs body 3. Kept chaste and holy for Christs use 4. Bodies in Covenant with God the Father Son holy Ghost The next duty in the third head incumbent to him that will dye well and preparedly is to set his house in order By the house may be understood the persons dwelling in family with us and more especially the children who are to be disposed of according to their rank condition and capacity as Noah prepared an ark Heb. 11.7 and so his care passed over every one of them Or by house is meant the affairs of the houshold and family thus Joseph is used by Potiphar to manage and order the affairs of his house and family Or else it is taken to dispose of the goods of the family Gen. 39.5 6. to divide and give to every one his portion or estate according unto right reason and natural affection that a mans posterity may more comfortably serve God in the state and condition in which the godly-wise shall see good to leave him thus Abraham before his death gave his Isaac the inheritance and to his other Children hee he gave gifts Gen 25.5 6. and legacies and sent them away while he yet lived and so gave up the ghost See Weams his exposition pag. 80. 81. on Job 5.26 and Gen. 29.8 and died in a good old age an old man and full of years and was gathered to his people to insist a little on this The all wise-disposing providence of our heavenly Father hath laid out the estate and condition of us in which we must serve him in the wel managing of our talents with which he hath intrusted us Mat. 25.15 and of which some have more and some have less of this lumber to possesse yea the very wicked have a just title under God as I prove out of Job Job 9.24 the earth is given into the hands of the wicked to raign and bear rule yea and to be Judges in it and God somtimes himself covers the face of such Judges as a condemned mans face going to execution earth is there put for all terrene and worldly things as the Psalmist even the heavens or the heaven of heavens is the Lords Psal 115.16 but the earth hath he given to the children of men The Lord by deed of gift hath providentially reached out all good things here below promiscously to all men by his own line or meat yard Num. 33.54 saving unto us all here is thy lot thy habitation thy land thy lease thy goods and thy estate thy bound dominion and possession Jos 1â— 6 chap. 18.10 hitherto shall they extend and no further here 's thy confinement with a non ultra yea what ever wicked men come to possess or inherit by adoption descent or succession from fathers grandfathers ancestours or other allyances yet all is the gift of God's common providence and for believers whatsoever they have comes in the name of Christs purchase for them and by speciall covenant and promise unto them Rom. 8.32 for as God spared not his own Son but gave him to dye for them how shall he not with him also freely give them all things which make for their good Earth is given to the sons of men to the just and to the unjust but heaven is given into the faints hands as it were Benjamin's mess I must go one step further yet and that is what wicked men do unlawfully get rake ring cheat rob plunder and by violence and oppression recover and injuriously wrest from others is in a sense the gift of God viz. he permitting them to range a while to prey upon the poor innoceÌ„ the fatherless orphant widow and stranger so he permitted wicked Ahab to kill 1 King 21. Jer. 22.13 and take possession of innocent Naboths Vineyard and he permits Shallum to build his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong to use his neighbours service without wages and saith to him by his Prophet thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness and for to shed innocent blood and for oppression and for violence to do it all this did our all-wise God order in his common providence to last a while till Shallum had run his course and filled up the measure of his iniquity but then the Lord sends a cruel adversary like a ravening wolf of the evening to execute his just judgment upon Shallum according to that prediction in the seventh vers of the two twentieth of Jeremiah saying ver 7. I will prepare destroyers against thee every one with his weapons and they shall cut down thy choice Cedars and Shallum the son of Josiah King of Judah he shal dye in the place whither they have led him captive ver 12. and he shall see his land no more Now mark how the Lord speaks of this destroyer Nebuchadnezzar by name Jer. 27.6 I have given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babilon my servant and the beasts of the field have I given also to serve him And all nations shall serve him and his son named Evilmerodach 2 Kings 25.27 Jer. 52.31 Dan. 5.1 and his son namely Belshazzar the Lord disposed of those Countries by donat oÌ„ to him yet Nebuchadnezzar invades and spoiles and takes them and theirs by violence upon which say the annotations well that the great God of heaven and earth sent him against a people of the Lords wrath and gâ—ve him a charge to take the spoil Isa 10.6 and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire of the streets and he went
the earth hath left and intrusted them withall which must bee done judiciously and understandingly in the time of good judgment and perfect memorie and that so plainly that his meaning may not be mistaken nor his words perverted and the whole kept free from all exception Here against they do highly offend God and man who as they for the most part have lived out of order themselves so they do take no care to make any will at all to the great confusion and prejudice of their family and relations to the defrauding of many of their right to whom they owe and are indebted whil'st they leave all undone Others by a foolish delay are surprized by the suddain of their death Others tarry till they be prevented of understanding and speech Others put the words of their will into such ambiguous terms that occasion is given to intricating and undoing-suits of law even to the dividing and estranging of the affections of near and dear relations to the wasting of a great part of all or more then all the estate to the utter ruine of the surviving friends and relations with perpetual hatred evill will which like a fire still burninig cannot be extinguished in many generations Oh! you who fear God lay these thing to heart and be pre-admonished I hope a word to the wise is enough And now in setting thy house in order bee very carefull to use an impartial hand for the first born Deut. 21.15 16 17. it is one of his prerogatives to have a double portion upon this account the birth-right was Joseph's 1 Chron. 1.5.2 who was the first born of the true wife Gen. 4◠3 non ad hominem sed ad Deū at tinet haeredes facere Glanvill lib. 6. c. 17 the first born is the excellency of the fathers dignity his might the beginning of his strength as Jacob to his eldest son nay the Civillians say well God singles out and makes heirs even his first born This the law of nations doth give to the eldest So doth the law of our land and for this I could easily lay down many weighty grounds of reason and religion Exo. 13.2 Ibid. 1. As that God himself sets an high price upon the first born 2. The Lord also laid a paternall Priestly and Ministeriall charge upon the first born 3 God provides no land should be sold for ever Lev. 25.25 for the land is mine and yea are strangers and sojourners with me but if necessity require any to sell his estate of land then hee must sell it to one that was next allied in blood unto him and hee shall redeem that which his brother sold and at the Jubilee he shall return to his possession and bee no longer in bondage Which though it be not our rule yet the reason is weighty why the heir should not be disinherited unless in some speciall cases and those extraordinary Gen. 21.10 Judg. 11.2 Judg. 9.18 Gen. 49.4 1 Chr. 5.1 as illegitimacy in Ishmael the son of the bond-woman and Jephtha the son of a strange woman and Abimilech the son of an handmaid or deboistness as profane Reuben who defiled his fathers bed for which his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel The common objection is so shall the family be undone to make the heir great and leave the residue of the family low and in a mean condition This inconvenience was as incident to the families of the Tribes of Israel as to the families in England or any other nation and yet God will have the prerogative of the elder to stand to be the heir and more fully p ovided for because he is the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power Not that the residue should be left destitute but that a paternal maternal care be had in training up of children in some honest calling and in setling younger children with some other estate in taking order that portions may be raised out of the lands where land of inheritance is considerable if in the life of Parents other provisions have not been or could not bee made Yet so as the eldest may be a father still to brethren and sisters and may bee enabled to protect and de-defend his own flesh and blood from wrongs and oppressions according to his power or capacity and lastly that the elder brother may be enabled cheerfully to welcome his brethren and sisters when upon good will or just occasions they shall visit their brothers house as their head quarters that such relations might take and give mutuall advice in all occurrences which shal be more considerable and weighty Thus of setting our house in order wherein was shewed 1. That all men good and bad have their estates laid out by Gods meat yard of common providence therefore wicked ones as well as believers must set their house in order before they die 2. In setting the house in order evill-gotten goods must be restored where was shewed 1. What restitution is 2. Who must restore 3. When we must restore 4. What must be restored 5. To whom and upon what account 3. What due regard is to be had to the relations of him who must set his house in order that in four things In 1. Holy admonition and instruction 2. Faithfull and humble prayer for them and blessing of them in the name of the Lord to appoint Trustees and Guardians where requisite 4. Concerning his last will and testament 3. Exhortation Humbly and wisely to submit to the Lord as in life so in death Here I must premise a little of the different carriages of Simeons and Naballs at the approach of death and in the very article of death some are discontented at every crosse providence as Naball 1 Sam. 25.3 whose heart dies within him as mumuring Israel who say would God we had died in the wildernesse Numb 14.2 3. rather then be killed in a war by the Canaanites some through impatience give bitter language towards God Job 1.9 Jonah 4.8 as Jobs wife to her husband curse God dye and as Jonah who storms against God himself But a gracious Simeon will let out his heart to God 1 Sam. 3.18 Job 1.21 and say I com Lord be it to thy servant according to thy word It is of God and let him do with me what seemeth him good the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh i'ts sad and dreadfull to hear and to hear of wicked and awakened consciences to chide themselvs out of this life with horrible accusations saying wo is me wo is me that ever I was born woe is me woe is me such a sinner Oh thou my wretched body what cause hast thou to curse thy wicked soul for being so ill a governor and commander of me thy body that now I know not how to live one hour longer nor how to submit to death live I cannot but
dye I must O my celestiall soul tho halt also great cause to curse thy wretched body for being so ill a servant to thee so pretious a piece of Gods creation in that thou art now affraid to depart at thy great Lords command As the parting of soul body is violent and very sad so more sable shall be their meeting at the resurrection when the sin-accusing conscience shal deliver up soul and body to the righteous judge of quick and dead Act. 10.42 when that judg shal deliver the guilty sinner and the law shall judge and bind him over to death eternall and to hell where the worm dyet not Esa 66.24 Mark 9.43.44 and the fire never goes out but must abide an eternity of weeping howling and gnashing of teeth Pretious Saint far otherwise and â—ull of blisse is the state of every blessed Simeons soul and body in the approach and very article of death when he shall sweetly sing or use this Prosopopoeia or words to the same effect Thou body of mine the God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be with thee in thy departure in thy death and in thy grave for hee hath shut thine eyes and bound thy jaws and bid thee abide a while in peace bee thou content to sleep in death and to rest in hope on such a bed of roses for er'e long thy dust and clay shall live and thou shalt arise with Christ's blessed body Isa 26.19 thou that dwellest in the dust shalt awake sing for thy dew is as the dew of herbs the earth shal cast out the dead in her And thou my happy soul shalt return a glorified soul to be united for ever to thy incorruptible immortall and glorified body to be joined to the great Congregation in heaven where God Christ and the Spirit and all Angelicall natures shal for ever honour thee and all other glorified ones with that very glory which Christ Jesus had with the Father John 17. before the world was Suffer this exhortation then I beseech you to take hold on your hearts sweetly to submit to your all-wise God and Father even in every state and condition of life and death which I shal amplifie under these three heads 1. Of health 2. Of sickness 3. Of death 1. In our health and prime of our life whil'st green and flourishing like a bay tree must be an holy resignation of our selves into the hands of so good a God Eccl. 12.1 1 Chron. 28. betimes wee must remember our Creator in the days of our youth then we must learn to know the Lord God of our fathers as good David gives in counsell to his young son Solomon and this submission must bee a totall resigning of soul and body to the Lord a lesson not taught in any school below heaven none of the Moralists none of the Philosophers could attain it being onely found in the school of grace which among other things doth teach Psal 34.9 10. Mat. 28. 20. 2 Cor. 12.9 Isai 41.10 Isai 33.16 that no good thing shall be wanting unto such and that bee our condition never so strait yet God and Christ are with us and his grace shall be sufficient for us he will uphold us and help us with the right hand of his righteousness and our amunition is made of rocks in pregnable round about us Isai 27.9 and lastly God will so order all his good providences for us that they shall all work together for our good as Israel's pressures in Egypt Joseph's casting into the pit and twice selling to bee a slave as the rod of Ashur and the furnace of Babylon Now in thy submission to the good pleasure of thy heavenly Father thou must not be over hasty after fruition but with an holy patience must possesse thy soul during thy stay in this world for as thou so those fore-named promises have their set determinations by an unchangeable decree as Noah's time in the Ark Gen. 8. Job 14.14 and Job waits his appointed time all his days and so did Simeon here in the text 2. In sickness wee must submit to the Lord's visitation and say Lord it is thy hand and thy holy wil be done in me upon me I wil use the Physitian a good ordinance of thine but I will recumb in thee alone I will honour the Physitian for my necessity but I do commend my self to thy all-wise dispose who if thou shalt please to add to my days and to piece out my frail life a little longer I will by the assistance of thy grace indeavour to live and to be an instrument of thy praise but shalt thou see it good to end my pilgrimage and to take me home Oh that 's best I will sing Hallelujahs to thee for ever But by the way consider the poor and the Lord will strengthen thee upon the bed of languishing Psal 41.1.3 10. and will make all thy bed in thy sickness and bee mercifull to thee and raise thee and requite thee men may visit thee deceitfully flatteringly speaking good words unto thee and whispering evill in their own bosom and say when shal he dye v. 5. v. 8. and his name perish an evil disease say they cleaveth fast to him and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more but the Lord shall visit thee upon the bed of sickness with a visit speaking pardon of sin peace of conscience thy reconciliation to himself with joy in the holy Ghost even joy unspeakable and full of glory Giving to the poor though it be thy duty Pro. 19.17 yet it is called a lending to the Lord who will repay it with more consideration then the principal it self Thou puttest thine almes into the poor mans hand and the Lord makes thee payment ten thousand-fold into thy heart and soul But least I be thought to digresse this sick man or woman must submit patiently readily unto the gracious hand of the all-wise Lord God and that in the name and worthinesse of his sweet saviour Jesus Christ devoutly praying as David did in the words of faith Psal 71.1 In thee O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion Deliver me in thy righteousness Correct me not in thine anger O Lord nor rebuke me not in thine indignatioÌ„ Jer. 10.24 Psal 6.2 heal me O Lord for my bones are vexed Psal 22.11 Bee not far from me for trouble is nigh at hand lay no more on me then thou shalt give me strength to bear 1 Cor. 10.13 Cast me not away when my strengh faileth mee and so will the Lord answer Because he hath set his love upon me Psal 71.9 therefore will I deliver him I will be with him in trouble Psal 91.14.15.16 I will deliver him and honour him With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation And for thy comfort know who hast a mansion with God that thy God
and father doth ordinarily fit his children for death in their sickness presenting to them the unloveliness and vanity of all things below the blessed interest which the Saints do enjoy in their Christ the happy change which they do make who dye in the armes of their Jesus and that such shall for ever be quit of all sinfull society yea of sinfull flesh no longer to abide among dead men nor among the tombs of dead ones shall never have cause to hang up their harpes upon Babylons Willows tree Ps 137.2 never be interrupted in singing our Hebrew song and therefore doth our gracious Father in sickness and otherwise open the narrow hearts and deaf ears of Simeons souls and then speak to them saying come my pretious ones suffer me now to dispose of you let me new mould you and transfigure you for your disease and so dear heart I do First make thee weary of thy body of death weary of the worlds blandishments and painted glory and weary of thy sinfull selfe Secondly I do sanctifie every pain and grief every crosse and trouble and make them become sanctified mercies Ps 131.2 whiles I do wean thee to be lesse in love with things below nay I cause that every decay of thy naturall strength every dimnesse of thy eye every dulnesse of thy ear every weakness and sicknesse of thy natural body shall tend to such a blessed change that at last the soul and body are made willing to depart for a time to attain unto Phil. 1.22 and enjoy a glorified cure Thirdly I do not only prepare thee to this submission but I do also make thee desire and long to dye I do so spiritualize and order thy soul that sicknesse shall be as welcome to thee as health death as life to thee who livest upon God in God and to God Dost want health of body I do satisfie thee with health of soul art near to death be it so then thou art nearer to life even a glorious blessed and eternall life sick man I am thy Lord God and I do assure thee by thy interest in my self through my son I am better to thee then ten healths as Elkanah was to Hannah then ten sons 1 Sam. 1.8 I am better to thee then many lives thy life here was but a breath or rivullet of life but in thy death thou art admitted to live for ever in him Joh. 14.6 Ps 36.9 who is life it self and to thee the fountain of life Fourthly in sickness the Lord speaks to his holy ones to be of good chear from the deep meditation of the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 Joh. 1.16 from the fulness al◠sufficiency of Jesus Christ their dearest friend their Lord King who coms leaping skipping over the mountains to solace himself in and with them whom he had so wonderfully delivered from the dens of Lyons Cant. 2.8 Cant. 4.8 and mountains of Leopards or what else hath been formidable to them Come look on me and to me lean and rely on me pour out thy soul into my bosome Isa 45.22 Mic. 7.7 who will assuredly give her sweet repose untill the great day of my second coming Cant. 8.5 Act. 7.59 when thou shalt be received soul and body to be for ever in mansions of eternall glory Cant. 3.11 to keep a most triumphant Jubilee with the Lord for ever Mal. 3.17 Act. 3.19 3. In death wee must submit to our Lord Joh. 14.2 3 and that in two things In the approach Act. 7.54 c. and point of death Precious soul in the approach of death Heb. 11. 2 Chron. 6.42 Ps 25.6 Ps 119.49 Psa 22.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 7.25 act faith in the Lord Jesus as Stephen did and as those Martyrs did faith will plead thy covenant-interest and perswade to roll thy self upon the free grace of God so fully represented in the promises faith bids thee look on thy Lord and saviour interceding thy cause at heavens throne Set hope on work to take faster anchor-hold on Jesus Christ Psal 18.2 Deut 32.4.31 2 Sam. 22.47 Ps 62.2.7 Ps 89.26 Ps 39.13 the rock of thy salvation Set prayer on work and pour out thy soul saying O Lord spare a little till I may recollect my self and bee sweetly composed to rejoyce in the approach of my my change Lord give me to welcome death with all ready entertainment as Gods messenger to deliver me from my prison Ps 142.7 Job 4.19 and house of clay wherein my celestiall soul the espouse of Christ is confined and imprisoned and say O Christ I come Luke 16.22 Lord Jesus send some of thy blessed Angels to receive carry my soul into Abrahams bosom as one of the fathers doth personate a dying Saint O holy trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost which in unity of nature art one the self-same God into thy hands I do commend my spirit into thy hands O blessed Saviour my King my priest and my Prophet do I recommend my self unto thee sweet Jesus do I a dying servant of thine come who camest into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief unto thee blessed Lord who wast conceived and born of the virgin Mary sufferedst diedst was buried and laid under the power of death Acts 1.24 for me to alleviate my death and make it stinglesse and curs-lesse who wast raised up from the dead didst miraculously ascend art now set down at thy fathers right hand for me to come again at the end of the world to be judge of all men Angels even to be my judg to justifie absolve me before all the world and to invest me a poor and miserable creature with that very glory which thy humane nature hath now in heaven and which thy self hadst with the Father before the world was into thy hands gracious redeener into thy hands O eternall spirit do I recommend my self who dost even ravish my heart by applying and sealing all the Covenant-goodnesse and gracious promises of life and of salvation even to me even now about to breath out my last breath of life Thus dying soul in thy submission un-thy Lord God set faith hope and prayer on work Quest The learned have a question whether the Saints in death do fear death having cōmission in some cases of persecution in one City to flye unto another and Christ saying Mar. 10. go not into the way of the Gentiles and into the Cities of the Samaritans enter ye not Act 9.25 and Saint Paul escaped out at a window at the fear of death and Christ himself often shunned the Scribes and Pharisees and Rulers who sought to kill him Joh. 7.1 1 King 19.3 so did David shun Saul and Elias the wicked instruments of wicked Ahab and Jezebell Answ To all which I answer that 't is not simply unlawfull to