and subsist with my very self I cannot be and be without them I cannot lay them down without laying my self aside vanity vexation and trouble qualifie my life as inseperable to it why am I perplexed with an apprehension that such a life draweth to a period I have all my days been persecuted by humane rage and power and so should be still if I live longer I may well be contented to be resolved into an estate of peace when men have killed my body they have done their worst their all they have me not to insult over they do much better for me then they are aware of they give me a writ of ease from all my travel and trouble in the grave the wicked do and shall cease from troubling Job 3.17 18. the weary shall be at rest the prisoners do rest together and they hear not the voice of the oppressor My soul were there no more in death but this release from greif pain sorrow and travel thou mayest well resign me up to the stroak of death I may be content not to be that so I may not be so miserable well may death be sweet to me to whom my whole life hath been so bitter how many have desired death because of the danger distress and dolour of their lives how many have sinfully destroyed their lives to deliver themselves from their cares fears greifs wants and woful pains I desire not I dare not I will not tempt God and murmur against his providence by hastening my death by a violent untimely unlawful unnatural act of self-violence all the days of mine appointed time I will wait till my change come but I may very cheerfully willingly yeild unto that stroak which is sent of God to ease me of so great a burden the rather because Death is my discharge from sin as well as from sorrow and death onely can be the discharge thereof In iniquity I was conceived Psal 51.5 in sin did my Mother bring me forth sin is to me as natural as my self it is inherent in my being it was born with me it hath grown up with my â—ody that will not that cannot be divided from this this corruptible body is the uphold of the body of corruption these two do stand and will fall together This dying flesh is not only the subject of sence but also the seat of sin the members of my body are the instruments of sin unto and until death how tormenting hath life been unto my soul by reason of temptation unto sin the constant militation of my flesh hath made my life a continual conflict how have I feared to nourish my body because thereby I made provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof I could never yet tame sin but by buffetting my flesh and by abstracting from the supports of my being I cannot be rid of sin till I be released of life Oh the care to avoid fear to commit sin to which I have been subject how many times have I been forced to embrace sorrow to shun sin and to sit alone exposed to scorn and misery because I durst not run to the excess of riot with other men Mortification of sin hath been the main of my business since I saw the sinfulness of sin and yet do I what I could it would and doth exist in me and prevail upon me to the often checking my comforts hindring my communion with God and wounding my conscience by omissions of and defects in duty by commission of hainous sins and many abberrations from my heavenly father forced to fetch me home by paternal castigation though Gods grace hath maintained in me a constant militation thaâ— sin could not reign in my mortaâ— body and my Father hath ever kept me under the rod of correction yet the law in my members hath rebelled against the law in my mind and led me captive unto sin the best of my life hath been a candid confession and a continual complaint that the good I would do I do not and the evil I would not do that I do and an affectionate outcry Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin I must I may whilst I live make it my care to keep under my body lest my sin overcome me and yet whilst I abide in the body I shall bear about a body of corruption the death of this shall be and it onely can be the destruction of that Onely in the grave I shall cease to sin when I am not I shall not be sinful I shall not be a sinner My Soul Dost thou desire to be freed from the suggestions temptations and inclinations to sin and yet tremble at the thoughts of dissolution which will and onely can deliver thee from them all be assured after death thou shalt not be greived for because thou shalt not be stained with thy daily guilt thy sinful nature shall then no more greive the Spirit of thy holy God Hast thou waged a mortal warfare against thy sin all my life and wilt thou now give back in the last mortal stroak though this fall upon thy self with some violence it will certainly give thee the full conquest over thy lusts with which thou hast so long contested fall willingly under that fall which will make thee full victor over these cursed Philistines Come O my soul be willing to stoop that thou mayst lay down thy load submit freely to that stroak which will for ever set thee free from all sin and from all sorrow cease to complain that thy life hath been tedious and tiresom troubleous and toilsom or shew thy self content and truly glad to be eased desire to be dissolved that thy burden of sin and sorrow may be discharged Be still O my soul the stroke of death is dreadful but it once struck doth for ever dismiss and destroy the suggestions of Satan the motions of sin the actings of unrighteousness the apprehensions of Gods wrath and afflictions by mens rage and envy with all other evils who would not bear some dread to be delivered from so great distress when I am dead I shall cease from my labour I shall rest from mine own works of sin and sorrow these are indeed most properly mine own works produced procured by my self created continued by and with my self acted by existent in and with my self to be only desolved and destroyed with my self whilst I am I am as yea above others of my brethren the Butt of Satans rage and mens malice the subject of strong passions and finful motions whilst I have lived I have not done duty to God without great defect I have not delivered my Masters message among men without great danger Satan hath hunted me into sin and wicked men hath hunted me into sufferings they have lien in wait for me they have laboured to make my tongue my trap and to ensnare me by my words but I may now be content these can follow me no further they
be dirty and dreadful tedious and tiresome shall I draw back or not drive after so many so good such excellent men as are gone before me Levius communia tangunt say men by nature how easie is a common yoke whilst then mine is the common state of men and good men abate thy fears advance thy courage follow with chearfulness and content Let the motto of the happy unhappy Lady Jane Gray give check to the admiring censures of the spectators of my death Non aliena putes homini qua obtingere possunt Sors hodierna mihi tunc erit illa sibi I tread no untroden tract I am not the first I shall not be the last that dye I go the way that many most and best have gone before me and others must daily and hourly follow after me whatsoever is my chance death is the condition common to men and the grave doth know no difference between them who run out the course of nature and those who are cut off by violence One dieth in his full strength Job 21.23 24 25 26. being wholly at ease and quiet his breasts are ful of milk and his bones are moistned with marrow another dieth in the bitterness of his soul and never eateth with pleasure these both lye down alike in the dust and the worm shall cover them without any difference or distinction Let me dye which way God hath determined by sickness or by sword in my bed or on a publique stage in old age or in the prime of my days in course of nature or by the hands of violence I can but dye and dye I must for I am a man and death is common certain and natural unto man SECT III. DEath this common state My death is decreed by God with all its circumstances is determined by the Lord whatsoever doth relate unto this condition is concluded in the councels of the most high these no man can alter or avoid God is of soveraign power his purposes must and shall prevail against all powers whatsoever what is by him decreed must stand most certainly to come to pass My time is then in the hands of the Lord he will preserve me from the force of any disease and fury of the oppressor until the date by him determined be expired my time is appointed on the earth Job 14.5 my days are determined the number of my moneths are with the Almighty he hath set the bounds thereof These I cannot I must not expect to pass nor can the distempers of nature most violent diseases or the fury malice or power of men break in upon them to anticipate their course or accelerate their period I cannot I shall not be cut down before the time nor any other way then that God hath decreed shall not I be willing to go when and how God will have me go The decrees of Heaven are unalterable and unavoidable it is mans duty to submit to them without demur or debate Shall I can I profess a filial relation to God and obedience to the will of him my Father and not resign up my self my time and my life to be disposed by God is a reluctancy in this case competible with my prayer thy will be done or consistent with that my resolved supplication in this very case not my will but thy will be done men are but like diseases executioners of Gods decree upon me they have against me no power but what is given them from above though therefore I am loath to leave my cottage and present sensible comforts shall I dare to resist or refuse chearfully to yeild unto and resign them at the pleasure of mine absolute Lord and Soveraign by which alone I hold them Consider Oh my soul it is the Lord more righteous then to do me wrong more gracious then to do me hurt who doth dispose my time and state Let him do what seemeth good unto him There is a season to every thing under the Sun Eccles 3.1 11. there is a time to every purpose un-the Heaven Gods time is the set time to all things and the best time to the Sons of men every thing is beautiful in its time so shall death be to me when my time is come when mens work is done it is fit they go to bed lye down and sleep man goeth forth to his work and to his labour Ps 104.23 until the evening When Corn is ripe it must be cut done I shall not fall without Gods determinate counsel shall I dare can I desire to contradict that I shall not be cut down until I be ripe and my cutting down be seasonable can I wish to stand longer I have lived shall I not now be content to dye according to Gods determination SECT IV. THe assaults of Death are the assaults of an enemy Death is an enemy but conquered armed with power and irresistible This is very true but yet Death is the last enemy I must encounter and cannot be otherwise conquered then by my falling under its stroak my whole life hath been a militation and my death is but a military finishing of my course my willingness to dye mine encountring this King of terrors with a Christian faith with a calm quiet and composed Spirit can onely make my dying words trumpet with triumph 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have all my life-time fought with Death as Sampson with the Philistines it often assaulteth me by hunger nakedness cold infant-weakness sickness natural diseases and the assaults of violence shall I think it strange to receive another onset and to take one turn more with my constant enemy Shall I fear by the power of grace to vanquish him whom I have by the strength of nature and help of art I many times resisted and repelled O my soul Sin my Dalilah hath deceived me and spoiled me of my natural strength I cannot now as formerly fight with and beat back this Philistine mine onely conquest of him is to fall before and with him when he hath divided my body from my soul he hath done his worst and will soon find a few such victories will waste his strength so that he shall not be able to keep the field to appear in the world or to assault the sons of men My soul consider thy present state compose thy self cry unto God for strength of faith that thou mayst by dying be at once revenged on thine enemy I shall when dead be for ever freed from that warfare with Satan Sin and the World which I have been constrained to wage all my life long I shall then no longer fight for my strength youth growth credit comforts and conscience all which I have all my time defended with much difficulty and great danger Death mine enemy shall then set me free from the Devils temptation the worlds enticements the outrage of men the arrows of the Almighty and the lustings of mine own flesh all
which have all my days stung my soul and battered my body My soul take courage unto this last encounter herein my willingness to dye is the victory my fall is the fullest conquest that I ever did or can make be herein the more couragious considering Death is though an enemy yet a conquered and disarmed enemy Christ that Captain of my salvation hath tryed the strength of death and subdued it he by dying did overcome death and him who had the power of death viz. the Devil herein Satan was out shot in his own Bow and caught in his own snare what gained the Philistines by bringing forth Sampson to make them sport and to be insulted over in the house of Dagon but their own destruction the very same hath death and the Devil gotten by bringing the Lord of life to dye on the Cross and to the Grave which could not hold him these by getting have lost the victory O blessed Paradox by this my faith and my soul can out-face out-brave death whilst my nature and my body doth dread the assaults and stroak thereof Death struck the Lord of life with its sting and lost its sting by striking him and in him all that are his do ever since insult over death with an O death 1 Cor. 15.55 where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Since this foil death is befooled of its conquest over them whom it most insultingly strikes with success and cutteth down with power for it prevailing looseth its design The design of Death is to seal man under indelible guilt to set him under the curse of the Law and at everlasting distance from the Lord vers 56.58 The sting of Death is Sin the strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be unto God who hath given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord for hereby death doth to all that are in Christ Jesus effect what is directly contrary to its design it dischargeth that guilt under which they greived all their days and releaseth them from those curses of the Law by which they were chastened in this life and it transmitteth their souls unto the immediate and eternal enjoyment of God and Christ and although it holdeth the body for some time yet it divideth it not from Christ to whom it is inseperably united and by whom it shall be raised up to be reunited to the soul and perfectly possess God for ever My Soul why art thou afraid of a Bee which hath lost its sting why dost thou dread an enemy vanquished to thy hand and sprawling at thy feet Hath David kill'd Goliah and shall not trembling affrighted Israel up and pursue the Philistines hath the Lord Christ gotten and given me the victory over death by discharging thy guilt and bearing the punishment thereof in his own body unto the satisfaction of the Law and wilt thou fear to encounter the fiercest assaults thereof What shall a conquered enemy disanimate the Conqueror My Soul in the world thou hast tribulation in death thou hast terror but be of good comfort thou art now engaged in the last encounter with both and the Lord Jesus hath overcome the world and conquered death Triumph in death for thou shalt by dying be made triumphant over Death the World and the Devil Thy warfare is now accomplished let me now in my last act play the man and shew the valour of my Faith and Patience unto the due restraint of my now provoked fear and passions Then this shall be the matter of mine eternal happiness and honour that I have warred a good warfare I have fought a good fight I have kept the Faith SECT V. DEath is a curse The cursed nature of death is changed the punishment of mans sin the expression of Gods wrath and the execution of the Law and dreadful sentence pronounced against man It is so in its nature and of it self But it is not such to all that are thereto subjected the voyce from heaven hath proclaimed them Blessed Rev. 14.13 who dye in the Lord and hath rendred two reasons of the blessed state of their death First they rest from their labour they then reap no punishment Heb. 4.10 but are indeed blessed for he that is entred into his rest ceaseth from his own works of sin and sorrow as God ceased from his Secondly Their works follow them unto their acceptance with and recompence from the Lord. The nature of death is changed to such who are in Christ Death to Christs friends is a sleep and to such who die for Christ the friends of Christ do not dye but sleep Job 7.21 I account sleep a special blessing of God for the refreshment of nature my sleep is the image the similitude of death Death is the truest the onely sleep of a true Beleiver when I sleep I am as dead and when I dye I shall but sleep I shall indeed sleep longer in my grave then in my bed but I am sure I shall sleep more quietly without affrighting fancies or disturbing dreams and I shall at length awake and arise when my weary day is ended how willing am I to lye down and sleep My Soul art thou not willing thy weary body should have rest to dye is to a Saint no more then to undress and go to bed to lie down and sleep Joh. 11.11 Let what will become of Dives our friend Lazarus sleepeth The righteous when they dye are taken from evil to come Isa 57.1 2 and 26.20 death is their defence from danger distress and dread their grave is Gods pavilion and receptacle into which they his jewels are gathered Mal. 3.17 lest they should be left in the commotions of the world in which they his trusty friends and confederates are secured from the storm and blast of the terrible ones raised up by the Lord to shake terribly the earth my Soul what though the Chambers of death be dark wilt thou deem it a curse to be gathered into them by Gods special grace that thou mayst not feel hear or see the evil which his wrath and vengeance is about to bring on the places of thy present abode The just by death enter into peace when the whole world is full of Wars they rest in their beds when the house is all in an hurly burly and unquiet tumult Death is the Saints cessation from labour and travel their security from lamentation and trouble their estate of quiet and ease and their entrance into rest and glory The very wicked who with Balaam are ready to curse them whilst they live would gladly share lots with them in their death The worst of men are so apprehensive and affected that their latter end shall be exceedingly good that they cannot but wish to dye the death of the righteous Death is indeed a curse to sinners but the course of nature unto Saints The direful executioner of Gods wrath and law to all who die in their sin
shall now lose the sent the grave shall be my burrough in it I shall be quiet I shall then be out of the reach of lust care trouble sorrow sickness temptation and persecution I shall now no more be heard to grieve or groan I will therefore be willing to cease to be that I may cease to be the subject of so bad so sinful qualities SECT XVI DEath will destroy my body Death destroyeth the body but not the soul be it so that is all it can do it hath nothing to do with my soul that remaineth immortal it shall be saved and set in Abrahams bosom â—n eternal happiness as soon as it is out of my body it shall be associated to the spirits of just men made perfect What need I care how it goeth with my worser whilst I have secured and it goeth so well with my better part my soul is an immortal being out of the reach of humane rage and the stroke of death What if men and death kill my body if God will not cast my soul into hell I escape well and much better then I deserve for sin had shipwracked me both soul and body I had forfeited both to divine Justice my soul being saved I live in death O blessed paradox oh happy state I not to dye in dying My body is but an earthen vessel I need not be much troubled if this be broken so that my heavenly treasure be secured and preserved my body is onely the cabinet I see no great cause to be troubled if that be lost whilst the jewel of my soul is safe Paul might well call on the Marriners to be of good chear in the tempest which tare their tackling and sunk their ship being able to assure them Acts 27. no mans life should be lost but the ship onely I travel with my soul through briars and thorns shall I wonder that I am pricked and that my cloaths are rent off me My soul is of such value that all is to be adventured and thrown over-board for its salvation What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul Matth 16.26 my body is dear to me I will do what I can to preserve it but my soul is much dearer this must be defended by exposing my body to danger and destruction skin for skin riches honours pleasures peace all my natural comforts and outward blessings I would give for my life but these and life and all will I give for my soul 1 Pet. 1.18 My soul is redeemed not with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ Christ laid down his life to redeem my soul and shall not I willingly lay down my life to keep my redeemed soul O thou the Shepherd and Bishop of my soul keep it within thy sheepfold untill thou shalt lead it unto thy glory I will not then be solicitous what may befall or become of my body seeing I am under a necessity of suffering loss I will rejoyce that my loss is not greater such as might have undone me for ever welcome death to my body temporal death which consisteth with the life and immortality of my soul and passeth it into the fruition of eternal life my soul may be saved by and under the loss of my body but my body could not be saved if my soul were lost Oh strange Oh blessed trade the loss I am like to sustain is mine infinite gain this loss of my body shall save my soul for in the cause of Christ and his Church he who would save his life must lose it Mat. 16.25 SECT XVII DEath will seperate my soul from my body Death seperateth soul and body but not me and God it will so but it cannot seperate me from God and that was the design of death it cannot seperate either the one or the other from the love of God in Christ Jesus I am perswaded neither life nor death nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present Rom. 8.38 39. nor things to come nor any other creature shall be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Chrict Jesus our Lord shall not this inseperable love to me meet with an answerable return of love from me and make me with confidence and resolution conclude tribulation nor distress nor persecution nor famine nor nakedness nor peril nor sword shall not seperate Christ from me as it is written for thy sake are we killed all the day long and accounted as sheep to the slaughter love is a principle of union it cleaveth to and looketh after its object in its most low estate and lost condition Death shall not make me to be despised or forsaken by my God This God is my God Psa 48.14 my God for ever and ever and he will be my guide unto death yea in and through the vail of the shadow of death his rod and his staff shall comfort me and 23.4 the Lord his esteem of and relation to my soul and body abideth as well and as much though not by the same acts and expressions of affection now they are seperated from as whilst they were united each unto other God doth triumphantly observe the faith and patience by which I endure the tearing of them each from other for the testimony of his truth he doth dispatch his Angels to attend my death and to conveigh my soul into Abrahams bosome to the immediate enjoyment of himself nor doth he disregard my body when divided from my soul or disesteem the dust thereof he causeth it to be mourned over by my friends and natural relations and to be buried with the greatest solemnity poor they can observe yea he loveth it and looketh on it as united to Christ though laid in the grave or dispersed on the earth all my members are written in Gods book Ps 139.16 not one of them must be lost or miscarrie they shall not be neglected my dust is precious in Gods sight not a grain of it shall be lost after it is sown in the earth it shall most certainly spring up as precious seed watered with the dew of heaven the word of the Lord to Zion and all her sons doth assure them and me that her dead men shall live together with his dead body they shall arise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust Isa 26.19 for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead My body remaineth Gods Jewel when it hath lost that lustre the soul did give it God locketh it up in the grave as in his cabinet God well knoweth my body is liable to danger in the day of his wrath against the inhabitants of the earth the grave is the receptacle from distress whereinto he doth gather it know my soul and body you when divided do abide objects of Gods compassion complacency and care enter into your chambers
though dark quietly shut your doors about you the wise God is willing to hide you for a little moment until his indignation be past My soul and body are dear companions it is not strange to see these two parted with dread and greif and yet nearest relations dearest friends must shake parting hands each with other in this world brethren that have lived long together and love most dearly must leave each others company at their Fathers pleasure and for their future good this is my case in death my soul be contented take chearful leave of thy body thou art returning to the father of spirits My body consent willingly to shake hands and shut out thy soul thou must for a time be shut up by God from falling under those desperate dangers and deep distresses which are more dreadful and intollerable then is death it self The design of death in dividing my soul from my body was to divide both from God but this is impossible for union with Christ and with God in him is inseperable no case will make them cast me off no condition can cut me off from them whom they love once they love to the end forever Joh. 13.1 Christs union is with me my self my whole self the whole not any single part of man no part of me can therefore be by the power of death dismembred from him death may militate against Christs body it may rend and mangle his members but it cannot destroy his body his mystical body it cannot divide any his members nor any part of his members from him death shall ere it be long by the sound of the last triumphant trumpet at the glorious and general resurrection know and prove that the union between Christ and the bodies of his people is as real as inseperable as the union between him and their souls Christ will not lose any part of his purchase he paid a price for man for whole man for our bodies and for our souls both are his all enemies that interrupt the union that intercept the communion which is between Christ and his members must be destroyed and the last enemy to be subdued is death when the Grave the Sea and Hell shall give up the dead bodies which are in them as in repositories for a time I shall then find the design of death in dividing my soul from my body is failed disappointed and become frustrate it never could divide either of them from God my Father or from Jesus Christ my Redeemer nor shall it be able long to keep these parts of me asunder and at distance each from other for my union with God and Christ doth necessitate and will most powerfully irresistably effect the re-union of my soul and body at the resurrection that I whole I my self out only part of my self may enjoy them for ever Let my God and my Saviour do with me what they please so they will but please to be with me in life and in death whilst I am and with my divided parts when I am not I will then perswade prevail with my self contentedly to enjoy them in my divided parts until the time return that my parts reunied my whole self may be placed in an inseperable possession of them in perfect glory world without end SECT XVIII VVHen I am dead my body will be covered with worms Worms will eat me when dead but conscience will not bite me and will feed upon me but it is no matter I shall not see their scrawling I shall not feel their gnawing of my flesh and if I did yet that is nothing whilst my soul shall escape the gnawings of an accusing conscience that worm which never dieth there is more mercy in being freed from this one worm then from many thousands of those silly weak dying wormes Why should it trouble me to become the companion of wormes must not I say unto the worm thou art my Mother Job 17.14 and my Sister what am I my self but a worm a weak creeping worm Psa 22.6 David did apprehend himself a worm a King and yet a worm and Bildad Jobs friend noteth of man in general Job 25.6 that he is a worm whilst I then am my self but a worm let the worms feed sweetly upon their fellow when I am dead I can do man no good why should I not be glad any creatures can fare the better for my death the wormes cannot cover me from the sight of God they may crawl upon my body but it is not thereby made loathsom to the Lord. They may devour my flesh but the worm which never dieth shall not distress my soul I will not therefore appear so weak as to afflict my self with the apprehensions of the power and prevalency of those silly creatures to which I must be subject but of which I shall not be sensible SECT XIX IN Death I shall see corruption In death I shall corrupt but rise again my body will corrupt be covered with dishonour consume away to dust moulder away to nothing this I cannot deny for it was peculiar to the holy one the Lord Christ and to him onely to dye and not to see corruption but yet I do beleive the resurrection of my body God can preserve my dust and make my dead bones to live my body is united unto Christ death cannot destroy that union my body united to Christ shall by the power of his resurrection be most certainly raised up at the last day that I may sit with him in heavenly places God is the God of Abraham Isaac Mat. 22.32 and Jacob he is the God of the living and not of the dead though therefore the bodies of Abraham Isaac and Jacob be dead and buried and have seen corruption and be dissolved into nothing yet they shall live again they retain in the grave an animating principle which will produce its effect they shall be raised up and exist in their individual specifical persons and subsistencies this was the Lords Argument to convince the Sadduces of the resurrection of the body this priviledge was not peculiar to those Patriarchs for I also beleive that my redeemer liveth and that he shall at the latter day stand upon the earth Job 19.25 26 27. and though after this skin wormes destroy my body yet in my flesh I shall see God him I shall see for my self whom mine eyes shall behold and not anothers though my reins be consumed within me My present life doth witness the first Adam to be a living soul my resurrection from death and the grave must witness the second Adam to be a quickening spirit My body is part of my self it must not it cannot be lost its seperation from my soul maketh me cease to be this seperation continued would continue me a nonentity for ever my self is redeemed and related to the Lord and my soul or my body is related to him but as parts of my self these divided must be reunited that my self
him shall at death be utterly and for ever discharged My soul shall then indeed be holy as God is holy and perfect as God is perfect it shall not only have perfect qualities the principles of union but also those degrees of perfection which shall capacitate it for full communion with my God Christ and his Holy Angels and glorified Saints even the utmost degree of perfection such a creature is capable of and an estate of so glorious communion doth call for and require The faculties of my soul shall be enlarged unto the perfection of knowledge and affection I shall after death be able to pry into the deepest mysteries of mans fall and salvation of the glorious unconceivable subsistency of the Trinity in unity three persons in one undivided essence of the miraculous hypostatical union of the two natures God and Man in one person of the blessed incarnation and whole work of redemption which is nothing but a Cabal of mysteries I shall then comprehend incomprehensible glory without the least defect doubting or difficulty I now know but in part I shall then know perfectly knowledge righteousness and true holiness those parts of the new man shall then attain to a perfect virile strength and stature the divine nature whereof I here partake shall then be in me compleat I shall then know all things fully and with full content mine affections will then most freely close with and take full complacency in those glorious objects mine understanding shall then know comprehend my mind shall not know more of God and Christ then my soul shall admire mine affections imbrace unto the fulness of my comfort forcing out the loud halelujahs and acclamations of joy and thanksgiving to God for ever the imbicility of the natural man which could not the enmity of the natural man which would not discern and savour the things of God shall now be discharged destroyed for ever for now the natural man it self shall expire and cease to be Such shall be the changed estate qualitie and endowments of my soul that the things which were to it tiring dulling difficult because supernatural irksom greivous and hateful because contranatural shall become easie and encouraging lovely acceptable and delightful because connatural the very proper and only element in which my soul can live and enjoy it self in this respect nothing could be so dismaying afflicting and tormenting to my soul as interruption intermission or expiration of enjoyment by the return of time Oh folly to dread Eternity which must exist in the exercise and enjoyment of these glorious qualities of my soul the disparity and disproportion which keepeth my God and me at a distance shall now be discharged and quite removed can I desire the time in which they shall again return upon me hath not the loss of Gods image in me and thereby the loss of his presence with me cost me dear enough already I cannot enjoy God for ever unless I be like God for ever my perfect proportion to God must fit me for perfect possession of God welcome then Eternity in conformity to God my only capacity of eternal communion with God 4. My future life is eternal Though I dye I shall dye but once my death shall be mine entrance into life and my life shall be eternal the second death shall have no power on me seeing I must once dye oh how happy am I that I do not live to dye the second death the first death divideth my soul from my body but the second death would have dividid my soul and body from God and that for ever but this death shall not befall me for there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 the Lord hath justified me who shall condemn me he hath delivered me from the dread of the first by redeeming me from the power of the second death I may be of good comfort I shall not dye but live I shall live in death I shall pass through death to life and whilst life is the subject who would not desire to have eternity the adjunct My soul canst thou chuse but joy to know that thy life is eternal life do I dread to die and tremble to think of Eternity in life O strange contradiction the result of a weak faith and of a clouded reason nature hath taught me to desire and endeavour the preservation and if it were possible the perpetuation of my natural sinful sorrowful life shall not grace much more make me to rejoyce that my holy happy life endureth for ever that I shall eternally live in the salvation of God to enjoy mine inheritance among the Saints and Angels in light to attend on contemplate and have communion with God and Christ were not eternal life affixed to these enjoyments what would they avail me what should I delight to tantalize in the waters of life Eternity abstracted I do but catch at the happiness I cannot hold I do fall under Moses his chance Moses his curse he led Israel to the banks of Jordan to the borders of Canaan he went up to mount Nebo and saw the goodly land but he entred not into it he enjoyed it not he died in the mountain I have preached Eternal life I have perswaded men to pursue it to press after it I have led them to the brink of the grave and am ready to lye down and dye now I dread the eternal life that attendeth me O my folly but blessed be God he hath not been provoked he will not be by me perswaded to blot my name out of the book of life but having purposed purchased for me and promised to me salvation an inheritance an estate of glory he hath secured me my life in and unto the possession thereof and made eternity the blessed inseparable property of them all My soul where art thou what art thou lanched into lost in eternity before out of my body return recover thy self before thou go hence and be no more seen look back on thine own thoughts survey the land which the prospect of thy faith hath descried in the ocean of eternity O the immensity O the depth of eternity this is an astonishing ocean an amazing sea whilst I stand on the banks of a temporal life how do I tremble to look upon eternity in its abstracted nature but stay my soul let us be wise let my faith follow this flood and deliberately observe how it streams it self in the Paradise of God into eternal salvation oh wonderful Eternal inheritance O this is desirable how do I long for it Eternal glory that is delightful the rayes thereof ravish my heart And Eternal life O the emphasis the excellency of all the rest shall I dread to shoot this gulph of death shall I fear to lanch out into the depth of this eternity can these blessed desired never enough desired things be abstracted from be enjoyed without eternity if they could would they be so good would
the Doctrines of Mortality and cry out I must die O Chist save me O Christ save me Nor is it marvell for every Balaam ready to curse Gods Israel on the sence of deaths appraach cannot but wish to die the death of the righteous I would willingly hope those who have now the charge of your souls are tender of you as Nurses and careful for you as Parents and that with due affection and fidelity they labour to fit you for and encourage you under the stroaks of death Never I am sure had you more need never were you more likely to hear the Charmer and to receive instruction then in so sad a day of visitation from the Lord. I wish I were without any grounds of fear to the contrary I lately travelling about my rustick affairs met many Ministers from your City among other Citizens withdrawing from that place of danger their recess I could not but observe with grief and anger thinking who must minister to you ghostly councel now your souls are in the shadow of death how must it sting your serious hearts to see your lovers and friends stand at a distance and your Prophets all gone I am not so uncharitable as to conclude the recess of any not specially bound to stay in infected places to be sin I beleive men that flye from the Pestilence are no more Atheistical or to be blamed as such then those who flye from the Sword I judge the recess of many may be a prudential serving of Gods providence unto the withdrawing of the contagion naturally communicating it self in vicinity but I cannot but judge Magistrates to keep order Physitians to help nature and Ministers to prepare for and encourage against death are bound to stay and in the discharge of their duty to trust God with their lives I cannot secure Ministers their lives in contagious places I well know that Histories tells us some of the Ministers and Deacons which ministred to the Saints in Alexandria Euseb Hist l. 7. c. 22. in the great Plague which there raged dyed thereof And that the Families of Bullinger and Beza were herewith infected yet themselves escaped and were preserved yet God hath ordinarily saved the lives of those who in love to immortal souls have adventured to loose them Mr. Sam. Fisher whose meditation on death in the time of the Plague in Salop we have publique among us is yet alive to tell unto Gods praise how himself and Reverend Mr. Blake were preserved in their Ministration to that place in the time of a raging Pestilence If despised I might be so bold I would desire your present Ministers to consider the late Bishop Halls advice in this very case he having justified the receâ—â—â—f private persons thus conculdeth concerning Ministers You urge the instance of your Ministers how unequally Bp. Halls Epist Dec. 4. Ep. 9. there is not more lawfulness in your flight then sin in ours you are your own we are our peoples you are charged with a body which you may not willingly lose nor hazard by staying we with all their souls which to hazard by our absence is to lose our own we must love our lives but not when they are rivals with our souls or with others how much better is it to be dead then negligent then faithless if some bodies be contagiously sick shall all souls be neglected to run away from a necessary and publique good to avoid a doubtful and private evil is to run into a worse evil then that we would avoid c. Whilst worthless I am dead as to my Ministry I hope I may be alive as to my Meditations And freely by an harmless Pen Minister them to you especially on a subject so innocent so necessary as is Death It s Dread and the Defence against it I beseech you receive these as ministerial suggestions for the good of your souls they were indeed onely spoken to my dying self Put your souls in my souls stead and they will speak to you the special kind of death which I dreaded may make some things seem improper to your present state but the general matter and scope of them is to obviate death as such in its general nature and so they are applicable to any kind of death I beseech you prepare your selves to dye and thereby perswade your souls to be willing to dye you and I must dye it mattereth not what kind of death we dye be we careful to dye in the Lord and for the Lord so shall death consummate our misery and conveigh our fouls into the fulness of felicity Austin well noteth Quid interest an Febris Let us say Pestis an ferrum nos de corpore solverit noli qua occasione Aug. Epist 122. ad victori sed quales ad se exeant dominus attendit inservis suis It mattereth not whether Sword or Plague kill us Saints are subject to any to every of them God doth more regard the disposition of his Dying Servants then the means of their death the change of quality in us changeth the quality of death unto us Now that God may fit you for death familiarize to you that King of fears fix your souls on Christ who is life in death and so fill your hearts with those comforts which may prevail with you to dye willingly untill he please to accept an attonement and call back the destroying Angel is and shall be the most affectionate and constant prayer of Yours in the Lord foâ— the good of youâ— souls whilst he is Z. C. July 20 th 1665. A DEFENCE Against the Dread of DEATH OR Z. C. his serious Soliloquies and Meditations of Death under the alarms thereof sounded in the time of his Imprisonment in the Tower of London An. 1661. The PREFACE THe wrath of the King is the messenger of death O sad messenger O evil tidings what is more unwelcome to man what is more distasteful to nature can it chuse but dismay my soul and affect my spirit is not Death that which nature hath determined to be of Terrible things the most Terrible doth not the Scripture denominate it Job 18.14 The King of Terrors doth not the sence of death daunt the courage of the stoutest men of War damp the comforts of this World doth not this discompose the most composed Christian and most serious Saint were not the snares the sorrows the shade of Death the things which David that good that stout man did so passionately bewail Ps 18.4 5. 116.3 and pray to be delivered from the fear of Death made upright Hezekiah Isa 38. To chatter like a Crane and mourn like a Swallow The Devil well knew what he said Job 2.4 when he said All that a man hath he would give for his life The Lord of life entred not the List to encounter Death without an heavy spirit he needed some comfortable companions to watch with him under this conflict he was not ashamed to profess My soul
well and what then Such is the Stat. of Ed. 3. the only law declaring Treason if I do thus dye my guilt is real or reputed Suppose my guilt were real for Lord thou knowest mine innocency wherein I stand defamed to die a malefactor is not inconsistent with eternal salvation I may die for my sin and not dye in my sin I may be most justly punished by men that others may hear and fear Deut. 13.11 and do no more so wickedly for that sin which may be pardoned by the Lord I may be condemned in the world for that crime which shall never be charged on me by my God my present punishment may provoke my repentance and my repentance will most certainly procure me Gods if not the Kings mercy Divine grace is not barred by humane justice the theif crucified with Christ received and confessed so much the due reward of his evil Luk. 23.41 43. yet this hindred not his souls being that night in Paradise with his Saviour and fellow-sufferer The crime not the condition must divide between God and the soul as it doth divide the soul from the body but repentance is the spunge of guilt where God giveth repentance he denieth not remission of the most egregious crime to the most heinous offendor The hand of humane justice may be the help of the sinners repentance and then Tyburn or Tower-hill may be as near as good yea a much better way to Heaven then any other Happy is the stroke of justice 2 Chron. 33.12 which may save the soul from hell Manasseh's fetters made him see confess and abandon his sin the Elect of God are not exempt from the greatest crimes they may fall into and commit them But this is their happiness they are sure to repent thereof and therefore they shall not be eternally condemned for them I envy not some late condemned executed malefactors The murtherous Judges of his late Majesty K. C. first their confidence of salvation and eternal life but I heartily wish that for the glory of God the honour of Christian martyrdom credit of true Religion the real comfort of their friends as well as their own salvation they had more freely and more openly owned their guilt most odious in the light of nature much more of Scripture confessed their sin and justified God and man by their contrition and due confusion under the just sentence of a most righteous law I cannot but think repentance had been more proper matter for their professions then their insultation and rejoycing in their sufferings as if in and for the Lord and their peace joy and courage whereof their surviving friends boast not observing the same abstracted from that humiliation and pensive demeanour most Christianly suitable to so just and sad sufferings If there be in me any real guilt for which I have deserved to dye I pray God convince me of it for I yet see it not and affect me with it if in any thing I have violated the Law though through error or ignorance God give me grace to justifie the righteousness of that law by which I may be condemned and then if my suffering the sentence of the law work in me a sence of guilt unto a penitential submission under the hand of God through faith in Christ my Saviour I shall see cause to confess Gods abundant goodness in saving my soul by the condemnation execution and loss of my boby But O Lord thou knowest the crime by which I stand defamed for which I may be unjustly condemned is reputed and not real for my heart never yet admitted or entertained the least evil thought against the King the Lords anointed if then I dye in mine innocency and as a malefactor my death may administer to me more joy then greif more comfort then contrition more confidence then confusion for howsoever men may condemn me God and mine own conscience will acquit and justifie me Nor am I the first the only one that hath been oppressed in judgement this is one of the common evils under the sun belonging to Gods immediate peculiar vengeance Eccles 7.15 and 5.8 there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness if thou seest the oppression of the poor and the violent perverting of justice and judgement in a Provinces marvail not at the matter for he that is higher then the highest regardeth it and he is higher then they I pray God prevent Englands King and Kingdom from slaying poor In this God hath graciously answered my desire envied and despised me for mine innocent blood will hurt them more then their stroak can possibly hurt me they can but kill my body work for me the glory of a martyr send me to my place and state of rest but this will hazard their souls gall their consciences cast them under the guilt and odium of violence persecution and murther by the sword of justice stain the land with blood which will cry for Gods vengeance and their repentance As for me I am in your hands do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you But know ye for certain that if ye put me to death ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon your selves upon this City and upon the inhabitants thereof for of a truth the Lord hath sent me and stirred me up to speak and write all the words which I have sounded in your ears The reproach of my suffering as a malefactor will indeed and for a time cloud my credit darken my sufferings and deprive God of the honour of them making them a stone of stumbling to many a rock of offence to the weak and wicked but they shall not in the least eclipse the glory of my sufferings and innocency in the sight of God and good men or in the sence of mine own conscience As for me let all men know I wait for a resurrection of names as well as certainly as a resurrection of bodies when the great Judge of all the Gods on earth shall appear to call over the process take cognizance of the error and reverse the false judgement passed by the sons of the mighty Whilst my God and my conscience witness true Religion enforced by right reason to be whole the onely and the real cause of my suffering why should I be troubled at the clamour and seeming black charge of Treason whilst the fulfilling my ministry and the faithful dischardge of my duty is the real ground and only cause of mens wrath and my death Shall I be dismayed that I am Arraigned Condemned and executed so as to be reputed a Malefactor have not all Gods Prophets and Apostles been presented to the World as evil doers and as such exposed unto and derided in their sufferings was not Jeremiah charged with Treason Jer. 37.13 15. Act. 24.5 and Paul with Sedition and both as such imprisoned and afflicted Elijah was the troubler of Israel was not Amos expelled the Court as a Dangerous
may exist to enjoy my redemption by him and my relation to him though the Lords special care is for my soul as my better and more noble part he hath not excluded he doth not despise he will not neglect my body My soul and body are now joynt subjects of grace they must therefore hereafter be joynt subjects of glory they have in this world been joynt agents oâ— duty to God and joynt patients in dolour for God they must therefore in the world to come be joynt heirs of dignity and joynt possessors of comfort from the Lord. After all the changes which shall or can pass and return upon my body God will gather up my dust bring together my scattered bones raise up this very body and reunite it to this very soul my body which shall corrupt and consume to nothing shall be raised the very same for substance that it now is but it shall then be cloathed with more excellent qualities most suitable to the excellency of my soul in that estate of glory it shall be raised up to enjoy my body is now sown in corruption 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44. but it shall be raised in incorruption it is sown in dishonour it shall be raised in Glory it is sown in weakness it shall be raised in power it is sown a natural body it shall be raised a spiritual body what then do I loose by having my body for a time resolved into nothing consumed into dust I loose nothing but the enjoyment of my self for a little season which being expired I shall return and re-enjoyn my self to very much advantage doth not the Husbandman joy to see his seed rot in the ground because he hopeth to receive the same body with better qualities shall not I through grace be willing to be resolved into nothing that I may be restored better O fool 1 Cor. 15.36 no seed is quickened unless it first dye my soul resist not the pleasure rebuke not the order of my Maker if he kill to make alive dissolve that he may restore my body with the most blessed change of qualities to the same substance wilt thou dispute or decline his will come be content cheerfully shake hands with my body and let it go leave it look no more after it though it be lost from thee it is not lost from God or Christ nor is it lost for ever when Christ shall appear I my self shall my whole self consisting of soul and body Col. 3.4 shall appear with him in glory for he will raise me from the dead Phil. 3.2 and change my vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body I cannot but pray that God would deliver me my body from wicked men who are his sword his hand to cut it down and reduce it into nothing yet my father not my will but thy will be done I will submit I will be content I will wait my appointed time till my change shall come and I will retain the confidence and possess my soul in the comfortable expectation of my resurrection for as for me I shall behold thy face in righteousness Psa 17.15 I shall be satisfied when I awake and arise in thy likeness SECT XX. DEath is that dreadful gulf Death entereth mâ— into eternity buâ— it is of good which once shot lancheth mine immortal soul into the ocean of Eternity Eternity what is that a word of astonishment an estate of amazement I cannot look into it without heart-sinking thoughts soul-troubling apprehensions It is a depth unfathomable a length and breath immeasurable an height undiscernable a continuance undeterminable and unexspirable but yet Eternity is in all these respects an estate most proper to mine immortal soul herein an eternal subject shall solace it self in its eternal object unto all Eternity Times return hath been the lamentation of my life Times return is troublesome because it was the limitation of my comforts were mine estate never so pleasant to me in respect of my health wealth plenty peace friends and familiars or the like enjoyments the discernable approaching period of them hath bidden a stand to my delight in them and damped mine affections towards them The things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 2 Cor. 4.18 sensual pleasures have the wings of the morning they pass away with time but Eternity is an adjunct a property which stampeth no mean degree of excellency on those glorious invisible objects which are proposed to our faith to counterpoise those visible but temporal good things which captivate our sence My soul in Eternity thou shalt not be tired with telling the fleeting hours with observing the rerurning days moneths or years thine expectation of good or evil shall not then be tedious thou shalt be by death transported and resolved into perfect full and for ever enjoyment of perfect good and that without alteration or degree without encrease or diminution without consumption or expiration Thou shalt now possess an everlasting noon day thy sun shall no more rise nor set time shall be to thee no more thine autumne shall abide fresh and green fair and fruitful without the least change by the encreasing reviving spring or by the chilling clouding killing winter thy stars shall not be clouded thy moon shall know no changes in this estate of Eternity There shall be no Sun Moon or Stars thou shalt not need and therefore thou shalt not have those directions and determinations of time for thy day shall abide in its perpetual brightness without any dawning or the least approach of night Eternity existeen not in it self Eternity an adjunct to the best things it is a property which passeth on some condition 〈◊〉 adjunct quality which standeth not alone but existeth in its subject My soul look unto and secure the subject then wilt thou soon see that Eternity is a quality greatly desirable an adjunct unto thy great advantage when death shall determine thy days it shall lanch thee into but it shall not leave thee fluctuating on the uncertain waves of Eternity for the spirit goeth unto God who gave it and as the tree falleth so it lieth thou shalt most certainly be set in that estate which must be thine Eternal estate without any possibility of alteration or expiration thou by death sailest into the sea of Elernity or rather thou passest through the red sea unto the resting refreshing shores of eternal salvation an eternal inheritance eternal glory and eternal life these are the blessed subjects in which thinâ— Eternity must and shall exist Haâ—â— thou not in this life tasted the â—weetness of those objects hast thou not proposed these as that silver bell for which thou hast run the race of righteousness are not these the recompence of reward at which thou hast looked as thine encouragement to all thy travel and in all thy trouble in expectation of these I have despised the shame and endured
shall when dead know by experience what I have long desired earnestly prayed and industriously laboured to know by the Spirit of wisdom and understanding viz What is the Riches of the glory of the inheritance of the Saints Eph. 1.18 Now I have finished my course on earth I must go to Heaven that I may there receive my Crown may course here hath been the continual exercise of Grace my condition hereafter must be the constant enjoyment of Glory the place in which my soul must now abide the business in which my soul shall be employed the company with which my soul shall associate and the qualities with which my soul shall be endowed are all glorious these things are all transcendently glorious I cannot but desire they should be my soul cannot but leap for joy to think these glories are Eternal The place in which my soul shall abide whilst parted from Heaven a glorious place yea when reunited to my body is glorious transcendently glorious for it is Heaven My constant future residence must be in the Court of Heaven the Heaven of heavens the third heavens the Paradise of God the place into which the Apostle Paul was taken up in which he heard words not fit to be uttered 2 Cor. 12.2 4. and in which he saw Glories which he could not declare the Court of the great King the King of Saints and the King of Kings the peculiar Palace of Gods most glorious presence the holy the heavenly Jerusalem Rev. 21. the great City whose gates are pearl whose pavement is gold and whose foundations are precious stones unto which the Kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour in which there is no need of Sun or Moon for the glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof into which there shall in no wise enter any thing which defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lye but they only whose names are written in the lambs book of life My soul Dost thou linger to go unto or dost thou fear too long continuance in this place of glory How have humane sences been ravished with the glory of the structures raised by humane Art how much have I admired the glorious workmanship of God in the bespangled firmament the most curious enamelling the same with the Sun Moon and Stars and yet these are but dark shadows most imperfect representations of Heavens glory and how far how freely did the Queen of the South travel to see with what ravishing observation did she admire how blessed did she esteem the men who did reside in the state of Solomons structures wilt thou my soul flock to God and see yea and fit down in the place prepared by the Lord for his blessed ones before the foundation of the world was laid the glimpse of this glorious Kingdom when the Lord Jesus was transfigured did so ravish the three Disciples that they thought it was good to be there and began to cast how to build tabernacles Matth. 17.2 3 4. that they might there abide Can I chuse but long to see and to set down my station in the very place its self where our Lord is ever in the truth and fulness of his glory Come my soul goe forth with joy and thou shalt at once possess that place of glory from which thou canst no more remove nor wilt desire to do it in which the eternity of thy residence is and will be the excellency of thine injoyment it would more grieve thee to go from then not at first to have come to Heaven The business in which my soul shall be employed in this glorious place is also glorious In heaven the work is glorious for after death attendance on and acclamation of praise to God and Jesus Christ shall be the whole the only employment of mine immortal soul beatifical vision shall be its business I shall then know God as I am known of God I have here beleived in him whom I have not seen rejoyced with joy unspeakable and full of glory but shall then see him in whom I have beleived I shall see the Lord Jesus Christ not darkly as in a glass but face to face how full how unspeakable how glorious must needs be the joy which reflecteth from my sence how must it needs transcend that which was onely the result of faith my soul when parted from my body shall as the glorious Angels now do minister continually in Gods immediate presence and behold his glory Happy were Solomons servants who stood continually before him and heard his wisdom Behold my soul a greater then Solomon is here thou shalt attend on minister before and hear the wisdom and behold the glory of the God of Solomons wisdom and glory The souls which come out of great tribulation are arayed in white robes and advanced unto continual attendance on the throne of God to serve him in his Temple night and day where the whole of their business is and for ever shall be to sing Halelujahs unto the Lord to admire the majesty wisdom power goodness of God to ascribe wisdom blessing honour power and glory unto God for ever and ever to him who sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for euer Gods service was on earth my perfect freedom it must needs be much more such in Heaven when I am once arrived at this estate of Glory I shall be indeed and for ever delivered from all mine enemies that I may serve him without fear all my days which shall never end Oh the honor of relation to such a Master oh the happiness of employment in such business It is a good thing to sing praise unto our God it is pleasant and praise is comely Oh the glory of attendance on so glorious Majesty my soul canst thou wish thy time in a relation so honourable in an employment so happy in an attendance so glorious were as the days of an hireling God forbid Lovest thou the service of thy God shall the length of thy servitude dismay thee Wilt thou not consent yea desire to be boared through the ear that thou mayst abide in this thy masters service for ever Dost thou long to turn thy faith into sence thy hope into fruition thy prayers into praises thine apprehensions of God and Christ into immediate attendance on them is it possible thou shouldst dread the eternity of this estate thou so much so earnestly desirest art thou my soul capable of surfeiting with spiritual joyes dost thou not love and long to drink thy fill to be drunk with the rivers of pleasure which flow continually in Gods presence how have I mourned under the withdrawings of Gods presence shall I now fear to approach his presence onely because I shall never more be banish'd from his Court presence My soul chear up in Heaven the frowns and frettings of thy Master shall not make thee weary of waiting on him his terrors shall no more make