heart of man Isai 32.24 Is thy body sick thy soul is sound and so long all is well The inhabitants shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities Is thy life in danger If thine enemies kill thee they cannot hurt thee they will do thee the greatest courtesie they will do that kindness for thee for which thou hast many a time prayed sighed wept even free thee from thy corruptions and send thee to the beatifical vision When they call thee out to die they do but as Christ to Peter call thee up to the Mount where thou shalt see thy Saviour transfigured and say Let us build Tabernacles O 't is good to be here Though Saul was frantick without a Fidler and Belshazar could not be chearful without his cups yet the Philosopher could be merry saith Plato without musick and much more the Christian under the greatest outward misery What weight can sink him who hath the everlasting armes to support him What want can sadden him who hath infinite bounty and mercy to supply him Nothing can make him miserable who hath God for his happiness Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. O Christian thou maiest walk so that the world may know thou art above their affrightments and that all their allurements are below thy hopes In particular the Doctrine is comfortable against the Death of our Christian Friends and against our own deaths First It is a comfort against the death of our friends God is a godly mans portion therefore they are blessed who die in the Lord without us and we are happy who live in the Lord without them It s a comfort that they are happy without creatures what wise man will grieve at his friends gain In the ceremonial law there was a year of Jubile in which every man who had lost or sold his land upon the blowing of a trumpet had possession again The deaths-day of thy believing relation is his day of Jubile in which he is restored to the possession of his eternal and inestimable portion Who ever pined that married an Heir in his minority at his coming to age and going to receive his portion Their death is not paenall but medicinal not destructive but perfective to their Souls It doth that for them which none of the ordinances of God nor providences of God nor graces of the Spirit ever yet did for them It sends the weary to their sweet and eternal rest This Serpent is turned into a rod with which God works wonders for their good The Thracians wept at the births of men and feasted at their funerals if they counted mortality a mercy who could see death only to be the end of outward sufferings shall not we who besides that see it to be the beginning of matchless and endless solace A wife may well wring her hands and pierce her heart with sorrow when her Husband is taken away from her and dragd to execution to hell but surely she may rejoyce when he is called from her by his Prince to live at Court in the greatest honours pleasures especially when she is promised within a few days to be sent for to him and to share with him in those joyes and delights for ever Some observe that the Egyptians mourned longer for they mourned 70 dayes for old Jacobs death then Joseph his own Son and the reason is this because they had hopes only in this life when Joseph knew that as his fathers body was carried to the earthly so his Soul was translated to the heavenly Canaan I would not have you ignorant concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others that have no hope 1 Thes 4.12 As they are happy without us for God is their portion so we are happy without them We have our God still that stormy wind which blew out our candles did not extinguish our Sun Our Friend when on his or her death-bed might bespeak us as Jacob his Sonnes I die but God shall visit you I go from you but God shall abide with you I leave you but God will find you he will never leave you nor forsake you Reader If God live though thy friends dye I hope thou art not lost thou art not undone May not God say to thee when thou art pining and whining for the death of thy relations or friends as if thou wert eternally miserable as Elkanah to Hannah Am not I better to thee then ten Sons Am not I better to thee then ten Husbands then ten Wives then ten thousand worlds O think of it and take comfort in it 2. It s comfort against our own deaths Secondly It is comfortable against thy own death God is thy Portion and at death thou shalt take possession of thy vast estate Now thou hast a freehold in law a right to it but then thou shalt have a freehold in deed make thy entry on it and be really seised of it It s much that heathens who were purblind and could not see afar off into the joys and plesures of the other world the hopes of which alone can make death truly desireable should with less fear meet this foe then many Christians Nay 't was more difficult to perswade several of those Pagans to live out all their daies then 't is to perswade some amonst us to be willing to die when God calls them Codrus could throw himself into a pit Plut. in vit Vtic. Ca. that his Country might live by his death Cato could against the intreaty of all his friends with his own hands open the door at which his life went out Platinus the Philosopher held mortality a mercy that we might not alwaies be lyable to the miseries of this life When the Persian King wept that all his army should die in the revolution of an Age Artabanus told him that they should all meet with so many and such great evils that they should wish themselves dead long before Lysimachus threatened to kill Theodorus but he stoutly answered the King that was no great matter the Cantharides a little flie could doe as much Cleombrotus having read Plato of the Souls immortality did presently send his own Soul out of his body to try and taste it The bare opinion of the Druides that the Soul had a continuance after death made them hardy in all dangers saith Cesar and fearless of death Câ—s lib. 6. de bell 6. Christians surely have more cause to be valiant in their last conflict and it s no credit to their Father that they are so loth to goe home The Turks tell us that surely Christians do not believe Heaven to be so glorious a place as they talk of for if they did they would not be so unwilling to goe thither It may make the world think the child hath but could welcome at his Fathers house that he lingers so much a broad certainly such bring an ill report upon the good land Christian
secretly to her Vault and with the skirt of his Manâ—le wiped the moysture from the Carcass and still at the return of his temptation laid it before him saying Behold this is the beauty of the Womad which thou didst so much desire And the Man at last with that moysture of the Corps put out the Fire The godliness of the World its whole glory and gallantry is but a curious Picture drawn on Ice which affords no good footing for whilst we are standing on it we are sliding from it and who would lay the stress of his felicity upon so slippery a foundation No wise man ever put his chiefest goods and riches in such low damp rooms where they will corrupt and putrifie Hipocrates affirmeth that all immoderations are Enemies to the health of the body Sure I am they are to the health of the soul The amity of the World is emnity against God All the Water is little enough to run in the right Channel therefore none should run beside The time is short use the World as net abusing it 1 Cor. 7.29 Secondly That you chuse the good part that shall never be taken from you Mans heart will be fixt on somewhat as its hope and happiness God therefore puts out our Candles takes away Relations that we may look up to the Sun and esteem him our chiefest portion When we are Digging and Delving in the Earth to find out content and comfort he sendeth damps purposely to make us call to be drawn upward Till the Prodigal met with a Famine he regarded not his Father If the Waters be abated the Dove is apt to wander and defile her self but when they cover the face of the earth and allow her no rest then she returneth to the Ark. I hope there is a good work begun in you which shall be finished at the day of Christ But every one stande h or falleth to their own Master Get Scripture on your side and you are safe for ever The Romans when they parted from the bones of their Dead friends for they burnt them took their leave in such language Vale Vale Vale Noste ordine quo natura permiserit sequemur Farewel Farewel Farewel We shall follow thee in the time and order which nature alloweth us You may say of your Husband as David of his Child I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Prepare therefore for your dying hour Labour to be rich in godliness Grace alone is special bayl against death It is such wealth as will be currant in the other World lay up your treasure in Heaven where neither Thief nor Moth neither Men nor Divels can rob you of it Take God in Christ for your Heaven and you are happy in spight of the World Death and Hell You know the living comfort of your dying Husband was that though his flesh and heart failed him yet God was the strength of his heart and his portion for ever And it was a memorable speech of His when some Friends came to him and commended the richness and magnificence of Hampton Court newly trimmed and adorned for the reception of her Majesty One drop of the blood of Christ is more worth then all the World I must tell you there is no such Cordial in a day of Death as this Covenant-Relation to the Lord of life The Child may walk in that dark entry without fear if he have but his Father by the hand Though I walk in the Valley of the shadow of Death I will fear none ill for thou art with me Death indeed is strong it overcometh Principalities and Powers but as strong as it is it cannot separate God and the godly person It may dissolve the natural union betwixt soul and body but not the mystical union betwixt God and the soul The Saints dye in the Lord they sleep in Jesus O Couzen be married to Christ and you are made for ever Heaven is the Joynture and Death one of the Servants or slaves of her that is the Spouse of this Lord. Death is yours ye are Christs 1 Cor. 3.21 Other men are Deaths it hath dominion over them but Death is yours your servant to strip off your rags of sin and misery and to cloath you with the Robes of joy and glory The ensuing Discourse was for the substantial part of it delivered at the Funeral of your dearest Relation on earth You gave me the Text and my indisposition of body allowed me then but little time which caused me now to make some enlargements and additions but it s the same body possibly in a little neater far from gaudy dress which was prepared for the Pulpit I present it to you not doubting of its acceptance for his sake whose death was the occasion of it The good Lord bless it to you requite your love to me and them that fear him make up the want of streams in the more abundant enjoyment of the fountain fill you with all the fruits of righteousness enable you to persevere and encrease in godliness and so to live with a good conscience that you may dye with much comfort and be a follower of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises so prayeth Your Servant for Jesus sake George Swinnock TO THE Right VVorshipful THE Mayor with the Recorder Jurats Common Council and the rest of the Inhabitants of his Native Town Maidstone in Kent Honoured and Beloved IT is a general observation that all creatures have propensity and inclination towards those places where they receive their births and beings Vegetatives which stand in the lowest rank of life thrive best because they delight most in those grounds whence they first grow Sensitives as they have an higher being so a stronger inclination to those parts where they are born The Prince of Philosophers telleth us that Fish usually stay with pleasure in those Waters in which they are bread Arist Hist Animal l. 4. c. 8 and Beasts in those Woods in which they are brought forth and that neither of them will remove without force and violence Nature hath planted in them both this principle of affecting their native places Hence it comes to pass that even these creatures have manifested their thank-fulness after their manner Trees acknowledge that sap which they borrow from the earth in which they stand in the tribute of leaves which they pay back to the same in Autumn The Storks are said to leave one of their young in that part of the Earth where they are hatched Patriam quisque amat non quia pulchram sed quia suam Sen. Men as they have a Nobler life so a greater love to their Native Country Heathen themselves have been famous for this Pericles the Athenian did so affect his Country-men that his usual speech was If none but my self should lead them to the shambles Plut. in vit as much as lyeth in me they shall be immortal When Cleomenes King of Sparta being greatly distressed had
the end of this City will be the same with all her Predecessors What he spake of places is as true of persons though men may admire them for a while yet the stateliest and most curious buildings of their bodies will fall to the ground as their Ancestors have done before them Job 3.15 This storm will beat on the Princes Court as much as on the Peasants Cottage What man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Psal 89.48 The interrogation is a strong negation The Prophet challengeth the whole World to find out a person that can procure a protection against Deaths Arrest The Psalmist was gracious yet grace gave way to nature death will like hail and rain fall on the best gardens as well as the wide wilderness The Wheat is cut down and carried into the Barn as well as the Tares A godly man is free from the sting but not from the stroke from the curse but not from the Cross of death Holy Hezekiah could beg his own life for a few years but could not compound for his death he did obtain a reprieve for fifteen years but not a pardon the best fruit will perish because it is wormeaten The gold and the dross the good and the bad go both into this fire the former to be refined the latter to be consumed The whole World is a charnel house and the several inhabitants thereof so many walking carcasses The voice said Cry and he said what shall I cry All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field The grass withereth the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass Isa 40.6.7 The words speaks mans mortality He is grass withering grass a flower a fading flower Secondly Its certainty the voice said cry The Prophet had a charge in a Vision given him to proclaim so much from God to his people surely the people is grass Thirdly the Vniversality the flesh of Kings and Counsellors the flesh of Saints and Martyrs the flesh of high and low rich and poor All flesh is grass Man is sometimes compared to the flower for its beauty but here for its frailty a flower will quickly fade if it be not cut down by an instrument of Iron nor cropt by the hand yet the gentle breath of Wind quickly bloweth off its beauty Besides an Expositer observeth t is to the flower of the field not of the garden flowers of the garden have more shelter and are better lookt to then flowers of the field these are more open to hard weather and more liable to be pluckt up or trod down Naturalists tell us of a Flower called Ephemeron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. ad Apol. because it lasteth but a day Man is such a Flower his life is but a day whither longer or shorter a Summers or a Winters day how quickly do the shadows of the Evening stretch themselves upon him and make it night with him Pliny speaks of a Golden Vine which never withereth The bodies of Saints shall be such hereafter but at present the best Hearbs wither as well as the worst Weeds Neither the Dignity of a Prince nor the Piety of a Prophet can excuse from enrting the List with this Enemy Against this Arrest there is no Bail CHAP. III. The Reasons of the Doctrine Mans Corruptibility Gods fidelity and Mans Apostacy from God Reasons of the Doctrine I Shall onely lay down in the explication of the point two or three Reasons and then proceed to that which will be practical 1 Man corruptibility The first ground of the Doctrine is the corruptibility of mans body It s called in Scripture an house of clay Job 4.18 and an earthly Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 The body of man at best is but a clod of clay curiously moulded and made up The Greek Proverb hath a truth in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man is but an earthen Vessel Some indeed are more painted then others in regard of dignity and place others are stronger Vessels then the rest in regard of purity of constitution Profecto omni moda vanitas Iun but all are earthen Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity Psa 39. All Adam is all Abel Man nay every man when most high in regard of his hopes and most firm in regard of his foundation is even then the next door to and but one remove from corruption What the great Apostle said in a proper every one may say in a common sense I die daily We carry our bane every moment about us The very food which preserveth our lives leaves that be hind it which will force our deaths It s holden for certain saith one that in two Years space The Netherland cure there are in the body of man as many ill humours ingendred as a Vessel of a hundred ounces will contain Ipsa suis augmentis vita ad detrimenta impellitur inde deficit unde proficere creditur Greg. Against some these enemies appear in the open field often skirmishing with them but against all others they lye in ambush and wait for an opportunity to fall on and destroy them In the best timbered body they are but like fire raked under the ashes and reserved to another day when they will flame out and burn it down We are all like the Apples of Sodom quae contacta cinerescunt Tertul. Apol. cap. 40. which being touched crumble into dust or as the Spawn of Locusts which being handled dissolveth Arist Hist Animal according to the Philosopher God needs not bring out his great Artillery to batter down the building of mans body a small touch will tumble it down nay it s every moment decaying and will at last fall of it self There is rottenness at the core of the fairest fruits Our flesh is no match for the Father of spirits An ordinary Besome will sweep down the Spiders Web. Though it hath accurate weavings and much curiosity yet it hath nostability As it was with the Gourd of Jonah so it is with the Children of men we breed and feed those Worms which will devour and destroy us Every Mans passing Bell hangs in his own Steeple The second Reason is Gods fidelity 2 Reas Gods fidelity The righteous and gracious God hath threatned eternal pains to the wicked as the wages of their sins and hath promised endless pleasures to the godly as the reward of Christs sufferings now the place of payment where these threatnings and promises shall be accomplished is the other world to which death is the passage Man dieth that Gods Word may live and falleth to the earth that Gods Truth might stand Sin though it be finite in regard of the subject as being the act of a limited creature In peccaeto duo sunt Quo cum unum est aversio ab immutabili bono quod
est infinitum unde ex hac parte peccatum est infinitum Aliud quod est in peccato est inordinata conversio ad immutabile bonum ex hac parte peccatum est finitum Ex parte aversionis respondet peccato poena damni quae enim est infinita Est enim a missio infiniti boni scilicet Dei En parte conversionis respondet poena sâ—nsus Aquin. 1 2 quest 87. Act 4. yet it s infinite in regard of the Object as being committed against a boundless Creator therefore it s punished with the absence of all good which is an infinite loss and the presence of all evill which is infinite in duration though not in intension because of the incapability of the sinner The infernal pit is the place of those punishments into which by the ladder of death men descend Matth. 7.23 and 25.41 Mark 9.49 Death is but the sinners trap door into Hell The English capital malefactors when cast are carried into a Dungeon and from thence to the Gallows Ungodly men being cast by the Law of God and not suing out their pardon from the Gospel which is an office set up for that purpose do go through the Dungeon of death to the place of their dreadful and everlasting execution God hath also engaged to bestow on the members of Christ an incomparable and unchangeable Crown It is your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom but Death is the young Prophet that anointeth them to it and giveth them actual possession of it They must put off their rags of mortality that they may put on their robes of glory It is in the night of Death that Saints go to their blessed and eternal rest The corn must first die before it can spring up fresh and green Israel must die in Egypt before he can be carried into Canaan There is no entrance into Paradise but under the flaming sword of this Angel Death that standeth at the gate The soul must be delivered out of the prison of the body that it may enjoy the glorious liberty of the sons of God This bird of Paradise will never sing merrily nor warble out the praises of its Maker in a perfect manner till it be freeed from this cage The sinner dieth that according to Gods word he might receive the bitter fruits of his evil ways Death is to him as the gate through which condemned and piacular persons pass to their deserved destruction The Saint dieth that according to Gods promise he may enjoy the purchased possession Death to him is as the dirty lane through which Chrysostom passed to a feast a dark short way through which he goeth to the marriage Supper of the Lamb. His body is mortal that his sins and sufferings might not be immortal The third Ground of the point 3 Reas Mans apostacy from God may be Mans apostacy from God Death broke in upon man by reason of mans breaking the commands of God We had never fallen to dust if we had not fallen from our duties Sickness had never seised on our bodies if sin had not first seized on our souls Mors est conditio naturae non peccati argumentum vel poena Son Suas 7. The Pelagians and Socinians say That death is not a consequent of sin but a condition of nature The blasphemous Jews tell us that Adam and his posterity were therefore condemned to dye because there was one to come out of his loyns who would make himself a God meaning Christ but the God of truth hath resolved the genealogy of death into another cause even the first Adams aspiring to be like God and ambition to cut off the entail and hold onely from himself Gen. 3.15 Rom. 5.12 As a Lethargy in the head diffuseth universal malignity through the whole body and thereby corrupteth and destroyeth it Ideo factum est par peccatum non mortale quod erat sed mortuum quod non fieret nisi peccaret Lâ—mb Sent lib 2. dist 19. The apple which Adam did eat was poisoned which entred into his bowels and being the venome of it is transmitted all along like Gehazi's leprosie to his seed Some tell us that he would often turn his face toward the Garden of Eden and weep reflecting upon what he had done Sure I am it was not without cause for we all got the infection from him and by him it is that the whole world is tainted and turned into a pest-house Whatsoever delight he had in the act there was death in the end Vide Vossium Disputat Theol de peccat pr hom quaest 3. p 43. It seemeth unquestionable that man in his estate of innocency had a conditional though not an absolute immortality T is true he was mortal ratione corporis being a compound of corruptible Elements but immortal ratione foederis being free from the Law of death by vertue of the covenant As before he fell he had a posse non peccare a possibility not to have sinned but since a non posse non peccare a necessity of sinning So in his estate of purity he had a possibility of not dying but in his estate of Apostacy a necessity of it If he had stood he should like Enoch have been translated that he should not see death he should have entred into his Fathers house but not have walkt thither through the dark entry of death Psa 90.7 Rom. 8. The flesh faileth us because sin hath defiled it Mans flesh at first was fly-blown with pride and is ever since liable to putrefaction Sin is therefore called a body of death because it causeth the death of the body When one asked who set up the stately Edifices in Rome it was answered The sins of Germany meaning the money which the Popes Agents received for Pardons granted to the Germans If it be demanded Who pulleth down the goodly building of mans body it may be answered The sins of man It is sin which turneth such costly curious houses into confused ruinous heaps Draco the Lawgiver appointed death the punishment of every offence for which cause his Laws are said to be written in blood and being demanded the reason he gave this answer that though when crimes were unequal he seemed to be unjust in making all equal in punishment yet herein his justice appeared that the least breach of the Law deserved death The light of Nature taught them that those that sin are worthy to die Rom. 1.32 The estate of all sinners lyeth in the valley of the shadow of death Wheresoever sin hath but a finger death will have a hand Sin though never committed but onely imputed did put to death the very Lord of life It is like that wilde Caprificus which if it get but rooting though in the substance of a stone in the wall it will break it asunder CHAP. IIII. First Vse discovering the folly of them that mind the flesh chiefly First Use of Information The folly of them that
thy immortal soul against the coming of the bride-groom When thou diest thou throwest thy last cast for thine everlasting estate thou shalt never be allowed a second throw An Error in death is like an Error in the first Concoction which cannot be mended in the second Where thou lodgest that Night thou dyest thou art hous'd for ever That work which is of such infinite weight and can be done but once had need to be done well God hath given thee but one Arrow to hit the mark with Shoot that at randome and he will never put another into thy Quiver God will allow no second Edition to correct the Erratas of the first therefore it concerns thee with all imaginable seriousness to consider what thou doest when thou diest One would think thou shouldst take little comfort in any creature whilst thy eternal state is thus in danger Augustus wondered at the Roman Citizen that he could sleep quietly when he had a great burden of debt upon him What rest canst thou have what delight in any thing thou enjoyest who owest such vast sums to the Infinite Justice of God when he is resolved to have full satisfaction either in this or the other world When David offered Barzillai the pleasures and preferments of his own royal Palace he refused them because he was to die within a while How long have I to live that I should go up with the King unto Jerusalem Let thy servant turn back that I may dye 2 Sam. 19.34 35 36. i. e. Court me no courts I have one foot in the grave my glass is almost run let me go home and dye Without controversie thou hast more cause to wink on these withering comforts and to betake thy self wholly to a diligent preparation for death The Thebans made a law That no man should build a house before he had made his grave Every part of thy life may mind thee of thy death Mortibus vivimus Senec. The Moralist speaks true Thou livest by deaths thy food is the dead carkasses of birds or fish or beasts thy finest rayment is the worms grave before t is thy garment Look to the Heavens the Sun riseth and setteth so that life which now shineth pleasantly on thee will set how much doth it behove thee to work the work of him that sent thee into the world while day lasteth that thou mayst not set in a cloud which will certainly prognosticate thy foul weather in the other world Look down to the Earth there thou beholdest thy mother out of whose womb thou didst at first come and in whose bowels thou shalt ere long be laid The dust and graves of others cry aloud to thee as Gideon to his Souldiers Look on us and do likewise O trim thy soul against that time If thou risest up and walkest abroad in the streets thou seest this house and that seat where such a woman such a man dwelt and lo the place which knew them shall know them no more they are gone and have carried nothing with them but their godliness or ungodliness If thou liest down thy sleep is the image of death thou knowest not whether thou shalt awake in a bed of feathers or in a bed of flames but art certain that shortly thy body shall lye down in the grave and there remain till the resurrection Look on thy companions thou mayst see death siting on their countenances its creeping on them in the deafness of their ears in the dimness of their eys nay it s posting towards them in the very heighth and Zenith of their natural perfections Look on thy own house of clay death possibly looks out at thy windows however it looks in at thy windows thou wearest it in thy face thou bearest it in thy bones and doth it not behove thee to prepare for it Naturalists tell us that smelling of earth is very wholesom for consumptionate bodies O Reader a serious thought of thy death that thou art but dust would be very wholsom for thy declining and decaying soul Hard bones steept in vinegar and ashes grow so soft that they may be cut with a thread Give me leave for one half hour to steep thy hard heart in such a mixture possibly it may be so softned through the operation of the Spirit with the Word Drexel Eternit that thou mayst become wise unto salvation It s reported of one Guerricus that hearing these words read in the Church And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years and he died All the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years and he died And all the days of Enos was nine hundred and five years and he died And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty nine years and he died Gen. 5.5 He was so strongly wrought upon by those words And he died And he died that he gave himself wholly to devotion Friend if thou hast any dram of true love to thy soul and its unchangeable condition in the other world the consideration of death would make a deep impression upon thee But that I may awaken and rouse thee while there is time and hope and then help and heal thee I shall in the prosecution of this Exhortation First Speak to somewhat that may be perswasive Secondly Offer to thee somewhat that is Directive First I shall offer thee some thoughts which may quicken thee to a diligent provision for this time Motives 1 Death will come certainly First Dost thou not know that Death will come certainly As the young Prophet said to Elisha Dost thou know that the Lord will take thy Master from thy head to day 2 Kings 2.3 Reader Dost thou know that the Lord will take thy soul out of thy body and send it to the unknown regions of the other World where thou shalt see such things as thou never sawest hear such things as thou never heardst and understand such things as thou didst never understand Possibly thou wilt answer me as Elisha them I know it hold your peace But truly I am ready to urge it again being assured that thy knowledge is as Cicero speaks of the Athenians like artificial teeth for shew onely thou dost not yet know it for thy good Therefore give me leave to inforce it still Dost thou know that God will bring thee to death and to the house appointed for all the living Dost thou know that thy ruddy countenance will wax pale thy sparkling eyes look gastly thy warm blood cool in thy veins thy marrow dry up in thy bones thy skin shrivel thy sinews shrink nay thy very heart strings crack And hast thou provided never a cordial against this hour Dost thou not read in the writings of God himself That no man hath power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war Eccles 8.8 No man hath power either to resist deaths force or to procure termes of peace The greatest Emperor with the strength of all his
be found who are more foul but Death will pluck off their masks present them with a true glass in which all the spots and dirt and wrincles in the faces of their hearts and lives will be visible Men flatter them often but Death never flattered any It is observable that Haman the day that he died was called and named according to his desert the Adversary and Enemy is this wicked Haman Hest 7.6 Haman probably had many a Title given him before Some had stiled him Haman the Great Haman the Magnificent Haman the Prince Haman the Vertuous all before nick-named him but when he comes to dye t is Haman the Enemy t is wicked Haman then he is called by his proper name Since he was born he never heard his right name till now The Enemy and Adversary is this wicked Haman So it may be in thy life time thou art stiled Great or Gracious because in place higher then others but when Death comes those gaudy colours will be washt off and thou shalt hear Not the King of Heavens Favourite but his Fool when thou art nigh thy execution as he was it will be not the Worshipful but the Wicked Haman Satan will then play hardest upon thee with his biggest gâ—ns when his time is but little his rage is greatest This is his hour and the power of darkness As the Turkish Emperour when he hath blunted the edge of his Enemies weapons and wearied their arms with thousands of his ordinary Souldiers then falls on with his Janizaries the pride and power of his Kingdom When thou through pain of body and perplexity of mind art least able to resist then the Devil cometh with his fiercest assaults If on thy death-bed thou shouldst think of turning to God he hath a thousand ways to turn thee off from such thoughts When there is but one battel for a Kingdom what wounds and work what fighting and striving is there When the Devil who knoweth thee to be his own already hath but a few hours to wait on thee and then thou art his for ever be assured he will watch by thy sick bed night and day and if all the power and policy of hell can prevent it neither cordial shall benefit thy body nor counsel thy soul Will not this be a trying hour to thee when the cloath shall be drawn and thy bodily comforts all taken off the Table will not death search thee to the quick when those Theives in their frightful vizards all thy sins in that Night will break in upon thee As the Elders of Samaria said of Jehu when he sent to them to prepare and provide to fight with him Two Kings stood not before him and how shall we Adam and Angels could not stand before sin it laid them both low and how wilt thou Beleive it those that have been Lions in peace have carried themselves like Harts in this War Brutus whose blood seemed as warm and to rise to as great a degree of courage as any since the Roman Consuls yet when Furius came to cut his Throat he cryed out like a Child Heathen who saw nothing almost in Death save rottenness and corruption accompanying the body who lookt no farther then the Grave have esteemed Death the King of Terrors The Terrible of Terribles and have been frighted into a Feavor upon the sight of its forerunner But Death is not half so terrible to a moral Heathen as t will be to thee O wicked Christian thou knowest that thy Deaths-day is thy Dooms-day that the Ax of Death will cut the down as fuel for the unquenchable fire that as soon as thou art carried from the Earth thou art cast into Hell Thou presumest that thou shalt behave thy self like a man in the onset with this Enemy but I dare be the Prophet to foretel that thy courage will be less then a Womans in the issue for man man dost thou not know as Pilate said to Christ that Death hath power to kill thee as well as to release thee it can send thy body to the grave and thy soul to the place of endless misery and desperation Fifthly The misery of the unprepared Fifthly Dost thou not know the misery of every carnal man at death In thy life time thou doest the Devils work and when Death cometh he will pay thee thy wages sin at present is a Bee with honey in its mouth but then the sting in its Tail will appear and be felt now thou hast thy savoury Meat and sugered draughts but then cometh the reckoning Some tell us that sweet meats though pleasant to the taste are very heavy in the stomach Sure I am the sweet morsels of sin which now thou feedest so merrily on will then lye heavier then Lead on thy heart and be more bitter then Gall and Wormwood Thou mayst see now and then in this World through the floodgates some drops of wrath leaking in upon thy soul but when Death cometh the Flood-gates will be all puld up and then O then what a torrent of wrath will come pouring down upon thee Here thou sippest of the Cup of the Lords fury but then thou shalt drink the dregs thereof The pains which thou sufferest here are onely an earnest penny of thy eternal punishment It was a cruel mercy which Tamberlane shewed to three hundred Lepers in killing them to rid them out of their misery but Death will be altogether merciless and cruel to thee for it onely freeth thee from the Goal to carry thee to the Gallows t wil deliver thee from Whips but scourge the with Scorpions its little finger will be infinitely heavier then the loyns of this miserable life When God saith to Death concerning thee as Judas to the Jews concerning Christ take him and lead him away safely who can tell the mockings buffetings piercings scourgings the cursed painful and shameful eternal death which will ensue Suppose for thy souls sake in earnest as Turannius did in jest Componi se in lecto velut examinem a circum stante familia plaugi jussit Senec. de Brevit vitae cap. ult who would needs be laid in his bed as one who had breathed out his last and caused his whole family to bewayl his death that thou wert ascending up to thy Chamber whence thou shouldst never come down till carried on mens Shoulders betaking thy self to thy dying bed Thou lookest on thy body and beholdest deaths Harbinger Sickness preparing his way before him O how thy colour comes and goes at the sight of this Ax which the hand of death hath laid at the root of thy tree of life Like the Locust thou art ready before hand to dye at the sight of this Polypus Now thou art laid down on that bed whence thou shalt never rise more Thy next work is to seek for some shelter against this approaching storm thou lookest upward and seest that God full of fury whom thou didst many a time dare to his very face and
resolved since thou wouldst live without his counsels thou shalt dye without his comforts thou lookest downward and seest Satan who formerly was thy flatterer and seeming friend now thy tormentor and desperate Foe waiting like the Jaylor to drag thee to his own Den Thou lookest inward and conscience presents thee with a black Catalogue of thy bloody crimes and in the name of God whose Officer it is arresteth thee for them and chargeth thee to answer them at his dreadful Tribunal to which thou art even now going Thou lookest without thee among thy Friends and Relations and earthly comforts and seekest the living among the dead as the Angel said to the Woman living comforts amongst dead creatures but alas t is not there thy Wife and Children and Neighbours may weep with thee but cannot ease thee of one tear they may give thee occasion to call to mind thy sins but not abate the least of thy sorrows Miserable comforts are they all Physitians of no value I have read of one in Holland that being condemned for killing her Bastard when the Messenger was dragging her away to Execution looks pitifully on her Father a Person of quality then present and casts a doleful eye on her Mother Will ye not help me Where are your bowels Can ye find in your hearts to let your own Child be thus cruelly dealt with But alas they might not they could not help her Such truely is thy case thou lookest on thy right and left hand on thy Father or Mother or Husband or House or Land and dost as it were call for help but alass they cannot give thee any comfort in this groaning Hour in this thy dreadful conflict they may be about thy body as Ravens about a carkass to devour it to get something from thee but they cannot defend it Well now the Screech-owl of Death which all this while clawd about thy Windows is entered thy Chamber flyeth towards thy bed side the Messenger by this time is come to thee and sheweth thee the Warrant for thy speedy and immediate execution Now Now is the beginning of thy sorrows Live thou canst not and dye thou darest not fain wouldst thou be rid of thy pain but fearful least thou shouldst go to a worse place Thou dislikest thy dirty nasty dungeon but dost not like to exchange it for a Gibbet Thou choosest to stay but Death will not be denyed thou must go Thou sayst thou art not at leisure thou hast such worldly affairs of concernment to finish thou art not prepared thou hast the business of thy soul a work of infinite weight to begin as they for their farms so thou I pray thee have me excused thou begest on Week one Day nay one Hour Death will not wait one moment Death pulls thee as Benaiah did Job towards the place of thy eternal punishment thy soul clings about thy body as he about the Altar and still sings loath to depart Death like Solomons Officer renteth thee in peices by force and slayeth thee there Now thy soul standst quivering upon thy pale lips ready to take its flight to its everlasting home thou seest Divels looking and longing like so many ravening and roaring Lyons for thee their prey thy past sins trouble thee O how thou cursest thy pastimes and pleasures thy Companions and possessions which stole away thy time and affections and hindred thy preparation for such a dreadful hour thy future fufferings terrifie thee and Ah thinkest thou Whither am I going Where must my soul lodge this Night In what place with what persons must I dwell for ever Oh that I had provided for this before hand how many a time did God wish me Ministers perswade me Christ beseech me and Conscience warn me but fool that I was I rejected the intreaties of Christ stifled the convictions of conscience scorned the counsels of men set at nought the commands of God trample on Sabbaths and Sermons and seasons of grace as things of no worth and now my day is past my soul is lost Heavens Gate is shut and Wo and Alass it s too late The Blessed God in whose favour is life to whom I wicked wretch said Depart from me hath now fixt my doom to depart from him for ever O what unconceivable evil is there in the loss of so great a good ten thousand hells are included in my banishment from that Heaven The frightful and cruel Divels whom I defied in my words but deified in my heart and works whose lust were my laws and whose Wills were my warrant shall be my Masters Tyrants and Tormentors to all eternity My own spirit O that I could flee from my self is infinitely more greivous and painful then ever Sword was to any flesh what Wolf in the Breast what pangs of the Stone what pain of the Teeth what Cancer in the Bowels ever caused the thousandth part of that torture which the Worm in my conscience causeth but it is as impossible for me to avoid it as for the Wounded Deer to run from the Arrow that sticks in his side The fire burns me yet consumes me not gives heat to scorch me but no light to refresh me Here is blackness of darkness yet I can see the heart cutting frowns of an angry God and can see my self to be infinitely miserable I enjoy a long night but no rest I must always complain but have no releif here is crying without compassion all pain without the least pity sorrow without the smallest dram of solace or the least drop of succour If my misery were ever to end though after so many millions of Ages as all the men in the World could number my heart would have some hope but alas alas as it is intollerable so it is unchangeable as long as God is God I must fry in these flames all my tears shall not quench the least spark of this fire though I must weep for ever all this fire will not dry up the least tear though it will burn for ever O that I had never been O that I might never be What must I ever live and yet never live must I ever dye and yet never dye Consider this all ye that pass by is there any sorrow like unto our sorrows wherewith the Lord afflicteth us in the day of his fierce wrath for who can dwell in such everlasting burnings and who can abide such devouring flames O that the Mountains would fall on us and the Hills cover us from the presence of him that sits upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb because the day of his wrath is come and who can stand O what a dreadful Sunset of life will it be which brings such a dismal Night of eternal death O Friend think of this now how wilt thou do to dye If thou shouldst leave this life in the service of thy lusts thou art thus irrecoverably lost Thou art miserable beyond all expressions beyond all conceptions If Job because of some temporal
calamity cursed the day wherein he was born and the Messenger that brought tidings of his birth and desired to dye rather then to endure it whom wilt thou curse or rather whom wilt thou not curse when under the sense of eternal misery surely thou wilt seek for death but not find it dig for it but t will flee from thee Though Judas could make himself away out of the Hell he had on earth yet he cannot out of the Hell he hath in Hell When thou diest thou art stated by God himself and there is no appeal from this Judge nor reversing of his judgement It is the observation of the School-men that what befel the Angels when they sinned that befals every wicked man at Death the Angels upon the first act of sin were presently by God himself stated in an irrecoverable condition of misery so wicked men upon the last act of their lives are fixt as to their eternal woful estates It is appointed for all men once to dye and after Death the judgement Sixthly The felicity of the prepared Sixthly Dost thou know the felicity which upon thy death thou shouldst enter into if thou wert prepared for it As the Good House-wife looketh for Winter but feareth it not being prepared for it with double cloathing so thou mightest expect Death but not fear it being prepared for it with Armour of proof Syrens some write screech horribly when they dye but Swans sing then most sweetly Though sinners roar bitterly when they behold that Sea of scalding Lead in which they must Swim naked for ever yet thou shouldst like the Apostle desire to depart wish for that hour wherein thou should lose Anchor and sail to Christ Phil. 1.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solvere Anchorum A Metaphor from a Ship at Anchor importing a sailing from this present life to another Port So the Syriack Chrysostom Beza Erasmus and others take it as the word signifieth Thy dying day would be thy Wedding day as the Martyrs called theirs wherein the fairest of ten thousand and thy soul now contracted should be solemnly espoused together As frightful a Lyon as Death is to others that their souls are fain to be torn from their bodies thou mightest like a weary Child call to be lay'd to bed knowing that t wil send thee to thine everlasting happy rest Bene mori est libenter mori Seuec. Epist 61. If it be an happy Death to dye willingly as the Moralist affirmeth thou shouldst give up the Ghost and be a Voluntier in that War Nature teacheth that Death is the end of misery but grace would teach thee that Death would be the beginning of thy felicity it could not hurt thee Death among Saints drives but a poor Trade it may destroy the body and when that is done it hath done all its feats like a fierce Mastiff whose Teeth are broken out it may bark and tear thy tottered coat but cannot bite to the bone This Bee fastened her sting in Christs blessed body and is ever since a drone to his Members Though the wicked are gathered at Death as the Rabbins sense that place Gather not my soul with sinners let me not dye their deaths Psa 26.9 as sticks that lye on the ground for the fire or as Grapes for the winepress of Gods fury yet thou shouldst be gathered according to the Hebrew Isa 57.2 as Women do cordial flowers to candy and preserve them Nay Death would exceedingly help thee Plutarch saith that strong bodies can eat and concoct Serpents Thou mayst like Samson fetch meat out of this Eater and out of this strong Lyon sweetness Death ever since it walked to Mount Calvary is turned to beleivers into the gate of life Nihi non à diis im nortalibus vita erepta est sed mors donata est Cicer. lib. 3. de Orat. An Heathen could say Life is not taken away from me by the immortal Gods but Death is given to me meaning as an act of grace and favour Much more may a Christian esteem Death which puts an end to his trials and sins and troubles a priviledge rather then a punishment Blessed are they that dye in the Lord they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 When sickness first gives thee notice that death is at hand thou mightest make the servant welcome for bringing thee the good news of his approaching Master Thy heart may leap to think that though thou art like Peter now bound in the fetters of sin and Imprisoned amongst sinners yet the Angel is coming who will with one blow on thy side cause thy shackles to fall off open the Prison Doors and set thy soul into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God When this Samuel is come to thy gate thou needest not as the Elders of Bethlehem tremble at his comming for if thou askest the Question Comest thou Peaceably He will Answer Yea Peaceably I am come to offer thee up a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour acceptable to God in Jesus Christ the pale face of death would please thee better then the greatest beauty on Earth When thou lyest on thy dying bed and Physitians had given over thy body Christ would visit and give thy soul such a Cordial that thou mightest walk in the valley of the shadow of Death and fear none ill How willingly mayst thou part with the militant Members of Christ for the Triumphant Saints How chearfully mayst thou leave thy nearest Relations for thy dearest Father and Elder Brother how comfortably mayst thou take thy leave of all the riches honours and pleasures of this life knowing that though Death cometh to others with a Voider to take away all their fleshly comforts and carnal contentments nay all their hopes and Happiness and Heaven and hereby when they break at death they are quite bankrupts for ever yet it is to thee onely a servant to remove the first course of more gross fare of which thou hast had thy fill and to make way for the second which consisteth of all sorts of dainties and delicates When thy soul was ready to bid thy body good night till the morning of the resurrection thou mightst joyfully commit thy body to the grave as a bed of spices and shouldst see glorious Angels waiting on thy soul and carrying it as Eliah in a Triumphant Chariot into Heavens blessed Court. There thou shouldst be saluted by the noble Host and celestial quire of Saints and Angels welcomed by the Holy Jesus and gracious God in the fruition of whom thou shouldst be perfectly happy for ever and ever If there were so much joy in Heaven at thy repentance when thou wert but set into the way what joy will there be when through so many hazards and hard-ships thou art come to thy journeys end Thus friend wert thou but prepared Death would be to thee a change from a prison to a Pallace from sorrows to solace from pain to pleasure from heaviness to happiness Thy Winding-sheet would
2 Sam. 23.5 Mark how the pious King draws all the Wine which made his heart glad in one of his last hours from this Pipe Death is one of the sowrest things in the World and such things require much sugar to make them sweet David found so much honey in the Covenant that therewith he made Death it self a pleasant a desireable Dish If you observe the beginning of the Chapter you will find that his end was near Now these be the last words of David But this this was the quiet and ease of his heart that Gods Covenant with him was everlasting and without end As Death is famous for its terror being King thereof so also for his power it brings down the mighty Princes and Potentates of the Earth Cant. 8.6 Samson was but a Child in Deaths hands hence we read when Scripture would draw strength in its full proportion and length As strong as Death but as strong as Death is David knew it could not break in sunder the Covenant between God and him nor dissolve the union betwixt his Saviour and his soul The firmness of this Covenant being sure footing for faith to stand on is that which puts life into a dying Christian As Death though it parted the soul and body of Christ parted neither of them from the divine nature they were as a Sword drawn by a man the Sword is in one hand separated from the Sheath in the other hand but neither of them separated from the man so though Death break the natural union between the beleivers soul and body it cannot break the mystical union between Jesus Christ and the soul therefore Saints are said to sleep in Jesus 1 Thes 4.14 And truely by the vertue of this Cordial this Covenant they are so far from flying back at the sight of their Foe Death that they can look him in the face with courage and confidence See how they triumph over him as if he were already under their feet O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory 1 Cor. 15.57 58. The sting of Death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God which hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Hark they speak as Challengers daring their disarmed enemy to meet them in the field and they speak as Conquerors being assured through the Captain of their salvation of the victory before they fight Epiphanius faith Epiph. lib. 1. cap 33. that Adam was buried in Calvary where Christ was crucified Sure it is that Christ at Calvary did somewhat which made the Christians bed soft and easie that whereas it would have been a bed of Thorns he turned it into a bed of down and thereby the beleiver comes to lye on it so contentedly and to sleep so sweetly and comfortably By this time Reader I hope thou understandest the necessity and benefit of this relative change With this Covenant thou art armed Cap a pe with armour of proof with the righteousness of Christ which is law proof death proof and judgement proof and leavest Death wholly disarmed and naked Without this thou hast no Weapons and findest Death a man of War In the forequoted place thou seest that sin is the sting of Death and the strength of sin is the Law The Law binds the soul over for disobedience to its precept to its malediction and punishment passeth a sentence of condemnation already upon the creature and beginneth its execution in that bondage and fear as flashes of the unquenchable fire which seize on men in this life Rom. 7.6 John 3.18 Heb. 2.14 And as sin hath its strength from the law the law making it so powerful to curse and condemn so Death hath its strength and sting its venome and vertue to kill and damn to destroy soul and body for ever from sin Sin makes Death so deadly that its the poyson in the cup which makes it so mortal and loathsom a draught Thy work and wisdom therefore is as the Philistinos when they heard that the great strength of Samson the destroyer of their Country lay in his hair were restless till they had cut it off and became weak so now thou hearest wherein the strength of Death the great destroyer and damner of souls consisteth to be unquiet night and day to follow God up and down with sighs and sobs strong cries and deep groans for pardon of sin and to give thy self no rest till thou attainest an interest in this Covenant through Jesus Christ Pious Job though not in thy case was for this cause exceeding importunate for a sense of this pardon And why dost thou not pardon mine iniquity and take away my trasgressions for now shall I sleep in the dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning and I shall not be Job 7. ult He cryeth out as one fallen into a deep dirty ditch or one whose house is fired Water Water for the Lords sake to clease this defiled soul and to quench this scorched conscience Lord Why doth the messenger who useth to come post to me a poor condemned Prisoner with a pardon lingring so long Alas I wish he may not come too late But what is the reason of this importunity for expedition Why Job in his own thoughts was going to appear before his Judge and he durst not venture without a pardon in his hand for now shall I sleep in the dust The child did not dare to go to bed at night till he had asked his Father Blessing and begd and obtained forgiveness of his disobedience in the day Nothing in the whole creation can pacifie the conscience awakened with the guilt of sin and frighted with the fear of death but a pardon in the blood of this Covenant for want of this it was that the Heathen were either desperate or doubtfull in their deaths and their Orator ingeniously confesseth that notwithstanding all the Medicines they could gather out of their own Gardens the Disease was still too strong for the Remedy But a plaister spread with the blood of Christ and applied by faith to the sore is a soveraign and certain cure Faith in Christ is such a Shield that under its protection a Christian may stand in the evil day of Death keep his ground and secure himself from all the shot which the Law Satan or conscience can make against him I am the resurrection and the life He that liveth and beleiveth in me shall live though he dye Joh. 11. Willet Hexapl. in Levit. c. 11. The Death of the King of Saints is the onely comfort and help against Death the King of Terrors It s a strange property which some report of the Charadrion that if any man have the jaundise and look on the bird and the bird on him the bird catcheth the disease and dieth of it but the man recovereth Christ took mans disease and dyed that all who look on him with an eye of Faith might recover and live
encouraged him to expect mercy from God He had not concealed nor shut up Gods faithfulness from men and therefore knew that God would not conceal his loving kindness from him But David on the other hand when night in his own thoughts drew near was as importunate to fit up longer God seemed to call him to bed but he begs hard O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more Psa 39. ult Now mark the reason of this petition David as t is generally conceived was now persecuted by Absolom the unnatural Son forced his Father to flie He in his suffering reads his own sin and Gods indignation and so dreads an appearance in the other World in such a condition He who when things were clear betwixt God and his soul could walk in the valley of the shadow of Death and fear none ill could even give Death a challenge now when things are cloudy and dubious runs back like a Coward He had lost the sense of Gods favour and therefore could not think of venturing into his presence without much fear The train of his corruptions threatned to wait on him to the highest Court and he durst not appear before the Lord with such company He had been declining in his grace under a sad distemper and as a weak consumptionate man he was affraid to travail so great a journey as the way whence he should never return The Tenant who wants his rent loves not to hear of the Quarter day Friend If thou wouldst leave the World chearfully live in the World conscienciously take heed of those fiends which will fright thee in the night of Death chuse suffering before sin and punish thy body to keep thy soul pure The Ermin some say will die before she will go into the Dirt to defile her beautiful skin and the Mouse of Armenia will rather be taken and slain then preserve and pollute her self in a filthy Hole As the white is always in the Archers eye so let thy Death be in thine that it may quicken thee to diligence and exactness in thy life Logicians who regard not the premises infer wilde conclusions so if thou art careless of thy conversation expect but an uncomfortable dissolution As when God looked on all his works and saw that they were good then followed his Sabbath of rest so when thou canst reflect upon the several passages of thy life and see that through Christ they are good and thou hast not been guilty of enormities though of infirmities after this thou wilt joyfully by Death enter into thy everlasting Sabbath Thy evidence will be clear if thy conscience be kept clean but the truth is many even amongst Christians wound their souls by venturing on sin and thence flinch and start back when they come to be searcht besides they neglect casting up their accounts so long that they know not whether they are worth any thing or nothing and so may well be unwilling to have their estates ransackt into If thou shouldst fall I would not sad any Saint take heed of lying there but be as speedy as is possible in calling to Christ to raise thee up If thy conscience be raw with the guilt of any sin a light affliction much more Death will make thee kick and fling and unwilling to bear it But when thy flesh is sound thy spirit healed by the blood of Christ Death it self will be but a light burden on thy back How merrily mayst thou though thou hast not a penny in thine own purse go the way of all the Earth travel into the other World when thou art sure of Christ in thy company who will bear thy charges all the way The second Means 2 Wean thy heart from the World Secondly Mortifie thy affections more to the World and all its comforts They who love the World most leave it worst Lots Wife lingered in Sodom so much and was so loth to depart because she loved it overmuch When boards lye close one upon another they are easily parted but when they are glewed one to another t will cost some trouble and pains If thy heart be loose to the World t will be a small matter to thee to leave it but if thou art fastened to it in thy affections t will not be done without much reluctancy and opposition The Wife who hath been so faithful to her Husband as to keep her heart wholly for him is ready always to open the Door to him when she that entertaineth other Lovers though her Husband knock at the Door dares not run presently to open it but first makes a shuffling and busling up and down to hide or get them out of the way The more thy affections are set on Christ thy true Husband the more the World is taken out of thee and so the more easily wilt thou be taken out of the World He who hath laid up his heart in Heaven will comfortably think of laying down his head in the Earth When the pins of the Watch are taken out which held it together how easily doth it fall in peices When thy affections from these things below are removed how quickly how quietly will thy soul and body fall asunder If the World be as loose to thee as thy Cloak thou canst put it off at pleasure but if it be as close to thee as thy skin they shall have somwhat to do who shall perswade thee to part with it We read of some unwilling to dye for they had treasure in the field Jer. 41.8 Where their treasure was their hearts were also Make it thy work therefore by considering the Worlds vanity and deceitfulness and by pondering Heavens glory and happiness to wean thy heart from sublunary things hereby thou wilt as willingly leave them as ever infant did those breasts which long ago t was weaned from The third Means 3. Familiarize the thoughts of Death Vse thy heart to the frequent thoughts of Death When Children are frighted at a Dog or a Cat we do not give way to their foolish fears but bring the brute to them and get them to touch and handle it and shew them that it is not such a frightful thing as they imagine and hereby in time they are so far from being frighted that they can play with it familiarly Dost thou dread this King of Terrors Death give not way to this fear but bring death up to thy spirit handle it feel it there is no such hurt in it as thou imaginest nothing which should terrifie thee hereby at last thou mayst come to play upon the hole of this Asp One ground I suppose why Job made no more of dying was because he was so well acquainted with Death Strangers are startled at many things in a place which they that are home-born and used to can delight in I have said to corruption Thou art my Father and to the Worms thou art my Brother and Sister Job 17.14 Job was as familiar with Death
as if it had been his Father and made no more of dying then of falling into the Armes and embraces of his Mother or Sister Moses at first started back at the sight of the Serpent but when he had handled it a little t was turned into a rod and nothing frightful to him There is a story of an Ass called Cumanus Ass which jetting up and down in a Lyons skin did for a time much terrifie his Master but afterwards being descried did much benefit him Thou art fearful possibly Reader of this beast supposing it to be a roaring Lyon but come up to it and thou wilt find it but an Ass in the skin of a Lyon and such a one as will be no way hurtful but many ways helpful to thee What is this Bugbear Death which thus frights thee Is it not the Paranymphus which presenteth thy faithful soul to thy beloved Husband Is it not a leaving the World and a going to thy Father Is it less then a kiss of Gods lips The indulgent parent will take the babe into her Arms and with many kisses lay it in her lap when its falling asleep The Chaldee Paraphrase tell us Moses dyed with a kiss of the Lords mouth Deut. 34.5 Will it not be the funeral of all thy corruptions and crosses and the resurrection of all imagiable delights and comforts Didst thou but know this friend more thou wouldst not be so shie of its company The Roman used their youth to gladiatory fights and bloody spectacles that acquaintance with them before-hand might make them less troubled in Wars with their enemies Philostrates lived seven years in his Tomb before his death that his bones might be the better known to his Grave Accustom thy self to the thoughts of death thy change thy translation to bliss thy entrance into Heaven and when it comes his Errand being known so well before he will be welcome Mithridates by accustoming his body to poison turned it into good nourishment Use thy soul to the thoughts of Death and though it be worse then poison to others t will be pleasant and profitable to thee CHAP. IX The Second Doctrine That God is the Comfort of a Christian with the grounds of it His happyness is in God I Proceed now to the second Doctrine from the second part of the Text the Saints comfort But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever That the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition is this That God is his portion The Psalmists condition was very sad his Flesh failed him The second Doctrine that the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition is that Go◠is his portion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. de Ju. Se. cap. 3. Mans Spirit often decayes with his flesh The Spirits and blood are let out together His Heart fell with his flesh but what was the strong cordial which kept him from swooning at such a season Truly this But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Aristotle affirmeth of the Tortoys that it liveth when its heart is taken away The holy man here liveth when his heart dyeth As the Sap in winter retreateth to the root and there is preserved so the Saint in crosses in death retireth to God the Fountain of his life and so is comforted David when his Wives were captivated his wealth plundred and his very life threatned for the Souldiers talked of Stoning him was doubtless in a very dreadfull estate one would have thought such an heavy burden must needs break his back but behold the joy of the Lord was his strength But David encouraged his heart in the Lord his God 1 Sam. 30.6 When the Table of earthly comforts which for a long time at best had been but indifferently spread for him was quite empty he fetcheth sweet-meats out of his Heavenly Closet But David encouraged his heart in the Lord his God Methodius reporteth of the Plant Pyragnus that it flourisheth in the flames of Olympus Christians as the Salamander may live in the greatest fire of affliction at this day And as the three Children may sing when the whole world shall be in a flame at the last day They are by the Spirit of God compared to Palm-trees Psalm 92.12 which though many weights are hanging on the top and much drought be at the bottom are neither say some Naturalists born down nor dried up This nightingale may warble out her pleasant notes with the sharpest thorne at her breast The onely reason which I shall give of the Doctrine Reason of the Doctrine because God is his happiness is this Because a Godly man placeth his happiness in God It s natural to the creature in the mid'st of its sufferings to draw its comfort and solace from that pipe whether supposed or real happiness All things have a propensity towards that in which they place their felicity If a stone were lay'd in the Concave of the Moon though air and fire and water are between yet it would break through all and be restless till it come to the earth its centre Asutable and unchangeable rest is the onely satisfaction of the rational creature All the tossings and agitations of the soul are but so many wings to carry him hither and thither that he may find out a place where to rest Let this Eagle once find out and fasten on the true carcasse he is contented as the needle pointing to the North though before in motion yet now he is quiet Therefore the Philosopher though in one place he tells us that delight consisteth in motion yet in another place tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it consisteth rather in rest Happinese is nothing but the Sabbath of our thoughts and the satisfaction of our hearts in the fruition Eth. lib 7. cap. ult of the chiefest good According to the excellency of the object which we embrace in our hearts such is the degree of our happiness the Saints choice is right God alone being the souls center and rest Omnes literae in Jehovah sunt literae qui escentes say the Rabbies Let a sinner have but that which he counteth his treasure though he be under many troubles he is contented Give a covetous man wealth and he will say as Esau I have enough When an ambitious man mounts up to a chair of state he sits down and is at ease If a voluptuous person can but bath himself in the streams of carnal pleasures he is as a fish in his Element So let a Godly man enjoy but his God in whom he placeth all his joy and delight in whom is all his happiness and heaven he is well he hath all Shew us the Father and it sufficeth No more is desired John 14.8 No man thinks himself miserable till he hath lost his happiness A Godlyman is blessed when afflictied and buffetted because God is the proper Orb in which he doth fix and he hath his God still Job
what is it in death that thou art afraid of Is it not a departure the Goal delivery of a long prisoner the sleep of thy body and a wakening of thy Soul the way to bliss the gate of life the portall to Paradise Art thou not sure to triumph before thou fightest by dying to overcome death and when thou leavest thy body to be joyned to thy head The Roman general in the encounter between Scipio and Hannibal thought he could not use a more effectual perswasion to encourage his souldiers then to tell them that they were to fight with those whom they had formerly overcome and who were as much their slaves as their enemies Thou art to enter the list against that adversary whom thou hast long agoe conquered in Jesus Christ and who is more thy slave then thine enemy Death is thine 1 Cor. 3.30 thy servant and slave to help off thy cloaths and to put thee to thine everlasting happy rest Is it the taking down of thine earthly tabernacle which troubles thee Why Dost thou not know that death is the workman sent by the Father to pull down this earthly house of mortality and clay that it may be set up a new infinitely more lasting beautiful and glorious Didst thou believe how rich and splendid he intends to make it which cannot be unlesse taken down thou wouldst contentedly endure the present toyl and trouble and be thankful to him for his care and cost He takes down thy vile body that he may fashion it like to the glorious body of his own Son which for brightness and beauty excels the Sun in its best attire far more then that doth the meanest Star Is it the untying of the knot betwixt body and soul which perplexeth thee It is true they part but as friends going two several wayes shake hands till they return from their journey they are as sure of meeting again as of parting for thy soul shall return laden with the wealth of heaven and fetch his old companion to the participation of all his joy and happiness Is it the rotting of thy body in the grave that grieves thee Indeed Plato's worldling doth sadly bewail it Woe is me that I shall lie alone rotting in the earth amongst the crawling Wormes not seeing ought above nor seen But thou who hast read it is a sweet bed of spices for thy body to rest in all the dark night of this worlds duration mayst well banish such fears Hast thou never heard God speaking to thee as once to Jacob Fear not to goe down into Aegypt into the grave I will go down with thee and I will bring thee up again Gen. 16.4 Besides thy Soul shall never die The heathen Historian could comfort himself against death with this weak cordial Non omnis moriar All of me doth not die though my body be mortal my books are immortal But thou hast a stronger julip a more rich cordial to clear thy spirits when thy body failes thy soul will flourish thy death is a burnt offering when thy ashes fall to the earth the celestial flame of thy Soul will mount up to Heaven Farther death will ease thee of those most troublesome guests which make thy life now so burdensome as the fire to the three children did not so much as singe or sear their bodies but it burnt and consumed their bands so death would not the least hurt thy body or soul but it would destroy those fetters of sin and sorrow in which thou art intangled Nazian Orat. Besides the sight of the blessed God which is the only beatifical vision which at death thy soul shall enjoy Popish Pilgrims take tedious journeys and are put to much hardship and expence to behold a dumb Idol The Queen of Sheba came from far to see Solomon and hear his wisdom and wilt thou not take a step from earth to Heaven in a moment in the twinkling of an eye thy journey will be gone and thy work be done to see Jesus Christ a greater then Solomon Hast thou not many a time prayed long and cried for it hast thou not trembled least thou shouldst miss it hath not thine heart once and again leapt with joy in hope of it and when the hour is come and thou art sent for dost thou shrink back for shame Christian walk worthy of thy calling and quicken thy courage in thy last conflict As the Jewes when it thunders and lightens open their windowes expecting the Messias should come O when the storm of death beats upon thy body with what joy mayst thou set those casements of thy Soul Faith and Hope wide open knowing that thy dearest Redeemer who went before to prepare a place for thee will then come and fetch thee to himself that where he is there thou mayst be also and that for ever FINIS Some Scriptures that are occasionally opened 1 Sam. 30.6 p. 106. 2 Sam. 23.5 p. 64. Ester 7.6 p. 47 48. Job 7. ult p. 67. Psal 11.6 p. 133. Psal 16.5 6. p. 161. Ps 17. ult p. 164. Psal 27.5 p. 111. Psal 91.4 p. 112. Psal 121.4 p. 110. Psal 142.5 p. 110. Eccles 1.2 p. 160. Eccles 8.8 p. 34. Eccles 9.12 p. 136. Isai 25.10 p. 111. Isai 27.11 p. 111. Isai 27.3 p. 110. Isai 40.6 7. p. 14. Zachar. 2.5 p. 110. Habak 3.16 17. p. 124. Matth. 6.21 p. 138. Rom. 15.19 p. 114 115. 1 Cor. 15.57 p. 65 66. 2 Cor. 1.3 p. 123. A Table of the chief heads treated of in the foregoing Book A. AFflictions not to be born without divine help p. 9. The vast difference between sinners and Saints in Afflictions 123 124 125. The more mens affections are crucified to the world they die with the more comfort 88. B. The great folly of men in minding their bodies above their souls Blessedness vide Happiness C. The necessity of an interest in the Covenant of Grace p. 63. The comfort of a Christian in God p. 105 179. The need sinners stand in of Christ p. 63 64 75. The Excellency of Christ p. 73 74. The terms upon which sinners may enjoy Christ p. 78 79. D. Death will seize on all p. 14 15. Neither height nor holiness will excuse from dying p. 13. 39 40. Nor strength in our youth The corruptibility of mans body natural cause of death p. 16 17. Sin the moral and meritorious cause of death p. 19 20. Gods fidelity the supernatural cause of death p. 17 18. Counsel to prepare for death p. 29 30 31. Death is certain p. 34 35. Death is often sudden p. 36 37. Death will try men p. 43 44. 45 46. Death strips men of outward comforts Spiritual enemies busie in an hour of death p. 47 48. When death comes it is too late to prepare p. 40. Death gain to a Christian p. 18 19 182 183. 56 57. The misery of sinners at death p. 50. What is requisite to prepare for death p. 61. to 70. Comfort against the death of Christian friends p. 180.
a promise of help from Ptolemy King of Egypt Idem upon condition that his Mother and Son were sent to him as pledges Cratesiclea for so was his Mothers Name as soon as she understood it said to her Son who was affraid and ashamed to mention it to her How is it that thou hast concealed it so long and and hast not told me Come come put me straight into a Ship and send me whither thou wilt that this body of mine may do some good unto my Country before crooked Age consume it without profit Themistocles notwithstanding his Countrymen had banished him Diodor. drunk the blood of a Bull and poisoned himself to keep Artaxerxes who had sworn not to go against it without him from invading his Country [a] Pez Mel. Hist Codrus King of Athens [b] Tul. de Offic. Attilius Regulus General of the Romans and [c] Livie M. Curtius are renowned in History for sacrificing their lives for their Countries liberty The Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of like passions onely he acteth from higher principles and affecteth for holier purposes Religion doth not break the string of natural affection but wind it up to such a pitch as may make its stroaks more true and its sound more melodious Nehemiah was sad and pensive when the City of his Father was solitary Nehem. 2.3 The Jews were disconsolate when their native Country lay desolate Psa 137 beginning Paul could wish himself parted from Christ that his Kindred and Countrymen might be united to Christ Rom. 9.3 Greg. Nazianzen and Hierom report that the Jews to this day come yearly to the place where Jerusalem the City of their Fathers stood which was destroyed by Titus and Adrian and upon the day of the destruction of it weep over it As its natural to love so not unusual in our Kingdom for rich persons to manifest their love to their native parishes by large gifts to the poor But though my respects to you be sincere yet I may say in a sense Silver and Gold have I none to speak my affections by onely such as I have I give you A Treatise which may through the blessing of God help you to the true Treasure Bucholcerus blessed God Melch. Adam that he was born in the days and bred under the Dicipline of holy Melancthon I must Ingenuously acknowledge that it was a great mercy to me that I was born amongst you and brought up under as pious and powerful a Ministry there Mr. Thomas Wilson as most in England In Testimony of my unfeigned love I present you with this brief discourse which was conceived in your Pulpit and through the importunity of several of you brought forth to the Press The occasion of it as is well known to you was the Death of your Neighbour and my dear Relation Master Caleb Swinnock who was interred May 21. 1662 whose Father and Grand-father had three or four times enjoyed the highest honour and exercised the highest Office in your Corporation I am much of his mind who saith That Funeral Encomiasticks of the dead are often confections of poison to the living for many whose lives speak nothing for them will draw the example into consequence and be thereby led into hope that they may press an Hackny Funeral Sermon to carry them to Heaven when they dye and therefore am always sparing my self though I condemn not the custome in others where they do it with prudence and upon good cause My Friends holy carriage in his sickness besides his inoffensiveness for ought I ever heard in his health commandeth me to hope that his soul is in Heaven I had the happiness some time to be brought up with him in his Fathers Mr. Robert Swinnocks Family whose House I cannot but speak it to the glory of God had Holiness to the Lord written upon it His manner was to pray twice a day by himself once or twice a day with his Wife and twice a day with his Family besides singing Psalms Reading and Expounding Scriptures which morning and evening were minded The Sabbath he dedicated wholly to Gods service and did not onely himself but took care that all within his Gate should spend the day in secret and private duties and in attendance on publique Ordinances of their proficiency by the last he would take an account upon their return from the Assembly His house indeed was as Tremellius saith of Cramners Palaestra Pietatis a Scool of Religion I Write this not so much for the Honour of him of whose industry for the good of the souls committed to him I was a frequent eye witness and whose memory is blessed but chiefly for your good that as some of you do already so others also may be provoked to follow such gracious patterns I must tell you that what low thoughts soever any of you now may have of holy persons and holy practices yet when you come to look Death in the face and enter into your unchangeable estates a little of their grace and godliness will be of more worth in your esteems then the whole World Though the Saint be markt for a fool in the Worlds Calender at this day and the prosperous Sinner counted the wisest person yet when the eyes of sinners bodies are closed the eyes of their souls will be opened and then O then they will see and say according to that Apocryphal place which will be found Canonical for the matter of it We Fools counted his life to be madness Wisdom 5. 4 5. and his end to be without honour But now he is numbred among the Children of God and his lot is among the Saints The Subject of this Tractate is partly The true way to dye well which I am sure is of infinite concernment to your immortal souls and such a Lesson that if it be not learned you are lost for ever Laert. The Cynick cared not what became of his body when dead and the other Heathen could slight the loss of a Grave Facilis jactura Sepulchri a little Earth but without question it concerns you nearly to take care what becomes of your souls and you cannot so easily bear the loss of God and Heaven Men indeed are generally unwilling to hear of Death and the Minister who would urge them to it is as unwelcome as foul weather which usually comes before its sent for whatsoever hath a tendency to Death is killing the telling them of it sounds as mournfully in their ears as the tolling of a passing Bell and the making their Wills as frightful to them as the making their Graves Hence when they are riding post in the broad way of sin and the World and conscience would check and rein them in with the curbs of Death and Judgement they presently snap them in peices and stifle its convictions They dare not look into the book of Conscience to see how accounts stand between God and themselves but like Hauks
dye he screeched out dreadfully O that I had never raigned O that I had never been King for then I should not have now to Answer for my neglect of doing the good I might and my not hindering the evil I ought in my Government Sirs I beseech you give me leave to be faithful to you Will it not be a dreadful time with you when you are tumbling on your dying beds and neer your eternity if conscience should flye in your faces for your falseness and unfaithfulness in your places and make you cry out O that I had never been Mayor of Maidstone O that I had never been Justice O that I had never been Jurat for then I should not have now to Answer before the dreadful tribunal of a righteous God for all the Oaths Fornications Prophanation of the Lordâ— day and other evils which I might have hindred and did not and for all the good which I might by my holy pattern and encouraging others in piety have done and would not Alass ye cannot imagine the dreadfulness of such a mans condition on such a day Therefore now be Terrors to evil doers and encouragements to them that do well if ye would find comfort then for as in Philosophy so in Divinity They who mind not the premises make but mad but sad conclusions The Naturalists assure us that the Ashes of a Viper applied to that part of the body which is stung will draw the venome out of it natural attraction as it were calling home that poison which injury and violence had misplaced the serious consideration that you must dye and be turned into dust and ashes will be a soveraign medicine against the poison and pollution of sin it will make you both good men and good Magistrates The Latter part of the Treatise containeth the Gracious Persons Glorious Portion Therein I have endeavoured so to set forth the vastness of the Saints estate though I must confess neither men nor Angels can cast up its total sum that I might prevail with you to desire the felicity of Gods Children and the Inheritance of his chosen ones This is the portion which is as the Spanish Ambassadour said of his Masters treasure in the Indies without a bottom Though the seven streams of Nilus are known yet the head of it was never found out Much of the riches and beauty and perfections of the ever blessed God may be read in the book of the creatures more may be seen in the glass of the Scriptures but the longest line of humane or Angelical understanding can never fathom his boundless bottomless nature and being yet there is so much to be known of him even in his life as may draw out your hearts to chuse and close with him The World is ready to wonder what the people of God see or enjoy in him that they are so fearful of his fury and so joyfully in his favour as the ignorant wretch could see nothing in the Picture of Helena why Nicostratus should admire it so much but as Nicostratus told him O friend if thou hadst my eyes thou wouldst wonder at it as much as I do so had the World but the Saints eyes could they see what a Crown of glory What a Paradice of pleasures What a Mine of riches What a loving able and faithful friend God is could they but behold that beauty and bounty grace and peace love and life which are in the infinite God they would admire him too yea their eyes would affect their hearts Qui Venetias non vidit non credit quiae aliquandi ibi non vixit intelligit that they could not but love him and delight in him but Satan with his black hand like Swallows dung puts out mens eyes that they not seeing so great a good might not desire him The Italians have a Proverb He who hath not seen Venice doth not beleive and he who hath not lived there some time doth not understand what a City it is This is most true of God he who hath not with Moses seen him that is invisible doth not beleive and he who never had fellowship with the Father and Jesus Christ his son cannot understand what a vast alsufficient and infinite portion the eternal God is O friends did your eyes with Isaiah see this Lord of Hosts or with Israels Magistrate beheld but his back parts or had you with Paul ever been caught up into the third heavens ye would quickly trample on all the honours and pleasures and treasures of this lower World as toys and trifles and say with David whom have we in heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that we desire besides thee I have undertaken briefly in the ensuing discourse to shew also the vast difference between the Christians and the Worldlings portion by which you may understand that if any one among you could enjoy the wealth of Craesus the wisdom and glory of Solomon the beauty of Absolom the strength of Sampson the pleasures of Sardanapalus and to all the long life of Methuselah yet in the midst of all these his soul would be as beggerly as the body of Lazarus and as restless and unsatisfied as the stormy tempestuous Ocean No Water say Naturalists will quench the Dragons thirst No creature can fill the vast desires of a capatious immortal soul As among all the Beasts of the field there was not a meet Companion for man Adam was solitary and alone notwithstanding their numerous society so amongst all the creatures in the World there is not a meet portion for the soul its poor and beggerly without God in the midst of all its possessions your heads may be solicitous and your hearts industrious to heap up creature-comforts and when ye have got what the World can give ye would be but as hungry men in a Room full of Stones or Chips That which is unsutable to the souls nature cannot be satisfying to the spirits desires There is a nourishment proper to every Animal Spiders feed on Flies Moles on Worms the Horse on Grass the Lyon on Flesh there is also food proper to mans soul Spiritual Meat and spiritual Drink my flesh is Meat indeed my blood is Drink indeed all other is bibi potus tantummodo umbra this this is that which when the soul comes once to feed on it it s filled it s satisfied Philosophers observe that the matter of the Heavens desireth no other form whereas in all sublunary things it constantly doth and the reason is because of the Actuality and Perfection of that heavenly form While the soul fasteneth on any sublunary thing as its happiness it desireth more and better but when it doth once chuse the blessed God it desireth no more no better because of those infinite perfections which are in God One God answereth all the souls desires and necessities Plut. in vit To keep you no longer out of the body of the book It is Recorded of Marcus Cato that after
provide for the flesh HAving laid down these reasons in the Doctrinal part of my discourse I shall now speak to that which is practical The truth may be useful both by way of Information and Exhortation First by way of Information If our flesh will fail us what fools are they whose whole contrivance is to feed and please the flesh We laugh at the vanity and folly of Children when we see them very busie and taking much paines to make up an house of Cards or pies of Dirt. The greatest part of men are but Children of larger dimensions and are indeed more foolish because they ought to be more wise What is their main work but to make provision for the flesh to provide fuel enough for the fire of its covetousness and pleasant Water enough for the Leviathan of its voluptuousness and air enough for the Camelion of Ambition as if God had no other design in sending them into the World but that they might be Cooks to dress their bodies as well as possibly might be for the Wormes All their care is What shall we Eat and what shall we drink and wherewith shall we be cloathed and how shall we do to live in these dear and hard times as vermine in Dung-hills they live and feed on such filth never once asking their souls in earnest What wilt thou do for the bread which came down from Heaven and how wilt thou do to put on the Robes of Christs righteousness that thy nakedness may not appear to thy shame and O what wilt thou do to be saved to live eternally These things are not in all their thoughts Like Flies they are overcome with the spirits of Wine and nourished with froth It s enough they think if when they come to dye they bequeath their souls to God in their Wills though its a thousand to one if those wills be proved in Heaven I can tell them of unanswerable caveats which the Judges Son will put in against them and therefore their whole lives must be devoted to the service of their bodies like dying men they smel of earth and carry its complexion in their very countenances If a man that had two houses in his possession one whereof was his own free-hold for ever and the other his Land-Lords which he agreed to leave at an hours warning should neglect his own house let all things there run to rack and ruine but night and day be mending and adorning his Land-Lords House as if he could never be at cost enough or make it neat enough would not every one condemn this man for a fool or a mad man Truly this is the very case of most men The soul in the body is a tenant in domo aliena saith the Oratour Cicero Tusc The body is our house of clay in which we are Tenants at anothers will we may be turned out of its Doors without so much as an hours warning the soul is our own everlasting possession yet generally the immortal spirit is slighted no time taken for a serious view of its wants no cost laid out for its supply as if it were an indifferent thing whither it swim or sink for ever when men are always plotting and studiing to gratifie and please their fading flesh O this is one of the dolefullest sights which eyes can behold the servant to ride on horse-back and the Prince to go on foot the sensitive appetite to be the grave of Religion and the Dungeon of Reason Greg de la NuZ. Tract Evan. It is reported of a certain Philosopher that dying he bequeathed a great sum of money to him that should be found most foolish His Executor in pursuance of his will travelled up and down to find out one that excelled others in folly and so might challenge the legacy at last he came to Rome where a Consul abusing his office was adjudged to death and another suing for the place chosen who chearfully took it upon him to this man he delivered the money telling him That he was the most foolish man in the World who seeing the miserable end of his Predecessor was nothing therewith discouraged but joyfully succeeded him in his Office How much do most titular Christians resemble this foolish Consul they see in the World their sensual Companions like sheep as they are feeding in their fleshly pastures culled out by death and called away from them nay they may see in the Word if they will beleive God himself the block on which they are laid by that bloody Butcher Satan the Knife with which they are stuck and which he runs up to the very Haft in the throat of their precious souls the heavy curse of the law and the infinite wrath of the Lord which they must undergo for ever and yet they are therewith not the least affrighted but merrily follow them to the place of endless mourning Reader If thou art one of these flesh-pots of Egypt What folly and madness art thou guilty of Is not thy spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plate an Heavenly plant the immediate workmanship of the glorious God and thy flesh like the first Adam of the earth Earthy and art thou not a fool to prefer Dirt before that which is divine Is not thy spirit the impress and Image of God himself in its immortality noble faculties and capacity of honouring and enjoying his infinite Majesty and thy body the resemblance of beasts nay in many things inferior to them and art thou not unwise in esteeming that which is brutish above that which is the Picture of Gods own perfections Again is not the well-being of thy body involved in the welfare of thy soul As really as the branches depend on the root for its flourishing thy body dependeth on thy soul for its salvation how mad art thou therefore to let the Vessel sink and yet presume to preserve the Passenger that sayleth in it Once more shall not the life of thy spirit run parallel with the life of God himself and the line of eternity and hath not God himself told thee that thy flesh will fail thee dost thou not find it now and then tottering and as it were telling thee that it must drop down and art not thou a fool in grain a fool in the highest degree to place all thy happiness for ever to set all thy stress weight for thine unchangeable estate on this rotten bough which will certainly break under thee when thou mightest have sure footing and lay up a good Foundation by an hearty regarding thine Heaven-born soul O consider it and give conscience leave to call thee fool once that thou mayst be wise for ever Attilus King of Swethland made a Dog King of the Danes in revenge of some injuries received from them What wrong hath thy soul done thee that to be revenged on it and to spight it to purpose thou makest its slave its Soveraign that part by which thou art kin to the beasts its Lord and King
dominions cannot withstand Death The most eloquent Oratour by his strongest reasons and most pathetical expressions cannot perswade Death The deepest Counsellour by all his policy cannot outwit or cozen Death O mighty Death saith the Historian thou hast drawn together all the far stretched greatness Sir Walt. Ral. Hist World in fine all the pride cruelty and ambition of man and covered it with these two words Hic jacet There is no discharge in that War Every one must go in person there is no appearing by a proxy Though the Tenant would serve for his Land-lord the Subject for his Soveraign the Father for his Child as David for Absolom yet it will not be accepted All must in their own persons appear in the field and look that grim Goliah Death in the face It is appointed for all men once to dye Hebr. 9. God hath decreed it and man cannot dissanul it The Grammarian as one observeth wittily who can decline other nowns in every case can decline Death in no case Death is every moment shooting its Arrows abroad in the World and doing execution and though it shoots above thee slaying the Superiours below thee taking away thy Inferiours on thy right hand killing this friend on thy left hand causing that acquaintance to drop yet t will never cease shooting till thou art slain Thy life for a while may be kept up like a Ball by the Rockets and tost from hazard to hazard yet at last t will fall to the earth When once Death this son of a murderer sin comes to take away thine head there will be none to shut the door or hold him fast Now men that must travel arm themselves for all Weather Women that cannot escape their appointed sorrows provide Bezer and Amber powders against that time But O what a mad man art thou who knowest certainly of the coming of this Enemy and that when he cometh he can both kill and damn destroy both body and soul yet takest no care to arm thy self for that hour In other things thou providest for what may be and wilt thou not for that which must be In Summer thou layest in fuel and food because it may be thou mayst live to spend it in Winter Thou workest early and late to encrease thy heaps and to add to thy hoards because it may be thy Children may come to enjoy it Where is thy reason then to toly and moyl for an uncertainty and thus foolishly to neglect that which is of necessity Secondly Death may come suddenly Secondly Dost thou know that death may come suddenly Some diseases do no sooner appear but we disappear Death like a flash of lightning hath on a sudden burnt down many a body It sometimes shoots white powder doth execution without giving warning Deiodorus dyed with sudden shame Sophocles with sudden joy Nabal with sudden fear Pope Alexander was choakt suddenly with a Fly Anacreon the Poet with the Kernel of a Grape Aeschilus was kild by the shell of a Tortoise which the Eagle let fall on his bald head mistaking it for a Rock The Cardinal of Lorrain was lighted to the Chambers of death by a Poisoned Torch A Duke of Britany Prest to death in a crowd King Henry the second of France was kild at Tilting Senecio Cornelius had his breath stopt by a Squinzy I might name very many others who took a short cut to their long homes Balthazers carousing in his Bolls drunk his bane Ammon merry at his dainties meets with Death Zimri and Cozbi unload their lusts and their lives together Korah and his companions find the Earth Opening her mouth and swallowing them up quick though she stay for others till they are dead Herod scarce ends his proud speech before he is sent to the place of silence Ananias and Saphira finish their lies and their lives at the same time Scarce a week but nigh those parts we live in some or other by violent or natural means are suddenly sent into the other World That which hath been one mans case may be any mans case Reader when thy breath goeth out thou art not sure of taking it in again thou mayst like the fool be talking of many years when that God whose word must stand may say this night thy soul shall be required of thee and O what will then become of thee Thy eternal condition that estate which is to be for ever and ever dependeth on this uncertain life and art not thou mad to be reveling and roaring dallying and delaying when thine unchangeable estate is in danger Theives after the commission of their Robberies frequently repair to Inns where they drink joyfully and divide their booty when on a sudden the Hue and Cry arriveth at that town the Constable entereth their Room attacheth their persons marreth all their mirth and carryeth them to the Goal whence after their tryal for their fellonies they are carted to Tyburn Many a sinner in the midst of his carnal triumph hath been haled to eternal torments like that filthy Adulterer mentioned by Luther who went inâ—o Hell out of the imbraces of his Harlot The Philosophers say that the weather will be warmish before a snow When the skie is most clear then the great thunder commeth Sodom had a fair sun-shiny morning but a storm of fire and brimstone before night Sure I am thou hast no promise to excuse thee in thy greatest pleasures from such a sudden punishment Thou art already a condemned person and thou wantest nothing but the messenger death Speed nothing but an hurdle an horse and an halter as Judge Belknap in Richard the seconds time said of himself to carry thee to thy deserved Execution Psa 64.7 God shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded When the Pye is priding her self on the top of a Tree little thinking of a Fowler so near she is fetcht down by a sudden shot It may be thou trusteth to thy youth and strength because thou feelest no infirmity therefore thou fearest no mortality Thou thinkest Death should go to the dead bones and dry breasts to such as see with four eyes and go on three legs but dost thou not know that Death never observeth the Laws of nature As young as thou art thou mayst be rotten before thou art ripe Thy Sun may set at high noon the Jews have a Proverb that the old Ass often carryeth the young Asses skin to the market Blossoms are liable to nipping as well as full grown fruit to rotting Have not several been Married and Buryed in the same week nay drest by the same hands in one day for their Weddings and their Coffins Bensirah the Jew hath a good saying The Bride went into her Chamber and knew not what should befall her there Pro. 27.1 Therefore boast not thy self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Is it thy strength thou trustest to alas the Leviathan of Death laughs at the shaking of that
his creature between whom and him there is an infinite distance and disproportion nay not with the Noblest House among those creatures not with Angels those heavenly Courtiers He is their Head not their Husband though by matching with them he had matched somewhat more like himself but with sinful polluted Dust and Ashes That our spiritual souls should be joyned to our earthly bodies is much yet here is some proportion both are limited created beings but that God should marry with Man is infinitely more It s said of the King of Babylon that he lifted up the head of Jehojachin out of Prison and spake kindly to him and changed his Prison Garments and set his Throne above the Throne of the Kings that were with him 2 Kings ult cap. 27 28 29. Man was a poor Prisoner bound and fettered with his own corruptions kept up close by the Devil his Jaylor and condemned to suffer the pains of eternal death but loe the Philanthropy and kindness of God he sendeth his onely Son to open the Prison Doors having first satisfied the Law for the breach of which they were cast in and removed its curse which was as a Pad-Lock on the Prison Gate to to keep it fast set the poor captives at liberty change their nasty Prison weeds and to exalt their nature above the nature of glorious Angels by marrying it to himself Canst thou find in thy heart Friend to abuse such Matchless Grace and Favour Is not that begger mad that should refuse the real offers of a Match from a Gracious Emperour Shall Majesty thus stoop to Misery in vain I must tell thee its infinite abasement in God thus to make suit to thee but it s the highest preferment thou art capable of nay such as it had been blasphemy to have desired it had not God offered it to close with him I come now to the Articles of this Marriage which truely are no more then thou requirest of thy own wife if thou hast any and therefore thou canst not but think them reasonable I shall propound them to thee in these two Questions First Art thou heartily willing to take Jesus Christ for thy Saviour and Soveraign Canst thou love him with the hottest superlative love as thy Husband Its one thing to love a man as a Friend and another thing to love him as thy Husband canst thou give him the keys of thy heart and keep thy affections as a fountain sealed up from others and opened onely for him and in subordination to him Wilt thou honour him with the highest honour as thy Lord submitting to his spirit as thy guide and to his laws as thy rule Is thy soul so ravished with the beauty of his person the excellency of his promises and the equity of his precepts that thou darest promise through his strength to be a loving faithful and obedient wife Have the hot beams of that love which have been darted forth from this Sun of Righteousness as the rays of the Sun united in a glass turned thee into a flame that thy heart is now ascending and mounting to Heaven where thy Beloved is and thou canst no more live without him then thy body without thy soul Art thou willing to be sanctified by his spirit that thou mightest be prepared for his bosome and embraces and to be saved alone by his merits as the onely procuring cause of all thy hopes and happiness Wilt thou take him for better and for worse for richer and for poorer with his cup of affliction as well as his cup of consolation with his shameful Cross as well as his glorious Crown chosing rather to suffer with him then to reign without him to dye for him then to live from him Such as marry thou knowest must expect trouble in the flesh Christianity like the Wind Caecias doth ever draw clouds and afflictions after it but thy future glory and pleasure will abundantly recompence thee for thy present pain and ignominy Secondly Wilt thou presently give a bill of Divorce to all other lovers and keep the bed of thy heart wholly for him Shall the evil of sin never more have a good look from thee but as Ammon served Tamar shall the hatred wherewith thou hatest those filthy strumpets with whom thou hast had cursed dalliances and committed spiritual fornication be greater then the love wherewith thou hast loved them Canst thou pack away the bond-woman and her son and these things not at all be greivous in thy sight that thy whole joy and delight may be in and all that thou art worth preserved for the true Isaac Shall this Sun reign alone in the Heavens of thy heart without any Competitour As when a Dictatour was created at Rome there was a supersedeas to all other authority so if Christ be exalted in thy soul there must be a cessation of all other rule and power Christ will not be a King meerly in dirision as the Jews made him nor as the stump of Wood was to the Frogs in the Fable whom every lust may securely dance about and provoke These are the terms upon which this match so honourable and profitable is offered to thee give up an hearty Yea to these two equitable Articles and thou art made for ever Refuse it and thou art miserable above all apprehensions and beyond Millions of ages even to all eternity What sayst thou to it Shall I put the same Question to thee which they put to Rebekah Wilt thou go with this Man In thy denyal there is no less then eternal Death Methinks the thoughts of that fire and Brimstone should force thee to flye to this Zoar In thy unfeigned hearty acceptance there is no less then Heaven and eternal life What wouldst thou not do to continue natural life What then shouldst thou not do or suffer for eternal life It may be thou desirest time to consider of it as Rebekahs Mother thou art willing to the match but wouldst not have it yet concluded Austin bewails it in himself that when God was drawing him to Christ his carnal pleasures represented themselves before his eyes Saying What wilt thou leave us for ever and shall we be no more with thee for ever And then he threw himself down and weeping cryed out O Lord how long how long shall I say to morrow why not to day Lord why not to day Why should there not be an end of my sinful life this hour But beleive it delays are dangerous especially in works of such weight If thou answerest as Rebekah did I will go Chear up poor soul what ever thy course or carriage hath been thy Husband is able and willing to pay all thy scores were they a million for a mite and come forth behold thy beloved in his imbroydery and glory see how his Arms are stretcht out to embrace thee his Lips are ready to kiss thee O what a look of love he giveth thee sure I am thou art more in his heart then in thine own
what is the reason of all this but because nature must have its rest and delight from that only which is sutable to its own appetite and desire Hence it is that though God be so perfect a good yet he is not the happiness of evil Men or evil Angels for he is not sutable to their vitiated depraved natures The carnal mind which beareth sway in unregenerate men is enmity against God and Devils are as contrary to Gods nature as fire is to water Hence it is that spiritual men place and enjoy happiness in the Father of Spirits because he is the savoury meat which their souls love Though the sinner can live upon dregs as the swine on dung yet the Saint must have refined Spirits and nothing lesse then Angels food and delights It is an unquestionable truth that nothing can give true comfort to man but that which hath a relation and beareth a proportion to his highest and noblest part his immortal soul for his sensitive faculties were created in him to be subordinate and serviceable to their Master Reason therefore he is excelled in them by his inferiours as the Eagle in seeing and the Hound in scenting nature aiming at some more sublime and excellent design the perfection of the rational part in those lower particulars was lesse exact therefore the blessed God alone being a sutable Good to the heavenly spiritual soul of man can only satisfie it Philosophers tell us the reason of the irons cleaving to and resting in the load-stone is because the pores of both bodies are alike so there are effluxes and emanations that slide through them and unite them together One cause of the Saints love to and delight in God is his likeness to God Creatures are earthly the soul is heavenly they are corporeal the soul is spiritual therefore as when friends are contrary in disposition the soul cannot take up its rest and happiness in their fruition but God is sutable and therefore satisfying I am God All sufficient Gen. 17.1 Some derive the word Shaddai from Almighty Alsufficient from shad a dug for as the breast is sutable to the Babe nothing else will quiet it so is God to his Children A man that is hungry finds his stomack still craving something he wants without which he cannot be well Give him musick company pictures houses honours yet there follows no satisfaction these are not sutable to his appetite still his stomack craves but set before this man some wholesome food and let him eat his craving is over They did eat and were filled O miserabilis hâ—mâ—a cordâ—â— sine Châ—isto Oâ—nâ—um omne â—uod viviâ— â—lâ—â—e om Epit. Nep. Tim 1. p. â—5 Neh. 9.25 So it is with mans soul as with his body the soul is full of cravings and longings spending it self in sallies out after its proper food give it the credit and profits and pleasures of the world and they cannot abate its desire it craves still for these do not answer the souls nature and therefore cannot answer its necessity but once set God before it and it feeding on him it is satisfied it s very inordinate dogged appetite after the world is now cured He tasting this Manna tramples on the Onions of Egypt He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again but he that drinketh of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst John 4. CHAP. XII God the Saints happiness because of his Eternity and the Saints propriety in him GOD is a permanent good That which makes a man happy must be immortal like himself as man is rational so he is a provident creature desirous to lay up for hereafter and this forecast reacheth beyond the fools in the Gospel for many years even for millions of ages for ever by laying hold on eternal life He naturally desires an immortality of being whence that inclination in creatures say Philosophers of propagating their kind and therefore an eternity of blessedness The soul can enjoy no perfection of happiness if it be not commensurate to its own duration For the greater our joy is in the fruition of any good the greater our grief in its amission Eternity is one of the fairest flowers in the glorified Saints garland of honour It s an eternal weight of glory 2. Cor. 4.17 Were the triumphant spirits ever to put off their Crown of life the very thought thereof would be death and like leaven would sower the whole lump of their comforts The perpetuity of their state adds infinitely to their pleasure We shall ever be with the Lord. 2. Thes 4.16 Here they have many a sweet bait but there God will be their standing-dish never off the Heavenly Table The creature cannot make man happy Laâ—itia saeculi cum ma na expect â—oâ—e speratâ—r ut veniniâ—t â—oâ—â—â—test tenâ—râ— câ—nvenit Aug. tract 7 in Job because as it is not able to fill him so it is not fast to him like the Moon in the increase it may shine a little the former part of the night but is down before morning Man is not sure to hold them whilst he liveth How often is the candle of outward comforts blown out by a suddain blast of providence Many as Naomi go out full but come home empty some disaster or other as a Theif meets them by the way and robs them of their deified treasure The Vessel in which all of some mens wealth is embarqued while it spreadeth fair with its proud Sails and danceth along upon the surging waters when the Factor in it is pleasing himself with the kind salutes he shall receive from his Merchant for making so profitable a Voyage is in an instant swallowed up of unseen quick-sands and delivereth its Fraught at another Port and to an unknown Master Those whose morning hath been sunshiny and clear have met with such showres before night as have washed away their wealth However if these comforts continue all day at the night of death as false lovers serve men in extremity they leave us the knife of death which stobs the sinner to the heart Le ts out the blood and spirits of all his joyes and happiness But God is the true happiness of the soul because he is an eternal good As this Sun hath no mists so it nevey sets so that the rest of the Soul in God is an eternal Sabbath like the new Jerusalem it knoweth no night Outward mercies in which most place their felicity are like land floods which swell high and make a great noise but are quickly in again when the blessed God like the Spring-head runeth over and runneth ever Fourthly Because of the Saints propriety in this God though God be never so perfect suitable sure a good Yet it s litle Comfort to them that have no interest in him Another mans health will not make me happy when sick What Happinesse hath a begger in the shady walkes pleasant garden stately buildings curious roomes costly furniture and precious jewels of
an Earl when they are none of his A Crown and scepter may be as suitable to the nature of a Subject as a Soveraign yet the comfort of them extends not to the former for want of this propriety in them The leaving out one word in a Will may marr the estate and disapoint all a mans hopes the want of this one word my God is the wicked mans losse of heaven and the dagger which will peirce his heart in Hell to all eternity The degree of satisfaction in any good is according to the degree of our Union to it hence our delight is greater in food then in cloaths and the Saints joy is greater in God in the other world then in this because the Union is nearer but where there is no propriety there is no Union therefore no complacency now this alsufficient sutable and eternal God is the Saints peculiar portion and therefore causeth infinite satisfaction God is my portion for ever God even our God shall blesse us Psalm 67.7 The Pronoun my is as much worth to the soul as the boundless portion All our comfort is lock't up in that private cabinet Wine in the glasse doth not chear the heart but taken down into the body The propriety of the Psalmists in God was the mouth whereby he fed on those dainties which did so excedingly delight him No love potion was ever so effectual as this Pronoun When God saith to the soul as Ahab to Benhadad Behold I am thine and all that I have who can tell how the heart leaps with joy in and expires almost in desires after him upon such news Others like strangers may behold his honour and excellencies but this Saint onely like the wife enjoyeth him Luther saith Much Religion lyeth in Pronouns All our consolation indeed consisteth in this Pronoun it the is the cup which holdeth all our cordiall waters He undertake as bad as the devil is He shall give the whole world were it in his power more freely then ever he offered it to Christ for his worship for leave from God to pronounce those two words my God All the joyes of the beleiver are hung upon this one string break that asunder and all is lost I have sometimes thought how David rouls it as a lump of sugar under his tongue as one loth to lose its sweetness too soon I love thee O Lord my strength The Lord is my rock and my fortresse and my deliverer my God my strength my buckler the horn of my salvation and my high Tower Psalm 18.1 2. This pronoun is the door at which the King of Saints entereth into our hearts with his whole train of delights and comforts CHAP XIII The first use The difference betiwxt a sinner and a Saint in distresse THis Doctrine may be usefull by way of inference and by way of tryal and counsell and by way of Comfort First If the comfort of a Christian in his saddest estate be this namely That God is his portion It informeth us of the difference betwixt a sinner and a Saint both in their conditions when trouble comes and in their portions 1. In their conditions when in affliction The Saint in the sharpest winter sits at a good fire when abused by strangers he can complain to Use inform 1. and comfort himself in his Father though stars vanish out of sight he can rejoyce in the Sun like the prudent Dame whithersoever he travelleth knowing how liable he is to fainting-fits he carrieth his bottle of strong-waters along with him When thou passest through the fire I will be with thee Isa 43. But the sinner when a storm comes upon his head hath no to cover when a qualm comes over his heart he hath no cordiall for he hath no God Ephe. 2.12 Without God without hope Strangers to the Covenant of promise A godless man is hopeless If he be robbed of his estate and have litle in hand his case is dreadful for he hath lesse in hope The promises are the clifts of the rock whether true doves fly and places of shelter where they are safe from ravenous fowls but he is a stranger to these when the floods comes he hath no Ark but must sink like lead in the midst of the mighty waters The godly man in the lowest ebbe of creatures may have an high-tide of comforts because he hath ever the God of all Consolations As Jezabel her idolatrous priests so in the greatest outward famine God entertaineth his people at his own table and surely that 's neither mean nor sparing As their afflictions abound their consolations by Christ superabound 2. Cor. 1.5 The world layeth on crosses and Christ layeth in comforts Men make grievous sores and God provides precious salves The Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore will I hope in him Lamen 3.24 If you mind the season you may a little admire at the Churches solace The whole Book is but a pathetical description of her Tragical condition and is generally concluded to be written by Jeremy in the time of the Babylonish Captivity when her Land was wasted her people enslaved her Sabbaths ceased and her Temple prophaned yet this Bird of Paradise sings in a Cage and in this hard winter The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul therefore will I hope in him The Godly man may be rob'd of his possessions but he is well so long as he hath his happiness his portion Lazarus was happy when sine domo because he was not sine domino without Goods because he was not without God As he in Plutarch said of the Scythians Though they had neither wine nor musick yet they had the Gods The Prophet when the ponds were dried up fetchd his water from the Fountain Habakkuk 3.16 17. Although the Figge tree shall not blossome neither shall fruit be in the vine the labour of the Olives shall fayl and the fieldes shall yeild no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet will I rejoyce in the Lord and I will joy in the God of my Salvation It s considerable that he expresseth not only things for conveniency as the Vine and Figge tree but things for necessity as the meat of the field and flocks of the stall and supposeth the totall loss of both yet in the want and absence of such comforts of life he supports himselfe with God the life of all his comforts But the ungodly is not so when afflictions come they hit him upon the bare for he is without armour He is as a naked man in the midst of venemous Serpents and stinging Scorpions When troubles come like so many Lions they teare the silly Lamb in peices having none to protect him I am greatly distressed saith Saul and well he might for the Philistines are upon me and God is departed from me 1 Sam. 28.15 Alas poor Soul had the Philistines been his burden and God strengthened his back all had been well
showers to bring forth corn and wine Is the voice of thy heart Who will shew us any good or is it Lord lift up the light of thy countenance on us Physitians can judge considerably of the state of their Patients bodies by their appetites they who long only for trash speak their stomacks to be foul they who hunger after wholsome food are esteemed to be in health Thou mayst judge of the state of thy soul by thy desires if thou desirest chiefly the trash of the world thy spiritual state is not right thy heart is not right in the sight of God if thou canst say with David Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee Blessed art thou of the Lord thou hast a part and lot in this boundless portion Observe therefore Friend which way these wings of thy soul thy desires flie He who thirsteth after the kennel water of this world hath no right to the pure river of the water of life but he who hungreth after the dainties of the Lambs Supper may be sure the scraps of this beggarly world are not his happiness The true Wife longeth for the return of her Husband but the false one careth not how long he is absent 2. What is the feast at which thou sittest with most delight Is it at a table furnished with the comforts of this world Are the dishes of credit and profit of relations and possessions those which thou feedest on with most pleasure Or is it a Table spread with the Image of God the Favour of God the Spirit of God and the Son of God are those the savoury meat which thy Soul loveth If this Sun of righteousness only causeth day in thine heart when he ariseth and if he be set notwithstanding all the candles of creatures it is still night with thee then God is thy Portion O how glad is the young Heir when he comes to enjoy his Portion with what delight will he look over his woods view his grounds and walk in his gardens The Roman would tumble naked in his heapes of Silver out of delight in them but if thy affections only overflow with joy as the water of Nilus in the time of wheat harvest when the world floweth in upon thee the world is thy Portion He who like a Lark sings merrily not on the ground but when he is mounting up to Heaven is rich indeed God is his but he who like an horsefly delighteth in dunghils feedeth most on rellisheth best these earth ly offalls is a poor man God is none of his God it s an undeniable truth that that is our Portion which is the Paradise of our pleasures The fool who could expect ease on his bed of Thorns Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years had his Portion in this life but Moses whom nothing could please but Gods gracious presence had him for his Portion If thy presence go not with us carry us not hence I beseech me shew me thy glory Thirdly What is the calling which thou followest with greatest eagerness and earnestness Men run and ride and toyl and moyl all day they rise early and go to bed late and take any pains for that which they count their happiness and portion The Worldling whose Element is Earth whose Portion consisteth like the Pedlars pack in a few pins or needles or peuter-spoons or brass-bodkins how will he fare mean lodg hard sleep little crowd into a corner hazard his health and life and soul too for that which he counteth his Portion like a brutish spaniel he will follow his Master the world some hundred of miles puffing and blowing breaking through hedges and scratching himself with thorns and briers running through ponds of water and puddles of dirt and all for a few bones or scraps which is all his hope and happiness The Christian who hath the blessed God for his portion strives and labours and watcheth and prayeth and weepeth and thinks no time too much no pains too great no cost enough for the enjoyment of his God As the wise Merchant he would part with All he hath all his strength and health all his relations and possessions for his noble Portion Reader how is it with thee thou travellest too and fro thou weariest thy self and wantest thy rest thy head is full of cares and thy heart of feares and thy hands are alwaies active but whether doth all this tend what is the market to which thou art walking thus fast Is it gold that thou pursuest so hot The people labour in the fire and weary themselves for very vanity 2. Habbak 13. Or is it God that thou pressest after as the Hound the Hare so the word signifieth Phil. 3.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with so much deligence and violence My soul followeth hard after thee Ps 63.6 Thus have I laid down the characters briefly of such as have God for their Portion Thy business is to be faithful in the tryal of thine estate If upon tryall thou findest that God is thy Portion rejoyce in thy priviledg and let thy practices be answerable Like a rich Heir delight thy self in the thoughts of thy vast inheritance Can he be poor that is Master of the Mint Canst thou be miserable who hast God for thy Portion I must tell in thee that thou art happy in spight of Men and Divells If worldlings take such pleasure in their counters and brass farthings what joy mayst thou have in God to whom all the Indians Mines are worse then dross nay if all the gold of Ophir and of the whole world were melted into one common stream and all the Pearls and precious stones lay on the side of it as thick as pebbles and the quintessence and excellencies of all other the creatures were crumbled into sand and lay at the bottom of this channel they were not worthy to make a Metaphor of to set forth the least perfection in this Portion Shall Esau say he hath enough and be contented when the narrow field of some creatures was the utmost bounds of his estate and wilt thou complain as if thou wert pinched with poverty when the boundless God is thy Portion Art not thou an unreasonable Creature whom the infinite God will not satisfy for shame Christian bethink thy self and let the world know by thy chearfulness and comfort that their mites are nothing to thy millions Consider though the whole world turn bankrupt thou art rich for thy Estate doth not lye in their hands Do not â—ine thy self therefore with feare of penury but keep an house according to thy estate which will afford it in the greatest plenty Let thy practices also be sutable to thy portion Great heirs have a far different carriage from the poor who take almes of the Parish Thou ough'st to live above the world Eagles must not stoop to catch flies the stars which are nearest the Pole have least circuit Thou
wholly cleave to thee then my life will be lively There are two special faculties in Mans Soul which must be answered with sutable and adaequate objects or the heart like the sea cannot rest The understanding must be satisfied with truth and the will with good For the filling of these two faculties men are as busie as Bees flying over the field of the world and trying every flower for sweetness but after all their toyl and labour house themselves like wasps in curious combs without any hony The understanding must be suted with the highest truth but the world is a lye Psal 62. and the things thereof are called lying vanities they are not what they seem to be Jonah 2.8 and hence are unable to satisfy the mind but God is aeterna veritas vera aeternitas eternal truth and true eternity All truth is originally in him his nature is the Idea of truth and his will the standard of truth and its eternal life and utmost satisfaction to know him because by it the understanding is perfected for the Soul in God will see all truth and that not only clearly I speak of the other world where the Christians happiness shall be completed face to face but also fully Aristotle though an Heathen thought happiness to consist in the knowledg of the chiefest good If Arichimedes when he found out the resolution of one question in the Mathematicks was so ravished that he ran up and down crying I have found it I have found it How will the Christian be transported when he shall know all that is knowable and all shadows of ignorance vanish as the darkness before the rising Sun The will also must be suted with good and according to the degree of goodness in the object such is the degree of satisfaction to the faculty Now the things of this life though good in themselves yet are vain and evill by reason of the sin of man Rom. 8.20 And likewise are at best but bodily limited and fading good things and therefore uncapable of filling this faculty As truth in the utmost latitude is the object of the understanding so Good in the universality of it is the object of the will Further that good which satisfieth must be optimum the best or t will never sistere appetitum the Soul will otherwise be still longing and maximum the most perfect or t will never implere appetitum fill it But God is such a good he is essentially universally unchangeably and infinitely good and therefore satisfieth When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness Psa 17. ult When my body hath slept in the bed of the grave till the morning of the resurrection and the sound of the last trump shall awaken me O the sweet satisfaction and ravishing delight which my Soul shall enjoy in being full of thy likeness and thy love Nay in the mean time before the happiness of a Saint appear to his view in a full body it doth like the rising Sun with its forerunning rays cast such a lightsome gladsome brightness upon the believer that he is filled with joy at present and would not part with his hopes of it for the whole world in hand They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house while on this side Heaven and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures Psal 36.8 Though the wedding dinner be deferd till the wedding day yet before hand the Christian meets with many a running banquet He hath not only pleasures fatness of thy house but also plenty of it here below They shall be abundantly satisfied The World is like sharp sauce which doth not fill but provoke the stomach to call for more the voice of those guests whom it makes most welcome is like the daughters of the horseleech Give Give but the infinite God like solid food doth satisfy the soul fully In my Fathers house is bread enough and causeth it to cry out I have enough Secondly God is a sanctifying ennobling Portion 2 God is a sanctifying portion The World cannot advance the Soul in the least things of the World are fitly compared to shadows for be thy shadow never so long thy body is not the longer for it so be thy estate never so great thy soul is not the better for it A great letter makes no more to the signification of a word then the smallest Men in high places are the same men no reall worth being thereby added to them that they are in low ones Nay it s too too visible that men are the worse for their earthly portions If some had not been so wealthy they had not been so wicked Most of the Worlds favourites like aguish stomachs are fuller of appetite then digestion they eat more then they can concoct and thereby cause diseases nay by feeding on this trash of earth their stomachs are taken off from substantial food the bread of Heaven The Souldiers of Hannibal were effeminated and made unfit for service by their pleasures at Capua Damps arising out of the earth have stifled many a Soul Aâ—ist Probl. seâ— 23. Aristotle tells us of a Sea wherein by the hollowness of the earth under it or some whirling property ships used to be cast away in the midst of a calm Many perish in their greatest prosperity and are so busy about babies and rattles that they have no leasure to be saved Luke 14.17 That which doth elevate ennoble the Soul of Man must be more excellent then the Soul Silver is embased by mixing it with lead but ennobled by gold because the former is inferiour to it but the latter excells it The World and all things in it are infinitely inferiour to the Soul of Man and therefore it is debased by mingling with them but God is infinitely superiour and so advanceth it by joyning with it That coyn which is the most excellent mettal defileth our hands and is apt to defile our hearts but the divine nature elevateth and purifieth the Spirit The goodliest portions of this life are like the Cities which Solomon gave to Hiram And Hiram came from Tyre to see the Cities which Solomon had given him and they pleased him not And he said What Cities are these which thou hast given me my brother and he called them the land of Cabul that is displeasing or dirty unto this day 1 Kings 9.12 13. The pleasantest portion here lyeth in the land of Cabul its displeasing and dirty it doth both dissatisfy and defile when the heavenly portion doth like hony both delight and cleanse both please and purify Outward things like common stones to a ring adde nothing at all to the worth of a Soul but this sparking Diamond this pearle of price the infinite God makes the gold ring of the Soul to be of unspeakable value The heart of the wicked is little worth Pro. 10.20 His house is worth somewhat but his heart is worth nothing because its a ditch full only
of their glory their portion is so full that they desire no more they enjoy variety and plenty of delights above what they are able to ask or think and want nothing but to have it fixt may they but possess it in peace without interruption or cessation they will trample all the Kingdomes of the earth as dirt under their feet and loe thou art the welcome Dove to bring this olive branch in thy mouth This God is our God for ever and ever All the Arithmetical figures of dayes and months and years and ages are nothing to this infinite Cypher ever which though it stand for nothing in the vulgar account yet contains all our millions yea our millions and millions of millions are lesse then drops to this Ocean Ever If all the pleasures of the whole creation cannot countervail the fruition of God though but for one moment how happy shouldst thou be to enjoy him for ever If the first fruits and foretasts of the Christians felicity be so ravishing what will the harvest be Friend little dost thou think what crowns scepters palmes thrones kingdomes glories beauties banquets angelical entertainments beatifical visions societies varieties and eternities are prepared for them who chuse God for their portion If the Saints crosse in the judgement of Moses when at age and able to make a true estimate of things were more worth then all the treasures of Egypt and he chose it rather what is the Saints crown eternal crown worth To conclude this Use Reader take a serious view of this portion which is here tendered to thee and consider upon what easie termes it may be thine for ever The portion is no lesse then the infinite God Behold the nations are as a drop of the bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballance all nations before him are as nothing and they are counted to him lesse then nothing and vanity Isai 40.15 17. Other portions are bodily he is spiritual and so sutable to thy soul Other portions are mixt like the Israelites pillar which had a dark as well as a light side but he is pure there is not the least spot in this Sun he is a sea of sweetness without the smallest drop of gall Other portions are particular there are some chinks in the outward man which they cannot fill besides the many leaks of the soul none of which they can stop but he is an universal portion All the excellencies of the creatures even when their dregs and imperfections are removed are but dark shadows of those many substantial excellencies which are in him He made all he hath all he is all the most fluent tongue will quickly be at a losse in extolling him for he is above all blessing and praises Other portions are debasing like drosse to gold an allay to its worth but he is an advancing portion as a set of Diamonds to a royal Crown infinitely adding to its value Other portions are perishing they may be lost they will be left when death calls thy cloth will be then drawn and not one dish remain on the table but he is an everlasting portion the souls that feast with him like Mephibosheth at Davids eat bread at his table continually In his presence is fulness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore Now is not here infinite reason why thou shouldst choose this God for thy portion Consider the termes upon which he is willing to be thy portion he desires no more then thou wouldst take him for thy treasure and happiness Surely such a portion is worthy of all acceptation Be thy own Judge may not God expect and doth he not deserve as much respect as thine earthly portion hath had Can thy esteem of him be too high or thy love to him be too hot or thy labour for him too great O what warm embraces hast thou given the world throw that strumpet now out of thine armes and take the fairest of ten thousand in her room What high thoughts hast thou had of the world what wouldst thou not formerly do or suffer to gain a little more of it Now pull down that Usurper out of the throne and set the King of Saints there whose place it is esteem him superlatively above all things and make it thy business whatsoever he call thee to do or suffer to gain his love which is infinitely better then life it self Do but exalt him in thy heart as thy chiefest good and in thy life as thine utmost end and he will make a deed of gift of himself to thee Is it not rational what he desires why shouldst thou then refuse Here is God there is the world here is bread there is husks here is the substance there is a shadow here is Paradise there is an apple here is fulness there is emptiness here is a fountain there is a broken cistern here is all things there is nothing here is heaven there is hell here is eternity I say eternity of joy and pleasure here is eternity O that word eternity of sorrow and pain choose now which of the two thou wilt take and advise with thy self what word I shall bring again to him that sent me 1 Chron. 21.12 CHAP XX. Comfort to such as have God for their portion FOurthly The Doctrine may be useful by way of Consolation It speaketh much comfort to every true Christian God is thy portion thy portion is not in toyes and trifles in narrow limited Creatures but in the blessed boundless God He cannot be poor who hath my Lord Maior to his Friend much lesse he that hath God to his portion A portion so precious and perfect that none of the greatest Arithmeticians ever undertook to compute its worth as knowing it impossible a portion so permanent that neither death nor life nor the world nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come can part thee from it This cordial may enliven thee in a dying estate None can part thee and thy portion The winter may freeze the ponds but not the Ocean All other portions may be frozen and useless in hard weather but this portion is ever full and filling Hagar when her bottle of water was spent wept because she did not see the fountain that was so near her The absence of the creatures need not make thee mourn who hast the presence of the Creator Thou mayst have comfort from thy portion in the most afflicted condition Do men plunder thee of thy estate thou art rich towards God and mayst suffer the spoiling of thy goods joyfully knowing that thou hast a more enduring substance Hebr. 10.34 Do they cast thee into prison though thy body be in fetters thy soul enjoyeth freedome no chains can so fasten thee to the earth but thou mayst mount up to heaven upon the wings of meditation and prayer Do they take away thy food thou hast meat to eat which they know not of and wine to drink which makes glad the
The truth is were not men drowned in sensuality as he whom Seneca speaketh of that knew not whither he stood or sat till his slave told him and their consciences seared and made sensless by them as young Gallants being arrested for debt make the Serjeants drunk and thereby escape at present it would be impossible for men to live thus after the flesh But as some cunning theives if there be a Mastiff belonging to the house which they intend to Rob give it some morsels which will keep it from barking that so they may steal the Inhabitants Wealth and they not have the least warning either to hinder or recover it So the Devil hath an art to make mens consciences dumb whilst he robs them of their inestimable souls poor foolish creatures they are lazing on their beds of carnal security and delighting themselves in their dreams of lying vanities and in the interim he rifleth their houses and taketh away all that is of any value Yet as fast as conscience is now asleep t will shortly awake as the Jaylor at midnight and then what fears and frights will possess them Ah how clearly will they see their folly in sowing to the flesh and trusting to that which was never true to any then they will roar out If we had served our spirits as faithfully as we have served our flesh they would not have failed us thus When Pausanias desired Simonides to give him some grave Apothegm by which he might apprehend his great wisdom for which he was so renowned Simonides smiling spake this Esse te hominem ne excideret tibi Remember that you are a man that your flesh will fail you Pausanius puffs at this but in a short time after being almost pined to death with Famine he began to think of Simonides saying and cryed out O Simonides magnum quiddam erat oratio tua sed prae amentia esse nihil opinabar O Simonides thy speech was full of weight but I mad wretch thought it of no worth Friends Ministers nay the chief Master of sentences himself delivered thee this as the Master piece of wisdom To remember that thy flesh will fail thee Prov. 19.20 Hear counsel receive instruction that thou mayst be wise for thy latter end But possibly thou like Gallio carest for none of these things It is death to thee to think of death Thou hatest it as Ahab did Micaiah because it never speaketh well of thee thy voice to it is as Pharaohs to Moses Get thee hence Let me see thy face no more It is said of Vitellius in Tacitus that he was one hour trepidus dein temulentus fearful the next drunken in the very approach of his fatal ruine striving to drown his fears in his cups Thou art resolved to riot and revel and therefore canst not endure to think of a reckoning Well put off the thoughts of it as far and as much as thou canst make as light of it as thy hardned heart will give thee leave yet be confident t is on its way riding post towards thee with a Warrant from the God of Heaven for thy Execution and O then when thou seest its grim face how will thine heart tremble and when thou hearest its dreadful voice how will thine ears tingle the flesh which thou now pamperest will then wax pale and the vessels which now thou drawest thy comforts from will then run dregs and then O then how mournfully wilt thou screech out O Pastors O Teachers The counsel which you gave me was of infinite weight and consequence but I fool mad man had not the wit to follow it Or as Carolus King of Sicily did on his death-bed Alas alas I am going to dye and yet have not begun to live I shall conclude this use with that sad Relation which Athenaeus makes of a great Monarchs life and death in which as in a Looking-glass thou mayst see that flesh-pleasing vanitities will end in soul-piercing miseries and that as wise as such a man may be counted by the World yet in his latter end he is but a fool Ninus the Assyrian Monarch had an Ocean of Gold and other riches more then the Sand in the Caspian Sea he never saw the Stars he never stirred up the Holy fire among the Magi nor touched his God with the sacred rod according to the law he never offered sacrifice nor worshipped the deity nor administred justice but he was most valiant to Eat and Drink and having mingled his Wines he threw the rest on the stones This man is dead behold his Sepulchre and now hear where Ninus is Sometimes I was Ninus and drew the breath of a living man but now am nothing but clay I have nothing but what I did eat and what I served on my self in lust that was and is all my portion the wealth with which I was esteemed blessed my enemies meeting together shall bear away as the mad Thyades carry a raw Goat I am gone to hell and when I went thither I carried neither Gold nor Horse nor silver Chariot I that wore a Miter am now a little heap of dust CHAP. V. Second USE An Exhortation to sinners to prepare for death with three quickenning motives Death will come certainly it may come suddenly When it comes t will be too late to prepare THE second Use shall be by way of Exhortation which will run in two distinct channels partly to the sensual worldlings partly to the serious Christian I shall speak one word to the Wise but in the first place two words to the Wicked Exhortaion 1. To the Wicked to fit themselves for the other World If the flesh will fail you mind the salvation of thy spirit when one leaf fals in Autumn we conclude that all will follow after by the death of others thou mayst conclude thy own dissolution When mens Leases of the houses wherein they dwell are neer expired they think of providing another Habitation that they may not be exposed to the injury of the wind and weather in the naked streets Reader I am come to thee with a message this day from the faithful God and it is to acquaint thee that the Lease of thy life is almost worn out the time of thy departure is at hand what House wilt thou provide for thy precious soul that it may not be obnoxious to the roarings of damned spirits and to the rage of tormenting Devils The Roman Gladiatours designed to death were very careful so to contrive and carry themselves that they might fall handsomely Sure I am thou art one appointed for the dust where O where is thy sollicitousness to dye comfortably Possibly thou art one who hast often spoken of dressing thy body neatly for the Coffin thy wedding shift the finest sheet thy handsomest head-cloaths must all adorn thy clod of Clay and grace thy carkass to entertain the Wormes at their feast with clean and fine Linnen But in the mean time thou hast no thoughts of dressing