we would but when our work is done and with our Master's leave We must not with our own hands pluck down these earthly Tabernacles neither deny our consent when God will pluck them down we are Tenants at will and must not think to have our Houses at our own dispose whether they shall down or not we came not into the world but at his appointment and must not go out without his leave I know a Godly man though he have some assurance of a better habitation is not so reconciled to death as to choose it for its own sake for Deaths looks are not lovely it being the King of terrors Job 18.19 and the terror of Kings and in it self formidable and hath daunted the courage of the stoutest Souldiers and triumphs over the most triumphant Conquerour and sometimes discomposeth the most composed Christian And therefore as on the one hand it should not be overmuch feared so on the other it should not be overmuch slighted Christ himself had some fearfull apprehensions of it and well he might knowing what he had to suffer the Sting was then in but by his death it was taken out in reference to Believers yet the Serpent is formidable but not poysonful it will strike still though it cannot sting and as 't is an Outlet to Life so 't is an Inlet to Eternity and who can enter into so vast a Gulph and so boundless an Ocean without amazement where he can find neither bank nor bottom 'T is impossible for men to put off Humanity neither doth Christianity teach us to be Stoicks yet it teacheth us to bound and moderate our passions and not overmuch to fear Death When we have a lawful call to it and when 't is our duty to dye when God sends let who will be the Messenger obey we must Lu. 12.5 Fear not them saith Christ that can kill the body and can do no more but fear him that can cast both Soul and Body into Hell yea I say unto you fear him All outward things must be undervalued for Life sake but Life it self must go for Gods sake if thou sell thy life for any worldly advantage thou wilt make a hard bargain For what good will the world do thee when thou art dead Luk. 12.20 Thou fool saith Christ this night will thy soul be required of thee and then whose are these Thou must part with any thing in the world to preserve it but if thou sell thy Soul to save thy life or part with Christ upon that account thou wilt make a bad bargain Mat. 16.26 for what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in Exchange for his soul This is not to prevent death but to Exchange one death for another temporal death for eternal 'T is not a choosing death thou art Press'd to but a submission to the will of God that is required at thy hands and of two evils the least is to be chosen if thou must either choose death or choose sin death is the more eligible for sin will expose thee to the second death and prove the everlasting separation of soul and body from God which is worse a thousand times than death If thou must lose thy life or thy soul let life go if thou must deny life or deny Christ Christ is better than thy life being the very life of thy soul and he that to avoid a little temporal pain incurs eternal torments makes a foolish bargain Now though there be no reason to love death yet is there great reason why thou shouldst love God better than life Psal 63.3 whose loving kindness is better than life though life be dear yet Christ is dearer The Cup of death may be bitter but Hell and Damnation and the eternal Wrath of God are much bitterer which if thou forsake Christ thou must drink up to the bottom which Eternity will be little enough to do God puts Sugar into the former none into the latter Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them But those that miscarry are sent away with a curse Mat. 25.41 Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels c. 'T is true after the Fall death was threatned as a Curse and a Judgment for sin but by the death of Christ the nature of it is changed to Believers Psal 116.15 and the malignity of it abated Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints the sting is taken out and we may put the Serpent into our bosom 't is now to the godly a Sleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth and so 't is said of Stephen he fell a sleep and the Grave is but Gods Cabinet to hide his Jewels where they are secured from the evil to come Isa 57.12 26.20 't is but a Chamber to hide them in till the indignation be past And though Deaths chambers be dark they are best to sleep in where thou shalt meet with no disturbance no noise without or terrour within thou shalt neither see nor hear nor feel nor fear evil death is but a sturdy Porter to open the door of thy Fathers house the gates of Heaven to thee to let thee in And though it may expose thee to some pain for the present 't is not much and 't is but momentary and not worthy the glory that shall be revealed for endless Joy presently succeeds it and pain will soon be forgotten If thou canst but stoop a little and croud in at this strait gate and narrow door thou wilt enter into that spacious City the New Jerusalem If thou canst not love death for its own sake yet entertain him for his Masters sake for it is the Embassadour of the great God and for his Message sake for he brings an Answer of peace To submit unto the will of God and to be obedient unto the death is not only thy Duty but thy Wisdom and Interest and to say with Christ Not my will but thine be done and with Samuel 1 Sam. 3.10 Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth If thou deny thy Life when God requires it Christ will deny thee entrance into those Heavenly Mansions and 't is a thousand times better lose thy life than lose his love think not yet that Heaven is had upon hard terms thou maist haply lose something for Christ but shalt never lose by him the way to save thy life is to hide it with God in Christ The hardest terms that Christ propounds are but reasonable 't is thy Interest to go to Heaven though it were even through the flames of Hell much more through the pangs of Death Paul easily concludes to dye for him was gain and to be with Christ was best of all he dyed daily and carried his life in his hand
in our eye Death looks more lovely If ever therefore you would dye Happily and Comfortably beware of letting out your affections upon the World for you will never be willing to leave what you love nor to pay so dear for Christ and Heaven till you affect them better 3 Direct If you would dye happily then redeeem your Time carefully make preparation for a dying time and take heed of losing time and spending it in vain he that would win the Race will set out with the first and hold on to the last and take all the advantages that are offered in the way he that hath much work to do and that of great concern must not lose the Morning or if he do must ply it hard the rest of the day You will find all your time that is allotted you little enough for the work you have to do and not an hour to spare to spend in idleness for delays and Idleness are the two Gulphs wherein many Souls are drown'd Many when they are young depending upon and trusting to their Youth their health and strength send Repentance thirty years before and 't is odds they never overtake it many young men go to Hell that thought to repent when they were old and many old men that thought they might have lived a little longer Many are resolved to spend their youthful dayes in the Devils service and then stop Gods mouth with the Blind and the Lame but he seldom takes up with a death-bed Repentance from those that purposely put him off to the last he usually reckons with such mispenders of time for the Talents he hath lent them and payes them off not with a Penny but a Prison for he expects what he hath given us to glorifie him should be that way improved upon this little inch of time Eternity doth depend our Everlasting well or ill being and therefore 't is too precious to be spent in vanity and folly and how then dare you spend a day an hour vainly in an Ale-house or other Vanity and not know whether you have another hour or day to live I have read of a Gentlewoman that usually spent her time in Cards and Dice and other unnecessary Recreations and coming from her Sport late in the night found her Maid reading for she was godly and casting her eye upon the Book reproved her thus Thou poor melancholy Soul what alwayes reading and spending thy time thus wilt thou take no comfort in thy life And so passing into her Chamber went to bed but could not sleep but sigh and groan her Maid lying in the room with her demanded the reason of it and whether she was well Fox Time and the End of Time p. 70. She replyed She had read the word Eternity in her Book which had so pierced her heart that she believed she should never sleep more till she had some better assurance of her Eternal condition And if this word Eternity were but well considered it might send our time-wasting Gallants trembling home from their Sports but God hath hid these things from their eyes There are more than those guilty though few more guilty there is many a man that is a good Husband for the World and careless in nothing but in matters relating to his Soul he can observe Times and Seasons for Plowing and Manuring of his ground Seed-time and Harvest shall not be neglected not the meanest Beast but shall be heeded his Garden Orchard c. shall be fenced pruned manured weeded and preserved his House well furnished and Provision prepared and yet his Soul altogether neglected and neither Food nor Raiment prepared for it for this life he is carefull that neither he nor his Posterity shall want and yet hath no care for the Life to come he can go from Fair to Market to prepare for the Body and matters not the Harvest Season or Market-day for the Soul The Mariners that observe the Wind and Tide yet neglect the sweet gales of the Spirit of God when they blow upon the Soul and would waft them Heavenward and help them forward to their Journeys end to the desired Port. The Devil by his diligence condemns us for where his work is Latimer 1 Pet. 5.8 there is he he is no Non-resident but alwayes in his Diocess He goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour And shall we not be as vigilant to save our Souls as he to destroy them if he find us idle he will soon imploy us The heart of man is a Mill that will be alwayes grinding if not Gods Wheat then the Devils Tares If the Devil spend all his time to deceive us we should spend all our time to prevent him All the time we have is little enough and there is none to spare and what is past is irrecoverably gone though we could give a world of Treasure for an inch of time Now if you would redeem time beware of those great devourers of Time which usually steal away a great part such as vain and idle Thoughts how much of our time is this way consumed many an hour which might have been better spent viz. in the Contemplation of God of Christ of Heaven of Glory is spent in roving vain imaginations which bring no profit do no good and tend to no benefit Yea worldly thoughts and cares take up also a great part of our time 't is true the World must have some of our thoughts and time but most men make a bad division between God and it they let the World run away with his part as well as their own yea much of that Sacred time set a part for a better use yea many times amidst our Religious duties the heart is stole away by the World Idleness also consumes much many enter not into the Vineyard till the eleventh hour and then mind not their work but their Wages vain and unprofitable Discourse also is a Thief and steals away much of our time and many idle and unnecessary Visits also and when all this is deducted 't is no wonder there is but little left for our grand business to these may be added immoderate lying in Bed vain and time spending Dressings and Attirings the whole Mornings work to our Female Gallants immoderate and unnecessary Recreations which some make all the Calling they follow Drinking Tipling and what not but if these in this their idle expence of time should ask themselves this question Which of the Eternities lye before them and to which of them they are going it might spoil their sport for when Death hath struck his stroak the Soul is in a stated condition which Eternity it self cannot alter and seriously 't is one of the saddest sights in the World to a man apprehensive of the danger to see an unconverted man fetch his last breath and lanching forth into an infinite Ocean of boiling Lead and burning Brimstone for the avoiding of that take time while time serves and lose not that Prodigally
this fort all is safe he can give the eyes ears the tongue their liberty if the heart be his he matters not his Prisoner is secure and to keep possession of the heart a thousand snares are laid in the way and if any make an escape he sends out Hue and cry after them stirs up all his Instruments to bring them back again sets some to reproach them some to perswade them yea some to flatter some to threaten and some to persecute for he knows the heart is the Master-wheel that guides all the rest for a man is denominated good or bad according as his heart is either good or bad this is the Shop wherein good or bad wares are forged Mat. 2.35 't is fons boni vel pecâ—andi origo the Fountain of good or the Spring of evil if there be a principle of life there the actions are pleasing to God if not they are but dead works A carnal heart is a Stewes or Shambles a place whence unclean and cruel thoughts are produced the forge where wicked thoughts are framed the Mint where they are coined the very Anvil upon which all Sin is forged an Augean Stable for Filthiness the heart is the Temple wherein Gods Ark or the Devils Dagon are placed Gal. 4.7 and worshipped 't is the Palace wherein dwelleth the Throne wherein sitteth the King of Glory or the Prince of darkness Eph. 2 2â— for the Devil works and acts in a wicked heart as a Smith doth in his Forge or an Artificer in his Shop what he pleaseth without controul these two Princes cannot sit in the same Throne or rule in the same heart these two Masters cannot be served by the same man their commands are so different those that love the one will despise the other and if one be obeyed the other must be neglected he that gets possession of the heart is our Master for we may know it by our obedience If Christ rule there the Devils kingdom must down and if the Devil rules Christ will be gone now his servants ye are to whom ye obey the heart is the fountain out of which all water flows whether sweet or bitter Mat. 7.26 and therefore it concerns us to see it be not defiled It is a Tree and we may know whether it be good or no by the fruit By the fruit saith Christ ye shall know them 'T is a Treasury out of which good or evil things are brought 't is the primum mobile that sets all the rest in motion and gives motion to the inferior Orbs the hand the eye the foot the tongue are all moved by it either in a direct or irregular motion 'T is the chief Monarch in the Isle of man that gives Laws and Commands to all the rest 'T is like the Treble in a Viol if this be in tune the other are soon ordered if out the Musick is spoil'd 't is the spring or Master-wheel of all the curious Clock-work of the Soul and sets all the rest in motion This is it that denominates an action good or bad as it differenced between Cains sacrifice and Abels and the fastings prayers and alms of the Pharisees and of the Apostles The more of the heart is in the sin the greater is the aggravation but the more of the heart is in a duty the better God accepts it Where the heart goes not along with the sin God will pardon it but if the heart go not along with the duty he will not own it weak performances are accepted where the heart is right glorious actions are abominable where the heart is rotten Now the heart by nature is polluted and must be cleansed it is deceitful and if not lookt to will betray us and when the heart is polluted the whole man is defiled and till this be cleansed a man is neither fit to live nor fit to dye nor after death to come to Judgment Get therefore the heart purified by Faith or never think to dye comfortably or happily 9 Direction As the Heart must be purged from sin so 't is necessary that it be replenished with Grace for without this you can neither dye a happy nor comfortable death for these are the Divine qualifications which God hath made necessary to salvation this is the Oyl which the wise Virgins had in their Vessels Mat. 25.4 c. their Hearts which the foolish did want and therefore were shut out of the Bride-chamber This is the wedding-garment without which you will be bound hand and foot Mat. 22.1 and cast into outer darkness this is the Sheep-mark of Christ those that have it he will own and place them at his right hand when all other like reprobate Goats shall be set on the left This is the Ticket whosoever hath it shall be admitted into Heaven and whosoever hath it not Heaven gates will be shut against him now how can that man be happy or comfortable in death that hath not this Oyl this Wedding-garment this Sheep-mark nor this Ticket that hath nothing to shew for Heaven and happiness or why he should not go to Hell and misery These Graces are the Jemmes and Jewels that adorn the Spouse of Christ and make her amiable in his eyes this is the differencing badge between the Children of God and the men of the World that shall have their portion in the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone These these are the Evidences Believers have for Heaven and by these it is they hold God to his bargain for he hath told them he that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be condemned This is the witness of the Spirit for 't is the Spirit that worketh those graces in the soul and also enables the Soul to read them thus written in the heart by the Spirit and so the Spirit witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Now can any man willingly leave a present Inheritance that hath no assurance of any for the future Holiness is the Image of God the Livery that all that go to Heaven are clad with and though now it be out of fashion at death our greatest Gallants would willingly be found in this Livery yea Balaam himself would dye the death of the righteous though he liked not his life other Jewels adorn the Body but this adorns the Soul these have this excellent vertue they make a man live holily and dy happily none can miscarry that wear them these make men dye securely but it is also requisite that they know they have them for sometimes Believers lose their comforts for want of clearing up their Evidences for Heaven 't is necessary that a man have grace and 't is comfortable to know he hath it to have it in the habit sufficeth not if he act it not he must not only have faith but he must live by faith and by faith suck sweetness from the promises this will make a man look death in the face
couldst thou preserve it from the hands of violence and therefore 't is best leave it in his hands where it is or wouldst have God preserve thy life as long as thou pleasest and till thou think 't is fit to dye why dost think thou canst put such a clause into the Covenant or dost think 't is fit it should be put in wouldst thou have God alter his eternal decrees for thy sake Oh the folly of such a conceit the pride of such a desire thou thinkest the life of the bruit beast should be at thy dispose to save or to destroy as thou thinkest fit and yet thou thinkest thou dost them no wrong if thou kill them and why because thou callest them thy own but hath not God a better right to thee than thou hast to them He gave thee thy life but thou gavest them not the life thou takest But 't is a violent death thou fearest and wouldst not fall into thine enemies hands but if God make them his Messengers they are thy Friends though unwillingly and promote thy glory they cannot act without him and therefore look not at the rod but at the hand that holds it The King of Assyria was sent as a scourge by God to do his work Isa 10.7.15 to reform his people Howbeit he meaneth not so neither doth his heart think so but it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations not a few c. Shall the Ax boast it self against him that heweth therewith or shall the Saw magnify it self against him that shaketh it c All are but instruments in the hand of God they do his will and what he appoints as Jehu cut off Ahabs family at his command yet God punisht him for it because he aimed not at Gods glory in the work but at his own greatness wicked men can neither maintain their own lives when God calls for them neither can they take away thine by their own power for they can have no power but what they have from above and if thou see Gods hand and seal to their Commission murmur not at it for 't is not want of love to thee that made God set them on work nor any love to them that made him imploy them but it was to fill up the measure of their sins that they may be ripe for Judgment and to fill up the measure of thy sufferings that thou maist be ripe for glory The same love that sent Christ into the world to dye for thee is exercised in sending thee to dye for him in the one he prepared a King dom for thee in the other he calls thee out of the world to enjoy it By Christs death there is a possession purchased and by thy death thou art put into the possession of it and what hurt is in all this there is thy life yea Eternal Life put into the lease of it Never fear miscarrying iâ— thou wilt be ruled by God for if thou shouldest either it will be want of power want of wisdom or want of love thaâ— shall occasion it not want of power for the Lord is El-shaddai God alsufficient able to remove all the rubs that lye in the way thy enemies they cannot hurt thee without him for they cannot breathe without him nor move a finger but by his assistance Neither can they out-wit him for he is Omniscient the only wise God Isa 9.6 the everlasting counseller the Prince of peace who knows how to deliver his people and to reserve the wicked for the day of wrath they cannot hide their counsels from him for he is every where present if they dig down to Hell he is there also and can countermine them he hath wrought wonderfully for the preservation of his people witness Noah Daniel the three children Jonah Israel in Egypt the Jews in Hamans time Peter Athanasius Luther Calvin England and many others which he hath preserved against numerous enemies And for love never any hath discovered more than Christ hath done for his people and yet canst not trust Him with the dispose of thy life that lost his own for the good of thy soul Thou canst trust thy life in a narrow Ship upon the raging Sea for gain if thou think thou hast a skilful careful Pilot and darest not sail in those narrow seas to the port of Rest and Haven of happiness when God himself is thy Pilot and steers thy Ship when never any miscarried in the voyage Thou canst trust a Lawyer with thy Estate if thou think him honest and able and dost mistrust the everlasting Counseller with thy eternal Estate who neither can deceive or be deceived Thou wouldst trust a skilful Physitian with thy Body and take bitter pills and unsavoury potions if he prescribe them and darest thou not put thy life into the hands of the Physician of Souls in comparison of whom all others are Physicians of no value because he prescribes a little unpleasing Physick though no bitterer than needful If thou mistrust him with thy life either 't is because thou fearest he will deceive thee or may be deceived but this intrenches upon his wisdom or fidelity 't is better for a child be under his Fathers protection than his own much more for thee to be under Gods tuition than at thy own dispose he never yet betrayed his trust neither can any pluck thee out of Gods hands John 10.28 Rom. 8.21 he tells thee all things shall work together for thy good if thou love God and then why not death why not a violent death hath he not told thee Heb. 13.5 Mat. 16.18 he will never leave thee nor forsake thee and that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against thee and darest not take his word was he ever known to falsify it If life be good thou shalt have it if not why wilt desire it But art afraid lest he should deal with thee when he takes thee hence as the Prophet did with the Syrians lead thee to Samaria when thou thinkest thou art going to Dothan lest thou shouldst go to Hell with hopes of Heaven in thy mouth Never fear if thou carry thy Evidences for Heaven with thee he will never disinherit thee Christ will not lose the purchase of his blood and thou shalt not lose what he hath purchased for thee If it be good for thee to dye why wouldst thou live A child cannot choose so well for himself as his Father can and God knows better than thee what is belt Many are loth to open a Vein and yet in some cases 't is best yea to cut off a Limb may be necessary though painful the sensual faculty here must be ruled by the rational that is not alwaies best that is most pleasing to the Appetite If thou leave it to God what death thou shalt dye he will make the best choice for thee he will lay no more upon thee than he gives thee strength to bear and through Christ assisting thee thou
everlasting why haltest thou between two opinions 1 King 18.21 if the Lord be God follow him and if Baal be God follow him If God be better than the world follow him fully and if the world be best then pursue it with all thy might but consider well what thou dost for this will be bitterness in the latter end Hast thou so long laboured and prayed and ran and wrestled for a prize that now seems not worth having dost thou now come within sight of Heaven and doth thy heart fail thee Hast thou put thy hand to the plow and now lookest back didst thou begin in the Spirit and wilt now end in the flesh wilt thou be like wicked men and Seducers that grow worse and worse Hath the world bribed thee or the Devil stopt thy mouth Take heed thou make not Judas's purchase or Demas's choice If thou change thy master consider what is his wages as well as what is his work and if this please thee go on Dost thou want nothing here to make thee happy that thou art so loth to away well let me tell thee if thou miss of Christ thou wilt want nothing to make thee everlastingly miserable if the world be all thou expectest then 't is no wonder thou art so loth to leave it for who can willingly part with his only Happiness and be stript of all his desired enjoyments and not only so but enter into everlasting misery for so they will do that have their portion in this life and those that make the world their God or love any thing though it be life it self above Christ 'T is no wonder that these fear the Pursevant that fetches them to execution and drags them to Hell He that hath the world for his All will be loth to lose all at one cast these may look upon death as one that comes to torment them before the time death to those is like as Belshazzars hand-writing was to him a terror and amazment and there is nothing that is in the world can speak peace to such a soul if his conscience be awake 'T is not Lucretius his Epicurean Rules nor Anacreons wanton Odes can then lull it asleep or cease the barking of it or shift off the terror of death A wounded Spirit who can bear but one that believeth that death is but a gathering to his Fathers a sweet sleep a going to Christ and being with him and that the body though laid in the grave shall not be lost but raised up again at the last day and made like unto the glorified body of Christ How unsuitable is it for such to be terrifyed with the apprehensions of it but the thoughts of the Immortality and the Incorruptibility and the Spirituality and Glory of the body at the Resurrection should drown the noise silence the doubts and fears of the danger that lies in the way and the pains and pangs of death it self The pains of death to these are worse than being dead and this is but a flea-biting to the joy that follows but to the wicked the pain of dying is nothing in comparison of the consequences of death and the tormenting pains of the second death for were Hell no worse than the pangs which dying men suffer it were not so formidable Rev. â— 6 6.16 In misery men shall seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to dye and death shall flee from them then will they say to the rocks and mountains fall on us and cover us c. 'T is wonder how wicked men can eat and drink and sleep and all this while know they are in debt and danger yea that there is a Sergeant ready to arrest them whensoever the Creditor will and to cast them into prison out of which they are never like to get sure some judiciary hardness is falne upon them that they are sleeping thus on the top of the Mast and playing securely before the mouth of the Lyon or before the Cannons mouth and are more insensible than brute Beasts of their danger approaching yea they hasten their death and misery by the intemperance of their lives and sacrifice not only their health but life also to Lust and Drunkenness to luxury and excess and will not suffer Nature to spin out the thred of their lives to the utmost extent but put a period to it themselves and cut off the thred of their lives with their own hands these men run headlong to Hell and wilfully upon death which they had cause most of all to fear and avoid The apprehension of approaching death is not the same to those men and to others that believe that death will end all their miseries and land them into everlasting happiness the same Judge absolveth the innocent and condemns the guilty and those men have not the same apprehensions of him the one longs for his coming the other fears it 'T is rather a wonder that the Saints that have assurance of their future glory do not long for the time of their dissolution and seek to hasten it by some illegal way than use any indirect means to live when they are called to dye I know the former is unlawful for we must keep our station while God appoints us and so is the latter for we must come off the Centinel when he calls us but it is more natural to desire happiness than misery and to use indirect means to procure the former than the latter We read in the primitive times when many Christians were to suffer of a Woman and her children that were hasting to the place and being met by one of the persecutors who demanded whither she went and why she made so much haste she answered She was a Christian and hearing many Christians were that day to suffer she hasted with her children to suffer with them and feared lest she should come too late Ignatius was afraid lest the Prayers of the Church should prevent him of suffering for Christ and of his Crown of Martyrdome These had not such fearful apprehensions of death as thou seemest to have Sure those that look for perfection by death should not be afraid of it and if these tabernacles of our bodies must down what matter is it whether they are taken down or burnt down seeing the materials both waies will be preserved the one turns them to dust the other to ashes and in a little time they will moulder of themselves into dust Death to the godly is but a parting of two intimate friends the Soul and the Body for a time and both the one and the other will be gainers by the separation the Soul goes immediately to Heaven and the Body lies in the grave for a season and shall thence be raised in unspeakable glory and God will build it up again an habitation for the soul at his own proper cost and charges Death to them is but a Gaol-delivery where the soul that hath been long a prisoner shall be set
bestowed upon wicked men will off also If thy Name be written in the Book of Life it matters not much if it be blotted out of the world if God remember thee it matters not much though the world forget thee What though the Habitation wherein thou livest know thee no more if thou art acquainted in Heaven it matters not much though haply the place may be recorded for thy sake Psal 87.4 5 6. For of Zion it shall be said this or that man was born in her and the Highest himself shall establish her the Lord shall count when he writeth up his people that this man was born there What matter is it to thee where thou wast born if now thou hast a better habitation thou hast never had any abiding place since thou wast born but posted from one place to another by an over-ruling Providence and never in any long settled Habitation having above twenty times changed thy dwelling many times against thy will and most times by an unexpected Providence And sometimes when thou hast pitcht thy Tent and said Surely I shall dye here Numb 10.12 the Cloud hath removed and thou hast been forced to march some Providence or other gave a check to thy conceits and if thou live longer thy future condition is not like to be more settled thou hast been a wayfaring man all thy dayes even from the Morning of thy Life and so thou art like to be till thy Sun be set And for some season thy own house would not own thee thy own doors were shut against thee and thy nearest Relations durst not entertain thee though no flagitious crime was charged upon thee Many a place that did know thee is now strange to thee and thou art a stranger to it and if this become strange also 't is no great matter If thou art of a Peasant made a Prince and from a Countrey Cottage brought into the possession of a Kingdom never complain what wrong death hath done thee Or is it thy work thou art so unwilling to leave or art thou ready to say Alas what will become of these poor Sheep in the Wilderness 1 Sam. 17.28 if the Shepherd be smitten they will be scattered 't is well if there be so much care of them Paul indeed having the care of all the Churches upon him was driven into a streight whether to choose Life or Death yet to dye he knew was best for him but to live for them but I fear there are few like-minded that naturally care for the Church for all seek their own not one anothers welfare but the argument may be retorted If thou which hast been a Shepherd fly when thou seest the Wolf coming how shall the Sheep stand if thou turn thy back upon Christ and rather deny him than suffer for him what woful work will this make among the Sheep if thou refuse to seal thy Doctrine with thy blood what encouragement shall they have to own their profession to the Death when the Captains run what havock will the enemy make among the Souldiers but what will thy Life add to any mans happiness or thy Death diminish from thy own If the chief Husbandman take thee out of the Vineyard 't is but to make room for other Labourers for his work shall not stand if he stop thy mouth he will open the mouths of others his work shall be done whether thou live or dye Thou art almost laid aside as a broken Vessel and if he break thee quite the matter is not much there will be little loss And if thou live thou art in a capacity of doing little good but if thy Sun set at Noon God will not diminish thy wages Luk. 9.62 if he take the Plough out of thy hand he will not blame thee for looking back those that workt but one hour in the Vineyard had their penny but thy Sun is almost set the shadows of the Evening are stretched out Jer. 6.4 and Nature it self will shortly end thy dayes and cut off the thred of thy life if thou shouldst spin it to the utmost extent and yet art so loth to have it broke off a little before the time if thou hast imployed thy Talent well God will not chide thee that thou hadst it no longer he doth not require so much use for the half-year as for the whole nor so much work to be done in the half as in the whole day in the Vineyard If he call thee hence to serve him elsewhere he expects thou shouldst obey for thy praises in Heaven are as pleasant to him as thy Preaching upon Earth and for the Church of God take no care he that hath made provision for it this five thousand years he will not leave it now and can do his work without thee and if God take away thy life he will take away thy work and lay thy burden upon others shoulders The same stroak that lets out thy life le ts out thy sin and sin being gone the consequents fruits and effects of it cease also which are labour and sorrow Job 3.17 18. and in the grave the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest Death may be sweet to those to whom Life hath been bitter and though death may destroy thy Body yet shall it have no dominion over thy Soul Eccles 12.7 the Spirit returns to God that gave it The body is but a crazie Pitcher and no wonder if it break nay 't is a wonder it hath run through so many dangers and is not yet broken and when it is broken 't is but of the same Clay to make a better by the same Potter Thy life is precious indeed and should not be sold but not so precious as to be bought at such a rate as the loss of the Soul What wise man will sell the Jewel to redeem the Box Christ lost his life for thy Souls redemption and wilt thou not lose thine for its preservation Temporal death is the only in-let to Eternal Life but to seek to save thy Life when Christ and his Cause require it is the ready way to eternal death to lose it in this case is to save it and the way to get the greatest gain and to prevent the everlasting separation of soul and body from God which is the second Death But Death of it self cannot seperate from God Rom. 8.28 29. and however it may make the body loathsom in the eyes of men and undesirable to near Relations yet it cannot make it unlovely in Gods eyes or move him to forsake it and though it do fall into the earth and rot there 't is but as seed sown into the ground to spring up with more advantage it is a part of Christs Purchase and shall not be lost 1 Cor. 6.19 't is the Temple of the Holy Ghost and though it be ruined 't is but to be rebuilt and not one pin of it shall be wanting for the Grave
thou wilt of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting though thou hast Preached the Word to others thou thy self mayest be a Cast-away Thou maist be like to the Builders of Noah's Ark and make a Ship to save others and thy self be in the Flood or like unto the Sign at the Ale-house door that tells the Passenger where he may have shelter and yet thy self remain in the storm if thou turn thy back upon Christ notwithstanding all the Profession thou hast made he will turn his back upon thee If thou deny him before men and deny him thou dost if thou wilt not lose thy life when his cause requires it he will deny thee if thou be ashamed of him he will be ashamed of thee and he will never admit such to the Wedding if thou knock he will not open but bid thee an eternal farewell with a Verily I say unto you I know you not View a little the place appointed for Backsliders and see how thou likest of it Jude 6. The Angels that kept not their first Station but left their Habitation are reserved under blackness of darkness for ever and dost believe God will have more Mercy upon thee than upon them if thou commit the like sin 't is a folly for those that remain all the day idle and will not go into the Vineyard and yet expect wages at night but 't is egregious folly for thee that hast born the burden and heat of the day and when the shadows of the evening are stretched out and the Sun is almost set to depart in a pet and leave thy Master and lose thy wages God hath plainly told thee Ezek. 33.12 that if a Righteous man shall leave his Righteousness and do that which is evil all his Righteousness shall not be remembred in his sin he shall dye If now thou revolt all thy pains for Heaven is lost and wilt thou wilfully lose forty years work and wages he that runs a race though he run never so well if he stop before he come to the end or turn back will lose the Race as sure as if he had never set out he that acts his part never so well upon the Stage and fail in the last act will miss of his applause If thou deny Christ thy life thou wilt lose it but if thou be willing to sacrifice thy life for his sake it may be he will never require it yet shalt not thou lose thy reward but if thou deny it thou wilt lose it and thy self with it if God be not glorified by thee he will be glorified upon thee in thy destruction if thou lose thy Soul to save thy life thou makest a bad bargain The loss of a Joint or Limb may haply bring tears from thy eyes Mat. 16 2â— but what is this to the Soul and this will necessarily follow upon denying of Christ The essence and being of the Soul will not be lost this will be thy misery it shall not be annihilated or come to nothing this would be good news to a wicked man and the Atheist would willingly court himself into the belief that the Soul of man is breathed out as the Soul of a beast but this will not be nay happy would it be for them if the Soul were divisible as the body and the infernal Spirits should rend it into a thousand peices till it were rent to nothing this then were the worst it could suffer but there is a living death and a dying life if the Soul of man did expire with his breath as the soul of a beast and the whole compositum the whole man were reduced into the horrid estate of nothing to feel neither weal nor wo as the Atheist and Epicure perswades himself it were not so much but it must run parallel with the longest line of eternity and shall neither dye nor sleep with the body for this Lamp of Gods own lighting this fire of his kindling will not out the matter of it cannot be consumed hell fire will soon awaken those Atheists and light them to see their own folly and mistake yet the flame thereof cannot consume the Soul for it will prove fuel to feed those infernal and eternal flames the fire whereof never goeth out neither will the powers and faculties thereof be lost the fire will not consume them but they will be heightned and made capable of these eternal miseries and hellish torments the understanding which now is dark and by them purposely blinded shall then be inlightened they shall then better know the worth of the things they have slighted the vanity of the things they have chosen the Happiness they have lost and Misery that they are like to suffer The memory then will be enlarged and tell them of the means of Grace they have had and slighted the motions of the Spirit they have rejected the sins they have committed the duties they have omitted the covenants they have made the resolutions they have had of better obedience and by how weak temptations they have been overcome the threatnings they have had if they went on in a sinful way all which are now made good on them their conscience then will fly in their face and will not be quiet then will their evil deeds stare them in the face and say we are thy works and we will follow thee then they will call to mind at how low a rate Heaven and happiness God and glory were sold by them then their sins will cry out we are thine Jer. 17.1 and they will be ingraven upon the conscience with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond which cannot be blotted out Now thou canst lull conscience asleep or check it that it may hold its peace but then it will not be bribed but will be like a waking Lion rending the very caul of the heart and prove a never dying worm which shall feed upon thee for ever All the faculties of thy soul will then bear a part in this tragedy these will then tell thee thy God thy Saviour thy Redeemer thy Heaven thy happiness thy All is gone everlastingly gone past all hopes of recovery and all thy hopes are dasht and nothing left but endless easless and remediless torments This is the news that will continually ring in thine ears Oh what a sad what a sorrowful parting will there then be between the Soul and Body expecting a sad meeting O cursed body may the soul say for thy sake and at thy request I have denyed my God and now will he deny me I was so indulgent to thee I have undone my self to spare thee I have wounded my self to save thee a little longer I have procured eternal torments to us both to save a temporal life we are like to dye eternally Oh my soul if by denying to dye for Christ thy natural life be prolonged yet thy spiritual death will be hastned and after a few dayes this natural life which now thou purchasest at so dear
a rate will be required of thee and God will send such a messenger that shall not be resisted Isa 5.11 and notwithstanding all thy shifts and evasions thou must obey and notwithstanding all the sparks of thine own kindling thou must lye down in sorrow And whatsoever bait it was the Devil took thee with and perswaded thee by it to make such a foolish bargain this will be gone also if it were thy Estate that thou wast loth to leave leave it thou must and if thy Relations tempted thee to stay stay thou canst not with them when thy time is come nor stay them with thee when God commands them hence Nay the world it self to thee shall be no more Nay the time is coming the World and all the works therein shall be burnt up And where is thy happiness then Thou must at death and that is not far off bid an everlasting farewell to all earthly enjoyments never more to solace thy self in any earthly enjoyment But were this the worst both the good and bad would fare alike but here lyes the difference the one parts with what he can well spare the other with all his portion the wicked at death part with all that is really as well as imaginarily good not only temporals but spirituals also Thou must bid farewell to all the Holy Angels and glorified Saints never more to enjoy their society They will be ashamed of those that are ashamed of Christ yea and rejoyce in thy destruction Thou must then bid farewell to all thy carnal delights to all thy merry company and Jovial companions and to all the things thou tookest delight in here below yea to all the pleasures delights and Joyes at the right hand of God for evermore those rivers of unmixed Joyes and delights which eye hath not seen ear heard tell of neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive of to these thou must bid an eternal adieu and in the room of them thou must have eternal misery wo and alas for evermore And instead of this blessed company and holy society and these Celestial Joyes be hurried with the Devil and the damned into the Lake of fire and brimstone out of which is no hope of redemption and these shall be thy tormenting and tormented companions The place whither thou art to go is not any lightsome dwelling but a dark dungeon a dismal prison the tongue of man cannot describe it Jovim 'T is reported that Actiolinus a tyrant of Padua had a prison wherein the prisoners were laden with irons starved with hunger eaten with vermin and poysoned with stench for the dead bodies lay rotting among the living Here death might come in without knocking and those were most miserable that lived longest and those best that dyed first but this was a Paradice compared to hell The others punishment was short this to eternity that reacht only the body this the soul also death quickly enters into the one but cannot enter into the other for they shall be tormented for evermore Oh gulph full of horror and despair Oh eternity of torments the very thoughts thereof may make the stoutest spirit quake and tremble Here Dives lodgeth in flames of fire instead of his soft bed he is scalded with thirst and his sweet cups are taken from him and his food is new fire and brimstone and for his insulting joy he hath now gnashing of teeth In hell there are no Holy-dayes no Festivals no set times in which the fire shall cease burning Here thou must for ever swim naked to all eternity in this lake of fire and brimstone where thou canst find neither bank nor bottom here the wicked as tares shall be bundled together Drunkards with Drunkards Swearers with Swearers and one Apostate with another But the greatest loss which the damned have yea the very top of their misery is the loss of God himself blessed for ever in whose favour there is light and his loving kindness is better than life if thou miscarry thou shalt lose Father Son and Holy Ghost the beatifical vision wherein consists a believers happiness thou shalt never see his face in glory but shalt be everlastingly separated from him thou shalt never come into his presence never enter into his Courts never tread upon that pavement where the Angels and glorified Saints do inhabit there is a vast gulph fixed between you Luk. 16.26 that thou canst not pass thou wilt never enjoy one smile from the face of God or one kiss from the mouth of Christ but must go from him with a curse and not a blessing Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire Mat. 25.41 together with the Devil and his Angels Oh fearful sentence a thousand thousand rentings of the soul from the body is not so bad as one renting of the soul from God which is the life of it The loss of God will prove the greatest loss the loss of life is but a flea-biting in camparison of it for with him the soul is lost also yea the body which hath put thee upon so many temptations and for whose sake thou denyest Christ shall then be lost also and both soul and body to thy eternal horror shall be made capable of these hellish and eternal torments For there shall be pain of sense as well as pain of loss 'T is true Divines do think the former is the worst the loss of God and all that good is this sets the worm of conscience a gnawing which will never dye but there is also fire which will never out there is pain of sence as well as pain of loss And this is another part of Hell let me lead thee a little by the hand and let 's take a view of this part also let us look a little beyond death at the dangers that follow it and consider when this earthly habitation shall moulder into dust where thy dwelling shall be for ever Let us take a view of Hell which thou art to have into the bargain when thou soldest thy soul to save thy life and with Judas and Demas chosest the world instead of Christ let us view this region of the shadow of death which is thrown in to thy bargain But had I the tongue of men and Angels I were never able to describe the misery of the damned in Hell for no words in humane language can set it forth the Devil himself whose portion it is and the damned that feel it cannot do it they cannot fully discover the worst of a miscarrying souls condition If I could describe eternity I might do something to it and yet I should be at a loss as to the torments themselves yet perhaps I may lead thee by the hand and shew thee enough to convince thee that thou hast made a foolish bargain when thou denyedst Christ to save thy life and lost thy soul to gain a little longer time in the world and that this time thus gained was bought at a very great
rate The misery of a miscarrying soul is such that the consideration of it may send thee trembling to thy grave Here thou trucklest under a little pain and groanest out thy complaints Oh my Head Oh my Heart Oh my Bones Oh my Bowels But all this while thou hast some part free no distemper seizeth universally upon all parts at once or if it did it reaches only to the body the soul which is the noblest part is free this is not toucht Those that kill the body can do no more they cannot reach the soul but only as it sympathizes with the body but in hell there is no part free either of Soul or Body but all under hellish torments Here if thy back ake thy head may be well or if thy bones ake the heart may not be toucht but in hell all parts are affected not a finger free the rich Glutton had not his tongue excepted Luk. 16.25 neither could he get one drop of water to cool it but he was wholly tormented in this flame And not the body only but the soul also must suffer torments and that in every part power and faculty of it no part of the soul or body free and these hellish pains are not only universal but intolerable also and yet must be endured for the mighty God will preserve the soul and body in being inable them to live under these hellish sufferings Here the poor creature falls under the infinite wrath of the Great God which like a river of brimstone kindles this flame which shall never go out Isa 30.25 which while God is God shall never cease and this hellish fire seiseth upon the soul and body as the fire doth upon the lump of pitch or brimstone which being once kindled never shall expire Now though some few sparks of this wrath have faln upon the world yet the whole torrent of it is reserved for hell but we may judge of the Lion by his paw one drop of this Ocean drowned the whole world except eight persons and another drowned Pharaoh and his army in the red Sea one spark of it burnt up Sodom and Gomorrah Admah and Zeboim a little of it swallowed up Corah and his complices into the earth slew twenty four thousand Israelites at one time and one hundred fourscore and five thousand of Senacheribs Army in one night and many times ruines Kingdoms depopulates Countries and layes a fruitful land waste for the wickedness of the inhabitants Hundreds of examples may be given of this nature but all this is but a flea-biting to Hell torments which damned souls must undergo all this reaches but the body yet sometimes some flashes light upon the soul as fire into the the conscience as upon Cain Judas Spira Satomias a Louvain Divine which have made them weary of their lives yea to chuse strangling rather than life a wounded Spirit who can bear But all this is short of the torments of Hell which make up a compleat misery but what they are we are at a loss to know and because we cannot reach them let us yet reach a little towards them Thou hast heard of and in some measure felt tormenting diseases such as the Stone the Gout the Strangury the raging pain of aking teeth c. these make mens lives uneasy yea sometimes death desirable those thus tormented deserve pity yea and are pitied by those that see them but alas this doth but darkly shaddow out these torments but we have read of some that have suffered greater than those inflicted by men haply instigated by the Devil some have had their joints crackt upon the wheel tortured upon the rack others fleyed alive some have had their flesh pull'd off their bones with red hot pincers some have been pull'd in pieces with Wild Horses or the Arms of trees drawn together for that purpose some have been burnt at the stake some boiled in lead some rosted alive upon Gridirons iron chairs or in frying pans some hang'd up by the hand till they were dead some sawn asunder some famisnt some starved to death some put to one torture some to another whatever the wit of man or the policy of hell prompted the persecutors to to make their lives miserable and their deaths painful and this moved pity in some of the spectators but shall we chuse out the most exquisite of all those and compare it with the torments of hell alas it bears no proportion for though they were sharp yet short I have indeed read of some by the great Tyrant commanded to be fleyed alive and that they might be sensible of death as he said it was done by degrees that they were fourteen daies in dying this was savage cruelty but as the pains were short of hell torments for it only reacht the body so fourteen dayes was far short of eternity but if all those forementioned pains and tortures had been inflicted upon one man and all the rest that ever poor wretch suffered and if this mans life had been preserved under these torments one whole year what heart if not made of Adamant but would lament him most men would think him miserable yet this comes short of the case in hand Those pains that reach the body only and touch not the soul come short of hell torments that reach both body and soul and what is one year to eternity these are invented by men haply not without the advice of the Devil but hell torments are devised by God as a sufficient recompence for the breaking of his laws by men and Devils where the soul the nobler part of man as well as the body shall be tormented which neither man nor Devil but only God alone could do the soul which should have done God the greatest service shall no doubt have the greatest punishment because it should have ruled the body and yet did God the greatest dishonour and the Devil the most work The never dying worm like Titius's Vulture will alwaies feed upon them and yet they shall never be consumed It cannot be a hard bargain to part with a temporal life for an eternal Nay it is not at thy dispose whether thou wilt dye or no then it were not so much though yet too egregious folly for dye thou must but the business is whether thou canst prolong thy life with the loss of thy soul a little longer and but a little In all other sufferings thou mayst have some respite some ease but in hell there is none now thou graplest with a disease or at worst with a man but in this with the Almighty Here thou hast some friends to comfort thee to pity thee at least but there is neither comfort nor pity The Devil and his Angels will rejoice in thy torments for being tormented themselves they have no greater solace than in tormenting thee here thou wilt be for ever helpless and comfortless and shalt not have so much as one drop of water to cool thy tongue Lu. 16.24 Oh
conceptions can a brute beast have of a Rational being no better can we have of celestial things which are so far out of the reach of sense Kings are the highest degree of honour and dignity among men and therefore all the Saints are said to be Kings Kings wear Crowns and so do they but these Crowns are not made of gold but of Glory but what that glory is we yet know not God is the Sun of righteousness that casteth abroad his beams and the Angels and glorified Saints are as the Moon that are inlightned with his rayes and by reflexion become light and shine as the Stars in the Firmament by their borrowed light and how many millions of Suns then will appear at once in this Horizon which shall never set again Oh the wonderful love and mercy of God! that this body of clay shall then shine as the Sun and be made like unto the glorified body of the Lord Christ this is the place where sin and sorrow shall be no more they shall never enter these gates or ever reach the heart of any Believer no painful pang no hard labour no sickness no sorrow nothing that bespeaks evil shall ever enter but everlaststing Joy and endless triumph those that believe this and believe that they have a have a part in this they may well say with Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ If Cleombeotus hearing Plato's discourse of the Immortality of the soul hastened his own death that he might have the pleasure of another world well may a Christian though not lay violent hands upon himself yet wait every day when his appointed time come and cry out Come Lord Jesus come quickly Thus thou seest the place is glorious and the company delightful and adding more lustre to the place and more happiness to one another Here upon earth as thou art among sorrows and troubles so in a bad Neighbourhood even among men spiritually dead most thou conversest with are so and who but mad men would live among the tombes every family have some most families have all thus dead in trespasses and sins nay not only dead but infectious also every one hath some plague-sore or other running upon him and thou art apt to take the infection nay many are infected to the danger of the life of the soul and who would live in such an infected air in such a pest-house thou livest also amongst enemies some open some secret the latter many times worst of all some seek thy Estate by unjust dealing some would rob thee of thy good Name by detraction and reproaches by lyes and slanders others of thy liberty by persecution and some of thy life but the greatest enemies seek the destruction of both body and soul and all these lay snares in thy way to intrap thee many wait for thy halting and for an occasion to do thee a mischief but in heaven here is a good neighbourhood good society the inhabitants there are free from guile free from corruption self seeking every one loving another as himself and God better than all here both the Saints and Angels are perfect in Holiness without spot or stain without sin or sinful inclination here thou shalt sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of thy Father and have no worse company than the Spirits of just men made perfect It was Socrates the wisest of the Philosophers comfort when he was to dye that he should after death converse with Homer Hesiod and other excellent men in another world It was Cato's comfort against the pains of death that now he was to leave the Colluvies as he calls them that filthy sordid base unworthy company with which he was forc'd to converse those beastly belly-gods and that he should converse with the Souls of wise men departed But of all men in the world believers may comfort themselves that they shall in Heaven enjoy the company of Saints and Angels yea with God himself and come to the City of the great King Heb. 12.23 the Heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven for if the Society of the Saints were so delightful here when yet they had their Sins and Imperfections what will they be there when they shall be there when they shall be healed of all their corruptions if here they were Comely though black what will they be when they are without Spot or wrinkle here on Earth they are like fire-sticks setting one another on a flame of love provoking each other to love and to good works building each other up in their most holy faith exciting each others zeal for Gods glory and the common good watching over each other sympathizing each with other and helping to bear each others aflictions but oh how sweet then wilâ— their Society be when all imperfections shall be done away and they shall be perfect in holiness when nothing will appear but perfect Love Unity and Amity one with another when all shall be of one mind and every one shall speak the same thing and there shall be nothing to interrupt their joy or break their peace or frustrate their hopes or cross their wills Oh blessed Society between whom is no strife no contention no difference in judgment no discontent can arise where there is no hypocrite dissembler or hollow-hearted person among them but all mind all pursue the same thing the praise of their dear Redeemer when there is no Error in Judgment no disorder in the affections no disobedience in their wills no trouble in the conscience no defect in the memory Oh happy day when will it come when I shall enjoy those miriads of Angels and glorified Saints in glory here the Saints are tossed to and fro in the world as if they were not fit to live in it but there they come to their resting place this is their center where they are as firm as mount Sion and shall not be moved here is their work but there is their wages here is their suffering there is their Reward here is their pilgrimage there is their Country here they are subject to infirmities there they are made perfect in holiness here are those nimble Posts of Heaven Gen. 28.12 which Jacob saw ascending and descending upon the Ladder in his Vision these are Gods Army these are Believers Guardians and in Heaven they shall be their fellow Brethren here are the Noble Army of Martyrs that loved not their lives to the death whose garments were dyed red with their own blood Rev. 14. and now are made white in the blood of the Lamb here are the hundred forty four thousand John saw with harps in their hands which follow the Lamb which way soever he goes singing Halelujahs Salvation honour power and glory be unto our God here are the innumerable company which he saw out of all Nations and Countries and Languages which no man
neither Money nor Moneys-worth worth with thee as a Dowry yet will he make thee the largest Joynture his Covenants will be only to carry thy self to him as a loving and obedient Wife ought to do to her Husband to love him above all to obey all his Commands and to submit thy self to his dispose leave the Sin he forbids do the Duties he commands and forsake all others for his sake resolve thus to do give up thy self thus to him and thou needest not fear death for it cannot hurt thee for 't is but his Pursivant he sends to fetch thee home to his Fathers house where all things are made ready for thy Marriage with the Lamb when thou canst say Cant. 6.3 My beloved is mine and I am his thou art fit to Live and fit to Dye and not till then such a man that hath gotten a full gripe of Christ is sure that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities Rom. 8.38 nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Heighth nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to seperate him from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord 1 Cor. 6.17 for he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit As truely one as those members are one Body that are animated by the same Soul or as Husband and Wife are one flesh All that I am and have saith the Soul is his and all he hath is mine he that hath this full assurance of Faith looks death undauntedly in the face and goes gallantly to Heaven 5 Direct If you would Dye well your way is to Live well for a holy life alwayes ends in an happy death Heb. 12.14 and a sinfull life if true repentance prevent not alwayes hath a Tragical end for without holiness no man shall see God and how can such a man think then to come to Heaven when the beatifical vision of God is Heaven it self but no unclean thing Rev. 21.27 1 Cor. 6.10 no unrighteouss person shall ever enter there no dirty Dog shall tread upon that pavement As the tree falleth so it lyeth Eccles 11.3 and as death leaves us so Judgment shall find us Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Gal. 6.7 for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting He that sails towards Hell is not like to land in the Port of Heaven if he change not his course the way of Sin is the direct road to Hell and those that follow the broad Way will ere long enter the wide Gate but the way to Heaven is narrow and the gate strait he that swims down the stream is not like to find the fountain-head and he that goes down the hill is not like to come to the top but most men like dead Fish swim down the stream even into the dead Sea of Eternal perdition Exo. 23.2 Take heed therefore of following a multitude to do evil for the way to Hell is Broad and well trodden beware of evil Company lest thou learn to swear with Joseph to curse with Peter but be couragious for Heaven and valiant for the Truth 'T is better go to Heaven alone than to Hell with company to be with Noah in the Ark than with all the World in the Flood the way of Holiness I know is not in fashion but 't is never the more to be shunned for the small company that walks in it nor is the way of wickedness the more eligible because 't is thronged the way of Holiness haply may seem rugged and perplexed by reason of the stumbling-blocks laid in it 1 Sam. 14.4 13. like unto that of Jonathans and his Armor-bearers way that had sharp rocks on either side that they were forced to go upon hands and feet yet consider it leads to Happiness and who will not take pains for profit Sic petitur Coelum sed facilis descensus averni Heaven is got by pains and patience but a man may wink and go to Hell To come to Heaven Opus est pulveris non pulvinaris as one saith those that trade in Righteousness and Holiness are most likely to treasure up Happiness those that live uprightly to men holily to God and walk as Zachary saith Lu. 1.75 in Righteousness and Holiness before him all the dayes of their lives men may befool them but God will never condemn them these men never need to fear Death or any Messenger God sends Act. 23.1 24.16 the that hath made his peace with God and with Paul keeps a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Men though he may meet with troubles in his life he shall meet with Comfort at death when those that think to dance with the Devil all day and Sup with Christ at night to do the Devils work and to receive Gods wages that will not enter into the Vineyard and yet expect the penny will find themselves under a great mistake for his servants you are to whom you obey and from him you work for you may expect wages you will find at last that a Lord have mercy upon you will not serve turn Mat. 7.21 22. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity The like we see by the foolish Virgins that cried Lord Lord open to us but the door was shut against them and they kept out such mens hope will prove like the Spiders-web or the giving up the Ghost and but serve them as Absaloms Mule did him bring them to destruction and there leave them yet many verbal Professors we have that if Heaven will be had for fair words will have it but this is their best bid as Epictetus complained in his time That many would be Philosophers as far as a few good words would go but no further but it be those and those alone that make Christianity their daily trade and to please God their great design that are worthy the name of Christians when the heart is upright God accepts the Sacrifice as he did Abels when the heart is rotten he disowns it as he did Cains Those fly-blown Sacrifices such as the Pharisees offered will not down with God But when the chief design is to glorifie God Mat. 6.1 c. and that with a perfect heart like Josiahs with such Sacrifices God is well pleased such a man though he may lose something for Christ will never lose any thing by Christ death which sets a period
at liberty 't is but the bodies sleep and the Souls awaking the bodies death and the Souls resurrection wherein the Soul shall be freed from all those clogs which now presseth it down that it cannot mount up into those heavenly Regions and it shall live with God blessed for ever to eternity and is this a thing to be feared Hast not already had a sufficent time in the world that yet thou desirest more a thousand thousand have not lived so long and yet none of those in Heaven complain their time was too short upon Earth or that they came thither too soon and it would be hard to perswade them to return with a promise of all the Excellencies that the world affords This is the godly mans Purgatory and should he not rather pray to be delivered out than continued in it 't is his Hell all the Hells he is like to have and shall he take up his station here among miseries and troubles hadst thou in thy youthful daies had liberty to appoint out thy own time and bound the tearm of thy life haply thou mightest have thought the time thou hast already lived had been competent and truely if there be much more behind thou maist well fore-see it will be burthensome to thy self and troublesome to others by reason of thine infirmities The world hath not been so great a friend to thee as thus over eagerly to desire it thy Lord and Master and the most and best of his Servants have not found it so kind and thou hast had thy share of affliction even from thy youth up upon the account of Christ and his Gospel and must God put more gall and wormwood upon the breast to wean thee from the world wilt thou still linger and draw back like Lot in Sodom or like Israel dost quarrel at the promised Land because there are some Anakims to be subdued some troubles in the way and art ever and anon returning back into Egypt and longing after the Onions and Garlick and the Flesh-pots thereof Thou hast long since taken press-money and art now running away from thy Colours thou hast promised to be alwaies in a readiness and dost thou now frame excuses and woudlst be at thy own dispose and not at thy Captains Thou art in a journey and dost thou sit down at the stile and art glad when thou meetest with some stop by the way to hinder thee and is there nothing that thou fearest more than that thou shouldst come to thy journeys end too soon but haply thy work is not done and therefore thou darest not come into thy Masters sight but how dost create thine own shame in so saying hadst thou any greater business to do and of greater importance hast thou had time for every thing else and this not done art thou in a race and is a Crown of glory the prize if thou win and thy own Soul at the Stake if thou lose and hast been hunting Butterflies as thou wentest which when they are taken serve but to soul the fingers when thou didst expect the Bridegroom hast thou Slept and neither trimmed thy Lamp nor provided thy Oyl when thou wast bid to the Wedding hast provided no wedding-garment Thou hast been oft minded of this day yea thou hast often minded others also thou hast often had resolutions to do it how have these dyed and come to nothing many a time thou hast renewed thy Covenant with God and ratified thy baptismal vows In many a danger thou hast made large promises if he would deliver thee what thou wouldst do and what a reformed man thou wouldst be that thou wouldst double thy diligence and amend thy pace and have these resolutions been stifled and these promises broken Oh horrid Ingratitude what wouldst thou now desire of God mightest thou have thy wish wouldst thou desire to be immortal and never dye why this is impossible Gods decree is otherwise 't is contrary to Nature for this composition will work our destruction and 't is also inconstent with Grace then it might be thy trouble that thou wast made a man Or wouldst thou live to old age but how old wouldst thou desire to spin out thy life to an hundred alas what a life of misery wert thou like to lead and when that time came haply thou wouldst be as unwilling as now and would not Thirty or Forty years be as delightfully spent in Heaven as upon the Earth thou hast far more cause to complain of the wickedness than the shortness of thy time Many that have had a shorter time have done a great deal more work in it than thou hast done If thou live long thy corruptions will not dye for age a hard winter will not kill the weeds of sin these may flourish when thy body decayes and old age is not the fittest time for reformation and for preparation Old age is like an old Tree it will hardly bend when a young tree is pliable when thou comest to give an account of ill-spent time thou wilt think the reckoning large enough if thy receivings are great thy account will not be small If thou improve thy talents well and God take them quickly out of thy hand he will never blame thee thou hadst them no longer nor require an account of thee for the time thou hadst them not 't is fit the Master not the Servants should determine what talents each one should have and how long for 't is fit he dispose of his own goods as he pleaseth The longer God makes the lease of thy life the greater fine or the more rent is to be paid for God will not be a loser by thee well if nothing else will serve God may deal with thee as he hath dealt with others whip thee home by some severer scourge than yet thou hast met with and punish thee seven times more for this sin and make thee glad to return home as he did holy Job whose afflictions were so great that he chose strangling rather than life he may lay thee under some raging pain some torturing disease some tormenting distemper and so make thee weary of thy life or he may make thee spend the rest of thy dayes in prison and suffer hardship there or he may make thee to be a Turkish Gally-slave as many are chained to thy Oars or he may reduce thee to extream wants and penury to beg thy bread from door to door to endure much hardship hunger and cold as many Protestants did in the Irish Massacre and thus by putting more gall and wormwood upon the worlds Nipple he can wean thee from the immoderate love of it and the immoderate desire of life Oh my soul wilt thou force thy loving Father to lay heavier stroaks upon thee than ever he did Oh how unsuitable is this immoderate desire of life and fear of death and murmuring under a divine dispensation of Providence to a Christian to an ancient Professor to a Minister can any reason be given why God
't is but the weakness of thy faith and love or thou wouldst not desire to be absent from Christ upon such poor tearms Oh the hourly danger thou art in by reason of enemies without within and round about thee Oh the dangerous snares they lay for thy feet Oh the fears the cares and manyfold troubles thou daily meetest withall enough to make thee weary of thy life and with Job to wish for death and wilt not indure a little pain when it would set thee out of harms way out of the Devils reach or mans malice The love of Christ in the Martyrs was hotter than the flames they burnt in they could cry out None but Christ none but Christ true love desires union with the party beloved and how canst thou say thou lovest Christ when thy heart is not with him when thou desirest not his company or to enjoy him thou pretendest love to him and yet art willingly desirously absent from him and wilt not come to him at his call but wilt rather deny him and thy interest in him thou cal'st him thy Husband and pretendest thou hast devoted thy self wholly to him and given up not only thy Name but thy Heart to him and promised to forsake all other for him and obey him whoever was disobeyed yet when it comes to the trial with Demas thou choosest the world before him thou wilt not obey him neither forsake the world for him but lovest thy life above him what hypocrisie what dissimulation is this to pretend to follow him and yet really run from him when he calls thee well may he give thee a bill of divorce and put thee away who dost thus wilfully desert him Thou hast preacht for him and spoke for him and suffered for him but all this will not serve thy turn if thou love any thing above him thou must give up all or thou canst not have him he will admit of no Rival he will have the prevailing degree of thy Love or thou shalt have none of him if thou prize thy life above him he will prize himself to be too good for thee 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3. for love is to him more acceptable than any Sacrifice his love to thee made him exchange Heaven for the Earth and glory for misery and will not thy love to him make thee willing to exchange Earth for Heaven and the Creature for God though a wife pretend love to her husband yet if in her husbands absence she desires not his return and refuseth to go to him 't is a sign her love is cold and she hath something else she affects above him that she hath dealt treacherously with him and placed her affections elsewhere Were thy love to thy Lord and Husband but as strong as a covetous mans love is to his Riches or an ambitious mans to his Honour or the unclean persons to his Lust thou wouldst not think a little pains too much to enjoy him for these run through the pikes of danger to obtain their end and bring about their designs and though Damnation lye in the way they will venture one and march up into the Cannons mouth and expose themselves to the everlasting destruction of Body and Soul which is a thousand times worse than death it self before they will fail in their enterprize Did but thy heart pant after God as Davids did Psal 42.1 2. thou wouldst long for the time when thou shouldst appear before God hadst thou but a believing sight of the Heavenly Canaan and its glory thou wouldst then see the worlds emptiness vanity and misery and be more senbsile of thy wilderness troubles and long to pass over this Jordan thou wouldst be more willing to leave the one and go to the other But it may be 't is not thy dispute whether Heaven or Earth be the better choice but thy own Interest that thou questionest some enjoyments thou hast here and loth thou art to leave them till thou art sure of better but hath not this been thy objection many years and hast not yet got over this stile why how hast thou spent thy time what hast thou been doing what is the result of thirty or forty years trial of the estate hadst any greater work lay upon thy hand did not God send thee into the world upon this very business and hast thou spent thy time in hunting Butter-flyes or weaving the Spiders web to catch flyes all this while how canst eat or drink or sleep in quiet without some comfortable assurance when thou knowest not but the next morning thou mayst awake with hell-flames about thy ears thou art sent to run a race to fight a fight to lay hold upon Heaven by violence and hast all this while sate idle Heaven and Earth may stand amazed at thy folly If God allow thee more time what hopes is there that thou wilt make more haste or get clearer Evidence for Heaven think not that to deny Christ thy life when he requires thâ—â—â—o lay it down for him is to gain time for better preparation nay it layes such a barr in thy way to Heaven which it is much to be feared thou wilt never remove the very thoughts of using this unlawful means to save thy life do evidence that grace is either weak or wanting in thy soul Time was thou didst carry thy life in thy hand and hold forth the contempt of the world and mad'st a shew that thou matteredst the world no more than it did thee and that thou didst believe true happiness was not to be had under the Sun and is thy judgment now altered and in thy elder dayes art thou grown more wise and by diligent search hast found out thy mistake and not only thine but the mistake of all the godly and now dost begin to grasp after the world and art loth to leave it why dost not recant in publick why dost not discover to the people thy former errour and bid them look for their happiness here Wisd 2. â— 9. and crown themselves with rose-buds before they wither let us be partakers of our wantonness let us leave some tokens of our pleasure in every place for that is our portion and this is our lot Is this the doctrine thou wouldst have others believe and the counsel thou wouldst have them take if not why dost thou give them an Example to choose thy portion here and let Christ which was thy pretended portion go and grasp after that little which the world calls Portion so greedily and why art thou so loth to go where true Treasure is to be had why dost choose to be tossed to and fro by the billows of this raging Sea and endure the tempest and storms of trouble rather than come into a safe Harbour an Heaven of rest because the mouth of it is straight and the entrance uneasie Dost thou put thy self into the case of the wicked and dost expect their portion that thou lookest upon death as thy enemy also 't is
true it wounds thy body but thy Soul is safe but it destroyes them both in body and soul and it brings more profit to the soul than dammage to the body 't is but as the prick of a pin to a dangerous Ulcer which were it not prickt would prove mortal it will put an end to thy pains and a beginning to thy Joyes for when thy life expires sin also dyes and sin and sorrow are breathed out with thy life and from this day thy Lease in Heaven bears date which shall never expire Rouse up thy self O my Soul be not dejected God minds thee no hurt Death will not cannot hurt thee Kill me they may saith the Martyr hurt me they cannot the worst they can do is but to send me to my Fathers house the sooner Many a warning thou hast had many a Corps thou hast interred many a Funeral Sermon thou hast Preached for shame say not thou hadst not sufficient warning wast thou so mad as to think of going to Heaven another way or that thou wast immortal when thou sawest so many about thee dye daily or that thou shouldst live to old age when thou sawest so many dye young and felt so many sensible Symptoms of thy approaching death thou hast as thou didst suppose some grounded hopes that thou hadst a part in the first Resurrection and that therefore the second death on thee had no power and why then is death so terrible Many have more distempers in their Souls than in their Bodies 't is true this is thy case yet thou hast hoped thine are not mortal the malignity of the disease is over when many others have Plague-Sores running upon them these may expect death and have cause to fear it it will but heal thy distempers but inrage theirs thou hast had many meditations of death and many discourses with death and you did seem pretty well agreed thou hast looked death in the face and is he now become more terrible or art thou more timerous that when he comes to thy Bed-side draws thy Curtains and shakes thee by the hand thou tremblest hath Christ done thee no good by his passion by subduing Death disarming him pulling out the sting and trampling him under foot yea laying him prostrate at thy feet hath all the pains thou hast taken in heavens way workt no more upon thee set thee up no higher where now is thy promised obedience and thy prayers Thy will be done when thou art ready to resist Gods Will when 't is manifested and preferrest thine own before it why dost call thy Father the only wise God when thou thinkest thy own wit best and that thou knowest best when 't is best for thee to dye and wilt not submit to his will and that if thou wouldst speak out thy mind is to indent with Christ this thou wilt do or Suffer but not that this sin thou wilt leave but that thou wilt not thou wouldst pick and choose thy duties and take the easiest part of it and leave the difficult dangerous and costly part undone and wilt not have heaven at so dear a rate Thou pretendest a desire to be happy and who doth not Balaam desires the death of the righteous and that his end may be like his but they will not live the righteous mans life and thou art not willing to dye his death for he is conformable to the will of God both in life and death which is that thou dost dislike O my Soul some great thing is amiss with thee thy corruptions are as strong fetters to hold thee in the Devils Slavery thy grace is weak and cannot procure thy freedom the Devil is too cunning for thee the world subtil and thy own heart deceitful to betray thee into Satans hands Oh my God this is my condition this is the estate of my Soul here lyes my distemper the world lyes too close to my heart and Christ lyes at too great a distance my corrupt deceitful heart is ever and anon puting me on to choose this for my happiness a little Grace I see will not carry me through the temptations that lye before me but Lord speak the word and grace will flourish and corruption will dye thou hast said and I believe it that thou wilt not break the bruised reed Mat. 12.20 nor quench the smoaking flax till thou bring forth Judgment unto victory Lord I believe help my unbelief and let not my little grace be lost in the great heap of the rubbish of my corruptions Lord if thou open mine eyes to see the emptiness of the creature and the fulness of Christ then shall I love the one and despise the other Psal 119.32 and shall run the ways of thy Commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart I see no reason why I should be exempted from obeying thy Will even to the laying down of my life and though flesh and blood will not yield willing obedience to it yet 't is my resolution thus to do Lord strengthen my resolution I know my fears are the result of my Infidelity Lord strengthen my faith that I may overcome them for by thy strength I shall stand and without thy assisting grace I shall Apostatize and fall back Leave me not to my self for then I shall undo my self dishonour my God scandalize Religion bring a reproach upon the Gospel wound my Conscience break my Peace with my God and undo my Soul Luk. 9.62 Let me not O Lord now I have put my hand to the Plow look back again Nor when I have begun in the Spirit Gal. 3.3 end in the flesh Rev. 2.10 Lord make me faithful to the death and then give me a Crown of Life MEDITAT V. The World is not desirable to a Christian OH my Soul why art thou desirous to stay in the World and why so unwilling to go to thy Father The time was when thou wast otherwise minded thou lookedst upon it as Bochim a place of tears a Golgotha an unlovely habitation thou wast not willing to dwell in Meseck and in the tents of Kedar thy affections did like fire mount upward and what Load-stone hast now to draw thee back thou wast at a point with all things under the Sun and didst wear the World about thee as a loose garment ready to cast off upon all occasions and dost now spit upon thy hands and take better hold dost now set up thy Staff and with Peter say 't is good being here Art now beginning to build Tabernacles here and slight that house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens thou didst conclude with Solomon Eccles 1.14 All is Vanity and vexation of spirit and now at last hast found some solidity 2 Pet. 2.22 art thou now returnining with the dog to his Vomit and the washed Sow to her wallowing in the Mire are the Scales of ignorance now fallen from thine eyes and dost thou see some excellency in the worlds enjoyments that before
hast as much Grace as thou desirest why then dost pray for an increase and usest means to strengthen it Why Death will bring thee to perfection canst thou content thy self with a low frame of Spirit and a small measure of Grace why dost thou theâ— complain that thou canst not serve God with greater freedom and that thy duties are performed so deadly dully and drowsily and with so much distraction and yet art content with them as they are and longest not for the time when thou shalt serve him without distraction and never have wandring thought more thou complainest that thou feedest upon the husks of duty and findest not God in the duty and yet art willing to rest in this condition and longest not for the time when thou shalt solace thy self in his love serve him according to his will and enjoy him for ever dost thou do God as good service as thou desirest and doth he reward thee here according to thy content art thou fully satisfied and dost expect no more at his hands art thou satisfied for all thy duties losses crosses and afflictions if so why hast thou put up so many vain petitions wherein thou beggedst for greater matters nay what matter had it been if thou hadst never put up any petition for such a portion is given to those that never care to Pray Hear Read or do any Religious Duty but if thou expect a better reward why then art thou afraid of death which puts thee into the possession of it Why art thou afraid of having thy prayers answered and thy requests granted and a reward given thee an hundred fold if thou pressest after perfection why art thou afraid of it when it cannot be obtained on this side Death wouldst not have thy prayers granted death will conduct thee where it shall be done but it is in vain to expect it on this side Heaven art thou afraid of being called out of the Vineyard to receive thy wages and wilt rather lose thy labour than go home for thy pay hast so eagerly pursued after happiness and when thou comest within sight of it doth thy heart fall thee or wouldst thou find happiness where no man ever did or dost expect it to be sown in the furrows of thy field art thou searching for Honey in a Wasps nest None of these things can be had in this world they are reserved for Heaven sin will not dye till thou dyest nor leave thee till body and Soul are separated serve God thou canst not till thou come to Heaven without distraction thy graces will be imperfect thy knowledge weak thy love cold thy obedience imperfect and all thy Graces maimed and thy corruptions will be strong 1 Cor. 15.54 Lev. 14.44 till this corruptible hath put on incorruption and thi mortal hath put on immortality and these natural bodies become spiritual and then deathshall be swallowed up of Victory Sin in thee here is like a Leprosie in the House it will not be cleansed till the house be pull'd down it is in thy very nature and sticks as close as the skin to thy flesh yea as the flesh to thy bones and more close these may be separated but so cannot sin while we live till Death make the division this polluteth the heart which is the fountain and hence the streams are filthy for like corruption it lyes within and will break out in some botch or other the very heart and conscience the affections actions life and conversation are polluted so that thou maist say with the Leapers Vnclean Vnclean and thus it will be while thou art in the world and there is no other way to cleanse thee or make thee whole but passing under the stroak of Death this lances the Ulcer and heals the Sore and while sin goes before misery follows for this follows sin as the Shadow the Substance or the effect the cause and the same hand that cures the one heals the other also for in Heaven sin and sorrow shall be no more yea sorrow and sighing shall flee way and there shall be no more pain abut till we are rid of sin we shall never be rid of sorrow the natural effect of it Nil valet medicamentum dum ferrum in vulnere thou maist as well expect fire without heat or water without moisture or a stone without weight as sin without sorrow here thou maist expect to lie under an afflicted condition while thou livest and the holier thou art the worse entertainment thou art like to meet with in the world it will love her own but hate the godly as it hated Christ 't is a Step-mother to them but an own mother to the wicked these she nourishes but would starve the other if the their Father did not look to them It is by reason of sin that our lives are so bitter and we live inter suspiria lachrymas between sighs and groans here thou livest alwaies under the hatches 2 Cor. 12.7 and alwaies hast some thorn in the flesh some messenger of Satan sent to buffet thee and being amidst these storms and tempests driven from side to side and alwaies in danger canst thou fear a safe harbour when thou art weary canst thou be afraid of rest or being hungry or thirsty art afraid of meat and drink all manner of miseries attend us here in this vale of tears and whatsoever outward misery a wicked man suffers a child of God may suffer the like Eccle. 9.2 all things fall alike to all as to the good so to the bad and is not that Physician welcome that will free us from all these we pay our Physician if he heals us of one distemper our Surgeon if he cure one wound but death deserves more that cures us of all that is called evil here thou livest in the midst of thy enemies they are both within and without some seek thy estate others thy good name some thy liberty and some thy life and others thy soul and these lay snares accordingly to take their prey and dost thou choose to live in such a Neighbourhood thy very sences are the floodgates to let in sin thou canst scarcely open thy eyes or ears or any other sence but some bewitching object or other presents it self and the Devil baits his hooks with it to Angle for thy soul one vanity or other comes in at these windows either to provoke pride or covetousness or passion or luxury or some vice or other that lodges in the heart these are the five Cinque-Ports and here the Devil many times sails in with the Tide Jer. 17.9 And thy heart is deceitful also and desperately wicked and ready to betray thee into thine enemies hands thy very Relations many times prove a snare and either draw away thy affections inordinately to them or incline thee more to accept of life upon unlawful terms This was Spira's ruine thy Children and Servants many times prove thy trouble either beholding them under Sufferings or fearing
Moses shall come and bring it into the Heavenly Canaan and though Death in it self be a Punishment yea a curse threatned upon the fall and remains so still to wicked men to whom it is an inlet into eternal misery yet to the godly the curse is taken away by the death of Christ who for us was made a Curse and dyed that cursed death upon the Cross to take away the Malignity of it who by his death disarmed Death and took away his weapons wherein he trusted yea took away his sting that now thou maist put the Serpent into thy bosom and now Death is so far from putting an end to Believers happiness that it puts an end to their sorrows and is the very Gate to eternal Life and at the very stroak of Death in that moment of time their Joyes commence and their sorrows end death to the Wicked is a Pursivant sent from Hell to fetch them thither to the Godly a Messenger sent from their Father to bring them home 't is to the body but a quiet sleep free from hurtful dreams or fearful Visions The Grave is but a Bed of Roses perfumed by the Body of Christ a resting Chamber a Repository where God lays up his Jewels wherein thy dust will be kept as in a Cabinet and not one grain of it shall be lost Rev. 20.13 but the Earth the Sea the Grave and Hell shall then give up their dead and then both Body and Soul shall be received into the City of Pearl where no dirty Dog shall trample upon the Pavement when that Death hath done his Office the Angels shall do theirs and carry the Soul into Abrahams bosom and lodge it for ever in the arms of Christ and at the Resurrection when the Soul and Body shall be reunited they shall both be glorified for ever and freed from all mutation and change and all things else that may be called Evil when Death hath broken the Cage the Bird will be at liberty and sing sweetly when the prison Walls are pull'd down the prisoner will be free and is this that which thou fearest how many thousand deaths would a miscarrying Soul endure for Heaven at last yea if Eternity were spent in the continual feeling the very pangs of Death it would be much easier for a damned Soul if it felt no more than now it is and art thou so nice that thou canst not endure it for one Hour for one moment upon the promise of Eternal life Death brings in the Harvest of thy hopes the fruit of thy Prayers the reward of thy pains and of all the losses and sufferings thou hast had for Christ God is now sending for thee to make thee a King and wilt thou now withdraw thy self like Saul and hide thy self as he did when they sought him to make him King here lyes the perfection and end of thy Faith and of thy Hope the Salvation of thy Soul for these Graces as well as others are imperfect here here is the only place where happiness is to be had the only soil where hearts-ease grows and yet must God needs whip thee home or thou wilt not matter it well if now thou refuse to come at his call when thou call'st he may give thee no answer and when thou knockest he may not open but sure some root of bitterness lyes at the bottom either thou dost not believe there is such a happiness or that it is not thine or hast placed thine affections elsewhere and canst not remove them and made some other choice which thou wilt not leave Didst thou stedfastly believe that there was a reward for the Righteous and that thou art one of those that shall receive it how can this be reconciled with thy fears would any wise man take a great deal of pains for an Inheritance and then lose it all for want of taking possession thou hast in thy life-time 't is very like suffered a hundred times as much pain as thou art like to do at thy death and shall this dismay thee more than all the rest the day of Death is not so gloomy as 't is thought to be Solomon when he was upon his Throne in the midst of his Jollity commends his Cosfin Better saith he is the day of Death than the day wherein a man is born Eccles 7.1 Many of the wiser Heathens were of the same mind they wept and mourned at the birth of their Children to consider the troubles they were like to meet with in this troublesome World when they feasted and rejoyced at the death of their friends because their troubles were over and their rest was come and surely Believers have better ground of rejoycing than they had a more sure foundation for Faith and Hope to build upon Oh Death how pleasant is thy face to those acquainted with thee thou art black but comely to those that know thee thou art indeed attended with a little pain but with endless bliss the one makes makes thee feared the other beloved Oh my Soul let us draw a little nearer and take a more exact view of Death and see what is the worst hurt he can do us the best good he will bring us and compare the one with the other and compute the odds and see whether we can make a savers bargain of it and if so how little cause of fear we have It may be thou thinkest thou must part with all thy carnal Joys and worldly delights thy sensual pleasures thy merry Company and bid farewell to all thy merry meetings and pleasant Jokes with all thy Recreations Pastimes and pleasant Sports and be Buried in silence and laid in the dust and must bid thy pleasures adieu and poor Soul is this thy trouble and the cause of thy fear hast thou not better in exchange for them are there not more and more lasting Joyes in the presence of God Psal 16.11 Rivers of pleasures without bank or bottom at the right hand of God for evermore unknown Pleasures unseen Delights which no eye hath seen nor ear hath heard of neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive of such as no stranger shall ever meddle with Pro. 5.14 and will not those make thee amends Let the Epicures of the Age that choose pleasures for their portion plead this argument let the Drunkard howl when the new Wine faileth Joel 1.5 or when the Cup is snatched from his mouth Alas thou hast met with little Joyes and those mixed and the greatest part Wormwood and Gall a litttle Honey and many Stings a little bitter-sweet pleasure that ends in pain yea short and transitory in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is Heaviness but what are those to the Joyes unspeakable and full of Glory that is in Heaven 'T is true there are some that are the Sons and Daughters of pleasure Psal 73.5 That are not in trouble as other men neither are
plagued as other men Amos 6.4 5 6. They lye upon their Beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches they eat the Lambs out of the flock and the Calves out of the midst of the Stall They chaunt to the sound of the Viol and invent to themselves Instruments of Musick like David They drink Wine in Boles and anoint themselves with chief Ointment But they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph c. These may indeed fear a Change and dread the time when suddenly they shall go down to Hell but this is not thy condition Psal 73.14 for all the day long hast thou been plagued and chastened every Morning and thy drink hath been mixt with thy Tears The pleasures thou hast had have but tickled the Senses but reach not the Soul and true content thou never foundest in them If thou look back to thy youthful delights and childish vanities as they are passed away and have left nothing but a sting behind them so they should not be call'd to mind without sorrow and compunction of Spirit for many of them were the pleasures of sin yea the pleasure in sin sinfull pleasures which have wasted thy precious time and stole away thy heart from God and hindred thee from making usefull imployment of it and from more necessary business but in Heaven thou shalt have pleasure without satiety here thou art fain to use various pleasures to patch up a little of that which thou callest delight the pleasure of any one yea of the most delightful Recreations soon passeth away and becomes nauseous and leaves a sting behind but in Heaven thou wilt solace thy self with Eternal delight those pleasures which thou here callest by that name bear no more proportion to Heavenly Joyes than fire upon the Wall to true fire the former gives neither light nor hear though it have some dark resemblance of it But haply this may not be it that troubles thee 't is thy Estate which thou art to leave behind which sticks upon thy stomach for when thou dyest thou must leave all behind thee a great All sure and this also in exchange when for a handfull of Muck thou art like to have a handful of Angels Heaven for Earth and God for the Creature and dost repine at the bargain let those that have great Estates plead this argument not one that exchangeth Penury for Plenty and a Cottage for a Kingdom but doth not God seem to say to thee as sometime Pharaoh to Jacob Gen. 45.20 As for your stuff regard it not for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours Doth it grieve thee to leave this house of clay which will doubtless ere long moulder and fall about thy ears for a Mansion in Glory a House made without hands whose builder and maker is God Eternal in the Heavens Pebbles for Pearls Earth for Heaven and the Creature for God and is this the wrong Death hath done thee yea this is not all Death will put thee in possession of thy own here thou hast nothing thou canst call thy own but maist say of it as the Prophet of his Axe Alas Master 2 King 6.5 for it was borrowed here thou art a Tenant at will not only at thy Fathers will but at anothers will also and knowest not but thou maist be dispossessed before the years end but that is thine Inheritance here thou art a rack Tenant and hast much ado to pay thy Rent but there thou art a Free-holder and payest neither Rent nor Taxes what here thou hast is lent thee and for every Talent thou hast thou must give an account what there thou hast is given thee and thou hast ten thousand times as much under thy hands yet an account shall never be required Besides when thou art gone thou shalt have no need of the things here left behind for thou goest to a house ready furnisht what need wooden Vessels or earthen Utensils when the Walls of the City and the Streets thereof are of pure Gold and as there is no need so there is no use of these earthly things what good will food do when thou art not hungry or cloaths when thou art not cold there is the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden there is the Fountain of Life to stench thy thirst there is neither use nor need of these things thy Silver and thy Gold signifie nothing here they trample upon better mettal thy coin will not pass in this Country these things should not be thy trouble to part with them which have proved snares to thee both in the getting and in the keeping and like a bush of thorns when thou hast graspt them too hard they have pricked thy fingers yea and prickt and pierced many to the heart they are not satisfactory and if they were they are not durable but like a bird upon the Wing now in one mans Close and then in anothers and no one can say She is mine and if thou dye not from them 't is odds they will dye from thee as the Example of two hundred thousand in Ireland in our dayes may sadly witness they are like unto Jonah's Gourd they spring up in one Night and wither in another I have read of a Heathen Philosopher when the City he lived in was taken sackt and Burnt by the Enemy and his Wife and Children captivated and all his earthly Substance gone being demanded by Demetrius what he had lost answered Nothing Omnia mea mecum porto I carry all along with me his vertue which could not be lost was only his own and mayst thou not better say so if thou be demanded what thou losest by Death for if thou canst carry thy Graces which are thy Evidences for Heaven safe thither this is thy All for the rest was but lent thee for thy Journey as a bed in an Inne to a Traveller which he must leave behind him and not carry it away in the morning for if thy Evidences be safe thine Inheritance is sure these outward things thou hast as long as they will do thee good and when they will do thee none why wilt desire them and Death will not deprive thee of any good thing the lading is safe though the Ship sink the Jewel is safe though the Box be broken though the Body dye the Soul will live and thou maist therefore say as Jacob I have enough Joseph my son is yet alive my Soul is yet safe or as Mophibosheth Seeing the King is returned safe let Zibah take all Seeing mine Inheritance is secured my chiefest Jewel safe let who will take the rest But haply it may be thy Relations that thou art so unwilling to leave thy dear Wife thy beloved Children those that depend upon thee for their livelihood and other Relations that thou hast let out thy affection upon and other intimate acquaintance and Christian Friends which have been all that little comfort thou hast had in the world and
the Sea and Hell must give up their dead and though worms may feed upon thy body yet thou shalt neither feel nor fear them Psal 22.6 and why shouldst thou disdain thy fellow-creatures seeing man in Scripture account is but a Worm Job 25.6 those cannot devour the body so as to hide it from God neither can they make it loathsom to God When a house is pull'd down it seems a ruinous heap but many times 't is in order to rebuilding and then 't is more glorious But if it be the pain of dying that doth affright thee and I know not what else it can be consider there is very little cause for it for we may daily see that many die and depart the world without any shew of sensible pain and depart in peace nay as in a sleep sometimes in a swoun without motion or appearance of pain and art afraid of that which even sucking Children undergoe and which all the world have or must endure and were it painfull wouldst thou grutch to bear an hours pain for Eternal Glory who usually sufferest as much pain for a meaner reward If thy dinner be sharp thy Supper will be sweet Thou wilt take pains for profit and suffer much for ease Oh my God did my dear Redeemer suffer such a shameful death for me to make me happy and shall I lose this happiness rather than go to enjoy it God forbid Lord give me in requisite qualifications and then call for me when and how thou pleasest yet Lord let me not dye unprepared and lose both my Life and Soul together MEDITAT VII Martyrdom not hurtful to a Christian OH my Soul what is it that thou dost boggle at Death thou hearest can do thee no hurt why then dost thou fear it O! but 't is a violent death thou fearest were it but a natural death thou couldst submit to it but to fall into the hands of the uncircumcised into the hand of bloody and deceitful men whose loving kindness is cruelty this thou canst not willingly bear all Death offers violence to nature and to be willing to dye by thy Enemies hand thou art not prest to use all unlawful means to escape but no means but what is lawful thou must be willing to submit to God and when he manifests this to be his will thou must chearfully suffer it but I fear this is but a Fig-leaf to cover a little Faith well let us argue the case To dye thou seemest willing but thou must choose thy death and God must have no hand in the business thou wouldst go to him but he must not send for thee especially by such a messenger thou likest not of This is Childrens play they would do any thing but what they are bid do go any whither but to School learn in any Book but their own But dost really think that thou art fitter to determine the circumstances of thy Death than God the time when the place where and the manner how or will God accept of thee for a Councellor in this case and what difference is there between the one and the other one stops thy breath and so will the other one sets an end to thy temporal being and so doth the other the consequences are the same and the pains of the natural death may be as great or greater than the other wouldst thou choose some violent distemper some raging disease some violent pain to end thy life Nay this thou likest not neither hadst thou the Stone the Strangury the Collick the Gout c. this might make thee live a dying life and make thee weary of thy life and with Job choose strangling rather than life and hadst rather endure this than a few minutes pain from the hands of man I fear this excuse is but to prolong thy time but buy not time at so dear a rate thou seemest careful not to come to Heaven too soon nor honour God too much by thy Death but take heed of wringing thy life out of his hands dye thou wilt thou sayest but it must be when thou caust live no longer and then no thanks to thee patience perforce is a Medicine for a mad Dog doth not Death whether by a Disease by the Sword or at the Stake signifie much the same thing as to the consequents of Death only the latter if it be in the cause of Christ speaks thee more a Christian and entitles thee to a Crown of Martyrdom and will encrease thy happiness Death at which door soever it comes in separates between the Body and the Soul but happily thou maist live a little longer by refusing to dye for Christ but will not a years enjoyment of God in Glory be as delightful to thee as a year longer spent upon the Earth and perhaps if the one be sooner than the other it may be with as little pain But suppose God should give thee thy choice either to dye a natural Death the next year or to dye by an enemies hand seven year after which wouldst thou choose I suppose thou wouldst seal to the longer Lease If so 't is not a violent death thou fearest so much as a short life but if this be thy fear to dye too soon God may send thee a languishing life and make thee long for death Job 3.21 22. and dig for it as for Silver and rejoyce exceedingly when thou canst find the grave But then 't is no thanks to thee to dye when thou canst live no longer or only desire death to be rid of thy pain and sometimes God punisheth an immoderate desire of life by imbittering their life to them and so makes them say as Job Troublesome nights are appointed to me If thou wilt willingly resign thy Life to God and leave it to his dispose thou wilt not make a losers bargain haply he may rescue it out of the Enemies hand however he will not be long in thy debt but for a temporal Life will give thee that which is Eternal which will be a thousand fold better Ignatius knew it when he said Burning hanging tearing my flesh in pieces with wild horses tantummodo ut Jesum nanciscar only let me enjoy Christ and was afraid left his friends should prevent his Martyrdom by their Prayers Seeing thy body must be reduced to dust 't is no matter whether it rot above ground or in it no matter whether thou be burnt to ashes or moulder to dust God will not lose one grain of thy dust Kill me they may saith the Martyr hurt me they cannot the worst they can do is but to send me to my Fathers house the sooner The love of Christ in the Martyrs was hotter than the Flames they burnt in and much allayed the heat of the Fire that some of them felt little or no pain O ye Papists saith one ye look for a miracle behold a miracle for in this fire I feel no pain it is to me as a bed of Roses They went as readily to
of good Christians have suffered death under this pretence For a good work said the Jewes we stone thee not but for blasphemy This sect is every where spoken against And after the way which men call heresie saith the Apostle so worship I the God of my Fathers There 's none that persecute the Saints as Saints but as Offenders no man will put an innocent man to death under that notion the Devil hath taught them their lesson better than so Job is not punisht as a righteous man but a hypocrite that served God for gain and if God restrained his wages he would curse God to his face Daniel must be cast into the Lions den and the three children into the fiery furnace for breaking the Kings Laws and the Jews put all to death in Hamans time being against the Kings profit He that would kill a dog saith the proverb must say he was mad But these aspersions are not inconsistent with eternal salvation 'T is true thou art a great offender against God and so deservest death but thou art not like to suffer upon this account greater offenders escape safe but thy fault is that thou wilt not betray the Truth thou wilt not worship God according to mens Inventions thou wilt not bow down to their Idols who set up their Dagon by the Ark these things are most like to lay thee open to sufferings rather than Atheism debauchery or open prophaness But if it be thus thou art not the first innocent person that hath been oppressed in judgment neither art thou like to be the last Eccle. 7.15 't is no strange thing to see a righteous man perish in his righteousness but thy innocent blood if shed will like the blood of Abel cry from the earth for revenge and do them more hurâ— thau the stroak of death can do to thee and thy cause will be cal'd over again and tryed at another Barr and if maintaining the Truth and keeping a good conscience and standing close to thâ— cause of Christ be the cause of thâ— sufferings fear not thou shalt hereater be acquitted when thine enemies shall be condemned and Heresie then will be otherwise defined than now they do Oh my God I see death cannot hurt me my enemies cannot hinder my happiness if my own deceitful heart do not deceive me Lord leave me not to my self for then I shall miscarry Lord through thy strength I shall be strong and if thou leave I can do nothing Lord qualifie me fit for suffering and death and then command what thou wilt MEDITAT VIII The Miseries Death frees us from OH my Soul what saist thou yet wilt thou submit to God even to the death and leave it to Gods dispose what death thou shalt dye whether a natural death or a violent thou seest neither can hurt thee if thou be prepared either will undo thee if thou be not and therefore thou needst not to fear it nay it will do thee much good and therefore thou maist desire it with submission to thy Makers will thou maist sing with Paul that Swan-like song Cupio dissolvi I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all There are three things especially which make thy life uncomfortable to thee and that is Sin Sorrow and Temptations and from those or either of those thou canst never be freed by any but death sin is the cause of misery and temptations the cause of sin while thou art in the world thou art under the tyranny of sin and while sin lives sorrow never dies for afflictions follow sin as the shadow doth the substance or the effect the cause and while there is a Devil in hell and thou be on earth thou canst never be free from his assaults 'T is true in the Creation the soul was made innocent and the body spotless but by the Devils instigations Man lost his integrity sinned against God and so lost his Image and in the room of Original righteousness stamped upon his soul he hath Original sin so that thy whole man soul and body is polluted and that in all the powers and faculties of the soul and the body is become the instrument to act the sâ—â—s the soul conceives thou broughtest a poysonful Nature with thee into the world which thou canst not be stript of while thou art in the world yea before thou couldst sin thou wast sinful and before thou couldst act reason thou wast guilty of Treason against thy God thou broughtest the spawn of all sin with thee as a Wolf brings his wolvish nature into the world or a Toad or Serpent a noxious quality though when young they cannot reduce it into act Corruption hath naturally a seat in the soul from within come murders adulteries c. It possesseth the noblest powers and faculties of it Now a Swine in the Garden is not seemly much less in the Parlour or the Bed-chamber it takes up its residence in the heart which is the room wherein Christ himself should lodge This original corruption with which thou art tainted is virtually every sin for it is the Spawn of it there is no sin acted but the seed of it lyes here and hence it is thou art so disposed to evil and so averse from good there is no sin so bad but thou hast an inclination to it if this seed be watered with a temptation if the restraining or Sanctifying grace of God prevent not and no duty so good but this sets thy heart against it the very Praising of God that Angelical duty is opposed by this original sin This sin of Nature this original corruption is universal and that makes it much worse universal in respect of Time even from the fall to the end of the world no day free from this sin some sin reigns most in some Ages this in every Age. Also in respect of Persons no meer man was ever free since the fall no son of Adam or daughter of Eve other sins some persons may be and are little infected with but this all stand infected with And in respect of Parts 't is universal also no power of the soul no member of the body free from it and 't is continual and perpetual without any Intermission thou canst not leave it behind in one duty 'T is said that some Serpents when they go to drink lay by their poyson as also when they go to generate This I know not but this I am sure of thou canst not lay aside thy sinful nature yea when thou makest thy Addresses to God himself thou mayst haply lay aside the acting of sin but not being sinful for couldst thou leave thy sin behind thee thou mightest have more sweet communion with thy God in one Duty than now thou canst have in all thy duties for 't is sin that stains all thy duties and makes them signifie little to thee and wert thou not in Christ God would hate them and throw them back into thy face with disdain 't is
thy sin that makes thee take so much pains in duty to keep thy heart to God this hides his face from thee that thou canst scarce have a glimpse of him in an Ordinance this is the Root upon which all other sins grow the Spring that feeds all the streams of vice and hence they issue and this is it upon which the Devil fastens all his temptations the want of this made the Devil successeless in his tempting of Christ his fire fell upon wet Tinder and this is the misery of it this sin never dyes for age but the longer we live the stronger it grows some sins are in a decaying condition as to the Act when age disables an Adulterer and some others but this decayes not yea and we propagate it also to our Posterity our children receive it from us and so it will be propagated from one generation to another to the worlds end Oh the horrid nature of this sin 't is the Image of Satan which he stampt upon us when the image of God was lost and this cannot be rased out but by death here thou art troubled with a hard heart a stubborn will disordered affections unruly passions vain thoughts idle imaginations which thou canst not shake off more than thy very Nature this makes thee so unlike to God so like to Satan whose Image thou bearest and whose work thou doest this makes thy duties stink in the nostrils of God and thy whole man Soul and Body out of order this hinders thy communion with thy God and makes him a stranger to thee it makes thee act as an enemy to him and him to thee and thy iniquity hides his face from thee These are the Anakims that terrifie thee these are the sons of Zerviah that are too hard for thee these are the Caananites which are thorns in thine eyes and pricks in thy sides these sins of thine are the cause of all thy trouble thou hadst never had aking head or aking heart or loss or cross or any thing to trouble thee had it not been for sin but from these thou canst not be freed one moment no Prayer no Duty no Action but savours of them this thou art sensible of this burden thou groanest under and lookst upon sin as thy greatest enemy and well thou maist for nothing could hurt thee but for this this it is that makes the soul vulnerable which otherwise man nor Devil could not hurt this thou hast preached against spoke against prayed against thou hast railed upon it and called it all that naught is well now let us see whether thou wast in Earnest or in Jest whether all this was in sincerity or hypocrisie death comes now to free thee from this bondage ease thee of this burden and brings a potion to cure thee when all other Doctors have left thee and can do no good he will bring thee where sin and sorrow shall be no more for into heaven they shall never enter art thou willing of the seperation to give sin a bill of divorce and put it away wilt thou shake hands with it and bid it adieu for ever this potion will purge the soul from all the reliques of this distemper and cleanse the heart which is the fountain of all thy actions and make all the streams thence proceeding run clear and fetch away all those gross humours of sin that filthy lump that lyes upon thy heart and presseth it down and lyes as a clog upon it it will cast out all those unclean Spirits and cleanse those Augean Stables from all pollution this is the only Physitian in the world that can do it and God the great Physician of Souls hath approved of his Recipts and sent him to thee upon this errant to heal thee of the wounds of sin and to restore thee to thy primitive purity wherein thou wast created what saist thou wil't give him entertainment or no The Devil and the damned would take a potion a thousand times bitterer upon the like condition help thou canst not have till thou art purged nor to Heaven thou canst not go for no unclean thing shall ever enter there purged thou canst not be without death for then Christ will wash thee clean with his own blood and sprinkle thee with clean water and present thee to his Father without spot or wrinkle or any such defiling or deforming thing and cure thee of all thy soul distempers and bodily infirmities which shall never more seize upon thee he will say to sin and sorrow as unto the unclean spirit Go out of him Mar. 9.25 and enter no more into him These sins be they that keep thee under the hatches that thou canst not serve God without distractions but death will unpinion thy wings and let thy soul at liberty and then thou shalt never be troubled with vain thoughts or imaginations more thou shalt never speak vain word more or do any sinful action more what wouldst thou give for thy freedom from sin for one month or one year and what now wilt thou give for a perpetual freedom what dost thou yet hang back and art not willing to suffer one hours pain for it is this thy Love to God which thou hast professed that when thou art put to thy choice thou choosest sin before him is this thy hatred of sin that now thou art loth to leave it when it comes to the trial is this the fruits of thy prayer preaching and profession Art thou now at a stand whether to deny thy God or thy Sin and art inclined to choose sin rather than God and hadst rather be present with sin and absent from God and hadst rather live in the suburbs of Hell than dye and come to Heaven and hadst rather enjoy sin for ever than God for ever for till death hath passed over thee thou canst not be free from sin neither canst thou enjoy Happiness for Sin was born with thee and will dye with thee it hath an indwelling in the soul Psal 51.5 thou wast shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin 'T is as natural to thee as to live 't is thy very nature 't is thy very self thou maist as well shake off Nature yea shake off self as shake off sin it sticks closer than the skin to thy back or the flesh to thy bones these may be separated but sin cannot till the great separation between the body and soul and then the same stroak that lets out thy life will let out thy sin and all thy misery which is the consequents of sin this hath caused thee many a sigh and sob and sorrowful hour and many a prayer many an affliction and many a lash of his rod and hindred thee many an hours Communion with thy God it hath spoiled thee many a duty and made thy life a very burthen it hath broke thy peace many a time with God and wounded thy conscience and made God hide his face from thee and many a time he hath whipt
thee home and now art fallen in love with it that thou wilt not leave it and rid of it thou canst not be till death let out thy life 't is only in the Grave thou wilt be at rest and hid from sin which then cannot find thee nor any miseries which now are the effects of sin nor from the temptations which are the inducements to sin and dost thou yet tremble to part with such an Enemy thou hast pretended Enmity to sin and been at Daggers drawing with it and art now reconciled to it it hath been thy trouble to have it and is it now thy trouble to leave it many a poysoned Arrow the Devil hath shot at thee and wouldst still be his Butt to receive his Arrows and venomous Shafts These Hell-hounds haunt thee and will hunt thee till thou art in thy Grave there they will lose the scent and can follow thee no longer here is thy Borough thy hiding place where thou art shut in by God and secure Here the weary are at rest here the Prisoners are secure and hear not the voice of the Oppressour here thou shalt be freed from all that is called misery Sin is an imperious Tenant or Inmate it will not out till the house be pull'd down yea will turn the Landlord out of doors Oh what hard hap had man to admit of such a Guest but this is thy comfort sin is but a Tenant at will not at thy will but the Will of God who will shortly pull down the House and set thee at liberty and Oh! thy madness that though thou canst no other way be rid of it yet art unwilling to dye and be happy In Heaven Paul shall never cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death Here the unclean conversations of the wicked shall never vex the Soul of righteous Lot David here shall never water his Couch with his tears nor Jeremy wish his heart full of water and his eyes a fountain of tears to weep day and night for the destruction of his people There is nothing here that can procure misery for here sin shall be shut out for no unclean thing shall ever enter But it is not sin only but sorrow also as well as sin shall be done away for when the cause is removed the effect shall cease It was sin that brought Death into the World and all the forerunners of it yea all the concomitants and consequents of it here thou art troubled with a sickly body subject to many infirmities many pains aches griefs and troubles scarce a waking hour free from pain and from head to foot scarce a free part but one pain or other doth molest it some pain ache or grief attends it every sense as 't is an inlet to sin so 't is to pain and misery to let in one trouble or other into the Soul and help to affect the heart with some fear or care or grief or trouble and these consume it as the scorching Sun the tender Flowers Oh how tender a piece is this dust-heap thy Body more brittle than glass it self a little cold or heat soon molests it how many tender Membranes Sinews Arteries Veins Muscles c. are therein contained and every one subject to obstructions extentions contractions dislocations c. and upon this distempers necessarily follow well maist thou say with Job Job 3 4.13 14 15. I am made to possess moneths of vanity and wearisom nights are appointed to me When I lye down I say When shall I arise and the night be gone and I am full of tossing to and fro unto the dawning of the day When I say my Bed shall comfort me and my Couch shall ease my complaint then thou scarest me with Dreams and terrifiest me through Visions So that my Soul chooseth strangling and Death rather than Life What bitter pills what nauseous potions dost thou take when sugered with the hopes of health what crying out Oh my Back Oh my Head Oh my Heart Oh my Bones Oh what would I give for a little ease a little rest a little sleep for a Stomach my Stomach nauseates my meat when others want meat for their craving Appetite and how hard a thing is it to keep up this poor old decaying ruinous Cottage in repair one Wall or other is continually ready to fall to ruine and at which door Death will enter is not yet known and when it comes it will but destroy thy body which for the Materials of it are no better than the body of a Beast which ere long will fall for Death is all this while undermining it and the rational Soul doth only keep it from putrefaction and Death is but a departing of the Soul from it to Glory and why shouldst be troubled to have the Prison-walls pull'd down and the Prisoner set at liberty why art unwilling to lay aside this flesh which hath taken part with Satan against thy God and is at present a temptation to thee with Peter to deny thy Master why choosest thou to live in a darksome nasty Prison where thy Wings are pinioned that thou canst not mount up to thy God where thou hadst thy Original this body is but a clog at thy heels and never was intended for thy dwelling place but only as a Tent or Pavilion an Inne or resting place for a night where like a wayfaring man thou maist rest for a while and away but here thou hast no continuing City thou art passing on to another place Phil. 3.21 to a Mansion a House not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens which Christ at his departing provided for thee when this Tabernacle shall be built into a Temple for God shall change this thy Vile body that it may be like unto his Glorious body and why then dost content thy self in this dirty Cell when thou maist have such a glorious habitation doth thy heart ake to think that the time is coming it shall never ake more or dost thou weep to think all tears shall be wiped from thine eyes and thou shalt never weep more or is it a matter of grief think'st that thou shalt never grieve more and art afflicted to think thy afflictions are at an end what unnatural sorrow is this art thou sick to think that in Heaven thou shalt never more know what sickness means or that thou shalt never more have an aking Head or an aking Heart here thou wilt be freed from whatsoever may be properly called Evil and shalt want nothing that is really good Here Christians themselves prove stumbling-block's in each others way which causeth tears from the eyes and sorrow from the heart but there the fire of love will consume the thorns of contention here corruptions like thorns serve to keep the fire of contention alive and those flames are more like to burn up their graces than their dross for the divisions of Reuben there are great thoughts of heart Judg. 5.15 but
here is no such thing Ridley and Hooper here accord Luther and Calvin are made Friends those Rivers of pleasure at Gods right hand quench all the sparks of contention pride and ignorance hath kindled among the godly and there is no bone of contention thrown among them there is nothing but sweet peace and concord and what was weak is there made strong and as no contention so no sorrow upon that account Every son of the first Adam came into the world crying and every son of the second Adam while he is in the world hath cause to cry God had one Son without sin but none without sorrow Christ himself was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief God chasteneth every son he receiveth and scourgeth those he loveth Heb. 12.8 If we be not chastized we are bastards and not sons But at death thy sorrow shall cease and thy joyes commence there shall be no more pain no more death for sorrow and sighing shall fly away But as thou shalt have an everlasting freedom from all hellish flames which is the portion of the wicked and their cup put into their hands by God so shalt thou have everlasting freedom from all temporal sorrow which is the godly mans cup and lot while they are here put into their hands by their loving Father here thou shalt be freed from sin the world and the Devil thy mortal thy sworn enemies thou shalt never more have a pale face a languishing body trembling joynts a dim sight or any infirmity or deformity there shall be none that stoop for age or any immature youth but all perfect men and women in the prime of their age as 't is conceived about the age and stature of Christ as Divines think the Apostle alludeth to that when he saith Eph. 4.13 Till we come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Unto such a stature that we should have been at had there been no infirmity or defirmity had hindred here we shall have no peccant humour no languishing disease no carking care no griping grief no fretting fear no consuming evil nay nothing that bears the name of evil the Wormwood and the Gall shall there cease for ever and sickness and diseases shall be no more no predominancy of humours no hurtful quality shall accompany our bodies when they are glorified Exod. 14.13 When this corruption shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality then may we say of sin and sorrow as Moses of the Egyptians These your enemies which you see to day ye shall see them no more for ever For as no unclean thing shall ever enter Heaven nor shall any thing that bespeaks sorrow or suffering we shall deal by these when we ascend into Heaven as Abraham did by his Servants when he went to offer his Son Isaac in Sacrifice leave them at the foot of the hill for if sin enter not there is no place for sorrow but unspeakable glory transcendent Joyes pleasure for evermore and though the glory there be inconceivable yet the faculties of the Soul shall be enlarged to receive it without offence now we cannot behold the Sun in its lustre but 't is an offence to the eye but then thou shalt be capacitated to behold a glory ten thousand times greater than the Sun with delight and shall not this death which ends all our sorrows and miseries and ushers us into this glory be welcome to us Nay but this is not all thou hast not only a crazy tottering ruinous house to live in but thou livest among bad Neighbours also and there is little comfort in a bad Neighbour-hood the house where thou dwellest is haunted with evil Spirits and thou canst have no freedom day nor night these continually trouble thee day and night and infest thee even in thy holy duties while sin that is the Devils daughter and his darling lives there her Father will not be absent and his presence is uncomfortable to a godly man he is thy sworn enemy and thou canst not be rid of him though thou givest him never so many foils he will not desist neither canst thou make any peace with him but upon harder terms than the men of Jabesh Gilead were offered by Nahash the Ammonite to put out their right eyes but nothing but the everlasting damnation of body and soul will serve him many a blasphemous temptation and many a poysoned arrow he darts into the Soul many a foul suggestion and fain would he make a rape of her he frequently storms the chief Fort Oh the hourly danger that thou art in by reason of his temptations and thine own corruptions for this is as Tinder to the fire ready to catch upon all occasions and many a time he enters the breach and if he were not beat back again would destroy the Fort of the soul many a snare and gin he layes for thee and baits his hooks according to thy inclination sometimes with one Bait sometimes with another like as a cunning Angler doth for Fish or the Fowler for Birds and what he finds most taking that he useth most sometimes he moves thee to presume if that prevail not to despair sometimes to neglect Duties if that serve not to trust in them or be proud of them sometimes to be proud of thy Enjoyments at another time to despond or murmur at thy wants or disappointments sometimes he baits his hooks with thy Relations and either perswades thee to Idolize them or moves them as he did Peter to tempt Christ Master save thy self and this proved Spira's ruine and I doubt not hath ruined many in this age He doth what he can to fly-blow all thy Duties and render them odious to God and takes advantage by every action thou dost making thee to neglect it or he foists in some by or base ends of his own into it or makes thee pride in it if things succeed to thy mind he puffs thee up with pride if thou meet with disappointments he makes thee repine and makes thee believe the world is a bad pay-master yea God himself a hard Master and that thou deservest better at his hand and as to thy calling sometimes he perswades thee that thou takest a great deal of pains for little or no profit and hast no competent reward for thy labour and therefore 't is better give it over and live at ease sometimes he perswades thee thy calling is honourable and would lift thee up above thy brethren a thousand are the shares which he layes in thy way to entrap thee and although thou shouldest repell them yet 't is a great trouble to be thus continually haunted by them as it is for a Chaste woman to be alway troubled with the unclean motions of a filthy Adulterer and as the Devil so the world layes traps for thee sometimes in pleasures sometimes
the folly of men thus to fear a temporal death and not to matter death eternal to fear the wrath of man and not the anger of Almighty God to fear the death of the Body and despise the death of the Soul to fear the creature more than the Creator that feareth the rage of man and not the wrath of Almighty God Gregory In hell there is death without death and end without end because death ever liveth and the end ever beginneth for death will never dye Oh how sweet would death be there accounted if it would take away life and not compell those to live that would fain dye Oh the stupidity of men when a small loss will wring tears from their eyes and an infinite and irrecoverable loss is not regarded yea the speech of it they can digest with laughter Many quake and tremble to come before an earthly Judge and when they are going before the eternal Judge can sport themselves in the way they fear to lanch forth into the Sea and not to lanch forth into this infinite Ocean of Eternity for hell torments are not only easeless but endless and remediless While there is life there is hope but where the breath is gone the hope is past while the door is open there is entrance but when 't is once shut though thou knock it will not be opened When the soul is separated from the body of a wicked man God will be separated from the soul and an uniting time will never come Christ stands now to receive repenting Sinners but his Spirit will not alwayes strive with them the door will be shut and only those that are ready will go in to the marriage This is the time when the Father will receive a repenting returning prodigal but it will not last long God will put an end to the day of grace the night comes when no man can work the Sun will set that shall never rise and the day end that shall never dawn again and then all hopes of wicked men will be dasht for as the tree falleth whether to the north or south east or west there it shall lye That tree that falls hellward there it will lye for ever For after this life is no redemption for ever let the Pope say what he will to the contrary their feigned Purgatory will prove a delusion the fire thereof was only kindled to make the Popes Kitchin warm but hell fire is of another nature for all their Masses Dirges and Prayers cannot deliver one soul from thence But if the sentence of condemnation be once past and damned souls delivered up to their tormentors there is no help all conclude this decree is irrevocable and hell torments remediless Here the worm saith Christ dyeth not Mark 9.44 and the fire never goeth out Mat. 25.41 46. Rev. 20.10 15. and Christ calls hell torments everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels yea he calls it everlasting punishment the Devil that deceived the world shall then be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false Prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever into which lake of fire whosoever is not found written in the book of life shall be cast and many the like expressions we may find in Scripture which plainly tells us the perpetuity of hell torments where 't is called Everlasting darkness Jude 13. 2 Thes 1.7.8 eternal fire everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power How little foundation is there then for Origens opinion that after a time the Devils and the damned should be refined by this fire and should be delivered but what Scripture speaks thus and if the Scripture be silent nay speak point blank contrary where is the foundation of this fancy Micah 6.7 it is not with thousand of rams nor with ten thousand rivers of oyl that they can be redeemed the first born of their bodies will not be taken as satisfaction for the sin of their souls Mat. 16.26 and what saith Christ shall a man give in exchange for his soul The rich glutton with all his wealth Luk. 16. with all his prayers and intreaties could not purchase one dram of water to cool his tongue and this was far short of ransoming his soul Prayers and tears then will not serve turn they are good preventing physick Though as one saith we should wear our tongues to the stump Shepard Sincere convert and weep more tears than there is water in the sea it will do no good It was not with corruptible things as silver and gold thou wast redeemed from thy vain conversation received by tradition from thy Fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot but if we now neglect this great Salvation and despise the offers of mercy in the daies of our life what remains for us but a fearful looking for of judgment and if the earth were turned into a globe of Gold or an heap of Diamonds and all offered for the redemption of a lost soul it would be rejected for this is not the blood of Christ nay this blood it self though more precious than the world would not serve in this case neither for it was never shed to this end to redeem souls out of hell though it was shed to keep them from hell and is of infinite value to this end nay if damned souls should obtain the prayers of all the Saints yea Angels in heaven it would do them no good Prayer here if pointed by faith may pierce heaven and prevail for a blessing Jam. 5.15 The Prayer of faith may save the sick and if he have committed sins they may be forgiven but prayers for the damned are out of season there is a time when God will be found and a time when he will not be found When the door is once shut it is not knocking then will open it yea the Angels and glorified Saints will then rejoyce in their damnation that God is glorified by it and those Ministers that now weep over their people and pity them will then pity them no more for ever yea to speak with reverence God himself cannot then help them not that he wants power for he could turn Heaven and Hell and all into nothing but he is infinite in justice and truth as well as power and this would intrench upon his Justice and Truth his word is out to the contrary and he may as well deny himself as his word yea he will be so far from an inclination this way Pro. 1.24 that he will laugh at their destruction and mock when their fear cometh in a word there is no ransome for a miserable soul the blood of Christ was of sufficient price to have saved the world had it been applyed for the end it was shed for but lost souls and damned Spirits have no interest in
it and there is no redemption for such the redemption of the soul is precious Psal 49.8 and it ceaseth for ever Luk. 16.26 Mat. 16.26 no one can get over that great gulph that lies between heaven and hell neither can any price be found out to redeem a lost soul here is no Writ of Error can be had for the prisoner is laid in by an unerring Judge that cannot be deceived there is no Appeal to be made to any other Court for this iâ— the Supream where the Causes tried in all other Courts are called over again and fully determined and the Judge of all the earth will there do justice here can no force hinder the execution and free thee out of prison for thou hast an omnipotent God to grapple with see now what a rock of ruine thou hast run thy self upon what a remediless condition thou art plunged into for if thou deny the Lord that bought thee thou wilt run upon swift destruction and all the friends thou hast cannot help it Well but though the pains be sharp yet if they be but short here is some comfort there is some hope that an end will come though it be long first but alas this comfort here is dasht These torments are eternal as is already proved and shall never end in the pangs of death 'T is true there is hopes for though they are sharp they are momentany yet some Tyrants have kept men many daies in a dying life or living death Tiberius Caesar being petitioned by one to hasten his punishment and give him a speedy dispatch made him this answer Nondum tecum in gratiam redii Stay Sir you and I are not yet friends Such an answer will God give to a damned soul if it desire God to put an end to his torments by death those lingring deaths either inflicted by God or man though they seem long to sence yet what are they to eternity the word for ever will be a Hell in the midst of Hell for when the soul cryes out in anguish and bitterness of spirit How long Lord how long the conscience answers again Ever ever while God is God and Heaven is Heaven and Hell is Hell the miscarrying soul must remain fuel to maintain this fire that shall never go out To this second death the first is but a flea-biting this is Mors sine morte finis sine fine this is that which is call'd Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord where the poor soul must be tormented sine intervallo without ease or end for when the years of a thousand Generations are whirl'd about thy torments will be as fresh as the first day thou wast cast into them and not one farthing of the ten thousand Talents paid off nor one moment of eternity taken off Oh Eternity eternity how amazing art thou how shall we conceive of thee how shall we cast thee up Oh my soul if thou substract from eternity an hundred thousand millions of years the remainder will not be the less 't is infinite still for two finites cannot make an infinite for what is infinite is indivisible it cannot be made less should a poor creature upon the rack under exquisite tortures have his life prolonged for twenty years together without any intermission of pain we might well account him the most miserable man alive and whose heart would not ake for him but what is this to eternal torments and yet who pities them that are like to endure them nay who pities himself that lies under the danger if a man under some raging pain as of the Cholick Stone or Gout lie upon a Featherbed for many years in tormenting pain though he have friends to visit him meat and drink to support him and what comfort Nature or Art could help him to yet we look upon him as a spectacle of misery and one that deserves pity Job 9.14 to him saith Job that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friends But what is this to hell or what is a few years to eternity for in hell is no comfort no ease no refreshment neither any friend to pity nay if all the torments that ever poor creatures indured upon earth whether inflicted by God himself by man or by the Devil could all light upon one man and should lye under them for hunderds of years yet would it fall short for this would neither reach the pain nor reach the duration for when the miscarrying soul hath lain in hell as many years as there are grass piles upon the earth drops of water in the Ocean sands upon the sea shoar hairs on all the mens heads in the world and Stars in Heaven yet the hundred thousandth part of Eternity is not over Oh eternity how shall finite apprehensions conceive of thee how shall we number thee or find out what thou art we that live in time and have but a little time given us here cannot conceive of thee but by a long space of time as we cannot of Infinity of Essence but by a vast quantity we know God doth not number Eternity as we do Time one day is with him as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day For in eternity we need not trouble our selves to count the fleeting hours neither daies nor years for there is no Sun Moon or Stars to be set for times and seasons or for daies or for years but in hell is horrid darkness blackness of darkness for ever And whose heart may not tremble at the apprehension of it should all the Arithmeticians in the world joyn heart and hand and head and all to cast up the greatest summe possible that each one severally could reach and when this is done should add all these together into one summe yet it would fall short nay should the circumference of Heaven be written about with Arithmetical figures from east to west from north to south and all brought into one summe it would yet fall short for what is infinite cannot be diminished or increased such a summe added to it would not increase it such a summe substracted from it would not diminish it Oh my soul what think'st thou of it wilt thou venture upon the pikes of danger wilt thou deny the Lord that bought thee and the God that made thee to preserve a miserable life a little longer Thou seest thy wages and knowest thy reward hadst rather chuse everlasting damnation than a little temporal pain and rather thrust soul and body into eternal flames and suffer the vengeance of eternal fire rather then the pangs of a temporal death Oh what madness hath bewitched thee what folly haunts thee how doth the Devil and the world delude thee Thou that wouldst cut off a limb or joint to preserve the body from greater torture wilt not be willing to endure a little to preserve both body and soul from eternal ruine Heaven and Earth and all wise men may stand amazed at thy folly If thou turn
conversion will then rejoyce at our coronation and should God send for thee Oh my soul in a fiery Chariot wouldst refuse to go what if thou art taken away by a violent hand what hurt is in it the greatest wound is to themselves for thou wilt be among those Souls under the Altar among those that are slain for the testimony of Jesus and shalt receive a Crown of Martyrdom Oh happy wilt thou be if thou canst be of this blessed society in Heaven and make up this heavenly Consort in chaunting out the praises of the ever living God what thinkst thou of it is it worth having is it worth desiring is it worth labouring or suffering for sure there is a prize put into thy hands if there be but a heart in thee to seek it thou seest 't is a glorious place but the one half of the glory thereof is not told thee cannot be told thee the Subject of Happiness here will be both Soul and Body these worldly pleasures can but tickle the senses they reach not the soul but in Heaven both are concerned but the Soul especially both had a share in the work and both must share in the reward both must fight and get the victory and both must have a share in the Crown the body without the soul is incapable of those heavenly Joyes and the Soul without the Body is incompleat it must be the whole man soul and body that must be glorified for our vile bodies must be fashioned like unto his glorious body both run the race and both must receive the prize both are purchased by Christ and he will not lose any thing that he hath purchased the body as well as the soul are members of Christ 1 Cor. 6.15 and Christs body shall not be imperfect or any member lost but shall all be raised up at the last day the soul being the more excellent part of man and more capable of serving God than the body it shall doubtless be the more glorious yet the body shall not want its glory the soul shall be freed from corruption and the body from imperfection this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality then and not till death shall all the diseases and distempers be removed and perfectly cured all infirmities and deformities be taken away and both body and soul be made beautiful and comely yea Vessels of glory whatsoever implies any imperfection shall be done away there shall be no immature Youth or stooping crooked wrinkled Old Age but as Divines conceive all perfect men and women in their perfect age and strength in beauty and comeliness as if no infirmity or deformity had hindred Jacob shall not be halt nor Mephthosheth lame nor Leah blear-eyed and though the body be sown a natural body 1 Cor. 15.44 it shall arise a spiritual body not a real spirit but shall retain the properties of a true body but spiritualized and it shall much resemble a spirit in activity ability nimbleness and power Christ had a real body after his Resurrection which a Spirit hath not yet shall they be freed from the clog and burden of flesh which now they bear and no more be an hinderance to the soul they shall also be freed from all need of food or physick cloaths and such like which now are necessary for the preservation of life from the need of all creature-comforts from all that any wayes imply infirmity or misery inward or outward thou shalt never have aking head or heart or back or bone for there shall be no more pain but perfect health and strength and immortality and set out of the reach of death for death it self shall be cast into the lake of fire and shall be swallowed up of victory no noxious humour or vicious quality shall ever trouble it more no decay of nature Deu. 34.7 shall then appear but like Moses in the Wilderness though he lived to old age to an hundred and twenty years of Age yet was not his eye dim nor his natural force abated There no distemper within nor casualty without can work a decay the flesh shall be no more a burden to the body nor a clog to the soul but man shall be like unto the Angels who neither eat nor drink neither marry nor are given in marriage neither need they any creature-helps or comforts for God is their life and he upholds their beings where that body that now is a clod of walking breathing clay shall then be like the body of Christ more amiable than the celestial Orbs and glittering Stars by death it is sown a natural body but shall spring up a spiritual body it is sown in dishonour 1 Cor. 15.43 44 45. but raised in honour it is sown in weakness but raised in power for when death hath struck the fatal stroak God will send his Angels to carry the soul to Heaven and gather our dust and put it in this Vrn into his Cabinet not one grain of it shall be lost which he will keep as precious Jewels when many glittering Stones shall be cast by into shame and contempt Dan. 12.2 many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt Those that honour God he will honour and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed and at the resnrrection of the just these houses of clay shall be formed into the similitude of a Palace at Gods own cost and charges Oh who would not have his Cottage pull'd down upon such an account But if the body be so glorious not admitting the least infirmity or deformity how transcendently glorious will the soul be this Jewel will not be lost in the rubbish of death nay nay death cannot touch it but only break down the prison walls and set it free the body 't is true by dying is made immortal death shall have no more power of it but the soul is immortal be Creation and Gods Institution it must run parallel with the longest line of eternity death hath no power over it fear not those saith Christ that can kill the body and can do more but fear him that can cast both soul and body into Hell Many would perswade themselves and 't is their interest so to do if they could make it out that the soul shall dye with the body and that at death men breathe out their souls with their last breath as a beast doth and well were it for them if it were so for then they might follow their pleasure and drive on their designs more vigorously and then they might brutifie themselves more than they do which needeth not but these men rather would than do believe their own doctrine the conscience in the mean time giving them many bitter thrutches No no this Lamp of Gods own lighting will never out they must shine in Heaven Mat. 25.46 or burn in Hell everlasting Joy or endless