must forsake it 't is 〈◊〉 enough to rail against it but you must haâ—â— it with an irreconcileable hatred aâ— shake hands with it and give it a bill 〈◊〉 Divorce and well you may for it is yâ—â— implacable Enemy and the cause of 〈◊〉 your misery and will be the cause of yoâ— Eternal Damnation if you repent not of 〈◊〉 This is it that arms Death against you 〈◊〉 when 't is mortified and subdued it will 〈◊〉 pardoned and when it is pardoned Deâ— may buzze about your ears like a Dâ—â— Bee but cannot sting you by stinging Châ—â— he lost his sting that he cannot sting 〈◊〉 of Christs faithful people Hence manâ— the Martyrs went as chearfully to dye aâ— dine and accounted their Dying-day tâ—â— Wedding-day as indeed it is to all Belâ—ers for in this life they are betroatheâ— Christ and at their Death the Marâ—â— will be consummate and they shall forâ— enjoy their Beloved and be Eterâ— lodged in his Bosom Oh the madneâ—â— the men of the World who lodge this pent sin in their Bosom which breakâ— match between Christ and the Soul 2. Direct There is another Enemy that must be overcome as well as sin or will not dye chearfully and happily and that is the World for till it be overcome and crucified a man is not fit to dye neither can he be willing to dye Gal. 6.14 for who can willingly part with what he loves By Christ saith the Apostle I am Crucified to the World and the World to me the world and he were at a point there was no love lost the World mattered him not and he mattered the World as little they were each to other as a dead Carkass offensive and unsavoury and though the World should lay many Temptations before him it would signifie no more than if they were presented to a dead man though she draw forth her two breasts of Profit and Pleasure he scorns to suck at such botches he looks upon it as a dead thing and behaves himself as dead to it He had learned to want and to abound and in every Estate to be content and therefore mattered not her Superfluities and for Necessaries he knew he should not want them A prosperous Estate could not make him surfeit nor a wanting Estate repine he was semper idem alwayes the same as Job upon the Throne and upon the Dunghill he still keeps his Integrity he wears the world about him as a loose Garment ready to cast off upon all occasions and he is at a point with all things under the Sun if he may keep them with a good Conscience he is content if not he is content also and it behooves others that would look Death in the face with comfort to learn this lesson for if the affections close with the World 't is impossible Death should be either safe or comfortable safe it cannot be for it makes a man break his peace with God for two such Masters as God and Mammon no man can serve Mat. 6.24 for if he love the one he will despise the other Jam. 4.4 Know you not saith the Apostle that the friendship of the World is Enmity to God Whosoever therefore will be a Friend of the World will be an Enemy to God 1 John 2.15 And again Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Those that goe a Whoring from God to the Creature and woe this vile Strumpet the World are very unfit to be received into the bosom of Christ have it we may use it we must as a Traveller doth his Staff so far as 't is helpful but love it we must not if we will not renounce the love of God a man may allow his wife a Servant to wait upon her but not to lodg in her bosom the love of the World is Enmity with the Lord Enmity both active and passive it makes a man both to hate God and to be hated by God he cannot be espoused to the World but he must be divorced from God see this in Judas in Demas in Demetrius in Ahab he will have Naboath's Vineyard or he will have his blood though he lose his Soul for it Col. 3.2 wise therefore was the Apostles Counsel to set our affections on things above and not on the Earth Things on Earth are mutable and momentary subject to vanity or violence when things above are as the dayes of Heaven and run parllael with the Life of God and line of Eternity and as the love of the World makes a man dye unsafely putting him out of a capacity of eternal happiness so it makes him dye uncomfortably also for who can willingly part with a present good for a future uncertainty with a thing he loves for he knows not what If the World seem a Pearl in his eye he will not let it goe if he have no assurance of a better Mat. 19.22 see this in the young man in the Gospel that would not exchange Earth for Heaven nor the Creature for God that parted with Christ whom he pretended to love rather than with his Estate which he did love Oh World how dost thou bewitch thy greatest admirers how dost thou deceive those that trust in thee But could we see the worth of Heaven or had we but a Pisgah-sight of the Heavenly Canaan we should soon make Moses's choice but the blind Moles of the World think God holds it at too dear a rate and if he will not abate he may keep it to himself some indeed while Religion is in credit will follow the Cry yet resolve they will never lose by it as the Young man before mentioned who came to Christ hastily but went away heavily the world breaks many a match between Christ and the Soul by bidding more as they think than God doth but it will fail in the payment but he that forsakes not all for Christ cannot be his Disciple the lesson I know is hard but necessary and there is a great reason it should be so when we look upon the World as our chiefest Jewel we are loth to throw it over-board but when we see the Vanity Emptiness yea Nothingness that is in it and can have recourse to a better Treasure we shall not matter it while we look upon it as our chiefest Treasure we shall be unwilling to part with it but when by the eye of Faith we can see better Treasure beyond Death and observe how little good it can do us at Death or after when we have most need we shall not much value it For indeed it proves like a bush of Thorns the harder we grasp it the more deeply it wounds and when by Experience we find that no Content Satisfaction or Happiness is to be had in the enjoyment we shall not much trouble at the loss In a word while the World is admired Death is hated but when Heaven is
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
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
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
of the souls happiness Now all earthly delights to these heavenly Joyes are but a shadow a very dream the very dream of a shadow to what is there enjoyed where the glorified Souls shall be Kings and Priests for ever of the most high God they wear Crowns upon their heads and palms in their hands which they cast down at the feet of him that liveth for ever These little flashes of spiritual Joy and indeed it is no more will be blown up into a flame here no fumes of Melancholy shall disturb the Fancy or interrupt the Joy Malignant Saturn cannot send any influence into these superiour Orbs but here is that far more and eternal weight of Glory to be enjoyed O my soul hadst thou had but such a glimpse of Glory as Stephen had thou wouldst not have feared to have faln asleep with him Now thou art in the body and absent from God but when death hath closed thine eyes and covered thy face with a winding-sheet thou shalt not only see God but be present with him and behold his glory Now thy glimpses of him are like a flash of lightning soon gone much like a man that gazeth at a Star through an Optick-glass held with a palsy hand now and then thou catchest a sight but quickly losest it again but there he will alwayes be before thine eyes thou shalt behold his face there and not his back parts only whether with bodily eyes or otherwise is not well known nor much material 't is probable it may and the eye capacitated to behold the Object though here 't is dazled with a weaker glory we find Job seems to be of that mind Job 19.52 c. I know saith he that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold him and not another though my reins be consumed within me When this mortal hath put on immortality and this body which is sown a natural body become spiritual we know not but these Organs of our eyes may be capacitated to behold spiritual objects as well as our understandings be enabled to know him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 This we know God will make himself known and that is sufficient to us whether the one way or the other let us not anxiously trouble our selves about the manner of it this know if God do not enlarge and capacitate our powers and faculties of the soul we can neither know him see him nor enjoy him as he is which he hath promifed we shall do and he that believeth in him and hath not yet seen him shall see him on whom he hath believed 't is Christs prayer John 17.24 that those that are given to him may be where he is to behold his glory and if those eyes were blessed that saw him in his misery how much more those that behold him in glory if the dawning of the day be so glorious how much more glorious will it be when the Sun shines in his full strength and all the shadows are fled away If those that bear his Image here and they are more excellent than their neighbours be so lovely what will they be when this Image of God is perfectly restored and they freed from all corruption here they have sung forth his praises then shall sing continual Halelujahs for ever how will they run the wayes of Gods commandments when all the clogs of corruption are taken off and their feet are inlarged Now their labour shall be turned into leisure to praise him when they have nothing else to do yea nothing which they delight more to do than that Now 't is death and death alone that can put us into the possession of this glory where we shall have fulness of Joy and Glory and be Heirs yea Coheirs with Christ and would any wise man deny to take possession Oh my soul wilt thou yet hang back and plead Nonage art thou afraid of Eternity when Joy and Happiness is added to it couldst thou wish the worm of time were at the root to make it wither art thou come to the door and thou makest a halt at the threshold and art willing another should take thy Crown and wouldst thou surrender thy interest when Paul looks through the Perspective glass of Faith and sees happiness at the end he was willing to dye and be with Christ thou knowest whom thou hast believed and darest not trust thy Redeemer with thy life that lost his own for thy sake whatever thou losest whatever thou sufferest for him it will never repent thee when thou art in Heaven it will reward thee for all thy cost and charges Christ tells thee an hundred fold and I may well say a thousand one day in Gods Courts here on earth was better to Davîd than a thousand elsewhere and one day in Heaven is much better than that yea but if thy life be cut off for his sake for one day thou loosest upon earth thou shalt have a thousand in Heaven for it he will make thee Eagle-eyed that thou shalt behold the Sun of righteousness in his splendour and the Organ not offended If Paul and Silas could sing in the Prison what will they do when they come into this heavenly Quire Isa 15.5 Here the eyes of the blind shall be opened the ears of the deaf unstopped the lame man shall leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing this is the marriage of the Lamb and his wife hath made her self ready and who will not rejoyce upon the Wedding-day when the Bridegrooms voice is heard Now the marriage shall be solemnized that was so long ago contracted between Christ and the Soul this is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it this is thy pay-day when thou art to receive thy wages the harvest of thy hopes when thou shalt receive a plentiful crop of glory that which was sown in tears shall now be reaped with joy now thy desires thy longings and thy pantings shall be satisfied now is the time when the Crown of Martyrdom shall be put upon the head of the Martyr and a Crown of Righteousness upon the Just mans head now is the time that Sincerity will be discerned from Hypocrisie let it be spun with never so fine a thred and true Gold from counterfeit now is the time that those that have Oyl in their Vessels as well as Lamps in their hands shall go in with the Bridegroom to the Marriage and those that have not shall be shut out now he that hath a wedding-garment shall be a welcom Guest Mat. 22.12 and he that hath none shall be cast into utter darkness now is the time that those that have forsaken any thing for Christ shall receive an hundred fold and those that have lost their lives
full of trouble Yet many wish their dayes were three times double The Captive Slaves that in the Gallies lye To end their Bondage yet are loth to dye They flee from death although he be their friend For when he stops their Breath their Sorrows end Life is a warfare Death doth stint the strife We leave not fighting till we leave our life We fight against our sins the world and Devils At death we fully Vanquish all those evils To heavenly Joyes Death opens us the door Where sin and sorrow they shall be no more There 's no Corruption shall molest us there There 's no Temptation that we need to fear Why fear we Death then he this Boon will give Our Enemies shall dye but we shall live Life is the day wherein we labour hard Death is the night and then comes our reward Now we with Tempests on the Seas are driven Death is the Wind that blows us to our Haven Is he less happy that a brisker Gale Drives to the Shore or he that 's under Sail Whom fierce tempestuous winds as yet are driving Who with a thousand dangers yet are striving In life we in the raging Surges be Death comes and lands us in Eternity In life the Saints are Heirs but under age When death comes they receive their Heritage Heaven is our Kingdom but to come thereat There is no other way but through this Gate Life is our Journey Death our Journeys end Life is our Enemy and Death our Friend Death like a Pilot guides us to the Shoar He is the Porter that must ope ' the door We cannot serve our God or Christ enjoy Without distraction till our dying day Death 's but a quiet sleep when wearied 'T is but put off our Cloaths and go to bed Death is Gods pursivant and will compell Gods Friends to go to Heaven his Foes to Hell He is his Messenger none can prevent him None can resist him or the Lord that sent him Both Prince and Peasant drink of the same cup When he invites them home with him to Sup. All men must pledge the health Abel began There 's none exempt the Master nor the man The greatest Potentate cannot escape The way to Heaven and Hell lye through this Gate The high the low the rich and eke the poor When he doth knock must open him the door Nor fear nor favour makes him turn aside He will not be perverted with a Bribe What though some have their lives drawn out at length And we cut down by Death in our full strength What Hurt to us if we receive our pay For one Hours work as much as for a day What dammage to us if Commandment come When others work till night to leave at Noon The weary labourer pants and longs for rest And when he 's in his bed he thinks he 's best The Bed of Death to th' weary will give ease Our sleep's not broken there by worms nor fleas No fearfull Dreams nor Visions of the night Disturb our Fancies there or minds affright Within Death's Sheets the Grave we rest secure Free from oppression and tyrannick Power Our Souls like Captive Birds in Cages sing Death breaks the Cage and then the Birds take wing The world 's a Pest-house sin doth us infect Death 's our Physitian shall we him reject The Soul 's infected with sins foul disease And naught but Death can give us our release The world 's a Prison and we Captives be And only Death our Champion sets us free We mortal are when Death of life bereaves us We dye no more Death doth immortal leave us A thousand Maladies do each day attend us We 're sick to Death and none but Death can mend us In life we languish Death can make us well He 's like Achilles Spear can wound and heal Poor and in want we up and down do wander Death makes us all as rich as Alexander Death levels all both rich and poor do stand On equal ground none serve nor none command When Death hath done his work there 's no man can Discern between the Master and the man The Princes Skull no more than other men Bears the impression of a Diadem 'T is true of terrors Death is call'd the King And well he may while he retains his Sting But to Believers he no hurt can do For he hath lost his Sting and Poyson too In Stinging Christ this Serpent lost his Sting He that brought terror then doth comfort bring Christ conquer'd him and shall we fear to meet A Vanquisht Foe lying prostrate at our Feet For since that he was overcome and foil'd He is no Enemy but reconcil'd To good and bad he shews not the same face He 's Foe to Nature but a Friend to Grace We are poor mortals life is our disease Death our Physitian that can give us ease We groan for pain yet would not be set free We love our Bondage hate our Liberty Rather than over Jordans streams we 'l venture We 'l dye i' th' Wilderness or Egypt enter This Son of Anak Death more terror brings Than all the fiery Serpents with their Stings And though Egyptian Bondage doth torment us Flesh Pots and Leeks and Onions here content us At Death 't is true we must to Ashes turn But God will keep those Ashes in his Urn. And when the all-awakening trump shall sound The smallest Atoms of it shall be found And then by vertue of a new Indenture The Soul into her new-built house shall enter God shall with robes of honour then invest her And sin and sorrow shall no more molest her She shall by Christ her Judge be then acquitted And all her sins and trespasses remitted She shall in glory Halelujah's sing Unto the mighty God the worlds great King And wedded be to Christ in endless Joy And in her Husbands Bosom lye for aye Sorrow and Sighing then shall fly away And Tears shall swallowed be in endless Joy Then set thy House in order for thou must Within a little time return to Dust Lord make me then to know my later end How long the number of my dayes extend That I may know how frail I am before I go from hence and shall be seen no more When will this Joyfull Marriage be oh when Oh come Lord Jesus quickly come Amen Edward Bury FINIS The Author hath in the Press a. Book on the Subject these Poems are of Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside
shine as Stars of the first Magnitude in this our dark Hemisphere that your Lives may be exemplary and your last Works better than your first and when you shall be gathered unto your Fathers it may be in a good Old Age as a shock of Corn in its season that while you live you may shine as the Sun in his strength until you set in the Infinite Ocean of endless Bliss and lye for ever in the Bosom of your dear Redeemer there to receive a Reward for all your pains and labour of love and that those tender Plants which God hath given you may be watered with the dew of Heaven and may become Trees of righteousness even Pillars in the House of God and that in your Family there may never want those that may own Christ in sincerity And that the remaining part of your time Phil. 3.13 14. 1 Tim. 6.12 forgetting what is past you may reach forth unto those things that are before pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on eternal Life These are my Desires and shall be my Prayers and if these following Meditations conduce any thing to the furtherance hereof I have my desire and who knows but some poor drooping Soul may receive benefit by it the Seed may spring when the Seedsman is dead And thus much in Answer to the Question Why I Dedicate it to you If you demand why I prefix both your Names I will answer with Jerom in the like case Jungat Epistola quos junxit conjugium charta non dividat quos Christi nescit amor God hath made you not only one Flesh but also one Heart and it is the concern of the one as well as of the other And thus having spoken to you jointly give me leave to speak a few words to you severally and apart Sir I shall first Address my self to you whom your Countrey hath made choice of to serve in Parliament and have intrusted you with their Estates Liberties Priviledges Lives and Religion Oh! what an Ingagement lyes upon you to be faithful in your Trust and what a blurr have some in that relation brought upon themselves of late dayes that for private Interest have betrayed their Trust But Sir those that know you are free from these fears you may easily see what confidence they have in your Fathers Family when all his three Sons besides Sons in Law are chosen and Intrusted as also other Relations not only in this but in the last Parliament also Go on Sir therefore couragiously and the Lord will prosper you seek to set a stop to the deluge of Sin that is breaking in upon us or otherwise God will pour out a deluge of Judgments also God will stand by those that stand for him and though you may lose something for him you shall never lose by him 'T is your Duty to deny your self and private Interest when it comes in competition with Gods Cause and your Countreys good Put your shoulders to the work and if England be not reform'd you shall not lose your Reward Who knows but God will honour you now chosen with the Work at least you shall be honoured for the work The time was Jerusalem had been spared had there been one man to stand in the gap to execute Judgment and Justice in it Jer. 5.1 c. There is now an opportunity put into your hand a Talent to improve and God stands by to see how it is improved Numb 21.18 It is left upon recor◠to the honour of the Rulers in Israel that the Princes digged the Well and the Noble◠digged it with their staves These stave are imagined to be Ensigns of honour which here they employed to a publick good an◠'t is a brand laid upon the Nobles of th◠Tekoits Nehe. 3.5 That they laid not their Neck◠to the work of the Lord and I wish none of our Nobles bear that reproach My desire is that you be not only blessed but a blessing in your Generation and though your pains be great and your cost not small yet remember whose the work is and who will be your Pay-master one who can make up all your losses and whose is all that you expend in this service and imitate herein your dear Father who was a publick spirited man and for works of Piety and Charity hath left such an Example that I despair ever to see the like done by any one in those parts of England he is now reciving his reward and I doubt not but he hath left a Blessing behind upon his Posterity which his Children and Childrens Children shall inherit to many Generations And to you Madam one word more and I have done Though you are a Branch of a Noble Family yet are you much more Ennobled by your second Birth yea more nobly Born than of Flesh and Blood for God is your Father Jerusalem which is above your Mother Christ your elder Brother yea the Glorified Saints your Brethren and Sisters so that you are more happy in your New Birth than eminent in the first A vertuous woman saith Solomon her price is above Rubyes The Children of Princes and Nobles are the Foundation-stones whereupon Kingdoms are founded Pro. 31.31 but had you not been polished by God himself you had never been one of those choice Stones that must beautifie the New Jerusalem My desire is that God will give you more Sons for those two which you have so freely lent to the Lord at least give you a Name better than that of Sons and Daughters When Death comes it must be Grace and not Titles of Honour that then will dignifie you and Humility and Self-denial which many think now unbeseeming 〈◊〉 Gentleman will be greater Ornaments that Jemms and Jewels lofty Titles and Coat◠of Arms though these are not to be contemned yet the other are to be prefered Now if these poor Meditations conduce an◠thing to the increasing of your Grace th◠strengthning of your resolution to live in th◠Lord and to the Lord and if he require it 〈◊〉 dye for the Lord I shall think my pains we bestowed and my time well spent And the it may be so is the desire and shall be th◠Prayer of him who is and resolves to be SIR MADAM Yours to his Power to serve you Edward Bury Eaton Octob. 21. 1680. To the READER Reader WHoever thou art I here present thee with a bundle of my Thoughts when I apprehended my self standing upon the brink of Eternity What entertainment they will find with thee I know not or what thy present thoughts of Death are I cannot tell but had thy Soul stood in my Souls stead when I apprehended Death at the door if thy Eyes had been opened and thy Conscience awakened haply thy thoughts might have been like mine especially if thou believe there is a God a Devil a Heaven and a
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
that cannot be redeemed with the whole World 4 Direction The next thing I would advise you to which indeed is the chief of all is to get an Interest in Christ that so you may have a title to Glory for till this be had you cannot dye safely and till it be cleared up you cannot dye comfortably for who would leave a present Possession that hath no assurance of a future and when this is done Death will not be terrible But what can bear up the Soul against the pangs of Death if this be wanting Now the way to get an Interest in Christ is to espouse the Soul to him now there is nothing but Ignorance can stave off our affections from him ignotus nulla cupido The blind World can see no Excellency in him no need of him nor any use of him and therefore they have no love nor desire for him but all that know him will love him who prizeth a Physician that is not convinc'd of his skill and finds he hath a real need of him for who will take Physick before he be sick or minds a Plaister before he have a Sore But when the poor soul is convinced of her undone condition by Nature and that there is nothing in her or that can be done by her will serve turn for Salvation yea that help is not to be had in any Creature no not in the Angels themselves could she be Espoused to them for they cannot pay her debts nor secure the Soul in this desparing condition no wonder the Soul dreads death but when it knows withall that though there be an Emptiness in the Creature there is a Fulness in Christ and that he is fully able to make her eternally happy and that Christ doth make love to her and sends many Suitors in his behalf to woe for her affection and that he is the only suitable object in the world for her Affections and that he can make her happy when all the rest would leave her miserable I say under these convictions she begins to hearken to Christs proposals when she sees he is more useful than any other and will stand her in more stead both in Prosperity and Adversity in Health Sickness in Life and at Death when all other helps fail her While the world is lookt upon to be the best match Christ will not be valued till the cheat be found out for who will forsake the better to choose the worse but when they see Christ really better than the world they will then part with the world for him for who will stick at such a bargain when a man considers that the world can do him no good at Death or Judgment But Godliness hath the promise of this life 1 Tim. 4.8 and that to come and that it is profitable to all things Rom. 8.32 and that having Christ all shall be ours for if he spared not his own Son but freely delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things When the match is made up between Christ and the Soul all her Debts are made over to her Husband and he is touched also with the feeling of her Infirmities bears the heavier end of the Cross and in all her afflictions he is afflicted Isa 63.9 and he makes over all his riches to her his Merits his Righteousness his Spirit his Graces and his Glory Plal. 34.10 he hath promised she shall want nothing that is good and that he will never leave her nor forsake her Rom. 8.28 and that all things shall work together for her good Now whatever he hath promised he can make it good for he is both Omnipotent and Omniscient and he will make it good for he is Faithfull and the Experience of five thousand years prove it in all which time no man could stand forth and say This Promise God hath failed in the world yields us some little comfort if God give it a Commission but Christ is all and in all all the excellency that is in the Creature is but as a Vein to lead us to this Mine as a drop of this Ocean and as a ray of this Sun whatever our condition be he can help us if the Soul be sick he is her Physician and all others are Physicians of no value if wounded he hath a Plaister of his own Blood to cure her if she hunger here is food the Bread of life and the Water of life his flesh is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed If she be Poor and Blind and Miserable and Naked he can make supplies here is a Treasure to enrich her a Pearl of great price and spiritual Eye-salve to make her see if she have Enemies he is her Champion that can overcome the Devil and all his Instruments and none can hurt her but through his sides In a word she can want nothing when her Lord and Husband possesses all things the Cattle of a thousand hills are his yea all the beasts of the Forrest with his own Robes he arrayes her and with the Jewels of his Grace he adorns her with his Spirit he directs her and if heavy laden bears her burden if she be weary he is her resting place and hath promised never to leave her nor forsake her Heb. 13.5 and then no matter what others do These promises the Soul may press home by Prayer as Jacob did in a great danger Gen. 32.9 Lord thou saidst thou wouldst do me good and this was as good as present pay for God loves to be bound by his word and to be sued upon his own bond Prayer is a putting the Promises in Suit God can no more deny such Prayers than he can deny himself what need the Soul to fear when Gods Word is out upon it That all things shall work together for her good and if all things then Afflictions nay Sin it self Seneca Venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit saith a Heathen 'T is said that to drink of the Wine wherein a Viper hath been drowned cureth the Leprosie and the Scorpion healeth his own wound the flesh of the Viper cureth the biting of the Viper and so God sometimes cureth us by the wound Sin gives us we usually say The act increaseth the habit but 't is not so here for the believer is like a Sheep that by his fall into the mire is warned to take better heed Now look over all the World and see if you can find such a match for the Soul whether any Creature in Heaven or Earth hath deserved thy Affections better than he or hath done more or will do more than Jesus Christ that is a greater Benefactor than he and hath bestowed better Gifts whether any other can pay thy Debts or make preparation for the Eternal well-being of the Soul and if he prove the fittest Match stand not upon Terms with him think not to alter his Conditions or make him abate of his Price he expects
to other mens happiness will set an end to his misery those only that live a holy life can rationally expect a happy death 6 Direct If you would dye willingly and happily learn with the Apostle to dye daily have death alwayes in your eye the strangeness of death makes it so terrible The Fox in the Fable that had never before seen a Lion trembles at the first sight but after grew more bold those that go first to Sea are usually more timerous in storms and tempests than the Ancient Mariners sudden danger more surprizeth when expected trouble is better born Death is stealing upon us whether we mind it or no and nothing more discovers our folly and madness than to neglect our watch when we are besieged by our Enemy and know he intends to surprize us to put far off the evil day when we know not but it is ready to dawn 'T is a folly for a Tenant to forget his Rent day and then think his Landlord hath forgotten it also or for a Malefactor to forget the day appointed for his Execution 't is a folly for a needy man to forget the Market or Fair where he should have supplyed his wants Death is no Jesting matter but a real thing and will make a real change both to good and bad as to the Body for haply both may say the next day to corruption Thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister then must they leave behind all their earthly Glory and worldly Pomp their friends and Relations their pleasant Houses yea Crowns and Kingdoms if they do enjoy them and all their earthly comforts they enjoyed and must march down to the Chambers of Death and make their graves in the dust but with the Soul is a greater change either they must go to everlasting Torments or endless Joyes and should not such a change be minded did the greatest Prince upon earth or our time-wasting Gallants consider it would spoil their sport did a Malefactor know that in a few dayes he should be dragg'd to Execution would he take no notice of it but spend his time as idly as before and shall we only be unconcerned they know in a few dayes and they know not in how few Eternity will shut her mouth upon them and then their souls will be in a stated case never to be changed Oh what a prodigious Creature is a hard hearted Sinner and how senceless is many a profane wretch that know not but the night following their souls may be required of them and yet regard it not that feel this house of clay mouldering about their ears and provide for no other Habitation that sensibly feel Deaths approaches by the many darts he throwes at them and yet need to be minded that they must dye the wisest Virgins had something to do against the Bridegroom came though they had Oyl in their Vessels yet their Lamps must be trimmed but the Foollish wanted Oyl to trimme them and yet slept the best of Saints should have their Loins girded and be in a Centinel posture against the coming of their Lord and Master and set themselves in order for so great a change were a mean woman to be married to some mighty Prince she would make some preparation against the Wedding-day but 't is the worst of sinners that least think of death though they have most need all the spectacles of mortality without nor Monitors of mortality within cannot make them mind their latter end Those should be like to Jonathans Arrows to David warn them of approaching danger our Children that rise up in our stead and tread out our foot-steps tell us that we are marching off the Stage and they are coming in our room to act their parts The Sun never sets but it may mind us of our latter end and that now one day more is past of our determined number of dayes that we had to live 't is good therefore to consider whether we are a days Journey nearer Heaven than we were in the morning or what work we have done in reference to Eternity every Bell that tolls may mind us of our Passing-bell every time the Clock strikes or the Glass is run out may mind us how our time hasts away and our death approaches every breath we fetch or every time our Pulse beats may mind us of death for the number of them is determined as well as the number of our months Job 14.5 Did men certainly know they should dye within a month what a change would there be in the world who then would mind earthly greatness or indulge his lust which yet those that are not sure of a day do eagerly pursue If you would dye happily think on death to prepare for it if comfortably think on it to be acquainted with it 7 Direction It is not enough meerly to think of death but you must also prepare for it for the former is necessary in order to the latter this preparation is your great Concern the very business of your lives God did not send you into the world as Leviathan into the Seas to play therein neither meerly to cark and care to moil and toil and drudge for the world you were made for an higher end and sent into the world upon another Errant to make provision for your immortal souls some may think this work is difficult and so it is to flesh and blood and cross to our carnal interest but 't is necessary and the neglect dangerous were but your houses on fire we need not use many words to perswade you to quench them though there were difficulty and danger in the enterprize or were your lives in danger you would endure hardship to save them were you in danger of drowning you would lay hold upon every twig and take any offered advantage to escape were your Estates in danger you would spare no pains nor cost to clear it up were but one of your beasts though but a Sheep or Swine in danger you would seek for help and is the immortal Soul only to be neglected There are none but those that deny there is a God a Devil a Heaven or a Hell or that think the Soul is mortal and shall dye with the body and that the Scriptures are not Gods Word but must needs confess there is great danger in dying unprepared or in an unregenerate condition and yet few live accordingly but whatever men think Hell will prove a real misery and Heaven a real Happiness and our Atheist will ere long be convinc'd of it to purpose Luk. 16. God will be true though every man be a lyar The rich Glutton found to his full conviction that Hell was no scare-crow nor Gods Threats no Bugbear but real things and we have many in our Age far worse then he is there described that yet have blind hopes it shall be well with them and if these things be real should not we be serious about them is not
Heaven worth having and Hell worth the avoiding and the soul worth saving we are serious about the things of the world and much more should we be to save our lives and are Salvation and Damnation trifles not fit to be regarded one year or month may make a great alteration in our Families or Neighbourhood and many now living may then be dead and landed in Eternity that thought they might have lived longer sometimes death strikes the Child in the womb when he spares him that stoopeth through Age and this may be your case for ought you know This was Jerusalems fault and ruine She remembred not her latter end Lam. 1.9 therefore she came down wonderfully and many I fear dye of her disease Now though our life is short and time uncertain yet our work is great and of great Concernment and requires time to do it in and those that consider it well know we have no time to spare all is little enough for our work and those that have been Prodigals of their time have found their mistake when it hath been too late We are in a race and run for our lives and shall we not set out with the first and hold on to the last and use our utmost diligence in the way if we turn aside or turn back or slack our pace or sit down we are never like to win the prize we stake our Souls to Heaven and therefore 't is for no small wager if we run well heaven is ours if not the Soul our chiefest Jewel is lost we have a great deal of work to do and Night draws on and the shadows of the Evening are stretched out and when night comes no man can work and is it not time to be up and doing most men are bewildred in the dark and lose themselves with their reward and miss their way or fall short of their desired Journeys end and this will be our case if we prevent it not for the way is difficult and delayes as well as mistakes are dangerous Many that have wit enough to get an Estate yea to deceive and to circumvent their Brethren have yet been deceived themselves in this their great concern yea many that have made a great profession of Religion and have directed others and have been their guides for want of a guide have miscarried themselves and lost their way those that have lived under the powerful means of Grace and performed many duties and preacht and prayed and thought themselves wiser than others and cast their ground and thought to go a nearer way to Heaven than others yet have been lost and never came to the place they aimed at Those that have exhorted others to take heed have lost themselves for want of heed and though they have been confident in the way have yet miss'd of the way and is it time for us that never arriv'd to that heighth to sit still and venture there is but a little between us and death and if death cut the thred of our lives before our peace be made with God we are past remedy for if once we fall into that gulph of Eternity there is no getting out we shall never find bank nor bottom As the tree falls so it lyes all the world cannot turn it and if the Soul miscarry our case will be worse than the beast that perisheth for as now men are never weary of sinning then God will be never weary of punishing and all the racks tortures and torments in the world will not equalize the torments of a miscarrying Soul but if we are prepared for death have made our peace with God and evened our Accounts with him have espoused the Soul to Christ and cleared up our Evidences for Heaven 't is not the Devil nor his Instruments 't is not death nor him that hath the power of death nay 't is not Hell it self that can hinder a Believers happiness for Assurance of Gods love will bear up the heart above water and keep it from desponding or sinking even under the pangs of death 2 Tim. 1.12 I know saith Paul whom I have Believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day And again Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 8 Direct For Preparation 't is necessary to put your Hearts as well as your Houses in order nay 't is much more necessary if you would reform begin at the right end if you reform the heart the rest will follow but all other reformation signifies little without it the way to kill a Tree is not to lop off here a Bough and there a Branch but to stub it up by the root and to destroy the tree of Sin is not to be lopping off here one and there another but root up the whole which will be done if the heart be reformed 't is not the Stream but the Fountain we must cleanse if we will have clean water the other will prove but labour in vain Prov. 4.23 Keep the heart with all deligence saith Solomon for out of it are the issues of life Quod sanitas in corpore id sanctitas in corde if a Disease strike to the heart 't is dangerous but if the heart be sound there is hopes if the Spring be clear the water will purge it self Job 31.1 if that be infected or polluted 't is in vain to purge the Stream Eccles 5.1 't is true the Eye the Foot the Hand must be heeded but if the heart be not first Regulated these will not be kept in order the Eye will be full of Adultery and the Hand swift to shed blood for out of the heart proceed murders Mat. 18.8 adulterycs c. Look to the heart and the heart will look to the rest The heart of man is of so great a Concern that it hath many Suitors the world yields many of them Riches Honour Pleasure woe for the Affection and seldom but one of these prevail Pro. 23.26 and spiritual Powers make suit also God saith My Son give me thy heart and happy are we if we give our consent as the heart is defiled he will have none of it and till it be renewed he will own nothing that man doth nor any Sacrifice he Offereth God sends many a Messenger to wo for it and many a time he striveth by his own Spirit to win it and many a Love Token he sends to oblige it and many a promise he makes to win upon it The Devil also contends more for it than about the Body of Moses for that is imagined to be but in reference to it he owns it as his by nature and would fain keep the possession for while he keeps
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
undauntedly this grace will assure a man that life and death will prove advantagious to him and that God and his departing soul are at peace and that the Covenant remains firm even in the Grave it self this makes a man look even beyond death it self and see the Crown of glory the recompence of reward before him and assures him death will do him more good than hurt that it will set an end to his misery and beginning to his happiness and that when death hath struck the stroak the Angels will carry the Soul into Abrahams bosom yea lodge it in the Arms of their dear Redeemer These apprehensions made Paul to desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and the Martyrs to be so willing to dye and so chearfully to go to the stake Love to God also is another grace which much sweetens the very thoughts of death indeed this sweetens the sharpest passage of Providence when we think this is my Fathers will whom I love and who loves me and knows best what is for my good yea death it self shall be welcome when 't is a Messenger from him I love to fetch me home to his bosom what will not a loving Wife suffer to enjoy her beloved Husband love desires the strictest union and most intimate communion with the party beloved but this the Soul cannot obtain but by Death O saith the Soul now I lye under the hatches troubled with a thousand infirmities I can seldom have a glimpse of Christ here well the time is at hand that I shall see him face to face and enjoy him in glory where I shall serve him without distraction and never be troubled more with vain thoughts or roving imaginations or any of Satans temptations Oh when will this time be The other graces of the Spirit are also necessary to this end to sweeten death such as Knowledge Repentance Obedience Humility Self-denial Patience Hope c. of which I shall not speak particularly Now the Promises are made to these graces not only of this life but of that to come among the rest of the good things promised is Heaven and Happiness but what is a carnal man the better for these promises that is not qualified for them but when by Faith we can see this Crown of glory and see our Names written upon it and get a Pisgah-sight of this heavenly Canaan we shall willingly venture over this Jordan and encounter all the Sons of Anak we meet in our way and not fear what Man what Devils what Death can do unto us get these Graces in exercise and you need not fear Fire and Faggot 10 Direction That you may thus empty the heart of sin and wickedness and replenish it with Grace and godliness that so you may be fit to live and fit to dye and fit to live with Christ-for ever 't is fit and necessary you take Gods way for it cannot be done by your own strength Improve therefore all the means which God hath afforded you for this end for those that refuse the means seldom attain the end Improve his Word and Ordinances these are the appointed means however some scorn at them and some think they are above them but those that go not this way seldom come to Heaven In the Word are given Rules how to live and how to dye and how to behave ourselves in all Conditions here is Oyl to be had and those that neglect will be to seek when the Bridegroom comes Those that now neglect the Wedding-garment will want it when they have occasion to use it and so be thrust out of the Bride-chamber This Word of God should be our daily study for here are directions both for life and death and none but those that are bad Husbands for the soul will neglect it here are the precious Promises which are our Fathers Legacy out of which the Soul by Faith sucks sweetness which are special Cordials against fainting fits which bear up the head above water and the heart in all storms and tempests here is direction in Heavens way yea way-marks set up that we should not erre nor wander here you may find what qualifications God requires in his servants and what Evidences for Heaven are good and authentick and what God will own another day and if by the help of the Spirit you can read them in your own hearts as in a counter pane there is no better Evidence for Heaven no greater Cordial in the world to bear up the heart here you may find comforts and consolatious in all your conditions and if you walk in this road you will meet with much help and assistance yea many companions in your Journey here you have the Spirit of God both to direct and comfort you and who can erre that hath such a guide or droop that hath such a comforter here you shall hear a voice behind you saying this is the way walk in it turn not to the right hand or to the left here you have the assistance of Gods Ministers to direct you but take heed of quenching the motions of his Spirit or abusing his Messengers lest his Spirit leave striving with you and God take away his Messengers in his anger here you may find many that have walked the same way met with the same troubles suffered the same afflictions temptations crosses and losses as you do and yet have born it with patience and overcome it with constancy and comfort here you may know the worst that death can do to you is for your advantage if you love God for such death cannot hurt kill you it may hurt you it cannot the worst it can do is but to send you to your Fathers house the sooner Meditate therefore upon this Word of God and also upon the Attributes of God and this must needs support you under sufferings Meditate also upon mans Mortality to quicken you in your pace of the Worlds vanity and emptiness to make you slight it and the fulness of Christ to make you to desire him The Meditation of death will not make you dye sooner but safer and the Promises will yield sweetness even in the pangs of death for death is to the godly but as a Pursivant to fetch them to Heaven and his wisdom power holiness justice goodness and truth are Cordials also and will help to keep the heart from fainting and desponding and will shield the Spirits against all crosses and afflictions they shall meet with and by Meditation in the Word you may learn the happiness of the godly and the miseries of the wicked and what will be the end of both yea you may find there what are the pains of Hell and the Joyes of Heaven and these may be used as motives to a holy life Prayer also is an excellent duty to prepare for death by this God is engaged to help at a time of need Christian Conference also is another help wherein one fire-stick helps to inkindle another till all come into a
flame Now those that are constant and faithful in these and the rest of the Ordinances and means God hath appointed to this end are likelyest to have the qualifications before mentioned and those thus qualified need not fear death those that walk evenly with God in Prosperity are most like to hold out in Adversity Heb. 2.14 and need not fear death nor him that hath the power of death the Devil The more faithful and constant any one is in the Trade of Godliness the more Assurance he may have of a happy death and joyful Resurrection and what hinders then but a chearful resigning our selves to death when God calls a man will not willingly resign up his old Lease till he have assurance of a better but who will not leave a Cottage for a Palace or exchange an old Suit for a new Rags for Robes when assurance of Heaven is got no wonder if earth be contemned for who will not change a Temporal Life for Life Eternal And thus Courteous Reader if thou art prepared I have spoken to thee in the Book if not in the Epistle wherein I have given thee some direction how thou maist be prepared and how thou maist come to be fit to live and fit to dye and fit to lye in the Arms of Christ for ever What effect the Book will have upon the one or the Directions on the other I know not but my desire is and my Prayer shall be that it may be beneficial both to the one and to the other This will be your own advantage but the comfort of him who subscribes himself Yours for your Souls good Edward Bury Eaton Octob. 23. 1680. Books printed for and sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheap-side near Mercers Chappel SErmons on the whole Epistle of Saint Paul to the Collossians by Mr. J. Daille translated into English by F. S. An Exposition of Christs Temptation on Matth. 4. and Peters Sermons to Cornelius and circumspect walking by Tho. Taylor D. D. A practical Exposition on the third Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians with the Godly mans choice on Psal 4. vers 6 7. by Anthony Bargess Christianographia or a description of the multitudes and sundry sorts of Christians in the world not subject to the Pope by Eph. Pagit Dr. Donns 40 Sermons being his 3 Volumes Forty six Sermons upon the whole Eighth Chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans by Tho. Horton D. D. late Minister of St. Hellens An Analytical Exposition of Genesis and of 23 Chapters of Exodus by George Hughes D. D. The Door of Salvation opened by the Key of Regeneration by George Swinnock M. A. An Exposition on the five first Chapters of Ezekiel with useful Observations thereupon by William Greenhill Gods holy Mind touching matters Moral which he uttered in ten Commandments Also an Exposition on the Lords Prayer by Edward Eston B. D. The Fiery Jesuit or an Historical Collection of the rise encrease doctrines and deeds of the Jesuits Horologiographia optica Dyaling universal and particular speculative and practical together with a description of the Court of Arts by a new Method by Sylvanus Morgan A seasonable Apology for Religion by Matthew Pool Separation no Schism in Answer to a Sermon preached before the Lord Maior by J. S. An Exercitation on a question in Divinity and Case of Conscience viz. Whether it be lawful for any person to act contrary to the opinion of his own conscience formed from arguments that to him appear very probable though not necessary or demonstrative The Creatures goodness as they came out of Gods hand and the good mans mercy to the bruit-Creatures in two Sermons by Tho. Hodges B. D. Certain considerations tending to promote Peace and Unity amongst Protestants Mediocria or the most plain and natural apprehensions which the Scripture offers concerning the great Doctrines of the Christian Religion of Election Redemption the Covenant the Law and Gospel and Perfection A Soveraign Antidote AGAINST THE FEAR of DEATH OR A Cordial for a Dying Christian being Ten Meditations suited to that End MEDITAT I. What Death is to a Believer and to an Vnbeliever WHY art thou cast down Psal 42.11 O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God What is it that thus amazeth and terrifieth thee Why art thou so distracted in thy duties and so full of anxious fears and doubts is it the apprehension of death that so disquiets thee Why man didst thou never look Death in the face till now didst never behold his grisly looks and grim face yea thou hast many a time and art thou yet afraid is this the fruit of all thy prayers and thy mortifying Meditations hast not thou instructed many Job 13.4 c. and strengthned the weak hands thy words have upholden him that was falling and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees but now it is come upon thee dost thou faint and when it toucheth thee art thou troubled Is a disease now more terrible than formerly Or the apprehensions of death than in times past or is it bad News that terrifies thee and makes thee afraid Some Papist plotting to take away thy life Psal 112.7 among others the Psalmist tells thee he shall not be afraid of evil tidings whose heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. Suppose they seek thy life and thirst after thy blood hast thou no hiding place no City of refuge to fly to till the storm be over Hast thou no interest in God no Friend in the Court to make thy complaint to Prov. 14.32 No comfort in time of need But dye thou must well yet the righteous hath hope in his death and doth thy hope and thy happiness then expire with thy life Come let us reason the case and see if there be so much cause of desponding as thou pretendest Art thou from under the protecting hand of God Ps 59.1 Or is his hand shortned that he cannot save Isa 50. or his ear heavy that he cannot hear Where is the bill of divorce that he hath given thee Or hath the Lord put thy life into thine own hands and dost thou think it will be wrested out by violence Art thou thine own keeper and dost mistrust thy strength Or is thy life put into thy Enemies hand and by whom Or can they take it away without a Commission God usually keeps the Keyes of Life and Death at his own girdle Or if thy Life be gone is thy Happiness at an end if not what need all this consternation this is more than thy Enemies can do without leave and if they could what a great matter is it for a man an Old man to dye but 't is him whom thou callest thy Father Numb 16.22 that can kill and make alive and brings to the
gates of death and back again 't is he that is the God of the Spirits of all flesh are not thy Enemies also at his dispose and their lives are they not in his hands Who was it that turned the counsel of Achitophel into foolishness Exod. 14.28 Esth 7.10 and drowned Pharaoh and his Army in the Sea and caused Haman to be hanged upon the Gallows he had made for another and can take his Enemies in their own snares and the crafty in their own devices And is not this God in Heaven yet and doth he not rule among the children of men and dispose the Kingdoms of the world to whom he pleaseth and wilt thou fear man whose breath is in his nostrils and the son of man that is vanity and cannot he deliver thee out of their hands if he see it good and will do if he have more work for thee to do and if not why shouldst thou desire to live longer and if they must be the messengers which thy Father sends to fetch thee home what hurt is in that what wrong is done thee Heb. 9.27 If thy trouble be that thou must dye it may be as well that thou wast made a man for it is appointed unto man once to dye and after death the Judgment And if thou wouldst not have God to have the dispose of thy life why dost thou not speak out and renounce thy Christianity Lu. 14.26 Was it not one of the first Conditions Christ required of thee when he first admitted thee into his service If any man saith he come unto me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters Mat. 16.25 yea and his own Life also he cannot be my disciple And doth he not plainly tell thee he that will save his life shall lose it and he that will lose his life for his sake shall find it Is not this the lowest degree of true grace and a necessary qualification without which thou canst not be his Disciple he told thee this at the beginning he doth not impose upon thee and put new Conditions into the Covenant that were not agreed upon Joh. 16.33 Heaven was never offered upon lower tearms he always told thee that through many tribulations thou must enter into it and if the World hate thee and the seed of the Serpent persecute thee 't is no new thing thou knewest it before and if thou tookest up the profession of Religion and not reckon the Charges 't is not Gods fault but thy folly Christ never indented with thee to leave it at thy dispose when and how thou shouldst dye if thou refuse to dye in the Cause of God if he require it the Heathens will condemn thee who would venture their Lives for their Countrys good and many times upon lower accounts as to end their Miseries to prevent a worse death or to get themselves a Name and hast not thou a better call than any of those when Christ and his Cause require it Many of the Gallants of our time that 't is feared are not very well provided for Death yet will venture their Lives in a drunken Fray in a Whores quarrel or to prevent the name of Coward but if they well understood the consequents of their death they would be more timerous and wilt thou shrink back in the cause of Christ when his Truth and thy own Soul ly at the stake when thou canst not deny to dye but thou must deny Christ and his Truth and hazard the Salvation of thy Soul Dye thou must whether thou wilt or no and there is no thanks to thee Heb. 9.27 there is a Decree pass'd in Heaven which cannot be reversed more firm than the Laws of the Medes and Persians and wilt thou lose thy God thy Christ thy Soul thy Heaven and Happiness and all to prolong thy life a little longer which yet thou knowest not whether thou canst do it or not If thou dye for Christ thou puttest off thy life at the greatest advantage imaginable and if thou refuse when he requires it thou runnest thy self upon the most desperate danger conceivable Thou think'st perhaps the condition is hard and so it is if thou only consult Flesh and Blood and the Sensitive faculty but if thou consult with Grace and rectified Reason thou wilt find it much easier than at first it seems There is greater reason God should dispose of thy Life who gave it thee than that thou shouldst dispose of the lives of Bruits that thou didst not canst not give them and yet thou thinkest thou dost them no wrong but God hath a better interest in thee and a clearer title to thy life than thou hast to them Life indeed is a precious Jewel and to be valued above all earthly enjoyments but Christ and the Soul are more precious than Life it self and when Life cannot be had but Christ must be denyed and the Soul lost 't is easie to determine what is to be preferred for he that will preserve his Life at these rates makes a bad bargain 'T is thy duty 't is true to part with any earthly enjoyments for lifes sake Job 2.7 Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life but Life and all must go to secure the Soul Death 't is true is an enemy to Nature yet in some cases it must be chosen and we must deny our selves Hunger and Thirst are natural to us and the Appetite requires Meat and Drink and yet did we know there was Poyson put into our Cup or Dish reason would restrain the Appetite and rather choose Hunger or Thirst than a worser evil Physick is not pleasing neither to be chosen for its own sake yet for healths sake we take bitter Pills and unsavoury potions Pain is not pleasant to the flesh but an enemy to Sense yet Reason perswades us sometimes to open a Vein to prevent greater pain and to cut off a Joynt a Member a Limb to prevent greater mischief Some discontented persons weary of a miserable life not only wish for death but lay violent hands upon themselves choosing Death as the lesser evil these leap out of the Frying-pan into the fire and consider not what the Event of such a death is these have low ends and drive on a bad bargain and seeking to avoid Scylla they fall into Charybdis Job 3.21 22. these obey not Gods Call but the Devils Whistle There are some that long for death but it cometh not and dig for it more than for hid treasure they rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave This is unnatural joy for as 't is our duty to yield up our breath when he that gave it calls for it so 't is our duty to preserve our Lives and our sin to hasten our death before he requires it We must not leave our station till our Captain commands it we must not leave the Vineyard when
ready to offer it up when God required it Acts 21.13 and was willing not only to be bound but to dye for Christ at Jerusalem the recompence of reward was in his eye the Crown of glory was in his sight which Christ the righteous Judge should give him at the last day Phil. 1.21 and his desire was that Christ might be magnified by him both by his life and by his death Thou canst contentedly endure pain for health and wilt thou not endure it for Christ and everlasting Happiness Wilt thou not endure some few gripes for glory Thou hadst thy life given thee upon this condition to part with it when God requires it thou art a Tenant at will and so at anothers dispose and if thou wilt surrender God will build thee up a more sumptuous house if thou wilt not he will distrain upon thee pluck down thy house shortly and cast thee into Prison Life it self was given on no other terms but to be at Gods dispose and think not that thou hast wrong Death is the common road wherein all men walk Kings and Emperours leave their Crowns and Scepters at his gate rich and poor great and small bond and free croud in at this door and travail this road if thou willingly resign thou maist make an advantage if not ere long thou wilt be constrained to do it upon harder terms and seeing a death thou must dye what matter is it what Messenger 't is that Death sends to distrain for this Rent whether an ordinary disease or an extraordinary Pursivant whether thou dye in thy bed or go to Heaven in a fiery Chariot and if so the Crown of Martyrdom will be thy Reward Death to the wicked is but an entrance into Hell the beginning of sorrowes yea of eternal death Rev. 20.6 but those that have a part in the first resurrection the second death of them shall have no power Oh my foul why art thou afraid of death seeing the sting is taken out and the nature of it changed let us view it a little better and see what the godly have thought of it and what the Scripture saith of it Isaiah tells thee Isa 57.1 2. The righteous are taken away from the evil to come to enter into peace and to rest in their beds and is Rest so terrible to the weary man Paul calls it a departing Phi. 1.23 and to be with Christ and is this so dangerous to lye in Christs bosom in eternal bliss Job makes no more of it than the cutting down of a flower Job 14.1 2. and is this a matter of such moment Simeon calls it a departing in peace Luk. 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Joshua calls it The way of all the earth Joshua 32.14 Behold saith he I am this day going the way of all the earth and wilt thou be afraid of going in this beaten road In Christs account 't is but a falling asleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth the like was said of Stephen And when he had said this Act. 7.60 he fell asleep and who is afraid of falling asleep 'T is called also a finishing our course 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight saith Paul I have finished my course And who would be afraid of his journeys end 'T is called a going hence O spare me Psal 39.13 saith David that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more a going home Man goeth to his long home Eccle. 12.5 saith Solomon and what danger is in going home 't is but a resting from our labour saith the Spirit Rev. 14.13 There the wicked saith Job cease from troubling and the weary are at rest Job 3.17.18.12 there the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor the small and the great are there and the Servant is free from his Master And how sweet is rest to a weary man and doubtless death to the godly is the end of all misery and the beginning of Happiness O my God I am fully convinc'd and I see great reason why I should submit to thee and lay down my life at thy feet and I resolve through thine assisting grace so to do and to submit my self to the stroak of death when and how it shall please thee Lord assist me in these resolutions lest my enemy surprize me and my deceitful heart betray me and my frail flesh insnare me and make me dishonour my God deny my Redeemer break my Peace with thee wound my Conscience and lose my soul by any sinâ—â—l complyance or denying my Life when thou cal'st for it MEDITAT II. Death is common to Good and Bad. O My Soul why art thou yet afraid at the apprehension of death why dost thou draw back why dost thou frame excuses is death any strange or unwonted thing that thou hast not seen nor heard of before then there were some cause but is it not as common as 't is for a man to be born is it not the end of all flesh the way of all the world Omnibus una manet nox et calcanda semel via lethi is it not the common road that all men tread when they go out of the world young and old great and small rich and poor good and bad all throng in at this Gate and art thou loath to stoop so low Death sometimes strikes the child in the womb and sometimes the man that stoops for Age and art thou afraid of that which unborn Babes and crooked old age undergo Heb. 9 27. and that which is as sure as the coat upon thy back It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after Death the Judgement All men dye once and most men twice but the second Death is far more formidable Job 14.1 2 5. Man that is born of a woman is of a few dayes and full of trouble He cometh up like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not His dayes are determined the number of his Months are with God he hath appointed his Bounds that he cannot pass Job 14.14 and 10.9 'T is therefore thy Duty all the dayes of thy appointed time to wait till thy change come for he hath made thee as the Clay and will bring thee to Dust again 1 Tim. 6.7 Wis 7.16 Thou broughtest nothing into the world and 't is certain thou shalt carry nothing out all have one entrance into Life and a like going out Death makes a very great change so that wicked men have cause to fear it the Godly to desire it and all to expect it Life flies away suddenly and cannot be retained Death comes speedily and cannot be resisted O death Ecclus. 41.1.2 how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives at rest in his possessions unto the man that hath nothing to vex him and hath prosperity in all things yea unto
him that is able to receive meat Oh Death how acceptable is thy Judgment to the needy and to him whose strength faileth him c. The best and holiest men have dyed for Innocency it self is no Target against it otherwise Christ had not dyed in whose mouth was found no guile The stoutest and strongest cannot resist death Sampson himself must yield him the victory The wisest cannot preserve himself alive Solomon himself that had studied the nature of all Vegetables 1 King 4.33 from the Cedar in Lebanon to the Hyssop that grows upon the wall yet found out none that could cure the dint of Death contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis The worst of men also are subjected to his power those that would sell their Souls to save their lives cannot do it there is no power can resist it at one time it prevail'd against almost all the world as in the Flood against populous Cities as Sodom and Gomorrah c. against Potent Princes and great Armies as over Pharaoh and his Host Senacherib's Army where an hundred fourscore and. five thousand were slain in one Night thus good and bad pass through the same Gate but then their way soon turns the Godly to the right and the Wicked to the left hand the one to Heaven and the other to Hell for as death is an outlet to let us out of the World so 't is an inlet to let us in to Eternity to the Godly an inlet to Eternal Bliss and to the wicked into Eternal misery Then will a difference be made between the Good and the Bad as wide as between Heaven and Hell Death is a debt we owe to nature and pay it we must and t is not much matter whether it be sooner or later or whether we dye a natural or violent Death they both signifie the same thing should'st thou turn every stone and use all means direct or indirect thou canst not long preserve thy life possibly if thou deny payment of this debt when God requires it thou maist preserve it a little longer and but a little for God will ere long distrain for the Debt and then cast thee into an Eternal Prison Gods determinate counsel is upon thee and he knows eventually when thy death shall be he hath determined thy bounds that thou canst not pass God commanded Abraham to Sacrifice his Son and it was his Duty so to do and his sin if he refused though God determined eventually it should not be done yet if he had refused it he had miss'd of the Blessing Thy appointed time is with God but unknown to thee 't is his revealed will that is thy duty thou must look after not eventually what shall come to pass secret things belong to God Deu. 29.29 but things revealed unto us if God and his truth his Gospel and his cause call thee to lay down thy life and seal thy doctrine with thy blood thou must carry thy life in thy hand and lay it down at his feet If God command thee to lose thy life 't is thy duty to dye and if by denying Christ life be prolonged 't is a hard bargain and 't is no less thy sin though God eventually determined thy life to be prolonged There are many that hasten their death by their intemperance and sacrifice their lives to Bacchus and Venus to drunkenness and lust and so become a Victim to the Devil himself yet are not Gods decrees altered for though many hasten their death or use unlawful means to preserve their lives and so both the one and the other become Guilty yet Gods decrees are not altered If thou devote thy life to God and fully resolvest to lose it for his sake if he require it though he never call thee forth to suffer thou wilt not lose thy reward and if thou resolvest thou wilt part with Christ and kick up thy profession rather than suffer for him if he never put thee upon the trial God will take the will for the deed whether thou wilt or no dye thou must for death will not be bribed Crowns and Kingdoms will not prolong their owners lives thou maist say of death as Paul of preaching A necessity is laid upon me will I nill I dye I must if willing I have a reward if against my will I cannot help it death will not be corrupted with bribes won with promises nor terrified with threats When the time will be 't is not so much thy concern to know as thy duty to prepare for it thou maist lose thy self but canst not preserve thy life one day beyond the appointed time if thou deny God a temporal life he will deny thee eternal life I have read of one in persecuting times being called to suffer for the truth he had professed cryes out The fire is hot I cannot burn but within a short space he was burnt in his own house and we have cause to fear he finds the fire of Hell incomparably hotter than the flames he was burnt in which yet he could not evade Death triumphs over all ranks and Estates of men from the King upon his Throne to his meanest Subject Mors pauperum tabernas regumque turres aequo pulsat pede Death makes no difference ere long the grizly hand of Death will with a winding sheet cover those naked Breasts and spotted Faces which have been the Looking-glasses of lust And worms will ere long make their nest between those Breasts which are now exposed to sight and sale and eat out those wanton windows of love and messengers of lust death will then cool the courage of the stoutest hot-spur Crowns and Scepters are the spoils taken by this Conqueror as trophies of his victories Job 14.7 man that is born of a woman is of short life and full of trouble Inward corruption disposeth us to Death as well as open violence thy body is an earthen pitcher ready to break at every knock this earthly tabernacle must be repaired with food or Physick or both daily or it will soon fall about thy ears many are the harbingers of death many are the sensible decayes in nature which tell thee thy end is approaching the weakness of thy sight the dulness of thy hearing the rottenness of thy â—eeth the wrinkles in thy face and thy gray hairs mind thee that this crazy Pitcher will not long come home from the water unbroken The contrary Elements whereof thy body is compounded the disagreeing qualities within thee of cold and heat drought and moisture will at length quarrel for the upper hand and work the destruction of the compositum were there no external cause of thy dissolution these will effect what thy greatest enemy can but do though haply not so soon The fruit when 't is once ripe will fall if it be not gathered the Rose will wither if not pluckt the sturdiest Oak or Elm or Cedar will at length yield to time Methusalems glass will run out and these
houses of clay will at last tumble down of themselves Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see Death shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Mors omnibus communis est 'T is the common path all the world walks in some sooner some later some in Infancy and some in Youth and in middle and some in old age And 't is the best way for thee to put thy life into his hands that gave it and who only is able to preserve it and assure thy self he will dispose of it to thy advantage and if he take it from thee will exchange it for life Eternal for a Believer to dye is but as the putting off an old suit of cloaths 1 Cor. 5.6 and exchanging it for a new and who will fear to put off his old nasty Rags at night for rich Robes in the morning 'T is but to change a Cottage for a Palace Earth for Heaven and the creatures for God and who will not be willing of such a bargain yea of a Peasant to be made a Prince Whatever thou losest for Christ thou shalt lose nothing by him for he will repay thee a hundred fold Mat. 19.29 This is the way to secure thy life or to part with it at the best advantage when otherwise thou wilt lose thy life as the Pharisees did their duties for nothing they prayed they fasted they gave alms but by reflecting upon themselves and not looking at God in what they did they lost their Reward If thou lose thy life and canst not help it what praise-worthy thing dost thou Thousands of men it may be imagined that never intended a life for Christ have yet with others been bloodily Massacred upon a religious account when something else lay at the bottom these have suffered Death without a reward and this may well be thy condition 'T is true thou shouldst not run before thou art sent or expose thy life to danger without a call so maist thou be guilty of thine own death which is murder in the highest degree this is the way to shorten thy life but to hasten thy misery But to dye for Christ is gain and soul-advantage and how canst thou that pretendest to believe a Resurrection to Eternal Life and pretendest an interest in it yet fear to dye which is the only way to enjoy it we sow our seed willingly in hope of a plentiful crop we go to bed willingly in hope of rest and sleep and shall we fear to repose our body in the Grave in hope of a joyful Resurrection O the Ignorance the Infidelity the want of Love that appears in thee for didst thou really believe what thou pretendest to believe or hadst thou that love for Christ which thou pretendest to have thou wouldest long for the time when thou shouldest enjoy this happiness when thou shouldst enjoy this God Mat. 6.21 love would make thee run through fire and water to come to him Love makes labour light it makes a man slight all the difficulties that lye in the way Vbi amor ibi animus and where the treasure is there will the heart be also dost thou believe that at death this mortal shall put on immortality 1 Cor. 15.54 and this corruptible shall put on incorruption that death shall be swallowed up of victory and that in Heaven thou shalt never hunger more nor thirst more nor have need of any creature supplies and never meet with more losses crosses or afflictions to molest thee but shalt be as the Angels of God which behold Gods face in glory Dan. 12.3 Phil. 3.21 dost thou believe that thy glorified body shall shine as the Sun in the firmament and be fashioned like unto Christs glorified body and yet art afraid to dye and come to glory how can these things be reconciled The question is not Whether thou must dye or no this is determined by an irrevocable decree but it is about the Time and the Manner of thy death who is fittest to dispose of it thee or the great God that gave it wouldst thou have it at thine own will alas thou canst not preserve it a moment and thou canst not preserve it from a violent death and a languishing disease may haply be more painful than the death thy enemy puts thee to thou canst not deny Christ thy life without hazard of eternal death and wilt thou not rather suffer a few pangs than run this hazard and be obnoxious to eternal torments Thou hast a sickly weakly body many distempers hang upon thee from head to foot scarce a free part and subject to more than yet thou feelest and there is no other Physician can cure thee but Death his stroak is the Catholicon the universal Medicine for all distempers and dost thou fear the potion which so many of the Saints have taken and did well nay never any that miscarried under his hands Christ by his death hath destroyed him who hath the power of death Heb. 2.14 15. even the Devil to deliver them which through the fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Now the only way to be delivered from this fear is to fall under this Stroak for death frees us from this as well as from all other miseries If thou shouldst yet deny thy life and so think to save it thou art much mistaken when God is thine enemy and thine enemy then he will be Every creature will wait for a Commission to take away thy life God can hide Death in the smallest creature With what contemptible things did he torment Pharaoh and his people which had they not been withdrawn upon Moses supplication would have been their destruction as Frogs and Lice and Locusts and Caterpillars c. Nay we may read of many that have lost their lives by such as these some have been devoured by Rats and Mice others destroyed by Leeches some stung to death by Bees Wasps and Hornets some choakt with Flies with Figs with Grapes Ward on Mat. part 329. with the kernel of Grapes with Fish-bones crums of bread an hair in milk some have been eaten of lice others of worms some have dyed in smelling of a flower some with the prick of a pin or thorn and many other such like God needs not muster any great Army to destroy thee the least of his creatures can do it if he give them a commission and if thou deny thy life when he requires it well maist thou fear this commission will be sealed well maist thou fear the bread thou eatest will choak thee the drink thou drinkest will be thy bane and what ever judgment thou ever readest or heard'st of that ever befell a graceless sinner it may be thy portion that the flouds may drown thee as it did the old world and Paraoh and his host that the fire may burn thee as it did Sodom and Gomorrah that the earth may open her mouth and swallow thee up
as it did Corah Dathan and Abiram Or whatsoever other judgments have befaln the Enemies of God may be thy portion for Apostacy is a most dangerous sin some creature or other may well distrain of thee in Gods name when thou denyest the debt Hadst thou been the first that ever tasted of death as Abel was thou mightest have been afraid had never any before thee entred into deaths darksome Cell or gone through that dark and narrow entry it were something but when ten thousand times ten thousand have gone before thee what need this fear and seeing will we nill we all of us must dance after deaths pipe why wilt thou not do it willingly God loves a chearful giver he loves a free-will Offering and loves not grumbling Servants millions of the Saints are now in Heaven that have travailed this road yet none of them repent they came there too soon Many of them have been taken out of the world by the hand of violence and now have the crown of Martyrdome upon their heads Rev. 12.11 they loved not their lives to the death and now have received a crown of life and if thou be faithful to the death this will be thy reward when thou comest to thy Juorneys end thou wilt be among the souls of just men made perfect singing Halelujahs to God for ever and for ever then wilt thou bid adieu to a vain miserable cheating and deceitful world But haply thou maist say Here I am acquainted but there I am a stranger and what comfort can I have in the removing Art thou a stranger the more shame for thee other Saints were strangers and pilgrims in this world and made hast home into their own country if thou hadst been well acquainted with the Word thou wouldst have seen the vanity and emptiness of all earthly felicity and that there was nothing in the world worth thy love and hadst thou had thy conversation in Heaven as thou hast pretended thou wouldst not have been such a stranger there as thou seemest to be But stay hast thou not many friends and relations there is not almighty God there whom thou callest Father and art thou a stranger in thy Fathers house hast had no communion no trading with him in his Ordinances what is then become of all thy prayers and other duties are those all lost 't is true thou never fawest his face neither canst see it and live but hast not seen him in his Word in his Ordinances in his promises threatnings providences and Attributes Blessed is he that hath not seen Gal. 4.26 and yet believeth and is not Jerusalem that is above the mother of as all and is not the Lord Jesus Christ him whom thou callest thy Lord and thy God and thy Husband and thy elder Brother yea thy Head and is a loving wife a stranger to her beloved husband and is not the Holy Ghost there from whom thou hast received such sweet consolations in thy sinking fits and are not the holy Angels there beholding thy Fathers face in glory who are now thy guardians that rejoyced at thy conversion and will rejoyce at thy Coronation 'T is true thou seest them not thou knowest them not they are invisible but they see and know thee and then thou wilt be able to see and know them for they shall be thy constant companions and thy fellow brethren And are there not millions of glorified Saints which are thy Spiritual kindred fellow members of Christs body yea brethren in Christ yea are there not some that thou knewest in the dayes of their flesh whose company thou so much desiredst and whose death thou so much lamentedst nay are there not some that were related to thee in the flesh gone before thee of whom thou hast comfortable hopes that they are with the Lord and will not their company be now as comfortable as it was on earth yea thou wilt know more there than ever thou didst here for I question not but the Saints shall know each other for shall we sit with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and not know them All the Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles Martyrs and glorified Saints are here and is not thine Inheritance thy Crown thy Mansion-house here and art thou yet a stranger is not this thy countrey which thou pretendest to be seeking and all this while art thou a stranger to it yea dost not live upon heavenly allowance and hast thy meat and thy drink and thy cloathes for thy soul from hence Or is it death that thou art a stranger to why didst thou not know that thou wast mortal why then didst not acquaint thy self with death thou knewest all must dye why didst not consider of it and among the rest of thy own death didst not believe God when he said Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Heb. 9.27 or when he saith 'T is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the judgment and when he told thee that all flesh is grass and the flower thereof as the flower of the field But if thou hadst not believed God couldst not believe thy own eyes and ears dost not dayly see younger and stronger than thee go before thee dost not hear of many round about thee strucken by death many suddenly many by a violent death and many by diseases Dost not remember a hundred thousand slain in London in one year two or three hundred thousand in Ireland in a few weeks bloodily Massacred hast thou not many Lectures of mortality read to thee many Monitors of mortality within thee doth not the dimness of thy eyes mind thee the very Spectacles thou lookest through tell thee of the decayes in Nature and canst expect greater warning or hast any more considerable work to do than to provide for death and is death yet a stranger hast thou not visited many a sick bed and been with many a departing soul and received their last breath into thy bosom and yet hast not sufficient warning God never ingaged to give thee so much thou art his listed souldier and hast taken press-money and thou art ingaged to be in a continual readiness yet God hath given thee many a particular warning to prepare for death thou hast many a time look't death in the face and God hath often pluckt thee by the shoulders and shewed thee grim death before thee and thou hast several times received the sentence of death within thee and God hath in effect said to thee Set thy house in order for thou must dye nay not only so but God hath imployed thee to warn others yet he hath forborn thee above sixty years and every year given thee many warnings and what wouldst thou have more and yet art unacquainted with thy main work What if he had taken thee hence thirty or forty years ago as he did many that were companions with thee in vanity what had been thy condition that yet pretendest thou art not
and troubles sorrows dangers and temptations and what not and is any poor prisoner lying in his fetters or Gally-slave chained to his oars unwilling of his liberty nay would they not endure a little pain for their liberty and is there but a little pain between thee and eternal happiness and dost stick at that when wicked men indure as much in the road to Hell dost thou prize glory at so low a rate wilt thou suffer pains and labour and cark and care for worldly vanities and wilt thou suffer nothing to enjoy bliss and happiness the Physitian cures thee not without pain thou takest bitter pills and unsavoury potions when Sugred with the hopes of Health thou wouldst suffer the Surgeon to dress thy sores though he hurt thee and if need require to cut lance the flesh yea to cut off a limb or joynt to save the rest which is greater pain than many feel even in the pangs of death and yet thou must pay them for their pains and shall only the physitian Death which will cure thee of all thy pain and misery be disrespected and abhorred and lookt upon as the worst of enemies and all because he puts thee to a little pain which ends in eternal glory when many times the pains in dying is not so much as the raging pain of an aking tooth but imagine it to be the worst thou canst what proportion doth it bear to the succeeding joy not so much as is between a Flea-biting and an earthly Crown and who would not indure much more for a Kingdom what pain wouldst thou indure for an hour to be freed from the Stone or Gout all thy life if thou wert under the racking pain of it or what pain would a poor man indure one day to have a Knights or Lords estate at night Oh death if thy pangs be grievous they are but short but what are the pains of Hell which must be indured by those that deny their Redeemer for Lifes sake If thy Supper be sharp thy rest will be sweet this consideration made death it self welcom to the Martyrs who for the joy that was set before them indured the cross and despised the shame and now are set down with Christ in his Kingdom of glory Torments and tortures to them were Jocularia matters of sport The soul that sees the Crown heeds not the weight of the Cross and were there no other way to Heaven but by the gates nay through the flames of Hell the believing soul would through Luther would rather be with God in Hell than without him in Heaven but much more would they go through the gates of death what though the passage be dark a believer by the perspective of Faith can see light at the other end A Souldier that fights but for a temporary reward yet with what violence doth he press through the thickest of his enemies and carries his life in his hand and all for a thing of nought call'd Honour and doth not a crown of glory shine as bright in thy eye as popular applause doth in his dost thou believe eternal glory is offered to thee and that thou maist have it for the suffering a little pain and dost thou stick at the price and let God bestow his favours where he pleaseth thou wilt not have Heaven at so dear a rate thou art well worthy then to lose it If these outward enjoyments will give thee content then the Atheist the Epicure the beastly belly-God the Drunkard the Adulterer hath more pleasure than thee the beast of the field the fouls of the air the fish in the sea that have neither carking care nor fretting fear and many of them free from labours and pains are in a happier condition than poor Man is if this be his all and Believers then are of all men the most miserable If this be the summ of thy hopes why dost thou fast and pray and deny thy self these carnal pleasures which others take if their reward will give thee content why dost not swear with the Swearer and drink with the Drunkard and debauch thy self with the Adulterer if thy portion and theirs be alike why dost not run into the same excess of riot with them Psal 58.11 But there is a reward for the righteous surely there is a God that judgeth the earth and art thou afraid to receive the righteous mans reward wilt thou after all thy profession content thy self with the Epicures portion and lose all the pains thou hast taken in Heavens way let them be loth to dye that are loth to be with Christ or loth to be happy Is God willing to glorifie thee and art not thou willing to be glorified is he willing to bestow Heaven upon thee and art thou unwilling to take it because 't is up Hill take heed lest for murmuring at the tearms God swears thou shalt never enter into his rest as he resolved those that made light of his Supper should never tast of it Mat. 22.8 If thou make light of Christ and glory so as to put them into the one end of the Scales and a little pain in the other and make this weigh down all the rest Christ will make as light of thee and resolve thou shalt never have him if thou art unwilling to leave Earth for Heaven and the Creature for God and to enter the purchased Inheritance in the way he hath appointed God may justly give thee thy Portion elsewhere 'T is the Devils grand design to keep thee from God from Christ from Glory and art thou as willing as he to stay thence thou wilt do him the greatest courtesie and thy self the greatest mischief imaginable O my Soul look well about thee Heaven and Hell are before thee if thou like not Heaven upon the offered terms Hell is like to be thy portion those that murmured at the land of Canaan by reason of some difficulty in the way perished in the Wilderness The way to Heaven and Hell is both by the Gates of Death if thou give up thy life to Gods dispose Heaven will be thine if not Hell is thy reward Oh my God I believe help my unbelief I know I must dye I know 't is my duty to dye for thee if thou requirest thou gavest me my life and hast most reason to dispose of it Lord my Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak I cannot stand by my own Strength Lord I can do all things through thee that strengthenest me let my resolves be for Heaven which way soever thou commandest me to come to thee though through a Sea of Blood or in a fiery Chariot let me glorifie thee by my Life and by my Death that I may be glorified by thee after my Death MEDITAT III. God determines every ones Death with the Time and Manner of it O My Soul art thou afraid of a sudden Death why no Death is sudden to a prepared man but 't is a violent Death thou fearest to fall into
maist do all things Trust not in thy own strength lest with Pembleton thou failest in the performance Mat. 9.17 God will not put new wine into old bottles nor the heaviest burden upon the weakest Horse the strongest if he leave them are weak and the weakest in his strength are strong if thy heart be upright God will either free thee from thy suffering or support thee under it he will fit the back before he lay on the burden if thou dye by a violent death so do those many thousands that are slain with the Sword and yet those that are slain by the sword are better than they that dye of famine Lam. 4.9 many a wounded man that yet escapeth with his life suffers more pains of his wounds than if he had been slain outright If thou refuse a few pangs for Heaven thou art not worthy of it yea a natural death may be as painful many times is more painful than a violent death but the reward of the latter if it be for God may clearly turn the scales and make it more eligible Thy enemies as before was said are not Masters of thy life neither is it in their power to take it away for they have no power but what they receive from Heaven 't is he that disposes of Angels and Men of Crowns and Kingdoms of Heaven and Earth that must dispose of thy life and is not he the fittest for the work is there any in the world can do it better is there any in the world thou hadst rather trust with thy life is not he the fittest to send for thee out of the world that sent Christ into the world for thy sake and wilt thou think thy life too dear for him that thought not the pangs of death nor the pains of Hell too much to suffer for thee hath he suffered so much to purchase glory and wilt thou suffer nothing to enjoy it his suffering was a thousand times more for thee than thine is like to be for him or rather for thy self for thou hadst the benefit of his death but he will have none by thine hath he provided a Mansion and wilt not leave thy Cottage to go to it Death 't is true is surly and grim but 't is thy Fathers Messenger and must do the message he gives in charge and 't is an Ambassador from the great King and Ambassadors are entertained not for their own but their Masters sake and death may be welcomed for the message sake he brings He comes to tell thee that thy work is done and thy wages is ready thy Warfare is accomplished the Field is won and the Crown is thine Mat. 25.21 that thou hast been faithful over a little and now must be Ruler over much and must enter into thy Masters joy That the Bridegroom is come and thou must go in with him to the wedding that thou hast been faithful to the death Rev. 2.10 and now shalt have a crown of life And is not such a message welcome and the Messenger that brings it will any wise man rather stay in Egypt than go through the red Sea at Gods command or endure a few Wilderness troubles to come to Canaan yea through a sea of blood to a Haven of rest If the way be troublesome the Journeys end is pleasant if thou art stung with fiery Serpents there is a brazen Serpent to heaâ— thee of thy wounds and to draw ouâ— the venom If the sea be rough the Piloâ— is skilful If thy disease be dangerous this Physician is skilful if thy wounds be deep this Surgeon will cure thee yea by Killing will cure thee of all distempers Were Death a pursevant from Hell as to many he is well mightest thou fear but being sent from Heaven and coming in thy Fathers Livery and his ugly Vizor taken off he is more amiable If thou have part in the first resurrection the second death on thee shall have no power Death 't is true Rev. 20.6 puts a cup of trembling into the hands of unrepentant sinners even a cup of the Lords indignation filled to the brim which they must drink up to the very dregs and Eternity will be little enough to see the bottom but what is this to thee thy part is sugered and 't is but one sup swallowed in a few moments of time to them it proves the first and second death to thee but a Sleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Those sparks which wicked men now on earth kindle by their lusts will there be blown up into an everlasting flame Mar. 9.44 the worm dyeth not and the fire never goeth out That death that puffs out the candle of the wicked only snuffs the other that it may burn brighter The godly while they are in the world act a Comedy which begins bad but ends well the wicked act a Tragedy which alwaies ends in blood and confusion death sets an end to both to the godliess miseries and the wickeds happiness Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them And if this be the only way to blessedness why art thou afraid to walk in it death will be the Funeral of thy Vices and the Resurrection of thy Graces here Josephs feet shall no longer be hurt in the stocks the iron shall no longer enter into his soul neither shall Jeremy lye here in the miry dungeon nor Daniel in the den of Lions nor Jonah in the Whales belly why wilt thou not be uncloathed that thou maist be cloathed upon and surrender this house of clay that thou maist have a better Thou art like an ill debtor that bortowest with prayers keepest with thanks and partest with it with repining Thy body is but lent thee yet art thou loth to restore what was borrowed Well dye thou must and whether it be fit that God or thee should determine of the Time and the Manner of thy death is the question in hand and is this become a controversie and wilt dispute thy right Heaven and Earth may stand amazed at thy folly if thou wilt not yield him his due he will ere long distrain for it and try the Title at Judgment where thou art like to be cast and thrown into Prison till thou hast paid the utmost farthing for if thou deny to glorifie God by thy death he will glorifie himself by thy destruction Oh my God I yield I surrender I submit I put my life into thy hands send for me when and by whomsoever thou wilt My spirit is willing though my flesh is weak I dare not trust my own deceitfull heart lest it betray me but thee I dare trust Lord strengthen my Faith confirm my Assurance clear up my Evidences for Heaven stand by me in all my Sufferings and lay no more upon me than thou givest me strength to bear then call me and I will run after thee though
it be by the very Gates of Hell I can do all all things through Christ that strengthens me MEDITAT IV. The Fear of Death is unsuitable to a Believer O My Soul why art thou yet disquieted within me why art thou cast down why dost thou meditate terror and all this when thou lookest Death in the face Is this amazement suitable for a Christian Souldier is this the fruit of all thy Preaching Praying Reading Meditating and thy other duties is this the result of all the pains thou hast taken in Heavens way Nay hath God set thee to strengthen others against the fear of Death to support the feeble hands and drooping hearts and art thou thy self ready to faint under the burden why man rouse up thy self a little didst never see death before that thou tremblest at the apprehension art thou fit to be a Captain of the Lords Host that art ready to fly at a shadow If the Shepherd be terrified well may the Sheep be affrighted if the apprehension of Death be so amazing what will the feeling of it be well mayest thou say with Nehemiah Shall such a man as I flee Neh. 6.11 Is not death bitter enough but thou must make it bitterer and dost faint before thou feel the burden where is thy wonted courage where are now thy arguments where with thou wast wont to blunt the Dart of Death and to uphold sinking Souls under the stroak of Death Death hath been often in thy eye in thy thoughts in thy Meditations and then it was not so terrible and now with Agag thou thoughtest the bitterness of Death was past and upon a new Apprehension oâ— it doth it seem so formidable Call to mind thy former resolutions to suffer for Christ yea thy Covenant engagement to him wherein thou devotedst thy sell and that thine was to him and at his dispose and dost now repent of thy repentings death is not so great an Enemy as thoâ— supposest nor so terrible as he seems plucâ— off his vizor and look him in the face and he will appear both thy Friend and thy Physician to cure thee of all thy maladies thou hast not now a day free from sin and sorrow for where the onâ— is the other will be also as the shadow will follow the substance or rather as the effect follows the cause neither art thou like to have till death sets thee at liberty thou art now a slave or servant but the year of Jubilee is coming when thou wilt be free Job 3.17 18 19. There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest there the Prisoners rest together and they hear not the voice of the Oppressor the small and the great are there and the Servant is free from his Master Death is sent by God as Moses into Egypt to bring thee out of Egyptian bondage to the promised Land and what if thy bondage like theirs be a little encreased at the present wilt thou murmur like them when thy deliverance is in sight though thou must through the red Sea the way is safe if God go before thee and if the way be dark he will be a Pillar of fire to give thee light thou needest not fear losing thy way that hast such a guide Here thou canst not serve God but the Egyptians are ready to stone thee but get but over this bridge of Death over this Jordan and thou maist serve him without distraction or disturbance here thou canst hardly have a sight of God but Death will bring thee to speak with him face to face to know him as he is and to enjoy him as thy own In this Wilderness thou meetest with many troubles many wants sometimes of meat sometimes of drink sometimes of cloaths and other necessaries but in Heaven there is no want no need of creature-comforts for what need the Pipe when we are at the Fountain-head here are many troubles many enemies fiery Serpents but when over this Jordan these troubles vanish all thy fears husht and thy self out of the reach of danger the Devil nor his instruments cannot pursue thee beyond Death here is thy promised Land thy purchased Inheritance thy Mansion-house and can Death that puts thee in possession be lookt upon as thy Enemy The thoughts of Death are many times worse than Death it self as the Picture of the Lyon seems fiercer than the Lyon himself Heb. 2.15 but Christ died to free those that through the fear of Death were all their life time subject to bondage Oh the precious hours that should be spent in solacing thy self with the thoughts of God and the forethoughts of Glory and taking a Pisgah sight of the Heavenly Canaan which now are fruitlesly spent between hopes and fears of our Journey thither not but that preparation should be made but no desponding fears should discompose thee for the Journey The thoughts of Eternal bliss and the weight of Glory that is before thee should divert thy mind from all the pains and sorrows thou meetest with in thy journey thither as the hopes of the prize makes him that runs the race overlook the foulness or roughness of the way and the hopes of a reward makes the Souldier hew his way through the thickest of his enemies That time which now is spent in sorrowful thoughts how thou shouldest part with the world and endure the pangs of death would be better spent in trimming up thy Lamp getting Oyl in thy Vessel and adorning thy self with thy Wedding garment and in praising God that thinks thee worthy to suffer for him and in consideration that after a little pain thou shalt enter into thy masters Joy where there shall be no more pain and that this light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for thee a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Is this thy living by faith that thou talkest of What can a coveteous worlding do more that hath his portion in this life than fear the time that he shall lose it what can the voluptuous Epicure do more that at death shall see an end of all his pleasure Is this thy living by Faith is this the fruit of thy hope and the evidences of thy love to God and the other graces of the Spirit Doth vain glory steel the Spirit of our Hectors that look death in the face undauntedly only in hopes of Honour and a surviveing Name do the Mahometans venture their lives upon conceipt that those that dye in the wars shall undoubtedly go to Heaven and there for ever have their will with beautiful women and all other sensual delights and will not the Enjoyment of God in glory work thee to a willingness to suffer what he would have thee suffer Is this thy professed obedience when thou startest at hard and difficult dutyes and only scummest off the fat and sweet of duty and leavest self-denying dutyes undone what dost thou in this more than an Hypocrite or a carnal man
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
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
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
maintain thee and make thee most happy Heaven and Earth may stand amazed at thy folly surely if thou hast met with no better usage than thy Neighbours yea than thy Lord and Master hath done the controversie would soon be at an end and the question soon decided Christ tells thee in plain terms if thou belong to him the world cannot love thee and I think thou hast had experience of it to thy cost Joh. 15.18 wilt thou now proclaim to the world thy Hypocrisie and make them believe thy Faith was but a fancy and thy Love to God but a pretence wilt thou now strengthen the hands of the wicked that he shall not depart from his wickedness hast thou all this while used Religion but as a stalking-horse to take a prey and what prey hast thou taken nothing but Losses and Crosses Scoffs and Scorns and Persecution sure thou hast plaid a low game thou hast been under fears and doubts about thy sincerity and wilt thou now determine it in the Negative thou hast complained of the absence of thy Beloved and now by thy willing desertion wilt thou prove all was in Hypocrisie thou hast been persecuted for Righteousness sake and wilt now convince the world that it wronged thee and that thou wast not righteous nor the man they took thee for if not why art unwilling to go to Heaven where thou shalt never hear this grinning language more here thy eyes affect thy heart when thou seest the Oppression that is done under the Sun but there thou shalt never more see unpleasant sight here thy ears affect thy heart for thou canst scarcely open them but some bad news or other reaches thy heart to afflict it If thou look upon the Churches of God in most Nations in the World thou maist find them pickled in their tears and wallowing in their blood abroad and at home thou maist see them under sufferings in many places thou maist find the Prisons full of them and many under tortures and torments and bloodily butchered for Religion sake miserably slaughtered in France Spain Italy Hungary Helvetia Savoy Piedmont Bohemia Germany New-England Ireland and many other places yea England and Scotland have not been freed and at this day if we look upon the face of the Protestant Churches throughout Europe 't is so deplorable that there is cause enough for grief yea in some places there is persecution even by those of the same Religion only for some small differences about Modes and Circumstances of Worship they agree in all the Articles of Faith and yet writing as bitterly one against another as if they were Jews and Turks and those that we may believe may agree together in the same Heaven cannot be of the same Church yea the Church it self is a very Hospital every one hath one Disease or other one complains and not without cause of a hard Heart another of a Stubborn Will and a third of a dark Understanding one of Pride another of Passion another of Worldliness and another of Hypocrisie and yet which is the mischief of it there are many more distempers upon them than they know of Look into the best Congregations and here some are sick of a Lethargy and sleep as they go about their work others of a Consumption and instead of growing in Grace decline and lose their first love some of the Rickets and these mens heads grow bigger than the rest for they have some brain knowledge which by reason of some obstructions never sinks into the Heart or seasons the life others have he Falling-sickness some fall foully and others fall quite away and come to nothing some have a Burning Feavour and their fiery zeal sets the Church on a flame and in some it heightens to a Frenzy these are alwayes raving and tearing in pieces all that come in their way or all that thwart their humor these are never so confident as when in an Error as men at football they many times make such hast they overrun the Ball so these men many times leave truth behind them and out-run it These men must have Religion model'd in their own Brain or it pleaseth them not those that go beyond them are too hot and those that cannot reach them are too cold or in plain terms prophane and irreligious and their Heart like Jehu's must be the Standard to try all others by 2. King 10.15 and all this while 't is but their Distemper and a fiery zeal like James and John that would have all others consumed but their own party and rather had they rent the Church in pieces than abate an Ace to dissenting Christians and these many times spend themselves and their zeal upon circumstances when the main substance is neglected the very Vitals of Religion yet these men think they have found out the nearest way to Heaven when alas they run but the circle of Errors for the Devil leads them circular when they thought they had ran straight forwards and many of those that are in a little time above their Teachers are quickly above Ordinances and run from one opinion to another till they end where they began at Prophaneness they are led by the Devil towards Hell when they think they are in Heavens road as the Syrians were to Samaria by the Prophet 2 King 6.19 20. when they thought they had been going to Dothan these men are like the Lapwing who cryes most when farthest from her Nest and so they are most confident when they have left the truth behind some fall from their first love others into errors and some turn Apostates yea persecute the truth they once profest and is this a delightful thing to thee and maist not see also some of thy own Relations going towards Hell with hopes of Heaven in their mouth and will take no warning although they live in the committing of those sins which God hath plainly told us such as commit them shall never enter into Heaven 1 Cor. 6.9 10. and yet they are as confident of Heaven as if they were there already and after all this canst thou delight to live in such a World where thou canst meet with so little comfort from good or bad but all thou conversest with help to increase thy sorrow one way or other some willingly and some against their wills wouldst thou live among those hard task-masters rather than go through the red Sea to Canaan nay hadst rather endure thy Wilderness troubles than go over this Jordan and fight with this Anakim Death though thou have the Lord for thy Protector thou hast longed to enjoy thy Inheritance and many a Prayer thou hast put up to this purpose thou hast lookt upon the flesh as a Screen drawn between thy God and thee and as a clog to the Soul and breathed after more liberty in Gods service and now art unwilling that the Screen should be removed and thy liberty gained was Daniel unwilling to come out of the Lyons den or
Jonah out of the Whales Belly or Joseph or Jeremy or Paul or Silas or Peter to come out of Prison when the time of deliverance came was ever fick man afraid of Health or Lame man of being restored to his Limbs or a Blind man of being recovered to his sight was ever Hungry man afraid of his meat or thirsty man unwilling to drink or weary man unwilling to rest or was ever Turkish Slave unwilling to leave his Oars or enjoy his freedom yet have none of these so much cause to rejoyce in their freedom as the poor Soul hath in the freedom purchased by Christ and to be enjoyed at death Doth not the Husbandman long for the Harvest when he shall receive the fruits of the Field the reward of his labour doth not the Souldier long for the Victory when he shall receive the Crown doth not the Traveller desire his Journeys end and the Mariner his wished Port and the Labourer for the Sun-setting when his work is done and his wages is due and wilt thou only be afraid of the time when thy misery shall end and thy Joyes commence and all because there is a little dirty though not dangerous way to pass though there be an eternal reward for a temporal yea momentany Pain yea a thousand weight of pleasure for an ounce of grief Oh foolish Soul hast thou fought the fight and won the day and is it but stooping down and take up the Crown and wilt not be at so much pains Is there but one stile more to thy Fathers house and wilt thou sit down here and go no further but one hour between thee and Glory and hast thou spent so many years in reference to it and now wilt not add that hour to the rest hast thou almost run the race and shall one Lake in the way make thee to retire when the end is in sight hast subdued all the Enemies but one and is he disarmed also and lyes prostrate at thy feet and yet faintest and forsakest the Field dost thou fly from the Serpent when the sting is out hast thou vanquished the Flesh the World and the Devil and yet fearest Death which is a reconciled Friend hast thou overcome him that hath the power of Death and fearest thou Death it self Hast thou overcome the substance and dost quake at the shadow many thousand lose their Lives upon lower ends and venture them for a lower reward than here is propounded some for vain glory others for a corruptible Crown and wilt not venture thy life for Eternal glory and to secure thy Soul some venture Life and Soul and all in a Whores Quarrel or a Drunkards fray and wilt thou not in the cause of God and vindication of the truth and that when thy Captain stands by thee are the Gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem open and wilt not enter wilt lose all rather than strike one stroak more O my God let not the Flesh the World nor the Devil deceive me let me not faint under the burden nor ever turn my back upon thee Lord strengthen me and I will suffer for thee MEDITAT VI. What hurt can Death do a Believer OH my Soul what makes thee yet draw back are not all these foregoing considerations enough to satisfie thee but yet the thoughts of Death do appale thee and the thoughts of the Grave make thee to shiver heretofore thou hast even courted Death and solaced thy self with the Meditation of the Grave and the forethought of the time when Sin and Sorrow should be no more and now dost quake at the apprehension of it and art frighted at his grim countenance Consider a little what he is whence he comes and what message he brings and then see if he be so formidable as he seems he is but a Messenger and comes not upon his own errand neither runs he before he be sent he comes not from an Enemy but a friend yea from one that loves thee yea from that friend that sent Jesus Christ to dye for thee and the same love is exercised in the one as in the other he sent first to purchase an Inheritance for thee and now sends to thee to receive it He comes to tell thee the Great King of Heaven and Earth Greets thee and invites thee to the Marriage Feast to the Wedding Supper to drink Wine with Christ in his Fathers Court he comes to tell thee thou hast fought the good fight thou hast finisht thy course and from henceforth is laid up for thee a Crown of righteousness which Christ the Righteous Judge shall give thee at the last day that thou hast been faithfull over a few things and shalt be Ruler over many things and shalt enter into thy Masters Joy He comes to tell thee thou art at Age and must receive thine Inheritance that thou hast been long enough tossed to and fro upon the Waves of trouble and now must enter into the desired Port that thou hast long enough fed upon husks and now must come to thy Fathers house where there is bread enough and to spare he comes to tell thee thy Warfare is accomplished the race is run the prize is won and from henceforth the Crown of Glory is thine own and what hurt is in all this or why is such a Messenger to be feared he comes not as haply thou mayst suppose to break thy peace with thy God no but to make an everlasting peace which shall never be broken to assure thee God and thy departing Soul are at peace and all controversies are ended and that thou shalt never more see one frown in the face of God nor one wrinkle in his forehead he comes not for thy hurt but thy good not to hinder thy promotion but to promote it not to destroy thy body but only sow it in the Earth that it may spring forth a glorious body that corruption may put on incorruption 1 Cor. 15.55 and the mortal may put on immortality that Death may be swallowed up of Victory He comes not to make thee miserable Rev. 14.13 but happy Blâ—ssed are the Dead which dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them He comes not to separate thee from God this he cannot do For neither Death Rom. 8.28.29 nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No Death brings us into a nearer Union and more close Communion 'T is not come to make void the Covenant with God but to make it good for God hath promised in the Covenant to give Christ and Heaven and Glory to thee and how can this be made good till Death and though the body lye for a season in the Grave as Israel did in Egypt after Gods Covenant with Abraham yet shortly Death like
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
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
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
dye as to dine and accounted the day of their Death their Wedding day Paul was ready not only to be bound but to dye for Christ Many were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection they had Trial of cruel mocking scourging yea bonds and imprisonments they were stoned sawn asunder tempted slain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins Heb. 11.36 c. being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the World was not worthy they wandred in deserts and in mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth c. The more thou sufferest for Christ the more weighty will thy Crown of Glory be those that loved not their lives to the death but were killed for the Testimony of Jesus are placed under the Altar nay follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes and are cloathed with long white Robes and have Palms in their hands But if thou deny thy life to Christ he will deny thee entrance into this Heavenly Canaan and thou shalt not only lose thy reward but thy Soul also and expose thy self to Death Eternall If thou suffer with him thou shalt reign with him and if thou art ashamed of him he will also be ashamed of thee Those that honour him he will honour and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed If thou come to suffer for him as many eyes will be upon thee so many Prayers will be put up for thee and doubtless much comfort will be dropt into thy Soul by the Spirit of God who is the Comforter sent by God upon this business and God will stand by thee in suffering times and give in Cordials to refresh thy heart I have read of a Christian that under his Rack and Tortures as he after told his friends apprehended a young man with a handkerchief wiping the sweat off his face and comforting him The holy Angels will stand by thee and God will not be at a distance from his suffering Saints and who then need fear to dye that hath learnt to live if thou be prepared thou needst not fear what Messenger God sends for thee nor at what hour of the night thy master comes for Death cannot be sudden to the prepared Soul that is alwaies upon his watch and thou needst not fear what thy sufferings be if thou canst but say Propter te propter te Domine 'T is for thee and for thy sake we are killed all the day long and accounted as Sheep for the slaughter The more thou sufferest then the more deeply thou engagest God to thee and he will pay thee an hundred fold this is the best usury and the best way thou canst dispose of thy life for every year on Earth that thou hast lost thou shalt receive a thousand in Heaven and for one friend thou forsakest here thou shalt receive a thousand there and for every thing thou losest for his sake thou shalt be recompensed a thousand fold and as thou shalt have no loss so thy Enemies shall be no gainers by thy death they heap up coals of fire upon their own heads and without repentance prevent it augment their own damnation for Christ will take it as done to himself and their torments are like to be as durable as thy Joyes which will be for ever and ever Consider not so much what thou sufferest as for what and for whom if it be for the Truth it will prevail and if it be for Christ thou shalt not lose by it Truth is more precious than life it self and fit to be sealed with thy blood thou must deny thy self rather than deny thy God for he that gave thee thy life is fittest to dispose of it and whosoever parts with his life upon this account makes a good bargain he cannot buy this Gold too dear Many are the encouragements given in Scripture to persecuted Saints Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you And as great will be thy reward so great also are the company of thy fellow-sufferers even from righteous Abel to this day Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers Persecuted Yea Christ and his Apostles followed after for almost all of them dyed a violent death and greater than the Master is the Servant cannot be the world that hated Christ will hate his Servants also and persecute all that bear his Image If they hated him for righteousness sake they will hate all that are righteous Christ suffered for thee the wrath of God and wilt not thou suffer for him the wrath of man he was stung by Death and dost think it much to be strucken by it now the sting is out he suffered for thee the pains of Hell and think'st it too much to suffer the pangs of death for him when many times it is not so much as some have endured from an aking tooth and what is this to the recompense of reward he gave thee thy life and can take it if he please and yet desires thy consent and if thou refuse he will distrain of thee for this debt The worst of Enemies can but stop thy breath and the least of Creatures can do as much if animated by God The least Fly or Hair or Crumb of Bread will choak thee if God give it a commission and well maist thou fear it if thou hast denyed God to lay down thy life for his sake sickness or age will as surely end thy life as thy Enemies can though haply not so suddenly thou hast no assurance of it a day to an end neither canst thou have only put it into his hand and he will dispose of it for thy good how can the seed spring up if it be not sown or how can the body rise if not fallen if God suffer any to take away thy life 't is not out of any love to them or hatred to thee he loves his Child better than his Rod though sometimes the rod may be set on high when the Child is turned out of door yet when the child is reformed the rod shall be burnt they cannot preserve their own lives nor take away thine 't is God doth both and ere long they must tread the same steps and down to the same pit and travail the same road and enter Deaths dark Vault as well as others only here is the difference death which will bring thee as Joseph out of Prison will bring them in and as it knocks off the bolts from thy heels he will fasten shackles and chains upon theirs and shall bring them like Haman from his glory to his execution that death which will set an end to thy misery will terminate their felicity it will
bring thee to glory but them to shame and everlasting contempt well may they fear Death but thou hast more cause to desire it Heaviness to thee may continue for a night but joy comes in the morning and by the eye of faith thou maist with Stephen see beyond Death even Heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God yea the Tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradice of God the Crown of glory the purchased Inheritance the Prize for which thou didst run the Crown for which thou didst fight If thou hast a mark in thy forehead for a Mourner in Sion there thou shalt have a Crown upon thy head in token of Victory Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Thou art almost come to the top of the hill draw not back now nor let thy heart go down hold out now Faith and Patience your work will not be now long hold fast what thou hast let no man take thy crown let no temptation draw thee away from Christ consider well the hand that holds it and the design Satan drives on to captivate thy soul for ever Thy life as it is not in thy own hand and should not be at thy own dispose so 't is not in thine enemies hand to take it away at their pleasure but as God makes wicked men his Skullions to scour off the rust of his people so also his Executioners to fulfill his Decrees all is in the hands of God both the Time when the Manner how and the Instruments by whom it shall be done he knows best when his work is done and when to gather his Roses and lodge them in his bosom and the Devil and his instruments are but his drudges and when the measure of their sins are fulfilled they shall have their reward The Devil himself was not able to kill one of Jobs Sheep nor to raise one boyl upon his body without Gods leave Job 1.10 for God had set a hedge about him as he was fore't to confess And God will seal no commission to the dammage of his people for all things shall work together for their good Rom. 8.28 And why dost fear man whose breath is in his nostrils or the son of man that is vanity if the fear of God be planted in the heart the fear of men and Devils will vanish for God hath them in a chain and they cannot go a link beyond it Dan. 3.19 6.16 Nebuchadnezzar had power to cast the three children into the fiery furnace but not to burn them Darius had power to cast Daniel into the Lions den yet not to cause him to be devoured the Sodomites compassed Lots house but could not enter and Haman procured a decree to cut off all the Jewes but lived not to effect it Those that are faithful to the death Rev. 2.10 shall receive at God hands a Crown of life and shall be made pillars in the house of God if they overcome But if thou revolt and deny thy God thou art from under his protecting hand and canst not claim one promise of his assistance then thou standest upon thy own legs and must shift for thy self and a miserable shift it will be Dost contend with him about thy life that hath the keyes of life and death at his girdle he that gave thee thy life and being and thou hast no breath but what he gives thee See the grievous judgments that God brings upon Apostates which both the Scripture and Church Histories will furnish thee with the fallen Angels Adam and Eve in paradise Judas Achitophel Ananias and Saphira and many more and in after ages not a few and what think'st to get by Apostacy by denying thy God or thy Religion perhaps thou thinkest to save thy life a little longer a miserable bargain and yet the Devil cannot assure thee of that It is to be feared that many in Ireland in the late Rebellion had they been brought to the trial whether they would have forsaken their Religion or their Lives would not have chosen Death yet they suffered in the name of Protestants when 't is to be feared they had little more than the Name the question not being who were godly and who wicked but who were Protestants and who Papists and so it will be in England if ever a Massacre be there made by the Papists which God forbid good and bad are there like to drink of the same cup how much better then is it to devote thy life to God leave it at his dispose if he save it bless him for it if he take it away let his will be done if thou thus carry it in thy hand to lay down at his pleasure if he require it not thou shalt not lose thy reward as Abraham did not though Isaac was not sacrificed If thou resolvedly deny it though he require it not thou shalt not be innocent as Abraham had he denied his son though God eventually determined he should not dye yet had been a transgressour and had miss'd of the blessing yet 't is not required of thee by God to lay down thy head upon the block but use all good means for to save thy life and as Christ bids his disciples Mat. 10.23 when they are persecuted in one city to fly to another for if thou suffer without a call thou losest thy reward all lawful means for self-preservation must be used or we are guilty of our own blood but when thou must sin or suffer dye or deny the truth thou must not deny the truth for lifes sake nor do evil that good may come of it then trust God if he will he can preserve thee if not his will be done for then he sees it besâ— to take thee away from the evil to come of two evils the least is to be chosen losing thy life is not so bad as losing Gods love Psal 63.3 for his loving kindness is better than life a violent death upon this account hath been the lot of many thousand Saints that have deliberately made this choice whose souls are now attending upon the Lamb whithersoever he goes from the beginning of the world to this day no age was free from innocent blood which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted the Apostles the primitive Fathers and many thousand Christians were baptized with Christs baptism and went to Heaven in a Sea of blood The Jewes made havock of the Church in the Primitive times and when they were destroyed and their power taken from them the Roman Emperours in the Ten bloody persecutions destroyed hundreds of thousands of them and after that succeeded the Arian persecution and when that was ended and the Pope got his foot into the stirrop and sat as he pretends in the infallible Chair he exceeded in cruelty the Heathens themselves witness the Spanish Inquisition the bloody butchering of the Waldenses and Albigenses the Massacres in Paris and other Cities
of France in Hungary Germany Savoy Piedmont England Scotland and especially of Ireland where two or three hundred thousand have perished in a sew weeks for since the fiery Jesuits became an Order having their Name rather from Judas than Jefus the Christian world hath been in a flame yea the poor Indians have tasted of their cruelty wherever they set their foot like Saul they make havock of the Church and many hundred thousands have been cut off by their bloody hands and all along thou maist trace the Church in blood and tears and dost thou think much to be one of those that shall cry Rev. 6.19 How long Lord holy and true before thou avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial 1 Pet. 4.12 as if some strange thing happened to thee for this is no temptation but what is common to man When such great Commanders and old Souldiers lead thee the way thou needest not be ashamed or afraid to follow them dost think to escape drowning in a common deluge The Apostle was sure of nothing but of bonds and imprisonment and was ready not only to be bound but to dye for Christ If thou go to suffering thou treadest not in an untrodden path for the Captain of thy salvation was made perfect by suffering A few daies and thou wilt be even with the greatest Kings and Emperours Job 21.23 For death is a perfect Leveller and if dye thou must as well as others dispute not the case with God what death it must be or who is fittest to determine it In one of these late years death slew an hundred thousand in our chief City and two or some say three hundred thousand more by the hand of cruelty in one Kingdom in Ireland and sometimes many thousands in one battel A death thou owest and a death thou must pay and whether in thy Bed or on a Tree or at the Stake if thy cause be good 't is not much matter whether thy life be ended by the course of nature or by violent hands whether thy lamp be burnt out or put out whether the Rose be gathered or withered if the latter even so Father for so it seemed good to thee Death is an enemy that cannot be resisted the only way to conquer it is to fall under it so Christ our chief Captain did we shall never conquer till we be overcome and never be victors till we are conquered and then both death and the fear of death and and he that hath the power of death the Devil shall be subdued for when he hath separated the soul from the body he hath done his worst and spit his venom and like a Ree that hath lost his sting can do no more mischief and then thy Conquest is fully obtained and the last enemy is subdued for then death and bell shall be cast into the lake of fiâ—e yea there shall be no more death thou shalt then be for ever freed from the dread and danger of it death pricks that ulcer that would never be cured while thou livest when Corn is ripe and cut 't is fit for use the conquest of death is made easie by the death of Christ that now Believers may triumphantly sing O death where is thy sting 1 Cor. 15.55 56. O grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ It cannot now sting thee but strike thee and the very wound it gives is the way to heal thee it seals up thy salvation to thee and makes it sure out of a possibility to lose it seals up wicked mens damnation and puts them into an irrecoverable condition Christ which was made a Curse for us hath taken away the curse of death and by hanging on a tree which was threatned as a curse Gal. 3.13 he hath sanctified that death also to Believers who suffer for him and for the testimony of a good conscience and their condition is also happy for they rest from their labours and their works follow them All Saints dye but all are not Martyrs all have crowns but not all the crown of Martyrdom but only those that love not their lives to the death all shall have white robes Rev. 7.11 c. but these shall have long white robes and palms in their hands and shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes If thou canst get the qualifications fit for a dying man thou needest not fear death nor the manner of it to such deaths black Vizor is taken off and there are few wrinkles seen in his forehead thy death is decreed and the manner of it and though thou knowest not what eventually will happen yet observe what is Gods will of command and so thou wilt know what is thy duty secret things belong to God but things revealed to us thou hast no promise to be freed from the Prison the Stake the Sword or the Halter and promise not thy self greater freedom than God hath promised he hath promised indeed all shall work together for thy good and this promise is sufficient for why shouldest thou desire freedom if it be not good for thee he hath promised that if thou art faithful to the death Rev. 2.10 thou shalt have a Crown of life that he will never leave thee nor forsake thee and that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against thee And these promises he will assuredly keep if thou break not with him There is no death which a malefactor may dye but it may be a Believers lot and then why not thine God hath accounted thee worthy to preach the Gospel and to dispense the Mystery thereof and if he account thee worthy also to suffer for him and to seal thy doctrine with thy blood it is a double honour yea such as the Apostles gloried in for to dye for the Truth if cal'd to it is both a Duty and a Dignity if thou suffer with him you will be glorified together Pass on therefore out of this Egypt out of this house of bondage couragiously though through the red Sea yea a sea of blood to this heavenly Canaan yea though thy way lye through a wilderness of troubles for thine Inheritance will make thee amends murmur not for thou shalt have no cause to repent there is enough in God to give thee content and to pay thee for thy pains if thou think there is not stir not a step further if there be never faint in the way never leave Heavens road for a piece of foul way or for the Cross that lyes in it go on towards Heaven yea though thy way lye by the gates of Hell nay thorow the very flames of it much more though it lye thorow the pangs of death haply thou maist be burnt for an Heretick this is no new thing hundreds of thousands
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
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
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
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
thy back upon Christ he will turn his back upon thee and be ashamed of thee If thou make light of his Supper thou shalt not tast of his daintes The question thou seest is not whether death be desirable or no Nature it self answers the contrary but whether the first or second death be the greater evil and so whether is to be chosen when both cannot be avoided The question is not whether pain be eligible but whether the pains of death or hell be the greater Not whether life be desirable but whether life or Christ be the better Whatever thy senses may say rectifyed Reason which should govern the sensitive faculties will tell thee the second death is far more formidable and that 't is better to deny thy self than deny thy Redeemer Oh my God is this the reward of Apostacy is this the wages the Devil gives his best servants Through thine assisting grace I will be thine Lord I resolve I will never forsake thee Lord do thou never leave me to my self nor forsake me MEDITAT X. Of Heavens Glory the reward of dying for Christ OH my soul thou hast seen the danger of revolting and denying Christ thou hast had a view of hell which is the reward of this sin thou hast looked into it and had a glimpse of it though it was but a little representation a true map of it the Devil himself cannot make nor give a full discription but here is enough to stay thy stomach how thinkst of it if thou trade for it canst thou make a savers bargain if thou lose thy soul to save thy life For this is the trade thou drivest if thou deny Christ here is the Devils offered wages 't is true he sugers this bitter pill with a promise of a longer miserable life in a cheating world but he cannot make good his bargain though he will not be behind hand with his wages Mat. 25.41 if thou depart from Christ now he will bid thee depart from him for ever what is thy resolution Halt not between two opinions if God be God serve him 1 Kin. 18.27 if Baal be God serve him thou canst not serve two masters God and Mammon If thou pretend to both thou art like to be cast off by both by God and the world as many hypocrites are the world hates them because they look like the godly and God hates them because they are really wicked consider therefore who is like to be the best master and who will give the best wages and if the ballances are yet equally poized I shall put in one weight more even an eternal weight of glory into Gods end which may haply turn the scales though the whole world were in the other end for if thou be faithful to the death thou shalt receive a crown of life and this crown will really over-ballance all that the Devil can put into the other end Thou hast seen there is but a little in the world worth the losing and a great deal in hell worth the fearing let us see if there be any thing in heaven worth the enjoying in the world is nothing but vanity in hell nothing but misery and in Heaven nothing but felicity now what wise man would lose this felicity and endure this misery for a little while to enjoy this vanity Thou hast seen the Devils wages that is the best of it for the worst the Devil himself cannot make thee understand for it is inexpressible and no word in humane language can set it forth to the life yet thou hast had a tast of it and a tast is better than a whole draught Now if thou would'st see what wages God will give thee thou must make a journey also into Heaven and see if there be any thing that may win upon thy affections thou seest already what the Devil and the world have bidden thee see also what wages God offers thee and then choose as thou seest cause see if there be any thing in Heaven to make up all thy losses crosses sufferings and pains which thou must be at for Christs sake and if there be not take thy course and make another choice view those celestial habitations those mansions of glory prepared for those that confess Christ before men and lose any thing for his sake view this purchased Inheritance this Crown of glory and those eternal pleasures that are at Gods right hand and see if God do not outbid the Devil and the World and so best deserves thy affections and consider whether this may not a little allay thy overmuch desire of life and fear of death and make thee willing to be at thy Redeemers will and Makers pleasure one view of this celestial Paradice may make thee disrelish all temporal felicity But how shall we sing the songs of Sion in a strange land or what conceptions can we have of these Heavenly Mansions while we abide in houses of clay Water can ascend no higher than the Fountain-head and Nature cannot transcend Nature what conceptions can a beast have of a rational being much lower must we have of a celestial being for the disproportion is greater how canst thou view those gloryes surpassing a thousand Suns when thou canst not view one Sun when it shines in its splendour but thy weak eyes are offended how canst utter those things which the Apostle that saw them calls inutterable how canst discourse of the Father of Spirits and knowest so little of the nature of a Spirit nay art so ignorant of thy own soul or tell what it is to enjoy God in glory when those little glimpses of him here are inexpressible or how canst thou discourse of that which eye never saw ear never heard of neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive of viz. What God is and what he hath prepared for those that love him for as those hellish flames which the wicked suffer cannot be fully described by those that endure them no more can those celestial joyes by those that enjoy them much less by a frail creature that hath had very little tast of those honey-dews that fall upon the heirs of glory In this wilderness of troubles we see few of those Canaans grapes and foretasts of Glory the full fruition no man living can discover Yet let us get a Pisgah sight of Canaan a remote view of glory and judge a little of the worth of the Jewel by the richness of the Cabinet that holds it and haply thou maist by the report as the Queen of Sheba of Solomons wisdom get some conceptions of it that may make thee like her be willing to take the journey though thou hearest not the one half of what there really is to be seen and though thy conceptions reach not the matter in hand yet may they reach thy affections and serve to dazle thine eyes that all earthly glory shall seem little to it To this purpose let us view the bespangled Spheres adorned with those beauty
those Mansions of glory prepared for them from the foundation of the world and though we are not capable of understanding what Heavens glory is in reality yet we have a Pisgah sight a glimpse of it in the Scripture we find among other places some description of it Revel 21. yet must we not imagine it set out to the full for words cannot express it neither can we apprehend it as it is we may rather speak what it is not than what it is as no humane language can express what God is no more can it what Heaven is or what are the Joyes thereof for how can a little Vessel comprehend all the water in the Ocean but by what falls under our senfes we must be lead to higher conceptions and by those things which we most highly prize we may consider of those that are beyond our estimation For as 't is described Rev. 21.15 c. 't is most glorious yet we must imagine 't is far more glorious than 't is described because our understanding cannot conceive of it as it is we find the Angel measuring this holy City the New Jerusalem and the length and breadth and height thereof were equal for each way it was twelve thousand furlongs which according to our measure is a thousand and five hundred miles the length breadth and heighth equal now if all the buildings in the world were measured I suppose they would not reach to this extent nor amount unto such a magnitude But we must imagine that this is the exact measure of this heavenly Jerusalem this seat of the blessed the Holy Ghost here gives us a figurative description as of the materials so of the extent and brings it in here as a spacious specious and glorious City according to our capacity for our shallow capacities cannot reach what it really is and most spacious it must needs be when so many miriads of inhabitants have their mansions prepared for them For thousand thousands minister to him Dan. 7.10 and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him Yea all the Saints that ever did live do live or shall live shall there inhabit or if we make another guess how spacious this Heaven of Heavens may be let us consider this terrestrial Globe is imagined to be above twenty two thousand miles in the circumference and from hence to the starry Region or Orb of the fixed Stars as our Astronomers and those that have taken most pains in those matters imagine there is above seventy four millions of miles and the circumference of that Orb must be above six times as much and the Emperial Heaven includes all the lower Orbs as the Scales of an Onion that outermost includes all the rest this is that spacious place where God manifests his glory to Angels and men where they trumpet out his praises here Christ is and where he is his servants shall be also hither it is that he is ascended to his Father Joh. 12.26 20.17 Lu. 23.43 and our Father and here the believing thief is with him in glory methinks a departing soul should rejoice to think that within a few dayes or hours it should be one of this heavenly quire with holy Angels and glorified Saints chaunting out the praises of the ever blessed God viewing his face and beholding his glory and lying in the arms of Christ Here is the desired port which a believer bends all his sails to and hither it is all winds blow him this is the point that his Needle toucht with a divine Load-stone alwayes points to this is the mark that alwayes is in his eye the white he alwaies aims at this is his Journeyes end which he travails hard to come to here is the prize he runs for the Crown â—e fights for and the Reward he hopes for here or no where his soul finds satisfaction here is his purchased Inheritance here is the place where he is to receive his wages for his work the reward of all his sufferings for Christ here is the end of all his labour and all his painful duties there is no need now of any more Preaching Praying Fasting or humbling duties there Humility and Self-denial will be no difficult work here will be a constant Feast a perpetual Sabbath a continual Jubilee where the holy Angels and glorified Saints shall for ever chaunt out the Praises of the ever-living God without weariness or Satiety now is the Harvest over the Tares burnt the Corn secured the Labourers call'd home to receive their Wages and the godly put into the possession of their prepared Mansions which shall be as Glorious as Spacious but when we come there we may say as the Queen of Sheba of Solomons Court and Wisdom Much we have heard but the one half was not told us yea a thousandth part of Heavens glory is not revealed to us How glorious doth one Sun make the morning but what will ten thousand yea thousand thousands of Saints and Angels shining more clear than the Sun make that day that shall never see night 'T is thought by some that were â—ll the Starres gathered and contracted into such Globes and set in the same Orb they would make three hundred Suns and should it be so yet would not the Glory of all these be like the splendor of Heaven Some have imagined that these celestial bodies dart their light upward as well as downward and so serve to beautify heaven it self as well as the earth but let 's leave this as uncertain or rather fabulous for the Scripture tells us There is no need of the Sun there for God himself is the light thereof Heaven will be glorious without them for there is no use for them nor need of them but we know not how better to conceive of Heavens glory than by such visible glory which falls under the sences for this City Jerusalem which is taken up into Heaven is further described to be made of the most glorious things the world affords as of Gold and Pearls and precious Stones not that 't is really made of such no this garbage of the Earth is too base materials for this Spiritual building but these things being most valued by man shadow out those glorious things which cannot be expressed or otherwise conceived of by man therefore the walls are said to be of Jasper and the City of pure Gold like unto Chrystal it had twelve Foundations of twelve Precious Stones the Gates thereof being twelve were twelve Pearls the Streets thereof were pure Gold Rev. 21.18 like to transparent Glass and there was no night there Oh how beautiful how amiable must this City needs be which yet as far transcends the description as the City here described doth our Country Villages the Holy Ghost descending as low as may be to our capacities when no word in humane language can fully express it and if it could no created understanding could reach it but seeing there is no earthly thing more glorious
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
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
for him shall receive the greatest share though those that have the least measure shal have Joy unspeakable and full of glory yea as much as they can hold and who but a mad man notwithstanding this will look upon Religion as a Frenzy and the professors thereof little better than frantick because they run themselves upon the pikes of danger and expose themselves to losses and crosses to troubles and trials yea to death it self and that for conscience sake but did these men see the prize they run for the Crown they fight for they would run the same race and fight the same fight if any of them were but offered an handful of Gold for a handful of Silver they would not refuse it much less if they might have an handful of Angels for a handful of Muck but believers make a better exchange for they receive Heaven for the Earth and God for the Creatures yea eternal Life for that which is temporal did others know the reward they would do the work did they see the joy that is set before them they would endure the cross and despise the shame as well as they but how can those see that are spiritually blind or know whose foolish hearts are darkned they are at least sand blind and cannot see at a distance nor discern what it is that stands beyond death and seeing no other pleasure but what only reaches the senses take up with that and think there is no better did they see better they would desire better those that know no better than Hell never look after Heaven were they nearer to God that Spiritual Loadstone they would be drawn to him they would then contemn these fading delights and lay hold upon everlasting happiness they would contemn this unrighteous Mammon and seek after True Treasure they see indeed both wayes but cannot see to the end the one they see broad and easie green and pleasant but they see not the dangerous Precipice it leads to and the fiery Gulph it ends in they see the other also which is rough and craggy steep and hilly which few men walk in but they see not the Pleasures it ends in and therefore they choose the other and think they do wisely and think they are Fools that do otherwise but had they the Saints spectacles they would change their minds but this their way is their folly and nothing but ignorance can make them walk in it the time will come they would change their course but cannot as the foolish Virgins would have had Oyl when it was too late corrupted Reason being inchanted by sense proves a Caterer for the flesh but were it rectifyed by faith it would look for happiness elsewhere There are too many like a Cardinal I have read of that usually said I will not leave my part in Paris for a part in Paradise they are wedded to the world and are loth to be divorced 'T is true believers know little of the nature of Heavens joyes these know nothing of it the former have some glimpses of the glory some foretastes of the sweetness of Canaans fruits this sets them a longing the other are strangers to it ignotus nulla cupido The godly know not the quantity of it for how can that be discovered that is unspeakable or conceived of that is inconceivable or how can that be measured that is infinite this we may build upon 't is our masters Joy and therefore great it cannot enter into us but we must enter into it methinks when we speak or hear of Joy unspeakable of Light inaccessible and of Glory immortal our hearts may burn within us like the Disciples which were going to Emaus when Christ spake to them it should make us cast a despising eye upon all the worlds glory and make us think no pains too much nor cost too dear to come to the enjoyment of it it might make us run that we may obtain fight that we might conquer and travel hard to come to our journeys end for then all our work will be done all our pains over and we shall have nothing to do but to praise the Lord which will be our wages as well as our work for when we are spiritualized and the dross of corruption left behind it will be as natural to us as to live and as now it is to breathe for there is nothing but our corruption now that makes this Angelical duty troublesome And is there enough in Heaven to make amends for all our losses and crosses upon earth let us then never stick at the price for whatsoever we expend for Christ or Heaven it shall be paid back with advantage If Solomons Servants were so happy in seeing his glory and hearing his wisdom Oh what a happiness will it be to see his glory in Heaven when it will be increased and hear his wisdom when 't is perfected nay in enjoying Solomons God and partaking both of his glory and wisdom and Oh the Honour that believers will have in such a Relation where they will have God for their Father Christ for their Husband the Angels and Saints for their Brethren and companions and not only seed upon Angels food but be set upon an Angelical Employment and have the Angel reward And if this be not enough to satisfie for all the pains troubles losses and crosses thou sustain upon this account never take upon thee the profession of Religion but I am sure there is punishment enough in hell for all those that make light of Christ and slight the offers of the Gospel Oh the purblind world that can see nothing but what is under their feet had they but such a sight of God and Glory as some others have had they would desire with Paul to be dissolved Phil. 1.23 Rev. 22.20 and with the Church Come Lord Jesus come quickly Here thou complainest of vain thoughts and roving imaginations and well thou maist but thou wilt never be cured of them but by death and after death thou shalt never be troubled with them more but shalt serve God without distraction In the world thou couldst never meet with content in Heaven thou shall never meet with discontent and art thou yet content to be in the world here thou meetest with no satisfaction and art thou satisfied without satisfaction well whatever thoughts thou hast of Christ now the time is coming thou wilt have use of him and need of him for at death one glimpse of his favour one smile of his countenance will do thee more good than all the Cordials thy Doctors can give thee Moses saw but his back-parts and his face did shine how doth he shine now in beholding his glory the fruition of God in glory is the souls happiness and happy are they that do enjoy him but what this fruition is we neither know nor can know in this world no word in humane language can express it for how can a Cockle-shell comprehend all the water in the Ocean we can
how confounding art thou to the workers of Iniquity but how amiable and delightful are the thoughts of thee to the godly for they have Eternity added to their Happiness the other to their Misery Oh what a long Lease will this be of Heavens glory that shall never expire the want of duration makes the worlds glory of little worth but Eternity makes Hells torments so Tormenting and Heavens Joy so desirable these shall never wax old nor know end Here thou â—eedest not weary thy self in Counting he fleeting hours or the return of weeks or months or years here is neither Clock nor Watch nor Dial to observe Time by nor Sun nor Moon nor Stars to distinguish Day from Night or Summer from Winter for Time shall be no more it will be swallowed up of Eternity one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day God reckons not time as we do their Sun shall know no Eclipse nor their Moon no Change When death opens the door for the soul to enter into Eternity it shall not float there but be immediately posted into glory the Spirit shall return to God that gave it where it shall enjoy for ever those good things which it hath laboured for and thirsted after and reap the fruit of all the pains it hath taken for Heaven Oh my soul Eternity will be the very Crown of thy Crown and the Crown of Heaven it self for if thou didst certainly know thy Joyes would expire Heaven would be filled with sad thoughts and sowre sawce to thy sweet meat and spoil all thy mirth Oh my soul thou hast noâ— a price put into thy hands the Lord give thee a heart to get wisdom let not the thoughts of a short trouble or a little pain make thee loâ—e the race and mis the prize but rather suffer any temporal pain than eternal and suffer any loss rather than the loss of thy soul the loss of thy God thy Heaven and thy happiness Thou hast seen what death is both to the godly and wicked that it is common to both but no enemy to a Believer that there is nothing in the world of equal value with celestial Treasures that Death can do thee no hurt but much good in freeing thee from evil and putting thee into the possession of all that is really good thou hast seen the reward of Obedience and the punishment of denying Christ what is thy resolution Wilt thou be faithful to the death then here is offered a Crown of life Rev. 2.10 If thou wilt prove an Apostate thou must have thy portion with Judas and go down to thy place Heaven and Hell Life and Death are set before thee choose which thou wilt Oh my God I see reason sufficient why I should give up my Life to thy dispose I am convinc'd that it is my Duty and my Interest Lord suffer not this treacherous heart to deceive me let me consult with Faith and not with Sence let me never trust in my own strength neither distrust thine Lord through thy strength I can do all things but without thee I can do nothing Lord I believe help my unbelief let me honour thee both by my life and by my death if thou wilt thou canst let this Cup pass from me yet not my will but thine be done Lord fit the back before thou lay on the burden enable me to obey and then command what thou wilt if it be thy will I shall be sacrificed Lord accept of the Sacrifice and thy will be done let thy strength be seen in my weakness and Lord Jesus receive my Spirit FINIS ERRATA PAge 24. line 25. add some P. 36. l. 24. for may r. many P. 79. l. 6 blot out to P. 114. l. 30. blot out the p. 117. l. 9. add or p. 145. l. 22. for they were r. thou wert p. 147. l. 24. add out p. 188. l. 28. blot out from p. 195. l. 22. for defirmity r. deformity p. 212. l. 27. for stench r. stink p. 214. l. 22. for him r. it p. 229. l. 29. add he p. 236. l. 23. no comma after in p. 241. for transfigurati r. transfiguration p. 254. l. 20. blot out have a p. 267. l. 10. for it r. thee p. 268. l. 23. blot out nay l. 27. for be r. by p. 282. l. 19. for ignotus r. ignotis EPISTLE DEDICATORY Page 3. line 18. for triffs r. trifles p. 10. l. 16. add si p. 17. l. 10. for nescit r. scivit TO THE READER Page 15. line 12. for parllael r. parallel p. 23. l. 10. for iguotus r. ignotis Books Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheap-side near Mercers Chappel DAille on the Colossians Taylor on Christs Temptations Burgess on the Third Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians Pareus on the Revelations One hundred select Sermons By Dr. Horton Quarto Scandret against Quakerism Bulkly on the Covenant Elton on the Commandements The Fiery Jesuit Morgan of Dialling Separation no Schism Dr. Collings upon an Opining Conscience Hodges's Creatures Goodness Considerations for Peace By the same Author Mr. Janeways Funeral Sermon The Morning Exercise against Popery Four useful Discourses By Mr. Burroughs Dr. Wilds Letter of Thanks Brightman on the Revelations Large Octavo Heywoods Sure Mercies of David Cobbet on Prayer Polwheils Quenching of the Spirit Sober Singularity Heaven taken by Storm Lye's Spelling Book Aesops Fables Doolitels Catechise Whitakers 18 Sermons Dr. Stauntons Life Venning of Sin Normans Cases of Conscience Swinnock on the Attributes Hurst of Grace Calamy's Art of Meditation Shepperdice Spiritualized Wadsworths Remains Lewis's Grammar A POEM wherein is set forth the Vanity Frailty and Brevity of Mans Life as also the Certainty of Death with the Benefit of it to Believers THE Life we live resembles much a Play Where each man acts his part and so away The best act Comedies which Joyfully end Most Tragedies which to confusion tend Men are the Actors and the World 's the Stage Whereon appears persons of every age The good the bad the noble and the base Both Males and Females even all Adams race None are exempt each have some part to play Yet some have lesser some have more to say Some Childrens parts do play they cry and then March off when others act the parts of Men. Some on the Stage do fetch a turn or two Some look about them and no more adoe Some act their own and some anothers part In a disguise they 're honest Knaves in heart The worst in Royal Robes sometimes do dress them Those that their inside view have cause to bless them In their disguise like painted Tombs they shine They 're fair without but foul enough within In Silks and Sattins many men are clad When Dunghill-rakers are not half so bad But when Death comes in their own shape we find them Their borrowed Robes they then must leave behind them Some act in thred-bare Coats
Hell that the Soul is Immortal and the Scripture the Word of God pardon the supposition for some deny the whole and most men live as if they did not believe it but whatever thy present thoughts be if thou art unregenerate thy future thoughts will shew thee thy folly and thou wilt have time enough to wish thou hadst neglected thy Ease Honour Pleasure Grandure yea thy life it self to have made thy peace with thy God and made preparation for Eternity for this preparation would have made thee dye never the sooner nor the neglect of it have made thy life the longer whether thou art prepared or no Death will make a very great change when Eternity is an addition to thy weal or woe If prepared Death cannot hurt thee for it hath lost his sting if not it cannot benefit thee for it terminates thy happiness and dates thy misery the godly shall never have no more Suffering because they have no more sin the wicked as they are never weary of sin so God will never be weary of punishing Haply thou maist live in great misery here and thinkest Death will set thee at liberty but if thou art in an unregenerate condition 't is but leaping out of the Frying-pan into the fire from Temporal Troubles to Eternal Torments which are ten thousand times worse and is it not then time to be serious and haply thou art young and strong and thinkest thou maist live many a fair day yet but what assurance hast when younger and stronger are gone before thee Job 21.23 c. In Job's days such as thee have dyed and so they do still One dyes saith he in his full strength being wholly in peace and quietness his Breasts are full of Milk and his bones are moistned with Marrow And another dyes in the bitteeness of his Soul and never eateth with pleasure Some dye in the Zenith or heighth of their perfection in the highest degree of worldly Prosperity having abundance of good blood and fresh spirits even compassed in their Fat Psal 17.10 as the Psalmist hath it for a full Belly many times makes a foul heart and most weeds grow in the fattest soil and experience teacheth that present health and strength are no assurance of a long life Amos 6.3 think not because thou puttest far from thee the evil day in thy thoughts that therefore 't is really at a great distance It follows not that because thou winkest and wilt not see Death therefore Death is blind and cannot see thee No No he is stealing upon thee at unawares tacito pede with a swift but silent foot and if he arrest thee before thou hast made thy peace with the Creditor Mat. 5.26 thou wilt be cast into Prison till thou hast paid the utmost Farthing Our time-wasting Gallants that spend their time idly or worse than in doing nothing will one day find the Bill of their accounts many fathoms longer than they imagined then they will set a greater estimate upon time than now they do and willingly would they redeem their lost hours which now they know not how to pass away at a high rate but it will not be now they set Death at defiance and meet it half way and hasten it by their Intemperance Drinking Whoring or shorten their lives in a Drunken Fray or Whores Quarrel but when Death comes in good earnest Dan. 5.5 it will seem as terrible as Belshazzers hand-writing upon the wall make their hearts to ake and their joints to tremble especially did they know the consequences of Death they would not be such prodigals of their lives or did they mind their work which they have to do they would not be such Prodigals of their time they should do it in and would think it went away fast enough without driving Oh! how a little time will alter these mens Judgments then their Feathers and Fancies will be laid aside when they stand upon Christs left hand and all their wealth will not purchase one drop of water to cool their tongues 'T is not then a Baalams wish will serve turn nor a Lord have Mercy upon me Mal. 7.22 25.11 will do their work Lord Lord open to us will not prevail those are not like to receive the reward of the Righteous that persecute them for righteousness sake Then they will befool themselves as fast as now they befool others wiser than themselves Then they shall change their minds and sigh for grief and say Wisd 5.3 c. This is he that we sometimes had in derision and in a Parable of Reproach we Fools thought his life Madness and his End without honour now he is reckoned among the Children of God and his Portion is among the Saints c. What hath Pride profited us or what hath Riches with our Vaunting brought us all these things are passed away like a Shadow and as a Post that passeth by c. Then our proudest Gallants willingly would be found in the garb or Fashion now they disdain and deride Now they call those Fools that deny themselves their Ease their Pleasure or Carnal Interest for Conscience sake but then they will befool themselves for choosing Pebbles before Pearls Earth before Heaven and the Creature before God for these things will prove but a pitiful Portion when there is most need Now they think Heaven is held at a dear rate and they will not come up to the price but then they 'l know that it was sold at a cheap rate when they parted with it for a lust and that the World was bought too dear when they gave the Soul for it Mat. 16.26 Now like Damocles they feast themselves without fear and see not the Sword that hangs over their heads ready every moment to pierce into their Brains and end their lives with their dinner Now they prize their honour more than their honesty and consider not that if the foundation of honour be not laid in Vertue the building cannot stand for those that lay the foundation in a shadow the building is but like a Castle built in the air and will soon fall about their Ears but that honour is lasting where God is the top of the Kin and Religion lyes at the bottom But to pass over this I shall give you some account of my present undertaking Some there are that think Books of this nature are unseasonable especially to our youthful Gallants because it spoils their Mirth and they have time enough to think of such things hereafter and they cannot endure to have their Enemy brought upon the Stage for this spoils the Play But to this I answer A young Sheep-skin is brought to the Market as soon as an old and I see not but the Gentry die as well as others yea many by Intemperance hasten their own death and when the Disease is common why should not the Remedy 'T is like enough these will not have time to read this from their necessary
'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