they began to draw near one another then the Nerves began to appear the Flesh to grow and to be covered with skin but there was no life until God Commanded the Prophet to prophecy again Thus saith the Lord Spirit come from the four winds blow upon these dead bodies and let them rise from the dead Then the Spirit entred into them they began to revive and they stood upon their Legs This is the lively and true image of the first resurrection for the Spirit of God that blows whither it listeth doth regenerate us by degrees John 3. and the new man is created in our hearts by little and little as the Child grows in its Mothers Womb. When Joshua brought the Children of Israel into the Land of Promise he did not destroy all the Cananites Josh 23. there remained some who became Scourges in their sides and Thorns in their Eyes Thus our true and Spiritual Joshua who hath led us into the kingdom of his Grace hath not altogether destroyed all our evil affections some yet remains that are like prickles in our sides and like swords that pierce through our souls They do yet render our life bitter and unpleasant and therefore we often desire death to come and put a period to this combat Sin was in possession of us as a strong man armed in an House but Jesus Christ is entred into our Souls and become the Master He hath therefore bound and chained sin and hath nailed it to his Cross But this furious Beast although it hath received a mortal wound and is ready to give up the last gasp it strugles and fumes within us our blessed Saviour hath extinguished with the Red Stream of his Blood the infernal flames of all our cursed affections but yet there remains in the ashes some sparkles of this devilish fire that do cause in us some furious fits This only merciful Redeemer of his infinite mercy hath loosed us from the Devils Chains but that we might have cause to be humbled to desire the increase of his Grace and to long for the advent of his Glory he leaves about us some of the troublesome Fetters by his Holy Spirit he files them off by degrees but one day he will take them away from us He doth now receive us as his beloved Children into the Celestial Kingdom of his Grace Joh. 11. nevertheless he suffers in us some ill-favoured reliques of sin and corruption At the voice of this Prince of Life that reaches to the very bottom of our hearts we are risen from the sepulchre of our Vices with our Grave-Cloaths about us as Lazarus when he came out of his Tomb we are like the antient Slaves that were set at liberty we bear upon our Forehead the visible marks of our antient slavery but one day our Lord Jesus Christ shall cover these marks of infamy and disgrace with an heavenly Diadem If you desire another image of our spiritual condition fancy to your selves a dead man cast into a foul Pit or Sink unto whom life is restor'd in a moment afterwards by degrees he is wash'd and cleans'd of the filth that covers his body We were not only dead of a Spiritual death but we were also overwhelmed in an Abysse of corruption and filth The Son of God hath pull'd us out of this Abysse and hath already restored unto us life but the dirt and putrefaction with which we were disfigured he washes it away by the waters of his Grace Zaâ— 13. For there is a fountain opened for sin in the House of David Isai 4. in the which God hath promised to wash away all the filth of the Daughter of Sion and all the bloud of Jerusalem and as it happened to the cruel King Adonibezech when the Tribe of Juda took him prisoner he lost the Thumbs of his Hands and the great Toes of his Feet but he did not suffer death until he was come to Jerusalem Thus our great God and Saviour the Prince of the Tribe of Juda hath cut off the strength and power of the old man that did tyrannize in our souls and hath deprived him of his venemous nails with which he did wound our hearts he hath also given him his mortal wound but he suffers him to enjoy a languishing life and will not take away his last breath until we bring him to the Gates of the heavenly Jerusalem But to speak more openly sin is yet in us but he doth not Reign for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hath broken its Scepter and hath pull'd him from his Throne and as he hath taken from it all Command in us he constrains it to leave the possession of our souls by degrees As a strong and mighty King who having won the Battel pursues and drives his Enemy until he hath totally exposed him out of his kingdom so doth our Saviour deal with sin And as it happens with a Woman with Child in her old age there is in her Body two contrary lives that of the Mother and that of the Child the one decays and dies insensibly the other that is the Childs life grows and increaseth by degrees So it is in the faithful and regenerate Soul There are two lives that of Sin that the Scripture names the Old man and that of the New man which is created according to God in Righteousness and true Holiness the one diminishes and approacheth to its final end but the other grows and gathers strength until we arrive to the perfect stature of our Lord Jesus Christ the Spirit of God every day gets ground of our corruption and darkness As it happens with the Rivers of fresh water that encroach upon the Earth they undermine the nearest Banks or as the Sun when he riseth upon our Horison he drives before him all shadows until the Air be perfectly enlightned so it is with the Grace of God in our Souls CHAP. 5. Why we are yet subject to the Corporal or Natural Death and what advantage we do thereby receive in Jesus Christ THe wise King teacheth us in the 9 of the Ecclesiastes That the same accident happens to all to the righteous and to the wicked and to the clean and to the polluted to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not These words are to be understood of the several afflictions unto which we are exposed during this mortal life but we may apply it to the Natural Death for it is appointed unto all once to dye and after that the judgement follows Heb. 9. By one man sin is entred into the World and by Sin Death and thus Death is come upon all men because they have all sinned Rom. 5 Therefore when Joshua felt himself feeble and decaying he told the Children of Israel That he was going the way of all flesh Josh 23. and Job complains unto God I know that thou wilt reduce me to death and to the house appointed for all living Job 30. It was upon this subject that the Royal Prophet
complain but shall be transported with joy and adore that infinite Goodness which thou hast declared to us poor and miserable sinners who out of thine incomprehensible Love hast made us thy Children and Heirs of thy Kingdom O Goodness worthy of the admiration of Heaven and Earth we were all lost but we shall be all found in God we were dead but by death we shall return to life we were over-whelmed in a grievous misery but by this means we shall attain to the greatest happiness O my God I recommend unto thee my Soul as to a faithful Creator Heavenly Father my Spirit I leave in thy Hands Amen CHAP. 15. The third Consolation against the fears of Death is to represent continually unto our selves the Death and Sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to trust upon the merits of his Cross IF we will dye with a peacable and quiet mind we must always represent to our selves the death and sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ and rely upon the merits of his Cross for the death of this Prince of Life should be the Model of ours and the bottomless Fountain of Comforts to a believing Soul 1. By looking upon this perfect example the wonder of Men and Angels we learn to endure with an Holy resolution and patience all the evils and pangs that accompany Death Luk 22. For although our Saviours Torments were most bitter so that his Soul was sorrowful unto death although there issued out of his innocent Body a bloudy Sweat for the violence of his pain nevertheless none ever heard the least murmuring or expression of impatience Isai 53. He was led to the slaughter as a Lamb and as a Sheep before the Shearer is dumb 2 From hence we learn that the last hours of our life must be employed in fervent and continual Prayers unto God seeing that this Beloved of the Father offers unto him at such a time his Prayers and Supplications with great Cries and a floud of Tears as to him who was able to deliver him from Death Heb. 5. In the bosoms of this Heavenly Father he poureth out all his Griefs and three times he presents this request Father if it be possible that this cup should pass away from me except I drink it Matth. 26. 3. We learn to present our selves before God's Divine Majesty with Humility and to resigne our selves wholly to his wonderful Providence seeing that he who thought it no robbery to be equal with God he whom the millions of Angels and Seraphims worship continually thought it no disgrace to himself to fall upon his knees three times to the ground and submit his Will to that of his Heavenly Father for after that he had said Father if it be possible let this cup pass away from me except I drink it He adds these words Nevertheless O Father not as I will but as thou wilt Matth. 26. 4. If at the time of our death an excessive sorrow or a malignant humour seize upon our minds so that in that disposition we are not able to see the Heavens open nor God who stretcheth out his Arm to receive us into his Rest Let us remember that this merciful Lord speaks to us as he did to his three Apostles who fell asleep when he was in his Agony Cannot you watch one hour with me Mat. 29. My dear Children it is no time to fall asleep with the foolish and inconsiderate Virgins trim your Lamps put on the Garments of Light to meet your Celestial Bridegroom and to enter with him into the Marriage Chamber Matth. 25. 5. God requires that we should do as much good at all times to our friends as we are able and to express the sincerity of our affections to those with whom Nature and our Duty have caused us to be related but especially at the hour of death we are more bound to this Religious Duty therefore Jesus Christ hath shewn us an excellent example for when he was nailed to the Cross and ready to breathe forth his Soul into the hands of his Heavenly Father he had an especial care of his Holy and Blessed Mother saying to his beloved Disciple My Son behold thy Mother and to her Woman behold thy Son 6. We must not only do good and shew kindness to our friends but we must forgive our greatest enemies such also as employ their greatest fury against us for by this means we shall follow the Blessed footsteps of our Gracious Saviour for he had compassion upon them that crucified him and mocked him Father said he forgive them for they know not what they do 7. By the Cross of Jesus Christ we learn to put our trust in the goodness of God in our greatest pangs and to embrace him as our most loving Father and Redeemer when he seems to discover to us a severe countenance full of wrath and displeasure for this Eternal Son of God in his most violent tortures when his Heavenly Father did suspend his aid and assistance and withheld the effects of his Grace the expressions of his Love and the comforts of his Divine Spirit nevertheless he looks upon him as his God and reposes himself upon him he prays unto him with an Holy assurance and repeats these passionate words My God my God! 8. If we will dye willingly and leave these crazy Bodies with a joyful mind when the time is come that we must go to the Father of Spirits we must remember with what resolution our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ prepar'd himself for death and how willingly he commended his innocent Soul into the hands of God his Father when he required it No man taketh my life away from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this Commandement have I received of my Father John 10. Heb. 10. This caused him to speak in this manner Here am I O God to do thy will Luk 23. Therefore when he gave up the Ghost he cried with a loud voice to shew that his precious Soul was not taken from him by violence but that he did willingly offer it up as a Sacrifice to God 9. In this rich description of Christ crucified we may further learn what should be our last words and last thoughts for if God vouchsafes to us the use of our Tongues until the last gasp we cannot end our life more comfortably than by such expressions as our Saviour made use of upon the Cross Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit But if we cannot move our Lips and that we cannot pronounce these words we must inwardly meditate upon them in our minds and express them with motions of the Heart 10. When we look more narrowly into the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ we may easily find how much we are bound to give up our souls unto God when he is pleased to call for them for this Blessed death is the price and ransom that he hath paid
of God the Father Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Amen CHAP. 19. The Seventh Consolation against the Fears of Death is our strict and unseparable union with Jesus Christ by the means of his holy Spirit and the first Fruits of our Blessed Immortality OUr Lord Jesus Christ doth not onely live and triumph in Heaven but it is from thence our life our glory and our blessed Immortality proceed For as the Father hath life in himself he hath also given to the Son to have Life in himself and as the Father raiseth and quickneth the Dead likewise the Son quickneth whomsoever he will So that we may not only say to him as St. Peter Thou hast the words of eternal life John 6. but we may justly speak to him in Davids Language with thee is the fountain of Life in thy light shall we see light Ps 36. Therefore all those that are united and incorporated into Jesus Christ do participate of the fulness of his holy Spirit and by that means they became Immortal Now by the vertue of Christs Death and Pastion we are not only made partakers of the Fruits of his Sufferings but we are united to and Incorporated in him so that by that means we have obtained not only the grâ—â—t and precious promises of Glory and Immortality which he hath purchased for us by the infinite merits of his Sufferings but we receive the First-Fruits and foretasts of our future blessedness He that is lifted up and dwells on high quickens the Spirits of the humble Is 57. he dwells in our hearts by Faith Eph. 31. he pours into our Souls his holy and quickning Spirit for because we are the Children of God he hath sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to cry Abba Father Gal. 4. Whosoever hath not this Spirit of the Lord Jesus he is none of his By the means of this Spirit he dwells in us and we in him we become the Members of his Body and we may boast that we are his Flesh and his Bones All things that are most strictly united by Nature or Art are employed to represent this admirable union John 6. which we enjoy with Jesus Christ by the means of his Spirit that quickens us Rom. 13. From hence are derived these expressions of the holy Apostles We have put on the Lord Jesus Christ Gal. 3. And that when we draw near to him who is the living stone rejected of Men but lifted up and of great price with God 1 Pet. 2. we like so many living stones are built up together to make a Spiritual House For the same reason our Saviour informes us John 15. That he is the true Vine and that we are the branches And St. Paul assures us that if we are become one Plant with him by the conformity of his Death we shall also be one by the resemblance of his Resurrection Rom. 6. To shew unto us that this Sacred Union contains many ties of Love our Lord Jesus Christ is represented as our Brother our Father and our Bridegroom therefore the Apostle tells us that he thinks it no Disgrace to own us for his Brethren in saying Heb. 1. I will declare thy name unto my Brethren and also where he informes us Rom. 8. that God had predestinated us to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first born among many Brethren And after his Resurrection he speaks in this manner to Mary Magdalen John 20. Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father but go to my Brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Heb. 2. Therefore this glorious Redeemer shewing himself unto God with all the Elect saith Here I am and the Children which thou hast given me Hosea 2 And by the Mouth of Hosea he speaks to his Church and makes this promise unto her I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in Righteousness and in Judgment and in loving kindness and in Mercies From hence it is that this Church is called The Spouse of the Lamb in the Revelations and in the Canticâ—es the Spiritual Union betwixt Christ and his Church is expressed by a continual Allusion to a Marriage between Man and Woman And because our Meat and Drink are turned into our Body and Substance Jesus Christ assures us That his Flesh is truly Meat and his Blood is truly Drink That he is the true Bread come down from Heaven that gives Life to the World and that whosoever shall eat him shall live for ever But amongst all the Similitudes borrowed to represent our Union with Jesus Christ by his holy Spirit there is none employed more frequently in holy Scripture than that of the Humane Body for there is not any more proper for us all the Spirits that give life and motion proceed from the Head and assoon as the Members are separated from it they Dye In the like manner the Spirit that quickens us and makes us become new Creatures proceeds from Jesus Christ so that whosoever is separated from this Head he falls into Death and Eternal Destruction And as there are many Members nevertheless they make up but one Body because they are all animated with the same Spirit and they are kept alive by the same Head l kewise there be many Members belonging to Christs Mystical Body some engaged yet upon Earth and others glorified in Heaven nevertheless they make up but one only Mystical and Spiritual Body for they are all quickned by the same Spirit and receive all the celestial influences from the same Head St. Paul teacheth us this Doctrin in expresse terms 1 Cor 12. For as the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body so also is Christ for by one Spirit are we all Baptised into one Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit Finally because the same spirit that is in our Lord as in the Head and Fountain and in the Church in general as in the Body which is quickned and moved is also in every particular Member The holy Apostle is not satisfied to call this Spiritual Body of Christ and his Church Christ but he tells us moreover that whosoever is united unto him is made but one Spirit with him These and such like Representations let them be never so lively and noble are but dark shadowes and unperfect Images of our Union with Jesus Christ by his holy Spirit for the richest and most Magnificent Garment can never keep off from the Body Diseases nor hinder the approaches of corruption that creeps upon it There is no foundation never so firm and well setled that can free the house built upon it from the ruines and breach s of time and the weather Although the Sap mounts up from the root of the vine and runs
they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the Fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the Flame kindle upon thee and say with David When I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil for thou art with me thy Staff and thy Rod shall comfort me Psal 23. It seems the Primitive Christians had adesigne to shew us this Truth by the Picture of a Giant-like man wading through the Sea with a Staff in his hand and a Child upon his Shoulder for this Giant is the Emblem of a Christian who lifts up his mind as high as Heaven The Sea signifies the dangers of this World and the fears of Death The Staff represents Faith that keeps us up in our passage through Life and Death upon which when we lean we worship the living God of Heaven and Earth and the Child is an Image of Christ therefore he that bears him is called Christophorus that is He that bears Christ Cesar could not endure to see his Pilot tremble in a furious Storm at Sea because he was in his Boat we have far less reason to be afraid seeing that we carry in our Hearts the great Emperor and Monarch of the World the Hope and Comfort of Israel Cesar was as much in danger as his Pilot to make Shipwrack but our Lord Jesus Christ hath all the Winds at his Command He can still the most disturbed Sea and through the most grievous death he can cause us to pass and arrive to the safe Haven of an Eternal Rest and of a most happy and glorious life When David shewed himself with a purpose to fight with Goliah he spoke to this prodigious Philistines in this manner I come unto thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the Armies of Israel But you Christian Souls when you are to encounter with Death you may say to it not only I come to thee in the name of him who Commands legions of Angels and all the Armies of immortal Spirits but I come to thee cloathed with his Armor strengthened by his Holy Spirit and assisted by him in person for Jesus Christ who hath overcome death for us intends to overcome it by us We are the living Stones which he hath chosen of his disinteressed Mercy to bring down that proud insulting Enemy that causeth all Worldlings to tremble and cover their faces with Shame and Confusion Judg. 6. We have already seen a Sampson breaking in pieces with a wonderful strength the Cords with which he had been bound by the Philistians and tearing also the Body of a young Lion in which he found some few days after Honey most pleasant to his taste It will be much easier for us when we shall be strengthened with the Divine Vertue of the Lord Jesus of whom Sampson was but a Type to tear in pieces all the Cords and Chains of Death We shall rent in pieces the Body of this old Lion and when we shall search into his Bowels with a serious and repeated meditation we shall find the sweetest and most ravishing Comforts As when the Prophet Elias was carried up to Heaven in a fiery Chariot he let fall his Cloak with which Elisha separated the Waters of Jordan so that he passed through the River on foot Likewise our Saviour Jesus Christ being ascended up above the Clouds to the Throne of his Glory he hath left us the precious Cloak of his Righteousness he hath granted us his Holy Spirit that we might pass through the turbulent Waves of this tempestuous Sea of the World by its Divine Vertue and that through death we might enter into immortal Life And as the death of our Lord Jesus Christ separated his Soul from his Body although both his innocent Soul and Holy Body remained always united personally to his Divinity In the same manner the Believers death disunites for a time his Soul from his Body but it can never separate it from the Spirit of the Lord Jesus that is the Soul of our Souls and such an Holy Flame that it can never be extinguished When the High Priest of the Jews put off his Priestly Garments he cast off at the same time his Breast-plate where the names of the twelve Tribes were engraven Exod. 20. Not only our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life not only our Pictures are printed upon the Palms of his hands with the Bloud of the Covenant but we be as a Signet upon his Heart Cant. 8. so that we cannot be separated from him no more than his heart can be taken from him his Love is stronger than Death and his embraces are embraces of Love Ruth promised to Naomi that Death alone should be able to separate them Ruth 1. But on the contrary we may tell our Lord and Saviour who is as our Father Brother and Husband not only death shall never be able to separate us but it shall rather bring us nearer unto thee and cause us to rest in thy bosome where we shall be for ever satisfied with thine Heavenly delights Christians you need not fear Death for you are not to be wounded by all its Darts for you have been dipt in the River that springs to Eternal Life The Spirit of the Lord Jesus that is in you is the Spirit of Life the beginning of immortality and the only Spring of Eternal Glory and Happiness Seeing that the breath of the Prophet Elias raised a dead Body to life the Spirit and the Breath of the Father and of the Son will be able to keep your Spiritual life from decaying unless it be in Death's power to stop the breath of the Almighty unless it be able to limit the beams of Light and Glory that came from his Divine countenance unless it can cause the Rivers of living Water that spring out of his Throne to cease and dry up It is not possible that it should cause us to perish and render us miserable Therefore you are certain of your Eternal Happiness while Jesus Christ shall be the Author and Well-Spring of Light Life Glory and Immortality and that his Holy Spirit shall be victorious over Death and Hell and you may sing with David I shall not dy but live and declare the Works of the Lord Ps 118. You be not only sure of this Glory and Eternal Happiness and you be not only enter'd into possession of it by your Faith and Hope but you begin already to enjoy it and its First-Fruits for he that believes in Jesus Christ is past from Death to Life and whosoever hath the Son of God hath Eternal Life As the Prophet Moses when he was in the Wilderness did not only see afar off the Land of Promise but he tasted of its delicious Fruits Thus we don 't only behold afar off with the Eye of Faith our Celestial Inheritance but we taste at present and relish some of its blessed Delights And as the Fruits brought by the Spies were the same
pleasures for evermore Christian if thou hadst but as much Faith and assurance as there is Glory and happiness in Heaven with what excess of Joy shalt thou leave the World and all its vanities to ascend up to that magnificent Palace purchased for thee with the precious Blood of thy Redeemer Jonathans eyes were once enlightned when he tasted some Hony with the end of his Rod which he had found in a Rock And thou believer if thou hast by Faith tasted the Divine sweetness that proceeds from Christ the Rock of Eternity thine understanding will be all enlightned Thou shalt need no other Consolation against Death for Death it self shall fill thee full of Consolation and real Joy So that thou shalt have cause to speak not onely as Jacob O God I expect thy Salvation Gen. 49. but as King David I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the House of the Lord our feet shall stand within thy Gates O Jerusalem Psal 122. By this means thou shalt not onely expect with patience and embrace with Joy the blessed news of this Glorious Salvation but thou shalt endeavor to hasten its coming by thy continual and repeated Sighs O my God When wilt thou stretch out unto me from above thy Gracious Armes When shall I go into thy Celestial Sanctuary When shall I see plainly thy Divine and Glorious Face When wilt thou cause me to drink out of the Rivers of thy Pleasures How blessed is the man whom thou hast chosen and taken to thy self to dwell for ever in thy Holy Courts such shall be satisfied with the good things of thy House and of thy Glorious Palace Joseph mâ—rched out of his Prison in haste to go to the Palace of the Kings of Egypt and haste not thou as much reason to make as much hast out of the Prison of this wretched Body O believing Soul that thou mayest go up to the Palace of the King of Kings who intenâ—s to install thee into such a Glorious estate in comparison of which all the pomp of Pharaoh and of all the Kings and Princes of the Earth is nothing but as the hore-frost of the night Bartimeus forsakes willingly his Mantle to creep to the Lord Iesus when he called him and thou Christian Soul wilt not thou leave this body which is as a troublesome garment to thee to ascend up to this Divine Saviour who intends to cure thee of all thy distempers and Diseases and who purposes to load thee with his blessings and unspeakâ—ble favors He will not onely bring thee to behold the refreshing light of Heaven but he will also cause thee to shine as the Sun for ever and ever Religious Soul cast off this spotted garment of the flesh and so much the more chearfully because God holds out in his Hand a Garment of Light and Glory which he will bestow upon thee for it shall happen to thee as to the Prophet Elias who having let fall his Mantle he found himself all encompassed about with Flames of fire and an extraordinary light for assoon as thou shalt put off this miserable body thou shalt be surrounded with Celestial flames in which thou shalt mount up to Heaven into the dwelling of immortality where thou shalt be like God who cloaths himself with light as with a Garment To this purpose the words of the Prophet Zachariah concerning the High-Priest Iehoschuah are very proper he was arayed with filthy Garments but an Angel from Heaven calls to them that waited before him Take away the filthy Garments from him and cloath him with change of raiment let them set a fair Mitre upon his head This O Christian Soul is the true Image of thy condition at thy departure and the lively portraiture of thy future happiness At present thou art cloathed with a body undermined by sickness and labor thou bearest about thee the relicks of the old man but behold God calls to thee from his Holy Sanctuary Take away from him this old garment pluck off all remains of this old cloathing bespotted with sin where the Devils Image is yet to be seen and give him the Sacred ornaments of a Royal Priesthood cloath this Soul with a long garment whitned in the Blood of the Lamb gird it about with the Ephod of righteousness put upon its head an uncorruptible Crown and in its hand a Golden Viol that it may for ever offer up the Heavenly perfumes in the company of all the glorified Saints If after all this O Christian thou doubtest of the felicity and glory of such as die in the Lord Iesus hear what an Apostle saith who was himself ravished up into the third Heaven where he beheld in this Glorious Palace unspeakable things We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven If so be that being cloathed we shall not â—e found naked for we that are in this Tabernacle do 〈…〉 burdned not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of Life And listen to what the Holy-Ghost saith Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord for so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labors and their works do follow them Would to God that we had some other Word besides that of Death to express the wonderful and happy change that we make when we go out of this miserable World for to speak properly we cannot be said to die when we leave a place full of misery to enter into another blessed with an endless felicity when we exchange a laborious estate for a peaceable and an happy rest when we come off from a cruel War to enjoy the pleasures of everlasting Joy when we pass through Death to an endless life and forsake a Tomb to mount up on a Throne Christian Soul remember thy beginning and thine end consider what thou art from whence thou proceedest and whither thou goest Thou art a living Image of thy Creator and a beam of glory thou art of a celestial and immortal nature God hath washed and cleansed thee in the Blood of his Lamb without spot and blemish and sanctified thee by his holy Spirit he hath brought thee to an estate convenient to enter into his holy City and he is ready to admit thee to take the fruition of his glory Thou hast fought the good fight finished thy course and kept the faith it is therefore high time that thou shouldest receive the Crown of life Thou hast this precious Crown already in thine hands Thou art at the Gates of Heaven and at the entrance of Paradise Go therefore O believing Soul go with Joy and gladness to this great God that calls thee to this mercifull Saviour that stretcheth forth his hands unto thee and opens his bosome to receive thee go into the
conformable to the Image of his Son that he might be the first-born amongst many Brethren Now the Soul and the Body of this onely begotten of the Father that were separated by Death have been joyned again in his glorious Resurrection and received into Heaven therefore our Soul that departs out of the World to enter into Paradise must return again to its Body that we may ascend up to Heaven both in Soul and Body All the difference that appears between Christ and us is that the precious Body of our noble Chieftain could not be subject to corruption but was raised again as soon as it fell because of that strict and personal Union between his Humanity and Divinity whereas the most part of all other bodies are corrupt and reduced to Ashes Sixteenth We have the same holy Spirit and Divine vertue dwelling in us which was in our Lord Jesus Christ the efficient cause of his Resurrection although not in the same measure and degree therefore it will produce in us the same effect and raise our bodies also from the dust St. Paul makes use of this Reason in the 8 of the Romans if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Seventeenth The dead body that touched the bones of the Prophet Elisha revived again on a sudden We have more cause to expect the Resurrection of our bodies because our bodies don't onely touch Jesus Christ dead and risen again but we are become one body with him flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone I am said he the Resurrection and the life he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die and he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Eph. 5. John 11. Eighteenth God hath imprinted upon our bodies his own Signet and the marks of his love he hath given to them visible and palpable assurances of their future blessedness Under the Old Testament believers carried the Seal of the Covenant of God in their flesh for Circumcision was the Seal of the righteousness obtained by Faith and hope of a blessed immortality they did also eat the flesh of the Paschal Lamb which was a type of Jesus Christ the true Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World Likewise under the New Covenant God consecrates to himself our Bodies by the Waters of Baptisme and by the Bread and Wine of the Lords Supper So by this means he assures them of a Joyfull and glorious Resurrection For if by eating of this Bread and drinking of this Wine we eat and drink spiritually the flesh and the Blood of Jesus Christ it is an infallible assurance that this Divine Saviour will raise us up again at the end of the World as he himself promiseth Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day St John 6 54. Nineteenth The body of believers endures many assaults and evils for Christs sake and for his holy profession it is often exposed to the most shamefull and most cruel torments and partakes on the same sufferings as he did on Earth therefore it is just that it should partake in his triumphs glory and eternal happiness It is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer we shall also raign with him We always bear about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh 2 Tim. 2. 2 Cor 4. Twenty There is nothing that God doth in vain he never bestowes upon us useless desires therefore to what purpose hath he kindled in us such an earnest desire to see this wretched Body out of the misery and corruption into which sin hath enthralled it and the fruition of glory and immortality As St. Paul tels us in these words The creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope because the creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God He adds immediately after For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travelleth in pain together until now and not onely they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groane within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body Rom. 8. Finally Seeing that whatsoever God hath appointed in his eternal Councel must be fulfilled in time and that all things in the World attain to those ends for which he made them and seeing that he created our Souls not to be alone but to live in the company and fellowship with the Body therefore this Body which falls down by Death must needs rise again at the Resurrection that the immortal Soul might return to and dwell with it for ever To say that the Resurrection of our bodies is impospossible is the greatest and most abominable Atheism in the World 'T is to deny with impudency the infinite power of God and the sacred History of the Worlds Creation For if things are in their beings as they are in workings and if their operations are correspondent to their natures we must of necessity conclude That if there be a God of an infinite being he must needs have a power answerable to his being And by consequence that this Almighty God may without difficulty raise the dead If thou believest that God calls the things that are not as if they were Wherefore dost thou not also believe that this same God will also call the things that have been already to restore them that being which they have formerly enjoyed from his Almighty Hand If thou believest that God hath fashioned Eve out of one of her Husbands ribs that he made Man of the dust and created this dust out of nothing canst thou not also believe that God is able at the day of the Resurrection to make again thy body of that dust into which it is reduced by Death If thou believest that God hath breathed into Adams Nostrils the breath of Life that he hath created thy Soul and infused it into thy Body where it was never before How canst thou question his power of returning one day the same Soul into the same Body where it formerly made its abode In short if thou believest that the holy Ghost by moving upon the Waters hath caused so many beautiful and noble Creatures to appear and that he hath made light to shine out of darkness canst thou not be also perswaded that this same holy Ghost can shew his Power amongst the Graves and fetch thy Body out of the dark shadows of Death to introduce it â—nto the light of the living Thou seest by experience that every day a new House 〈◊〉 built up
of old materials and dost thou wonder â—ow the great Architect who hath built the great World â—y his Word alone can gather up the old pieces and maâ—erials of this little World to make up a new building â—dorned with Divine Graces and Beauty Shall the Statue â—aker be able to restore again his bruised Image reduced to Ashes and shall not God be able to restore man created after his own Image and likeness to his primitive estate and being In a word let the difficulties seem never so great remember Christian Soul what the Angel Gabriel told the blessed Virgin With God nothing shall be unpossible I know very well that it is an old Axiome of Philosophy From privation to the habit there is no returning That is to say when once we are deprived of and have lost a natural faculty it is never to be recovered again But the prophane Atheists do wrongfully abuse this Maxime against the Article of our Resurrection for it is most true in respect of natural and secondary causes It is not to be doubted that when the faculties of nature are once lost they are not to be restored by Humane Art or Skill and when a man is dead 't is not possible for all the Creatures to bring him to life again But nothing is able to limit the power of an infinite Agent He that hath formed the wonderful eye in whom we live move and have our being cannot he open the Eyes of a Man born Blind and restore Life to a dead Corps This same Philosophy whereof the Maximes are brought against the Resurrection declares openly That God can do all things that imply not contradiction Now there is no contradiction in believing that God can render life to him that had lost it and that what is fallen down by Death should rise again by the Resurrection To the end that this Resurrection of our Bodies might seem less strange God hath been pleased to give us in nature many Images and likenesses I am perswaded Believing Souls that you will not be displeased if I mention here some of the chief As when the Sun goeth down and the Earth is covered with the dark shadowes of the night Mans declining and the darkness of the Grave is represented likewise when this King of the Stars rises when he brings with him the day over our Heads there is a beautiful and perfect Image of the Resurrection Secondly When the Moon parts with all its light and Splendor which it borrowes from the Sun when it covers it self with a Vaile of darkness 't is the Image of Death and a representation of that Vaile which it draws over our eyes but when the Sun begins to look upon it again and by that means it recovers its former brightness and Glory it discovers before our Eyes in a manner that which shall happen to our Bodies when the Sun of righteousness shall rise and cast upon them his favourable aspect Thirdly The Spring Summer and Autumn follow one after another and the Winter shews us an Image of Death but when the Sun begins to return again upon our heads when it covers the Earth with a beautiful green and revives the sleeping vertues of Nature he expresseth to us the Resurrection in lively colors Fourthly The Trees that are in Winter without Flowers Fruits or Leaves discover to us the hideous aspect of Death that strips mans body and deprives him of all that is beautiful and pleasant to the eye but when these same Trees flourish again and are loaden with fresh leaves and fruits they put us in mind of the blessed Resurrection of our Bodies Fifthly The seeds that corrupt and rot in the ground represent our Bodies rotten in their Graves but when these seeds appear above Ground and flourish they express excellently well the blessed estate of our Bodies rising again to a new life and recovering a perfect beauty and a new glory This similitude the Son of God himself recommends to us If the grain of Wheat which falls to the Earth doth not die it remains alone but if it dies it brings forth much fruit John 22. And the Apostle St. Paul insists at large upon this comparison thereupon he exclaimes against the stupid Atheists who will not believe that a dead Body can revive again O fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die 2 Cor. 15. Sixthly I find more wonderfull what is said of certain herbs which rise again out of their Ashes for example if you burn Gall. Armois and fling its Ashes upon the Earth you shall see the same herb grow again Many have tryed and found this by experience The same is reported of a kind of Palm-tree and because in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Palm is called Phaenix this experiment hath given occasion to the Fable of the Phaenix a Bird that is said to revive again out of its own marrow and Ashes Who is it but will say that this is an excellent expression of the Resurrection of our Bodies Seventhly There are also several sorts of Insects which shadow out unto us Death and the Resurrection As the silk Worms for when these small creatures have finished their work and spun out that silk with which the Garments and stately attire of Kings and Princes are made they bury themselves in the Tomb which they build afterwards they become like to a little Beane which hides under its thin skin the formation of a white Butter-fly The same is observed of the Chenilles Caterpillars for when they seem stark dead they creep out of their little Sepulchers in the forms of Butter-flies of so many rare and various colors that they ravish the Eye into admiration so that many curious persons keep them in their Clossets amongst their rarities Eightly Amongst the Beasts also some seem to be dead for several Months of the year being without Sense or Motion but afterwards they awake again or rather they begin a new life to move about as they did before Ninthly But we need go no further then our selves to find the Image of Death and of the Resurrection for Is there any thing that can express Death more perfectly then our dead sleep that Stupifies our Senses puts a stop to the Spirits of our Bodies and binds up our most active faculties So that we have then Eyes without feeing ears without hearing a nose and cannot smell and a living Body but we have no feeling But as soon as such a person comes to awake again to open its eyes to stir and to act he represents a most perfect Image of the Resurrection I might also add amongst the Images of Death and the Resurrection the several changes and alterations that happen to the States and Empires of the World for oftimes they appear as dead and buried but afterwards they rise again from their falls and march out of their obscurity as in a glorious Resurrection But I shall wave these similitudes and consider only such as the
greatest dainties Some answer to this That such kind of inhumanities are not ordinary and that such wretched Indians never practice such hainous things but in urgent necessity or when they purpose to revenge themselves upon their Enemies But such as have given an account of the New found America relate That in some Provinces there have been such cruel and inhumane Savages as not only to devour the flesh of their Enemies whom they sacrificed to their Idols but also of their dearest Friends whom they do cut in pieces in their Shambles These same Historians tell us That some of the barbarous people are so impiously mistaken as to reckon it an act of piety and duty to their Parents and Friends to give them a Sepulchre in their own stomachs Moreover they say That yet there are some who like so many mad Dogs feed upon Infants and hunt after Men as we do after wild Beasts of the Field In case all these relations should be true I must desire my Reader to take notice that are two kinds of parts that compose the humane body the one solid as the Bones and Nerves and so essential to it that without them it would cease from being any longer an humane body the other parts are adventitious accidental and changeable they serve to maintain it almost as the food and nourishment Now this I affirm as an undoubted Truth that when it happens that Men feed upon their own Kind God takes care by his wonderful Providence that the essential and solid parts of the Man devoured never enter into the substance or composition or the solid parts of the devourer At the great day of the Resurrection the bodies will reassume all their essential and solid parts without which they cannot be true bodies but they shall not need the accidental and fluid parts as are the humors and the Blood for then they shall have no more inward heat to consume them no more hunger and thirst Therefore they shall never have any need of meat or of drink or of any other thing whatsoever to serve them instead of Nourishment Let the mettals be never so much mingled the Goldsmith separates them with ease Thus let our humane Bodies be never so much altered and mingled God will be able enough to separate and distinguish them from one another Shen the Goldsmith will separate the mettals he casts them into the melting-pot and causeth them to pass through the Fire but God who can do all things without means hath no need of the Fire or of the melting-pot for by his word at the twingling of an eye he can cause this separation to be made and render unto every Body that which necessarily belongs to its composition In a word when the difficulty should be far greater than it is and when the resolution of this objection were not so easie to be made as it is it should not weaken our Faith or cause us to doubt of the Resurrection of our Bodies When it concerns things that the holy Scripture doth not expresly declare and decide or that cannot be drawn from it by a necessary consequence it is lawful to dispute either for or against such things but if it concerns such as this sacred Writ inspired of God plainly sets forth our Faith must learn her Duty to submit to Almighty God and believe that there is nothing impossible with him Now this Doctrine of the Resurrection of the dead is so expressy and plainly found in this Holy Scripture that it seems as visible as the beams of the Noon-Sun Many questions are made upon this subject some are of that importance that a reply will give most satisfaction upon this excellent subject first they inquire by whom and by whose Power shall the Resurrection be effected The Scripture gives an occasion to make this inquiry for it ascribes it sometimes to the Father as in the 5 of St. John The Father raises the dead and quickens them sometimes to the Son as in the 3 of the Phil. Jesus Christ shall change our vile Bodies according to his mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself And sometimes to the Holy Ghost as in 8 Rom. If the Spirit of him who hath raised Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you he that hath raised up Jesus from the dead shall quicken your mortal Bodies by his Holy Spirit that dwelleth in you This difficulty may thus be resolved All the outward works of God that concern the Creatures are common to the three Persons of the most Holy most Glorious and most Wonderful Trinity So that we shall rise again by the the infinite Power of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Nevertheless the Resurrection is especialy ascribed to the Son as he is Judge of the quick and of the dead In order to the discharge of that glorious employment all Power hath been committed to him in Heaven and in Earth and in the Seas 2. Some inquire further When shall this Resurrection be I answer that it shall be in the day which God hath appointed to Judge all the World by the Man whom he hath ordained Acts 17. You are not to expect from me Christians that I should point out unto you precisely the day when this shall come to pass for it belongs not to us to know the times and the Seasons which God hath reserved to himself It is true we may see that most part of the Prophecies are already fulfilled so that we may say in general terms The Lord is at hand and our Salvation is nearer to us then when we began to believe Phil. 4 Rom. 13. Nevertheless I cannot undertake to make out unto you this Glorious Day nor to tell you the year nor age when this shall be There is no Man upon Earth nor Angel in Heaven that is able to speak of it with certainty therefore Jesus Christ himself informs us But of that Day and Hour knoweth no Man no not the Angels of Heaven but my Father onely Mat. 24. If our Saviour saith more that the Son himself knoweth not the Day Mark 13. We must understand this as he is a Man and during his abode in the World for as he is God he knoweth all things from all Eternity and now that he is glorified as he is Man he understands all things But he hath hid from Men the time of his coming that we might expect him at every moment as he tells the Holy Apostles Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come but know this that if the good man of the House had known in what Watch the thief would come he would have watched and would not have suffered his House to be broken up Mat. 24. He writes in the same Language to the Angel of the Church of Sardis Remember how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent if therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as the thief and thou shalt
persons that they had never been born therefore they shall seek death and shall not find it Mat. 26. They shall desire to dye that is to be reduc'd to nothing Revel 9. but this death shall fly from them who of you can dwell in everlasting burning Is 33. who of us can dwell in Eternal Flames Revel 6. If the viols and little cups full of Gods wrath do force the wicked to cry out how much more shall the Rivers and the Ocean of Gods vengeance force from them O mountains fall upon us O rocks cover us and hide us from the face of him that sits upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the day of his anger is come and who may abide it Prov. 1. But as they have stopt their ears to Gods gracious calls and hardned their hearts to his invitations to repentance then God shall also stop his ears to their outcries and his eyes to their horrid sufferings and when they shall be overwhelmed with fear and despair God will scorn and mock at their insufferable misery CHAP. 4. That Jesus Christ our Lord hath redeemed us from Eternal Death and by degrees doth deliver us from a spiritual Death WE read in the fifth Chapter of the Revelation of S. John That this beloved Disciple wept bitterly because no being in Heaven and Earth nor under the Earth was able to open the Book sealed with seven Seals that was in Gods right hand at that instant one of the 24 Elders spake to him Weep not behold the Lion of the Tribe of Juda hath overcome to open the Book and to loose the seven Seals Thus we have until now wept bitterly because we could find no body in the Armies of Israel to encounter with that horrid Monster Death But let us also wipe our Tears and take good courage my beloved for this same Lion of the Tribe of Juda hath order to fight with this dreadful Enemy our victorious and triumphing David who hath torn in pieces the infernal Lion bruised the antient Serpents Head and spoiled Principalities and powers triumphing of them in his Cross Col. 2.15 It is he that hath undertaken this glorious combat It was for that purpose that he left for a while the Throne of God the Father and the company of his Holy Angels 1 Sam. 17. It was for that intent that he came into the Camp and confusion of Israel contemning the shame and reproaches of his brethren He hath not borrowed the weapons and assistance of the world Heb. 2. all that he hath taken from us is our frail nature But he hath armed himself with righteousness as with a breast-plate and hath put on the Helmet of salvation He hath cloathed himself with vengeance as with a garment and hath covered himself with Jealousie as with a cloak he hath alone troden the Wine-press and no body hath assisted him Isa 59. Isa 63. but his arme hath saved him and his hand hath upheld him As David cut off Goliahs Head with his own sword Jesus Christ hath overcome Death by Death like unto the powerful Sampson he hath destroyed all the Enemies of his Glory by his Death 1 Sam. 17. He hath overcome in dying him who had the Empire of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2. and hath delivered them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage then was fulfilled this proof out of Hosea O death I will be thy plague O grave I will be thy destruction Hos 13. and that of Isaiah He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the Earth Isai 25. 1 Tim. 6. This blessed Prince King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath immortality and dwelleth in an inaccessible light hath destroyed death and brought to light life and immortality by the Gospel 1 Tim. 1. O death where is thy victory O grave where is thy sting The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but blessed be God who hath given us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. This great God and Saviour hath perfectly redeemed us from Eternal death as he himself doth teach us in the Gospel of St. John He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life chap. 5.25 I am the living bread which came down from Heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever Chap. 6.51 v. 40. Your fathers did eat Manna in the wilderness and are dead This is the bread which cometh down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not dye Chap. 8. Verily verily I say unto you If any man keep my word he shall never taste of death I am the resurrection and the life he that lives and believeth in me shall never dye and he that believeth in me although he were dead yet shall he live Chap. 11. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life by our Lord Jesus Christ Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection Revel 20. the second death shall never have any power upon him In one word the Gates of Hell that is to say Death can do no prejudice to them that are built upon Jesus Christ the rock of Eternity This merciful Saviour hath also delivered us from the spiritual death Eph. 2. For we being dead in our trespasses and sins he hath quickened us and raised us up together unto newness of life Colos 2. He hath carried our sins in his body upon the Cross that he dying unto sin we might live unto righteousness We are buried with him in his death by Baptisme that as Jesus Christ is raised from the dead by the Glory of God the father we also likewise should walk in newness of life 1 Pet. 2. Awake thou that sleepest and rise from the dead and Jesus Christ shall enlighten thee Rom. 6. For by his death he hath not only reconciled us to God the Father Eph. 5. Colos 11. but he hath also procured unto us the Holy Spirit that creates in us a new heart and imprints the image of his Holiness Ezek. 36. 2 Cor. 5. He makes us become new creatures and regenerates us by the uncorrptible seed 1 Pet. 1. This is that which the Scripture names the first resurrection Revel 20. St. Peter was ravisht in admiration at this great and wonderful benefit and therefore he acknowledgeth it Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 1. God discover'd to the Prophet Ezekiel a field cover'd with dry bones and commanded him to prophecy upon those bones Ezek. 37. At the Prophets Command
by the Root then are hewen down of old and overgrown Trees O that I might have always in my mind this consideration That a greater number of Babes and Children are buried than of old Men and that the first person who was dead and buried in the Earthly Paradise was but a young Man in the flower of his Age. Great God of the Spirits of all flesh wean my Heart and Affections from the World from all deceitful Pleasures and from these inferior Vanities that I may find in thee all my Joy and my most ravishing Delights Let me not feed my fancy with the vain hopes of having yet many years to spend in ease and in the pleasure of this life but let me remember that there is no part of it free from evils from crosses cares and displeasures That the greenest Fruit hath many times a secret Worm that devours it as well as the ripâ—st and that the freshest blossom hath prickles as well as the most flourishing or decaying Roses The more I shall live in this miserable and corrupted Age the more evil I shall suffer and the more bitterness I shall drink and the more I shall spot my Soul and offend my God I shall have liv'd sufficiently if I have learnt to live well and to prepare to dye well I shall do both if thine Holy Word become my guide and if thine Holy Spirit Sanctify me and Direct me in thy Will which is Good Holy Pleasant and Perfect Assist and strengthen me O Lord that I may find thy Yoke easy and thy burden light O good God if thou prolongest my days increase in me the Riches of thy Grace and enflame my Soul with thy Love but if thou dost cut me off betimes let me not be so great an Enemy to my self as to be sorry because thou wilt so soon transport me into an happy and immortal Estate because thou art pleas'd to abridge my Labors to put a period to the cruel War against my filthy Lusts and to bestow upon me the Crown in the middle of my Race I shall obtain sufficient Glory and Comfort if thou dost grant me strength enough to overcome the Devil vanquish Death and triumph over the Enemies of my Salvation O let me not be so mad and foolish to lament for the loss of a moment that flies away apace Seeing thou dost promise to introduce me into an Eternity where there is no alteration nor shadow of change and where thou shalt bless me with an eternal flourishing and happy Youth O my good God I am ready to Glorify thee either in Death or in Life seeing that thy Son Jesus Christ is to me gain whether I live or whether I dye Amen A Prayer and Meditation for Old Age. O God the Antient of days and Father of Eternity it is thy pleasure that in every Season and Age thy Children be prepared for Death I have therefore good cause O Lord to prepare and dispose my self for that last hour I who have already a foot in the Grave Grant I beseech thee that the more this outward Man decays the more the inward man may be renewed day by day That this weak and infirm Body that stoops towards the Earth teach me to lift up my Mind and thoughts towards Heaven Grant that old Age that hath furrowed my Face and wrinkled my Skin may also wipe off all the spots of my Soul and drive from my Heart all displeasure and grief That Age that causes my Knees to quiver and whitens my Skin may strengthen my Faith and refresh my Hope and Assurance upon thee and that Death that pursues me close at the heels may cause me to seek a shelter under the protection of the Prince of Life O Soveraign Lord of Heaven and Earth thou seest the pitiful condition unto which I am reduc'd I am become a trouble to my self and useless in the world my Soul is weary of its abode by reason of the griefs that it endures for I do but lead a dying Life or rather a living Death My Good God and Creator I have been under thy protection before I was born from the Womb of my Mother thou hast bin my God and assured Refuge Thou O Gracious Lord hast bless'd my Infancy and Youth and crown'd all my years with thy Fatherly Grace and loaden me with thy Blessings Leave me not I pray thee in my white and decrepid old Age and now that my strength faileth be thou the Rock of my Soul and the strength of my Life My years are pass'd as a Torrent of Waters at present I am nothing but the shadow of a shadow that ceaseth to be but thou art always the same and thy years shall never fail As thou hast no beginning thou shalt never have an end Renew my days as the Eagles Animate I beseech thee and quicken this Death these Ashes that I carry but rather reach to me thy hand and take me out of this Dwelling of Clay that rots and decays with age into thine Heavenly Jerusalem I have lost all tast of earthly Meats and Drink It is now high time that thou shouldest satiate me with the Dainties of thy Holy Table and give me to drink of the Wine of thy Kingdom I am already as out of the World my life holds but by a weak string O Gracious Lord now let thy Servant depart in Peace according to thy word for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Amen CHAP. 9. The Third Remedy against the fears of Death is to consider that God hath appointed the time and the manner of our Death EIther we are Hypocrites who draw near unto God with our Lips and honor him with our Tongues whilst our Heart is far from him Matth. 14. as we must desire the accomplishment of the Will of God and resigne our selves wholly to it for every day we say to him in our Prayers Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Therefore we cannot abhor nor fly from Death so cowardly if we be rightly perswaded as we ought That God hath limited the Time and appointed the manner of our Death That which moves us for the most part to complain of this last Enemy is a continual eye that we have sixed upon the Flesh and its Power and a too great confidence upon second causes We are like the dog that bites at the stone that strikes him for we commonly curse the means that God employs to call and withdraw us out of the World It will easily appear that God hath numbred our days and that by his wonderful and eternal Wisdom he hath decreed the hour and moment of every mans death for besides what our Saviour Christ saith in general That God hath reserv'd the Times and the Seasons in his own power Acts 1. Job tels us expresly The days of Man are determined the number of his months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Job 14. The Royal Prophet speaks to the same purpose
prodigal Child My Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee Or as the good Thief Lord remember me Luk 15. Luk 23. I have much to say against so great a mistake so dangerous and prophane a perswasion First what reason have we to believe that God will accept our Repentance when we cannot endure to accept of his Graces and Redemption that he will hear our Sighs and grant our Prayers when we will by no means give ear to his voice nor obey the Command that he sends us of repenting Wretched Man dost thou stay to glorify God till the moment when thy breath shall fail thee Is it just that thou shouldest then begin to serve him when thou shalt be able to serve and please thy flesh no longer nor satisfy thy foolish Lusts This great God who had Commanded during the Shadows and Types of Moses Law that the Children of Israel should offer unto him their First-born and the First-Fruits of their Inheritances will he take it well now in this admirable Sun-shine of the Gospel that thou shouldest offer to the Devil and to the World the First-Fruits of thy Youth the strength of thy years and that thou shouldest reserve for him only the dregs and the corruption of a decaying old age It is to mock God and Man to dream of living well when our life is far spent and gone To lift up our Eyes and Thoughts to Heaven when the Earth fails us under our feet To restore other mens Goods when we can keep them no longer To renounce all desires of Revenge when we have no power of being revengeful To abstain from the foul Lusts of the Flesh when we are able to continue in them no longer to abhor Theft Usury Rapine and Extortion when a Coffin is preparing to receive us and that Death looks us in the Face Such persons cannot be said to leave Sin but rather Sin leaves them as the Ravens leave a Tree that falls down by age or that is struck with the Thunder By our unreasonable delays Evil and Sin grow older and the cure becomes every day more uneasy for the more thou shalt be hardened in thy corruption and confirmed in thy sins the harder it will be for thee to break and melt thy corrupted Heart The more Lust shall have sunk its Roots in thy Soul the more labor thou wilt find in plucking them out In short he that gives too much liberty to his unlawful affections makes his Vices by custom become natural and cannot be converted without a great miracle Man's most important and difficult affair in the world is his Conversion to God Therefore it is a notable folly to put it off to such a time as we shall be in the feeblest and weakest condition to a time when we shall have most business to do and most trouble Certainly he doth not order his affairs well who puts off his praying unto God and his thoughts of Heaven until he comes to be stretch'd on his death bed for then we know not to whom we are to turn An account of our worldly Concerns is then required from us we are then to make our last Will and Testament we call for a Scrivener and are inwardly vex'd to behold him the visit of friends trouble us and their absence doth as much displease us Pain doth seize upon us Defluxions are ready to choake us Feavers burn us and disturb our minds Physitians oppress us with unpleasant Remedies the noise is a trouble to us and silence is suspected our Parents and Friends torment us by their officious in officiousness our Children and our greatest Darlings melt our Hearts and their Tears do force us to weep But the worst is the Devils are then most busy and active These hellish Fiends like the devouring Ravens fly about us endeavouring to fright us In short it is then that the Prince of the Powers of the Air stir up against us furious Storms and Tempests to cause us to perish in the very Haven In the midst of so many disturbances and of so many powerful Waves it is a difficult task to possess our Souls in peace to think upon our Consciences to hear God speaking to us to fear death as we ought and to keep our selves from sinking and from being swallowed up with its apprehensions and frights Old Age hath infirmities enough we need not defile it with youthful Sins and Lusts for many times it causeth more wounds in our Souls than there are wrinkles upon our Skin When the Body decays and grows weak the Lusts of the flesh become stronger and oft-times when it whitens the Face it spots the Conscience In a word The bones of old Age are weak enough and sufficiently full of pain that we need not over-burden them with the sins committed in the flower and strength of our Age. Moreover we know not when nor how Death will assault us nor what favor we are to expect from it who knows but that it intends not to give us the liberty of speaking to our Friends nor of thinking upon our Consciences for it sends not always a warning to us as to the good King Hezekiah Set thine House in order for thou shalt dye 2 Kings 20. For as we have already taken notice it surpriseth us in every Age in every Time and Place and in the midst of all manner of Employments Old Eli fell down backwards and broke his Neck when he heard the unhappy news of the taking of the Ark and the death of his Sons Job's Children dreamed of nothing but of solacing and delighting themselves in their Feasts and Jollity when the House where they were fell down and buried them in the ruines But besides these unhappy accidents how many are there whose mouth Death closeth on a suddain without suffering them to speak a word How many are there in the World who are thought to be in perfect health and yet suddainly fall into an Apoplexy and into other quick diseases so that they are seen to be sooner dead than thought to be sick Besides when we should have a greater strength and more vigor so that we might foresee the time of our departing drawing near Repentance is not at our Command it is given to us from above and a special favor of the Holy Spirit God works not miracles every day he changeth not at every moment Rocks into Springs of Water nor Stones into Rivers of Oil He grants not the favour to all Sinners hardened in their Lusts and confirmed in their Apostacy from him to be converted and to be wash'd with the Tears of Repentance If thou seest a Thief repenting at the time of his suffering it is a particular example that doth not abolish the general Rule By this Man God doth intend to comfort Sinners who truly Repent at the end of their days and to assure them that the Arms of his Mercy is always open to receive them into his favor I confess that true Repentance can never be too