is a Heaven And so Heaven above here * Ut supra meant or the Empyraean Heaven is a Kingdom of Heavens Secondly The Passion it self suffereth Violence 1. Suffereth Strange can Heaven suffer I answer Not properly but as it were 2. Violence And what is that It is a motion {inverted †} Tho. Aqu. in 5 Met. l. 6. proceeding from an exterior agent tending to that which by its own nature it hath no aptitude unto as here what Aptitude hath any of us naturally to win Heaven by force II. An Action And the Violent take it by force Where we have 1. Actors 2. The Action it self to be viewed 1. Actors And the Violent In the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original the Violent so called in the English are also invaders endeavourers urgers and such as press hard as these do who are bent for Heaven pressing and urging with the strongest arguments and with all their might and utmost endeavours the God of Heaven 2. The Action it self Take it by force 1. Take it The word in the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original properly is spoken of wild Beasts which take their prey which here is applyed to Men who take Heaven as a prey which they pursue till they have it 2. By Force To take a thing by force properly and commonly is take it by wrong Whence in the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrew Force is called by a name which also signifies wrong and injury and yet here is no wrong done to any when Heaven is taken by the Saints forcibly for it is their proper portion by Adoption that glorious Habitation and therefore when they seize on it by might they do what they do in it in their own * Understand a right derived from Jesus Christ who hath a double right to it Author vit Bern. l. 1. cap. 12. right 1 Pet. 1.3 But I desire now after all these Divisions and Subdivisions to come to some Compositions or Conclusions And 1. Let this be one 1. Doct. A powerful right Teaching and Christ-preaching-Ministry doth very much advance the winning of Heaven by a sacred Violence 2. Then take an other Heaven must be taken by an holy Violence For the first I shall raise and resolve about it these two Queries 1. What such a Ministry is 2. Why such a Ministry doth so advance the winning of Heaven by an holy Violence To the first I answer It is a Ministry which poureth out it self in torrents of affection lists up its voice like a trumpet comes to the heart in the demonstration of the Spirit thunders out the Judgements of God against all that is called flesh and not spirit strikes at the very root of every tree which brings not forth fruit to God labours mightily to desponsate souls to Christ and therefore holds forth none and nothing so much as Christ To the second Query I answer thus in seven Grounds 1. Such a Ministry will cry down sin 2. Will cry up Heaven 3. Will cry up Zeal 4. Will take away the Vail which is over all mens faces 5. Will take away all excuses and vain conceits 6. Will acquaint men with the absolute necessity of believing 7. Will inform them of that strictness of living which Christ requireth of all that will enter into Life everlasting 1. Ground It will cry down Sin according to that of Isa 58.1 and Mat. 3.10 as thus it will tell men that they which do such things as they do commit adultery and whoredom and all manner of uncleanness and lasciviousness with greediness do lie steal pour in strong drink and will be drunk and glut themselves with excessive eating live in usury in the sin of covetousness of anger of envy of pride without fear without remorse without repentance are worthy of death worthy of damnation and shall never inherit the Kingdom of God according to that dreadful Scripture Gal. 5.19 20 21. Thus such a Ministry cryeth out against all sorts of Sins and Sinners who when they hear them cry out so what sins will they not rather miss that eternal Life they may not miss And what evils will they not forsake that Heaven they may take When a man understands that either he must lose his life or his leg or arm or right hand or right eye though his leg be dear to him his arm dear his right hand dear his right eye dear yet will he lose any of these dear things or all rather than life because his Chyrurgion tells him that else he must die So poor Sinners when they are told by the Chyrurgions of their souls that either they must lose their best beloved Sins which are as dear to them as their legs their arms their right eyes right hands or lose Heaven if they will keep them they will with God's blessing do any thing rather than die forgoe any sin rather than go to Hell lose any profit rather than Heaven Heaven being infinitely absolutely indisputably better than both their eyes both hands both legs both arms in a word than all that is near or dear to them in all this worlds circumference 2. Ground It will cry up Heaven as the Baptist came crying and saying Repent the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 3.2 and as Christ himself came preaching and saying in my Text The Kingdom of Heaven suffers Violence and Rev. 21.17 which when poor souls hear how they will be startled with Gods Blessing how they will come as those Mat. 3.6 confessing their sins and acknowledging their former of citances and neglectings of Life and Salvation and being ready to do any thing to do well hereafter and to be saved as those Luke 3.12 Beloved if this were a Sea-town and a Vessel should arrive here from beyond the Seas and a Cryer should be sent up and down to cry That if any will buy take estates worth thousands in a goodly Country for a small matter yea for nothing upon the matter he may now be carried over in that Vessel and buy and take as much Land as he will and as cheap as he can desire O! how would those of your Town who have but little or no estates and are in want and have but little or no money with both hands imbrace such an opportunity take such a proffer and advantage and embark themselves to be gone and to take such estates in so goodly a Country and to inhabit such stately Seats This now is the case of poor souls we Ministers arrive with our Vessels I should say our Gospel-preaching which we carry in earthen-vessels at your Towns at your Parishes at your Temples we turn Cryers being for that end sent Isa 58.1 and bid to cry and cry up and down in your Towns and solemn Assemblies Isa 55.1 Ho if any man will buy cheap and take Heaven cheap or an estate in Heaven worth not only thousands but whole worlds and desires to have a goodly seat indeed let him come with
evidently seen of all The Fourth Prosecution Now for Application 1. Use This may inform us of the Greatness of the Wrath of God against Sin seeing that the very best cannot be exempted from Deaths Tyranny which God's flaming Wrath against and for Sin hath subjected us all unto It is almost 6000 years agone that Adam sinned by eating of the forbidden Tree and yet could not all this length of time make him forget that one Offence no no Manet alta mente repostum judicium Paridis said Virgil in another case and we may say as much in this The Lord remembers that Sin still and keeps his Anger against it still so as that no intervening Grace or Goodness in the holiest person can make him let go his Wrath or remit his first Mulct or Penalty Death I mean once menaced and decreed and yet as Moses complained once Psal 90.11 so may we now Who knoweth or understands considereth and believeth as Luther in Dutch rendreth the Original the power of thine Anger though we be even consumed by it ver 7. Wherefore in the first place let us learn and lay to heart the Power of the Lord's Anger for you see by Moses's complaint that scarce any knoweth it or considereth of it Whereupon it cometh to pass that Sin is 1. So slighted as it is in your Judgements 2. So embraced in your Affections 3. So multiplied in your Conversations because you do not once seriously consider the Powerfulness and Greatness of God's Wrath by which we are consumed one by one the very best not exempted The Second use Must godly Men who are like precious Wheat die like other men Then woe to the Ungodly which are but Chaff for what will become of them if God so deal with the green wood what will he do to the dry if he be so severe against his own for that old sin of Adam how rigorous then will he be against Aliens if they that are reconciled unto him by the death of his Son yet must taste of Deaths cup what will be the end then of you that are yet unreconciled Certainly my tongue is not able to express that unutterable and unspeakable Wrath which will most certainly seize on you unreconcil'd Adulterers Boasters Idolaters Lyars Cozeners and on you fierce proud envious worldly and covetous Men and Women for you must taste of a double Death the first and the second Rev. 21.8 Now how fearful and formidable the very first Death is you know all who ever saw a man unmann'd and laid in the dust to putrifie and to be meat for Worms whereby you may easily conceive how dreadful needs must be and will be both when one after another as it were shall require your souls as it is written Luke 12.19 20. Thou fool this night they shall require thy Soul from thee as the Original hath it Mark They shall require it and who be They but the first and the second Death as I conceive one seconding the other O think on this double Death all ye Drunkards and Fornicators Swearers Usurers Epicures Gurmands Atheists and Hypocrites and imagine in what a woful plight your Souls will be when those two Deaths shall so require them and they shall be forthwith thrown and cast into that formidable Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death Rev. 21.8 Lamentable was the case of the Men of Sodom when suddenly they saw and felt both Fire and Brimstone dropping down from Heaven upon their Bodies but infinitely more grievous woful and deplorable will be your condition then when these your immortal Souls shall begin to feel in a moment after their departure that ever-during Fire and Brimstone which the Lord in his Fury will rain upon them in that infernal Pit for as the †Bonavent Brevis cap. 6. pag. 7. peccant Spirit or Soul of man subjects it self to the baseness of sin perverting the Dignity of its Noble Nature so the order of God's Justice requireth that it as well as the Body should burn in the very dregs of worldly bodies corporeal Fire and Brimstone I mean which never shall be quenched This will be the Catastrophe of all your sports and delights and profits of your sinful Life It was a witty saying of a learned man That Marriage was a short and sweet song but that it hath a long and doleful close So of all the Pleasure we take in sin we may truly say that it is a Song short for the time and sweet for tune as long as it lasteth for it runneth much upon Quavers and Semiquavers of Mirth and Jubilation but the time suddenly changeth and the tune is altered for then followeth without rest the Sarges and Songs of sorrow and lamentation which cannot be measured by any time or uttered by any humane tongue Hence when one who had lived but a lewd and ungodly life was departing as one * Doctor Hill in his Direction to dye well p. 123. relates it of him he cryed out even in this World most lamentably O lamentable Destiny O infinite Calamity O Death without Death O those contiual Cryings which shall never be hearkened unto our eyes can see nothing but sorrowful Spectacles and intolerable Torments our ears can hear nothing but Wo Wo without end woful O thou Earth why dost not thou swallow O ye Mountains why do not ye cover us from the presence of the Judge How far do the Torments of Hell exceed all the tortures of this Life O ye bewitching Pleasures of this World how have ye led us blindfolded to the Horrors of Hell Wo wo for ever unto us who without hope are cast from the Favour of God so that after ten thousand years we might be delivered O that in any time we might have an end But it cannot be Our Temporal Pleasures have Eternal Pains our Mirth is now turned into Mourning and we are cast into Everlasting Fire Thus he I do not speak this to drive you to desperation but to perswade you to an alteration that you may change your Estates and Lives for better praying God All-powerful to turn you that you may be turned from your sins and he from the fierceness of his Wrath and so consequently may not come into that woful woful place of Torments which shall never have an End The Lord touch your Hearts that you may consider both your own Misery and this blessed Remedy and so may flie from that wrath which is to come The Third use If the Godly must die like other men then let every one of us that is Godly be more mindful of his own death then usually the very best are and let him make his particular application to himself Then I also must die as well as other men and moulder away into rottenness and dust see Deut. 23.29 Plato that Princeps Philosophia or Prince of Philosophy saith There is Nulla Salutatis Philosophia no wholsom Philosophy sed perpetua Mortis Meditatio but
sweet promise Gen. 3.15 The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents Head which our first Parents so relished and esteemed after they had once tasted it as that they wrote it upon Pillars as * Josephus and Melancthon in Chron. Char. Josephus relates it and from time to time resorted to it and them as to their Meeting-place for their Souls refreshing Or Shall tread down Satan under your feet as the Elders of Israel upon the Necks of the Cananean Kings as Conquered Again Shortly ye fear ye shall never be freed from such and such Temptations and from such Blasphemous Thoughts as are injected by him It was my case once for I thought so too that I should never be delivered but you shall saith God and I found it so Make much of this promise therefore and prize it above fine Gold and above Rubies and above Pearls for it is more worth and more then all England is worth and embrace it and be perswaded of it Heb. 11.13 2. By the Word Promised I mean Christ the Word Substantial and God blessed for ever for he is that Seed of the Woman which shall bruise the Serpents Head Gen. 3.15 He it is that hath spoiled Principalities and Powers and hath made a shew of them openly Triumphing over them in his Cross Col. 2.15 He it is of whom it is said that those which are now in Heaven which they have won by force have overcome him by his Blood Rev. 12.10 12. And he it is which covers us in our Warfare against Satan from top to toe even throughout with himself as with an Armour of Proof Rom. 13.14 It is said of †Xiphilin in vita Trajani Trajan the Roman Emperour that he would cut in pieces his own Garments rather then his Soulders should want a rag to cover their Wounds Semblably whereunto Christ our Emperour so covers his Souldiers with himself lest they should want an Armour to cover their Souls in the day of Battel Take therefore dear Christians and fellow Souldiers the Lord Christ along with you as you go to encounter Satan and go sprinkled with his precious Blood and when he tempts you and tells you that ye shall be damned and also entices you to uncleanness to lasciviousness to wrath to envy to malice to revenge to swear to lye Oppose him with Christ and shew him his Precious Blood Saying Lo here is Christ who will bruise thy Head Lo the Blood of Christ which doth wash away all my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness 1 John 1.9 And lo the mighty Power of Christ whereby I trust that I shall overcome all thy power having put about me that strong and mighty Lord that I may vanquish thee and conquer all these thy Temptations in the power of his Might Ephes 6.10 O Sirs after 〈◊〉 mode and method deal with Satan and he will slee from you For he cannot endure the sight of that precious blood but must needs pass by us and let us alone when he seeth it as that destroying Angel passed by those Houses whose door-posts were sprinkled with the blood of the Paschal Lamb Exod. 12.23 It is reported that Satan one time came to a poor sinner diguised as if he had been sent by God and told him that he must confess to him all his sins and that he is to write them down and to carry them up to God whereupon the poor man confessed as many as he knew but told him withall Write this too underneath The Blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 which when the Devil heard he vanished immediately So powerful is that Precious Blood to profligate that potent Adversary which caused me therefore to write that very Sentence upon my Desk when I was under great trouble of mind that I might alwayes view it in my Studies and be comforted by it in my distresses 2. The World The whole World lies in Wickedness 1 John 5.19 which in Latine is rendered thus In Maligno positus quasi in * Royard hom 2. in Eph. 6. malo igne positus that is Is placed in an evil Fire set on fire by the Devil here called Evil and therefore we must needs oppose it and by no means agree with it though we must pass through the fire as it were to overcome it As some brave Warriors have charged their Enemies through the very Fire in Towns set on fire Object You will say That the World is strong and mighty and that you find it so by woful experience what a mighty enemte it is and that therefore you know not what to do to overcome it Sol. To this I answer 1. Remember what was said by Christ John 6.33 Be of good cheer I have overcome the World So that you have to do with a conquered slave and therefore fear not little Flock for you shall overcome it because Christ hath conquered it already for you to make your conquest easie to you 2. Ponder the words of St. John This is the Victory which overcometh the World even our Faith 1 John 5.4 Mark He doth not say it will but it doth overcome the World O the Power O the Strength O the Puissance of Saving-Faith which is so victorious saith he as that it is a Conquerour over the World wheresoever it is nay is Victory it self If then you have Faith fear not but use it and use it against this vast this vile this vain this false this wicked World believing verily that it shall not prevail against you because that Faith which is in you is stronger than the World which is against you 3. The Flesh For O what an Enemy is it to all Flesh O how it wars how it combates and how it fighteth against the Spirit that the best of us cannot do as we would So that needs we must fight against it and break by force through all the allurements and oppositions of it Object You will say Why then saith the Apostle We wrestle not against Flesh and Blood Ephes 6.12 Sol. I answer His meaning is as †Zanchius in loc some say not simply or as others not * Petr. Lombard Thom. Aquin. only for then one Sword should be as long as an †Marlorat in loc other and one man so strong as an other The Flesh then must be conquered as well as Satan for it is as great an Enemy to the poor soul as he if not greater which caused the Apostle Peter to write thus Dearly Beloved I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from Fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 O the poor soul how it is pestered with it For when it would fast and humble it self before God the Flesh saith I must feast eat drink and be merry when the Soul would sill it self with Heavenly Meditations the Flesh saith I must fulfill my Lusts I must fill mine eyes with Adultery and fulfill my desires with this
and roar in prayer and yet in vain unless we continue in prayer and though we contend never so much yet is it to no end unless we contend so long by our violent Intreaties with God till we have our errands end O my Brethren this is the very Life the Soul the Art the Master-peice of right Praying by it we must needs carry Heaven nay with it we shall win the very God of Heaven even by Force Force your selves therefore my Brethren so to invocate the Name of God and to draw near to the Throne of Grace for Grace even Grace to help in a time of need Heb. 4.16 nay go and strive by many Prostrations before the Throne of Grace and mighty and uncessant Encountrings with God to become Overcomers of God saying to God as once Jacob said I will not let thee go tili thou bless me Gen. 1. By Violent Intreaties for the Effectual Fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availes much Jam. 5.17 O it presseth into the Presence of God it breaks through whole Hosts of hostile Powers it chargeth through the thickest Troups of Oppositions it mounts up beyond the Stars it penetrates the Heavens nay it towrs up beyond all aspectable Heavens and never ceases towring till it enters the very Heaven of Heavens where it wrestles with the God of Heaven for Heaven and never gives him over till by Force it hath won Heaven And therefore let this mighty Champion which we call Wrestling enter the Lists with God for you that Heaven may be taken by you Which God in mercy grant unto you 2. With uncessantly Violent Intreaties For Pray continually saith Christ Luke 18. 1. and With all Perseverance saith the Apostle Ephes 6.18 which is much more For in this Direction is a Climax or Gradation from much to much more For to pray uncessantly is as much beyond Violent Intreaties as the Sun is beyond the Moon in that as the Moon can have no light without the Sun so we without Perseverance in Prayer can see no light of God's Countenance beaming upon us no help to assist us no strength to enable us for high things to be attempted by us there we may cry and roar in prayer and yet in vain unless we continue in prayer and though we contend never so much yet is it to no end unless we contend so long by our violent Intreaties with God till we have our errands end O my Brethren this is the very Life the Soul the Art the Master-peice of right Praying by it we must needs carry Heaven nay with it we shall win the very God of Heaven even by Force Force your selves therefore my Brethren so to invocate the Name of God and to draw near to the Throne of Grace for Grace even Grace to help in a time of need Heb. 4.16 nay go and strive by many Prostrations before the Throne of Grace and mighty and uncessant Encountrings with God to become Overcomers of God saying to God as once Jacob said I will not let thee go tili thou bless me Gen. 32.26 When a City or Citadel is beleagured the great Guns go off often and when they cease the Country concludes that it is taken And so must our Prayers which are our Canons as * Bombardae Christianorum Luther Luther was wont to call them go off often when we go to win Heaven that is even indesinently the same time when we are about it crying as the little Children did once Mat. 21.9 Hosanna Hosanna that is Now save now save even again and again first here in this Temple from your very hearts and when ye are come home from your Closets your doors being shut and never give over crying so and discharging your great Canons so till you have won Heaven that is never come out of your Chambers after they have been shut till you have gotten some assurances from Heaven that you shall have Heaven concluding so because God hath heard them and as it were told them that Heaven is taken by them But here I must resolve two Cases of Conscience 1. Case The first is Sir we have heard all this and yet there is no stirring after all this some will say and therefore what shall we do in this Case To this I answer in four Conclusions 1. There may be no stirring with some of you because you are not yet effectually called and spoken to nor yet blown upon by the Spirit of God John 6.44 like those dry bones in Ezek. 37.2 even very dry so as that there was no stirring among them at all till after when the Prophet prophesied to them and the Wind that is the Spirit of God which is like Wind did breath upon them 2. Conclusion There may be no stirring with some of you as yet because your time is not come yet some are called the third some the sixth hour some the ninth some the eleventh hour Mat. 20.3 5 6. 3. Conclus If there be no stirring with you because you are not yet effectually called nor have been blown upon by the Spirit of God then you must pray to the Lord that this my preaching now at last may work upon you and there may be a stirring among you as thus O our God say Let this man's preaching to us belike Ezekiels prophesying For Lord hast not thou sent him saying Go and prophesie to these dead dry bones which are in that Town of T that they may live and wilt not thou bless his prophesying to our souls O that there were a shaking among us as there was among those bones O most mighty God let there be such a shaking and such a stirring among us now at last after all this prophesying that we may stand upon our feet as a great and terrible Army with Banners Cant. 6.11 and take Heaven by Force Or thus As Moses prayed Numb 14.17 And now I beseech thee let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken So let every one of you now cry and say to Lord And now I beseech thee let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken So let every one of you now cry and say to the Lord And now I beseech thee let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken saying I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live Ezek. 37.5 and Verily verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live John 5.24 Lord I am dead cause me to hear his Voice this hour this time that I may stir and live O this stirring it is that which must work must move our hearts must remove our affections must elevate our spirits must collocate our souls in a capacity and ability to attain to high atchivements and therefore I advise you so much and perswade you so earnestly to beg it 4. Conclus But if your time
do thou work upon this peoples hearts and let the Spirit of Life come into the wheels of their souls let him so move their affections as that they may be lifted up like those Wheels in Ezekiel Ezek. 1.20 21. because the Spirit of Life is in them O let not all these my labours be utterly lost but let some poor souls be now won to the Shepherd of souls O Souls Souls are ye nothing moved yet with all this I hope you are nay methinks you are by your attention if ye be then move and move indeed I mean so strongly so vigorously so effectually towards Heaven to take it by Force as that the world may see your change your zeal your forwardness your labouring for Heaven Heaven ye see is even at hand as the Baptist said once The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand when he so preached it up Mat. 3.2 it was so and so it is now and divers enter into it nay take it by Force O do you so likewise and so live for ever So be it To God alone be all Honour and Glory A New and Living Way OF DYING OR A TREATISE Shewing how Saints after they have comfortably overcome Sin the World by Faith and after a New and Living Manner have lived an Holy and Heavenly Life by Faith may die at last after a New and Living Way by in and according to Faith Upon that Famous Scripture HEBREWS 11.13 These all dyed in Faith And provided especially for Preparation to be made by all men against the Approach of Death in these Sickly Times By Christopher Jelinger And Published by some Christian Friends London Printed in the Year 1664. To The Vertuous Lady The Lady ANNE SEYMOUR Grace and Mercy be multiplied MADAM MY great Respect and thankful Mind which I bear to your Worthy-Self and to your Noble Family for many Favours received hath caused and compelled me to Dedicate this Tract to your much-honoured Name and if it may but find entertainment and acceptance I shall count my labour well bestowed Only give me leave Much Honoured Lady to give you a short Account of this my present Undertaking These late Times are and have been very sickly and many every where are fallen asleep and when the time of our departure will be the Lord only knoweth and we our selves also know this that it cannot be long before we likewise shal go to our long home and be no more seen at our present homes because our life is but a vapour Jam. 4.14 and we flie away Psal 90.10 which not with standing how few are there which prepare themselves for that time Cogitantes de fine infinito ut vivant in infinitum VVhence it cometh to pass that most men when after they have lived a careless life they come to be unmanned by Death they go Imparati in locum paratum Unprepared to a place prepared idque in aeternum and that for ever for that which ends All is without end And their nearest friends are much the cause of it for the common fashion of Friends is to put their friends in mind of Death when they doubt that they can live no longer Zenas the Lawyer and Luke the Physician must have given them over before they will send for Barnabas to give them good Counsel and solid Consolation against their dissolution But I for my part will not deal so with my Christian Friends My design in this Tract is this To tell men plainly that shortly they must put off their caribly Tabernacles shew them evidently How they must die whilst they live that they may live when they die dying in by and according to Faith This this I aimed at when I penned this Treatise which if it be acted by Faith will so work upon mens and womens precious souls and do them so much good as that they will even long to enjoy the chiefest good and when their work here is done will shew them Heaven open for them where there is health only and no sickness living and no dying incorruption and no corruption ease and no pain singing and no sorrowing For the former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 Many I confess have written on this subject of Death but you will find that I have left the common road as much as I might for my principal aim in this Tract is To put men upon that New and Living Way which the Apostle speaks of Heb. 10.20 and which must be taken by Faith according to which we must die to live for ever That Great God and Saviour who can do whatsoever he will in Heaven and on Earth so bless these my Labours to you Madam and to al that shal read them as that both you and they may fare the better for them here and hereafter for ever So prayeth Your Ladiships Most humble Servants CHRISTOPHER JELINGER A New and Living Way of Dying HEB. 11.13 These all Dyed in Faith ALmighty God as one saith well hath given to men three Mansions of a diverse Quality 1. The World wherein they live 2. The Grave wherein they corrupt 3. Either Heaven wherein they are crowned or Hell wherein they are tormented In the World their Companion is Vanity In the Grave the Worms In Heaven the blessed Angels and in Hell cursed Devils I add For like and like sute best one with an other Good Men I mean with good Angels and evil Men with Angels-Transgressors and yet such is the folly of most men that they would have perpetual habitations and an ever-during happiness in this vain World where neither such felicity nor perpetuity is to be expected for as all have sinned so all for Sin must be by Death dissolved even the best not excepted as by those Worthies which my Text speaketh of it appeareth So that men should rather forecast what course it were best for them to take that being thrust out of those earthly Tabernacles in which now they mansion they might mount up into that most blessed and blissful House of God which is not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 What this Course is which men should take you will understand by my future Discourse wherewith I shall God willing entertain your Christian Patience declaring FAITH to be that most happy Instrument which must bring you to such a firm durable and glorious settlement This ushered and conveyed those gracious Saints which my Text speaks of out of their earthly and unstable habitations into those heavenly Mansions above and places of unexpressable Delights for they all dyed in Faith and the end of Faith is as St. Peter tells us the salvation of our Souls 1 Pet. 1.9 I shall therefore call the whole ensuing Discourse A New and Living Way of Dying and shew therein how we may in a most sweet comfortable manner after an holy and heavenly walking die at last by in and according to Faith Faith I mean unfeigned lively and saving In which the antient Patriarchs dyed according
a perpetual Meditation of Death It is saith Scipio The most honourable Philosophy to study a mans Mortality The Meditation of Death is the Life of the Wise nay it is the very Life of a Christian Life say I and the greatest wisdom of the Godly who is truly wise And therefore to help our selves herein The First Help Let us now and often pray with Moses the man of God Lord teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Psal 90.12 The Second Help Let us take an occasion by every thing we see to remember our latter end for as King Philips Remembrancer told him every day Philippe memento Mori Philip remember that thou must die so every Creature almost that comes to our view minds us of our Death saying as much to each of us in effect Remember man that thou also must die I 'le instance in Particulars The First Instance Our very Shooes we wear being made of Skins of dead Beasts tell us so much and therefore when we put them on let us remember that we also must die The Second Instance Our Victuals we eat being the flesh of dead Beasts say so much and therefore we need not then a Deaths-head to put us in mind of Death * Lang. Pol. as in ancient time among the Egyptians Deaths Picture was shewed to men at their Feasts to mind them of Death the Meat it self representing the Image of Death is a sufficient remembrancer whereby we may if we will yea ought to remember our Mortality The Third Instance When we walk in the coloured Fields and view the gay Diaperie of the Earth we may thereby be put in mind of Death for every Pile of Grass and every fading flower there tell us of it so as that we might if we did not turn our deaf ear to such Powerful Lectures hear as it were a Voice behind us saying All flesh is as Grass and all the Goodliness thereof as the Flower of the Field the Grass withereth the Flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Isa 90.6 I pray you therefore take notice of this Lesson The Fourth Instance The Earth we tread on preacheth the same Lecture telling us that being compounded of that Element we must needs return again unto it according to that * Damasc l. 1. de Fide c. 4. Philosophical Axiome Whatsoever is compacted of Elements must needs be dissolved again into the same Wherefore as often as we do but look on the Earth let us remember the Word of the Lord Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return Gen. 3.19 The Fifth Instance The Corps Sepulchres and Monuments of the Dead tell every one of us so much saying as it were Hodie mihi Cras tibi To day it is my turn to morrow it may be thine Wherefore I advise you to walk now and then up and down in a Church or Church-Yard and to view such Sepulchres and Monuments of the deceased deliberately for then you cannot but mind your own Mortality reading theirs upon their silent Tombs and memorials engraved with most legible Characters not so much in Marble as in the very dust wherein they lie and unto which they are returned The Sixth Instance Your own frail Bodies consisting of contrary Elements as Fire Air Water Earth I mean the four Humours Choler Blood Phlegm Melancholic which are like them combating and fighting one against another can tell you that needs there must follow a dissolution for as I told you Composition is the beginning of a Combate a Combate of Separation a Separation of a Dissolution Wherefore as in old time one came after the ancient Emperors riding in their Tryumphant Chariots crying with a loud voice †Tertul. in Apol. adv Gentes cap. 33. Respice post te Look behind thee So let me now come after all those high and hurtful conceits which you have had of your own Parts Worth Strength Youth Wealth Health and after all those applauding Flatterers which have made you often too secure saying with a loud Voice Look but upon your selves and behold your Bodies which a thousand wayes may be on a sudden dissolved though but one way they entered into this present World for whilst you are speaking walking eating writing thinking or sleeping these four contrary Elements are ever fighting whereupon as in other Battels one party may prevail in an instant and cause a great slaughter so one of them may prove predominant and cause a final dissolution of your weak and mortal Bodies and this may fall out so even suddenly and unexpectedly as experience hath taught us by the sudden Deaths of many who had not so much leisure as once to speak one word more after they were so suddenly and violently assaulted The Seventh Instance When you go to bed you are even by that silent custom of yours thought and told you of your Mortality for how can there be almost a more lively emblem of Mans dying than 1. His unraying of himself which may mind him of the putting off his Body of Earth 2 Cor. 5.4 2. His * Cum in lecto cubas sit tibi ipse jacentis habit is figura in Sepulchro Clausi Isid de summo bone lying down upon his Bed which may put him in mind of his lying down in the Grave which will be his Bed 3. His very sleeping which may call to his mind his last and longest sleep when he shall sleep in his Death and rise no more till at that great and dreadful day of the last Doom the shril and loud sounding Voyce of the Son of God shall awake him out of his sleep saying Surgite Mortui venite ad Judicium Rise O ye Dead and come to Judgment Hence the very * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Iliad 14. Heathen as well as the †Chron. 21.1 Acts 1.60 Pen-men of Gods Holy Spirit have resembled Death to a sleep and called sleep Deaths * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mnesimachus Com. Mystery and Death Sleeps Brother So †In Filiavel scient bené moriendi Fol. 47. Synopa the Cynick being nigh his end and very sleepy said to his Physician awakening him Ne mireris frater fratrem autevertit Wonder not at my sleeping one Brother preceds another * Pausan in Lacon Pausauias in like manner writes of the Laconiens that they set up two Simulachres for Death and Sleep as two Brethren Wherefore I beseech you that as often as you are going to bed to take your natural rest you will constantly remember by these three things that one needful thing which is Death making a particular application of each emblem as thus let a Godly man say to himself As now I go to my bed so I must go to my Grave and as I put off my Cloaths so ere long nay this night it may be I must put off my Earthly Tabernacle which is my Body and as I shall fall asleep and know
Spirit Mark first he calleth Christ Lord implying him to be his Redeemer and Owner that bought him Secondly He commendeth into his hands his spirit being perswaded that he was able to keep it and to restore it So * Such Examples are superadded for Illustration Babylas of Antioch the Martyr for he said when he was dying Return O my Soul unto thy rest because the Lord hath blessed thee because thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears my feet from falling I shall walk before the Lord in the Land of the living So †Dr. Hill in his direct to dye well p. 179. Peter Martyr for he said My Body is weak but my mind is well There is no Salvation but only by Christ who was given of the Father to be a Redeemer of mankind this is my Faith in which I die So blessed * Bagshaw in the life and death of Mr. Bolton p. 34. Bolton who when he was dying said to his hearers I feel nothing in my soul but Christ with whom I heartily desire to be So Pareus as the Preacher relates it in his Funeral-Sermon which I heard my self wrote to the same effect when his speech was gone This Catarrh hath taken away the use of my speech but he shall never rob me of my Faith in Christ The first Reason And it cannot be otherwise For 1. Their Faith can never fail them Luke 21.32 being like mustard-seed indeed Luke 17.6 which being ing once * Hemin l. 3. c. 24 sowen in a garden can hardly ever be rooted out again so that needs it must shew it self in death as well as life The second Reason 2. In death the Saints of God had most need of the use of their Faith by reason of First Satan who then will be sure to sift them as he sifted Peter Luke 22.31 and to bend all his forces against them to make them either presume or despair Secondly Carnal Reason which then will most of all discourage them suggesting such reasonings as these * Bernard Serm de Parm. 7 miserecord Who art thou or how great is that Glory and by which works thinkest thou to obtain it Thirdly Their own self-accusing Consciences who then above all times will most accuse them Rom. 2.15 being stirred up by Satan who is called the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12.10 So that they cannot but then especially exercise their Faith even as Souldiers in assaults and sharpest conflicts and battles when they must either conquer or die will then use their chiefest weapon most of all and so even die fighting if they must needs die like †Plutarchus Epaminondas who so ended his dayes in a fight I say the Saints cannot but so in like manner use their Faith as their principal weapon then most of all and so consequently die in with by and according to Faith APPLICATION For Application I 'll now deduce hence three Inferences 1. The Excellency of Saving-Faith 2. The Nullity of many mens pretended Faith 3. The Duty of all that will be counted godly and to be truly ennobled with Saving-Faith Of these in order The first Inference 1. Great then is the Excellency of Saving-Faith which holdeth out in death it self when Strength Physick Friends and all things else faile us Saul and Jonathan said David after their death were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their Death they were not divided 2 Sam. 1.23 The same may be said of all the Godly and their Faith after their departure that they were lovely and sweet companions in their lives and that in their very death they were not divided for These all dyed in the Faith saith the Apostle of the Godly that is as I shewed in my former Exposition with Faith having Faith for their companion in their death and expiration And therefore what do we talk of Silver Gold and earthly Jewels that they are excellent and precious things here is a Jewel indeed a most excellent and precious thing without all comparison even Saving-Faith which in death it self stands by us and tells us in a manner that whilst we breath it will never leave us nor forsake us yea abideth with us in some sort as * Est etiam fides rerum quando non verbis sed rebus ipsis praesentibus creditur quod erit cum per speciem manifest am se contemplandam praebebit Dei sapientia Aug. 2. quaest Evangel cap. 39. Est enim duples sides 1. Verborum in hac vita 2. Rerum in futura Vid. Lombard 1.3 dist 24. Ames Medulla Theol. lib. 2. c. 6. some say even after death which is more whereas neither Silver nor Gold nor Gemmes nor any other earthly thing can then stead us when the last breath leaves us the pangs of death are upon us O Faith Faith how admirable and amiable art thou therefore and must needs be in the eyes of him that hath thee for if heaps of Silver and Gold and Pearls which in death we must leave behind us be so precious as usually they are in the estimation of those that possess them thou must needs be or shouldst be infinitely more precious in the judgment of him who so hath thee as that in death it self he cannot lose thee O that my soul were but condignly affected with thy transcendent Excellency that so I might accordingly set that value and price upon thee as befits thy most rare and admirable Eminency And O that you also my Beloved were but thorowly convinced of this stupendious Excellency of Saving-Faith For then there is no question but you would labour more after so rare a Jewel as Faith is if you did want it and make more account and use of it then you do if you have it The Lord open your eyes that you may see the Orient Splendor and matchless worth of this rarest Pearl which in death it self will not depart from ye The Second Inference 2. This sheweth the Nullity of many mens pretended Faith for who will believe it that they have or ever had true Saving-Faith who before they come to die live so loosely as that Heathens and Turks themselves who are professed Infidels cannot well live more licensiously Of this sort are they that 1. Hate and despise so the Power of Religion in all those that are most happily ennobled with it 2 Tim. 3.12 2. Live so prophanely themselves as that Esau himself in his Prophaness could not out-strip them Heb. 12 16. caring neither for God nor Church nor Teacher nor Prayer nor Bible nor Sabbath nor any other part of God's most holy Worship 3. Tear so the sacred Name of God with their bloody Oaths In a word those that are so disobedient to Parents Husbands Masters and so angry fierce and passionate in their speeches so unfaithful unjust and deceitful in their dealings so mendacious and false in their communications so envious covetous and ambitious in their hearts and so lascivious filthy and
of Heaven And therefore imprint them all in your memories that so those everlasting Spirits of yours breathed into your bodies by the All-powerful God I mean your Souls may feed on them and sill themselves with them and be revived by them so consequently with such Honey-sweet-Cordials strengthening them may go hence when the time of their departure is come to God your Heavenly Father as Sampson to his Father with Honey in his mouth for he came eating Judg. 14.9 The third Principle You must make it sure that you have faith by an infallible Tryal 2 Cor. 13.5 trying your selves often by these three never-deceiving Signs 1. A thorow Humiliation Acts 2.37 2. A thorow Purgation from sin even every known sin so as that none reigns or rules in the heart Acts 15.9 3. A thorow Sanctification Acts 26.18 manifesting it self by a constant and earnest endeavour to walk in all God's Holy Commandments in general Luke 1.6 and by love unfained in special I mean that singular Love which the true Believer bears to God in Christ above all seeking his Glory in all things and more then all things and to the Châ—â—dren of God for God Gal. 6.5 1 John 3.14 Of which love St. * Aug. de Trin. l. 8. c. 7. Austin saith truly That a man knoweth more the love with which he loveth then his Brother whom he loves The Fourth Principle You are to make use of your Faith when death approacheth as the state of a dying Believer requireth it observing these ensuing Rules The First Rule A dying Believer must set his House in order Isa 38. and if he be free and of ability and have not done so before make his last Will and Testament according to Faith believing verily that God will be a Father to his Children if he be a Father and a Husband to his Wife if a Husbard and that he will bless that well-gotten Estate which he leaveth to his God-fearing Posterity whether it be much or little so as that they shall find content in it and so far forth as his blessing of it shall make for their good The Second Rule He must according to Faith possess his Soul in * Cum eâ—iâ—â— Deus sit qui nos castigat is misericordiae suae non obliviscatur cur it a nos conficimur marere cur solvimur in ejulator Cur murmuramus fremimus Doctor Daniel Tisianus in Lament 4.39 Patience eying by Faith such places as these Isa 26.3 Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 4.17 The consideration whereof caused an ancient * Aug. in Psal 36. Cenc 2. Doctor to say most aptly When thou dost consider what thou art to receive all the things that thou sufferest here imagine the most bitter pains pangs which thou must undergoe in thy last and sorest sickness will be vile unto thee neither wilt thou esteem them worthy for which thou shouldst receive it Thou wilt wonder that so much is given for so small a labour For indeed Brethren for everlasting rest everlasting labour should be undergone being to receive everlasting felicity thou oughtest to sustain everlasting sufferings but if thou shouldest undergoe everlasting labour when shouldst thou come to everlasting felicity So it cometh to pass that thy tribulation must needs be Temporal that it being finished thou mayest come to infinite felicity But yet Brethren there might have been long tribulation for eternal Felicity That for example because our felicity shall have no end our misery and our tribulations add sickness in special should be of long continuance for admit they should continue a thousand years weigh a thousand years with eternity Why dost thou weigh that which is finite be it never so great with that which is infinite Ten thousand years ten hundred thousand if we should say and a thousand thousand which have an end cannot be compared with Eternity So Macarius the Eygptian Anchorete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar Hom. 15. Touching the Gift which Christians shall inherit this a man may rightly say that if any one from the time Adam was created unto the very end of the world did fight against Satan and undergo afflictions add or should be so long visited with the most grievous sickness he should do or suffer no great matter in respect of the Glory that he shall inherit for he shall reign with Christ without end 3. Let him give good instructions to the Survivers according to Faith like Jacob Gen. 49.2 3 4 c. and like (e) Dr. Hill in his Directions to die well p. 129. St. Austin who being near his end said Nature compelleth me to be dissolved I according to the Scripture phrase am to go the way of my fore-Fathers Now Christ inviteth me now I desire to see celestial Sights O keep you the Faith think you also that ye are mortal men Let this be your care to keep the Commandments of God if you regard me or keep any remembrance of me your Father think of these things savour these things do these things 4. Let him take his fill and farewel of Repentance viewing confessing and lamenting his sins as much as he can according to Faith and in Faith that is believing verily that he shall see them no more again for ever even as the Children of Israel saw the Egyptians of whom they were so much afraid no more again for ever Exod. 14.13 5. When he is brought to the very confines of that King of fear so as that now forthwith he must yield up his Ghost then let him even sleep up in Faith and die in the Lord according to Faith Rev. 14.13 I 'll explicate my meaning herein by these few Directions 1. Let him now eye the Promises formerly gathered for the same purpose like those antient Believers Heb. 11.13 2. Let him labour to be perswaded of them as they were Ibidem 3. Let him even imbrace the Lord Christ in the arms of his faith as old Simeon imbraced him in the armes of his body believing verily 1. That he died for him in particular that he might not die the death which is eternal Gal. 2.20 2. That he purchased Heaven for him in particular as the Author of his Salvation Heb. 5.9 like sweet (b) Guillermus de vita St. Bernard l. 1. c. 12. St. Bernard who when he seemed to stand before God's dreadful Tribunal in a grievous sickness told Satan accusing him That he for his part was not worthy indeed of everlasting Life but that his Lord and Saviour Christ having a twofold right to it by inheritance and by vertue of his passion was contented with the one and did impart unto him the other So let him perswade himself in like manner and answer the same Accuser of the Brethren in the same words if he trouble him as at such a time he is wont to do with his accusations to drive him to desparation 3. Let him pray in Faith to the Lord saying either with Stephen the Proto-Martyr Lord
Jesus receive my spirit Acts 7.59 or with Christ himself Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Luke 23.46 and if God seem to be angry at that time then let him interpose the Death of his Son between his Wrath and his own soul in his last prayers saying (c) Hosius in Confess petrocoviens c. 13. I enterpose the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ betwixt me and thine anger no otherwise do I contend with thee And if he say to him Thou art a sinner let him answer Lord I put the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ betwixt thee and my sins If he say Thou hast deserved Damnation say I set the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ betwixt me and my bad merits and I offer his Merits instead of the merits which I ought to have but yet have not Thus I instruct the dying Christian to pray as men were taught many hundred years agone and therefore I beseech you that you will lay up these sayings in your hearts as Mary the thrice blessed Virgin the Shepherds words Luke 2.19 that so you may be able with much readiness to prompt them and to make use of them according to Faith and in Faith to your unutterable and endless Comfort which the Lord of Life in mercy grant unto you Let me add a few Incentives and then I have done So doing as hath been shewed in all these Rules and Directions you shall purchaseto your selves 1. Much Boldness 2. Much Quietness 3. Much Chearfulness 1. Much Boldness There is a twofold Boldness 1. A Well-grounded 2. A Groundless The one is good the other is bad 1. The good and Well-grounded I mean which proceedeth 1. From Righteousness and an holy walking with God which maketh a man as bold as a Lyon Prov. 28.1 For as the * Hemin l. 1. c. 105. Lyon being pursued by the Hunter doth not hide but rather shew himself and counteth it a great shame to flee yea * Isidore Etymol l. 6. looketh the Hunter in the very face and is not affrighted or daunted but rather encouraged So careful holy Walkers do not flie or shrink or fear or hide their faces but shew themselves most when death is nearest and are bold even to look him in the face as we may note in the three Children when they were threatned with death yea with a most grievous and extraordinary Death Dan. 3.18 and in divers holy Martyrs I 'll instance but in one * Ignatius Epist ad Pim. de Smyrna per Ephes O that I might but once enjoy those Beasts said Ignatius which are prepared for me and which I wish may quickly consume me and not being terrified abstain from me as they did from others and if they will not touch me I 'll impel and urge them Forgive me I know what is expedient for me let the Fire the Cross the constancy of Beasts Abscision Separation confraction of all my Members and a dissolution of my whole body and all Satans whips come to me that I may win Christ Thus he 2. From a holy Confidenc in God upon former experiences for such as be so careful to walk so holily as hath been formerly shewed cannot but find much sweetness in God and receive many tokens of love and favour from God Psal 31.19 20. so that needs they must be very confident in their lives bold at last in their death The Hebricians call therefore Boldness Betac Confidence because it proceedeth from it and the (b) Aqum 2. Sent. dist 26. q. 1. a. 3. Schools define it by Considence II. Much Quietness For 1. There can be no such discord as is and must be in careless providers for Death between 1. The Law of God and their own Consciences because they strive to the utmost to agree with it that it may not prove in the end their greatest adversary So Austin understands our Saviours speech Mat. 5.25 2. Hope and Reason for Reason it self cannot but reason for them upon such grounds drawn from holy Writ as cannot be denied For instance that one pregnant passage 2 Pet. 1.10 11. cannot but afford such a Premise as must needs infer for them a most firm Conclusion that entrance shall be ministred unto them upon their diligence in making their Calling and Election sure by an Holy Walking into the everlasting lasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Christ 3. God himself and them for In every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10.35 and as without Faith its impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 so with and by Faith a man cannot but please God and so be at peace with God Rom. 5.1 2. They that shall follow these Rules shall fix their minds upon the Lord 's never-failing Promises according to one of the said Rules and therefore they must needs be very quiet stayed and firm for the Promises are most firm even Yea and Amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 and therefore they that stay themselves in them must needs be so too even as he that buildeth upon a Rock builded firmly and as he that standeth upon a Rock stands firmly Hence when an holy Man was asked how he could pass his last sickness so without any trouble he answered That he did ever eye that excellent promise in Esa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because be trusteth in thee True it is that some holy Walkers and eminent Believers as Mr. Glover Mr. Peacock and others have been much troubled for all this in their latter end which may seem to cross what I have said but their trouble was not perpetual For fiâ—st They had comfort at last 2. Was rather a kind of peace then a war for their trouble was a war with Satan Now our war with Satan as Tertullian saith truly Is our peace because it brings peace at last 3. Was extraordinary whereas ordinarily an holy walking and confidence brings quietness and so I desire to be understood I close up therefore the prosecution of this second Incentive with a Speech like unto that which an Hebrew Interpreter made to King Ptolomy asking him How he might be at rest when he Dreamed Let Piety be the scope of all thy sayings and doings for by applying all thy Discourses and Works to excellent things whether thou sleepest or wakest thou shalt have quiet rest in regard of thy self Thus he And as he said to him so say I unto you would ye die and sleep up quietly then do as he advised him and put your trust in the Lord withall and it will be so 3. Much chearâ—ulness which is a higher degree of comfort being Positive wheras quietness is Negative comfort I or 1. There is not such cause and matter of discomfort and sadness in such as do so carefully provide for death and labour to die in and according to Faith as in other loose and careless persons who 1. Quench the Spirit that should comfort them