so by Gods grace and the power of Christ they might conquer the fears of Death And it is evident though God is no respecter of persons yet all Gods Children have not equal attainments herein Well I know it and for the most part nay I might safely say alwaies long of themselves either they resist God more or seek him less than other Saints or are foolishly and idly ignorant of his good will and their own duty and happiness Alas alas Is it not sad to see how Protestants by a simple distinction or at least simple use of it are in this even turned Papists There is say they Certitudo objecti not subjecti A certainty of Saints salvation but not of its evidence to them as if indeed in this valley of tears the Saints eyes be always so bleared that they cannot see one of a thousand such a mystery and secret The white stone it is true hath a new name written in it which none can read indeed but him that hath it What nor he neither scarce at all is it written in such very small Letters as cannot be seen by the ordinary illumination of Gods people Such say Saints salvation no doubt is certain in it self but seldom or never clearly evident to them to this purpose or effect too many wrong God and themselves too Well listen to this too much and run this dark black notion down into its blind consequences and palpable inconveniences which will scarce be avoided errour in this world multiplying much faster than truth This I I tell you will be one said Consequence the Devil comes on you and if God permits him as such a strange misunderstanding of the Gospel provokes him to it then I assure you he will shake you sorely with the fears of death But pray you now consider at length Is making of Calling and Election sure making it sure in it self or to our selves secure and evident is it our duty sufficient to draw near unto God with faith or rather also with the full assurance of it Is indeed God bound in his Covenant to give the Saints more and more grace but no comfort at all Surely as well not one as not the other and the same hinders one as well as the other even our ignorance and unwillingness who as we oft refuse to return to the Lord so also much oftener do we refuse to be comforted How come we to be commanded to rejoyce in the Lord alwaies Yea to count it all joy when we fall into divers Temptations If no promise of ability from God to enable us to rejoyce Hath not God confirmed his Covenant by an Oath that we should have strong consolation as well as strong graces Heb. 6.17 18. Is not joy one of the fruits of Christs Spirit Doth not the Kingdom of Christ and government of our hearts consist in righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Doth not an Apostle use his Authority thus Rejoyce in the Lord alwaies Rom. 14.17 and again I say rejoyce Who dares then preach Gods Word otherwise And clip the Scripture language and tell people it is enough or that it is pretty well if a Saint can say thus I desire to be Gods child though I cannot call God Father Alas there can be but poor joy in thy desires of being Gods child if thou knowest not but God is thy enemy Will this be a comfort to thee that thou desirest to be Gods child whilst thou knowest that thou neglectest a strict command of rejoycing in the Lord alwaies flatly rebelling against a Conscience binding Gospel-Law and putting God off with a Complement that such Commands are too good for thee I am sure they are too good to be disobeyed But to return Dost thou desire to be Gods Child Let thy desires be like a childs desires obedient desires Dost thou desire to be a dutiful Child Then rejoyce in thy Father alwaies and again I say rejoyce Whether is ground of comfort thinkest thou thy disobedient desires or Gods free pardoning love Truly I question whether there be not a dream in such kind of fancies fancies I call them if taken for comforts and rested in For how canst thou say if thou knowest what thou sayest that thou lovest God as a Child if thou hast no evidence that God loves thee as a Father This is to give the Apostle John the lye who saies plainly that we love him because he first loved us Some may think it modesty for a Saint to say I desire to be Gods child but dare not call God Father Modesty for a child not to own his true Father and his real evident love the sensiblest thing that is felt of God in the world for God is love This I know that something like it is but ignorance pride and sloathful resting in miserable attainments all sadly put together not that I am any the least friend to a rash peremptory constant and sudden assertion My God and my Father But such an one I contend for as springs from a serious meditation of Gods unspeakable love revealed in the Covenant of grace and from the due exercise of Grace especially in the actual worshipping of God wherein most Scripture Saints have exprest their highest confidence in God as a Father even at their Devotions And also such an assertion I plead for of a Saints interest in God as a Father which together with all the rest arises from a peculiar operating presence of the witnessing Spirit whereby a Saint is enabled to cry Abba Father Which Spirit dwelling in the Saints and enabling them in all Acts of Worship yea of their life more or less cannot but give them a sweet sence all along alwaies in their hearts of Gods being their Father unless they have so sinned as David driven away the Comforter and so need to pray with him Restore O Lord the Joys of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit Therefore let Ministers especially and all those who ought to comfort one another let Gods Heralds I say and Preachers of Gospel glad Tydings abhor to be like the Devils Goalers to feed the Saints with weak cold comforts like bread and water of affliction that will certainly betray them to the power of the Devil and the fears of Death What Comfort and bolster up a Communicant one that having many years professed true Christianity may now be called within an hour to heaven What I say to comfort such an one with his ABC his rudiments that it is a matter of content and rest to him that he desires to be Gods Child though he cannot call God Father We may shut up our Bibles and cease preaching comfort if this be enough Every the least Saint may quickly attain to this for it is the least that true grace can do it may be as quickly done as said by a true Saint But surely there is something more in drawing near to God in following on to seek the Lord even full assurance of
men are like the Amorites whose hearts melted the nearer Israels Host came neither was there spirit in them any more Josh 5.1 Their fear had quite consumed their spirits Hence it is that despair carries away so many of them at last But it is quite contrary with those that are in Christ following him in all the difficulties of the Regeneration and deadly troubles of this life their Courage encreases with their dangers At the first commonly some smart and some fear in greater pain none at all At the first they may be somewhat affraid of evil Tidings but not long or not long so much It may be there is upon further certainty and feeling of what they heard and feared before nay there is indeed frequently greater quiet and composure of mind under Gods fatherly hand A soul that hath true grace though but weak feeling it self almost quite gone in despair stirs up all its strength as its last gasp and stretch just as the spirit is failing before the Lord and behold it revives when as in such a case the wicked mans spirit like a Nabals sinks as a stone within him See how the Saints dying hope as I may call it revives in an utmost extremity For when the hypocrites hope perishes and is like the giving up of the Ghost The Saints hope is like the Resurrection from the Dead as you have it in a place of Scripture truly singular and notable Lam. 3.17 18 19 20 21. Thou hast removed my soul far off from peace I forgat prosperity Vers 18. And I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Vers 19. Remembring mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall Vers 20. My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me Vers 21. This I recall to my mind therefore have I hope Oh! most wonderful It is first said My strength and my hope is perished then This I sadly think on what is next Therefore have I hope What saies learned Calvin that sagacious man in spiritual cases What Doth despair cause hope Saies he excellently Incomprehensi bili atque admirabili Dei beneficio spes ex Desperatione By an unconceivable and most admirable working of God the Saints hope springs out of despair So it was with David sometimes even at first encounter disquieted quite amort afterwards he rowzes himself and trusts in God Therefore he confesses the whole matter saying At what time I am affraid I will trust in thee Psal 56.3 This is a Saints most constant use and a certain Remedy is taken by this course nothing cures fear like hope Though a Saint be surprized at first with fear yet hope in God will recover him e're it be too late As it did that reverend Martyr who recanted for fear For he mastered his fears soon after and burnt them with the same hand that drew back before having in a greater pain least fear So it is in general or in common with Gods people it may be at first some fear but through Christ victory over it at last Thus did the terrible army of Martyrs win the field and Crown of glory and even so do all by Christ more or less conquer their fears of Death Take then a good man as a good man a child of God my Text speaking of such an one one that is gracious and serious that walks with God and there is no dispute no room for an objection If I say he be eminently righteous constant in holiness watchful and careful closely walking with God one whose soul Christ his great Shepherd hath restored and leads in the paths of Righteousness Christ still conducting him he is not affraid though he walk in the valley of the shadow of Death Thus it is with the Saints Christs Souldiers conflicting with their enemies from Deaths first Alarum in other Calamities to its last onset on the Graves brink The Saints may truly make Sampson's Riddle their Song Judges 14.14 Out of the eater comes forth meat and out of the strong comes forth sweetness even so at worst out of the fearfullest Death the liveliest Hope And now I think the Objection will not in the least disturb my Application or the USE And because I have no design to tire the Press or any ones patience but to make the Comforts of the Scriptures go down both as quickly and as pleasantly as may be I shall only add a few words of Information and then of Exhortation with Direction And first of Information in two things First See how Precious Christ is who is such a Deliverer as hath not only purchased heaven for us but given us the first fruits to taste He not only frees altogether from Eternal Death but from the fears of Temporal and bodily Death Therefore this being a great benefit we have by Christ is particularly extolled by the Apostle Paul who preached up the glory of his Dear Jesus with what singular advantage he could take as 1 Cor. 15.56 Thanks be to God saies he who hath given us the victory that is over Death and its power through our Lord Jesus Christ Oh there is the Emphasis there is his Selah as I may say Through our Lord Jesus Christ Oh! How dear should this Jesus this Deliverer be to us Who makes us poor Creatures so dear to himself as that sith we must dye yet the fears of Death should not molest and vex us the remaining part of our life Secondly See the Possibility of attaining this Temper of not fearing Death nay also the Necessity of it Be not prejudiced ignorantly against Christs design and your own duty yea attainable happiness Do not say you cannot attain it it requires assurance and assurance rarely if ever enjoyed by Saints in this life Do not jumble mistakes together you have seen what is required to it and how Christ works the fears of death out of his peoples hearts Come come say O Saint hereafter with the Apostle Paul I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me Say with David Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no ill for thou art with me Follow Job's and others their courage in the expectation of death Is God any respecter of persons Is not a childs portion a childs portion You expect heaven as well as those eminent Saints and the same Crown of glory And why should you not fight as manfully as they who could dare death it self But still this Information is clouded with some kind of exceptions And there are that say Indeed Christ hath delivered Scripture Saints and some others it may be from the fear of death and can do as much for us But yet is any thing in so great an attainment our duty Or to us possible Few or none attain a full assurance of faith without which can any attain to freedom from the fears of death What you answer is of Eminent Saints Paul Job David who had this rare thing assurance and
healthful lively grace of hope First Labour to know well God and Christ with the design merit and power of his death There is nothing knowable of God as the truth is in Jesus but it conduceth to a Saints confidence labour therefore to know as much of God as thou canst Psal 9.10 They that know thy name will put their trust in thee And indeed who will trust a stranger that he knows not See further Prov. 22.17 18 19. Bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise and apply thine heart unto my knowledge Vers 18. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee they shall withall be fitted in thy lips Vers 19. That thy trust may be in the Lord I have made known to thee this day even to thee Vers 20. Have I not written to thee excellent things in Counsels and knowledge And all this excellent instruction from Christ is to this very purpose that thy trust may be in God Read Gods word much labour to understand his blessed pregnant promises his wisdom power and faithfulness especially his love to comprehend with all Saints the breadth and length and depth and height of it Know God much and you will trust him the more as Psal 9.10 They that know thy name will put their trust in thee For thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee Thy faithfulness O Lord is so experienced who that knows in but must trust in thee How came Job to trust God though he should slay him to be so fearless of any death Truly he had excellent knowledge of God yea and of Christ too He knew his Redeemer lived But let thy knowledge of God and Christ be such as includes Eternal life for the Devils know God they believe and tremble Let not thy knowledg be like the knowledge of the filthy Devils but like the knowledge of the pure God let it shine and sparkle in all holiness of heart and life Be good and do good as well as know good be like God and do like God Get a renewed heart and a reformed life that so beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord you may be changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Oh continue beholding Christs glory as in a glass till you see your selves somewhat like him and then you cannot see any thing to fright you for as you have it Psal 64.10 The RIGHTEOUS shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the UPRIGHT in heart shall glory Now surely Death and its fears shall not for bid it and make this Scripture a lye Secondly Use thy self to it to trust in God Exercise thy self extraordinarily unto this part of Godliness so no changes will put thee out no not thy last change Job could trust God in one sad condition after another though sadder and sadder And then at length he could do so as well even at death though God himself too should slay him he could not be put by his good use and holy custome of trusting in God Psal 62.8 Trust in him at all times And if thou dost I will assure thee thou wilt at no time much fear death or ought else but God But Thirdly Especially in times of danger as when War Plague Famine is begun or any other mortal Calamity When thou art in the valley of the shadow of death then it is high time to trust much in God and to pluck up thy heart Psal 2.12 When his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him That take warning betime and return to him that smites them that cling to him and kiss the Rod at the first sight or the first lash at least Oh that men did but know the things which do belong to their peace to their speedy averting of Gods dreadful judgments Oh that men would trust in God and cleave unto him yea to his feet humbling themselves under his mighty hand when he begins to plague them that so he may not be provoked to chasten in his hot displeasure This David earnestly prayed against and as earnestly laboured alwaies to prevent For the very enkindling of Gods anger is dreadful but its waxing hot most lamentable desolating and full of horrour who can dwell with everlasting burnings Oh therefore saies a wise David that had felt Gods anger when his anger is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Fourthly Trust in God when thou findest thy heart most fearful That is the very nick of time that makes thy duty of trusting God most seasonable and advantagious to thee and therefore an hour wherein thou mayst expect the assistance of Gods Spirit to bear thee up according to Davids confidence grounded on good experience Psal 56.3 What time I am affraid I will trust in thee Why art thou disquieted O my soul Hope in God And again This I call to mind What Truly that my strength and hope was perished from the Lord yet therefore have I hope As God so a gracious soul will be seen in the mount God helps in extremity lest the Spirit he hath made should fail before him as the Prophet admirably therefore let thy trust in God be at work when to be sure Gods power is at work too and that is in extremity set in with God and thy Spirit shall be sustained When the fear of near approaching Death charges thee home and thy heart sinks within thee O let it not sink like a stone as Nabals but pluck it up and charge it again with a more lively hope in God This do master thy fears and conquer For it is often found that Cowards when they can master themselves and their own fears turn most valiant and daring against their enemies Fifthly Clear up thy interest in God and in Christ A Child trusts his Father best a Loyal Subject his good Lord and King To trust in such a relation is an easie because a genuine and natural work Psal 7.1 O Lord my God in thee do I put my trust Psal 42.5 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me What is the matter The matter alas War Pestilence is at the door Peace O soul hope in God Alas but how shall I Away away how shalt thou not Dost thou not know that God is the health of thy Countenance and thy God Yet this very David could cry out sometimes as forsaken of God as if cut off from Gods eyes Oh that Gods People now a daies would not imitate Scripture Saints only in their complaints and weeping but also in their rejoycing and singing not follow them only in their diffidence but in their confidence also and not only in their dark paths but in their Lucidis intervallis as Isaiah phrases it Walking with them in the light of the Lord. O be not like Scripture Saints in their