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
the Grave as I may say if that he might be perfect indeed and attain to the Resurrection of the Dead Perfect holiness is so desirable to holy men that they desire death for its sake aiming more at the compleat holiness of soul and body after death at the Resurrection then the continuance of an unsatisfactory life of flesh and bloud in a state of imperfection Certainly the Paths of wisdom are such pleasantness and peace that men who walk therein are not affraid to meet death in those waies everlasting they press forward towards death upon it through it to attain to the Resurrection of the Dead Thus Christ giving his people his own fellowship Mortification of sin by his own Spirit and the graces and fruits of righteousness which are by himself derived to us as so many foretastes of heavens bliss Thus I say doth Christ render death far more desirable than terrible to the Saints To all which I might well refer the inward joyes and comforts of the holy Spirit of Christ which are special and palpable foretastes of heaven and the chief of the first fruits of the Spirit But it is plain that these swallow up the fears of Death and make men groan within themselves rather fearing they shall not dye then that they shall When a Saint with Reverens Mr Bolton can say he is as full of Christ as ever he can hold there is not a crevess for one poor small fear of death to enter in at I might but shall not discourse to you more particulars to demonstrate how Christ destroys in his childrens hearts the slavish fears of death as by his giving to them the Spirit of Adoption by convincing them of the great gain by death as the Apostle expresses of himself For me to live is Christ and to dye gain and having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better When Saints cast up their accounts and consider what they shall get by living even more remptations to sin more advantages and opportunities to express the naughtiness of their hearts more thorns in the flesh and messengers of Satan to buffet more fore chastisements and sad desertions of the Almighty and more of the evil which is to come upon a wicked world Then then they truly judge it their advantage to dye As that Father Cyprian strangely yet truly Nihil utilius Christiano quans mori velocissime Nothing more advantagious to a Christian then to dye very betimes Good men indeed therefore have dreaded more the sad Consequents of a preserved life than the worst Concomitants of Death it self which to the Saints hath no other Consequence but the souls happy entrance into the Masters joy For before their bodies can be well laid in the Grave their souls are laid in Abrahams besome or which is all one their souls are taken from an acquitting Bench to the blessed Mansions or Palaces that Christ hath prepared for them in his Fathers Court of Heaven But I leave you to that preaching whereby men preach to themselves even according to the further enlargement of their own sweet Meditations on such Theams as these partly treated on and partly hinted unto you Now that I may more boldly and effectually apply this great Doctrine which is alwaies seasonable whilst Death is to come But then especially when it is near I shall only speak to an Objection levelled particularly at an Argument that I well used to prove Christ a deliverer of his people from the fears of Death which was this Such and such Scripture Saints and no doubt many others Christ hath so delivered therefore he is such a Deliveter Against which this is the Objection Do not we read of Hezekiah an eminent and great Saint that he chattered at the Tidings of Death And of David that he played the Mad man in jeopardy of his life How can Christ be such a Captain of Salvation such a Lord General over his People and Souldiers as to deliver them from the fears of Death If most sad fears of Death be found prevailing over two such Worthies two such eminent godly Kings and the later of them mentioned one of the stoutest warriours recorded in Sacred Story that was in the world for prophane partial Historians relate an Alexander's a Caesar's prowess But the God of truth affirms of David That he was as a man after Gods heart so a valiant man also who got the highest preferment that ever was in the world even to be the first and best fully allowed King of Gods own people I say who got this singular preferment through Gods Blessing by his valour Yet he even he in danger did what a mean Saint would scarce do in the greatest fears of Death even played the fool and mad-man to save his life Where was Davids Lord then who as you say delivers from the fears of Death To Answer 1. I say not That Christ delivers all Saints so exceeding remarkably 2. No. nor the same person alwaies at every nick and point of time whom he may deliver most And yet neither one or the other to be reflected upon him but upon themselves that leave him not he them And yet for all this what is more obvious Then that his Ability in delivering some yea many yea most more or less may well and clearly denominate him such a Deliverer First then 1. I will give you and oppose to the Objection as great an Instance nay unparallel'd for the proof of Christs power in delivering his Saints from the fears of Death Moses yea Aaron also both in the same condition as to Death But Moses only I set before your eyes as enough to fill them for he was the greatest Captain or Lord General that ever had the Conduct of an Army and whole Nation For it is not the Title but usefulness of a man and the Presence of God with a Person that makes him truly renowned and famous Of Moses it is said Deut. 34.10 There arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face Well God himself brought to this man the message of Death and told him he should dye and not lead his Conquering Army into the Land of Canaan No though it was never so desirable to him And God moreover dreadfully spake on and told him oh sad and bitter that his very death at that time was a punishment for such a sin mentioned Deut. 32.51 Well Moses hath not a word but dies Nay Moses died in an hour when his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated Deut. 34.7 So that he who buried him the Lord himself took him away in his full strength as a punishment of his great Sin and and yet behold no fear but after that God told him peremptorily he should dye he presently with a most sweet sedate mind blessed the people his dear charge went from them and died His case might be in some measure thus illustrated to you take an eminent
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
It is but little or indeed nothing he can say to a believer Here the Saint hath advantage of ground given him against the Devil For never was the Law more broken than Christs life fulfilled it and never can the penalty thereof be so fully suffered as it was by Christs Death that paid the uttermost farthing which the damned's torments shall never be able to do Sixthly Christ is the Deliverer of his People from the fears of Death in as much as he works mightily in them as well as for them and so wonderfully strengthens them in the inner man against those servile fears of Death But in what manner and by what graces or comforts I have determined to shew in the second part of my Method I shall therefore now only add That Christ administers a mighty vertue and power to the spirits of his people by his gracious Pardons encouraging Commands and comfortable yea sutable Promises All which wonderfully serve to animate Believers against the fears of Death First By Gracious Pardons The Son of man had power on earth to forgive sin sure he hath not lost that power now he is exalted in heaven You know he exercised that power on earth and so he doth still For whilst on earth how oft said he Thy sins are forgiven thee Upon his departure from the earth near his dying Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Joh. 14.27 After his Resurrection Peace be unto you Joh. 20.21 After his Ascension into heaven you know the Salutations in his Letters Credential by his Ambassadors and Ministers I mean the Salutations you find in the front to many of the Epistles in the New Testament Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father first and then from our Lord Jesus Christ as the very next hand This Prince of Peace speaks Peace to his Saints and what enemy first or last as death is dare or can speak War As Christ by his own mouth spake peace on earth to his people so now as verily and really by his own spirit by his infallible Word and true Ministers he sares to the poor Consciences of his Saints Your sins are forgiven you and if Sin sting not Death cannot Guilt 's fears are blasted with that sweet peace which Christ gives and which the world by a thousand Deaths cannot take away fears cannot dwell where Christs words of eternal life take place So that a pardoned Conscience sings before this enemy Death O Death where is thy sting Secondly By encouraging Commands doth his Excellency the Lord Jesus hearten his People and Souldiers that they fear neither Death nor Devil which expressions of Christ are not to be considered only as beseeching perswasions but rather as most rouzing and Authoritative incitements unto courage and valour as these are Fear not little Flock it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luk. 12.32 which indeed is won and fully possest by Death And Be of good chear and let not your heart be troubled neither let it be affraid c. So still doth Christ as a Lord of Hosts go on speaking couragiously to us by his Word by his Spirit and by his field Officers Isa 35.4 I mean his Apostles and Ministers and that in such words as these prest and charged home Let your Conversation be as BECOMES the GOSPEL and that especially in your being nothing TERRIFIED by your adversaries Phil. 2.27 28. And put on the whole Armour of God c. That ye may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand Christ as a good Captain and great General heartens his people not to fear their last encounter in the evil day the hour of danger or of sudden Death he secretly whispers such courage into his peoples hearts And for him to say fear not who by a word created all things in heaven and earth it is enough to embolden the faintest Christian Souldier unto Conquest What a Captain of Salvation is this That at once saies be of good courage and makes of good courage Oh labour to hear the voice of the Son of God and thou shalt live in spight of Death and truly there is no such difficulty to hear him for he uses to speak Peace to his Saints that diligently seek him Thirdly By comfortable and sutable Promises doth the Lord Jesus animate his people against all evil fear of Death to instance in some I will not leave you comfortless I will send you the Comforter Verily verily I say unto you ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy Joh. 16.20 22. Your heart shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you no not Devil nor Death for if these could it would be all one as if man could for then they should not keep it But although one of Christs Apostles confest of himself that he was in deaths often yet that Promise bore him our and all the rest too of Christs Disciples even so as that they sang in prison and made ready not to be bound only but to dye at Jerusalem or any where else for the name of the Lord Jesus It is very remarkable that when Jesus Christ had given his Disciples many comfortable Promises Joh. 16. to hearten them up he summed up all in the end of the Chapter thus These things have I spoken unto you that is these Promises that in me ye might have peace in the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the world yea whatsoever is the worlds properly as misery and death are All the Promises of God are in Christ yea and in him Amen Promises are Gods and Christs words upon which they cause their people to hope according to that of David Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope And the Apostle teaches that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures Saints have hope which hope in the Promises prevails against nothing more than sin 2 Cor. 7.1 and 1 Joh 3.3 and particularly against sinful fears of death For what can more naturally destroy fear than that which mightily enlivens hope Such are Christs Promises which words of eternal life therefore are most powerful against Death Shall Saints then fear though a little flock when those young Lions wicked men and those old Lions the Devil and Death set upon them when as they have such a Promise as this to bear them up That it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Death may be dreadful to those that by it lose Crowns but certainly desirable to those that by it are sure to win Crowns Seventhly I produce the great Examples and instances which testifie of Christ that he is such a deliverer of his people from the fears of Death as first Job Though God should slay him yet no fear
fruits of the Spirit and of Heaven which do render Death to those that taste them more desirable than formidable The first is First Communion with Christ That of it which Saints have in this world is very sensible and sweet Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ You know it is the holy boast of a holy man the Apostle John concerning himself and other real Saints and it is sweet Communion as in the next words These things write we unto you that your joy might be full Thus true joy comes into the heart even unparallel'd gladness by Gods lifting up the light of his Countenance The wicked whore cries Let us take our fills of love in unclean Communion but Christs Spouse's design is that her joy might be full in holy Communion with God and Christ The first misses joy altogether meets with only vanity and vexation of Spirit but the other loses her dumpish sorrow and never enjoys that Communion with Christ much but she meets also with joy unspeakable and full of glory and yet in this world never enough Therefore they that taste it most do most earnestly long to be dissolved and to be with Christ as the Apostle Paul Phil. 1.23 Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ He professes indeed that he had his Conversation in heaven as to real foretasts thereof which were enough to set him a longing not fully to satisfie and therefore he confesses that whilst in the body he was in great measure absent from the Lord. And would he not be present Yes even with all his heart and farewell body till the Resurrection that he might kiss his sweet Jesus his feet that he might be ever with the Lord. This this was the Apostle Pauls holy passion Oh! Then sincere Christians for two or three of you to be with Christ and he with you in prayer according to his promise and in other Ordinances yea in any divine exercises of grace This this must needs make your souls long to depart and to be with Christ This notion you must know flows not from a doubtful or pretended experience but from positive express Gospel Doctrine 1 Thes 4.17 18. And so shall we be ever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words It is mighty comfort against death and judgment there spoken of to consider the happiness of being ever with the Lord. If it was the joy and boast of the enamoured Spouse Cant. 2.9 to view Christ shewing himself through the Lattess how can she but long to see him with open face to see him as he is in glory Surely that soul that by faith and love cleaves to Christ can never much fear death which it knows will never separate such lovers as Christ and a believing soul are but rather indeed bring it into heaven and force it only to be more happy in a more intimate close yea constant Vision and fruition of Christ Secondly Freedom from sin though but in some tolerable manner attained gives us a sweet foretaste of heaven where all just mens souls do enter but no unclean thing with them So much freedom from sin is so much heaven upon earth but the reliques of sin still pestering us till death make us if true Saints the more eagerly long for perfect freedom from it in heaven which huge longing is an holy extasie I confess and found only I think in those whose Consciences do not reproach them whilst they live They of all men even they that labour to the utmost to subdue sin do long to get rid of it altogether though it be by death Therefore the Apostle Paul expresses himself after this manner And not only they Rem 8.23 but we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of the body reckoning upon not much mattering yea quite overlooking death having the eye on a sweet deliverance of soul and body from sin at the Resurrection sith in this life both of them are most sadly infected therewith Therefore saies he we groan but how Even as the Creature to be delivered from the bondage of Corruption And which is very remarkable We our selves who have the first fruits of the Spirit c. What are they The thirteenth verse a little before will clear that in these words If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Blessed souls are they and they shall be blessed who have received the first fruits of the Spirit in the mortification of sin for they groan within themselves till that happy time come after death when soul and body shall no more sin They that have tasted how sweet the life-bloud of one sturdy lusty sin is can never be satiated till they have the bloud of all the rest the dam and all original sin insatiably crying out O when shall we be delivered from the body of this Death which indeed is far more dreadful than natural death But O how sweet is it for a Saint to see Necis artificem arte perire suâ sin killing it self with its own murthering-piece killing its enemy and it self with one blow How joyfully do Saints see the death of all their sins approach full as fast as the death of their bodies Well then the Saints with Sampson would gladly dye that so all their sins and therefore to be sure more might be utterly destroyed at their death than ever they could slay all their life time A true and thorough Saint fears to sin more than to dye therefore he feares not so much to dye and sin no more as to live yet and sin O thou that hast faithfully mortified any lust and art sure of it Death cannot wound nor astonish thee for certainly more comfort arises to the Saints from the mortality of sin then terrour from the mortality of the body Thirdly The blessed graces of the Spirit of God the possession of which is our participation of the Divine nature the exercise of which is our Conversation in heaven These Graces of the Spirit of God are indeed the very first fruits of heaven and cannot well be at rest till they have carried the soul into their own Element Heaven it self for from above it is whence every good and perfect gift doth descend and would as naturally carry the soul endued therewith up thither as the fire mounts upwards So that those Divine souls whose vigorous graces do make them hunger and thirst after righteousness will not stick to venture at Gods call a bodily life to satisfie that thirst in heaven The Apostle Paul was very desirous to attain to the Resurrection of the Dead Phil. 3.11 compared with ver 21. Oh! how he longed to be more holy here in this world to be quickly in the number of the dead in the Lord He cared not how soon Perfect he saies he was not yet nor likely to be perfect here below but yet he contended hard running to
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
honour to suffer for Christs name stocks stripes and imprisonments yea miserable Deaths Their noble eye piercing into Eternity immortality and glory could read a meaning in that Text Count it all joy when ye fall into divers Temptations yea when into the Grave and Pit it self Heb. 10.34 And ye took joyfully the spoyling of your goods as knowing in your selves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance Into a full possession of which Death at worst could but put them So that the Saints spiritual courage will quickly swallow up their natural fears The Case is evident enough in those Worthies recorded in that Gospel-Chronicle or rather little book of Martyrs Heb. 11. whose natures abhorred Death as much as any of ours yet whose spirits would not ACCEPT of deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection Thirdly The Saints may be and are more than others wisely sensible of Gods hand do humble themselves under it mourn and grieve and yet fear not this slavish fear Were the Saints as stocks and stones without sence they would not only be wanting to their duty of fearing God but truly in such a case would there be no spiritual courage or valour in enduring To say they are Stoicks and unsensible of misery were to deny the power of Christ in upholding his Saints and Martyrs of all Ages in their suffering great evils The Lord Jesus the greatest Sufferer and Conflicter with Death had his sence of evil or acute pain in crying out My God! but he feared none of this fear the distracting fear that divides or alienates the soul from God For he said My God my God that twice but once only Why hast thou forsaken me Which evidently shews his fear was no other than filial upon confidence of his sure interest in Gods love as his God and Father and also that it was less than his pain For his pain was excessive his fear not so but moderated with the highest fortitude and courage And so Christ in that he himself suffered being Tempted is able to succour them that are tempted True Saints are anointed with the very same Unction wherewith Christ was anointed And as he had some of their sence of Pain so they likewise have some of his Courage under it Fourthly Saints may fear God in an affliction though not an affliction it self God at or in death but not death it self Be it known to the worst and greatest enemies of Christ and Christians it is not the frown of a Tyrant or the black visage of Death that chils and damps a Saints heart but rather his doubtful and dark apprehensions of God in afflictions are they that weaken his heart Oh! that is a sad Sob Psal 90.7 We are consumed by thine anger and by thy wrath are we troubled If God smile the Saints fear not Prisons Stocks spoyling of goods Death it self occasions little fear If Gods favour set them a singing and his countenance glad their hearts what can sadden It is Gods anger in judgments that makes the Saints fear whilst others reckon only on Gods hatred the Saints not daring to do so do yet judge that it is but rational and safe to conclude of Gods anger and displeasure in judgments which seldom proclaim any thing more How often have you in the Scriptures this proved Sometimes that the wrath of the Lord was enkindled as naturally evident in Plagues and judgments and at the end of many sad descriptions of Gods judgments by the Prophets the sum of each dreadful visitation is this For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Now though the Saints through faith in Christ do not suffer their hearts to be troubled with fears of Gods hatred yet they are troubled at his anger and displeasure A Child when his Fathers anger is legible indeed in stripes concludes not that his Father hates him yet trembles at his anger And indeed it is no valour in the world not to fear Gods consuming anger To this I might add That Saints may fear some sin visited by a mortal sickness and the like which they might never sufficiently know was a sin or themselves guilty of it if indeed they did know it to be a sin or that they have not duly repented of it or fully forsaken it Or they may fear their own unpreparedness for weakness and insufficiency to grapple with affliction pain and Death it self And all this is not to fear the power of any mortal calamity or of Death it self But I dare scarce take any occasion though of pertinent enlargements hoping that God will supply all my defect in your serious Meditations Fifthly Will you have a distinction betwixt the wicked hypocrites and the Saints fears Be pleased to take it Saints fear not with an utter despair at the worst but so doth every wicked man The wicked either altogether presume in Prosperity or in great adversity altogether despair Just as it was with Nabal his heart over night was huge merry within him at a Kingly Feast but the next morning when his wine was gone out of him saies the Scripture and but at the report of a past danger his heart died within him as a stone So many men in their Cups have a courage springing from the Tap who drown their cares and fears in the Hogshead whilst Saints drown theirs in Christs bloud Alas what spirit have wicked men when their Wine is gone out of them The Saints hearts may quake and be shaken a little but yet they are at Anchor when as the very first evil tydings of vengeance from God and of a dreadful mortality drive the wicked's fearful hearts as Chaff before the wind or as a poor tattered Ship without Anchor before a Tempest Bring the Saints to their worst fears so that they sin to escape and make a supply of weak faith with a foolish carnal stratagem yet still their fears are not the fears of the wicked for First Saints have even then some hope in God which laies real hold on God though but little and God accepts yea fails not that little Therefore God was good to David and delivered him from Achish and made him not ashamed though his hope in God was little and his sin great Saies David at that very time Psal 34.4 I sought the Lord there is some hope necessarily implied and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears Many fears little hope yet some he had for he sought God But yet it is very remarkable in Scripture how God hath in the utmost extremity of his people even eminently prospered their sins of little hope and great fears for their escape though afterward he punished them forely for both Secondly Whereas the wickeds fears encrease with their dangers and calamities and the nearer approach of their unavoydable ruine yet the grace of Gods Children in such extremities recovers it self again and their fears decrease the more their miseries multiply Wicked