comfort that God hath given or helps to prolong life if a mans hand be found against his own life it proceeds from a sinful and wicked desire of death There 's great evil in this let me shew you the evil For 1. First It doth pluck that out of Gods hand which God hath challenged as his right the issues of life and death they belong to the Lord my times are in thy hand saies David now it is wicked boldness for a man to pluck times out of Gods hand when a man will have them in his own hand and not that God should have the disposal of them 2. Secondly Besides There is this evil in it A man casts away the most precious Jewel when he acts against his own life he casts away the most precious Jewel in nature Life is the preciousest of all natural gifts Life is a Talent a great Talent it is a Talent given thee for to improve it for God not to waste it away God gives thee this Talent that it may be laid out for him that thy life may be laid out for his name and glory and not to cast it away at thy own pleasure or displeasure know therefore that if any man shall at any time act any thing against his own life God will call him to account for it if the wicked servant was condemned because he did not improve his Talent what shall become of him that threw away his Talent Life is precious when a man shall act any thing against his own life it proceeds from sinful desires of death 3. Thirdly Again Desires of death are sinful When a man shall desire to die before he knows what it is to live or to die when a man desires to die before he hath begun to live or before he knows what it is to die There is many a poor creature will be speaking against his life O that my life were at an end O that God would take me out of the World But hast thou begun to live yet to God Many a poor creature will speak against his own life before he knows what God hath done for him hast thou done the work God hath sent thee into the World for Hast thou glorified his name on earth Hast thou finished thy course Hast thou considered these things before thou desirest to die Dost thou know what it is to die Hast thou considered that death is a door that opens to Eternity It opens to an Eternal condition to a place whence there is no return Hast thou considered what door death will open to thee whether to the inheritance of the Saints in light or to an inheritance with the wicked in utter darkness If thou hast not well considered of these things before thou desirest to die then these desires of death are sinful desires No rather go first to God and desire him to teach thee to live It may be thou hast been twenty thirty forty fifty years in the flesh hast thou begun to live hast thou made him the end of all thy services dost thou bring forth fruit to him and not to thy self is it he that strengthens thee and carries thee out to all thy duties and services is Christ thy life Thou hadst need know what it is to live desire that God would teach thee what is the end he sent thee into the World for the cause of thy coming rather that thou maist know how to live and when to die that when death comes it may be gain for if thou dost desire death before thy desires are sinful 4. Again Fourthly Desires of death are sinful When a man desires death in a passion It is a failing that is incident unto Gods own people and therefore you had need take heed of it It was Jonah's fault and also Elias failing in Jonah 4. 3. saies he Take away my life it is better for me to die than to live and when Jonah spake this he was in a great passion saies God in Verse 9. Dost thou well to be angry I do well to be angry even unto the death Was Jonah fit to die now to die in an anger to die in a passion Certainly if at any time Jonah was now unfit to die It was a strange passion he was now in and at this time he was angry with God himself and yet this man will needs die did he know what he said O passion passion is blind and unreasonable he will go to God he will go to the Throne of God to dwell with God for ever when he is angry with him he is angry with the grace and mercy of God in Jonah 4. 2 3. For I know that thou art a gracious God and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil Therefore now O Lord take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live Certainly Jonah was now unfit to die to go to God whenas there were such contrary distempers prevailed in his spirit such a distemper as was most contrary to God God was full of love full of bowels and pity full of meekness patience compassion calmness and quietness of mind contrary to all this Jonah must and would needs die here 's a passion which is a sinful desire of death and so Elijah in 1 Kings 19. 4. But he himself went a daies Journey in the Wilderness and came and sat down under a Juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die and said It is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am no better than my Fathers Jonah will die in a passion of anger Elijah would die in a passion of fear he was afraid of Jezebel afraid that she should cut him off but it was his failing what was Elijah loth to be made a Martyr would he die and is he loth to die in Gods cause to die for the truth why would Elijah die yet afraid that God won't support him and uphold him in his way This is his infirmity like unto those of Moses's therefore Brethren take heed of Elijah's fears and Jonah's passion It is common if they meet with any discontent O then that God would take away my life O that I were out of the world thus to desire to die when in passion thou art least fit to die and therefore it is a sinful desire That 's a Third Again 4. Fourthly Desires of death are sinful when a man shall desire to die only to gain ease to the Flesh to be rid of some troubles or afflictions that lay upon him When a man saies O I lye under a heavy burden and I know not how to get rid of it O that God would make an end of my daies for I see if such or such affliction comes upon me I know not how to bear it when it comes O that God would take away my life before-hand this is a desire of the flesh which is a sinful desire I will shew you the
therefore I shall conclude with this word of Exhortation Vse 3. Let us learn to prize our mercies I say whilst we enjoy our mercies let us learn to prize them because the time is coming when they shall not be to us they shall not be found we shall seek them and shall not find them God hath given you friends and relations Oh my Brethren prize them use them for Gods glory do all the good you can to them whilst you have them receive all the good that may be from them whilst you have them for the time is a coming when they shall not be to you It was Job's argument with God you shall see in Job 7. the last Verse and it is a very strong argument and Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity and pardon it quickly Speak a good word quickly to thy Servant I cannot hold out long Lord saies he I cannot hold out long now I shall sleep in the dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning and I shall not be Lord pardon pardon thy servant Job whilst thou hast a Job to pardon Lord do good to me whilst thou hast an occasion to do good to me e're I sleep in the dust you shall seek me then and I shall not be that you shall say oh that I had such a friend to do good to or that I had such a friend to receive good from Oh take the present opportunity therefore of doing and receiving good and this is spoken not only of all Persons but of all Things prize them whilst you have them prize them whilst you enjoy them for time is coming when they shall not be And Consider this Let me say this to you The Lord is this day tendering grace to you he stands he knocks he invites you he beseeches you he desires you to open he is willing to pardon multitudes of transgressions to wash away thousands and ten thousands of transgressions and sins and to subdue them also Oh that the Lord would give you hearts to seek after this present mercy you 'l seek them hereafter when they shall not be Oh take heed lest Christ speak to you as he spake to the Jews which was a fearful sentence because of their mistaking their time and neglecting their opportunity Joh. 7. 34. You shall seek me saies Christ and shall not find me and where I am you cannot come he had said a little before And I am with you and am coming to them that seek me and afterward You shall seek me and shall not find me Christ was with them a little while preaching and holding forth and urging mercy and grace beseeching of them to come in they refuse and reject life Well saies Christ I have sought you and you would not be found you would not follow me the time is coming when you shall seek me and shall not find me and where I am you cannot come and you that fear the Lord I beseech you be you warned also take heed you don't slight your mercies your present enjoyments of God lest the Lord also teach you to know the worth by the want I say take heed that you do not abuse your mercies take heed that you do not grow cold and dead and loose and formal under the enjoyment of the means of getting nigher God which you enjoy more than formerly for what pity is it that we should grow worse when God is better That we should be further off from drawing nigh to God when God is drawing nigh to us What pity is it that the Sun-shine and fair weather should do harm Doth not sad experience teach us that many Christians are further off from God now than when the means were lesser in their getting near to God take heed God don't let you know by sad experience what the loss of his presence is and that he don't let you know by sad experience what the loss of Ordinances are what the want of mercies are it shews abundance of corruption that is in the heart but it is mercy if God will teach his people any way it is the saddest way of teaching that God will make use of to recount what once we had and what once we enjoyed and now are stript of for want of improvement we had the Sabbaths the teachings of God we had the Ordinances but now stript of all and therefore may as they sit down by the waters of Babylon and weep most bitterly it is a sad way of teaching yet it is mercy if God will choose any way of teaching and drawing these sad and drowsie hearts of ours more to himself Thus you have had some hints of what Enoch was He was not found for God had translated him God took him the main Point is yet behind viz. to consider whither Enoch was translated and wherefore he was translated and the year in which he was translated which was three hundred sixty five years and was the shortest life of all the Patriarchs But so much shall serve for this time SERMON X. GEN. 5. 24. And Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him WE have done with Enoch's walk we are come to Enoch's Rest He was not for God took him I have opened the phrase to you the last time I spake But I shall proceed to what is still behind in the Text. He was not for God took him And God took him there is a great dispute amongst many to what place Enoch was taken There are many both of the Papists and others that place Enoch in earthly Paradise they say Enoch was not taken into Heaven but into Paradise and that this Enoch and Elijah are those two Witnesses that shall come again at the end of the world to discover and destroy Antichrist there is such a Tradition generally amongst them and others have received it from them but there is not the least ground for it in the Word of God that Enoch and Elijah should be those Witnesses spoken of in Rev. 11. for certainly those Witnesses are no other but the servants of God spoken of that have stood up in all Ages since Christ to bear witness to the name and truth of Jesus and therefore I see nothing why we may not assert that Enoch was taken up into Heaven that he ascended in body into Heaven You shall see in 2 Kings 2. 11. it is spoken there of Elijah who was translated even as Enoch And it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold there appeared a Chariot of fire and Horses of fire and parted them both asunder and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven if Elijah went into Heaven why not Enoch Object But it may be Objected Is not Jesus Christ the first-fruits of them that ascend Did not Christ open the door by his blood How then could Enoch or Elijah ascend into Heaven before Christ came and opened the door Answ To which I Answer It is true that
many falls there 's so much crookedness in the way of the heart in the way of the conversation even in the best of Saints that if the Lord should judge them according to their walkings they were undone those Hypocrites plead a great deal when they cried Lord Lord have we not Prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and done many wonders and yet Christ bids them depart for he knew them not there is no pleading of works there is no pleading of worthiness and of the creatures righteousness when the creature comes to stand before Christ if you could walk with God as many years as Enoch did yet at the end of your walk at the end of your course you must lay down all and be willing to enter in as sinners that is at the door of free-grace not through any door of your own works or righteousness And again How does this call upon the people of God to be exceeding careful to receive Christ Oh! receive him freely he receives you freely here and he will receive you freely hereafter how are you engaged to receive him freely to close fully with him and with the tenders of life and grace of righteousness and holiness which are held forth in and through him Receive Christ freely and receive the Word of Christ freely though it be never so contrary to flesh and blood though it crosses your beloved lusts though it cross your profits though it cross your delights though it be the Word and Truth for which you must suffer yet oh why should not you receive Christ and his Word freely seeing he will receive you so freely another day He won't be ashamed to take his people and to own them before all the world these are mine my Jewels and if Christ won't be ashamed of you oh what a shame is it that you should either be ashamed or afraid to receive him and his Word and his Truth and to hold it forth in a time of opposition and suffering The free-grace of God in receiving his people at last is a mighty engagement unto them now to receive Christ and every word of Christ whilst they are in this Pilgrimage where God hath set them to bear up his name in the world But Further God took Enoch When was Enoch taken When he had lived three hundred sixty and five years that you find in the Chapter to be the term of his life three hundred sixty and five years if you compare the years of Enoch with the years of others of the holy men that lived in that Generation you shall find his life exceeding short his father lived above nine hundred and sixty years and his son Mathusalem lived longer yea all the time of all the Patriarchs there in this Chapter even amongst them all Enoch was the shortest liver a holy man a gracious man and one that was most eminent in his Generation and none there was that walked with God in his Generation as Enoch did and yet Enoch's daies are shortened I say sometimes the Lord shortens the daies of his Children that have walked and lived with him in an abundance of love and mercy You will say What time is that and when is it a mercy When does God shorten the daies of his servants in love 1. First of all God hath some of his servants that lie under great pressures their combatings are extraordinary and sometimes he shortens the term of their life in mercy and love We shall consider those particular combats which some of the Lords people are in an extraordinary manner exercised with and sometimes in pity mercy and love the Lord shortens their daies on earth As 1. First There is some of Gods servants that have extraordinary warrings with corruptions within them I say with corruptions within them and this proves a most heavy burden to them and makes their very lives uncomfortable a continual burden to them Oh these daughters of Heth were a continual vexation unto Rebecca the Apostle Paul was a man able to bear much and he bore a great deal of affliction which he met withal in his Pilgrimâ—ge that he could rejoice in afflictions and glory in tribulations they were nothing to him but when he comes to combate with sin lust and corruption that was within him he was forc'd to cry out to cry out for help he could rejoice in other affliction but herein he could not rejoice O miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I say some have extraordinary combatings with corruption more than others Oh these Monsters as soon as one head is cut off another springs up in the room never at peace the war is never at an end the Lord shortens their warfare in that 2. Again Secondly God hath some of his servants that are extraordinarily imployed with temptation oh they are hunted up and down and continually baited baited with Satans most horrible temptations winds and storms are ever beating fiery darts are ever thrown in before one wound is healed another is given Well the Lord looks out from Heaven he looks down he sees the combate and many times he makes this the way of deliverance he puts out his hand he takes his poor servants to himself and so delivers them from the baitings of Satans temptations 3. Again Thirdly Some of Gods servants are in extraordinary afflictions all their daies above all the men in the world they are most afflicted I say the way that God leads some of his servants to heaven is a very dark and narrow lane and they see more affliction than all their Neighbours in â—am 3 1. well saies the Prophet there I am the man that have seen affliction I am the man that have seen affliction that 's no great matter who hath not seen affliction Is that such a matter for the Prophet to complain of that he had seen affliction Ay but his portion was extraordinary he had seen more than all others in his time and therefore complains as if he alone had been the man that had seen affliction Well when afflictions are very great and of long continuance God hath trained up some of his servants in this way in this School yea he many times shortens their journey in love But you will say Object Could not God deliver them some other way Could not God rescue them out of the hands of affliction and deliver them from temptation and make them conquerours over their lusts and corruptions But must he shorten their lives by it and no other way Answ Why Beloved we must know this the Lord sees it best and he knows it is needful for them to come to him in this narrow way and they could not be without those afflictions and warrings of lusts and without those temptations and it 's the best way infinite wisdom sees it the best way to lead them to himself and to glory And therefore when the case is thus that the Lord sees it so