THE STING OF DEATH AND DEATH VNSTVNG DELIVERED IN TWO SERMONS In which is shewed The Misery of the Death of those that dye in their Sins out of Christ and the Blessedness of theirs that Dye in the Lord. Preached on the occasion of the Death of the truely noble and virtuous The Lady Mildmay By LEONARD HOAR M. D. Sometime Preacher of Gods Word in Waustead Psal 49.14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave death shall feed on them and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling Eccles 2.13 14. But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his dayes which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God Ver. 14. There is a vanity which is done upon the earth that there be just men unto whom it hapneth according to the work of the wicked again there be wicked men to whom it hapneth according to the work of the righteous I said that this also is vanity Isa 3.10 11 Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Ver. 11. Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him Psal 18.14 For this God is our God for ever and ever and he will be our guide even unto death Rev. 2.10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tryed and ye shall have tribulation ten dayes be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life Boston Printed by John Foster 1680. To Mris. Bridget Usher my ever honoured Aunt MADAM I Know you are no Stranger in the dayes of your Pilgrimage to the late and present rouling posture of the wheels of Providence you have seen the times tempestuous and perilous and God who is the great Soveraign hath seen good to bring an instance of the evil of this time home to your Person and Family It s good for your self with all other Relations that yet survive to look at the supream Disposer when the rongs of the wheels are high and dreadful to eye him him that sits upon the Throne When Israel was as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit it s he that called her to it Isa 54. There is no Staff of indignation in the hand of Providence but it is grounded in the eternal Decree And what if God willing that this or that or the other friend or relation be made as it were a gazing stook to Angels and Men through afflictions and reproaches Who shall reply It s lawful for him to do what he will with his own Mat. 20.15 Why dost thou strive against him saith Elibu Job 23.13 He giveth no account of his matters It s the duty of all friends to sanctify God in his soveraign Dispose and with Aaron to hold their peace not to repine or murmure at the dispensation of God to submit to his holy and soveraign will in this matter The great difficulty and that which is most studiously to be avoided is not to be scandalized nor to have our minds any wayes damaged or discouraged in the course of our obedience nor alienated from the Church and People and Servants of God when such instances occurr that men upright with God and walk close with him fall under such great afflictions not to think strange of the fiery Tryal nor the worse of holy obedience and the service of God this I say is a great and hard Task and when there are such accidents falling out friends receiving such deadly wounds in the house of their friends not to be exasperated nor violate the Rules of Charity but to rest in Love towards them is another hard Task This is the Task and duty incumbent upon you at this time and herein I know in some me asure as things have been circumstanced what need all that were nearly Related and dearly Affected to him that is gone I say I know what need they have of Caution It is a notable observation of Mr. Strong The will of man subordinated to the Will of God p. 289. There are as great shares of Satan and as great Judgements of God laid in Scandals as in any thing in the world besides And he adds It is an Observation much to be considered That if Satan would instil any evil pression into the hearts of men concerning any Truth of God I may adde a 〈◊〉 as well against any of the Wayes Churches Servants and People of God he doth usually bring it in by some providence of God that they take offence at As he instanceth in the Gaderens Mat. 8.31 The Devil desires to exasperate their spirits against Christ and he will doe it by drowning their hoggs I am very sensible in the Sufferings and Death of your deservedly honoured Companion and guide of youth there was that which except God give your self and all other friends much Wisdom and Grace to ballance their spirits the Devil may improve it to work a Prejudice of spirit against the Civil Government Churches Schools of Learning against the holy wayes and the Servants and Saints of God Pardon me Madam if I stay here knowing what a Narrow this is and earnestly request you for the Lords sake that you labour to guard your spirit and mind against this evil I know full well with what Magnanimity and undauntedness of spirit you passed through the gun-shot and the heat of the day but I beseech you don 't now stand at a distance from the Communion of the Churches and People of God lest Satan get advantage for we are not ignorant of his Devices The best Remedy against it is 1. A sincere meek and quiet submission to the soveraign holy Will of God this will quiet our spirits so that Satan can't disturb them All the motions of our souls are excentrick disordered till they come to this Subordination we are open to the storms and fiery darts of hell if not anchored in this Harbour 2. An intire and ardent Love to God his Churches Servants and People If Love be interrupted Satan has great Advantage of us Qui satis deligunt non cite offenduntur Salv. Epist 1. They that love much and enough will not be soon offended A brave Christ-like spirit it is to bury and pass by real and supposed injuryes and a great duty and concernment it is to live and dye in Charity If I mistake not it was your design in coming into this Wilderness that you might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty And although you have met with so great a tryal as you have yet the Interest of God the Government the Order of the Churches the Truths and wayes the Servants and Saints of God and Communion with and in these is as sweet and precious as ever I would not be
understood by the world nor be thought by your self to know of and be privy to any evil impression upon your spirit or to have an evil surmise concerning you that the evil one hath touched you but only as a faithful friend 〈◊〉 signify and give you an item of danger that you and all of us may avoid it And now here by your great and long importunity I am to present you with 〈◊〉 Notes and Sermons of your dear and sometime pleasant Companion which he himself made choice of to read and meditate on in the time of his Sickness in order to his Preparation for Death which shews the misery of the death of the wicked the great change that is made in the death of Believers by Christ Jesus â—…nd the great concernment incumbent on you and pressing hard on all of us and my care for my own soul and my hearts desire and prayer especially for all my dear Relations is that they and I may dye the death of the Righteous and that 〈◊〉 last end may be like his I need not tell you we are mortal daily experience â—…yes it and the multiplyed instances of it within the line of our Relation gives full Proof and evidence of it that we are mortal and our dearest Relations they are dying and passing away and I think sometimes God hath written a Sentence of Death over the whole Family and were we fit for that great and solemn Change I could easily seal to Solomons Testimony that the day of ones Death is better then the day of ones Birth Eccles 7.1 Now since it is sure that this is the end of all Living and that God will bring us to Dâ—ath it is an unalterable Statute and Decree of Heaven that we must dye how ought the thoughts of it to quicken us How ought we to number and so to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts to Wisdome How should the sence of it mortifye our desire to the World as it did Barzillaes 2 Sam 19.34 c. as the Apostle exhorts 1 Cor. 7.29 how should it quicken us to Repentance Faith Holiness and Obedience to do what we have to doe with all our might Eccâ—es 9.10 and to prepare and wait for our Change that we may be ready That 's the Erraud of this Sermon I shall therefore apply my self in a few words to move and direct in this great and weighty work to move and perswade all with whom I am nearly concerned to prepare for Death Consider 1. It is a time wherein Death hath received a large and high Commission Death hath reigned in the Region and Time wherein we live and dwell it hath put forth its power and hath received a Charge from God where and concerning whom is uncertain and how fan it may respect our Family and Relations God only knows but when it is in general a Dying time and so many of our Relations are in the space of thirteen years gone to their long home it nearly concerns us that survive who know that God will bâ—ing us also unto Death and the house appointed for all living to be prepared and stand readâ— in such a time the man of God wakens up his spirit to an holy trembling at the power of Gods anger and fervent prayer for instruction in this matter Psal 90.11 12. So I beseech all my dear friends and Relations at once to receive that Counsel of Christ to his Disciples Luk. 12.40 Be ye therefore ready also 2. It is a great and hard matter to be prepared for Death I may say of the Art of Dâ—ing well Aâ— longâ— Vâ—ta brevis It s a great work and the time is short A whole Life is time little enough to go through the work of a due and serious Preparation for Death and Judgement Job 14.14 He resolves to wait all the dayes of his appointed time A day week moneth or year was not sufficient to compass so great a work in but it will take up and he resolvedly devotes all his dayes to it Let no day pass without a Line Some have been in an instant and at the last watch wrought up to it by an extraordinary power of the Spirit and Grace 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ but in the ordinary course of Gods dispensation it takes time Therefore attend that Pattern of Christ to work while it is day Joh. 9.4 3. Christ comes suddenly Few Ages or places in the world if any have been so fruitfull and abounding with instances of sudden Deaths as this Some yeaâ— many have been summoned before the Tribunal of Christ in an instant God has indeed granted to all those that have lately died of our Family and Relations some time and to the most of them a long warning and time of Preparation for Death And it was remarkable in the Author of this Sermon He long desired that he might if the Lord saw good dye of a consumptive lingering Distemper and therefore when he found the grand signs of that Distemper said that God had given him his desire And through infinite grace which God shall be admired in them for they were moved and stirred up to a solemn Preparation of themselves improving their space given that they might be prepared for Death But God only knows in whose hands our breath our times and wayes are what time and warning we shall have its good therefore to be ready prepared for the worst Receive the advice of Christ therefore Luke 12.35.36 Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning and ye your selves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the Wedding that when he cometh and knocketh ye may open to him immediately 4. Consider what a dismal thing it is to dye unprepared For Death to come armed by Sin with the curse and wrath of God To dye in our fins it is to dye miserably and to come to a miserable end I may truely say of him that so dyes An untimely birth is better then be as Eccles 6.3 Yea as Christ said of him that betrayed him It had beâ—n good for that man he had never been born Hence Solomon tells us Prov. 24.20 there shall be no reward to the evil man No Reward And yet is not Destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity Job 31 3. Yea upon the wicked He i. e. God shall rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest Psal 11.6 Yet the wise man faith There shall be no Reward or End to the wicked man i. e. it shall be worse with him then if he had never been born The Lord help us all to consider it and mind a timous and serious prevention of this dismal issue 5. A preparedness for Death will render us meet for all dutyes and for all intermediate Changes There is much service and many solemn changes before us The voice of the Lord cryeth aloud to all men of Wisdom at this time to walk
humbly with their God to watch and pray They that are fit to dye they are and will be fit for any service that God calls them to Paul prepared for Death and willing to dye is fit to continue and abide with the Churches and to be eminently useful for their furtherance and joy of Truth Phil. 1.25 There are solemn exercising Changes foretold by the fearful signs of this time if we are prepared for Death we are armed against the worst and to endure the greatest affliction that can betide us on this side Death Acts 21.13 Paul being ready to dye is ready for bonds and imprisonment at Jerusalem O how comfortable a thing is it to be ready to doe and suffer any thing for the Name of Christ But not to insist longer here If we would be prepared for Death 1. Be and live in the daily and lively exercise of Repentance It is Sin that makes Death bitter and terrible to the sons of men Be thorough and serious in Repentance for sin Let no sin lye unrepented of This was Pauls practice while he lived to exercise himself to have a Conscience void of offence Acts 24.16 Not but that he had to charge himself with and which Conscience might accuse him of yea but he cleared all Reckonings between God and himself by a lively renewed exercise of Repentance Pass not a day without a serious and close review of your actions and wayes and without deep searchings of heart and repentings for all your errors and violations of Gods holy Law and your Rebellion against the Gospel Give diligence to be found of God in peace and this will make the time of Death and Judgement times of refreshing Act. 3.19 If you can allow and live in any known sin if you can digest sin without great bitterness sorrow of a surety you are not prepared for this Change 2. Believe to the saving of your Souls Believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus To dye in truth is to dye comfortably it easeth and looseth the pains of Death This is the way to dye in the Lord Rev 14.13 and to sleep in Jesus 1 Cor. 15.18 i. e. in union with God in Christ They that dye in Christ will die in Peace and be sound of God in peace for there is no condemnation to such Rom. 8.1 And the blood of Christ also cleanseth Believers from all sin now it is a blessed thing to be free from the guilt of sin and to have our consciences purified in the blood of Christ this will prepare us for an happy and comfortable Death Now it s the Son only that can make us free in this matter and that must be in a way of union with Christ by Faith O believe in the Lord Jesus he oft and constant in the renewed exercise of Faith as it is said of Abraham Gen. 15.6 He believed Though he believed long before that when he answered the call of God Heb. 11.8 The Apostle tells us By Faith Abraham when he was called obeyed and yet after this its said He believed as if he had not believed before 3. Be throughly mortified to the world Get your Affections crucified to the honours pleasures and profits of this life Weep as though you wept not Rejoyce as though you rejoyced not Buy as though you possessed not Vse this world as not abusing it as the Apostle exhorts 1 Cor. 7.30 31. When this or that aâ—urement of the world bids high and sollicits strongly for your affections then think with old Barzilloi How long have I to live O my friends God forbid that you should glory save in the Cross of Christ If you are Christ's then crucifie the flesh with its whole Train of carnal and sensual Lusts these corrupt the judgement and put a false varnish upon the things of the world It is a dreadfull sign upon any soul to love the world it undeniably evinceth that the love of the Father is not in him 1 Job 2.15 And he that is destitute of the love of the Father is not fit to dy He shall never be received into the everlasting Kingdome that is totally destitute of the Love of God O then mortifie and purge out all inordinate affection to the world and the things of this life whatever you doe get your hearts dead to the Sins Gallantryes and Jollityes of this time 4. Live to the Lord Serve your Generation this is the way to dye unto the Lord and in death to be the Lords Rom. 14. The comforts of a well compleated coâ—â—â—â— of life and service to God therein will give as a serene and quiet frame of spâ—â—â—â— in Death I am ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand 〈◊〉 comes he to be thus ready I have finished my course saith he 1 Tim. 4.6 7. 〈◊〉 the labouring Saints and Servants of Christ Death is but a Dismission to Rest So it was to David Acts 13.36 and to Daniel Dan. 12. ult Doe much for God while you live Death will be then sweet and comfortable to you Especially consider and put forth acts of charity and bounty to Christ's poor ones 5. Secure a firm Vnion with Christ that you may dye in the Lord and sleep 〈◊〉 Jesus It hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. 1.18 In hiâ—â— there is a full supply of Grace to enable you to live and dye to doe and sufferâ—â— whatever he calls you to now if you are Partakers of Christ have mystical union with him then by the almighty power and working of the holy Spirit you shall have a full supply of all Grace and ability to increase those Graces in Death which are necessary for your comfort an I security in such an hour 6. Number your Dayes yea so number your dayes as Psal 90.12 General Conclusions concerning Death should be enforced upon our hearts by particular application The brevity of Life the certainty of Death and the uncertainty of the time of Death should be thus enforced upon our hearts I know thou wilt bring me to Death Job 30.23 So Eliphaz tells him he shall come to his Grave Job 5.26 27. Hear know it for thy good Lastly Pray to God to prepare and fit you for Death as David Psal 39.4 Lord make me to know my end and the measure of my dayes So Moses applyes himself to God Psal 90.12 in a sence of his own inability to learn Thus in a few words have I desired to discharge something of that great care which bears strongly upon my heart if God shall help us to fall on and seriously to practise this great lesson then our Death will be but a loosing from this troublesome Shore and however various our Course and the season of our departure hence are yet our meeting and Mansion with Christ in his Fathers House shall be sure and everlasting which that it may be is and shall be the Prayer of Madam your most obliged Kinsman