will he not have all his members with him Remember then Christian when thou lookest on thy grave that Christ was buried and hath made the grave a bed of rest that shall give up her trust when his Trumpet sounds And that his Resurrection is the pledge of ours Keep therefore thy rising and glorified Lord continually in the eye If Christ were not risen our preaching were vain and your faith were vain and all men were miserable but we most miserable that suffer so much for a life which we had no ground to hope for 1 Cor. 15.14 17 19. But now we have an Argument that infidelity it self is ashamed to encounter with that hath been the means of the conversion of the Nations unto Christ by which we may put even death it self to a defiance as knowing it is now a conquered thing If it could have held Christ captive it might also have held us But he being Risen we shall surely rise Write it therefore Christians upon your hearts mention it more in your conference for the encouragement of your faith Write it on the grave-stones of your friends that CHRIST IS RISEN and that BECAUSE HE LIVETH WE SHALL LIVE ALSO and that OUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD though we are dead and when he shall appear who is our Life we shall also appear with him in glory John 14.19 Col. 3.3 4. Though we must be sown in corruption in weakness and dishonour we shall be raised in incorruption strength and honour 1 Cor. 15.42 43. While our souls behold the Lord in glory we may bear with the winter that befalls our flesh till the spring of Resurrection come Knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall also raise us up by Jesus For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inner man is renewed day by day while we look not at the things whic are seen but at the things which are not seen For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternall 2 Cor 4.14 15 16 17 18. As we are risen with Christ to newness of life so well shall rise with him to glory Vse 10. LAstly if Death be the last enemy to be destroyed at the Resurrection we may learn hence how earnestly believers should long and pray for the second coming of Christ when this full and finall conquest shall be made Death shall do much for us but the Resurrection shall do more Death sends the separated soul to Christ but at his coming both soul and body shall be glorified There is somewhat in death that is penal even to believers but in the coming of Christ and their Resurrection there is nothing but glorifying grace Death is the effect of sin and of the first sentence passed upon sinners but the Resurrection of the just is the finall destruction of the effects of sin And therefore though the fears of Death may perplex us me thinks we should long for the coming of Christ there being nothing in that but what tends to the deliverance and glory of the Saints Whether he will come before the general Resurrection and reign on earth a thousand years which some expect I shall not presume to pass my determination But sure I am it is the work of faith and Character of his people to love his appearance 2 Tim. 4.8 and to wait for the Son of God from Heaven whom be raised from the dead even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 and to wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.7 and tâ— wait for the adoption the redemption of our bodies with inward grâ—anings Rom. 8.23 O therefore let us pray more earnestly for the coming of our Lord and that the Lord would direct our hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ 2 Thes 3.5 O blessed day when the glorious appearing of our Lord shall put away all his servants shame and shall communicate Glory to his members even to the bodies that had lain so long in dust that to the eye of flesh there seemed to be no hope Though the Majesty and glory will cause our Reverence yet it will not be our terror to the diminution of our joy It is his enemies that would not have him rule over them whom he cometh to destroy Luke 19.27 Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him as Henoch the seventh from Noah prophesied Jud. 14.15 But the precious faith of the Saints shall be found to praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.7 When the chief Shepherd shall appear we shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth â—ot away 1. Pet. 5.4 He that was once â—ffered to bear the sins of many and nâ—w appeareth for us in the presence of God shall unto them that look for him appear the second time without sin to salvation Heb. 9.24 28. And when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory Col. 3.4 The Lord shall then come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe in that day 2 Thes 1.10 This is the day that all believers should long and hope and wait for as being the accomplishment of all the work of their redemption and all the desires and endeavours of their souls It is the hope of this day that animateth the holy diligence of our lives and makes us turn from the carelesness and sensuality of the world For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2.11 12 13. The heavens and the earth that are now are kept in store by the word of God reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men And though the Lord seem to delay he is not slack of his promise as some men count slackness for a day is with him as a thousand years and a thousand years but aâ— a day But the day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt wth fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Seeing then all these things shall be dissâ—lved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements melt with
Be not deceived God is not mocked A mock-Religion and the name of Christianity will never save you Do you know how near you are to judgement and will you fearlesly thus heap up wrath and lay in fewell for the everlasting flames Do you know how speedily you shall wish in the bitterness of your souls that you had heard and prayed and laboured as for your lives and redeemed your time and obeyed your Teachers and yet will you now stand loytering and quarrelling and jeasting and dallying in the matters of salvation â—nd will you live as if you had nothing but the world to mind when you are even ready to step into the endless world O Sirs do you know what you are doing You are abusing the living God and wronging the Lord Jesus and trampling upon that mercy which would comfort you in your extremity a drop of which you would then be glad of You are grieving your poor Friends and Teachers and preparing for your endless grief Aâ—as what should a faithfull Minister do for the saving of your souls He seeth you befooled in your security and carelesly passing on towards Hell and cannot help it He sees you posting to your misery where you will be out of the reach of all our exhortations and where mercy will not follow you to be accepted or rejected and though he see you almost past remedy he cannot help you He knoweth not when he speaks to you whether ever he shall speak unto you more and whether ever you shall have another call and offer and therefore he would fain speak effectually if he could but it is not in his power He knows that the matter sticks all at your own wills and that if he could but procure your own consent to the most reasonable and necessary business in the world the work were done and you might scape the everlasting flames And yet this is it that he cannot procure O wonderfull that any man should be damned yea that many men and most men should be damned when they might be saved if they would and will not Yea that no saying will serve to procure their consent and make them willing That we must look on our poor miserable neighbours in Hell and say they might have been saved once but would not they had time and leave to turn to God and to be holy and happy as well as others but we could never prevail with them to consent and know the day of their visitation O what should we do for the saving of careless senseless souls Must we let them go Is there no remedy Shall Ministers study to meet with their necessities and tell them with all possible plainness and compassion of the evil that is a little before them and teach them how they may escape it Why this they do from day to day and some will not hear them but are tipling or idling or making a jeast of the Preacher at home and others are hearing with prejudice and contempt and most are hardned into a senseless deadness and all seems to them but as an empty sound and they are so used to hear of Heaven and Hell that they make as light of them as it there were no such States Alas that while millions are weeping wailing in utter desperation for the neglecting of their day of grace and turning away from him that called them our poor hearers at the same time should wilfully follow them when they are told from God what others suffer Alas that you should be sleepy and dead under those means that should waken you to prevent eternall death and that ever you should make merry so near damnation and be sporting your selves with the same kind of sins that others at the same hour are tormented for And is such madness as this remediless in people that seem as wise as others for worldly things Alas for any thing that we can do experience tells us that with the most it is remediless Could we remedy it our poor people should not wilfully run from Christ and lie in the flames of Hell for ever Could our perswasions and entreaties help it they should not for ever be shut out of Heaven when it s offered to them as well as others We bewail it from our hearts before the Lord that we can entreat them no more earnestly and beg not of them as for our lives to look before them and hearken to the voice of grace that they may be saved And a thousand times in secret we call our selves hard-hearted unmercifull and unfaithfull in too great a measure that speak no more importunately for the saving of mens souls when we know not whether we shall ever speak to them any more Is this all that we can say or do in so terrible a case and in a matter of such weight as mens salvation The Lord forgive our great insensibility and awaken us that we may be fit to waken others But yet for all this with grief we must complain that our people feel not when we feel and that they are senseless or asleep when we speak to them as seriously as we can and that tears and moans do not prevail but they go home and live as stupidly in an unconverted staâ—e as if all were well with them and they wâ—re not the mâ—n we speak to O thaâ— you knew whaâ—â— fearfull judgement it is to be forsaken of God because you would have none of him and to be given up to your hearts lustâ— â—o walk in your oâ—â— Counsells beâ—â—sâ— you woâ—ld not hearken to his voice Psâ—l 81.11 12 13. and to have God say Let those wretches be ignorant and careless and fleshly and worldly and filthy still Rev. 22.11 O that you knew but not by experience what a heavy plague it is to be so forsaken as to have eyes that see not or seeing do not perceive and to have ears that hear not or to hear and not understand and so to be unconverted and unhealed Mark 4.12 and to be hardened and condemned by the word and patience and mercies that do soften and save others and should have saved you Take heed lest Christ say I have lent them my messengers long enough in vain From henceforth never fruit grow on them because they would not be converted they shall not Take heed lest he take you away from means and quickly put an end to your opportunities You see how fast men pass away but little do you know how many are lamenting that they made no better use of time and helps and mercies while they had them O hear while you may hear for it will not be long Read while you may read and pray while you may pray and turn while you may turn and go to your Christian friends anâ— Teachers and enquire of them what you must do to be saved before enquiâ—ing be too late Spend the Lords Day and what other time you can redeem in holy preparations for your endless Rest while you have such a
its best take such pleasure as may here be had and feed on that where a sensual mind hath less discouragement Whereas if Death did not stand in the way and darken Heaven to us and turn back our desires how easily should we get above thesâ— trifles and perceive the vanity of all below and how unworthy they are to be once regarded 8. Moreover it is much long of this last Enemy that God is so dishonoured by the Fears and droopings of believers They are but imperfectly yet freed from this bondage and accordingly they walk Whereas if the King of terrors were removed we should have less of Fear and more of Love as living more in the sight and sense of Love And then we should glorifie the God of Love and appear to the world as men of another world and shew them the faith and hope of Saints in the heavenly chearfulness of our lives and no more dishonour the Lord and our profession by our uncomfortable despondencies as we do 9. Moreover it is much long of this last Enemy that many true Christians cannot perceive their own sincerity but are overwhelmd with doubts and troublesome fears lest they have not the faith and hope of Saints and lest the Love of God abide not in them and lest their hearts are more on earth then Heaven When they find themselves afraid of dying and to have dark amazing thoughts about eternity and to think with less trouble and fear of earth then of the life to come this makes them think that they are yet but worldlings and have not placed their happiness with God when perhaps it is but the fear of death that causeth these unjust conclusions Christian I shall tell thee more anon that God may be truly loved and desired by thee and Heaven may be much more valued then Earth and yet the natural fears of death that standeth in thy way may much perplex thee make thee think that thou art averse from God when indeed thou art but averse from Death because yet this Enemy is not overcome 10. Lastly this Enemy is not the smallest cause of many of our particular sins and of the apostacie of many hypocritâ—s Indeeed it is one of the strongest of our temptations Before man sinned none could take away his life but God and God would not have done it for any thing but sin So that man had no temptation from the malice of enemies or the pride of Conquerours or the fury of the passionate or the power of Tyrants to be afraid of death and to use any unlawfull means to scape it An avoidable dâ—ath from the hand of God he was obliged moderately to fear that is to be afraid of sinning lest he die else God would not have threatened him if he would not have had him make use of a preventing fear But now we have an unavoidable death to fear and also an untimely death from the hand of man by Gods permission And the fear of these is a powerfull temptation Otherwise Abraham would not have distrustfully equivocated as he did to save his life Gen. 20.11 and Isaac after him do the same when he sojourned in the same place Gen. 26.7 If the fear of Death were not a strong temptation Peter would not have thrice denyed Christ and that after so late a warning and engagement nor would all his Disciples have forsaken him and fled Matth. 26.56 Nor would Martyrs have a special reward nor would Christ have been put to call upon his Disciples that they Fear not them that can kill the body Luke 12.4 and to declare to men the necessity of self-deniall in this point of Life and that none can be his Disciple that loves his Life before him Matth. 16.39 Luke 14.26 He is a Christian indeed that so Loveth God that he will not sin to save his Life But what is it that an hypocrite will not do to escape Death He will equivocate and forswear himself with the Jesuite and Familist He will forsake not only his dearest friend but Christ also and his Conscience What a multitude of the most haynous sins are daily committed through the fears of death Thousands where the Inquisition ruleth are kept in Popery by it And thousands are kept in Mahometanism by it Thousands are drawn by it to betray their Countries to deny the truth to betray the Church and cause of Christ and finally to betray their souls unto perdition some of them presume to deny Christ wilfully because that Peter had pardon that denyed him through surprize and through infirmity But they will not Repent with Peter and die for him after their repentance He that hath the power of an Hypocrites life may prescribe him what he shall bâ—lieve and do may write him down the Rule of his Religion and tell him what changes he shall make what oaths he shall take what party he shall side with and command hâ—m so many sins a day as you make your horse go so many miles Satan no doubt had much experience of the power of this temptation when he boasted so confidently of it against Job 2.4 Skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life And its true no doubt of those that love nothing better then their lives Satan thought that the fear of Death would make a man do any thing And of too many he may boldly make this boast Let me but have power of their Lives and I will make them say any thing and swear any thing and be for any cause or party and do any thing against God or man When lessâ—r matters can do so much as common sad experience sheweth us no wonder if the fear of death can do it In brief you may see by what is said that Death is become an Enemy to our Souls by being first the Enemy of our Natures The Interest of our Bodies works much on our Souls much more the Interest of the whole man The principle of self-love was planted in Nature in order to self-preservation and the government of the world Nature doth necessarily abhor its own destruction And therefore this destruction standing in the way is become an exceeding great hindrance to our affections which takâ—s them off from the life to come 1. It is a very great hindrance to the Conversion of those that are yet carnal imprisoned in their unbelief It is hard to win their hearts to such a state of Hapâ—inâ—ss that cannot be obtained but by yielding unto death 2. And to the truly godly it is naturally an impediment and a great temptation in the points before expressed And though it prevail not against them it exceedingly hindereth them And thus I have shewed you that Death is an Enemy further then I doubt the most consider of If the unbeliever shall here tell me that Death is not the fruit of sin but natural to man though he had never sinned and therefore that I lay all this on God I answer him that
be so unwilling to be removed to it for no man is unwilling to be happy or to attain his end But stay a little and better consider of your Case Is it Christ that your heart is thus averse to or is it only Death that standeth in the way You are not I hope unwilling to see the face of God nor unwilling to be translated from earth to heaven but unwilling to die It is not because you love the creature better then the Creator but because you are afraid of Death You may love God and long to be perfected in holiness and to see his Glory and to have the most near Communion with him and yet at the same time you may fear this Enemy that standeth in your way I mean not only the Pain of death but principally the dissolution of our natures and the separation of the soul from the body and its abode in a separated state and the bodies abode in dust and darkness Grace it self is not given us to reconcile us to corruption and make death as death to seem desirable but to cause us patiently to bear the evil because of the good that is beyond it It is not our duty to love death as death Had it not been naturally an evil to be dreaded and avoided God would not have made it the matter of his threatning nor would it have been a fit means to restrain men from transgression To threaten a man with a benefit as such is a contradiction Enquire therefore into your hearts whether there be not a belief of heaven a love to God a desire to enjoy and please him even while you draw back and seem to be averse and whether it be not only lothness to die and not a lothness to be with Christ For the fuller discovery of this because I find that our comfort much dependeth on it I shall try you by these following Questions Quest 1. What is it that is ungrateful to you in your meditations of your change Is it God and heaven or is it Death If it be only Death it seems it is not the want of Love to God and heaven that causeth your aversness If it be God himself that is ungratefull to your thoughts is it because you desire not his nearer presence or communion with him in the state of glory or is it only because you fear lest you have no interest in his Love and shall not attain the blessedness which you desire If it be the first I must confess it proves a graceless soul and signifieth the want of Love to God But if it be the latter only it may stand with grace For Desire is a true signification of Love though there be doubts and fears lest we shall miss the attainment of those desires Quest 2. Would you not gladly hear the news of your removal if you might be changed without Death and translated to heaven as Henoch and Elias were and as Christ at his Ascension Had you not far rather be thus changed then abide on earth If so then it seems it is not God and Heaven that you are against but death Nay if you could reach Heaven by travelling a thousand miles would you not gladly take tâ—e journey as soon as you had got assurance of your title to it and done the work of God on earth If it were but as Peter James and John to go with Christ into an exceeding high Mountain and there to see him in glory Mat. 17.12 would you not gadly do it It seems then that thou desirest to see the Lord and thy love is to him though thou be afraid of death Quest 3. Consider of the Nature of the Heavenly felicity and try whether thou love it in the several parts One part is our personal perfection that our souls shall be free from ignorance and error and sin and sorrow and enlarged for the perfect Love of God and our bodies at the Resurrection made like the glorious body of our Lord Phil. 3.21 and wouldst thou not be thus perfected in soul and body Another part is that we shall live with the heavenly society of Angels and glorified Saints And wouldst thou not have such company rather then the company of sinners and enemies and imperfect Saints on earth Another part is that we shall see our glorified Head and be with him where he is that we may behold his glory And doth not thy heart desire this But the perfection of our Happiness is that we shall see the face of the glory of God which is the light of that world as truly as the Sun is the light of this and that we shall be filled up with the feeling of his Love and abound with Love to him again and perfectly delighted in this Communion of Love and express it in the Praises of the Lord and thus make up the New Jerusalem where God will place his glorious presence and in which he will for evermore take pleasure And is there any thing in this that thy soul is against and which thou dost not value above this worâ—d If thou find that all the parts are sweet and the Description of Heaven is most gratefull to thee and that this is the state that thou wouldst be in it seems then it is not Heaven but Death that thou art averse from and that maketh thee so loth to hear the tydings of thy change Quest 4. Couldst thou not joyfully see the coming of Christ if it were this day if thou have done thy work and art assured of his love The Apostle hath told us by the word of the Lord that the Lord himself shall desâ—end from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first and then they which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord 1 Thes 4. 15 16 17. And this is the doctrine that comforteth believers verse 18. Would it not rejoyce your hearts if you were sure to live to see the coming of the Lord and to see his glorious appearing and retinue If you were not to die but to be caught up thus to meet the Lord and to be changed immediately into an immortal incorruptible glorious state would you be averse to this would it not be the greatest joy that you could desire For my own part I must confess to you that death as death appeareth to me as an enemy and my nature doth abhor and fear it But the thoughts of the Coming of the Lord are most sweâ—t and joyfull to me so that if I were but sure that I should live to see it and that the Trumpet should sound and the dead should rise and the Lord appear before the period of my age it would be the joyfullest tidings to me in the world O that I might see his Kingdom come It is the Character of his Saints
for that great destruction of the universal deluge Should men live now but to the age of three hundred or four hundred years I fear it would so tempt them to overvalue the world and so embolden them to delay repentance that one would be as Wolf to another and the weak but be a prey to the strong and wickedness would overwhelm the world despising the reins and bearing down Religious and civil opposition But when we stand over the grave and see our friends laid in the dust how mortified do we seem how do we even shake the head at the folly of ambitious and covetous worldlings and are ashamed to think of fleshly lusts So far are men from owning their vanities when that silent teacher standeth by It is Death that helps to humble the proud and abate the arroganâ—y and obstinacy of the wicked and make them regard the messengers of Christ that bâ—fore despised them and their message It is death that allayeth the ebullition of distracting thoughts and passions and helpeth to bring men to themselves and fixeth giddy discomposed minds and helps to settle the light and the unsettled and to restrain the worst As we are beholden to the Gallows for our purses and our lives so are we to the grave and hell for much of the order that is in the world and our peace and freedom procured thereby But it is a greater good that it procureth to believers If you ask How is all this to be ascribed to Christ I answer many wayes 1. It is he that hath now the Keyes or power of death and hell even he that liveth and was dead and that liveth for evermore Rev. 1.18 and therefore is to be feared by the world 2. It is he that hath by his Blood Covenant brought us the Hope of everlasting life which is it that gives the efficacy to death Without this men would be but desperate and think that it is better have a little pleasure then none at all and so would give up themselves to sin and desperately gratifie their flesh by all the wickedness they could devise 3. And it is Christ that teacheth men the right use of death by his holy doctrine having brought life and immortality to light by his Gospel 4. And it is Christ that sendeth forth the holy Spirit which only doth so illuminate the mind and quicken and dispose the heart that Death may be savingly improved The poyson is our own but it is his skill and love that hath made a Soveraign antidote of it And let our bodies die so our sin may die If the foresight of Death destroy our sin and further our sanctification and the hour of death doth end our fears and enter us into the state of glory though we will love death as death never the better for this much less the sin that caused it yet must we admire the love of our Redeemer And it is not only the Peril but also the Terrors of Death that we are in part delivered from Though Christ himself was in a bloody sweat in his agony before his death and cryed out on the Cross My God why hast thou forsaken me because he bore the sins of the world yet death is welcome to many of his followers that drink of his cup and are baptized with his baptism For they taste not of these dregs which he drunk up and they are strengthened by his supporting grace He that doth comfort them against sin and Hell doth also comfort them against Death So great is the glory that he hath promised them and so great is his comforting confirming grace that dreadfull â—eath is not great enough to prevail against them As it was too weak to conquer Christ so is it too weak to conquer his Spirit in his peoples souls Without Christ we could not live and we durst not die but through him we can do and suffer all things and can boldly pass through this dark and shady vale of death yea we can desire to depart and to be with Christ as best fâ—r us for to Live is Christ and to die is gain Phil. 1.21 23. For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we hâ—ve a building of God an house not made with hâ—nds eternal in the heavens And therefore sometimes we can earnestly groan dâ—siring to be clothed upâ—n with our house which is from heaven And we are alwayes confident knowing that whilest we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord and therefore labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him For we walk by faith and not by sight and it is God that hath wrought us for the self same thing who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit 2 Cor. 5.1 to 10. Though we long not to die yet we long to see the face of God And though we lay down our bodâ—â—s with natural unwillingness yet we lay down our sin and sorrows with gladness and spiritual delight And though our hearts are ready to faint as Peters when he walked to Christ upon the waters yet Christ puts forth his hand of love and soon recovereth us from our fear and danger Melancholly and impatience may make men weary of their lives and rush upon death with a false conceit that it will end their sorrows But this is not to conquer death but to be conquered by a lesser evil and it is not an effect of fortitude but of an imbecillity impotency of mind And if a Brutus a Cato or a Seneca be his own Executioner thâ—â— do but choose a lesser evil in their conceits even a death which they accounted honourable before a more ignominious death or a life of shame and scorn and misery But the true believer is raised above the fears of death by the love of God and the hopes of Glory and Death though ungratefull in it self is welcome to him as the way to his felicity Leâ— Tyrants and Souldiers take it for their glory that they can take away mens liver that is they have the power of a Serpent or of Rats-bane as if it were their honour to be their Countreys pestilence and a Ruler and a Dose of poyson were things of equal strength and use But it is the Glory of Christ to enable hâ—s Disciples to conquer Death bear the fury of the most cruel persecutors The Martyrs have been more joyfull in their sufferings then the Judges that condemned them in their Pomp and glory When we are pressed above strength and despair of life and have the sentence of death in our selves we are then taught to trust in the living God that raiseth the dead 2 Cor. 1.8 9 10. The Saints by faith have been tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection they have had tryall of cruel mockings scourgings yea moreover of bonds
prosperity And then sin will seem another thing and wrath more terrible then it did in your security Conscience will do much to make your burden light or heavy If Conscience groundedly speak peace and all be sound and well at home death will be less terrible the heart being fortified against its enmity But to have a pained body and a pained soul a dying body and a scorched Conscience that is afraid of everlasting death this is a terrible case indeed Speedily therefore get rid of sin and get your Consciences throughly cleansed by sound repentance and the blood of Christ For so much sin as you bring to your death-bed so much bitterness will there be in death Away then with that sin that Conscience tells you of and touch the forbidden fruit 〈◊〉 more and kindle not the sparâ—s of Hell in your souls to make the sting of death more venemous As it will quiet a believing soul through Chrâ—st when he can say with Hezekiah Isa 38.3 Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight and it will be our rejoycing if we have the testimony of our Consciences that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world 2 Cor. 1.12 So will it be most terrible to die in the fears of unpardoned sin and to have Conscience scourging us with the remembrance of our folly when God is afflicting us and we have need of a well composed mind to bear the troubles of our flâ—sh A little from without is grievous when any thing is amiss within Get home therefore to Christ without delay and cease not till you have peace in him that death may find your consciences whole DIRECTION VI. REdeeming time is another means to prevent the hurtfull fears of death When we foreknow that it will shortly end our time let us make the best of time while we have it And then when we find that our work is done and that we did not loyter nor lose the time that God vouchsafed us the end of it will be less grievous to us A man that studieth his duty and spareth for no cost or pains and is as loath to lose an hours time as a covetous man is to lose an hundred pound will look back on his life and look before him to his death with greater peace and less perplexity then another man But the thoughts of death must needs be terrible to a man that hath trifled away his life and been an unthrift of his time To think when you must die that now you are at your last day or hour and withall to think how many hours you vainly lost and that you knew not the worth of time till it was gone will make death more bitter then now you can imagine What else is Death but the ending of our Time and what can be more necessary to a comfortable end then faithfully to use it while we have it DIRECTION VII ANother help against the Enmity of Death is the Crucifying of the flesh with its affections and lusts and the conquest of the world by the life of faith and crucifying it by the Cross of Christ and dying daily by the patient suffering of the Cross our selves When we are loose from all things under the Sun and there is nothing that entangleth our affections on earth a great part of the difficulty is then removed But death will tear the heart that is glued to any thing in this world Possess therefore as if you possessed not and rejoyce as if you rejoyced not and use the world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world doth pass away I Cor. 7.29 30 31. It is much for the sake of our flesh that must perish that death doth seem so bitter to us If therefore we can throughly sudue the flesh and live above its pleasure and desires we shall the more esily bear its dissolution Shut up your senses then a little more and let your hearts grow stranger to this world and if you have known any persons relations accomodations after the flesh from henceforth know them so no more How terrible is death to an earthly-minded man that had neglected his soul for a treasure here which must then be dissipated in a moment How easie is death to a heavenly-mind that is throughly weaned from this world and taketh it but for his pilgrimage or passage unto life and hath made it the business of his dayes to lay up for himself a treasure in heaven He that hath unfeignedly made heaven his end in the course of his life will most readily pass to it on the hardest terms For every man is willing to attain his end DIRECTION VIII IT will much help us against the Enmity of death to be duly conformed to the Image of God in the hatred of sin and love of holiness and in special in the point of Justice When we hate sin throughly and find it so incorporated into our flesh that they must live and die together it will make death the more easie to us because it will be the death of sin even of that sin which we most hate and that God hateth and that hath cost us so dear as it hath done When we are in love with holiness and know that we shall never be perfect in it till after death it will make death the more welcome as the passage to our desired life When the Justice even the castigatory and vindictive Justice of God is more amiable in our eyes and we are not blinded by self-love to judge of God and of his wayes according to the interest of our flesh we shall then consent to his dissolving stroke and see that the bitterness of death proceedeth from that which is good in God though from that which is evil in our selves Doubtless as Justice is one of the blessed Attributes of God so should it be amiable to man there being nothing in God but what is lovely It is the prevalency of self-love that makes men so insensible of the excellency of Divine Justice while they speak so respectfully of his mercy So far as men are carnall and selfish they cannot love that by which they smart or of which they are in danger But the soul that is got above it self and is united unto God in Christ and hath that Image of God which containeth the impress and effect of all his Attributes hath such an habit of impartial justice in himself and such a hatred of sin and such a desire that the honour of God should be vindicateed and maintained and such an approbation of the Justice of God that he can the more easily consent or submit to the dissolving stroke of death He hateth his own sin and loatheth himself for all his abominations and is possessed with that Justice that provoketh him to self-revenge in an ordinate sort and therefore doth love and honour
these miseries yea in every prayer what do we else but confess them and lament them and groan for help and for deliverance And yet shall we fear our day of freedom and be loth that death should bring us news that our prayers are heard and our groans have reached up to heaven and that the bonds of flesh and sin shall be dissolved and we shall have need to watch and strive and fear and complain and sigh and weep no more Shall the face of death discourage us from desiring such a bessed day When we have so full assurance that at last this enemy also shall be destroyed The Lord heal and pardon the Hypocrisie of our complaints together with the unbelief and cowardliness of our souls Do we speak so much and hear so much and seem to do so much against sin and yet had we rather keep it still then be stript of it together with the rags of our mortality and yet had we rather dwell with sin in tempting troubling corruptible flesh then lay them by and dwell with Christ O Lord how lamentably have we lost our wisdom and drowned our minds in flesh and folly by forsaking thee our light and life How come our reasonable souls to be so bewitched as after all our convictions complaints and prayers to be still more willing of our sickness then of the remedy and more afraid of this bitter Cup then of the poyson that lodgeth in our bowels which it would expell and that after all the labour we have usâ—d we had yet rather dwell with our greatest enemy then by a less to be transmitted to our dearest friend and had rather continue in a troublesome weary restless life then by the sleep of death to pass to Rest And this sin in others also is our trouble though not so much as in our selves It maketh those our bitter enemies whose good we most desire and endeavour and causeth the unthankfull world to requite us with malicious usage for telling them the ungratefull truth and seeking their salvation it makes our friends to be but half-friends and some of them too like our enemies It puts a sting into the sweetest friendship and mixeth smart with all our pleasures It worketh us grief from precious mercies and abateth the comfort of our near Relations So that our smart by the pricks is often greater then our pleasure in the sweetness of the Rose No friend is so smoothed and squared to the temper and interest of another but that some in equality and unevenness doth remain which makes the closure to be less near and stedfast Even family relations are usually so imperfectly jointed and cemented that when the winds of tryal are any thing high they shake the frame and though they are but low they find an entrance and cause such a coldness of affections as is contrary to the nature and duty of the relations Either a contrariety of opinions or of natural temperature and humours or else of the dispositions of the mind Sometime cross interests and sometime passions and cross words do cause such discontents and sowrness such frowns or jealousies or distances that our nearest friends are but as sackloth on our skins and as a shoo too strait for us or as a garment that is unmeet which pinch and trouble us in their use and those that should be to us as the Apple of our eyes are as the dust or smoak to them that vex or blind them And the more we Love them the more it greiveth us to be crossed in our love There is scarce any friend so wise so good so suitable to us or so near that we can alwayes please And the displeasure of a friend is as gravell in our shoos or as Nettles in our bed oft-times more grievous then the malice of an enemy There is no such doing as this in heaven because there is no such guest as sin We shall love each other far more then we do here and yet that Love shall never be inordinate nor in the least divert our love from God but every Saint and Angel in the Society shall be loved with most chaste and pure affections in a perfect subordination to the love of God and so as that God himself in them shall be the chiefest object of that love It is there that our friends being freed from all their imperfections do neither tempt us to a carnal Love nor have any thing in them to discourage the love that is spirituall and pure We have here our passionate friends our self-conceited friends our unkind unthankfull selfish friends our mutable and unfaithfull friends our contentious friends that are like to enemies and who have used us more hardly then our friends But when we come to God we shall have friends that are like God that are wholly good and are participatively turned into Love and haveing left behind them all that was unclean and noysome and troublesome to themselves they have also cast off all that could be troublesome to us Our love will be there without suspicions without interruptions unkindnesses and discontents without disappointments frustrations and dissatisfactions For God himself will fully satisfie us and we shall love his goodness and glory in his Saints as well as immediately in himself Our friends are now lost at the turning of a straw the change of their interest their company their opinions the slanders of back-biters and mis-representations of malicious men can cool their Love and kill their friendship But Heaven is a place of constant Love The Love of Saints as all things else is there eternal And yet it declineâ—h not with age It is a world of Love that we are hasting to It is a life of love that we must there live and a work of love and perfect love that we must be there employed in for ever If here we have a pure a dear a faithful friend that is without false-heartedness and deceit that loveth us as his own soul how quickly is he snatcht away by death and leaves us melted into tears and mourning over his earthly relicts and looking upward with grieved hearts as the Disciples did after their ascending Lord Acts 1. 9 10 11. We are left almost as lifeless by such friends as the body is left by the departed soul We have nothing but grief to tell us that we live and that our souls are not departed with them we are left in greater lamentation then if we had never known a faithfull friend And alas how quickly are they gone when once God sees them ripe for heaven when Droans and Dullards live much longer If we see a Saint that 's clear of judgement and low in humility and naked-hearted in sincerity and that abounds in love to God and man that 's faithfull and constant to their friend and is above the pride and vanities of this world and doth converse by a life of faith above and is usefull and exemplary in their generation alas how soon are they
not submit to any labour or toyl for a day that he might win a life of plenty and delight by it Who would not be spit upon and made the scorn of the world for a day if he might have his will for it as long as he liveth on earth And should we not then cheerfully submit to our momentany afflictions and the troubles of a few dayes which are light and mixt with a world of mercies when we know that they are working for us a far more exceeding eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Our clamorous and malicious enemies our quarlelsome brethren our peevish friends our burdensome corruptions and imperfections will shortly trouble us no more As our life is short and but a dream and shadow and therefore the pleasures of this world are no better so our troubles also will be no longer and are but sad dreams and dark shadows that quickly pass away Our Lord that hath begun and gone on so far will finish his victories and the last enemy shall shortly be destroyed And if the fearful doubting soul shall say I know this is comfort to them that are in Christ but what is it to me that know not whether I have any part in him I answer 1. The foundation of God still standeth sure the Lord knoweth his own even when some of them know not that they are his own He knoweth his mark upon his sheep when they know it not themselves God doubteth not of his interest in thee though thou doubt of thy interest in him And thou art faster in the arms of his Love then by the arms of thy own faith as the child is surer in the Mothers arms then by its holding of the Mother And moreover your doubts and fears are part of the evil that shall be removed and your bitterest sorrows that hence proceed shall with the rest of the enemies be destroyed 2. But yet take heed that you unthankfully plead not against the mercies which you have received and be not friends to those doubts and fears which are your enemies and that you take not part with the enemy of your comforts Why dost thou doubt poor humbled soul of thy interest in Christ that must make the conquest Answer me but these few Questions from thy heart 1. Did Christ ever shew himself unkind to thee or unwilling to receive thee and have mercy on thee Did he ever give thee cause to think so poorly of his Love and grace as thy doubts do intimate thou dost Hast thou not found him kind when thou wast unkind and that he thought on thee when thou didst not think on him and will he now forget thee and end in wrath that begun in Love He desired thee when thou didst not desire him and give thee all thy desires after him and will he now cross and deny the desires which he hath caused He was found of thee or rather found thee when thou soughtest not after him and can be reject thee now thou criest and callest for his grace O think not hardly of his wonderous grace till he give thee cause Let thy sweet experiences be remembred to the shame of thy causeless doubts and fears and let him that hath loved thee to the death be thought on as he is and not as the unbelieving flesh would misrepresent him Quest 2. If thou say that it is not his unkindness but thy own that feeds thy doubts I further ask thee Is he not kind to the unkind especially when they lament their own unkindness Thou art not so unkind to him as thou wast in thy unconverted state and yet he then exprest his Love in thy conversion He then sought thee when thou wentest astray and brought thee carefully home into his Fold and there he hath kept thee ever since And is he less kind now when thou art returned home Dost thou not know that all his children have their frowardness and are guilty of their unkindnesses to him And yet he doth not therefore disown them and turn them out of his family but is tender of them in their froward weakness because they are his own How dealt he with the peevish prophet Jonah that was exceedingly displeased and very angry that God spared Nineve lest it should be a dishonour to his Prophesie in so much that he wisht that he might die and not live and after repined at the withering of his gourd and the scorching of the Sun that beat upon him The Lord doth gently question with him Dost thou well to be angry and after hence convince him that the mercy which he valued to himself he should not envy to so many Jonah 4. How dealt he with the Disciples that fell asleep when they should have watcht with Christ in the night of his great agony He doth not tell them You are none of mine because you could not watch with me one hour but tenderly excuseth that which they durst not excuse themselves The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak When he was on the Cross though they all forsook him and fled he was then so far from forsaking them that he was manifesting to admiration that exceeding love that never would forsake them and knowest thou not poor complaining soul that the kindness of Christ overcometh all the unkindness of his children and that his blood and grace is sufficient to save thee from greater sins then those that trouble thee If thou hadst no sin what use hadst thou of a Saviour Will thy Physitian therefore cast thee off because thou art sick Quest 3. Yea hath not Christ already subdued so many of thy enemies as may assure thee he will subdue the rest and begun that life in thee which may assure thee of eternal life Once thou wast a despiser of God and his holy wayes but now it is far otherwise with thee Hath he not broken the heart of thy pride and worldliness and sensuality and made thee a new creature and is not this a pledge that he will do the rest Tell me plainly hadst thou rather keep thy sin or leave it Hadst thou rather have liberty to commit it or be delivered from it Dost thou not hate it and set thy self against it as thy enemy Art thou not delivered from the reign and tyranny of it which thou wast once under And will not he perfect the conquest which he hath begun He that hath thus far delivered thee from sin thy greatest enemy will deliver thee from all the sad effects of it The blessed work of the Spirit in thy Conversion did deliver thee from the bondage of the Devil from the power of darkness and translated thee into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Then didst thou enter the holy warfare under his banners that was never overcome in the victorious Army that shall shortly begin their everlasting triumph The sin which thou hatest and longest to be delivered from and art willing to use Gods means against it is the conquered enemy which may assure thee
up to heaven But how far is all this below the sight that we shall have of him when he comes in glory when the brightness of his shining face shall make us think the Sun was darkness and the glory of his attendance shall make us think what a sordid thing and childish foolery was all the glory of this world The face of Love shall be then unvailed and ravish us into the highest Love and Joy that our natures are capable of Then doubt and fear and grieve if thou canst What then wilt thou think of all these disquieting distrustfull thoughts that now so wrong thy Lord and thee If going into the Sanctuary and fore-seeing the end can cure our brutish misapprehensions of Gods providences Psal 73.17 how perfectly will they be cured when we see the glorious face oâ— Christ and behold the New Jerusalem in its glory and when we are numbred with the Saints that judge the world We shall never more be tempted then to condemn the generation of the just nor to think it vain to serve the Lord nor to envy the prosperity of the wicked nor to staggâ—r at the promise through unbelief nor to think that our sickness death and grave were any signs of unkindness or unmercifulness in God We shall then be convinced that sight and flesh were unfit to censure the wayes of God or to be our guides Hasten O Lord this blessed day Stay not till Faith have left the earth and infidelity and impiety and tyranny have conquered the rest of thine inheritancâ— Stay not till selfish uncharitable pride hath vanquished love and self-denyal and planted its Colonies of Heresie confusion and cruelty in thy dominions and Earth and Hell be turned into one Stay not till the eyes of thy servants fail and their hearts and hopes do faint and languish with lookâ—ng and waiting for thy salvation But if yet the day be not at hand O keep up Faith and Hope and Love till the Sun of perfect Love arise and Time hath prepared us for Eternity and Grace for Glory FINIS Some imitable passages of the life of Elizabeth late Wife of Mr. Joseph Baker THough I spoke so little as was next to nâ—thing of our deâ—r deceased friend it was not because I wâ—nted maâ—ter or thought it unmeet But I use it but seldom lest I raise expectations of the like where I cannot conscionably perform it But he that hath promised to honour those that serve and honour him John 12.26 1 Sam. 2.30 and will come at lâ—st to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that do believe 2 Thes 1.10 I know will take it as a great and acceptable act of service to proclaim the honour of his grace and to give his servants their due on earth whose souls are glorified with Christ in heaven though Serpentine enmity will repine and play the envious accuser It is not the history of the Life of this precious servant of the Lord which I intend to give you for I was not mâ—ny years acquainted with her but only some passages which either upon my certain knowledge or her own Diurnall of her course or the most credible rest imony of her most intimate judicious godly friends I may boldly publish as true and imitable in this untoward distempered generation She was born Novemb. 1634. in Southwark neer London the only child of Mr. John Godeschalk alias Godscall Her Father dying in her Child-hood she was left an Orphane to the Chamber of London Her Mother after married Mr. Isaac Barton with whom she had the benefit of Religious Education But between sixteen and seventeen years of age by the serious reading of the Book called The Saints Everlasting Rest she was more throughly awakened and brought to set her heart oâ— God and to seek salvation with her chiefest care From that time forward she was a more constâ—nt diligent serious hearer of the ablest Ministâ—rs in London rising early and going far to hear them on the Week-dayes waiting on God for his confirming grace in the use of those Ordinanees which empty unexperienced hypocrites are easily tempted to despise The Sermons which she constantly wrote she diligently repeated at home for the benefit of others and every week read over some of those that she had heard long before that the fruit of them might be retained and renewed it being not novelty that she minded In the year 1654. being near one and twenty years of age after seeking God and waiting for his resolving satisfying directions she consented to be joyned in marriage to Mr. Joseph Baker by the approbation of her nearest friends God having taken away her Mother the year before With him she approved her self indeed such a Wife as Paul no Papist describeth as meet for a Bishop or Pastor of the Church 1 Tim. 3.11 Even so must their Wives be grave not slanderers sober faithfull in all things Some instances I shall give for the imitation of others 1. She was very Exemplary in self-denyal and humility And having said this much what abundance have I comprehended O what a beauty doth self-denyal and humility put on souls Nay what a treasure of everlasting consequence do these two words express I shall give you a few of the discoveries 1. It appeared in her accompanying in London with the holiest how mean soever avoiding them that were proud and vain and carnal She desired most to be acquainted with those that she perceived were best acquainted with God neglecting the pomp and vain glory of the world 2. When she was called to a married state though her portion and other advantages invited persons of greater estates in the world she chose rather to marry a Minister of known integrity that might be a near and constant guide and stay and comfort to her in the matters which she valued more then riches And she missed not of her expectations for the few years that she lived with him Even in this age wheâ— the Serpent is hissing in every corner at faithfull Ministers and they are contemned both by Prophane and Hereticall Malignants she preferred a mean life with such â— one for her spirituall safety and solace before the Grandeur of the world 3. When some inhabitants of the City of Worcester were earnest with me to help them to an able Minister Mr. Baker then living in Kent had about an hundred pound per annum and when at my motion he was readily willing to take a great charge in Worcester upon a promise from two men to make the maintenance fifty pounds a year by a voluntary Contribution of the continuance of which he had no security his Wife was a promoter and no discourager of his self-denyall and never tempteâ— him to lâ—â—k after greater things And afterward when I was afraid lest the smalness and uncertainty of the means together with his discourâ—gements from some of his people might have occasioned his remove and have heard of richer places mentioned to him as he