the end of this City will be the same with all her Predecessors What he spake of places is as true of persons though men may admire them for a while yet the stateliest and most curious buildings of their bodies will fall to the ground as their Ancestors have done before them Job 3.15 This storm will beat on the Princes Court as much as on the Peasants Cottage What man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Psal 89.48 The interrogation is a strong negation The Prophet challengeth the whole World to find out a person that can procure a protection against Deaths Arrest The Psalmist was gracious yet grace gave way to nature death will like hail and rain fall on the best gardens as well as the wide wilderness The Wheat is cut down and carried into the Barn as well as the Tares A godly man is free from the sting but not from the stroke from the curse but not from the Cross of death Holy Hezekiah could beg his own life for a few years but could not compound for his death he did obtain a reprieve for fifteen years but not a pardon the best fruit will perish because it is wormeaten The gold and the dross the good and the bad go both into this fire the former to be refined the latter to be consumed The whole World is a charnel house and the several inhabitants thereof so many walking carcasses The voice said Cry and he said what shall I cry All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field The grass withereth the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass Isa 40.6.7 The words speaks mans mortality He is grass withering grass a flower a fading flower Secondly Its certainty the voice said cry The Prophet had a charge in a Vision given him to proclaim so much from God to his people surely the people is grass Thirdly the Vniversality the flesh of Kings and Counsellors the flesh of Saints and Martyrs the flesh of high and low rich and poor All flesh is grass Man is sometimes compared to the flower for its beauty but here for its frailty a flower will quickly fade if it be not cut down by an instrument of Iron nor cropt by the hand yet the gentle breath of Wind quickly bloweth off its beauty Besides an Expositer observeth t is to the flower of the field not of the garden flowers of the garden have more shelter and are better lookt to then flowers of the field these are more open to hard weather and more liable to be pluckt up or trod down Naturalists tell us of a Flower called Ephemeron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. ad Apol. because it lasteth but a day Man is such a Flower his life is but a day whither longer or shorter a Summers or a Winters day how quickly do the shadows of the Evening stretch themselves upon him and make it night with him Pliny speaks of a Golden Vine which never withereth The bodies of Saints shall be such hereafter but at present the best Hearbs wither as well as the worst Weeds Neither the Dignity of a Prince nor the Piety of a Prophet can excuse from enrting the List with this Enemy Against this Arrest there is no Bail CHAP. III. The Reasons of the Doctrine Mans Corruptibility Gods fidelity and Mans Apostacy from God Reasons of the Doctrine I Shall onely lay down in the explication of the point two or three Reasons and then proceed to that which will be practical 1 Man corruptibility The first ground of the Doctrine is the corruptibility of mans body It s called in Scripture an house of clay Job 4.18 and an earthly Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 The body of man at best is but a clod of clay curiously moulded and made up The Greek Proverb hath a truth in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man is but an earthen Vessel Some indeed are more painted then others in regard of dignity and place others are stronger Vessels then the rest in regard of purity of constitution Profecto omni moda vanitas Iun but all are earthen Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity Psa 39. All Adam is all Abel Man nay every man when most high in regard of his hopes and most firm in regard of his foundation is even then the next door to and but one remove from corruption What the great Apostle said in a proper every one may say in a common sense I die daily We carry our bane every moment about us The very food which preserveth our lives leaves that be hind it which will force our deaths It s holden for certain saith one that in two Years space The Netherland cure there are in the body of man as many ill humours ingendred as a Vessel of a hundred ounces will contain Ipsa suis augmentis vita ad detrimenta impellitur inde deficit unde proficere creditur Greg. Against some these enemies appear in the open field often skirmishing with them but against all others they lye in ambush and wait for an opportunity to fall on and destroy them In the best timbered body they are but like fire raked under the ashes and reserved to another day when they will flame out and burn it down We are all like the Apples of Sodom quae contacta cinerescunt Tertul. Apol. cap. 40. which being touched crumble into dust or as the Spawn of Locusts which being handled dissolveth Arist Hist Animal according to the Philosopher God needs not bring out his great Artillery to batter down the building of mans body a small touch will tumble it down nay it s every moment decaying and will at last fall of it self There is rottenness at the core of the fairest fruits Our flesh is no match for the Father of spirits An ordinary Besome will sweep down the Spiders Web. Though it hath accurate weavings and much curiosity yet it hath nostability As it was with the Gourd of Jonah so it is with the Children of men we breed and feed those Worms which will devour and destroy us Every Mans passing Bell hangs in his own Steeple The second Reason is Gods fidelity 2 Reas Gods fidelity The righteous and gracious God hath threatned eternal pains to the wicked as the wages of their sins and hath promised endless pleasures to the godly as the reward of Christs sufferings now the place of payment where these threatnings and promises shall be accomplished is the other world to which death is the passage Man dieth that Gods Word may live and falleth to the earth that Gods Truth might stand Sin though it be finite in regard of the subject as being the act of a limited creature In peccaeto duo sunt Quo cum unum est aversio ab immutabili bono quod
these two particulars which are more worth then the whole World that thou mayst see how willing I am to be instrumental for thy welfare I shall come up a little nearer and closer to thee O that I did but know what savoury spiritual meat thou lovest most if possible I would provide it for thee and set it before thee that thou mightest eat and thy soul might bless God before thou diest In order to thy eternal good I have a special offer to make to thee from the blessed God and that is of a Marriage with his onely Son the Lord Jesus Christ I am this day sent to thee as his Ambassadour with full instructions to wo in his behalf that I might present thee a chast Virgin unto Christ thou needest not doubt of my authority for in the Scriptures thou mayst read my Commission and credential letters which may give thee full security and satisfaction against all jealousies and suspitions which can possibly arise in thy breast Thou needest not question Gods reality in the tender of so great a fortune to thee notwithstanding all thy unworthiness for he sent his Son so great a journey as from Heaven to Earth to marry thy nature on purpose that he might be Married to thy person and hath caused him already to be at infinite cost in providing glorious attire and precious Jewels out of Heavens Wardrobe and Cabinet that thou mightest be adorned as is fit for the Spouse of so great a Lord nay he himself hath sent thee his picture of greater value then Heaven and Earth drawn at length and to the life in the Gospel in all his royalty beauty and glory to try if thou canst like and love his person Friend look wishly on him consider his person He is fairer then the Children of men he is the express Image of his Fathers person Thy beloved O shall I call him so is white and ruddy the fairest of ten thousands he is altogether lovely nothing but amiableness none ever saw him but were enamoured with him Veiw his Portion He is Heir of all things All power is given to him in Heaven and Earth I know thy poverty but there are unsearchable riches in Christ yea durable riches and righteousness Thou art infinitely in debt and thereby liable to the arrest of Divine Justice and eternal Prison of Hell but I must tell thee the revenues of this Emperour are able to discharge the debts of millions of Worlds and to leave enough too for their comfortable and honourable subsistance to all eternity Behold his Parentage He is the onely begotten of the Father full of grace and truth the eternal Son of God As there is incomparable beauty and favour in his Person and inestimable riches and treasure in his Portion so there is unconceivable dignity and honour in his Parentage for he is the onely natural Son and Heir of the most high God For thy further quickening He is thy near Kinsman bone of thy bone and flesh of thy flesh Gen. 24.4 5. and so hath right to thee God hath given his Stewards a command as Abraham his servant not to take a Wife to his Son of the Daughters of the Canaanites from among the evil Angels but to go to his Sons own Country and kindred and to take a Wife for him among the Children of men Friend thou hast heard the errand about which I am sent to thee I hope there is such an Arrow of love darted into thy heart from the gracious eyes and looks of this Lord of glory that thou art wounded thereby and beginnest of a sudden to be taken with him and to wish O that I might have the honour and happiness to become the Bride of so lovely a Bridegroom that this King of Saints would take me a poor sinner into his bed and bosome Thou sayst as Abigal when David sent to take her to Wife Behold let thine hand-maid be a servant to wash the feet of the Servants of my Lord I am unworthy to be his Spouse If it be thus with thee I see that thy affections are already entangled and for thy comfort know that he is not of the number of them who when they have gained others good will then cast them off Onely it will be needful that thou understand what he requires of thee to avoid all future jars and differences plain dealing is never more necessary then in Marriage those that by dawbing have hudled up Matches in hast have found cause enough to repent at leisure I shall propound two Arguments for thy encouragement Motives to the best match and then demand thy agreement to two Articles upon which and no other this Match can be concluded First The necessity of it Consider the necessity of thy Acceptance of Christ for thy Husband It is impossible to obtain Heaven for thy Joynture but by Marrying with him who is the Heir It may be like him in Ruth Chap. 4. Vers 2 3 4. whom the Spirit of God thought unworthy to be named thou art ready for the band the portion but unwilling to marry the person thou art forward to be pardoned adopted and saved but backward to take Jesus Christ for thy Husband least thou shouldst lose thy sinful pleasures and thereby mar in thy Opinion a better inheritance But know of a certain as Boaz told him What day thou buyest the field thou must Marry the owner of it What day thou gainest the invaluable priviledges of the Gospel thou must Match with Christ the Purchaser and owner of them There is no gaining the precious fruit but by getting the Tree that bears it Indeed thy Marriage with him is so fruitful a blessing that thou needest no more Forgiveness of sins the love of God peace of conscience joy in the Holy Ghost eternal life every good thing all good things are in the Womb of it thou canst not imagine what a numerous posterity of Barnabasses of sons of consolation would be the effect and issue of such a Wedding but it is so needful a blessing that without it thou art compleatly and eternally woful beware O beware how thou refusest so good an offer for thou art in the same condition with the Woman taken captive by the Jews Deut. 21. either to marry or dye either to match with Christ or be damned for ever Gods clemency in its offer Secondly Consider Gods clemency and condescention in tendering thee so great a fortune Kings on Earth will not stoop so low unless necessity force it as to match their onely Sons with their Subjects though he and they are of the same make and mould if they do it is with the highest Families with such among them as sparkle most with the Diamonds of birth breeding beauty riches and glory but hear O Heavens and be astonished O Earth wonder O Reader at this low stoop of the infinite God He is willing nay earnest that his onely Son and Heir the King of Kings should marry with
be blackness of darkness for ever There will be no end of his misery no exit to his tragedy He will be fetterred in those chains of everlasting darkness and feel the terrors of an eternal death But the portion of a Saint is like the wine which Christ provided for the wedding best at last he shall never know its full worth till he appears in the other world and then he shall find that as money answereth all things so his portion will protect him from all misery and fill him with all felicities and answer all the desires and necessities of his capacious and immortal soul The cup which he shall drink of is filled out of the rivers of Gods own pleasures and how sweet that wine is none can tell but they who have tasted it The thought of it hath recovered those who have been dying and recalled them to life what then will a draught of it do All the men in the world cannot describe the rich viands and various dainties which God hath for his own provided diet Nay the most skilful Cherubim can never count nor cast up the total of a Saints personal estate Till Angels can acquaint us with the vast millions that the boundless God is worth they cannot tell us the utmost of a Saints portion It is said of Shusa in Persia that it was so rich that saith Cassiodorus the stones were joyned together with gold and in it Alexander found seventy thousand talents of gold This City if you can take saith Aristagorus to his souldiers you may vie with Jove himself for riches But what a beggarly place is this to the new Jerusalem where pure gold is the pavement trampled under the Citizens feet and the walls all of precious pearles who entereth that City may vie with thousands of such Monarchs as this world can make and with all those heathenish Gods for Riches The Infinite God quantus quantus est as boundlesse a good as he is to whom Heaven and earth is lesse then nothing is their portion for ever But of this more in some of the following Chapters CHAP. XVI A Vse of Tryal whether God be our portion or no with some marks 2. The second Use by way of Tryal whether God be our po tion or no. THe Doctrine may be useful by way of tryall If the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition be That God is his portion then Reader examine thy self whether God be thy portion or no. I must tell thee the essence and heart of Religion consisteth in the choice of thy portion nay thy happiness dependeth wholly upon thy taking of the blessed God for thine utmost end and chiefest good therefore if thou mistakest here thou art lost for ever I shall try thee very briefly by the touchstone which Christ hath prepared Where your treasure is there will your heart be also Matth. 6. Now Friend Where is thy heart is it in earth is it a diamond set in lead or a sparkling star fixt in heaven Are thy greatest affections like Saul's person among the stuffe and rubbish of this world or do they like Moses go up into the Mount and converse with God Do they with the Wormes crawl here below or like the Eagle soar aloft and dwell above A man that hath his portion on earth like the earth moveth downward though he may be thrown upward by violence as a stone by some sudden conviction or the like yet that imprest vertue is soon worn out and he falleth to the earth again but he who hath his portion in heaven like fire tendeth upward ordinarily though through the violence of temptation he may as fire by the wind be forced downward yet that removed he ascendeth again It may be when thine enemy Death beats thee out of the field of life thou wilt be glad of a God to which thou mayst retire as a city of refuge to shelter thee from the murdering piece of the laws curse but what thoughts hast thou of him now whilst thou hast the world at will Dost thou count the fruition of him thy chiefest felicity Is one God infinitely more weighty in the scales of thy judgement then millions of worlds Dost thou say in thy prevailing setled judgement of them that have their garners full and their floeks fruitful Blessed is the people that is in such a case or yea rather happy is the people whose God is the Lord Psal 144.13 14 15. Every man esteemeth his portion at an high price Naboth valueth his earthly inheritance above his life and would rather die then part with it at any rate God forbid that I should sell the inheritance of my fathers saith he O the worth of the blessed God in the esteem of him that hath him for his portion His house land wife child liberty life are hated by him and nothing to him in comparison of his portions he would not exchange his hopes of it and title to it for the dominion and soveraignty of the whole world If the Devil as to Christ should set him on the pinacle of the Temple and shew all the honours and pleasures and treasures of the world and say to him All this I will give thee if thou wilt sell thy portion and fall down and worship me Who can tell with what infinite disdain he would reject such an offer He would say as a Tradesman that were bid exceedingly below the worth of his wares You were as good bid me nothing and with much scorn and laughter refuse his tender This man is elevated to the top of the celestial orbes and therefore the whole earth is but a point in his eye whereas a man who hath his portion in outward things who dwelleth here on earth heavenly things are little the glorious Sun it self is but small in such a mans eye earthly things are great in his esteem Reader let me perswade thee to be so much at leisure as to ask thy soul two or three Questions 1. In what chanel doth the stream of thy desires run Which way and to what coast do these winds of thy soul drive Is it towards God or towards the world A rich Heir in his minority kept under by Tutors and Guardians longs for the time when he shall be at age and enjoy the priviledge and pleasures of his inheritance Thou cravest and thirsteth and longest and desirest something there is which thou wouldst have and must have and canst not be satisfified till thou hast it Now what is it Is it the husks of this world which thou enquirest so earnestly for some-body to give thee or is it bread in thy Fathers house which thou hungrest after Dost thou pant after the dust of the earth according to the Prophets phrase Amos 2.7 or with the Church The desire of my soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee Thou art hungry and thirsty unquiet unsatisfied what is the matter man Dost thou like the dry earth gape and cleave for
who art so near God need'st not wander about this world but should'st live as one whose hope and happiness is in a better world When one was askt whether he did not admire the admirable structure of some stately building No saith he for I have been at Rome where better are to be seen every day If the world tempt thee with its rare sights and curious prospects thou maist well scorn them having been in Heaven and being able by Faith to see infinitely better every hour of the day but if upon examination it be found that God is not thy portion think of it seriously thou art but a beggar and if thou diest in this estate shalt be so for ever It may be thou art worth thousands in this world but alas they stand for cyphers in the other world how little will thy bags of silver in thy chest be worth when thou enterest into thy Coffin It is reported of Musculus that when he lay upon his death-bed and many of his friends came to see him and bewaild the poverty such an eminent Minister of Christ was brought to one of them said O quid sumus Musculus overheard him and cried out Fumus When thou comest to die the whole world will be but air and smoak in thine own account What man wilt thou do whither wilt thou goe the God that thou wilt cry to in distress weep and sob and sigh to at death is none of thy God Thou rejectest him now and canst thou think that he will affect the then either make a new choice or thou canst never enter into peace CHAP. XVII An Exhortation to Men to choose God for their portion THe third use which I shall make of this doctrine shall be by way of Exhortation 3. Vse choose God for thy Portion If the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition be this that God is his portion let me then perswade thee Reader to chose God for thy portion I look on thee as rational and accordingly shall treat thee in this use not doubting but if reason may be judge I shall prevail with thee to repent of thy former and resolve on a new choice Thou art one who hast chosen the world for thy portion but hast thou not read what a poor what a pitiful what a piercing what a perishing portion it is why then dost thou spend thy strength for what is not bread and thy labour for what will not satisfy Hearken to me and eat that which is good and let thy soul delight it self in fatness I offer thee this day a portion worthy of thy choicest affections a portion that if thou acceptest the richest Emperors will be but beggars to thee a portion which containeth more wealth then Heaven and Earth nay ten thousand worlds are nothing in comparison of this portion If a man should offer thee a bagg of gold and a bagg of counters a bagg of pearls and a bagg of sand which wouldest thou choose surely the former The world in comparison of God is infinitely less then brass to gold or sand to pearles and wilt thou not choose him for thy portion Didst thou never laugh at Children for their folly in choosing rattles and babies before things of much greater worth And art thou not a bigger child and a greater fool to choose husks before bread a mess of pottage before the birthright the blessing to choose a seeming fancy before reall felicities a little honour which is but a farthing candle that children can puffe out with one breath and blow in with another blast before the exceeding and eternall weight of glory to choose broken Cisterns before a fountain of living waters dirt before Diamonds vanity before solidity drops before the Ocean and nothing before all things Man where is thy reason Samuel said to Saul Set not thine heart on asses for is not the desire of all Israel to thee Friend why should'st thou set thy heart on asses or thy flock or shop or any treasure when thou hast the desire of all Nations to set thine heart upon As Christ said to the woman of Canaan If thou knewest the gift of God and who is that speaketh to thee thou wouldst aske of him and he would give thee living water John 4.10 So say I to thee If thou knewest the blessed God and who it is that is offered to thee the sweetest love the richest mercy the surest friend the cheifest good the greatest beauty the highest honour and the fullest happiness thou wouldst leave the colliers of this world to load themselves with thick clay and turn Merchant Adventurer for the other world thou wouldst more willingly leave these frothy joys and drossie delights for the enjoyment of God then ever prisoner did the fetters and bondage and misery of a goal for the liberty and pleasures and preferments of a Court Austin speaks of a time when he and his mother were discoursing together of the comforts of the Spirit Lord saith he thou knowest in that day how wisely we did esteem of the world and all its delights O Reader couldst thou but see the vastness the sutableness and the fulness of this portion I am confident thou wouldst suffer the natives the men of this world Psal 17.14 to mind the commodities which are of the growth of their own Country and wouldst fetch thy riches as the good housewife her food from far The cause of thy wrong choice I mean thy taking the world all this while for thy portion is thy ignorance of the worth and excellency of this object which I am offering to thee 'T is in the dark that men grope so much about present things 2 Pet. 1.9 Knowing persons prefer wisdome before silver before choice gold nay before rubies Prov. 3.14 15. Every one will sell his heart to that chapman which biddeth most now the Devil he courts man for his soul with the brutish pleasures of sin the world wooeth for the heart with its proffer of treasures and honours which like it self are vain vexatious and perishing God comes and he offereth for the heart the precious blood of his Son the curious embroydery of his Spirit the noble employment and honourable preferment of Angels fulness of joy and infiniteness of satisfaction in the fruition of his blessed self to all eternity Now what is the reason that the Devils money is accepted and the worlds offer embraced and Gods tender which is farther superiour to theirs then the glorious heavens where the King of Saints keeps his Court and sheweth all his State and Royalty and Magnificence is to a stinking dunghil should be rejected Truly nothing but this Men know not the worth of what God biddeth them for their wares The money which the devil and world offer are their own country coin and a little of this they sooner take because they know it then much more of another Nations the value of which they do not understand Swine trample on Pearls because they know
THE Fading of the Flesh AND Flourishing of Faith OR One CAST for Eternity WITH The only way to Throw it VVell AS ALSO The Gracious Persons incomparable Portion By GEORGE SWINNOCK M. A. Preacher of the Gospel late at Great-Kimbel in the County of Bucks Eccles 5.15 As he came forth of his Mothers womb naked shall he return to go as he came and shall take nothing of his labour which he shall carry in his hand Vides viventem cogita morientem Quid hic habeat attendis quid secum tollat attende Quid secum tollit multum auri habet multum argenti multum praediorum multum mancipiorum moritur remanent illa nescio quibus Aug. in Psal 49. v. 17. Incertum est quo te loco mors expectet itaque tu illam omniloco expecta Sen. Epist 26. LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Three Crowns in the lower end of Cheap-side over against the great Conduit 1662. There is extant of this Reverend Authors these Five other Treatises The Christian-mans Calling or a Treatise of making Religion ones Business wherein the Nature and Necessity of it is discovered as also the Christian directed how he may perform it in Religious Duties Natural Actions his particular Vocation his Family Directions and his own Recreation to be read in Families for their Instruction and Edification The first Part. The Door of Salvation opened by the Key of Regeneration or a Treatise containing the Nature Necessity Marks and means of Regeneration as also the duty of the Regenerate Heaven and Hell Epitomized or the true Christian characterized The beauty of Magistracy in an Exposition of the 82 Psalm where is set forth the necessity Utility Dignity Duty and Morality of Magistrates There is in the press the Second Part of that practical Piece of Divinity entituled The Christian-mans Calling Containing Directions for our dealings with all men carriage in all conditions whether in prosperity or adversity in all companies good or bad in solitariness on the week day from morning to night in visiting the sick upon a dying bed To the Courteous Ms. Jane Swinnock WIDOW OF Mr. Caleb Swinnock LATE OF Maidstone Deceased Honoured Couzen THe whole World is fitly termed by the Holy Ghost a Sea of glass Rev. 4. A Sea for its tempestuousness all the passengers who sail on it are sure to be driven too and fro with the surging waves and high winds of sorrows Man entereth on this stage of the World crying goeth off groaning and the part which he acteth is chiefly Tragical his whole life being little else from the Womb to the Tomb but a chain of crosses and a circle of sufferings he is tost like a Tennis Ball from hazard to hazard till at last he fall to the Earth A sea of Glass for its brittleness Glass is soon broken be it never so much Guilded The fashion of this World passeth away all its carnal comforts perish with it The possessions of it are corruptible Gold and Silver are liable to that rust which will consume them The Relations in it are mutable whilst we are refreshing our selves with those pleasant flowers and embracing them in our breasts and sticking them in our bosomes they wither The Jews at this day have a custome saith one when a Couple are married to break the glass wherein the Bridegroom and the Bride have drank thereby to admonish them that though at present they are joyned together yet ere long they must be parted asunder The Saints of God themselves are not priviledged from such arrests nay those vessels which are most richly laden go often deepest in these waters The howling Wilderness is the direct way to the heavenly Canaan The late Providence which removed your loving and beloved Husband I hope to Heaven hath taught you the truth of these particulars The loss of such a relation must needs be a sore affliction The nearer the union is the more difficult the separation Husband and Wife are one flesh therefore to part them cannot but be painful but Grace will help you both to submit to that blow which is so grievous to Nature and to be the better for it It was some comfort to me to observe your Christian carriage under so great a cross The hour of affliction is an hour of temptation Satan loves to fish when the Waters are troubled He would bring us to hard thoughts of God by the hard things we suffer from God Touch him and he will curse thee to thy face In such stormy weather some Vessels are cast away A corrupt heart in adversity like Water boyling over the Fire then most of all discovereth its froth and filth Isa 8.21 But though frosty seasons are hurtful to Weeds yet they are helpful to good Corn. A sanctified person like a silver bell the harder he is smitten the better he soundeth Faith is a special Antidote against the poison of the Wicked one It can read Love in the blackest Characters of Divine dispensation as by a Rain-bow we see the beautiful image of the Suns light in the midst of a dark and waterish Cloud Gods Rod like Jonathans is dipt in Hony Our daily bread and our sharpest rod grow upon the same root Every beleiver may say in affliction as Mauritius when his Wife and Children were slain before his eyes Righteous art thou O Lord and in very faithfulness hast afflicted me Dear Couzen Since Gods Rod hath a voice as well as his Word and like Moses his Rod in Egipt worketh wonders in and for his people Let me beseech you to hear it and to know him that hath appointed it O how highly doth it behove you to labour that as Aarons Rod it may bud and blosome with the fruits of holiness Two Lessons principally God would teach you by it First That your affections be taken off from Earthly possessions Dying Relations call for dying affections When Israel doted on Egypt as a pallace God made it an Iron furnace to wean them from it and to make them weary of it The creature is our Idol by nature we bow down the knees of our souls to it and Worship it but infinite Wisdom makes it our grief that it may not be our God When Children fare well abroad they are mindless of home but when abused by strangers they hasten to their Parents The World is therefore a Purgatory that it might not be our Paradice As soon as Laban frowned on Jacob he talks of returning to his Fathers House Every rout the World puts us to sounds a retreat to our affections and calls off our heart from the eager pursuit of these withering vanities Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Prov. 23.5 much less thine heart I have read of a young Hermit who being passionately in love with a young Lady could not by any Art suppress the fury and violence of that flame till at last being told that she was dead and had been buried about fourteeen days he went
secretly to her Vault and with the skirt of his Manâ—le wiped the moysture from the Carcass and still at the return of his temptation laid it before him saying Behold this is the beauty of the Womad which thou didst so much desire And the Man at last with that moysture of the Corps put out the Fire The godliness of the World its whole glory and gallantry is but a curious Picture drawn on Ice which affords no good footing for whilst we are standing on it we are sliding from it and who would lay the stress of his felicity upon so slippery a foundation No wise man ever put his chiefest goods and riches in such low damp rooms where they will corrupt and putrifie Hipocrates affirmeth that all immoderations are Enemies to the health of the body Sure I am they are to the health of the soul The amity of the World is emnity against God All the Water is little enough to run in the right Channel therefore none should run beside The time is short use the World as net abusing it 1 Cor. 7.29 Secondly That you chuse the good part that shall never be taken from you Mans heart will be fixt on somewhat as its hope and happiness God therefore puts out our Candles takes away Relations that we may look up to the Sun and esteem him our chiefest portion When we are Digging and Delving in the Earth to find out content and comfort he sendeth damps purposely to make us call to be drawn upward Till the Prodigal met with a Famine he regarded not his Father If the Waters be abated the Dove is apt to wander and defile her self but when they cover the face of the earth and allow her no rest then she returneth to the Ark. I hope there is a good work begun in you which shall be finished at the day of Christ But every one stande h or falleth to their own Master Get Scripture on your side and you are safe for ever The Romans when they parted from the bones of their Dead friends for they burnt them took their leave in such language Vale Vale Vale Noste ordine quo natura permiserit sequemur Farewel Farewel Farewel We shall follow thee in the time and order which nature alloweth us You may say of your Husband as David of his Child I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Prepare therefore for your dying hour Labour to be rich in godliness Grace alone is special bayl against death It is such wealth as will be currant in the other World lay up your treasure in Heaven where neither Thief nor Moth neither Men nor Divels can rob you of it Take God in Christ for your Heaven and you are happy in spight of the World Death and Hell You know the living comfort of your dying Husband was that though his flesh and heart failed him yet God was the strength of his heart and his portion for ever And it was a memorable speech of His when some Friends came to him and commended the richness and magnificence of Hampton Court newly trimmed and adorned for the reception of her Majesty One drop of the blood of Christ is more worth then all the World I must tell you there is no such Cordial in a day of Death as this Covenant-Relation to the Lord of life The Child may walk in that dark entry without fear if he have but his Father by the hand Though I walk in the Valley of the shadow of Death I will fear none ill for thou art with me Death indeed is strong it overcometh Principalities and Powers but as strong as it is it cannot separate God and the godly person It may dissolve the natural union betwixt soul and body but not the mystical union betwixt God and the soul The Saints dye in the Lord they sleep in Jesus O Couzen be married to Christ and you are made for ever Heaven is the Joynture and Death one of the Servants or slaves of her that is the Spouse of this Lord. Death is yours ye are Christs 1 Cor. 3.21 Other men are Deaths it hath dominion over them but Death is yours your servant to strip off your rags of sin and misery and to cloath you with the Robes of joy and glory The ensuing Discourse was for the substantial part of it delivered at the Funeral of your dearest Relation on earth You gave me the Text and my indisposition of body allowed me then but little time which caused me now to make some enlargements and additions but it s the same body possibly in a little neater far from gaudy dress which was prepared for the Pulpit I present it to you not doubting of its acceptance for his sake whose death was the occasion of it The good Lord bless it to you requite your love to me and them that fear him make up the want of streams in the more abundant enjoyment of the fountain fill you with all the fruits of righteousness enable you to persevere and encrease in godliness and so to live with a good conscience that you may dye with much comfort and be a follower of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises so prayeth Your Servant for Jesus sake George Swinnock TO THE Right VVorshipful THE Mayor with the Recorder Jurats Common Council and the rest of the Inhabitants of his Native Town Maidstone in Kent Honoured and Beloved IT is a general observation that all creatures have propensity and inclination towards those places where they receive their births and beings Vegetatives which stand in the lowest rank of life thrive best because they delight most in those grounds whence they first grow Sensitives as they have an higher being so a stronger inclination to those parts where they are born The Prince of Philosophers telleth us that Fish usually stay with pleasure in those Waters in which they are bread Arist Hist Animal l. 4. c. 8 and Beasts in those Woods in which they are brought forth and that neither of them will remove without force and violence Nature hath planted in them both this principle of affecting their native places Hence it comes to pass that even these creatures have manifested their thank-fulness after their manner Trees acknowledge that sap which they borrow from the earth in which they stand in the tribute of leaves which they pay back to the same in Autumn The Storks are said to leave one of their young in that part of the Earth where they are hatched Patriam quisque amat non quia pulchram sed quia suam Sen. Men as they have a Nobler life so a greater love to their Native Country Heathen themselves have been famous for this Pericles the Athenian did so affect his Country-men that his usual speech was If none but my self should lead them to the shambles Plut. in vit as much as lyeth in me they shall be immortal When Cleomenes King of Sparta being greatly distressed had
dye he screeched out dreadfully O that I had never raigned O that I had never been King for then I should not have now to Answer for my neglect of doing the good I might and my not hindering the evil I ought in my Government Sirs I beseech you give me leave to be faithful to you Will it not be a dreadful time with you when you are tumbling on your dying beds and neer your eternity if conscience should flye in your faces for your falseness and unfaithfulness in your places and make you cry out O that I had never been Mayor of Maidstone O that I had never been Justice O that I had never been Jurat for then I should not have now to Answer before the dreadful tribunal of a righteous God for all the Oaths Fornications Prophanation of the Lordâ— day and other evils which I might have hindred and did not and for all the good which I might by my holy pattern and encouraging others in piety have done and would not Alass ye cannot imagine the dreadfulness of such a mans condition on such a day Therefore now be Terrors to evil doers and encouragements to them that do well if ye would find comfort then for as in Philosophy so in Divinity They who mind not the premises make but mad but sad conclusions The Naturalists assure us that the Ashes of a Viper applied to that part of the body which is stung will draw the venome out of it natural attraction as it were calling home that poison which injury and violence had misplaced the serious consideration that you must dye and be turned into dust and ashes will be a soveraign medicine against the poison and pollution of sin it will make you both good men and good Magistrates The Latter part of the Treatise containeth the Gracious Persons Glorious Portion Therein I have endeavoured so to set forth the vastness of the Saints estate though I must confess neither men nor Angels can cast up its total sum that I might prevail with you to desire the felicity of Gods Children and the Inheritance of his chosen ones This is the portion which is as the Spanish Ambassadour said of his Masters treasure in the Indies without a bottom Though the seven streams of Nilus are known yet the head of it was never found out Much of the riches and beauty and perfections of the ever blessed God may be read in the book of the creatures more may be seen in the glass of the Scriptures but the longest line of humane or Angelical understanding can never fathom his boundless bottomless nature and being yet there is so much to be known of him even in his life as may draw out your hearts to chuse and close with him The World is ready to wonder what the people of God see or enjoy in him that they are so fearful of his fury and so joyfully in his favour as the ignorant wretch could see nothing in the Picture of Helena why Nicostratus should admire it so much but as Nicostratus told him O friend if thou hadst my eyes thou wouldst wonder at it as much as I do so had the World but the Saints eyes could they see what a Crown of glory What a Paradice of pleasures What a Mine of riches What a loving able and faithful friend God is could they but behold that beauty and bounty grace and peace love and life which are in the infinite God they would admire him too yea their eyes would affect their hearts Qui Venetias non vidit non credit quiae aliquandi ibi non vixit intelligit that they could not but love him and delight in him but Satan with his black hand like Swallows dung puts out mens eyes that they not seeing so great a good might not desire him The Italians have a Proverb He who hath not seen Venice doth not beleive and he who hath not lived there some time doth not understand what a City it is This is most true of God he who hath not with Moses seen him that is invisible doth not beleive and he who never had fellowship with the Father and Jesus Christ his son cannot understand what a vast alsufficient and infinite portion the eternal God is O friends did your eyes with Isaiah see this Lord of Hosts or with Israels Magistrate beheld but his back parts or had you with Paul ever been caught up into the third heavens ye would quickly trample on all the honours and pleasures and treasures of this lower World as toys and trifles and say with David whom have we in heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that we desire besides thee I have undertaken briefly in the ensuing discourse to shew also the vast difference between the Christians and the Worldlings portion by which you may understand that if any one among you could enjoy the wealth of Craesus the wisdom and glory of Solomon the beauty of Absolom the strength of Sampson the pleasures of Sardanapalus and to all the long life of Methuselah yet in the midst of all these his soul would be as beggerly as the body of Lazarus and as restless and unsatisfied as the stormy tempestuous Ocean No Water say Naturalists will quench the Dragons thirst No creature can fill the vast desires of a capatious immortal soul As among all the Beasts of the field there was not a meet Companion for man Adam was solitary and alone notwithstanding their numerous society so amongst all the creatures in the World there is not a meet portion for the soul its poor and beggerly without God in the midst of all its possessions your heads may be solicitous and your hearts industrious to heap up creature-comforts and when ye have got what the World can give ye would be but as hungry men in a Room full of Stones or Chips That which is unsutable to the souls nature cannot be satisfying to the spirits desires There is a nourishment proper to every Animal Spiders feed on Flies Moles on Worms the Horse on Grass the Lyon on Flesh there is also food proper to mans soul Spiritual Meat and spiritual Drink my flesh is Meat indeed my blood is Drink indeed all other is bibi potus tantummodo umbra this this is that which when the soul comes once to feed on it it s filled it s satisfied Philosophers observe that the matter of the Heavens desireth no other form whereas in all sublunary things it constantly doth and the reason is because of the Actuality and Perfection of that heavenly form While the soul fasteneth on any sublunary thing as its happiness it desireth more and better but when it doth once chuse the blessed God it desireth no more no better because of those infinite perfections which are in God One God answereth all the souls desires and necessities Plut. in vit To keep you no longer out of the body of the book It is Recorded of Marcus Cato that after
thy immortal soul against the coming of the bride-groom When thou diest thou throwest thy last cast for thine everlasting estate thou shalt never be allowed a second throw An Error in death is like an Error in the first Concoction which cannot be mended in the second Where thou lodgest that Night thou dyest thou art hous'd for ever That work which is of such infinite weight and can be done but once had need to be done well God hath given thee but one Arrow to hit the mark with Shoot that at randome and he will never put another into thy Quiver God will allow no second Edition to correct the Erratas of the first therefore it concerns thee with all imaginable seriousness to consider what thou doest when thou diest One would think thou shouldst take little comfort in any creature whilst thy eternal state is thus in danger Augustus wondered at the Roman Citizen that he could sleep quietly when he had a great burden of debt upon him What rest canst thou have what delight in any thing thou enjoyest who owest such vast sums to the Infinite Justice of God when he is resolved to have full satisfaction either in this or the other world When David offered Barzillai the pleasures and preferments of his own royal Palace he refused them because he was to die within a while How long have I to live that I should go up with the King unto Jerusalem Let thy servant turn back that I may dye 2 Sam. 19.34 35 36. i. e. Court me no courts I have one foot in the grave my glass is almost run let me go home and dye Without controversie thou hast more cause to wink on these withering comforts and to betake thy self wholly to a diligent preparation for death The Thebans made a law That no man should build a house before he had made his grave Every part of thy life may mind thee of thy death Mortibus vivimus Senec. The Moralist speaks true Thou livest by deaths thy food is the dead carkasses of birds or fish or beasts thy finest rayment is the worms grave before t is thy garment Look to the Heavens the Sun riseth and setteth so that life which now shineth pleasantly on thee will set how much doth it behove thee to work the work of him that sent thee into the world while day lasteth that thou mayst not set in a cloud which will certainly prognosticate thy foul weather in the other world Look down to the Earth there thou beholdest thy mother out of whose womb thou didst at first come and in whose bowels thou shalt ere long be laid The dust and graves of others cry aloud to thee as Gideon to his Souldiers Look on us and do likewise O trim thy soul against that time If thou risest up and walkest abroad in the streets thou seest this house and that seat where such a woman such a man dwelt and lo the place which knew them shall know them no more they are gone and have carried nothing with them but their godliness or ungodliness If thou liest down thy sleep is the image of death thou knowest not whether thou shalt awake in a bed of feathers or in a bed of flames but art certain that shortly thy body shall lye down in the grave and there remain till the resurrection Look on thy companions thou mayst see death siting on their countenances its creeping on them in the deafness of their ears in the dimness of their eys nay it s posting towards them in the very heighth and Zenith of their natural perfections Look on thy own house of clay death possibly looks out at thy windows however it looks in at thy windows thou wearest it in thy face thou bearest it in thy bones and doth it not behove thee to prepare for it Naturalists tell us that smelling of earth is very wholesom for consumptionate bodies O Reader a serious thought of thy death that thou art but dust would be very wholsom for thy declining and decaying soul Hard bones steept in vinegar and ashes grow so soft that they may be cut with a thread Give me leave for one half hour to steep thy hard heart in such a mixture possibly it may be so softned through the operation of the Spirit with the Word Drexel Eternit that thou mayst become wise unto salvation It s reported of one Guerricus that hearing these words read in the Church And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years and he died All the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years and he died And all the days of Enos was nine hundred and five years and he died And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty nine years and he died Gen. 5.5 He was so strongly wrought upon by those words And he died And he died that he gave himself wholly to devotion Friend if thou hast any dram of true love to thy soul and its unchangeable condition in the other world the consideration of death would make a deep impression upon thee But that I may awaken and rouse thee while there is time and hope and then help and heal thee I shall in the prosecution of this Exhortation First Speak to somewhat that may be perswasive Secondly Offer to thee somewhat that is Directive First I shall offer thee some thoughts which may quicken thee to a diligent provision for this time Motives 1 Death will come certainly First Dost thou not know that Death will come certainly As the young Prophet said to Elisha Dost thou know that the Lord will take thy Master from thy head to day 2 Kings 2.3 Reader Dost thou know that the Lord will take thy soul out of thy body and send it to the unknown regions of the other World where thou shalt see such things as thou never sawest hear such things as thou never heardst and understand such things as thou didst never understand Possibly thou wilt answer me as Elisha them I know it hold your peace But truly I am ready to urge it again being assured that thy knowledge is as Cicero speaks of the Athenians like artificial teeth for shew onely thou dost not yet know it for thy good Therefore give me leave to inforce it still Dost thou know that God will bring thee to death and to the house appointed for all the living Dost thou know that thy ruddy countenance will wax pale thy sparkling eyes look gastly thy warm blood cool in thy veins thy marrow dry up in thy bones thy skin shrivel thy sinews shrink nay thy very heart strings crack And hast thou provided never a cordial against this hour Dost thou not read in the writings of God himself That no man hath power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war Eccles 8.8 No man hath power either to resist deaths force or to procure termes of peace The greatest Emperor with the strength of all his
wipe off all tears from thine eyes all thy sins and sorrows should be buried in thy Grave and the Vessel of thy soul which in this life is weaterbeaten tost up and down with the boysterous billows of temptations and the high winds of the Worlds wrath and the Devils rage would there arrive at a blessed and everlasting harbour Death would sound a retreat and call thee out of the field where the Bullets flye thick and threefold in thy Combate with the flesh world and wicked one to receive a crown of life Hence that ancient custome of placing a Laurel Crown at the head of the dead mans Coffin in token of Victory and Triumph CHAP. VII What is requisite to preparation for Death A change of state and a change of nature with a most gracious offer from the most high God to Sinners IF any thing or all that I have written hath wrought thee to a resolution to prepare for thy dissolution if these motives which thy conscience must needs confess to be weighty have melted thee and made thee pliable for a divine stamp and mould I shall acquaint thee with the means and way how thou mayst dye well Having finished what is perswasive Secondly I shall offer thee somewhat that is directive And know Reader further that there is no other medicine in the World which can possibly cure thy wounded dying soul but that which I have from God to prescribe thee throw away this or neglect the rules in applying it to thy sores or advise with flattering mountebanks and thy lamentable condition will be irrecoverable thy dreadful estate will be desperate I shall not like an Emperick try new tricks or remedies on thy bleeding gasping soul but give thee that receipt consisting but of two ingredients which the great Physician hath left in Writing under his own hand and which thousands have experienced to be effectual for their cure whose souls are made thereby at this hour as his body in the Gospel every whit whole Pride or an Ambitious desire of self sufficiency and self subsistance was the stone at which man at first stumbled and fell into the bottomless pit of matchless misery it was the fatal Knife which cut the throat of his glorious hopes and happiness the wise God therefore like a tender Father in mans recovery takes special care to lay these Weapons out of the Childrens way by which they had wrought themselves such wo. Hence it is that he hath chosen those two graces to make us happy and carry us to himself which speak us to be most beggerly and carry us most out of our selves Faith and Repentance Faith teacheth us to deny our selves as utterly weak and Repentance causing us to abhor our selves as altogether unworthy Repentance discovereth our nakedness and obnoxiousness thereby to shame and suffering and Faith telleth that our own rags come infinitely short of hiding it and that we must fetch our garments out of anothers Wardrobe The whole Globe of Christianity divideth it self into these two Hemispheres As the bodily life consisteth in natural heat and radical moysture so the life of the soul in Faith and Repentance Therefore Reader if thou wouldst dye well undergo that great change with comfort it is absolutely and indispensably necessary that thou mind these two changes before hand A change of thy state or condition which is wrought by faith and a change of thy nature or disposition which is wrought by Repentance The Door of thy happiness hangs on these two Hinges the merit of Christ without thee and its acceptation with God for the justification of thy person and secondly the Spirit of Christ within thee and its operation for the sanctification of thy nature A change of State requisite First There must of necessity be a change of thy state by faith in Christ or thou canst never put thy head into the other World with comfort There is no such Shroud such a Winding-sheet for the departing soul to be wrapt in as the righteousness of a Saviour Pauls care was that he might not be found naked 2 Cor. 5.3 O t is sad indeed for thy soul to be summoned to appear before the jealous God and to have nothing to cover thy nakedness Adam knowing that he was naked fled from God Guilt cannot but be shie of a Judge sore eyes will not endure the sight of the Sun God is a consuming fire to all who have not Jesus Christ for their Skreen He seemeth to every person as Joseph to the Patriarchs Thou shalt not see my face with joy except thou bringest thy Brother with thee T is alone in the Garments of thine Elder Brother that thou canst have a sound hope to receive the blessing Every one who dyeth out of Christ dyeth in his sins John 8.21 And were not mens hearts desperately hard t were impossible that any should dye in their senses who die in their sins all would die distracted who dye thus defiled By nature thou art under the Covenant of works and so bound to earn happiness by thy fingers ends if ever thou wilt have it in which failing for no meer man ever saild to bliss in that bottom thou art liable to the curse of the Law a bondslave to thy Jaylor Satan and an heir of Hell If ever therefore thou wouldst arrive at Heavens blessed port there is a necessity of imbarquing in another Vessel and that is the Covenant of Grace by which thou mayst be freed from all the former crosses and curses and filled with all the special comforts and rich cordials of the Gospel Now it is faith in Christ by which thou comest to be shipt in this Covenant and surely it concerns thee then to get this grace Many nay Millions are drowned and cast away sayling through the boysterous billows of death in the broken bottom of the first Covenant when others in the second ride in Triumph with top and top gallant to their desired Haven Reader If thou art out of this Covenant thou art like a man in the midst of the Sea without any Boat or bottom though some in Vessels at the same time are safe yet he is sure to sink It is related of one that being at the point of Drowning in a River and looking up and seeing a Rainbow in the Skie the sign of Gods Covenant that he would never more drown the World he made this conclusion What if God save the whole World from a deluge of Waters and suffer me to perish in this River what good will that Covenant do me So say I to thee though thousands escape a deluge of wrath through Gods promise to Christ and in Christ to his purified ones what good will it do thee if thou perishest An interest in this Covenant was the living comfort of dying David He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make not my House to grow
The red Sea of his blood is the onely way through which thou canst pass into Canaan Reader since there is a flood and vengeance and wrath upon the face of the World flie as the distressed Dove to this Ark of the Covenant see how Jesus Christ the true Noah a Preacher of righteousness puts forth his hand to take thee in He is the Son of David to whom souls that are in debt and in distress may flee and seemeth to speak to thee as David to Abiathar Abide thou with me fear not for they the World and Devil that seek thy life seek mine but with me thou shalt be in safe-guard 1 Sam. 22.2 and ult A change of nature requisite Secondly There must of necessity be a change of thy nature by Repentance or Death can never be thy passage into the undefiled inheritance The new man is the onely Citizen of the new Jerusalem T is bad venturing a voyage to the Happy Islands in an old leaking bottom In the Art of navigation it was a Law and formerly seriously observed that none should be a Master or Masters Mate that had not been first a Sculler and Rowed with Owers and from thence be promoted to the Stern None are fit to Raign with God who have not wrought for God Others are more unfit for it then a Carter for a Princes Court Men must be bound Apprentices on earth to that high and holy Trade of worshipping and glorifying the blessed God and know the Art and Mystery of it which the purblind eyes of nature cannot discern before they can set up for themselves and inrich themselves by it in Heaven Men that are wholly strangers to a Country and no whit acquainted with the Language and Carriage of the natives would find if in it but a solitary place He whose eyes are so bad that he cannot see God with the help of the spectacles of Ordinances will be much more unable to see him face to face Alas what would an earthly man do in Heaven Till thou art converted and hast a sense of thy sins and miseries thou art a Rebel in actual Arms against God If Death finds thee in such a condition God takes the Fort of thy Soul by storm with thy Weapons in thy hands and therefore thou canst expect nothing less then Death eternal without mercy There is no peace to be thought of with God whilst thou maintainest War against him The sinner instead of disarming armeth Death against himself The life of sin is the life of Death and enableth it to kill the soul Till thy nature be renewed thy heart is full of enmity against God and thy life nothing else but a walking contrary to him and therefore thou canst have no delight or joy in him which is the very Heaven of Heavens There must be conformity to him before there can be communion with him God and man must be agreed before they can walk or dwell together Except ye be converted ye can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God and again Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Mat. 18.3 John 3.3 Which negatives can in no wise and cannot enter speak not onely the impossibility of it on Gods part because he is fully resolved against it but also the incapacity on mans part because he is wholly unprepared for it Swine are not fit for a rubd Room or a presence Chamber As Timber must be laid out and shrunk before its fit for building otherwise t will warp So God humbleth and draweth out self-â—ap and self-indisposition before they become the Temple of the Holy Ghost That building which reacheth up to Heaven must have a low foundation They that would turn Pewter by Alchimy into Silver first dissolve the Pewter or otherwise their labour is in vain Thy heart must be melted by godly sorrow for sin and hatred of sin before thou canst be a vessel of Silver for thy Masters use the Angel troubled the Waters before they were healing John 5.4 Repent that your sins may be blotted out Act. 3.19 Repentance and Remission are ever Twins T is observable that nature haâ—h made the roots of many trees bitter whose fruits are very sweet They that in life sow in tears at death shall reap in joy It is the wet seed-time that hath the sunshiny harvest God is reâ—â—â—â—d that all the sons of men shall feel sin 〈◊〉 in broken Bones on Earth or broken Backs in Hell When sin hath its deaths-wound before it will expire at death for though sin brought death into the body death will cast sin out of the body When grace is before budded and blossomed at death it will ripen into glory Holiness is the Raiment of Needle-work in which thou art to be brought to thy Lord and Husband Psa 45.14 but its necessary that like Abrahams Ram thou be perplexed in these Briars before by death thou art offered up as a peace-offering to God They are foolish who Dream of being carried to Heaven in a Feather-bed None but such as are weary of the work as a sick man of his bed and heavy laden with the weight of sin as a Porter can be of his burden shall enter into the everlasting rest Naturalists observe that the Egiptian Fig-Tree being put into the Water Pliny Nat. Hist Lib. 13. Cap. 7. presently sinketh to the bottom but being well soaked contrary to the nature of other Trees it boys it self up to the top Till thy mind is inlightned to see sins deformity thy will renewed to refuse it as thy only enemy and thy affections purified to grieve for it and loath it as it is contrary to the blessed God and thy own felicity till thy soul is soaked in these bitter waters never expect to be lifted up to the Rivers of pleasures at Gods right hand This howling Wilderness is the onely way to Canaan The path to Sion lyeth by Sinai God powreth the Oyl of gladness into the broken Vessel Some Phylosophers tell us that Feeling is the foundation of natural life no feeling no life It s true I am sure in Divinity no feeling no sense of sin no spiritual no eternal life Impenitency like a Lethurgy is deadly is damning God doth qualifie all whom he intendeth to dignifie Saul is qualified by receiving another spirit then he had before to reign over men much more must they be qualified by receiving a new heart and a new spirit who are to reign with God The Sun never leapt from Mid-night to Mid-day but first sendeth forth some glimmerings of light in the dawning of the day then looketh upon us with some weak and waterish beams after that beholds us with open face and even then hath many Miles to run before he can arrive at his Meridian glory God never carried a soul from Hell to Heaven from a natural condition to the beautifical Vision but through the door or gate of conversion Reader to conclude this Use and sum up
little dost thou think what Rings and Robes what dainties and delicates what grace and mercy and peace he provided on purpose against the return of thee a wandring prodigal Thou needst now no longer run a score with the World for any of its course carnal fare thy beloved will entertain thee at his own table with curious and costly feasts thou shalt have bread to eat which the world knows not of If dangers and evils pursue thee thou hast thy City of refuge at hand wherein thou mayst be secure from the fear and fury of men and Devils T will be life to thee now to think of Death thou mayst lift up thy head with joy when that day of thy redemption draweth nigh Death will give thee a writ of ease both from sin and sorrow then thy Indentures will expire and thy soul be at liberty Thou hast now taken in thy full lading for Heaven and mayst therefore call like a Merchant that hath all his goods on shipboard to the Master of the Vessel to hoise up sail and be gone towards thy everlasting harbour O how may thy heart revive with old Jacobs to see those wagons which are sent to fetch thee to thy dear Jesus for thou knowest that he is Lord of the Countrey and able to make thee welcome when thou comest thither Now thou art present in the body and so absent from the Lord but then thou shalt ever ever be with the Lord but if thou refusest so great and so good an offer chusing slavery to the flesh before this Christian liberty and resolving as many wicked ones do rather to be free for many Harlots then to take one Wife rather to love and serve divers lusts and pleasures then to be wedded to Jesus Christ go on take thy course but be confident that thy fleshly life like the head of Polypus though pleasant at present will afterwards cause troublesome sleep and frightful Dreams If thou intendest to lanch into the Ocean of eternity without this Pilot the blessed Saviour who alone can steer the Vessel of thy soul amidst those dangerous shelves and sands aright and the ballast of grace not regarding what passage thou hast nor at what Port thou arrivest in the other World whether Heaven or Hell prepare thy self to take up thine eternal lodging amongst frightful Devils and to bear thy part in the endless yellowings and howlings of the Damned and know withal to thy terror that this very tender of grace will one day like Joabs Sword to Abner stab thee under the fift rib cut thee to the very heart and like a mountain of Lead sinck thee deep into that Ocean of wrath when thou shalt have time enough to befool thy self for refusing so good an offer and where thou shalt be tormented day and night for ever and ever I have this day set before thee life and death blessing and cursing therefore chuse life that both thou and thy seed may live That thou mayst love the Lord thy God and that thou mayst obey his voice and that thou mayst cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy days Deut. 30.19 20. CHAP. VIII The Second Exhortation To the serious Christian shewing how a Saint may come to dye with courage I Shall now speak in this Use of Exhortation to the Serious Christian If thy flesh will fail thee so fortifie thy Spirit 2. Exhortation To the serious Christian to be valiant in Death that thou mayst give the flesh a chearful farewel Thy care must be to dye with courage A good Souldier in all his Armour may be daunted at the sight of that Enemy whom he meeteth on a sudden Mary was troubled at the sight and sayings of that Angel which brought the best news that ever the world heard Luk. 1. T is true thou canst never dye before thou art ripe for Heaven but thou mayst dye in some sence before thou art ready in thy own apprehensions to leave the earth Many go to Heaven certainly who go not to Heaven comfortably Tertul. de Spectat cap. 1. It was Tertullians character of the Christians in his time that they were Expiditum morti genus A sort of people prepared for death When a son hath loytered in the day he may well be affraid to look his Father in the face at night but when he hath laboured faithfully he may come into his presence without fear Though he that is sober at home be more ready to put off his cloaths and go to sleep then he that is drinking and vomiting in a Tavern yet even this man may think of some business which he neglected in the day time that may make him unwilling to lye down Surely somewhat is the cause that the children of God are so unquiet when night cometh and so many of them go wrangling to bed Christian I would in a few words direct thee how thou mayst put off thy earthly Tabernacle as chearfully as thy cloaths and lye down in thy grave as comfortably as ever thou didst in a bed of Down It is thy own fault if thou dost not keep such a good fire all day I mean Grace so flaming on the hearth of thy heart that thou mayst encrease it at night and so go warm to bed even to thy Eternal Rest The first Means Take heed of blotting thy Evidences for Heaven Darkness we know is very dreadful 1 Blot not thy evidences for Heaven when men by great or willful sins have so blurred the deeds which speak their right to Heaven that they cannot read them no wonder if being thus in the dark they are affraid to leave the earth It is reported of good Agathon Doroth Doct. 2. that when death approached he was much troubled whereupon his friends said unto him What dost thou fear He answered I have endeavoured to keep the commandments of God but I am a man and how do I know whether my works please God or no for other is the judgement of God and other is the judgement of men He must needs be troubled to be removed from present pleasures who knoweth not that he shall go to a better place Twenty pounds a year certain is counted better then and a man will be unwilling to part with it for forty pounds a year that is doubtful It is assurance onely of a better life which will carry the soul with comfort through the bitter pangs of death Hence it was that Job called so frequently and cried so earnestly to be laid to bed O that I might have my request that God would grant me the thing that I long for even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off then should I yet have comfort Let him not spare for I have not concealed the words of the holy one Job 6.8 9 10. Job had lived with a good conscience and therefore feared not to dye with great comfort His fidelity to God
encouraged him to expect mercy from God He had not concealed nor shut up Gods faithfulness from men and therefore knew that God would not conceal his loving kindness from him But David on the other hand when night in his own thoughts drew near was as importunate to fit up longer God seemed to call him to bed but he begs hard O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more Psa 39. ult Now mark the reason of this petition David as t is generally conceived was now persecuted by Absolom the unnatural Son forced his Father to flie He in his suffering reads his own sin and Gods indignation and so dreads an appearance in the other World in such a condition He who when things were clear betwixt God and his soul could walk in the valley of the shadow of Death and fear none ill could even give Death a challenge now when things are cloudy and dubious runs back like a Coward He had lost the sense of Gods favour and therefore could not think of venturing into his presence without much fear The train of his corruptions threatned to wait on him to the highest Court and he durst not appear before the Lord with such company He had been declining in his grace under a sad distemper and as a weak consumptionate man he was affraid to travail so great a journey as the way whence he should never return The Tenant who wants his rent loves not to hear of the Quarter day Friend If thou wouldst leave the World chearfully live in the World conscienciously take heed of those fiends which will fright thee in the night of Death chuse suffering before sin and punish thy body to keep thy soul pure The Ermin some say will die before she will go into the Dirt to defile her beautiful skin and the Mouse of Armenia will rather be taken and slain then preserve and pollute her self in a filthy Hole As the white is always in the Archers eye so let thy Death be in thine that it may quicken thee to diligence and exactness in thy life Logicians who regard not the premises infer wilde conclusions so if thou art careless of thy conversation expect but an uncomfortable dissolution As when God looked on all his works and saw that they were good then followed his Sabbath of rest so when thou canst reflect upon the several passages of thy life and see that through Christ they are good and thou hast not been guilty of enormities though of infirmities after this thou wilt joyfully by Death enter into thy everlasting Sabbath Thy evidence will be clear if thy conscience be kept clean but the truth is many even amongst Christians wound their souls by venturing on sin and thence flinch and start back when they come to be searcht besides they neglect casting up their accounts so long that they know not whether they are worth any thing or nothing and so may well be unwilling to have their estates ransackt into If thou shouldst fall I would not sad any Saint take heed of lying there but be as speedy as is possible in calling to Christ to raise thee up If thy conscience be raw with the guilt of any sin a light affliction much more Death will make thee kick and fling and unwilling to bear it But when thy flesh is sound thy spirit healed by the blood of Christ Death it self will be but a light burden on thy back How merrily mayst thou though thou hast not a penny in thine own purse go the way of all the Earth travel into the other World when thou art sure of Christ in thy company who will bear thy charges all the way The second Means 2 Wean thy heart from the World Secondly Mortifie thy affections more to the World and all its comforts They who love the World most leave it worst Lots Wife lingered in Sodom so much and was so loth to depart because she loved it overmuch When boards lye close one upon another they are easily parted but when they are glewed one to another t will cost some trouble and pains If thy heart be loose to the World t will be a small matter to thee to leave it but if thou art fastened to it in thy affections t will not be done without much reluctancy and opposition The Wife who hath been so faithful to her Husband as to keep her heart wholly for him is ready always to open the Door to him when she that entertaineth other Lovers though her Husband knock at the Door dares not run presently to open it but first makes a shuffling and busling up and down to hide or get them out of the way The more thy affections are set on Christ thy true Husband the more the World is taken out of thee and so the more easily wilt thou be taken out of the World He who hath laid up his heart in Heaven will comfortably think of laying down his head in the Earth When the pins of the Watch are taken out which held it together how easily doth it fall in peices When thy affections from these things below are removed how quickly how quietly will thy soul and body fall asunder If the World be as loose to thee as thy Cloak thou canst put it off at pleasure but if it be as close to thee as thy skin they shall have somwhat to do who shall perswade thee to part with it We read of some unwilling to dye for they had treasure in the field Jer. 41.8 Where their treasure was their hearts were also Make it thy work therefore by considering the Worlds vanity and deceitfulness and by pondering Heavens glory and happiness to wean thy heart from sublunary things hereby thou wilt as willingly leave them as ever infant did those breasts which long ago t was weaned from The third Means 3. Familiarize the thoughts of Death Vse thy heart to the frequent thoughts of Death When Children are frighted at a Dog or a Cat we do not give way to their foolish fears but bring the brute to them and get them to touch and handle it and shew them that it is not such a frightful thing as they imagine and hereby in time they are so far from being frighted that they can play with it familiarly Dost thou dread this King of Terrors Death give not way to this fear but bring death up to thy spirit handle it feel it there is no such hurt in it as thou imaginest nothing which should terrifie thee hereby at last thou mayst come to play upon the hole of this Asp One ground I suppose why Job made no more of dying was because he was so well acquainted with Death Strangers are startled at many things in a place which they that are home-born and used to can delight in I have said to corruption Thou art my Father and to the Worms thou art my Brother and Sister Job 17.14 Job was as familiar with Death
as if it had been his Father and made no more of dying then of falling into the Armes and embraces of his Mother or Sister Moses at first started back at the sight of the Serpent but when he had handled it a little t was turned into a rod and nothing frightful to him There is a story of an Ass called Cumanus Ass which jetting up and down in a Lyons skin did for a time much terrifie his Master but afterwards being descried did much benefit him Thou art fearful possibly Reader of this beast supposing it to be a roaring Lyon but come up to it and thou wilt find it but an Ass in the skin of a Lyon and such a one as will be no way hurtful but many ways helpful to thee What is this Bugbear Death which thus frights thee Is it not the Paranymphus which presenteth thy faithful soul to thy beloved Husband Is it not a leaving the World and a going to thy Father Is it less then a kiss of Gods lips The indulgent parent will take the babe into her Arms and with many kisses lay it in her lap when its falling asleep The Chaldee Paraphrase tell us Moses dyed with a kiss of the Lords mouth Deut. 34.5 Will it not be the funeral of all thy corruptions and crosses and the resurrection of all imagiable delights and comforts Didst thou but know this friend more thou wouldst not be so shie of its company The Roman used their youth to gladiatory fights and bloody spectacles that acquaintance with them before-hand might make them less troubled in Wars with their enemies Philostrates lived seven years in his Tomb before his death that his bones might be the better known to his Grave Accustom thy self to the thoughts of death thy change thy translation to bliss thy entrance into Heaven and when it comes his Errand being known so well before he will be welcome Mithridates by accustoming his body to poison turned it into good nourishment Use thy soul to the thoughts of Death and though it be worse then poison to others t will be pleasant and profitable to thee CHAP. IX The Second Doctrine That God is the Comfort of a Christian with the grounds of it His happyness is in God I Proceed now to the second Doctrine from the second part of the Text the Saints comfort But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever That the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition is this That God is his portion The Psalmists condition was very sad his Flesh failed him The second Doctrine that the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition is that Go◠is his portion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. de Ju. Se. cap. 3. Mans Spirit often decayes with his flesh The Spirits and blood are let out together His Heart fell with his flesh but what was the strong cordial which kept him from swooning at such a season Truly this But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Aristotle affirmeth of the Tortoys that it liveth when its heart is taken away The holy man here liveth when his heart dyeth As the Sap in winter retreateth to the root and there is preserved so the Saint in crosses in death retireth to God the Fountain of his life and so is comforted David when his Wives were captivated his wealth plundred and his very life threatned for the Souldiers talked of Stoning him was doubtless in a very dreadfull estate one would have thought such an heavy burden must needs break his back but behold the joy of the Lord was his strength But David encouraged his heart in the Lord his God 1 Sam. 30.6 When the Table of earthly comforts which for a long time at best had been but indifferently spread for him was quite empty he fetcheth sweet-meats out of his Heavenly Closet But David encouraged his heart in the Lord his God Methodius reporteth of the Plant Pyragnus that it flourisheth in the flames of Olympus Christians as the Salamander may live in the greatest fire of affliction at this day And as the three Children may sing when the whole world shall be in a flame at the last day They are by the Spirit of God compared to Palm-trees Psalm 92.12 which though many weights are hanging on the top and much drought be at the bottom are neither say some Naturalists born down nor dried up This nightingale may warble out her pleasant notes with the sharpest thorne at her breast The onely reason which I shall give of the Doctrine Reason of the Doctrine because God is his happiness is this Because a Godly man placeth his happiness in God It s natural to the creature in the mid'st of its sufferings to draw its comfort and solace from that pipe whether supposed or real happiness All things have a propensity towards that in which they place their felicity If a stone were lay'd in the Concave of the Moon though air and fire and water are between yet it would break through all and be restless till it come to the earth its centre Asutable and unchangeable rest is the onely satisfaction of the rational creature All the tossings and agitations of the soul are but so many wings to carry him hither and thither that he may find out a place where to rest Let this Eagle once find out and fasten on the true carcasse he is contented as the needle pointing to the North though before in motion yet now he is quiet Therefore the Philosopher though in one place he tells us that delight consisteth in motion yet in another place tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it consisteth rather in rest Happinese is nothing but the Sabbath of our thoughts and the satisfaction of our hearts in the fruition Eth. lib 7. cap. ult of the chiefest good According to the excellency of the object which we embrace in our hearts such is the degree of our happiness the Saints choice is right God alone being the souls center and rest Omnes literae in Jehovah sunt literae qui escentes say the Rabbies Let a sinner have but that which he counteth his treasure though he be under many troubles he is contented Give a covetous man wealth and he will say as Esau I have enough When an ambitious man mounts up to a chair of state he sits down and is at ease If a voluptuous person can but bath himself in the streams of carnal pleasures he is as a fish in his Element So let a Godly man enjoy but his God in whom he placeth all his joy and delight in whom is all his happiness and heaven he is well he hath all Shew us the Father and it sufficeth No more is desired John 14.8 No man thinks himself miserable till he hath lost his happiness A Godlyman is blessed when afflictied and buffetted because God is the proper Orb in which he doth fix and he hath his God still Job
tryals and defie the greatest dangers At destruction and famine they can laugh Job 5 22. and over the greatest crosses through him they are more then Conquerours Rom. 8.35 2. As God is able to free from all evil so to fill the soul with all good 2 God can fill a soul with all good therefore is its happiness That which beatifieth the reasonable creature must undertake the removal of what is destructive and the restoring to him whatsoever may be perfective Weak nature must be supported and empty nature must be supplyed Now the whole creation cannot be mans happiness because it is unable both to defend him from evil and to delight him with good The comfort which ariseth from creatures is like the juice of some plums which doth fill with wind but yields no nourishment He that sits at the worlds table when it is most largely spread and fairly furnished and feedeth most heartily on its fare is as one that dreameth he eats and when he awakes loe he is hungry The best noise of earthly Musicians can make but an empty sound which may a little please the senses but not in the least satisfie the soul The world hath but small choice and therefore makes us but small chear for as sick and squeazie stomacks we are presently cloyd even with that which we called so earnestly for Hence it was that those who esteemed their happiness to consist in pleasing their brutish part did so vehemently desire new carnall delights Nero had his officer that was stilled Arbiter Neronanae libidinis An inventer of new pleasures Sueton. cap 43. Suetonius observeth the same of Tiberius and Cicero of Xerxes for these men like children were quickly weary Omnibus Error immensus of that for which they were but now so unquiet And the reason is given us by the Moralist because error is infinite The thirst of nature may be satisfied but the thirst of a disease as the dropsy cannot The happiness of the soul consisteth in the enjoyment of good commensurate to its desires which no creature is nay not all the creatures But God is the happiness of the creature because he can satisfy it The Hebrews call a blessed man Ashrei in the abstract and in the plural number blessednesses Psalm 32.1 because no man can be blessed for one or another good unless he abound in all good The soul of man is a Vessel too capacious to be fild up with a few drops of water but this Ocean can do it Whatsoever is requisite either to promote decayed or to perfect deficient nature is in God The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Psalm 23.1 Where is all wealth there can be no want My God shall supply all your need Phil. 4.13 One God answereth all necessities because one God includeth all excellencies He is bonum comprehensivum in him are all the treasures of Heaven and Earth and infinitely more The God of all comforts is his name 2 Cor. 1.3 As all light is in the Sun so all comfort all good is in God Theodoret cals Moses an Ocean of Divinity Some have called Rome the Epitome of the world It s true of God he is an Ocean of all delights and blessings without either bank or bottom and the Epitome of inconceivably more and incomparably better then all this worlds felicities The God of peace fill you with all joy Rome 15.19 Observe here is joy which is the cream of our desires the overflowing of our delights it is the sweet tranquillity of our mindes the quiet repose of our hearts and as the sun to the flowers it enlargeth and cheereth our affections Joy is the mark which all would hit And is by the Philosopher well observed to be the dilation of the heart for its embracing of closing with Union to its most beloved object 2 Here is all joy Variety of what is excellent addeth much to its lustre and beauty The Christian sits at a banquet made up of all sorts of rare and curious wines and all manner of dainties and delicates He may walk in this garden and delight himself with diversity of pleasant fruits and flowers All joy One kind of delight like Maryes box of Oyntment being opened filleth the whole house with its savor what then will all sorts of precious perfumes and fragrant oyntments do 3. Here is filling them with all joy Plenty joyned with variety of that which is so excedingly pleasant must needs inhance its price there is not a crevice in the heart of a Christian into which this light doth not come It s able to fill him were he a far larger Vessel then he is as they fill'd the pots at the feast of Cana up to the brim with this water or rather with this wine The joy arising from the creature is an empty joy like the Musitian in Plutarch who having pleased Dionysius with a litle vanishing Musick was recompenced with a deceived hope of a great reward but this is a satiating satisfying joy fill you with all joy But 4. On what root doth such a variety and Plenty of lovely luscious fruit grow Truly this light of joy doth not spring out of the earth its Fountain is in heaven The God of peace fill you with all joy The Vessel of the creature runs dregs it can never yield such choyce delights This pure River of water of life proceedeth onely out of the throne of God Rev. 22. CHAP XI God the happiness of Man because of his sutableness to the Soul THis delight and joy in God ariseth from his sutableness to the nature of the heaven-born Saints as I shall discover in the next heads and their propriety in him God is a sutabâ—e good to Manâ— Soul Secondly God is a proportionable good That which makes a man happy must be suitable to his spiritual soul All satisfaction ariseth from some likeness between the faculty or temper which predominateth and the object The cause of pleasure in our meats is the sutableness of the saline humor in our taste to that in our food Therefore silver doth not satisfy one that is sick Aristot Eth. lib. 10 cap. 7. nor rayment one that suffereth hunger because these are not answerable to those particular necessities of nature The Prince of Philosophers observeth truly That those things onely content the several creatures which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accommodated to their several natures Birds and beasts and fish do all live upon and delight in that food which is proportionable to their distinct beings The Oxe feedeth on grasse the Lion on flesh the Goat on Bough's some live on the dew some on fruit some on weeds some creatures live in the Air others sport themselves in the waters the Mole and Worm are for the earth the Salamander choseth rather the fire Nay in the same plant the bee feedeth on the flower the bird on the seed the sheep on the blade and the swine on the root and
what is the reason of all this but because nature must have its rest and delight from that only which is sutable to its own appetite and desire Hence it is that though God be so perfect a good yet he is not the happiness of evil Men or evil Angels for he is not sutable to their vitiated depraved natures The carnal mind which beareth sway in unregenerate men is enmity against God and Devils are as contrary to Gods nature as fire is to water Hence it is that spiritual men place and enjoy happiness in the Father of Spirits because he is the savoury meat which their souls love Though the sinner can live upon dregs as the swine on dung yet the Saint must have refined Spirits and nothing lesse then Angels food and delights It is an unquestionable truth that nothing can give true comfort to man but that which hath a relation and beareth a proportion to his highest and noblest part his immortal soul for his sensitive faculties were created in him to be subordinate and serviceable to their Master Reason therefore he is excelled in them by his inferiours as the Eagle in seeing and the Hound in scenting nature aiming at some more sublime and excellent design the perfection of the rational part in those lower particulars was lesse exact therefore the blessed God alone being a sutable Good to the heavenly spiritual soul of man can only satisfie it Philosophers tell us the reason of the irons cleaving to and resting in the load-stone is because the pores of both bodies are alike so there are effluxes and emanations that slide through them and unite them together One cause of the Saints love to and delight in God is his likeness to God Creatures are earthly the soul is heavenly they are corporeal the soul is spiritual therefore as when friends are contrary in disposition the soul cannot take up its rest and happiness in their fruition but God is sutable and therefore satisfying I am God All sufficient Gen. 17.1 Some derive the word Shaddai from Almighty Alsufficient from shad a dug for as the breast is sutable to the Babe nothing else will quiet it so is God to his Children A man that is hungry finds his stomack still craving something he wants without which he cannot be well Give him musick company pictures houses honours yet there follows no satisfaction these are not sutable to his appetite still his stomack craves but set before this man some wholesome food and let him eat his craving is over They did eat and were filled O miserabilis hâ—mâ—a cordâ—â— sine Châ—isto Oâ—nâ—um omne â—uod viviâ— â—lâ—â—e om Epit. Nep. Tim 1. p. â—5 Neh. 9.25 So it is with mans soul as with his body the soul is full of cravings and longings spending it self in sallies out after its proper food give it the credit and profits and pleasures of the world and they cannot abate its desire it craves still for these do not answer the souls nature and therefore cannot answer its necessity but once set God before it and it feeding on him it is satisfied it s very inordinate dogged appetite after the world is now cured He tasting this Manna tramples on the Onions of Egypt He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again but he that drinketh of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst John 4. CHAP. XII God the Saints happiness because of his Eternity and the Saints propriety in him GOD is a permanent good That which makes a man happy must be immortal like himself as man is rational so he is a provident creature desirous to lay up for hereafter and this forecast reacheth beyond the fools in the Gospel for many years even for millions of ages for ever by laying hold on eternal life He naturally desires an immortality of being whence that inclination in creatures say Philosophers of propagating their kind and therefore an eternity of blessedness The soul can enjoy no perfection of happiness if it be not commensurate to its own duration For the greater our joy is in the fruition of any good the greater our grief in its amission Eternity is one of the fairest flowers in the glorified Saints garland of honour It s an eternal weight of glory 2. Cor. 4.17 Were the triumphant spirits ever to put off their Crown of life the very thought thereof would be death and like leaven would sower the whole lump of their comforts The perpetuity of their state adds infinitely to their pleasure We shall ever be with the Lord. 2. Thes 4.16 Here they have many a sweet bait but there God will be their standing-dish never off the Heavenly Table The creature cannot make man happy Laâ—itia saeculi cum ma na expect â—oâ—e speratâ—r ut veniniâ—t â—oâ—â—â—test tenâ—râ— câ—nvenit Aug. tract 7 in Job because as it is not able to fill him so it is not fast to him like the Moon in the increase it may shine a little the former part of the night but is down before morning Man is not sure to hold them whilst he liveth How often is the candle of outward comforts blown out by a suddain blast of providence Many as Naomi go out full but come home empty some disaster or other as a Theif meets them by the way and robs them of their deified treasure The Vessel in which all of some mens wealth is embarqued while it spreadeth fair with its proud Sails and danceth along upon the surging waters when the Factor in it is pleasing himself with the kind salutes he shall receive from his Merchant for making so profitable a Voyage is in an instant swallowed up of unseen quick-sands and delivereth its Fraught at another Port and to an unknown Master Those whose morning hath been sunshiny and clear have met with such showres before night as have washed away their wealth However if these comforts continue all day at the night of death as false lovers serve men in extremity they leave us the knife of death which stobs the sinner to the heart Le ts out the blood and spirits of all his joyes and happiness But God is the true happiness of the soul because he is an eternal good As this Sun hath no mists so it nevey sets so that the rest of the Soul in God is an eternal Sabbath like the new Jerusalem it knoweth no night Outward mercies in which most place their felicity are like land floods which swell high and make a great noise but are quickly in again when the blessed God like the Spring-head runeth over and runneth ever Fourthly Because of the Saints propriety in this God though God be never so perfect suitable sure a good Yet it s litle Comfort to them that have no interest in him Another mans health will not make me happy when sick What Happinesse hath a begger in the shady walkes pleasant garden stately buildings curious roomes costly furniture and precious jewels of
showers to bring forth corn and wine Is the voice of thy heart Who will shew us any good or is it Lord lift up the light of thy countenance on us Physitians can judge considerably of the state of their Patients bodies by their appetites they who long only for trash speak their stomacks to be foul they who hunger after wholsome food are esteemed to be in health Thou mayst judge of the state of thy soul by thy desires if thou desirest chiefly the trash of the world thy spiritual state is not right thy heart is not right in the sight of God if thou canst say with David Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee Blessed art thou of the Lord thou hast a part and lot in this boundless portion Observe therefore Friend which way these wings of thy soul thy desires flie He who thirsteth after the kennel water of this world hath no right to the pure river of the water of life but he who hungreth after the dainties of the Lambs Supper may be sure the scraps of this beggarly world are not his happiness The true Wife longeth for the return of her Husband but the false one careth not how long he is absent 2. What is the feast at which thou sittest with most delight Is it at a table furnished with the comforts of this world Are the dishes of credit and profit of relations and possessions those which thou feedest on with most pleasure Or is it a Table spread with the Image of God the Favour of God the Spirit of God and the Son of God are those the savoury meat which thy Soul loveth If this Sun of righteousness only causeth day in thine heart when he ariseth and if he be set notwithstanding all the candles of creatures it is still night with thee then God is thy Portion O how glad is the young Heir when he comes to enjoy his Portion with what delight will he look over his woods view his grounds and walk in his gardens The Roman would tumble naked in his heapes of Silver out of delight in them but if thy affections only overflow with joy as the water of Nilus in the time of wheat harvest when the world floweth in upon thee the world is thy Portion He who like a Lark sings merrily not on the ground but when he is mounting up to Heaven is rich indeed God is his but he who like an horsefly delighteth in dunghils feedeth most on rellisheth best these earth ly offalls is a poor man God is none of his God it s an undeniable truth that that is our Portion which is the Paradise of our pleasures The fool who could expect ease on his bed of Thorns Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years had his Portion in this life but Moses whom nothing could please but Gods gracious presence had him for his Portion If thy presence go not with us carry us not hence I beseech me shew me thy glory Thirdly What is the calling which thou followest with greatest eagerness and earnestness Men run and ride and toyl and moyl all day they rise early and go to bed late and take any pains for that which they count their happiness and portion The Worldling whose Element is Earth whose Portion consisteth like the Pedlars pack in a few pins or needles or peuter-spoons or brass-bodkins how will he fare mean lodg hard sleep little crowd into a corner hazard his health and life and soul too for that which he counteth his Portion like a brutish spaniel he will follow his Master the world some hundred of miles puffing and blowing breaking through hedges and scratching himself with thorns and briers running through ponds of water and puddles of dirt and all for a few bones or scraps which is all his hope and happiness The Christian who hath the blessed God for his portion strives and labours and watcheth and prayeth and weepeth and thinks no time too much no pains too great no cost enough for the enjoyment of his God As the wise Merchant he would part with All he hath all his strength and health all his relations and possessions for his noble Portion Reader how is it with thee thou travellest too and fro thou weariest thy self and wantest thy rest thy head is full of cares and thy heart of feares and thy hands are alwaies active but whether doth all this tend what is the market to which thou art walking thus fast Is it gold that thou pursuest so hot The people labour in the fire and weary themselves for very vanity 2. Habbak 13. Or is it God that thou pressest after as the Hound the Hare so the word signifieth Phil. 3.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with so much deligence and violence My soul followeth hard after thee Ps 63.6 Thus have I laid down the characters briefly of such as have God for their Portion Thy business is to be faithful in the tryal of thine estate If upon tryall thou findest that God is thy Portion rejoyce in thy priviledg and let thy practices be answerable Like a rich Heir delight thy self in the thoughts of thy vast inheritance Can he be poor that is Master of the Mint Canst thou be miserable who hast God for thy Portion I must tell in thee that thou art happy in spight of Men and Divells If worldlings take such pleasure in their counters and brass farthings what joy mayst thou have in God to whom all the Indians Mines are worse then dross nay if all the gold of Ophir and of the whole world were melted into one common stream and all the Pearls and precious stones lay on the side of it as thick as pebbles and the quintessence and excellencies of all other the creatures were crumbled into sand and lay at the bottom of this channel they were not worthy to make a Metaphor of to set forth the least perfection in this Portion Shall Esau say he hath enough and be contented when the narrow field of some creatures was the utmost bounds of his estate and wilt thou complain as if thou wert pinched with poverty when the boundless God is thy Portion Art not thou an unreasonable Creature whom the infinite God will not satisfy for shame Christian bethink thy self and let the world know by thy chearfulness and comfort that their mites are nothing to thy millions Consider though the whole world turn bankrupt thou art rich for thy Estate doth not lye in their hands Do not â—ine thy self therefore with feare of penury but keep an house according to thy estate which will afford it in the greatest plenty Let thy practices also be sutable to thy portion Great heirs have a far different carriage from the poor who take almes of the Parish Thou ough'st to live above the world Eagles must not stoop to catch flies the stars which are nearest the Pole have least circuit Thou
wholly cleave to thee then my life will be lively There are two special faculties in Mans Soul which must be answered with sutable and adaequate objects or the heart like the sea cannot rest The understanding must be satisfied with truth and the will with good For the filling of these two faculties men are as busie as Bees flying over the field of the world and trying every flower for sweetness but after all their toyl and labour house themselves like wasps in curious combs without any hony The understanding must be suted with the highest truth but the world is a lye Psal 62. and the things thereof are called lying vanities they are not what they seem to be Jonah 2.8 and hence are unable to satisfy the mind but God is aeterna veritas vera aeternitas eternal truth and true eternity All truth is originally in him his nature is the Idea of truth and his will the standard of truth and its eternal life and utmost satisfaction to know him because by it the understanding is perfected for the Soul in God will see all truth and that not only clearly I speak of the other world where the Christians happiness shall be completed face to face but also fully Aristotle though an Heathen thought happiness to consist in the knowledg of the chiefest good If Arichimedes when he found out the resolution of one question in the Mathematicks was so ravished that he ran up and down crying I have found it I have found it How will the Christian be transported when he shall know all that is knowable and all shadows of ignorance vanish as the darkness before the rising Sun The will also must be suted with good and according to the degree of goodness in the object such is the degree of satisfaction to the faculty Now the things of this life though good in themselves yet are vain and evill by reason of the sin of man Rom. 8.20 And likewise are at best but bodily limited and fading good things and therefore uncapable of filling this faculty As truth in the utmost latitude is the object of the understanding so Good in the universality of it is the object of the will Further that good which satisfieth must be optimum the best or t will never sistere appetitum the Soul will otherwise be still longing and maximum the most perfect or t will never implere appetitum fill it But God is such a good he is essentially universally unchangeably and infinitely good and therefore satisfieth When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness Psa 17. ult When my body hath slept in the bed of the grave till the morning of the resurrection and the sound of the last trump shall awaken me O the sweet satisfaction and ravishing delight which my Soul shall enjoy in being full of thy likeness and thy love Nay in the mean time before the happiness of a Saint appear to his view in a full body it doth like the rising Sun with its forerunning rays cast such a lightsome gladsome brightness upon the believer that he is filled with joy at present and would not part with his hopes of it for the whole world in hand They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house while on this side Heaven and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures Psal 36.8 Though the wedding dinner be deferd till the wedding day yet before hand the Christian meets with many a running banquet He hath not only pleasures fatness of thy house but also plenty of it here below They shall be abundantly satisfied The World is like sharp sauce which doth not fill but provoke the stomach to call for more the voice of those guests whom it makes most welcome is like the daughters of the horseleech Give Give but the infinite God like solid food doth satisfy the soul fully In my Fathers house is bread enough and causeth it to cry out I have enough Secondly God is a sanctifying ennobling Portion 2 God is a sanctifying portion The World cannot advance the Soul in the least things of the World are fitly compared to shadows for be thy shadow never so long thy body is not the longer for it so be thy estate never so great thy soul is not the better for it A great letter makes no more to the signification of a word then the smallest Men in high places are the same men no reall worth being thereby added to them that they are in low ones Nay it s too too visible that men are the worse for their earthly portions If some had not been so wealthy they had not been so wicked Most of the Worlds favourites like aguish stomachs are fuller of appetite then digestion they eat more then they can concoct and thereby cause diseases nay by feeding on this trash of earth their stomachs are taken off from substantial food the bread of Heaven The Souldiers of Hannibal were effeminated and made unfit for service by their pleasures at Capua Damps arising out of the earth have stifled many a Soul Aâ—ist Probl. seâ— 23. Aristotle tells us of a Sea wherein by the hollowness of the earth under it or some whirling property ships used to be cast away in the midst of a calm Many perish in their greatest prosperity and are so busy about babies and rattles that they have no leasure to be saved Luke 14.17 That which doth elevate ennoble the Soul of Man must be more excellent then the Soul Silver is embased by mixing it with lead but ennobled by gold because the former is inferiour to it but the latter excells it The World and all things in it are infinitely inferiour to the Soul of Man and therefore it is debased by mingling with them but God is infinitely superiour and so advanceth it by joyning with it That coyn which is the most excellent mettal defileth our hands and is apt to defile our hearts but the divine nature elevateth and purifieth the Spirit The goodliest portions of this life are like the Cities which Solomon gave to Hiram And Hiram came from Tyre to see the Cities which Solomon had given him and they pleased him not And he said What Cities are these which thou hast given me my brother and he called them the land of Cabul that is displeasing or dirty unto this day 1 Kings 9.12 13. The pleasantest portion here lyeth in the land of Cabul its displeasing and dirty it doth both dissatisfy and defile when the heavenly portion doth like hony both delight and cleanse both please and purify Outward things like common stones to a ring adde nothing at all to the worth of a Soul but this sparking Diamond this pearle of price the infinite God makes the gold ring of the Soul to be of unspeakable value The heart of the wicked is little worth Pro. 10.20 His house is worth somewhat but his heart is worth nothing because its a ditch full only
to comfort thee oyl to chear thee joy to refresh thee raiment to cloath thee the jewels of grace to beautifie thee and the crown of glory to make thee blessed nay all the wealth of this and the other world If all the riches in the Covenant of Grace if all the good things which Christ purchased with his precious blood nay if as much good as is in an infinite God can make thee happy thou shouldst have it If David were thought worth ten thousand Israelites how much is the God of Israel worth This one God would fill up thy soul in its utmost capacity it is such an end that when thou attainest thou couldst go no further shouldst desire no more but quietly rest for ever The necessity of the creatures number speaks the meanness of their value but the universality of good in this one God proclaims his infinite worth As there are all parts of speech in that one verse Vae tibi ridenti quia mox post gaudia flebis So there are all perfections in this one God What a portion is this Friend Fourthly God is an eternal Portion 4. God is an eternal poâ—tion The pleasures of sin are but for a season a little inch of time a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a season is a very short space Hebr. 11. but the portion of a Saint is for ever God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever The greatest estate here below is a flood soon up and soon down but if God once say to thy soul as to Aarons I am thine inheritance Numb 18.20 neither men nor devils can cozen thee of it The Lord knoweth the dayes of the upright and their inheritance shall be for ever Psal 37.18 The Prodigal wasted his portion and so came to poverty the Glutton swalloweth down his portion burying it in his belly the Drunkard vomiteth up his portion the ambitious person often turneth his portion into smoak and it vanisheth in the air those whose portion continueth longest will be turned out of possession when Death once comes with a Writ from Heaven to seal a Lease of ejectment for all these portions are dying gourds deceitful brooks and flying shadows But ah how contrary hereunto is the portion of a believer God is an eternal portion If he were once thy portion he would be for ever thy portion When thy estate and children and wife and honours and all earthly things should be taken from thee He is the good part which shall never be taken from thee Luke 10. ult Thy Friends may use thee as a suit of apparel which when they have worn thredbare they throw off and call for new thy Relations may serve thee as women their flowers who stick them in their bosomes when fresh and flourishing but when dying and withered they throw them to the dunghill thy riches and honours and pleasures and wife and children may stand on the shore and see thee lanching into the Ocean of Eternity but will not step one foot into the water after thee thou mayst sink or swim for them only this God is thy portion will never leave thee nor forsake thee Hebr. 13.5 O how happy wouldst thou be in having such a friend Thy portion would be tied to thee in this life as Dionysius thought his kingdome was to him with chains of Adamant there would be no severing it from thee The world could not thou shouldst live above the world whilst thou walkest about it and behave thy self in it not as its champion but conquerour He that is born of God overcometh the world 1 John 5.9 Satan should not part thee and thy portion thy God hath him in his chain and though like a Mastiffe without teeth he may bark yet he can never bite or hurt his children I have written unto you young men because ye have overcome the wicked one 1 John 2.13 Nay it should not be in thine own power to sell away thy portion thou wouldest be a joynt heir with Christ and co-heirs cannot sell except both joyn and Christ knoweth the worth of this inheritance too well to part with it for all that this beggarly world can give Rom. 8.17 The Apostle makes a challenge which men nor devils could never accept or take up Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or sword nay in all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loves us Rom. 8.35 36 37 38. Nay at death thy portion would swim out with thee in that shipwrack death which parts all other portions from men will give thee full possession of thine Then and not till then thou shouldst know what it is worth yea even at the great day the fire which shall burn up the world shall not so much as singe thy portion thou mightst stand upon its ruines and sing I have lost nothing I have my portion my inheritance my happiness my God still Other portions like summer-fruit are soon ripe and soon rotten but this portion like winter fruit though it be longer before the whole be gathered yet it will continue Gold and silver in which other mens portion lieth are corruptible but thy portion like the body of Christ shall never see corruption When all earthly portions as meat over-driven certainly corrupts or as water in cisterns quickly groweth unsavoury this portion like the water in Aesculapius his well is not capable of putrefaction O Friend what are all the portions in the world which as a candle consume in the use and then go out in a stink to this eternal portion It is reported of one Theodorus that when there was musick and feasting in his Fathers house withdrew himself from all the company and thus thought with himself Here is content enough for the flesh but how long will this last this will not hold out long then falling on his knees O Lord my heart is open unto thee I indeed know not what to ask but only this Lord let me not die eternally O Lord thou knowest I love thee O let me live eternally to praise thee I must tell thee Reader to be eternally happy or eternally miserable to live eternally or to die eternally are of greater weight then thou art aware of yea of far more concernment then thou canst conceive Ponder this motive therefore throughly God is not only a satisfying portion filling every crevis of thy soul with the light of joy and comfort and a sanctifying portion elevating thy soul to its primitive and original perfection and an universal portion not health or wealth or friends or honours or liberty or life or house or wife or childe or pardon or peace or grace or glory or earth or heaven but all these and infinâ—tely more but also he is an eternal portion This God would be thy God for ever and ever Psal 48.11 O sweet word Ever thou art the crown of the Saints crown and the glory