now art thou arrayed in the shining robes of Heaven and all the Host do triumph at thy corronation Sweet soul how am I ravished to think upon thee What joy is this The Patriarchs salute thee the Prophets welcome thee the Apostles hug thee all hands clap for joy all harps warble all hearts are merry and glad O thou Creatour of men and Angels help us all to Heaven that when our dayes have been we may all meet together in thy blessed Kingdome I have done turn back by the same thread that led you through this labyrinth and you shall have in two words the summe of this whole Text. The time of our Lease what is it but our Life what is this Life but a number of few dayes what are these dayes but a world full of evil But a life but dayes but few but evil can we adde any more Yes Life is life howsoever we live and better you think to have a bad lease in being then our life to be quite extinguished nay be not deceived this life is but death the dayes that we spend they are past and done few and evill they have been Thus ends the Text with the exspiration of our Lease yet is not all done when we loose this life we have another free-hold prepared in Heaven and this is not leased but purchased not for a life but inheritance not for dayes but for ever Crosse but the words of my Text and many and happy shall the ages of thy life be in Heaven for ever and ever Amen FINIS Deaths Arrest LUKE 12.20 This night thy soul shall be required of thee MAns Bodie we say is closed up within the Elements his Bloud in his Bodie his Spirits in his Bloud his Soul in his Spirits and God or Sathan in his Soul Who holds the possession we may guesse in life but then is it most apparent when we come to death The tree may bend East or West or North or South but as it falleth so it lieth Our affections may look up or down towards heaven or hel but as we die we receive our doom and then whose we are shall be fully made manifest to all the world There is a parable of poor Lazarus Luke 16. whose life was nothing but a catalogue of miseries his body full of sores his mind full of sorrows what spectacle could we think more pitifull whose best dainties were but broken crumbs and his warmest lodging but the rich mans gates Here is a parable of a certain rich man who enjoyes or at least purposeth a delicious fare he hath lands vers 16. Vers 16. fruits vers 17. 17. buildings vers 18. 18. and if this be the Inventorie what is the summe see it collected in the verse succeeding Soul 19. thou hast much goods laid up for many years now live at ease Eat drink and take thy pastime These two estates thus different how should they be but of divers tenures Matth. 6.24 No man can serve God and Mammon See Lazarus dying and the Angels carry him in-Abrahams bosome See this rich man dying and they that is devils require his soul God receives one and his soul is in heaven Sathan takes the other and drags down his soul to hel he is comforted that received pains and thou art tormented that wast full of ease this is the doom and that he may undergo this death now gives the summons This night thy soul shall be required of thee The Text we may christen Deaths Arrest it is we that offend his Majestie of heaven and his precepts are given unto Death to attach our souls See here a president a rich man taken on a sudden who must instantly appear before the Judge of heaven when this night What thy soul Why it is required Of whom of thee Or if this will not find the offender see yet a more narrow search every word is like some dark closet therefore we will open the windovvs that you may have full light This Text is Deaths Arrest vvhich as it must be executed so it admits of no other time but This This what this day whilest the Sun gives light to the vvorld and the light gives pleasure to the eie this vvere some comfort no but then suddenly vvhilst all sleep securely not This day but This night And vvhat this night Is it to attach the bodie of some great personage vvhose looks might affrighten Officers had they come by day No let his bodie rot in dust vvhilest the Soul must ansvver his defaults it is not thy body 't is thy soul And what of his soul Is this a subject liable to arrests rather can they beg it at his hands or vvill he yield it at their fair intreaties no it is neither begg'd nor intreated but by vertue of Gods Writ it is required And hovv required of his sureties bound for his good appearing he hath many friends and all either have or vvould have entred bonds no he must go vvithout bail or main-prize it is not required of his sureties but himself not of others but of thee is thy soul this night required You hear the Texts harmonie of each string vve vvill give a touch and first note the time this night This. Doctrine NO other but This were it a fortnight a seven-night any but This night and his griefs were lessened the news is more heartlesse in that it comes more sudden You may observe Then are the greatest losses when they come on us by heaps and without fear or suspicion of any such matter Here was a man swimming in his fulnesse and a sudden death robs him of all his treasures To give you a full view see his possessions and how great was the losse because of the suddennesse This night First those goods whereof he boasted are now confiscate not a peny not a dram not a mite shall be left him save onely a token of remembrance I mean his winding-sheet which he carries along with him to his grave Secondly his goods and grounds both were took from him at his death he that commanded so much of earth must now have no more earth to pleasure him but a grave what a change was this his grounds were fertile Vers 16. and they brought forth plenteously but a blast of death hath struck both the fruit and ground and nothing is now left him but a barren Tombe Thirdly his lands and houses both went together You may guesse that great demeans must have stately Halls we read of his building and especially of his Barns when these were too little for his store he tells us he will pull them down and he will build greater He never thinks of any little room in the bowels of the poor Was his harvest so great that his barns would not hold it Whence came the blessing but from God How is it then he forgets God that bestowed this blessing It is written When ye reap the harvest of the Land ye shall not reap
Look at beasts and in this respect we and they are even as one condition Eccles 3.19 Eccles 3.19 Eccles 11.3 Mat. 27.51 Look at trees and in their corruption you may see the like constitution both of us and them Look at stones and by their dissolution we may argue this temper of composition in them also if then our soul were nothing but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely men but beasts and plants and stones and metalls have a soul far be this from your thoughts whose souls are prized to be of more worth then a world there being nothing in the world that may give a recompence for our souls Matth. 16.26 Mat. 16.26 Others have gone a little further Antiqui Philosophir and they suppose it to be a substance but how onely bodily and not spirituall such grosse conceits have many idolaters of the Deity as if this our image were of Gods own substance and this substance nothing else but a bodily being A spirit saith our Saviour hath not flesh and bones Luk. 24.39 as you see me have It is the body is the flesh but the soul is the spirit the body you may see and handle but the soul is not seen not handled as the Disciples then did erre in supposing a spirit when they saw his body no lesse is their errour in supposing a body where is onely a spirit Anima pessima melior optimo corpore Aug. de verb. Dom. Quid tibi cum carne Bern. in meditat Plurimi Patres The worst soul is better then the best of bodies O precious soul saith Bernard espoused to thy God indowed with his spirit redeemed by his Son what art thou to the flesh whose being is from heaven Others again have passed this opinion and they call it a form but what onely materiall not substantiall and such as are the souls of beasts that dye with their bodies as being deduced from the matter of some bodies pre-existent It is not so with the souls of men which though for a while they are knit and united to this house of clay yet may they be separated from it and subsist without it this is that goodness of God that as our souls are intellectuall so their being is perpetuall Dionys c. 4. de divin nom aliquantulum à principio 1 Cor. 4.7 not but that our souls might dye seeing every thing that is of nothing may return into the same nothing whence it sprung but that God so sustains them by his glorious goodness that as he gave the first being so he would continue that he gave What have we that we have not received Or to speake of the soul what are we that God and God onely hath not bestowed upon us our parents begot our bodies God onely gave our souls our bodies are buried again in the wombe of our common mother but our souls return to God as to their chiefest good So immateriall is the soul that neither will nor understanding depends on the dying organ What then is the soul a nothing an accident a body a form onely materiall no but on the contrary an ens a substance a spirit a form a substantiall being of it self subsisting But wee 'll ascend a little higher it is a substance created not traduced as some would have it I must confess the opinion was not a little strong that as our bodies so our souls were both propagated from our parents Tertullian In epist ad Marcellin and the Fathers of the West as Ierome witnesseth were most on that side the reason of this opinion was because of originall sin which defileth the soul as well as the body of each man sprung from Adam they could see no means how both were corrupted except withall the soul were propagated But are not our souls as the Angells and therefore if our souls then may the Angels beget one another nay if this were true what soul were generated but another were corrupted for the rule is infallible There can be no generation without a transmutation and so would every soul be subject to corruption Concerning that objection of originall sin if the soul were not traduced from the loyns of Adam Magis credi debet quam quaeri quaeri facilius quam intelligi melius intelligitur quam explicatur Whitak l. 1. de peccat origin c. 8. Fallacia divisionis how then should that sin be imputed to our souls I must confess the question is intricate we should rather believe it then enquire of it and we may better enquire of it then understand it and yet more easily understand it then expresse it But so well as we can we shall untie the knot First then we say 't is a fallacy to divide soul and body for not the soul without the body nor the body without the soul but the whole man sinn'd in Adam as the whole man is begot of Adam so soon therefore as the soul is conjoyn'd to the body and of the soul and body is constituted whole man that man being now made a member of Adam is said to sin with him and to derive that sin from him But for a further satisfaction although the soul depend on God according to its substance yet is it created in that body which is produced of the parents thus in some sort we may say that the soul is begotten non quoad essentiam sed quoad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God onely gives the essence but to exist comes from the parents Arist de anima 2. l. c. 1. What is the soul but a form of the body and of what body but of that which is organicall as being apt for the soul This aptness then whereby it is prepared for the form being received from the parents we may say of the soul that thus it is generated as not beginning to subsist before the body is prepared This is true in some sort though not properly Consider then the excellency of mans soul which is not born but created and howsoever now it is bespotted with sin yet was it then pure and undefiled as the untouched virgin how is it but pure which the hands of God hath made it was the devill that caused sin but all that God made was good and very good Gen. 1.31 Gen. 1.31 and such a soul hath every man Sedibus aethereis spiritus ille venit It is created by God infused by his Spirit of nothing made something and what something but an excellent work befitting such an excellent workman And yet there be more staires to ascend it is thirdly invisible Hath any man seen God or hath any man seen Gods image which is the soul and lived Substances that are more pure are less visible We see but darkly through a glasse nay the best eye upon earth looks but through a lattice a window an obscuring impediment mortall eyes cannot behold immortall things how then should this corruptible sight see a spirituall
soul the object is too clear for our weak eyes our eyes are but earthly the soul of an heavenly nature O divine being not onely heavenly but heaven it self as God and man met both in Christ so heaven and earth met both in man would you see this earth that is the body Out of it wast thou taken and into it must thou return Gen. 4.19 Gen. 4.19 would you see this heaven that is the soul the God of heaven gave it and to the God of heaven returns it Eccles 12.7 Eccles 12.7 The body is but a lump but the soul is that breath of life of earth came the body of God was the soul thus earth and heaven met in the creation and the man was made a living soul Gen. 2.7 Gen. 2.7 the sanctified soul is an heaven upon earth Est coelum sancta anima habens solem intellectum lunam fidem astra virtutet Bern super Cantic where the sun is understanding the moon is faith and the stars gracious affections what heaven is in that body which lives and moves by such a soul yet so wonderfull is Gods mercy to mankinde that as reason doth possesse the soul so the soul must possesse this body Here is that union of things visible and invisible as the light is spirituall incorruptible indivisible and so united to the air that of these two is made one without confusion of either in like manner is the soul united to this body one together distinguished asunder onely here 's the difference the light is most visible the soul is invisible she is the breath of God the beauty of man the wonder of Angels the envie of devils that immortall splendor which never eye hath seen never eye must see And yet we must up another step it is fourthly incorporeall as not seen with a mortall eye so neither clogg'd with a bodily shape I say not but the soul hath a body for his organ to which it is so knit and tyed that they cannot be severed without much sorrow or strugling yet is it not a body but a spirit dwelling in it the body is an house and the soul the inhabitant every one knows the house is not the inhabitant and yet O wonder there is no roome in the house where the inhabitant lives not would you please to see the roomes the eye is her window the head is her tower the heart is her closet the mouth is her hall the lungs her presence chamber the senses her cinque-ports the common-sense her custome-house the phantasie her mint the memory her treasury the lips are her two leav'd doores that shut and open and all these and all the rest as the motions in a Watch are acted and mooved by this spring the Soul See here a composition without confusion the soul is in the body yet it is not bodily as in the greatest world the earth is more solid the water less the ayr yet lesser the fire least of all so in this little world of man the meaner parts are of grosser substance and the soul by how much more excellent by so much more spirituall and wholly with-drawn from all bodily being And yet a little higher it is fiftly immortall It was the errour of many Fathers Scaliger notae in nov Test That bodies and souls must both die till doomes-day and then the bodies being raised the souls must be revived Were that true why then cryes Stephen Lord Iesu receive my spirit or why should Paul be dissolved that he might be with Christ Act. 7.59 Philip. 1.23 Blessed men are but men and therefore no wonder if subject to some errour Others more absolutely deny the souls immortality We are born say they at all adventures and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been Why so for the breath is a smoke in our nostrils and the words as a spark raised out of our hearts Wisd 2.2 3. which being extinguished the body is turned into ashes and the spirit vanisheth as soft ayre What is the soul a smoak and the spirit no better then the soft vanishing ayre Matth. 22.32 wretched men Have you not read what is spoken of God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob now God saith Christ is not the God of the dead but of the living Abraham Isaac Iacob they are not dead then in the better part their souls but passed indeed from the valley of death unto the land of the living Whosoever liveth and believeth in mee saith our Saviour shall never die Iohn 11.26 John 11.26 Not die against some never die against others what can we more onely live and believe in him that redeemed us and be sure his promises shall never fail us our souls must live live for ever Sweet soul blessed with the felicity of eternall life here 's a joy unspeakable that this soul now clogged with cares vexations griefs passions shall one day enjoy those joyes immortall not for a day or two Nullus erit defectus nullus terminus though this were more then we can imagine but through all eternity There shall be no defect nor end after millions of ages the soul must still live in her happiness it is not of a perishing but an everlasting substance And yet the perfection of the soul goes higher it is most like to God so far it transcends all earthly happiness I cannot say but in some sort all creatures have this likeness every effect hath at least some similitude with its cause but with a difference some onely have a being as stones others being and life as plants but man above all hath a being life and reason and therefore of all other the most like unto his Creatour Can we any more yes one step higher and we are at the top of Jacobs ladder The soul is not onely like God but the image of God I cannot denie but there is some apparance of it in the outward man and therefore the bodie in some measure partakes of this image of the Deity it was man and whole man that was corrupted by sin and by the law of contraries it was man and whole man that was beautified with this image Please you to look at the body is it not a little world wherein every thing that God made was good as therefore all goodness comes from him so was he the pattern of all goodness that being in him perfectly which onely is in us partly This is that Idaea whereby God is said to be the exemplar of the world man then in his body being as the worlds map what is he but that image in which the builder of the world is manifest but if you look at the parts of his body how often are they attributed though in a metaphor yet in resemblance to his Maker our eyes are the image of his wisdome our hands are the image of his power our heart is the image of his
of torments which like infinite rivers of Brimstone feed upon his soul without ease or end What avails now his pompous pride at his dolefull funerals the news is sounded hee is dead friends must lament him passing-peales ring for him an hearse-cloth wrap him a tombe-stone lye over him all must have mourning suites and may be rejoycing hearts but all this while his soul his going to judgment without one friend or the least acquaintance to speak in his cause O that his soul were mortall and body and soul to be buried both together in one grave must his body die and his soul live in what world or nation in what place or region it is another world another nation where Devils are companions brimstone the fire horrour the language and eternall death the souls eternall life never to be cured Bernard in Medit. and never must be ended O my soul saith Bernard what a terrible day shall that be when thou shalt leave this Mansion and enter into an unknown region who will deliver thee from these ramping Lyons who can defend thee from those hellish monsters God is incensed hell prepared justice threatned onely mercy must prevent or the soul is damned View this rich man on his deaths-bed the pain shouts through his head and at last comes to his heart anon death appeares in his face and suddenly falls on to arrest his soul Is it death what is it he demands can his goods satisfie no the world claims them must his body goe no the worms claim that what debt is this which neither goods nor body can discharge Habeas animam ejus coram nobis Gods warrant bids fetch the soul O miserable news the soul committed sin sin morgaged it to death death now demands it and what if he gain the world he must lose his soul This night thy soul shall be required of thee Vse 1 Animula vagula blandula said the heathen Emperour Pretty Adrian little wandring soul whither goest thou from me wilt thou leave me alone that cannot live without thee O what conflicts suffers the poor soul when this time is come must the soul be gone help friends physick pleasure riches nay take a world to reprive a soul so different are the thoughts of men dying from them living now are they for their pleasure or profit the body or the world but then nothing is esteemed but the soul what can we say but if you mean your souls must be saved O then let these precious dear everlasting things breathed into your bodies for a short abode scorn to feed on earth or any earthly things it is matter of a more heavenly metall treasures of an higher temper riches of a nobler nature that must help your souls Do you think that ever any glorified soul that now looks God Almighty in the face and tramples under foot the Sun and Moon is so bewitcht as was Achan with a wedge of gold no it is onely the Communion of Saints the society of Angels the fruition of the Deity Iosh 7.21 the depth of eternity which can onely feed and fill the soul So live then as that when you die your souls may receive this blisse and the Lord Iesus our Saviour receive all your souls Vse 2 I must end but gladly would I win a soul If the reward be so great as you know it to recover a sick body Si magnae mercedis est a morte eripere carnem quanti est meriti à morte liberare animam Ambros Offic. 1. Quid est quod velis habere malum nihil omnino Aug. in quod serm which for all that must die of what reward is that cure to save a soul which must ever ever live O sweet Jesu why sheddest thou the most precious and warmest bloud of thy heart but onely to save souls thou wast scourged buffetted judged condemned hanged was all this for us and shall we do nothing for our selves What is it thou wouldest have bad if thou couldest wish it good not thy house nor thy wife nor thy children nor thy good nor thy cloaths but no matter for thy soul I beseech you value not you souls at a less price then your shooes you can please the flesh with delicates which is naught but worms meat but the soul pines for want which is a creature invisible incorporeall immortall most like to God are we thus carefull of pelf and so careless of this pearl certainly I cannot choose but wonder when seeing the streets peopled with men that follow suits run to Courts attend and wait on their Councellors for this case and that case this house or that land that not one of these no nor one of all us will ride or run or creep or go to have counsell for his soul I must confess I have sometimes dwelt on this meditation and Beloved let me speak homely to you be our Counsellors in this Town every week solicited by their Clients and have we no Clients in soul-cases not one that will come to us with their cases of conscience sure you are either careless of your souls or belike you have no need of particular instructions O let us not be so forward for the world and so backward for the soul yet I pray mistake not I invite you not for fees as noble Terentius when he had petitioned for the Christians and saw it torn in pieces before his face gathered up the pieces and said I have my reward I have not sued for gold silver honour or pleasure but a Church so say I in middest of your neglect I have not sued for your good or silver for your houses or lands but for your souls your precious souls and if I cannot or shall not woe them to come to Christ God raise up some child of the Bride-chamber which may do it better if neither I nor any other can prevail O then fear that speech of Elies sons they hearkened not unto the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them 1 Sam. 2.25 In such a case O that my head were full of water and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for your sins O that I could wash your souls with my tears from that filth of sin wherewith they are besmeared and defiled O that for the salvation of your souls I might be made a sacrifie unto death But the Lord be praised for your souls and my soul Christ Jesus hath died and if now we but repent us of our sins and believe in our Saviour if now we will but deny our selves and take up his cross and follow him if now we will but turn unto him that he may turn his loving countenance unto us if now we will but become new creatures and ever-hereafter walk in the holy path the narrow way which leads unto heaven why then may our souls be saved This is that we had need to care for Cur carnem adornas animam non
judgment seat the rosie wounds of our Saviour still bleeding as it were in the prisoners presence These are the wounds not as tokens of infirmity but victory Aquin. supplem Q. 90. A. 2. ad secundum and these now shall appear not as if he must suffer but to shew us he hath suffered See here an object full of glory splendor majesty excellency and this is He the man the judg the rewarder of every man according to his works The Judge we have set in his Throne and before we appear let us practice our repentance that we answer the better Vse 1 Think but O sinner what shall be thy reward when thou shalt meet this Iudge The adultery for a while may flatter beauty the Swearer grace his words with oathes the Drunkard kiss his cups and drink his bodies-health till he bring his soul to ruine but remember for all these things God will bring thee to judgment Eccles 11.9 Cold comfort in the end the Adulterer shall fatisfie his lust when he lies on a bed of fire all hugged and embraced with those flames the swearer shall have enough of wounds and blood when Devils torture his body and rack his soul in hell the Drunkard shall have plenty of his Cups when scalding lead shall be poured down his throat and his breath draw flames of fire in stead of air as is thy sin so is the nature of thy punishment the just Iudge shall give just measure and the ballance of his wrath poize in a just porportion Vse 2 Yet I will not discomfort you who are these Iudges dearest favorites Now is the day if you are Gods servants that Sathan shall be trod under your feet and you with your Lord and Master Christ shall be carried into the holiest of holies You may remember how all the men of God in their greatest anguishes here below have fetcht comfort by the eye of faith at this mountain Iob rejoyced being cast on the Dung-hill that his Redeemer lived and that he should see him at the last day stand on the earth Iohn longed and cried Come Lord Iesus come quickly and had we the same precious faith we have the same precious promises why then are we not ravished at the remembrance of these things certainly there is an happy faith wheresoever it shall be found that shall not be ashamed at that day Now therefore little children abide in him 1 Joh. 2.28 that when he shall appear we may have confidence Confidence what else I will see you again saith our Saviour-Iudge and your heart shall rejoyce Joh. 16.22 and your joy no man taketh from you O blessed mercy that so triumphes against judgment our hearts must joy our joyes endure and all this occasioned by the sight of our Saviour for Hee shall reward every man according to his works We have prepared the Iudge for sentence he hath rid his circuit in the Clouds and made the Rain-bow his chair of state for his judgment seat his Sheriffes are the Saints that now rise from the Dust to meet their Iudge whom long they have exspected the summons is sent out by a shout from heaven the cry no sooner made but the graves flie open and the dead arise stay a while till I ready them you have seen the Iudge and now we prepare the judged He is the Iudge every man the judged and He shall reward every man according to his works Every man THe persons to be judged are a world of men all men of the world good and bad elect and reprobates but in a different manner To give you a full view of them I must lead your attentions orderly through these passages there must be a Citation Resurrection Collection Separation follow me in these pathes and you may see both the men and their difference before they come to their judgments First there is a summons and Every man must hear it it is performed by a shout from heaven and the voice of the last Trump Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Jeronymus super Mathaeum Verc vox tubae terribilis cui omnia obediunt elementa petras scindit inferos c. Chrysost 1. ad Corin. 15. the clangor of this Trump could ever sound in Ieroms eares Arisr yee dead and come to judgment the clangor of this Trump will sound in all mens eares it shall wake the dead out of their drouzy sleep and change the living from their mortall state make devils tremble and the whole world shake with terrour A terrible voice a Trumpet shall sound that shall shake the world rend the rocks break the mountains dissolve the bonds of death burst down the gates of hell and unite all spirits to their own bodies What say you to this Trump that can make the whole Universe to tremble no sooner shall it sound but the the earth shall shake the mountains skip like Ramms and the little hills like young sheep it shall pierce the waters and fetch from the bottome of the Sea the dust of Adams seed it shall tear the rocky Tombes of earthly Princes and make their haughty minds to stoop before the King of heaven it shall remove the center and tear the bowels of the earth open the graves of all the dead and fetch their souls from heaven or hell to reunite them to their bodies A dreadfull summons of the wicked whom this suddain noise will no less astonish then confound the dark pitchy walls of that infernall pit of hell shall be shaken with the shout when the dreadfull soul shall leave its place of terrour and once more re-enter into her stinking Carrion to receive a greater condemnation what terrour will this be to the wicked wretch what wofull salutations will there be between that body and soul which living together in the height of iniquity must now be re-united to enjoy the fulness of their misery Joh. 5.28 29. The voice of Christ is powerfull the dead shall hear his voice and they shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of condemnation You hear the summons and the next is your appearance death the Goaler brings all his prisoners from the grave and they must stand and appear before the Judge of heaven The summons is given and every man must appear Death must now give back all their spoils and restore again all that she hath took from the world What a gastly sight will this be to see all the Sepulchers open to see dead men rise out of their graves and the scattered dust to flie on the wings of the wind till it meet together in one compacted body Ezekiels dry bones shall live thus saith the Lord I will lay sinewes upon you and make flesh grow upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall know that I am the Lord Ezek. 37.6 Ezek. 37.6 This dust of ours shall be
fâ—nce oâ— it may beâ— as some do imagine this fire affords a 〈…〉 pâ—â—iâ—eous oâ— obscure light but how not for comforts but confusion Conceive it thus he that in twilight sees deformed Images or in the night beholds shapes of Ghosts and spirits by a dimm dark light why better he saw nothing then suck tâ—â—â—â—le visâ—â—ns such fears nay a thousand times worse are preseâ—ved to the 〈◊〉 of Reprobates they may discern through darkness the ugly faceâ— of fiend â—f the foul visages of Reprobates the furious torments of their friends or parents while all lye together in the same condemnation What comfort affords this light where nothing is seen but the Judges wrath and the prisoners punishment O will they cry that our eyes were out or the flames were quenched or that some period were put to this endlesse night of darknesse but all in vain lo pillars of smoak arise out of the infernall pit which darken the light as the fire lightens the darknesse and this the second difference Thirdly there is yet another difference in the fuell or object of this fire ours burns not without materialls this works also on spirituals It is I confesse a question whether devils suffer by fire and how may that be some are of opinion that they are not onely spirits but have bodies not organicall as ours but aereall or somewhat more subtil then the air it self this opinion howsoever most denie yet Austin argues for it for if men and devils saith he are punished in the same fire and that fire be corporeall how are Devils capable of the suffering unlesse they have bodies like men fit for the impression And yet if we deny them to have bodies I see no impossibilitie but that spirits themselves may suffer in hell fire August de civit dei lib. 21. cap. 10. is it not as easie with God to joyn spirits and fire as souls and bodies as therefore the soul may suffer through the body so likewise may those spirits be tormented by fire I will not argue the case either with or against Austin yet safely may we put this conclusion not onely men in their bodies but devils and souls must together be tormented in hell fire thus our Saviour couples them in that last heavy doom Matth. 25.41 Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his Angels What a fire is this it tryes the reins it searcheth the bowells it pierceth the very soul and inmost thoughts O fire above measure where spirits are the tormentors damnation the punishment men and devils the fuell and the breath of an offended God the Bellows Think not on your fires that gives you heat for warmth or light for comfort neither fear you him that kils your bodies but hath no further commission to hurt your souls here is another fire another Judge a fire that kindles souls a Judge that sends bodies and souls to everlasting fire such heats such darknesse such objects accompanie this fire the heat is intollerable darknesse palpable bodie and soul both combustible all burn together that have sinned together This the third difference Lastly there is a difference in durance our fire dyes quickly but hell fire lasts for ever This is done saith Austin admirably Miris sed veris modis Aug. ibid. Aug. de civit dei l. 21. yet actually the burning bodies never consume the kindled fire never wasts with any length of time We read of a certain salt in Sicilia that if put into the fire it swims as in water and being put into water crackles as in fire we read of a fountain in Libya that in a cold night is so hot that none can touch it in a hot day so cold that none could drink it If God thus work miracles on earth dost thou seek a reason of Gods high and heavie judgement in hell I see the pit I cannot find the depth there is a fire that now stands as it was created it must be endured yet never never must be ended The custome of some countreys that burn malefactours use the least fires for greatest offenders that so the heat being lessened the pains might be prolonged but if this be so terrible to them whose fire is but little and whose time cannot be long what an exceeding horrible torment is this in hell where the fire is extreme great and the time for ever and ever lasting Suppose you or any one of you should lie one night grievously afflicted with a raging fit of the Stone Collick Strangurie Toothach Pangs of travail and a thousand such miseries incident to man how would you tosse and tumble how would you turn your sides tell the clock count the houres exspect every moment for the gay-bright morn and till then esteem every hour a year and every pang a misery matchlesse and intollerable O then what will it be think you to lie in fire and brimstone kept in highest flame by the unquenchable wrath of God world without end how tedious will be that endlesse night where the clock never strikes the time never passes the morn never dawns the Sunne never rises where thou canst not turn nor tosse nor tumble nor yet take any rest where thou shalt have nothing about thee but darknesse and horrour and wailing and yelling wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth for evermore Good Lord that for a smile of present pleasure men should run upon the rock of eternall vengeance Come ye that pursue vanitie and see here the fruit of sin at this harvest of Tares Pleasures are but momentany Momentaneum quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat but the pangs are eternall Eternall how long is that Nay here we are silenced no Limner can set it forth no Oratour can expresse it if all times that ever were and ever shall be should be put together they would infinitely come short of this fiery eternitie the latitude thereof is not to be measured neither by houres nor dayes nor weeks nor moneths nor years nor Lustra's nor Olympiads nor Indictions no Jubilees nor ages nor Plato's years nor by the most slow motions of the eighth sphear though all these were multiplied by thousands or millions or the greatest multiplyer or number numbering that can be imagined Plainly in a word count if you please ten hundred thousand millions of years and adde a thousand myriads of ages to them and when all is done multiply all again by a thousand thousand thousand of thousands and being yet too short count all the thoughts motions mutations of men and Angels adde to them all the sands of the sea piles on the earth starres in the Heavens and when all this is done multiply all again by all the numbers squares cubicks of Arithmetick and yet all these are so farre short of eternity that they neither touch end nor middle nor the least part or parcell of it what then is this which the damned suffer eternall fire we had need to cry out Fire fire
1.12 His infirmities are now at full and the symptomes which make it evident unto us are some inward some outward inward in his soul outward in his body we 'll take a view of them both Matth. 26.37 Mar. 14.33 Luk. 22.44 Ioh. 12.27 First his soul it began to be sorrowfull saith Matthew to be amazed and very heavy saith Mark to be in an agony saith Luke to be troubled saith Iohn Here is sorrow and heaviness and agony and trouble the estimate whereof we may take from his own words in the garden My soul is exceeding sorrowfull Matth. 26.38 John 12.77 even unto death Now was the time he purged not onely in his body but his soul too now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour A fatall hour sure of which it was said before often his hour was not yet come but being come he could then tell his Disciples the hour is at hand and after tell the Iewes Matth. 26.45 Luk. 22.53 this is your very hour and the power of darkness Now was it that Christ yielded his soul for our souls to the susception of sorrow perpession of pain and dissolution of nature and therefore even sick with sorrow he never left sweating Heb. 5.7 weeping and crying till he was heard in that which he feared Secondly as his soul so his body had her symptoms of approaching death Our very eye will soon tell us no place was left in his body where he might be smitten and was not his skin was torn his flesh was rent his bones unjoynted his sinews streyned should we summe up all See that face of his fairer then the Sons of men Psal 45.2 Revel 1.14 how it is defiled with spettle swoln with buffets masked with a cover of gore-bloud see that head white as white wooll and snow how is it Crowned with thorns beaten with a reed and both head and hair dyed in a sanguine red that issued from it see those eyes that were as a flame of fire how they swim with tears are dim with bloud and darken at the sad approach of dreadfull death Revel ibid. see that mouth which speak as never man spake hovv it is vvan vvith stroaks grim vvith death John 7.46 and embittered with that tartest potion of gall and vinegar Should we any lower See those arms that could embrace all the power of the world how they are strained and stretched on the Crosse those shoulders that could bear the frame of Heaven how they are lasht with knotty cords and whips those hands that made the world and all therein how are they nailed and clenched to a piece of wood that heart where never dwelt deceit nor sinne how it is pierced and wounded with a souldiers spear those bowels that yearned with compassion of others infirmities how they are drie and pent with straining puls those feet that walked in the wayes of God how they are boared and fastened to a Crosse with nayls from hand to foot there is no part free but all over he is covered in a mantle of cold bloud whose garments were doft before and took of them that were his hangmen Poor Saviour what a wofull sight is this A bloudy face thornie head watery eyes wan mouth strained arms lashed shoulders nayled hands wounded heart griping bowels boared feet Here is sorrie pains when no part is free and these are the outward Symptomes of his state that appear in his Body We have thus far seen our Sun the Sunne of righteousnesse in the day-break and rising and height of his suffering Mal. 4.2 what remains further but that we come to the Declination and so end our journey for this time This Declination say Physicians is Galen lib. 3. de Cris cap. 5. when Nature overcomes sicknesse so that all diseases attain not this time but those and those onely that admit of a Recovery yet howsoever saith my * Senert institution medicinae lib. 2. par 1. cap. 12. de morb temp Authour there is no true declination before death there is at least a seeming declinatian when sometimes the symptoms may become more remiss because of weak nature yielding to the fury and tyrannie of death overcoming it I will not say directly that our Saviour declined thus either in deed or in shew for neither was the cup removed from him nor died he by degrees but in perfect sense and perfect patience both of body and soul he did voluntarily and miraculously resigne his Spirit as he was praying into the hands of his Father Here then was the true declination of this Patient not before death but in death and rightly too for then was it that this Sunne went down in a ruddy Cloud then was it that this Patient received the last dregs of his Purge then was it that Gods Justice was satisfied the consummatum est was effected all was finished as for his buriall resurrection and asscension which follow after this time they serve not to make any satisfaction for sinne but onely to confirm it or apply it after it was made and accomplished Vse 1 But what use of all this Give me leave I pray to shake the tree and then do you gather the fruit from the first part his birth we may learn Humility a grace most prevailing with God for the obtaining of all graces this was it that made David King Moses a Governour nay what say we to Christ himself who from his first entrance untill his departure to his Father Matth. 11.29 was the very mirrour of true Humility it felf Learn of me saith he to be humble and lowly in spirit and you shall find rest unto your souls Hereunto accorded his Doctrine when he pronounced them Blessed who were poor in spirit Matth. 5.3 hereunro accorded his reprehension when he disliked their manners who were wont to choose out the chief rooms at feasts Luke 14.7 Iohn 13.5 hereunto accorded his practice when he vouchsafed to wash his Disciples feet and to wipe them with the towell wherewith he was girded O Humility how great are thy riches that are thus commended to us thou pleasest men delightest angels confoundest devils and bringest thy Creatour to a Manger where he is lapped in raggs and cloathed in flesh Had we Christian hearts to consider the Humility of our Redeemer and how far he was from our haughty dispositions it would pull down our Pharisaicall humours and make us farre better to remember our selves Vse 2 Secondly as we learn humility from his birth so we may learn patience from his life Matth. 16.24 If any man will come after me saith our Saviour let him deny himself and take up his crosse and follow me Dear Christian if thou wilt be saved mind thy Christ Art thou abused by lies reproaches evil sayings or doings we cannot more shew how we have profited in Christs School then by enduring
fast asleep on the edge of a Rock he dreams merrily of Crowns and Kingdomes and will not off it but on a sudden starting for joy he tumbles into the bottome of the Sea and there lies drowned in the deep that assurance which is ever secure is but a dream whereas the testimony of Gods Spirit is sometimes mixed with doubts and sometimes to our unspeakable comfort with a secret still heart-ravishing voice thus speaks to our consciences thou shalt be thou shalt be with me in paradise You see the testimonie of Gods Spirit how it works in us and how it is discerned by us it works in us by a particular application of the promises in the Gospel and is discerned by us by the word by our love our prayers our fears our joys at some times while we are a doing our duties Vse O blessed man that feels in his soul this blessed testimonie what is here comparable to it riches are deceitfull pleasure is a toy the world is but a bubble onely our assurance of Heaven is the onely reall comfort that we have on earth who then would not studie to make this certain if we purchase an inheritance on earth we make it as sure and our tenure as strong as the brawn of the Law or the brain of Lawyers can devise we have conveyance and bonds and fines no strength too much and shall we not be more curious in the setling our eternall inheritâ—nce in Paradise a man can never be too sure of going to Heaven and therefore in Gods fear let us examine the testimonie of our spirits by the inward tokens and by the outward fruits let us examine the testimonie of Gods Spirit by the means and the difference and if we find both these testimonies to accord within us how blessed are we in this vale of tears it is an heaven upon earth a Paradise in a wildernesse in a word a comfort in all miseries be they never so embittered See a Thief hanging on the Crosse an Engine of most grievous torture but who can tell the joy that entred into him before he entred into Heaven you may guesse it by his desire to be remembred of Christ when he came into his Kingdome he begs not for life nor pleasure nor riches nor honour no there is one thing necessary give him Heaven and he cares for nothing to this purpose doth he addresse himself to our blessed Saviour Luke 23.37 39. and he asks what if thou be Christ save thy self said the Jews in derision and if thou be Christ save thy self and us said the other Thief to him but this was onely for the bodies safetie and here is a man quite of another mind let the Jews rack him tear him break all his bones and pull him into atomes if our Saviour will but do so much as remember him in his kingdome he desires nothing more O blessed Christ speak comfortably to his soul that begs it thus vehemently at thy hands but why do I prevent the bowels of our Saviour yearn to hear him remember him yes he will remember him and he shall be with him comfortable news how leaps his heart at these so blessed words his desire is granted and Heaven is assured and the Spirit of God yea the God of Spirits thus testifies it to him to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Thus farre of the certainty of his salvation thou shalt be but as the grant is sweet that is certain so is it yet more acceptable if done with expedition and here is both the certainty and expedition thou shalt be when to day with me in paradise To day OUr Saviour deferres not that he promises but as he quickly hears and quickly grants so he quickly gives him Paradise and a kingdome This sudden unexspected joy makes all more gratefull to tell us of Crowns and Kingdomes that we must inherit and then to put us off with delayes abates the sweetnesse of the promise men that go to suits for lands and livings though Lawyers feed them with hopes yet one order after another spinning out time to a multitude of Terms makes them weary of the businesse it is the happinesse of this suitour that he comes to an hearing but the highest degree of his happiness was the expedition of his suit no sooner he motions Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdome but the Lord gives him that he asks upon his first motion to day ere the Sun be down the Kingdome shall be thine thou shalt be with me in Paradise But you may object Was there no Limbus Patrum no Purgatory to run through but the very same day he died he must then go to Paradise no unlesse Limbus or Purgatorie be Paradise it self there is no such thing at all Some there are that rather then say nothing speak thus Christ giving up the ghost Mox ut Deus exspiravit ipse secundum animam ad infernos descendit Guliel Paris cap. 21. secundum verbum his soul descended into hel and the very same day was this Malefactour partaker of Christs beatificall vision with the other Patriarchs in Limbus But of how great difference is Paradise and Limbus we shall hear another time sure it is Christ promised not a Dungeon in stead of a Kingdome nor is Paradise a place of pleasure of any such imaginary melancholy nature we conclude then To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise it is all one as to say To day thy day of death thou shalt be with me in Heaven and there enjoy me in my Kingdome But again you may object That Christ rather that day descended into hel then ascended into heaven The Creed teacheth that after he was crucified dead and buried he descended into hell To answer the objection some go about thus by hel say they is meant Paradise where the soul of Christ was all the time that his body lay in the grave If this be not a misconstruction I am sure it is no literall Exposition and me thinks a very strange kind of figure it is to expresse Christs ascent into Paradise by his descent into hell Others more probably understand Christs abode in the grave for the space of three dayes Aug. Epist 57. Austin after some turns and wrenches concludeth thus Est autem sensus multò expeditior c. It is a farre easier sense and freer from all ambiguity if we take Christ to speak thesc words This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise not of his Manhood but of his Godhead for the man Christ was that day in the grave according to the flesh and in hell as touching his soul but the same Christ as God is alwayes every where Thus he But this will not satisfie all Perkins on the Creed and therefore they argue thus against it These words say they must be understood of his Manhood not his God-head and why so For they are an answer unto a demand and unto it they must be
is but the image of death saith Cato Here is a true picture of our frailty life is like death indeed so like so near together that we cannot differ each from other See here the condition of our life what is it but a Rose a Grasse a Picture a Play a Show a Sleep a Dream an Image of death such a thing is life that we so much talk of Vse And if Nature give this light how blind are they that cannot see lifes frailty you need no more but mark the Destinies as Poets feign to spin their threds one holds another draws a third cuts it off what is our life but a thread some have a stronger twist others a more slender some live till near rot others die when scarce born there 's none endures long this thread of life is cut sooner or later and then our work is done our course is finished Are these the Emblemes of our life and dare we trust to this broken staff how do the heathen precede us Christians in these studies Their books were skuls their desks were graves their remembrance an hour-glass Awake your souls and bethink you of mortality have you any priviledge for your lives are not Heathens and Christians of one Father Adam of one mother Earth the Gospel may free you from the second not the first death onely provide you for the first to escape the second death O men what be your thoughts nothing but of Goods and Barns and many Years you may boast of Life as Oromazes the Conjurer of his Egge which he said included the felicity of the world yet being opened there was nothing but Wind Think what you please your life is but a Wind which may be stopt soon but cannot last long by the law of Nature But secondly as Nature so Scripture will inform you in this point The life of man is but of little esteem what is it but a Shrub or a Brier in the fire As the crackling of thorns under the pot so is the life or laughter of the fool momentary and vanity Eccles. 7.6 Eccles 7.6 Nay a shrub were something but our life is lesse no better then a leaf not a tree nor shrub nor fruit nor blossome We all fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have swept us away Esay 64 6. Esay 64.6 Yet a leaf may glory of his birth it is descended of a Tree life is a Reed sometimes broken at least shaken so vain so infirm so inconstant is the life of man What went you out to see a reed shaken with the wind Matth. 11.7 Matth. 11.7 Nay a reed were something our life is baser indeed no better then a rush or flag Can a rush grow without mire though it were green and not cut down yet shall it wither before any other herb Job 8 11 12. Job 8.12 What shall I say more what shall I crie a rush All flesh is grass and all the grace thereof as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth surely the people is grass Esa 40.7 Esa 40.7 I am descended beneath just patience but not so low as the life of man as all these resemble life so in some measure they have life but life is a smoke without any spark of life in it thus cries David My dayes are consumed like smoke my bones are burnt like an hearth Psal 102.3 Psal 102.3 Yet is here no stay the smoke ingenders clouds and a cloud is the fittest resemblance of our life Our life shall passe away as the trace of a cloud and come to nought as the myst that is driven away with the beams of the Sun Wisd 2.4 Wisd 2.4 Neither is this all clouds may hang calm but life is like a tempest it is a cloud and a wind too Remember that my life is but a wind and that mine eye shall not return to see pleasure Iob 7.7 Job 7.7 Nay we must lower and find a weaker element it is not a wind but water said that woman of Tekoah We are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again 2. Sam. 14.14 2. Sam. 14.14 yet is water both a good and necessary element life is the least part of water nothing but a foam a bubble The King of Samaria that great King is destroyed as the foam upon the water Hos 10.7 Hos 10.7 I can no more and yet here is something lesse a foam or bubble may burst into a vapour and What is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and afterwards vanisheth away Iam. 4.14 Jam. 4 14. Lesse then this is nothing yet life is something lesse nothing in substance all it is it is but a shadow We are strangers and sojourners as all our fathers were our dayes are like a shadow upon the earth there is none abiding 1. Chr. 29.15 1. Chr. 29.15 See whither we have brought our life and yet ere we part we will down one step lower upon a strict view we find neither substance nor shadow Psal 39.5 onely a meer nothing a verie vanitie Behold thou hast made my dayes as an hand breadth and mine age is nothing in respect of thee surely every man living is altogether vanitie Psal 39.5 Psal 39.5 Lo here the nature of our life it is a shrub a leaf a reed a rush a grasse a smoke a cloud a wind a water a bubble a vapour a shadow a nothing What mean we to make such ado about a matter of nothing I cannot choose but wonder at the vanitie of men that runne rid toil travell undergo any labour to maintain this life and what is it when they have their desire which they so much toyl for we live and yet whilest we speak this word perhaps we die Is this a land of the living or a region of the dead We that suck the air to kindle this little spark where is our standing but at the gates of death Psal 9.13 Psal 9.13 Where is our walk but in the shadow of death Luke 1.79 Luke 1.79 What is our mansion-house but the body of death Rom. 7.24 Rom. 7.24 What think ye Is not this the region of death where is nothing but the gate of death An non haec regio mortis ubi porta mortis umbra mortis corpus mortis and the shadow of death and the body of death Sure we dream that we live but sure it is that we die or if we live the best hold we have is but a lease God our chief Lord may bestow what he pleaseth to the rich man wealth to the wise man knowledge to the good man peace to all men somewhat yet if you ask Who is the Lessor God Who is the Lessee Man What is leased This world For what terme My life Thus Jacob tels Pharaoh as the Text tels you Few and evil have the dayes of my
brought us all those things are passed away as a shadow or as a Poste that passeth by Look on this man as he lies on his bed of death here is neither smile nor dimple All the daughters of musick are brought low Eccles. 12.4 His voice is hoarse his lips pale his cheeks wan his nostrills run out his eyes sink into his head and all the parts and members of his body now lose their office to assist him Is this the merrie man that made such pastime Sweet God! what a change is this Esa 3.24 In stead of sweet smell there is a stench in stead of a girdle a rent in stead of well-set hair baldness in stead of beauty burning in stead of mirth mourning and lamentation weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Must not sadnesse seize on that soul which incurs this doom Here is a malefactour stands at bar indited by the name of Fool charged with the guilt of treason condemned by the Judge of heaven and this night the saddest that ever he saw is that fearfull execution that his soul is taken And yet more horrour It was a night of sinne and this doth encrease the sorrow Psal 116.13 How dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and we may say on the contrary How abominable in the sight of the Lord is the death of the wicked Was not this a grief to be took thus tripping in his wickedness even now whilest he was busily plotting his ease and pastime death stands at his door and over-hears all his plots and projects It was a death to his soul to be took in his sinne hear how he roars and cries O that I had lived so virtuously as I should had I embraced the often inspirations of Gods blessed Spirit had I followed his Laws obeyed his Commands attended to his will how sweet and pleasant would they now be unto me We and alas that I had not fore-seen this day what have I done but for a little pleasure a fleeting vanity lost a Kingdome purchased damnation O beloved what think ye of your selves whilest you hear this voice you sit here as senseless of this judgement as the seats the pillars the walls the dust nay as the dead bodies themselves on which you tread but suppose and it were a blessed meditation you that are so fresh and frolick at this day that spend it merrily use it profanely swearing revelling singing dancing what if this night while you are in your sin the hand of death should arrest you Could I speak with you on your death-beds I am sure I should find you in another case how but sorrowing grieving roaring that your time were lost and these words not heeded whiles the time well served how would you tear your hair gnash your teeth bite your nails seek all means possibly to annihilate your selves and can nothing warn you before death seize on you take heed if you go on in sinne the next step is damnation It was the Apostles advice Rom. 13.11 Now it is high time to wake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer then when we believed Rom. 13.11 If this wretched man had observed the present time how happy had he been this hour of his departure But as Officers take malefactours drinking or drabbing so is he nearest danger when deepest in the mire of pleasure Look at all those that are gone before us and which of them thought their end so near while they lived so merrie I must needs tell you there is a fire a worm a sting a darkness an hell provided for all wicked wretches and there most certainly must you be this night if you die this day in your naturall state of sinne Lord that men should be so strangely bewitched by the Prince of the air as for the momentarie enjoyment of some glorious miseries bitter-sweet pleasures heart-vexing riches desperately and wilfully to abandon God and to cast themselves headlong into the jaws of Satan Such a prodigious madnesse seized on this Worldling he sings he revels he dallies Plin. l. 7. c. 23. then dies Thus greatest euils arise out of greatest joyes as the ears vvith vehement sounds and the eyes vvith brighter objects so many by felicity have lost both their sense and being Gallus dies in the act of pleasure 2 Sam. 4.7 Num. 11.33 Ishbosheth dies in the middest of sleep the Israelites die in their day of lust this Worldling dies in that night of sinne even then on a sudden his soul is taken And yet more horrour it vvas a night of death and this vvas the vvorst of all the darkness drowsiness sadness sin all vvere nothing to this all nothing in themselves if death had not follovved Aristot lib. 3. mor. cap. 6. this is that most terrible of all terribles all fears griefs suspicions pains as so many small brooks are svvallovved up and drovvned in this Ocean of misery Novv rich man vvhat saiest thou to thy barns buildings riches lands Do these pleasure thee in this thy extreme and dying agonie Thou liest this night on thy departing bed burthened vvith the heavie load of thy former trespasses the pangs come sore and sharp upon thee thy brest pants thy pulse beats short thy breath it self smels of earth and rottennesse vvhither vvilt thou go for a little ease or succour vvhat help canst thou have in thy heaps of gold or hoord of vvealth Discip de temp serm 118. ex Hum. in tract de septuplici timore should vve bring them to thy bed as vve read of one dying commanded that his golden vessels and silver plate should be set before him which looking on he promised to his soul it should have them all on condition of his stay with him but the remedie being silly at last most desperately he commends it to the Devil seeing it would not stay in his body and so gave up the ghost Alas these trifling treasures can no more deliver thee from the arrest of that inexorable Serjeant then can an handfull of dust Wretched men vvhat shall be your thoughts vvhen you come to this miserable case full sad and heavie thoughts Lord thou knovvest you may lie upon your beds like vvild buls in a net full of the furie of the Lord In the morning thou shalt say would God it were evening and at even thou shalt say would God it were morning for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see Deut. 28.67 Deut. 28.67 Here is the terrour of that night of death vvhen you may vvish vvith all your hearts that you had never been born if the Lord once let loose the cords of your conscience vvhat account vvill you make of crovvns of possessions all these will be so far from healing the wound that they will turn rather into fiery Scorpions for your further torments Now now now is the dismall time of death what
Sam. 18.33 would God I had died for thee O Absolon my sonne my sonne But where be any friends so respective of this Worldling He wants a Ionathan a David upon a strict enquirie we find no friend no father no sonne neither heirs nor assignes to whom he may bestow his lands But what if he had friends as near to himself as himself no man can die or another Psal 49.7 8. or as the Psalmist No man may deliver his brother nor make agreement unto God for him for it cost more to redeem their souls so that he must let that alone for ever Should the poor man beg the old man pray his servants kneel his friends lie at deaths feet and all these offer up all their lives for this rich mans recovery all were but vain it is thy Soul is arrested and it is thy self that must yield it Of thee it is required You see there is no way but one with him to conclude then wee 'l bid him his farewel this is the last friendship we can do this rich man and so wee 'l leave him The hour is come and the dawning of that dreadfull day appeareth now he begins to wish that he had some space some piece of time to repent him and if he might obtain it O what would he do or what would he not do Releive the weak visit the sick feed the hungry lodge the stronger cloath the naked give half his goods to the poor and if he had done any wrong restore it him again seven-fold but alas all is too late the candle that but follows him cannot light him to heaven a sudden death denies his suit and the increasing of his sickness will give him no leasure to fulfill those duties what cold sweats are those that seiz upon him his senses fail his speech falters his eyes sink his breast swels his feet die his heart faints such are the outward pangs what then are the inward griefs if the body thus suffers what cares and conflicts endures the soul had he the riches of Croesus the Empires of Alexander the robes of Solomon the fare of that rich man who lived deliciously every day what could they do in the extremity of these pangs O rich man thou couldst tell us of pulling down barns and building greater but now imagine the vast cope of heaven thy Barn and that were large enough and all the riches of the world thy grain and that were crop enough yet all these cannot buy a minute of ease now that death will have thy body hell thy soul O dark dungeon of imprisoned men whose help wilt thou crave whose aid wilt thou ask what release canst thou exspect from such a prison the disease is past cure the sickness wants remedie alas what may recover now the heart strings break asunder thy date exspires thy last breath goes and now is thy Soul and Body required of thee I have hitherto with Nathan beat sinfull David on a strangers coat You must give me leave to take off the mask and shew you your own faces in this glass Believe thou O man who readest this that shortly there will be two holes where thine eyes now stand and then others may take up thy skull and speak of thee dead as I have done to thee living how soon I know not but this I am sure of Thy time is appointed thy moneths are determined Job 14.14 Job 14.5 Psal 90.12 John 11.9 thy dayes are numbred thy very last hour is limited And what follows but that thy bodie lie cold at the root of the rocks at the foot of the mountains Go then to the graves of those that are gone before us and there see are not their eyes wasted their mouths corrupted their bones scattered where be those ruddy lips lovely cheeks sparkling eyes comely nose hairy locks are not all gone as a dream in the night or as a shadow in the morning alas that we neglect these thoughts and set our minds wholly upon the world and its vanity we are carefull fearfull and immoderately painfull to get transitorie riches like children following Butter-flies we run and toyl and perhaps misse our purpose but if we catch them what is it but a flie to besmear our hands Riches are but empty and yet be they what they will be all at last will be nothing Saladine that great Turk after all his conquests gets his shirt fastened to his spear in manner of an Ensigne this done a Priest makes Proclamation Knolls Turkish History pag. 73. This is all that Saladine carryes away with him of all the riches he hath gotten Shall a Turk say thus and do Christians forget their duties Remember your selves ye sons of earth of Adam what is this earth you dote on be sure you shall have enough of it when your mouths must be filled and crammed with it and as your souls desire it so at that day shall your bodies turn to it O that men are thus given to gasping greediness there is a generation and they are too common amongst us that we may preach and preach as they say our hearts out yet will not they stirre a foot further from the world or an inch nearer unto God but could we speak with them on their death-bed when their consciences are awaked then should we hear them yell out those complaints What hath pride profited us or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us Wisd 5.8 Assure your selves this day or this night will come and imagine I pray that the ten twentie thirty fourty years or moneths or dayes or hours which you have yet to live were at an end were you at this present stretched on your beds wearied with struggling against your wearied pangs were your friends weeping your Physicians parting your children crying your wives houling and your selves lying mute and dumb in a most pitifull agony Beloved Christian whosoever thou art stay a while I pray thee and practise this meditation Suppose thou now feeledst the cramp of death wresting thy heart-strings and ready to make that rufull divorce betwixt thy body and thy soul suppose thou lyest now panting for breath swimming in a cold fatall sweat suppose thy words were fled thy tongue struck dumb thy soul amazed thy senses frighted suppose thy feet beginning even to die thy knees to wax cold and stiff thy nostrils to run out thine eyes to sink into thy head and all the parts of thy body to lose their office to assist thee upon this supposall lift up thy soul and look about thee O I can tell thee if thou livest and diest in sinne there would be no where any comfort but a world of terrour and perplexity look upwards there shouldst thou see the terrible sword of Gods justice threatning look downwards there shouldst thou see the grave in exspectation ready gaping look within thee there shouldst thou feel the worm of conscience bitter gnawing look without thee there shouldst thou see good and evill
devoured of worms consumed by Serpents which craul and spring from the marrow of our bones look in a dead mans grave and see what you find but dust and worms and bones and skuls putrified flesh an house full of stench and vermine Behold then the power of God Almighty out of this grave and dust of the earth from these chambers of death and darkness shall arise the bodies of the buried the graves will flie open and the dead go out not an hair not a dust not a bone shall be denied but whatsoever holds their dust shall yield their bodies I saw the dead saith Iohn small and great stand before God Revel 20.12 13. and the Sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works Revel 20.13 what a wonderfull sight will this be to see the sea and earth bring forth in al parts such variety of bodies to see so many sorts of people nations to come together huge armies innumerable as the Caterpillars of Egypt all shall arise and every one appear before the Lords Tribunall worms and corruption cannot hinder the resurrection he that said to Corruption Iob 17.14 Iob 19.25 thou art my father and to the worm thou art my sister and mother said also I know that my Redeemer liveth and mine eyes shall behold him O good God! how wonderfull is thy power this flesh of ours shall turn to dust be eate of worms consume to nothing if there be any reliques of our ashes the wind may scatter them the blasts divide them our feet trample them the beasts digest them the vermine devour them if nothing yet time will consume them But for all this God is as able to raise us from the dust as to create us of the dust not one dust of this clay shall perish though scattered divided trampled devoured consumed it shall be gathered recovered revived refined and raised and as one dust shall not be lost of one man so neither shall one man be lost of all the world this is that generall day that shall congregate all they shall come from the four winds and corners of the world to make an universall appearance all the children of Adam shall then meet together yea all the kindreds of the earth shall meet together and mourn Assemble your selves and come all ye heathen to the valley of Jehoshaphat for there will I sit to judg all the heathen Joel 3.12 Joel 3.11 12. The summons are sounded the dead raised and yet to give you a fuller view of the parties see how God the Iudg now sends his messengers to fetch the living bodies to his Court. Vse 3 He shall send his Angels saith our Saviour and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to another Matth. 24.31 Matth. 24.31 True it is all shall be gathered yet with a difference some with a swift pace flie to the Throne where is the hope of their diliverance others draw and pull back whiles the Angels hale them to the Iudgment seat the righteous have nimble swift bodies that flie to the Iudg as a Bird to her nest and young ones but the wicked have their bodies black and heavy they cannot flie but flagge in the air and the Angels do not bear but dragge them to the judgment seat how can this chuse but fear the wicked when like malefactours they are brought before the wrathfull judg as they were born or buried so must they rise again naked and miserable what a shame is this and yet the more horrible in that their nakedness shall be covered with a filthy blackness needs must desperate fears sieze one the soul when it is again united to her body transformed to such an ugly form is this the body fed with delights and delicates is this the flesh pampered with ease and lust is this the face masked from the winde and Sun are these the hands decked with Rings and Diamonds how become these so swarthy horrible which before were so fair and amiable this the change of the wicked when through sorrow and confusion they shall cry to the Rocks cover our nakednesse and to the hills hide our ugliness nay rather than appear let the infernal Furies tear and totter us into a thousand pieces Look your beauties Beloved in this glasse such is the end of this worlds glory so vain the pleasure of this body Now is the end of all things come and what remains but a sea of fears and miseries rushing on them before shall the Angels drag them behinde shall the black Crew follow them within shal their consciences torture them and without shall hot flames of fire fume and fry and furiously torment them fear within fire without but worse then all a Iudg above all thither must they go Angels usher them Devils attend them the Cryer hath called them the Angels trump hath summoned them and now they must appear We have brought all together now we must part them asunder the sheep shall be put on the right hand and the goates on the left as every man hath deserved Two travellers go together feed together lye together sleep together but in the morn their wayes part asunder thus the sheep and goates eat together drink together sleep together rot together but at this day there shall be a separation let them grow together corn and tares untill the harvest this world is the flloor Matth. 13.30 fan while you will there will be some chaff love peace like lambs their will be some goats to trouble the sheep and goats live both together in one fold the world lye both together in one cote the grave the world is a common Inne which entertains all manner of passengers the rode-way to death is the Kings high-way free for all travellers after the passage of this weary day death hath provided a large bed to lay all in the grave all live together and all lye together all rest together and all rot together but when this night is past and the last day is sprung then is the wofull separation some turn on the right and those are the blessed others on the left hand and those are the cursed Here is the beginning of woes when the wicked shall curse and houl like the fiendes of hell O Lord punish me here saith one devoutly rack me in pieces cut me in shreds burn me in fire so that I may be there placed at thy right hand Domine hÃc ure hîc seca modo in aeternum parcas Aug. Blessed are they that have a place amongst those elect sheep what now remains but their doom which is a lot that must befall every man for he shall reward not one or some but every one every man according to his works The Summons are given the dead are raised the prisoners conducted to the bar and the sheep and