1. c. 51 the e Camden in Glamorganshire eternales domus those smoaky and fulsome Huts about which the leves animae the separate Ghosts do keep their residence here the sprightly Satyrs tread their measures and paint green circles in the Elysian Fields till the blushing dawn of eternity d Ps 22.29 None can keep alive his soul from death nor ransome his e Job 13.6 lamp from darkness The martiall Commander creeps under his Bed f Sueton in Coleg c. 51. with Caligula at the râ—â—â—ing of this Thunderbolt no Marble Palaces cau dazle the eyes or daunt the approaches of Death no iron bars can repell his force his aquafortis burns all afunder he stands not agast at the pale and wan looks of quivering Princes but like a gyant fluster'd with the wine of blood looks terrible on the proud Nimrods of the World Kings Edicts that Death be not whispered in their Courts are sullied on waste Paper they but daub their Royall Parchments with fond flourishes Their strongest Towers are but the spinstry of Spider-webs Death's too great a Flesh-fly to be catcht in such Tiffany Walls hee 'l hum in their ears with hatefull buzzing will they nill they There 's no Canon or Decree against him can stand inviolable Should Medes and Persians twist Laws as strong as Cables this Sampson snaps them asunder like raw Flax or twined threads If all Justinians pandects were cramb'd with severe penalties that death presume not to touch an Emperor or be rude with his Lady or Children hee 'l send a Phocas to find them out and hale them to his Slaughter-house The Captains of their Guard with their Halberdiers fling down their Arms and cry craven This old Leviathan g Job 41.29 counts their Darts as Stubble and laughs to scorn the shaking of their Spears When this storm rises this furious blast be takes down the top-gallants and the Flags of Admirals he cuts their Masts by the Board the wisest Pilot he flings over-board no Anchor holds they run adrift and are shattered upon the Rocks The cunning Lawyer with all his shirks and querks and Writs of Error cant hook out a Habeas Corpus from this unbribed Barr. Death has too subtle a Pate to be overmatcht he has Presidents and rul'd Cases and Records as high as Adam There 's no Chancery refuge or Appeal from the Club-law of this Kings-Bench he 's Lord Chief-Justice and Jaylor he 's Sheriff and Executioner But what sayes Hipocrates with his Coan Aphorisms and Galen with his long winded Method Can't he open a Vein in the Arm of this raging Adversary that his Sword may fall and the Galenture of his fury abate against Mankind Is there no inchanted Potion nor amorous Cup can lull him asleep O Physitians Are there no Recipe's in all your Dispensatories against the crack of Heart-strings Must his deadly Ague shake both you and your Patients into the Grave Must his dropsie drown you his Feaver burn you to Ashes his Consumption emaciate and waste you to Skelitons and set up your Bones in his Anatomy School What is there no Antidote no Treacle against the needle-teeth of this black Adder No! he turns a deaf ear to all your Siren-Lectures This Serpent a Eccles. 10 11. will bite for all your inchantments Such bablers are no better But alas for this day of darkness b Irel. 2.2 this gloomy morning that 's spread upon the Mountains Can we track no comfort in this thick Fog of Ignorance Are there no Trees of Life to be found in Lebanon Alas is Eden lost Is that Tree free among the dead did the venemous breath of the old Serpent wither it did he hack it down did he pluck it up by the roots Are there no sprouts from its chips nor no healing atomes that flew from its wounds into other shrubs or plants Is there no drug in Arabia no balm in Gilead no Spice in India can revive a languishing mortal What no Etheriall Spirits nor irradiating Sulfurs nor Minerall tinctures nor Elixirs of Life to cure this stroke Won't potable Gold snatch back the flying Spirit and intreat that noble guest to stay a while within its old Cloister new plaistred and gilt with this restorative Won't the limpid Alcahest make the blood volatile and circulate it nimbly against the cold congealing blast of death Won't the great red-powder cure it Then farewell all their empty notions and unpracticable maximes their clogging Syrups ill digesting Powders their life-exhausting blood-lets and their cold mortal Juleps O vain man Nullis mors est medicabilis herbis No Plant in natures garden springs To heal or swage these deadly stings Use the Physitian that 's a duty trust not in him for that 's a sin Good Asa had this mournful title upon his a 2 Chron. 16.12 13. Tomb that he sought not to the Lord but to the Physitians and slept with his Fathers Though the skilfulst Physitian and the holiest Saint do meet together yet both should count upon a last day a last hour and a last moment that they cannot passe b Isay 3.2 The mighty man and man of war the Captain of Fifty the honourable the Counsellor the cunning Artificer and the eloquent Orator Death takes them all by the hand and leads them into this gloomy Valley He reverences not the gray hairs he rises not up to the milk-white brow of the grave and ancient nor layes down his crooked Sith at the foot of aged and hoary head he strains no courtesies with the weaker sex nor gives it the upper hand the pitifull cries of tender Infants pierce not his Adamantine breast This tearlesse Moloch hugs them mortally in his brazen arms he hath Urns proportion'd to all their Ashes and Graves of every size But what though riches and honour though sweet natures virtuous minds prevail for no reprivall Must holy bones also see corruption Can't Faith Prayer wrestle a fall with this mighty King of terrors No no though the wicked twice fall under the dint of this Goliahs Sword yet 't is appointed for all a Heb. 9.17 ence to dye and after that to Judgment For as by one man sin entred into the world b Ro. 5.12 and Death by sin So death passeth upon all men for that all have sinned Faithfull Abraham must lye down in the Cave of Machpeloh Patient Job after all his Arabian Tragedies must act one Scene more and say to Corruption c Job 17.14 thou art my Father to the Worm thou art my Mother and Sister Strong Sampson must fall by this Jaw-bone in the Vineyards of Zorah and meek Moses though he dye in a d Deut. 32.50 Mountain must walk down this deep e c. 34.6 Valley of Abarim Wise Solomon by all his prudent and pollitick maximes of Government can't tame and rule this ferocious Behemoth nor tye this wild Bull at his Figtree But his sage breath must out at the dore
of his lips he returns to his earth f Ps 146.4 and that very day his thoughts and his reasons of State must perish All his skill in Botanicks could not extract such an ens primum or a quintessence from his Cedars in Lebanon to prolong his life a moment beyond the appointed g Job 14.5 moneths and the bounds which he could not passe No nor holy Poul could not strengthen the stakes of his Tabernacle or keep its curtains from trembling but an East wind from the Roman wildernesse h smites it down to the ground Act. 18.3 and all his i skill in Tent-work could not raise it He therefore counts upon his house with God not made with hands k 2 Cor. 5. â— eternal in the Heavens and groans earnestly to be clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of Life Q. But why must Saints dye hath not Christ paid a ransome to purchase them from death Must Daniel the man of desires be led into this second Captivity Must John the beloved Disciple though he scape the boiling Oyl and rocky Patmos come down to his Tomb at Ephesus and walk in this six-foot Valley yes even he that lay in the bosome of Christ must also sleep in the bosome of the grave A. 1 To this may be replyed 1 Downam of Justifie p. 6. Edit fol. Lond. 1639. That Justification is a continued act of divine grace terminative quoad 1 nos in respect to us it lasts from our first conversion to the declarative sentence of absolution at the day of Judgment Indeed in respect to God who is actus purissimus a most pure and absolute act and sits down without any succession of times in the glorious noon of Eternity our justification admits no degrees It is not instill'd into us drop by drop in respect to him but so soon as a man doth truly believe he stands truly and perfectly righteous in the sight of God The Covenant of Grace is ratified simul semel together and at once at the Throne of God in the name and vertue of Christs righteousness so soon as ever we truly believe but 't is applied manifested and compleated to us in the successive methods of effectual vocation sanctification and finall redemption at the great day For while we continue sinners we have continuall need of justifying grace David as to fresh Commissions stood in need of a Ps 51.7 purging with Hysop from his leprous sins to receive an atonement Lev 14.6 19. and to have the Seal of the b Ps 32.5 forgiveness of the iniquity of his sin upon his acknowledgment and confession For as to us God is not said to remit those sins that are not yet committed but such c Rom. 3.25 as are past We are taught therefore by our Lord to pray d Mat. 6.11 12. Act. 5.31 every day forgive us our trespasses We sin dayly and must confess dayly and pray dayly for repentance and pardon Yea God himself in that Evangelicall promise by Esay assures us e Isay 43.25 I even I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delens am blotting out your trangressions for mine own sake and will not remember your fins to comfort us against tentations about daily infirmities Do we sin every day and is the truth not in him nay does he make him a lyar that saith f 1 Joh. 1.10.8.2.1 he hath no sin then we have need of a dayly Advocate to plead for us at the right hand of the Father a high Priest that g Heb. 7.24 continueth evir and h V. 25. liveth â—vâ—â— to i Heb. 9 24 appear in the presence of God and to make intercession for us By virtue whereof he k Joh. 14.2 3. prepares the heavenly Mansions in the Temple of Glory for us and us for them Then he will come again and receive us unto himself that where he is we may be with him and behold his glory And when this Prince of life the Judg of quick and dead shall appear he will pronounce that finall justifying and glorifying sentence l Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father m Ps 32.1 2. for blessed are they indeed to whom the Lord then imputeth not iniquity come and inherit the Kingdome prepared for you Then shall our justification be compleat in all its points at that joyfull declaration of Christ upon his Tribunall in Judgment No marvell then a Rom. 8.10 11. If the bodies even of Saints shall dye 'T is because of sin though the spirit be life because of righteousnesse But then shall all our sins be finally blotted our and cast behind his back in the b Mic. 7.19 depths of the Sea when those times of b Act. 3.19.20.21 refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord when he shall send Jesus Christ at the great Restitution whereof he hath spoken by all his holy Prophets since the world began Then shall Onesiphorus according to the prayer of Paul c 2 Tim. 1.18 find mercy in that day at the hand of Christ That day of full d Eph. 1.14 and 4.30 Redemption hath not yet appeared when the e Mat. 13.43 righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdome of their Father with everlasting joy upon their heads A. 2 Again Death was decreed and determin'd of God to seize upon faln sinners in all it kinds and yet we never find that doleful sentence repeal'd as to temporall dissolution in any promise f Joh. 11.25 I am the Resurrection and the Life saies Christ he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Yea our blessed Lord in his Sermon at Capernaum no less g Joh. 6. then four terms comforts his Disciples with the Doctrin of the Resurrection not that they should not dye but that he would raise them up at the last day Nay even to John himself Jesus h Joh. 21.23 said not that he should not dye But if I will that he tarry till I come what 's that to thee Peter No! both holy Peter and holy John Death is ordain'd as a means to purge and cleanse their bodies from the soil and filth of sin and to fit those sanctified Vessels for the life of glory A. 3 Saints therefore must look upon death with no other aspect then as the greatest bodily affliction which shall or can befall them and that it hath the same ingrediency though in a deeper measure with all the bitter Cups of triall which the Father is pleased to put into their hands They have one common reason and one common end to make them partakers of his holiness Sickness of the holinesse of Grace and Death of the holiness of Glory But are not Saints the members of Christs body Is the head glorified and must the Members pass this State of exinanition Must believers dye Yes and good reason too Should not the members be conformable to their head Ought Christ
hee 'l force no court complements upon them There 's a King of a fierce c Dan. 8.23 countenance understanding dark sayings will speak as big and as rough as they taunted to the poor he will make them bend the knee and do suit and service at his Court-Baron There they shall hear the Jaylors long-winded Lecture upon a sharp and cutting Text and can't get out of his Chappell though they sit at the lower end hee 'l keep them from sleeping and gash their memories with the keen knife of his tongue about the many Sabbaths they profaned and the means of Grace they contemned how they mockt at repentance and loll'd out the tongue at precisenesse hee 'l gripe them with the holy examples meek admonitions of Saints and their patient sufferings for the truth at their barbarous hands They 'l have cold stomachs to jeer and fleere in the face of this conscience-scalding Preacher hee 'l chain the blessed Bible to the Desk of their Pews which they had laid aside like an old Almanack Now it comes in date at this year of reckoning Hee 'l prove to their faces how they have slighted the heavy judgments of the late dreadfull Pestilence the astonishing Fire and the colour of the British Seas crimson'd and diaper'd with the blood of their brethren hee 'l gaul them with their base ingratitude in slighting the mercies of the great God who gave them reprievall and survivall after all these dismall memento's But now ha's delivered them from a Jerom. 21 7. the Pestilence and from the Sword and from the Famine into the hands of this dismall King of Assyria hee 'l once more rub up their dull senses with sharp rebukes about the numerous checks of conscience and the loud calls of the spirit which then they injoyed but now they may howl after without any pitty and that which shall vex them to the heart hee 'l ever be harping and grating odiously upon the same string and jarring in their ears and rubbing the old sore about their lost opportunities and seasons of grace This shall be a plain and home Sermon such as before they scoft at here will be no flowers of Rhetorick to set off Truth to the squeazy palate of a Sermon-sick Lady here will be no fear to displease greatness here 's no Trencher-Chaplains to soften expressions least the great Churl Stomack at sound reproofs that might save his soul No these dayes are past here 's no impatient lookings at the hour-glasse when the last sand drops to be gone to dinner here 's no being glad at sleevelesse errands to steal away through the croud and choak conscience with this flam that a little 's enough if well practised No! here 's a Preacher will hold them to it and taunt and twit them with the day of repentance being over and chain them to their seats and lock them in the stocks as they once did the Saints in Lollards-Tower till the Trump of the Resurrection sounds an Alarum to Judgment Is this the state of wicked mens souls while their bodies rot in the grave when will they learn to be wise for Eternity They must b Bernard de Conver. ad Clerico◠suffocate and slay the worm of conscience here saies Bernard that would not be bitten hereafter Is it not better to hearken diligently to a few Sermons here though ten hours long though a Act 20.7 Paul preach till mid-night then to be liuckt to that terrible Sermon that shall last many hundred years long from the day of death till the day of judgment and after that a second Sermon in the afternoon which shall know no evening but last to Eternity when rivers of tears can't wash away guilt nor ten thousand rivers of oyl can't make thy Sacrifice flame acceptably up to heaven O be wise while the day lasts Mic. 6.7 and do the work which the Father giveth to work b Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent But if ye reject this counsell and like foolish builders refuse this stone of the corner till that fearfull night shall overshadow you then your mouldring bodies must lye by it and be kept in that smothering prison while your lamenting souls are agitared and hurried with these condemning and tormenting Furies There your bodies though of ne're so fine a c Job 21.26 Clay must mix with the course allay of your once oppressed Slaves The dust of Princes must mingle with base and mean Peasants they and their Porters must lodge together Lords and Beggers know no distance and what Artist can form his Epitah by any distinct colour or grain in their mould Neither can heaps of Gold bride a fancied Charon to waft their bodies out of these gloomy regions these Egyptian shades to any Elysiam meadows of pleasure The searching brains of the ablest Counsellors can find no flaw in the Writ of Death nor get any bayl or mainprize from that tedious Gatehouse Here the Skull of the acutest Thomist through length of time will all dwindle into starvling Moss while he forgets to distinguish its fit season for the Weapon salve Alas it won't cure the fractures made by Deaths Pole-Axe No distinctions can satisfie this cunning sophister to turn the key and release the Prisoner But here they must all continue and abide in the state of the dead The ingenious Artificer can invent no clew to hand him out of this snaring maze this winding Labyrinth There 's d Eccl. 9.10 no invention or judgment no device knowledge or wisdome in the grave whither thou goest 'T is by the Decree of the e Dan. 4.17 watchers the time once doom'd and sixt there 's no reversion He that goes a Job 7.9 10. down into this far Country shall return no more to his house nor shall his place know him again There all sit down in deep silence till the moment appointed by the high and holy One who inhabits Eternity Then shall the enemies of his Sons Kingdome creep out of the dust to shame and everlasting contempt But the ashes of his people their gracious Father lays them up in the treasuries of his wakefull providence and they shall be his in that day that b Mal. 3.17 he makes up his Jewels when the joyfull voice of Christ shall gently raise them to that blissfull dawn when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rosie fingered morn shall blush out of the East and the Sun of Eternity shall gild their rising Temples for glory CHAP. VI. Of the fell Dragons at the further end of the grave MEthinks the way through the dark c Morisans Travels p 113. Grott near Naples opening towards the sulfurous mountains of Vesuvius and the stagnant air of Campania bears some resemblance with this close and terrible passage through the Valley of Death were the terrors many at the entrance they increase and multiply at the coming forth There 's no hiding stopping
pray him to stay a while till they have caught the fish of profit and honour They put off repentance till gray hairs and proffer sacrifices of threescore yeer old when they are rich enough to believe with a bag of gold by their sides and have fortified faith with the security of a great purchase against all the issues of Providence Then they 'l promise to build a fair Alms-house and cut their Coat of Arms upon the Frontispiece for a good Example I know there be many Gallios f Act. 18.17 that care for none of these things of Felix his temper that appoint g Ch. 24.25 Paul a more convenient season They count them sour cynicall that warn'd them of death and the wrath to come but oh how sour doe themselves look when the fear of death assaults them and conscience bites like an Adder for scorning former advice about circumspect walking and redeeming of precious time But O fool is it not better to be prickt with the goad of wisdome to hear rather verba pungentia quam palpantia smarting and searching words to Salvation then sinoath and oyly words to lamnation that Sermon that pricks not but delights the hearer is not the word of wisdome Hierom. in Eccles. 12.11 p. S 3 T. 7 Is it not safer to hear this Bell now ring in thine ear then in Hell Is it not more convenient to hear Paul preaching in his chain then for thee to tremble in thy chains for the dreadfull sentence at the Tribunall of Christ Then hoarding up of riches will not profit in that day of wrath nor fine fashions ward off the stroak of Christs iron rod Ps 2. Will griping gains or soft raiment lay up a good foundation for the time to come Can men dye with any safe reflections of comfort upon the actings of sin Can such appeal to God at death that they sincerely love him when they love h Jam. 4.4 his enemies so profusely Let not these frothy things be entertain'd by such as would fain dye peaceably Would ye sleep in the bosome of Christ happily then walk in his eye holily Live in the love of God and you may appeal safely at death and long for his Salvation I have a Gen. 49.18 waited for thy salvation O Lord saies dying Jacob. But how comes in this pious ejaculation of Jacob may some say at his blessing of Dan unless the holy Patriarch in the midst of other matters at the benediction of his children should seem to have fallen suddenly into a trance of joy through a quick glance upon his former waiting and that now he saw this glorious salvation neer at hand Others when they are curvetting upon their winged Coursers after worldly games and pleasures Dan's Serpent of judgment and the Adder of Death bites their heels in the path and the riders fall backward Then oh how earnest they are for dying the death of the righteous Alas the Time 's now past for such to long for that salvation on any good grounds who by faith and prayer never waited for it But in Jacobs glasse we may see the frame of a Saints heart and the heavenly strain of his song at death who in the midst of the compiling his will and testament concerning that which his soul loved and had long expected he breaks forth in the extasie of a joyfull appeal now when he sees it approaching Lord this is what I wait for this my soul longs and hankers after to enâ—â—â—â— a Pnbliul in Hodaep Hierosol l. 1. vid. pâ—â—ef ad Pâ—â—â—veli peregran Hieâ—osol * 3. edit Antwerp 1614 Aâ— it 's reported of a Jerusalem Pilgrim being at Mount Olivet that in the midst of his kisses of Christs supposed soot prints between devour sobs and sighs and tears he expired his last breath When the Soul cries out with David Now Lord b Ps 39.7 what wait I for my hope is in thee Or as Simeon Lord Now c Luk 2.29 let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy ordained and my beloved Saviour with his salvations Now my hope thus long deferr'd shall sprout up into a Tree of Life and feed my soul with the pleasant fruits of thy salvation This Rock of the Covenant shall pour out the chrystall streams from the Throne of God and the Lamb. Jacob and Simeon sing the same new song of the Lamb and fall asleep sweetly in the same armes Their love to Christ bubbled up into warm appeals the sails of their joy were swell'd with fresh gales of the spirit while they steer under the top-gallant of assurance into the haven of enjoyment They lye down on the pitch of Nebo on the very peak of Pisgah in a beautifull view of the delicious Landskip of the fat vallies and the rivers of milk and honey that run among the mountains of Canaan They begin to cast away the glasse and see more immediately to resolve the riddle the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13.12 and expound it by vision When Saints like Peter can passionately pour out their Souls into the breast of Christ a Joh. 21.17 Lord thou who knowest all things knowest that I love thee this contestation this blessed appeal will keep Peter from ever sinking in the mortall sea of Tiberias and hold up the chin of a Saint through the greatest floods and billows of tentation yea of death it self and waft them safely into the bosome of Christ triumphing Section 4. The fourth and last appeal is about the presence of God with us I have spoken already to the sense of divine communion in a former chapter and shall now only treat in brief about our appeal concerning it David had a sense of it that was his comfort and conquest but now he declares it that 's his triumph Lord thou hast been with me and thou knowest it and my soul knows it and I sensibly feel that thou art still with me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu mecum Thou with me saies the Hebrew restraining the divine presence to no certain time Thou standest with me by me on my side I will fear no evill The Lord stood by Paul in a tempest and said c Act. 27.24 fear not Paul and Pauls all in a calm The Syrtes or quicksands of Lybia the Euroclydons or most furious winds the rowling mountains of water fright not his faith When Sun Moon and Stars are mantled in Stygian darkness for many daies while others wish for day Paul enjoyes it No dangers terrifie a Saint when God is present The King of Terrors is subject to the King of Saints and gives up the keys of his Castle to this Lord Paramount and layes down the Mace at his Feet Si fractus illabatur orbis c. Though mountains be hurried into the heart d Ps 46.3 of the Sea the waters roar and the great hills shake with the swelling
Phil. 3.21 shall be changed and fashioned like his most glorious body then shall we ever follow the Lamb with agile spirits whereever he goes leading us to the living fountains of waters The Lord graciously make us all fit vessels for the Temple not made with hands by the imputation of his Sons righteousness that after a holy life we may sleep peaceably in Jesus and reign triumphantly with him Most honoured Sir I humbly commend you into the bosome of this blessed Lamb and Prince of Life to be presented a Ephes 5.27 without spot or wrinckle unto himself To this Lamb-like Shepheard of Zion that his crook and his staffe may comfort you That goodness and mercy may follow you all your daies and you may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever So prayes humbly and earnestly begging your fervent petitions and blessings from the fountain of Israel upon Your most obedient Son in all humble duty and sincere affection in our Lord Jesus Samuel Lee. July 30. 1669. Contemplations ON MORTALITY PSALM 23.4 Yea though I should walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will not fear evill for thou wilt be with me thy crook and thy staffe they shall comfort mee CHAP. I. Upon the words of the Psalmist KIng David from his Royal Palace in Mount Zion might feast his eyes with many delicious Prospects 1. The first and chiefest was the Tabernacle of the Lord of Hosts who a Ps 87.2 loved the gates of that mountain more then all the dwellings of Jacob. This holy Prince delighted in communion with God and therefore is styled a man after Gods own heart he b Ps 13.1 2 4 5. swore against the slumber of his eye-lids till he found a place for the Lord a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. And where did he fix the Tents of the holy One of Israel did he not bring up the Ark from the house of Obed-Edam into the c Sam. 6.12 City af David with gladness For d Ps 132.13 the Lord had chosen Zion he desired it for his habitation Thrice happy those Princes who entertain the pure worship of God within their Courts They shal e Ps 89.15 know the joyfull sound of Temple-musick they shall walk O Lord in the shining light of thy countenance A Second lovely Prospect with which David enamelled his eyes was the pleasant City of Jerusalem f Ps 122.3 a City Compact together g Ps 48.2 3. beautifull for scituation the joy of the whole earth God is known in her Palaces for a refuge A third Was the valley of Kidron a dark valley through shades and precipitious rocks It s name from Kedar obscurities and thick shadows environed with mountains and a swift torrent trilling along its caverns This gave a comely off-set to the neighboring hills here were the shady strokes of natures pencil the more to illustrate the bright pieces of this holy Land-skip Hence were redoubled the pleasant and warbling ecchoes of the silver Trumpets at new Moons and Sacrifices The fourth and last was the three-ridged mount of Olivet fruitfull healthfull and pleasant In the first of these Prospects he saw the holy One of Israel walking in his Sanctuary and enjoyed sweet fellowship with the divine Oracles From the second he took a view of the State of this vain life In the third he might raise Contemplations upon the house of all living In the fourth he beheld as in a glasse a glorious cast of the Resurrection a Zach. 14.4 the day of Judgment and Ascention to Heaven The sweet Singer of Israel had tuned in consort with his Harp many choice Meditations near the murmuring waters of Kidron and here in this Psalm he playes upon the valley it self Let 's descant on his Lesson in four parts 1. Here 's a comparison of the state of death to a walk in the shady valley of Kidron I know it is usuall to interpret the shadow of death by great and deep afflictions but I shal accept the phrase in this method In its first notion that darknesse which seizes upon persons ready to die is represented In a second the grave and death it self It s plain by the conferences of b Job 3.5 10.21 34.22 38.17 Job with his Arabian comforters 't was Eastern language In a third by a Metalepsi those horrors and terrors that attend the agonies of dying mortals yea any grievous calamities that paint the face of death to the life in the glasse of imagination Here under an elegant Allegory holy David prosecutes the divine shepheardy Gods gracious care and conduct The green pastures and the chrystal streams with which his soul was refresht Not doubting but goodness and mercy should follow him all the dayes of his life and although he should be lead through the valley of the grave the Lions and the Bears the Tygers and the Wolves of those fell bottomes should not scare him I will fear no evill for thou art with me Assuring himself that the great Shepheard of Israel had wisdome and power sufficient to guide him safely and at length to enclose this sheep of his Pasture in the Folds of his c Ps 23.6 house of glory for ever Other shepheards tremble at the yelling of the Lions and the print of their foot stamps horror much more to convey their Flocks under such dismall shadows be the slads never so verdant and the gliding brooks never so sweet and pleasant left they and their sheep prove sorry comforters to one another when they slide together into the Maws of such ravening Butchers But here 's a blessed and glorious shepheard a Muscul in Loc. qui sciens prudensque ducet in mortem ipsam who purposes and resolves to lead his Flock through the jaws of death So that David sings this Psalm in the warm feelings of the divine Presence I le fear no evil thy crook and thy staffe they shall comfort me Secondly Here 's the person that walks through this tremendous valley ruddy royal and holy David Thy sanguin complexion must now turn blanck and melancholy when Abishags arms shall be cold and feeble comforters and thy reall body must shrink into this grim b 1 Sam. 15 16. Michols bed That conquering Sword at whose brandishing Edam and Ammon trembled must be shaped into deaths Sithe to mow thee from the Land of the Living Thy holy heart must take Sanctuary in the divine Covenant c Ps 49 15 89.48 that God will one day redeem thy life from corruption and thy darling from the hand of the grave Thirdly We should muster up the formidable evils that put on their armor gird on their Swords and whet their glittering Spears for a fatall encounter in this valley Fourthly We must prepare the Cordialls the Balms and all the sustaining comforts and quickning promises to refresh the Soul and uphold the spirit from sinking that we may fear no evil since God is
appearing for a little while and then vanisheth away Man walks in a vain h shadow while he lives even the shadow of a vapor e Job 8.9 every wind puffs it away and man is not a short lived vapour that lives to be but lives no longer no sooner in being but it flies away and who can gather it what 's all time from the Suns first motion till he turns to sack-cloth but a perishing cut out of the bosome of Eternity scarce worth the name of a point or a moment to it And what then are the few and evill dayes of mans life upon earth like a spark gives a snap and perishes but when he dyes the shadows of a dark of a long a Jer. 6.4 evening are stretcht upon him How wholsome is it to meditate under these shadows By these things b Is 33.16 men live and in all these is the life of our spirit let 's catch these vapours by the hand of contemplation and distill some spiritual Cordials Is life so c Job 7.7 vain a meteor O vainer soul to build castles upon it here 's d Heb. 11.10 no City that hath foundations that 's in heaven men trade and buy and build and plant as if Noah's second flood of fire and brimstone would never come All former ages are wrapt up in the short breath of a history and yet most men live as if they thought their forefathers were by the Art of Magick stept aside in a mist and the story of death but a Poets fable But as e Dion Cass l. 53. p. V 34. Tiberius said of Scaurus that reviv'd an old Tragedy against the Emperor he himself should be Ajax Thou lookst upon Death only as the Tragicall Theam of some sickly over-studied Minister till thou become the Tragedy it self and be invelop't in eternall darknesse to which the shadow of death is but the shadow of missery What makes night but the shadow of the earth and what 's death but the shadow of the grave every night is the shadow of death and every sleep in the bed is next of kin to that in the dust and should raise up the holy seed of meditation to his brother While man lives he walks in a shadow and when he dies he lies down in it A carnall man dies once and rises to judgment but after that to a second death and never rises more A Saint indeed steps down into this first Valley but walks through it to glory The Vale of Kidron was also called the Valley of Tophet and the Valley of a Gehenna Ge-hennon the Valley of Hell From the Valley of the grave wicked men sink into the bottom of Hell But a Saint ascends from Kidron to Olivet Thirdly Death is a Saints walk in this shady Valley King David might but Saint David would fear no evill though he trod this dismall path Christ is gone before b Act. 2.29 the Patriarch and hath left behind him the lustre of his footsteps to inlighten Davids feet in the c Ps 16.11 path to life 'T was not his royall Diadem could dazle the eyes of Death and fright him attaching his Ermine Robes or guard him from appalement at the wan looks of Death Scepters as well as Sheephooks lye snapt in that Valley Purple and Sackcloth are a like begrim'd with the soil of the grave the Worms Table-cloth is spread with the fine Linnen of Egypt no less then the coursest Woollen not greatness but goodness not highness but holiness gains Letters of safe conduct through this Valley All passe through it but a Saint walks through it to the Mountains of Spices Fourthly Death is a night-walk through this shady Valley a Saint is to pass not to stay there 't is a night-walk and there he must walk till the bright morning springs So many Suns must rowl over his body till the Resurrection Then he that d Dan. 12.2 slept in the dust of the earth shall awake to everlasting life When his mouldring Clay being well digested in the Sepulchrall urn shall attain maturity it shall then shine forth a diaphanous splendid and glorious body The sleep of the ancient Heroe-Saints for some thousands of years shall seem but as the sleep of one night Wicked mens souls may be terrified with dreams and visions of horror in that dismall night but a Saint sleeps quiet and sound and with Christs dead body shal he arise he tosses e Ifay 26.19 he tumbles not in this bed of Roses 't is but one fast sleep to a labouring and resting Saint the worm shall suck the nerves of the wicked and feed f Job 25.20 sweetly on him but a Saint feeds sweetly on death 'T is but his refreshment from all the sorrows and toil of his heart hands that he found under the Sun and his works follow him to glory Saints indeed are noctam bulones night walkers in this Valley but 't is not the fruit of undigested Suppers on the worlds Dainties but as a happy pleasure in the bosome of Christ The separate Soul watches his lovely bed-fellow and sings a requiem an Epithalamium a Song of Love towards it Marriage-morning Nay Angels in shining garments sit at the head and feet of a Saints grave When holy David a Ps 8.3 considered Gods Heavens the work of his fingers the Moon and the Stars which he had ordained he considers Man too that God should remember him and the Son of Man that he should visit him what 's Man to a Star to the Sun to the Heavens yet a Saint's of more value to God then numerous Stars or the manifold Orbes of Heaven Was not David now on the Roof of his House by night gazing on that spangled Canopy and pondering on the greatness of the Stars their motion lustre and influence May not a Saint thus meditate upon the night-watches of the grave and look up to the b Gen. 15.5 Stars as so many promises c Ps 89.37 and faithfull witnesses in Heaven When he views the Zodiack he traces the course of the Sun of righteousness he looks upon the Milky Way as the future path of his glorified feet He counts what if each Saint shall have a Star for his Kingdome and yet that all the Stars are but the paintings of the out-houses of that eternal Palace wherein he shall dwell with God When his Fathers face shall visit him with the day-spring from on high and the bright morning Star shall glitter upon the Eastern-Mountains of the Resurrection and proclaim the Suns arising to an eternall Jubile CHAP. III. Of the persons walking in the Valley of Death IN this Valley of Kidron David and Jonathans little Lad must gather up the mortall arrows together Princes and Skullions must do their homage alike in Deaths Kitchin There 's the homely House the Straw Hovell appointed a Job 30. for all living There be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Diodor. Sic. l.
sting of death its venome and poyson be pull'd out by the death of Christ yet our mortality is not abolished Although our Lord hath brought f 2 Tim. 1.10 life and immortality to light through the Gospel in its revelation and consignation to every believer yet not as to its compleat fruition till the day of Christ Then shall this mortall put on immortality and death shall be swallowed up in victory and then shall we render eternall thanks to the Father for giving us this victory g 1 Cor. 15.57 through our Lord Jesus Christ For reign he must till this last enemy also be put under his feet To conquer over death by rising brings more honour to God then to keep our foot from the grave or else Divine Wisdome would not run that course One's th' effect of powerfull manutenency But the other of creating omnipotency Hence as Christ the Naturall so shall Saints be declared the Adopted sons of God a Rom. 1.4 with power by the resurrection from the dead by reason of which union God will also raise them up like their glorious and mysticall head b Act. 2.24 by loosing the pains of death it being impossible for them likewise to be held by it For Christ being risen from the dead is become c 1 Cor. 15.20 the first fruits of them that sleep Our blessed Lord rose at the Passe-over and they shall rise at the day of Pentecost He rose as the head they as members all in their own order shall rise to glory Obj. But some may say Did not Enoch and Elias leap over this Valley of death into heaven Ans True but their translation moved upon the wheels of transmutation equivalent to death as they also who are found alive at the coming of Christ Though they passe not through the strainer of the grave yet they undergo the percolation of a change As the heavens shall d Ps 102.26 perish when they be changed and passe e 2 Pet. 3.10 away with a great noise and the Elements melt with fervent heat neverthelesse we look for new heavens and a new earth not in substance but in quality Even so Elijah though riding to heaven in a chariot of fire and the living f 2 Cor. 15.51 1 Thes 4.17 Saints at our Lords coming in a chariot of aire yet are all by a marvellous change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.5 translated to the vision of God CHAP. VI. Of the Formidable evills in the Valley of Death AS in a Land-skip let us take a quick prospect of those fatall and tremendous evills which cock their Helmets and make bare their Gorgon faces at the entrance in the passage and the utmost end of this direfull Valley 1. At the Entrance when these brazen gates flee open The soul bewitching comforts to which we must bid a longum vale an eternal farewell and those wracking pains which must be felt not on a Palate of Ivory but a Bed of Iron in which this Gyant Procrustes tortures all he catches must needs shoot barbed arrows into the Livers of all impenitent sinners The Phylosopher teaches h Aristot Rhet. l. 7. c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that change is the sweetest of all things It must be in things to the better or equall at least in goodness to precedent injoyments else 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bitterest of all To have been fair strong healthfull rich and happy sharpness the edge of present misery cuts the deeper Is not this a dead fly in the box of oyntment a gourd in the pot a snake in the grasse that poysons the joy of all thy comforts Must the amorous smiles of all thy sinfull pleasures corrupt into doleful howlings Here 's the parting style when the sweet embraces of the dearest conjugall relations must surrender up to mortall gripings Here livid and fainty kisses must take leave of pretty children his own bowels pignora chara nepotes those choice pledges of a mans survivall unto himself The friend that 's nearer than a brother must now shake hands and look back to little purpose at this dolesome and dark good-night His fine houses and fair possessions his fruitfull orchards of his own planting and his pleasant gardens with all its rills and fishponds his flowry meadows and beautifull prospects his gamefull parks and woody forrests his dutifull and toiling tenants must all come to his bedside and shake their heads and with dry eyes bid good-even to their old foolish rent-wracking covetous Landlord Then all these flashy thorny joyes that made so great a crackling under his pot having shot some splinters in his eyes and more in 's heart will leave him in thick darkness Then all his false parasites and trencher-guests for a sorry ring else hardly will march with him to the pits side and forsake his memory when closed in a cold stone Besides 't will gawl him to the heart in that hour to think what a feather cap fool a Eccles. 2.19 he leaves for his heir that will turn upon his left heel and twit the miser when he sees his chests all lined with gold and sorrow for nothing but that he shall never more have so true a drudge Then out goes the young Ruffian with the fork upon his shoulder to France and Venice to learn carriage among Whores Banditos and riotous persons till penury forces his belly to fellow common with a Luk. 15.30 16. Swine and quatrell with hogs for their husks and at length can hardly crawl home to the Surgeons Shop Are not these sweet Flowers for his memory to smell to And a soveraign Cordiall against the assaults of Death But were this all 'T were no match for a Roman Spirit No no! proud worldlings before departure often conflict with fearfull torments Agags b 1 Sam. 15 32. bitternesse of death arrests their souls and make their Spirits stagger The c Ps 18.4 116.3 pains of Death and of Hell get hold upon them These deadly sorrows switch them with such smart lashes Ut se sentiant mori as to leave lingring pains with strong and biding Convulsions Like Tiherius that cruell Tyrant when tormenting of Asinius Gallus told him he was not yet reconciled and therefore would not permit him to dye d Dion .. Cass in Tiber p. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he might count life a punishment and death a great benefaction Like the stroke of these c Rev. 9.6 Scorpions when men shall seek death but not find it and shall desire to dye but Death shall flee from them So sharp and pungent are these invenomed shafts f Job 7.15 that the soul chooses Strangling and death rather then life They are called g Act. 2.24 12. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pains of death the acute pains of a woman in travell when God shall h Job 33.19 chasten men with pains upon their Beds and the multitude of
's his Cordiall For thou art with me thy crook and thy staffe they comfort me He fears no evill because God is with him He fears God and therefore nought but God I 'le forewarn you whom ye shall fear a Luk. 12.5 sayes our Lord fear him who after he hath kil'd hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him The filiall fear of God expells the tormenting fear of death and hell it self Holy David with one God in his hand encounters and vanquishes every evill and scatters the fear of evill Let the King of Terrors muster his Forces and order his Troops in Battalia The shadow of death to David is but the shadow of evill Though b Ps 3.6 ten thousand Curiassiers run upon him atilt with envenom'd and poysoned spears c Ps 4.8 he layes him down in the bosome of God he sleeps in peace For thou Lord makest him to rest in safety The d Job 26.11 Pillars of Heaven tremble and are astonisht at his reproof who keeps a Saint in his arms Hee 'll scourge the black Tents of e Hab. 3.7 Mat. 27.54 Cushan with affliction and the pale Curtains of this Land of Midian like the Souldiers at our Lords Sepulchre shall tremble to detain a Saint in the grave For he that keepeth Israel f Ps 121.3 shall neither slumber nor sleep hee 'l awaken him in due time in the resurrection morning to enter the Courts of Glory David saies not I shall not dye and therefore I will not fear But though I dye I will not fear for thou art with me Be the waters of Kidron never so deep the fire of Tophets Valley never so quick and furious g Ps 40.2 the pit of Moloch never so dark and obscure God hath secured my heart from fear because he is with me a Isay 43.2 The waters shall not drown nor the fire burn nor the pit swallow The power and wisdome the mercy and truth of God encircle the faith of a Saint he dyes b Heb. 11.13 kissing and embracing the promises and like good old Simeon taking Christ in his arms he tunes his Swanlike c L k. 2.28 29. Sonner and sings himself asleep at the mouth of the grave Thou art with me For thou art mine A God in Covenant guides to death and receives to glory Other friends take leave at death Here 's a friend like Ruth d Ruth 1.16 goes through with theâ— to Canaan Others shake hands at the grave they weep with Orpah and depart This friend takes thy spirit into his e Luk. 23.46 hands immediately and keeps thy body in his privy f Is 26 20. chamber of presence God is the God of Abraham even in the grave God g Mat. 22.32 is not the God of the dead but of the living God is the God of whole Abraham therefore Abraham is alive to God his immortall soul is alive with God his precious dust is alive to God and therefore Abrahams body shall arise to glory 'T is in his keeping who keepeth all the h Ps 34.20 bones of his Saints not one of them is broken and to morrow I mean at the resurrection of the just all their i Ps 35 10. bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee Josephs bones are embalm'd for heaven and lye in a more magnificent Tomb then Egyptian Pyramids and k Gen. 50.25 Exod. 3.19 Josh 24.32 Heb. 11.22 follow the Ark to Canaan Does the Father take care of his childrens bones what chest do they sleep in with l Is 26.19 my dead body saies Christ in the Cedar Chest of the Covenant What doe they sleep in the arms of his own beloved Son yes they m 1 Thes 4.14 sleep in Jesus and shall rise with Jesus They are baptized into his death n V. 14. and buried in his grave and brought in the clouds together with him The same new Tomb the same Fine Linnen the same Spices the same Angels for a Saviour and for his Saints Little did Joseph of Arimathea think that he embalmed the whole body mysticall of Christ and wrapt the Saints together with him in the same o Joh. 20 7 Napkin but so he did by reason of their communion with him But does the Father and the Son likewise take such heavenly care of dying Simeons and is the Spirit of Grace at a distance from the bodies of Saints which are his p Temples No such matter though there were not a stone of these Temples lying upon another yet the Spirit will rear them up The Spirit of God is at work in the grave of a Saint If the a 1 Cor. 6.19 spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you So then well may a Saint with holy Jacob b Ro. 8.11 gather up his feet into his bed and sweetly fall a sleep For the Father keeps him the Son lies by him and the Spirit quickens him All heaven will come down to the grave of a Saint and not wake their beloved till c Gen. 49.33 the day break and the shadows flee away then up he gets to the mountains of Myrrhe and to the Hills of Frankincense d Song 6.4 But to follow David its worth tracing the footsteps of David nay the footsteps of God with David in this Valley Therefore he fears not for God is with him le ts listen to his Harp and learn the Ditty Methinks I hear five principall Songs of spirituall consolation for a dying Saint An Experimental feeling of the divine presence For thou art with me David ha's it and David feels it and therefore speaks it 'T is his safety to have it his joy to feel it and his love to speak it the having of God at death carries us to heaven safely the feeling it wings us thither and makes us sing of it to others when we are flying A holy Appeal to God in Prayer David must now be supposed upon his knees praying harping singing for thou art with me All the joyfull Prayers of a Saint end with Songs and the Songs with this Epiphonema this burden shall I call it No! this Diapsalma this Selah this Diapason this Close upon all the Strings For thou art with me A Saint in Covenant and a Saint knowing it may dye sweetly T is a strong Cordiall 't will sweat away death For thou art with me and what 's the reason For thou art mine He that can prove that God is his may sweetly inferre that God is with him God's with none but who are his But they that are so and know it so shall fear no evill For God makes them d Act. 2.28 full of joy with his countenance Divine Relation is a Saints Sanctuary Fly to this holy Tower and thou art safe The Lords a
thereof yet a Saint drinks of a river that makes glad the City of God and glides with its silver streams along the banks of his Soul A Saint a Ps 143.5 remembers the daies of old meditates on all his works and muses on the work of his hands He recounts his sweet songs in the night his pleasant touches on the harp when the spirit of God was pleased to sing in consort I Remember saies the Psalmist the b Ps 77.10 years of the right hand of the most High when his candle shined upon my head and by his light I walkt through darkness The secret of God was upon my Tabernacle when c Job 29 3. c. I washed my steps in butter and the rocks poured me out rivers of oyl He that hath enlarged my Soul d Ps 4.1 in distresse he that hath e 2 Cor. 1.10 delivered doth and will deliver Christ is the root of his faith experience like a heavenly dew makes it spread and flower in appeals to heaven and grow within the firmament Nay all a Saints graces are like the Misseltoe have noe root of their own but in the true vine their sap life is from Christ and experience sucks it out Thou hast been with me and continually with me and therefore I will not fear I was cast upon thee f Ps 22.10 from the womb thou art my God from my mothers belly Thou art my hope O Lord God thou art my trust from my youth By thee g Ps 71.6 I have been held up from the womb thou art he that tookest me out of my mothers bowells my praise shall be continually of thee Cast me not off in my h V. 9. old age forsake me not when my strength faileth Thou i V. 20 shalt quicken me again and bring me up again from the depths of the earth See how Davids feeling communions did wing his soul up into heaven and keep it there The Lark is a lively embleme of a Saint alwaies singing while mounting to heaven and then silent in a gracious sadness when by any tentation drawn down to the world Behold in David how experience feeds upon God and drinks out of God and then like a Dove lifts up ' its eyes to heaven in appeals of praise under the sense of divine veracity love and mercy O my Soul thou hast Doves eyes eyes like the spirit when thou raisest up thy wings in heavenly praise and thankfulness Appeals are the fruit of gratitude and oh how comely is this for Saints Bernard f Bern. f. 89 b. saies 't is clemency in God to deny ungratefull men their petitions that they may not fall under heavier condemnations for their frequent ingratitudes Let us then sing forth his glory and make every mercy to sound upon the Harp and Viol. My lips saies the Prophet g V. 22. shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee and my Soul which thou hast redeemed My tongue shal talk of thy righteousness all the day long He Hath heard my voice I a Ps 116.1 2. will call upon him as long as I live He hath been with me and he will be with me and David tells this not to the sons of men nor to his own soul only but to God himself When David and his Harp are alone and the singer of Zion is planting his heavenly thoughts into the melodious strings O the Shushannims the Lilly tunes that David playes 't would ravish ones Soul to lay an ear to the key-hole To hear an other Saint flowing forth in appeals It dissolves our Souls into rivers of pleasure but for our own Souls to be swimming in these Sanctuary waters O extasie of joy The Soul by appeals dives into the Ocean of love and appears not till the resurrection The life of such a Saint is hid with God in Christ and at his appearing and kingdome shall break forth in orient and radiant lustre It builds none of Peters Tabernacles in the mount of present Vision it longs for fulness and looks upon Tabor as but a small petty step to glory and under the sweet manifestations of its future communion cries out when dying with that b Mr. Newman of New-England holy Saint of late Angels do your office Was God with a Saint in electing love before a Saint was Is God with a Saint in the breathings sealings of his spirit before a Saint clearly sees himself with God and shall such stand amused at death What 's Death to a Saint It neither separates from God nor Christ nor the Spirit nor Angells nor Saints nor Heaven nor Glory 'T is a friend to a Saint one of the Guard-Chamber to the King of Heaven turns the key and hands us into his presence A Saint like Androdus in Gellius hath pickt the thorn out of the foot of this Lion and behold how tamely he walks by his side till the morning of Triumph Is God with a Saint and can he say so because he feels so The grave which is like the darkness of Egypt to others it may be felt gives the light of Goshen to a Saint since Christ hath left a path light and a luminous glittering print of his footsteps in it when he passed through it A Saint draws its enlightned aire into the lungs of meditation for his nourishment God's with him and a Saint sees him tasts him feels him and therefore c Act. 2.26 his heart rejoyces his tongue is glad and his flesh rests in hope It was said of Lazarus d Joh. 11.3 Behold he whom thou lovest is sick and it may be said of every departing Saint Behold he whom thou lovest is dead No! saies Christ this damsell-soul e Mar. 5 39 is not dead but sleepeth and my bosome shall warm it till it wake and minister to mee The vigor of Christ shall cherish the body of a Saint as Elisha did the Shunamites child and raise it to a glorious life when the Sun of assurance shines glitteringly at the evening of his life in the face of an appealing Saint his Soul may presage joyfully that such a ruddy a Mat. 16.2 evening is the certain token of a radiant and illustrious day to follow the bright morning of his resurrection A day wherein the Captain of our Salvation our victorious and triumphant Joshua will lead the Armies of Israel into the land of Canaan and command the Sun of glory to stand still for ever in the noon of Eternity and that permanent happiness never to know an evening O then haste my beloved and come away a Song 8.14 be like a young Roe or a Hart upon the Mountains of Spices Thou b Rev. 22.16 Root thou Off-spring of David thou bright and Morning Star that shinest in that ruddy dawning haste thine appearance The Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come come quickly Amen Even so come Lord Jesus FINIS The Errata PAge 9 line 34 shrink read screik p. 1 l. 21 Noahs second r. the second Noahs p. 12. l. 30. attaching r. from attaching p. 32 l. 8 sharpness r. sharpens p. 42 l. 5 sticks r. strikes p. 69. l. 1 pangs r. pains p. 85. l. 7. whereas r. where 's p. 88. l. 34 bode r. bope p. 94 l. 24 again r. against p. 94 l. 29 spi r. spirit p. 97 l. 22. oyl r. toyl p. 108 l. 21 through r. though p. 123 put in this note in the margin at the words a Opticks teach us a Vittellon optic l. 2. Theorem 17. p. 67. edit Basil fol. 1572.
Oppressor c Hab. 2.11 the Stone cries out of the Wall and the Beam out of the Timber shall answer it When d Isay 34.13 14. the Owls of the Desert shall hoop among their shatter'd Palaces in hideous Consort and Satyres shall cry to their Fellowes Now woe to the ruiners of Cities by Fire and d Hab. 2.12 builders of Towns with blood that stablish their foundations by iniquity and cement the stones with the gore of the Innocent That put the f V. 15. Bottle to the nose of their Neighbours and make them drunk to behold their nakednesse That boast in their might g Is 5.11.22 to drink Wine that they are men of strength to mingle strong drink and how many they knock under Table h V. 23 24. Therefore as the fire devoureth stubble and the flame consumeth the chaffe So their root shall be rottennesse and their blossome shall go up as dust Now woe i Hab. 2.19 to him that saith to the wood of a Table awake and to the dumb stone of a Crosse arise for it shall teach These all compasse themselves k Isay 50.11 with sparks of their own kindling This they shall have at the hand of the Lord they shall lye down in sorrows CHAP. V. Of the State of the Dead NOt only in reference to the State of Sinners before and at the point of Death but as to their passage through the Valley of the grave many grand horrors do occupy the thoughts of mortalls Oh! that it were to prevent as well as fore-see what a damp 'tis to carnall Spirits to think of their heads being no sooner laid in the cold Cavern but Death as a Tyger or a Ps 49.14 Lion greedily feeds upon them With what a cold clamy sweat they faint away to think of going down to the Gates of Death and there to be lockt up in a loathsome Dungeon But here 's the sweet comfort of a Saint that Christ hath the b Rev. 1.18 Keys at his Girdle and will give them the c Ib. c. 2.28 morning Star They rest meekly pacified that their blessed Lord went the same way to glory that Ahrabam Samuel and David that Daniel Paul and John have beaten the path before them There is but one d Eph. 4.5 Lord one Faith one Baptism one new and living way to enter within the Vail that former Saints e He. 11.40 without us should not be made perfect But how mortally do the Pulses of unsanctified persons beat at the remembrance of the pit How they swound away with many a sinking qualm The fiery thoughts of their cold entertainment among the clods well may they scorch and shrivell up the plumes of their pride and jollity Oh how crest-faln and blew in the lip when this fatall guest knocks at dore The tenors of the old drunkards songs do they not quiver and rattle in their throats with wofull howlings What Vultures of grief would knaw their heart-strings did they dare to retire and meditate in this Charnell-house Were they so valiant and hardy Knights as to converse with Conscience in secret as heretofore they have met their impudent Mistresses f Pro. 7.9.10 with the attire of a Harlot in the twy-light in the evening in the black and dark night Would they not hang the head droop the wing and feel their Loins dissolv'd in trembling Palsies Do not their countenances g Dan. 5.6 change and their knees clatter together to read the writing upon the wall that their daies are numbred and sinisht How do the inhabitants of the earth melt at the musings on their forlorn estate in that hollow and deep Vault What! to be trodden upon by every footless worm to be insulted upon by an ugly grub to be bearded by a yellow Maggot and to be kept prisoner in stinking chains of darkness by noisome rottennesse Oh! how it vexes the high spirit of a Lord and nauseates the fine stomack of a Lady Then 's the time when all a Isay 14.9.10 11. the Kings of the Nations will rise up from their Thrones in the grave and passe this dolorous complement with the proud Emperor of Babel Art thou also become weak as we Art thou become like unto us Thy pomp is brought down to the grave and the noise of thy Viols the worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee where the Nouns in the Hebrew b Bochart de animal part 2. col 254. are feminine and the Verbs masculine the creatures contemptible but their feast magnificent upon the bowels of Princes Oh! how the woodlice flat-worms maw-worms the yellow-tails mites and wivils carve out their morsells and rejoice together Annon after the feast is ended the yellow hundred-foot takes up his Palace-royall in the skull of a King and the proud mincing Jezabels shall have their faces once more painted and spotted with the odious excrements of a black Beetle 'T is but lean comfort for haugthy big looks which the Lord abhors Pro. 6.1 21.4 to be humbled into these dark holes where their costly Sepulchrall Lamps shine with but a dim and blew light to search what impudent insects dare so boldly to crawl up and down their entrails and scorn to give account to their summons For a living worm counts himself more honourable then a putrifying Monarch Here on this side the grave after every meal they must have a fit of musick to digest their varieties and a sad poor fool must come in with his patches to make them merry But he that mocketh the poor whether in purse or parts c Pro. 175. reproacheth his Maker and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished Their gluttonous Feasts shall have sour sauce of deaths cooking and no Doctor can sweat away the surfeits of Conscience When Death hath once shook them by the shoulder into the grave hee 'l call also for a lesson at his Table and the Satyrs shall play low Funeral-Songs upon the Lure-strings of their perishing Nerves Dancein their courses while they are here they rise from their gormandizing Platters to play at Cards for whole Parks and fling the Dice for ancient Mannors But there flaming Devills will hurl their bones about from under the Altar and the Chancell rails without Sacriledge and thrust their own Rapiers red hot into their bushy Pates and make those hairy Comets to burn for warning Beacons O then they would fain prevail with Father Abraham to send Messengers to their a Luk. 16.28 five brethren upon earth to testifie to them lest they also come to this place of torment Here after the game at Tables is ended they hurry away with Coach and six horses in haste to hear a Sermon at the Play-house and are very well edified fully instructed and takes notes of the ready way how to reach Hell speedily But there death and his b Hs. 2.14 master will handle them without Mittens