a promise of help from Ptolemy King of Egypt Idem upon condition that his Mother and Son were sent to him as pledges Cratesiclea for so was his Mothers Name as soon as she understood it said to her Son who was affraid and ashamed to mention it to her How is it that thou hast concealed it so long and and hast not told me Come come put me straight into a Ship and send me whither thou wilt that this body of mine may do some good unto my Country before crooked Age consume it without profit Themistocles notwithstanding his Countrymen had banished him Diodor. drunk the blood of a Bull and poisoned himself to keep Artaxerxes who had sworn not to go against it without him from invading his Country [a] Pez Mel. Hist Codrus King of Athens [b] Tul. de Offic. Attilius Regulus General of the Romans and [c] Livie M. Curtius are renowned in History for sacrificing their lives for their Countries liberty The Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of like passions onely he acteth from higher principles and affecteth for holier purposes Religion doth not break the string of natural affection but wind it up to such a pitch as may make its stroaks more true and its sound more melodious Nehemiah was sad and pensive when the City of his Father was solitary Nehem. 2.3 The Jews were disconsolate when their native Country lay desolate Psa 137 beginning Paul could wish himself parted from Christ that his Kindred and Countrymen might be united to Christ Rom. 9.3 Greg. Nazianzen and Hierom report that the Jews to this day come yearly to the place where Jerusalem the City of their Fathers stood which was destroyed by Titus and Adrian and upon the day of the destruction of it weep over it As its natural to love so not unusual in our Kingdom for rich persons to manifest their love to their native parishes by large gifts to the poor But though my respects to you be sincere yet I may say in a sense Silver and Gold have I none to speak my affections by onely such as I have I give you A Treatise which may through the blessing of God help you to the true Treasure Bucholcerus blessed God Melch. Adam that he was born in the days and bred under the Dicipline of holy Melancthon I must Ingenuously acknowledge that it was a great mercy to me that I was born amongst you and brought up under as pious and powerful a Ministry there Mr. Thomas Wilson as most in England In Testimony of my unfeigned love I present you with this brief discourse which was conceived in your Pulpit and through the importunity of several of you brought forth to the Press The occasion of it as is well known to you was the Death of your Neighbour and my dear Relation Master Caleb Swinnock who was interred May 21. 1662 whose Father and Grand-father had three or four times enjoyed the highest honour and exercised the highest Office in your Corporation I am much of his mind who saith That Funeral Encomiasticks of the dead are often confections of poison to the living for many whose lives speak nothing for them will draw the example into consequence and be thereby led into hope that they may press an Hackny Funeral Sermon to carry them to Heaven when they dye and therefore am always sparing my self though I condemn not the custome in others where they do it with prudence and upon good cause My Friends holy carriage in his sickness besides his inoffensiveness for ought I ever heard in his health commandeth me to hope that his soul is in Heaven I had the happiness some time to be brought up with him in his Fathers Mr. Robert Swinnocks Family whose House I cannot but speak it to the glory of God had Holiness to the Lord written upon it His manner was to pray twice a day by himself once or twice a day with his Wife and twice a day with his Family besides singing Psalms Reading and Expounding Scriptures which morning and evening were minded The Sabbath he dedicated wholly to Gods service and did not onely himself but took care that all within his Gate should spend the day in secret and private duties and in attendance on publique Ordinances of their proficiency by the last he would take an account upon their return from the Assembly His house indeed was as Tremellius saith of Cramners Palaestra Pietatis a Scool of Religion I Write this not so much for the Honour of him of whose industry for the good of the souls committed to him I was a frequent eye witness and whose memory is blessed but chiefly for your good that as some of you do already so others also may be provoked to follow such gracious patterns I must tell you that what low thoughts soever any of you now may have of holy persons and holy practices yet when you come to look Death in the face and enter into your unchangeable estates a little of their grace and godliness will be of more worth in your esteems then the whole World Though the Saint be markt for a fool in the Worlds Calender at this day and the prosperous Sinner counted the wisest person yet when the eyes of sinners bodies are closed the eyes of their souls will be opened and then O then they will see and say according to that Apocryphal place which will be found Canonical for the matter of it We Fools counted his life to be madness Wisdom 5. 4 5. and his end to be without honour But now he is numbred among the Children of God and his lot is among the Saints The Subject of this Tractate is partly The true way to dye well which I am sure is of infinite concernment to your immortal souls and such a Lesson that if it be not learned you are lost for ever Laert. The Cynick cared not what became of his body when dead and the other Heathen could slight the loss of a Grave Facilis jactura Sepulchri a little Earth but without question it concerns you nearly to take care what becomes of your souls and you cannot so easily bear the loss of God and Heaven Men indeed are generally unwilling to hear of Death and the Minister who would urge them to it is as unwelcome as foul weather which usually comes before its sent for whatsoever hath a tendency to Death is killing the telling them of it sounds as mournfully in their ears as the tolling of a passing Bell and the making their Wills as frightful to them as the making their Graves Hence when they are riding post in the broad way of sin and the World and conscience would check and rein them in with the curbs of Death and Judgement they presently snap them in peices and stifle its convictions They dare not look into the book of Conscience to see how accounts stand between God and themselves but like Hauks
of their glory their portion is so full that they desire no more they enjoy variety and plenty of delights above what they are able to ask or think and want nothing but to have it fixt may they but possess it in peace without interruption or cessation they will trample all the Kingdomes of the earth as dirt under their feet and loe thou art the welcome Dove to bring this olive branch in thy mouth This God is our God for ever and ever All the Arithmetical figures of dayes and months and years and ages are nothing to this infinite Cypher ever which though it stand for nothing in the vulgar account yet contains all our millions yea our millions and millions of millions are lesse then drops to this Ocean Ever If all the pleasures of the whole creation cannot countervail the fruition of God though but for one moment how happy shouldst thou be to enjoy him for ever If the first fruits and foretasts of the Christians felicity be so ravishing what will the harvest be Friend little dost thou think what crowns scepters palmes thrones kingdomes glories beauties banquets angelical entertainments beatifical visions societies varieties and eternities are prepared for them who chuse God for their portion If the Saints crosse in the judgement of Moses when at age and able to make a true estimate of things were more worth then all the treasures of Egypt and he chose it rather what is the Saints crown eternal crown worth To conclude this Use Reader take a serious view of this portion which is here tendered to thee and consider upon what easie termes it may be thine for ever The portion is no lesse then the infinite God Behold the nations are as a drop of the bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballance all nations before him are as nothing and they are counted to him lesse then nothing and vanity Isai 40.15 17. Other portions are bodily he is spiritual and so sutable to thy soul Other portions are mixt like the Israelites pillar which had a dark as well as a light side but he is pure there is not the least spot in this Sun he is a sea of sweetness without the smallest drop of gall Other portions are particular there are some chinks in the outward man which they cannot fill besides the many leaks of the soul none of which they can stop but he is an universal portion All the excellencies of the creatures even when their dregs and imperfections are removed are but dark shadows of those many substantial excellencies which are in him He made all he hath all he is all the most fluent tongue will quickly be at a losse in extolling him for he is above all blessing and praises Other portions are debasing like drosse to gold an allay to its worth but he is an advancing portion as a set of Diamonds to a royal Crown infinitely adding to its value Other portions are perishing they may be lost they will be left when death calls thy cloth will be then drawn and not one dish remain on the table but he is an everlasting portion the souls that feast with him like Mephibosheth at Davids eat bread at his table continually In his presence is fulness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore Now is not here infinite reason why thou shouldst choose this God for thy portion Consider the termes upon which he is willing to be thy portion he desires no more then thou wouldst take him for thy treasure and happiness Surely such a portion is worthy of all acceptation Be thy own Judge may not God expect and doth he not deserve as much respect as thine earthly portion hath had Can thy esteem of him be too high or thy love to him be too hot or thy labour for him too great O what warm embraces hast thou given the world throw that strumpet now out of thine armes and take the fairest of ten thousand in her room What high thoughts hast thou had of the world what wouldst thou not formerly do or suffer to gain a little more of it Now pull down that Usurper out of the throne and set the King of Saints there whose place it is esteem him superlatively above all things and make it thy business whatsoever he call thee to do or suffer to gain his love which is infinitely better then life it self Do but exalt him in thy heart as thy chiefest good and in thy life as thine utmost end and he will make a deed of gift of himself to thee Is it not rational what he desires why shouldst thou then refuse Here is God there is the world here is bread there is husks here is the substance there is a shadow here is Paradise there is an apple here is fulness there is emptiness here is a fountain there is a broken cistern here is all things there is nothing here is heaven there is hell here is eternity I say eternity of joy and pleasure here is eternity O that word eternity of sorrow and pain choose now which of the two thou wilt take and advise with thy self what word I shall bring again to him that sent me 1 Chron. 21.12 CHAP XX. Comfort to such as have God for their portion FOurthly The Doctrine may be useful by way of Consolation It speaketh much comfort to every true Christian God is thy portion thy portion is not in toyes and trifles in narrow limited Creatures but in the blessed boundless God He cannot be poor who hath my Lord Maior to his Friend much lesse he that hath God to his portion A portion so precious and perfect that none of the greatest Arithmeticians ever undertook to compute its worth as knowing it impossible a portion so permanent that neither death nor life nor the world nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come can part thee from it This cordial may enliven thee in a dying estate None can part thee and thy portion The winter may freeze the ponds but not the Ocean All other portions may be frozen and useless in hard weather but this portion is ever full and filling Hagar when her bottle of water was spent wept because she did not see the fountain that was so near her The absence of the creatures need not make thee mourn who hast the presence of the Creator Thou mayst have comfort from thy portion in the most afflicted condition Do men plunder thee of thy estate thou art rich towards God and mayst suffer the spoiling of thy goods joyfully knowing that thou hast a more enduring substance Hebr. 10.34 Do they cast thee into prison though thy body be in fetters thy soul enjoyeth freedome no chains can so fasten thee to the earth but thou mayst mount up to heaven upon the wings of meditation and prayer Do they take away thy food thou hast meat to eat which they know not of and wine to drink which makes glad the
what is it in death that thou art afraid of Is it not a departure the Goal delivery of a long prisoner the sleep of thy body and a wakening of thy Soul the way to bliss the gate of life the portall to Paradise Art thou not sure to triumph before thou fightest by dying to overcome death and when thou leavest thy body to be joyned to thy head The Roman general in the encounter between Scipio and Hannibal thought he could not use a more effectual perswasion to encourage his souldiers then to tell them that they were to fight with those whom they had formerly overcome and who were as much their slaves as their enemies Thou art to enter the list against that adversary whom thou hast long agoe conquered in Jesus Christ and who is more thy slave then thine enemy Death is thine 1 Cor. 3.30 thy servant and slave to help off thy cloaths and to put thee to thine everlasting happy rest Is it the taking down of thine earthly tabernacle which troubles thee Why Dost thou not know that death is the workman sent by the Father to pull down this earthly house of mortality and clay that it may be set up a new infinitely more lasting beautiful and glorious Didst thou believe how rich and splendid he intends to make it which cannot be unlesse taken down thou wouldst contentedly endure the present toyl and trouble and be thankful to him for his care and cost He takes down thy vile body that he may fashion it like to the glorious body of his own Son which for brightness and beauty excels the Sun in its best attire far more then that doth the meanest Star Is it the untying of the knot betwixt body and soul which perplexeth thee It is true they part but as friends going two several wayes shake hands till they return from their journey they are as sure of meeting again as of parting for thy soul shall return laden with the wealth of heaven and fetch his old companion to the participation of all his joy and happiness Is it the rotting of thy body in the grave that grieves thee Indeed Plato's worldling doth sadly bewail it Woe is me that I shall lie alone rotting in the earth amongst the crawling Wormes not seeing ought above nor seen But thou who hast read it is a sweet bed of spices for thy body to rest in all the dark night of this worlds duration mayst well banish such fears Hast thou never heard God speaking to thee as once to Jacob Fear not to goe down into Aegypt into the grave I will go down with thee and I will bring thee up again Gen. 16.4 Besides thy Soul shall never die The heathen Historian could comfort himself against death with this weak cordial Non omnis moriar All of me doth not die though my body be mortal my books are immortal But thou hast a stronger julip a more rich cordial to clear thy spirits when thy body failes thy soul will flourish thy death is a burnt offering when thy ashes fall to the earth the celestial flame of thy Soul will mount up to Heaven Farther death will ease thee of those most troublesome guests which make thy life now so burdensome as the fire to the three children did not so much as singe or sear their bodies but it burnt and consumed their bands so death would not the least hurt thy body or soul but it would destroy those fetters of sin and sorrow in which thou art intangled Nazian Orat. Besides the sight of the blessed God which is the only beatifical vision which at death thy soul shall enjoy Popish Pilgrims take tedious journeys and are put to much hardship and expence to behold a dumb Idol The Queen of Sheba came from far to see Solomon and hear his wisdom and wilt thou not take a step from earth to Heaven in a moment in the twinkling of an eye thy journey will be gone and thy work be done to see Jesus Christ a greater then Solomon Hast thou not many a time prayed long and cried for it hast thou not trembled least thou shouldst miss it hath not thine heart once and again leapt with joy in hope of it and when the hour is come and thou art sent for dost thou shrink back for shame Christian walk worthy of thy calling and quicken thy courage in thy last conflict As the Jewes when it thunders and lightens open their windowes expecting the Messias should come O when the storm of death beats upon thy body with what joy mayst thou set those casements of thy Soul Faith and Hope wide open knowing that thy dearest Redeemer who went before to prepare a place for thee will then come and fetch thee to himself that where he is there thou mayst be also and that for ever FINIS Some Scriptures that are occasionally opened 1 Sam. 30.6 p. 106. 2 Sam. 23.5 p. 64. Ester 7.6 p. 47 48. Job 7. ult p. 67. Psal 11.6 p. 133. Psal 16.5 6. p. 161. Ps 17. ult p. 164. Psal 27.5 p. 111. Psal 91.4 p. 112. Psal 121.4 p. 110. Psal 142.5 p. 110. Eccles 1.2 p. 160. Eccles 8.8 p. 34. Eccles 9.12 p. 136. Isai 25.10 p. 111. Isai 27.11 p. 111. Isai 27.3 p. 110. Isai 40.6 7. p. 14. Zachar. 2.5 p. 110. Habak 3.16 17. p. 124. Matth. 6.21 p. 138. Rom. 15.19 p. 114 115. 1 Cor. 15.57 p. 65 66. 2 Cor. 1.3 p. 123. A Table of the chief heads treated of in the foregoing Book A. AFflictions not to be born without divine help p. 9. The vast difference between sinners and Saints in Afflictions 123 124 125. The more mens affections are crucified to the world they die with the more comfort 88. B. The great folly of men in minding their bodies above their souls Blessedness vide Happiness C. The necessity of an interest in the Covenant of Grace p. 63. The comfort of a Christian in God p. 105 179. The need sinners stand in of Christ p. 63 64 75. The Excellency of Christ p. 73 74. The terms upon which sinners may enjoy Christ p. 78 79. D. Death will seize on all p. 14 15. Neither height nor holiness will excuse from dying p. 13. 39 40. Nor strength in our youth The corruptibility of mans body natural cause of death p. 16 17. Sin the moral and meritorious cause of death p. 19 20. Gods fidelity the supernatural cause of death p. 17 18. Counsel to prepare for death p. 29 30 31. Death is certain p. 34 35. Death is often sudden p. 36 37. Death will try men p. 43 44. 45 46. Death strips men of outward comforts Spiritual enemies busie in an hour of death p. 47 48. When death comes it is too late to prepare p. 40. Death gain to a Christian p. 18 19 182 183. 56 57. The misery of sinners at death p. 50. What is requisite to prepare for death p. 61. to 70. Comfort against the death of Christian friends p. 180.
provide for the flesh HAving laid down these reasons in the Doctrinal part of my discourse I shall now speak to that which is practical The truth may be useful both by way of Information and Exhortation First by way of Information If our flesh will fail us what fools are they whose whole contrivance is to feed and please the flesh We laugh at the vanity and folly of Children when we see them very busie and taking much paines to make up an house of Cards or pies of Dirt. The greatest part of men are but Children of larger dimensions and are indeed more foolish because they ought to be more wise What is their main work but to make provision for the flesh to provide fuel enough for the fire of its covetousness and pleasant Water enough for the Leviathan of its voluptuousness and air enough for the Camelion of Ambition as if God had no other design in sending them into the World but that they might be Cooks to dress their bodies as well as possibly might be for the Wormes All their care is What shall we Eat and what shall we drink and wherewith shall we be cloathed and how shall we do to live in these dear and hard times as vermine in Dung-hills they live and feed on such filth never once asking their souls in earnest What wilt thou do for the bread which came down from Heaven and how wilt thou do to put on the Robes of Christs righteousness that thy nakedness may not appear to thy shame and O what wilt thou do to be saved to live eternally These things are not in all their thoughts Like Flies they are overcome with the spirits of Wine and nourished with froth It s enough they think if when they come to dye they bequeath their souls to God in their Wills though its a thousand to one if those wills be proved in Heaven I can tell them of unanswerable caveats which the Judges Son will put in against them and therefore their whole lives must be devoted to the service of their bodies like dying men they smel of earth and carry its complexion in their very countenances If a man that had two houses in his possession one whereof was his own free-hold for ever and the other his Land-Lords which he agreed to leave at an hours warning should neglect his own house let all things there run to rack and ruine but night and day be mending and adorning his Land-Lords House as if he could never be at cost enough or make it neat enough would not every one condemn this man for a fool or a mad man Truly this is the very case of most men The soul in the body is a tenant in domo aliena saith the Oratour Cicero Tusc The body is our house of clay in which we are Tenants at anothers will we may be turned out of its Doors without so much as an hours warning the soul is our own everlasting possession yet generally the immortal spirit is slighted no time taken for a serious view of its wants no cost laid out for its supply as if it were an indifferent thing whither it swim or sink for ever when men are always plotting and studiing to gratifie and please their fading flesh O this is one of the dolefullest sights which eyes can behold the servant to ride on horse-back and the Prince to go on foot the sensitive appetite to be the grave of Religion and the Dungeon of Reason Greg de la NuZ. Tract Evan. It is reported of a certain Philosopher that dying he bequeathed a great sum of money to him that should be found most foolish His Executor in pursuance of his will travelled up and down to find out one that excelled others in folly and so might challenge the legacy at last he came to Rome where a Consul abusing his office was adjudged to death and another suing for the place chosen who chearfully took it upon him to this man he delivered the money telling him That he was the most foolish man in the World who seeing the miserable end of his Predecessor was nothing therewith discouraged but joyfully succeeded him in his Office How much do most titular Christians resemble this foolish Consul they see in the World their sensual Companions like sheep as they are feeding in their fleshly pastures culled out by death and called away from them nay they may see in the Word if they will beleive God himself the block on which they are laid by that bloody Butcher Satan the Knife with which they are stuck and which he runs up to the very Haft in the throat of their precious souls the heavy curse of the law and the infinite wrath of the Lord which they must undergo for ever and yet they are therewith not the least affrighted but merrily follow them to the place of endless mourning Reader If thou art one of these flesh-pots of Egypt What folly and madness art thou guilty of Is not thy spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plate an Heavenly plant the immediate workmanship of the glorious God and thy flesh like the first Adam of the earth Earthy and art thou not a fool to prefer Dirt before that which is divine Is not thy spirit the impress and Image of God himself in its immortality noble faculties and capacity of honouring and enjoying his infinite Majesty and thy body the resemblance of beasts nay in many things inferior to them and art thou not unwise in esteeming that which is brutish above that which is the Picture of Gods own perfections Again is not the well-being of thy body involved in the welfare of thy soul As really as the branches depend on the root for its flourishing thy body dependeth on thy soul for its salvation how mad art thou therefore to let the Vessel sink and yet presume to preserve the Passenger that sayleth in it Once more shall not the life of thy spirit run parallel with the life of God himself and the line of eternity and hath not God himself told thee that thy flesh will fail thee dost thou not find it now and then tottering and as it were telling thee that it must drop down and art not thou a fool in grain a fool in the highest degree to place all thy happiness for ever to set all thy stress weight for thine unchangeable estate on this rotten bough which will certainly break under thee when thou mightest have sure footing and lay up a good Foundation by an hearty regarding thine Heaven-born soul O consider it and give conscience leave to call thee fool once that thou mayst be wise for ever Attilus King of Swethland made a Dog King of the Danes in revenge of some injuries received from them What wrong hath thy soul done thee that to be revenged on it and to spight it to purpose thou makest its slave its Soveraign that part by which thou art kin to the beasts its Lord and King
wholly cleave to thee then my life will be lively There are two special faculties in Mans Soul which must be answered with sutable and adaequate objects or the heart like the sea cannot rest The understanding must be satisfied with truth and the will with good For the filling of these two faculties men are as busie as Bees flying over the field of the world and trying every flower for sweetness but after all their toyl and labour house themselves like wasps in curious combs without any hony The understanding must be suted with the highest truth but the world is a lye Psal 62. and the things thereof are called lying vanities they are not what they seem to be Jonah 2.8 and hence are unable to satisfy the mind but God is aeterna veritas vera aeternitas eternal truth and true eternity All truth is originally in him his nature is the Idea of truth and his will the standard of truth and its eternal life and utmost satisfaction to know him because by it the understanding is perfected for the Soul in God will see all truth and that not only clearly I speak of the other world where the Christians happiness shall be completed face to face but also fully Aristotle though an Heathen thought happiness to consist in the knowledg of the chiefest good If Arichimedes when he found out the resolution of one question in the Mathematicks was so ravished that he ran up and down crying I have found it I have found it How will the Christian be transported when he shall know all that is knowable and all shadows of ignorance vanish as the darkness before the rising Sun The will also must be suted with good and according to the degree of goodness in the object such is the degree of satisfaction to the faculty Now the things of this life though good in themselves yet are vain and evill by reason of the sin of man Rom. 8.20 And likewise are at best but bodily limited and fading good things and therefore uncapable of filling this faculty As truth in the utmost latitude is the object of the understanding so Good in the universality of it is the object of the will Further that good which satisfieth must be optimum the best or t will never sistere appetitum the Soul will otherwise be still longing and maximum the most perfect or t will never implere appetitum fill it But God is such a good he is essentially universally unchangeably and infinitely good and therefore satisfieth When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness Psa 17. ult When my body hath slept in the bed of the grave till the morning of the resurrection and the sound of the last trump shall awaken me O the sweet satisfaction and ravishing delight which my Soul shall enjoy in being full of thy likeness and thy love Nay in the mean time before the happiness of a Saint appear to his view in a full body it doth like the rising Sun with its forerunning rays cast such a lightsome gladsome brightness upon the believer that he is filled with joy at present and would not part with his hopes of it for the whole world in hand They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house while on this side Heaven and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures Psal 36.8 Though the wedding dinner be deferd till the wedding day yet before hand the Christian meets with many a running banquet He hath not only pleasures fatness of thy house but also plenty of it here below They shall be abundantly satisfied The World is like sharp sauce which doth not fill but provoke the stomach to call for more the voice of those guests whom it makes most welcome is like the daughters of the horseleech Give Give but the infinite God like solid food doth satisfy the soul fully In my Fathers house is bread enough and causeth it to cry out I have enough Secondly God is a sanctifying ennobling Portion 2 God is a sanctifying portion The World cannot advance the Soul in the least things of the World are fitly compared to shadows for be thy shadow never so long thy body is not the longer for it so be thy estate never so great thy soul is not the better for it A great letter makes no more to the signification of a word then the smallest Men in high places are the same men no reall worth being thereby added to them that they are in low ones Nay it s too too visible that men are the worse for their earthly portions If some had not been so wealthy they had not been so wicked Most of the Worlds favourites like aguish stomachs are fuller of appetite then digestion they eat more then they can concoct and thereby cause diseases nay by feeding on this trash of earth their stomachs are taken off from substantial food the bread of Heaven The Souldiers of Hannibal were effeminated and made unfit for service by their pleasures at Capua Damps arising out of the earth have stifled many a Soul Aâ—ist Probl. seâ— 23. Aristotle tells us of a Sea wherein by the hollowness of the earth under it or some whirling property ships used to be cast away in the midst of a calm Many perish in their greatest prosperity and are so busy about babies and rattles that they have no leasure to be saved Luke 14.17 That which doth elevate ennoble the Soul of Man must be more excellent then the Soul Silver is embased by mixing it with lead but ennobled by gold because the former is inferiour to it but the latter excells it The World and all things in it are infinitely inferiour to the Soul of Man and therefore it is debased by mingling with them but God is infinitely superiour and so advanceth it by joyning with it That coyn which is the most excellent mettal defileth our hands and is apt to defile our hearts but the divine nature elevateth and purifieth the Spirit The goodliest portions of this life are like the Cities which Solomon gave to Hiram And Hiram came from Tyre to see the Cities which Solomon had given him and they pleased him not And he said What Cities are these which thou hast given me my brother and he called them the land of Cabul that is displeasing or dirty unto this day 1 Kings 9.12 13. The pleasantest portion here lyeth in the land of Cabul its displeasing and dirty it doth both dissatisfy and defile when the heavenly portion doth like hony both delight and cleanse both please and purify Outward things like common stones to a ring adde nothing at all to the worth of a Soul but this sparking Diamond this pearle of price the infinite God makes the gold ring of the Soul to be of unspeakable value The heart of the wicked is little worth Pro. 10.20 His house is worth somewhat but his heart is worth nothing because its a ditch full only
thy immortal soul against the coming of the bride-groom When thou diest thou throwest thy last cast for thine everlasting estate thou shalt never be allowed a second throw An Error in death is like an Error in the first Concoction which cannot be mended in the second Where thou lodgest that Night thou dyest thou art hous'd for ever That work which is of such infinite weight and can be done but once had need to be done well God hath given thee but one Arrow to hit the mark with Shoot that at randome and he will never put another into thy Quiver God will allow no second Edition to correct the Erratas of the first therefore it concerns thee with all imaginable seriousness to consider what thou doest when thou diest One would think thou shouldst take little comfort in any creature whilst thy eternal state is thus in danger Augustus wondered at the Roman Citizen that he could sleep quietly when he had a great burden of debt upon him What rest canst thou have what delight in any thing thou enjoyest who owest such vast sums to the Infinite Justice of God when he is resolved to have full satisfaction either in this or the other world When David offered Barzillai the pleasures and preferments of his own royal Palace he refused them because he was to die within a while How long have I to live that I should go up with the King unto Jerusalem Let thy servant turn back that I may dye 2 Sam. 19.34 35 36. i. e. Court me no courts I have one foot in the grave my glass is almost run let me go home and dye Without controversie thou hast more cause to wink on these withering comforts and to betake thy self wholly to a diligent preparation for death The Thebans made a law That no man should build a house before he had made his grave Every part of thy life may mind thee of thy death Mortibus vivimus Senec. The Moralist speaks true Thou livest by deaths thy food is the dead carkasses of birds or fish or beasts thy finest rayment is the worms grave before t is thy garment Look to the Heavens the Sun riseth and setteth so that life which now shineth pleasantly on thee will set how much doth it behove thee to work the work of him that sent thee into the world while day lasteth that thou mayst not set in a cloud which will certainly prognosticate thy foul weather in the other world Look down to the Earth there thou beholdest thy mother out of whose womb thou didst at first come and in whose bowels thou shalt ere long be laid The dust and graves of others cry aloud to thee as Gideon to his Souldiers Look on us and do likewise O trim thy soul against that time If thou risest up and walkest abroad in the streets thou seest this house and that seat where such a woman such a man dwelt and lo the place which knew them shall know them no more they are gone and have carried nothing with them but their godliness or ungodliness If thou liest down thy sleep is the image of death thou knowest not whether thou shalt awake in a bed of feathers or in a bed of flames but art certain that shortly thy body shall lye down in the grave and there remain till the resurrection Look on thy companions thou mayst see death siting on their countenances its creeping on them in the deafness of their ears in the dimness of their eys nay it s posting towards them in the very heighth and Zenith of their natural perfections Look on thy own house of clay death possibly looks out at thy windows however it looks in at thy windows thou wearest it in thy face thou bearest it in thy bones and doth it not behove thee to prepare for it Naturalists tell us that smelling of earth is very wholesom for consumptionate bodies O Reader a serious thought of thy death that thou art but dust would be very wholsom for thy declining and decaying soul Hard bones steept in vinegar and ashes grow so soft that they may be cut with a thread Give me leave for one half hour to steep thy hard heart in such a mixture possibly it may be so softned through the operation of the Spirit with the Word Drexel Eternit that thou mayst become wise unto salvation It s reported of one Guerricus that hearing these words read in the Church And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years and he died All the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years and he died And all the days of Enos was nine hundred and five years and he died And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty nine years and he died Gen. 5.5 He was so strongly wrought upon by those words And he died And he died that he gave himself wholly to devotion Friend if thou hast any dram of true love to thy soul and its unchangeable condition in the other world the consideration of death would make a deep impression upon thee But that I may awaken and rouse thee while there is time and hope and then help and heal thee I shall in the prosecution of this Exhortation First Speak to somewhat that may be perswasive Secondly Offer to thee somewhat that is Directive First I shall offer thee some thoughts which may quicken thee to a diligent provision for this time Motives 1 Death will come certainly First Dost thou not know that Death will come certainly As the young Prophet said to Elisha Dost thou know that the Lord will take thy Master from thy head to day 2 Kings 2.3 Reader Dost thou know that the Lord will take thy soul out of thy body and send it to the unknown regions of the other World where thou shalt see such things as thou never sawest hear such things as thou never heardst and understand such things as thou didst never understand Possibly thou wilt answer me as Elisha them I know it hold your peace But truly I am ready to urge it again being assured that thy knowledge is as Cicero speaks of the Athenians like artificial teeth for shew onely thou dost not yet know it for thy good Therefore give me leave to inforce it still Dost thou know that God will bring thee to death and to the house appointed for all the living Dost thou know that thy ruddy countenance will wax pale thy sparkling eyes look gastly thy warm blood cool in thy veins thy marrow dry up in thy bones thy skin shrivel thy sinews shrink nay thy very heart strings crack And hast thou provided never a cordial against this hour Dost thou not read in the writings of God himself That no man hath power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war Eccles 8.8 No man hath power either to resist deaths force or to procure termes of peace The greatest Emperor with the strength of all his
calamity cursed the day wherein he was born and the Messenger that brought tidings of his birth and desired to dye rather then to endure it whom wilt thou curse or rather whom wilt thou not curse when under the sense of eternal misery surely thou wilt seek for death but not find it dig for it but t will flee from thee Though Judas could make himself away out of the Hell he had on earth yet he cannot out of the Hell he hath in Hell When thou diest thou art stated by God himself and there is no appeal from this Judge nor reversing of his judgement It is the observation of the School-men that what befel the Angels when they sinned that befals every wicked man at Death the Angels upon the first act of sin were presently by God himself stated in an irrecoverable condition of misery so wicked men upon the last act of their lives are fixt as to their eternal woful estates It is appointed for all men once to dye and after Death the judgement Sixthly The felicity of the prepared Sixthly Dost thou know the felicity which upon thy death thou shouldst enter into if thou wert prepared for it As the Good House-wife looketh for Winter but feareth it not being prepared for it with double cloathing so thou mightest expect Death but not fear it being prepared for it with Armour of proof Syrens some write screech horribly when they dye but Swans sing then most sweetly Though sinners roar bitterly when they behold that Sea of scalding Lead in which they must Swim naked for ever yet thou shouldst like the Apostle desire to depart wish for that hour wherein thou should lose Anchor and sail to Christ Phil. 1.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solvere Anchorum A Metaphor from a Ship at Anchor importing a sailing from this present life to another Port So the Syriack Chrysostom Beza Erasmus and others take it as the word signifieth Thy dying day would be thy Wedding day as the Martyrs called theirs wherein the fairest of ten thousand and thy soul now contracted should be solemnly espoused together As frightful a Lyon as Death is to others that their souls are fain to be torn from their bodies thou mightest like a weary Child call to be lay'd to bed knowing that t wil send thee to thine everlasting happy rest Bene mori est libenter mori Seuec. Epist 61. If it be an happy Death to dye willingly as the Moralist affirmeth thou shouldst give up the Ghost and be a Voluntier in that War Nature teacheth that Death is the end of misery but grace would teach thee that Death would be the beginning of thy felicity it could not hurt thee Death among Saints drives but a poor Trade it may destroy the body and when that is done it hath done all its feats like a fierce Mastiff whose Teeth are broken out it may bark and tear thy tottered coat but cannot bite to the bone This Bee fastened her sting in Christs blessed body and is ever since a drone to his Members Though the wicked are gathered at Death as the Rabbins sense that place Gather not my soul with sinners let me not dye their deaths Psa 26.9 as sticks that lye on the ground for the fire or as Grapes for the winepress of Gods fury yet thou shouldst be gathered according to the Hebrew Isa 57.2 as Women do cordial flowers to candy and preserve them Nay Death would exceedingly help thee Plutarch saith that strong bodies can eat and concoct Serpents Thou mayst like Samson fetch meat out of this Eater and out of this strong Lyon sweetness Death ever since it walked to Mount Calvary is turned to beleivers into the gate of life Nihi non à diis im nortalibus vita erepta est sed mors donata est Cicer. lib. 3. de Orat. An Heathen could say Life is not taken away from me by the immortal Gods but Death is given to me meaning as an act of grace and favour Much more may a Christian esteem Death which puts an end to his trials and sins and troubles a priviledge rather then a punishment Blessed are they that dye in the Lord they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 When sickness first gives thee notice that death is at hand thou mightest make the servant welcome for bringing thee the good news of his approaching Master Thy heart may leap to think that though thou art like Peter now bound in the fetters of sin and Imprisoned amongst sinners yet the Angel is coming who will with one blow on thy side cause thy shackles to fall off open the Prison Doors and set thy soul into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God When this Samuel is come to thy gate thou needest not as the Elders of Bethlehem tremble at his comming for if thou askest the Question Comest thou Peaceably He will Answer Yea Peaceably I am come to offer thee up a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour acceptable to God in Jesus Christ the pale face of death would please thee better then the greatest beauty on Earth When thou lyest on thy dying bed and Physitians had given over thy body Christ would visit and give thy soul such a Cordial that thou mightest walk in the valley of the shadow of Death and fear none ill How willingly mayst thou part with the militant Members of Christ for the Triumphant Saints How chearfully mayst thou leave thy nearest Relations for thy dearest Father and Elder Brother how comfortably mayst thou take thy leave of all the riches honours and pleasures of this life knowing that though Death cometh to others with a Voider to take away all their fleshly comforts and carnal contentments nay all their hopes and Happiness and Heaven and hereby when they break at death they are quite bankrupts for ever yet it is to thee onely a servant to remove the first course of more gross fare of which thou hast had thy fill and to make way for the second which consisteth of all sorts of dainties and delicates When thy soul was ready to bid thy body good night till the morning of the resurrection thou mightst joyfully commit thy body to the grave as a bed of spices and shouldst see glorious Angels waiting on thy soul and carrying it as Eliah in a Triumphant Chariot into Heavens blessed Court. There thou shouldst be saluted by the noble Host and celestial quire of Saints and Angels welcomed by the Holy Jesus and gracious God in the fruition of whom thou shouldst be perfectly happy for ever and ever If there were so much joy in Heaven at thy repentance when thou wert but set into the way what joy will there be when through so many hazards and hard-ships thou art come to thy journeys end Thus friend wert thou but prepared Death would be to thee a change from a prison to a Pallace from sorrows to solace from pain to pleasure from heaviness to happiness Thy Winding-sheet would
encouraged him to expect mercy from God He had not concealed nor shut up Gods faithfulness from men and therefore knew that God would not conceal his loving kindness from him But David on the other hand when night in his own thoughts drew near was as importunate to fit up longer God seemed to call him to bed but he begs hard O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more Psa 39. ult Now mark the reason of this petition David as t is generally conceived was now persecuted by Absolom the unnatural Son forced his Father to flie He in his suffering reads his own sin and Gods indignation and so dreads an appearance in the other World in such a condition He who when things were clear betwixt God and his soul could walk in the valley of the shadow of Death and fear none ill could even give Death a challenge now when things are cloudy and dubious runs back like a Coward He had lost the sense of Gods favour and therefore could not think of venturing into his presence without much fear The train of his corruptions threatned to wait on him to the highest Court and he durst not appear before the Lord with such company He had been declining in his grace under a sad distemper and as a weak consumptionate man he was affraid to travail so great a journey as the way whence he should never return The Tenant who wants his rent loves not to hear of the Quarter day Friend If thou wouldst leave the World chearfully live in the World conscienciously take heed of those fiends which will fright thee in the night of Death chuse suffering before sin and punish thy body to keep thy soul pure The Ermin some say will die before she will go into the Dirt to defile her beautiful skin and the Mouse of Armenia will rather be taken and slain then preserve and pollute her self in a filthy Hole As the white is always in the Archers eye so let thy Death be in thine that it may quicken thee to diligence and exactness in thy life Logicians who regard not the premises infer wilde conclusions so if thou art careless of thy conversation expect but an uncomfortable dissolution As when God looked on all his works and saw that they were good then followed his Sabbath of rest so when thou canst reflect upon the several passages of thy life and see that through Christ they are good and thou hast not been guilty of enormities though of infirmities after this thou wilt joyfully by Death enter into thy everlasting Sabbath Thy evidence will be clear if thy conscience be kept clean but the truth is many even amongst Christians wound their souls by venturing on sin and thence flinch and start back when they come to be searcht besides they neglect casting up their accounts so long that they know not whether they are worth any thing or nothing and so may well be unwilling to have their estates ransackt into If thou shouldst fall I would not sad any Saint take heed of lying there but be as speedy as is possible in calling to Christ to raise thee up If thy conscience be raw with the guilt of any sin a light affliction much more Death will make thee kick and fling and unwilling to bear it But when thy flesh is sound thy spirit healed by the blood of Christ Death it self will be but a light burden on thy back How merrily mayst thou though thou hast not a penny in thine own purse go the way of all the Earth travel into the other World when thou art sure of Christ in thy company who will bear thy charges all the way The second Means 2 Wean thy heart from the World Secondly Mortifie thy affections more to the World and all its comforts They who love the World most leave it worst Lots Wife lingered in Sodom so much and was so loth to depart because she loved it overmuch When boards lye close one upon another they are easily parted but when they are glewed one to another t will cost some trouble and pains If thy heart be loose to the World t will be a small matter to thee to leave it but if thou art fastened to it in thy affections t will not be done without much reluctancy and opposition The Wife who hath been so faithful to her Husband as to keep her heart wholly for him is ready always to open the Door to him when she that entertaineth other Lovers though her Husband knock at the Door dares not run presently to open it but first makes a shuffling and busling up and down to hide or get them out of the way The more thy affections are set on Christ thy true Husband the more the World is taken out of thee and so the more easily wilt thou be taken out of the World He who hath laid up his heart in Heaven will comfortably think of laying down his head in the Earth When the pins of the Watch are taken out which held it together how easily doth it fall in peices When thy affections from these things below are removed how quickly how quietly will thy soul and body fall asunder If the World be as loose to thee as thy Cloak thou canst put it off at pleasure but if it be as close to thee as thy skin they shall have somwhat to do who shall perswade thee to part with it We read of some unwilling to dye for they had treasure in the field Jer. 41.8 Where their treasure was their hearts were also Make it thy work therefore by considering the Worlds vanity and deceitfulness and by pondering Heavens glory and happiness to wean thy heart from sublunary things hereby thou wilt as willingly leave them as ever infant did those breasts which long ago t was weaned from The third Means 3. Familiarize the thoughts of Death Vse thy heart to the frequent thoughts of Death When Children are frighted at a Dog or a Cat we do not give way to their foolish fears but bring the brute to them and get them to touch and handle it and shew them that it is not such a frightful thing as they imagine and hereby in time they are so far from being frighted that they can play with it familiarly Dost thou dread this King of Terrors Death give not way to this fear but bring death up to thy spirit handle it feel it there is no such hurt in it as thou imaginest nothing which should terrifie thee hereby at last thou mayst come to play upon the hole of this Asp One ground I suppose why Job made no more of dying was because he was so well acquainted with Death Strangers are startled at many things in a place which they that are home-born and used to can delight in I have said to corruption Thou art my Father and to the Worms thou art my Brother and Sister Job 17.14 Job was as familiar with Death
as if it had been his Father and made no more of dying then of falling into the Armes and embraces of his Mother or Sister Moses at first started back at the sight of the Serpent but when he had handled it a little t was turned into a rod and nothing frightful to him There is a story of an Ass called Cumanus Ass which jetting up and down in a Lyons skin did for a time much terrifie his Master but afterwards being descried did much benefit him Thou art fearful possibly Reader of this beast supposing it to be a roaring Lyon but come up to it and thou wilt find it but an Ass in the skin of a Lyon and such a one as will be no way hurtful but many ways helpful to thee What is this Bugbear Death which thus frights thee Is it not the Paranymphus which presenteth thy faithful soul to thy beloved Husband Is it not a leaving the World and a going to thy Father Is it less then a kiss of Gods lips The indulgent parent will take the babe into her Arms and with many kisses lay it in her lap when its falling asleep The Chaldee Paraphrase tell us Moses dyed with a kiss of the Lords mouth Deut. 34.5 Will it not be the funeral of all thy corruptions and crosses and the resurrection of all imagiable delights and comforts Didst thou but know this friend more thou wouldst not be so shie of its company The Roman used their youth to gladiatory fights and bloody spectacles that acquaintance with them before-hand might make them less troubled in Wars with their enemies Philostrates lived seven years in his Tomb before his death that his bones might be the better known to his Grave Accustom thy self to the thoughts of death thy change thy translation to bliss thy entrance into Heaven and when it comes his Errand being known so well before he will be welcome Mithridates by accustoming his body to poison turned it into good nourishment Use thy soul to the thoughts of Death and though it be worse then poison to others t will be pleasant and profitable to thee CHAP. IX The Second Doctrine That God is the Comfort of a Christian with the grounds of it His happyness is in God I Proceed now to the second Doctrine from the second part of the Text the Saints comfort But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever That the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition is this That God is his portion The Psalmists condition was very sad his Flesh failed him The second Doctrine that the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition is that Go◠is his portion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. de Ju. Se. cap. 3. Mans Spirit often decayes with his flesh The Spirits and blood are let out together His Heart fell with his flesh but what was the strong cordial which kept him from swooning at such a season Truly this But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Aristotle affirmeth of the Tortoys that it liveth when its heart is taken away The holy man here liveth when his heart dyeth As the Sap in winter retreateth to the root and there is preserved so the Saint in crosses in death retireth to God the Fountain of his life and so is comforted David when his Wives were captivated his wealth plundred and his very life threatned for the Souldiers talked of Stoning him was doubtless in a very dreadfull estate one would have thought such an heavy burden must needs break his back but behold the joy of the Lord was his strength But David encouraged his heart in the Lord his God 1 Sam. 30.6 When the Table of earthly comforts which for a long time at best had been but indifferently spread for him was quite empty he fetcheth sweet-meats out of his Heavenly Closet But David encouraged his heart in the Lord his God Methodius reporteth of the Plant Pyragnus that it flourisheth in the flames of Olympus Christians as the Salamander may live in the greatest fire of affliction at this day And as the three Children may sing when the whole world shall be in a flame at the last day They are by the Spirit of God compared to Palm-trees Psalm 92.12 which though many weights are hanging on the top and much drought be at the bottom are neither say some Naturalists born down nor dried up This nightingale may warble out her pleasant notes with the sharpest thorne at her breast The onely reason which I shall give of the Doctrine Reason of the Doctrine because God is his happiness is this Because a Godly man placeth his happiness in God It s natural to the creature in the mid'st of its sufferings to draw its comfort and solace from that pipe whether supposed or real happiness All things have a propensity towards that in which they place their felicity If a stone were lay'd in the Concave of the Moon though air and fire and water are between yet it would break through all and be restless till it come to the earth its centre Asutable and unchangeable rest is the onely satisfaction of the rational creature All the tossings and agitations of the soul are but so many wings to carry him hither and thither that he may find out a place where to rest Let this Eagle once find out and fasten on the true carcasse he is contented as the needle pointing to the North though before in motion yet now he is quiet Therefore the Philosopher though in one place he tells us that delight consisteth in motion yet in another place tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it consisteth rather in rest Happinese is nothing but the Sabbath of our thoughts and the satisfaction of our hearts in the fruition Eth. lib 7. cap. ult of the chiefest good According to the excellency of the object which we embrace in our hearts such is the degree of our happiness the Saints choice is right God alone being the souls center and rest Omnes literae in Jehovah sunt literae qui escentes say the Rabbies Let a sinner have but that which he counteth his treasure though he be under many troubles he is contented Give a covetous man wealth and he will say as Esau I have enough When an ambitious man mounts up to a chair of state he sits down and is at ease If a voluptuous person can but bath himself in the streams of carnal pleasures he is as a fish in his Element So let a Godly man enjoy but his God in whom he placeth all his joy and delight in whom is all his happiness and heaven he is well he hath all Shew us the Father and it sufficeth No more is desired John 14.8 No man thinks himself miserable till he hath lost his happiness A Godlyman is blessed when afflictied and buffetted because God is the proper Orb in which he doth fix and he hath his God still Job
be blackness of darkness for ever There will be no end of his misery no exit to his tragedy He will be fetterred in those chains of everlasting darkness and feel the terrors of an eternal death But the portion of a Saint is like the wine which Christ provided for the wedding best at last he shall never know its full worth till he appears in the other world and then he shall find that as money answereth all things so his portion will protect him from all misery and fill him with all felicities and answer all the desires and necessities of his capacious and immortal soul The cup which he shall drink of is filled out of the rivers of Gods own pleasures and how sweet that wine is none can tell but they who have tasted it The thought of it hath recovered those who have been dying and recalled them to life what then will a draught of it do All the men in the world cannot describe the rich viands and various dainties which God hath for his own provided diet Nay the most skilful Cherubim can never count nor cast up the total of a Saints personal estate Till Angels can acquaint us with the vast millions that the boundless God is worth they cannot tell us the utmost of a Saints portion It is said of Shusa in Persia that it was so rich that saith Cassiodorus the stones were joyned together with gold and in it Alexander found seventy thousand talents of gold This City if you can take saith Aristagorus to his souldiers you may vie with Jove himself for riches But what a beggarly place is this to the new Jerusalem where pure gold is the pavement trampled under the Citizens feet and the walls all of precious pearles who entereth that City may vie with thousands of such Monarchs as this world can make and with all those heathenish Gods for Riches The Infinite God quantus quantus est as boundlesse a good as he is to whom Heaven and earth is lesse then nothing is their portion for ever But of this more in some of the following Chapters CHAP. XVI A Vse of Tryal whether God be our portion or no with some marks 2. The second Use by way of Tryal whether God be our po tion or no. THe Doctrine may be useful by way of tryall If the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition be That God is his portion then Reader examine thy self whether God be thy portion or no. I must tell thee the essence and heart of Religion consisteth in the choice of thy portion nay thy happiness dependeth wholly upon thy taking of the blessed God for thine utmost end and chiefest good therefore if thou mistakest here thou art lost for ever I shall try thee very briefly by the touchstone which Christ hath prepared Where your treasure is there will your heart be also Matth. 6. Now Friend Where is thy heart is it in earth is it a diamond set in lead or a sparkling star fixt in heaven Are thy greatest affections like Saul's person among the stuffe and rubbish of this world or do they like Moses go up into the Mount and converse with God Do they with the Wormes crawl here below or like the Eagle soar aloft and dwell above A man that hath his portion on earth like the earth moveth downward though he may be thrown upward by violence as a stone by some sudden conviction or the like yet that imprest vertue is soon worn out and he falleth to the earth again but he who hath his portion in heaven like fire tendeth upward ordinarily though through the violence of temptation he may as fire by the wind be forced downward yet that removed he ascendeth again It may be when thine enemy Death beats thee out of the field of life thou wilt be glad of a God to which thou mayst retire as a city of refuge to shelter thee from the murdering piece of the laws curse but what thoughts hast thou of him now whilst thou hast the world at will Dost thou count the fruition of him thy chiefest felicity Is one God infinitely more weighty in the scales of thy judgement then millions of worlds Dost thou say in thy prevailing setled judgement of them that have their garners full and their floeks fruitful Blessed is the people that is in such a case or yea rather happy is the people whose God is the Lord Psal 144.13 14 15. Every man esteemeth his portion at an high price Naboth valueth his earthly inheritance above his life and would rather die then part with it at any rate God forbid that I should sell the inheritance of my fathers saith he O the worth of the blessed God in the esteem of him that hath him for his portion His house land wife child liberty life are hated by him and nothing to him in comparison of his portions he would not exchange his hopes of it and title to it for the dominion and soveraignty of the whole world If the Devil as to Christ should set him on the pinacle of the Temple and shew all the honours and pleasures and treasures of the world and say to him All this I will give thee if thou wilt sell thy portion and fall down and worship me Who can tell with what infinite disdain he would reject such an offer He would say as a Tradesman that were bid exceedingly below the worth of his wares You were as good bid me nothing and with much scorn and laughter refuse his tender This man is elevated to the top of the celestial orbes and therefore the whole earth is but a point in his eye whereas a man who hath his portion in outward things who dwelleth here on earth heavenly things are little the glorious Sun it self is but small in such a mans eye earthly things are great in his esteem Reader let me perswade thee to be so much at leisure as to ask thy soul two or three Questions 1. In what chanel doth the stream of thy desires run Which way and to what coast do these winds of thy soul drive Is it towards God or towards the world A rich Heir in his minority kept under by Tutors and Guardians longs for the time when he shall be at age and enjoy the priviledge and pleasures of his inheritance Thou cravest and thirsteth and longest and desirest something there is which thou wouldst have and must have and canst not be satisfified till thou hast it Now what is it Is it the husks of this world which thou enquirest so earnestly for some-body to give thee or is it bread in thy Fathers house which thou hungrest after Dost thou pant after the dust of the earth according to the Prophets phrase Amos 2.7 or with the Church The desire of my soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee Thou art hungry and thirsty unquiet unsatisfied what is the matter man Dost thou like the dry earth gape and cleave for
showers to bring forth corn and wine Is the voice of thy heart Who will shew us any good or is it Lord lift up the light of thy countenance on us Physitians can judge considerably of the state of their Patients bodies by their appetites they who long only for trash speak their stomacks to be foul they who hunger after wholsome food are esteemed to be in health Thou mayst judge of the state of thy soul by thy desires if thou desirest chiefly the trash of the world thy spiritual state is not right thy heart is not right in the sight of God if thou canst say with David Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee Blessed art thou of the Lord thou hast a part and lot in this boundless portion Observe therefore Friend which way these wings of thy soul thy desires flie He who thirsteth after the kennel water of this world hath no right to the pure river of the water of life but he who hungreth after the dainties of the Lambs Supper may be sure the scraps of this beggarly world are not his happiness The true Wife longeth for the return of her Husband but the false one careth not how long he is absent 2. What is the feast at which thou sittest with most delight Is it at a table furnished with the comforts of this world Are the dishes of credit and profit of relations and possessions those which thou feedest on with most pleasure Or is it a Table spread with the Image of God the Favour of God the Spirit of God and the Son of God are those the savoury meat which thy Soul loveth If this Sun of righteousness only causeth day in thine heart when he ariseth and if he be set notwithstanding all the candles of creatures it is still night with thee then God is thy Portion O how glad is the young Heir when he comes to enjoy his Portion with what delight will he look over his woods view his grounds and walk in his gardens The Roman would tumble naked in his heapes of Silver out of delight in them but if thy affections only overflow with joy as the water of Nilus in the time of wheat harvest when the world floweth in upon thee the world is thy Portion He who like a Lark sings merrily not on the ground but when he is mounting up to Heaven is rich indeed God is his but he who like an horsefly delighteth in dunghils feedeth most on rellisheth best these earth ly offalls is a poor man God is none of his God it s an undeniable truth that that is our Portion which is the Paradise of our pleasures The fool who could expect ease on his bed of Thorns Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years had his Portion in this life but Moses whom nothing could please but Gods gracious presence had him for his Portion If thy presence go not with us carry us not hence I beseech me shew me thy glory Thirdly What is the calling which thou followest with greatest eagerness and earnestness Men run and ride and toyl and moyl all day they rise early and go to bed late and take any pains for that which they count their happiness and portion The Worldling whose Element is Earth whose Portion consisteth like the Pedlars pack in a few pins or needles or peuter-spoons or brass-bodkins how will he fare mean lodg hard sleep little crowd into a corner hazard his health and life and soul too for that which he counteth his Portion like a brutish spaniel he will follow his Master the world some hundred of miles puffing and blowing breaking through hedges and scratching himself with thorns and briers running through ponds of water and puddles of dirt and all for a few bones or scraps which is all his hope and happiness The Christian who hath the blessed God for his portion strives and labours and watcheth and prayeth and weepeth and thinks no time too much no pains too great no cost enough for the enjoyment of his God As the wise Merchant he would part with All he hath all his strength and health all his relations and possessions for his noble Portion Reader how is it with thee thou travellest too and fro thou weariest thy self and wantest thy rest thy head is full of cares and thy heart of feares and thy hands are alwaies active but whether doth all this tend what is the market to which thou art walking thus fast Is it gold that thou pursuest so hot The people labour in the fire and weary themselves for very vanity 2. Habbak 13. Or is it God that thou pressest after as the Hound the Hare so the word signifieth Phil. 3.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with so much deligence and violence My soul followeth hard after thee Ps 63.6 Thus have I laid down the characters briefly of such as have God for their Portion Thy business is to be faithful in the tryal of thine estate If upon tryall thou findest that God is thy Portion rejoyce in thy priviledg and let thy practices be answerable Like a rich Heir delight thy self in the thoughts of thy vast inheritance Can he be poor that is Master of the Mint Canst thou be miserable who hast God for thy Portion I must tell in thee that thou art happy in spight of Men and Divells If worldlings take such pleasure in their counters and brass farthings what joy mayst thou have in God to whom all the Indians Mines are worse then dross nay if all the gold of Ophir and of the whole world were melted into one common stream and all the Pearls and precious stones lay on the side of it as thick as pebbles and the quintessence and excellencies of all other the creatures were crumbled into sand and lay at the bottom of this channel they were not worthy to make a Metaphor of to set forth the least perfection in this Portion Shall Esau say he hath enough and be contented when the narrow field of some creatures was the utmost bounds of his estate and wilt thou complain as if thou wert pinched with poverty when the boundless God is thy Portion Art not thou an unreasonable Creature whom the infinite God will not satisfy for shame Christian bethink thy self and let the world know by thy chearfulness and comfort that their mites are nothing to thy millions Consider though the whole world turn bankrupt thou art rich for thy Estate doth not lye in their hands Do not â—ine thy self therefore with feare of penury but keep an house according to thy estate which will afford it in the greatest plenty Let thy practices also be sutable to thy portion Great heirs have a far different carriage from the poor who take almes of the Parish Thou ough'st to live above the world Eagles must not stoop to catch flies the stars which are nearest the Pole have least circuit Thou
heart of man Isai 32.24 Is thy body sick thy soul is sound and so long all is well The inhabitants shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities Is thy life in danger If thine enemies kill thee they cannot hurt thee they will do thee the greatest courtesie they will do that kindness for thee for which thou hast many a time prayed sighed wept even free thee from thy corruptions and send thee to the beatifical vision When they call thee out to die they do but as Christ to Peter call thee up to the Mount where thou shalt see thy Saviour transfigured and say Let us build Tabernacles O 't is good to be here Though Saul was frantick without a Fidler and Belshazar could not be chearful without his cups yet the Philosopher could be merry saith Plato without musick and much more the Christian under the greatest outward misery What weight can sink him who hath the everlasting armes to support him What want can sadden him who hath infinite bounty and mercy to supply him Nothing can make him miserable who hath God for his happiness Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. O Christian thou maiest walk so that the world may know thou art above their affrightments and that all their allurements are below thy hopes In particular the Doctrine is comfortable against the Death of our Christian Friends and against our own deaths First It is a comfort against the death of our friends God is a godly mans portion therefore they are blessed who die in the Lord without us and we are happy who live in the Lord without them It s a comfort that they are happy without creatures what wise man will grieve at his friends gain In the ceremonial law there was a year of Jubile in which every man who had lost or sold his land upon the blowing of a trumpet had possession again The deaths-day of thy believing relation is his day of Jubile in which he is restored to the possession of his eternal and inestimable portion Who ever pined that married an Heir in his minority at his coming to age and going to receive his portion Their death is not paenall but medicinal not destructive but perfective to their Souls It doth that for them which none of the ordinances of God nor providences of God nor graces of the Spirit ever yet did for them It sends the weary to their sweet and eternal rest This Serpent is turned into a rod with which God works wonders for their good The Thracians wept at the births of men and feasted at their funerals if they counted mortality a mercy who could see death only to be the end of outward sufferings shall not we who besides that see it to be the beginning of matchless and endless solace A wife may well wring her hands and pierce her heart with sorrow when her Husband is taken away from her and dragd to execution to hell but surely she may rejoyce when he is called from her by his Prince to live at Court in the greatest honours pleasures especially when she is promised within a few days to be sent for to him and to share with him in those joyes and delights for ever Some observe that the Egyptians mourned longer for they mourned 70 dayes for old Jacobs death then Joseph his own Son and the reason is this because they had hopes only in this life when Joseph knew that as his fathers body was carried to the earthly so his Soul was translated to the heavenly Canaan I would not have you ignorant concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others that have no hope 1 Thes 4.12 As they are happy without us for God is their portion so we are happy without them We have our God still that stormy wind which blew out our candles did not extinguish our Sun Our Friend when on his or her death-bed might bespeak us as Jacob his Sonnes I die but God shall visit you I go from you but God shall abide with you I leave you but God will find you he will never leave you nor forsake you Reader If God live though thy friends dye I hope thou art not lost thou art not undone May not God say to thee when thou art pining and whining for the death of thy relations or friends as if thou wert eternally miserable as Elkanah to Hannah Am not I better to thee then ten Sons Am not I better to thee then ten Husbands then ten Wives then ten thousand worlds O think of it and take comfort in it 2. It s comfort against our own deaths Secondly It is comfortable against thy own death God is thy Portion and at death thou shalt take possession of thy vast estate Now thou hast a freehold in law a right to it but then thou shalt have a freehold in deed make thy entry on it and be really seised of it It s much that heathens who were purblind and could not see afar off into the joys and plesures of the other world the hopes of which alone can make death truly desireable should with less fear meet this foe then many Christians Nay 't was more difficult to perswade several of those Pagans to live out all their daies then 't is to perswade some amonst us to be willing to die when God calls them Codrus could throw himself into a pit Plut. in vit Vtic. Ca. that his Country might live by his death Cato could against the intreaty of all his friends with his own hands open the door at which his life went out Platinus the Philosopher held mortality a mercy that we might not alwaies be lyable to the miseries of this life When the Persian King wept that all his army should die in the revolution of an Age Artabanus told him that they should all meet with so many and such great evils that they should wish themselves dead long before Lysimachus threatened to kill Theodorus but he stoutly answered the King that was no great matter the Cantharides a little flie could doe as much Cleombrotus having read Plato of the Souls immortality did presently send his own Soul out of his body to try and taste it The bare opinion of the Druides that the Soul had a continuance after death made them hardy in all dangers saith Cesar and fearless of death Câ—s lib. 6. de bell 6. Christians surely have more cause to be valiant in their last conflict and it s no credit to their Father that they are so loth to goe home The Turks tell us that surely Christians do not believe Heaven to be so glorious a place as they talk of for if they did they would not be so unwilling to goe thither It may make the world think the child hath but could welcome at his Fathers house that he lingers so much a broad certainly such bring an ill report upon the good land Christian