restest quietly but O friend God hath * Job 8.14 15. a besome of death which will sweep this down This and all the rest as nigh as they seem to be to heaven will prove but a Castle in the air whether any or all these or something else be the Pillars by which thy hope is upheld in life they wil fail thee at death and then the rotten props being taken away the house of thy hope wil fall These are all but a sandy foundation and therefore when that great storm comes they will down to the ground Matth. 7.26 27. It is possible thou mayest hope all the time thou livest but thy life and hope wil depart together like thy neighbours thou mayst be ful of hope even when thou art going into the pit of despaire and die in peace though thou art going unto the place of eternal war but the next moment after death thy hopes wil take wings and flie away Prov. 11.7 When a wicked man dieth his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perisheth He died perhaps with his head ful of hopes and expectation as those seemed to have done that came bouncing at heavens gate with Lord Lord open to us but soon were their hearts filled with desperation when they heard Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not Etiam spes valentissima periit as some read that fore-cited place His great hope shall be little worth A false heart and false hope can never hold out in such a real hardship Job 27.8 What is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God shall take away his soul An Expositor glosseth on it thus The anchor of a wicked mans hope entereth not within the vail as a godly mans doth closing with God himself in Christ Hebr. 6.19 which anchor in all storms is sure and stedfast but is cast upon false and loose ground and therefore when the storm comes his Anchor drives and is unstedfast and so his hope and heart fail together The stoutest unregenerate man alive wil drop at last when God cometh to take away his soul then his crest falls and his plumes flagge The wicked is driven away in his wickednesse Prov. 14.32 He being arrested by death as a cruel serjeant in the divels name is hurried away and hurld into hel as Syrens are said to sing curiously while they live but to roare horribly when they die so thou that art high in hope on earth wilt be lower in grief in hel when thou shalt see all thy hopes like Absoloms Mule to fail thee in thy greatest extremity We say if it were not for hope the heart would break what wilt thou do then when thy hope shall depart and thy heart continue How sad wil thy condition be when thou shalt fall from the high pinacle of thy presumption into the bottomelesse gulph of desperation surely thy raised expectation disappointed wil prove a sore vexation how extreamly wilt thou be perplexed when thou shalt fall as low as hel whose hopes were raised as high as heaven If hope deferred make the heart sick Prov. 13.12 then hope of such happiness wholy frustrated wil kil it with a thousand deaths ImprobiduÌ„ spirant sperant justus etiam cum expirat sperat When a gracious man dieth his hope is perfected in the fruition of all and ten thousand times more then he hoped for when a graceless man dieth his hope perisheth in an utter disappointment of all that he though with little reason so much expected 5. Thou shalt lose by death thy precious soul this wil be a losse indeed the price of this pearl is not known to thee on earth but it wil be fully known in hel this one head Reader didst thou but understand what is included in it would stab thee to the heart and the thought of this one losse would be enough to imbitter the comforts of thy whole life The soul of man is called the man Job 4.19 though not in a natural Quia animaest principalior pars hominis unumquodque autem consuevit appelâ—ari id quod in eâ— est principalius Aquin in Job 4.19 yet in a moral consideration saith one upon that place it being the most noble the most excellent part of man and 't is usual to denominate the whole from the better part The body is but an house of clay its foundation is in the earth but the soul the inhabitant in this house is of an Angelical spiritual nature The generation of this was from heaven Zachariah 12.1 The operations of this are most noble the Redemption of this cost the blood of God Psal 31.5 Acts 20.28 this is that part of man which is capable of the Image of his Maker Col. 3.10 Ephes 4.24 the working out the salvation of this is the whole of a Saints care and labour Phil. 2.14 't is upon the welfare of this that the body dependeth for its unchangeable estate what a losse then wil the losse of this be Faciâ—is jactura sepulcri An Heathen can tel us that it is an easiy matter to beare the losse of an earthly house for our bodies when we die but certainly it wil be hard to beare the want of an heavenly habitation for thy soul Let him that bought this ware speak to its worth and thy losse What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Matth. 16.26 Behold what an incomparable what an irreparable losse is here It is such a losse there is none like it The gain of the whole world cannot ballance the losse of one soul If a temporal life be more worth then meat and the body then rayment what is an immortal eternal soul worth Couldst thou set thy soul to sale for all the world yet for all that thou wouldst be a loser nay as the rich man a beggar This is an irrecoverable losse If thou losest one eye thou hast another if thou losest one limb thou hast more if thou losest thine estate thou mayst recover it again if thou losest thy life thou mayst be a gainer by it thou mayst find it again Matth. 16.25 but if thou losest thy soul at death thou hast no more there is no second throw to be cast no after-game to be play'd thou art gone thou art undone for ever Here is a losse man that may make thy hair stand an end thy head yea thy heart to ake when thou readest or thinkest of it do not thine eares tingle and thy loines tremble to hear of it When God would smite the rich fool under the fifth rib as it were and strike him so home as that there need not a second thrust he doth it in these words Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee Luke 12.20 Ah! sad sentence wherein every word speaketh wo every syllable sorrow and sighs Had it been Thou wise man
they are of such exceeding importance that if thou art once perswaded to them my work will be half effected and because delayes and laziness are the two great gulphs in which such multitudes of souls are drowned and perish I shall speak the more to them My first request to thee is that thou wouldst presently set about the affairs of thy soul We say of things that must be done De rebus necessariis non est deliberandum there needeth not any deliberation about them Is not this the one thing necessary to prepare for the last hour to make sure of thine everlasting well-fare In re tam justa nulla est consultatio If thou believest the word of God thou wilt not give the flesh so much breath as to debate it muchless wilt thou as Felix did put off the thoughts of righteousness and judgement to come till thou art at better leisure till thou hast a more convenient season What more weighty work hast thou to do then to work out thy own salvation Is the following thy calling hoarding up an heaps of earth feeding cloathing that flesh which shall shortly be food for worms is any of these half so necessary as thy provision for eternity If thou art old its high time to begin to prepare for thy latter end Thou hast the feet of thy body almost already in the earth in the grave and hadst thou not need have the feet of thy soul thy affections in heaven Thou hast but a little time to converse with men doth it not behove thee to be much in communion with God Death often possibly knocketh at thy door by the hand of sickness and warneth thee to look after another habitation for thou art to be turned out of thy house of clay Dost thou take warning what wilt thou do if thou shouldest dye before thou didst ever begin to live If the Sun of thy life should set before the Sun of righteousness hath arisen on thee all the while thou livest thou art dead and thou livest long to add to thy torments as others have died soon to hasten them Thou art but like stubble laid out a drying to burn the better in hell all the while thou continuest a stranger to the new birth Thou hast every day been treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath been gathering as it were more wood to increase those flames in which thou if thou thus diest shalt live for ever Because judgement against an evil work is not speedily executed therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged it shall not go well with the wicked Eccles 8 11 12 23. The sinner an hundred years old shall be accursed Isa 65.20 I have read of the Circassians a kind of mungrel Christians that they divide their time betwixt the Devil and God dedicating their youth to robbery and their old age to repentance How much time hast thou spent in the service of sin how little time hast thou left the service of God and thy soul Is it not high time for thee to number thy dayes and to apply thy heart unto wisdom speedily Old sinner dost thou not tremble to think that there is but a step betwixt thee and death nay betwixt thee and hell O the time and talents and opportunities which thou hast to reckon for more then others Happy happy had it been for thee to have been turned out of the wombe into hell rather then to dye an old man and not a babe in Christ If thou hast a sparke of love to thy self mind thine inward change presently least thy change come even death and send thee to unchangeable misery If thou art young Honor adolescentum est timorem Dei habere Ambros de offici mind the gathering the Manna of godliness in the morning of thine age present the first fruits of thy life to that God who desireth the first ripe fruits Exod. 3.19 The firstlings are his darlings Gen. 4.4 and that cloth will keep colour best that is died in the Wool the vessel will sente longest of that liquor with which it is first seasoned let thy soul like Gideons Fleece drink up betimes the dews of grace As young as thou art thy life is every moment at the mercy of the Lord There is a saying that in Golgatha there are skulls of all sizes In the Church-yard thou mayest see graves of all sorts and some of thy very length thou art concerned therefore to remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth Aquinas telleth us the young man hath death at his back the old man before his eyes and that is the more dangerous enemy that pursueth thee then that which marcheth up towards thy face This calleth for the greater care and watchfulness In the Isle of Man the maides spin their winding sheets the first thing they spin do thou in youth and health ponder and prepare for thy death lest as young and strong as thou art death trip up thy heels and throw thee and it prove thine everlasting overthrow Besides canst thou imagine that such a sinner deserveth favor who cometh in to serve God at last when he can serve his lust no longer Is it equal be thy own judge to give the flower of thine age the spring of thy life the best of thy time thine health and strength to the devil and thy brutish flesh and to give the dregs the snuffe the bottom of all this to the infinitely glorious God whose creature thou art at whose cost and charge thou livest every day and night and who calleth upon thee for thy service not for the need he hath of thee but because of the need thou standest in of him all whose happiness doth consist in the pleasing and enjoying his Majesty Whoever thou art of what age soever either set speedily about thy soul-work or answer these few questions the Lord shall put to thee or be speechless and without excuse at the day of Christ First Hath not God waited upon thee long enough already wouldst have him whom the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain who hath millions of glorious Angels waiting on his Majesty to wait on thee miserable worme alwayes I tell thee all the while thou art sinning his eyes behold thee his heart is incensed against thee and his hand can reach thee and avenge him on thee every moment How many hath he sent into hell that never tasted of his patience as thou hast done The angels sinned and were not waited upon one hour for their repentance yet how many years hath he endured thee with much long-suffering and still waiteth upon thee that he may be gracious unto thee Isa 30.18 The last oath thou didst swear he could have cursed and rotted thy tongue The last time that thou wentest prayerless to thy rest he could have sent thee to little ease to the place
Piscator will by no means grant it to be the mind of the Spirit in this place In the words you may see the sign of a Saint to him to live is Christ and his solace to him to die is gain his holy description in the former his happy condition in the latter The Text being thus explained affordeth this truth taking both parts of it together Doctrine That such as have Christ for their life shall have gain by their death He that liveth in Christ on earth shall live with Christ in heaven Where the soul hath the seed of holinesse it shall reap an harvest of happinesse The Apostle when he summeth up the estate of a believer counteth death as a part of his riches Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death all are yours 1 Cor. 3.22 and ye are Christs he that can say I am Christs may as truly say Death is mine If thou canst say I am Christs servant I am Christs Subject thou mayest say Death will be my preferment death will be my advancement For the Explication of this doctrine I shall shew first what is meant by that phrase to me to live is Christ and secondly wherein it will appear that death to such a man iâ— gain Four things in the phrase To me to live is Christ For the former To me to live is Christ may imply these four things 1. Christ is the principle of my life All living creatures have an inward principle by which they live and according to which they act Plants have a principle of vegetation beasts have a principle of sense Ad vitam spiritualem quod attinet certum est adnos derivari exiguos quosdam rivulos ipsum autem fontem in Christo latere Daven in Col. 3.3 men have a principle of reason and their lives are different answerable to their different principles But a Christian hath an higher principle that is Christ dwelling in his heart by faith Ephes 3.17 and thence it is that he lives an higher life As the body liveth by its union with the soul so the Christian liveth by his union with Jesus Christ Christ is the fountaine and spring of his life the soul of his soul and the life of his life I live saith the Apostle Gal. 2.20 yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Sonne of God As the branches they live but it is by the root they derive sap from it and so live by it So the believer he liveth spiritually but it is by Christ he deriveth the sap of grace from this true Vine and so liveth by him The water in the Rivers doth not more depend upon the Ocean nor the light in the air upon the Sun than the life of a Christian dependeth on Jesus Christ And therefore the Holy Ghost telleth us He that hath the Son 1 Joh. 5.12 hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life I have sometime read that the Lioness bringeth forth her whelps dead till after some time the lion roareth aloud and then they live This is certain every man and woman is born dead dead to God dead in sins and trespasses till this lion of rhe tribe of Judah uttereth his voice then they arise from the dead and Christ giveth them life When the soul like the body of Lazarus hath been dead so long that it stinketh and is unsavory when it hath been many dayes nay many years rotting in the grave of corruption then if Jesus Christ calleth effectually Lazarus come forth sinner come forth of thy carnal unregenerate estate then and not till then the soul heareth the voice of the Son of God and liveth Grace is of a divine birth Joh. 3.3 it is the seed of God John 3.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Except a man be born from above 1 Joh. 3.9 an unction from the holy One 1 Joh. 2.27 called dew which is of a coelestial extraction Psal 110.3 and light 1 Joh. 1.7 the fountain of water is in the earth but the fountain of light is in the Heavens Non nascimur sed renascimur christiani The web of godlinesse was never spun out of mans own bowels As none can see the Sun but by its own light so none can with an eye of faith see the Sun of righteousnesse but by the light of grace derived from him We are his workmanship saith the Apostle created in Jesus Christ unto good works His workmanship not only in our natural capacity as men as creatures and in our civil capacity as rich or poor high or low but also in our spiritual capacity as Christians as new creatures Secondly To me to live is Christ i. e. Christ is the pattern of my life my life is not onely from him but according to him Christ is the rule according to which I walk the copy after which I write As sin and disobedience is a resemblance of the first so grace and holinesse is a resemblance of the second Adam True christianity consisteth in nothing but our conformity to Sanctitas dicitur per quam mens scipsam suos actâ—â— applicat Deo So the Schoolâ—e and imitation of Jesus Christ And indeed as the child in generation receiveth from the parent member for member part for part and the paper from the press word for word letter for lettter and the wax from the seal figure for figure So in regeneration Christ is formed in the soul and it receiveth according to its proportion grace for grace One end of Christs incarnation and life in the flesh was to set an exact pattern for our lives in the spirit He left us an example that we shoeld follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 All the actions of Christ are instructions to a Christian His actions were either moral or mediatory In both the Christian imitates him In the former doing as he did exercising the same graces performing the same duties resisting the same temptations forbearing the same corruptions In the latter by similitude dying to sin as he died for sin rising to a spiritual life as he rose again to a natural life None indeed can parallel the life of Christ but every new creature imitateth Christ in his life he walketh as Christ walked Philip. 2 1 Joh. 2.6 The same mind is in all the Saints so far as they are regenerated that was in Christ the same will the same affections they love what he loveth they loath what he loatheth what pleaseth him pleaseth them what grieveth his spirit grieveth their spirits As the wicked are like their father the Devil unholy as he is unholy so the children of Christ are like their everlasting Father holy as he is holy onely with this difference in Christ there is a fulnesse in them a measure in Christ pureness in them a mixture Thirdly To me to live is Christ i. e. Christ is the comfort of
joy at his right hand are pleasures for evermore Solus tues jucunditas totus mundus est amaritudine plenus Aug. in Psa 85. Psal 16. ult God is not wealth or honour or comfort or friends or earth or heaven but something infinitely beyond all these God is an immense Ocean of all excellencies and perfections without either banks or bottome God is virtually eminently every thing all things As in the Wars between Charles the fifth and Francis the first King of France when the Emperours Herald had bid defiance to the King Heil Geogra from Charles Emperour of Germanie King of Castile Leon Arragon and Naples Arch-duke of Austria with the rest of his Titles the King commanded the Heralds to return the challenge from Francis King of France commanding them to repeat France as many times as the other had Petty Earledomes in his stile intimating that one France was worth them all so truly one God answereth all things He is health and strength riches and relations joy and pleasures light and life and much more all the excellencies scattered and shadowed in the creature are united and reallized in the Creatour who is blessed for ever One God is worth more than all his creatures can sum up in millions of ages This is the gain of a Saint by death he shall gain the fruition of God He who hath lost God hath nothing more to lose he hath lost all the losse of God is hell 2 Thes 1.7 But he that hath gained God hath nothing more to gain He hath got all the gain of God is heaven It is worthy our observation that Job speaking of God Job 13.16 saith He shall be my salvation An Expositour observeth on that Text Job doth not say He shall giue me salvation but he shall be my salvation Car. in loc It more pleaseth a Saint that he enjoyeth God then that he enjoyeth salvation As nothing that a godly man giveth God will content him unlesse he give God himself so nothing which God giveth a godly man will satisfie him Fecisti nos proptertâ— inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te Aug. confes lib. 1. cap. 1. unlesse God giveth himself to him His voice is non tua sedte Domine Lord not thine but thee he is better pleased that God is his salvation then that he saveth him Whom have I in heaven but thee saith he There are Saints Angels Arch-Angels saith Musculus but in the presence of this glorious Sun those stars must vanish and disappeare What are Saints what are Angels without God and it 's true of things as well as persons what is the glory what the pleasures what the joys of heaven without God What 's all the robes and riches what 's all the crowns and comforts what 's all the delights the delicates the diadems of heaven without the God of heaven but as the Funeral-banquet for some eminent Prince where is large provision and great cost but no chear No it is God alone that is the centre to which the Saint moveth and in which he resteth O what happinesse shall the holy man have at death to be ever with God! If that Queen could say of Solomons attendants Happy are thy men happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdome 1 King 10.8 how happy are they that dwell in Gods Mansion-house ever beholding his face and hearing his voice It is reported of Eudoxius that he was so extream desirous to be near the Sun that he might see it and know its nature that he profest so he might obtain his desire though but for one hour he would willingly be burnâ— up by it the next hour how much worth then is the sight and knowledge of this Sun of righteousnesse and what gainers are they by death that come thereby to see him as he is and to know him as they are known of him 1 Joh. 3.2 1 Cor. 13.12 But the Christian shall not barely enjoy God after death for that he doth in this life but he shall enjoy God fully Now the Saint enjoyeth a little of God and O how refreshing is it to his weary soul but then he shall have as much of God as his heart can wish or hold In this life there is a Communication of God answerable to the capacities of men and the fault is in us not in God that we receive no more of him on earth The ground is not in the Sun but in the narrownesse of our windowes that we partake no more of its light the cause is in the smallnesse of our vessels not in the well that we carry away no more of its water If our mouths were never so wide-opened God would fill them now But then the windowes of the soul shall be widened and the vessels of the heart enlarged and so fitted for and filled with a greater participation of God There is not the least complaint of want All the Patriarchs sacks are there filled with corn There Davids cup runneth over there the holy Ephesians are filled with all the fulnesse of God In that Fathers house there is bread enough and to spare for all his children There is given to all good measure pressed down shaken together and running over Luk. 6.38 We say there is no fishing like to the Sea because the Sea hath the greatest plenty and the vastest capacity there are fish enough to fill all our nets and lade all our ships I may more truly say there is no fruition like to the fruition of God he hath enough not only to supply all our indigencies and to satisfie all our necessities and desires but he can do abundantly for us above what we are able to ask or think Ephes 3.20 God hath enough to fill himself as boundless a being as he is surely then he hath enough to fill the limited soul of man that which can fill the Ocean may well fil a spoon Now a Christian is described by his hungring and thirsting his panting and breathing after a perfect conformity to God that thereby he may be prepared for perfect Communion with God but blessed are they which now thus hunger and thirst for then they shall be filled Matth. 5.6 Well 〈…〉 a good bait as the word used by our Saviour doth signifie He that drinketh of that water which God shall there give him shall thirst no more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc proprie dicitur de armentis nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prati vocant gramen aut pabulum That God who filleth the bellies of his enemies on earth with the hidden treasures of common bounty will surely fil the souls of his children in heaven with the precious treasures of special mercy The soul that now sippeth of the water of life shall then drink a full draught out of the Rivers of â—ods pleasures The Christian who can now only taste God to be gracious shall then have a full meale when
wiser then some I will take this with me however but alas poor fool he could not be so good as his word The Holy Ghost excellently termeth rich men rich in this world because riches will not make men rich in another world 1 Tim. 6.17 Death will seal a Lease of ejectment and turn thee out of all thy possessions and death will give thee a bil of divorce and separate thee from all thy relations The relations of Husband and Wife Parents and children are calculated only for the Meridian of this world and shall not out-live this life Thy dear husband or thy loving wife and thy most dutiful children wil all serve thee as Orpah did Ruth Ruth 1â—4 follow thee while thou art full but forsake thee when thou shalt be empty cleave to thee in thy health and life but leave thee in thy greatest danger at death and thy birth and breeding honour and respect wil serve thee in the like kind they are but a shadow which wil not be seen when the Sun of thy life is set The great distinctions in the other world wil be holy or unholy not noble or ignoble Be not afraid when one is made rich when the glory of his house is encreased for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat his glory shall not descend after him Psa 49.16 17. Death is the great leveller making Princes and Peasants equal All thy sinful pleasures will also be lost the sweet taste thou foundest in thy mouth wil be gone though they wil rise in thy stomach and after in thy belly be more bitter than gall Thy merry meetings jovial companions witty jests sporting recreations pictures for thine eyes musick for thine ears dainties for thy taste thine eating and drinking and all these delights on earth which thou solacest thy sensual soul with desiring no other heaven will all like leaves in the Autumn of thy death fall off from thee though in the short summer of thy life thou art richly laden with them yet in thy long thine everlasting Winter thou shalt be stript naked of them Thou mayest say to all the fore-mentioned delights of riches relations honours and pleasures and what ever it is which thou foolishly rejoycest in as Charles the fifth Emperor of Germany whom the world counted most happy did to his trophies treasures and things of the like nature A bite hinc A bite longe Be gone get you farre out of my sight Be assured that as a false harlot leaves her lovers wheâ— they are arrested for debt and followeth other customers so this painted strumpeâ— this deceitful world that now layeth opeâ— her fair breasts to allure thee to go a whoâ—ring after her and commit spiritual fornication with her when death shall arreâ— thee by a Writ from heaven will whollâ— forsake thee and follow them that survive now what a losse will this be But it may be thou comfortest thy self against this that all even good as well as bad will joyn with thee in this losse Reader dost thou consider that they who enjoy the stars all night and come in the morning instead thereof to enjoy the glorious Sun are no losers the Sun hath all the light of the stars and far far more Neither can the godly be properly called losers of these comforts because they enjoy them all and infinitely more in the blessed God As mony answereth all things Prov. 10.19 Mony is equivalently sheep oxen corn meat drink cloth whatsoever you want for this life is virtually in mony so God to a gracious soul after death will answer all things he will be eminently and virtually Father Mother wife child wealth honour pleasure and all things though he loseth them here he will find them there and much more but when thou O sinner losest them in this world they shall never be made up to thee in another world thou losest not only the streams but the fountain not only the beams but the Sun and therefore thy portion will be scorching drought and dismal darknessâ— Besides these things are not the portion the all of a good man they are not his estate or inheritance they are but an additional over-plus cast in over and above So much the words of Christ imply Matth. 6.33 And all other things shall be added to you As when a father giveth his son a thousand pounds worth of ware he casteth in paper and packthread or one thousand yards of cloth he doth not stand upon the bredth of the thumb which is to be allowed in measurng so God having given himself and his Son to his Saints out of his vast bounty casteth in the creatures as an over-plus they are not their estate or portion or all no when a godly man at the great and terrible day of the Lord Jesus shall see his house and land and outward good things in that common flame which shall burn up the earth he may then behold it with comfort Omnia mea n eoum portâ— â—ias and say with the Philosopher I have my all still But sinner thy losse of them will be a losse indeed for these things are thy all they are all thy God and all thy Christ and all thy happinesse and all thy heaven they are all the fulnesse of joy and all the rivers of pleasures and all the weight of glory which thou shalt enjoy They are all thy riches all thine inheritance all thy consolation all thy reward all thy portion and all thou shalt be worth for ever look Luk. 16.24 They have received their consolation cold comfort indeed ye have your reward * Mat. 6.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they receive it as their full pay whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an acquittance It is one of the saddest speeches in the Book of God whose portion is in this life Psal 17.14 ah poor portion Thou hast no other Paradise but thy garden no other mansion but thy beautiful building no other inheritance but thy Land no other kindred but thy wife and children no other honour but the stinking breath of thy flattering neighbours no other God but thy gold no other heaven but the earth all thy estate is in dust rubbish and lumber surely then it will be a losse with a witnesse to lose all that in a moment and that for ever wherein all thy happinesse consisteth Will it not be a sad sight for thee to stand as it were upon the shoare and to see the vessel in which is imbarqu'd all thy treasures all thy near and dear relations all thy respect and esteem all thy joy and delights sinking before thine eyes and lost for ever or to see that house in which is thy Plate and Jewels thy wife and children and all that ever thou art to be worth in a flame and nothing possible to be recovered would not thine eyes affect thine heart with unspeakable horrour Now this O Reader will be thy case if thou art unsanctified at
the message might have been wel-come and death desireable as a passage to eternal life but it 's Thou fool had it been this year or this month nay had it been this week the man might have been fore-warned and fore-armed but it is this night thy soul shall be required of thee Had it been this night thy riches shall be required of thee how harsh would it have sounded in his eares who had no other God but his gold who like a Mole lived in the earth as his element O how hard would it be to part this covetous muck-worm and his Mammon of unrighteousnesse but it is not thy silver but thy soul shall be required of thee Had it been This night thy relations shall be required of thee thy wife and children and all thy kindred shall be required of thee what heavy tidings would it have been to his heart that had had no kindred in heaven with what wringing of hands and watering of cheeks and sighs and sobs would such news have been entertained many an eye would a tender husband and father have cast upon his loving wife and lovely babes and O how would his eye have affected his heart with grief and sorrow to consider that these thriving hopeful plants must be removed into another soil that this near conjugal knot must be untied and he and his dearest relations who had so often and so much rejoyced together so suddenly be separated and that for ever but it is not thy wife that is one flesh with thee but thy Spouse that is a spirit within thee thy soul shall be required of thee Had it been This night all the means of grace shall be required of thee it had been worse then the losse of a limb to him that had had any spiritual life the Ordinances of God to a soul are as the Sun to the world without which notwithstanding all its earthly delights it would be but a place of darknesse and of the shadow of death Matth. 4.16 but it is thy soul the former might have spoken the mans condition very dangerous but this speaks it altogether desperate Thou fool this night thy soul shall he required of thee The former although sad are yet nothing to this not so much as the noise of a podgun to the noise of a Cannon This is the great Ordnance which includes and yet drowns those smaller pieces Couldst thou Ambr. ult pag. 69. saith one upen the fore-cited Text purchase a Monopoly of all the world hadst thou the Gold of the West the Treasures of the East the Spices of the South the Pearls of the North all is nothing to this incarnate Angel this invaluable soul O wretched worldling what hast thou done thus to undo thy soul Was it a wedge of gold an heap of earth an hoard of silver to which thou trustedst see they are gone and thy soul is required Alas poor soul whither must it go to heaven No there is another place for wandring sinners Go ye into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his Angels thither must it go with heavinesse of heart into a Kingdome of darknesse a lake of fire a prison of horrible confusion and terrible tortures Reader if thou art not new-born put this case to thy self and ask thy soul what it wil do in such an hour when the grave shall come with an habeas corpus for thy body and the Divel with an habeas animam for thy soul when thy soul shall leave this dwelling of thy body and passe naked of all its comforts into a far countrey where Divels and damned spirits are the inhabitants where screeching yelling and howling is the language where fire and brimstone is the meat and a cup of pure wrath without the least mixture is the drink where weeping and wailing is their calling where a killing death is all their life Assure thy self if thou diest unsanctified thou wilt find far more and worse then all this O my soul saith Bernard what a terrible day shall that be Bern. medita when thou shalt leave this mansion and enter into an unknown Region who can deliver thee from those ramping Lyons who shall defend thee from those hellish monsters Now thou most unworthily undervaluest thy precious soul little caring what flaws by sin thou causest in this Diamond like the cock on the dung-hill thou knowest not the worth of this Jewel but preferrest thy barly-corns before it I have read that there was a time when the Romans did wear Jewels on their shoes thou do'st worse thou tramplest this matchlesse Jewel under thy feet whil'st thy dying body is cloathed and pampered thy ever-living soul is naked and starved some write of Herod I suppose because of that infant massacre It was better to be his swine than his Sonne for when his superstition hindred him from slaying his hogs his ambition helpt him to kill his child I say it were better to be thy beast than thy soul thou canst every morning and evening what ever happen take care that thy beasts be watered and foddered and many times in the day look abroad after them to see what they ail and accordingly take order for their supply and yet O man or rather O brute thou canst let thy soul go an whole day and never feed it with the set meals of prayer Scripture and meditation yea and in an whole day nay it may be an whole week not ask thy soul in good earnest how it doth what it wanteth what sins it hath to be mortified what grace it hath to be bestowed or increased what spiritual necessities to be supplied Reader Is it not so let conscience speak and canst thou read these lines without blushing and heart-breaking that thou shouldest spend more time and strength upon thy beasts than upon that soul which truth it self saith is more worth than a world Matth. 16.26 which is created capable of such an high work as pleasing glorifying and enjoying God and of such an happy reward as the immediate and eternal fruition of and communion with his infinite majesty in heaven Well this soul thus despised when lost though then too late will be esteemed Hell will read thee such a Lecture of thy souls worth that it will make thee understand it and believe it whether thou wilt or no and then thou shalt have time enough in that eternity in which thy soul shall be lost to befool thy self for thy desperate madnesse in gratifying thy bruitish flesh and thus basely neglecting thy soul that heaven-born Spirit Sixthly Thou shalt by death lose the infinitely blessed God this is the losse of losses the misery of miseries the very hell of hell such a loss as there was never the like before it nor ever shall be again after it such a loss as no tongue can express as no heart can conceive yet such a loss as thou shalt know fully when experimentally The four first losses might have been born with comfort and delight by
thence it is that spiritual things are so natural and delightful to his regenerate part as we see in David I delight to do thy will O my God how cometh this to passe but from an inward principle Thy Law is within my heart Psal 40.8 or as it is in Hebrew Thy Law is in the midst of my bowels But now an hypocrite usually acteth from some outward principle as the Pharisees did Matth. 23.14 27. Matth. 6.1 5. the wind from without makes their Mill to go some goads or whips force them forward hence it is that like tired Jades they are presently weary and desire nothing more then to rest and cease from such unpleasant labour 2. Ask thy soul what is the pattern of thy life whom dost thou labour to imitate is it Christ or thy Neighbour Do'st thou set thy watch by the Town Clock or by the dial of Scripture because that never faileth of going according to the Sun of Righteousnesse A man dead spiritually like dead fish ever swimmeth down with the stream of the times will follow a multitude to do evil cannot endure to be singular like the Planet Mercury at best if in conjunction with good he is good if with bad he is bad or like water taketh the figure of the vessel what ever it be into which it is put But now a living Christian doth not dresse himself by the glasse of the times whil'st he is in the Wildernesse of this world he may follow the cloud of faithful Witnesses but it must be no farther then they follow Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 Christ is the great standard by which he measureth and trieth and which he endeavoureth to imitate in his thoughts words actions He doth uti verbis nummis praesentibus vivere moribus praeteritis use such words and money as is currant at present but lives after that example which was in times past the patterns of godly men bear much sway with him but he knoweth there are some things in their lives Admonet non omnes promiscue esse imitandos Calv. in Phil. 3. which are sea-marks to be avoided and not Land-marks to direct us therefore like the Eagle he looketh most at the Sun Christ himself Now Christian examine thy selfe whom dost thou look upon for thy pattern is it thy desire and care to regulate thy Family and life as such a Knight or Esquire or Gentleman in the Parish where thou livest ordereth his or as thy prophane irreligious Neighbours do theirs or do'st thou look upon and labor to resemble Jesus Christ to govern thy house and heart as he did his praying with his Apostles instructing them in the Mysteries of the Kingdome of heaven and the like Matth. 6. walking humbly inoffensively and worthy of the Lord even unto all well-pleasing Heb. 7.26 1 Pet. 1.19 It is reported of Hierom that having read the Religious life and death of Hilarion he cried out holding up the book Well Hilarion shall be the Champion whom I will follow So when thou readest in the Scripture of the heavenly pious life and holy patient death of the Redeemer how he did all things well and none could convince him of sin is thy soul so ravish't with the beauty and lustre of those many graces which shined so eminently in him that it breatheth out O that I were like him O that I could be as meek and lowly as Christ that I could deny my self and despise the world and glorifie God as much as Christ did Christiani à Christâ— nomen acceperunt operae pretium est ut sunt haeâ—edes nominis ita sint imitatores sanctitatis Bern. Sentent p. 496 that the same mind were in me that was in Christ Jesus and though to thy hearty sorrow thou seest how far short thou comest of a perfect conformity to him yet thou resolvest to use all means appointed that thou mayst be more like him and concludest Well Christ shall be the only Champion whom I will follow Answer thy conscience within thee whether it be thus or no for if thou art a living Member thou wilt resemble thy Head Those whom God did fore-know he did predestinate to be conformable to the Image of his Son Rom. 8.29 As the Image in the glasse resembleth the face in figure feature and favour so doth the true Christian after his proportion resemble Jesus Christ 3. Is Christ the comfort of thy life when trouble like frosty weather overtaketh thee which is the fire at which thou warmest thy heart is it this friend or that place of preferment or any outward comfort whatsoever or is it thy Relation to Christ and his affection to thee when damps arise out of the earth is it the joy of thy soul that light springs down from heaven or do'st thou trust to the Candle of the creature which will burn blew and go out Is Christ man or the world the door through which thy joys come in the dish on which thou feedest with most delight If Christ should give thee the long life of Methuselah the strength of Sampson the beauty of Absolom the wisdome wealth and renown of Solomon and deny himself to thee canst thou contentedly bear his absence or wouldst thou say as Haman in another case and Absolom 2 Sam. 14.32 All this availeth me nothing so long as I may not see the Kings face Xenophon As Artabazus when Cyrus gave him a cup of gold and kissed Chrysantas told the King The cup thou gavest to me was not half so good gold as the kisse thou gavest Chrysantas so saith the living Saint when Christ blesseth him outwardly and with-draweth himself from the soul Lord the cups the wife and children the food and raiment the pleasures and treasures all the earthly mercies thou givest to me are not a quarter so good gold as the kisses of thy love which thou givest unto thy favourites O kisse me with the kisses of thy mouth for thy love is better then wine Cant. 1. Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy children O visit me with thy salvation that I may see the good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the gladnesse of thy Nation that I may glory with thine inheritance Psal 106.4 5. Look thou upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do unto those that love thy Name Psal 119.132 These are the holy Petitions of a gracious soul for a childs portion Common mercies will never content them that have special grace nor satisfie them that are sanctified indeed As the needle toucht with the Load-stone is restlesse till it points toward the North so the Saint that is toucht effectually by the Spirit of God is unquiet till he turn unto and have fellowship with Jesus Christ He may flutter up and down like the Dove over the waters of this world but can find no rest for the soles of his feet till he return to Christ the true Ark till Christ put forth his hand
man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God And Hebr. 12.14 Follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Consider Friend this is the Word of the true and living God and this Law this standing Law of Heaven is like the law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be altered not one iota or title of it can possibly go unfulfilled Math. 5.18 Darest thou think that the God of truth will be found a lyar for thy sake as he must be if he save thee in thy sinful unconverted state I tell thee the God of holiness and justice will send millions of such carnal wretches as thou art to hell there to suffer the vengeance of the unquenchable fire before he will stain his honour in the least No he is more tender of his glory then so though thou carest not how much thou tramplest his honor in the dust by the wilful breach of his Commands yet he is exceeding jealous of his great Name and when his very being is engaged for the accomplishment of his Word he will not ungod himself to glorifie thee in an unsanctified condition and therefore do not delude thy soul in presuming that he that made thee will not damn thee for he saith himself that unless thou art new made and hast that true understanding to fear his Majesty and depart from iniquity He that made thee will not save thee and he that formed thee will shew thee no mercy Isai 27.11 I hope therefore thou art fully convinced that it highly concerneth thee to be night and day with the greatest diligence imaginable labouring for this spiritual life when thine everlasting comfort in the other world thine eternal life dependeth so much upon it Art thou rich hearken to this word of counsel from God look after these durable riches Prov. 6.18 thy earthly riches are not for ever Prov. 27.24 though thy heart possibly is more set upon thy houses and hoards then upon heaven yet thou must take thine everlasting leave of them ere long when these unsearchable riches in Christ which I am perswading thee to mind out-live the dayes of heaven run parallel with the life of God and line of eternity Prov. 8.18 Nay till thou livest this spiritual life all thy wealth is want all thy glory is ignominy all thy comforts are crosses yea curses to thee Prov. 1.32 Psal 69.22 All thy outward comforts like the Rainbow shew themselves in all their dainty colours and then vanish away or if they stay with thee till death then they die with thee Oh how hath the Moon of great mens plenty often been eclipsed at the full and the Sun of their pomp gone down at noon Through the corruption of thy heart they prove but fuel for thy lusts on earth if thou shouldst die having only this worlds goods they will feed the eternal fire in hell It is storied of Heliogabalus that he had silken halters to hang himself with ponds of sweet water to drown himself in and gilded poyson to poyson himself Truly more hurtful are the worlds trinity riches honors and pleasures to them that have great estates in the world but no estate in the Covenant Poyson worketh more furiously in wine then in water and so doth corruption many times bewray it self more in plenty then in poverty It is sad that thou shouldst not be led to God by that which came from God But O how lamentable is it that thou shouldst Jehu like fight against thy Master with his own Souldiers like the dunghill the more the Sun shineth on it it sends forth the more stinking savour The Poet feigned Pluto to be the god of riches and Hell as if they had been inseparable Homer that thou shouldst by the riches which his Majesty hath given thee only have this cursed advantage to be the greater Rebel Many good works hath Christ done for thee for which dost thou stone him John 10.32 for which of them dost thou stone him out of thy house by oaths or drunkenness or gaming or by atheisme and irreligion or at least by putting him off with a few short cold formal prayers and that but now and then neither Many good works hath he done for thee for which of them dost thou stone him out of thy heart by letting the world and the things of the world have the highest seat there the throne thy chiefest esteem warmest love and strongest trust What sayest thou is it not thus and is this to be led by his goodness to repentance Oh consider thy bodies mercies are holy baits laid by God to catch thy soul He tryeth the vessel with water to see whether it will hold wine do not like the foolish flie burn thy self in this flame of love turn not his grace into wantonnesse but let the kindnesse of God be salvation unto thee thou shouldst by those cords of love be drawn nearer unto him and by those bands of mercies be tied closer to his commands How shouldst thou gather if the streames of creatures be so sweet what sweetnesse is there in God who is the Fountain If he be so good in temporals surely he is better in spirituals and best of all in eternals How unsatisfied shouldst thou be with all these outward gifts which may consist with his everlasting hatred and resolve with Luther not to be put off with the blessings of his left hand Valde protestatus summe nolle sic ab eo satiari Melch. Aâ— in vit Luth. of his foot-stool Thou hast the more cause to look about thee because few of thy rank are truly religious a little godliness will go a great way with great men though of all men they have most obligations from God see James 2.5 God chooseth the poor of the world rich in faith and heirs of his Kingdom And Christ telleth us It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 19.24 Our Saviour indeed doth not speak of an impossibility but of the difficulty of it and the rarenesse of it Job unfolded the riddle and got through the needles eye with three thousand Camels but it is hard to be wealthy and not wanton too too often are riches like bird-lime hindering the soul in its flight towards Heaven a load of earth hath sunk many a soul to hell and the inriching of the outward occasioned the impoverishing of the inward man A rich man is a rare dish at heavens table Blessed be God there are some but surely few rich of those very few that shall be saved 1 Cor. 1.26 The weighty burden in a vessel though it consisted of the most precious commodities hath not seldom caused its miscarriage when otherwise it had arrived safely at its desired haven As the Moon when she is at the full is farthest from and in most direct opposition to the Sun so t is the temper of most in thy condition to
be farthest from and most opposite to Christ when they receive the most light of prosperity from him and art fullest of the blessings of his goodness Take heed thou be not like the Horse and Mule Psalm 32.9 to drink plentifully of the streames and never look to the Fountain but let thine eyes as the Churches be Doves eyes When the Dove hath pecked her corn she turneth her eyes heavenward she looketh up Cant. 1.15 It is reported of the Spartans that they use to choose their King every year during which year he liveth in all abundance but is after the year be expired banisht into some remote place for ever One King knowing this being called to be King did not as others prodigally spend his revenues but heaped up all the treasure he could get together and sent it before to that place whither he should be banisht and so in the year of his Government made a comfortable provision for his whole life So wise are they that lay up a treasure in Heaven against the time of their departure out of this world Art thou poor Labour for this spiritual life it will make thee rich indeed Thou hast little on earth but thou mayst have a treasure in heaven God offereth thee Grace Christ and Life as freely as others take heed thou neglect them not and think as they in Sweden that it is only for Gentlemen to keep the Sabbath that its only for Gentlemen to mind Religion thou hast a soul to save an endlesse estate to provide for an hell to escape an heaven to attain a dreadful day of judgement to prepare for as well as they It is a great mercy that though God difference thee from others in temporals yet not in spirituals Among the Israelites the price for their ransome was equal half a shekel the rich shall not give more nor the poor lesse Exod. 30.12 15 16. thereby * Willet in loc signifying that the same price was paid by Christ for the redemption of all poor as well as rich and that the vertue and merits of Christs passion belong equally to all thy outward condition doth not exclude thee from an interest in Christs death and intercession Poor Lazarus may lie in the bosom of rich Abraham The poor may be gospellized as that Matth. 11.5 is sometimes read not only have the Gospel preached to them but be changed by it God accepted the Lamb and Dove in sacrifice when he rejected the Lion and Eagle But thou must be one of Gods poor not of the Devils ragged Regiment Will it not be sad for thee to have two hels one on earth in cold hunger and thirst and wants and another in hell in heat and unspeakable woe How many of thy condition serve the Devil and the world all their dayes in drudgery and slavery and are turned into hell as a Sumpter-horse at the night of death after all his hard travel with his back full of gals and bruises A low man if his eye be clear may look as high as the tallest B. Hall Contempl. the least Pigmie may from the lowest valley see the Sun as fully as a Gyant upon the highest mountain Christ is now in Heaven it is not the smalnesse of our person nor the meanness of our condition that can let us from beholding him The soul hath no stature neither is heaven to be had with reaching If God clear the eyes of our faith we shall be high enough to beho d him Do not say thou art to provide for thy wife and children and hast no time to regard thy soul in a solemn serious performance of duties remember the same God that commandeth thee to follow thy particular calling as a man injoyneth thee likewise to follow thy general calling as a Christian and that in the first place Seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and all other things shall be added to you Mat. 6.33 and also with the greatest labour John 6.27 Phil. 2.12 Labour not for the food that perisheth but for the food that endureth to everlasting life Where our Saviour doth not indeed absolutely forbid labour for the body but comparatively thy labour for thy soul should be so much so great that thy labour for thy body should be no labour at all not deserve the name of labour in comparison of it Now consider what answer thou wilt make to the great God when he shall plead with thee for the breach of these commands besides hast not thou many spare hours in many evenings and on wet dayes wherein thou mightst go to God in secret and with thy family and humble thy soul in a mournful confession of thy sins and sensible apprehension of the wrath which is due to thee and wherein thou mightst be importunate for pardon and grace without which thou art lost for ever Nay the Lord knoweth how many Lords dayes thou hast enjoyed which dayes he hath set apart as well out of mercy as out of soveraignity not only for the glory of his Name but also for the good of thy soul wherein thou mightst both publickly privately and secretly have furthered thy spiritual and eternal good but how dost thou squander away those precious hours sometime in corporal labour alwayes in spiritual idleness in sleeping or walking or sitting at thy door or talking with thy neighbors and yet thou hast no time for thy soul But lastly tell me hast thou time to eat and drink and work and sleep and no time to work out thy salvation to fit thy soul for death for judgement for eternity If thy house were in a flame thou wouldst not let it burn and say I have no time to quench it If thy neighbor call thee to sit or talk or dine or it may be to go to the Ale-house with him thou dost not answer him I must provide for my family I have no time but when thy Maker and Preserver the blessed God calleth upon thee by his Spirit and Word to be diligent for the making thy calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 thou must provide for thy family thou hast no time for this Foolish worm leave off thy vain and cursed pretences and set upon the business for which thou wast sent into the world even the glorifying and obeying the Lord or thou shalt have another manner of answer to thy simple excuses from the Judge of quick and dead when for thy want of time to serve him in he shall give thee an eternity to suffer in Reader I have two things to desire of thee before I deliver thee the directions which I have received of the Lord for thee and indeed unlesse thou grant me or rather God and thy soul these two requests all that I have to say will be to no purpose at all my requests are that thou wouldst follow the counsel of God in order to the recovery of thy soul out of its bottomlesse misery with all speed and with all diligence Now because
there are some diseases which are called opprobria medici because they cannot cure them but none are opprobria Christi he healeth all whom he undertaketh If the higher an house standeth on earth it be esteemed the healthier surely then the highest heavens must be a pure air and all health Revel 20.4 there shall be no more death nor any more pain for the former things are past away So that every christian that dieth in the faith how diseased soever he were before shall then immediately as in the Gospel be made every whit whole John 7.23 Thirdly As death will free the believer from diseases in his body so also from sorrows in his soul The christian liveth upon earth as in a valley of tears and often mingleth his drink with weeping As he is a man he is born to sorrows as the sparks fly upward he cometh into the world crying and goeth out groaning and his whole life from the womb to the tomb is in some regard a living death or a dying life But as he is a christian he drinketh deepest of this cup of sorrows the world is a tender mother to her children but a step-mother to strangers Sometimes the afflictions of the good cause high-water in the Saints heart by the rivers of Babylon he sits down and weepeth when he remembreth Zion Psal 137.1 He cannot but sympathize with the miseries of his fellow-members as being himself in the body Sometimes the transgressions of the bad cloath him with mourning like Croessus son though dumb before yet he cryeth out when his father is wounded As with a sword they pierce his bones when they blasphemously say unto him Psal 42.10 Where is thy God rivers of tears run down his eyes because the wicked forsake Gods Law Psal 119.136 Sometimes his own corruptions like so many daggers stab him to the heart that he should abuse such an Ocean of unspeakable love by so unsuitable a heart and so unanswerable a life He confesseth his iniquities and is sorry for his sins Psal 38.18 Sometimes divine desertions darken and cloud all his comforts When God hides his face he is troubled Psal 30.7 As there are no joyes like to those joyes wherewith God reviveth him in the day of his favour so there is no sorrow like to those sorrows wherewith God depresseth him in the day of his anger Thus his life is a circle of sorrows but death will be the Funeral of his sorrows and resurrection of his joyes now he soweth in tears but then he shalâ— reap in joy The day of death is a Saints Marriage-day Sampsons wife indeed wepâ— on her wedding-day Judg. 14.16 but when the soul which in this life is contracted shall at death be solemnly espoused and more neerly conjoyned unto Jesus Christ all tears shall be wiped from its eyes there shall be no more sorrow Revel 21.4 At that Marriage-day Christ will turn all water into wine all mourning into mirth all sighing into singing and cause the bones which he hath broken to rejoyce Now the Saints sorrows are not perfect sorrows non dantur purae tenebrae to the believer it shineth and showreth at the same time he sorroweth not as they which have no hope but his joy at death shall be perfect joy fulness of joy Psal 16. ult and permanent joy when they shall see Christ at death their hearts shall rejoyce and their joy shall no man take from them John 16.22 then the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladnesse and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Isa 35. ult So much for the privative gain of a christian by death or his freedome from evil There is a second thing which is positive Adeâ—pt â—o omnium bonoruâ— and that is the fruition of all good which a believer shall gain by death and in this Head I shall observe these three gradations First a believer by death shall gain the company of perfect Christians Death wil exempt him from all commerce with sinners and teach him fully the meaning of that article The communion of Saints In the field of this world the tares and the wheat grow together but in that heavenly Garner they are parted asunder There is no treacherous Judas among the Apostles no covetous Demas among the Disciples no Amorites to be prickes in the eyes and thorns in the sides of the Israelite no bestial Sodomite to vex righteous Lot with their unclean conversation no flattering Doeg sets his foot in that heavenly Sanctuary David doth not there complain Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace Psal 120.4 5. nor Isaiah that he dwelleth among a people of unclean lips Isa 6.5 nor Elijah that he is left alone Hell holdeth none but sinners heaven hath onely Saints He that dieth in the Lord goeth to the congregation of the first-born to the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 And questionlesse the sweet company will be part of our felicity If Platinus the Philosopher could say Let us make haste to our Countrey there are our parents there are all our friends and if Cicero the Orator could say O praeclaruÌ„ diem cùm ad illud animorum concilium coetumque proficiscar Cic de Senect O what a brave day will that be when I shall go to the councel and company of happy souls to my Cato and other Roman Worthies How much better will it be with the Christian when he wall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven when he shall leave the rout and rabble of wicked ones and be admitted into the society of all that died in the faith and be joyfully welcomed by the melodious quire of Angels and be heartily embraced by the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles yea all the Saints Surely if ever thar Proverb were true it is here The more the merrier The fair streams there will never be drawn dry though it be divided into many channels the musick there is not the lesse harmonious because many hear it nor the light of the Sun of righteousness the lesse pleasant because many see it and O what a gain will this be to enjoy the company of them that are holy If Aaron when he met Moses on earth was glad at his heart certainly there was greater joy at their meeting in heaven If David placed all his delight in the Saints here below when they shined a little with the light of purity like the Moon and had their spots in them what delight doth he take in them above now they have perfect purity and shine like the Sun in the firmament of their father Matth. 13.43 If it were so lovely a sight to see Solomon in his rags of mortality that the Queen of Sheba came so far to behold it what will it be to see him in his
robes of glory Mr. Thomas Wilson Minister of Maidstone in Kâ—nt an eminent servant of the Lord Jesus I remember I have sometimes heard an able holy Minister now with Christ say that that sight of five hundred Saints and Jesus Christ among them 1 Cor. 15.6 was one of the bravest goodliest sights that ever eyes beheld on earth Sure I am they that are in heaven see a far better beholding Jesus Christ in the midst of many thousands Secondly A Christian shall gain by death the neerest communion with the Lord Jesus Christ and O what happinessâ— is included in this Head The presence of Christ on earth can make a mean cottage a most delightful court to the three children it turned the fiery furnace into a delectable palace what will it do then in Heaven Bernard saith he had rather be in his chimny-corner with Christ Mallem in camino meo cum Christo quam in coelo sine Christo Bern. than in heaven without Christ Luther saith he had rather be in hell with Christ than in heaven without Christ communion with Christ can sweeten the bitterest condition Christ alone is the salt which seasons all the Saints comforts without which nothing is savoury to the spiritual taste A duty without Christ is like a body without a soul which hath neither loveliness nor life in it Communion with Christ is one great motive which inciteth the Saint to and encourageth him in the Ordinances of God He attendeth on Scriptures because they are they that testifie of Christ the pearl of price is hid in that field Cant. 5.1 In them the lips of Christ like lillies drop sweet-smelling myrrhe and O how his heart burneth within him with love to Christ whilst Christ is opening to him the Scriptures He frequenteth prayer because therein Christ and his soul converse together in that Ordinance he enjoyeth much of Ch ists quickning presence he speaketh to Christ by holy supplications and Christ to him by heavenly consolations He mindeth fasting because therein his soul may with Jesus Christ have a spiritual feast or the greatest cause of his weeping is with Mary They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him The means of grace are therefore so desirable and delightful because rhey are the Galleries wherein he walketh talketh feedeth and feasteth with the Lord of glory The highest duty without Christ is as a dish without meat from which he goeth as empty and unsatisfied as he came to it It is to him as Tullies Hortens to Austine of little worth if the Name of Jesus be not there If he love the Saints with a love of complacency 't is because they are Christs seed if he love the sinner with a love of pity 't is for Christs sake his affections are contracted or enlarged towards any thing as it hath lesse or more relation to Christ and nothing is of true value or worth in his esteem which hath not aliquid Christi something of Christ in it Now consider Reader if the presence of Christ be so precious so pleasant to the Christian here when he can see so little of his excellent beauty and receive so little of his infinite bounty what will it be when he shall appear to the soul in all his royalty and fill the water-pots of the soul up to the brim with the riches of grace and glory Demorrhathus of Corinth saith they lost the chief part of their lives happinesse that did not see Alexander sit on the throne of Darius if that were such an happy sight what a sight shall the Saints have to see Christ on his Fathers Throne O how much is included in those few words To be with Christ which is the description of the Saints gain by death Philip. 1.23 This was the great Legacy and portion which Christ bequeathed his in his last Will and Testament John 17.24 This was the great promise and sweet meats which the tender father provided to comfort his fainting children with at his own Funeral John 16.22 This was the great prayer which Paul maketh for his beloved Timothy 2 Tim. 4.22 This was the enlivening cordial which the good Physician administred to the dying patient Luke 23.43 This is the great reason for which the godly long for death Philip. 1.23 I desire death saith Melancthon that I may enjoy the desirable fight of Christ Ut desiderato fruar conspectu Christi and O when will that blessed hour come when shall I be dissolved when shall I be with Christ said holy Mr. Robert Bolton on his Death-bed Surely then this gain is great which the Saint shall have by death He that hath Christ with him by grace may say with Peter Master it is good to be here but he that is with Christ in glory may say with Paul To be with Christ is far better without doubt best of all They were blessed which saw him in his estate of debasement Luke 10.23 but much more blessed will they be that shall see him in his estate of advancement Thirdly the Saint by death shall gain the full and immediate fruition of God The former were excellent but this as the Sun among the Planets surpasseth them all The other were as Rivers this is the Ocean they were as branches bearing goodly fruit but this is the root upon which they grow they all as lines meet in this center this is the top-stone of the celestial building this is the highest stair the apex of the Saints happinesse This is the greatest gift which the creature can possibly ask or the infinite God bestow The boundlesse God cannot well give a greater mercy than this Is any thing yea are all things in heaven and earth equal to God God alone is the highest object of faith 1 Pet. 1.21 and therefore the greatest ground of joy and satisfaction to the soul Psalm 17. ult The Vision of God is the beatifical vision 1 John 3.3 and therefore the fruition of God will cause perfection in the soul The enjoyment of God is the great desire and delight of the Saints on earth Psalm 42.1 2. nay it is the happinesse of the humane nature of the Lord Jesus Psalm 16.5 6. without question then it will be the Heaven of Heaven That excellent description of Heaven mentioned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.28 That God may be all in all 1 Thess 4. ult is a being ever with the Lord. This is all the most fluent tongue must be here silent and the most capacious understanding will be soon at a stand in the consideration of the felicity which floweth from the fruition of God The presence of this King will make the Court indeed For the Lord to be with us is our chiefest security though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will feare no evil for thou art with me Psal 23.4 but for us to be with the Lord will be our choicest felicity In his presence is fulnesse of
where there is no rest day or night The last time thou didst quench the motions of his Spirit and stifle the convictions of thy conscience he could have taught thee by experience what is the meaning of the worm that never dyeth and the fire that goeth not out and yet he spareth thee stretching out his hands all the day long to a rebellious child Isa 65.2 Should not his long patience quicken thee to speedy repentance Answer God whether he hath not waited enough been long-suffering enough already and if he have not continue in thy ungodly course and see who shall suffer longest at last he or thou It is one thing to forbear a debt another thing to forgive the debtor The longer God is in fetching his hand about the heavier his blow will be when he striketh The threatning is like a child the longer it is kept in the womb the bigger it groweth and it will put thee to the more pain when it cometh to the birth of its execution therefore bethink thy self before the decree bring forth before the day passe as the chaffe before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon thee Zeph. 2.2 Dost thou not see in the Scriptures many examples of Gods severity upon the abuse of his patience What became of Sodom and Gomorrah when God waited in the dayes of Lot Are they not suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude v. 7. What became of the Jews upon whom Christ waited calling upon them and crying to them to return and reform is not wrath come upon them to the utmost 1 Thess 2.16 Are not these like the Maste of a ship sunk in the sands standing up to warn thee to avoid their course least thou split eternally Have not these the same inscription on them with Senacheribs tombe Look on me and learn to be godly Do not the Sodomites seem to say Look on us and learn to be godly Do not thy Atheistical neighbors in hell that thought they had had time enough before them and futured their repentance cry O look on us and learn to be godly and that with speed Friend take example by others least thou be made an example to others To day after so long a time thou wilt hear his voice harden not thy heart Heb. 4.7 My second question which I desire thee to answer is Hast thou not served the world and the flesh long enough already Is it not yet time to serve God hath not lust had too much of thy heart and the flesh of thy life already may not the time past of thy life suffice thee to have wrought the will of the flesh 1 Pet. 4. and 3. Canst thou have the face to say with the sluggard a little more slumber a little more sleep a little more drunkenness a little more swearing a little more wickedness is not the debt which thou owest to Divine Justice great enough Is not the heap of wrath and fury which thou hast provided for thy self against death and judgement big enough Dost thou think that thou maist serve the flesh too little and the Lord too much It may be thou hast served the devil twenty thirty fourty fifty sixty or seventy and knowest not whether thou shalt have so many hours to serve God in and is it not yet time to begin Answer me Hast thou not wallowed long enough in the mire of Atheism worldliness and sensuality wilt thou not yet be made clean Ah when shall it once be Jer. 13. ult 3. If one should offer thee an house and land or a bag of money wouldst thou not presently accept it wouldst thou say I am not yet at leisure hereafter will be time enough and is there not infinitely more reason why thou shouldst presently close with Christ and leave thy sins and seek the Kingdom of heaven Is not heaven more worth then earth are not the fruits of Christ better then silver and his revenews then choice gold Prov. 3.15 When gold is offered thee saith Ambrose thou dost not say I will come again to morrow and take it but art glad of present possession but salvation being profered to our souls few men haste to embrace it Is it not a sordid slighting of Jesus Christ the Lord of glory for thee to be more ready and hasty to take a little perishing wealth then his most precious blood Canst thou read the story of Pope Gregory the seventh how he made the Emperor Henry the fourth with his wife and child to stand bare feet and bare leg'd three days and three nights in a cold frosty season before he would admit them into the house and thy heart not rise against the Popes pride and wickedness And why doth it not rise against thy own obstinacy and vileness that hast suffered the King of Kings to stand knocking at the door of thy heart till his head hath been wet with the dew and his locks with the drops of the night and though he hath waited thus many years yet thou hast denyed him entrance and art not to this hour resolved to give him speedy acceptance 4. Dost thou not finde by experience that the longer thou delayest the farther thou wandrest from God and holiness and the more unfit thou art for and the more unwilling unto the work of conversion is it not time therefore to turn with speed when continuance in sin insensibly hardeneth thy heart and gradually indisposeth it more to the work of repentance as the ground so is thy heart the longer it lyeth fallow not ploughed up the harder it will be wilt thou go one step farther from God when thou must certainly come back every step and that by weeping cross all the way or be damned for ever The purchase of heaven is like buying the Sybils prophesies the longer thou holdest off the dearer A stain which hath been long in cloaths is not easily washed out an house that hath long run to ruin will require the more cost and labor for its reparation Diseases that have been long in the body are cured if at all yet with much difficulty The devil which had possessed the man from his infancy was hardly cast out and not without much renting and raging Mar. 9.21 26. Satan thinks his evidence as good as eleven points at law now he hath once got possession and the longer he continueth Commander in chief in the royal fort of thy heart the more he fortifieth it against God and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty All the while thou delayest God is more provoked the wicked one more encouraged thy heart more hardened thy debts more encreased thy soul more endangered and all the difficulties of conversion daily more and more multiplied upon thee having a day more to repent of and a day lesse to repent in 5. Canst thou promise thy self the next hour to repent in and darest thou defer it to another hour thou sayest thou wilt mind these things when thou art old but what if thou dyest while thou
17.13 Eccles 12.2 ult vers 2. Suppose thou wer 't sure to die this day come moneth and take possession of thine eternal estate to do that which thou never didst before nor shalt ever do again even to throw thy last cast for eternity wouldst thou not then lay aside all other matters and make it thy onely business to ensure an interest in Christ and to make sure of a regenerated sanctified nature wouldst thou not then think Well now there is no daubing no dallying any longer I am now going to my long long everlasting home if I now deceive my self with any thing in stead of the power of godliness and mistake at death I shall miscarry for ever if I be not then right I shall be wrong for ever Now or never now and ever Wouldst thou not highly prize every week of that moneth every day of those weeks every hour of those dayes yea and every minute of those hours and say Ah desperate folly to leave a work of such infinite weight for which my whole life was little little enough to so short a space and yet O infinite mercy that I have any seasons of grace left wherein I may yet work out my salvation with fear and trembling How wouldst thou labor as for life in this duty and that ordinance hanging on those brests and tugging hard for some spiritual good Wouldst thou not with Jacob wrastle with God weep and make supplication wouldst thou not with the Ninivites cry mightily unto God for mercy How would thy prayers proceed from the very bottom of thy heart and with what force would they pierce the very heavens how wouldst thou with the Bereans search the Scriptutes and see upon what termes Christ and heaven may be had Wouldst thou not strive to break thy heart with the hammer of the law and to melt it with the Sun shine of the Gospel that thou mightest repent Wouldst thou not encourage thy soul from the freeness of Gods mercy the fulness of Christs merit to believe O what sad thoughts wouldst thou now have of thy soul and thy sins what serious thoughts wouldst thou have of God and Christ of hell and heaven of death and judgement Surely other manner of thoughts then now thou hast Thus friend it would be with thee if thou wert to leave this world within a month or thou wert worse then a mad man And why shall it not be thus with thee now when thou art so far from ensuring thy life for a moneth that thou canst not promise thy self the next hour dost thou not believe that thy foundation is in the dust Job 4.19 that man at his best estate is altogether vanity Psal 32.5 that one dyeth in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet his breasts being full of milk and his bones moistned with marrow Job 21.23 24. Thou art not a tenant at thy own will whilst thou dwellest in thy house of clay Thou cuttest large thongs of Gods time if thou assurest thy self another week But look Reader dost thou not see that eternity is at the very threshold of thy house Mortalium nemo est qui crastinum sibi audeat pollireri Euripid that there is but a step a thin paper wall of life between thee and eternity Is there not much more reason that thou shouldst be more industrious for thy soul and salvation when thou art not sure to live a day than if thou wert sure to live a moneth There is a bird peculiar to Ireland called the Cock of the wood remarkable for its fine flesh and folly all the difficulty to kill them is to finde them they flie in woods in flocks and if one be shot the rest remove not but to the next tree and there stand staring at the shooter till the whole covey be destroyed yet as foolish as this bird is it may be the Embleme of most wise men in point of mortality death sweeps away one and one and one and another and all the rest remain no whit moved till at last they are destroyed and then their folly is though too late bewailed 3. Suppose thou couldst speak with thy carnal unregenerate neighbors or friends that are now under endless remorse frying in those unquenchable flames and shouldst ask them what caused them to miscarry for ever and how they came to that place of torment and they should tell thee O friend I thought heaven might have been had without so much ado that there had been no need of that seriousness and laboriousness which a few precise ones practised and which Ministers so much pressed I thought I might do well enough with a formal lazy outside serving of God because my neighbors did no better I presumed that because God was merciful and Christ meritorious I enjoyed the outward priviledges of the Gospel and gave God some of the time I could spare from the world and the flesh in a little heartless devotion that I should be saved never looking at that inward renovation and outward reformation which I see now to my sorrow are required in all to whom the special mercy of God and merit of Christ shall be extended and now wo and alas I am tormented in these flames After such an hearing from hell wouldst thou not be diligent to prevent thy damnation wouldst thou not take heed of those knives of negligence idleness and formality resting in a few good means which did cut the throate of others souls wouldst thou after this jest at heaven and hell or trifle about regeneration or the new birth Wouldst thou again mock God or cozen thy self with a form a shell a carcasse of Religion Would not the words thou hadst lately heard be alwayes sounding in thine ears and piercing thy heart and quickening thee to be sedulous and industrious about thy soul affairs And why wilt thou not do as much now when I can assure thee from the mighty possessor of heaven and earth that this is as true namely that many souls are eternally sunk by reason of those quick-sands as if thou hadst heard it from the mouth of hell nay it is possible a damned wretch may deceive thee but it is impossible that the blessed God who speaketh as much with his own mouth should deceive thee Look 1 Thess 5.3 Mat. 7.21 22 23. 4. Suppose thou hadst with Moses had a sight of the back parts of the infinite God about whose service I am perswading thee to be diligent or with Isaiah hadst seen some extraordinary manifestation of his glory or hadst been with the disciples at the transfiguration of Christ Or suppose thou hadst been in heaven and seen the royalty and majesty of God in those glorious Angels and Saints which continually wait upon him and in the glorified Saviour who sitteth at his right hand and representeth him as lively and fully as is possible to the eyes of men Suppose thou hadst taken strict notice of the number how many millions and order of Gods servants
then it runneth most freely and plentifully None might approach the King of Persia's Court in sackcloth and mourning Est 4.2 but no wandring sinner may draw near to the King of Heaven without it Aut paenitendum aut pereundum Except ye repent ye shall perish God is resolved to break the sinners heart on earth or his back in hell He will have the wound search'd and the pain of it felt before it be bound up and cured The wicked Prodigal must come to his Father with compunction in his soul as well as confession in his mouth Look therefore O sinner into the book of thy conscience and read over the black lines that still are in thy cursed heart and the bloody leaves of thy wicked life how long thou hast lived to little purpose yea to the killing of thy soul for ever how farre thou hast been from accomplishing the end for which thou wast born and the errand for which thou wast sent into the world Keep a petty Assize in thy heart preferre a large Bill of Indictment against thy self accuse and condemn thy self not only verbally but cordially if ever thou wouldst have Christ to acquit thee Thou hast spent many years in sinning and shouldst thou not spend some hours in sorrowing Thou didst make the soul of Jesus Christ sorrowful unto death shall not therefore thy soul be sorrowful when thy sorrow may be unto life Did the Rocks rent when he died for sin shall not thy rocky heart that thou hast lived 〈◊〉 sin He bled for thee and wilt not thou weep for thy self Thou hast filled Gods a Iob 14.17 Bag with thy fins and hast thou no tears for his b Psal 46.8 Bottle Hast thou so long broken the holy Commandements of God and shall not thy heart now at last be broken The damned feel sin it lyeth heavy on their souls couldst thou lay thy ear to the mouth of that bottomlesse pit thou mightst perceive by their yellowings and howlings that sin is sin in hell how lightly soever it is regarded by men upon earth The Lord Jesus felt sin Hadst thou been in the garden and seen his blessed body all over in a goar blood beheld those drops yea clods of blood that trickled down his face surely thou wouldst have believed that it was some heavy weight indeed which caused such a bloody sweat in a cold winter night And art not thou yet weary and heavy laden Do I speak to a man or a beast to a living creature or to a rock that will never be moved If thou hast a disease in thy body thou canst greive and complain and why not for the diseases of thy soul Are not they farre more deadly more dangerous If thou losest a child O what crying and roaring what wringing of hands and watering of cheeks nay if thou losest a place of profit an house or a beast thou canst mourn and think of it often with sorrow And doth it not greive thee that thou hast lost not thy child or cattel but thy Christ thy Saviour thy Soul thy God to eternity If thou missest a good bargain that was offered thee whereby thou mightst increase thy estate or if thou buyest or hirest at too dear a rate how dost thou beshrew and befool thy self for it Hast thou not ten thousand times more cause to be really and highly displeased with thy self and to abhor thy self in dust and ashes that thou shouldst have all the riches and glory and pleasures of the eternal Kingdom tendered to thee with many intreaties and yet thou hast refused them for the lying vanities of this world and for the pleasures of sin which are but for a season Thou hast denyed Heavens happinesse for a bubble a butterfly all things for nothing Did ever any fool buy so dear and sell so cheap Like Saul busie himself in seeking Asses when a Kingdom sought him Like Shimei seek his servant and thereby lose himself No fool like the sinner that embraceth a shadow which will certainly flee from him and neglecteth the substance which endureth to eternity Honorius the Emperor hearing that Rome was lost cried Alas alas very mournfully fearing it had been his hen so called which he exceedingly loved but hearing it was the famous City of Rome that was become a prey to his cruel enemies he made a tush at it Thus too too many can greive sufficiently for the losse of vanities riches but not at all for the losse of God and Christ and enduring felicities Well Friend repent timely and truly of this thy folly for I must tell thee shortly it will be too late if repentance be hid from thy heart now repentance will be hid from Gods eye then by whose Law thou art now a condemned man already if thy heart be hardened now in sinning the heart of God will ere long be hardened in sentencing thee to an eternity of suffering It is an infinite mercy that God yet alloweth thee liberty for second thoughts that notwithstanding thou hast shipwracked thy soul yet thou mayst swim out safe upon the plank of repentance O therefore think no pains too great to break thy stony heart it is worth the while when free grace hath promised a vast reward to that heaven-born work Hadst thou once offered up to God the sacrifice of a spirit truly sorrowful out of love to God and self-loathing because of fin I could tell thee as good as joyful news as ever thine ears heard The Father of mercies and God of comforts will be reconciled to thee in the Lord Jesus Thy prayers for pardon and life will pierce Gods ears and find acceptance if they proceed from a broken heart from sincere repentance A penitent tear is a messenger that never went away without a satisfactory answer Prayers with such tears are prevalent yea in Luthers phrase omnipotent Musick upon the waters sounds most pleasantly Thou hast heard the voice of my weeping saith David Psal 6.8 Augustus Caesar having promised a great reward to any that could bring him the head of a famous Pirate did yet when the Pirate heard of it and brought it himself and laid it at his feet Suet. in vit not only pardon but teward him for his confidence in his mercy As * Plutarch in vâ—t Alex. Antipater was answered by Alexander Thou hast written a long Letter against my Mother but dost thou not know that one tear of hers will wash out all her faults When the returning sinner weeps the tender-hearted Father smi es As he rejoyceth and laugheth at obstinate sinners destruction and ruine Quodâ— Deus loquiâ—ur cum risu tu legas cum fletu Aug. Proverbs 1.26 so he rejoyceth and smileth at the penitent sinners conversion He will do something for an hypocritical humiliation to assure us that he will do any thing upon a sincere humiliation Seest thou saith God how Ahab humbleth himself this judgement shall not be in his dayes but in his Sons
shew of trading with God to which their stirred consciences will by no means yield would willingly compound and give Christ a part and the world and flesh the other part But as Christ is worthy of so he will have all acceptation The gods of the Heathen are good fellows and share their honour among themselves but this Lord over all who is God blessed for ever will not give his glory to others he will not suffer that superlative esteem trust and love of the soul to be bestowed upon any but himself o◠to be divided betwixt himself and any other He will allow no superiour nay no equal As Alexander answered Darius when Darius sent to him about peace because there were Empires enough in the world to satisfie them both The whole world could endure but one sun but one Alexander So the heart of man must have but one General but one Commander in chief and that must be Jesus Christ Truly Reader I hope that these things will not discourage thee from the wayes of God Do but rationally consider them Is it not most just and equal that since all these things come freely from him that they should be laid out purely for him Thou givest thy servant a little meat and drink and mony or rather God by thee and what service dost thou require of him Thou art instrumental under God to the birth and breeding of thy children and what duty dost thou expect from them Art not thou ten thousand times more engaged to Jesus Christ for every bit of bread and breath of air for every nights sleep and days supply for every mercy that thine enjoy for every moments abode on this side hell for every soul-favour and body-kindness In him thou livest movest and hast thy being the light doth not so much depend on the Sun as thy life and all thy comforts depend on Christ Now be thy own judge what service what obedience may the Lord Jesus look for at thy hands If the world or the flesh could do half so much for thee thou wer't more excuseable then now thou art in doing so much for them Again when the question ariseth Whether Christ or the flesh Christ or the world should have thy greatest esteem or love or trust or the most of thy time and strength and talents One would think thou shouldst be ashamed to put such a question or at least that the very mention of it would be a sufficient answer to it Alas what are all the honours and pleasures riches and relations delicates and diadems of the whole world to Jesus Christ but as pebbles to pearls dirt to Diamonds dross to gold nothing to all things there is surely no comparison The whole world of heaven and earth doth not so far excell a feather as Jesus Christ doth the whole world Besides this request of mine should rather encourage thee in regard this absolute resignation of thy self to Christ tendeth to the perfection and happiness of thy soul Thy misery by thy fall is chiefly in this that thou hast thereby lost the Image of God Thy want of conformity to him is the cause why thou hast not communion with him Beasts do not converse with men nor trees with beasts because they do not live the life of each other Sense must fit trees to converse with beasts and reason must fit beasts to converse with men and grace and holiness must fit thee to converse with God When thou once livest the life of God as this unreserved soul-resignation or sanctification is called Ephes 4.18 thou mayst then bathe thy soul in his love Now this is the way to it The life of Christianity consisteth in an hearty dedication of thy self and all thou hast to Christ When thou hast done this thou art a Christian indeed The excellency of every thing standeth in two things Dr. Reyn. on Hos 14. Sermon 7. first the perfection of beautie in which it was made and the perfection of use for which it was made now the beauty of man consisteth in this that he was made like unto God Gen. 1 26. and his end and use is this that he was made for God first to serve him and after to enjoy him for the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself therefore to recover the Image of God which consisteth in knowledge righteousnesse and true holinesse to work to the service and glory of God to aspire to the possession and fruition of God must needs be mans greatest good By what hath been largely spoken before in this Use thou mayst perceive that there is no going to heaven per saltum by leaping out of a dirty and stinking jakes into the presence of the glorious God There is a being made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Coloss 1.12 Operatione acceptatione divinâ idonei constituimur ad participandam sortem sanctorum Davenant in loc which is by sanctification As cloaths are by lighter colours fitted to receive a deep Scarlet dye so thou must by this spiritual life of holiness be fitted for the eternal life of glory Observe 2 Cor. 5.5 the Apostle tells us He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing i. e. heaven is God Man is a rugged piece of timber an unhewn stone now the stone must be polished and the timber squared before it can be fit for the heavenly building wrought for it Joseph when he was sent for to Pharaoh out of prison changed his Rayment and trimmed himself and then appeared before the King And as there must be Regeneration or the beginning of grace so there must be a proficiency or growth in grace to prepare the soul for the weight of glory * Mr. Strong Holinesse the way to happiness pag. 45. There is a double right which every child of God hath to heaven 1. Jus haereditarium an hereditary right and that is at regeneration when he is put into Christ and made a Co-heir with him of his Inheritance having grace begun in him which shall be perfected in glory and was given as a principle ordained to such a perfection 2. Jus aptitudinarium and that is a right of fitness whereby we are qualified to receive such a mercy and that as an heir hath a right of inheritance in his non-age but he hath not a right of fitness till he come to years and be able to manage his estate when he hath received it Reader in both these respects there is a necessity that thou presently make a deed of gift of thy self and thy all unto Jesus Christ and that thou never more look upon thy self or any thing thou hast as thine own but as a servant intrusted with them for thy Masters use and advantage Well Reader I suppose thou dost ere this fully understand the conditions upon which thy soul may be contracted unto Christ My work is to treat with thee about this marriage I am commanded by the Lord as Abrahams Steward
excellencie is there in that soul which is united to a Saviour It is called the life of God Eph. 4.18 Surely no life can be more honorable than the life of God yet in their measure the sanctified ones live the very same life that the glorious God the fountain of all true honor liveth David though a King thought himself honored by being Gods subject and therefore as others before their works mention those titles which belong to them and speak their honor David stileth himself before the six and thirtieth Psalm a servant of God as his most honorable title Constantine and Valentinian two Emperors subscribed themselves Vasallos Christi Socr. A Psalm of David a servant of the Lord. If it be such an honor to serve an Earle a King what is it to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Godlinesse is called a walking with God Gen. 5.24 a conversing or having fellowship with the Father and Jesus Christ his Son 1 John 1.3 For God to walk and converse with us is his greatest humiliation but for us to walk or converse with God is our highest exaltation The righteous saith the wise man who had judgement to set a due price upon persons is more excellent then his neighbor Prov. 12.26 Let him live by never so rich or great men yet if they want grace they are not comparable to him Sumus Domini non tantum in Genitivo singulari sed etiam in Nominativo plurali Luth. The godly man hath the most honorable birth he is born of God John 1.13 the most honorable breeding he is brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord the most honorable Tutor and Teacher the good Spirit of God John 14.16 the most honorable Attendants the glorious Angels the most honorable employment his main work is to wait upon God The most honorable Relations A King for his Father 2 Cor. 6. ult A Queen for his Mother Gal. 4.26 The excellent of the earth Psal 16.3 Lords in all Lands Psal 45.16 Higher then the Kings of the earth Psal 89.27 Those Worthies of whom the world is not worthy for his Brethren Hebr. 11. Numa second King in Rome though an Heathen could say That he held it an higher honor to serve God then to rule over men The Jews say That those seventie souls which went down into Egypt were more worth then all the seventie Nations of the world beside If the glorious Angels in heaven are more honorable than the Devils sure I am it is holinesse that maketh the difference The most gaudy and goodly fruits of moralitie springing from the soil of nature manured and improved to the utmost The Heavens bespangled with those glittering Stars and adorned with that illustrious Sun are nothing glorious in comparison of the heart of a poor Christian that is embroidered with grace It is godlinesse alone that addeth worth and value to all our civil and natural things as the Diamond to the Ring Nothing doth really debase and degrade a man but sin and nothing doth truly advance or innoble the soul but holinesse Job scraping himself on the dunghill and Jeremiah sinking in the mire were more honorable and glorious than Ahab and Ahaz on their Thrones with their Crowns If the respect we have from others makes us honorable then they that are most precious in Gods sight are most honorable Isai 43.4 If it be some internal excellencie that makes men honorable then they that have the Image of God must be most honorable It is worthy our observation that sin is so ignoble and base that those wicked ones who love it most are ashamed to own it openly but because of the excellencie of holinesse will set that forth for their colours their banners though indeed they fight Satans battels That forlorn hope for hell 2 Tim. 3.5 of covenant-breakers blasphemers men without natural affection yet they will have a form of godlinesse though they do sins drudgery yet they are ashamed of their base master and therefore wear the Saints livery having a form of godlinesse Nay the Devil himself will appear in Samuel's mantle and transform himself into an Angel of light But holinesse is so excellent that God is pleased to esteem it as his own beauty and glory How often is he called The holy One of Israel The Angels ascribe holinesse to him by way of eminencie Holy Holy Holy Isai 6.3 we read not in Scripture of any of Gods other Attributes thrice repeated to shew that the Dignity of God consisteth in this And so doe the Saints in heaven praise him for it as his Excellencie Rev. 6.10 and the Saints on earth Exod. 15.11 Holinesse is the character of Jesus Christ The Image of the infinitely glorious God nay it is called the divine nature Surely then they that have most of it are most honorable and they which want it how full soever they are of all other excellencies are base and contemptible Secondly As this spiritual life is most honorable so it is most comfortable There is no life so pleasant and delightful as the life of a Saint The merry grigs and jolly gallants of the world whose sinful mirth is worse than madnesse will needs tell us that godlinesse makes men mopish and melancholy that when once we salute Religion we take our leave of all delight and consolation whereas indeed there never was true peace born but it had purity for its parent All other is spurious and illegitimate But the world like the Primitive Persecutors put Christians into the skins of Beares and Buls and then bait them as if they were really such And the hand of the Devil is in all this who like the Indians maketh great fires to fright Mariners from landing at such Coasts as would be most for their comfort and contentment Believe Reader the true and faithful Witnesse His wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all his paths are peace Prov. 3.17 It is not sanctity but their want of it or mistake about it which maketh them sorrowfull It is confest Saints may be sad they doe not cease to be men when they begin to be Christians It was in thy company it may be O sinner No wonder Fish cannot sport themselves when they are out of their element Birds do not sing on the ground but when they are mounting on high towards heaven And probably their hearts were heavy out of compassion to thee whom they observed to be hastening to hell and dancing merrily over the very pit or destruction and easeless misery Thou seest their sorrows sometimes thine eyes may behold their tears but thou dost not see their joys thy heart cannot conceive them Saint Austâ—ne relateth concerning an heathen that shewed the father his idol gods saying Here is my God where is thine and then pointing up to the Sun he said Here is my God but where is thine I shewed him not my God saith Austine not because I had none to shew but because he had no
riches and honor Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace She is a tree of life to all that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her Prov. 3.13 14 15 16 17 18. ANd now Reader I have done this large Use of Exhortation which is of such infinite concernment to thy precious soul but what thou wilt do or what use thou wilt make of it I know not Could I have told what other holy bait to have laid which had been more likely to have caught thy soul it is probable I should have laâ—d it I appeal to thy conscience whether tâ—ere be not unspeakable weight and unquestionable truth in the particulars which are laid down Well what sayest thou to them and what effect have they wrought upon thee Art thou resolved through the help of heaven speedily and diligently to practice the directions which I have from the Almighty God injoyned thee Is it not a thousand thousand pities that such endlesse matchlesse happinesse should be so gratiously offered by God and so unworthily neglected by men that an empty perishing world should be so eagerly pursued and heartily embraced when the unsearchable riches in Christ the Image of the blessed God eternal weight of Glory are basely undervalued and wretchedly despised Good Lord what teares of blood are sufficient to bewail this monstrous unthankfulness Friend if thou art truly resolved to obey the counsell of God thou wilt have cause to blesse that Providence which called me to this task and I may rejoyce in thee and thou in me at the day of Christ But if thou either delayest the work till thou art more at leisure or dalliest about it doing it as if thou didst it not I am sure the greatest wrong will be to thy self for behold thou sinnest against the Lord and be confident thy sins will sooner or later find thee out I come in the next place to my last Use which will be of consolation If they who have Christ for their life shall have gain by their death what comfort is here to the new born Creature Here is wine indeed to make glad the heart of every one that is holy Reader art thou sanctified and alive in Christ then thou art freed from all the misery which is mentioned in the first Use as the portion of the ungodly I may say to thee as Gryneus when he had been reproving and threatening sinners would turning to the Saint say Bone vir hoc nihil ad te Good man all this is nothing to thee Though they are losers thou shalt be a gainer by death Come but with the mouth of faith and thou mayst suck much honey from this combe thou mayst draw much milk of consolation from this breast to thee to die shall be gain Surely here is enough to ballast thy soul and keep it steady in the most tempestuous condition and to ballance and weigh down the greatest the heaviest affliction Hierom comforted the Hermite that was in a wildernesse sad and pensive Meditare coelum tam diu non eris in eremo If thou hadst hope only in this life thou wert of all men most miserable but because thou hast hope beyond this life thou mayst be of all men most comfortable Should such a man as I fly Nehem. 6.11 Should sucha a man as thou fear that art heir to a Crown to a Kingdom Luke 12.32 Fear not little flock it is your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom In thy greatest losses this may support thee that death will be thy gain by giving thee possession of a life which will make amends for all If an heathen could say It is unbecoming a Roman spirit to cry out I am undone while Cesar was safe sure it is more uncomely for a Christian to complain as if he were undone when his soul is safe his eternal estate is secure For thy help I shall digest this Use into this method briefly First to shew thee against what it is comfortable Secondly wherein it is comfortable For the first It is comfortable first against the opposition of the world The world will hate thee because thou art not of the world John 15.19 She is a Paradise to her children and lovers but a Purgatory to aliens and strangers Whilst thou art in the stormy sea of this world thou art a ship bound for the Streights He that goeth towards the Sun shall have his shadow following him but he that goeth from it shall have it flie before He that goeth towards the Sun of Righteousnesse shall be sure to have these shadows these afflictions at his heels Infinite Wisdom seeth fit to imbitter the breasts of the creatures to wean thee from them Trouble upon earth is one legacie which thy Saviour hath left thee In the world ye shall have trouble John 16. ult The Souldiers were to have his garments Joseph was to have his body His Father was to have his soul He had his crosse left and that he bequeaths to his Disciples But be of good chear he did not only leave thee his crosse but hath also made thee heir to a Crown He never lookt over the threshold of Heaven Bish Hall Heaven upon eâ—rth Sect. 14. that cannot more rejoyce that he shall be glorious than mourn in present that he is miserable Oppose thy future felicity to thy present misery thy happinesse at death to the hardships thou meetest with in life thiâ— will be the way to counterpoise the temptation and to keep thee from fainting in tribulation whilst thou lookest not at the things which are seen which are temporal but at the things which are not seen which are eternal 2 Cor. 4. I have read of one Giacopo Senzaro an Italian who having been long in love and much crossed about his match filled a pot full of black stones only one white stone among them and being asked the reason answered There will come one white day meaning his marriage day which will make amends for all my black dayes So whatsoever poverty nakednesse hunger cold pain shame losses thou undergoest here in this world how many soever thy black dayes are of trials and troubles of persecutions and opposition thou mayst say there is one white day of death one long day of eternity coming which will make amends for all It was a brave speech of Luther when he was demanded where he would be when the Emperor should with all his forces fall upon the Elector of Saxonie who was the chief Protector of Protestants He answered Aut in coelo aut sub coelo either in heaven or under heaven Why shouldst thou be discouraged at any losse considering thou hast a treasure in heaven a more enduring substance At any disgrace considering thou art heir to a Crown of glory At any pain or sorrow when thou art entitled to fulnesse of joy and pleasures for evermore No storm should disquiet thee that shall shortly enjoy an everlasting calm What a
the word seemeth to imply that when they lost their primitive purity they willingly lost that habitation of spiritual pleasures But whether he will or no he shall be banished those coasts though he now dog the Saint at and disturb him in every duty he shall do it no more The accuser of the brethren shall be cast down neither shall his place be found any more in heaven Rev. 12.8 9. Secondly a Christian by death shall not only be freed from the evil of sin and defilement but also from the evil of suffering and chastisement SublataeÌ„ causaÌ„ toâ—itur effectus the cause being taken away the effects will cease Sinne is that great-bellied mother or rather Monster which conceiveth and bringeth forth all those losses crosses diseases disgraces sorrowes and sufferings whatsoever that befall the children of men though man may be the Butt yet sin is the mark at which the arrows of Divine displeasure are shot man weaves a spiders web of sinne out of his own bowels and then in intangled in it Wickednesse alone is the original cause of all we Lament 3.39 Rom. 6. ult But now at the death of a Saint the fountain of sin will be dryed up and therefore the streams of sufferings must be dryed up also The fuel being taken away the fire will go out of it self sin and sorrow were born do live and shall die together As sin is the original cause of all so it 's the final cause of most afflictions Sometimes they are for probation as we shoot at good armour that we may prove it and that we may praise it but most commonly they are for purgation to amend something that is amiss the fathers of the flesh chastize for their pleasure but the father of spirits for our profit that we might be partakers of his holinesse Heb. 12.6 the quiet fruits of righteousnesse blossome from the correcting rod bitter Aloes purges the worms winds and thunder clear the air frosts and showers whiten cloaths the husbandman useth the flail to separate the chaff and the refiner the fire to consume the drosse but when the wheat shall be clean there will be no need of the flail when the gold pure no use of the fire now saith the Apostle if need be ye are in heavinesse 1 Pet. 1.6 Mark now if need be now men have hard knots and therefore need sharp wedges now men have strong corruptions and therefore need strong corrections now the rod is as necessary as our daily bread chastisements are to teach men in Gods law Psal 94.12 to search and heal their spiritual sores but now at death the Scholar in Christs school will have perfectly learned his lesson and therefore there will be no need of a rod then the wounds of the soul will be perfectly cured and these plaisters will fall off of themselves Death will make him whole that he can sin no more and so no worse or so bad thing shall come to him There are three evils of affliction which I shall mention The first on the Name The second on the Body The third on the Soul From all which a believer shall be freed by death First Death will free the Saint from ignominy on his name Here if the world cannot make the christian wound his conscience they will be sure to wound his credit Elijah is counted the troubler of Israel Nehemiah a rebel against the King David the song of the drunkards and the scorn of the gluttons Psalme 69.12.35.16 Isaiah and his children for signs and wonders Isa 8.18 Jeremiah is a man of contention Jer. 15.10 The son of man a wine-bibber a glutton Paul a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition Acts 24.10 the uprightest Saint is markt for an hypocrite in the worlds Kalender If they cannot smite him with their hands their arms are not long enough alwayes they will not fail to smite him with their tongues What a precise fool say they is such a fellow he dares not take up his cups as we do but could we see his heart it is as bad as the worst of ours he will do as bad or worse when no body seeth him he will not swear but he will lie I 'le warrant you He spendeth his time in nothing but going to Sermons and meetings and is as arrant a dissembler as liveth Such an one of the same Society was guilty of such a sin and they are all alike these are your professours Thus the corruption of their hearts breaks out at their lips and they most wretchedly wound even Christ through the sides of the Christian But heaven will not only wipe away all tears from the christians eyes but also all blots off from his name Upright Hezekiah in heaven is above the sound of cursed Rabshekah's tongue which was set on fire of hell Now holy David is got up that heavenly hill that Mount Zion he heareth not the railings and revilings of sinful Shimei The most spiteful scorner of them all cannot throw that dirt so high with which he bespatters the Saints reputation here below Secondly As death will free the christian from ignominy in his name so likewise from infirmities in his body Diseases cause death but death will cure all diseases In this life Job had his botches Hezekiah his boil David his wounds and sores the poor widdow her issue of blood one man wasteth away with a consumption like a candle till all the matter is spent Another laboureth under a continual ach that like the importunate widdow will give him no rest day nor night this man spends his dayes in pain that man hath wearisome nights appointed to him In some the bridle is taken off the fire and they burn with a Feaver in others the flood-gate is taken up from the water and they are like to be drowned with a dropsie The patient man complaineth my breath is corrupt my days are extinct the grave is ready for me Job 17.1 the upright man cryeth out My wounds stink and are corrupt my loines are filled with a loathsome disease In one the keepers of the house tremble with a palsie or lamenesse In a second the sound of grinders is low through weaknesse In a third those that look out of the windows are darkned through blindnesse In a fourth the daughters of Musick are brought down with deafnesse O what an army not only of moral but natural adversaries hath every man in his own bowels constantly set in array against him marching up sometimes one Physicians tell us that 2000 diseases annoy mans body whereof 200 affect the eyes sometime another as the Lord of hosts giveth the word of command So that indeed mans body is a spittle or an hospital for diseases But death will help all this as the blind man told the lame when they met at the stake Brother you may cast away your staffe death will cure us both the Physician of souls will by death heal all the diseases of the Saints bodies