Conscience was then awakened under Horrors and Desperation If you have not others have and what hath been their dying words Oh that God would pardon their sins that he would Sanctifie and Save their Souls that he would spare them a little space that he would grant them a little time longer that they might recover their Strength that they might Repent of their Sins and Reform their Lives or else that he would graciously manifest his Love and Favour to their Souls and receive them to his Mercy This is the Language these are the Thoughts and Cares of Men upon a Sick bed when they see death coming near them and staring them in their Faces And if this were thy Case and Condition O Sinner that thou didst now lie tumbling and tossing upon a Sick-bed yea upon a Death-bed would not these things be in thy mind would not the same Thoughts and Cares possess thy Soul and the same words and discourses fall from thy Mouth why let the same Care the same Thoughts the same words take up some part of every day and hour of this Life now for thou knowest not but that this moment thou art as near death as if thy Friends and Relations yea and thy Physicians also despaired of thy life and had given thee over for dead O if we could thus spend every day as if it were our last we should then hardly be brought to the doing of any thing but what we would be willing death should find us doing and how exceedingly would this further our Preparations for a dying hour Sixthly He that would be in a readiness for a dying hour must frequently meditate of his own death and of the death of Christ To Meditate of our own death will make us Studious to prepare for it and to Meditate of the death of Christ will Arm us against the Fears of our own Deaths He that by frequent Meditations of his own death and of the death of Christ hath made death familiar to his Soul is not only prepared for death but in a great measure also freed from the fears of death As to the considering of our own death the Scripture is often in calling upon us to lay the thoughts of it to our hearts Oh that my People were wise says God that they understood this that they would consider their latter end And though a Man lives many years and rejoyces in them all yet let him remember the days of darkness for they shall be many Eccle. 11.8 By days of darkness we are to understand death or the State of death during the abode of our Bodies in the dark Grave or in the darkness of the Grave He that frequently ponders of his ways will at length be brought to turn his feet unto God's Testimonies as David speaks of himself So he that often thinks upon death will by the serious thoughts of it be stirred up to make some timely preparation for it this being the end to which the Contemplations of death doth tend This is that Wisdom which Solomon tells us the Living gain by going often to the House of Mourning even so to lay to heart the thoughts of death so as to make preparation for it It is sad that the Goodness and Mercy of God should occasion our forgetfulness of him and of our selves and yet it is commonly so with us When God lays his Afflicting hand upon us especially under some smart stroke we are then brought to seek God as the Prophet speaks In their Affliction they will seek me early There is some tendency in Afflictions to make us mindful of God and of our own Interest and Concerns which is the design God aims at in Afflicting us But when God is pleased to open his hand towards us as the Psalmist speaks and fill us with his Blessings then we are very prone to forget both him and our selves we forget God because when we are full we are ready to deny God and say who is the Lord and we forget our selves because we return not that Duty and Obedience which such Goodness and Mercy should engage us to And because the Streams of Mercy now run pleasantly about us we consider not how many the days of darkness are that will overtake us shortly but put far from us the thoughts of death and the Grave and this is the Reason why when death comes it finds us so unready and unprepared and we so troubled and discomposed in our Spirits and under so many fears and doubts as to our Spiritual and Eternal concerns Frequently therefore O Christian make thy private Retirements Commune with thy self alone visit Death and the Grave in thy thoughts take a walk now and then in the Valley of the Shadow of Death suffer not thy thoughts to be estranged from such Meditations If thou findest thy self shy and unwilling to engage in such a work yet bring thy heart to it inure thy self to the thoughts of Death in general and of thine own death in particular And that thou mayest not be afraid of it to the Meditation of thine own death joyn the Consideration of the death of Christ who hath Conquered death took away its Sting By dying he slew death was the death of death as it was Prophesied of him in Hosea 13.14 O Death I will be thy Plagues O Grave I will be thy Victory He now that by Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is interested in his death may say when ever the time of his departure comes thanks be to God through Christ I am ready and prepared for it Muse therefore much upon the Death of Christ for herein lies thy support and comfort O Soul against thine own Death Seventhly He that would be prepared for death must labour for an assurance of a better life always living by Faith in the Contemplation of the Glory and Happiness of Heaven He that is assured of an Eternal Life in Heaven need not nay will not much fear a Temporal death here upon Earth Christians the time is coming when you and all things and persons in this World must take your leaves one of another and part for ever what then O Christian will bear up thy Spirit at such a time why nothing less than the sense and hopes of the love of God and of thy Interest in Christ some Evidences of a work of Grace upon thy Soul which is an earnest and foretaste of Heaven and Glory These are the only things that will bear up thy Soul in a dying hour When a Man hath attained to some well grounded Assurance of his Interest in God and Christ and thereby of his Right and Title unto Heaven then are things in a good posture with him and he in a readiness for Death and the Grave And how light will that Soul make of death that hath the assured hopes of Heaven and Glory to encourage him to go through it He that by Faith lives in the daily Contemplations of the Glory and Happiness of
are there for ever abolished and taken away There are no Deformities upon the Body to render it Contemptible nor no Reproaches upon the Name to make it Scandalous there is no Sickness or Distempers upon the outward Man nor no Desertions or Darkness upon the inward Man there are no Temptations from Satan to vex the Soul nor no Weaknesses and Infirmities to annoy the Body there 's no more Death or dying but Life for evermore Mortality is now swallowed up of Life Corruption hath put on Incorruption and Mortality hath put on Immortality and Death and Hell are cast into the Lake of Fire and which is more than all this there that is in Heaven we shall no more sin nor offend God to all Eternity Earth and Hell are the places both of sin and Suffering but Heaven is a place of perfect Joy and perfect Holiness nothing enters in there that is either Afflictive Polluted or Defiled When Death parts Soul and Body for a time then Sin and the Soul part for ever Here we are continually sinning and offending of God and it is the constant grief of a Godly Man that he doth so here our Righteousnesses are no better than filthy rags and Grace it self hath its defects when we believe most strongly we must cry out Lord help our unbelief but now in Heaven there are none but the Spirits of Just Men made perfect In a word there is nothing there that may in the least be an Allay or Diminution unto the Happiness of that blessed State that is there enjoyed to Eternity But this is not all Death doth not only free Believers from all that is Evil and Afflictive but it brings them to the perfect Enjoyment of whatever is beneficial and good Death being the means and way by which they enter into Heaven where Blessedness and Happiness is to be enjoyed in such fulness of perfection as exceeds not only our Apprebensions but our Imaginations For there it is that the infinitely great and blessed God discovers himself in all his Glory to be enjoyed by the Saints as their Portion to Eternity There it is that they shall behold their once bleeding and dying but now Glorified Redeemer Cloathed in their own Nature who loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood who was dead but is alive and now lives for ever more and because be lives they shall live also There they shall Enjoy that which was the great desire of the Apostle and theirs also to be with Christ which is best of all and how much blessedness is included in those few words to be with Christ the enjoyment of Heaven only where Christ is can make known to us There it is that Believers fully understand the meaning of that Article of our Christian Faith even the Communion of Saints here it was that they placed their Delight in the Saints the Excellent ones of the Earth and there their Delight shall be in great measure in the Saints some of the Excellent ones of Heaven There shall then be no mixture of sin and Corruption with our Graces which here is an Allay to the Lustre and Brightness of them but they shall Shine forth in their full Glory and Beauty Grace there shall be in its full Perfection nothing shall then be wanting in our Knowledge nor any thing imperfect in our Love our Obedience shall then flow from us with all readiness and chearfulness of Soul and our Joy and Delight in God shall not admit of the least Diminution or Disturbance to Eternity This O Soul is that in general which the Happiness of Heaven is made up of and to the Enjoyment of this Happiness without Interruption or Cessation for ever is that to which Death brings all Believers And surely if ever those words have any Truth in them they are here verified so that a Saint may truly say The lines are now fallen to me in a pleasant place I have a goodly Herit age O Blessed and Glorious State indeed who is there that knows and believes this infinite unconceivable Happiness that would not willingly die to enjoy it Unto which State of Blessedness God of his infinite Mercy bring us all to the Enjoyment of for the alone sake of Jesus Christ our only Saviour and Redeemer Amen FINIS
the rich Man in the Gospel else so confidently say to his Soul Thou bast Goods laid up for many years eat drink and be merry But Death would not be put off so for that Night was his Soul taken from him notwithstanding all his great Possessions It is in vain to cry out on a Death Bed with that wretched Cardinal Beauford in Henry the Sixth Time Wherefore should I dye being rich will not Death be bribed Will Money do nothing No truly it cannot for as Riches profit not in the day of Wrath to pacifie the Justice of an angry God so neither will they profit in the day of Death to bribe that King of Terrors Beauty is another outward Excellency that many glory in and indeed it is a great Ornament a Gift of GOD and no small one it is a taking thing We delight in things that are beautiful Beauty to some is a Portion among men to others a favour from God It is a silent Eloquence a tacite Perswasion and works much upon some What is said of the Church Psal 45.11 So shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty I know it is spoken there of Spiritual Beauty the Graces of the Spirit of God which beautifie and adorn the Church in the eyes of Christ for it is said the KING's Daughter is all glorious within But yet it is true also in some me sure of outward Corporeal Beauty it is a desireable thing and may duly be an attractive of Love it is that which draws the Eyes and Hearts of many tho' often it is an incentive to Lust both to great Men and to good Men. Solomon loved strange Women the Scripture saith and they turned away his heart from God and having smarted severely for it as a fruit of the sincerity of his Repentance and to prevent so great wickedness in others he hath left us many Excellent Cautions and Counsels in Sacred Writ against the ensnaring Temptations and powerful Charms of Beauty But though Men are deluded and deceived by beautiful Objects and Persons yet Death is not A beautiful Face is as mortal and as soon yea sooner many times turned into duct and corruption than a face that is deformed Death regards a goodly well favoured Joseph or Absolom no more than a leprous Vzziah or Gebazi nor doth it spare a beautiful Rachel more than a blear ey'd Leah Favour is deceitful and Beauty is vain in this respect for they profit none in a dying hour the beautifulest Person and the most lovely Complexion is quickly turned into Paleness and Corruption when once the time of their dissolution is come Death soon making those that for their Beauty and Comeliness were most admired by others become most loathsome and intolerable and they most desirous with Abraham to bury such dead out of their sight By what hath been said it appears that all Men notwithstanding all their great Attainmen's in Worldly Excellences are not exempted from dying And as no outward so no inward-Excellency and Perfection can priviledge any from Death no not Grace it self Grace is as Salt to the Soul to preserve it from Moral Corruption for ever but it cannot preserve the Body from Natural Corruption in this World In Heaven where there shall be nothing but Grace and Holiness in the Soul in perfection there there shall be no dying but here on Earth where Grace is insperfect being mingled with Sin and Corruption there is a necessity of dying Death is become domestical to us we have the Seed of it within us we carry it daily in our bosoms I mean in the body of Sin as the Apostle calls it that we carry about with us which will never be extirpated and destroyed till the death of the body All our Prayers and Tears cannot prevent Death Prayer can do great things to instance in particulars of its Prevalency would be endless Our Lord himself tells us That whatever we ask the Father in his Name he will give it us John 16.23 That is an Astonishing Scripture Esay 45.11 Thus saith the Lord The Holy One of Israel and his Maker Ask me of things to come concerning my Sons and concerring the Works of my hands command ye me As if saith one God was as ready to do them service as if they had him at their Command There is a kind of Omnipotency in Prayer and therefore it is said of Jacob that as a Prince he had power with God and prevailed Gen. 32.28 And the Apostle tells us The effectual fervent Prayer of a Righteous Man availeth much how much the Apostle could not tell us but leaves it to every one to make Observations from their own Experience But though Prayer can do such great things yet it cannot prevent Death We read indeed that the Prayer of Faith doth save the Sick but though it can even restore from a sick-bed yet it cannot raise from a Death-bed Nay Christ himself hath not so Redeemed us that we should live for ever and not see Corruption he hath Redeemed us that we shall live for ever in Heaven but he hath not Redeemed us that we should live for ever on Earth and not dye no it was the Priviledge of Jesus Christ the Redeemer that he should not see Corruption and therefore of him only it is said Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption But may some say this necessity of dying seems not to be unalterably imposed upon all Men for some have lived who never dyed and some shall live hereafter that shall not dye I Answer It is true the Scripture makes mention of Two and but Two that lived here oâ— Earth and by special Grace and Favour were exempted from Death ascending up unto God leaping over Death and the Grave as it were in their passage to Heaven and they are Enoch and Elias concerning Enoch it is said That by Faith he waâ— transtated that he should not see Death Heb. 11 5â— He was a Person eminent for Holiness for it is said That he walked with God three hundred years and obtained this Testimony before his Translationâ— that he pleased God Gen. 5.22 And being such an Eminent Proficient in Grace as that there waâ— none that we read of like him at that time he obtained such Grace and Favour from God as none did for it is said He walked with GOD and he was not for GOD lock him O the Excellency of Grace and Holiness how highly doth it ennable and advance a Man Enoch walked with God and God thinks the Earth not good enough for him and therefore he takes him to himself into Beaven nay this is not all so much was God taken with the Holiness of Enoch that he shall not go to Heaven in the ordinary way as other Saints do by Death but he shall be translated from Grace to Glory without so much as looking into the Grave The like we read of Elias another eminent and zealous Servant of God 2 King
2.23 That he was taken up in a siery Chariot by a Whirl-wind into Heaven So great was his Zeal for God and his Glory and so highly did God esteem it and him for it that he must not abide any longer on Earth but be taken up into Heaven and that in no other way but by a fiery Chariot a Passage to Heaven that did bear some Resemblance to his Zeal for God while he was here on Earth The Apostle also tells us 1 Cor. 15.51 That at the last Day we shall not all dye but we shall all be changed and 1 Thes 4.17 We that are alive and remain shall be caught up with him in the Clouds to meet the Lord and so shall we be ever with the Lord. These Exceptions of some few that have not dyed nor shall not dye do not at all make void this general Truth that all shall dye but rather make for the Confirmation of it The general Rule or Law saith all must dye none escape but by special Grace or Priviledge and though the Saints that shall be found on Earth at the Resurrection of the dead dye not yet they shall undergoe that which is equivalent unto Death for they shall be changed Death is call'd a Change so saith Job All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change shall come And they that are alive at the Last Day undergoe a Change also The Change of Death is a putting off of our Mortality but the Change at the Last Day is a putting on of our Immortality The one is a Change by being uncloathed the other is a Change by being cloathed upon but both is a Change And thus all dye or shall be changed By what hath been said it is very evident That Death befalls all men one time or other sooner or later But for the Manner how or the Time when any shall dye this is unknown unto any The Living may and do know that they shall dye but they know not when they shall dye What our Lord saith of the day of Judgment is true of the day of Man's Death of that day and hour knoweth no Man Many a Man hath been mistaken concerning the purpose of God I said says David in my prosperity that I shall never be moved but he was mistaken for he adds in the next words almost But thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Much more may we be mistaken concerning the Time of our Death I said says Hezekiah in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the Grave I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the Land of the Living I shall no more behold man with the Inhabitants of the World Good Hezekiah thought there was no way for him to escape Death but he was mistaken for afterwards he tells us God had in Love to his Soul delivered it from the Pit of Corruption and he Lived fifteen Years longer after he had given himself over for dead A Man may have the Sentence of Death in himself when as to that particular time God hath given out none against him So on the other hand the Rich Man in the Gospel reckons not of Death till many years hence and he is very liberal to his Soul because God had been bountiful to his Body he had got a great Stock of Riches and he gives himself a rich stock of Time even many years he resolves to make his Life larger as he had done his Barns and because they are full of Corn he also will be full of Days whereas the Word came out against him from God Thou Fool this night shall thy Soul be taken from thee and he that before resolved to Live many years could not now Live till the next Morning It is our Wisdom always to be prepared for Death but it s more than belongs to us peremptorily to determine the Time of our Death or the Length of our Days But though the Time of our Death be unknown to us yet is it known to and fixed by God he hath determined not only the Time when but also the Place where and the Manner how we shall dye with all the Circumstances relating thereunto It is God that turns up the Giass of our Time and puts such a Measure of Sand into it and no more such a Measure that it may and shall run so long and no more that it shall run no longer than his Appointment God speaking after the manner of Men is said in Scripture to have a Book wherein is written down not only the Number of our Sins but also the Number of our days and as we cannot commit a Sin but it is written down in some Leafe of his Book so can we not live a day or hour that hath not our Name written down upon it in Gods Book That some have the Time of Life confined only to the dark Cell of the Womb and never see the Light that others are strangled in the place of breaking forth of Children and are only Causes of Grief to them that bear them that others dyâ— in their Infancy without the Knowledge of good or evil and leave only sad Remembrances to their Parents that once they were that others grow up to years of Discretion but are cut off in the prime of their days and in their full strength and that others live to extream old Age till Nature is wholly spent and consumed in them All this is from the Appointment of God they all fill up the Number of those Days and the measure of that Time that God hath allotted to them and then they depart according to his Will How many have we seen cast upon sick beds whom God hath there visited with strong pains bringing them so low that their Lives seem'd to be brought unto the Grave and themselves numbred with them that go down into the Pit free among the dead and as the slain that lye in the Grave given over by themselves and all others for such and yet even these God hath raised up again shewing Wonders as it were to the dead as the Psalmist speaks causing them to arise and praise his Name What 's the Reason of all this Why God's appointed Time was not come and so Diseases could have no further Power over them And what is true of Sickness is as true of Men who are but like Diseases Executioners of God's Decree upon Man even they have no Power to lengthen Life or to hasten Death but what is given them from above God hath not only set us the bounds of our Habitations but the bounds of our Living also Job speaks much to the stating and determining of this Case Job 7.1 Is there not an appointed Time to Man upon Earth Now in an Appointment of God there must be a Certainty or else we make him like unto a mortal Man that is changeable which cannot be Therefore Man having an appointed Time by God upon Earth he must reach to it
we read that Amasa was removed out of the High way into the Field and a Cloth cast upon him And what then why the Holy Text tells us All the People went on after Joab So is it with us if we behold a Person lying upon a death-bed gasping and bleeding and with dying groans ready to expire his last breath here we make a stop and pause with some astonishment at so sad a sight but let a Cloth be thrown over the Dead and the Corps drawn aside into the Grave and covered with Earth presently we go to our employments and trading and possibly some to their sinful Practices again as if the last Man that should die were now buried Now the Reasons of this stupidity and carelessness may be such as these First The great Love and Affection Men have to the World and the things thereof These take up all the thoughts and time of some Men so that they have no leasure nor desires to think of Death or to make Preparations for another Life The Pleasures Honours and Profits of the World are fine things in their Eyes they please their Fancies and so possess their Minds with a fond desire of long Life that they may delight their senses in these earthly things and these ardent earnest desires of theirs will let them think of nothing less than many days to satisfie their sensual part in these delightful enjoyments If we should look abroad into the World we may easily perceive which way the Inclinations of most Men carry them How eagerly do some pursue the Pleasures of the World How unweariedly do others follow the Profits of the World And how impatiently do others thirst after the Honours and Preferments of the World as if their Happiness were wrapp'd up in these outward Accommodations Whereas our Lord tells us that a Man's Life consists not in the abundance of the things that he enjoys here in this World And by these things the thoughts of Death are not suffered to come into Men's Minds and if they will crowd in upon them sometimes they are soon cast out again as unwelcome Guests that come to disturb their Peace Secondly Men put off the thoughts of Death and Preparation for it because they generally look upon it as that which is afar off And this is the greatest sottishness in the World If you go to those that are young and tell them that they must die it is true say they and Old Men ought to consider it and prepare themselves for it but surely for us there is no such hast yet Alas they think they must of right and course live till they are Aged If you go to Old Men and tell them that they must die alas their Age tells them so they cannot deny it but though God visit them with weakness and infirmities the Companions of Old Age which impair their Health and waste their strength continually yet they Hope these decays are not so great nor so violent but that they may yet weather out a few years more those that are healthful and strong think they need not prepare for Death till they have warning given them of its approach by Sickness And those that God doth summon to the Grave by Sickness and Diseases they have a secret hope that because they have formerly escaped from other distempers therefore they may do so again Thus now most Men thrust Death from them and put the evil Day afar off And it is a true saying that usually the hopes of a long life is the cause of an evil life for because Men hope they shall live long therefore they are careless how they live at present presuming they may have time enough to repent and amend all hereafter Thirdly Men put off the thoughts of Death because such apprehensions bring a great deal of Fear and Terrour with them Death is that which Nature abhors to think of it cannot endure the thoughts of Separation between those near and dear Companions of Soul and Body Oh to think that this Body that is here pamper'd and made so much of should become vile and loathsome in the Grave laid in a Bed of stench and rotteness covered with Worms mouldring away into the dust of Oblivion This is a sad and melancholy subject for our thoughts to muse upon O this King of Terrours Death How unâ—â— come is he unto the thoughts of most men especially considering him as having his sting in him which is Sin O then it is no wonder that those whâ— are Conscious to themselves of 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—ing guilâ— dare not think of standing before the dreadful Tribunal of God whither Death God's Serjeant will bring them but cry out with Horrour Who among us can dwell with devouring Fire Who among us can dwell with everlasting Burning 〈◊〉 it is no wonder that such put far from them thâ— thoughts of Death because they know that day whensoever it comes will be to them â—n evil day But if Men would seriously consider how shouâ—â— their time in this World is the hazard and dangerâ— they run by their delays would be prevented Surely they that have a lively sense of the things of Eternity upon their Hearts that know their time herâ— to be but short and believe that upon the improvement of this short time their misery or happiness for Eternity doth depend will not be so foolish as to put off their Preparations for Death and Eternity till hereafter when they have no assurance of their lives no not for a moment This is so weighty a consideration that if it were laid to Heart would prevail with all Men that have the right use of their Reason and Vnderstanding Our time in this World is short and uncertain yet is our work very great We are but of yesterday and possibly before to Morrow we may not be and the Great God hath suspended Eternity upon the improvement of this moment a few days or a few hours nay possibly a few minutes will determine our everlasting State and condition and according as we are in spending of them so shall our Doom be either to Eternal Happiness or to Eternal Misery and why Oh why should our precious and immortal Souls be so vile in our Eyes as to lose them by sloth and carelessness Why should any of us be such Fools and Mad-men to hearken to the sollicitations of the Flesh or to the allurements of a flattering deceitful World so as to put off and neglect our everlasting concerns Should we not rather say to the World or whatever it be that would hinder us in our great work Stand off for we are working for Eternity an Eternity that is but a few days it may be but a few hours hence a boundless a bottomless endless state and condition into which we know not how soon we may be cast and therefore we have no time to dally in or to trifle away But though our Time be short yet is it long enough for our great Work if diligently
For Friends to be parted never to see the Faces of one another again this is sad And therefore when St. Paul was taking his leave of the Saints in Macedonia in Acts 20.38 it is said They fell on his Neck and kissed him sorrowing most for the words that he spake that they should see his Face again no more But it is sadder for Parents and Children to be disunited David found it so when he cryed out so Passionately for his Son 2 Sam. 18.33 O Absalom my Son my Son would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son It is yet more sad to have a dis-union made between a Man and the Wife of his Bosom when God shall take away with a stroke the desire of his Eyes one that hath been a meet and fit Yoke-fellow in the Lord whose Eyes can refrain from weeping or their Hearts from bleeding under such a sad stroke of Providence But yet there is a dis-union that comes nearer than all these and that is a dis-union between the Soul and the Body those two Old Sweet Intimate Companions born together into the World and who have lived in sweet Society together all their Days for Death to come and make a Dissolution between two so near and so dear together by a violent rending and tearing the Soul and Body asunder Oh this is exceeding sad and dreadful indeed and that which must needs make the Work of Dying hard and difficult Thirdly Death is a Destruction So David calls it Psal 90.3 Thou turnest Man to destruction That Excellent Frame of Man's Body which David tells us was fearfully and wonderfully made in secret and curiously wrought in the lower parts of the Earth by God himself and that with Infinite Power and Wisdom Psal 139.14 15. Sickness will not only stain its Glory and make the Beauty of it to consume like a Moth But Death will Demolish and pull it down to the ground turn it into Corruption and Putrefaction yea into Dust it self utterly destroying it so that it shall not be any more until by the Power of God it shall be raised up again at the last day Death now being so destructive a thing unto Man that nothing will content it less than his Annihilation in the Grave dying must needs be a hard and difficult thing unto Flesh and Blood Secondly Dying is an important difficult Work if we consider what Death doth now this I shall explain by opening these two things First Death occasions our Spiritual Enemies to assault us Secondly It awakens Conscience against us First Death occasions our Spiritual Enemies to assault us most fiercely Now these Enemies are two Sin and Satan First Sin When doth the Guilty Prisoners Crimes come into his Mind but when he hath a Summons to appear before his Judge And when doth the Guilt of Sin fly in the Face of a Sinner but when Death hath him under his Arrest to carry him before God the Great Judge of Heaven and Earth Multitudes of Sins that before lay hid and seem'd to be quite forgotten now shew themselves and come fresh into a Sinner's mind as so many Witnesses against him which upon the Review he cannot but Remember though formerly he had forgot them Oh what a number of horrid Wickednesses do now haunt his Thoughts with dismal apprehensions in the dark night of Death walking up and down like so many Frightful Ghosts scaring and terrifying his Soul Well may an Impenitent Sinner say then unto Death hast thou found me O mine Enemy art thou come O Death to call my Sins to Remembrance and to slay my Soul Secondly The Devil will then be very fierce and furious in his Assaults His Time now is but short and therefore his Rage is great This is his hour yea his last hour and therefore the Power of the Prince of Darkness is now most put forth he knows he hath but a few hours more to wait and if he can but keep the Sinner so long he is then his for ever Assure thy self therefore O Sinner he will be diligent in watching thy Sick-bed both by night and by day and if all the Power or Policy of Hell can prevent it neither Cordial shall benefit thy Body nor Counsel and Advice profit thy Soul The Devil is the great Enemy of Souls and because he is miserable himself he therefore labours that all others may be as miserable as he is now the ways by which he expresseth his Enmity against Souls that he may keep them from Eternal Life are these Sometimes by obstructing the Work of Grace in the Souls of Men and thus he works with all his might by all his Wiles and Devices that he can to draw men unto and keep them in a way of Sin that they may not set their Faces towards Heaven much more that they may not with earnest endeavours of Soul seek to obtain it It is true God always hath the Devil in a Chain and can if he pleaseth restrain and hinder him in all his Malicious Attempts against his Children and many times he doth manifest his Power and Grace towards his Servants in a dying hour by curbing in the Malice of that Evil one that he shall not be able to trouble and molest them in their Passage into Heaven But yet sometimes God doth then permit the Devil to shew his Malice against his People and then how fiercely and furiously doth he make his Assaults upon them Then it is they meet with the sorest Trials and because he could not prevail upon them formerly as a Tempter now he turns to be their Accuser charging all their Sins upon their Souls with all the bloody aggravations of them upbraiding them with all their Profession as if they had been but Hypocrites in all that they had done This God sometimes permits him to do that their Grace being exercised the Trial thereof may appear to be more precious than Gold that perisheth being found to the Praise and Glory of God and the Shame and Reproach of their Adversary the Devil in a most Glorious Conquest over all his Temptations for through the Grace and Strength of Christ they overcome him in all his Accusations and notwithstanding all they go not only quietly but sometimes Triumphantly into Heaven and Glory Secondly Death awakens Conscience The Practice of a Sinner is to lull Conscience asleep that he may the more quietly and undisturbedly go on in Sin but when Death comes usually the Conscience of a Sinner is awakened if the Sinner be not past feeling given over to a reprobate sence Conscience hath its Times and Seasons of stirring in the Souls of Men as sometimes under the Preaching of the Word Conscience begins to stir within a Sinner and tells him that those Duties that have been laid before him by the Minister are the Commands of the Great God and therefore ought to oblige him to Obedience Here Conscience is an honest Informer Sometimes when a Sinner is taking the
at all for the Great Judge of Heaven and Earth before whom thou and I are now going to appear knows all these things that I have now told thee of to be true and will quickly undeceive thee whatever thy hopes are now and make thee know these things unto thy everlasting confusion unless out of the infinite Riches of his Grace and Mercy he give thee Repentance presently which thou canst have very little hopes of now at Death since thou didst not turn to him in thy Life Secondly Consider when thou comest to die thou wilt then have to do with God himself immediately It is true while we are here in the Body we have to do with God and all our Affairs whatsoever are transacted under his Eye and in his presence therefore we read in Heb. 4.13 That all things are naked and open unto the Eyes of that God with whom we have to do There is no Prayer we make no Sermon we hear no Holy Duty we perform no Mercy we enjoy no Affliction we lie under nor any Action we do in our whole lives but we have to do with God in it But when we come to die we have to do with God in another way and manner than what we have to do with him in this World here we have to do with God in Duties and Ordinances but it is in such a way as is becoming our present state of distance from him of which I may say as the Prophet doth in another case it is neither clear not dark insomuch that Faith it self hath much a-do sometimes to discover God unto the Soul and no wonder then if a Carnal Eye cannot discern him But when as the Wise Man speaks the Soul shall return to God that gave it the Soul then goes into the immediate Presence of God having to do with him in such an immediate way and manner that there is nothing in the Eye of the Soul to obscure or hinder the sight of the Divine Presence no vail of Flesh between God and it but naked Majesty and Glory discovers it self to the Soul with the rays of its own light which is so full of wonder and astonishment that we know not now how to conceive of it much less to express it And if a holy Prophet seeing but a Vision of God crys out Wo is me I am undone for I am a Man of unclean Lips and mine Eyes have seen the King the Lord of Host Isai 6.5 O how much more may it overwhelm a Soul when stripp'd of its Body to see not only a Vision of God but to see God himself as it were face to face But this is not all for the Soul is not by Death barely brought before the Great and Glorious God but it is brought before him to be judged to an Eternal State In this Life we come into the presence of God upon a Treaty of Peace between God and our Souls God is now in Christ reconciling Sinners unto himself and is willing not to impute their Sins and Trespasses unto them and if they will accept of his terms they may make Peace with him for he saith now unto Sinners let them take hold of my strength and so make Peace with me and they shall make Peace with me but if Sinners will not throw away the Weapons of their Rebellion out of their Hands I mean their Sins out of their Hearts whereby they fight against God but Death comes and strikes them dead with their Weapons in their Hands I mean in the embracements of their lusts God and they must treat after another manner not upon terms of Peace but upon terms of Judgment for away they go immediately after Death before God as a Judge the Spirit then returning unto God that gave it to receive a determinative sentence of Happiness or Misery for ever And who would not then be always prepared for the stroke of Death that carries the Soul into the presence of such a Judge who hath power to and who will determine its everlasting State Thirdly As a farther Argument to perswade Christians unto a preparation for Death Consider the misery of those who when Death comes upon them are unprovided for it And this I shall do in these following particulars briefly First An unprepared Sinner at Death loseth all his outward comforts and enjoyments In this Life it may be Providence did abound towards him with variety of outward enjoyments as Riches Relations Pleasures Profits and the like but Death is now come and hath swept away all of these things that were desirable It was a doleful expression of Ahraham unto the Rich Man in Hell Luke 16.25 Son remember thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things Oh what a cutting word was this to his Soul when he was passed into another World And will it not wound thy Soul as deeply O Sinner who hast not made thy Preparations for Eternity when thou comest to pass through the Valley of the Shadow of Death to consider thou hast received all thy good things already yea and having received them if thou couldst always live with them and keep them always with thee it might be something to thee but alas thou canst not for when Death comes it will turn thee out of all thy possessions and enjoyments when thou diest thou shalt take nothing in thy hand with thee of all thy labour as the Wise Man speaks Eccl. 5.15 The things of this World will not go one step with thee beyond this present Life and think O Sinner if thou canst what a doleful thing will it be for a poor Soul to be 〈◊〉 down naked upon the vast Ocean of Eternity having nothing to relieve and support it self with all its Riches and Treasures being left behind it in another World Secondly The Misery of an unprepared Sinner for Death appears in this that then he shall be deprived of all the Seasons and Opportunities of Grace It is no mean Mercy to thee O Sinner hadst thou a Heart to improve it that thou now enjoyest the Ordinances of Life and Salvation that thou hast the tenders of Mercy the entreaties of Ministers the motions of the Spirit invitations to come unto Christ leave and liberty to cast down thy self at the Feet of God and by Prayer and Supplication seek his Face and be as earnest and fervent as thou wilt or canst be for Mercy But let me tell thee at Death the door of Mercy will be for ever shut there will be no Praying or Preaching or Hearing in the Place whither thou art going no declaring this loving kindness of God in the Grave nor this faithfulness of his in Destruction Now the Ordinances of God though precious to others yet are they tedious and irksome unto thee the Church of God to thee is little better than a Prison the Sabbath-day is the longest day in the Week in thy Account thou wouldst fain be rid of it the Commands of Christ which to a Gracious Soul are
sweet and delightful are no better than Bonds and Fetters unto thee which thou wouldst fain break asunder and cast away from thee the Language of thy Carnal Heart is this though the Sermon be commonly measured by the space of an hour yet thou cryest when will the Glass be out when will the Duty be done when will the Sabbath be over that we may follow the World again thou thinkest Prayer too long and Sermons too long and Sabbaths too long Well be patient O Sinner for a while and in a short time thou shalt never be troubled with these long painful Duties any more Death will ease thee of all these Burthens that Night is coming upon thee wherein there shall be no more of these Works done for ever and then though with Esau thou shouldst carefully seek a place of Repentance with Tears to bewall thy former Folly yet thou shouldst not find it Thirdly The Misery of an unprepared Sinner for Death lies in this that he then ioseth all his hopes and expectations Hope it is the Anchor and Support of the Soul in time of Trouble sometimes the Soul is brought to such straits and under such sore pressures that it hath nothing to live upon but Faith and Hope Faith believes there shall be a happy issue out of those troubles the Soul is under and therefore Hope encourageth the Soul to wait patiently till a time of Deliverance doth come it will come saith Faith for God is Faithful who hath promised I will wait therefore saith Hope and my expectations shall not be in vain for they that wait upon him shall not be ashamed But now all the Hopes of a Sinner will fail and disappoint him at Death for indeed he had no true well-grounded Hope We read in Scripture of a true and lively Hope 1 Pet 1.3 but this is found only in the Saints Blessed be God saith the Apostle who hath begotten us again to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead But a Sinner's Hope is not a lively but a dead Hope and what can the Fruits of such a Hope be but shame and disappointment When a Wicked Man dies says the Wise Man his Expectations shall perish Prov. 11.7 And what is the Hope of the Hypocrite says Job though he hath gained when God taketh away his Soul Job 27.8 why nothing but shame and disappointment And if Hope deferred maketh the Heart sick as Solomon tells us then Hope frustrated especially a Hope of Heaven and Happiness must needs kill even as with a thousand Deaths Fourthly An unprepared Sinner at Death loseth his Soul and this is such a Jewel that its worth and value is not known on Earth but shall be fully known in Hell Were it possible for thee O Sinner to understand what is included in the loss of thy Soul it would be as a Dagger at thy Heart the thoughts of it would make thee mingle thy drink with weeping and imbitter all the Comforts of thy whole life unto thee In Matt. 16.26 What is a Man profited if he gains the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul Behold here O Sinner of what an incomparable worth and value thy Soul is and what an irreparable loss it is if thou losest it this is such a loss as there is none like it for the gain of the whole World cannot balance the loss of one Soul It is also an irrecoverable loss God hath given thee two Eyes two Hands and two Feet and if thou losest one Eye thou hast another or if thou losest one Limb thou hast more but God hath given thee but one Soul and if thou losest that thou hast no more If thou losest thy Estate by thy diligence and the Blessing of God upon thy endeavours thou mayest recover it again yea if thou losest thy Life thou mayest be a gainer by it for thou mayest find it again for he that loseth his Life for my sake says Christ shall find it How so shall he live again here on Earth no but he shall find it with infinite gain and advantage in Heaven for instead of a Temporal Life he shall gain an Eternal Life But if thy Soul O Sinner be once lost thou art undone for ever this is such a loss that the thoughts thereof may make thy Hair stand on end upon thy Head yea it is that which when ever thou readest or thinkest of may make thy Heart to ake do not thy Ears tingle and thy Loyns tremble to hear of it Having thus laid down some quickning Considerations to stir up Christians to prepare for Death I shall in the next place endeavour to propound such Directions as may by the Blessing of God be helpful to them in their Preparations for their latter end Now the General Direction for a Christian's Preparation for Death is to get an Interest in Christ by a Work of Conversion changing the State and Condition of the Soul This now is the main Work of a Christian without which he is no real Christian Profession of Christianity gives a Man the Name of a Christian but it is only Implantation into Christ by believing that gives a Man the being of a Christian It is Essential to a Christian as a Christian that he be in Christ By Nature all Men are Strangers yea Enemies to God and Christ and therefore it is necessary that there be a Manifestation of the Power of Converting Grace to change our Hearts and Sanctifie our Natures and till this be done we are but Nominally Christians we have only a Name to live but we are dead He that is not in Christ is not a Christian in Deed and in Truth Now this being in Christ which is always accompanied with Conversion and Sanctification is that which makes Life comfortable Death easy and Heaven sure and certain He that hath an Interest in Christ may live joyfully in any Condition if he knows but his own Happiness he need not be troubled let what will befal him whether he hath more or less he hath it with the Love of God all his Mercies come swiming to him in the Blood of Jesus and therefore he may well sit down and be content yea be thankful and rejoyce knowing that all things shall work together for his Eternal Benefit and Advantage there being no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus And as for Death how easy a thing is it to such a Soul I confess Death is very terrible to one that is out of Christ but to one that is in Christ Death is his Friend yea his best Friend next to Christ what says the Apostle of such 1 Cor. 3.21 All things are yours that is for your Benefit and Advantage whether Paul or Apollo's or Cephas or things present or things to come or Life or Death all is yours But how comes all this about why because you are Christ's and Christ is God's Death therefore cannot hurt
to the Soul 's everlasting Comfort and Consolation when Death shall bring it to appear before him Thirdly Would you be prepared for Death get sin pardoned and labour much after the Assurance of it Sin is the cause of death the means by which Death came into the World had there been no sinning there would have been no dying but sin coming into the World death came along with it Rom. 5.12 As by one Man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned By sinning against God Man is come under a necessity of dying The wages of sin says the Apostle is Death nay sin is that which gives Death its sting so we read 1 Cor. 15. and 56. The sting of Death is sin This is it which gives Death its power and makes it so dreadful and because of Guilt lying on the Soul makes it unfit to die But now where the Soul is sprinkled with the Blood of Christ the Guilt of Sin taken away by an Act of Pardon and Forgiveness that Soul is prepared to receive and entertain Death whensoever it comes and though it make not that Death shall not be yet it makes that Death shall not hurt for Sin is pardoned Sin is that which makes the Soul cry out bitterly under the Apprehonsions of Death and of the Wrath of God Oh that I had never committed such and such Sins Why know O pardoned Sinner thou hast thy wish for God when he pardons Sin makes it to be as if it had never been committed Things forgotten are no more to us than as if they had never been Why now says God I will forgive their Iniquities and I will remember their Sins no more And doth God O fearful Soul make thy Sins to be as if they had never been by his pardoning Grace and Mercy and shall not thy former fears of Sin and of Death by Reason of Sin be now as if they had never been Thou need'st not fear O trembling Soul that thou shalt ever be questioned again for those Sins that God hath once forgiven thee God's Acts of Oblivion can never be repealed for the Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance Guilt binds a Sinner over unto Punishment no wonder then that an unpardoned Sinner who is unfit to die is afraid of Death for whenever Death comes to such a Soul it comes with a deadly incurable Sting Death to an unpardoned Sinner is Death with a witness for it is Death and Hell in to the Bargain But now to a pardoned Sinner let Death come when and how it will he is prepared for it his Condition is safe he cannot be miserable Death may kill him but it cannot hurt him and therefore what need he fear it Now if you would know the Safety and Happiness of your Condition labour for an Assurance that your Sins are pardoned Your future Happiness depends upon the pardon of Sin but your present Comfort depends upon your Assurance that Sin is pardoned He whose Sins are pardoned dies safely but he who knows his Sins are pardoned dies comfortably Pardon of Sin frees from Condemnation but it is Assurance of Pardon that brings Peace and Comfort That Man is not so ready to die nor in such a prepared Frame of Soul for Death as he ought to be in who though his Sins are pardoned and thereby he hath a Right and Title unto Heaven yet walks in the dark and is at Vncertainties whether his Sins are pardoned or not for as our pardon of Sin is necessary to our dying happily so the Assurance of our Pardon is necessary to our dying comfortably Take a Man that is at a loss and under Doubts and Fears that his Sins are not pardoned if Death should come to him while he is under those Doubts and Fears with what difficulty would he make a shift to die How hardly would he be brought to it What Pretences and Excuses would he make Alas says he I know not where I am nor what Death will do with me and though I am so sick that I cannot live yet I am so afraid I dare not die for I know not whither I am going nor where my Dwelling shall be for ever whether in Heaven or in Hell O what shall I do therefore But now he whose Sins are not only pardoned but he walks daily under the comfortable Assurance thereof it being sealed and witnessed to him by the Spirit of God which Spirit as the Apostle saith witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God If Death comes to him he rejoiceth for saith he I know that if my earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved I have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens The Sum of all is this Pardon of Sin is very good for it is our Safety for they that are pardoned shall certainly be saved but to have Sin not only pardoned but to have the Assurance that it is pardoned this is much better For God to love us so as to pardon and accept us is the ground of our Hopes for Heaven hereafter But to have God manifest his Love and to assure us that he loves us is our Heaven on this side Heaven And the more we have of this Assurance the more joyfully and comfortably shall we be able to pass through a dying Hour Fourthly Would you be prepared for Death labour for Hearts and Affections crucified to the World and all things here below It is impossible we should ever be willing to leave the World when God calls us hence till we have first learned to use the World as if we used it not 1 Cor. 7. and 31. For if our Affections are set upon worldly Things and our hearts engaged in an eager prosecution of them it will be as Death to us before we die to think of parting with them and much more unwilling shall we be to take our everlasting Farewel of them when Death comes to us in good earnest This is commonly the Temper or rather the Distemper of most Men the Delights and Accommodations that God affords them for their more comfortable passage through this World and to encourage them with greater Chearfulness to serve him have got such an Interest in their Hearts and Affections that they prize and value them above measure The Love of the World and the things of the World is grown so prevalent with many that if they might have their Desires they would not care for nor trouble themselves with any other Heaven but would be content to live here always saying Let us build Tabernacles nay let us have a continuing City here But O Lord forgive them for they know not what they say They never experimentally tasted the Excellency and Sweetness of Heaven and heavenly Things and that is the Reason they are so in love with Earth and earthly Things Now what wonder is it that those who place their Happiness
in the Things of this World should be unwilling to die that the Thoughts of Death which parts them and their Happiness should be bitter and unpleasant This now is naturally the Temper of all Men till God opens their Eyes and discovers to them more excellent Things even Things of a spiritual and divine Nature which as they are more suitable to their Souls so are they more durable and satisfying and having once tasted what present Sweetness Peace and Joy there is in God and in ways of Holiness besides what is laid up for them hereafter in Heaven their Hearts and Affections are now become dead to the World and all worldly Things so that they have no relish and savour of these Things upon their Spirits But as St. Paul saith of himself so it may be said of them they are now crucified unto the World and the World is crucified unto them The World sees no Glory or Beauty in them and they see as little in the World How easily now can such take their leaves of it when God by Death calls them to it The Apostle tells us for his part he did die daily 1 Cor. 15. and 31. And did we die daily in our Desires and Affections unto the World and the Things thereof it would not be so hard for us to die when we come to it in good earnest When Death comes to a Man whose natural strength and vigour hath been wasting and consuming a long time by lingring Sicknesses and Distempers his Death is not so hard and strong as that Man's Death is whom a few day's Sickness cuts off in the midst of his strength and Vigour Nature being strong in him to make resistance against it whereas in the other the strength of Nature is wasted and consumed and so Death to him is more easie So is it here the Christian whose Love and Affection to the World and the Contentments of this present Life hath for many years been consuming and dying will more freely and readily part with them at Death than he whose Love and Affections are strongly and eagerly bent upon them such a one must be rent and torn from them by force and violence in the hour of Death When our heart 's set loose from all things that are desirable under the Sun and there is nothing upon Earth that insnares and intangles our Affections towards it one Difficulty yea and a great one too in our way of dying is then removed Death will rend and tear that heart that is glued in love to any thing in this World Therefore O Christian as to all thy worldly Enjoyments possess them as if thou possessed'st them not rejoice in them as if thou rejoicedst not and use the World as not abusing of it for the Fashion of the world passeth away How dreadful will Death be to one who as the Apostle saith minds earthly Things and how easie will Death be to one whose Mind and Conversation is in Heaven It is good therefore for us to consider that we are but Strangers and Pilgrims here Heaven is the proper Place and Dwelling for holy Souls Make provision therefore by a holy weanedness of Heart and Affections for your departure bence send your best things to Heaven before-hand that is your Heart your Love your Delight and then you your selves will the more readily and willingly follow after them Fifthly Would you be prepared for Death live every day then as if it were your last doing nothing therein but what you would be willing to be found doing at Death and Judgment He that shall every day seriously consider with himself for ought I know this may be my last day The shadows of Death may stretch themselves over my Life before the shadows of the Evening overtake me I have no Assurance of my Life here no not for a moment How is it therefore with thee O my Soul as to Eternity what is thy daily Work and Employment Is it that wherein if I should meet with Death at the end of it I can comfortably give an Account thereof unto the Great God If I knew this to be my last Day would I be thus employed as I now am If not why do I venture upon the doing of that which I would be loath Death should find me a doing since I know not but Death may overtake me before I have finished what I am about Reader whoever thou art possibly thou mayest be guilty of no very great mistake if thou shouldst think with thy self as healthful and as strong as now I am yet there may be some secret invisible Hand of Death stretched out towards me possibly this very day I may feel some Symptoms and some Fore-runners of it some mortal incurable Disease may seize upon me before Night and cast me upon a sick Bed which to me may prove a Death bed Supposing now that this were thy very Case and that thou hadst received the Sentence of Death though not as Hezekiah did by a Messenger sent immediately by God unto him as he had but by the Violence of some Distemper accompanied with those Signs and Tokens that usually are and have been presages of Death unto others How then wouldst thou spend those few small Moments of Time that thou hast yet left thee on this side Eternity How would thy Thoughts work What would thy Words and Discourses then be Surely thou wouldst not be so abominable stupid and secure so wretchedly careless and negligent of thy Soul and of thy eternal Interest and Concerns when thy Soul is as it were sitting upon thy Lips and looking over into Eternity being ready to take its sudden flight thither as to be plodding and contriving in thy Thoughts how to enjoy the Pleasures Profits and Delights of the World which you now find to be nothing but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit nor yet would you be so desperately mad and bold as to send then for your vain and wicked Companions with whom you have consumed so many Days and Years in Sin and Wickedness that you and they might now laugh and waste away your last Hours together also No certainly there is no relish and savour now in any of these Things unless it be that which is bitter yea surely the Remembrance thereof will then be more bitter to the Soul than Gall and Wormwood Oh now the Consideration of the Wants and Exigences of the Soul begin to thrust and force themselves into the Mind and Thoughts of a Sinner O the sight of a righteous and a severe Judge of a strict Account and of a dreadful Tribunal Oh the bitter Vpbraidings and Terrors of an accusing Conscience the fearful Reflections upon past Sins and the Expectations of future Torments the Fears and Thoughts of these Things do now fill the Mind and perplex the Soul and make a Sinner cry out O what shall I now do to be saved Were you never in all your Lives by the Death-bed of a careless negligent Sinner whose
more time to live here upon Earth they love God more than all Things and Persons whatsoever but yet their affections are not so fully taken off from the World nor from their Friends and Relations as they should be they are not wrack'd and tormented with perplexing fears of Wrath and Hell but yet they are not ravish'd with the Joys of Heaven Concerning the Death of such as these we must say Blessed are they that thus die in the Lord for though they have not that assurance that some have and so die not so comfortably as to sense and feeling as they do yet have they that Faith and Affiance in the Lord Jesus Christ whereby they die happily But then there are others that are strong Christians grown Men in Christ who have attained unto such a full assurance of Faith that they are not only willing to die but are desirous of Death being perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor length nor depth nor any Creature shall ever be able to separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus for they know in whom they have believed and with whom they have intrusted the everlasting Concernments of their Immortal Souls and that he is able and faithful yea and will also keep that good thing that they have committed unto him unto that day And therefore they can with a Holy Triumph through Christ say O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore they can with chearfulness commit one half of themselves that is their Bodies unto the Grave where though they know it shall turn to Corruption and Rottenness yet that troubles them not because they know also that by the Power of God it shall be raised up a most Glorious Body at the last Day for they are assured that their Redeemer lives and they believe that he shall stand at the last day upon the Earth and not only so but because he lives they believe that they shall live also And though for the present Worms destroy their Bodies yet in their Flesh they shall see God whom they shall see for themselves and their Eyes shall behold him and not anothers and that to their everlasting Joy and Comfort Now to such as these Death is both happy and comfortable also and therefore they are desirous to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all But now a Question may arise here Is it not Lawful to desire or wish for Death To this I Answer negatively and positively in some cases it is unlawful and sinful and in some cases it may be lawful and commendable First negatively wherein it is sinful and unlawful And so for any to wish for or to desire Death through impatience or discontent in any condition because they cannot have their own Wills but are crost in their desires this is sinful This was the Sin of Jonah who because God had smitten the Gourd from which he received some refreshment presently he falls into a Passion and in a discontented fit he concludes the matter that it was better for him to die than to live Jonah 4.8 but God knew it was better for him to live than to die and therefore in his pity he spares him that he might repent of his Sin This was the Infirmity of Elijah which the Apostle seems to take notice of when he tells us He was a Man of like Infirmities with us Jam. 5.17 for as to any other Infirmities of that Holy Man the Scripture is silent but it takes notice of this that when he was persecuted by Jezabel's Cruelties and fled for his Life under fear and infidelity in 1 Kings 19. and 24. he cry'd out It is enough O Lord now take away my Life for I am no better than my Fathers These fits of passion and discontent are sinful and not to be justified and yet how frequent is it for Men thus to vent their discontents when any trouble befalls them that crosseth their Wills presently nothing will serve their turns but Death O that they were Dead I will not say what once I heard spoken to be always true in this case that such Persons by wishing for Death wish for Hell and Damnation with it I dare not say so least I should offend against the Generation of the Righteous But this I will say that there are many wicked prophane wretches who when something doth cross and vex them instantly cry out Oh that they were dead to whom if God should not be more merciful to their Souls than they themselves are to their Bodies but take them at their word and presently strike them dead it may be feared he must also by striking their Bodies into the Grave smite their Souls into Hell they allowing themselves no space and time for their Repentance O that such Persons would seriously consider what they do when they wish such an End may befall them Again to wish for Death absolutely is sinful though we are under pains that are more painful than Death it self Nature puts us upon desiring to live and Grace should put us upon desiring to live because God wills it though we be under sore afflictions for as it is our Holiness to do the will of God while we live so it is our Holiness to be content to live while we suffer according to his will To desire Death because our lives are full of troubles is a sinful wish or desire for God may and often hath as much use of our lives when we are in an afflicted condition as when we are in a prosperous condition a sickly Body yea a sick Bed may bring as much Glory to God as a healthful Constitution and we may do as much service when we are bound in Chains and in a Prison as when we enjoy the greatest Freedom and Liberty Passive Obedience brings as much Honour to God as Active doth When you lie under any troubles therefore wish not for Death beg of God rather that he would remove those Evils from you than remove you from those Evils God hath a thousand ways to let us out of trouble though he doth not open the door of the Grave to let us in thither Pray that your Afflictions may be sanctified and that your Spirits may be raised up above your troubles while you live and seek not nor desire freedom from them by Death For a Christian to bear a burden well is more desireable than to be delivered from it especially if while we are suffering our selves we are doing good unto others A Christian should be contented yea he should rejoice in suffering Evils that lie upon when he doth good thereby unto others He that is of a gracious publick Spirit will triumph over Personal Troubles and Afflictions so long as he sees God making use of him as
yet it may Rule as a Tyrant and we be brought into Captivity by it and by force kept in Bondage under it sometimes How willing therefore should a Christian be to die that he may be free from Sin for he that is dead saith the Apostle Rom. 6.7 is free'd from Sin Death only will free us from the danger and possibility of offending God any more for then we shall come to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect Heb. 12. 23. Why then O Christian shouldst thou desire to linger long here upon Earth and to spin out a miserable Life in this VVorld whereof Sin and Sorrow will have the greatest Share Here the best Christians are engaged in perpetual Conflicts between Sin and Grace Sin will not yield and Grace cannot yield Corruption compels one way and Grace commands another Haste therefore O Christian out of this troublesome Contest yea make haste to Heaven for there and there only it is that this Controversie will be ended for there we shall no more live in fear of new Sins nor in sorrow for old Sins but all Sorrow and Sighing shall cease all Tears shall there be wiped from our Eyes and which is better all Sin shall be rooted out of our hearts for ever Upon this Account now Death is not only necessary in it self but it is that which the People of God should embrace with the greatest willingness and chearfulness that may be But this is not all for the People of God must go one step higher and it is what the VVord of God doth require and that is not only to be content or willing to die but long for Death To be contented to die is a good Temper of Soul and may be an Argument of the Truth of Grace for it is seldom or never found in a wicked man to be sure not from a right Principle But truly Christians this is no such great Matter in comparison of what we should labour to attain unto Muse seriously upon it a while O Christian Is it not a strange kind of Expression to drop from the mouth of a Saint that he is content to be happy that one that professeth all his Happiness lies in the hopes he hath of enjoying God in Heaven and that it is the End and Design of his Life that he may attain unto this and that yet when he comes to speak of Death he should only say he is contented to die that he may be happy in the Enjoyment of God We use not to speak thus concerning the World here Men are not said to be content to be rich but covetous after Riches not willing to be advanced but ambitious after it And why then should it be said only of a Christian that he is contented to be with God and contented to be in Heaven Why Oh why should not the Soul the more noble excellent Part of a Man be carried out with vehement and earnest longings after its proper and full Happiness as well as the Body that vile Part of Man is carried with restless Appetite after Health Safety and Liberty Why should a Soul alone be contented to be happy when all things in the World do so ardently court and so vehemently pursue their respective Ends and several Perfections Truly this is not that Frame and Temper that Christians ought to content themselves with but their Souls should be raised up to a higher pitch even to a holy longing after their being ever with the Lord. It is the Duty of a Christian to look out after so much Enjoyment of the blessed God as we are now capable of and because we cannot fully and perfectly enjoy him in this Life to long after the time of our departure hence and with holy Pantings of Soul breath forth earnest Desires that we may be fully and eternally happy in the Enjoyment of him Be not therefore O my Soul contented only but be holily covetous and full of vehement longings after an Eternity of Blessedness in the Enjoyment of God and because this Body is that which hinders this desired and longed for Happiness though thou may'st not dissolve and break it into pieces thy self yet with Submission to the Divine Will wish it were broken desire that it may be dissolved And though thou must be contented to live God's time yet henceforth be desirous of and long to die To set this a little home upon thy Conscience O Christian consider that this Frame of Soul is that which the Scripture makes the Temper and the Duty of all Believers Indeed there are few Professors that are of this Evangelical Temper of Soul yea but few that are willing to believe they ought to be so But yet this Frame of Soul is made the Character of a sincere Christian the Scripture abounds with Expressions of this Nature Luk 21.28 Our Lord speaking concerning the day of Judgment for the encouragement of Believers bids them look up and lift up their Heads for their Redemption drew nigh by with our Lord means not a bare speculation but a beholding with joy and longing for that day and time 2 Tim. 4.8 The Lord shall give a Crown of Righteousness to them that love his appearing And in Tit. 2.13 we are commanded to live godly in this present World as those that are looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ So in 2 Pet. 3.12 What manner of Persons says the Apostle ought we to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness looking for and hastning to the coming of the Day of God By these Scriptures it appears what is the nature and temper the disposition and inclination of a Godly Man even to look to love to long and to hasten unto the enjoyment of God for that which is of God in any Soul must needs carry the Soul after God But here I am afraid least some weak Christians should be troubled because they cannot find these ardent desires and holy longings of Soul in themselves after their dissolution and enjoyment of God Now that I may not discourage any weak Believer nor make the Hearts of those sad whom God would not have made sad I shall add a few words though not for encouragement unto sloathfulness yet for support against fears and despondency Therefore O Christian search thine own Heart and see how it is with thee and if thou findest it is so as the objection intimates see then if thou canst find out the cause thereof possibly thou art grown careless in thy spiritual watch or thou givest too much liberty to thy self in things that are lawful the World it may be is got too near thy Heart thy Affections run out too much after it And no wonder then if while this frame and temper continues and things are thus out of order with thee thou dost not long after Heaven nor art willing to die though it be the only way by which thou canst come to the enjoyment of God
the Body in the Grave it were then a tolerable evil but when we shall consider death as a punishment for sin as that which puts us into an unchangeable Estate this is that which makes it dreadful and terrible indeed While we are in this World which is the time of our preparation for an Eternal State of Strangers yea of Enemies we may become Friends but when death hath once seized upon us it is impossible our State should then be changed We cannot now say of the vilest Sinner in the World that there is no hope of him we must not write desperation upon the fore-head of the wickedst Man on Earth but if he dies in that State then he is lost and undone for ever for as the Tree falls so it lies as death leaves Men so Judgment will find them And this Judgment is such as is conclusive and never to be Repealed Hence it is therefore that take the most hardned Sinner one whom Custom in sinning hath made past feeling yet when he comes to die if Conscience be but awakened it is impossible for him to look death in the Face without great fears and horrours Nay it is a sight so amazing and confounding that were it not for the Righteousness of Christ and that Satisfaction he hath made unto the Justice of God by his death it were utterly impossible that any Believer should bear up under it but Blessed be God the Blood of Christ then speaks Peace and so Believers are not only supported but carried comfortably unto Heaven through the gloomy Valley of the Shadow of death Death being thus terrible now it must needs be looked upon as a dreadful Enemy unto Man An Enemy now is one that when he comes against us always comes Armed to do us a mischief such an Enemy now is death for ever since the Fall of Man death hath been Armed with a deadly Sting now this Sting of death whereby it becomes hurtful unto Man is sin so saith the Apostle The sting of death is sin Now this Sting reacheth not only to the Body but to the Soul also as to the Body it takes away all those Contentments and Comforts wherewith it was here Refreshed and Delighted Death rends the Husband from the Wife and the Wife from the Husband it divides Children from their Parents and Parents from their Children death spoils us of whatsoever is desirable in this life strips a Man of all and turns him naked out of the World But this is not all death not only bereaves us of all that is good here but it brings many Evils along with it Sickness pains on the Body Grief and Anguish upon the Mind and Spirit It is a terrible Enemy to wrastle and contend withal it will make a Man sweat and bleed no Man can Encounter with death but he shall feel great Anxiety and Vexation both of Body and Mind unless he have strength from above to enable him to go through the Contest Death in its own Nature is so furious an Enemy unto Sinners that it will not cease till it hath pulled the Body down into the Grave and dragg'd the Soul into the Presence of God and from his Tribunal into the Torments of Eternal Fire where the first death terminates in the second death and the Torments exceed not only all our Expressions but all our Apprehensions also where death that is now such a dreadful Enemy would there be counted an unspeakable Mercy for there they shall seek death but shall not be able to find it But more particularly the Enmity of death appears in these particulars First The Fears of death do much abate our desires after the Enjoyment of God in Heaven It is true every Believer is one that loves God above all and looks upon Heaven as that which shall be his dwelling place for ever and accordingly sincerely desires and longs after it and in his daily Conversation walks with his Face thitherwards but when he sees death stands in the way between him and Heaven and that there is no coming for him to that place of Bliss but he must pass through that dark Valley this puts him to a stand and makes his desires weak and low The best Christians I believe have sometimes felt such workings as these within their Souls for tho' the Regenerate part discovering it self in the work of Sanctified Affections would be soaring upwards towards God and Heaven in whose presence the Soul would fain be but seeing death standing in its way how are the desires of such a Holy Soul kept down by the fears of it and he turned back as one that was afraid to come into his Father's presence Where is the Christian the Eye of whose Faith is so steadily fixed upon Christ in Heaven whose Soul is sometimes ready to cry out I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better yet withal when he sees the rude hand of death stretched out to undress him and that there is no coming unto Jesus Christ for him but by first suffering a Dissolution and laying down of his Earthly Tabernacle in the Grave though he would fain be with Christ that he might enjoy him whom his Soul loveth yet seeing this dismal Enemy death in the way doth not shrink back and cry out O I dare not venture O what a dreadful Enemy is this and what dreadful Enmity doth it put forth in the obstructing our desires though after God and Heaven causing us to run from God as it were at that time when we truly and dearly love him Happy Souls are they in whom Faith and Love work so powerfully as to conquer and overcome these fears Secondly If death as an enemy prevails so as to abate our desires after the Enjoyment of God in Heaven it will be apt to endanger our falling in love with this present World and so make us miserable by causing us to take up with the men of this World who have their Portion in this Life Take a Christian whose desires after Heaven are weak though true because blunted by the apprehensions of some frightful difficulties that must be gone through for the attaining of it how apt is such a one to be tempted to think that it is best for him to take up with those delightful pleasures that may be had here without such dangerous adventures but now if that which darkens the Blessed Vision of Heaven and our unspeakable Happiness in the fruition of God there and which also deadens our desires after this blessedness be once removed which usually is the dreadful apprehensions of death with what ease can such a Soul with a Holy Scorn and Contempt despise all the trifling Vanities of this World as things not worthy to be regarded Thirdly The Enmity of Death manifests it self in obstructing a Christians endeavours towards Heaven A discouraged disconsolate Soul moves but slowly be it towards Earth or Heaven Difficulties that should stir up greater diligence usually are great
Death by the Merit of his own Death and hath declared his Victory over it and our deliverance from it by raising up his own Body from the Grave Christ by his Death did meritoriously conquer Death for Believers but he did not actually conquer it till his Resurrection but then he did the Day of his Resurrection was the Day wherein Grace did triumph thorough Christ towards believing Souls for on that Day Christ did openly shew to Heaven to Hell to Earth that Death was not only conquerable by Believers but that it was actually conquered for them thorough him Blessed Souls in Heaven believe it to their everlasting Consolation and are thereby fully confirmed in the Resurrection of their own Bodies because their Head is already risen for them The damned in Hell have the Knowledge of it to their greater Torment because they now know their sinful Bodies shall be raised to suffer for ever with their Souls in that Place of Torment and therefore they believe and tremble The Saints on Earth also know it and therefore they rejoice in the believing Expectations of it being assured that as the Bonds of Death were loosed by which Christ was held in the Grave for the space of Three Days but could not possibly be held by them any longer so neither shall it be possible for Believers always to be held under them But there is a time coming when all that are in their Graves shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and shall come forth Joh. 5.28 And if we believe says the Apostle that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him in 1 Thes 4. and 14. for says the same Apostle Christ is risen and become the first Fruits of them that sleep in 1 Cor. 15.20 And as Christ being raised from the Dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him So the time will not be long before Believers shall also be raised from the Dead and shall die no more for there shall then be no more Death nor Sorrow nor Crying nor Pain no more Diseases or Fears of Death or the Grave for behold all former things are passed away and all things are become new Rev. 21.45 But though Christ hath overcome Death yet is there still a Fear of it in most And indeed Death is an Object of Fear neither is all Fear of Death to be condemned as sinful Now for the better understanding of this that Death is an Object of Fear and when it may be lawful to fear Death and when the Fear of it is sinful I shall consider Man in a threefold Respect As he is a meer Man as he is a sinful Man and as he is a true Believer First I shall consider Man as he is a meer Man compounded of Soul and Body and so the Nature of Man abhors Death and if it were possible as it is not to find out a Man in the World that were free from all manner of Sin yet would he fear Death were he liable to it because it is that which tends to his Dissolution and Destruction Thus our Lord Jesus Christ himself though he was perfectly holy and free from all Sin yet in this sense he feared Death and therefore he prays Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me Thus now to fear Death as it is evil and destructive unto Nature is not sinful or unlawful Secondly Consider Man as he is sinful and unregenerate and so Death is an Object of Fear and full of Horror For to all such Death comes armed with Power not only to make a Separation between Soul and Body for so Death rules over all but it comes to kill and to destroy Soul and Body for ever for to such it is not Death alone as it is to the Godly but it is Death and Hell together Rev. 6.8 And I looked and behold a pale Horse and his Name that sat on him was Death and Hell followed with him It is no wonder if Death be dreadful and terrible unto such but it is rather a wonder that such can take any rest in the night or enjoy any quietness in the day that under the Fears of Death they are not distracted But here is the Misery of such they are so afraid of Death that they will not let the Thoughts of it come into their Minds but do what they can to banish the Thoughts of that evil day far from them But know O foolish Sinner though thou sleepest and art secure in Sin yet thy Death and thy Damnation slumbers not for Death and Hell are riding on Horse-back making haste towards thee and will soon overtake thee to thy eternal Ruine and Destruction and then thou shalt know by sad Experience that the Fears of the first Death which now thou labourest to stifle yea to drive away from thy Thoughts were not so full of dread and horror as the feeling of the Second Death will be for ever Death therefore unto wicked Men is an Object to be feared and the fear of Death in them is not only lawful but commendable and that upon which their Thoughts should much dwell because it is that which will prevent much Sin in them while they live and may possibly render Death more comfortable to them when they come to die Thirdly Consider Man as regenerate and become a true Believer yet so he may and often doth fear death For let a Man be never so much a Saint yet he will be still a Man and therefore as death will be death so nature will still be nature and therefore death as death will be abhorred Neither is there any necessity that the fear of death should be wholly conquered and subdued in the Godly so as that if should not be because it may and often doth turn to their Benefit and Advantage for hereby they are made to walk more humbly with God and more watchfully over themselves for while they consider that they are poor frail dying Creatures subject unto death continually and that they must pass from thence unto Judgment to give an Account of what they have done in the Body by this means they are kept from falling into many Sins that now would wound their Consciences and break their peace and hereafter make their death more dark and uncomfortable By this fear of death also the Godly are quickened in their preparations for Heaven and Eternity for because death is so certain that it will come and withal so uncertain when it will come the Godly are hereby stirred up unto a speedy and diligent preparation for it that so they may be ready for their departure whensoever God by death shall call them hence And death now is an Object of Fear in general so are there Reasons why Christians fear death in particular as First Some are afraid of death because of the extremity of those pains which they must undergo when they are dying and because of the
fearest God thou needst not be so foolishly fond of this Life for what is there in it that should make thee coat upon it Is it not a Life full of cares and troubles Have not thy Sins made it so The Wise Man tells us that all that is in this Life that can be outwardly enjoyed is nothing but Vanity and vexation of Spirit Hast thou not by experience found it so Thou shouldst therefore with Holy Job bless God not only for giving of Life but for taking of it away also God gave it thee for a time and but for a short time too and if thou wert so wise as thou shouldst be thou oughtest to count it thy felicity that it is so short for it is a Life of sorrow and who will complain because his sorrows are so short It may be thou hast met with some pleasures here that gratifie thy sense but are they comparable to what thy Soul hath tasted in the enjoyment of God unto which God by Death is calling thee to the enjoyment of with himself in Heaven to all Eternity Darest thou say that Earth is like Heaven Is Christ in those dark and dim discoveries he makes of himself in the Gospel like to Christ in the full and open manifestations of himself in all his Glory in Heaven Canst thou say thy Soul is so like him in Wisdom Holiness Joy and Peace here as it will be above when it comes to be enrolled among the Spirits of just Men made perfect If thou wilt be in love with Life be in love with Eternal Life and henceforth fear not to die at God's call for the obedience that thou owest unto God binds thee and the gain that Death will bring should both invite and encourage thee Though Death ends this Life it begins another and though thou may'st rot under ground in one part of thee yet it is in thy vilest part thy Body and even that will spring up and flourish again shortly And in the mean time thy Soul thy better part shall live a more noble and excellent life Think well therefore of Death for as it ends thy Life so it ends thy Sin and thy sufferings also In these particular Instances O Christian thou feest how little cause there is for thee to be afraid of Death I shall now in the next place endeavour to discover how unfit and uncomely a thing it is for Christians to fear Death and for this consider First A Christians fearing of Death brings a reproach upon Religion as if there were not that in Christianity that could lift up a Soul above the fears of Death For a Papist that professeth no Man can in an ordinary way be assured that he shall go to Heaven when he dies to tremble at the thoughts of Death this is no great matter it is but to act according to what his Religion teacheth him but for one that professeth the knowledge and assurance of Salvation and a future happy State to stand amazed at death the way and passage through which God hath appointed we must enter into Heaven where this happiness is to be enjoyed shews if not a want of Faith yet at least a great weakness of Faith and gives occasion to those that speak evil of the good ways of God to reflect disgracefully upon Religion Secondly To live in fear of Death is that State of Bondage and Slavery which wicked Men are under and from which Jesus Christ came to deliver his People And therefore for a Believer to live dejectedly under the fears of Death is a very uncomely thing Indeed the fears of wicked Men are so great that they cannot think of Death without horrour and when they come to die they are compelled to it for of all things in the World they dread Death most and could they but be assured that they shall live here always they would desire no other Heaven Fearfulness and amazedness under the apprehensions of Death is the proper State of wicked Men that Slavery and Bondage unto which they are always subject for upon good grounds they can have no hopes in Death but are full of fearful expectations of Wrath and fiery Indignation that shall Torment them for ever But now for true Believers God hath made your state and condition very unlike unto theirs as to the issues of Death because you have good hopes of Eternal Life even in Death so says the Wise Man Prov. 14.32 The Righteous hath hope in his Death Now since there is so great an unlikeness between you and them both in Death and after Death let there not be a likeness between you and them as to your fears of Death let a Faelix tremble at the hearing of Death and Judgment but let not the Godly hang down their Heads but lift them up with joy and rejoicing because the day of their Redemption draweth nigh Thirdly Consider this to be afraid of Death is to fear that which is but the Shadow and semblance of Death For to speak strictly a state of Sin and separation of the Soul from God for Sin this is Death properly but the separation of the Soul from the Body only is but the Shadow of Death But O how seldom is it to see Men trembling because of a spiritual Death because they are dead in trespasses and sins though this be infinitely more dreadful than any temporal Death can be And therefore to shew how full of Woe and Misery this Death is it is called Damnation which is the extremity of all Misery This is that now to which this spiritual Death tends and in which it will terminate Hence therefore Wicked Men are said to be condemned already and the wrath of God abides upon them and that they shall have their Portion in that Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death This shall as certainly be their Portion as if they were there already Therefore O Christian if thou wilt fear Death fear not that which is the shadow and the appearance of it but fear that which is Death indeed fear Sin that is the cause both of the first and of the second Death also for if thou art spiritually alive and raised from the Death of Sin as all true Believers are how uncomely a thing is it for thee to fear the Shadow the appearance of an evil which cannot hurt thee when thou art delivered from the evil it self Fourthly Consider for a Christian to fear that which is both common and certain is an uncomely and unsuitable thing Afflictions in general are the common lot of all God's People in this World but Death is that which is more common because it is that which befals all both good and bad from other outward Afflictions there is a possibility that some may be free or if they befal them they may be delivered from under them again but no Man can escape Death What Man is he that liveth saith the Psalmist and shall not see Death shall he
deliver his Soul from the hand of the Grave No he cannot Now God hath in Mercy made that to be most common which is most grievous and afflictive that he might thereby abate the terrour of it to us and for any one to strive against that which no Man can avoid or shun argues that Man to be guilty of great folly It is therefore very unbecoming thee O Christian to fear Death which is the common way of all Flesh yea the way by which all the People of God enter into Heaven and Happiness But to proceed a little farther in this subject I shall in the next place endeavour to discover that the fears of Death may not only be overcome for a time but that it is possible for a Christian to live without them or above them which though it be a high attainment yet is it that to which Grace may reach and that which many of the People of God do daily experience the comfort of Now by a Christians living without the fear of Death I mean a holy quiet ation and satisfaction of Soul as to his future State of Happiness founded upon the knowledge of his Interest in Christ who hath overcome Death for all Believers whereby the thoughts of it approach doth neither distract nor disquiet his Mind so as to bereave him of that Peace and Tranquility of Soul that he enjoys is his Hopes and Expectations of Heaven and Glory but that he can with a holy Contentation and Satisfaction resign up his Soul unto God whensoever he calls for it Now that such a State as this is attainable I need say no more than that this was one of the ends for which Christ died that by Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and deliver them who by reason of the fear of Death were all their life-times subject unto Bondage So that we being delivered out of the hands of all our spiritual Enemies whereof Death is one we might serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our lives In this Heavenly frame was Holy David when he said though he walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death he would fear no evil And so was St. Paul when he tells us he was perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come should be able to separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No wonder therefore that he could say I desire to be dissolved though it was by Death that he might be with Christ Thus to live above the fears of Death will cost much pains with our own Hearts great diligence and circumspection over our selves in all our thoughts words and ways much watchfulness against all Sin and Temptations for if we be remiss and through carelessness much more through presumption we fall into Sin or neglect Duty we shall soon be brought into Bondage and Slavery by the fears of Death If therefore O Christian thou art one who hast overcome the fears of Death and canst live above them thou may'st then die with courage and leave this World though Death carry thee out of it with joy and rejoicing And that thou may'st be able to do so let me briefly lay down two or three Directions First Have a great care of blorting thy Evidences for Heaven Darkness is an uncomfortable thing And when Christians have been tampering with the works of Darkness I mean some known Sins blotting their Evidences which should discover their Title to Heaven so that they cannot read them what wonder is it while they are thus in the dark that they are afraid to leave Earth though it be to go to Heaven because they know it not for which they may thank themselves God would not only have his People go to Heaven certainly but joyfully and therefore he hath made ample provisions for their Peace and comfort both in Life and Death so that they may not only have good hope but strong consolation through Grace yea may with a holy exultation of Soul cry out Thanks be to God who always causeth us to Triumph in Christ But now if when God hath spoken Peace they will turn again unto folly by venturing upon Sin they hereby create their own sorrows Fear and Consternation of Soul under the apprehensions of Death come from themselves they are their own Tormenters and the hinderers and disturbers of their own Peace and Joy And now if instead of being able to read their Evidences for Heaven which should comfort them they can only make wounding reflections upon their Sins that have blotted those Evidences so that they walk in darkness and the fears of Death continually afflict their Souls they must thank themselves for where there is the apprehensions of guilt lying upon any Soul unpardoned there the thoughts of death will be terrible This made David when in his own apprehensions he was drawing nigh to the Grave beg so importunately of God that he would spare him a little longer that he might recover his strength before he should go away from hence and be seen no more If therefore when you come to die you would leave this World cheerfully you must live in the World conscienciously Exercise your selves in all things to keep Consciences void of offence towards God and towards all Men. Take heed of those black Fiends thy Sins which will fright thy Soul in the dark night of death If thy Conscience be kept clean thy Evidences for Heaven will be clear and the thoughts of death comfortable Many be venturing upon Sin wound their Souls and when death approaches O then they start back and sain would they be spared a little longer If Conscience be raw with the guilt of any one Sin a very light affliction much more death will make a Man kick and fling and very unwilling to bear it but where the Spirit is sound and the guilt of Sin taken off from the Conscience by the love of Christ death it self will be embraced with courage and joy Secondly Deaden your Hearts and Affections to the World and all the comforts thereof The inordinate love of worldly enjoyments and the imperfect love of God makes Men afraid to die He whose Heart and Affections sit loose to the World a small matter will make him willing to leave it but where the Heart is fastned to it in love and affection there will be no parting from it without much reluctancy He that hath laid up his Heart in Heaven can comfortably think of laying down his Body in the Grave Prize therefore Heavenly things above Earthly Place your Happiness in spiritual things count them not only your Food but your Feast yea make them your recreation Were Heaven and Heavenly things the continual solace and delight of our Souls with what joy and rejoicing should we leave Earth to go to Heaven Thirdly Familiarize the Thoughts of Death
we may come to the full Enjoyment of our longed for Happiness Hath God cast thee O Christian upon a Bed of Pain and Sorrow and is it likely to prove thy Death-bed Are there such Symptoms of thy departure that God seems to tell thee plainly thou shalt die and not live O do not reply and say It is too soon yet thou art too young to die and go to Heaven What though God call thee to Glory and Blessedness sooner than thou expectest yet shame not thy self grieve not others that behold thee much more disparage not the Happiness of Heaven nor of that God who is to be eternally enjoyed there by thy unwillingness to go thither Secondly May some say we shall have so many Evils to encounter with that will create us so much fear and trouble and withal so many Pains will befall us in a dying hour that we cannot tell how to think of Death we are so affrighted at it To this I answer It is true a Christian cannot expect to die without Assaults of Enemies nor without the Pains of Death but yet a Christian need not fear nor be unwilling to die for all this First One Discouragement may be the Apprehension of the guilt of Sin which they then fear will stare their Consciences in the Face and how to bear up under it they know not But know O Christian if Sin hath lost its Throne in thy Soul if it hath no Interest in thy Affections so that it is not embraced with any Love or Delight it shall never ruine or condemn thee For it is a certain Truth where Sin doth not rule there Sin shall never damn He that by the Grace and Spirit of Christ is enabled to mortifie his Sins and all sinful Affections and Inclinations thereunto and by a penitential Conversion of Soul from Sin unto God hath forsaken his sinful ways all his former Provocations though never so great lose their damning Power For where Sin is once in the Exercise or godly Sorrow confessed unto God it is by him graciously pardoned Nay the Apostle tells us in 1 John 1.9 If we confess our Sins God is not only merciful and gracious but he will be just and righteous to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness And what greater security can a Christian desire for his support than the Truth and Faithfulness of that God who is Truth it self and cannot lie Secondly There is another thing that may startle a Christian's Confidence and make him unwilling to die and that is the fears of the Assaults of Satan who will do what he can not only to hinder our future Happiness but to interrupt our comfortable passage through Death It is true the Devil will be very active in a dying hour But be not discouraged give not place to his Temptations For where Sin is pardoned as it is to all Believers What hath the Devil wherewith to shake a Christian's Confidence or to undermine his Hopes and Expectance but what is built upon Lies and Falshood If therefore you will give Credit unto this Father of Lies when he endeavours to weaken those certain Assurances the great God hath given you of his resolved Designs to save such as you are and so come to be disturbed and confounded in your Thoughts about your present and future State you must blame your selves Till therefore it can be proved that Sin may be repented of and not pardoned that Sin may be pardoned and yet the Soul perish and undone till God or Christ prove either forgetful unable or false be not dejected It is the great Comfort of a Christian that the Devil hath no other Arguments to disquiet a Believer with in a dying hour but what are bottom'd on these gross Absurdities And though Satan may be furious in his last Assaults yet O Christian remember when thou art walking through the Valley of the shadow of death thou walkest not alone In that dark and gloomy Valley God hath his Rod and his Staff in readiness for thy Assistance and Encouragement and know further O believing Soul that Christ our compassionate High Priest knows what it is to die and hath been acquainted with the Subtilties and Fury of the Tempter by smart Experience and his sympathy hath taught him pity and because he is our Head he will not forget his Members under their afflicting Temptations in that hour For though he be in Heaven he retains the same Bowels and Affections now in his glorified State which he had here upon Earth and doth continually improve his Intercession in Heaven for the benefit security and relief of his afflicted People in their greatest dangers and Extremities If any poor Believers shall here object the pains of Death as being so great and to their apprehensions insupportable and therefore they are unwilling to die Let them consider that they are but short and suddain and though they are made by God our necessary passage into Glory yet they shall soon be over and forgot when the Soul by death is set free from the Body and takes its flight into the Presence of God in Heaven And alas what are the dying pains and groaning gasps of departing Saints compared to the Gripes and Stingings of an awakned Conscience for sin and the horrid fears of the Wrath and Vengeance of God which though they are not seen by others because inward yet are they the frequent and daily Tormenting Exercises of sinners both in Life and Death And though the pains of the Godly in a dying hour may sometimes be afflictive unto Sense yet it often happens through the Goodness and Mercy of God to them that their Fears in Life exceed their Pains in Death and this King of Terrors doth not gripe so hard nor stab so painfully as we are apt to think and if he doth God many times comes in with such strong Consolations upon departing Souls in the Manifestations of his Love to and Presence with them as turns their Fears and Sorrows into Joy and Rejoycing But if God should not manifest himself thus Comfortably unto some for their Support but leave them to the feeling of their Fears by undergoing great pains in Death yet as soon as the stroke is given the pains are gone and their fears are over How quickly do the first openings of that Eternal Morning swallow up all the Remembrances of our dying sorrows O when the Joys and Visions of our God invade and Exercise our departed Souls then comes the great and welcome Pledge of our Eternal Conquest of this last Enemy and after a short sleep of Bodies in the Dust whilst Souls return to God the Trump will sound the Lord will come the World shall perish or be refin'd by Flames and the Dead shall rise and die no more and then as the Apostle speaks shall we be ever with the Lord. But some may say we could willingly die but that we know not what will become of us hereafter we cannot tell
Jesus the Head will diffuse it self into all its Members to quicken and raise them also in the morning of the Resurrection And indeed Christ is not perfectly risen till all Believers are risen also For though Christ's personal Resurrection was perfect when he arose out of the Grave and though all Believers did then arise with Christ representatively yet till all Believers arise personally at the last day the Resurrection of Christ hath not received its full perfection How comfortable therefore is this to a Believer to consider that by the same Faith that he puts Christ's Resurrection into the Premises he may put his own Resurrection into the Conclusion If Christ be in you says the Apostle speaking to Believers in Rom. 8.10 11. The body is dead it is a poor frail dying body because of sin And though you are really united unto Christ by his Spirit dwelling in you which is a great and glorious Priviledge yet your bodies must die as well as others but the Spirit saith he is life because of Righteousness Though your bodies die your souls shall be su'allowed up in life upon your dissolution this Happiness Believers have even in death But this is not all for saith the Apostle if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you what then why though your bodies must fall by Death into the Grave yet they shall rise and live again at the Resurrection and that by virtue of the Spirit of Christ which dwelleth in you and is the Bond of your Mystical Vnion with him who is your Head for says the Apostle He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Because Christ is your Head and his Spirit dwelleth in you you shall be raised again and that not as others by a meer word of his Power as the wicked are but by the Spirit of Life dwelling in Christ your Head which is an excellent Priviledge indeed O the Consolation that the hope of the Resurrection fills the Believing Soul withal it is this Blessed Hope that supports it not only under the Troubles of Life but makes it Triumph even under the Pains and Agonies of Death it self Thirdly Meditate frequently upon the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven Now this Ascension of Christ into Heaven as it was full of Glory and Triumph in respect of himself so is it full of admirable Comfort in respect of Believers As to himself his Ascension was Triumphant a Cloud was prepared as a Royal Chariot to carry up this King of Glory into Heaven so it is said in Acts 11.10 That whilst his Disciples beheld he was taken up and a Cloud received him out of their sight and no doubt a Royal Guard of Angels attended the Solemnity of their Lord's Ascension If when Christ came into the World to suffer Angels waited upon him for even then it was said of him Let all the Angels of God Worship him surely much more then now that he hath finished the work of Mans Redemption do the Angels Worship him in his return to Heaven again where he is exalted to have a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow both of things in Heaven and things on Earth and things under the Earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the Glory of God the Father But may a poor Believer say what is all this to me what am I the better that Christ is Ascended and Exalted thus in Glory Yes this is much for the advantage of Believers for it is the same Jesus that was Crucified for them that God hath made both Lord and Christ It is he who took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham who is Exalted above Angels being gone into Heaven Angels Principalities and Powers being made subject unto him It is this Jesus Christ whom God hath raised from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church Ephes 1.20 21. Christ Ascended into Heaven as a publick Person or the fore-runner of Believers for he is not gone to take possession of Heaven only for himself but also in our Name and for us So the Apostle tells us Heb. 6.20 speaking of the most Holy place within the Vail whither says he the fore-runner that is Christ is for us entred And if we will not believe the Apostle Christ himself tells us the same thing John 14.2 In my Father's House are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you And if I go away I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Christ is now in Heaven transacting the Affairs and Concerns of Believers both for their present Peace and Comfort and for their future Eternal Happiness not only by intercepting the daily cry of their sins by the continual Representation of his Death and Sufferings unto his Father and so making an Atonement and Reconciliation with God for them but by the Blood of his Cross he maintains this Peace and keeps up good thoughts in God towards Believers sprinkling their poor and weak but sincer Services with the Incense of his own Merits so that though both they and their Services deserve to be rejected for their own sakes yet they shall both be accepted for Christ's sake This now is something that Christ is doing in Heaven in the behalf of Believers since he is Ascended to his Father and to their Father to his God and to their God But yet this is not all for in that comfortable Prayer of his to his Father before his Ascension into Heaven which is say some the Copy of his Intercession now he is in Heaven he doth as it were tell us that he looks not upon himself as perfectly Happy until he hath the whole number of Believers with him in Glory and therefore says he John 17.24 Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where Lam that they may behold that is that they may enjoy my Glory which thou hast given me O what Comfort then is here to all Believers against the Fears of Death for assure thy self O Believing Soul that neither Death nor the Grave shall be a bar to thy Happiness thou must die it is true so did Christ but he is Risen and Ascended up into Heaven and so shalt thou also in due time and therefore says the Apostle He hath made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.6 Salvation and Happiness is made sure to a Believer by Christ for if when we were Enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death
in the same way Oh how unlike to Christians do they shew themselves who are so loath to die that they will not come but must be dragg'd to the Grave yea to the very thoughts of Death Oh how unsuitable is this Temper to those who desire that God's Wills may be done who profess themselves to be Strangers and Pilgrims here upon Earth and to look upon Heaven as their Country and their Fathers House The life of a Christian should be a life of Faith now the Excellency of the Life of Faith in a Believer with relation unto Death lies in this that it makes him not only submissive but chearfully to come to that to which another must be dragged by force I mean Death and the Grave To a Believer when his Faith is on the wing Life as St. Paul says of his is not dear and Death as he speaks of his is desired It was as hard to make St. Paul patient when he thought of living as to make another patient when he thinks of dying a most sweet and Blessed Frame of Spirit but where is it to be found now how rarely is it be to seen the most of Men shall I say nay the most of Professors and would to God there were not just cause to complain and say whom we hope are real Christians their Hearts and Affections are so much set upon the World even as if their Portion were not in Heaven but they themselves were among the Number of those whose Names are written in the Earth The Lord humble us that so much of this Evil frame of Spirit is to be seen in the best of God's Children as appears by their backwardness and unwillingness to die O Christians if Jesus Christ had gone as unwillingly to Suffer and to Die for us as we go to Pray to him and to hear from him not to say as unwillingly as we go to die that we may enjoy him what had become of our Salvation but blessed be God he did not And surely Christians if it was Christs desire to die for us as it was it should then be our longing to live with him though it be by Dying Oh what a strange unseemly and unbecoming thing is it for a Christian to hear his Saviour crying out I have a Baptism to be baptized withal though it was the Baptism of his bloody Death and Sufferings and oh how am I straitned till it be accomplished And that a Christian reflecting upon the thoughts of his own Death should say I have a Baptism to be baptized withal though not a Baptism of a bloody Death by the hands of Violence but the Baptism of an easie quiet and peaceable Death and how am I straitned and full of fears lest it should be accomplished Certainly Christians a willingness in Christ to die for us that we might live by him should cause in us a willingness to die that we might live with him Would to God O Christian Reader that what hath been said might be a means to work in my self and thee not only a readiness and fitness for Death though that is very good and that in which the safety of a Christian lies and happy are they that have gone so far for Heaven is sure to them whether they know it or not but Oh that we might go further that Grace might attain to a greater Perfection in us even that we might come to a Holy willingness and desire yea to a Holy-longing of Soul after Death This is that Holy covetousness of Soul that God allows of There are two things wherein a Christian cannot be too insatiable in his desires after them one is that he may Honour God the other is that he may enjoy God that he may honour God as much as he can while he is on Earth and that he may enjoy God as soon as it may be in Heaven this is the most commendable and desirable life and this will end in the most Happy and Comfortable Death Death did I say nay it is Life in Death it is Death swallowed up of Life even in a Life of unconceivable Glory and Happiness in the enjoyment of that God who is all Life all Love all Peace all Joy and all Happiness in the utmost and highest Perfection I am sensible I have made a Digression in this particular but the desire I had Christian Reader to stir up my own Soul and thine also unto a Duty so full of Sweetness and Delight hath put me upon it I now go on to what yet remains Having laid down some Consolations against the fear of Death in general I shall in the next place endeavour to propound some Considerations for the support of Christians under the loss of Friends and Relations in particular which unto many is a sore Trial and hard to be born for it is as common for Christians to exceed in their Grief for their dead Friends and Relations as it is to exceed in their Love and Delight in their living Friends and Relations and in both it is very hard for Christians to keep their Passions and Affections within due bounds The blessed Apostle therefore gives us Excellent Counsel how we should carry our selves under the enjoyment of Relations and outward Comforts whilst we have them and how we should bear up under the loss of them when God takes them away from us we have the Direction for both 1 Cor. 7.29 If we have Relations or Worldly Enjoyments why then saith he Rejoyce in them as if you rejoyced not If you want them or have lost them then says he weep for them as if you wept not and he lays down a very cogent reason for what he says for the time is short and the World is passing away and so are you and all your Relations and Comforts passing away with it As if the Apostle had said if God hath Blessed you with dear and sweet Relations with pleasant and delightful Comforts yet consider it is but a little time that you shall enjoy them they and you shall quickly part again therefore rejoyce in them as if you rejoyced not And if God hath seen good to take away those sweet Pledges of his Love and once the Objects of your Delight and Joy do not much Afflict your selves under the loss of them for it is but a little while that you shall continue here without them the time is short and the World is passing away and ere long it will not be yea you your selves are passing away with it yea before it also weep therefore as if you wept not these things are not your great Concerns your Happiness lies not in the Enjoyment of them nor your Misery in the loss of them but it lies in something higher and of greater Worth and Excellency even in God himself it 's the Enjoyment of him only that can make a Soul happy and the loss of him only that can make it miserable Therefore with a Holy Moderation and Indifferency of Affection carry
your selves continually in every condition Now before I proceed to lay down particular Consolatory Directions for the support of Christians under the loss of Friends and Relations I must here put in a double caution which Christians must carefully observe The one is that they despise not the Chastening of the Lord the other is that they faint not under them these are two extreams the Apostle exhorts Christians to be aware of and they are both comprehended in Hebrews 12.5 My Son despise not thou the Chastening of the Lord neither faint when thou art Rebuked of him When God lays his Correcting hand upon us for any to be so bold as to say they do not regard it let God take all if he will must my Estate go I care not if it doth will God take away my Children or Relations let them die thus to make light of the hand of God is to despise the Chastening of the Lord and God will not long bear it nor with us for it But then there is another Extream that we must take heed of under Affliction and that is fainting If when Goods are taken away the Hearts of those that enjoy them are taken away also and they sink into despondency and distrust If when Children die the Spirits of Parents die too this is fainting under the Rod. A Christian now must walk in the middle way between both these Extreams neither carelesly to despise nor despairingly to faint under the Chastisements of the Lord. But though Christians must neither despise the hand of God when it is lifted up against them nor yet faint under it yet they ought to be sensible of it for it is a most unbecoming temper in any Christian not to tremble when God smites him Weep and Mourn we may under Affliction God allows Tears to flow from our Eyes and Sorrow in our Hearts under the loss of Friends and Relations Grief in such cases doubtless is very Lawful To be without Natural Affections is a Heathenish sin Rom. 1.29 It is our Duty to take notice of every twig of God's Rod. Not to be troubled when the hand of God hath made a breach upon us is our sin To be above Passions is the Happiness of Heaven and to rectifie Passions is much of our Happiness on Earth To be without Natural Affections is to be below a Man but to Order and Manage them aright is the Perfection of a Christian Having premised this I now proceed to lay down some Consolatory Directions for the support of Christians under the loss of Friends and Relations which may be very useful also in the undergoing any other Affliction whatsoever and I shall reduce them all unto these particular heads as some Consider ations relating unto God the Author of our Afflictions Some relating to our selves that are the Subjects of Afflictions And some relating to the Afflictions themselves First some Considerations relating unto God the Author of our Afflictions And here consider First God hath more right to and in all our Friends and Relations than we our selves have He is Lord of all so great is his Dominion and Sovereignty over all that what he can do by Might he may do by Right He is not accountable unto any as we are nor is he tied by any Rule or Law but his own Will in any of his Actings And therefore if God take away any of our Friends and Relations it is no more than what he may do and if God do no more than whan he may do who are we that we should Complain When God gives us Relations or Comforts for our use and benefit he still keeps the right to them in his own bands and when he lets us have the Possession of them for a time he keeps the Propriety to himself If God gives us Comforts it is an Act of Bounty but when he takes them away it is an Act of Justice for he is a Sovereign Lord in both God cannot injure his Creatures his Sovereignty and Supremacy is enough to bear him out whatever he doth with or to them Hast thou lost a dear Husband a loving Wife or a dutiful Child Let that Right God hath in them and the Sovereignty he hath over thee and them quiet thy Spirit under all It was so with David Psal 39.2 I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou Lord. didst it Secondly Consider whatever dear Relations God hath taken from thee he is able to make thee a Recompence with great advantage and that in the same kind if he see it good for thee Say not therefore concerning thy dead Friends and Relations what shall I do for those sweet Refreshments and those Comfortable Delights that once I enjoyed in them but Death hath now spoiled me of all for God is able to give thee much more than what was in all these God is not as Isaac that had but one Blessing Our Heavenly Father hath all Blessings at his Command what a sweet Title is that which the Apostle gives unto God for the Comfort of all Believers 2 Cor. 1.3 The Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort and Consolation Friends Relations with all the Comforts and Delights belonging to them are at his Command and he can speak them into being for your Support and Comfore when he pleaseth If God take away a Mercy from any of his People usually he gives them another in the room of it and many times a better God smote David's Child begotten in Adultry and David Fasts and Prays for the life of it and notwithstanding this the Child died but in a little time God gave him another a Solomon a Jedidiab one that was beloved of the Lord in his stead God bestows many comfortable Enjoyments upon his People in their passage through this World to some he gives dear Relations to others he gives Estates to some abundance of Health to others faithful and loving Friends now these Comforts are to continue but for a while and those of them that last longest will consume away at length and when these Comforts are taken away it seems to be a time of darkness and sadness with the People of God but if their Faith be active and vigorous they may support themselves with this that God doth not use to be long wanting to the Comfort of his People that wait for him David tells us as much Psal 18.8 Thou Lord wilt light my Candle the Lord my God shall enlighten my darkness Thirdly Consider this doth God deny thee or hath he taken from thee some Comforts which thou countest as great as any thou canst enjoy as to outward Blessings yet hath he left thee many still and he hath far better to bestow upon thee even such between which and them there is no comparison It may be thou wantest Posterity to bear up thy Name when thou art dead and gone and thou criest out with Abraham Lord what wilt thou give me seeing Igo Childless Is this thy Case O
Christian why then consider as you have not the Comfort of enjoying of Children so you have not the Care and Trouble of Educating and bringing them up nor the Grief and Vexation of their wicked lives and sometimes more wicked and untimely deaths which is a constant trouble of Soul unto many which made a Holy Man once mournfully complain and say It is better to weep for tendead Children than for one living Child Little do you know what a continual grief of Spirit and a constanr aking of heart some Children are unto their Parents What a heart wounding was it to David when he cries 2 Samuel 16.11 Behold my Son which came out of my Bowels seeketh my life Oh how many Children are there to whom the lives of their Parents are a burthen who instead of Praying to God their Heavenly Father for their Parents not only think and wish it in their Hearts but among their Prophane Companions are not ashamed to speak it with their Tongues as I have heard of some wickedly and impiously desiring that they could invert that Petition of the Lord's Prayer and say of their Earthly Fathers what others say of their Heavenly Father Our Father which art in Heaven longing for the Expiration of the life of those who under God were the Instruments of conveying life unto them Oh to what a heighth of Impiety are such vile wretched Monsters come for they deserve not the Name of Children who cannot be content to stay till God takes away their Parents from them but would themselves bury them as it were alive And let not any such think slightly to pass over their Sin by saying Why we wish them no ill what hurt is it to wish them in Heaven they cannot be in a better place It is true they cannot but this doth not excuse their wickedness for doubtless it is not so much their Parents Happiness in Heaven that they desire as that they might enjoy their Estates here upon Earth But let all such wicked Wretches know that God will be sure to meet with them here or hereafter And if the Blessing of long Life be promised unto those that honour their Parents those then that desire the Death of their Parents shall have cause to fear their lives may be shortned for surely of such wicked I had almost said blood-thirsty Wretches it may be truly said that they shall not live out half their days But this by the way But this is not my Case may some say God hath not denied me Children or Relations but he hath taken many of them from me and such who were very delightful to me and this doth much trouble me But though God hath taken some from you yet hath he not left you more than he hath taken so it is sometimes But yet it frequently happens that if God removes away one mercy from us presently we are so cast down as if all our Enjoyments were gone and we mourn so excessively that we are become so blind that we cannot behold the Mercies God hath left us for the want of what he hath taken from us But why O Christian art thou so unthankful to God and so unkind to thy self as to lose the Comfort of all the other Mercies thou enjoyest because God hath taken away one Mercy that thou wantest Oh vile Ingratitude how many thousands are there as good shall I say nay better than you whose whole Harvest of Comforts in this World is not a handful to the gleaning of those Comforts you still enjoy who in all their Lives never were Owners of such comfortable Enjoyments as you now over-look in your grief and trouble if not in your diseontent But what dost thou mean O Christian by all this What are the Mercies God hath left thee in possession nothing worth The Grave hath swallowed up a Child Death hath snatch'd away a Friend but still thou hast a Husband it may be or a Wife or Children or if God hath stripp'd thee of all these yet he hath left thee a comfortable Estate to live upon with health and strength to use and enjoy it or if this be gone also have you not the Gospel the Ordinances of God and if thou art a Believer thou hast an Interest in Christ and in the Covenant of Grace and a Right and Title to all the Priviledges belonging to that Covenant as Pardon of Sin Peace of Conscience and Hopes of eternal Life And what dost thou faint and sink as if all thy Comforts in this World and all thy Hopes of the World to come were dead and buried in one Grave together Beware of this O ye mourning afflicted ones for the Sin is great and so is the Danger that attends it as might be shew'd at large but I forbear Yet before I leave this Head I shall add one thing more You who have lost the delight of your Eyes and the joy of your hearts as to outward Comferts yet remember God hath far better to bestow upon you even such as transcend the love of Parents or the joy of Children I confess a dear Husband a loving Wife a beloved Child an affectionate Friend these are very great things when they stand by other Comforts and Enjoyments but Oh! what poor little small things nay nothings are they when God shall set himself by them before a gracious Soul And now that God is taking away these earthly Comforts who can tell but that hereby he is making way for himself the King of Glory to come into such a Soul to communicate of himself and his Grace in a more sweet and sensible way and manner than ever he hath done And as one saith the Death of Children Relations and Friends these dark and uncomfortable Providences must cast up and prepare the way of the Lord removing them out of the heart that himself may dwell there alone Fourthly Under your Tears and Sorrows in the loss of Friends and Relations consider What wrong hath God done you by your Afflictions that you so mourn and complain God hath taken from you a dear Relation from whom you expected much Comfort but God had a greater Interest in your Relation than you had for all Souls are his and will you dispute with him Who had most Right to dispose of your Relations God or you Your Relation though never so dear to you was the work of his hands and what may not God do what he will with his own Suppose the Relation thou hast lost was a beloved Child that you nourished and bred up and that with great pains and care God hath paid you sufficiently for it in the Loan of your Child so long and now that your Child is come to full Age and to the Time appointed of the Father may he not take it home unto himself Did you or could you provide better for your Child than God can God gave your Child Life and Breath while it was with you that it might be a Comfort to you and you
enjoyed it longer than you deserved or than he promised you and now that he is come and claims his Interest in it it is but a fitting and becoming thing that you should sit still and he satisfied in his Will Secondly Consider some Arguments in reference to our selves for the moderating of our Griefs and Sorrows under the loss of Friends and Relations And here consider First Who or what are we that we should be discontented or repine at the dealings of the all-wise God with us Alas if we reflect upon our Original what is it Dust and Ashes and out of thence formed by God to be his Creatures for it is he that hath made us and not we our selves and this shews our weakness and impotency But this is not all we are not only God's Creatures made by him and depending upon him but we are sinful Creatures that have rebelled against him the Posterity of Sinful and Apostate Parents that have lost our Primitive Beauty and Excellency whereby we did bear the Image and Resemblance of God in Holiness which is the Glory of God himself and are run in Debt unto his Justice more than we or all the Men on Earth yea or all the Saints and Angels in Heaven are able to pay This God to whom we thus stand indebted is become our great Benefactor gives us all we enjoy maintains us continually at his own proper Cost and Charges for we have nothing but what we receive from Him it is his Corn and Wine that feeds and nourisheth us his Wool and Flax that covers our Nakedness his Silver and Gold that enricheth us Hos 2.8 9. He fram'd us and fashion'd us in the Womb and gave us all the Limbs and Parts of our Bodies so that we were born neither maimed nor monstrous he endued us with Reason and Vnderstanding it is he that is the God of our Health and Strength our Peace our Plenty flow from his Bounty and Goodness to us yea our very Lives and Beings are from him for in him we live and move and have our Beings We are but Worms and if he tread upon any of us he leaves us dead behind him So infinitely below him are we that if we do that which is good we cannot benefit him and if we will venture upon that which is evil we cannot hurt him Now the Contention is between this great and mighty yea Almighty God the Creator and Governour of all Things and Persons and us poor low sinful Dust and Ashes who shall have their Wills in the disposing of our Friends and Relations but his own Creatures whether God's Will shall stand or ours We may pretend what we will to excuse our selves but the plain Truth of things lies in this Contest whose will shall take place Gods or ours whether he or we shall have the disposing of our selves and ours But it is in vain to contend with him for as he will so it is fitting he should do with us and ours as he pleaseth whether we will or no. What saith Elibu Job 34.33 Should it be according to our Minds he will recompence whether we refuse or whether we chuse There is no good to be got by contending with one that is so infinitely above us our wisest way is to be dumb and hold our Peace when God pleads with us by any Affliction Doth not God do all things well Do we not all stand amazed at that infinite Wisdom by which the Heavens and Earth and all the Creatures in both were made and by which they are all governed and disposed Doubtless there is nothing amiss in his Administrations he cannot be subject to any Error who is Wisdom it self all his Works are perfect and good Who date pretend to find fault with what God doth Shall mortal Man be more wise than his Maker Have you lost sweet and lovely Children or dear Yoke-fellows Lay your hands upon your Mouths be not discontented but acquiesce in what God hath done for he always doth what is best for his at present they cannot see it it may be but they shall do hereafter and in the mean time it is their Duty to believe and to trust in him It is not for us to have the Keys of Life and Death to hang at our Girdle to let in and out at our Pleasure Heaven then would be empty enough for our Friends should not go yet if we could help it and our Enemies should never come there if we could hinder them Our Relations would then live too long and our Enemies would die too soon But these things whatever we say or think to the contrary are ruled by an All wise Providence to which we our selves and all our Relation are subjected And it will never be well with us till we can resign up our selves our Relations and all our Comforts unto his wise disposal and say not our Wills but thy Will O Lord be done Secondly Consider your weeping and mourning for the loss of your Friends and Relations is but a vain vexatious thing it is that which will do you no good but may do you much hurt If a Bullock have the Yoke fastened upon him he may by struggling and striving make his Yoke gaul and vex him but it doth not ease him at all thereby The Case is so with thee O Christian God hath afflicted thee sorely by taking away thy Yoke fellow or thy Child if thou wilt not bear it patiently but frettest and murmurest against God all that thou gettest hereby is the more pain and smart but thou dost not help or ease thy self in the least What our Lord saith of our caring for the things of this life is true in grieving for the losses we sustain in this life Which of you says he by taking thought can add one Cubit to his Stature Matth. 6.27 Cares may break our hearts and shorten our days but they cannot add to our Stature So Sorrows under losses may break our Rest and rend our hearts yea they may hasten our death for worldly Sorrow causeth death but it cannot repair our losses nor help us under them When the Hand of God is upon any of our Relations by Sicknesses and Distempers and the purpose of God in reference unto their Death is unknown to us There is now room for Fasting and Prayer that the Evil threatned and feared may not come upon us Tears and Cries unto God now have the nature and use of means to prevent an Affliction from coming upon us But when once the purpose of God is manifested and the fatal stroke is given it is the vainest thing in the World to fret and vex our selves because our Relations are dead Holy David therefore when God had smitten his Child with Sickness being desirous of its life he betakes himself to Fasting and Prayer unto God 2 Sam. 12. and 22. For says he who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the Child may live But when once God had
Heaven walking in the Light of God's Countenance and is able to say I know that my Redeemer lives and that when this Earthly Tabernacle of his Body shall be dissolved into dust that he hath a Building of God an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens which death will bring him unto and this is all the hurt death can do him he that hath such an Assurance as this is cannot but welcome death and embrace it not only with Contentment but with Delight and Joy and even then when his Soul is struggling and striving to get loose from his Body with what Holy Longing and vehemency of desire will he cry out and say come Lord Jesus come quickly CHAP. IV. Of willingness and unwillingness to Die Difference between Christians in reference unto Death Whether it be lawful to desire Death In what cases it may and in what not A willingness to Die may be even in Wicked Men and sometimes they may Die peaceably and quietly though Death is never comfortable and happy to them In the Best there may be an unwillingness to Die though a Saint as a Saint is always desirous of Death Reasons that should encourage the People of God always to be willing to Die Believers should not only desire to Die but they should long for Death DEath in it self is not desirable nor can it be Nature not only shuns but abhors it nor is it possible that Nature should be reconciled to that which seeks its Annihilation and Destruction as Death doth And accordingly as these Fears are either strengthened and increased by Sin and Guilt or conquered and overcome by Grace so are we more or less enclined towards or averse from Death To be willing to Die when God calls us to it is a thing greatly to be desired and argues no small attainment in Grace when we do it upon good grounds And yet sometimes to be unwilling to Die is not to be condemned as evil and sinful To be willing to Die that we may be with Christ when God calls us to it is a frame of Soul in which the People of God should always be desirous to be found but yet to be desirous to Live when either the Great Work of a Christian is not finished or when his Life may tend to the Glory of God and the Good of his Church is that which is not sinful or unlawful we may see this Truth both in David and Hezekiah in David in Psal 6.4 5. Deliver my Soul O Lord spare me for thy Mercy-sake for in Death there is no remembrance of thee David at this time being troubled in Mind under the apprehensions of God's Wrath and so wanting the assurance of his Love as you may read in the Psalm prays that he might be spared And so Hezekiah Isai 38.2 prays for a longer time of Life as for other Reasons so for this as one because having begun a Reformation in the Church of God he was desirous to live that he might carry it on farther to the Glory of God and the Good of his Church A Christian ought so to live not only as to be prepared for Death but so as to be willing to die but yet he is a true Christian who though he doth not die so willingly yet dies preparedly he that dies preparedly and willingly dies most comfortably but yet he that dies preparedly dies safely and happily In reference unto Death there is a great difference between Nominal Christians and Real Christians and also between one true Christian and another There is a difference in reference unto Death between those that are called Christians but yet are not truly so Some there are whose Consciences are so awakened upon a Death-bed setting their Sins before their Faces with such horrible bloody Circumstances and withal representing the Wrath of God and the Everlasting Torments of Hell as due unto them for their Sins that they cry out in Horrour and Despair their Sins are greater than can be forgiven and feeling a Hell in their Consciences here they die under Desperation of ever escaping Hell hereafter or of obtaining Mercy and Pardon from God This was the case of Judas who under Horrours of Conscience despairing of Mercy endeavours to ease his Conscience by laying violent hands upon himself and is as the Scripture saith gone to his own place Others there are who though they would be called Christians yet are not so indeed but yet are so bold and confident in Death that Heaven is theirs as if they were in the possession of it already Our Lord tells us of some in Luke 13.25 who had such strong presumptions of Heaven that with a confident boldness they knock at Heaven's Gate crying Lord Lord open unto us as if there were no more to be done but only the opening of the door and letting them into Heaven but you know what Answer our Lord returns them I know you not depart from me ye workers of Iniquity Both these sorts of Persons the despairing Sinner and the presumptuous Sinner are alike miserable in their Death though they differ vastly from true and real Christians for they die neither happily nor comfortably for they die under the guilt of their Sins and so perish for ever which no true Christian doth And as Hypocrites and sincere Christians differ in their Death so also do true and real Christians differ in the manner of their dying some when they come to lie upon their Death-beds God is pleased to withdraw the light of his Countenance and the manifestations of his Love and Favour from them and in their apprehensions God seems to have cast them off and will be favourable to them no more and though their Life draws nigh to the Grave yet their Soul is full of trouble they are so in the dark and can see no light in such a State of desertion that God seems to have forsaken them their Sun is as it were setting in a Cloud and in this State of dismal darkness they die not knowing what shall become of their Souls for ever which yet go safely to Heaven being built upon the Rock of Ages the Lord Jesus Christ against which the Gates of Death and Hell shall never prevail Some again there are who though they are true Christians yet are weak Christians though they have the Grace of God in Truth yet they have it not in that growth and strength that some have their Faith is true but they are not strong in Faith they love the Lord Jesus in sincerity but not with that fervour and ardour that some do they have a good Hope towards God but their Hope is not lively and operative Such Christians as these now though they take Death patiently yet they would willingly live they go indeed when God by Death calls for them but they could wish that it would please God to stay for them a little longer they have some good Hopes of Heaven when they die but they desire a little