must forsake it 't is 〈◊〉 enough to rail against it but you must haâ—â— it with an irreconcileable hatred aâ— shake hands with it and give it a bill 〈◊〉 Divorce and well you may for it is yâ—â— implacable Enemy and the cause of 〈◊〉 your misery and will be the cause of yoâ— Eternal Damnation if you repent not of 〈◊〉 This is it that arms Death against you 〈◊〉 when 't is mortified and subdued it will 〈◊〉 pardoned and when it is pardoned Deâ— may buzze about your ears like a Dâ—â— Bee but cannot sting you by stinging Châ—â— he lost his sting that he cannot sting 〈◊〉 of Christs faithful people Hence manâ— the Martyrs went as chearfully to dye aâ— dine and accounted their Dying-day tâ—â— Wedding-day as indeed it is to all Belâ—ers for in this life they are betroatheâ— Christ and at their Death the Marâ—â— will be consummate and they shall forâ— enjoy their Beloved and be Eterâ— lodged in his Bosom Oh the madneâ—â— the men of the World who lodge this pent sin in their Bosom which breakâ— match between Christ and the Soul 2. Direct There is another Enemy that must be overcome as well as sin or will not dye chearfully and happily and that is the World for till it be overcome and crucified a man is not fit to dye neither can he be willing to dye Gal. 6.14 for who can willingly part with what he loves By Christ saith the Apostle I am Crucified to the World and the World to me the world and he were at a point there was no love lost the World mattered him not and he mattered the World as little they were each to other as a dead Carkass offensive and unsavoury and though the World should lay many Temptations before him it would signifie no more than if they were presented to a dead man though she draw forth her two breasts of Profit and Pleasure he scorns to suck at such botches he looks upon it as a dead thing and behaves himself as dead to it He had learned to want and to abound and in every Estate to be content and therefore mattered not her Superfluities and for Necessaries he knew he should not want them A prosperous Estate could not make him surfeit nor a wanting Estate repine he was semper idem alwayes the same as Job upon the Throne and upon the Dunghill he still keeps his Integrity he wears the world about him as a loose Garment ready to cast off upon all occasions and he is at a point with all things under the Sun if he may keep them with a good Conscience he is content if not he is content also and it behooves others that would look Death in the face with comfort to learn this lesson for if the affections close with the World 't is impossible Death should be either safe or comfortable safe it cannot be for it makes a man break his peace with God for two such Masters as God and Mammon no man can serve Mat. 6.24 for if he love the one he will despise the other Jam. 4.4 Know you not saith the Apostle that the friendship of the World is Enmity to God Whosoever therefore will be a Friend of the World will be an Enemy to God 1 John 2.15 And again Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Those that goe a Whoring from God to the Creature and woe this vile Strumpet the World are very unfit to be received into the bosom of Christ have it we may use it we must as a Traveller doth his Staff so far as 't is helpful but love it we must not if we will not renounce the love of God a man may allow his wife a Servant to wait upon her but not to lodg in her bosom the love of the World is Enmity with the Lord Enmity both active and passive it makes a man both to hate God and to be hated by God he cannot be espoused to the World but he must be divorced from God see this in Judas in Demas in Demetrius in Ahab he will have Naboath's Vineyard or he will have his blood though he lose his Soul for it Col. 3.2 wise therefore was the Apostles Counsel to set our affections on things above and not on the Earth Things on Earth are mutable and momentary subject to vanity or violence when things above are as the dayes of Heaven and run parllael with the Life of God and line of Eternity and as the love of the World makes a man dye unsafely putting him out of a capacity of eternal happiness so it makes him dye uncomfortably also for who can willingly part with a present good for a future uncertainty with a thing he loves for he knows not what If the World seem a Pearl in his eye he will not let it goe if he have no assurance of a better Mat. 19.22 see this in the young man in the Gospel that would not exchange Earth for Heaven nor the Creature for God that parted with Christ whom he pretended to love rather than with his Estate which he did love Oh World how dost thou bewitch thy greatest admirers how dost thou deceive those that trust in thee But could we see the worth of Heaven or had we but a Pisgah-sight of the Heavenly Canaan we should soon make Moses's choice but the blind Moles of the World think God holds it at too dear a rate and if he will not abate he may keep it to himself some indeed while Religion is in credit will follow the Cry yet resolve they will never lose by it as the Young man before mentioned who came to Christ hastily but went away heavily the world breaks many a match between Christ and the Soul by bidding more as they think than God doth but it will fail in the payment but he that forsakes not all for Christ cannot be his Disciple the lesson I know is hard but necessary and there is a great reason it should be so when we look upon the World as our chiefest Jewel we are loth to throw it over-board but when we see the Vanity Emptiness yea Nothingness that is in it and can have recourse to a better Treasure we shall not matter it while we look upon it as our chiefest Treasure we shall be unwilling to part with it but when by the eye of Faith we can see better Treasure beyond Death and observe how little good it can do us at Death or after when we have most need we shall not much value it For indeed it proves like a bush of Thorns the harder we grasp it the more deeply it wounds and when by Experience we find that no Content Satisfaction or Happiness is to be had in the enjoyment we shall not much trouble at the loss In a word while the World is admired Death is hated but when Heaven is
true it wounds thy body but thy Soul is safe but it destroyes them both in body and soul and it brings more profit to the soul than dammage to the body 't is but as the prick of a pin to a dangerous Ulcer which were it not prickt would prove mortal it will put an end to thy pains and a beginning to thy Joyes for when thy life expires sin also dyes and sin and sorrow are breathed out with thy life and from this day thy Lease in Heaven bears date which shall never expire Rouse up thy self O my Soul be not dejected God minds thee no hurt Death will not cannot hurt thee Kill me they may saith the Martyr hurt me they cannot the worst they can do is but to send me to my Fathers house the sooner Many a warning thou hast had many a Corps thou hast interred many a Funeral Sermon thou hast Preached for shame say not thou hadst not sufficient warning wast thou so mad as to think of going to Heaven another way or that thou wast immortal when thou sawest so many about thee dye daily or that thou shouldst live to old age when thou sawest so many dye young and felt so many sensible Symptoms of thy approaching death thou hast as thou didst suppose some grounded hopes that thou hadst a part in the first Resurrection and that therefore the second death on thee had no power and why then is death so terrible Many have more distempers in their Souls than in their Bodies 't is true this is thy case yet thou hast hoped thine are not mortal the malignity of the disease is over when many others have Plague-Sores running upon them these may expect death and have cause to fear it it will but heal thy distempers but inrage theirs thou hast had many meditations of death and many discourses with death and you did seem pretty well agreed thou hast looked death in the face and is he now become more terrible or art thou more timerous that when he comes to thy Bed-side draws thy Curtains and shakes thee by the hand thou tremblest hath Christ done thee no good by his passion by subduing Death disarming him pulling out the sting and trampling him under foot yea laying him prostrate at thy feet hath all the pains thou hast taken in heavens way workt no more upon thee set thee up no higher where now is thy promised obedience and thy prayers Thy will be done when thou art ready to resist Gods Will when 't is manifested and preferrest thine own before it why dost call thy Father the only wise God when thou thinkest thy own wit best and that thou knowest best when 't is best for thee to dye and wilt not submit to his will and that if thou wouldst speak out thy mind is to indent with Christ this thou wilt do or Suffer but not that this sin thou wilt leave but that thou wilt not thou wouldst pick and choose thy duties and take the easiest part of it and leave the difficult dangerous and costly part undone and wilt not have heaven at so dear a rate Thou pretendest a desire to be happy and who doth not Balaam desires the death of the righteous and that his end may be like his but they will not live the righteous mans life and thou art not willing to dye his death for he is conformable to the will of God both in life and death which is that thou dost dislike O my Soul some great thing is amiss with thee thy corruptions are as strong fetters to hold thee in the Devils Slavery thy grace is weak and cannot procure thy freedom the Devil is too cunning for thee the world subtil and thy own heart deceitful to betray thee into Satans hands Oh my God this is my condition this is the estate of my Soul here lyes my distemper the world lyes too close to my heart and Christ lyes at too great a distance my corrupt deceitful heart is ever and anon puting me on to choose this for my happiness a little Grace I see will not carry me through the temptations that lye before me but Lord speak the word and grace will flourish and corruption will dye thou hast said and I believe it that thou wilt not break the bruised reed Mat. 12.20 nor quench the smoaking flax till thou bring forth Judgment unto victory Lord I believe help my unbelief and let not my little grace be lost in the great heap of the rubbish of my corruptions Lord if thou open mine eyes to see the emptiness of the creature and the fulness of Christ then shall I love the one and despise the other Psal 119.32 and shall run the ways of thy Commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart I see no reason why I should be exempted from obeying thy Will even to the laying down of my life and though flesh and blood will not yield willing obedience to it yet 't is my resolution thus to do Lord strengthen my resolution I know my fears are the result of my Infidelity Lord strengthen my faith that I may overcome them for by thy strength I shall stand and without thy assisting grace I shall Apostatize and fall back Leave me not to my self for then I shall undo my self dishonour my God scandalize Religion bring a reproach upon the Gospel wound my Conscience break my Peace with my God and undo my Soul Luk. 9.62 Let me not O Lord now I have put my hand to the Plow look back again Nor when I have begun in the Spirit Gal. 3.3 end in the flesh Rev. 2.10 Lord make me faithful to the death and then give me a Crown of Life MEDITAT V. The World is not desirable to a Christian OH my Soul why art thou desirous to stay in the World and why so unwilling to go to thy Father The time was when thou wast otherwise minded thou lookedst upon it as Bochim a place of tears a Golgotha an unlovely habitation thou wast not willing to dwell in Meseck and in the tents of Kedar thy affections did like fire mount upward and what Load-stone hast now to draw thee back thou wast at a point with all things under the Sun and didst wear the World about thee as a loose garment ready to cast off upon all occasions and dost now spit upon thy hands and take better hold dost now set up thy Staff and with Peter say 't is good being here Art now beginning to build Tabernacles here and slight that house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens thou didst conclude with Solomon Eccles 1.14 All is Vanity and vexation of spirit and now at last hast found some solidity 2 Pet. 2.22 art thou now returnining with the dog to his Vomit and the washed Sow to her wallowing in the Mire are the Scales of ignorance now fallen from thine eyes and dost thou see some excellency in the worlds enjoyments that before
Jonah out of the Whales Belly or Joseph or Jeremy or Paul or Silas or Peter to come out of Prison when the time of deliverance came was ever fick man afraid of Health or Lame man of being restored to his Limbs or a Blind man of being recovered to his sight was ever Hungry man afraid of his meat or thirsty man unwilling to drink or weary man unwilling to rest or was ever Turkish Slave unwilling to leave his Oars or enjoy his freedom yet have none of these so much cause to rejoyce in their freedom as the poor Soul hath in the freedom purchased by Christ and to be enjoyed at death Doth not the Husbandman long for the Harvest when he shall receive the fruits of the Field the reward of his labour doth not the Souldier long for the Victory when he shall receive the Crown doth not the Traveller desire his Journeys end and the Mariner his wished Port and the Labourer for the Sun-setting when his work is done and his wages is due and wilt thou only be afraid of the time when thy misery shall end and thy Joyes commence and all because there is a little dirty though not dangerous way to pass though there be an eternal reward for a temporal yea momentany Pain yea a thousand weight of pleasure for an ounce of grief Oh foolish Soul hast thou fought the fight and won the day and is it but stooping down and take up the Crown and wilt not be at so much pains Is there but one stile more to thy Fathers house and wilt thou sit down here and go no further but one hour between thee and Glory and hast thou spent so many years in reference to it and now wilt not add that hour to the rest hast thou almost run the race and shall one Lake in the way make thee to retire when the end is in sight hast subdued all the Enemies but one and is he disarmed also and lyes prostrate at thy feet and yet faintest and forsakest the Field dost thou fly from the Serpent when the sting is out hast thou vanquished the Flesh the World and the Devil and yet fearest Death which is a reconciled Friend hast thou overcome him that hath the power of Death and fearest thou Death it self Hast thou overcome the substance and dost quake at the shadow many thousand lose their Lives upon lower ends and venture them for a lower reward than here is propounded some for vain glory others for a corruptible Crown and wilt not venture thy life for Eternal glory and to secure thy Soul some venture Life and Soul and all in a Whores Quarrel or a Drunkards fray and wilt thou not in the cause of God and vindication of the truth and that when thy Captain stands by thee are the Gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem open and wilt not enter wilt lose all rather than strike one stroak more O my God let not the Flesh the World nor the Devil deceive me let me not faint under the burden nor ever turn my back upon thee Lord strengthen me and I will suffer for thee MEDITAT VI. What hurt can Death do a Believer OH my Soul what makes thee yet draw back are not all these foregoing considerations enough to satisfie thee but yet the thoughts of Death do appale thee and the thoughts of the Grave make thee to shiver heretofore thou hast even courted Death and solaced thy self with the Meditation of the Grave and the forethought of the time when Sin and Sorrow should be no more and now dost quake at the apprehension of it and art frighted at his grim countenance Consider a little what he is whence he comes and what message he brings and then see if he be so formidable as he seems he is but a Messenger and comes not upon his own errand neither runs he before he be sent he comes not from an Enemy but a friend yea from one that loves thee yea from that friend that sent Jesus Christ to dye for thee and the same love is exercised in the one as in the other he sent first to purchase an Inheritance for thee and now sends to thee to receive it He comes to tell thee the Great King of Heaven and Earth Greets thee and invites thee to the Marriage Feast to the Wedding Supper to drink Wine with Christ in his Fathers Court he comes to tell thee thou hast fought the good fight thou hast finisht thy course and from henceforth is laid up for thee a Crown of righteousness which Christ the Righteous Judge shall give thee at the last day that thou hast been faithfull over a few things and shalt be Ruler over many things and shalt enter into thy Masters Joy He comes to tell thee thou art at Age and must receive thine Inheritance that thou hast been long enough tossed to and fro upon the Waves of trouble and now must enter into the desired Port that thou hast long enough fed upon husks and now must come to thy Fathers house where there is bread enough and to spare he comes to tell thee thy Warfare is accomplished the race is run the prize is won and from henceforth the Crown of Glory is thine own and what hurt is in all this or why is such a Messenger to be feared he comes not as haply thou mayst suppose to break thy peace with thy God no but to make an everlasting peace which shall never be broken to assure thee God and thy departing Soul are at peace and all controversies are ended and that thou shalt never more see one frown in the face of God nor one wrinkle in his forehead he comes not for thy hurt but thy good not to hinder thy promotion but to promote it not to destroy thy body but only sow it in the Earth that it may spring forth a glorious body that corruption may put on incorruption 1 Cor. 15.55 and the mortal may put on immortality that Death may be swallowed up of Victory He comes not to make thee miserable Rev. 14.13 but happy Blâ—ssed are the Dead which dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them He comes not to separate thee from God this he cannot do For neither Death Rom. 8.28.29 nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No Death brings us into a nearer Union and more close Communion 'T is not come to make void the Covenant with God but to make it good for God hath promised in the Covenant to give Christ and Heaven and Glory to thee and how can this be made good till Death and though the body lye for a season in the Grave as Israel did in Egypt after Gods Covenant with Abraham yet shortly Death like
now to leave these behind thee and expose thy own to the wide world and know not what will become of them when thou art dead this makes thee loth to dye and leave them this doth make thee like unto the Servant that loved his Wife and his Children Exo. 21.6 willing to have thy ears boared and to be a Slave for ever but consider a little is not this inordinate love to love the Creature more than the Creator and rather obey man than God when thou tookest upon thee the profession of Religion was it not upon those terms Luk. 14.26 c. to hate thy Father and Mother thy Wife thy Children thy Brethren and Sisters and thy own life for his sake that is to leave any or all of these if he required it and now art breaking with Christ and wilt rather deny him lose thy Soul thy God thy Heaven thy Happiness than leave thy Wife and Children and other Relations Joh. 15.13 Greater love than this hath no man than that a man lay down his life for his friend But is not this more to lose his Soul to part with his interest in Heaven and endure Hellish torments to Eternity for their sake or for their company But they live upon thee and if they were dead thou knowest not how they will be maintained And dost know how they will be maintained if thou live dost know how the World will be Governed and all the Family in Heaven and Earth maintained if thou were dead dost thou bear up the Pillars of it or do all things seek their meet at thy hand is it Gods Providence or thine that maintains thy Family or at whose charge are they kept 't is true thou art his servant to give them meat and drink in due Season but thou hast it out of his Store-house and if thou wert removed cannot he put another into the Office cannot he that feeds the Fowls the young Ravens when they cry yea the Lions seek their meat at his hand and he cloaths the Lillies and the Grass of the field and cannot he maintain thy Wife and Children if thou wert dead if the Pipe be cut is there no water in the Fountain Psal 78.20 this is thy unbelief can God provide a Table in the Wilderness Nay but thou dost not question so much his Power as his Will why how dost know he will provide for them if thou dost live many a Wife and Children have suffered want in the Husbands life time and God may let thee live to be a burden and a grief to them an hinderance and not an help Nay hath not God more ingagements upon him to provide for the Fatherless and Widdows the poor and the needy than any other Psal 68.5 having made so many promises on that behalf A Father of the Fatherless and a Judge of the Widow is God in his holy Habitation Hos 14.3 Psal 146.9 and it is in him that the Fatherless find Mercy He preserveth the Stranger he relieveth the Fatherless and the Widow Jer. 49.11 Leave thy Fatherless Children saith God to me and I will keep them alive and let thy Widows trust in me and many a command hath he given upon their account that they shall not be wronged Nay are they not in the same Relation to God as thou art are they not his Children also and will he that feeds all his Enemies starve his Children Nay he feeds the Fowls of Heaven Psal 34.9 10. and hath not he promised that those that fear the Lord shall want nothing that is good Nay if thou shouldst lose thy life for his sake thou wouldst yet more deeply engage him to look to thine in thy absence But suppose thou shouldst for the sake of Christ lose thy Relations or rather leave them behind what wrong is done thee you came not into the World together and 't is not like you will go together but if thou go first hast no satisfaction for this piece of self-denial God is not wont to be behind hand with thee shalt not thou enjoy more and better Relations in Heaven whither thou art going Is not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ there whom thou callest thy Father and Christ which thou callest thy Husband and thy head and the Holy Ghost which thou callest thy Paracletus thy comforter and is not Jerusalem which is above the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 are not the Angels thy Guardians and the departed Saints many of them thou knewest in the flesh thy fellow-Brethren and thy companions and do not these better deserve thy love than any in the world being altogether lovely and without Spot or wrinkle glorious in holiness yea are not many of thy Relations in the flesh gone before thee Thy Father Mother Wife and several Children those thou lovedst in the dayes of their flesh those thou Lamentedst at the time of their Death and will not their Society rejoice thee in Heaven when they shall be made perfect in holiness here is Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets here are the Apostles and the Noble Army of Martyrs and here are the Spirits of just men made perfect and those faithful persons thou hast left behind thee will shortly follow and is there yet sufficient matter of complaint what if thou dost become a stranger to what is done upon the Earth this is thy happiness for if thou know no good thou wilt know no evil and for an ounce of good there is a pound of evil done there there is much that may wring tears from the eyes little that will remove sorrow from the heart much sin and debauchery much Idolatry and superstition much swearing and cursing much drinking and drabbing and of all manner of wickedness but little holiness and true Godliness this may bring tears from the eyes and sobs from the heart but in Heaven thou shalt never be troubled more with the Unclean conversations of the wicked for there will be nothing there to discompose thee And if thou shalt in Heaven know the things done upon the Earth which is a secret which God hath not revealed doubtless it is not to lessen thy comforts but increase them for as sin so sorrow shall never enter there Thou maist haply think that when death hath passed upon thee thy name will be forgotten and what then if thy good deeds are not remembred no more will thy sin and thy folly and this far exceeds the other but there may be a resurrection of Names as well as of Bodies Pro. 12.7 The memory of the just shall be blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot Psa 112.6 the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance If honour be not founded on grace 't is the emptiest of bubbles which time will prick and the most lasting Marble cannot preserve The Aspersions which are cast in the face of the Righteous time will wipe off and the paint and lustre
of the souls happiness Now all earthly delights to these heavenly Joyes are but a shadow a very dream the very dream of a shadow to what is there enjoyed where the glorified Souls shall be Kings and Priests for ever of the most high God they wear Crowns upon their heads and palms in their hands which they cast down at the feet of him that liveth for ever These little flashes of spiritual Joy and indeed it is no more will be blown up into a flame here no fumes of Melancholy shall disturb the Fancy or interrupt the Joy Malignant Saturn cannot send any influence into these superiour Orbs but here is that far more and eternal weight of Glory to be enjoyed O my soul hadst thou had but such a glimpse of Glory as Stephen had thou wouldst not have feared to have faln asleep with him Now thou art in the body and absent from God but when death hath closed thine eyes and covered thy face with a winding-sheet thou shalt not only see God but be present with him and behold his glory Now thy glimpses of him are like a flash of lightning soon gone much like a man that gazeth at a Star through an Optick-glass held with a palsy hand now and then thou catchest a sight but quickly losest it again but there he will alwayes be before thine eyes thou shalt behold his face there and not his back parts only whether with bodily eyes or otherwise is not well known nor much material 't is probable it may and the eye capacitated to behold the Object though here 't is dazled with a weaker glory we find Job seems to be of that mind Job 19.52 c. I know saith he that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold him and not another though my reins be consumed within me When this mortal hath put on immortality and this body which is sown a natural body become spiritual we know not but these Organs of our eyes may be capacitated to behold spiritual objects as well as our understandings be enabled to know him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 This we know God will make himself known and that is sufficient to us whether the one way or the other let us not anxiously trouble our selves about the manner of it this know if God do not enlarge and capacitate our powers and faculties of the soul we can neither know him see him nor enjoy him as he is which he hath promifed we shall do and he that believeth in him and hath not yet seen him shall see him on whom he hath believed 't is Christs prayer John 17.24 that those that are given to him may be where he is to behold his glory and if those eyes were blessed that saw him in his misery how much more those that behold him in glory if the dawning of the day be so glorious how much more glorious will it be when the Sun shines in his full strength and all the shadows are fled away If those that bear his Image here and they are more excellent than their neighbours be so lovely what will they be when this Image of God is perfectly restored and they freed from all corruption here they have sung forth his praises then shall sing continual Halelujahs for ever how will they run the wayes of Gods commandments when all the clogs of corruption are taken off and their feet are inlarged Now their labour shall be turned into leisure to praise him when they have nothing else to do yea nothing which they delight more to do than that Now 't is death and death alone that can put us into the possession of this glory where we shall have fulness of Joy and Glory and be Heirs yea Coheirs with Christ and would any wise man deny to take possession Oh my soul wilt thou yet hang back and plead Nonage art thou afraid of Eternity when Joy and Happiness is added to it couldst thou wish the worm of time were at the root to make it wither art thou come to the door and thou makest a halt at the threshold and art willing another should take thy Crown and wouldst thou surrender thy interest when Paul looks through the Perspective glass of Faith and sees happiness at the end he was willing to dye and be with Christ thou knowest whom thou hast believed and darest not trust thy Redeemer with thy life that lost his own for thy sake whatever thou losest whatever thou sufferest for him it will never repent thee when thou art in Heaven it will reward thee for all thy cost and charges Christ tells thee an hundred fold and I may well say a thousand one day in Gods Courts here on earth was better to Davîd than a thousand elsewhere and one day in Heaven is much better than that yea but if thy life be cut off for his sake for one day thou loosest upon earth thou shalt have a thousand in Heaven for it he will make thee Eagle-eyed that thou shalt behold the Sun of righteousness in his splendour and the Organ not offended If Paul and Silas could sing in the Prison what will they do when they come into this heavenly Quire Isa 15.5 Here the eyes of the blind shall be opened the ears of the deaf unstopped the lame man shall leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing this is the marriage of the Lamb and his wife hath made her self ready and who will not rejoyce upon the Wedding-day when the Bridegrooms voice is heard Now the marriage shall be solemnized that was so long ago contracted between Christ and the Soul this is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it this is thy pay-day when thou art to receive thy wages the harvest of thy hopes when thou shalt receive a plentiful crop of glory that which was sown in tears shall now be reaped with joy now thy desires thy longings and thy pantings shall be satisfied now is the time when the Crown of Martyrdom shall be put upon the head of the Martyr and a Crown of Righteousness upon the Just mans head now is the time that Sincerity will be discerned from Hypocrisie let it be spun with never so fine a thred and true Gold from counterfeit now is the time that those that have Oyl in their Vessels as well as Lamps in their hands shall go in with the Bridegroom to the Marriage and those that have not shall be shut out now he that hath a wedding-garment shall be a welcom Guest Mat. 22.12 and he that hath none shall be cast into utter darkness now is the time that those that have forsaken any thing for Christ shall receive an hundred fold and those that have lost their lives
neither Money nor Moneys-worth worth with thee as a Dowry yet will he make thee the largest Joynture his Covenants will be only to carry thy self to him as a loving and obedient Wife ought to do to her Husband to love him above all to obey all his Commands and to submit thy self to his dispose leave the Sin he forbids do the Duties he commands and forsake all others for his sake resolve thus to do give up thy self thus to him and thou needest not fear death for it cannot hurt thee for 't is but his Pursivant he sends to fetch thee home to his Fathers house where all things are made ready for thy Marriage with the Lamb when thou canst say Cant. 6.3 My beloved is mine and I am his thou art fit to Live and fit to Dye and not till then such a man that hath gotten a full gripe of Christ is sure that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities Rom. 8.38 nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Heighth nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to seperate him from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord 1 Cor. 6.17 for he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit As truely one as those members are one Body that are animated by the same Soul or as Husband and Wife are one flesh All that I am and have saith the Soul is his and all he hath is mine he that hath this full assurance of Faith looks death undauntedly in the face and goes gallantly to Heaven 5 Direct If you would Dye well your way is to Live well for a holy life alwayes ends in an happy death Heb. 12.14 and a sinfull life if true repentance prevent not alwayes hath a Tragical end for without holiness no man shall see God and how can such a man think then to come to Heaven when the beatifical vision of God is Heaven it self but no unclean thing Rev. 21.27 1 Cor. 6.10 no unrighteouss person shall ever enter there no dirty Dog shall tread upon that pavement As the tree falleth so it lyeth Eccles 11.3 and as death leaves us so Judgment shall find us Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Gal. 6.7 for he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting He that sails towards Hell is not like to land in the Port of Heaven if he change not his course the way of Sin is the direct road to Hell and those that follow the broad Way will ere long enter the wide Gate but the way to Heaven is narrow and the gate strait he that swims down the stream is not like to find the fountain-head and he that goes down the hill is not like to come to the top but most men like dead Fish swim down the stream even into the dead Sea of Eternal perdition Exo. 23.2 Take heed therefore of following a multitude to do evil for the way to Hell is Broad and well trodden beware of evil Company lest thou learn to swear with Joseph to curse with Peter but be couragious for Heaven and valiant for the Truth 'T is better go to Heaven alone than to Hell with company to be with Noah in the Ark than with all the World in the Flood the way of Holiness I know is not in fashion but 't is never the more to be shunned for the small company that walks in it nor is the way of wickedness the more eligible because 't is thronged the way of Holiness haply may seem rugged and perplexed by reason of the stumbling-blocks laid in it 1 Sam. 14.4 13. like unto that of Jonathans and his Armor-bearers way that had sharp rocks on either side that they were forced to go upon hands and feet yet consider it leads to Happiness and who will not take pains for profit Sic petitur Coelum sed facilis descensus averni Heaven is got by pains and patience but a man may wink and go to Hell To come to Heaven Opus est pulveris non pulvinaris as one saith those that trade in Righteousness and Holiness are most likely to treasure up Happiness those that live uprightly to men holily to God and walk as Zachary saith Lu. 1.75 in Righteousness and Holiness before him all the dayes of their lives men may befool them but God will never condemn them these men never need to fear Death or any Messenger God sends Act. 23.1 24.16 the that hath made his peace with God and with Paul keeps a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Men though he may meet with troubles in his life he shall meet with Comfort at death when those that think to dance with the Devil all day and Sup with Christ at night to do the Devils work and to receive Gods wages that will not enter into the Vineyard and yet expect the penny will find themselves under a great mistake for his servants you are to whom you obey and from him you work for you may expect wages you will find at last that a Lord have mercy upon you will not serve turn Mat. 7.21 22. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity The like we see by the foolish Virgins that cried Lord Lord open to us but the door was shut against them and they kept out such mens hope will prove like the Spiders-web or the giving up the Ghost and but serve them as Absaloms Mule did him bring them to destruction and there leave them yet many verbal Professors we have that if Heaven will be had for fair words will have it but this is their best bid as Epictetus complained in his time That many would be Philosophers as far as a few good words would go but no further but it be those and those alone that make Christianity their daily trade and to please God their great design that are worthy the name of Christians when the heart is upright God accepts the Sacrifice as he did Abels when the heart is rotten he disowns it as he did Cains Those fly-blown Sacrifices such as the Pharisees offered will not down with God But when the chief design is to glorifie God Mat. 6.1 c. and that with a perfect heart like Josiahs with such Sacrifices God is well pleased such a man though he may lose something for Christ will never lose any thing by Christ death which sets a period
to other mens happiness will set an end to his misery those only that live a holy life can rationally expect a happy death 6 Direct If you would dye willingly and happily learn with the Apostle to dye daily have death alwayes in your eye the strangeness of death makes it so terrible The Fox in the Fable that had never before seen a Lion trembles at the first sight but after grew more bold those that go first to Sea are usually more timerous in storms and tempests than the Ancient Mariners sudden danger more surprizeth when expected trouble is better born Death is stealing upon us whether we mind it or no and nothing more discovers our folly and madness than to neglect our watch when we are besieged by our Enemy and know he intends to surprize us to put far off the evil day when we know not but it is ready to dawn 'T is a folly for a Tenant to forget his Rent day and then think his Landlord hath forgotten it also or for a Malefactor to forget the day appointed for his Execution 't is a folly for a needy man to forget the Market or Fair where he should have supplyed his wants Death is no Jesting matter but a real thing and will make a real change both to good and bad as to the Body for haply both may say the next day to corruption Thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister then must they leave behind all their earthly Glory and worldly Pomp their friends and Relations their pleasant Houses yea Crowns and Kingdoms if they do enjoy them and all their earthly comforts they enjoyed and must march down to the Chambers of Death and make their graves in the dust but with the Soul is a greater change either they must go to everlasting Torments or endless Joyes and should not such a change be minded did the greatest Prince upon earth or our time-wasting Gallants consider it would spoil their sport did a Malefactor know that in a few dayes he should be dragg'd to Execution would he take no notice of it but spend his time as idly as before and shall we only be unconcerned they know in a few dayes and they know not in how few Eternity will shut her mouth upon them and then their souls will be in a stated case never to be changed Oh what a prodigious Creature is a hard hearted Sinner and how senceless is many a profane wretch that know not but the night following their souls may be required of them and yet regard it not that feel this house of clay mouldering about their ears and provide for no other Habitation that sensibly feel Deaths approaches by the many darts he throwes at them and yet need to be minded that they must dye the wisest Virgins had something to do against the Bridegroom came though they had Oyl in their Vessels yet their Lamps must be trimmed but the Foollish wanted Oyl to trimme them and yet slept the best of Saints should have their Loins girded and be in a Centinel posture against the coming of their Lord and Master and set themselves in order for so great a change were a mean woman to be married to some mighty Prince she would make some preparation against the Wedding-day but 't is the worst of sinners that least think of death though they have most need all the spectacles of mortality without nor Monitors of mortality within cannot make them mind their latter end Those should be like to Jonathans Arrows to David warn them of approaching danger our Children that rise up in our stead and tread out our foot-steps tell us that we are marching off the Stage and they are coming in our room to act their parts The Sun never sets but it may mind us of our latter end and that now one day more is past of our determined number of dayes that we had to live 't is good therefore to consider whether we are a days Journey nearer Heaven than we were in the morning or what work we have done in reference to Eternity every Bell that tolls may mind us of our Passing-bell every time the Clock strikes or the Glass is run out may mind us how our time hasts away and our death approaches every breath we fetch or every time our Pulse beats may mind us of death for the number of them is determined as well as the number of our months Job 14.5 Did men certainly know they should dye within a month what a change would there be in the world who then would mind earthly greatness or indulge his lust which yet those that are not sure of a day do eagerly pursue If you would dye happily think on death to prepare for it if comfortably think on it to be acquainted with it 7 Direction It is not enough meerly to think of death but you must also prepare for it for the former is necessary in order to the latter this preparation is your great Concern the very business of your lives God did not send you into the world as Leviathan into the Seas to play therein neither meerly to cark and care to moil and toil and drudge for the world you were made for an higher end and sent into the world upon another Errant to make provision for your immortal souls some may think this work is difficult and so it is to flesh and blood and cross to our carnal interest but 't is necessary and the neglect dangerous were but your houses on fire we need not use many words to perswade you to quench them though there were difficulty and danger in the enterprize or were your lives in danger you would endure hardship to save them were you in danger of drowning you would lay hold upon every twig and take any offered advantage to escape were your Estates in danger you would spare no pains nor cost to clear it up were but one of your beasts though but a Sheep or Swine in danger you would seek for help and is the immortal Soul only to be neglected There are none but those that deny there is a God a Devil a Heaven or a Hell or that think the Soul is mortal and shall dye with the body and that the Scriptures are not Gods Word but must needs confess there is great danger in dying unprepared or in an unregenerate condition and yet few live accordingly but whatever men think Hell will prove a real misery and Heaven a real Happiness and our Atheist will ere long be convinc'd of it to purpose Luk. 16. God will be true though every man be a lyar The rich Glutton found to his full conviction that Hell was no scare-crow nor Gods Threats no Bugbear but real things and we have many in our Age far worse then he is there described that yet have blind hopes it shall be well with them and if these things be real should not we be serious about them is not
undauntedly this grace will assure a man that life and death will prove advantagious to him and that God and his departing soul are at peace and that the Covenant remains firm even in the Grave it self this makes a man look even beyond death it self and see the Crown of glory the recompence of reward before him and assures him death will do him more good than hurt that it will set an end to his misery and beginning to his happiness and that when death hath struck the stroak the Angels will carry the Soul into Abrahams bosom yea lodge it in the Arms of their dear Redeemer These apprehensions made Paul to desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and the Martyrs to be so willing to dye and so chearfully to go to the stake Love to God also is another grace which much sweetens the very thoughts of death indeed this sweetens the sharpest passage of Providence when we think this is my Fathers will whom I love and who loves me and knows best what is for my good yea death it self shall be welcome when 't is a Messenger from him I love to fetch me home to his bosom what will not a loving Wife suffer to enjoy her beloved Husband love desires the strictest union and most intimate communion with the party beloved but this the Soul cannot obtain but by Death O saith the Soul now I lye under the hatches troubled with a thousand infirmities I can seldom have a glimpse of Christ here well the time is at hand that I shall see him face to face and enjoy him in glory where I shall serve him without distraction and never be troubled more with vain thoughts or roving imaginations or any of Satans temptations Oh when will this time be The other graces of the Spirit are also necessary to this end to sweeten death such as Knowledge Repentance Obedience Humility Self-denial Patience Hope c. of which I shall not speak particularly Now the Promises are made to these graces not only of this life but of that to come among the rest of the good things promised is Heaven and Happiness but what is a carnal man the better for these promises that is not qualified for them but when by Faith we can see this Crown of glory and see our Names written upon it and get a Pisgah-sight of this heavenly Canaan we shall willingly venture over this Jordan and encounter all the Sons of Anak we meet in our way and not fear what Man what Devils what Death can do unto us get these Graces in exercise and you need not fear Fire and Faggot 10 Direction That you may thus empty the heart of sin and wickedness and replenish it with Grace and godliness that so you may be fit to live and fit to dye and fit to live with Christ-for ever 't is fit and necessary you take Gods way for it cannot be done by your own strength Improve therefore all the means which God hath afforded you for this end for those that refuse the means seldom attain the end Improve his Word and Ordinances these are the appointed means however some scorn at them and some think they are above them but those that go not this way seldom come to Heaven In the Word are given Rules how to live and how to dye and how to behave ourselves in all Conditions here is Oyl to be had and those that neglect will be to seek when the Bridegroom comes Those that now neglect the Wedding-garment will want it when they have occasion to use it and so be thrust out of the Bride-chamber This Word of God should be our daily study for here are directions both for life and death and none but those that are bad Husbands for the soul will neglect it here are the precious Promises which are our Fathers Legacy out of which the Soul by Faith sucks sweetness which are special Cordials against fainting fits which bear up the head above water and the heart in all storms and tempests here is direction in Heavens way yea way-marks set up that we should not erre nor wander here you may find what qualifications God requires in his servants and what Evidences for Heaven are good and authentick and what God will own another day and if by the help of the Spirit you can read them in your own hearts as in a counter pane there is no better Evidence for Heaven no greater Cordial in the world to bear up the heart here you may find comforts and consolatious in all your conditions and if you walk in this road you will meet with much help and assistance yea many companions in your Journey here you have the Spirit of God both to direct and comfort you and who can erre that hath such a guide or droop that hath such a comforter here you shall hear a voice behind you saying this is the way walk in it turn not to the right hand or to the left here you have the assistance of Gods Ministers to direct you but take heed of quenching the motions of his Spirit or abusing his Messengers lest his Spirit leave striving with you and God take away his Messengers in his anger here you may find many that have walked the same way met with the same troubles suffered the same afflictions temptations crosses and losses as you do and yet have born it with patience and overcome it with constancy and comfort here you may know the worst that death can do to you is for your advantage if you love God for such death cannot hurt kill you it may hurt you it cannot the worst it can do is but to send you to your Fathers house the sooner Meditate therefore upon this Word of God and also upon the Attributes of God and this must needs support you under sufferings Meditate also upon mans Mortality to quicken you in your pace of the Worlds vanity and emptiness to make you slight it and the fulness of Christ to make you to desire him The Meditation of death will not make you dye sooner but safer and the Promises will yield sweetness even in the pangs of death for death is to the godly but as a Pursivant to fetch them to Heaven and his wisdom power holiness justice goodness and truth are Cordials also and will help to keep the heart from fainting and desponding and will shield the Spirits against all crosses and afflictions they shall meet with and by Meditation in the Word you may learn the happiness of the godly and the miseries of the wicked and what will be the end of both yea you may find there what are the pains of Hell and the Joyes of Heaven and these may be used as motives to a holy life Prayer also is an excellent duty to prepare for death by this God is engaged to help at a time of need Christian Conference also is another help wherein one fire-stick helps to inkindle another till all come into a
as it did Corah Dathan and Abiram Or whatsoever other judgments have befaln the Enemies of God may be thy portion for Apostacy is a most dangerous sin some creature or other may well distrain of thee in Gods name when thou denyest the debt Hadst thou been the first that ever tasted of death as Abel was thou mightest have been afraid had never any before thee entred into deaths darksome Cell or gone through that dark and narrow entry it were something but when ten thousand times ten thousand have gone before thee what need this fear and seeing will we nill we all of us must dance after deaths pipe why wilt thou not do it willingly God loves a chearful giver he loves a free-will Offering and loves not grumbling Servants millions of the Saints are now in Heaven that have travailed this road yet none of them repent they came there too soon Many of them have been taken out of the world by the hand of violence and now have the crown of Martyrdome upon their heads Rev. 12.11 they loved not their lives to the death and now have received a crown of life and if thou be faithful to the death this will be thy reward when thou comest to thy Juorneys end thou wilt be among the souls of just men made perfect singing Halelujahs to God for ever and for ever then wilt thou bid adieu to a vain miserable cheating and deceitful world But haply thou maist say Here I am acquainted but there I am a stranger and what comfort can I have in the removing Art thou a stranger the more shame for thee other Saints were strangers and pilgrims in this world and made hast home into their own country if thou hadst been well acquainted with the Word thou wouldst have seen the vanity and emptiness of all earthly felicity and that there was nothing in the world worth thy love and hadst thou had thy conversation in Heaven as thou hast pretended thou wouldst not have been such a stranger there as thou seemest to be But stay hast thou not many friends and relations there is not almighty God there whom thou callest Father and art thou a stranger in thy Fathers house hast had no communion no trading with him in his Ordinances what is then become of all thy prayers and other duties are those all lost 't is true thou never fawest his face neither canst see it and live but hast not seen him in his Word in his Ordinances in his promises threatnings providences and Attributes Blessed is he that hath not seen Gal. 4.26 and yet believeth and is not Jerusalem that is above the mother of as all and is not the Lord Jesus Christ him whom thou callest thy Lord and thy God and thy Husband and thy elder Brother yea thy Head and is a loving wife a stranger to her beloved husband and is not the Holy Ghost there from whom thou hast received such sweet consolations in thy sinking fits and are not the holy Angels there beholding thy Fathers face in glory who are now thy guardians that rejoyced at thy conversion and will rejoyce at thy Coronation 'T is true thou seest them not thou knowest them not they are invisible but they see and know thee and then thou wilt be able to see and know them for they shall be thy constant companions and thy fellow brethren And are there not millions of glorified Saints which are thy Spiritual kindred fellow members of Christs body yea brethren in Christ yea are there not some that thou knewest in the dayes of their flesh whose company thou so much desiredst and whose death thou so much lamentedst nay are there not some that were related to thee in the flesh gone before thee of whom thou hast comfortable hopes that they are with the Lord and will not their company be now as comfortable as it was on earth yea thou wilt know more there than ever thou didst here for I question not but the Saints shall know each other for shall we sit with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and not know them All the Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles Martyrs and glorified Saints are here and is not thine Inheritance thy Crown thy Mansion-house here and art thou yet a stranger is not this thy countrey which thou pretendest to be seeking and all this while art thou a stranger to it yea dost not live upon heavenly allowance and hast thy meat and thy drink and thy cloathes for thy soul from hence Or is it death that thou art a stranger to why didst thou not know that thou wast mortal why then didst not acquaint thy self with death thou knewest all must dye why didst not consider of it and among the rest of thy own death didst not believe God when he said Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Heb. 9.27 or when he saith 'T is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the judgment and when he told thee that all flesh is grass and the flower thereof as the flower of the field But if thou hadst not believed God couldst not believe thy own eyes and ears dost not dayly see younger and stronger than thee go before thee dost not hear of many round about thee strucken by death many suddenly many by a violent death and many by diseases Dost not remember a hundred thousand slain in London in one year two or three hundred thousand in Ireland in a few weeks bloodily Massacred hast thou not many Lectures of mortality read to thee many Monitors of mortality within thee doth not the dimness of thy eyes mind thee the very Spectacles thou lookest through tell thee of the decayes in Nature and canst expect greater warning or hast any more considerable work to do than to provide for death and is death yet a stranger hast thou not visited many a sick bed and been with many a departing soul and received their last breath into thy bosom and yet hast not sufficient warning God never ingaged to give thee so much thou art his listed souldier and hast taken press-money and thou art ingaged to be in a continual readiness yet God hath given thee many a particular warning to prepare for death thou hast many a time look't death in the face and God hath often pluckt thee by the shoulders and shewed thee grim death before thee and thou hast several times received the sentence of death within thee and God hath in effect said to thee Set thy house in order for thou must dye nay not only so but God hath imployed thee to warn others yet he hath forborn thee above sixty years and every year given thee many warnings and what wouldst thou have more and yet art unacquainted with thy main work What if he had taken thee hence thirty or forty years ago as he did many that were companions with thee in vanity what had been thy condition that yet pretendest thou art not
ready and what hopes is there of thee if God spare thee another year that thou wilt bring forth better fruit is old age the best and fittest for repentance and preparation to dye when thou wilt find enough to do to wrastle with pains and bodily distempers would a Captain take it for a sufficient excuse if a Souldier that is by ingagement to be ready at an hours warning and should give him a week a month a years time to make ready and at the end of that time he should plead his Arms are not fixed nor other necessaries provided and if the Captain give him another year and at the end thereof he should plead the same excuse would this be taken for a good excuse yet this excuse hath been in thy mouth many years together and 't is doubt if God yet lengthen thy daies and give thee more years it will be the same Hath not death entred into thy habitation hath it not taken away thy parents thy loving wife thy dear children and other of thy near relations and didst not yet lay it to heart wa st thou no wiser than fatted beasts that are taken away one after another to the Shambles and those that remain are senseless of the danger neither consider their turn is coming yea hath not death thrown many a dart at thee and sometimes wounded thee in the head sometimes in thy bowels and yet dost not consider that he hath a dart will reach thy heart Yea sometimes thou hast thought thou hast had thy deaths wound and yet wilt take no warning to get on thy Armour doth not the pains the aches the distempers of thy body under which thou daily groanest bid thee prepare for thy winding-sheet doth not news ring dayly in thy ear this and that friend relation or neighbour is dead and ere long others will say of thee he is dead also hast thou not interred many a dead corpse and preacht may a Funeral Sermon and given many an exhortation to the living to prepare for death and comforted many that have lost their friends by death and wast never yet satisfied that thou wast mortal and must dye also didst thou think thy self only exempted from the common lot of all men or that God would bring thee to Heaven another way or couldst thou wish thou wert immortal and shouldst live on earth to Eternity art thou willing to take the Earth for Heaven and the creature for God and the happiness thou meetst with here for Heavens glory hast enough to satisfy thee here below and desirest no more if not why wouldst not dye and come to happiness if the earth be more desireable to thee one year why not twenty and why not to eternity if God should bid thee choose thy time and appoint it thy self what time wouldst thou require haply Methusalems daies well but these would expire and death at the end would be as bitter as now it is If death were the road to Hell as 't is to the wicked thou mightest well startle at it And I have wondred at those of them that have been so prodigal of their lives when Life is the only preservative out of Hell Or if thy case were that of the beasts and thou were to be reduced unto the horrid estate of nothing death might make thee shrug but when thou believest that death to thee will be an entrance into glory an outlet to misery and an inlet to happiness and the same road that Christ and all the glorified Saints have gone to Heaven in how can this be reconciled with thy fears Hast thou had so many discourses of death and with death and dost believe that the sting is taken out by Christ and dost yet run from this Serpent and take him for an enemy that is but thy Fathers Messenger sent for thy good This must needs be thy sin and thy folly and doth too evidently bespeak thy Infidelity or the weakness of thy Faith Thou hast comforted others at the last gasp and prayed with them and for them thou hast strengthened the weak hands and feeble knees and now dost faint under the same burden But hadst thou had more mortifying Meditations of death and with the Apostle hadst learned to dye daily death would not have been so terrible a Bugbear to thee as now it seems didst thou once a day look him in the face by a serious meditation and by a believing expectation he would not look so grim and terrible Bears and Tigers are not so terrible to those that are their keepers and acquainted with them as to others The Lion in the Fable was at first sight a terror to the Fox but time much allayed his fear the more thou beholdest death the less deformed yea the more lovely he doth appear death will be no excepter of persons the rich and poor high and low whether they will or no must dance in this Ring when God commands he must and will strike death is written upon thy cradle and thou wast rockt upon the mouth of the grave and ever since no day hath been sure to thee but it might have been thy dying day 't is not long since thou didst bewail the death of thy Parents and 't is not long before thy children will bewail thine one generation comes and another goes and the latter treads out the steps of the former we trod out the steps of our predecessors and our posterity will do as much for us The world is but a Tent to abide in for a time an Inne to tarry in a night a Lodging place for a wayfaring man a baiting-place in a Journey Oh the folly of most men that take it for their Inheritance and look for no more but to the Godly 't is no continuing city no abiding place neither indeed worthy our love Were the world as the garden of Eden full of delights and pleasures thou hadst something to say for it and yet the worm of time would eat out the very heart of it the shortness of the continuance would spoyl the sport Many doat on beauty but none but the blind will fall in love with deformity it self The world is a Bochim a place of Lamentation and who falls in love with sorrow 't is a Golgotha a place of dead mens skuls and who but mad men converse among the Tombs 'T is a pest-house an infected and an infecting place where most we converse with are infectious 't is a prison a place of hardship where the soul hath not liberty to act according to its nature 't is a place of Egyptian bondage and slavery where there is little but moiling toyling working caring from morning till night for a poor living wherein we are so chained to our Oars that we have scarce time to eat our meat and what madness is it over eagerly to desire such a life and to quarrel those that ease us of our burden and put an end to our labours Here thou livest under continual pains aches griefs
couldst thou preserve it from the hands of violence and therefore 't is best leave it in his hands where it is or wouldst have God preserve thy life as long as thou pleasest and till thou think 't is fit to dye why dost think thou canst put such a clause into the Covenant or dost think 't is fit it should be put in wouldst thou have God alter his eternal decrees for thy sake Oh the folly of such a conceit the pride of such a desire thou thinkest the life of the bruit beast should be at thy dispose to save or to destroy as thou thinkest fit and yet thou thinkest thou dost them no wrong if thou kill them and why because thou callest them thy own but hath not God a better right to thee than thou hast to them He gave thee thy life but thou gavest them not the life thou takest But 't is a violent death thou fearest and wouldst not fall into thine enemies hands but if God make them his Messengers they are thy Friends though unwillingly and promote thy glory they cannot act without him and therefore look not at the rod but at the hand that holds it The King of Assyria was sent as a scourge by God to do his work Isa 10.7.15 to reform his people Howbeit he meaneth not so neither doth his heart think so but it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations not a few c. Shall the Ax boast it self against him that heweth therewith or shall the Saw magnify it self against him that shaketh it c All are but instruments in the hand of God they do his will and what he appoints as Jehu cut off Ahabs family at his command yet God punisht him for it because he aimed not at Gods glory in the work but at his own greatness wicked men can neither maintain their own lives when God calls for them neither can they take away thine by their own power for they can have no power but what they have from above and if thou see Gods hand and seal to their Commission murmur not at it for 't is not want of love to thee that made God set them on work nor any love to them that made him imploy them but it was to fill up the measure of their sins that they may be ripe for Judgment and to fill up the measure of thy sufferings that thou maist be ripe for glory The same love that sent Christ into the world to dye for thee is exercised in sending thee to dye for him in the one he prepared a King dom for thee in the other he calls thee out of the world to enjoy it By Christs death there is a possession purchased and by thy death thou art put into the possession of it and what hurt is in all this there is thy life yea Eternal Life put into the lease of it Never fear miscarrying iâ— thou wilt be ruled by God for if thou shouldest either it will be want of power want of wisdom or want of love thaâ— shall occasion it not want of power for the Lord is El-shaddai God alsufficient able to remove all the rubs that lye in the way thy enemies they cannot hurt thee without him for they cannot breathe without him nor move a finger but by his assistance Neither can they out-wit him for he is Omniscient the only wise God Isa 9.6 the everlasting counseller the Prince of peace who knows how to deliver his people and to reserve the wicked for the day of wrath they cannot hide their counsels from him for he is every where present if they dig down to Hell he is there also and can countermine them he hath wrought wonderfully for the preservation of his people witness Noah Daniel the three children Jonah Israel in Egypt the Jews in Hamans time Peter Athanasius Luther Calvin England and many others which he hath preserved against numerous enemies And for love never any hath discovered more than Christ hath done for his people and yet canst not trust Him with the dispose of thy life that lost his own for the good of thy soul Thou canst trust thy life in a narrow Ship upon the raging Sea for gain if thou think thou hast a skilful careful Pilot and darest not sail in those narrow seas to the port of Rest and Haven of happiness when God himself is thy Pilot and steers thy Ship when never any miscarried in the voyage Thou canst trust a Lawyer with thy Estate if thou think him honest and able and dost mistrust the everlasting Counseller with thy eternal Estate who neither can deceive or be deceived Thou wouldst trust a skilful Physitian with thy Body and take bitter pills and unsavoury potions if he prescribe them and darest thou not put thy life into the hands of the Physician of Souls in comparison of whom all others are Physicians of no value because he prescribes a little unpleasing Physick though no bitterer than needful If thou mistrust him with thy life either 't is because thou fearest he will deceive thee or may be deceived but this intrenches upon his wisdom or fidelity 't is better for a child be under his Fathers protection than his own much more for thee to be under Gods tuition than at thy own dispose he never yet betrayed his trust neither can any pluck thee out of Gods hands John 10.28 Rom. 8.21 he tells thee all things shall work together for thy good if thou love God and then why not death why not a violent death hath he not told thee Heb. 13.5 Mat. 16.18 he will never leave thee nor forsake thee and that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against thee and darest not take his word was he ever known to falsify it If life be good thou shalt have it if not why wilt desire it But art afraid lest he should deal with thee when he takes thee hence as the Prophet did with the Syrians lead thee to Samaria when thou thinkest thou art going to Dothan lest thou shouldst go to Hell with hopes of Heaven in thy mouth Never fear if thou carry thy Evidences for Heaven with thee he will never disinherit thee Christ will not lose the purchase of his blood and thou shalt not lose what he hath purchased for thee If it be good for thee to dye why wouldst thou live A child cannot choose so well for himself as his Father can and God knows better than thee what is belt Many are loth to open a Vein and yet in some cases 't is best yea to cut off a Limb may be necessary though painful the sensual faculty here must be ruled by the rational that is not alwaies best that is most pleasing to the Appetite If thou leave it to God what death thou shalt dye he will make the best choice for thee he will lay no more upon thee than he gives thee strength to bear and through Christ assisting thee thou
maist do all things Trust not in thy own strength lest with Pembleton thou failest in the performance Mat. 9.17 God will not put new wine into old bottles nor the heaviest burden upon the weakest Horse the strongest if he leave them are weak and the weakest in his strength are strong if thy heart be upright God will either free thee from thy suffering or support thee under it he will fit the back before he lay on the burden if thou dye by a violent death so do those many thousands that are slain with the Sword and yet those that are slain by the sword are better than they that dye of famine Lam. 4.9 many a wounded man that yet escapeth with his life suffers more pains of his wounds than if he had been slain outright If thou refuse a few pangs for Heaven thou art not worthy of it yea a natural death may be as painful many times is more painful than a violent death but the reward of the latter if it be for God may clearly turn the scales and make it more eligible Thy enemies as before was said are not Masters of thy life neither is it in their power to take it away for they have no power but what they receive from Heaven 't is he that disposes of Angels and Men of Crowns and Kingdoms of Heaven and Earth that must dispose of thy life and is not he the fittest for the work is there any in the world can do it better is there any in the world thou hadst rather trust with thy life is not he the fittest to send for thee out of the world that sent Christ into the world for thy sake and wilt thou think thy life too dear for him that thought not the pangs of death nor the pains of Hell too much to suffer for thee hath he suffered so much to purchase glory and wilt thou suffer nothing to enjoy it his suffering was a thousand times more for thee than thine is like to be for him or rather for thy self for thou hadst the benefit of his death but he will have none by thine hath he provided a Mansion and wilt not leave thy Cottage to go to it Death 't is true is surly and grim but 't is thy Fathers Messenger and must do the message he gives in charge and 't is an Ambassador from the great King and Ambassadors are entertained not for their own but their Masters sake and death may be welcomed for the message sake he brings He comes to tell thee that thy work is done and thy wages is ready thy Warfare is accomplished the Field is won and the Crown is thine Mat. 25.21 that thou hast been faithful over a little and now must be Ruler over much and must enter into thy Masters joy That the Bridegroom is come and thou must go in with him to the wedding that thou hast been faithful to the death Rev. 2.10 and now shalt have a crown of life And is not such a message welcome and the Messenger that brings it will any wise man rather stay in Egypt than go through the red Sea at Gods command or endure a few Wilderness troubles to come to Canaan yea through a sea of blood to a Haven of rest If the way be troublesome the Journeys end is pleasant if thou art stung with fiery Serpents there is a brazen Serpent to heaâ— thee of thy wounds and to draw ouâ— the venom If the sea be rough the Piloâ— is skilful If thy disease be dangerous this Physician is skilful if thy wounds be deep this Surgeon will cure thee yea by Killing will cure thee of all distempers Were Death a pursevant from Hell as to many he is well mightest thou fear but being sent from Heaven and coming in thy Fathers Livery and his ugly Vizor taken off he is more amiable If thou have part in the first resurrection the second death on thee shall have no power Death 't is true Rev. 20.6 puts a cup of trembling into the hands of unrepentant sinners even a cup of the Lords indignation filled to the brim which they must drink up to the very dregs and Eternity will be little enough to see the bottom but what is this to thee thy part is sugered and 't is but one sup swallowed in a few moments of time to them it proves the first and second death to thee but a Sleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Those sparks which wicked men now on earth kindle by their lusts will there be blown up into an everlasting flame Mar. 9.44 the worm dyeth not and the fire never goeth out That death that puffs out the candle of the wicked only snuffs the other that it may burn brighter The godly while they are in the world act a Comedy which begins bad but ends well the wicked act a Tragedy which alwaies ends in blood and confusion death sets an end to both to the godliess miseries and the wickeds happiness Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them And if this be the only way to blessedness why art thou afraid to walk in it death will be the Funeral of thy Vices and the Resurrection of thy Graces here Josephs feet shall no longer be hurt in the stocks the iron shall no longer enter into his soul neither shall Jeremy lye here in the miry dungeon nor Daniel in the den of Lions nor Jonah in the Whales belly why wilt thou not be uncloathed that thou maist be cloathed upon and surrender this house of clay that thou maist have a better Thou art like an ill debtor that bortowest with prayers keepest with thanks and partest with it with repining Thy body is but lent thee yet art thou loth to restore what was borrowed Well dye thou must and whether it be fit that God or thee should determine of the Time and the Manner of thy death is the question in hand and is this become a controversie and wilt dispute thy right Heaven and Earth may stand amazed at thy folly if thou wilt not yield him his due he will ere long distrain for it and try the Title at Judgment where thou art like to be cast and thrown into Prison till thou hast paid the utmost farthing for if thou deny to glorifie God by thy death he will glorifie himself by thy destruction Oh my God I yield I surrender I submit I put my life into thy hands send for me when and by whomsoever thou wilt My spirit is willing though my flesh is weak I dare not trust my own deceitfull heart lest it betray me but thee I dare trust Lord strengthen my Faith confirm my Assurance clear up my Evidences for Heaven stand by me in all my Sufferings and lay no more upon me than thou givest me strength to bear then call me and I will run after thee though
can do The Pharisees could fast Mat. 6.1 2. and pray and give Alms and what dost thou more The Apostle tells believers that to them it is given not only to believe on Christ Phil. 1.29 but to suffer for his sake and how wilt thou prove thy self a Believer if thou refuse to suffer Wouldst thou receive a Souldiers wages and not do his work wilt thou list thy self and indent with thy Captain that thou wilt not fight are all thy graces counterfeit if not why are they not reduced into act will the Sword in the scabbard secure thee why dost not finish thy course with joy that a Crown of life may be laid up for thee must God save thee whether thou wilt or no and pluck thee hence by violence to receive thy Reward or if he will not he may keep Heaven to himself for thee Doth thy faith and thy other graces now stand thee in no stead hast thou no Oyl when the Bridegroom comes or if thou hast dost thou refuse to enter to what end then serves thy Lamp what mattereth it for a Wedding-garment if when thou art invited to the Feast thou refusest to come Hast thou no Armour on when thou art cal'd to fight and thy enemy is in the field or wilt thou cowardly turn thy back and fly or suffer thy self to be captivated and inslaved hast thou no Armour to defend thy heart is no Cordial to keep thee from fainting to be found in God no promise in his Word which may be a foundation of comfort what then is the difference between thee and the Epicure nay his condition is much better he hath something that he calls Pleasure to solace himself with Are these anxious thoughts and fears suitable to a Christian to a Minister to one that hath made Forty years profession of Religion hast thou in all this time made no increase of thy Grace no improvement of thy Talent hast not yet learnt self-denyall which is the first lesson in the School of Christ and is it not yet taken out hast not yet attained the lowest measure of true grace to hate Father and Mother Wife and Children and thy own Life for him without which thou canst not be his disciple Is it suitable for a child of God to turn his back upon his Father when he calls him and like guilty Adam hide himself is it suitable for the Spouse of Christ to deny to come when her Husband sends for her Art thou yet unresolved whether Christ or Life be the sweeter whether Heaven or Earth be the better or whether the Creature or the Creator be to be chosen If so never call thy self a Christian more never dishonour Christ more by thy profession Was ever Heir afraid of receiving his Inheritance yet this is thy condition thou rather choosest a miserable life attended with eares and fears with griefs and sorrows rather than to dye and come to Christ Thou hast devoted thy self to him as a Spouse to her husband and hast formerly gloried in thy choice and art now afraid of the time when the marriage shall be consummate and thou shalt be lodg'd in his bosom if so 't is no wonder if he give thee a bill of Divorce and put thee away and what Condition art thou then in where wilt thou find such another Match nay there is no other in Heaven or Earth that can boot thy needs pay thy debts and save thy soul the Angels themselves cannot do it Esth 1.10 c. If Vasti the Queen were put away for refusing to come at her Husbands call much more dost thou deserve a Divorce if thou refuse to come at Christs call If thou go to him thou leavest a vain sinful miserable and treacherous world which hath laid many a snare in thy way and more will do if thou live in it longer and dost grieve at parting and put it upon the debate whether it be best to go or no and art ready to pass sentence in the Negative art afraid of being put above all fear and dread and wilt not go to Heaven because the way is not strewed with roses or because 't is a little up the hill thou hast but one stile to thy Fathers house if thy Breakfast be bad thy Dinner will make amends Are the suares which the Devil the world and the flesh have laid for thee so strong and thy Faith so weak that thou art now leaving God and choosing something else for thy portion and that thou art detained in this Harlots arms when thine own husband calls thee Art thou willing to lose all the pains thou hast taken in Heavens way rather than go one step more hast ascended all the steps of Jacobs ladder but one till thy head be in Heaven and art now returning down again because 't is a little more difficult than the rest wilt thou now take up with these things for thy portion and art busily seeking after content in them in which thou couldst never find satisfaction in thy life hast exercised so much self-denial for Christ hast thou forsaken Father and Mother Wife and Children Brothers and Sisters yea thy Estate in the world and exposed thy self to want and penury to labour and travel to scoffs and scorns yea to persecutions and trials and now wilt break with Christ for a trifle and lose the reward of what thou hast done wilt thou now prefer thy life before him that is Life it self hast thou bid so much for Christ and now dost stick at the price if thou now forsake him all is lost that thou hast paid But what cause hath God given to forsake him hath he ever failed of his word hath he imposed upon thee or foisted in any condition in the Covenant that was not mutually agreed upon if not what makes thee boggle at it if Religion were not good why didst thou profess it if it be why dost leave it if Heaven be not worth what thou must pay for it why didst not consider of it before and if it be why dost stick at the rates or dost thou think that God will amend thy bargain and let thee have it at Cheaper rates If these be thy thoughts thou art much mistaken Mat. 13.45 if thou wilt have the Pearl thou must sell all to purchase it 't is thy self and all thou hast that is the price he sets upon Christ and Heaven and Glory If thou think him not worth it thou maist let him alone and no harm done but assure thy self there is no indenting with Christ This I will do and that I will not this sin I will leave but not that thou must not like Naaman the Assyrian expect a toleration in any sin or in the neglect of any duty Well whatever thy thoughts be God will not abate one farthing Gal. 6.7.8 If thou sowest to the flesh thou wilt of the flesh reap corruption if thou sowest to the Spirit thou wilt of the Spirit reap life
should not dispose of thee as well as he doth of all the world Shall the pot say to him that made it Why hast thou made me thus Art thou wiser than he to know who is fit to be cal'd forth to suffer and knowest thou better than he how to guide the affairs of the world But thou art afraid thou shalt not hold out but dost thou stand by thy own strength and dost not think that God hath power enough to uphold thee or wisdom enough to know what thou canst do a wise Captain will not put a fresh-water Souldier upon the hardest assaults put experienced Souldiers God will not put new Wine into old Bettles if thy heart be rotten no wonder if thou miscarry if it be right God will not suffer thee to faint having so many cordials by him In Queen Maryes daies we read of poor simple men and women that never had the Learning the means the time the help that thou hast had nor never made the profession that thou hast made yet were wonderfully supported by God under all their sufferings and became glorious Martyrs and cannot God uphold thee also and why then shouldst thou be so desirous of life and fearful of death and rather live a miserable life than dye a happy death why wouldst thou still live in Meseck and in the tents of Kedar rather than in Gods own House and in his presence in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore why dost desire to be present in the Flesh and absent from the Lord and preferrest misery before glory it self and a vain empty nothing before eternal treasures sure something is amiss with thee that with Adam thou hidest thy self from God and wilt not go when he calls thee Heb. 10.22 couldst thou draw neer to him with a pure heart in assurance of faith with a heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and thy body washed with pure water thou maist find more delight in his presence than the world can yield and in sincerity will enable thee to delight in him much more perfection when all imperfections will be done away then thou wilt find with David that 't is better be a door-keeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness that a day in his courts much more in Heaven is better than a thousand elsewhere But Oh my soul hast not thou plaid the Truant and now darest not come into thy Masters sight hast thou not with the slothful servant hid thy talent or like the unjust Steward wasted thy masters goods and now fearest what account thou shalt give of thy Stewardship or what answer thou shalt make about thy talent Or hast thou not played the Coward and runst away from thy Colours or turned thy back upon the enemy and now darest not look thy Captain in the face Paul when he had fought the fight and kept the Faith and expected the crown he desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ to be absent from the body and present with the Lord well may thy Lord and Saviour entertain thee with a check Why art thou fearful Oh thou of little faith Art thou listed to fight against thy enemies and now when the last enemy is to be destroyed dost thou turn thy back throw down thy weapons and quit the field doth thy faith fail thee and dost thou question whether there be a reward for the righteous and a God that judgeth the earth and whether there be an eternal happiness to be had or whither those that dye in the Lord are blessed and do rest from their labours dost now question whether death doth put an end to all the Saints miseries and enter then into eternal joy if so why hast thou preacht and owned and pleaded for these things yea why hast thou suffered so much in hope of a joyful resurrection but if thou believe there is a God and that the Scripture is the Word of God and that God will do as he saith and will make good all his promises and all his threats and that it shall go well with the righteous and that he shall eat the fruit of his labour Isa 3.10 and that it shall go ill with the wicked for the reward of his hands shall be given him If thou do believe death is to the godly the Out-let to misery and the Inlet to glory and puts them into possession of all that is good that it will cure all diseases and heal all maladies how can this stand with thy fear and dread the very thoughts of eternal Joy draws up the heart to Heaven and makes thee wish and long for the time of thy dissolution and much imbitters all earthly enjoyments and makes the soul impatient of delayes and to cry out Come Lord Jesus come quickly when shall the time be that I shall Solace my Soul in the enjoyment of my Husband when shall I lye in his bosom when will my beloved send for me in his triumphant Chariot O cursed sin when shall I be rid of thee thou art the Make-bate between my God and me thou hidest his face from me thou spoilest all my duties thou art the cause of all my misery when shall I be rid of thee when shall I give thee a bill of divorce when shall it once be Oh my soul were but thy love as it should be to Christ these would be thy breathings and thy pantings after him thou wouldst be like a love-sick woman never well till thou wert in the arms of thy beloved thy thoughts would be upon him ubi amor ibi animus where the treasure is there will the heart be also where love is the heart will be and love makes labour light the wife that loveth her husband will rather venture his displeasure in coming to him without his consent than in staying from him when she is sent for and thy unwilllingness to dyeand come to Christ when he calls thee doubtless proceeds from want of love to him let them fear death that have Plague-sores running upon them the marks and tokens of the second death whose passing out of the world is but the direct road to Hell whose life time is all the respite they have out of Hell and the only breathing-time they are ever like to have free from torments but to the godly it is not so but their only Hell and time of their misery If a man were sore sick and could certainly know that after one night he should be perfectly well and never be sick more or if a man in pinching penury and want should know that after one Sleep he should awake a Prince and all his wants should be supplyed who would fear that Night or be afraid of that Sleep but such a Night such a Sleep death is to the godly it is but a sleep and they shall wake in glory 'T is but to wink saith the Martyr and we shall be in Heaven presently
bestowed upon wicked men will off also If thy Name be written in the Book of Life it matters not much if it be blotted out of the world if God remember thee it matters not much though the world forget thee What though the Habitation wherein thou livest know thee no more if thou art acquainted in Heaven it matters not much though haply the place may be recorded for thy sake Psal 87.4 5 6. For of Zion it shall be said this or that man was born in her and the Highest himself shall establish her the Lord shall count when he writeth up his people that this man was born there What matter is it to thee where thou wast born if now thou hast a better habitation thou hast never had any abiding place since thou wast born but posted from one place to another by an over-ruling Providence and never in any long settled Habitation having above twenty times changed thy dwelling many times against thy will and most times by an unexpected Providence And sometimes when thou hast pitcht thy Tent and said Surely I shall dye here Numb 10.12 the Cloud hath removed and thou hast been forced to march some Providence or other gave a check to thy conceits and if thou live longer thy future condition is not like to be more settled thou hast been a wayfaring man all thy dayes even from the Morning of thy Life and so thou art like to be till thy Sun be set And for some season thy own house would not own thee thy own doors were shut against thee and thy nearest Relations durst not entertain thee though no flagitious crime was charged upon thee Many a place that did know thee is now strange to thee and thou art a stranger to it and if this become strange also 't is no great matter If thou art of a Peasant made a Prince and from a Countrey Cottage brought into the possession of a Kingdom never complain what wrong death hath done thee Or is it thy work thou art so unwilling to leave or art thou ready to say Alas what will become of these poor Sheep in the Wilderness 1 Sam. 17.28 if the Shepherd be smitten they will be scattered 't is well if there be so much care of them Paul indeed having the care of all the Churches upon him was driven into a streight whether to choose Life or Death yet to dye he knew was best for him but to live for them but I fear there are few like-minded that naturally care for the Church for all seek their own not one anothers welfare but the argument may be retorted If thou which hast been a Shepherd fly when thou seest the Wolf coming how shall the Sheep stand if thou turn thy back upon Christ and rather deny him than suffer for him what woful work will this make among the Sheep if thou refuse to seal thy Doctrine with thy blood what encouragement shall they have to own their profession to the Death when the Captains run what havock will the enemy make among the Souldiers but what will thy Life add to any mans happiness or thy Death diminish from thy own If the chief Husbandman take thee out of the Vineyard 't is but to make room for other Labourers for his work shall not stand if he stop thy mouth he will open the mouths of others his work shall be done whether thou live or dye Thou art almost laid aside as a broken Vessel and if he break thee quite the matter is not much there will be little loss And if thou live thou art in a capacity of doing little good but if thy Sun set at Noon God will not diminish thy wages Luk. 9.62 if he take the Plough out of thy hand he will not blame thee for looking back those that workt but one hour in the Vineyard had their penny but thy Sun is almost set the shadows of the Evening are stretched out Jer. 6.4 and Nature it self will shortly end thy dayes and cut off the thred of thy life if thou shouldst spin it to the utmost extent and yet art so loth to have it broke off a little before the time if thou hast imployed thy Talent well God will not chide thee that thou hadst it no longer he doth not require so much use for the half-year as for the whole nor so much work to be done in the half as in the whole day in the Vineyard If he call thee hence to serve him elsewhere he expects thou shouldst obey for thy praises in Heaven are as pleasant to him as thy Preaching upon Earth and for the Church of God take no care he that hath made provision for it this five thousand years he will not leave it now and can do his work without thee and if God take away thy life he will take away thy work and lay thy burden upon others shoulders The same stroak that lets out thy life le ts out thy sin and sin being gone the consequents fruits and effects of it cease also which are labour and sorrow Job 3.17 18. and in the grave the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest Death may be sweet to those to whom Life hath been bitter and though death may destroy thy Body yet shall it have no dominion over thy Soul Eccles 12.7 the Spirit returns to God that gave it The body is but a crazie Pitcher and no wonder if it break nay 't is a wonder it hath run through so many dangers and is not yet broken and when it is broken 't is but of the same Clay to make a better by the same Potter Thy life is precious indeed and should not be sold but not so precious as to be bought at such a rate as the loss of the Soul What wise man will sell the Jewel to redeem the Box Christ lost his life for thy Souls redemption and wilt thou not lose thine for its preservation Temporal death is the only in-let to Eternal Life but to seek to save thy Life when Christ and his Cause require it is the ready way to eternal death to lose it in this case is to save it and the way to get the greatest gain and to prevent the everlasting separation of soul and body from God which is the second Death But Death of it self cannot seperate from God Rom. 8.28 29. and however it may make the body loathsom in the eyes of men and undesirable to near Relations yet it cannot make it unlovely in Gods eyes or move him to forsake it and though it do fall into the earth and rot there 't is but as seed sown into the ground to spring up with more advantage it is a part of Christs Purchase and shall not be lost 1 Cor. 6.19 't is the Temple of the Holy Ghost and though it be ruined 't is but to be rebuilt and not one pin of it shall be wanting for the Grave
dye as to dine and accounted the day of their Death their Wedding day Paul was ready not only to be bound but to dye for Christ Many were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection they had Trial of cruel mocking scourging yea bonds and imprisonments they were stoned sawn asunder tempted slain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins Heb. 11.36 c. being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the World was not worthy they wandred in deserts and in mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth c. The more thou sufferest for Christ the more weighty will thy Crown of Glory be those that loved not their lives to the death but were killed for the Testimony of Jesus are placed under the Altar nay follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes and are cloathed with long white Robes and have Palms in their hands But if thou deny thy life to Christ he will deny thee entrance into this Heavenly Canaan and thou shalt not only lose thy reward but thy Soul also and expose thy self to Death Eternall If thou suffer with him thou shalt reign with him and if thou art ashamed of him he will also be ashamed of thee Those that honour him he will honour and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed If thou come to suffer for him as many eyes will be upon thee so many Prayers will be put up for thee and doubtless much comfort will be dropt into thy Soul by the Spirit of God who is the Comforter sent by God upon this business and God will stand by thee in suffering times and give in Cordials to refresh thy heart I have read of a Christian that under his Rack and Tortures as he after told his friends apprehended a young man with a handkerchief wiping the sweat off his face and comforting him The holy Angels will stand by thee and God will not be at a distance from his suffering Saints and who then need fear to dye that hath learnt to live if thou be prepared thou needst not fear what Messenger God sends for thee nor at what hour of the night thy master comes for Death cannot be sudden to the prepared Soul that is alwaies upon his watch and thou needst not fear what thy sufferings be if thou canst but say Propter te propter te Domine 'T is for thee and for thy sake we are killed all the day long and accounted as Sheep for the slaughter The more thou sufferest then the more deeply thou engagest God to thee and he will pay thee an hundred fold this is the best usury and the best way thou canst dispose of thy life for every year on Earth that thou hast lost thou shalt receive a thousand in Heaven and for one friend thou forsakest here thou shalt receive a thousand there and for every thing thou losest for his sake thou shalt be recompensed a thousand fold and as thou shalt have no loss so thy Enemies shall be no gainers by thy death they heap up coals of fire upon their own heads and without repentance prevent it augment their own damnation for Christ will take it as done to himself and their torments are like to be as durable as thy Joyes which will be for ever and ever Consider not so much what thou sufferest as for what and for whom if it be for the Truth it will prevail and if it be for Christ thou shalt not lose by it Truth is more precious than life it self and fit to be sealed with thy blood thou must deny thy self rather than deny thy God for he that gave thee thy life is fittest to dispose of it and whosoever parts with his life upon this account makes a good bargain he cannot buy this Gold too dear Many are the encouragements given in Scripture to persecuted Saints Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you And as great will be thy reward so great also are the company of thy fellow-sufferers even from righteous Abel to this day Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers Persecuted Yea Christ and his Apostles followed after for almost all of them dyed a violent death and greater than the Master is the Servant cannot be the world that hated Christ will hate his Servants also and persecute all that bear his Image If they hated him for righteousness sake they will hate all that are righteous Christ suffered for thee the wrath of God and wilt not thou suffer for him the wrath of man he was stung by Death and dost think it much to be strucken by it now the sting is out he suffered for thee the pains of Hell and think'st it too much to suffer the pangs of death for him when many times it is not so much as some have endured from an aking tooth and what is this to the recompense of reward he gave thee thy life and can take it if he please and yet desires thy consent and if thou refuse he will distrain of thee for this debt The worst of Enemies can but stop thy breath and the least of Creatures can do as much if animated by God The least Fly or Hair or Crumb of Bread will choak thee if God give it a commission and well maist thou fear it if thou hast denyed God to lay down thy life for his sake sickness or age will as surely end thy life as thy Enemies can though haply not so suddenly thou hast no assurance of it a day to an end neither canst thou have only put it into his hand and he will dispose of it for thy good how can the seed spring up if it be not sown or how can the body rise if not fallen if God suffer any to take away thy life 't is not out of any love to them or hatred to thee he loves his Child better than his Rod though sometimes the rod may be set on high when the Child is turned out of door yet when the child is reformed the rod shall be burnt they cannot preserve their own lives nor take away thine 't is God doth both and ere long they must tread the same steps and down to the same pit and travail the same road and enter Deaths dark Vault as well as others only here is the difference death which will bring thee as Joseph out of Prison will bring them in and as it knocks off the bolts from thy heels he will fasten shackles and chains upon theirs and shall bring them like Haman from his glory to his execution that death which will set an end to thy misery will terminate their felicity it will
bring thee to glory but them to shame and everlasting contempt well may they fear Death but thou hast more cause to desire it Heaviness to thee may continue for a night but joy comes in the morning and by the eye of faith thou maist with Stephen see beyond Death even Heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God yea the Tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradice of God the Crown of glory the purchased Inheritance the Prize for which thou didst run the Crown for which thou didst fight If thou hast a mark in thy forehead for a Mourner in Sion there thou shalt have a Crown upon thy head in token of Victory Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Thou art almost come to the top of the hill draw not back now nor let thy heart go down hold out now Faith and Patience your work will not be now long hold fast what thou hast let no man take thy crown let no temptation draw thee away from Christ consider well the hand that holds it and the design Satan drives on to captivate thy soul for ever Thy life as it is not in thy own hand and should not be at thy own dispose so 't is not in thine enemies hand to take it away at their pleasure but as God makes wicked men his Skullions to scour off the rust of his people so also his Executioners to fulfill his Decrees all is in the hands of God both the Time when the Manner how and the Instruments by whom it shall be done he knows best when his work is done and when to gather his Roses and lodge them in his bosom and the Devil and his instruments are but his drudges and when the measure of their sins are fulfilled they shall have their reward The Devil himself was not able to kill one of Jobs Sheep nor to raise one boyl upon his body without Gods leave Job 1.10 for God had set a hedge about him as he was fore't to confess And God will seal no commission to the dammage of his people for all things shall work together for their good Rom. 8.28 And why dost fear man whose breath is in his nostrils or the son of man that is vanity if the fear of God be planted in the heart the fear of men and Devils will vanish for God hath them in a chain and they cannot go a link beyond it Dan. 3.19 6.16 Nebuchadnezzar had power to cast the three children into the fiery furnace but not to burn them Darius had power to cast Daniel into the Lions den yet not to cause him to be devoured the Sodomites compassed Lots house but could not enter and Haman procured a decree to cut off all the Jewes but lived not to effect it Those that are faithful to the death Rev. 2.10 shall receive at God hands a Crown of life and shall be made pillars in the house of God if they overcome But if thou revolt and deny thy God thou art from under his protecting hand and canst not claim one promise of his assistance then thou standest upon thy own legs and must shift for thy self and a miserable shift it will be Dost contend with him about thy life that hath the keyes of life and death at his girdle he that gave thee thy life and being and thou hast no breath but what he gives thee See the grievous judgments that God brings upon Apostates which both the Scripture and Church Histories will furnish thee with the fallen Angels Adam and Eve in paradise Judas Achitophel Ananias and Saphira and many more and in after ages not a few and what think'st to get by Apostacy by denying thy God or thy Religion perhaps thou thinkest to save thy life a little longer a miserable bargain and yet the Devil cannot assure thee of that It is to be feared that many in Ireland in the late Rebellion had they been brought to the trial whether they would have forsaken their Religion or their Lives would not have chosen Death yet they suffered in the name of Protestants when 't is to be feared they had little more than the Name the question not being who were godly and who wicked but who were Protestants and who Papists and so it will be in England if ever a Massacre be there made by the Papists which God forbid good and bad are there like to drink of the same cup how much better then is it to devote thy life to God leave it at his dispose if he save it bless him for it if he take it away let his will be done if thou thus carry it in thy hand to lay down at his pleasure if he require it not thou shalt not lose thy reward as Abraham did not though Isaac was not sacrificed If thou resolvedly deny it though he require it not thou shalt not be innocent as Abraham had he denied his son though God eventually determined he should not dye yet had been a transgressour and had miss'd of the blessing yet 't is not required of thee by God to lay down thy head upon the block but use all good means for to save thy life and as Christ bids his disciples Mat. 10.23 when they are persecuted in one city to fly to another for if thou suffer without a call thou losest thy reward all lawful means for self-preservation must be used or we are guilty of our own blood but when thou must sin or suffer dye or deny the truth thou must not deny the truth for lifes sake nor do evil that good may come of it then trust God if he will he can preserve thee if not his will be done for then he sees it besâ— to take thee away from the evil to come of two evils the least is to be chosen losing thy life is not so bad as losing Gods love Psal 63.3 for his loving kindness is better than life a violent death upon this account hath been the lot of many thousand Saints that have deliberately made this choice whose souls are now attending upon the Lamb whithersoever he goes from the beginning of the world to this day no age was free from innocent blood which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted the Apostles the primitive Fathers and many thousand Christians were baptized with Christs baptism and went to Heaven in a Sea of blood The Jewes made havock of the Church in the Primitive times and when they were destroyed and their power taken from them the Roman Emperours in the Ten bloody persecutions destroyed hundreds of thousands of them and after that succeeded the Arian persecution and when that was ended and the Pope got his foot into the stirrop and sat as he pretends in the infallible Chair he exceeded in cruelty the Heathens themselves witness the Spanish Inquisition the bloody butchering of the Waldenses and Albigenses the Massacres in Paris and other Cities
thy sin that makes thee take so much pains in duty to keep thy heart to God this hides his face from thee that thou canst scarce have a glimpse of him in an Ordinance this is the Root upon which all other sins grow the Spring that feeds all the streams of vice and hence they issue and this is it upon which the Devil fastens all his temptations the want of this made the Devil successeless in his tempting of Christ his fire fell upon wet Tinder and this is the misery of it this sin never dyes for age but the longer we live the stronger it grows some sins are in a decaying condition as to the Act when age disables an Adulterer and some others but this decayes not yea and we propagate it also to our Posterity our children receive it from us and so it will be propagated from one generation to another to the worlds end Oh the horrid nature of this sin 't is the Image of Satan which he stampt upon us when the image of God was lost and this cannot be rased out but by death here thou art troubled with a hard heart a stubborn will disordered affections unruly passions vain thoughts idle imaginations which thou canst not shake off more than thy very Nature this makes thee so unlike to God so like to Satan whose Image thou bearest and whose work thou doest this makes thy duties stink in the nostrils of God and thy whole man Soul and Body out of order this hinders thy communion with thy God and makes him a stranger to thee it makes thee act as an enemy to him and him to thee and thy iniquity hides his face from thee These are the Anakims that terrifie thee these are the sons of Zerviah that are too hard for thee these are the Caananites which are thorns in thine eyes and pricks in thy sides these sins of thine are the cause of all thy trouble thou hadst never had aking head or aking heart or loss or cross or any thing to trouble thee had it not been for sin but from these thou canst not be freed one moment no Prayer no Duty no Action but savours of them this thou art sensible of this burden thou groanest under and lookst upon sin as thy greatest enemy and well thou maist for nothing could hurt thee but for this this it is that makes the soul vulnerable which otherwise man nor Devil could not hurt this thou hast preached against spoke against prayed against thou hast railed upon it and called it all that naught is well now let us see whether thou wast in Earnest or in Jest whether all this was in sincerity or hypocrisie death comes now to free thee from this bondage ease thee of this burden and brings a potion to cure thee when all other Doctors have left thee and can do no good he will bring thee where sin and sorrow shall be no more for into heaven they shall never enter art thou willing of the seperation to give sin a bill of divorce and put it away wilt thou shake hands with it and bid it adieu for ever this potion will purge the soul from all the reliques of this distemper and cleanse the heart which is the fountain of all thy actions and make all the streams thence proceeding run clear and fetch away all those gross humours of sin that filthy lump that lyes upon thy heart and presseth it down and lyes as a clog upon it it will cast out all those unclean Spirits and cleanse those Augean Stables from all pollution this is the only Physitian in the world that can do it and God the great Physician of Souls hath approved of his Recipts and sent him to thee upon this errant to heal thee of the wounds of sin and to restore thee to thy primitive purity wherein thou wast created what saist thou wil't give him entertainment or no The Devil and the damned would take a potion a thousand times bitterer upon the like condition help thou canst not have till thou art purged nor to Heaven thou canst not go for no unclean thing shall ever enter there purged thou canst not be without death for then Christ will wash thee clean with his own blood and sprinkle thee with clean water and present thee to his Father without spot or wrinkle or any such defiling or deforming thing and cure thee of all thy soul distempers and bodily infirmities which shall never more seize upon thee he will say to sin and sorrow as unto the unclean spirit Go out of him Mar. 9.25 and enter no more into him These sins be they that keep thee under the hatches that thou canst not serve God without distractions but death will unpinion thy wings and let thy soul at liberty and then thou shalt never be troubled with vain thoughts or imaginations more thou shalt never speak vain word more or do any sinful action more what wouldst thou give for thy freedom from sin for one month or one year and what now wilt thou give for a perpetual freedom what dost thou yet hang back and art not willing to suffer one hours pain for it is this thy Love to God which thou hast professed that when thou art put to thy choice thou choosest sin before him is this thy hatred of sin that now thou art loth to leave it when it comes to the trial is this the fruits of thy prayer preaching and profession Art thou now at a stand whether to deny thy God or thy Sin and art inclined to choose sin rather than God and hadst rather be present with sin and absent from God and hadst rather live in the suburbs of Hell than dye and come to Heaven and hadst rather enjoy sin for ever than God for ever for till death hath passed over thee thou canst not be free from sin neither canst thou enjoy Happiness for Sin was born with thee and will dye with thee it hath an indwelling in the soul Psal 51.5 thou wast shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin 'T is as natural to thee as to live 't is thy very nature 't is thy very self thou maist as well shake off Nature yea shake off self as shake off sin it sticks closer than the skin to thy back or the flesh to thy bones these may be separated but sin cannot till the great separation between the body and soul and then the same stroak that lets out thy life will let out thy sin and all thy misery which is the consequents of sin this hath caused thee many a sigh and sob and sorrowful hour and many a prayer many an affliction and many a lash of his rod and hindred thee many an hours Communion with thy God it hath spoiled thee many a duty and made thy life a very burthen it hath broke thy peace many a time with God and wounded thy conscience and made God hide his face from thee and many a time he hath whipt
here is no such thing Ridley and Hooper here accord Luther and Calvin are made Friends those Rivers of pleasure at Gods right hand quench all the sparks of contention pride and ignorance hath kindled among the godly and there is no bone of contention thrown among them there is nothing but sweet peace and concord and what was weak is there made strong and as no contention so no sorrow upon that account Every son of the first Adam came into the world crying and every son of the second Adam while he is in the world hath cause to cry God had one Son without sin but none without sorrow Christ himself was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief God chasteneth every son he receiveth and scourgeth those he loveth Heb. 12.8 If we be not chastized we are bastards and not sons But at death thy sorrow shall cease and thy joyes commence there shall be no more pain no more death for sorrow and sighing shall fly away But as thou shalt have an everlasting freedom from all hellish flames which is the portion of the wicked and their cup put into their hands by God so shalt thou have everlasting freedom from all temporal sorrow which is the godly mans cup and lot while they are here put into their hands by their loving Father here thou shalt be freed from sin the world and the Devil thy mortal thy sworn enemies thou shalt never more have a pale face a languishing body trembling joynts a dim sight or any infirmity or deformity there shall be none that stoop for age or any immature youth but all perfect men and women in the prime of their age as 't is conceived about the age and stature of Christ as Divines think the Apostle alludeth to that when he saith Eph. 4.13 Till we come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Unto such a stature that we should have been at had there been no infirmity or defirmity had hindred here we shall have no peccant humour no languishing disease no carking care no griping grief no fretting fear no consuming evil nay nothing that bears the name of evil the Wormwood and the Gall shall there cease for ever and sickness and diseases shall be no more no predominancy of humours no hurtful quality shall accompany our bodies when they are glorified Exod. 14.13 When this corruption shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality then may we say of sin and sorrow as Moses of the Egyptians These your enemies which you see to day ye shall see them no more for ever For as no unclean thing shall ever enter Heaven nor shall any thing that bespeaks sorrow or suffering we shall deal by these when we ascend into Heaven as Abraham did by his Servants when he went to offer his Son Isaac in Sacrifice leave them at the foot of the hill for if sin enter not there is no place for sorrow but unspeakable glory transcendent Joyes pleasure for evermore and though the glory there be inconceivable yet the faculties of the Soul shall be enlarged to receive it without offence now we cannot behold the Sun in its lustre but 't is an offence to the eye but then thou shalt be capacitated to behold a glory ten thousand times greater than the Sun with delight and shall not this death which ends all our sorrows and miseries and ushers us into this glory be welcome to us Nay but this is not all thou hast not only a crazy tottering ruinous house to live in but thou livest among bad Neighbours also and there is little comfort in a bad Neighbour-hood the house where thou dwellest is haunted with evil Spirits and thou canst have no freedom day nor night these continually trouble thee day and night and infest thee even in thy holy duties while sin that is the Devils daughter and his darling lives there her Father will not be absent and his presence is uncomfortable to a godly man he is thy sworn enemy and thou canst not be rid of him though thou givest him never so many foils he will not desist neither canst thou make any peace with him but upon harder terms than the men of Jabesh Gilead were offered by Nahash the Ammonite to put out their right eyes but nothing but the everlasting damnation of body and soul will serve him many a blasphemous temptation and many a poysoned arrow he darts into the Soul many a foul suggestion and fain would he make a rape of her he frequently storms the chief Fort Oh the hourly danger that thou art in by reason of his temptations and thine own corruptions for this is as Tinder to the fire ready to catch upon all occasions and many a time he enters the breach and if he were not beat back again would destroy the Fort of the soul many a snare and gin he layes for thee and baits his hooks according to thy inclination sometimes with one Bait sometimes with another like as a cunning Angler doth for Fish or the Fowler for Birds and what he finds most taking that he useth most sometimes he moves thee to presume if that prevail not to despair sometimes to neglect Duties if that serve not to trust in them or be proud of them sometimes to be proud of thy Enjoyments at another time to despond or murmur at thy wants or disappointments sometimes he baits his hooks with thy Relations and either perswades thee to Idolize them or moves them as he did Peter to tempt Christ Master save thy self and this proved Spira's ruine and I doubt not hath ruined many in this age He doth what he can to fly-blow all thy Duties and render them odious to God and takes advantage by every action thou dost making thee to neglect it or he foists in some by or base ends of his own into it or makes thee pride in it if things succeed to thy mind he puffs thee up with pride if thou meet with disappointments he makes thee repine and makes thee believe the world is a bad pay-master yea God himself a hard Master and that thou deservest better at his hand and as to thy calling sometimes he perswades thee that thou takest a great deal of pains for little or no profit and hast no competent reward for thy labour and therefore 't is better give it over and live at ease sometimes he perswades thee thy calling is honourable and would lift thee up above thy brethren a thousand are the shares which he layes in thy way to entrap thee and although thou shouldest repell them yet 't is a great trouble to be thus continually haunted by them as it is for a Chaste woman to be alway troubled with the unclean motions of a filthy Adulterer and as the Devil so the world layes traps for thee sometimes in pleasures sometimes
those Mansions of glory prepared for them from the foundation of the world and though we are not capable of understanding what Heavens glory is in reality yet we have a Pisgah sight a glimpse of it in the Scripture we find among other places some description of it Revel 21. yet must we not imagine it set out to the full for words cannot express it neither can we apprehend it as it is we may rather speak what it is not than what it is as no humane language can express what God is no more can it what Heaven is or what are the Joyes thereof for how can a little Vessel comprehend all the water in the Ocean but by what falls under our senfes we must be lead to higher conceptions and by those things which we most highly prize we may consider of those that are beyond our estimation For as 't is described Rev. 21.15 c. 't is most glorious yet we must imagine 't is far more glorious than 't is described because our understanding cannot conceive of it as it is we find the Angel measuring this holy City the New Jerusalem and the length and breadth and height thereof were equal for each way it was twelve thousand furlongs which according to our measure is a thousand and five hundred miles the length breadth and heighth equal now if all the buildings in the world were measured I suppose they would not reach to this extent nor amount unto such a magnitude But we must imagine that this is the exact measure of this heavenly Jerusalem this seat of the blessed the Holy Ghost here gives us a figurative description as of the materials so of the extent and brings it in here as a spacious specious and glorious City according to our capacity for our shallow capacities cannot reach what it really is and most spacious it must needs be when so many miriads of inhabitants have their mansions prepared for them For thousand thousands minister to him Dan. 7.10 and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him Yea all the Saints that ever did live do live or shall live shall there inhabit or if we make another guess how spacious this Heaven of Heavens may be let us consider this terrestrial Globe is imagined to be above twenty two thousand miles in the circumference and from hence to the starry Region or Orb of the fixed Stars as our Astronomers and those that have taken most pains in those matters imagine there is above seventy four millions of miles and the circumference of that Orb must be above six times as much and the Emperial Heaven includes all the lower Orbs as the Scales of an Onion that outermost includes all the rest this is that spacious place where God manifests his glory to Angels and men where they trumpet out his praises here Christ is and where he is his servants shall be also hither it is that he is ascended to his Father Joh. 12.26 20.17 Lu. 23.43 and our Father and here the believing thief is with him in glory methinks a departing soul should rejoice to think that within a few dayes or hours it should be one of this heavenly quire with holy Angels and glorified Saints chaunting out the praises of the ever blessed God viewing his face and beholding his glory and lying in the arms of Christ Here is the desired port which a believer bends all his sails to and hither it is all winds blow him this is the point that his Needle toucht with a divine Load-stone alwayes points to this is the mark that alwayes is in his eye the white he alwaies aims at this is his Journeyes end which he travails hard to come to here is the prize he runs for the Crown â—e fights for and the Reward he hopes for here or no where his soul finds satisfaction here is his purchased Inheritance here is the place where he is to receive his wages for his work the reward of all his sufferings for Christ here is the end of all his labour and all his painful duties there is no need now of any more Preaching Praying Fasting or humbling duties there Humility and Self-denial will be no difficult work here will be a constant Feast a perpetual Sabbath a continual Jubilee where the holy Angels and glorified Saints shall for ever chaunt out the Praises of the ever-living God without weariness or Satiety now is the Harvest over the Tares burnt the Corn secured the Labourers call'd home to receive their Wages and the godly put into the possession of their prepared Mansions which shall be as Glorious as Spacious but when we come there we may say as the Queen of Sheba of Solomons Court and Wisdom Much we have heard but the one half was not told us yea a thousandth part of Heavens glory is not revealed to us How glorious doth one Sun make the morning but what will ten thousand yea thousand thousands of Saints and Angels shining more clear than the Sun make that day that shall never see night 'T is thought by some that were â—ll the Starres gathered and contracted into such Globes and set in the same Orb they would make three hundred Suns and should it be so yet would not the Glory of all these be like the splendor of Heaven Some have imagined that these celestial bodies dart their light upward as well as downward and so serve to beautify heaven it self as well as the earth but let 's leave this as uncertain or rather fabulous for the Scripture tells us There is no need of the Sun there for God himself is the light thereof Heaven will be glorious without them for there is no use for them nor need of them but we know not how better to conceive of Heavens glory than by such visible glory which falls under the sences for this City Jerusalem which is taken up into Heaven is further described to be made of the most glorious things the world affords as of Gold and Pearls and precious Stones not that 't is really made of such no this garbage of the Earth is too base materials for this Spiritual building but these things being most valued by man shadow out those glorious things which cannot be expressed or otherwise conceived of by man therefore the walls are said to be of Jasper and the City of pure Gold like unto Chrystal it had twelve Foundations of twelve Precious Stones the Gates thereof being twelve were twelve Pearls the Streets thereof were pure Gold Rev. 21.18 like to transparent Glass and there was no night there Oh how beautiful how amiable must this City needs be which yet as far transcends the description as the City here described doth our Country Villages the Holy Ghost descending as low as may be to our capacities when no word in humane language can fully express it and if it could no created understanding could reach it but seeing there is no earthly thing more glorious
Torments must be their portion They are capable of communion with God and if they miss of this are capable of endless torments neither are the faculties of the soul destroyed by death the understanding will affections memory conscience shall remain in Heaven or Hell otherwise it were bad news to the godly but good to the wicked these are inlarged to the wicked to make them more capable of torment to the godly to make them more capable of Heavenly delights and more fit for their enjoyments and imployments and their company It signifies little if a small Vesseâ— be cast into the Ocean it is quickly full when every little pit of water may do as much the understanding of a wicked man shall be inlarged to know the worth of the things he hath lost and the vanity of those he did prefer the other shall have their understandings inlarged to know the worth of things he enjoyes to know God and see him as he is The sight of God and Christ begun here on earth in the godly by the eye of faith 1 Joh. 3.2 shall there be perfected and compleated this shall be perfected when their holiness is perfected and not before for there can be no union or communion where there is no conformity can two walk together except they are agreed what fellowship hath light with darkness or Christ with Belial There can be no satisfying apprehensions of the Object where there is no suitable Organ and fit medium those that would see God who is Holiness it self must be holy also Blessed are the pure in heart Mat. 5.8 for they shall see God no unholy person can ever please him or enjoy him The Image of God stampt upon man in the first Creation did capacitate him to hold commuion and correspondency with God and when this Image was defaced this Priviledge was lost and Adam stood at a distance and was afraid to come to God but remained at a distance in a state of enmity till Christ made up the breach and by Grace renewed this Image in the Elect and accordingly God communicated himself again to them but the Image of God was renewed but in part no more is our communion for as our obedience was full of interruption so is our communion and as there is but a little of this Image of God seen upon us so there is little communion with God to be perceived and where holiness is most to be found this also is to be found a little glimmering light of him we have and but a little like as when the day begins to break but in Heaven when the Sun of righteousness doth arise the shadows fly away no cloud there can interpose no earth cause an Eclipse our communion with God shall be without interruption it shall alwayes be a serene sky a clear air no sin then shall hide his face from us or make him bend his brows here one cloud or other alwayes interrupts one sin or other alwayes breaks our peace and spoils our Joy and our communion and hides Gods face and proves like a skreen drawn between God and the soul but this in Heaven shall be removed and the soul shall see nothing but smiles in the face of her beloved and meet with nothing but embraces from him There shall then be a perfect conformity of our wills to Gods will and they shall be as it were melted into his as two bells melted together make one and the soul shall receive the utmost degree of perfection that a finite creature is capable of then shall he perfectly know God whom to know is life eternal and his will Joh. 17.5 and shall be out of all capacity of erring and shall know all necessary Truths that tend to his happiness The meanest Saint shall exceed the knowledge of all the Learned â—abbies in the world now and all those abstruse points in Divinity that now puzzle this Learned Age those that now call rather for Faith to believe than Reason to apprehend those we now take upon Gods Word and an ipse dixit must suffice us we shall then know reason for it for all the skales of ignorance shall then fall from our eyes and all the mists of darkness and clouds of errour shall be blown over and a clear discovery made of all our mistakes and a resolution given to all our doubts here we know but in part we understand but in part but then what is weak shall be done away and the truth shall appear we shall never then have a discontented thought arise in the heart occasioned by any dispensation of Providence as here sometimes we have when they lye hid from our understanding Psal 37. c. as David also had his mistakes about the prosperity of wicked men for here we shall understand the reason and ground of all and our affections also shall be perfectly set upon right Objects and our love desire and delight shall never be set upon any forbidden object In a word all the powers and faculties of the Soul and members of the Body shall be in perfect conformity to God without the least deviation even more perfect than in the first Creation and this to eternity for the worm of time shall never eat out the heart of our heavenly Joyes neither shall there be any satiety and desire of change as it is in this world in the best Joyes we can meet with and shall we yet be afraid of entring into this condition and be put above all fears of an alteration but for ever enjoy that God that is the souls rest and the Saints â—appiness Knowledge is a delightful thing â—o a wise man If the face of humane Learning saith Aeneas Silvius were but seen it is more beautiful than the Evening or the morning Star 'T is a delightful thing to know the natures the properties the ends and uses of natural things 't is a study well beseeming Solomon himself who spent much time this way and many abstruse points in Philosophy there are which the greatest wits are at a loss about and which they would give much to understand and Divinity it self is not without its mysteries and such Arcana as will never be known while we are here Alas how little do we know about God or the nature and properties offices and dignities of the Angels nay how little of our own Souls about the Decrees work of Redemption Free will and many more but there nothing shall be hid and no doubt there we shall have the knowledge one of another for shall we sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and not know them or did Dives know Abraham and Lazarus in his bosom and shall not the Saints in heaven know them do they know one another in this world after a little time of converse and when our knowledge is perfected will not eternity bring us to acquaintance and doubtless the enjoyment of the Saints in glory will be part
for him shall receive the greatest share though those that have the least measure shal have Joy unspeakable and full of glory yea as much as they can hold and who but a mad man notwithstanding this will look upon Religion as a Frenzy and the professors thereof little better than frantick because they run themselves upon the pikes of danger and expose themselves to losses and crosses to troubles and trials yea to death it self and that for conscience sake but did these men see the prize they run for the Crown they fight for they would run the same race and fight the same fight if any of them were but offered an handful of Gold for a handful of Silver they would not refuse it much less if they might have an handful of Angels for a handful of Muck but believers make a better exchange for they receive Heaven for the Earth and God for the Creatures yea eternal Life for that which is temporal did others know the reward they would do the work did they see the joy that is set before them they would endure the cross and despise the shame as well as they but how can those see that are spiritually blind or know whose foolish hearts are darkned they are at least sand blind and cannot see at a distance nor discern what it is that stands beyond death and seeing no other pleasure but what only reaches the senses take up with that and think there is no better did they see better they would desire better those that know no better than Hell never look after Heaven were they nearer to God that Spiritual Loadstone they would be drawn to him they would then contemn these fading delights and lay hold upon everlasting happiness they would contemn this unrighteous Mammon and seek after True Treasure they see indeed both wayes but cannot see to the end the one they see broad and easie green and pleasant but they see not the dangerous Precipice it leads to and the fiery Gulph it ends in they see the other also which is rough and craggy steep and hilly which few men walk in but they see not the Pleasures it ends in and therefore they choose the other and think they do wisely and think they are Fools that do otherwise but had they the Saints spectacles they would change their minds but this their way is their folly and nothing but ignorance can make them walk in it the time will come they would change their course but cannot as the foolish Virgins would have had Oyl when it was too late corrupted Reason being inchanted by sense proves a Caterer for the flesh but were it rectifyed by faith it would look for happiness elsewhere There are too many like a Cardinal I have read of that usually said I will not leave my part in Paris for a part in Paradise they are wedded to the world and are loth to be divorced 'T is true believers know little of the nature of Heavens joyes these know nothing of it the former have some glimpses of the glory some foretastes of the sweetness of Canaans fruits this sets them a longing the other are strangers to it ignotus nulla cupido The godly know not the quantity of it for how can that be discovered that is unspeakable or conceived of that is inconceivable or how can that be measured that is infinite this we may build upon 't is our masters Joy and therefore great it cannot enter into us but we must enter into it methinks when we speak or hear of Joy unspeakable of Light inaccessible and of Glory immortal our hearts may burn within us like the Disciples which were going to Emaus when Christ spake to them it should make us cast a despising eye upon all the worlds glory and make us think no pains too much nor cost too dear to come to the enjoyment of it it might make us run that we may obtain fight that we might conquer and travel hard to come to our journeys end for then all our work will be done all our pains over and we shall have nothing to do but to praise the Lord which will be our wages as well as our work for when we are spiritualized and the dross of corruption left behind it will be as natural to us as to live and as now it is to breathe for there is nothing but our corruption now that makes this Angelical duty troublesome And is there enough in Heaven to make amends for all our losses and crosses upon earth let us then never stick at the price for whatsoever we expend for Christ or Heaven it shall be paid back with advantage If Solomons Servants were so happy in seeing his glory and hearing his wisdom Oh what a happiness will it be to see his glory in Heaven when it will be increased and hear his wisdom when 't is perfected nay in enjoying Solomons God and partaking both of his glory and wisdom and Oh the Honour that believers will have in such a Relation where they will have God for their Father Christ for their Husband the Angels and Saints for their Brethren and companions and not only seed upon Angels food but be set upon an Angelical Employment and have the Angel reward And if this be not enough to satisfie for all the pains troubles losses and crosses thou sustain upon this account never take upon thee the profession of Religion but I am sure there is punishment enough in hell for all those that make light of Christ and slight the offers of the Gospel Oh the purblind world that can see nothing but what is under their feet had they but such a sight of God and Glory as some others have had they would desire with Paul to be dissolved Phil. 1.23 Rev. 22.20 and with the Church Come Lord Jesus come quickly Here thou complainest of vain thoughts and roving imaginations and well thou maist but thou wilt never be cured of them but by death and after death thou shalt never be troubled with them more but shalt serve God without distraction In the world thou couldst never meet with content in Heaven thou shall never meet with discontent and art thou yet content to be in the world here thou meetest with no satisfaction and art thou satisfied without satisfaction well whatever thoughts thou hast of Christ now the time is coming thou wilt have use of him and need of him for at death one glimpse of his favour one smile of his countenance will do thee more good than all the Cordials thy Doctors can give thee Moses saw but his back-parts and his face did shine how doth he shine now in beholding his glory the fruition of God in glory is the souls happiness and happy are they that do enjoy him but what this fruition is we neither know nor can know in this world no word in humane language can express it for how can a Cockle-shell comprehend all the water in the Ocean we can
have no right conceptions what God is or what it is to enjoy him and if we should form the highest conceptions imaginable it would fall far short for how can a finite creature conceive of what is infinite or a bruit beast of a rational Soul Mahomet proves himself a fool in fancying to himself and his followers a sensual happiness in Heaven as the enjoyment of beautiful women and other sensual delights and though Believers far outgo him yet still shoot short when they aim at the description of Heavens Glory and no wonder we that know so little of Spirits of their nature and properties must needs be in the dark when we discourse of God the Father of Spirits and the Creator of Angels while we are in the flesh we know little of the nature and Original of our own souls how then can we speak of those glorious spirits or know what their enjoyments in Heaven are if we consult with things below and search Natures Garden from end to end we may find work enough to do nay the least of creatures hath something in it to puzzle Natures best Secretaries the Gnat the Bee those poor Insects are not without their wonders and what then if we consider Gods greatest works the Sun Moon and Stars and all the host of Heaven and if we understand not earthly things about which we are daily conversant how shall we understand heavenly things so far above our reach if we understand not things visible and those subjected to our senses what shall we say of invisibles so remote from us If the footmen have wearied us how shall we contend with horses If we cannot wade a small Rivulet what shall we do with the Ocean what conceptions can a poor worm have of an Angel or a rational soul and proportionably must we have of the great God what conceptions can a man born blind have of Colours or of the Sun it self or what conceptions can a man born deaf have of sounds or of Musick such like imperfect conceptions can we have of God of Heaven or heavenly Joyes the proportion is greater between God and the best of men than between that man and the meanest Worm that crawls under his feet nay between a worm and an Angel these are fellow-Creatures made by the same hand but what proportion between the Pot and the Pot-maker all light is in this Sun all the water of consolation is in this Sea and all the lines of goodness here concenter his power his wisdom his goodness are infinite but what Infinite is we cannot tell we shall enjoy all happiness in him and with him but what this Happiness is we know not That which eye hath not seen ear hath not heard of neither hath it entred into mans heart to conceive of What can we say of it the eye of man hath seen much the ear hath heard of more but the heart of man may conceive more than this but all this falls yet short for this joy is unconceivable and if we could reach a conception we cannot frame an expression the Apostle saw things unutterable no word in humane Language can express the language of this Country the Scripture holds out to us that there is a relative Union between Christ and the believing soul which is sometimes set forth by the union between the Head and the Members the Vine and the branches the Husband and the Wife c. but wherein this union doth consist is not easie to demonstrate yet it may suffice us that there is such a Union and shall we not be willing to come to him when he calls us to make us happy unless we fully know what the Joyes of Heaven are and the utmost extent of it when yet we know 't is beyond our desert shall a Beggar refuse an Alms if he must not know before how much it will be Oh my Soul thou speakest hardly of the world as if thou hadst wrong done thee and dost think God wrongs thee also if he call thee hence thou railest upon sin and yet art loth to leave it thou complainest of thy suffering and yet dost fear nothing more than deliverance Oh what dissembling is this with God and Man thou spendest many hours in preaching praying hearing reading studying meditating c. and all to learn a way thou art not willing to walk in and travellest in a road thou art not willing to find thy journeys end wilt thou run a race and wilt not lay hold on the prize and fight a Battel and not be glad of the Victory what hypocrisie is this to lye upon thy knees hour after hour to pray to be rid of that thou art not willing to leave to get a plaister for a sore thou art not willing to have healed thou pretendest thou believest everlasting Happiness to be the reward of faithfull Obedience thou professest hope that thou hast a share in it and darest not trust God with the conduct of thy soul to this happiness who only knows the way Well I have but one thing more to offer thee and that is this That as the Place is magnificent and stately the Company glorious and Royal the enjoyments excellent and unspeakable so is the Happiness eternal and shall never know end or diminution so long as there is a Heaven which will be while there is a God Thy Joyes shall never end but run parallel with the longest line of Eternity when that Vanity is writ upon all earthly enjoyments and this one Epithite spoils all the sport and marres the splendour of all sublunary things and disgraces all the worlds pomp and glory that 't is mortal fading transitory and endureth not were it not for the Eternity of them Heavens Glory were not so desirable nor Hells Torments so dreadful for if after a hundred thousand millions of years the glorified Saints should leave their Habitation and the damned Spirits their Prison this would be a Corrosive to the one and a Comfort to the other that after a long tract of time an end would come Nay if after the Revolution of this long time they should exchange places those in Heaven would have infinitely the worser bargain but this will not be so otherwise the Reversion of Heaven would be better than the present possession and the Reversion of Hell worse The Sun of the wicked mans comforts sets at Noon but in Heaven the godly mans comforts shall never set Isa 60.20 nor go behind a Cloud For there shall be no night Thy Sun shall no more go down saith God neither shall thy Moon withdraw it self for the Lord shall be thine everlasting Light and the dayes of thy mourning shall be ended Thy people also shall be all righteous they shall inherit the land for ever Well may I say Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee he hath delivered my soul from death my eyes from tears and my feet from falling Oh Eternity how amazing
full of trouble Yet many wish their dayes were three times double The Captive Slaves that in the Gallies lye To end their Bondage yet are loth to dye They flee from death although he be their friend For when he stops their Breath their Sorrows end Life is a warfare Death doth stint the strife We leave not fighting till we leave our life We fight against our sins the world and Devils At death we fully Vanquish all those evils To heavenly Joyes Death opens us the door Where sin and sorrow they shall be no more There 's no Corruption shall molest us there There 's no Temptation that we need to fear Why fear we Death then he this Boon will give Our Enemies shall dye but we shall live Life is the day wherein we labour hard Death is the night and then comes our reward Now we with Tempests on the Seas are driven Death is the Wind that blows us to our Haven Is he less happy that a brisker Gale Drives to the Shore or he that 's under Sail Whom fierce tempestuous winds as yet are driving Who with a thousand dangers yet are striving In life we in the raging Surges be Death comes and lands us in Eternity In life the Saints are Heirs but under age When death comes they receive their Heritage Heaven is our Kingdom but to come thereat There is no other way but through this Gate Life is our Journey Death our Journeys end Life is our Enemy and Death our Friend Death like a Pilot guides us to the Shoar He is the Porter that must ope ' the door We cannot serve our God or Christ enjoy Without distraction till our dying day Death 's but a quiet sleep when wearied 'T is but put off our Cloaths and go to bed Death is Gods pursivant and will compell Gods Friends to go to Heaven his Foes to Hell He is his Messenger none can prevent him None can resist him or the Lord that sent him Both Prince and Peasant drink of the same cup When he invites them home with him to Sup. All men must pledge the health Abel began There 's none exempt the Master nor the man The greatest Potentate cannot escape The way to Heaven and Hell lye through this Gate The high the low the rich and eke the poor When he doth knock must open him the door Nor fear nor favour makes him turn aside He will not be perverted with a Bribe What though some have their lives drawn out at length And we cut down by Death in our full strength What Hurt to us if we receive our pay For one Hours work as much as for a day What dammage to us if Commandment come When others work till night to leave at Noon The weary labourer pants and longs for rest And when he 's in his bed he thinks he 's best The Bed of Death to th' weary will give ease Our sleep's not broken there by worms nor fleas No fearfull Dreams nor Visions of the night Disturb our Fancies there or minds affright Within Death's Sheets the Grave we rest secure Free from oppression and tyrannick Power Our Souls like Captive Birds in Cages sing Death breaks the Cage and then the Birds take wing The world 's a Pest-house sin doth us infect Death 's our Physitian shall we him reject The Soul 's infected with sins foul disease And naught but Death can give us our release The world 's a Prison and we Captives be And only Death our Champion sets us free We mortal are when Death of life bereaves us We dye no more Death doth immortal leave us A thousand Maladies do each day attend us We 're sick to Death and none but Death can mend us In life we languish Death can make us well He 's like Achilles Spear can wound and heal Poor and in want we up and down do wander Death makes us all as rich as Alexander Death levels all both rich and poor do stand On equal ground none serve nor none command When Death hath done his work there 's no man can Discern between the Master and the man The Princes Skull no more than other men Bears the impression of a Diadem 'T is true of terrors Death is call'd the King And well he may while he retains his Sting But to Believers he no hurt can do For he hath lost his Sting and Poyson too In Stinging Christ this Serpent lost his Sting He that brought terror then doth comfort bring Christ conquer'd him and shall we fear to meet A Vanquisht Foe lying prostrate at our Feet For since that he was overcome and foil'd He is no Enemy but reconcil'd To good and bad he shews not the same face He 's Foe to Nature but a Friend to Grace We are poor mortals life is our disease Death our Physitian that can give us ease We groan for pain yet would not be set free We love our Bondage hate our Liberty Rather than over Jordans streams we 'l venture We 'l dye i' th' Wilderness or Egypt enter This Son of Anak Death more terror brings Than all the fiery Serpents with their Stings And though Egyptian Bondage doth torment us Flesh Pots and Leeks and Onions here content us At Death 't is true we must to Ashes turn But God will keep those Ashes in his Urn. And when the all-awakening trump shall sound The smallest Atoms of it shall be found And then by vertue of a new Indenture The Soul into her new-built house shall enter God shall with robes of honour then invest her And sin and sorrow shall no more molest her She shall by Christ her Judge be then acquitted And all her sins and trespasses remitted She shall in glory Halelujah's sing Unto the mighty God the worlds great King And wedded be to Christ in endless Joy And in her Husbands Bosom lye for aye Sorrow and Sighing then shall fly away And Tears shall swallowed be in endless Joy Then set thy House in order for thou must Within a little time return to Dust Lord make me then to know my later end How long the number of my dayes extend That I may know how frail I am before I go from hence and shall be seen no more When will this Joyfull Marriage be oh when Oh come Lord Jesus quickly come Amen Edward Bury FINIS The Author hath in the Press a. Book on the Subject these Poems are of Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside