Heaven and Glory and of the Beatifical Vision for withouâ— holiness we shall never see God Let us therefore leave off sorrowing for petty Losses and Crosses and turn the whole Torrent of our Sorrow into this Channel even against our sins 4. Nay the mischief of Sin ends not here it also exposeth us to the wrath of God and makes him our Enemy that otherwise would be our closest surest and fastest Friend and did we â—now what it is to have God for our Enemy it â—ould send us trembling to our Grave for when â—is Fury is kindled it sets on fire the foundation of â—he mountains Deut. 32.22 'T is better have all â—he World to grapple with than with God if â—e frown upon us no Creature dare smile If â—e be for us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 â—f God have a Controversie with us who dare â—ake our part or move a Hand or Tongue in our Defence We cannot grapple with him he is â—oo strong for us we cannot flye from him as â—onah thought to do he will over-take us neiâ—her can we hide our selves from him Psal 136 â— c. We cannot struggle out of his hand â—or he is the Almighty and we but despicable Worms if he tread upon us he leaves us dead â—ehind him Before him the Holy Angels cover â—heir faces and all the Infernal Spirits tremble â—n his hand is the soul of every living thing and the â—reath of all mankind Job 12.10 If he with-hold â—ur breath we return to our Dust for we have â—o more than what he puts into us how then â—hall we contend with our Maker Can Chaff â—nd Stubble grapple with a devouring Flame One blast of his Displeasure can blow us into Hell yea Heaven and Hell and All into nothing â—nd how are we like to make our Party good â—gainst him when we cannot move a Finger â—wag a Tongue or fetch a Breath without his â—ssistance Well but let us well consider whether our Cause be good What cause hath God given us to take up Arms against him Hath he â—een a hard Master to us Or with-held our Wages Jonah thought he did well to be angry but was soon convinc'd Job had a mind to quarrel him and seems of any other to have the best Cause but when the Contest began hâ— soon threw down the Cudgels and lays his hand upon his Mouth Hath not God been our greateâ—â— Benefactor and done more for us than all the World ever did or can do Is not he our beâ—â— Friend and shall we become his profest Enemies Many good works have I done among you saith Christ for which of those do you stone me John 10.32 God gave us our Being when we had none and shall we hate him for it We were tâ—â— Clay and he was the Potter and might have dash'd us into pieces with his foot He gave us Reason when he might have made us bruit Beasts as Dogs or Swine or more contemptible Creatures He hath given us Limbs and Senses when otherâ— want them Peace and Plenty yea Life and Liberty and hath made our Lives comfortable to us when we deserve not the Ground we tread upon or the Air we breath in and shall we flye at the Face of God and thus requite the Lord our Maker Nay hath not Christ suffered more for us than any other hath or can do We had sold our selves Bond-slaves to Satan and neither Man nor Angel could have redeemed us out of our Slavery or have paid a Ransom sufficient for us but Christ laid down his Life to free us from the guilt of sin from the filth of sin from the Punishment due for sin from the Curse of the Law the Wrath of God the Slavery of Satan and from Everlasting Damnation And hath he for all this deserved our Malice and Hatred He hath bestowed more upon us than the World hath to bestow 't is he that sends us so many Ambassages for Peace and rains Heavenly Manna so plentifully about our Tents he gives us Promises such as the greatest Kings upon Earth cannot make and make good to their greatest Favourites as of his Spirit his Graces his Son and his Glory And is all this nothing Shall we foster sin in our Bosom that hinders us in the Enjoyment of those promised Blessings and expose us to the wrath of God and the everlasting Destruction of Soul and Body and expose us also to all Miserie 's Temporal Spiritual and Eternal God forbid Well we cannot make our Peace with God till we break our League with Sin and if God be our Enemy and our Enemy he will be if we are at Peace with Sin then we may expect he will treat us as Enemies Well may we fear that every bit of Bread we eat will choak us and every drop of Drink we drink may be our bane and that every Creature may wait for a Commission to end our days that the Floods may drown us as they did the Old World or the Fire consume us as Sodom or the Earth swallow us up as Korah and his Complices or the greatest Judgments that ever we read fell upon Mortal Man may be our Portion Oh what need had we then to leave sorrowing for other things and turn all our Tears into the right Channel that it may drown our sins that expose us to these Miseries and Mischiefs 5. Nay but this is not all for Eternal Death as well as Spiritual and Temporal is the Reward of Sin the everlasting separation of Soul and Body from God which is called The second Death and this is far greater than all the Miseries before mentioned for if the sinner be not reconciled to God which cannot be before sin be mortified he shall be cast into the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 21.8 This is the Natural Fruit and Effect of every beloved sin even the everlasting Damnation of Body and Soul a thousand thousand rentings of the Soul from the Body is not comparable to one renting of the Soul from Christ Sin doth that for us that all the Men on Earth and Devils in Hell could never do even pull us out of the Arms of God This threw Angels out of Heaven Adam out of Paradice and Millions of Souls into Hell This brought Death into the World and is the very Sting of Death and if this Sting be not taken out it will sting the Soul to Eternity This imbitters our Lives as you have heard while we are in the World and opens the Door to let us out of the World and will open Hell it self to let us in and is the only bar to keep us from coming out But if Sin were mortified we might with Old Simeon depart in Peace and with Ambrose say I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to dye And with Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Death without his Sting is like Samson without his Hair or like the Drone-Bee without a Sting not
We see Grace sometimes at an under and Nature predominant These things considered I thought it was my Duty not only to mourn with you but to comfort you not only as a Christian but also as a Minister whose Duty it is to speak a word in season and to comfort the comfortless Troubles I know seem harder and heavier and are worse born when they come suddenly and unexpectedly as I suppose this did fore-warn'd fore-arm'd the more expectations we have of Trouble the better preparation but unexpected Troubles surprize us before we get on our Armour and then tyrannize over us doubtless then 't is our Wisdom to be always upon our Guard Nature I know is prevalent if not curb'd by Grace but Grace is given to some to check its Extravagancies and to regulate our disordered Affections The love of Christ when 't is predominant in the Soul lessens or deadens our Affections to all Earthly Enjoyments the more directly we behold the Sun of Righteousness in his Glory the more dim-sighted we are when we turn our Eyes to any Earthly Object When a Christian acts as a Christian and hath his Conversation in Heaven he is set in a more Superiour Orb that all these Sublunary things seem small and work small alteration in him But while our Graces are imperfect and that will be while we are on this side Heaven we shall find Corruption stirring but 't is our Duty to take part with the Spirit against the Flesh and to make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lust thereof One of the Devil's Temptations to Job to make him murmur against God was the death of his Children And this is your Tryal at present but in a lower degree he lost Ten at once besides other Losses and that by an untimely Death and as might be imagined by the immediate Hand of God but the Devil was frustrate of his purpose instead of cursing he blessed God as I hope you will Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. There are I know too many that repine at the Loss which never gave God thanks for the Gift We are by Nature like sullen Children if we have not what we would we will not have what we may if one thing be taken from us we will throw all the rest after it if we may not have the Knife we will none of the Meat If Rachel may not have Children she matters not Life it self Give me children or else I die Gen. 30.1 not considering that God carries the Key of the Womb also under his Girdle For children are the heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward Psal 127.3 One Cross many times overshadows a thousand Blessings and hides them out of our sight and if one Comfort be snatch'd away we can take comfort in nothing we are like unto pettish Jonah that would dye in a pet and told God to his face he did well to be angry even to death Jonah 4.8 9. And why was he in such a ruff Why the Gourd which he loved was withered and then all God's dealing with him his communicating himself to him sending him upon his Errand delivering him out of the Whale's belly signified nothing to him how true is that of the Heathen Ira furor brevis est Anger is a short Madness and these are like unto wild Beasts hardly tamed Now though we are allowed to yield something to Nature in such cases yet nothing to Impatience yet how apt are we in effect to charge God of Injustice and bear our selves as if he had wronged us yea done us such wrong that God and Christ and Heaven and Glory and a thousand other Mercies would not satisfie or make us amends nor make us leave crying witness our mourning and over-mourning when God manifests his Will in taking away our Children or Relations without our consent He hath crost us in our Wills and will not let us have our Humour in withering some Gourd we delighted in and would have had to flourish and now we are resolved we will cross him in his Will and let him say what he will to the contrary we will not cease our Complaints But when we act as Christians 't is not so when our Graces are not clouded nor raked up under the Ashes of Corruption then it will act otherwise then there will be a total resignation of our Wills unto God's Will as two Bells melted together make one When David came to himself he could say I held my tongue and said nothing because thou didst it Psal 39.9 And good Old Eli when the Lord threatned the subversion of his House 'T is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 And Job though at first he quarrels yet at last lays his hand upon his mouth Job 40.30 One Glimpse of God's Love in Christ is able to dry up all those immoderate Tears we shed upon such accounts and to turn them into another Channel and make us instead of accusing God fall out with our selves and our sins for provoking him and when we see our chiefest Treasure our choicest Jewels are safe it will make us contemn all our other Losses these things we may spare Christ we cannot spare Madam Yet mistake me not my design and desire in this Letter is not to wipe all Tears from your Eyes nor all Sorrow from your Heart for some Grief in this condition is doubtless Lawful and your Duty and 't is a sin yea an Heathinish sin to be without Natural Affection Rom. 1.31 yea such a sin as was condemned by many of the Heathens that had but the Light of Nature Solomon adviseth To go to the house of mourning for saith he the living will lay it to heart Eccles 7.2 That is so mind it as to make a good use of it and doubtless many profitable Lessons may be hence learnt Such stroaks as these are not given in vain we should hear the voice of the rod and of him that sends it Micah 7.9 Yea God himself complains Isa 57.1 The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come God's Rod hath a Voice and we must hear it and happy are those that with Correction receive Instruction When God's hand is stretched out the inhabitants of the world should learn righteousness Isa 26.9 God is now speaking to us in this Providence and 't is our Wisdom to hear what he saith and to learn what he teacheth When the Pillars are removed the House is weakned and when the Righteous are taken away our danger is more I would have you therefore sensible of the blow as all of us should be when such a Breach is made among us and when there are fewer helpers let those that are left put their shoulders more strenuously to the Work to keep up the Building But
my design and desire is to prevent immoderation which will hinder and not further you in the Work and unfit you for your Duty you may you ought do mourn but not as those without hope for those that sleep in the Lord 1 Thess 4.13 Ingenious Children when one is beaten the other will cry but they must take heed of murmuring and repining against their Father Lute-strings when one is touched the other sound and 't is one of those Dues which we owe to our deceased Friends to lament at their Funeral 't is those usually that live undesired that dye unlamented It was a Judgment threatned against Jehoiakim that when he died he should not be lamented Jer. 22.18 But we must not Water our Plants so as to drown them and that Sorrow that disables us for our present Duty in our general or particular Calling is doubtless our sin Our chiefest care for our Relations should be while they are living and that is to make provision to our power for Soul and Body but for the Soul especially for alas what is a moment of time to Eternity But when God manifests by his Providence that 't is his Will to transport and transplant these Flowers into a better Soil though we should not be insensible of the stroak we should not murmure or repine under it or accuse the Hand that gave it but submissively resign them up to him who gave them or rather lent them to us David did what he could for his Son while he was living but ceased mourning for him when he was dead Our Tears though they may be shed upon other accounts yet 't is pity they should run profusedly in any other Channel but for sin It being the true penitential Tears that are the Holy Water that God affects and the Devil hates for if any â—oss or Cross that befalls us deserve one Tear our Sins deserve a thousand for sin is the cause of all our Losses and Crosses that befal us and without Repentance will be the destruction of Soul and Body and when we see such direful Effects and tast such bitter Fruits we should bewail the Cause and root up the Tree If our Sin lay heavy our Crosses would seem light if we bathed our Sins in our Tears we should not have so many left to pour out upon these Occasions Sin is the occasion of the Death of your dear Daughter and will be of your own Death for had it not been for sin she had not dyed By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed ever all for as much as all have sinned the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life Nay sin it was that put our sweet Saviour to death these were the Nails that pierced his Hands and his Feet the Spear that pierced his Side his Betrayer Accusers Judge and Executioners and can your Daughter be more dear to you than God's only and beloved Son was to him He laid down his Life for her and her Life is not too good to lay down for him he laid down his Life to purchase for her a Mansion of Glory and she laid down her Life to go to take Possession for there is no other way to enjoy it Madam In my present Address to you there are two things designed by me The first is to abate the swelling Tide of your Sorrow and to bring those Waters within their proper Bounds and Banks which I shall endeavour to do by giving you some few Considerations to Meditate upon that so when the violent Storm of Passion shall be allayed Reason may be spoke with which cannot many times be heard when Passion is raging and after that my intention is to point you out some of those many profitable Lessons which this Providence seems to hand out to us which if we can learn doubtless we shall gain by this loss or our gains will be greater than our loss for God's Rod hath a Voice and 't is our Duty to hear it Micah 6.9 Nay 't is like Jonathan's Rod 1 Sam. 14.27 it hath Honey at the end and if we taste of it it will open and enlighten our Eyes If God with Correction give Instruction we may well say as David It was good for me that I was afflicted before I was afflicted I went astray but now I learn to keep thy commandments Psal 119.67 Quae nocent docent is a Proverb and that Lesson is best learnt that is set on with whipping and best remembred Correction is seldom a sign of God's hatred many times of his love For whom he loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son that he receiveth If we endure chastening God dealeth with us as with sons for what son is he that his father chasteneth not And if we be without chastening then are we bastards and not sons Heb. 12.6 7 8. Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for your iniquities God will be sure to plow his own Ground whatsoever becomes of the wast and to weed his own Garden though others are let alone to grow wild the punishing Angel must begin at God's Sanctuary Ezek 9. And it was no sign of Love when God said Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Hosea 4.17 Since he hath made a match with Mischief let him have his belly full of it When Ignatius was thrown to the Wild Beasts to be devoured Now saith he I begin to be a Christian for Afflictions are the Gemms and Jewels with which God doth adorn his best Friends they are Pledges of our Adoption and Badges of our Sonship so that they are no signs of his disinheriting us and though he may seem to hide his Face yet 't is no sign of his forsaking us But now for the quieting your Spirit under your present Suffering and this dark Providence I beseech you ponder well these few following Considerations which well weighed may through God's Blessing quell those tumultuous Thoughts that swell in your Breast and I desire the Lord to bless them to this end 1. Consider who it is that hath done you this supposed Injury to take away your Daughter without your consent And here you may consider not only who it is but also what Interest he claims in her and then consider whether your Plea will hold good against him Is it not the great God of Heaven and Earth whose Power no Creature is able to resist whose Will is his Law and whose Glory is his End Is it not he that is called Omnipotent that doth what pleaseth him in Heaven and in Earth and none can resist him And is he a fit Match for you to grapple with Is it not he that measureth the water in the hollow of his hand and meteth out Heaven with his span and comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure that weigheth the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance To whom all
bear again the Pangs of Death Would you bring her back again into the Vineyard now her Work is done and she is receiving her Wages to endure the burden and heat of the day and all to bear you Company You are groaning under the present burden of Mortality and are sensible of your Pains and Distempers and would you wish her in the like condition She is now safely landed in the Port of Glory and would you have her back again upon the raging Sea tossed up and down with Storms and Tempests among Rocks and Sands among Pirates and Robbers and all this under pretence of Love and Tenderness What worse can you wish to your greatest Enemy She is at her Journey 's end and would you have her tread over those weary steps again along the dirty craggy rocky and thorny way and pass through those Dangers again she hath once escaped She was an Heiress and is come to her Age and hath received her Inheritance and would you have her wave her Inheritance resign up her Crown and Kingdom and again reduce her self to servile Slavery Bondage and Beggery carking Cares and fretting Fears She hath run the Race and won the Prize and would you have her run it again and put it to a second venture She hath fought the good Fight and won the Victory and wears the Crown and would you have her try for it in a second Duel Would you have her renounce her Crown and Diadem divest her self of her rich Robes wherewith her Husband hath arrayed her and re-assume the rags of Sin and the state of Suffering She is now out of the Devil's reach and must she again feel his fiery Darts and be taken â—n his Snares and subject her self to the Allurements of the World where she shall have Snares â—aid for her in every State and Condition every Relation every Calling every Enjoyment every Duty yea every Action Would you have her â—gain hated persecuted and maligned for Righâ—eousness sake and under continual Fears Troubles Anxieties and Afflictions What pleasure think â—ou she can take that hath been enchaunting â—ut Hallelujahs in the Heavenly Quire when she â—omes to hear Swearing Cursing ribald and unâ—avoury Speeches and to see the Laws of God broken as is too frequent in the World to see Holiness made a Scorn and Religion a Laughing-â—tock and those that are Godly made a Prey Now what Arguments would you use to her to â—ain her consent to re-assume her former Estate â—he hath tryed both and knows the difference â—â—tter than we and we usually say Contra gustum non disputandum Experience is the best Master Doubtless all your Arguments will prove vain in this case she better knows now the Vanity of the World than formerly she did and the worth of Coelestial Enjoyments and her love to God is much more enlarged her Understanding being increased for nothing but Ignorance can stave off our Affections from Christ Will you tempt her with Gold Silver Precious Jewels Alas if you should empty the Indies it will noâ— do she must leave better Treasures behind her These will but serve her to look upon but tiâ—â— Death the other are more durable and laâ—â— even to Eternity she treads better Metal iâ— Heaven under her feet Rev. 21.21 The streeâ—â— of the City are of pure Gold Or will brave Apparel costly Ornaments entice her Alas she must leave behind her the rich Robes of Christ'â— Righteousness and those Precious Gemms anâ— Jewels wherewith her Husband hath arrayed her far more precious than the World affords thosâ— Robes of Glory which no Man can describe Or will Honour or Preferment do the work Alas the empty thing called Honour bears no more proportion to Heavenly Glory than painted fire on the Wall to true fire or a King upoâ— a Stage to a King upon his Throne or a liveless Carkass to a living Man And what Preferment can there be greater than to a Crown of Glory and to be the Spouse of the Son oâ— God If you offer her all the Delights of the Sons of Men what are those to the Delights of the Sons of God To those Rivers of pleasâ—â—e which are at God's right hand for evermore These are like Jonah's Gourd soon withered soon ripe and soon rotten Will stately Buildings large Revenues Crowns and Kingdoms prove a Temptation Alas this is too weak a Bait to allure a Heaven-born Soul The New Jerusalem whereof she is a Citizen is not to be parallel'd in the whole World See the description of it or rather the shadow for no words in Humane Language can discover it Rev. 21. where Gold and Precious Stones are the coursest Materials yea too course to describe it in its Glory And for spaciousness the whole Terrestrial Globe doth not so much exceed one square Inch of Earth as the Heavens exceed the whole Globe But it may be her dear Husband may allure her but she must then leave a better Husband even Christ to whom her Soul was espoused before she went But her Father and Mother are here but she hath God for her Father and Jerusalem that is above is her Mother and Angels and glorified Saints her Brethren and Sisters and constant Companions She was 't is true a loving and dutiful Child and now is a loving and dutiful Wife and she cannot transgress her Maker's Laws not her Husband 's Will. With what scorn would she reject such offers as these if made to perswade her out of Heaven Her love to her Husband would answer all the Objections could be made But how can you be so much against the consummation of the Marriage that were so willing of the Espousals I know you travelled in Birth till Christ was formed in her it was both your desire and design it should be so and your delight when it was done and is his fetching her home so troublesome What greater mischief could you wish to the greatest Enemy you ever had in the World than to wish him out of Heaven And it would be the most signal Revenge if you could procure it And can it be Love thâ—n to your Daughter You know not what Cup may be put into your hand to drink and would you have a glorified Soul to Pledge you Were you in a loathsom Prison would you wish your dearest Friends to be in the like condition Or were you sick must they be sick also Is this an effect of Lâ—ve Paul indeed desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ but he never desiâ—ed any that were with Châ—ist back again he desired Agrippa and those that were with him were such as he was except his bonds He did not desire their Misery but their Happiness The World is but a Pest-House and every one hath some Plague-sore or other running upon him and would you desire any Friend you love to come into such infected Company It is but a little while and you will follow her and it will be said of you as of her
confident is he that those Baits will take that All this will I give thee he thought sufficient to take with Christ himself and there is but a very few escape him the most are lull'd asleep with those Syren Songs and it had need be a cunning Ulysses that escapes the dangers Very many Professors of Religion are led Captive and their Affections growing warm upon the World they grow cold upon God for they cannot serve two such Masters Who almost can escape blinding when the dust of Gold is blown into their Eyes But if these Promises succeed not the Devil and the World have other Weapons at hand Threatnings Menaces Mocks Scorns Persecutions Prisons Gallows Fire and Faggot or if need be more horrible Tortures and Torments and were it in their power Hell it self should not be wanting but God keeps the Keys of Heaven and Hell in his own hands let the Pope say what he will to the contrary If Nebuchadnezzar's Musick will not allure he hath a fiery Furnace to terrifie Oh vain World how great an Enemy hast thou been to those that loved thee best and trusted thee most How many have bewailed upon their Death-bed the time they have wasted in thy Service and how they neglected their great Concerns to hunt Butter-flies and mistook Earth for Heaven and the Creature for God and all this while sought Honey in a Wasp's Nest and Content where it never yet was found A Kingdom cannot content Ahab without the addition of Naboth's Vineyard nor that neither Many think their Burden is never heavy enough Ministers that have two Steeples upon their backs would have an addition and one Kingdom is not enough for one Man But one abused Talent will be found heavy enough in the Reckoning and will sink him down into outward Darkness Matth. 25.30 It will be a sad thought in Hell to think what a bad Bargain they made when they sold their Souls their God their Heaven and their Happiness for those transitory deceitful fading gilded Nothings which they had in the exchange The World deals by the Soul as by the Body Riches oft makes the Body so Nice it cannot endure Hardship but it takes Cold and 't is much ado to converse with the World and not have our Affections cool as to Heaven Frost and Snow are good for the Seed though the Flowers like it not The Devil lays so many Snares in the way that he prevails with the most to abuse their Talents to future their Repentance and fool away their Salvation and such dust-heaps are in every corner The World may and must be used but abuse it we must not and abused it is when it promotes Pride Luxury Gluttony or Drunkenness Sloth or Idleness Chambering or Wantonness Cruelty or Oppression or any other Lust of the Flesh but of such Servants that abuse their Talents the World is full and Hell also but their Glass will be run out when they think 't is but newly turned and their Master will come before they expect him and give them a Reward Prosperity doth not at all facilitate the work of Conversion but frequently doth retard it 'T is hard for Rich Men to be crucified to the World and the World to them and therefore Christ in his time observed that it were the Poor that received the Gospel and the Apostle tells us not many great men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called And many woes are denounced against the Rich upon this Account they lye under more Temptations than others do and had need of a great measure of Grace to withstand them and Self-denyal to resist them Many in a low Condition have strained at Gnats who when Promotion comes have swallowed Camels See this in Hazael I know Poverty hath its Temptations also and therefore Agur prays against Poverty and Riches An Estate too big is as troublesome as one too little as a Shooe too big is uneasie A small Ship in a Storm can thrust into a little Creek or Harbour where a great one cannot ride He that is on the top of the Ladder of Promotion will have a worse fall if his Foot slip than he that stands on the Ground 'T is not the greatness of the Cage that makes the Bird sing nor the greatest Estate that makes a Man always most content but the Piece that God cuts us and the Portion he gives us is doubtless best for us whatever our â—urmuring Hearts say to the contrary The Grain of Riches oft breeds the Vermin of Pride Luxury and Sensuality those that are full fed oft wax wanton and are oft dipping in the Devil's Sauce Riches are such blocks in Heaven's way that many oft-times stumble at them and never rise again The Ruler Luke 8.18 cheapen Heaven but when he knew the rate he went away without it Hence 't is Rich Men hardly go to Heaven they have a Clog at their heels Self-denyal to great Persons is not easie and where it is the Cross is not difficult Rich Men's shoulders are too tender to bear a heavy Burden but there is seldom any passage à deliciis ad delicias à Coeno ad Coelum we cannot receive Christ's Wages for doing the Devil's Work no leaping out of Delilah's Lap into Abraham's Bosom there are but a few Stars of the First Magnitude shine in this Hemisphere yet some there are 'T is not the having Riches but the loving them that is dangerous not the using the World but the abusing it that is forbidden 't is he that maketh hast to be rich that cannot be innocent Prov. 28.20 Many Rich Men are like Children that having both their Hands and their Mouths full of Meat yet will part with none but the Poor Man's Box would be their safest Repository for that is not given but lent to the Lord when what is kept will be lost The Vertigo is not so dangerous to those that stand low as to those that climb high Many Men have their Heads turned by too much Drink never by too little and many a Man sells his Soul for Riches never for Poverty Riches are the thorns that choak the Word and 't is hard handling those Thorns and not be prickt by them Now if they are so uncertain and of so little use why should our Affections run out so immoderately upon them Great Men 't is true make a great stir and bluster in the World for a season and then their Place shall know them no more and their Wealth and Honours shall be left behind Sic transit gloria mundi Time with his Sithe moweth down as well the Lillies of the Crown as the Grass of the Field Every days Experience checketh the fond conceit of Immortality when many of our Youthful Gallants drop into their Graves before they are aware as Men in a Snow drop into a Pit before they see it and except Repentance prevent it their Souls will lye in Hell as Grapes in a Wine-press or Pickled Herrings in a
done it So in Abraham's Offering his Son the Widow's two Mites were accepted as if it had been an Hundred Pounds But if Grace be wanting though a man give all his goods to the poor and his body to be burned it is not accepted 1 Cor. 13.3 Hypocrites blow their Gifts as Butchers do their Meat yea they are Fly-blown till they stink again but Grace is the Salt that makes it savoury Grace is the best Evidence we have for Heaven and a sure sign of God's Favour for he will know them well he bestows it upon He that believes and is baptized shall be saved but he that believes not shall be condemned Mark 16.16 God gives Crowns and Kingdoms sometimes to the worst of Men but the Childrens Bread they shall not have the rest is but Crumbs to feed the Dogs or rather the Cattel for the Slaughter No man knows Love or Hatred by these things The Sun shines as hot upon the Bramble in the Desart as on the Cedar in Libanus the Snow falls as well on the choicest Garden as on the Wilderness yea the lofty Pine meets with more Storms than the Shrub the Sun riseth upon the Good and the Bad and the Rain falls on the Just and on the Unjust Wealth and Honour are handed out to the one and to the other and the worst have of the best share and no wonder 't is their All Sometimes the Bramble is preferred before the Vine the Olive and the Fig-tree but Grace is the distinguishing Badge Christ's Sheep-mark which never any but his own Sheep did ever wear This makes a Man better when the World makes him worse this makes the heart chearful when other things make it sad or sordid yet the World contemns it as Aesop's Cock did the Precious Stone But at Death if this be wanting the Door will be shut against us and when we are lanching out into the infinite Ocean of Eternity we shall be glad of such a Pilot. This Garb I know is out of Fashion with our Gallants but 't is more durable than their Silks and Sattins and will better keep out a shower of Divine Vengeance than those it will prove the best Flower in the Garland and the richest Jewel in the Crown The Rich Glutton would have changed his Garb with Poor Lazarus and been contented with his Bill of Fare Were the Mountains Pearls and the Rocks Rubies and the whole Globe of the Earth were a shining Chrysolite yet Grace excels it all Crowns and Kingdoms stately Buildings Thousands of Rams and Ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl will not reach the worth of Grace this it is that opens the Door to the Pearl of great Price Matth. 13.45 To the unsearchable riches of Christ Ephes 3.8 It supports the Heart better than the choicest Cordials and those that now most despise it will ere long most earnestly desire it When Death like Belshazzar's Hand-writing enters their Lodgings and Summons them to Judgment when they shall wish the mountains to fall on them and the hills to cover them then Grace would be the best Security This is the only Ticket will open Heaven-gate the Evidence for our Title there To a Gracious Man though the way be rough the Journey 's end will be easie though the Battle be sore the Conquest will be certain and the Spoils great if they have a bad Dinner they will have a joyful Supper if they lose their Estate they are going to better Riches they cannot want that have God for their Father Jerusalem which is above for their Mother Christ for their Head and Husband the holy Angels and glorified Saints for their Brethren and Companions and Heaven for their Inheritance God hath set his Seal his Sheep-mark upon them Holiness to the Lord Zech. 14.20 Where God changeth the Relation he changeth the Nature and Disposition a heart in Heaven is one of the surest Evidences for Heaven For where the treasure is there will the heart be also The best Treasure the World affords what is it but the Guts and Garbage of the Earth the greater load of it we carry the greater clog it oft-times proves in our Journey to Heaven we cannot pass the strait Gate till we unload it Many make Gold their God and their Wedge their Confidence but it failed Achan his Wedge of Gold did serve to cleave his Soul asunder and his Babylonish Garment proved his Winding-sheet Covetousness is called Idolatry because Men Idolize their Wealth and Adultery because they Prostitute themselves to it and lodge it in the room of God Oh how good is that Counsel that bids us provide bags that wax not old a treasure in the heavens that fadeth not away Luke 12.33 Other things we cannot keep and if we could they would not avail us But the true Treasure we cannot lose 't is durable as the days of Heaven and will run parallel with the longest line of Eternity When others therefore grasp for Gold let us grasp for Grace for Godliness will be found great gain 1 Tim. 6.6 But those that make hast to be rich shall not be innocent Prov. 28.20 'T is not Gold but Grace not Money but Righteousness makes the Soul Rich. A Gracious Man thoughâ— his Habitation be below his Conversation is above and when Heaven is his Object Earth will be his Abject But if many Men's Hearts were anatomized we might find the World there fairly Engraven and nothing of Heaven would there be found The Devil holds his black Hand over most Men's Eyes that they cannot see the way to Heaven and when they are blind-folded he leads them as the Prophet Elisha did the Syrians to Samaria when they think they are going to Dothan they come to Hell with hopes of Heaven in their mouths They are like soft Wax he can turn them into any shape But Grace is the Soul's Ballast that keeps it steady and elevates it above the World and gives it a Pisgah-sight of Glory it mounts it upon Mount Tabor where 't is transfigured with Christ and its Garments made white and shining It gives the Soul those true Beauty-Spots which makes her lovely in the Eyes of her Husband But these differ from the Devil's Patches whose spot is not the spot of God's people Deut. 32.5 Grace is the Oyl that makes her Chariot-wheels move swiftly and keeps her Lamp of Profession burning Many are the Promises God hath made to Grace in general and to the several Graces in particular both of things concerning this Life and that to come and many are the Priviledges gracious Souls have in possession and much more shall have in reversion and many are the Love-Tokens her Husband sends her and many a gracious Visit he affords her 'T is true sometimes to try her Love he hides himself behind the Wall but then every sigh and groan and sorrowful complaint goes to his Heart and when he hath tryed her Affection discovers himself again he promises and will make it good he will never leave
the world they 〈◊〉 meet with tribulation 't is in Christ they shall 〈◊〉 Peace John 16.33 The World to Believ◠like the Streights of Megallan to the Passenger which way soever they bend their Course the Wind is always against them Though Wicked Men like Dogs worry one another yet like Herod and Pilate joyn both against Christ and his Church which ever is uppermost they are sure to be under for while there is a Devil in Hell or a Wicked Man upon Earth they can expect no Peace Blessed are the dead therefore that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Rev. 14.3 Here they are with the Apostle in Prisons often but a Goal-delivery will come when they shall be freed and their Enemies be sent to a worse Prison then shall all tears be wip'd away from their eyes and sin and sorrow shall be no more 'T is here they have a Principle of Grace in them to direct their Course aright but Corruption like a Byas to the Bowl draws them aside they are like the Stars whose Natural Course is from the West to the East but by force of the Primum Mobile they are hurried from East to West Regenerate Mens Course is Heaven-ward but they are many times like the Stars Stationary and too often Retrograde They are like the Bird of Paradice with a Clog upon her heels her Nature is to mount up but the Clog plucks her down again when they mount up in their Contemplations to get a view of Christ they are like a Man that looks at a Star through an Optick-Glass held with a Palsie Hand sometimes but 't is seldom they get a sight of him but they shall have a clearer Vision ere long They cannot deal with their Corruptions as Abraham did with his Servants leave them behind when they go to Sacrifice no they say as Ruth did to Naomi Whither thou goest we will go and where thou lodgest we will lodge and where thou art buried we will be buried and nothing but Death shall part us Ruth 1.16 But 't is but a while and a Believer shall be everlastingly separated from his sin and will triumph over all his Enemies Oh Death where is thy sting Oh Grave where is thy victory c. 'T is true here the best have no pure Beauty they have their form freckles yet their spot is the spot of God's people which will wash out and not like the Leopard not only in the Skin but in the Flesh also but then they shall appear without spot or wrinkle Here all their Comforts are mixt and there is no fire but there is some smoak 't is not so there Here they lye among the Pots but there they shall shine as the stars for ever and ever Then shall they exchange Earth for Heaven Misery for Majesty and a Crown of Thorns for a Crown of Glory but what this Glory is we know not but shall then have occasion to say of it as the Queen of Sheba did of Solomon's Wisdom Much I have heard of it but the one half was not told me Paul that had a Glimpse of it saw more than he was able to utter for no word in Humane Language could express it We can no more set out Heaven's Happiness than we can take the Dimensions of it with our Span or empty the Sea with a Spoon All we can do to get out of this Labyrinth is by a clue of Scripture-thread and here 't is but shadowed out to us according to our Capacity so much as may set us a longing after the enjoyment of that which eye never saw ear never heard neither can the heart of man conceive what it is Now the Eye hath seen much the Ear heard of more but the Heart can conceive of more than that as that the Earth is a Globe of beaten Gold the Sea of liquid Pearl every Grass to be a Diamond and every Sand a Ruby the Air to be Crystal and every Star to be ten thousand times bigger and brighter than the Sun c. for what can bound our Fancy Now if all these were realities alas it falls short of Heaven's Glory these things fall under our Senses but Heaven's Glory cannot here is Joy without Sorrow Light without Darkness and Grace is here without Corruption Here is a mixture of the one with the other and many times an Ounce of Joy hath a Pound of Sorrow we get sometimes a Pisgah-sight of Canaan and suddenly are hurried back into the Wilderness if not into Aegypt now Health then Sickness now Ease then Pain now Poverty then Plenty But in Heaven it will not be so our Wine there shall not be mixt with Water the Storm there will be over and the Weather always calm and serene But to come nearer to our business our Happiness there will be partly privative partly positive I shall speak to those apart and shew you first what we leave behind us and then what our Enjoyment shall be and all but as in a Glass darkly 1. At Death and not before we shall be freed from all our Sin and Corruption which is the greatest trouble a Believer hath in this World and indeed the cause of all other troubles but at Death it shall never trouble them more they may say of it as Moses of the Egyptians in the Red Sea Those you see to day you shall see no more for ever And is not this cause of Rejoycing Sorrow follows Sin as the Shadow follows the Substance but the Cause being removed the Effect will cease This it is that spoils all our Duties and makes them unsavoury unto our God for the Fountain being defiled the Streams cannot be pure this is the Make-bate between God and the Soul and this hides his face from us We can never have Peace with God or any assured Peace with our selves or the Creatures till we break our Peace with Sin for when God is offended our own Consciences and all the Creatures wait but for a Commission to molest us or destroy us The Waters of the Flood drown'd the whole World the Red-Sea Pharaoh and his Host the Fire burnt up Sodom and Gomorrha and the Cities adjacent the Earth swallowed up Korah and his Complices the Walls of Aphek slew twenty seven thousand of God's Enemies 1 Kings 20.30 The Stars fought in their Courses against Sisera the very inanimate Creatures take God's Part so do the poor Insects the Flies the Lice the Caterpillars what Plagues were they to Egypt As also the Frogs the Hail c. And would have destroyed him and all his Army had not Moses interceded And Histories tell us that sometimes a Fly an Hair a kernel of a Grape a prick with a Pin have brought Great Men to their end Hence it was that Augustine saith he would not be in an unregenerate Man's condition for one hour for all the World lest God in that time should take him hence by some Judgment and send
a Title to Glory cleared up to us can do us no hurt but will do us good and is worth all the Pains and Cost we can be at about it but the neglect of it is as you have heard dangerous and deadly Our Pains and Cost which we are at about it will not be lost but well recompensed and never any one was made miserable by it when Ten thousand times ten thousand have been undone by the neglect Death comes never the sooner when 't is expected or to those that with the Apostle dye daily 1 Cor. 15 31. neither will it spare men the more because they put it out of their sight And they put far off the evil day Amos 6.3 no no the Lord of such servants shall come in a day they know not of and in an hour they are not aware of Death is not blind though we wink he that is fit to dye is fit to live and truly no other for the same Qualifications serve for the one and for the other He that is prepared for Death needs not to fear it and he that fears not Death needs fear no Enemy no though the whole Creation were turned into Lyons and Bears yea incarnate Devils about him kill him they may hurt him they cannot the worst they can do is to send him to his Father's House the sooner If we are prepared Death may strike us but cannot sting us for the sting is taken out 1 Cor. 15.55 and if it take us away by the Hand of Violence Twenty years in Heaven will make amends for Twenty years upon Earth which we might possibly have lived and if we receive as much Wages for half a day as other for the whole what cause is there of Complaint When our Debt to Nature is paid our Work is done and our Rest follows when we have been threshed fifted and winnowed and the Chaff blown away we shall be laid up as good Corn in our Father's Grainary when the Tares shall be bundl'd up Swearers with Swearers Drunkards with Drunkards and one Adulterer with another and cast into unquenchable fire when we have Oyl in our Vessels as well as Lamps in our Hands then we shall enter in with the Bridegroom when the rest shall be shut out Mat. 25.10 c. but he that comes in without a Wedding-Garment on his Back shall not go out without Bolts on his Heels Mat. 22.12 Take him bind him hand and foot and cast him into outward darkness He must go from the Table to the Tormentor But many other are the Benefits that flow from a right Preparation for Death yea more than can be numbred for our Evidences cleared up will be a Heaven upon Earth and will sweeten every Condition how bitter soever in it self and hold up the Head above Water and the Heart from fainting under the saddest Providences that can befal us and makes a Christian see Light in the darkest Cloud and read Love in God's Face in his saddest Frowns for Grace in the Heart and unblurred Evidences thereof without which we cannot be prepared to dye will be such an Antidote to keep the Heart from sinking that the World it self cannot make up such a Cordial nothing can come amiss to such a Soul for he knows the same Love that elected him and sent Christ into the World to redeem him is now on work for his good If he meet with Afflictions he can suck Sweetness thence and gather Arguments of God's Love from it and conclude thence that he is not a Bastard but a Son for God correcteth those he loves and scourgeth every son that he receiveth and those that are without correction are bastards and not sons Heb. 12.7 8. Afflictions are the Gemms and Jewels that God adorneth his best Friends with He had one Son without Sin but none without Sorrow and it be those that suffer with him that must reign with him If a prepared Christian meet with Prosperity he can read Love in this also and take every Mercy as a Love-token and admire the Goodness of God to such a poor Wretch If he read or hear the Word of God he can suck Sweetness from every Passage whether Precepts Promises or Threats his Meditation of God of Christ of Heaven of Glory will be sweet his Morning Thoughts and Evening Meditations also many a Cordial can he fetch from the meditation of those invisible things which others have no Converse with no Desire after and this bears up the Heart from sinking in the worst of Times as it did the Martyrs Hearts in Prisons Losses yea at the Stake it self for how can it be but a serious thought of God and Christ and Heaven and Glory and a firm believing that he hath an Interest in them but it must cheer up the Heart And will not the reading the precious Promises of God and knowing also that they are their Father's Legacy to them chose but warm the Heart Yea the thoughts of Death as 't is a Messenger sent from God to bring us to Glory and set an end to all our Miseries will hardly be much sweetned for many dismal Apprehensions may an unprepared Soul well have of Death but to the other the Sting is taken out 1 Cor. 15.55 In a word happy is the condition of a prepared Soul and therefore 't is our Interest to prepare for it Thus Madam having shewn what improvement we may and ought to make of such sad Providences as are now under our consideration the last I mention'd was preparing for our own Death And oh that my self were effectually perswaded so to do by the convincing Motive I have laid down I shall add some Directions in reference to Preparation 1 Direct If we design and desire to dye happily and comfortably let us get an Interest in Christ and a Title to Glory clear'd up to the Soul for those that must cheerfully and willingly leave all their Earthly Enjoyments Comforts and Relations had need of assurance of something better than the World is for who would leave a certain Good for an uncertainty one Bird in the Hand they say is worth two in the Bush 'T is true a man may have a Title to Glory when Assurance is wanting and this man may dye happily though not comfortably for Death to him must needs look ghastly Till a man can look upon Christ the Rich Pearl as his own how can he part with all for him But when he hath Christ and Heaven and Glory in his Eyes he matters not what he parts with for them he knows 't is a good Bargain who will not part with Pebbles for Pearls with Earth for Heaven and the Creature for God such and such alone can look Death undauntedly in the Face Till a man find the Condition of the Covenant within him what Comfort can he have in the Covenant it self Though the King grant Pardon to a thousand Malefactors if I be a Malefactor and cannot prove that I am of this number what
will make no Peace or Truce with it 't is his greatest Trouble he meets with in the World that he cannot be quite rid of it that he cannot give it a Bill of Divorce and put it away he deals with it as Amnon did by Tamar whom before he so lustfully loved yet after hated her much more So deals he by Sin what he had lustfully wickedly loved now he unfeignedly hates he hates Sin in all but especially in himself and flees the very appearance of Evil and resists it in the first motion and as the Babylon Children while they are young and the Cockatrice Egg e're it be hatched resists the Temptation and first Notion of Sin and if the Devil foist in a Temptation he like the ravished Virgin cries out for Help suppresseth Sin in the Thoughts before ever it appear in the Word or Action as Joseph that would not hearken to his Mistriss nor he in the House with her Now this is the course that we must take if we would kill Sin and we must be sure to begin Reformation at the right end purge the Fountain that the Streams may be clear stock up the Root of Sin that the Tree may dye Make clean the inside that the outside may be clean also Mat. 15.19 12.34 The Heart is the Source of Sin and the Fountain of Folly and swarms with Lusts as a Carrion with Vermine inward Bleeding will kill as well as outward and from within Wickedness proceeds but a man is never fit to dye till Sin be kill'd and the Heart cleansed 3 Dir. The World also is an Enemy that must be subdued if we would dye well or willingly for the love of the World breaks many a Match between Christ and the Soul and 't is the usual Bait the Devil lays to keep us in his Snares All this I will give thee and 't is a rare man that is not hereby alured And therefore it was not in vain that the Apostle gives us this Caution 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the world nor the things of the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him And another Apostle tells us That the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God Can a Woman love two Husbands or a Man serve two Masters God and Mammon And Paul tells us The world is crucified to him and he to the world It cares not a Pin for me and I care not a Rush for it there is no more delight in it in my account than there is in a dead Carcass have it we may use it we must but love it we may not It hangs out her two Breasts Strumpet like of Profit and Pleasure but the Apostle had no mind to suck at these Botches and if we would dye well let us imitate him that had learnt to dye daily and get our Affections as much weaned from the World as possibly may be and set upon Heavenly things or 't is ten to one it will speak to us in the Words of Peter to Christ Save thy self Whenever we should come to suffer any thing for Christ we may find what a snare it will be to us as to the young man Mat. 19.22 that bid fair for Christ till the World came and broke the Bargain he came to Christ hastily and departs heavily when he must part with his Riches he chuses rather to part with Christ and if Heaven will be had upon no cheaper terms let him keep it to himself Those that have the God of this World lively poâ—trayed upon the Soul are not fit for another World such as these will say with Cardinal Bembus they will not leave their part in Paris for their part in Paradâ—ce Judas and Demas may witness this Truth When the Affections are forestalled and set upon other Lovers 't is hard rending them off or making them willing to pâ—rt with what they love what a man loves best he would keep longest Where the treasure is there will the heart be also Mat. 6.20 21. If they are set upon this white and yellow Earth upon Pearls and precious Stones which are but the Guts and Garbage of the Earth and load themselves with thick Clay 't is as hard for them to enter in at the streight Gate as for a Camel 〈◊〉 go through the eye of a Needle Paul câ—lls such a one an Idolater Ephes 5.5 and St. James an Adulterer Jam. 4.4 Such as these are not ready for Death though Death may haply be ready for them but he that hath laid up his Treasure in Heaven and is at a point with all things under the Sun and wears the World about him as a loose Garment ready to cast off upon all occasions he that hath made ready pack'd up all and sent before him to his desired Port needs wait but for a Wind to waft him over Where the treasure is there will the heart be also When a man imagines he must leave better behind than he is like to find there 't is no wonder if he dye unwillingly and depart with a reluctancy but when better things are in view 't is no hard matter to dye The Devil puts a Cheat upon us when he shews us the World through his Spectacles and the Glory of it through his Magnifying-glasses there every Little seems Great and every Mole-hill a Mountain but when we view it in the clear Crystal of God's Word it appears in its Colours 'T is an easie thing to make a man exchange Rags for Robes and a Cottage for a Castle and is it not as easie to perswade a wise man to exchange Pebbles for Pearls Earth for Heaven and the Creature for God When a Man is satisfied that there is enough in Christ in Heaven and Glory to give the Soul Content yea to make up all the Losses sustained upon the account what should make him afraid to venture upon it But while the World seems a Pearl in our Eyes the Pearl of great price is not heeded The Splendor of the World seems greater than it is when the Devil hath adorned it in his Paint and Colours but when 't is stripp'd of that Varnish it appears an old withered and deformed Strumpet and 't is wonder that any fall in love with her Till we can look upon the World with Contempt we are neither fit to live nor fit to dye not to live for we shall place the love upon her that is only due to God not to dye for we shall then lose all our Portion and what a condition will such a departing Soul then be in Till we can see with Moses the Vanity of Kings Courts we shall never make his choice as the Afflictions of the people of God rather than these Vanities Heb. 11.25 Till we can with Galeacius see more Worth in one days Communion with God than all the Wealth in the World we shall not leave all as he
easier to part with Poverty than Plenty Pain than Pleasure Sickness than Health and a Prison than Liberty but these Blessings were never given us to cross our Maker's Will Oh Death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives at ease in his Possessions and hath prospered in all things And yet the thoughts of Heaven may sweeten this also And that I may add some Sugar to this bitter Pill I add these Considerations 1. Consider our Life is not at our own dispose neither indeed is it fit it should be for God is absolute Lord of all the Works of his Hands he is the Potter we are the Clay if he dash us with his Foot who can call him to an Account For whose is the Pot but the Pot-makers And he made us for his own use and may do with his own as he pleaseth and we must hold our Tongues and say nothing if he do it Never had any Man such absolute Dominion over any thing he called his own as God hath over us yet we imagine those Beasts we call ours though we have but a subordinate Right to them yet we do them no wrong if we take away their Life we neither did nor can give it to them and hath not God a greater Propriety in us We let him alone with greater matters than our Lives and contradict him not He upholds the whole frame of Nature in Being the whole Fabrick of Heaven and Earth from returning to its Primitive Nothing and we seek not to take the Work out of his hands He maintains the Sun Moon and Stars in their incessant and unerring Motions who pour their Influences upon the Earth he hangs this huge and massy Globe upon nothing and we let him alone with this work he made those Glorious Lamps of Heaven for times and for seasons and for days and for years and the Sun knows his going down He it is that sets Bounds to this great and wide Sea yea Bars and Doors and saith Hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud waves cease Job 38.10 11. He forms the Light and he creates Darkness and he it is that hath the Keys of Life and Death at his Girdle He kills and he makes alive and doth whatever pleaseth him in Heaven and in the Earth Can all the Kings of the Earth with all their united Force repel the Universal Darkness that over-spreads the face of the World when the Sun is set or retain the Light while they have it And should they attempt it would they not proclaim their Folly Is it not he that provides Food for every living thing yea for thousand thousand of living Creatures Man takes no care of And shall we leave all these things at his dispose And why because we cannot take them out of his hand And are we exempt and must not our Lives be in his Hand or Power Shall he that Governs the whole World by his Power and Wisdom not be best able and fittest to dispose of us and of our Lives as well as others We have not a bit of Bread to eat but he gives it nor a Breath to breathe but he puts it into us and are we like to maintain our Lives without him or keep them against his will Is it not he that pulls down Kings and sets up Kings and disposeth of Kingdoms to whomsoever he will even to the worst of men Dan. 4.17 And doth not he best know when our Work is done and when 't is the fittest time to take us hence without advising with us or asking our Counsel Or would we only be excluded Or would we have all others have the like Priviledge If the first how came we from under the Law It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the Judgment If all Men must have the Priviledge of dying when they please the World will be too numerous to subsist Hell will be empty and Heaven will have few in it for most Men will live a miserable Life before they will dye though to go to Glory And is not it best to refer all this to Divine Wisdom that only knows the best time Were our Lives in our Enemies hands we should dye too soon if in our own we should live too long 't is best as it is in God's hand who best knows when our Work is done and when his Flowers are ripe and when we are fit for Glory Let us then with such Considerations as these quiet our selves under Divine Dispensations and with Paul say I am willing not only to be bound but to dye at Jerusalem for Christ And let us breathe out Come Lord Jesus come quickly Even so Amen 2. Consider also the several Evils that Death frees a Believer from which none else can the thoughts of this may make a Christian more willing to dye yea with the Apostle to desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 There is in every Man and Woman by Nature a Principle which cannot be obliterated to desire to be Happy and a cessation of Misery and though every Man living desire it yet few attain it for the greatest number whether through Ignorance mistake the way to it or through prevailing Corruption will not walk in the way that leads to it but grope after it where it never was nor can be found and seek it where it never grew and ten thousand times ten thousand have been thus deceived and undone in embracing a Cloud instead of Juno and adoring Riches Honours and Pleasures instead of Father Son and Holy Ghost and these have run themselves out of breath but all in vain and at Death have found they had mistaken their way when it was too late Some few indeed have sought after Happiness in a way of Holiness and these have it in sight and these meet with a Viaticum something to stay their Stomack in the way but their Feast their Wedding-Supper is prepared for their Journey 's end even the Marriage of the Lamb. For whatever conceit may possess the Heart of Man to the contrary true and compleat Happiness was never enjoyed by meer Man on this side Death for here we are Pilgrims and Strangers and this is not our Rest we are under Age and our Inheritance elsewhere This Life is cumbred with a thousand Miseries which cannot consist with compleat Happiness which cannot be found on this side the Grave and few find it beyond Now one part of our Happiness is to be freed from Misery for while we are under Affliction our Happiness is not compleat but till Death we cannot be freed from Suffering this alone must ease us of our Burden the thoughts of this might make us have gentler thoughts of it and look upon it through other Spectacles For that Messenger be unwelcome to a Prisoner that comes to knock off his Shackles and restore his Liberty Death is sent to tell us our Warfare is accomplished the Field
Crosses Pains Sickness c. 5. They shall enjâ—y God Heaven and Happiness for ever Fifth Lesson If all must dye how little Certainty wicked men have of their Happiness 1. At Death they must leâ—ve behiâ—d all their Riches 2. They must bid 〈…〉 to all their Pleasures 3. They must lose all their Pomp Glory and Honour 4. After Death they â—hall lose their God their Soules their Heaven and Happiness 5. They shalâ— be thrown into endless â—aseless Torments Sixth Lesson If all must dye then we should prepare for our own Death 1. Consider seriously we muâ—t die 2 â—e have a great deal of Work to do ere we die 3. Many men as worldly-wise as we do miscarry 4. The dangâ—rous condition we are in while unprepared 5. Preparation for Death and our Evidences for Heaven can do us no harm Directions to Die well 1. Get an Interest in Christ and a title to Glory 2. Be sure to see Sin dead before you or your Souls will die 3. Mortifie and Crucifie the World and subdue it 4. Be sure to live well if you would die well 5. Learn to die daily have death always before your Eyes Seventh Lesson If all must die bring your minds to be willing to die 1. Consider Our Life is not at your own dispose but God's 2. The many miseries Death frees us from 3. 'T is unbeseeming a Christian to be unwilling to die when God calls 4. If we resign our selves to God we shall die to the best Advantage 5. The Joys of Heaven may sweeten Death itself The Conclusion DEATH Improved AND Immoderate Sorrow for Deceased RELATIONS And FRIENDS Reproved In a LETTER Consolatory to the Vertuous and truly Religious Lady Wilbraham of Weston in the County of Stafford at the Death of her Daughter the Lady Middleton of Chirk Castle MADAM LET it not be thought Presumption in me though the meanest of a Thousand if I make bold to give my Advice in the midst of so many much abler Counsellors and to prescribe you Physick when you have so many Learned Physicians at hand for haply I have more experienced that Distemper under which you labour than many of them and can write a Probatum est upon my Receipts Others may speak more of the Disease than I can yet few have felt the working of it in their own Bowels more than I even from my Youth up and I am at present making up a Dose for my self who am in daily expectation of paâ—ting with my Eldest Son as you have done with your Eldest Daughter he being one in whom I took no small content and from whom I expected much Comfort in my Age the Lord grant I may take the same Counsel I give to others When first I heard of your great and as I think unexpected Loss and how soon your Joy that a Man-Child was born into the World was turned into Sorrow that a Woman was taken out of the World I confess I was suddenly surprized with Amazement and cryed out How vain a thing is Man whose breath is in his Nostrils and how vain are all these transitory things we so much dote upon And how little can they do for us when we have most need And how foolish are we to spend our time and money for that which is not bread and our labour for that which satisfieth not When I saw so fair a Flower so lately budded and not fully blown so soon withered and dead and what need we had especially that were much older to stand upon our Guard not knowing the day nor hour wherein our Lord and Master comes When I had spent some time in these Considerations and bewailed the Publick Loss I began to consider your Condition who by reason of your tender and haply too tender Love and Care of your Children especially as I imagined of her who was your First-born and the beginning of your Strength and one who by reason of her Age and Maturity more fit for your more intimate Society I was afraid your Burden would not be easily born for I conceive you are better qualified to bear a heavy Burden of another Nature than this strong Affections many times breed strong Afflictions but God will have us hate Father and Mother Wife and Children and our own Lives for his sake These things considered I could not but sympathize with you in your Suffering and put my Soul as it were in your Soul's stead and so bewailed and condoled your Condition having many times my self felt the weight of your Burden I thought then with Job That to those that are afflicted pity is to be shewn by his friend Job 6.14 But barely to pity and not to endeavour to help is but a poor kind of Charity but it was out of my reach any other way to help than by Counsel and Advice and this I knew you needed not yet not willing to be altogether silent I resolved to communicate to you my own Experience and what it was that hath once and again calmed those tumultuous Thoughts that raged in my Breast But could I but imagine that your Sorrows were over your Griefs supprest your Trouble buried and your Burden eased I should not be so uncharitable as to take them again out of the Ashes or blow the fire that is too apt of it self to kindle but I fear the Flame is too great to be so soon extinguished and your Distemper too deeply rooted to be so easily removed and the Wound too great to be so easily healed Or that I could but imagine your Sorrows were moderate and no more than your Duty I should not put you to the trouble of Reading nor my self of Writing these following lines But I not only fear but also hear that you are a Woman of a sorrowful Spirit drench'd in Sorrow over-power'd with Grief and like Rachel weeping for your Daughter and will not be comforted because she is not And fearing as others of your Friends do what the event will be in parting with this dear Pledge or rather Piece of your self especially when I read Godly Persons have sometimes been strangely transported with Passion upon such Occasions as Jacob at the supposed Death of Joseph Gen. 37.33 when he refused Comfort and resolâ—â—d to go down to the Grave with him but he should have learned to bury his Children and Friends when alive by acting their Death to himself afore-hand He shewed his Fatherly Love to his Son but not his own Obedience to his Father The next that offers himself to our consideration is David a man after God's own heart yet not without his Faults and Failings we find him excessively mourning for the Death of rebellious Absalom that had kill'd his Brother Amnon forc'd his Concubines rebell'd against him and sought his Life yet when he was cut off by a deserved Death partly by the hand of God he mourns and over-mourns till he was soundly chidden and threatned by Joab and wish'd he had dyed for him 2 Sam. 18.33
nations are as the drop of a bucket and are accounted as the small dust of the balance that taketh up the Isles as a very little thing And all nations are before him as nothing and are accounted to him less than nothing and vanity Isa 40.12.15.17 Fear ye not me saith the Lord do ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sâ—nd for â—he bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and though the waves toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it Jeâ— 5.22 He setteth bounds to the sea and saith Hitherto shalt thou go and no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed Job 38.11 He numbreth the stars and calleth them by their names Psal 147.4 He removeth the mountains and they know not he overthroweth them in his anger He shaketh the earth out of her place and maketh the pillars thereof tremble He commandeth the Sun and it ariseth not and sealeth up the Stars He alone spreadeth forth the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the sea Which maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the south Which doth great things past finding out and wonders without number Job 9.5 c. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters and the clouds are his chariot he walketh upon the wings of the wind He maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flaming fire That layeth the foundations of the earth that they shall not be removed for ever Psal 104.3 c. Is it not he that made the World of nothing and can as easily reduce it into nothing He hangs the Earth upon nothing and that in the midst of the open Air and gave a Being to all his Creatures when they were nothing and nothing comes to pass without his Providence Nay is it not he that keeps the Keys of Life and Death at his Girdle I kill saith he and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand I lift up my hand and say I live for ever Deut. 32.39 He brings to the gates of death and back again and doth what pleaseth him in heaven and in earth and none can resist him neither dare any say What dost thou And is this he that hath done you this wrong and with him is it that you contend But consider Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousie are we stronger than he 1 Cor. 10.22 Shall we provoke him to a Duel as sometime Caligula did their Heathenish Jupiter Was there ever any that hardened himself against God and prospered Job 9.4 Who ever could boast of the last word or glory in the last blow The Walls of Aphek did Execution on the Blasphemous Syrians and the Angel of God upon the Assyrians If we harden our heart against God he will harden his hand against us for he will lay us upon our back ere he leave But haply though we do acknowledge God doth excel us in Power yet we imagine we have the better Cause and therefore with Jonab we think we do well to be Angry or at least with Job we would dispute the Point with him Job 13.3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to reason with God Why what hath God done Why he hath taken away your Daughter in the midst of her days Well but hath he no Interest in her Is it not he whose we are and whom we serve Was it not he that gave her her Being and breathed into her the breath of Life and she became a living Soul Did he not give her her Being 'T is not long since there was nothing heard of her and did he not continue her in her Being till her death Was it not he that fed and cloathed her at his own Cost and Charges And was she not engaged to him for every bit of Bread she did eat and every drop of Drink she drank and for the Cloathes she did wear Was it not his wool and his flax that cloathed her his corn and his wine that fed her his silver and his gold that enriched her Hos 2.8 Let us take heed then of paying our Rent to a wrong Landlord her Limbs and Senses her Peace and Plenty her Wit and Reason yea her Life and Breath were given or rather lent her by God It was he that covered her in your Womb and through him she was born Psal 139.13 It was he that put bowels of Compassion into your Heart to make Provision for her when she could make none for her self and to him she was indebted for every breath she breathed and for every Mercy that rendred her Life more comfortable to her and doth it become Christians thus to quarrel with our great Benefactor Or is it meet that we should require of him an Account of his doings Or expect that he should bring his Will to ours Whose is the Pot but the Pot-makers and may not he if he please dash it in pieces with his foot And who can say why dost thou thus Now if this great God this Omnipotent Being this God that hath such an Interest in us and such Authority over us yea greater than any Man upon Earth hath over any thing he doth enjoy hath taken away one of his own Creatures and glorified himself with her that he had made for his own Glory shall we take Offence at it That it was his Hand I doubt not but you acknowledge for nothing comes to pass without his Providence Affliction springs not out of the dust neither doth trouble arise out of the ground yet man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward Job 5.6 These things come not to pass by Fate or blind Fortune as the Heathens imaginee or by Chance as the Philistines supposed 1 Sam. 6.9 but the hand of God is in all this and therefore the lamenting Church concludes That she will bear the indignation of the Lord because she had sinned against him Why should a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Lam. 3.39 Is there evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it Amos. 3.6 That is the Evil of Punishment for the Evil of Sin He is not guilty of sin He is of purer eye than to behold iniquity with approbation Shall not the judge of all the earth do right Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass if the Lord commandeth it not Lam. 3.37 I form the light and I create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do these things Isa 45.7 Yea we may find that the Evil that came upon Jerusalem came from God Micah 1.12 For God sits at the Stern and guides the great Affairs of the World and when we sin what can we expect from a Righteous Judge but Sufferings Where sin goes before sorrow follows as the shadow follows the substance But now you have found out the Person and the Fact
Cross or any thing to molest us had it not been for sin yet are we apt to over-look it and yet have our finger always upon the Sore we cry out Oh my Back my Belly my Bones my Heart but seldom Oh my Sin we are like hâ—m that complains of the pain in his Foot but not of the Shooe that pincheth him of the Gout Stone Strangury Surfeit but not of the Intemperance that is the cause Pharaoh cries out Take away the Frogs the Lice the Darkness let there be no more Hail but not take away the Sin the hardness of Heart that brought them God when he threatens Death for sin threatens also all the Causes and Fore-runners of Death and all the Evils which accompany a sinful Life for these are the Natural Productions of sin and much worse Fruit it bears if Repentance prevent it not and like a mighty Wind blows it not down before it come to Maturity otherwise it will be bitter Fruit We have far greater cause to cry out Oh my filthy Sins Oh my Pride my Passion my Covetousness my Deadness Dulness Formality Hypocrisie c. than Oh my dead Father my Husband my Son my Daughter We should cease quarrelling God and turn the edge of our Anger Sorrow and Indignation against Sin and against our selves for our sin and so our Quarrel will be much more just 'T is a stubborn Child that when corrected for a known fault will rather quarrel his Father than acknowledge his own Guilt We are apt to cry out Oh my Loss Oh my Cross than Oh my Sin my Infidelity my inordinate Affections which forces God thus to Correct me Let us remove the Cause and the Effect will cease Thus you see whether we consider sin in it self in its pestiferous infectious Nature or whether we consider it in its direful Effects the Miseries that attend it we have more cause to bewail it than any Loss or Cross that can befal us for sins sake as the Cause is worse than the Effect 3. But this is not all for sin procures Spiritual Judgments as well as Temporal and these are far more deadly and dangerous for these Distempers reach the Soul when the other touch only the Body or Estate Sin defiles and deforms all the Powers and Faculties of Soul and Body Sin is so Infectious and Contagious and the Effects thereof so Malignant that the greatest and most dangerous Plague-sore even that which rendeth the Soul from the Body is not so dangerous 'T is sin that hardens the Heart and turns it into the Nature of a stone We read of a stony heart and of all the Plagues that fell upon Pharaoh this was the worst and a greater than this cannot befal a Mortal Man in this Life God complains of this That the house of Israel were impudent and hard-hearted Ezek. 3.7 c. And the great Gospel-promise is To take away thâ— stony heart and give them hearts of flesh And as it hardens the Heart so it blinds the Mind which by reason of sin is Naturally Judicially and Wilfully blind the Image of God consisted in Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness these by the Fall were lost and Ignorance Wickedness and Profaness the very Image of the Devil were engraven in their stead 1 Cor. 3.14 And Men walk in Darkness till the Scales of Ignorance are wiped from their Eyes and Christ's Spiritual Eye-salve applyed Rev. 3.18 A natural maâ— cannot perceive the things of the spirit for they aâ—â— spiritually discerned Many also are Judicially blind God in his just Judgment giving them up to strong delusion to believe lies Mat. 13.13 c. They are Wilfully blind and God will not Cure them like Hagar they cannot see the Well of Water that is before them They are wilfully Ignorant that they may sin the more freely The God of this world hath blinded their eyes 2 Cor. 4.4 He draws a Curtain between them and the Light and holds his black hand before their faces and were they anatomized his Image would be found â—ngraven upon their hearts Light is come into â—â—e world and men love darkness rather than light â—ecause their works are evil They are willingly â—gnorant of what they are not willing to know â—hey have also cauterized Consciences seared with 〈◊〉 hot Iron and reprobate minds Rom. 1.28 And â—istempered and disordered Affections set upon â—rong Objects loving what they should hate â—nd hating what they should love fearing Men â—nd their threatnings and despising God and his â—hreatnings being given up to vile affections Rom. â— 26 1 Tim. 4.2 Yea they are given up to â—tubbornness of Will Judges 2.19 And of this â—e have Pharaoh for an Example that was beâ—ome Cannon-proof that all the Judgments â—rought upon Egypt could not work upon him â—uch are mentioned Jer. 44.19 that would bake â—akes to the Queen of Heaven let God himself say what he would to the contrary they will set up â—heir Post by God's Post and prefer their Dagon â—efore the Ark therefore God gives up such to â—trong delusions to believe lies Rom. 1.24 The Memory also though strong enough to retain what is bad yet 't is like a leaking Vessel that cannot retain any thing that is good In a word â—ll the Powers and Faculties of the Soul are polâ—uted and the Members of the Body are the unhappy Instruments to act the wickedness the Soul contrives So that a Toad or Serpent is not fuller of Poison than Man's heart is naturally of Sin and Wickedness and of noxious Qualities the Fruits and Effects of which if timely Repentance prevent not will be the loss of God's Favour which is better than life in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasureâ— for evermore Psal 16.11 The loss also of an Interest in the Blood of Christ will follow which is of more value than the World it self for such trample upon the blood of the Covenant as an unholy thing Heb. 10.29 Yea they do despight unto the Spirit of God and put themselves from under the favourable Protection of God and thaâ— Guard of Angels that God sends forth as ministring Spirits for the good of those that love him and makes Men uncapable of the sweet Communion of Saints which David made his chiefesâ— Delight on Earth Psal 16.2 It deprives them of the Peace of Conscience a Jewel of inestimable worth and brings many times such a Storm there that all the World cannot allay aâ— in Cain Judas Spira and many more that Bird in the Bosom when it sings sweetly makes better Melody than all the World can do Sin also deprives Men of all true Interest and Spirituaâ— Right to all our outward Enjoyments a Civiâ—â— Right we may have but a Covenant-Right we cannot have in a Natural condition for these things are not given but lent to a wicked Man and an Account will be required to the utmost Farthing In a word unrepented sin deprives Men of an Interest in God in
terrible he may hum but not hurt strike but not sting kill a Believer yet not hurt him the worst is to send him to his Father's House the sooner But what is this to those in whom sin not only lives but raigns It will bring sad tidings to such 't is indeed the cause of all the Crosses and cross Providences they meet with here in this World but brings forth far bitterer Fruit which will not be ripe in this World which Reprobate Wretches must feed upon to Eternity Whatever we suffer here we may thank Sin for it haply we have laid some Creature-Comforts too near our hearts Well the Achan must be removed or God will not be pacified But if we dye while â—in is alive our present Suffering though to the â—oss of our Relations Wealth Honours Pleaâ—ures yea and Life it self is but a Flea-biting â—o our future Torments Then sin how pleaâ—ant soever it look now will be found our greatest Enemy All Men in the World and the Devil â—o help them can but kill the Body 't is Sin onâ—y that kills the Soul and God casts both Soul â—nd Body into Hell for sin the loss of which is more than the loss of the World Matth. 16.26 The loss of it is incomparable and irreparable â—he Rich Glutton could not with all his Wealth Purchase one drop of Water to cool his tongue Luke â—6 24 c. The Soul it self is a Precious Piece next the Angels the most precious that ever God made being made in his own Image and the greatest and richest Purchase that ever was made â—nd cost the greatest Price the Precious Blood of the Son of God 'T is that which is most like â—nto God himself and fitted for Communion with him and of Enjoying him for ever 'T is â—ndued with excellent Faculties the Understandâ—ng Will Affections Conscience Memory and many more which make a Man differ from a Beast and resemble an Angel And for duraâ—ion it runs parallel with the days of Heaven with the longest times of Eternity neither is â—here any thing in the World to be compared to 〈◊〉 and there is nothing but sin can hurt or wound it and this alone makes it subject to Eternal Torments and rents it out of the hands of God and the arms of Christ when nothing else can do it Sin makes Men in a worse condition than the Beasts that perish which were in the Creation little lower than the Angels the one is thrown into the Ditch and so ends their Misery the other into Hell with the Devil and his Angels where they are ever dying and never able to dye ever suffering those insufferable Pains out of which is no hope of Redemption for when they have been there as many thousands of Years as there are Grass-piles upon the Earth Stars in Heaven Sands upon the Sea-shore and Hairs upon their Heads they are never the nearer going forth than they were the first day they were cast into it for a thousand thousand Millions substracted from Eternity doth not lessen the Account Oh the horrible Nature of Sin which plucks the Soul from the Eternal Embraces of her dear Redeemer and from those Rivers of pleasures at God's right hand for evermore and lodges it among the Devils and the Damned in those Eternal Flames to all Eternity in those Rivers of Brimstone kindled by the Wrath of God Isa 30.33 Here we may behold the deadly Fruits of Sin and shall we bewail the Death of Relations which indeed is the Fruit of Sin and shall we not bewail and prevent its more deadly and dangerous Effects when without Repentance our Souls as well as our Bodies are like Eternally to perish Lesson 2. From this Lecture of Mortality before us is this It may plainly shew us how little good the World will do us when we have most need and by this we may take a true estimate of its Worth or rather of its Vanity We use to say that is good that will do us good and 't is a Friend that will help in time of need I am sure the World will not cannot do it 't is true if we look upon it through the Devil's Spectacles it will look fair and so will an Old Hag in her Paint and Plaister but this is the way to be egregiously deceived but that there is really little worth in it observe with me these following Considerations 1. Consid Riches Honours Pleasures or whatever else the World can brag of cannot prevent Death though sometimes it doth hasten it The truth of this is evidently seen in this Providence for had it been a vast Estate sumptuous Buildings costly Apparel Men or Means Food or Physick that could have preserved her Life doubtless she had not dyed but this could neither prevent the Disease remove it or take away the Malignity of it For when Death comes and come it will it will neither be bribed nor baffled Diseases are God's Servants when he bids them go they go and when he bids them come they come and what he bids them do they do it like the Centurion's Servant Mat. 8.9 Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis If God strike the Creature cannot heal God hath the Keys of Life and Death at his Girdle and our way is to go to him and neither trust to Physicians as Asa or to Witches as Saul 'T is he that kills and makes alive and brings to the gates of death and back again Deut. 32.39 'T is he that passed that Decree more firm than the Laws of the Medes and Persians That all men should once dye and after death come to Judgment Heb. 9.27 By force of this your Daughter dyed and so will you ere long All that the Rich Man had Luke 12.19 20. could not bribe Death one Night neither can any Man Ransom his Brother from Death The Rich Cardinal Beuford found it true to his sorrow Though Money be the greatest Commander in the World it will be out of Commission in the World to come Death is a perfect Leveller it will Lodge the Poor and the Rich the Fair and the Foul the Young and the Old the King and the Beggar in the same Bed without Respect of Persons let the World say what it will to the contrary and Happy be those that are prepared or otherwise it will prove but a Trap-door to Hell Death regards not any however dignified or distinguished the King then must leave his Robes and the Beggar his Rags behind him the Scull of the one retains no impression of a Crown nor of the other of his Slavery Now great Men are like Capital Letters they take up more room and be more gorgeously adorned and clad commonly go before others but signifie the same thing So the greatest signifies no more than a Man and the meanest signifies no less Or like unto Counters some in the Account signifie Pounds some Shillings some Pence and some less but when they are in the Box they
take themselves wings and flye away and on whose Tree they will roost we know not We usually call Riches Substance when 't is but really a Shadow an empty Nothing if we look upon it through the Devil's bewitching Spectacles it seems gilded 't is like the Serpent Scytale of whom 't is said she allureth Beasts to her by her beautiful Colours and stings them to death This made Paul be crucified to the world and David as a weaned child The World is but a blaze at best but many times proves an Ignis Fatuus which leads most Men out of the way the best Account Solomon could give of it was 'T is vanity and vexation of spirit Yet many load themselves with thick Clay but Death will unload them and cover them with common Earth Great Men a while disturb the World and grasp at Crowns and Kingdoms but now Alexander's Ashes are contained in a little Urn they are in the World as a Guest in an Inn for a Night they sit at the upper end of the Table fare of the best lye in the best Bed but in the Morning they have most to pay We are in a Journey to Heaven let us not fall in Love with what we see in our way or sit down at the Stile or Bridge Let us use the world as a Traveller doth his Staff keep it or throw it away as it helps or hinders us If Riches increase let us not set our hearts upon them neither think our selves much the better or safer for them for we know not what World we may Lodge in the next Night or whether our Money there will be currant Coin 'T is all one at Death whether we have little or much the Poor are as nigh to Heaven then as the Rich and sometimes better prepared Riches are uncertain at the best to the Possessors like the Sea sometimes there is a Storm sometimes a Calm sometimes it ebbs and sometimes flows They are like Winter Weather very variable we see sometimes in the Clouds like Towers and Castles in the Air but a blast of Wind comes and they are dasht into another form for they wanted a Foundation and so do many Men for their great Hopes The Devil easily blows up such blubs in proud Men's hearts yea such Tumours are apt to rise of themselves 'T is observed that a Sick Man a Covetous Man and a Discontented Man cannot take Pleasure in their Enjoyments still there is something wanting to give content Job was a Rich Man but his Heart did not cling to his Riches we see how patiently he suffered the loss of all He made not gold his hope neither said unto the fine gold Thou art my confidence c. Job 31.24 c. Riches make no great difference among Men the Wether that bears the Bell haply may be a little better cloathed and fatter than the rest but is a Sheep still and little the better for the Bell. Should the Devil not only shew us but also give us all the Glory of the World 't is not much worth these are but Thorns that choak the Word and make it unfruitful the harder we grasp them the deeper they wound us and ere long will be wrung out of our Arms we can find little Honey but many Stings But in Heaven there is Pleasure without Pain and Treasure which cannot be exhausted A Heart in Heaven is one of our surest Evidences for Heaven and a Heart set upon the Earth the saddest Symptom of a Wicked Man For where your treasure is there will your hearts be also Those that are Friends to the World are Enemies to God James 4.4 And though we expect a Paradice it will prove but a Bochim a place of Lamentation 4. As the World can give little Content and Satisfaction to a Man so it can do us little or no good in our great concerns here or hereafter it can do little for the Body and less for the Soul I know the former especially will seem a Paradox to many who look upon Riches as the only Happiness and hate Poverty more than the Devil and fear it more than Hell But consider Gold cannot nourish us nor keep us warm both which are necessary to our well-being we have read of some that have been famished to Death amidst infinite Treasures But it will be objected it will buy us Food and Raiment 't is true but Food cannot nourish nor Cloathes keep warm without a Commission from God and he can do it without them as in Moses Elijah and our Saviour Christ neither can they prevent Pain nor support us under it If they could so many Rich Men would not labour under such Tormenting Distempers as the Gout Cholick Stone Strangury c. as they do and usually Rich Men groan under such Distempers most and Riches causes them more than cures them Yea the raging pain of an aking Tooth puts Rich Men as well as the Poor out of Humour and all their Riches cannot ease them the Oyl of Angels can do them no good against the Plague or Pestilence or Pestilentious Diseases Fevers Small-Pox Consumptions Surfeits and such like Riches are neither preventing removing or supporting Physick Yea Death enters into the Courts of Kings as well as the Cottages of Peasants or the Beggar 's Cell The Poor Man's Diet feeds him as well as the Rich Man's Dainties as Daniel's Pulse and Water did him and his Fellows as well as Court-Junkets did the other yea they are as warm in their Rags as others are in their Robes Yea we oft-times find that Surfeits and nauceating Stomacks are the Fruits and Effects of Plentiful Tables As to the true and Primitive use of Cloathes viz. to cover our Nakedness and to distinguish the Sex a Russet Coat may serve as well as a Velvet Gown or Sattin Suit The Poor Man sleeps as soundly upon his hard Bed as the Rich upon his Bed of Down The sleep of a labouring man is sweet whether he eat little or much Eccles 5.12 'T is true his Fare is not so costly neither are his Cares so great but he can take his Rest without Distemper or Distraction while his Rich Neighbour his restless Spirit and carking Cares read him nightly Lectures upon his Bed I have read of Anacron who when he was Poor was Merry and Jocund which was observed by a Rich Neighbour who sent him two Talents which when he had his care to keep it and his fears of losing it so distracted his Mind that he could not sleep which after a while he observed sent back the Money and was as Merry as before Solomon tells us He that maketh hast to be rich shall not be innocent And no wonder if with Gold Men get Guilt if God throws sometimes some handfuls of Hell-fire into their Consciences and spoils all the Sport In a word many that eat their Bread in the sweat of their brows and are clad in their comely Russet have their Health as well many times better
Excuse then also And think you God will be thus put off And is it not a sad thing that the main Concern should be neglected and time found for every thing else But for wicked Men there is no cause why they should desire Death nay great reason why they should dread it as the worst of Evils they leap but out of the Frying-pan into the Fire out of a Temporal Misery into Eternal Torments and by hastning their Death out-run their Happiness and fall into endless Misery which comes fast enough without hastning But many of those mind no more their Eternal Concerns than the Ox that perisheth These Men either think Repentance is not necessary or else that they have time enough to repent in but ere long they will be sadly convinc'd of their mistake Many hasten Death by their Intemperance which yet they fear more than God himself But to let these pass I would have Believers be better acquainted with Death than to fear it for it cannot separate them from the love of Christ and those that have the Riches of Assurance cannot fear Death greatly knowing when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved they have a building of God a house not made with hands but eternal in the heavens And who will not part with Rags for Robes with a Cottage for a Crown and with a handful of Muck for a handful of Angels Now this Assurance is the Top-Gallant of Faith the Triumph of Trust and the Sweet-meat of the Feast of a good Conscience where there are many dainty Dishes but this is the Banquet 't is Heaven upon Earth and such a Jewel no wicked Man upon Earth can know the worth of it any more than Aesop's Cock did of the Precious Jewel When the love of Christ warms the Heart it raiseth the desires of stricter Union and Communion with him and a fuller Enjoyment of him which will never be satisfied till the full fruition in Glory He that loves God better than Father and Mother c. will part with these for his sake If we hate Hell we shall not so earnestly desire to live in the Suburbs of Hell We complain of Sin and well we may it being the cause of all our Misery but did we hate it as we ought to do we should be willing to dye that we might be rid of it for when we enter through this strait Passage and narrow Way we shall leave this and all other Burdens behind us We pretend we would serve God without Distraction and shall we fear the time and place when and where it can only be done But till Grace be in the Heart Heaven it self cannot be desirable the Employment the Company and Society cannot please a Wicked Man But Grace enables a Man to see that Death it self cannot break the Marriage-Contract between Christ and the Soul but then the Marriage will be fully consummate and when the Soul is separated from the Body it shall by the Angels be carried into the Bosom of Christ where sin and sorrow shall be no more Those that are sufficiently satisfied of the vanity of the World the emptiness of the Creature the fulness of Christ and the worth of Heaven we cannot rationally imagine but they will be willing to part with one to enjoy the other in Earth we shall never meet with Content or Satisfaction in Heaven we shall meet with no Disappointment Troubles or Vexations will a Wise Man choose a Prison or a Pest-House for his Habitation if he might have a Palace Or any but a Mad-man dwell among the Tombs The World is all this and much more He that looks upon the World as an Enemy and the Body but a Skreen between God and the Soul will not be unwilling to have both removed Will not a sick Man desire his Health and an hungry Man his Meat a Captive his Liberty and a Souldier the Victory the Husband-man the desired Harvest and the Labourer his Wages And why then should not Christians long for the time when they shall receive at God's hand the promised Reward for all they have done and suffered for the sake of God Shall those that have done and suffered so much for Heaven now be unwilling to have it when offered The Assurance of Eternal Life may make us willing to leave these our Temporal Enjoyments Well then you see though a small measure of Grace cannot overcome all Difficulties yet there is nothing else but Grace can fit us for Death or enable us to grapple with it And therefore above all gettings get Grace 3. Consider Grace is such a Qualification that without it we can neither please God nor enjoy Him who is our Chiefest Happiness Heb. 11.8 Without Faith 't is impossible to please God These are the Ornaments of a Christian the Gems and Jewels that make him lovely in the sight of God the Gold tryed in the Fire the white Raiment the Spiritual Eye-salve which God adviseth Laodicea to buy of him Rev. 3.17 18. greater Riches than the Indies can produce Christ and Grace go together he that hath one will have the other also without Grace all our Duties are worse than nothing abominable Sins for how can pure Water come from a polluted Fountain The Heart by Nature is an Augean Stable full of Filthiness but without Holiness we shall never see God Heb. 12.14 We may fast and pray and give Alms with the Pharisee Mat. 6.1 c. and offer Sacrifices c. with those Isa 1.11 c. and God will not regard us though it be commanded Duties if they proceed from a rotten Heart or be performed for a by end the Sacrifices of the Wicked are an abomination to God The Incense of the Wicked stinks of the Hand that holds it their Good Words are uttered with a stinking Breath though they may be materially good they are formally evil a good Motion cannot proceed from a soul Mouth these men deny in their Lives what they profess with their Lips they are like the Aethiopians black all but the Mouth some of them are fair Professors but foul Livers dicta factis crubescunt their Practice shames their Profession You may see how such Men's Sacrifices are accepted Isa 66.2 3. The Fountain must be cleansed or the Streams cannot be sweet the Tree must be good or the Fruit will be bad Whatever proceeds from a Wicked Man smells of the Cask If the Heart be right God accepts of Pence for Pounds Mites for Millions and esteems a Man as good as he truly desires to be Dat bene dat multum qui dat cum munere vultum God loves a chearful giver and esteems the willingness of the Mind before the worth of the Work the more of the heart is in the Sin the worse but the more of it is in the Duty the better God loves no heartless or grumbling Service My son saith he give me thy heart Prov. 23.26 David's intention to build God an House was accepted as if he had
sadly and trust God when Deliverance is out of sight Hic labor hoc opus est To fetch Comfort from God when the World affords us none is a Work of Grace Hab. 3.17 18. A spark of Divine Love once kindled in the Breast never goes out Now saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.13 there remains Faith Hope and Charity but the greatest of these is Charity And why Because 't is longest lived The Wisdom of the Saints as also the Folly of the World is seen in this the one respects Eternity the other only this Transitory Life things subject to Vanity and Vexation that vanish as a curious Picture drawn upon the Ice in a Sun-shine day that soon dissolves into Water The World is like a Lottery Men come to it with their Heads full of Hope and return with their Hands full of Blanks and their Hearts full of Sorrow for there are twenty Blanks for one Prize There are many fair Promises made by the Devil and the World but few performed and our own hearts help to cheat us But he that Trades in Heavenly Riches never meets with disappointments they will find it far beyond their highest conceptions These things 't is true are hardly gotten but will prove well in the wearing and pay well for our pains Heaven is not got so easily as the World imagines when they moil and toil for the Earth they think Heaven may be had with a wet finger or into the bargain They are like Timotheus that dreamed that Towns and Castles fell into his Toyles while he slept they think a Lord have Mercy upon us will serve turn for Heaven to wast them over but they will find their mistake the Way is narrow they must walk in and the Gate strait they must enter which they cannot do with a load upon their backs We must work for Heaven as well as wish for it yea wrastle and strive to enter in at the strait gate 't is the violent that take it by force and if it be set to Sale all must go to buy this Pearl I have read of a Christian that beihg offered great Riches and Preferments to change his Religion he enquired whether it were durable Riches they offered him he would deal for no Treasures that were not Eternal nor sell his Immortal Soul for transitory Pelf that Treasure that is subject to Rust and Rapine will not do our work but that which is as durable as the days of Heaven and Eternity it self which we may draw out a Thousand Years hence without Rust or Canker These outward things may draw Tears from our Eyes but never will drive Sorrow from our Hearts if we embrace them we hug a Cloud instead of Juno 't is but to hunt Butter-flies to foul our own Fingers A Crown which is esteemed the top of Humane Felicity is scarce worth as one saith that had tryed it stooping for if it lay in the street for if we consider the Cares Fears Jealousies Dangers and Troubles that accompany it we should not envy them the Honour that bear the Burden 'T is Wisdom therefore above all things to get Grace and then we shall have Christ and Glory Men make a great dust and stir in the World and all for the Body when there is not one day's Preparation for the Immortal Soul many are ashamed to be seen in this Fashion but were the Body transparent and could we see their filthy spotted and leprous Souls through their Velvet Robes they had cause indeed to be ashamed to be seen in the streets Now they matter not the Society of the Godly but ere long they will never be troubled with it again Now they want time to Examine themselves as to their future Estate but then they will have time enough to reflect upon their fore-past Follies the means they then had the possibility nay the probability of their Conversion and how they lost Heaven for a Lust how they have been warned of this a thousand times and that now it is too late and the Door is shut the Day of Mercy is over and will never dawn again God hath long expected Fruit and finding none will lay down his Basket and take up his Ax and cut down these fruitless Trees and throw them into the Fire and open the Flood-gates of Divine Vengeance and pour in upon them All Hopes will then be taken away and nothing but Despair left in the room Now where is the World and what can it do for thee But Grace will shelter from all this those that have this Oyl shall go in the other shall be shut out Matth. 25.11 12. What will these Men have to say for themselves then Will they plead what Service they have done for God Alas this will not serve their turn Mat. 7.22 Will they desire the Mountains to fall upon them and the Hills co cover them Alas this cannot benefit them Rev. 6.16 17. What will the Worldling by this time think of his Portion Will it prove currant Coin in the other World Is not Grace now the better Portion that will lodge a Man in the Bosom of Christ and make him drink of the Rivers of pleasures at his right hand for evermore amongst those Heavenly Quiristers the Angels and glorified Saints singing Hallelujahs together when all tears shall be wiped away and sin and sorrow shall be no more Where they shall be freed from all Miseries set out of the reach of all Enemies free from all Dangers Temptations Oppressions and Troubles in the perfect Enjoyment of all Happiness and lye in the Everlasting Embraces of their dear Redeemer Now Reader what dost think of Grace Is it worth having If yet to prevent the Furnace thou fall down to the Idol thy Blood will be upon thy own Head Lesson 4. The Fourth Lesson this Providence teacheth us is this That seeing God hath taken away one in the Prime and Flower of her Age and thereby manifesteth our Mortality then it teacheth us that the Godly have not long to suffer for when Death comes their Miseries are at an end for Death will set them out of the reach of Danger this is the last Enemy they have to grapple with and this cannot hurt us for Death doth but lance the Ulcer which otherwise could never have been cured and let out the Corruption though it be an Enemy to Nature 't is a Friend to Grace that blow that kills the Body sets the Soul at liberty Of all Men in the World none are greater Sufferers than the Godly read Heb. 11.35 c. But though their Afflictions are sharp they are but short Heaviness may continue for a night but joy comes in the morning Psal 30.5 Then their Sighing will be turned into Singing and their Musing into Melody this World is their Purgatory and can they expect Pleasure Nay their Hell all the Hell they shall ever have and can they expecâ— Ease But here is their Comfort they can through it and beyond it In
their Dross Love will run in the right Channel and be set upon right Objects God shall have all our Love we shall love his Creatures by a reflect act we shall love God for himself and his Creatures for his sake and where we see most of God there we shall love most now we complain we cannot love him but then we cannot choose but love him for who can be in a fire and not burn Our Love to him here though true in its kind yet is full of Imperfections and like an Ague hath its heats and colds but there is no intermissions it admits of no cooling Ignorance here makes the Pearl of great price undervalued and most Swine rather delight in Swill and with Aesop's Cock prefer a grain of Barley before it but these will be better acquainted with its worth The Godly here have but a Viaticum something to animate them in the way and to stay their stomack but the Feast is for their Journey 's end where they shall drink Wine with Christ in his Father's Kingdom 'T is a Question with some whether there are degrees of Glory in Heaven a full Answer will be best made by the Inhabitants themselves Something may be spoken to it as to probability at least there will be no difference as to the duration for Eternity admits not of addition or diminution and as for degrees in general every one shall enjoy as much Happiness as they are capable of as much as their Vessels will hold and there shall be no cause of complaint or repining at others nay or of desiring more for themselves for this argues Imperfection of Happiness which Heaven owns not Yet it seems probable there will be degrees The righteous then will shine as the firmament but those that turn many to God as the stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 Now the Stars shine brighter than the Firmament and some stars differ from others in glory There are degrees of Torment For he that knew his Lord's will and did it not was to have the more stripes Luke 12.47 And Christ tells us It should be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment than for those Cities he preached to and they not repented Mat. 11.21 And I wish England be not sick of this Disease in making light of Christ the Beast and the false Prophet were cast alive into the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 19.20 c. and this seems to be a higher degree of Torment than others have And again the Scripture speaks of a greater degree of Condemnation and that every one shall receive a Reward according to his Works and some being greater sinners than others are Justice requires they should suffer more and the unfaithful Servant Mat. 24.51 hath his Portion appointed with Hypocrites which seems some peculiar Punishment Now there being degrees of Torments in Hell and he that deserves most Punishment shall have most why not of Glory in Heaven where he that hath done most Work shall have most Wages And although I dare not say there are Nine Hierarchies of Angels in Heaven as the Papists do yet we read of Angels and Arch-Angels as well as of the Devil and his Angels and why not then degrees of glorified Saints He that by his Pound gained ten Pounds was made Ruler over ten Cities when he that had gained five Pounds was Ruler only over five Cities and what this signifies but a higher degree of Glory I know not Luke 19.16 And Christ promises his Apostles that followed him in the regeneration they should sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Mat. 19.28 which Honour is not promiscuously promised to all And those that have forsaken any thing for Christ have greater Promises than others have Those therefore that desire a greater degree of Glory than others let them improve their Talents better than others do Another Question may be Whether the Saints in Glory shall know each other In Answer to it I say if it make for their future Glory doubtless they will for they shall want nothing of Perfection and the Scripture looks very favourably upon the Affirmative Christ tells us That many shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven but the Children of the Kingdom shall be thrust out And shall they sit with them and not know them In the Transfiguration the Apostle knew Moses and Elias and the Rich Glutton in Hell knew Abraham and Lazarus in his Bosom And is it probable that Men living here on Earth some few Years when the Understanding is clouded with Ignorance and the Memory with Forgetfulness know one another that they should not know one another through Eternity when those Mists are blown over Some also question whether the Souls of Believers go immediately into Heaven at the Death of the Body and this seems to me as plain as the other 't is Christ's Promise to the Penitent Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And this I judge was neither in Hell nor Purgatory for I know not where those are called Paradice Lazarus when he dyed was carryed into Abraham's Bosom where he was comforted while the Rich Man was tormented Luke 16.25 But I suppose there is little comfort in Purgatory-flames this Fire is but newly kindled and were it not to warm the Pope's Kitchen would be soon extinguished In a word the Scripture mentions Heaven and Hell as the Receptacles of separated Souls but there is no mention of another place Some also enquire if they go immediately into Glory whether they have at present the full degrees of Glory which they shall have hereafter I Answer Secret things belong to God but things revealed to us It seems probable that though they have as much Glory as thay Entitle them truly Happy yet there will be a further degree added at the Resurrection when Soul and Body shall be reunited and the Sentence of Absolution past upon them Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom c. Then as the wicked go into everlasting torments so the righteous shall go into life eternal Mat. 25.41 And thus you have heard of the Happiness of Believers but the duration of their Happiness is the chiefest Flower in their Garland for were it but to continue a thousand thousand Years it would be a Hell to them in the midst of Heaven to think that an end would come and it would make them they could little rejoyce in their Enjoyments But the consideration that it will be for ever is a great addition to their Happiness 't is to be for ever and for ever Dan. 12.2 And 't is called eternal Glory 2 Tim. 2. And Reason shews it must be so for the Soul is immortal and the Reward promised is such and this Enjoyment is called Eternal Life So then you see proved what before was asserted
had not begg'd so earnestly for a drop of Water to cool his Tongue Here are no Ladies of Pleasure for they will be found with another Name Here are no wanton Delilahs to sport with upon the Bed of Lust no changeable Suits of Apparel no new Fashions for our mincing Minions no Recreations to drive away the weary hours then they will have time enough if we may call Eternity Time to think upon their past Folly and Repent though too late to think of the bad Bargain they made when they sold their Souls their Heaven and their Happiness for a little Temporary Pleasure which perish ere they were budded which bear no more proportion to true Pleasure than painted Fire upon the Wall to true Fire that hath neither Light nor Heat then will their Garb be changed and their Diet and Attendants they will be stript of all their Costly Robes and Ornaments which will be forgotten or remembred with sorrow there will be neither Mirth nor Musick Singing nor Dancing but Weeping Wailing and wringing of Hands no Curious Sights to please the Eye no Melody for the Ear no delicious Taste for the Palate or any thing else to please the other Senses those curious Bodies to the pampering of whom the Soul is neglected will be exposed to Torture and Torments were a man condemned to lye one Year upon a red-hot Gridiron upon a raging Fire and his Life could so long be continued we should think him to be a miserable Creature But what is this to Hell-Torments Or what is a Year to Eternity where they shall never dye yet alwaies endure the Pangs of Death At Death they will find an end of all their Pleasures but Eternity will not end their Miseries Their Laughter here is not Mirth but Madness like a frantick man that is going to Execution and shrieks and bawls for others to bear him company yet these are the good things the rich Glutton had in this Life and for which he must pay so great a Reckoning at his Death This was his Heaven his Hell came after O Death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives at ease in his possessions and hath prosperity in all things Ecclus. 41.1 Now these delicate Bodies are so nice that they cannot endure the Summers heat nor Winters cold but the Flames will not regard their Beauty nor the Tormenter their Niceness Then farewel all their Merry-meetings and drunken Matches their Feasts their Plays their wanton Dalliance all those Toys will be laid aside Now Pleasure is the God they worship and sacrifice their Souls unto but the Name of it then will never more sound in their Ears nor any thing that bears the least resemblance of it be presented to them their witty Jests and merry Jokes will then be left and well it were for them if they could forget them and it will be their Trouble to think how this way they drive away their Time that was too swift of it self The Thought of Death is troublesome to them and they think 't is unseasonable for a 〈◊〉 but Poor Folks Old People or Ministers but for the Young the Rich the Strong it will but indispose them and dispirit them and put them out of Humour they will not see Death and then they think Death will forget them but it steals upon them tacito pede with a silent Foot and enters their Lodging before they are aware and however they now esteem highly of their Carnal Delights ere long they will find that one grain of Godly Sorrow is worth a pound of Frantick Mirth for the one ends in Eternal Pleasure the other in endless Misery when their Sport will be spoiled Oh what alteration will Death make when it comes no time will then be spent in Wanton Embraces Amorous Songs or Lascivious Discourse the Adulterer and Adulteress will take no delight in each others Company nay they will curse the time they ever saw the Face each of other When Fire from Heaven fell upon Sodom it quench'd their heat of Lust O that these Sons and Daughters of Pleasure would think of the time when their Pleasures will vanish but the Sting remain for certainly this will be the case of every one that dyes in an unregenerate condition let them be High or Low Rich or Poor Noble or Base for God is no excepter of Persons 3. The Third thing that Wicked Men must leave at their Death is all their Honour and their Glory for this will not follow them then though they greedily hunt after it now Psal 49.12.16 17. For though the Memory of the godly i◠blessed the name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 How Odoriferous do the Names of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and other Saints smell in all Ages And how fulsomly do the Names of Wicked Debauch'd and Bloody Persecutors stink Such as Cain Pharaoh Haman Jeroboam Judas Herod and such-like Those whose Names have survived them have such a blot upon them that will never be wiped off But what they now Glory so much in must ere long be left behind those proud aspiring Nimrods those Babel-builders their Dust ere long will be mingled with the Dust of their meanest Slaves and Servants for those who are hewen out of the same Rock why should they not be buried in the same hole of the Pit These External Advantages make no real difference in the Eyes of God or Wise Men for who values a Horse for his Trappings But however these will be taken away and then they will stand upon even ground and although many Men now do Worship a Golden Calf they will then perceive it was but a dumb Idol All those lofty Titles which now they load themselves with as Worshipful Right Worshipful Honourable Right Honourable Reverend Right Reverend Majesty Holiness c. must then descend with them into the Dust for great Saladine can carry nothing with him but his Shirt Indeed Holiness will go with us into another World as it is an inherent Quality not as 't is a Title unjustly attributed to some Men in that Kings and Emperours nay the Pope himself will speed never the better for their Crowns nor the Beggar the worse for his Rags for as Death so God accepteth of no Man's Person for outward Advantages 't is Internal Qualifications he regards Acts 10.35 External Splendour dazles not his Eyes Titles of Honour signifie nought these of themselves neither please nor displease neither help nor hinder though the abuse may hinder these are given to good and bad and no man knows love or hatred by them The Rich Glutton had Plenty when Poor Lazarus was in want Crowns and Kingdoms are but the Crumbs which the great Housholder throws to the Dogs that shall not taste of the Childrens Bread But now Dives hath none to wait at his Table or any to receive his Scraps none new to bow the knee before him or to be uncovered these days are over Now many Mens greatest design
got out It crept into Heaven among the Angels for some conceive they affected the Deity It crept into Paradice and made our first Parents desire to know as God The Babel-Builders they would fain dwell as God and Antichrist sets himself above all that is called God or is worshipped Every proud man is tainted with this Lunacy and are discontent with the Station in which God hath placed them Many have a great Shadow that have little Substance the worser the Wiâ—â— the fairer the Bush the empty Vessel makes the greatest sound and the shallow Waters the greatest noise and worthless men make the greatest brags Babel had high towring Thoughts she must needs be like God himself Isa 14.12 but God brought her down Ambitious men are like unto the Ivy though it have a contemptible Root and cannot rise without the assistance of the Oak or Elm yet it never rests till it overtop them When Zeuxes had finished his Picture of Atalanta he wrote under it Painters may rather envy this than imitate it Demosthenes loves to hear as he pass'd along the Street that pleasing word This is that Demosthenes Hoc ego primus vidi saith another So fond are men of their own Brats they are like Peacocks proud of their own Feathers when they forget their black Feet When Dionysius commanded Zeuxes to draw the Picture of Envy he brought him a Looking-glass and bid him behold his own Face in it And may we not as easily draw the Picture of Ambition as much to the life in many mens Faces Alexander when he was offered Darius's Daughter and a great part of his Dominions with her answered As the Heavens could not contain two Sons no more could the Earth two Alexanders See the large extent of an ambitious Mind But whatever the World saith to the contrary Virtue will prove the fairest Escutcheon and that is the best Honour where God is the top of the Kin and Holiness lies at the bottom 'T is storied of Julia the Daughter of Augustus Thaâ— being reproved for her Prodigality and caution'd of her Father's Frugality answered If her Father forgat that he was Caesar she would not forget that she was Caesar's Daughter 'T is hard for a Maid to forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire 't is a great deal easier to forget the Soul Most live above their Estate few under it Some say Pride and the Gout are alike that is both incurable Ambition and desire of Rule makes many Subjects murther their Prince many Children their Parents and many Wives their Husbands and one Brother to kill another Absolom to rebel against his Father yea it makes Princes tyrannize over their Subjects and Landlords over their Tenants the Rich to oppress the Poor and the Stronger to wrong the Weaker and make Men-like the Fishes in the Sea where the great ones devour the lesser But when Pride rides in the Saddle Shame sits upon the Crupper Pride goes before Destruction and a haughty Spirit before a Fall The more Gold Pride eateth the more Blood it sucketh The higher and faster a man climbs the more danger of breaking his Neck for God resisteth the Proud but gives Grace to the Humble 1 Pet. 5.5 King Philip glorying after his Victory Archimedes perswaded him to measure his Shadow to see how much bigger it was grown by the Conquest If Promotion should make men bigger yet it makes few men better Of all the Roman Emperors only Vespasion is said to be better by his advancement But did men well consider that all their Ancestors Glory lies in the Dust and very shortly theirs must do so likewise it might make them veil their Peacock's Plumes 'T is a Sin and Shame for an Angel to be proud much more for a Muck-heâ—p Sack of Dust an Earth-worm that hath no Breath to breathe but what God puts into him Yet many there are that think God loves them best because he gives them most then Pharaoh Sennacherib Jeroboam Herod the Great Turk and such-like are much in favour But here is a Mistake in the Reckoning God made Nebuchadnezzar to know and acknowledge That the Most High ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men and giveth them to whomsoever he will and setteth up over them the basest of men Dan. 4.17 Pharaoh was advanced on high for his greater Fall For this cause saith God I have raised thee up c. And no doubt Haman's Promotion was upon the same account Riches and Honours many times prove Blocks in Heavens way not in themselves but by their abuse they are like the fine Feathers of the Ostrich fine to gaze on but of little use to help them to mount aloft when the Lark or Swallow are swift of Wing and mount easily 'T is hard for a Rich man to mount upward or to enter in at the streight Gate yea as hard as for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle the reason is they have such a Burthen upon their Backs and they have such a Loadstone here on Earth which they love and trust to which draws their Affection from Heaven to Earth this hinders their flight as 't is Fabled the Golden Apples did Atalantas Race Those that stand upon the top of Pinacles are in Danger and had need look to their footing Those that attract Guilt in attaining Promotion are in the greatest danger when 't is gotten for at utmost Death will beâ—â—ave them of it 'T is a sad Fall from the highest Pinacle to the Depth of Hell their Glory then will not follow them their Pomp will take its leave O what a sad day will this be when all these things wherein they gloried will be gone and when Riches Honour and Pleasures as to them shall be no more which as Micah said of his Ephod and Teraphim These are gone and what have I more Judg. 18.23 Now when these their Gods are gone what have they more And these they have not long to enjoy and this will be a further aggravation of wicked mens Misery at Death 4. That wicked men at Death lose all their Worldly Felicity such as Riches Honours and Pleasures I have already shewed you yet these are not all the Losses they shall then sustain the worst are behind though haply at present not so much regarded for then they shall lose their God which will prove the greatest Loss by far The Torments of Hell are either privative or positive Pain of Loss or Pain of Sence the former is judg'd by Divines to be the greatest and most grievous for God being our chiefest Happiness to lose him will be our chiefest Misery In his presence is fulness of Joy and at his right hand Pleasures for evermore But at Death there will be an eternal separation from him which Loss will more affect the Soul when the Understanding Conscience and other Faculties shall be enlarged a Thousand thousand rentings of the Soul from the Body will not be so much as One renting of the Soul from God
Boys will be such indeed when they come there for Roaring and Yelling will be their best Musick and all shall dance after this Pipe and bear a share in this Consort Oh that Men would be wise before it be too late and Hell hath shut her Mouth upon them for then they will have no rest day nor night but it is the duration that makes up the Misery compleat Did the Torments endure but a Hundred or a Thousand Years though it were long yet it would be some comfort that an end would come but the word Never is a Hell in the midst of Hell Were a Man in perfect Health and Strength adjudged to lye upon a soft Feather Bed without stirring Hand or Foot for a Year's space though he had the comfort of Friends Meat Drink and other Necessaries it would be thought a great Punishment much more if he lay upon a red-hot Gridiron and could be preserved with Life But what is either of these to Hell-Torments or a Year to Eternity But their Torment must run parallel with the Life of God the days of Heaven and the longest line of Eternity and when they have past as many Thousand Millions of Years as there are Piles of Grass upon the Earth Stars in Heaven Hairs upon Man Beasts Sands upon the Sea-shore Feathers upon all Fowl and Scales and Fins upon all Fish yet will their Misery be no whit abated or any nearer to an end than the first day they were cast into it for were this innumerable Number taken from Eternity it is never the less Oh Eternity Eternity who can judge of thee or find thee out If the Earth were converted into Paper and the Sea into Ink and every Grass-pile into Pens and every Sand upon the Sea-shore were a skilful Arithmetician and all of them with their conjoyned Labours when they had cast up their greatest Sums and added them together yet would it not reach Eternity Nay if the whole Firmament were written from end to end with Arithmetical Figures it would fall short Oh what then but Horror and Despair will seize upon miscarrying Souls when all their hopes are dash'd then will they seek Death but shall not find it Oh that these pains would break my Heart and end my Life say they Oh that I might at last be extinct or that these Infernal Spirits would tear me in pieces till they had rent me to nothing Oh that I had never had a Being cursed be my Father that begat me and the Womb that bare me cursed be those Companions of mine that helped to undo me and betray me into my Enemies hands Such as these are like to be the wishes that Eternity will extract from tormented Souls O that the consideration thereof would make Men wise before it be too late But if Death find us unprepared this that I have described will be our condition for ever which God forbid Lesson 6. The Sixth Lesson that this Providence teacheth us is this That seeing this our Friend is taken away in the midst of her days in her full strength while her breasts were full of milk and her bones moistened with marrow Job 21.24 This teacheth all but especially us that are of greater Age that survive her how necessary 't is for us to make Preparation for our own Death for if God deal thus with the green Tree what shall be done to the dry Young Men may dye Old Men must dye for we know neither the day nor the hour wherein our Lord and Master will come 'T is good therefore to watch every day and every hour we know not when he will send his Messenger to us to Command us to give an account of our Steward-ship for we shall be no longer Stewards We usually say That should be well done that can be but once done but we can dye but once 't is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the Judgment Heb. 9.27 Here is no room for a second Error as we say in War As the Tree falls so it lyes whether to the North or to the South so as Death leaves us so Judgment shall find us Now Death is no Fear-babe t is the King of Terrors and a Terror to Kings Hell is no Scare-crow neither Eternity a Jesting matter the Soul that is in danger is no Trifle but our chiefest Jewel and Salvation and Damnation are matters of Moment things of great Concern Now a Man would think that in Matters of such Concern it were not needful to use many words to make us mind it when we are earnest enough in lesser matters but 't is evident we are all faulty in some degree or other and the most altogether negligent Were but our Houses on fire over our heads we need not many Arguments to seek to save our selves and to quench the Fire Were we in danger of Drowning we need not many Arguments to perswade us to lay hold upon something or other to help us out Were we pursued with an implacable Enemy that sought our Lives or with a roaring Lion or ranging Bear we should double our Diligence and amend our Pace and use all means to escape the Danger And is the Soul so contemptible a thing that we matter it so little It is without our Diligence prevent it in danger to be drown'd in the Lake of Perdition and to be burnt in the Fire that never goes out and is pursued with those Infernal Furies that seek to devour her and yet we make but a little hast to rescue her But are our Houses our Estates our Bodies or our Lives to be preferred before the Immortal Soul the best part of Man And is a Moment of Time more to us than Eternity Do we take so much care what to eat and what to drink and wherewith to be cloathed and so little how the Soul is fed or cloathed decked or adorned This doubtlesly would bespeak our Folly Whatever the World dream or say to the contrary Heaven will be found to the Possessors of it a real Happiness and whatever Cost or Charge Pains or Labour we bestow a good Peny-worth and Hell will be found a real Misery and whatever we have into the Bargain we shall be losers the Rich Glutton found it so and many more here the worm dyes not and the fire never goes out One day in Heaven will make us forget all our Miseries on Earth and one day in Hell will make us forget all our fore-past Pleasures Now while we are unprepared for Death there is but the thread of our Lives between us and endless easeless and remediless Torments and this must needs be an uneasie condition to a considerate Man And which makes it the worse Death is always gnawing at this thread which if once broken all the World cannot piece it or yield us any relief Now in serious matters wise men should be serious Beggars when their wants are serious they will leave their Canting and beg in earnest as also
Those are most like to neglect their Work that cast it out of sight and out of mind and those are likest to be surprized by an Enemy that neglect their Watch When the evil servant said in his heart my Lord deferreth his coming c. he was soon surprized and paid for his Folly Mat. 24.48 c. In the Psalmist's days there were many of whom he saith God is not in all their thoughts Psal 10.4 And are there not many in our days of whom it may be said Death is not in all their thoughts Do not the shew of their countenance the course of their lives testifie against them and they declare their sin 〈◊〉 Sodom and hide it not The course of their Lives cannot consist with a believing Meditation of God of Heaven and Hell Death and Judgment no no they put far from them the evil day Amos 6.3 This cursed Security is the source of all manner of sin and wickedness for God is neither in their Head nor Heart and therefore they sin boldly I have heard of some foolish Creatures that will thrust their Heads into a Bush and then because they see no body they think no body sees them such apprehension many Men seem to have of Death they think themselves secure because they have got Death out of their minds but misreckoning proves no Payment Many like the Rich Man Luke 12.16 c. promised himself a longer Lease than God had sealed him but Christ calls him Fool for his labour Many mens Glasses are almost run out when they thought they were but new turned but those that reckon without their Host must reckon twice 'T is folly in a Tenant to forget his Rent-day and then imagine his Land-lord forgets it also or for a Malefactor to forget the day of his Execution and think others forget it as well as he This was Jerusalem's fault and it proved her ruine Lam. 1.9 She remembred not her last end therefore she came down wonderfully and this proves many a man's ruine It was not in vain therefore that Moses prays Psal 90.12 So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom We are apt to make some Preparation for the Body what to eat and what to drink and wherewithal we shall be cloathed and neglect not Fairs nor Markets where wanted Necessaries may be had many prepare in the Day for the Night in the Summer for Winter in Health for Sickness in Youth for Age yea and for their Posterity after them And what stupid Madness is it not to provide in time for Eternity and remember not the days of darkness for they are many Eccles 11.8 'T is the greatest folly to mind trifles and neglect the main The thoughts of Death will not hasten it the sooner but it may hasten our Preparation for it it can do us no harm but much good Let no day therefore pass without some serious thoughts and meditation of it this will make it less formidable 'T is fabled of the Fox that when he first saw a Lion he trembled but in process of time he grew bolder Thus by better Acquaintance we should do with Death that is most amazing that comes unexpectedly Let us put the Question to our selves Did I know I should dye the next Week or Month how should I spend this time And let 's live so seeing for ought we know we may not live so long Sure our Time-wasting Gallants would then find something else to do than to divide their Time as many do between Swearing Roaring Drinking and Whoring Death will make a wonderful change both in the good and in the bad In the good 't is an outlet to all their Misery and an inlet to Heaven and Glory In the bad 't is an end of all their Felicity and the date of their Misery and can this on either side be such a contemptible change as not worth thinking of Should a poor Woman upon a fixed day be to be married to some Mighty Prince could she forget the day or neglect to prepare for it Can a Maid forget her ornaments or a Bride her attire c. Or were a Man upon an appointed day to go to Prison to Banishment or to Execution would it signifie nothing to him Were our Houses on fiâ—e over our Heads or were we pursued by a Lion or Bear or other ravenous Beast or some deadly Enemy that sought our Lives should we be so unconcerned And is not the Soul in a thousand times greater danger of Eternal Death than the Body can be of Temporal and yet shall this be slighted Is it not high time for us when the Sergeant waits to Arrest us to take Christ's Counsel and agree with our Adversary before we are cast into Prison Mat. 5.25 And not as ill Husbands do stay till we are arrested and cast into Prison I know there are too many that think God and Devil Heaven and Hell are but Fables these will know to their sorrow they are Realities and deserve our serious thoughts And 't is not enough to think of Death for many do so against their wills but they must prepare for it also let us consider every Evening what we have done in reference to Preparation the day past and whether we are a days Journey nearer Heaven as we are nearer our Graves This course is likely to fit us for Death and Judgment Lesson 7. The Seventh Lesson we may learn from this sad and unexpected Providence is Seeing all are under a necessity of dying to bring our minds to be willing to dye how and when God in his Providence shall think fit It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the Judgment Heb. 9.27 Now 't is our Duty to subscribe our consent to this Law He that hateth not his father mother wife and children brethren and sisters and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Luke 14.26 These are Love-Tokens God hath given us to win our Love and when he requires them again 't is to try whether we love Him or his Gifts better 'T is as I shew'd before our Duty to submit as Aaron patiently to the death of our Relations and sometimes the Lesson proves hard enough but here is a further tryal we shall be put upon to submit to our own Death When Job bore the loss of his Estate and Relations so well the Devil would try him by afflicting him in his Body and Mind Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life Job 2.4 As if he should say Any thing for his own Life Cattle Servants Children all shall go so he may sleep in a whole Skin I know the Lesson to be willing to dye seems hard to Flesh and Blood but we must have something more or we cannot dye well the same Reason that makes us submit to another's Death is good here I know there are greater Temptations lying at some mens doors than others 't is
saith Luther look to the Salvation of it A Child that hath a precious Jewel cannot put it safer than in his Father's hands the like we may say of our Lives and Souls if we 'l have the keeping and disposing of them our selves the Devil will rook us out of them but what is committed to God cannot be lost our Lives though laid down for Christ cannot be lost in him 't is but as the Seed sown Life eternal will spring up in the turn when temporal Life expires eternal Life begins My Father saith Christ is greater than all and none can pluck them out of my Fathers hands Joh. 10.29 There is nothing we can expend in God's Service but he can make satisfaction we may lose all we have for him but shall lose nothing by him if we deny to honour God in letting God dispose of our Lives as to the time and manner of our Death we shall lose them for nothing To live saith Paul is Christ and to die is gain he was in a strait whether to chuse life or death yet he knew to die was best for him Phil. 1.21 c. Janua vitae est porta coeli saith Bernard Christians should be so indifferent whether they lived or died as to submit their wills wholly to God's will to die for Christ is the way to a Crown of Martyrdom and the way to reign with Christ is to suffer with him a Self-resignation can do us no hurt but much good for if we are never call'd to suffer we shall not lose our Reward God takes the will for the deed as in Abraham's case And if we do suffer for him we shall reign with him and have white robes with palms in our hands and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Rev. 12.11 7.9 And shall not we suffer something for this Honour or shall we after all this Profession of Religion declare to the World that all was but Hypocrisie and that we have more love to Sin and the World than we have to God Is not this the way to dishonour God discredit Religion harden Wicked men in Sin and endanger our own Souls 5 Cons In the last place to make us more willing to dye or to submit to God's Will whether for Life or Death are the Joys and Delights and Pleasures which believing Souls shall have in the Presence of God for ever and for ever and that immediately after Death for as then all tears shall be wiped away and sin and sorrow shall be no more so our Joys and Pleasures shall then commence 1 Joh. 3.2 Now we are the sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Great things we have in Hand but greater in Hope much in Possession more in Reversion our Happiness then will be in seeing and enjoying him which we cannot do on this side Death but what our Enjoyments shall be there no mortal man can come to know not the Apostle who was caught up into the third Heaven and heard unspeakable words that it was not lawful for a man to utter 2 Cor. 12.4 Yet he tells us 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither hath it enter'd into the heart of man to conceive the things that God hath prepared for those that love him Yet he reserves not all for the Life to come some clusters of Canaans Grapes are bestowed in the Wilderness some Pisgah-sights of Glory on this side Jordan But 't is no wonder we cannot describe the Joys of Heaven when we are such strangers to many Secrets in Nature In the World Believers have such joy as no stranger shall meddle with Prov. 14.10 The Cock on the Dunghil knows not the Worth of these Jewels they are unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 they are a Harâ—â—el of Heaven and a Fore-taste of Eternal Life yea such as passeth all Understanding fitter to be believed than to be exprest to which all the Comforts which the World affords signifie nothing for what shall we compare with the Peace of a good Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost And yet this is but a small tast a branch of Canaans Grapes and nothing compared with what is behind to be eternally enjoyed But if the Saints Enjoyments so darkly resemble Heavens Glory what will the Epicure's Delights do which they chose for their Portion Not so much resemble it as a Muckhil doth the Sun in his Splendor The Drunkard delights in his Cups the Adulterer in his Queans and this they look upon to be the chiefest Happiness the covetous man makes Gold his God the ambitious man makes choice of that empty Bubble Honour and the voluptuous man contents himself with Pleasure these are the Syren Songs the Devil lulls them asleep with while he ruines their Souls these are the Circe's Charms which transforms them into Swine and makes them take up with Husks and Swill and to neglect that Nectar and Ambrosia which the Saints feed upon Have I need to shew that Happinese consists not in these things Is any so blind upon consideration as to affirm it Where is their Happiness then when their Cups and Queans are snatch'd and all other their Enjoyment leave them 'T is true Meat is delightful to the Hungry and Drink to the Thirsty Health to the Sick and Strength to the Weak but what is this to an hungring thirsting panting weary Soul Christ is better to it than all the World Stately Buildings curious Gardens pleasant Walks and the rest of the Delights of the Sons of Men mentioned by Solomon Eccl. 2.8 c. how little satisfaction can they yield they will prove but empty Husks if we feed upon them what are those to those Mansions of Glory provided for the Saints and the Rivers of Pleasures which are at the right hand of God for evermore Yea I dare say many a poor Believer hath more solid Joy more Hearts Content more true Satisfaction in his poor Cell than many of those in the midst of all their Enjoyments What then will their Enjoyments be in Heaven when they shall receive their Portion Human Learning also is desirable and more beautiful saith Aeneas Sylvius than the Morning or the Evening-Star What hard Labour and Pains have many a man taken to find out Nature's Secret and at best have but groaped in the dark And many all 〈…〉 Mystery there is in the Book of God which no man living understands the Scripture being like the Waters of the Sanctuary Ezek. 47.2 c. where a Lamb might wade and an Elephant might swim but there our Ignorance shall vanish and all those difficulties disappear and we shall know as much of God himself as finite Capacities can comprehend Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now we know but in part but then shall know as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 2 Cor. 3.18 Here we can see but by reflection for how can our Eyes behold God that cannot view the Sun in its splendor Moses himself could but view his Back-side and Paul was blinded with the Sight but the Beatifical Vision will not disturb us Now we behold the Works of God with admiration the Sun Moon and Stars and all the Host of Heaven the Earth also hanged upon nothing beautified with all Varieties the Sea bounden and barr'd by him and generally the whole Creation these are beautiful Objects and many inscrurable Mysteries we understand not but there we shall see and know far greater Mysteries in the Fabrick of Heaven it self His Works of Providence many times puts us to a puzzle how he governs all the World and preserves Peace among so many disagreeing Creatures especially how he preserves his own Church amidst their numerous Enemies and makes Provision for all the works of his Hands but when we are better acquainted with his Wisdom and Power these Wonders will cease The Work of Redemption and the manner of contriving it that he let fall the Angels irrecoverably without hope of Redemption the reason of his Electing Love and why he made a difference the Price that was paid the Blood of his only Son may cause admiration but when we know the whole Contrivance we shall admire his Wisdom Oh who would not long to be in that estate of Blessedness where these and all things else shall be made known to us which cannot be till Death Thus Madam I have made bold haply too bold to communicate to you my own Experiences and with what Arguments I have quieted my self under such sad Dispensations of Providence as at present you lye under and to shew you what improvement I have made or at leastwise desire to make of them and I hope I may truly say it was good for me that I was afflicted and I wish you may experimentally say the same I think I have learned more in the School of Affl ction of the sinfulness of Sin of the Vanity of the Creature of Worth of Grace the Miseries of the Wicked and the Happiness of the Godly than ever I did in any other School whatsoever And I wish you and all your Relations that are concerned in this Providence may gain as much as I yea terque quaterque manifold more I do not write these things to you as if you were ignorant of them no I am too well acquainted with you to be guilty of this Error but the best of us especially when under a Cloud and overpower'd with Grief have need of a Remembrancer to put 〈◊〉 in mind of what before we knew My humble Desire is and my Prayer shall be that you and your Relations by this Providence and these Oâ—servations upon it may be brought nearer to GOD weaned more from the World and your selves fitter to live and fitter to dye that when you come to dye you may have nothing to do but to dye and resign up your Souls into the Hands of God These are the unfeigned Desires of Madam your humble Servant Edward Bury Eaton Apr. 16. 16â—5