and troubles sorrows dangers and temptations and what not and is any poor prisoner lying in his fetters or Gally-slave chained to his oars unwilling of his liberty nay would they not endure a little pain for their liberty and is there but a little pain between thee and eternal happiness and dost stick at that when wicked men indure as much in the road to Hell dost thou prize glory at so low a rate wilt thou suffer pains and labour and cark and care for worldly vanities and wilt thou suffer nothing to enjoy bliss and happiness the Physitian cures thee not without pain thou takest bitter pills and unsavoury potions when Sugred with the hopes of Health thou wouldst suffer the Surgeon to dress thy sores though he hurt thee and if need require to cut lance the flesh yea to cut off a limb or joynt to save the rest which is greater pain than many feel even in the pangs of death and yet thou must pay them for their pains and shall only the physitian Death which will cure thee of all thy pain and misery be disrespected and abhorred and lookt upon as the worst of enemies and all because he puts thee to a little pain which ends in eternal glory when many times the pains in dying is not so much as the raging pain of an aking tooth but imagine it to be the worst thou canst what proportion doth it bear to the succeeding joy not so much as is between a Flea-biting and an earthly Crown and who would not indure much more for a Kingdom what pain wouldst thou indure for an hour to be freed from the Stone or Gout all thy life if thou wert under the racking pain of it or what pain would a poor man indure one day to have a Knights or Lords estate at night Oh death if thy pangs be grievous they are but short but what are the pains of Hell which must be indured by those that deny their Redeemer for Lifes sake If thy Supper be sharp thy rest will be sweet this consideration made death it self welcom to the Martyrs who for the joy that was set before them indured the cross and despised the shame and now are set down with Christ in his Kingdom of glory Torments and tortures to them were Jocularia matters of sport The soul that sees the Crown heeds not the weight of the Cross and were there no other way to Heaven but by the gates nay through the flames of Hell the believing soul would through Luther would rather be with God in Hell than without him in Heaven but much more would they go through the gates of death what though the passage be dark a believer by the perspective of Faith can see light at the other end A Souldier that fights but for a temporary reward yet with what violence doth he press through the thickest of his enemies and carries his life in his hand and all for a thing of nought call'd Honour and doth not a crown of glory shine as bright in thy eye as popular applause doth in his dost thou believe eternal glory is offered to thee and that thou maist have it for the suffering a little pain and dost thou stick at the price and let God bestow his favours where he pleaseth thou wilt not have Heaven at so dear a rate thou art well worthy then to lose it If these outward enjoyments will give thee content then the Atheist the Epicure the beastly belly-God the Drunkard the Adulterer hath more pleasure than thee the beast of the field the fouls of the air the fish in the sea that have neither carking care nor fretting fear and many of them free from labours and pains are in a happier condition than poor Man is if this be his all and Believers then are of all men the most miserable If this be the summ of thy hopes why dost thou fast and pray and deny thy self these carnal pleasures which others take if their reward will give thee content why dost not swear with the Swearer and drink with the Drunkard and debauch thy self with the Adulterer if thy portion and theirs be alike why dost not run into the same excess of riot with them Psal 58.11 But there is a reward for the righteous surely there is a God that judgeth the earth and art thou afraid to receive the righteous mans reward wilt thou after all thy profession content thy self with the Epicures portion and lose all the pains thou hast taken in Heavens way let them be loth to dye that are loth to be with Christ or loth to be happy Is God willing to glorifie thee and art not thou willing to be glorified is he willing to bestow Heaven upon thee and art thou unwilling to take it because 't is up Hill take heed lest for murmuring at the tearms God swears thou shalt never enter into his rest as he resolved those that made light of his Supper should never tast of it Mat. 22.8 If thou make light of Christ and glory so as to put them into the one end of the Scales and a little pain in the other and make this weigh down all the rest Christ will make as light of thee and resolve thou shalt never have him if thou art unwilling to leave Earth for Heaven and the Creature for God and to enter the purchased Inheritance in the way he hath appointed God may justly give thee thy Portion elsewhere 'T is the Devils grand design to keep thee from God from Christ from Glory and art thou as willing as he to stay thence thou wilt do him the greatest courtesie and thy self the greatest mischief imaginable O my Soul look well about thee Heaven and Hell are before thee if thou like not Heaven upon the offered terms Hell is like to be thy portion those that murmured at the land of Canaan by reason of some difficulty in the way perished in the Wilderness The way to Heaven and Hell is both by the Gates of Death if thou give up thy life to Gods dispose Heaven will be thine if not Hell is thy reward Oh my God I believe help my unbelief I know I must dye I know 't is my duty to dye for thee if thou requirest thou gavest me my life and hast most reason to dispose of it Lord my Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak I cannot stand by my own Strength Lord I can do all things through thee that strengthenest me let my resolves be for Heaven which way soever thou commandest me to come to thee though through a Sea of Blood or in a fiery Chariot let me glorifie thee by my Life and by my Death that I may be glorified by thee after my Death MEDITAT III. God determines every ones Death with the Time and Manner of it O My Soul art thou afraid of a sudden Death why no Death is sudden to a prepared man but 't is a violent Death thou fearest to fall into
plagued as other men Amos 6.4 5 6. They lye upon their Beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches they eat the Lambs out of the flock and the Calves out of the midst of the Stall They chaunt to the sound of the Viol and invent to themselves Instruments of Musick like David They drink Wine in Boles and anoint themselves with chief Ointment But they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph c. These may indeed fear a Change and dread the time when suddenly they shall go down to Hell but this is not thy condition Psal 73.14 for all the day long hast thou been plagued and chastened every Morning and thy drink hath been mixt with thy Tears The pleasures thou hast had have but tickled the Senses but reach not the Soul and true content thou never foundest in them If thou look back to thy youthful delights and childish vanities as they are passed away and have left nothing but a sting behind them so they should not be call'd to mind without sorrow and compunction of Spirit for many of them were the pleasures of sin yea the pleasure in sin sinfull pleasures which have wasted thy precious time and stole away thy heart from God and hindred thee from making usefull imployment of it and from more necessary business but in Heaven thou shalt have pleasure without satiety here thou art fain to use various pleasures to patch up a little of that which thou callest delight the pleasure of any one yea of the most delightful Recreations soon passeth away and becomes nauseous and leaves a sting behind but in Heaven thou wilt solace thy self with Eternal delight those pleasures which thou here callest by that name bear no more proportion to Heavenly Joyes than fire upon the Wall to true fire the former gives neither light nor hear though it have some dark resemblance of it But haply this may not be it that troubles thee 't is thy Estate which thou art to leave behind which sticks upon thy stomach for when thou dyest thou must leave all behind thee a great All sure and this also in exchange when for a handfull of Muck thou art like to have a handful of Angels Heaven for Earth and God for the Creature and dost repine at the bargain let those that have great Estates plead this argument not one that exchangeth Penury for Plenty and a Cottage for a Kingdom but doth not God seem to say to thee as sometime Pharaoh to Jacob Gen. 45.20 As for your stuff regard it not for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours Doth it grieve thee to leave this house of clay which will doubtless ere long moulder and fall about thy ears for a Mansion in Glory a House made without hands whose builder and maker is God Eternal in the Heavens Pebbles for Pearls Earth for Heaven and the Creature for God and is this the wrong Death hath done thee yea this is not all Death will put thee in possession of thy own here thou hast nothing thou canst call thy own but maist say of it as the Prophet of his Axe Alas Master 2 King 6.5 for it was borrowed here thou art a Tenant at will not only at thy Fathers will but at anothers will also and knowest not but thou maist be dispossessed before the years end but that is thine Inheritance here thou art a rack Tenant and hast much ado to pay thy Rent but there thou art a Free-holder and payest neither Rent nor Taxes what here thou hast is lent thee and for every Talent thou hast thou must give an account what there thou hast is given thee and thou hast ten thousand times as much under thy hands yet an account shall never be required Besides when thou art gone thou shalt have no need of the things here left behind for thou goest to a house ready furnisht what need wooden Vessels or earthen Utensils when the Walls of the City and the Streets thereof are of pure Gold and as there is no need so there is no use of these earthly things what good will food do when thou art not hungry or cloaths when thou art not cold there is the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden there is the Fountain of Life to stench thy thirst there is neither use nor need of these things thy Silver and thy Gold signifie nothing here they trample upon better mettal thy coin will not pass in this Country these things should not be thy trouble to part with them which have proved snares to thee both in the getting and in the keeping and like a bush of thorns when thou hast graspt them too hard they have pricked thy fingers yea and prickt and pierced many to the heart they are not satisfactory and if they were they are not durable but like a bird upon the Wing now in one mans Close and then in anothers and no one can say She is mine and if thou dye not from them 't is odds they will dye from thee as the Example of two hundred thousand in Ireland in our dayes may sadly witness they are like unto Jonah's Gourd they spring up in one Night and wither in another I have read of a Heathen Philosopher when the City he lived in was taken sackt and Burnt by the Enemy and his Wife and Children captivated and all his earthly Substance gone being demanded by Demetrius what he had lost answered Nothing Omnia mea mecum porto I carry all along with me his vertue which could not be lost was only his own and mayst thou not better say so if thou be demanded what thou losest by Death for if thou canst carry thy Graces which are thy Evidences for Heaven safe thither this is thy All for the rest was but lent thee for thy Journey as a bed in an Inne to a Traveller which he must leave behind him and not carry it away in the morning for if thy Evidences be safe thine Inheritance is sure these outward things thou hast as long as they will do thee good and when they will do thee none why wilt desire them and Death will not deprive thee of any good thing the lading is safe though the Ship sink the Jewel is safe though the Box be broken though the Body dye the Soul will live and thou maist therefore say as Jacob I have enough Joseph my son is yet alive my Soul is yet safe or as Mophibosheth Seeing the King is returned safe let Zibah take all Seeing mine Inheritance is secured my chiefest Jewel safe let who will take the rest But haply it may be thy Relations that thou art so unwilling to leave thy dear Wife thy beloved Children those that depend upon thee for their livelihood and other Relations that thou hast let out thy affection upon and other intimate acquaintance and Christian Friends which have been all that little comfort thou hast had in the world and
for him shall receive the greatest share though those that have the least measure shal have Joy unspeakable and full of glory yea as much as they can hold and who but a mad man notwithstanding this will look upon Religion as a Frenzy and the professors thereof little better than frantick because they run themselves upon the pikes of danger and expose themselves to losses and crosses to troubles and trials yea to death it self and that for conscience sake but did these men see the prize they run for the Crown they fight for they would run the same race and fight the same fight if any of them were but offered an handful of Gold for a handful of Silver they would not refuse it much less if they might have an handful of Angels for a handful of Muck but believers make a better exchange for they receive Heaven for the Earth and God for the Creatures yea eternal Life for that which is temporal did others know the reward they would do the work did they see the joy that is set before them they would endure the cross and despise the shame as well as they but how can those see that are spiritually blind or know whose foolish hearts are darkned they are at least sand blind and cannot see at a distance nor discern what it is that stands beyond death and seeing no other pleasure but what only reaches the senses take up with that and think there is no better did they see better they would desire better those that know no better than Hell never look after Heaven were they nearer to God that Spiritual Loadstone they would be drawn to him they would then contemn these fading delights and lay hold upon everlasting happiness they would contemn this unrighteous Mammon and seek after True Treasure they see indeed both wayes but cannot see to the end the one they see broad and easie green and pleasant but they see not the dangerous Precipice it leads to and the fiery Gulph it ends in they see the other also which is rough and craggy steep and hilly which few men walk in but they see not the Pleasures it ends in and therefore they choose the other and think they do wisely and think they are Fools that do otherwise but had they the Saints spectacles they would change their minds but this their way is their folly and nothing but ignorance can make them walk in it the time will come they would change their course but cannot as the foolish Virgins would have had Oyl when it was too late corrupted Reason being inchanted by sense proves a Caterer for the flesh but were it rectifyed by faith it would look for happiness elsewhere There are too many like a Cardinal I have read of that usually said I will not leave my part in Paris for a part in Paradise they are wedded to the world and are loth to be divorced 'T is true believers know little of the nature of Heavens joyes these know nothing of it the former have some glimpses of the glory some foretastes of the sweetness of Canaans fruits this sets them a longing the other are strangers to it ignotus nulla cupido The godly know not the quantity of it for how can that be discovered that is unspeakable or conceived of that is inconceivable or how can that be measured that is infinite this we may build upon 't is our masters Joy and therefore great it cannot enter into us but we must enter into it methinks when we speak or hear of Joy unspeakable of Light inaccessible and of Glory immortal our hearts may burn within us like the Disciples which were going to Emaus when Christ spake to them it should make us cast a despising eye upon all the worlds glory and make us think no pains too much nor cost too dear to come to the enjoyment of it it might make us run that we may obtain fight that we might conquer and travel hard to come to our journeys end for then all our work will be done all our pains over and we shall have nothing to do but to praise the Lord which will be our wages as well as our work for when we are spiritualized and the dross of corruption left behind it will be as natural to us as to live and as now it is to breathe for there is nothing but our corruption now that makes this Angelical duty troublesome And is there enough in Heaven to make amends for all our losses and crosses upon earth let us then never stick at the price for whatsoever we expend for Christ or Heaven it shall be paid back with advantage If Solomons Servants were so happy in seeing his glory and hearing his wisdom Oh what a happiness will it be to see his glory in Heaven when it will be increased and hear his wisdom when 't is perfected nay in enjoying Solomons God and partaking both of his glory and wisdom and Oh the Honour that believers will have in such a Relation where they will have God for their Father Christ for their Husband the Angels and Saints for their Brethren and companions and not only seed upon Angels food but be set upon an Angelical Employment and have the Angel reward And if this be not enough to satisfie for all the pains troubles losses and crosses thou sustain upon this account never take upon thee the profession of Religion but I am sure there is punishment enough in hell for all those that make light of Christ and slight the offers of the Gospel Oh the purblind world that can see nothing but what is under their feet had they but such a sight of God and Glory as some others have had they would desire with Paul to be dissolved Phil. 1.23 Rev. 22.20 and with the Church Come Lord Jesus come quickly Here thou complainest of vain thoughts and roving imaginations and well thou maist but thou wilt never be cured of them but by death and after death thou shalt never be troubled with them more but shalt serve God without distraction In the world thou couldst never meet with content in Heaven thou shall never meet with discontent and art thou yet content to be in the world here thou meetest with no satisfaction and art thou satisfied without satisfaction well whatever thoughts thou hast of Christ now the time is coming thou wilt have use of him and need of him for at death one glimpse of his favour one smile of his countenance will do thee more good than all the Cordials thy Doctors can give thee Moses saw but his back-parts and his face did shine how doth he shine now in beholding his glory the fruition of God in glory is the souls happiness and happy are they that do enjoy him but what this fruition is we neither know nor can know in this world no word in humane language can express it for how can a Cockle-shell comprehend all the water in the Ocean we can
we would but when our work is done and with our Master's leave We must not with our own hands pluck down these earthly Tabernacles neither deny our consent when God will pluck them down we are Tenants at will and must not think to have our Houses at our own dispose whether they shall down or not we came not into the world but at his appointment and must not go out without his leave I know a Godly man though he have some assurance of a better habitation is not so reconciled to death as to choose it for its own sake for Deaths looks are not lovely it being the King of terrors Job 18.19 and the terror of Kings and in it self formidable and hath daunted the courage of the stoutest Souldiers and triumphs over the most triumphant Conquerour and sometimes discomposeth the most composed Christian And therefore as on the one hand it should not be overmuch feared so on the other it should not be overmuch slighted Christ himself had some fearfull apprehensions of it and well he might knowing what he had to suffer the Sting was then in but by his death it was taken out in reference to Believers yet the Serpent is formidable but not poysonful it will strike still though it cannot sting and as 't is an Outlet to Life so 't is an Inlet to Eternity and who can enter into so vast a Gulph and so boundless an Ocean without amazement where he can find neither bank nor bottom 'T is impossible for men to put off Humanity neither doth Christianity teach us to be Stoicks yet it teacheth us to bound and moderate our passions and not overmuch to fear Death When we have a lawful call to it and when 't is our duty to dye when God sends let who will be the Messenger obey we must Lu. 12.5 Fear not them saith Christ that can kill the body and can do no more but fear him that can cast both Soul and Body into Hell yea I say unto you fear him All outward things must be undervalued for Life sake but Life it self must go for Gods sake if thou sell thy life for any worldly advantage thou wilt make a hard bargain For what good will the world do thee when thou art dead Luk. 12.20 Thou fool saith Christ this night will thy soul be required of thee and then whose are these Thou must part with any thing in the world to preserve it but if thou sell thy Soul to save thy life or part with Christ upon that account thou wilt make a bad bargain Mat. 16.26 for what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in Exchange for his soul This is not to prevent death but to Exchange one death for another temporal death for eternal 'T is not a choosing death thou art Press'd to but a submission to the will of God that is required at thy hands and of two evils the least is to be chosen if thou must either choose death or choose sin death is the more eligible for sin will expose thee to the second death and prove the everlasting separation of soul and body from God which is worse a thousand times than death If thou must lose thy life or thy soul let life go if thou must deny life or deny Christ Christ is better than thy life being the very life of thy soul and he that to avoid a little temporal pain incurs eternal torments makes a foolish bargain Now though there be no reason to love death yet is there great reason why thou shouldst love God better than life Psal 63.3 whose loving kindness is better than life though life be dear yet Christ is dearer The Cup of death may be bitter but Hell and Damnation and the eternal Wrath of God are much bitterer which if thou forsake Christ thou must drink up to the bottom which Eternity will be little enough to do God puts Sugar into the former none into the latter Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their works follow them But those that miscarry are sent away with a curse Mat. 25.41 Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels c. 'T is true after the Fall death was threatned as a Curse and a Judgment for sin but by the death of Christ the nature of it is changed to Believers Psal 116.15 and the malignity of it abated Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints the sting is taken out and we may put the Serpent into our bosom 't is now to the godly a Sleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth and so 't is said of Stephen he fell a sleep and the Grave is but Gods Cabinet to hide his Jewels where they are secured from the evil to come Isa 57.12 26.20 't is but a Chamber to hide them in till the indignation be past And though Deaths chambers be dark they are best to sleep in where thou shalt meet with no disturbance no noise without or terrour within thou shalt neither see nor hear nor feel nor fear evil death is but a sturdy Porter to open the door of thy Fathers house the gates of Heaven to thee to let thee in And though it may expose thee to some pain for the present 't is not much and 't is but momentary and not worthy the glory that shall be revealed for endless Joy presently succeeds it and pain will soon be forgotten If thou canst but stoop a little and croud in at this strait gate and narrow door thou wilt enter into that spacious City the New Jerusalem If thou canst not love death for its own sake yet entertain him for his Masters sake for it is the Embassadour of the great God and for his Message sake for he brings an Answer of peace To submit unto the will of God and to be obedient unto the death is not only thy Duty but thy Wisdom and Interest and to say with Christ Not my will but thine be done and with Samuel 1 Sam. 3.10 Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth If thou deny thy Life when God requires it Christ will deny thee entrance into those Heavenly Mansions and 't is a thousand times better lose thy life than lose his love think not yet that Heaven is had upon hard terms thou maist haply lose something for Christ but shalt never lose by him the way to save thy life is to hide it with God in Christ The hardest terms that Christ propounds are but reasonable 't is thy Interest to go to Heaven though it were even through the flames of Hell much more through the pangs of Death Paul easily concludes to dye for him was gain and to be with Christ was best of all he dyed daily and carried his life in his hand
can do The Pharisees could fast Mat. 6.1 2. and pray and give Alms and what dost thou more The Apostle tells believers that to them it is given not only to believe on Christ Phil. 1.29 but to suffer for his sake and how wilt thou prove thy self a Believer if thou refuse to suffer Wouldst thou receive a Souldiers wages and not do his work wilt thou list thy self and indent with thy Captain that thou wilt not fight are all thy graces counterfeit if not why are they not reduced into act will the Sword in the scabbard secure thee why dost not finish thy course with joy that a Crown of life may be laid up for thee must God save thee whether thou wilt or no and pluck thee hence by violence to receive thy Reward or if he will not he may keep Heaven to himself for thee Doth thy faith and thy other graces now stand thee in no stead hast thou no Oyl when the Bridegroom comes or if thou hast dost thou refuse to enter to what end then serves thy Lamp what mattereth it for a Wedding-garment if when thou art invited to the Feast thou refusest to come Hast thou no Armour on when thou art cal'd to fight and thy enemy is in the field or wilt thou cowardly turn thy back and fly or suffer thy self to be captivated and inslaved hast thou no Armour to defend thy heart is no Cordial to keep thee from fainting to be found in God no promise in his Word which may be a foundation of comfort what then is the difference between thee and the Epicure nay his condition is much better he hath something that he calls Pleasure to solace himself with Are these anxious thoughts and fears suitable to a Christian to a Minister to one that hath made Forty years profession of Religion hast thou in all this time made no increase of thy Grace no improvement of thy Talent hast not yet learnt self-denyall which is the first lesson in the School of Christ and is it not yet taken out hast not yet attained the lowest measure of true grace to hate Father and Mother Wife and Children and thy own Life for him without which thou canst not be his disciple Is it suitable for a child of God to turn his back upon his Father when he calls him and like guilty Adam hide himself is it suitable for the Spouse of Christ to deny to come when her Husband sends for her Art thou yet unresolved whether Christ or Life be the sweeter whether Heaven or Earth be the better or whether the Creature or the Creator be to be chosen If so never call thy self a Christian more never dishonour Christ more by thy profession Was ever Heir afraid of receiving his Inheritance yet this is thy condition thou rather choosest a miserable life attended with eares and fears with griefs and sorrows rather than to dye and come to Christ Thou hast devoted thy self to him as a Spouse to her husband and hast formerly gloried in thy choice and art now afraid of the time when the marriage shall be consummate and thou shalt be lodg'd in his bosom if so 't is no wonder if he give thee a bill of Divorce and put thee away and what Condition art thou then in where wilt thou find such another Match nay there is no other in Heaven or Earth that can boot thy needs pay thy debts and save thy soul the Angels themselves cannot do it Esth 1.10 c. If Vasti the Queen were put away for refusing to come at her Husbands call much more dost thou deserve a Divorce if thou refuse to come at Christs call If thou go to him thou leavest a vain sinful miserable and treacherous world which hath laid many a snare in thy way and more will do if thou live in it longer and dost grieve at parting and put it upon the debate whether it be best to go or no and art ready to pass sentence in the Negative art afraid of being put above all fear and dread and wilt not go to Heaven because the way is not strewed with roses or because 't is a little up the hill thou hast but one stile to thy Fathers house if thy Breakfast be bad thy Dinner will make amends Are the suares which the Devil the world and the flesh have laid for thee so strong and thy Faith so weak that thou art now leaving God and choosing something else for thy portion and that thou art detained in this Harlots arms when thine own husband calls thee Art thou willing to lose all the pains thou hast taken in Heavens way rather than go one step more hast ascended all the steps of Jacobs ladder but one till thy head be in Heaven and art now returning down again because 't is a little more difficult than the rest wilt thou now take up with these things for thy portion and art busily seeking after content in them in which thou couldst never find satisfaction in thy life hast exercised so much self-denial for Christ hast thou forsaken Father and Mother Wife and Children Brothers and Sisters yea thy Estate in the world and exposed thy self to want and penury to labour and travel to scoffs and scorns yea to persecutions and trials and now wilt break with Christ for a trifle and lose the reward of what thou hast done wilt thou now prefer thy life before him that is Life it self hast thou bid so much for Christ and now dost stick at the price if thou now forsake him all is lost that thou hast paid But what cause hath God given to forsake him hath he ever failed of his word hath he imposed upon thee or foisted in any condition in the Covenant that was not mutually agreed upon if not what makes thee boggle at it if Religion were not good why didst thou profess it if it be why dost leave it if Heaven be not worth what thou must pay for it why didst not consider of it before and if it be why dost stick at the rates or dost thou think that God will amend thy bargain and let thee have it at Cheaper rates If these be thy thoughts thou art much mistaken Mat. 13.45 if thou wilt have the Pearl thou must sell all to purchase it 't is thy self and all thou hast that is the price he sets upon Christ and Heaven and Glory If thou think him not worth it thou maist let him alone and no harm done but assure thy self there is no indenting with Christ This I will do and that I will not this sin I will leave but not that thou must not like Naaman the Assyrian expect a toleration in any sin or in the neglect of any duty Well whatever thy thoughts be God will not abate one farthing Gal. 6.7.8 If thou sowest to the flesh thou wilt of the flesh reap corruption if thou sowest to the Spirit thou wilt of the Spirit reap life
't is but the weakness of thy faith and love or thou wouldst not desire to be absent from Christ upon such poor tearms Oh the hourly danger thou art in by reason of enemies without within and round about thee Oh the dangerous snares they lay for thy feet Oh the fears the cares and manyfold troubles thou daily meetest withall enough to make thee weary of thy life and with Job to wish for death and wilt not indure a little pain when it would set thee out of harms way out of the Devils reach or mans malice The love of Christ in the Martyrs was hotter than the flames they burnt in they could cry out None but Christ none but Christ true love desires union with the party beloved and how canst thou say thou lovest Christ when thy heart is not with him when thou desirest not his company or to enjoy him thou pretendest love to him and yet art willingly desirously absent from him and wilt not come to him at his call but wilt rather deny him and thy interest in him thou cal'st him thy Husband and pretendest thou hast devoted thy self wholly to him and given up not only thy Name but thy Heart to him and promised to forsake all other for him and obey him whoever was disobeyed yet when it comes to the trial with Demas thou choosest the world before him thou wilt not obey him neither forsake the world for him but lovest thy life above him what hypocrisie what dissimulation is this to pretend to follow him and yet really run from him when he calls thee well may he give thee a bill of divorce and put thee away who dost thus wilfully desert him Thou hast preacht for him and spoke for him and suffered for him but all this will not serve thy turn if thou love any thing above him thou must give up all or thou canst not have him he will admit of no Rival he will have the prevailing degree of thy Love or thou shalt have none of him if thou prize thy life above him he will prize himself to be too good for thee 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3. for love is to him more acceptable than any Sacrifice his love to thee made him exchange Heaven for the Earth and glory for misery and will not thy love to him make thee willing to exchange Earth for Heaven and the Creature for God though a wife pretend love to her husband yet if in her husbands absence she desires not his return and refuseth to go to him 't is a sign her love is cold and she hath something else she affects above him that she hath dealt treacherously with him and placed her affections elsewhere Were thy love to thy Lord and Husband but as strong as a covetous mans love is to his Riches or an ambitious mans to his Honour or the unclean persons to his Lust thou wouldst not think a little pains too much to enjoy him for these run through the pikes of danger to obtain their end and bring about their designs and though Damnation lye in the way they will venture one and march up into the Cannons mouth and expose themselves to the everlasting destruction of Body and Soul which is a thousand times worse than death it self before they will fail in their enterprize Did but thy heart pant after God as Davids did Psal 42.1 2. thou wouldst long for the time when thou shouldst appear before God hadst thou but a believing sight of the Heavenly Canaan and its glory thou wouldst then see the worlds emptiness vanity and misery and be more senbsile of thy wilderness troubles and long to pass over this Jordan thou wouldst be more willing to leave the one and go to the other But it may be 't is not thy dispute whether Heaven or Earth be the better choice but thy own Interest that thou questionest some enjoyments thou hast here and loth thou art to leave them till thou art sure of better but hath not this been thy objection many years and hast not yet got over this stile why how hast thou spent thy time what hast thou been doing what is the result of thirty or forty years trial of the estate hadst any greater work lay upon thy hand did not God send thee into the world upon this very business and hast thou spent thy time in hunting Butter-flyes or weaving the Spiders web to catch flyes all this while how canst eat or drink or sleep in quiet without some comfortable assurance when thou knowest not but the next morning thou mayst awake with hell-flames about thy ears thou art sent to run a race to fight a fight to lay hold upon Heaven by violence and hast all this while sate idle Heaven and Earth may stand amazed at thy folly If God allow thee more time what hopes is there that thou wilt make more haste or get clearer Evidence for Heaven think not that to deny Christ thy life when he requires thâ—â—â—o lay it down for him is to gain time for better preparation nay it layes such a barr in thy way to Heaven which it is much to be feared thou wilt never remove the very thoughts of using this unlawful means to save thy life do evidence that grace is either weak or wanting in thy soul Time was thou didst carry thy life in thy hand and hold forth the contempt of the world and mad'st a shew that thou matteredst the world no more than it did thee and that thou didst believe true happiness was not to be had under the Sun and is thy judgment now altered and in thy elder dayes art thou grown more wise and by diligent search hast found out thy mistake and not only thine but the mistake of all the godly and now dost begin to grasp after the world and art loth to leave it why dost not recant in publick why dost not discover to the people thy former errour and bid them look for their happiness here Wisd 2. â— 9. and crown themselves with rose-buds before they wither let us be partakers of our wantonness let us leave some tokens of our pleasure in every place for that is our portion and this is our lot Is this the doctrine thou wouldst have others believe and the counsel thou wouldst have them take if not why dost thou give them an Example to choose thy portion here and let Christ which was thy pretended portion go and grasp after that little which the world calls Portion so greedily and why art thou so loth to go where true Treasure is to be had why dost choose to be tossed to and fro by the billows of this raging Sea and endure the tempest and storms of trouble rather than come into a safe Harbour an Heaven of rest because the mouth of it is straight and the entrance uneasie Dost thou put thy self into the case of the wicked and dost expect their portion that thou lookest upon death as thy enemy also 't is
those Mansions of glory prepared for them from the foundation of the world and though we are not capable of understanding what Heavens glory is in reality yet we have a Pisgah sight a glimpse of it in the Scripture we find among other places some description of it Revel 21. yet must we not imagine it set out to the full for words cannot express it neither can we apprehend it as it is we may rather speak what it is not than what it is as no humane language can express what God is no more can it what Heaven is or what are the Joyes thereof for how can a little Vessel comprehend all the water in the Ocean but by what falls under our senfes we must be lead to higher conceptions and by those things which we most highly prize we may consider of those that are beyond our estimation For as 't is described Rev. 21.15 c. 't is most glorious yet we must imagine 't is far more glorious than 't is described because our understanding cannot conceive of it as it is we find the Angel measuring this holy City the New Jerusalem and the length and breadth and height thereof were equal for each way it was twelve thousand furlongs which according to our measure is a thousand and five hundred miles the length breadth and heighth equal now if all the buildings in the world were measured I suppose they would not reach to this extent nor amount unto such a magnitude But we must imagine that this is the exact measure of this heavenly Jerusalem this seat of the blessed the Holy Ghost here gives us a figurative description as of the materials so of the extent and brings it in here as a spacious specious and glorious City according to our capacity for our shallow capacities cannot reach what it really is and most spacious it must needs be when so many miriads of inhabitants have their mansions prepared for them For thousand thousands minister to him Dan. 7.10 and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him Yea all the Saints that ever did live do live or shall live shall there inhabit or if we make another guess how spacious this Heaven of Heavens may be let us consider this terrestrial Globe is imagined to be above twenty two thousand miles in the circumference and from hence to the starry Region or Orb of the fixed Stars as our Astronomers and those that have taken most pains in those matters imagine there is above seventy four millions of miles and the circumference of that Orb must be above six times as much and the Emperial Heaven includes all the lower Orbs as the Scales of an Onion that outermost includes all the rest this is that spacious place where God manifests his glory to Angels and men where they trumpet out his praises here Christ is and where he is his servants shall be also hither it is that he is ascended to his Father Joh. 12.26 20.17 Lu. 23.43 and our Father and here the believing thief is with him in glory methinks a departing soul should rejoice to think that within a few dayes or hours it should be one of this heavenly quire with holy Angels and glorified Saints chaunting out the praises of the ever blessed God viewing his face and beholding his glory and lying in the arms of Christ Here is the desired port which a believer bends all his sails to and hither it is all winds blow him this is the point that his Needle toucht with a divine Load-stone alwayes points to this is the mark that alwayes is in his eye the white he alwaies aims at this is his Journeyes end which he travails hard to come to here is the prize he runs for the Crown â—e fights for and the Reward he hopes for here or no where his soul finds satisfaction here is his purchased Inheritance here is the place where he is to receive his wages for his work the reward of all his sufferings for Christ here is the end of all his labour and all his painful duties there is no need now of any more Preaching Praying Fasting or humbling duties there Humility and Self-denial will be no difficult work here will be a constant Feast a perpetual Sabbath a continual Jubilee where the holy Angels and glorified Saints shall for ever chaunt out the Praises of the ever-living God without weariness or Satiety now is the Harvest over the Tares burnt the Corn secured the Labourers call'd home to receive their Wages and the godly put into the possession of their prepared Mansions which shall be as Glorious as Spacious but when we come there we may say as the Queen of Sheba of Solomons Court and Wisdom Much we have heard but the one half was not told us yea a thousandth part of Heavens glory is not revealed to us How glorious doth one Sun make the morning but what will ten thousand yea thousand thousands of Saints and Angels shining more clear than the Sun make that day that shall never see night 'T is thought by some that were â—ll the Starres gathered and contracted into such Globes and set in the same Orb they would make three hundred Suns and should it be so yet would not the Glory of all these be like the splendor of Heaven Some have imagined that these celestial bodies dart their light upward as well as downward and so serve to beautify heaven it self as well as the earth but let 's leave this as uncertain or rather fabulous for the Scripture tells us There is no need of the Sun there for God himself is the light thereof Heaven will be glorious without them for there is no use for them nor need of them but we know not how better to conceive of Heavens glory than by such visible glory which falls under the sences for this City Jerusalem which is taken up into Heaven is further described to be made of the most glorious things the world affords as of Gold and Pearls and precious Stones not that 't is really made of such no this garbage of the Earth is too base materials for this Spiritual building but these things being most valued by man shadow out those glorious things which cannot be expressed or otherwise conceived of by man therefore the walls are said to be of Jasper and the City of pure Gold like unto Chrystal it had twelve Foundations of twelve Precious Stones the Gates thereof being twelve were twelve Pearls the Streets thereof were pure Gold Rev. 21.18 like to transparent Glass and there was no night there Oh how beautiful how amiable must this City needs be which yet as far transcends the description as the City here described doth our Country Villages the Holy Ghost descending as low as may be to our capacities when no word in humane language can fully express it and if it could no created understanding could reach it but seeing there is no earthly thing more glorious
than those mentioned we may conclude the Glory here intended is very great for as we know not how to speak of God but by borrowed and improper words attributing that to him which properly belongs to man or some other creatures as understanding will affection passions or more improperly head heart arm hand face finger and such like when God hath no such distinct faculties parts or members but whatsoever is in God is God so we may say of Heaven there is no such thing there as Gold and Pearl but there is something more precious which is darkly resembled by these things But if the external parts of the City the walls the streets the Foundations be so glorious what are the inner Buildings what the Palace the Throne the Presence-chamber of the great King the Kings of the earth bring their glory to this their Crowns and Scepters but what doth this add to its lustre but the glory of the place is much increased by the inhabitants which are the Holy Angels and glorified Saints for these shine every one as a distinct Sun Dan. 12.3 Phil. 3.21 when their bodies are made like unto the glorified body of Christ which far exceeds the native beauty of the place nay in comparison of whom the Sun it self is but a darksome spot 'T is true the Saints and Angels shine with a borrowed light for the Sun of Righteousness shines upon them but this Sun shall never be Eclipsed and no Cloud shall ever interpose and the glory of the Soul shall exceed the glory of the Body Now if one Sun make the Morning so glorious what will those thousand thousands of glorified Saints and ten thousand times ten thousand Holy Angels doe who shall shine as so many Suns Well may it be said there shall be no night there but if this be not enough God blessed for ever is more than all the light and glory of the place so that there needs no Sun for all the rest borrow their light from him and no Cloud shall ever cover his face no Earth interpose between him and his Saints or cause an Eclipse It is not in heaven as 't is in this starry vault where there is here one beauty spot and there another but the Sun shines from every point as if it were a thousand thousand Suns shining in their lustre Oh what fools are we that deliberately choose to live in these darksome cells those houses of clay when such an habitation is offered to us We have seen some famous Fabricks some well contrived Houses with pleasant Walks and curious Gardens and these we are taken with and willingly would spend ouâ— time here and shall the Heaven of Heavens be less desired 'T is true we must be willing to live here while God will have us and to this end we must keep up these ear thly tabernacles in repair if we can we must not remove our station without our Captains consent yet should we willingly submit to him when he calls us off our service and not despise those heavenly Mansions and this Crown of glory when offered Crowns and Kingdoms are held to be the top of humane felicity and the greatest ambition is but to enjoy them Rule and Soveraignty is held mans chiefest good and many times this is dear bought with the loss of many thousand lives yea of tentimes those that ascend these steps of honour break their necks in the fall e're ever they come to the top of the Ladder or if they do ascend the throne dye before they are well warmed in their Seats or are thrust out by some rival and yet these men value not Heaven where there is none of those fears or dangers they are like Aesops Cock preferr a grain of Barly before a precious Jewel the worlds glory before Heavens happiness which yet as far exceeds it as the brightest morning Sun a Gloworm or a piece of shining wood for all the worlds happiness bears no more proportion to true felicity than painted fire upon a wall that hath neither light nor heat to true fire or a King upon a Stage to a King upon his Throne or a liveless Image to a living man or a Crown of thorns to the Kings Crown yet many prefer a corruptible Crown which many times proves a Crown of thorns before that which is incorruptible and fadeth not away this is that Crown of righteousness under which no injustice is lodged when pride and tyranny and oppression are often ingraven upon earthly Crowns this is a Crown of life when others have a deaths head pourtrayed on them and sometimes prove as mortal as the owner yea dye before them they cannot at the best preserve life and many times hasten their owners death Oh how giorious things are spoken of thee O City of God where no dirty Dog shall tread upon the Pavement where no unclean thing shall ever enter Rivers of pleasures are there at the right hand of God and in his presence is joy for evermore Joy unspeakable and full of Glory such as eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive of In the midst of this Paradice of God is the Tree of Life which beareth twelve manners of Fruit and bringeth forth her fruit every month whose leaves were alwayes green and fragrant and served for the healing of the Nations Rev. 12.12 here also is the pure River of the water of life clear as Chrystal Ch. 3.4 proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb and here it is there shall be no more curse Here it is his Servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his Name shall be in their Foreheads here is that spiritual Manna Angels food for they shall feed upon God himself here is that eternal Inheritance that never shall decay here their joyes never fade their pleasures shall be alwayes fresh and fragrant and the Spring shall never end no Winter blast shall ever nip them no Summer Sun shall make them wither But how shall this their joy be expressed by one that never saw it never heard it nor never did nor was able to conceive of it or how can that be uttered which the Apostle saith is unutterable the most precious things of the world cannot express it but darkly shadow it out and we cannot reach beyond them for there be neither Gold nor Silver precious Jemmes nor Jewels in this building the materials thereof are more precious but what they are we know not By these the soul may attain some higher conceptions but know not how to express them water can ascend no higher than the Fountain-head we know not what God is or what a Spirit is or what the Soul is and how shall we know what Heaven is we may better know what these are not than what they are by substracting from them what implies Imperfection but a corporeal Creature cannot reach what is above its reach What
Hell that the Soul is Immortal and the Scripture the Word of God pardon the supposition for some deny the whole and most men live as if they did not believe it but whatever thy present thoughts be if thou art unregenerate thy future thoughts will shew thee thy folly and thou wilt have time enough to wish thou hadst neglected thy Ease Honour Pleasure Grandure yea thy life it self to have made thy peace with thy God and made preparation for Eternity for this preparation would have made thee dye never the sooner nor the neglect of it have made thy life the longer whether thou art prepared or no Death will make a very great change when Eternity is an addition to thy weal or woe If prepared Death cannot hurt thee for it hath lost his sting if not it cannot benefit thee for it terminates thy happiness and dates thy misery the godly shall never have no more Suffering because they have no more sin the wicked as they are never weary of sin so God will never be weary of punishing Haply thou maist live in great misery here and thinkest Death will set thee at liberty but if thou art in an unregenerate condition 't is but leaping out of the Frying-pan into the fire from Temporal Troubles to Eternal Torments which are ten thousand times worse and is it not then time to be serious and haply thou art young and strong and thinkest thou maist live many a fair day yet but what assurance hast when younger and stronger are gone before thee Job 21.23 c. In Job's days such as thee have dyed and so they do still One dyes saith he in his full strength being wholly in peace and quietness his Breasts are full of Milk and his bones are moistned with Marrow And another dyes in the bitteeness of his Soul and never eateth with pleasure Some dye in the Zenith or heighth of their perfection in the highest degree of worldly Prosperity having abundance of good blood and fresh spirits even compassed in their Fat Psal 17.10 as the Psalmist hath it for a full Belly many times makes a foul heart and most weeds grow in the fattest soil and experience teacheth that present health and strength are no assurance of a long life Amos 6.3 think not because thou puttest far from thee the evil day in thy thoughts that therefore 't is really at a great distance It follows not that because thou winkest and wilt not see Death therefore Death is blind and cannot see thee No No he is stealing upon thee at unawares tacito pede with a swift but silent foot and if he arrest thee before thou hast made thy peace with the Creditor Mat. 5.26 thou wilt be cast into Prison till thou hast paid the utmost Farthing Our time-wasting Gallants that spend their time idly or worse than in doing nothing will one day find the Bill of their accounts many fathoms longer than they imagined then they will set a greater estimate upon time than now they do and willingly would they redeem their lost hours which now they know not how to pass away at a high rate but it will not be now they set Death at defiance and meet it half way and hasten it by their Intemperance Drinking Whoring or shorten their lives in a Drunken Fray or Whores Quarrel but when Death comes in good earnest Dan. 5.5 it will seem as terrible as Belshazzers hand-writing upon the wall make their hearts to ake and their joints to tremble especially did they know the consequences of Death they would not be such prodigals of their lives or did they mind their work which they have to do they would not be such Prodigals of their time they should do it in and would think it went away fast enough without driving Oh! how a little time will alter these mens Judgments then their Feathers and Fancies will be laid aside when they stand upon Christs left hand and all their wealth will not purchase one drop of water to cool their tongues 'T is not then a Baalams wish will serve turn nor a Lord have Mercy upon me Mal. 7.22 25.11 will do their work Lord Lord open to us will not prevail those are not like to receive the reward of the Righteous that persecute them for righteousness sake Then they will befool themselves as fast as now they befool others wiser than themselves Then they shall change their minds and sigh for grief and say Wisd 5.3 c. This is he that we sometimes had in derision and in a Parable of Reproach we Fools thought his life Madness and his End without honour now he is reckoned among the Children of God and his Portion is among the Saints c. What hath Pride profited us or what hath Riches with our Vaunting brought us all these things are passed away like a Shadow and as a Post that passeth by c. Then our proudest Gallants willingly would be found in the garb or Fashion now they disdain and deride Now they call those Fools that deny themselves their Ease their Pleasure or Carnal Interest for Conscience sake but then they will befool themselves for choosing Pebbles before Pearls Earth before Heaven and the Creature before God for these things will prove but a pitiful Portion when there is most need Now they think Heaven is held at a dear rate and they will not come up to the price but then they 'l know that it was sold at a cheap rate when they parted with it for a lust and that the World was bought too dear when they gave the Soul for it Mat. 16.26 Now like Damocles they feast themselves without fear and see not the Sword that hangs over their heads ready every moment to pierce into their Brains and end their lives with their dinner Now they prize their honour more than their honesty and consider not that if the foundation of honour be not laid in Vertue the building cannot stand for those that lay the foundation in a shadow the building is but like a Castle built in the air and will soon fall about their Ears but that honour is lasting where God is the top of the Kin and Religion lyes at the bottom But to pass over this I shall give you some account of my present undertaking Some there are that think Books of this nature are unseasonable especially to our youthful Gallants because it spoils their Mirth and they have time enough to think of such things hereafter and they cannot endure to have their Enemy brought upon the Stage for this spoils the Play But to this I answer A young Sheep-skin is brought to the Market as soon as an old and I see not but the Gentry die as well as others yea many by Intemperance hasten their own death and when the Disease is common why should not the Remedy 'T is like enough these will not have time to read this from their necessary
must forsake it 't is 〈◊〉 enough to rail against it but you must haâ—â— it with an irreconcileable hatred aâ— shake hands with it and give it a bill 〈◊〉 Divorce and well you may for it is yâ—â— implacable Enemy and the cause of 〈◊〉 your misery and will be the cause of yoâ— Eternal Damnation if you repent not of 〈◊〉 This is it that arms Death against you 〈◊〉 when 't is mortified and subdued it will 〈◊〉 pardoned and when it is pardoned Deâ— may buzze about your ears like a Dâ—â— Bee but cannot sting you by stinging Châ—â— he lost his sting that he cannot sting 〈◊〉 of Christs faithful people Hence manâ— the Martyrs went as chearfully to dye aâ— dine and accounted their Dying-day tâ—â— Wedding-day as indeed it is to all Belâ—ers for in this life they are betroatheâ— Christ and at their Death the Marâ—â— will be consummate and they shall forâ— enjoy their Beloved and be Eterâ— lodged in his Bosom Oh the madneâ—â— the men of the World who lodge this pent sin in their Bosom which breakâ— match between Christ and the Soul 2. Direct There is another Enemy that must be overcome as well as sin or will not dye chearfully and happily and that is the World for till it be overcome and crucified a man is not fit to dye neither can he be willing to dye Gal. 6.14 for who can willingly part with what he loves By Christ saith the Apostle I am Crucified to the World and the World to me the world and he were at a point there was no love lost the World mattered him not and he mattered the World as little they were each to other as a dead Carkass offensive and unsavoury and though the World should lay many Temptations before him it would signifie no more than if they were presented to a dead man though she draw forth her two breasts of Profit and Pleasure he scorns to suck at such botches he looks upon it as a dead thing and behaves himself as dead to it He had learned to want and to abound and in every Estate to be content and therefore mattered not her Superfluities and for Necessaries he knew he should not want them A prosperous Estate could not make him surfeit nor a wanting Estate repine he was semper idem alwayes the same as Job upon the Throne and upon the Dunghill he still keeps his Integrity he wears the world about him as a loose Garment ready to cast off upon all occasions and he is at a point with all things under the Sun if he may keep them with a good Conscience he is content if not he is content also and it behooves others that would look Death in the face with comfort to learn this lesson for if the affections close with the World 't is impossible Death should be either safe or comfortable safe it cannot be for it makes a man break his peace with God for two such Masters as God and Mammon no man can serve Mat. 6.24 for if he love the one he will despise the other Jam. 4.4 Know you not saith the Apostle that the friendship of the World is Enmity to God Whosoever therefore will be a Friend of the World will be an Enemy to God 1 John 2.15 And again Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Those that goe a Whoring from God to the Creature and woe this vile Strumpet the World are very unfit to be received into the bosom of Christ have it we may use it we must as a Traveller doth his Staff so far as 't is helpful but love it we must not if we will not renounce the love of God a man may allow his wife a Servant to wait upon her but not to lodg in her bosom the love of the World is Enmity with the Lord Enmity both active and passive it makes a man both to hate God and to be hated by God he cannot be espoused to the World but he must be divorced from God see this in Judas in Demas in Demetrius in Ahab he will have Naboath's Vineyard or he will have his blood though he lose his Soul for it Col. 3.2 wise therefore was the Apostles Counsel to set our affections on things above and not on the Earth Things on Earth are mutable and momentary subject to vanity or violence when things above are as the dayes of Heaven and run parllael with the Life of God and line of Eternity and as the love of the World makes a man dye unsafely putting him out of a capacity of eternal happiness so it makes him dye uncomfortably also for who can willingly part with a present good for a future uncertainty with a thing he loves for he knows not what If the World seem a Pearl in his eye he will not let it goe if he have no assurance of a better Mat. 19.22 see this in the young man in the Gospel that would not exchange Earth for Heaven nor the Creature for God that parted with Christ whom he pretended to love rather than with his Estate which he did love Oh World how dost thou bewitch thy greatest admirers how dost thou deceive those that trust in thee But could we see the worth of Heaven or had we but a Pisgah-sight of the Heavenly Canaan we should soon make Moses's choice but the blind Moles of the World think God holds it at too dear a rate and if he will not abate he may keep it to himself some indeed while Religion is in credit will follow the Cry yet resolve they will never lose by it as the Young man before mentioned who came to Christ hastily but went away heavily the world breaks many a match between Christ and the Soul by bidding more as they think than God doth but it will fail in the payment but he that forsakes not all for Christ cannot be his Disciple the lesson I know is hard but necessary and there is a great reason it should be so when we look upon the World as our chiefest Jewel we are loth to throw it over-board but when we see the Vanity Emptiness yea Nothingness that is in it and can have recourse to a better Treasure we shall not matter it while we look upon it as our chiefest Treasure we shall be unwilling to part with it but when by the eye of Faith we can see better Treasure beyond Death and observe how little good it can do us at Death or after when we have most need we shall not much value it For indeed it proves like a bush of Thorns the harder we grasp it the more deeply it wounds and when by Experience we find that no Content Satisfaction or Happiness is to be had in the enjoyment we shall not much trouble at the loss In a word while the World is admired Death is hated but when Heaven is
him that is able to receive meat Oh Death how acceptable is thy Judgment to the needy and to him whose strength faileth him c. The best and holiest men have dyed for Innocency it self is no Target against it otherwise Christ had not dyed in whose mouth was found no guile The stoutest and strongest cannot resist death Sampson himself must yield him the victory The wisest cannot preserve himself alive Solomon himself that had studied the nature of all Vegetables 1 King 4.33 from the Cedar in Lebanon to the Hyssop that grows upon the wall yet found out none that could cure the dint of Death contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis The worst of men also are subjected to his power those that would sell their Souls to save their lives cannot do it there is no power can resist it at one time it prevail'd against almost all the world as in the Flood against populous Cities as Sodom and Gomorrah c. against Potent Princes and great Armies as over Pharaoh and his Host Senacherib's Army where an hundred fourscore and. five thousand were slain in one Night thus good and bad pass through the same Gate but then their way soon turns the Godly to the right and the Wicked to the left hand the one to Heaven and the other to Hell for as death is an outlet to let us out of the World so 't is an inlet to let us in to Eternity to the Godly an inlet to Eternal Bliss and to the wicked into Eternal misery Then will a difference be made between the Good and the Bad as wide as between Heaven and Hell Death is a debt we owe to nature and pay it we must and t is not much matter whether it be sooner or later or whether we dye a natural or violent Death they both signifie the same thing should'st thou turn every stone and use all means direct or indirect thou canst not long preserve thy life possibly if thou deny payment of this debt when God requires it thou maist preserve it a little longer and but a little for God will ere long distrain for the Debt and then cast thee into an Eternal Prison Gods determinate counsel is upon thee and he knows eventually when thy death shall be he hath determined thy bounds that thou canst not pass God commanded Abraham to Sacrifice his Son and it was his Duty so to do and his sin if he refused though God determined eventually it should not be done yet if he had refused it he had miss'd of the Blessing Thy appointed time is with God but unknown to thee 't is his revealed will that is thy duty thou must look after not eventually what shall come to pass secret things belong to God Deu. 29.29 but things revealed unto us if God and his truth his Gospel and his cause call thee to lay down thy life and seal thy doctrine with thy blood thou must carry thy life in thy hand and lay it down at his feet If God command thee to lose thy life 't is thy duty to dye and if by denying Christ life be prolonged 't is a hard bargain and 't is no less thy sin though God eventually determined thy life to be prolonged There are many that hasten their death by their intemperance and sacrifice their lives to Bacchus and Venus to drunkenness and lust and so become a Victim to the Devil himself yet are not Gods decrees altered for though many hasten their death or use unlawful means to preserve their lives and so both the one and the other become Guilty yet Gods decrees are not altered If thou devote thy life to God and fully resolvest to lose it for his sake if he require it though he never call thee forth to suffer thou wilt not lose thy reward and if thou resolvest thou wilt part with Christ and kick up thy profession rather than suffer for him if he never put thee upon the trial God will take the will for the deed whether thou wilt or no dye thou must for death will not be bribed Crowns and Kingdoms will not prolong their owners lives thou maist say of death as Paul of preaching A necessity is laid upon me will I nill I dye I must if willing I have a reward if against my will I cannot help it death will not be corrupted with bribes won with promises nor terrified with threats When the time will be 't is not so much thy concern to know as thy duty to prepare for it thou maist lose thy self but canst not preserve thy life one day beyond the appointed time if thou deny God a temporal life he will deny thee eternal life I have read of one in persecuting times being called to suffer for the truth he had professed cryes out The fire is hot I cannot burn but within a short space he was burnt in his own house and we have cause to fear he finds the fire of Hell incomparably hotter than the flames he was burnt in which yet he could not evade Death triumphs over all ranks and Estates of men from the King upon his Throne to his meanest Subject Mors pauperum tabernas regumque turres aequo pulsat pede Death makes no difference ere long the grizly hand of Death will with a winding sheet cover those naked Breasts and spotted Faces which have been the Looking-glasses of lust And worms will ere long make their nest between those Breasts which are now exposed to sight and sale and eat out those wanton windows of love and messengers of lust death will then cool the courage of the stoutest hot-spur Crowns and Scepters are the spoils taken by this Conqueror as trophies of his victories Job 14.7 man that is born of a woman is of short life and full of trouble Inward corruption disposeth us to Death as well as open violence thy body is an earthen pitcher ready to break at every knock this earthly tabernacle must be repaired with food or Physick or both daily or it will soon fall about thy ears many are the harbingers of death many are the sensible decayes in nature which tell thee thy end is approaching the weakness of thy sight the dulness of thy hearing the rottenness of thy â—eeth the wrinkles in thy face and thy gray hairs mind thee that this crazy Pitcher will not long come home from the water unbroken The contrary Elements whereof thy body is compounded the disagreeing qualities within thee of cold and heat drought and moisture will at length quarrel for the upper hand and work the destruction of the compositum were there no external cause of thy dissolution these will effect what thy greatest enemy can but do though haply not so soon The fruit when 't is once ripe will fall if it be not gathered the Rose will wither if not pluckt the sturdiest Oak or Elm or Cedar will at length yield to time Methusalems glass will run out and these
houses of clay will at last tumble down of themselves Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see Death shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Mors omnibus communis est 'T is the common path all the world walks in some sooner some later some in Infancy and some in Youth and in middle and some in old age And 't is the best way for thee to put thy life into his hands that gave it and who only is able to preserve it and assure thy self he will dispose of it to thy advantage and if he take it from thee will exchange it for life Eternal for a Believer to dye is but as the putting off an old suit of cloaths 1 Cor. 5.6 and exchanging it for a new and who will fear to put off his old nasty Rags at night for rich Robes in the morning 'T is but to change a Cottage for a Palace Earth for Heaven and the creatures for God and who will not be willing of such a bargain yea of a Peasant to be made a Prince Whatever thou losest for Christ thou shalt lose nothing by him for he will repay thee a hundred fold Mat. 19.29 This is the way to secure thy life or to part with it at the best advantage when otherwise thou wilt lose thy life as the Pharisees did their duties for nothing they prayed they fasted they gave alms but by reflecting upon themselves and not looking at God in what they did they lost their Reward If thou lose thy life and canst not help it what praise-worthy thing dost thou Thousands of men it may be imagined that never intended a life for Christ have yet with others been bloodily Massacred upon a religious account when something else lay at the bottom these have suffered Death without a reward and this may well be thy condition 'T is true thou shouldst not run before thou art sent or expose thy life to danger without a call so maist thou be guilty of thine own death which is murder in the highest degree this is the way to shorten thy life but to hasten thy misery But to dye for Christ is gain and soul-advantage and how canst thou that pretendest to believe a Resurrection to Eternal Life and pretendest an interest in it yet fear to dye which is the only way to enjoy it we sow our seed willingly in hope of a plentiful crop we go to bed willingly in hope of rest and sleep and shall we fear to repose our body in the Grave in hope of a joyful Resurrection O the Ignorance the Infidelity the want of Love that appears in thee for didst thou really believe what thou pretendest to believe or hadst thou that love for Christ which thou pretendest to have thou wouldest long for the time when thou shouldest enjoy this happiness when thou shouldst enjoy this God Mat. 6.21 love would make thee run through fire and water to come to him Love makes labour light it makes a man slight all the difficulties that lye in the way Vbi amor ibi animus and where the treasure is there will the heart be also dost thou believe that at death this mortal shall put on immortality 1 Cor. 15.54 and this corruptible shall put on incorruption that death shall be swallowed up of victory and that in Heaven thou shalt never hunger more nor thirst more nor have need of any creature supplies and never meet with more losses crosses or afflictions to molest thee but shalt be as the Angels of God which behold Gods face in glory Dan. 12.3 Phil. 3.21 dost thou believe that thy glorified body shall shine as the Sun in the firmament and be fashioned like unto Christs glorified body and yet art afraid to dye and come to glory how can these things be reconciled The question is not Whether thou must dye or no this is determined by an irrevocable decree but it is about the Time and the Manner of thy death who is fittest to dispose of it thee or the great God that gave it wouldst thou have it at thine own will alas thou canst not preserve it a moment and thou canst not preserve it from a violent death and a languishing disease may haply be more painful than the death thy enemy puts thee to thou canst not deny Christ thy life without hazard of eternal death and wilt thou not rather suffer a few pangs than run this hazard and be obnoxious to eternal torments Thou hast a sickly weakly body many distempers hang upon thee from head to foot scarce a free part and subject to more than yet thou feelest and there is no other Physician can cure thee but Death his stroak is the Catholicon the universal Medicine for all distempers and dost thou fear the potion which so many of the Saints have taken and did well nay never any that miscarried under his hands Christ by his death hath destroyed him who hath the power of death Heb. 2.14 15. even the Devil to deliver them which through the fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Now the only way to be delivered from this fear is to fall under this Stroak for death frees us from this as well as from all other miseries If thou shouldst yet deny thy life and so think to save it thou art much mistaken when God is thine enemy and thine enemy then he will be Every creature will wait for a Commission to take away thy life God can hide Death in the smallest creature With what contemptible things did he torment Pharaoh and his people which had they not been withdrawn upon Moses supplication would have been their destruction as Frogs and Lice and Locusts and Caterpillars c. Nay we may read of many that have lost their lives by such as these some have been devoured by Rats and Mice others destroyed by Leeches some stung to death by Bees Wasps and Hornets some choakt with Flies with Figs with Grapes Ward on Mat. part 329. with the kernel of Grapes with Fish-bones crums of bread an hair in milk some have been eaten of lice others of worms some have dyed in smelling of a flower some with the prick of a pin or thorn and many other such like God needs not muster any great Army to destroy thee the least of his creatures can do it if he give them a commission and if thou deny thy life when he requires it well maist thou fear this commission will be sealed well maist thou fear the bread thou eatest will choak thee the drink thou drinkest will be thy bane and what ever judgment thou ever readest or heard'st of that ever befell a graceless sinner it may be thy portion that the flouds may drown thee as it did the old world and Paraoh and his host that the fire may burn thee as it did Sodom and Gomorrah that the earth may open her mouth and swallow thee up
as it did Corah Dathan and Abiram Or whatsoever other judgments have befaln the Enemies of God may be thy portion for Apostacy is a most dangerous sin some creature or other may well distrain of thee in Gods name when thou denyest the debt Hadst thou been the first that ever tasted of death as Abel was thou mightest have been afraid had never any before thee entred into deaths darksome Cell or gone through that dark and narrow entry it were something but when ten thousand times ten thousand have gone before thee what need this fear and seeing will we nill we all of us must dance after deaths pipe why wilt thou not do it willingly God loves a chearful giver he loves a free-will Offering and loves not grumbling Servants millions of the Saints are now in Heaven that have travailed this road yet none of them repent they came there too soon Many of them have been taken out of the world by the hand of violence and now have the crown of Martyrdome upon their heads Rev. 12.11 they loved not their lives to the death and now have received a crown of life and if thou be faithful to the death this will be thy reward when thou comest to thy Juorneys end thou wilt be among the souls of just men made perfect singing Halelujahs to God for ever and for ever then wilt thou bid adieu to a vain miserable cheating and deceitful world But haply thou maist say Here I am acquainted but there I am a stranger and what comfort can I have in the removing Art thou a stranger the more shame for thee other Saints were strangers and pilgrims in this world and made hast home into their own country if thou hadst been well acquainted with the Word thou wouldst have seen the vanity and emptiness of all earthly felicity and that there was nothing in the world worth thy love and hadst thou had thy conversation in Heaven as thou hast pretended thou wouldst not have been such a stranger there as thou seemest to be But stay hast thou not many friends and relations there is not almighty God there whom thou callest Father and art thou a stranger in thy Fathers house hast had no communion no trading with him in his Ordinances what is then become of all thy prayers and other duties are those all lost 't is true thou never fawest his face neither canst see it and live but hast not seen him in his Word in his Ordinances in his promises threatnings providences and Attributes Blessed is he that hath not seen Gal. 4.26 and yet believeth and is not Jerusalem that is above the mother of as all and is not the Lord Jesus Christ him whom thou callest thy Lord and thy God and thy Husband and thy elder Brother yea thy Head and is a loving wife a stranger to her beloved husband and is not the Holy Ghost there from whom thou hast received such sweet consolations in thy sinking fits and are not the holy Angels there beholding thy Fathers face in glory who are now thy guardians that rejoyced at thy conversion and will rejoyce at thy Coronation 'T is true thou seest them not thou knowest them not they are invisible but they see and know thee and then thou wilt be able to see and know them for they shall be thy constant companions and thy fellow brethren And are there not millions of glorified Saints which are thy Spiritual kindred fellow members of Christs body yea brethren in Christ yea are there not some that thou knewest in the dayes of their flesh whose company thou so much desiredst and whose death thou so much lamentedst nay are there not some that were related to thee in the flesh gone before thee of whom thou hast comfortable hopes that they are with the Lord and will not their company be now as comfortable as it was on earth yea thou wilt know more there than ever thou didst here for I question not but the Saints shall know each other for shall we sit with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and not know them All the Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles Martyrs and glorified Saints are here and is not thine Inheritance thy Crown thy Mansion-house here and art thou yet a stranger is not this thy countrey which thou pretendest to be seeking and all this while art thou a stranger to it yea dost not live upon heavenly allowance and hast thy meat and thy drink and thy cloathes for thy soul from hence Or is it death that thou art a stranger to why didst thou not know that thou wast mortal why then didst not acquaint thy self with death thou knewest all must dye why didst not consider of it and among the rest of thy own death didst not believe God when he said Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Heb. 9.27 or when he saith 'T is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the judgment and when he told thee that all flesh is grass and the flower thereof as the flower of the field But if thou hadst not believed God couldst not believe thy own eyes and ears dost not dayly see younger and stronger than thee go before thee dost not hear of many round about thee strucken by death many suddenly many by a violent death and many by diseases Dost not remember a hundred thousand slain in London in one year two or three hundred thousand in Ireland in a few weeks bloodily Massacred hast thou not many Lectures of mortality read to thee many Monitors of mortality within thee doth not the dimness of thy eyes mind thee the very Spectacles thou lookest through tell thee of the decayes in Nature and canst expect greater warning or hast any more considerable work to do than to provide for death and is death yet a stranger hast thou not visited many a sick bed and been with many a departing soul and received their last breath into thy bosom and yet hast not sufficient warning God never ingaged to give thee so much thou art his listed souldier and hast taken press-money and thou art ingaged to be in a continual readiness yet God hath given thee many a particular warning to prepare for death thou hast many a time look't death in the face and God hath often pluckt thee by the shoulders and shewed thee grim death before thee and thou hast several times received the sentence of death within thee and God hath in effect said to thee Set thy house in order for thou must dye nay not only so but God hath imployed thee to warn others yet he hath forborn thee above sixty years and every year given thee many warnings and what wouldst thou have more and yet art unacquainted with thy main work What if he had taken thee hence thirty or forty years ago as he did many that were companions with thee in vanity what had been thy condition that yet pretendest thou art not
ready and what hopes is there of thee if God spare thee another year that thou wilt bring forth better fruit is old age the best and fittest for repentance and preparation to dye when thou wilt find enough to do to wrastle with pains and bodily distempers would a Captain take it for a sufficient excuse if a Souldier that is by ingagement to be ready at an hours warning and should give him a week a month a years time to make ready and at the end of that time he should plead his Arms are not fixed nor other necessaries provided and if the Captain give him another year and at the end thereof he should plead the same excuse would this be taken for a good excuse yet this excuse hath been in thy mouth many years together and 't is doubt if God yet lengthen thy daies and give thee more years it will be the same Hath not death entred into thy habitation hath it not taken away thy parents thy loving wife thy dear children and other of thy near relations and didst not yet lay it to heart wa st thou no wiser than fatted beasts that are taken away one after another to the Shambles and those that remain are senseless of the danger neither consider their turn is coming yea hath not death thrown many a dart at thee and sometimes wounded thee in the head sometimes in thy bowels and yet dost not consider that he hath a dart will reach thy heart Yea sometimes thou hast thought thou hast had thy deaths wound and yet wilt take no warning to get on thy Armour doth not the pains the aches the distempers of thy body under which thou daily groanest bid thee prepare for thy winding-sheet doth not news ring dayly in thy ear this and that friend relation or neighbour is dead and ere long others will say of thee he is dead also hast thou not interred many a dead corpse and preacht may a Funeral Sermon and given many an exhortation to the living to prepare for death and comforted many that have lost their friends by death and wast never yet satisfied that thou wast mortal and must dye also didst thou think thy self only exempted from the common lot of all men or that God would bring thee to Heaven another way or couldst thou wish thou wert immortal and shouldst live on earth to Eternity art thou willing to take the Earth for Heaven and the creature for God and the happiness thou meetst with here for Heavens glory hast enough to satisfy thee here below and desirest no more if not why wouldst not dye and come to happiness if the earth be more desireable to thee one year why not twenty and why not to eternity if God should bid thee choose thy time and appoint it thy self what time wouldst thou require haply Methusalems daies well but these would expire and death at the end would be as bitter as now it is If death were the road to Hell as 't is to the wicked thou mightest well startle at it And I have wondred at those of them that have been so prodigal of their lives when Life is the only preservative out of Hell Or if thy case were that of the beasts and thou were to be reduced unto the horrid estate of nothing death might make thee shrug but when thou believest that death to thee will be an entrance into glory an outlet to misery and an inlet to happiness and the same road that Christ and all the glorified Saints have gone to Heaven in how can this be reconciled with thy fears Hast thou had so many discourses of death and with death and dost believe that the sting is taken out by Christ and dost yet run from this Serpent and take him for an enemy that is but thy Fathers Messenger sent for thy good This must needs be thy sin and thy folly and doth too evidently bespeak thy Infidelity or the weakness of thy Faith Thou hast comforted others at the last gasp and prayed with them and for them thou hast strengthened the weak hands and feeble knees and now dost faint under the same burden But hadst thou had more mortifying Meditations of death and with the Apostle hadst learned to dye daily death would not have been so terrible a Bugbear to thee as now it seems didst thou once a day look him in the face by a serious meditation and by a believing expectation he would not look so grim and terrible Bears and Tigers are not so terrible to those that are their keepers and acquainted with them as to others The Lion in the Fable was at first sight a terror to the Fox but time much allayed his fear the more thou beholdest death the less deformed yea the more lovely he doth appear death will be no excepter of persons the rich and poor high and low whether they will or no must dance in this Ring when God commands he must and will strike death is written upon thy cradle and thou wast rockt upon the mouth of the grave and ever since no day hath been sure to thee but it might have been thy dying day 't is not long since thou didst bewail the death of thy Parents and 't is not long before thy children will bewail thine one generation comes and another goes and the latter treads out the steps of the former we trod out the steps of our predecessors and our posterity will do as much for us The world is but a Tent to abide in for a time an Inne to tarry in a night a Lodging place for a wayfaring man a baiting-place in a Journey Oh the folly of most men that take it for their Inheritance and look for no more but to the Godly 't is no continuing city no abiding place neither indeed worthy our love Were the world as the garden of Eden full of delights and pleasures thou hadst something to say for it and yet the worm of time would eat out the very heart of it the shortness of the continuance would spoyl the sport Many doat on beauty but none but the blind will fall in love with deformity it self The world is a Bochim a place of Lamentation and who falls in love with sorrow 't is a Golgotha a place of dead mens skuls and who but mad men converse among the Tombs 'T is a pest-house an infected and an infecting place where most we converse with are infectious 't is a prison a place of hardship where the soul hath not liberty to act according to its nature 't is a place of Egyptian bondage and slavery where there is little but moiling toyling working caring from morning till night for a poor living wherein we are so chained to our Oars that we have scarce time to eat our meat and what madness is it over eagerly to desire such a life and to quarrel those that ease us of our burden and put an end to our labours Here thou livest under continual pains aches griefs
The Lord saith he hath bid him curse David God can yea he will if it be good for thee preserve thee from a violent death and he will preserve thee till the appointed time come they cannot antedate his Decree thou shalt not be cut down sooner neither canst thou stay longer than he hath appointed and dost call God thy God and thy Father and yet resist his will dost pray Thy will be done and yet when he makes known his will dost thou oppose it but haply thou maist say How shall I know it is his will that I shall lay down my life why when thou canst not save it without denying Christ or his Truth or committing sin for he that commiteth sin is of the Devil and in such a case think not to wrestle out of the hands of God sin will find thee out and never any man set himself against God and prospered There is no resisting of God when thou canst not breathe without him all diseases are his Executioners and wicked men can do no more to the one or the other of them thou must submit and not much matter to which to neither of them thou should submit willingly but to God in both thou shouldst seek all lawful means against the one and the other but nothing but what is lawful when God denies help go not to the Devil for a medicine to submit to death when thou canst not help it is no praise-worthy thing when thou canst save thy life by unlawful means and wilt not this shall not be unrewarded a Crown of glory will be given thee He deserves death that in time of danger deserteth his Captain and falls off to the enemy Keep thy life thou canst not without his leave and if thou lay it down for his sake 't is not the way to lose it but to save it to hide it with God in Christ and doth not Reason tell thee he is fittest to dispose of thy life that gave it he is too righteous to do thee wrong and too gracious to do thee hurt never was indulgent Father or tender-hearted Mother more carefull of their only Child than God will be of thee thou shalt not lye longer in the furnace than need is he afflicts not willingly nor grieves the children of men thou art but like a sleepy child that wrests and wrings and cries and will not be undrest and thy Father must carry thee to bed against thy will and what harm hath he done then when thou awakest thou wilt thank him for it When Corn is ripe it should be cut and who is fitter to know when 't is ripe than the great Husbandman when thy work is done thou maist go to thy rest and who better knows than the Lord of the Vineyard if that he take thee off in the midst of thy day and give thee the wages for the whole day what cause is there of complaint Nay should he give thee the whole wages for one hours work if God call thee off 't is not to stop thy wages or to blame thee for working no longer Thou must submit to the stroak of death and do it willingly whether it be natural or violent for consider God hath most right to thy life and is the fittest person to determine of the Manner of thy death He gives men Laws to live by and yet many will take their own wills and waies to their own destruction he gives men Laws to dye by look that thou follow not thy own will to perdition thou art but a Tenant at will if thou resign not at thy Landlords will it will be the worse for thee he will never provide a better house but a Prison for thee he is the fittest to determine when to pull down these houses of clay and who shall do it and if thou willingly submit he will raise thee up a Spiritual building an house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens Is it not unreasonble for thee to think to keep the keyes of life and death at thy girdle why shouldst thou think to dispose of thy death any more than of thy birth or of thy latter end more than thou didst of thy beginning it was through him that thou wast born and at his dispose shall be thy death if thou wouldst wring this key out of Gods hand into whose hands wouldst thou commit it is any in the world fitter for it than he is nay can any other in the world preserve thy life thou art the clay and he is the Potter and whose is the Pot but the pot-makers and who may better dash it with his foot than he may he not dispose of his own as he pleaseth he is best able to maintain life and best able to take it away for if he tread upon thee he leaves thee dead behind him if he with-hold thy breath thou returnest to thy dust and all thy thoughts perish Doth not he rule in Heaven and in the Earth doth not he direct the Sun the Moon and the Stars in their courses doth not he cause Summer and Winter Cold and Heat Seed-time and Harvest Day and Night and thou letst him alone with these and why because thou canst not take this work out of his hand he makes the Grass to grow for the Cattel and Corn for the service of Man he waters the earth with his Clouds and causeth the Springs to run among the Hills why dost not take these out of his hand or must he rule all the rest and only thee must be excepted hath he more wisdom than thou hast in all other things only in the disposing of thy life thou outwittest him why art thou not his creature as well as others and how cam'st thou from under his dominion doth it beseem a rational man much less a gracious man to argue at this rate and except himself from Gods dispose and argue himself from under his tuition and think himself to be an independent creature fit to stand upon his own legs Doth not he know best when his work is done and when his Roses are ripe and when his Children are fit for glory or is any other fitter to determine these controversies or wouldst thou dispose of thy own life if so wouldst have all men have the same priviledge then Heaven especially Hell would be long empty for what wicked man would leave the Earth to go thither and God must be beholding to his people to come to him how should Judgment and Justice then be executed the sword of Justice would rust in the Scabbard for what offender would lay down his head upon the block willingly How would the Earth then be filled with violence and all flagitious crimes if thou wouldst not have others have the like priviledge then thou art partial if thou wouldst thou art foolish but if it were at thy own dispose how couldst maintain it Thou couldst neither provide thy self food neither could thy life be preserved by food without Gods blessing neither
their extravagant courses thy Table also sometimes becomes a snare thy Meat and thy Drink the Cloaths thou wearest the Neighbours among whom thou livest prove snares or troubles sometimes vexing thee with their unjust dealings sometimes provoking thee by passionate words and sometimes grieving thee to see and hear their sinful words and actions the most with whom thou livest have one plague-sore or other running upon them giving and receiving infection one from another the very duties thou performest are full of snares the Devil doth what he can to thrust in base ends and motives or to divert the heart in the performance or he fly-blows them and makes them stink in the nostrils God thy very Calling is full of temptations and snares all the Talents Gifts or Endowments God hath lent thee the Devil will do what he can to render them the fuel for Pride or some other lust and how canst desire to live in such a world among such snares and such temptations The world it self is a very Golgotha there are few men but what are spiritually dead a very Egypt for slavery where there is little else but Moiling and Toiling Carking and Caring and a thousand troubles and anxieties do here accompany the Sons of men and few men but be snares one to another many pull-backs in Heavens way but very few helpers forward every man almost is like a Turkey Gally-Slave chained to some oar or other where he labours in the very fire Isa 55.2 and spends his money for that which is not bread and his labour for that which satisfies not he moils and toils night and day works hard and fares hard and all this while thinks not of his latter end and of any the Godly meet with most wrongs most injuries and most hardship and all little enough to make them mind their Fathers house yea Professors themselves many times help to increase each others Burthens by their contentions animosities and reproach they fasten one upon anotâ—â—r if they differ from one another in circumstances and modes of Worship and canst take delight in such a world and exchange it for Heaven What canst observe here but Pride and Covetousness and Tyranny and Oppression Envy and Malice Debate and Strife Hypocrisie and dissimulation and other works of the flesh and little sincerity and the power of godliness to be seen now are these the things that take with thy affections are these the flesh-pots the Garlick and the Onions that tempt thee back into Egypt look but within thee and without thee and thou wilt see enough to wean thee from the world within thee are many bodily distempers Pains and Aches Griefs and Infirmities and apparent decayes in nature languishing distempers which hasten thy approaching death decay of thy senses thy sight dim and thy hearing dull many a broken nights sleep many a waking hour yet few free from pain weakness and trembling of Joints and Limbs and several distempers which are not like to be cured by any Physician but Death and look which way soever thou wilt without thee and thou maist see some cloud or other pretending an approaching storm arising some threatning wants and penury and thou findest much adoe to provide necessary Food and Raiment for thy Family here one is sick another lame another lying under other Infirmity and all causing thy grief and trouble And if thou look abroad what pleasing object canst thou fix thy eyes upon what but prophaneness and debauchery doth appear in sight and little of the fear of God is to be found which way canst thou turn thy Eyes but thou wilt see Prophaneness Sabbath-breaking and debauchery acted or thy Ears but thou wilt hear Swearing Lying Filthy and Ribald speaking mocking Taunts and Reproaches against the power of godliness Gods ordinances contemned and his Ministers abused and is this thy pleasant sights thy delightful Melody the Syren Songs that inchant thee and draw thy affections to the world here if thou delight in it thou maist hear the godly made the Drunkards Songs and with the Apostles the Off-scowring of all things a gazing-stock to Men and Angels and those that depart from evil make themselves a Prey Here thou canst scarce pray in thy Family or sing forth the Praises of God or fast to the humbling of thy Soul but thou becomest a reproach and derision and perhaps the Butt of persecution And if thou look abroad in the Nation thou wilt find it not much better in some places much worse if thou ascend the Courts of Judicature in some of them thou maist find Judgment and Justice perverted Tyranny and Oppression countenanced by Magistrates great men like great Fishes eating up the rest Covetousness and Extortion exercised and the Righteous Oppressed in Judgment and Pillows sown under great mens Elbows by many Ministers and the Power of Godliness more than the Torrent of sin opposed and restrained and sin and wickedness winked at and tolerated by both Magistrates and Ministers so that the Land is become a Sodom for Sin and for Uncleaness and may for ought we know equalize it in Sufferings and few Mourners will be found in our Sion If we look abroad we have cause to fear a Foreign Invasion and at home Domestick Insurrections even Vipers breed in our own Bosom many long to wash their hands in the blood of the Saints yea in the best blood in the Nation and which increases our misery and danger our Councels are divided and we know neither our Enemies nor the danger we are in only this we know we are in the hands of God and 't is against him that we have sinned and wilt thou fall in love with deformity it self and desire to live amongst confusion when God calls thee away from the evil to come art thou loth to go Sin is the ugliest Hag that ever the World brought forth and destruction is her natural issue The very best which the world can shew thee is nothing else but the shadow of a Smoak or the Dream of a Shadow those that have most trusted to it have been most deceived there is no trust to be put in mortal man nor confidence in Princes there is nothing of solidity under the Sun or any thing whereof we can say there is satisfaction in it The Devil doth what he can to dress it up in his Paint and Varnish and shews it to us in its glory and splendor but whoso hath the wearing of it will find it much worse than here it is described so that death cannot be worse to a Saint than life neither should it be less desired and is this world now Christs Rival and is the contention which will prove the better Match or whether Heaven or Earth be to be preferred or whether God or the Devil be the better master or give the better Wages and is God and Christ and Heaven and Glory like to be cast off and the world like to run away with thy affections is this like best to
dye as to dine and accounted the day of their Death their Wedding day Paul was ready not only to be bound but to dye for Christ Many were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection they had Trial of cruel mocking scourging yea bonds and imprisonments they were stoned sawn asunder tempted slain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins Heb. 11.36 c. being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the World was not worthy they wandred in deserts and in mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth c. The more thou sufferest for Christ the more weighty will thy Crown of Glory be those that loved not their lives to the death but were killed for the Testimony of Jesus are placed under the Altar nay follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes and are cloathed with long white Robes and have Palms in their hands But if thou deny thy life to Christ he will deny thee entrance into this Heavenly Canaan and thou shalt not only lose thy reward but thy Soul also and expose thy self to Death Eternall If thou suffer with him thou shalt reign with him and if thou art ashamed of him he will also be ashamed of thee Those that honour him he will honour and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed If thou come to suffer for him as many eyes will be upon thee so many Prayers will be put up for thee and doubtless much comfort will be dropt into thy Soul by the Spirit of God who is the Comforter sent by God upon this business and God will stand by thee in suffering times and give in Cordials to refresh thy heart I have read of a Christian that under his Rack and Tortures as he after told his friends apprehended a young man with a handkerchief wiping the sweat off his face and comforting him The holy Angels will stand by thee and God will not be at a distance from his suffering Saints and who then need fear to dye that hath learnt to live if thou be prepared thou needst not fear what Messenger God sends for thee nor at what hour of the night thy master comes for Death cannot be sudden to the prepared Soul that is alwaies upon his watch and thou needst not fear what thy sufferings be if thou canst but say Propter te propter te Domine 'T is for thee and for thy sake we are killed all the day long and accounted as Sheep for the slaughter The more thou sufferest then the more deeply thou engagest God to thee and he will pay thee an hundred fold this is the best usury and the best way thou canst dispose of thy life for every year on Earth that thou hast lost thou shalt receive a thousand in Heaven and for one friend thou forsakest here thou shalt receive a thousand there and for every thing thou losest for his sake thou shalt be recompensed a thousand fold and as thou shalt have no loss so thy Enemies shall be no gainers by thy death they heap up coals of fire upon their own heads and without repentance prevent it augment their own damnation for Christ will take it as done to himself and their torments are like to be as durable as thy Joyes which will be for ever and ever Consider not so much what thou sufferest as for what and for whom if it be for the Truth it will prevail and if it be for Christ thou shalt not lose by it Truth is more precious than life it self and fit to be sealed with thy blood thou must deny thy self rather than deny thy God for he that gave thee thy life is fittest to dispose of it and whosoever parts with his life upon this account makes a good bargain he cannot buy this Gold too dear Many are the encouragements given in Scripture to persecuted Saints Mat. 5.10 11 12. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you And as great will be thy reward so great also are the company of thy fellow-sufferers even from righteous Abel to this day Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers Persecuted Yea Christ and his Apostles followed after for almost all of them dyed a violent death and greater than the Master is the Servant cannot be the world that hated Christ will hate his Servants also and persecute all that bear his Image If they hated him for righteousness sake they will hate all that are righteous Christ suffered for thee the wrath of God and wilt not thou suffer for him the wrath of man he was stung by Death and dost think it much to be strucken by it now the sting is out he suffered for thee the pains of Hell and think'st it too much to suffer the pangs of death for him when many times it is not so much as some have endured from an aking tooth and what is this to the recompense of reward he gave thee thy life and can take it if he please and yet desires thy consent and if thou refuse he will distrain of thee for this debt The worst of Enemies can but stop thy breath and the least of Creatures can do as much if animated by God The least Fly or Hair or Crumb of Bread will choak thee if God give it a commission and well maist thou fear it if thou hast denyed God to lay down thy life for his sake sickness or age will as surely end thy life as thy Enemies can though haply not so suddenly thou hast no assurance of it a day to an end neither canst thou have only put it into his hand and he will dispose of it for thy good how can the seed spring up if it be not sown or how can the body rise if not fallen if God suffer any to take away thy life 't is not out of any love to them or hatred to thee he loves his Child better than his Rod though sometimes the rod may be set on high when the Child is turned out of door yet when the child is reformed the rod shall be burnt they cannot preserve their own lives nor take away thine 't is God doth both and ere long they must tread the same steps and down to the same pit and travail the same road and enter Deaths dark Vault as well as others only here is the difference death which will bring thee as Joseph out of Prison will bring them in and as it knocks off the bolts from thy heels he will fasten shackles and chains upon theirs and shall bring them like Haman from his glory to his execution that death which will set an end to thy misery will terminate their felicity it will
in riches sometimes in one thing sometimes in another as may most suit with thy inclinations sometimes the world smiles upon thee and so seeks to ensnare thee by her Syren song Sometimes she frowns upon thee to make thee despond and sometimes threatens thee to drive thee from thy duty and thy own heart is the most treacherous enemy ready to open and to let them in Now in this desperate danger who is it can live delightfully who is it can delight in such a Neighbourhood when the most righteous is a thorn and the most upright is as a thorny hedge Can any wise man delight to live among such mortal enemies whom nothing will satisfy but the souls ruine canst contentedly suffer atheistical thoughts darted into thy soul concerning God under-valuing thoughts of Christ of Scripture of divine Providence c. If thou give them no entertainment they must needs be thy trouble but the danger is if the Devil find thee unarmed and so thou close with his temptations Is it not much better for thee to be where the Devil the world and the flesh cannot reach thee and shall never more molest thee now this is in Heaven for he is cast out thence and his place is no more found thou maist bid them defiance for they cannot reach thee now when death comes thy victory is won the battel is over and the Crown is thine and the enemy will quit the field Now thy life is tormenting by reason of sin and the consequent of sin and 't is no small mercy to be delivered from the danger which while thou art on this side Heaven thou canst not be and then there shall be no corruption within and so no danger of temptation without the Devil himself as well as sin is there cast out and his place is found no more there here he is alwaies casting floods out of his mouth to drown the woman and though he cannot drown the Church he may affright her Christ that Man-child was not free from his temptations though he was well able to resist them but he layes many a stumbling-block in thy way and many times thou hast stumbled at them and much ado thou hast had to keep on in that path which is called holy that narrow path that leadeth unto life many times thou treadest beside it sometimes on the right hand and sometimes on the left and 't is well if at last thou thred the narrow and strait gate which thou art not like to do if thou deny Christ to save thy life thou canst not open thy eyes but the Devil presents some object or other to divert thy mind he fits his baits according to mens dispositions he baits his hooks to take the wanton with a beautiful harlot he hath a Bathshebah for David a wedge of Gold for Achan a Companion for the Drunkard one vanity or other draws away the heart from God as the Indians are inticed with Feathers and Shells and other Gewgaws to part with their more rich Merchandize Job 31.1 Well may Job make a covenant with his eyes not to look upon a maid for by looking many times comes lusting and if thou open thy ears thou let'st in some sin or sorrow to the heart for either thou wilt hear something that may excite some lust or other pride passion covetousness uncleanness c. or thou wilt hear swearing ribald talking lying slandering or such like which may provoke thee to indignation or sorrow and thy other senses also are Floodgates to let in sin or sorrow yea 't is much adoe to use lawful things lawfully thy table thy meat and thy drink the cloaths thou wearest the house thou livest in the means thou enjoyest all become snares and every sense becomes a caterer for the flesh latet anguis in herbas danger lies in all these and poyson is mixt with all our dainties and hadst thou more the danger would be more for the Devil will use his utmost endeavour to make it all to be Fuel for pride or lust or some other filthy vice he can bait his hooks and that to purpose with any thing lawful or unlawful licitis perimus omnes for if he can perswade us either to use unlawful things or lawful things in an unlawful way he hath his desire and we are taken in his snares but when thou comest to Heaven thou art freed from all these Temptations Well may he bark at thee as a Dog barks at the Moon but cannot reach thee or pull thee out of thy Orb he may shake his Chain but he can neither hurt thee nor fright thee And thus thou seest Death cannot hurt but will much advantage thee it will free thee from thy sin and from thy sorrow and put thee out of the reach of all thine Enemies for neither the Devil nor his Instruments can then do thee hurt thou art set out of the reach of wicked men as Lazarus was out of the reach of Dives What sayest thou wilt yield to go when God calls thee and welcome the Messenger that is sent for thee O my God let me not make a foolish choyce let me not undo my self I am too apt to indulge the Flesh and too apt to venture the Soul upon the Pikes of danger I am too apt to live by Sense and not by Faith my reason tells me I should go when thou callest my Faith tells me I shall lose nothing by it Lord the Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak I live among many Enemies and those perswade me to favour my self but I know those that are Friends to my sin are Enemies to my Soul Lord I have devoted my life and all that mine is and pass'd away mine Interest in it for Christ Lord take what thine is and dispose of me and mine as thou seest fit only Lord give me in suitable Qualifications for what I have to do or Suffer and then command what thou wilt prepare me for Heaven and then send for me when and by whom thou pleasest MEDITAT IX Of Hell Torments the Reward of denying Christ OH my Soul art thou yet at a stand and knowest not yet whether 't is best to lose Christ or to lose thy Life to go to Heaven or to stay upon the earth to forsake the Creator or the Creature stand still a little and let us better consider it whether is it better lose the Soul or the Body the Jewel or the Box the Wine or the Cask but lose the body thou wilt not but only lay it to sleep a little the sooner but consider also what will be the reward of the one and of the other of dying for Christ and of denying him and as thou likest thewages make choice of the work If thou put thy hand to the Plow and look back assure thy self God will take no pleasure in thee if thou beginnest in the Spirit and endest in the Flesh of the Flesh thou wilt reap corruption but if thou sow to the Spirit
it and there is no redemption for such the redemption of the soul is precious Psal 49.8 and it ceaseth for ever Luk. 16.26 Mat. 16.26 no one can get over that great gulph that lies between heaven and hell neither can any price be found out to redeem a lost soul here is no Writ of Error can be had for the prisoner is laid in by an unerring Judge that cannot be deceived there is no Appeal to be made to any other Court for this iâ— the Supream where the Causes tried in all other Courts are called over again and fully determined and the Judge of all the earth will there do justice here can no force hinder the execution and free thee out of prison for thou hast an omnipotent God to grapple with see now what a rock of ruine thou hast run thy self upon what a remediless condition thou art plunged into for if thou deny the Lord that bought thee thou wilt run upon swift destruction and all the friends thou hast cannot help it Well but though the pains be sharp yet if they be but short here is some comfort there is some hope that an end will come though it be long first but alas this comfort here is dasht These torments are eternal as is already proved and shall never end in the pangs of death 'T is true there is hopes for though they are sharp they are momentany yet some Tyrants have kept men many daies in a dying life or living death Tiberius Caesar being petitioned by one to hasten his punishment and give him a speedy dispatch made him this answer Nondum tecum in gratiam redii Stay Sir you and I are not yet friends Such an answer will God give to a damned soul if it desire God to put an end to his torments by death those lingring deaths either inflicted by God or man though they seem long to sence yet what are they to eternity the word for ever will be a Hell in the midst of Hell for when the soul cryes out in anguish and bitterness of spirit How long Lord how long the conscience answers again Ever ever while God is God and Heaven is Heaven and Hell is Hell the miscarrying soul must remain fuel to maintain this fire that shall never go out To this second death the first is but a flea-biting this is Mors sine morte finis sine fine this is that which is call'd Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord where the poor soul must be tormented sine intervallo without ease or end for when the years of a thousand Generations are whirl'd about thy torments will be as fresh as the first day thou wast cast into them and not one farthing of the ten thousand Talents paid off nor one moment of eternity taken off Oh Eternity eternity how amazing art thou how shall we conceive of thee how shall we cast thee up Oh my soul if thou substract from eternity an hundred thousand millions of years the remainder will not be the less 't is infinite still for two finites cannot make an infinite for what is infinite is indivisible it cannot be made less should a poor creature upon the rack under exquisite tortures have his life prolonged for twenty years together without any intermission of pain we might well account him the most miserable man alive and whose heart would not ake for him but what is this to eternal torments and yet who pities them that are like to endure them nay who pities himself that lies under the danger if a man under some raging pain as of the Cholick Stone or Gout lie upon a Featherbed for many years in tormenting pain though he have friends to visit him meat and drink to support him and what comfort Nature or Art could help him to yet we look upon him as a spectacle of misery and one that deserves pity Job 9.14 to him saith Job that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friends But what is this to hell or what is a few years to eternity for in hell is no comfort no ease no refreshment neither any friend to pity nay if all the torments that ever poor creatures indured upon earth whether inflicted by God himself by man or by the Devil could all light upon one man and should lye under them for hunderds of years yet would it fall short for this would neither reach the pain nor reach the duration for when the miscarrying soul hath lain in hell as many years as there are grass piles upon the earth drops of water in the Ocean sands upon the sea shoar hairs on all the mens heads in the world and Stars in Heaven yet the hundred thousandth part of Eternity is not over Oh eternity how shall finite apprehensions conceive of thee how shall we number thee or find out what thou art we that live in time and have but a little time given us here cannot conceive of thee but by a long space of time as we cannot of Infinity of Essence but by a vast quantity we know God doth not number Eternity as we do Time one day is with him as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day For in eternity we need not trouble our selves to count the fleeting hours neither daies nor years for there is no Sun Moon or Stars to be set for times and seasons or for daies or for years but in hell is horrid darkness blackness of darkness for ever And whose heart may not tremble at the apprehension of it should all the Arithmeticians in the world joyn heart and hand and head and all to cast up the greatest summe possible that each one severally could reach and when this is done should add all these together into one summe yet it would fall short nay should the circumference of Heaven be written about with Arithmetical figures from east to west from north to south and all brought into one summe it would yet fall short for what is infinite cannot be diminished or increased such a summe added to it would not increase it such a summe substracted from it would not diminish it Oh my soul what think'st thou of it wilt thou venture upon the pikes of danger wilt thou deny the Lord that bought thee and the God that made thee to preserve a miserable life a little longer Thou seest thy wages and knowest thy reward hadst rather chuse everlasting damnation than a little temporal pain and rather thrust soul and body into eternal flames and suffer the vengeance of eternal fire rather then the pangs of a temporal death Oh what madness hath bewitched thee what folly haunts thee how doth the Devil and the world delude thee Thou that wouldst cut off a limb or joint to preserve the body from greater torture wilt not be willing to endure a little to preserve both body and soul from eternal ruine Heaven and Earth and all wise men may stand amazed at thy folly If thou turn
spots the Sun the Moon and the Stars for 't is by visible things we must reach after those that are invisible and see whether this beauty do not something thing allure us David upon consideration thereof was amazed Psal 8.4 and cryes out Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou regardest him When he beheld those vast bodies at such an incredible distance and all made for mans sake and considering what a poor worm man was wondered that God should have any respect for him and haply he might raise his thoughts higher which might increase his admiration Now these visible Orbs which are the Canopy over our heads shall then be but the Pavement under our feet yea the pavement shall be doubtless much more glorious and if the porch be so glorious what is the palace what is the throne and what is the Presence Chamber these visible things though gorious are made for the use of man while he is upon the earth and when he is gone hence for ought we know there will be no use of them in heaven there needs no Sun the glory of the Lord is the light thereof in Hell they shall not enjoy it which is a place of horrid darkness even blackness of darkness for ever but concerning those celestial bodies which we see by day or by night the greatest wits in the world have been imployed yea puzled in the search of the mysteries in them contained their matter distance magnitude vertues and influences and those that cast the most rational conjecture concerning those things must needs say if they will speak their consciences much of it lyes in the dark and those that have searched natures garden from end to end must say many things are unsearchable and past finding out and if we understand not earthly things which we dayly see how shall we understand heavenly things which we never saw neither can we describe them if we did see them If the footmen have wearyed us Jer. 12.5 how shall we contend with horses The Philosophers have found out many heavens and yet 't is to be feared fall short of this we now discourse of the several Orbs in which the Planets move they reckon as distinct heavens because they move in a different Sphere some higher some lower the eighth Sphere being the Orb of the fixed Stars and above that they have their primum mobile or first mover I shall not quarrel with their division only being to discourse of Divinity not Philosophy which yet is useful in its place I shall take the Scripture distinction and so we find mention made of three heavens the first is the Sphere below the Moon the region of the air here the fowls of heaven fly sometimes called the fowls of the air and here the clouds of heaven are scattered about by the winds these are Gods Chambers out of which he waters the earth these are the bottles of heaven when they are poured out the earth is refreshed and â—hen they are restrained it languisheth 〈…〉 are Gods treasure houses out of which â—â—â—ends plenty and when he withholds his â—and want and penury follow The next above this is the Starry region which the Scripture calls the Firmament of the heaven here the Stars keep their courses according to divine appointment below the fixed Stars are the several Orbs of the Planets which the Philosophers call so many Heavens and above it is the primum mobile which sets the rest on work unto whom God himself gives the first push and is the spring that makes all the wheels move but above this is the third heaven we are now describing but there is no instrument made or devised to be made that can make any observation of it all their Perspectives Tubes and Telescopes will not reach it neither can we see it with our bodily eyes but by the eye of Faith and by Scripture-light this is the place where the blessed Angels and glorified Saints are blessed with Gods immediate presence and enjoy that beatifical vision in the enjoyment whereof true happiness doth consist not that God is included in Heaven For the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain him 1 King 8.17 2 Chro. 2.6 He is present in all places but circumscribed in none but as on Earth he was specially present in the Temple so is he much more in Heaven here he most eminently discovers himself to the best of his Creatures Angels and Saints and manifests himself to be Love it self for never frown was there seen in his face or wrinkle upon his brow hither it was that Christ ascended after the Resurrection and here it is that he sits at the right hand of God making intercession for us and from hence it is he will come to Judgment It was from hence that Lucifer that Sun of the morning fell that the Devil and his Angels were cast out and their place was found no more there hither it was that Paul was carried whether in the body or out of the body 2 Cor. 12.2 he knew not and heard unspeakable words such as are not lawful or possible to be uttered This Heaven it was that Stephen saw opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God hither it was that Enoch and Elijah were translated and from hence it was that Moses and Elijah appeared in the transfiguratiof Christ and hither it was that the Angels carried the Soul of Lazarus into Ahrabams bosom and here it was that the believing Thief was to be with Christ that day in Paradice and hither it is that the souls of believers pass when death hath separated them from their bodies Now thou seest there is such a place but it being out of the reach of sence it cannot be seen but by faith and lies out of the Philosophers reach the ablest of them cannot by any instrument they can make make any observation thereof though they seem by these helps even to command the Stars themselves yet cannot reach this Heaven of Heavens no one can see it but by Scripture light nor enter into or view those Mansions of glory but by a clue of thred thence borrowed Now as those things visible excell in glory I mean those celestial bodies all other visible beautyes that ever God created so the Scripture holds out that the Heaven of Heavens or the third Heaven excells these in beauty and splendor for it is both a vast and a beautiful place far exceeding in both our apprehensions these outward things were made for mans sake while he was in house of clay but those in Heaven were made for his sake when he shall be refined from the dregs of corruption and made 〈◊〉 to enjoy them and 't is no doubt repleat with all manner of felicity where God himself vouchsafes to communicate himself to Angels and men here the body of Christ shines forth in a most resplendent manner here the holy Angels and glorified Saints enjoy
of the souls happiness Now all earthly delights to these heavenly Joyes are but a shadow a very dream the very dream of a shadow to what is there enjoyed where the glorified Souls shall be Kings and Priests for ever of the most high God they wear Crowns upon their heads and palms in their hands which they cast down at the feet of him that liveth for ever These little flashes of spiritual Joy and indeed it is no more will be blown up into a flame here no fumes of Melancholy shall disturb the Fancy or interrupt the Joy Malignant Saturn cannot send any influence into these superiour Orbs but here is that far more and eternal weight of Glory to be enjoyed O my soul hadst thou had but such a glimpse of Glory as Stephen had thou wouldst not have feared to have faln asleep with him Now thou art in the body and absent from God but when death hath closed thine eyes and covered thy face with a winding-sheet thou shalt not only see God but be present with him and behold his glory Now thy glimpses of him are like a flash of lightning soon gone much like a man that gazeth at a Star through an Optick-glass held with a palsy hand now and then thou catchest a sight but quickly losest it again but there he will alwayes be before thine eyes thou shalt behold his face there and not his back parts only whether with bodily eyes or otherwise is not well known nor much material 't is probable it may and the eye capacitated to behold the Object though here 't is dazled with a weaker glory we find Job seems to be of that mind Job 19.52 c. I know saith he that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold him and not another though my reins be consumed within me When this mortal hath put on immortality and this body which is sown a natural body become spiritual we know not but these Organs of our eyes may be capacitated to behold spiritual objects as well as our understandings be enabled to know him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 This we know God will make himself known and that is sufficient to us whether the one way or the other let us not anxiously trouble our selves about the manner of it this know if God do not enlarge and capacitate our powers and faculties of the soul we can neither know him see him nor enjoy him as he is which he hath promifed we shall do and he that believeth in him and hath not yet seen him shall see him on whom he hath believed 't is Christs prayer John 17.24 that those that are given to him may be where he is to behold his glory and if those eyes were blessed that saw him in his misery how much more those that behold him in glory if the dawning of the day be so glorious how much more glorious will it be when the Sun shines in his full strength and all the shadows are fled away If those that bear his Image here and they are more excellent than their neighbours be so lovely what will they be when this Image of God is perfectly restored and they freed from all corruption here they have sung forth his praises then shall sing continual Halelujahs for ever how will they run the wayes of Gods commandments when all the clogs of corruption are taken off and their feet are inlarged Now their labour shall be turned into leisure to praise him when they have nothing else to do yea nothing which they delight more to do than that Now 't is death and death alone that can put us into the possession of this glory where we shall have fulness of Joy and Glory and be Heirs yea Coheirs with Christ and would any wise man deny to take possession Oh my soul wilt thou yet hang back and plead Nonage art thou afraid of Eternity when Joy and Happiness is added to it couldst thou wish the worm of time were at the root to make it wither art thou come to the door and thou makest a halt at the threshold and art willing another should take thy Crown and wouldst thou surrender thy interest when Paul looks through the Perspective glass of Faith and sees happiness at the end he was willing to dye and be with Christ thou knowest whom thou hast believed and darest not trust thy Redeemer with thy life that lost his own for thy sake whatever thou losest whatever thou sufferest for him it will never repent thee when thou art in Heaven it will reward thee for all thy cost and charges Christ tells thee an hundred fold and I may well say a thousand one day in Gods Courts here on earth was better to Davîd than a thousand elsewhere and one day in Heaven is much better than that yea but if thy life be cut off for his sake for one day thou loosest upon earth thou shalt have a thousand in Heaven for it he will make thee Eagle-eyed that thou shalt behold the Sun of righteousness in his splendour and the Organ not offended If Paul and Silas could sing in the Prison what will they do when they come into this heavenly Quire Isa 15.5 Here the eyes of the blind shall be opened the ears of the deaf unstopped the lame man shall leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing this is the marriage of the Lamb and his wife hath made her self ready and who will not rejoyce upon the Wedding-day when the Bridegrooms voice is heard Now the marriage shall be solemnized that was so long ago contracted between Christ and the Soul this is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it this is thy pay-day when thou art to receive thy wages the harvest of thy hopes when thou shalt receive a plentiful crop of glory that which was sown in tears shall now be reaped with joy now thy desires thy longings and thy pantings shall be satisfied now is the time when the Crown of Martyrdom shall be put upon the head of the Martyr and a Crown of Righteousness upon the Just mans head now is the time that Sincerity will be discerned from Hypocrisie let it be spun with never so fine a thred and true Gold from counterfeit now is the time that those that have Oyl in their Vessels as well as Lamps in their hands shall go in with the Bridegroom to the Marriage and those that have not shall be shut out now he that hath a wedding-garment shall be a welcom Guest Mat. 22.12 and he that hath none shall be cast into utter darkness now is the time that those that have forsaken any thing for Christ shall receive an hundred fold and those that have lost their lives
how confounding art thou to the workers of Iniquity but how amiable and delightful are the thoughts of thee to the godly for they have Eternity added to their Happiness the other to their Misery Oh what a long Lease will this be of Heavens glory that shall never expire the want of duration makes the worlds glory of little worth but Eternity makes Hells torments so Tormenting and Heavens Joy so desirable these shall never wax old nor know end Here thou â—eedest not weary thy self in Counting he fleeting hours or the return of weeks or months or years here is neither Clock nor Watch nor Dial to observe Time by nor Sun nor Moon nor Stars to distinguish Day from Night or Summer from Winter for Time shall be no more it will be swallowed up of Eternity one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day God reckons not time as we do their Sun shall know no Eclipse nor their Moon no Change When death opens the door for the soul to enter into Eternity it shall not float there but be immediately posted into glory the Spirit shall return to God that gave it where it shall enjoy for ever those good things which it hath laboured for and thirsted after and reap the fruit of all the pains it hath taken for Heaven Oh my soul Eternity will be the very Crown of thy Crown and the Crown of Heaven it self for if thou didst certainly know thy Joyes would expire Heaven would be filled with sad thoughts and sowre sawce to thy sweet meat and spoil all thy mirth Oh my soul thou hast noâ— a price put into thy hands the Lord give thee a heart to get wisdom let not the thoughts of a short trouble or a little pain make thee loâ—e the race and mis the prize but rather suffer any temporal pain than eternal and suffer any loss rather than the loss of thy soul the loss of thy God thy Heaven and thy happiness Thou hast seen what death is both to the godly and wicked that it is common to both but no enemy to a Believer that there is nothing in the world of equal value with celestial Treasures that Death can do thee no hurt but much good in freeing thee from evil and putting thee into the possession of all that is really good thou hast seen the reward of Obedience and the punishment of denying Christ what is thy resolution Wilt thou be faithful to the death then here is offered a Crown of life Rev. 2.10 If thou wilt prove an Apostate thou must have thy portion with Judas and go down to thy place Heaven and Hell Life and Death are set before thee choose which thou wilt Oh my God I see reason sufficient why I should give up my Life to thy dispose I am convinc'd that it is my Duty and my Interest Lord suffer not this treacherous heart to deceive me let me consult with Faith and not with Sence let me never trust in my own strength neither distrust thine Lord through thy strength I can do all things but without thee I can do nothing Lord I believe help my unbelief let me honour thee both by my life and by my death if thou wilt thou canst let this Cup pass from me yet not my will but thine be done Lord fit the back before thou lay on the burden enable me to obey and then command what thou wilt if it be thy will I shall be sacrificed Lord accept of the Sacrifice and thy will be done let thy strength be seen in my weakness and Lord Jesus receive my Spirit FINIS ERRATA PAge 24. line 25. add some P. 36. l. 24. for may r. many P. 79. l. 6 blot out to P. 114. l. 30. blot out the p. 117. l. 9. add or p. 145. l. 22. for they were r. thou wert p. 147. l. 24. add out p. 188. l. 28. blot out from p. 195. l. 22. for defirmity r. deformity p. 212. l. 27. for stench r. stink p. 214. l. 22. for him r. it p. 229. l. 29. add he p. 236. l. 23. no comma after in p. 241. for transfigurati r. transfiguration p. 254. l. 20. blot out have a p. 267. l. 10. for it r. thee p. 268. l. 23. blot out nay l. 27. for be r. by p. 282. l. 19. for ignotus r. ignotis EPISTLE DEDICATORY Page 3. line 18. for triffs r. trifles p. 10. l. 16. add si p. 17. l. 10. for nescit r. scivit TO THE READER Page 15. line 12. for parllael r. parallel p. 23. l. 10. for iguotus r. ignotis Books Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheap-side near Mercers Chappel DAille on the Colossians Taylor on Christs Temptations Burgess on the Third Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians Pareus on the Revelations One hundred select Sermons By Dr. Horton Quarto Scandret against Quakerism Bulkly on the Covenant Elton on the Commandements The Fiery Jesuit Morgan of Dialling Separation no Schism Dr. Collings upon an Opining Conscience Hodges's Creatures Goodness Considerations for Peace By the same Author Mr. Janeways Funeral Sermon The Morning Exercise against Popery Four useful Discourses By Mr. Burroughs Dr. Wilds Letter of Thanks Brightman on the Revelations Large Octavo Heywoods Sure Mercies of David Cobbet on Prayer Polwheils Quenching of the Spirit Sober Singularity Heaven taken by Storm Lye's Spelling Book Aesops Fables Doolitels Catechise Whitakers 18 Sermons Dr. Stauntons Life Venning of Sin Normans Cases of Conscience Swinnock on the Attributes Hurst of Grace Calamy's Art of Meditation Shepperdice Spiritualized Wadsworths Remains Lewis's Grammar A POEM wherein is set forth the Vanity Frailty and Brevity of Mans Life as also the Certainty of Death with the Benefit of it to Believers THE Life we live resembles much a Play Where each man acts his part and so away The best act Comedies which Joyfully end Most Tragedies which to confusion tend Men are the Actors and the World 's the Stage Whereon appears persons of every age The good the bad the noble and the base Both Males and Females even all Adams race None are exempt each have some part to play Yet some have lesser some have more to say Some Childrens parts do play they cry and then March off when others act the parts of Men. Some on the Stage do fetch a turn or two Some look about them and no more adoe Some act their own and some anothers part In a disguise they 're honest Knaves in heart The worst in Royal Robes sometimes do dress them Those that their inside view have cause to bless them In their disguise like painted Tombs they shine They 're fair without but foul enough within In Silks and Sattins many men are clad When Dunghill-rakers are not half so bad But when Death comes in their own shape we find them Their borrowed Robes they then must leave behind them Some act in thred-bare Coats
in our eye Death looks more lovely If ever therefore you would dye Happily and Comfortably beware of letting out your affections upon the World for you will never be willing to leave what you love nor to pay so dear for Christ and Heaven till you affect them better 3 Direct If you would dye happily then redeeem your Time carefully make preparation for a dying time and take heed of losing time and spending it in vain he that would win the Race will set out with the first and hold on to the last and take all the advantages that are offered in the way he that hath much work to do and that of great concern must not lose the Morning or if he do must ply it hard the rest of the day You will find all your time that is allotted you little enough for the work you have to do and not an hour to spare to spend in idleness for delays and Idleness are the two Gulphs wherein many Souls are drown'd Many when they are young depending upon and trusting to their Youth their health and strength send Repentance thirty years before and 't is odds they never overtake it many young men go to Hell that thought to repent when they were old and many old men that thought they might have lived a little longer Many are resolved to spend their youthful dayes in the Devils service and then stop Gods mouth with the Blind and the Lame but he seldom takes up with a death-bed Repentance from those that purposely put him off to the last he usually reckons with such mispenders of time for the Talents he hath lent them and payes them off not with a Penny but a Prison for he expects what he hath given us to glorifie him should be that way improved upon this little inch of time Eternity doth depend our Everlasting well or ill being and therefore 't is too precious to be spent in vanity and folly and how then dare you spend a day an hour vainly in an Ale-house or other Vanity and not know whether you have another hour or day to live I have read of a Gentlewoman that usually spent her time in Cards and Dice and other unnecessary Recreations and coming from her Sport late in the night found her Maid reading for she was godly and casting her eye upon the Book reproved her thus Thou poor melancholy Soul what alwayes reading and spending thy time thus wilt thou take no comfort in thy life And so passing into her Chamber went to bed but could not sleep but sigh and groan her Maid lying in the room with her demanded the reason of it and whether she was well Fox Time and the End of Time p. 70. She replyed She had read the word Eternity in her Book which had so pierced her heart that she believed she should never sleep more till she had some better assurance of her Eternal condition And if this word Eternity were but well considered it might send our time-wasting Gallants trembling home from their Sports but God hath hid these things from their eyes There are more than those guilty though few more guilty there is many a man that is a good Husband for the World and careless in nothing but in matters relating to his Soul he can observe Times and Seasons for Plowing and Manuring of his ground Seed-time and Harvest shall not be neglected not the meanest Beast but shall be heeded his Garden Orchard c. shall be fenced pruned manured weeded and preserved his House well furnished and Provision prepared and yet his Soul altogether neglected and neither Food nor Raiment prepared for it for this life he is carefull that neither he nor his Posterity shall want and yet hath no care for the Life to come he can go from Fair to Market to prepare for the Body and matters not the Harvest Season or Market-day for the Soul The Mariners that observe the Wind and Tide yet neglect the sweet gales of the Spirit of God when they blow upon the Soul and would waft them Heavenward and help them forward to their Journeys end to the desired Port. The Devil by his diligence condemns us for where his work is Latimer 1 Pet. 5.8 there is he he is no Non-resident but alwayes in his Diocess He goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour And shall we not be as vigilant to save our Souls as he to destroy them if he find us idle he will soon imploy us The heart of man is a Mill that will be alwayes grinding if not Gods Wheat then the Devils Tares If the Devil spend all his time to deceive us we should spend all our time to prevent him All the time we have is little enough and there is none to spare and what is past is irrecoverably gone though we could give a world of Treasure for an inch of time Now if you would redeem time beware of those great devourers of Time which usually steal away a great part such as vain and idle Thoughts how much of our time is this way consumed many an hour which might have been better spent viz. in the Contemplation of God of Christ of Heaven of Glory is spent in roving vain imaginations which bring no profit do no good and tend to no benefit Yea worldly thoughts and cares take up also a great part of our time 't is true the World must have some of our thoughts and time but most men make a bad division between God and it they let the World run away with his part as well as their own yea much of that Sacred time set a part for a better use yea many times amidst our Religious duties the heart is stole away by the World Idleness also consumes much many enter not into the Vineyard till the eleventh hour and then mind not their work but their Wages vain and unprofitable Discourse also is a Thief and steals away much of our time and many idle and unnecessary Visits also and when all this is deducted 't is no wonder there is but little left for our grand business to these may be added immoderate lying in Bed vain and time spending Dressings and Attirings the whole Mornings work to our Female Gallants immoderate and unnecessary Recreations which some make all the Calling they follow Drinking Tipling and what not but if these in this their idle expence of time should ask themselves this question Which of the Eternities lye before them and to which of them they are going it might spoil their sport for when Death hath struck his stroak the Soul is in a stated condition which Eternity it self cannot alter and seriously 't is one of the saddest sights in the World to a man apprehensive of the danger to see an unconverted man fetch his last breath and lanching forth into an infinite Ocean of boiling Lead and burning Brimstone for the avoiding of that take time while time serves and lose not that Prodigally