fruits of the Spirit and of Heaven which do render Death to those that taste them more desirable than formidable The first is First Communion with Christ That of it which Saints have in this world is very sensible and sweet Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ You know it is the holy boast of a holy man the Apostle John concerning himself and other real Saints and it is sweet Communion as in the next words These things write we unto you that your joy might be full Thus true joy comes into the heart even unparallel'd gladness by Gods lifting up the light of his Countenance The wicked whore cries Let us take our fills of love in unclean Communion but Christs Spouse's design is that her joy might be full in holy Communion with God and Christ The first misses joy altogether meets with only vanity and vexation of Spirit but the other loses her dumpish sorrow and never enjoys that Communion with Christ much but she meets also with joy unspeakable and full of glory and yet in this world never enough Therefore they that taste it most do most earnestly long to be dissolved and to be with Christ as the Apostle Paul Phil. 1.23 Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ He professes indeed that he had his Conversation in heaven as to real foretasts thereof which were enough to set him a longing not fully to satisfie and therefore he confesses that whilst in the body he was in great measure absent from the Lord. And would he not be present Yes even with all his heart and farewell body till the Resurrection that he might kiss his sweet Jesus his feet that he might be ever with the Lord. This this was the Apostle Pauls holy passion Oh! Then sincere Christians for two or three of you to be with Christ and he with you in prayer according to his promise and in other Ordinances yea in any divine exercises of grace This this must needs make your souls long to depart and to be with Christ This notion you must know flows not from a doubtful or pretended experience but from positive express Gospel Doctrine 1 Thes 4.17 18. And so shall we be ever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words It is mighty comfort against death and judgment there spoken of to consider the happiness of being ever with the Lord. If it was the joy and boast of the enamoured Spouse Cant. 2.9 to view Christ shewing himself through the Lattess how can she but long to see him with open face to see him as he is in glory Surely that soul that by faith and love cleaves to Christ can never much fear death which it knows will never separate such lovers as Christ and a believing soul are but rather indeed bring it into heaven and force it only to be more happy in a more intimate close yea constant Vision and fruition of Christ Secondly Freedom from sin though but in some tolerable manner attained gives us a sweet foretaste of heaven where all just mens souls do enter but no unclean thing with them So much freedom from sin is so much heaven upon earth but the reliques of sin still pestering us till death make us if true Saints the more eagerly long for perfect freedom from it in heaven which huge longing is an holy extasie I confess and found only I think in those whose Consciences do not reproach them whilst they live They of all men even they that labour to the utmost to subdue sin do long to get rid of it altogether though it be by death Therefore the Apostle Paul expresses himself after this manner And not only they Rem 8.23 but we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of the body reckoning upon not much mattering yea quite overlooking death having the eye on a sweet deliverance of soul and body from sin at the Resurrection sith in this life both of them are most sadly infected therewith Therefore saies he we groan but how Even as the Creature to be delivered from the bondage of Corruption And which is very remarkable We our selves who have the first fruits of the Spirit c. What are they The thirteenth verse a little before will clear that in these words If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Blessed souls are they and they shall be blessed who have received the first fruits of the Spirit in the mortification of sin for they groan within themselves till that happy time come after death when soul and body shall no more sin They that have tasted how sweet the life-bloud of one sturdy lusty sin is can never be satiated till they have the bloud of all the rest the dam and all original sin insatiably crying out O when shall we be delivered from the body of this Death which indeed is far more dreadful than natural death But O how sweet is it for a Saint to see Necis artificem arte perire suâ sin killing it self with its own murthering-piece killing its enemy and it self with one blow How joyfully do Saints see the death of all their sins approach full as fast as the death of their bodies Well then the Saints with Sampson would gladly dye that so all their sins and therefore to be sure more might be utterly destroyed at their death than ever they could slay all their life time A true and thorough Saint fears to sin more than to dye therefore he feares not so much to dye and sin no more as to live yet and sin O thou that hast faithfully mortified any lust and art sure of it Death cannot wound nor astonish thee for certainly more comfort arises to the Saints from the mortality of sin then terrour from the mortality of the body Thirdly The blessed graces of the Spirit of God the possession of which is our participation of the Divine nature the exercise of which is our Conversation in heaven These Graces of the Spirit of God are indeed the very first fruits of heaven and cannot well be at rest till they have carried the soul into their own Element Heaven it self for from above it is whence every good and perfect gift doth descend and would as naturally carry the soul endued therewith up thither as the fire mounts upwards So that those Divine souls whose vigorous graces do make them hunger and thirst after righteousness will not stick to venture at Gods call a bodily life to satisfie that thirst in heaven The Apostle Paul was very desirous to attain to the Resurrection of the Dead Phil. 3.11 compared with ver 21. Oh! how he longed to be more holy here in this world to be quickly in the number of the dead in the Lord He cared not how soon Perfect he saies he was not yet nor likely to be perfect here below but yet he contended hard running to
to think that many who do so much and cry Lord Lord Lord have mercy on us yet are not thereupon to be judged in so good a condition and in an unquestionable state of Salvation Therefore I conceive a right understanding of such expressions may be got by taking notice of holy John's palpable intent and the drift of his speech upon the forementioned occasion the Apostle therefore for the better understanding of such mistaken spirits asserts in summe thus much that indeed those only that confess Jesus to be the Son of God and will not deny him in fear of Death or Torment are to be taken for true Christians and happy souls indeed Upon the same account he asserts also That Perfect love casteth out fear that is the tormenting fear of death or danger as Tertullian evinces in his Scorpiacum or Antidote against the Gnosticks speaking thus Johannes negat timorem esse in dilectione quem timorem intelligi praestat nisi negationiâ— authorem i.e. John denies fear to be in love what fear can be better understood then such as is the Author and cause of denying Christ even as the Apostle Peter did for fear of death or suffering He that loves Christ but tolerably aright will not be loath to dye for Christ or to dye and go to Christ That Spouse who is truly sick of love for Christ thinks no Cure of that sickness like Death even to depart and to be with Christ to be ever with the Lord her blessed Bridegroom Thirdly Christ by giving his people that excellent grace of hope kills the fear of death 2 Thes 2.16 There it is plain that good hope through his grace is not only his gift but therewith also or thereby everlasting Consolation which therefore is neither to be interrupted by the fears of Death or discontinued by Death it self yea the same Consolation springing from this grace of hope Heb. 6.18 19. is there called strong Consolation Indeed stronger then Death or the terriblest fears of Death For Christ giving this hope is there said to comfort and establish Saints so that no fear of death as in that place of judgment day can either sadden whom he so comforts or shake and disturb the minds he so establishes for their hearts thus become fixed trusting in the Lord. The Saints grace of hope gets beyond Death before hand and enters into heaven As this Apostle to the Hebrews represents it as entring into that within the vail and by it Saints on earth fit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Now you know hope 's nature is contrary to fear He who hopes for eternal life and for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of the body as it is spoken of Saints hope Rom. 8 23 24 25. He that hath such a saving hope whereby as an Anchor sure and stedfast he hopes for life can never be tost like a wave with any slavish fears of Death Oh then still thy soul by hope in God The Apostle Peter calls the Saints the childrens hope a lively hope Who hath saies he begotten us unto a lively hope Lively hope destroys the exanimating killing fears of Death Puts us beyond death as to fear before it come at us as to feeling for he that hath this lively hope as an Anchor sure and stedfast cannot much fear that he shall at death become a Castaway though he be careful with the Apostle Paul It is Hells pit that is bottomless or fathomless so that the despairing Damned are alwaies tormented with Eternal pains and frights But alas Come the worst of it to the Saints of God this they know that the Graves pit is not bottomless there is enough for their hope to bottom and anchor upon surely and stedfastly The Grave to the wicked is indeed bottomless and though it detains a while the body yet it lets the soul slip into Hell and the body too not long after But Christs Death burial hath so sanctified every of the Saints Graves that at worst their graves will be by so much happier to them then that Grave was to the dead man whom Elisha's buried bones revived even by how much Lazarus his second was or will be better than his first Resurrection Christs Death and Burial hath left somewhat in every Saints grave sufficient at the lowest for his hope to bottom on so that his body when there may be truly said to rest in hope and therefore having this grace of hope he need not unless he will be disquieted with fears before Death Fourthly Christ by giving his people on earth some real foretasts of heaven and of eternal life doth thereby effectually destroy their fears of Death And therefore the Apostle Paul who was next to his Lord and Master the greatest conquerour and triumpher over Death we read of after that he had been Rapt up into the third heaven as he stories it himself in the second Epistle to the Corinthians was ever after most undaunted under the seriousest thoughts of death as is most evident in his other Epistles which were written after those to the Corinthians particularly in that to the Romans where he tells us how little he fears death or a thousand deaths though killed as it were all the day long yet more then Conquerour He had before so sweet a sight of heaven that Death could not fright him so sweet a taste of heavens pleasures that he could never after taste any bitterness in death And thereupon justly longing to be there again he feared not death the only passage into so much bliss Let every true Saint consider this I say every soul that conscionably walks with God and labours to have Communion with God in his holy waies and Ordinances that walks in some measure as that blessed Apostle Paul who lived in all good conscience before God that with holy David tastes and sees that the Lord is gracious that tastes in deed and truth savingly of the heavenly gift the good Word of God and the powers of the World to come O precious Saint dost thou so live How is it possible but thou must long to be filled with these heavenly joyes How canst thou fear that Death that will put thee into actual possession of thy Masters Joy According to that in Rom. 8.28 And not only they viz. the Creatures but we our selves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit do groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our body See here that a taste of the first fruits of the heavenly Canaan which Gods Spirit from above fetches for and feeds a Saint with makes him not to groan under the fears of dying but rather under fears of not dying O you that taste and rellish heavenly things in Divine Ordinances and have much of the presence of Christ with you in them are you affraid to dye and to be with Christ for ever Is not this better then to live There are three things deservedly to be called first
visited Who therefore will not surely when a Cordial is brought them from the God of Heaven fling Glasse and all in contempt at the poor Messenger who is Christian Reader Thine in the LORD heartily R. T. An Antidote against the Fears of Death Heb. 2.15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage WHen the serious thoughts of Mortality and Eternity do awaken our spirits to look about us whose Bodies when once God is angry are but dust and ashes under a consuming fire When Pestilence War and Famine are at the doors and look in yea enter in at the Windows closely following Poor men and women as Phinehas did Zimri and Cozbi into their very Tent to slay them When Gods Prisoners are shut up from all comfort and Company of this life Then surely then no fellowship like the fellowship of Christs sufferings No Sanctuary like his Sepulchre No Physician like him whose bloud is of infinite value and vertue too No Deliverer from the miseries and fears of death but this Jesus this Christ that dyed For his Death affords bread broken and ready prepared to refresh and revive both the living and dying His bloud shed is the best Weapon salve or Plague-water the only Preservative of all those that have received the Arrows of the Almighty and the Messengers of Death whether we consider Famine Wounds or Plague of mens own hearts or bodies But it is comfort against Death in general and the fears of it that I design for the benefit of the Saints timorous souls partakers with me of flesh and bloud who must certainly and may suddenly dye And blessed Eternally be the Lord Jesus it is his Grand and special design who because the children did partake of flesh and bloud and too much communicate in its fears of Death did himself take part of the same he lived and died That so feeling the bitterness both of the life and death of flesh he might as comfort his people in all their tribulations so especially deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage I need not tell you a thing so obvious How that Christ in his highest preheminence is the theame of this Epistle to the Hebrews which after a glorious and singular manner displaies the honour and excellency of Christ before the eyes of all both Jew and Gentile who are too too prone to have very base and low thoughts of his Incarnation and Humanity much more of his Death and Passion I shall therefore more narrowly acquaint you with the import of this Text The which with the preceding verse is enough by Gods light to give us a soul animating and transforming view of Christ Where we may see him triumphing with all his elect Souldiers some worthies especially over Death and Hell and the Devil too For asmuch then as the Children are partakers of flesh and bloud he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Wherein you have as in the Coherence not only Christs and the Saints death but also their victory over it In the Text it self you have these two parts 1. The Saints misery by nature not only to dye but before hand to labour under the fears of death their subjection to bondage with the continuance thereof All their life time 2. Their deliverance by Christ And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Where you see their deliverance is very comprehensive And deliver them Their persons are gloriously delivered whether you respect death it self the power and sting of Death or the fears of Death or that bondage upon the account of those fears which renders their life most uncomfortable The deliverance by Christ bates none of these Now there are some words and passages in my Text to be opened that I may clear my way to the Doctrines which are to be found in this blessed Scripture Being all such as highly concern all mortal men especially in a time of great mortality 1. Then what Death is this Which is brought in here as a King of fears so terrible that the Devil seems to be but its Vice-Roy who would never be so dreaded were it not for death from which he receives power to Captivate and tyrannize over the poor Consciences of men that are cow'd with guilt and enfeebled with the hand-writing against them in their own breasts who when most carnally asleep do notwithstanding now and then sadly dream of some sudden reckoning and dreadful execution 2. What are these fears Seeing fear of Death is so natural to and common amongst the Saints 3. What is meant by being subject to bondage Are not all Saints more or less subject to many sad fears of death Even those that sometimes can vaunt over it with the Apostle Paul may sometimes also fear least at death they suffer shipwrack and become Castawaies 4. What is meant by all their life time What deliverance if all their life time so subject 5. What is this deliverance wrought thus for the people of God by the power of Christ and the transactions of his death To these reasonable demands briefly First What Death is this here meant It is unquestionably natural death the dissolution or departure of the soul from the body The body one way to the dust and grave the soul another way even to God that gave it This is the Death here spoken of The more terrible for the certain judgment of all and Eternal damnation of most immediately consequent thereupon Now inasmuch as a little before the Text flesh and bloud is mentioned which most shrinks from death as that part of a good mans nature that suffers by death the only damage And in as much as Christ therefore took part of the same flesh and bloud and so therein tasted death for every man it is but plainly absurd to doubt that natural death is here meant Secondly What are the fears of Death here spoken of Seeing fear of Death is so natural to and common amongst the Saints The Text will answer for me the latter expression in the words resolves you They are slavish fears not natural or filial Such fears as when in any measure in the Saints have a certain tang of the spirit of bondage Fears which do debase the ingenuity and confidence of children As Saints are called just before the Text For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and bloud And so thereupon indeed are naturally subject to great fears and by sin to much bondage too in their sence and apprehension of Death therefore Christ took part of their flesh that he might deliver those who by reason of their flesh and bloud were subject to great fears of death That so he might recover
It is but little or indeed nothing he can say to a believer Here the Saint hath advantage of ground given him against the Devil For never was the Law more broken than Christs life fulfilled it and never can the penalty thereof be so fully suffered as it was by Christs Death that paid the uttermost farthing which the damned's torments shall never be able to do Sixthly Christ is the Deliverer of his People from the fears of Death in as much as he works mightily in them as well as for them and so wonderfully strengthens them in the inner man against those servile fears of Death But in what manner and by what graces or comforts I have determined to shew in the second part of my Method I shall therefore now only add That Christ administers a mighty vertue and power to the spirits of his people by his gracious Pardons encouraging Commands and comfortable yea sutable Promises All which wonderfully serve to animate Believers against the fears of Death First By Gracious Pardons The Son of man had power on earth to forgive sin sure he hath not lost that power now he is exalted in heaven You know he exercised that power on earth and so he doth still For whilst on earth how oft said he Thy sins are forgiven thee Upon his departure from the earth near his dying Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Joh. 14.27 After his Resurrection Peace be unto you Joh. 20.21 After his Ascension into heaven you know the Salutations in his Letters Credential by his Ambassadors and Ministers I mean the Salutations you find in the front to many of the Epistles in the New Testament Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father first and then from our Lord Jesus Christ as the very next hand This Prince of Peace speaks Peace to his Saints and what enemy first or last as death is dare or can speak War As Christ by his own mouth spake peace on earth to his people so now as verily and really by his own spirit by his infallible Word and true Ministers he sares to the poor Consciences of his Saints Your sins are forgiven you and if Sin sting not Death cannot Guilt 's fears are blasted with that sweet peace which Christ gives and which the world by a thousand Deaths cannot take away fears cannot dwell where Christs words of eternal life take place So that a pardoned Conscience sings before this enemy Death O Death where is thy sting Secondly By encouraging Commands doth his Excellency the Lord Jesus hearten his People and Souldiers that they fear neither Death nor Devil which expressions of Christ are not to be considered only as beseeching perswasions but rather as most rouzing and Authoritative incitements unto courage and valour as these are Fear not little Flock it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luk. 12.32 which indeed is won and fully possest by Death And Be of good chear and let not your heart be troubled neither let it be affraid c. So still doth Christ as a Lord of Hosts go on speaking couragiously to us by his Word by his Spirit and by his field Officers Isa 35.4 I mean his Apostles and Ministers and that in such words as these prest and charged home Let your Conversation be as BECOMES the GOSPEL and that especially in your being nothing TERRIFIED by your adversaries Phil. 2.27 28. And put on the whole Armour of God c. That ye may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand Christ as a good Captain and great General heartens his people not to fear their last encounter in the evil day the hour of danger or of sudden Death he secretly whispers such courage into his peoples hearts And for him to say fear not who by a word created all things in heaven and earth it is enough to embolden the faintest Christian Souldier unto Conquest What a Captain of Salvation is this That at once saies be of good courage and makes of good courage Oh labour to hear the voice of the Son of God and thou shalt live in spight of Death and truly there is no such difficulty to hear him for he uses to speak Peace to his Saints that diligently seek him Thirdly By comfortable and sutable Promises doth the Lord Jesus animate his people against all evil fear of Death to instance in some I will not leave you comfortless I will send you the Comforter Verily verily I say unto you ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy Joh. 16.20 22. Your heart shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you no not Devil nor Death for if these could it would be all one as if man could for then they should not keep it But although one of Christs Apostles confest of himself that he was in deaths often yet that Promise bore him our and all the rest too of Christs Disciples even so as that they sang in prison and made ready not to be bound only but to dye at Jerusalem or any where else for the name of the Lord Jesus It is very remarkable that when Jesus Christ had given his Disciples many comfortable Promises Joh. 16. to hearten them up he summed up all in the end of the Chapter thus These things have I spoken unto you that is these Promises that in me ye might have peace in the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the world yea whatsoever is the worlds properly as misery and death are All the Promises of God are in Christ yea and in him Amen Promises are Gods and Christs words upon which they cause their people to hope according to that of David Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope And the Apostle teaches that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures Saints have hope which hope in the Promises prevails against nothing more than sin 2 Cor. 7.1 and 1 Joh 3.3 and particularly against sinful fears of death For what can more naturally destroy fear than that which mightily enlivens hope Such are Christs Promises which words of eternal life therefore are most powerful against Death Shall Saints then fear though a little flock when those young Lions wicked men and those old Lions the Devil and Death set upon them when as they have such a Promise as this to bear them up That it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Death may be dreadful to those that by it lose Crowns but certainly desirable to those that by it are sure to win Crowns Seventhly I produce the great Examples and instances which testifie of Christ that he is such a deliverer of his people from the fears of Death as first Job Though God should slay him yet no fear
honour to suffer for Christs name stocks stripes and imprisonments yea miserable Deaths Their noble eye piercing into Eternity immortality and glory could read a meaning in that Text Count it all joy when ye fall into divers Temptations yea when into the Grave and Pit it self Heb. 10.34 And ye took joyfully the spoyling of your goods as knowing in your selves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance Into a full possession of which Death at worst could but put them So that the Saints spiritual courage will quickly swallow up their natural fears The Case is evident enough in those Worthies recorded in that Gospel-Chronicle or rather little book of Martyrs Heb. 11. whose natures abhorred Death as much as any of ours yet whose spirits would not ACCEPT of deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection Thirdly The Saints may be and are more than others wisely sensible of Gods hand do humble themselves under it mourn and grieve and yet fear not this slavish fear Were the Saints as stocks and stones without sence they would not only be wanting to their duty of fearing God but truly in such a case would there be no spiritual courage or valour in enduring To say they are Stoicks and unsensible of misery were to deny the power of Christ in upholding his Saints and Martyrs of all Ages in their suffering great evils The Lord Jesus the greatest Sufferer and Conflicter with Death had his sence of evil or acute pain in crying out My God! but he feared none of this fear the distracting fear that divides or alienates the soul from God For he said My God my God that twice but once only Why hast thou forsaken me Which evidently shews his fear was no other than filial upon confidence of his sure interest in Gods love as his God and Father and also that it was less than his pain For his pain was excessive his fear not so but moderated with the highest fortitude and courage And so Christ in that he himself suffered being Tempted is able to succour them that are tempted True Saints are anointed with the very same Unction wherewith Christ was anointed And as he had some of their sence of Pain so they likewise have some of his Courage under it Fourthly Saints may fear God in an affliction though not an affliction it self God at or in death but not death it self Be it known to the worst and greatest enemies of Christ and Christians it is not the frown of a Tyrant or the black visage of Death that chils and damps a Saints heart but rather his doubtful and dark apprehensions of God in afflictions are they that weaken his heart Oh! that is a sad Sob Psal 90.7 We are consumed by thine anger and by thy wrath are we troubled If God smile the Saints fear not Prisons Stocks spoyling of goods Death it self occasions little fear If Gods favour set them a singing and his countenance glad their hearts what can sadden It is Gods anger in judgments that makes the Saints fear whilst others reckon only on Gods hatred the Saints not daring to do so do yet judge that it is but rational and safe to conclude of Gods anger and displeasure in judgments which seldom proclaim any thing more How often have you in the Scriptures this proved Sometimes that the wrath of the Lord was enkindled as naturally evident in Plagues and judgments and at the end of many sad descriptions of Gods judgments by the Prophets the sum of each dreadful visitation is this For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Now though the Saints through faith in Christ do not suffer their hearts to be troubled with fears of Gods hatred yet they are troubled at his anger and displeasure A Child when his Fathers anger is legible indeed in stripes concludes not that his Father hates him yet trembles at his anger And indeed it is no valour in the world not to fear Gods consuming anger To this I might add That Saints may fear some sin visited by a mortal sickness and the like which they might never sufficiently know was a sin or themselves guilty of it if indeed they did know it to be a sin or that they have not duly repented of it or fully forsaken it Or they may fear their own unpreparedness for weakness and insufficiency to grapple with affliction pain and Death it self And all this is not to fear the power of any mortal calamity or of Death it self But I dare scarce take any occasion though of pertinent enlargements hoping that God will supply all my defect in your serious Meditations Fifthly Will you have a distinction betwixt the wicked hypocrites and the Saints fears Be pleased to take it Saints fear not with an utter despair at the worst but so doth every wicked man The wicked either altogether presume in Prosperity or in great adversity altogether despair Just as it was with Nabal his heart over night was huge merry within him at a Kingly Feast but the next morning when his wine was gone out of him saies the Scripture and but at the report of a past danger his heart died within him as a stone So many men in their Cups have a courage springing from the Tap who drown their cares and fears in the Hogshead whilst Saints drown theirs in Christs bloud Alas what spirit have wicked men when their Wine is gone out of them The Saints hearts may quake and be shaken a little but yet they are at Anchor when as the very first evil tydings of vengeance from God and of a dreadful mortality drive the wicked's fearful hearts as Chaff before the wind or as a poor tattered Ship without Anchor before a Tempest Bring the Saints to their worst fears so that they sin to escape and make a supply of weak faith with a foolish carnal stratagem yet still their fears are not the fears of the wicked for First Saints have even then some hope in God which laies real hold on God though but little and God accepts yea fails not that little Therefore God was good to David and delivered him from Achish and made him not ashamed though his hope in God was little and his sin great Saies David at that very time Psal 34.4 I sought the Lord there is some hope necessarily implied and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears Many fears little hope yet some he had for he sought God But yet it is very remarkable in Scripture how God hath in the utmost extremity of his people even eminently prospered their sins of little hope and great fears for their escape though afterward he punished them forely for both Secondly Whereas the wickeds fears encrease with their dangers and calamities and the nearer approach of their unavoydable ruine yet the grace of Gods Children in such extremities recovers it self again and their fears decrease the more their miseries multiply Wicked
come to us the Cowards trick indeed who never fighteth but when he thinks his enemy fears to resist him So I may to be sure say on the contrary that as to fear the Devil draws him upon us so not to fear him keeps him off on 's Courage in resistance will put him to flight for he is an absolute Coward to Christ and stout Christians If this be not done I mean if the Devil be not fully resisted all is in vain that man will scarce ever keep his Conscience quiet that tamely suffers the Devil to play the merciless Souldier Sophister Goaler or Executioner with it Master the Devil and then having made thy peace with God thou hast only thy Conscience still to pacifie from time to time with that bloud that hath pacified God Well then take this course do as Christ did in his fighting and you will without doubt fight a good fight of faith and finish your course with joy Thirdly Love not the world or any thing in it that is of it Love not your life too much exercise self denial Did we love God and our selves aright we should not fear Death Perfect love casteth out the fear of Death But imperfect love love divided the love of God and of the world too I mean the comforts pleasures of this life sweet Relations or the like oh this imperfect love instead of casting out doth but hatch and harbour the fears of Death Fear then to love much any thing of this world though never so lawful an enjoyment would you not fear Death There is more in this than Christians will be aware of But doubtless the inordinate love of worldly comforts and the imperfect love of God makes men affraid to dye To this I may add Prize spiritual things above worldly place your sensible dayly yea hourly happiness in spiritual things count them not only your food but feast yea recreation too alwaies reckoning thus to be merry My Meditation of God shall be sweet saies David and I will be glad in the Lord. Let the comfort of your lives your choice constant delight and treasure be heavenly things then you will never fear death For as it is a comfort when an house is on fire to save all the goods especially all the treasure So though the Plague or any death fire the body this our tabernacle of clay yet will it not be a quering comfort that our Treasure is safe And that we have a better house to go to not made with hands in the highest heavens Fourthly Watch. It is Christs direction The uncertainty of the time of death and judgment hath this Use of Exhortation annexed to it by a greater Ecclesiastes then Solomon Christ himself who preached as never man did and spake as never man spake saies he What I say unto you I say unto all watch Mar. 13.37 Job knowing his Redeemer lived knew both his protection and his duty waited all the daies of his appointed time till his change came He was every day at watch looking for his last enemy Death and therefore little feared what he could do therefore he had not so much fear of Death as hope in God though he should slay him Oh! watch watch For you know those that watch in an Army are less affrighted at the approach of an enemy then those that are alarum'd out of their sleep So it is as to the fears of Death we therefore fear it so much because we so little think of it or expect it putting the evil day far from us and so suspecting it not to be near fall to sleep keep no watch and then if on a sudden this last enemy Death approach and seem to be very near us we being alarum'd out of our foolish sleep are affrighted Therefore Solomon deals wisely with the young man Eccles 12. who thinks death farthest off I say he presents the young man with a most lively and unparallel'd description of his latter end puts him in mind betimes of his latter daies that so meditating and expecting such an end of his daies he might not be affrighted at death nor unprepared for judgment Oh! watch watch for certainly Christians familiar thoughts of death if according to Gods Word would breed in us the contempt of Death Fifthly Be faithful in celebrating all Gospel Ordinances of Gods Worship Communion with Christ in them raises a mans ambition above his Cowardice and makes him covet to be with Christ though it be by Death Remember that of David Psal 24.4 Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no ill for thou art with me In the next verse but one he shews where God and he met ver 6. I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Communion with his shepherd especially in holy Worship made him fear no evil that death could affront him with Two Ordinances of the Worship of God and for Communion with him I only hint as expedient to this present purpose because one of them I must speak more to in the Conclusion they are Prayer and the Lords Supper First Prayer The end of all things is at hand be sober and watch unto Prayer 1 Pet. 4.7 Thy end to be sure is at hand watch and pray Watching is of little avail without Prayer If you be wise pray much in faith O Saints have you never found in prayer heavens gate opened to your knocking Do but prevail once in prayer with God himself as Princes and Israelites indeed and you will easily overcome his Serjeant death it self much more its fears They that use in Prayer to enter into the holiest by the bloud of Jesus cannot much fear that Death should at last make them miss their good old way to heaven Secondly Receive the Lords Supper as oft and as worthily as you can Many quiet their Consciences by receiving that Sacrament upon the point of Death But truly solid joyes and the best preparations for death are the result of a godly remembrance of Christs death all along in our life time What quiet can any have from such a practice That is to neglect the Ordinance and duty of remembring Christs death all their life and to remember it only at their death Oh! seeing fears of death are sad associates and Companions of our life even all your daies remember Christs death by vertue whereof you are to be delivered from such troublesome Company as it is clear in the preceding verse to my Text That through DEATH saies the Apostle he might destroy him that had the power of Death and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage This is a deliverance you see wrought through Christs death O Saint study it eye it in faith till thou feelest the vertue of it in thy heart easing thee of thy fears of Death Thus Christ undertook thy Deliverance even by his own Death Thus then do thou manage this thy deliverance by due remembrance of
spiritual swooning away but in their coming again to themselves be like them not only in their desertions or dejections but their more usual assurance of Gods love Oh labour to speak the Dialect of Gods Children with David either in the phrase of Psal 3.7 or 119.94 either thus Save me O MY God Or thus I AM THINE save me Sixthly Rely on nothing else Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding Pro. 3.5 That is to the devices of thy heart for security refuge help preservation in danger Some trust in horses saies the Psalmist and some I may say in Country houses and air Go to them in time of Pestilence they may but only in case duty and necessary business bind them not to the contrary He that flees the Plague and runs from his Duty may most likely but rush into the Plague as I may say or worse whatever he now thinks Some trust to their invention of Antidotes against the Plague to their own or other mens devices for help and succour in time of danger use them they may but trust to them and their danger is a hundred times the greater for cursed is man that trusteth in man much more that trusteth in himself that leans to his own understanding for he that doth so would if he prospered which it is pity therefore he should I say he would sacrifice to his own net as well as lean to his own understanding Seventhly Praise God much even with thy soul and all that is within thee under the greatest Judgments It is a duty most of all seasonable necessary and advantagious to thee Art thou alive Praise God as the living the living should do especially I say in time of danger Therefore Jacob in his time of danger and fears began his prevalent and successful prayer for deliverance with Less then the least of all Gods mercies For a thankful and chearful acknowledgment feeds faith and hope with former good experience and dispels fear of evil to come with a joy in the Lord who is the presentest and the greatest good Be careful for nothing saies the Apostle How so What remedy against disquieting care and fean Truly Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving In dangers and troubles I judge it very fitting to begin our Prayers with Thanksgivings thanking God for what we have when all seems to be a going and we our selves too who are less then the least of all Gods mercies But especially because by Praises in the beginning of our Prayers we sing out our fears and tune our hearts to pray in faith But seeing both Praise and Prayer are so useful to increase faith and blast fear I will never contend for the priority of either e'n put them together let them never go asunder To conclude then Oh pray much The admirablest way under heaven by Christs blessing to conjure all base fears quite out of the heart For if ever faith be emboldened it is in prayer Prayer it is the improver as of all grace so especially of faith Psal 62.8 Trust in the Lord at all times But how shall we do that It follows Ye people pour out your heart before him then he adds God is a Refuge for us That is certain as the Prophet thinks Oh the confidence in God that they arrive to who in danger can pour out their hearts before him Faith when we pray aright doth in every Petition get faster and faster hold of God Thus the soul in Prayer works it self even into Gods arms of mercy and Christs bosome of love Thus in danger we nestle closer into the Clefts of our blessed Rock till the indignation be overpast You know that excellent Counsel Isa 26.20 Come my people enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as is were for a moment untill the indignation be overpast Wouldst thou be so safe Then as Christ counsels Mat. 6.6 Do thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which seeth in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly There is to this purpose a very edifying inference may be easily gathered from 1 Tim. 5.5 Where you have the Apostle's good widow mentioned and that she trusted in God but that is not all It is not a poor rash flourish I trust in God and I hope in the Lord Jesus which is but a dream nay a vain and empty breath the poor ignorant prophane perfons hope which quickly gives up the Ghost But saies the Apostle The good widow she trusteth in God and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day Thus she upholds her Confidence in God both day and night Woe be to those that say they trust in God day and night and yet scarce pray at all in good earnest day nor night The Apostle saies indeed that this good widow is desolate hath none to help her but yet to facilitate her faith you know God hath especially revealed his tender care of widows yet their even their trust in God if they will make any thing on 't must be raised and enlivened through continual supplications night and day So must every one of us do who make God our refuge in times of danger I think every one of our hearts tells us without asking what need we have to trust in God under this sad Visitation and sore Judgment of the Plague we may quickly sit in our Families as a desolate widow yea how quickly may we be shut up in them as many are at this time Well if we would approve our Consciences to God in this duty of trusting in him which is our wisest and safest practice let us be exceeding fervent yea constant too in our supplications and prayers day and night It is the use you sadly know as of old when a poor forlorn Family is shut up for the Plague to make upon the door a Red Cross and to write over or by it Lord have mercy c. But as you love your lives both before and after infection instead of that Red Cross have faith in the bloud of Jesus get your souls well sprinkled with it And that which effectually cures the Plague of the heart can more easily and quickly cure the Plague of the body And so Christ may be your Passeover indeed the destroying Angel may pass over you and not touch those that are careful by faith to get their hearts well sprinkled with the bloud of this immaculate Lamb of God And then instead of that short Lord have Mercy do you pour out your souls before the Lord who poured out his heart bloud for poor sinners And to encourage you in the whole even in all your labours to attain such a faith and confidence in Christ as may by his power work out of your hearts the slavish fears of Death Take that excellent place of Scripture Nahum 1.7 The Lord is good A strong hold in the day of trouble AND HE KNOWETH THEM THAT TRUST IN HIM to be sure that trust in him like Job though he stay them Be assured of it your Father which seeth in secret in the secret Closet nay in the secret Chamber and house shut up he that seeth in secret will reward you openly So that if you do indeed firmly believe in God and believe also in Christ you shall be able to say and that from some sweet and great experience that in very deed When his Wrath is kindled but a little blessed YEA THRICE BLESSED are all they that put their trust in him FINIS