thee that Christ thy treasure liveth Let the frame of heaven and earth perish flee pass away thou hast the most faithful promises of a new heaven and a new earth Isai 65.17 2 Pet. 3.12 Behold I create new heavens and a new earth saith the Lord in which shall dwell righteousness so that none any longer remembreth the former Rev. 21.1 Let the tabernacle of thy pilgrimage fall the mansion of the heavenly countrey abideth ever Nor is there any reason thou shouldst fear the accusation either of Satan or the Law or thy sins thy sins are thrown into the depth of the Sea namely into the abyss of Gods mercy God hath thrown them behind his back Mic. 7.19 Isai 38.17 Ezech. 18.24 so that he will remember them no more hereafter Satan believe me shall not fetch thy sins up out of the sea nor shall dare to bring them into the sight of the Judge Thy sins are * Psal 32.1 Psal 51.1 forgiven covered blotted out they shall not be brought again into judgement The Devil will in vain accuse the godly because the blotting out the hand-writing by the blood of Christ shall be turned to him Col. 2.14 His accusation for sin shall be to no purpose because the forgiveness made through Christ shall be alledged against him Vain shall be the accusation of the Law because in this life there preceded reconciliation with God through faith Lastly thou hast no reason to fear Christ's sudden coming again to judgment for though the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night 1 Thes 5.2 yet God hath not appointed us to wrath 9. but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ Who died for us 10. that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him The judgment day is not to be feared by them for whom the heavenly kingdom was prepared from the beginning Mat. 25.34 Eph. 1.4 who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world Commit therefore into the faithful hands of God the precious pledge of thy soul he will keep it in death and in judgement and he will introduce it being joyned to the body into the palace of heaven to everlasting glory A Prayer in Sickness HEar me O God thou giver and restorer of life in whose hands life and death health and sickness are Hear me not according to the desire of my will but according to the good pleasure of thine own will If thou wilt thou canst heal me say but one word and I shall be whole Thou art the length of my dayes in thy hands my lots are but if now thou call me to the heavenly country by the way of death first mortifie in me all inordinate love of this life give me strength of spirit that I may overcome the pangs of death and in the midst of the darkness of my dimm eyes kindle and encrease in me light of heart with thee is the well of true life and in thy light shall I see light Thy death O good Jesus is the remedy of my death and the merit of eternal life I embrace thy word with a faithful heart therefore I am sure that thou dwellest in my heart by faith I will not let thee go out of my heart until thou bless me and chear me with thy enlivening consolation Thou hast said He that believeth in me shall never die my heart presents this thy word before thee and with this faith I come to the throne of grace thou wilt not cast out nor reject him that cometh unto thee Let thy precious blood wash me from my sins let thy wounds hide me from the anger of God and the rigour of judgment I will die in thee thou shalt live in me I will abide in thee thou shalt abide in me thou wilt not leave me in death and dust but wilt raise me to the resurrection of life Thou hast fought and overcome for me fight now and overcome in me let thy strength be perfected in my weakness My soul cleaveth to thee I will not suffer my self to be plucked from thee Let thy peace that passeth all understanding keep my heart and senses into thy hands I commend my spirit thou hast redeemed me thou God of truth Take my poor soul which thou hast created redeemed wash it from sins in thy blood sealed with the earnest of thy holy Spirit and fed with thy body and blood thine it is thou gavest it me take what is thine and remit the guilt of my sins wherewith I have stained it Let not the fruit of thy passion perish in me nor let thy precious blood be unfruitful in me O Lord in thee have I trusted let me never be confounded Amen FINIS THE Christians TRIUMPH Over DEATH With some Divine Contemplations Soliloquies and Poems thereupon LONDON Printed by Margaret White for Nath. Crouch 1679. THE Christians TRIUMPH Over DEATH CONTEMPLATIONS On 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh Death where is thy sting UPright Adam was made Immortal but sinful Adam begot all his sons mortal even as he had made himself Adam therefore is dead and all the sons of Adam do but live to die the sentence of death past upon us all in him we are born to see this sentence executed upon our selves and as Adam himself dyed the same day he sinned that is brought himself into a necessity of dying though as to the time of his death he was reprieved for nine hundred and thirty years after that day So we in Adam came under the same necessity though it be some thousands of years after before the sentence be executed upon us As a Malefactor is a dead man in Law at that instant when the sentence is pronounced against him though his execution be respited for some few days after So according to Gods law and decree we are all dead in Adams doom though it please God to prolong these days of ours wherein we must live to die according to his irrevocable doom A Malefactor is not executed sometimes one two three four five or six days after judgment past so likewise we were all adjudged to die before we were born but God with whom a thousand years is but as one day hath appointed the first second third fourth fifth or sixth thousand year of the world to be the day of our execution There is more necessity of our dying than of our being born It is not so necessary that he who is not should be as that he that now lives should once die the former may be supposed but the latter is fully expressed It is appointed for all men once to dye Heb. 9.27 There is alwayes a greater necessity of the end than the means death is the end of life not only in the execution of it but in the intention Morti nati sumus we are born to dye and we dye from the time we are born The day of our birth what is it but the beginning of the day
infirmity I am lighter than water that runneth away apace I beseech thee therefore O my God who sittest upon the floods of water and art a King for ever to send the heavenly dew of thy grace upon me who am part of thine inheritance to refresh my wearied soul Let every herb that I behold cause me to contemplate my own estate that I shall one day be cut off like the green herb and shall wither away like the grass let the Sun that shines over my head lift up my heart to the Son of righteousness to that light which lightens the Gentiles and the Glory of the people Israel Let the Moon that rules by night make me call upon thee the father of light to illuminate me while I sit in darkness and in the shadow of death in whom is no variableness nor change as there is in the Moon finally let the beasts the birds the fishes yea the very flies and insects which seem to be the very scorn of nature let them all by the shortness of their lives remind me of the brevity of my own and since it is thy blessed will O dear Saviour let me be contented and rejoyce therein for ever III. O Lord the life of my life and the God of the spirits of all flesh make me willing to dye since it is thy ordinance and appointment for all things serve thee let me not forget thee nor behave my self frowardly in thy Covenant make me willing to die and to say with old Sin can Lord now let thy servant depart in peace and with St. Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and because my spirit is willing and my flesh weak raise it and quicken it with thy free spirit by bringing to my remembrance thy promises and comforts to me on every side and since it is thy holy pleasure I should die and not live I am satisfied therewith for thy law is within my heart therefore make no long tarrying O Lord my God IV. How long O God shall I live to sin against thee for as long as I live in this earthly Tabernacle I can do nothing but sin to will is present with me but I find no strength nor ability to perform for I find a Law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind making me captive to the law of sin and death so that the good which I would do I do not but the evil which I would not do that do I. Deliver me therefore dear Lord from this body of death that I may enter the gates of life and go to the Angels and Saints and be one of them and continue with them to all Eternity my soul thirsteth for God even for the living God make hast therefore O Christ and deliver me V. Let my Conversation in this world O Lord be such that I may neither be ashamed to live nor afraid to die I know that to the natural man death is very fearful and terrible but let me be thine by thy grace strengthen me in my greatest weakness be present with me with thy consolations even to the last moment and compass me about with songs of deliverance and then though I walk through the vally of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy left hand is under my head and thy right hand doth embrace me why should I be afraid in the evil day or why should my soul be disquieted within me for death will then be to me advantage let me therefore sigh and groan in being desirous to be delivered from this burden of the flesh and to be thereby made partaker of immortality and of those unutterable joys and pleasures which thou O my blessed God and Saviour dost enjoy for ever let my faith O Lord scatter all my fears and let my soul long for thy salvation deliver my soul out of Prison and take me to thy everlasting mercy put an end to my sins by the end of this life that I may live with thee without end VI. Set a watch O Lord before the doors of my heart and so order my thoughts that I may always set thee before me and in the midst of life let me so remember death that when my days in this world are at an end I may return unto thee my rest let not the flight and departure of this my Spirit from my body be on the Sabbath day that is in the rest and tranquillity of my sins nor in the winter or frost of my hard heart nor in the midnight of my security when I least look for it let not this dangerous thief of carelesness and security break into my soul nor hinder me from a serious and continual meditation of death and of the heavenly habitations If I forget Jerusalem in my mirth let my right-hand forget her cunning those thoughts that are imployed about my death are my best teachers teach me therefore to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness Morning evening and at mid-day let me wait for the coming of my blessed Saviour who shall turn my night into day my darkness into light my heaviness into joy my labours into rest when death shall be swallowed up into victory where the serpent shall sting no more and where the second death shall never hurt me VII Guide thou O Lord my God the ship of my soul through the sea of this world by the direction of thy holy word wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust let me sayl so safely that by the winds and waves of temptations I may never be driven either upon the Rocks of Presumption or Despair but that I may happily arrive at the haven of the promised land of thy heavenly Kingdom While I behold thee O Lord in thy justice I am afraid and am ready to despair and while I look upon thee in thine infinite mercies I am subject to presume Let thy hand therefore so support me that I may be defended by thy fatherly goodness as with a shield that I may not be cut off by the course of thy severe justice as with a sword I must confess that in justice I have incurred thy wrath and deserve condemnation but through thy manifold mercies O Lord I long and look for thy salvation I am the workmanship of thy hands destroy not therefore that which thou hast made but bless it and bring it to a perfect end thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth and therefore I promise to my self that I cannot be lost if I sincerely put my trust in thee for then thou hast promised me salvation in thy word and thou hast bound this thy promise with an Oath and sealed it with the blood of thy Son and that before the best witnesses in heaven or earth thy holy spirit bearing witness with my spirit that I am a child of God Now upon such considerations as these I fix and ground my faith and am perswaded that after
perfect it By it thou art liable to death and all that troop of calamities miseries and diseases which precede death An insufficient sorrow Tempted I acknowledge and perceive that I was not only born and conceived in sins but also that God hath been offended by me by divers manifold and great transgressions I perceive this and I am heartily sorry but may be that sorrow is not sufficient as not being answerable to the faults nor an equivalent satisfaction for my transgressions Comforter True the grief and trouble of conscience that arises from the consciousness of sin can never answer the grievousness and deformity of the sins seeing God is an infinite good that is offended sin an infinite evil that is committed and the punishment of hell prepared for sinners is infinite how then by thy contrition canst thou satisfie the infinite justice of God and expiate his infinite wrath Christ hath performed that which of thy self and by thy own strength thou couldst not he hath made an infinite and equivalent satisfaction for thy sins If thou couldst have satisfied by thy self if thou couldst have done away thy sins by thy own contrition and grief what need had there been for Christ to have come down from heaven and to have laboured so long under the weight of the Cross Isai 43.24 Thou hast made him to serve with thy sins and hast wearied him with thine iniquities He has trodden the wine-press alone and of the people there was none with him Look therefore that thou think not that the grief of thy contrition either can be or ought to be so great as that it should answer to the greatness and deformity of thy sins but therefore and for this end doth God require a true confession of sin and a sincere contrition of heart that the free remission of sins which thou obtainest through Christ apprehended by faith may take place Christ preacheth but it is to the meek that is Isai 61.1 Luk. 4.18 Mat. 9.12 the humbled in spirit he heals but it is the broken-hearted For the whole have no need of the physician that is those that think themselves to be well He preaches remission but it is to the captives that is to those that are sensible of the spiritual captivity of sin for that man desires not to be freed from bondage that thinks himself free in every respect He preacheth sight Joh. 9.41 but it is to the blind that is to those that lament the spiritual blindness of their heart for they that say they see their sin remaineth They that say they are rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing know not that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked He preacheth forgiveness but it is to the broken and contrite in heart The Lord killeth 1 Sam. 2.6 and maketh alive he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up He kills by contrition that he may make alive by consolation he bringeth down to the grave by the hammer of the Law that he may bring up from the grave by the comfort of the Gospel The weight of sorrow Tempted Troubles have compassed me about my heart is broken and overwhelmed my sins come flocking before me which grievously torment my conscience and strive to bring me down to hell Psal 32.3 there is no quietness in my bones from the terror of the Lord my soul refuseth to be comforted 77.2 v. 3. I am troubled and my spirit is overwhelmed I see no place whither I can flee and seek a remedy of my sins Comforter If thou wilt flee flee to Christ He friendly inviteth all that labour under the weight of sin Mat. 11.27 and are pressed with the yoke of that evil mistress Iniquity Hide thy self in his wounds until the tempest of God's anger be overpast Rom. 3.25 Christ is the propitiatory to which thou maist flee by a true faith and rest under the shadow of his wings Psal 42.1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks so thy soul being even spent by the heat of thy sins and the anger of God thirsteth after Christ the fountain of living water springing up to everlasting life If thou comest to him he will not refuse thee nor thrust thee from him for thus run the promises Rev. 22.17 Whosoever thirsteth let him come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely 21.16 To him that thirsteth will I give of the well of life freely Mat. 11 28. Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest In me and through me ye shall find rest to your souls v. 29. Him that cometh unto me Joh. 6.37 I will not cast out With a faithful heart embrace these words of Christ which are the words of eternal and immoveable truth let thy heart propound to it self these his promises Psal 27.8 and seek the face of God Put Christ as in the midst between thee a sinner and an angry God Appeal from the throne of God's severe justice to the throne of mercy prepared for thee in and by Christ The infernal hawk follows hard after and persecutes thy soul let it flee therefore like a fearful and frighted dove to the elifts of the rock Cant. 2.14 which are the wounds of Christ Moses accuseth thee therefore sigh that Christ may interceed for thee Thy conscience is troubled Bern. Serm. 61. in Cant. but let it not be cast down from hope and trust but remember the wounds of Christ Aug. in Medit. Let the firmness of all thy trust be in the wounds of Christ which flow with the streams of mercy and want no holes whereby they may flow out Idem Serm. 22. in Cant. Let the Passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ be thy last refuge and the only remedy of thy sins It can help thee when thy wisdom fails thy righteousness is not sufficient the merits of thy holiness are of no avail And this is another and indeed an essential property of true faith to look with the eye of the heart on Christ hanging on the cross from his wounds to hope for and draw a remedy for a mans own wounds to rest upon him with a sincere trust of heart and as it were to wrap ones self in his most holy merit For this is the voice of true faith Behold me thou who on the cross didst die And to my sins thy side a shelter give My heart pants after thee my sins pass by By sin I dye but by thy blood I live If therefore being pricked for thy sins thou hunger and thirst after righteousness Bern. Ser. 22. in Cant. believe on him that justifieth the ungodly and being justified by faith alone thou shalt have peace with God Confess thou art not worthy Lib. 1. vit Bern. cap. 13. nor canst obtain the kingdom of heaven by thy own merits but let this be thy trust
that Christ thy Lord obtaineth it on a double account both by being the heir of the Father and by the merit of his passion he is content with the first the latter he bestoweth on thee from whose gift challenge it for thy self and thou shalt not be confounded The temptation of despair Tempted The Devil solicits me to despair Comforter I would have thee despair namely of thy self and in thy self because thou art a sinner but despair not in God whose grace aboundeth over thy sin Rom. 5.21 Chrysost hom 3. de poenit For no more is the malice of man to the clemency of God than a spark of fire is to the sea The sea although it be great yet it admits of measure but the mercy of God is unmeasurable Neither despair of Christ and in Christ 1 Tim. 1.15 who came into the world to save sinners whose blood avails more to reconcile God than the sins of all the world to offend him Although thy sins be great and diverse and often repeated yet they are not greater nor more grievous than thou maist obtain pardon and forgiveness for in that the goodness of God is greater than the iniquity of all men Sins as it were set with the sun but the grace of God riseth with it Sins are the works of the Devil and of man To have pity to spare and to forgive are the works of God By how much therefore God is more powerful than the Devil and man by so much is his mercy above our malice The Lord is merciful and gracious Ps 103.8 slow to anger and plenteous in mercy v. 9. He doth not always chide neither doth he keep his anger for ever v. 10. He dealeth not with us after our sins nor rewardeth us according to our iniquities v. 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him v. 12. As far as the East is from the West so far removeth he our transgressions Heaven is incomparably greater than the earth which is but like a very little point in comparison with heaven but so is the mercy of the heavenly Father incomparably greater than all sins Bern. Serm. 11. in Cant. col 518. Be far then from saying Mine iniquity is greater than the pity of a merciful God Thou shalt find God more bountiful than thou art faulty Gerson de remed contra pusillan So great is God's mercy that if thou hadst all the sins of the world upon thee and wert sorry that thou hadst proudly offended so good a God by thy sins and didst firmly purpose for the future to refrain therefrom God would never condemn thee Dost thou so forget the satisfaction made by Christ that thou wilt prefer thy sins before the merit of Christ that is thy self before God Thou seest the greatness of the disease Aug. in Psal 55. and seest thou not the power of the physician Thy sins are great Christ is far greater that satisfied for thy sins Thy sins are diverse but Christ also suffered diverse things for thee God is an infinite good whom thou hast offended by thy sins but Christ is an infinite person who hath reconciled thee to God Sigh therefore unto the heavenly Father and pray in the name of the Son thy Saviour If thou O eternal God Ansh de redempt gen hum fol. 96. despisest me for mine iniquity as I deserve however for the dearness of thy beloved Son look upon me with pity Observe in thy Son what thou maist atone in thy servant Behold the Sacrament of his flesh and remit the guilt of my flesh remember what â—â—y good Son has suffered and forget what thy bad servant hath done The Temptation of Blasphemy Tempted I must needs confess I am not only solicited to despair but am also sometimes tempted with the spirit of Blasphemy for there arise such thoughts in my heart as are injurious against God himself my Creator and my Saviour I would choose to die a thousand times to be freed from this temptation Comforter These thoughts are not the actions of thine heart but rather its bitter passions seeing thou art not delighted with them but thy grief from them is more bitter than death it self They are the scourges of Satan whereby he afflicts and torments thee they will not be reckoned for sin unto thee by the Lord. And though thou have the greatest impatience of spirit from the infirmity of thy flesh yet the Lord knows thy groans and thy sighs The weight of temptations did force hard words even from Job and Jeremy which yet the most bountiful God did fatherly forgive them Thou seest by them how altogether no strength unto good thou hast from thy self that thou maist cleave unto God alone with full trust of heart This is the top and highest degree of thy fight against Satan see that thou despond not here the greatest champion will be with thee and will not leave thee destitute of his help Wait patiently and humbly till thou art freed of these fiery darts of Satan Eph. 6.16 in the mean time let the grace of God be sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12.9 It is the flesh which so striveth against the spirit and is so ready and obedient to receive the darts of Satan the sin that dwells in thy flesh shall not be imputed unto thee if through the spirit thou mortifie the deeds of the flesh and consent not to those blasphemous thoughts Those fiery darts of Satan shall be quenched in the blood of Christ turn towards him the shield of faith and as soon as thou perceivest any blasphemous thought to arise betake thy self to prayer and so thou maist kill it as it were in the bud The particularness of the premises Tempted I perceive some comfort of the Spirit in my heart I observe some trust in my mind that keeps me from despair when I behold the mercy of God abounding over my sins and the merit of Christ which is of infinite price and value But I doubt whether the Evangelical promises of the mercy of God and merit of Christ belong to me For God is not only merciful but he is also a most just and severe punisher of sins and alas experience sheweth that all are not partakers of the benefits of Christ Comforter But look thou give not way to those seducing thoughts of the particularness of the Evangelical promises God calleth all to him desireth all will come unto him he offereth the word of the Gospel and in it the benefits of Christ unto all and that not feignedly but sincerely not hypocritically but with a mind to bestow Ezek. 18.31 32. ch 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner but that he should turn and live Here thou hast the solemn oath of Divine truth thou seest their conversion is expected and desired by God that by their own fault die in their sins