It is most certain that this death is not to be feared as an evil and an enemy but it is rather to be desired as a good Friend and a Blessing It is reported of the Thracians that they buried their dead with expressions of joy and the Inhabitants of the fortunate Islands did Sing and Dance at the Funerals of their dearest Friends I don't recommend these foolish examples of these extravagant and barbarous People who were without Hope and without God in the World such cannot fear death too much for if it frees them from some present and light evils it casts them into an Abysse of excessive torments Death is an Happiness it brings with it solid Comfort and Joy but it is when we dye in God's Favour and in the Faith of our Lord Jesus God hath sufficiently declared the Happiness and Pleasure of his Childrens death for he doth often abridge the days of those whom he favours and esteems Because he had seen some good things in the person of Abijah the eldest Son of Jeroboam King of Israel he took him away in the flower of his Age 1 Kings 14. He granted the same favour to Josias King of Judea one of the most Religious Princes of the World for he had declared to him by Hulda the Prophetess Behold I will gather thee unto thy Fathers and thou shalt be gathered into thy Grave in peace and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place 2 Kings 22. It is not to be doubted but that such are most happy as die in the Lord and rest from their Labours but I judge such happy in a twofold manner as Dye or rather cease from Dying in such miserable times so full of confusion and disorder Would not you laugh at a Workman that should grieve when his Task is ended and his Labour finished or at a Wayfaring Man that should lament to see the end of his painful journey through Prickles and Thorns and the scorching heat of the Sun or the unsufferable cold of the Winter Or would you not wonder at one that should vex himself when he is safely arrived in the Haven escaped the Waves of a tempestuous Sea and in a shelter from the Storms Wretched Man thou art far more foolish and extravagant than those of whom we speak for the most painful Labours of a Workman the most grievous weariness of a tedious journey and the swelling Waves of a troubled Sea are nothing in comparison of the Labours Misery and Troubles of this languishing Life You would doubtless esteem it a very great folly and madness in a prisoner to be sorry of being delivered out of his noisome Dungeon or in a Gally-Slave to be angry when he is to be loos'd from his Chains or in an offender to vex when he is freed from his Torments What think ye is there less madness and extravagancy in you when ye are grieved to see death freeing your Souls from this miserable Body where it is imprison'd withdrawing it from the painful employments of this unhappy Age more grievous and intolerable than that of the Gally-slaves and discharging you from the troubles of the Soul far more painful than the most unsufferable tortures of the Body no no death that thou dreadest so much is not the death of the faithful but the end of his miseries and the last period of all his torments Gen. 8. Noah when he went out of the Ark that stopt upon Mount Ararat had never so much cause to praise God and to offer unto him the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving as we have when he is pleased to cause us to see the end of the Inundation of so many evils and calamities and to make this floating Life or this living Death to stop upon Mount Sion The Children of Israel sung Songs of Thanksgiving when they came out of Egypt and saw themselves deliver'd out of a bitter and painful Bondage where they had been employed in gathering up Stubble and burning Brick but we have much more cause to rejoyce and to sing Songs of Praise when Death takes us out of the World where we suffer a kind of bondage laboring in vain employments and enduring the scorching heat of many afflictions that consume us Thou findest fault with some of the unconstant people that murmured to return again into Egypt when they were upon the borders of the promised Land but rather find fault with thine own filthy flesh if it offers to murmure and revolt when thou art at the entrance of thy Celestial Canaan Joseph rejoyced when the King of Aegypt sent for him out of prison Gen. 41. and have we not cause to be joyful when God sends for our Souls out of the World and causeth them to go out of their Bodies which to them is a kind of a Dungeon If therefore we can speak without impatient murmuring I conceive we have as good reason as Jonas to say O Lord take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to dye than to live Jonas 4. Or as the Prophet Elias It is enough Lord take away my life 1 Kings 19. Such a Soul may in an Holy transport safely speak in the language of David the Man after God's own Heart Bring my Soul out of prison that I may praise thy name the righteous shall compass me about for thou shalt deal bountifully with me Psal 141. A Prayer and Meditation for a Christian who comforts himself with the Consideration that Death delivers us from all evils which are so numerous in the World and which so often assault us O Glorious Prince of my Salvation thou hast hitherto strengthened me against all fears of Death but now I beseech thee with all mine Heart to give me Grace that death may not terrify and afflict me but also fill me full of Joy and Comfort Suffer me not to be like thy People Israel when they had forgotten their hard and cruell Bondage when they thought upon the Pleasures and Plenty of Egypt they did mutiny to return thither again when they were upon the borders of Canaan Give me Grace O my God to blot out of my Soul the fancy for the vain delights of the World and for the deceitsul Pleasures of this wretched Flesh Let me have always in my mind the Labours the Pains and Troubles of this miserable Life that I may continually look upon Death in the same manner as the Workman looks upon the end of his days work As the Wayfaring man looks upon the end of his Journey and as the Traveller looks upon the Haven of his last Rest Let me often meditate upon these horrible confusions that are this day in the World the Deluge of all manner of Evils that cover the face of the Earth the Rivers and Streams of Bloud that is shed the Fires and the Swords that devour so many Let me never forget the sad and lamentable state of thy poor Church that is like a small Boat upon
Temple and its wonderful glory wept aloud so that their weeping interrupted the others expressions of joy and gladness At the Restauration of the Temple of our Bodies nothing shall be heard but Songs of Triumph and Jubile Such as have seen with the eyes of Faith Mans Body as it was in the estate of its integrity in the earthly Paradise shall not be then sorry that it hath been defaced by Sin and destroyed by Death they shall not be sorry for any thing that is passed they shall not be able to wish for any increase of happiness and glory for the future for at the very instant of its rising from the Grave it shall be raised to its highest Splendor Happiness and Magnificence so that it shall be truly said That the glory of this Second House shall be greater than that of the First Hag. 2. Now that we have treated sufficiently of such as shall rise from their Graves it remains that we take a view of them whose Bodies shall never be laid in the Dust and who shall be alive at Christs coming down from Heaven for that purpose St. Paul informs us 1 Cor. 15. Behold I shew you a Mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall be all changed in a moment at the twinckling of an eye at the sound of the last trumpet and he speaks in this manner to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 4. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep for the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the Dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and we shall ever be with the Lord wherefore comfort one another with these words I know very well that St. Paul tells the Hebrews that it is appointed unto all Men once to Die Therefore I conceive that this great change that shall be made in the Bodies of them that shall be then alive shall be a kind of Death for Christ will destroy and abolish altogether in them all corruption and inclination to Mortality And when he shall change the Bodies of the Reprobates he will make them like to the other Reprobates whom he shall fetch out of their Graves he will make them Immortal that they may be eternally tormented in Hell But he will cause the Bodies of Believers then alive to be like the other Believers that they may all partake and enjoy the same glory and eternal Bliss Christians in what condition soever you be in seriously apply to your selves these Divine Consolations you that are grieved to see your Bodies maimed and deprived of one of your Members of your Eyes Hearing or of some other of your senses whether you be so born or whether such a privation hath happened unto you by a Disease by a Mischance or by any other Means rejoyce and comfort your selves with this assurance that you shall see one day this wretched Body restored to a perfect estate to a perfection that shall never be lost you that fret and vex your selves to behold now old Age and Sickness have disfigured your Bodies what breaches and ruines they have caused in you Comfort your selves in expectation of this glorious Resurrection which shall supply this decayed and languishing Body with new strength and vigor and adorn it with a perfect beauty and an eternal glory And you whom Death undermines and intends shortly to lay in the Dust grieve not at it for you shall loose nothing at present but you shall find it again at the great day of the Resurrection When Joseph died he commanded his Brethren concerning his Bones that they should carry them out of Egypt into the Land of Canaan Now our Bones are the Bones of Jesus Christ our true Joseph Therefore he will command his Angels to gather them up safe he himself will have a care to preserve them at the great Morne of the Resurrection he shall fetch them out of their Graves as out of an Egypt out of an House of Bondage and will carry them to his Celestial Canaan When the Tabernacle was taken in pieces the High-Priest did deliver every piece in charge to the Levites so that when they were to set it up again there was nothing wanting Likewise our Saviour hath given in charge and delivered by retail every Member and part of our Bodies these Tabernacles which he hath Consecrated for himself to our Graves therefore they shall all be found again at the Resurrection without the least imperfection These Tabernacles shall not only be found entire but they shall be beautified with a far greater Glory and Splend or than before There is none but would be glad to lay himself down to sleep in his Bed and pull off his garments willingly if he were certain to be more healthy and to find his garments fresher and more beautiful in the Morning if he were perswaded that instead of old rags he were to cloath and put on a royal attire and most mâ—gnificent garments Who would not willingly go out of a pittiful Cabin and forfake a miserable lodge which shall be one day changed into a Golden Palace adorned with precious Stones Comfort thy self believing Soul and rejoyce in God thy Redeemer cast off willingly this Garment that is so incommodious and troublesome to thee forsake this wretched Body undermined by sickness and diseases and consumed by time Sleep quietly in the Lord Jesus and repose thy self in his Bosome for when thou shalt wake again at the sound of the Archangels Trumpet thou shalt find this garment whither then Snow and as bright as the Light grieve not to see this crasy dwelling fall to pieces and rot for God shall build it up again with his own hands and convert it into his Temple and a pavillion of his glory Thou mayst be certain shortly to return again and to find this woful lodge of Earth become an heavenly Palace purer than fine Gold and brighter than the Diamonds the Rubies and all the precious Stones Weep not for thy beautiful eyes that are shut nor for the rest of thy Senses that are lost nor for the Members of thy Body that consume away one after another for with these same eyes that have lost or shall shortly loose the sight of the day light thou shalt behold a Divine Light that shall shine eternally in Heaven thou shalt behold the face of the King of Kings and all the Glory and Magnificence of his Kingdom with these ears that are deaf and that shall shortly be stopped thou shalt hear with transports of Joy the ravishing harmonies of the Saints and the Songs of the Blessed Angels with this stammering Tongue which is to loose the faculty of Speech thou shalt sing with a loud
death of other men but hath not the deadly and pernicious consequences for it is not only a sign and a testimony of Gods Grace and Favour but the beginning of our deliverance and the cure of all our Diseases As Moses when he had cast wood into the waters of Marah they had the same colour but not the same bitterness and unpleasant taste Thus the death of Gods dearest Children hath the same tincture and appearance as before but Christs Cross hath taken away the danger the trouble and extracted out of it its unsufferable bitterness and changed it into unspeakable sweetness As Pharaoh was drowned with all his Army in the waters of the Red Sea but the Children of Israel found a secure and a pleasant passage into the promised Land When they were arrived upon the other shoar of that dreadful Sea they sung unto God Songs of Triumph and Thanksgiving Thus Death opens its Throat to devour the Reprobates It is an Abysse where they can find no bottom but unto the Children of God it is a favourable passage into an eternal Bliss assoon as they are gone through they are arrived to a place of Assurance Joy and Rest where God furnisheth them with Songs of Triumph and Thansgiving to the Lamb 1 Rev. 15. Moses's Rod was turned into a Serpent but Aaron's being laid up in the Tabernacle began to flourish and bear Almonds Exod. 4. and 7. Thus while we are in the hands of the Law Death is dreadful and terrible but when we draw near to Christ the true Ark of the Covenant it blossoms and brings Fruits forth of Joy and Eternal Comfort Balaam the Prophet was called to curse the People of God but he blessed it contrary to the vain expectation of Balak King of Moab Thus Death hath been brought into the world by the Devil to destroy and utterly abolish the Holy Seed but God by his infinite Goodness and Wisdom hath changed it into Salvation and Blessing Let us not therefore be any longer puzled to find out the meaning of Sampsons Riddle Out of the eater came forth Meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness Judg. 14. For the Church of God unto whom Christ hath discover'd the most excellent Secrets of his Kingdom teacheth us to seek the Hony the sweetest comforts out of the Belly of this old Lion It is not possible to Judge of Musick by a Tone or of an Oration by a Period nor of a Comedy by a Scene So we must not judge of a Battel by the first Assault nor of a wrestling by the first embraces and effects of the wrestlers for some in the beginning of the Battel turn their backs who nevertheless at the last doe sometimes win the day and the victory and some in wrestling are foiled at the beginning who nevertheless at last supplant their Enemy and cast him upon the back Therefore that we may better understand the great and notable advantages that we have over death we must examine it all along until the end of the encounter we must take notice of every Assault that we do give unto this unreconcileable Enemy Assoon as the Taper of our Life begins to burn Satan sends forth his blasts to extinguish it Death labours to undermine ' this poor Dwelling from the first moment that it was built it besieges it on all sides it makes its approaches in time it saps the foundation it batters us with several diseases and unexpected accidents every day it opens a breach and pulls out of this building some stones But if Death labours to demolish on her part we on ours labour to repair And as those who built the Walls of Jerusalem held with one hand the Trowel and with the other a Sword to sight so we defend our selves as well as we are able against the assaults of Death Therefore we do not only endeavour to preserve this earthly Lodge that God hath Lett and Sett to us for a term and to mend up the continual Dilapidations that happen in it but at the very sight of death when it gives us the Assault we do then also advance our Spiritual building and labour to bring it to perfection so that we may say as the Apostle St. Paul If our outward man decays the inward man is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4. To speak true Death meddles with nothing but with the exterior part of Man for our principal Fort and chief Bulwark doth neither fear to be undermined nor sapt nor to be won by Assault for it is rais'd above the Heavens and built upon the Rock of Eternity it cannot be batter'd for as the Thunderbolts the storms of Hail and ill weather cannot prejudice the Sunbeams because they are of a Spiritual nature so all the Fury of the World all the Powers of Hell and the Rage of Death can never wrong the Soul that is of a Spiritual and Immortal Nature This Castle can never be famished for God furnisheth it with Manna from Heaven and from the Rock upon which it is built there runs a source of living waters that riseth to everlasting life In one word as the Serpents do crawl only upon the Dust Death hath no power but upon the earthly part of Man therefore our Lord Jesus Christ adviseth his Apostles To not fear them that kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul At the very instant of our Souls separation from the Body Death seeâ—s to have a great advantage upon us but when I consider all I find that it hath no cause to glory and that it is without reason that it chalenges the victory When a valiant Captain marches out of a Town almost destroyed to another more secure and better fortified with his weapons in his hand we say that he hath quitted his station and not that he is overcome Thus when this wretched Body decays and that our Souls depart well armed with Faith and Hope to lodge in a more secure place in the highest Heavens no body can say to speak properly that we have been overcome And as it happens with such as sail on the wide Sea when a violent storm threatens them with Shipwrack they think themselves very happy if they can quit then Vessel leave it to the mercy of the Winds and Waves and escape to Land with their Riches and Lives safe Thus it is with us who sail upon this tempestuous Sea of the world for when Death raiseth its most cruel storms we think our selves happy if we can leave this miscrable Body which seems as a ship to our Souls and if we can secure our Spiritual Life and our Heavenly Riches Therefore we may justly say to the faithful Souls that are frighted when they see Death threatening to drown them in its depths as St. Paul to his Ship-company who did tremble for fear at the sight of a roaring and furious Sea Take good courage my brethren for I do assure you in the name of the living God that your lives are
secure and that you shall loose nothing but this Ship Acts 27. We may yet furnish them with stronger comforts for these good Mariners lost their Ship without any hopes of recovering it again but we are assured that God will one day gather up every piece of these broken Vessels of our Bodies and will joyn them together in a more perfect estate Therefore Death doth not carry away our bodies by violence but we leave them willingly we do not stay for its summons but we do prevent Death and give it a Licence when we have packt up our Bag and Baggage we are ready to depart out of this wretched abode where we endure all manner of calamities for in this house defluxions do rain down If Vapors do arise the Pillars and Foundation does tremble the Joynts do open the Windows are darkened and the burning Feavers like violent fires consume it I must not forget that the faithful do name their death not only a removal of their Lodging but a removal from a Tabernacle this teacheth us that we must depart from hence with as much joy and readiness as a Soldier doth out of his Tabernacle at the end of a laborious and bloudy warfare and with as much pleasure as the Children of Israel did out of their Tents under which they had remained in the Desart to enter into the sweet and comfortable dwellings of the Land of Canaan Not only this Body is like to an hired House or to a Tabernacle transported up and down but it is by Sin become to our Soul a woful prison Therefore Death may be compared to the Messengers sent by King Pharaoh on purpose to take Joseph out of his Dungeon and bring him to his Palace The Body that was created to be a noble Pavillion of Joy and Honor is become to our Soul a wretched and incommodious Prison Death is like to the Furnace of Babylon that burned and consumed the Bonds of the three Children without prejudicing their Persons or Attire Dan. 3. for it consumes those sad Bonds that detain our Soul enâ—laved to the Earth but it doth not meddle with the Oâ—naments of our Justice and Sanctification it is like the Skin that encloseth the Child in his Mothers Womb or like the Shell where the Chicken is formed for of necessity it must be broken before we can enter into immortal Life In short we may say That the Body which was given to the Soul to be its Palace is become by Sin its Grave and loathsome Sepulchre far more noisome than that of Lazarus and that Death is like the voice that calls upon us Lazarus come out Faithful Souls you see then that as Sampson carried away the Gates of the City of Gaza and transported them to the top of the Hill so hath Jesus Christ our true Sampson transported and carried the Gates of death to the highest pitch of Glory Therefore whereas before we did look upon it with horror as the very entrance of Hell now we may behold it with Confidence and Joy saying as Jacob did of Bethel This is the Gate of Heaven Seeing therefore that this is the nature and condition of Death I find that Men do give it too much advantage for we should not offer to say that such are dead whom God hath admitted into Eternal life because the qualification should be derived from the chief and noblest part as it is in nature there is no generation without corruption and we commonly say that it is a Generation when the thing engendred is more excellent than the thing corrupted as we say that it is a corruption when the thing corrupted excels the thing that is engendred Therefore our change and removal out of this world should be rather stiled a Life than a Death for if our Body Dies and Rots in the Earth our Soul revives and mounts up to Heaven and this mortal life that we leave in leaving the Earth is nothing in comparison of that life that we shall enjoy with Christ and his Holy Angels God is named the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacoh Now he is not the God of the Dead but of the Living Exod. 4. Matt. 22. I may also without any Figure say That Death in respect of the Body is no real Death but a kind of sleep as it is said in the Prophet Daniel Many do sleep in the dust of the Earth chap. 12. and in Isaiah that the Just sleep in their beds Therefore our Saviour speaking of Jairus's Daughter declared The Child is not dead but sleepeth Mat. 9. and of Lazarus his friend Lazarus our friend sleepeth but I go to awake him Beloved if thou art of the number of such as Christ loveth thy Death will be but a kind of sleep of a short continuance and a few days The Lord will raise thee up again For the hour cometh and is already That the Dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that shall hear shall revive John 5. During this Life the assaults of Death are no better than light skirmishes the most sensible and most dangerous blow that it strikes in appearance is when Death separates the Soul from the Body but the last and most signal encounter which will put an end to all disputes will happen at the day of Judgement Jesus Christ will then appear from Heaven in the company of all his immortal Angels and Saints to encourage us to the encounter He will come with a terrible voice of an Archangel and the last Trumpet shall sound then Death will endeavor to keep us still in its black prison and our Bones will be found without life or motion but the Spirit of God shall breathe upon these dry Bones and will cause them to revive As the Prophet Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the Whale God Commanded the Fish to vomit him up again upon the ground Thus when we shall have made so long our abode in our Graves as God hath appointed in his wisdom Death shall be constrained to restore all that it hath swallowed and as Daniel came out of the Lions Den by break of day these savage Beasts having done him no harm Thus at the break of the last day at the Rising of the Sun of Righteousness we shall all go out of Deaths deep Den and as if God had sent his Angel on purpose to shut the mouth of this old Lion we shall then find that he shall have done us no harm instead of devouring of us he will prove a faithful keeper of our bones therefore the faithful may speak unto Death in the language of the Prophet Micah Rejoyce not against me O mine Enemy when I shall fall I shall rise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me Mic. 7.8 As Moses said to Pharaoh we will go into the Wilderness to sacrifice unto God we will go out of thine Egypt with our young and with our old with our Sons
Servants Princes and Subjects all of us in general we may with reason say to the Men of this World as Abraham to the Children of Heth I am a stranger and a forreigner in the midst of you Now he that travels in a strange Countrey may gather some Flowers in his passage or take with him a few Ears of Corn but if he be wise he will never tarry to build a Palace If he be well Treated in his Inn he must not cast away the good chear but if his Entertainment be bad he must endure with patience the inconveniencies and contemn all the disorders that happen during his abode if the way be deep full of Mud Bryars and Thorns he must get out of them assoon as he can and if it be good and pleasant he must not stop in it nor busy himself with needless inquiries Every one that is a Traveller dreams of nothing but how to advance in his journey and go forward Likewise we being accustomed to Plenty and Want to Riches and Poverty to Honor and Dishonor we ought to leave the things that are behind and proceed forward to such as are before that we may attain to the end and reward of our Heavenly Calling Phil. 3. 2. Consider not only I beseech you that we are strangers and forrainers in the world but that we are not to inhabit always in this forrain Countrey but that our passage will be but of few days Revel 7. We need but little to nourish and entertain us in this short race at the end of it we shall neither hunger nor thirst and the Sun shall burn us no more As it happen'd with Jacob and his Family when they went into Egypt they had no other Corn nor Food but what was needful and necessary for them in the way because they were certain to meet with plenty of all manner of good things in Joseph's House Likewise we need not make any great provision for our selves in this life because we are marching apace towards our Saviour Christ our elder Brother unto whom God hath given all power in Heaven and in Earth Matt. 28. We are marching into a Countrey that abounds with all manner of true Riches Excellency Glory and Happiness 3. Consider that we are not only strangers but Soldiers to fight under the banners of Christ our Captain who judges and fights justly Revel 19. Job acknowledges That there is a warfare appointed to all Mortals upon Earth Job 7. But I may say that this War is chiefly for such as aim at the glorious immutability For God calls them to endure grievous and violent encounters Therefore St. Paul exhorts his beloved Disciple Timothy to behave himself as a good Soldier in this just War and to fight the good fight of faith 1 Tim. 1. Now he that goes to War must not incumber himself with the affairs and enjoyments of this life 4. Moreover consider that we are like to Soldiers that are engag'd in an Enemies Countrey not with a design to conquer and establish our Selves but only to obtain a free passage having only an intent to pass thorough into our own Native Countrey We don't desire to get into our hands the Inheritances and possessions of the Worldlings nor to rob them of their Crowns and Scepters We have no other request to make to them but that which the Children of Israel made to the Inhabitants of Edom when they were going to the promised Land Numb 20. We desire leave to pass peaceably and go along by the Kings high way to take possession of the Inheritance which God hath prepared for us from the beginning of the World We would not so much as taste a bit of Bread without paying for it nor drink a cup of water without leave 5. Consider that this Life is a Race and the World the place to run in now such as are in a Race must take heed that the Thorns do not catch hold of them in their Course nor that their Feet sink into the Mire or the Clay and that they may run swifter they must cast off all burdens and incumbrances If therefore we will run in this Race in such a manner as that we may obtain the Prize we must see that the Thorns and Briars of the World do not take hold of us and that we sink not into the mire of the dirty Pleasures of this life we must cast away all the burdens that overcharge us and especially the burden of sin which is so grievous that Nature it self grâ—ns under it It is the design of St. Paul's exhortation Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross Rom. 8. Heb. 12. 6. Consider that our life is a continual wrestling for we must wrestle not only against Flesh and Blood but also against Principalities and Powers against the Lords of the World and the Rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual wickedness in high places Eph. 6. 1 Cor. 10. Now he that intends to wrestle well must diet himself accordingly If therefore for a corruptible Crown Men tame their Bodies render them supple and pliant and abstain from Delights and Pleasures how much more reason have we to do the like for an uncorruptible and a Glorious Crown 7. Consider that God will have us to be conformable to the image of his Son and that we should follow his footsteps Now this good Saviour represents to us his own condition Rom. 8. 1 Pet. 2. The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have Nests but the Son of man hath not whereon to lay his head Luke 9. Therefore he made this confession before Pontius Pilate My Kingdom is not of this World John 8. and for that reason he reproves the gross and carnal imaginations of the two Disciples as they were going to Emaus O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Luke 24. ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his Glory according to his blessed example we must have little part and concernment in the World and enter by many afflictions into the kingdom of God Acts 24. 8. I judge that it is also necessary that we should represent at every moment unto our selves that to speak exactly we can have but the 〈◊〉 and not the right enjoyment of Gods Creatures We are intrusted with his favors as the Stewards of his Blessings and Riches At every moment he may call us to an account and require from us a reason of our behaviour and take from us our enjoyments we should therefore look upon our Houses and Possessions as upon things that are let unto us for as we are not displeas'd to restore what we had
When thou shouldest speak with a Divine Tongue and with an Heavenly Wisdom thou mayest have good cause to cry out Who hath believed our report and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed Isai 5. John 12. In short as the Rivers of fresh Water that run continually into the Sea derive not from thence their natural bitterness thus thy good and Holy Life thy Learned and excellent Sermons will not be able to remove the corruptions of this present evil Age nor stop the Torrent and hinder the overflowings of Vice for thy labor and industry if compared with the corruption of the World are as unconsiderable as a few drops of water in comparison of the Ocean This cursed Earth may be watered with thy Sweat and Tears it will nevertheless bring forth nothing but Bryars and Thistles the Weeds which thou thinkest to pluck up will tear thy Skin and draw bloud out of thy Hands In short he that plants is nothing nor he that watereth but it is God who giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3. It is justly to be feared that in staying any longer time in this corrupt and unwholsome Air thou mayest receive some evil impressions from the general contagion It is to be feared that thou mayest sully thy pure Hands by handling so many Wounds and Sores and that the Thorns of this cursed Earth may pluck off the Wooll of thine harmless and innocent life But when thou shouldest have a thousand times more Gifts and Graces and that thy labors should bring far greater advantages and profit to Christ's Church it belongs not to thee to give Laws unto thy God but to follow the motion of his Will Leave to him the chief care of his own Houshold and rest upon his Eternal Providence He hath more right in the Church than thou canst pretend to for he hath created it by his Power and redeem'd it by his precious Bloud He that cares not for his own especially for those of his Family hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel and can God who is Faithfulness it self and the very Being of Truth God who cannot deny himself and whose Gifts and Calling are without Repentance Rom. 12. Can such a God cast off all care of his Church of that Church which he embraceth with an Eternal Love and cherisheth as the apple of his Eye Jer. 31. This Father of Mercies who hath not spared his own Son but hath delivered him to dye for his Church how should not he with him freely give her all things Rom. 8. He understands better than thou and all the men of the World what is proper and advantageous for this Holy Congregation and for every member that composes it He knows how to provide for all its wants for his Wisdom is infinite and his Providence is most wonderful When this great God hath a designe to plague his Enemies and to declare his justice he hath always fit Agents ready and his Quiver full of Arrows As soon as he commands the Holy Angels that wait before him to cast their Sicles into the Earth and to reap or pour down the Viols of his wrath these Holy Spirits fly with an unspeakable swiftness to perform his Sacred Pleasure Revel 14 16. Likewise when he intends to do good to his Chosen he finds in every place the Heralds of his Mercy and his Divine hand is always full of Blessings As the Main Ocean of his wonderful Riches can never become dry Likewise the Channels by which he conveys them to us shall never fail The cause of thy complaints should serve to appease thy Grief nourish thy Faith and increase thy Hopes for if thou art graced with extraordinary Gifts this proceeds neither from thy Nature nor thine Industry but God's Favour and Bounty Now thou mayest be assured that his hand is not shortened his great Power is not lessened the Well-spring of all his Blessings and Wonders is not stopt nor dryed up Is 49. He that sends a desired whiteness the prognostick of an approaching harvest to the spacious Fields John 4. He sends also into his Spiritual Harvest Laborers when he sees it convenient In this latter Age and in this decay of the World as well as in the first appearance of his Church Luk 10. he finds Men to work in his Vineyard or rather he forms and fashions them with the hand of his Grace and enables them by his Holy Spirit for he gives the Mouth and the Tongue he makes deaf dumb blind and restores the eye-sight he calls things that are not as if they were Matth. 20. Exod. 4. Rom. 4. When he designes for himself a Tabernacle he calls by name a Bezaleel and fills him with his Spirit of Wisdom of Understanding and knowledge in all manner of Workmanship Exod. 31. When he resolves to deliver the Children of Israel from their Babylonish Captivity and to build the Temple of Jerusalem he hath at his Command Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes Acts 14. He stirs up Zerobabels Esdras and Nehemiahs Likewise when he intends to repair the breaches of his House and to increase the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour he makes Servants and fit Agents and bestows upon them sufficient Graces for such a noble Work Psal 8. Mat. 21. As he hath never left himself without witness in doing good thus he hath never been without witnesses to declare his Sacred Truth Luk 19. By the mouth of Babes he perfects his praise and as our Saviour told the Jews If these held their peace the stones would cry out Luk 19. God will rather pluck the Pillars of the Idols Temples to prop up his Church rather than to suffer it to fall down he will change the Wolves into Lambs and the Lambs into Shepheards rather than that his Sheep should want their necessary Pasture He chooseth the feeble things of this World to confound the strong the despicable and such as are not to destroy such as are 1 Cor. 9. Thus God never leaves his Church without some testimony of his favour some powerful instrument of his Grace but many times it happens that when he removes one good thing from us he bestows upon us something more rare and excellent This consideration glads the Heart of Joseph upon his Death-bed as appears by what he said to his Brethren I am going to dye but God will not fail to visit you and cause you to go up from hence into the Land that he swore unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob Gen. 50. For instead of a Joseph who had occasioned their Bondage God raised up a Moses who deliver'd them with a mighty hand and a stretched-out Arm 2 Kings 2. Thus God took up Elijah with a Chariot of Fire but he gave unto Elisha a double portion of his Masters Spirit and caused his Glorious Miracles to appear with greater admiration Likewise our Lord and Saviour when he had finished the great work of our Redemption he ascended up into Heaven A Cloud conveying him