things Especially when we remember that in that estate we shall be perfect men That our weakness and our folly shall be taken away and all that which hinders and indisposes us in this lower World shall be taken out of the way Our Understandings shall then be clear and we shall no more be troubled with the fumes and mists that now are before our eyes We shall judge no longer by false Rules and Measures we shall not be blinded by prejudice and prepossession by passion and by secular respects We that now know as Children do shall then know clearly and as we are known And then our Wills that are now crooked and perverse and in great measure unresigned which is the source of our trouble in this life shall be rectified and swallowed up into the Divine Will Our Passions shall no longer disturb and blind us but we shall be perfected and completed throughly refined and purified and perfectly relish the Joys of a future state which as much surpass all the good things of this World as the Heavens surpass this lump of Earth we tread on After all this it must be remembred that that state shall abide for Ever We shall there for Ever be with the Lord. Our Kingdom shall have no end nor shall our Crown fade away We shall not know what the infirmities of Age and what the fears of Death mean There will be an eternal Day without a succeeding Night a Shine without fear of Clouds or Tempest a perpetual Triumph without mixture and Allay This gives an unspeakable weight to that Crown of glory and it will not now sit uneasily upon our heads we not being burdened with the anxious thoughts of death and a future reckoning 2. I consider the clearness of the Revelation of this Eternal life For this is a Consideration of great moment in the case that lies before us For had not the revelation been clear the thing it self could not have wrought very powerfully upon us The heathen world wanted this discovery to animate them to worthy actions And for the Jews we read nothing in the five Books of Moses of Eternal life I do not deny but that devout and holy men amongst them had about them an expectation of a future Bliss Nay more I make no doubt they had also among them some shadows and obsecure Images of this Blessed State But then as this was not on Gods part any express Promise so it is certain that they had but very obscure notices of this happiness But thanks be to God the case is better with us Our Lord hath abolished death 2 Tim. 1.10 and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel We have it now clearly and openly revealed and have by the Religion of Jesus Christ received the utmost assurance of it It is not now obscured under Types and Veils under the wealth and plenty of a Land that flowed with Milk and Honey but it is now revealed clearly and our Lord hath given us the utmost assurance that we could desire in the case He hath not only taught us this Doctrine but confirmed it to us by many Miracles and particularly by his own Resurrection from the dead and after that he himself ascended into Heaven in the sight of his Disciples What shall we say now Can we forbear to use the Apostles words 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope or to the hope of life as one Greek Copy hath it by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you We are now begotten to the hope of life and immortality The Blessed Tidings thereof was brought us from heaven by the Son of God and he confirmed what he said by Miracles that were unquestionable and to give us the greatest assurance he did himself rise out of the Grave and ascended thither visibly What is there wanting now to confirm our faith if we do but credit the very History of the Gospel That tells us the many wonders that Christ did even besides what are written and that these are written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing Joh. 20.31 we might have life or as one Greek Copy hath it eternal life through his name 3. I consider how fit this hope of Eternal life is to work upon us and to render us patient and constant under the sufferings which meet us in our way to Heaven Surely the Apostle judged so when he said Rejoyce 1 Pet. 4.13 inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy It will have a mighty force upon us if we be not much wanting 2 Cor. 4.16 For which cause we faint not while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal There is enough in the thing it self to support us And if it do it not it is because we do not believe it or do not keep our eye fixt upon it For we find that the hope of other things incomparably less hath a mighty force and influence upon us Out of the faint hope of Riches we endure labours and Watchings we patiently dig into the bowels of the earth and adventure our lives upon the uncertain Seas we deny sleep to our eyes and slumber to our eye-lids We are content to endure repulses and disappointments that we may get preferment and enjoy our pleasure afterward We keep something in our eye that supports us under our pain and labour of life And in yet these things we have not that assurance of success nor yet if we had can we have any certainty that we shall long enjoy what we so vehemently pusue Besides all the mean while we do but grasp at a shadow and court a trifle Let us then be perswaded to keep our eyes fixt upon our Reward and we shall find our selves much at ease under the labours and sufferings of this life Let us raise up our wearied hearts and eyes to that state of Rest and Bliss into which our Lord is entred to prepare a place for us If we think of the good Land we are going to possess we shall support our selves under the labours of a barren Wilderness And if our hearts be but throughly set on Heaven we shall not greatly complain of the roughness of the way to it The hopes of a Child to be born into the world reconciles the otherwise fearful Mother to the pains of her Travail What will not then the hope of Eternal glory be able to do We are here but forming a new for a more blessed state of things We hope to be brought forth ere
yet I shall shew the reasonableness of it And to that purpose shall commend to your serious consideration the following particulars First Let us consider whose Law this is and we shall find that the Author of the Law does greatly recommend it to us How hard soever it may otherwise seem yet that it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ that consideration is of great moment to reconcile us to it We ought not to think any thing unreasonable or hard which our Blessed Lord and dear Redeemer lays upon us For we are well assured of his great love and affection towards us He hath given us great proof that he loved us when he was content for our sakes not only to become a man but to die a shameful and painful death to bring us unto God Let us stay a while upon this consideration and meditate upon the unheard-of love of our Lord Jesus and we shall soon see great cause to think him a good Master even then when he does oblige us to die for his sake If our hearts be cold and chill if we find them dampt and sinking let us then meditate of our Lords love and that will be of great use to inflame them and give them spirit Does Jesus say that we must not fear them that kill the body that we must hate our own lives if we will be his Disciples Good is that word of our Dearest Lord will the pious Soul say Death shall be welcome when ever it comes and it will be not only our duty to die when our Lord would have us but our honour and great Priviledge to be thought worthy to die for him who was contented to die for us Alas this is but very little to what our Lord and Master hath done for us He was from everlasting the eternal Son of the Father He was happy and glorious and yet for our sakes he was content to stoop from Heaven to Earth from the happiness and glories above to the pain and contempt of this lower world He that was the brightness of his Fathers glory was willing to be eclipsed and obscured with our flesh and with our infirmities He that upheld all things by the word of his power was yet contented to be inclosed in the Womb of a Virgin to be wrapt up in swadling cloaths to lie in a Stable to be subject to his Creatures to be tempted by the Devil to be hungred and thirsty to be buffeted and hanged on a Tree that he might save lost Mankind He was at these pains for the helpless and for sinners for Caitiffs and Rebels for them who had dishonoured his Father and ruined themselves Here is a love without a Parallel a love that passeth knowledge a love that is stronger than death and that surpasseth the love of women Here are all the dimensions of love here is height and depth a length and breadth Jesus did that for his Enemies which rarely hath been done for the greatest Friends and Benefactors Greater love than this hath no man that he should lay down his life for his Friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but few examples of it Our Lords kindness rose higher by far He died for the ungodly for the weak and them that were without all hope Who can seriously think of this and not find himself constrained by the ove of Jesus to be willing to die for him It is an easie task that lies upon us to love him that hath first loved us and to die for him that died for us This is very reasonable and a most gentle command to lay down our life for him who first laid down his for us We see some Servants will hazard their lives for the sake of their Masters Loyal Subjects will not stick to shed their bloud in defence of their King and Country There are those would dare to die for a good man or for a faithful friend My Lord must needs be dearer to me than any of my Relatives or my fellow Creatures I must be very ungrateful if I forget his love But that which still does farther recommend this Law to us is this That our Saviour commands no more than what he himself did He would we should die in bearing witness to the truth It is fit we should do it and he led us the way He hath recommended this Precept to us not only by his Doctrine but by his Example also Indeed our Lord was silent when he was reproached and inconsistently accused but he was not so when he was adjured by the High Priest to tell him whether he were the Christ Mat. 26.63 64. the Son of God or not He witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate and tells him To this end was I born Joh. 18.17 and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth Our Lord sealed the truth with his own bloud and does not put his Followers upon that which he declined himself This Example of our Lord does give great force to his Law And it is very reasonable we should do what the great Captain of our Salvation hath done Every where we judge this very reasonable The Souldier thinks himself obliged to shew courage when he sees his General expose himself to the thickest of the danger And the Servant thinks himself well dealt with when his Master commands no more of him than what he is willing to do himself The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. That is not thought an hard Law which the Law-giver suffers himself to be concluded by 2. Let us consider the command it self and that is that we should rather part with this life than to deny our Lord and forfeit our hopes of a better life This may at first sight seem a very hard saying but when we draw near and consider it well we shall find it a very reasonable Law and that it is no objection against what our Lord hath said when he tells us that his yoke is easie and his burden light The truth is we disquiet our selves in vain and as our happiness is but phantastick and imaginary so is a great part of our misery also We make a false judgment of things and set a very unequal rate and price upon them And this we commonly do in the account we make of life and death For as we esteem of this life at a greater rate than we ought so we judge death to be a greater evil than indeed it is I desire that you would under this general head consider well the following particulars And 1. That barely to live is not in it self a thing of any vast moment It is no high Prerogative and unvaluable peculiar For the smallest Mite or Ante the vilest Worm or Serpent live as well as we When Marcellinus was sick all that were about him flattered him and said that which they thought would please him most Every man
the Apostle in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings 1 Pet. 4.13 that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy I shall take the liberty to enlarge somewhat upon this Theme and consider 1. The greatness of the reward 2. The clearness of its revelation 3. And the fitness of it to work upon us 1. The greatness of the reward Here is enough to make us happy amidst all the evils of this world Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake Mat. 5.10 11. for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake Here is that which will enable us not to endure only with patience but to rejoice also if it be duly considered But it is certain that Eternal life is a vast and wide Ocean a boundless Theme that it will not be easie to speak of as we should who know but in part and see through a glass darkly Howbeit I shall say something and leave very much more to be understood It is called in the Scriptures a Rest Heb. 4.9 or Sabbatism and that expression does both tell us what Heaven and what this life is That this life is a life of toil and labour the burden and back part of the Week Just as of old the first days of the week were days of labour and work The other life is the everlasting Sabbath which does relieve and deliver us from our toil and refresh us after our pain and toil We are here sollicited by our fears bowed down with sorrow worn with labour pained with sickness affrighted with evil tidings and with the apprehensions of death We are much afflicted with the malice and power of evil men and not suffered to be at rest There the wicked cease from troubling there the weary be at rest There the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor This is a state of Change and great Vicissitude and when things go well with us we are not secure they will continue in that posture The Clouds of a sudden gather together after the clearest Shine And the most setled course of things in this world is yet full of change and variety When things are as we would have them they do not long continue so something or other arises that disturbs the order of things or at least ruffles the calme of our minds The dark night sends away the brightness of the day and casts a black Mantle over the gaiety that entertained us The delights of the Spring are removed by the heat of Summer and a keen and sharp Winter robs us again of the pleasure of a more open season Thus it is here below We are entertained with various things and we are soon stripped of that pleasure which we embraced with the greatest welcom In the first days of the Week in the Book of Genesis It is constantly said for six days together that the Evening and the Morning was such and such a day But when we come to the seventh day we read no such thing It is said Gen. 2.3 that God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it This gives us a fair representation of this and the other life This life is the burden of the Week it hath its Evening as well as its Morning The life to come is all alike There is no Evening there that shall remove the light from the place where God dwels Rev. 22.5 There shall be no night there and they need no Candle neither light of the Sun For the Lord giveth them light This one consideration does greatly recommend to us the happiness of a future state viz. that it is a state of rest To think that we shall be out of the reach of power and malice that all our labour our toil and care is at an end That we shall no more be harrassed and disturbed by the evils of life But this is not all that recommends to us a future state It is represented to us in the Holy Scriptures as a state of great joy and pleasure And it is consequently expressed by such terms as do import no less and such as do imply more than can be expressed or understood Thus it is sometimes expressed by a Kingdom or a Crown by a Feast and by Pleasures but then we are assured that it amounts to more than all these things speak and that it is beyond what eye hath seen or ear heard or what hath entered into the heart of man to conceive It is indeed a Crown a Kingdom a Feast and it is much more than all this It is the best of all this and more than this It is a Kingdom without Cares a Crown without a Cross a Feast without Satiety It is called by these little names because these are the greatest things which this lower world hath These words among us sound high they speak power and honour plenty and pleasure and what the world calls good and therefore Heaven is represented by such things which we understand and regard But then these are but low and short representations of the things themselves Such Images of heaven as the Tabernacle and Temple among the Jews were of this and the other World or of Earth and Heaven They were Images in little but came greatly short of what they represented For as Hell is represented in the Scripture-style by Fire and by Darkness and by the Valley of Hinnom which were things in themselves very sad and things that were easily understood but yet far short of what they represent So is Heaven represented to us by the best things below but these things come infinitely short of that which they represent At other times we find our future happiness otherwise expressed by being with the Lord by seeing of God by knowing as we are known and being like our Lord. These are expressions that are very big indeed but still they import more than we are able in this state fully to comprehend They imply the greatest perfection that our natures are capable of and that our imperfections shall be quite taken away We are mightily struck and affected with seeing what we had but heard of we are strangely pleased with apprehending a thing clearly which we knew not or knew but imperfectly before We are greatly taken with the company of our dearest friends and by our approving our selves to the vertuous and the good And therefore Heaven is represented to us in terms that speak the greatest and most rational satisfaction But then still we live in houses of clay we are dull of conceiving and clogg'd with our flesh And these things are spiritually discerned and to apprehend them to good purpose we bust be greatly abstracted from the body subdued to the world and weaned from our sensualities And when we are so in great measure we shall be mightily affected with these
great assurance of success having such a Mediator and Intercessor But our Saviour goes on Ver. 24. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name i. e. ye have not as yet made a trial how powerful a name mine is But for for the future he directs and encourages them Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full And presently afterwards he gives them great assurance that their Prayers shall now be heard upon his account Joh. 16.26 27. At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you For the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God III. I proceed now to shew you how what hath been said tends towards our support and comfort under the troubles of this life And that it does several ways 1. The exaltation of Christ to the right hand of God is much for our comfort as it gives us great hope that we shall also be received into heaven Our nature is advanced and this gives us hope that we shall also in due time be received into the same happy place For as Christs Resurrection is made an Argument which infers ours so our Lords being exalted into heaven speaks the great hopes that we have of coming thither And this Consideration does mightily tend to comfort us under the sorrows of this life Joh. 14.4 Let not your heart be troubled says our Lord. But then what follows tends greatly to support them I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Thanks be to God a door of hope is now opened by the Exaltation of our Saviour Heb. 6.19 20. Which hope we have as an anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the Vail Whither the forerunner is for us entred even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec None under the Law of Moses Heb. 9.7 8. might enter into the Holy of Holies but the High Priest only and that but once a year and not without bloud The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing There was a vail or partition between the Holy of Holies and the other part of the Temple And when our Saviour suffered death this Vail of the Temple was rent in twain after a most miraculous manner For though indeed there be mention made of an Earthquake at the same time yet that the Vail was not rent by the Earthquake appears from hence that the Text says it was rent from the top to the bottom Mat. 27.51 not from the bottom to the top as it would have been if it been the effect of an Earthquake Now it is no hard matter to explain the meaning of this The Holy of Holies was a Type of Heaven The rest of the Temple and Tabernacle of the rest of the world There was a Vail that shut up the way to Heaven but when our Lord suffered he opened the way that was shut up before and a while after he went himself within the Vail and took our nature with him and by doing so and sending us the Holy Spirit thence he hath given us assurance that where he is we shall likewise be He hath taken a pledge I mean our flesh which he hath carried into heaven as a Pledge that we shall enter thither Pignus totius Summae Tert. de res Carn 2 Thes 4.17 18. and given us the earnest of his Holy Spirit in token that we belong to him and that we shall ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words 2. What hath been said tends to our comfort as it gives us assurance of a Divine Assistance at hand for our succour and support and for the enabling us to do as well as suffer the whole will of God We have not the least cause to doubt either of the Power or readiness and Proneness of our Lord to help us and support us under all our conflicts and especially then when we are persecuted for righteousnes sake Our Saviour is not a mere Spectator he does not only see us fight but he helps us to overcome Whatever it is that troubles us we are not left without a Prince and a Saviour and one that is able to save to the uttermost And this must needs tend very greatly to the quieting of our minds under all the troubles and sorrows that we meet withal 3. This tends very much to our support and comfort as it encourages our Prayers and assures us that we shall succeed when we make our addresses to God and implore his Divine aid and assistance We have a merciful High Priest that was made like unto us and hath about him a sense of our infirmities Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh and having an High Priest over the House of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure water CHAP. VIII ANother great comfort and support which the Christian is provided with under the sorrows of this life is that of the Holy Scripture The Psalmist expresses the great comfort he received from the Law of God in his affliction Psal 119.92 Vnless thy Law had been my delights I should then have perished in my affliction He doth elsewhere express his great esteem for and the great delight he had in the Law of God The Law of thy mouth is better unto me Ver. 72. than thousands of Gold and Silver He elsewhere tells us that the Statutes of the Lord are right Psal 19.8 rejoycing the heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes and speaking presently afterwards of the Judgments of the Lord he says of them Ver. 10. More to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than honey and the honey Comb. And now it is no wonder that we find him professing in these words Psal 119.127 128. I love thy Commandments above Gold yea above fine Gold I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right After this he adds Rivers of waters run down mine eyes Ver. 136. because they keep not thy Law Thus was the devout Psalmist affected towards the Law of God This was his comfort and his joy his riches and
and the Type Our blessed Saviour hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel And the New Testament makes over to us our right and title to that blessed inheritance which our Lord hath purchased for us We had forfeited Gods favour and needed an Atonement The Law of Moses prescribed certain Sacrifices indeed for expiation and the procurement of the favour of God but it is very certain that those Sacrifices could not make the commers thereunto perfect Heb. 10.1 But then it pleased God to send his only Son to die for our sins and now he hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 5.18 19 21. and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him The Kingdom of Heaven is now opened to all Believers and none are now excluded from the hopes of that blessed state who do not shut themselves out by their unbelief and impenitence and contempt of the Laws of Christ For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son Joh. 3.16 17. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved This is the comfortable Doctrine of the holy Scripture and hence it is that we have now great consolation For there can be nothing so much for our comfort as the assurance which we have of Gods favour which is better for us than life it self But then to put us out of all doubt for ever this truth is confirmed to us as well as taught by the holy Scriptures For our blessed Saviour wrought many Miracles to confirm to us the Doctrine which he taught and by that means hath given us the utmost assurance that this comfortable Doctrine is a divine truth To this purpose he cured the sick dispossessed the daemoniacks raised the dead restored the blind commanded the Sea and the Wind and rose from the dead the third day Many and various and supernatural are the works he did and which are written in the Gospels And many more he did which are not written Joh. 20.31 But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name God hath set his Seal to the divine truths which the Gospel does contain And hath effectually taken from us all cause of doubt and suspicion IV. The holy Scriptures tend very much to our comfort under our troubles as they do contain many precious Promises which tend this way God hath been pleased in these Writings to make many promises for the comfort of the afflicted and oppressed of them that fear him and trust in him and suffer for his names sake And nothing of what God hath said shall fall to the ground If we continue to trust in God and to do good we shall find great comfort from the holy Scriptures in our greatest sorrows Psal 31.19 O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the Sons of men Happy is that man that puts himself under the Divine Protection Psal 32.10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked But he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about No man does so much consult his own safety as He does that does intirely trust in God and commit himself and his affairs unto him Psal 125.1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be moved but abideth for ever I deny not but such a man may fall into straits and difficulties but then he is not forsaken but can have a recourse to him that is at hand and able to save him Psal 14.2 3 4 5. When my Spirit was overwhelmed within me then thou knewest my path I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my Soul I cried unto thee O Lord I said Thou art my refuge and my portion in the Land of the Living The good man may be bereft of his worldly comforts and supports but then when he is most of all so God is present with him Nay we are then more peculiarly the care of God when we are abandoned by the Creature The afflicted man is particularly the charge of Heaven and does immediately belong to the divine care and Providence The devout Psalmist makes his affliction his argument to move God to have regard to him Psa 142.6 Attend unto my cry for I am brought very low Again Psal 70.5 But I am poor and needy and then he goes on Make hast unto me O God The Prayers of the afflicted righteous find a ready way to God they pierce the Heavens and are sure to obtain a blessing The righteous cry Psal 37.18 18. and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite Spirit There is great comfort in the holy Scripture for every man that is sincerely good and does desire to be better And whatever his sorrow and affliction be he is not left comfortless If he be burdened with his sins harassed out by the cares and toiles of a vexatious world and very uneasie under the load which lies upon him yet is not this distressed and miserable Sinner left without hope and comfort Our Lord speaks to such as these are saying Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoak upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls For my yoak is easie and my burden is light How comfortable a Scripture is this to the dejected Sinner That hath in vain sought his happiness from the things of this life that hath toiled a great while to no purpose and is now under fears of Gods wrath breaking in upon him as a just punshment of a trifling and a vicious life These are most powerful words and if men would consider them duly would appear to have a mighty force upon the minds of men Can any thing be more welcom than rest to them that labour and are heavy laden Is any rest to be compared to the rest which is given to our Souls can any thing be more desirable for them that have served cruel Lords than that they should now submit to one that is meek and lowly in heart Can any thing be more inviting after a great bondage and slavery than a yoak that
and a sufficient support even in that case Our Religion were a very mean Institution if it would not bear a man up against the fears of death I shall to what hath been said above add some things to your farther consideration to encourage you to give up your life rather than to deny your Religion and wrong your Consciences And I. That it cannot be supposed that death can hurt a man If death have any evil belonging to it it is owing to our own folly It is our sin only that gives it a sting It is impossible it should hurt him that is sincerely good Socrates told the Athenians that they would rather hurt themselves than him by taking away his life and that for his Accusers he did not believe they could do him hurt he not thinking it reasonable to believe it in the power of evil men to hurt the good It is indeed in their power to kill it is not in their power to hurt them that are good That death can do us no hurt that hath had a good life gone before it The worst of men desire to die the death of the righteous Of all men those that are good have least cause to fear dying For they have placed their happiness beyond this world And death is to them unwelcom that live at ease here II. That it is very certain that many men have overcome the fear of death from a mean and low Principle compared with that of the Christian who suffers for righteousness sake Death I grant strikes a dread upon Mankind It is that which we commonly startle at It comes to take us apieces to remove us from our Friends and Familiars that for some time we have conversed with And hence it is that men generally fear death and decline it what they can But yet we know that many have overcom this fear of death some of them from a mean and others from an evil Principle Death is formidable and a good man is not quite rid of all the fear of death yet there are many considerations that make death seem desirable Revenge triumphs over it Love makes light of it Honour is ambitious of it fear of disgrace chooses it Sorrow runs after it it Fear prevents it A weak and foolish Passion a trifling and a faulty Principle reconciles men to death Some have thrown away their lives others have given them up many have parted with them upon trifling accounts and sometimes upon evil ones They have been contented to part with their lives from an evil Principle or from a trifling one How many have proved Martyrs to their Lusts How many to gratifie their Lust and their Revenge have brought upon themselves a lingring or a sudden death How many have fallen Sacrifices to their Luxury and Intemperance their Pride and Lust Pudeat semper tantum in vobis posse turpes causas nil posse pulcherrimas Petrarch And is it not a great shame that we should stick to do that from a good Principle which others do from a faulty one Is it not a shame that the Lusts of men should prevail more than the Laws of Christ And that men should make themselves miserable at that expence which they refuse to be at in order to their happiness There have been those who have died for a silly Woman for a point of Honour for their Fame and for their Country These things have prevailed with them to endure torments and devote themselves to destruction So much have these things prevailed with them Tanti vitream Quanti veram Margaritam Tertul. ad Martyr that their lives were not precious in their own eyes It is a great reproach to us if we refuse to suffer that for the sake of Christ and his Gospel which others have suffered for the sake of this World The Heathen could not but take notice of this speaking of death Senec. Ep. 4. Seest thou not says he upon what frivolous accounts it is contemned One hangs himself at the door of his Mistris Another throws himself headlong from the house top to avoid a churlish and unquiet Master Another stabs himself that he may prevent his return home Dost thou not think that vertue might have done that which an excess of fear hath done Shall a foolish Lust and an impotent Passion have more force than the sense of our duly and the well grounded hopes of eternal happiness We read in our Books of some that have sacrificed their lives to their Fame or thrown them away in compliance with the foolish customs of their Country or from a Principle of Superstition M. Anton. l. 5. se 14. It is a very astonishing thing says one of the Heathens that Ignorance and Ostentation should be more powerful than Wisdom We have a story in the Acts of our Church of a man in Queen Maries days who when he was put in mind to suffer for that truth which he had for some time professed replied that he could not burn Nor did he burn for his Religion But in the days of Queen Elizabeth this man's house was on fire and then to save his Goods he adventures into his house and he and his Goods were burnt in the same flames He that would not burn to save his Soul ventures into the fire to preserve his Goods And then he lost his Goods and his Life and it is to be feared his Soul also III. The good man does not want very considerations to perswade him to quit this present life for the sake of a better He is well assured that by thus losing his life he shall save it That he shall be assisted in his conflict and rewarded when he hath finished his course He is not left without a Comforter and he is assured of a plentiful Reward He knows in whom he hath believed and can commit the keeping of his Soul unto God as unto a faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4.19 He does but put off his flesh and knows that he shall be cloathed with life and immortality He does but part with an earthly Tabernacle for a building not made with hands And by his constant sufferings he glorifies God spreads his truth confirms his Servants and makes way for a greater glory to himself Do not then fear to follow your Lord and all those blessed Souls that have led the way When your Lord commands make no demur but follow him chearfully though it be to the place of skulls It is not worth your while to preserve your life with the loss of your innocence Gods favour is more than life and that will stand us in stead when this life shall be no more It is a madness to forfeit our eternal hopes that we may live here a little longer especially when our life will be but a plague and burden to us when we have purchased it with the loss of our innocence We shall find the horrours of a guilty mind more painful than the flames and much more lasting