intermission which thou canst neither suffer nor avoid fear them whiles thou grudgest at these lay thy self lowe under the hand of thy good God and be thankful for a tolerable misery How graciously hath the wisdom of our God thought fit to temper our afflictions so contriving them that if they be sharp they are not long and if they be long they are not over-sharp that our strength might not be over-laid by our trials either way Be content man either thy languishment shall be easie or thy pain soon over Extreme and everlasting are terms reserved for Gods enemies in the other world That is truly long which hath no end that is truly painful which is not capable of any relaxation What a short moment is it that thou canst suffer short yea nothing in respect of that eternity which thou must either hope for or fear Smart a while patiently that thou maist not be infinitely miserable § 8. 7 Comfort Tâ—â— benefit 〈◊〉 the exercise of our patâ—â—ence Thou complainest of pain What use were there of thy Patience if thou aâ—ledst nothing God never gives vertues without an intent of their exercise To what purpose were our Christian valour if we had no enemy to encounter Thus long thou hast lien quiet in a secure Garison where thou hast heard no trumpet but thine own and hast turned thy drumshead into a Dicing table lavishing out thy days in varieties of idle Recreations now God draws thee forth into the field and shews thee an enemy where is thy Christian fortitude if thou shrink back and cowardly wheeling about chusest rather to make use of thy heels then of thy hands Doth this beseem thee who professest to fight under his colours who is the Great Conquerour of Death and Hell Is this the way to that happie Victory which shal carry away a crown of glory My son if thou faint in the day of thine adversity thy strength is but small Stir up thine holy courage Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Buckle close with that fierce enemy wherewith thy God would have thee assaulted looking up to him who hath said and cannot fail to perform it Be faithful to the death and I will give thee a crown of life § 9. 8 Comfort The necessity of expecting sickness Thou art surprized with Sickness whose fault is this but thine own Who bade thee not to look for so sure a guest The very frame of thy body should have put thee into other thoughts Dost thou see this living fabrick made up as a clock consisting of so many wheels and gimmers and couldst thou imagine that some of them should not be ever out of order Couldst thou think that a Cottage not too strongly built and standing so bleak in the very mouth of the Windes could for any long time hold tight and unreaved Yea dost thou not rather wonder that it hath out-stood so many blustring blasts thus long utterly unruined or that the wires of that engine should so long have held pace with time It was scarce 〈◊〉 patient question which Job asked Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flâ—sh as brass No alas Job thy best metal is but â—lay and thine as all flesh is grasse the clay mouldereth and the grasse withereth what doe we make account of any thing but misery and ficklenesse in this wofull region of change If we will needs over-reckon our condition we doe but help to aggravate our owne wretchednesse §. 10. 9. Comfort Thou art retired to thy sick bed Be of good comfort God was never so neer thee never so tenderly indulgent to thee as now The whole saith our Saviour need noâ— the Physitian but the sick Lo the Physitian as being made for the time of necessity commeth not but where there is need and where need is he will not fail to come Our need is motive enough to him who himself tooke our infirmities and bare our sicknesses our health estranges him from us Whiles thou art his patient he cannot be kept off from thee The Lord saith the Psalmist will strengthen thee upon the bed of languishing Thou wilt make all his bed in his sicknesse Loe the heavenly comforter doth not onely visit but attend thee and if thou finde thy pallet uneasie he shall turn and soften it for thy repose Canst thou not read Gods gracious indulgence in thine own disposition Thou art a Parent of children perhaps thou findest cause to affect one more then another though all be deare enough but if any one of them be cast down with a feverous distemper now thou art more carefully busie about him then all the rest how thou pitiest him how thou pliest him with offers and receits with what silent anxiety dost thou watch by his couch listening for every of his breathings jealous of every whispering that might break off his slumber answering every of his groanes with so many sighes and in short so making of him for the time that thy greatest darling seems the while neglected in comparison of this more needfull charge How much more shall the Father of mercies be compassionately intent upon the sufferings of his deare children according to the proportion of their afflictions § 11. 10 Comfort The comfortable end of our suâ—ferings Thou art wholly taken up with the extremity of thy paines Alas poor soule thy purblinde eies see nothing but what is laid close to thee It is thy sense which thou followest but where is thy faith Couldst thou look to the end of thy sufferings thou couldst not but rejoyce in tribulation Let Patience have her perfect work and thou shalt once say It is well for me that I was afflicted Thou mightsâ— be joâ—ond long enough ere thy jollity coulâ— make thee happy Yea woâ— be to them that laugh here But on the contrary our light affliction which is but for a momeâ—t worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory Oh blessed improvement of a few groanesâ—â— Oh glorious issue of a short brunt of sorrow What do we going for Christians if we be nothing but meer flesh and blood And if we be more we have more cause of joy then complaint For whiles our outward man perisheth our inward man is renewed daily Our outward man is but flesh our inward is spirit infinitely more noble then this living clay that wee carry about us whiles our spirit therefore gaines more then our flesh is capable to lose what reason have we not to boast of the bargain Let not therefore these close curtaines confine thy sight but cast up thine eies to that heaven whence thy soule came and see there that crowne of glory which thy God holds forth for all that overcome and run with patience the race that is set before thee looking unto Iesus the Author and Finisher of our faith who is set down at the right hand of the throne of God And solace thy selfe
death another trembles to expect it one beggs for life another will sell it dearer here one would rescue one life and loseth two there another would hide himself where he findes a merciless death here lies one bleeding and groaning and gasping parting with his soul in extremity of anguish there another of stronger spirits kills and dies at once here one wrings her hands and tears her hair and seeks for some instrument of a self-inflicted death rather then yeeld her chaste body to the lust of a bloody ravisher there another clings inseparably to a dear husband and will rather take part of the murtherers sword then let go her last embraces here one tortured for the discovery of hid treasure there another dying upon the rack out of jealousie Oh that one man one Christian should be so bloodily cruel to another Oh that he who bears the image of the merciful God should thus turn fiend to his own flesh and blood These are terrible things my son and worthy of our bitterest lamentations and just fears I love the speculation of Seneca's resolutely-wise man that could look upon the glittering sword of an executioner with erected and undazeled eyes and that makes it no matter of difference whether his soul pass out at his mouth or at his throat but I should more admire the practice whiles we carry this clay about us nature cannot but in the holiest men shrink in at the sight and sense of these tyrannous and tragical acts of death Yet even these are the due revenges of the Almighties punitive justice so provoked by our sins as that it may not take up with an easier judgement Dost thou not see it ordinary with our Physitians when they finde the body highly distempered and the blood foul and inflamed to order the opening of a vein and the drawing out of so many ounces as may leave the rest meet for correction Why art thou over-troubled to see the great Physitian of the world take this course with sinful mankinde Certainly had not this great Body by mis dieting and wilful disorder contracted these spiritual diseases under which we languish had it not impured the blood that runs in these common veins with riot and surfets we had never been so miserable as to see these torrents of Christian blood running down our chanels Now yet as it is could we bewail and abandon our former wickedness we might live in hope that at the last this deadly issue might stop and dry up and that there might be yet left a possibility of a blessed recovery § 7. The woful miseries of Pestilence allaid by consideration of the hand that smites us Thou art confounded with grief to see the pestilence raging in our streets in so frequent a mortality as breeds a question concerning the number of the living and the dead That which is wont to abate other miseries heightens this The company of participants It was certainly a very hard and sad option that God gave to King David after his sin of numbring bring the people Chuse thee whether seven yeers famine shall come unto thee in thy Land or three moneths flight before thine enemies or three days pestilence We may believe the good King when we hear him say I am in a great strait Doubtless so he was but his wise resolutions have soon brought him out Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of man He that was to send these evils knew their value and the difference of their malignity yet he opposes three days pestilence to seven yeers famine and three months vanquishment so much oddes he knew there was betwixt the dull activity of man and the quick dispatch of an Angel It was a favour that the Angel of death who in one night destroyed an hundred fourscore and five thousand Assyrians should in three daies cut off but seventy thousand Israelites It was a great mercy that it was no worse We read of one City shall I call it or Region of Cayro wherein eighteen hundred thousand were swept away in one years pestilence enow one would think to have peopled the whole earth and in our own Chronicles of so generall a mortality that the living were hardly sufficient to bury the dead These are dreadfull demonstrations of Gods heavy displeasure but yet there is this alleviation of our misery that we suffer more immediatly from an holy just mercifull God The Kingly Prophet had never made that distinction in his wofull choyce if he had not known a notable difference betwixt the sword of an Angell and an enemy betwixt Gods more direct and immediate infliction and that which is derived to us through the malice of men It was but a poor consolation that is given by a victorious enemy to dying Lausus in the Poet Comfort thy selfe in thy death with this that thou fallest by the hand of great Aeneas but surely we have just reason to â—aise comfort to our souls when the pains of a pestilentiall death compasse us about from the thought and intuition of that holy and gracious hand under which we suffer so as we can say with good Eli It is the Lord. It is not amisse that we call those marks of deadly infection Gods Tokens such sure they are and ought therefore to call up our eyes and hearts to that Almighty power that sends them with the faithfull resolution of holy Iob Though thou kill me yet will I trust in thee It is none of the least miseries of contagious sicknesse that it bars us from the comfortable society and attendance of friends or if otherwise repaies their love and kinde visitation with death Be not dismaid my son with this sad solitude thou hast company with thee whom no infection can indanger or exclude there is an invisible friend that will be sure to stick by thee so much more closely by how much thou art more avoided by neighbours and will make all thy bed in thy sickness and supply thee with those cordialls which thou shouldst in vain expect from earthly visitants Indeed justly doe we style this The sicknesse eminently grievous both for the deadlinesse and generality of the dispersion yet there is a remedy that can both cure and conâ—ine it Let but every man look well to the plague of his own heart and the Land is healed Can we with David but see the Angell that smites us and erect an Altar and offer to God the sacrifices of our praiers penitence obedience we shall hear him say It is enough The time was and that time may not be forgotten when in the dayes of our late Soveraigne our Mother City was almost desolated with this mortall infection When thousands fell at our side and ten thousands at our right hand upon the publique humiliation of our soules the mercy of the Almighty was pleased to command that raging disease in the height of its fury
infinite blisse how much more gladly would he have taken off his Hemlock and how much more merrily would he have passed into that happier world All this wee know and are no lesse assured of it then of our present beeing with what comfort therefore should we think of changing our present condition with a blessed immortality How sweet a song was that of old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mineties have seen thy salvation Loe that which hee saw by the eye of his sense thou seest by the eye of thy faith even the Lords Christ he saw him in weaknesse thou seest him in glory why shouldst thou not depart not in peace onely but in joy and comfort How did the holy Protomartyr Stephen triumph over all the rage of his enemies and the violent fury of death when he had once seen the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God Loe God offers the same blessed prospect to the 〈◊〉 of thy soul Faith is the key that can open the heaven of heavens Fixe thy eies upon that glorious and saving object thou canst not but lay down thy body in peace and send up thy soul into the hands of him that bought it with the sweet and cheerfull recommendation of Lord Jesus receive my spirit Comforts against the terrours of Judgement §. 1. Aggravation of the fearfulness of the last judgement THOU apprehendest it aright Death is terrible but Judgement more Both these succeed upon the same decree It is appointed unto man once to die but after this the judgement Neither is it moâ—e terrible then lesse thought on Death because he strikes on all hands and laies before us so many sad examples of mortality cannot but sometimes take up our hearts but the last judgement having no visible proofs to force it self upon our thoughts too seldome affrights us Yet who can conceive the terrour of that day before which the Sun stall bee turned into darknesse and the Moon into blood That day which shall burne as an Oven when all the proud and all that doe wickedly shall bee as the stubble That day in which the heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also â—â—d the works that are therein shall be burnt â—p That day wherein the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ That day wherein the Lord will come with fire and with his Chariots like a Whirlewinde to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire For by Fire and by his Sword will the Lord plead with all flesh That day wherein the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him and shall sit upon the Throne of his glory and all Nations shall bee gathered before him That day wherein all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him Sâ—ortly that great and terrible day of the Lord wherein if the Powers of Heaven shall bee shaken how can the heart of man remain unmoved wherein if the world be dissolved who can bear up Alas we are ready to tremble at but a Thunder-crack in a poor cloud and at a small flash of lightning that glances through our eyes what shall wee doe when the whole frame of the heavens shall break in peeces and when all shall be on a flame about our eares Oh who may abide the day of his comming and who shall stand when hee appeareth §. 2. Comfort from the condition of the elect Yet bee of good chear mâ— sonne Amids all this horrour there is comfort Whether thoube one of those whom it shall please God to reserve alive upon earth to the sight of this dreadfull day he only knowes in whose hands our times are This we are sure of that we are upon the last houres of the last daies Justly doe we spit in the faces of S. Peters scoffers that say Where is the promise of his coming Well knowing that the Lord is not slack as some account slackness but that he that shall come will come and not tarry Well mayst thou live to see the Son of man come in the clouds of heaven and to be an Actor in this last Scene of the world If so let not thy heart be dismayed with the expectation of these fearful things Thy change shall be sudden and quick one moment shall put off thy mortality and clothe thee with that incorruption which shall not be capable of fear and pain The majestie of this appearance shall adde to thy joy and glory Thou shalt then see the Lord himself descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God Thou shalt see thy self and those other which are alive and remain to be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shalt thou be ever with the Lord. Upon this assurance how justly may the Apostle subjoyn Wherefore comfort one another with these words Certainly if ever there were comfort to be had in any words not of men or Angels onely but of the ever-living God the God of Truth these are they that can and will afford it to our trembling souls But if thou be one of the number of those whom God hath determined to call off before-hand and by a faithful death to prevent the great day of his appearance here is nothing for thee but matter of a joy unspeakable and full of glory For those that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him they shall be part of that glorious train which shall attend the Majestie of the great Judge of the world yea they shall be coâ—â—seâ—â—ors to the Lord of heaven and earth in this awful Judica ture as sitting upon the Bench when guilty men and Angels shall be at the Bar To him that overcometh saith the Lord Christ will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne What place then is here for any terrour since the more state and heavenly magnificence the more joy and glory § 3. Awe more fit for thoughts of judgement then Fear Thou art afraid to think of Judgement I had rather thou shouldst be awful then timorous When Saint Paul discoursed of the judgement to come it is no marvel that Fâ—â—ix trembled But the same Apostle when he had pressed to his Corinthians the certainty and generality of our appearance before the Judgement-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body whether good or evil addeth Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men but we are made manifest to
God c. Lo the holiest man may not be exempted from the dread but from the slavish fear of the great Judge We know his infinite justice we are conscious to our selves of our manifold failings how can we lay these two together and not fear But this fear works not in us a malignant kinde of repining at the severe Tribunal of the Almighty as commonly whom we fear we hate but rather a careful endeavour so to approve our selves that we may be acquitted by him and appear blameless in his presence How justly may we tremble when we look upon our own actions our own deserts but how confidently may we appear at that Bar where we are beforehand assured of a discharge Being justified by faith â—we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. When we think of anâ— universal conflagration of the world how can we but fear but when we think of an happie restitution of all things in this day how can we but rejoyce in trembling § 4. In that great and terrible Day our Advocate is our Judge Thou quakest at the expectation of the last Judgement Surely the very Majestie of that great Assize must needs be formidable And if the very delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai were with so dreadful a pomp of Thunder and Lightning of Fire Smoke Earthquakes that the Israelites were half dead with fear in receiving it with what terrible magnificence shall God come to require an account of that Law at the hands of the whole sinful generation of mankinde Represent unto thy thoughts that which was shewed of old to the Prophet Daniel in Vision Imagine that thou sawest the Ancient of days sitting upon a Throne like the fiery flame 〈◊〉 a fiery stream issuing and coming forth from before him thousand thousands ministring unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him the judgement set and the Books opened Or as John the Daniel of the New Testament saw a great white Throne and him that sate on it from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away and the dead both small and great standing before God and the Books opened and the dead judged out of those things which were written in those Books according to their works Let the eyes of thy minde see before-hand that which these bodily eyes shall once see and tell me how thou feelest thy self affected with the sight of such a Judge such an appearance such a process And if thou findest thy self in a trembling condition cheer up thy self with this That thy Judge is thine Advocate That upon that Throne there sits not greater Majestie then Mercie It is thy Saviour that shall sentence thee How safe art thou then under such hands Canst thou fear that he will doom thee to death who died to give thee life Canst thou fear he will condemn thee for those sins which he hath given his blood to expiate Canst thou fear the rigour of that Justice which he hath so fully satisfied Canst thou misdoubt the miscarriage of that soul which he hath so dearly bought No my son all this divine state and magnificence makes for thee Let those guilty and impenitent souls who have heaped unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath quake at the glorious Majestie of the Son of God for whom nothing remains but a fearful expectation of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries But for thee who art not onely reconciled unto God by the mediation of the Son of his love but art also incorporated into Christ and made a true limb of his mystical Body thou art bidden together with all the faithful to look up and lift up thy head for now the day of thy reâ—emption is come And indeed how canst thou do other since by vertue of this blessed union with thy Saviour this glory is thine every member hath an interest in the honour of the Head Rejoyce therefore in the day of the Lord Jesus and when all the Tribes of the earth shall wail do thou sing and rejoyce and call to the heavens and the earth to bear thee company Let the heavens rejoyce and let the earth be glad let the sea make a noise aud all that is therein let the field be joyful and all that is in it Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoyce before the Lord for he cometh for he cometh to judge the earth and with righteousness to judge the world and the people with his truth §. 5. Frequent meditation and due prepaâ—ation the remedies of our â—ear Thou art affrighted with the thought of that Great Day Think of it oftner and thou shalt less fear it It will come both surely and suddenly let thy frequent thoughts prevent it It will come as a thief in the night without warning without noise let thy careful vigilance always expect it and thy soul shall be sure not to be surprised not to be confounded Thine Audit is both sure and uncertain sure that it will be uncertain when it will be If thou wilt approve thy self a good Steward have thine account always ready set thy reckoning still even betwixt God and thy soul Blessed is the servant whom his Master shall finde so doing Look upon these heavens and this earth as dissolving and think with Jerome that thou hearest the last Trump and the voice of the Archangel shrilling in thine ears as once thou shalt Arise ye dead and come to judgement Shortly let it be thy main care to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Comforts against the fears of our spiritual enemies § 1. The great power of evil spirits and their restraint THou art affrighted at the thought of thy spiritual enemies No marvel Neither earth nor hell hath any thing equally formidable Those three things which are wont to make enmity dreadful and dangerous Power Malice Subtilty are met in them neither is it easie to say in which of these they are most eminent Certainly were we to be matcht with them on even hand there were just cause not of Fear onely but Despair I could tremble thou sayst to think what Satan hath done what he can do what contestation he enabled the Egyptian Sorcerers to hold with Moses how they turned every man his rod into a Serpent so as they seemed to have the advantage for the time of many Serpents crawling and hissing in Phoraoh's pavement for one How they turned the waters into blood How they brought Froggs upon the Land of Egypt 〈◊〉 as if thus far the power of hell would
sleepless But that exceeds all example which Monsieur Goulart reports out of an Author of good reputation of a certain Gentlewoman who for thirty five yeers remained without any sleep and found no inconvenience or distemper thereby as was witnessed by her husband and servants Lo the hand of God is not shortened He who in our time miraculously protracted the life of the Maid of Meures so many yeers without meat hath sustained the lives of these fore-named persons thus long without sleep that it might appear Man lives not by meat or sleep onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God If he should please to bless thee with a sleepless health the favour is far greater then if he allowed thee to short out thy time in a dull unprofitable rest §. 4. Sleep but a symptom of mortality Thou wantest sleep Behold he that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep and those blessed spirits that do continually see the face of God never sleep Sleep is but a symptome of frail mortality whereof the less we do or can partake we come so much the neerer to those spiritual natures whose perfection makes them uncapable of sleep Hereupon it was that those retired Christians in the Primitive times which affected to come neerest to an Angelical life wilfully repelled sleep neither would ever admit it till it necessarily forced it self upon them Lo then thou sufferest no more out of the distemper of humours or unnatural obstructions then better men have willingly drawn upon themselves out of holy resolutions It is but our construction that makes those things tedious to us which have been well taken by others §. 5. No use of sleep whither we are going Thou wantest sleep Have patience my son for a while thou art going where there shall be no need no use of sleep and in the mean time thy better part would not cannot rest Though the gates be shut that it cannot shew it self abroad it is ever and ever will be active As for this earthly piece it shall ere long sleep its fill where no noise can wake it till the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God shall call it up in the morning of the Resurrection Comforts against the inconveniences of Old age § 1. The illimitation of age and the miseries that attend it OLd age is that which we all desire to aspire unto and when we have attained are as ready to complain of as our greatest misery verifying in part that old observation That Wedlock and Age are things which we desire and repent of Is this our Ingratitude or Inconstancie that we are weary of what we wished Perhaps this accusation may not be universal There is much difference in constitutions and much latitude in old-age Infancy and youth have their limits age admits of no certain determination At seventy yeers David was old and stricken in yeers and they covered him with clothes but he gat no heat Whereas Caleb can profess Now lo I am fourscore and five yeers old as yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me to spie out the Land as my strength was then even so is my strength now for war both to go out and come in And beyond him Moses was an hundred and twenty yeers old when his eye was not dim nor his natural strength abated Methuselah was but old when he was nine hundred sixty five But as for the generality of mankinde the same Moses who lived to see an hundred and twenty yeers hath set mans ordinary period at half his own term The days of our yeers are threescore yeers and ten and if by reason of strength they be fourscore yeers yet is their strength labour and sorrow Lo fourscore yeers alone are load enough for the strength much more for the weakness of age but when labour and sorrow are added to the weight how can we but double under the burden He was both old and wise that said out of experience that our last days are the dregs of our life the clearer part is gone and all drawn out the lees sink down to the bottom Who can express the miserable inconveniences that attend Old-age wherein our cares must needs be multiplied according to the manifold occasions of our affairs For the world is a Net wherein the more we stir the more we are intangled And for our bodily grievances what varieties do we here meet withal what aches of the bones what belking of the Joynts what Convulsions of Sinews what torments of the Bowels Stone Collick Strangury what distillations of Rheums what hollow Coughs what weaknesses of retention expulsion digestion what decay of Senses So as Age is no other then the common sewer into which all diseases of our life are wont to empty themselves Well therefore might Sarah say After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure And good Barzillai justly excuses himself for not accepting the gracious invitation of David I am this day fourscore yeers old and can I discern between good and evil Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women Wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the King Lo these are they which the Preacher calls the evil days and the yeers wherein a man shall say I have no pleasure wherein the Sun or the Light or the Moon or the Stars are darkned and the clouds return after the rain when the keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong men shall bow themselves and the grinders cease because they are few and those that look out of the windows be darkened Shortly what is our old-age but the Winter of our life How can we then expect any other then gloomy weather chilling frosts storms and tempests § 2. Old-age a blessing But whiles we do thus querulously aggravate the incommodities of age we must beware lest we derogate from the bounty of our Maker and disparage those blessings which he accounts precious amongst which Old-age is none of the meanest Had he not put that value upon it would he have honoured it with his own style calling himself The Ancient of days Would he else have set out this mercy as a reward of obedience to himself I will fulfil the number of thy days and of obedience to our Parents To live long in the Land Would he have promised it as a marvellous favour to restored Jerusalem now become a City of Truth That there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem and every man with his staff in his hand for very age Would he else have denounced it as a judgement to over-indulgent Eli There shall not be an old man in thine house for ever Far be it from us to despise that which God doth honour and to
carried them thus corrected in their bosome for coolnesse and for the pleasure of their smoothnesse The sting of death is sinne Hee may hisse and winde about us but he cannot hurt us when that sting is pulled out Look up O thou beleeving soul to thy blessed Saviour who hath pluckt out this sting of death and happily triumphs over it both for himself and thee O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory §. 8. Death is but aparting to meet again Thy soul and body old companions are loth to part Why man it is but the forbearing their wonted society for a while they doe but take leave of each other till they meet againe in the day of Resurrection and in the mean time they are both safe and the better part happy It is commendable in the Jews otherwise the worst of men that they call their grave Beth Chajim the house of the living and when they return from the buriall of their neighbours they pluck up the grasse and cast it into the aire with those words of the Psalmist They shall flourish and put forth as the grasse upon the earth Did wee not beleeve a Resurrection of the one part and a re-uniting of the other wee had reason to be utterly daunted with the thought of a dissolution now wee have no cause to bee dismayed with a little intermission Is it an Heathen man or a Christian such I wish he had been whom I hear say The death which wee so fear and flee from doth but respite life for a while doth not take it away the day will come which shall restore us to the light again Settle thy soul my sonne in this assurance and thou canst not bee discomforted with a necessary parting § 9. Death is but a sleep Thou art afraid of death When thou art weary of thy dayes labour art thou afraid of rest Hear what thy Saviour who is the Lord of life esteems of death Iohn 11. 11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth And of Jairus his daughter The maid is not dead but sleepeth Neither useth the Spirit of God any other language concerning his servants under the Old Testament Now shall I sleep in the dust saith holy Job And of David When thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers Nor yet under the New For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep saith the Apostle Lo the Philosophers of old were wont to call sleep the brother of death but God says death is no other then sleep it self A sleep both sure and sweet When thou liest down at night to thy repose thou canst not be so certain to awake again in the morning as when thou layest thy self down in death thou art sure to wake in the morning of the Resurrection Out of this bodily sleep thou mayst be affrightedly startled with some noises of sudden horrour with some fearful dreams with tumults or alarms of War but here thou shalt rest quietly in the place of silence free from all inward and outward disturbances whiles in the mean time thy soul shall see none but visions of joy and blessedness But Oh the sweet and heavenly expression of our last rest and the issue of our happie resuscitation which our gracious Apostle hath laid forth for the consolation of his mournful Thessalonions For if we believe saith he that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Lo our belief is antidote enough against the worst of death And why are we troubled with death when we believe that Jesus died And what a triumph is this over death that the same Jesus who died rose again And what a comfort it is that the same Jesus who arose shall both come again and bring all his with him in glory And lastly what a strong Cordial is this to all good hearts that all those which die well do sleep in Jesus Thou thoughtst perhaps of sleeping in the bed of the grave and there indeed is rest but he tells thee of sleeping in the bosome of Jesus and there is immortality and blessedness Oh blessed Jesu in thy presence is the fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Who would desire to walk in the world when he may sleep with Jesus § 10. Death sweetned to us by Christ. Thou fearest death It is much on what terms and in what form death presents himself to thee If as an enemy as that is somewhere his style the last enemy death thy unpreparation shall make him dreadful thy readiness and fortitude shall take off his terrour If as a messenger of God to fetch thee to happiness what reason hast thou to be afraid of thine own bliss It is one thing what death is in himself a privation of life as such Nature cannot chuse but abhor him Another thing what he is by Christ made unto us an introduction to life an harbinger to glory Why would the Lord of Life have yeelded unto death and by yeelding vanquisht him but that he might alter and sweeten Death to us and of a fierce Tyrant make him a Friend and Benefactor And if we look upon him thus changed thus reconciled how can we chuse but bid him welcome § 11. The painfulness of Christs â—eath Thou art afraid of the pangs of death There are those that have died without any great sense of pain some we have known to have yeelded up their souls without so much as a groan And how knowest thou my son what measure God hath allotted to thee Our death is a Sea-voyage so the Apostle I desire to lanch forth wherein some finde a rough and tempestuous passage others calm and smoothe such thine may prove so as thy dissolution may be more easie then a fit of thy sickness But if thy God have determined otherwise Look unto Jesus the Authour and Finisher of our faith the Son of God the Lord of glory see with what agonies he conflicted what torments he endured in his death for thee Look upon his bloody sweat his bleeding temples his furrowed back his nailed hands and feet his racked joynts his pierced side Hear his strong cries consider the shame the pain the câ—rse of the Cross which he underwent for thy sake Say whether thy sufferings can be comparable to his He is a cowardly and unworthy Souldier that follows his General sighing Lo these are the steps wherein thy God and Saviour hath trod before thee Walk on courageously in this deep and bloody way after a few paces thou shalt overtake him in glory For if we suffer with him we shall also reign together with him §. 12. The vanity and miseries of life Thou shrinkest at the thought of death Is it not for that thou hast over-valued life and made thy home on earth Delicate persons that have pampered themselves at home are loth to stir abâ—â—ad especially
life having spoiled principalities and powers hath made a shew of them openly triumphing over them on his Crâ—ss Lo all the powers of hell were dragg'd after this glorious Conquerour when he was advanced upon that Triumphant Chariot Look therefore my son upon these hellish forces as already vanquished and know that in all things we are more then Conquerours through him that loved us Onely do thou by the power of thy faith apply unto thy self this great work that thy victorious Saviour hath done for the salvation of all the world of believers § 4. The great subtilfy of evil spirits and the remedy of the fear of it Power without malice were harmless and malice without power were impotent but when both are combined together they are dreadful But whereas Malice hath two ways to execute mischief either Force or Fraud the malice of Satan prevails more by this latter so as the subtilty of these malignant spirits is more pernicious then their power In regard of his power he is a Lion in regard of his subtilty he is a Serpent yea that old Serpent whose craft must needs be marvellously increased by the age and experience of so many thousand yeers So much the more careful ought we to be my son Lest Satan should get an advantage of us This is that he seeks and if our spiritual wisdom circumspection be not the more will be sure to find It is a great word and too high for us which the Apostle speaks For we are not ignorant of Satans devices Alas he hath a thousand stratagems that our weak simplicity is never able to reach unto The wisest of us knows not the deceitfulness of his own heart much less can he dive into the plots of hell that are against us We hear and are fore-warned of the wiles of the Devil but what his special machinations are how can we know much less prevent Even the children of this world saith our Saviour are in their generation wiser then the children of light how much more crafty is their Father from whom their cunning is derived Be as mean as thou wilt my son in thine own eyes say with Agur the son of Jakeh Surely I am more brutish then any man and have not the understanding of a man I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledge of the holy But what ever thou art in thy self know what thou art or mayst be in thy God Consider what the man after Gods own heart sticks not to profess Thou through thy Commandments hast made me wiser then mine enemies for they are ever with me Lo the spirit of wisdom is ours and he who is the eternal Wisdom of the Father is made unto us wisdom as well as righteousness And he who over-rules hell hath said The gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church What are the gates of hell but the deep plots and consulâ—tations of those infernal powers The Serpent is the known embleme of subtilty The Serpents of the Egyptian Sorcerers were all devoured by Moses his Serpent wherefore but to shew us that all the crafty counsels and machinations of hellish projectors are easily destroyed by the power and wisdom of the Almighty when all was done it was the Rod of God that swallowed them all and was yet still it self when they were vanquished So as that whereby Satan thought to have won most honour to himself ended in his shame and loss What an infinite advantage did the powers of darkness think to have made in drawing our first Parents by their subtil suggestions into sin and thereby into perdition as imagining either mankinde shall not be or shall be ours the incomprehensible wisdom and mercy of our God disappointed their hopes and took occasion by mans fall to raise him up to a greater glory and so ordered it that the Serpents nibbling at the heel cost him the breaking of his head What Trophees did that wicked spirit think to erect upon the ruines of miserable Job and how was he baffled by the patience of that Saint and how was that Saint doubled both in his estate and honour by his conquering patience How confidently did the subtilty of hell say concerning the Son of God exhibited in the flesh This is the heir come let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours How sure work did they think they had made when they saw him through their subtil procurement nailed to the Cross and dying upon that tree of shame and curse when they saw him laid dead under a sealed and guarded Grave-stone And now behold even now begins their Confusion and his Triumph now doth the Lord of Life begin to trample upon Death and hell and to perfect his own glory and mans redemption by his most glorious resurrection And as it was with the Head so it is with the members when Satan hath done his worst they are holier upon their sins and happier by their miscarriages God findes out a way to improve their evils to advantage and teaches them of these Vipers to make soverain Treacles and safe and powerful Trochisces Shortly the temptations of Satan sent out from his power malice subtilty are no other then fiery darts for their suddenness impetuosity penetration If we can but hold out the shield of faith before us they shall not be quenched onely but retorted into the face of him that sends them and we shall with the chosen vessel finde and profess that in all things we are more then conquerours through him that loved us and in a bold defiance of all the powers of darkness shall say I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord To whom be all honour glory praise power and dominion now and for evermore The Vniversal Receit for all Maladies THese are my son special compositions of wholsome Receits for the several Maladies of thy soul wherein it shall be my happiness to have suggested unto thee such thoughts as may any whit avail to the alleviation of thy sorrows But there is an universal Remedy which a skilfuller Physitian hath ordained for all thy grievances and I from his hand earnestly recommend to thee Is any among you afflicted let him pray Lo here the great and soverain Panpharmacum of the distressed soul which is able to give ease to all the fore-mentioned complaints Art thou castâ— down upon thy sick bed Call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray This was Hezekiah's receit when he was sick unto death He turned his face to the wall and prayed This was David's receit Have mercy on me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vexed Take therefore the
counsel of the Wise man My son in thy sickness be not negligent but pray unto the Lord and he will make thee whole Art thou soul-sick pray So did holy David The sorrows of hell compassed me about and the snares of death prevented me In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God Art thou infested with importunate temptations Pray So did S. Paul when the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him Thrice I besought the Lord that it might depart from me So did David Whiles I suffer thy terrours I am distracted thy fierce wrath goeth over me But unto thee have I cried O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Art thou disheartned with the weakness of grace Pray so did David I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart Lord all my desire is before thee Art thou afflicted with the slanders of evil tongues Pray So did David The mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue Hold not thy peace O God of my praise Art thou grieved or affrighted with the Publike Calamities of War Famine Pestilence Pray So good Jehosaphat presseth God with his gracious promise made to Solomen If when evil cometh upon us as the sword judgement or pestilence or famine we stand before this house and in thy presence and cry unto thee in our affliction then thou wilt hear and help and shuts up his zealous supplication with Neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee Art thou afflicted with the loss of friends Pray and have recâ—urse to thy God as Ezekiel when Peletiah the son of Benaiah died Then fell I down upon my face and cried with a loud voice and said Ah Lord God! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel Art thou distressed with Poverty Pray So did David I am poor and needy and my heart is wounded within me I became also a reproach to them when they that looked upon me shaked their heads Help me O Lord my God Oh save me according to thy mercy Art thou imprisoned Pray So did Jonah when he was shut up within the living wals of the Whale I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord so did Asaph Let the sighing of the Prisoner come before thee according to the greatnesse of thy power preserve thou them that are appointed to die Art thou driven from thy Country pray This is the remedy prescribed by Solomon in his supplication to God If thy people be carried away into a Land far off or near yet if they bethink themselves in the Land whither they are carried and turn and pray to thee in the Land of their Captivity If they return to thee with all their hearts and pray towards the Land which thou gavest to their Fore-fathers c. then hear thou from heaven their prayer and their supplication Art thou bereaved of thy bodily senses Make thy addresse to him that said Who hath made mans mouth or who maketh the dumb and the deaf or the seeing or the blind have not I the Lord Cry aloud to him with Bartimeus Lord that I may receive my sight And if thou be hopelesse of thine outward sight yet pray with the Psalmist O Lord open thou mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law Art thou afflicted with sterility pray so did Isaac so did Hannah she was in bitternesse of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore and received a gracious answer Art thou troubled and weakned with want of rest pray so did Asaph I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak I cryed to God with my voice unto God with my voice and he gave ear unto me Dost thou droop under the grievances of old age pray so did David Oh cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth O God thou hast taught me from my youth Now also when I am old and gray-headed O God forsake me not Art thou troubled and dismayed with the feares of death pray so did David My soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave I am counted with them that goe down into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength Free among the dead thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darknese in the deeps But unto thee have I cried O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Dost thou tremble at the thought of judgement So did the man after Gods own heart My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Look up with Jeremiah and say to thy Saviour O Lord thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul thou hast redeemed my life O Lord judge thou my cause Lastly art thou afraid of the power malice subtilty of thy spirituall enemies pray so did David Deliver me from mine enemies O my God defend me from them that rise up against me Oh hide me from the secret counsell of the wicked Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with cruell hatred O keep my soul and deliver me So did S. Paul pray that he might be freed from the messenger of Satan whose buffets he felt and was answered with My Grace is sufficient for thee so he sues for all Gods Saints May the God of peace tread down Satan under your feet shortly Shortly what ever evill it be that presseth thy soul have speedy recourse to the throne of Grace pour out thy heart into the eares of the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort and be sure if not of redresse yet of ease We have his word for it that cannot not fail us Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie mee Fashionable suppliants may talk to God but be confident he that can truly pray can never be truly miserable Of our selves we lie open to all evils our rescue is from above aud what entercourse have we with heaven but by our prayers Our prayers are they that can deliver us from dangers avert judgements prevent mischiefs procure blessings that can obtain pardon for our sins furnish us with strength against temptations mitigate the extremity of our sufferings sustain our infirmities raise up our dejectednesse increase our graces abate our corruptions sanctifie all good things to us sweeten the bitternesse of our afflictions open the windows of heaven shut up the bars of death vanquish the powers of hell Pray and be both safe and happy FINIS Gen. 48. 16. a Ps. 32 3 Job 10 1. Job 7. 11