Body or they could never have made Gods of them Nay there is such a strong sense of Immortality imprinted on our natures that very few Men how much soever they have debauched their natural Sentiments can wholly deliver themselves from the fears of another World. But we have a more sure Word of Prophesie than this Since Life and Immortality is now brought to light by the Gospel For this is so plainly taught in Scripture that no Man who believes that needs any other proof My business therefore only shall be to show you how such thoughts as these should affect our minds What that Wisdom is which the thoughts of Death will naturally teach us how that Man ought to live who knows that he must die and leave his Body behind him to rot in the Grave and go himself into a new World of Spirits SECT I. The first Notion of Death that it is our leaving this World with the improvement of it 1. FIrst then let us consider Death only as our leaving this World a very delightful place you 'l say especially when our circumstances are easie and prosperous here a Man finds whatever he most naturally loves whatever he takes pleasure in the supply of all his wants the gratification of all his senses whatever an earthly creature can wish for or desire The truth is few Men know any other happiness much less any thing above it they feel what strikes upon their senses this they think a real and substantial good but as for more pure and intellectual joys they know no more what to make of them than of Ghosts and Spirits they account them thin vanishing things and wonder what Men mean who talk so much of them Nay good Men themselves are apt to be too much pleased with this World while they are easy here something else is necessary to wean them from it and to cure their fondness of it besides the thoughts of dying which makes the Sufferings and Afflictions and Disappointments of this Life so necessary for the best of Men. This is one thing which makes the thoughts of Death so terrible Men think themselves very well as they are and most Men think that they cannot be better and therefore very few are desirous of a change Extream miseries may conquer the love of Life and some few Divine Souls may long with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all but this World is a beloved place to the generality of Mankind and that makes it a very troublesom thing to leave it whereas did we rightly consider this matter it would rectifie our mistakes about these things and teach us how to value and how to use them For 1. If we must leave this World how valuable soever these things are in themselves they are not so valuable to us For besides the intrinsick worth of things there is somthing more required to engage the Affections of Wise Men. viz. Propriety and a secure Enjoyment What is not our own we may admire if it be Excellent but cannot dote on and what is worth having increases or decreases in value proportionably to the length and certainty of its continuance what we cannot enjoy is nothing to us how excellent soever it be and to enjoy it but a little while is next to not enjoying it for we cannot enjoy it always and such things cannot be called our own and this shows us what value we ought to set upon this World and all things in it e'en just so much as upon things that are not our own and which we cannot keep We use indeed to call things our own which we have a legal title to which no Man can by Law or Justice deprive us of and this is the only property we can have in these things a property against all other human claims but nothing which can be taken from us nothing which we must leave is properly our own for in a strict sense nothing is our own but what is Essential either to our Being or to our Happiness Creatures are Proprietors of nothing not so much as of themselves for we are his who made us and who may unmake us again when he pleases but yet there are some things proper to our natures and that is all the natural propriety we have but what is thus proper to us we cannot be deprived of without ceasing to be or being miserable And this proves that the things of this World are not our own that they are not proper and peculiar to our natures though they are necessary to this present state of Life While we live here we want them but when we leave this World we must live without them and may be happy without them too There is a great agreeableness between the things of this World and an Earthly nature they are a great support and comfort to us in this mortal state and therefore while we live in this World we may value the enjoyments of it for the ease and conveniencies of Life but we must neither call this Life nor any enjoyments of it our own because they are short and perishing we are here but as Travellers in an Inn it is not our Home and Country it is not our Portion and Inheritance but a moveable and changeable Scene which is entertaining at present but cannot last Let us then consider how we ought to value such things as these and to make it as plain and self-evident as I can I shall put some easie and familiar Cases 1. Suppose you were a Travelling through a very delightful Country where you met with all the Pleasures and Conveniencies of Life but knew that you must not tarry there but only pass through it would you think it reasonable to set your Affections so much upon it as to make it uneasie to you to leave it And shall we then grow so fond of this World which we must only pass thorough where we have no abiding City as to enslave our selves to the Lusts and Pleasures of it and to carry out of this World such a Passion for it as shall make us miserable in the next For tho' Death will separate us from this World we are not sure that it will cure our Earthly Passions we may still find the torment of Sensual Appetites when all Sensual Objects are removed This was all the Purgatory-fire St. Austin could think of that those who loved this World too much here though otherwise innocent and vertuous Men should be punished with fruitless desires and hankerings after this World in the next which is a mixt torment of desire and despair For though indeed it is only living in these Bodies which betrays the Soul to such Earthly Affections yet when the impression is once made and is strong and vigorous we are not sure that merely putting off these Bodies will cure it as we see Age it self in Old Sinners does not cure the wantonness of Desire when the Body is effaete and languid
make up that defect and when we have done with the World to give up ourselves wholly to the service of God We should now be very importunate in our Prayers to God that for the Merits and Intercession of Christ he would freely pardon all the Sins and Frailties and Errors of our past life and give us such a comfortable hope and sence of his love to us as may support us in the hour of Death and sweeten the terrors and agonies of it We should meditate on the great love of God in sending Christ into the World to save Sinners and contemplate the height and depth and length and breadth of that love of God which passeth all humane Understanding We should represent to ourselves the wonderful condescension of the Son of God in becoming Man his amazing goodness in dying for Sinners the Just for the Unjust to reconcile us to God And when we have warmed our Souls with such thoughts as these we should break forth into raptures and extasies of Devotion in the praise of our Maker and Redeemer Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever 5 Revel 12 13. And besides other reasons which makes this a very proper Preparation for Death this accustoms us to the work and employment of the next World for Heaven is a life of Devotion and Praise there we shall see God and admire and adore him and sing eternal Halelujahs to him and therefore nothing can so dispose and prepare us for Heaven as to have our hearts ready tuned to the praises of God ravished with his love transported with his glory and perfections and swallowed up in the most profound and humble adorations of him 3. Thus when we are going into another World it becomes us most to have our thoughts there to consider what a blessed place that is where we shall be delivered from all the fears and sorrows and temptations of this World where we shall see God and the Blessed Jesus and converse with Angels and glorified Spirits and live an endless life without fear of dying where there is nothing but perfect love and peace no cross interests and factions to contend with no storms to ruffle or discompose our joy and rest to Eternity where there is no pain no sickness no labour no care to refresh the weariness or to repair the decays of a mortal Body not so much as the image of Death to interrupt our constant enjoyments where there is a perpetual day and an eternal calm where our Souls shall attain their utmost perfection of Knowledge and Vertue where we shall serve God not with dull and sleepy and unaffecting Devotion but with piercing thoughts with life and vigour with ravishment and transport in a word where there are such things as neither eye hath seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive These are proper thoughts for a man who is to compose himself for Death not to think of the pale and ghastly looks of Death when he shall be wrapt up in his Winding-sheet not to think of the dark and melancholly retirements of the Grave where his Body must rot and putrifie till it be raised up again immortal and glorious but to lift up his eyes to Heaven to view that lightsom and happy Country with Moses to ascend up into the Mount and take a prospect of the heavenly Canaan whither he is going This will conquer even the natural aversions to Death and make us with St. Paul desirous to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all make it as easie to us to leave this World for Heaven as it is to remove into a more pleasant and wholesome Air or into a more convenient and beautiful House so easie so pleasant will it be to die with such thoughts as these about us This indeed ought to be the constant Exercise of the Christian Life it is fit for all times and for all persons and without some degree of it it is impossible to conquer the Temptations of the World or to live in the practice of divine and heavenly Vertues But this ought to be the constant business or entertainment rather of those happy men who have lived long enough in the World to take a fair leave of it who have run through all the Scenes and Stages of Humane Life and have now Death and another World in view and prospect And it is this makes a Retirement from the World so necessary or very useful not meerly to ease our bodily labours and to get a little rest from business to dissolve in sloth and idleness or to wander about to seek a Companion or to hear News or to talk Politicks or to find out some way to spend time which now lies upon their hands and is more uneasy and troublesom to them than business was This is a more dangerous state and does more indispose them for a happy Death than all the cares and troubles of an active Life but we must retire from this World to have more leisure and greater opportunities to prepare for the next to adorn and cultivate our Minds and dress our Souls like a Bride who is adorned to meet her Bridegroom When men converse much in this World and are distracted with the cares and business of it when they live in a crowd of Customers or Clients and are hurried from their Shops to the Exchange or Custom-house or from their Chambers to the Bar and when they have discharged one obligation are pressed hard by another that at night they have hardly Spirits left to say their Prayers nor any time for them in the morning and the Lord's Day itself is thought more proper for Rest and Refreshment than Devotion I say what dull cold apprehensions must such men have of another World And after all the care we can take how will this World insinuate itself into our affections when it imploys our time and thoughts when our whole business is buying and selling and driving good Bargains and making Conveyances and Settlements of Estates How will this disorder our Passions occasion Feuds and Quarrels give us a tincture of Pride Ambition Covetuousness that there is work enough after a busie life even for very good men to wash out these stains and pollutions and to get the tast and relish of this World out of their mouths and to revive and quicken the sence of GOD and of another World. This is a sufficient reason for such men as I observed before to think when it is time to leave off and if not wholly to withdraw from the World yet to contract their business and to have the command of it that they may have more leisure to take care of their Souls before they have so near a call and
Apostles this state of Penitence in some cases was continued many years in other cases such Sinners were never reconciled till the hour of death Now if they had thought as many among us now do that sorrow for Sin and the vows of Obedience do immediately obtain our Pardon from God for sins committed after Baptism it is not imaginable why they should have imposed such a long and severe Discipline on Penitents If they believed God had forgiven them why should not the Church forgive them and receive them them to her Communion again upon their promises of amendment without such a long trial of their reformation But it is evident they thought sins after Baptism not forgiven without actual reformation and therefore would not receive them to Communion again without a tried and visible reformation of their Lives We know what Disputes there were about this matter in the Primitive Church the ancient Discipline allowed but of one Repentance after Baptism and some would not allow of that in the case of Adultery Murder and Idolatry but denied the Authority of the Church to receive such Sinners to Communion again this was the pretence of Novatus's Schism and Tertullian after he turn'd Montanist said many bitter things against the Catholicks upon this argument which seemed to question the validity of Repentance it self after Baptism though it did reform Mens lives but though this was a great deal too much and did both lessen the Grace of the Gospel and the Authority which Christ had given to his Church yet it is evident that all this time they were very far from thinking that some dying Sorrows or dying Vows after a wicked Life would carry Men to Heaven and the Judgment of those first and purest Ages of the Church ought at least to make Men afraid of relying on such a Death-bed Repentance as they thought very ineffectual to save Sinners CHAP. IV. Concerning the Fear of Death and the Remedies against it DEath is commonly and very truly called the King of Terrors as being the most formidable thing to Humane Nature the love of Life and the natural principle of Self-preservation begets in all Men a natural Aversion against Death and this is the natural Fear of Dying this is very much encreased by a great fondness and passion for this World which makes such Men especially while they are happy and prosperous very unwilling to leave it and this is still encreased by a sence of Guilt and the fear of Punishment in the next World All these are of a distinct nature and require sutable Remedies and therefore I shall distinctly consider them I. The natural Fear of Death results from Self-preservation and the love of our own being for light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun 11 Eccles. 7. All Men love Life and the necessary consequence of that is to fear Death though this is rather a natural Instinct than the effect of Reason and Discourse There are great and wise Reasons why God should imprint this Aversion to Death on Humane Nature because it obliges us to take care of ourselves and to avoid every thing which will destroy or shorten our lives this in many cases is a great principle of Vertue as it preserves us from all fatal and destructive Vices it is a great Instrument of Government and makes Men afraid of committing such Villanies as the Laws of their Country have made capital and therefore since the natural Fear of Death is of such great advantage to us we must be contented with it though it makes the thoughts of dying a little uneasie especially if we consider that when this natural Fear of Death is not encreased by other causes of which more presently it may be conquered or allayed by Reason and wise Consideration for this is not so strong an Aversion but it may be conquered the miseries and calamities of this Life very often reconcile Men to Death and make them passionately desire it Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life to the bitter in soul which long for death but it cometh not and digg for it more then for hid treasures which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave 3 Job 20 21 22. My soul chuseth strangling and death rather than life I loath it I would not live alway let me alone for my days are vanity 7 Job 15 16. And if the sence of present Sufferings can conquer the fears of Death there is no doubt but the hope of immortal Life may do it also for the fear of Death is not an original and primitive Passion but results from the love of ourselves from the love of life and our own being and therefore when we can separate the fear of Death from self-Self-love it is easily conquered when Men are sensible that life is no kindness to them but only serves to prolong their misery they are so far from being afraid of Death that they court it and were they as thoroughly convinc'd that when they die Death will translate them to a more happy Life it would be as easie a thing to put off these Bodies as to change their Cloaths or to leave an old and ruinous House for a more beautiful and convenient Habitation If we set aside the natural Aversion and inquire into the reasons of this natural Fear of Death we can think of but these two Either Men are afraid that when they die they shall cease to be or at least they know not what they shall be and are unwilling to exchange this present life which they like very well for they know not what But now both these reasons of Fear are taken away by the Revelation of the Gospel which has brought Life and Immortality to light and when the reasons of our Fear are gone such an unaccountable Aversion and Reluctancy to Death signifies little more than to make us patient of living rather than unwilling to die for a Man who has such a new glorious World such a happy immortal Life in his view could not very contentedly delay his removal thither were not Death in the way which he naturally startles at and draws back from though his reason sees nothing frightful or terrible in it The plain and short account then of this matter is this We must not expect wholly to conquer our natural Aversion to Death St. Paul himself did not desire to be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life 2 Cor. 3 4. Were there not some remaining aversions to Death mixed with our hopes and desires of Immortality Martyrdom itself excepting the patient enduring the shame and the torments of it would be no Vertue but though this natural aversion to Death cannot be wholly conquered it may be extreamly lessened and brought next to nothing by the certain belief and expectation of a glorious Immortality and therefore the only way to arm ourselves against these natural fears of
transformed into a spiritual nature as St. Paul expresly tells us 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44. It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body For as he adds 50 v. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God neither can corruption inherit incorruption Which is true of a fleshly Soul but here is understood of a Body of flesh and blood which is of a corruptible nature As our reason may satisfie us that such gross earthly Bodies as we now carry about with us cannot live and subsist in those pure regions of Light and Glory which God inhabits no more than you can lodge a stone in the Air or breathe nothing but pure Aether and therefore our glorified Bodies will have none of those earthly passions which these earthly Bodies have will relish none of the pleasures of flesh and blood that upon this account we may truly say that when we once put off these Bodies we shall ever after live without them Now the use of this Observation is so very obvious that methinks no man can miss it for when we consider that we must put off these Bodies and for ever live without them the very next thought in course is that we ought to live without our Bodies now as much as possibly we can while we do live in them to have but very little commerce with flesh and sense to wean ourselves from all bodily pleasures to stifle its appetites and inclinations and to bring them under perfect command and government that when we see it fit we may use bodily pleasures without fondness or let them alone without being uneasie for want of them that is that we may govern all our bodily appetites not they govern us For a wise man should thus reason with himself If I grow so fond of this Body and the pleasures of it if I can relish no other pleasures if I value nothing else what shall I do when I leave this body For bodily pleasures can last no longer than my body does what shall I do in the next World when I shall be striped of this body when I shall be a naked Soul or whatever other covering I may have shall have no flesh and blood about me and therefore all the pleasures I value now will then vanish like a dream for it is impossible to enjoy bodily pleasures when I have no body And though there were no other punishments in the next Life yet it is a great pain to me now to have my desires disappointed or delayed and should I retain the same fondness for these things in the next World where they cannot be had the eternal despair of enjoying them would be punishment enough Indeed we cannot tell what alteration our putting off these Bodies will make in the temper and disposition of our minds We see that a long and severe fit of sickness while it lasts will make men absolute Philosophers and give them a great contempt of bodily pleasures nay will make the very thoughts of those pleasures nauseous to them which they were very fond of in health Long Fasting and Abstinence and other bodily Severities are an excellent means to alter the habits and inclinations of the Mind and one would think that to be separated from these Bodies must needs make a greater alteration in our Minds than either Sickness or bodily Severities That I dare not say that a sensual man when he is separated from this body shall feel the same sensual desires and inclinations which he had in it and shall be tormented with a violent thirst after those pleasures which he cannot enjoy in a separate state But this I dare say that a man who is wholly sunk into flesh and sense and relishes no other pleasures is not capable of living happily out of this body unless you could find out a new Scene of material and sensible Pleasures to entertain him for though the particular appetites and inclinations of the body may cease yet his very Soul is sensualized and therefore is uncapable of the pleasures of a spiritual Life For indeed setting aside that mischief which the unruly lusts and appetites of men and the immoderate use of bodily pleasures does either to the persons themselves or to publick Societies and the true reason why we must mortifie our sensual inclinations is to improve our minds in all divine Graces for the Flesh and the Spirit cannot thrive together sensual and spiritual Joys are so contrary to each other that which of them soever prevails according to the degrees of its prevalence it stifles and and suppresses or wholly subdues the other A Soul which is ravished with the love of God and the Blessed Jesus transported with the spiritual hopes of another Life which feels the passions of Devotion and is enamour'd with the glories and beauties of Holiness and divine Vertues must have such a very mean opinion of Flesh and Sense as will make it disgust bodily pleasures or be very indifferent about them and a Soul which is under the government of Sense and Passion cannot tast those more intellectual and divine Joys for it is our esteem of things which gives a relish to them and it is impossible we can highly esteem one without depretiating and undervaluing the other It is universally true in this case what our Saviour tells us No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Ye cannot serve God and Mammon 6. Matth. 24. The least beginnings of a divine Nature in us is to love God above all the World and as we every day grow more devoutly and passionately in love with God and take greater pleasure in the spiritual acts of Religion in praising God and contemplating the divine Nature and Perfections and meditating on the spiritual Glories of another Life so we abate of our value for present things till we get a perfect conquest and mastery of them But he who is perfectly devoted to the pleasures of the Body and the service of his Lusts has no spiritual Life in him and tho' putting off these Bodies may cure our bodily appetites and passions yet it cannot give us a new principle of Life nor work an essential Change in a fleshly Nature and therefore such a man when he is removed from this Body and all the Enjoyments of it is capable of no other Happiness Nay though we are renewed by the divine Spirit and have a principle of a new Life in us yet according to the degree of our love to present things so much the more indisposed are we for the Happiness of unbodied Spirits And therefore since we must put off these Bodies if we would live for ever happily without them we must begin betimes to shake off Matter
dependance on God nothing gives a more signal demonstration of a divine Power or Vengeance or Protection nothing is a greater blessing to Families or Kingdoms or a greater punishment to them than the life or death of a Parent of a Child of a Prince and therefore it is as necessary to reserve this Power to God as to assert a Providence There are two or three places of Scripture which are urged in favour of the contrary opinion 14 Job 5. Seeing his days are determined the number of his months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass 7 Job 1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth are not his days also like the days of an hireling Which refer not to the particular period of every Man's life but as I observed before to the general period of humane Life which is fixt and determined which is therefore called the days or the years of Man because God has appointed this the ordinary time of Man's life as when God threatens that the Wicked shall not live out half their days that is half that time which is allotted for men to live on Earth for they have no other interest in these days but that they are the days of a man and therefore might be their days too From what I have now discoursed there are two things very plainly to be observed 1. That men may contribute very much to the lengthening or shortning their own lives 2. That the Providence of God does peculiarly over-rule and determine this matter 1. As for the first there is no need to prove it for we see men destroy their own lives every day either by intemperance and lust or more open violence by forfeiting their lives to publick Justice or by provoking the Divine Vengeance and therefore who ever desires a long life to fill up the number of his days which God has allotted us in this World must keep himself from such destructive Vices must practise the most healthful Vertues must make God his Friend and engage his Providence for his defence Can any thing be more absurd than to hear men promise themselves long life and reckon upon forty or fifty years to come when they run into those Excesses which will make a quick and speedy end of them which will either inflame and corrupt their Bloud and let a Feavour or a Dropsy into their Veins or bring Rottenness into their Bones or engage them in some fatal Quarrel or ruine their Estates and send them to seek their fortune upon the Road which commonly brings them to the Gallows What a fatal Cheat is this which men put upon themselves especially when they sin in hope of time to repent and commit such sins as will give them no time to repent in The advice of the Psalmist is much better What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile depart from evil and do good seek peace and persue it These are natural and moral causes of a long life but that is not all For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry the face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth That is God will prolong the lives of good Men and cut off the Wicked not that this is a general rule without exception but it is the ordinary method of Providence 34 Psal. 12 13 c. 2. For though God has not determined how long every man shall live by an absolute and unconditional Decree yet if a Sparrow does not fall to the ground without our Father much less does Man No man can go out of this World no more than he can come into it but by a special Providence no man can destroy himself but by God's leave no Disease can kill but when God pleases no mortal Accident can befal us but by God's appointment who is therefore said to deliver the Man into the hands of his Neighbour who is killed by any evil Accident 19 Deut. 4 5. Those wasting Judgments of Plague and Pestilence Famine and Sword are appointed by God and have their particular Commissions where to strike as we may see 26 Lev. 47. Ier. 6. 7. 65 Isai. 12. 15 Ierem. 2. 91 Psal. and several other places All the rage and fury of Men cannot take away our lives but by God's particular permission 10 Matth. 28 29 30 31. And this lays as great an obligation on us as the love of life can which is the dearest thing in this World to serve and please God this will make us secure from all fears and dangers My times saith David are in thy hand deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me 31 Psal. 15. This encourages us to pray to God for ourselves or our Friends whatever danger our lives are in either from sickness or from men There is no case wherein he can't help us when he sees fit he can rectify the disorders of Nature and correct an ill habit of Body and rebuke the most raging Distempers which mock at all the Arts of Physick and powers of Drugs and many times does so by insensible methods To conclude this is a great satisfaction to good men that our lives are in the hands of God that though there be not such a fixt and immoveable Period set to them yet Death cannot come but by God's appointment SECT VI. The particular Time when we are to Die is unknown and uncertain to us III. THe particular time when any of us are to Die is unknown and uncertain to us and this is that which we properly call the uncertainty of our lives that we know not when we shall Die whether this night or to morrow or twenty years hence There is no need to prove this but only to mind you of it and to acquaint you what wise use you are to make of it 1. This shews how unreasonable it is to flatter ourselves with the hope of long life I mean of prolonging our lives near the utmost term and period of humane life which though it be but short in itself is yet the longest that any man can hope to live No wise man will promise himself that which he can have no reason to expect but what has very often failed others for let us seriously consider what reason any of us have to expect a long life is it because we are young and healthful and vigorous And do we not daily see young men die can youth or beauty or strength secure us from the arrests of Death is it because we see some men live to a great age But this was no security to those who died young and left a great many men behind them who had lived twice or thrice their age and therefore we also may see a great many old men and die young
ourselves It is possible we may live to old age because some do but it is more likely we shall not because there are more that die young The truth is the time of dying is so uncertain the ways of dying so infinite so unseen so casual and fortuitous to us that instead of promising ourselves long life no wise man will promise himself a week nor venture any thing of great moment and consequence upon it The hope of long life is nothing else but self-flattery the fondness men have for life and that partiality they have for themselves perswades them that they shall live as long as any man can live and shall escape those Diseases and fatal Accidents with which our Bills of Mortality are filled every week but then you should consider that other men are as dear to themselves as you are and flatter themselves as much with long life as you do but their hopes very often deceive them and so may yours But you 'll say To what purpose is all this why so much pains to put us out of conceit with the hopes of living long for what hurt is it if we do flatter ourselves a little more in this matter than we have reason for If it should prove only a deceitful Dream yet it makes life chearful and comfortable and gives us a true relish of it and why should we disturb ourselves and make life uneasy by the perpetual thoughts of dying Now I confess were there no hurt and danger in it this were as ill-natured and spightful a thing as could be done and the least recompence I could make would be to ask your pardon for it and leave you to enjoy the comforts of life securely for the future to live on as long as you can and let Death come when it will without being lookt for but I apprehend a great deal of danger in such deceitful and flattering hopes and that is the reason why I disswade you from it For 1. The hope of long life is apt to make us fond of this World which is as great a mischief to us as to expose us to all the temptations and flatteries of it That we must die and leave this World is a good reason indeed why we ought not to be fond of it why we should live like Pilgrims and Strangers here as I observed before But few men who hope to live threescore or fourscore years think much of this though it be comparatively short in respect of Eternity yet it is a great while to live and a great while to enjoy this World in and that is thought a very valuable happiness which can be enjoyed so long and then men let loose their desires and affections endeavour to get as much of this World as they can and to enjoy as much of it as they can and not only to tast but to take full and plentiful draughts of the intoxicating Pleasures of it And how dangerous this is I need not tell any man who considers that all the wickedness of Mankind is owing to too great a fondness and passion for this World. And therefore if we would live like Pilgrims and set loose from all the enjoyments of this World we must remember that our stay is uncertain here that we have no lease of our lives but may be turned out of our earthly Tenements at pleasure For what man would be fond of laying up great treasures on Earth who remembers That this night his soul may be taken from him and then whose shall all these things be What man would place his happiness in such enjoyments which for ought he knows he may be taken from to morrow These are indeed melancholy and mortifying considerations and that is the true use of them for it is necessary we should be mortified to this World to cure the love of it and conquer its temptations For if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the world the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eye and the pride of life is not of the Father but of the world 2. As the hopes of long life give great advantage to the temptations of this World so they weaken the hopes and fears of the other World they strengthen our temptations and weaken us which must needs be of very fatal consequence to us in our spiritual Warfare All that we have to oppose against the flattering Temptations of this World are the Hopes and Fears of the World to come but the hope of long life sets the next World at too great a distance to conquer this what is present works more powerfully upon our minds than what is abfent and the farther any thing is off the less powerful it is To make you sensible of this I shall only desire you to remember what thoughts you have had of another World when the present fears of dying have given you a nearer view of it Good Lord what Agonies have I seen dying Sinners in how penitent how devout how resolved upon a new course of life which too often vanish like a Dream when the fear of Death is over What is the reason of this difference Heaven and Hell is the very same when we are in health as when we are sick and I will suppose that you do as firmly believe a Heaven and a Hell in health as in sickness the onely thing then that makes the thoughts of the other World so strong and powerful and affecting when we are sick is that we see the other World near us that we are just a stepping into it and this makes it our present concernment but in health we see the other World a great way off and therefore do not think it of such near and present concernment and what we do not think ourselves at present concerned in or not much concerned in how great and valuable soever it be in itself will either not affect us at all or very little Thus while bad men place the other World at a great distance from them and out of sight they have no restraint at all upon their lusts and passions and good men themselves at the greater distance they see the other World are so much the less affected by it which damps their zeal and their devotion and makes them less active and vigorous in doing good And there is so much the more danger in this because men look upon the other World as farthest off and so are least concerned about it when the thoughts of the other World are most useful and most necessary to them in the heat and vigour of youth men are most exposed to the temptations of flesh and sense and have most need to think of another World and a future Judgment but those who promise themselves a long life see Death and another World so far off while they are young that it moves them as little as if there were no other World. And though one would think that as our
to decide this Controversie but thus much I will say and that I think is all that is needful for a Christian to know about it That to be in a state of Grace is to have an inward principle of Holiness which brings forth the fruits of a holy Life that to persevere in a state of Grace is to persevere in the practice of Holiness and Vertue that many who have begun well and have thought themselves and have been thought by others to be truly good Men have afterwards been overcome by the Temptations of the World and defiled themselves with the impure Lusts of it that if such Men ever were good Men and in a state of Grace they fall from Grace when they forsake the paths of Holiness and that those who do thus fall away who after promising beginnings do all the abominations of the Wicked and live and die in such a state shall never enter into Heaven We shall receive our final Doom and Sentence according to that state and condition in which Death finds us What is said upon another account that we must call no Man happy before death is true in this sence no Man is a Conqueror but he who dies so Those Men deceive themselves who confidently pretend to be still in a state of Grace and Favour with God because formerly they were good Men though now they are grown very bad this is to persevere in a state of Favour with God without persevering in Holiness which overthrows the Gospel of our Saviour and will miserably deceive those Men who have no better foundation for their hopes 3. We hence learn how dangerous it is to die in the actual commission of any known and wilful sin Such Men go into the other World and go to Judgement with actual guilt upon them they die in their sins for they could not repent of them before they died because they died in the commission of them and there is no repentance and therefore no pardon in the next World. This has been and very often is the miserable and I fear the hopeless state of a great many Sinners How many are there who not only drink themselves into a Feavour which takes some time to kill them and gives them some time to repent of their sins and to ask God's pardon but drink themselves dead or which is much at one as to this case drink away their reason and senses and then fall from their Horses or down a Precipiece and perish by some evil accident or when they are inflamed with Wine forget their old friendships and fall by each others hands How many others have perished in the very act of Adultery or which is much the same in quarrelling for a Strumpet in the rage and fury of Lust How many die in the very act of Theft and Robbery All such Men receive the present punishment of their sins in this World and carry the unrepented guilt of them into the next and if Men shall be damned who die in their sins without repentance such Mens condition is desperate And this may be the case of any Man who ventures upon a wilful sin he may die in the very act of it and then his repentance will come too late in the next World and this so often happens that no wise Man would venture his Soul upon it But there are two Sins especially which this consideration should deter Men from viz. Duelling and Self-murder When Men have such a resentment of Affronts and Injuries as to revenge themselves with their Swords and either to thirst after each others blood or at least to stake their lives and to venture killing or being killed to decide the Quarrel these Men have the hearts of Murderers who would kill if they could or at least will venture killing their Brother to appease their resentments or revenge which is a mortal and a murdering revenge whether it murder or not and therefore if such Men fall in the quarrel as many do without time to ask God's pardon with their last breath they die under the guilt of Murder unrepented of though they do not kill but are killed yet they die with murderous intentions with a mortal hatred and revenge for they would have killed if they could and St. Iohn tells us He that hateth his brother is a murderer and we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him 1 John 3. 15. So that these Duellers do not only venture their Lives but their Souls too if they fall in the quarrel and how little soever they value their Lives it is a little too much to pawn their Souls upon a point of Honour As for Self-murder if we will allow it to be a Sin it is certain that no Man who commits it can repent of it in this World and there is no pardon for sins in the next World which are not repented of in this And yet why we should not think it as great a sin to murder ourselves as to murder our Brother I cannot imagine for it has all the marks of a very great sin upon it It is as much Murder to kill ourselves as it is to kill another Man and therefore it is a breach of the sixth Commandment Thou shalt not kill The reason against Murder is the same For in the image of GOD made he man 9 Gen. 6 and he who kills himself destroys God's Image as much as he who kills another Man. The more unnatural the sin is or the greater obligations we have to preserve the life of the person whom we kill the greater the sin is to murder a kind Friend and a Benefactor is a greater evil than to murder a Stranger to murder a Parent or a Child a Wife or a Husband is still a greater evil because they are so much nearer ourselves and if the nearness of the relation increases the sin no body is so near to us as our selves and therefore there is no such unnatural Murder as this The excuses which are made for Self-murder will not justifie the Murder of any other Man in the World Though we should see a Friend whom we love like ourselves labouring under intolerable pains or insupportable misfortunes and calamities of life though he should importune and beseech us to put an end to his sufferings by putting an end to a miserable life though out of great kindness and compassion we heartily desire to follow him to his Grave yet we must not kill him neither the Laws of God nor Man will allow this And yet if self-Self-love be the measure of our love to other Men and will justifie Self-murder when we are grown weary of life when we either despise the World or think it best to make our escape out of it I cannot imagine why we may not do the same kindness for a Friend or a Brother when he desires it as we may do for ourselves the reason is the same in both and if it will not justifie both it can justifie
dying is to confirm our selves in this belief that Death does not put an end to us that our Souls shall survive in a state of Bliss and Happiness when our Bodies shall rot in their Graves and that these mortal Bodies themselves shall at the sound of the last Trump rise again out of the dust immortal and glorious A Man who believes and expects this can have no reason to be afraid of Death nay he has great reason not to fear Death and that will reconcile him to the thoughts of it though he trembles a little under the weaknesses and aversions of Nature II. Besides the natural Aversions to Death most Men have contracted a great fondness and passion for this World and that makes them so unwilling to leave it whatever glorious things they hear of another World they see what is to be had in this and they like it so well that they do not expect to mend themselves but if they were at their choice would stay where they are and this is a double death to them to be snatched away from their admired enjoyments and to leave whatever they love and delight in behind them and there is no remedy that I know of for these Men to cure their fears of Death but only to rectifie their mistaken opinions of things to open their eyes to see the Vanity of this World and the brighter and more dazling Glories of the next There are different degrees of this and therefore this remedy must be differently applied some Men are wholly sunk into flesh and sence and have no tast at all of rational and manly Pleasures much less of those which are purely intellectual and divine they are Slaves to their lusts lay no restraints on their bruitish appetites the World is their God and they dote on the riches and pleasures and honours of it as the only real and substantial goods Now these Men have great reason to be afraid of Death for when they go out of this World they will find nothing that belongs to this World in the next and thus their happiness and their lives must end together It is fitting they should fear Death for if the fear of Death will not cure their fondness for this World nothing else can you must not expect to perswade them that the next World is a happier place than this but the best way is to set before them the terrors of the next World those Lakes of Fire and Brimstone prepared for the Devil and his Angels to ask them our Saviour's question What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul These Men ought to fear on till the fear of Death cures their vicious passion and fondness for this World and then the fear of Death will by degrees cure itself Others there are who have a true reverence for God and govern their inclinations and passions to the things of this World with regard to his Laws they will not raise an Estate by Injustice Oppression or Perjury they will not transgress the Rules of Sobriety and Modesty in the use of sensual Pleasures they will not purchase the honours and preferments of this World at the price of their Souls but yet they love this World very well and are extreamly delighted in the enjoyments of it they have a plentiful Fortune or a thriving Trade or the Favour of their Prince they live at ease and think this World a very pleasant place and are ready to cry It is good for us to be here Now it cannot be avoided but that in proportion to Mens love of this World though it be not an immoral and irregular passion they will be more afraid and more unwilling to leave it when we are in the full enjoyment of an earthly Felicity it is difficult for very good Men to have such a strong and vigorous sence of the next World as to make them willing and contented to leave this they desire to go to Heaven but they are not over-hasty in their desires they can be better pleased if God sees fit to stay here a little longer and when they find themselves a going are apt to cast back their eyes upon this World as those who are loth to part This makes it so necessary for God to exercise even good Men with afflictions and sufferings to wean them from this World which is a Scene of Misery and to raise their hearts to Heaven where true and unmixt Happiness dwells The only way then to cure this fear of Death is to mortifie all remains of love and affection for this World to withdraw ourselves as much as may be from the conversation of it to use it very sparingly and with great indifferency to supply the wants of Nature rather than to enjoy the pleasures of it to have our conversation in Heaven to meditate on the glories of that blessed Place to live in this World upon the hopes of unseen things to accustom our selves to the work and to the pleasures of Heaven to praise and adore the Great Maker and Redeemer of the World to mingle ourselves with the heavenly Quire and possess our very fancies and imaginations with the glory and happiness of seeing GOD and the Blessed JESUS of dwelling in his immediate Presence of conversing with Saints and Angels this is to live like Strangers in this World and like Citizens of Heaven and then it will be as easie to us to leave this World for Heaven as it is for a Traveller to leave a foreign Country to return home This is the height and perfection of Christian Vertue it is our mortifying the Flesh with its affections and lusts it is our dying to this World and living to God and when we are dead to this World the fear of dying and leaving this World is over For what should a Man do in this World who is dead to it When we are alive to God nothing can be so desirable as to go to him for here we live to God only by Faith and Hope but that is the proper place for this divine Life where God dwells So that in short a life of Faith as it is our Victory over this World so it is our Victory over Death too it disarms it of all its fears and terrors it raises our hearts so much above this World that we are very well pleased to get rid of these Bodies which keep us here and to leave them in the Grave in hopes of a blessed Resurrection III. The most tormenting Fears of Death are owing to a sence of Guilt which indeed are rather a fear of Judgement than of Death or a fear of Death as it sends us to Judgment and here we must distinguish between three sorts of Men whose Case is very different 1. Those who are very good Men who have made it the care of their lives to please GOD and to save their Souls 2. Those who have
of things he will very easily trust God for every thing else for he is not so solicitous about any thing in this World as he is for his Soul and if he can trust God with his dearest interests surely he will trust him in less matters The Promises of eternal Life through our Lord Jesus Christ are the highest demonstration of God's love to us and he who is so well assured of God's love that he can trust him for Heaven can never distrust his care and providence in this World. The methods of God's Providence can never be so unknown to us in this World as the State of the other World is unknown and if we can chearfully follow God into an unseen and unknown World cannot we be contented to follow him through the most dark and perplexed tracks of Providence here So that we have as little reason to complain that the State of the other World is unknown to us as we have that we must live by Faith in this World for absent unseen and unknown things are the objects of our Faith And those who will trust God no farther than they can see neither in this World nor in the next have no reason to depend upon his Providence here nor to expect Heaven hereafter 2ly The State of the other World being so much unknown to us is a very good reason why we should chearfully comply with all the terms and conditions of the Gospel to do whatever our Saviour requires that we may obtain eternal Life This it may be you will not so readily apprehend and yet the reason of it is very plain for since the State of the other World is so much unknown to us we do not and cannot know neither what dispositions and habits and complexion of Soul are necessary to fit and qualifie us for this unknown Happiness But our Saviour who knew what that state is knew also what is necessary to that State and therefore the wisest course we can take is to obey all his Laws without any dispute not only as the Conditions of Happiness without which we shall not be admitted into Heaven but as the necessary Preparations for it As to explain this by a paralel case which you will easily understand Suppose we had pre-existed in a former state as some say we did before we came into these Bodies and before we knew any thing of this World or what the pleasures and entertainments of it are should have been told what kind of Bodies we must go into no doubt but there would have been wonderful wise disputes about the make and frame of our Bodies we should have thought some parts superfluous or useless or ill contrived indeed should have wonder'd what such a Body was made for as well we might before we understood the use of any part of it but God who knew what he intended us for provided such a Body for us as is both beautiful and useful and we cannot want any part of it but we are deprived of some conveniences and pleasures of life And thus we may easily suppose it to be with reference to the next World that the habits and tempers of our Minds are as necessary to relish the pleasures of that state as our bodily senses are to tast bodily pleasures and since we do not particularly know what the delights of that state are and Christ does we ought as perfectly to resign up ourselves to his directions for the fashioning our Minds as we trust God to form our Bodies for us Whatever Graces and Vertues he requires us to exercise in this World though we do not see the present use of them though we may think them an unnecessary restraint of our liberties and very needless and unreasonable severities yet we ought to conclude that Christ knew the reason of such commands and that such qualities and dispositions of mind will be found as necessary in the next World as our bodily senses are here And this we ought especially to conclude of such degrees and instances of Vertue as seem above our present state and not so well fitted to our condition of life in this World for why should our Saviour give us such Laws and exact such a degree of Vertue from us here as abridges our present enjoyments and it may be exposes us to great inconveniencies and sufferings were not that temper of Mind which these Vertues form in us of great use and necessity in the next life As for instance We should think it sufficient while we live in this World where there are so many inviting objects and while we are clothed with bodies of Flesh which are made for the enjoyments of sense and have natural appetites and inclinations to them so to govern ourselves in the use of these pleasures as neither to make ourselves Beasts nor to injure our Neighbours and while we keep within these bounds to gratifie our appetites and inclinations to the full for it is certainly the happiness of an earthly Creature to enjoy this World though a reasonable Creature must do it reasonably But not to love this World seems a hard command to a Creature who lives in it and was made to enjoy it to despise bodily pleasures to subdue the fleshly principle in us not only to Reason but to the Spirit to live above the Body and to strive to stifle not only its irregular but even its natural appetites and to tast the pleasures of it very sparingly and with great indifference of mind seems a very hard saying to Flesh and Blood We should think it time enough to have our conversation in Heaven when we come thither but it is plainly above the state of an earthly Creature to live in Heaven to have all our joys our hopes our treasure and our hearts there The state of this World would be very happy and prosperous without such a raised and refined and spiritualized Mind and therefore these are such Vertues as are not necessary to the present constitution of this World and therefore can be only in order to the next Thus it is sufficient to the Happiness and good Government of this World that men do no injury to each other and that they express mutual Civilities and Respects that they take care of those whom Nature has endeared to them and that they be just and in ordinary cases helpful to others and therefore this is all that the state of this World requires But that Divine and Universal Charity which teaches us to love all Men as ourselves even our Enemies and those who hate and persecute us to forgive the injuries we suffer and not to revenge and retaliate them not to render evil for evil nor railing for railing but contrariwise blessing I say this wonderful Vertue does not only lie extreamly cross to self-self-love but is hardly reconcileable with the state of this World for the practise of it is very dangerous when we live among bad men who will take advantage of such a bearing and
and then thou shalt not so much as see the God thou worshippest the Earth shall shortly cover thee and then thou shalt have thy mouth and belly full of clay and dust Such thoughts as these will cool our desires to this present World will make us contented when we have enough and very charitable and liberal of what we can spare For what should we do with more in this World than will carry us thorough it What better and wiser use can we make of such Riches as we cannot carry with us into the other World than to return them thither before hand in acts of Piety and Charity that we may receive the rewards and recompences of them in a better life that we may make to our selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when we fail they may receive us into everlasting habitations When he finds his mind begin to swell and to encrease as his fortune and honours do Lord thinks he what a bubble is this which every breath of Air can blow away How vain a thing is Man in his greatest glory who appears gay and beautiful like a Flower in the Spring and is as soon cut down and withered Though we should meet with no change in our fortune here yet we shall suddenly be removed out of this World the scene of this life will change and there is an end of earthly Greatness And what a contemptible mind is that which is swelled with dying Honours which looks big indeed as a body does which is swelled out of all proportion with a Dropsy or Timpany but that is its Disease not a natural Beauty What am I better than the poorest Man who beggs an Alms unless I be wiser and more vertuous than he Can Lands and Houses great Places and Titles things which are not ours and which we cannot keep make such a mighty difference between one man and another are these the Riches are these the Beauties and Glories of a Spirit are we not all made of the same mould is not God the Father of us all must we not all die alike and lie down in the dust together and can the different parts we act in this World which are not so long as the Scene of a Play compared to an eternal Duration make such a vast difference between men This will make men humble and modest in the highest fortune as minding them that when they are got to the top-round of Honour if they keep from falling yet they must be carried down again and laid as low as the dust Thus when he finds the Body growing upon the Mind and intoxicating it with the love of sensual Pleasures he remembers that his Body must die and all these Pleasures must die with it that they are indeed killing Pleasures which kill a mortal Body before its time that it does not become a man who is but a Traveller in this World but a Pilgrim and a Stranger here to study Ease and Softness and Luxury that a Soul which must live for ever should seek after more lasting Pleasures which may survive the Funeral of the Body and be a spring of ravishing Joys when he is stript of Flesh and Blood. These are the thoughts which the consideration of Death will suggest to us as I have already shewed you And it is impossible for a man who has always these thoughts at hand to be much imposed on by the Pageantry of this World by the transient Honours and Pleasures of it It is indeed I think a very impracticable Rule which some men give To live always as if we were to die the next moment Our lives should always be as innocent as if we were immediately to give up our accounts to God but it is impossible to have always those sensible apprehensions of Death about us which we have when we see it approaching but though we cannot live as if we were immediately to die which would put an end not only to all innocent Mirth but to all the necessary Business of the World which I believe no dying man would concern himself for yet we may and we ought to live as those who must certainly die and ought to have these thoughts continually about us as a guard upon our actions For whatever is of such mighty consequence to us as Death is if it be certain ought always to give Laws to our Behaviour and Conversation 2ly If it be certain we must die the very first thing we ought to do in this World after we come to years of understanding should be to prepare for Death that whenever Death comes we may be ready for it This I confess is not according to the way of this World for dying is usually the last thing they take care of This is thought a little unseasonable while men are young and healthful and vigorous but besides the uncertainty of our lives and that it is possible while we delay Death may seize on us before we are provided for it and then we must be miserable for ever which I shall speak to under the next Head. I doubt not but to convince every considering man that an early Preparation for Death is the very best means to make our lives happy in this World while we do continue here Nor shall I urge here how a life of Holiness and Vertue which is the best and only Preparation for Death tends to make us happy in this World delivers us from all those Mischiefs which the wildness and giddiness of Youth and the more confirmed debaucheries of riper Years expose Men too for this is properly the commendation of Vertue not of an early Preparation for Death And yet this is really a great engagement and motive to prepare betimes for Death since such a Preparation for Death will put us to no greater hardships and inconveniencies than the practice of such Vertues as will prolong our lives preserve or increase our fortunes give us honour and reputation in the World and makes us beloved both by God and men But setting aside these things there are two advantages of an early Preparation for Death which contribute more to our Happiness than all the World besides 1. That it betimes delivers us from the fears of Death and consequently from most other fears 2ly That it supports us under all the troubles and calamities of this life 1. It betimes delivers us from the sears of Death and indeed it is then only a man begins to live when he is got above the fears of Death Were men thoughtful and considerate Death would hang over them in all their Mirth and Jollity like a fatal Sword by a single Hair it would sowre all their Enjoyments and strike terror into their hearts and looks But the security of most men is that they put off the thoughts of Death as they do their preparation for it they live secure and free from danger onely because they will not open their eyes to see it But these are such examples as no
lives wast and the other World grows near so we should recover a more lively sence of it yet we find it quite otherwise When men have been used to think the next World a great way off they will never think it near till it comes and when they have been used to think of the other World without any passion or concernment for it it is almost an impossible thing to give any quickness and passion to such thoughts for when any thoughts and the passion that properly belongs to such thoughts have been a great while separated it is a hard thing to unite them again to begin to think of that with passion and concern which we have been used for thirty or forty years to think of without any concernment 3. Another dangerous effect of flattering ourselves with long life is that it encourages men to sin with the vain hopes and resolutions of repenting before they die When men are convinced that if they live and die in sin they must be miserable for ever as I believe most profest Christians are as I am sure all must be who believe the Gospel of our Saviour there is no other possible way to ward off this blow and to sin securely under such Convictions but by resolving to repent and to make their peace with God before they die They flatter themselves they have a great while yet to live Judgment is a great way off and therefore they may indulge themselves a while and enjoy the sweets of sin and gratifie their youthful inclinations and learn the Vanity of the World by experience as their Forefathers have done before them and then they will grow as wise and grave and declaim against the Follies and Vanities of Youth and be as penitent and as devout and religious as any of them all Whoever considers the uncertainty of Humane Life if he should hear men talk at this rate would either conclude that they were mad or merrily disposed but could never guess that they were in their wits and in good earnest too but if he will allow men to be in their wits who can promise themselves long life when they see every day how uncertain life is and if we will not allow such men to be in their wits above two thirds of the World are mad this gives a plain account how men may resolve to sin while they are young and to repent when they are old for it is only the flattering hopes of long life that can encourage men in a course of sin Men indeed who do not promise themselves long life may commit a particular sin and resolve to repent of it as soon as they have done which are a more modest sort of Sinners of which more presently but I speak now of those and too many such there are who resolve to take their fill of this World while youth and strength and health last and to grow sober and religious when they grow old the consequent of which is that they resolve to be damned unless they live till they are old or till they grow weary of their sins and learn more wisdom by age and experience Now I shall not insist at present upon the hazard such men run of not living till the time comes which they have allotted for their repentance which belongs to another Argument but onely what a dangerous thing it is to be tempted to a custom and habit of sinning by the hope of long life and of time enough to repent in for there is not a greater Cheat in the World that men put upon themselves than to indulge themselves in all manner of Wickednesses to contract strong and powerful habits of Vice with a resolution to repent of their sins and to forsake them before they die The experience of the World sufficiently proves how vain this is for though some such men may live while they are old how seldom is it seen that they repent of their youthful Debaucheries when they grow old They still retain their love and affection for those sins which they can commit no longer and repent of nothing but that they are grown old and cannot be so wicked as they were when they were young And is there any reason in the World to expect it should be otherwise Do we not know what the power of habit and custom is how the love of sin increases with the repeated commission of it and is the spending our youthful strength and vigour in sin likely to dispose and prepare us to be sincere Penitents when we grow old Do we not see that a custom of sinning in some men destroys the modesty of humane Nature in others all sence of God and of Religion or of the natural differences of good and evil Some men sin on till they despise repentance others till they think repentance is too late so that though men were sure that they should live long enough to grow wiser and to repent and reform the sins and extravagances of youth yet no man who enters upon a wicked course of life has any reason to expect that he shall ever repent and therefore it is extreamly dangerous to flatter ourselves into a habit and custom of sinning with the hopes and expectations that we shall live to repent of our sins and if this be dangerous it must be very dangerous to flatter ourselves with the hopes of long life which is the great temptation to men to sin on and to delay their repentance till old age 2. Since the time of our Death is so unknown and uncertain to us we ought always to live in expectation of it to be so far from promising ourselves long life that we should not promise ourselves a day And the reason for it is plain and necessary because we are not sure of a day This you 'll say is hard indeed to live always in expectation of dying which is no better then dying every day or enduring the repeated fears and terrors of Death every day which is the most uncomfortable part of dying at this rate we never live but instead of dying once as God has appointed we are always a dying nay this indeed is a fine saying but signifies nothing for no man does it nor can do it though we may die every day we see that men live on forty fifty threescore years and therefore though we know that our lives are uncertain yet no man can think every day that he shall die to day This is very true and therefore to live always in expectation of dying does not signifie a belief that we shall die to day but only that we may which answers the objection against the uncomfortableness of it for such an expectation as this has nothing of dread and terror in it but only prudence and caution Men may live very comfortably and enjoy all the innocent pleasures of life with these thoughts about them to expect Death every day is like expecting Thieves every night which does not disturb our rest but
a Gospel-grace only while we live in this World at a great distance from Heaven to be contented in all Conditions to trust God in the greatest Dangers to suffer patiently for Righteousness sake c. I need not tell you are Vertues proper only for this World for there can be no exercise for them in Heaven unless we can think it a Vertue to be patient and contented with the Happiness and glory of that blessed Place Thus most of the Sins which the Gospel forbids under the penalty of eternal Damnation can be committed by us only in this World and in these Bodies such as Fornication Adultery Uncleanness Rioting Drunkenness Injustice Murder Theft Oppression of the Poor and Fatherless Earthly Pride and Ambition Covetuousness a fond Idolatry of this World Disobedience to Parents and Governours c. now if these be the things for which men shall be saved or damned it is certain that men must be saved or damned only for what they do in this Life Bad men who are fond of this World and of bodily Pleasures which makes them impatient of the severe restraints of Religion complain very much of this that their eternal Happiness or Misery depends upon such a short and uncertain Life that they must spend this Life under the awe and terrour of the next that some few momentary Pleasures must be punished with endless Misery and that if they out-slip their time of Repentance if they venture to sin on too long or die a little too soon there is no remedy for them for ever But let bad men look to this and consider the folly of their Choice I am sure how hard soever it may be thought to be eternally damned for the short pleasures of Sin no man can reasonably think it a hard condition of eternal Salvation to spend a short Life in the Service of God And if we will allow that God may justly require our Service and Obedience for so great a Reward as Heaven is where can we do him this Service but on Earth If a corrupt Nature must be cleansed and purified if an earthly Nature must be spiritualized and refined before it can be fit to live in Heaven where can this be done but on Earth while we live in these Bodies of flesh and are encompass'd with sensible Objects This is the time for a Divine Soul which aspires after Immortality to raise itself above the Body to conquer this present World by the belief and hope of unseen things to awaken and exercise its spiritual Powers and Faculties and to adorn itself with those Graces and Vertues which come down from Heaven and by the Mercies of God and the Merits of our Saviour will carry us up thither There is no middle State between living in this Body and out of it and therefore whatever habits and dispositions of Mind are necessary to make a Spirit happy when it goes out of this Body must be formed and exercised while it is in it Earth and Heaven are two extreams and opposite states of Life and therefore it is impossible immediately to pass from one to t'other a Soul which is wholly sensualiz'd by living in the Body if it be turn'd out of the Body without any change cannot ascend into Heaven which is a state of perfect Purity for in all reason the place and state of life must be fitted to the nature of things and therefore a life of Holiness while we live in these Bodies is a kind of a middle State between Earth and Heaven such a man belongs to both Worlds he is united to this World by his Body which is made of Earth and feels the impression of sensible Objects but his Heart and Affections are in Heaven by Faith he contemplates those invisible Glories and feels and relishes the pleasures of a heavenly Life and he who has his conversation in Heaven while he lives in this body is ready prepared and fitted to ascend thither when he goes out of it he passes from Earth to Heaven through the middle region if I may so speak of a holy and divine Life Besides this it was necessary to the happiness and good Government of this present World that future Rewards or Punishments should have relation to the good or evil which we do in this Life This in many cases lays restraints upon the lusts and passions of men when the Rods and Axes of Princes cannot reach them it over-awes them with invisible terrours and makes a guilty Conscience it s own Judge and Tormenter it sowers all the pleasures of sin stuffs the Adulterer's Pillow with Thorns and mingles Gall and Wormwood with the Drunkard's Cups it governs those who are under no other government whose boundless and uncontroulable power gives them opportunity of doing what mischief they please and gives them impunity in doing it but the most lawless Tyrants who fear no other Power yet feel the invisible restraints of Conscience and those secret and severe rebukes which make them tremble Nay many times the fear of the other World governs those whom no present Evils or Punishments could govern men who would venture whatever they could suffer in this life by their sins are yet afraid of Hell and dare not venture that those who would venture being sick after a Debauch who would venture to sacrifice their Bodies their Estates their Reputation in the service of their Lusts who are contented to take their fortune at the Gallows or at the Whipping-post yet dare not venture Lakes of Fire and Brimstone the Worm that never dieth and the Fire that never goeth out Thus on the other hand How much is it for the present Happiness of the World that Men should live in the practise of those Christian Graces and Vertues which no Humane Laws command and the neglect of which no Humane Laws will punish As to instance only in the love of Enemies and forgiveness of Injuries and such an universal Charity as does all the good it can to all Men. I need not prove that the exercise of these Vertues is for the good of the World or that no Humane Laws require the exercise of them in such noble measures and degrees as the Gospel does The Laws of the Land allow scope enough to satisfie the most revengful Man who will use all the extremities and all the vexatious arts of Prosecution unless nothing will satisfie his revenge but bloud and a speedy execution for the Laws ought to punish those Injuries which a good Christian ought to forgive and then some Men may be undone by legal Revenge and others damned for taking it If no Man should do any good Offices for others but what the Law commands there would be very little good done in the World for Laws are principally intended for the preservation of Justice but the acts of a generous and bountiful Charity are free and Men may be as charitable as the Law requires without any degree of that divine Charity which will carry them to