and tost upon the Waves of a troublesome World Is not this World like a round Ball stuck full of Pins so that upon what part soever the Godly are cast they meet with trouble and misery According to that of our Saviour John 16.33 In the World ye shall have tribulation So that to have his life prolonged what was it but a prolongation of his misery and an adjournment of his happiness Tiberius Caesar said to one that requested death rather than long imprisonment Sueton. Nondum tecum redii in gratiam he told him He had not such a favour for him The like favour God here denies for the present to Epaphroditus and can this be truly call'd a Mercy Answ It cannot be denied but death is better than life to the Godly and rather to be chosen for it frees from sin sickness Satans temptations c. Yea it brings them to the happy vision and fruition of God to the society of blessed Saints and Angels and puts them into possession of everlasting happiness Calvin in Phil. 2.27 Longum esset enumerare omnia quae faciunt ut mors fidelibus potior sit vitâ optabilior Yet for all this as that learned Author saith Vita per se aestimata est praeclarum Dei beneficium praesertum qui Christo vivunt iis vitam lucro esse dicimus Life considered in it self is a choice mercy of God and advantagious to the Godly And to glorifie God in this bodily life is Non parva dignatio no little savour which God vouchsafeth to us so Calvin And Musculus Muscul in Phil. 2.27 saith Mors ipsa quatenus est peccati stipendium horribilis naturae in seipsâ considerata capax est misericordiae tà m corà m Deo quà m corà m hominibus Death as it is the wages of sin and terrible to nature is capable of mercy both before God and Man Besides as the same Author observes there were several circumstances which would have rendered his death in a sort miserable and no doubt did then trouble his mind Desolatio videlicet perturbatio Ecclesiae as the too much dejection of his people at the sad news of his death and the desolation that might follow upon it and withal the consideration that he could be no longer serviceable to them and to the Apostle in his bonds which he much desired Besides we may farther add that the continuance of a good mans life is a great blessing in this respect that the longer he lives the more good he doth and so his reward will be the greater 2 Cor. 9.6 He that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully There are degrees of glory as may be gathered from 1 Cor. 15.41 42. 1 Cor. 3.8 Secundum non propter opera The most gracious here shall be most glorious hereafter Those that do most for God here shall receive most from God hereafter So that had Epaphroditus died he had had his reward the sooner but living he makes it the greater For those of the longest standing and greatest proficiency in the School of Grace here shall take the greatest degrees of Glory hereafter I end this with the words of that truly pious and learned * Doctor Hammond in Phil. 1.22 Divine Life in it self and for the advantages of serving God and encreasing our Crown is a desirable thing Use and Application Vse 1 1. This may serve to confute or reprove the Manichees or any others that hold this present life in it self is evil Heming in Phil. 1.17 Manichei hanc praesentem vitam ut malum per se damnarunt Heming Surely God would never have made prolongation of life a motive to obedience as you find Deut. 6.2 30.16 c. so Prov. 3.16 4.10 22. 9.10 11. and elsewhere nor would the Apostle here have reckoned Epaphroditus's recovery amongst the mercies of God if this present life had been evil This is such a mercy we ought to bless God for Psal 66.8 9. O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard who holdeth our soul in life Muscul in Psal 103.3 4. Nè umbrâ quidem corporis nedum vivo ac sano corpore dignus est c. He is not worthy of the shadow and shape of a body much less of a living and healthful body that doth not look upon life and health as mercies Vse 2 2. This consideration should make us patient under afflictions that befal us So long as we have life and health we have no cause to complain as though God dealt hardly with us We read Gen. 19. that Lot had most of his Goods which he had not time to remove and his Sons in Law consumed in a fearful fire from Heaven and his Wife turned into a Pillar of Salt before his eyes a sad spectacle yet he counted it a mercy amidst manifold miseries that God had spared his life Vers 19. Behold now thy Servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life It is a mercy thou hast thy health but if this be gone after loss of Goods and Children as in Job's case yet it is a mercy thy life is spared that thou art on this side the Grave and a sad eternity Lam. 3.22 23. It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness Therefore as he adds vers 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain A living man hath cause to be thankful but none to murmur life and health being the choicest of outward mercies 3. and last Vse 3. And lastly Let us not if life and health be such choice mercies provoke God to deprive us of them Sin as I told you before is the procuring cause of sickness yea and of death too Rom. 5.12 so Rom. 6.23 Death both Temporal and Eternal is as due to sin as wages to him that earns them Temporal Death 't is true sooner or later will seize on us all yet many by sinning impair their health and shorten their dayes as these places shew Job 15.32 Psal 94.23 Prov. 10.27 Eccles 7.17 But more particularly I shall name several sins some of which in their own nature tend to impairing of health and shortening a mans dayes and others of them God hath threatned with destruction I pray you observe them and learn to avoid them as you love prolongation of health and life 1. Disobedience to Superiours See Exod. 20.12 This fiffh Commandement of honouring thy Father and Mother is said to be the first Commandement with promise Ephes 6.2 It is the first Commandement that hath this special promise annexed to it viz. Prolongation of dayes By Father and Mother we understand Political Ecclesiastical and Natural Parents Take heed then of an irreverent and disobedient carriage towards the King and those that are in authority under him You read Numb 16.
19. Herod looked on it so sad to die unlamented that he gave express command that when he died one of every Noble Family in his kingdom should be slain Dr. Abbot 6th Lect. on Jonah p. 124.1 that by that means his death might of necessity be lamented if not for love of him as the Tyrant had no reason to expect yet for the loss of others Joseph Antiquit. The saying of Solon Dr. Willet on Gen. p. 251. Mors mea non careat Lachrymis and let not my death want tears so it be done temperately is to be preferred before that of Ennius Nemo me lachrymis decoret Let no man mourn for me He hath lived Tellius inutile pondus a very unprofitable wretch who being dead is carried forth as servants carry out the sweepings of the House or guts of Birds or entrails of Beasts without any shew of sorrow Tears then at death of Friends are silent expressions of the usefulness of our dead Friend whilest living and of our value and esteem of him And if we seriously consider losses of this nature how can we chuse but weep For a wife to lose her husband the Guide of her Youth Pro. 2.7 who was a shield to defend her or as the Sun to chear her Gen. 37.9 10. must needs be a bitter loss So for a Husband to lose his Wife the Wife of his Youth Prov. 5.18 or the Wife of his Bosom Mic. 7.5 the desire of his eyes Ezek. 24.16 18. must needs be a bitter loss So for Parents to lose Children who have their being from them and from whom they expect comfort in their old age must needs be a bitter loss So how can Children chuse but weep at death of Parents to lose a Father that begot them Prov. 23.22 and took pains to provide for them 1 Tim. 5.8 so to lose a dear Mother that bare them nine months in her belly twelve months in her arms and many years in her mind and care must needs be a bitter loss Yet the Apostle in the catalogue of offenders that should come in the last dayes and surely ours are the last tells us of some that shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3.3 without natural affection unnatural to Relations whilst living and when dead as if their hearts were hewen out of a Rock they are unmoved they can with dry eyes and cheeks behold the Funeral Solemnities of Parents Children Husband Wife c. without any shew of sorrow Though God strikes them through their Relations yet they have not grieved Jer. 5.3 let such consider that of the Psalmist Psal 28.5 because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operations of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up God there threatens such as are affected with sad passages of his providence the chief of which we conclude are loss of Friends and Relations The Poet had observed an unnatural Son that before the time would be enquiring into his Father's age Filius ante diem Patrios inquiret in annos He would have his Father wrapt up in his winding-sheet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mixtus fletui risus Sphinx Philos p. 316. that he might rip open his Baggs would have him in his Coffin that he might enter into his Coffers And when the time of his Fathers interment is at hand which to him comes never sooner than expected or desired this unnatural Son it may be goes clothed in black having a light and merry heart under a sad and mournful habit So many Wives that have lived it may be too loosly and wantonly at their husbands death like that woman that Joab sent for 2 Sam. 14.2 feigh themselves to be Mourners and put on monring Apparel Thus Bathsheba's mourning for her husband Uriah 2 Sam. 11.26 is thought by some to be hypocritical for by his death she was freed from her husbands rage from shame and punishment which she justly deserved and withal she had hopes to become a Queen as indeed she did But let such hypocritical Mourners consider without repentance their portion will be with Hypocrites where Mat. 24.51 there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth In Hell there is weeping in good earnest And every tear shed is so far from quenching Hell-fire that like Oyl it will encrease the flame thereof and here I leave such unnatural wretches On the other side some there are that at death of Friends weep immoderately they weep till they can weep no more as the expression is 1 Sam. 30.4 they are so impatient that for ever after they lead disconsolate lives sitting daily inter suspiria lachrymas sighing sobbing and sorrowing they are so discomposed that they cannot as the Apostle commands attend upon the Lord without distraction 1 Cor. 7.35 They cannot pray nor meditate nor give thanks to God with that fixedness and composure as they ought to do Psal 57.7 And it may be they forbear going to Church because they cannot endure the sight of their friends grave Nay further they are not only inwardly pensive but outwardly passionate they fill Heaven and Earth with Exclamations Horrendis gravitèr Coelum pulsâsse querelis And many times passionate unsavory Speeches the scum of a discontented spirit proceed from them as from Jonah when his Gourd withered Jonah 4.8 9. He wish'd himself dead and tells God He did well to be angry even unto death St. Austin speaking of his Mothers Death said Aug. Confess lib 9 cap. 12. Oculi mei resorbebant fontem suum usque ad siccitatem His eyes had drained his very Fountains dry so excessive he was in weeping Indeed this hath been an infirmity in the best of men and women See Jacob at the supposed death of Joseph Gen. 37.33 34 35. He rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many dayes and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning thus his father wept for him His mourning like the swelling of Jordan Jer. 12.5 impetuously passed the banks of Reason So if mischief saith he befal Benjamin by the way in which ye go then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave Gen. 42.38 So David hearing news of the untimely death of Absalom the text tells you ◠Sam. 18.33 The king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and as he went thus he said O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son David is too excessive in his grief and speaks things that were not fitting as passionate men use to do Would God I had died for thee Why David what would have become of the Kingdom what miseries would it have been involved in if Absalom had survived The violence of Passion here makes David forget himself Gods
Tombs but this impatient man is among the Living and molests and grieves those that are near him 2. Immoderate sorrow wasteth the Spirits See Prov. 15.13 By sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken It weakens the Body and hastens Death 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the world worketh Death saith the Apostle by sorrow of the world we may understand immoderate sorrow about worldly things hastens death and eats out the very comfort of Life You read of Moses Deut. 34.7 He was an hundred and twenty years old when he dyed his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated What should be the reason Why surely under God his own meekness For Numb 12.3 He was very meek above all the men that were upon the face of the earth Hippocrates saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animalia quae felle carent ut Cervi sunt longaeva So meek persons many times live longest but impatient persons through fretting discontent bring their bodies into a Consumption Suppose as Job saith Job 6.12 Your strength was the strength of stones yet continual dropping of tears and drooping under sorrow would bring you down and wear you away for the same Job tells you Job 14.19 The waters wear the stones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepè cadendo And the wise man tells you Prov. 12.25 Heaviness in the heart of a man makes it stoop Immoderate grief like a heavy burthen laid upon a man will make him stoop and break him Many a man looks wrinkled with sorrow and care long before he is wrinkled with age Cura facit canos quamvis homo non habet annos Let us then Seneca Consâ—l ad Poâ—â—â— c. 23. as an Heathen said spare such grief as this is Faciliùs illi nos dolor iste ad jiciet quà m illum nobis reducet For soon will it send thee to him whom thou bewailest than bring him back to thee 3dly and lastly It greatly provokes God Indeed A meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price 1 Pet. 3.4 but a froward peevish spirit is abomination to him as you may read Prov. 11.20 17.20 22.5 So Ps 18.26 Discontent is a sin that God takes special notice of Exod. 16.7 8 9 12. So the Apostle tells us God was not well pleased The meaning is for the words are a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was highly displeased with the murmuring Israelites for they were overthrown in the wilderness 1 Cor. 10.5 10 compared This must needs he hateful to God for it is a decompounded sin made up of many bitter ingredients as pride passion unthankfulness c. Sighings sobbings sorrowfull exclamations do penetrate the heavens and enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts but make no good musick there God is thereby provoked to lengthen our miseries and adjourn our mercies Paula Romana who carried it frowardly and fretfully at death of her Children met with many losses of that nature We say Impatiens aegrotus crudelem facit medicum And so it is strugling and stubbornness that makes the Father continue to beat the Child Indeed God is an indulgent tender-hearted Father to his Children Psal 103.13 yet he will not burn the Rod till their stout stomacks be taken down How did he pursue Jonah with winds and tempests nay he casts him over-board into the sea and plunged him over head and ears into the hell of the Whales belly never leaving him till he submitted to his will to go to Niniveh Ferre minora volo nè graviora feram Let us bear lesser troubles patiently lest God lay greater troubles upon us To end this A man in a seaver the more he struggles the more he encreaseth his pain A wild Bull in a net Isa 51.20 instead of breaking forth by strugling he more entangles himself So we gain nothing by our strugling impatience and obstinacy against God but encrease of our miseries Oh! then let us not by any means give passions a loose reign for Phaiton-like with his wild Horses they 'l do a world of mischief Consid 10 Tenthly and lastly consider Death is very advantagious to the godly Phil. 1.21 For me to die is gain There is a privative and positive benefit that death brings to believers To begin with the first Death frees a believer 1. From sin Peccatum peperit mortem filia devoravit matrem Sin brought in death Rom. 5.12 and 6.23 and death carryes out sin Viper-like it devoures that which brought it forth He that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 Here indeed is no perfection 1 John 1.8 Grace is like Gold in the Oar mingled with much dross the most refined soul hath some dregs and is daily contesting with home-bred corruptions Cum avarit â nobis cum impudicitiâ cum irâ cum ambitione congressis est Cyprian Here the best are continually afflicted either for their sins or with their sins But death frees them from all sin Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me saith St. Paul from the body of this death Why by the death of the body we are delivered from sin which is the body of Death 1 Cor. 15.26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death If sin continued after death death were not a believers last enemy Dictum est primo homini morieres si peccaveris nunc dicitur morere nè pecces nisi peccâssent illi non morerentur peccarent autem justi nisi moriantur St. August de Civitate Dei Lib. 13. Cap. 3. Whilst we are in the wilderness of this world latet Anguis in herbâ fiery Serpents sting us sins stick close to us but at death as St. Paul cast the Viper off his hand Acts 28.3 5. so do Believers shake off sin Their dying day is the funeral of all their Vices the least of which maks them grieve here as the least hair makes the eye to water After death they are like God himself in perfect holiness and righteousness not having spot or wrinkle Ephes 5.27 2. From Satans temptations The Devil like to Joab makes our miseries his sport and play 2 Sam. 2.14 He is the great Peripatetick going up and down the World Job 1.7 and 2.2 This roaring lyon is continually ranging for his prey 1 Pet. 5.8 He assaulted Christ the Head Mat. 4.1 c. and so he doth the members Quid aliud in mundo quà m pugna adversus Diabolum quotidiè geritur Cypr. The righteous are the white at which the Devil most shoots the Arrows of temptation Chrysostome somewhere in his Homilies hath this comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. As Pirats upon the Sea set upon the richest Vessels so Satan seeing a Vessel fraught with Grace useth all art and exerciseth all violence to master both the Vessel and the Prize But in Heaven they shall no more be troubled with Satans fiery darts for the Accuser of the Brethren is cast out Rev.
rest from their labours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Serm. 46. Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as from troubles of condition so from labours of calling as from pain so from pains-taking Mors remedium potiùs poenae quam vindicta culpae saith St. Ambrose for a punishment was it said to man In the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread i. e. get thy living but for his comfort was it added until thou return to the Earth for then no more toyling wearying our selves about the things of the world Our sweat aswel as our tears shall then be wiped away Death gives a Quietus est it brings to rest The body shall no longer be worn with care when laid up in the common Wardrobe of the Grave 7. From Ignorance Job 11.12 Man is born like a wild Asses Colt he is a rude and silly creature The most intelligent person may complain with Agur of his bruitishness Prov. 30.2 David compares himself to a worm Psal 22.6 which is a poor sandblind creature The best are ignorant of far more things than they know Maxima pars eorum quae scimus est minima pars eorum quae nescimus Our understanding naturally is darkned and we are alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in us Ephes 4.18 The Devil who was a lyar from the beginning told our first Parents Gen. 3.5 In the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil As though the Tree of Knowledge should be Eye-bright to them but alas by this means they lost their spiritual eye-sight Ever since the fall the Lamp of Reason burns dim how busie is Man to gain a little knowledge and after all his industry how staggering is he in the apprehension of Truth Even God's dear Children whilst in this world see many things darkly 1 Cor. 13.12 Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many things seem to be a riddle and mystery to them which they cannot unfold here they meet with Arcana Naturae Scripturae Providentiae many knots in Nature Scripture and Providence which they cannot untye but hereafter when the dust of mortality is wiped from their eyes and they placed in Heaven then shall they see face to face and know even as they are known then shall they perfectly recover their eye-sight and have the perfect use of their reason In tuo Lumine videbimus lumen In thy Light we shall see light Psal 36.9 And this Light shall be clear without any mixture of Errour 8. And lastly Death frees Believers from Death As it was with Christ the Head being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6.9 so it is with the members being once dead they die no more Indeed while they live here they die daily 1 Cor. 15.31 for our life is in a dying condition Infancy dies in childhood childhood in youth youth in manhood manhood in old age we are never at one stay till dust return to dust But when the Righteous die then they live Rev. 21.4 There shall be no more death Mr. Hill Life-Everlasting p. 75. So that as the Greek Critick said of the Bow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name signifies life but the work was death We may say the contrary of Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Its name is Death but it brings to Life everlasting 2 Cor. 5.4 Mortality at death is swallowed up of Life I come now to the positive benefit that a Believer receiveth by death But here I may take up that doleful Query of the captivated Jews Psal 137.4 How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange Land how should we who are but strangers and pilgrims here on Earth 1 Chron. 29.15 speak of the happiness that Believers are enstated in when this life is ended Had I the tongue of glorified Angels I could not fully express it and had you the hearts of glorified Saints ye could not fully conceive it David cryes out O how great as not able to express it is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Psal 31.19 And Isaiah saith Isa 64.4 Since the beginning of the World men have not heard nor perceived by the ear neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him And St. John the beloved Disciple that lay in his Master's bosom John 13.23 and 21.20 a place near his heart thence drank deep of the heavenly wisdom tells us Nemo scit Rev. 2.17 No man knows it but he that receives it St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Yea the same person caught up into Paradise 2 Cor. 12.4 tells us he heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unspeakable words which it is not lawful or possible for a man to utter Whatever you reade of Heaven or future happiness either in this or any other Book whatever you hear of it either from me or any other person falls infinitely short of it and you 'l confess as much when you come to Heaven As the Queen of Sheba said 1 King 10.4 5 6 7. when she had seen all Solomon's Wisdom and the House that he had built c. she said to the King It was a true report that I heard in mine own Land of thy Acts and of thy Wisdom howbeit I believed not the words until I came and mine eyes had seen it and behold the half was not told me thy Wisdom and thy Prosperity exceedeth the Fame which I heard So when a Child of God shall come to Heaven and behold a far greater than Solomon Mat. 12.42 even the Lord JESUS hee 'l find that not a quarter of the joy and glory of Heaven was told him All that we can hear speak or conceive of it is but as a drop to the main ocean Yet we who have the Light of God's Word gloriously shining amongst us cannot be altogether in darkness as to the Inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 God's little Children for so Believers are called 1 Joh. 2.12 can lisp forth something though but little concerning their Father's Kingdom To give you then a glimpse for a full sight here is impossible of the happiness that Death invests a Believer in 1. It brings to the beatifical vision and fruition of the blessed Trinity so far as a * Dr. Sclaters Fun. Serm. on 2 Tim. 4.7 8. finite being for our humane nature continues still though glorified may be capable to apprehend of that Majesty which is infinite See Mat. 5.8 John 17.24 2 Cor. 5.8 We reade Gen. 41.14 how Joseph was brought hastily out of the Dungeon and came in unto Pharaoh King of Egypt Sure I am the soul of a Believer is no
of the World out of a confused Chaos and made Clay and Spittle likely to put out sight a means to recover it this God I say can bring it to pass that what thou thinkest will undo thee shall be a means to promote thy eternal good Oh the admirable harmony of Divine Dispensations in reference to mans Salvation To shut up this you know several herbs have several qualities some of them very bitter yet if a skilful simpler have the mixing of them he will make you a pleasing and wholsom sallade so there are many interchangable passages of Providence and some of them very bitter to flesh and blood yet divine Wisdom and Goodness will so order the matter that they shall in the end be both pleasing and profitable Jam. 1.2 My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations For vers 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Indeed we read Psal 36.6 Gods judgements are a great deep And again Psal 77.19 Gods way is in the Sea and his path in the great waters and his footsteps are not known Which words some apply to the bringing of his People through the Sea and the waters returning to their course of which you read Exod 14.28 29. Others apply the words to the interchangable passages of Providence in reference to his Church the administration of the World and of every mans Salvation And so Rom. 11.33 How unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out Gods wayes are many times cryptical full of Meanders we cannot trace them they are a compendious heap of intricacies oft going contrary to mans judgment and expectation and to our apprehended rules of common right Yet all his wayes are judgment that is justice and equity for he is a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32.4 Much may be above us because our ignorance is such that we cannot see a reason of his wayes but nothing is unreasonable or evil that proceeds from an holy wise loving and just God I end this with that of the Psalmist Psal 25.10 All the pathes of the Lord how rugged and severe soever to flesh and blood are mercy and truth to such as keep his Covenant and his testimonies They may seem cruelty but indeed they are mercy though thou can'st not see it for the present yet thou may'st hereafter Another crys out 7th Apology answered This relation of mine dyed in the best of his age in the prime of his strength in the acuteness of his parts his Sun set at noon-day he fixed a Period where we made account of a Comma hoping at least half the Sentence of his Life was behind but it was broken off in haste and this troubles me Answ We do not much lament the death of Old persons because we know they could not live long Every mans Life as one saith is a Lease and an old mans Life is an old worn Lease ready to drop into the Land-Lords hand We expect a Taper should go out when the Wax is spent but to see the Lamp of a friends Life extinguished in its brightest and strongest lustre This troubles us But 1. Consid 'T is ordinary for man to dye in his full strength Job 21.23 24. One dyeth in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet his breasts are full of milk and his bones are moistned with marrow c. King Edward the 6th that hopeful Prince fell asleep before noon and was laid untainted in the Bed of Honour So that good King Josiah died before he was 40 years of age as may be gathered from 2 Chron. 34.1 Nay Christ himself was cut off before he attained one half of the age of man described by Moses Psal 90.10 Nay David tells us Psal 39.5 Every man at his best state whether of age or honour is altogether vanity It being so ordinary for man to dye at or about the vigour of his age it should be the less troublesom 2. Consid If thy Friend had lived to old age what is that but an age of misery a stage of vanity an hospital of Diseases The dayes of Old Age are called Evil dayes by the Wise man Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them q. d. The dayes of old age bring so many aches and troubles along with them that if they be lengthened into years yet a man can find no pleasure or content but whole years together shall be full of weariness and sorrow Nay the very strength of the years of an Old man is labour and sorrow saith Moses Psal 90.10 Old people are oft-times a trouble to themselves and others 3. And lastly consid Thy Friend must at last have died Man's Life is by some fitly compared to a Lamp which may be soon extinguished by some fall or violent blast but if it escape these there is but a set proportion of oyl which will soon be consumed and then it goes forth of its own accord The Clock though it goes slowly strikes surely at last And the Sun in the longest day of its perambulation at last goes out of sight He that walks longest over the graves of others comes at last to his own So that if thy Friend had not died now he must have dyed some other time And if another time why not now Another cryes out 8th Apology answered This Relation of mine was loth to die he died comfortless desperate words idle vain talk unseemly gestures and speeches proceeded from him and this troubles me Answ Was your Relation loth to dye 1. Consid Many of Gods dear Children have at some time or other been loth to depart So was David Psal 55.4 5. and Psal 102.24 And Hezekiah Isa 38.1 And Peter out of a sudden apprehension of death and fear of it denyed his Lord and Master The Godly cease not to be Men by becoming Christians as men they are sometimes afraid of Death which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malum corruptivum destructive to nature God hath imprinted saith a Dr. Abbot Lect. 6. on Jonah p. 126 127. judicious Divine a passionate love betwixt the soul and the body that they grieve to leave one another So that the spirit may be willing yet the flesh is weak What man is he whom God's Spirit hath not in a great measure mortified that feels not in himself oft-times an horror and a quaking to think of his dissolution 2. Consid Thy Friend though he might fear the pain of death yet he might rejoyce at the gain of death as many a man desires the Haven yet trembles at the voyage The pangs of death might a little affright him yet being dead if a good man let us not question his happiness Christ
the Poet to melt into tears saying O ubi Mors non est si jugulatis aquae What cannot make an end of us if a little congealed Water can do it Aeschylus the Tragedian was killed by a Crab-fish which fell from an Eagles talons who mistook as it was thought his bald Head for a Stone If thou stayest within doors thou art not there safe neither The House may fall upon thee as upon Job's Children Fire may burn thee a Spider may poyson thee Or thou mayest have a deadly fall from some upper Room As Ahaziah falling through a Lattess in his upper Chamber fell sick and died 2 Kings 1.2 17 compared And Eutychus falling into a deep-sleep fell down from the third lost and was taken up dead Acts 20.9 Pliny Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 7. cap. 53. reports of Emilius Lepidus that he did but hit his Toe upon the Door-sil yet though the hurt was so far from his heart he died upon it And the same Author tells us That Anacreon the Poet was choaked with the Kernel of a Grape And an Hair in a mess of Milk choaked Fabius See Dr. Abbot on Jonah 4.3 4. Lect. 26. p. 543. And we read elsewhere how a Fly in the Cup choaked Pope Adrian the 4th And Pope Victor was poysoned with Wine and one of the Emperors with the Bread he received in the Sacrament When we lie down to rest we are not sure we shall arise again in safety Sisera slept but never awaked more in this World Judg. 4.21 Benhadad being sick was confined to his Bed yet his sickness was not so destructive to take away his life therefore Hazael that treacherous Servant under pretence of doing him a kindness cunningly stifies him as you may read 2 Kings 8. chap. Furthermore we read in Scripture how Joab was slain at the Altar Zachariah in the Temple Amnon at his Table And prophane stories tell us That Carus the Emperor was slain by a Thunder-bolt so was the Emperor Anastatius Antiochus was murdered in his Coach Domitian in his Chamber Caligula in the Theatre Caesar in the Senate-house and Caracalla was put to death whilst he was about to case Nature Thus we are not safe by Land much less by Sea for there men are within a few inches of Death Qui nescit orare discat navigare The Poet said Illi robur as triplex circa pectus qui fragilem commisit pelago ratem Hor. He was a very bold man who first exposed himself to the Seas in so frail a Vessel as a Ship is How soon may it be split upon a Rock and cast forth its burden So uncertain a thing is Life that it is like a Candle carried in the open Air which every blast is ready to extinguish Thus as Seneca saith Mors ubique nos expectat tu si sapiens eris ubique eam expectabis Death waits upon us every where both at Sea and Land at home and abroad let us in every place and at all times wait for it sure I am it will be our wisdom so to do Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they would consider their latter end The Servants of the Lord expect it and look upon themselves as dying Creatures Abraham counts himself but Dust and Ashes Gen. 18.27 Jacob lookt upon himself as an Individuum Vagum as a Stranger or Pilgrim here to day and gone to morrow Gen. 47.9 So did the rest of the Patriarchs 1 Chron. 29.15 St. Paul durst not presume on much time but said He would do this and that if the Lord permit or if the Lord will as you may read Acts 18.21 Rom. 1.10 1 Cor. 4.19 1 Cor. 16.7 he thought himself Tenant at Will in the Clay-farm of his body So did St. James James 4.13 14 15. St. Peter lookt not to dwell long in his earthly Tenement 2 Pet. 1.14 Joseph of Arimathea erected his Tomb in his life-time in the midst of his Garden as some gather from Mat. 27.60 compared with John 19.41 that in the midst of his delights and pleasant walks he might think of Death The Heathens some of them have been very careful to preserve in their minds the thoughts of Death Plato one of the chief defined Life to be Meditatio Mortis a Meditation of Death And truly Death as the Philosopher writes of the Heart * Cor est primum vivens ultimum moâ—iens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot should be the first thing that lives and last that dies in our meditation Some †Manchest Al. Mond p. 51. Philosophers had their Graves alway open before their Gates that going out and coming in they might alway think of Death And we read of one * Ibid. p. 139 140. Philostrates that lived seven years in his Tomb that he might be acquainted with it against his Bones came to lie in it And though Lewis the XI King of France of that Name gave a strict charge that none should dare to name Death within his Court Yet Philip the Father of Alexander and King of Macedon every morning had a Monitor of Mortality for a Trumpet every morning was sounded at his Chamber and these words uttered with a loud Voice by one whom he had appointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember thou art a mortal Man He was willing every day to hear of Death which might any day rush in upon him Shall we by putting the thoughts of Death from us prove our selves to be worse than Heathens God forbid God as you have heard hath compared our Life in Scripture to things of short continuance And to such things as are oft in our eye that so we might not forget Death The two first Books of Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nativitas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exitus called Genesis and Exodus should mind us of that of the Poet Nascentes morimur finisque ab origine pendet At Birth begin we life to end This end doth on that Birth depend Every Dish of Meat that comes to our Table stands as a dead Corps So true is that of Seneca Mortibus vivimus We live by the death of other Creatures The four Seasons of the Year the Garments we wear scarce any thing that we behold but may mind us of our change for all things here below ring Changes The Sun setting may mind us that ere long the Sun of our Life must set Our very houses may mind us of our long homes When we are in Bed and darkness round about us we should consider that ere long we must lie in the Grave that House of Darkness for so it is called Job 17.13 Furthermore for I would fain convince the Reader of the shortness and uncertainty of his life every degree of Life is a step to Death one day added to our lives brings us nearer unto death Your life is shorter to day than it was yesterday God threatned Adam Gen. 2.17 That in the day that he did eat the
unclean Beasts No there enters in nothing that defileth Rev. 21.27 and Rev. 22.15 see 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. and Gal. 5.19 20 21. There is a Catalogue of sins mentioned I pray you observe them and learn to avoid them if you expect to have a better life when this is ended He that dies to sin when he lives shall live when he dies and may say upon his death-bed as Myconius said to Luther his Friend that came to visit him Dr. Boreman's Sermon on Phil. 3.20 p. 47 48. This sickness is not unto Death but unto Life for when he dies to nature he shall live with God unto all eternity Let us therefore as the Author to the Hebrews exhorts Heb. 12.1 lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us As Racers lay aside things burthensome and troublesome so do you lay aside sin which is a burthen and hinders you in your spiritual Race * See Crit. sacra in vocem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some say the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a casting off as a man doth a long worn sute that begins to do him discredit to wear it or rather as a man coming out of Prison having filthy rags about him and full of Vermine hurls them away into a Dunghill or Ditch and never purposeth to touch them more It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin that doth beset us or wrap us about A Metaphor taken from a long Garment Deal with the old worn Garment of sin as Elijah did by his Mantle 2 Kings 2.13 lay it aside if ever you think to ascend to Heaven 4. Preparation for Death consists in doing good works 4. Dir. Benefaciendo Negative Holiness will not bring with it Positive Happiness Many build their hopes of future happiness upon this sandy Foundation That they are no Drunkards Whoremasters Swearers Lyars c. Because they are not guilty of open scandalous miscarrages therefore they bless themselves in their condition as the Pharisee did Luke 18.11 God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican It is good indeed to keep our selves unspotted from the World but this is not sufficient we must do good works visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction This is pure Religion and undefiled before God as St. James tells us Jam. 1.27 It is not enough not to do evil but we must likewise do good Ps 34.14 Isa 1.16 17. Rom. 12.9 Sinful omissions are not to be looked upon as bare negations or privations but as breaches of a positive Law which commands the contrary so that omission of duty is as damnable as commission of sin God cursed Meroz not for fighting against the People of God but because they did not come out to their help against the Mighty Judg. 5.23 It was as true a fault in them Hag. 1.2 c. not to set up the House of God as in others to pull it down The Tree that bears not good fruit is fuel for the fire as well as the Tree that bears evil fruit Mat. 3.10 Mat. 7.19 The unprofitable Servant was cast into utter darkness not for spending but for not improving his Masters Talent Mat. 25.30 So the five foolish Virgins as you may read before vers 3. and 10. compared were shut out of doors not for abusing in wasting but for wanting of Oil So you may read afterwards in that Chapter many will be doomed to Hell because not active in works of charity vers 41 42 c. It is not said ye took away my Meat Drink and Cloaths from me but ye gave me no Meat Drink Cloathing c. therefore depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire c. So * Luk. 16.19 Dives was cast into the place of torment non quòd abstulit aliena sed quòd non donavit sua not for robbing Greg. Hom 40. but for not relieving poor Lazarus Good works are necessary Salvation is not ordinarily obtained without them as these places shew Mat. 25.34 c. Luk. 16.9 Rom. 2.6 7 8 9 10. Gal. 6.9 10. 1 Tim. 6.18 19. Heb. 6.10 10.24 Nemo malâ morte unquam moriebatur qui libentèr opera charitatis exercuit Jerom. Bona opera sunt praedestinationis occultae indicta futurae foelicitatis is praesagia via regni Bern. Tractat. de gratia non causa regnandi Bernard Actus boni Christianae fidei quasi testes quia Christianus nisi bona opera fecerit fidem suam penitus approbare non possit Salv. Salvian de gub Dei lib. 4. p. 99. Now when I speak of good Works I do not only mean works of Charity for works of Piety and of our particular Callings are also good works Be much then in praying reading hearing meditating alms-deeds and the like To shut up this Particular we read how Jacob when he went to his own Countrey sent his Droves before him Gen. 32.16 and he followed after them Heaven is a Christians Countrey send droves of duties thither afore-hand as Prayers Meditations Affections Longings Alms-deeds c. that so when you depart this Life you may follow after them 5. Preparation for Death consists in putting on the Vertues of Christ 5. Dir. Virtutes Christi induendo You set your Watch not by the Clock but by the Sun order your motion according to that of Christ the Sun of Righteousness Christ propounds himself an Example and commands us to learn of him Mat. 11.29 1 Pet. 1.21 22. He sets himself as a Pattern for us to work by or as a Copy for us to write after I 'll name some Vertues that shined forth with greatest lustre in the Life of Christ and should likewise be conspicuous in the lives of all such as expect Salvation by him 1. There was in Christ Spiritual Wisdom Christ when he was a Child was sitting among the Doctors and was able to pose them Luke 2.46 47. He was sitting among the Doctors both hearing them and asking them questions and all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were out of themselves with admiration It was beyond their understanding what they heard from him in the praeludium of his Ministry And he is said to encrease in Wisdom Luk. 4.22 ver 52. In respect of his humane nature he did so but as God he was absolutely perfect in knowledge Solomon who was the Oracle of his Age 1 Kings 4.29 30 31. was a Type of Christ in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Col. 2.3 A Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding of Counsel and Knowledge did rest upon him Isa 11.2 Let us resemble him in Wisdom Labour to be filled with the knowledge of God's Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding increasing in the knowledge of God Col. 1.9 10. The New
should bestir themselves who have as we say one foot in the Grave already A * Omnis motus naturalis velotior est in fine Stone the nearer it comes to the Center the swifter it moves The nearer any come to Death the greater should their preparation be for it It is * Abel Rediv in life of Mr Perkins observed of the Birds of Norway that they having in Winter very short dayes fly swifter than other Fowl in other Countries as if principled by the instinct of Nature thriftily to improve the little light allowed them and by the swiftness of their Wings to regain the shortness of their time How speedy and earnest should old men especially be in preparing themselves for Death who if they have neglected God in their youthful dayes have a great deal of work to do in a very short time 3. Constanter 3. And lastly Prepare your selves for Death Constantly so long as life shall last This God calls for 1 Cor. 15. last verse Be constant and immoveable alway abounding in the Work of the Lord. This was David's resolution Psal 119.112 I have enclined my heart to keep thy Statutes alway even unto the end So it was Job's Job 14.14 All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change come So Job 27.5 6 Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me My Righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live The like did Saint Paul as you may read Acts 20.24 Phil. 3.13 14 15. 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. God hath promised to give the Crown of Glory or Eternal Happiness to such as persevere in a Christian course of life see Rev. 2.10 so Rev. 3.11 12. Heaven is not got per saltum at one sudden leap you must set out betimes and advance forward in the race of Christianity so long as you live You must run and not be weary walk and not faint Isa 40.31 Charles the fifths Motto Ulterius becomes every Christian he must advance still forward for he that runs half the Race and then gives it over Ioseth the Wager as well as he that never set forth See what is said Ezek. 18.24 When the Righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed and in his sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die If any man draw back saith God Heb. 10.38 my Soul shall have no pleasure in him and again ver 39. They draw back unto perdition Let Christians then who expect the Crown fight manfully under Christ's Banner against the World Sin and the Devil and continue Christ's faithful Souldiers and Servants unto their lives end Let them do that in their Spiritual what Caesar is said to do in his Temporal-Warfare Nil actum credens siquid superesset agendum Lucan Pharsal Lib. 2. Be still doing as though they had done nothing till all be done Now there will be alway something for a Christian to do till Death give him his Quietus est a Writ of Ease Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord they rest from their labours There must be no resting till death We should be Volunteers in God's Service till Death disband us When William the Conqueror landed his men in Sussex he caused all Ships to be sunk that all hope of flying back might be taken away We are here landed saith an ingenious * Dr. Boys in his Postils on Rev. 12.7 Divine in this Valley of Tears we must neither faint nor fly but fight it out valiantly till Death the last Enemy be destroyed 1 Cor. 15.26 Good Christians are like Wine full of Spirits that continues good to the last drawing yea the older they are like good Wines the better they be Lâ—k 5.39 They are compared to Trees in Scripture Psal r. 3. so Isa 61.3 called Trees of Righteousness because filled with the Fruits of Righteousness Phil. 1.11 These Trees are never past bearing They shall bring forth Fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing Psal 92.14 It is an honour to be thus gray-headed in Religion Prov. 16.31 The hoary-head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in the way of Righteousness God highly prizeth a Mnason an old Disciple as he was Acts 21.16 that hath served him from his youth upwards Well then let us put the former directions constantly into practice Let us pray continually 1 Thess 5.17 Let us have our * Stata tempora set-times for Prayer and at least morning and evening let us offer unto God the sacrifice of Prayer Let us daily mourn for the sins we daily commit Nay those sins which God hath pardned we should reflect upon with grief of heart and pray for a farther manifestation of pardoning Grace so did David For the one and fiftieth Psalm was pen'd by David after he had gone into Bathsheba and after Nathan had brought him the news of a Pardon 2 Sam. 12.13 Some * Mr. Smith in his Doctrine of Repentance p. 105. observe after God had cast Adam out of Paradise he set him e regione Horti over against the Garden in the very sight and view of the place where he had offended that so oft as he lookt towards the Garden he might remember his sin and lament for it Let us constantly avoid such sins as we do lament So did St. Paul Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have alway a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards men Let us do good works constantly Gal. 6.9 2 Thes 3.13 Let us constantly put on the vertues of Christ growing in number measure and exercise of grace Let us daily act faith upon Christ If we do thus not only begin well but continue in thus doing until death we shall when we have acted the last part of our life upon the Stage of this World every one of us apart here that joyful Sentence pronounced by Christ himself Eugè bone serve Well done thou good and faithful Servant Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Matth. 25.21 Thus you see the forementioned Directions are to be practised Early Earnestly and Constantly these three Ingredients make our Services a sweet Perfume But because we are so backward to these things I shall in the next Chapter lay down a few Considerations to quicken us to the performance of the whole and so conclude CHAP. IV. Containing certain Motives to move us to prepare for Death NO Man can truly say of mine advice touching preparation for Death as Hushai said of Ahitophel's 2 Sam. 17.7 It is not good at this time Sure I am advice to it or practice of it is never unseasonable for this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the main business that we come into the World