to the day of 2 Chron. 26. 21. our death will make a very foul corpse and a body fouly distempered in life especially if the soul be found so in death will make deathbed-groanes more deadly strong bodies use to have strong pains in death John 8. 5. Numb 25. 8. 2 Sam. 17. 23. 18. 14. 15. 1 Sam. 28. 7 8 9. c. with 19. Matth 27. 5. and so have strong lusts especially if we be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Zimri and Cozbi in the very act of uncleannesse Absalom and Ahitophel of rebellion if Saul consult the Divel this day and go to him the next and Judas by an untimely and woful death be suddenly brought before his Judge whilest he is yet reeking with the blood of his betrayed Lord and Saviour with what horrour and amazement must such needs appeare before the Judgement seat Joseph though Gen. 41. 14 under no such guilt yet being in the squalid condition of a prisoner shaveth himself and changeth his raiment when hastily brought out of the dungeon before Pharaoh an infinitely inferiour presence to that which we at death are to appear before And therefore here again the death of Christ applyed by faith proveth a Soveraign remedy for it is then safe drawing near to God when our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience Heb. 10. 22. and that is by the blood of Christ Heb. 9. 14. labour therefore in the way of mortification to be implanted into Christs death and Rom. 6. 5. this sweet fruit amongst others will spring out of his grave that what mortifieth sin will kill the fear of death which is caused by it 1. Partly as this daily practising of dying to sin will inure us with more ease to die to the world not onely whilest we live to be weaned from it but when God shal call in death willingly to leave it Lusts are members Col. 3. 5. and the content which a sinner taketh in them in his very life Isa 57. 10. dearer then his natural life and therefore it is that he is so often ready rather desperately to hazard it then not to gratifie and satisfie them he therefore who in a course of mortification hath done the greater will not stick at the lesse will not stick to part with his dear life who by the grace of Christ hath already parted with his dearer lust and so by continual loosing the tie of his soul and sin he may expect the last loose of his body and soul with more comfort 2. But mortification effecteth this more directly in that it properly and formally taketh away sin which is fomes morbi the very matter of the disease and of all these shaking fits in death and then as a sound and well ordered body dieth with little pain so a sanctified purged soul departeth with lesse anguish a great deal of grace in our life brings a great deal of comfort in death and why should I fear that which at once freeth me from sin which in this course of mortification is the cause of my greatest grief and perfect's grace which is the object of my chiefest desire what therefore now remaineth but that we labour to live holily that we may at last die comfortably and as they were Acts 9. 37. Luke 23. 56. Matth. 26. 12. wont to wash dead bodies and to anoint them for their burial so that we would do as much for our souls get them washed in the blood of Christ and daily more and more anointed and embalmed and perfumed with the graces of his Spirit So our deaths would not be more precious to Psal 116. 15. God then comfortable to our selves So with Asa we should be laid in our graves as in a bed filled with sweet odours 2 Chron. 16. 14. spices and what the Romans were wont to do in their Pageants at Herodian l. 4. the consecration of their dead Emperours would have more realty at our death and Funerals no Eagle as with them to carry the soul up to Heaven but our souls as the renewed Eagle would mount up out of such a bed of spices to those mountains of spices where Cant. 8. 14. Brightman Psal 16. 11 Matth. 25. 4 6 7. are pleasures for evermore O that we were once so wise as with those wise Virgins to get oil enough into our Vessels and then our Lamps will burn bright at midnight in this midnight of death and judgement when with them we shall either go to Christ or Christ will come to be married to us and then this shall be one strain of our marriage of our Triumphant Song O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Tibi Domini Jesu qui spes es viventium resurrectio mortuorum FINIS
Judg. 16. 23 24. they had gotten Samson into their power praised their Gods and offered a great sacrifice to Dagon and rejoyced that he had delivered their enemy into their hands who had destroyed their Country and slain many of them then what Lebanon is sufficient to burn Isa 40. 16. Psa 50. 10. or what cattell on a thousand kills sufficient for a burnt sacrifice what Hecatombs of praise and service of whatever we are have can doe or suffer are due to our great God and Saviour who hath delivered the destroyer of our both bodies and souls into our hands and us out of his who hath slaine not onely many of us but either hath or will make havock of us all heaps upon heaps farre more and greater then ever Samson did of Judg. 15. 16. Asa 115. 1. them Now not unto us not unto us O Lord but to our most mighty and most mercifull God and Saviour be all the praise who hath thus delivered us from the power of darknesse and hath Colos 1. 13 Davenant in locum translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. hath as a Colony transplanted us into a new and better Country from under the power of sin and death into the kingdome of his dear Son the Lord of life and glory hath opened for us that iron Jude 6. Heb. 7. 16. gate and broken those everlasting chaines of darknesse asunder and having perfectly vanquished hell and death hath instated us in that power of an endlesse life Now glory to God on high and on earth peace Vse 2 For as this matter of his endlesse praise so of strong and everlasting consolation and good hope to 2 Thess 2. 16. Heb. 6. 18. all those that are made partakers of the grace of life For so Calvin rightly observeth that the Apostle here in the Text tam animos â exclamatione erigere voluit Corinthiorum animos by such an hearty and triumphant exclamation as this O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory He intended to rouze and raise up the drooping trembling sinking hearts of Believers and by this Prosopopoeia as P. Martyr Proponit ob oculos mortem prostratam confossam adde's he presenteth death as having got a deadly wound and now lying prostrate at their feet for them securely to trample upon and to triumph over the sting being gone and the honey onely remaining whilest it hath delivered them from their worst enemy sin and more nearly united them to their best friend Jesus Christ their Lord and Head It doth indeed part them from the bodily presence of other dearest relations here on earth and from their bodies too which they must leave also for a time till they at last come to a more joyful meeting But not from God who as Saul and Jonathan in death are 2 Sam. 1. 23. Bernard in Cant. Serm 26. not parted So that what was before porta inferni is now introitus regni the gate of Hell is now become the entrance into Heaven or as Mr. Brightman expresseth it what was before the Devils Serjeant to drag us to Hell is now the Lords Gentleman-Vsher to conduct us to Heaven Prov. 31. 8. dying men are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a phrase which hath troubled Vide Mercer in locum Interpreters to give the true sense of it the word usually signifieth a change of raiment and so indeed death strip's us all but happy they whom Christ hath spread his skirt over they then will not bee found naked but clothed upon with their 2 Cor. 5. 2â— 3 4 house from Heaven This a Believer hath in death yea by death and what conclusion then should he inferre from it but the Psalmists Ergo Psal 16. 8 10 11. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth my flesh also shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell but wilt shew me the path of life c. and therefore I will not onely rest in peace but leap for joy whilest I can thus insult over so deadly an enemy the righteous may well have hope in their death when Prov. 14. 32. from this Text they may be sure of the victory Vse 3 Which therefore should arm the heirs of life against the fear of death we read Cant. 3. 7 8. that the valiant of Israel have their swords on their thighs because of fear in the night which implieth that as So the Greeks amongst their many words for a night have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for one which imports fear other nights usually strike men at least children into fears so this long and more darksome night of death is subject to raise fears even in those that are men of God Especially whilest they are weak children they are oft weary of life and yet afraid of death that God in a manner knoweth not what to do with them as the Angel in Cyprian chideth such pati timetis exire non vultis quid faciam vobis and truly such children should be chid out of such childish fears but from the valiant of Israel God expecteth more spirit if not wholly to prevent such insults yet with courages to repel them for else to what purpose serve their swords on their thighs and a lively faith in their hearts if the fears of death can dead it It is a sad word of Calvin upon Heb. 2. 14 15. He Si quis animaâ— pacare non potest moâ—tis contemptu is sciat pâ—â—um se adhuc profecisse in Christi fide â—aâ— ut nimia trepidatio ex ignorantia Christi gratiae nascitur ita certum est infidelitatis signam that cannot quiet his heart in all holy contempt of death let him know that he hath as yet profited but a very little in the faith of Christ because this trembling ariseth from too much ignorance of his grace and is a certain sign of too much infidelity For so Paul Rom. 10. 7. affirmeth that doubtingly to ask who shall descend into the deep is to bring Christ again from the dead as though he had not died and by his death overcome death and Hell but on the contrary 1. The example of Christ our Saviour dying should animate every Christian Souldier against fears of death his tasting of it for us Heb. 2. 9. should keep it from being to us a câ—p of trembling for if the weak silly sheep freely followeth where the dux gregis before hath led the way why should the sheep of Christs Pasture be at a stand though it be in the valley of the shadow of death from following the Lamb whither soever Rev. 14. 4. he goeth 2. But the merit and efficacy of the death of Christ should in this kinde be most operative as it pacifieth the wrath satisfieth the justice of God removeth guilt and purchaseth Maledictionem subeâ—ndo sustulit quod in morte formidabile erat Cypr. life had we the
and great changes use greatly to affect us and therefore the great change at the last day will make even the powers of Heaven to shake Matth. 24. 29. by which some understand the Angels of Heaven though they be safe enough so proportionably the day of our death being the day of our particular doom in which we have one of our last and greatest changes to be undergone and one of our most important tasks to be set upon and gone through with Wonder not if you should then see the wary busie thoughtful carefull soul trembling as for instance The parting of the soul and body so nearly united and so long acquainted and never yet severed is a very hard twitch The leaving of this world of men to goe now into the world of souls into that farre strange Country is a great change The pains and pangs of death with some are very strong so that possibly you have sometimes seen some of strong bodies yea and faith too though they had nothing else then to doe yet then finding it a work great enough to be able to die Our last accounts are then to be given up Eccles 12. 7. Luke 16. 2. and that is a very awfull businesse And this to a most glorious Lord and Judge whom we are then to appear before and if here we find a dread Majesty in his very smiles when he is on a mercy-seat now that he is on the Judgment seat his presence cannot but be very dreadful Remembrance of former sins though pardoned may make the dying mans pale cheeks blush And sense of present defilement and weaknesse though now dying with him may make the pure in heart shrink back from appearing before so pure an eye And those last conflicts with the world sin and Satan are oft then most fierce and violent and unlesse the Sun of righteousnesse do then more gloriously shine out upon us with his more enlightening and enlivening beams in this chill and gloomy shadow of death even the man of God may tremble and yet all this in these and the like cases but as an Isaacs trembling Gen. 27. 33. or a Moses his quaking Heb. 12. 21. Reverential holy comfortable and more awfull then fearfull 2. But farther then God helpeth and strengtheneth the best of us may then be subject to worse and more sinfull fears some of the causes wherof may be these to which I shall particularly subjoin their cures remedies 1. First a more generall cause of this fear of death is a secure carelesse neglect seriously beforehand to meditate of it and accordingly to prepare for it in time of life for so by comming suddenly and unexpectedly it puts all on heaps and confusion So suddennesse and fear for 5. ult in other cases are joined together Prov. 3. 25. and suddennesse of destruction coming upon any is a description of a most carefull and dolefull condition 1 Thess 5. 3. it is so here when in our life time we have not taken a due and timely estimate of the antecedents concomitants and consequents of death of all the evil that is in it and so have laid in no provisions of those cordialls and comforts that should antidote and sweeten it before we are aware of it or prepared for it to tast of it rendreth it that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cup of trembling the Heb. 2. 9. Zech. 12. 2 man unawares hath set his feet on a Bog and he and it tremble and quake and sink together like Nabal whose heart died before he did 1 Sam. 25. 37. And therefore the Prophylactick here is a frequent and thoughtful meditation of it and a dayly answerable preparation for it and so when it commeth it prove's lesse terrible Whatever the Philosophers meant by defining their Philosophy to be a meditation of their Metaphorical death I am sure that in plain terms the frequent and serious meditating of this death we now speak of is a great part of true saving Christian Divinity and if with Joseph of Arimathea we John 19. 41. would have our Sepulchres in our Gardens if thoughts of death did oft recurr in our best life especially if in every sicknesse disease and danger in which God knock's at our door Luke 12. 36. and tell 's us that he is coming wee could more livelily see deaths face and so grow more acquainted with it as Souldiers are wont we should at last be lesse afraid of it I protest by your rejoycing in Christ Jesus I die daily saith our apostle v. 31. of this Chapter a daily dying is joyned with a last days rejoycing and our continual putting our lives into our hands as Judg. 12. 3. Psal 119. 109. ready to offer them up to God will be a means willingly to part with them when God shall please to call for them a dying before hand in thought will make dying indeed lesse troublesom for how forcible and effectual would forethoughts of death be to make us to fear to sin and thereby not to fear to die whilest the eye of Faith hath before taken view of death in all the evil that any way is in it and of all that good which to a believer cometh by it But so as this meditation be accompanyed with an answerable preparation for otherwise as Solomon in another case saith he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow Ecles 1. 18. so here the more I know the more I fear and grieve whilest I know so much evil in it which then abides me and withal that all that good which may be in it I for my part shall fall short of With how much shaking doth the unripe apple fall off when a ripe one drops down without that trouble the Vine weepeth when the branch is cut off before the harvest and Isa 18. 5. the sowre grape is but yet ripening in the flowre but with what harvest joy shall we come to the grave when we shall be like a shock of ripe corn which commeth in in his season Job 5. 26. to which for a close of this let me adde what there followeth Lo this we have Ver. 27. searched it so it is and therefore hear and know it for your good 2. And because in this preparation for death praier is one special part of it therefore the neglect of prayer is one great cause of the anguish and and fear of it and so we finde that want of prayer is joyned with want of hope at such a time in the hypocrit Job 27. 8. with 9. 10. they that use not to look up to God to seek him before will then hardly finde him and then for the child in that dark entry not to have the Father by the hand wil be very terrible the true children of God may possibly be more to seek for their comfort at their deaths by reason of their lesse seeking it in their lives in that it oft falleth out that amongst their many and earnâ—â—â—uits for grace to carry them
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euripid the Scripture of truth I am sure saith of all such that through fear of death they are all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 15. And if life as you use to say be sweet it can be no lesse then the bitternesse of death 1 Sam. 15. 32. How bitter is the bare Ecclus. 41. 1. remembrance of it to him that is at ease but the approach of it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitter bitterness as the case was then with him even to an Hezekiah Isa 38. 17. and if the message of it made him weep v. 3. then 1 Sam. 28. 20. wonder not if Saul at it swooned quite away It is a bitter sting that with the So Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Justin Mart. ad Graeces adhortat 1. prick of it letteth out the life-blood of the dying man if when it taketh away from him this life he hath no assurance of a better but dieth with Aristotles word in his mouth dubius morior quo vadam nescio be he never so wise a Philosopher or Adrians quos nunc abibis in locos should he be with him never so great an Emperor It is not death as death that even the godly desire or rejoice in for in that sense Paul would not be 2 Cor. 5. 4. Joh. 21. 18. unclothed and Peter is said in that respect to be carried whither he would not It is some greater good which God vouchsafeth to such at death and after it which whilest others then want and have no assurance of it must needs be a dolorous and deadly sting that thus first letteth out their dearest life 2. And therewith which is a second stinging wound all the comforts of life Which should they abide yet the man is gone whose very soul was wrapt up in them but now hath no benefit by them and then the stateliest room though never so richly hung and furnished is but a sad sight where's nothing else to be seen but the dead master in his coffin in the midst of it All dearest Relations are at once then snapt asunder The pleasantest childe now half fatherlesse turn's away his face as not being able to endure to see a dear Father die The dearest wife which was before the desire of thine eyes thou now Ezek. 24. 16. 21. Gen. 23. 4. desirest with Abraham to have buried out of thy sight Thy most loving friends may then stand by and weep over thee but cannot help thee and at last with a longum vale bid thee good night and so part and doth not this â—uth 1. 17 sting As for Honors and outward greatness 1 Sam. 4. 10. Phinehas his wife now dying calleth them Ichabod this sting prick's that swoln bladder and so his breath goe's forth and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all his thoughts all his goodly glistering thoughts as that Psal 146. 4 word seemeth to signifie perish Which words hold not forth a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pope John the 22. would gather out of them as though after death his soul should sleep and think of nothing but to expresse that all his former great high thoughts in his life time then at death come to nothing For pleasures and former facetious and jovial merriments old Barzillaies 2 Sam. 19. 35. eyes grow dim in that evening when he was but now entred within the shadow of death but are quite closed up in this midnight in old Eccles 12. 5. age desire faileth but in death it is wholly extinct Death if nothing do it before will break many a knot of good fellows then adieu sworn fellow-drunkard well if you and I can now come to a good reckoning and adieu also you sweet Mistress and all that dalliance you wot of till you and I stand before our Judg and all that be brought to light which was done by us in secret And adieu to you too my more innocent merry companion nec ut soles dabis jocos the whole club of wits are now all amort and not one Jest more for now that God and Death are in good earnest it is past Jesting past Drinking Whoring yea rejoicing in wife or children or friends Or Riches which should they as with some Nations they are be buried with thee yet in that day of Prov. 11. 4 wrath they will not be able to profit thee for if in thy life time they do not as often they doe make themselves Prov. 23. 5 wings and flee away from thee yet in death thou wilt be taken from them thy close fist will be then open and all that dust which before thou gripedst in thy hand will then See Shickard in his Jus RegiuÌ„ cap. 6. Luke 12. 20. run through thy fingers and then thou fool whose shall all these things be Blessed Hezekiah who in this case could say of Gods Word and Promises and Providences In these things is the life of my spirit but Isa 38. 16. the very spirit of the worldlings life is wrapt up in this bundle of outward contentments so that if that threed be once cut and so all these be scattered and lost then as Micah said What have I more the man is Judg. 18. â—4 utterly undone and to whom in time of his life it was death to part with a penny it will be an hell at death to part with all as it was once said by one to a great Lord upon his shewing him his stately house and pleasant Gardens Sir You had need make sure of Heaven or else when you die you will be a very great loser Nor is this all for were it onely the losse of life and outward comforts of it that sting death fastneth even in the heirs of life 3. Thirdly therefore there is a deeper sting in it which the godly are freed from of which we read in the following Verse in these words The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law ie sin Rom. 5. 12. Puncturâ peccati morimur P. Martyr armeth death with its sting which otherwise could never have had power to hurt or touch us whatever the Socinian saith to the contrary and the law now broken doth ex accidente irritate and per se declare and manifest and aggravate sin and so giveth it its strength and death its warrant thus to arrest and execute us and hinc illae lachrymae hence is the deepest sting of death and deadliest groan of the dying sinner for that with death the weight both of sin and the law fall on him together which presseth him yet lower and woundeth him deeper even to the soul and conscience whilest he is hereby made sensible that his death is the wages of his sin so that he dieth not as a Rom. 6. 23 Martyr or barely as a Man but as a Malefactor under the guilt of sin and sense of Gods wrath and if there was a
Prov. 1. 13. 19. maintain a sharking life yea and those braver sparks in former and latter warres if it be not for God and their Countrey in a good cause way intention but that they may goe out in the blaze of a proud affectation of bravery and renown But Solomon though it may be not so stout and hardy a Souldier yet a far wiser man may See Mercer and Baynus in locum Prov. 21. 6 assure them and that from the Spirit of God that such rufflings and bravery are but a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death It is an undoing gain to break their arm by catching at a feather to lose their precious lives and souls for such unjust spoils a vanity tossed to and fro like straws and feathers which neither in their bodies soules estate name posterity they are the better for but in all every way the worse which will therefore appear to have been a very bad bargain at their last reckoning as it will also be found by those other who account it their gallantry readily and chearfully to breathe their last if thereby they may gain the vain breath of popular applause too great a price for so mean a purchase and too daring a brave if they would consider that deaths sting is sharper then their enemies sword point Such should first Suetonius in Nerone with Nero feel the point of the ponyard before they stab themselves with it and get themselves more fit for death and this sting of it taken out before they thus fool-hardily venture upon it otherwise what was said then to Nero usque adeone mori misorum est was but cool comfort to his fainting heart in that agony So Tacitus of Vitellius praeterita instantia futura parâ— oblivione dimiserat mirum apud ipsum de bello filentium prohibitâ— per levitatem sermones Psal 90. 12 4. There is a fourth sort of men not so daring as the former but every way as secure who yet are most heartily afraid of it but therefore labour to put away all thoughts of it their habitually being afraid puts them upon all means by which they may prevent and banish all actuall fears and so they feast without fear Jud. 12. Tell over their cash that they may not be troubled with numbring their dayes Lye down and sleep on their heaps and then dream of goods laid up for manâ—â—ears Lu. 12. 19. and of Lands and Houses to endure to all generations Psal 49. 11. But is it the way to overcome an enemy to get as farre as we can from him or never to think of him or by shutting my eyes to keep the Bees from stinging me Although these men sleep yet their judgement slumbreth not Death mean while 2 Pet. 2. 3. maketh his approaches and so is upon them before they are aware and then their covenant with death is disanull'd Isa 28. 18. and their agreement with hell will not stand then thou fool this night is a dreadful sound in their eares when in his prosperity the destroyer Job 15. 21. cometh upon him when it cometh in the dead of the night when they slept so securely and never Exod. 12. 29 30. dream't of it as Egypts cry for their dead at midnight was very dreadful and Laish is so much the Jude 18. more affrighted at such an enemies approach by how much further off she was from thoughts of him but how much more comfortable and happy would it be to prevent those after sinking terrors of death by present more safe and saving feares of it An answerable care to prepare Vse 2 Heb. 11. 7. for it as Noah moved with fear prepared an Ark 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Philosopher feare should stand Sentinel is the consultive and watchful affection as the fearful Hare sleepeth they say with her eyes open O that ours could so look about us that seeing those of us that are young may die soon and they that are old cannot live long the ripe apple will drop down of it self and the green may be soon pluckt or shaken down that when it may be on the sudden we are gotten into the gloomy shadow of death our feet may not stumble on Jer. 13. 16. those dark mountains but that when our death cometh we may be found in such an estate frame of spirit and way of life that our hearts may not then die when our bodies doe but that upon better ground we may use Cheraeae's words Nunc tempus prosecto est cum perpeti me possim interfici I thank God I dare die so that although I see I must now die either a natural or a violent death yet I blesse him I can say with Steph Mylii Apoph pag. 61. Brunus the Martyr Mors sanè mihi terribilis non est death though it look grim on me is not terrible to me and with Ambrose I have not so lived as that either I am ashamed to live or afraid to die It was a great word of Lucan's which he said of the Gauls and Britans animaeque capaces mortis and this because they believed the immortality of the soul happy should we be if upon a better account it might be said of us Britains that because Christ hath brought life and 2 Tim. 1. 10. immortality to light by the Gospel and hath by his death taken out the sting of ours that therefore we are indeed capaces mortis we dare die and in Rom. 5. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psa 22. 26. death it self our hearts can live Sweet bird that can sing so sweetly and pleasantly and that in winter Quest But how may this Nightingale thus sing with this thorn this sting of death at her breast what are we to do in the time of our life that when death cometh this sting of it may not hurt us Answ Pliny in his Books up and down telleth us of many things which either prevent or cure the stingings of Bees and Serpents and you meet with them almost in every page of your ordinary Herbalists but when you have read and known all them you must seek and search for remedies against the sting of death in more sacred Volumes The Heathens I confess in their writings have in their kinde many excellent meditations of death and consolations against it Speak much and high of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too but after all that death is like that deaf adder that hear's not Psal 58. 4 5. the voice of such charmers though they charm at least as they themselves and too many now amongst us think very wisely this lesson is learnt to purpose onely in the school of Christ whose blood alone take's out this sting and cure's the wounds made by it whilest miserable Physicians and of no value are they all sith Job 13. 4. all their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are but as so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Rom. 6. 14. From the beeing and inexistence of sin at death Heb. 12. 23. And from death it self which is left last as least hurtful at the resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 26. 54. and it is abundantly enough for our comfort that if not in this life yet at death or to be sure at that last day we shall have the full 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perfect accomplishment of this great work when Christs rescue of us shall be compleat and death our last enemy shall be wholly and for ever swallowed up in victory And this is the first Negative Death hath not lost its sting so as that believers should never die 2. Nor so neither that at their death they should never feel any kind of smart and pain by the sting of it Isa 38. 3. You heard that Hezekiah then wept sore and you read partly how poor and partly what desperate shifts even Abraham Gen. 12. 12 13. 20. 2. 11. and David 1 Sam. 21. 12 13. and Peter Matth. 26. 70. 72. 74. three of the Scriptures greatest worthies the first famous for faith the second for valour the third for boldnesse in the cause of Christ were driven to through fear of it and sad instances of latter times have shown that when many secure obdurate sinners have died as you use to say like lambs some of the true sheep of Christs pasture have been then half worried by this evening wolf in such evenings these frogs of the insernal pit oft croak aloud and Belzebubs flies then swarm apace Satan when now to be cast out teareth most in Israels Mar. 2. 26. Exod. 14. 5 6 7 c. Exodus or out-gate from Egypt Pharaoh pursueth with all his Charets because if then once gone they will be out of his reach for ever the Devil cometh down with greatest wrath Rev. 12. 12. Deut. 25. 17. 18. because then he hath least time and when Israel is weak Amalek must fall on the Rear and do something now or never And hence it hath been that possibly you may have over-heard some dying Saints groans to have been very deep and seen their death-beds as Davids Couch watred and swimming with tears Especially Psal 6. 6. if Either guilt of sin be then charged on the conscience as not pardoned Or some defilement of sinne then discovered and aggravated if our faith then stumble our hearts will sink and fall and be much bruised against the gates of death a body of Rom. 7. 24 death will then lie very heavy on the weak sick man now hasting to his bodily death and that sin which so defile's him that he cannot with freedome and serenity of spirit at other times appear before God in duty will more abash him when now he is to appear before him in death to receive his doom And thus far for the Negative death hath not lost its sting but partly doth and partly may retain it as to true believers 2. But for the Affirmative so as that in this life at death and at the resurrection they may with Paul in the Text ask where is it For In the General it is but this outward life that death can seise on as our Saviour said of other enemies so may we of this our last enemy it can kill onely the body and after that hath Lu. 12. 4. nothing more that it can doe Obj. Or if you say that it was before granted that it can and sometimes doth sting their souls also Answ All I answer is that thanks be to God yet it is not mortally for on such the second death hath no power Rev. 20. 6. and then if they escape that second death this first to them is but Larva mortis as he calls it but a grim vizard of death in the Scripture account is reckoned for no death indeed for whosoever believeth in me saith our Saviour Iohn 11. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not die for ever so in the Original which our last Translators not unfitly but as the Greek phrase will bear read it shall never die if not for ever faith construeth it never though I die temporally yet Scripture calleth it a sleep rather then death if I doe not die eternally This in the general But more particularly this sting of death is taken away from believers 1. In this life partly in justification and partly in sanctification for the Apostle in the words following the Text telleth us that the sting of death is sin and sin sting's us both in its terrifying condemning guilt binding over to punishment and in its enslaving power and pollution 1. Now the first wee are freed from in our justification there is then peace Rom. 5. 1. and no condemnation Rom. 8. 1. we are passed from death unto life 1 Iohn 3. 14. the destroying Angel passeth over and strike's not when the door-posts and lintel are first struck with the blood Exod. 12. 12 13. Luk. 2 29 30. of the Paschal Lamb. And how chearfully then doth old Simeon sing his Nunc dimittis when he hath got his Saviour in his arms and his eyes have seen Gods salvation There is no sting of death that he complaineth of the kisses of Christs mouth have sucked that out from a justified Believer and then although the shadow of death should sit on my eye-lids as they did on Iobs yet if Job 16. 16. I can but then discover the eye-lids of the morning but the first and least Job 41. 18. out-lookings of Heaven upon my soul in pardon and peace especially if broad day light and the more glorious shine of the Sunne Mal. 4. 2. of righteousnesse how painful soever deaths sting might otherwise have been my Phoebus is my Physitian so that there will be full healing under his wings and O death where is then thy sting 2. And as for the defiling pollution and enthralling power of sinne though it bee as painfull as the very guilt of it is as a prick in the flesh sting's deep and prick's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 12. 7. the very heart Acts 2. 37. yet a Believer in this life hath an healing plaister for this wound also from the spirit of grace in his sanctification and how quickly doth a clean wound heal with how little pain doth a formerly well-ordered body die and with how much lesse doth a soul not Philosophically purged but spiritually sanctified depart from this earthly tabernacle which is so subject to be foul and the very sweeping raiseth a dust our repentings not being without new defilings Death is not dolorous when my death and my sin do not meet but so part that when the one cometh the other is gone for ever and how doth the undefiled Dove which had before lien among the pots then shine and glister when now in her flight to Heaven the Sunne of righteousnesse shines on her wings which are covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold That I
never any more trouble nor the Devil tempt 3. Nor which is a far greater word God frown which yet in the time of our life he seeth just cause sometimes to doe and to vail his face from us but then we come to live not by faith which admits of doubting but by 1 Cor. 13. 12. Rev. 22. 4. vision and that face to face that morning will be as 2 Sam. 23. 4. without clouds because we shall be above them and in nearest conjunction with the Jam. 1. 17. Father of Lights with whom there is no over shadowing whatever the loansom estrangments be that we meet with here yet when Lazarus is once dead he who was kept out of the rich mans Luke 16. 32. gates is then found in Abrahams bosome the place of warmest love And that most lively warmth most lively felt in this chill and dark evening of death in it there is light Zech. 14. 7. in grace as well as in nature the afternoon Sun is oftentimes very warm and the setting Sun shines out sometimes most gloriously So Oecolampadius making good the splendor of his own name now dying and that of an uncomfortable death viz. the plague could lay his hand upon his breast say hic abundè lucis est here here in this dark evening is abundant light then then in that gloomy shadow of death have humble Beleevers and oftentimes none more then they who before had been most sad and broken-hearted met with divinest raptures ravishments of Gods love with gloriousest shines and most pleasing smiles of his countenance and sweetest kisses of his mouth as the loving mother kisseth the sweet babe and so layeth it down to sleep So the Maimonid More Nevoch parte tertia cap. 51. ad finem Buxtorf Lexic Râ—bin ad vocem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem in Florileg Hebr. pag. 205. Jewish Masters expound that Deut. 34. 5. of Moses his dying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad â—s Jehovae as though God did take away his soul with a kisse and so of their 903 kindes of death which they use to reckon up this their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the death which commeth by such a kisse they say is omnium placidissima of all most pleasant and comfortable which they say also Moses and Aaron and Miriam only dyed of but many besides them through Gods mercy have at that time known what the kisses of Christs mouth mean And yet this both in Moses and Aarons deaths is to this purpose singularly remarkable that whereas you read of Gods bidding Moses to goe up to Deut. 32. 49. 50. Numb 20. 25 26. Heinsii exercit sacrae in Matth. cap. 16. mount Nebo and there die and of Aaron to go up to mount Hor and strip him of his garments die there you shall not finde in either places that ut capistrati ad mortem mali trahebantur that as Malefactours they were dragged to it as to an execution but on the contrary without the least reluctance they did as they were bid like me thinks well natured children although others of the Family sit up latter and it may be have greater provisions preparing for them yet without crying or the least whimpering make themselves ready and go up to bed when their Father bids them and well they might although others staid behinde and were to be entertained with Canaans milk and hony which they were cut short of seeing they were thus sent to bed with a kisse never to have the least appearance of a frown more 4. But might we here adde and never Ezek. 28. 12. sin more you may say this would seal up the summe complete all and leave of this sting neither mark nor remembrance Nor will this be wanting and therefore in the last place I shall be bold to add this too For as sin in this life had as to the Beleever lost its condemning guilt and dominion so in death it will be deprived of its beeing or inexistence indeed as long we shal here continue to dwell in these houses of clay it will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which will keep possession and have its dwelling in us Rom. 7. 17. but when our souls shall then be dislodged of our bodies this incroaching and troublesome Inmate shall once for ever be thrust out of doors from both bodies and souls together the death of our body delivering us perfectly from this body of death by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it s controverted whether be meant this our mortal body or the body of sin which Rom. 7. 24. Docet non finiri hos conflictus quandiu mortale corpus circumgestamus quando corpus peccati aliquando exuemus Paraeus in locum is more deadly I grant the latter but would not exclude the former because both of them are put together as when Samson died the Philistines died also together with Judg. 16. 30. Vide Annotat in V. T. incerti Autoris Canta brig 1653. In Lev. 11. 25. See Mr. Cotton on Eccles 7. 1. him This some think was typed out by that in the Law where it is so often spoken of mens being unclean until the evening but more fully and plainly asserted in the New Testament where the souls of just men once got to Heaven are said to be made perfect Heb. 12. 23. Other places are brought by some to the same purpose as that Rom. 6. 7. He he that is dead is freed from sin which though meant of a death to sin in mortification yet alludes to what is in natural death as Interpreters agree upon the place and those expressions of Christs presenting us to himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faultlesse Jude 24. not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5. 27. which to our particular persons is done in death Ecles 12. 7. and that also 1 Cor. 15. 26. where death is said to be the last enemy which is to be destroyed which they conceive it could not be if sin should remain in us undestroyed after death but because these places may seem to be capable of a satisfying answer I wave them and content my self with that one before mentioned I Confesse some * See Mr. B. his vindiciae legis pag. 118. Divines of very great worth conceive it is not death but Cinerefaction that wholy rids us of sin i. e. that we are not wholy freed from it as soon as the soul is departed and the body is now dead but when it is turned into dust and ashes and this they would inferre from the instance of Lazarus who after he had been John 11. dead four dayes was raised up to life yet so as he died again which yet he should not have done if the Image of God had in his first death been perfected in him and so he wholly freed from sin To which I briefly answer 1. That it is no good way to prove that to be the ordinary and general course which God takes
with all others because possibly it might be so in Lazarus his particular and extraordinary instance concerning whom busily to enquire what kind of death his was or in what state his soul was in that quatridium mortis I thinke would be too presumptuous curiosity 2. Although the Image of God in him might not be made perfect upon his first dying and therefore hee might die again the second time whilest some consequents of sin as mortality yet clave to him yet it will not thence follow that sin abode in him no more then that a Saint departed lieth under the power of sin though he doe continue under the power of death which is a consequent of sin till the resurrection Not that I determine that Lazarus after his first dying and rising again lived all his time after without sin in which to define any thing either way were rashnesse but onely to deny the inference that because the Image of God was not every way completed upon his first death so that he died again therefore it was not restored in this as to his being freed from sin which I conceived saints departed are though till the last day they lie under the power of death which yet was brought into the world by sinne Rom. 5. 12. 3. For the ordinary course as I beleeve the dead body is no proper subject for sin so I conceive all Protestants who deny a Popish Purgatory Rev. 14. 13. Rev. 21. 27. or middle state after death must needs confesse that the soul before the body be turned to dust and ashes is Sicque malorum omnium tela abrumpitur Paraeus got to Heaven into which no unclean thing entreth and therefore as soon as it is loosed from the body it is so loosed from sin that it may have a ready flight and free entrance unto that undefiled Mansion And therefore I cannot but subscribe to him who calls Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and say with Ambrose quid est mors nisi peccatorum sepultura that however it be the curse of the wicked to die in their sins John 8. 21. 4. yet for the godly death in them kills sin and is buried in their grave and so sin and death which were before friends in our death prove deadly enemies peccatum peperit mortem filia devoravit matrem sin at first begot and brought forth death and death Jam. 5. 17. at last destroyed sin as the worm kills the tree that bred it Death came by sin Rom. 5. 12. Mr. Brightman in his Sermon on Luk. 4. 18. pag. 66. and sin goeth out by death and so sin dis-armeth it self taketh out its own sting and may we not then well say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory viz. when death it self is thus killed as you use to say quick-silver is killed when so qualified as it is made medicinable And the grave which swallowed up all is it self swallowed up in victory Captivity led captive and this our enemy not only subdued that it cannot hurt us but also made to serve under our victorious Conquerer so as to destroy our worst enemy sin I mean which we had most cause to be afraid of and which above all made death terrible And thus we have seen how the sting of death is taken out both in life and death from a Believer but for all this all is not yet done for all the time that we continue dead death in some respect continueth his dominion and whilest the grave keepes our bodies prisoners how hath it lost the victory There is therefore something yet behind and will that good God who hath thus far led us here leave us that as Rachel died when now it Gen. 35. 16. was but a little way to come to Ephrath so when one stroak more would bring us to shore we should sink in the harbour O no. As on the one side David from good experience could style God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 57. 2. a God who performeth or finisheth or perfecteth all for me and whom he loveth he loveth to the end John 13. 1. So on the other side as for his and their enemies when he beginneth he will make an end 1 Sam. 3. 12. nor will he with Joash when he hath 2 Kings 13 18 19. smitten twice or thrice for want of giving the last stroak fall short of compleating the victory 3. And that will be at the last day of the generall Resurrection till which time death as it were lived Rom. 5. 14 reigned and kept the field and the grave continued his victory but as in death we heard sin lost its being so at the resurrection death and the grave shall forever lose theirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall be destroyed ver 26. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be swallowed up In the 54. ver immediately preceding the Text to which the Apostle relates in these words O death where is thy sting c. which he speaks by way of anticipation of faith and according as before I expressed it as it were before hand tuning his voice that he might sing them out aloud in that last great Jubile and then death and the grave Rev. 20. 13 shall give up their dead and disgorge themselves of all that they had before swallowed and then not onely the sting of death but also death it selfe shall die and cease for ever for there shall then be no more death then our Rev. 21. 4. dead bodies shall again live Isa 26. 19. so as thenceforth they can die no more Luke 20. 36. but what is said of our Saviour shall then be made good of his servants they shall then live who were dead and shall live for ever Rev. 1. 18. and then Death and Hell as vanquished enemies shall bee dragged after our glorious Conquerurs Charet whilest his Redeemed ones shall follow him with their joyful and thankful acclamations and make Heaven and Earth eccho this triumphant song O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Nor will they forget to adde that which the Apostle doeth v. 57. Now thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Which fitly leads me to the Application ANd let the first be everlasting SERM. III Vse 1 Praise and thanksgiving to the Prince of our peace and captain of our salvation Now and ever blessed be our God who hath given us the victory Ver. 57. through our Lord Jesus Christ and truly it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most free gift if we have it for did we fight and win it that we should wear it No he tred the wine-presse Isa 63. 1 2 3. alone and of the people there was none with him when he came from Edom with his garments died in the blood of these our enemies travelling in the greatnesse of his strength mighty to save
on in â—â—eir way they have not been so mindful as they should to beg for a smile in their Journeies end which God make's account is a mercy worth asking and therefore we receive not because we ask not Jam. 4. 2. For remedy therefore ask that you may have now seek that you may then finde and all your life time be knocking Matth. 7. 7 hard at the gate of mercy that at your out-gate of this life an abundant entrance 2 Pet. 1. 11. may be administred unto you into the everlasting kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Have you ordinarily known the man who was much in prayer while he lived to be full of fears and anguish when he came die No those sweet and strong breathings blow away such darksome clouds and therby the setting Sunne shineth out brightly For prayer 1. Through mercy procure's it it can get any good thing at a good Gods hand and why not comfort in death nay then especially for then begin's a believers harvest when he reâ—â—'s the fruit of hiâ— forâ—â—â— laâ—â—â—â— Job 5. 26. Revel 14. 15. and hath oftentimes a â—ost â—ensiblâ— return of all hiâ—â—â—â—â—er prayers which before iâ—â—â—â—y be he thought God as well as himself had forgotten 2. As prayer thus impetrate's it so it naturally as it were trains us up to it for by constant acquaintance with prayer we come to more familiar acquaintance with Christ and so come to see and feel how happy it is to be near him which cannot but make us the more ready and desirous of getting out of the body Phil. 1. 23. 2 Cor. 5. 6. that we may be no longer absent from him and besides the happy soul which with the sweet bird is continually soaring upward and keepeth much aloft is so well acquainted with those approaches to Heaven that now when it fitteth on the dying mans lips it is ready on the wing to take its last flight as in that dark night very well knowing its accustomed way thither and having so often sent its prayers those winged messengers thither before-hand now with joy and singing mounteth up it self thither and therefore be much in prayer now if in death you would have an answer of peace 3. False heartednesse is another cause of faint-heartednesse in these animae deliquia the rotten quagmire quakes and sinks when trod on and so fearfulness we read surprizeth hypocrites Isa 33. 14. when death and danger layeth hold on them God then takes away their souls and their hopes together Job 27. 8. as else where their hope is said to be as the giving up of the ghost Miserable cap. 11. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man if thy soul and thy hope goe out with the breath of the same dying groan But on the contrary by way of remedy Hezekiahs walking before God perfectly and with an upright heart Isa 38. 3. was the best stake in his hedge when the newes of death made all crack and so much truth sincerity as we have just so much peace comfort shall we have in dangers death and no more The Heathens under their Fables of Minos Aeacus Rhadamanthus hinted See Plato in Gorgia Hora mortis hora veâ—itatis to us that at death there will be a strict Scrutiny and however in our life time we have been judged by our selves and others with our cloths on yet then we shall all be judged naked then all vizards will be laid aside all black patches and beauty spots that covered foul sores will be pluckt off the pure heart only will be able to lift up their face without spot and be stedfast Job 11. 15 and not fear 4. Too much love of the world is another great cause of our as much fear of death when we are to leave it for fear ever presupposeth love and so much as I love any thing so much I am aggrieved afraid to part w th it with what crying is the child pluckt from the breast when it hath tasted of the sweetnesse of it and as yet skill's of no other nourishment things fast glued together are torn broken when violently pluckt asunder if thy cloth cleave to thy skin as it is a signe that there is some sore under it so it will make all smart when pluckt off and answerably if thy portion with them Psal 17. 14. be in this life thou art utterly undone when it is ended Job Cap. 29. 13 some-where speaks of dying in his nest but as Chrysostome observeth Nestlins are wont to be but weaklins and they that have feathered their nests in the world have minde to be on the wing to flie out of it O death how bitter is thy remembrance to him that Ecclus. 41. 1. liveth at ease in his possessions how sad a sight is the hand-writing on the wall to a Belshazzar in his cups and when Dan. 5. the rich man is dreaming of goods laid up for many years how dreadfull a sound in his ears was that Thou fool Luke 12. 12 20. this night c when in prosperity the destroyer cometh upon him Job 15. 21. It was a wise and Christian speech of Charles the 5t to the Duke of Venice who when he had shewn him the glory of his Princely Palace and Earthly Paradise instead of admitting it or him for it onely returned him this grave and serious memento Haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori these are the things which make us unwilling to die and so sharpen deaths sting and make it more painful it is a double death to him who is alive to the world to part with it Whereas on the contrary again for the remedy if with Paul we were before hand crucified to the world Gal. 6. 14. and had it crucified to us and as Chrysostom descan'ts upon the place lay like two dead bodies one by another as there was no mutual desire or delight in each other when they lay together so there would be as little grief when they are parted asunder the world not caring for us and we as little for it and so by our parting no hurt done were we indeed strangers and pilgrims here we would not go home weeping were we and the world two at our parting there would not be a painful dissolutio continui sitting loose now would prevent such convulsion fits and rentings then 5. On the contrary too much carelesnesse of the things of this world makes some mens deaths more careful and themselves more fearful In particular I mean our neglect of a provident and timely setting our house in order when we are now leaving the world is apt to leave us in heaps and confusion It is expressed in Scripture as the dying mans task but Isa 38. 1. 2 Sam. 17. 17. 23. it would be much better if it were the living mans care that when we have made up our Accounts with men we might be more ready