Boys will be such indeed when they come there for Roaring and Yelling will be their best Musick and all shall dance after this Pipe and bear a share in this Consort Oh that Men would be wise before it be too late and Hell hath shut her Mouth upon them for then they will have no rest day nor night but it is the duration that makes up the Misery compleat Did the Torments endure but a Hundred or a Thousand Years though it were long yet it would be some comfort that an end would come but the word Never is a Hell in the midst of Hell Were a Man in perfect Health and Strength adjudged to lye upon a soft Feather Bed without stirring Hand or Foot for a Year's space though he had the comfort of Friends Meat Drink and other Necessaries it would be thought a great Punishment much more if he lay upon a red-hot Gridiron and could be preserved with Life But what is either of these to Hell-Torments or a Year to Eternity But their Torment must run parallel with the Life of God the days of Heaven and the longest line of Eternity and when they have past as many Thousand Millions of Years as there are Piles of Grass upon the Earth Stars in Heaven Hairs upon Man Beasts Sands upon the Sea-shore Feathers upon all Fowl and Scales and Fins upon all Fish yet will their Misery be no whit abated or any nearer to an end than the first day they were cast into it for were this innumerable Number taken from Eternity it is never the less Oh Eternity Eternity who can judge of thee or find thee out If the Earth were converted into Paper and the Sea into Ink and every Grass-pile into Pens and every Sand upon the Sea-shore were a skilful Arithmetician and all of them with their conjoyned Labours when they had cast up their greatest Sums and added them together yet would it not reach Eternity Nay if the whole Firmament were written from end to end with Arithmetical Figures it would fall short Oh what then but Horror and Despair will seize upon miscarrying Souls when all their hopes are dash'd then will they seek Death but shall not find it Oh that these pains would break my Heart and end my Life say they Oh that I might at last be extinct or that these Infernal Spirits would tear me in pieces till they had rent me to nothing Oh that I had never had a Being cursed be my Father that begat me and the Womb that bare me cursed be those Companions of mine that helped to undo me and betray me into my Enemies hands Such as these are like to be the wishes that Eternity will extract from tormented Souls O that the consideration thereof would make Men wise before it be too late But if Death find us unprepared this that I have described will be our condition for ever which God forbid Lesson 6. The Sixth Lesson that this Providence teacheth us is this That seeing this our Friend is taken away in the midst of her days in her full strength while her breasts were full of milk and her bones moistened with marrow Job 21.24 This teacheth all but especially us that are of greater Age that survive her how necessary 't is for us to make Preparation for our own Death for if God deal thus with the green Tree what shall be done to the dry Young Men may dye Old Men must dye for we know neither the day nor the hour wherein our Lord and Master will come 'T is good therefore to watch every day and every hour we know not when he will send his Messenger to us to Command us to give an account of our Steward-ship for we shall be no longer Stewards We usually say That should be well done that can be but once done but we can dye but once 't is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the Judgment Heb. 9.27 Here is no room for a second Error as we say in War As the Tree falls so it lyes whether to the North or to the South so as Death leaves us so Judgment shall find us Now Death is no Fear-babe t is the King of Terrors and a Terror to Kings Hell is no Scare-crow neither Eternity a Jesting matter the Soul that is in danger is no Trifle but our chiefest Jewel and Salvation and Damnation are matters of Moment things of great Concern Now a Man would think that in Matters of such Concern it were not needful to use many words to make us mind it when we are earnest enough in lesser matters but 't is evident we are all faulty in some degree or other and the most altogether negligent Were but our Houses on fire over our heads we need not many Arguments to seek to save our selves and to quench the Fire Were we in danger of Drowning we need not many Arguments to perswade us to lay hold upon something or other to help us out Were we pursued with an implacable Enemy that sought our Lives or with a roaring Lion or ranging Bear we should double our Diligence and amend our Pace and use all means to escape the Danger And is the Soul so contemptible a thing that we matter it so little It is without our Diligence prevent it in danger to be drown'd in the Lake of Perdition and to be burnt in the Fire that never goes out and is pursued with those Infernal Furies that seek to devour her and yet we make but a little hast to rescue her But are our Houses our Estates our Bodies or our Lives to be preferred before the Immortal Soul the best part of Man And is a Moment of Time more to us than Eternity Do we take so much care what to eat and what to drink and wherewith to be cloathed and so little how the Soul is fed or cloathed decked or adorned This doubtlesly would bespeak our Folly Whatever the World dream or say to the contrary Heaven will be found to the Possessors of it a real Happiness and whatever Cost or Charge Pains or Labour we bestow a good Peny-worth and Hell will be found a real Misery and whatever we have into the Bargain we shall be losers the Rich Glutton found it so and many more here the worm dyes not and the fire never goes out One day in Heaven will make us forget all our Miseries on Earth and one day in Hell will make us forget all our fore-past Pleasures Now while we are unprepared for Death there is but the thread of our Lives between us and endless easeless and remediless Torments and this must needs be an uneasie condition to a considerate Man And which makes it the worse Death is always gnawing at this thread which if once broken all the World cannot piece it or yield us any relief Now in serious matters wise men should be serious Beggars when their wants are serious they will leave their Canting and beg in earnest as also
Cross or any thing to molest us had it not been for sin yet are we apt to over-look it and yet have our finger always upon the Sore we cry out Oh my Back my Belly my Bones my Heart but seldom Oh my Sin we are like hâ—m that complains of the pain in his Foot but not of the Shooe that pincheth him of the Gout Stone Strangury Surfeit but not of the Intemperance that is the cause Pharaoh cries out Take away the Frogs the Lice the Darkness let there be no more Hail but not take away the Sin the hardness of Heart that brought them God when he threatens Death for sin threatens also all the Causes and Fore-runners of Death and all the Evils which accompany a sinful Life for these are the Natural Productions of sin and much worse Fruit it bears if Repentance prevent it not and like a mighty Wind blows it not down before it come to Maturity otherwise it will be bitter Fruit We have far greater cause to cry out Oh my filthy Sins Oh my Pride my Passion my Covetousness my Deadness Dulness Formality Hypocrisie c. than Oh my dead Father my Husband my Son my Daughter We should cease quarrelling God and turn the edge of our Anger Sorrow and Indignation against Sin and against our selves for our sin and so our Quarrel will be much more just 'T is a stubborn Child that when corrected for a known fault will rather quarrel his Father than acknowledge his own Guilt We are apt to cry out Oh my Loss Oh my Cross than Oh my Sin my Infidelity my inordinate Affections which forces God thus to Correct me Let us remove the Cause and the Effect will cease Thus you see whether we consider sin in it self in its pestiferous infectious Nature or whether we consider it in its direful Effects the Miseries that attend it we have more cause to bewail it than any Loss or Cross that can befal us for sins sake as the Cause is worse than the Effect 3. But this is not all for sin procures Spiritual Judgments as well as Temporal and these are far more deadly and dangerous for these Distempers reach the Soul when the other touch only the Body or Estate Sin defiles and deforms all the Powers and Faculties of Soul and Body Sin is so Infectious and Contagious and the Effects thereof so Malignant that the greatest and most dangerous Plague-sore even that which rendeth the Soul from the Body is not so dangerous 'T is sin that hardens the Heart and turns it into the Nature of a stone We read of a stony heart and of all the Plagues that fell upon Pharaoh this was the worst and a greater than this cannot befal a Mortal Man in this Life God complains of this That the house of Israel were impudent and hard-hearted Ezek. 3.7 c. And the great Gospel-promise is To take away thâ— stony heart and give them hearts of flesh And as it hardens the Heart so it blinds the Mind which by reason of sin is Naturally Judicially and Wilfully blind the Image of God consisted in Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness these by the Fall were lost and Ignorance Wickedness and Profaness the very Image of the Devil were engraven in their stead 1 Cor. 3.14 And Men walk in Darkness till the Scales of Ignorance are wiped from their Eyes and Christ's Spiritual Eye-salve applyed Rev. 3.18 A natural maâ— cannot perceive the things of the spirit for they aâ—â— spiritually discerned Many also are Judicially blind God in his just Judgment giving them up to strong delusion to believe lies Mat. 13.13 c. They are Wilfully blind and God will not Cure them like Hagar they cannot see the Well of Water that is before them They are wilfully Ignorant that they may sin the more freely The God of this world hath blinded their eyes 2 Cor. 4.4 He draws a Curtain between them and the Light and holds his black hand before their faces and were they anatomized his Image would be found â—ngraven upon their hearts Light is come into â—â—e world and men love darkness rather than light â—ecause their works are evil They are willingly â—gnorant of what they are not willing to know â—hey have also cauterized Consciences seared with 〈◊〉 hot Iron and reprobate minds Rom. 1.28 And â—istempered and disordered Affections set upon â—rong Objects loving what they should hate â—nd hating what they should love fearing Men â—nd their threatnings and despising God and his â—hreatnings being given up to vile affections Rom. â— 26 1 Tim. 4.2 Yea they are given up to â—tubbornness of Will Judges 2.19 And of this â—e have Pharaoh for an Example that was beâ—ome Cannon-proof that all the Judgments â—rought upon Egypt could not work upon him â—uch are mentioned Jer. 44.19 that would bake â—akes to the Queen of Heaven let God himself say what he would to the contrary they will set up â—heir Post by God's Post and prefer their Dagon â—efore the Ark therefore God gives up such to â—trong delusions to believe lies Rom. 1.24 The Memory also though strong enough to retain what is bad yet 't is like a leaking Vessel that cannot retain any thing that is good In a word â—ll the Powers and Faculties of the Soul are polâ—uted and the Members of the Body are the unhappy Instruments to act the wickedness the Soul contrives So that a Toad or Serpent is not fuller of Poison than Man's heart is naturally of Sin and Wickedness and of noxious Qualities the Fruits and Effects of which if timely Repentance prevent not will be the loss of God's Favour which is better than life in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasureâ— for evermore Psal 16.11 The loss also of an Interest in the Blood of Christ will follow which is of more value than the World it self for such trample upon the blood of the Covenant as an unholy thing Heb. 10.29 Yea they do despight unto the Spirit of God and put themselves from under the favourable Protection of God and thaâ— Guard of Angels that God sends forth as ministring Spirits for the good of those that love him and makes Men uncapable of the sweet Communion of Saints which David made his chiefesâ— Delight on Earth Psal 16.2 It deprives them of the Peace of Conscience a Jewel of inestimable worth and brings many times such a Storm there that all the World cannot allay aâ— in Cain Judas Spira and many more that Bird in the Bosom when it sings sweetly makes better Melody than all the World can do Sin also deprives Men of all true Interest and Spirituaâ— Right to all our outward Enjoyments a Civiâ—â— Right we may have but a Covenant-Right we cannot have in a Natural condition for these things are not given but lent to a wicked Man and an Account will be required to the utmost Farthing In a word unrepented sin deprives Men of an Interest in God in
Heaven and Glory and of the Beatifical Vision for withouâ— holiness we shall never see God Let us therefore leave off sorrowing for petty Losses and Crosses and turn the whole Torrent of our Sorrow into this Channel even against our sins 4. Nay the mischief of Sin ends not here it also exposeth us to the wrath of God and makes him our Enemy that otherwise would be our closest surest and fastest Friend and did we â—now what it is to have God for our Enemy it â—ould send us trembling to our Grave for when â—is Fury is kindled it sets on fire the foundation of â—he mountains Deut. 32.22 'T is better have all â—he World to grapple with than with God if â—e frown upon us no Creature dare smile If â—e be for us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 â—f God have a Controversie with us who dare â—ake our part or move a Hand or Tongue in our Defence We cannot grapple with him he is â—oo strong for us we cannot flye from him as â—onah thought to do he will over-take us neiâ—her can we hide our selves from him Psal 136 â— c. We cannot struggle out of his hand â—or he is the Almighty and we but despicable Worms if he tread upon us he leaves us dead â—ehind him Before him the Holy Angels cover â—heir faces and all the Infernal Spirits tremble â—n his hand is the soul of every living thing and the â—reath of all mankind Job 12.10 If he with-hold â—ur breath we return to our Dust for we have â—o more than what he puts into us how then â—hall we contend with our Maker Can Chaff â—nd Stubble grapple with a devouring Flame One blast of his Displeasure can blow us into Hell yea Heaven and Hell and All into nothing â—nd how are we like to make our Party good â—gainst him when we cannot move a Finger â—wag a Tongue or fetch a Breath without his â—ssistance Well but let us well consider whether our Cause be good What cause hath God given us to take up Arms against him Hath he â—een a hard Master to us Or with-held our Wages Jonah thought he did well to be angry but was soon convinc'd Job had a mind to quarrel him and seems of any other to have the best Cause but when the Contest began hâ— soon threw down the Cudgels and lays his hand upon his Mouth Hath not God been our greateâ—â— Benefactor and done more for us than all the World ever did or can do Is not he our beâ—â— Friend and shall we become his profest Enemies Many good works have I done among you saith Christ for which of those do you stone me John 10.32 God gave us our Being when we had none and shall we hate him for it We were tâ—â— Clay and he was the Potter and might have dash'd us into pieces with his foot He gave us Reason when he might have made us bruit Beasts as Dogs or Swine or more contemptible Creatures He hath given us Limbs and Senses when otherâ— want them Peace and Plenty yea Life and Liberty and hath made our Lives comfortable to us when we deserve not the Ground we tread upon or the Air we breath in and shall we flye at the Face of God and thus requite the Lord our Maker Nay hath not Christ suffered more for us than any other hath or can do We had sold our selves Bond-slaves to Satan and neither Man nor Angel could have redeemed us out of our Slavery or have paid a Ransom sufficient for us but Christ laid down his Life to free us from the guilt of sin from the filth of sin from the Punishment due for sin from the Curse of the Law the Wrath of God the Slavery of Satan and from Everlasting Damnation And hath he for all this deserved our Malice and Hatred He hath bestowed more upon us than the World hath to bestow 't is he that sends us so many Ambassages for Peace and rains Heavenly Manna so plentifully about our Tents he gives us Promises such as the greatest Kings upon Earth cannot make and make good to their greatest Favourites as of his Spirit his Graces his Son and his Glory And is all this nothing Shall we foster sin in our Bosom that hinders us in the Enjoyment of those promised Blessings and expose us to the wrath of God and the everlasting Destruction of Soul and Body and expose us also to all Miserie 's Temporal Spiritual and Eternal God forbid Well we cannot make our Peace with God till we break our League with Sin and if God be our Enemy and our Enemy he will be if we are at Peace with Sin then we may expect he will treat us as Enemies Well may we fear that every bit of Bread we eat will choak us and every drop of Drink we drink may be our bane and that every Creature may wait for a Commission to end our days that the Floods may drown us as they did the Old World or the Fire consume us as Sodom or the Earth swallow us up as Korah and his Complices or the greatest Judgments that ever we read fell upon Mortal Man may be our Portion Oh what need had we then to leave sorrowing for other things and turn all our Tears into the right Channel that it may drown our sins that expose us to these Miseries and Mischiefs 5. Nay but this is not all for Eternal Death as well as Spiritual and Temporal is the Reward of Sin the everlasting separation of Soul and Body from God which is called The second Death and this is far greater than all the Miseries before mentioned for if the sinner be not reconciled to God which cannot be before sin be mortified he shall be cast into the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 21.8 This is the Natural Fruit and Effect of every beloved sin even the everlasting Damnation of Body and Soul a thousand thousand rentings of the Soul from the Body is not comparable to one renting of the Soul from Christ Sin doth that for us that all the Men on Earth and Devils in Hell could never do even pull us out of the Arms of God This threw Angels out of Heaven Adam out of Paradice and Millions of Souls into Hell This brought Death into the World and is the very Sting of Death and if this Sting be not taken out it will sting the Soul to Eternity This imbitters our Lives as you have heard while we are in the World and opens the Door to let us out of the World and will open Hell it self to let us in and is the only bar to keep us from coming out But if Sin were mortified we might with Old Simeon depart in Peace and with Ambrose say I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to dye And with Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Death without his Sting is like Samson without his Hair or like the Drone-Bee without a Sting not
Excuse then also And think you God will be thus put off And is it not a sad thing that the main Concern should be neglected and time found for every thing else But for wicked Men there is no cause why they should desire Death nay great reason why they should dread it as the worst of Evils they leap but out of the Frying-pan into the Fire out of a Temporal Misery into Eternal Torments and by hastning their Death out-run their Happiness and fall into endless Misery which comes fast enough without hastning But many of those mind no more their Eternal Concerns than the Ox that perisheth These Men either think Repentance is not necessary or else that they have time enough to repent in but ere long they will be sadly convinc'd of their mistake Many hasten Death by their Intemperance which yet they fear more than God himself But to let these pass I would have Believers be better acquainted with Death than to fear it for it cannot separate them from the love of Christ and those that have the Riches of Assurance cannot fear Death greatly knowing when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved they have a building of God a house not made with hands but eternal in the heavens And who will not part with Rags for Robes with a Cottage for a Crown and with a handful of Muck for a handful of Angels Now this Assurance is the Top-Gallant of Faith the Triumph of Trust and the Sweet-meat of the Feast of a good Conscience where there are many dainty Dishes but this is the Banquet 't is Heaven upon Earth and such a Jewel no wicked Man upon Earth can know the worth of it any more than Aesop's Cock did of the Precious Jewel When the love of Christ warms the Heart it raiseth the desires of stricter Union and Communion with him and a fuller Enjoyment of him which will never be satisfied till the full fruition in Glory He that loves God better than Father and Mother c. will part with these for his sake If we hate Hell we shall not so earnestly desire to live in the Suburbs of Hell We complain of Sin and well we may it being the cause of all our Misery but did we hate it as we ought to do we should be willing to dye that we might be rid of it for when we enter through this strait Passage and narrow Way we shall leave this and all other Burdens behind us We pretend we would serve God without Distraction and shall we fear the time and place when and where it can only be done But till Grace be in the Heart Heaven it self cannot be desirable the Employment the Company and Society cannot please a Wicked Man But Grace enables a Man to see that Death it self cannot break the Marriage-Contract between Christ and the Soul but then the Marriage will be fully consummate and when the Soul is separated from the Body it shall by the Angels be carried into the Bosom of Christ where sin and sorrow shall be no more Those that are sufficiently satisfied of the vanity of the World the emptiness of the Creature the fulness of Christ and the worth of Heaven we cannot rationally imagine but they will be willing to part with one to enjoy the other in Earth we shall never meet with Content or Satisfaction in Heaven we shall meet with no Disappointment Troubles or Vexations will a Wise Man choose a Prison or a Pest-House for his Habitation if he might have a Palace Or any but a Mad-man dwell among the Tombs The World is all this and much more He that looks upon the World as an Enemy and the Body but a Skreen between God and the Soul will not be unwilling to have both removed Will not a sick Man desire his Health and an hungry Man his Meat a Captive his Liberty and a Souldier the Victory the Husband-man the desired Harvest and the Labourer his Wages And why then should not Christians long for the time when they shall receive at God's hand the promised Reward for all they have done and suffered for the sake of God Shall those that have done and suffered so much for Heaven now be unwilling to have it when offered The Assurance of Eternal Life may make us willing to leave these our Temporal Enjoyments Well then you see though a small measure of Grace cannot overcome all Difficulties yet there is nothing else but Grace can fit us for Death or enable us to grapple with it And therefore above all gettings get Grace 3. Consider Grace is such a Qualification that without it we can neither please God nor enjoy Him who is our Chiefest Happiness Heb. 11.8 Without Faith 't is impossible to please God These are the Ornaments of a Christian the Gems and Jewels that make him lovely in the sight of God the Gold tryed in the Fire the white Raiment the Spiritual Eye-salve which God adviseth Laodicea to buy of him Rev. 3.17 18. greater Riches than the Indies can produce Christ and Grace go together he that hath one will have the other also without Grace all our Duties are worse than nothing abominable Sins for how can pure Water come from a polluted Fountain The Heart by Nature is an Augean Stable full of Filthiness but without Holiness we shall never see God Heb. 12.14 We may fast and pray and give Alms with the Pharisee Mat. 6.1 c. and offer Sacrifices c. with those Isa 1.11 c. and God will not regard us though it be commanded Duties if they proceed from a rotten Heart or be performed for a by end the Sacrifices of the Wicked are an abomination to God The Incense of the Wicked stinks of the Hand that holds it their Good Words are uttered with a stinking Breath though they may be materially good they are formally evil a good Motion cannot proceed from a soul Mouth these men deny in their Lives what they profess with their Lips they are like the Aethiopians black all but the Mouth some of them are fair Professors but foul Livers dicta factis crubescunt their Practice shames their Profession You may see how such Men's Sacrifices are accepted Isa 66.2 3. The Fountain must be cleansed or the Streams cannot be sweet the Tree must be good or the Fruit will be bad Whatever proceeds from a Wicked Man smells of the Cask If the Heart be right God accepts of Pence for Pounds Mites for Millions and esteems a Man as good as he truly desires to be Dat bene dat multum qui dat cum munere vultum God loves a chearful giver and esteems the willingness of the Mind before the worth of the Work the more of the heart is in the Sin the worse but the more of it is in the Duty the better God loves no heartless or grumbling Service My son saith he give me thy heart Prov. 23.26 David's intention to build God an House was accepted as if he had
set him at his own right hand when all other shall stand at his left Oh what a Glorious Day will that be when so many Myriads of Angels and glorified Saints each shining brighter than the Sun in its splendour shall attend upon the Lord Jesus Christ who shall surpass them all in Glory But what a dreadful Day will this be to Wicked Men when they shall see him whom they hated to be their Judge and they whom they persecuted and wickedly murthered to be their Accusers yea sitting upon Thrones to Judge them also Well may they call to the Mountains and Rocks to cover them Rev. 6.15 16. but in vain for the Mountains melt at his Presence and the Rocks are removed out of their places Hell it self that Dungeon of Darkness cannot hide from him For Death and Hell must deliver up their dead But if they cannot stand before their self-condemning Consciences much less before their Judge before whose face their secret sins are plain and manifest and then will they all say they must hear that flaming Sentence of Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels c. A Sentence breathing out nothing but Fire and Brimstone Thundring and Lightning Woe and Alas Torment without end and past imagination Everlasting Fire Eternity of Extremity which the Heart of Man cannot conceive nor his Tongue utter To depart from God is to depart from all that good is into Everlasting Fire here is the pain of Sense both these make up the Damned's Misery but the duration makes it compleat Here is the never-dying Worm that continually gnaws upon the Heart and the Fire that never goes out but continually burneth both the Soul and Body Now Sirs what say you to this Is Grace worth having that prevents all this and sets the Soul out of the reach of danger Those and those alone that are adorned with Grace shall be crowned with Glory for Grace is Glory begun and Glory is Grace perfected Is it now worth labouring for Doubtless those that now deride it as Foolishness will then be derided for their Folly Set your selves in the posture you will certainly be in at Death and at Judgment and then think whether you will make as light of it then as now you do and whether Cups and Queans will then give you better content No no the rudest Ruffian then would be the holiest Saint and wish with Balaam to dye the death of the Righteous But a few feigned Desires faint Wishes and short-winded Prayers will not serve turn God hath link'd Holiness and Happiness together and no Man can break the Chain many would do something for Heaven if they might pick and choose their Duties and leave some Sins if they might retain others they would dance with the Devil all Day so they might sup with Christ at Night they would do the Devil's Work but have God's Wages and leap out of Delilah's Lap into Abraham's Bosom they would be Dives all Day and Lazarus at Night But those that deride Holiness now are not like to have the Reward of it hereafter but then they shall see those very Men that now are at the Bar shall then be at the Bench 1 Cor. 6.2 and shall judge their Judges and those that have been unjustly judged shall have their Cause call'd over again and shall recover Costs and Damages and woe to those that have offended any of those Little Ones that trust in God for their Avenger is strong Wicked Men have no more fore-cast for their Souls than Fools have for their Bodies but they will pay dear for their Folly for when the Saints shall shine in Glory they shall be cast into a Dungeon of Darkness when God lays up his Jewels he will throw out his Muck-heaps when he fans his Wheat he will burn the Chaff the one must go into Everlasting Torment the other into Life Eternal Matth. 25. last Now Reader if thou wouldst know what Road thou art Travelling or what Place thou art like to Land in consider whether Grace be thy Pilot and God thy Polar Star if not thy Condition is dangerous and thy Course unsafe 5. Consider Grace will not leave us thus for its work is not done when the Judgment is over and the Sentence past for 't is the only Treasure we take with us to Heaven and will not leave us till the Crown of Glory is set upon our heads nor then neither their work is not done Indeed some Graces which imply imperfection in us as Faith and Hope or in others as Pity and Mercy may seem useless there for how can we believe and hope for what we actually enjoy except it be for the continuance of it These will be swallowed up in the fruition of what we now believe and hope for And for Pity and Mercy they want their Objects there being no Misery in Heaven and those in Hell deserve no Pity here we have many wanting Brethren whose Miseries call loud for Mercy but there they are supplyed but Love and Joy and Delight Desire and Admiration and such like are not only continued but much heightened in Heaven as also our Knowledge there will be perfected and the Faculties of the Soul enlarged For as an enraged Conscience is one considerable part of Hell so a good Conscience augments Heaven's Glory when all Earthly Enjoyments which made our Lives comfortable forsake us there will be a new Addition of Pleasures and Delights given in the duration of them will be for ever when others leave all that is comfortable behind these will leave all that implies Misery or Imperfection Grace will be a constant Companion to Eternity the Divine Love of God of Holiness of the Saints and Servants of God will never abate but be much more enlarged when our Understandings are enlightened to know God better for nothing but Ignorance can stave off our Affections from loving him who is the chiefest Good That Marriage-knot between Christ and the Soul is the Foundation of our Happiness for from Union springs Communion and the perfect Enjoyment of him in Glory which is the Beatifical Vision Grace here makes the Soul follow Christ through Good Report and Evil Report through thick and thin and makes her resolve to have him for her Husband though she have never a merry day with him and is willing to run through Fire and Water to come to him Oh that I might enjoy those Wild Beasts that are prepared for my Torments saith Ignatius Phileas The Italian Martyr was deaf at the Perswasions of his Friends to forsake Christ and blind at their Tears True Love is like unto Fire the more you blow it the faster it burns or like Lime the more Water you pour on the more 't is enkindled For many waters cannot quench love neither can the floods drown it Now nothing but Grace can bear up the Head and Heart under those Torments and Tortures but a Gracious Man can sing sweetly when it rains
of our Corruptions he throws in many times Pestilent Temptations and horrid Injections which being resisted become not our sins yet are they matter of sorrow to think that our hearts are the Soil where such wicked Seed is sown and 't is matter of fear also lest sometime or other the Temptation should be owned and the Soul become Mother to the Devils Brats Christ indeed though free from Sin was yet not free from Temptation the Devil's Wild-fire fell upon wet Tinder he had no Corruption as we have to give it Entertainment He seeks sometimes by his Temptations to make us have hard thoughts of God yea sometimes to question whether there be a God or whether the Scriptures be the Word of God or whether the Soul be Immortal or dye not with the Body or whether there be hereafter a Life of retribution c. And many times injects thoughts of Pride Sensuality Hypocrisie Revenge c. Now these though not consented to must needs be troublesome to think such Tares should be sown in our Fields though if we cry out with the Ravish'd Virgin it will become his sin though our sorrow He fits his Temptations as the Fisher doth his Baits to our Inclinations if a Man be inclined to Drunkenness he doth not thrust him by Head and Shoulders into the Ale-house this would affright him but stands behind the Bush and sets a Companion to call him for the Adulterer he hath a Delilah some Beautiful Strumpet if she be not Beautiful he teaches her the Art to Paint Spot and use other Alluring Tricks He hath a Wedge for Achan and a Reward for Judas and an All this will I give thee for Christ himself Now while we are on this side Heaven we are in continual danger and great cause we have to dread these Snares seeing so many are taken in them if we resist them we are like to be undone also they that will not howl with the Wolves are like to be devoured by the Wolves If we escape with our Estates 't is well if with our Lives 't is better if the Devil cannot prevail by fair means he will use foul A Godly Man in this World is like an honest Matron that is confined in a House with some lustful Letcher who is always solliciting her to Lewdness and though she deny him with disdain will yet give her no rest So though the Devil have a thousand Repulses he will not desist and if one Temptation sail he will try another though we cry out with the Ravish'd Virgin Deut. 22.25 yet sometimes he makes a Rape upon us and injects his filthy Seed against our wills but 't is our Natural propensity makes us fear a Surprisal our Hearts being so deceitful Jer. 17.9 and so many tall Cedars so fouly shaken in our days But when Death comes the Devil's Work is done and nothing remains but that he receive his Wages and though he and his Instruments trample upon us now we shall then trample them under foot Rom. 16.22 His Horn will be broken and become a Trumpet for our Triumph But suppose as much liberty were granted him in Heaven as he hath upon Earth to use as many Temptations and spread as many Snares as now he doth what would it avail There will be no Corruption to work upon neither any Bait that would be taking suppose he should say to the Saints All this will I give you as he did to Christ and a stronger Bait I know not of any he hath Suppose he should offer and really give them Crowns and Kingdoms to leave Heaven's Glory and follow him who would leave an Eternal Kingdom of Glory for a Transitory Earthly Dominion Now indeed we live out of sight of this Heavenly Inheritance and the things he offers are sensibly perceived and hence it is he prevails with poor blind Creatures that can see but under their Feet but there the scales will be dropt from our Eyes and we shall see the worth of the one and the vanity of the other one Glimpse whereof made Paul account all things here below as dirt and dung It must be a lovely Object that will draw a Believer out of the Arms of Christ and make him forsake the Glory of Heaven something that must be better and more lovely but that is not in the Devil s keeping no no his Work is done and he will deceive the Nations no more He works here upon Men's Ignorance but there it will be expell'd here we live in danger but there we are out of harms-way we need not there fear his frowns nor regard his smiles for as he cannot tempt us so he cannot hurt us neither the World which is his great Assistance which here assists him in laying his Snares and is the Bait wherewith he baits his Hook but then it will be no Load-stone to a glorified Saint Worldly Profit Pleasure and Honour are here things that take with Flesh and Blood but not in Heaven they are not indeed here nec vero nec nostra but then they will be meer non entities and no such thing in being as we call so here for all Earthly things will be burnt up Here we are in continual danger lest some Sense or other suck in the Poison we can hardly open our Eyes but we let sin into the Soul something or other to provoke Pride Passion Covetousness Uncleanness or one hateful Lust or other the like we may say of our Ears and other Senses No wonder then that Job made a covenant with his eyes Job 31.1 And our Saviour bids us Take heed how we hear Almost all we converse with are infectious Persons and have some Plague-sore running upon them And may we not say of most Families as of the Egyptians there is not a House where some dead Person is not nay many whole Families yea many Parishes where there is scarce one alive 't is a very Golgotha a place of dead Men. Nay our very Bodies prove Instrumental to betray the Soul nay every Creature we are conversant with proves no better but prove Temptations to draw or drive away the Soul from Christ and every Enjoyment proves a Snare every Estate and Condition whether we are Rich or Poor in Honour or Disgrace in Health or Sickness in Pleasure or Pain at Liberty or in Prison Bond or Free every Estate hath its peculiar Temptations every Calling from the most Honourable to the Base every Relation Magistrate or Subject Minister or People Husband or Wife Parents or Children Masters or Servants have their Temptations Male or Female Fair or Foul Married or Unmarried Young or Old Poverty hath its Temptations and Riches more Agur's wish Neither Poverty nor Riches but Food convenient seems the best Choice Our Cloathing oftentimes proves a Snare if gay to Pride or Arrogance if poor to Repining and Discontent Our Table also becomes a Snare if well furnish'd to Gluttony Drunkenness and Excess if not to envy others that have better So that there
had not begg'd so earnestly for a drop of Water to cool his Tongue Here are no Ladies of Pleasure for they will be found with another Name Here are no wanton Delilahs to sport with upon the Bed of Lust no changeable Suits of Apparel no new Fashions for our mincing Minions no Recreations to drive away the weary hours then they will have time enough if we may call Eternity Time to think upon their past Folly and Repent though too late to think of the bad Bargain they made when they sold their Souls their Heaven and their Happiness for a little Temporary Pleasure which perish ere they were budded which bear no more proportion to true Pleasure than painted Fire upon the Wall to true Fire that hath neither Light nor Heat then will their Garb be changed and their Diet and Attendants they will be stript of all their Costly Robes and Ornaments which will be forgotten or remembred with sorrow there will be neither Mirth nor Musick Singing nor Dancing but Weeping Wailing and wringing of Hands no Curious Sights to please the Eye no Melody for the Ear no delicious Taste for the Palate or any thing else to please the other Senses those curious Bodies to the pampering of whom the Soul is neglected will be exposed to Torture and Torments were a man condemned to lye one Year upon a red-hot Gridiron upon a raging Fire and his Life could so long be continued we should think him to be a miserable Creature But what is this to Hell-Torments Or what is a Year to Eternity where they shall never dye yet alwaies endure the Pangs of Death At Death they will find an end of all their Pleasures but Eternity will not end their Miseries Their Laughter here is not Mirth but Madness like a frantick man that is going to Execution and shrieks and bawls for others to bear him company yet these are the good things the rich Glutton had in this Life and for which he must pay so great a Reckoning at his Death This was his Heaven his Hell came after O Death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives at ease in his possessions and hath prosperity in all things Ecclus. 41.1 Now these delicate Bodies are so nice that they cannot endure the Summers heat nor Winters cold but the Flames will not regard their Beauty nor the Tormenter their Niceness Then farewel all their Merry-meetings and drunken Matches their Feasts their Plays their wanton Dalliance all those Toys will be laid aside Now Pleasure is the God they worship and sacrifice their Souls unto but the Name of it then will never more sound in their Ears nor any thing that bears the least resemblance of it be presented to them their witty Jests and merry Jokes will then be left and well it were for them if they could forget them and it will be their Trouble to think how this way they drive away their Time that was too swift of it self The Thought of Death is troublesome to them and they think 't is unseasonable for a 〈◊〉 but Poor Folks Old People or Ministers but for the Young the Rich the Strong it will but indispose them and dispirit them and put them out of Humour they will not see Death and then they think Death will forget them but it steals upon them tacito pede with a silent Foot and enters their Lodging before they are aware and however they now esteem highly of their Carnal Delights ere long they will find that one grain of Godly Sorrow is worth a pound of Frantick Mirth for the one ends in Eternal Pleasure the other in endless Misery when their Sport will be spoiled Oh what alteration will Death make when it comes no time will then be spent in Wanton Embraces Amorous Songs or Lascivious Discourse the Adulterer and Adulteress will take no delight in each others Company nay they will curse the time they ever saw the Face each of other When Fire from Heaven fell upon Sodom it quench'd their heat of Lust O that these Sons and Daughters of Pleasure would think of the time when their Pleasures will vanish but the Sting remain for certainly this will be the case of every one that dyes in an unregenerate condition let them be High or Low Rich or Poor Noble or Base for God is no excepter of Persons 3. The Third thing that Wicked Men must leave at their Death is all their Honour and their Glory for this will not follow them then though they greedily hunt after it now Psal 49.12.16 17. For though the Memory of the godly i◠blessed the name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 How Odoriferous do the Names of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and other Saints smell in all Ages And how fulsomly do the Names of Wicked Debauch'd and Bloody Persecutors stink Such as Cain Pharaoh Haman Jeroboam Judas Herod and such-like Those whose Names have survived them have such a blot upon them that will never be wiped off But what they now Glory so much in must ere long be left behind those proud aspiring Nimrods those Babel-builders their Dust ere long will be mingled with the Dust of their meanest Slaves and Servants for those who are hewen out of the same Rock why should they not be buried in the same hole of the Pit These External Advantages make no real difference in the Eyes of God or Wise Men for who values a Horse for his Trappings But however these will be taken away and then they will stand upon even ground and although many Men now do Worship a Golden Calf they will then perceive it was but a dumb Idol All those lofty Titles which now they load themselves with as Worshipful Right Worshipful Honourable Right Honourable Reverend Right Reverend Majesty Holiness c. must then descend with them into the Dust for great Saladine can carry nothing with him but his Shirt Indeed Holiness will go with us into another World as it is an inherent Quality not as 't is a Title unjustly attributed to some Men in that Kings and Emperours nay the Pope himself will speed never the better for their Crowns nor the Beggar the worse for his Rags for as Death so God accepteth of no Man's Person for outward Advantages 't is Internal Qualifications he regards Acts 10.35 External Splendour dazles not his Eyes Titles of Honour signifie nought these of themselves neither please nor displease neither help nor hinder though the abuse may hinder these are given to good and bad and no man knows love or hatred by them The Rich Glutton had Plenty when Poor Lazarus was in want Crowns and Kingdoms are but the Crumbs which the great Housholder throws to the Dogs that shall not taste of the Childrens Bread But now Dives hath none to wait at his Table or any to receive his Scraps none new to bow the knee before him or to be uncovered these days are over Now many Mens greatest design
heighten'd the Understanding should better know the Vanity of Earthly Enjoyments and the Worth of Heavenly the Memory shall never forget one Sin nor any one Circumstance of it and the Conscience shall torment them for it and will prove a never-dying Worm to torment but the Soul is said to be lost when God which is the Life of the Soul is lost and when made a Bond-slave to Satan and under God's Wrath and Curse and sentenc'd to everlasting Torments when all her Hopes are extinct and nothing but Desperation is left her all their misgrounded misguided Hope will then fail and prove but like a Spider's Web and at Death all possibility will be taken away Salvation and Hopes will vanish together The foolish Virgins Hope as it was groundless so was it fruitless such Hope may light a man to Death never to the Grave In a word whatever they account good or that tends to their Happiness in this World or that to come Death will strip them of it Oh that Sinners in the fear of God would think of these things e're it be too late then would they not for a little Pleasure vain Honour or deceitful Riches run thus upon the Pikes of Danger and lose God Blessed for ever and those coelestial Enjoyments at his right hand for evermore and incur those Hellish Flames which can never be quenched Oh that men with a full Resolution would set themselves against the Temptations of Satan the Alurements of the World and the Enticements of their own Corruptions and would give up not only their Names but their Hearts to Christ then would they never feel what now they have just cause to fear 5. These are the Losses that wicked men will sustain at Death even all that good is but this will not be all their Misery but there will be added to it the Pain of Sence which is no inconsiâ—erable part of Hell for they will be cast into the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone which is the second Death they shall not only have the Talents which were lent them taken from them but they shall be cast into Prison for not improving them yea into endless easeless and remediless Torments Mat. 25.46 Now this place of Torment whereinto miscarrying Souls shall be cast hath various Appellations in Scripture sometimes 't is called a Prison Mat. 5.25 Agree with thine Adversary quickly c. lest thou be cast into Prison This denotes the want of Liberty and other comfortable Enjoyments Sometimes 't is called the bottomless Pit Rev. 9.1 where the Dragon the old Serpent was cast Rev. 20.3 'T is also called Everlasting Punishment where all ungodly Sinners must go Mat. 25.46 this also shews the duration 'T is called also Unquenchable Fire which must consume the Chaff which are the Wicked Luke 3.17 this shews the extremity of Torments 'T is called also a Lake of Fire and Brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet shall be cast Rev. 19.20 'T is also called a Furnace of Fire where the Tares must be burnt Mat. 13.41 c. 'T is also called Outer Darkness where those that want their Wedding-Garment when they are bound Hand and Foot must be cast Mat. 22.13 'T is called sometimes the blackness of Darkness which is reserved for the Devil and his Angels Jude 6.13 'T is called also the Place of Torment in which the rich Glutton was when he saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom Luk. 16.28 'T is called the Wrath to come from which Believers are delivered by Christ 1 Thess 1.10 As also the Damnation of Hell and many other Epithets Mat. 23.33 and all to express the extremity of the Torment and the duration thereof and in some measure to set forth that which the Heart of Man cannot fully conceive of nor his Tongue express By this we may see 't is a place of Torment a place of Horror and Darkness a place provided on purpose for the manifestation of God's vindictive Justice and just Judgment This is that Tophet provided of old the pile thereof is Fire and much Wood and the breath of the Lord as a River of Brimstone doth kindle it Isa 30. last When a few drops of this Wrath of God fell upon the old World it drowned it upon Sodom it burnt it upon Aegypt it destroy'd it upon Sennacherib it flew 185000 of his Army in one night But if a few drops make such a devastation what will a Torrent do What will they do in the overflowing of Jordan And what will those poor Creatures do that must be the Butt for all the Arrows of the Almighty to be levell'd at We read that Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace was heat seven times hotter than usually for Bread but Hell is seventy times hotter than that yet God will not think the heat too great or the duration too long for Wicked men to suffer for a thousand millions of Ages He will not repent of the Severity He is not as man that he should lye nor as the sons of men that he should repent Those that now at his Command will not leave one sup then shall not have one drop then will they have no Beds of Donne to lye upon no soft Couches to stretch their wearied Limbs upon nor curious Hangings nor costly Furniture to adorn their Rooms only a Lake burning with Fire and Brimstone to bath them in no rich Wines strong Drinks or cordial Waters to comfort them to quench their Thirst or cool their parched Throats no cold Water would be held a Cordial Their Society also would breed Horror the Devil and his instruments these will continually haunt them Here if one should appear at least in an ugly shape they are frighted sometimes out of their Wits but there they are their daily Companions and they will be troubled not with Sight only but with Feeling also As for the rest of their Companions they are not much better for what Comfort can it be to live among wounded sick diseased or frantick persons yelling swearing roaring ranting and blasphemous men But this falls short of the communion in Hell for amidst all their hellish Dialect they must beaâ— a part in this hellish Harmony the thought of it may send them trembling to their Graves were the Tormenters like themselves it were not so much and yet we have read of those that have been cruel enough but to be under the Lashes and Whips of Infernal Spirits and these our Blood-thirsty Enemies and set on work by an Omnipotent God as the Executioners of his Infinite Wrath and Fiery Indignation is terrible to think of Those that in their life-time were drawn into the Devil's Snares must now reap the Fruit of their Folly for whatever his Promises were eternal Destruction of Soul and Body is his Wages But he is not the only Tormenter but miscarrying Souls carry about them the never-dying Worm which like Prometheus's Vulture is alwaies gnawing And this will prove no inconsiderate part of Hell here Conscience is God's
the Thief did do the Devil's Work all day and receive Wages of Christ at night but this is a desperate Venture the Judge haply saves one Malefactor of an hundred and every man thinks it will be he Legi perlegi scripturam c. saith Austin I have read the Scripture over and over yet did I never read but of one that was saved upon late Repentance when an Hundred thousand hare miscarried And saith another We may as rationally expect our Ass to speak because Balaam's Ass did once speak as to imagine to follow this singular Example To put off Repeneance upon such an account is saith a third as bold a Venture as for a man to go a great Journey without Money because another did so and found a Purse of Money in his way If a way be difficult and scarce one of an hundred find it is it not presumption for us if we travail that Road without Enquiry The greatest Politicians and those that have been able to deceive and put a Cheat upon others have in this business been deceived as Haman Achitophel and many others The most learned and profound Scholars have here been mistaken as the Scribes and Pharisees the greatest Philosophers Jesuites and many learned Doctors in our Age And shall we think our selves secure Yea those that have directed others in the way and put them on to prepare yea to make haste in their Journey have for want of Preparation and Haste fallen short of their desired Journeys end Thus the Scribes and Pharisees and Doctors of the Law that bound heavy burdens and grievous to be born and laid them on mens shoulders yet would not touch them with one of their fingers Many of those that have lived under the searching means of Grace and have had many a rouzing Sermon many a Direction Exhortation and Reproof have yet miscarried Thus Judas Ananias and Saphira Demas and others that fell short yea those that had Christ himself and his Disciples for their Teachers as Capernaum Chorasin and Bethsaida Many Ministers are like the Signs at the Ale-house-door they shew others where they may have shelter but they themselves abide in the Rain or like the Builders of Noah's Ark make a Ship to save others when they themselves perish in the Flood 'T is good therefore to look about us lest this be our condition 4 Cons Let us farther consider the daily danger we are in while we remain in an unprepared condition to dye for if Death find us thus unprepared we are undone for ever past hopes of help or means of recovery for we shall inevitably lose the Soul which is the most precious Jewel we have which in Christ's Account is more worth than the World it self Mat. 16 26. What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lest his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Intimating that the loss is both irrecoverable and irreparable And is it nothing to lose an immortal Soul and to purchase an ever-living Death Those that are sensible of Losses and Crosses in the World shall they be insensible of the great Loss A thousand thousand rendings of the Soul from the Body is not equivalent to one rending of the Soul and Body from God other Losses may be supplied or at least suffer'd but this Loss is insupportable and unsufferable Riches Honours Friends and other Earthly Enjoyments may be lost and yet recover'd or at least the Loss more easily born but the Loss of the Soul is incomparable Oh what dreadful Thoughts and Apprehensions will surprize a miscarrying Soul when she apprehends her self lanching forth into an infinite Ocean of Eternity yea an infinite Ocean of boiling Lead and burning Brimstone or what is far more formidable there to swim to all Eternity in endless easeless and remediless Torments then farewel all Earthly Delights all comfortable Relations all true Friends all Recreations and Pleasures all Friends and Favourites yea God himself the Chief of all which will then prove an invincible irreconcileable Enemy then the Devil who hath long look'd for his Prey shall have it and here that dreadful Sentence Take him Jaylor the poor Soul must receive then her due deserved Wages for her faithful Service to her Infernal Master even everlasting Torments World without end Oh what amazing thoughts will then meet the Soul in Hell to think that God and Heaven and Happiness are irrecoverably lost and all her other Hopes Comforts and Support gone and her self undone for ever and that she must everlastingly lye in those eternal Flames without hope of Redemption This word Ever will be a Hell in the midst of Hell to think that Pain and Anguish Weeping and Wailing will be her Portion as long as God is God even for ever and for ever and that Weeping it self will now be in vain Now this is the present condition of an unprepared Soul and the Lord knows this is most mens case however the Devil and their own Hearts perswade them to the contrary If we are in this condition there is but a Thread between us and infernal Flames even the Thread of our Lives and how soon Death may cut it we know not a thousand Darts Death throws at us even every Disease Pain Ach Grief and Trouble and when he will hit us to the Heart the Lord only knows and then the Soul will be in a stated condition which Eternity it self cannot alter Our Glass is alwaies running and when the last Sand drops we know not the Ephah of our Sins is alwaies filling and when it will be full and our Iniquities ripe we know not if it be before our Repentance prevent it we are in a worse case than the Beasts that perish whose Miseries end with their Lives when ours begin at out Death they only pay that Debt of Nature but we must pay the utmost farthing they go to their Grave but we to Prison then shall we also lose our God with our Souls or at least all comfortable relation to him for we shall still have him as an irreconcileable Enemy all our Earthly Enjoyments all which now we take for our Happiness will then be gone and the Portion which we chose will be snatch'd from us and in room of this a Portion in Hell will be assigned us where fiery whips of fiercest Fiends will eternally torment us who being tormented themselves have no other Pleasure but in tormenting others and if all the Torments that ever were invented by Man or Devil were compared with this it would fall far short But the Duration of these Torments is that which makes them compleat for if a Thousand thousand millions of Years were substracted the Sum is ne'er the less Oh how much then doth it behove us to look about us lest that day come upon us at unawares 5 Cons Let us further consider that Preparation for Death that is getting those Qualifications necessary for dying persons An Interest in Christ and
my design and desire is to prevent immoderation which will hinder and not further you in the Work and unfit you for your Duty you may you ought do mourn but not as those without hope for those that sleep in the Lord 1 Thess 4.13 Ingenious Children when one is beaten the other will cry but they must take heed of murmuring and repining against their Father Lute-strings when one is touched the other sound and 't is one of those Dues which we owe to our deceased Friends to lament at their Funeral 't is those usually that live undesired that dye unlamented It was a Judgment threatned against Jehoiakim that when he died he should not be lamented Jer. 22.18 But we must not Water our Plants so as to drown them and that Sorrow that disables us for our present Duty in our general or particular Calling is doubtless our sin Our chiefest care for our Relations should be while they are living and that is to make provision to our power for Soul and Body but for the Soul especially for alas what is a moment of time to Eternity But when God manifests by his Providence that 't is his Will to transport and transplant these Flowers into a better Soil though we should not be insensible of the stroak we should not murmure or repine under it or accuse the Hand that gave it but submissively resign them up to him who gave them or rather lent them to us David did what he could for his Son while he was living but ceased mourning for him when he was dead Our Tears though they may be shed upon other accounts yet 't is pity they should run profusedly in any other Channel but for sin It being the true penitential Tears that are the Holy Water that God affects and the Devil hates for if any â—oss or Cross that befalls us deserve one Tear our Sins deserve a thousand for sin is the cause of all our Losses and Crosses that befal us and without Repentance will be the destruction of Soul and Body and when we see such direful Effects and tast such bitter Fruits we should bewail the Cause and root up the Tree If our Sin lay heavy our Crosses would seem light if we bathed our Sins in our Tears we should not have so many left to pour out upon these Occasions Sin is the occasion of the Death of your dear Daughter and will be of your own Death for had it not been for sin she had not dyed By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed ever all for as much as all have sinned the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life Nay sin it was that put our sweet Saviour to death these were the Nails that pierced his Hands and his Feet the Spear that pierced his Side his Betrayer Accusers Judge and Executioners and can your Daughter be more dear to you than God's only and beloved Son was to him He laid down his Life for her and her Life is not too good to lay down for him he laid down his Life to purchase for her a Mansion of Glory and she laid down her Life to go to take Possession for there is no other way to enjoy it Madam In my present Address to you there are two things designed by me The first is to abate the swelling Tide of your Sorrow and to bring those Waters within their proper Bounds and Banks which I shall endeavour to do by giving you some few Considerations to Meditate upon that so when the violent Storm of Passion shall be allayed Reason may be spoke with which cannot many times be heard when Passion is raging and after that my intention is to point you out some of those many profitable Lessons which this Providence seems to hand out to us which if we can learn doubtless we shall gain by this loss or our gains will be greater than our loss for God's Rod hath a Voice and 't is our Duty to hear it Micah 6.9 Nay 't is like Jonathan's Rod 1 Sam. 14.27 it hath Honey at the end and if we taste of it it will open and enlighten our Eyes If God with Correction give Instruction we may well say as David It was good for me that I was afflicted before I was afflicted I went astray but now I learn to keep thy commandments Psal 119.67 Quae nocent docent is a Proverb and that Lesson is best learnt that is set on with whipping and best remembred Correction is seldom a sign of God's hatred many times of his love For whom he loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son that he receiveth If we endure chastening God dealeth with us as with sons for what son is he that his father chasteneth not And if we be without chastening then are we bastards and not sons Heb. 12.6 7 8. Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for your iniquities God will be sure to plow his own Ground whatsoever becomes of the wast and to weed his own Garden though others are let alone to grow wild the punishing Angel must begin at God's Sanctuary Ezek 9. And it was no sign of Love when God said Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Hosea 4.17 Since he hath made a match with Mischief let him have his belly full of it When Ignatius was thrown to the Wild Beasts to be devoured Now saith he I begin to be a Christian for Afflictions are the Gemms and Jewels with which God doth adorn his best Friends they are Pledges of our Adoption and Badges of our Sonship so that they are no signs of his disinheriting us and though he may seem to hide his Face yet 't is no sign of his forsaking us But now for the quieting your Spirit under your present Suffering and this dark Providence I beseech you ponder well these few following Considerations which well weighed may through God's Blessing quell those tumultuous Thoughts that swell in your Breast and I desire the Lord to bless them to this end 1. Consider who it is that hath done you this supposed Injury to take away your Daughter without your consent And here you may consider not only who it is but also what Interest he claims in her and then consider whether your Plea will hold good against him Is it not the great God of Heaven and Earth whose Power no Creature is able to resist whose Will is his Law and whose Glory is his End Is it not he that is called Omnipotent that doth what pleaseth him in Heaven and in Earth and none can resist him And is he a fit Match for you to grapple with Is it not he that measureth the water in the hollow of his hand and meteth out Heaven with his span and comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure that weigheth the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance To whom all
to resist I know not Now though in plain words we do not say God doth wrong us yet our murmuring at the Providence yields some suspicion that these are our thoughts for if God will not at our Request alter his Eternal Decrees to please our Humour we are discontented and in effect we seem to quarrel him that he did not receive us into his Counsel when he made his Decrees and seem to say as Alphonso King of Arragon did affirm That if he had been of Counsel with God in the Creation he could have ordered things better than they were And we seem to think it was not well nor wisely done of God to determine the Death of our Relations without our knowledge or consent especially to call them out of the Vineyard so long before Night though it be but to give them their Wages Now if this be not the state of the Controversie between God and us I acknowledge I know it not and in such a case what Advocate shall we find to take our part or plead our Cause But let us for once suppose a possibility that we were able by fair means or soul to perswade God to altâ—r his unalterable Decrees that they might be more mutable than the Laws of the Medes and Persiâ—â—â— that altered not And suppose he should hang the Keys of Life and Death at our Girdles a Priviledge which no Man living ever yet enjoyed Suppose it were left at our dispose when and how and where our selves and Relations should dye do we verily believe we could manage the business better than he doth in whose hands it is And could we determine of a fitter time and know better their Work is done when they could be spared and when they are ripe for Glory This were presumption in us to think so doth not the chief Husband-man better know when his Corn is ready for the Barn and his Roses for his Bosom We should think it Presumption in a Son or Servant that should follow the Dictates of his own Will and prefer it before our just Command But were such a Priviledge granted us which is impossible that it ever should be we might be the first that repented it how oft-times have we seen an over-desired or over-cockered Child to be a Scourge to the Parents and to bring their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave Sometimes by their vicious and lewd courses which hath made them wish they had buried them in their Childhood sometimes by continual Sickness Weakness Pains or other Affliction Parents have been scourged for their inordinate desires Rachel so earnestly desired Children that if she had them not she must die in a pet God gave them to her but it cost her her Life There are many that by reason of Pains or other Afflictions long for death and dig for it as for hid treasures and rejoyce exceedingly when they can find the grave Joh 3.21 22. and their Friends are as willing to part with them as they are to go and long for their death as much as they desired their lives But can we indeed think it fit that our Wills should be the Rule of God's actings or that we are really wiser than he is God forbid haply we are loath to speak out that these are our desires but doth not our reluctancy make it out When a Child murmures and repines and cries and snubs when his Father Commands him to do a thing doth it not shew that if he durst he would disobey and that there is not a full resignation of his Will to his Fathers Will He that gives us our lives and the lives of our Relations is ever fittest to dispose of them Were Death at our dispose Heaven would be long empty our Friends should nor come there yet and our Enemies never our Friends should live too long and our Enemies die too soon But these things whatever we think or say to the contrary are determined by wiser Counsels yea an irreversible Decree 'T is appointed once to doe and after death the judgment Heb. 9.27 And we our selves shall ere long know by Experience that we are not secure from Death's Arrest and happy will it be for us if this Pursevant fetch us into Glory and not force us into Hell To prevent this 't is good to subject our Wills to God's Will in all things for we shall never have content or satisfaction in our mind till this be done but fears and jealousies what if this or that happen you see how vain it is to oppose our Wills to God's Will and think to resist him or struggle out of his hand 't is a thousand times easier to resist the Tide and keep it back when 't is coming in or to resist the universal Darkness that follows the setting of the Sun You have heard who 't is we contend with and that is God that can do what pleaseth him and who we are that oppose him those that cannot fetch one breath or move one finger without his assistance and what the issue of such a Contest will be is not hard to Divine 3. Cons We have already considered the Parties engaged in the Quarrel it remains that consideration be had of the wrong that is done that if it may be the Controversie may be ended In this Quarrel you are the Plaintiff and God the Defendant who hath done the supposed wrong and 't is much if the Judge of the whole Earth should do wrong and God seems to be willing to have it brought to the Tryal and to say as sometimes to his own People Micah 6.3 Oh my people what have I done unto you and wherein have I wearied you testifie against me God need not to give an Account of his Actions being a free Agent whose Will is his Rule yet is willing to put the Matter to an indifferent Judge as he doth the Controversie which he had with his Vineyard Isa 5.3 4. And now O Inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge I pray you betwixt me and my Vineyard What could I have done more for my Vineyard that I have not done in it c. He is willing the World should judge whether his ways be equal or no he desires a Bill may be drawn up by the Plaintiff against him and his Charge may be known that he may answer for himself The like we read of Job 32.35 c. Oh that my adversary had written a book I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a crown unto me I would declare unto him the number of my steps c. Can you say be hath been a hard Master or a dry and barren Wilderness to you I know you will not you cannot but God may better say to you than Themistocles to his ingrateful Country-men Are you weary of receiving so many Courtesies from one man Or as Christ to the hard hearted Jews Many good works have I done among you for which of these do you stone me Why is it
She is dead also And would there not be another separation if she survived We are in this Life like Men in a croud almost thronged to Death and he that first gets out is best at ease and would you wish her again in the midst of the throng Now if you say as I believe you will these are not your desires to have her back Why then all these Tears these Sighs these Sobs if you imagine she is better than you This looks as if you envied her Happiness and would have her bear part of your Burden Nay immoderate Sorrow signifies that you have hard thoughts of her condition for who can mourn for those he thinks happier than himself Who mourns for his Childrens Advancement especially if he knew they were out of Danger this would look more like Envy than Love to mourn for another's Welfare If Galeacius that Italian Marquess when he was offered great Riches if he would renounce his Religion cryed out Let their Money perish with them that hold all the Wealth in the World worth one day's Communion with Christ How much more may a glorified Saint say so if he were tempted by the World's Splendour to leave his Coelestial Enjoyment that City of Pearl that Mansion of Glory the Beatifical Vision the Enjoyment of Christ those Rivers of Pleasures to come and make his abode in the World for any earthly Greatness how scornfully would a glorified Saint entertain such a Motion And how little would these Promises affect him The Martyrs that had comparatively but a little taste of Christ yet disrelished all things else in comparison of him and forsook all for him Yea loved not their lives to the death but laid them down at the Stake for his sake and in his cause But now they enjoy him in Glory what value think you they put upon him The greatest cause of sorrow for a dead Child is when we fear their miscarrying and are conscious of the neglect of our Duty to them in reference to their Salvation This we may mourn for and it may be a corrosive to our hearts and it should make us careful for the time to come But to mourn for those immoderately that we believe are translated into Glory and have the highest pitch of Happiness we could wish for them is our weakness or our sin or both Such Tears will neither glorifie God nor benefit us or our Relations living or dead but are spent in vain And seeing weeping cannot prevail with God nor with our departed Friends to return let us dry up those Tears and make no more such wast but turn them into a right Channel and mourn for sin which is the cause of their Death and of our Trouble 5. The last Consideration I shall commend unto you is to consider your own Condition the uncertainty of your Life and the hast that Death makes to post you after her yea you are following your lamented Daughter at the very heels For when your Part is play'd you will march off the Stage How soon a parting blow will be given to divide you from your other Relations you know not how soon Death will enter into your Lodgings had your Daughter lived 't is not likely you would have continued long together You have lived a considerable time the most People in the World die younger why then take it you so ill that your Daughter is stept over the Stile before you when you your self are ready to tread upon her heels and to tread out her foot-steps Yet a few years and then I shall go whence I shall not return Job 16.22 And your place will know you no more Job 7.10 The thread of your Life will soon be cut which can never be pieced and your Glass run out which will never be turned and the Day be over which will never dawn again Such Meditations of Death did always run in Job's mind he is much upon this Subject and had Death always in his Eye And the like would do you no hurt but much good O remember that my life is wind mine eye shall no more see good The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more Thine eyes are upon me and I am not As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more He shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more Job 7.7 c. Let me alone that I may take comfort a little before I go hence whence I shall not return even to the land of darkness and the shâ—dow of death Job 10.20 21. He knew that he had not long to trouble the World and therefore desired he might not meet with much Trouble in the World Death whether it strikes you or your Relations gives a parting blow and which ever goes first the other will not stay long behind Now is it worth the while to spend your days in sorrowing for your dead Daughter when she hath drunk that Health that you your self must so quickly Pledge Or to wish her again for so short an Enjoyment when one of these days you will enjoy her to Eternity when she shall be much more lovely than here she was If you place your Happiness in the Enjoyment of your Relations in this Life 't is a short-liv'd Happiness and you will shortly have occasion to say as one about to leave the World Spes fortuna vale te Farewel Hope and Comfort for ever But sure while God is present a Christian need not care much who is absent If we could be as sensible of the with-drawings of God from the Soul as of the departure of Friends and Relations it would prove our greater trouble If our hopes were only in this life we should of all men be most miserable Indeed there is cause of sorrow if they die unconverted and breath out their Happiness with their Lives But for the Godly they cannot only say Dum spiro spero While there is Life there is Hope but also Dum expiro spero I have Hope in Death it self Prov. 14.32 Death it self is a Door of Hope to give them entrance into the Paradice of God but to the Wicked a Trap-door to let them into Hell Both Godly and Wicked shall change their Place but not their Company for they shall have such Company they delighted in here Those that must leave all their Comforts behind no wonder if they are unwilling to depart Never had Adam more cause to be unwilling to leave Paradice or the Jebusites the strong Holds in Sion or the unjust Steward to leave his Office or the Devils to go out of the Demoniack when they knew they should never enter there again than a wicked Man hath to leave the World Solomon calls the Grave our long Home Man goeth to his long home Eccles 12.5 And well he may some haply may sleep there Six Thousand Years before the Resurrection but Heaven and Hell may be
terrible he may hum but not hurt strike but not sting kill a Believer yet not hurt him the worst is to send him to his Father's House the sooner But what is this to those in whom sin not only lives but raigns It will bring sad tidings to such 't is indeed the cause of all the Crosses and cross Providences they meet with here in this World but brings forth far bitterer Fruit which will not be ripe in this World which Reprobate Wretches must feed upon to Eternity Whatever we suffer here we may thank Sin for it haply we have laid some Creature-Comforts too near our hearts Well the Achan must be removed or God will not be pacified But if we dye while â—in is alive our present Suffering though to the â—oss of our Relations Wealth Honours Pleaâ—ures yea and Life it self is but a Flea-biting â—o our future Torments Then sin how pleaâ—ant soever it look now will be found our greatest Enemy All Men in the World and the Devil â—o help them can but kill the Body 't is Sin onâ—y that kills the Soul and God casts both Soul â—nd Body into Hell for sin the loss of which is more than the loss of the World Matth. 16.26 The loss of it is incomparable and irreparable â—he Rich Glutton could not with all his Wealth Purchase one drop of Water to cool his tongue Luke â—6 24 c. The Soul it self is a Precious Piece next the Angels the most precious that ever God made being made in his own Image and the greatest and richest Purchase that ever was made â—nd cost the greatest Price the Precious Blood of the Son of God 'T is that which is most like â—nto God himself and fitted for Communion with him and of Enjoying him for ever 'T is â—ndued with excellent Faculties the Understandâ—ng Will Affections Conscience Memory and many more which make a Man differ from a Beast and resemble an Angel And for duraâ—ion it runs parallel with the days of Heaven with the longest times of Eternity neither is â—here any thing in the World to be compared to 〈◊〉 and there is nothing but sin can hurt or wound it and this alone makes it subject to Eternal Torments and rents it out of the hands of God and the arms of Christ when nothing else can do it Sin makes Men in a worse condition than the Beasts that perish which were in the Creation little lower than the Angels the one is thrown into the Ditch and so ends their Misery the other into Hell with the Devil and his Angels where they are ever dying and never able to dye ever suffering those insufferable Pains out of which is no hope of Redemption for when they have been there as many thousands of Years as there are Grass-piles upon the Earth Stars in Heaven Sands upon the Sea-shore and Hairs upon their Heads they are never the nearer going forth than they were the first day they were cast into it for a thousand thousand Millions substracted from Eternity doth not lessen the Account Oh the horrible Nature of Sin which plucks the Soul from the Eternal Embraces of her dear Redeemer and from those Rivers of pleasures at God's right hand for evermore and lodges it among the Devils and the Damned in those Eternal Flames to all Eternity in those Rivers of Brimstone kindled by the Wrath of God Isa 30.33 Here we may behold the deadly Fruits of Sin and shall we bewail the Death of Relations which indeed is the Fruit of Sin and shall we not bewail and prevent its more deadly and dangerous Effects when without Repentance our Souls as well as our Bodies are like Eternally to perish Lesson 2. From this Lecture of Mortality before us is this It may plainly shew us how little good the World will do us when we have most need and by this we may take a true estimate of its Worth or rather of its Vanity We use to say that is good that will do us good and 't is a Friend that will help in time of need I am sure the World will not cannot do it 't is true if we look upon it through the Devil's Spectacles it will look fair and so will an Old Hag in her Paint and Plaister but this is the way to be egregiously deceived but that there is really little worth in it observe with me these following Considerations 1. Consid Riches Honours Pleasures or whatever else the World can brag of cannot prevent Death though sometimes it doth hasten it The truth of this is evidently seen in this Providence for had it been a vast Estate sumptuous Buildings costly Apparel Men or Means Food or Physick that could have preserved her Life doubtless she had not dyed but this could neither prevent the Disease remove it or take away the Malignity of it For when Death comes and come it will it will neither be bribed nor baffled Diseases are God's Servants when he bids them go they go and when he bids them come they come and what he bids them do they do it like the Centurion's Servant Mat. 8.9 Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis If God strike the Creature cannot heal God hath the Keys of Life and Death at his Girdle and our way is to go to him and neither trust to Physicians as Asa or to Witches as Saul 'T is he that kills and makes alive and brings to the gates of death and back again Deut. 32.39 'T is he that passed that Decree more firm than the Laws of the Medes and Persians That all men should once dye and after death come to Judgment Heb. 9.27 By force of this your Daughter dyed and so will you ere long All that the Rich Man had Luke 12.19 20. could not bribe Death one Night neither can any Man Ransom his Brother from Death The Rich Cardinal Beuford found it true to his sorrow Though Money be the greatest Commander in the World it will be out of Commission in the World to come Death is a perfect Leveller it will Lodge the Poor and the Rich the Fair and the Foul the Young and the Old the King and the Beggar in the same Bed without Respect of Persons let the World say what it will to the contrary and Happy be those that are prepared or otherwise it will prove but a Trap-door to Hell Death regards not any however dignified or distinguished the King then must leave his Robes and the Beggar his Rags behind him the Scull of the one retains no impression of a Crown nor of the other of his Slavery Now great Men are like Capital Letters they take up more room and be more gorgeously adorned and clad commonly go before others but signifie the same thing So the greatest signifies no more than a Man and the meanest signifies no less Or like unto Counters some in the Account signifie Pounds some Shillings some Pence and some less but when they are in the Box they
are all of a value So here some pass for Kings and some for Peasants but when Death hath gotten them into his Box the Grave they are all alike Yet how much need have great Men of Philip's Monitor for they are apt to forget their Mortality See Job 3.17 c. Some of the wiser Heathens have accounted Mortality a great Mercy that poor Creatures may be freed from their Misery And so doubtless 't is for those that are prepared for Death for they rest from their Labours The Hebrew Proverb is That in Calvary there are Sculls of all sorts and sizes Kings and Captains Lords and Lozels one takes no more out of the World than the other Naked they come and naked they shall go Great Saladine had but his Shirt Now though Riches cannot prevent Death yet it may hasten it Rich Men many times are as Oxen in a fat Pasture fitted for the Slaughter sometimes they are butcher'd by others for their Wealth and many times they prove their own Butchers and kill themselves by Intemperance The Sun-shine of Prosperity quickly ripens the Fruit of Sin and when Sin is ripe Ruine is ready Bachus or Venus opens the Door for Death to enter Now what good will it do to have a fair Suit of Cloathes and a Plague-sore under it Or a dainty Dinner with a Surfeit How often is Intemperance which ends in Gouts Surfeits Dropsies and such-like Diseases the Fruits of a Plentiful Table These open the Door of Eternity and light them a Candle to find the way to Death Now these are Diseases Riches cannot cure Seeing therefore the World is of so little use when we have most need why should we so greedily grasp after and spend so much time about it as to neglect our greater Concerns and despond so much when we meet with disappointments And why should we suffer those Vultures carking Cares to breed in and feed upon our Hearts and eat out all the Comfort of our Lives What Recompence can the World make us for all our pains and broken sleeps we have had upon its Account It cannot warrant us a Comfortable Life nor a Happy Death nay not one day free from pain Let such as over-greedily grasp after it remember Solomon's words H◠〈◊〉 maketh hast to be rich cannot be innocent And at leisure read James 5.1 2 c. Luke 6.24 Yet consider 't is not the having Riches â—ut the over-loving of them that is dangerous for they are not evil of themselves but great Blessings if not abused and some of those Talents put into our hands to be improved by us but prove dangerous when abused over-loved or over-trusted in But seeing they can neither prevent Death nor Diseases the cause of Death we should not put too high a value upon them nor take them for our Portion 2. As the World cannot prevent Death no more can it procure a happy Life And why Because it cannot give Content and Satisfaction to the Enjoyer of it and how then can our Lives be Happy when we are not content with our Condition and satisfied with our present Enjoyments Content never did nor never will grow in the World's Garden neither can Satisfaction be found in any thing under the Sun If we seek it here Riches will say 't is not in me Honours 't is not in me Pleasure 't is not in me c. Can we expect the Sun in a Pail of Water Indeed if the Sun shine upon the Water we may see the reflexion of it but if the Sun be clouded all the Water in the World cannot shew it When God shines upon us he may be seen in every Creature if not the World cannot shew him Our Earthly Enjoyments caâ— do us no good bring us no Comfort without a Commission from God and could they satisfie us for the present it would be but a miserable Portion yea a great Judgment for what should we do at Death when they leave us God did never give us these for our Portion but only aâ— a Viaticum in our Journey Our deceitful Hearts haply may promise Content had we an Hundred Pounds per Annum but they will deceive us for our desires would be enlarged from an Hundred to a Thousand and so in infinitum till Kingdoms yea the World would be too little for us as it was to Alexander Covetous Men have a dry Dropsie the more they have the more they thirst Theocritus brings in the Cove-Man wishing he had a Thousand Sheep when this wish was obtained he cries out Pauperis est numerare pecus 'T is but a Poor Man that is able to number his Cattel And 't is no wonder He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver The World is of too base a Birth and Breeding to give the Soul content for two things are requisite to Satisfaction and both of those are wanting there must be Proportion and Propriety but what proportion is there between a Piece of Gold and an Immortal Soul It can neither feed it nor cloath it nor make it better And for Propriety this also is lost by the Fall that which we call our own is but lent us and we must be Accountable for it And 't is vain also for what Satisfaction can an Hungry Man take in a Pebble or a Thirsty Man in a dry Pumice-stone What Satisfaction had Haman in his Riches Honours or Preferments without Mordecai's bow or Ahab's Kingdom without Nabath's Vineyard Something is still out of Order some string or other out of Tune that marâ—s the Musick And no wonder Content is not to be found here for God himself could not find Adam a help meet for him If we could turn a heap of Diamonds into a Spiritual substance then it might bear some proportion to the Soul which is a Spirit but except we could change it into God the work would not be done for none but God can make the Soul happy These Earthly things are far worse than the Body how then can they be a fit Match for the Soul Gold and Silver Gemms and Jewels are but the Garbadge of the Earth they seldom make bad Men good or good Men better but oft-times they make both worse they seldom procure Content for the desire enlarges with the Estate as the Israelites Shooes did in the Wilderness with their Feet Solomon could had nothing in them but Vanity and vexation of spirit Eccles 1.14 They are like Smoak they wring Tears from the Eyes but draw not Sorrow from the Heart or like Thorns the faster they are grasped the deeper they wound If God smile upon us they may bring us some Comfort if not all the Gold in the Indies will do us no good for this Coin is not currant in another World we may as well satisfie an empty Stomack with Air as a Covetous Man with Gold for the more Wood we lay upon the Fire the more furiously it burns a Ship may sink under its Burden before it be half full
take themselves wings and flye away and on whose Tree they will roost we know not We usually call Riches Substance when 't is but really a Shadow an empty Nothing if we look upon it through the Devil's bewitching Spectacles it seems gilded 't is like the Serpent Scytale of whom 't is said she allureth Beasts to her by her beautiful Colours and stings them to death This made Paul be crucified to the world and David as a weaned child The World is but a blaze at best but many times proves an Ignis Fatuus which leads most Men out of the way the best Account Solomon could give of it was 'T is vanity and vexation of spirit Yet many load themselves with thick Clay but Death will unload them and cover them with common Earth Great Men a while disturb the World and grasp at Crowns and Kingdoms but now Alexander's Ashes are contained in a little Urn they are in the World as a Guest in an Inn for a Night they sit at the upper end of the Table fare of the best lye in the best Bed but in the Morning they have most to pay We are in a Journey to Heaven let us not fall in Love with what we see in our way or sit down at the Stile or Bridge Let us use the world as a Traveller doth his Staff keep it or throw it away as it helps or hinders us If Riches increase let us not set our hearts upon them neither think our selves much the better or safer for them for we know not what World we may Lodge in the next Night or whether our Money there will be currant Coin 'T is all one at Death whether we have little or much the Poor are as nigh to Heaven then as the Rich and sometimes better prepared Riches are uncertain at the best to the Possessors like the Sea sometimes there is a Storm sometimes a Calm sometimes it ebbs and sometimes flows They are like Winter Weather very variable we see sometimes in the Clouds like Towers and Castles in the Air but a blast of Wind comes and they are dasht into another form for they wanted a Foundation and so do many Men for their great Hopes The Devil easily blows up such blubs in proud Men's hearts yea such Tumours are apt to rise of themselves 'T is observed that a Sick Man a Covetous Man and a Discontented Man cannot take Pleasure in their Enjoyments still there is something wanting to give content Job was a Rich Man but his Heart did not cling to his Riches we see how patiently he suffered the loss of all He made not gold his hope neither said unto the fine gold Thou art my confidence c. Job 31.24 c. Riches make no great difference among Men the Wether that bears the Bell haply may be a little better cloathed and fatter than the rest but is a Sheep still and little the better for the Bell. Should the Devil not only shew us but also give us all the Glory of the World 't is not much worth these are but Thorns that choak the Word and make it unfruitful the harder we grasp them the deeper they wound us and ere long will be wrung out of our Arms we can find little Honey but many Stings But in Heaven there is Pleasure without Pain and Treasure which cannot be exhausted A Heart in Heaven is one of our surest Evidences for Heaven and a Heart set upon the Earth the saddest Symptom of a Wicked Man For where your treasure is there will your hearts be also Those that are Friends to the World are Enemies to God James 4.4 And though we expect a Paradice it will prove but a Bochim a place of Lamentation 4. As the World can give little Content and Satisfaction to a Man so it can do us little or no good in our great concerns here or hereafter it can do little for the Body and less for the Soul I know the former especially will seem a Paradox to many who look upon Riches as the only Happiness and hate Poverty more than the Devil and fear it more than Hell But consider Gold cannot nourish us nor keep us warm both which are necessary to our well-being we have read of some that have been famished to Death amidst infinite Treasures But it will be objected it will buy us Food and Raiment 't is true but Food cannot nourish nor Cloathes keep warm without a Commission from God and he can do it without them as in Moses Elijah and our Saviour Christ neither can they prevent Pain nor support us under it If they could so many Rich Men would not labour under such Tormenting Distempers as the Gout Cholick Stone Strangury c. as they do and usually Rich Men groan under such Distempers most and Riches causes them more than cures them Yea the raging pain of an aking Tooth puts Rich Men as well as the Poor out of Humour and all their Riches cannot ease them the Oyl of Angels can do them no good against the Plague or Pestilence or Pestilentious Diseases Fevers Small-Pox Consumptions Surfeits and such like Riches are neither preventing removing or supporting Physick Yea Death enters into the Courts of Kings as well as the Cottages of Peasants or the Beggar 's Cell The Poor Man's Diet feeds him as well as the Rich Man's Dainties as Daniel's Pulse and Water did him and his Fellows as well as Court-Junkets did the other yea they are as warm in their Rags as others are in their Robes Yea we oft-times find that Surfeits and nauceating Stomacks are the Fruits and Effects of Plentiful Tables As to the true and Primitive use of Cloathes viz. to cover our Nakedness and to distinguish the Sex a Russet Coat may serve as well as a Velvet Gown or Sattin Suit The Poor Man sleeps as soundly upon his hard Bed as the Rich upon his Bed of Down The sleep of a labouring man is sweet whether he eat little or much Eccles 5.12 'T is true his Fare is not so costly neither are his Cares so great but he can take his Rest without Distemper or Distraction while his Rich Neighbour his restless Spirit and carking Cares read him nightly Lectures upon his Bed I have read of Anacron who when he was Poor was Merry and Jocund which was observed by a Rich Neighbour who sent him two Talents which when he had his care to keep it and his fears of losing it so distracted his Mind that he could not sleep which after a while he observed sent back the Money and was as Merry as before Solomon tells us He that maketh hast to be rich shall not be innocent And no wonder if with Gold Men get Guilt if God throws sometimes some handfuls of Hell-fire into their Consciences and spoils all the Sport In a word many that eat their Bread in the sweat of their brows and are clad in their comely Russet have their Health as well many times better
than our Idle Gallants that fare deliciously every day and are cloathed in Purple and fine Linnen in whom the Effects of Drinking and Drabbing do daily appear and if such like Debaucheries set an end to their Happiness and to their Lives also what wonder now if the World can do so little for the Body then much less can it do for the Soul for few bad Men are made good by it and few good Men better Men are never the better for Riches or Honour in God's Esteem many times the worse if they abuse their Talents Indeed the Papists Doctrine of Purgatory Pardons and Indulgences if true which they can never prove give the Rich a very great advantage over the Poor for though they dance with the Devil all Day yet for a little Money they may sup with Christ at Night or do the Devil's Work and receive Christ's Wages but a wonder then that so many Woes are denounced against the Rich and so many Blessings to the Poor And sure the Rich Glutton did not understand this Doctrine nay not in Hell for then he would have sent Lazarus to have told his Brethren which way to have prevented Hell and Purgatory also by Pardons Indulgences Masses c. But this Doctrine was brewed and broached long after this or else Christ would not have let his Apostles want Money to bring them out of Purgatory for doubtless they had some Venial Sins as well as others Besides this Men want many things to make them happy which are not sold in the World's Shop Gold tryed in the fire white Rayment spiritual Eye-salve Rev. 3.18 The World deals not in such Merchandize they must be bought of Christ for whoever thinks they are to be had elsewhere will find his mistake The Image of God we have lost in the Fall the World cannot restore it we are by Nature Enemies to God the World cannot reconcile us 't is not thousands of Rams nor ten thousand rivers of Oyl will do it Micah 6.7 The World is too thin a Garment to keep off the showers of Divine Vengeance we have sins to Pardon and none can forgive sins but God let the Pope say what he will to the contrary The Question at last will not be What Gold we have but what Grace we have 'T is not a Purple Robe but the Robes of Christ's Righteousness 't is not every Spot but the Spot of God's People not a spotted Face but Christ's Sheep-mark will procure us a station on the right hand of Christ We have many Spiritual Maladies and Christ alone must be our Physician and his Blood the only Potion none but he can bind up the broken Heart and speak Peace to the troubled Conscience We are by Nature Slaves to Satan and the World were it sold to the worth of it cannot Redeem one Soul out of his Bondage the World indeed are the Fetters that fasten us to him but cannot loose us and these are the Toys he allures us with as Children are with Rattles to be content in our Slavery We are by Nature strangers to God and 't is by the Blood of Christ not the World's Wealth we are brought home Ephes 2.13 We want Comfort and 't is the Spirit that is the Comforter In our Spiritual wants we can have no supply in our Distempers of Soul no help at our Death no comfort from the World it never did us much good but at Death and Judgment can do us none as many have too sadly experienced When we are lanching forth into the infinite Ocean of Eternity and look back upon the World which we have loved and trusted in for help we shall find our selves miserably cheated the thoughts then of former Enjoyments will bring us little Delight especially if we think of the after-reckoning and that our eaten Bread is not forgotten and our Silks and Sattins unpaid for When the Bridegroom comes the World cannot supply us with Oyl 't is not to be Sold in this Market neither with a Wedding-garment It must be the Oyl of Grace and the Robes of Christ's Righteousness and the Jewels of his Graces must do our work and this is our Misery all our Riches then will not pay the Debts it hath contracted nor undo the Bonds it hath tyed The World always shews most love where there is least need and yields us no help at the greatest necessity This may suppress our over-eager desire after it for if we would moil and toil let it be in a more Fruitful Soil Do not the Poor pass through this Life as comfortably as the Rich and sometimes with more content And think with Galeacius All the Wealth in the World is not worth one day's Communion with God and that may be had in the Cottage as well as in the Court Many Treasure up Riches and it proves like Snow-drifts the Sun shines upon it and it melts away and reaches not to Eternity But there are durable Riches other Riches before the cold Grave have their Bodies hot Tophet hath their Souls and their Wealth cannot save them and those that could never have enough have there Fire enough 'T is a sad mistake to think Riches Honours and Carnal Delights are the only Happiness for then Christ and his Apostles and followers had been most unhappy for Silver and Gold they had none no not to pay Tribute The Scripture measures not a Man's Happiness by the multitude of his Riches for such may be destitute of Grace and so is still Poor in the midst of Plenty Who is it that would have a filthy Itch upon him for the pleasure he takes in scratching Such is an immoderate desire after the World Yet consider 't is not the having an Estate but the over-greedy desire of it and the over-loving it makes it dangerous for a Man may make friends with the Mammon of unrighteousness for his own advantage if he improve it well and lay it not too near his Heart 'T is bad putting the Poor's part into a Child's Portion 't is better leave a Child a Bag to beg with than ill-gotten Goods to make up his Portion 5. As the Benefit the World affords here or hereafter is not great so the Danger it exposeth us to here and hereafter is not small which did our greedy Misers well consider they would not so greedily grasp after it For Riches are like Thorns the faster they are hug'd the deeper they wound yea many times pierce to the very Heart Of these Worldly things the Devil makes his choicest Baits when he fishes for Souls and most Men will be nibling at them He is like a cunning Fowler he stands behind the Bush when he exposeth his Baits to our view but 't is hard sometimes to see the Hand that holds it he suits his Baits to the inclination of every Person he hath a Companion for the Drunkard a Delilah for Samson a wedge of Gold for Achan Honour for Haman the World for Demas and Money for Judas yea so
is the Key of God's Treasury those that have it and know how to use it may fetch out what they please Job will trust God though he kill him though by Affliction he crush â—he very breath out of his Body yet will he not â—oose his hold he shall not be so short of him Dum spiro spero saith a Believer nay Dum exâ—iro spero The Righteous Man hath hope in his Death The Woman of Canaan would not be beaten off with two or three repulses like Jacob she wrastled with God till she got the Blessing Grace â—s to the Soul as Ballast is to the Ship it makes â—t more steady when otherwise it would be â—luctuating and wavering A Gracious Man like Caleb follows God fully and keeps himself unspotted in the World Grace keeps the Heart from desponding under the darkest Dispensations of Providence though Trouble hang long on â—et he that believeth will not make hast This â—â—ke a Skilful Physician will extract Soveraign Antidotes out of the rankest Poison David got good by Affliction If there be no help in the World Faith will make a Journey to Heaven and fetch help thence and engage God himself in the Quarrel or sue him on his own Bond. Thou hast said saith Jacob thou wilt do me good deny it if thou canst therefore I expect thou shouldst make good thy Promise Grace is the whole Armour of God wherewith we grapple with Sin the World and the Devil Ephes 6.13 The Shield that beats back the fiery darts of Satan A Catholicon an Universal Medicine against all Maladies of Soul or Body And as it helps us to bear all Burdens so 't is a qualification without which we are fit for no Relations no Offices or Places in Church or Common-wealth nor to perform any Duty to God or Man Though Grace cannot fit every Man for every Office Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius yet 't is such an Ingredient without which a Man is fit for no Place neither can he perform the Relative Duties of any such an Oâ—ye cannot Preach nor Pray Read nor Meditate as he ought or perform any Ministerial Function he is neither fit to be Magistrate Minister Husband Wife Parent or Child Master or Servant for without Grace he can never do the Duties of these Relations for all these Relations require Grace Now Grace being so necessary in the whole course of our Lives let us above all gettings get Grace 2. Consider if Grace be so necessary in the Affairs of this Life then doubtless 't is much more useful in the concerns of another when nothing else can stand us in stead If it will fit us to live it will much more fit us to dye and to leave the World it will bear up the heart under the direful Apprehensions of Death it self it will defend the heart against the venemous Darts thereof and keep the heart from desponding under the apprehensions of it When Gold and Silver Gemms and Jewels will do little good a Man armed and fortified with Grace will dare to meet this Enemy in the Field and treat him as the Apostle doth 1 Cor. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory c. The bravest Challenge saith one that ever rang in Death's Ear for when the Heart is defended with this Shield of Grace no venemous Dart can ever pierce it the sting is to such taken out and they may put the Serpent into their Bosom 't is a conquered Enemy lying prostrate at their Feet or rather an Enemy to Nature but a Friend to Grace the same blow that kills the Body sets the Soul at Liberty Now he that hath his Soul garnished with Grace and his Conscience purged from dead works He that hath assurance of the Pardon of his Sin and an Interest in Christ in Heaven and Glory he will not be dash'd out of Countenance with the rugged looks of Death He that hath on the Wedding-Garment needs not fear when he is called to the Supper He that hath Oyl in his Vessel as well as a Lamp in his Hand needs not fear the coming of the Bridegroom nor the Servant that is watching when his Lord comes home Death may kill a Godly Man but cannot hurt him the worst it can do is but to send him to his Father's House the sooner Then Baca shall be turned to Baracha Sighs into Songs and Misery into Majesty then shall the singing of Birds be come then shall they take Possession of their Purchased Inheritance and those Mansions of Glory prepared for them John 14.2 Then they come to Age and shall receive their Kingdom the thoughts of this will comfort the heart of a dying Man and make him say with Old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace c. Luke 2.29 And with Paul Phil. 1.23 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ He that had been in the third Heaven no wonder if nothing would content him on Earth Some clusters of Canaan's Grapes we meet with in the Wilderness which makes us long to go over Jordan 'T is true no Man loves Death for its own sake neither can he it is an Enemy to Nature but when a Believer knows the only way to Paradice is under Death's Flaming Sword and the only way to be freed from all Sorrow is to suffer a little Pain that one blow will free him from Sin and Sorrow the Devil's Temptations and the World's Allurements and set him out of the reach of all his Enemies even in the Bosom of Christ himself Who would be afraid of such a blow Or who would fear the time when his loving Father should send a Messenger for him out of a troublesome World into Eternal Happiness to wipe all Tears from his Eyes and drive all Sorrow from his Heart Can those that really believe there is a reward for the righteous and that they are of that number fear the time when they shall enjoy it Can the Mariner after a dangerous Storm fear to enter into the desired Port or a Prisoner to enjoy his Liberty or a Sick Man his Health or a Weary Man his Rest Let those that enjoy their Pleasures Treasure and Promotions only for term of Life fear the Expiration of their Lease whose Lives do only defer their Torments Let those I say fear Death and well they may and did they but know the sequel it would send them trembling to their Graves But I fear many that yet have honest Hearts yet live at such uncertainty that they would willingly spin out the thread of their lives to a great length before they were willing to dye though it were accompanied with many Troubles many of them under pretence they are not yet prepared the more shame for them is not their main Work done Why then do they not set about it What have they done all this while If God should add Twenty Years more yet to their days will not this be their
her nor forsake her that she shall want nothing that is good and all things shall work together for her good Sometimes indeed Physick is as necessary as Food and Affliction is the best Tutor David found it so if they bear scars for his sake he will change them into Beauty-spots if he frown upon them 't is but for a moment but with everlasting kindness will he remember them weeping may continue for a night but joy cometh in the morning Grace makes both the Person and Performances pleasing to God 't is the Incense he loves 'T is only the Gracious Soul that hath Adoption Justification Sanctification Pardon of Sin Communion with God and that shall enjoy him for ever This is such a Chain of Pearl that the World were it sold at the worth cannot Purchase Afflictions cause us to seek Promises they send us to seek Faith it sends us to Prayer Prayer goes to God for help Grace it is that differences between God's Children and the Devil's Brats and will difference between the Sheep and the Goats and makes a man more excellent than his neighbour and therefore we cannot buy this Gold too dear 4. Consider Grace will not only bring us to Death but will do us good after Death and here nothing else can do it among other things it will qualifie us to leave a Good Name behind us which will yield a sweet-smelling savour in the succeeding Generation When the Name of the Wicked shall stink the memory of the Just shall be blessed Prov. 10.7 If we be good and do good we need not fear but our Name will survive us Now A good Name is better than precious Oyntment Eccles 7.1 The Righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance when the Name of the Wicked shall rot his Lamp shall be put out in obscurity and shall leave a stinking Snuff behind The Names of Abraham Isaac Jacob David Daniel and Job and such like how sweet do they smell in the Church of God When Cain and Judas Nero Caligula Domitian and other such Persecuting Tyrants are mentioned with detestation as the Burden of the Earth and the Plague-sore of the World but with what Reverence do we mention the Martyrs that suffered under them The Scribes and Pharisees which were bad enough themselves yet adorned the Sepulchers of the Prophets and Righteous Men and however the Godly are slighted at present in the Generation to come they will be honoured when the Name of all their bloody Persecutors shall stink But this is not all that Grace will do for us after Death for it will accompany us to Judgment also which the World will not cannot do for it shall be burnt up and if it could would do us little good 't is Grace alone that can make the Judge our Friend When Death hath left us and we are rushing into the infinite Ocean of Eternity Grace is our Pilot to steer our Course and land us in the Haven of Bliss and when we appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ this is his Sheep-mark whoever bears it shall stand upon his right hand when all other wears the Devil's Brand his Image and Portraiture unmortified Sin and there shall be thrust and croâ—ded together with the Devil and his Angels upon the left Grace is the Image of God renewed in the Soul which he will own where-ever he sees it and he that confesseth Christ before Men him will he confess before his Father and he that suffers with him shall also raign with him There is a difference in this Life between the Righteous and the Wicked the one are called the Seed of the Woman the other the Seed of the Serpent the Just and the Unjust Believers and Unbelievers Righteous and Wicked the Children of God and the Children of the Devil the Wheat and the Tares the good Fish and the bad the foolish Virgins and the wise c. Now 't is Grace that maketh this difference for by Nature we are all the children of wrath digged out of the same hole of the Pit and hewen out of the same Rock God differenceth Men by these gracious Qualifications and would have Ministers difference them also in their Doctrine and not give Holy things to dogs And as they are distinguished by God's Electing Love and by the Operation of his Spirit so have they a different Portion both in this World and that to come The one feeds upon Heavenly Allowance upon the sincere milk of the Word and the bread which came down from Heaven the other finds no relish in it and in the World to come the one will have a Portion in Heaven the other in Hell but there are many will not believe there is a Heaven or a Hell but ere long Experience will convince them Now the difference that there is is God's own work for there was nothing in us or that could be done by us that could deserve any thing at the hands of God his Electing Love is the Spring and Foundation of it He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hâ—rdeneth He sent his Son to Redeem them out of the World to pay their Debts to qualifie their Souls with Grace and after to bring them to Glory when others remain still under the Devil's Bondage When Faith hath knit that Gordion-knot between Christ and the Soul and she can say My beloved is mine and I am his when the Marriage is consummate between them all that the Husband hath is hers and what she hath is his then may she lay claim to his Merits his Righteousness his Graces and his Glory and he partakes with her in her Sins and in her Sorrows all her Debts are made over to him and he helps to bear her Sorrows and upon this the Soul though not Legally yet is Angelically Righteous God changeth both the Relation and also the Disposition By Grace Persecuting Saul becomes a Preaching Paul and of Lions Men are made Lambs Now God Adopts such for his Sons and for his Daughters and gives them the Priviledge of Children calls them by his own Name sets them about his own Work lists them under his own Banner maintains them at his own Charges and at last will lodge them in his own Bosom when all the rest of the World fight under the Devil's Banner and do his Drudgery God hath a Reward for the Righteous though haply they have little in hand they have the more in Reversion they shall have Eternal Life when the other shall have Everlasting Torments Hypocrites haply may counterfeit Christ's Sheep-mark as some have done the Broad Seal but though they may deceive others haply themselves yet can they not deceive God the Lord knoweth who are his The Inscription of his Seal is Holiness to the Lord and they cannot put off their Bristow Stone for a true Diamond But as I told you Grace will not leave a Man till it bring him to Judgment and speak for him to the Judge who shall
sadly and trust God when Deliverance is out of sight Hic labor hoc opus est To fetch Comfort from God when the World affords us none is a Work of Grace Hab. 3.17 18. A spark of Divine Love once kindled in the Breast never goes out Now saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.13 there remains Faith Hope and Charity but the greatest of these is Charity And why Because 't is longest lived The Wisdom of the Saints as also the Folly of the World is seen in this the one respects Eternity the other only this Transitory Life things subject to Vanity and Vexation that vanish as a curious Picture drawn upon the Ice in a Sun-shine day that soon dissolves into Water The World is like a Lottery Men come to it with their Heads full of Hope and return with their Hands full of Blanks and their Hearts full of Sorrow for there are twenty Blanks for one Prize There are many fair Promises made by the Devil and the World but few performed and our own hearts help to cheat us But he that Trades in Heavenly Riches never meets with disappointments they will find it far beyond their highest conceptions These things 't is true are hardly gotten but will prove well in the wearing and pay well for our pains Heaven is not got so easily as the World imagines when they moil and toil for the Earth they think Heaven may be had with a wet finger or into the bargain They are like Timotheus that dreamed that Towns and Castles fell into his Toyles while he slept they think a Lord have Mercy upon us will serve turn for Heaven to wast them over but they will find their mistake the Way is narrow they must walk in and the Gate strait they must enter which they cannot do with a load upon their backs We must work for Heaven as well as wish for it yea wrastle and strive to enter in at the strait gate 't is the violent that take it by force and if it be set to Sale all must go to buy this Pearl I have read of a Christian that beihg offered great Riches and Preferments to change his Religion he enquired whether it were durable Riches they offered him he would deal for no Treasures that were not Eternal nor sell his Immortal Soul for transitory Pelf that Treasure that is subject to Rust and Rapine will not do our work but that which is as durable as the days of Heaven and Eternity it self which we may draw out a Thousand Years hence without Rust or Canker These outward things may draw Tears from our Eyes but never will drive Sorrow from our Hearts if we embrace them we hug a Cloud instead of Juno 't is but to hunt Butter-flies to foul our own Fingers A Crown which is esteemed the top of Humane Felicity is scarce worth as one saith that had tryed it stooping for if it lay in the street for if we consider the Cares Fears Jealousies Dangers and Troubles that accompany it we should not envy them the Honour that bear the Burden 'T is Wisdom therefore above all things to get Grace and then we shall have Christ and Glory Men make a great dust and stir in the World and all for the Body when there is not one day's Preparation for the Immortal Soul many are ashamed to be seen in this Fashion but were the Body transparent and could we see their filthy spotted and leprous Souls through their Velvet Robes they had cause indeed to be ashamed to be seen in the streets Now they matter not the Society of the Godly but ere long they will never be troubled with it again Now they want time to Examine themselves as to their future Estate but then they will have time enough to reflect upon their fore-past Follies the means they then had the possibility nay the probability of their Conversion and how they lost Heaven for a Lust how they have been warned of this a thousand times and that now it is too late and the Door is shut the Day of Mercy is over and will never dawn again God hath long expected Fruit and finding none will lay down his Basket and take up his Ax and cut down these fruitless Trees and throw them into the Fire and open the Flood-gates of Divine Vengeance and pour in upon them All Hopes will then be taken away and nothing but Despair left in the room Now where is the World and what can it do for thee But Grace will shelter from all this those that have this Oyl shall go in the other shall be shut out Matth. 25.11 12. What will these Men have to say for themselves then Will they plead what Service they have done for God Alas this will not serve their turn Mat. 7.22 Will they desire the Mountains to fall upon them and the Hills co cover them Alas this cannot benefit them Rev. 6.16 17. What will the Worldling by this time think of his Portion Will it prove currant Coin in the other World Is not Grace now the better Portion that will lodge a Man in the Bosom of Christ and make him drink of the Rivers of pleasures at his right hand for evermore amongst those Heavenly Quiristers the Angels and glorified Saints singing Hallelujahs together when all tears shall be wiped away and sin and sorrow shall be no more Where they shall be freed from all Miseries set out of the reach of all Enemies free from all Dangers Temptations Oppressions and Troubles in the perfect Enjoyment of all Happiness and lye in the Everlasting Embraces of their dear Redeemer Now Reader what dost think of Grace Is it worth having If yet to prevent the Furnace thou fall down to the Idol thy Blood will be upon thy own Head Lesson 4. The Fourth Lesson this Providence teacheth us is this That seeing God hath taken away one in the Prime and Flower of her Age and thereby manifesteth our Mortality then it teacheth us that the Godly have not long to suffer for when Death comes their Miseries are at an end for Death will set them out of the reach of Danger this is the last Enemy they have to grapple with and this cannot hurt us for Death doth but lance the Ulcer which otherwise could never have been cured and let out the Corruption though it be an Enemy to Nature 't is a Friend to Grace that blow that kills the Body sets the Soul at liberty Of all Men in the World none are greater Sufferers than the Godly read Heb. 11.35 c. But though their Afflictions are sharp they are but short Heaviness may continue for a night but joy comes in the morning Psal 30.5 Then their Sighing will be turned into Singing and their Musing into Melody this World is their Purgatory and can they expect Pleasure Nay their Hell all the Hell they shall ever have and can they expecâ— Ease But here is their Comfort they can through it and beyond it In
him to Hell Now though Sin have a Mortal Wound in the Regenerate which cannot be cured yet it will have a Being in them while they are in the Flesh and these Sons of Zeruiah are sometimes too strong for them but at Death these Anakims shall be overcome Death will give them their Deaths-wound the same stroak that separates the Soul from the Body shall divide between Sin and the Soul Now it sticks as close to us as the Skin to the Flesh or as the Flesh to the Bones or rather as one Bone to another and much closer for these may be separated but the other not 't is like as the spots of the Leopard not only in the Skin but in the Flesh also nay 't is in the very Heart and not only in the Body but in the Soul also yea in the very Power and Faculty of it yet at Death a separation will be made and this must needs be good News to a Believer when his deadly Wound is cured which is the cause of all his Maladies Oh happy day will it be to him when he shall shake hands with his Corruptions and give them a Bill of Divorce and bid them an Everlasting Adieu when he shall never have a proud vain sensual or ungodly thought more to trouble him or any that shall be unbeseeming God or Godliness Now he cannot serve God without distraction but then it will be otherwise no sin shall stand then as a Cloud to Eclipse the Sun of Righteousness or cloud him from us Now Sin makes a Godly Man a weary of his Life and causeth many a sad and sorrowful Sigh and many a Prayer it doth cost him and many a struggling for the Victory but then it will be had and the War will be ended and the Triumph obtained when all Tears shall be wip'd away and Sin and Sorrow shall be no more and for a Crown of Thorns they shall have a Crown of Glory There is nothing now but sin that hides God's Face from us when these Clouds are removed we shall see him as he is and shall never see one frown in his face nor one wrinkle in his brow for Sin and Corruption which are the only Make-bates shall be left behind for no unclean thing shall ever enter into Heaven for though the Serpent did wind himself into Paradice none of the Serpentine Race shall ever enter into Heaven their place shall no more be found there Rev. 12.8 And if he be cast out his Works shall follow him then the Saints will be Saints indeed without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Ephes 5.27 Their robes will be wash'd in the blood of the Lamb and they shall no more delight to wallow in the Mire Heaven that spewed out the fallen Angels will not admit of any unclean thing sin to the Godly is their greatest Trouble here but what would it be should they be troubled with it to Eternity I have read of the Indians that enquired where the Spaniards would go after their Death And Answer being made To Heaven protested they would not come there among so Blood-thirsty and Cruel a People This was their Ignorance but this I say should a Godly Man know his sin should accompany him to Heaven it would be great cause of sorrow Anselm affirms he had rather go to Hell Innocent than to Heaven with a Guilty Conscience 'T is a greater Mercy to be freed from Sin than to be born Heir to a Kingdom but at Death they shall have the Priviledge of both now 't is their daily Complaint O this hard this proud this hypocritical Heart how shall I get it softned humbled and reformed But then it will be done it will then be better than now we can desire or expect here the Understanding is clouded with Ignorance there the scales will fall from our Eyes Many a Man would ride a Thousand Miles and give many Hundred of Pounds to have a clear insight into some of the Mysteries held forth in the Scripture as of the Trinity the Incarnation Predestination Redemption Free-will c. And of some obscure Passages Prophesies and Promises recorded in the Scripture But there all shall lye open and God's whole Contrivance in the work of our Redemption made apparent to his Glory and our Eternal Admiration In a word there shall no sin or any thing that implies a defect enter Heaven for no such Weeds grow in God's Garden there will be no imperfection of our love to God our desire after him or our delight in him neither any distempered Passion or Affection for the Affections that there shall remain shall be set upon right Objects and agreeable to the Will of God Oh happy time when shall it be when we shall be rid of all our sins that now keep us so low and God at such a distance from us 2. As at Death we shall be freed from all sin so likewise from all the Causes Occasions and Provocations to sin from the Temptations of Satan and Allurements of the World for as there will be no Natural Inclination to it within so there will be no Provocation to it from without for Temptation without now proves the Bellows to blow our Corruption up into a Flame it being as Tinder to the Fire ready to catch upon all occasions The Devil is a Powerful Politick Subtil and Malicious Enemy lying upon his lurches to betray us 1 Pet. 3.8 He is always fishing for Souls and suits his Baits according to our Inclinations he hath such an Enmity against God that he hates his Image where ever he sees it and though he cannot race it out yet he will always oppose it and seek to deface it he is like the Scorpion his sting is always out and what Opposition either he or his Instruments can make against it they will be sure to do it but at Death we shall be out of his reach and in a place of safety where he cannot throw one Dart at us nor shake his Chain to affright us Now he gives us many Alarms and if he finds us out of our Trenches or neglecting our Watch he is sure to surprize us and to make a Prey of us and were we not kept by the mighty power of God to Salvation we could not escape being devoured by him Now we have no quiet Day nor Night nay in our very Addresses to God but he molests us with his Temptations sometimes stops our Mouths and oft-times steals away the Heart in the time of Duty and lays Snares for us where ever we go or whatever we do but the more Spiritual the Duty is so much the greater is his Opposition He spoils our Duties purposely to make God hate them he takes great Advantage indeed by our own Corruption and we shall never be rid of the one till we are free from the other Our Senses are the Cinque-Ports that lets in the Occasions and Provocations to sin into the Soul and he sails in with the Tide
is not an hour free from one Danger or other for Soul or Body or both our very sleep is not free but pestered with vain or sinful Dreams or fearful Visions of the Night our Corruption disturbing our Fancy nay in our Lawful Enjoyments Latet anguis in herbas for no Enjoyment we have but the Devil will weave it into a Net for our Feet in licitis perimus omnes we cannot look into the World but one thing or other is making suit for our Affections so that many times I have thought an Hermitage or some secret Cell were to be chosen free from the noise of the World but such places are not without their Temptations as Experience proveth when we open our Eyes we see Vanity and when we open our Ears we hear Folly something that tends to provoke to some base Lust Pride Vain-glory Lasciviousness Envy Malice Revenge or such-like or otherwise we see or hear some Command of God broken which should provoke our sorrow So bitter and malicious an Enemy the Devil is if he cannot keep us out of Heaven he will make the way thither troublesom and the World is such a sworn Enemy to us also not only in our Civil Enjoyments but in our Spiritual Duties in our Addresses unto God it proves a hindrance and our own Hearts prove treacherous these Fly-blow our Duties yea make us pride in our Graces â—ea to be proud of our Humility if we look not about us Now who would desire to live among all these Snares and Temptations but here is our comfort Death will free us from these and all others whatsoever and set us out of the reach of danger for the actual Enjoyment of God and Christ and Heaven and Glory will wholly take us up that we shall have no time for no mind to these things 3. As at Death they are freed from Sin and the Occasions of Sin from the Devil and his Temptations so are they also from his Instruments which Christ calls his Children John 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the works of your Father ye will do They have the same Nature and Disposition he hath viz. a hatred to God and Godliness for where ever they see the Image of God they pour Contempt upon it and hence it is they Persecute the Righteous for Righteousness-sake whatever they pretend to the contrary But in Heaven the Saints shall hear no more of this grinning Language but shall be free from not only the violence of Hands but the strife of Tongues There the wicked shall cease from troubling and the weary are at rest there the Prisoners rest together and hear not the voice of the oppressor the small and the great are there and the servant is free from his master c. Job 3.17 c. This Life is the day of Temptation and the hour of Darkness but at Death it will be over the Enemy may and oft-times doth persecute the Godly to Death but cannot reach them after except they Triumph over their dead Bodies as they did over the Witnesses that were slain but when they arose again their Sport was spoiled this was but over their Bodies but their Souls they cannot reach no Torment can touch them and though they burn their Bodies or rend them into a thousand pieces yet the least Atome of them shall not be wanting at the Resurrection There are none in the World that carry themselves more inoffensively than they do yet never any meet with harder measures from the World than they do and the reason is because the World hates them for Christ's sake and no wonder it hated him before it hated them Jeremy wonders why every one cursed him that had neither given nor taken upon Usury Jer. 15.10 The Apostles that wronged none but only laboured the Conversion and Good of all met with hard dealing in the World as we may see 1 Cor. 4.9 c. and 2 Cor. 11.23 c. And from them we may know the World's Wages and what to expect from them Their Persecutors were sharp and severe Verberibus pluunt colaphis grandinant 't is the practise of bloody Persecutors to endeavour to effect that by Arms they cannot do by Arguments as when the Apostle had confounded the Jews by the Scriptures at Damascus they sought to kill him Acts 9.22 But 't is Ignorance that breeds the Quarrel they are Ignorant and will be so for like Bats they shun the Light and are like Barbarians that curse the Sun when it shines hot upon them Believers dare not run into the same excess of Riot hinc ille lachrymae they hated Christ because he bore Witness their deeds were evil and all a Believer's Sufferings are but a Chip of Christ's Cross the seed of the Serpent will hate the seed of the Woman for though like Dogs they worry each other yet all joyn together against the Godly as Herod and Pilate against Christ Ephraim is against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim yet both against Judah Whatever the pretence be to root out Holiness is the intent they are instigated by the Devil and they must needs go when he drives them but 't is a comfort he cannot go beyond his Chain he cannot make a Louse Exod. 8.18 nor drown a Pig Mat. 8.32 nor throw down a House Job 1.19 without leave and his Chain will never suffer him to reach them in Heaven Here they suffer by Hand and Tongue but those Hands and Tongues will suffer hereafter as we see in the Rich Glutton here their Tongues are set on the fire of Hell but then they shall be set on fire in Hell when the Godly for their Crown of Thorns shall have a Crown of Glory Here the Wicked whip their own faults upon the Saints backs as Nero set Rome on fire and laid it upon the Christians and others since have taken the same course but there will be a Resurrection of Names as well as of Bodies 't is the Evening crowns the Day and the last Scene the Play when the Game is up we shall know who loseth Christ tells us we shall be hated of all men for his sake In Nero's time whoever professed himself a Christian must dye without further Tryal as an Enemy to Mankind and in after-ages those that own Religion in sincerity suffer by those that profess what they practice The Apostle bids us not to think it strange concerning the fiery tryal 1 Pet. 4.12 And Experience tells us 't is no strange thing it is good to prepare for it it will not come the sooner but will be better born yea we should rejoyce to be accounted worthy to suffer for Christ 1 Pet. 4.13 I have read of Vincentius the Martyr that laughed at his Tormentors and walked upon hot burning Coals as upon Roses and called Death and Tortures Jocularia ludicra matters of Sport to Christians but whatever Tortures they suffer now there will be none in Heaven but the cry of the Souls under the
Blood and much ado to get with hard Labour Cloaths to their backs or Meat to their bellies or to redeem a little Time for their Souls good this must needs be an uneasie Life and many times all their pains cannot keep them out of Prisons or their Children from Beggery These Poor Men many times have when they go to Bed a bundle of Cares to lay under their Heads not much easier than a bush of Thorns and this is the Portion of many Godly Men. But Death will take this Burden from them for in Heaven there will be no racking of Rents no grinding of the faces of the Poor there will be Rest without Labour and Pleasure without Pain there is no domineering Tyrant no oppressing Neighbour these are gone another Road if Repentance prevent not to pay back those Tears with Interest they have drunk here so greedily Here is no Bond-slave or Servant to live in subjection no naked back nor hungry bellies to feed or cloath here is Nectar and Ambrosia God himself to feed upon Here in this World Fears and Cares keep Men working by Day and waking by Night but 't is not so in Heaven there neither Pains nor Cares are necessary they praise God for their Enjoyments not beg for a supply to their Wants Here the care of all the Churches are upon us as upon Paul and we sympathize with others that are in Misery as Nehemiah did and hence we can scarce open our Eyes or Ears but we let some Grief into our Hearts some Persecution or other we hear of in one part of the World or other some suffering Saints some Massacre some Oppression or Persecution which adds still to our Trouble some Friend or other in Prison their Goods seized or they ruined or those that have yet escap'd are in continual fears and expectations that it will be their condition Wars and Rumours of Wars fill us with Distractions But there are no such Disturbances in Heaven Here sometimes we fear God is removing our Candlestick and taking away his Gospel from us and leaving us up to Egyptian Darkness but this fear never troubles the glorified Saints they matter not the Pipe that can go to the Fountain The consideration also of the Divisions Rents and Schisms that are among Christians yea the holiest Men cause many sad thoughts of Heart when Ephraim is against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah when one Godly Man Speaks Disputes and Writes so bitterly against another and are ready to dis-robe each other of their Graces But in Heaven Luther and Calvin the like we may say of other Dissenting Parties will agree one Heaven will hold that that now one Church cannot There will be perfect Love and Unity and no disagreeing Person or Party Here likewise loss in our Estates and disappointment in our Expectations or in our Affairs whether by the immediate Hand of God want of Fore-sight the carelesness of Servants or the malice of Enemies may disturb our Peace Hardship and Trouble also in our several Callings and Employments This makes us think that Part we Act upon the Theatre of the World is the hardest and most uneasie The faithful Magistrate that sets himself against the sins of the Times finds sad disappointments and the desired Reformation not attained he is ready to despond under his Burden The faithful Minister after all his hard Labour and Study to bring Souls to Christ finds not the wished Effect is ready with the Prophet Isa 49.4 to despond The like we may say of Parents Masters of Families and other Governours that do what they can to bring those under their Charge to Christ and cannot do it are ready to faint under their Burden But in Heaven all these Troubles will be over there will be no Contention in the State nor Trouble in the Church no disorder in the Family and nothing amiss in the Soul These things and many more cause our Trouble here and will do while we live but Death will prove the Funeral of our Troubles and the Resurrection of our Joys It was the rejoycing of a good Woman that was a Martyr that her Stake was put into the same hole that holy Mr. Philpot's was before her and it may be some comfort to us that we are going the same way to Heaven that our betters have gone in before us and we hope shortly to overtake them But that which makes our Lives uneasie is when God hides his Face from the Soul as sometimes he doth but in Heaven we shall never fear losing him we shall never look into the Casket and miss the Jewel we shall never see a frown in his forehead nor a wrinkle in his brow Now we find it a hard matter to wind up our Affections to God then it will be impossible to draw them off him then we shall leave all these Clogs behind us as Elijah did his Mantle when he ascended into Heaven And this is the Lesson this Providence teacheth us That our Troubles here may be sharp they will be but short the Righteous Man hath not long to suffer 5. But the Saints Happiness at Death consists not only in freedom from Evil but in the enjoyment of Good also What they are freed from you have heard what they shall meet with at Death rests to be spoken to but who can sing the Songs of Sion in a strange Land Who can describe that which eye never saw ear never heard tell of neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive of viz. the Joys that are prepared for those that love God Yet this I should speak to but seeing I have treated of this in another Book I shall be the briefer Were their Happiness only in their freedom from Misery it were no other than what bruit Beasts shall have whose Misery ends with their Life but Christ hath promised the pure in heart shall see God Mat. 5.8 which cannot be in this Life for no man can see his face and live Moses indeed by faith saw him that is invisible and some Glimpse of him a Believer may have but a clear Vision is only reserved for Heaven and by seeing God is meant enjoying him for without that the sight will bring little comfort for ought we know the Devils and the Damned may see him as Dives did Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom to their greater Torment But to see him as he is 1 John 3.2 is to enjoy him and this is the Beatifical Vision as Divines call it Yea we shall have as much knowledge of him as finite Creatures are capable of we shall apprehend him though not comprehend him for we may as well think to comprehend all the Water in the Sea in a Cockle-shell for what is finite to infinite Yet shall our knowledge of him be much enlarged for here the Apostle saith we see but in a glass but then face to face But how God will communicate himself to us we know not yet will he let
their Dross Love will run in the right Channel and be set upon right Objects God shall have all our Love we shall love his Creatures by a reflect act we shall love God for himself and his Creatures for his sake and where we see most of God there we shall love most now we complain we cannot love him but then we cannot choose but love him for who can be in a fire and not burn Our Love to him here though true in its kind yet is full of Imperfections and like an Ague hath its heats and colds but there is no intermissions it admits of no cooling Ignorance here makes the Pearl of great price undervalued and most Swine rather delight in Swill and with Aesop's Cock prefer a grain of Barley before it but these will be better acquainted with its worth The Godly here have but a Viaticum something to animate them in the way and to stay their stomack but the Feast is for their Journey 's end where they shall drink Wine with Christ in his Father's Kingdom 'T is a Question with some whether there are degrees of Glory in Heaven a full Answer will be best made by the Inhabitants themselves Something may be spoken to it as to probability at least there will be no difference as to the duration for Eternity admits not of addition or diminution and as for degrees in general every one shall enjoy as much Happiness as they are capable of as much as their Vessels will hold and there shall be no cause of complaint or repining at others nay or of desiring more for themselves for this argues Imperfection of Happiness which Heaven owns not Yet it seems probable there will be degrees The righteous then will shine as the firmament but those that turn many to God as the stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 Now the Stars shine brighter than the Firmament and some stars differ from others in glory There are degrees of Torment For he that knew his Lord's will and did it not was to have the more stripes Luke 12.47 And Christ tells us It should be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment than for those Cities he preached to and they not repented Mat. 11.21 And I wish England be not sick of this Disease in making light of Christ the Beast and the false Prophet were cast alive into the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 19.20 c. and this seems to be a higher degree of Torment than others have And again the Scripture speaks of a greater degree of Condemnation and that every one shall receive a Reward according to his Works and some being greater sinners than others are Justice requires they should suffer more and the unfaithful Servant Mat. 24.51 hath his Portion appointed with Hypocrites which seems some peculiar Punishment Now there being degrees of Torments in Hell and he that deserves most Punishment shall have most why not of Glory in Heaven where he that hath done most Work shall have most Wages And although I dare not say there are Nine Hierarchies of Angels in Heaven as the Papists do yet we read of Angels and Arch-Angels as well as of the Devil and his Angels and why not then degrees of glorified Saints He that by his Pound gained ten Pounds was made Ruler over ten Cities when he that had gained five Pounds was Ruler only over five Cities and what this signifies but a higher degree of Glory I know not Luke 19.16 And Christ promises his Apostles that followed him in the regeneration they should sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Mat. 19.28 which Honour is not promiscuously promised to all And those that have forsaken any thing for Christ have greater Promises than others have Those therefore that desire a greater degree of Glory than others let them improve their Talents better than others do Another Question may be Whether the Saints in Glory shall know each other In Answer to it I say if it make for their future Glory doubtless they will for they shall want nothing of Perfection and the Scripture looks very favourably upon the Affirmative Christ tells us That many shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven but the Children of the Kingdom shall be thrust out And shall they sit with them and not know them In the Transfiguration the Apostle knew Moses and Elias and the Rich Glutton in Hell knew Abraham and Lazarus in his Bosom And is it probable that Men living here on Earth some few Years when the Understanding is clouded with Ignorance and the Memory with Forgetfulness know one another that they should not know one another through Eternity when those Mists are blown over Some also question whether the Souls of Believers go immediately into Heaven at the Death of the Body and this seems to me as plain as the other 't is Christ's Promise to the Penitent Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And this I judge was neither in Hell nor Purgatory for I know not where those are called Paradice Lazarus when he dyed was carryed into Abraham's Bosom where he was comforted while the Rich Man was tormented Luke 16.25 But I suppose there is little comfort in Purgatory-flames this Fire is but newly kindled and were it not to warm the Pope's Kitchen would be soon extinguished In a word the Scripture mentions Heaven and Hell as the Receptacles of separated Souls but there is no mention of another place Some also enquire if they go immediately into Glory whether they have at present the full degrees of Glory which they shall have hereafter I Answer Secret things belong to God but things revealed to us It seems probable that though they have as much Glory as thay Entitle them truly Happy yet there will be a further degree added at the Resurrection when Soul and Body shall be reunited and the Sentence of Absolution past upon them Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom c. Then as the wicked go into everlasting torments so the righteous shall go into life eternal Mat. 25.41 And thus you have heard of the Happiness of Believers but the duration of their Happiness is the chiefest Flower in their Garland for were it but to continue a thousand thousand Years it would be a Hell to them in the midst of Heaven to think that an end would come and it would make them they could little rejoyce in their Enjoyments But the consideration that it will be for ever is a great addition to their Happiness 't is to be for ever and for ever Dan. 12.2 And 't is called eternal Glory 2 Tim. 2. And Reason shews it must be so for the Soul is immortal and the Reward promised is such and this Enjoyment is called Eternal Life So then you see proved what before was asserted
That seeing all must dye the Righteous have not long to suffer for Death will set an end to all their Miseries and enter them into their Eternal Enjoyments of God and Glory and put them into the possession of those Mansions of Glory prepared for them by God before the foundations of the world And then any Man may judge whether there be any great cause why they should fear Death which is the only Cure of all their Miseries and the only Porter to open Heaven-gates to them It remains that we speak something of those whose Happiness expires with their Life and their Miseries commence at their Death Lesson 5. The Fifth Lesson this Providence teacheth is That seeing Men and Women may be taken away in the Flower of their Age and Death can put a period to their Lives then what a miserable condition are Wicked Men in when one day may put an end to all their Happiness and all their Hopes for both their Happiness and their Hopes is only in this Life and shall expire at their Death for whether they are Noble or Base Rich or Poor Young or Old by what Names or Titles soever they are dignified or distinguished if they have no better a Portion than the World can bestow upon them 't is at the longest for term of Life and at Death their lease expires Their Glory then will not follow them and their Pomp will take her leave Oh what a change Death will make among many of our greatest Gallants their Happiness depends upon a ticklish point and hangs but by the thread of their Lives and there are a thousand Diseases Distempers Casualties and Accidents ready to cut the thread and every Creature waits but for a Divine Commission to stop their breath and they are not sure of one day to an end The Experience of this very Age proves this point fully how many hundred thousands were in Ireland stript of all in a moment and left as poor as Job and many lost their Lives with their Estates The like may we hear of in other Countries in London an hundred thousand dyed in one Year and what a change did Death make to them that have their Portion only in this Life What the Wise Man saith Prov. 23.5 Rich's take wings and fly away We see by Experience many rich at Night and poor ere Morning bâ—t we also see many Rich Men snatch'd away from their Riches who are well o're Night and deâ—d in the Morning yet many Men hunt and havk after Riches and never overtake them and if they do cannot hold them many purchase them too dear even with the loss of their Souls and the shipwrack of a good Conscience and these make a hard bargain for the Soul is more worth than all the World Mat. 16.26 That a Wicked Man is not long to enjoy his Happiness is made out in the following Considerations 1. Consider at Death all Men of what Degree soever from the least to the greatest will leave behind them all these outward Enjoyments viz. Riches that very many so much glory in and trust to and cannot take with them the worth of a shoe-latchet Woe then to them that have no other Portion what will their poor Souls do to Eternity though now their Riches be their strong hold Prov. 18.11 yet can they not help in the evil day Zeph. 1.18 Yet here they are honoured as Gods but they are but Dung-hill Deities most Men dote upon them as much as the Athenians did upon Diana's Temple and Offer not only their Children but their Souls unto them But let their Attainments or Enjoyments be what they will at Death they must leave all behind them Kings and Emperours must leave their Crowns behind them and the Bishop his Mitre the Pope himself not excepted then those that have made a great hurly-burly in the World could not satisfie their Dust will be contained in a little Urn. At Death the Emperour must lay by his Robes and the Beggar his Rags for Death will lodge them in the same Bed and set them upon even ground The griping Usurer must leave his Gold and cease to fill his Bags with Silver when his own Mouth shall be fill'd with Earth Kings then must bid farewel to their Crowns and Kingdoms as Solomon to his Ivory Throne and our great Gallants their well-contrived Houses though they call them after their own names Psal 49.11 c. Haply they may leave them to Fools haply to Strangers haply to Enemies to enjoy It was the Speech of a good Man to a great Lord when he shewed him his sumptuous Buildings pleasant Gardens Walks Orchards and other Rarities Sir saith he you must make sure of Heaven or you will never be recompenced in the Earth for all the Pains and Cost you have bestowed here Yet many like the Rich Man in the Gospel Luke 12. sing a Requiem to their Souls and promise themselves long Life when haply they have not a day to live They put the evil day far from them and because they see not Death think Death heeds not them when he is even staring them in the Face They lodge Riches nearest their Heart and from it they expect their greatest Security but the Mortal Sithe is too hard for the Royal Scepter yet many consider it not but buy Faggots for their own burning for the rust of their Gold will eat their flesh as fire James 5.3 Here they have their Summer and their Winter Houses curious Parlours Banqueting-Houses Rooms richly adorned soft Beds and easie Couches but if they have no better Portion Death will strip them of this and lodge them in a stinking Dungeon and darksom Cell full of deadly Horror void of Light or Comfort a noisom sulphurous stinking Prison here are no curious Gardens or pleasant Walks for Recreation neither is there any thing to recreate the Eyes the Ears the Smell the Tast or the Touch the Object of Sight will be Infernal Devils and Damned despairing Wretches the Melody the groans and sighs the roaring yelling scrietching of damned Souls for the Taste pinching Hunger and parching Thirst or something that is worse their Smell is burning Brimstone and their Touch the scorching Flames Oh the Pains the Time the Cost and Charges many Men are at in adorning their Habitations Gardens Walks Orchards c. when all this while the poor Soul lyes neglected and slighted no Tree in the Orchard must grow disordered but must be pruned muck'd and manured when in the Soul nothing is in order no Weed must grow in the Garden when no Vice must be weeded out of the Soul Here they have pleasant Walks and Summer-shady Bowers their Rich Pastures Pleasant Meadows their Flocks and Herds their numerous Cattle both small and great and whatever their hearts can desire that can be purchased for Love or Money but Death will strip them to the skin and they shall carry nothing hence neither can they call ought their own but Tortures and
enter into Heaven Mat. 19.24 Heaven is a spacious Palace but 't is a narrow Way and strait Gate that leads to it and Men cannot enter with the World upon their backs there must be stooping and stripping to get in Hence the Apostle charges rich men not to be high minded nor trust in uncertain riches 1 Tim. 6.17 'T is much ado to look and not to lust to have Riches and not fall in love with them When Pride breeds in Riches as Worms do in Apples they suddenly corrupt and will do the Owners no good to use the world and not abuse it is a Lesson not easily learned and having only food and raiment therewith to be content In Christ's time the poor received the Gospel when few of the Great Ones were called 1 Cor. 12.20 Were there but half so much spoken against Poverty and half so many cautions given as against Riches there would be some Plea for the Covetous but few see the danger of a great Estate but Death will equal the Poor with the Rich the Emperour must leave his Robes behind and the Beggar his Rags and great Saladine shall carry nothing with him but his Shirt nor that neither into the other World Haud ullas portabis opes Acherontis ad undas Naked we came into the world and naked shall we return out of it Job 1.21 1 Tim. 6.7 The Jews were permitted when they came into their Neighbour's Field Orchard or Vineyard to pluck and eat but must carry none away and so we may do in the World Riches at last will do us no more good than they did the great Chaliph that the Great Cham of Tartary caused to be famished amidst his Treasures then will their Sun set under a Cloud and no difference between them and their poor Neighbour those that have carried the greatest Burden have the sorest Back and those that have received the most Talents are to make the greatest Account Oh that this were well considered in time then should we lay up our treasure where neither moth nor rust corrupteth nor where thieves break not through nor steal Mat. 6.20 For all other Treasure will deceive them that put their trust in it Thus you see at Death Wicked Men whatever their Enjoyments now be will be stript of all 2. And as Wicked Men must leave their Riches behind â—hâ—n at Death so likewise their Pleasures will bid them â—dieu for ever Now Pleasure is one of the â—hree Deities most Men adore for Riches Honours and Pleasures share the World between them but at Death these Idols will disappear many spend their days in pleasure and suddenly go down to Hell Job 21.13 Many spend their Time in Recreation and follow no other Calling and some cannot give a good Account of one hour's Work in a whole Week spent in any Lawful Labour they think 't is a greater shame to be seen working than to be seen drunken or debauch'd such as these the Apostle calls lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God 2 Tim. 3.4 and well he may for they spend more Time in and are at more Cost about their Pleasures than in God's Service and thirst as greedily after them as ever Covetous Man did for Gold or Ambitious Man for Honour There aâ—e many in our common Dialect are called Ladies of Pleasure and the Name pleaseth them that both God and former Ages call'd common Whores and 't is like they will be owned for such at the day of Judgment and then woe be to them for they are of the Society that are appointed for Destruction 1 Cor. 6.9 c. Solomon tells us Prov. 21.17 He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man and we see many times Luxury and Beggery succeed each other and unlawful Lusts have ruined many Ancient Families and made them leave Marcus Livius his Portions to their Children Nihil praeter Coelum Caenum Air and Water But if it go ill with the Body it will go much worse with the Soul for those that can take no Pleasure in God God will take no Pleasure in them these Men seem to think they were sent into the World as Leviathan into the Sea to sport therein and that their Talents were given to no other end than to be consumed this way and then when God said to Man after the Fall In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread that he spake only to the Poor and not to them but they will at Death find their mistake and see it was a bad Bargain to sell their part in Paradise for a part in Paris to sell their Souls to satisfie their Lusts to part with Eternal Joy for momentany Delights they will find they parted with a great deal in Reversion for a little in Possession they will then have time enough if Eternity may be called Time to repent the Bargain they will see it had been better to have been preserved in Brine than to have rotted in Honey Now they can take the Timbrel and the Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ and spend their days in mirth as the Holy Ghost saith and suddenly go down to the pit Job 21.12 13. I will not say as Tully Nemo Sobrius saltat nor as Diogenes The better Dancer the worse Man or that these Recreations are absolutely unlawful yet I think Christians have not much time to spend this way from their more serious Business and greater Concerns and truly if we consider the state of the Protestant Churches throughout the World it might take off much of the edge of our Affections from these Vanities But at present I am speaking of those to whom the satisfying of their Lusts is the main design they aim at and the Affliction of the Church is not so much as the loosing one spot off their Faces one Feather out of their Fan or one Ribon out of their Head-tire let such read well Isa 3.11 12 c. and see if God delight as much in their Ornaments as they do and what he saith to such Amos 6.3 c. They put far from them the evil day and cause the seat of violence to draw near They lye upon their beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches they eat the Lambs out of the flock and the Calves out of the stall They chant to the sound of the Viol and invent to themselves Instruments of Musick like David They drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with chief Oyntment but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph c. And is not this an exact Description of many in our times Read further the Destruction that God threatens to such and they will find he spake in earnest what they took in jeast Those that God curseth will be cursed however they bless themselves in their heart those that are no mourners in Sion shall not be marked and those that are not marked shall be slain Ezek. 9.1 2 c. Those that Sympathize not with
got out It crept into Heaven among the Angels for some conceive they affected the Deity It crept into Paradice and made our first Parents desire to know as God The Babel-Builders they would fain dwell as God and Antichrist sets himself above all that is called God or is worshipped Every proud man is tainted with this Lunacy and are discontent with the Station in which God hath placed them Many have a great Shadow that have little Substance the worser the Wiâ—â— the fairer the Bush the empty Vessel makes the greatest sound and the shallow Waters the greatest noise and worthless men make the greatest brags Babel had high towring Thoughts she must needs be like God himself Isa 14.12 but God brought her down Ambitious men are like unto the Ivy though it have a contemptible Root and cannot rise without the assistance of the Oak or Elm yet it never rests till it overtop them When Zeuxes had finished his Picture of Atalanta he wrote under it Painters may rather envy this than imitate it Demosthenes loves to hear as he pass'd along the Street that pleasing word This is that Demosthenes Hoc ego primus vidi saith another So fond are men of their own Brats they are like Peacocks proud of their own Feathers when they forget their black Feet When Dionysius commanded Zeuxes to draw the Picture of Envy he brought him a Looking-glass and bid him behold his own Face in it And may we not as easily draw the Picture of Ambition as much to the life in many mens Faces Alexander when he was offered Darius's Daughter and a great part of his Dominions with her answered As the Heavens could not contain two Sons no more could the Earth two Alexanders See the large extent of an ambitious Mind But whatever the World saith to the contrary Virtue will prove the fairest Escutcheon and that is the best Honour where God is the top of the Kin and Holiness lies at the bottom 'T is storied of Julia the Daughter of Augustus Thaâ— being reproved for her Prodigality and caution'd of her Father's Frugality answered If her Father forgat that he was Caesar she would not forget that she was Caesar's Daughter 'T is hard for a Maid to forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire 't is a great deal easier to forget the Soul Most live above their Estate few under it Some say Pride and the Gout are alike that is both incurable Ambition and desire of Rule makes many Subjects murther their Prince many Children their Parents and many Wives their Husbands and one Brother to kill another Absolom to rebel against his Father yea it makes Princes tyrannize over their Subjects and Landlords over their Tenants the Rich to oppress the Poor and the Stronger to wrong the Weaker and make Men-like the Fishes in the Sea where the great ones devour the lesser But when Pride rides in the Saddle Shame sits upon the Crupper Pride goes before Destruction and a haughty Spirit before a Fall The more Gold Pride eateth the more Blood it sucketh The higher and faster a man climbs the more danger of breaking his Neck for God resisteth the Proud but gives Grace to the Humble 1 Pet. 5.5 King Philip glorying after his Victory Archimedes perswaded him to measure his Shadow to see how much bigger it was grown by the Conquest If Promotion should make men bigger yet it makes few men better Of all the Roman Emperors only Vespasion is said to be better by his advancement But did men well consider that all their Ancestors Glory lies in the Dust and very shortly theirs must do so likewise it might make them veil their Peacock's Plumes 'T is a Sin and Shame for an Angel to be proud much more for a Muck-heâ—p Sack of Dust an Earth-worm that hath no Breath to breathe but what God puts into him Yet many there are that think God loves them best because he gives them most then Pharaoh Sennacherib Jeroboam Herod the Great Turk and such-like are much in favour But here is a Mistake in the Reckoning God made Nebuchadnezzar to know and acknowledge That the Most High ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men and giveth them to whomsoever he will and setteth up over them the basest of men Dan. 4.17 Pharaoh was advanced on high for his greater Fall For this cause saith God I have raised thee up c. And no doubt Haman's Promotion was upon the same account Riches and Honours many times prove Blocks in Heavens way not in themselves but by their abuse they are like the fine Feathers of the Ostrich fine to gaze on but of little use to help them to mount aloft when the Lark or Swallow are swift of Wing and mount easily 'T is hard for a Rich man to mount upward or to enter in at the streight Gate yea as hard as for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle the reason is they have such a Burthen upon their Backs and they have such a Loadstone here on Earth which they love and trust to which draws their Affection from Heaven to Earth this hinders their flight as 't is Fabled the Golden Apples did Atalantas Race Those that stand upon the top of Pinacles are in Danger and had need look to their footing Those that attract Guilt in attaining Promotion are in the greatest danger when 't is gotten for at utmost Death will beâ—â—ave them of it 'T is a sad Fall from the highest Pinacle to the Depth of Hell their Glory then will not follow them their Pomp will take its leave O what a sad day will this be when all these things wherein they gloried will be gone and when Riches Honour and Pleasures as to them shall be no more which as Micah said of his Ephod and Teraphim These are gone and what have I more Judg. 18.23 Now when these their Gods are gone what have they more And these they have not long to enjoy and this will be a further aggravation of wicked mens Misery at Death 4. That wicked men at Death lose all their Worldly Felicity such as Riches Honours and Pleasures I have already shewed you yet these are not all the Losses they shall then sustain the worst are behind though haply at present not so much regarded for then they shall lose their God which will prove the greatest Loss by far The Torments of Hell are either privative or positive Pain of Loss or Pain of Sence the former is judg'd by Divines to be the greatest and most grievous for God being our chiefest Happiness to lose him will be our chiefest Misery In his presence is fulness of Joy and at his right hand Pleasures for evermore But at Death there will be an eternal separation from him which Loss will more affect the Soul when the Understanding Conscience and other Faculties shall be enlarged a Thousand thousand rentings of the Soul from the Body will not be so much as One renting of the Soul from God
then the Soul will know the worth of the things she hath lost and what a foolish bargain she made when God and Heaven and Happiness were parted with for a Lust this will be a bitter Corazine and an eternal Torment to a miscarrying Soul when she knows and know she will what it is to enjoy those Rivers of pleasures which are at the right-hand of God ouâ— sight of Christ ouâ— glimps of Heaven one hours converse with Angels and glorified Saints would dash the Glory of Ten thousand Worlds out of countenance this Beatifical Vision this enjoyment of God in Glory is a Saints greatest Happiness and well it may We mourn and overmourn for little petty Crosses or Losses in our temporal Estate but the loss of a thousand Worlds will not equal this a glimps of whose Face in Glory would make amends for all the Losses Crosses Pains and Torments which here we can suffer for his sake 'T is His Presence that makes Heaven to be Heaven and his Absence is Hell it self the enjoyment of him here in a small measure is Heaven upon Earth and when he withdraws himself from the Soul 't is a very Hell but the blinded World is not sensible of his worth ignotis nulla cupida nothing but Ignorance could stave off our Affections from him yet many though they cannot live without him yet value him not they have not Bread to eat or Clothes to put on nor a Breath to breathe but what he gives them yet dare they abuse their Meat to Gluttony their Drink to Drunkenness their Breath to blaspheme his holy Name But what will those do when there shall be an everlasting separation between God and them The loss of a Jewel is not much to one that values it but as a common Stone but when they come to know its worth it will more trouble them I have read of a Diamond taken from the Duke of Burgundy slain by the Switzers that was sold for a crown by the Soldier that took it and so passed from one to one â—â—ll at last it was bought for 20000 Ducats which as some value it was above 7000 Pound and put into the Pope's triple Crown See what Ignorance may do But Ignorance of God will prove the most dangerous mistake There are many in our Age like David's Fool that say in their Hearts there is no God nay too many that proclaim it with their Tongues but e're long they will be fain to eat their words There is not one of them but e're long will be fully convinc'd for there is no Atheist in Hell the Devil though full of other Sins is not guilty of this Many here have Souls to little purpose but like Salt to keep their Bodies from Putrefaction for as they think there is no God so they live as if there were none Many of these have been convinc'd of their Error even in this Life by the Judgments of God the rest will soon after but these men I suppose rather desire there were no God than believe it Many that own a God fancy to themselves one of their own making a God all of Mercy and no Justice they think he that made them must save them but the Devils find it to the contrary 'T is true he was merciful when he drowned the old World burnt Sodom and Gomorrah with Fire overthrew Pharaoh and his Army in the Red-Sea slew in one night in the Camp of Sennacherib 185000 and will be so at the day of Judgment when he throws the Devil and his Angels and all unrepenting Sinners into Hell And they will find him just as well as merciful and one that will make good his Threats as well as his Promises He hath Power in his Hand to do both and will be no respecter of Persons for if they are wicked by what Name or Titles soever they are dignified or distinguish'd suffer they must Tophet is ordained of old even for the King it is prepared He hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord as a river of Brimstone doth kindle it Isa 30.33 Now they say to God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Job 21.14 But e're long God will say to them Depart from me ye wicked into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels c. Mat. 25.41 Now they will not know God and then God will nor know them Mal. 7.22 Now the rottenness of their Hearts blisters out in their Lips and Tongues and they belch out their unsavoury Breath into the very Face of God himself Now they will none of his counsel but set as nought his reproofs but he will laugh at their destruction and mock when their fear cometh Prov. 1.24 But how light soever they value him now they shall know his Worth to their eternal Torment for they shall for ever lose him and all comfortable Relations to him and with him all that good is the Joys of Heaven the Society of Angels and glorified Saints these indeed they little regard here but they will know their Worth better hereafter It hath been the Speech of some of that Fraternity That if they thought the Puritans and such they called all holy sober serious men were in Heaven and their own Good-fellows and Pot-companions were in Hell they would chuse Hell before Heaven And they are like enough to have their Choice but e're long they would willingly eat those words of theirs Now they hate persecute and revile them and glad they are to be rid of them then they shall be far enough out of their company and out of their reach They think they are not worthy to live in the World whom God thinks the World is not worthy of Heb. 11.35 c. They are cutting off the Bough they stand upon and taking away the Pillars that uphold the Building they laugh at their own Misery and sport themselves with their own Folly they reioice to see their own Houses on Fire and to see their own Wickedness prosper which will be their Ruine but when the mad Fit is over and over it will be e're long when they consider what they have been doing their Note will be changed and their Sport spoiled they will find time enough for Repentance and for every dram of Mirth they will have a pound of Sorrow When God forsakes them and forsaâ—e them he will if they forsake not their Sins whither will they go for help Their Pot-Companions cannot help them for they are under the same Condemnation the World cannot help them for the Earth and all the Works therein shall be burnt up their Riches Honours and Pleasures shall be left behind the Rocks and Mountains cannot cover them these melt at the presence of the Lord their Companions can do them no good they will curse the time that ever they saw the Face each of other the Ordinances which they slighted are then ceased the Ambassadors
Register and records what is done there it will be a Witness a Judge and an Executioner The Memory also will not be in vain but will bring to mind things by us long ago forgotten the Sins committed the Duties omitted the Time lost the Opportunity let slip the Understanding will then know the worth of the things lost the vanity of those we had in exchange and the woful Bargain we have made and for this Conscience will lash to all Eternity 'T is one of the saddest Afflictions that can befal a Man in this Life to be under the Terrors of an enraged Conscience witness Spira that wish'd he were in Hell to know the worst of his Torments This was for one sin but when all their sins with all the aggravations shall stare them in the Face and when Conscience shall have an enlarged Commission it will then speak to purpose and not hold its peace Were a Man to grapple with the Creature it were not so much but who can contend with the Almighty Who can dwell with consuming fire or with everlasting burning Hell is the place where the Prisoner must pay the utmost farthing and God's Vials of Vengeance shall be poured out to the utmost all the Talents lent shall then be required and every vain Thought and every idle Word shall be answered for and every sin of Youth and riper Age of Ignorance and Knowledge Weakness and Wilfulness the sins of every Relation Calling and Employment of Omission Commission and Participation against the Law and against the Gospel with all their Circumstances and Aggravations Oh the numberless Number of bloody Bills will be brought in and fully proved not a vain word or thought or wanton glance of the Eye or wicked or lascivious Gesture or Action will be then omitted or forgiven there they must stay till they have paid the utmost Farthing for God will be no loser by them Those that have exceeded most in Sin shall exceed also in Torments as God threatens Babylon Rev. 18.15 16. No Tongue can tell nor Heart conceive how great their Torments will be for they will be inconceivable and unutterable If all the Tormenting Diseases that ever poor Creature groaned under were inflicted upon one Man and all the Racks and Tortures that ever were invented by Man or Devil were added to it and this Man's Life should be preserved under these Tortures for a Year for a Hundred or a Thousand Years sure it would be a miserable Spectacle But what is this to Hell Torments This reaches only the Body except by Sympathy when Soul and Body are tormented in Hell Or what is a Thousand Years to Eternity A thousand thousand rentings of the Soul from the Body is not so much as one renting of Soul and Body from God There are many now that cannot endure to hear the Devil's Name in a Sermon yet can they endure to lodge him in their Hearts but how will they lodge with him for ever If he now appear in some horrid shape how are they affrighted out of their Wits but how then will they dwell with him for Eternity Now if a Person be in pain they have some intervals some mitigation but there is none or some parts of the Body free when others are tormented but in Hell no Part Power or Faculty is free yet haply those Parts that sinned most may suffer most as the Rich Glutton's Tongue seemed to do their fire goes not out neither doth their worm dye Every Sense there will have its Torment as every Sense here hath its peculiar Sins Whether the Fire there be Material as some imagine or Metaphorical as others more probably conceive it is not much material for us to know and well if we never know if it be Material Fire God adds strength to it otherwise it could not touch the Soul if Metaphorical Fire 't is something more afflictive than our Imaginations can reach however Christ bids us not fear man that can but kill the body haply by Fire but cannot kill the soul but fear him that can cast soul and body into Hell Now our Fire consumes as well as torments but Hell Fire doth not so Wicked Men in Hell are like Moses's Bush always burning but never consumed would Hell-fire consume them it would be happy News but they are like the Salamander they live in it and will do to Eternity they never leave sinning and their sins are as Oyl or Pitch to increase the Flames and God will not leave plaguing them for their sins Jerome tells us their Sins are the Oyl and God's Wrath the Fire and while the Oyl is poured on the Fire will not out Those Bodies that now are so tender they cannot endure Cold nor Heat that must not have the Sun or Wind to see them for spoiling their Beauty will be now exposed to Fire and Flames those that could not away with an ill smell what will they do to endure the smell of burning Brimstone or what is worse represented by it Those that delighted in Pleasant Sights and Shews must here take up with the sight of Infernal Fiends and Leprous Souls far more ugly than the foulest Toad that crawls under our Feet and the choicest Melody will be the Yellings Roarings and Blasphemings of damned Devils and miscarrying Souls and nothing to be felt but Fire or what more is appointed for further Torment How will they dwell with everlasting burning that now cannot away with Summer-heat These Flames will neither regard Age Sex nor Beauty but like the Worms will feed upon one as soon as the other for as the Worms will make their Nests between those Breasts that now are exposed to shew and sale and eat out those wanton Windows of Love and Messengers of Lust and seize upon the fairest Face as on the most deformed Piece and rottenness will consume that Hair that now is made the Nets and Snares to catch our wanton Youth and Prey upon the most Ambitious Nimrod or proudest Person as soon as any other making no difference between the Prince and the Peasant the Dust of both will ere long be mixt and not known asunder so in like manner will they go undistinguished in the Infernal Pit for God will respect no Man's Person in the Judgment nor the Flames in Hell but as their Work is so will be their Reward That there will be degrees in Torment I think is out of doubt for there are degrees in Sin and the Judge of all the Earth will do Righteously Those that know their masters will and do it not shall be beaten with many stripes those that have abused most Talents have most to answer for It shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment than for Corazin and Bethsaida Bloody Persecutors of Christ and his Church are like to have the hottest place in Hell and those that commit that Sin unto Death shall speed worse than those that sin of frailty Those that now would be accounted Roaring
Comfort can I take from the Grant But when the Qualifications are found in the Soul which God hath made necessary to Salvation and to which Heaven and Happiness is promised when the sanctifying regenerating and adopting Works of the Spirit appears there and the Graces of it are found when God's Sheep-mark of Holiness is there impressed this must needs be refreshing to the Soul I know that full Assurance so as to set a man above all doubting the highest Pinacle of Assurance that maximum quod sic beyond which nothing but coelestial Enjoyment can be expected is so rare a Jewel that it adorns the Head or Heart of few Many in the World David himself was sometimes to seek and God's best Servants at a loss but yet through Mercy a comfortable Assurance to keep the Heart from despairing or desponding hath been and is given unto many of the Godly yet not without great Pains and Diligence much Examination and fervent Prayer We are not in this case to look into God's secret Cabinet of his Decrees and Councils to know whether we are elected or no for if we can find the effects of Electing Love and the Graces of the Spirit of God which none wear but the Spouse of Christ we may conclude the Marriage is consummate and we may say My beloved is mine and I am his Cant. 6.3 I am sure he is mine and I can boldly speak it her Faith is unfeigned and her Love unfailable she had got a full gripe of of Christ and is sure nothing can separate them Christ lays hold upon her by his Spirit and she lays hold of Christ by Faith she hath made a total resignation of her self to him and I accept of him in all his Offices and Efficacies saith she he hath given me that which he bestows upon no other and theâ—efore I am sure he loves me The like may we say when we find the like Tokens of his Love and when we find the first Steps of the Spirit in the Soul we may conclude he hath been there Now this Assurance however some men value it not is more comfortable both in Life and Death than the World can procure 't is Heaven upon Earth and a Cordial against the Fear of Death 'T is an Encouragement to work when we know we shall have good Wages and to suffer Loss when we know we shall gain by our Losses but without some comfortable Assurance we cannot look upon Death without Horror and may say of it as Ahab of Elijah Hast thou found me O my Enemy When a man apprehends himself lanching forth into an infinite Ocean of Eternity and knows not but it may be endless who in his right Wits would not tremble Though Grace be present Comfort will be absent if Assurance be wanting What good did Hagar's Well of Water do her when she saw it not or Marys Discourse with Christ when she knew him not What Comfort will a Pardon give to a Malefactor at the place of Execution if it be concealed In Worldly Business we are not so careless to leave all at Uncertainty and must the Soul only be neglected Shall we lye in Debt and not know of any Surety to discharge it and have Souls and not know what will come of them to Eternity 2 Dir. If ever we intend to dye happily we must see Sin dead before us for the Soul and Sin cannot live together but they will be the death of the one or of the other Now Sin is never kill'd till it be hated and looked upon as the most deadly Enemy for who will kill one that he loves 'T is Sin that is the Sting of Death which otherwise would be hurtless and harmless 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law c. Here is the boldest and bravest Challenge that ever rung in Death's Ear wherein the Apostle bids him do his worst for when Sin is dead his Poyson is gone he may buz about our Ears as a drove Bee and haply fright us but cannot hurt us he may strike us but cannot sting us he may like Sampson when his Locks were shorn go forth as at other times and shake himself but his strength is gone the worst he can do is but to send us to our Father's House the sooner Sin in stinging Christ lost his Sting Christ overcame him and took from him the Weapons he trusted in and now we may hug the Serpent in our Bosom Sin when 't is alive sets a Bar in Heaven-gate against us and makes it impossible for us to enter for no unrighteous person nor unclean thing nothing that defileth or worketh abomination shall ever enter Rev. 21.27 no dirty Dog shall ever tread upon the Pavement And as it shuts Heaven-gates so it opens Hell-gates for us and Death as a Porter will let us in Sin is the only Weapon with which the Devil can hurt us and this Weapon we our selves put into his Hands they are Snares of our own making with which he entangles us Cords of our own twisting he leads us Captive in for there is nothing else in the World that can make the Soul miscarry and this is our Misery we naturally delight in those Fetters in which he holds us and glory in our own Slavery The Devil shews us Sin thro' his own Spectacles and by his Paint and Plaster that seems amiable which really is the most loathsome and deformed thing which really makes the Soul the most ugly deformed leprous thing in the World but did we see our selves in this Dress we should come trembling into the Presence of God with Tears in our Eyes Shame in our Faces Sorrow in our Hearts and Confession in our Mouths and if Sin look not with such an Aspect upon us 't is a sign 't is living and not dead in us for a dead Carcass cannot be lovely When a Believer's Sin is mortified he behaves himself to it as Ahasuerus the King towards Haman who had been his greatest Favourite and whom he had advanc'd next to himself in the Kingdom he hates the sight of him and cannot endure him in his presence Esth 7.7 it troubled him that he had lost his Love upon so unworthy a Wretch Even so a Believer mourns that ever he entertain'd such a treacherous Companion as Sin in his Bosom he deals by Sin as the Father of a rebellious Son was commanded to do Dan. 21.18 lays the first Hand upon it and throws the first Stone at it he bears so an irreconcilable a Hatred to it that nothing will satisfie him but its Hearts Blood he is not satisfied as too many are to lay it asleep but dye it must he doth not lop off here a Bough and there a Branch but stocks up the very Root he is not raking at the Channel but cleansing the very Fountain he knows Sin is his greatest Enemy and therefore he
Mercy and like Solomon praised the day of Death before the Birth-day Eccles 4.2 Optimum non nasci proximum mori saith the Heathen but little knew what the result would be But a Christian doubtless call'd out by God should not go unwillingly Philpot the Martyr returns thanks to God he was so near the Gate of Eternal Life and who is it that being tossed with the Waves of Trouble would not land in a Haven of Rest 'T is a shame for a Christian when God gives a clear Call to linger with Lot in Sodom much more to look back with Lot's Wife till the Lord pluck them away by force and deliver them whether they will or no. Those that are weary of Sin or Suffering should say as Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Mistake not I say not that Death is eligible or any should desire it for its own sake no we should use all Lawful means to preserve Life but I reprove those that when the Will of God is manifest that they should dye submit so unwillingly Hath the World been so kind to us that now we cannot part Or is our Portion here so good that Heaven it self cannot make us satisfaction If we part with it doubtless we have then had better dealing than our dear Redeemer met with Are our Temptations so strong that we are ready with the Young Man Demas Judas and many others to break with Christ upon that account 'T is best to consider well before hand lest we Repent too late Hath God been training us up so long and have we not yet learnt this â—esson to be willing to dye Are we content to take this for our Portion And will we rather stay in the Wilderness than venture over this Jordan Will the Flesh-pots of Egypt give satisfaction as well as the Land of Canaan If God were not more willing of us than many of us are to go to him we might be long absent we should live long on this side Jordan if he did not force us over But though Death be not desirable is not the Presence of God desirable Is not Heaven worth having And is there any other way to it We profess we believe there is a reward for the righteous and a God that judgeth the earth but do we not in our works deny it The fear of Death discovers our Infidelity and as our little Faith so our little Love either we proclaim that we question whether there be a Reward or whether we have any Interest in it or it shews we have little love to it If we believe it and our Interest in it is it not a wonder we are not impatient of enjoying it and rather seek to shorten our Lives than prolong them by unlawful means Did we love our Husband as we should we should long for the time when he would fetch us He may well say as Delilah did to Samson How can you say you love me when your hearts are not with me 4. Consider If we chearfully submit our Wills to the Will of God and let him dispose of us as he pleaseth for Life or Death and make a resignation of our selves to God and be willing to part with Life it self if he and his Cause require it whether by a Natural or violent Death we shall then part with it to the most Advantage imaginable nay 't is the only way to save it and to deny it unto God is the way to lose it Mark 8.35 Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel shall save it For what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul We may read of many that refusing to lay down their Lives for Christ have had their Lives taken from them but lost their Reward We read in the Book of Martyrs of one Denton a Smith that had made profession of Religion but being call'd to suffer cried The Fire is hot I cannot burn but within a short time he was burnt in his own House and lost both his Life and his Reward And so shall those that deny their Lives to God when he requires them We may resign our Lives into the hands of God and so engage him to look to them and take care of them but we cannot rescue them out of his Hands or live longer than he determines for we cannot breathe without him and then what madness is it to stand in contention with him If we lose our Souls to save our Lives we shall make a bad Bargain for a Life saved by unlawful means will do us little good for a Life in God's displeasure is worse than Death it self and a Death in his favor is the beginning of Eternal Life and ushers us into Eternal Happiness The Martyrs in the flames were aware of this they cried out None but Christ none but Christ 'T is a dear Life that is bought with the loss of Christ he that exchanges his Soul for the World will with the Rich man Luk. 16. dye a Beggar but will not be able to purchase one drop of Water he that loseth an immortal Soul purchaseth an everliving Death and is it not our Interest to look to the main Jewel Where Self is renounced the Cross is easily born for 't is Self-love that makes it pinch us When God bids us Yoke 't is our best way to submit our Necks for there is no struggling out of his hands God will not require our Lives to our hurt or damage neither will it prove any Advantage to us if we deny them for if we lose them for his sake we shall find them and if we would hide them from him we shall lose them and Heaven to boot He that lays down his Life when God requires it will gain by the bargain when Death strips him of his Rags 't is to cloath him with Robes and pulls down his Cottage to bring him to a Palace 2 Pet. 1.14 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know that if this earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens This saith Latimer is the Sweet-meats of the Feast of a good Conscience there are other dainty Dishes but this is the Banquet The Soul wears the Body as a Garment which when 't is worn out shall be clothed with a better Suit There is no passing into Paradise but under Death's flaming Sword no coming to the City of God but through his dark Vault and strait Gate no wiping all Tears from our Eyes but with our Winding-sheet Our life is hid saith the Apostle with Christ in God Col. 3.3 and therefore not lost And again he tells us 2 Tim. 1 2. I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day Let him that died for my Soul
saith Luther look to the Salvation of it A Child that hath a precious Jewel cannot put it safer than in his Father's hands the like we may say of our Lives and Souls if we 'l have the keeping and disposing of them our selves the Devil will rook us out of them but what is committed to God cannot be lost our Lives though laid down for Christ cannot be lost in him 't is but as the Seed sown Life eternal will spring up in the turn when temporal Life expires eternal Life begins My Father saith Christ is greater than all and none can pluck them out of my Fathers hands Joh. 10.29 There is nothing we can expend in God's Service but he can make satisfaction we may lose all we have for him but shall lose nothing by him if we deny to honour God in letting God dispose of our Lives as to the time and manner of our Death we shall lose them for nothing To live saith Paul is Christ and to die is gain he was in a strait whether to chuse life or death yet he knew to die was best for him Phil. 1.21 c. Janua vitae est porta coeli saith Bernard Christians should be so indifferent whether they lived or died as to submit their wills wholly to God's will to die for Christ is the way to a Crown of Martyrdom and the way to reign with Christ is to suffer with him a Self-resignation can do us no hurt but much good for if we are never call'd to suffer we shall not lose our Reward God takes the will for the deed as in Abraham's case And if we do suffer for him we shall reign with him and have white robes with palms in our hands and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Rev. 12.11 7.9 And shall not we suffer something for this Honour or shall we after all this Profession of Religion declare to the World that all was but Hypocrisie and that we have more love to Sin and the World than we have to God Is not this the way to dishonour God discredit Religion harden Wicked men in Sin and endanger our own Souls 5 Cons In the last place to make us more willing to dye or to submit to God's Will whether for Life or Death are the Joys and Delights and Pleasures which believing Souls shall have in the Presence of God for ever and for ever and that immediately after Death for as then all tears shall be wiped away and sin and sorrow shall be no more so our Joys and Pleasures shall then commence 1 Joh. 3.2 Now we are the sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Great things we have in Hand but greater in Hope much in Possession more in Reversion our Happiness then will be in seeing and enjoying him which we cannot do on this side Death but what our Enjoyments shall be there no mortal man can come to know not the Apostle who was caught up into the third Heaven and heard unspeakable words that it was not lawful for a man to utter 2 Cor. 12.4 Yet he tells us 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither hath it enter'd into the heart of man to conceive the things that God hath prepared for those that love him Yet he reserves not all for the Life to come some clusters of Canaans Grapes are bestowed in the Wilderness some Pisgah-sights of Glory on this side Jordan But 't is no wonder we cannot describe the Joys of Heaven when we are such strangers to many Secrets in Nature In the World Believers have such joy as no stranger shall meddle with Prov. 14.10 The Cock on the Dunghil knows not the Worth of these Jewels they are unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 they are a Harâ—â—el of Heaven and a Fore-taste of Eternal Life yea such as passeth all Understanding fitter to be believed than to be exprest to which all the Comforts which the World affords signifie nothing for what shall we compare with the Peace of a good Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost And yet this is but a small tast a branch of Canaans Grapes and nothing compared with what is behind to be eternally enjoyed But if the Saints Enjoyments so darkly resemble Heavens Glory what will the Epicure's Delights do which they chose for their Portion Not so much resemble it as a Muckhil doth the Sun in his Splendor The Drunkard delights in his Cups the Adulterer in his Queans and this they look upon to be the chiefest Happiness the covetous man makes Gold his God the ambitious man makes choice of that empty Bubble Honour and the voluptuous man contents himself with Pleasure these are the Syren Songs the Devil lulls them asleep with while he ruines their Souls these are the Circe's Charms which transforms them into Swine and makes them take up with Husks and Swill and to neglect that Nectar and Ambrosia which the Saints feed upon Have I need to shew that Happinese consists not in these things Is any so blind upon consideration as to affirm it Where is their Happiness then when their Cups and Queans are snatch'd and all other their Enjoyment leave them 'T is true Meat is delightful to the Hungry and Drink to the Thirsty Health to the Sick and Strength to the Weak but what is this to an hungring thirsting panting weary Soul Christ is better to it than all the World Stately Buildings curious Gardens pleasant Walks and the rest of the Delights of the Sons of Men mentioned by Solomon Eccl. 2.8 c. how little satisfaction can they yield they will prove but empty Husks if we feed upon them what are those to those Mansions of Glory provided for the Saints and the Rivers of Pleasures which are at the right hand of God for evermore Yea I dare say many a poor Believer hath more solid Joy more Hearts Content more true Satisfaction in his poor Cell than many of those in the midst of all their Enjoyments What then will their Enjoyments be in Heaven when they shall receive their Portion Human Learning also is desirable and more beautiful saith Aeneas Sylvius than the Morning or the Evening-Star What hard Labour and Pains have many a man taken to find out Nature's Secret and at best have but groaped in the dark And many all 〈…〉 Mystery there is in the Book of God which no man living understands the Scripture being like the Waters of the Sanctuary Ezek. 47.2 c. where a Lamb might wade and an Elephant might swim but there our Ignorance shall vanish and all those difficulties disappear and we shall know as much of God himself as finite Capacities can comprehend Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now we know but in part but then shall know as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 2 Cor. 3.18 Here we can see but by reflection for how can our Eyes behold God that cannot view the Sun in its splendor Moses himself could but view his Back-side and Paul was blinded with the Sight but the Beatifical Vision will not disturb us Now we behold the Works of God with admiration the Sun Moon and Stars and all the Host of Heaven the Earth also hanged upon nothing beautified with all Varieties the Sea bounden and barr'd by him and generally the whole Creation these are beautiful Objects and many inscrurable Mysteries we understand not but there we shall see and know far greater Mysteries in the Fabrick of Heaven it self His Works of Providence many times puts us to a puzzle how he governs all the World and preserves Peace among so many disagreeing Creatures especially how he preserves his own Church amidst their numerous Enemies and makes Provision for all the works of his Hands but when we are better acquainted with his Wisdom and Power these Wonders will cease The Work of Redemption and the manner of contriving it that he let fall the Angels irrecoverably without hope of Redemption the reason of his Electing Love and why he made a difference the Price that was paid the Blood of his only Son may cause admiration but when we know the whole Contrivance we shall admire his Wisdom Oh who would not long to be in that estate of Blessedness where these and all things else shall be made known to us which cannot be till Death Thus Madam I have made bold haply too bold to communicate to you my own Experiences and with what Arguments I have quieted my self under such sad Dispensations of Providence as at present you lye under and to shew you what improvement I have made or at leastwise desire to make of them and I hope I may truly say it was good for me that I was afflicted and I wish you may experimentally say the same I think I have learned more in the School of Affl ction of the sinfulness of Sin of the Vanity of the Creature of Worth of Grace the Miseries of the Wicked and the Happiness of the Godly than ever I did in any other School whatsoever And I wish you and all your Relations that are concerned in this Providence may gain as much as I yea terque quaterque manifold more I do not write these things to you as if you were ignorant of them no I am too well acquainted with you to be guilty of this Error but the best of us especially when under a Cloud and overpower'd with Grief have need of a Remembrancer to put 〈◊〉 in mind of what before we knew My humble Desire is and my Prayer shall be that you and your Relations by this Providence and these Oâ—servations upon it may be brought nearer to GOD weaned more from the World and your selves fitter to live and fitter to dye that when you come to dye you may have nothing to do but to dye and resign up your Souls into the Hands of God These are the unfeigned Desires of Madam your humble Servant Edward Bury Eaton Apr. 16. 16â—5
Barrel as one saith or as Lime-stones or Tiles in a Kiln to be burnt The greatest Men are but as Passengers in an Inn the Goods they enjoy are but lent them for a Night and they may say of them as the Prophet of his Ax Alas Master for it is borrowed We should use these things as a Traveller doth his Staff which he keeps or throws away as it proves a help or an hindrance to him When we go to Bed we know not but we may wake in Eternity next Morning and then whose are these We should think never the better of our selves neither think we are the safer for them for they cannot better or secure us for what World we shall be in to Morrow we know not and then it will not be much to us whether we leave Poverty or Riches behind us Riches may make us more unwilling often more unfit to dye They are like to Winter Weather variable and uncertain or like the Sea ebbing and flowing a double uncertainty always accompanies them they may be taken from us or we from them sometimes our hopes are great and then soon dash'd Yet how soon can the Devil blow up the bubble of Pride with the wind of Vain-glory 'T is observed that a Covetous Man a Sick Man and a Discontented Man though they possess much yet can enjoy nothing when a Believer though he possess little yet he enjoys all things 2 Cor. 6.10 A Covetous Man cannot be Rich nor a contented Man Poor those that have God for their Portion want nothing and those that have not have nothing that is truly necessary If we search the World from end to end we cannot find Happiness in it and therefore in the loss of all Job was content as knowing his Redeemer lived and then his Happiness was not lost In the World we find a little Honey and many Stings a little bitter-sweet Pleasure and much Pain but in Heaven there is Treasure worth the enjoying And rivers of pleasures at God's right hand for evermore And a Heart in Heaven would be a good Evidence for Heaven if we love Pleasure we shall enter into our Master's Joy here Pleasure will be without mixture measure or end if Riches be desirable here are true Treasures if we sell all to buy this Pearl we make a good Bargain here we may have Wine and Milk without money and without price here is no danger of coveting too much the more we covet the more we shall have a true desire is the required condition of Enjoyment the better we love Heaven the better God loves us We are in continual danger of losing the the things of the World but Heaven cannot be lost if once made sure In a word the World daily exposeth us to the wrath of God and the pains of Hell and the loss of Heaven See then all these things considered whether the World be of so much worth as 't is usually taken to be and whether it be worth the Care Industry Pains and Diligence we usually bestow upon it Lesson 3. The shortness of your Daughter's Life the suddenness and unexpectedness of her Death teach us also the worth of Grace and the necessity of a good Conscience for these are the necessary Qualifications to fit us for Death and to give us an Interest in Glory We know neither the day nor the hour when our Lord and Master cometh and woe to us if we are found unprepared This Oyl must not be wanting when the Bridegroom comes nor the Wedding-Garment at the Marriage-Supper If a bare Profession of Religion would serve turn for Salvation then Christ's Flock would not be a little one but many are called but few are chosen There are many in the World that like Uriah carry Letters with them of their own Condemnation For if Religion be not good why do they Profess it If it be why do they not Practice it The Lamps of Profession without the Oyl of Grace will not serve turn 't is but sparks of their own kindling and notwithstanding these they will lye down in sorrow Isa 50.11 Christ must be apprehended by Faith and honoured by a Holy Life by all those that shall enjoy him He came to save us from sin as well as from Hell and never changeth the Relation but he changeth the Nature and Disposition also and is the Author of Sanctification as well as of Justification Rom. 8.30 For this Golden Chain cannot be broken There is nothing but the Life of Grace and the Death of Sin can make us fit for the Life of Glory for if Sin dye not before us we must dye eternally Now we know not whether we have a day to live or what may be in the Womb of the next Morning and is it not then time to look about us whether we are prepared to dye or no We usually prepare for a Journey before hand especially if it be long and for a Fair or Market before it comes The Souldier will not Encounter his Enemy without his Armour and dare we grapple with Death unprepared who is the King of Terrors and a Terror to Kings We have not Flesh and Blood to wrastle with but Principalities and Powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places Ephes 6.11 12. And 't is a thousand times better to meet an Enemy without Armour than Death without Grace Now this is our time to get Grace and we know not how soon the Market will be over and Night come when no man can work Upon this little Inch of Time depends Eternity our Everlasting well as ill Being The greatest Weights hang upon the smallest Wyers Grace though it cannot pâ—event Death yet it sweetens it and steels the Heart against the dint of it this made Old Simeon sing that Swan-like Song Luke 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace c. And Paul desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ And though Grace now be disrespected it will prove the best Flower in the Garland and the most Orient Pearl in the Crown This is the Key that must let us into Heaven when the World will prove a Bar to keep us out it will prove a Comfort at Death when the World will prove but Vexation Grace and Peace were the choicest Jewels the Apostle could wish to those he loved Heb. 3.25 1 Pet. 1.2 Riches Honours and Pleasures are not of so great a value but others are not of this mind The pleased Face of God cannot be seen but in this Mirrour when all other things vanish into smoak this will endure this fetches Water from the Fountain Light and Heat from the Sun and all that good is comes in at this Door Sin is the only Make-bate between God and the Soul and Grace the Reconciler Now that I may shew you something of the worth of Grace and the Necessity of it I beseech you observe well these following Considerations 1. Consid Grace and a good Conscience are abundantly useful and
necessary even in the Affairs of this Life as well as hereafter to carry us through the World with comfort and content which cannot otherwise be had and miserable are those that want it however they may dream they are happy Many are the Troubles we meet with here and 't is Grace that keeps the Heart from sinking under them The most pinching Calamity and the most smart 〈◊〉 Rod are by Grace chearfully endured Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord will deliver them out of all but 'T is Faith must suck sweetness from this and the like Promises But what Comfort flows hence to those that have not Faith A Godly Man knows Through many tribulations he must enter into heaven What is this to wicked Men when they shall be violently thrown through these Briars and Thorns into the Pit of Hell David could say It is well for me that I was afflicted Psal 119.71 It was a Furnace to refine him and purge away his Dross but where it meets with nothing but Dross it will consume Fish will live and grow best in cold and salt Waters and 't is said of the Wallnut-tree the more 't is beaten the better it bears and of the Camomile that it spreads best when 't is most trod upon so do God's Vines the more they are pruned and prickt and made to bleed quae nocent docent a Lesson set on with whipping is best remembred But observe there must be Life in the Fish before they can grow and in the Trees before they can bear and in Christians before they can thrive by Affliction Hewing may make a Tree fitter for the Fire but not more fruitful if it have no Life Affliction makes a good Man better but a bad Man worse who are under the Rod like wild Bulls in a net Isa 51.20 Impatient and Turbulent Swearing Ranting and Blaspheming Rev. 16.9 10.21 Clear Water when 't is shaken in a Glass remains clear but if there be Mud at the bottom shaking discovers it the rottenness of the Lungs discovers it self by the breath and if there be rottenness at the Heart it will appear by the unsavoury belches at the Mouth Holy Job was not of this Humour he is the same in Prosperity and Adversity on the Throne and on the Dunghill for he blessed God for taking away as well as for giving Job 1.21 A Believer is satisfied Affliction cannot separate him from God and then he fears not any other separation Paul and Silas can sing in a Prison when many a Man trembles in a Palace Philpot and his fellows can be as merry in the Bishop of London's Cole-house as the Bishop can be in his Bed of Down God and a good Conscience are good Companions in a Pâ—ison and a guilty Conscience is a bad Companion in a Palace as Nero and many others have experienced Grace made Daniel venture boldly on the Lion's Den and the three Worthies upon the Fiery Furnace and was David's Comfort at Ziklag when Saul in his Troubles went to the Witch or rather to the Devil for help And as Grace and a good Conscience bear up the Head above Water in Affliction when others sink so also it bears up the Heart against Reproaches and is a special Antidote against the Poison of Venemous Tongues and indeed nothing but Sincerity can do it this beats back the Reproaches into the Reproacher's Face and helps to cast this Burden on the Lord as knowing in due time he will clear the Innocent and will not let the Guilty go free Now Reproaches is a Burden that those of whom the World was not worthy had a share Heb. 11.36 and the best of Men had a portion and some drink very deep of this Cup as David Jeremy Amos Elisha Isaiah yea and Christ himself Luke 16.14 And none on this side Hell have suffered more of this kind than the Godly have done and none on this side Heaven have born it better and it is Grace that enables them so to do Innocence is no Target against Calumny Contra Sycophanti morsum non est remediam no Shield against the back-bitings of a slanderous Tongue but Grace it is that keeps the Poison from the heart In the Primitive Times and in later days none have been more reproach'd than true Christians that Machiavilian Principle hath been exactly imitated Calumniare audactis aliquid saltem adhaerebit Reproach freely something will stick if the Wound be cured the Scar will remain But Believers Innocency Triumphs in the Conscience of their greatest Accusers and they can say as Job Till I dye I will not leave my Integrity Job 27.5 6. If there be fair Weather within no matter what Storms are without if the Bird in the bosom sing sweetly no matter what others say or swear Christ himself though free from Sin yet was not free from Reproach he was called a Drunkard a Glutton a Companion of Publicans and Sinners an Enemy to Caesar a Blasphemer one that was a Samaritan and had a Devil and cast out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils they buffered him spit in his Face and mocked him But a good Conscience wipes off all these Reproaches and casts them back into the Reproacher's Face and 't is better than a Thousand Witnesses either in accusing or excusing if Conscience Accuse the World cannot Justifie and if it be clear no matter though all the World condemn us In this case of false Accusation Christ bids us rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great will be our reward in heaven Mat. 5.11 12. When the Apostles were beaten before the Counsel they went away rejoycing that they were accounted worthy to suffer for Christ Acts 5.41 They knew this would add weight to their Crown of Glory and would not accept of Deliverance like those Heb. 11.35 c. But Ahithophel for want of Grace under far easier Tryals hang'd himself Grace makes Men trust God when Deliverance is out of sight when others cannot for while their chiefest Treasure is safe they are well enough they know if they lose all for Christ they shall lose nothing by him but shall have in heaven a more enduring substance They can live upon their Faith and upon their Hope when all things else fails them like the Church Heb. 3.17 18. Though all outward things fail yet the Heart established with Grace will not down they know there is Balm enough in Gilead and Oyl enough in the Horn of their Salvation And though the Pipes are cut there is Water enough in the Fountain though the Creature cannot help the Creator can His hand is not shortened that he cannot save nor his ear heavy that â—t cannot hear If God said the Martyr take away my Meat he will take away my Hunger one Meals-meat will suffice a Moses an Elijah forty days for God hath promised and he will perform it that the Righteous shall want nothing that is good The just shall live by Faith and the Prayer of Faith