when JESUS CHRIST will appear from Heaven with the Hoft of all his Immortal Angels and Saints, to incourage us to the Incounter. He will come with an incouraging Voice of an Archangel, and the last Trumpet fhall found. Then Death will endeavour to keep us ftill in its black Prifons,and our Bones will be found without Life or Motion; but the Spirit of GOD fhall breathe upon these dry Bones,and will cause them to revive. As when the Prophet Jonas was three Days and three Nights in the Belly of the Whale, GOD commanded the Fish to vomit him up again upon the Ground: Thus when we fhall have made fo long our Abode in our Graves, as GOD hath appointed in his Wisdom, Death fhall be forc'd to reftore all that it hath fwallow'd. And as Daniel came out of the Lions Den by break of Day, thofe favage Beafts having done him no harm: Thus at the break of the laft Day, at the rifing of the Sun of Righteoufnefs, we fhall all go out of Death's deep Den; and as if GOD had fent an Angel on purpose to fhut the Mouth of this old Lion, we fhall then find that it fhall have done us no harm. Inftead of devouring us, it will prove a faithful Keeper of our Bones. The Faithful then may speak to Death in the language of the Prophet Micah, Rejoyce not against me, O mine Enemy, when I fall I shall rise, when I fit in Darkness the Lord fhall be a Light unto me, Mic. 7.8. As Mofes faid to Pharaoh, We will go into the Wilderness to Sacrifice unto our God, we will go out of thine Egypt with our Young and with our Old, with our Sons and with our Daughters, with our flocks and with our herds, there fhall not an hoof be left behind, Exod. 10. Thus we in an holy Confidence, may talk with Death, Maugre thy Rage and Fury, we will go up to Heaven to Sacrifice to our GOD immortal Praifes; we fhall get out of thy Fetters, We, our Wives, our Children, our Brothers and Sifters, our Parents and Friends, all the People of God, whom thou doft at prefent keep in a close restraint. Notwithstanding the Infernal Attempts of thine inhuman Power, there

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D 4

fhall

fhall not remain fo much as an handful, no not fo much as the leaft grain of our Ashes behind.

When the Son of GOD fhall appear in his Glory from Heaven, He shall confume all Death's Trophies and Monuments with irrefiftable Flames. So that it fhall happen to this imperious Enemy of Mankind, as it happen'd to the Kings of the Amorites mention'd in the Ifraelitish History, Joh.10. Joshua fuffer'd them to live until he was return'd from his Victory, and when he had perfectly overcome all his Enemies, he commanded them to be brought forth, and gave order to his Captains to tread upon their Necks, and with his own Sword he dispatch'd them,caft them into a Cave, and caus'd great Stones to be rowl'd at the entrance of it. Thus fhall our true and Celestial Joshua deal with Death; He fuffers it to reign while He is gone to purfue his Enemies; for the laft Enemy that shall be deftroy'd by Him, is Death. When He fhall have perfectly fubdu'd all other Enemies, He will crown all his Victories with a glorious End, and accomplish the Church's Triumph, by caufing us to trample upon Death, that fhall be caft into the bottomlefs Pit, whereof the entrance fhall be fhut up for ever, Rev.10. Then fhall be accomplish'd this glorious Prophecy, Death is swallowed up in Victory, 1 Cor. 15. For the Spirit of GOD affures us in exprefs Terms, That Death fhall be no more.

By what we have faid, it may eafily appear what is become of the Rope thrice twifted by the Devil; with an intent to Strangle therewith all Mankind. The Son of GOD hath cut in pieces the firft of these unhappy Tyes, by his Almighty Power. By the Spirit of Sanctification He loofes the fecond by degrees; and by the laft He draws us to himself, and then He burns and confumes it altogether. Therefore we have no reafon to fear an Eternal Death, nor to tremble when Hell opens wide its Jaws. If we refift the Devil, he flies away from us, Jam. 4. At laft we fhall trample him under our Feet, Rom. 16. 'Tis true, that the fad

and

and doleful effects of the Spiritual Death commonly draw out of us many a fad Groan and Tear,whilft our Soul remains in this finful Flesh. We are already got out of the Tombs of Corruption and Sin, but yet bear about us, as it were, our Winding-fheet, and fome odd Reliques of our natural Mifery. But we have this Confideration to comfort our drooping Spirits, That Christ will shortly give the fame Order from Heaven for us, as He did for Lazarus, Loofe him and let him go, Joh. II. So that instead of the Corruption of our Nature, that is fo incommodious to us, He w ill investus in an Estate of Glory, Incorruption, Immortality,and perfect Happiness. In relation to the natural Death, we may juftly fay, That our Lord and Saviour hath freed us from all the Fears that it might caufe in us. So that 'tis my Judgment, that we may not only affirm, that we have not the leaft Apprehenfion of it, but we may expect it with Confidence; for if we be truly of the Number of the Faithful, and GOD's adopted Sons, we hope, defire, and haften Death's arrival by our most earneft and paffionate Wishes.

What I have already declar'd in this Chapter, might fatisfy any Chriftian Soul, and furnish it with fufficient Confiderations to ftrengthen it against all Apprehenfions of Death. Now, as one that wants to buy Stuffs in a Shop, when he cheapens fuch as are flight, and of a small value, he cafts an Eye only upon a Piece, or Pattern, and by that judges of the reft; but when he intends to purchase a rich Tapestry of great Value, he defires to vifit and confider every part, one after another, and make an Estimation of the Value and Beauty of every Corner: So I judge, that the Wife and Religious Reader will defire now, That as I have difcover'd to him in grofs, the Body of Confolations against the Fears of Death, I fhould in the next Place unfold thefe hidden Excellencies, produce every part of them by degrees to his Contemplation, and with my Pen, make him take Notice of all the Rarities.

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CHAP. VI.

From whence proceed the Fears of Death.

Sa wife and discreet Phyfician ufually examines with care, the Caufes of the Disease before he prefcribes a Remedy; and as an experienced Chirurgeon fearcheth the Wound before he claps the Plaifter to it; thus I judge it neceffary to feek with Diligence from whence the Fears of Death proceed, before we fhall appoint the Remedies to the faithful Souls. For when we fhall perfectly underftand the nature of the Difeafe and its principal Causes, we shall without difficulty be better able to affign a Convenient Remedy. When we fhall have fearch'd the Wound, and wash'd it clean, we will with God's Affiftance pour into it the true Balm of Gilead.

First, we have juft Reason to accufe ourselves of too much unmindfulness of Death. We don't meditate fo often as we should, upon the mifery and frailty of our poor decaying Nature. We acknowledge it, I confefs, with our Tongues, that our Life is but a breath in our Noftrils, a vapour that foon disappears, a fhadow that quickly vanishes away; but in the mean time we flatter ourfelves in our Hearts with more pleasant Thoughts and Defires, as Herod, that Men fhould look upon us as fo many little Gods, Acts 12. We fuffer ourselves to be deceived by the flattering Infinuations of our corrupted Flefh, and by the delufive Suggestions of the old Serpent, that Whispers to us, as to our firft Parents, You shall not die, Gen. 3.

2. We commonly affirm, that Death is inexorable; nevertheless for the most part we live as if we had made an Agreement with Death, and had fecret intelligence with the Grave, Ifa. 22. Death approaches with Feet of Wool,without noife; we imagine therefore that it will never come near us, as that wicked Servant of the Gospel, Mat. 24, who concluded from

his Mafters delays of coming, that he would not come at all. We hate and abominate the fight of all things that represent to us any Appearance of Death, or that call to our Minds its remembrance. If at any time its Image comes in our way, we turn from it our Eyes, and banish out of our Fancy all Imaginations of it, as of a moft odious and deceitful Illufion. Death feizeth upon us before we have well thought whether we be mortal or no. Therefore we are furpriz'd and aftonished at the approaches, and we become like the foolish Ifraelites, that trembled and fled befote Goliah, because they were not accustomed to be

hold him.

3. We depend too much upon Second Caufes. We look upon Death as a thing that happens by chance, or as an Evil that may be prevented, or at leaft put away from us for a time; from us for a time; whereas we should be fully perfuaded, that GOD hath determined and appointed, not only Death itself, but alfo all the Causes and Means by which it commonly happens. Therefore we are often fill'd with Difpleasure, and reduc'd to murmur and repine against GOD. We grin and bite the ftone, instead of adoring in all humility that wife Hand that caft it. In a word, when ever Death comes to us, we are ready to fay to it, as the Devils to our Saviour, Wherefore art thou come to torment us before the time? Matth. 3.

4 We are too much tied to this Earth, we are fo united to the World, that we would willingly make here our Abode for ever, and cannot abide to hear that Death will remove us. Our Lufts have no bounds, and we often spend ourselves in the purfuance of these miferable Advantages. When we draw nearest to the end of our Life,and of our mortal Race, 'tis then, that many are moft earnest to make large Provifions of Worldly Vanities. We build ftately Dwellings, and fumptuous Palaces at that very moment, when we fhould think of nothing but of building our Tomb, and preparing our Winding-fheet. We