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That our life is in the hand of God, that we shold not be pleased with it, but as it pleaseth him, ready to lay it downe when it plea∣seth him.
This is the great comman∣dement, to loue God aboue all, and this is the greatest obe∣dience required of man, to be ready to dye at the will of God.
Against this commande∣ment the nature of man stri∣ueth,
the delights of this life rise against it, we are loth to make our beds in the darke: we would see the Sunne, our eares would heare worldly elements; our flesh indeed is grasse, yet grasse hath a flowre, and our frayle bodies haue vanishing fantasies, a∣greeable vnto them, from which we cannot bee pulled away. So Patriarches and Prophets were afraid: yea, Peter and Paule loued that life which they saw in hope, but they did feele the death, which did fight in their members; they were men as we are, yet obtained at last, to bee dissolued and bee with Christ. If we be weaker then they, the graces of God shall bee more exalted in vs, and
wee shall also say at the last, Let thy seruant, O Lord, de∣part in peace. And ••••ough wee feare for a little ••••ile, yet feare shall bee cast out, and we shall say with a free spirit, O death, where is thy sting? Our greatest enemy & last, is troden vnder our feet; what else can hurt vs? The Lord of life hath crushed him in pieces vnder vs.
It is a blessed day that bringeth vs into this battel, a blessed sicknesse that ma∣keth vs indure this fight; and most blessed end, in which wee get victory. This doth he who said, O death I will be thy death; for while wee liue, we liue in him, and no man can take our ioy from vs: and when we dye, we dye in
him and then death shall be no more death; for then the burthen of sinne, the malice of the Deuill, and terrour of hell shall cease. All things that fill with ioy shall be full within vs; as the fellowshippe of Saints and Angels, the for∣giuenesse of sinnes, the Resur∣rection of the body, and life e∣uerlasting, &c. yea, and the God of glory. Our eyes shall bee enlightned with a pure faith, and we shall think our time wearinesse, if then our time were prolonged, and be a soiourner in this body, in which wee are strangers from the presence of the Lord.
And the neerer our time approcheth, the gladder wee shall bee of the end of our
iourney, when our heart shal•• feele it: For when the earthly house of this Tabernacle shalbe destroyed, wee haue a building giuen of God, a house not made with hands, but eternall in the heauens, where the God of al mercy, and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ shall bee before vs for euer.
There wee shall see the Patriarches of whom wee haue heard so much; the Prophets whom we haue lo∣ued; the Apostles whose so∣ciety wee wish for; where our time shal not be tedious, and glory haue no change: O happy daies that shall ne∣uer end! O blessed inheri∣tance that shall neuer waste! There shall be no more sor∣row, nor crying, &c. For the
first things are past, and what haue we here that can please vs? Feare of our enemy, griefe in pouerty, paine in labour, care in riches, vn∣stedfaftnesse in friendship, enuy in Authority, emulati∣on in Honor, change in No∣bility, feare in a Kingdome, what but vexation of spirit in all things that is vnder the Sunne? So true it is, Vanity of vanities, and all is but va∣nity.
What then can disquiet vs, if in the face of Christ Ie∣sus, we see our rising againe from the graue? Who hath giuen vs inheritance in plea∣sant places, and our portion in a happy lot: the dead man feareth no euill, he is only bit∣ter to them that haue peace in
their riches: then we shalbe bold to say, Surely the Lord wil deliuer mee from the snare of the hunter, and from the noi∣some pestilence:* 1.1 I shall not be afraid of the feare of the night, nor of the arrow that flyeth by day, nor of the pestilence that walketh in the darkenes, nor of the plague that destroyeth a•• noone: I haue set the most high to be my refuge, and there shal no eu••ll come neere my taberna∣cle. For among the dead I haue seene Christ, and in the graue I haue found the glory of God; and therfore do say, Let me dye with the righteous, and let my latter end be as vn∣to him: for Christ is my life, & death is my aduantage: why then should we not desire to see the louing kindnesse of the
Lord, which is better then life: Yea,* 1.2 as the Hart longeth after the water brookes, so our soules long to see the Lord. Lord grant wee may haue euen here our conuersation in hea∣uen, from thence looking for a Sauiour, euen Iesus Christ the righteous, who shall change this corruptible bo∣dy, to make it like to his glo∣rious body, in that blessed time which shall scatter a∣way all affliction, and seale within vs the happy assu∣rance of immortality, which shall bee in the presence of the God of Grace. Amen.
Ps. 91. &c.
Psal. 42.1.