The Cure of the Fear of Death, Chapter 11
CHAP. XI.
The miseries of life in respect of our selues.
THus hauehave we cause to be weary of life in respect of GOD, the euill Angels, and the World. Now, if there were none of these to molest vsus, yet man hath enough in himselfe to marre the liking of this present life. For
1 The remainders of corruption of nature still The causes in our selues why wee should not be in louelove with life.lye like a poyson, a leprosie, a pestilence in thee, thou art vnderunder cure indeed, but thou art not sound from thy sore: thou art Lazarus still. This very consideration made Paul weary of his life, when he cried out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliuer me from this body of death! Rom. 7. And if in this respect wee bee not of Pauls minde, it is because wee want of Pauls goodnes & grace. And this corruption of nature is the more greeuous, if wee consider either the generality of the spreading the infection, or the incurablenes of it, or the ill effects of it.
1. For the first, this is a Leprosy that spreads all ouer. There is no soūd part in vsus, our mindes, our memories, our wills, and affections; yea, our very cō sciences are still impure within vsus, there is no good nature in vsus in any one faculty of our soules, but there is a miserable mixture of vile infection.
2. Secondly, this is the worse, because this is incurable. There lyeth vponupon vsus a very necessity of sinning, wee cannot but offend. Of the flesh it vvas wel said, I can neither liue with thee, nor without thee. The flesh is an inseparable ill companion of our liues, we can goe no whether to auoide it, &c.
Thirdly, if we consider but some of the effects of this corruption in vsus, as
1. The ciuill warre it 4. Effects of corruption of nature in vsus.causeth in our soules, there is no businesse can be dispatched, that concernes our happinesse, without a mutiny in our own hearts. The flesh is a domesticall Rebel, that daily lusts against the Spirit, as the Spirit hath reason to lust against the flesh, Gal. 5. 17.
2. Secondly, the insufficiency it breeds in vsus for our callings. The greatest Apostle must in this respect cryout, Who is sufficient for these things? Though Gods worke bee all faire worke, yet we see, that eueryevery mā is extreamly burthened with the defects, and mistakings, and insufficiencies, which befall him in his course of life.
3. It workes a perpetuall madnesse in the heart of a man, in some respects worse then that of some lunatickes: For they are mad at some times of the yeare, onelyonly, or chiefly; but man is seldome, or neuer free from this inward madnesse of heart. Salomon saith, The heart of the sonnes of men is full of euil, and madnesse is in their hearts while they liue, and after that, they goe to the dead. Now this madnesse appeares in this, that men can neuer bring their harts to a settled contentment in the things they inioy, but Death comes vponupon them, before they know how to improue the ioy of their hearts in the blessings they enioy, whether Temporall or Spirituall. This vile corruption of nature diffuseth gall into althat a man possesseth; so as it marreth the taste of eueryevery thing.
4. It fils our hearts and liues with innumerable euils; it ingenders, & breeds infinitely, swarmes of euill thoughts, and desires, and aboundance of sinnes in mens liues and conuersations, so as godly Dauid cries out; Innumerable euils hauc compassed mee about, and I am not able to looke vp. They were more then the haires of his head, therefore his heart failed him, Ps. 40. 12.
5. It is continually mad to betray vsus to Sathan and the world, in all the occasions of our life.
6. It will play the Tyrant, if it get any head, and leade vsus …, and giuegive wretched Lawes to the members: yea, eueryevery sinne, which is the brat bred of this corruption, is like a fury to fright and amaze vsus: there is a very race of deu…s br… in vsus, when Sathan and the Flesh ingender together in vsus.
2. And as we are thus miserable in respect of the remainders of corruption, so are we in respect of the remainders of the punishment of sinne vponupon our spirits: Our hearts were neuer fully free, since the first transgression, our minds are yet full of darknesse; that euen godly men do seriously cry out, They are but as beasts; they hauehave not the vnderstanding of men in them: And in many passages of life they carry thēselues like beasts, Prou. 3. 3. Ps. 139. Eccl. 3. 18. The ioyes of Gods presence are for the greatest part kept from vsus: our consciences are still but in a kinde of prison: when they go to the seat of iudgement to giuegive sentence in any cause, they come forth with fetters vponupon their legs, as prisoners themselues; besides the many personall scourges light vponupon our soules in this life.
3. Lastly, the very condition of our bodies should not be ouer-pleasing to vsus: our deformities, and infirmities, and the danger of further diseases, should tire vsus out, and make vsus account it no louely thing to be present in the body, while we are absent from the LORD. And thus of the miseries of our liues also. Now it remaines, that I should proceed to the second sort of contemplations, that is, those that are remouals: namely such meditations, as take off the obiections, which are in the hearts of men.