The Practice of Piety, Treatise · Part 30 – Part 31
The second sort of Meditations are, to consider from what evils death will free thee.
IT freeth thee from a corruptible Body, which was conceived in the weakness of flesh, the heat of lust, the stain of sin, and born in the blood of filthiness, a livi…g Prison of thy Soul, a lively instrument of …in, a very sack of stinking dung: the ex…ements of whose Nostrils, Ears, Pores, and …ther passages (duly considered) will seem more loathsome than the uncleanest sink …r vault. Insomuch that whereas Trees and Plants bring forth Leaves, Flowers, Fruits, …nd sweet smells; man's body brings forth …turally nothing but Lice, Worms, Rotten…ss and filthy stinks. His affections are al…ogether corrupted: Psal. 14. 1.and the imaginations … heart are only evil continually. Gen. 6. 5.Hence … is that the ungodly is not satisfied with prophaneness, nor the voluptuous with pleasures, nor the ambitious with perferments, nor the curious with preciseness, nor the malicious with revenge, nor the leacherous with uncleanness, nor the covetous with gain, nor the drunkard with drinking. New passions and fashions do daily grow: new Fears and Afflictions do still arise; here Wrath lies in wait, there Vain-glory vexeth: here pride lifts up, there disgrace casts down; and every one waiteth who shal… arise in the ruine of another. Now a Ma… is privily stung with Back-biters like fiery Serpents, anon he is in danger to be openly devoured of his enemies, like Daniel's Lions… And a godly man where ere he liveth shall ever be vexed (like Lot) with Sodom's uncleanness.
2. Death brings unto the godly an end of*Rom. 6. 7. sinning, and of all the miseries which ar… due unto sin:Rev. 21. 4. so that after Death there sha… be no more sorrow, nor crying; neither shal… there be any more pain, for God shall wipe a… way all tears from their eyes. Yea, by death we are separated from the company of wick…ed Men,Isa. 57. 1. and God taketh away merciful … righteous men from the evil to come. So … dealt with Josiah: 2 Kin. 22. 20.I will gather thee to th… Fathers: and thou shalt be put into thy gr… in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the … which I will bring upon this place▪ And Go… hides them for a while in the grave, Isa. 26. 20.untill … indignation pass over. So that as Paradise … the Heaven of the soul's joy; so the Gra… may be term'd the Heaven of the bodies …
3. Whereas this wicked Body lives in a world of wickedness, so that the poor Soul cannot look out at the Eye, and not be infected; nor hear by the Ear, and not be distracted; nor smell at the Nostrils, and not be tainted; nor taste with the Tongue, and not be allured; nor touch by the Hand, and not be defiled; and every sense upon every temptation is ready to betray the Soul; by death the Soul shall be delivered from this Thraldom, and this corruptible body shall put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality, 1 Cor. 15. 53. O blessed, thrice blessed be that Death in the Lord, which delivers us out of so evil a World, and freeth us from such a body of bondage and corruption.
The third sort of Meditations are, to consider what good Death will bring unto thee.
1. DEATH bringeth the godly Man's Soul to enjoy an immediate Communion with the blessed Trinity in everlast…ng bliss and glory.
2. It translates the Soul from the Mise…ies of this world, the contagion of sin, and …ciety of Sinners, to the City of the living …ed, the Celestial Jerusalem,Heb. 12. 22, 23, 24. and the com…any of innumerable Angels, and to the assem…ly and congregation of the first-born, which … written in Heaven, and to God the Judge … all, and to the Souls of just Men made per…ect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new …ovenant.
3. Death putteth the Soul into the aactual and full possession of all the inheritance and happiness which Christ hath either promised unto thee in his Word, or purchased for thee by his blood.
This is the good and happiness whereunto a blessed death will bring thee. And what truly Religious Christian that is young, would not wish himself old, that his appointed time might the sooner approach to enter into this celestial Paradise; where thou maist exchange thy Brass for Gold, thy Vanity for Felicity, thy Vileness for Honour, thy Bondage for Freedom, thy Lease for an Inheritance, and thy mortal State for an immortal Life? He that doth not daily desire this blessedness above all things, of all others he is less worthy to enjoy it.
If†Plut. in vit. Cat. Cic. Tus. quaest l. 1 V…l de praecipiti venias in Tartara saxo, Ut qui Socracicum de ne…e l…git op…s. Ovid. in Itin. Cato Vticensis, and Cleombrotus, two Heathen-men, (reading Plato's Book o… the Immortality of the Soul) did voluntarily, the one break his Neck, the other run upon his Sword, that they might th… sooner (as they thought) have enjoyed those joys: what a shame is it for Christian… (knowing those things in a more excellent measure and manner out of God's ow… Book) not to be willing to enter into these heavenly Joys? especially when their Master calls for them thither.Mat. 25. 21. If therefor… there be in thee any love of God, or desir… of thine own happiness or salvation, whe… the time of thy departing draweth near… that time, I say, and manner of Death which God in his unchangeable Counsel hath appointed, and determined be…fore thou wast born; yield and surrender up (willingly and chearfully) thy Soul into the merciful hands of Jesus Christ thy Saviour. And to this end, when the time is come,Judg. 13. 19. 20. as the Angel in the …ight of Manoah and his Wife, ascended from the Altar up to heaven in the flame of the sacrifice, so endeavour thou, that thy spirit in the sight of thy friends, may from the altar of a contrite heart, ascend up to Heaven, in the sweet perfume of this or the like spiritual Sacrifice of Prayer.