The Holy Life and Happy Death of John Bruen, Chapter 34
CHAP. XXXIV.
IN the middſt of theſe ſweet comforts and refreſhings,He was otherwiſe exerciſed alſo …y affliction. which hee thus received and enjoyed by theſe publike exerciſes of Religion, It pleaſed the Lord, otherwiſe alſo, to exerciſe his ſervant with a grievous affliction, in the taking away with a ſtroke his deare wife, the deſire of his eyes and faithfull Yoke-fellow;In the death of his wife. who being well in the morning, began to bee ill, and ſicke at Supper, and departed this life the ſame evening.
Sudden death a fearefull judgment to ſome.Suddaine death is held to bee a fearefull judgement, as though it were a teſtimony of the wrath of God: And ſo indeed it hath beene, and may bee to ſome, who being wicked perſons and continuing in their ſinnes, without any feare of God, any repent…nce or faith in Chriſt, are ſuddenly arreſted by the LOrds hand, and cut off by death in his ſore diſpleaſure. So it was to Err and Onan the ſonnes of Judah, to Nadab and Abihu the ſonnes of Aaron, Gen. 38 7 10.to Corah a Levite, and Dathan and Abiram, Lev. 10.1, 2.two of the Princes of the Aſſembly. And ſo it is likely it was alſo to Nabal that churliſh foole,Num. 16.1, 2, 30, 31 32. of whom it is ſaid, that after ten dayes the Lord ſmote him that hee dyed. The Scripture alſo ſeemeth to make it the ordinary portion and condition of the wicked, that God will ſhoote at them with his arrow,Pſal. 64.7. and ſuddenly ſhall they be wounded, that ſpending their dayes in wealth,Iob 21.13 in a moment they goe downe into the grave, and that flouriſhing for a wile, they fuddenly periſh and come to a fearefull end.Pſ. 73.19. Sudden Death upon a wicked lif, fearfull.
True it is, that a ſudden death attending upon, and following a wicked life, is a fearefull judgement, and a dreadfull ſigne (ſo far as we can judge) of the wrath of God: and yet we will not limit nor confine the Lords mercies; for inter Pontem & Fontem, ferrum & jugulum Dei miſericordia, Betwixt the Bridge and the Brook, the Knife and the Throat, the mercy of God may appeare.
But as all that live wickedly do not dye ſuddenly,Yet all that dye ſuddenly do not dye fearefully. ſo neither all that dye ſuddenly, are to bee thought to dye fearefully, as though they were deprived of Gods favour, and fallen under his heavy wrath, and diſpleaſure for ever more. No, we may not cenſure ſo ſeverely, nor judge ſo raſhly, neither of our Brethren, nor of the wayes and works of God.1 Sam. 4.18. Old Ely dyed ſuddenly when hee fell backwards from his chaire and brake his neck; and yet I dare not ſay, but that as he lived, ſo he dyed the ſervant of the Lord. Joſiah was ſuddenly ſlaine with an arrow, going againſt Pharaoh Necho in the field;2 Chro, 35 33. and yet I dare not ſay, but that as he lived, ſo hee dyed the ſervant of the Lord.Gen. 35.19. Jacob had his wife Rachel to dye ſuddenly in his journey on his hand; and ſo dyed the wife of Phineas, 1 Sam. 4.19, 20.when ſhe heard that the Arke of God was taken; and yet wee may not otherwiſe conceive, but that as they lived, ſo they dyed the ſervants of the Lord.
And ſo we are to judge of this Gentlemans wife being a gracious and holy woman;As this Gentlewoman very hope-fully. that albeit the Meſſenger that was ſent for her, ſeemed to be angry, and too haſty to take away her life, yet hee brought her no worſe news than of a joyfull and a bleſſed death, which was indeed a paſſage to a better life.Poſſid in invit. Aug. It was the ſaying of S. Ambroſe, upon his death bed, which might have been hers alſo; I have not ſo lived that I am aſhamed to live any longer, or affraid to dye, if it had been ſooner.
The life of the righteous findes never any worſe end than the death of the righteous:Num. 33.10. Rev. 14.13 2 Con 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Rom. 14.8. and they that have the grace to live unto the Lord, ſhall never fayle of this mercy to dye in the Lord: and ſo they enjoy a double bleſſing, whether they live or dye, they are the Lords.
Beſides all this,No Death ſuddeine to a ſound Chriſtian Iob 14.14 the reckoning and account of a true Profeſſor and ſound Chriſtian is not to ſeeke, nor to make at the houre of their death. All the dayes of their appointed time they wayte, when their change ſhall come. Their wholle life a Meditation of death, and a preparation for it. Every day they ſtand in readineſſe,Eph. 6.14. Mat. 25.4, 10. Gen. 5.2 2. Mic 6.8. Pſa. 4.8. having oyle in their lamps, and their lights burning, wayting for the Bridgroome, and their Maſters comming. In the morning they awake with God, all the day long they walke with him, and before him, and in the evening and night ſeaſon they lye down in peace,Ma. 24.44 Heb. 13.5 and reſt with him. So that what time or houreſoever their Maſter ſhall come, and call upon them, they ſhall not (through his mercy and grace,Mat. 7.4 44, 45, 45. who will never take them at the worſt) bee unprovided, or unprepared for their meeting of him.
And albeit this were a ſuddeine ſtroke unto her worthy husband,Ezek 24.16, 18. as that was to Ezekiell, when his wife (the deſire of his eyes) being well in the morning, dyed in the evening;Thi Affliction ſanctified. yet did the Lord in mercy ſo ſanctifie this affliction unto his ſervant, that by the power of grace and Chriſtian wiſdome hee did moderate his affections and ſubdue his paſſions, mourning for her death as ſenſible of his own loſſe,And paſſions moderated. As Abrah. did for Sarah. Gen. 23.2 1 Theſ. 4.13. yet neither wayling nor weeping as a man without hope: For, Grandis in ſuos pietas, impiet as in Deum est, Hieron. ad Pam. being well perſwaded of her gaine, and that what he had loſt, the Lord had found, as Hierome ſpeaketh, to her everlaſting comfort and the praiſe of his mercy and grace in Chriſt Jeſus.