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Eyes did see my Substance yet being imperfect, and in thy Book all my Members are written, which in Continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. We may therefore speak unto God in the same Language; my Substance shall not be hid from thee, when this miserable Body shall fall to pieces, as rotten Wood, and as a Moth-eaten Garment; thine Eyes shall see me, when Death shall cut off the Thread of my Life, and separate what thou haft joined together so wonderfully by thy Power and Wisdom: Thy Providence shall dispose of me at my Departure, and nothing shall happen to me but that which thou haft fore-ordain'd in thine unsearchable Decrees.

If God appoints the time of our Resurrection, andif it be certain, that without his express Commiffion, the holy Spirit will not breathe upon our dry Bones, to cause them to revive; 'tis not probable that our Breath should depart out of our Noftrils, and our Bodies should fall into the Bed of Corruption, without the Orders of the great and living God, Ezek. xxxvii. He hath appointed the Sun its Course, and to the Stars that shine in the Heavens, their several Motions and Stations, Ifa. xl. And should he not also appoint to his Children their Motions, since they are to thine for ever in the Heaven of Heavens, where Righteousness dwells as so many immortal Stars? He hath measured the Water in his Hand; he hath compass'd the Heavens with his Span; he hath weighed the Mountains in Scales, and the Hills with a Balance; he hath fashioned the Earth with his Hands, and given Bounds to the roaring Sea; and is it poffible that he hath not measured the time of our Life, and that he hath not mark'd out with his Finger the last Moment. He who hath numbred the Kingdom of the Heathen Princes, hath he not also numbred the Days in the which he intends to reign in our Hearts by his holy Spirit; hath he not appointed the time for us to ascend up into the highest Heavens, where we are to reign with him in the Kingdom of his Glory?

If it be certain that God hath numbred the Hairs of

our Head, Mat. x. 'tis not to be doubted but that he hath also numbred the Days of our Life. And ifa Sparrow fall not to the Ground without his Order, how can it be that a Man can take his Flight up to Heaven without his express Commission? He bottles up our Tears, he keeps a Record of all our Afflictions, and takes an Account of our Sorrows, Pfal. 1. and can we imagine that he doth not keep an Account of the Life and Death of Men, and that he minds not the time that we are to spend in the Valley of Tears? He takes notice of our up-rifing, and of our down fitting, he compasseth thee round about whither thou dost stop or go, Pfal. lix. And can it be conceiv'd but that he obferves thy rifing at thy Birth, the several Pafsages of thy Life, and thy going down at thy Death?

In short, If God hath appointed in his eternal Council, the Continuance of the great World; he hath also, without doubt, limited the Life of Man, the little World, and the Image and Compendium of the great, as our Lord and Saviour teaches us. Man is not able by his folicitous Care to add one Cubit to his Stature, and our Experience sufficiently demonftrates that we cannot add a Year, a Day, or a Moment, by all our Labour and Industry, to the Continuance of our Life.

If Life and Death were not in God's Hand, there would be nothing settled, or constant, either in the Kingdoms of the World, or in the Church of Chrift. The Prophets would be often found in grievous Errors, and the eternal Election would be totally abolished; for the most weighty Affairs of a Common-wealth, depend upon the Life of Princes. The Death of one Man is able to turn an Empire upside down, and to change the State of the Kingdom. If Alexander the Great had been stifled in his Cradle, what would become of the Prophesy of Daniel, who declared the glorious Victories that this Prince should obtain against King Darius, the Perfian Monarch, under the Emblem of an HeGoat that should run at a Ram with all his Might? that

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that should break his two Horns, and trample him under his Feet? And if King Cyrus had died before the obtaining of the Kingdom of Babylon, how should Ifaiah's Prophecy be accomplish'd? For he paints out this young Conqueror in his most lively Colours, and calls him by his Name in this Expression, I have faid of Cyrus, he is my Shepherd, and shall perform all my Pleasure, even saying to Jerufalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the Temple, thy Foundation shall be laid, Ifa. xliv.

If the Devil could have taken away St. Paul's Life before his Journey to Damascus, where he was strangely converted by a Miracle, how could God's immutable Decree be accomplish'd? For he had design'd him from his Mother's Womb, to be a noble Vessel of his Grace and Mercy, and a faithful Ambaffador of his Son, Gal.i. If the good Thief had died before he had feen the Light, or if he had been kill'd in one of his Robberies, how could he have been converted upon the Cross, where he repented of his Crimes? Or how could he have heard from our Saviour these blessed and comfortable Words, Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt be with me this Day in Paradise? Luke xxiii.

The Heathens have perceiv'd and understood this Truth, but they have darkned and defac'd it by their impertinent and ridiculous Fictions: For their Poets tell us, there are Three Parca, or infernal Goddesses; the one holds the Distaff, and spins; the other winds up the Thread; the third cuts it, and puts a Period thereby to the Life of Man. By this Fable they intend to teach us, that God lengthens or shortens at his Pleafure Man's Life. As 'tis therefore certain that God has numbred our Days, he hath also appointed, in his infinite Wisdom, the Means to convey us out of the World. If one dies in Peace, another is kill'd in War; if one departs in his Bed, another hangs upon a Gibbet, if one perishes with Famine, another is ftifled with the Plague; if one is ftruck with Thunder, the other is torn in pieces with wild Beasts; if one is choak'd in the Waters, the other perishes in the Flames; in short, if the Separation of the Soul from the Body happens in a different Manner, 'tis not without the express Leave and Orders of our heavenly Father. Therefore when we fee the strangest Accidents come to pass, and the most unexpected and tragick Deaths before our Eyes, we must remember the Saying of the Prophet Jeremy, when he saw the Burning and Plunder of Jerusalem, Who is he that faith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commanded it not? Out of the Mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? Lam. iii. We must then consider with the Prophet Ifaiah, That 'tis God that creates the Light and Darkness, and that sends Profperity and Adversity, Ifa. xv. 45. Or with Amos, who enquires whether there be any evil in the City, and the Lord hath not done it, Amos iii. That is to say, that there is no Affliction nor Death that happens, but God has appointed it, and fore-ordain'd it by his wife Providence. If the Devil can't destroy Job's Flock of Sheep, nor hurry headlong into the Sea the Herds of Swine without his leave, who holds him fast in Chains, Mat. viii. Let us perfuade our selves, that all the Powers of Hell and the World can't cause us to die by a violent Death, if God hath not ordain'd it before in the Resolutions of his infinite Wisdom. So that if at any time a Prince or a Magistrate speaks to us in Pilate's Language to our Saviour, Knowest thou not that I have Power to crucifie thee, and Power to save thee? Joh. xvi. Being strengthened with an holy Confidence, let us answer him as our Saviour, Thou shouldest not have that Power over me, if it were not given thee from above. Without the Leave and the Pleasure of my God, thou canst not take from me an Hair of my Head.

We read in the Book of Judges, that when Abimelech affaulted the Tower of Thebez, with a Resolution to win it on a sudden, a Woman caft from the Top a Piece of a Milftone, that fell upon his Head, and brake his Skull, Judg. ix. If we look only upon second Causes, this Accident may appear to be strange and unexpected; but we must lift up our Eyes to the Almighty Hand of

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an all-feeing Power and Wisdom, far more dextrous than that of this poor Woman. For the fame Relation declares, that God by this means brought to pass Jotham's Prophecy, and rendred the Wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his Father, in flaying his Seventy Brethren with his unmerciful Hand, upon his own guilty Head.

Abab King of Ifrael was disguised, with a Design to fight with the Syrians, 1 Kings xxii. An unknown Soldier lets fly by chance an Arrow out of his Bow, which struck him in the weakest part of his Armour, wounded him to Death, and the Dogs licked the Blood that issued out of his Wounds. At this Sight a carnal and earthly Mind may say, that this was but an Accident of War; but the Spirit of God informs us better, that this happen'd to fulfil the Prophefie of Elijah, and the dreadful Threatnings which he had pronounc'd against this wicked Prince, who laboured by tyrannical and devilish Means, to invade other Mens Poffeifions; Thus faith the Lord, in the place where Dogs lick'd up the Blood of Naboth, shall Dogs lick thy Blood, even thine, 1 Kings xxi.

When we caft our Eyes upon the tragical Death of Jofias King of Juda; at the first Sight it appears but the Effect of the boiling Heat of Youth, which carried him against Reason obftinately to fight with Pharoah Neco King of Egypt; or of the Strength and Swiftness of his Enemies, according to the Complaint of Feremiah the Prophet; Our Perfecutors are swifter than the Eagles of the Heaven, they pursue us upon the Mountains, they laid wait for us in the Wilderness; the Breath of our Nostril, the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their Pits, of whom we faid, under this Shadow we will live among the Heathen, Lam. iv. But to understand the Truth, we must enter farther into the Sanctuary, and adore the Wisdom of God's Decree, that had refolv'd to take away this good and religious Prince into eternal Reft, and bestow upon him a more noble and a richer Crown, before he took in Hand the Sword of Vengeance to punish

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