you see that times of affliction and persecution will distinguish the precious from the vile, Jer. xv. 19. It will difference the counterfeit professor from the true. Persecution is a Christian's touchstone; it is a Lapis Lydius that will try what metal men are made of, whether they be silver or tin, gold or dross, wheat or chaff, shadow or substance, carnal or spiritual, sincere or hypocritical. Nothing speaks out more soundness and uprightness than keeping close to Christ, his worship, truth, and ways, in a day of warm persecution. To stand close and fast to God and his interest in fiery trials, argues much integrity within. These thirteen particulars are so great truths, written with the beams of the sun, that no man or devil can deny, and therefore I shall make no apology to the persecutors of the day to excuse my writing of this general epistle; but shall beg hard of God that it may be so owned and crowned and blessed from on high, that it may really and fully answer to all those holy and gracious aims and ends that the author had in his eye and upon his heart when he writ it. And thus much for this general epistle. SOME WORDS OF COUNSEL TO A DEAR FRIEND. DEAR LADY AND SISTER IN THE LORD,1-I shall now address myself to you in a few lines, and so conclude. I know you have for many years been the Lord's prisoner. Great have been your trials, and many have been your trials, and long have been your trials; but to all these I have spoken at large in my treatise called The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod,' which you have in your hand, which you have read, and which God has greatly blessed to the support, comfort, quiet, and refreshment of your soul under all your trials; and therefore I shall say no more as to those particulars. But knowing that the many weaknesses that hang upon you, and the decays of nature that daily do attend you, seem to point out an approaching dissolution, I shall at this time give you this one word of counsel, viz., that every day you would look upon death in a scripture glass, in a scripture dress, or under a scripture notion; that is, 1. First, Look upon death as that which is best for a believer: Phil. i. 23, For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.' The Greek is very significant, far, far the better,' or far much better, or much more better. It is a most transcendent expression.2 Eccles. vii. 1, 'Better is the day of death than the day of one's birth.' A saint's dying day is the daybreak of eternal righteousness. In respect of pleasure, peace, safety, company, glory, a believer's dying day is his best day. I have read of one Trophonius, that when he had built and dedicated that stately temple at Delphos, he asked of Apollo, for his recompense, that thing which was best for man. The oracle wished him to go home, and within three days he should have it; and within that time he died. It was an excellent saying of one of the ancients, 'That is not a death, but life, which joins the dying man to Christ; and that is not a life, but death, which separates a living man from Christ.' But, 2. Secondly, Look upon death as a remedy, as a cure. Death will perfectly cure you of all corporeal and spiritual diseases at once: the 1 This second Epistle is headed 'Some Words of Counsel to a Dear Friend,' viz., Mrs Drinkwater, named on page 1. Cf. the General Epistle prefixed.-G. * Пoŵ μâλov Kрeloσov. Nec Christus, nec cœlum patitur hyperbolen, saith one; here it is hard to hyperbolize. 2 F VOL. V. crazy body and the defiled soul, the aching head and the unbelieving heart: ultimus morborum medicus mors. Death will cure you of all your ails, aches, diseases, and distempers. At Stratford-Bow, in Queen Mary's days, there was burned a lame man and a blind man at one stake. The lame man, after he was chained, casting away his crutch, bade the blind man be of good comfort; For death, saith he, will cure us both; thee of thy blindness, and me of my lameness. And as death will cure all your bodily diseases, so it will cure all your soul distempers also. Death is not mors hominis, but mors peccati; not the death of the man, but the death of his sin. Death will work such a cure as all your duties, graces, experiences, ordinances, assurances, could never do; for it will at once free you fully, perfectly, and perpetually from all sin; yea, from all possibility of ever sinning more. Sin was the midwife that brought death into the world, and death shall be the grave to bury sin.2 And why, then, should a Christian be afraid to die, unwilling to die, seeing death gives him a writ of ease from infirmities and weaknesses, from all aches and pains, griefs and gripings, distempers and diseases, both of body and soul? When Samson died, the Philistines also died together with him; so when a saint dies, his sins die with him. Death came in by sin, and sin goeth out by death; as the worm kills the worm that bred it, so death kills sin that bred it. But, 3. Thirdly, Look upon death as a rest, a full rest. A believer's dying day is his resting day. It is a resting day from sin, sorrow, afflictions, temptations, desertions, dissensions, vexations, oppositions, and persecutions. This world was never made to be the saints' rest. Arise, for this is not your resting-place. They are like Noah's dove, they can rest nowhere but in the ark and in the grave. 'In the grave,' saith Job, 'the weary are at rest.' Upon this very ground some of the most refined heathens have accounted mortality to be a mercy, for they brought their friends into the world with mournful obsequies, but carried them out of the world with all joyful sports and pastimes, because then they conceived they were at rest, and out of gunshot. Death brings the saints to a full rest, to a pleasant rest, to a matchless rest, to an eternal rest. But, 4. Fourthly, Look upon your dying day as a reaping day: 2 Cor. ix. 2; Gal. vi. 7-9; Isa. xxxviii. 3; Mat. xxv. 31, 41. Now you shall reap the fruit of all the prayers that ever you have made, and of all the tears that ever you have shed, and of all the sighs and groans that ever you have fetched, and of all the good words that ever you have spoken, and of all the good works that ever you have done, and of all the great things that ever you have suffered. When mortality shall put on immortality, you shall then reap a plentiful crop, a glorious crop, as the fruit of that good seed that for a time hath seemed to be buried and lost, Eccles. xi. 1, 6. As Christ hath a tender heart and a soft hand, so he hath an iron memory; he punctually remembers all the sorrows, and all the services, and all the sufferings of his people, to reward them and crown them, Rev. xxii. 12. But, 5. Fifthly, Look upon your dying day as a gainful day. There is [Foxe,] Acts and Mon., fol. 1733. 2 Peccatum erat obstetrix mortis, et mors sepulchrum peccati.-Ambrose, De Bono Mortis, cap. 4. Rev. xiv. 13; Job iii. 13-17; 2 Thes. i. 7; Micah ii. 10; Jer. 1. 6. no gain to that which comes in by death: Phil. i. 21, 'For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' A Christian gets more by death than he doth by life, Eccles. vii. 1; to be in Christ is very good, but to be with Christ is best of all, Phil. i. 23. It was a mighty blessing for Christ to be with Paul on earth, but it was the top of blessings for Paul to be with Christ in heaven. Seriously consider of a few things: [1] First, That by death you shall gain incomparable crowns. (1.) A crown of life, Rev. ii. 10; James i. 12; (2.) A crown of righteousness, 2 Tim. iv. 8; (3.) An incorruptible crown, 1 Cor. ix. 24, 25; (4.) A crown of glory, 1 Pet. v. 4. Now there are no crowns to these crowns, as I have fully discovered in my discourse on The Divine Presence,' to which I refer you. But, [2.] Secondly, You shall gain a glorious kingdom: Luke xii. 32, 'It is your Father's pleasure to give you a kingdom.' But death is the young prophet that anointeth them to it, and giveth them actual possession of it. They must put off their rags of mortality, that they may put on their robes of glory. Israel must first die in Egypt before he can be carried into Canaan. There is no entering into paradise but under the flaming sword of this angel death, who standeth at the gate. Death is the dirty lane through which the saint passeth to a kingdom, to a great kingdom, to a glorious kingdom, to a quiet kingdom, to an unshaken kingdom, to a durable kingdom, to a lasting kingdom, yea, to an everlasting kingdom. Death is a dark, short way, through which the saints pass to the marriage-supper of the Lamb, Heb. xii. 28; Dan. ii. 44, and iv. 3; Rev. xix. 7. But, [3.] Thirdly, You shall gain a safe and honourable convoy into that other world, Luke xvi. 22. Oh, in what pomp and triumph did Lazarus ride to heaven on the wings of angels! The angels conduct the saints at death through the air, the devil's region; every gracious soul is carried into Christ's presence by these heavenly courtiers. Oh, what a sudden change does death make! behold, he that even now was scorned by men, is all on a sudden, carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. But, [4.] Fourthly, You shall gain a glorious welcome, a joyful welcome, a wonderful welcome into heaven. By general consent of all antiquity, the holy angels and blessed Trinity rejoice at the sinner's conversion; but oh, what inexpressible, what transcendent joy is there, when a saint is landed upon the shore of eternity, Rev. iv. 8-11; Luke xv. 7, 10; Heb. xii. 23. God and Christ, angels and archangels, all stand ready to welcome the believer as soon as his feet are upon the threshold of glory. God the Father welcomes the saints as his elect and chosen ones, Jesus Christ welcomes them as his redeemed and purchased ones, and the Holy Spirit welcomes them as his sanctified and renewed ones, and the blessed angels welcome them as those they have guarded and attended on, Heb. i. 14. When the saints enter upon the suburbs of glory, the glorious angels welcome them with harps in their hands, and ditties in their mouths. But, [5.] Fifthly, You shall gain full freedom and liberty from all your enemies within and without-viz., sin, Satan, and the world, Luke i. 1 Viz., the Treatise to which this Epistle is prefixed.—G. 70, 71, 74, 75. (1.) Death will free you from the indwelling power of sin, Rom. vii. 23. In heaven there is no complaints. As in hell there is nothing but wickedness, so in heaven there is nothing but holiness. (2.) Death will free you from the power and prevalency of sin. Here sin plays the tyrant, but in heaven there is no tyranny, but perfect felicity. (3.) Death will free you from all provocations, temptations, and suggestions to sin. Now you shall be above all Satan's batteries. Now God will make good the promise of treading Satan under your feet, Rom. xvi. 20. Some say serpents will not live in Ireland. The old serpent is cast out, and shall be for ever kept out of the new Jerusalem above, Rev. xii. 8, 9, and xxi. 27. (4.) Death will free you from all the effects and consequents of sin-viz., losses, crosses, sicknesses, diseases, disgraces, sufferings, &c. When the cause is taken away, the effect ceases; when the fountain of sin is dried up, the streams of afflictions, of sufferings, must be dried up; the fuel being taken away, the fire will go out of itself. Sin and sorrow were born together, do live together, and shall die together. To open this fourth particular a little more fully to you, consider these four things: First, That death will free you from all reproach and ignominy on your names. Now Elijah is accounted the troubler of Israel, Nehemiah a rebel against his king, and David the song of the drunkards, and Jeremiah a man of contention, and Paul a pestilent fellow.1 Heaven wipes away all blots, as well as all tears; as no sins, so no blots are to be found in that upper world. The names of all the saints in a state of glory are written, as I may say, in characters of gold. But, Secondly, Death will free you from all bodily infirmities and diseases. We carry about in our bodies the matter of a thousand deaths, and may die a thousand several ways each several hour. As many senses, as many members, nay, as many pores as there are in the body, so many windows there are for death to enter at. Death needs not spend all its arrows upon us; a worm, a gnat, a fly, a hair, the stone of a raisin, the kernel of a grape, the fall of a horse, the stumbling of a foot, the prick of a pin, the paring of a nail, the cutting of a corn; all these have been to others, and any one of them may be to us, the means of our death, within the space of a few days, nay, of a few hours. Here Job had his blotches, and Hezekiah had his boil, and David his wounds, and Lazarus his sores, and the poor widow her issue of blood, Job ii. 6, 7; Isa. xxxvii. 21; Ps. xxxviii. 5; Luke xvi. 20; Mat. ix. 20. Now the fever burns up some, and the dropsy drowns others, and the vapours stifle others; one dies of an apoplexy in the head, another of a struma in the neck, a third of a squinancy 3 in the throat, and a fourth of a cough and consumption of the lungs ; others of obstructions, inflammations, pleurisies, gouts, &c. We are commonly full of complaints; one complains of this distemper, and another of that; one of this disease, and another of that; but death will cure us of all diseases and distempers at once. But, Thirdly, Death will free you from all your sorrows, whether inward or outward, whether for your own sins or the sins of others, whether 3 11 Kings xviii. 17; Neh. vi. 6; Ps. lxix. 12; Jer. xv. 10; Acts xxiv. 10. Above all things, let us every day think of our last day, saith Pachomius. |