THE CHRISTIANS DESIRE, SHOWING, How and for what Causes a man may desire Death.  
By WILLIAM HOUGHTON, Preacher at Bicknor in Kent.  
 prima desideria sanctorum antiquae legis in primo Christi terminabantur adventu: sic quoque modo desideria sanctorum novae legis in secundo Christi adventu, qui perfectam nobis beatitudinem conferet, desinent.  August. 
HINC LUCEM ET POCULA SACRA  
ALMA MATER CANTA BRIGIA  
LONDON, Printed by Roger Daniel, for Samuel Cartwright, at the Sign of the Bible in Duck-lane. 1650.   

TO The Right Worshipful Sir EDWARD WORTLEY, and his Religious Lady, my honoured Friends.  
Right Worshipful,  
DEsires are the truest effigies of the mind: If a man be Heavenly, he hath heavenly desires; if outward things terminate his desires, he hath but an earthly mind, and no more than what Paul calls the spirit of the world: 
1 Cor. 2. 12●  Such men's desires the Psalmist speaks of, when he saith, Who will show us any good, that is, matter of gain, and profit? 
Isa. 26.8.  But the godly man's desire is thus set forth, 
Psal. 73.23.  The desire of our soul is towards thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. There is none that I desire upon earth, besides thee. The worldlings desire is to live many days and years upon earth: the godly man's desire, that Christ may be in him, while he is here; 
Luk. 12.29.  and that he may be with Christ, when he departs hence: and these (as Paul himself determines) are the best desires: Worldly desires at last give no satisfying content to a man's soul; but, these are satisfying desires: those are oft frustrated, and come to nothing: but of these it is said, God will fulfil the desire of them that fear him. When a whole Kingdom is in a shaking condition, the desires of many must needs fail; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.28.  but the Christians desire is upon a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. My end and aim in sending abroad this Sermon, is to 01 increase these holy desires in as many as shall read it. It is but a plain and unpolisht piece: such as it is I present it to your hands, as a small return of thankfulness for those many favours I have received from you; hoping it will find the better acceptance, because I have known you many years, and that your desires are set on the best things: Praying for your prosperity, and for all that have relation to you, I rest  
Yours in the Lord Jesus, William Houghton.   
Philip. 1.23. 
Desiring to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, which is best of all.  
PAul (as you may see in this Chapter) stands at a certain doubt with himself, whether he should live or die; live he would, that he might glorify God; die, to be with Christ. The words contain in them two things.  
1. Paul's desire to be with Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Having a desire, etc.  
2. The reason of it; because it is best of all. The Greek is most emphatical, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Which is fare better; or as if one should English it, Much more better. 
Luke 2.29.  Simeon desired to die, because he had seen the Lords Christ: Paul here, that he might see Christ, and be for ever with him. Simeon's word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Paul's, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, there is no material difference between them. 
Vid. Sculter. Exercit. 156.  The former, according to the mind of the learned, signifies a dimission, to be fairly dismissed, and suffered to departed: the latter, to be let lose, as mariners, when they let lose and launch forth. Or it may signify to return: as, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Luke 12.36.  When he will return from the wedding. The first sense may imply thus much, that the body is the souls prison, wherein it is kept till it be sent forth, and suffered to departed. The second adds chains or coards wherein it is held till it be let lose. The third, that this life is a place of exile, and the soul herein a pilgrim, till it return to God that gave it. But not to stand straining of metaphors, when he saith, He desired to departed, or be dissolved, it is as much as if he had said, That he desired to die. Now consider who it was that thus desired death, Paul, a most zealous man, the Spirit of God calls him an elect vessel; chrysostom, an heavenly man, or, if ye will (saith he) an earthly Angel: yet he seeks death, he desires to be dissolved.  
We see then, 
Act. 9.15. Doct.  That all must die, the best that are; the greatest and holiest must taste of death: young men die as well as old: we see short graves as well as long: rich men die as well as poor. It is said in the Gospel, that the beggar died: and presently it is added, the rich man also died: 
Luk. 16.22.  And wise men die, as well as the foolish: nay, 
Psal. 49 10.  holy men too; Adam is called the son of God; Abraham, the friend of God; 
Luc. 3.38.  Moses, the man of God; the Virgin Mary, the mother of God: 
Jam. 2.23.  David, was a man after Gods own heart: John Baptist, 
Psal. 93. tit.  a burning and shining light: yet they are all dead and gone, 
Luc. 1.43.  and descended into the slimy pit, as the Prophet calls it: so that howsoever there may be a difference here amongst men, yet then, 
Abierunt, obierunt.  all shall be alike.  
Reason 1 For first, thus hath God decreed, Statutum est (saith the Apostle) It is a Statute-law, a thing decreed in the high Court of Heaven, 
Heb. 9.27.  and must needs stand fast what is there determined.  
Reason 2 Secondly, God doth fufter this, even the best and holiest to taste of death, because he will have them conformable to their head, even Jesus Christ, who died for us.  
Reason 3 Thirdly, because of the mortality of men, and the nature of their condition here on earth: all men are of one matter, the godly are not made of one matter, and the wicked, of another, but all of one common matter, the dust of the earth; according to that, Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return; though while we live here, one be higher than another, yet then, there is an equality: as it is in casting account, one counter stands for a thousand, another for an hundred; but put them together into the bag, and one is no better than another: or, as it is in a play, one bears the person of a King, another of a Knight, another of a Beggar, and very busy they are; but when the play is done, every man goes to his own place. Thus it is with men; one may stand here in a higher room than another: but death makes him equal with the meanest: and if ye look into the same grave, after twenty or thirty years, you shall find no difference between the dust of a King, and a beggar.  
Reason 4 Lastly, this comes to pass because of sin, the proper cause of death; this poisons our natures, and continually cleaves to us: as it was with Gehazi, this was his sentence, That the Leprosy should cleave to him and to his posterity for ever: So sin cleaves close to us, till the day of our death: And as the Ivy sticks so close to the wall, that you cannot get it out, unless you pull the wall itself down: so sin will not be had out of us, till the earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved.  
Object. But, what difference then is there between the death of the godly, and the wicked?  
Answ. Magnum discrimen, a great difference. For, God hath ordained, that death to wicked men shall be a passage to misery; but it is altered to the godly, to them it is a passage to happiness; for to them, the sting of it is taken away, therefore they need not to fear it, it can do them no hurt. Even as when you see a snake or serpent, its sting being drawn out, you may play with it, put it in your bosom, it cannot hurt you: so may we entertain death, the sting being taken away. Even as through the same gate, the condemned person is led out to execution, but the honest Citizen walks out for his pleasure and recreation: so through the same gate of Death, wicked men pass to the torments of hell, but the godly to the paradise of heaven. As it is with one that goes over a bridge to a fair meadow: so death is as it were a bridge to bring the saints to heaven. As Moses from the top of mount Pisgah had a sight of Canaan before he died: 
Deut, 34.1.  so when the Saints and servants of God are ready to die, they can see heaven before they depart this world: or as the Israelites, having travelled forty years in the wilderness, being now come to Jordan, they could look over it, and see the land of Canaan; they had no more to do, but to pass over the foard, and they were in the Land which flowed with milk and honey: so the people of God, when they have lived forty or threescore years, in the wilderness of this world, and are come to die, they are only to pass over the foard of death, and then they are in the land of promise. Thus you see, that howsoever all die, yet the death of all is not alike; 
Num. 23.10.  Oh let me die the death of the righteous (said that wizard Balaam) and let my last end be like his: showing plainly, that the death of righteous and wicked men, in regard of their future estate, do exceedingly differ; alike they may be in their death, but they shall be unlike to each other after death.  
Use. Now for the use of this; Is it so? must all die? Let us then assure ourselves of this, and not only say we are mortal, as all men will say so, but seriously think of it; think that God may take us away this day, this hour, this may be the last word I may speak, the last word that ye may hear; therefore let us think of it seriously, that so we may apply our hearts to wisdom: let us live every day, as if it were our last day: The life of man, how long soever, is but a life of seven days, which are multiplied and run in a course: Now as a man that hath seven servants to serve him, if he be told that one of those seven will kill him, narrowly observes every one of them, when they come by course to serve him: so man, whose life runs upon seven days in the week, which serve him by course, since one of them will certainly make an end of him; he should therefore watch every day, saying to it, as John to Christ, Art thou he that should come? or do I yet look for another? sickness must come, and death must come, nothing so sure; how are we provided for their coming? When sickness is upon us, we can do nothing for extremity of pain; and therefore now, when the marrow is in our bones, and blood in our veins, let us think of it; and earnestly prepare ourselves for death. Now for the main Doctrine, I desire saith he to be dissolved, etc.  
Doct. A Christian may lawfully desire death: It's lawful, nay necessary sometimes to desire death. Now when I say, that a man may desire it, it is a great height this, and all attain not thereunto: for, death (saith the Philosopher) is the most terrible of terribles, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 18.14.  the King of fears, as Job calls it: when a man shall seriously take to heart, and consider that his soul must be separated from his body, those two old friends part and go asunder; some doubting and fear will arise through our frailty, and the best may have temptations in that kind: we know this, that when a man is to change his dwelling, it puts him to trouble, if it be but into the next Shire, or the next town, every remove is troublesome: when therefore the soul shall departed as far from the tabernacle of the body, as heaven from earth, there may be some trouble at this great remove; yet there is something overcomes this trouble, whereby the Saints are willing to embrace death, and desirous of a dissolution. Would you see examples for it? Paul here in my Text, comes in with his cupio dissolvi; and Simeon with his Nunc dimittis; the old man had long waited for Jesus Christ, and now, when he had seen him, Lord (saith he) let thy servant departed in peace, 
Luk. 2.29.  he had seen salvation; beheld Christ with a spiritual, as well as with his corporal eyes; held him in the arms of his faith, as well as with the arms of his body: and now the world would no longer away with him, Let me departed (saith he) let me be gone. But before I come to show what should move us to desire death; I will speak a few things by way of caution, and to prevent mistakes.  
Cautions. The first is this, That this desire must always be with submission to the will of God; we must say as Christ, Let this cup pass, or come, as thy will and pleasure is; not my will, but thy will be done. If it be the will of Christ that Peter go, 
Mat. 26.39.  and John tarry still; 
Joh. 2 1.22.  they must both submit to it: So must we, for the time and manner of our death, submit ourselves to God: our wills are never right but when they are conformable to the will of God. That's the first, the rest will follow upon it. As in the second place; That it is no good desire, to desire death merely to be rid of anguish and pain: For, what if it be the will of God to hold us long under the rod; we must learn to kiss his holy hand that smites us: he doth it for the trial of our faith, and other graces; and therefore we ought to bear it patiently. Thus much we may learn from Paul's example, who saith here, he desired to be dissolved, but it was not merely to be rid of pain, so himself tells us, bonds and afflictions waited for him in every place, yet he made no reckoning of them, as you may see, Act. 20.21. and 23. compared together. Many a man would be ready to break prison, but to be loosed from such bonds, that is, iron bonds or chains: but Paul gloried in these, yet cries out of the chains of his sins, and wisheth himself loosed from them; Oh miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? he doth not say, oh miserable man, how am I afflicted? 
Rom. 7.24.  I am in deaths oft, who shall deliver me from this death of the body? but, who shall deliver me from this body of death? This, this is it which makes many a godly Christian even to sigh and groan within himself, longing for a dissolution, that so the body of sin might be wholly destroyed; who yet is willing patiently to bear any cross his heavenly Father shall lay upon him, to render him conformable to his head Christ: and therefore they do very ill, and show that they have not learned that self-denial that becomes Christians; who assoon as they begin to be afflicted in their bodies or estates, presently call for death to come and take them away. It was Ionas fault, Oh (saith he) that thou wouldst take away my life from me: he comes in a pelting chafe, 
Jonah 4.3.8.  in a pettish humour: So, many when they are crossed of their wills, wish with him they were out of the world, that they were dead, and laid in their graves, who (God knows) are but badly prepared, and would be found in an ill case, should death come indeed. Therefore let this be a second Caution.  
Thirdly, this desire must never cause us to use any means to hasten our death. I have read of one Hegesias, a Philosopher, of that eloquence and power in persuading, that when he was pleased to represent before his auditors the miseries of this life, his words struck such an impression in them, that many of them went and made away themselves. And in Hollingsheads Chronicles, there's a story of a great man in this Kingdom, who in the times of the Baron's wars, being much perplexed in his mind, called the Keeper of his Park to him, told him, he feared his Deer were stolen, charged him every night to go into the woods, to walk his rounds, and if he spied any man that would not stand at the first word, to shoot him: some two or three nights after (out of the depth of melancholy, (the Devil, that Prince of darkness, working upon that black humour) he himself risen out of his bed, went into his Park, the keeper spying him, called to him, and bid him stand; he answered not, but walking on amongst the trees, the Keeper took his Crossbow, and shot his own Lord dead in the place: thus he fell by his own counsel, and procured his own death by the hand of his Keeper. And if reports, 
Lucernam non extinguebant, sed ultro consumi. Plut. Q. Rom. 468. Et tibi Publi, & piis omnibus retinendus est animus in custodia corporis, nec injuslu ejus à quo ille est nobis datus ex hominum vita migrandum est, ne munus humanum assignatum à Dco, defugisse videamini. Somn. Scip.  or papers may be credited, some have been brought to the same pass by reason of the sore pressure of our late troubles. Now when I say, that a man may desire death, it is far from my meaning, that a man should bring it upon himself in any such way: grace teacheth us not to offer violence to nature: and therefore, as amongst the Romans, the lights of the Temple were not to be put out, but suffered to burn as long as they lasted: so this candle of our lives must not be extinguished, till it consume and go out of itself, or till God shall require it in the defence of some lawful cause: we must retain the soul in the custody of the body, it must not be forced out of it, till he that gave it, call for it; lest we should seek to forsake that office and employment which God hath assigned us. This is a third Caution.  
Fourthly, we ought also to consider, that this is a kind of mixed desire: as you may see here in S. Paul, he desires death, because it was so advantageous to him: yet is content to stay, for the benefit of God's people; To stay (saith he) is more expedient for you, but for myself, I desire rather to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, which is far better: here's you see a mixture of desires, this is better one way, that, another; for their private advantage, God's children desire to be in heaven; for the benefit of others, they are content to stay still in this world. It is with them in this case, as it is with a chaste and loving wife, her husband being gone from home, she desires his coming home; yet thinks sometimes, oh that my husband would not come yet, till such a business be dispatched, such a room dressed, and made ready for his coming, therefore keeps herself doing, that nothing may offend the eye of her Lord when he comes and brings his guests with him: So the godly Christian desires the coming of Christ above all, Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down: Come Lord Jesus, 
Isa. 64.1.  come quickly: 
Rev. 22.20.  but because he knows not what hour his Lord will come in deed, therefore he busies himself in preparing and making all ready against his coming. It is written of Ortelius that great Cosmographer, that in his declining age, he set up the Globe of the world in his Study, 
Bucolch. chron. 803.  with this inscription, Contemno, & orno, ment, manu: with his heart he contemned the world, though with his hand he adorned it. This Emblem may teach us our duty; Let us seek to adorn the world by the works of our hands, let us endeavour what we can that the world might be bettered by us, while we live in it; yet let the world be in no esteem with us: let our minds sit lose from the world, ready to leave it, whensoever the Lord shall call us: and this is that we may learn out of that heavenly prayer of Christ, They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world; I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, 
Joh. 17.14.15.  but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil. In which words he meets with an Objection.  
Object. Might some say, If the Saints be not of this world, as Christ is not of this world; why do they not then follow Christ? he is going out of the world, why do not they go along with him?  
Answ. Oh no: They must stay their time, they must not go yet, saith Christ, I will not have them presently taken out of the world, they shall stay a while to wrestle with their corruptions, to preach the Gospel to the world: that done, I will receive them to myself. Vers. 24. he saith, Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me, be with me: yet here he saith, I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world; that is, not yet. Conformable to this will of Christ, is the will and desire of the Saints: they desire to be with Christ (for where should the servant be, but with his Lord? the members, but with their head? the spouse, but in the bosom of the bridegroom?) they desire therefore I say, as the top of all their happiness, to be with Christ; and know assuredly they shall one day be with him in glory: yet they desire to keep themselves from the evil of the world so long as 'tis his pleasure to continue them in it. Christ doth not pray his father to take us presently out of the world, but to take the world, that is, the love of it out of us, and that we may be satisfied with the truth, verse. 17. This should be our desire then, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 
2 Cor. 5 9  That man therefore can have no true desire to die, that hath no desire to live well: neither doth he desire to have any communion with Christ after death, that doth not desire it in his life: he that desires to be with Christ after death, desires also that Christ may be with him, and dwell in him before death. These two desires than are in effect one, saving that one is the perfections of the other; and in that regard the most desirable. These things premised, I now come to show, why death may be desired of us.  

1. It delivers us from manifold evils.  
2. It brings with it infinite good, to those that are prepared for it.   
1. Bodily evils. The evils from which we are freed by death, 
Quis enim sufficit quantovis eloquentiae flumine vitae hujus miserias explicare▪ August. Eccles. 1.8. Verstegan. Antiquit. 58.  are either bodily evils, or soul evils, spiritual evils. For the first, bodily evils; even these, if I should begin to speak of them, they are more than I am able to express. All things are full of labour, man cannot utter it: What toil and labour are our bodies subject unto? What hardship do they here endure? Our old ancestors, the Saxons, counted the ages of their lives by Winters; to show how many seasons of sharp and cold weather they had overpast: besides, how many diseases are there incident to the frail bodies of men, and women! impostumes, swell, agues, aches, apoplexies, strangury, stone, gout, etc. oh the stinging torment that is in some of these! I gave you an item indeed before, that none of these temporal bodily evils should cause us to desire death, through impatience, or any repining disposition; however, there's enough in them to wean us from this world, and to let us see the misery of it: and death when it comes, it will free us from all these diseases: when given by the hand of our heavenly Physician, 'tis the first physic that can be to cure us of them all. And as our bodies, so our estates likewise are subject to a thousand changes: what losses and crosses do we meet with there! as if a man be a rich man to day, he may be a beggar to morrow; if his estate lie in plate or money, thiefs may break through and steal it; if in goods or householdstuff, they may likewise plunder him of all; if in houses, the fire may consume all; (how many Briefs tells us so?) if in lands, the rain may come and slocken all his fruit; if in merchandise, the sea may swallow up all; if in cattles, the enemy, as the Sabeans did Jobs, may carry all away: and he may then sit down and say as he, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and I see I shall return a naked man to the womb of the earth. I add here again, that a man must take heed of impatience, and discontent, otherwise I see no harm in it, if these changes mind him of his last change: and being thus stripped and left naked, he begin to think of lying down to his rest. Besides this, many are the afflictions of the righteous, 
Acerrimum par media mors dirimit. Seneca.  many are the wrongs they receive at the hands of wicked men: what cartload of reproaches and disgraces are they ready to cast upon them? for there is an antipathy between the one and the other, as there is between fire and water, but when death comes, it ends the quarrel.  
2. Spiritual evils. But now for the second, soul-evils, or spiritual evils, they are of far more force to draw on this desire. The devil he is our continual adversary; and so long as we live here, so long will he be tempting us; he can no sooner look into my heart, or thy heart, but he will see to what our natures and dispositions are most inclined, and thereby he will work upon us. 
Rom. 7.19.  Add hereunto that virus maternum, that venom and poison of original corruption, whereby we are disabled from doing the good we would, and the evil we would not, that we do: The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other: 
Gal. 5.17.  so that we cannot do the things that we would. Paul had a pitched field, as it were, between himself and himself. 
Velis, noli:; intra sines tuos erit Jebusaeus: prm. potest, non exterminari. Connatam habemus cupiditatem, haec pussus est ut motus cordis, quem nemo mortalium in hac vita reprimit. Cas. eth. Dan. 3.23. & 25.  As Rebecca had the two twins struggling in her womb: so in every regenerate man, there's the flesh and spirit struggling together; do what we can, this Jebusite will still be in our coasts: The seeds of sin may be in some measure suppressed by the power of God's spirit, but never rooted out till death: It is as the pulse of a man's body, always beating till then, but than it will cease. Death will do no more to us, but what Nebuchadnezars' fire did to the three children, it never touched, nor harmed them, only burnt their coards wherewith they were bound, and let them lose: So death, when it comes, will lose us from these coards and chains of our sins, and set us at liberty: Therefore we ought to long after this full redemption. I remember what the Heathen did, they placed the Temple of rest without the City, to show, that if ever we would have tranquillity and quietness, it must be by going out of this world; then there will be no trouble or vexation of spirit, no concupiscence, no sin to withdraw us from God. Death came into the world by sin, and sin will not out of the world, but by death: God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of his children, and then he saith, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, 
Revel. 21.4.  nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: Mark, God will first take away tears, and sin, the cause of tears, that shall be covered with the garment of Christ's righteousness: and then, as with a handkerchief, he will dry up their tears: he will first do away sin from their souls, than 'twill be easy to wipe away tears from their eyes: it is sin makes so many tears stand in the eyes of God's children; therefore when sin is once done away, all sorrow and tears, all crying and pains will cease. Thus for the evils we shall be freed from. Now for the good, and benefit we shall be partakers of by death, and after: My text saith, We shall be with Christ, and that is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, far better: If shall be far better then, then now in these four respects.  

1. 
Propter elongationem suam à consuetudine nostra & a rebus seculi istius non est facile, etc. Paris 696.  The Place of our habitation.  
2. Our Society and Company.  
3. Our Bodies: and  
4. In respect of our souls.   
There is indeed a great elongation or estrangement between us, and things of eternity and that shall come to pass hereafter, by reason of our earthly mould and temper; let faith therefore which is the substance of things hoped for, here act, and stir up itself, carrying us above ourselves, and above our senses, whilst we are speaking of these particulars. I begin with the Place.  
This world is a Sea of glass: a Sea, for trouble; and glass, 
Place. Rev. 15.2.  for brittleness: it is a vale of misery, as you have heard; but Heaven is a haven of rest, a Paradise of pleasures and delights. The earth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an ill-favoured, dark, squalid, filthy place: 
2 Pet. 1.19.  but in heaven is light inaccessible. Now if a man that had lived in a dark cell or dungeon, should be taken thence to live in some great and sumptuous palace; he would think the world well amended: or if a man that had lived thirty or forty years in some mud-wall-Cottage in the country, should change his dwelling, and live in the chiefest City of the Kingdom, and enjoy the treasure and riches of it, he would think himself a happier man than ever he was before: 
Job 4.19.  We now dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust; but the City of God is a most glorious City, the very gates of it, 
Rev. 21.10, 11.  Saint John saith, are of Pearl, and they that do his commandments, 
Rev. 22.14.  shall enter in through the gates into the City. Oh how glorious shall things appear, when we shall come to the gates of that City! but when we shall pass through those gates, how shall our souls be ravished with joy, to see the things are there to be seen! The very streets (he tells us) are of pure gold; But alas, What are Pearls? What is Gold? Indeed we see no better things here, and that's the reason the spirit of God sets forth the glory of heaven by these things; otherwise they were not good enough to be compared, or worthy to be named the same day with heaven's glory. And should you imagine such a City as he there describes, whose gates were pearl, and streets gold; the glory of it would not so far exceed the glory of the meanest village or hamlet, as the glory of heaven would surmount, and go beyond it. Think then with yourselves, how desirous a place heaven is. S. Peter, you know, when he was upon the holy Mount, 
Mat. 17.4.  and beheld Christ transfigured, was not his own man, but fell a talking of building Tabernacles, and I know not what: but, how would he have been ravished, if himself had been transfigured, and translated into the place of the Blessed! and S. Paul being rapt up thither, was not able, 
2 Cor. 12.2.  of fourteen years after, to tell us, whether he was in the body, or out of the body, such and so glorious is that place.  
But what shall be our company there? not that which is now a vexation to our spirits, the company of swearers, drunkards, etc. but of Angels, Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, etc. 
Company.  Oh praeclarum diem, cum in illud animorum concilium coetúmque proficiscar, & ex hac turba & colluvione discedam! That is, Oh happy day, when I shall departed out of this place of filth and loathsomeness, and go into that Synod of souls! an excellent saying to come out of the mouth of a Heathen. So let us say with David, Oh when shall I come and appear in the presence of God? and with Paul, When shall I enter into the City of the living God, 
Psal. 42.2.  the heavenly Jerusalem? When shall I be amongst that innumerable company of Angels, and that general Assembly? When shall my soul be gathered to the souls of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant? 
Heb. 12.22.  Oh when shall I rest in my centre Christ Jesus? when shall I be wholly his, and he be wholly mine? Oh this is our happiness to be with Christ, with him, who is the desire of all Nations: with him, who suffered an accursed death on the Cross, for our sins: with him, 
Joh. 17.24.  whom our soul loveth: to be with him, and to behold the glory which the father hath given him: this is that shall make us happy for ever and ever.  
Object. But all this, that is place, and company, seems to be but the happiness of the object; what shall be the happiness of the subject?  
Answ. It shall be in our bodies, and in our souls.  
For the body, it shall not then be subject to any change passion, or weariness; 
Body. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which are tour excellent properties of a glorified body. Naz. orat. funebr. Mat. 26.41. Phil. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  it shall not be so dull and lumpish as now, but most agile and nimble: it shall not then stand in need of sleep, meat and drink, which chain us so fast by the teeth here. Now the spirit is sometimes willing, but the flesh is weak; our souls would fly up to heaven, but the flesh clogs them and keeps them down: than it shall not be so, but the body as a ready and willing instrument shall follow the motions and desires of the soul or spirit. The Lord shall change our vile body, or our body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned and made like unto his glorious body: it is sown in weakness, raised again in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body: a body still, but adorned with spiritual qualities. Now, will not faith cause us earnestly to desire a dissolution (though nature shrink a little at the thought of it) when we shall consider, that this mutable, sinful, corruptible, frail, and rotten tabernacle of our body shall be taken down, for no other end, but that by a blessed and glorious resurrection, it may be restored, advanced, to perfect, firm, incorruptible, and celestial glory?  
Lastly, for our souls, how shall those two faculties thereof, understanding and will, 
Soul.  be then ennobled! How perfect the operation of them! Our understandings shall be wonderfully irradiated, for the present they are blind and ignorant. let a man be never so studious, and labour for knowledge with all his strength; yet all he knows is but the least part of what he is ignorant: For now we see through a glass darkly, 
1. Cor. 13.12.  but then face to face: now we know in part, but then we shall know even as we are known. The soul having been never so little a while in heaven, shall get more knowledge, than here it hath done in twenty or thirty years: For we shall then see him as he is. 
1 Joh. 3.2.  So for our wills, what a sweet conformity shall there be between them, and the will of God We shall then follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth. 
Rev. 24.4.  Now we follow him too, but 'tis but lamely, and 'tis not wheresoever he goeth; because as we follow Christ, so the Devil follows us with his temptations, whereby we are drawn aside and go astray. Oh, but than it shall not be so, but our wills shall be wholly conformable and obedient to his blessed will, we shall follow him wheresoever he goeth. I have set before you the crown of life: I have truly, though imperfectly and very briefly, described the nature of our future happiness. All is true that hath been said; yet all that hath been said, is nothing to the greatness of it. You must remember that of the Apostle, The glory that shall be revealed in us, 
Rom. 8.18.  it cannot be comprehended by us, no not by the most enlarged understanding, but hereafter it shall be revealed in us. And this was it made Paul so desirous of his dissolution: as chrysostom brings him in speaking thus. I have tasted of the joys of heaven, 
Chrys. to. 5. ad pop. Antioch. hom. 5.  therefore delay is tedious to me; I have had the first-fruits of the spirit, therefore I desire the whole harvest; I have been caught up into the third heavens and have seen the glory which is unutterable; I have beheld the splendour and glory of the court of heaven: Oh, I have learned, I have learned what good things I want the fruition of, staying here: for this cause I sigh, and groan within myself, desiring to be dissolved. To sum up all, we see what reason there is, to make us desire our dissolution, whether we respect outward and bodily evils, or spiritual evils, the Devil, and our own corruptions joining with him; and because our sanctification is imperfect here. The world is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a dusty, squalid, filthy place: no marvel, if the feet of our affections be still gathering soil, while we are walking in it. And lastly, because our condition hereafter shall be far better than now it is, free from sin and misery; death will bring us to a far better estate, both for place, company, body and soul: even to such happiness as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived. We can say no more, 
1 Cor. 2.9.  but we shall know more when Christ shall say to us, Enter into thy Master's joy: it cannot enter into us, 
Mat. 25.21.  therefore we shall enter into it, and be filled with it.  
Now for application of this Doctrine, Death is a thing that may be desired. I desire (saith Paul) to be dissolved and to be with Christ.  
Use 1 First, I may from hence show you the dotage of the Papists, concerning Purgatory: they say men's souls must have a purgation there, before they come to heaven; and the pains of that place (some of them say) are as sharp as the pains of hell, save only that they are not so lasting: With what comfort then can a man desire death, to go to such a place? Nay, I have heard of some, whom this doctrine hath distracted, and they have fallen mad at the very thought of it. Secondly, Christ tells the good thief, 
Luc, 23.43.  to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. And I will (saith he) that those whom thou hast given me be with me, 
Joh. 17.24.  where I am: I hope they dare not say, that Christ is in Purgatory; he is not in limbo, 
Heb. 8.1.  but in olympo: not in purgatorio, but in empyreo, at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, there is he in glory, and he will have us to be where he is, the text is plain.  
Thirdly, the Scripture tells but of two places men's souls go to when they depart hence, heaven and hell: the beggar died, and his soul went, whither? to purgatory? no; but 'twas presently received into Abraham's bosom, 
Luc. 16 22.  that is, into heaven: and (saith the Text) the rich man also died, and was buried, and whether went his soul? to hell: the Text speaks plainly, The rich man died, and was buried, and in hell, stayed not where by the way, but down to hell he went immediately. So in Matthew, he shall set the sheep on his right hand, the goats on his left; at his right hand is the kingdom of heaven, at his left hand everlasting fire: he that is not on his right hand, shall surely be on the left; therefore he that goes not into the kingdom of heaven, shall doubtless go to hell, and fire everlasting: the Scriptures tell not of any third place.  
Lastly, the close union of death, and Christ's presence, overthrows this dream of theirs: I desire (saith Paul here) to be dissolved, and to be with Christ; there is no Medium between them. But enough of this.  
Use. 2 In the second place, it may teach us how to take the death of our friends; 
1 Thes. 4.  Weep not (saith the Apostle) as men without hope: these tears are unprofitable, they do our friends no good, but they may do us hurt. Consider the necessity of death; it cannot be avoided: all must die: 'tis a debt our parents brought upon us, and must be paid, whensoever it shall be required: and think likewise of the commonness of death: 'tis as common a thing for men and women to die, as to be born, and to go out of the world, as it is to come into the world: why then should we wonder more at the one, then at the other? Anaxagoras, when one came and told him his son was dead; 
Spatio annorum 2256. comprehenditur aetas quatuor partium qui à mundi exordio hucusque vixerant. Nam etc. Bucolch. chron. 224.  made him this Answer: I knew my son was mortal: as soon as I had begot him, I knew he should die. Death now in our days is a very common thing; indeed, in the time between the Creation and the Flood, there was not a Coarse to be seen, it may be, in two or three hundred years, they were then so long lived: but now with us, many hundreds dye, and departed this world, every year, nay every week: seeing than others die so fast, what reason have we to think our friends should be exempted, or why should we be so full of grief, 
Quid admirationis meretur res, si scissum est quod eratscissile, & liquefactum quod eratliquesi. & si id crematum est quod erat ustile, & si id periit, quod ita natum est ut possit perire? Plut de consol. 185.  seeing death is so common a thing? What wonder is it to see trees consume with age, wax melt, soluble things dissolved, or to see frail mortals die that are born so, that they cannot but die; is this any matter of wonder? But that which should especially qualify our grief, is, from my text, and the doctrine delivered. Death is a thing to be desired, than not overmuch lamented: we should (I say) desire, and do desire it, as oft as we say the Lords Prayer, Thy Kingdom come. Therefore let us turn our sorrow for the death of our friends, into a desire of being with them in restand peace, when Gods good will and pleasure is.  
Use. 3 Is death a thing desirable? see here then the difference between the true Christian, and the worldling. As it is with women, some have living births, and in their time they will come forth; others have dead births, and they stir not, but die, and lie still in the womb: so is it with men, some are dead, and they desire to lie here still; others have living births, are new born Christians, and they cry out with Paul, Oh miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me! 
Rom. 7.24.  they would fain be delivered, they long to be with Christ, to enjoy his desired presence. As a man that hath sores and ulcers on his body, and his shirt gins to cleave thereto, with what pain is it pulled from his back? Even so is it with worldlings, whose affections are glued to the earth, they are haled and pulled from it, when they are to die, as Joab was from the horns of the Altar. Oh death! how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives in his pleasures? It is the King of terrors to such men; when the thought of it comes into their minds, how doth it amaze and trouble them! Solomon describing such a man, saith, All his days, 
Ecclus. 41.1. Eccl. 5.17. Foaming anger with or in his sickness. Pemb. in loc. Invenitur aliquis qui malit inter supplicia tabescere, & perire membratim, & toties per stillicidiam amittere ani. mam, quàmsemel exhalare. Sen. 450. Epist.  he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness, because he is loath to departed, unwilling to leave this world. As it was with the Gibeonites, they were content to be hewers of wood, drawers of water, rather than departed from the tents of the Israelites: So these men had rather do any thing here, endure any drudgery, then depart out of this world; had rather consume in the midst of torments, have their souls drop away in drops, and all the members of their bodies perish one after another; then die and leave the world.  
Object. Oh Sir, but life is sweet:  
Answ. What life do you mean? for this we live here, hardly deserves the name of life: for, how can we call that life, where heat scorcheth, cold pincheth, meats and drinks make us dull and heavy, fasting weakens us, humours swell us up, old age buckles us together, shrinks our sinews, wrinkles our skins, dims our sight, rattling phlegm rises up and chokes us, and at last, death seizeth upon us! What a life is this? 
Oh vita non vitalis.  Oh wretched life that tendeth to death! Let us therefore be in love with that life which death brings us unto, for that is life indeed. The Apostle saith, Our life is hid with Christ in God: the Saints aspire after this life, and they have their affections wafted up to heaven, and this, to them, is all in all. When Christ is here present, sometimes in his ordinances, what comfort do they find herein! But how much greater will it be hereafter, when we shall see him as he is! As a woman is glad of a Letter from her husband, but more desirous of the company of her husband: so it may comfort us a little, that we hear from him, and that God sends his Ministers, and servants to us, as Paul sent Timothy to the Thessalonians, 
1. Thes. 3.2.  to comfort us concerning our faith; that he is pleased to give us his holy word, which is as it were a letter sent us from heaven: Oh, but how much greater will our joy and happiness be, when we shall be with Christ, enjoy his desired presence, and follow him wheresoever he goeth! Now then, what terror do we find in death? or for what need we to fear it? for it shall then come to us, as an officer comes to an heir, giving him possession of an inheritance: So, death is no more but God's officer, to bring us into the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven.  
Use. 4 Therefore in the last place, let it teach us to labour to get Paul's desire; let us desire thus, that we may desire death: It's a great height this, and God sometimes will not give his children so great a desire as at other times, therefore labour thou to come to this, which that thou mayst the better do, consider these helps to further thee herein.  
First, because contraries are oft cured by contraries, too much love of this bodily life, 
Dulcedo divini amoris carnalis amoris suavitatem procul expellit. Divinae dilectionis fervor internè ardens affectiones omnes externas quasi paleas absumit. Comp. sper. doct. 198.  with the love of the spiritual life, too much affecting of earthly things, with the love of heavenly; therefore raise up thyself to consider the excellency of heaven, and heavenly things, and then earthly things will seem less: as a man on the top of a high mountain, or tower, sees men below like crows. I remember a pleasant relation in Scipio's dream, how that when he, as he thought, was taken up into heaven amongst his friends Paulus and Affricanus, and they shown him the motion of the Planets, and the greatness of the Celestial Orbs; he cast his eyes down upon the earth which seemed but like a Tennis-ball, & searching to find out the place where his kingdom lay, it was so small he could scarce discern it: But as he was thus poring on the ground, 
Coelestia semper spectato, illa humana contemnito.  Affricanus pulls him by the sleeve, and bid him mind heavenly things, and not to regard earthly; for what is it (saith he) to have a name upon earth? say thou hadst Carthage, and all Numantia; yet cannot thy name fly over this Caucasus, nor swim over this Ganges: Thou seest how small a thing the earth is, and that sea, (pointing to the Atlantic.) which ye call the great sea and the main ocean, which though it have so great a name, thou seest how small a thing it is. This was but a Philosopher's dream, yet 'tis pleasant to consider how far those men went. Let us that are Christians, seriously consider the excellency of heaven, and vanity of earthly things; let us mount aloft upon the wings of divine contemplation, and our minds being there, all things here below will be as nothing to us. Seek those things (saith the Apostle) that are above, or on high: What? where the Orbs and Planets are? No, higher than so: 
Col. 3.2.  where Angels and Archangels are? No, higher yet, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Oh if the soul of any here present were, with Paul, rapt up into the third heavens, to be there but one hour, to see what he saw; how would he be ready to trample these things under his feet, as vile and despicable! he would count them trash in comparison of Jesus Christ, as dung to that pearl.  
It may be said, all this is but matter of speculation; therefore in the second place, Give thyself to the practice of mortification, desire to have all things mortified unto thee, than thou wilt not care so much for them. Offer what ye will to a dead man, he regards it not: So let us labour to get our affections, whether covetous, or pleasurable, mortified; and we shall not care for these things. Mortify therefore your members which are upon earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness. 
Col. 3.5.  Indeed, this mortification of all evil affections is a hard work: for as it is with men that have strong bodies, and suffer violent deaths; you see what a lamentable conflict there is, what struggling between life and death, and when you think the man quite dead, a good while after, he gives a great sigh or groan, nature then gathering all her strength to withstand death, flying as it were in the very face of death, either to vanquish, or to be overcome: Even thus it is, if we go about to take away the life of our dearest lusts, they will gather all the forces they can either make of themselves, or the devil and the world can supply them withal, to stand before them, and defend them, that we may not come at them; but if for all that, we break through, and smite them so that we give them their deaths-wound, yet they will gather strength again, and rise up to hurt us, and do us a mischief afterwards. Oh, 'tis hard, 'tis hard, and many a Christian is forced even with tears in his eyes to cry out to heaven for help when he is at this work, yet this ye see, is that we are 
* Gal. 5.24: Rom. 6.6.8.13.  called to, that which every regenerate man and woman sets himself to: and he who hath in good earnest set himself to it, and endeavoured the mortifying of his sins, will not be afraid of death; but rather see great cause why he should desire it: whatsoever pains it brings, he is provided for it, and may say thus: Oh death, I regard not any sting, thou canst sting my body withal; for, sin thy worst sting, wherewith thou wouldst sting my soul to death, is in some measure mortified and subdued by the power of God's Spirit: that conflict thou art now about to bring upon my body, will be but short to that I have endured in my soul these so many years. Oh welcome death, come, do thine office: I have been endeavouring a long time the death of my sins, and something through the power and mercy of God I have done; though not so much as I would: come, lend me thy hand to finish this work. I have oft smote my sins, thinking to lay them in the dust; yet they have risen again: one stroke now of thy hand will cause them to die, that they shall never rise up any more.  
Thirdly, let us think oft, and consider what our condition is while we are here subject to sin and misery: do what we can, we cannot so mortify sin that it shall not be in us: 
Non hîc sumus sine peccato, fed exibimus sine peccato. Aug.  its true, the old man hath received his death's wound in every regenerate man, and is bleeding out his life by degrees, and at death shall quite expire, and bleed his last, but not till then: Paul saith of himself, I find a law in my members, warring against the law of my mind; who shall deliver me from this body of death? 
Rom. 7.23, 24.  or, oh that I were delivered from it! There will be a body of sin and death in us, so long as we carry this body of earth and flesh about us: this is plain then, as long as we live here, we shall sin; and what Christian desires to live to sin, and to offend God Oh ye that love the Lord, hate sin (saith the Psalmist) hate that which is evil. We should therefore desire it for this cause. 
Psal. 97.10.   
Fourthly, let us oft look at death: Plato said, that the life of a Philosopher should be nothing else, but a meditation of death, much more, the life of a Christian. It was a custom amongst the Greek Emperors, a Stone-cutter came to the Emperor on the day of his Coronation, presented divers stones before him, and desired to know of him, which of those stones he would have for his Sepulchre. And I have read of a people, who at their feasts were wont to drink to one another out of dead-men's skulls, to mind them of death. Joseph of Arimathea, who brought the Gospel hither into England, he had his sepulchre hewn out of a rock, 
Joh. 19.41.  standing ready for him in his garden: So let us, when the world seems to crown us with its chiefest delights, then remember death: when we eat and drink, think we see death on our tables; when we are in our private Gardens, than also let us take a turn with death, and let us act death before it comes: As a man that would fain fall asleep, shuts his eyes, draws the curtains, lays his head to the pillow, and so composeth himself to sleep: so do thou; oft think with thyself in what manner death will surprise thee, look at it before it comes, and it will be the easier when it comes.  
And lastly, as we must look at it, so we must also look beyond it: indeed it is a terrible thing to look at death, but cast thine eye now beyond it, and there will be no terror in it. Think of Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, how it will be far better with us then, then now; in regard of Place, Company, our Bodies, and our Souls. But indeed (as I noted to you before) that glory is unspeakable. As the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon's glory, She heard a great deal, yet not half of it was told her: the same may we say of eternal happiness, that, we cannot declare half of it unto you: meditate we may, and aught, of that glory; yet this we must know, that we come exceeding far short. This therefore should make us go with as great desire to the grave, as they use to go to a marriage; because then, we shall be married to Christ Jesus: And as Travellers, when the day is well spent, and the Sun grows low, come cheerfully into their Inns at night: so should we, to this common Inn of Death.  
FINIS.