good, and the instruction of his surviving friends; to put my obedience and faith to the trial, as thou didst the father of the faithful, whose trial was far greater than mine: for thou commandedst him to sacrifice his son with his own hands; but thou requirest from me no other sacrifice, but my submission to thy holy will. I will therefore speak in Eli's language," It is the Lord, let him do as seemeth good;" or as Job, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Thou hast taken from me what I highly valued on earth, that I might look up to heaven, whither he is departed from me. me therefore grace to put an end to all these sighs, groans, and tears, and spend no longer my time and my breath lamenting the loss of my beloved object; but that I may employ myself to prepare for my removal out of this earthly tabernacle. Grant that I may imitate the piety, zeal, faith, and constancy, and all other virtues, of such as thou hast admitted into thine eternal rest, and crowned with everlasting joy and happiness. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! Amen.

Grant

CHAP. X.

The Fourth Remedy against the Fears of Death is, to disengage our Hearts from the World.

HE children of Israel decamped from the wilderness

THE

with a ready mind, and went joyfully over the river Jordan, when God commanded them so to do. The cause of their readiness was an earnest longing for the land of Canaan, and their unsettled condition in the wilderness, having nothing but tents to live in. Death is to us the same, in regard to our heavenly paradise, as the river Jordan was to the children of Israel, in respect to the promised land. Therefore from hence it appears, that the strongest motive

to oblige us to a resolution of entering into this passage willingly, is to free ourselves from all things that might encumber, stop, or tie us to the world, and keep ourselves always in a readiness to depart.

For that purpose it is not necessary that we should go out of the world, but that the world should be banished and driven out of us, and that we should renounce all vanities and unruly affections, so that we might be able to say with the apostle, "The world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world:" for there be many who depart out of this world, but leave their hearts and most tender affections behind: as Lot's wife that went out of Sodom, but left there her treasures and delights, her most ardent desires: as the Israelites, who, when they went out of Egypt, left behind them their cursed affections, with their pots of flesh and onions.

The same thing happens to many, who separate themselves without any necessity from the acquaintance of mankind, and who affect a strange and austere kind of life. They leave the society of wise and virtuous persons, and the lawful use of the blessings which heaven has granted them; and they deprive themselves of all that deserve esteem, and the means of glorifying God, and edifying their neighbours. But many times they carry with them their corruption, their vices, and a legion of wicked thoughts and carnal desires. By this means they give way to the devil, and expose themselves to all his temptations; for that wicked serpent delights rather in the dens of wild beasts, and in the caves of the earth, than in the palaces and dwellings of princes and kings. The most abominable vices creep and breed rather in the desarts and places of retreat, than in public, and in great cities that are full of inhabitants. Lot remained chaste in the most abominable city that was in the world; but when he went aside to the foot of a mountain, and into the cave to dwell, he defiled himself

with a monstrous incest. When Satan intended to tempt our Saviour Christ, he carried him into a desert and to the top of a mountain. From hence we may learn, that this subtle enemy of mankind had learnt, by his long experience, that the places of retreat, and the most solitary, are the fittest to lay his snares. If our Saviour, who was wholly innocent and free from sin, hath been able to overcome all manner of temptations, we are not of the same temper, we are not furnished with such armour as he was, of proof against all the inflamed darts of the devil: for our miserable flesh delights in its own destruction, it opens the ears and the heart wide to the deceitful promises of Satan, and suffers itself to be cheated by his damnable enchantments. It flatters us, and causes us to be lulled asleep in its bosom: then, like a treacherous. Delilah, it betrays us into the unmerciful hands of our great enemy.

Some clothe themselves with hair, and wear at their girdles a knotted cord, whom the devil drags to hell with the invincible chains of lust. Others climb up to the top of frozen mountains, and yet their hearts burn with impure flames.. Some affect a mournful solitáriness, whose desires and longings are for the world and its vanities. Others have their hands lifted up to heaven, whose minds are enslaved to the earth, and rooted in the rotten and filthy pleasures of the age. Some have a lamp burning before them, whose understanding is wrapped in gross darkness, more palpable than that of Egypt. Others have an empty stomach, whose soul is full of abominable passions. In short, some live in appearance like angels, and yet are possessed with legions of infernal spirits. Others seem to have no concernment in the world, and yet lodge the whole world in their hearts.

Under a coarse habit dwell oft-times more envy, more vanity and ambition, than under the glorious attire of silk and gold. Through a torn habit, some souls may be perceived

swelled

swelled with pride and arrogance: and in company of beggars are to be found many times the designs of kings, and the lofty thoughts of the greatest monarchs. To speak plainly the good things and advantages of this life do not stop and wed us of themselves to this world, but rather that love and affection which we bear to them.

For without doubt, there be many that are more earnest and affectionate for the things they want, than others that enjoy them. Some poor people have a far greater longing for riches, than ever Solomon had in the midst of all his great treasures. Some silly women, who are covered with old rags, and some contemptible Joans, have more vanity and pride in their brains, than ever had queen Esther in her richest and most glorious attire. The prophet Daniel was raised to an high and eminent honour; for he was the governor of the third part of the monarchy of the Persians and of the Medes; nevertheless, he was no more concerned in Babylon than if he had had there but a sepulchre, and worn the chains of a slave; he sends forth as many sighs, and pours as many tears, at if he had been sitting upon the ashes of Jerusalem.

Some pitiful beggars are more loth to quit their rags, than sovereign princes to lay down the ensigns of their dignity and honour. Such are more enslaved to their filth and easiness, than the greatest monarchs to the glory and splendour of their empire. Death labours as much to free a man from his prison, and take him out of his dungeon, as to drive him out of his palace, and to tumble him from his throne; the poor and the indigent, who have no other bed to lie upon than the hard ground, make as much resistance as the rich, who are stretched upon the softest couches. The galley-slaves are as unwilling that Death should loose them from their chains, and take them out of their misery, as the kings and princes are to leave their sceptres and their crowns. I am fully per

suaded,

suaded, that David was more willing to go from his com mand, and from his riches, than many poor wretches are to depart from their dunghills and their meanness. Some persons are tormented with the gout, the stone, and other grievous and sensible pains; they desire nevertheless more passionately to live, than many who enjoy a perfect and flourishing health. Carnal and earthly souls are so much wedded to the earth, that they feel a great reluctancy, and an unspeakable displeasure, when they are to depart from a body rotten and falling to pieces with old age; whereas others, who are most spiritualized, and that have tasted of the heavenly gift, and of the powers of the world to come, depart most willingly out of young and lusty bodies, flourishing in their strength and beauty.

We must not therefore remove out of the world our legs and arms, but our affections and vain lusts. If God bestows upon us his earthly blessings, we are not to follow the example of that extravagant philosopher, who cast into the sea his silver and his precious stones, that he might not have the trouble to keep them, and who lost them willingly, that he might not be in any further danger of losing them afterwards: but we must take heed, that they cause not our faith to make shipwreck, and that we regard them not more than our consciences; for the soul is a far more precious jewel than the body, and the life is far more considerable than clothing. Seeing that God bestows upon us so many good things, with an intent that we should enjoy them, we should shew ourselves unthankful to his goodness, contrary to his wise providence, and unjust and cruel to ourselves, to refuse the means of ever using and employing these blessings. All God's creatures are good, and none are to be rejected, but received with thanksgiving; for they are sanctified by the word of God, and by prayer.

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