Masius* out of Jacob Ediscenas Syrus, saith that when Noah went into the ark, he took the bones of Adam with him, and that when he came out of the ark, he divided them among his sons, giving the head, as the chiefest part, unto his first-born, and therein as it were saying unto them, Let not this delivery from the flood make you secure ; be- hold your first parent, and the beginning of mankind ; you must all, and all that come from you, go unto the dust to him. What day is there that passes over our heads wherein the Lord doth not, by others' mortality, preach many sermons of mortality to us ? and therefore why should we be unwilling to pay that debt that all owe, and that all must pay, and that so many daily pay before our eyes ? But,
[9.] Ninthly, A believers dying day is his best day,5 and why then should he be unwilling to die ? Eccles. vii. 1, 'A good name is better than precious ointment ; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.' In respect of profit, pleasure, peace, safety, company, glory, a believer's last day is his best day ; and when then should a believer be unwilling to die ? In a printed sermon on this very text, I have proved this truth at large, and to that I refer you, who desire further satisfac- tion about this truth.6 But,
[10.] Tenthly, A believer's dying day is his resting day ; it is his resting day from sin, from sorrow, from affliction, from temptation, from desertion, from dissension, from vexation, from persecution, and from all bodily labour.7 And therefore why should a believer be unwilling to die, seeing that for him to die is no more but to rest ? But of this rest I have spoken largely before ; and therefore a touch may be enough in this place. But,
[11.] Eleventhly, The saints' dying day is their reaping day. Now they shall reap the fruit of all the prayers that ever they have made, and of all the sermons that ever they have heard, and oi* all the tears
1 Odyssey, xi. 488.— G.
2 Eccles. ii. 16 ; Zech. i. 5 ; Heb. ix. 27 ; Gen. iii. 19 ; Rom. vi. 23.
3 See Brooks's Will in Appendix to Memoir. — G.
4 Masius in ult. cap. Josh., ver. 32. [Andrew Masius, a learned writer, died 1573. His ' Commentary' on Joshua (1574) was reprinted in the ' Critici Sacri.' — G.]
5 Ambrose, de fide resurrectionis. speaks of some who lamented men's births and cele- brated their deaths, &c. 6 His 'Believer's Last Day is his Best Day,' 1U57. G.
7 Rev. xiv. 13, xxi. 4 ; Job iii. 13-16 ; Isa. lvii. I, 2.
456 A STRING OF PEARLS. [1 PETER I. 4.
that ever tliey have shed, and of all the sighs and groans that ever they have fetched, and of all the good words that ever they have spoke, and of all the good works that ever they have done, and of all the great things that ever they have Buffered ; yea, now they shall reap the fruit of many good services, which themselves had forgot, 2 Cor. ix. 6; Gal. vi. 7-9. ' Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee; or thirsty, and gave thee drink ; or naked, and clothed thee ; or sick, or in prison, and visited thee?' Mat. xxv. 34-4J. They had done many good works and forgot them, but Christ records them, remembers them, and rewards them. Sabinus in Seneca could never in all his lifetime remember those three names of Homer, Ulysses, and Achilles; and as had memo- ries have many Christians in spirituals. But our Lord Jesus, as he hath a soft and tender heart, so he hath an iron memory ; he remem- bers not only the best and greatest services, but also the least and lowest services that have been done by his people, and he remembers them to reward them. A bit of bread, a cup of cold water, shall not pass without a reward. Therefore it is good counsel one gives,1 Nv/nqwam ijitiini venial Dominus, inveniat imparatos, sed semper wltw suspensoi expansosque sinus habentes, ad lairgam Dammi benedictionem, Let the Lord when he cometh never find us unready, but always with our faces looking up towards him, always having our bosoms open, our laps spread abroad, as looking to receive a large blessing from him. Chris- tians, however Christ may seem to forget your labour of love, and to take no notice, or but little, of many good services that you have done for him, his name, his gospel, his people, yet when you die, when you come to heaven, you shall then reap a plentiful, a glorious crop, as the fruit of that good seed, that for a time hath seemed to be buried and lost, Prov. xi. 25 ; Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6. When mortality shall put on im- mortality, you shall then find that bread which long before was cast upon the waters, Eccles. xi. 1-6. Therefore be not, O Christian, afraid to die ! be not, O Christian, unwilling to die ! for thy dying day will be thy reaping day. But,
[12.] Twelfthly, Thy dying-clay, 0 believer ! will be thy triumph- ing day, John xi. 26. Mow thou shalt gloriously triumph over sin, Satan, the world, thy own base heart, yea, and over death itself. I readily grant, that if you consider believers in Christ, as he was a public person, they have then already triumphed over principalities and powers ; what Christ did in his greatest transaction, he did as a public person, representing all his chosen ones ; he suffered as a public per- son, representing all his elect ; he died as a public person, repre- senting all his precious ones ; he rose, he ascended, and now he sits in heaven as a public person, representing all his children : Eph. ii. 6, ' And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus/ Christ hath taken up his children's rooms in heaven aforehand ; Christ hath already taken possession of heaven in their names, in their steads, they do now sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.'2 And so when Jesus Christ spoiled ' princi- palities and powers, and triumphed openly over them on the cross,' he
1 Bernard. Ser. xvii. in Cant.
2 Eph. iv. 8 ; Col. ii. 14, 15 ; a plain allusion to the Roman triumphs ; 1 John ii. 13, 14 ; Rom. viii. 37 ; 1 John iv. 4, 5.
1 Peter I. 4.] a string of pearls. 457