MY Text lies within the Territory of the King of Terrours, Job 18.14 whose Empire spreads it self from Pole to Pole, as far as Mortals have any ground to live, or lie on; even the wide Sea hath its depths for the Sepulture of the dead, as well as for the floating and flitting Traffick, and passage and wonderment [Page 2] of the living; there is no spot in this habitable world, or navigable waters, but hath a place as rightfully and readily for mens Recumbency, as for their Residence; and the necessity of dying once, which is by Statute entayl'd on the Community of Mankind, Heb. 9.27. is by our Heavenly Apostle S. Paul converted into an Act of Religion, and is espoused into his Choice, and is taken into his care and timely fore­cast and expectancy, and daily account; he tells us, he was in Deaths, oft; 2 Cor. 11.23. and here he tells us, Death was in his view and voysinage every day, not only in re­spect of Deaths Imminency, as, daily in the danger, and in jeopardy every hour; but in respect of dying Concerns, Causes, Designs, Duties, Considerations, as, daily busied about the preparative, provisional, and consolative qualifica­tions, requisite for the dying Estate. And all this he repre­sents in all Apostolick Presidency, as an unerring pattern for Catholick Practice, for all Christians Imitation, be­cause it is the great Task of the Religion of our dying Lord, who gave his Disciples the same Example, and all his ever since, and so on till our last Enemy be destroyed; that as we follow in an inevitable succession of mortality, so we stand bound to be followers of them who were fol­lowers of Christ; to do that often, which ought to be done well, that we do it at last but once; and so may die not only as Mortals, but as Christians, with wisdom, in inno­cence, and in peace; and not like Beasts, or Fools, or Infidels.

I know whatever we fancy or flatter our selves, every one of us present is daily dying, in jeopardy every hour: nay, [...] come nearer every moment: the [...]w [...]d of death hanging over our Heads but by a Heir, and some may be but a hairs breadth, and some but a hairs length at most from the Grave; it is but God's speaking the word, not mort [...]ris in ill [...] die, but mort [...]s [...]s, thou art a dead man; as to A [...]imelech, Psal. 104.29. Gen 20.3. for 'tis upon his breath we live; and though it be called our Breath, it is only because it [Page 3] plays in our Nostrils, but it is under God's Restraint; if he restrain our spirit, we die, and return to our Dust. Lo, death and dust are ours, but our breath is his who gives and takes, continues and restrains at pleasure; 'tis but the going forth of God's breath in summons, and ours goes forth in expiration; Lord, upon how slippery ground do our Feet stand, as upon the waters paved with Ice, which is both sliding and brittle, so as there is not more danger of falling, than of sinking! Since then our dying is consecra­ted by the Lord Jesus Christs once dying for us, and we must die before we can blissfully see our living Redeemer, it grows into a rational Christian Service, from our Apo­stles practice, to die daily. I die daily.

The Text is short, hardly one in Scripture shorter; but it is with these sacred Clauses, as with Coins or Jewels, in smallest compass is the greater value. So have we seen rare Beauties drawn in little Tablets, and a world of Coun­tries described in little Maps. So here's much counsel in a narrow room; and the Holy Ghost affects Brevity, as ma­king wholesome Truths more portable for memory, and readier for use; such is this, exceeding compendious, and of rich Contents. 'Tis a precious Paragraph this, that three words, and four syllables should comprise the business of the Christian Life. The words are S. Paul's, as the work was his, he was a Vessel of Election, and we need not doubt but he presents us a choice draught, he vents it up­on this occasion.

An unhappy Doctrinal Error against the Resurrection, springing from the old four Leven of the Sadduces, which threatned to Leven the whole Lump: 1 Cor. 5.6. had pri­vily crept into the Church of Corinth, which occasioned an excellent Demonstrative Discourse of the Apostle upon that weighty subject, which is solid enough to establish many thousand Souls in the succeding Churches, and serves to shame and extirpate all the Heresies about it, until the Resurrection come to prove it self. In this his Disc [...]urse he [Page 4] beats much upon the Scriptural and rational proof of it, and confirms all by occular Testimony. But as not con­tented to dwell on the Doctrinal and Theorical part to the 29 vers. he comes to personal and practical Instances, as from that particular notable Ceremony or Ritual of the Church, and Custom of Antiquity, (and I must tell you Church-Custom in S. Paul's time, 1 Cor. 11.16. and in this Epistle car­ries much force) and that was, Baptising the dead; the beginning whereof, it seems, was, if not altogether good and laudable, yet it was inoffensively tolerable, which was, that when any one died in the profession of the Faith of Jesus Christ before he could be washed and cleansed as for his Interment, some one or more of the Christian Friends would come and offer themselves to be sprinkled both in their own names, and in the name of the deceased, whom they attested to have died in the Faith of Christ; that the Church might write them down in the Register, then kept for Believers, who dying, they publickly prayed for their happy Resurrection. And so the Apostles Argument bears, else what shall they do which are baptised for the dead; if the dead rise not at all, why are they then bapti­sed for the dead?

This Custom was anciently observed by the Corinthi­ans, a sort of Hereticks, who notwithstanding their own practise, denyed the Resurrection of Bodies, and it is like­ly, were Authors of the Error, taxed in this Chapter, in the Church of the Corinthians; wherefore S. Paul's meaning is, that this custom which weighed so much in those days were very absurd, if there were no Resurrecti­on, seeing that the very Ground and Foundation of Ba­ptism, not only Sacramental, but Ritual, is to seal unto us both our spiritual and corporal rising from the dead. Rom. 6.3.4. Coloss. 2.12. And the end of this particular Ceremony was the profes­sion of the expectance of the blessed Resurrection of Be­lievers: a Custom which in following Ages was much a­bused unto Superstition, but without doubt was primitive­ly blameless, and piously practicable.

[Page 5]Then the Apostle comes to a general Instance by way of Quaere, why, and for what reason, and upon what hope do Christians expose themselves voluntarily to death, and to so many Dangers, Conflicts and Tryals for the Gospel, and the Cause of Christianity, if it bringeth us to no hap­piness after this life; which happiness according to God's order, and our own aims, cannot be of the Soul alone without any relation to the body, being eternally separate from it, vers. 19. and 32. compared.

Lastly he comes to his own personal experience and pra­ctise, and by a most strong asseveration or assertion equi­valent to an Oath, which is in the Greek [...], A particle never used by the Greeks, but in Oath on­ly. which is here rendred I protest, as if he had said, as true as my chief Glory and Joy in this world is in the blessing of God on my Ministry towards you; which he seems to speak so ear­nestly, that he might the more oblige his Corinthians not to deprive him of that only comfort, amongst so many sufferings, as sure as you minister Joy to me, or as I in my Ministry rejoyce you; or that he might the more forcibly press on them his own Example, and the more prevalent­ly win them unto Imitation, I die daily.

The words are but three, and promptly furnish me with three part, which I intend shall bound my Sermon.

The Protestant, I.

The matter protested, Die.

The Diuturnity of its practice, Daily.

The Protestant is presented in the personal Pronoun sin­gular (I) S. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, in his Or­der and Epistolar Writings, which are tantamount his Sermons, a great Preacher, a living President to the Churches in all his holy life and labours. His Eminency did not exempt him from strict Religion, no more than from Mortality, he, who when he says I live, he corrects himself, Yet not I but Christ liveth in me, Galat. 2.20. Philip, 1.21. To whom to live was Christ. When he says, I die, to be sure it is he, the same that protesteth in his mortal, but re­generate [Page 6] Estate, affirming that the better birth is an en­trance and engagement to a dying life, and the choicest Saints, are both Vessels of Earth, and of Election; as of Earth, so must we return to our Earth; and as of Election, so must we die unto this world, as Heirs of a better. New creatures live by a new way of dying, we live unto God by dying unto sin. The chosen of God have a dying principle, from the Prince of Life, Rom. 6.3, to 12. who died and rose again. S. Paul's Emi­nency in Grace directed him to the frequent exercise of Mortification; Dying was his life, whose Dignity was to live to God; this is that only life which makes death the Christians Game. To the common Herd of Men, to live is sin, and to die is loss: but to S. Paul and such as he, to live is Christ, and to die is Gain; Christ was that great Example of the dying life of a Christian, whom this his Apostle followed in the exactness of so choice a Mystery of Dying Daily.

Who? S. Paul the Prisoner; Eph. 4.1. no wonder if a Prisoner saith, I die; for a Prison is but a larger Grave, and such a one as is fettered and penned up within Bars and Bolts, and Grates and Gyves, is but one buryed alive, and such a one may justly say, I die. No, the Apostle shews himself a Freeman, the Prison Gates are open, the Bars are broken, and Gyves are knocked off from him that can say, I die, in the sense of the Text. Time was when Paul himself thought he was a jolly person in a live­ly posture; Rom. 7.9. yet, Wh [...]n the commandment came, sin revived, and h [...] di [...]d. Then was Paul a Prisoner indeed, even as a G [...]lly Slave sold under sin; then he stood in so great need of a Redeemer, to deliver him from that body of death: but now being made free from sin, and become the servant of God, he goes about to kill that which would have sl [...]in him, and to lead his C [...]ptivity captive, to cruci­fie the old man, that the B dy of Sin might be destroyed. This is he wh [...] [...]

[Page 7]Who, S. Paul the aged? well may such a one say, I die: for Age is the next stage to death, nay, Philemon v. 9. the next step to the Grave, when one Foot is already in; what a fardle of dying Infirmities doth old Age carry on its back? yet the oldest living hopes to live a little longer; yet there are many that have lived to great age and experience, who have not yet learn'd to die:; 'twas never in their study, nor practice. If men would exercise themselves this way, what a Glory would it be to see many years, and many-fold Graces to meet in one person; the hoary Head is a Crown of Glory, if found in the way of righteousness. No doubt, S. Paul's Age was to be reckoned by holy Endow­ments, as well as hoary Hairs; his Communion with the Ancient of days, and his relyance on the Rock of Ages, his Statu [...]e in Christ, and his Improvements for Eternity, his Growth in Grace and saving Wisdom, his long serving God in his Generation, and the innumerable advantages he had procured to the Churches of Christ, and the ever­lasting good done so many souls which profited by his ef­fectual Ministry, were so happy productions of his time and pains, as that his Age might be better computed by his good works, than by multitude of years; this was he who so lived every day, that all his days of his Convert Life, were his dying days.

Who, S. Paul the Hebrew? the Israelite? 1 Cor. 1 [...].22, 23. &c. of the stock of Abraham? the Minister of Christ? so abundant in la­bours? so frequent in dangers, so patient in sufferings; for him to say, I die, you may believe him without an Oath, and wonder rather that he lived, when ye read the Catalogue of his Adventures, 1 Cor. 11.28. His daily care of the Churches, his intimate Sympathies, and ardent [...]plyances of Charity; for such a one as wasted himself [...] a burning Taper, to give others light, such an one as [...] his Lungs, spent his Breath▪ macerated his bo­ [...]y, beating his brains, and eating his bread in a worse [...]eat than that of his brows, breaking his sleep, burning [Page 8] as in a Feaver of Zeal for God's Honour, and the Gospels furtherance, and bringing in of stubborn and gainsaying Sinners to Christ, weeping in secret, and vexing his righ­teous soul for the evil conversations and froward dispositi­ons of men; surely such a one may sadly, yet safely say, I die daily.

Or yet again, is it Paul the chosen Vessel, once a notori­ous Persecutor, now an eminent Saint; once a Blasphe­mer, a cruel blood-sucker, under whose Tyrannous Agi­tations many died daily Martyrs for the Truth of Christ, once mad against the Church with too much zeal, again reputed mad with too much Learning; sometimes a Boa­nerges, in his thundering Comminations, then a Barnabas, in his Consolatory Rhetorick; such an one as hath experi­enced all the methods of the Christian Calling, and the perils and persecutions attending that envied Cause, such a one as had been in the Deeps, by Soul-afflicti­on, 1 Cor. 12.2. and in the heights of the third Heaven, by Rapture and Revelation; one who might glory to the utmost, even to the degree of his Apostolate, or Saintship, as to his ex­cellency in Labours, Faculties, Gifts or Graces? This is he who affirms of himself, I, even I, die daily.

Now if we find him in this mortified posture, consider­ing his Eminency, which might be so far doubted, as that it put this holy man upon his Oath to attest it, sans dispute, he may be believed, he died daily in his meaner and more ordinary capacities; if he was so busie about dying as an Apostle, we conclude him so too, as a Tent-maker. If he died daily as a Saint, as the chief of Sinners much more: It is enough to ground a President in the case, and to render it an acquirable faculty, and to determine it the Epitome, or Brief of Practical Christianity, To die daily.

But is not this Durus Sermo? may we not with Nicode­mus in such a case, [...] 60. [...]. say [...], How can these things be? Can a man die whiles he lives? Such sayings are Spirit, not Letter; Mystery, not Demonstration.

[Page 9]This is a kind of dying, which consists in Action, not in Cessation; in labouring, not in rest from Labours. Such as in Jacob's expression, Gen. 48.21. Behold, I die; yet he had much to do, and 'tis the story of another Chapter, before he gave up the Ghost; noting, there is a way of dying for good men before they expire.

To die, in the Text, may have a five-fold sense.

1. To be in continual jeopardy of death, in the forego­ing Verse: for we are subjected to death every moment, by sentence on Adam's sin, vers. 22. we are under the sta­tute of Mortality in our best and most vigorous strength and sufficiency, whiles our Breasts are full of Milk, and our Bones full of Marrow; we have the sentence of death in our selves, and through fear of death, Job 21.24. are all our life time subject to bondage; we live but as condemn'd per­sons under reprieve; and life being but a span, every Inch and Barley-breadth of time is but a respite of the divine patience, protracting the Date, for our better perfecting our Duty; we are sure we carry deaths enough within us, as to give our Bodies themselves the denomination of [...], as being incident to deaths stroke, as open to deaths sting every moment. Nor youth, nor strength, Rom [...].24. nor wisdom, nor wealth, nor power, nor parts, nor suf­ficiency, nor sanctity can exempt, nor prevent, nor re­deem from it. And in weakness, sickness and old age, we are so under the sentence, as we are not far from the sea­son of death. Thus because of the daily Incidencies, it is prudential and pious to reckon upon the daily event. And if the Heathens defined life to be continua mortis con­templatio, the continual meditation of Death; Christians with S. Paul should turn it into diurna expectatio, a daily [...]ing expectation; and that's one sense of the Text.

2. I die, imports the vicinity of death: Gen. 50.24. Jos ph said, I die, (i. e.) I must shortly go hence. So Jo­shua, This day I go the way of all the earth: Josh. 22 [...]. He reckoned his death for that day, which happened not long after. So [Page 10] Job computes to day, Job 16.22. When a few years come, I shall go to the place from whence I shall not return. Our years (which are the largest measure of man's time) are but few by Moses his cast, Psal. 90.10. yet he makes days the Di­vidend, though seventy years be the Quotient of man's life. And David reckons by days, noting that the longest life is but a day of life: the Morning of Youth, and Noon of Strength, Job 9.25. Job 7.1. and Night of Age. Lord, how swift is the re­volution? As a Post, or the swift Ships, as the day of an Hireling. This, holy David thus expresseth, I am afflicted, and ready to die from my youth; Psal. 88.15.

3. I die, is as much as to say I am willing to die. It is my indifferency, as to the time, or manner, or place, but if it were left to my choice, I would desire to be dissolved, that I might be with Christ. The present Tense is rendred in the Optative Mood. In matters of Faith, by faith things hoped for are made present; Heb. 14.1. and become the matter of Prayer and Option. A good Christian is a Voluntier for the Grave; Phil. 1.23. 'Twas S. Paul's choice, and Si­meon's Prayer, Luke 2.29. Having Christ in his Arms, who had been so long in his hopes, the old Expectant thought it a burden to live longer: our Apostle always longing to go hence, and seeming long first, that which is so much in his expectation is frequent in his Option, and that which is so much in option is in daily action, and such actions as have a direct tendency to fruition. Death na­turally considered cannot be the object of Election, be­cause it is enmity to nature; and no man rationally desires his own dissolution; nor death penally considered cannot be the object of man's choice; but as the dying Jesus hath unstung it, and conquered its Malignity, and destroyed him that had the power of death, and consecrated Interi­tum into transitum, a passage from earth to Heaven, and Introitum the dark Entry to the Mansions of Bliss; so, to die bodily is a desireable benefit, and Grace turns its ne­cessity into election, and brings inevitable destination into [Page 11] daily exercise. We look for death, and so with submission to God's will we long for it, not only as a cessation from sufferings, and sin, and sorrows, but as our Translation to eternal life, our Convoy to Christ, our Change, our Re­moval; and we daily labour, and give all diligence to be found of Christ Jesus in peace. And, Job 14.14. all the days of our appointed time we wait till our change come.

4. I die, imports the Apostles fitness for death. Then is a Christian fit to die, when he is furnished for a better life, and daily practice breeds promptitude, and the exer­cise of dying is a tuning and timeing us for the dying day, that we may be made meet to be partakers of the eternal Inheritance. It is with Christians as with tender and pre­cious Fruits, they are daily upon some incremental change, till they come to be mature and mellow, and fit for use, and then they are every day falling to the earth, as ready for the owners hand. In Job 5.26. ye have an allusion to this in that Parabolical Speech of Eliphaz to Job, Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, as a shock of corn cometh in, in its season. This was a promise of Honour and Com­fort in death; As, a shock of corn in its season, notes a rea­diness and ripeness for that season: Thou shalt come, notes a willingness and chearfulness in dying: In season, notes the ripeness and fitness for death. Now that the allusion may fully bear, our Apostle helps us to the apprehension of it, in the thirty sixth Verse of this fifteenth Chapter to the Corinthians, he increpates the dullness of ignorant Atheists, about the Resurrection; Thou fool, that which thou sowest, is not quickened, except it die. Dying is in order to quick­ening, and Growth, until the Corn come to a full Grain in the Ear, and be ripe for Harvest, and the Ears are bound [...] in the Sheaves, and the Sheaves gathered into the Shock; and the Shocks into the Barn. And in this sense, though a Child of God die in his Youth, in the Flower and Spring of his days, yet his death is as the Harvest Sea­son to his hopes, and the gathering of his Soul to God, and [Page 12] his Body to his Fathers; though in his natural capacity he be cut down whiles he is green, and cropt in the Bud or Blossom, yet in his spiritual capacity he never dies till he come to ripeness. God ripens his Servants speedily, when he intends to take them out of the world speedily; he can and doth let out such warm Rays of his Spirit upon them, as shall soon maturate the Seeds of Grace into a prepared­ness for Glory. This is S. Paid's, and every good Chri­stian's profession, so to live, as to be daily ready for death: 'twas holy Job's cast of his state; Job 17.1. My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the Graves are ready for me: And I am ready for the Grave; I am undressing my self daily to lie down in dust, and sleep in death; there is no­thing now for me to think of; I lay all aside, and attend this business alone; and 'tis a business indeed of great ne­cessity, and no small difficulty, daily to cast upon it, and contrive how I may lie down in peace, and rest in death; I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course: I have done my work, 2 Tim. 4.7. and am going to my Bed; I have no­thing to do but to die, and this is my daily care to sequester my Soul from this world, as one that hath life and portion. and Inheritance in a better. I die daily.

Lastly: And so daily dying notes a continual Exercise of Mortification; for in the Christian Dialect, and Scriptu­ral Style, to die daily is a spiritual sanctified Habit, made up of many Acts and quotidian Exercises of suppressing and destroying the old man, and the whole body of Sin: and this is meant in those Scriptures which speak of put­ting off the old man, Eph. 4.12. [...] Cor. 9. [...]. beating down the body, and keeping it in subjection; the Spring of Grace is a living Fountain always cleansing away the dead Sediments of Dirt a [...] Mire. The expression of the Holy Ghost about this [...] worthy of our serious consideration; Rom. 6.6. Known that our old man is crucified with him, (Christ) that the b [...] of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not s [...] [...]. For he that is dead, is freed from sin. Lo here [...] [Page 13] Appellation, and its execution, the old man, partly in re­spect of Antiquity, as old as the eldest of men; partly in re­spect of the Renovation, 1 Thess. 5.23. which is universal of the whole man, Body and Soul. Then 'tis called the body of Sin, partly because mans corrupt nature, Coloss. 3.5. like a body or stock brancheth forth into divers actual enormities, as so many Members; partly because of its strength, and for that men are as much naturally in love of their Sins, as of their Limbs, and are as impatient of Amputation. But if ye take notice of Sins execution, This old man is crucified; Crucifixion is made up of many deliberate Acts, and these bring on exquisite Torments, and the Torments cause suc­cessive decays every hour; so doth Sin by this crucifying Discipline grow weaker and weaker, and nearer to its Grave, and utter Abolition. Regenerative Acts give Sin many wounds, though (as those that are crucified) it dieth lingringly, yet it dieth certainly. Sin in the morti­fying Mystery, like a man in a Consumption is always wasting and dying, till at last it is quite dead; and the dying day of the Regenerate is the utmost date of Sins be­ing. Thus if as long as we live, we give Sin a daily wound, it may sprawl and move for a time, but after­wards giveth up the Ghost. For while Saints live, though Sin be mortally wounded, as the creature that hath lost its sting, it may rage and stir, but it abateth in strength and malignity, and dieth with them. In Psalm 88.4. Heman complains, Thus, My soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh to the grave: I am accounted with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man of no strength, free a­mong the dead. The surest Interpretation of that sweet Singers Style and State, is, That he was much exercised in this sin mortifying austerity: he was a great Proficient in it; as we say of one that hath served a rigid Apprenti­ship, he is his Crafts-Master, he hath got the knack of it, he is a Freeman at the Occupation. And in this sense death is not to be looked on as a Saints expiration, but as an accu­mulative [Page 14] Mystery, and an high Improvement in the Fa­culty of Sin-slaying. And some Ancients have been rare at it, and some skillful Christians still are as well versed in it, and they know how to encounter with Soul-Enemies, as tryed Champions, having been long conversant in the Artillery, and Fencing-School of Christ, as that they have been able to teach it by certain Rules and Rudiments: and so it is one of the Gospel-Mysteries in which by frequent exercise we may grow Graduates; and S. Paul had, it seems, commenced Doctor in it, even in this rare Accom­plishment of Dying Daily.

So then, we are resolved upon the Question, what this kind of Dying is. It is not a natural dying, consisting of many gradual Tendencies unto the Dissolution of this our mortal Body, though in this sense every living person is daily dying. Nor a providential Dying, which consists in the daily vicissitudes of Crosses, Tryals and Discom­forts, though this is the portion of every living Saint, and is in part the assertion of our Apostle concerning himself; but a spiritual and practical Dying, consisting in the fre­quent and renewed exercise of mortifying Duties, as Re­penting, Self-denying, Self-judging, self-humbling, dy­ing unto Sin, mortifying our Members, crucifying our Flesh, subduing our Lusts, being crucified to the world, beating down our Bodies, and bringing them into subjecti­on, subjugating our wills, captivating our understandings, submitting our reason to the righteousness of God, govern­ing our passions, devoting our lives for the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, and if need be, and God so order, to die for our Lord, and so to live, as to die in our Lord: and so to die, as to die unto our Lord, that whether we live or die, we may be the Lords. These and many more such like are but the several Rules and methods, and quotidian Exercises through which good Christians must pass, before they come to the degree of Masters in this Gospel-Art. To this S. Paul had eminently attained, so as it fell [Page 15] into his daily practice, I die daily. Which brings me to the third part of my Text. The Diuturnity of the Apostles Practise, [...], notes the Frequency, Assiduity, Suc­cession, and uncessancy of Action. And with reference to what is done, supposeth time of life to do it in. To day, Joh. 9.4. Eccles. 9.10. whiles it is called to day; for the day of life is the working day; 'twas so with Christ in our flesh; and the Church­man Solomon tells us, There is no work, nor device, nor know­ledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest. If we would then set on this work, this rare device of Christian Know­ledge and saving wisdom, it must be before we go to our Graves.

And it is not the work of a single day neither, but the singular work of every day, to be daily doing, as if daily dying. Nulla dies sine lineâ is the laudable industry of a Christian; and without doubt there is no Particle of Life allowed for Idleness; even Paradise and Perfection, the place and state of Innocence and Bliss, allowed not a space wherein to do nothing: and Heavens Paradise, though it be the Saints everlasting Rest, yet hath its business for Eter­nity.

But this is to be understood of positive Acts; but to be daily dying sounds harshly and uncomfortably to living Ears. Death is a privation, and to die, a privative act; and how can an habit grow out of Privatives? Nay; but this kind of dying is a positive duty in the Cristian Divi­nity.

1. As it is an Act of the new Creature, to die to sin, and live unto God; Christ purchased this Estate to us, and pre­ferred us to this capacity. Rom. 6.10. In every birth there is something generated, and something destroyed, says the Philoso­pher; so in our New Birth there is the production of Grace, and the destruction of Vice; the Life of Righte­ousness, and the death of Sin. And by dying daily, we set up the Ark, and throw down Dagon. The Sinfulness of our Souls by our first birth, consisted in our aversion [Page 16] from God and Grace, and our being perverted to the De­vil, and his works, in the defacing of God's Image, and the imprinting of Satan's. Now the sanctity of the Soul, that is, its recovery by the second birth, consisteth in its conversion to God, and aversion from sin, to have the I­mage of the evil one rased out, and the Impress of the Sa­viour re-ingraven: and the Acts that appertain to these Issues, must be in our daily Exercise.

2. As it is the Answer unto the Divine Ordination; Romans 8.29. which is our conformableness unto the dy­ing Saviour; our conformity to Christ is here our posi­tive Duty in Grace, as it shall be our everlasting Dignity in Bliss; and the Elect are sent into the world, to be plant­ed into the likeness of Christ in his Death and Resurrecti­on; to this end baptised into Christ, that we may follow his Steps, Phil. 3.10. as well as bear his Name, and so be found in the fellowship of his Graces and sufferings; and all his life was a continued dying, until his hour came, that he died once for all. There is a pertinent, but difficult Text for this in S. Paul's case; Coloss. 1.24. I fill up that which is behind (saith he) of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his bodies sake which is the Church. The personal Suffer­ings of Christ which he endured in his own body, as the Mediator, are once for ever finished; but his general Suf­ferings which he endures in his mystical Body, the Church, are yet behind, and must be filled up by S. Paul, and his Fellows, and Followers. Not in way of Office, as meri­torious, and satisfactory: nor in proportion of weight and measure, but in respect of their Cause, and Managery, and Issue. Thus in dying, by way of Resemblance; Rom. 6.10, 11.

And the likeness is in these Instances, voluntarily, our daily dying must be spontaneous. Though there be a great Reluctancy between Flesh and Spirit, Grace and Nature, the pure will of God and the perverse will of Man, yet the superior powers of the [...] carry the Mastery; [...] [...].2 [...]. sanctified [Page 17] reason consents to mortifying Acts. To die daily, is as irksome to Self-love; as the Cup was to Christ's Flesh, in the day of his Agony; yet he willingly drank, because it was his Fathers will he should.

Yet Christ's Death was violent, he died not of nature, but of force. So should our self-mortifying be, voluntary, in respect of us; but violent, in respect of sin. And herein is the life of daily dying, that we lay violent hands on our corruptions, pluck out the right Eye, cut off the right Hand, smite the sinful Breast, break the perverse Heart, and kill and destroy sin in its Flower, strength and vigour; many leave their sins, who never mortified them. He that dies daily, never stays till his sins die; for Lusts, like Weeds, if let alone, will destroy all the good Seeds, and then wither of themselves. The old Adulterer hath left his Lust, because his Body is dead. And the griping Mammonist is angry with the world, but it is because he can enjoy it no longer. Eccles. 12.1. O remember thy Creatour in the days of thy youth, before the days come when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; is a pertinent Caveat. 'Twere good to condemn and execute sin, without Reprieve; let not Lust live till to morrow, bring your vicious Habits forth spee­dily in the sight of God, arraign, condemn, crucifie them now, mortifie them whiles they might yet live.

Yet, the Death of Christ was lingring, Matth. 27.45. he hung divers hours upon the Cross; our Dying is daily, sin cannot be destroyed all at once; cut a Serpent in pieces, yet every part will stir. Sin will dwell in us long, though it have not Dominion. Like a rebellious Tenant, Rom. 7.17. it keeps pos­session in spight of the owner, till the House be pulled down ever his Head.

True, the Body of Sin hath in the Regenerate received its deaths wound, but it is not quite dead: there is not the most sanctified Soul but hath some remainders of Corrupti­on left in it, enough to require our daily Conflict; which God in his wise providence permits for the trying and exer­cising, [Page 18] and humbling of us, and for the making his own rich Grace in renewing his pity, and multiplying his par­dons, so much the more exceeding glorious.

You find now that dying is a Duty, and it is as necessary as our Bread: this is daily in our petition, as it is daily in our need. Dying ought to be daily in our practice, as it is daily at our Doors. We had need to set death before us, under the easiest, most familiar, and feasible considerations: as the days of a mans life come about quickly, and one of those days is the Boundary of our Cares, so let it be of our diligence, so to number them, as to apply our hearts to this wisdom of dying daily. That which must be of neces­sity once, should be admitted into our frequent account and exercise. Let us look upon dying as the Chri­stians Business, and not as the Creatures Curse; and labour to attain the Art oft, that we may bear the painful stroke the better. The day will come ere long, when it will be in vain to say, I have no mind to die, or I have no leisure, or I am not ready, not yet, I'll think on't: What if Esay's Message to Hezekiah were sent thee? [...] King. 20. [...]. Set thine house in or­der, for thou shalt die, and not live: Wouldst thou not ra­ther live and die too? Heb. 2.13. Luke 12. [...]. 'Tis possible you see; but what if it should be said, Hâc nocte, then Donec cognominatur hodie had sounded better. Die whiles it is called to day, thou fool, for this night thy soul shall be taken from thee. To die once is our Destiny, and to die daily our Duty, why should we not bring them into our familiar acquaintance: the day of dying is not far from us; by dying daily we bring it to our hand; 'tis in our natures, why should it not be so much in our expectations, as to be daily in our exercise? The spi­rit of God every where speaks of it in reference to the Saints, in the most comfortable and grateful expressions, as of that which we have daily in our use and observation. We ascribe this to the influence of the dying Jesus, who hath so embalmed, yea, and cloathed Mortality by the dress of Holy Language, that there is even a Sweetness, [Page 19] Beauty and Blessing in it; when a man hath worn a Suit of Apparel a great while, even until it be thread-bare, or it becomes foul and unseemly, would he not be glad to put that off, and get a new Garment on his Back: therefore death is called an uncloathing, 2 Cor. 5.2, 3, 4. a putting off the Flesh; and in answer to that corporal Divesture; the spiritual disapparelling is so also called, Eph. 4.22. a putting off the old man with his deceivable lusts, and there is no hurt in that, we are willing to change and shift daily.

When a man hath tired himself all the day at his work, would he not gladly go to Bed? and our sinful course is so la­borious and wearisome, as that it is never well with us, till we come to our rest; and that's no where to be had but in Christ. Matth. 1 [...].28. Do we not betake our selves to our rest every E­vening; therefore our death is called our sleep; and if we daily need our sleep, 1 Cor. 15.20.51. why are we not daily solicitous for our rest and refreshment in Jesus? under these apprehen­sions the Holy Spirit would have us bury all hard thoughts of Dying, and that we would familiarise it into our daily endeavours, so to practise how to die to day, that we need not fear to die to morrow; the main reason of the terrible­ness of Death is, that Mortals look on it at a greater di­stance than it is, and it is of a more ghastly and formidable aspect to those that are strangers to it. And indeed what Israelite is not apt to run at the sight of this Goliah? the fear of dying is natural, and so far from being evil, that it was incident unto the Son of God, who was heard in that he feared; Christianity serves not to destroy, but rectifie na­ture; and Grace regulates this passion in us, and corrects its exorbitances, never intending to root it out. And this is the method of Grace by daily exercise to master this fear, though we cannot avoid it. Whiles my fear apprehends [...]ust terror in the face of death, let my Faith carry me to the crucified Jesus, who hath both overcome and sweetned it, let me in the exercise of that Faith daily set my self a­gainst sin, and world, and flesh, and Devil, and the ter­rors [Page 20] of Death disband. It is an excellent Christian Tem­per always to dwell in the Voysinage of the Grave; as we do in our frailty, so should we in our faith, and hope, and humble preparations, lie at deaths door; and though na­ture is loath to long for the Grave, because she holds disso­lution her greatest enemy (for what can she abhor more than a not being;) yet Faith perswades, that to die is gain. Would we not carefully trade every day in that which is lucrous, Phil. 1.21. and profitable? Let us therefore come into S. Paul's practice, of daily living, so as dying may be advan­tageous; we have fair respite given us in life, which at best is but a span, God might shorten it into an Inch, but that he lengthens the day in order to further our work, and that which is sanctified by the dying Saviour for our cessation, is required as our uncessant Employ. 'Tis a woful Con­version that we read, The sting of death is sin; and again, The sting of sin is death; both meet in man to make him miserable: death could not have stung us, neither had it been at all in the world, had it not been for sin: and sin, though in it self extremely hainous, yet were not so dread­ful, if it paid not so horrible Wages: How do we owe our selves to the Mercy of our Saviour, who hath freed us from the evil of both; having pulled out the sting of death that it cannot hurt us; and having taken such course with the sting of sin, which is death, that instead of hurt­ing, it shall be exceeding helpful, and is translated into our daily duty and benefit? Into what a safe condition hath the Lord of Life put us, as that we may daily be exercised a­bout sin and death, without dread or danger?

O let not the patience and sparing Mercies of God be longer abused by us into security and spiritual deadness; whiles life is only lent us, and the days of life are length­ned to us, only in reference to the fitting and better fur­nishing us to die at last; why do we not put our selves into the daily expectation of, and preparation for that which shall shortly put an end to us, and our days, and duties and [Page 21] all? We have daily preparations and appurtenances for those very things which represent our death, our journey­ing, our apparelling, our sleeping; and why not for our dying too?

We need it much, and it is as necessary for us to die daily, is to die once; we have abundance of sins and corrupti­ [...]ns to subdue, of cares and crosses to manage, of Gifts and Graces to improve, a great Task, and but a little time, and it is necessary (if we were so convinced) to be daily [...]ing that upon which eternal life and death depend; it were no great matter, if we had but one death, that of the body, to forethink of; and it were needless to multi­ply the evil of dying one day, by acting it every day, for all could not prevent it, though we may be the better qua­lified for it; but there is the second death, which calls for the preventives of daily mortification, lest we die eternally. Whoso dies daily, when he goes hence no more to re­turn, shall carry a good conscience with him, (for an evil conscience is a worm that never dies) and leave a good name behind him, and that is very long lived; Prov. 12.7. every man is hugely unwilling that his good name should die, we are naturally ambitious of being thought of when we are gone; those that have not living Monuments to perpetuate them, affect to have dead; if Absalom have not a Son, he will erect a Pillar; yet when we have done all, time eats all out at last; there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever, seeing that which now is, in the days to come shall all be forgotten; here's a project then for a lasting Memorial. Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him; his walking with God did not exempt him from dying daily, but engaged him in it: and [...]is not being here below was his blessedness; and his whole story is upon record, though in a small Character, to the everlasting praise of his Faith; Heb. 11.5. It is the Glory of the Christian Life to be daily under the Cross; and as Christ once for all died on't, Luk 9.12. so for us daily to bear [Page 20] [...] [Page 21] [...] [Page 22] in our bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus, Gal. 6.17.22. who passed to his Glory through the straits of daily sufferings, till he finish­ed all upon the Cross of his deadly Passion; Et moriendo vi­cit: he conflicted all his life by daily dying; he conquered by his death once for all. 2 Cor. 4.10, 11. Thus by a lively faith in the Ho­ly Jesus we encounter with, and overcome our quotidian deaths, our afflictions, in pursuance of a better life; we are in deaths oft, Psa. 44.22. and slain all day long, as it were by piece-meal, under the tyranny and troubles of a wordly life, and yet are alive unto God and our selves; yet it is a kind of death to be deprived of those comforts which are the life of our lives; but if it be for the Lords sake, in his way, and for his ends, it is a kind of daily Martyrdom, to be ac­counted as Sheep for the slaughter. This then is an excel­lent means to make our names to be Heirs to our Lives, that we live at the rate of this Mystery, Eph. 3.9. as in that Fellow­ship of it; always bearing about in the Body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our Body, for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Je­sus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Lo here, a Communion betwixt the dying Jesus, and dying Christians (in the sense and scope of the Text) in his Death and Resurrection. The Lord Jesus died in the Body, so must we; he once, we always; he bare his dying in the Body patiently and exemplarily on the Cross, we must bear it about; his dying was by Crucifixion, ours by a ho­ly and spiritual Necrosie or Mortification; his new life was the manifestation of his Victory, and it is manifested in our mortal bodies, by new obedience.

So then our blessed Jesus can best give the rule of dying daily, who died for us; not only for our Ransom, but for our Pattern; to satisfie for us by dying, and to exemplifie the dying Mystery to us; and therefore he redeemed us from death, only as to its curse, and left us a method of cure and comfort in dying; wherein else can death be our [Page 23] gain, unless it become our Faculty and daily Trade, and if persons bungle in their Calling, they lose credit, and com­fort, and custom, and profit, and all, and turn Bankrupts in Religion; so as we have need to study this Mystery se­riously, and practise it sedulously, for it is by those that have experienced it a hard work to die both in the body, and out of the body.

Nevertheless it is feasible, else it had never been given us in precept, or purchase, or pattern; no doubt that which was done by Christ, and S. Paul, and many others their succeeding Disciples may in proportion be done by us, if we resolvedly set about it.

Let me give you some Incentives by way of considera­tion.

1. He that dies daily, can on no day die suddenly. I consi­der, that man is sure that he shall not die suddenly; and therefore if Heaven be worth securing, it were fit that we should reckon every day the Vespers of Death, and therefore that according to the Rites of Grace, the day be begun and spent with Religious Offices. And if uncertainty of condition be an abatement of felicity, and spoils the good we possess, no man can be happy that doth not secure his felicity by an habitual and living piety; for since God hath not told us when or where, or by what means we shall die: is it not certain he intended we should be daily ready for that whereof we are in jeopardy every hour? A wise man therefore supposeth himself always upon his Death-bed; and such a supposition is like making of his will, he is not the nearer death for doing it, but is the readier for it when it comes; and he that daily dies, bequeaths his Soul to God, his Body to the earth, and his Goods to the uses of Righteousness, Holiness and Charity; S. Jerom said well, He deserves not the name of a Christian, who lives in such a state, in which he would not die. And indeed it is a great venture to be in an evil state of life, because every day and minute of it hath a danger; and therefore such a suc­cession [Page 24] of Actions, in every one of which he may as well perish as escape, is a foolish boldness wherein there is no mixture of wisdom, or pious forecast.

2. There is great gain in dying for such as by frequent exercise are got skilled in it. Job tells us of some that die without wisdom; certainly, they that never learn'd of God to number their days, are to be numbered among those Ignorants; the Learned in this Arithmetick reckon their days not by multiplication, but by substraction, so much for God, for Heaven, for Christ, for Soul, and for the Eternity, as that the least part of time, if any, belongs to this life. There is a time to be born, and a time to die, says the Preacher; but he allows no term for this life. For as soon as a man is born, that which in nature only remains to him, is to die; and it is a wonder, since all the Records of Scripture urge the certainty of death, the uncertainty of its day, the horror of the day of Judgment, the seve­rity of God, the dissolution of the world, the necessity of our last account; and from all these premises the Spirit of God makes no other Inference, but that we watch and be sober, and stand in a readiness, that we live in all holy conversation and godliness, that we repent and turn to God, that we try and examine whether we are in the faith, that we work out our Salvation, and make our Calling and E­lection sure. And the Doctrines, and Rules, and Offices, and Acts of Preparation are every where interspersed in Holy Scripture, yet this among the rest which is indeed the Epitome of all, To die daily, is looked on as a Riddle, and Paradox, rarely received into the Faith and Practice of Men, called Christians; only some choice Souls hit on't▪ and to such, To live is Christ, and to die is gain. And we have seen the vast difference of managing death, when some inexpert persons have been called to it, and the more experienced have been brought forth as Champions in Christ on the stage of the Death-bed. It must needs come from this discriminating Character, some with Paul have [Page 25] died so oft, that they are grown intimate with it, and act it to the life like Jacob; and are meetly furnished for their Translation, as Enoch. And with Stephen first see the Hea­vens opened; and then pass in with inexpressible Joy and Ravishment; certainly such have been much versed in dy­ing whiles they lived, who die their last in so lively an as­surance.

3. He that dies daily hath but one days task to do when he dies. He is come to his Journeys end after his dayly Travel, and he is like a hard Traveller in this, he is less weary the last day, than when he first set out; he can cast up his account readily, for he kept his Day-book exact; and now he is ready to be offered, and the time of his de­parture is at hand, he reviews his whole life, and it hath been a continual Fight, 2 Tim 4 6.7.3. and now he begins his Trium­phant assault; he hath daily been in his course, and now comes to finish it, and to pass to his Crown.

O the desperate state of such as instead of dying daily, are sinning daily, and so are dead whiles they live; such are they as are drunk daily, swear, and whore, and pro­phane and debauch daily, Epicures, Ephesian Beasts, Cre­tian Liars daily; who eat and drink to day, though they die to morrow; O take heed of dallying with death; and since all our life we are dying, and this minute in which I now speak death divides with me, and hath got the surer part, and more certain possession; it is but rea­sonable we should be daily up [...] the [...]ces of preparation. If to day we were not dying, and passing on to our Graves, then we might with more safety protract our work till to morrow; but the age of every day is a beginning of death; and the night going [...]ing us to sleep, [...]ds us go to our les­ [...], because that night which is the end of the prece­ [...]ng day is [...] a lesser death, and [...] [...]d but a s [...]ster and [...] G [...] and whereas now [...] have died so many [Page 26] days, the last day of our life is but the dying so many more, and when that last day of dying will come we know not; methinks this very consideration should put us speedily upon the Religion of dying. There is no­thing to be added but the circumstances of sickness, which also happens many times before, only men are pleased to call that death which is the end of dying, when we cease to die any more; and therefore to delay dying till then, is to put off the work of all our life till the time comes, in which it is to cease and determine.

Remember how it was in thy purposes on thy last Sick-bed; O that thy health might be such as thy sickness pro­mised; then thy mind was fixed on pious things, and thou prayedst for sparing mercy, and wert vowing religiously, and thought on thy sins with sorrow and shame, and the Prayers of the Church were needful and comfortable, and the Ministers company and counsel desirable, and good discourse acceptable; and O if thou hadst time in hand a­gain what a new man thou wouldst be? Thy case is the same still: if thou flatter not thy self, thou art no farther from thy Grave, when on thy feet, than when on thy sick Bed, only thou hast now in health better strength and bet­ter helps, and better opportunities than when thou last wert dying: return then to thy sickly, but serious purpo­ses and perform them now in thy health and freedom, and practise to die now, and 'twill be an easier and happier task at last.

And to facilitate all, look still on the dying Jesus; tho [...] art called to a conformity with him whose name tho [...] bearest; and if thou name the name of Christ, depart from iniquity, decline and abandon all such Acts in life, [...] might not be done if thou wert dying. Every day t [...] view of your last, and think either it is this, or might be and remember Christ in the flesh was always doing his F [...] ­ther's [Page 27] Work, which was, to die for Sinners. O let us not live in the love of Sin, because Christ so loved us as to die for our Sins, and to save our Souls from the second death. He began his Works betimes, all his days were dying days; till the hour came that he died for all: Phil. 3.10 he was always waiting for his Fathers appointed time, he was always faithful to his Fathers work and trust. He held his life up­on his Fathers Terms, resolved himself into his Fathers Will; and at the last resigned his life into his Fathers Hands: Abi in, & fac similiter, Go thou, and do likewise: Being made conformable to his death.

Christ died for Sin in way of Expiation, Satisfaction and Pacification betwixt his Father and us; we die unto Sin in a way of Crucifying, Mortifying, and destroying it in our selves.

O 'tis a painful Task: but it is a gainful State. It se­questers us from the comforts of life. I say it sweetens and sanctifies, and makes all comforts savory.

'Tis hard and irksome only to corrupt flesh.

It rebates only the grosser and more feculent parts of our present Contents, and Secular Enjoyments. 'Twill keep death in our minds in the height of our merriments; 'tis as a deaths head in the Lordly Dishes of our Feasts; it is to corrupt minds no other than all Salvation work is, grie­vous and burdensome; but to the Faith of God's Elect ea­sie and delightsome; to pluck out the Right Eye, is by in­terpretation, not to have eyes full of Adultery; to cut off the hand, is to eschew all Acts of Violence, Oppres­sion, Theft or Fraud; to crucifie the flesh, is but to keep the lower Faculties, and bruitish Appetites from rebelling, and rising against the supremacy of Reason and Vir­tue.

[Page 28]And so the Spirit of this Letter, To die daily, is no o­ther than to order our selves, and our conversations aright, as Men, and as Christians, in hope of a better life, when this is done, which God shall shew us in Christ, and here Seal unto us by his Holy Spirit, to which our temporal Death shall translate us, even our full Salvation. Which God of his infinite Mercy grant, &c.