Gon_efrazet 1g7 hefaith tothetick ofthe Palfey,Take up thy Bed : He turneth ourbedincurfeckpefs, either he fends us health,(fo tome expounds it) he turns the bedof ficknefs,into a bed of health : Oar God turneth our bed for usin our fickneCs; that is, he refrelhech us, oiveth us eafe,when we lieupon our tick beds. It is a Metaphorborrowed from tbofe chat attend fickperfons,that help to make their beds ea fieand foft, and turn them,thac they may he atcafe: So God hash promifed his children in the painful time of tick- nefs, to make their beds eafieand foft,to caufe them to lieat cafe by the Patience that ne will give them. Secondly, It is trite, Death bringeth Diffolution,and diffolveth the frame of Na- cure,it fepaiacethand divorcetb there two loving compan ions,the foul and body: But thole is comfort in chis. For though it divorce the foul and the body, yet it cannot Jeffroy the foul and body ; even the body is in the hand of God, when it is rotting in the earth,as the foul is tranflated to Heaven. Again,though they be feparated,yet ;t is bu for a time,one day they (hall meet more joyful, and glorious than ever befote, nd after that they &hall never be feparated again. Lafily,though he feparace the foul from the body, and the body from the foul, yet neither fromChrift, nor Chrift from hem, Nay, it is fo far from feparating,thae it helpeth to uniteusto Chrift,( as Ifaid =efore) the diffolution of thofe (half be the conjun&ion with him ; I dare to be de- Phil.i:a;; folved, and tobe withChri(1. Thirdly, is is true,the horrour of the grave attendeth deatb,andthe putrifa&ionof this fle(h ofours, that muff turn tocorruptnefs, itmakes it terrible and fearful. But there is comfort againft this. For after that timeof purtrifa&ion, there fhill bea time of reftitution,and though theworms devour this ff e(hof ours, ret in thatveryfde(h of lob io.ty. suce,we[hall feeGodanother day ;7befeoyesAd!fee him. There iscomfort in that, that whenGod (hall come to reftoreus with himfelf,what thegrave bath cloathed with Phaarat. corruption, he%ill cloathwith glory ; thofevilebodies, be will make them like the gloriousbody ofChrifl, withoutall corruption. Fourchly,ic is true,death depriveth us ofworldly friends, ofworldly imptoyments, this makesit terrible; yet there is comfort againft this. Though we be deprived of worldly friends,it carries us toHeaven,to better company,To Angels,to thefpirita of Heb. so.a;. josßandperfeiimen,to God the fudge ofall,toPfau the Moodar.rofthe NewTejla- ment. Nay befidesoneday he will refit:reagain thofevery friends, of which herewe are deprived: Though we lofe them for a time, in Heavenwe (hall meet again, and there renew a perpetual League offociety and love. So though itdeprives us of world- ly benefits,it cannot of Heaven,and thofe are better,they are not pleafures offtt,that Pfal16.11. lajlfor a feafon, but at the right hand of God, that endurefor ever. So though it deprive us of worldly fervices, it carriethus to Heaven, to thofé that are better, thatare high and proper to the Church triumphant, fuch as befit the Church, to ling Hallelujahs ; and fuch as are profitable to the ChurchMilitant, by the memory of good examples, and by theprayers theyoffer toGod, not inparticu- lar, for they know no mans particular wants, yet for the general and commongood of all. Fifthly and laftly ; his true,the confideration of finmid of Judgment,and our un- certain rubte after dearh,makes it terrible like the face of anenemy, Yet there is com- fort again (I th:fe. For fn. I toldyou that though there brafling in the Serpenyyet Chrift bath drawn out thatffi»g, fo that being a Serpent without ailing, we may do asMofes,Take it its our hand, put it into our bofome, arid is will never do us burr, to them that die in the Lord : Death rather came by fin, thanfor fan ; It is notbetween fin and damnation, but between fin and falvation. Por Judgment ? le is true, death preferatech Judgment, but it prefentech it with comfort, for theday ofJudgment, is the day that the godly look for, and long for, as the day of Redemption, ,not of confulion ; when they (hall receive the fentence by which they (hall beabfoltled, and not condemned. For they know when God (hall come tobe their Judge, he(hall come tobe their Saviour. And
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