111 SERMONS upon Serro. 24. This Point will ferve to open two Cafes. t. Cafe. Whether Men, confeftng Chrift, may make away themfelves, to avoid the cruel Torments of their Perfeçptors, and they know not certainly what their ftrength may be able to futtain ? This was a great Cafe in the Primitive Times, and it may be Rill of ufe. Eufebius telleth us, lib. 8. cap. 24. that in the Time of Dioclefaan's Perfecution, which was very bloody and cruel, there were divers that procured Death ro themfelves, by leaping down from Lofts and high Places, or elf thrufl themfelves through with Knives or Swords. I Anfwer 5 This is Sinful. Chrift prayeth not that his Difciplesmight be taken oat of the World, but kept from the Evil. The finfulnefs appeareth5 t. Becaufe this is an At of Difobedience, contrary to the Law of God, Thou fhalt not kill; now the more unnatural any Aft is, the greater is the Crime. A Man is not Lord of Life and Death. a. It is an Aet of Ditiruft. t Cor. to. 13. There bath no Temptation taken you, but fuch ar is common to Men : but God it faithful, who will not fufer you to be tempted above that ye are able 5 but will with the Temptation alfo make a way to efcape, that ye may be able to bear if. God will either temper the Af ktion to our Rrength, or mite our Rrength to the degree of the Aftlittion. Chrift hath laid in this Prayer for our encouragement in this Cafe, Keep them from the evil 5 it is a making hafte, as if God would not be faithful, but require Brick, where he giveth no Straw. 3. It is a difparagement and di(honour to the Caufe which we maintain. It rob- beth God of a great deal of Glory, when be calleth us out to (hew our Love to him, to take our Lives out of God's Hands,' when he claimeth them. -Rom. r ç. 7, 8. For none of as liveth to himfelf, and no Man dieth to himfe f For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord : whether we live therefore, or die, we are the. Lord's. Providence bath singled you out to be Witneffes, God by his Providence challengeth his due 5 It is a retral ing of your Vows. And therefore, tho God may- be merciful to the Soul, yet the Aft is unnatural, and Sinful, and bafe, when God bath drawn you out to be his Champions and Witneffes to the World. a. Cafe is about wilhingfor Death. You know, the Law doth not only forbid Ads, but Thoughts and Delires : Therefore is it lawful to long for Death and Diffolution ? We find Inftances on both Hands in the Scriptures. The murmuring ifraeliter are taxed, Exod. 16. 3. Would Sib God we had deed by the Hand of the Lord in the Land of Egypt ! And it is ufual for Men in a pet, to with themfelves dead, to curfe the day of their Birth, and long for the day of their Death. On the other fide, Paul, out of a fpiritual Affeâion, defireth to be diffolved, and to be with Chrift. Phil. I. 23. I have a deftre to depart, and to be with Chri. What (hall we fay in this cafe ? I Anfwer in feveral Propofitions. z. There is a great deal of difference between ferious Defires,and paffionate Expref- lions. The Delires of the Children of God are deliberate and refolved, conceived upon good grounds, and after much ftrugling with Fleth and Blood to bring their Hearts to it. Carnal Men are loth that God should take them at their word 5 as he in the Fable, that called for Death 5 and when he came, defired him to help him up with his Burden. Alas ! they do not confider what it is to be in the Rate of the Dead, and to come unprovided and unfurni(hed into God's Prefence. We often with our felves in our Graves 5 but if God should take us at ourword, we would make many Paufes and Exceptions. Men that in their Miferies call for Death, when Sicknefs cometh, will run to the Phyfician 5 many Gifts are promifed, if Life could be reftored. None more unwilling to die, than thofe that in a Paffion with for Death. 2. We mutt carefully look to the grounds of thefe Withes and Delires. Carnal Wifhes for Death arife, either, (r.) Out of violent Anger, and a pet againft Providence; as, Jonah 4.3. Therefore now, 0 Lord, take, I befeech thee, my Life from me, for it it better for me to die than to live. And, Veerf. 8. He fainted and wifhed in himfelf to die, and faid, It is better for me to die than to live. The murmuring Ifraelites, when they felt the Famine of the Wildernefs, wilhed they had died in the Land of Egypt. When Men are vexed with the World, they look upon Death as a Releafe, to take vengeance upon God, to deprive him of a Servant. (2.) In
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