An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…

Secondly, Taking death properly, note; No living man knoweth how or in what way he shall die.

The gates of death are not revealed to any man; he hath no certainty by what means he shall pass out of this world to the grave; he cannot tell through what gate he shall go, whether through the gate of a natural death, or of a violent death, as Christ spake to Peter (John 21.18.) When thou wast young, thou girdest thy self, and wentest whether thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, another shall gird thee, and carry thee whether thou wouldst not: this spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. Peter did not know what death he should die, whether a natural or a violent death, till Christ signified it to him. And if man knoweth not at what kind of gate he shall enter the house of death, that is, whether by sickness or violence, then much less doth he know the particular sickness or violence, by which, as a gate, he must pass into the house of death; these things the Lord keeps in his own hand. And seeing we know not these gates of death, we should always pray that we may know the path of life (Psal. 16.11.) Thou wilt show me the path of life, was Davids assurance as a type of Christ. And though Christ should not show any man the gate of his own temporal death, yet he showeth every godly man the path of eternal life, and that's enough for us.

The gates of death are not revealed to any man; he hath no certainty by what means he shall passe out of this world to the grave; he cannot tell through what gate he shall go, whether through the gate of a natural death, or of a violent death, as Christ spake to Peter (John 21.18.) When thou wast young, thou girdest thy self, and wentest whether thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, another shall gird thee, and carry thee whether thou wouldst not: this spake he, signifying by what death he should glorifie God. Peter did not know what death he should die, whether a natural or a violent death, till Christ signified it to him. And if man knoweth not at what kind of gate he shall enter the house of death, that is, whether by sickness or violence, then much less doth he know the particular sicknesse or violence, by which, as a gate, he must pass into the house of death; these things the Lord keeps in his own hand. And seeing we know not these gates of death, we should alwayes pray that we may know the path of life (