I had dreadful Plague Fire and Sword and what further means could God make use of in an ordinary way for allarming and stirring of us up to prepare for our change aud turning of our souls to himself and fitting of us for Eternity And shall none of these work upon you Shall all means fail Shall the Gospel be preached in vain Shall Ministers spend their study their breath nay their strength to no purpose what will you do then in the end 6. Do you know that you shall have all these helps continued to you Will God still suffer his holy Spirit to strive with you Alass Death may soon have Commission to seize you and carry you into the other world but should you live are you sure God will still wait upon you upon such rebels who have slighted and undervalued his Grace Son and Gospel Sirs I must tell you alluding to that in Genesis 6. which hath often been upon my heart that the blessed Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man Means and advantages are like to be taken away God ere long may say to Conscience Be still reprove that man that woman no more You may be left to commit wickedness without remorse or trouble God may give you up to a hardened and sordid heart to a seared and filthy Conscience yea and refuse in mercy to afflict you any more see Hosea 4. 14. May not he that hath taken away a Minister an able one a sweet and precious Labourer take away ere long a sweet and precious Gospel and what will become of your souls then 7. Do you know for certain the Gospel shall be continued to this Land Be you sure you shall hear the joyful sound Let me tell you my thoughts freely though I pretend not to a spirit of Prophesie yet mark what follows I tremble to think what is coming upon us as a punishment of our sins I fear Beloved the Gospel is a going Ephraim hath grey hairs here and there though he know it not and grey hairs are a sign that our morning or best days are gone secondly they commonly bring a wrinkled face or a decay of Beauty our goodness like Ephraims are even like the morning dew thirdly they bring feebleness or a decay of strength fourthly they shew that death and mortality draws near We have heard some of us that he was grey a great while ago I doubt he is white by this time There are sad symptomes upon us I know not how soon we may have cause to cry Ichabod because the glory is departed Are we not in danger to be over-spread with Popery Confusion and Darkness for if the Gospel should continue and Gods people resolve to do their best by their prayers and prizing of it to hold it fast yet are you sure you shall have Ministers to prcach unto you Many have been taken of late away and one at this time before your eyes is gone a faithful and able one whom now you shall hear no more But should there be Ministers and opportunities yet you may be left to your selves to ripen for Hell and ruin Nay Is not Christ already crying over you as he did over Jerusalem Oh that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belongeth to thy peace but now they are hid from eyes Luke 19. 42. Oh that these things might take hold and touch your Conscicnces 8. Consider of the shortness and uncertainty of your dayes Alas what is your life you know not how soon death may come and knock at your doors or look in at your windows It may be some of you have had many years but this consider of you know not how few the rest may be behind you have no promise from God no lease or assurance that you have one year more where hath God told you that you shall nay one half year You cannot assure your self you shall have one month no not one week no not one day You may be stricken by death before you return home Boast not thy self of too morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Pro. 27. 1. Many that are young hope that they may have many years the child thinks to be a youth and the youth to be a man and a man till he is full of dayes But alass they consider not how brittle they are they do not lay to heart the uncertainty of their lives David desired to know his end and the measure of his days that he might know how frail he was Psal 39. 4 5. Many do not take a right measure of their dayes they measure not by a lawful Rule What say some my Father and Grandfather lived to a good old age and I hope to attain to their years Others measure by their present health they are not diseased nor sickly but of a good healthful Constitution but alass this is no sure Rule thou mayest notwithstanding all this be quickly in the grave such sometimes death makes to stoop on a sudden they go many times before sickly persons Others measure their dayes by their present strength they fear not death upon that account yet they die as you have heard though wholly at ease these do not go by the Kings Standard neither Let me tell you what is a right and true measure for your dayes account them then by the morning dew and flower of the field Man that is born of a woman saith holy Job is but of few dayes he cometh forth like a flower and is cut down and flieth away like a shadow and continueth not Job 14. 12. Naturalists tells us of a plant that lasts but for a day this plant thou or I may be The Heathen hath observed that the Rose grows old in its very budding Mankind is like Jonah's Gourd that came up in a night and perished in a night Nothing fades sooner than a flower oh measure thy dayes by that and by the vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away the Spiders Web the Swift Post the Weavers Shuttle or a Ship under sail Persons never so rich or great never so beautiful never so weak of strong wise or foolish vertuous or vicious as thou hast heard must die May not the thoughts of this move thee to a preparedness for the grave 9. Consider how you have loytered hitherto and lost much of your precious time which God hath lent you to prepare for the grave Upon the improvement of your present time doth your eternal happiness depend and if it be squandered away what will become of your immortal and never dying souls If a man hath much work to do work of the weightiest concern that must be done or the man undone business that would take up all his day and it should so fall out that he had lost the morning nay above half his day would it not concern him to set about the work with all his might so as if possible to do two hours works in one lest the Sun
live cause have to complain There 's few like him surviving to arouse Their fluggish souls cut of their sinful drouse They now may sleep secure and not awake Until they fall into the Seygian Lake This Golden Trumpet 's stopt 't will sound no more To warn them of what danger 's at their door To win sinners to Christ he did not spare His strength nor time thought nothing was too dear To part withall if any wayes he might Their Souls turn from false ways unto the right Like as a Candle which much light doth give Doth wast itself whilst from it we receive Much benefit so did he clearly burn To the wasting of himself unto the urn This godly Preacher in a little space Much work did do he swistly run his race With 's might perform'd what e'r he found to do God graciously did bless his work also Yea few I think have had the like success In turning sinners unto righteousness O were the worth of this good man but known It might produce an universal groan Let Brethren dear of different minds lament For he for you in prayers much time has spent He lov'd you all though I have cause to fear The like affection some did scarcely bear 'T would pierce ones heart to think in such a time Obedience unto Christ should be a crime Or that offence should in the least be took ' Cause from Gods word he durst not turn nor look He would own nought but what thus faith the Lord Add would not he nor minish from Gods Word Come let us live in love we shall agree When at his Port we all arrived be Let sinners mourn who shall their loss repair Who for their Souls so naturally did care Well may ye fear God will proclaim new wars When he calls home his choice Embassadors What may a Sodome look for from above When such who stood i' th' gap God doth remove O tremble City what is God about Look for new flames thy Lots are calling out And now chastized flock a word or two I 've double sorrow when I think of you When that the Harvest doth for Reapers call To lose your Labourer this wound 's not small O who shall bear the burthen of the day If God doth take the Labourers thus away When Pylots dye how shall the Seamen stear ' Mong'st Rocks and Sands when storms also appear Have we not cause to think the crafty Fox We 'l out abroad and play upon the flocks And Ravening Wolves also will grow more bold And scare some silly Lambs out of the fold If God proceed to call the Shepherds home O what will of so many flocks become i th midst of all in this doth comfort lie The chiefest Shepherds lives when others dye And he be sure who for the Sheep did bleed Will stick to them in times of greatest need Come cease your grief don't you know very well Then care God has on his own Israell And it s no more which now is come to pass The what by you some time expected was And what is done is but our Fathers will Therefore be silent every one be still For should we yield to passion I have fears We should grieve Christ and wound our Souls with tears The narrow Sluces too of dribling eyes Would be toostreight for those great Springs that rise But since our Vessels fills up to the top Le ts empty them for every sin a drop For it le ts wish we were compos'd of Snow Instead of flesh yea made of Ice that so We might in sense of sin and its loathing Melt with hot love to Christ yea thaw to nothing And should our sins deprive our Souls of him Let tears run from our Eyes till Couches swim Yet let 's not grudge him that most happy bliss Who now in glory with Christ Jesus is He did his work apace his Race is run He as touch'd the Gole yea and the Prize hath won AN EPITAPH A Sweet and Godly Preacher doth lie here Who did his Master Jesus love so dear And Sinners Souls that he his strength did spend And did thereby t is thought hasten his end He brought himself by Preaching to the Grave The Precious souls of Sinners for to save He lies but here asleep he is not dead To God he lives to Christ his Soul is fled And o're a while must he awake again And evermore with Christ in Glory raign By B. K. Another Elegiack POEM by a Young Man that dearly loved him WAves upon Waves Methinks begins to roule Some strange Alarm afflicts my troubled soul VVhich grieves my heart by founding in mine Ears And makes my Eyes to flow in Brinish tears VVhat Tragedy is this Death hold thy hand VVhy must the good man perish from the Land Is NOBCOT dead suffer me then to mourn For now he 's gone but never well return Oh father father whither dost thou fly And leave my soul in this perplexity And if that I dear Lord must stay behind A portion of his Spirit let me find Oh find thy Spirit noâ— into my heart That it may Gospell grace to me Impart And that it may likewiâ— anoynt mine Eyes For to Conceave those glorious misteries Of thy most sacred Kingdom heaven above VVhere NORCOT s swallowed in Eternal Love Faith Love and Zeal did his brave Soul adorn And this did manifest he was new born NORCOT a Boanerges was Indeed Could make the heart of sturdy sinners Bleed And yet and Evangelicâ—s did prove VVith Soveraign Balm of sweet Gospell Love Great reverence dear soul he used to Bear To things that sacred and Coelestial were Oh with what gravity and Zeal did he Declare to sinners their sad misery In Praying Preaching Christ alone he Fyed And when he had done the will of God he dyed A Panegyrick I do not intend Neither with Parasites for to Contend Yet much as to his Vertues I might say Did I not know the humors of the day Doubtless on whom God honour doth confer In our affections we highly should prefer Dear NORCOT's gone that worthy man of God Lord this aloud bespeaks our Ichabod My Soul Cease for to mourn he is not dead He into Everlasting Bliss is fled VVhole troops of Angels did his soul attend VVhen he to Jesus Christ did it commend He now is swallowed up in Glory above Embrac'd in Arms of Everlasting love And now dear soul he 's gone his race is run And faithfully his Fathers work he hath done The veil of Enmity hath been removed He could not love more then he is Beloved The veil of Blindness that is ta'en away And now with his dear soul 't is perfect day The veil's Removed he seeth as he is seen And praiseth him that did his soul Redeem He now sings Halleh jahs heavenly hymnes Amongst Coelesticall glorious Seraphims He hath fought the Fight the Crown hath gain'd Yea and to perfect Visions hath attain'd And you his Mourners here the Word doth say The Righteous
no more you shall hear him pray no more preach no more and is not this a ground of lamentation 9. Saints and Ministers of the Gospel are the interest of the Nation City or Place where they live Was not Lot the interest of Sodom I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither Gen. 19. 22. Till Lot was gone fire and brimstone could not come upon that miserable City Oh what love hath God to the poor Preachers of righteousness But again Was not Jacob the interest of Labans family How did God bless him for Jacobs sake The like might be minded of Joseph to the Egyptians Ye saith our blessed Saviour are the light of the world and the salt of the earth To whom did he speak but to his Disciples his holy Apostles that he sent forth to preach glad tydings of great joy unto the Nations I might shew you wherein they are the interest of the place where they are but I must hasten Take onely two or three brief hints 1. They stand in the gap or in the breach Ours is a great one the Lord look upon us They plead with God When Moses hands are up Israel prevails and when he lets down his hands Amalek Prevails Exod. 17. 11. Oh how doth he cry out for a provoking generation When Jehovah cries Let me alone that I may destroy them Exod. 32. 10. Oh saith Joshua what wilt thou do for thy great name If thou wilt not forgive their sin saith Moses blot me out of thy Book Nay though God promised to make of him a great Nation yet he still lifts up a cry for them Exod 32. 10 11 32. 2. They are the interest of the Nation where they are by counselling warning and admonishing 3. By their holy and exemplary conversations Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant we should have been as Sodom and should have been like unto Gomorrah Isa 1. 9. 10. Ground of Lamentation is because sin usually is the cause why God removes his faithful Embassadors He sends to treat with sinners about the concerns of their souls I wish this stroke be not in judgement to some of your souls The Message they bring is often slighted and thereby sinners slight and reject the King himself They cry and lift up their voice like a trumpet fore-warning of danger but none lays it to heart They spend their strenght and weaken their bodies for the good of sinners souls but sinners slight it Nay if they should sweat drops of blood it would not do it would not work in them remorse of Conscience and repentance unto life Well saith God now I 'll wait upon thee no more him that you despised and contemned or neglected to hear or whose counsel you did not regard you shall hear no more The taking 〈◊〉 of faithful Preachers is one of the greatest judgement that can come upon sinners But alas it may not onlâ— be for the sins of the ungodly world â—â—on unconverted sinners but a punishment upon Professors and Church Members for their inquiry they may not prize the mercy nor walk worthy of the blessing They may not carry it as they ought to do to the Labourer that is amongst them They may grieve and wound his heart by their disorderly walking and God may from hence be provoked to take him a way Nay they may on the other hand overvalue him they may idolize their Teachers and look upon them above what is meet though sinful yet 't is possible to eye man more than God by man God may remove them Upon this account the Apostle speaks of some that had mens persons in admiration I am satisfied there is too great extreams in the world We should have a care we do not receive the Truth for the sake of a man or to please men because such and such says it but out of Love to Jesus Christ and because God hath commanded it Beloved it may not be amiss to lay these things to heart 't is good to hear the Rod and to know who it is and for what it is appointed I do not charge any in particular 11. And lastly Here is cause of lamentation because evil and dark dayes many times follows the removal of Gods Worthies When God take away so many faithful ones what may we expect to look for I might give divers instances of the sad effects or what hath followed the taking godly persons sincere Labourers away But I am afraid I have been too tedious already remember what the Prophet saith The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart Merciful men are taken away and none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come Isa 57. 1. Thus much by way of Lamentation and Consolation I have onely one Use more which shall be in the fourth place by way of Comfort and Consolation 1. Must all dye the godly as well as the wicked Is the Grave the place prepared for all Living Must Fathers Husbands Wives Children Ministres and the dearest Friends we have dye How shall we then comfort our selves against death If thou art a Beleiver I I have a word of comfort for thee there is none I am sure for Christless Souls 2. Consider death cannot hurt thee it cannot hurt those that are Believers because it hath lost his sting Death may hiss but cannot hurt Nothing makes death terrible to an ungodly man but it's Sting The sting of death is sin but this is taken away from Believers by Jesus Christ Oh death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1. Cor. 15. 55 56. 2. Death cannot hurt a Believer because it cannot bring an annihilation of the body though it bring an alteration upon the stare and condition of the body yea and though the body be dissolved to dust yet it shall not be lost it shall rise to life again 3. Death cannot dissolve or break that blessed union there is between Jesus Christ and believers Though it may separate soul and body yet it cannot separate either from Jesus Christ and the soul immediately will be in a more glorious enjoyment of Christ and though the body for a while must lie in the grave yet that dust is precious dust in Christs sight 4. Consider Death cannot keep the body long under its power nor keep soul and body apart 't is but a little while and they will meet again Death and the Grave are conquered enemies Saints by faith can now through Jesus Christ triumph over them and shall have a compleat a full Conquest over a short space 5. Death has not power to cast into hell if Conscience condemns thee not if the Word convicts thee not if God passeth not the Sentence upon thee Death has no power to do it Death can but bring to the grave 't is sin that casteth the soul into hell 6. Consider Death is thine that is 't will be for thy profit and advantage every way Remember