Eternity but now my Time is gone for ever The shâ—â—ek of a poor man going out of the world sometimes has been A would of Wealâ—h for an inch of Time. 〈◊〉 t is Wisdom to prevent such things as these The Vse of these things remains USE Let us all he hence advised to Discern and Improve Time which we have to discharge our Dâ—tyes in The most of us t is to be 〈◊〉 may discern Iudgment we know 〈◊〉 our Duty is and How it is to be dispatched 〈…〉 us also discern Time Suffer we not our time to run from us while we neglect the great Ends which we have it for O let not the Lord have cause to complain of us as in Jer. 8. 7. The Birds in the Heaven know their appointed times but my people do not know That we may Discern time and improve time such Directions as these may well be followed Direction I. Let us Discern our Time and not Mis-spend our Time. Avoid those Time-wasting things Which would serve us about our Time as the High-way men did the poor Traveller in Luc. 10. 30. in his way to Iericho We are all Travelling in the the way to Eternity there are these and those Robbers in the way that would plunder us of our time shun them fly them Count Mis-spencâ— of Time one of the most wicked and woful follies in the world Let us discern three things in all Time and permit no Time to be devoured by two things which we may be under Temptation to The things which we are to discern in all Time are these First let us discern the Worth of all Time. Let not an hour pass without this opinion of it This hour is too good to be lost If we prise the Jewel we shall not lose it It is for our shame that even an Heathen made that complaint Qâ—uem mibi dabis qui diem estâ—met Where will you find a man that esteems his Time as he ought to do Ponder well what a vast price our Lord paid for our Time. We had forfeited all our Tune into the hands of infinite revenging Justice the just wrath of God would have taken away â—ime and Life from us long ago if our Lord Jesus had not laid down such a price as that in 1. Peâ— 1. 18. Ye were redeemed not with silver and gold but 〈◊〉 the precious bloud of Iesus Christ. O don't throw away any of that which cost so deaâ— And ponder well what a vast price the dying the damned set on their Time. We may say of it as Iob of another thing in Cap. 28. 22. Destruction and death say we have heard the fame thereof with our ears Even so Destruction and Death set an high rate upon it Ask men when Destruction and Death is near to seizing upon 'em How much would you give now for a little of the time that is gone They will reply O whole mountains of gold for one hour of it Judge now as you will judge then Secondly Let us Discern the Irrevokableness of our Time. When our time is once gone it remains Irrevokable and Irrecoverable for evermore We may say of every Time that is past as in Psal. 49. 8. It is precious and it ceaseth forever The Wish of Hezekiah could once bring back the shadow of the Sun but never could any man procure a Return of his Time. Sometimes the doleful Cryes of distressed ones have been Call Time again call Time again But alas Time won't come back for Calling Oh how should this make us to takeheed that we don't abuse any part of our Time I shall never have this time again When once our Time has taken wing what is said of Love in Cant. 8. 7. that may be said of Time If a man would give all the substance of his house for it it would utterly be contemned When once Time is gone 't is gone Thirdly let us Discern our Accountableness for all our Time. God maintains us and supplies us with Time continually He keeps a Sun to measure it The time will come when He will reckon with us about all our Time. T is said in Ecc. 11. 9. O young man walk in the wayes of thy heart but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement In like sort let me say Come squander away thy Time even contrive to get the dead commodity off thy hands but know thou that in the day when God shall judge the world all this Time of thine must be accounted for It was the Law of old in Exod 21. 18. If one man smite another so that he keep his bed and yet walk abroad again he shall pay for his healing and the Loss of his Time Truly so if we impenitently lose any of the Time which God hath given us He will make us pay for it in the day of his pleacâ—ng with us T is said in Matth. 12. 36. Men shall give an account of every idle woâ—d Much more in that day shall men give an account of every idle Hour The God that hath numbred our Hairs hath also numbred our Houâ—es It will be a fearful thing if at last He say unto us Thou wicked and slothful servant thy life has been made up of idle hours These things are we to discern in all Time. For the sake hereof let us now permit no Time to be misplac'd in such things as these First Let us mispend no Time in vanity of them that live in vain pleasures 't is said in 1 Tim 5. 6. they are Dead while they live They discrn no Time and enjoy none Too much Time is not to be laid out in Eating and Drinking To affect Long Meals or to tarry long at the Wine does not become a Christian. Thy Soul is a little too noble a thing sure to be made the Cook of thy Body Moreover Too much Time is not to be laid out in Attiring and Adorning It made an holy man among the Ancients to weep when in a morning he â—aw a person longer in Dressing than himself had been in praying Thy Carcase that is to feed the Worms ere long should not put by thy cares about thy Spirit which must be in Weal or Woe for ever Once more Too much Time is not to be laid out in Sporting and Gaming There are some lawful Recreaâ—ions of which we should be shy lest they steal away our Heart and our Time. That blessed Martyr Iohn Hus just before he dyed in a Letter thus bewaild himself O beg of God to pardon me for the Time I have lost at such a Play that yet in it self was very innocent But there are some unlawful Recreations also in which multitudes play away their Time. The plays which depend upon a pure Lot are such The moral Heathen Zealously reproached them And severe Statutes were made against them when the Roman Empire became a Christian. Men always loose at them those things which are better than any that they win their
Times we should see ouâ— young ones well informed in Give them at this day to be sensible who is the Supreme Head and King of the Church and what Orders He has appointed to be observed there Secondly There are ferious Questions with which we are to Instruct our Families And there are peculiarly Two Things which we are to question our young ones about Some Questions we are to put unto them First Which Concern their Souls And here yet further to particularize We are to try them with Questions about their Vnderstanding Our Lord Jesus asked his Disciples in Matth. 13. 51. Have ye understood all these things Thus are we to ask our young people Do you understand the great Mystery of Godlinessâ— O keep up the great Ordinance of Catechising in your houses Before your little Folks have left off living upon Milk let them be so well versed in their Milk for Babes that they may readily answer any Question there The Echoes of this Exercise are a most refreshing Melody in the ears of God himself Ask we our young ones What they think of God and of Christ and of Themselves and let them be able to refound the Words of Truth We are to search them also with Questions about their Experience As our Lord asked His Family in Joh. 16. 31. Do ye now believe So should we ask our young people Have you Experieneed a work of Regeneration in your souls Ask them Have you ever yet carried a labouring and heavy-laden soul unto the Lord Iesus Christ It was the Advice of Wisdom Know the state of thy Flocks Thus we should endeavour to Know the state of the Souls which we are to be concerned for to know whether they are in a Natural or a Renewed state Once more We are to help them with Questions about their Temptations It was a Question once given to some in Luc. 24. 38. Why do Thoughts arise in your hearts Even so we should Enquire of our young people What Thoughts are you most troubled with Enquire what Fears enquire what Snares they are most endangered by Be alwaies jealous lest as the serpent beguiled Eve so their minds be corrupted Moreover Some Questions we are to put upon them Secondly which concern their Lives It was once an Interrogatory which some were put unto in Luc. 23. 17. What manner of communications have ye Thus we are to Examine our young people about the Words and the Works that fill their Lives There are especially three things which they should be Examined about their Prayer their Time and their Company Ask them whether they live without Prayer or no Whether in Prayer they secretly and sincerely pour out their souls before the Lord Ask them How they spend their Time How much Idle Time and how much useful Time they allow unto themselves And ask them What their Company is Whom they sit withal Whether vain Persons and Fools or the Saints which are the excellent and all those that fear God Our Question will prove their Safeguard if it be well administred Thirdly There are faithful Reproofs with which we are to Instruct our Families T is said in Prov. 6. 33. The Reproofs of Instruction are the way of life When we give Instruction we shall have occasion to give Reproof too often with it There is no Family that has not Miscarriages that are to be reproved in it Young people too commonly are wild people and without some Castigations they will rarely be kept in order To some of them smart Worâ—s to others of them smart Blowes will be too often due T is said in Prov. 13. 24. He that spareth his Rod hateth his sâ—n but he that loveth him chastens him betimes Frowns are due to all and Rods to some Transgressors in the Family But there are two Negative and two Positive Rules to be minded in Reproving of them The Negative Rules are these two First Reprove not Furiously It is said in Iam. 1. 20. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Remember Nothing will be so well done in a passion but what may be done better out of it If you are to chide yet chide not in a Fury Do not call vile Names much more do not swear do not curse do not Rage with a Tongue set on fire of hell If you are to smiâ—e yet smite not in a Fury Bloody wounding outragious Buffettings are to be avoided lest there be cause to say of you Cursed is their Anger for it is fierce and their Wrath for it is cruel Secondly Reprove not for ever T is said in Ps. 103. 9. God will not alwaies chide neither will He keep his anger for ever To be alwaies finding faults is the way never to be curing them A perpetual Warngling is a continual Dropping which there is no enduring of it prejudices the minds of them that feel it against all that shall be said unto them The Positive Rules are these Two. First Reprove Reasonably Let there be just Cause for it When you reprove it must be for a true cause As it was said of our Saviour in Isai. 11. 3. He shall not reprove after the hearing of His ears Thus we may not go by meer Hear-say when we reprove those that are under us And it must be for a great Cause T is said of the Spirit in Ioâ— 16. 8. He will reprove the world for SIN The sinful thing the thing for which the wrath of God comes the thing which the soul of the Lord hates this we are to reprove We must not throw away Reproofs upon Nothing or upon Every thing Secondly Reprove Scripturally T is said in 2. Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is profitable for Reproof A Reproof with a Scripture comes with a more than ordinary Majesty and Authority When we Reprove those that are under us First make them read a Text which does Condemn what we would rebuke and then set it home with a very warm lively vigorous Application Fourthly There are solemn Charges with which we are to Instruct our Families It was the Character which the Lord gives of Abraham in Gen. 18. 19. I know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. O that this might be said of every Householder here I know him that he will take all of his house one by one and Charge every one of them to keep the way of the Lord What saies the Apostle in iâ— Thes 2. 11. We charged every one of you as a father his children We should call aside our young people and lay upon them the Charge of David in 1. Chron. 28. 9. My son know thou the God of thy Father and Serve Him with a perfect Heart and a willing mind for the Lord searcheth all Hearts if thou seek Him He will be found of thee if thou forsake Him He will cast thee off for ever Charge them and this especially about four Things Lay upon them
upheld The Curse of God is the Sauce in every Dish the Curse of God is the Cover to every Bed in that lamentable Family Houses molested with Devils are not more miserable than Houses destitute of Prayers I have seen it in an house where the Devils have had Possession of a Child that when Family-Prayer began the Devils would make hideous Roarings and Noises in the Room as being under a Vexation thereat which was intolerable to them Truly The Devils have no Disturbance in Houses where Family-prayers is not maintained prayerless houses are haunted houses and the Fiends of Darkness reign and ramp there without Controâ—l Indeed Prayerless Families are not only the Cages but also the Causes of all Impiety They bring an Irresistible Deluge of Disorder upon all the Town and Land and cause all the Countrey to swarm with the workers of iniquity who call not upon the Lord. And as the prayerless Householder is now cursed by God so he will one day be cursed by all his House he brings curses on them and they will spend curses on him in the Day of Vengeance In the ever-burning lake they will curse the day that ever they saw thy prayerless house and That House brought me to this Hell This this will be their Cry world without End. Consider next the marvellous Blessings which belong to all Praying Families It was noted about the Family of Obed-Edom in 1. Sam 6. 11. The Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his househould while the Ark of the Lord was there So shall it be noted about the Family of a praying Householder The Lord will bless that man and his Household while that Prayer to the Lord is there Family-prayers are conjoined prayers and united prayers thus they become very successful prayers What Encouragement is there given to them in that promise Matth. 18. 19. If two of you shall agree on earth touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them O let your Families Agree in the Asking of grace in the Asking of glory in the Asking of every good thing Prayer in Confort will obtain it all When Cornelius was at his Family-prayer what a signal favour did the Almighty God show unto him Some while since a whole Town in Switzerland was very suddenly destroyed by an Earth-quake all except one peice of an house in which a good man happned then to be at Prayer with his Family T is impossible to tell O how great is the goodness which God has laid up for Houses that seek unto Him But besides all the other comforts of a praying Householder he has This peculiar to him He teacheth all his Family to A praying Parent will have praying children David prayed in his Family and his Son Solomon prov'd a praying young man. A praying Master will have praying Servants Abraham pray'd in his Family and his Man Eliezer became a very praying person Thus O man all thy young people will be filling every corner of thy house with Prayers for thy Felicity O consider of these things and such let the Impression of them upon you be That you may by Prayers with your Families Engage your Houses to serve the Lord. SECT XIII THere are two Things more by the Discharge of which we Engage our Hoxses to serve the Lord and those Two are in a manner One Family-Instruction and Family-Government I link these together because of their near Dependance and Agreement in their Exercise This therefore is the Address now to be made unto us Let Family-Instruction and so Family-Government be maintained in our Houses that they may serve the Lord. Let there be no unâ—aught and unrul'd Families among us but let us be careful about the Education of such as belong to our Families I beseech you let there be a difference between English Houses and Indian Wigwams in the middest of us and let not English Parents be as indulgent and negligent as they report the Indians are And give me leave to say You that are Mothers have a special Advantage to instil the Fear of God into the souls of them that sit upon your knees T is said in Prov. 1. 8. My son forsake not the law of thy Mother Solomon was well instructed by his Mother and it proved his eternal Benefit T is not for Nothing that in the Sacred Records when men have proved good or bad it is noted Their Mothers were such and such You that are Mothers may insiâ—uate Religion into your Children earlier and easier than their Fathers can SECT XIV I shall Repeat the Method which we were in before and under Family-Instruction take in that Family-Government which you are to be studious of I am I. To offer some Directions about Family-Instruction The Directions to be given hereabout may â—e referr'd unto two Heads First The Matter of Family Instruction The Family-Instruction with which we urge our houses to the Service of God are to have 〈◊〉 less than Four things composing of it First There are Holy Lessons with which we are to Instruct our Families We are to make them hear and make them learn those Lessons which may give to the young ones Knowledge and Discretion Teach them the Scriptures of Truth T was said to Timothy in Cap. 3. 15. From a Child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures No doubt his Godly Mother and Grandmother were the cause of his doing so We should procure that our Young ones may read the holy Scriptures and mind the holy Scriptures and know the holy Scriptures even from a Child Let them have by heart here and there a Verse or a Paragraph Especially in the Psalms and in the Proverbs if you would have them good teach them the Psalmes of David if you would have them wise teach them the Proverbs of Solomon And Scriptureâ— Stories are to be told unto them as soon as ever they enquire after new things and strange But while we do thus we are also to teach them the Doctrines of God. Inculcate upon them the Principles of Religion as often as you do the Knife on the Stone in the Wheâ—ting of it T was said unto the Lord Jesus in Matth. 22. 16. Master Thou â—eâ—chest the way of God in Truth Every Mâ—ster should render his young ones able to say that unto himself Master Thou teachest the Truth of God. Especially We should be sure that they be not ignorant of any Saving Truths Tell them What they are come to by the First Adam and what they may come to by the Second Adam Tell them what Covenant man was once and What Covenant man is now to be saved by Yea let none of the Things to be believed none of the Things to be practised none of the Things to be pray'd for be left unmentioned in your Instructions All the Lessons of the Creed the Commandments and the Lords Prayer are to be laid before them And we are to be particularly faithful to them in the present Truths the labouring Truths the witnessed Truths of the
t is of in Esteem the Auri sacra fames the unhallowed Appetite which men crave it with prefers it above all common things T is in Scripture-phrase a precious thing indeed of which it might be said It is more precious than gold But of a good man might such a thing be spoken it may be said of such a man as in Isa. 13. 12. The man is more precious than fine gold even than the golden wedge of Ophir i. e. Peru as some with much pretense of Reason do conjecture it A gracious man is a precious man all Beholders ought to put a value upon him he is even precious in the eyes of the Lord. Thus like to Gold will good men come forth under and after the Tryals of the Lord which comprehends these two Conclusions in it Conclusion I. A good man is found good by the Examinations of God. When God comes to try a good man He finds the heart of the man to be right before Him. The good man may say with him in â— Chron. 29. 17. O my God I know that thou triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness as for mee in the uprightness of my heart have I offered Indeed our God uses not an Extremity of Justice and Rigour in our Trial He would find a world of Iniquity in us if He did and He would utterly consume us The Lord said in Isa. 48. 10. Behold I have refined thee but not like silver No the Refiner of gold or silver will not allow the the least measure of Dross therein But our merciful Gâ—d overlooks many grains of Corruption many grains of Defilement of Debasement in us for we all have our Grains However upon the Trial of a good man the good God pronounces this of hâ—m This is a dâ—â—r Son and a pleasâ—nt châ—ld I will surely have mercy on hiâ— He pronounces this I find good metal in the soul of thâ—â—an and he shall be mine in the day when I make up my Iewels The Devil the Satan who is the Accuser of the Brethren he may load a good man with Calumnies not a few that evil spirit will accuse a good man as guilty of Hypocrisie in the power of it but the Holy God brings it unto a Tryal and then He pronounces as in Iob. 2. 3. I have tried him and he is my servant a perfect and an upright man One that feareth God and escheweth evil and still he holdeth fast his integrity Conclusion II. A good man is made better by the Dispensations of God. It is to him that there is granted the Fulfilment of that promise in Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good As for the merciful Dispensations of God these do encline as well as oblige a good man to all manner of Obedience they cause him to think What shall I render to the Lord they cause him to say I will fear the Lord and His goodness I will never sin against so good a God as He. Thus we are told in Rom. 2. 4. The goodness of God leadeth to repentance It even melts and breaks the heart of a good man so that he cannot find in his heart after such deliverances again to break his commandments As for the Afflictive Dispensations of God these also cause a good man more than ever to Abound in the works of the Lord they put him upon more Thinking on his waies and upon turning his feet more unto the testmonies of God. It was said in Psal. 119. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes A good man gets this good thereby his Wisdom and his Vertue is thereby augmented and he Learns Obedience by the things which he suffers USE There is a two-fold Exhortation which I must now bespeak your earnest Heed unto I. Let us approve our selves as Gold under the Examinations of the Blessed God. There are who take notice that the Original in Job 37. 22. is Gold cometh out of the North. God grant that the best Gold may here be found in our North that you the inhabitants of the North may for your Vertues be as Gold before the Lord. Yea that North-Boston may be like Havilah and it may be said The gold of that land is good or there are Extraordinary golden and precious Christians there T is a Three-fold Counsel which you may therefore be advised with Counsil I. Beleeve and Expect the Trials of the eternal God. Beleeve that God now does Vnderstand what you are It was an Article in that famous Prophets Creed in Jer. 12. 3. Thou O Lord knowest me thou hast seen me and tryed my heart towards thee O that every one of us were enough sensible of that awful solemn Truth T is a common thing to say God knowes my heart but who does enough lay that thing to heart Who reckons any more upon it than the false Gehazi did It was an Orthodox perswasion in Psal. 139. 3 2. O Lord thou hast searched me and known me thou understandest my thought afar off T is very certain that every one of our thoughts are known to the infinite God even afar off long enough before they come into our minds But O Lord who has believed our Report Men and Brethren do you beleeve it and apprehend it and reallize it Beleeve it that God is all Eye and that He needs not a Glass Window in your breasts for the Exploration of you Beleeve it that the eyes of the Lord run to fro through the whole earth and that he will not by a Mistake drop a Blessing wrong as blind Isaac did of old Yea let it be a frequent Meditation with you All that I am and all that I think is well known unto the Lord. And Expect that God will one day Discover what you are There is a Day of Discovery that shall shine upon us all and Behold the Day comes that shall burn as an Oven and all that do wickedly shall be stubble in it Expect that the great God will have a Snare in this world for your Detection Ever now then there happen some Discriminating Things That they which are approved might be made manifest God will have His Times and His Wayes possibly to uncase our hearts before all our Neighbours It was said of that blessed man in 2. Chron. 32. 31. God left him in one thing to try him that he might know all that was in his heart You may look for some Temptation before you dye which will make the Inclinations of your souls notorious to the world especially If your Hearts be not right with God. It is a Simile us'd by one of the Ancients for it You shall have an Ape drest in the Attire of a Man for a while imitating the Look and shape and Gesture of a man but if a Nutt or an Apple be thrown before him he soon showes what he is Thou Hypocrite the Lord will have something to throw before thee which
a Child of God. Such were the Desires of Paul in Phil. 1. 22. I desire to be dâ—ssolved and be with Christ. When we think of the day in which we shall go to the the Spirits of just men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediator of the New-Covenant When we think of the day in which the Lord will deliver us from the hand of all our enemies and from the hand of SIN O the thoughts of it should fill our Souls with Raptures of Joy they should cause our hearts to leap and spring within us In is an allowable thing to be almost angry with Time to call upon slow Time and say Fly apaces Fly away O Time Come O Eternity come and fetch me into the presence of the Lord. The Visions of the Lord Jesus may cause us to say humbly with aged faithful Simeon Lord let thy servant depart in peace The Chariots of Death sent by the Lord Jesus to fetch us unto Himself should be as welcom to us as the Waggons of Ioseph were to Iacob of old It should cause us to Rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory when we think of the unspeakable joy and the full glory which we are going unto There are holy longings and lookings of Soul with which we may cry out Why why are His Churiots so long i'coming Why tarry the Wheels thereof But yet Secondly By way of Correction If these Desires are with Impatience much more if they are thro' Impatience they become sinful before the Lord. The embittered spirits of Christians have been sometimes too prone unto such Desires It was an inordinate passion in Moses when a froward people under his charge provoked him to say in Numb 17. 14. Kill me I pray thee out of hand Had God granted his Desire he had lost Thirty years of eminent Service in the World. It was an irregular passion in Elias when the persecutions of wicked men so tired him as to make him say in 1. King. 19. 4. O Lord take away my life It hath been an Observation that Many good and great men sit under Elias's Iuniper tree As culpable was the Passion of Ionah when the Withering of a Guord had that Effect upon him in Cap. 4. 8. He wished to dy The like pang of Impatience did that Pattern of Patience Iob fall into be spake as if he could hardly for bear laying violent hands upon himself Even so far do the distempered unbridled Wishes of many run Their Desire of Death is a sort of Revenge on God they would as it were deprive God of the glory which He might have of them Compose these desires O ye raging Souls compose these Desires Allay this Fever this phrensy It s not only an irreligious but an unnatural passion which you are carried away withal You desire to dye Well are you sure that the Death which you desire now will not prove a Death which you shall Deplore throughout eternal Ages It is said of the Believer in Psal. 91. 19. With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my Salvation It is a very disordered heart that will be dissatisfied with so great a mercy Secondly Vnsanctified Desires of Life are to be Reproved also Of these Desires there are Three Sorts to be Reprehended There are first Carnal Desires of Life to be blamed Some desire to live and wherefore is it It is because they desire to eat and drink and be merry They cann't part with such Relations and Possessions as are here to be enjoyed The Comforts of Life are the things that cause their Desires of Life One once beholding his fine Accommodations made this Reflection thereupon Haec faciunt invitos mori these are the things that make us unwilling to dy Unmortified Corruptions are the causes of these desires Remember what the Lord hath said in Matth. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother or Son or DAUGHTER more than me is not worthy of me Thus may the Lord well say to the Subject of these Desires If you had rather be with your friends on earth than with your Father in Heaven you are not worthy to be with me at all And this by the way is to be said of them that desire the life of their Friends as well as of them selves It is for the Interest of the Lord Jesus Christ that the dead Children which you lament are dead or else they had not dyed at all Now sais the Lord Jesus If thou lovest those CHILDREN those Relations more than me and hadst rather have them with thy self to my Prejudice than to have them with me to thy own Bereavement thou art not worthy to have them with me at all Secondly There are Careful Desires of Life to be likewise blamed Many desire to live only upon this account Some Child or some Charge they are concerned for They have this or that Child which they cannot believe will be well provided for when they are dead or they suspect what will become of such or such a Charge There is indeed a Desire of Life on such a Score which is not alwaies very severely to be found fault withal But oftentimes there is too much Distrust in such a desire Why cannot we venture our Families and the Concernments thereof in the Hands of the faithful God The Lord has said in Jer. 49. 11. Leave thy fatherless Children I will preserve them alive And he still saies I will be a better Father and a better Friend unto them than thou thy self canst be Thirdly There are Fearful Desires of Life which are blame-worthy too When Death comes with that message Set thy Soul in order for thou shalt dy and not live many persons are so terrified as to be even at their wits ends O how they groan I cannot dy Indeed Sinners that have not been born twice may well tremble to dy once no body can blame them there is a Second Death ready to sieze upon the forlorn souls that are not Regenerate But such as have been truly turn'd to God in Christ should not entertain Death with such Reluctancies Can you not uprightly say That if you were sure to be freed from Sin you could be content to be struck by Death O then be cheerfully willing to Dy. Thy soul will no sooner pass into Eternity but it shall experience that thing in Rom. 6. 7. He that is dead is freed from Sin. It is often pretended by men I would live because I would be more holy before I dy T is well but there is not seldom a Deceit in the Pretence often something else is in the Bottom A Rebellion against the Will of God. Wouldst thou really and earnestly be holy Be willing then to dy as well as to live Death is the way to Holiness in the Perfection of it In short Good was the Temper of that sick person who being asked Which do you desire to live or to dy answered I refer it to God and when it was again said But suppose