perform thy promise unto God when thou canst never break it but when God is looking on 10. Keep a lively and a tender conscience and diligently hearken to its admonitions that thou keep thy purpose cominations while thou art purposing to come short of thy purpose and accusations afterwards if thy conscience is not faithful unto thee thou wilt be false unto thy promise and fail of thy purpose but if it be do not choak the voice of conscience for it is thy monitor and remembrancer to put thee in minde of the bond â—nd obligation that lies upon thee to a holy life by virtue of thy own resolutions and vows in time of great mortality 11. Make a prudent choise of some wise and holy Christian for thy most intimate associate One that knows thy ways and practise most that is most acquainted with the manner of thy life and hath most occasion to be most in thy company supposing him to be faithful prudent pious tell him what hath been the purpose of thy heart when the terrors of the Lord were upon thee not onely against sin in general or in respect of holiness in general but what was the purpose of thy soul and the resolution of thy heart against this sin if it be convenient in particular which thou hast been most prone unto and the particular duty thou hast resolved to be constant and diligent in which thou hast found thy heart most backward to and engage him as he loves thy soul and the promoting of the work of God in thy heart that he will carefully observe thee and if he discern thee to be backward to thy duty that he would admonish thee if forward to thy sin that he would reprove thee and in all deal faithfully with thee this would be an exceeding help to perform our promises and purposes of holy living and such a friend as this is to be prized above his weight in gold and such a friend as this is better than a brother if you finde him let him not go 12. Seriously consider and work upon your heart till you feel your soul affected with it that Gods purposes concerning you and your good and eternal peace is the same at one time as at another and he performes all his promises which he maketh unto you God doth not one time purpose for to save you and another time purpose to condemn you and why should you then be unconstant in your purposes towards God one time to purpose that you will serve him more and glorifie him more and at another time be careless to order your life according to the intention of your heart When you finde your hearts begin to slink and goe from the purpose and promise that you have made press your self with affecting thoughts of the Immutability of Gods purposes to you and this might help you to constancy in your purposes towards God 13. Steel your heart with an holy courage against all oppositions in your way of performance Take heed of slavish fears which enfeeble your resolutions and put a stop in the way of an holy life you have resolved upon fear of danger and of death made you to resolve to keep close to God and yet your fear of death and fear of danger for holiness sake will hinder your living up to those Purposes and Resolutions Fear of death natural and from God was the occasion of your resolving to practise an holy life but fears of death violent and from men will be the cause of your breach of promise so to doe Therefore resolve to live up to your Resolutions though loss of Estate Liberty or Life should attend you for so doing 14. Fill your heart with an holy Zeal for Gods glory and if you be zealous for the glory of God you will be couragious against all Impediments and Obstructions of an holy conversation Courage is opposed to slavish Fears and Zeal is opposed to Lukewarmness And Lukewarmness is inconsistent with the practice you have resolved upon You have purposed to pray more fervently than you were wont to do but if your heart be as lukewarm in Religion you cannot do it you have purposed to lay out your self more for the good of souls to endeavour to help others in their way to heaven but if you be as lukewarm as before you cannot do more than you did before But if your heart be enflamed with zeal for God more than before you will perform all your Religious undertakings with more life than before you will pray with more life and preach with more life and speak to men about the things of God and another world than you did before and this is the performance of your Purpose 15. Be much in daily Reflexions whether you live up to your Resolutions or no. Review your life every night reflect upon your Duties and the manner of performance of them Survey at night before you sleep the actions of the day whether they have been according to the Rule of Gods Word what temptations did assault you and how you did resist them what corruptions did rise in your heart and how you did subdue them what Ordinances of God you have sate under and how you did improve them what Talents God hath entrusted you with and how you have employed them what company you have been in and how you did behave your self If you do not call your self frequently to account you will live below your Purposes and not perceive it 16. Be often renewing your Purposes and Resolutions for an holy life Frequent acts do beget and strengthen habits Actually renew your Purpose to pray to God to walk circumspectly to discourse of the things of God and it will at length be habitual to you so to do If you finde upon reflection and self-examination that your Purposes are weakened and your heart draws back from that pitch of holiness you did intend to labour after binde your heart thereto by the renewal of your Purposes If you finde you have broken your Resolutions do not resolve to continue so to do but repair them If the Mariner be driven back by windes and storms yet he keeps and renews his purpose of sailing unto his intended Harbour If a Traveller fall in his Journey he gets up and resolves to hold on his way 17. Presse your heart with the evils of coming short and with the benefits of living up unto your Resolutions The evils of this I shall speak to in the third general Head that follows next in order The Benefits of keeping the purpose of your heart are many and great Your sins will not be so many your sins will not be so strong for Resolutions against sin that are firmly made and carefully kept do exceedingly weaken sin and if you should sometime sin your sin will not be so great when God doth see you keep the firm purpose of your heart against it though sometimes you are overborn and bowed down yea
believing thoughts of this when the Plague is over will have some special influence upon thee to make thee endeavour to do according to the purpose of thy heart in dying times 4. Consider Holiness is as pleasing unto God at one time as another and if God was pleased with thy purpose it will be more pleasing if thou proceed unto performance The moving reason of your purpose in the time of your distress was that you judged it pleasing unto God and would you please God at one time by purposing and displease him at another by non-performance Would you please God at one time by resolving to reform and displease him at another by nonreformation Sin and holiness is the same in the eyes of God at all times but it seems it is not so in thine if sometime thou dost purpose to forsake sin and at another dost willingly commit it if sometime thou approvest holiness and pâ—â—â—osest to follow after it but at another time thou art remiss in thy pursuit 5. Work this upon thy heart that sin is as destructive to thy soul and preâ—udicial to thy peace and comfort at one time as another Though sometime the circumstance of time might aggravate a mans sin and make it more hainous as a man to be drunk upon the Lords day yet sin committed at any time is damnable and sin loved at any time is damnable though sometime we feel the effects of sin in sickness on our bodies and terrors and fears upon our consciences and then have greater and more affecting apprehensions of the evil of it yet you can at no time when you have your perfect health lay sin in your bosom but it may sting you unto death In your sickness you thought that sin would undo you that your evil actions would certainly damne you therefore you did resolve against it think so still and let those thoughts abide upon your heart and they will carry you in the strength of Christ to live as you did purpose 6. Work this upon your heart that holiness in act and a godly life in act will be more sweet unto your soul than it was onely in your purpose And that a holy life should be esteemed by you at one time as well as another because it will be as sweet and profitable to you at one time as another if you thought it would be for your good to purpose holiness and to resolve to live to God and this did something quiet your heart if you had dyed that God had given you a real and unfeigned resolution and fixed purpose of heart to lead as you could with utmost diligence a Gospel conversation how much more will it be a comfort to your heart to see your purposes end in performances and your resolutions come unto a real thorough continued Reformation Get the same thoughts of holiness in time of safety as you had in time of danger and this will help you to live holily as well as to purpose so to do 7 Keep upon your heart a constant daily sense of your own mortality and of your nearness to another world What is the reason that men under sickness are more apt to purpose to forsake sin and to promise to mend and to reform than in time of health but because they have greater apprehensions of death in its nearer approaches unto them and things as neer do more affect than things apprehended as further off and was it not the thoughts of the nearness of death and your daily danger of it that did quicken you to resolve against sin and for God and to winde up your resolutions something higher than at other times Why you have reason still to walk in daily expectation of your dissolution though the plague be stayed If the plague be removed out of your habitation yet sin is not removed out of your heart there is the meritorious cause of death still in you and there are natural causes of death still in you and you must as surely dye as if the Plague were raging and you may assoon dye we dye a thousand ways death might be as near to you by some other disease and you may fall by some other disease as so many have done by the Pestilence though you were not one of those that dyed eight thousand in a week yet you may be one of those that dye eight or five hundred in a week Doe not say the bitterness of death is past that now there is no danger do not put far from thee the evil day What if so many do not dye every week as when thou resolvedst to be better yet thou mightest dye every week An Apoplexy or a Feaver or Dropsie might fetcht thee to thy grave who hast through Mercy and Patience escaped death by the Plague think with thy self when thy heart is negligent of thy former purpose When and why was it that I resolved to give my self more to a holy heavenly life When the Plague did come nigh unto my dwelling and because I thought every day I might have dyed Why it is my daily danger if not by the Plague yet by some other disease that will as certainly be the cause of my dissolution as if it were the Plague Thou didst purpose because thou thoughtest death was neer then perform because death is still as near yea it is nearer to thee now then when thou madest this resolution for the more days thou hast lived since the fewer now thou hast to live it was near then but to thee it is nearer now 8. Frequently possess thy heart with serious believing thoughts of judgement to come When men and when thou amongst the rest shall give an account to God of all thoughts purposes promises vows that thou hast made to God to walk before him in an holy life But what account canst thou give to God when thou hast not performed what thou purposedst If it was not good to purpose and to promise to forsake thy sin and live to God Why didst thou purpose If it were Why dost thou not perform If thou fail now thou wilt be self-condemned at the bar of God thy purposes and promises will be brought forth against thee and God will charge thee before all the world with breach of promise unto him 9. Work this upon thy heart that thou walkest daily in the sight and presence of that God that exactly doth observe whether thou art the same in thy practice when thou art well as thou wast in thy purpose when thou wast sick God did see thy purpose and he did hear thy promise made in thy distress and time of fears and his eye is upon thee to observe how thou livest and what thou dost and do men keep their promises made to men as some do from no other principle then because the eyes of men are upon them to observe them and they would not lose their reputation by falsifying of their promise and wilt not thou much more
should walk in newness of life Ver. 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin In which Scripture are set down these things viz 1. The parts of Sanctification Mortification Vivification 2. The cause of our Sanctification viz. communion with Christ in his Death Burial and Resurrection 3. The Testimony and Pledge of it our Baptism 4. The growth and progress of Mortification we should aime at the total destruction of the body of sin by the Crucifying Destroying and Burial of sin You have seen the death of thousands and you have seen the Burial of thousands to all these add one more Funeral and that is the Funeral of your sins Do you out-live this Judgment and shall your sins do so too God forbid This would be to live altogether unanswerably to so great a mercy You live but your sins should be dead in you and you unto your sins Rom. 6.11 Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Though you live yet must you be buried Now Believers are buried in three respects 1. In respect of their good names as they are reproached by the wicked The throats of the wicked are the Sepulchres or burial places of the good names of Gods people this is part of a Believers sufferings 2. In respect of Self-denial Believers must be no more taken with the things of this World so far as to draw them from God than a person dead and buried and lying in his grave 3. In respect of the Mortification of sin and these two last are our duty and of this last I would speak a little following the Metaphor in which there is some difference and some agreement in the burial of our sin and in common burial The difference in these Respects First We bury our friends weeping for their death desirous of their life wishing oâ— that this my Friend had not died oh that I could have kept him in life But we must bury our sin rejoycing as those that are glad of its death Not weeping because sin is dead but that it once did live Secondly We bury our Friends with hopes that they shall rise again and live again But we must bury our sins with hopes they shall never live more never return to them more The resemblance holds in these particulars 1. The Burial of sin supposeth the death of sin Never any man yet buried his sins alive For while sin doth live it is in the heart as in a Throne and not as in a Grave 2. The Burial of sin supposeth the ceasing of the love of sin that we see not that beauty and comliness in sin as we did when it was alive A man that loves his Relation while he lived put him in his bosome yet will not do so when he is dead a man while he loves his sin will never bury it 3. The Burial of sin includeth the removal of it out of our sight and as much as may be out of our thoughts We love not to look upon dead friends nor many times to think or talk of them who while they lived were pleasing objects to our eyes and the delightful matter of our discourse While Sarah lived she was beautiful in Abrahams eyes but when dead he desired to have her removed out of his sight Gen. 23.4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you give me possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight The presence of sin is a trouble to you when it is dead and you would have it out of your sight and this removal of sin when dead and buried hath these three properties First It is a total removal the whole body of sin and all the members of it are buried Death might arise from the disease of some particular part but burial covers all He that makes a shew of the burial of sin and yet keeps any in his heart as his love and delight hath indeed buried no sin For who doth so bury his friend as to keep any of his members in his house Secondly It is a voluntary removal when one is dead we make it matter of our choice to have him buried Yea we look upon it as a sore evil and great annoyance to have burial denied to our dead friends So it is your choice to bury your sins and the thoughts of not having them buried is a great trouble to you Thirdly It is a perpetual removal we bury our friends so that we would not have them taken up again and brought into our house So you bury sin never to have it brought back to live again in your heart One that hath buried his sin doth earnestly desire it might be removed out of the sight of God by free pardon out of the sight of his own eyes by the evidence of the pardon and out of the sight of others by leading a contrary Conversation 4. The Burial of sin includes the rotting of the old man in its grave the mouldring of it and the daily wasting of it as dead Corps buried in the earth do consume and wast daily Though a body buried doth not presently totally consume Many years after the burial if the grave be opened you may find the bones and the skull the reliques of sin in the heart of a Child of God are but as the bones and the skull but the body of sin is destroyed 5. The Burial of sin includes the loss of the power and authority that sin had in the heart while it was alive Though a man were never so potent while he lived yet when he is dead and buried he hath no more power nor jurisdiction Though thy sin did sit as a Lord and rule in thy soul while it lived yet being dead and buried its dominion ceaseth Now if you are buried with Christ these things will be a comfort to you viz 1. Those that are buried with Christ are most comely in the sight of God A man that is naturally dead and buried is not so with us but he that is spiritually dead to sin is beautiful in the eyes of God 2. Those that are buried with Christ have converse and Communion with God those that are naturally dead have no more converse with us but a man hath no Communion with God till he is buried with Christ 3. Those that are buried with Christ are past the hurt of death As those that are naturally dead have past through all that death can do unto them if you are buried with Christ though you must come under the stroke of death yet the sting of death is taken out 4. Those that are buried with Christ shall be raised at the last day and shall for ever live with God and Christ and with holy Angels and Saints in the Kingdom of God Rom. 6.8 Now if we be dead
God and when you take your flight into heaven and are perfectly removed from sin sorrow suffering temptation wants you shall do nothing else but love and praise and admire God And will you not in the mean while accustome your self to that work on earth which shall be your imployment in heaven And will you not take occasion hereunto by so great a mercy as God at such a time as this hath vouchsafed you 4. Is not God most worthy of your highest and your heartiest praises You were not worthy of Gods mercies you were not worthy of life but God is worthy of the best of your praises were they as perfect as the Hallelujahs of the Saints in heaven God indeed is above all praise Neh. 9.5 But yet he is pleased with his peoples praising of him 5. Will you praise the efficacy of your Antidotes and the skill of your able Physitian by whose help you have been under God preserved And will you not be much more in praising of God for your safety when without his blessing all had been ineffectual Will you praise the Instrument and means and say I had an able Doctor and not the principal cause of your preservation and say I had a good God 6. Will not you praise God for his mercy towards you no not for your life when this is all that God requireth at your hands that you should be thâ—nkful for your life and thankfully improve it for his glory You cannot make a requital but God expecteth some return you cannot make a retaltation but God looketh for some retribution And will not you think an alms ill bestowed upon that beggar that will not give you thanks And will not life be continued to the aggravation of your sin if you are not thankful for it 7. Is not this a duty that will well become you A Christian doth then act most like a Christian when he is praising God in tongue in heart and life Psal 33.1 2. and 147.1 Praise is comely for the upright Three things are very comely To weep as a Sinner to walk as a Saint to rejoyce as a Son 8. Will not you give to God the glory of his preserving providence when if you do not that are Gods people none else will The wicked that are spared they will not they cannot praise God they will dishonour him they will speak to Gods dishonour and act to Gods dishonour so that if you do not praise God for his sparing so many alive none else will And shall God be without all thankful acknowledgments of his remembring mercy in the midst of judgment God forbid That amongst all the thousands that are spared there should be none found making some thankful return to God This number will be but small amongst the Ten Lepers that were cleansed there was but one found thankful If you would not have God to lose the glory of his providence then you must be the men that must honour him for it Many wicked men were not found praying to be preserved much less will they be found praising when they are preserved 9. Have you more cause to bless God for life than others have and yet will not you do it Your life is more sweet and comfortable to you than the lives of wicked men are or can be forasmuch as you have those comforts with life and that Communion with God in life that wicked men have not They live only a natural life and have only the sweetness of natural life but you with this life have also the comforts of an higher life and yet will not you bless God for it They are delivered from the Grave for a while but not from the wrath of God too from the Grave but not from the danger of hell too but so are you And have you so much cause to bless God for life and will you want an heart to bless him 10. Is this the most effectual way to have life continued to you and yet will not you do it To have life continued will be to be thankful for it else God finding you unthankful when the Plague is over might commission death by some other distemper to take that from you which you would not be thankful for 11. Is not life the sweetest of all earthly mercies and more to be prized and yet will not you be thankfull to God for it that hath so signally continued it unto you Skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life And yet will not you give thanks to God for life What earthly thing will you be thankful for â—nd what mercy upon earth will you make returns to God for if not for life 12. Do you finde unthankful Men placed amongst the greatest rank of sinners and yet will you be unthankful Unthankful Persons are numbred among Blasphemers Covetous Disobedient to Parents such as are without Natural affection false Accusers Despisers of those that are good c. 2 Tim. 3.2 3 4. and will you yet be unthankful and that for your Life Thus by these considerations you should press your heart to give Praises to God for this so great Preservation SECTION III. III. WHat is the course that those that remain after this Judgment should take to be thankful to God and to render Praises to him for the Preservation of themselves and those of their Relations continued to them Take these Rules 1. If you would render Thankes to God in Tongue in Heâ—rt and Lâ—fe for this Mercy then get a right judgment of the worth and greatness of the Mercy that you and some of yours are continued after this Visitation Those that do not prize a Mercy will never be thankful for it What a Mercy is life to you that are not yet assured of the love of God What a Mercy is life to you that are not yet certain of the Salvation of your Soules or if you are sure of Heaven yet is life to you a great Mercy that you have time to do the Works that God hath appointed you to do Consider also what a Mercy it is to have your Children continued that you may yet Instruct them and Pray for them that you may see Christ formed in them before you or they do die 2. If you would be thankful for life and have an heart to render Praises to the Lord for your own and your Relations consider how uncomfortable your Life had been had God continued you and taken away your neerest Relations and how uncomfortable your Life would have been had God continued them onely and taken you away from them You may consider while you live the Discomforts of your Relations and the sorrow of their hearts if God had removed you by death What an uncomfortable Widow would your Wife now have been what uncomfortable Orphans would your Children now have been You have enough before you and amongst you that are sad Instances of this Oh consider this and it will be a meanes to make you