from within my self ever since I was a Child and had the least Knowledge of Good and Evil that there was another Life and another State which People should enter upon and go into after that they are departed off from this Earth I was all along and am still as verily Persuaded and as certained of it as I am sure that at the writing these Lines I now Live and Breath And thereupon Revolving and Pondering many things in my Mind how that all things here are but vain little and passing away as a Shadow and do not signifie much fain would I be happy and safe as to the Succeeding and Eternal State of things into which my Soul must Launched forth out of this Body So I came at length to be acquainted with the Ways of God and I have made it my Business to serve him although it hath been all along which I desire to acknowledge in bitterness of Soul accompanied with too many Failings and Imperfections and comings short of what the Lord hath Required of me It should be a constant Rule that whensoever I declare and make known my own Experiences there the Reader or Hearer should confer Notes and compare it at the very same Instant with those Experiences of his own for there is nothing like to this Euperimental Kind of Preaching when a Minister doth inwardly feel what himself doth Speak and Speak out what himself doth feel for we are Fellow Servants and Fellow Travellers and God who Fashioneth the Hearts of the Inhabitants of the Earth alike Psal 34. 15. doth bring all his Sons and Daughters unto Glory by near the same way in all their several Generations and Countreys All of them that ever did or shall come to Glory they were every one of them so wise as to Consider their latter End Saith one of them Lord make me to know mine End and the Measure of my Days what it is that I may know how frail I am And so when we Read the History of the Saints and Servants of God in Hebrews this general Character is given of them all They confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Countrey Heb. 11. 13 14. And if they seek a Countrey they must be mindful of that Entrance or Passage which lets into that Coutrey which is Death A Stranger or Pilgrim are Relative Words and do Relate unto somewhat to which they should be acquainted and to somewhere they should be at home Now God is the Father of Spirits to whom they are Related and with whom they should be acquainted according to what is written Acquaint now thy self with him and be at Peace Job 22. 21. Though a Stranger is not acquainted and know in such a place yet others elsewhere do know him And so God is acquainted with all Men as they are his Creatures Thou art acquainted with all my Ways Psal 139. 3. Though alas too many are not acquainted with him And then mention is made in Ecclesiastes That Man goeth to his long Home and the Mourners go about the Streets So that he is a Pilgrim all the while he is on this Earth They are all so in Deed and Reality but few do confess themselves to be so that is Strangers and Pilgrims and declare plainly that they seek a Countrey so as not to be Mindful of that Countrey they now are in no further than barely to Furnish them with Necessaries and Accommodations for their intended Passage and Journey but not to sit down or settle any Abode or Dwelling-place herein for a Stranger or Pilgrim doth denote one who is in a Travelling and Moving Posture and they are not long in a place and also they have a fixed certain and intended Place or End to which they make or otherwise they are but Wanderers And again it is certain as long as they are Travelling and Moving if they are set aright every Minute they draw nearer and nearer to their home or ot the place where they would be Now whereas many People would willingly stay here always by their Good-will it shall not be so for an the Soul here is in Prison so it is a Moveable Prison or a Moveable Waggon and the Wheels thereof are always going until the Appointed Time when they shall Cease and let out the Soul into the Invisible VVorld Thus much is sensible and evident that the Pulse is always beating towards its last stroke It is appointed unto Men once to die This Particle once makes it yet more terrible and raises in it yet greater Thought and searching of Heart for we do more dread and are more apprehensive of things which we were never sensible of nor had experienced before Of so many Millions since the Creation of Man upon the Earth we read or hear of but very few that did return again after they were passed into the Gates of Death We read of some as of Lazarus and the Saints that arose at our Saviour's Crucifixion and Resurrection Mat. 27. 52 53. but none are recorded who gave an exact account how or what manner of thing it is to dye how much Pain they did undergo therein or how the Bitterness of Death did taste and how it was with the Soul in the separated State this is left to every one of us to know and feel It is as natural a thing to dye as it is to live for we are appointed to that all one as to be born or to pass through a little mean while here It is only to break that which was liable to be broken before or to melt down that which was meltable Suppose that any one who shall hear or read this were to dye at such a day certain about a Month or six Weeks or a quarter of a Year hence and it is likely enough to be some ones Condition How would such a Message possess that Soul with fear and surprize God who hath determined the Times before appointed Acts 17. 26. doth know exactly the day of the Month and the Year with the Place and also the manner with what Sickness or outward Accident or Casualty each of us shall dye for it is certain to God but unknown to us So it is of all the Sons and Danghters of Men although some of them are now Healthy Lusty and strong If death is not most commonly sudden yet Sickness or Casualty is always sudden which in a week or an hours time will cut down the Tree to the Ground and fetch out the Soul to give an account for the Deeds done in the Body The Lord of Life knows all by our Names and who would now think that such a Person and such a Person according as he appoints and marks them out in his own order shall die such a day and in such a place and of such a Disease or Accident This same Tongue which hath spoken forth his Truths shall one day faulter and be laid
through Knowledge and distinct Apprehension of what all these things mean they think of them because they are forced to think of them sometimes but they do not set and apply their Hearts unto them And so it is the very same concerning the Numbring their Days their latter End and Death Who is there even amongst the Ignorant and Ungodly Multitude yea amongst those who are most Despisers and backward in Nature towards the Ministry of the Word that doth not know in the General how Old they are how that time and their Days do pass away and how that they must Dye at last No Body whatever can be Ignorant of or not know this because it is Sensible and Evident But it is too certain again that they do not for all this Apply their Hearts unto the true Wisdom That is To set about it in good Earnest for they do not Understand what it is nor Labour after it But they are Careless and Negligent as pertaining thereto Whereas Contrariwise the Righteous and Godly do so apply their Heart as to Mind nothing in Comparison thereto but they bring all things in Subordination to it Nothing remains in a Man but what he doth in the Service of God and for the Good of his own Soul All his other Acts and Actions perish in the using and if they do not come under that End they had much better be not done at all for whatever is of Sin or Evil that tends to sad Account or Loss at the last Day And that is Wisdom indeed and nothing else is so which procures Good unto a Manâ—s self and avoids Evil Which nothing doth so certainly effect according to his own Ordering and Establishment of things taking in things to come all one as things present as the Service of God and the keeping of his Commandments For if there was nothing else therein as there is Ten Thousand times more it appears much better and more excellent on this Respect That whereas all other things perish and pass away and so doth all the Glory of Man pass away as the Flower of the Grass But he that doth the Will of God abideth for ever Religion our Duty to God is not only throughout the Book of Proverbs but in several other places of Scripture called Wisdom as particularly in that saying of our Lord Jesus Christ Wisdom is Justified of her Children But also it may be Proved Evidenced and Demonstrated to be the only Real and true Wisdom and all Despising Neglect and Variation from it to be the greatest Folly To shew or treat of this particularly and at large would be somewhat besides the present intended Subject But as certain of the Ancients defined the sum and whole of Wisdom to be a Meditation of Death and that upon this or the like Reason because it would Influence a Man's whole Life and Conversation unto Wise and Good things it being Reasonable to do those things whilst Living which one shall wish he had done when he comes to Die And also nothing is so much worthy the Concern and Regard of a Wise Man as Death is It is every ones Prudence to keep off and provide against all Evils whatsoever and if the World calls them Wise who are so much busied about the getting of Riches or Honour about the attaining of every little seeming Good and avoiding every little Evil that may befal them much more will he who is Wise unto Salvation be so as to the greatest and most enduring things which are to come and will quickly be Manifested before us with open Face If every one is Concerned how it goes with him now much more should a Rational and Understanding Man look about him both take thought and also take care what shall become of him after this vain short and uncertain Life is Ended Truly this was my manner of doing from my tender Years and from my Youth up As it is written That Isaac went out to Meditate in the Field at Even-tide So I can Remember that when I was but a School-Boy and so when I went first to the University whereas others of my Fellows and Cotemporaries were all for Play and Company I would rather choose to Walk all alone by my self and in some Solitary place Meditate partly upon the Works of God's Creation All which being then new and fresh to my Mind did Seem to me in the Phrase of the same Isaac To be as the Smell of a Field which the Lord bath Blessed For I did then perceive Sweetness Beauty and Delight in them though I do now confess that having beheld them so very often I have since lost that just Wonder and Astonishment which I had formerly in beholding them For it hath Diminished and I have in a manner Ceased to be Affected therewith There is so much in Custom and Repetition even of the most Marvellons things that by continual seeing them they cease to be Marvellous not but that they are so nevertheless in themselves But as the Edge grows dull by often cutting so through Humane Infirmity and Weakness we become dull of Hearing and dull of Seeing and dull of Understanding when it is continually upon the same Object But as the same Isaac could say Behold now I am Old I know not the Day of my Death Gen. â—7 2. So when I was but very Young this was the Subject that I did most Think and Meditate on though I was then Young Yet I did not know the Day of my Death for so much was Sensible and Evident to me and I had so much Understanding as then to Apprehend that Young Boys were Liable unto Death and several of them did Die all one as People of Riper or Declining Years or in Old Age. I then knew well enough of the suddenness of Death and that we always carry the Root of the matter about us even those Seeds of Mortality and Corruption we being but like brittle Glass which can be dashed or broken in a Moment Yea when I was a Child I Spake as a Child I Understood as a Child I Thought as a Child I could even then Discern that the longest Day would have a Night that though this Life which is as a Vapour and continueth not should be extended up to Youth Manhood I am now passing this Second Stage of Life Declining Years or Old Age yet at last an end would come the end is come Ezek. 7. 4. And now I can Reason this as a Man that nothing is long which hath an End But now I call to Remembrance my Thought and Searching of Heart which was in the Days of Old the Years of Ancient Times when I was but a Stripling I did then commune with mine own Heart and my Spirit made diligent Search What will become of me after that this Body which now I carry about me is laid in the Earth For I did find even then that my Spirit would Abide and Livâ— elsewhere as truly God hath shewn this unto me even
flat in my Mouth and then turn into Corruption and next to nothing These very same Eyes that see at this day shall sink into my Head and behold Man no more with the Inhabitants of the World And these Hands which have hitherto handled the Pen of the Writer shall either be tyed and bound up with Grave-cloths or they will be in that fixed and unmoveable Posture that there will be no need of tying or binding at all When we once come into the place of Skulls or dry Bones There will be then nothing to be seen of Personal Deformity or Lameness or who in the days of their Flesh were cloathed with a beautiful well-coloured or with a common or ordinary Skin We know not particularly when this shall be but we know certainly that once it shall be It is appointed to Men once to die It was Melancholly Tidings of Samuel to Saul Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee and to morrow thou and thy Sons shall be with me that is in the State of the Dead as God saith in Ezekiel of others that he would bring them down to the People of Old Time then Saul fell straightway all along upon the Earth and was sore afraid Because of the words of Samuel and there was no strength in him for he had eaten no Bread all the day nor all the night Truly such a Message to any of us would be apt to turn our Stomach against Food It would spoil our Supper and cause that we should not so well relish our moderate necessary Eating if God should say to any of us This night thy Soul shall be required of thee Luke 12. 20. Or if we did hear from any one for certain who is now in the State of the Dead To morrow thou shalt be with me we also would be sore afraid and our Souls would as it were before-hand shiver within us before they take flight into the invisible World as appears by Poor Malefactors when they come to the place of Execution There is no need to seek unto familiar Spirits as Saul did here which he did not neither until God had before departed from him and unto Wizards that peep and mutter Should not a People seek unto their God for the Living to the Dead Isa 8. 19. Which last doth seem to import as if it was an incongruous thing to seek to the Dead for the Living But the other is very Proper and Reasonable That a People should seek unto their God And truly If People would seek unto their God who gives his Answer now out of his written Word all one as he did of old Time from his Vrim and Thummim they may by that as also by Prayer know their End and the measure of their days in near upon as certain and exact a manner as if they should hear one speaking unto them from the Dead a Week Month Quarter half a Year or Twelvemonth hence or so many Years hence thou shalt be with me or such a Night of such a Year thy Soul shall be required of thee It hath been already alledged out of the written Word and by that common Knowledge which God hath given to every Man as also by an exact casting up of Numbers and so it would be proportionably if it should come unto more Years The utmost Period and Term hath been set down beyond which none doth usually pass and thou mayst at any time be cut short thereof Saith one God therefore kept the precise exact day of our Death to be uncertain and unknown because that he would have us think every day to be our last And if thou wouldest be certified herein for the Psalmist's Reason That I may know how frail I am This last thou mayest know altogether so well as if God had told and repeated unto thee the particular day thou shouldst die Wouldst thou know how frail thou art Why Thou art so frail that thou art subject and liable unto Death every day of the Week yea every hour and every minute The Sinner and Ungodly would know this Because he would Eat and Drink for to morrow we shall die Because he would proportion out his Pleasure and Sensuality accordingly and come in such a time towards the close of the day by a Partial Feigned and Temporary Repentance for there is hardly any Person so sinful but hath some little Hopes and would do somewhat towards the getting the Favour of God and to go to Heaven if he may be admitted Whereas as God has now ordered the Matter such base mercenary and selfish Souls may be deceived but God will not be articled with Even Godly and Righteous People have that which savours of Men and of the Fleshly and Corrupt Nature That if they were sure to live twenty thirty forty or fifty Years longer they would abate and diminish from their former Zeal and Fervency and Diligence in the Service of God But now the Father having kept the Times and Seasons in his own Power when he will Summon them to die and after that to Judgment the knowledge and consideration hereof doth oblige them continually to be upon their watch and duty that whensoever he cometh he may find them so doing To have their Loins be girded about and their Lights burning And ye your selves like unto them that wait for the Lord when he shall return from the Wedding That when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately And if he shall come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so doing Blessed are those Servants as the four and twenty hours are divided into four Watches each six hours making a Watch so Childhood Youth Manhood Old Age are the four Watches of the Term of Mans Life Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of Man cometh in an hour when ye think not Luke 12. 35 36 37. We should so live as if every day was to be our last day as if we should die when we go to Bed or as if we were to be executed and suffer death to morrow Morning So live the remaining part of this day and to your lives end as if certainly this was thy Condition For though it may be ten thousand to one that thou shalt not actually die within these twenty four or eight and forty hours yet certainly and without all doubt this is the Case and Condition of us all That e're long this earthly House must be dissolved and we must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive for the things done in the Body whither they be Good or Bad so that it will be near the same thing in God's account and to thine own Imputation and receiving seeing that of every day after years of Knowledge and discretion thou shalt be called to an Account as if thou wert to die for certain before another and second Revolution of the Sun over thine head How doth any Person presume to live in that Condition in
as God did from his Heb. 4. 18. Now Death is the entrance and passage into this Rest and therefore if we would by this Death be translated into this Rest we must before this Death cease from our own works that is to say From all such works which â—avour of Sin Vanity or of this evil World For saith another Scripture Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Rev. 14. 13. This is to be understood of good Works For the doing of good Works is the Laying up in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal Life 1 Tim. 6. 18. Such who die in the Lord did in their Life time before live unto the Lord. And such the Gospel enjoyns peremptorily to maintain good Works This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good Works These things be good and profitable unto Men Titus 3. 8. For the Spirit of God in the fore-quoted place of the Revelations doth pronounce them Blessed because their works do follow them This Foundation will then stand them in stead and they will be Partakers of the Loving Kindness and Reward of the Lord for the same I have heard of a certain Atheist who being asked upon his Death-bed what he then thought concerning Religion said on this wise A Good Life and Good Deeds but all the rest was Talk and Prate In this last part of his sentence he spake like an Unbeliever but as to his foregoing words this may be conceived that the best Life and the best Deeds without the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ will never save any one The best VVorks and the best Deeds if they are mingled with any thing of self-Righteousness or with any Thoughts of Merit or deserving for the same they are marred and spoiled as to God's present Acceptation and future Recompence They are become like the Girdle that was marred and profitable for nothing Jer. 13. 11. But good and observable Truth may be gathered from the former part of his saying A Good Life and Good Deeds For let the Knowledge and Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ be mixed with the same Good Life and Good Deeds Let this same Good Life and Good Deeds be all lifted up and terminated towards God Let all good Works be done in great Humility self-abasement and nothingness of the Creature He desiring that they may be accepted clothed over with the Righteousness of Christ and only in and through him Then all this will yea it doth yield sensible Comfort and real Support against and in a dying day For then when the Soul is just going out of the Body and most wants help whereon to stay and fix It may be truly said to her there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun who rideth upon the Heaven in thy help and in his Excellency on the Sky The Eternal God is thy Refuge and underneath are the overlasting Arms may this Scripture belong to me when the shadow of Death sits upon my Eye-lids and I am just breathing out my last I had rather have it than all the Kingdoms Lands and Riches of the whole Earth for ten thousand Years if it was possible to enjoy them so long These good words and comfortable words go on to add And he shall thrust out the Enemy from before thee which Enemy is the Devil and shall say Destroy them Israel shall dwell in safety alone Deut. 33. 26 27 28. Safety and Salvation is all one in signification and this is safety to be saved and preserved from all the Evils of the Invisible World to get above and all alone from all the Annoyances of Evil Spirits as also to be freed from all Sin and Temptation henceforward Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last End be like his But there is no dying the Death of the Righteous without living the Life of the Righteous But how much Good Works or Works of Alms Mercy and Compassion especially to the Ministers and Servants of the Lord will give and procure unto the doers thereof Comfort and Support in a dying day we may gather and understand from the words of Paul The Lord give Mercy unto the House of Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my Chain The Lord grant unto him that he may find Mercy of the Lord in that day 2 Tim. 1. 16 18. which is the day of Death and the day of Judgment for then it is that any reasonable Creature most wants the Mercy of God and the Apostle here wrote these things by the Spirit as one that knew the Mind and Will of the Lord for in what Prayer the Spirit of Truth doth dictate is included a Promise that so it shall be And it is the same thing as if it did run on this wise That Onesiphorus shall find Mercy of the Lord in the day of Death and of Judgment for that his good Deed which he shewed forth unto Paul a Prisoner Minister and Servant of the Lord. The Holy Ghost doth record of Dorcas This Woman was full of good Works and Alms-deeds which she did And after that she died the VVidows shewed the Coats and Garments which probably were for the Poor which Dorcas made while she was with them Acts 9. 36 39. These things are written for our Admonition upon whom the ends of the VVorld are come so that this should be yet more drawn forth into Example and Imitation by the Rich People of both Sexes of our present Age and Generation for they must severally sicken and die likewise and then they will find To what Purpose was this waste for that same Mony which they expended in fine Cloaths Gaiety and Retinue or making a Figure in the VVorld in Gluttony and Drunkenness in Pride Pleasure Prodigality and vain things or such like might have been given to the Poor and then it would have done themselves more good and have stood them in more stead than that Mammon of Unrighteousness or the Riches used to the hurt of the Owners Or they might have thus consecrated their Gain unto the Lord and their Substance unto the Lord of the whole Earth Micah 4. 13. In being more willing to contribute the same yet more plentifully towards the Publishing and Propagation of his Eternal Truth which seems to be the Best of Works For this is a doing Good unto the Immortal Souls of Men whereas common and outward Alms is only a Temporal Kindness unto the dying Body And also that longer remains as to which the Scripture saith If any Mans work abide he shall receive a Reward 1 Cor. 3. 14. To conclude our whole Discourse This is certain That we must all both Good and Bad appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5. 10. Vnto thee shall all Flesh come Psal 65. 2. Seeing the case is so and there is no avoiding of it VVhat can be a more forcible Consideration in the VVorld since that we must appear before and come unto a Great God who is the Great Law-giver able to Save and to Destroy who doth Good so likewise he can and will Punish VVhat manner of Persons ought we to be in this little mean while between in all Holy Conversation and Godliness VVhat can we do too much to please and approve our selves unto him To agree with him that was our Adversary whilst we are in the way To do any thing to get his Reconciliation and Favour his Peace and loving Kindness The only way whereto he hath shewed us is In beginning and then continuing and persevering on to the end to the day of our several respective deaths In the true Spiritual VVorship and Service In the Universal Obedience of all the words of his Law and Gospel and fulfilling all Righteousness In doing his VVill and every good VVord and VVork and to do all this more and more more diligently and more constantly as we come nearer in time and see the day approaching Furthermore then we beseech you Brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more 1 Thess 4. 1. FINIS