when you least think of dying You are not to boast of to morrow which possibly you may not live to see but as the Holy Ghost says To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3. 7 8. Doct. 2. The Second Doctrine is this A Change will come and put an end to this time which is appointed to Man Mortality and Change are consequent upon Sin Assoon as we are born Death sets out towards us and it approacheth nearer and nearer every moment What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Psal 89. 48. Every one that lives as sure as he lives shall dye In the handling of this Point I shall 1. Shew in what respects Death may be called a Change 2. Prove that Death will come 3. When this Change at Death comes that time will be at an end Lastly make Application In the first place I am to shew in what respects Death may be called a Change Death is a great Change in reference to Sinners and in reference to Saints 1. Death is a Change in reference to Sinners A sad and bad Change which they may tremble to think of Sinners wish they might live here to Eternity that they might Sin to Eternity and they justly deserve Punishment to Eternity but though their wills be desperately bad yet their wishes are vain Though Death is more bold than welcome yet 't will make bold with the highest and securest of them Their Change is coming now Death is a Change in several respects 1. Death is a Change in reference to their outward comforts All these take their flight at Death or rather Sinners take their flight away from them The Rich Man in the Gospel Luk. 16. after Death tastes no more of his sumptuous fare he is turned out of his House he is stript of his purple and fine linnen all the good things that he received here he left behind him when he went into another World I grant the Godly leave their outward Comforts too but they exchange them for better but Wicked Men here receive all their Consolation and nothing but Evils and Torment abide them after their dissolution Death lays their Honour in the Dust pushes off the Crown from the graceless Monarchs Head proves the Richest meer Beggars 2. Death is a Change in reference to their outward Man Their Bodies which the ungodly take so much time and pains to adorn and pamper are strangely alter'd the sprightly Heat is turned into coldness Strength into the clean contrary Beauty into a ghastly paleness the best Constitution into rottenness and corruption I grant the Earthly Tabernacle of the Saints also falls to the ground but 't will rise again with advantage but the Bodies of the Wicked will rise to Punishment and that this may be Eternal put on a wretched Immortality 3. Death is a Change in reference to that peace and confidence that sinners before were full of The hope of the wicked is as the giving up of the Ghost and all their trust is as a Spiders web spun out themselves weak and easily swept away Immediately after Death they will perceive their mistakes and smartingly be convinced that their confidences were vain Now they cry peace and safety and let the Curse ring never so loud they bless themselves in their hearts though they walk on in their evil way but then they will perceive and curse their Carnal Security Their Building being on the sand will fall and great will be the fall of it Matt. 7. 27. 4. Death is a Change in reference to Hope and possibility of Salvation As vain hopes will be at an end so All hope will be gone The Gospel will be clasped and sealed up for ever the Night will be come and the time of working out Salvation over Hark what was said to the Rich Man in Hell There is a great gulph fixed between us and you which 't is impossible to pass This Despair will cause unutterable Anguish 't will prove the Hell of Hell How intollerable will that Fire be which there is no hope of having quenched How dreadful that Worm where there is no hope of its dying 5. Death is a Change in reference to that patience that was exercised towards them for Judgment Sentence and Eternal Punishment does follow upon the abuse of it God will then cast the Ungodly away for ever and he will be favourable no more but in Anger shut up all his Mercies All their Sins will find them out at Death accompany them to the Judgment Seat cry out for Vengeance upon them God will ease himself of such Adversaries that were a burden to him while they lived and they will sadly find that while they despised his goodness and long suffering they treasured up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2. 4 5. 2. Death is a Change with respect unto the Saints and this is as blessed as the t'other is dismal A gracious Change is wrought in Believers at their first Conversion and that Change is perfected at their Dissolution What an excellent Creature will a renewed Soul be when 't is out of the Body and made perfect in glory Surely there is no just ground for a Saint to fear dying but upon many accounts 't is really desirable 1. At Death the Saints change their habitation they leave the Earthly Tabernacle and go to a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. They no longer say Wo is us that we dwell in Meshech and inhabit the tents of Kedar This Earth was a place full of trouble to them they were gazed at scorn'd reproached persecuted but in Heaven they meet with other kind of company there is nothing but love and peace and sweetness among the innumerable company of Angels and the general Assemblie and Church of the First born which are Enrolled in Heaven The house of Clay is changed to a City which has Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God 2. Their State of absence is changed and they are present with the Lord. 'T is true Believers in this World are brought nigh to God by the Blood of Christ they are brought into his favour and admitted unto fellowship with him whereas wicked Men are far from God and dwell in the Suburbs of Hell and Destruction but yet this Nearness of the Saints to Christ and to his Father is but a Distance in comparison of that Nearness which will be in Glory Therefore says the Apostle Whiles we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. And are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6 8. Desertion though the common exercise of Saints on Earth will in Heaven be no more they shall be delivered from all causes of Gods withdrawing they shall be so near as to see their Lord as he is and his Face will be towards them and the light of his Countenance shine upon
them without the least interruption or Eclipse unto Eternity 3. There is a Change from ignorance and darkness much of which remained even in the children of light unto perfect knowledge Believers in this World who are most of all Enlightned do know but in part and therefore 't is their duty to be still growing both in Grace and Knowledge but when Death comes that which is perfect is come and that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13. 10. Heaven is called an inheritance in Light Oh what a full understanding will there be of the Works and of the Word of God! What clear views of God himself and Jesus Christ who lives and reigns at his right hand will be there vouchsafed All the ignorance that followed upon eating the Tree of Knowledge will be cured all strangeness and doubtings concerning God his Goodness and his Love will be at an end Glorified Saints see what Militant Saints can't bear 4. There is a Change at Death from incompleat grace to glorious and sinless purity and holiness The body of sin is put off when the Saints put off this Mortal Body The separated Souls of the Just ones have no External Senses nor any sensual and fleshly inclinations Death removes them out of the World so that nothing hence is any longer a Temptation they are also out of the Tempters reach and then they have a sight of their Lord as he is and this sight Transforms them into his likeness 1 Joh. 3. 2. Grace that was here only in the bud will then be full blown Holiness will be perfected and all filthiness both of the Flesh and Spirit cleansed away It may truly be said then concerning the Spouse of Christ O my love thou art all fair there is no spot in thee 5. There is a Change from War and Labour unto Rest and Triumph 'T is no easie matter to be Saved The Saints are put upon hard work and service they are to watch to pray to stir up themselves to lay hold on God They are to contend earnestly for the faith to strive to enter in at the strait gate They are to use an holy Violence that they may by a kind of storming take the heavenly Kingdom all opposition from the Worlds Rage and the power and wrath of Hellish Principalities they must break thorow But at Death their Warfare is accomplished they rest from their Labours Rev. 14. 13. They go then to their Lord and receive their reward which he has freely and faithfully promised and having been faithful in a little they are made rulers over much they have fought the good fight and finished their course and having been more than conquerors through him that loved them they sit down with him on his throne and are Crowned with Life and Glory and shall wear that Crown for ever 6. When the Saints dye there is a Change from all manner of Sorrow unto fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore Oh how glad will they be to see themselves safely arrived to the fair Haven after the many Storms which beat upon them in this World to perceive themselves safely secur'd in Heaven and that they are made pillars in the temple of God and shall go out no more Rev. 3. 12. When they come to see their Lord and Husband Jesus and God their Father and to the uttermost of their capacity they are filled with his Love and satisfied with his Image Oh then all tears will be dried up Sin and Sorrow are Eternal Strangers in the New Jerusalem Joy will be full and the fuller because 't will never end In the Second place follow the Arguments to prove That Death which is such a Change will certainly come 1. Death is merited by Sin It was upon the Sin of Man that that Sentence was past upon him Gen. 3. 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread until thou return to the ground for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return Now all having Sinned Death passes upon all Rom. 5. 12. Assoon as Man became a Sinner presently he became Mortal Death had not been able to have entred into the World if Sin had not first got entrance If Man had never Sinned the Tree of Life was to assure him he should never have died 2. Death is appointed and the appointment is most firm and unchangeable let an exception be made of Enoch and Elias and them that shall be found alive at the Last Day and the appointment is general Heb. 9. 27. Constitutum est omnibus semel mori plerisque bis It is appointed unto all men once to die and the Second Death will be the Portion of the most that Live The Grave is called The House appointed for all the living that 's the dark and silent place where all the dwellers upon Earth must make their aboad until the Resurrection 3. Christ does not deliver those that are dear to him from the stroak of death though he does always from the Sting of it If there were any hope to be freed from tasting of Death that expectation must be from our Mediator but though he makes the bodies of Believers his own Members and the temples of his Spirit yet he suffers them to fall down to the ground that too visible a difference may not be made between the Righteous and the Wicked here and that his power may be glorified in raising them up again at the Last Day And certainly the Lords power and love will be exceeding Glorious when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality In the Third place I am to make it manifest That Time comes to an end when this Change comes 1. One Argument shall be drawn from the Eternal Rewards which upon their dissolution are received by the Righteous The Saints in Heaven need no more time for their work is done Assoon as they depart they are with Christ they are cloathed upon with their house which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5. 2. They have no need more of a Day of Grace who have received an exceeding and eternal weight of Glory And truly 't is well for them that their time is over since they have made good use of it and time being over they are in Eternity and now their State and Happiness is fixed Rom. 6. 23. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2. A Second Argument shall be drawn from the Everlasting Punishments which after Death are inflicted on the wicked We read Luke 16. That the Wicked Rich Man died and was buried and the next News we hear of him is That he was in Hell and shut up there so as never to come out more He does not pray for a release out of his Torments that was despaired of but onely for a little mitigation and truly it was but a small kindness that a drop of water could have done him in the midst of such
THE Great Change Discoursed of in a FUNERAL SERMON Occasioned by the Death of Mrs. MARTHA THOMPSON Late Wife of Captain WILLIAM THOMPSON In WAPPING Preached by Nathanael Vincent M. A. Minister of the Gospel The memory of the just is blessed LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1682. To his much respected friends Mr. Robert Thompson the Father and Mrs. Martha Thompson the Mother and Captain William Thompson the Husband of the late Deceased Mrs. Martha Thompson YOur desires which also have been seconded by the desires of others have brought forth this discourse into the World It is not I must confess at all against my inclination to make it Publick because the deserved Character I gave your Deceased Relation having sounded onely in the Ear might be soon forgotten but being Printed may prove a very good Copy for others to imitate and write after How few Saints at this day are exemplary This is an Age in which those that are Evil wax worse and worse and many that are gracious are under great languishing and decays A Christian that grows in Grace and whose Soul prospers and whose Conversation is a Conviction to the World that there is both a reality and efficacy in Religion is Rara avis in terris not easily to be found I cannot blame your grief that you have lost One who was so dear and so worthy to be so dearly loved Onely I would have you remember That Believers are to weep as if they wept not they are not to mourn over the Dead as without hope And Hope being so well grounded will keep Sorrow within due limits How easily when the Sun rises does its light supply the room of the Stars whose twinkling light is vanisht Creatures at best though they have never so great a Lustre are but little things and their absence may be brooked well enough if the All-sufficient and Gracious God does but vouchsafe more of his special and reviving presence My friends Turn your Sorrow into a right Channel God puts those Tears into his bottle which are shed for Sin but those which the Sorrow of this World draws from our Eyes as common water are spilt upon the ground Sin does best deserve your grief and the Lord whose Being and kindness is unchangeable what ever changes are among the Creatures is as much to be loved delighted and rejoyced in as ever A curious Cistern has been broken to pieces I wish you may all have recourse to and drink more largely of the Fountain of living Waters That God would sanctifie the breach he has made and satiate your Souls with himself and wean you from this World and bring you at last safe to his Heavenly Kingdom is the Prayer of Your much obliged Friend and Servant for Jesus sake Nathanael Vincent Job XIV Ver. 14. latter part All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come THere had been a strange and sudden alteration in the temporal Estate of Job so that He who was as good and as great as any of the Sons of the East nay a Nonsuch for uprightness and the fear of God is in an instant spoil'd of all he had and reduced to extreme poverty Never Riches did take unto them swifter Wings and they flew away altogether as an Eagle towards Heaven Satan from Hell his Instruments on Earth assaulted Job and the God of heaven permitted both for the trial of his Faith and Patience and the proof of his Sincerity This change in his outward condition caused him to be deeply apprehensive of another change which he concluded could not be far off Affliction is called by the name of Death in Scripture because of its tendency to it and ought to be lookt upon as an admonition concerning it In the beginning of this Chapter Job speaks of Mans frailty in the general Man that is born of a woman is of few days his Days are few but so are not his Troubles for they are many his Life is full of them He is not compared to the sturdy Oak or the lofty Cedar which will stand long if let alone and must have many a stroak to make them fall No no a flower a shaddow are much fitter comparisons He cometh forth as a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not This general Doctrine of Mortality Job in the Text particularly applies to himself and truly he is very close in that application He saw himself changeable his actual Change he saw as near and waits for the coming of it All the days of my appointed time c. These Particulars are observable in the Words 1. There is the practise which Job resolves upon and that is to wait which implies a certain Expectation and a diligent preparation suitable to such a certain expectation 2. That which he waited for was the coming of a Change This Change some refer to the Resurrection which as it ought most firmly to be believed so with joy to be thought on But others with greater probability do understand it of Death which is a great Change indeed with reference both to good and bad with reference to the Bodies and the Souls of Men. For though the Soul dies not yet 't is mightily altered after its separation 3. This Change Job calls his own Change or the Change of himself the Hebrew Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated Immutatio mei The Change of me as if he should say The Lord by Affliction has made a Change in my Estate and shortly by Death he will make a Change in my Person The things of the World have left me and I my self shall leave the World quickly 4. Here is the time of waiting The time which was appointed him in this World The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be Translated Dies Militiae the days of my Warfare Our days are appointed for Combat with our Spiritual Enemies and if being strong in the Lord we are vigorous in the Combat we are sure to come off Conquerors 5 Job is sensible of the danger and unreasonableness of Carnal Security at any time and therefore purposes every day to be in expectation of his Last Day All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come I raise Three Doctrines from the Words First That Mans time in this World is an appointed time Secondly A Change will come and put an end to this time which is appointed to man Thirdly To be waiting for this Change is the practise of the Saints and would be the wisdom of all Doctr. 1 I begin with the first That mans time in this World is an appointed time Job 7. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon Earth are not his days also like the days of an hireling So Job 14. 5. Seeing his days are determined the number of his months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds
great price Matt. 13. 46. which will both enrich and beautifie and save the Soul which is possessed of it He is to seek the Lord while he may be found and to call upon him while he is near Isa 55. 6. Now the face and strength of God shall not be sought in vain 2. Time is appointed for making Peace When the Enemy is dreadful his Wrath intollerable his Power irresistible certainly Peace is desirable Now though God be such an Enemy and that most justly an Enemy yet he is forward to be at peace he beseecheth us to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5. 20. He tells us that he is ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon him Now is the Time to obtain Mercy to believe in Jesus the Peace-maker and if we will believe in this Mediator God will be no longer a Foe but a Friend nay a Father and being justified by the blood of Christ we shall be saved from wrath through him 3. Time is appointed for conversion and healing They are now called to return who have fallen by their iniquity Hos 14. 1. How loud how frequent are these Calls what earnestness is used to make Sinners willing and obedient The Lord protests solemnly by his own life that he has no pleasure in their Death Ezek. 33. 11. As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will you die O house â—f Israel And if such Calls to turn are hearkned to â—…ncere Converts though before never so ungodly shall be loved freely their Souls healed and saved 4. Time is appointed for working That was a just rebuke which was given Mat. 20. 6. Why stand ye here all the day idle There is a Work which we are with all care and fear to avoid and that is the serving of sinful Lusts and Pleasures Have no fellowship says the Apostle with the unfruitful works of darkness Eph. 5. 11. But the Work of God we should be employed in with heart and hand with our whole might and strength we should count it our Meat and Drink to do it Now is the Time to depart from evil and to do good that we may dwell for evermore And though we are never so stedfast though we abound never so much in Gods Work our labour shall not be in vain 5. Time is appointed for Warring The enemies of our Salvation are many and mighty but they are conquerable nay they have been already Conquered and Triumphed over by the Captain of our Salvation He has condemned Sin in the flesh Rom. 8. 3. He has spoiled Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in the Cross Col. 2. 15. He has overcome the World Joh. 16. ult What though these enemies are above our Match if we vigorously engage in the Combat being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might putting on the whole armour of God we shall be more than Conquerors in the end Sin is the worst Enemy of all if Sin be subdued we need not fear any other 6. Time is appointed to make provision for eternity A future State is certain and 't is very near Man must of necessity be to Eternity and therefore not to think of or be concerned about or provide for Eternity is the very height of madness We should justly blame a man that should spend his Estate in fareing sumptuously for a day and beg all his days after But how much more blame-worthy is he who minds only a short and present Consolation and ventures upon Eternal Misery Now is the time to lay up in store for our selves a good foundation that we may lay hold of eternal life 1 Tim. 6. 19 7 Time is appointed to render Man inexcusable in case of final obstinacy and impenitency When God calls if man refuses and will not know the day of his gracious visitation but neglects the things which concern his peace then if he dye an Enemy and is dealt with as an Enemy and is thrown into everlasting Punishment the fault is his own God will be justified and clear'd when man receives the Sentence of Eternal Condemnation How may the Reprobate Angels accuse and plead against sinful Man at the great Day and say O thou Righteous Judge They have done worse than We they have contemned Mercy which we never had the offer of We never had any but they have had space to Repent and yet they Repented not Vse 1. If time is appointed to man acknowledge the merciful kindness of God towards him His suffering sinful Man to live so long and to enjoy the seasons and means of Grace is a plain demonstration of his Compassions towards him and how unwilling he is that Man should perish To this purpose speaks the Apostle 2 Pet. 3. The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance Man is dead in Law condemned to die how great is that Mercy that steps in between Sentence and Execution and allows so much time to sue for Pardon Vse 2. Admire the lasting of time where 't is sinfully wasted and lavisht away When onely Sin and Satan are served with that Time which God gives 't is a wonder that it iâ— not suddenly taken away The Patience of an All-seeing All-powerful and Holy God is a marvellous thing towards sinful Man though he lives to the provocation and dishonour of his Maker and Preserver yet behold he lives still Yet let not Man presume for the more patience has been abused the greater will be the following fury and the Viols of Wrath will be the fuller against the day of Righteous Judgment Vse 3. Comply with Gods design in vouchsafing time to you Much is lost and oh what a Preasure was that which is lost therefore redeem the remainder If you Time be done and your Work undone you are undone without remedy The slothful servant who was sleeping when he should have been Working was bound hand and foot and cast into utter Darkness Work hard in the Lords Vineyard that when he comes to reckon he may find you employed diligently Luk. 12. 43. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Vse 4. Remember that the bounds of time are unknown and therefore do not reckon as if there were a great deal to come The Prodigal that thinks his Estate will never bâ— spent how does he send it flying if you reckon you shall live very long 't is a thousand to one but you will live very ill How was the Old World drowned in wickedness before it was drown'd in Water and one reason might be because 't was usual for men to live Seven or eight or nine hundred years hence grew security in Sin God was neglected Death unthought of and Repentance delay'd Death may be very near
is come indeed Believers are engaged in a Warfare and they must stand to their Arms and be upon Duty till the Captain of their Salvation call them off in order to their crowning They have need of Patience that they may act and fight and suffer unweariedly Hark to the Apostle Heb. 10. 36 37. For ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye may receive the promise for yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry All our life long by patient continuance in well doing we must seek for glory and honour and immortality and then upon our dissolution we shall lay hold of that life which is eternal In the second place I am to lay down the Reasons why 't is the Saints practise to wait for their change 1. Because the coming of it is so certain in it self and so uncertain as to the time when 't will be All our cares cannot prevent our Change Death will surely come The Decree concerning it is much more unalterable than those of the Medes and Persians Dan. 6. 12. But the time of its approach is concealed To some it comes in the evening of their Age to some at mid-day to some in the very morning of their time All graves are not of a length Some old and that 's no wonder some Infants and some in their greatest vigor have been struck down by Death and shall rise no more till the last day All therefore at all times should be watchful 2. The spiritual advantage is vastly great which follows upon serious waiting for their change Waiting for Death will make men flee from sin When Satan speaks of sin's pleasure and gain if answer be made O but at death will sin be thought pleasant and gainful This will be enough to silence him Waiting for Death will make this World contemptible When Esau was at the point of Death he cries out What profit will this birth right do me Gen. 25. 32. So if we have Death in our eye we shall cry out What profit will the World then do us when we are just about to leave it Again Waiting for death will keep our Affections moderate neither grief nor joy will be excessive about earthly things Christ will be the more prized and Heaven more longed for 3. The misery is inconceivable which falls upon them who never thought of Death so as to be prepared for it It is terrible in it self but hell following after it has ten thousand times a more terrible second Death is sent unto the ungodly in wrath as an Excecutioner they dye as malefactors The righteous indeed are cut down as Corn that is fully ripe that it may be gathered into the barn Mat 13. 30 But Death hews down the wicked as a man fells fuel for the fire they are evil trees that cumber the earth Luk. 13. 7. Cut it down why cumbereth it the ground And immediately they become eternal feul for those flames that never can be quenched Vse 1. Of Reproof to those who can't endure to think of Death or if they do make an ill use of it Many quite banish the thoughts of dying they are resolved to live wickedly and don't care to consider that such a life will end nor to consider how 't will end The Rich Man had Death quite out of his thoughts and reckon'd upon living many years in which he should take his ease eat drink and be merry When Death was entring in at his door and his Soul just ready to be required God calls this man a fool and after he was out of the World he saw reason to call himself by that Name for ever Others also are sharply to be reproved who because they must dye are resolved to indulge the Flesh while they may What profane frantick Epicures were they who said Let us eat and drink to day for we shall die to morrow Vse 2. Of Exhortation to the imitation of Holy Job in tbe Text. Let me perswade you all All the days of your appointed time to be waiting for your Change Have many a solicitous thought whither it is that Death will send you Ask your Souls whither they are likely to go when they dislodge and leave this Earthly Tabernacle Dye you must 't is dreadful to dye in sin and few dye otherwise Prepare I beseech you for that which you cannot avoid 'T is in vain when death is within view to plead thus O Death I never thought of thy approach none of my main work alas is done I am utterly unfit to go to the Judgment-Seat If I dye now I dye miserable and shall be miserable for ever Death comes at Gods command and whether you are prepared or unprepared when God says Strike it cannot hold its hand Think of this and let Death find you ready come when it will Two things you are here to be advised to 1. Let there be a looking to Jesus to take out the Sting of Death Believe in him that he may give you Victory over this last Enemy Christ can deliver you from the Curse of the Law now the Law the Apostle tells you is the strength of Sin as Sin is the Sting of Death Apply and relie upon the Blood of Jesus to be Justified and to be Saved from Wrath. The Apostle desired to be sound in Christ and if Death find you in him it may kill you but it can't hurt you nay if you are in Christ and live to him Death will be gain and greater gain than while you live you can conceive 2. Look unto Jesus to be freed from that bondage which is caused by the fear of dying Heb. 2. 14 15. You cannot be compleatly happy while you live because you will remain incompleatly Holy Study the vanity of every thing that makes you fond of Living Clear up your interest in Jesus Christ and preserve Conscience clear and peaceable And let your Eye be after your Risen and Ascended Lord who was dead and is alive and lives for evermore that so you may long to go to him to be with him in those mansions he is gone to prepare O beg for Conquest over your Fears and that you may see heaven plainly by the Eye of Faith and heaven open and Christ ready to receive your Spirits assoon as you have put off your sleshly Tabernacle Life is then lead in peace when Death ceases to be dreaded and becomes desirable An Epitaph upon Mrs. Martha Thompson Her Name was Martha but she had the Heart Of Mary for She chose the Better part In patience meekness humbleness of Mind She did Excel the most of Womankind She waited for her Change which being Come She 's at her Blisful and Eternal Home Her Friends lament they 've lost her whereas She Has bid Farewel World Sin and Misery FINIS Books Published by Mr. Nathanael Vincent Sold by T. Parkhurst 1. The Spirit of Prayer with directions to attain the Gift 2. Worthy walking the Call of the Gospel 3. Heaven or Hell upon Earth in a Discourse concerning Conscience 4. The little Childs Catechism with several short Histories 5. Mr. Janeway's Funeral Sermon 6. Mrs. Bakers Funeral Sermon 7. The True Touch-stone which shews both Grace and Nature