according to St. Paul's Sentiments if Religious will I am sure ought to abound in these 1 Tim. V. 5. She that is a Widow indeed and desolate trusteth in God and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day And it is certain Prayers devoutly sent up to Heaven though not speedily answered are not lost but are a Treasure laid up there against a time of need answered sometimes even in this World at a distance but most certainly in another In 1 King See Doctor Lightfoot on the place ix 1 2 3. Solomon has an answer to his Prayer made in the Temple thirteen years before This indeed was only for Hallowing an Earthly Temple But the instance Act. 10. 4. was of Prayers that sped for making a spiritual one Cornelius his Prayers as well as his Alms were come up for a Memorial before God and they are answered by no less a blessing than the gift of the Holy Ghost v. 44. that was even by a Heaven upon Earth for the Holy Ghost in a Man's heart will turn Earth or any thing here to Heaven At least it most assuredly brings those in whom it dwells to Heaven 2. In Duties to our selves All acts of Sobriety Purity Self-denial and Mortification are good works and in these or most of these all sorts of Christians may abound That they are good works and even in the best Men perhaps and most laborious in the other kinds of good works necessary is evident from that of St. Paul 1 Cor. 9. ult I keep under my body saith he and bring it into subjection least that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast away From the close of which Text it appears also that they are a means to preserve the best Men from miscarrying in their Christian course and therefore conducing to the Heavenly Treasure or Happiness hereafter A Man would wonder to meet with an Heathen Poet and him Epicurean enough Horat. Ode Inclusam Danaen avowing thus much Quo quisque sibi plura negaverit A Diis plura feret The more any man has denied himself the greater reward shall he receive from God But it is justifiable from an infinitely better Authority Mat. 19. 29. Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my names sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life And by Parity of Reason who being not called to so eminent instances of self-denial practice such lower degrees as are suitable to their present Circumstances and thereby advance in Holiness in contempt of this world and in the love of God shall receive a proportionable reward Not one act then wherein I have foregone my own will appetite or natural inclination for God or my Duties sake but God observes it and it stands as if recorded before him against the day of Recompences Every hour's sleep which at any time in my life I broke or shall break to pray or meditate or examine Conscience or for any other work of Devotion or of Charity Every Fast I have kept or shall keep every day's pleasure or recreation I have denied my self every penny and farthing I have forborn to lay out upon my self or vanities or shall spare from gratifying my humour or tricking up my body this pitiful house of clay which I carry about stealing it possibly into a poor Man's hands or house every of these acts past or future is and will be regarded by God and so proves a Treasure laid up in Heaven Now though I have not the opportunities advantages nor perhaps the substance which others have for sundry of the good works under other heads yet as to these under this I may be sufficiently qualified Namely I may many and many a time Watch unto Prayer or like Devotions and good Offices I may fast and steal alone by my self to humble my soul before God when others run to their sports I may spare that money for a good purpose which others of my degree vainly expend beyond what becomes them I may forbear many of those Cups which others drink to cheer their hearts as they say or make them merry but which perhaps make them mad at least would make me so I may refrain from pampering my body to feed my lusts In such good works as these ought every one to abound who minds the providing himself a happiness to go to after Death For as wicked men by proceeding or running on impenitently in sin and not minding that the forbearance and long suffering of God leads them to repentance Rom. 11. 4. do thereby treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God So pious persons complying with the Gospel or with the Spirit of God in taking up from the Liberties they have used and retrenching themselves of many things which they might have lawfully enjoyed in the days of their youth and vigour while the Candle of the Lord shined upon their head and they washed their steps in Butter to use Holy Job's Expressions do hereby treasure up unto themselves mercy and grace against a time of need and particularly against that great day when the secrets of Mens hearts and all Men's practices shall be revealed when that which has been done in the Closet shall be publisht as on the house-top and every good man shall have praise of God 1 Cor. 4. 5. 3. In Duties to Men Justice in a strict sense or honest dealing is certainly a good work He whose constant care it is in all his Dealings and Actions to do to all men as he would they should do unto him shall not certainly lose his reward He has treasured up what the righteous Judge who first commanded it will not forget amply to recompence Now in this kind also all sorts of Men may abound and must too if they expect to die with comfort or rise with joy Luk. 16. 11. If ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous that is untrue Mammon who will commit to your trust the true riches § 8. But as we have above observed in common speech and indeed even in the usual language of Scripture the term good works more peculiarly signifies works of Charity and Liberality and the doing such is more especially and even literally said to be a laying up treasure in heaven Luk. 12. 33 34. Sell that ye have and give Alms provide your selves bags which wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not where no thief approacheth neither moth corrupteth For where your treasure is there will your heart be also And in 1 Tim. 6. 17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us all things to enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying
Scripture-term the King of Terrors in the face that from henceforth we may be able calmly to think of him and live prepared to encounter him The Heathens of old generally looked upon Death as a Destruction of the whole Man and conceived the Soul either in the same instant with the Body to die or at least in some time to be dissipated and vanish And even those of them who taught the Immortality of the Vltra enim ut progrediar quam ut verisimilia videam non habeo Cic. Tusc Qu. l. 1. Soul rather held it as the more probable Conjecture of the two than as a certain Truth But the Holy Ghost has taught us Christians better The Dust indeed returns to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it Eccl. 12 7. And All live unto him Luke 20. 38. Nay not only does the Soul live on when the Body falls but even the Body it self shall at the last day by the Almighty hand of God be raised again Both Dry Bones and the very Dust of Bones shall live again Ezek. 37. And there shall be a Resurrection of the dead both of the Just and of the Vnjust Act. 24. 15. Wherefore if these things be true as no Christian questions Death can be nothing but a Temporary Separation of the Soul from the Body There may be indeed and in case of natural Deaths commonly there are some foregoing pains which we commonly call the Pangs of Death but these are rather the most uneasie part of Life than ingredients or parts of Death And when the Paroxism or strength of the Pain has once conquered Nature the instant of Death is certainly no more painful than it is to fall asleep Death puts an end to those Pains and at least for the sake of being rid of them is to be wish'd for rather than dreaded Besides both Death it self and those its Harbingers or foregoing pains in ordinary Cases are necessary and unavoidable to all Men therefore it is most unreasonable and unworthy of considering Persons to fear them rather does it become and concern us to prepare to bear them as Christianity directs and with as much ease that is as much patience as we can So that in truth upon the whole it is more that which is conceived to follow Death which makes people fear Death than its own Nature Of its followers the closest most immediate and inseparable one is Judgment Now that Judgment which immediately follows Death is no doubt chiefly if not only the determining and ascertaining each dying persons future Condition Whatsoever the Dreadful Pomp and Appearance of our Lord's Second Coming and the Conslagration of the World has in it that is not to take place till the last day and I conceive it has been scarce ever found that dying persons have been appall'd or dismay'd at the apprehensions of that So that as before said that which must make Men afraid or unwilling to die must be something which is apprehended attended to or in Men's eye as immediately following Death § 4. Now the Summ of all the troublesome Consequents of Death must either be Evils to our selves or to others some way related to or depending on us And the Evils which can besall us must affect either our persons in the other World of which Nature can be nothing but either Loss or Pain or our Names and Memories which may survive us in this World And in case we be afraid or unfit to die some or more of these we shall find and confess if we will be true to our selves to be the genuine Reasons Either first we apprehend by Death we shall lose some Happiness we are here possess'd and perhaps too fond of or we fear by Death some Evil we are yet free from or lastly we have some Obligations or Ties upon us to some things or persons in this World which we would not have yet loosed or from which we cannot with Honour yet get free We are entangled with this World either in affection or besides in business of our own or others from which we judge it highly inconvenient for us yet to be dismiss'd Now let us consider each of these As to the first Perfect Happiness is all we can wish But Perfect Happiness no Man can say he is or can be possest of on Earth only he has here some Enjoyments which he sansies to be pretty Good or little inslances of Happiness and he is in hopes sometimes of some more now these Death will bereave him of But if a Man could obtain a perfect Happiness by or after Death it were reasonable to desire the exchange for then he would have all he could wish and by Death become Gainer Now this we must find a way to do if we will sufficiently prepare a Man for Death Again as to the state of Men in the other world there never was nor is nor can be any thing ever thought of terrible after Death but Judgment and the punishment of those Sins which we have committed in this life or so speak more properly perhaps according to the opinion of some the disorders of mind which these Sins have brought upon us being heightened and continued But it is plain many punishments of our Sins many disorders and inquietudes thence we meet with and shall lie under here more or less as long as we live If therefore by or after Death we can be secure of a perfect release from all these punishments and removal of all possible disorders and evils we should by such security be provided against all we could fear by or after Death Now this also is to be done There remains therefore nothing now to render a Man ready as well as willing to die but disentangling himself from this World § 5. So that in summ we have three Intentions before us to which all the Advices at least in this Period to be given are to be directed and if these three be by any means attained there is no question but such persons who have attained them are prepared for Death For more evils or inconveniencies by Death than those mentioned we cannot conceive of and therefore means sufficient to remove these must be sufficient to prepare us for Death And let a Man stand never so near the top of the Hill how large a prospect soever he has to the Gulph he is to pass he will find himself highly concerned as to these three general Intentions First he is to provide himself a Happiness to go to in the other World For a Man cannot be in any measure prepared to part hence who has no sore-sight of nor can promise to himself any good to be enjoyed hereafter Secondly He must provide against whatever he can fear in another World For a Man cannot be happy where his Fears remain And in the former Particular we have admitted He who is prepared for Death must be provided of Happiness in the other World therefore also
up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life Now though it may seem at first that in this kind of good works namely those usually called works of Charity only rich people are capable of laying up Treasure in Heaven or providing themselves hereafter any measure of happiness yet if we consider there are many good Offices or kind services that even the meanest sort sometimes may perform to their Superiors and that such services are of real value we may and must account that poor people endeavouring to do all the good they can to the Bodies Souls Estates or good names of others are as really charitable and if diligent to do such good as abundant in the work of Charity in their way as the most magnificent publick Benefactors in theirs and consequently will be as surely and gloriously rewarded He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward Mat. 10. 41 42. In which surprising promise and as it were excess of Divine grace and goodness poor people ought for their comfort to take notice of three things 1 How small matters from them to whom little is given God esteems as Alms Even a Cup of cold water given to a fellow Christian as such or haply a little room or harbour in a corner of the poor Cottage to a weary or wet Passenger 2 How largely God will reward it with a righteous man's or a Prophet's reward according to the nature of the person we designed to do good to 3 The sureness of the reward Verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward that is by an ordinary Figure he shall most certainly receive it Let no one then think he cannot be Charitable or bountiful because he is not rich but let him not fail to do all the good Luk. 12. 33. to others that lies in his way Hereby he provides himself Bags which wax not old a treasure in heaven that faileth not That is he makes a happy preparation for another world § 9. But there is one sort of good works or of Charity to others which transcends far all other Bounty and that is Charity to the souls of Men labour in instructing those who are ignorant of God and of their Duty in retrieving and delivering men from a leud course of life to being serious and strict in Religion in bringing them home to Christ and his Church This is a Charity as far surpassing that which is meerly extended to Mens bodies as the soul in excellence surpasseth the body He that can help a soul to Heaven before him hath certainly sent an unvaluable treasure thither For if any man err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins James the last 19 20. Wherefore to conclude this Head touching good works Let us be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. ult And thus as to the third Duty in our first Period of providing for our selves a Happiness in another world against we leave this Matter and a Method suitable for Devotion to the Fourth Chapter FIrst Examine Whether ever hitherto thou hast thought in good earnest of laying up treasure or securing thy self a Happiness in Heaven Shouldest thou die this moment what reasonable hopes hast thou that thou shouldest be blessed in that other world or after death rest from thy Labours Particularly 1. Hast thou any sound clear or even tolerable conceptions and rational sense of the life or happiness of a soul abstract or separate from the body Or art thou not as it were drown'd in brutish Apprehensions understanding none but a sensual life And are not Spiritual and Heavenly things in a manner Dreams Fables and Romances to thee 2. Hast thou lookt upon it as thy Duty and Concernment above all things to secure to thy self a happiness to come 3. Didst thou ever seriously set thy self by Resolution and Prayer to chose the Everlasting God for thy happiness Does thy soul in any such measure cleave to him at present as that thou canst with any probable hope claim him for thy Portion 4. Hast thou pursued this choice by an honest endeavour of holy life and abounding in good works according to thy quality and power Or hast thou not been idle a Loiterer and secure flatterer of thy self never really active herein Or what is worse yet very frequent dost thou not meerly profess to know God but in works deniest him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Tit. 1. vers ult Secondly Having thus strictly examined thy Conscience in the fear of God by Serious Prayer set thy self First to Confess thy particular guilt in this case according to the true answer of thy Conscience In which behalf if thou hast practised the Devotional parts annext to the foregoing Chapters and especially the Directions of the last thou canst not be at any loss Accuse thy self sincerely and unbosom thy heart before God by going over again the Particulars Remember the Holy God loveth truth in the inward parts and will be readier both to become thine and make thee his if he see thee to be cordial in the endeavour of making him thy choice Further proceeding in Prayer 2dly Look upon Acknowledge and adore God as the only true Happiness of Man's Soul as the Father of Spirits who made thy Soul for himself and put into it this property that it can be satisfied with nothing below himself And if thou findest an inward sense hereof in thy heart immediately as another act of Prayer 3dly Bless God for this Token of good for such certainly it is to thee a sign that notwithstanding all thy neglects of God notwithstanding all thy pursuits and wandrings after Airy bubbles of happiness in this World he has not yet totally cast thee off and left thee to thy own vain heart Wherefore now 4ly By way of Petition beg of him that he will graciously through Christ Jesus vouchsafe to become thy Treasure and portion As in the foregoing Chapter directed offer him up thy heart and beseech him to accept it and both to make and keep it his Lament thy wandrings and thy long alienation from thy alone true good Acknowledge thy Disappointments of Happiness and perpetual missing of satisfaction in the World and beseech of God again and again that he will enable thee with purpose of heart to cleave unto
Method of effecting both § 14. Of Faith as more particularly concern'd in making our Peace with God § 15. Of Prayer in this Case § 16. Of subsequent Care and Endeavours and of the Lord's Supper as the best Seal Matter and a Method for Devotion suitable to the 3d Chapter CHAP. IV. The Third Duty advised to laying up our Treasure in Heaven § 1. THree Points necessary to be spoken to under this Head § 2. A short account what the Heavenly Happiness is which we are to endeavour to secure § 3. It is no presumption in a faithful Soul to aim at or seek after this Happiness but in strictness a Duty § 4. Directions to secure it Of chusing God for our Happiness § 5. Of being full of good Works § 6. Of good Works in a more special sence § 7. How Christians of all sorts may be rich in good Works § 8. Works of Liberality and Mercy or of Bodily Charity peculiarly accounted laying up a Treasure in Heaven § 9. Charity to Men's Souls no less Matter and a Method for Devotion suitable to the Fourth Chapter CHAP. V. Of a Composed Estate both of Affairs and Mind § 1. DIsentangling our selves from this World a necessary Christian Duty § 2. The means thereto chiefly two Putting our Affairs in order and composing our Minds § 3. Particular Directions hereto Setting bounds to our desires and designs of getting § 4. Putting and keeping our Estates or Accounts in such Order as to be just to all § 5. Of Restitution § 6. Of settling Children and Relations § 7. Care in making and keeping a Will § 8. Reconciliation to Mankind § 9. Advice to Relations Secrets c. § 10. Resigning all to God and laying aside Soliicitude § 11. The Conclusion of this part Matter and a Method for Devotion suitable to the Fifth Chapter Be ye also ready A METHOD OF Preparation for Death and Judgment Quest What Course People should take to be Ready for Heaven Or which is much the same to be always prepared for Death and Judgment PART I. Chap. 1. § 1. To be Ready for Heaven and to be always prepared for Death and Judgment are the same § 2. Yet this Question contains two Questions in it § 3. This Question no where expresly put or closely resolved in Scripture and some probable Reasons why § 4. But Preparation or being always ready for our Lord 's Coming frequently enjoyned and its Nature set forth at large throughout the whole Scripture § 5. The Design of this Treatise and general Branches of the Preparation necessary § 6. This Work must not end but with our Lives yet is to be begun as early as may be § 1. THE Holy Ghost has assured us That there is no Work nor Device nor Wisdom in the Grave Eccles 9. 10. But that after Death only comes Judgment Heb. 9. 27. And in the place where the Tree falleth there it shall be Eccles 11. 3. That is say even the Jewish Masters In the condition wherein Death finds us God judgeth us Immediately then upon the departure of the Soul out of the Body the state of such dissolved Person is everlastingly and unchangeably determined as to his future Weal or Wo and a Gulph fixed between the Blessed and the Damned so that they who would pass from one to the other cannot Luke 16. 26. Neither is there any return from either Wherefore after Death there being no preparation possible to be made for Judgment it must unavoidably follow Preparation for Death and Preparation for Judgment include one another or are much the same and he that is provided for one is also provided for the other for whoso is not prepared for Judgment before his Death can never be provided for it because after Death no Work is to be done no Provision can be made And finally Inasmuch as whosoever goes out of this World in an estate well provided for Death and Judgment shall most certainly rest from their Labours their Works following them Rev. 14. 13. receive at the last day that happy Sentence Come ye blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Matt. 25. 34. Therefore whosoever is prepared for Death and Judgment is also ready for Heaven So that all these Questions are most evidently in effect one and the same § 2. Notwithstanding the Case of Conscience as above put and 't is indeed as weighty a Case of Conscienoe as well can be put does really contain in it two Questions First What should a man do to prepare himself for Death Secondly What to maintain such prepared Temper And accordingly must in the process of this Discourse receive in Justice a double Answer For it is certain many People may have been in some part of their days for a while both in their own sense and in reality tolerably prepared for Death who yet through sundry intanglements in the World and the general deceitfulness of Sin may either totally or very dangerously relapse from this state so dangerously without doubt as that though they may not perhaps through the extraordinary Mercy of God to them finally miss of eternal Salvation yet shall they forfeit all Comfort in a dying hour and go out of this World both in their own and others apprehensions as if bound over and consigned to everlasting Torments a most dreadful degree of Misery this most certainly Which Consideration should awaken all good People always to maintain as well as at first endeavour to attain such a prepared state as we are at present about to consult of § 3. In the mean time both these being Questions whereto a full and distinct Resolution is one of the most necessary things imaginable to People of whatsoever Rank Sex or Age assignable a man would wonder that neither our Lord Jesus himself nor any of his Apostles have any where or in any one place of Holy Scripture professedly and expresly delivered an entire and close Answer thereto nay that we find not so much as either of the Questions once directly and plainly put either to our Lord or the Apostles in all the Records of their Ministry Indeed we have a Question which interpretatively may seem at first the same or somewhat near it put by some relenting persons who were in a way to their Conversion or as one may say under the pangs of the New Birth Acts 2. 37. Men and Brethren what shall we do And yet more nearly by the penitent Jailor Acts 16. 30. Sirs what must I do to be saved But in both these Instances the Persons who make the Enquiry express no respect to Death or Judgment nor seem at that time to have had immediately an eye on either Those in the first Instance being at that time by St. Peter's Sermon only under the first conviction of their Sin in crucifying the Lord of Life seem meerly to have designed by their Question What shall we do to get this so great Sin
pardoned And in the second Instance the poor Jailor having seen a Truth which the Devil spoke against his Will That the Apostles were the Servants of the most high God and shewed Men the way of Salvation v. 17. Confirmed by a Miracle from Heaven v. 26. Intended certainly by that his Question as he expresses it plainly enough What must I do to obtain that Salvation you preach As did also that Ruler Matth. 19. 16. Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal Life But none of these Questions I say primarily or directly proceed upon preparation for Death or express any immediate respect thereto Rather do they inferr an apprehension in the Proposers of them that they had a great part of their days then to come and that they had not an aim at or looked not in those Questions to their Death but at and to the whole remainder of their Life at that time before them so that I may confidently say these two Questions named are no where in Scripture expresly put nor therefore in any one place altogether or intirely and distinctly answered One Reason of their not being answered we may take to have been their not being put But as to the Reason of their not being put it is not easie to assign a better than that perhaps the Conceit of Peoples being able in a few days or as some poor mistaken Wretches are apt to imagine by a few hours Pains and Devotions to prepare themselves for Death and their appearance before the Seat of God's dreadful Judgment had not yet entred into the world or so generally seized and possessed mens minds as now God knows and we poor Ministers find it has This may be one probable cause indeed for which we may conceive this Question no where in Scripture to have been put And that our Lord Jesus and his Apostles should not of their own accord start it there is no wonder For they well knowing and considering that preparation for Death and Judgment needs to be the Work of a whole Life and not of some small part or of the Fagg-end of it as we may so speak would never so far give occasion to such a Surmise as professedly and closely to put together all that is necessary to be said to such a Question but having in general terms first described the Duty they enjoyned its performance and lastly shewn the danger of its neglect they left the Particulars of the Preparation required in a sort scattered through the whole Scriptures as indeed the Duty it self in its full Latitude or Compass runs through all the Parts and Duties of our Lives § 4. In general I say there are Terms which describe express or amply set forth to us the Duty of Preparation for Death and Judgment There are many Commands which directly enjoin and such Warnings given of the danger of neglecting it as lay it most intimately home upon all Peoples Consciences Our Lord and his Apostles seldom or never treat of his coming to Judgment but still the Application as we may call it or the practical part of their Discourse is of this nature Thus in the Whole four and five and twentieth Chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel and in the parallel places of all the other Gospels in St. Paul's first Epistle to the Thessalonians chap. 5. 4 5 6 c. In St. Peter's Second Epistle ch 3. 14 c. In Rev. 3. 2 3 c. Chap. 16. 15. In all these and other Places the Christian World is taught That the coming of our Lord will be as of a Thief in the night and truly it is so very oft by Death as well as to Judgment unawares upon men when they look not for him and therefore all are called upon and conjured to be always ready To watch As faithful and wise Servants to be still doing their Lord's Work To keep Oil in their Vessels with their Lamps To trim their Lamps To have their Loins girded about and their Lights burning and to be as them that look for their Lord To take heed to themselves lest at any time their hearts be overcharged with Surfeiting or Drunkenness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even with the nauseous Qualms of a full Stomach or of the Night's Intemperance or with the Cares of this world To be as Children of the Light Not to sleep that is not to be idle not to be secure flattering themselves in any Sin or suffering Guilt to rest upon their Consciences as do others but to watch unto Prayer To be sober to be vigilant To be diligent that we may be found of him in peace without spot or blemish To strengthen the things that are ready to die that is quicken exercise and by exercising ripen and confirm stir up the Grace of God in us To hold fast till our Lord come To keep our Garments lest we be found naked that is to be careful we maintain a sanctified and justified Estate the Righteousness of Faith which is of God through Christ All these and sundry like Expressions both declare and press the Duty and awaken Conscience thereto but still either in general or in figurative Terms and these also as beforesaid dispersed and in distant places § 5. The Design therefore of this Treatise is to lay them all together disposing them into as easie and natural an Order as may be and representing or offering them in the plainest but together the most effectual manner we can that so no sort of people who shall read or hear read this poor plain practical Discourse may be ignorant either of the Matter or Obligation of their whole Duty in this great and most weighty Case And for the better comprehending the whole body of Directions to be given which must have compass enough to answer the Conditions of people of all sorts or of each age they may most fitly be divided by the several Distances which by course of Nature people may conceive themselves to stand in from Death and so into three Classes or Stages according to those Distances The first shall be of those who by course of Nature are at the longest distance and who therefore now are perfectly to begin their Preparations A Foundation must be laid and a prepared State attained The second of the middle Stage the Foundation must be secured and a prepared State maintained And the third nearest our End For through the Vanity and Self-flattery which attends all Men in this Life at least while Death is at any tolerable distance Men being apt to think they have time enough before them divers desects there will be in all even the most prepared Christians when nearly approaching their End And these perhaps we shall most clearly see when Death being to us as it were above the Horizon and in sight dispels those Mists under which we have formerly lain and frees our Judgments from that partiality wiâ—h which formerly we used to pass Sentence of things and persons and especially
ravishing sight Besides we shall be fitted for the Conversation of pure Intelligences that is of Holy Angels and for enjoying the familiarity of all the Blessed Saints We shall be with Saints and Angels taken up in the admiration love and praises of God and Christ We shall then know too what the Holy Ghost is and be full thereof We shall understand plainly what we at present see only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through a perspective Glass and in a Riddle how those three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost are one All the desires both of the Mind and of the Will that is all our desires after truth good and any agreeables shall be at once infinitely satisfied and yet with satisfaction Eternally flowing forth to that incomprehensible Fountain of all Truth and Good the Eternal Infinite God No Memory or Sense of any thing past or of any thing here below remaining with us any otherwise than as such reflections may heighten our present transport or ravishment And all this happiness is to be Everlasting without End without Intermission without Allay This is for the main such an account as here may suffice to be given of the Heavenly Happiness But we must remember it is infinitely short of the full real Truth For 1 Cor. 11. 9. Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him â—3 Now Secondly as vast and infinite as this Happiness is that it is no presumption in a faithful Soul and such certainly are all who have so as directed made their peace with God I say that it is no presumption in such a Soul to desire pray for aim at and pursue this Happiness is evident because God has offered it in the Gospel The proposal of this and of its means together with the opening our way to it was the Great Errand and business on which Christ Jesus came into the World God sent his Son into the World not to condemn the World to keep them under that Sentence of Condemnation and Death which by Sin had taken place upon them but that the World through him might be saved For God John 3. 16. so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And accordingly our Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished Death 2 Tim. 1. 10. and brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel The Gospel publishes the conditions ways or means by which it is to be had which we have seen in part and shall further see as we proceed and requires us thus to seek it under pain of everlasting misery if we do not And that Men of all sorts and tempers might be invited thereunto and prevailed with our Lord Jesus has taken care it should be proposed under such various Notions and Characters as may comply with all Mens tempers To draw in Ambitious Men it is proposed as Honour and Glory as a Crown a Throne a Kingdom c. To gain Men of pleasure it is represented as a Banquet a Supper a Marriage Feast fullness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore c. To allure Men that love Wealth it is called a Treasure a Treasure which neither Moth nor Rust can corrupt nor Thieves break through and steal the true Riches an Inheritance incorruptible c. And to be brief to take with some others it is perhaps called by other names But in a word to take with all forasmuch as all Men love Life and most people Long Life it is called what it is most truly Everlasting Life Upon the whole God is so desirous that none should neglect it that it is propounded to all I say in a way to suit each Mans Temper Humour and Inclination The commands to pursue it are so many that it is neither needful nor indeed easie to reckon them all up The Encouragements so great that it is not possible to add to them witness that one Command and Superlative Encouragement Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Matth. 6. 33. What can be added to all things Yet the Kingdom of God and all things that is all things good for them shall they receive who seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness Thus then we see in some measure both what this Happiness is and that it is in Strictness our Duty to seek after it or endeavour to secure it § 4. It is now high time to enquire thirdly how or by what means we may secure it How shall we convey Treasure thither Or how is it possible there to lay up our Treasure In answer hereto the Directions shall be few and easy of which the first is Whoever would have a Happiness in Heaven must By Resolution and Prayer chuse God for his Happiness for it is the Enjoyment of him that makes both Heaven and Happiness without Him is neither possible And the Almighty God all that he is Infinite as he is is content to be the Happiness of such poor Worms as are we mortal Men. He of old said unto Abraham and in him the Father of the Faithful to every even the meanest faithful Soul Fear not I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward Gen. 15. 1. And he says the same at present to every disposed person who reads or hears this Take God then at his Word And first resolve with thy self and say inwardly in Spirit God shall be the portion of my Soul Let others please themselves in other Goods in the Encrease of Corn and Wine and Oyl in joyning House to House and Field to Field in loading themselves with thick Clay or laying up Treasure upon Earth for many years for my part I will take up with none of these the Almighty God shall be my portion Our Lord Jesus himself for of him prophetically is that Psalm to be interpreted did while in the Flesh so resolve Psal 16. 5. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my Cup thou maintainest my lot Fear not then thou for whom Christ died to the end thou mightest come to the Father by a new and living Way through his bloud Fear not I say neither forbear thus to come thus to resolve And having thus inwardly resolved with thy self Take with thee words and apply thy self faithfully and humbly by Prayer to God telling him that thou art resolved to make the same Choice as thy Saviour not only by his Doctrine but by his Practice and Example taught thee Tell him whatever Portion of things below he has given thee or shall give thee thou art resolv'd not to be put off with any with all these nothing below himself shall satisfy thee for indeed nothing below him can And to insure the Choice that he may give himself to thee tell him thou givest thy self to him but be
I were now dying and breathing out my last with that last breath would I give thee this counsel make this request impose upon thee this command or otherwise c. Take it therefore now lest thou and I should not have then opportunity for it and remember it as the Counsel Admonition or Command c. of thy dying Father Friend c. Then give thy Counsel signifie thy desire c. Counsel thus once given and as occasion may offer thus at convenient times ingeminated or repeated may have the same weight make the same impression and will every whit as much serve to the discharging of our Conscience and so for the composing our minds for death as if it were given upon the Death-bed The same may I say as to any secrets which we have to impart and which it is expedient our Friends or Relations should know convenient time in state of health and leisure may be taken and needful Prefaces used so as to impart them even at a distance from our death Or if the secrets be of such nature as it is not expedient our Friends should know them when we are in health or till we are going or gone out of the world a Letter may be writ and put up sealed with our Will to such person to whom the secret does belong Or in case we are not able to write some faithful friend with whom we can or do intrust the secrets of our Estate may be intrusted herewith to impart it to our Friends at or after our death By these or like means which common discretion will suggest may a man before hand discharge his Conscience to his Friends so as to have his mind even in reference to them composed and easie and himself at a distance as ready for death as if it were at hand § 10. Lastly whether of the main or subordinate Directions it matters not having done thy best as has been before prescribed with good Conscience to settle thy affairs and thy mind though thou presumest thy self never at so great a distance from death yet as fully and intirely as if thou wert now to die and together comfortably and quietly resign up thy self and all thine to God Let him now from henceforth work his will and dispose of thee and thine as he pleases Do thou quietly await his good pleasure Thine own person soul and body and the persons of all thy dear Relations or Friends by Faith and Prayer commit to him as into the hands of a faithful Creator and do this daily as long as thou livest Thy Estate and Goods give up according to his good pleasure he being the most wise Disposer as well as the alone true Proprietor and Lord of all Thou hast as his Instrument endeavoured to dispose of all as wisely and conscionably as thou canst but when thou art gone which way in a short time all will go whether to thine or to strangers whether to a wise man or to a fool thou Eccles 2. 19. neither canst nor shalt know nor does it truly concern thee to presage or forebode Much less shouldest thou disturb thy quiet about it thy duty 's done Thy children may Job 14. 21. come to Honour and thou know it not and they may be brought low but thou perceive it not of them Trouble not therefore thy self now as to what comes after thee If thou considerately survivest these Preparations thou maist alter things as in Christian prudence thou at leisure shalt see occasion If not thy Province is discharged God is at peace with thee thou hast a happiness Him for thy happiness to go to Happy man set thy heart at rest abandon Sollicitude address to what comes with a Christian temper and make the most Heavenly and Spiritual use thou canst of all that comes bidding still all welcome as from God § 11. This is plainly a most easeful and blessed temper able in a great measure to felicitate any person Whosoever has thus practised and continues in this state and practice is plainly prepared for death For the three aforementioned intentions beyond which in this period we could see nothing necessary are attained He has a Happiness to go to the infinite God is his Portion He has provided against all he can fear sin and the wrath due to it Sin he has forsaken and endeavoured to extirpate and the guilt of it that is obligation to the wrath due is done away for he has made his peace with God in Christ and he has disintangled himself from the world He may therefore take up good old Simeon's Hymn Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace And add thereto St. John's Response to the Churches Invitatory Come Lord Jesus come quickly Only if his Lord delayeth his coming it will concern him to watch To have his light burning and to keep oyl in his vessel with his lamp that is to maintain this blessed temper and to strengthen those things which are weak to fill up what is defective to take care his heart and his works be perfect before God that is sincere to hold fast and be faithful to the end that no man take his Crown Of which Duties we are next to consider In the mean time Blessed is that servant whom his Lord at his coming shall find so doing Matter and a Method for Devotions suitable to Chapter the Fifth IN point of Examination or Inquiry into our condition here will be Matter of a new nature and different from what as yet came before us For hitherto in our Devotional engagements the enquiries we have still made were touching disorders of heart or our particular guilt Sins Habitual or Actual But now being engaged as well to settle our worldly affairs as to purge our Souls and quiet our minds and the purging disentangling and quieting our selves depending so much on our outward circumstances After such endeavours of a serious thoughtful temper and short Prayer as usual at our entring into our privacy we must look without and set our selves to consider in plain terms What estate or worldly substance we have and how it lyes What Relations also and Dependants Or what Dependencies we our selves have upon others What Dealings and Contracts we are engaged in What our Debts and Credits These questions we must seriously put to our selves and endeavour true answers and accompts in the fear of God as really making matter of Conscience of such Inquest For without this kind of practice a person that has had any thing to do in the world or has lived any considerable time therein cannot be just to the world when he goes out of it And for directing to such work as this in quality of a matter of Conscience and a work of secret or Closet-Devotion I have great reason in as much as good conscience and our peace both with God and our selves is so intimately concerned in it For 't is most certain a man cannot die a good Christian or with just hopes