for all what the Apostle saith He that doth 1 Joh. 3. 7. Righteousness is righteous What can be the meaning what can be the import what sence can with any tolerable shew of reason be assigned but what suiteth with our present notion He that doth Righteousness i. e. He that perfectly obeys fulfils the whole Law is righteous Is this the meaning Then God help and pity us where shall we find a righteous man Is it He that doth righteousness that is he that being in a State of grace lives up to the rules of the Gospel is guilty of nothing but what is consistent with sincerity and is continually labouring after perfection is righteos Is this the import and gennine sense of this phrase Then thanks be to God some such are to be found And thus much for the first General the Character of the person here spoken of Secondly We are to consider what is here supposed and taken for granted with reference to this righteous man and that is he must die It may be you may think such an one as I have described should have a Protection be privileged from that which is the common lot of others be wafted over to Heaven from one World to t'other and not see Death be caught up to Paradise and not be put to the pain of dying But it is supposed and taken for granted in the Text that the righteous man must die 'T is true indeed our Lord Jesus the Captain of our Salvation hath perfum'd the grave conquered death and destroyed him that had the power of it He encountered this enemy conquered and triumphed over it and every righteous man shares in that victory and triumph Christ hath destroyed the power chang'd the nature pluckt out the sting of death and disarm'd it of its terrors and the righteous may boldly challenge it and with an exuberant joy triumph over it in the words of the Apostle O Death where 1 Cor. 15. 55. is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God v. 57. which giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Thus O happy men may they triumph over death But yet their righteousness cannot shall not deliver them from the stroke of it No no Saints and Sinners Good and Bad the Holy and Prophane the Righteous and the wicked are under the same uncontroulable necessity of dying Though they shall not be damned yet they must die Though they shall not be sent to Hell yet they must go to the Grave Though they shall be saved from that hot fiery furnace yet not from the cold dark and silent Pit Though their Souls shall not become a Prey to Devils yet their Bodies must become a Banquet for Worms Though the Soul shall not be rackt and tortured in the dismal Regions below yet the flesh must see Corruption Though they have Mansions in Heaven yet Sickness will shake shake Alas Death will pull down the Walls and tear up the very Foundations of their Earthly Tabernacle Though they shall go to Heaven yet death will carry them thither in its cold Arms. Because Christ who is their Head and Husband Lives they shall Live also Live Where Joh. 14. 19 shall they live In Yonder glorious Heavens in Yonder blessed abodes in Mansions of light far above Yonder shining Sun there there it is these righteous ones shall live But alas They must die first Death hath been is and will be the passage to eternal Life And the Grave is in our way to Heaven As Death spares none for their tenderness and Beauty honours none for their wealth and grandure fears none for their strength and power reverences none for their Grey Hairs and Hoary Heads reprieves none for their flowing tears and passionate entreaties So neither will it pass by any for their Piety Religion and Righteousness With death there is no respect of Persons all must become a sacrifice to and lye Wounded Bleeding and Slain at the foot of it Holy Job cries I know thou wilt bring me to Death and to Job 30. 23. the House appointed for all the Living And David I go the way of all the Earth This 1 King 2. â— is among the Decretals of Heaven For Heb. 9. 27. it is appointed for men once to die Righteousness is no Armour against the arrows of Death No they will strike through and through and stick in our Hearts What is become of the holy Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles of our Lord Jesus Where are they Where Dead and Gone Where are they Their Souls are praising God in Heaven and their bodies sleeping in the dust of the Earth Your holy ancestors and progenitors that were the friends of God where are they Where Alass They are dead and gone and their Sepulchers are with us to this day Aâ—t 2. 19. they served the Will of God in their Generation and then died and after the experience of many Ages may we not ask and easily answer that Question of the Psalmist What man is he that liveth and Psa 39. 48. shall not see death Had we the meekness of Moses the Faith of Abraham the Integrity of Caleb the Patience of Job the Piety of David the Wisdom of Solomon yet we must die for lo these Men of God are gone before us for how many Ages have these righteous ones been sleeping in the bosom of the Earth our first and common Mother When we read in the Sacred History of the Holy Lives eminent Graces of Gods dear Saints how useful and serviceable they were in their time and place where and how long they lived do not we find and then he 〈◊〉 5. â— died concludes the History and makes up the Period Oh! how vast are the Dominions how extensive is the Empire of the King of Terrors In the Sacred Story we read but of two only viz. Enoch and Elias who by an especial grant and priviledge were exempted from this Law of Death they went immediately from Earth to Heaven when all others except those who shall be found alive at the end of the World must take the Grave in their way they were like living plants transplanted to the Heavenly Soil when our Bodies like Corn that is Sown must first rot and dye and then spring up again Death as things now stand is a debt that we all owe to Nature and will not be remitted no not to the Friends of God themselves The Saints are originally out of the same dust they as well as others dwell in Houses of Clay and Earthly Tabernacles and tho' they may be repaired by Food and Physick yet at last they will tumble the Body of a Saint is not made of more lasting Dust and durable Clay than the Body of a Sinner I grant that Sinners may impair their health and weaken nature by gluttony and drunkenness and other acts of intemperance how many
unclean persons who have frequented the House of the strange Woman have found that her House inclineth Prov. 2. 18. to death and her path unto the Dead Ah wretched men sottish sinners What do they do but violently break the thred of Life When it might have been spun out to a further length by sinning against God they murder their Bodies as well as damn their Souls send one to the Grave and the other to Hell before the time Infinite folly But yet the most holy and righteous have the seeds of corruption in them and are mortal as the Garment breeds the Moth which frets it So we the Diseases which sooner or later will send us to our long home The righteous Eccles 12. 5 are subject to the same sicknesses and diseases as others are to burning Feavers pining Consumptions and to Old Age which is attended with 100 and 100 infirmities and is of all diseases the most incurable Life is a Candle which if no Stormy and ill-natur'd Winds blow out when it is burnt down into the socket will go out of its self a thred which if no scorching Feaver burn time will wear and old age will fret asunder This body tho' there be an Holy Soul inhabiting in it is such an house that if it be not pulled will tumble down of it self Tho' Wisdom hath length of days in her right hand Prov. 3. 16 many of her Children go to Bed late yet an immortality here is not in her power to confer upon any they may hope for it in another World but they cannot have it in this this is a priviledge peculiarly belonging to the future State Now righteous men undergo Death upon a double account 1. As the fruit and consequent of sin Immortality was the priviledge of Innocent Death is become the punishment of faln man If we search the Sacred Records we may easily find from what and whence to derive Death's Pedigree sin ah cursed evil ushered Death into the World That threatning In the day thou eatest thereof Gen. 2. 17. thou shalt surely dye upon the Apostacy of our first Parents was turned into a standing sentence involving them and their whole Posterity for by one man sin Rom. 5. 12. entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men in that all have sinned Death is not owing to an irresistible Fate to the weakness of our primary constitution but to Sin as the deserving cause it was sin set Death upon its Pale Horse and nothing now can dismount him as the Tree brings forth fruit as the seed sown brings forth Corn so sin when Isa 1. 17. it is finished brings forth death Sin open'd the Door and then Mortal Sicknesses Deadly Distempers Killing Diseases and Death it self entered in Sin draws Death after it as the Needle doth the Thred and attends on it as the Shadow doth upon the Body Could all Graves be open'd could we stand in some convenient place and at one view behold the many thousands Death hath captivated and slain could we see all the Carkasses that have dropt into and are now rotting in dust we might say Lo all these were first the spoils of sin and then the Trophies and Triumphs of Death This is the account Scripture gives of Deaths Universal Empire Sin cursed Sin oh what Fools are we to be fond of it oh what infinite and unaccountable madness is it to lay and hug that hissing Serpent in our Bosoms which will sting us to Death is the cause of all those Funerals which have been are or shall be in the World Now tho' the Righteous are renew'd and sanctified they are so but in part they have sin in them the meritorious and deserving Cause of Death and therefore that Sentence that carries Death in it DUST thou art and to Gen. 3. 19. DUST THOU SHALT RETURN must be executed even upon them Tho' they are pardon'd yet their Pardon runs with an exception of Death 'T is true for Christ's sake upon the score of that painful shameful death he in their place and stead underwent upon the Cross the SECOND Death which is Death with an Emphasis shall have no power over them but notwithstanding all he hath done and suffered because they are sinners the FIRST must and will How far death to good men is a penal evil and yet retains the nature of a punishment I shall not in this wrangling age offend any by attempting to determine It may suffice that sin brought death into the World and furnished it with those Weapons wherewith it wounds and kills all If any say since the death of Christ and the effusion of his blood upon the Cross Death is rather an advantage to his followers I grant and thanks be to God it is so but may not death be the Wages of sin tho' a good and kind God makes it the path to Heaven and this leads me 2. To consider the death of the righteous as a Means of their deliverance from sin and the appointed way to the glorious Mansions which are above 'T is true God could make us perfectly holy take away the life and destroy the very being of sin the first moment of our conversion when we have done his will served the purposes of his Grace and attain'd the end of our being born by an happy pleasant and easie translation he could take us up Body and Soul to Heaven but he hath otherwise determin'd and made Death necessary in order to both According to the Divine Constitution they must first dye and then be perfectly holy and finally happy Do you ask why the righteous die why that sin might be destroyed as Sin brought Death into the World so Death shall excellent contrivance of Infinite Wisdom for ever abolish Sin tho' death had its sting strength power nay its very being from sin yet it proves by the ordination of God the destruction of it Those Arrows of Death which kill the Christian strike thro' the very Heart of his Sins and Lusts and they both die together A Saint puts off the Garments of Mortality and his filthy Raiment at once the sin that was born with them and lived with them and accompany them from place to place in their last moments takes leave of them for ever The Christian dies that Sin may do so too To this more will be said hereafter Moreover the Righteous here are Strangers and Pilgrims this is their Character and it is expressive of their Frame and Temper While they live they are in a strange place among a strange People and at a distance from their own Oh! How do they wish long pant desire and groan to be elswhere They are born from Heaven belong to it and wish to be there They are Citizens of the new Jerusalem in it are Mansions designed purchas'd prepared and standing empty for them but they must dip there feet in the cold fatal stream that runs beween this World
sloth and negligence by our omissions of duty or trifling in it by too great a conformity to the World and too easie a compliance with the men fashions and customs of it by listening to Temptations and running upon the occasions of sin by the immoderate use of things lawful or venturing upon what is unlawful really in its self or at least so to us because doubtful how oft by going contrary to the light of our Minds the checks of Conscience the Motions of the Holy Spirit the Directions of the Word and the rebukes of Providence do we even the best of us displease God grieve his Spirit break our peace disquiet our Minds and wound our own Consciences and how soon doth God by frowns and rebukes by withdrawing himself hiding his face denying a sense of his love and suspending in part or in whole the witnessing and comforting presence of his Spirit tell us he is displeas'd and make us sensibly know find and feel he is so are we not hereupon on a sudden left in darkness to be scared with our own melancholy guilty thoughts and the blacker suggestions of Satan the accuser of the Brethren Are we not bowed down greatly and our Souls not only Rev. 12 1â— disquieted but cast down within us Is not the day gloomy the cloud thick the night very dark and does not the poor deserted Soul with warm affection and passionate longing cry out Oh! that I could see him Don't we at such a time mourn and complain and cry out of the sadness of our Case to God and Man Are we not forc't in the bitterness of our Souls and anguish of our Spirits to say Oh! that it were with me as in months past when the Light of Gods Countenance was bright and shining and I convers'd with the Majesty of Heaven as a Man with his friend but it is not wo is me It is not so now oh that it were Lord when shall it be How oft do the Children of Light walk in darkness question their Adoption and Sonship their Covenant-Interest in and Relation unto God! How oft is there a Curtain drawn between Them and Heaven the Face of God Vail'd and the Light of his Countenance Eclips'd How oft does he withdraw and they cannot find wrap himself up in Clouds and Darkness and they cannot see him with what a pained heart grieved Soul with what an accent of sorrow does such an one cry out My God My God 〈◊〉 hast thou forsaken me I was 〈…〉 wonted to have Communion with God in Prayer to see him at a Sacrament I have had that enjoyment of God which 〈◊〉 would not have been without for all the 〈◊〉 Time was the Sabbath was my best day I long'd for the dawning of it and with joy welcom'd the Morning Light 〈◊〉 Ordinances where my delight 〈…〉 has often said how amiable are 〈…〉 〈…〉 O Lord of Hosts My Soul 〈…〉 yea even fainteth for the Courts of 〈…〉 Heart and my Flesh drieth out 〈…〉 God but now O my Soul what a change is this I pray but he giveth 〈…〉 answer I go to his Table with this Wish Let him kiss me with the 〈…〉 kisses of his Mouth but even there month after month I do not see the King's Face if he be my God my Father and Friend why is it thus with me from how many may we hear such bitter complaints as these But the Righteous at Death hath hope of deliverance from these inward spiritual and therefore most afflictive evils and such an â—â—e in the Evening of Life may say after a â—â—â—tle while and I shall no more offend grieve or displease my heavenly Father and he will always look upon me with a smiling Face a favourable Eye and a pleased Countenance I shall noâ— see him as I now do in a Glass 1 Co. 13. 1â— darâ—ly but Face to Face I shall dwell in his Presence stand before his Throne and enjoy his Favour which is better than Life I shall love God and feel that I love him God shall love me and make me know it and tho' I have often questioned both yet then I shall douâ—t of neither I have had many cloudy days disconsolate hours and dark nights many sad thoughts perplexing doubts and tormenting fears as to my spiritual and eternal state O ETERNITY ETERNITY how have the thoughts of it amaz d troubled me and sometimes made me even tremble but in this sickness I am better satisfied than ever now my fears are gone my doubts in great part resolv'd Now Evening is come and it is neither day nor night the light of Gods Countenance â—â—ch 14. 7. shines upon me Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Psal 103. 1. Holy Name this is but the pledge of those more full and lasting Beams which shall scatter all my Clouds what I now feel is but a little a very little to what I shall Are the shadows of the Evening stretched out upon me Is night coming It is day the light of Gods Countenance makes it day and blessed be God this is but the dawning of that everlasting day which now is near hand and which will perfectly and for ever scatter all my fears Thus the Righteous hath hope in his death of an absolute freedom and final deliverance from these great and almost insuppâ—rtable evils we wretched mortals we who yet dwell in flesh are exposed to he can and he does hope that after a few hours he shall be afflicted pestered with sin buffeted by Satan deserted by God no more for ever tho' he cannot see his Lusts actually giving up the Ghost and dying yet he hopes he and his sins shall dye together tho' Satan may Dog him to the utmost borders of time yet he hopes he shall not follow him into Eternity that tho' some scruples may remain and his afflictions and pains will not be over 'till death hath done its work yet he hopes death will put an end to all Secondly The Righteous hath hope in his Death what hath he then hope of of a Convoy of blessed and holy Angels to secure his passage to the other World Man consists of a Body and Soul when he dies a separation is made the body is left the Soul is gone friends take care of the Body that it may have a decent Burial and truly some respect and honour is due to the Corps to the very dust of them who sleep in Jesus and even after death remain united to him as to this the dying Christian is not much concern'd for he knows his Lord will find it at his coming where-ever it be laid but the Soul being more noble his great care is for that and he hopes Angels will be ready to conduct in to the glorious and eternal Mansions above Holy and confirmed Angels who have as much good nature in them as they have strength and power are very serviceable to us men especially to
all their sins set in order before them Are they filled with horror and anguish Is some of the everlasting fire flasht in their Faces Does the Devil begin to torment them before the time Is God a terror to Mat. 8. 29. them and they a terror to themselves Are they weary of Life and yet afraid of Death Are they rackt and tortured and do they speak nothing but the language of Hell before they come there Are they cast at the Bar of Conscience before they are condemned at the Tribunal of their Supreme Judge Do they sensibly feel what horror attends the final doom Depart from me ye cursed Mat 25 41. Do they cry out and tremble as if they now heard it pronounced by their eternal Judge Does a righteous God commission Conscience to witness against Judge and Condemn them to sting and lash them in their last hours for the sins of their past Life And ought we not to take notice of and improve all this May not such a sight the remembrance of what we saw and heard in that hour awaken our Consciences startle our Spirits affect and warm our hearts May it not tend â—â—â—hew us the Justice of God the evil of 〈◊〉 and the infinite danger of neglectinâ— to hearken to the voice of God while it is câ—â—led to day May it not excite our diligence quicken our repentance and assist our preparations for Death and judgment May it not Arm us against the World the Flesh and the Devil and make us more resolved to hearken to the voice of the Spirit the checks of our own Conscience and the compassionate calls of mercy Would it not make us know the worth of time and put us upon husbanding redeeming and improving it to the best ends the Glory of God and Salvation of our Souls Would it not make us love Christ prize his sacrifice and value his blood more Would it not put us upon reviewing our lives searching our hearts and examining our state and amending what has been amiss Oh how much good may we get by the death of poor awakned sinners and how great is our folly and sin in case we don 't And can it be unprofitable and useless to mark observe and remember the more happy and comfortable end of the Righteous Shall we take no notice what is the end issue and conclusion of an Holy Life We should remember how they lived and how they died Did God in their sickness furnish them with patience and calmness submission and resignation to his Holy Will Were their Thoughts compos'd Minds setled Spirits calm their peace undisturb'd their Joy great and their Hope lively Was there a willingness to die and a desire to depart that they might be with Christ did God resolve their Doubts scatter the Clouds and help them to overcome their fears Has such an one been enabled to say Lord I am thine I lye at thy Foot here I am do to me dispose of me remove or continue my pains as thou wilt let me be well or sick live or die be recover'd or remov'd as thou pleasest Lord if thou hast any more Work for me to do I am willing to live and content my happiness should yet be deferr'd and I 'll acknowledg thy Grace if thou wilt yet use me and make me an Instrument of thy Glory but if my work be done and the number of my years be accomplisht I am willing Lord I am willing now to die if it be thy pleasure now to remove me if this sickness must be my last and end in death if to die now be really best for me and most for thy glory I will not draw back I am ready at thy call command and pleasure to lay down this Body and thanks be to God I can heartily say the Will of the Lord be done Have any of your Christian Friends or Holy Relations died thus Heavenly frame Blessed end Glorious triumph over Death and the Grave Ought we not and may it not be infinitely useful to mark and remember this How much may it contribute to maintain the Life of Religion and the Power of Godliness in us may not the memory of what we observ'd and saw at such a time confirm us in our holy Choice strengthen our Faith and throughly convince us Religion is not a vain thing Will it not recommend the Holy Ways of God set off Religion and make all holy exercises more sweet and pleasant to us but in particular may not an observing how they died afford matter of encouragement and support to us when we have sad and melancholy Thoughts as to our own departure how oft does many a poor sincere Christian in bitterness cry out How shall I with a Christian Patience an humble submission and an entire resignation bear long painful and tedious sickness how shall I be able to conquer the fear and submit to the stroke of Death How shall I be able to grapple with that Enemy and encounter the King of Terrors How shall I be able with joy and chearfulness without murmuring and repining to obey my Summons to Death and Judgment When I do but suppose my self sick weak and full of pain when I seriously think of my Coffin and Grave I tremble but Lord what shall I do when it comes to the trial thus it is with many and has it not been so with you at one time or other and may it not be so again and if it should how may the memory of the happy end of holy friends and relations administer to your support when thou hast the Death of such an one fresh in thy thoughts thou mayst say why art thou cast down O my â—sal 42. 5. Soul and why art thou thus disquieted within me Is it because this body must die How many holy ones are dead before me They were weak frail and imperfect as I am but God furnished them with patience courage and strength quieted their Mind calm'd their Spirits and husht their ruffling passions and when my hour comes I hope God will help me to die too Have not I the same God to depend upon the same promises to encourage me the same Jesus to stand by me and the same Holy Spirit to assist me I remember my holy Father died with comfort my holy Mother made an happy and peaceable End and why may not I Death is conquered it is conquer'd And the fear of it may be overcome I have seen it may and why should the fear of it keep me in a perpetual bondage How serviceable may it be to remember how other holy Men and Women have died before us Secondly Another duty with reference to those who died in hope is to give thanks to God for those assistances and that Grace which was vouchsafed to them â—â— a dying hour Surviving Relations who were Eye-witnesses of God's goodness to them who are departed should own acknowledge and praise God for it when they are dead and gone The dead cannot
in Purgatory pains equal in degree to those of Hell tho' not so lasting but they immediately go to Heaven This day says our Saviour to the penitent Thief the Companion Luk. 23. 43. of his Cross shalt thou be with me in Paradise And the reason of Paul's earnest and vehement desire to depart was that Phil. 1. 23. he might be with Christ The Gates of Heaven are open'd they enter in and they happy Souls are welcomed by God Christ Angels and all their Elder Brethren who died in the Lord and went to Heaven before them With what joy does God the Father receive those Souls for whom he designed Heaven from all Eternity With what joy does the blessed Jesus welcome those Souls to Glory for whom and whose Salvation he wept and sweat bled and died Oh what a joy is it to the heart of Jesus to see them past all the dangers and hazards of a troublesom Voyage and safely arriv'd at his Fathers house With what a triumphant joy are they welcomed by Angels and the whole Assembly of the spirits of just men made perfect Oh how glad are all those kind and loving spirits to see others come to Heaven who shall be sharers with them in one and the same undivided happiness and parners with them in singing Hallelujahs to God and to the Lamb It is no small joy to them that more Voices are added to the heavenly Quire I may the dying Christian say must leave Earth the house in which I have lived so long death is about to open a door for my immortal Spirit to go out at and methinks I see my God my Jesus opening the Gate of Heaven I hope when death has turn'd it out of this frail and earthly Tabernacle God and Christ will receive it into Everlasting Habitations I shall not want a Lodging for God hath prepared and Christ hath purchased a glorious Mansion for me Go out O my Soul with holy joy and triumph hasten be gone for lo thy Throne is prepared and yet stands empty When I am dead my surviving Friends will weep for me with sighs and groans lament my departure but God Christ Angels and Saints will welcome my Soul to Heaven Surely those holy Spirits who rejoyced when I was converted and born again will sing a new Song a peculiar Psalm of Praise to their God and my God when I am born into Eternity A thought that when I shall knock at the Gate of Heaven and say Lord Lord open to me I should hear that sad word I Luk. 13. 2â— know thee not would even break my heart trouble me more than the pains and agonies of a thousand deaths But I hope for a free admission a speedy entrance and a joyful welcome And oh that I were there Fifthly They hope to go to better Friends better Company and have that Vision of God and Christ which cannot be had on this side the Grave In this World good and bad Saints and Sinners the Righteous and the Wicked live together and what a grief and torment is the very presence and company of these Devils in flesh to those who really intend and in good earnest design Heaven Here they enjoy the company of holy Relations and godly Friends who are many ways useful and helpful to them and no doubt they very often and heartily bless God for the â—ommunion of Saints But the best here are imperfect there is something in the best that their conversation is not so taking and suitable so sweet and endearing as we could with How oft do they prove a scandal and stumbling block to us or we an offence and grief to them but at death they go to better to such as love them more and wish better to them than their dearest Relations here can do To Friends who love each other as themselves To Friends in whose Conversation there is nothing but what is peculiarly delightful and pleasant sweet and amiable charming and endearing most highly grateful and obliging To Friends who are utter and perfect strangers to that four and peevish morose and selfish temper which prevails too much in this wretched and degenerate World of ours To Friends who partake of and share in one anothers joys and are as much pleas'd with the happiness of others as with their own To Friends whose tempers will be agreeable whose looks will be pleasant whose hearts will be free and open whose speeches will be ravishing and all whose discourses will be seraphick and sublime and yet set off with all the graceful Airs of a Charming Rhetorick Further while we dwell in flesh and sojourn here below we see God but thro' a glass and that very darkly too To day we enjoy and are ravisht with some views of him and perhaps to morrow nay it may be before night the Curtain is drawn or a cloud interposes and we cannot see him But after death we if we fall under the Character of the Text shall see him Face to Face by a light which is more clear constant and lasting Now we delight in believe on desire after and love that blessed Jesus whom we have not yet seen But after Death we shall see him as he is and will not every view of Jesus be transporting will 1 John 3. 2. not every glance be the Spring of a new and fresh joy What is the language of Death to a Holy Soul but this Come see and enjoy that God whom thou hast long waited for and looked after Come and see that Jesus who out of a deep pity and compassion wept and groaned bled and died for thee Come take thy place in Heaven where thou mayest glut and satisfie thâ— greedy eye with these ravishing sights dost thou long Holy Soul dost thou long for the vision of God and a sight of Christ Come and have it though my looks are Grim my hands cold Don't draw back for none but I can wast thee over to Heaven where God and Christ are to be fully and for ever enjoy'd Is this the language of Death Then what may be the language of the dying Christian Hearken don't you hear him saying The day is dawn'd the time is come the hour is now hastning that I must be gone my Physitians neglecting any further prescriptions your passionate weeping and silent tears O my sorrowful Friends The sensible decays I find in my self in those parts which live the longest and die the last all tell me my end is near Here I have Relations who are Loving Careful and Tender many Friends hath God raised up to me and made them instrumental for my good but I can willingly chearfully bid farewell to all for I hope to go to an Assembly of better Friends and more perfect Lovers I have had those sights of God in the Sanctuary that have been sweeter to me than all the pleasures of this vain World but I hope for a fuller view and a more ravishing sight of that glorious being Can't I see God
shame and at last die in horror and despair Sickness and Death O vain man will shake thy hopes The Sentence of thy Judge and and the Flames of Hell will dash them Hope may accompany thee while thou livest go with thee to the very borders of the Eternal World and then at farthest it will bid farewel to thy amazed and trembling Soul The time will come believe it Sirs the time will come when you shall hope no more no more no more for ever This hope is worse than none for it hinders Mens repentance and all the kindness it does them is first to hood-wink and then damn them How fatal is this hope A wicked man can have no good hope either living or dying and that false hope he maintains and cherishes in health when sickness comes many times takes the wings of the morning and flies away In an hour he must remove out of one World into another but he hath no hope it shall be into a better He bequeaths his body to the dust his Estate and Goods to his surviving friends but he can not Lord what an Agony must the departing Soul be in with confidence commend his Spirit into the hands of Jesus He may hope his Friends will give his body a decent burial but he has no hope alas he has no hope Angels will conduct his Soul to glory Oh Death Death how terrible is it when there is no hope of a better life To awaken such let me add to die without good hope though it be bad is not all For the wicked as it is in the former part of this verse is driven away in his wickedness Sad words miserable ends Prov. 14. 32. Ere long Sinners Death will grasp thee in its cold Arms ere long Pale Death will sit in that face of thine that now is Fair and Ruddy and the seat of a Charming Beauty ere long Death will shackle those feet which brought thee to this assembly shut those eyes which are a window to let in vanity into thy mind stop those ears which have been delighted with filthy and unsavoury discourse ere long Death will drive thee out of the World thou must be confâ—â—ed to a narrow Coffin sleep in a Bed of dust under a coverlet of crawling Worms but this is not all no nor the greatest part of thy misery for thou shalt be driven away in thy wickedness Go out of the World guilty and accompanied with the sins of thy whole Life Death unties the knot and thy Soul is gone gone Whither is it gone Into the invisible World to the illightned Tribunal of a Just Impartial and Inexorable Judge Death sets open the Door and thy immortal Spirit immediately flies away and all thy sins like so many black and frightful Devils hasten and post after Thy Sins O man thy sins mount and ascend as fast as thy Spirit and will be at the Judgment-seat as soon as it Methinks a thought of this should make thine heart ake thy lips quiver rottenness enter into thy bones and force thee to cry out Good God! Whatever becomes of me let me not die in my sins An impenitent sinner goes into Eternity dogg'd by Devils and his own impure Lusts When he dies that hope which with artifice and cunning he maintain'd in his life-time forsakes his wretched and trembling Soul In one instant it is gone and gone for ever follow him from one World to to'ther from his sick-bed to the Bar of God Doleful Hour Infer II. Do and must the righteous die Then how does it concern us to make a good use of them while they live The righteous are the lights of the World like the Sâ—â— in the Firmament profitable and beneficial to all Though hereafter these wise Virgins cannot supply us with Oyl out of their Vessels to recruit our Lamps and maintain the expiring Flame yet at present they may like the Sun communicate of their light and heat to us How much Spiritual good may we receive by them and how careful should all be to make a wise improvement Have you an Holy Father a Godly Mother who pray for weep over and daily instruct you Hearken to their instructions follow their example take their counsel for they must die That Holy Father of thine who with compassion and tenderness begs of thee to remember God and thine own Soul that Godly Mother of thine who brought thee forth with pain and sorrow and is in travel with thee again till Christ be formed in Gal. 4. 19. thee must die And if thou dost not hearken to and improve their serious reproofs godly counsels and wholesome advice what a torment may the thought of it be when they are dead and gone Methinks I hear a negligent and careless Son being lately come from the grave of his holy Father or godly Mother in bitterness crying out God in giving me such holy Parents gave me a great mercy but I Oh wretched man that I am neither valued nor thankfully improved so great a blessing as should and might have done My Father my Mother that is now dead very often and that with tears told me of my sin and danger with abundance of kindness in the Spirit of meekness reproved me for my youthful follies and vanities with much Plainness and Holy Zeal they instructed and counselled informed and directed me they brought me to the Solemn Assembly and taught me at home they wept over me and prayed to God for me and put me upon secret Prayer and reading the Holy Scriptures but all this labour in whole or at least in great part has been lost as to me Might I not have been much better might I not have had more grace and holiness had I improved this blessing I had the same advantage may the wicked and disobedient Son say but I slighted the instructions of my holy Father and contemned the counseâ—â— of my godly Mother and now they are dead and gone how likely am I to die in my sins having not the same helps and advantages as I had when they were with me Such reflections Conscience being awakned by the hand and rod of God may be made when such holy Relations are taken away to prevent which let all especially the Children of Holy Parents improve the lives and company of such The like might be said as to Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants c. Labour to get as much good as you can by holy Relations Christian Friends and Acquaintance for these you shall not have always with you Infer III. How great is the mercy and goodness of God to his People though they are not exempted from Death Death sounds harsh the Grave is very frightful When we think the Friends of God the Members of Christ the Favourites of Heaven and the Followers of the Lamb must die are we not sometime posed and almost at a stand Are we not puzzled to reconcile the Death of such men with the goodness and love of God and those
hope may a little comfort us in the Sun-shine of the Day but not when the dark Night of Death is coming If you would have your hope to be lively at Death examine carefully the grounds and reasons of it what footing there is for thy hope in the Scripture That hope and no other which hath been often brought to the Touch-Stone and tried is like to last when grim and frightful Death shall look us in the Face Ask your own Consciences a reason of that hope that is in you and take not up with the first answer but let this weighty and momentous question be oft repeated and as often answered and by this means you will be less apt to suspect it hereafter it will then be strong and lively when Nature is weak and feeble and afford you joy and ravishment when the Shadows of Death shall sit on your Eye-lids and your Immortal Spirits are taking Wing and flying to the other World An hope that is taken up no body knows how or why will certainly fail when there is most need of it Retire then Christian from the World and set some hours apart for this great Work and speak to thy self in some such manner as this Death O my Soul is coming and after that men go to Heaven or to Hell in which of these must I be and dwell for ever whither must I go when I die where will death land me Shall I go to God or Devils Be reeeived up into a Mansion of light above or be cast down to a Dungeon of Darkness below When I shall knock at the Gate of Heaven and say Lord Lord open to me am I like to be admitted or deny'd When thou O my Soul shalt leave this Body shalt thou under the conduct of Holy Angels go to the joyful assembly above or be drag'd by Infernal Spirits who lie watching for their Prey to the Congregations of Devils beneath Thou art going O my Soul thou art going to an ETERNAL World but is it to an happy or a miserable one to ETERNAL Joys or to ETERNAL Sorrows to Heaven where is an ETERNAL Day or to Hell where will be an ETERNAL Night It is well with me at present I am full and at ease I want nothing this World can afford The lines are fallen to me in a pleasant Psal 16. 6. place I have a goodly Heritage but how is it like to go with me hereafter Will it be well or ill with me for ever O my Soul ought I not shall I not be concern'd to know how it will fare with me for ever Hope of Heaven is very common who almost among the sons of men does not hope for it But how many are mistaken now and disappointed hereafter How many have lived in hope and dyed in hope and after all been for ever shut out Oh how many have been imposed upon by Satan cheated and deceived by their own hearts and am not I in danger of being so too Is not Satan as cunning and subtil now as he was then Is not my heart as base false deceitful and treacherous as theirs and am not I as likely to be blinded by self-love as they were How much hope is vain false and groundless serving only to delude men at present and shame them for ever How many have been buoyed up and flusht with hope on a Death-bed and in a little time Doleful moment swallowed up of total final and remediless despair What if this should be my case What if it should be so with me Do I hope for Heaven O my Soul of what kind is my hope What was the Spring What is the Nature What are the Effects What Stamp is it of Whose Superscription does it bear Is it any better is it any thing more than the hope of the Hypocrite which shall perish Job 8. 13. Will it endure a trial at the Bar of Conscience and at the Bar of God too Have I any one promise in all the book of God to countenance my hope and warrant my expectation This question is weighty and important and to mistake here may be very fatal and is infinitely dangerous Therefore tell me O my Soul what manner of hope is thine Thus and thus I find it is with them who have a good hope Is it so with me or no I am loth to be deceived afraid of being mistaken therefore O my Soul deal plainly and truly with me O my Conscience take the candle of the Lord and search me and faithfully tell me as thou wilt answer the neglect another day whether my hope be sound and good or no. If you would take this course what a confirmed hope might you have in Life and what a lively hope in Death An hope that would mitigate the terrors abate the horror asswage the pangs and sweeten the agonies of a dying hour With such a hope you may die not only safely but comfortably too go to your Graves not only in peace but with triumph While other mens Chambers are filled with disconsolate sighs and groans yours may ring with acclamations of victory and songs of praise While the awakned and despairing sinner is crying out must I die must I die O my weeping friends must I die your looks may be pleasant your countenances chearful and your hearts transported with joy You may be able to welcome Death and triumph over the Grave you may have such a glorious prospect of the happiness above that you may praise God with your last with your dying breath and Hallelujah may be your last word in this World as well as your first in the next Infer IX Hence we may learn how to carry it with reference to those Righteous and Holy Relations of ours who had such hope in their Death Are any of our holy relations dead and did they die in hope and is there no duty incumbent on us who are left behind Have we nothing to do but to provide for their funeral and follow them to the grave Alas as to them when we have done this we have done all we can for them When we have got them a Coffin purchased a Grave for and laid them in it we can do no more for them But at such a time is there nothing to be done by us for our selves Does not the Death of an Husband a Wife a Father a Mother call upon surviving Relations to improve it At such a time God calls Providence calls and Death calls upon us to mind our duty I shall not largely treat on this Head but only shew what is to be done by us with reference to them as they died in HOPE First We should take notice of and remark their happy and comfortable end We should observe register and remember Gods kindness and love to his gracious and merciful dealings with them in their last sickness and on a Death-bed It cannot but be useful to take notice of the miserable end of many wicked men Is Conscience awakned and
had a sufficient time to prepare for Death and Judgment Have not I lived long enough to make an experiment of what the World can do for me Long enough to confirm that old maxim Vanity of vanities all is vanity and is not my unwillingness to die now Eccl. 1. 2. inexcusable How shameful O my lingering Soul is it for me an old Disciple after I have been trained up in the School of Christ so many years after I have heard so many plain and convincing Lectures of the vanity of the World the certainty of Death the glory of Heaven and happiness of eternity to shrink and draw back when so many younger have chearfully submitted to the will of God! Dost thou not O my Soul by this time see there is reason why thou should'st be willing now to put off this earthly Tabernacle Let me now hear what thou canst object against this which is thy duty honour and interest Am I loth to die now because I shall leave relations who have their dependance on me and to whom I have been useful Foolish talk cannot God who provided for 'em by take care of them without me And if they are his will he not Cannot God who is the Fountain be better than I who am but a Cistern and a broken Cistern too May I not leave my solitary Widow and Fatherless children with God Am I loth to die now because I must take my final leave of Friends and Relations whom I have lov'd with whom I have liv'd and conversed with much delight Foolish Soul loth to leave them what to go to God Christ and company infinitely better to enjoy which for one hour is much better than to enjoy theirs for an age Am I unwilling to die now because of those pains and pangs those sharp conflicts and agonies I must endure before body and Soul do part Fond reasoning must not these pains be endured at one time or other will not Death be Death that is be attended with some pains whenever it comes Had I not better take heart and undergo them once and that now than be terrified many years longer with the fears and melancholy prospect of them Will not these pains be my last and when they are over and in a few hours they will shall not I be at perfect ease and rest Hath God done and the blessed Jesus suffered so much for me Is Heaven so blessed and glorious a place that it transcends all I can imagin And shall I make excuses and frame Apologies resist and struggle be backward and unwilling to endure a little pain that I might go to God and Christ and be in Heaven Have not many endured more and greater pain in hope of less advantage Have I not a Saviour who experimentally knows what it is to be pain'd and die to stand by succour support and assist me in this terrible passage from Time to Eternity Finally O my trembling Soul may not the pains of that hour be much less than I fear think and apprehend they will be Am I loth to die now because this body must go to the grave rot and putrifie and lie a long time among Worms Fond affections to a lump of Clay is this the reason of my unwillingness O wretched sinful Soul where 's thy Faith concerning that fundamental Article the Reâ—urrection of the Dead Is not Christ risen and shall not they that sleep in Christ rise too Will not the glorious morning quickly dawn Will not the day of redemption of the body ere long come And shall not this Body this very Body of mine be quickned raised and in all respects be much better than now it is Will it not be a Beautiful and Comely a Strong and Healthful a Powerful and Active a Spiritual and Immortal Body Will not a time come when our last enemy DEATH shall be destroyed and mortality be swallowed up of LIFE When I shall sleep in the dust I shall not think the time long and when my Lord shall come and the trumpet sound and arise ye Dead shall be spoken by the mighty and powerful Jesus shall I not live and dye no more Therefore let me be willing to die once and since I must once let me be willing to die now What is there O my Soul in this vain wretched and sinful World that I should desire to stay yet longer in it What is this Flesh this Body that I should be loth to lay it in the grave What can be frightful and terrible in death since Christ hath conquer'd disarm'd it and taken out the sting What is there in the other World I am so loth to go unto it Have not I sinn'd and suffer'd sorrow'd and griev'd groan'd and wept long enough already Have I not been afflicted tempted and buffeted long enough already Why do I not long for deliverance Look O my Soul Heaven is prepared the gates are open and there 's a mansion for thee Hearken listen thy God thy Jesus calls saying come Christian come away from a dark and sinful miserable and defiled World to this World of Life Light and Love Angels and Saints O my Soul are longing for thy arrival with one consent they wish thee safely landed The former are ready to be thy convoy to yonder glorious World the latter with a triumphant joy will welcome thee as soon as ever thou comest thither Linger no longer but go out O my Soul go out with Joy and Triumph My God hath prepared Heaven for me an happiness beyond infinitely beyond all my thoughts hopes and wishes an happiness that will amaze and transport me as soon as ever I am landed on that blessed shore an happiness that is perfect without any defect and eternal without any end My blessed and loving Jesus hath by his sufferings blood-shed and Death purchased Heaven and a Mansion for me What a glorious blessed Heaven must that be which was the purchase of such sacred pretious and invaluable blood is Heaven the purchase of my Saviours warmest blood Excellent place This all this am I now called to take possession of but oh how loth and unwilling am I to go it is my sin my shame and folly that I am so pardon pity and help me Lord I have been speaking to my self chiding reproving blaming and persuading this sinful silly and backward heart of mine but to what little purpose And now dear Lord I turn my self and speak to thee for I shall never be willing except thy Spirit and Grace make me so I see that Heaven is on the other side but yet how loth am I to step into a dark cold and solitary grave I am convinc'd that Heaven is better than Earth that it is worth a dying to go to God and Christ and yet I cannot ah what a sinful wretched heart have I I cannot long and wish to die Oh pardon my lothness and backwardness and give me a more humble obedient submissive and resigning frame that if this Cup
that no sin tho' never so dear pleasant or secret may survive this funeral our departed Relations have no need of our groans and tears oh let us labour to consecrate our sorrow by turning the flowing streams into the Channel of Repentance that that which was natural may commence Divine How proper is the Death of Relations to excite and quicken Repentance how much may the remembrance of their sick-bed Discourses their dying speeches their farewel counsels and the great change one moment made contribute to soften break and humble our hearts to make us serious and solevin in renewing our Repentance at such a time how easily is the passion of sorrow moved do you weep for her methinks I hear her having no need of pity and tears saying weep not Luk. 23. 28. for me Do you weep for sin pretious tears comfortable sorrow oh weep on and weep more Every Corps Funeral and Grave tells us what an evil sin is and should provoke us to Repent but when Death comes into the very House where we live takes away one of our own number strikes and kills a dear Relation when it is a Father a Mother a Husband a Wife a Child that is carried to the House appointed for all the living Job 30. 23. the call to Repentance is more solemn loud plain and particular and ought to be more awakening After the Death and Funeral of such Repentance is a very seasonable duty Now is the proper time to offer to God the Sacrifice Psa 51. 17. of a broken Heart and contrite Spirit Can I see Death closing the Eyes of such near Relations parting them and me nay one part of themselves from the other Can I behold their pale wan and ghastly Countenances the Soul being gone Can I see them wrapped up in a Shrowd and nailed up in a Cossin Can I attend their Funeral look into the dark and deep Grave where I must leave a to Worms and Rottenness and not think hardly of sin and not resolve by the Grace of God to kill and mortifie it at such a time who does not cry out ah cruel death ah cruel death but hath not every one much more cause to cry out ah cursed sin ah cursed sin the death of this friend of this Relation this Funeral and all others O cursed sin is owing to thee and henceforward I will endeavour thy destruction and ruin V. Be very careful to keep God among you Do what in you lieth that God may be the God of your Posterity after you that they under you may lay claim to the Covenant and the Blessings of it Endeavour that Religion in the Life and Power of it may flourish not only in your own Hearts but in your families Let not FAMILY PRAYER be thrust out nor adjourned to those hours in which you are least of all fit for this awful and important duty May we all strive to keep up the friendship begun between God and our Family Since God hath made all of you except one Mothers reckon it is your duty to bring up your Children for God teach them to know your God and your Fathers God and that God to whom in Baptism you have devoted them that when you shall be dead cold and rotting in the Grave they may be serving and honouring God in your place and stead That Religion and the fear of God may not die out of your Families when you shall 'T is true you cannot give them Grace but you can instruct teach counsel advise exhort and persuade c. you can set a good example you can pray to God for them and plead that Covenant you entered them into almost as soon as God gave them to you and all this you ought and I hope you will be careful to do Tho' the presence awe and fear of living Parents may restrain Children from some sins and vices tho' their examples and counsels may influence them so far as to persuade them to take up a form of Godliness yet oh 2 Tim. 3. 5. what Tears are sufficient to bewail this fatal degeneracy what a dead spiritless and lifeless thing is the Religion of many such as soon as their godly Parents are Dead and cold in their Graves how oft doth that ground that was manured and cultivated plow'd and sown ay and watered with many showers of Tears bring forth a sad crop of Briars and Thorns Some Children are a grief and heart breaking to their Parents while they live and many more are a reproach and disgrace to them when dead and gone how many Children of such Parents notwithstanding the benefit of a good education seasonable instructions wise reproofs and timely counsels live at that rate that they are a blot to their family and a disgrace to their name If any such shall chance to read these lines I charge them in the name of God to consider what a sad case they are in and I pray God to convince them of their sin and folly and how near they are to a sudden and final ruin Would to God such would consider how greatly they will be ashamed and how little they will have to say for themselves when the Prayers and Tears of their Living and the Dust of their Dead Parents shall rise up in Judgment against and condemn them But I hope better Heb. 6. 9. things of you and things that accompany Salvation tho' I thus speak Oh let it still be your study and care and let it be more and more so every day to promote piety and holiness in your own Souls and to propagate it to others who are descended from you that so long as any branch of this Family remains the fear of God and a care of Religion might slourish To conclude there is one thing very amiable and which your Relation peculiarly calls for and that is LOVE this I think I should hardly have mentioned because I hope you are taught of God to 1 Thes 4. 9. love one another if I had not received it among the last Commands of a Mother who had so much of this Grace her self to be your Monitor in this particular Now the Lord sit you and me to follow that at the Resurrection of the Just we may meet our Dear Mother who now sleeps in Jesus and our Honoured Father who is yet with us and whom God long preserve for ours and his Churches sake with Joy and Triumph That they may say lo here are we and all the Children thou didst graciously give us Amen Reading Feb. 28. 1692 3. Thus Prays in all sincerity your truly loving and very affectionate Brother Samuel Doo-little THE Righteous Man's Hope AT DEATH Consider'd and Improv'd For the Comfort of Dying Christians and the Support of Surviving Relations Proverbs 14. 32. But the Righteous hath hope in his Death DEath with what a grim countenance and terrible aspect doth it look upon the Children of Men What a sharp and startling word is this what
and that before they can get thither Faith may and very often does give them a refreshing ravishing and transporting prospect of Heaven Oh! How oft after such a view does the Soul flutter in the Christiâ—ans breast clap its wings and would â—in be gone But Death only can wast us over to and give us the possession of it In short Gods Children die that they may go home I might further add there seems some necessity of dying upon the account of the Body What should this terrene dull and heavy Body do in Heaven How unsuitable is it as it is now to that Place and State to that Company and Work and to be the Instrument of a glorified Soul It must undergo a change that it may be capacitated for this We must be Vncloathed of this Earthly that we may 1 Cor. 5. 4. Be cloathed upon with a Spiritual Body And we must die that Mortality may be swallowed up of Life These Old Houses that are ever and anon tottering and shaking must be pulled down by the hands of Death that we may have new and better This Body must be sown in the dust that it may Spring up more Beautiful Fresh and Comely our Bodies like foul Waters by running through the Earth are Purged and Purified God will not put his New Wine into these Old Mat. 9. 17. Bottles And indeed if he should they would quickly burst and therefore he suffers Death to break that he might have an opportunity to new make them It is to no purpose to say that God can make what alteration and change he pleases and is necessary in the very instant of Translation and what need is there the Body should Die lie in the Grave so long Rot and Putrifie in the Dust For though God can do it in this way he willeth to do it in the other and Who art thou O MAN that thou repliest Rom. 9. 20. against God Upon these accounts Death seemeth necessary to Good Men And that we might not live in continual Fear in Slavish Bondage and a perpetual Torment because of this necessity I now proceed Thirdly To consider what and how great the Priviledge of the Righteous is when he comes to the last Scene of his Life and Death is about to turn him off the Stage We have seen the dark side of the Cloud The Righteous die Let us now turn our Eye and view the bright side The Righteous hath hope in his death Sweet words comfortable thought glorious priviledge with this hope Lord how Psa 23. 4. comfortably may they walk thro' the Valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil You have heard heard You have seen seen Oh how often have you seen that the Righteous die as well as the Wicked that Death preys upon and the Grave swallows up one as well as the other Have you not many and many a time visited them when sickness had lodged them in their Chambers and confin'd them to their Beds Have you not heard their last sobs and groans seen their dying pangs and agonies Have you not clos'd their Eyes laid them in their Cossins and often attended their Funeral followed them to their long Home and lest them in dust and darkness Behold the Righteous die but how dieth the Righteous as the Wicked no verily as they do not live so neither do they die as the Wicked A righteous man may have the same disease be exercised with the same pains and feel the same pangs in a dying hour But upon a spiritual account the difference is vastly wide and great he hath hope in his death Before I distinctly consider what is the Object of this Hope to prevent any mistake it is necessary to premise these two things 1. Every righteous person every man that falls within the already-mentioned Character i. e. every sincere and upright Christian hath ground of hope in his death This does not only belong to some special favourites but is common to all who have God for their Father The Promises which are the foundation of a Christian Hope are not made only to Apostles and eminent Saints to men of renown in the Church but they belong to nay are the Birth-right of even those who are but Babes in Christ All that are born again tho' all are not of the same growth stature and strength are Children Rom 8. 17. and therefore Heirs They have right Col. 1. 12. to and may live and die in hope of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Heaven is sure to them by the Promise of the Father the Purchase of the Son and the In-dwelling of the Holy Spirit who is the Earnest and Pledge of it And the weakest Believer the least of Saints hath ground to hope The Gospel is so ordered the Covenant is so methodiz'd God hath made such ample Provision that every one may have good hope thro' 1 Thes 2. 16 Grace and all that bear this Character are allowed encouraged nay commanded to hope Their hoping is as mighty a pleasure to God as it is a comfort to themselves Hath the blessed Jesus poured out prayers and tears and blood did he groan and die on the Cross that they might have a Mansion above Hath the Holy Spirit in pursuance of the same blessed design been at the pains to renew convert and change them Hath he restor'd them to the image and likeness of God that they might be capable of the enjoyment of him Is he daily forming and attempering their spirits more and more for the heavenly state and employment Hath God the Father in his Eternal Counsels design'd Heaven for them Hath he made them many express and plain Promises of it and can he take it ill they live and die in hope Lord how infinitely unreasonable are we and how do we discourage the Death of the Son the work of the Spirit and the Promises of the Father nay not only naked Promises but Promises repeated over and over seal'd and confirm'd with an Oath by encouraging our doubts and fears all these may and ought to hope May I says many a doubting Christian hope I am but weak in Grace and but a Babe in Christ I have done but little for God and Christ I have but few Talents and them I have not employed and improved as I should and might I was the chiefest of Sinners and now am the least of Saints the very meanest among my spiritual Brethren there are none but love God more and serve him better and bring a greater Revenue of Glory to him than I either do or can or shall while others shine as the Sun in the Firmament of the Church I am but as a poor small and twinkling Star and may I hope to be saved is not Heaven and the happiness thereof too great too glorious a Reward for me Oh! had I the Grace the Faith and Love the Humility and Meekness the Self-denial and Patience the Zeal and Courage c.
of such a Christian had I been as useful in the World and as serviceable in the Church as others then I could hope But poor doubting Christiaâ— why mayst thou not hope for all this Must all the Trees in God's Vineyard be equally fruitful Must all his Children be of the same size Must all that have true Grace have the same measure and degree of it thou canst not think so and why then may not such a one as thou art hope hast thou sincerity and uprightness then thou mayest for the Promise that is the 1 Pet. 1. 3. formal reason of hope is made to Grace as true not as strong All who are born of God are begotten again to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead Tho' I must add 2. As to actual hope all that fall within this Character have it not either living or dying in the same degree The hope of some Christians is so firmly settled so deeply rooted it hath been so oft try'd and prov'd and found of the right stamp that come what will they will hold fast their confidence to the end It is well-grounded and like an house founded on a Rock Mat. 7. 25 it stands fast tho' the Winds blow the Floods come and the Rain descend Satan as cunning and subtil a Sophister as he is cannot argue them out of their hope of Heaven But on the contrary the hope of another Christian is so weak wavering and staggering that the least breath of a Temptation miserably shakes it and a few secret whispers of the malicious one make them call all into question Oh! how soon doth the poisonous breath of this hissing Serpent damp and kill all their hopes Oh! how many sincere Christians have a right to Heaven but do not know it how many are there who cannot get their doubts resolv'd their fears expell'd whose Sun sets in a Cloud and Luk. 10. 20. whose Evening is very dark their names are written in Heaven but they do not cannot rejoyce because they do not know it is so Death lands them safe on the Shore of a Blessed Eternity thro' God's Infinite Mercy they get well into Harbour but poor Souls how do they go off with weeping eyes sad thoughts and great fears of shipwrack and drowning It is not every Christian that in a dying hour can say God is my Father Christ my Saviour Heaven my home and in yonder yonder blessed World there is a Mansion for me How many after a long profession many tears prayers and holy duties both publick and private thro' the weakness of their knowledge unacquaintedness with themselves the temptations of Satan a melancholy temper and an unaccountable timerousness of spirit are not able to read their Evidences Others die with a full assurance of hope go to their Fathers house with joy and triumph and are able to give a reason of that hope that is in them both 1 Pet. 3. 15. to themselves and others How confidently doth the blessed Apostle Paul assert this hope We know if our earthly 2 Cor. 5. 1. house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens How expressive of a strong unshaken and lively hope are those words of the same Apostle even when death was within sight I am now ready to be offered 2 Tim. 4. 6. v. 7. and the time of my departure is at hand I have sought a good fight I have finished my I have kept the Faith henceforth there is 〈…〉 â—ad up for â—â—e a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give 〈…〉 day What an unshaken confiâ—â—â—ce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is such an hope peculiar to an Apostle are such expressions only fit for the mouth of a Paul who had the priviledge to be caught up into Paradise No verily others have had the same lively hope Oh what strong assurance what clear evidences what blessed forecasts and what lively hopes is God pleased to give to some in a dying hour when their Souls stand upon the threshold of time and at the door of Eternity insomuch that they have been able to bid farewell to their dearest Relations submit to the stroke and kiss the cold hand of Death with a wonderful and triumphant Joy with a Joy too great for themselves to express and others to behold This hath made many a Christian say My work is done and blessed be God I have hope of the Reward The hour of my departure is at hand Oh my 〈◊〉 I must leave you and go unto my Father Death is welcome indeed it is welcome for I have hope of an Immortal and better 〈◊〉 know 〈◊〉 thanks be to God I can how long Lord how long come Lord Jesus come quickly I have hope of Heaven and Lord I long I long to be there What sweet what reviving Language is this how pleasing is the meditation of it is it not enough almost to put a man upon coursing Death that he might experience what it is to be in such a blessed frame Lord grant when ever I or my Reader come to die it might be thus with us This is my prayer for thee whoever thou art who readest these Lines the like prayer put up for me with a warm heart a fervent Soul and a lively Spirit and God for Jesus sake say Amen to both This caution premised I shall now consider what is the Object of this hope what good men may and do look for and expect at Death This shall be dispatcht in these following particulars First The Righteous at Death hath hope of a full and perfect freedom from all those evils they are liable to and must conflict withal in this present state In this valley of Tears and shadow of Death to how many and what great evils are we expos'd Man Job 14. â— that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of trouble Man is born oh Cap â—â— what a fine World is this to be fond of to trouble as the sparks flies upwards We come into the World with cries and tears we dwell in it in pain and sorrow We go out of it with sighs and groans How many tears do we shed how many groans do we utter how many complaints do we make upon the account of those evils which befall our selves or others for whose welfare we are and can't but be as much concern'd as for our own This World is a place of sorrow and tears and nothing can wipe away all tears from our Eyes till the hand of Death does The evils which befall us are so many and great so painful and afflictive the memory of what is past is so bitter the weight of what is present is so heavy the fear of what is future so vexing that we cannot be at rest till we close our Eyes and die and Death lays us fast asleep in the bosom of our Mother Earth Here
Duties in my Praying Hearing ay in my Sacramental Communions and Sin is mixt Oh that I had Tears to bewail it with all my graces I do not Love God and Christ so much as I ought and do desire my Faith is weak my Love declined my Zeal abated my Heart cool my Affections chill'd Oh wretched man that I Rom. 7. 24. am Who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death These have been are and will be the complaints of Holy men in this present State But the righteous man hopes the time will come and when sickness hath laid him upon a Death-Bed he knows the time is near at hand when he and sin shall for ever part and in that hour such a one may say now I am dying I am going to a sinless State all my Prayers and Tears Watching and Fasting Wrestling and Striving could not root sin out but Death will now come in to my assistance give me a final and perfect Victory and carry me a conquerour out of the Field When I die this War will end in Victory this conflict in a perfect Conquest None of my sins shall follow me to Heaven I shall not have so much as a wandring dull or cold thought for ever but with Life and Vigour Heat and Rapture a Flaming Zeal and Fiered Affection sing Hallelujah to God and to the Lamb. A good man is so disturbed with the Life of his Lust that were it not for breaking of one commandment that he might be for ever beyond all possibility of breaking any of the rest he would even with his own hands pull down this Earthly House on the Head of these uncircumcised Philistines though he himself be crusht with the fall But he patiently expects the time when God will give Death a commission to do it and this is his hope in his last and sorrowful moments 3. The righteous man at Death hath hope of a full and final deliverance from Satan 2 Cor. 4. 4. and all his temptations The Devil is stiled Eph. 2. 2 The God of this World The Prince of the Powers of the Air which words imply he hath no power in the Blissful Regions beyond Is not this World the Devils Circuit and does not this Roaring Lion walk up and down seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5 8. Are not the best buffeted and sollicited to sin tempted molested and disquieted by him Oh how oft does he shake us in his Teeth though a good God and a merciful Jesus will not suffer him to rend and tear us in pieces tho' Satan hath been bafled and conquered by the Captain of our Salvation yet does he not ever and anon enter the List and give a Challenge to the Followers of the Lamb Have we not a War to manage with these insernal Spirits and powers of darkness and must we not always stand upon our Guard maintain our Spiritual Watch keep on our Armour have our Weapons always in readiness that if we get the better to day we may be prepared for a fresh and more violent assault to morrow Does not Satan one while transform himself into an Angel of Light that he might deceive At another time appear in his onw proper hue as Black as Hell I mean in some horrid and blasphemous suggestions that he might affright and scare us Has he not 2 Cor. 2. 11. his cunning Artifices and suttle Methods to beguile and his Fiery Darts and Eph. 6. 16. Flaming Arrows to Wound and in whatsoever shape he appears whatsoever course he takes is he not a very troublesome and dangerous enemy This is our condition at present and Oh how uneasie and tedious is it to a Child of God to be assaulted with Legions of sins within and an whole Army of Devils without If the temptation doth not prevail it is a torment to be tempted and there cannot but be some fear lest it should In what Agony does the Christian cry Oh what if this temptation should prevail or if I have Grace to resist and overcome this what if the next Temptation should be more fierce the second assault more violent what if at last I should yield constant and be overcome How do such Storms drive them to their Knees and make them with earnestness and affection pray Lord lead us not into Temptation Mâ—â— 6. 13 This World in which we live is haunted with these unclean and ugly Spirits and don 't the best of us at one time or other find it so But the dying Believer hopes for Deliverance if we can keep our integrity maintain our Post stand our Ground defend our selves while we Live we shall be Conquerors take heart Christians we shall be more than Conquerors when we dye 'T is true the assaults of Satan may be most violent in a Dying hour The last Onset most furious and the concluding Battel most bloody but Death will decide the controversie end the Combat and give us the Victory Methinks I hear the dying Christian thus encouraging himself ever since the strong man hath been turned out by the Holy Spirit and Victorious Grace of my Redeemer I have 〈◊〉 little or no peace this Enemy this adversary of my God my Redeemer and my Soul has been ever and anon beating up my quarters many and many a time in the name and strength of the Living God under the conduct of my blessed and victorious Jesus have I accepted the challenge and given battel to these Legions of Darkness and tho' I have been foil'd blessed be God I am not conquer'd tho' I have received some wounds thanks be to God none of them are Mortal I yet live or rather Christ liveth in me and now methinks Gâ—â— 2. 2â— I have and oh how delightful is it the prospect of a final and entire victory Satan hath now almost done his worst he may rage because now his time is short and he knows it to be so but hold out O my Soul stand thy ground resist a little longer play the man act thy part well in this last Combat and the God of Roâ— 10. 2â— Peace shall tread Satan under thy Feet shortly In Heaven and oh how near am I to that blessed place there is no Tempter no Temptation no no when I am lodg'd in Abraham's Bosom or rather in the Arms of my blessed Jesus I am out of Satan's reach for ever when I shall be Dead the Devils Game will be over this Evil One has followed me from my Closet to the Church from my Table to my Bed he has ever stood at my Right Hand to resist me but he shall not dogg my Soul to Heaven no no the purity and holiness of that place cannot admit the Presence of any of these impure filthy and unclean Spirits 4. Dying Christians hope to be delivered from all Spiritual desertions and those doubts and fears which are consequent thereupon How oft by too too wilful falls and sins by allowing our selves in
such as are Heirs of Salvation we are under God Heb. 1. 14. very much beholden to those kind loving and generous spirits for those innumerable and unknown offices of kindness and good turns they have done us They are our Life-guard from the Cradle to the Grave a whole body of these invisible Beings encamp round about us How carefully do they watch over us how diligently do they observe us how constantly do they bear us up in their Arms and by what unaccountable and to us unknown methods do they prevent imminent dâ—ngâ—rs and save us from the Snares lâ—id for us how ready are they to encourage assist and help us in any Spiritual work in any great and difficult undertakings how do they long for our Repentâ—nâ—e rejoice at our Conversion and what haste do they make to carry the happy tidings of it to Heaven that others 〈◊〉 rejoice with them with what a â—iâ—â—ty concern do they drive and chase aâ—ay evil â—â—irits with what courage do they 〈◊〉 â—s from the râ—ge and fury 〈…〉 â—illing are 〈…〉 in thiâ— dangerous 〈…〉 we have been foil'd 〈…〉 how seasonably have 〈…〉 what 〈◊〉 have they made to espouse our quarrel and fight out the remaining battle for us How off have they kept us from being hurt by those Apostate and Malignant Spirit which in vast numbers rove about in the Air and wander up and down in this lower World upon no other errand than to do mischief and prey upâ—n immortal Souls These good Angels are further beneficial to holy men at death in that they immediately take the Souls of such into their custody and guard them in their Journey from one World to the other and never leave them till they come safe thither How unacquainted are we with the way to yonder inviâ—â—â—le World it is a pâ—th we have never â—one a râ—â—d we have never yet travelld neither can we discover any footsteps of those who are gone before us How hard is it for Souls that have been so long embodied in flesh to find which is the right 〈◊〉 and tract in those vast wide anâ— uâ—known Regiâ—â—â— of Air how impossâ—bâ—â— is this but by the direction of son 〈◊〉 â—â—perienced 〈◊〉 and who can 〈◊〉 â—ore or bâ—â—â—er experience than 〈◊〉 Messâ—nger of Heaven who hâ—â—e 〈◊〉 velled a thousand and a thousand nay innumerable times from that World to this and from this back again to that Moreover what a melancholy and frightful thought is it that my separated Soul must pass thro' the lower Regions of the Air which are the Dominions of Apostate Spirits the Devil's Camp and Satan's Head-quarters and this lonely and solitary having none either to accompany or defend it But that this might not amaze departing Saints they shall have as many Angels as are necessary to guard and defend them That holy Soul may pass safely thro' the Territories of their Enemies that they might not be scared terrified or daunted by those swarms of unclean spirits which lie up and down in the Air a good God hath appointed a Convoy of Angels to attend them and no doubt a convenient number of them stand round about the Death-bed of every good man and immediately receive his Soul when it is expired Some think that the fiery Chariot and Horses in which Elijah mounted up to Heaven was a Convoy of Angels however for this they have a commission and those good and kind spirits do not disdain to perform this last act and office of love to the meanest Saint for the Beggar died and the sacred Story tells us he was carried by Angels into Luk. 16. 22. Abraham 's bosom How comfortable is it to study the Commission given to Angels in this particular and how supporting to hope nay to be assur'd they will act according to it Lo this is the hope of the Righteous at death Gloririous Priviledge Thirdly The Righteous have hope of deliverance from Hell and the torments of the Damned The afflictions of time are nothing to the miseries of Eternity The distress and anguish of a poor creature stretcht on the Wheel rackt and tortur'd in every limb part and member is but a weak and faint resemblance of the horrous and agonies of despairing Souls in Hell The pains of the first are nothing to the pangs of the second and Eternal Death There is a fire kindled that shall never go out flames burning which shall never be quencht a Worm to gnaw that shall never die and Devils to torment who shall never be weary of that bloody and hellish work There impenitent sinners oh how terrible and dreadful a place is Hell must feel the strokes of Revenging Justice the â—â—â—â—es of their own Enraged Consciences drink of the Cup of the Wine of the Wrath of God and be scared with the sight of ten thousand ugly Devils They must burn and not be consumed be tortured and never die have pain and no case trouble and no rest sorrow and no joy tho' they go laughing to Hell they shall never laugh more they shall have an eternal night and no day be fill'd with despair and have no hope Hell what an amazing word is it Hell how extreamly melancholy are the thoughts of it Hell whose heart does noâ— tremble at the hearing of it Hell what unknown miseries are wrapt up in it Hell Hell how many wretched sinners have voluntarily run into it to escape the beginnings of it in their own Consciences but yet all we â—â—n imagine and fansie in this World is infinitely short of what this single this little word Hell imports and must be felt in the next But a Righteous man Lord what must be the joy of his departing Soul hath hope in his death he shall be delivered from all this I must die may he say but I shall not be damn'd I must go to a cold dark silent and solitary Grave my Glass is run the number of my years months hours and moments is now finisht I am going to my long home but I shall not be sent to an hot burning and flaming Hell My flesh this Body of mine must ror in dust but my Soul shall not burn in that fiery Oven the way which leads to those Chambers of horrour and darkness is broad exceeding broad the Gate that leads to Hell is wide and standeth open day and night and thousands go in thâ—reat but I hope I shall take another path 'T is true I sinful I have deserved Hell again and again and I might have been in it long ago but I do hope thanks be to God I do hope and will hope my blessed Jesus will snatch me as a firebrand out of those everlasting burnings Amen Amen Fourthly The Righteous at death hath hope of being immediately received into Heaven and welcomed by all that are there The Souls of Believers being separated do not wander up and down in yonder vast large and capacious Regions much less are they according to the Roman Fable to suffer
and live Oh let me die for then I hope I know I shall I have heard of Christ I have talkt of Christ and blessed be God I have met with Christ in Prayer Sermons and at a Sacrament But now I am going to see this dear and blessed Jesus This this Oh! This is my hope and now O DEATH DEATH I challenge I dare thee to do thy worst Sixthly The Righteous man at Death hath hope of the Resurrection of the Body and of a Body a thousand times more glorious than that which is put off at Death and laid in the Dust The Kesurrection of the dead is a main Article of our Christian Faith and without this Hope we Christians â— Co. 15. 19. should be of all most miserable Christs Resurrrection is the Reason Pattern Proof and Pledge of ours As sure as he is risen so sure is it we shall the Lord will come the Trumpet sound Arise ye dead shall be spoken with that Power Majesty and Authority that all shall obey that Summons the bands of death shall be loosed the doors of the grave opened the dead raised and then shall death be fully conquered and mortality be swallowed up of Life Christ sees where every member of his is laid â— Col. â— 4 watches over their dust and wâ—ll quicken and raise them Put dost thou say with what body shall they rise What body A very glorious body the glory of the latter Iâ—ay 2. â— House shall be greater than the glory of the first That Body which now is like a dull dark clod of Earth shall then shine sparkle and glitter with a brightness like to that of yonder Sun at noonday That Body that now is weak shall then be perfectly well strong and healthful That Body that now is sown in corruption 1 Co. 15. 4â— shall then be raised in incorruption live and die no more for ever The Resurrection is an Article of a Christians Faith and that he in particular shall rise to a blessed Immortality is the object of his hope 'T is true to quicken and raise a dead body a body that for many Ages has been rotting in the grave a body which has been devoured by an Army of Crawling and â—â—ngry Worms a body which has been dissolved into a thousand particles and infinite Atoms of Dust requires an Almighty power but yet notwithstanding the laughter of an Atheistical Sadducee and the little objections which now and then may be mustered up though carnal reason be ready to say how can these things be Yet Joh. 3. 9. he believes and hopes it shall be so Holy Job when the morning was but newly dawn'd had the knowledge and hope of this I know saith he that my Job 19 25. Redeemer â—iveth and that he shall stand at the latter day on the Earth and though after v. 26. my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see v. 27. for my self and mine Eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me The Righteous sleep securely in a bed of dust in the bosom of the Earth they are not terrified with Dreams nor scared with any frightful Visions of the night and after a sweet repose and a long sleep a powerful and Almighty Jesus will awake and raise them and give them a Body like to his own most Glorious Body in exchange for that Weak Vile and Contemptible Body Death laid in the grave This is a fundamental Article of our Faith And why should it seem to any a thing incredible Acts 26. 8. that God whose power is unlimited should raise the Dead I go may the dying believer say the way of all Flesh Abraham Isaac and Jacob are gone before me and though I shall return to my House no more yet my dust shall be quickned revived and raised The sound of the last Trumpet the voice of the Arch Angel and the louder and shriller voice of my powerful Saviour will awake me out of my dead sleep I see the shadows of the evening are stretched out and night is coming but I believe and hope the morning will also come and the day of my redemption quickly dawn I fall asleep with hope that when day breaks my Lord will give me a call and bid me rise Though this Flesh of mine must moulder into dust yet it shall be quickned and spring up again at the resurrection of the just My dead Body shall live again those dry Bones of mine which may be tumbled up and down and lookt upon with contempt and scorn shall again be cloathed with Flesh and a Spirit of Life shall enter into me O Death now 's thy time thou wilt conquer and captivate me this Body must be thy Prisoner but my time will come in the morning I and all that sleep in Jesus shall Psal 49. 14. have Dominion over thee After I have lain a while bound and fetter'd in a dark and silent Grave my Lord my Victorious Jesus will rescue me and all the Prisoners of hope Christ is the Resurrection and Joh. 11. 25. the Life and believing in him I shall live methinks with sensible joy I hope I know I shall live tho' I die Lo O my Christian friends this is my hope in a dying hour and thanks be to God it is unshaken Seventhly The Righteous hath hope of a publick Absolution and a sentence of life at the day of the last and general iudgement The Resurrection of the Dead is in order to Judgment Men must leave their Graves to come to the Bar Christ shall sit down on the Judgment-Seat and a Universal Summons being given all the Children of Adam shall be gathered before him for we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that everâ— one may receive the things done in hiâ—â—ody according â— Cor. 5 10. to that he hath done whether it be good or bad This Judgment will be solemn and awful dreadful and terrible impartial and righteous final and decisive for after a fair trial that sentence shall be past which will determine our everlasting state Then shall the Righteous be own'd and acknowledg'd be acquitted and absolved be sentenc'd and adjudged to Eternal Life in the face of that vast and awful assembly of Angels and Men and when that reviving sentence Well done good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord shall be prononc'd by 〈…〉 Christ with an audible voice a smiling countenance in the hearing of the whole Court Lord what a triumphant and transporting joy will they be filled with methinks I see their chearful looks their smiling Countenances and a pleasant Air in every Face with what a mighty nimbleness and sprightful vigour does the newly restored blood dance along their veins how do the Heavens Eccho with their Acclamation of Joy methinks I hear them saying with a loud and chearful voice AMEN HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH I
softned and broken you must renounce the Infernal Trinity the World the Flesh and the Devil your old Hearts and Natures must be changed love to God must be your governing principle the characters of the H. Gospel must be imprest upon your Hearts and there must be a sincere constant and universal obedience to all its commands in your lives you must have Faith in the Heart which works by Love and there must Gal. 5. 6. be obedience in the life the fruit evidence and proof of that Faith and what argument and motive can be more cogent to persuade you to endeavour after this compleat righteousness than this in the text Sirs when you are sick and ready to die you send for us and then you cry out for comfort oh Sir saith many an one on his Death-bed have you no comfort for a dying man Can you give me no hope it will be well with me after Death Oh that I had some hope of Heaven you that know to whom Heaven belongs tell me oh tell me if there be any ground for me to hope it will be mine and will you not labour after that righteousness without which all your hope is vain and will end in eternal desperation Shall the profits of the World or the pleasures of sin keep you from being Religious indeed infinite folly Were I now upon my Death-bed panting for Breath strugling for life beyond the hope and possibility of recovery were I now expecting which hour and moment which pulse and breath would be my last oh what would hope of a blessed Immortality be worth hope of Heaven would stand me in more stead than the riches of ten thousand Worlds Lord quicken my resolutions and endeavours awaken my drowsie Soul inspire my dead and slothful Heart with light and life with warmth and zeal let me trifle and dally no longer but mind and mind it as the main business of my life to get that righteousness which may add spirit and life to my hopes in a dying hour I resolve and purpose to do so Lord maintain and strengthen these holy purposes and grant me this hope at my death Infer VI. How unaccountable and blame-worthy is fear of death especially that which is tormenting and slavish in those who are truly righteous 'T is true in Death upon the slightest view we may behold something â—elancholy and startling frightful and gloomy something that puts Nature into a fright and makes it recoil and start back at the thoughts of it but if we consider it more distinctly in its antecedents languishing sicknesses acute pains and terrible pangs in its consequent what becomes of the young strong and honourable when death hath turn'd the man into a pale wan and ghastly corps it appears more formidable but if we farther consider it as the effect of our primitive Apostacy and the fruit of the Divine Curse as it transmits the Soul to a righteous and impartial Tribunal and as it is attended with Hell it may justly whenever we think of it surprise us with horrour But how unreasonable is it for good men who have such great and glorious hopes to be kept in Bondage all their life-long thro' fears of Death and yet how Heb. 2. 15. loth are the best of us to admit the thought of dying how loth to suppose that the next year week or day we may be laid in the Grave when sickness shakes how loth are we death should pull down this Earthly Tabernacle But how greatly are we to be blamed for this when God has provided such an antidote as hope of Heaven What is it we are afraid of What is it makes us start and draw back when Death is marching towards us and we hear the sound of its feet at our chamber doors do we fear the pains and pangs which usually usher in the King of Terrors Cannot God make our passage speedy and easie and have we not hope that when these pains are over we shall feel no more Are we loth to die because we must leave our Relations and Friends and have we not hope of going to better Are we afraid to die because after Death our separated and naked Souls must pass thro' the Devils Dominions and Territories And have we not hope of a Convoy of mighty and powerful Angels who dare fight those unclean Spirits in their own Quarters to conduct them safe to the blessed abodes above Are we afraid to die because after Death comes Judgment And have we not hope the Judge is our friend and that our trial will have a good and happy Issue Finally are we loth to die because these Bodies and this Flesh of ours must rot in dust and darkness and our eyes must no more behold this sweet and pleasant light and have we not hope towake and rise after a quiet and undisturbed sleep Oh how abundantly hath our good God provided for our comfortable passage to Eternity Let as many then as have this hope banish these unreasonable and slavish fears which are a pleasure to Satan a dishonour to God a reproach to our profession a disgrace to our hopes and a torment to our selves Infer VII Hence we see the reason of the willing and chearful joyful and triumphant departure of some believers at the hour of Death The Souls of some men are violently rent and torn from them fain would they live longer but must not some die with a quiet and silent submission and some die with abundance of joy and triumph As old Jacob's heart was revived and cheared when he saw the Waggons which were sent to fetch him to his beloved Joseph so the hearts of some Christians have even leapt for joy when they have seen Death coming to carry them to their beloved Jesus Death drest up in the most terrible shape has not been able to fright them With what courage and resolution boldness and magnanimity composedness and chearfulness with what joy and triumph did the Martyrs of old suffer and die The angry frowns the sour looks the threatning words of their enemies have not daunted them the passing sentence of Death upon them and appointing the time for their execution has neither startled nor troubled them No no they have rejoyced in their Dungeons and gone to the Flames with Psalms of Praise in their mouths With what an unshaken mind transport and joy have they passed from their Prisons to a Stake not in the least concerned at the sight of the executioner the instruments of Death and all the bloody Pomp that was carried before them How have these noble confessors endured the torture of the Rack the burning of the Flames not only with patience and submission but with thankfulness and access of joy and exultancy of Spirit though I confess there was somewhat peculiar in this case yet was not all this owing to the liveliness of their hope and strength of their assurance Faith made them Martyrs and Hope made them Triumphant How many other
Christians who were never called out to endure the Fiery Tryal who never had the honour of Pet. 4 12. Martyrdom conferred on them have been fill'd with the greatest joy in their last moments how many have discours'd of their death given command concerning their Burial and taken their leave of this World with joyful hearts pleasant looks and chearful countenance how many have gone to Heaven not only with quiet still and silent affection but with acclamations of Joy and with verbal Praises of God in their mouths have not their comforts been strongest when Nature has been weakest Have not their Death-Bed Joys exceeded all that they ever felt before and has not their last breath been employed in praising God Did you never hear a dying Christian express himself to this purpose I thank God I am as willing to die as others are to live the thoughts of my Coffin and Grave don't trouble me trouble me They are as sweet as the thoughts of my Bed wont to be after the Toil and Labour of the day Is my end drawing on Must I now die Welcome News Joyful Tidings Weep O my dear Friends weep no more for me for nothing troubles me but your excessive grief and sorrow I am willing to die and do you be willing I should I am willing to wait with patience till Gods time is come but I could be very well contented now even now this hour this moment to be gone I see nothing in this Vain Sinful and Wretched World that should make a wise man fond of it but on the other side the grave what great what blessed Lord What glorious things do I see See so much that I am willing to die that I might see and enjoy more The blessed and loving Jesus has purchased and prepared a mansion for me and now he calls me to come to it and shall I be loth backward and unwilling If I should wou'd not my Saviour take it ill Unwilling to die What 's that but to be unwilling to be happy There will be joy in Heaven when I am there and I would there should be joy on Earth now I am going thither Though all cannot thus Triumph over Death and the Grave yet thanks be to God some can and what is the ground of all this but that lively hope their departing Souls are inspired with Without hope how impossible were any thing of this kind Hope attends them in their last sickness hope shoots the gulf with them carries them to the gates of Heaven and never leaves them till they take possession of the immortal and undefiled inheritance and this hope is the reason of that peculiar joy other men are strangers to in a dying hour What great things can hope do Infer VIII How carefully should every righteous man endeavour that his hope may be strong vigorous and lively in a dying hour Ere long God in whose hands is our time our Life and Breath will grant Death a commission Ere long Death inexorable Death impartial Death Death that has conquered all who lived before us will enter our Chamber lay close seige to our hearts the secret spring of Life rend and tear us from the embraces of our dearest Friends who shall have nothing to do but to behold and lament the victory And what shall we then do if we have no hope or but a weak one There is a very great difference in the Death even of righteous men themselves Some go weeping others triumphing through the dark valley Some excellent Christians have many doubts and fears in that hour Death terrifies though it cannot hurt them They have only some secret support but have not the joy of hope Since the righteous may have hope and such hope to be a cordial to them in their last and most sorrowful moments Oh how greatly does it concern us to look to our selves and use our utmost endeavours that we may have hope and not only so but that our hope may be strongest when Nature is weakest and lively in our dying Agony and that our best richest and sweetest Wine may be reserved to the Last Hope how can we live without it Hope what shift can we make to die without it Hope how insipid are the pleasures of Life Hope how uncomfortable are afflictions how overwhelming are the terrors of Death without it Hope how does it lighten every Burden sweeten every Cup and make every Cross the more easie Hope what safety may we have from it in every conflict as it is our Helmet what security in every storm 1 Thes 5. 8. Heb. 6. 19. as it is our Anchor Hope how does it raise our Spirits warm our Affections invigorate our Endeavours encrease our Love inflame our Zeal Hope how does it enable men to contemn flight and despise all the admired and adored vanities of an empty and perishing World Hope what a pleasing relish does it give of every promise What a sprightful accent to all our praises and what a captivating power to every thought and prospect of Heaven Hope how doth it make us more moderate in our desires more modest in our requests and more indifferent in our endeavours after these mean and little things here below Of what use and benefit is this hope to us A strong and confirmed hope will be of great use when a weak and wavering one will do us but little service And how careful should you Righteous one 's be to get and keep cherish and maintain a good hope How industriously should you endeavour to live in Hope and above all to die in hope That you may have this hope and the comfort of it too when your Sun is going down and night is coming You should labour after this lively hope 1. For God's sake The infinite doubts fears and jealousies which many sincere Christians cherish their drooping and desponding complaints their melancholy walking and uncomfortable lives reflect on that God they serve as if he were unkind and disgrace that best of Religions which they have espous'd as if it were good for nothing but to make men dull sad and mopish Men see so little pleasure in Religion because they see so little comfort in the lives of its Votaries and if an uncomfortable Life do so much will not an uncomfortable Death do much more For such men to be dejected and cast down in sickness to shiver and tremble when death approaches to question their right and title to Heaven when they are going to it may very much dishonour God reflect upon Religion and prejudice the Wicked should any of these men be in the Chamber of such a dying Christian how would they at least secretly pity him for his easiness and credulity deride Religion and scorn an holy life with what disdain would they be ready to say See what all his Religion is come to what is the fruit of his praying and hearing his precise and circumspect walking Death is as terrible to him as it would be to
and clear evidences there are of a future state and tho' Satan may raise Batteries against our Faith yet let us defend it and pray to God it may never fail Let Faith often travel into yonder Eternal World send it as a Spy to take a view of the Heavenly Canaan and firmly believe the report it brings back for our Faith must be stedfast if ever we would have our hope unshaken Secondly Walk closely with God and take heed of all known willful and presumptuous Sins Having solemnly dedicated your selves to the glory and service of the Blessed Trinity Father Son and Spirit walk according to that dedication Watch against every thing that may give a wound to your sincerity or cause you to question it If you would have hope in your Death live according to your Character Righteous persons What is the fruit of your sloth and negligence the consequent of your hearkning to sin and complying with temptation but perplexing jealousies and tormenting suspicions blotted evidences and languishing hopes want of assurance and the Heavenly joy that flows from thence Am I in a state of Grace and do I belong to God Will God reward such poor and mean performances with Heaven Is not my hope vain and only the counterfeit of that which is in true Christians Shall I ever be happy or may I venture to hope I shall Are the disconsolate reasonings of the careless Christian upon the neglect of duty and commission of sin It is thus and have not some of you found it so Willful and presumptuous sins will raise black and dark clouds between you and Heaven These clouds may eclipse the light of Gods countenance at present and break and fall down in terrible storms and tempests in the evening What a dreadful change did holy David find in himself after his unhappy and scandalous fall How did it damp his joy blot his evidences and stab his hopes Poor man he is wrapt up in clouds and darkness and in great distress and agonies of Soul cries to God Lord restore to me the joy of thy Salvation Psal 51. 12. and uphold me with thy free Spirit On the contrary an holy obedient life a strict and circumspect walking with God will both warrant and confirm our hope Heaven is promised to the obedient or in the language of the the Text to the righteous And every act of sincere obedience will enable me to see my right to the promise and apply it to my self and a constant and persevering obedience will be accompanyed with a full assurance of hope unto the end Holiness â—eâ— 6. 11. of heart and life will furnish me with an answer to all my doubts and fears afford me comfort amidst all my sad jealousies and perplexities of Spirit strengthen me to look as far as Heaven and enable me to read my name written there Our Hope as well as our Faith without works will be dead But a strong and lively a certain and confirmed hope will be the issue of an holy and obedient life It will entitle us to the promise and warrant our hope of the reward Would you then have hope in your Death Mortifie sin subdue corruptions and crucifie the old man keep up the Government of Grace and the Authority of Christ in your Souls watch against snares and temptations keep your garments undefiled and your selves unspottep Remember every willful sin wounds your hope Thirdly If through the strength of corruption and violence of temptation you chance to miscarry and fall endeavour to rise again by a solemn serious and speedy repentance We thanks be to God are not under the Law which requires a sinless spotless obedience as the condition of Life But under the Gospel of the meek and merciful Jesus which requires and admits of repentance And whenever we have wounded our selves by sin it is our interest and wisdom to betake our selves to this remedy Though you cannot keep your selves innocent yet be sure you do not live impenitent If you do defile your garments in one instant be sure you wash them with a flood of penitential tears the next Keep Conscience wakeful and tender that it may sharply reprove you when you do amiss and when Conscience looks upon you as Christ did upon Peter do you also go out Mat. 26. 75. and weep bitterly Let your repentance be serious and solemn with blushing and shame confusion and sorrow with hearty sighs and groans with a broken heart and contrite Spirit with a bleeding soul and melting affections With all the signs of a Gospel-repentance and unfeigned remorse confess and bewail your late sin or sins before God Let your confession be free and not forc't particular and not general and the more to affect melt and humble you aggravate your sin with the several circumstances which did attend the commission of it And then beg of God to pardon you Plead Christian plead as for thy life that that sin might not eclipse the light of his countenance deprive thee of the comforting and witnessing presence of his Spirit that it might not prove either the damnation of thy soul or the destruction of thy hopes And do all this speedily while the wound is fresh and green before it rankle and putrifie While you delay your repentance your hearts will grow more hard your conscience more insensible and the neglected bruise which you got by your fall will grow worse and worse and if it be not timely lookt after may prove the death of all your hopes After the heat and hurry of the day does conscience in the cool of the evening cite thee to make thy appearance in its Court Summon thee by some sudden rebuke and surprizing terror to hold up thy guilty hands at its Tribunal As soon as ever this Domestick Judge reads the Bill of Indictment and brings the bloody charge against thee betake thy self to a serious repentance revoke retract and wipe out thy sins by an immediate act of repentance 'T is true 't is infinitely better to be righteous persons who need no repentance i. e. to be guilty of as few sinful Luk. 15. 7. miscarriages as we can But in case we do fall we have this remedy at hand and we must use it If I sin in the day I ought to go and be reconciled to God and my own Conscience before night If we take this course our hope which was withering languishing and dying like grass scorcht with the heat of the burning Sun being watered with these showers of penitential tears may revive sprout forth and flourish again and be fresh in the very evening This is the way to have great peace in Life and at Death Fourthly Daily exercise Faith in Christ especially as Crucified and Risen from the Dead Christ by his Blood-shed and Death by his passion and the Sacrifice of himself on the Cross has bore the Curse of the Law satisfied Divine Justice and quench'd those Flames of Wrath we had kindled he hath
Isal 38 19. praise God but the living the living they should When they were sick you did I am sure you should pray for them and being dead and having died in hope you should give thanks to the Father of Mercies for his Mercy to them for his goodness to them in the close in the evening in the concluding act of their lives Tho' thanks be to God we know nothing of praying for the Dead yet we may and ought to praise God for his Grace to them and especially for that Grace which enabled them to go off and die so well Did God in the evening visit their Souls speak peace to their Consciences publish their Pardon and carry them beyond the fear of Death and the Grave Did the Comforter come and did they find and feel he was before death did did God open the Eyes of the Soul to read their Evidences for Heaven before death closed those of the Body did God shine in upon their Souls and in the evening-time was it light did you hear them speak Zech 14. 7. of their departure without Tears and Groans nay with Joy and Triumph did you see a Calm upon their Spirits did you see them compose themselves to die in the same manner they were wont to do when they went to sleep with little or no difference only an unusual coldness and did they thus die Lord what praise is due to Free Grace Is it not the duty and interest of the Husband to bless God for his mercy to his departed Wife Is it not the duty of Children to offer up a Sacrifice of praise to their God and their Fathers God for the seasonable help the gracious supports and the suitable comforts afforded to a Father to a Mother in a dying hour should not as many praises be given to God for his mercy to their Souls as Tears shed over their Coffins and Graves what praises oh what hearty praises are due to God that they set sail with a fair Wind an happy Tide and got safe to Shore is it not melancholy and sad to see such near Relations full of doubts and fears crying out I cannot die I dare not die and did God prevent all this by giving them hope and the joy of hope too before they left us to go to him and should not God have the Glory that is due unto his name Our sacrifices of praise should mount up to Heaven in a pure and bright flame and there meet the Souls of our deceased Relatives Thanksgiving and Praise is a debt which holy persons who were thus priviledg'd in their last moments would have their surviving Relations pay to God in their name and stead Thirdly Another Duty is a careful imitation of their holy Lives This is a special branch of that Communion we have with departed Saints and the nearer they were to us in the flesh the more careful we should be to imitate them How does it concern Children who are left behind to follow the example tread in the steps of an holy Father or a godly Mother oh how should they endeavour to be the living Images of their deceased Parents gone from them to God! how greatly doth it concern such to labour after the same Vertues and Graces to accustom themselves to the same holy practices and religious exercises to keep up the old friendship there hath been between God and their Family that the Covenant Relation might not be broken in them Were they humble and meek quiet and patient holy and heavenly were they devoted to God and to the service of the Redeemer and did they live walk and act as such did they slight the World and all the gay and charming vanities of it and fill up every Relation with duty were they given to secret Prayer did they keep up Communion with God adorn their holy profession and live suitably to it at all times did they carefully husband and redeem their Time wisely imploy and improve all their Talents were they kind and merciful liberal and charitable and did they live as Heirs of the Grac of God and Candidates for Immortality and the expectants 1 Pet. 3. 7. of a future Glory were they burning and shining lights an honour to their Profession a credit to Religion and a peculiar Grace and Ornament to the particular Churches they were Members of did they carry it towards God and Man according to the rules of their holy Religion did they converse with God live in Heaven and prepare for Death and Judgment oh how worthy is this the imitation of them who are left behind How oft is wickedness and vice profaneness and irreligion transmitted from Father to Son and how do their Children act as if they were only born to perpetuate the War against Heaven and were only left to fill up the measure of their Father's iniquities how oft do some particular Vices or Vice run in a blood and are propagated from generation to generation till the whole family of these accursed Sinners is extinct and oh what a shame and pity is it that Piety and Religion which are the honour and glory of a Family which make a man excellent while he lives and render his memory precious when he is dead which render us dear to God and useful to others should not outlive the present Generation See more of this in the Epistle To stir us up to a careful imitation of such holy relations what argument can be more prevalent than this before us To consider what is the happy conclusion of an holy life viz. hope in Death At such a time every one is ready to cry out with Balaam Oh that I might die the death Numb 23. 10. of the righteous and my latter end might be like to his but what a vain wish is this if our lives be unlike to theirs the Children of holy Parents more especially should strive to be followers of them and keep God among them Was God should such an one say my Fathers God and my Mothers God and shall I forsake or cast him off Oh what a sin and shame is this have I such a fair Copy to write after and will it not greatly reflect on me if mine be full of blots and blurs When you are tempted remember you are the off-spring of them who were the friends and lovers of God that you are come of an holy stock and then say would my holy Father my godly Mother who are now with God have done thus and thus Are they acting the part of holy Angels in Heaven and shall I the Son the Daughter of such Religious Parents be acting the Devil upon Earth Will not the very dust of these holy Relations rise up in Judgment against and condemn me O my Soul let me remember with what comfort they lived with with hope they died with what joy they shall rise again what foretasts of Heaven how much of their reward they hadon a death-bed and let me charge it upon
what holy motions and breathings what enlivening quickening and comforting influences of the Holy Spirit have I had how oft hath God supported my drooping and reviv'd my dying Spirits answered my doubts expell'd my fears and treated me as a Friend nay more as a Son how hath God in mercy restrained the Tempter or wisely ordered the Temptation as to the nature strength and continuance of it what succour and support what strength and assistance have I experienc'd at such a time and how oft through Grace have I been more than a Conquerour when I sinn'd and fell God did not cast me off banish me his family and null the former Relation but pittied me a faln Christian when he heard my groans and saw my penitential Tears his Bowels yearned he took me up and embraced me in the Arms of his Mercy wiped my weeping Eyes comforted my sorrowful Heart and said Son be of good chear thy sins are forgiven Mat. 9. 2. thee Oh! the joy oh the unspeakable joy of that hour methinks I yet sensibly feel what lively and warm impressions those words made upon my Heart upon my Heart that the moment before was ready to sink and dye within me when I was covered with Tears Blushing and Shame when I lay sighing sobbing and groaning at his Foot-stool crying out in the bitterness of my Soul I have sinned I have sinned before I rose from my knees before I said Amen my God came and said I have pardoned I have pardoned and now go in peace For the mercy and kindness of that hour Lord I bless thee now When through the weakness of my Grace the strength of my Corruptions and the power of Temptation I have wandred and gone astray when my zeal has abated my affections been cooled when I have been remiss negligent and careless back-sliding and on the declining hand he sent some affliction or other to call me back to awaken warm quicken and recover me When I have loved the World too much and my God too little when my affection to Earth has been too warm and to Heaven too cold when duties have been neglected or performed without life vigour and zeal when I begun to be too Worldly Earthly and Sensual he suffered me to meet with disappointments took away part of my Estate snatcht away a bosom Friend a dear Relation filled my Body with pain shook me over the Grave and threatned to cast me into it and all this with a merciful design to reform and make me better And Lord I thank thee any afflictions have been sanctified to such an end that the voice of the Rod has been accompanied with that of thy Spirit and both were effectual to reclaim me that at any time I came out of the fire more refin'd and purg'd and that those Waters of Affliction washt away my filthiness Lord I can do and will bless thee for seasonable corrections and the discipline of thy Rod. So good and kind so liberal and bountiful so merciful and gracious hath God been to me I have had so much for Body and Soul for time and eternity that I am fill'd with wonder and must cry out Oh the heighth and depth length and breadth of the love of God! my mercies have been more than my moments and every single mercy deserves and calls for a Psalm of Praise Lord when I am dead and in a silent Grave I cannot praise thee and therefore now I will blessed be God I lived till I was born again that ever I heard of that sweet that blessed that charming name JESUS and that I was enabled to believe on him for all the Mercies I have had in this World and for the hope and prospect of more and better in the next Blessed be God for Pardoning Mercy Sanctifying Grace and the Blood of Jesus to wash and cleanse me a sinner Blessed be God for the supports and comforts I have in this sickness that Satan is restrain'd and my own corruptions curb'd Blessed be God I am made meet for Heaven and that I know I am Lord what Grace is thine how free and sovereign What love is thine how constant and matchless how sweet how exceeding sweet is the thought that God hath loved doth love me and will do so unto the End I 'll bless thee Lord while I live thank thee with my last Breath and O my God through Christ thy Son and my Saviour accept my dying praises Bless the Lord O my Soul bless the Lord for me O my Friends bless the Lord O ye his Holy Angels my single voice is not sufficient may every Tongue all breath praise his holy name Amen HALLELUJAH III. After Death cometh Judgment what an awakening Thought this is and ought to be How this Thought may and should be improv'd by us in our last Sickness particularly to put us upon Confession the exercise of Repentance and earnest Prayer to God for Pardoning Mercy SICKNESS Summons Men to die Death Summons them to Judgment May this Sickness be my last and do I suppose it will hearken O my Soul and thou may'st hear Deaths Voice Come unto the Bar come give an account of thy Self to God in the NAME of the ETERNAL GOD whose Servant and Messenger I am I cite thee O Man to make thine appearance before the Tribunal of thy Maker Sovereign and Judge in the other World Awful Tidings what awakening and startling words are these must I O my Soul quickly Dye and after that be judg'd go from my Death-bed to the Bar of an Infinitely Holy Just and Jealous God must my Life be examined all my Actions scanned and my everlasting state in that moment be determined must a Righteous and Irreversible Doom pass upon me must I Dye in one moment and in the next be Judg'd and shall not I search my ways examine my state take a survey of my Heart and Life before I pass to that final and irreversible Judgment and hold up these guilty hands of mine at God's Tribunal shall I not endeavour to know what has been amiss that I may confess be humbled for repent of it and beg pardon Lord help me a sick Lord for Jesus sake help me a dying man in this serious solemn work help me to find out my sins to repent and implore thy mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ who is my only hope in Life at Death and after Death I was born a sinner and came into the World guilty and polluted behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother Psal 51. 5. conceive me As I am a Child of Apostate Adam dreadful thought I am unlike to the Holy and Blessed God and resemble the Devil the worst of Beings and had I no other sin this were enough to shame confound silence and condemn me But alas have I not found this original sin active in my Heart and fruitful in my Life with what force and violence has it hurried me to the commission of sin oh
pardon and save yonder penitent sinner and shall my prayer backt with the pleadings of that blood be shut out I have now but a little time my glass is almost run the day is far spent the shadows of the evening are stretched out the night will quickly come Lord be not angry if I renew my request urge thee with thy promise and lie at thy foot till I obtain my pardon and Conscience be enabled and authorized to read it I am miserable and without thy pity must be so for ever and Lord I cannot I will not take a denyal I am thine save me In this sickness I have Ps 119 94. been examining my heart searching my ways and I have done it seriously and impartially what sins I have found out I heartily bewail pardon these and those I have not Who can understand his Ps 19. 12. Errors Lord cleanse thou me from secret faults Blessed Jesus thou great friend and lover of Souls from this my sick and death-bed I look up to thee for help and mercy Oh stand my friend now plead my cause now and let me have the pardon thy blood did purchase thou didst die for me thou wast crucifyed for me and thy blood was shed for me and carest thou not if I now perish May thy Tears Mark 4. 38. Wounds and Blood speak and plead for me for I am sure they will be heard if mine cannot within a few days within a few hours I must appear before an Holy Just and Terrible God and I tremble O my Saviour I tremble to think any one unpardoned sin should meet me at that Tribunal Oh procure my pardon for me before I die if Satan meet me there to accuse me I know thou wilt answer him and plead for me But if any one unpardoned sin meet me there it will condemn me and I am lost and lost for ever I am not sinless I have not perfectly obeyed the Law but I am not impenitent To exercise repentance for my sin has been my daily work ever since my first conversion and it has been so particularly in this present sickness My heart hath been turned from the love of sin and now I loath it more than ever there 's nothing troubles afflicts and grieves me so much as sin vile sin cursed sin thou hast cost me more tears sighs and groans than all my pains have done I Repent I Repent Lord I do repent Oh! pity and spare spare and pardon pardon and love love and save me for ever Have mercy upon me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies and blot out Psal 51. 1. all my sin Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Psal 32. 1 2. iniquity Blessed he and only he is the blessed man though he be a poor man a pained man a sick man a dying man yet he is a blessed man Oh that this blessedness might be mine I am now sick and I have no hope of recovery my body grows weaker and weaker and nature sensibly decays this earthly Tabernacle shakes and it will quickly tumble Death Pale and Grim Death is posting towards me I am near unto eternity but I cannot die I dare not step into the other unseen Eternal World with out a pardon Believing O my God that word of thine that word which to me is of more worth than a thousand Worlds Let the wicked forsake his way and the Psal 55. 7 unrighteous man his thoughts And let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon I beg and through the mediation of thy Christ and my Jesus will expect the pardon of all my sins Let it be unto me according to thy word in which thou hast caused thy Servant to hope Amen IV. Of submission to the Divine will as to the time of our Death Many reasons to persuade to such an holy frame and resigning temper Objections Answered Suitable Petitions The Triumph and last work of FAITH I am now on my last bed this sickness for ought I do or can understand will be unto Death The warrant is issued out the commission sealed I am a dying man every moment that passeth away every clock that strikes every breath I draw every pulse that beats tells me death is near at hand and having given thanks to God for all his mercies having unseignedly repented of all my sin and begged pardon in the name and through â—he blood of Jesus and having now some hope and assurance of it what have I further to do What becomes me as a Christian as a righteous man that hath hope of great and glorious things beyond the grave but to submit to the divine good pleasure and saying The will of the Lord be done What language becomes Acts 21. 14. such an one but this O Lord who art the fountain of Life to all thy Creatures I am thine to live or die when and as thou wilt thou gavest me my Life and it is fit thou shouldst take it from me when thou wilt and as thou pleasest I submit to thy will obey thy summons and I would not live a day an hour a moment longer than God would have me God hath ordered the various circumstances of my Life in the best manner things have been much better with me than if I had been left to my own will and choice and I leave it to this wise and good God to order the circumstances of my Death To die now may be better for me than to live longer and if infinite wisdom judge it so I will readily comply and chearfully put off this Earthly Tabernacle Submissive language happy frame blessed temper thus it ought to be with all but alas how few attain to this nay how do the most even of Christians come far short of it how willing are they to live how loth to die how extremely desirous to stay here how loath to depart how passionately desirous to have a new lease granted when the old one is exspiring and almost out For one that in good earnest says I long I long to die I am willing even now to be dissolved how many with tears in their eyes cry not yet Lord not yet Oh spare me that I may recover Ps 39. 13. strength before I go hence and be no more Thus with shame and sorrow must I confess it hath been with me but in this my present sickness Lord help me to overcome my fears of Death wean me from this vain World mortify my fond affection to this present Life and oh raise and quicken in me holy earnest desires after a better Holy Paul had a desire to depart and be with Christ Oh that Phil. 1. 23. now it might be so with me let me be able to say Lord I accept the punishment of my sin I kiss the rod lie at thy foot submit
to thy holy pleasure and am entirely willingly to die now if thou think it best and most convenient my slavish fears of Death have been a pleasure to Satan a torment to my Self a dishonour to God a blemish to my Profession a disgrace to my Hopes Lord at last help me to overcome them Oh! that I could passionately long that Death would come and waft me over to yonder pure and blessed undefiled and eternal Regions while I am so excessively fond of this vain sinful and wretched life while I stand trembling and shivering on the confines of time and am loth to enter into a blessed Eâ—ernity how may all the Inhabitants above wonder at my folly Oh that my Faith Love and Hope might be increas'd and strengthned that I might pant and long wish desire and groan to be in Heaven What abundant reason O my Soul have I to be willing to dye and dye now if God so please have I not met with those crosses and disappointments with those troubles and miseries which are sufficient to wean me have I been tossed on the Waves driven by the Winds endangered by many a Storm and should I not rejoice I can see Land and am so near a quiet Harbour how oft upon the account of Temptations from â—atan Afflictions from God the Rebukes of his Providence the Hidings of his Face and the withdrawings of his Spirit have I complain'd groan'd and wept and shall I be unwilling to have my burdens removed my sorrows ended and all Tears wiped from mine Eyes is not the World mine Enemy and has it not really been unkind to me and shall I be loth to leave it amazing folly if I should live longer even till the Almond does flourish to extream Eccl. 12. 5. old Age should I not be unprofitable to others and a burden to my self and only an insignificant Cipher among my Fellow Creatures is it not better for me to die now than to live till the World is weary of me and I am weary of my self too Am I not O my Soul a Stranger and Pilgrim upon Earth am I not born from above and do I not belong to another Countrey and should not my temper be suitable to my character that is should I not be weary of my Pilgrimage and long to be at home are not Strangers and Pilgrims wont to be so our Journey say they is long and tedious oh that we were at home in our own Countrey among our own People and Kindred a stranger that hath a Journey to go would pass over it as soon as he can his thoughts mind and heart are set upon home and he longs to be there notwithstanding the conveniences and accommodations of his Inn the pleasantness of the Countrey c. yet he longs to be at home And shall I desire to be a wandring Pilgrim in this World when I might and God would have me be a setled Inhabitant in the other oh how becoming my character is it to send sighs groans and prayers as Harbingers to Heaven to tell my God I would fain be there Why do I not cry out here Woe is me I am a stranger and sojourner when shall I come to my own Countrey my Eternal Home to my Elder Brethren and Spiritual Kindred many are gone before and I follow after but blessed Jesus when shall I come to thee my God my Saviour my Hope my Treasure my Happiness my All is in another Countrey oh that I were there too how should the hardships and difficulties the ill usage and sorry entertainment I meet with in my Pilgrimage make me long for home and willing to go whenever my Heavenly Father sends for me Have I not O my Soul been pestered with sin all my life long has it not cost me many a sigh and groan tear and prayer how oft have I offended my God displeased my Father grieved my Redeemer wounded my Conscience and defiled my Heart and if I live longer shall I not sin more is there any hope sin will dye till I do and can I bear the Thought that I should for so many years yet to come offend so good a God hath not this flesh been a snare to me and this body an instrument of much evil and shall I be loth to put it off is not sin my heaviest burden my sorest Enemy have I not often said so and often cried out O wretched man Rom. 7. 23. that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death and shall I be unwilling to be delivered now Criminal Hypocrisie hath not sin defiled all my powers and faculties wounded my Conscience harden'd my Heart dampt my joy disquieted my mind disturbed my peace and brought many an affliction upon my Body hath it not eclipsed the light of Gods Countenance and caused my God and Father my Redeemer and Saviour to stand afar off and shall I not be willing to dye now that I may sin no more Have not I O my Soul been designing Heaven and Praying for Heaven what is the end of all my Sacred Duties Holy Services and Religious Worship but that I may be Saved and get to Heaven and is God calling me to Heaven and shall I be loth to go and all this because this Body must dye first Heaven O my Soul what a sweet and charming word is it and what a pleasant sound does it make Heaven what an happy and desireable place is it Heaven what a delightful and ravishing Theme is this Heaven is not one Thought one single view enough to Transport with Joy and make a Man cry out oh that I were there is God now calling me to Heaven to Heaven the Throne of Divine Majesty the Presence Chamber of the Eternal King to Heaven where I shall have the Vision of God ravishing sights of the Blessed Jesus and the Company of Holy Angels and blessed Souls to Heaven that for Beauty and Glory Transcends not only all that has been seen but all that can be imagin'd shall I refuse and draw back how beautiful are these lower Heavens which are but the Porch and outward Court to the other and how much must the Third Heaven the Temple of the Divine Majesty the Habitation of Glorious Angels in â—eauty and splendor excel these is this the place I shall go to when I dye and can I with any tolerable shew of reason be unwilling to dye now ah sinful silly Soul dost thou draw back art thou unwilling to leave this body what to go to Heaven What! to go to such a glorious happy World Art thou indeed unwilling and art thou not to be blam'd Blam'd thou art for what egregious folly is this can I thus slight Heaven and not blush to think I do Moreover O my Soul If I am a Christian I have solemnly taken God for my only Portion my Ultimate End and Soveraign Happiness I love him and my Saviour above all more than Father or Mother House or Land Estate or
Life without this superlative and predominant love I am I can be no Christian But O my Soul is not my lothness to die when God calls and would have me an ill sign my love is not so strong my affection so warm and this flame so bright and burning as it ought to be doth a Man love God what and wish to be at an eternal distance from him what a flat contradiction is this do I love my God my Saviour and the H. Spirit my guide and comforter as much as I ought and not care how long I am absent from this Blessed Trinity oh how weak and defective is my love did I love my God as strongly as I love my Friend my Relations should I not think it long till I am with him were the glowing sparks blown up into a flame did I love and love as much as I ought how passionately should I cry out My Soul thirsteth for God for the living Psal 42. 3. God when shall I come and appear before God How long must I be at this lamented distance HE is my God my Life my Joy my Happiness my All oh that I were with him oh blessed are they who dwell in his Presence stand before his Throne and continually behold his Face when shall it be so with me O my God I love thee and long to see thee O my Saviour I love thee and I long to see thy Face and have thy company that I may love thee more for every view of thee my glorious Jesus will increase the Flame How long how long Lord how long is the voice of love of a strong and burning love Doth God by this present sickness call me to come from Earth to Heaven from my Friends to him from my Relations who love me pity me pray for and weep over me to my Saviour who loves me more and is able to help me and am I unwilling do I shrink draw back and wish to tarry longer is there not some great defect in my love doth it not want many of those degrees it ought to have Holy Lord Blessed Jesus I am troubled I am ashamed to find so much unwillingness in my self to die now because I am convinc'd my love to thee is not so strong as it should be O pity and pardon me oh help me to love thee more and better and then I shall obey thy Summons and be willing to come to thee tho' Death and the Grave be in my Way that I may let me love thee more and better Lord Hath not God O my Soul promised me a future Glory and confirmed that Promise with an Oath Hath he not revealed much of Heaven to me that I might not be an utter stranger to that unseen World hath he not given me many sweet foretasts of it in Meditation and Prayer in Sermons and in my Sacramental Communions that I might desire long and thirst after more What delightful hours what holy Communion with God Father Son and Spirit what joyful views what ravishing prospects of Heaven have I sometimes had have I not had those sights of God in the Sanctuary those discoveries of his love and that sense of his favour that I have cried out Lord it is good for Mat. 17. 4. me to be here Have I not had that Communion with God in my secret retirements and have I not been fill'd with those joys on my Knees that I have had no more mind to the little things of time to the Vanities here below have not I sometimes been so refresht reviv'd and comforted so satisfied and transported with joy that I have long'd for Heaven that I might be capable of and enjoy more can't I remember the time tho' alass it hath been too seldom so when I would have been glad to have gone from my Closet and from my Knees to Heaven and shall I be unwilling now what did a good God vouchsafe all this to me for but to make me long for Heaven and willing to die why did he give me these first fruits but that I might long for the Harvest these Clusters of Canaan but that I might long for the Vintage These Tasts but that I might long to drink a full Draught of those Rivers of Pleasure which are at his Isa 16. 11. Right Hand for evermore Lord continue and increase those joys now and I will readily dye Moreover O my Soul hath not God continued me in Life and being a great while I might have died in my Infancy Childhood and Youth but I did not I might have died in the Morning or at Noon but I have lived unto the Evening How many are dead and gone while I am yet spar'd how many thousands hath Death removed out of the World since I came into it how many Funerals have I survived how many younger persons have I out-liv'd I have sometimes been sick but did not God recover restore and raise me up again this House of Clay hath often totter'd but hath not God repaired and yet kept it standing the Arrows of Death have been flying about me and many thousands have fallen on my right hand and many on my left but they have had no commission to touch me many have been called out of the Vineyard at the first third and sixth hour and I have been continued to the ninth nay to the eleventh Have not I lived thirty forty fifty sixty years when thousands have not lived so many months weeks or days and is it not shameful for me to be unwilling to dye now after I have lived in the World so long shall I be as loth to dye as those who are but newly come into it unthankful Soul is this the return thou makest to God for so much time and patience the poor Infant of a few days may say must I dye almost as soon as I am born go from one Grave to another come upon the Stage only to look about me take a short turn and so go off the young man may say am I arriv'd at that period of Life wherein Nature is strongest and I am most capable of relishing the pleasures of it and must I go now to a lonesome and solitary Grave must I go to Bed in the Morning and my Sun go down at Noon-day must my Candle be blown out by the Breath of Death when it might Burn much Longer must I in my Youth Strength and the Flower of my Age be thy mark and game O heard-hearted Death when so many old and decrepit ones who in civility may be willing to retire to the Grave and make room for others and of whom the World is weary are passed by O Death Death dost thou refuse the halt the lame and the blind and must I one of the best of the Flock be singled out and be laid as a Sacrifice on thine Altar If this be the Young Mans complaint what can be the old Mans Apology will it not be as weak as himself Have not I
must not now pass from me I may imitate my dear Saviour in the like circumstances chearfully saying Father not my will but thine be done The arguments I have â—uk 22. 42. used are weighty and serious sufficient to convince my judgment stop my mouth and make me silent but after all O pity pardon and help me I find I am backward and loth to die now Lord make me content content that 's too little make me desirous to die and to die now God forbid that after all my Soul should be violently rent and torn from me Lord Let me have such a firm belief of a future happiness such lively hopes and clear evidences of my right and title to it such a burning and flaming love to thee my God to thee my Saviour such pleasing foretasts of Heavenly joys such a reviving prospect of that glorious future state that I might overcome the fears of Death the terrors of the Grave and Triumph over both That I may long and pant desire groan and wish to be with Christ which I must and do acknowledge to be far better Lord inspire my departing Soul with that Faith Hope and Love that I may now glorifie Thee credit Religion and commend thy holy Ways that I may strengthen the weak and encourage the fearful by a chearful and willing comfortable and triumphant departure Sanctifie these afflictions and pains and this present sickness to me and let them put me upon longing after Heaven where are none answer my doubts expel my fears arm and fortifie comfort and encourage my weak drooping and trembling Soul and the nearer I draw to my end the more warm and earnest let my desires be Oh for thy holy Spirit to excite those Heavenly and Spiritual desires in me which I cannot raise in my self O thou almighty and victorious Jesus who hast conquer'd Death and the Grave enable me in these my last moments to triumph over them saying O DEATH where is thy Sting O GRAVE where is 1 Cor. 15. 55. thy victory Many experiences have I had of thy Grace and Mercy love and kindness O my Saviour forsake me not now in this my last extremity O Blessed Jesu who hast been my support and help in Life be my Strength my Comfort and my Joy at Death While in this my last sickness I have been speaking sometimes to my self and sometimes unto God I have obtain'd the Mercy I wanted and laboured after a willingness to die now my doubts are answered my fears remov'd my sins are pardoned God is reconciled my Conscience pacified my hopes are lively my evidences clear my assurance strong and my joy full and now thanks be to God how do I long to dye shall I be afraid of Death What! of a baffled vanquisht and conquer'd Enemy I am not I was but now blessed be God I am not Am I a Member of Christ a Son of God an Heir of Heaven and shall I be afraid of thee O Death through Grace O mine Enemy I am not Methinks I am already in the Suburbs of Heaven and I long to enter into that holy City I have a prospect of yonder blessed World and this prospect is so ravishing and transporting that I wish for a present possession No Heir ever longed more for his Inheritance no Captive ever longed more for Liberty no sick and pained man ever longed more for ease than I now do for Heaven When I am there what charming musick shall I hear what glorious sights shall I behold what blessed and delightful company shall I have what joy will enter into possess and fill this Soul of mine what a Mansion of Light and Glory shall I enter into when I have put off this earthly Tabernacle how does a thought of this make my fettered and yet imprisoned Soul cry out How long Lord how long farewel vain World farewel not Earth but Heaven is my home and I long groan and wish to be there Is the time of my departure at hand Is the time come that I must die Lord I do submit thy holy will be done My Body I chearfully bequeath unto the dust O faithful grave keep what I commit unto thee this Body till my Lord shall come and then deliver it up In the dust shall this flesh of mine sleep and rest in hope My Soul my pretious and immortal Soul O my God I resign to thee into thine hand I commit my Spirit Thou Psal 31. 5. hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth Father into 〈◊〉 â—ands I commit my Spirit Lord Luk. 23. 46. Acts 7. 59. Jesus 〈…〉 Must I die now Lord 〈◊〉 in thy will believing thy promise trusting in thy mercy thro' the ALL-SUFFICIENT MERITS of thy Son and my Saviour I wait wait Lord I long for the happy moment And my last Petition and dying prayer shall be Come Lord Jesus come qickly Rev. 22. 20. 1 Thes 4. 17. that I might be for ever with the Lord come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen Amen FINIS