same Almighty Power be carried through the Dominions of Satan in the sight of their Enemies tormented with the remembrance of their lost Happiness and Envy that humane Souls should partake of it to the Place of God's glorious Residence I shall also observe that as the Lord is a God of Power so he is a God of Order and uses subordinate Means for the accomplishment of his Will Our Saviour has reveal'd that the Angels transport the separate Souls of the Righteous to Heaven Those glorious Spirits who always behold the Face of God such is their exact Obedience to him and perfect Love to his Children that they disdain not to protect his little ones in this open State They rejoice at the Conversion of Sinners at their first entrance into the Way of Life and with tender watchfulness encompass them here never withdrawing their protecting Presence till they bring them to their celestial Country and resign their Charge to the Lord of Life How safe are the departed Saints when convey'd through Satan's Territories by the Royal Guard of Angels that excel in strength 2. Heavenly Felicity The receiving of holy Souls into God's Hands is introductive into his Presence which is both a Sanctuary to secure us from all Evil and a Store-house to furnish us with all that is good The Lord is a Sun and a Shield he is to intellectual Beings what the Sun is to sensitive communicates Light and Life and Joy to them In his Presence is fulness of Joy at his right Hand are Rivers of Pleasure for ever All that is evil and afflicting is abolish'd all that is desirable is conferr'd upon his Children A glimpse or reflected Ray of his reconciled and favourable Countenance even in this lower World infuses into the Hearts of his Children a Joy unspeakable and glorious a taste of the Divine Goodness here causes a disrelish of all the carnal Sweets the dreggy Delights which natural Men so greedily desire And if the faint Dawn be so reviving and comfortable what is the Brightness of the full Day None can understand the Happiness that results from the full and eternal sight of God's Face and the fruition of his Love but those who enjoy the Presence of God in perfection His Goodness is truly infinite the more the Saints above know it and enjoy it the more they esteem it and delight in it His compleat and communicative Love satisfies the immense Desires of that innumerable Company of blessed Spirits that are before his Throne there is no Envy no Avarice no Ambition in that Kingdom where God is all in all The Divine Presence is an ever-flowing Fountain of Felicity The continual reflection upon this makes Heaven to be Heaven to the Blessed their Security is as valuable as their Felicity they are above all danger of losing it Methinks the belief of this should cause us as it were with Wings of Fire with most ardent Desires to fly to the Bosom of God the alone Centre of our Souls where we shall rest for ever 3. The reception of the Soul into Heaven is a certain Pledg of the Resurrection of the Body and its re-union with the Soul in the State of Glory The Covenant of God was made with the entire Persons of Believers therefore under the Law the sacred Seal of it was in their Flesh. To be the God of Promise to them implies his being a blessed Rewarder to them Our Saviour silences the Sadduces who disbeliev'd the Resurrection from the tenour of God's Covenant I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob which Title he was pleased to retain after their Death Now God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living The immediate Inference from thence is that their Souls did actually live in Blessedness and that their Bodies tho dead to Nature were alive to God with respect to his Promise and Power If we consider that the Divine Law binds the outward Man as well as the inward and that during the time of our Work and Trial here our Service and Sufferings for the Glory of God are from the concurrence of the Soul and Body it will appear that the Promise of the Reward belongs to both and that the receiving of the Soul into Heaven is an earnest of our full Redemption even that of the Body 'T is true there is no visible Difference between the Bodies of the Saints and of the Wicked here they are sick with the same Diseases and die in the same manner As 't is with Trees in deep Winter when they are covered with Snow we cannot distinguish which are absolutely dead and destin'd to the Ax and Fire and which retain their Sap and will be fruitful and flourishing in the returning Year so the dead Bodies of the Godly and Ungodly to external appearance are alike But what a vast difference will be between them in the next World The Bodies of the Ungodly in conjunction with their Souls shall be cast into the Lake of Fire the Bodies of the Godly resumed by their Souls shall enjoy a full and flourishing Happiness for ever The Application 1. This may inform us of the contrary States into which dying Persons immediately pass The Children of God resign their Spirits to the Hands of their gracious Heavenly Father but Rebels and Strangers to God fall into the Hands of a revenging Judg. Could we see the attending Spirits that surround sick Persons in their last Hours what a wonderful Impression would it make upon us A Guard of glorious Angels convey the departed Saints to the Bosom of God's Love and the Kingdom of his Glory But when the Wicked die a Legion of Furies sieze upon their expected Prey and hurry them to the infernal Prison from whence there is no redemption How many Rebels and open Enemies to God are in the Pale of the Christian Church They will loudly repeat Our Father which art in Heaven notwithstanding the impudent and palpable Atheism of their Lives they live as if they were independent and not accountable to him who will judg the World without respect of Persons The more strict his Commands are the Contempt of them is more visible Our Saviour's Prohibition is peremptory I say unto you Swear not at all but how many make no more conscience of Swearing than they do of Speaking and pour forth Oaths of all fashions and sizes We are severely forbid all degrees of Impurity in the Look in Words or in Wish yet how many without reflection or remorse continue in the deepest Pollutions We are commanded to live soberly in this present World yet how many indulge their swinish Appetites and debase themselves even below the Beasts that perish And as the sensual Appetites are notoriously predominant in some so the angry Appetite is tyrannous in others Pride Wrath Revenge possess the Breasts of many How often for a slight or but reputed Injury they are so fir'd with Passion that their hot Blood cannot be satisfied without
God in his Sanctuary above From hence the Apostle propounds a strong Argument to assure the Saints upon their leaving this World of their reception into Heaven Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God and the Almighty always obtains his End who hath also given us the earnest of his Spirit Holiness is the Morning-Star of the great Day Grace is the Preparative and Assurance of Glory For altho the Saints are in themselves mutable and while there remains Corruption within and a tempting World without are liable to falling away yet the free and powerful Love of God that revived them when dead will preserve them living that which raised them from the Grave will prevent their relapsing into it The Gifts of God are without Repentance How triumphantly does the Apostle express his Confidence Who shall separate us from the Love of God Shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword These are the most powerful Terrors that the perverse World in combination with the Devil can make use of to constrain us to desert the Service of God but they are vain Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This blessed Assurance of the Apostle is not rais'd from his extraordinary Privileges not from the apparition of Angels to him nor his rapture to Paradise nor special Revelations but from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that everlastingly embraces all his Children Briefly in that God has given his Son to die for us and his Spirit to live in us his Son to purchase and prepare Heaven for us his Spirit to prepare us for Heaven a dying Saint may with blessed Tranquillity commend his Soul into God's Hands I have more particularly considered the Fatherly Love of God what a strong Security it affords to his Children that he will never leave them in that no Point requires and deserves more Confirmation and weight of Argument to press it down into our distrustful Hearts 2. The Divine Truth affords a strong Security to the Children of God to commend their Souls to him at last Truth is an Attribute as essential and dear to God as any of his Perfections And in the Accomplishment of our Salvation he ordered all things becoming to his Wisdom that is for the illustration of all his principal Attributes and accordingly design'd the Glory of his Truth equally with the Honour of his Mercy Thus he declares to his chosen People Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments The Attribute that is set next to the Deity as most sacred is the Faithful God and that further express'd keeping Covenant and Mercy for he delights in fulfilling his Promises as in the freest Acts of Mercy The Psalmist breaks forth with the affectionate Praises of these Attributes I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy Name for thy loving Kindness and thy Truth for thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name His Word here immediately signifies his Promise that has its rise from his loving Kindness and its performance from his Truth This he magnifies both with respect to the matter of his Promises that are exceeding great and precious and the fulfilling them above all that we can ask or think God cannot repent or lie his Counsels are unretractable from the Immutability of his Nature his Promises are infallible from his Fidelity they are as unchangeable as the Sun and Stars in their appointed Courses nay more stable than the Centre for Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not a tittle of his Promises and our Hopes be unfulfilled If the Frame of Nature were dissolved it would be no loss to God who is glorious and blessed in his own Perfections but if his Promises fail the Honour of his Truth would be impair'd and blemish'd The Psalmist saith Those that know thy Name will trust in thee Those who know the Creature its Levity Mutability and Mortality will be discourag'd from trusting in it but those who know the eternal Constancy of God in his Nature and Promises will securely rely upon him Now the Promises the Declarations of God's Love without which we cannot have any solid and sustaining Hope in our Death assure us of God's receiving the separate Spirits of his Children There was a constant clearness tho not in that degree of Light as since the appearance of Christ of the Happiness of the departed Saints Dying Jacob breaks forth with a lively Hope O Lord I have waited for thy Salvation Job says Tho he kill me yet will I trust in him that is for his Almighty Mercy in the next State The Psalmist expresses his Confidence Thou wilt guide me by thy Counsel and receive me into thy Glory After the safe conducting him through a World of Troubles and Temptations he would bring him to Heaven a Place of equal Purity and Glory David when he was in pressing Peril addresses to God Into thy Hands I commend my Spirit to be preserved as a precious Depositum thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth His Assurance is built on God's Right and Title to him Thou hast redeemed me and his everlasting Fidelity The Apostle speaks with full assurance We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building of God eternal in the Heavens And we are confident I say rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. St. Peter encourages Christians when surrounded with Death to commit their Souls to him Wherefore let them that suffer according to the Will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in wel-doing as unto a faithful Creator He encourageth them to encounter Death in its most formidable Pomp by considering their Souls shall be safe for ever upon the account of God's Right and Interest in them and his Fidelity he has an original Right in them by the first Creation as they are intellectual immortal Spirits in their Nature but a nearer and more especial Right by a new and nobler Creation as they are renewed Spirits made like to him in his Holiness the most Divine Perfection The Relation of Creator implies his omnipotent Love and the Attribute of Faithful his eternal Love declar'd in his Promises There can never be the least cause to charge him with Insincerity or Inconstancy The Favour of God is round about the Righteous as a Shield And his Faithfulness is round about him that he is always ready to perform his Promise to them They may
but of this Life wherein we use them Can the Creature make us happy when their Emptiness and Anguish annex'd to it makes our Lives miserable The World cannot satisfy our narrow Senses The Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing much less the infinite Desires of our supreme Faculties Those who are now inchanted with its Allurements within a little while will see through its false Colours As when one awakes all the pleasant Scenes of Fancy in his Dream vanish so when the Soul is awakened in the End of Life the World and the Lusts thereof pass away and the remembrance of them I shall add further What clearer Evidence can we have of the worth of the Soul than from God's Esteem the Creator of it Now when God foresaw the Revolture of our first Parent that brought him under a double Death in one Sentence temporal and eternal and that all Mankind was desperately lost in him then his compassionate Counsels were concerning his Recovery His Love and Wisdom accorded to contrive the Means to accomplish our Redemption by the Death of his incarnate Son We are not redeemed with Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as a Lamb without spot and blemish Of what value is a Soul in God's account that he bought with his own Son's Blood the most sacred Treasure of Heaven We may say for the Honour of our Redeemer and our own that which the Angels cannot we were so valued by God himself that his Son became Man and died on the Cross for the Salvation of our Souls I shall only mention another Evidence and Effect of God's valuation of our Souls that is the eternal Weight of Glory which exceeds all the Thoughts of our Minds and Desires of our Hearts What are all the Kingdoms and Pleasures of the World in comparison of that Blessedness God has prepar'd for those who love him Now the Soul that is inestimably precious and should be most dear to us is secured from Danger when received by God's Hands 2. The Soul is our immortal Part. The Body is compounded of jarring Principles frail and mortal A Casualty or Sickness dissolves the vital Union and it falls to the Dust. But the Soul is a Spirit by Nature and immortal by its inherent Property It s spiritual Operations perform'd without the ministry of the Senses the Eye of the Mind contemplates its Objects when the Eyes of the Body are clos'd demonstrate its spiritual Nature for the Being is the Root of its working and consequently that it exists independently upon the Body But of this we have the clearest assurance in the Scripture This is another demonstration that present Things cannot make us happy for they forsake us the first step we take into the next World and then the Soul enters into Happiness or Misery equally eternal The Immortality of the Soul and the Immutability of its State are inseparable then for the present Life is the time of our Work the next is of Recompences according to our Works If we die in the Lord the Consequence is infallible we shall live with him for ever If we die in our Sins we shall not be received by his merciful Hands but fall into his bottomless Displeasure And of what concernment is it to have our Souls with God in that infinite and incomprehensible Duration All the Measures of Time Days and Weeks Months and Years and Ages are swallow'd up in that invisible Depth as the Rivers that pour into the Sea are swallowed up without any overflowing of its Waters The Dove that Noah let out of the Ark as a Spy to discover whether the Deluge was abated found not a Place to rest on but after many Circuits in the Air it returned to the Ark. If our Thoughts take wing and multiply Millions of Millions of Ages we cannot rest in any Computation for there remains after all an entire innumerable Eternity Secondly I will consider more particularly what is contained in this blessed Privilege The reception of the Soul into God's Hands implies three things 1. Entire Safety 2. Heavenly Felicity 3. 'T is a certain Pledg of the reviving of the Body and its reunion with the Soul in the State of Glory 1. Entire Safety After Death the separate Soul of a true Believer immediately passes through the airy and Ethereal Regions to the highest Heaven the Temple of God the native Seat and Element of blessed Spirits The Air is possess'd by Satan with his Confederate Army who are Rebels to God and Enemies to the Souls of Men he is stiled the Prince of the Power of the Air He often raises Storms and Tempests discharges Thunder and Lightning the woful Effects of which are felt in the lower World The Numbers the Strength and the Malice of the evil Angels to the Souls of Men render them very terrible We may conjecture at their Number from what is related in the Gospel that a Legion possess'd one Man They are superiour Spirits to Man and tho stripp'd of their moral Excellencies Holiness Goodness and Truth yet retain their natural Power at least in great degrees Their Malice is unquenchable 'T is said of the Devil He goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour All the Joy those malignant Spirits are capable of is the involving the Souls of Men in their desperate Calamity And tho they know their opposing God will increase their Guilt and Torment yet their Diligence is equal to their Malice to seduce pervert and ruin Souls for ever Now when the Saints die all the Powers of Darkness would if possible hinder the ascension of their Souls to God What David complains of his cruel Enemies is applicable in this case Their Souls are among Lions and if destitute of divine Preservation the Danger would be the same as if a little Flock of Lambs were to encounter with a great number of fierce Lions or fiery Dragons Anger sets an edg upon Power and makes a Combatant but of equal Strength to overcome How dangerous then would the Condition be of naked Souls oppos'd by over-matching Enemies armed with Rage against them How easily would they hurry them to the Abyss the Den of Dragons the Prison where lost Souls are secur'd to the Day of Judgment But all the Potentates of Hell are infinitely inferiour to God they are restrain'd and tortur'd by the Chains of his powerful Justice a Legion of them could not enter into the Swine without his permission much less can they touch the Apple of his Eye That black Prince with all his infernal Host cannot intercept one naked Soul from arriving at the Kingdom of Glory Our Saviour assures us None is able to pluck them out of his Father's Hands The Lord Christ our Head and Leader having vanquish'd in his last Battel on the Cross Principalities and Powers made his triumphant Ascension to Glory Thus his Members having overcome their spiritual Enemies shall by the
State He reconciled things in Earth and in Heaven but not things in Hell The Golden Scepter is extended to none there the Holy Spirit strives with none they are without the Reserves of Mercy The Guilt of Sin remains in its full Obligation the Pollution of Sin in its deepest Die and the Punishment of Sin in its Extremity for ever O what Folly is it or rather Frenzy not to provide for our Souls in their greatest Exigence Common Reason instructs us knowing our own Weakness to commit our Treasure to the custody of our Friends which we cannot otherwise keep from our Enemies especially to such a Friend as can and will preserve it for our Use and Advantage The Soul is our Jewel above all Price 't is our Wisdom to secure it out of all danger Let us therefore commit it to the safe and sure Hands of our Heavenly Father otherwise we cannot preserve it from the infernal Spirits the Robbers and Murderers of Souls The wise Preacher denounces a fearful Evil Wo be to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up In all the Senses of falling Death is the greatest Fall the High the Honourable the Rich fall from all their State and Men of all Degrees are forsaken of all their carnal Comforts and Supports If then the solitary Soul has not a God to receive support and comfort it how woful is its Condition Methinks the apprehension of this should strike a Terror so deep into the Hearts of Men that they should be restless till they have secur'd a Retreat for their departing Souls For this end let us according to the earnest Advice of St. Peter be diligent that we may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless The Lord Jesus is the only Peace-maker of the righteous and holy God to Sinners The Judg of this World is flaming with Wrath and terrible in Vengeance to Sinners that appear before his Tribunal out of Christ. We shall for ever be excluded from his blessed Communion without the Mediator restore us to his Favour Our Reconciliation only is by Redemption in his Blood The Chastisement of our Peace was upon him He is the Lord our Righteousness by whom alone we can stand in Judgment God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself There is now an Act of Oblivion offer'd in the Gospel to all that come to God by him We have sure Salvation in his Name But we must with consenting Wills close with him as our Lord and Life The first Gospel preach'd by the Angel after his coming into the World declares There was born in the City of David a Saviour Christ the Lord. We must not separate between Christ the Saviour and Christ the Lord between his Salvation and his Dominion God indispensably requires we should resign our selves to his Son as our King and rely upon him as our Priest to atone his Displeasure If we thus receive him he will restore us to the Favour and Peace of God establisht in an everlasting Covenant How tenderly and compassionately does the great God invite Sinners to re-enter into his Favour to acquaint our selves with him and to be at peace His Embassadours in his Name and in Christ's stead beseech them to be reconciled to God But their perverse Spirits would have God reconciled to them that they might be exempt from Punishment but are unwilling to be reconciled to him to part with their Lusts. In short reconciliation with God necessarily infers defiance with Sin Ye that love the Lord hate Evil. If Men do not cease their Rebellion there is no shadow of hope to obtain the Divine Favour Do ye provoke the Lord to Jealousie are you stronger than he Jealousie is the most sensible and severe Affection As 't is with a Town taken by storm all that are found in Arms are without Mercy cut off so all that at Death are found with the weapons of unrighteousness their unrepented unforsaken Sins about them must expect Judgment without Mercy Lastly Let the Children of God be encouraged with Peace and Joy to commend their Souls to him Let rebellious Sinners tremble with deadly Fear upon the brink of Eternity but let the Saints with a lively Hope enter into the Divine World If Men possess their Treasure with Joy and Jealousie and guard it with vigilant Care will not God preserve his dearest Treasure the Souls of his Children committed to his Trust Can Love forsake can Truth deceive can Almighty Power fail Will a Father a heavenly Father be without Bowels to his own Off-spring No he cannot deny himself he is readiest to relieve when they are in distress Old Simeon is a leading Example to Believers after he had embraced Christ in his Armes how earnestly did he desire his Dissolution Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation St. Stephen in the midst of a showr of Stones with a blessed Tranquillity makes his dying Prayer Lord Jesus receive my Spirit If the Fears of humble Souls arise in that hour because they have not the Conspicuous marks of God's Children the Graces of the Spirit in that degree of Eminency as some Saints have had Let them consider there are different Ages among the Children of God some are in a state of Infancy and Infirmity others are more Confirm'd but the relation is the same in all and gives an interest in his promised Mercy The weakness of their Faith cannot frustrate God's faithfulness 'T is the Sincerity not the Strength of Grace that is requisite to Salvation If Faith be shaking as a bruised reed and but kindling as the smoaking flax it shall be victorious O that these powerfull Comforts may encourage dying Christians to commend their Souls with Ardency and Assurance to God their Father and Felicity I have now finisht my Discourse upon the Text and shall apply my self to speak of the other Subject the Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter that Excellent Instrument of Divine Grace to recover and restore so many revolted Souls to God out of the Empire of his Enemy or in the Apostles Language to translate them from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son I am sensible that in speaking of him I shall be under a double Disadvantage For those who perfectly knew him will be apt to think my Account of him to be short and defective an imperfect Shadow of his resplendent Vertues others who were unacquainted with his extraordinary Worth will from Ignorance or Envy be inclin'd to think his just Praises to be undue and excessive Indeed if Love could make me eloquent I should use all the most lively and graceful Colours of Language to â—dorn his Memory but this Consideration relieves me in the Consciousness of my Disability that a plain Narrative of what Mr. Baxter was and did will bee a most noble Eulogy and that his substantial Piety no more needs artificial Oratory
escape their deep Censures The Pulpit represented them as seditiously disaffected to the State as obstinate Schismaticks and often the Name of God was not onely taken in vain but in violence to authorise their hard Speeches and harder Actions against them Some drops of that Storm fell upon Mr. Baxter who calmly submitted to their injurious dealings I shall speak of that afterward In the Interval between his Deprivation and his Death he wrote and publisht the most of his Books of which I shall give some account His Books for their number and variety of Matter in them make a Library They contain a Treasure of Controversial Casuistical Positive and Practical Divinity Of them I shall relate the Words of one whose exact Judgment joyn'd with his Moderation will give a great value to his Testimony they are of the very Reverend Dr. Wilkins afterwards Bishop of Chester he said that Mr. Baxter had cultivated every Subject he handled and if he had lived in the Primitive Times he had been one of the Fathers of the Church I shall add what he said with admiration of him another time That it was enough for one Age to produce such a Person as Mr. Baxter Indeed he had such an amplitude in his Thoughts such vivacity of Imagination and such solidity and depth of Judgment as rarely meet together His inquiring Mind was freed from the servile dejection and bondage of an implicit Faith He adher'd to the Scriptures as the perfect Rule of Faith and searcht whether the Doctrines received and taught were Consonant to it This is the duty of every Christian according to his capacity especially of Ministers and the necessary means to open the Mind for Divine Knowledge and for the advancement of the Truth He publisht several Books against the Papists with that clearness and strength as will Confound if not Convince them He said he onely desir'd Armies and Antiquity against the Papists Armies he cause of their bloody Religion so often exemplified in England Ireland France and other Countries However they may appear on the Stage they are always the same persons in the Tyring-room their Religion binds them to extirpate Hereticks and often over-rules the milder inclinations of their nature Antiquity because they are inveigled with a fond pretence to it as if it were favourable to their Cause but it has been demonstrated by many learned Protestants that the Argument of Antiquity is directly against the principal Doctrines of Popery as that of the Supremacy of Transubstantiation of Image-worship and others He has wrote several excellent Books against the impudent Atheism of this loose Age. In them he establishes the fundamental Principle upon which the whole Fabrick of Christianity is built that after this short uncertain life there is a future state of happiness or misery equally Eternal and that Death is the last irrevocable step into that unchangeable state From hence it follows by infallible Consequence that the reasonable Creature should prefer the interest of the Soul before that of the Body and secure Eternal life This being laid he proves the Christian Religion to be the onely way of fallen Man's being restor'd to the favour of God and obtaining a blessed Immortality This great Argument he manages with that clearness and strength that none can refuse assent unto it without denying the infallible Principles of Faith and the evident Principles of Nature He also publisht some warm Discourses to Apologize for the Preaching of Dissenting Ministers and to excite them to do their Duty He did not think that Act of Uniformity could disoblige them from the Exercise of their Office 'T is true Magistrates are Titular-Gods by their Deputation and Vicegerency but subordinate and accountable to God above Their Laws have no binding force upon the Conscience but from his Command and if contrary to his Law are to be disobeyed The Ministers Consecrated to the Service of God are under a moral perpetual Obligation of Preaching the saving Truths of the Gospel as they have opportunity There needs no miraculous Testimony of their Commission from Heaven to authorize the doing their ordinary Duty In some points of modern Controversie he judiciously chose the middle way and advised young Divines to follow it His reverence of the Divine Purity made him very shy and jealous of any Doctrine that seem'd to reflect a blemish and stain upon it He was a clear asserter of the soveraign Freeness and infallible Efficacy of Divine Grace in the Conversion of Souls In a Sermon reciting the Words of the Covenant of Grace I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall not depart from me he observed the Tenor of it was I will and you shall Divine Grace makes the rebellious Will obedient but does not make the Will to be no Will. By the Illumination of the Mind the Will is inclin'd to Obedience according to the Words of our Saviour All that have heard and learn'd of the Father come to me He preach'd that the Death of Christ was certainly effectual for all the Elect to make them partakers of Grace and Glory and that it was so far beneficial to all Men that they are not left in the same desperate State with the fallen Angels but are made capable of Salvation by the Grace of the Gospel not capable of Efficience to convert themselves but as Subjects to receive saving Grace He did so honour the sincerity of God as entirely to believe his Will declared in his Word he would not interpret the Promises of the Gospel in a less gracious sense than God intended them Therefore if Men finally perish 't is not for want of Mercy in God nor Merits in Christ but for their wilfull refusing Salvation His Books of Practical Divinity have been effectual for more numerous Conversions of Sinners to God than any printed in our time and while the Church remains on Earth will be of continual Efficacy to recover lost Souls There is a vigorous Pulse in them that keeps the Reader awake and attentive His Book of the Saints Everlasting Rest was written by him when languishing in the suspence of Life and Death but has the Signatures of his holy and vigorous Mind To allure our Desires he unvails the Sanctuary above and discovers the Glory and Joys of the Blessed in the Divine Presence by a Light so strong and lively that all the glittering Vanities of this World vanish in that Comparison and a sincere Believer will despise them as one of mature Age does the Toys and Baubles of Children To excite our fear he removes the Skreen and makes the Everlasting Fire of Hell so visible and represents the tormenting Passions of the Damned in those dreadfull Colours that if duly considered would check and controul the unbridled licentious Appetites of the most sensual Wretches His Call to the Vnconverted how small in bulk but how powerfull in vertue Truth speaks in it with that authority and efficacy that it makes the Reader to lay
were subservient to this blessed End It was his Meat and Drink the Life and Joy of his Life to doe good to Souls His Industry was almost incredible in his Studies he had a sensitive nature desirous of ease as others have and saint Faculties yet such was the continual Application of himself to his great Work as if the Labour of one Day had supplyed strength for another and the willingness of the Spirit had supported the Weakness of the Flesh. In his usual Conversation his serious frequent and delightfull Discourse was of Divine things to inflame his Friends with the Love of Heaven He received with tender Compassion and condescending Kindness the meanest that came to him for Councel and Consolation He gave in one year a hundred Pounds to buy Bibles for the poor He has in his Will dispos'd of all that remains of his Estate after the Legacies to his Kindred for the benefit of the Souls and Bodies of the Poor He continued to preach so long notwithstanding his wasted languishing Body that the last time he almost died in the Pulpit It would have been his joy to have been transfigured in the Mount Not long after his last Sermon he felt the Approaches of Death and was confin'd to his sick Bed Death reveals the Secrets of the Heart then words are spoken with most feeling and least Affectation This excellent Saint was the same in his Life and Death his last Hours were spent in preparing others and himself to appear before God He said to his Friends that visited him You come hither to learn to dye I am not the onely Person that must go this way I can assure you that your whole Life be it never so long is little enough to prepare for Death Have a care of this vain deceitful World and the Lusts of the Flesh be sure you choose God for your portion Heaven for your home God's Glory for your end His word for your rule and then you need never fear but we shall meet with Comfort Never was a Sinner more humble and debasing himself never was a sincere Believer more calm and comfortable He acknowledged himself to be the vilest Dunghilworm 't was his usual Expression that ever went to Heaven He admir'd the Divine Condescension to us often saying Lord what is Man what am I vile Worm to the great God Many times he prayed God be merciful to me a Sinner and blessed God that that was left upon record in the Gospel as an effectual Prayer He said God may justly condemn me for the best Duty I ever did and all my hopes are from the free Mercy of God in Christ which he often prayed for After a slumber he wak'd and said I shall rest from my Labour a Minister then present said And your Works follow you to whom he replyed No Works I will leave out Works if God will grant me the other When a Friend was comforting him with the remembrance of the good many had received by his preaching and Writings he said I was but a Pen in God's hand and what praise is due to a Pen. His resign'd Submission to the Will of God in his sharp Sickness was eminent When extremity of pain constrain'd him earnestly to pray to God for his release by Death he would check himself It is not fit for me to prescribe and said when thou wilt what thou wilt how thou wilt Being in great Anguish he said O how unsearchable are his ways and his paths past finding out the reaches of his Providence we cannot fathom and to his Friends Do not think the worse of Religion for what you see me suffer Being often ask'd by his Friends how it was with his inward Man he replied I bless God I have a well-grounded Assurance of my Eternal Happiness and great Peace and Comfort within but it was his trouble he could not triumphantly express it by reason of his extreme pains He said Flesh must perish and we must feel the perishing of it and that though his Judgment submitted yet sense would still make him groan Being asked by a Person of Quality whether he had not great Joy from his believing Apprehensions of the invisible State he replied What else think you Christianity serves for He said The Consideration of the Deity in his Glory and Greatness was too high for our Thoughts but the Consideration of the Son of God in our Nature and of the Saints in Heaven whom he knew and loved did much sweeten and familiarize Heaven to him The description of Heaven in the 12. to the Heb. and the 22. was most comfortable to him That he was going to the innumerable company of Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born whose Names are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect And to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel That Scripture he said deserved a thousand thousand thoughts He said O how comfortable is that promise Eye has not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man to conceive the things God hath laid up for those who love him At another time he said That he found great comfort and sweetness in repeating the words of the Lord's Prayer and was sorry that some good people were prejudiced against the use of it for there were all necessary Petitions for Soul and Body contain'd in it At other times he gave excellent Counsel to young Ministers that visited him and earnestly prayed to God to bless their labours and make them very successfull in Converting many Souls to Christ And express'd great joy in the hopes that God would do a great deal of good by them and that they were of moderate peacefull Spirits He did often pray that God would be mercifull to this miserable distracted World and that he would preserve his Church and Interest in it He advis'd his Friends to beware of self-conceitedness as a Sin that was likely to ruine this Nation and said I have written a Book against it which I am afraid has done little good Being askd whether he had alter'd his mind in Controversial Points he said Those that please may know my mind in my Writings and what he had done was not for his own Reputation but the Glory of God I went to him with a very worthy Friend Mr. Mather of New-England the day before he died and speaking some comforting Words to him he replyed I have pain there is no arguing against sense but I have peace I have peace I told him you are now approaching to your long-desir'd home he answer'd I believe I believe He said to Mr. Mather I bless God that you have accomplisht your business the Lord prolong your Life He exprest a great willingness to dye and during his Sickness when the Question was ask'd how he did his reply was almost well