by my right hand Thou shalt guide me with thy Council and afterward receive me to glory Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee My Flesh and my Heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my Portion for ever Which brings us to another thing that will relieve and comfort us in a dying State and Condition and that is Thirdly THE THOVGHTS OR CONSIDERATION OF OVR NEAR APPROACH TO HAPPINESS AND GLORY Having hitherto run the race that is set before us We may expect greater sweets and troubles and to be more tired the nearer we come to the end of it But this is the last Stage if we can bear up under this only remaining difficulty the day and the prize is ours we may go on with patience Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith How must it incourage our endeavours and support our spirits under the sorest pressure of Death it self to behold with an eye of faith the glory ready to be revealed and to see our Lord with open arms ready to receive us Come bear up under this and as it is your worst it is your very last tryal There are blessed Mansions prepar'd for you where there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Tho it may not seem consistent with what I have already deliver'd to lessen the sad and sorrowful circumstances of our dying hours yet I may say that if our Souls be duly fix'd on Heaven and Eternity it must in a great measure abate and will I 'm sure outweigh the worst that can be said or conceiv'd of that State This is able to outballance the utmost tyranny of pains and agonies and to dispel all clouds and melancholly from our minds The Night is come but it brings us to the dawn of Eternity and that shadow of Death is the confine of the days of Heaven Yet a little while and we are gone into YONDER World and must it not be a mighty satisfaction to us now to say with the Apostle We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolv'd we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens To think that the pain will be over in a short time is some ease to my mind in the greatest affliction but to add and consider withal that it will be presently succeeded with joy unspeakable and full of glory must administer to our Souls the highest consolation I will fear no evil for thou art with me to say farther and I shall be with thee be transferred to that blissful State to the presence of God where there is fulness of joys and pleasures for evermore is my most unspeakable support and the very height of comfort and satisfaction The years draw nigh in which thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them while the Sun or the Light or the Moon or the Stars are darkned In the day when the Keepers of the House shall remble Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fears shall be in the way The silver Cord is looseth Observe upon that melancholly and tho elegant description of our dying condition Solomon subjoyns us a comfort against the dismal thoughts of those sad circumstances and against Death it self the consideration of our acceptance with God in the Immortal State Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it In a word this single consideration that we shall ever be with the Lord duly weighed and rely'd on will abundantly relieve and support us against all the Powers of Death in its most horrid and ghastly appearances and sufficiently subdue the great difficulties of the dying State Fourthly This is again render'd further easie and supportable FROM THE CONSIDERATION OF CHRISTS DEATH AND SVFFERINGS not only as they do expiate our sins and so bring comfort to our Souls as we may have occasion to shew presently but withal upon the account of his great and glorious conquest over Death and the Grave which he vanquish'd and subdu'd in the very worst and most horrid circumstances that they might have less power and exercise less tyranny over us Whereupon the Apostle triumphantly speaks Death is swallowed up in Victory O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ To consider that Christ our Lord under went the same before us and in a more dismal manner than we are able to bear or imagine is some mitigation in this most sorrowful condition considering withal that in doing so he hath made the way more smooth and passable for us Death spent his most fiery Darts on him and he hath so subdu'd his greatest strength and utmost power that he either cannot or dare not be over severe and rigorous with us at least he can go no further than he will permit him I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen And have the keys of Hell and of Death Death is now purely under Christs command and can do nothing but by leave from him and therefore we may justly hope that our gracious Lord will not suffer him to exert his utmost fury upon us How suitable then is that pious Prayer of our Church at this season O Saviour of the World who by thy Cross and precious Blood hast redeemed us save us and help us we humbly beseech thee O Lord. Fifthly The troubles and sorrows of a dying State are again very much abated and subdu'd FROM THE THOUGHTS OF A FUTURE RESURRECTION which will satisfie our minds and make abundant amends for all the doubts or troubles that do now attend us What though we suffer under pains and may be griev'd to think that part of us shall be the prey of Worms and Corruption yet the belief of this truth will soon dispel the sorrows that arise from thence The time is coming and Lord what joy is it in these straights when my Soul now returning to God shall meet this body again glorious and refin'd never more to be vext with or separated from it This shadow of Death and that sorrowful Night that is now beset with clouds and horrour will conduct us to the morn of our Resurrection and how can we be sorrowful as Men without hope This our Church looks upon as the most comfortable support for the consideration of our own or others dissolution when in its great Prudence and Piety it appoints that Lesson concerning the great Article of the Resurrection in the Burial Service a Doctrine if rightly fix'd and believ'd that will render us stedfast and immoveable in the deepest sorrows Thy Brother shall rise again was the comfort our Saviour gave to
such extravagant convulsions cold sweats deadly faintings short breathing distraction of the Eyes and other dreadful Agonies that attend it For if these and the like which we observe in daily Spectacles of Mortality are dreadful to behold What must they be to those poor Creatures that do and to us that shall suffer under them And therefore a good man that is not afraid of death can't but shrink and tremble to think of the way to it that is beset with such horror and distraction in every particular O my God may be the language of the most pious Soul I am willing to die and prepared for thee being desirous to depart and to be with Christ which is better than a continuance here but my greatest concern is how to come to thee on the other Shore there is a great Gulf between us I must be toss'd on a boysterous Sea and wrack'd by dreadful Waves and Tempests Is there no way to Canaan but through a desolate Wilderness and must I go through the valley of the Shadow of Death to that Land which flows with Milk and Hony that Heavenly Jerusalem These are things contrary to Flesh and Blood and such as will make the stoutest courage faint and tremble the pains and terrours of death can't be exprest or conceiv'd by any but who are past or under them And doubtless the holy Spirit of God doth in some measure intimate to us the sadness of them when it mentions it as a great blessing to men that it is appointed to them but once to die and that there shall be no more death in the other State One undoubted priviledge whereof is that there shall be no more of those dreadful forerunners or concomitants of it where are sorrows so severe and terrible as endanger the safety of our Souls as well as Bodies by urging us to impatience distrust and the like thence says our Church suffer us not at our last hour through any pains of death to fall from thee Our greatest troubles and most dangerous conflict in this World is usually our departure out of it so that to this case also we may apply that of the Prophet The great day of the Lord is near it is near and hasteth greatly even the voice of the day of the Lord the mighty Men shall cry therein bitterly That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wasteness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess a day of clouds and thick darkness Thus the Pains and Agonies of a dying State render it most terrible and dreadful Secondly It will appear again to be so FROM MENS MISGIVING THOVGHTS OF THEIR AFTER STATE I do not mean their doubtfulness of it for I am apt to think that the greatest pretenders that way are sufficiently convinc'd when they come to die and the sence oft hat their languishing Condition will soon rub up their belief of another Life but now most or all Men are under no small distress and perplexity from the conviction and consideration of that future Life for which none is sufficiently fitted and prepared but hath reason especially from himself to have some diffidence some distrust or suspicion of his condition in it and it is what becometh a prudent and a good Man for an over-weening opinion of our selves and a confident presumption of our preparation for Heaven may be ill grounded and mistaken and seems to be inconsistent with a truly devout and penitent Soul Be not high minded but fear is the Rule that such go by even in these circumstances We must be sensible and ought to be especially so when we come to die That we have had a great work to do in a little time and being that God now calls us to give up an account of our Stewardship it must put us into very great fear and consternation to think with our selves what we have done and whither we are going and how can we but suspect our condition when we consider that we are not able to answer God one word in a thousand must it not then most deeply concern and mightily affect our Souls to consider that near approach to their endless and unalterable State and the best of Men may have some fear or suspicion at least of their Condition in it This now is their grand Affair and if they fail and miscarry here they are irrevocably gone and lost for ever Who then can avoid being concern'd at this great and weighty change when he thinks with himself that he is now hasting into another world and at the gate of Eternity tho he fears not death yet the apprehensions of another State must strike a damp into his Soul and make him hugely ferious and perplexed in his thoughts Mens hearts failing them for fear of what may become of them in another State Nor is it blamable or unchristian to be so for besides what Reason the best of Men may have to suspect themselves such a temper as this will dispose us for all due care and circumspection in that most solemn time and season and such an humble distrust of our selves may and will have better effects than a very daring confidence and presumption For the comfort of good Men at the most depending upon hope doth shew that at the best they lie under some donbtfulness and insecurity And therefore as you see Mens misgiving thoughts as to a future State is no small trouble and perplexity to them in their dying circumstances Thirdly Their trouble herein doth further arise FROM THE THOVGHTS OF PARTING WITH ALL THE PLEASVRES AND ENJOYMENTS HERE BELOW Men that have lived in the World must needs have some interest and affections fix'd in it and there is scarce any that do or can sit so loose to these secular Affairs as to bear the removal from them with an even and undisturbed Spirit nay so far is it from this that these frequently prove the most pungent considerations or reflexions in that dismal state Have I saith one laboured all my life time for nothing but vanity and vexation of Spirit for I find it to be so now I am to be removed and to be taken from it For this have I beat my brains wearied and molested my self for this have I cheated and purloin'd for this have I overreach'd or supplanted my Brother wrong'd or oppress'd my Neighbour and must I be depriv'd of all in a moment What sorrow like to my sorrow will the Worldling say And those pleasures that others have too much in dulged will but the more perplex their thoughts when they are thus forc'd from them nay even the moderate and lawful enjoyment of these things will occasion in us no small trouble and vexation of mind at this final parting with them Tho it behoves us to do it with Christian courrage and Resignation yet we cannot without extream sorrow and concernment say at that time Farewel Wife farwel Children farewel Friends farewel the World
finally farwel whatever was here dear and valuable And give me leave to add the more have been Mens comforts and those of good Men have been the most and truest the more and greater must be the grief and concernment for that utter removal and dismal separation from them Fourthly The troubles of a dying State must be again very great FROM THE SENCE OF SIN OR GVILT THAT WILL THEN CROWD IN VPON VS However we may forget God and our selves in a time of Health and Prosperity when these decline or for sake us we are usually brought to a sober sence and in such a languishing State and Condition can hardly avoid it Conscience if ever will certainly awake when we come to die and we may have observed the greatest Affliction that Men have then suff er'd under was their not being able to avoid their own thoughts which are now more bitter and terrible than ever and by the way 't is not only justice but withal goodness in God to make it so Now the mind has quick and unbiass'd Reflections on its own Actions and sets forth its Guilt in true and proper Colours and therefore the Apostle may well say The sting of Death is Sin No terror in this State like that which doth redound to us from our guilty Consciences which have now got us under hold and will lash us severely We can't now disguise or dissemble our guilt there is no stifling of it by Riot or Intemperance lewd and loofe Company can divert us no longer all the live-long day our sins will plague and fret us and in the wearisom nights when we count every minute our guilt will rush in upon our thoughts attend us in every turn and motion and render our Souls as restless and uneasie as our Bodies if what the Prophet saith of wicked Men be true at other times 't is much more so at this That they are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt There is no peace saith my God to the wicked When we come to die the greatest melancholly that shall then seize our spirits will be from the heavy load and burden of our sins that will be ready to oppress and sink our Souls Then we shall find that threatning verified in us I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes And what grief or anguish can be comparable to that which redounds from this When we are going hence and God gives us Warning to remove must it not concern and afflict us beyond all thought or expression to consider the danger our Sins have now brought us to They hide God's face and mercy from us and in our greatest Distress and highest need of Comfort threaten us with utter Ruin and Destruction and nothing now can be so cutting and intollerable as the thoughts of a displeased and angry God And well may that be so to us which was the greatest of our Saviours troubles for at his dying hour the guilt of our sins that lay on him occasioned the bitterest agony of his Soul and that dismal exclamation My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Most certainly the sence of guilt will be the bitterest Potion and the very dregs of that Cup of trembling Our Hearts will faint and our Souls will sink within us and we shall shake and fear and cry mightily and have on us such passionate concernment as is inexpressible from the dismal apprehension of the Divine Wrath and Indignation which our sins have kindled and provok'd against us So that hereupon it may be said with Cain My punishment is greater than I can bear Fifthly The troubles of a dying state will appear further considerable FROM THE ASSAVLTS OF OVR SPIRITVAL ENEMY WHICH WILL BE THEN MORE AND GREATER THAN EVER For to this we may apply what is said of him Woe to the Inhabitants of the Earth for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time And accordingly we may expect that he will apply his temptations now more closely and vigorously than ever for if he discharges this last part effectually they are utterly lost and gone and he has gain'd them for ever Wherefore he may be suppos'd now to set all his Engines on work and to ply it closely He takes all the advantages that may be of these extream and difficult circumstances herein he tempts us to fretfulness and impatience under God's hand to a destrust or dispair of his goodness Dost thou still retain thy Integrity Curse God and die If this will not do he tempts us with too great presumption on the Divine goodness to a neglect of due Examination and Repentance of our Sins or distracts our thoughts with Secular Affairs One way or other he either keeps us from the duties requisite for that State or endeavours to make us increase our sin in it Most certain it is that the Devil doth now hope and industriously watch for his Prey the last effect of his Malice and Revenge The case here may be somewhat liken'd to that mention'd of him Rev. 12. 4 The Dragon stood before the Woman that was ready to be delivered for to devour the Child as soon as it was born But may our Souls escape like that and be caught up unto God and to his Throne Sixthly A dying State or Condition is render'd very dreadful and terrible FROM THE THOVGHTS OR CONVICTION OF AN AFTER-ACCOVNT OR JVDGMENT The Prisoner when going to his Tryal hath all along every step he takes very strange and perplexing thoughts and is beyond expression troubled and uneasie within himself And what must the case be with Men when on the confines of another World to think of that great and impartial Judgment and Tribunal before which they are now summon'd to appear And how must it affect and cut them to consider that they are now hasting to the presence of that Rightoous and Almighty Judge who shall strictly examine every thought and idle word before whom all things are naked and open To consider that after Death comes Judgment is that which makes a dying State the most serious and weighty matter in the whole World What concernment and anxiety must a man truly considerative have at such a time I am dying I am departing that is in other terms I am called to give up my Accompts I am going to be Judged before the great God behold what matter so weighty what concernment comparable to this This single consideration duly weighed renders such circumstances very straight and terrible No other can be the genuine effect of Mens thorough belief and conviction at that time of an approaching Judgment But we have sufficiently represented the black and tragical part it may be high time now to draw the Curtain and set forth a fairer Seene Well then notwithstanding a dying condition is thus severe and terrible yet we have particular extraordinary
supports and comforts under it Yea though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death I WILL FEAR NO EVIL FOR THOV ART WITH ME to assist me in these straits and necessities and to afford suitable helps and advantages under them And now those great supports which God doth give us in these most difficult circumstances may be consider'd under these following particulars First The thoughts of this State as the appointment of God Secondly That God is therein peculiarly present with us and gives us extraordinary helps and assistances of his Divine care and goodness Thirdly The near approach to Heaven and Happiness Fourthly The consideration of Christs Death and Sufferings Fifthly The belief and expectation of a future Resurrection Sixthly The promise and assurance of pardon and forgiveness Seventhly The attendance of God's Holy Angels that are ready to receive our Souls Which duly and seriously consider'd will abundantly qualifie and remove all the terrours and difficulties of a dying State First It is a very great support at that time to consider That the STATE WE ARE NOW BROVGHT TO IS ACCORDING TO THE DETERMINATE ORDER AND ALLOTMENT OF GOD in whom we live and move and have our being He is the breath of our Nostrils he put our Souls into these Tabernacles and we are here only Tenants at Will liable to be dispossest at Pleasure And when we consider that 't is appointed for all men once to die and that it is an irrevocable decree of Heaven that we MVST all walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death why should we fear any evil be dismay'd or terrified at that which is the will and pleasure of the Almighty as if some strange and unexpected accident did befall us For may we not hereupon say with the Apostle That no man should be moved with these afflictions for your selves know that we are appointed thereunto Is not Gods hand in my suffering Is it not in my death 'T is an undoubted mitigation even of this sorrow and affliction to consider that God hath appointed it as the unavoidable Lot and Portion of all men living so that on this account we may say I will fear no evil for thou art with me Secondly In our dying State or circumstances GOD IS PECVLIARLY PRESENT WITH VS AND GIVES VS EXTRAORDINARY HELPS AND ASSISTANCES OF HIS CARE AND GOODNESS Thou art with me That Providence which is always vigilant over us hath then a more deep and special regard and concern for us Are the very hairs of our head all number'd And doth his care extend so far as that one of these shall not fall to the ground but by the permission of our Heavenly Father May we not hence justly conclude that he is peculiarly careful of us in such danger and extremity as this Thou art with me it is render'd Penes me in loquo quo sto Thou art near at hand in the very place where I am not as an indifferent unconcern'd Spectator but to be a very present help in trouble Then this our good God is with us to comfort our Souls to support our Spirits to ease our Pain and give us patience under it to soften our cares to mitigate the pangs and terrours of Death then the Eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting Arms. Such a mighty care of God over us holy David was abundantly sensible of and doth express very passionately Thou art about my path and about my bed The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble Thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness The Hebrew word signifies turn Thou wilt turn all his bed in his sickness as it were to make him lie more soft and easie And he seems to have an undoubted reference hereunto by what presently follows in this verse Thou art with me thy rod and thy staff comfort me At quid adserunt solatis virga baculus adferunt quidem plurimum saith Erasmus ingeniously upon it What comfort doth the rod and staff here import A great deal adversus latrocinia daemonum hoc Molientium They are those Instruments whereby this great Shepherd doth defend his Flock from the rage and malice of the Devils that wait to devour us I am not ignorant saith he that some of the Ancients by the rod here understand some light affliction wherewith God doth Chastize by the staff some more severe and heavy Judgment whereby he doth punish his people An opinion though very pious yet not so proper for this place for observe saith he the Psalmist doth not say My rod and my staff but thy rod and thy staff and therein speaks more agreeably to the Metaphor here of Gods being a Pastor and so we may take the rod and the staff here according to what is usual in Scripture the rod may be his assisting Grace the staff our Defence against our ravenous enemy Haec virga pastoris Jesu hic beculus solatio sunt gregi imbecilli adversus terrores omnium malorum This rod this staff of the shepherd of our souls Christ Jesus will be our protection and security against all kind of evil St. Paul saith he mentions the fiery Darts of the Devil these Christ keeps from us with his staff here mentioned Hoc an non magnum interim militaris itineris solatium And is not this by the way a great incouragement of our Warlike State How dearly doth our Lord Jesus love us who as you see will neglect nothing that may any wise conduce to our protection our refreshment and our comfort Thus far he which I have the longer insisted on because it is such a genuine though unusual Interpretation and a seasonable representation of Gods so great and peculiar care and regard for us in this most straight and difficult condition To sum up this Head as nothing is surer than the day of Death and our departure out of this earthly Body which very likely may be attended with blackness and terrour with dreadful pains and Agonies too great to be exprest yet I may comfortably say that herein the Lord is my helper yea though I walk through this Valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil for thou art with me Tho the Arrows of the Almighty stick fast in me and his hand presseth me sore tho my condition be painful and tormenting and I be stretcht upon my Bed with grief and anguish and my friends about me lament to think that the place which now seeth me shall see me no more notwithstanding the decree is past That God hath numberd my Life and finish'd it and I am now befet with gloominess and darkness mine eye bals rowl and my Soul is just on the wing ready to take its flight into the unknown Regions of the other World Nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me