give the whole World if she had it and if such a thing were possible for to obtain his Reconciliation and Loving Kindness Then the same Soul that did heretofore Despise and Disobey God is all for Honouring of and Obeying him But she should have done it before for now it is too late But even from the Thoughts of Dying Persons we come to know and discern what would have been good for them and what the Lord did require of them in the midst of Life and Happy would it be and it would be well with them if they had then so done For this is the very top of the chiefest VVisdom to do those things whilst Living which one shall wish he had done when he comes to Die As also to refrain from those things such are Sin and the Pleasures of Life as we shall indeed wish and desire that we had abstained and refrained from when we come to Die To approach draw near and stick close unto God To wait upon him in all his Publick Ordinances not forsaking the Assembling our selves together and that so much the more as ye see the Day Approaching as also in all private Duties To serve him with our utmost Power to be a doing of Righteousness and good VVorks Alms Mercy and Compassion to the very utmost of our Ability There is indeed a Bitterness in Death as Agag truly called it For my part I am not ashamed to own that I do Vehemently and very much Fear it This makes me to do Sundry things Pertaining to God and Religion which I should not do otherwise if hereby I may somewhat take off and lessen from this bitterness of Death If hereby I may store up to my self Comfort against my dying Day For this Cause I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ nor yet of Preaching it in what is called a Foolish and Contemptible manner as I make it known unto People in its Simplicity and pureness For I believe that God hath chosen the Foolish things of the VVorld and the things which are despised 1 Cor. 1. 27 28. I have already Sufficiently Experienced the same and I have been given to Understand further that this kind of doing hath been and will be an Occasion of Loss as to VVorldly Goods For more might be allotted unto me if I would leave off the Preaching and Publishing the Truth of the most High God But when I ponder it in my Mind this same Hope of storing up to my self Comfort against my dying Day doth with me weigh down all VVorldly Considerations or Temptations And I trust in the Everliving God that this shall be my Guide unto my dying Day That I may give up an Account of the Ministry which I have received with Joy and not with Grief for this would be unprofitable for you The Searcher of all that is in all Hearts knows that the very Reason why I do desire a full and greater Assembly of Hearers and that my Books and Writings may have a more Universal Reception is chiefly that I may let down my Net for a greater draught of Fishes For I know and believe that the more Souls shall be converted Edified or built up in their Holy Faith by my Ministry it will tend so much the more to their own and also my Comfort and Rejoycing and Crown in the last Day But however whether more or few will receive it I shall endeavour by the Divine Grace to approve my self Faithful in the Ministry as Moses was Faithful in all his House I mean not to lead People on as the manner of some is in a meer outward Profession as if there was no more than only to come to such a place of Worship Or in a Partial Obedience of the Law Mal. 2. 9 In that deceit so common and universal amongst those who call themselves Christians of keeping some of the Commandments of God and neglecting others Or the Naming the Name of Christ and not departing from Iniquity Like those who call him Lord Lord and do not the things which he saith So there be others of a more Religious sort who mightily harp upon the word Christ Christ and yet themselves in the mean while shew forth a â—erverse Spirit against the Ministration of his Word and they refuse him that now Speaketh from Heaven through one of his least Members Against all such I do here set my Testimony according as I have received the same from the Word of Truth God is most Glorified when his Servant doth follow the Conduct and Leadings of his Truth whethersoever it goes for this is to follow the Lamb whethersoever He goes inasmuch as the Lamb is the Way the Truth and the Life And so I am determined by his Grace to go on although in the continued Ministration and Successive Outgoing and Emanations of his Divine Truth Lover and Friend hast thou put away far from me and mine Acquaintance into Darkness whether the Multitude or greater part of People do hear or forbear receive it or not and so we intirely leave and submit it all to his own Divine Majesty for God is Judge himself when every Man shall receive his own Reward according to his own Labour 1 Cor. 3. 8. When Jesus did by the Grace of God taste Death for every Man Heb. 2. 9. He thereby took away that exceeding bitterness in it for all those who will comply with the Ends of his death which is to die yea and to be dead unto Sin and to rise again unto newness of Life But this doth not belong to the Wicked or Sinners for in the Hand of the Lord there is a Cup and the Wine is Red and it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the Wicked of the Earth shall wring them out and drink them Psal 75. 8. so that the same Cup of Death will taste differently unto two sorts of People The Righteous and the Wise will taste some little Bitterness therein wherewith also Sweetness will be intermingled Marvel not at this for I know a Man to whom Sweetness and a kind of Perfume hath arose even from the Apprehension of Death But it will be only mixture wherein the sowre and bitter part will make the greatest Ingredient and dregs to the wicked of the Earth for the sting of Death is Sin which sting gives the Pain or smart and it stings more or less according as Sin is more or less in the Person who is to undergo it So that it must be the wiser and more excellent way to stand in awe and Sin not and to cease from our own Works By which I mean the ceasing from those our Works which do proceed and arise from the worldly fleshly and corrupt Nature for all this is our own The Duty and Obligation hereof appears from what is written There remaineth therefore a Rest to the People of God for he that is entred into his Rest hath ceased from his own Works
Divine Arithmetick Illustrated In the Right and Exact Numbering of our DAYS OR A DISCOURSE OF The Near and Continued Approaches of Death unto every one whatever With the same Inference and Application which the Apostle in 1 Cor. 15. makes from an alike Subject That the Knowledge and Consideration of these things should exhort People to be Stedfast Vnmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord. BY RICHARD STAFFORD O that they were Wise That they understood this That they would consider their latter End Deut. 32. 29. So teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Psal 90. 12. LONDON Printed and Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers-hall 1697. It is appointed unto Men once to die Heb. 9. 27. ALthough Death and Mortality is an easie Subject to discourse on because therein so very many things do lie open common and obvious to the Knowledge of all People whatsoever whether Learned or Unlearned whither they be Considerate or Ignorant for The Living know that they shall die Eccles 9. 5. and unless it be to stir up your Pure Minds by way of Remembrance it may seem superfluous to write those things which are commonly known already yet it is safe However I having already published to the World many things concerning the State of the Wicked and Sinners Ignorant and Ungodly in their Death and also of the Condition of Good Men in their Death I shall here endeavour to make known what further Thoughts do arise in my Mind concerning it as the same do spring up from the Book of the Lord the Fountain of Truth which I have within me by seeking and drawing out from thence as also from that common Knowledge and Understanding which the Lord hath given to me as a Creature And that knowing the Time that now it is High Time to awake out of sleep for now is our Salvation nearer than when we believed The Night is far spent the Day is at hand Knowing that our Days are continually passing on one after another to that State or kind of Being which shall never pass away It is certainly High Time to rouse up and bethink our selves throughly for the things of which we have been so often fore-told and fore-warned I mean the things contained and spoken of in Scripture which relate unto that God with whom all Creatures have to do and must receive from him Blessing or Cursing Happiness or Misery And also the things concerning the World to come whereof the Scripture it self and those instructed with the Ministry thereof do all along speak All this is nearer than when we first believed and draws nearer and nearer day by day to morrow it will be nearer than to day and the next day after that nearer than to morrow and so on We do day by day and night after night approach nearer and nearer to the unseen things and to the unseen State which is Eternal for the things which are not seen are Eternal The Night is far spent With us severally according as our Years are it is evident a great deal of our Life is gone past and behind I liked very well the Expression of a Man which I once heard when it was told him such an one was near about forty Years of Age He said thereupon That forty Years was a large stride towards the Grave And truly so it is for it is a striding half way at the utmost Computation of Man's Life at fourscore Years But at the usual reckoning of threescore Years and ten a Year is three hundred threescore and five days and six hours which every fourth Year makes three hundred threescore and six So that cast np all this together it amounts to near about five and twenty thousand five hundred and sixty seven days and twelve hours Here is the exact number of our days if one was sure to live seventy Years But how many Thousands and Millions do come short of it who either pass away as the untimely Fruit of a Woman or dye in their Infancy Childhood Youth Manhood or declining Years before they come to this old Age. So that admitting that any one should certainly come to threescore Years and ten as a thousand Paces make a Mile the length of his Journy or Pilgrimage may be reckoned up at about twenty five Miles and an half and it is a going one Pace each day and night or seeing that two strides make a Pace it is a going two strides towards it one in the day and another in the night And thus we who are Inhabitants of Flesh do continually Journy or Travel on towards the Land of Eternity And so it is proportionably according to the number of the Days and Weeks and Months and the Years which the Lord of Life whose are the Times and Seasons do lend to every Man here on this Earth Do not reckon this to be an odd and an unusual kind of writing thus to cast up Numbers for if ye read in Daniel and in some places of the Revelations ye will there find and meet so much of this nature as if the Spirit of God did delight in summing and casting up of Numbers So that what we have here mentioned doth not derogate vary or alter from that true and sound Preaching by the Spirit or at least from those common Assistances of the Spirit which are given to every Minister of Christ according as he is Faithful and Diligent in the Ministration of the Gospel After that the Spirit of God by Moses had cast up the Number of our days to be threescore Years and ten or fourscore Years he goes on to add So teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom One saith well The numbering of our days is the best kind of Arithmetick And truly to me when I thus cast up and compute it in my Mind nothing doth so much give me a true through and lively sence if I may so express it even of Mortality it self Here is the Use and Instruction of it To apply our Hearts unto Wisdom There is a difference between bare thinking of a thing and to set ones Heart or to apply ones Heart unto it And so it is as to the Sinners and Godly People for even Sinners do think a little in the General concerning Reiigion that Heavenly and Spiritual Wisdom for indeed they cannot help it and they cannot do otherwise inasmuch as the Words thereof and the Sound thereof is gone out to the Ends of the Earth there is so very much Talking and Preaching thereof in this Island there is so exceeding much in the Scriptures of Truth which almost every Family hath in its House that there is none so much a stranger in England who hath not heard of these things What things Concerning God and another Life and the World to come But as to Sinners and the Ungodly all this amounts to no more than to a certain Rumour or Report or a Sound without a
from within my self ever since I was a Child and had the least Knowledge of Good and Evil that there was another Life and another State which People should enter upon and go into after that they are departed off from this Earth I was all along and am still as verily Persuaded and as certained of it as I am sure that at the writing these Lines I now Live and Breath And thereupon Revolving and Pondering many things in my Mind how that all things here are but vain little and passing away as a Shadow and do not signifie much fain would I be happy and safe as to the Succeeding and Eternal State of things into which my Soul must Launched forth out of this Body So I came at length to be acquainted with the Ways of God and I have made it my Business to serve him although it hath been all along which I desire to acknowledge in bitterness of Soul accompanied with too many Failings and Imperfections and comings short of what the Lord hath Required of me It should be a constant Rule that whensoever I declare and make known my own Experiences there the Reader or Hearer should confer Notes and compare it at the very same Instant with those Experiences of his own for there is nothing like to this Euperimental Kind of Preaching when a Minister doth inwardly feel what himself doth Speak and Speak out what himself doth feel for we are Fellow Servants and Fellow Travellers and God who Fashioneth the Hearts of the Inhabitants of the Earth alike Psal 34. 15. doth bring all his Sons and Daughters unto Glory by near the same way in all their several Generations and Countreys All of them that ever did or shall come to Glory they were every one of them so wise as to Consider their latter End Saith one of them Lord make me to know mine End and the Measure of my Days what it is that I may know how frail I am And so when we Read the History of the Saints and Servants of God in Hebrews this general Character is given of them all They confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Countrey Heb. 11. 13 14. And if they seek a Countrey they must be mindful of that Entrance or Passage which lets into that Coutrey which is Death A Stranger or Pilgrim are Relative Words and do Relate unto somewhat to which they should be acquainted and to somewhere they should be at home Now God is the Father of Spirits to whom they are Related and with whom they should be acquainted according to what is written Acquaint now thy self with him and be at Peace Job 22. 21. Though a Stranger is not acquainted and know in such a place yet others elsewhere do know him And so God is acquainted with all Men as they are his Creatures Thou art acquainted with all my Ways Psal 139. 3. Though alas too many are not acquainted with him And then mention is made in Ecclesiastes That Man goeth to his long Home and the Mourners go about the Streets So that he is a Pilgrim all the while he is on this Earth They are all so in Deed and Reality but few do confess themselves to be so that is Strangers and Pilgrims and declare plainly that they seek a Countrey so as not to be Mindful of that Countrey they now are in no further than barely to Furnish them with Necessaries and Accommodations for their intended Passage and Journey but not to sit down or settle any Abode or Dwelling-place herein for a Stranger or Pilgrim doth denote one who is in a Travelling and Moving Posture and they are not long in a place and also they have a fixed certain and intended Place or End to which they make or otherwise they are but Wanderers And again it is certain as long as they are Travelling and Moving if they are set aright every Minute they draw nearer and nearer to their home or ot the place where they would be Now whereas many People would willingly stay here always by their Good-will it shall not be so for an the Soul here is in Prison so it is a Moveable Prison or a Moveable Waggon and the Wheels thereof are always going until the Appointed Time when they shall Cease and let out the Soul into the Invisible VVorld Thus much is sensible and evident that the Pulse is always beating towards its last stroke It is appointed unto Men once to die This Particle once makes it yet more terrible and raises in it yet greater Thought and searching of Heart for we do more dread and are more apprehensive of things which we were never sensible of nor had experienced before Of so many Millions since the Creation of Man upon the Earth we read or hear of but very few that did return again after they were passed into the Gates of Death We read of some as of Lazarus and the Saints that arose at our Saviour's Crucifixion and Resurrection Mat. 27. 52 53. but none are recorded who gave an exact account how or what manner of thing it is to dye how much Pain they did undergo therein or how the Bitterness of Death did taste and how it was with the Soul in the separated State this is left to every one of us to know and feel It is as natural a thing to dye as it is to live for we are appointed to that all one as to be born or to pass through a little mean while here It is only to break that which was liable to be broken before or to melt down that which was meltable Suppose that any one who shall hear or read this were to dye at such a day certain about a Month or six Weeks or a quarter of a Year hence and it is likely enough to be some ones Condition How would such a Message possess that Soul with fear and surprize God who hath determined the Times before appointed Acts 17. 26. doth know exactly the day of the Month and the Year with the Place and also the manner with what Sickness or outward Accident or Casualty each of us shall dye for it is certain to God but unknown to us So it is of all the Sons and Danghters of Men although some of them are now Healthy Lusty and strong If death is not most commonly sudden yet Sickness or Casualty is always sudden which in a week or an hours time will cut down the Tree to the Ground and fetch out the Soul to give an account for the Deeds done in the Body The Lord of Life knows all by our Names and who would now think that such a Person and such a Person according as he appoints and marks them out in his own order shall die such a day and in such a place and of such a Disease or Accident This same Tongue which hath spoken forth his Truths shall one day faulter and be laid
as God did from his Heb. 4. 18. Now Death is the entrance and passage into this Rest and therefore if we would by this Death be translated into this Rest we must before this Death cease from our own works that is to say From all such works which â—avour of Sin Vanity or of this evil World For saith another Scripture Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Rev. 14. 13. This is to be understood of good Works For the doing of good Works is the Laying up in store for themselves a good Foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal Life 1 Tim. 6. 18. Such who die in the Lord did in their Life time before live unto the Lord. And such the Gospel enjoyns peremptorily to maintain good Works This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good Works These things be good and profitable unto Men Titus 3. 8. For the Spirit of God in the fore-quoted place of the Revelations doth pronounce them Blessed because their works do follow them This Foundation will then stand them in stead and they will be Partakers of the Loving Kindness and Reward of the Lord for the same I have heard of a certain Atheist who being asked upon his Death-bed what he then thought concerning Religion said on this wise A Good Life and Good Deeds but all the rest was Talk and Prate In this last part of his sentence he spake like an Unbeliever but as to his foregoing words this may be conceived that the best Life and the best Deeds without the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ will never save any one The best VVorks and the best Deeds if they are mingled with any thing of self-Righteousness or with any Thoughts of Merit or deserving for the same they are marred and spoiled as to God's present Acceptation and future Recompence They are become like the Girdle that was marred and profitable for nothing Jer. 13. 11. But good and observable Truth may be gathered from the former part of his saying A Good Life and Good Deeds For let the Knowledge and Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ be mixed with the same Good Life and Good Deeds Let this same Good Life and Good Deeds be all lifted up and terminated towards God Let all good Works be done in great Humility self-abasement and nothingness of the Creature He desiring that they may be accepted clothed over with the Righteousness of Christ and only in and through him Then all this will yea it doth yield sensible Comfort and real Support against and in a dying day For then when the Soul is just going out of the Body and most wants help whereon to stay and fix It may be truly said to her there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun who rideth upon the Heaven in thy help and in his Excellency on the Sky The Eternal God is thy Refuge and underneath are the overlasting Arms may this Scripture belong to me when the shadow of Death sits upon my Eye-lids and I am just breathing out my last I had rather have it than all the Kingdoms Lands and Riches of the whole Earth for ten thousand Years if it was possible to enjoy them so long These good words and comfortable words go on to add And he shall thrust out the Enemy from before thee which Enemy is the Devil and shall say Destroy them Israel shall dwell in safety alone Deut. 33. 26 27 28. Safety and Salvation is all one in signification and this is safety to be saved and preserved from all the Evils of the Invisible World to get above and all alone from all the Annoyances of Evil Spirits as also to be freed from all Sin and Temptation henceforward Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last End be like his But there is no dying the Death of the Righteous without living the Life of the Righteous But how much Good Works or Works of Alms Mercy and Compassion especially to the Ministers and Servants of the Lord will give and procure unto the doers thereof Comfort and Support in a dying day we may gather and understand from the words of Paul The Lord give Mercy unto the House of Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my Chain The Lord grant unto him that he may find Mercy of the Lord in that day 2 Tim. 1. 16 18. which is the day of Death and the day of Judgment for then it is that any reasonable Creature most wants the Mercy of God and the Apostle here wrote these things by the Spirit as one that knew the Mind and Will of the Lord for in what Prayer the Spirit of Truth doth dictate is included a Promise that so it shall be And it is the same thing as if it did run on this wise That Onesiphorus shall find Mercy of the Lord in the day of Death and of Judgment for that his good Deed which he shewed forth unto Paul a Prisoner Minister and Servant of the Lord. The Holy Ghost doth record of Dorcas This Woman was full of good Works and Alms-deeds which she did And after that she died the VVidows shewed the Coats and Garments which probably were for the Poor which Dorcas made while she was with them Acts 9. 36 39. These things are written for our Admonition upon whom the ends of the VVorld are come so that this should be yet more drawn forth into Example and Imitation by the Rich People of both Sexes of our present Age and Generation for they must severally sicken and die likewise and then they will find To what Purpose was this waste for that same Mony which they expended in fine Cloaths Gaiety and Retinue or making a Figure in the VVorld in Gluttony and Drunkenness in Pride Pleasure Prodigality and vain things or such like might have been given to the Poor and then it would have done themselves more good and have stood them in more stead than that Mammon of Unrighteousness or the Riches used to the hurt of the Owners Or they might have thus consecrated their Gain unto the Lord and their Substance unto the Lord of the whole Earth Micah 4. 13. In being more willing to contribute the same yet more plentifully towards the Publishing and Propagation of his Eternal Truth which seems to be the Best of Works For this is a doing Good unto the Immortal Souls of Men whereas common and outward Alms is only a Temporal Kindness unto the dying Body And also that longer remains as to which the Scripture saith If any Mans work abide he shall receive a Reward 1 Cor. 3. 14. To conclude our whole Discourse This is certain That we must all both Good and Bad appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5. 10. Vnto thee shall all Flesh come Psal 65. 2. Seeing the case is so and there is no avoiding of it VVhat can be a more forcible Consideration in the VVorld since that we must appear before and come unto a Great God who is the Great Law-giver able to Save and to Destroy who doth Good so likewise he can and will Punish VVhat manner of Persons ought we to be in this little mean while between in all Holy Conversation and Godliness VVhat can we do too much to please and approve our selves unto him To agree with him that was our Adversary whilst we are in the way To do any thing to get his Reconciliation and Favour his Peace and loving Kindness The only way whereto he hath shewed us is In beginning and then continuing and persevering on to the end to the day of our several respective deaths In the true Spiritual VVorship and Service In the Universal Obedience of all the words of his Law and Gospel and fulfilling all Righteousness In doing his VVill and every good VVord and VVork and to do all this more and more more diligently and more constantly as we come nearer in time and see the day approaching Furthermore then we beseech you Brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more 1 Thess 4. 1. FINIS