THE Last Work OF A BELIEVER His Passing-Prayer recommending his departing Spirit to Christ to be Received by him Prepared for the Funerals of Mary the Widow first of Francis Charlton Esq and after of Thomas Hanmer Esq And partly Preached at St. Mary Magdalens Church in Milk-street London And now at the desire of her Daughter before her Death reprinted By Richard Baxter Joh. 12. 26. If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be and If any man serve me him will my Father Honour LONDON Printed by B. Griffin for B. Simmons at the three Golden Cocks at the West-end of St. Pauls 1682. The Contents of the last work of a Believer THE Occasion of this Discourse pag. 1. The opening of the Text p. 3. Doct. 1. and 2 d passed by that Christ is exalted in glory and is to be prayed to p. 5. Doct. 3. Man hath a spirit as well as a body And what the soul is p. 6. Doct. 4. The spirit of man doth survive the body It dyeth not nor is annihilated nor sleepeth p. 11. Doct. 5. Christ doth receive the spirits of his Saints when they leave the flesh What his Receiving them is p. 14. Doct. 6. A dying Christian may confidently and comfortably commend his spirit to Christ to be Received by him p. 19. The Doctrine applyed to the unregenerate unprepared soul p. 20. Whom Christ will Receive and whom he will not refuse p. 26. Considerations to move them to prepare so as to be Received p. 30. Applyed to Believers p. 37. Encouraging proofs os Christs receiving their departed soul p. 39. Other Vses of the Doctrine p. 57. For the abatement of sorrow for the Death of our departed friend p. 61. The evidences of her happiness in the Graces in which she was eminent and exemplary p. 63. The use of her example to them that survive p. 70. Doct 7. Prayer in General and this prayer in particular That Christ will receive our departing souls is a most suitable conclusion of all the action of a Christians life p. 72. TO THE READER Reader THE person whose Death did occasion this Discourse was one that about five years ago removed from her antient habitation at Appley in Shropshire to Kederminster where she lived under my Pastoral care till I was come up to London and before she had lived there a twelve-month for thither she removed she died of the Fever then very common in the City She lived among us an example of Prudence Gravity Sobriety Righteousness Piety Charity and Self-denyal and was truly what I have described her to be and much more For I use not to flatter the living much less the dead And though I had personal acquaintance with her for no longer a time than I have mentioned yet I think it worthy the mentioning which I understand by comparing her last years with what is said of her former time by those that were then nearest to her and so were at her Death that whereas as I have said sudden Passion was the sin that she was wont much to complain of she had not contented her self with meer complainings but so effectually resisted them and applyed Gods remedies for the healing of her nature that the success was very much observed by those about her and the change and cure so great herein as was a comfort to her nearest Relations that had the benefit of her converse Which I mention as a thing that shews us 1. That even the Infirmities that are founded in nature and temperature of body are curable so far as they fall under the dominion of a sanctified will 2. That even in age when such Passions usually get ground and infirmities of mind increase with infirmities of body yet Grace can effectually do its work 3. That to attend God in his Means for the subduing any corruption is not in vain 4. That as God hath promised growth of Grace and flourishing in old age so in his way we may expect the fulfilling of his promise 5. That as Grace increaseth infirmities and corruptions of the Soul will vanislh This makes me call to mind that she was once so much taken with a Sermon which I preached at the Funerals of a holy aged woman and so sensibly oft recited the Text it self as much affecting her 2 Cor 4. 16 17. For which cause we faint not but tho our outward man perish yet the inward man is re-renewed day by day c. that I am perswaded both the Text it self and the example opened and well known to her did her much good Her work is done Her enemies are conquered except the remaining fruits of Death upon a corrupting Body which the Resurrection must conquer Her danger and temptations and troubles and fears are at an end She shall no more be discomfited with evil tidings nor no more partake with a militant Church in the sorrows of her diseases or distresses We are left within the reach of Satans assaults and malice and of the rage and violence which pride and faction and Cainish envy and enmity to serious holiness do ordinarily raise against Christs followers in the world We are left among the lying tongues of slanderous malicious men and dwell in a Wilderness among Scorpions where the Sons of Belial like Nabal are such that a man cannot speak to them 1 Sam 25. 17. The best of them is as a briar the most upright sharper than a thorn hedge Mic. 7. 4. But the Sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away because they cannot be taken with hands but the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear and they shall be utterly burnt with fire in the place 2 Sam. 23. 6 7. We are left among our weak distempered sinful afflicted lamenting friends the sight of whose calamities and participation of their sufferings maketh us feel the stroaks that fall upon so great a number that we are never like to be free from pain But she is entred into the Land of Peace where Pride and Faction are shut out where Serpentine enmity malice and fury never come where there is no Cain to envy and destroy us no Sodomtes to rage against us and in their blindness to assault our doors No Ahitophels to plot our ruin No Judas to betray us No false-witnesses to accuse us No Tertullus to paint us out as pestilent fellows and movers of sedition among the people No Rehum Shimshai or their society to perswade the Rulers that the servants of the God of heaven are hurtful unto Kings and against their interest and honour Ezra 4. 9 12 13 14 22. and 5. 11. No rabble to cry away with them it is not fit that they should live No Demas that will forsake us for the love of present things No such contentious censorious friends as Jobs to afflict us by adding to our affliction No cursed Cham to dishonour parents No
ambitious rebellious Absolom to molest us or to lament No sinful scandalous or impatient friends to be our grief And which is more than all no earthly sinful inclinations in our selves no passions or infirmities no languishings of soul no deadness dulness hard heartedness or we aknesses of grace no backwardness to God or estrangedness from him nor fears or doubtings of his love nor frowns of his displeasure None of these do enter into that serene and holy region nor ever interrupt the joy of Saints The great work is yet upon our hands to fight out the good fight to finish our course to run with patience the remainder of the race that is before us And as we must look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith as our great exemplar so must we look to his Saints and Martyrs as our encouraging examples under him Put the case you were now dying and O how near is it and how sure What would you need most if the day were come That is it that you need most now Look after it speedily while you have time Look after it seriously if you have the hearts of men and sin have not turned you into Ideots or blocks What a disgrace is it to mankind to hear men commonly at death cry out O for a little more time and O for the opportunities of grace again and O how shall I enter upon eternity thus unprepared As if they had never heard or known that they must die till now Had you not a lifes time to put these questions and should you not long ago have got them satisfactorily resolved And justly doth God give over some to that greater shame of humane nature as not to be called to their wits even by the approach of death it self but as they contemned everlasting Life in their health God justly leaveth them to be so sottish as to venture presumptuously with unrenewed souls upon death and the conceit that they are of the right Church or party or opinion or that the Priest hath absolved them doth pass with them for the necessary preparation and well were it for them if these would pass them currantly into heaven But O what heart can now conceive how terrible it is for a new departed soul to find it self remedilesly disappointed and to be shut up in flames and desperation before they would believe that they were in danger of it Reader I beseech thee as ever thou believest that thou must shortly die retire from the crowd and noise of worldly vanity and vexation O bethink thee how little a while thou must be here and have use for honour and favour and wealth and what it is for a soul to pass into heaven or hell and to dwell among Angels or Devils for ever And how men should live and watch and pray that are near to such a change as this Should I care what men call me by tongue or pen Should I care whether I Live at liberty or in prison when I am ready to die and have matters of infinite moment before me to take me up Honour or dishonour liberty or prison are words of no sound or signification scarce to be heard or taken notice of to one of us that are just passing to God and to everlasting life The Lord have mercy upon the distracted world how strangely doth the Devil befool them in the day-light and make them needlesly trouble themselves about many things when one thing is needful and Heaven is talk'd of and that but heartlesly and seldom while fleshly provision only is the prize the pleasure the business of their lives Some are diverted from their serious preparation for death by the leastly avocations of lust and gâ—wdiness and meats and drinks and childish sports and some by the businesses of ambition and covetousness contriving how to feather their nests and exercise their Wills over others in the world and some that will seem to be doing the work are diverted as dangerously as others by contending about formalities and Ceremonies and destroying Charity and Peace rending the Church and strengthening factions and carrying on Interests hypocritically under the name of Religion till the Zeal that Saint James describeth Jam. 3. 13 14 c. having consumed all that was tike to the Zeal of Love and Holiness in themselves proceed to consume the Servants and interest of Christ about them and to bite and devoure till their Lord come and find them in a day that they locked not for him smiting their fellow-servants and eating and drinking with the drunken and cut them asunder and appoint them their portion with the hypocrites where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Matth 24. 49 50 51. O study and preach and hear and pray and live and use your brethren that differ from you in some opinions as you would do if you were going to receive your doom and as will then be most acceptable to your Lord The guilt of sensuality worldiness ambition of uncharitableness cruelty and injustice of losing time and betraying your souls by negligence or perfidiousness and wilful sin will lie heavyer upon a departing Soul then now in the drunkenness of prosperity you can think Christ will never receive such Souls in their extremity unless upon repentance by faith in his blood they are washed from this pollution It is unspeakably terrible to die without a confidence that Christ will receive us And little knows the graceless world what sincerity and simplicity in holiness is necessary to the soundness of such a confidence Let those that know not that they must die or know of no life hereafter hold on their chase of a feather till they find what they lost their lives and Souls and labour for But if thou be a Christian remember what is thy work Thou wilt net need the favour of man nor worldly wealth to prevail with Christ to Receive thy spirit O learn thy Last Work before thou art put upon the doing of it The world of spirits to which we are passing doth better know than this world of fleshly darkened sinners the great difference between the Death of a Heavenly Believer and of an earthly sensualist Believe it is a thing possible to get that apprehension of the Love of Christ that confidence of his Receiving us and such familiar pleasant thoughts of our entertainment by him as shall much overcome the fears of Death and make it a welcome day to us when we shall be admitted into the Celestial society And the difference between one mans Death and anothers dependeth on the difference between Heart and Heart Life and Life Preparation and Vnpreparedness It you ask me How may so happy a Preparation be made I have told you in this following Discourse and more fully else where formerly I shall add now these few Directions following 1. Follow the flattering world no further Come off from all expectation of felicity below Enjoy nothing under the Sun but only use it in order to your
and name It was still the Spirit of Stephen that was received by Christ It sleepeth not To confute the dream of those that talk of the sleeping of Souls or any Lethargich unintelligent or unactive state of so excellent capacious and active a nature were but to dispute with sleeping men When we say it is Immortal we mean not that it or any creature hath in it self a self-supporting or self-preserving sufficiency or that they are Necessary Beings and not Contingent or Primitive Beings and not Derived from another by Creation We know that all the world would turn to nothing in a moment if God did but withdraw his preserving and upholding influence and but suspend that Will that doth continue them He need not exert any Positive Will or Act for their destruction or annihilation Though ejusdem est annihilare cujus est creare none can annihilate but God yet it is by a Positive efficient act of Will that he createth and by a meer cessation of the act of his preserving Will he can annihilate I mean not by any change in him but by willing the continuance of the creature but till such a period But yet he that will perpetuate the Spirit of Man hath given it a nature as he hath done the Angels fit to be perpetuated A Nature not guilty of composition and elementary materiallity which might subject it to corruption so that as there is an Aptitude in Iron or Silver or Gold to continue longer than Grass or Flowers or Flesh and a reason of its duration may be given a natura rei from that aptitude in subordination to the Will of God so there is such an Aptitude in the Nature of the Soul to be Immortal which God maketh use of to the accomplishment of his will for its actual perpetuity The Heathenish Socinians that deny the Immortality of the Soul yea worse than Heathenish for most Heathens do maintain it must deny it to Christ himself as well as to his Members For he used the like recommendation of his Soul to his Father when he was on the Cross as Stephen doth here to him If Lord Jesus receive my Spirit be words that prove not the surviving of the Spirit of Stephen then Father into thay hands I commend my Spirit will not prove the surviving of the Spirit of Christ And then what do these infidels make of Christ who also deny his Deity and consequently make him nothing but a Corpse when his body was in the grave How then did he make good his promise to the penitent malefactor This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise But he that said Because I live ye shall live also John 14. 19. did live in the Spirit while he was put to death in the flesh 1 Pet. 3. 18. and receiveth the Spirits of his Servants unto life eternal while their flesh is rotting in the grave This very Text is so clear for this if there were no other it might end the controversie with all that believe the Holy Scriptures I confess these is a sleep of Souls A Metaphorical sleep in sin and in security Or else the drowsie opinions of these Infidels had never found entertainment in the world A sleep so deep that the voice of God in the threatnings of his Word and the alarm of his Judgments and the thunder of his warnings by his most serious Ministers prevail not to awaken the most So dead a sleep possesseth the most of the ungodly world that they can quietly sin in the sight of God at the entrance upon eternity at the doors of Hell and the calls of God do not awaken them So dead a sleep that Scripture justly calls them dead Eph. 2. 1. 5. And Ministers may well call them dead For alas it is not our voice that can awake them They are as dead to us we draw back the curtains to let in the light and shew them that Judgment is at hand and use those true but terrible arguments from wrath and hell which we are afraid should too much frighten many tender hearers and yet they sleep on and our loudest calls our tears and our intreaties cannot awaken them We cry to them in the name of the Lord Awake thou that sleepest arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Eph. 5. 14. This Moral sleep and death of Souls which is the fore-runner of everlasting death in misery we cannot deny But after Death even this sleep shall cease and God will awaken them with his vengeance that would not be awaked by his Grace Then sinner sleep under the thoughts of sin and Gods displeasure if thou canst There is no sleeping Soul in Hell There are none that are past feeling The mortal stroke that layeth thy flesh to sleep in the dust le ts out the guilty Soul into a World where there is no sleeping where there is a Light irresistible and a Terrour and Torment that will keep them waking If God bid thee awake by the flames of Justice he will have no nay The first sight and feeling which will surprize thee when thou hast left this Flesh will awake thee to Eternity and do more than we could do in Time and convince thee that there is no sleeping state for separated Souls DOCT. 5. CHrist doth receive the Spirits of his Saints when they leave the Flesh Here we shall first tell you what Christs receiving of the Spirit is The Word signifieth to take it as acceptable to himself and it comprehendeth these Particulars 1. That Christ will not leave the new-departed Soul to the will of Satan its malicious Enemy How ready is he to receive us to perdition if Christ refuse us and receive us not to Salvation He that now seeketh as a roaring Lion night and day as our adversary to devour us by deceit will then seek to devour us by execution How glad was he when God gave him leave but to touch the goods and children and body of Job And how much more would it please his enmity to have power to torment our Souls But the Soul that fled to the arms of Christ by Faith in the day of tryal shall then find it self in the arms of Christ in the moment of its entrance upon Eternity O Christian whether thou now feel it to thy comfort or not thou shalt then feel it to the ravishing of thy Soul that thou didst not fly to Christ in vain nor trust him in vain to be thy Saviour Satan shall be for ever disappointed of his desired Prey Long wast thou combating with him frequently and strongly wast thou tempted by him Thou oft thoughtest it was a doubtful Question who should win the day and whether ever thou shouldest hold out and be saved But when thou passest from the Flesh in thy last Extremity in the end of thy greatest and most shaking Fears when Satan is ready if he might to carry thy Soul to Hell then even then shalt thou find that thou hast won the
them to his cruelty that thou hast conquered him and yet wilt suffer him at last to have the prey To whom can a departing soul fly for refuge and for entertainment if not to thee that diedst for souls and sufferedst thine to be separated from the flesh that we might have all assurance of thy compassion unto ours Thou didst openly declare upon the Cross that the reason of thy dying was to Receive departed souls when thou didst thus encourage the soul of a penitent Malefactor by telling him This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise O give the same encouragement or entertainment to this sinful soul that flyeth unto thee and trusteth in thy death and merits and is coming to receive thy doom 3. Consider that Jesus Christ is full of Love and tender compassion to souls What his tears over Lazarus compelled the Jews to say John 11. 36. Behold how he loved him the same his incarnation life and death should much more stir us up to say with greater admiration Behold how he loved us The foregoing words though the shortest verse in all the Bible vers 35. Jesus wept are long enough to prove his love to Lazarus and the Holy Ghost would not have the tears of Christ to be unknown to us that his love may be the better known But we have a far larger demonstration of his love He loved us and gave himself for us Gal. 2. 20. And by what gift could he better testifie his love He loved us and washed us in his blood Rev. 1. 5. He loveth us as the Father loveth him John 15. 9. And may we not comfortably go to him that loveth us will Love refuse us when we fly unto him Say then to Christ O thou that hast loved my soul Receive it I commend it not unto an enemy Can that Love reject me and cast me into hell that so oft embraced me on earth and hath declared it self by such ample testimonies O had we but more love to Christ we should be more sensible of his love to us and then we should trust him and love would make us hasten to him and with confidence cast our selves upon him 4. Consider that it is the Office of Christ to save souls and to receive them and therefore we may boldly recommend them to his hands The Father sent him to be the Saviour of the world 1 John 4. 14. And he is effectively the Saviour of his body Eph. 5. 23. And may we not trust him in his undertaken office that would trust a Physician or any other in his office if we judge him faithful Yea he is engaged by Covenant to Receive us When we gave up our selves to him he also became ours and we did it on this condition that he should receive and save us And it was the condition of his own undertaking He drew the Covenant himself and tendred it first to us and assumed his own Conditions as he imposed ours Say then to him My Lord I expect but the performance of thy Covenants and the discharge of thine undertaken Ofâ—â—ce As thou hast caused me to believe in thee and â—â—â—…e and serve thee and perform the conditions which â—â—…ou laidst on me though with many sinful failings which thou hast pardoned so now let my soul that hath trusted on thee have the full experience of thy fidelity and take me to thy self according to thy Covenant O now remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused him to hope Psalm 119. 49. How many precious promises hast thou left us that we shall not be forsaken by thee but that we shall be with thee where thou art that we may behold thy glory For this cause art thou the Mediator of the New Covenant that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance Heb. 9. 15. According to thy Covenant Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. and when we have done thy will notwithstanding our lamentable imperfections we are to receive the promise Heb. 10. 36. O now receive me into the Kingdom which thou hast promised to them that love thee James 1. 12. 5. Consider how able Christ is to answer thine expectations All power is given him in Heaven and Earth Matth. 28. 19. and All things are given by the Father into his hands John 13. 3. All Judgment is committed to him John 5. 22. It is fully in his power to receive and save thee And Satan cannot touch thee but by his consent Fear not then he is the First and Last that liveth and was dead and behold he liveth for evermore Amen and hath the Keys of Hell and Death Rev. 1. 17 18. Say then If thou wilt Lord thou canst save this departing soul O say but the word and I shall live Lay but thy rebuke upon the destroyer and he shall be restrained When my Lord and dearest Saviour hath the Keys how can I be kept out of thy Kingdom or cast into the burning lake Were it a matter of Difficulty unto thee my soul might fear lest Heaven would not be opened to it But thy Love hath overcome the hindrances and it is as easie to receive me as to Love me 6. Consider how perfectly thy Saviour is acquainted with the place that thou art going to and the company and employment which thou must there have and therefore as there is nothing strange to him so the ignorance and strangeness in thy self should therefore make thee fly to him and trust him and recommend thy soul to him and say Lord it would be terrible to my departing soul to go into a world that I never saw and into a place so strange and unto company so far above me but that I know there is nothing strange to thee and thou knowest it for me and I may better trust thy knowledg than mine own when I was a child I knew not my own inheritance nor what was necessary to the daily provisions for my life but my parents knew it that cared for me The eyes must see for all the body and not every member see for it self O cause me as quietly and believingly to commit my Soul to thee to be possessed of the Glory which thou seest and possessest as if I had seen and possessed it my self ad let thy knowledg be my trust 7. Consider That Christ hath provided a glorious receptacle for faithful Souls and it cannot be imagined that he will lose his preparations or be frustrate of his end All that he did and suffered on earth was for this end He therefore became the Captain of our salvation and was made perfect through sufferings that he might bring many sons to glory Heb. 2. 10. He hath taken possession in our Nature and is himself interceding for us in the Heavens Heb. 7. 25. And for whom doth
not be in vain 1 Cor. 15. 58. Now give the full and final answer unto all my Prayers Now that I have done the fight and finished my course let me find the Crown of righteousness which thy mercy hath laid up 2 Tim. 4. 8. O Crown thy graces and with thy greatest mercies recompence and perfect thy preparatory mercies and let me be Received to thy glory who have been guided by thy counsel Psalm 73. 24. 13. Consider That Christ hath already received millions of Souls and never was unfaithful unto any There are now with him the spirits of the just made perfect that in this life were imperfect as well as you Why then should you not comfortably trust him with your Souls and say Lord thou art the Common Salvation and refuge of thy Saints Both strong and weak even all that are given thee by the Father shall come to thee and those that come thou wilt in no wise cast out Thousands have been entertained by thee that were unworthy in themselves as well as I It is few of thy members that are now on earth in comparison of those that are with thee in Heaven Admit me Lord into the new Jerusalem Thou wilt have thy house to be filled O take my Spirit into the number of those belssed ones that shall come from East West North and South and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom that we may together with eternal joyes give thanks and praise to thee that hast redeemed us to God by thy blood 14. Consider That it is the will of the Father himself that we should be glorified He therefore gave us to his Son and gave his Son for us to be our Saviour that whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life All our Salvation is the product of his Love Joh. 3. 16 17. Eph. 2. 4. Joh. 6. 37. Joh. 16. 26 27. I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me c. John 14. He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Say therefore with our dying Lord Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit By thy Son who is the way the truth and the life I come to thee Joh. 14. 6. Fulness of joy is in thy presence and everlasting pleasures at thy right hand Psalm 16. 11. Thy love redeemed me renewed and preserved me O now receive me to the fulness of thy Love This was thy will in sending thy Son that of all that thou gavest him he should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day O let not now this Soul be lost that is passing to thee through the straits of death I had never come unto thy Son if thou hadst not drawn me and if I had not heard and learnt of thee John 6 44 45. I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast revealed to me a babe an ideot the blessed mysteries of thy Kingdom Luk. 10. 21. Acts 4 13. O now as the vail of flesh must be withdrawn and my soul be parted from this body withdraw the vail of thy displeasure and shew thy servant the glory of thy presence that he that hath seen thee but as in a glass may see thee now with open face and when my earthly house of this Tabernacle is dissolved let me inhabit thy building not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. 15. Lastly consider That God hath designed the everlasting glory of his name and the pleasing of his blessed will in our salvation And the Son must triumph in the perfection of his conquest of Sin and Satan and in the perfecting of our Redemption And doubtless he will not lose his Fathers glory and his own Say then with confidence I resign my soul to thee O Lord who hast called and chosen me that thou mightest make known the riches of thy glory on me as a vessel of mercy prepared unto glory Rom. 9. 23. Thou hast predestinated me to the adoption of thy child by Christ unto thy self to the praise of the glory of thy grace wherein thou hast made me accepted in thy beloved Eph. 1. 5 6 11 12 Receive me now to the glory which thou hast prepared for us Mat. 25. 34. The hour is at hand Lord glorifie thy poor adopted child that he may for ever glorify thee Joh. 17. 1. It is thy Promise to glorify those whom thou dost justify Rom. 8. 30. As therere is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8. 1. so now let him present me faultless before the presence of the glory with exceeding joy And to thee the only wise God our Saviour be the glory Majesty Dominion and Power for evermore Amen Jude v. 23 24. WHat now remaineth but that we all set our selves to learn this sweet and necessary task that we may joyfully perform it in the hour of our extremity even to recommend our departing Souls to Christ with confidence that he will receive them It is a lesson not easie to be learnt For Faith is weak and doubts and fears will easily arise and nature will be loth to think of dying and we that have so much offended Christ and lived so strangely to him and been entangled in too much familiarity with the World shall be apt to shrink when we should joyfully trust him with our departing Souls O therefore now set your selves to overcome these difficulties in time You know we are all ready to depart It is time this last important work were throughly learned that our death may be both safe and comfortable There are divers other Uses of this Doctrine that I should have urged upon you had there been time As 1. If Christ will Receive your departing Souls then fear not death but long for this Heavenly entertainment 2. Then do not sin for fear of them that can but kill the body and send the Soul to Christ 3. Then think not the righteous unhappy because they are cast off by the world neither be too much troubled at it your selves when it comes to be your case but remember that Christ will not forsake you and that none can hinder him from the Receiving of your Souls No malice nor slanders can follow you so far as by defamation to make your justifyer condemn you 4. If you may trust him with your Souls then trust him with your friends your Children that you must leave behind with all your concernments and affairs and trust him with his Gospel and his Church for they are all his own and he will prevail to the accomplishment of his blessed pleasure But 5. I shall only add that Use which the sad occasion of our meeting doth bespeak What cause have we now to mix our sorrows for our deceased friend with the joyes of faith for her felicity we have left the body to the earth and