only ask thee one question Art thou content to have no part in the happiness of the Church hereafter if thou separatest thy self from the Church Militant I tell thee in the name of my Lord and Master thou shalt be separated from the Church Triumphant hereafter Wouldst thou stand at the right hand of the Head of the Church and be owned as a Member and be glorified for ever with the Church why then here feel the Churches sorrow and cry mightily to God that he will arise and have mercy on Sion But if thou doest not here feel the Churches misery nor cry to God for deliverance thou must be separated from the Church hereafter And thus have I done with this general counsel learn to behave your selves well in the day of Jacobs troubles in four particulars Get the mark of mourners on your foreheads Keep your selves pure from the reigning sins of the times Feel the sorrows of the Church And cry mightily unto God that he would have mercy I now come to the 13 and last general counsel that I have to leave with you and that is Be you all truly wise Once more I say my last general counsel unto you is O be you all truly wise It is not an outward wisdom I would counsel you to but it is a spiritual wisdom a true wisdom Oh learn it it will do you good to all eternity Once more hearken to a few counsels from your departing friend which contains the substance of the greatest wisdom in the world and I am heartily willing to leave them with you as my farewel be truly wise take good counsel in these following particulars First View truth lose not true wisdom let not the god of this world blinde thine eyes any longer thou that hast a dark head here and doest not see the saving truth thou mayest be blinde for ever hereafter Do not lose the blessed Gospel the sight of Divine Beauty this is but a world of shadows stocks and straws and butter-flies Oh get a sight of the world to come think read hear meditate that thou mayest behold the beauty of Truth be much in hearing be much in reading read good Books meditate on them the less opportunity the ear hath the more opportunity the eye should have darkness is the Devils kingdom he is the prince of darkness and deeds of darkness are done in the Devils kingdom get out of it into the glorious Gospel of Light view Truth and study it Secondly Follow the light of it first see it then follow it people are apt to think they are in a good way when they are in a bad when you view Truth and have seen Divine Beauty then follow light or else turn so miserable that Infiniteness it self cannot get thee out of it If thou disobeyest Conscience thou runnest upon the point of the sword Conscience is that which is a discerner bread is bread and grain is grain but the goodness of it is better distinguished by being brought to the light Sin is sin but bring it to the light of Conscience it is clearer discerned thou that art a drunkard against thy Conscience a swearer a profaner of the Lords Day a reviler of his people c. and dost it against the light of thy Conscience what canst thou say for thy self at that day of account when this Book shall be laid open among the rest and all thy deeds of darkness discovered Thou that in matters of Religious Worship doest any thing against thy conscience runnest upon inavoidable misery and woe and thou shalt finde bitterness in the end Thirdly Live in the practise of self-deniel Oh take heed of the Flesh and the Devil so much as thou art ruled by these thine enemies so far thou settest thy self from the enjoyment of God for if self-pleasing be not counted by thee to be thine enemy and self-denial thy friend thou art out of the convoy of God what then will be thy end Live crucifying of thy flesh or thou shalt be crucified by it Fourthly Live in the sight of and dependance on the Father Son and Holy Spirit live in the sight thereof continually so long as thou art out of the sight of God so long thou art open to all dangers Depend upon the Father for giving upon the Son for purchasing upon the Holy Ghost for conveighing all good unto thee express thy dependance by thy earnest prayers to God for all good tugging and striving for thy life express thy dependance by a hanging and relying faith upon thy Saviour resisting all temptations resolve to live in the sight of and dependance on Father Son and Holy Spirit Fifthly Live in a good air keep good company a soul that is in evil company is in Hell whilst amongst them or else will go to Hell with them There is nothing more healthful to the body then to live in a good aire a bad air destroyes the health so doth bad company destroy the soul resist temptations thou must part with God or with evil company therefore forsake bad company resist temptations at first rising if thou dost not watch the first beginning of temptations to sin all thy vows and promises will vanish as dew before the Sun Sixthly Exchange temporal joyes for eternal be assured of it the world will leave you this garment the covering of it will fade therefore whilst the colour is any thing good get a better and more enduring part with the worlds contents for spiritual joyes this you are to do by daily mortification diligent edification and be sure to restifie thy sincerity towards God make good friends of the unrighteous Mammon that when you fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Luke 16. Make friends with your estate lay it out upon christs poor Members really the world is going away apace Heaven and Earth is changing and waxeth old there are joyes everlasting Oh then exchange temporal joyes for eternal Seventhly Fill thy self with religious pleasures expect and overlook its cares if thou wouldest be truly wise do this the heart must have its joy either temporal or spiritual would you trample over the world then rejoyce in the Lord and again I say rejoyce Oh be truly wise let God Heaven and the Holy Spirit continually fill thy soul with religious joyes sweetness and beauty which will banish thy cares and dangers if thou art religious expect troubles but overlook them and cast thine eyes upon that joy that is in thy soul that thou art out of the reach of Satan and his instruments being under the safe conduct of Omnipotency who will undoubtedly bring thee safe through all to himself Eighthly If thou lovest life let death dwell in thy heart God knows how soon we may all dye now I am going away and am not to speak any more unto you except God finde out a way beyond our expectation I would therefore leave that counsel that may do you most good and make you truly wise Remember to have death alwayes
before your eyes and provide for it there are none wise but those and all such are truly wise that keeps death before their eyes most people in the world are looking the other way they are providing for long life not for their death Put your hearts into a serious meditation of death and seriously consider that although troubles here comes thick upon you and temptations daily assault you death when it comes will put you out of the reach thereof and make you happy for ever and ever Ninthly Conform solemnly to the terms of salvation to wit impartial dependance and affiance upon the Lord Jesus Christ if ever thou wouldst be truly wise here and eternally happy hereafter do this until thou hast done this thou wilt never be happy depend wholly on Christ exercising faith upon Jesus Christ alone for life and salvation And lastly Be resolved never to depart from faith and holiness let the issue and event be what it will never depart from it faith and holiness are the pillars that fail not heaven and earth shall fail us e're these shall go away therefore if God doth scourge thee and chastise thee keep fast faith and holiness whatever would keep thee from faith and holiness is not of God live therefore in the exercise of it here and thou shalt live in the reward of it for ever hereafter Pray consider these ten things and dwell upon them take my last counsel be truly wise Oh that they may stick upon your hearts and dwell there until your hearts come to dwell with God for ever which I wish from my soul may be your portion Give me leave to take my leave of you now I have endeavoured to give you the whole counsel of God and to nurse you up that you may grow stronger and stronger thereby My time approacheth that I must leave you stay but until I bid you farewel and then we will part here and I hope to meet you again at our journeyes end where we will rejoyce in the Lord our righteousnesse and our joy shall no man take from us The providence of God brought me hither at first in a way and by a means which many of you were pleased to acknowledge had much of the hand of God in it I was destinated from all eternity to be your Minister For you was I ordained you have I loved you have I taught with you have I lived and with you could I have continued nothing but the keeping of a good conscience could have hindered it on my part I came not hither on my own head neither do I go away upon a whimsie of my own making Great proffers of preferment formerly moved me not but the terrors of the Almighty now makes me afraid my heart could not be strong nor my hands endure in the day of the Lord should I against my conscience have continued amongst you This I can say Brethren in the presence of the Lord that although in much weakness and infirmity and much slightness and little seriousness I have laboured amongst you to the salvation of your souls for which I have prayed and waited for I desire this day to humble my self before God and you and beg the mercy of God in our Lord Jesus Christ for all my miscarriages and neglects and failings amongst you for the want of so good an example as I should have been before you that I have not melted in pitty and compassion over your souls nor have been so zealous in private admonition as I should yet let the good you have seen and heard of me abide with you let the spiritual rules and motives you have abundantly heard dwell richly in you take heed of hypocrisie be sincere watch and examine your hearts look into eternity and live by faith upon Jesus Christ I heartily bless God for my continuance hitherto amongst you for your willing reception of me for all your courtesies and civil deportments towards me for all your chearful and hearty hearing the word of God by me preached and most of all I bless God for any good that any of you have received by me I thank you for all the entertainments of my requests I thank every particular person that hath done me any good the Lord reward them I have endeavoured to live affectionately in the midst of you and pray if any person have any thing against me I desire to make it known unto me before my departure and I will give him satisfaction let no man lay any thing to my charge when I am gone that will not make it known before I go I thank you all for your desire of me to stay the Lord knows how loath I am to leave you might I continue amongst you with a good conscience Oh! that the Sermons you have heard of me may be practised we shall one day meet at the bar of Christ and then I wish I may not be a witness against any soul here present If any of you have been my spiritual children do so much in requital as to pray for your spiritual Father if I have been only a waterer and no planter yet let me reap the fruits of your Prayers and let my name live in your private prayers when it is dead in publick send tokens for me to Heaven when you shall see my face no more on earth let us meet at the Throne of Grace though we shall not meet in this house no more let your Prayers to Almighty God for me be continued that my whole soul and body may be ever present as a living sacrifice unto God holy and acceptable in his sight that I may live onely to Jesus that he would use me so as is best to his own glory in doing and suffering and enable me to be faithful to what he hath called me to and that himself would be my exceeding great reward and that he would not deny himself unto me for whom I have desired to have been stripped of all things Neither shall your prayers be without the answer of mine the Road where I travel on the Bed that I lie on the Room that I shall lie in shall testifie how much I bear you that have been my hearers in my bosom And my prayers continually shall be for you that you may fare well and the God of love and peace be with you that shall ascend from my heart and lips when you are asleep at work standing or sitting in your Shops or abroad in the Fields Oh may you fare well in all Estates in the day of your temptations and trials and the God of love and peace be with you Oh! may you fare well in the dayes of your sorrows and afflictions and the God of love and peace be with you in the fire and in the water that you may come out seven times refined and give you the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness May you fare well in your joyes and comforts and the God of love and peace be with
forth we know not how soon death may beat up our quarters and storm our castles the next messenger that knocks may be the messenger of Death let us therefore be serious and betake our selves to soul concernments Let us consider Sabbaths were not made for nought to please an itching ear or unruly fancy but to save our souls O Lord make us diligent and careful at this time to receive spiritual good from thee Put us into thy Covenant carry us safe through this world bring us out of a natural condition give sincerity to souls that groan under hypocrisie give us a heart to know thee the Lord our Righteousnesse do saving good to us this day our last dayes are not the least but of the greatest concernment the desires of our souls unto thy Majesty is that it may go well with us at those two last great dayes of Death and Judgement O that our dying dayes and dooms dayes may be delightful and pleasant dayes to us We are but seeming Actors in a play in this world we are but a shadow how soon are we gone and our Habitations shall see us no more O Eternity Eternity Eternity that our souls must shortly launch into a vast ocean where there is a great account to be given how we have behaved our selves in this life Oh grant that we may so provide for that day that we may render our account with joy and not with grief O Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life make us like thy self partakers of thy Divine Nature deliver us into the mould of thy word thou knowest the condition of us let thy Word reach us all Oh Lord run up thy Sword to the Hilt in the hearts of all impenitent Sinners make thy Word sharper then a two-edged Sword O Lord thou hast done good by thy servants in their departing from us do good at this time amongst us Oh let thy strength be put forth to the conviction humiliation enlightning and converting of many a Soul this day Our strength is but small we cannot be so importunate with thee as our hearts doth desire thou knowest our state and wants do exceedingly for us above and beyond what we are able to ask or think O Lord thou art willing to do us good thou professest thou takest no pleasure in the death of a Sinner what then should hinder in all the world but a secret unwillingness in our hearts to come over to the Lord Jesus Christ For his sake by this last throw of the Administration of thy Grace let some poor fouls that sticks and stayes long in the place of bringing forth be born to Jesus Christ at this time Although this be the last Sermon in an ordinary way that ever thy unworthy servant is like to preach in this Congregation let it be a quickning Sermon an effectual Ordinance sanctified by thy Spirit to convert many and many a Soul work like a God work like thy own self let the power of the Lord be seen in the weakness of thy Servant Lord shew mercy unto all carry on thy glorious Churches design let not the gates of Hell prevail Let not the rod of the wicked alwayes rest upon the back of the righteous stand by thine in this hour of temptation though they be but weak in grace yet they have a strong God O support them and let the name of the Lord be great in the midft of them In much mercy look on these sinful Nations Oh bless our Sovereign Lord the King in his person and in his Relations thou that knowest all things doth know that it is the desire of our souls that thou wouldest bless him with a competency of Spiritual Temporal and Eternal Glory Oh make him a King after thy own heart we are resolved to wait on thee who knoweth what a day may bring forth what a God can do to the terrour and astonishment of all his enemies Let them see that the Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord and he can turn it as pleaseth him and make him the choicest instrument of thy Glory and the good of thy Church that ever was Thou art a good God in great faithfulness dost thou afflict us let us learn our lesson quickly deliver us from dulness and security Lord we pray thee let instruction and correction go together thou doest appear in thy Providence as a God that art going about to sit upon the Tribe of Levi even that is most precious as a Fullers fire c. Oh take away the dross that they may offer to God acceptable service It hath been much upon the thoughts of some of thy People that God had a scourge for the Ministry because of their failings and defects send thy Spirit with thy Rod we look upon the dispensation as corrections for Sin humble Ministers for their Defects and People for their Sins We look upon it as matter of Thanksgiving and so have cause to bless thy Name that thou countest any of us worthy to bear a testimony of thy Name Lord whatsoever thou takest from us in this World make it up with the Emoluments of another World with the Incomes of thy Grace that shall make us more glad then when their Corn Wine and Oyl increaseth We have spiritual wants and it is nothing but spiritual remedies that will cure us Oh be thou nigh unto us in all that we shall call upon thee for Oh look upon all in affliction upon those that have begged our Prayers the Lord be merciful to them lay no more on them then thou shalt enable them to bear those that complain of unprofitablenefs under the means of Grace Lord convince them convert them turn their hearts take away the stony heart and give them a. heart of flesh take away the old rotten disposition and give them a soft and flexible Be in the midst of all Congregations this day met together in the faith and fear of the Lord we beg that thy servants who have had the seal of their Ministry may now at their departure prove powerful Instruments in thy hands of saving good to their people Oh let them destroy more lusts more temptations beget quicken and raise up in the hand of thy Spirit more Sons and Daughters unto the Lord this last time then in all their lives before Be with us in this Congregation prepare our hearts to handle thy Word which is able to save our souls give us suitable affections proportionable abilities both in Soul and Body Do thou the work thou shalt have the glory Let Satans Kingdom at this time lose a little ground that those who are yet in a Christless condition may now make up the match between Christ and their poor souls And for those who have given up themselves to Jesus Christ and yet have back-slidden from him let them this evening be recovered and give up themselves to Jesus Christ in an everlasting Covenant and and in a day of Confession take a part with God and side with a power of Godliness against all things that hinder Carry thy servant through his work at this time remove corruptions give in grace let not thy word come as a slight thing but with a deep and serious impression upon every one of our hearts and all for Jesus Christ his sake but dear Redeemer To whom with thee and thy Blessed Spirit be ascribed as is most due Kingdom Glory Power and Praise now and to all Eternity Amen FINIS