Providences And what relief might we have during the days of our mourning from these and the like considerations And Thanks be to God we upon whom Death has lately made a breach have this to comfort us Concerning this Relation of ours and Servant of God I will not say any thing the secrecy she always affected and my relation to her forbids me to blow the Trumpet at the mouth of her Grave She is Dead dead She is faln asleep in Jesus the Will of the Lord is done God grant that I in particular and the rest she has left behind who a while ago had a loving careful and tender Mother but now have none may SO Live and SO Die For blessed Rev. 14. 13. are the Dead which die in the Lord they rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them THE END DEATH-BED Reflections DEATH-BED Reflections Suitable to the preceding DISCOURSE And Proper for a RIGHTEOUS MAN in his Last Sickness I. This World and all in it is changeable Man in particular is so Death is certain and unavoidable What is to be done by a Righteous Man in his Sickness supposing it to be his last ALL things under the Sun are subject to change and what is so sooner or later will have an end THIS World and the fashion thereof 1 Cor. 7. 31. and all that is in it is passing away God is the same yesterday to day and for Heb 13. 7. ever but nothing else is or can be so Nothing here below is like a Mountain which cannot be moved by those mighty and sportive Waves which beat and dash against it but like a Feather which is driven hither and thither with the smallest Breath This World of ours tho' vain Mortals are foolishly fond of and excessively dote upon it as it had a BIRTH so it shall have a FUNERAL day the World's Morning and Noon is past and the Evening is at hand All these things shall be dissolv'd Nature groan 2 Pet. 3. 11. die and give up the Ghost Lord how quickly shall the Angel lift up his hand and swear by him that liveth for ever and ever that time shall be no more the old World was drowned with Water this v. 6. v. 7. shall be destroyed or resined by Fire tho' according to his promise we look for New Heavens v. 13. and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness In this mutable World nothing is more sickle and inconstant frail and uncertain vain and changeable than Man and what belongs to and makes up his Earthly happiness How uncertain are Prov. 23. 5 Riches may they not make themselves Wings and fly away and have they not often done so may not what we have been toiling labouring and sweating for many years be gone from us in a few hours Tho' Riches and Wealth Descend from Father to Son yet how oft doth Providence cut off the entail and he never enjoy what he was born to tho' a careful and provident Father may leave his Son a fair Estate and a good Inheritance he may live in want and die a Begger and not leave enough to buy a Cossin and purchase a Grave some unhappy accident or other may strip him naked before death does How uncertain is health and strength without which all other comforts are insipid if I am strong one day may I not be weak the next if I am well in the morning may I not be sick before evening if I am at ease to day may I not be rackt tortur'd and pain'd to morrow Lord when thou with rebukes correctest Psal 39. 11. man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth surely every man is vanity All these changes are but melancholy presages of and preparatory to our great and last when we shall be changed from living Dust into breathless Clay There is a time to die Since the first Age the first Man Adam Eccl. 3. 2. death has been reigning and yet death is not satisfied nor the Grave yet glutted with Carkasses This Earth oft changes its Inhabitants one Generation comes and Eccle. 1. 4. another goes our Ancestors moulder into Dust croud closer together and at length become Graves to bury us LIFE what is it A shadow which quickly vanishes a Vapour which suddenly disappears a Flower that fades and Grass which quickly withers and dies LIFE what is it a Candle that lies at the mercy of every stormy and blustering Wind a Lamp that burns a while but will go out for want of Oil to maintain the languishing and expiring flame If we search the Records of the Grave we shall find as many proofs and witnesses of our mortality as there are rotten Bones and Skulls How many Infants are only born live weep and die So that even out of the Mouths Psal 8. 2. of these Babes and Sucklings we may learn this sad and certain truth a time to die How many young Men has Death mowed down in the Morning how many of these has the cold hand of Death undrest before Evening and laid them to sleep in a Bed of Dust even at Noon-day and do not they cry in the Ears of the living there is a time to die Does not every Feaver that scorches us every fit of the Stone Gout and Cholick that puts us on the Rack every Ague that shakes the Walls and loosens the Pins of this Earthly Tabernacle every Dropsie that threatens to Drown us every Palsie that benum's every Lethargy that lulls us asleep repeat over this melancholy and awakening truth There is a time to die verily O my Soul every Man in his best estate is altogether vanity What is true concerning all and every one of Adam's Posterity Lord help me to apply to my self in particular to believe consider weigh and work upon my Heart this common truth I must die Let me not only have some general notional and speculative knowledge but a particular serious warm and practical one a knowledge that may be useful and serviceable to the best purposes a knowledge that may awe my Conscience warm my Soul and powerfully influence my Heart and Life It is impossible to be ignorant of this but Lord how cold unactive dull and ineffectual were all thoughts of this kind when I was well and strong oh that they may make more powerful and abiding impressions upon my Heart now I am sick and weak These very pains I now feel this disease this present affliction which makes me sigh and groan this sickness which I suppose will be my last tell me I must die and call upon me to prepare for such a time that now cannot be far off Lord help me in this my great and last work oh that sense and feeling might help my Faith this fire warm my Heart and what I now feel prepare me for my last pains pangs and conflicts which are like to be much sharper I have visited others some of them my near and
dear Relations in their sickness I have seen them sick weak and full of pain I have seen their cold sweats their mortal tremblings and heard their last and dying groans and now it 's my turn to be sick and my time to die Die how hard and difficult a work is this of what great concern and everlasting importance Die who does or can know what it imports but those who are dead and gone I thought it hard to see my Friend my Father my Mother dye but shall I not find it more difficult now I am to dye my self the Messenger of Death has laid hold on me I believe this sickness will be my last I have no hope of recovery I have been sick and God hath recover'd me at the Mouth of the Grave and God hath brought me back I have gone from my Sick-bed and Chamber to my Shop and Trade but now I verily believe I shall do so no more my Sun is setting my Glass is run there are but a few remaining Sands the Grave with open mouth is waiting for me and in a little time I shall drop into it Most Holy Lord assist me now and leave me not through thy Grace I have lived help me Lord help me now to dye as a Christian in these hours and moments prepare me more and better for my last I have lived Rom. 14. 8. Rev. 14. 13. to oh that now I might die in the Lord and fall asleep in Jesus Preparation for Death Judgment and an Eternal World thanks be to God I have not neglected I did not in health adjourn this work to a time of sickness in order to this I have made many a Prayer shed many a Tear abstain'd from sin and crucified the Flesh I spent much of my time in trying my self searching my Heart and examining my State in repenting of and amending what I found amiss I was convinc'd a few death-bed Tears and languishing Prayers extorted by fears of Death and Hell would not make amends or be a sufficient compensation for the sins of a wicked Life and therefore through the Grace of God assisting me I made it the business of my Life to prepare to dye But something more is to be done that I may glorify God in my Death and be for ever happy after it what remains and is now to be done in this my last sickness instruct me Lord and help me to do it I now stand at the Mouth of the Grave upon the Threshold of Time and at the Door of Eternity Lord increase strengthen and quicken all those Graces which are proper to be acted in a time of sickness and on a death-bed Oh! that now I am a sick oh that now I am a dying man my Faith Love and Hope my Repentance Humiliation and Sorrow my desires and breathings after God my joy and delight in him may be more lively and active than ever oh that this last work of my Life may be done best my sick bed joys may be the greatest and my dying comforts most abundant through these painful hours and days this dark and narrow gloomy and frightful passage guide direct and lead me Lord The exercise of some graces the performance of some duties are peculiarly seasonable in a time of health and life and others are so in Sickness and at Death Thou hast helpt me to live and now Lord help me to die If I have made any preparation for such a time and hour as this If I have done any of the work of my Life and conversed in this World as an expectant of a better if I have any grace and at any time have been able to act it if my love has been 〈◊〉 my zeal flaming my heart softned â—umbled broken and melted and mine eyes a fountain of tears to bewail the slips and falls I have been guilty of if I have delighted in God through Christ as my reconciled Father Portion Happiness and End if I have exercised self-denyal in keeping under the flesh restraining its appetites and denying its cravings in contemning the World and slighting those adored vanities which bewitch charm and intangle so many if at any time my hope of Heaven hath been lively my longing panting and breathing after it strong and warm if I have mortified any sin resisted any temptation performed any duty with success so as to profit my self and please God if I have done any thing whereby the glory honour and interest of God and Christ has been advanced if I have imployed improved my talents and gained more if I have brought forth fruit done any work and service in my generation and place Lord it is owing to thee to the assistances of thy grace and the influences of thy Holy Spirit and I desire to acknowledge it is so saying with thy holy Apostle by the grace of God I am what I am Not I but the 1 Co. 15. 10. grace of God which was with me Oh for the same grace and mercy aid and help now I am a sick and dying man Oh that God would help me in these painful days and sorrowful hours to glorifie him yet more by doing the work which is proper to such a time that my present sickness and death may be for the glory of God the honour of Religion the good of my self and others Particularly help me Lord to be truly thankful for all thy mercies for those innumerable favours confer'd on such a worm such a wretch as I am bring them to my remembrance and enable me unseignedly to bless thee help me O my God to exercise a serious solemn and particular repentance for my past sins Let Oh! let this heart of mine be more humble broken and penitent than ever Finally help me Lord with patience and calmness submission and resignation to submit to thy holy will to be willing to die now with faith and hope trust and confidence to commit my Soul to the care of my dear and blessed Jesus And to these ends Lord bless the following meditations to me and let neither my Eye nor Tongue out-run or leave my Heart behind II. God's goodness is to be acknowledged though he afflicts us at present An enumeration of past mercies temporal and Spiritual And solemn thanksgiving for both God is good and doth good freely constantly and unweariedly and I am fully convinced of both My faith and reason prove the former my very sense and long experience the latter And though now I am sick and weak afflicted and pained though I feel the weight of his hand and the smarting of his rod neither Flesh nor Devil shall persuade me to think otherwise Though he afflicts me now yet hath he not done me good all my days and shall not I bless him for his mercies Mercies that are more than I can number greater than I can value and far beyond my deserts Shall the afflictions of a few days the pains of a few hours make me O my Soul forget slight or
must not now pass from me I may imitate my dear Saviour in the like circumstances chearfully saying Father not my will but thine be done The arguments I have â—uk 22. 42. used are weighty and serious sufficient to convince my judgment stop my mouth and make me silent but after all O pity pardon and help me I find I am backward and loth to die now Lord make me content content that 's too little make me desirous to die and to die now God forbid that after all my Soul should be violently rent and torn from me Lord Let me have such a firm belief of a future happiness such lively hopes and clear evidences of my right and title to it such a burning and flaming love to thee my God to thee my Saviour such pleasing foretasts of Heavenly joys such a reviving prospect of that glorious future state that I might overcome the fears of Death the terrors of the Grave and Triumph over both That I may long and pant desire groan and wish to be with Christ which I must and do acknowledge to be far better Lord inspire my departing Soul with that Faith Hope and Love that I may now glorifie Thee credit Religion and commend thy holy Ways that I may strengthen the weak and encourage the fearful by a chearful and willing comfortable and triumphant departure Sanctifie these afflictions and pains and this present sickness to me and let them put me upon longing after Heaven where are none answer my doubts expel my fears arm and fortifie comfort and encourage my weak drooping and trembling Soul and the nearer I draw to my end the more warm and earnest let my desires be Oh for thy holy Spirit to excite those Heavenly and Spiritual desires in me which I cannot raise in my self O thou almighty and victorious Jesus who hast conquer'd Death and the Grave enable me in these my last moments to triumph over them saying O DEATH where is thy Sting O GRAVE where is 1 Cor. 15. 55. thy victory Many experiences have I had of thy Grace and Mercy love and kindness O my Saviour forsake me not now in this my last extremity O Blessed Jesu who hast been my support and help in Life be my Strength my Comfort and my Joy at Death While in this my last sickness I have been speaking sometimes to my self and sometimes unto God I have obtain'd the Mercy I wanted and laboured after a willingness to die now my doubts are answered my fears remov'd my sins are pardoned God is reconciled my Conscience pacified my hopes are lively my evidences clear my assurance strong and my joy full and now thanks be to God how do I long to dye shall I be afraid of Death What! of a baffled vanquisht and conquer'd Enemy I am not I was but now blessed be God I am not Am I a Member of Christ a Son of God an Heir of Heaven and shall I be afraid of thee O Death through Grace O mine Enemy I am not Methinks I am already in the Suburbs of Heaven and I long to enter into that holy City I have a prospect of yonder blessed World and this prospect is so ravishing and transporting that I wish for a present possession No Heir ever longed more for his Inheritance no Captive ever longed more for Liberty no sick and pained man ever longed more for ease than I now do for Heaven When I am there what charming musick shall I hear what glorious sights shall I behold what blessed and delightful company shall I have what joy will enter into possess and fill this Soul of mine what a Mansion of Light and Glory shall I enter into when I have put off this earthly Tabernacle how does a thought of this make my fettered and yet imprisoned Soul cry out How long Lord how long farewel vain World farewel not Earth but Heaven is my home and I long groan and wish to be there Is the time of my departure at hand Is the time come that I must die Lord I do submit thy holy will be done My Body I chearfully bequeath unto the dust O faithful grave keep what I commit unto thee this Body till my Lord shall come and then deliver it up In the dust shall this flesh of mine sleep and rest in hope My Soul my pretious and immortal Soul O my God I resign to thee into thine hand I commit my Spirit Thou Psal 31. 5. hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth Father into 〈◊〉 â—ands I commit my Spirit Lord Luk. 23. 46. Acts 7. 59. Jesus 〈…〉 Must I die now Lord 〈◊〉 in thy will believing thy promise trusting in thy mercy thro' the ALL-SUFFICIENT MERITS of thy Son and my Saviour I wait wait Lord I long for the happy moment And my last Petition and dying prayer shall be Come Lord Jesus come qickly Rev. 22. 20. 1 Thes 4. 17. that I might be for ever with the Lord come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen Amen FINIS
that no sin tho' never so dear pleasant or secret may survive this funeral our departed Relations have no need of our groans and tears oh let us labour to consecrate our sorrow by turning the flowing streams into the Channel of Repentance that that which was natural may commence Divine How proper is the Death of Relations to excite and quicken Repentance how much may the remembrance of their sick-bed Discourses their dying speeches their farewel counsels and the great change one moment made contribute to soften break and humble our hearts to make us serious and solevin in renewing our Repentance at such a time how easily is the passion of sorrow moved do you weep for her methinks I hear her having no need of pity and tears saying weep not Luk. 23. 28. for me Do you weep for sin pretious tears comfortable sorrow oh weep on and weep more Every Corps Funeral and Grave tells us what an evil sin is and should provoke us to Repent but when Death comes into the very House where we live takes away one of our own number strikes and kills a dear Relation when it is a Father a Mother a Husband a Wife a Child that is carried to the House appointed for all the living Job 30. 23. the call to Repentance is more solemn loud plain and particular and ought to be more awakening After the Death and Funeral of such Repentance is a very seasonable duty Now is the proper time to offer to God the Sacrifice Psa 51. 17. of a broken Heart and contrite Spirit Can I see Death closing the Eyes of such near Relations parting them and me nay one part of themselves from the other Can I behold their pale wan and ghastly Countenances the Soul being gone Can I see them wrapped up in a Shrowd and nailed up in a Cossin Can I attend their Funeral look into the dark and deep Grave where I must leave a to Worms and Rottenness and not think hardly of sin and not resolve by the Grace of God to kill and mortifie it at such a time who does not cry out ah cruel death ah cruel death but hath not every one much more cause to cry out ah cursed sin ah cursed sin the death of this friend of this Relation this Funeral and all others O cursed sin is owing to thee and henceforward I will endeavour thy destruction and ruin V. Be very careful to keep God among you Do what in you lieth that God may be the God of your Posterity after you that they under you may lay claim to the Covenant and the Blessings of it Endeavour that Religion in the Life and Power of it may flourish not only in your own Hearts but in your families Let not FAMILY PRAYER be thrust out nor adjourned to those hours in which you are least of all fit for this awful and important duty May we all strive to keep up the friendship begun between God and our Family Since God hath made all of you except one Mothers reckon it is your duty to bring up your Children for God teach them to know your God and your Fathers God and that God to whom in Baptism you have devoted them that when you shall be dead cold and rotting in the Grave they may be serving and honouring God in your place and stead That Religion and the fear of God may not die out of your Families when you shall 'T is true you cannot give them Grace but you can instruct teach counsel advise exhort and persuade c. you can set a good example you can pray to God for them and plead that Covenant you entered them into almost as soon as God gave them to you and all this you ought and I hope you will be careful to do Tho' the presence awe and fear of living Parents may restrain Children from some sins and vices tho' their examples and counsels may influence them so far as to persuade them to take up a form of Godliness yet oh 2 Tim. 3. 5. what Tears are sufficient to bewail this fatal degeneracy what a dead spiritless and lifeless thing is the Religion of many such as soon as their godly Parents are Dead and cold in their Graves how oft doth that ground that was manured and cultivated plow'd and sown ay and watered with many showers of Tears bring forth a sad crop of Briars and Thorns Some Children are a grief and heart breaking to their Parents while they live and many more are a reproach and disgrace to them when dead and gone how many Children of such Parents notwithstanding the benefit of a good education seasonable instructions wise reproofs and timely counsels live at that rate that they are a blot to their family and a disgrace to their name If any such shall chance to read these lines I charge them in the name of God to consider what a sad case they are in and I pray God to convince them of their sin and folly and how near they are to a sudden and final ruin Would to God such would consider how greatly they will be ashamed and how little they will have to say for themselves when the Prayers and Tears of their Living and the Dust of their Dead Parents shall rise up in Judgment against and condemn them But I hope better Heb. 6. 9. things of you and things that accompany Salvation tho' I thus speak Oh let it still be your study and care and let it be more and more so every day to promote piety and holiness in your own Souls and to propagate it to others who are descended from you that so long as any branch of this Family remains the fear of God and a care of Religion might slourish To conclude there is one thing very amiable and which your Relation peculiarly calls for and that is LOVE this I think I should hardly have mentioned because I hope you are taught of God to 1 Thes 4. 9. love one another if I had not received it among the last Commands of a Mother who had so much of this Grace her self to be your Monitor in this particular Now the Lord sit you and me to follow that at the Resurrection of the Just we may meet our Dear Mother who now sleeps in Jesus and our Honoured Father who is yet with us and whom God long preserve for ours and his Churches sake with Joy and Triumph That they may say lo here are we and all the Children thou didst graciously give us Amen Reading Feb. 28. 1692 3. Thus Prays in all sincerity your truly loving and very affectionate Brother Samuel Doo-little THE Righteous Man's Hope AT DEATH Consider'd and Improv'd For the Comfort of Dying Christians and the Support of Surviving Relations Proverbs 14. 32. But the Righteous hath hope in his Death DEath with what a grim countenance and terrible aspect doth it look upon the Children of Men What a sharp and startling word is this what
a doleful sound does it make in the Ears of those who are yet alive Death the more we muse and meditate upon it the more doth it amaze and scare A short glance a fleeting thought makes poor mortals tremble a fixt and solemn a deep and serious meditation fills with shivering horror Death how do the thoughts and prospect of it damp our Joys spoil our Mirth imbitter our Life and infuse Wormwood and Gall into our sweetest Cup How do the near approaches of it cast us into cold clammy sweats and mortal tremblings How doth every day when we give our selves the liberty of thinking partake of the horror of our last Death what a serious useful and awakening Argument is this and yet how seldom do busie mortals entertain themselves with the thoughts of it Every Corps that is carried along the streets every Coffin and Death's-head we behold every Funeral we attend every Grave that is digg'd with open mouth tells us we must die We may read our own fate on every Tomb-stone Oh! how many and what powerful Preachers have the Living and how many Lectures of Mortality are daily read and yet is there not need that almost every Preacher and every Sermon should mind us of what is sure and near at hand a dying hour Death what a mournful word what a melancholy Theme is this Dead unwelcome message sad news heavy tydings to the surviving Relations is he or she dead What! an old Friend a loving Father a tender Mother dead doleful hour dismal spectacle Dead what do you now see their charming Beauty marr'd their Eyes closed their Teeth set their Countenance chang'd and the Man turn'd into a lifeless breathless Corps Anon you see him nailed up in a narrow scanty Coffin and after a few days when we have fed the sorrow of our hearts with the sight of our eyes we lodge them in a cold and deep dark and silent Grave And must we leave the delight of our hearts the desire of our eyes those whom Nature and Grace made dear to us those whom we loved even as our own Souls among an Army of crawling Worms and among the cold Clods of the Valley Must we see their faces enjoy their company and converse with them no more no more sad thought no more killing word O Death Death what a cruel Enemy art thou to Mankind What dark and gloomy what sad and melancholy thoughts are these especially when Death hath set a pattern of Mortality before our eyes and we are but lately come from the HOUSE of MOURNING upon such an occasion David burst out into tears and spoke in all the figures of a sorrowful Rhetorick O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom â— Sam 11. 33 would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son These Arrows of Death that kill one wound the many that are left behind and the wound is so deep that many times it proves mortal They only live to weep sigh and groan to bury their dead and then they come home and die too and those that lived are content to die together Life how sweet pleasant and delightful is it Life how amiable and desirable is it with what earnestness and passion is it courted by most how willing are poor Mortals to tear out their Bowels with Vomits to punish the flesh with fasting and abstinence and tie themselves up to the tedious and troublesom prescriptions of Physitians how willing are they to take the bitter Potion they loath and how patient under the cutting of the Lance and teeth of the ragged and torturing Saw how willing are they to lose a dear Member that Life might be preserved Men stick at nothing to preserve this dear thing we call LIFE How chearfully do men die daily that they may not die once for good and all Life how excessively fond are most of it Life gives us the opportunity of enjoying those pleasures that are soft and charming but Death renders us uncapable of any and who almost doth not live in bondage thro' fear of it But tho' there are many great and terrible evils in this one frightful thing DEATH yet thanks be to God we Christians are not left without something to mitigate and allay our sorrow for the death of our godly Friends and holy Relations who are gone the way of all the Earth before us and to fortifie and arm us against a tormenting and slavish fear of our own who in a little time must fall asleep too With a design to help my self and others against both these I have chosen these words to insist on But the Righteous hath hope in his death In handling of this Argument which may contribute very much to the support of living and comfort of dying Saints I intend to proceed in this Method I shall First Open and explain the Character of the person here spoken of and who is to be the Subject of our present discourse Secondly Consider what is here supposed and taken for granted with reference to this Righteous man and that is he must die Thirdly Consider and amplifie the priviledge of such an one as having hope in his death Fourthly Make some practical improvement of the whole in applying all to our selves who are yet alive but must certainly and quickly die First I shall consider and explain the character of the Person who is intended in these words and who hath some priviledge beyond the rest of mankind Here is mention made of a very great benefit and that none might think it promiscuously belongs to all the Holy-Ghost gives us the character of the Person concerned in it the Righteous for opening and explaining the character I have not time neither is it necessary to give an account of the several acceptations of the word it is sufficient to take notice that this word Righteousness which peculiarly qualifies and distinguishes the subject of our discourse is frequently used in a twofold sense First In a more limited and restrained sense and so it is no more than a particular Vertue which inclineth and disposeth a man to give to every one his right When a man doth not by any little tricks or cunning artifices which the Wits of our Age call mysteries of Trade go beyond defraud over-reach or wrong another he is Righteous this is a considerable branch of morality a duty belonging to the Law of Nature and hath its proper place among the duties of the second Table Were this Virtue more common we might deal with our fellow Creatures with more openness and freedom with more plainness and less fear we might trust another without surmise suspicion and jealousie This vertue is famous and renowned and that justly too among Heathens and would God there were more of it in the Christian World Were all men just and upright honest sincere and plain hearted in their commerce as unwilling to impose upon and wrong another as they are loth to be deceiv'd and cheated themselves did
Righteous as interested in the perfect Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ Christs Righteousness was not only for himself but for his members though this be inherent in the Person of the Mediator yet we have as much benefit by it as if it were Subjectively in us The Sufferings and Death of Christ were not for his own Sin but ours He was made Sin 2 Cor. 5. 21 for us i. e. our Propitiatory Sacrifice and We are made the righteousness of God in him we have the fruit of his bitter sufferings and cruel death He fulfilled the Law satisfied Justice and paid our Debt and for his sake God looks upon and deals with believers as righteous persons As the disobedience of the first Adam makes us Sinners so the perfect and sinless obedience of Christ the second makes us Righteous As our sins were laid upon Christ in order to his bearing the punishment so his righteousness by a gracious and favourable act of God our Supream Judge is made ours in order to justification Our own righteousness is both a filthy and ragged garment through this God our final Judge will spy the deformity and nakedness of our Souls and Christ our Elder Brother infinite grace covereth us with the unspotted robe of his own Christ took our sins and gives us his righteousness blessed Exchange From Adam our natural Root and Father we derive Guilt Weakness and Death from Christ our Spiritual Head we have Righteousness Strength and Life Isa 45. 24. and therefore he is stiled THE LORD Jer. 23. 6. OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS This is the only Righteousness we must make mention of when judged according to the Law given to Adam in innocency A Penitent and believing Sinner that receiveth Christ Jesus the Lord is for Christs sake esteemed reckoned accounted and dealt with as a righteous Person Though this righteousness be of a peculiar consideration and cannot be thought to be meant in all those places where this word righteous occurreth yet it is absolutely necessary for Christ and what he hath suffered and done is the Spring Cause and Foundation of our hope The immediate and doleful consequent of being without Christ is to be Eph. 2. 12. without hope in the World This fruit grows no where but upon Christs Cross it is his Death that made Heaven possible to a fallen and Apostate creature and it is the sprinkling of this Blood that revives our languishing withering and dying Hopes Oh! Blessed are they who having no righteousness or at least but a maim'd defective and imperfect one of their own are interested in the Righteousness of Christ in the Righteousness of God! III. A man is Righteous and may be denominated so from that personal Evangelical righteousness that is inherent in himself We must not only be interested in the Righteousness of another without us but have one that is really subjected in our selves Or which is all one we must not only have Righteousness imputed but Holiness imparted Christ doth not only cover our running sores and ulcers but undertakes as our Physitian to cure them All Righteousness as hath been already hinted consists in a relation to some Law and that we might truly State what this Evangelical Righteousness is that hath so great a Privilege entail'd upon it as this in the Text I hope none will be offended if we distinguish as we find the Apostle Paul doth of the Law of Works and the Rom. 3. 25. Law of Faith the one framed to the State of an Innocent the other adapted to the condition of an Apostate Creature According to this latter it is that those who have once been Sinners may be made and denominated Righteous That part of the Gospel revelation which contains and discovers our Duty what we are to be and do in order to our Blessedness being as to the matter of it the whole Moral Law before appertaining to the Covenant of Works attempered to the State of fallen Sinners by Evangelical mitigations and indulgence by the Super-added Precepts of Repentance and Faith in a Mediator with all the other duties respecting the Mediator as such and cloathed with a new form as it is now taken into the Mr. How 's Blessedness of the Righteous p. 26. constitution of the Covenant of Grace is the rule of this righteousness He that solemnly repents of his wretched Apostacy from God and all the sins that have followed thereupon he that is united to Christ by Faith and yields sincere though imperfect obedience from an active and living principle within he that is renewed and changed turned from the love of sin in his heart and the practice of it in his Life he that hath solemnly and deliberately sincerely and unfeignedly covenanted with God and dedicated himself to the Sacred and Glorious Trinity Father Son and Spirit and lives suitably to such a devoted State He that is born of God bears his Image lives in communion with and walks in conformity to him is righteous Though his bloody issue may not be wholy dried up though there be indwelling sin in the heart and some sins and falls in the Life though no grace be perfect as to degree yet if there be SINCERITY and UPRIGHTNESS Oh! look after that he is a righteous man The Law calls for perfection but the Gospel Oh! thanks be to God we are under such a merciful favourable and gentle dispensation accepts sincerity This righteousness is not meer morality a being just and honest in our dealings this is the righteousness of an Heathen It is not an external observation of the Letter of the Law this is the righteousness of a Pharisee and ours must exceed his or we cannot Enter into the Kingdom Mat. 5. 30. of Heaven It is not a single act but a stated temper it is not an obedience that Proceeds from rotten but what flows from sincere and gracious Principles denominates a man Righteous A wicked man may do some acts of Devotion and Piety Charity and Justice Sobriety and Temporence but because the setled bent and inclination of his will is another way he is not righteous And though a good man may be guilty of some Errors and miscarriages in his Life yet while this living Principle remains and is not extinct we may and if we will speak in the Language of the Gospel we must call him a righteous Man This Righteousness is nothing but a transcript of the blessed Gospel a conformity in the inward and outward man in spirit and practice to the Divine Revelation made by Jesus Christ A renewed and vital principle in the heart exerting its self in suitable deportments to God and man In summ Repentance from dead Works and new Obedience impregnated by Faith and Love are the two essentiating and constitutive parts of this Gospel Righteousness For the establishing of this notion it is not necessary to insist on any laborious Proof when a great part of the Bible speaks to this purpose Hear once
unclean persons who have frequented the House of the strange Woman have found that her House inclineth Prov. 2. 18. to death and her path unto the Dead Ah wretched men sottish sinners What do they do but violently break the thred of Life When it might have been spun out to a further length by sinning against God they murder their Bodies as well as damn their Souls send one to the Grave and the other to Hell before the time Infinite folly But yet the most holy and righteous have the seeds of corruption in them and are mortal as the Garment breeds the Moth which frets it So we the Diseases which sooner or later will send us to our long home The righteous Eccles 12. 5 are subject to the same sicknesses and diseases as others are to burning Feavers pining Consumptions and to Old Age which is attended with 100 and 100 infirmities and is of all diseases the most incurable Life is a Candle which if no Stormy and ill-natur'd Winds blow out when it is burnt down into the socket will go out of its self a thred which if no scorching Feaver burn time will wear and old age will fret asunder This body tho' there be an Holy Soul inhabiting in it is such an house that if it be not pulled will tumble down of it self Tho' Wisdom hath length of days in her right hand Prov. 3. 16 many of her Children go to Bed late yet an immortality here is not in her power to confer upon any they may hope for it in another World but they cannot have it in this this is a priviledge peculiarly belonging to the future State Now righteous men undergo Death upon a double account 1. As the fruit and consequent of sin Immortality was the priviledge of Innocent Death is become the punishment of faln man If we search the Sacred Records we may easily find from what and whence to derive Death's Pedigree sin ah cursed evil ushered Death into the World That threatning In the day thou eatest thereof Gen. 2. 17. thou shalt surely dye upon the Apostacy of our first Parents was turned into a standing sentence involving them and their whole Posterity for by one man sin Rom. 5. 12. entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all men in that all have sinned Death is not owing to an irresistible Fate to the weakness of our primary constitution but to Sin as the deserving cause it was sin set Death upon its Pale Horse and nothing now can dismount him as the Tree brings forth fruit as the seed sown brings forth Corn so sin when Isa 1. 17. it is finished brings forth death Sin open'd the Door and then Mortal Sicknesses Deadly Distempers Killing Diseases and Death it self entered in Sin draws Death after it as the Needle doth the Thred and attends on it as the Shadow doth upon the Body Could all Graves be open'd could we stand in some convenient place and at one view behold the many thousands Death hath captivated and slain could we see all the Carkasses that have dropt into and are now rotting in dust we might say Lo all these were first the spoils of sin and then the Trophies and Triumphs of Death This is the account Scripture gives of Deaths Universal Empire Sin cursed Sin oh what Fools are we to be fond of it oh what infinite and unaccountable madness is it to lay and hug that hissing Serpent in our Bosoms which will sting us to Death is the cause of all those Funerals which have been are or shall be in the World Now tho' the Righteous are renew'd and sanctified they are so but in part they have sin in them the meritorious and deserving Cause of Death and therefore that Sentence that carries Death in it DUST thou art and to Gen. 3. 19. DUST THOU SHALT RETURN must be executed even upon them Tho' they are pardon'd yet their Pardon runs with an exception of Death 'T is true for Christ's sake upon the score of that painful shameful death he in their place and stead underwent upon the Cross the SECOND Death which is Death with an Emphasis shall have no power over them but notwithstanding all he hath done and suffered because they are sinners the FIRST must and will How far death to good men is a penal evil and yet retains the nature of a punishment I shall not in this wrangling age offend any by attempting to determine It may suffice that sin brought death into the World and furnished it with those Weapons wherewith it wounds and kills all If any say since the death of Christ and the effusion of his blood upon the Cross Death is rather an advantage to his followers I grant and thanks be to God it is so but may not death be the Wages of sin tho' a good and kind God makes it the path to Heaven and this leads me 2. To consider the death of the righteous as a Means of their deliverance from sin and the appointed way to the glorious Mansions which are above 'T is true God could make us perfectly holy take away the life and destroy the very being of sin the first moment of our conversion when we have done his will served the purposes of his Grace and attain'd the end of our being born by an happy pleasant and easie translation he could take us up Body and Soul to Heaven but he hath otherwise determin'd and made Death necessary in order to both According to the Divine Constitution they must first dye and then be perfectly holy and finally happy Do you ask why the righteous die why that sin might be destroyed as Sin brought Death into the World so Death shall excellent contrivance of Infinite Wisdom for ever abolish Sin tho' death had its sting strength power nay its very being from sin yet it proves by the ordination of God the destruction of it Those Arrows of Death which kill the Christian strike thro' the very Heart of his Sins and Lusts and they both die together A Saint puts off the Garments of Mortality and his filthy Raiment at once the sin that was born with them and lived with them and accompany them from place to place in their last moments takes leave of them for ever The Christian dies that Sin may do so too To this more will be said hereafter Moreover the Righteous here are Strangers and Pilgrims this is their Character and it is expressive of their Frame and Temper While they live they are in a strange place among a strange People and at a distance from their own Oh! How do they wish long pant desire and groan to be elswhere They are born from Heaven belong to it and wish to be there They are Citizens of the new Jerusalem in it are Mansions designed purchas'd prepared and standing empty for them but they must dip there feet in the cold fatal stream that runs beween this World
expiated our sins conquered the Devil and disarmed Death he paid our Ransom Redeem'd us from Hell which we can hardly think of without horrour and trembling and purchased Heaven where we long and desire to be he hath opened the Gates of Heaven and invites and beckons us to enter in and oh how powerful are the thoughts of a weeping bleeding groaning and dying Jesus to revive and recover the dying hopes of poor Sinners Do I stand amaz'd at the thoughts of my guilt overwhelm'd with the sight of my sins terrified with apprehensions of Divine Severity and Justice Do I in the depths of a melancholy grief cry out my hope is gone woe is me my hope is gone can there be any happiness any Heaven for such a wretch as I am how can I how dare I hope oh that I could hope but alass the Law Curses and Condemns me and I O miserable man have little or no hope I would think of Christ our Passover 1 â—or 5. 7. Sacrificed for us In this case what is to be done Shall I sink under the burden abandon all hope indulge my sorrow and fear and give way to a self-tormenting despair No I would go to mount Calvary and set my self at the foot of my Redeemers Cross I would often look up to a bleeding and dying Jesus think what he suffered for whom and for what end and then I would embrace this dying Jesus in the Arms of my Faith and after this how soon would hope begin to stir Christ dying on the Cross and Christ living in the Heart is the foundation of our hope and thanks be to God 't is such a Foundation as cannot be shaken I add further it is infinitely useful to consider and act Faith in Christ as risen from the Dead Had our Lord Jesus onely died and not risen again had he been yet sleeping in the Grave as Death's Eternal Prisoner had he not after a little time reviv'd and rose and lâ—v'd again all our hope must have been buried with him in the same Grave but tho' he was Dead he is Alive and lives for evermore Rev. 1. 18. and to Eye him as risen is very serviceable to quicken our hope how fully even beyond all possibility of doubting does the Resurrection of Christ assure us that his Death was valid his Sacrifice accepted our debt paid and justice satisfied that he did all that was necessary to expiate our sins and finished the work of our Redemption before he gave up the Ghost and Died on the Cross with his last with his dying Breath he cried out It is finished and is not his Resurrection Joh. 19. 30. a full convincing and undeniable evidence of the truth of that saying did Justice release and Divine Power bring him out of Prison Did God give him an open and publick acquittance And is there any ground to suspect the payment of what we ow'd and he undertook to satisfie for may we not from hence conclude to our unspeakable comfort incouragement and joy the efficacy of his Death the validity of his sufferings and the perfection of his sacrifice Moreover does not the Resurrection of Christ discover the possibility of ours nay is it not the cause and reason the earnest and pledge of it Did he roll away the Stone from his own Sepulchre and can he want power to roll it away from the Graves of his People Is the Head Risen and now in Heaven and shall the Members always be the Prisoners of Death is he Risen as the First 1 Co. 15. 23. Fruits and shall there not be an Harvest at the end of the World Oh what influence hath the Resurrection of Christ upon our hope as we are Christians therefore we are said to be begotten again 1 Pet. 1. 2. to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead and God raised him 21. up from the Dead that our Faith and Hope might be in God A daily and lively exercise of Faith in Christ as Crucified and Risen would contribute very much to the Strength Life and Vigour of our Hope Fifthly Beg of God to fill you with and give you his Holy Spirit to beget and nourish it in you We can have no good and solid well-grounded and lasting Hope except it be given us from above we cannot get it our selves we must be begotten to it it does not grow and spring up of it self but must be planted in us by a Divine Hand and if it be not watered too by the same Hand how soon will it wither and die if we have good 2 Thos â— 16. Hope we have it thro' Grace and as God's gift It is nothing but the Breath of God can scatter those Fogs and Mists which darken our Souls and cloud our Hopes If we are without Hope let us look up to God for it if our Hope decline and wither if that which remains be ready Rev. 3. 2. to die let us beg of him his Holy Spirit to quicken and recover it The Spirit of God Works Grace and then enables the Soul to see it and then helps him to rejoice in Hope of the Glory of God Oh Rom. 5 2. how soon can he scatter those fears that torment us answer those doubts which for many years have been unresolved and fill that Heart with Hope which was almost swallowed up of Despair How necessary is frequent fervent Prayer to keep our Hope alive If you want go to God for it fall on thy Knees and say I have heard and Lord I believe there is an Heaven and thro' Grace it is possible to me even to me I see many of my fellow Christians with whom I pray hear and daily converse living in the joyful hope and expectation of it but I am full of doubts and fears Lord I have little or no hope and if Death should come while matters are thus with me how should I ever be able to die it is bad to live but Lord it's worse to die without hope oh for hope oh for a lively hope of Heaven oh that on my Death-bed when I shall have no hope of Life I may have hope of Glory oh give me thy holy Spirit to scatter my fears resolve my doubts calm my Conscience and enliven my hope whatever I am deny'd while I live Lord let me have hope at last let this Prayer be heard now and fully answered when a dying hour comes Sixthly Frequently and seriously examine the groâ—â—â— and reason of your Hope Many take up their Hope upon very slight and insufficient grouâ—ds and the least blast of affliction blows down these Castles thâ—y build in the Air many times their hope is like Jonah's Gourd which Joâ— 4◠〈…〉 sprung up at night and withered the next Morning A sound hope is the fruit of many Prayers and Tears much watchfulness and holy walking and we have reason to suspect that hope we come easily and quickly by Such an
Isal 38 19. praise God but the living the living they should When they were sick you did I am sure you should pray for them and being dead and having died in hope you should give thanks to the Father of Mercies for his Mercy to them for his goodness to them in the close in the evening in the concluding act of their lives Tho' thanks be to God we know nothing of praying for the Dead yet we may and ought to praise God for his Grace to them and especially for that Grace which enabled them to go off and die so well Did God in the evening visit their Souls speak peace to their Consciences publish their Pardon and carry them beyond the fear of Death and the Grave Did the Comforter come and did they find and feel he was before death did did God open the Eyes of the Soul to read their Evidences for Heaven before death closed those of the Body did God shine in upon their Souls and in the evening-time was it light did you hear them speak Zech 14. 7. of their departure without Tears and Groans nay with Joy and Triumph did you see a Calm upon their Spirits did you see them compose themselves to die in the same manner they were wont to do when they went to sleep with little or no difference only an unusual coldness and did they thus die Lord what praise is due to Free Grace Is it not the duty and interest of the Husband to bless God for his mercy to his departed Wife Is it not the duty of Children to offer up a Sacrifice of praise to their God and their Fathers God for the seasonable help the gracious supports and the suitable comforts afforded to a Father to a Mother in a dying hour should not as many praises be given to God for his mercy to their Souls as Tears shed over their Coffins and Graves what praises oh what hearty praises are due to God that they set sail with a fair Wind an happy Tide and got safe to Shore is it not melancholy and sad to see such near Relations full of doubts and fears crying out I cannot die I dare not die and did God prevent all this by giving them hope and the joy of hope too before they left us to go to him and should not God have the Glory that is due unto his name Our sacrifices of praise should mount up to Heaven in a pure and bright flame and there meet the Souls of our deceased Relatives Thanksgiving and Praise is a debt which holy persons who were thus priviledg'd in their last moments would have their surviving Relations pay to God in their name and stead Thirdly Another Duty is a careful imitation of their holy Lives This is a special branch of that Communion we have with departed Saints and the nearer they were to us in the flesh the more careful we should be to imitate them How does it concern Children who are left behind to follow the example tread in the steps of an holy Father or a godly Mother oh how should they endeavour to be the living Images of their deceased Parents gone from them to God! how greatly doth it concern such to labour after the same Vertues and Graces to accustom themselves to the same holy practices and religious exercises to keep up the old friendship there hath been between God and their Family that the Covenant Relation might not be broken in them Were they humble and meek quiet and patient holy and heavenly were they devoted to God and to the service of the Redeemer and did they live walk and act as such did they slight the World and all the gay and charming vanities of it and fill up every Relation with duty were they given to secret Prayer did they keep up Communion with God adorn their holy profession and live suitably to it at all times did they carefully husband and redeem their Time wisely imploy and improve all their Talents were they kind and merciful liberal and charitable and did they live as Heirs of the Grac of God and Candidates for Immortality and the expectants 1 Pet. 3. 7. of a future Glory were they burning and shining lights an honour to their Profession a credit to Religion and a peculiar Grace and Ornament to the particular Churches they were Members of did they carry it towards God and Man according to the rules of their holy Religion did they converse with God live in Heaven and prepare for Death and Judgment oh how worthy is this the imitation of them who are left behind How oft is wickedness and vice profaneness and irreligion transmitted from Father to Son and how do their Children act as if they were only born to perpetuate the War against Heaven and were only left to fill up the measure of their Father's iniquities how oft do some particular Vices or Vice run in a blood and are propagated from generation to generation till the whole family of these accursed Sinners is extinct and oh what a shame and pity is it that Piety and Religion which are the honour and glory of a Family which make a man excellent while he lives and render his memory precious when he is dead which render us dear to God and useful to others should not outlive the present Generation See more of this in the Epistle To stir us up to a careful imitation of such holy relations what argument can be more prevalent than this before us To consider what is the happy conclusion of an holy life viz. hope in Death At such a time every one is ready to cry out with Balaam Oh that I might die the death Numb 23. 10. of the righteous and my latter end might be like to his but what a vain wish is this if our lives be unlike to theirs the Children of holy Parents more especially should strive to be followers of them and keep God among them Was God should such an one say my Fathers God and my Mothers God and shall I forsake or cast him off Oh what a sin and shame is this have I such a fair Copy to write after and will it not greatly reflect on me if mine be full of blots and blurs When you are tempted remember you are the off-spring of them who were the friends and lovers of God that you are come of an holy stock and then say would my holy Father my godly Mother who are now with God have done thus and thus Are they acting the part of holy Angels in Heaven and shall I the Son the Daughter of such Religious Parents be acting the Devil upon Earth Will not the very dust of these holy Relations rise up in Judgment against and condemn me O my Soul let me remember with what comfort they lived with with hope they died with what joy they shall rise again what foretasts of Heaven how much of their reward they hadon a death-bed and let me charge it upon