AN ACCOUNT Of some of the Dying-Sayings OF SUSANNAH YEATS Late Wife of SAMVEL YEATS of the Parish of Minching-Hampton in Glocester-shire WITH A SERMON Preached at her Funeral By THOMAS WORDEN Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for William Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street 1688. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER IT is storied of Latimer the Bishop that on a time when he was to Preach before King Edward the 6th his Theme was Take heed and beware of Covetousness and so kept on the Repetition of it five or six times together as if he intended that his Sermon should consist of no more words than his bare Theme viz. Take heed and beware of Covetousness BVT if the Bishop were now alive he would see cause to alter his Subject in turning of it from Covetousness to Death FOR as he made use of after Arguments to dehort his Auditors from that Sin so now would he see need to make as often a Repetition of the word Death as the Prophet did of the word Earth O Earth Earth hear the word of the Lord and all would be too little to affright this Age from more gross Sins IT is our unhappy Lot to live in an Age wherein our most sharp Brains are more enclined to exercise the Vanity of Wit than to labour after true Wisdom which would render the ensuing Subject the less pleasant to them For how is it possible that Men should read a Subject of Death with pleasure who so much abound in Sin while they live with so much pleasure IT was the saying once of Queen Elizabeth That of all the Books which she had read she prized mostly these two viz. Senica and the Bible and it would be no small mercy to the most of our Age if they could say That of all things in the World they mostly love these two viz. to live to Christ and to dye to Sin because to such a man Death will not appear as a Lyon but as a Lamb. For those whose bleeding Wounds by Sin are not healed by the Blood of Christ their Death will make the greatest Wound at last IF the Preaching of Death to mens Ears would be the Death of Sin in their Hearts the ensuing Subject then might be as Solomon speaks of seasonable Words viz. like Appels of Gold in Pictures of Silver But instead of any hope this way may we not sit down with the Prophets complaint and cry out as he did Isa 28. 10 12. Tho line upon line be brought to this People and precept upon precept here a little and there a little yet they will not hear As to the following Subject treated upon it was preached at the Funeral of one of my Congregation But if any shall expect quaintness of Words or elegancy of Phrase he will find but little which would suit that humour THEREFORE those that usually read Books to please their Fancies more than to encrease their Faith and love to have their Ears tickled with fine Words rather than their Hearts toucht with real Truths will little applaud the Discourse IF thou readest rather to acquaint thy self with flourishing Sentences than to affect thy Heart with real Substances thou must leave the School of Christ and betake thy self to a Heathenish Academy THE greatest care taken about the following Discourse hath been to trim it up in a Jacob-like Dress plain and pious It s Garment is like to the Israelites Robes for their Humiliation not Silk but Sackcloth Therefore what Beauty lieth in it resembles the stile given of the Church Psal 45. 13. It 's only glorious within It s beauty appears not so much in the Letter without as it doth in the Spirit within AND if thou contemn it only for want of an external Beauty that will but bespeak to thy face thy want of Spirituality I DO declare I never had any further intent in the Study of the ensuing Discourse than to content my self with the bare Preaching of it For to say all I never deem'd it worthy of so publick a view as it 's now arrived unto only strong Importunity hath drag'd it out of my Hand and that it 's now published it 's rather to humour my Friend than to please my self any further than it may be serviceable to some poor Soul. But that God that can make dry Bones to live if he shall make this dry Bone of any quickning-use to thee give God the Praise and me thy Prayer That God would make me in his hand A means that some may understand What slavery their Souls are in Who wilfully do live in Sin That so they may be brought to see The captiv'd State and Misery That Satan have them in beyond all doubt Unless the Lord of Life do work them out And then when they to Christ by Faith do run As Persons that are quite undone And so by Faith on him do clinch Their fiery heat of guilt to quench Which will make Sin the greatest pain And Godliness the greatest gain And by believing rest upon The Lord of Life when this is done Do live to him in Righteousness Its wages being Blessedness Which alters Death from being a foe Which will also free them from woe And land them in their Haven of Rest Where they shall ever be and blest The good of which will make my Crown So heavy that it will weigh down All the discouragements which attend My painful labours to the end Yet do but me thy Prayers give And that will always me relieve Until my painful work be done And I at rest to Joy am come Thine and the Churches Servant THOMAS WORDEN The Dying-Sayings of Susannah Yeats the Wife of Samuel Yeats an Inhabitant in the Parish of Minching Hampton c. ON the Monday night after she fell sick was a night of great temptation to her who lay under the violent assaulting hand of Satan for four hours together the next morning she related her Condition to a Friend which came to see her When after her Friend had asked her how it was with her She replied in these words I remember what my Pastor said once That when Satan is busy with his Tempations to a Person in a Sick-bed it is a sign of Death But said she he hath been busy with me this Night After she had thus said she related what her temptations had been the Night before First she had a sight of Satans appearance to her claiming a propriety in her and that all her endeavour would be but lost labour at last Unto whom she replied O thou Coward that knowest I am a weak Woman weak in Body and weak in Faith if thou hast any thing to lay to my Charge get thee gone go to the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah he will plead my Cause for me if there be not Mercy enough in God if there be not Merit enough in the Blood of Jesus Christ if there be not worth enough in his Righteousness nor Grace enough in his Sanctification
in the Text You see that Lazarus was a good Man a declared Friend of Christ yet neither his goodness before Christ nor his relation to Christ could priviledg from Death We read of Abraham the friend of God we read of Isaac Jacob Moses Samuel David Solomon Hezekiah Josiah all eminent men for parts and piety yet nothing of all this would secure them from the stroke of death The Prophets where are they do they live for ever In a word saith David Psalm 49. 7 8. No man by any means can redeeem his brother nor give God a ransome for him For the redemption of their souls is precious and it ceaseth for ever For saith Paul It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after that to judgment 2. WE next come to shew you what Death is Death is the dissolving of the Union that 's betwixt two Beings or it is the separation of the Soul and Body each from other Two near Friends that were knit together in the Womb but now divided asunder under the Tomb. THERE is a threefold Death A death spiritual a death eternal and a death temporal or corporal FIRST of all There is a death spiritual or a spiritual death which is the dissolving of that blessed Union that was betwixt God and Man in Paradice for as the soul is united to the body of a Man so was God united to the soul and body of a Man tho not in so corporal but in a mystical mannner And as the body dies when the soul which maintains the life of it is gone in like manner did our souls dye to all spiritual life when God was gone Mark the Apostle's words in Ephes 2. 1. You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins We ceased to live the Life of God ever since that happy union was broken betwixt us and God Psalm 49. 12. 2. THERE is an Eternal death which is that state every graceless man and woman living and dying so is appointed unto after this Life of Nature is at an end And what that state is you may read in these following Scriptures Matt. 8. 11 12. I say unto you that many shall come from the east and from the west and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Psal 9. 17. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. Psalm 11. 6. Vpon the wicked shall God rain snares and fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. 2 Thess 1. 7 8 9. When he shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power so Rev. 14. 9 10 11. 3. THERE is this natural death which unties the Soul from the Body which a good Lazarus as well as a wicked Dives must partake of from which stroke saith David no Man can keep alive his own Soul. Solomon's Wisdom Abraham's Faith Sampson's Strength David's Zeal Hezekiah's Godliness Josiah's Uprightness Job's Patience Absolom's Beauty Hammon's Honour Dives his Riches could not prevent this stroke of death Saith Solomon As dyeth the fool so dyeth the wise man and all this as the fruit of sin For the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. 2. WE now come to the Reasons of the Point Why good men must die as well as bad men Reas 1. BECAUSE of Gods determination he hath decreed and appointed it to be so Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed once for all men to dye Now there is no withstanding of a decree of God Numb 23. 19. God is not a man that he should lye nor the son of a man that he should repent Hath he said it and shall he not do it or hath he spoken it and shall he not make it good You may as well turn the Winds out of their points the Tide out of its course the Moon out of her place or stop the Sun in its race as to hinder the execution of the least decree of God therefore none ever yet could stop or prevent his own departure hence THO Christ himself as God could have prevented his own death John 10. 18. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again But yet as Christ was Man he could not avoid it HENCE saith the Apostles Acts 4. 27 28. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles with the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done Now if the determination of God brings Christ to the Grave much more will it bring other good men to the Grave also Reas 2. IT 's so Because good Men have sinned and thereby deserved this stroke of Death as well as bad Men Rom. 3. 23. with Rom. 6. 23. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God the wages of Sin is Death Only there is this difference betwixt the bad Man and the good Man's death the bad Man dies as it 's said our Lord Jesus died when all the Sins of the Elect were upon him he dyes a cursed Death Gal. 3. 13. So do the wicked they dye a cursed Death because they dye with all their Sins upon them 1 Joh. 8. 24. Except you believe in me you shall dye in your sins But the godly Man hath all his Sins done away in Christ and where Sin is pardoned there Death is disarmed Death may gape but it cannot bite it may hiss but it cannot sting a believer because both its Teeth and Sting are broken and pluckt out by Christ in the behalf of every true Christian Reas 3. WHY good Men must dye as well as bad Men is Because they might actually possess that glorious Inheritance which Christ hath purchased for them above Eph. 1. 14. Which is the earnest of our Inheritance until the Redemption of the purchased Possession unto the praise of his Glory So that it appears that Jesus Christ hath not only purchased a Redemption for his People by his precious Blood from Sin Satan the Curse and Condemnation of the Law and Wrath to come but by the price of the same Blood hath he purchased an Inheritance in Glory for them saith Peter 1 Pet. 1. 4. An inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you But most certain it is while the Godly are in this Life they are at a great distance from this purchased Inheritance of Glory 2 Cor. 5. 6. Therefore we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. So
man hath true Faith in some degree or other or else to what purpose do these men talk of mens giving an assent of Faith to the Divine Truths of the Gospel but this is as gross as the other if Paul may be believed 2 Thes 3. 2. That we may be delivered from unreasonable men for all men have not faith 3. IT supposeth that all men by nature have Power to obey the Gospel if they please or else why do the men of this Notion talk as they do of mens living in obedience to the Rules of the Gospel but this is as foreign and wide from the Scripture as any of the former if Paul may be believed by an Arminian Rom. 8. 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be So that unless a man have new Eyes put into his Head and a new Faith put into his heart and a new Will put into his Soul it is wholly Impossible that men should either see believe or obey the Gospel to the Salvation of their Souls but Regeneration which is right is another thing than these men dream of it is supernatural work carried on by the Holy Ghost in the Heart where and when he pleaseth it is called a new creation Eph. 2. 10. Is this supernatural or is it not it's called a being born again 1 Pet. 1. 23. Now who is there which can contribute to his own Birth It 's called a Resurrection Rom. 6. 5. Rev. 20. 6. And who is it that can contribute to his own Resurrection all as able is a poor Sinner to convert himself from sin to God or believe and obey the Gospel if Christ himself may be believed Joh. 15. 5. Without me ye can do nothing therefore see that this work be done upon your Souls before you dye or else your corporal death will lanch you into an eternal death for ever 3. Rule LAY in a good stock of Prayer against a dying hour comes it is Paul's Exhortation Lay up a good foundation for the time to come Oh let it be your Prayer night and day to God that he would prepare your Souls for Death Undoubtedly those who pray mostly for this mercy in time of life have mostly the joyful comfort of it in an hour of death they that live prayingly will dye prayingly 4. Rule IF you would prepare for Death make your selves as familiar with it as you can in a time of Life then will it be the less dreadful to you when it comes it is in the case of death as it is with a Lyon death is called the King of terrors to men as the Lyon is to the rest of the Beasts of the Forest and little less a terror to men also But if you take a Lyon when it is but a whelp you may train it up to so tame a rate that you may lead it up and down by a Chain in your Hand when others would tremble to look on it so if you would but make Death so familiar with your thoughts you might find it to smile upon you when it looks grim upon others Last Use MUST good men dye as well as bad men Yet here comes meat out of this eater and honey out of this strong one to a believer Oh what sweet and pleasant thoughts should every believer have of Death when they dye and never till they dye shall they be fully brought home to God. Death to the Saints is the door by which they enter into the enjoyment of God. The dying Christian is almost at home yet a few Pangs and Agonies more and then he is come to God in whose presence is fulness of Joy. I desire saith Paul to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1. 23. It should not scare us to be brought to Death the King of Terrors so long as it is the office of Death to bring us to God. That dreaming Opinion of the Souls sleeping after Death is as ungrounded as it is uncomfortable the same day we loose from this shore we shall be landed upon the blessed shore where we shall see and enjoy God for ever Oh if the Friends of deceased Believers did but understand where ond with whom their Souls are while they are mourning over their Bodies here certainly a few believing thoughts of this would quickly dry up their Tears I SHALL conclude with that word in Psal 37. 37. Mark perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace FINIS