is the greater must our folly be in the neglect thereof yet this is the folly that the most of men are guilty of they mind not their latter end their dying hour at least not so as to make a timely provision for it God lets them live many years and perhaps they rejoyce in them all but they forget the dayes of darkness which are many They regard not the state of their souls nor how things stand between God and them in reference to another World And O that this were not the folly of too many of us who profess the belief of another life a future state We live and enjoy good but we put far from us the evil day as those are said to do Amos 6.3 God spares us time after time but no provision do we make for a dying hour O how many of us have never yet set any thing right in the matters of our souls any thing in order against the time comes when we are to go hence and be no more that have scarce ever had yet one serious thought of Death Judgment or Eternity nor made the least tittle of provision for them And what shall I say to such I would if God saw good awaken them out of their folly and convince them of it In order to which I would plead a little with them in five or six particulars 1. Must we not all go hence Solomon tells us there is a time to be born and a time to die Eccl. 3.2 And the one is as sure as the other as sure as we have had a time to be born so sure we shall have a time to die and the living know it The living know that they shall die saith Solomon Eccl. 9.5 Indeed they may well know it for not only the experience of between five and six thousand years tells them so but it is what is appointed what is infallibly determined by the unchangeable Law and Degree of Heaven Heb. 9.27 nor can any thing whatever exempt us from the stroak of Death 1. Youthful strength and vigour can't do it For young men die as well as old strong men die as well as weak One dieth in his full strength saith the Holy Ghost being wholly at ease and quiet his breasts are full of milk and his bones are moistned with marrow Job 21.23 24. 2. Worldly pomp and greatness can't do it For great men die as well as mean men rich men die as well as poor men Where is the House of the Prince saith the Holy Ghost Answer is made He shall be brought to the Grave and shall remain in the Tomb the clods of the Valley shall be sweet unto him and every man shall draw after him as there is innumerable before him Job 21.28 32 33. So in the 49 Psalm 16 17 18 19. Be not thou afraid when one is made rìch when the Glory of his House is increased For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him though while he lived he blessed his soul and the like he shall go to the generation of his Fathers he shall never see light 3. Humane wisdom and policy can't do it for wise men die as well as fools So Psal 49.10 Wise men die likewise the Fool yea in many respects Wise men die as the Fool Eccl. 2.16 Pray what is become of all the wise men and great Politicians that have lived in former Ages Truly the clods of the Valley cover them 4. Spiritual gifts and graces can't do it For good men die as well as bad holy men as well as wicked men The righteous man perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away Isa 57.1 5. Eminency of place and service can't do it Your Fathers where are they And the Prophets do they live for ever Zach. 1.5 What higher place than to be a Prophet to be an Ambassadour for God and yet such die Nothing you see can exempt us from death's strokes Why then should we neglect to prepare for it I will close this Head with a saying I have read in one of the Ancients What among humane affairs saith he is more certain than death What more uncertain than the hour of death Death compassionates not poverty it reverences not either the greatness it spares no Sex no Manners no Age only it seems to come in at the gate upon old men but craftily it steals in upon young ones 2. Does not death hasten upon us all As we must all die so death hastens apace upon us Every step we take is a step towards death and the grave So we find Eccl. 9.10 Our whole life is as one well observes upon that place nothing else but a journey towards Death and the Grave whether we sleep or wake eat or drink trade or travel pray or play we are still hastening to the Grave A dying hour hastens upon us all and how fast pray does it hasten upon us Faster than a Weavers Shuttle does to the end of the Web My dayes saith Job are swifter than a Weavers Shuttle Job 7.6 How fast does it hasten upon us As fast as yea faster than a Post hastens to the end of his Stage or a swift Ship to the Harbour under the advantage of Wind and Tide or the swift flying Eagle to the prey My dayes are swifter than a Post saith Job they flee away they see no good They are passed away as the swift Ships as the Eagle hasteneth to the prey Job 9.25 26. How fast does it hasten upon us So fast as that for ought we know it will be upon us before we see the light of another day Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee Luke 10.20 How fast does it hasten upon us So fast as that for ought we know it may be upon us the next hour yea the next moment They spend their dayes in mirth and in a moment go down to the grave Job 21.13 To be sure it will be upon us speedily and it may be upon us suddenly I pray consider what are we And what is our life Wind Job 7.7 O remember that my life is wind an hands breadth Psalm 39.5 Behold thou hast made my dayes as an hands-breadth mine Age is as nothing before thee a declining shadow Psalm 102.11 My dayes are like a shadow that declineth and I am withered like Grass A Flower of the Field which is withered and gone with the Wind As for man his dayes are as Grass as a Flower of the Field the Wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof knoweth it no more Psalm 103.15 16. And again All flesh is Grass and the goodliness thereof as the Flower of the Field the Grass withereth the Flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Surely the people is grass Isa 40.6 7. Vanity and a shadow Man is like to vanity his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away Psalm 144.4 A
hence and be no more Sinners will you set about this great business your work is wholly yet to do though it may be your day is far spent your Glass is almost run your Sun near setting and all your work to do Oh 't is high time for you to awake out of sleep unless you mean to sleep the sleep of Eternal Death Saints will you set about this great business while God spares you You have done somewhat but there is much more yet to be done there is much out of order yet in your souls Grace weak it may be Corruption strong Peace broken Evidences blurr'd and blotted Unbelief powerful within you the heart much estranged from God little suitableness to Heaven in your Spirits and the like will you now labour to recover strength how many of us may complain as that holy man St. Bernard once did I am ashamed to live because I am so unprofitable and I am afraid to dye because I am so unprepared Surely this truth concerns the best of us all and if we understand our selves we cannot but know it the Lord help us to know it effectually And if after all you would indeed address to this great work and business then I have several great and weighty directions to propound to you for your help therein of which some more general some more particular and I would speak of each distinctly CHAP. VII Wherein are propounded several general directions in order to a through preparation of Soul for a dying hour 1. WOuld you indeed set all things right in your souls make all ready for a dying hour then in your most prosperous and flourishing state here maintain a frequent and serious remembrance of death and the grave upon your spirits If a man live many years saith Solomon and rejoyce in them all yet let him remember the days of darkness for they are many Eccl. 11.8 By the days of darkness here we are to understand death and the state of death the abode of our bodies in the grave which is a Land of darkness and where the light is as darkness Job 10.20 Now saith he though a man live many years and rejoyce in them all that is though a man live long and prosperously long and joyfully yet let him remember death and the grave the future state 'T is true there are other days of darkness which we are subject to in this world and should be remembred by us days of outward darkness the darkness of outward trouble and affliction and days of inward darkness the darkness of spiritual distress and dereliction and indeed 't is of marvellous use to us in our prosperity to remember these days of darkness but especially we should remember death and the Grave we should carry a lively remembrance of these days of darkness daily upon us and indeed our not remembring these days of darkness is one great cause why we are so unready for Death and the Grave as we are When we are in the midst of our enjoyments and the streams run pleasantly about us we are too apt to forget these days of darkness we are so taken with our earthly comforts that we are loth to think of Death and Eternity putting far from us the evil day as those in their enjoyments did Amos 6.3 And therefore when these days come they find us so unready and our spiritual concernments so discomposed as usually they do But my Beloved as ever you would have all right and in order in your souls against a dying hour comes let me recommend this to you as one special help maintain a deep and frequent remembrance of Death and the Grave upon your Spirits remember the days of darkness and that especially these two ways 1. Remember them so as to have them much in your meditation be much and frequent in the contemplation of Death and the Grave This the Holy Ghost calls a considering our latter end and withal mentions it as a business of great importance to us Deut. 32.29 To consider is to revolve a thing in our minds and to keep it much in our thoughts and meditations And thus we should consider our latter end and remember the days of darkness this is that the Saints of old have been much conversant in they were much and frequent in the thoughts and meditations of death as I might instance in the good old Patriarchs Job David and others And 't is what does marvellously conduce to our preparation for it The meditation of death saith one is life it is that which greatly promotes our spiritual life therefore walk much among the Tombs and converse much and frequently with the thoughts of a dying hour 2. Remember them so as to have them daily in your expectation In the midst of all your enjoyments expect Deaths approach daily this is called a waiting for our change All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change comes Job 14.14 And we are commanded to wait for the coming of our Lord as that which lies in the directest tendency to the exactest readiness and preparation for his coming Luke 12.36 Expect death every hour saith one for 't is every hour approaching thee In the morning when thou risest think with thy self this may be the last day In the evening when thou lyest down think with thy self this may be the last night I may ever have in this world I know not when my Lord will come whether in the morning or in the evening at mid-night or at the Cock-crowing therefore I will be always expecting his coming Woe and alas for us we are apt to talk of many years yet to come as he did Luke 12.9 whereas we should live in the expectation of death every moment Thus let us consider the days of darkness it will marvellously conduce to the preparation of the Soul for them the meditation and expectation of death will conduce much among others to these four things 1. It will conduce much to our humbling and self-abasing Let a man own himself to be a mortal saith Austin and pride will it must down And think frequently of death saith another and thou wilt easily bring down thy proud heart Hence also the consideration of Death is often in Scripture mentioned by the Holy Ghost as an argument to make us humble Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Gen. 3.19 as elsewhere 2. It will conduce much to the weaning of our hearts from this world and to the loosening of them from the things here below The time is short saith the Apostle what then Why it remaineth that they that have Wives be as though they had none and those that weep as though they wept not and those that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not those that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. He mentions the shortness of time as that the meditation
vagabond and a fugitive it changes it self into all shapes it will and it will not 't is like a leaf moved and carried about with the wind My vain and importunate heart hales me now to the Market and then to strifes and brawlings now to feasting and then to impure lusts now the flesh is inflamed with sordid titillations then the mind is defiled with filthy cogitations And who of us may not make the same complaint yea such is the enmity and opposition of our own hearts against Heaven and the things of Heaven that many times when we most resolve and set our selves to follow God and to pursue the work of our souls then they set us most back It was a great speech of that same Father This sayes he is my daily exercise with my whole strength I bend to thee and would mount up to God and Heaven but by how much the more strongly I endeavour to come up to thee by so much the more powerfully I am cast into the earth into my self and even under my self captivated to my lusts And so 't is often with us Le ts then and oppositions must be expected by us on all hands and we had need therefore the more to awaken to our work 'T is true if you will ingage in good earnest in the work of your souls your helps and incouragements will be greater than your lâ—ts and discouragements you will have more with you then against you You will have God with you and Christ with you and the Comforter with you and all the Graces of the Covenant with you be incouraged therefore to set upon Soul-work Now lay all these things together and see if it be an easie matter to make ready for a dying hour and if it be not why should we neglect Why should we delay any longer 6. How terrible will death be to you And what a dreadful change will it make with you in case you still neglect to make ready for it Suppose my Beloved you go on in the neglect of this Great Concern putting far from you the evil day what think you will the issue of it be will not death be most terrible to you when you shall be called to conflict with it Will it not make a dreadful change with you Surely it will Death to an unready soul what will it be It will be the period of all his mercies of all his comforts of all his hopes For such an one receives all his good things in this life before death comes Luke 16.25 It will be the sending of him to his own place the cutting him down as fewel for everlasting burnings It will be as a worthy Divine speaks the taking up of a Draw-bridge and the pulling up of the Flood-gates of Gods eternal wrath to let in the deluge of it upon his soul for ever It will be a change to him but what change will it be Surely a very sad one 1. A change from Earth to Hell And is not this a sad Change The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all that forget God Psalm 19.17 And we read of the rich man who was unready for death that being dead he was in Hell Luke 22.23 2. A change from Light to Darkness and is not that a sad change The Holy Ghost speaking of such an one tells us God shall drive him out of light into darkness and chase him out of the world Job 18.18 Here wicked men enjoy the light of Creature comforts but God will drive them out of these into the darkness of Eternal misery into utter darkness Mat. 25.30 into blackness of darkness Jude 13. 3. A change from pleasure to pain from delight to torment a sad change it is from pleasure and delight in sin to pain and torment for sin Luke 16.23 Here the soul sports himself in the pleasures and delights of sin and he thinks he can never have enough but then there will be an end of all those pleasures and delights and nothing but pain and torment and vexation will succeed them 4. A change from the offers of Grace to the Revelations of Wrath Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction saith the Psalmist in that 88 Psal 11. True in the 1 Pet. 3.19 20. we read of Christ's preaching by his Spirit to the Spirits in Prison that is to Souls in Hell But mark when was it that he preach'd to them not when in prison but in the days of Noah when they lived in the world There is never an offer of grace and love made to souls in the Grave while life lasts the soul hears the joyful sound And O the sweet offers the gracious tenders the loving invitations that are made to him of Christ of Grace of Eternal Life and Love O the wooings the meltings the entreatings the allurings of Divine Love to and over the soul but when death comes farewell all these farewell all the sweet offers of Christ and all the blessed motions of the Spirit then there 's nothing but wrath reveiled and wrath shall come on the neglecting soul to the uttermost 5. A change from fair probabilities to utter impossibilities of life and salvation a sad change still Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation now and not hereafter 2 Cor. 6.2 Now there is a fair probability for the worst of sinners to be saved if they will look after Salvation and mind their Eternal Concerns Christ is both able and willing to save to save was the end of his coming into the world and of all he did and suffered here 1 Tim. 1.15 Now they are besought and entreated to be reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5.19 20. but when death comes that changes these fair Probabilities into utter impossibilities of life and salvation Therefore mark Now says the Apostle is the day of salvation that is now while life lasts and while the Gospel is preached 6. A change from hope to despair a sad change indeed We read that the hopes of the Hypocrite shall perish Job 8.13 and that the expectation of the wicked shall perish Prov. 10.28 Whether men be open sinners or close hypocrites their hopes at last shall all fail and turn into despair despair of ever seeing God or enjoying the least tittle or Iota of good for ever Thus death will be terrible to you and make a dreadful change with you in case you neglect to make ready for its coming 't will affright you as bad as the hand-writing upon the wall did that proud King Dan. 5.5 6. Which made his countenance change his thoughts to trouble him and the joynts of his loyns to be losed and his knees to smite one against another O when death comes and thou shalt be found unready how will thy countenance change thy joynts be losed thy thoughts troubled and thy heart tremble within thee In a word I would say to you as the Prophet spake of old Isa 10.3 What will you do
in the day of visitation and whither will you flee for help When death comes what will you do which way will you look will there be any hope any help any refuge for your souls to flee unto Alas there will be none Wilt thou then run to the mercies of God and cry Lord Lord Alas it will be in vain he will then say unto you Depart from me I know you not Mat. 25.11 12. Wilt thou then labour to get grace and pardon Alas it will be too late then the door will be shut against thee Mat. 25.10 Wilt thou then desire others to spare thee some of their Oyl Alas that will be a vain thing they will tell thee they have but enough for themselves Mat. 25.9 Wilt thou then plead thy gifts parts and services for Christ Alas it will be to no purpose unless thou hast done the main work notwithstanding all thy gifts and services he will send thee away with the workers of iniquity Mat. 7.22.23 Wilt thou call upon the Rocks and Mountains to cover thee and hide thee from the wrath of him that sits upon the Throne Alas it wil be in vain Rev. 6. latter end O sinner when thou shalt see thy self launching out into the great Ocean of Eternity and God shall as it were say to thee by the Mouth of thy own Conscience Well now time and days are at an end with you and will never dawn more what hast thou done for thy Soul What provision hast thou made for another world Is Christ thine hast thou gotten thy sins pardoned and the like When it shall be thus I say what wilt thou then do and whither wilt thou then look how wilt thou then cry out Undone undone I am lost for ever my day is ended and my work is still to do woe is me what a God a Christ a Heaven a Blessedness a Glory have I wilfully and foolishly lost truly thou and such as thou are the only persons whose death will be truly lamentable I remember a saying I have read in one of the Ancients They saith he are to be bewailed in their death whom the Devils drag away to the torments of the Infernal Pit not they whom the holy Angels do conduct to the joys of Paradise they are to be bewailed who after death are by the Devils turned into Hell and not they who by the Angels are placed or set down in Heaven O that these things might convince you of your folly and awaken your souls and that so as yet to know the things of your peace in your day and the time of your visitation CHAP. VI. Being a Call to all Good and Bad Saints and Sinners to address themselves to the great work of making all ready for a dying hour WHat is the language of all this Verily it calls aloud upon us all Good and Bad Saints and Sinners to make it our great business to set all things right in the matters of our souls and make all ready for a dying hour And O that we would make this improvement of this great truth and of God's sparing goodness to us he spares us and why does he spare us but that we should set all things right and make all things ready Oh that we would now fall in with the end and design of God herein making it our great care and business in time to provide for Eternity in life to make ready for death Some of you I verily believe are about this work and the Lord prosper you in it You know you were born for Eternity and you do endeavour to live for Eternity your great work in time is to make provision for a blessed Eternity O happy souls that you are Others of us and those by far the most I fear are utterly negligent in this business Death and Eternity are little minded by us but we are in a sleepy drowsie secure spirit and to such methinks this truth speaks in a language much like to that of the Ship Master to Jonaâ— Jon. 1.6 What meanest thou O sleeper Arise and call upon thy God if so be he will think on us that we perish not So what mean you O you sleepy drowsie secure souls arise make ready for a dying hour set all things right all things in order in your spiritual concernments lest death come upon you at unawares and you be lost for ever And to such of us I would say as sometimes God did by the Prophet to Hezekiah Isa 38.1 Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live So say I to you set your hearts in order your spiritual concerns in order make all even between God and you for you shall shortly die and not live you shall shortly go hence and be no more and why should we not all do so if you be to change your condition in the world how careful and solicitous are you to have all things ready and in order for that change Why my Beloved you are shortly to pass under that great and last Change a Change from Time to Eternity and will you have no care no solicitude to make ready for that Change if you are to take a journey though but a few miles or to make a Voyage into a strange Land O how are you concerned to have all things ready all things in a prepared posture in order therreunto And my Beloved should not you be more concerned to make ready for your great journey your last and great Voyage you are making a journey a voyage out of Time into Eternity you are just launching sorth into the great Ocean And what nothing in order nothing ready nothing set right in order thereunto That is strange If you have some great business a business of more than ordinary importance to be done or a Suit at Law to be tryed and determined O how close do you follow it and how careful are you to have all things ready in order thereunto And my Beloved should you not be as careful and diligent to prepare and set all things right for the great business of your souls in another world Have you any business any concern of greater importance to you than the concern of your Souls and Eternity if you are to appear before some Earthly Judge especially if it be about a matter that concerns your life O how thoughtful are you to have all things ready and in order in reference thereunto And my Beloved should not you be as thoughtfull and solicitous to make all ready and to set all right in order to your appearing before the Judg of all the Earth and that about a matter which concerns the life of your souls about a matter of eternal life or death Well what shall I say will you set about this great business this great concern or is it all one with you whether you live or die are saved or damned to Eternity God yet spares you blessed be his Name Will you now set all right before you go