shall add will fall under these following Directions 1. Let us justifie this severe Providence of God 'T is highly dishonourable unto him when we blame and accuse his ways as if they were not equal as on the other hand 't is Honourable to God when we subscribe every Arrest that our Heavenly Judge hath pronounc't 'T is related concerning Aaron that when his two Sons were cut off he held his peace Lev. 10.2 3. He made no Objections against that tremendous severity of God when he understood that He had glorified himself by that Act. Blessed be God who enableth the Relict of the Deceas'd thus to glorifie God May this Instance of his Resignation very much exalt the Name of God and bring Reputation unto strict and serious Religion Let this conclusion be deeply fix'd in all our Souls that however severe the dealings of God are they are always Righteous and Equal 2. Let us Honour and Imitate the Holy Example of the Deceas'd Friend of Christ the worthy Mrs. Shower None I hope will expect a large Historical account of her Life or a Funeral Encomiastick this latter she needs not for her own Works praise her in the gate and are a more valuable Monument than any made by Art Her Parentage and Beauty her Wit and Charms of Conversation tho' even those were Gifts from above must now be pass'd over in silence for all these are Praeda Mortis a Prey unto Death and the Grave which consideration ought to cure the undue Esteem of them that many professing Christians discover and perhaps few places are more guilty of this Vnchristian Error than this City where it seems to be the chief Ambition of many to out-vye others in every thing rather than in real Holiness which is the only Ornament that Death cannot spoil us of accordingly I shall only take notice of those Excellencies which do fit the dignifying Character of Lazarus unto her One whom Jesus loved And however useful and honourable the Love of our Acquaintance and Fellow-creatures may be unto us yet at last this Character of Sick and Dying Lazarus will be more valued than any the most admir'd Titles of Honour To make good this Character it will not be necessary to Describe her in her Personal and Relative Capacities in both which those who knew Her will acknowledge that she had not many Equals 'T will be enough to draw the few following Lineaments 1. The Holy Wisdom which did shine in her Conduct and which she discover'd both in leaving her Native Land to enjoy the advantages of Living in a Religious Family to which she was related and in the Choice that she made when she changed her Condition Neither the prejudices of the Age or the Advantage of other offers could hinder from accepting One as the Partner of her Life from whom she could expect the best assistance in the Service of God and the concerns of her Soul and this she did at a time when there was no prospect of that Tranquility which now encourageth Persons of his Character and Profession 2. Her Conscientious Attendance upon the Publick Worship Of this I am capable to give Witness having had the opportunity of Living a considerable time under the same Roof and have observ'd how Her Love unto the Solomn Assemblies made Her overcome many difficulties which are pleaded by others in excuse of their neglect neither the Heat or Cold of the Season nor the hazard to her Health especially when great with Child could induce her to lose any Opportunity of waiting at the Gates of Wisdom such Advantages were pleasant and such Seasons were refreshing unto her Soul 3. The Acquaintance she had with Secret Religion She was not one of those Professors who shut up their Religion within the Temple Walls where they take it up and leave it at their departure No she made many secret Visits unto her Heavenly Bridegroom and from him obtain'd that Wisdom and Modesty and other Virtues which adorn'd her Conversation 4. Her submission unto the disposing Will of God and the comforting hopes she had do compleat the Character of one whom Jesus Loved in this World and hath now receiv'd in the other where she is plac'd out of the reach of Sin and Sorrow of Child-bearing Pains and Child-bed Sickness and where no Clouds shall ever interrupt the Light of God and of the Lamb But if we desire to meet her there we must imitate her Faith and Holiness And 3. Lastly Let us glorifie God by receiving the Instruction which this sorrowful Providence presents to us 1. Concerning the Vncertainty of Life when so bright and Vigorous a Flame is suddenly Extinguisht who can entertain a just expectation of a long Life What folly must it be to reckon upon many years when our Lives are in so perpetual hazard Let us number our days aright and fix upon our Hearts that Conclusion which David made 1 Chron. 29.18 Our days on the Earth are as a shadow and there is no abiding which consideration had no question a strong influence upon that famous Liberality toward the Service of God which is related in that Chapter and it would make us more active in his Service 2. Learn the Vanity of Creature-assistances could the Love of a Husband or the Counsels of Physitians or the Service of Friends have been Effectual there had not been an occasion for this sorrowful Solemnity 'T is become Natural to us to place an undue confidence in Created helps exceeding apt we are to trust in Riches or Wisdom and in the means of Health when in themselves they are empty and broken Cisterns which will send us away disappointed and asham'd 3. The necessity of speedy Preparation for Death and Judgment every Funeral presseth this upon those who are witnesses of it Many of you have lately heard * From my Br. S. on those words Matt. 24.44 Be you also ready the Nature and Importance of this great work and so many have discoursed concerning it that I need not enlarge It hath not been without a design worthy of the Wisdom of God that our Deceas'd Friend should not be called out of the World by Death until she was known unto two Societies in this City whereby her Death is rendred more Instructive And now that a Funeral Sermon hath drawn Multitudes to attend here you will receive no advantage from it yea 't will prove very hurtful to you if you do not seriously engage that you will give all diligence to prepare for Death and Eternity This work is never unseasonable and nothing can be pleaded to excuse the neglect of it You who are Young and in the Flower of your days do not put off this Affair say not as the negligent Jews once did concerning the Rebuilding of their Temple The time is not come Hag. 1.2 The approach of Death will make you of another mind when you hear the sound of that Messengers Feet who will bring you to Judgment you will then conclude that this is the one Thing necessary that all the Concerns of Trade and Offices of Civility are meer Trifles in comparison with this work upon which your everlasting Welfare depends What meanest thou then O Sleeper arise and call upon God and stir up thy self that thou perish not look often down into the Chambers of the Grave dwell by solemn Thoughts in the Valley of the Shadow of Death Be not afraid lest this should make thee Melancholly or Distracted for this path leads unto the most desireable Joy Tho no Distractedness is to be feared in comparison of the Madness which unrepenting careless Sinners are guilty of and whom Death will find unprepared And when a view of your Latter End has compos'd and awaken'd your Souls then put the Question to your selves which you find 2 Pet. 3.2 Seeing that all these things shall be Dissolved or are Dissolving what manner of Persons ought we to be in all manner of Conversation and Godliness FINIS Books lately Printed PRactical Discourses on Sickness and Recovery in several Sermons as they were lately preached in a Congregation in London by Timothy Rogers M. A. after his Recovery from a Sickness of near two years Continuance Early Religion or a Discourse of the Duty and Interest of Youth by the same Author Both Printed for J. Dunton
degree as we ought Is our Love to Christ so sprightly and vigorous that we could heartily welcome any Messenger to call us to him Be the Instrument what iâ— will and the Manner and Circumstances of our Departure as God shall please and the Warning never so short and sudden Are we ready to go presently at the first Call That were it not for doing Service in our Places which God who needs not our Help can do by other ways we should rather choose to be with Christ as far better Could we Answer to such a Call of God as Samuel Lord here I am thoudidst call me O let me pass through the dark Valley that nothing may keep me longer at such an uncomfortable distance from my Lord and Saviour that where he is I may be to behold his Glory This Readiness Habitual and Actual we have need to look after because the Son of Man comes in a time when we think not of him And therefore II. To urge your Diligence and Care to be Ready for the Coming of Christ let me amplifie and enforce the Argument in this Text by several Considerations As I. That whether Ready or not Ready e're long our Lord will come Our particular Judgment by Death which shall confine us to the eternal and final one is at no great distance We are hastning to this Day of God whether we believe and mind it or no As Passengers in a Ship to the end of their Voyage whether they sleep or wake whether we be wise Servants or foolish faithful Stewards or unfaithful whether we expect the Coming of our Lord and Prepare for it or do not He will shortly come and call us to an Account O how soon shall you and I be gone What a Change will a few days make in this City and in this Congregation We may judge of it by what it hath made in few years past In less than Twenty Years what Changes in Families and Churches and Cities and Nations Husbands and Wives parted Parents and Children Friends snatch'd away out of the Bosom of their Friends Those we loved and lived familiarly with Called before us and gone home And we are hastning after a pace whether our Readiness and Preparation do or do not answerably hasten One Relation and another Acquaintance drops into the Grave Some are ready and some unready One Pastor after another is removed to Heaven and the Pulpits where they preach know them no more and others will start up in our rooms and are preparing to fill our Places who succeed any of those whose Funerals you Remember And after a sew Lords's-Days more and at most after a few Summers and Winters more you and I shall be called likewise whether we be Ready or not Ready 2. When once thou art called to thy particular Judgment by Death nothing more can be done to get Ready for the Coming of Christ Eccl. 9.10 John 9.4 What if you were now leaving this World and how near and sure is such an hour You would then be sensible that now or never is the time to prepare and get Ready Awake therefore and Mind it without delay that you may not cry for more Time when time is gone and for the mercy of God when it is too late O how shall my unprepared Soul Appear before my God! How shall I pass into Eternity unready What shall I do to meet my Lord with Comfort as if you had never heard till that time that you must dye and come to Judgment O what Hearts of stone have Sinners that can hear these things so often and not resolve without delay to get Ready That will not consider the Judge is at the Door his Vengeance at their back his Wrath pursues their sins and woe be to them if it overtake them Before their Friends have laid their Bodies in their Graves or wrap'd them in their Burying cloaths their Souls shall feel that God is in earnest and that now is the only time to get ready for Judgment 3. When men think not of it and least expect his Summons the Lord doth often come When thou art most regardless of Death thy Head and Heart taken up with other things the Hand-writing on the Wall may appear and strike thee into a sit of trembling a Voice from God may be heard Come away Man or Woman Come away thy Time shall be no more this Evening or the next Morning this Night or the next Day thy Soul shall be required of thee Believe it no Place no Age no Time no Portion of thy Life is certainly exempted Do not then put off thy being Ready lest thy Resolutions for hereafter should bare longer date than the time of thy Life 4. All the Time of our Lives is little enough to get Ready for the Coming of Christ 'T is little enough to learn to Live says the Moralist it is short enough be sure to learn to Dye Ask those who have taken most Pains and spent most of their Time to get Ready Yet after all their Prayers and Tears after all their Watching Striving Running and Preparedness they complain they are Vnready still unready for the Spiritual Coming of Christ when they are to meet him at his Table much more Vnready for his last Coming Therefore let us give Diligence that we may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless And if the question be seriously ask'd of all of you one after another ARe you prepared for Death are you Ready for the Coming of Christ or are you not How few will have the Heart or Face to say they are The best will say they need further Preparation But what must they think and say of themselves who own they are habitually as to their State unready no way sit to Dye I cannot say my peace is made with God I have not yet enter'd into Covenant with him I have not subjected and yielded my self to Christ I have not taken on his Yoke or I have cast it off after I took it on I am yet a Stranger to him or I have shamefully left him after some Acquaintance And will you put it any longer to the venture when your Lord may call within an hour 5. God is now ready to Assist you by his Grace if you will awake and Mind your Work but if you delay he may justly refuse and withdraw it And if once the case comes to that you can no more make Ready for Death and Judgment than if you were already dead it being as possible for us to Repent without life or after we are dead as to Repent without Gods Grace while we are living Therefore they that promise for themselves that they shall Repent and Prepare for the coming of Christ some time hereafter they resolve they will they must not only promise for themselves but for God too that he will wait their leisure and dance attendance after them through all the Stages of their Delays and yet be as ready to
one time he complain'd of his Service and Burthen and desired rather to die than bear it any longer Num. 11.14 15. At another time he spoke with indecent Passion unto the Israeltes and then God pronounc'd the Arrest which you read Num. 20.12 That he should not bring the Israelites into the Promised Land Now the executing of that Sentence did glorifie God because it manifested his Holiness which could not behold the desiling Blemishes that were in Moses who was one of the most eminent Favourites of God 3. The Divine Sovereignty and Dominion are honour'd by the Obedience and Resignation of Sick and Dying Believers When a Christian exercises that Submission unto the Orders of God that he willingly drinks the bitterest Cup which his Father gives him how Honourable must this be unto God I This last act of Obedience Crowns the whole Christian course certainly there is no Spectacle more grateful unto God than a Christian chearfully yielding back his Soul unto him who gave it 'T was a resigning Obedience that rendred the Death of Christ a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour unto God who was in a most eminent manner glorified by it Though a Dying Christian cannot offer an Attoning Sacrifice yet he is a kind of Holocaust when his Death is perfum'd with a chosen Submission unto the disposing Will of God On this Account the Death of the Saints or as the Hebrew word imports the Favourites is precious in the sight of the Lord Psal 116.15 4. The Powerful Grace of Christ is honour'd by the inward support and refreshment which sick and dying Christians receive from him at a time when the Daughters of Musick are brought low and all the Pleasures of Life are without relish then to feel an invigorating strength which renews the inner Man when the outer decays and is salling down this magnifieth the powerful Grace of God who giveth power to the Faint and to them that have no Might encreaseth Strength Isa 40.29 A Principle of Natural Courage will afford some Support but 't is Divine Grace alone which can enable a Christian to triumph over the Pain and Danger of a Mortal Sickness 2 Cor. 5.6 5. Especially God and Christ are glorified in the Victory which a Christian gains over Death This last Enemy is a very Formidable one An Alexander who could Encounter the vast Armies of Asian Monarchs who had despised the Terrour of Battels in his last Sickness was so afraid of Death that his Court was sill'd with Diviners and Victims and all imaginable Methods were try'd to preserve his Life When therefore a Christian though of the tender fearful Sex is raised above the Fear of Death is confident and willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 6.5 This doth highly Honour the Grace and Power of the Redeemer through whom alone it is that a Christian is more than a Conqueror Rom. 8.36 37. 6. The Redeemer is glorified in that Blessedness which he immediately confers upon the Souls of his deceased Friends No sooner had the Israelites pass'd the Red Sea and got upon free Land but they send up their joyful Praises and mention how gloriously God had Triumphed over their Enemies What Heart can conceive the Songs of Praise which Celebrate the Lamb and him who sits upon the Throne when one believing Soul is set free from the House of Bondage and transplanted into the Heavenly Countrey when a Soul that is Imprison'd and Fetter'd in a House of Clay is received into the heavenly Habitations which the Redeemer hath prepared Surely if those who heard of the Conversion of Paul glorified God in him or on his account those who were Witnesses and Spectators of a far more surprizing Change could not be wanting in their Admiration and Praises of that God who Crowns with unfading Glory 7. The Death of a Christian brings glory unto the Redeemer as it is the Occasion of that astonishing Operation which will raise the dissolved Body and transform it into the likeness of his own most glorious Body The sinal Conquering of the last Enemy must be exceeding glorious unto that Power which effects it The Raising of Lazarus and re-instating his Body in a perishing Life did glorifie the Redeemer and this he had his Eye upon in making this Answer What then must be the Raising of a Corrupted Body unto a blessed Immortality By which the Children of the Resurrection are made like the Angels of God Read and consider that memorable passage 2 Thes 1.10 Let us now briesly reflect upon the 2. Evidence which I propounded viz. How the Sickness and Death of Christians glorifie God with respect unto them who survive whether they be more nearly or distantly related And 1. God is thus glorified on such Occasions because he manifests his Divine Power in compensating and supplying that Loss When useful and serviceable Christians are removed by Death nothing but Almighty Power can fill up such a void empty space and raise up others to carry on his Work so that the Church resembles that Poetical Tree in which as fast as one Branch was broken off another did spring in the same place Thus when Moses dies God finds a Joshua who was qualified to succeed him When a David is laid unto his Father's and sees Corruption God sills his Throne with a Solomon 2. The Exercises of Graces in surviving Relatives or Acquaintance doth glorifie God on such Occasions When holy Job upon the surprizing Death of all his Children at the same time doth Adore the Sovereignty of God and blesseth his Name when he took his dearest Comforts away this did effectually refute the reproaching Accusation of Satan and brought a singular Honour to God who is also 3. Glorified in the Comforting of those who are troubled and cast down by such Providences This is one glorious Character of the blessed God That he comforteth those who are cast down 2 Cor. 7.6 Did not his Hand bind up the Wound no other could do it all the Consolations which a Creature can present are weak and ineffectual things but the supports of the heavenly Comforter are never more sensible than under the sense of afflictive Providences 2 Cor. 1.3 4. In the 4. And Last place The Sickness and Death of Christians bring Glory unto God as they are serviceable unto the Souls of them who survive As those Fruits that fall from the Tree and lye about it make the Soyl more fruitful such sorrowful Providences being excellent Instructions about our Duty and powerful Arguments to excite us unto our great Work What the Apostle saith concerning his Bonds was equally true concerning his Death They were for the furtherance of the Gospel Phil. 1. How many have owed their Conversion and Establishment unto the Counsels and Examples of dying Christians The Histories of every Church abound with such Instances I should now have shewed 3. On what accounts this Consideration is sufficient to Quiet and