same Almighty Power be carried through the Dominions of Satan in the sight of their Enemies tormented with the remembrance of their lost Happiness and Envy that humane Souls should partake of it to the Place of God's glorious Residence I shall also observe that as the Lord is a God of Power so he is a God of Order and uses subordinate Means for the accomplishment of his Will Our Saviour has reveal'd that the Angels transport the separate Souls of the Righteous to Heaven Those glorious Spirits who always behold the Face of God such is their exact Obedience to him and perfect Love to his Children that they disdain not to protect his little ones in this open State They rejoice at the Conversion of Sinners at their first entrance into the Way of Life and with tender watchfulness encompass them here never withdrawing their protecting Presence till they bring them to their celestial Country and resign their Charge to the Lord of Life How safe are the departed Saints when convey'd through Satan's Territories by the Royal Guard of Angels that excel in strength 2. Heavenly Felicity The receiving of holy Souls into God's Hands is introductive into his Presence which is both a Sanctuary to secure us from all Evil and a Store-house to furnish us with all that is good The Lord is a Sun and a Shield he is to intellectual Beings what the Sun is to sensitive communicates Light and Life and Joy to them In his Presence is fulness of Joy at his right Hand are Rivers of Pleasure for ever All that is evil and afflicting is abolish'd all that is desirable is conferr'd upon his Children A glimpse or reflected Ray of his reconciled and favourable Countenance even in this lower World infuses into the Hearts of his Children a Joy unspeakable and glorious a taste of the Divine Goodness here causes a disrelish of all the carnal Sweets the dreggy Delights which natural Men so greedily desire And if the faint Dawn be so reviving and comfortable what is the Brightness of the full Day None can understand the Happiness that results from the full and eternal sight of God's Face and the fruition of his Love but those who enjoy the Presence of God in perfection His Goodness is truly infinite the more the Saints above know it and enjoy it the more they esteem it and delight in it His compleat and communicative Love satisfies the immense Desires of that innumerable Company of blessed Spirits that are before his Throne there is no Envy no Avarice no Ambition in that Kingdom where God is all in all The Divine Presence is an ever-flowing Fountain of Felicity The continual reflection upon this makes Heaven to be Heaven to the Blessed their Security is as valuable as their Felicity they are above all danger of losing it Methinks the belief of this should cause us as it were with Wings of Fire with most ardent Desires to fly to the Bosom of God the alone Centre of our Souls where we shall rest for ever 3. The reception of the Soul into Heaven is a certain Pledg of the Resurrection of the Body and its re-union with the Soul in the State of Glory The Covenant of God was made with the entire Persons of Believers therefore under the Law the sacred Seal of it was in their Flesh. To be the God of Promise to them implies his being a blessed Rewarder to them Our Saviour silences the Sadduces who disbeliev'd the Resurrection from the tenour of God's Covenant I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob which Title he was pleased to retain after their Death Now God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living The immediate Inference from thence is that their Souls did actually live in Blessedness and that their Bodies tho dead to Nature were alive to God with respect to his Promise and Power If we consider that the Divine Law binds the outward Man as well as the inward and that during the time of our Work and Trial here our Service and Sufferings for the Glory of God are from the concurrence of the Soul and Body it will appear that the Promise of the Reward belongs to both and that the receiving of the Soul into Heaven is an earnest of our full Redemption even that of the Body 'T is true there is no visible Difference between the Bodies of the Saints and of the Wicked here they are sick with the same Diseases and die in the same manner As 't is with Trees in deep Winter when they are covered with Snow we cannot distinguish which are absolutely dead and destin'd to the Ax and Fire and which retain their Sap and will be fruitful and flourishing in the returning Year so the dead Bodies of the Godly and Ungodly to external appearance are alike But what a vast difference will be between them in the next World The Bodies of the Ungodly in conjunction with their Souls shall be cast into the Lake of Fire the Bodies of the Godly resumed by their Souls shall enjoy a full and flourishing Happiness for ever The Application 1. This may inform us of the contrary States into which dying Persons immediately pass The Children of God resign their Spirits to the Hands of their gracious Heavenly Father but Rebels and Strangers to God fall into the Hands of a revenging Judg. Could we see the attending Spirits that surround sick Persons in their last Hours what a wonderful Impression would it make upon us A Guard of glorious Angels convey the departed Saints to the Bosom of God's Love and the Kingdom of his Glory But when the Wicked die a Legion of Furies sieze upon their expected Prey and hurry them to the infernal Prison from whence there is no redemption How many Rebels and open Enemies to God are in the Pale of the Christian Church They will loudly repeat Our Father which art in Heaven notwithstanding the impudent and palpable Atheism of their Lives they live as if they were independent and not accountable to him who will judg the World without respect of Persons The more strict his Commands are the Contempt of them is more visible Our Saviour's Prohibition is peremptory I say unto you Swear not at all but how many make no more conscience of Swearing than they do of Speaking and pour forth Oaths of all fashions and sizes We are severely forbid all degrees of Impurity in the Look in Words or in Wish yet how many without reflection or remorse continue in the deepest Pollutions We are commanded to live soberly in this present World yet how many indulge their swinish Appetites and debase themselves even below the Beasts that perish And as the sensual Appetites are notoriously predominant in some so the angry Appetite is tyrannous in others Pride Wrath Revenge possess the Breasts of many How often for a slight or but reputed Injury they are so fir'd with Passion that their hot Blood cannot be satisfied without
A Funeral-Sermon FOR THE Reverend Holy and Excellent DIVINE Mr. Richard Baxter Who deceased Decemb. 8. 1691. WITH An Account of His LIFE By WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed for Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1692. To the Right Worshipfull and his much Honoured Friend Sr Henry Ashurst Baronet SIR YOur Noble and Constant Kindness to Mr. Baxter Living and your Honourable Respect to him Dead have induced me to inscribe the following Memorial of him to your Name He was most worthy of your highest Esteem and Love for the first Impressions of Heaven upon your Soul were in Reading his unvalued Book of the Saints Everlasting Rest. This kindled a mutual Affection in your Breasts his Love was Directing Counselling and Exciting you to secure your Future Happiness your Love was Observant Gratefull and Beneficent to him The Sincerity and Generosity of your Friendship was very evident in your appearing and standing by him when he was so roughly and unrighteously handled by one who was the dishonour of this Ages Law whose Deportment in a high place of Judicature was so contrary to Wisdom Humanity and Justice that there need no foul words to make his Name odious Of this and your other Favours Mr. Baxter retain'd a dear and lasting Sense and in his dying hours declared that you had been the best friend he ever had He has finished his Course and received his Crown His Name will shine longer than his Enemies shall bark I cannot omit the mentioning that Mr. Boyle and Mr. Baxter those incomparable Persons in their several Studies and dear Friends died within a short space of one another Mr. Boyle was engaged in the Contemplation of the Design and Architecture of the visible World and made rare discoveries in the system of Nature not for Curiosity and barren Speculation but to admire and adore the Perfections of the Deity in the Variety Order Beauty and marvellous Artifice of the Creatures that compose this great Universe Mr. Baxter was conversant in the invisible World his Mind was constantly applied to understand the harmonious Agreement of the Divine Attributes in the Oeconomy of our Salvation and to restore Men to the Favour and Image of God They are now admitted into the inlightned and purified Society above where the immense Volumes of the Divine Wisdom are laid open and by one glance of an eye they discover more perfectly the Causes Effects and Concatenation of all things in Heaven and Earth than the most diligent Inquirers can do here in a thousand years Study though they had the Sagacity of Solomon By the Light of Glory they see the face of God and are satisfied with his likeness for ever 'T is a high honour to you that Mr. Boyle and Mr. Baxter should by their Last Will nominate you amongst their Executors It was the Saying of a Wise Roman Malo divi Augusti judicium quam beneficium I had rather have the Esteem of the Emperour Augustus than his Gifts for he was an understanding Prince and his Esteem was very Honourable to a Person That two who so excell'd in Wisdom and Goodness should commit to your Trust the disposal of their Estates for the Uses of Piety and Charity is a more noble Testimony of their Esteem of your Prudence and inviolable Integrity than if they had bequeathed to you rich Legacies It is a satisfaction to me that I have complied with Mr. Baxter's desire in Preaching his Funeral-Sermon and with yours in Publishing it I shall unfeignedly recommend Your self your excellent Lady and vertuous Children to the Divine Mercies and remain with great Respect SIR Your humble and faithfull Servant William Bates A SERMON On the DEATH of Mr. Richard Baxter Luke 23.46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud Voice he said Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit THE Words are the Prayer of our Blessed Saviour in the Extremity of his Passion His unrighteous and implacable Enemies had nail'd his Body to the Cross but they had no power over his Spirit that was ready to take its flight to the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality This dying Prayer of Christ is a Pattern for sincere Christians He has invested them with the Relation of Children of God and authorises them by his Example to commend their departing Spirits to his powerful Love The Observation I shall unfold and apply is this 'T is the Priviledg of dying Saints to commend their Spirits into the Hands of their Heavenly Father In discoursing of this I shall I. Consider the Foundation of this Priviledg II. Shew what a blessed Priviledg this is III. Apply it I. The Foundation of this Priviledg is to be consider'd This is built upon two things 1. The Relation of God to the Saints 2. His Perfections joined with that Relation 1. The Relation of God to the Saints The Title of Father is upon several Accounts attributed to God 1. He is a Father by Creation O Lord thou art our Father we are the Clay thou art the Potter we are the Work of thine Hands He formed Man's Body into a Majestick Figure becoming his original State being Lord of the lower World But in a peculiar manner he is stiled the Father of Spirits they have a near Alliance and Resemblance of the Father of Lights in their intellectual Powers and their immortal Nature From hence it is the Angels are called the Sons of God They are the eldest Off-spring of his Power Adam has the Title of the Son of God And since the Fall Men are called God's Offspring There is an indelible Character of Dignity engraven in the reasonable Nature by the Hand of God But since Man turn'd Rebel to his Creator and Father this endearing obliging Relation aggravates his Rebellion but gives him no Interest in the Paternal Love of God of which he has made a deadly Forfeiture 'T is threatned against ignorant perverse Sinners He that made them will not save them 2. Upon the account of external Calling and Profession there is an intercurrent Relation of Father and Sons between God and his People Thus the Posterity of Seth are called the Sons of God and the entire Nation of the Jews are so stiled When Israel was young I called my Son out of Egypt And all that have received Baptism the Seal of the holy Covenant and profess Christianity in this general Sense may be called the Children of God But 't is not the outward Dedication that entitles Men to a saving Interest in God unless they live according to that Dedication There are baptized Infidels as well as unbaptized How many every day fall as deep as Hell whose hopes were high on the account of their external Christianity 3. God is our Father upon a more excellent Account by Renovation and Adoption The natural Man is what St. Paul saith of the voluptuous Widow dead while he lives There is not only a cessation of spiritual Acts but an utter
safely trust the worth of their Souls and the weight of Eternity with him who has said he will never leave them nor forsake them Besides the Promise of a Reward to the obedient Children of God is secur'd not only by his Fidelity but the declar'd Equity of his Proceedings in his final Judgment 'T is a Regality invested in the Crown of Heaven to dispense Rewards Whoever comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him His Being and rewarding Bounty are the Foundations of Religion 'T is true such is the Distance between God and the Creature and the eternal Obligations of it to God that it can challenge nothing from God as due to its Merit Justice unqualified with Bounty and Clemency owes nothing to the most excellent Obedience of the Creature tho innocent But since the Fall our best Works are defective and defiled and want Pardon and our heaviest Sufferings are but light in the Ballance against the exceeding Weight of Glory But the Apostle tells the Thessalonians It is a righteous thing with God to recompense Tribulation to them who trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us Consider them in the Comparison 'T is becoming his governing Justice to punish the unrighteous Persecutors and reward his faithful Servants who suffer for his Glory Now the present Life is the Day for our Work as our Saviour saith I must do the Work of him that sent me while 't is called to Day And at Death the Spirit returns to God that gave it in order to Judgment either fatal or favourable according to the tenor of Mens good Works and the desert of their bad The Promise is to them who by patient continuance in wel-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality they shall obtain eternal Life Our Saviour encourages his suffering Servants Be faithful to the Death and I will give you the Crown of Life The compleat Reward is reserved to the great Day of universal Recompences when the Sons of God by Regeneration shall be the Sons of a glorious Resurrection But the righteous Judg will give a present Reward at the end of the Day to all that with unfainting Perseverance have perform'd his Work Our Saviour tells us that all who wrought in the Vineyard receiv'd their Rewards in the last Hour of the Day The Parallel is instructive that when the Night of Death comes the Reward will be dispens'd There is a Law recorded concerning the paying Wages to those who were hir'd that it should be in the end of the Day that it should not be detain'd all Night with thee until the Morning The Allusion is very congruous that God will fulfil his own Law to his Sons that serve him The Reward shall not abide with him the long dark Interval the Night wherein their Bodies sleep in the Grave till the Morning of the Resurrection Our Saviour promised the dying Penitent To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The End of our Faith is immediately attended with the Salvation of the Soul The Labour of Faith being finish'd is productive of the beatifick Vision in the State of Light and Glory The Sum is That the Children of God who have by constant Conversation sincerely endeavoured to please and glorify him may with an entire Resignation commit their Souls to his Hands as if an Angel were sent from Heaven to them in their dying Agonies with the comfortable Message that they should presently be with God 3. The Divine Power in conjunction with Love and Truth is the Foundation of our secure dependance upon God in our last Hours This Consideration is absolutely necessary for our sure Trust For Love without Power is ineffectual and Power without Love of no comfortable Advantage to us The Apostle gives this reason of his chearful and couragious Sufferings in the Service of God For I know in whom I have believed and am perswaded he is able to keep what I have committed to him till that Day His Faith respected the Promises of God concerning his Salvation which are infinitely sure the Divine Power being alsufficient to fulfil them The precious Depositum that is committed to his dear Care he can and will preserve inviolate The Father of sincere Believers is the Lord of Heaven and Earth who by his Word without the least strain of his Power made the World and preserves it from falling into Confusion 'T is the Essence of Faith to assure us of God's Almighty Mercy to all that have the true Characters of his Children that are qualified for his Salvation Our Redeemer joins the two Relations of our Father and our God the gracious and the glorious Relation are inseparable Now the Love of our heavenly Father engages the Power of our God that we shall want nothing to secure our Happiness that is within the object of Omnipotence I shall insist no further upon the Consideration of the Divine Power because it will return under some of the following Heads of Discourse II. The Blessedness of this Privilege is to be unfolded This will appear by considering First What is the Depositum the Thing that is intrusted in God's Hands Secondly What is implied in his receiving of it In answer to the first 'T is the Soul the more excellent and immortal Part of Man that is commended to God's keeping 1. ' T is our more excellent Part in its Nature and Capacity Man is a compounded Creature of a Body and a Soul the Body in its Original and Resolution is Earth the Soul is of a divine Descent a spiritual Substance and in the Nobility and Perfections of its Nature but a little lower than the Angels 't is the vile Body but the precious Soul In its Capacity it incomparably excels the Body for the Body lives moves in the low Region of the Senses that are common with the Worms of the Earth but the Soul in its Understanding and Desires is capable of Communion with the blessed God of Grace and Glory From hence it is that the whole World can't make one Man happy for the Ingredients of true and compleat Happiness are the Perfection and Satisfaction of the Soul The Apostle tells us The less is blessed of the greater Can the World bring Perfection to Man that is so incomparably short of his Imperfection Our Saviour assures us the Gain of the whole World cannot recompense the Loss of one Soul There is a vast Circuit in our Desires and all the Lines terminate in the Centre of Blessedness Can the World give sincere Satisfaction to them Solomon who was as rich and high as the World could make him has left an everlasting Testimony of the Vanity of transient Things from his experimental Observation and the Direction of the Holy Spirit So he begins and ends his Sermon Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity so vain and vexing that we shall not only be weary of them
to set it off than refined Gold wants Paint to add Lustre and Value to it I shall not speak of his Parentage and his first Years but I must not omit a Testimony I receiv'd concerning his early Piety His Father said with Tears of Joy to a Friend my Son Richard I hope was sanctified from the Womb for when he was a little Boy in Coats if he heard other Children in play speak profane Words he would reprove them to the Wonder of those that heard him He had not the Advantage of Academical Education but by the Divine Blessing upon his rare Dexterity and Diligence his Sacred Knowledge was in that Degree of Eminence as few in the University ever arrive to Not long after his Entrance into the Ministry the Civil War began and the Times rain'd Blood so long till the languishing State of the Kingdom was almost desperate and incurable How far he was concern'd as a Chaplain in the Parliament's Army he has publisht an Account and the reasons of it After the War he was fixt at Kederminster There his Ministry by the Divine Influence was of admirable Efficacy The Harvest answer'd the Seed that was sowed Before his coming the Place was like a Piece of dry and barren Earth onely Ignorance and Profaneness as Natives of the Soil were rise among them but by the Blessing of Heaven upon his Labour and Cultivating the Face of Paradise appear'd there in all the Fruits of Righteousness Many were translated from the state of polluted Nature to the state of Grace and many were advanc'd to higher degrees of Holiness The bad were chang'd to good and the good to better Conversion is the Excellent Work of Divine Grace the Efficacy of the Means is from the Supreme Mover But God usually makes those Ministers successfull in that Blessed Work whose principal Design and Delight is to glorifie him in the saving of Souls This was the reigning Affection in his Heart and he was extraordinarily qualified to obtain his End His Prayers were an Effusion of the most lively melting Expressions and his intimate ardent Affections to God from the abundance of his Heart his Lips spake His Soul took Wing for Heaven and rapt up the Souls of others with him Never did I see or hear a holy Minister address himself to God with more Reverence and Humility with respect to his glorious Greatness never with more Zeal and Fervency correspondent to the infinite Moment of his requests nor with more Filial Affiance in the Divine Mercy In his Sermons there was a rare Union of Arguments and Motives to convince the Mind and gain the Heart All the Fountains of Reason and Perswasion were open to his discerning Eye There was no resisting the Force of his Discourses without denying Reason and Divine Revelation He had a marvellous Felicity and Copiousness in speaking There was a noble Negligence in his Stile for his great Mind could not stoop to the affected Eloquence of Words he despis'd flashy Oratory but his Expressions were clear and powerful so convincing the Understanding so entring into the Soul so engaging the Affections that those were as deaf as Adders who were not charm'd by so wise a Charmer He was animated with the Holy Spirit and breath'd Celestial Fire to inspire Heat and Life into dead Sinners and to melt the obdurate in their frozen Tombs Methinks I still hear him speak those powerfull Words A Wretch that is condemn'd to dy to Morrow cannot forget it And yet poor Sinners that continually are uncertain to live an Hour and certain speedily to see the Majesty of the Lord to their unconceivable Joy or Terror as sure as they now live on Earth can forget these things for which they have their memory and which one would think should drown the matters of this World as the report of a Canon does a Whisper or as the Sun obscures the poorest Glo-worm O wonderfull stupidity of an unrenewed Soul O wonderfull folly and distractedness of the ungodly That ever Men can forget I say again that they can forget Eternal joy Eternal Woe and the Eternal God and the place of their Eternal unchangeable Abodes when they stand even at the door and there is but the thin Vail of Flesh between them and that amazing sight that Eternal gulph and they are daily dying and stepping in Besides his wonderfull diligence in Catechizing the particular Families under his Charge was exceeding usefull to plant Religion in them Personal instruction and application of Divine Truths has an excellent advantage and efficacy to insinuate and infuse Religion into the Minds and Hearts of Men and by the Conversion of Parents and Masters to reform whole Families that are under their immediate direction and government While he was at Kederminster he wrote and publisht that accomplisht Model of an Evangelical Minister styled Gildas Salvianus or the Reform'd Pastor In that book he clears beyond all cavil That the Duty of Ministers is not confin'd to their Study and the Pulpit but that they should make use of opportunities to instruct Families within their Care as 't is said by the Apostle that he had kept back nothing from his Hearers that was profitable but had taught them publickly and from house to house The Idea of a faithfull Minister delineated in that book was a Copy taken from the Life from his own zealous Example His unwearied industry to do good to his Flock was answer'd by Correspondent Love and Thankfulness He was an Angel in their Esteem He would often speak with great Complacence of their dear Affections and a little before his Death said He believ'd they were more Expressive of kindness to him than the Christian Converts were to the Apostle Paul by what appears in his Writings While he remain'd at Kederminster his Illustrious Worth was not shaded in a Corner but dispers'd its Beams and Influence round the Countrey By his Counsel and Excitation the Ministers in Worcestershire Episcopal Presbyterian and Congregational were united that by their Studies Labours and Advice the Doctrine and Practise of Religion the Truths and Holiness of the Gospel might be preserved in all the Churches committed to their Charge This Association was of excellent use the ends of Church-government were obtain'd by it and it was a leading Example to the Ministers of other Counties Mr. Baxter was not above his Brethren Ministers by a Superiour Title or any secular advantage but by his divine endowments and separate excellencies his extraordinary wisdom zeal and fidelity he was the Soul of that Happy Society He continued among his beloved people till the year 1660. then he came to London A while after the King's Restoration there were many Endeavours us'd in order to an Agreement between the Episcopal and Presbyterian Ministers For this end several of the Bishops elect and of the Ministers were call'd to attend the King at Worcester-House there was read to them a Declaration drawn up with great wisdom and moderation by the
were subservient to this blessed End It was his Meat and Drink the Life and Joy of his Life to doe good to Souls His Industry was almost incredible in his Studies he had a sensitive nature desirous of ease as others have and saint Faculties yet such was the continual Application of himself to his great Work as if the Labour of one Day had supplyed strength for another and the willingness of the Spirit had supported the Weakness of the Flesh. In his usual Conversation his serious frequent and delightfull Discourse was of Divine things to inflame his Friends with the Love of Heaven He received with tender Compassion and condescending Kindness the meanest that came to him for Councel and Consolation He gave in one year a hundred Pounds to buy Bibles for the poor He has in his Will dispos'd of all that remains of his Estate after the Legacies to his Kindred for the benefit of the Souls and Bodies of the Poor He continued to preach so long notwithstanding his wasted languishing Body that the last time he almost died in the Pulpit It would have been his joy to have been transfigured in the Mount Not long after his last Sermon he felt the Approaches of Death and was confin'd to his sick Bed Death reveals the Secrets of the Heart then words are spoken with most feeling and least Affectation This excellent Saint was the same in his Life and Death his last Hours were spent in preparing others and himself to appear before God He said to his Friends that visited him You come hither to learn to dye I am not the onely Person that must go this way I can assure you that your whole Life be it never so long is little enough to prepare for Death Have a care of this vain deceitful World and the Lusts of the Flesh be sure you choose God for your portion Heaven for your home God's Glory for your end His word for your rule and then you need never fear but we shall meet with Comfort Never was a Sinner more humble and debasing himself never was a sincere Believer more calm and comfortable He acknowledged himself to be the vilest Dunghilworm 't was his usual Expression that ever went to Heaven He admir'd the Divine Condescension to us often saying Lord what is Man what am I vile Worm to the great God Many times he prayed God be merciful to me a Sinner and blessed God that that was left upon record in the Gospel as an effectual Prayer He said God may justly condemn me for the best Duty I ever did and all my hopes are from the free Mercy of God in Christ which he often prayed for After a slumber he wak'd and said I shall rest from my Labour a Minister then present said And your Works follow you to whom he replyed No Works I will leave out Works if God will grant me the other When a Friend was comforting him with the remembrance of the good many had received by his preaching and Writings he said I was but a Pen in God's hand and what praise is due to a Pen. His resign'd Submission to the Will of God in his sharp Sickness was eminent When extremity of pain constrain'd him earnestly to pray to God for his release by Death he would check himself It is not fit for me to prescribe and said when thou wilt what thou wilt how thou wilt Being in great Anguish he said O how unsearchable are his ways and his paths past finding out the reaches of his Providence we cannot fathom and to his Friends Do not think the worse of Religion for what you see me suffer Being often ask'd by his Friends how it was with his inward Man he replied I bless God I have a well-grounded Assurance of my Eternal Happiness and great Peace and Comfort within but it was his trouble he could not triumphantly express it by reason of his extreme pains He said Flesh must perish and we must feel the perishing of it and that though his Judgment submitted yet sense would still make him groan Being asked by a Person of Quality whether he had not great Joy from his believing Apprehensions of the invisible State he replied What else think you Christianity serves for He said The Consideration of the Deity in his Glory and Greatness was too high for our Thoughts but the Consideration of the Son of God in our Nature and of the Saints in Heaven whom he knew and loved did much sweeten and familiarize Heaven to him The description of Heaven in the 12. to the Heb. and the 22. was most comfortable to him That he was going to the innumerable company of Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born whose Names are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect And to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel That Scripture he said deserved a thousand thousand thoughts He said O how comfortable is that promise Eye has not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man to conceive the things God hath laid up for those who love him At another time he said That he found great comfort and sweetness in repeating the words of the Lord's Prayer and was sorry that some good people were prejudiced against the use of it for there were all necessary Petitions for Soul and Body contain'd in it At other times he gave excellent Counsel to young Ministers that visited him and earnestly prayed to God to bless their labours and make them very successfull in Converting many Souls to Christ And express'd great joy in the hopes that God would do a great deal of good by them and that they were of moderate peacefull Spirits He did often pray that God would be mercifull to this miserable distracted World and that he would preserve his Church and Interest in it He advis'd his Friends to beware of self-conceitedness as a Sin that was likely to ruine this Nation and said I have written a Book against it which I am afraid has done little good Being askd whether he had alter'd his mind in Controversial Points he said Those that please may know my mind in my Writings and what he had done was not for his own Reputation but the Glory of God I went to him with a very worthy Friend Mr. Mather of New-England the day before he died and speaking some comforting Words to him he replyed I have pain there is no arguing against sense but I have peace I have peace I told him you are now approaching to your long-desir'd home he answer'd I believe I believe He said to Mr. Mather I bless God that you have accomplisht your business the Lord prolong your Life He exprest a great willingness to dye and during his Sickness when the Question was ask'd how he did his reply was almost well