are absolutely pure they Rejoyce while we Mourn tho' thanks be to God we mourn in hope what we pray for they enjoy When we see these calm and patient Christians going to Heaven we say O our fathers our fathers the Horsmen of Israel and the Chariots thereof ye were our Defence and our Glory we can hardly forbear saying Oh that we were with you why have you left us behind but you were in Christ before us and are with him sooner you entered into the Vineyard sooner and so before us are rewarded we will indeavour to tread in your steps then you and we nay Jesus our dearest Jesus and we shall meet together I often think of that place Eccl. 4.1 2. because so many afflictions and miseries and judgments are the portion of the Living Blessed are they that sleep in the quiet Grave no more terrified with Dreams no more complain of restless Nights and of Months of Vanity no more do they hear the Confusions and Disorders of our World And to the quietness of our slumbers there nothing contributes more than patient waiting when we are alive How did Jacob bless his Sons before he dyed and how sweetly did he yield his Breath Gen. 49.3 O happy death to wait for God's Salvation and to see the Salvation that he waited for Salvation carries a very pleasant sound but the Salvation of a God is very great and glorious The hope of this sweetens the lives of the blessed Heirs of Heaven it pulls out the thorns of sickness and the sting of death it relieves their age it makes the Grave to lose its horrour it makes their Bed of dust very soft they live in motion and they rest in peace They exhaust their Spirits in the work of God but they never come to the dregs of Life for theirs is clear and pure to the very bottom Exhortations to those that have patiently watied on God even in Old Age. Reflect 1. How gracious he has been to you in giving you many years wherein to get Oyl and to trim your Lamps and to prepare for another World How many storms have you out-lived that made others sink Many many young People are gone to Judgment a great while ago while that Hand that crusht them has been very gentle and merciful to you You have survived the dangers and the sins and the giddiness of Youth and are now almost at our Journeys end 2. Endeavour to do good to others that have not had such experience of God as you Thus you bring forth fruit in old age and are fat and flourishing Ps 92.14 you do as it were grow young again with a vast accession to your Spiritual stature When you are full of patience and by your Example and your Words declare to others how faithful and how kind God has been to you So by teaching them knowledge you will rekindle and inflame your own Light whilst others younger then you decay you shall thrive and prosper He that planted you makes the green Tree to wither and the dry to grow You 'll not only go to Heaven fully ripe for Glory like a shock of Corn gathered in due season but there will be something for others to glean when you are gone And in the mean time Summer and Winter Youth and Old Age doe as it were meet in you the decays of one and the fruitfulness of the other In your Evening there is Light Zech. 8.4 5. Fortifie your selves with the Experiences of God goodness whenever your patience is like to tire as Polycarp said when he was urged by the Proconsul to deny Christ or to do something like it These fourscore and six Tears have I served Christ and he never did me any harm and how can I then blaspheme my Master and my Saviour Exhort others to fear and love and trust God as you have done by your Holy Awe and Reverence seek upon all occasions to Correct their Lightness and their Vanity You have served a good Master and you have had the Honour to serve him very long be not now weary of his work be not now for going out of his Vineyard when he that employed you is just coming to reward your diligence Be of good Courage The Lord is at hand O ye aged People bless the Lord your Preserver and daily sing his praise let your Winter as well as the Spring of Youth praise the Lord. How few have had that time for Heaven that you have had Oh the blessed Seasons and Days of Grace that you have had It 's a wonderful Honour to those that are old that they have so large a space wherein to do a World of Good to enlarge the Kingdom of Christ and to make their future Crown more weighty And none should grudge to labour for fourscore or an hundred Years when for so short a Duration of painful Diligence he shall have an Everlasting Recompence By living to old Age you have more Wisdom and Experience and Skill than others your Graver Years teach you to beware of several Rocks that they split upon And all these Mercies are heightned to such as arrive to an Healthful old Age not loaded with the usual Pains and Griefs and Languishing Motions of decaying Age for then the longer the Life the more the Misery Joshua 14.10 11. Thus Life does smoothly take its course without meeting with great Obstructions in the way and is not only Long but Happy too This was the peculiar Felicity of the Patriarchs before the Flood their Lives were extended to almost a thousand Years and yet we read of none of those Sad Symptoms attending them that attend us now at fourscore Psal 90.10 It 's a very comfortable thing to have neither a poor nor sickly Age neither to want Necessaries nor to be in Pain 'T is a Blessing to live to see your Posterity and a greater Joy to see them walking in the Truth Psal 128.6 but yet none can expect to be freed from the evil days mentioned Eccles 12.1 full of trembling Palsies grievous Aches lingering Pains and innumerable Evils but if you patiently wait on God and improve well your declining Years you 'll at length be satisfied with living as 't is said of Job Chap. 42.17 He died being old and full of days He rose as from a Feast not Surfeited but well pleased with the Joys and Plenty of his latter Days He was once indeed in another Frame when his Spirits were over-clouded with Melancholy and his Soul was burnt with Anguish when he had restless Pain by day and no sweet Sleep at night Chap. 7.4 then he wish'd for any sort of Death tho' Shameful and Untimely tho' Violent and Uncommon Verse 5 16. But this was more Job's Disease than his Grace 't was a most rash and hasty Wish to die in Terror and Anguish is a forlorn and doleful way of dying He eagerly thirsted for the Grave but at last he looked upon it with another Eye and went to it as a weary
THE HAPPINESS OF A Quiet Mind BOTH In Youth and Old Age With the way to Attain It. In a DISCOURSE occasioned by the Death of Mrs. Martha Hasselborn who died March 13th 1695 6. in the 95th year of her Age. By TIMOTHY ROGERS M.A. LONDON Printed for Iohn Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhill MDCXCVI THE Epistle Dedicatory TO Mr. Jacob Hasselborn Merchant THere is nothing Men are more apt to value themselves upon than the being descended from Great and Honourable Persons who have either had Noble Blood running in their Veins or have signalized themselves by a series of Heroical Actions for the good of their Countrey and by this means have delivered their names down to Posterity Crowned with those Garlands which the thirst of Glory made them to desire And yet many thus descended stain the Memory of their Predecessors and as far as in them lies make all their Laurels wither by Lives led according to their own humour and fancy and the contagious Examples of a depraved Age. But you have the Honour to be akin to one who was on earth related to the family of Heaven Your Good Mother after having with continued Patience sustained the troubles of her weary Pilgrimage calmly at length arrived at her dearest home where she longed to be The Remembrance of her I doubt not is a great help to you in your Christian Race such an example of goodness so unaffected and sincere whilst it is always brightly shining before your Eyes gives you both light and strength to follow her in the same happy path wherein she went The frequent thinking on the Holiness of her Life will be a great Motive to quicken you to be like her in every commendable and praise worthy thing To think of her Faith and Meekness and Patience will make you flourish in the same Vertues As young Painters encrease their skill by frequently Copying old and excellent Originals In your pious Mother you have seen living and exemplified Religion a quiet Mind not as represented in the coldness of Precepts but as warmed and animated by the blessed Spirit and Patient holding out to the Conclusion of a great Age such a Patience as is to be admired but not to be described for no Colours can be soft enough to draw this Admirable Grace St. Paul rejoyced in his beloved Timothy and expressed a very lively pleasure upon the thought of one that had very good Parents and was himself ve-very good When says he I call to remembrance the unfeigned Faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy Grandmother Lois and thy Mother Eunice and I am perswaded in thee also wherefore I put thee in remembrance c. I hope that the pure and constant Faith that was in your Mother is passed into you not by a propagation of Blood but of Spirit not of Nature but of Grace That you and your Relations may meet her and all the blessed Saints with comfort at the Great Day live together in that place where there will be no Sin nor Pain nor Old Age but an Eternal Holiness Spring and Youth and where our present Weakness shall be swallowed up of Strength is the hearty Prayer of Your Real Friend And Servant T. Rogers Psal XL. Verse 1. I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry AS of all the Ages of the Life of Man Infancy is the most Innocent and Childhood the most Vain and Youth the most Brisk and Daring so Old Age is the most clog'd with Pains and Miseries In other Stages of our Journey we are annoyed now and then with Trouble and Calamity with Sickness and decayes of Strength but this last part of our Pilgrimage this feeble part of Life is its self a Disease 'T is so weak that generally the Powers of the Soul as well as the Members of the Body have not the Liveliness and Vigor that they had in their greener Years the Evening is much more Cloudy and Tempestuous more Dark and Frightful then the Morning of their Days And yet there are found some Blessed Souls that flourish even in Winter neither the sharpness of the Weather nor the uncomfortableness of the Season hinders their being over Green Such an one was David as he was all his Life Musically given of an Harmonious Heavenly Temper in his pleasant Angelick Airs he had often mounted up to Heaven and at last with praise he took his Flight thither to change his Hymns into sweeter Hallelujahs 1 Chr. 29.10 He blessed the Lord before all the Congregation v. 20. He said to all the Congregation Now bless the Lord. V. 28. He dyed in a good old Age full of Days Riches and Honour So old Jacob when the decays of Strength and the weakness of his Age would not allow him to be long in his Devotions he improved the more easie Intervals of his Illness to breath after God Gen 49.18 I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord His Expression was short but his Faith and Patience were very great So Moses prepared his Soul for the Joyes of Heaven by tuning his Harp below he Sung before he dyed Deut. 32. And before his death he blessed the Children of Israel Ch. 33. And after this he went up to the Mount and put off his Body to be Cloathed upon with Life and Immortality Deut. 34.5 And good old Simeon who had a Promise that he should not depart till he had seen the Lords Christ He did not hide himself from the glorious sight tho' he knew that after that he must quickly dye but he came by the Spirit into the Temple and there he met with the Child Jesus that for many past years he had long'd to see And having seen the Blessed Babe he took him up in his Arms and was full of Transports saying Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Luke 2.27 28. I might alledge the Example of Paul the Aged who was then in Chains and near his Execution by the Lyon Nero and yet after having served several Years under the Banners of Christ neither the Cruelties of his Imprisonment nor the prospect of death nor all the weight of Age that laid upon him did abate his hope in God nay his hope was ripened to assurance when he says I have fought the good fight He spoke as if he had been in Paradise as if the Crown of Glory had been already on his Head to all these I may joyn that daughter of Abraham for whom I Preach this Funeral Sermon who served God with chearful hope many years and bore all the advances of Death as well as her declining Age with admirable Calmness and Resignation and long continued Faith and Hope and dyed near an Hundred Years old dropping into the Grave like Fruit from the Tree when 't is fully Ripe She had no Clouds and Darkness in her Soul she was all calm and serene she lived in Joy and she
the vile Engines of his Misery but bewails his Sin that provokes God to turn the Lyons and the Bears loose upon him when the Sabeans and Chaldeans had spoiled the Patient Job he calmly said The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken ch 1.21 A quiet Christian when he is falsly accused of things that his Soul abhors and sees in such an accusation the hand of the Devil using weak and malicious People as his Agents to Coyn and Spread his Lyes He pities their cruel Malice and in a Contempt of these mean Arts of Hell says The Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee Or when he hears a Shimei rail for some take delight in railing they are a Generation of Vipers Poyson and Stings are in their Make and Constitution to such he only says It may be the Lord has bid them Curse us Ps 37.7 When others are planting Thorns and Bryars to vex him he will not torture and distress himself when they wound him hee 'll not enrage and multiply the Wounds such a Christian in every State is calm and quiet He knows that God is the Author of all Good and the Ruler of Evil that all his Diseases have their Commission from him as the God of Nature and all inward Troubles are under his direction who is the Father of Spirits and that in both he will be gracious and merciful Fifthly Patient waiting upon God implies that a man do not use any unlawful methods to rid himself of trouble If we use any sinful arts to escape from this or that Affliction it is an argument of exhausted Patience and that our strength is gone 'T is heinous unbelief with reference both to the Power and Goodness of God as if he were not able or not inclined to help us If we have not the presence of our Saviour as formerly we must not with Saul go to the Witch of Eaden or imagine that the Devil can help us when God has left us we may in all trouble use all the good means for escape that we can providing they be such as are not inconsistent with the Wisdom of a Man or the Innocence of a Christian we are to wait on the Lord and to keep his way As the Eyes of an Hand-maid are fixed on her Mistress being ready with patient attention to know and do her pleasure so must our Eyes with the like dutiful regard be fixed on Heaven The Precepts of the Gospel are in all these cases quite opposite to the Maxims of the Stoical Philosophy that gave its wise Men leave to end their own Lives when they found their Pains and Griefs many and insupportable this indeed as some observe shewed the falseness of their Patience and this was opposite to other Opinions of the same for they said there was no Grief how violent soever that could overwhelm a wise Man Zeno the famous Author of their Sect strangled himself A patient attender on God must not do any thing to shorten or destroy his own Life by Surfeits Drunkenness Intemperance or any other wicked Action whatsoever Sixthly This patient waiting on God includes a constant perseverance in all good Duties till Relief and Mercy come We must wait during the sweetness of the Spring and the Rigors of the Winter when we are at ease and when we are in pain when we prosper in our Affairs and when we meet with unlook'd for sad Events we must begin to wait in Youth and not fall till old Age shall Snow upon us Job 14.14 as a Sentinel keeps his Post till he be Relieved if help come not this hour or moment it may the next We shall never be ashamed of our hope if afflictions do nee'r so closely Besiege us our Saviour in due time will march to our assistance and reward our Courage and Fidelity Exod. 14.13 The Husbandman waits for the precious Fruit of the Earth notwithstanding he now and then sees unseasonable weather and very sharp Seasons yet nothing does abate his hope of Harvest he knows the joyful day will surely come he does not tarry lazily at home when the Season does invite him to Sow his Seed he rouzes himself summons his Servants and all in earnest go to work together he is not discouraged with a stormy day nor folds his Hands because the Sun does not shine nor the wind blow as he would have it Ecces 11.14 But alas how many excuses do we make to evade our Duty and put it off 't is too hot or too cold too soon or too late to begin to work many will not be good because the days are bad they 'll not travel because they are afraid of Rain whereas that Rain they fear might lay the dust that affliction they meet with in the Road might deliver them from those hurrying cares that at other times blind their Eyes and obsoure their Judgments Let us take heed least the Patience of the Husbandman condemn our peevishness and our fearful haste who if we have not help immediately think we are undone whereas that quiet Son of Adam having Ploughed his Ground and Sown his Seed takes no further care about it but leaves the rest to the Influence of Heaven and the God of Nature He quietly waits for the Harvest and for the Rain that plumps the Corn he would not cut it down when it first begins to spring above the Ground but stays till 't is fully ripe Those Christians that are in darkness should consider that Light is sown for the Righteous Ps 92.11 Let us not desire to reap before the time not with a vain labour strive to hasten the Months of Harvest Jer. 5.24 We shall reap in good time our Salvation is nearer then when we first believed and we may with the Husbandman find a deal of work to do before the Harvest come So a Christian knows if no Salvation from trouble come in this World yet Death will set him free and then the tedious hours of pain will return no more for ever 'T is very hard indeed long to wait it very grievous to Flesh and Blood but it s highly agreeable to the brightness of our Faith and the greatness of our Hopes for what is this poor short Life to a long Eternity Simeon and Jacob and the rest of the waiting Saints are now at rest in the full enjoyment of their blessed Hopes Long Attendance upon God shews a firmness of uncommon Courage and a most profound Humility Whereas to be angry and uneasie that we are not delivered just when and how we please betrays too great an Opinion of our selves for if we were less proud we should be more patient if we thought of what we deserve we should not murmure at the burden that is laid upon us 1 Sam. 13.11 The hastiness of Saul brought on his Ruine he could not wait and so he Rebelled he acted as if he had been bewitched for the Rebellion of Princes against God as well as of their Subjects against them
Mortification you will out-grow that anxiety of thought which others have as to what shall befal the World or themselves this Earth by most of its Inhabitants is over-rated and so they are loath to quit it Seventhly That you may patiently wait on God keep your Eye most constantly and steddily fixed on your blessed Master When the Storms arise look on him whose Power can in a moment make the Sea calm and the lowring Skie clear again In your trouble look to your Helper as when we ford a deep River we look to the further side Whereas if we only pore upon our Miseries we tire our Spirits and raise to our selves more hideous prospects of Calamity You need not go far to see your Saviour for he is with you in your Assemblies in your Closets he is in the Scriptures and in all the Promises no part of the World is out of his Dominion and he has all Power in Heaven and Earth The Prince of the Air that is limited to his own Principality and to his changeable Empire cannot raise a Storm without his leave tho' he is in himself very powerful yet he is Subject to a greater Power The Apostle directs the Christians of his days to wait for the Lord from Heaven 2 Thes 3.5 To wait for the sight of that glorious Person on whom they have believed with whom they hope to live for ever the sight of him is what they extreamly long for It will be an Heaven to see him who has done so much for them and of whom they have heard so very much When he comes he will reward his patient Servants he will manifest their Grace and make the World to wonder at his Power in their support Behold the Faith and Patience of the Saints Thus in the Text David says I have waited for the Lord. I have not waited so much for mine own Exaltation or the Conquest of mine Enemies as for the Favour and the Love of God I have not long'd to see mine House flourish and my Friends enriched or my Name perpetually celebrated on Earth No truly Lord I have longed for thee and thee alone This is all my Satisfaction this is all my Desire tho' no Deliverance come yet if thou O my God dost thy self come I shall have enough Another sort of Spirit have those who are only of this World they all would climb and are uneasie to attain some high or Lofty things Oh that I were Honourable says the Rich and O that I were Rich says the Poor Man Every one that has Money would fain have more and he that has a deal of Land would fain be Master of another Field he that is obscure would fain be noted and he that is publickly talked of would fain be more popular These are the things they long and wait for not satisfied with what God thinks fit to give them Even Princes sometimes think they have not room enough unless they invade the Dominions of others as well as lord it in their own And Ahab a wicked King could find no pleasure in his Crown unless he had the Vineyard of honest Nabaoth But be you satisfied with whatever is allotted you by Providence and do not grumble if you meet with Pain Reproach Poverty and various Crosses For all the Saints in Heaven went through great Tribulations thither most of the Illessed Saints performed their Voyage to that happy Land And now I come to speak of our Departed Friend Mrs. Hasselborn who dyed this Month in the 95th Year of her Age in a good old Age indeed Few very few of all the Sons and Daughters of Adam have in these times of the World so long a Life few of those that dye of Age hold out so long as she I shall make no manner of excuses nor tell you whilst I am praising her that I am not for praising those that are Departed nor confute my self as some do that say they are against commending the Dead even when they say of them all that ever they can Our Saviour said of this or that Person O Woman great is thy Faith and he that commends his Saints when they live would not have their Memory roughly treated when they are Dead No body will suspect the Humble Jesus as guilty of Flattery or of over-admiring any Persons and yet what a large Character does he think fit to give of his Predecessor Matth. XI 11. Verily I say unto you among them that are born of Women there has not risen a greater then John the Baptist And the plain-hearted free-spoken Paul that never never balked the boldest truth or the most searching reproof yet he was not so morose as to chide the People for commending Dorcas for her good Work and Alms-deed for the Coats and Garments which she made Acts 9.36 Nay so far was he from so four a temper that he highly extols Andronicus and Junias who were in Christ before him and who were of note among the Apostles It is a fault not to commend good People if it be done with truth and modesty especially in an ill-natured Age where those that God will own as his Jewels are trampled on and those that he will commend and accept are Censured and Reproacht though for their hard speeches that Men utter against the Innocent they must be rigorously Judged therefore for my part I reckon it my Duty to contribute what I can to embalm the Memory of such as were dear to Christ on Earth and now live with him above All the Graces of the blessed Spirit are too valuable to be neglected or obscured in the dark We are to invite others to behold the aimableness and beauty of Religion behold how it shines and triumphs and spreads its healing Beams Behold an Israelite indeed John 1.47 And it 's an Encouragement to others to be good when they find their works shall praise them in the gates of Zion it shall be said this or that man was born there we ought with great freeness and candor to acknowledge the Gifts and Graces that are bestowed on others Let us not bury the remembrance of their excellent Actions in the Grave Thus we may lawfully give them Praise while we do not give them Worship We think the Virgin Mother blessed among Women and to all Generations she is blessed We will honour her Memory but never think she is above her Son nor will we take the Crown from his Head to place it upon hers We will imitate the Examples of the Saints Departed but not pray to them for even Abraham himself is ignorant of us In preserving the Memory of good People we act suitably to the Design of God who has taken care to Record several of his Excellent Servants of whom we otherwise had never heard As they were zealous for his Glory whilst they were alive he will not let their Names be trampled on with the Feet of Pride when they are Departed Such Persons are like withered Flowers In their flourishing
Condition they recreated and pleased their Acquaintance with the sweet Odours of their Charity their Meekness and their good Works For when the Flower and the Green is Blasted by the cold of Death they are after all like the tender Plants Medicinal even when dryed and in their most unbeautiful State of great use and service to the World The Scripture perpetuates the Memory of several good Women as well as Men as Sarah and Rebeccah and Rachel and Miraim and Hannah and Deborah and the Blessed Virgin and that affectionate Person that scrupled no cost to shew her respect to our Saviour Mark 14.9 And Jesus loved Martha and her Sister and Lazarus John 11.5 He often met with a welcome at their Hospitable House And St. Paul greets Priscilla as well as Aquila and Mary and Julia and several others in Rom. 16. This Old Disciple of Christ of whom I am now to speak had spent her years in the Fear and the Love of God and full of Days full of pleasant quietness and hope she is gone to Rest She calmly Sleeps till the Morning of the Resurrection when she will have a Body without all the marks of withering and decayed Age a Body full of Lustre full of Activity and Like to the glorious body of our Lord Like the Angels that possess an eternal Youth their Beams never dimly shine their Light never weakly burns After a long Circulation of Hymns and Joys their Praises are as cheerful and their Voices as loud as ever This aged Servant of our Lord had made it her great business to trust in him and in the midst of Revolutions that were attended with threatning Prospects she remain'd unmoved When others were frighted with Alarums and the imagined approaches of Bloody Enemies she was undisturb'd saying I have a good God and I fear nothing and often used to say They are well kept that God keeps for she safely dwelt under the shadow of his Wings and as one that knew that the thoughts and discourse of worldly things were very unseasonable in a dying Hour she settled all her affairs before Death gave the last Summons and so was prepared to dye She possessed to almost an Hundred a a very good Age without pineing weakness and the sorrows that cloud others and send them early to the Grave She was now and then afflicted but she was never overwhelmed This good Woman spent her time in Prayer and Reading of the Holy Scripture that best of Books that great Conveyer of all Heavenly Light and Heat Where are the gracious Souls to whom this Revelation was not dear and precious What sort of People are those whose Ignorance and Rudeness forces them to Ridicule what others lay their whole stress for another World upon Dear to her as well as to all other Holy Souls was her Bible there she placed her trust thence she drew her Supports and Consolations This was her Lanthorn in this World during the darkness of her Pilgrimage she now needs it not where there is everlasting Day Next to the Blessed Scripture she often read in Dr. Preston Dr. Sibbs and in the Lives of Luther and Calvin and some of their Works in English On Precious and Reviving Names of Men that were Stars of the first Magnitude that shined in the Church And when they were placed in superiour Orbes lest their influence and heat behind they still edifie the Church by their Grave and Learned Writings in which every thing is manly and substantial and nothing slovingly or ridiculous or trifling and unbecoming the Majesty of Divinity and the Character they bore How much more happy were those useful Men in leaving such solid Writings behind them then are some of the Poets of our days who sauce a great part of their Composures with Wit and Folly or as I may say with foolish Wit whilst they content themselves in dressing up Vice with soft and easie Names and accommodate every thing to the gust and humour of a depraved Age and do not so much Combat with Sin as discover it study more to please then to profit their Books are Contagious whilst the Authors are alive and when they dye they do like Nero leave Poison behind them and propagate infection for a long time together Among all the rest of the Old Divines she had a particular respect to Dr. Preston which shewed that she had both a good Tast and Judgment in Divine things His solidity and wise management of truth gave Light to her Understanding and his serious and devout Applications warmed her Heart And of all the Works of this Pious Doctor she was most pleased and edified with his Discourse about God's All-sufficiency and so was another Old Disciple that I knew of above 90. that found always a peculiar refreshment in that very Treatise So wisely did these Aged People having sorrowfully viewed the Vanities of Life and of all Creatures betake themselves to God alone whose help they sought and whose help they found As she was careful to prepare her own Soul for another World she also thirsted for the welfare and happiness of others and often passed the moments that were most free from pain in pressing them to mind things of the greatest and most lasting Consequence desiring them to prepare to dye and earnestly moving them in order to this to live an Holy Life fully thinking with the great Apostle that Without holiness none can see the Lord. The sight of the pure Majesty of Heaven would be amazing and astonishing to a Soul full of evil inclinations to objects terrene and sensual Therefore this excellent Woman did often desire her Friends to take care least they were in their way of living like persons walking in a Gallery that went forwards and backwards without advancing any nearer to their Journeys end intimating that she wisht they might every day be nearer Heaven then they were before With a mighty pleasure when I was once with her she discoursed of the forementioned famous Divines and of the advantages she had by the Preaching and Sermons of many worthy Men such as Mr. Burroughs Mr. Lockyer old Mr. Calamy and several others whom she had long Survived Her Lot indeed was cast in happy times and she had the favour to live in the days of our Fore-fathers when Religion was more practised and esteemed then alas now it is The Puritans disputed less then we and lived better Oh that their Catholick Charity their peaceable Spirit and their innocent simplicity might have a Resurrection She lived to see most of her old Acquaintance removed by Death and so was after having been satisfied with living very willing to depart that she and her Friends might meet again She trusted God in her Health and so she died when her Pain and Sickness came upon her She often desired one that attended her in her near approaches to Eternity to read the first words of the 40th Psalm as extremely suitable to her own Case and Temper She was very